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...
They landed with practiced ease back in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore was behind his desk and started in surprise at seeing them come through. No doubt he had been expecting the celebrations to go long into the night possibly into the next day. Probably not even considering Harrison or XIII deciding to return early. Even if the truth was that Riddle had made an offer to his sister he wouldn't have stayed. There wouldn't have been a point to it.
Waving his wand he vanished the dust from his robes as he said with the mask he had perfected over the years, "Sorry for their intrusion, Headmaster. We decided to leave the celebrations early."
Dumbledore blinked at them over his half moon glasses before he replied genially, "Not a problem at all my boy. Are you certain you do not wish to celebrate with the rest of your family? I'm certain they would be happy to have you with them given how little you leave your school."
XIII said coolly, "We have studies to get back to Professor. Regardless of what you might think our studies didn't end just because we came here. We have apprenticeships that are still in effect now."
"Apprenticeships? Nightingale is for those who do not have enough magic to go to the other schools."
Harrison leaned back on his heels as he said, "You still don't get it. Do you? We are not just above squibs. In fact many of those who go to Nightingale are extremely powerful. Powerful enough to go toe to toe with Grindelwald and his Reapers. It wasn't just the efforts of our professors."
Dumbledore's eyes became like ice as he denied, "That is impossible. You need to stop being jealous and lying."
"Then you can ask my family as we are heading back to our dorms now," replied Harrison as he showed a feral grin.
Then he turned on his heel and left heading back towards the Slytherin dorms. XIII was right on his heels after giving a low growl. A part of him hoped XIII's eyes went amber as his inner animal came forward. Weres weren't known for keeping their tempers. Born or not their tempers were legendary.
They kept their tongues until they were safely back in the dungeons. Only then did Harrison draw his wand and cast privacy charms on them. XIII cast several revealing spells to ensure there wasn't anyone under a disillusionment charm.
Then he asked, "Are you sure that was wise? Dumbledore isn't an idiot after all."
"That is up for debate, XIII," snorted Harrison, "Besides he would have learned that we are not so weak as he believes eventually. Sooner than I would have liked but Riddle forced our hands with that farce of a courtship letter."
XIII glanced at him before he asked suspiciously even, "What do you plan on telling him? You can't do anything as long as Keller is in a coma. That at least was true when your parents confronted you."
Harrison bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at XIII. He wanted nothing to do with a courtship. It was just one more person trying to control him. As the Heir of his family he should be looking to find a match for marriage. He should in fact already have a betrothal contract even if it wasn't to be completed. That was tradition amongst the purebloods.
To most of the world he was a half blood since his mother was a muggleborn. What they didn't know was that Sirius as his godfather had blood adopter him. This in turn legitimized him as a pureblood. Sirius had meant to do so for all three of the Potter children but James and Lily would not allow it. They barely allowed it for him and it was because they were under the assumption he was a squib.
Wrangling his temper he said, "I plan on being myself and allowing no one to tie me down. Besides I can't be with anyone. Not with how my magic reacts to every provocation. I need to get it under control before I could even consider such things. That doesn't even take into account that I can't enter a courtship without Keller's permission. Which he can't give in a coma."
XIII laughed, "So you plan on either driving away Riddle or drawing him closer with your personality! Brilliant! Can I help?"
Harrison blinked at him before declaring, "Sometimes I question how we became friends. People say I'm the chaotic one but honestly you're worse than me."
"I'm a fucking angel," retorted XIII with a serious face for half a second before he broke back out into laughter, "Besides I'm too lazy to be chaotic."
"Bullshit."
Then Harrison paused glancing around them before asking, "Where are we?"
"No idea I was following you."
Harrison glared at him, "You were following me? You know better than that. I have no sense of direction."
...
An irate James Potter followed his son through the floo an hour after the ungrateful brat had fled. They should have put a stop to this nonsense years ago. Whether that meant setting up a betrothal contract with stipulations that he was never to return to England once the marriage was said and done or obliviating and leaving him in an orphanage. Everything had gone askew the moment the brat had gone off to Nightingale.
James had tried to do research on the school but no matter who he asked no one could give him a straight answer. Most would simply state that it was a school, no more no less. There were a few who thought some of France's political leaders were alumni but no one could say for sure. Every failed attempt raised his blood pressure to dangerous levels. Only his time in the dueling room kept it from boiling over.
Albus, he noticed was frowning at the door as if it had offended him. James was already storming up to his desk as the old man.
He snarled, "You said he was barely above a squib!"
Albus said calmly, "When you had me test him as a baby he was. I couldn't feel much magic within his core."
"Well he obviously has magic now," continued James, "He was able to stop all magic activation in the manor. Nothing I did worked until he flooed back here."
Albus steepled his fingers in front of him and rested his chin on them, "That does not sound like school boy magic. If I didn't know any better I would say... no that's impossible. There are too few left within England now."
"What do you mean Albus?"
Albus turned his blue eyes no longer twinkling towards the door that his brat has no doubt stormed out of, "As few in number as they are in this day and age I have met a few. You, yourself were trained by one personally, Alastor Moody before he retired had the supposed honor of being named one."
"One of what Albus?" He questioned forcefully tired of the old man's dance around.
"A Battle Mage. Though it should be impossible."
James sneered, "Battle Mages are practically extinct."
Albus ran a hand through his beard as he said, "That is true for England at least. The more powerful battle mages though were said to have a different kind of magic. One that could not be sensed traditionally. Many were thought to be squibs or near so until they proved themselves. It seems I have made a grave mistake in not going through every option."
James said, "That's ridiculous Albus. The Potter Family has never had a Battle Mage in its history."
While Battle Magic wasn't necessarily a family magic and could be taught it worked better for those who already had it in their blood. Especially if a child was born with the talent as Albus was ridiculously suggesting.
Albus's hand froze as he looked up and said, "The Potters don't but the Blacks do. And Sirius Black legitimized Harrison when he was a baby making him a third Black."
