William Shakespeare
Harry Potter had woken to the moan of the wind as it drove newly fallen snow from his windowsill and seriously considered just settling deeper into the warmth of his bed away from the storm. Sirius had appeared briefly, very early that morning, waking Harry long enough to check on him and tell him that they needed Aunt Petunia's signature to make the adoption totally legal. Harry, for his part, was only too happy to never see Privet Drive again, though he half-wished Sirius had let him go along to see the Dursleys' reaction.
As it was, Harry sat across from Ron at a small table as the house elves magicked food onto the table. The house elves of CaerMyrddin weren't as shy as the Hogwarts elves and even Hermione would be hard pressed to call them enslaved, though they worked hard.
The elves trooped in and out swiftly, the leaves on their vine-woven tunics rustling. One had appeared at Harry's elbow the moment he woke up to ask what sort of foods he liked, then disappeared with a pop to report Harry's answer to the kitchen.
By the time Harry had dressed and meandered down to breakfast, a small banquet was waiting for him. But he wasn't sure if the CaerMyrddin house elves were entirely sane. A few of the dishes they produced were bizarre.
"Who in their right mind has rice and soup for breakfast?" Ron demanded, voicing what Harry had been wondering himself.
"Normally me," Ger answered from the doorway, strolling in to take a seat and drawing stares from the two at the table. Ger had his long black hair pulled up into a high tail that cascaded between his shoulder blades. His clothes were some of the oddest robes Harry had ever seen. The dark blue top gapped open slightly, showing a portion of his chest, and the lower half were white and looked tied on in complicated knots around his waist.
Ron stopped picking at his breakfast long enough to lean over to Harry and whisper, "Mum would have a fit if I wore something like that."
"Your mum would have a fit if you grew your hair out a meter and a half too," Ger observed. Ron turned a lovely shade of red at being overheard and Ger's chuckle turned into a laugh. "Look at it this way, Ron, until Rowan figures out what she did and takes the un-cuttable charm off my hair, I can give your mum someone other than Bill to pick on."
"You know Bill?" Ron asked, surprised. Ger smiled at him.
"We're both in the Order of the Phoenix. And Bill and I were in the same year at Hogwarts. He beat me out for the position of Head Boy." Ger's smile turned fond and slightly wry as he shook his head at the memory. "Not by much, though. Our marks were about the same. I was sure he'd become an Auror after Hogwarts. Maybe even a Hit Wizard. Bill was always the adventurous sort, more than I ever was. But he started with Gringotts and I . . . well, I entered Auror training a little over three years later." Ger stopped, interrupted by the whispering flutter of large wings. Mordecai, Ger's raven, dropped through a window and landed on the leather-covered arm Ger raised for him. He clutched a black envelope in his beak and extended it towards Ger, obviously expecting him to take it. "Already?" Mordecai turned to regard Ger out of one beady eye. "Oh come on, Mordecai! I just got home three hours ago!" Mordecai replied by sidling further up his arm and extending the envelope a bit more.
Ger lifted his other hand to take the envelope and broke the wax seal. Mordecai hopped the rest of the way to his favorite perch on Ger's shoulder and peered over at the parchment as Ger unrolled it. Ger scanned the parchment quickly and a frown creased his forehead before he folding it back up and set it on the table.
"Duty calls," Ger said, incinerating the black parchment with a flick of his wand. "I'll tell Morgaine to keep an eye on things here. She's about the only one that got any sleep last night."
"She left about an hour ago," Ron told him. "She said she wanted to collect our things from Hogwarts since we'll be staying here until the end of the holiday."
Ger raised an eyebrow at this and chuckled. "Did she take the girls with her?"
Ron nodded. "Professor Lupin went with them too."
"I'll bet anything she sent a few house elves to collect your things, took the girls on a shopping trip and she conned Remus into being their packhorse." Ger shook his head. "Grandfather left to speak to Professor Dumbledore this morning and Rowan went with Sirius to pester the Dursleys." He stood from the table and shrugged. "Well then, it looks like you two are coming with me to London. Go get your cloaks. We'll Floo to London from the boat house and see what Fudge thinks is so bloody important."
They walked along the path to the island's small dock, new-fallen snow crunching under Ron and Harry's boots. Ger trailed a few paces behind the boys, moving without a sound and remaining alert and watchful. Harry turned to Ron and whispered in curiosity. "Do Aurors normally wear swords?" He didn't remember the false Moody having anything like that in his office. The only weapon he'd needed was his wand.
