A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I have had tons of homework and I have been
packing for a trip I'm taking this weekend. And it's going to be the Trip
From Hell!!! We are going to a small place in the New Hampshire/Maine area
that has A) No computers, B) No cable, C) You have to get up early in the
morning to turn on the water, just to have a hot shower at 10am (unless
someone gets there before you), D) The nearest stores are three miles away.
I can't drive so that means walking, E) Somehow, the sleeping arrangements
were made and I got, if you can believe it, a cot in the DINING ROOM. Who
sleeps in a dining room?......You get the idea, so I'll skip letters F
through Z (and more if the alphabet was longer). But, that's not the worst
part. I'll be surrounded by *gulp* my relatives. DUN DUN DUN!!!! If you
don't hear from me in a while, I probably didn't make it out alive.
Okay, I'm done being melodramatic. On to the Reviewers....Thanks to pheonixrising: You should be fine; Suicidaltoast: I'll try to make them longer from now on; Kou Da Cutie: Unfortunately, no rest for the weary. He'll have many more problems and adventures in the future; Ran: Thanks for that, I can never remember which episode is which; Jaina: Sorry, but no. When ever I try to right slash, it comes out sounding forced. And, there won't be that much romance in the story. At least, not now ;^) ; fan; Trixi Hellfire; jasmin; and SilverFang!!!
CH5: Wouldn't you like to know
January 13, 1996
Harry Potter had been at the Watchers' Council for 6 months now. And it showed.
But, before we get into that, it's flashback time. Cue the flashy lights and whooshy noises.
***************************************************************************
Bill led Harry and Draco through the twisting hallways of Le Coeur*, the Headquarters of the W.C. It had taken ages to get there: a lot of Flue Powder, tons of buses, and trains galore. But they were finally there.
The group rounded the corner and there stood the door to a large office. Bill pushed his way inside and the boys followed. Sitting by a desk was a whole bunch of people.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley," said the man behind the desk. He was very old and obviously the leader of the group. "Are these our new recruits?"
"Yes, Mr. Travers," Bill turned to Draco and Harry. "Guys, this is Quentin Travers, Head Watcher. And, Travers, this is Draco Malfoy," Draco gave a small wave, "and Harry Potter." Harry nodded his head in greeting, uncomfortably aware of the ususal upward flick to his forehead.
"If that is all, Mr. Weasley..." Travers went on, politely disguising his real message, 'Get out'.
"Of course. I hope to hear from you soon, Harry. Take care, the both of you." And with that, Harry watched as the last link of his old life walked out the door.
"Okay, trainees, on to business. First things first, does anyone here wish to train these two?" asked Travers, scanning the room. A person spoke from the shadows.
"I'll take them on." A young women, possibly in her mid-twenties, stepped out. She had shoulder length auburn hair and blue eyes, and spoke with an American accent. Right now, she looked very intimidating.
Travers looked hesitant, which Harry didn't take as a good sign. "If your sure Edge, but if..." Edge held out her hand to stop him.
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of them." She strolled out of the room, motioning for her new students to follow. They complied.
Again, the boys were led through a series of twists and turns they were sure they'd never remember. Finally, Edge opened a door on the side of the hall and they went inside. It was a library.
Edge promptly fell into a chair with a sigh. "I thought we would never get out of there." She smiled at her trainees. "Sit down, sit down. No need for formalities here." Once they were seated, she went on. "Uggg, they are so stuffy. Sorry about that, but I needed to convince them I was best for this job. I'm afraid you got the wrong impression of me. Let's start over. I'm called Edge. It's a codename, you'll have to get some soon as well. And, why did I volunteer to train you? Simple, I couldn't have you stuck with Quentin or Ardesco**. They are the most pompous people I have ever met and would waste no time forcing a stick up your asses as well." She said this all very fast, reminding Harry of Hermione. But, he had to stop thinking like that, it hurt too much. "So, I guess we've got to get you some names."
"How do we pick them?" Harry asked.
"You don't. It's like, the wand picks the wizard." Edge walked over to a table near a window and picked up something. She put it in Draco's hand. "This is....well it doesn't have a name. I just call it the Choice Thingy." The 'Choice Thingy' was a small, smooth black rock. "You just hold it in your hand and the name comes to you."
Draco sat starring at the rock. At last, he spoke. "Immolo." He looked up at Edge. "What's that mean?"
"Slay. Your turn, Harry."
