Title: Nightmares of a Hero, Tears of the Foe
Author: Shinigami Liliz Black
Status: UNBETAED
Notes: I found Patronus/Patronum means protector in Latin. This story is Pre-HBP since much of the things in that book did didn't happened here though many ideas like the name RAB and Snape's history is mentioned and discover in different ways than the HBP. Paine has 31 years.
Chapter Three: The New member of the Potters
"Hello Potter."
The Boy Who lived stepped back almost stumbling with the stair steps, his eyes widening at the appearance of the Death Eater. He was about to raised him wand, ready to blast the Death Eater when it was hastily knocked off his hand by a quick Expelliarmus. Gritting his teeth at his lack of guard, his eyes flashed in fear as he backend, 'No it can't be!' Harry thought, his eyes never leaving the approaching figure, his white mask covering his appearance. 'How did he got in here? The wards-'
But he barely finished his thoughts, as another Death Eater came from the kitchen holding his wand lazily. When his eye landed on Harry he stopped and pointed his wand firmly at him. "You were supposed to bind him!"
The first Death Eater laughed, "Look at his face, it's worth a million!" But his companion scowled, slapping the back of his head, "You moron! We have orders to obey!"
Through the exchange of words Harry hastily took the chance to slipped from their sight and hiding into the dark shadows of the room. 'I should have brought my Invisibility Cloak with me,' he hissed mentally.
The Death Eaters noticed the boy's silence and stopped arguing, realizing he was nowhere in sight, "This is your fault!" the second hissed looking around wildly, "If you only would had stupefy him!"
"He doesn't have his wand!" the first snapped, showing the long polished wood in his hand, "He can't do anything than to hide."
Harry thanked at the shadows around the house, it had helped him slipped to the kitchen unnoticed, as a white snowing owl tapped on the window. He hastily pushed the window open, trying to make as less sound as possible as he heard footsteps going up the stairs and sighed. "Hedwig," he whispered to the bird as his hand look for a pen and a piece of parchment, "Deliver this to Dumbledore and hurry!"
He scrapped few hasty words down before folding the paper and tying the letter with a thin trash rope to the bird's claw. Hedwig hooted and took off as one of the Death Eaters came down, "What was that?"
Harry turned, as the Death Eater came into view. Even through the shadows they could make each others out and stared silently for a split second before the Death Eater raised his wand and fired the first deadly curse. Though Harry moved with haste and had taken a chair, tossing it to the Death Eeater. The curse hit the chair cracking the wood as he dashed out of his way, and into the living room.
Though another spell spin towards him from upstairs and jumped over the couch missing the spell by inches as it hit the wall ahead him as he landed on the soft cushion and finally rolling down to the floor.
" Levicorpus!" The Death Eater from the kitchen shouted as Harry hastily scrambled away, the spell hitting the carpet. Then he felt something hit the back of his knees and he collided over with the coffee table falling to the floor.
That gave the Death Eater the chance to strolled over him and point his wand at him. "Crucio."
Harry waited for the horrible curse to hit him but the pain never came instead, another figure Apparate in, and with a flutter of his cloak he shielded both from the Cruciatus Curse.
The curse was shockingly deflected as it hit one of Petunia's Chinese tea cup set, smashing the porcelain material. Harry soon realized how mad Petunia would be to heard her precious set and let along her house has been completely screwed but the though were hastily wiped off when the figure straitened up, dropping the hem of the cloak that shield them.
His first thought was Remus but the idea was soon dismissed when the figure spoke, "Stand back," the figure said in a strong feminine voice as she straightened up facing the two dumbfounded Death Eaters.
He wondered if the woman, as he could noticed at the smoothness of her cheek under the hood, was really Tonks, Sirius second cousin, an Auror in training. But why would Tonks feel the need to cover her face? He thought, and her voice, it's much softer.
