Disclaimer: None of the nouns within are mine except Lee, and she's only half mine because of her last name.
A/N: Leeanne's wand is good for more than that. It's good for: protection, cleansing, transfiguration, Earth, water, and battle, and olde magicks, healing, binding, conjuring, communication, fire, religious rituals like funerals and weddings, thunder, lightning, archery, and the arts.
Summary: AU. Harry Potter/Matrix crossover. There's more to the Matrix than any of them could ever have guessed. Nine-year-old Harry and his two godparents are about to reveal it all. Sirius/OC.
The Virus – Chapter 2, Not Alone
"Lumos."
888
She may have stopped doing accidental magic by sheer force of will, but it didn't make Leeanne any less of a witch, and she still got her Hogwarts Acceptance Letter.
8Flashback8
"Maple and ash with a redwood handle and an agate and calcite core; interesting. It's a good wand for protection, transfiguration, water, healing, conjuring, communication, fire, and lightning as well. I do believe that's the most confusing combination I've ever sold. I don't make wands with stone cores any longer, haven't since the sixties."
"Probably the most conflicting combination of woods and stones," Leeanne agreed, "but not the most powerful, I'd bet. I don't want power. It corrupts too easily."
"An odd wand for an odd young woman," Ollivander murmured in agreement.
He didn't expect Leeanne to hear him, obviously, but she had very good hearing, so she did, and she smiled and took it as the compliment it was.
"Thank you."
"Yes, well, will that be all, Miss Dursley?"
"Actually sir, I was wondering if you could fit a wand to my cousin without him actually being here." He was only two, but it was always best to be prepared.
"And why can't your cousin come himself?" Mr. Ollivander asked.
"Andy's been very sick all summer, and I don't know if he'll be able to get one before we start our schooling. My parents decided to home school us, you see, but they'll be doing it while we travel, and as I heard that you were the best wandmaker around, I wanted to get him a wand from here. Please sir, tell me you can do it."
"I'll need a focus," he told her.
"Will one of his hairs work?" Leeanne asked, producing a small pouch from her pocket.
At his nod, she gave him one of the hairs and watched him set to work.
"What's his wand arm?" the man asked, stopping after the third incantation.
"I don't know. Umm, I think he's a right-y."
"Hmm," Ollivander said. Then he went to the back to get the wand he had found. "Ah, yes. Here we are. Holly and phoenix feather, wandwood seeped in veritaserum, eleven inches; good for protection, fertility, calming the elements, poisons, lightning, and battle, truth, and dream magicks. Curious, though, very curious…"
"Excuse me, sir, but what's curious?" Leeanne asked.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Dursley. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in this wand gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that someone be destined for this wand in your age group, when its brother – why its brother belongs to You–Know–Who, the one who made the generation of witches and wizards so small. Very, very curious."
Leeanne and Mister Ollivander both knew that they were talking about Harry's generation and not hers, of course, but if she used another name instead of Harry's own, Ollivander could claim ignorance of selling a wand to a minor. None but those with the wandwood touch knew about its power, so none but they would know that he knew who Harry was, if the boy was ever caught casting before he was eleven.
"You were right to say that your wand is not the most powerful I have ever made, though it is powerful in its own right. No, Miss Dursley, the most powerful wand I've ever made is sitting right here in this box. Your cousin will be a great and powerful wizard."
There was a short pause.
"Now, what about wand polish?" Leeanne asked. "We'll be wanting to keep our wands in top condition, of course. Also, I'll be needing a recommendation on where to get the best holsters. It would be foolish to keep such a tool in one's pocket."
"Well…"
8End Flashback8
She had gotten several books the Muggle way by request – enough for four years of teaching herself magic, in fact – and unfortunately wasn't able to come back until her parents started trusting that she would be safe on her own two years later.
Leeanne had gone to Gringotts with a signed letter from Harry then (which had his thumbprint in blood in the bottom right-hand corner, because Leeanne had read up on the customs of many cultures, goblins included, and that's how they checked that things were authentic) and gotten both a copy of Harry's key (the original of which, she asked, that they get back from Albus Dumbledore if he entered the bank – and they weren't very happy that he had had it in the first place, never mind that he hadn't turned it over to their client) and a Debit Gold Card (which took the money straight from his account and had no limit). To her surprise, Harry had also asked in his letter for Leeanne to be named the executor of his account in the stead of Albus Dumbledore, which the goblins were only too happy to help with (it was rare that someone knew their language and customs), and Lee had spent the next several hours signing paperwork and getting advice.
After reading Harry's letter, which both she and Griphook the First had laughed over (as it was written, in four-year-old fashion, in purple crayon, with only his name in pen, spelling mistakes included – honestly, she was surprised the goblins could read it; she most certainly couldn't), Leeanne left the bank, promising she'd be back soon. Then she had gone to Madam Malkin's to get dress robes and cloaks, both in summer/spring and winter/fall, for both herself and Harry (because boys rarely have any fashion sense), and from there straight on in to Knockturn Alley to get the censors, underage magic and otherwise, taken from their wands.
