The Hero Hidden Beneath A Traitor's Clothing
Summary: Voldemort is at the height of his power once more, terrorizing both the Muggle and Wizarding World's he is considered unstoppable and ruthless. There is only one person left who can truly defeat him, a boy that the world has set on a pedestal. In his seventh year the boy is now a man and single handedly taking on the dark forces but are the people truly grateful to this mysterious warrior, or will he have to depend on another girl several years younger than him and a complete stranger to believe in him.
Rated: R (for adult content and some violence)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the talented Ms. Rowling does, and the WB has some rights to the series. I just write for the hell of it all, so don't sue. I don't have anything worth taking me to court over.
-Chapter Three- The Quarter Families
The next morning the sun rose early and shone brightly. Sometimes Harry felt like he could hear it coming up, singing a specific tune forgotten to all but nature. It was a peaceful, and mournful song that you could hear if you listened close enough. You could here the birds hailing its rising and the wolves mourning the moon's loss.
He heard it every single morning, since there simply weren't enough hours in the day his schedule consisted of getting up around five o'clock in the morning to go jogging, swimming laps in the lake, and then going to the fifth floor gym where the exercise mats were and the gymnastics equipment. The room adjoining it was the weight room where he also spent a good deal of his time.
Now thinking about it Harry felt it rather sad to leave those rooms unused. Since the wizarding community was so dependant on magic they have almost long forgotten what the body could do without it. And thus they would never expect a Ninja Mage to beat up a dozen Death Eaters on his lone self while an auror would be lucky to take two.
Ninja Mages weren't even all that common, the last reported sighting of one was from six hundred and fifty years ago during one of the Goblin Wars that involved a good chunk of the magical population to participate. And to become one on one's own would be quite an accomplish.
//Too bad I'm the only one, I could sure use some help sometimes.\\ he thought and sat up putting on a pair of gym shorts, a sleeveless shirt and trainers and quietly exiting his room.
Walking down the staircase Harry heard the squeak of a door opening and a faint breathing but he just stored it away in the back of his head and kept walking.
Hermione had been awake all night trying to figure out when Harry left common room in the mornings if not at night. Finally around five o'clock in the morning she heard faint sounds from the rooms next to her, which Harry occupied. To say the least she was a bit frightened to have him so close to her. There were many theories that went through her head about him. One was that he might be a Death Eater, or a spy in which case he was dangerous.
Quietly she got up from the chair she had been sitting in almost the whole night and stretched her cramped back and neck muscles. Grabbing the invisibility cloak she grabbed from his room when he was gone she opened the door peering through with one eye and noticing him walking out the common room. The door had squeaked on its hinges slightly and for a moment she was afraid he heard but seeing as Harry just calmly kept going she threw the cloak around her and followed him. Rounding several corners and climbing several flights of stairs before finally exiting the castle and jogging outside behind him trying to keep up.
It was rather odd he was in gym clothes, why would he go to a Death Eater meeting in gym clothes. The next thing she noticed was his bare arms. They seemed well built and muscled but despite two tattoos that he had from god knows where, there was no Dark Mark on him. The tattoos were on both his biceps. He must have gotten them at a muggle tattoo shop over the holidays, she figured since neither of them moved like wizarding ones. On his right arm he had a picture of a black and gray wolf, with eerie bright green eyes, a large one at that. It stood growling proud and tall and at its feet was a black/gray cloud of smoke swirling around with faces depicted in them, faces of screaming people. In fact they weren't even people they were just very good depicted heads with eyes, noses and mouths that looked like they were yelling in pain.
She shuddered slightly focusing off that particular tattoo and vaguely wondered if Harry made people scream like those faces in the smoke. Looking at the other one it seemed to be a Celtic band of some sort completing a circle on his bicep outlining his muscles perfectly. But what it seemed could have been different from what it really was, she heard from Ron that some of the aurors were discovering that a large number of Death Eaters have Dark Marks in other places than their forearm to hide them. Some even appear as different shapes but when certain spells are tested on them they react like the Mark.
Outside she followed him out to the Quittich pitch and sat in the stands watching perplexedly at him. She sat there stunned not really expecting what she was seeing at all. From her point of view, if she was correct, he was doing warm-ups. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and pull ups from the posts that made the bleachers up with. She watched for nearly half an hour as he jogged around the pitch, breaking a thin sweat. When he finished and sat down she thought that he'd be going in, but no he had enough energy for more.
As he jogged up to the lake she blushed as he stripped and jumped in starting to do laps in the cool water, oblivious to the many creatures inside its depths. After finishing his excruciating one hundred and fifty laps she saw Harry get out and this time rather than feel guilty about watching him dress or undress she simply turned away for a second to let him gather his clothes and put them on devoid his shirt which was used as a makeshift towel.
But that little moment when she turned away was all it took for him to disappear. Realizing he wasn't there anymore and she had no leads as to where he was going she swore silently while heading back to Gryffindor Tower to put his invisibility cloak where it was supposed to be before he noticed it missing.
Running through the halls Harry laughed to himself. Hermione was no good at spying he decided and hoped that she would choose a nice desk job when they left Hogwarts rather than an occupation as an Auror or Unspeakable like many were doing these days. Sure the invisibility cloak covered her well but any normal person would hear her a mile away thanks to not only her heavy breathing but also her boots made to much noise on the stone floor. And if you considered his situation he placed monitoring charms around himself so it gave him a sixth sense as to when someone was near or watching him excessively.
Up on the fifth floor Harry completed his morning exercises in the gym and weight room. Outdoing himself to the point where he was sore he got up releasing his hair from its pony tail and brushing his hands through it to get rid of any extra tangles that would be hard to get out in the shower he was about to take. He rubbed at his eyes to keep himself awake and thanked the lucky gods that he had decided to let Mad-eye Moody fix his eyes in his fifth year due to the fact that Harry kept losing duels to him because either his glasses kept breaking or kept getting knocked off his face. They were essentially a safety hazard. In truth he missed them though, they reminded him of his father. The glasses came with his image which was now gone.
Before going down to breakfast after cleaning up Harry had checked to make sure Hermione had put his invisibility cloak back into his trunk, which he then stored, in his secret compartment. It wouldn't due for her to keep sneaking in and stealing his things like that anymore.
By the time he was dressed and ready to face the world the common room was already buzzing with Gryffindors in a state of awareness or half in slumber. It was only eight thirty on a Sunday morning and half of the school would most likely be at breakfast.
On his way to the Great Hall Harry spotted a whole cluster of giggling girls whispering excitedly about something and some of them even jumping up and down squealing at something they were all looking at in the middle. Figuring he'd find out what all the commotion was and maybe even break the group up before they all went crazy from the way they were behaving he strode up and gulped paling at what he heard.
"Oh James Black is so dreamy! I was in muggle London this summer and while in a hair salon I bought this magazine to go over. It's called Calvin Klien Jeans, just in case you didn't know it holds muggle fashions and models. Anyways I usually skip to the top twenty-five hottest guys under twenty- five and he was on number one for half a year already! They've even dedicated twelve whole pages of his photo's and snap shots!" One of the girls squealed out to the others who all went mad with commotion.
Right about now Harry's stomach felt like it was melting and rising up his throat as he continued listening as one of the other girls practically caused him to have a heart attack.
"Hmm, he is dreamy but I think I've seen him somewhere. He certainly looks familiar that's for sure. Too bad he's only a muggle, imagine if he was some famous wizard and went to Hogwarts with us. I think I would die if that happened." A tall and skinny brown haired girl said and giggled along with the others.
//Nobody from the wizarding world was supposed to know! It was only a job that would put money in my pocket!\\ he mentally yelled and started sprinting down the hall. Now it would be out all over the school and eventually someone would recognize him.
It was on Christmas of last year that he had gone home to the Dursley's or at least said he was but ended up spending his holidays in muggle London where he was shopping in one of the main district malls when a man introduced himself as an agent for the London Modeling and Fashion Industry. He had received several compliments about his well-built and tall body. His exotic looks, the dark hair and tanned skin with bright green eyes made him look unique and pleasant to the eye. And he certainly couldn't blame himself for being pleased with himself and pleased that someone would appreciate him and a chance to have millions of others do so as well.
//After all we're all a little greedy. And being a male model in the muggle world wasn't nearly as exposing as it was being the boy-who-lived in the wizarding one.\\ So after accepting the man's offer and starting to work during the holidays and weekends he made up a fake name, James Black. A fake age, 18, and a whole new identity to use outside of the wizarding world, that way not many people would recognize him after he changed so dramatically from what he used to be. And the Dursley's wouldn't try to claim the money he made off of it because he hadn't gone back to them since right after fourth year. Instead each year he would use the money he made to travel, stay in hotels and add money to the Weasleys vault and Remus'.
He was fully aware that not many people would hire a werewolf and since Sirius couldn't access the money in his own vault the two of them had to live off of Remus whom barely had much. //And they think I'm a child! Please give me a break!\\ he thought. If he could take care of himself then he wasn't a child and he could definitely take care of Gabby as well.
Slowing down and looking back to where the group of girls stood his heart stopped for a fraction of a second when he saw Snape with the magazine in hand openly gaping at it and repeating something over and over again which looked like by the way he was moving his lips was, "Black has a son, thank the lucky gods the boy is probably a squib."
Relaxing a bit he smiled feebly. At least he wouldn't get yelled at in front of the Great Hall today, maybe tomorrow when he has his first class with the over grown bat. That minute it took him to relax and smile Harry realized that the greasy git of a Potions Master must have some kind of radar that went off when a student was happy, signaling for him to fully ruin their day because in that instant he was ready to turn away Snape's blank stare that was focused on him slowly turned into a bewildered expression, then to a mild scowl until it progressed into the venomous glare the students of Hogwarts all knew and loved. The glare that would make any muggle-born Hufflepuff first year soil their pants and go into a coma.
Harry was stuck like a deer in the headlights while Snape looked from the magazine back to him and blinking rapidly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He was hoping right now that if Snape did recognize him which he probably already did but his brain just didn't want to process it that the picture he was looking at wasn't the one where he was half naked.
That picture not only made him blush like mad while the photographers were trying to take it but it made him fidget to the point where he had to calm down before they could take any decent photographs. It was taken this July in Dover, Kent right on the beach on one of those sunny, rain free days. He remembered standing on the beach, dripping wet from just coming out of the water in Calvin Klien swimming trunks that sat low on his hips and went down to right above his knee. His expression was seductive and one of his hands was in his wet hair pushing it back.
Some part of him wished that his parents weren't looking down at him from heaven or wherever they were that day. He would have been extremely embarrassed if his mother had seen it. His father would have probably had a good laugh over it, but then again he only guessed so from all the things Sirius told him about his parents. And the way this was going he bet that this would get all the way back to his godfather eventually.
//5.4.3.\\ He started counting off the time it would take Snape to fully explode and haul him to the Headmaster's office. //2.1.\\
"POTTER!!!"
//Right on the dot.\\ he sighed and shook his head walking back to the group of girls whom clearly didn't want to leave without the magazine. Most if not all of them had recognized him now and were whispering and giggling in their own annoying way.
Waiting not so patiently with what seemed to be a permanent glare glued to his face the Potions Master held the picture he was looking at earlier out to Harry and tapped his foot.
Unfortunately luck was not with him that cheerful Sunday morning and Harry noticed the photograph was the one that he had been dreading the Potions Master would see.
"What is this Potter? Fame in the wizarding world just isn't enough you had to go pose nude in a muggle magazine?" the older man sneered.
"That is my summer job." Harry said without hesitation trying to play it cool and calm. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not naked in that snap shot, in fact I have a pair of swimming trunks on that I was advertising for Calvin Klien." Apparently Snape didn't want to be answered and abruptly yelled in his ear nearly making him go deaf.
"Are you talking back to me Potter? I have a feeling the Headmaster would be very interested in this." He said and made a move to grab the teenager by the collar of his shirt. Being Sunday Harry didn't even bother to wear robes like he usually did but instead wore a pair of loose fitting jeans that rode low on his hips and a black undershirt.
Ducking out of the way but continuing on to the Great Hall he shrugged. "I'm sure he would be interested, in fact just last June he told me that he could never find proper swimming trunks. You never know he may like them." With those last words he stepped through the great wooden doors and over to the Gryffindor table where Ron and Hermione were already sitting. Surveying the rest of the table he noticed there weren't many other seats open so hesitantly he approached them and sat himself next to Ron and now sat across from both Hermione and Ginny.