Harry picked it up. Instantly, he felt a soft tingling in the back of his brain, repeating the same word over and over again. "Denicalias," he echoed.
"Hmmm." His new mentor looked thoughtful. "'Releasing from death'. I suppose it fits." She grinned at them. "Now, on to the fun part. We begin your training tonight."
****************************************************************************
The weeks flew by after that. With Harry's lesson over the summer and the fencing lessons Lucius made Draco take, both were already quite ready for more difficult tactics. They learned the different ways to hurt or kill a vampire: stakes, sunlight, holy water, and crosses. And, soon, they moved on to the real world.
Possibly the most vivid memory Harry had at Le Coeur were the first vampires he and his newfound friend slain.
***************************************************************************
"Im, on your left!" shouted Harry from the opposite side of the cemetery. He had been patrolling a little ways down when he had seen the attack. Now, he was running towards his hunting partner to help with this new threat.
Draco did a right back kick and hit the vampire in the shoulder. "Thanks, Deni!" he called back. Harry barely had time to register if Draco was alright when the sound of dirt crunching was heard. Another vamp was rising.
"Shit." Harry knocked this one back with a blow to the chest, but dropped the stake in doing so. And Draco did the same. Harry's vamp realized the hunter was now defenseless and crouched down for a final strike. Then, Harry had an idea.
"Switch with me!" he yelled out. Draco nodded. They had practiced this millions of times with Edge.
Harry jumped over the vamp near the ground, startling both of them. They didn't even notice Draco twist around to the other side. A few well place kicks disoriented them and Harry tossed Draco one of the retrieved stakes. Poof! the vamps were dust.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all heroic and glorious. The momentum of driving the wood in to the vampires' hearts knocked the two Hunters into one another and down into the dirt. There was a clapping and chuckling noise coming from the tree were Edge sat watching them.
***************************************************************************
Luckily, they hadn't all gone that bad. Now, Immolo and Denicalias were names to fear in undead circles. And respected in alive ones.
Which brings us back to where we left off. Harry sat in his office, filing away some reports he was working on. No longer did he resemble the scrawny kid from Hogwarts. He was 5'10'' and more muscular. Not the wrestler- bulging deal, but more solid at least. His hair was spiked and tipped dark blue. Draco had found a potion in the library that would fix eyesight, so Harry was also lacking his glasses. Top that with a fang earing a la Bill Weasley (except Harry had a vampire fang instead of a dragon) and the fact he dressed mostly in black or dark clothing.....it made him fit the part well.
Harry left his office. Edge had called him to her study, said she had something important to tell him. And, with Edge, that could mean anything from the end of the world to she broke a nail. The later had happened before.
The Hunter knocked on his mentor's room and went inside. Edge was sitting there with her newest recruit, Flamma***, or Flame for short. Harry had only spoken with Flame a few times, but had a favorable opinion of the young girl. They both looked up when he entered.
"Hey, Deni," greeted Edge. "I have something to tell you."
"Really, what?" Harry asked.
"Guess." Harry sighed. 'Sometimes, she has the mentality of a five year old.'
"Just tell him," urged Flame.
Smiling, Edge threw something down on the table. Harry picked it up. It was a copy of the Daily Prophet. His heart almost stopped at the headlines.....
PETTIGREW FOUND ALIVE WITH STARTLING REVELATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 12, 1996, British Ministry of Magic, Courtroom 3
"We have been brought here today to listen to the testimonies of the prisoners from the Starlet Raid," Judge Milton addressed the room. "You have all heard the details of that attack yesterday from the eyes witnesses. We need to determine the motivations and causes of that incident as well as if it was indeed Death Eaters who led it." He turned to an Auror standing by one of the doors. "Bring in the first prisoner."
Two Dementors swept into the room holding a middle-aged balding man. He was strapped into a chair.
"Administer the Veritaserum." After the prisoner downed the powerful truth potion, the questioning began.
"First," Miss Ranan, a lawyer from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, began, "What is your name?" "Peter Pettigrew," the man droned. There were gasps all across the room.
"How is that possible? I thought Peter Pettigrew was dead?" Ranan stuttered out.
"That's because I faked my own death."
"Why?"
"So I wouldn't be killed or sent to Azkaban."
"What did you do that deserved either of those?"
"I sold the Potters out to the Dark Lord." Shouts of outrage and disbelief rang in the room until the judge silenced them.