"Not normally," Ron answered quietly. "I've met a few when Dad took me to work with him."
"I'm not an Auror," Ger corrected mildly. "I'm a Hit Wizard. There's a large difference between me and an Auror like Mad-Eye Moody, besides the fact I'm still in one piece. For one, I rate an actual office." He smiled back at them. "But that doesn't really answer your question, does it? Hit Wizards go after the nastier and more dangerous members of the wizarding underworld. We're authorized to kill in extreme cases. The other Aurors and Hit Wizards don't use anything other than their wands. I had to apply for special permission to use the katana and wakazashi I carry."
Ron swallowed uncomfortably. "You . . . you . . . use them? And the Ministry lets you? What about your wand?"
"Stabbing someone with a wand isn't very effective," Ger answered teasingly. "It takes a bit more than a nasty bruise to take down a Death Eater and I won't use the Unforgivables."
"Why not?" Harry asked. He hadn't grown up in the wizarding world, but he'd never seen any wizard – especially not a pureblood – do anything Muggle fashion when it was easier, and less messy, to do with a wand. "It seems really . . . messy."
They walked a bit further in silence before Ger answered the question. "That's exactly it, really. I don't want to forget that I'm taking a life."
Ron shuddered slightly. "It's gruesome is what it is. Avada Kedavra probably doesn't hurt as much."
Ger stopped and glanced over at the two boys. A slightly devilish smile lurked on his lips for a moment before silver fire erupted from the scabbard at his waist, slicing cleanly into the winter air and through a nearby tree. The tree toppled, a diagonal cut severing the branches cleanly from the base. Ger straightened and sheathed the blade with an easy flourish before he pulled out his wand and repaired the fallen tree with a quick charm. "They don't feel much, Ron."
Ron looked torn between being seriously frightened of the watchful Hit Wizard or seriously impressed. Harry found himself leaning towards impressed.
"Why do you use a Muggle weapon?" Harry asked, curious.
"It's not Muggle, but the Muggle blades look similar. It's a wizard blade." Ger twisted the sword in his hand and showed them a narrow shaft bored through the length of the hilt. "My wand slips in here and the blade becomes an extension of it." "Wicked," Ron breathed, leaning closer to better see the etchings on the blade. "How long does it take to learn how to use it?"
"A long time." Ger chuckled and sheathed the sword. "Master Takashiro started pounding it into me when I was thirteen."
Ron and Harry looked crestfallen, prompting a knowing smile from the Hit Wizard and a silent promise to speak with his brother-in-law later that night. Ger knew the reason his grandfather had pushed him into training: the kata – the carefully learned and flowing forms of the sword – focused his younger mind and body and helped him deal with the deaths (real or faked) of James and Peter. And, Ger admitted with a mental wince, a tangible way to someday repay Sirius's betrayal. He no longer wished for Sirius's death, but he didn't mind channeling that conviction towards Voldemort's defeat. Which led the young Hit Wizard back to the thoughts that he'd entertained all through the night and into this morning: his newly acquired nephew and how to keep him alive in the coming confrontation with the Dark Lord.
Ger came out of his thoughts as the trio arrived at the marshy edge of the island. One of the lake's skiffs bobbed gently in the water, a glistening bridge of roots and vines waiting for the three as they stepped out onto the small beach. Ger watched their surroundings carefully, alert and wand in hand, for Harry and Ron to climb aboard before jumping in and settling himself comfortably against the prow. The skiff set off, sliding easily through the dark waters of the lake as their woven bridge disappeared again into the depths.
Harry hesitated only a moment before he stood carefully, wrapping one arm around the carved tail of the skiff, wanting a better view of his new home. Between his exhaustion and the dark night, he hadn't noticed much on the first trip over.
"Look, Harry! I think that's your sea serpent!" Ron cried, pointing out over the water on his side of the skiff. Harry followed Ron's attention and saw the scales and tall spines of the serpent shining in the winter sun as it rose out of the water with sinuous grace. The head and two arched coils stood above the icy water and the serpent turned to look at the tiny skiff sliding across its watery home.
"That's Jormangund," Ger told them, nodding towards the creature as it slid back beneath the surface. "I'm not surprised he's the one you called when you used the Amulet, Harry. Grandfather invited him to live in the lake when the castle was built. He's one of the oldest creatures we have around here and Voldemort would give his eyeteeth for a wyrm like that."
