A/N: Harry didn't know Remus got hurt, he ran to the castle & didn't look back.
The truth will be revealed by Turkey Day (11/25/04) hopefully sooner, if I have access to a computer (I believe it is ch. 26)
Chapter 20 novo visius adoptio
"So, Harry, you're telling me that your appearance was a result of this 'Novo Visius Adoptio' spell." Remus said to Harry. Poppy finally let him leave the hospital ward after dinner and the first thing he did was track Harry down in his rooms.
"Yes."
"Why couldn't we find it in any of the books we looked through?"
"It is only used in cases of adoption. Because of that, it isn't that well known. In fact, I think the adoption book is the only one that mentions it. The book said that usually only Ministry workers in the Department of Family Services are aware of how to cast the spell."
"Then why wasn't it detected by Moody or Severus's potions?"
"It's a blood based potion, again, only used in adoptions, so it is not classified as an appearance altering potion. The effects are that the child will have features of his/her adoptive parents until he is told about the adoption. This spell is used to protect the child, most appearance altering potions or charms are done to disguise or conceal something." Harry wasn't sure how to explain this, it was something he was a bit confused about as well, all he knew was that it worked, since it wasn't detected. "Since it is a protective spell, it is able to hide the fact that it is a spell. It also hides the actual identity of the child, if any genetic testing was performed while the spell was still active, whether magical or muggle, it would show the adoptive parents as the result rather than the birth parents until the spell was completely reversed."
"Okay, I might not understand exactly how it works, but I understand that it does. But the question now is, how was it reversed?"
"It will revert itself once the child has been informed that they were adopted." For some reason, Harry felt like he was the professor here.
"Harry, you found out that you were adopted over five weeks ago!"
"Yeah, I know. According to 'Magic of Adoption' the spell will begin to wear off four weeks after being informed about the adoption. The book said that this is done to provide time for the parents and child to reset the spell. This time the child's blood is used as well, and the spell will become permanent."
"Starts to wear off, you said. How long does it take for it to wear off?"
"Well, that kind of depends on the power behind the spells. The stronger the witch and wizard involved in the spell, the longer it will be before the spell is completely reversed. Usually about one or two weeks."
Remus sat thinking for a moment before asking, "So what day did you read Sirius's first letter?"
"July 3. Why?"
Moony ignored Harry's question and started to calculate the days in his head, "So your birthday was four weeks, today is ten days after that. By next Wednesday or Saturday at the latest, you appearance should be how it naturally would be."
"Merlin," Harry said. "I think I need to lie down." Remus laughed as Harry crawled down onto the floor, taking all of this in. "I can't believe I will finally learn what I should look like behind the charms. It's really not that much of a change, is it? I mean, my hair is the same color, just much longer and wavier, and I suppose I could always cut it if I wanted. Mostly it is just my eyes right now. I think it will take a while to get used to blue eyes, though. I kind of liked the green."
Remus nodded, he too would have to get used to the physical changes in Harry. He wondered if Harry had given any thought to how he would explain his appearance to his friends once school started.
"Harry, have you thought about how you will explain your appearance to everyone?"
"No. I figured I have a few weeks until school starts, hopefully I can come up with something by then."
"Are you going to tell Dumbledore about the adoption?"
"Don't plan on it right now. As far as I can see, it doesn't affect the prophecy or the order. I will have to tell him before the school year ends, though."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure what affect the adoption has on the wards at my aunt's house. Supposedly they are based on the blood connection between me and my aunt. Since I was adopted by Lily, there is no blood connection, which I am grateful for in many ways." Harry added the last phrase with relief.
"Yes, I suppose he would have to be informed about the adoption for that reason, at least. I know that you are not eager to share the information with him, but he might be able to help you. Maybe you should let him know before school starts. He probably suspects something anyways."
"He seems to know just about everything that happens in this castle. If he asks me directly, then I will tell him, otherwise, not until I'm ready. I would like to at least know a bit more about my parents first. I have a feeling that he wouldn't want me to pursue a relationship with my natural family."
"Harry, why would you say that?"
"Just an instinctive feeling. He always tries to do what's best for me, which often turns out to be the worse thing for me. My family is in Sweden. If they want to spend time with me, I would have to go there, I don't think Dumbledore would allow that. He won't even let me go to the Weasley's!"
Remus listened to what Harry said and even more important what he implied. The boy was genuinely afraid that Albus would keep him from his family. At times, Remus himself wasn't sure what the headmaster was up to. Remus had to believe that Albus cared about Harry and would want him to be happy. Surely he would do what he could to help the boy come to terms with his past and future.
Remus decided to change the topic off of Albus and asked another question that had been on his mind. "Harry, where did you find the book, anyways?"
"Oh, that was the strangest thing. I walked into the library on my birthday with Ron and Hermione was sitting at a table reading it. She said she found it open on the table, and of course, being Hermione, had to read it."
"So you decided to take it from the library after all?" Remus said, pointing to the papers in his hands.
"No, actually, Hermione took it from the library later that night when I wasn't looking. After Hermione and Ron left, I eventually went back to the library to find it again, but once more, it was missing. It wasn't until a few days later when I remembered that Hermione had left some library books in the tower that she asked me to return for her. One of the books was 'Magic of Adoption'.
"And you decided to hang onto it, so it wouldn't disappear again."
"No, I returned it. But first I used a copy spell on some of the pages, just in case it disappeared again." Harry said sheepishly, since they weren't suppose to use the duplicating spell on library books, at least not for so many pages.