"Hi Ron. How are you? Find out my secret plan to take over the world yet or has Ginny told you about my little job that takes up most of my time?" Ginny he had noticed was one of the girl's in the crowd that were clustered around the magazine he was in. Hearing her name she looked up and immediately blushed while Hermione vehemently tried to get the information about Harry's job out of her. Finally relenting she told them about the magazine and his modeling career that took place on weekends and holidays.
To say the least the brunet had looked more than guilty when she found out where Harry went in his spare time and why he exercised so early in the morning.
"Why didn't you tell us then?" She demanded and all of a sudden looked angry.
"What's to tell?" he asked her and simply started piling food onto his plate.
"Plenty!" she screamed drawing half of the Great Hall to attention, but she was oblivious to it. "We're your best friends Harry, we deserve to know!"
Feeling a seething anger rise up inside of him he released the first words that came to mind feeling she deserved them. "As far as I'm concerned you don't deserve to know anything Hermione! Why do you need to know everything? Some things are better left unsaid. And with you snooping around in my things and following me in the mornings I would have thought you figured things out already."
Looking down and away from his face she focused on the tattoo of the wolf on his right arm where the eyes shone like Harry's own, large and vibrant. Squinting a little to look closer there was a faint discoloration on the wolf's forehead.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled trying to get her attention and waved his hand in front of her face.
"What?!" she snapped at him regretting it afterwards when his face became crestfallen and she apologized. "Sorry Ron, I'm not in such a great mood today." She explained.
"Yeah well Snape isn't either." The redhead pointed over to the head table where the Head of Slytherin was standing in front of the Headmaster and waving a magazine in front of the old man's face arguing strongly on a particular subject and pointing across the hall right at Harry whom had sighed chewing the last of his breakfast and swallowing before he made his way over to where the Potions Master was standing.
"What crawled up his arse and died today?" Ginny asked referring to Snape and took a nibble of her toast after getting shrugs from the others.
"Is the Headmaster's beard on fire or are you just waving that magazine around to ward the flies off of him Professor?" Harry smirked getting under his most hated Professor's skin was so easy sometimes.
"Detention tonight after classes for disrespecting your teacher and 20 points from Gryffindor." Harry could plainly see the man was not in a good mood and didn't even hesitate to take points from his house and issue a detention.
"Consider it a date then, should I bring flowers or chocolate which do you prefer? Or maybe I should surprise you?" He teased but received even worse a punishment when Snape gave him two detentions and deducted another twenty points now making Harry full out scowl.
//Right I'll just bring a lump of coal then, perhaps even pliers so you have an easier time getting whatever stick that's up your arse.\\ he thought and rolled his eyes. Two seats from the Headmaster, Remus picked up the magazine Snape lay down on the table and started reading the articles below each of his photo's and looking at all of his pictures before chuckling amusedly.
"You know Harry, Snuffles signed up with the same company around your age. Ironic how you look so much alike now." He snickered and added. "Nice trunks by the way." When he reached the photo taken on the beach and laughed when the teenager blushed slightly.
"Thanks Professor I was going to show them to Professor Dumbledore since he's been telling me how it's hard to find a good pair of trunks these days." With a pleased smile on his face Albus leaned over Minerva to look at the picture and raised and speculated it for a moment.
"You're right." And Snape believing that the Headmaster was talking to him gave a pleased smirk, which abruptly fell when the next part of the old man' s sentence came out. "They are nice trunks but black is more your color Mr. Potter, perhaps something a bit more brighter for myself like maybe a nice orange or even red and gold pair."
Grinning from ear to ear he nodded and scooped the magazine up from next to Professor Mcgonangal's plate whom was staring unabashedly at it.
"I'll see what I can do about those gold and red trunks Professor in the mean time I have some things to take care of." Before he was able to walk off Remus called him back and gave him a sheet of parchment.
"Here," Remus said and let Harry take the paper from his hand before explaining. "It's from Snuffles, I brought him to the Hospital Wing so Madame Pomfrey can keep an eye on him, feel free to visit. Oh and make sure to read that as soon as you're alone, it's highly important." He smiled winking at his student.
Nodding appreciatively Harry headed up to the Ravenclaw table to return the magazine back to its proper owner. Craning his neck and spotting Mandy Brockhurst amongst a group of other girls all laughing and gossiping about one thing or another he had an idea and took out a blue pen from his pocket that he kept around for emergencies. Quickly he signed the picture of himself at the beach wearing the black Calvin Klien swimming trunks. Now underneath his picture was written,
Dear Mandy- Hope you liked this month's issue. -James Black (AKA Harry Potter)
Striding up to her he came up from behind and dropped the magazine face up on her lap carefully with the autographed picture out in the open for her to see. "Enjoy!" he said before walking off and hearing an excited murmur from the Ravenclaw table.
He didn't even bother to let Hermione apologize as he walked past the table not even giving her a second glance. She would have to endure for the guilt for a little while before he decided to forgive. Instead he was headed to the infirmary where his godfather and Gabrielle were being treated at the moment.
By nine o'clock in the morning Gabrielle's eyelids slowly fluttered open and revealing unfocused blue/gray eyes. Rubbing at her weary eyes with her hands she sat up yawning lightly and sniffled. Her nose felt clogged like she had a cold and her sinuses ached slightly.
//It's probably because I cried so much yesterday.\\ she reasoned and looked down at her right hand where the heavy platinum ring with the onyx lightening bolt still adorned her middle finger. It gleamed as a bright ray of sunlight hit it and for a moment she thought she heard her hero's voice somewhere near by. But she cast that thought back fully knowing he couldn't come to visit her everyday.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a vase with two long-stem roses in it, one red rose and one white. The most beautiful roses she'd ever seen, they were so perfect. The petals were all symmetric and young, they looked like silk and she couldn't resist the urge to lean over and smell their fragrances.
Sweet, they smelled so sweet. Just like she imagined Smoke would if he weren't covered in blood and dirt. Speaking of Smoke it looked like he left her a note by the vase. Folded in half and placed carefully with her name scrawled on it in a messy scrawl it pulled to her until she finally picked it up to read it.
Dear Gabby, The red rose is for the loss of your sister. May she go on to the next greatest adventure in the after life and always be remembered in this life. She was a great person and I feel honored by just having known her as well as I am to know you. The white rose is for your survival. May you live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment of it. Your sister would have wanted you to live and be happy. I know for a fact that she loved you more than anything else in her life. Remember she'll always be watching over you. I'll visit soon and I'll be there for you when you need me the most. If you do need ever need me then you may use the ring to communicate with me in emergencies. Just rub the onyx three times and call for Smoke.
Your faithful friend, Smoke
Gripping the letter close to her chest she let out a strangled sob and shut her eyes holding back a torrent of tears that threatened to escape her.
//He cares for me, and he knew Fluer. Yet I still don't know who he is.\\ While thinking about his hidden identity she let the clue that he gave her the other day play over and over in her head.
'We once took a swim at the bottom of the lake.' He had told her, but what did he mean by that. She rarely went swimming and certainly not with anyone other than her family. It only took a moment to hit her in the head before she rolled over and buried her head in her pillow to quiet her reawakening cries. The last of her family had actually died and she had nowhere to go now. Would they send her to an orphanage or throw her out on the street? She thought making her weep even more loudly.
Gabrielle eventually cried herself to sleep, the letter from Smoke still clutched in her hand and pressed against the spot over her heart.
Later on when a weary Poppy Pomfrey entered to check on her young patient her heart ached and went out to the girl, who's face was still a pale covered with tear tracks that ran down her cheeks starting from her pale eyelashes.
"Poor child." She murmured turning the girl over on her back and readjusting the blankets on top pf her in a more comfortable position. When rearranging the girl she noticed the blondes arm fell limply over the edge of the bed. Bringing the girls arm back up to her side she noticed something familiar. A ring, a platinum ring with an onyx symbol. Something that she had seen many times before.
"Well Mr. Potter it seems you are indeed a true hero. I do hope you know what you're doing." She whispered to the air smiling faintly and swearing an oath to take this secret to her grave if she had to.
Before walking back out and leaving the grieving blonde to sleep she placed a single piece of parchment that had fallen to the floor back into the girls curled up fist.
Harry was met with the familiar sanitized smell once he entered the hospital wing and the whitewashed walls that have been permanently imbedded into his memory. Making his way to the very back of the ward to where the emergency and protected enclosures stood he couldn't see Madame Pomfrey anywhere. He figured that Sirius would be at the very last room as to avoid being seen.
For a few moments Harry considered going in to see Gabrielle but instead decided to go see her after he beat the living day lights out of his godfather for going into a battle where both sides of the field would gang up on him.
Tapping on the door lightly he waited until he received a hoarse "Come in." from the other side.
"You know you should really wait until you know who it is you're letting in Sirius, you've almost gotten yourself killed and caught enough times for me to bear." Harry teased him and stepped into the room to sit by his godfather's bed.
For a few minutes the older man propped up by pillows just stared at him. "Merlin," was all he said first then began to speak in wonder. "I feel like I'm staring at my past self except with a few changes."
"Oh that's all you can say, huh? There's no 'how are you Harry?' Or 'It's good to see you.' In there some where?" He joked and playfully punched his godfather's arm. "Besides I'm confused already with all of this so don't confuse me any farther by saying I look like you for some unknown reason."
"Harry?" the older man asked almost hesitantly. "Great Gryffindor," he gasped. "Why do you look like that?" Sirius stared at him almost unbelievingly letting his eyes travel over the boy searching for some fault to tell him that this was not his godson. But once he looked into those emerald pools the boy inherited from his mother he knew this could only be one person. This could only be his best friend's son, and his godson.
Shrugging Harry answered as truthfully as possible. "If I knew I would have told you." Deep inside him the questions to his strange appearance were whirling and struggling to find some kind of answer. Unlike most things though the library wouldn't help him on this subject.
"I've been wondering why for god knows how long. I was planning to ask you but I wanted to do it in person and in order to do that I had to wait until you were done with whatever Dumbledore sent you to do." //I had to wait until Dumbledore was done sending you out on suicide missions.// he thought to himself angrily.
Bowing his head sadly the older man sighed shaking his head indicating that he couldn't tell the young man before him anything about his missions. "I've been busy Harry, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I wish so badly that I could be here for you."
"Don't beat yourself up over it." Harry said trying to bring some comfort to the older man. "I know that you're out scouting for the Headmaster, we all have to do things for the war and I perfectly understand."
Nodding and smiling feebly Sirius held out his hand top his godson beckoning him closer. When his godson got up from his place on the chair near him and took the offered hand he tugged until the younger man knelt down before drawing him into a tight hug.
"Its good to see you kiddo, how long has it been like five months? I'm sorry I couldn't visit in that long."
Burying his face in the man's shoulder Harry murmured softly to him. "There's no need to apologize I thought we've already gone over that, but I'm glad you're here now." Sighing he sat down on the edge of the bed still clinging to the only person whom would never turn his back on him. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until Harry's back started to ache from that position and he gently moved from the embrace and sat back into the chair he was previously in.
"You know." Harry told him. "I should kill you for going into the Beaxbatons battle like that because I may never have gotten to see you at all if you were killed there!" he nearly yelled making Sirius wince and look towards him apologetically.
"But I wasn't killed." He tried to defend himself.
"Nearly! And if your hide wasn't saved by that Smoke character then you'd be buried a convict. Don't you ever scare me like that again do you understand?!"
"Yes." Sirius murmured bowing his head for a few minutes until he remembered he was the adult there and stared indignantly at his godson.
"What about you!?" he croaked back his voice still raspy and despite the fact that he was being yelled at Harry filled a glass with water from a pitcher by the bedside table and handed it to the man who gladly accepted it.
"What about me?" he asked almost afraid that either Remus or Moody had spilled his secret to Sirius just because they believed he deserved to know.
"Well Dumbledore tells me you've been missing a lot and acting suspiciously ever since the beginning of fifth year. Now don't get me wrong I know you aren't a Death Eater but it still makes me wonder what you do with all that extra time."
"It's simple I just don't like being watched like a hawk so I go out and do things, I have a job during the summer and the holidays, sometimes on the weekends, I go out with girls, I study, I play Quittich, practice Quittich, make new plays for the team, take care of my Perfects duties and a few other things." He said listing each one off a finger and leaving off the 'other things' he does.