"A worm?" Harry questioned, frowning in confusion. Jormangund was enormous. His head was easily larger than the vessel they sat in! Squiggly fish-bait didn't quite measure up.
"Wyrm with a 'y'," Ger clarified. "You should cover them in seventh year if you take Care of Magical Creatures after your O.W.Ls. That's when you'll get into the really interesting, and deadly, creatures."
"Hagrid will want one for the school's lake," Ron noted.
A small ripple washed against the skiff as Jormangund surfaced on their starboard side. "Your waters already have a Watcher, young human." Harry jumped in surprise at the sudden entrance, thumping back into his seat. For all his size, the wyrm managed to slide in and out of the water like liquid glass, making barely a ripple. His glowing eye glittered in amusement and he kept pace with their skiff. Again, Harry was struck with the size of the beast. Jormangund's head barely extended above the water, most of his body undulating far beneath the surface, and he still dwarfed the skiff and towered over its occupants. "Your lake is nice, but not quite large or deep enough for one of my kind." "He means the Giant Squid," Ger clarified for the boys. "She's Hogwarts' Watcher-in-the-Water and one of the castle's defenses. I know she acts like a big, rubbery, pet, but Watchers are very dangerous to tangle with. The overgrown water snake here," Ger pointed his thumb at the serpent accompanying them, "is our Watcher. If either of you get into serious trouble, just make it to the water's edge. Jormangund, or one of the other water beasties, will help you."
Harry shifted uneasily, wondering how long it would be until he put everyone in danger with his very existence again. Ger saw Harry's green eyes darken with introspection and reached out and tapped two fingers against his nose, startling the younger boy with the unusual touch. Harry's eyes crossed to look at his nose, then blinked straight and looked up to meet his new uncle's calm sapphire gaze. "Don't worry about it. You'll just end up brooding and making everyone worry. And who know what will happen if you scare Ginny again," Ger teased. Harry winced and felt warmth spreading across his cheeks. Ginny Weasley had kissed him in relief before slapping him and calling him an idiot for scaring her the night before.
"Besides," Ger continued as the skiff's bottom ground against the shore of the lake and waited for the three to disembark before it glided back out into the water. Jormangund crawled out onto the stony beach behind them and headed for an outcropping of large boulders, obviously intent on a sun nap. "By next week, CaerMyrddin will be a fortress. No one can Apparate or Disapparate on the island itself as of an insane hour this morning. Rowan ousted us all out of bed to cast all of the old wards. And Grandfather's got a horde of new ones devised. Now that you're here, Harry, Merlin will probably recruit Dumbledore to help cast them."
Ger motioned the boys to wait, pushed the door to the boathouse open and disappeared inside with his wand in his hand. He reappeared a moment later and waved Ron and Harry inside.
"Ron, get the Floo powder, would you?" Ger requested, nodding to a small jar sitting atop the fireplace as he himself lit the fire with a flick of his wand. Ger pulled a hidden pouch out of his robes and untied the cords around its opening. He reached in and pulled out a bit of dun-colored sand which he tossed into the fire.
Ron opened the Floo powder jar and looked to Ger, who nodded and gestured towards the fire. "You first, Ron. Just tell it to take you to the Ministry of Magic. It will drop you directly into my office."
Ron took a bit of the Floo powder before handing the jar to Harry and stepping into the burning hearth. "The Ministry of Magic!" Ron disappeared in a flash of green flame.
"Harry?" Ger nodded to the fireplace. Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste and took a bit of the Floo powder from the jar. "Not your favorite way to travel?" Ger chuckled. "It's just until you learn to Apparate."
"Which I can't learn for years yet," Harry said.
"Well, not officially," Ger allowed. Harry blinked in surprise and Ger returned a very level look. "Harry, if anything, you're in more danger now than you were before you picked up the Amulet. You've never really had a family before from what the others tell me, but the one you have now isn't going to endear you to Voldemort."
Harry dropped his eyes and let his unruly fringe shadow his eyes. "You're all in more danger because of me," he said sadly.
Ger snorted. "Not really. It's not just you. Lord Voldemort's after Rowan too, remember and she can't fight the Imperius curse like you can. He's not after me personally, except as a survivor of the last time he tried to wipe out my clan, but I have enemies of my own and Voldemort freed a bunch of them from Azkaban.
"So you want to teach me how to Apparate?"
"That, and a few other things, I have to discuss with my sister," the Hit Wizard grinned devilishly. "If you want to survive this war, you'll need every bit of the luck you've been surviving on so far and the skills to back that luck up." Harry nodded thoughtfully as he tossed the bit of Floo powder into the fire and stepped inside.