"Smart boy." Remus said, laughing.
Harry avoided the great hall and the other professors the rest of the weekend. He wasn't sure how to answer all the questions he knew would come from his 'new' appearance. Hopefully, most will attribute it to potion experiments and not ask.
Come Monday morning, though, Harry knew he couldn't evade Snape any more, so he knocked on his office door and went in.
"Potter," Snape said without looking up. "Take a seat, I'll be with you in a minute."
After finishing his supply request list for Albus, Snape grabbed his want and stood up. "Okay, Potter, over here. Ready? Legili-"
"Professor," Harry said after Snape was silent for a few minutes. He couldn't figure out why Snape stopped halfway through the spell.
Snape just looked at Harry, taking in his height, his hair and his face. Finally, he shook his head and once more said "You might want to be careful about the potions you combine. Ready? Legilimens!"
Even though Harry was distracted by Snape's remark, he was still able to keep his professor out of his mind for the duration of the spell.
"Finally, Potter, improvement. Good to know that our time here this summer is not being wasted. However, the Dark Lord will keep the spell on you for a longer period of time. If you can't keep him out completely, which I wouldn't suggest if you meet face to face, let him see what you want him to see."
"Sir, why would you suggest that I don't keep him out completely, if I am able to?"
"Potter, if you are able to keep him out completely then he will know that you learned this. If Albus saw to it that you were taught this, something, normally not taught at Hogwarts, and hardly ever to teenagers, then the Dark Lord will assume that you have information that would be valuable to him and he would stop at nothing to get that information, eventually wearing down your shields."
"But sir, what about the dreams and visions?"
"Those are a different matter, Potter. Your mind should be completely clear when you go to bed at night. I would suggest you continue with the journals, since they seem to be working. This will prevent the visions occurring while you sleep." Snape explained. "Imposing specific memories or even false memories for the Dark Lord to see is only if you meet him in person."
"How would I do that?"
"The opposite way of clearing your mind. Instead you fill your mind with thoughts, memories and most of all feelings about the event or item you want him to see, while everything else is cleared out."
"Can we try that?"
"Perhaps," said Snape. "Once I am satisfied that you can keep me out of your mind."
Harry just finished taking the antidote to change his hair color back to its original color rather than the Slytherin green Snape had colored it. The last two evenings, Snape had showed him how to create appearance altering potions set to antidotes rather than a timed reversal. Snape would brew an appearance altering potion for Harry to digest, Harry would have to figure out what potion it was and work on the antidote. Last night, Snape had handed him a potion that made his eyes turn black. Before Snape handed the potion to Harry, he informed Harry that he wouldn't help on the antidotes. Harry's appearance will stay as it was until Harry successfully brewed the correct antidote. Luckily, Harry was able to figure out the antidotes pretty quickly.
For some reason, Snape was part proud that Harry was showing such skills in potions, he never would have imagined that this student could so quickly identify the potions applied to him and be able to figure out the correct antidote and brew it successfully. Of course, the other part of him was disappointed. He had been looking forward to the looks on the other professor's faces, especially Minerva's if the Gryffindor golden boy had gone to breakfast with Slytherin green hair, not to mention eyes that resembled his own.
Of course, it was the feelings of pride that confused the potion master. Ever since he shared his story with the boy, the two seemed to be closer. Snape didn't automatically insult Harry, and he hardly ever made a derisive comment about his father or godfather. Harry didn't lose his temper, but seemed to enjoy Snape's sarcastic humor, even when it was directed towards himself.
"Sir? Are there any other appearance potions that we can work on tonight?"
"No. You learned the both the timed and antidote reversing potions to change eye color, hair color, hair length and texture, which you seem to have put to use. The only other appearance altering potions are too dangerous to use."
"What other potions are there?"
"We went through the cosmetic or surface potions, the only other ones are skeletal changes." At Harry's blank look, Snape sighed and explained, "Changes to your skeletal system, bone structure, et cetera. Facial features, Height, skin tones. Charms let someone see what you want them to see, without actually changing these items. Potions actually make this change, causing pain during the transformation, as well as danger if something went wrong."
"How could something go wrong? Wouldn't you know if the potion was incorrect?"
"I would know, but not many others would. If the potion is off by even a little bit, the results could be disastrous. Think back to Lockhart's spell to fix the bone in your arm. Now imagine if you had ingested a potion to change your bones or muscle, and the potion was wrong, what would happen if that incorrect potion had the same effect as Lockhart's incorrect spell?"
Harry paled at the thought of someone with no bones in their entire body, "Oh."
"Oh, indeed. The only other variant of the potions you know is the different colors or length of time the spell lasts. You don't need to brew a potion to learn those, any book on appearance altering potions will have a table showing you which ingredients are needed to achieve your desired result."
"Oh," Harry said again. "Well, then, thank you for teaching me these potions. I'll see you tomorrow for occlumency, then."
"Potter, I'm brewing some potions for Madam Pomphrey for her stocks. Dumbledore suggested that you assist as a way to evaluate your potion skill level for possible admittance to my NEWT class. If you are still interested in that class, I suggest you meet here tomorrow at seven."
"Yes, sir, thank you, professor." Harry said as he left the classroom.
End Chapter 20 novo visius adoptio
Forgive the minor errors, wanted to get this out to you while I could.
Upcoming: Chapter 21 accepted and rejected
Chapter 22 going, going, gone