"You know that it's dangerous to just go out by yourself. I understand you want your freedom but we're all concerned for your safety. " Sirius chastised him and set down his half empty glass of water.
"I can take care of myself so don't worry," he said and changed the subject hastily. "Besides don't you want to know what job I got?"
"Fine." The older man sighed and was prepared to listen if it weren't for his door opening and admitting Remus who strode in with a wide grin on his face and something rolled kind of newspaper or something along those lines rolled up in one of his hands.
"Oh Sirius you'll never believe what Prongs Jr. has been doing over the summers!" Harry's ears perked up and he stared wide-eyed at the lyncanthrope.
//He wouldn't!\\ he screamed inside his head. He was getting really paranoid that someone would mention him being Smoke to Sirius now.
Unrolling what he had in his hand and flipping through a few pages Remus chuckled. "I borrowed this off of a Ravenclaw girl after Snape had confiscated it and tried to get Harry expelled for its contents."
Hearing his teacher say that he relaxed partially but his face flamed in embarrassment from what his godfather was about to see.
"Here." Once he found the correct page Remus handed the magazine to his best friend and watched as the young man sitting next to him turned as red as a Weasley and suddenly became interested in his shoes.
Waiting a few moments they both heard the rustle of pages being turned and the murmurs of Sirius repeating "James Black" over and over again and looking from picture to picture of Harry in awe before looking over the magazine toward the boy and grinning when coming upon a particularly interesting one.
"Nice trunks Harry, you should show these to Dumbledore he's been ranting about proper swimming trunks for god knows how long." Sirius said and broke out into full out laughter then clutching and sputtering from the pain in his bruised ribs.
"Yeah he already saw and I promised him a pair of red and gold ones like that." He smiled and shook his head thinking about the mystery that the Headmaster would always be. He didn't even realize that his voice was sorrowful and empty, his mind on other things like the war and the Headmasters involvement in it.
"Harry?" his godfather whispered feeling that there was something the boy was hiding. "Is there something else you're not telling me?" he pleaded with his brown eyes.
He didn't want to lie to the man but it was necessary for his and Sirius' safety. If someone got a hold that his godfather even knew who the mysterious Smoke was then things could be disastrous whatever motive the person suspecting him had. But Remus' eyes urged him on pushing for him to tell the truth. The other man was clearly saying, 'Either you tell him or I will, he deserves to know' with his eyes.
Sighing her slumped in his chair defeated and exhausted. //Fine\\ he thought //I'll tell him but it won't be pretty once I do.\\
"Fine you win but I think once you hear this you won't like it very much and I don't want you to do anything rash, okay, just lye still and calm. Got it?"
"Harry," the older man said hesitantly already dreading what he might hear. "You're scaring me and by the looks of it I'm gathering Moony already knows whatever secret your covering up." He glanced furrowing his eyebrows worriedly towards both other men in the room.
"My job isn't the only reason I've been missing lately." He said quietly and watched as Sirius tensed up in the bed and almost shot right out demanding an explanation.
"Oh and exactly what is the other reason?" he started breathing rather heavily and Harry had to put a calming hand on his shoulder pushing him back down so he rested his head comfortably on the pillow.
"Calm down before you give yourself a hernia, I haven't become a Death Eater or dabbled in the Dark Arts." //So okay that's a lie I have dabbled in the dark arts but for light purposes so it wouldn't be considered dark then.\\
Nodding his godfather relaxed considerably but still remained nervous and on the edge of his nerves.
"Sirius," he began but lost the nerve to admit the truth to his godfather causing him to pause and start over again. After all it wasn't everyday you told your godfather that you are a ninja mage battling against Voldemort. "Sirius I."
Gabrielle lay in bed for a little while after she woke up in a different position and read her note several more times before deciding it was time for her to do something. The Death Eaters were responsible for the death of her sister and she wanted revenge. But before she could have that she needed to gather the energy to at least stand on her feet steadily. Putting the note in her pajama pocket and raising herself on her elbows Gabrielle was able to bring herself painfully to a sitting position, her ribs and some other bones that had been recently healed were still very sore.
Pressing the soles of her feet against the cold stone floors she pushed down against the mattress with her arms bringing herself to her feet rather quickly and immediately getting dizzy. Swaying a bit she walked unsteadily out of her curtained off area and into the main wards hallway.
Recently the hospital wing has been enlarged thanks to the war and the destruction of St. Mungos. Hogwarts now employed half of the St. Mungos staff to treat people injured and brought to Hogwarts after a battle.
The air was chilly and it suddenly sent a feeling of giddiness and more dizziness into the blonde's head making her look down to be sure that her feet were planted firmly on the ground. Indeed they were but even through her muddled brain she spotted slightly dirty footprints on the white tiled floor leading deeper into the hospital wing. They weren't Madame Pomfrey's either, they were too big to be Madame Pomfrey's, and they were definitely a male's footprints.
Unsteadily she followed them, moving her hand up against the wall as she went further into the hospital ward where the beds were no longer curtained off but separated into smaller rooms for more serious ailments and highly injured patients. There was a bunch of expensive equipment in every room like the kind she had seen in St. Mungos when her father had died of a dark burn a Death Eater had shot at him. That was also before the hospital was destroyed by Voldemort's forces.
Looking back on it now Gabrielle realized that she had never given much speculation to the war until her family had gotten involve in it. The whole conflict just used to seem so far away from her and her interests, she had always figured that one day it would end and everyone would live happily ever after. But there was never a happily ever after for the Delacours, never a happily ever after for all the families that lost loved ones, and there was never a happily ever after for Harry Potter, who's parents were killed when he was a baby and whom the Dark Lord was now chasing, the boy that had pulled her from the lake back when the Triwizard Tournament was being hosted.
//THE LAKE!\\ she mentally slapped herself feeling like the dimmest person in existence for not realizing it earlier. //A SWIM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE\\ Looking down at the ring on her hand she focused on the onyx lightening bolt and almost leapt into the air with excitement. //He's saved me twice already!\\ she thought.
Gabrielle wanted to turn back and find him, surely her savior would be somewhere in Hogwarts being in his final year. God it was still hard to believe that it was him, it had to be him, she reasoned. She was about to spin on her heel and make her way out of the hospital wing when she heard voices, murmuring voices. Inching closer she realized there was someone in the very last hospital room. But why in the very last one while the ones closer were empty?
Leaning against the door and putting her ear against it she listened carefully to the murmuring voices. From what she could tell there were three, all males. There was something familiar about one of them she couldn't tell who it was but it was familiar.
"Sirius, you're going to kill me for this but right now I'm going to put a little faith in you, well not much faith but enough to believe you won't attack me." Glancing at anything but his godfather Harry fidgeted in his chair uneasily and wrung his hands.
"Harry."the older man growled threateningly.
Outside the room Gabrielle gasped in surprise. //Harry? As in Harry Potter? Is that why he sounds so familiar? Yes he sounds just like Smoke.\\she thought in excitement already feeling butterflies in her stomach that made her a bit dizzy. //But who's the other man, he called him Sirius. The only Sirius I've heard of was Sirius Black, but if that's him then why would he be talking to that murderer?\\ she thought now bewildered as everything in her head began to jumble and confuse her.
From his position next to Harry, Remus sighed and rolled his eyes at both of them. He couldn't believe how long this was taking. Harry had jumped into fighting dozens of Death Eaters and Voldemort plenty of times yet the young man could not tell his own godfather he was a ninja mage.
"Harry why don't you just tell him if worst comes to worst I'll restrain him." He said and chuckled from the glare his friend gave him.
"Come on Remus you obviously know just tell me one of you it's not like I'm going to bite your heads off, it can't be that bad." The darker haired man whined then added more viciously. "At least it better not be that bad."
Gabrielle couldn't take it any longer; she had to find out if it was really him. Bracing herself she turned the doorknob and burst into the room violently. Immediately spotting a young man who was talking to the two older men earlier. She was nearly prepared to leave when she felt a sudden torrent of sneezes building up in her nose.
"Atchoo!" she sneezed once softly and rubbed the bridge of her nose to keep the next at bay, but no such luck as she sneezed a second time just as softly making it sound more like a kitten sneezing rather than a person. "Atchoo!"
It had caught the attention of the other occupants of the room. Now all three of their gazes were focused on the blonde. As they watched her in shock she looked towards the youngest one of the men and assumed it was her noticing the small lightening bolt scar on her forehead. Smiling somewhat nervously she made towards him but found her legs were still weak and she tripped falling to her knees in front on him.
"Gabrielle?" Harry whispered and immediately gripped her lightly by the arms and pulled her up so she could sit in the seat he had vacated. "Gabrielle what are you doing here, out of bed for that matter? Madame Pomfrey is going to be furious with you." He scolded her fully realizing he was giving himself away. He was still in a state of shock, his mind processing a hundred thoughts a second and telling him that the girl already knew. He saw it in her eyes, she had figured out the puzzle and found him. Now he just hoped she wouldn't give his identity away.
The other two men watched them with some trepidation, Sirius especially whom was cautious with people tried not to meet the girl's eyes.
"It's you." She whispered faintly still not believing it and clutched at his arms, which were still holding her up in the chair. "You saved me yesterday, and you saved me two years ago. You're Smoke, I know now. Thank you." She said staring deep into his bright green eyes and stretched her neck to lightly kiss him on the cheek making him blush again and release her arms as if they were on fire. It seemed that she had given him away but perhaps it was better this way, after all Sirius needed to know.
From his position on the bed Sirius shot up right and wide-eyed. "What did she just call you?" he gripped the sheets hard in his clenched fists.
"Smoke." Remus answered for him coming closer and pushing the other man down so he wasn't in a sitting position. "And for god's sake Sirius lay down before you get a stroke and leave Harry without a godfather." Sending a half-hearted glare at Remus and complying he refuse to believe that his godson was the ninja mage Smoke.
By now Sirius had grabbed the young girls attention and she stared frozen and wide-eyed for a minute, her brain stuck in a state of fear and shock. Her mouth slowly opened ready to scream at the top of her lungs when a warm hand clamped down over her lips gently but firmly. She was going to try and pry the hand off when a soft reassuring voice whispered to her.
"Shhh, calm down Gabby." Harry whispered. "If you promise not to scream I'll take my hand away, alright?"
With her eyes still bulging she nodded faintly and gave an affirmative "mmmph." Through his hand.
Slowly Harry released the pressure between his hand and her mouth before he let go completely and spoke again. "Do you trust me Gabby?"
Hesitantly Gabrielle kept her eyes on Sirius but nodded, her posture stiff and her mind and body ready to jump to action at the slightest of moves.
"Then you'll have to trust him. He's not a murderer I know that for a fact, I've seen the proof with my own eyes and even if you haven't I want you to know that this man right here," Harry pointed to Sirius before continuing. "If it weren't for him I'd be dead. Sirius Black never betrayed or killed anyone, he was framed. So if you could I'd like you to give him a chance." He peered into her light blue/silver eyes searching for some kind of answer and showing the sincerity in his own green ones.
"I don't understand how." She said afraid to go against everything she was ever taught and told about the man that lay in the hospital bed staring at his own hands.
"It's a long story Gab but you have to believe me, trust me when I say he was framed by another man, trust me when I say he is innocent, and trust me when I say that he has helped save many lives since the war started and even before it. Will you trust me?" He waited for her to think it over all the while he just stared at her, boring his gaze into hers.
Relaxing slowly she Inhaled and exhaled for a moment and nodded again. "Right now I don't really know who to trust, I have no one left to trust but you." She said. "But if you trust him then I shall as well."
Beaming with all his might he introduced her to both men. "You really don't know how much this means to me Gab. I'd like you to meet my godfather Sirius Black, and the best Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts has ever seen, Professor Remus Lupin." He gestured to each one of them as he explained who they were.
Chuckling Remus shook his head. "You put me on too high a pedestal Harry I think there have been much better teachers to step into this school."
"Give yourself a little more credit Remus, you're the best one I've had so far at least and not only far more trustworthy than all the others but also quite a bit more sane."
"Only a bit more sane?" The lyncanthrope pretended to be hurt and put a hand over his heart. "What happened to all the rest of my sanity then?"
"I think Padfoot drove it away." Harry said sticking his tongue out at his godfather playfully who threw a pillow at him and huffed good-naturedly.