The fireplace disgorged Harry into a windowless room lined with wanted posters of dubious-looking witches and wizards plastering the walls. Ron stood nearby, but made no move to haul Harry to his feet. He was too busy staring at the two other people already standing in the office. Ger arrived with a sharp crack of displaced air moments later between the two young wizards, and the intruders. The Hit Wizard took a surprised step back and bumped into Harry, nearly sending him stumbling back into the fireplace. Harry's arms pinwheeled for a moment before he recovered enough to fall forward, pushing Ger away from him. Ger recovered the forward stumble into a slight bow and greeted the other occupants of the room. "Minister Fudge, Mrs. Umbridge; this is a surprise!"
"Yes, quite a surprise." The Minister of Magic's eyes flickered to the two young men standing behind the Hit Wizard, and his mouth curved down into a disapproving frown. "We wished to speak with you about the report you filed with my office last night, Mr. Myfanwy."
"We weren't aware you would bring guests with you to work," the woman standing beside Fudge observed. A lurid pink bow crouched in her hair and her wide mouth stretched into an unpleasant smile.
"I wasn't aware the Department intended to call me in on my day off," Ger replied politely. "Especially since I wasn't supposed to be in at all for the week."
"Yes, well, your report of last night's activities – that is, what you said in your report . . ."
Ger cut off the Minister's blustering with a raised hand and moved towards the door. "Minister, if you'll excuse me, Harry and Ron don't need to be present for this conversation. I'll take them outside and ask someone to keep an eye on them."
The unpleasant woman opened her mouth, but Ger reached over, opened the door, and propelled Harry and Ron out into the large room beyond. The door closed behind them and Ger leaned back against it. "Well, now I know why they called me in today."
"What report was Fudge talking about, Ger?" Harry asked. Ger pushed away from the door and began winding his way through the cubicles filling the room.
The Auror office buzzed with activity. Colorful paper-airplanes flitted between cubicles, swerving to miss heads and stacks of papers, and darted through doors. Ger stopped momentarily and pulled a square of ebony parchment from his robes, which he folded up into a plane and sent off with a flick of his wand. "Just telling Ron's father that we're here," he explained. "If Arthur is in, he'll probably show up soon and you two can stay in his office until I get this mess with the Minister squared away."
Harry stared at the little plane as it darted out a door and turned to zip down the corridor beyond. Ger chuckled and led them both into an alcove tucked securely away from prying eyes and listening ears. "The toad-woman, was Dolores Umbridge," he told them in a subdued whisper. "She's a member of the wizarding court, and the report Fudge has his knickers in a twist over has to be the one I submitted this morning about the events surrounding Lucius Malfoy's death."
"Are you in much trouble over it?" Ron questioned, starting to look worried. His family had run into enough scrapes with the fussbudget Minister that he knew how potentially dangerous it was.
"We'll see." Ger ran a hand through his fringe and grinned. "Truthfully, there's not much he can do to me as long as you two stay out of trouble for a bit."
Ron and Harry nodded and the Hit Wizard turned and walked nonchalantly out into the bustle of the Auror office.
Before he'd made it three steps, a purple-haired witch in yellow robes skidded into the aisle on a runaway desk chair. Ger leapt back, narrowly avoiding being mowed down by furniture, and reached out to stop her before she collided with the wall. The witch instinctively latched onto the collar of his robes and the wheeled chair flew out from under her before she set her feet on solid floor. They managed to hold that position, Ger leaning forward at a precarious position and the witch clinging to the front of his scarlet robes, for a brief second before gravity reasserted itself and sent both crashing into a tangle on the floor.
"Good morning, Tonks," Ger greeted blandly, blowing a stray tendril of black hair out of his eyes. The witch opened her eyes and smiled as she noticed who was pinned beneath her.
"Death! I thought you had the week off."
"Exactly. I 'had'. Our 'fearless leader' called me in this morning." Ger turned his attention to untangling himself and introduced the witch to the sniggering boys. "Harry, Ron, this is Nymphadora Tonks."
"It's Tonks," the witch glared, 'accidentally' pushing her heeled boot into the small of Ger's back. "Just Tonks. And what happened to you, Death?"
Ger grimaced and pulled his feet under him. "What are you talking about?"
"There's a story behind that," she pointed at Ger's meter-long braid as she rolled to her knees. "And I'm willing to bet it's an interesting one!"