Knockturn Alley wasn't a bad place; if you didn't mind the dangerous and illegal, that is. Criminals hung out in the inns and on the streets, yes, but they wouldn't jump you or even try to scare you. The only time the people tried to frighten you was if you looked frightened yourself (like the kids who found their way in by accident) or like you didn't belong (in which case you were probably and Auror, and didn't belong there). Actually, Unspeakables often did their business or met with informants in the alley, which was why Aurors only found their way in on occasion and the owners were informed ahead of time about raids. So it was no big surprise to Rosetta Leeanne Dursley that, on her way out, a criminal of some note knocked into her, even if it was a bit annoying.
8Flashback8
"FYI," Leeanne told the woman, "Those charms you use on your cold box make more than food last longer. It was good doing business with you."
Then, muttering the charm she had just told the woman to use, Leeanne tucked the still bloody finger, probably freshly cut, into one of her bags and headed for the mouth of the alley and from there on home. Just at that moment, however, someone ran into her.
"I am so sorry, Miss. Are you all right?" the man asked as he bent down to help Lee pick up her things. She rubbed her head for a second, then joined him.
"M'fine," Lee murmured. "Thanks for asking, though."
He picked up the severed finger with both disgust and amusement.
"Not one of yours, is it?" the man asked, knowing that it wasn't or it wouldn't be so cold already. It was the preservation and cooling charms.
Lee looked down at her hands and said, "Nope."
They laughed.
"Seriously, though, blood magic? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"Only if you don't know what you're doing," she said.
Lee stood up, bags in hand, then took the finger and dropped it back into a small pouch on her hip where she kept her cigarettes. The man straightened up also, and Lee took this time to examine him properly.
The man, probably only twenty-one or twenty-two at the very oldest, had shoulder length, wavy black hair (similar to what Lee thought Harry would probably look like if he grew his hair out) and midnight blue eyes with flecks of silver that looked like stars in the sky on the darkest of nights. Her gaze moved down to his lips, a deep, a luscious red with smile lines at the sides, then to his body as a whole, well muscled but less so than he was before she met him from a lack of food, and then back to his lips again.
He was smirking, obviously having noticed where Lee's gaze had landed, and she smirked right back at him, not really caring that he had. She was game if he was.
"Rosetta Leeanne," she said, knowing better than to give out her last name in a place like this, holding out her hand for a handshake. "Friends call me Crimson."
They didn't, really. Rosetta didn't like people enough to have any friends, and the ones she did were just school friends. The man took her hand and… kissed it.
"Sirius Black."
He was obviously expecting her to cringe back in horror, but it was doubtful that that would be happening anytime soon. Leeanne Dursley didn't turn down a handsome man, especially one that was interested, even if he was a criminal. Her mother would be horrified, no doubt, but it wasn't like she had been with anyone who was willing to go that far with a thirteen-year-old yet, though not for lack of trying. She looked him up and down once more, and her eyes met his own.
"Wanna go for a drink? You look like you could use one."
8End Flashback8
They talked on the phone a lot, Leeanne always taking the charges when he used a payphone (which was often), and she was always on the lookout for sightings in the news and the Daily Prophet, but it wasn't until a full year later that they met up again. It was an accident, actually, that they met that day, though they would have met another anyway.
8Flashback8
Great, Leeanne thought, another pompous idiot for Privet Drive. Ms. Delaney had moved out of number eight several weeks ago, taking her obnoxious little monster with her, thank the Lord. Unfortunately, however, someone else was moving in, and although it was likely that they would be just as bad as everyone else on the block, hopefully these people wouldn't have any kids for her to child mind.
Leeanne didn't really need the money that being a childminder brought in. All she had to do was ask and her parents would fork it over. Still, she liked kids (when she could give them back to their parents at the end of the day), and if she wanted to leave when she turned sixteen, Leeanne liked knowing that she could earn her money somehow, until she finished school and got a real job. Leeanne would need to be able to, if she wanted to take Harry with her, and she couldn't leave him alone with those people. So, while she hoped the new neighbours didn't have kids like the annoying brats in this town, she would still offer to child mind if they did. So, knowing that just about everyone in town had already visited and brought jell-o, Lee knocked on the door with a plate of cookies in hand.
"Come in!" a male voice called out, and she opened the door and entered.
It was set up just like all the other houses, of course, but Leeanne was pleased to see that the place looked far more comfortable than her house. There were still cardboard boxes everywhere, of course, and there were sheets over just about everything, but so far the place looked warm and homey, like a house should. A new coat of paint had been applied to the walls off the hallway, she could see, as rather than the clinical white of all the other houses she had been in there was a light butter yellow (which explained all the sheets, as it was still wet), and the banister of the staircase had be stained mahogany.