"I did not! I think Moony's just had a little too much exposure to Snape since he's working with the grease ball again."
"Speaking of Severus," Remus spoke. "I believe our Harry here has gotten into a spot of trouble with him." At this point Sirius raised an eyebrow urging his friend on to tell him more which Remus was all to happy to tell him about how he managed to receive two dentions and 40 points off Gryffindor. Sirius honestly didn't know whether to laugh at his godson's antics or scowl at Snape's wish to get the boy expelled.
It was then that Gabrielle noticed the magazine that had fallen off Sirius' lap onto the floor. Picking it up she flipped through the pages and giggled when coming to one particular page.
"Oo-la-la!" She exclaimed and giggled into again pointing to the picture of Harry in his trunks. "Nice trunks Harry!"
"Arrgh! Won't this ever blow over or am I going to be taunted for that for the rest of my life?" He moaned burying his face in his hands and turning a bright red color.
"No I think you're going to be taunted by it for the rest of your life, especially if you give it back to Ms. Brockhurste." Remus teased him and beside him Sirius still wasn't letting go of the Smoke issue.
"I think that magazine will be the least of his problems once I'm done with him! I mean how could you put yourself in that much danger?! You know what I don't want to know because I still don't believe your Smoke."
Raising one of his dark eyebrows at his godfather Harry gave him a speculating look. "Honestly Sirius what else do you expect me to do? I don't see the Ministry doing anything, I don't see the Order of the Phoenix doing anything, and I sure as hell don't see anyone else doing a goddamn thing to stop Voldemort. Well guess what I found a solution." He said and pulled up on the chain around his neck to expose the lightening bolt pendant at the end of it.
"Recognize this?" he asked displaying the pendant.
It took a few moments of the other man staring at the piece of jewelry to cast his eyes down and nod. He had seen it before. He remembered being assaulted by curses and hexes from every which direction. He tried to dodge and block some but there was no use it seemed everyone was after his skin and he was struck multiple times. He remembered falling to the ground in pain, believing it was the end, that he would die a convict, die a murderer. But then a figure came, a tall figure in black warded everyone off with a katana and his wand before kneeling before him and using that same onyx lightening bolt pendant to transport them to the cottage he was hiding out in. It truly was him and there was nothing Sirius could do about it because deep down he knew, knew it was his godson whom would have to save them all from Voldemort.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't protect him with all his might still. That didn't mean that he wouldn't try and be a good godfather. And that sure didn't mean he wouldn't fight along side him.
Trying to change the subject he turned to the slender blonde girl that sat in the chair beside his bed listening to them speak. He hadn't spoken once to her really, at least nothing more than a "Nice to meet you." Swallowing the lump in his throat he spoke up as gently as possible so he wouldn't scare her any further than he already had.
"So Gabrielle, how did you find us here?"
"I followed the footprints that led to here." She said all the while clutching at the ring that she wore.
"Footprints?" Remus furrowed his brows. "It's impossible to leave footprints in the hospital ward, the floors and walls are sanitized to clean those up before they're even made.
Shrugging she answered truthfully albeit still curious herself. "Well they weren't ordinary footprints, they were bright orange." Of course at the time she did find them rather odd but if they led a certain way then she would follow.
"Orange you said?" Harry smacked himself on the forehead and laughed at himself sarcastically. "This is not my day!"
"Why what's so bad about orange footprints, well besides the obvious of course?" she asked.
"The ring." He pointed to the one he asked her to look after. "I charmed the ring so the wearer could track recently made prints and I forgot to take that enchantment off."
Looking closer and squinting slightly Sirius cried out suddenly. "Hey that's one of the quarter family rings!"
"Quarter family what?" The other three said in unison.
"The quarter family rings that have been passed down from the founders themselves to their predecessors. I had one almost like it before I was taken to Azkaban and so did Myron McKenzie and another family, I can't remember the last one though it was something starting with an "R"." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully trying to recall who was it that had the last ring. "Was it Roffle? No. Ummm.Reynolds? No. Riddley...Riddlum...RIDDLE!! That's it was the Riddle family." He exclaimed triumphantly and both Harry and Remus went deathly pale.
"S-S-i-i-rius." Remus stuttered, his eyes wide and panicked. "Please tell me you didn't just say Riddle."
"Of course I said Riddle. What's the matter with Thomas Riddle? Well besides the fact that he's dead, along with the rest of the Riddles, the Mckenzys, and come to think of it I'm the only surviving Black, and Harry's the only surviving Potter." Sirius was no longer his bubbly self instead he took on a haunted look, his eyes darkened and became glassy, his fist clenched and unclenched until he finally spoke breaking the thick silence in the room.
"And I know exactly who killed them all.Voldemort." He snarled bitterly punching the mattress under him.
"Sirius, it's impossible for the Riddles to be part of the quarter families, they were muggles not a drop of magic in them." His godson reasoned still in a haze as to what the quarter families actually were let alone their rings.
"No, they came from a long line of Squibs. Descending from Slytherin I believe. Now Mckenzy descended from Hufflepuff but I have no idea what happened to him. Last I heard he moved to Marseilles, France. Dumbledore keeps accounts on the quarter families though."
Gabrielle wrinkled her nose slightly trying to find something familiar that she'd heard about Mckenzy. "I think I've heard of Mckenzy before.we used to live in Marseilles."
Now getting everyone's attention Gabrielle sat and searched her mind for some clue as to who the man was and whether of not she met him. "I know a Ronnie Mckenzy, he's my uncle on my mother's side." She said still deep in thought until she heard someone talk.
"That's what we all called him! Ron or Ronnie as in Myron." Remus said but then the realization hit him. "That would mean that Voldemort was after your sister and you. I think he wants the remaining quarter families dead."
"That much is obvious." Harry murmured and turned back to his godfather seeking more answers. "And since Riddle is the Slytherin descendant, Gabby the Hufflepuff, then I'm guessing I'm the Gryffindor and you're the Ravenclaw?" he inquired and the older man nodded affirming his suspicion.
"How did you guess?" he asked.
"Simple, in my second year I took the Gryffindor sword out of the Sorting hat. Dumbledore told me that only a true Gryffindor could take it, back then I wasn't reading too deeply into that but now it makes sense."
Furrowing his brows Sirius looked a smidge confused. "What did you need the sword for?"
It was then that Harry realized that he still hadn't told his godfather about his second year and proceeded to tell all of them the events down in the Chamber of Secrets. Of course their curiosity led to his other years as well. Ranging from his first where he rescued the Philosophers stone all the way to the present year where he now fought against the dark forces using simple charms, advanced curses and hexes, minuscule use of the Dark Arts, which had resulted in a screaming match from Sirius, and fighting techniques.
"So you see my life isn't the piece of cake that the reporters all make it out to be. Ever since I was 11 years old I've been struggling to survive and I bet I'll still be struggling for a good deal longer." He sighed raking a hand through his hair and pulling it back into a ponytail, which he tied with a ribbon that he kept in his pocket.
All of a sudden Sirius spoke rather loudly making his words echo off the white washed walls nearly startling them. "Wait a minute, for some reason our dear Headmaster seems to be playing an enormous role in your life. Harry if I didn't know any better I'd say he's setting you up for something. And after all these years he still doesn't think you're ready to know the truth about why you survived, about why Voldemort was after you in the first place." He paused for a breath thinking about the old man's role in everything. "Something smells foul in Hogwarts and I know for sure it's not only Snape's breath."
They sat ion silence before Remus broke the silence snorting. "Honestly Padfoot couldn't you lay off Severus for one moment?"
"Why Moony? It's not like he's your secret lover or anything." The other man laughed. "At least I hope not my sleep depends on knowing that Snape is and always will be an overgrown bat. See it puts me to rest knowing that the grease ball won't get layed in this decade before me." Grinning from ear to ear Sirius tried to deflect the pillow Remus threw at him only to be smacked in the face with it.
Getting back on topic Harry shrugged. "I agree that Dumbledore is keeping something from me but I think I already have some idea what it is." He said morosely.
"You're connection with Voldemort?" Remus asked and received a bitter nod in return. Trying to reassure him the lyncanthrope looked for something positive to say finally coming up with something that would help sooth the boy's godfather as well, whom was on the edge of his nerves trying vainly not to combust.
"Surely it will go away once the Dark Lord is defeated."
Barking a short laugh he shook his head bitterly again. "It's not that easy Remus. I have a theory about our connection. I think that when I was a baby and Voldemort shot the killing curse at me I somehow not knowingly pulled on the magic he used to send it with tying it to my own in desperation to stay alive. Then the curse rebounded because part of him was already in me and you all know that it's impossible to send the Killing Curse at yourself so it shot back at him sucking away at his magic and body until he was nothing but a mere shadow. My theory is that Voldemort only survived because of his connection with me. He fed off of my magic reserve little by little until he was reborn. And I feed off of him in my greatest need. So you see we depend on each other."
Searching frantically for a way out of this theory, searching for another possible answer Sirius' heartbeat increased dramatically as his breathing became harsh. Harsh enough that Remus had to perform a slight tranquilizing charm to calm him before he hurt himself.
"That's not true Harry! There has to be some other explanation. Some other way." His godfather argued with him. And Gabrielle joined in pleading for him to say it was all a joke. She may have not known much about his whole situation but she understood what he meant. The only way Voldemort would die was if Harry died himself.
"Harry." tears sprung up in her eyes as she pleaded with the young man. "Please, tell me it isn't true, tell me you're wrong, that it's only a hunch. Please."
Although he was convinced himself that his life would be short, short because of a monster that society created, he couldn't say he was one hundred percent sure. It would bring immense comfort for them all to know it was a hunch, then that way nobody would feel sorry for him. Nobody would have to share his burden; they would be able to breath freely and focus on their own lives.
"Well it is only a theory, I can either be one hundred percent right or one hundred percent wrong. It's a 50/50 chance Gabby, so don't worry I'll probably end up burning old Voldie's arse to the ground and still come out alive, then I guess you could go ahead and laugh at me." Smiling he ruffled her hair affectionately messing up her long silver/blonde hair.
"But one thing's for sure Gab, whatever happens someone has to bring that monster down. So don't feel sorry for me, there's a very good chance I'll live. For now though I'd rather we focus on the casualties that we've suffered at Beaxbatons." Glancing back to Remus whom was probably the only one in the room to know how many people they lost he inquired of the Order's records.
"You wouldn't happen to know how many died yesterday would you Moony?"
"Albus told me about 250 Aurors and 3,654 staff under the Beaxbatons collapse. Thank Merlin it wasn't 3,655." He said referring to Gabrielle. The numbers were great, greater than in any of the previous battles taken place in the past. There were so many innocent lives wasted that it burned at your heart just to know that you survived, survived the previous massacres and showdowns.
The room was silent for what seemed to be hours but only lasted less than five minutes. Each occupant sat mourning the dead and boiling in anger. Revenge was the only thing running through each of their heads except for one; Harry was not out for revenge this time. There was a greater triumph that could be brought around and he would accomplish his task. He had to protect his friends and loved ones and he would use any means necessary to do so. He would keep Voldemort from reaching his goal by protecting his godfather and Gabrielle.
Thinking of her he still didn't know why Gabrielle had come to find him.
"Gabby you didn't answer my question earlier, why are you out of bed in the first place when you could barely walk. You should be resting, you've been through quite a bit."
Looking at him with her large blue/silver eyes she tried to keep the tears that pushed to leak out away. "I want revenge Harry. I want them to pay for what they did to my family and friends. I want you to teach me to fight like you; I can help you if you let me. Please." She begged.
All Harry could do was stare at her blankly. Absolutely nothing went through his mind as he continued staring at her. Taking into account her desperate watery eyes, her fragile body, her tear stained face, and her trembling lip. And like a ton of bricks it smashed him upside the head and he already knew his answer.
***********************************AUTHOR'S NOTE***********************************
Hey everyone! Sorry for the cliff hanger but I just had to leave it there. Well I think I have this chapter down even though I had some problems deciding a few things and I'm still a bit unsure about the result I believe I can work with it. I hope you all like the chapter since many of you (*coughs* maybe not so many) have requested for an update. Review and let me know what you think. Oh and before you say anything, no this is not one of those fics where Sirius is really Harry's father so rest assured that our boy-who-lived is still sadly without any real parents. But that may change!! Makes you wonder doesn't it?
