Hey A/all. This is chapter thirty-eight of the new and improved The Black Heir: The Saga Begins. It was originally just a rewrite of my The Black Heir: First Year, but it has deviated so much from how that one used to be that it's now a new story all on its own, though the basic premise is the same. This story is once more complete! And is a whopping 48 chapters long, lots was added haha. Updates should be weekly unless something drastic happens.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Evelyn Celeste Black is my own original character, but all other recognisable characters belong to J K Rowling, I just like to use them to do my bidding.
Summary: What happens when the mistreated daughter of Sirius Black is eligible for her first year at Hogwarts at the same time as her father's escape from Azkaban and she is reunited with Harry Potter. The summer before Harry's third year might just turn out to be just as much of an adventure as his years at Hogwarts. (Eventual HarryXGinny, NevilleXOC, and RonXLuna)
Warning: This story does contain spanking, but it is not the focus, still if you don't like it don't read it.
A huge, huge thank you to my amazing Beta who has been an amazing support in writing this. Yes, I am trying my hardest to turn her into a Harry Potter Fan. Without her support and guidance, you probably wouldn't be getting this story for a good few years.
~o~
Harry was feeling almost completely normal when he woke up, but Sirius and Remus were adamant about him needing to rest and take it easy. Sirius wasn't far from insisting on bed rest, but the mutinous expression on his son's face swayed him. Evie kept her brother company and let him teach her how to play wizards chess. After two years of getting trounced in chess by Ron, Harry discovered he wasn't half bad and with Evie being a complete beginner he was actually able to offer some advice. Sirius and Remus decided to pair up with the kids and help each of them and they had a few rather close and competitive games.
The next day however Harry insisted he was completely fine and wasn't going to spend another day resting.
Accepting his son's assessment of himself Sirius decided now was time to teach the kids how to reach their cores. It was a break from the usual routine, but Harry being able to control his magic took priority over everything else for now. With both the children having unique circumstances they both needed one on one work, so Sirius took Evie into her room, and Remus took Harry.
Remus sat down on the Gryffindor red and gold rug and indicated to Harry he should do the same. "You'll want to make sure you are sitting nice and comfortably," he advised.
Harry sighed and sat on the rug, rolling his eyes.
Remus raised an eyebrow, "check the attitude Harry, this is important," he warned.
Harry blushed but nodded, "sorry," he murmured.
"Okay, now this might sound a little hippy dippy, but it's the easiest way to access your core, until you get used to it. So, you're going to want to close your eyes and control your breathing, nice and steady breaths, in for four, out for four," Remus instructed calmly.
Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes doing his best to follow his Uncle Moony's instructions and not just think 'this is stupid' and actually focus. The hardest part was just sitting still, he felt his knee bouncing and his fingers tapping.
"Try to be still Harry. Once your breathing is steady, turn your focus inwards, imagine a pitch-black room, there's nothing there," Remus coached.
Harry had a good mental image to bring up for a pitch-black room, hours spent in the darkness of his cupboard made sure of that. He felt himself fidgeting more and struggled to hold onto the image of blackness.
"Now in this pitch-black room let there be a source of light, it could be fire, or water, or just pure light, let it be what it wants to be," Remus guided.
Harry frowned and could only think of a physical actual light, the light of Petunia or Vernon opening the door and demanding he do some chore or another.
"Concentrate Harry, when you get distracted come back to your breathing, slowly and steadily in for four and out for four," Remus directed.
Harry heaved a sigh and opened his eyes, "I can't do it Uncle Remus, it's stupid," he complained.
"Try Harry, this is important. Connecting with your core is a vital part of mastering your magic, it'll enable you to call on more magic when you need it. You'll need to be able to do this when you do the Animagus transformation, when you connect with wards, and to access stronger more powerful magic. It's also a vital part of being able to do wandless magic, without being able to open up and free your core you won't be able to use any wandless magic," Remus told him.
Harry forced out a long breath through his clenched teeth and just tried to picture blackness, but he was just getting more and more wound up with his racing thoughts.