The Death Eaters scowled and kicked into action. The first spell shot out; but luckily, the stranger was fast enough to dodge the blow. He ducked and crawled away from the fight emerging between the two Death Eaters and the stranger. He leaped to his feet, watching the duel carefully, looking for a way to help. Harry thought the duelling was dangerous, but not as dangerous as the time in his fifth year when Dumbledore had fought the Lord. The stranger as fighting Death Eaters and was going a fairly good job dodging the blows.
What startled the Boy Who Lived was the fact that the figure hadn't lifted a wand up and was using her bare hands to knock and dodge the spells. Her lips barely moving, unlike the Death Eaters who were shouting countless of deadly curse which failed to hit her.
The woman had finally caught one of the Death Eaters off guard, knocking the wand off his grasp and with a strong kick in the chest sent him slamming against the wall knocking a portrait down, and cracking the crystal.
The armed Death Eater stepped back, stopping their fight realizing it was no use to fight against the intruder. "Let's go," he growled at his partner.
"But the Dark Lord-" the other tried to protest.
"Let's fucking go!" he growled at his companion and called over for his wand. "We will meet again," he hissed, his wand still pointed at her as the other grabbed his wand.
"Crucio!" In an automatic response the stranger took hold of the coffee table, heaving it up in the air and with her leg she forced the table forward to them as a shelter for the cursed threw. The wood cracked, at the blow, and finally snapped forcing her to pushed Harry away and kicking the wood away.
Harry stumbled over to the floor as the Death Eaters laughed and with a loud crack they were gone. A long polished wand dropping to the floor at their departure. The woman frowned, "Come out, it's safe now."
Harry raised her eyebrow at her word, thinking it meant for him but a voice came from upstairs, "Blimey, you surprised me. You were awesome there!"
Harry looked up at the source of the voice to find a man dressed in black tight robes, his long silver hair falling down his shoulder and his back. His eyes gazed down at them with a greyish-blue colour, a spark of mischief visible. He was slim, pale and full of energy. Almost like Sirius hethought
The woman snorted, "That's just a warm up," she said making Harry's eye landed back on her as she yanking the hood off, revealing a mop of black messy hair, identical as him but a bit longer, the curls almost brushing her shoulders. Harry felt his jaw dropped as the woman glanced at him through her black sunglasses and grinned, "You sure are as good looking as him," she said taking her sunglasses off and hading him down his wand.
He took the wand back as he took a sharp breath at the luminous hazer eyes of the woman and the enormous similarities the woman held with him. His mouth open to ask her whereabouts when the atmosphere became heavier, a faint white mist coming from their nostrils and mouth as ice began to cover the walls.
The woman looked around with a sharp suspicious glance as the man upstairs strolled down to them, his wand out, " Dementors!"
And just then the dark tall rotten creatures had began to appear about, gliding over them The man forced his wand up. "Expecto Patronum!"
His mind was all filled with horrible memories of Vernon raping him, Sirius falling under the veil, the distance screaming of his mother.
'Happy thoughts! Damn it!' he thought. ""….Expecto….Patronum." Blackness was slipping in his mind as his eyes rolled back.
"Expecto Patronum!" a strong voice followed his. Consciousness was slipping back as his eyes focus on the woman standing ahead of him, her arms firmly stick to her sides as her eyes were fix on the Dementors approaching.A white ghostly smoke emerged from her body, slowly forming the outline of a ferocious large white wolf. Dementors were cowering at the wolf's presence; while the woman lowered her head, her eyes still fixed at the Dementors. A snapping sound was heard as the Wolfe charged against them, the white misty surrounding the Dementor
Harry was forced to clap his ears as the Dementors let out a shrill horrible scream. The black hooded creatures began to shrink, his arms crawling up, begging for mercy as dozens of small, white, flying balls left their cloak. Harry couldn't move; never had he witnessed such a scene. Did she just kill the Dementor?
As the room cleared ant the Wolf had walked back to the woman, smuggling his shout on her hand and disappeared.