"I think we need to start at the beginning." Prodded by many questions from Ranan, Pettigrew explained everything: being an illegal Animagus, being the Secret Keeper, framing Sirius. Finally, they got on to questioning about the attack.
"Who ordered the attack?" Ranan started again. She was very shaken by what she had already heard.
"The Dark Lord."
That is not what she wanted to hear. "You Know Who is gone."
"He came back last June."
"How?"
"A potion: flesh, blood, and bone."
"Whose flesh, blood, and bone?"
"My hand," Peter extended his new silver hand, "his father's bone, and Potter's blood."
"Harry Potter?"
"Yes."
"So he was telling the truth after all," she mumbled under her breath. Then she thought of something else. "So, do you now what happened to Cedric Diggory?"
"Yes."
"Well, what happened?"
"I killed him on my masters orders." That was the last straw for the court. It went into disarray.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watchers' Council, January 13, 1996
"Is this for real?" Harry asked. When Edge nodded, he let out a whoop of happiness and started jumping around the room. Then Draco walked in.
"What's all this?" he asked. "I can hear you down the hall." Harry threw him the paper. A small grin spread across Draco's face. "So what now?"
"Hmmm?" Harry looked over from where he was dancing with Flame, who was laughing.
"What now? Are you going back?"
"Ummm, let me think." He scrunched up his forehead. "How about, no. But I do need to see Sirius and the gang."
"Good luck. With all that's going on, he'll probably be booked for the next month."
"I think I'll be able to arrange it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Courtroom 3, January 13
"Sirius Andrew Black. We, the jury, find you not guilty of all crimes brought against you. Furthermore, you have been cleared off all previous charges and will receive a penitence for 12 years in Azkaban prison. We are sorry for all the pain this has caused you."
Sirius was smiling from ear to ear. He was free! Finally!
"On another note, we also drop the charges against Harry James Potter and hope that he will be returning soon. And, Mr. Black, pending his return, you will be made his full legal guardian as wished by James and Lily Potter in their will." Before the jury member could continue, an deep red owl swooped in and dropped a letter in front of Sirius. He opened it and grinned more.
"Who's it from, Sirius?" Remus called from a few rows behind.
"Harry."
"What's it say?"
"I think we'd all like to hear that," said Judge Milton. Sirius stood and read out:
Congratulations, Padfoot!
The great Overdog
The heavenly beast
With a star in one eye,
Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog,
But tonight I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.****
Thanks for always believing in me. The Marauders will meet again soon.
Harry
"What does that mean?" asked Miss Ranan.
Sirius smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
* = The Heart in French
** = Born of Fire in Latin
*** = Lightning in Latin
**** = 'Canis Major', Complete Poems of Robert Frost, pg 331
Okay, I'm done being melodramatic. On to the Reviewers....Thanks to pheonixrising: You should be fine; Suicidaltoast: I'll try to make them longer from now on; Kou Da Cutie: Unfortunately, no rest for the weary. He'll have many more problems and adventures in the future; Ran: Thanks for that, I can never remember which episode is which; Jaina: Sorry, but no. When ever I try to right slash, it comes out sounding forced. And, there won't be that much romance in the story. At least, not now ;^) ; fan; Trixi Hellfire; jasmin; and SilverFang!!!
CH5: Wouldn't you like to know
January 13, 1996
Harry Potter had been at the Watchers' Council for 6 months now. And it showed.
But, before we get into that, it's flashback time. Cue the flashy lights and whooshy noises.
***************************************************************************
Bill led Harry and Draco through the twisting hallways of Le Coeur*, the Headquarters of the W.C. It had taken ages to get there: a lot of Flue Powder, tons of buses, and trains galore. But they were finally there.
The group rounded the corner and there stood the door to a large office. Bill pushed his way inside and the boys followed. Sitting by a desk was a whole bunch of people.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley," said the man behind the desk. He was very old and obviously the leader of the group. "Are these our new recruits?"
"Yes, Mr. Travers," Bill turned to Draco and Harry. "Guys, this is Quentin Travers, Head Watcher. And, Travers, this is Draco Malfoy," Draco gave a small wave, "and Harry Potter." Harry nodded his head in greeting, uncomfortably aware of the ususal upward flick to his forehead.
"If that is all, Mr. Weasley..." Travers went on, politely disguising his real message, 'Get out'.
"Of course. I hope to hear from you soon, Harry. Take care, the both of you." And with that, Harry watched as the last link of his old life walked out the door.
"Okay, trainees, on to business. First things first, does anyone here wish to train these two?" asked Travers, scanning the room. A person spoke from the shadows.