Summary: Voldemort is at the height of his power once more, terrorizing both the Muggle and Wizarding World's he is considered unstoppable and ruthless. There is only one person left who can truly defeat him, a boy that the world has set on a pedestal. In his seventh year the boy is now a man and single handedly taking on the dark forces but are the people truly grateful to this mysterious warrior, or will he have to depend on another girl several years younger than him and a complete stranger to believe in him.
Rated: R (for adult content and some violence)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the talented Ms. Rowling does, and the WB has some rights to the series. I just write for the hell of it all, so don't sue. I don't have anything worth taking me to court over.
-Chapter Three- The Quarter Families
The next morning the sun rose early and shone brightly. Sometimes Harry felt like he could hear it coming up, singing a specific tune forgotten to all but nature. It was a peaceful, and mournful song that you could hear if you listened close enough. You could here the birds hailing its rising and the wolves mourning the moon's loss.
He heard it every single morning, since there simply weren't enough hours in the day his schedule consisted of getting up around five o'clock in the morning to go jogging, swimming laps in the lake, and then going to the fifth floor gym where the exercise mats were and the gymnastics equipment. The room adjoining it was the weight room where he also spent a good deal of his time.
Now thinking about it Harry felt it rather sad to leave those rooms unused. Since the wizarding community was so dependant on magic they have almost long forgotten what the body could do without it. And thus they would never expect a Ninja Mage to beat up a dozen Death Eaters on his lone self while an auror would be lucky to take two.
Ninja Mages weren't even all that common, the last reported sighting of one was from six hundred and fifty years ago during one of the Goblin Wars that involved a good chunk of the magical population to participate. And to become one on one's own would be quite an accomplish.
//Too bad I'm the only one, I could sure use some help sometimes.\\ he thought and sat up putting on a pair of gym shorts, a sleeveless shirt and trainers and quietly exiting his room.
Walking down the staircase Harry heard the squeak of a door opening and a faint breathing but he just stored it away in the back of his head and kept walking.
Hermione had been awake all night trying to figure out when Harry left common room in the mornings if not at night. Finally around five o'clock in the morning she heard faint sounds from the rooms next to her, which Harry occupied. To say the least she was a bit frightened to have him so close to her. There were many theories that went through her head about him. One was that he might be a Death Eater, or a spy in which case he was dangerous.
Quietly she got up from the chair she had been sitting in almost the whole night and stretched her cramped back and neck muscles. Grabbing the invisibility cloak she grabbed from his room when he was gone she opened the door peering through with one eye and noticing him walking out the common room. The door had squeaked on its hinges slightly and for a moment she was afraid he heard but seeing as Harry just calmly kept going she threw the cloak around her and followed him. Rounding several corners and climbing several flights of stairs before finally exiting the castle and jogging outside behind him trying to keep up.
It was rather odd he was in gym clothes, why would he go to a Death Eater meeting in gym clothes. The next thing she noticed was his bare arms. They seemed well built and muscled but despite two tattoos that he had from god knows where, there was no Dark Mark on him. The tattoos were on both his biceps. He must have gotten them at a muggle tattoo shop over the holidays, she figured since neither of them moved like wizarding ones. On his right arm he had a picture of a black and gray wolf, with eerie bright green eyes, a large one at that. It stood growling proud and tall and at its feet was a black/gray cloud of smoke swirling around with faces depicted in them, faces of screaming people. In fact they weren't even people they were just very good depicted heads with eyes, noses and mouths that looked like they were yelling in pain.
She shuddered slightly focusing off that particular tattoo and vaguely wondered if Harry made people scream like those faces in the smoke. Looking at the other one it seemed to be a Celtic band of some sort completing a circle on his bicep outlining his muscles perfectly. But what it seemed could have been different from what it really was, she heard from Ron that some of the aurors were discovering that a large number of Death Eaters have Dark Marks in other places than their forearm to hide them. Some even appear as different shapes but when certain spells are tested on them they react like the Mark.
Outside she followed him out to the Quittich pitch and sat in the stands watching perplexedly at him. She sat there stunned not really expecting what she was seeing at all. From her point of view, if she was correct, he was doing warm-ups. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and pull ups from the posts that made the bleachers up with. She watched for nearly half an hour as he jogged around the pitch, breaking a thin sweat. When he finished and sat down she thought that he'd be going in, but no he had enough energy for more.
As he jogged up to the lake she blushed as he stripped and jumped in starting to do laps in the cool water, oblivious to the many creatures inside its depths. After finishing his excruciating one hundred and fifty laps she saw Harry get out and this time rather than feel guilty about watching him dress or undress she simply turned away for a second to let him gather his clothes and put them on devoid his shirt which was used as a makeshift towel.
But that little moment when she turned away was all it took for him to disappear. Realizing he wasn't there anymore and she had no leads as to where he was going she swore silently while heading back to Gryffindor Tower to put his invisibility cloak where it was supposed to be before he noticed it missing.
Running through the halls Harry laughed to himself. Hermione was no good at spying he decided and hoped that she would choose a nice desk job when they left Hogwarts rather than an occupation as an Auror or Unspeakable like many were doing these days. Sure the invisibility cloak covered her well but any normal person would hear her a mile away thanks to not only her heavy breathing but also her boots made to much noise on the stone floor. And if you considered his situation he placed monitoring charms around himself so it gave him a sixth sense as to when someone was near or watching him excessively.
Up on the fifth floor Harry completed his morning exercises in the gym and weight room. Outdoing himself to the point where he was sore he got up releasing his hair from its pony tail and brushing his hands through it to get rid of any extra tangles that would be hard to get out in the shower he was about to take. He rubbed at his eyes to keep himself awake and thanked the lucky gods that he had decided to let Mad-eye Moody fix his eyes in his fifth year due to the fact that Harry kept losing duels to him because either his glasses kept breaking or kept getting knocked off his face. They were essentially a safety hazard. In truth he missed them though, they reminded him of his father. The glasses came with his image which was now gone.
Before going down to breakfast after cleaning up Harry had checked to make sure Hermione had put his invisibility cloak back into his trunk, which he then stored, in his secret compartment. It wouldn't due for her to keep sneaking in and stealing his things like that anymore.
By the time he was dressed and ready to face the world the common room was already buzzing with Gryffindors in a state of awareness or half in slumber. It was only eight thirty on a Sunday morning and half of the school would most likely be at breakfast.
On his way to the Great Hall Harry spotted a whole cluster of giggling girls whispering excitedly about something and some of them even jumping up and down squealing at something they were all looking at in the middle. Figuring he'd find out what all the commotion was and maybe even break the group up before they all went crazy from the way they were behaving he strode up and gulped paling at what he heard.
"Oh James Black is so dreamy! I was in muggle London this summer and while in a hair salon I bought this magazine to go over. It's called Calvin Klien Jeans, just in case you didn't know it holds muggle fashions and models. Anyways I usually skip to the top twenty-five hottest guys under twenty- five and he was on number one for half a year already! They've even dedicated twelve whole pages of his photo's and snap shots!" One of the girls squealed out to the others who all went mad with commotion.
Right about now Harry's stomach felt like it was melting and rising up his throat as he continued listening as one of the other girls practically caused him to have a heart attack.
"Hmm, he is dreamy but I think I've seen him somewhere. He certainly looks familiar that's for sure. Too bad he's only a muggle, imagine if he was some famous wizard and went to Hogwarts with us. I think I would die if that happened." A tall and skinny brown haired girl said and giggled along with the others.
//Nobody from the wizarding world was supposed to know! It was only a job that would put money in my pocket!\\ he mentally yelled and started sprinting down the hall. Now it would be out all over the school and eventually someone would recognize him.
It was on Christmas of last year that he had gone home to the Dursley's or at least said he was but ended up spending his holidays in muggle London where he was shopping in one of the main district malls when a man introduced himself as an agent for the London Modeling and Fashion Industry. He had received several compliments about his well-built and tall body. His exotic looks, the dark hair and tanned skin with bright green eyes made him look unique and pleasant to the eye. And he certainly couldn't blame himself for being pleased with himself and pleased that someone would appreciate him and a chance to have millions of others do so as well.
//After all we're all a little greedy. And being a male model in the muggle world wasn't nearly as exposing as it was being the boy-who-lived in the wizarding one.\\ So after accepting the man's offer and starting to work during the holidays and weekends he made up a fake name, James Black. A fake age, 18, and a whole new identity to use outside of the wizarding world, that way not many people would recognize him after he changed so dramatically from what he used to be. And the Dursley's wouldn't try to claim the money he made off of it because he hadn't gone back to them since right after fourth year. Instead each year he would use the money he made to travel, stay in hotels and add money to the Weasleys vault and Remus'.
He was fully aware that not many people would hire a werewolf and since Sirius couldn't access the money in his own vault the two of them had to live off of Remus whom barely had much. //And they think I'm a child! Please give me a break!\\ he thought. If he could take care of himself then he wasn't a child and he could definitely take care of Gabby as well.
Slowing down and looking back to where the group of girls stood his heart stopped for a fraction of a second when he saw Snape with the magazine in hand openly gaping at it and repeating something over and over again which looked like by the way he was moving his lips was, "Black has a son, thank the lucky gods the boy is probably a squib."
Relaxing a bit he smiled feebly. At least he wouldn't get yelled at in front of the Great Hall today, maybe tomorrow when he has his first class with the over grown bat. That minute it took him to relax and smile Harry realized that the greasy git of a Potions Master must have some kind of radar that went off when a student was happy, signaling for him to fully ruin their day because in that instant he was ready to turn away Snape's blank stare that was focused on him slowly turned into a bewildered expression, then to a mild scowl until it progressed into the venomous glare the students of Hogwarts all knew and loved. The glare that would make any muggle-born Hufflepuff first year soil their pants and go into a coma.
Harry was stuck like a deer in the headlights while Snape looked from the magazine back to him and blinking rapidly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He was hoping right now that if Snape did recognize him which he probably already did but his brain just didn't want to process it that the picture he was looking at wasn't the one where he was half naked.
That picture not only made him blush like mad while the photographers were trying to take it but it made him fidget to the point where he had to calm down before they could take any decent photographs. It was taken this July in Dover, Kent right on the beach on one of those sunny, rain free days. He remembered standing on the beach, dripping wet from just coming out of the water in Calvin Klien swimming trunks that sat low on his hips and went down to right above his knee. His expression was seductive and one of his hands was in his wet hair pushing it back.
Some part of him wished that his parents weren't looking down at him from heaven or wherever they were that day. He would have been extremely embarrassed if his mother had seen it. His father would have probably had a good laugh over it, but then again he only guessed so from all the things Sirius told him about his parents. And the way this was going he bet that this would get all the way back to his godfather eventually.
//5.4.3.\\ He started counting off the time it would take Snape to fully explode and haul him to the Headmaster's office. //2.1.\\
"POTTER!!!"
//Right on the dot.\\ he sighed and shook his head walking back to the group of girls whom clearly didn't want to leave without the magazine. Most if not all of them had recognized him now and were whispering and giggling in their own annoying way.
Waiting not so patiently with what seemed to be a permanent glare glued to his face the Potions Master held the picture he was looking at earlier out to Harry and tapped his foot.
Unfortunately luck was not with him that cheerful Sunday morning and Harry noticed the photograph was the one that he had been dreading the Potions Master would see.
"What is this Potter? Fame in the wizarding world just isn't enough you had to go pose nude in a muggle magazine?" the older man sneered.
"That is my summer job." Harry said without hesitation trying to play it cool and calm. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not naked in that snap shot, in fact I have a pair of swimming trunks on that I was advertising for Calvin Klien." Apparently Snape didn't want to be answered and abruptly yelled in his ear nearly making him go deaf.
"Are you talking back to me Potter? I have a feeling the Headmaster would be very interested in this." He said and made a move to grab the teenager by the collar of his shirt. Being Sunday Harry didn't even bother to wear robes like he usually did but instead wore a pair of loose fitting jeans that rode low on his hips and a black undershirt.
Ducking out of the way but continuing on to the Great Hall he shrugged. "I'm sure he would be interested, in fact just last June he told me that he could never find proper swimming trunks. You never know he may like them." With those last words he stepped through the great wooden doors and over to the Gryffindor table where Ron and Hermione were already sitting. Surveying the rest of the table he noticed there weren't many other seats open so hesitantly he approached them and sat himself next to Ron and now sat across from both Hermione and Ginny.