Ger stood the rest of the way and reached down to help her up. "Very interesting," he laughed. "But long. Watch my nephew for me while I go see what our 'fearless leader' wants, will you?"
Tonks snorted. "He probably wants to assign you to bodyguard duty for his wife again. Wait . . . nephew?!" Tonks' eyes bugged and swung over to where Harry and Ron were grinning at them.
Ger winked and moved back to the door of his office. "Later. Or get Harry to tell you. He was there for more of it than I was."
"Fudge really is going roast you this time, isn't he?" Tonks whistled lowly, still swinging between the three in amazement.
"Oh, I think so. Something about reporting that Lucius Malfoy died attacking Harry Potter." Ger quipped before disappearing through the door and shut it firmly behind him before Tonks managed to recover and ask more questions. "Arthur Weasley's son I recognize," she said, looking at Ron's red hair, "But you must be Harry Potter."
Harry nodded and she grinned. "Well, I'm pleased to meet you. As Death said, I'm Tonks, one of the Aurors around here. Death and I know each other because we have mutual friends outside of work." She said the last brightly, but her eyes remained serious and Harry nodded in understanding. Tonks was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
The interrogation started the moment Ger managed to properly close the door. "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Myfanwy?"
"Mrs. Umbridge?" Ger responded, keeping his voice neutral, vaguely disinterested, and carefully concealing the grimace at his present company. The odious woman pointed a claw-like nail at his now closed door.
"Explain why Harry Potter is standing just outside this door with Arthur Weasley's son, Mr. Myfanwy," she ordered silkily. Her wide mouth pulled into an unpleasant, expectant, smile. "Rather than in Hogwarts where he belongs."
"Hogwarts is out on holiday, Mrs. Umbridge, and the students usually go home to their families for Christmas and Easter. Because Minister Fudge requested I come in to discuss something this morning and I couldn't leave the boys home alone." Ger smiled disarmingly at the trio of officials. "My sisters left early this morning and Rowan would kill me if I left my nephew home alone. Harry is something of a trouble magnet, you know."
"What do you mean 'your nephew'?" Fudge blustered, joining the conversation as Ger moved behind his desk and took the chair. "Harry Potter is not your nephew!"
"He is as of last night," Ger corrected cheerfully. "Dumbledore agreed to it, Rowan adopted him, and Harry will be staying with us from now on."
"It's not safe for the boy!" Fudge objected. "After all the time and magic spent on fortifying his Muggle relative's home in Surrey. . . Sirius Black, or some other maniac determined to frighten everyone, could attack the boy! It would be disastrous!"
Ger threaded his fingers together thoughtfully. "It is Rowan's decision whom to adopt, and she can make a witch or wizard into a blood relative of the Myfanwy Clan. You've obviously read my report, so you know her reasoning for that."
"Hem, hem." Mrs. Umbridge squeaked. Fudge looked to her and Ger merely raised an eyebrow. "Your report, Mr. Myfanwy, contained a great many things that are . . . questionable."
Ger's eyes darkened dangerously and his idly threaded fingers drifted apart to rest on the polished surface of his desk. "Questionable because they do not support reality as you wish to see it? I do not lie in my reports. You have the truth, as I saw it when I arrived and after questioning several witnesses. You may choose to ignore everything going on around you but that doesn't make it my concern. Now, if you will both excuse me, if you have a specific concern about my investigation you wish to further debrief me on, owl it to me." He pushed himself out of his chair and stepped around the desk. "I will be returning to my holiday as of now."
"Mr. Myfanwy, we are not finished here!" Umbridge frowned. Ger responded with an infuriatingly pleasant smile and a wave.
The office door flew open before Ger reached it, rebounding against the wall and smacking into Tonks open hand from where she stood just outside. "Dark wizards, God of Death! It looks like they're in Muggle London. We need you out there with us."
"What?" Ger demanded, bolting forward. "Here? Now?"
AN's: Yes, it is a new story. Yes, I know I haven't finished Blood Ties. (boy, am I not finished! cackles) So, time for the Warnings, Disclaimers and stuff, eh? The Harry Potter things are not mine. Obviously. Anything else is. Obviously. The plot, such as it is, and the original characters are definitely products of my weird imagination. And Jade has asked me to note that she has dibs on Ger. Hands off, girls. Since this is a continuation of "The Heir of Merlin" and picks up directly after, it's not OotP compliant. At all. You have been warned. But you'll see some of the same characters.