"I'll take them on." A young women, possibly in her mid-twenties, stepped out. She had shoulder length auburn hair and blue eyes, and spoke with an American accent. Right now, she looked very intimidating.
Travers looked hesitant, which Harry didn't take as a good sign. "If your sure Edge, but if..." Edge held out her hand to stop him.
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of them." She strolled out of the room, motioning for her new students to follow. They complied.
Again, the boys were led through a series of twists and turns they were sure they'd never remember. Finally, Edge opened a door on the side of the hall and they went inside. It was a library.
Edge promptly fell into a chair with a sigh. "I thought we would never get out of there." She smiled at her trainees. "Sit down, sit down. No need for formalities here." Once they were seated, she went on. "Uggg, they are so stuffy. Sorry about that, but I needed to convince them I was best for this job. I'm afraid you got the wrong impression of me. Let's start over. I'm called Edge. It's a codename, you'll have to get some soon as well. And, why did I volunteer to train you? Simple, I couldn't have you stuck with Quentin or Ardesco**. They are the most pompous people I have ever met and would waste no time forcing a stick up your asses as well." She said this all very fast, reminding Harry of Hermione. But, he had to stop thinking like that, it hurt too much. "So, I guess we've got to get you some names."
"How do we pick them?" Harry asked.
"You don't. It's like, the wand picks the wizard." Edge walked over to a table near a window and picked up something. She put it in Draco's hand. "This is....well it doesn't have a name. I just call it the Choice Thingy." The 'Choice Thingy' was a small, smooth black rock. "You just hold it in your hand and the name comes to you."
Draco sat starring at the rock. At last, he spoke. "Immolo." He looked up at Edge. "What's that mean?"
"Slay. Your turn, Harry."
Harry picked it up. Instantly, he felt a soft tingling in the back of his brain, repeating the same word over and over again. "Denicalias," he echoed.
"Hmmm." His new mentor looked thoughtful. "'Releasing from death'. I suppose it fits." She grinned at them. "Now, on to the fun part. We begin your training tonight."
****************************************************************************
The weeks flew by after that. With Harry's lesson over the summer and the fencing lessons Lucius made Draco take, both were already quite ready for more difficult tactics. They learned the different ways to hurt or kill a vampire: stakes, sunlight, holy water, and crosses. And, soon, they moved on to the real world.
Possibly the most vivid memory Harry had at Le Coeur were the first vampires he and his newfound friend slain.
***************************************************************************
"Im, on your left!" shouted Harry from the opposite side of the cemetery. He had been patrolling a little ways down when he had seen the attack. Now, he was running towards his hunting partner to help with this new threat.
Draco did a right back kick and hit the vampire in the shoulder. "Thanks, Deni!" he called back. Harry barely had time to register if Draco was alright when the sound of dirt crunching was heard. Another vamp was rising.
"Shit." Harry knocked this one back with a blow to the chest, but dropped the stake in doing so. And Draco did the same. Harry's vamp realized the hunter was now defenseless and crouched down for a final strike. Then, Harry had an idea.
"Switch with me!" he yelled out. Draco nodded. They had practiced this millions of times with Edge.
Harry jumped over the vamp near the ground, startling both of them. They didn't even notice Draco twist around to the other side. A few well place kicks disoriented them and Harry tossed Draco one of the retrieved stakes. Poof! the vamps were dust.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all heroic and glorious. The momentum of driving the wood in to the vampires' hearts knocked the two Hunters into one another and down into the dirt. There was a clapping and chuckling noise coming from the tree were Edge sat watching them.
***************************************************************************
Luckily, they hadn't all gone that bad. Now, Immolo and Denicalias were names to fear in undead circles. And respected in alive ones.
Which brings us back to where we left off. Harry sat in his office, filing away some reports he was working on. No longer did he resemble the scrawny kid from Hogwarts. He was 5'10'' and more muscular. Not the wrestler- bulging deal, but more solid at least. His hair was spiked and tipped dark blue. Draco had found a potion in the library that would fix eyesight, so Harry was also lacking his glasses. Top that with a fang earing a la Bill Weasley (except Harry had a vampire fang instead of a dragon) and the fact he dressed mostly in black or dark clothing.....it made him fit the part well.
Harry left his office. Edge had called him to her study, said she had something important to tell him. And, with Edge, that could mean anything from the end of the world to she broke a nail. The later had happened before.