"Hi Ron. How are you? Find out my secret plan to take over the world yet or has Ginny told you about my little job that takes up most of my time?" Ginny he had noticed was one of the girl's in the crowd that were clustered around the magazine he was in. Hearing her name she looked up and immediately blushed while Hermione vehemently tried to get the information about Harry's job out of her. Finally relenting she told them about the magazine and his modeling career that took place on weekends and holidays.
To say the least the brunet had looked more than guilty when she found out where Harry went in his spare time and why he exercised so early in the morning.
"Why didn't you tell us then?" She demanded and all of a sudden looked angry.
"What's to tell?" he asked her and simply started piling food onto his plate.
"Plenty!" she screamed drawing half of the Great Hall to attention, but she was oblivious to it. "We're your best friends Harry, we deserve to know!"
Feeling a seething anger rise up inside of him he released the first words that came to mind feeling she deserved them. "As far as I'm concerned you don't deserve to know anything Hermione! Why do you need to know everything? Some things are better left unsaid. And with you snooping around in my things and following me in the mornings I would have thought you figured things out already."
Looking down and away from his face she focused on the tattoo of the wolf on his right arm where the eyes shone like Harry's own, large and vibrant. Squinting a little to look closer there was a faint discoloration on the wolf's forehead.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled trying to get her attention and waved his hand in front of her face.
"What?!" she snapped at him regretting it afterwards when his face became crestfallen and she apologized. "Sorry Ron, I'm not in such a great mood today." She explained.
"Yeah well Snape isn't either." The redhead pointed over to the head table where the Head of Slytherin was standing in front of the Headmaster and waving a magazine in front of the old man's face arguing strongly on a particular subject and pointing across the hall right at Harry whom had sighed chewing the last of his breakfast and swallowing before he made his way over to where the Potions Master was standing.
"What crawled up his arse and died today?" Ginny asked referring to Snape and took a nibble of her toast after getting shrugs from the others.
"Is the Headmaster's beard on fire or are you just waving that magazine around to ward the flies off of him Professor?" Harry smirked getting under his most hated Professor's skin was so easy sometimes.
"Detention tonight after classes for disrespecting your teacher and 20 points from Gryffindor." Harry could plainly see the man was not in a good mood and didn't even hesitate to take points from his house and issue a detention.
"Consider it a date then, should I bring flowers or chocolate which do you prefer? Or maybe I should surprise you?" He teased but received even worse a punishment when Snape gave him two detentions and deducted another twenty points now making Harry full out scowl.
//Right I'll just bring a lump of coal then, perhaps even pliers so you have an easier time getting whatever stick that's up your arse.\\ he thought and rolled his eyes. Two seats from the Headmaster, Remus picked up the magazine Snape lay down on the table and started reading the articles below each of his photo's and looking at all of his pictures before chuckling amusedly.
"You know Harry, Snuffles signed up with the same company around your age. Ironic how you look so much alike now." He snickered and added. "Nice trunks by the way." When he reached the photo taken on the beach and laughed when the teenager blushed slightly.
"Thanks Professor I was going to show them to Professor Dumbledore since he's been telling me how it's hard to find a good pair of trunks these days." With a pleased smile on his face Albus leaned over Minerva to look at the picture and raised and speculated it for a moment.
"You're right." And Snape believing that the Headmaster was talking to him gave a pleased smirk, which abruptly fell when the next part of the old man' s sentence came out. "They are nice trunks but black is more your color Mr. Potter, perhaps something a bit more brighter for myself like maybe a nice orange or even red and gold pair."
Grinning from ear to ear he nodded and scooped the magazine up from next to Professor Mcgonangal's plate whom was staring unabashedly at it.
"I'll see what I can do about those gold and red trunks Professor in the mean time I have some things to take care of." Before he was able to walk off Remus called him back and gave him a sheet of parchment.
"Here," Remus said and let Harry take the paper from his hand before explaining. "It's from Snuffles, I brought him to the Hospital Wing so Madame Pomfrey can keep an eye on him, feel free to visit. Oh and make sure to read that as soon as you're alone, it's highly important." He smiled winking at his student.
Nodding appreciatively Harry headed up to the Ravenclaw table to return the magazine back to its proper owner. Craning his neck and spotting Mandy Brockhurst amongst a group of other girls all laughing and gossiping about one thing or another he had an idea and took out a blue pen from his pocket that he kept around for emergencies. Quickly he signed the picture of himself at the beach wearing the black Calvin Klien swimming trunks. Now underneath his picture was written,
Dear Mandy- Hope you liked this month's issue. -James Black (AKA Harry Potter)
Striding up to her he came up from behind and dropped the magazine face up on her lap carefully with the autographed picture out in the open for her to see. "Enjoy!" he said before walking off and hearing an excited murmur from the Ravenclaw table.
He didn't even bother to let Hermione apologize as he walked past the table not even giving her a second glance. She would have to endure for the guilt for a little while before he decided to forgive. Instead he was headed to the infirmary where his godfather and Gabrielle were being treated at the moment.
By nine o'clock in the morning Gabrielle's eyelids slowly fluttered open and revealing unfocused blue/gray eyes. Rubbing at her weary eyes with her hands she sat up yawning lightly and sniffled. Her nose felt clogged like she had a cold and her sinuses ached slightly.
//It's probably because I cried so much yesterday.\\ she reasoned and looked down at her right hand where the heavy platinum ring with the onyx lightening bolt still adorned her middle finger. It gleamed as a bright ray of sunlight hit it and for a moment she thought she heard her hero's voice somewhere near by. But she cast that thought back fully knowing he couldn't come to visit her everyday.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a vase with two long-stem roses in it, one red rose and one white. The most beautiful roses she'd ever seen, they were so perfect. The petals were all symmetric and young, they looked like silk and she couldn't resist the urge to lean over and smell their fragrances.
Sweet, they smelled so sweet. Just like she imagined Smoke would if he weren't covered in blood and dirt. Speaking of Smoke it looked like he left her a note by the vase. Folded in half and placed carefully with her name scrawled on it in a messy scrawl it pulled to her until she finally picked it up to read it.
Dear Gabby, The red rose is for the loss of your sister. May she go on to the next greatest adventure in the after life and always be remembered in this life. She was a great person and I feel honored by just having known her as well as I am to know you. The white rose is for your survival. May you live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment of it. Your sister would have wanted you to live and be happy. I know for a fact that she loved you more than anything else in her life. Remember she'll always be watching over you. I'll visit soon and I'll be there for you when you need me the most. If you do need ever need me then you may use the ring to communicate with me in emergencies. Just rub the onyx three times and call for Smoke.
Your faithful friend, Smoke
Gripping the letter close to her chest she let out a strangled sob and shut her eyes holding back a torrent of tears that threatened to escape her.
//He cares for me, and he knew Fluer. Yet I still don't know who he is.\\ While thinking about his hidden identity she let the clue that he gave her the other day play over and over in her head.
'We once took a swim at the bottom of the lake.' He had told her, but what did he mean by that. She rarely went swimming and certainly not with anyone other than her family. It only took a moment to hit her in the head before she rolled over and buried her head in her pillow to quiet her reawakening cries. The last of her family had actually died and she had nowhere to go now. Would they send her to an orphanage or throw her out on the street? She thought making her weep even more loudly.
Gabrielle eventually cried herself to sleep, the letter from Smoke still clutched in her hand and pressed against the spot over her heart.
Later on when a weary Poppy Pomfrey entered to check on her young patient her heart ached and went out to the girl, who's face was still a pale covered with tear tracks that ran down her cheeks starting from her pale eyelashes.
"Poor child." She murmured turning the girl over on her back and readjusting the blankets on top pf her in a more comfortable position. When rearranging the girl she noticed the blondes arm fell limply over the edge of the bed. Bringing the girls arm back up to her side she noticed something familiar. A ring, a platinum ring with an onyx symbol. Something that she had seen many times before.
"Well Mr. Potter it seems you are indeed a true hero. I do hope you know what you're doing." She whispered to the air smiling faintly and swearing an oath to take this secret to her grave if she had to.
Before walking back out and leaving the grieving blonde to sleep she placed a single piece of parchment that had fallen to the floor back into the girls curled up fist.
Harry was met with the familiar sanitized smell once he entered the hospital wing and the whitewashed walls that have been permanently imbedded into his memory. Making his way to the very back of the ward to where the emergency and protected enclosures stood he couldn't see Madame Pomfrey anywhere. He figured that Sirius would be at the very last room as to avoid being seen.
For a few moments Harry considered going in to see Gabrielle but instead decided to go see her after he beat the living day lights out of his godfather for going into a battle where both sides of the field would gang up on him.
Tapping on the door lightly he waited until he received a hoarse "Come in." from the other side.
"You know you should really wait until you know who it is you're letting in Sirius, you've almost gotten yourself killed and caught enough times for me to bear." Harry teased him and stepped into the room to sit by his godfather's bed.
For a few minutes the older man propped up by pillows just stared at him. "Merlin," was all he said first then began to speak in wonder. "I feel like I'm staring at my past self except with a few changes."
"Oh that's all you can say, huh? There's no 'how are you Harry?' Or 'It's good to see you.' In there some where?" He joked and playfully punched his godfather's arm. "Besides I'm confused already with all of this so don't confuse me any farther by saying I look like you for some unknown reason."
"Harry?" the older man asked almost hesitantly. "Great Gryffindor," he gasped. "Why do you look like that?" Sirius stared at him almost unbelievingly letting his eyes travel over the boy searching for some fault to tell him that this was not his godson. But once he looked into those emerald pools the boy inherited from his mother he knew this could only be one person. This could only be his best friend's son, and his godson.
Shrugging Harry answered as truthfully as possible. "If I knew I would have told you." Deep inside him the questions to his strange appearance were whirling and struggling to find some kind of answer. Unlike most things though the library wouldn't help him on this subject.
"I've been wondering why for god knows how long. I was planning to ask you but I wanted to do it in person and in order to do that I had to wait until you were done with whatever Dumbledore sent you to do." //I had to wait until Dumbledore was done sending you out on suicide missions.// he thought to himself angrily.
Bowing his head sadly the older man sighed shaking his head indicating that he couldn't tell the young man before him anything about his missions. "I've been busy Harry, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I wish so badly that I could be here for you."
"Don't beat yourself up over it." Harry said trying to bring some comfort to the older man. "I know that you're out scouting for the Headmaster, we all have to do things for the war and I perfectly understand."
Nodding and smiling feebly Sirius held out his hand top his godson beckoning him closer. When his godson got up from his place on the chair near him and took the offered hand he tugged until the younger man knelt down before drawing him into a tight hug.
"Its good to see you kiddo, how long has it been like five months? I'm sorry I couldn't visit in that long."
Burying his face in the man's shoulder Harry murmured softly to him. "There's no need to apologize I thought we've already gone over that, but I'm glad you're here now." Sighing he sat down on the edge of the bed still clinging to the only person whom would never turn his back on him. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until Harry's back started to ache from that position and he gently moved from the embrace and sat back into the chair he was previously in.
"You know." Harry told him. "I should kill you for going into the Beaxbatons battle like that because I may never have gotten to see you at all if you were killed there!" he nearly yelled making Sirius wince and look towards him apologetically.
"But I wasn't killed." He tried to defend himself.
"Nearly! And if your hide wasn't saved by that Smoke character then you'd be buried a convict. Don't you ever scare me like that again do you understand?!"
"Yes." Sirius murmured bowing his head for a few minutes until he remembered he was the adult there and stared indignantly at his godson.
"What about you!?" he croaked back his voice still raspy and despite the fact that he was being yelled at Harry filled a glass with water from a pitcher by the bedside table and handed it to the man who gladly accepted it.
"What about me?" he asked almost afraid that either Remus or Moody had spilled his secret to Sirius just because they believed he deserved to know.
"Well Dumbledore tells me you've been missing a lot and acting suspiciously ever since the beginning of fifth year. Now don't get me wrong I know you aren't a Death Eater but it still makes me wonder what you do with all that extra time."
"It's simple I just don't like being watched like a hawk so I go out and do things, I have a job during the summer and the holidays, sometimes on the weekends, I go out with girls, I study, I play Quittich, practice Quittich, make new plays for the team, take care of my Perfects duties and a few other things." He said listing each one off a finger and leaving off the 'other things' he does.