Remus could see Harry was getting himself wound up and cleared his throat. "Focus on your breathing, or mine, the slow steady inhale, the controlled long exhale, in, two, three, four, and out, two, three, four. Just breathe for a bit," he coaxed
Harry grit his teeth and tried to focus on his breathing. It was stupid. Who needed to concentrate on breathing? Everyone knew how to breath.
Remus continued his slow and steady count, talking in a gentle low tone.
"I don't need you to count! I know how to bloody breath!" Harry snapped irritated.
"Harry James!" Remus interrupted sharply. "This is your last warning, knock it off with the attitude. I know this isn't easy, but you need to at least try."
"I am trying!" Harry protested.
"No, you're not. You're sitting there, tense and worked up, no doubt thinking you could be doing anything else but this. I know this is tiresome and frustrating, but you need to let it go. This is something most Purebloods and even Halfbloods learn way before they are of the age to go to Hogwarts. It's something you should have learnt during your first year at Hogwarts, if you hadn't learnt it before," Remus told him plainly. "And that is the first and last time you swear at me young man, you do so again, and I will wash your mouth out," he warned.
Harry had been ready to continue his protest until Uncle Moony reminded him of his language and he ducked his head ashamed. Not even Ron, who Harry was pretty sure could barely say a sentence without throwing a bloody or bollocks in there somewhere, swore at his Mum. "Sorry," he offered looking down at his lap.
Remus nodded, "now are you calm enough for us to keep trying or do you need a time out in the corner?" He asked archly.
Harry shook his head; he didn't want to have to stand in the corner like some little kid.
"Good, now I won't count, but I'll let you know when to breath in and out, concentrate on your breathing and just that, how each breath feels as you pull it in and let it out, the sound of the air coming in and out. Let all your concentration fall onto your breathing," Remus instructed. "When you are ready, close your eyes," he directed.
Harry closed his eyes and followed his Uncle Remus' instructions, focusing only on his breathing.
Remus talked Harry through five minutes of just breathing until he saw his body relax, "now we're going to try a slightly different approach this time. I want you to turn your focus inside, you had a basic muggle education, so you should know roughly what the inside of your body looks like."
This Harry found easier than focusing on a black lightless room, he still recalled his school lessons on the human body.
Remus kept watch on Harry, "any time you feel yourself getting distracted just bring yourself back and focus on your breathing again," he reminded. "Now once you can picture the insides of your body, see if there is a source of light, heat, sound, or movement, something different than what you know."
Harry wasn't sure what Uncle Moony was on about, but then he saw it, an area of light between what he imagined his lungs to look like.
"Once you've detected whatever it is you can see, focus on that, let everything else fade away and focus purely on that," Remus dropped his voice lower and spoke softer, as he could see Harry was getting close.
Harry couldn't have done anything different if he'd tried, the light source seemed to draw him in and suddenly he was in front of this huge ball of pure light. Light that seemed to dance in front of his eyes, but still stayed in this very controlled ball shape.
Remus was watching Harry closely and could recognise when he found his core. "What can you see Harry?" He prompted.
"A huge ball of pure white light," Harry murmured.
Remus smiled, "that is your core, Harry. That is the mental representation you have for the source of your magic. It's different for each witch or wizard. Now when you connect with your core this is where you need to go. As you become more familiar with the process it'll speed up to where you can just close your eyes and connect quickly. You'll find next time it'll be much easier to find. Now when you're ready, I want you to stop looking at the light and open your eyes."
It took Harry a moment to even realise his eyes were in fact closed, the ball of light seemed so strong and real. He blinked his eyes open and shook his head rapidly, looking at Uncle Moony a little sheepishly, "sorry."
Remus chuckled, "all is forgiven, you don't usually have to start this late trying to find your core. The hardest part is always getting enough focus to let yourself slip into a relaxed enough headspace. Now in a minute, we're going to go again, this time we're going to imagine the ball slowly opening up, first though we need to ward the area around you so that if your magic lashes out it can't hurt me or anything else in the room." He pulled a couple simple runic warding stones out of the pocket of his robes, the same stones his Dad had used to help him connect with his core, and placed them on each corner of the rug, tapping them with his wand to activate them. He sat down off the rug this time and prepared to talk Harry though it again.