The Hunter knocked on his mentor's room and went inside. Edge was sitting there with her newest recruit, Flamma***, or Flame for short. Harry had only spoken with Flame a few times, but had a favorable opinion of the young girl. They both looked up when he entered.
"Hey, Deni," greeted Edge. "I have something to tell you."
"Really, what?" Harry asked.
"Guess." Harry sighed. 'Sometimes, she has the mentality of a five year old.'
"Just tell him," urged Flame.
Smiling, Edge threw something down on the table. Harry picked it up. It was a copy of the Daily Prophet. His heart almost stopped at the headlines.....
PETTIGREW FOUND ALIVE WITH STARTLING REVELATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 12, 1996, British Ministry of Magic, Courtroom 3
"We have been brought here today to listen to the testimonies of the prisoners from the Starlet Raid," Judge Milton addressed the room. "You have all heard the details of that attack yesterday from the eyes witnesses. We need to determine the motivations and causes of that incident as well as if it was indeed Death Eaters who led it." He turned to an Auror standing by one of the doors. "Bring in the first prisoner."
Two Dementors swept into the room holding a middle-aged balding man. He was strapped into a chair.
"Administer the Veritaserum." After the prisoner downed the powerful truth potion, the questioning began.
"First," Miss Ranan, a lawyer from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, began, "What is your name?" "Peter Pettigrew," the man droned. There were gasps all across the room.
"How is that possible? I thought Peter Pettigrew was dead?" Ranan stuttered out.
"That's because I faked my own death."
"Why?"
"So I wouldn't be killed or sent to Azkaban."
"What did you do that deserved either of those?"
"I sold the Potters out to the Dark Lord." Shouts of outrage and disbelief rang in the room until the judge silenced them.
"I think we need to start at the beginning." Prodded by many questions from Ranan, Pettigrew explained everything: being an illegal Animagus, being the Secret Keeper, framing Sirius. Finally, they got on to questioning about the attack.
"Who ordered the attack?" Ranan started again. She was very shaken by what she had already heard.
"The Dark Lord."
That is not what she wanted to hear. "You Know Who is gone."
"He came back last June."
"How?"
"A potion: flesh, blood, and bone."
"Whose flesh, blood, and bone?"
"My hand," Peter extended his new silver hand, "his father's bone, and Potter's blood."
"Harry Potter?"
"Yes."
"So he was telling the truth after all," she mumbled under her breath. Then she thought of something else. "So, do you now what happened to Cedric Diggory?"
"Yes."
"Well, what happened?"
"I killed him on my masters orders." That was the last straw for the court. It went into disarray.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watchers' Council, January 13, 1996
"Is this for real?" Harry asked. When Edge nodded, he let out a whoop of happiness and started jumping around the room. Then Draco walked in.
"What's all this?" he asked. "I can hear you down the hall." Harry threw him the paper. A small grin spread across Draco's face. "So what now?"
"Hmmm?" Harry looked over from where he was dancing with Flame, who was laughing.
"What now? Are you going back?"
"Ummm, let me think." He scrunched up his forehead. "How about, no. But I do need to see Sirius and the gang."
"Good luck. With all that's going on, he'll probably be booked for the next month."
"I think I'll be able to arrange it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Courtroom 3, January 13
"Sirius Andrew Black. We, the jury, find you not guilty of all crimes brought against you. Furthermore, you have been cleared off all previous charges and will receive a penitence for 12 years in Azkaban prison. We are sorry for all the pain this has caused you."
Sirius was smiling from ear to ear. He was free! Finally!
"On another note, we also drop the charges against Harry James Potter and hope that he will be returning soon. And, Mr. Black, pending his return, you will be made his full legal guardian as wished by James and Lily Potter in their will." Before the jury member could continue, an deep red owl swooped in and dropped a letter in front of Sirius. He opened it and grinned more.
"Who's it from, Sirius?" Remus called from a few rows behind.
"Harry."
"What's it say?"
"I think we'd all like to hear that," said Judge Milton. Sirius stood and read out:
Congratulations, Padfoot!
The great Overdog
The heavenly beast
With a star in one eye,
Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog,
But tonight I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.****
Thanks for always believing in me. The Marauders will meet again soon.
Harry
"What does that mean?" asked Miss Ranan.
Sirius smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
* = The Heart in French
** = Born of Fire in Latin
*** = Lightning in Latin
**** = 'Canis Major', Complete Poems of Robert Frost, pg 331