She looked back at him grinning, "Pack up Harry," she said, "We have to go."
"Who are you? Why do we have to go?"
Her grinned dropped at his questions, turning into a frown, "Don't tell me they didn't tell you," she mumbled glancing at the other man shaking his robes. The man just shrugged his shoulders in response. " I'm your aunt Harry."
The words sank down as a stone down his stomach, "My what!"
The woman was about to open her mouth when the other man interrupted, "I don't want to be rude but we really have to go, Remus is waiting for us so get your things and hurry Harry," he said looking at the raven haired boy, "We don't want to face anymore Death Eaters, we'll explain everything later."
Harry shook his head after feeling the sensation of Apparating and his feet touch the solid ground once again. His eyes focus on the room they landed which looked nothing alike Grimmauld Place and finally noticing Remus Lupin sitting on the dinning table a mug of hot chocolate on his hand, "Ah so you brought him."
The man travelling with them let go of Harry trunk and grinned linking his lips. "Ah Remus thank you!" he said walking over to the werewolf and snatching the bagel from his hand.
Remus glared at the other man taking another one from the bowl, "That's very nice of you Rab."
"I'm starving!" the guy named 'Rab' said chewing on his bagel as he sat down beside him, "She dragged me out before dinner!"
The woman walked passed by him, sitting in front of Remus, "What? Thought I couldn't get him by myself?"
"I'm telling you," Rab muffled, "She's way better than Moody."
Remus rolled his eyes at the other man, "That's clearly obvious; she's younger and faster than Moody." Then his eyes darted over Harry and smiled, "Come and join us Harry."
The other boy walked over, as the woman move away, leaving him a space in the bench to sit down, "Want some?" Remus asked showing him the bowls of bagels, he took one and chewed silently before asking, "What's going on Remus? Why are we here?"
"Are you tired?" he asked and Harry shook his head hastily, "Because it's going to take a while to explain everything."
"I'm all ears," he said nibbling his bagel, "How come the Death Eaters attacked Privet Drive? I though the house was protected with wards."
"You are right, it was protected," Remus said as the other two fought over the brownie left, "It seems Voldemort had found a way to break through them. Dumbledore sensed this and thought better to move you over to here, instead of Grimmauld Place."
"Why?" he asked lowering the bagel, "If Grimmauld Place is the Orders's Headquarters."
"That's the problem," Remus replied after taking a sip from his hot chocolate. The woman stuck her tongue at Rab finally winning over the brownie; Rab pouted crossing his arms. "It seems after Sirius's death," he stopped hearing at Harry's sharp breath but continued when the teenager nodded, "Rumours had been flying around the Death Eaters, especially between the Black sisters, that Grimmauld Place is something secret and important to the Order."
At this the woman sitting beside Harry looked over at them resting her elbow on the table, "So I decided to donate this place!" she said cheerfully as Rab tried not to hit her with the bowl of bagels after 'stealing his brownie' "Did you knew this house used to belong to the Potters before your father went into hiding?"
Harry glanced at the other woman with raised eyebrow. His mouth opened to say something when he was interrupted for the second time. "Toby!" Rab had exclaimed standing up and walking over the old man.
Harry wondered if the old man was as old as Dumbledore, because the small hair he had left on his head was a silver white, his face held lots of wrinkles making his eyes tiny and barely visible for him to see properly, though you could see the dark blue colour in them. He had a small hunch on his back, bending a bit his body while a long wooden cane held his skinny body on his feet. The woman sitting beside him stood up as well and walked over the older man, helping him to walked over the table.
That gave Harry enough time to leaned over and whisper to Remus, "Who are they?"
Remus finished his mug of chocolate, smiling slightly as they help the old man named Toby to sit down on a chair conjured by Rab. "Did she mention something before?"
Harry nodded, "She said she was my aunt, is that right?"