It was a good look for the place, and it didn't fit in with the dreary monotony of the rest of Privet Drive, which was perfectly fine for Leeanne.
"Hi," a black-haired man said, coming down the stairs. "I'm –"
"Siri!" she shouted, running up to hug him.
Lee threw her arms around his neck, and, though she meant to catch his cheek, in her excitement she missed, and ended up kissing him on the mouth instead. She backed away blushing.
"Well, that's a nice welcome, I must say."
They both laughed.
"Come on into the kitchen and I'll pour you a drink," he said gently, taking her hand, and she followed along without complaint. "You live here in Little Whinging?" he asked once they had both sat down at the kitchen table with some wine. "Really, I pictured you more as the London type, to be honest. Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked," she said, shrugging. "Speaking of London, someone said they spotted you there yesterday. Unless you can turn into a sixty-year-old beggar and back overnight, somehow I doubt that. You've really got 'em searchin' hard, though, Siri."
He grinned.
"That was the plan."
The mood sobered. "What are you doing here in Little Whinging? Not that I don't like to have you where I can keep an eye on you and all, but isn't it a bit dangerous when there are only two other magic users in the vicinity, one of them underage?"
"I planned to live as a Muggle, actually, but there's a legal magic user in the area?"
"Yeah," Lee replied. "Me."
"But you're only –"
"Fourteen, I know, but I registered myself with the Ministry as home schooled. That way, as long as I Obliviate anyone before they blab if I break the Code of Secrecy, I can learn and practice magic at home without getting killed by my father."
Sirius winced.
"Doesn't like magic?"
"He wanted to drown me when I was three. The accidental magic stopped pretty quickly after that, I can tell you. Now I'm 'Daddy's Little Princess'. When I turn sixteen I'll tell him just where he can stick that notion. After he buys me my car, of course."
"Of course."
They shared a grin.
"So, who's the underage magic user?" Sirius asked.
"My cousin. They can't kick him out, though. Something about Blood Wards… Tell me, Siri," Leeanne said after a beat. "Did you really work for Voldemort? It won't change my opinion of you either way, but I'd like to know."
If he was surprised at her use of the name, Sirius didn't show it. He didn't pause, didn't stop, just looked her straight in the eye and told her the truth.
"No," he said solemnly. "I didn't blow up Pettigrew, either, though I wish I did."
"He's still alive, then?" she asked. It was more of a rhetorical question than anything.
"Yup. That's why I broke out," he told her. "To commit the murder I was imprisoned for and to find my godson. Merlin I miss that kid."
"I didn't know you had a godson."
"Yeah. Harry, Harry Potter."
Leeanne froze.
"Can I use your phone for a minute?" she asked casually.
"Sure."
Seconds later, she was getting the answering machine in her room.
"Kid? Hey, kid, it's Crimson, can ya pick up?"
"Crimson?" the six-year-old answered. He hid in her room often, so it was no surprise.
"Can you come down to number eight for a sec? There's someone I want you to meet."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye, kiddo."
They both hung up, and Leeanne turned to see Sirius' questioning gaze.
"Harry Potter lives with me."
"But I thought that he live with –"
"- his mother's sister's family?" she asked bitterly. "Sirius, I hope that you understand why I never told you, but I couldn't know for sure whether… I haven't been completely honest with you. My name is Rosetta Leeanne Dursley. Harry Potter is my cousin and… and my godson as well." Then she sat down and waited for him to react.
Three minutes and a cigarette later found Harry Potter knocking at convict Sirius Black's door. Before he went to answer it, however, Siri murmured, "I understand."
"Crimson?" the little boy asked once he was led into the kitchen.
"Harry, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, you remember Harry, don't you?"
"You look just like your father…" he said, nodding.
"You knew my dad?" Harry asked eagerly.
"He's your godfather, Harry," Leeanne told him. Then she turned to Sirius. "It was just before they went under the Fidelius Charm, I assume?"
"Yes. They wanted me to be their Secret Keeper, but I thought that no one would think of weak little thing like Peter. We didn't. He ended up being the spy."
She nodded, remembering that night. "When I felt the charm crumble, I didn't know what to think. Then I got a flash of vision. A man – tall, pale, snakelike. I tried calling them on the telephone, to warn them, but… but from the way that Auror said they were positioned when the house came down, and the autopsy report, I think they already knew."
"You were included under –"
Lee snapped out of her daze.
"Yes. Dudley was too. It wasn't the house that was under the Fidelius – that's not doable yet, that I know – it was the people. When that Auror showed up at our house – God but that was a horrible night for me."
"A bad night for all of us," Sirius said. Then his eyes widened. "Wait, you couldn't have been any more than nine years old!"