Sirius truly had no idea how to even begin to help Evie find her core, from his understanding natural magicals didn't really have a core as it was understood, they were connected with magic on another level. He figured a safe bet at first would be to set up the warded area, once Evie was in it of course, it wasn't normally necessary just for a kid looking at their core, but with whatever it was Evie had for a core he didn't want to take the chance. "Take a seat on your rug and make sure you're in a nice comfortable position," he told her.
Evie sat down in the middle of her rug, getting herself comfortable.
Sirius nodded and quickly arranged the stones in each corner of the rug activating them with a tap of his wand, "now I don't know how this will be for you Evie, see as a natural magical you don't have a traditional core containing your magic. For lack of a better explanation, you are magic, your stores of magic can still be depleted, and you can still experience magical exhaustion, but it's where you store your magic that's so different. So, we're going to have to take a different approach. This is normally considered the harder way to find your core but for you I think it'll be the best way." He didn't say it was the way he'd been made to find his core or mention the punishments his mother was inclined to give for failing to instantly find his core.
"Okay," Evie agreed.
"Now if it doesn't work, we have plenty of other methods to try. However, the first part is the same, I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing, slowly in for four, and then out for four," Sirius guided.
Evie took a deep breath and closed her eyes, following her Dad's instructions and concentrating on her breathing. She was used to sitting still and passing the time just by letting her mind go blank, so this wasn't too hard, in fact as she wasn't painfully hungry it was easier than normal.
Sirius watched, surprised at how quickly Evie was sat just breathing slowly and steadily, though when he thought about it, he supposed he shouldn't be all that surprised. "Okay, now I want you to look inside you, to feel your own magic, feel the power within you. It'll have some kind of physical representation, often something bright, possibly fire, or water, or just pure light, it might make a sound, or it might move," he offered. It was more help than he'd been given, but he didn't think the 'easier' method would work for Evie.
Evie felt herself sinking down into herself and found herself surrounded by whisper like water, it flowed all around her and was filled with all the spectrum of colours, but it was almost see-through at the same time. It moved fast and slow, swirling around in all directions but also no direction, there was no beginning and no end, it was just everywhere.
"What do you see?" Sirius probed.
Evie told her Daddy what she could see. "It's so warm, but cold, feels like it should be wet, but it's not, but it's not dry either, it's everything," she breathed.
Sirius couldn't help but smile, "that Princess, is your magic. Most witch's and wizard's magic is contained in a singular area, but it appears yours is completely free," he told her. He wasn't sure what to do now as all the other steps Remus was going to run through with Harry, such as opening his core and touching his core were pointless with Evie. He supposed there was one thing he could do, "okay, still focusing on your magic, call up your light balls," he directed.
It wasn't as easy as it sounded to stay focused on her magic and make her light balls, even though Evie could usually make her light balls without even having to think about it. Eventually she was able to call them up and gasped as her magic rushed around her and a little wave of it flowed out of her and she could feel the loss.
Sirius watched the by play of emotions on his daughter's face. "That's what happens when you use your magic. By practicing using magic you know whilst watching your core, or for you being with your magic, you'll be able to replicate it easier. It's good for when you're learning extremely strong or particularly difficult magic. This is where you can also learn how much magic to channel into particular spells, as the amount of magic that leaves is how much magic you're putting into a spell. Now recall your lights."
Evie found it easier to recall her lights than she had to produce them, knowing now how to stay focused on her magic whilst performing magic. "More magic left," she observed confused.
Sirius chuckled, "yes, because even recalling your lights uses magic and once used your magic needs a little time to rebuild, the more magic used the more time it'll take you to refill your stores," he explained. "Now, when you're ready, open your eyes and come back to the room," he urged.
Evie was slightly reluctant to leave the wonderful feeling of being surrounded by her own magic, but she took a deep breath and pulled out of herself and opened her eyes.
Sirius grinned, "that was very fast Princess, we're going to practice a few more times, but for now I don't want you doing that on your own. Even though you don't have a core, your magic could still lash out at a perceived threat, so we'll need to set up these warding stones as a precaution when we do this."
~o~
There you go, there's chapter thirty-eight. Please drop me a review and tell me what you thought, cookies for those who do!