"You know that it's dangerous to just go out by yourself. I understand you want your freedom but we're all concerned for your safety. " Sirius chastised him and set down his half empty glass of water.
"I can take care of myself so don't worry," he said and changed the subject hastily. "Besides don't you want to know what job I got?"
"Fine." The older man sighed and was prepared to listen if it weren't for his door opening and admitting Remus who strode in with a wide grin on his face and something rolled kind of newspaper or something along those lines rolled up in one of his hands.
"Oh Sirius you'll never believe what Prongs Jr. has been doing over the summers!" Harry's ears perked up and he stared wide-eyed at the lyncanthrope.
//He wouldn't!\\ he screamed inside his head. He was getting really paranoid that someone would mention him being Smoke to Sirius now.
Unrolling what he had in his hand and flipping through a few pages Remus chuckled. "I borrowed this off of a Ravenclaw girl after Snape had confiscated it and tried to get Harry expelled for its contents."
Hearing his teacher say that he relaxed partially but his face flamed in embarrassment from what his godfather was about to see.
"Here." Once he found the correct page Remus handed the magazine to his best friend and watched as the young man sitting next to him turned as red as a Weasley and suddenly became interested in his shoes.
Waiting a few moments they both heard the rustle of pages being turned and the murmurs of Sirius repeating "James Black" over and over again and looking from picture to picture of Harry in awe before looking over the magazine toward the boy and grinning when coming upon a particularly interesting one.
"Nice trunks Harry, you should show these to Dumbledore he's been ranting about proper swimming trunks for god knows how long." Sirius said and broke out into full out laughter then clutching and sputtering from the pain in his bruised ribs.
"Yeah he already saw and I promised him a pair of red and gold ones like that." He smiled and shook his head thinking about the mystery that the Headmaster would always be. He didn't even realize that his voice was sorrowful and empty, his mind on other things like the war and the Headmasters involvement in it.
"Harry?" his godfather whispered feeling that there was something the boy was hiding. "Is there something else you're not telling me?" he pleaded with his brown eyes.
He didn't want to lie to the man but it was necessary for his and Sirius' safety. If someone got a hold that his godfather even knew who the mysterious Smoke was then things could be disastrous whatever motive the person suspecting him had. But Remus' eyes urged him on pushing for him to tell the truth. The other man was clearly saying, 'Either you tell him or I will, he deserves to know' with his eyes.
Sighing her slumped in his chair defeated and exhausted. //Fine\\ he thought //I'll tell him but it won't be pretty once I do.\\
"Fine you win but I think once you hear this you won't like it very much and I don't want you to do anything rash, okay, just lye still and calm. Got it?"
"Harry," the older man said hesitantly already dreading what he might hear. "You're scaring me and by the looks of it I'm gathering Moony already knows whatever secret your covering up." He glanced furrowing his eyebrows worriedly towards both other men in the room.
"My job isn't the only reason I've been missing lately." He said quietly and watched as Sirius tensed up in the bed and almost shot right out demanding an explanation.
"Oh and exactly what is the other reason?" he started breathing rather heavily and Harry had to put a calming hand on his shoulder pushing him back down so he rested his head comfortably on the pillow.
"Calm down before you give yourself a hernia, I haven't become a Death Eater or dabbled in the Dark Arts." //So okay that's a lie I have dabbled in the dark arts but for light purposes so it wouldn't be considered dark then.\\
Nodding his godfather relaxed considerably but still remained nervous and on the edge of his nerves.
"Sirius," he began but lost the nerve to admit the truth to his godfather causing him to pause and start over again. After all it wasn't everyday you told your godfather that you are a ninja mage battling against Voldemort. "Sirius I."
Gabrielle lay in bed for a little while after she woke up in a different position and read her note several more times before deciding it was time for her to do something. The Death Eaters were responsible for the death of her sister and she wanted revenge. But before she could have that she needed to gather the energy to at least stand on her feet steadily. Putting the note in her pajama pocket and raising herself on her elbows Gabrielle was able to bring herself painfully to a sitting position, her ribs and some other bones that had been recently healed were still very sore.
Pressing the soles of her feet against the cold stone floors she pushed down against the mattress with her arms bringing herself to her feet rather quickly and immediately getting dizzy. Swaying a bit she walked unsteadily out of her curtained off area and into the main wards hallway.
Recently the hospital wing has been enlarged thanks to the war and the destruction of St. Mungos. Hogwarts now employed half of the St. Mungos staff to treat people injured and brought to Hogwarts after a battle.
The air was chilly and it suddenly sent a feeling of giddiness and more dizziness into the blonde's head making her look down to be sure that her feet were planted firmly on the ground. Indeed they were but even through her muddled brain she spotted slightly dirty footprints on the white tiled floor leading deeper into the hospital wing. They weren't Madame Pomfrey's either, they were too big to be Madame Pomfrey's, and they were definitely a male's footprints.
Unsteadily she followed them, moving her hand up against the wall as she went further into the hospital ward where the beds were no longer curtained off but separated into smaller rooms for more serious ailments and highly injured patients. There was a bunch of expensive equipment in every room like the kind she had seen in St. Mungos when her father had died of a dark burn a Death Eater had shot at him. That was also before the hospital was destroyed by Voldemort's forces.
Looking back on it now Gabrielle realized that she had never given much speculation to the war until her family had gotten involve in it. The whole conflict just used to seem so far away from her and her interests, she had always figured that one day it would end and everyone would live happily ever after. But there was never a happily ever after for the Delacours, never a happily ever after for all the families that lost loved ones, and there was never a happily ever after for Harry Potter, who's parents were killed when he was a baby and whom the Dark Lord was now chasing, the boy that had pulled her from the lake back when the Triwizard Tournament was being hosted.
//THE LAKE!\\ she mentally slapped herself feeling like the dimmest person in existence for not realizing it earlier. //A SWIM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE\\ Looking down at the ring on her hand she focused on the onyx lightening bolt and almost leapt into the air with excitement. //He's saved me twice already!\\ she thought.
Gabrielle wanted to turn back and find him, surely her savior would be somewhere in Hogwarts being in his final year. God it was still hard to believe that it was him, it had to be him, she reasoned. She was about to spin on her heel and make her way out of the hospital wing when she heard voices, murmuring voices. Inching closer she realized there was someone in the very last hospital room. But why in the very last one while the ones closer were empty?
Leaning against the door and putting her ear against it she listened carefully to the murmuring voices. From what she could tell there were three, all males. There was something familiar about one of them she couldn't tell who it was but it was familiar.
"Sirius, you're going to kill me for this but right now I'm going to put a little faith in you, well not much faith but enough to believe you won't attack me." Glancing at anything but his godfather Harry fidgeted in his chair uneasily and wrung his hands.
"Harry."the older man growled threateningly.
Outside the room Gabrielle gasped in surprise. //Harry? As in Harry Potter? Is that why he sounds so familiar? Yes he sounds just like Smoke.\\she thought in excitement already feeling butterflies in her stomach that made her a bit dizzy. //But who's the other man, he called him Sirius. The only Sirius I've heard of was Sirius Black, but if that's him then why would he be talking to that murderer?\\ she thought now bewildered as everything in her head began to jumble and confuse her.
From his position next to Harry, Remus sighed and rolled his eyes at both of them. He couldn't believe how long this was taking. Harry had jumped into fighting dozens of Death Eaters and Voldemort plenty of times yet the young man could not tell his own godfather he was a ninja mage.
"Harry why don't you just tell him if worst comes to worst I'll restrain him." He said and chuckled from the glare his friend gave him.
"Come on Remus you obviously know just tell me one of you it's not like I'm going to bite your heads off, it can't be that bad." The darker haired man whined then added more viciously. "At least it better not be that bad."
Gabrielle couldn't take it any longer; she had to find out if it was really him. Bracing herself she turned the doorknob and burst into the room violently. Immediately spotting a young man who was talking to the two older men earlier. She was nearly prepared to leave when she felt a sudden torrent of sneezes building up in her nose.
"Atchoo!" she sneezed once softly and rubbed the bridge of her nose to keep the next at bay, but no such luck as she sneezed a second time just as softly making it sound more like a kitten sneezing rather than a person. "Atchoo!"
It had caught the attention of the other occupants of the room. Now all three of their gazes were focused on the blonde. As they watched her in shock she looked towards the youngest one of the men and assumed it was her noticing the small lightening bolt scar on her forehead. Smiling somewhat nervously she made towards him but found her legs were still weak and she tripped falling to her knees in front on him.
"Gabrielle?" Harry whispered and immediately gripped her lightly by the arms and pulled her up so she could sit in the seat he had vacated. "Gabrielle what are you doing here, out of bed for that matter? Madame Pomfrey is going to be furious with you." He scolded her fully realizing he was giving himself away. He was still in a state of shock, his mind processing a hundred thoughts a second and telling him that the girl already knew. He saw it in her eyes, she had figured out the puzzle and found him. Now he just hoped she wouldn't give his identity away.
The other two men watched them with some trepidation, Sirius especially whom was cautious with people tried not to meet the girl's eyes.
"It's you." She whispered faintly still not believing it and clutched at his arms, which were still holding her up in the chair. "You saved me yesterday, and you saved me two years ago. You're Smoke, I know now. Thank you." She said staring deep into his bright green eyes and stretched her neck to lightly kiss him on the cheek making him blush again and release her arms as if they were on fire. It seemed that she had given him away but perhaps it was better this way, after all Sirius needed to know.
From his position on the bed Sirius shot up right and wide-eyed. "What did she just call you?" he gripped the sheets hard in his clenched fists.
"Smoke." Remus answered for him coming closer and pushing the other man down so he wasn't in a sitting position. "And for god's sake Sirius lay down before you get a stroke and leave Harry without a godfather." Sending a half-hearted glare at Remus and complying he refuse to believe that his godson was the ninja mage Smoke.
By now Sirius had grabbed the young girls attention and she stared frozen and wide-eyed for a minute, her brain stuck in a state of fear and shock. Her mouth slowly opened ready to scream at the top of her lungs when a warm hand clamped down over her lips gently but firmly. She was going to try and pry the hand off when a soft reassuring voice whispered to her.
"Shhh, calm down Gabby." Harry whispered. "If you promise not to scream I'll take my hand away, alright?"
With her eyes still bulging she nodded faintly and gave an affirmative "mmmph." Through his hand.
Slowly Harry released the pressure between his hand and her mouth before he let go completely and spoke again. "Do you trust me Gabby?"
Hesitantly Gabrielle kept her eyes on Sirius but nodded, her posture stiff and her mind and body ready to jump to action at the slightest of moves.
"Then you'll have to trust him. He's not a murderer I know that for a fact, I've seen the proof with my own eyes and even if you haven't I want you to know that this man right here," Harry pointed to Sirius before continuing. "If it weren't for him I'd be dead. Sirius Black never betrayed or killed anyone, he was framed. So if you could I'd like you to give him a chance." He peered into her light blue/silver eyes searching for some kind of answer and showing the sincerity in his own green ones.
"I don't understand how." She said afraid to go against everything she was ever taught and told about the man that lay in the hospital bed staring at his own hands.
"It's a long story Gab but you have to believe me, trust me when I say he was framed by another man, trust me when I say he is innocent, and trust me when I say that he has helped save many lives since the war started and even before it. Will you trust me?" He waited for her to think it over all the while he just stared at her, boring his gaze into hers.
Relaxing slowly she Inhaled and exhaled for a moment and nodded again. "Right now I don't really know who to trust, I have no one left to trust but you." She said. "But if you trust him then I shall as well."
Beaming with all his might he introduced her to both men. "You really don't know how much this means to me Gab. I'd like you to meet my godfather Sirius Black, and the best Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts has ever seen, Professor Remus Lupin." He gestured to each one of them as he explained who they were.
Chuckling Remus shook his head. "You put me on too high a pedestal Harry I think there have been much better teachers to step into this school."
"Give yourself a little more credit Remus, you're the best one I've had so far at least and not only far more trustworthy than all the others but also quite a bit more sane."
"Only a bit more sane?" The lyncanthrope pretended to be hurt and put a hand over his heart. "What happened to all the rest of my sanity then?"
"I think Padfoot drove it away." Harry said sticking his tongue out at his godfather playfully who threw a pillow at him and huffed good-naturedly.