She smiled humourlessly. "I was eight."
"Crimson?" Harry asked, looking frightened and confused.
"Oh Harry, Hun, I'm sorry," she said, picking him up in a hug. In an aside to Sirius, Lee whispered grimly, "He still has nightmares. Green light."
After a pause, Sirius asked, "So, you want to know about your parents?"
"You'd tell me about them? Really?" came the excited reply.
"Of course. Now, Lily and James were two of the best – wait a sec," he said, looking at Lee. "You were that little girl that kept running away to their house."
"Ummhmm," she replied, a smile playing about her lips. "Those were good times. Hey, you remember that Christmas party? What was it – eighty, just after Harry was born?"
He laughed.
"I remember. You announced to the whole room that James was an arsehole. We were all laughing so hard, and honestly, I thought Lily was about to crack a rib. Why did you do that, anyway? Not that I didn't enjoy it, of course."
She shrugged with a smile. "Remus promised me a glass of wine. To me, it was free wine and a chance to tell Uncle James just what I thought of him without getting into trouble. I could tell everyone that Remus told me to say it, after all, and it wouldn't have been a lie, either. What seven-year-old could pass up on a chance like that?" They laughed.
As Leeanne and Sirius told Harry stories about his parents, talking and laughing and sipping on red wine, a plate of cookies lay forgotten on a table in the hall.
End Flashback
Leeanne spent lots time at Sirius' house when he was there and oftentimes even when he wasn't. In fact, once he gave her a key, Lee practically lived at Sirius' house, as did Harry. At first, Crimson slept on the couch while Harry took the guest bedroom when they both stayed over, as Leeanne not wanting to make Sirius uncomfortable. Later, when it became obvious that her age didn't bother him, however, Leeanne began sleeping in the same room and, indeed, the same bed as Sirius.
8Flashback8
It was her sixteenth birthday and, for once in her life, Leeanne allowed herself to get completely smashed. Crimson knew she'd regret it in the morning, but right now she really didn't care. She was sitting here in a club with good music, good drinks, and, most importantly, Sirius. Speak of the devil…
"How's being sixteen feel?" he asked, pouring whiskey into her shot glass straight from the bottle, which the owner/bartender, a friend of Siri's, had given them free as a birthday gift to Leeanne. That had quickly made him a friend of hers also.
"Right now? Wonderful." Then Lee added dryly, "Ask me again in the morning when the hangover sets in, though, and my answer might be a bit different."
Downing a shot of whiskey himself, Sirius laughed.
"I'll do that."
They drank and laughed and danced all night, and they didn't leave until the club closed at five in the morning. When they stumbled out of Knockturn Alley and realized that they were far too drunk to apparate (Leeanne had passed her O.W.L.s at thirteen, her N.E.W.T.s at fifteen, and her Apparation Test just three months before), Lee and Siri took off their robes and wandered into King's Cross to look for a cab, kissing and laughing at how drunk they both were. Several pound notes and a lighter money purse later, the two stumbled into Sirius' room and fell onto the bed, laughing.
"I think we mortified the cab driver!"
This brought on more laughter, until Lee began to stumblingly unbutton Sirius' shirt. He put his hand over Leeanne's to stop her.
"You're drunk."
"I'm sober enough not to forget this in the morning, and not to regret it."
Indeed her eyes were much clearer now, and they shone with something foreign to him but that Sirius felt he should remember from somewhere.
"Leeanne, I don't want you to rush into this."
"I've been waiting for this for five years, Siri. How am I rushing?"
"Are you sure?" he asked quietly, for once in his life sounding vulnerable.
"I was ready to let you take me back on that street in Knockturn Alley when I was eleven. You wouldn't take me until I was of age, and I accepted that. I'm of age now. Yes, Sirius, I am sure. With you, I can't be anything less, because I can taste eternity."
Slowly, Sirius pushed Leeanne to lie back in the bed, and they began to unclothe each other. The sex (because the word lovemaking was too fluffy for Lee) was slow and tender. In the afternoon, when Sirius and Lee had both gotten up and had a cup of coffee and tea respectively, Sirius asked Lee again how being sixteen felt.
"Despite the hangover," Leeanne said, grimacing and then stopping to smile at her lover softly. "Being sixteen feels brilliant."
He smiled.
"Now help me find the hangover potion."
8End Flashback8
They had been through too much together for Lee to leave Sirius now. Besides, according to Harry, he was freer than the others around them, sort of like she was.
"Why are we stopping?" the woman asked.
"You can get others out of here, right?"
"Oh, I don't know…"
"Either you can or you can't. Answer the question."
"It's not up to me," the woman told her.
"All or nothin'," Lee told her. "Hawk! Hacker! Get out here; we're goin' for a ride!"
Then Lee turned to the woman.
"I'm Crimson, by the way."
"Trinity."
888
"Nox."