Remus sighed as he nodded, "Dumbledore thought it would have been wise not to mention something to you. He thought it was much safer to stay with the Dursleys than with her. You see, Paine there," he gestured to the woman, "didn't have the age to claim you so after your parents died, and even if she did, she wasn't capable of protecting you.
"She suddenly disappeared after the argument between her and Dumbledore," Remus explained as Rab offered some tea to the old man and Paine smiled at him greeting him, "We never heard of her until this summer and the worst was she dragged him with her to join the Order."
"Why worst?" Harry asked curiously, nibbling his bagel.
"It was a shock for us as well, but believe it or not, that man, Rab, is indeed Regulus Black, Sirius's brother."
Harry's jaw dropped at the name, "But he's supposed to be dead!"
"We thought so too, but it seems he faked his death, change his appearance, as you can see for his white silver hair and started calling himself Rab, Regulus Alphard Black for short. Quite stupid if you ask me," he added.
Harry held a snigger and decided to continue his questions popping on his brain, "So Paine joined the Order?"
Remus nodded, "And the old man, Tobias Wright, offered this house to the order as a headquarters. You see, even if the house were the Potters, Tobias heritage it from your grandmother's request after her death. They seem to had been best friends at heart, despite him being a muggleborn wizard and took Paine in. Your father tried to fight over it, but ended up empty handed."
"But wouldn't it be obvious for Voldemort to discover this place?" Harry asked as Remus shrugged at Voldemort's name.
"Not exactly," he replied, "Tobias barely uses his magic and he isn't entirely registered as a wizard so I doubt Voldemort would suspect a Muggleborn living under the Potter's first residence to be involve with Dumbledore especially when Muggles are very 'thickheads' to be control."
He glanced at Toby as he talked with Rab (Regulus) about something that must be sound amazing to the old man as his expression turned in surprise. Remus took hold of Harry's hand softly as Paine slipped beside him, "I'm sorry for not mentioning this before, Dumbledore forbid Sirius and I to."
His eyes flashed in fear and he flinched away from Remus's touch as he experiences the horrible memories of the nights he was raped. Remus soon noticed this and looked closely at the other boy, his nose twitching at an uncommon sent of fear, "Are you ok Harry?"
Harry stood up abruptly, fearing that the others might discover his reason of fears, I won't fall for it, he thought, I can't tell them, it's so…so shameful.
"I'm fine," he almost snapped, "I'm just tired."
Pained watched him with raised eyebrows. Even if she met him for few minutes, Harry seems to be like James, an open book.
Remus was not entirely convinced but nodded, "All right, why don't you take him upstairs to his room?"
"This will be your room. You'll have it to yourself for now. I heard your friends might be coming to visit after August the 3rd," Paine said, helping Harry carry his trunk.
Paine looked at Harry as he plopped into the bed, looking out of the window, "Will you be all right?"
The thought of Vernon raping him came back to his mind, and he fought back the tears coming, nod his head. He knew he should tell someone; but it was so shameful coming from 'the Boy Who lived'
"Paine right?"
The older woman nodded as she walked over to him, sitting beside him, "Yes?"
"Did you know my father?"
Paine frowned a bit but nodded, "You can say so, I was attending a school in America so I only saw him the summers but I can say he was a hell of a brother. Sure, I won't deny at some point he was extremely confident and arrogant but after met Lily, he slowly started to change."
"You knew her too?" he asked glancing at her curiously.
Pained looked out of the window, "Not exactly but I've see her a couple of times when James brought her there."
There was a long silence between them when Paine finally stood up, "Well you better rest, I'm really looking forward to know all about you Harry. Good night." She kissed the top of his head and left the room closing the door behind.
Harry looked at the room around, completely simple and cozy. His eyes landed on the pillow on the bed, and felt his eyes watered, he dropped down flat on his stomach and burry his face on the pillows, sobbing.
TBC…
Notes: Not much but sounds much better than the old version, sounds more realistic. We'll know more about Paine and Regulus in future chapters.