"I did not! I think Moony's just had a little too much exposure to Snape since he's working with the grease ball again."
"Speaking of Severus," Remus spoke. "I believe our Harry here has gotten into a spot of trouble with him." At this point Sirius raised an eyebrow urging his friend on to tell him more which Remus was all to happy to tell him about how he managed to receive two dentions and 40 points off Gryffindor. Sirius honestly didn't know whether to laugh at his godson's antics or scowl at Snape's wish to get the boy expelled.
It was then that Gabrielle noticed the magazine that had fallen off Sirius' lap onto the floor. Picking it up she flipped through the pages and giggled when coming to one particular page.
"Oo-la-la!" She exclaimed and giggled into again pointing to the picture of Harry in his trunks. "Nice trunks Harry!"
"Arrgh! Won't this ever blow over or am I going to be taunted for that for the rest of my life?" He moaned burying his face in his hands and turning a bright red color.
"No I think you're going to be taunted by it for the rest of your life, especially if you give it back to Ms. Brockhurste." Remus teased him and beside him Sirius still wasn't letting go of the Smoke issue.
"I think that magazine will be the least of his problems once I'm done with him! I mean how could you put yourself in that much danger?! You know what I don't want to know because I still don't believe your Smoke."
Raising one of his dark eyebrows at his godfather Harry gave him a speculating look. "Honestly Sirius what else do you expect me to do? I don't see the Ministry doing anything, I don't see the Order of the Phoenix doing anything, and I sure as hell don't see anyone else doing a goddamn thing to stop Voldemort. Well guess what I found a solution." He said and pulled up on the chain around his neck to expose the lightening bolt pendant at the end of it.
"Recognize this?" he asked displaying the pendant.
It took a few moments of the other man staring at the piece of jewelry to cast his eyes down and nod. He had seen it before. He remembered being assaulted by curses and hexes from every which direction. He tried to dodge and block some but there was no use it seemed everyone was after his skin and he was struck multiple times. He remembered falling to the ground in pain, believing it was the end, that he would die a convict, die a murderer. But then a figure came, a tall figure in black warded everyone off with a katana and his wand before kneeling before him and using that same onyx lightening bolt pendant to transport them to the cottage he was hiding out in. It truly was him and there was nothing Sirius could do about it because deep down he knew, knew it was his godson whom would have to save them all from Voldemort.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't protect him with all his might still. That didn't mean that he wouldn't try and be a good godfather. And that sure didn't mean he wouldn't fight along side him.
Trying to change the subject he turned to the slender blonde girl that sat in the chair beside his bed listening to them speak. He hadn't spoken once to her really, at least nothing more than a "Nice to meet you." Swallowing the lump in his throat he spoke up as gently as possible so he wouldn't scare her any further than he already had.
"So Gabrielle, how did you find us here?"
"I followed the footprints that led to here." She said all the while clutching at the ring that she wore.
"Footprints?" Remus furrowed his brows. "It's impossible to leave footprints in the hospital ward, the floors and walls are sanitized to clean those up before they're even made.
Shrugging she answered truthfully albeit still curious herself. "Well they weren't ordinary footprints, they were bright orange." Of course at the time she did find them rather odd but if they led a certain way then she would follow.
"Orange you said?" Harry smacked himself on the forehead and laughed at himself sarcastically. "This is not my day!"
"Why what's so bad about orange footprints, well besides the obvious of course?" she asked.
"The ring." He pointed to the one he asked her to look after. "I charmed the ring so the wearer could track recently made prints and I forgot to take that enchantment off."
Looking closer and squinting slightly Sirius cried out suddenly. "Hey that's one of the quarter family rings!"
"Quarter family what?" The other three said in unison.
"The quarter family rings that have been passed down from the founders themselves to their predecessors. I had one almost like it before I was taken to Azkaban and so did Myron McKenzie and another family, I can't remember the last one though it was something starting with an "R"." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully trying to recall who was it that had the last ring. "Was it Roffle? No. Ummm.Reynolds? No. Riddley...Riddlum...RIDDLE!! That's it was the Riddle family." He exclaimed triumphantly and both Harry and Remus went deathly pale.
"S-S-i-i-rius." Remus stuttered, his eyes wide and panicked. "Please tell me you didn't just say Riddle."
"Of course I said Riddle. What's the matter with Thomas Riddle? Well besides the fact that he's dead, along with the rest of the Riddles, the Mckenzys, and come to think of it I'm the only surviving Black, and Harry's the only surviving Potter." Sirius was no longer his bubbly self instead he took on a haunted look, his eyes darkened and became glassy, his fist clenched and unclenched until he finally spoke breaking the thick silence in the room.
"And I know exactly who killed them all.Voldemort." He snarled bitterly punching the mattress under him.
"Sirius, it's impossible for the Riddles to be part of the quarter families, they were muggles not a drop of magic in them." His godson reasoned still in a haze as to what the quarter families actually were let alone their rings.
"No, they came from a long line of Squibs. Descending from Slytherin I believe. Now Mckenzy descended from Hufflepuff but I have no idea what happened to him. Last I heard he moved to Marseilles, France. Dumbledore keeps accounts on the quarter families though."
Gabrielle wrinkled her nose slightly trying to find something familiar that she'd heard about Mckenzy. "I think I've heard of Mckenzy before.we used to live in Marseilles."
Now getting everyone's attention Gabrielle sat and searched her mind for some clue as to who the man was and whether of not she met him. "I know a Ronnie Mckenzy, he's my uncle on my mother's side." She said still deep in thought until she heard someone talk.
"That's what we all called him! Ron or Ronnie as in Myron." Remus said but then the realization hit him. "That would mean that Voldemort was after your sister and you. I think he wants the remaining quarter families dead."
"That much is obvious." Harry murmured and turned back to his godfather seeking more answers. "And since Riddle is the Slytherin descendant, Gabby the Hufflepuff, then I'm guessing I'm the Gryffindor and you're the Ravenclaw?" he inquired and the older man nodded affirming his suspicion.
"How did you guess?" he asked.
"Simple, in my second year I took the Gryffindor sword out of the Sorting hat. Dumbledore told me that only a true Gryffindor could take it, back then I wasn't reading too deeply into that but now it makes sense."
Furrowing his brows Sirius looked a smidge confused. "What did you need the sword for?"
It was then that Harry realized that he still hadn't told his godfather about his second year and proceeded to tell all of them the events down in the Chamber of Secrets. Of course their curiosity led to his other years as well. Ranging from his first where he rescued the Philosophers stone all the way to the present year where he now fought against the dark forces using simple charms, advanced curses and hexes, minuscule use of the Dark Arts, which had resulted in a screaming match from Sirius, and fighting techniques.
"So you see my life isn't the piece of cake that the reporters all make it out to be. Ever since I was 11 years old I've been struggling to survive and I bet I'll still be struggling for a good deal longer." He sighed raking a hand through his hair and pulling it back into a ponytail, which he tied with a ribbon that he kept in his pocket.
All of a sudden Sirius spoke rather loudly making his words echo off the white washed walls nearly startling them. "Wait a minute, for some reason our dear Headmaster seems to be playing an enormous role in your life. Harry if I didn't know any better I'd say he's setting you up for something. And after all these years he still doesn't think you're ready to know the truth about why you survived, about why Voldemort was after you in the first place." He paused for a breath thinking about the old man's role in everything. "Something smells foul in Hogwarts and I know for sure it's not only Snape's breath."
They sat ion silence before Remus broke the silence snorting. "Honestly Padfoot couldn't you lay off Severus for one moment?"
"Why Moony? It's not like he's your secret lover or anything." The other man laughed. "At least I hope not my sleep depends on knowing that Snape is and always will be an overgrown bat. See it puts me to rest knowing that the grease ball won't get layed in this decade before me." Grinning from ear to ear Sirius tried to deflect the pillow Remus threw at him only to be smacked in the face with it.
Getting back on topic Harry shrugged. "I agree that Dumbledore is keeping something from me but I think I already have some idea what it is." He said morosely.
"You're connection with Voldemort?" Remus asked and received a bitter nod in return. Trying to reassure him the lyncanthrope looked for something positive to say finally coming up with something that would help sooth the boy's godfather as well, whom was on the edge of his nerves trying vainly not to combust.
"Surely it will go away once the Dark Lord is defeated."
Barking a short laugh he shook his head bitterly again. "It's not that easy Remus. I have a theory about our connection. I think that when I was a baby and Voldemort shot the killing curse at me I somehow not knowingly pulled on the magic he used to send it with tying it to my own in desperation to stay alive. Then the curse rebounded because part of him was already in me and you all know that it's impossible to send the Killing Curse at yourself so it shot back at him sucking away at his magic and body until he was nothing but a mere shadow. My theory is that Voldemort only survived because of his connection with me. He fed off of my magic reserve little by little until he was reborn. And I feed off of him in my greatest need. So you see we depend on each other."
Searching frantically for a way out of this theory, searching for another possible answer Sirius' heartbeat increased dramatically as his breathing became harsh. Harsh enough that Remus had to perform a slight tranquilizing charm to calm him before he hurt himself.
"That's not true Harry! There has to be some other explanation. Some other way." His godfather argued with him. And Gabrielle joined in pleading for him to say it was all a joke. She may have not known much about his whole situation but she understood what he meant. The only way Voldemort would die was if Harry died himself.
"Harry." tears sprung up in her eyes as she pleaded with the young man. "Please, tell me it isn't true, tell me you're wrong, that it's only a hunch. Please."
Although he was convinced himself that his life would be short, short because of a monster that society created, he couldn't say he was one hundred percent sure. It would bring immense comfort for them all to know it was a hunch, then that way nobody would feel sorry for him. Nobody would have to share his burden; they would be able to breath freely and focus on their own lives.
"Well it is only a theory, I can either be one hundred percent right or one hundred percent wrong. It's a 50/50 chance Gabby, so don't worry I'll probably end up burning old Voldie's arse to the ground and still come out alive, then I guess you could go ahead and laugh at me." Smiling he ruffled her hair affectionately messing up her long silver/blonde hair.
"But one thing's for sure Gab, whatever happens someone has to bring that monster down. So don't feel sorry for me, there's a very good chance I'll live. For now though I'd rather we focus on the casualties that we've suffered at Beaxbatons." Glancing back to Remus whom was probably the only one in the room to know how many people they lost he inquired of the Order's records.
"You wouldn't happen to know how many died yesterday would you Moony?"
"Albus told me about 250 Aurors and 3,654 staff under the Beaxbatons collapse. Thank Merlin it wasn't 3,655." He said referring to Gabrielle. The numbers were great, greater than in any of the previous battles taken place in the past. There were so many innocent lives wasted that it burned at your heart just to know that you survived, survived the previous massacres and showdowns.
The room was silent for what seemed to be hours but only lasted less than five minutes. Each occupant sat mourning the dead and boiling in anger. Revenge was the only thing running through each of their heads except for one; Harry was not out for revenge this time. There was a greater triumph that could be brought around and he would accomplish his task. He had to protect his friends and loved ones and he would use any means necessary to do so. He would keep Voldemort from reaching his goal by protecting his godfather and Gabrielle.
Thinking of her he still didn't know why Gabrielle had come to find him.
"Gabby you didn't answer my question earlier, why are you out of bed in the first place when you could barely walk. You should be resting, you've been through quite a bit."
Looking at him with her large blue/silver eyes she tried to keep the tears that pushed to leak out away. "I want revenge Harry. I want them to pay for what they did to my family and friends. I want you to teach me to fight like you; I can help you if you let me. Please." She begged.
All Harry could do was stare at her blankly. Absolutely nothing went through his mind as he continued staring at her. Taking into account her desperate watery eyes, her fragile body, her tear stained face, and her trembling lip. And like a ton of bricks it smashed him upside the head and he already knew his answer.
***********************************AUTHOR'S NOTE***********************************
Hey everyone! Sorry for the cliff hanger but I just had to leave it there. Well I think I have this chapter down even though I had some problems deciding a few things and I'm still a bit unsure about the result I believe I can work with it. I hope you all like the chapter since many of you (*coughs* maybe not so many) have requested for an update. Review and let me know what you think. Oh and before you say anything, no this is not one of those fics where Sirius is really Harry's father so rest assured that our boy-who-lived is still sadly without any real parents. But that may change!! Makes you wonder doesn't it?