Authors Note: Sorry this one took a while, gang. My keyboard decided to die on me and it took a little while to get a new one figured out and working properly. Been hammering away the last couple day's trying to get things together to post up for you guys. This chapter will be the last for the summer holidays. At the start of the next chapter we'll be on our way back to Hogwarts for an exciting second year at school.
I plan on going further afield of the cannon in some respects with this year, as I've mentioned before. It'll stick to the same general storyline for the most part but there will be some vast changes throughout the year on several different aspects of the story. We're also going to get to know a few characters much earlier with this than happened in the cannon. I'm hoping to do things justice and still keep an entertaining story with some twists and turns thrown in to keep everything fresh and interesting.
Disclaimer: As always I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise. These things belong to people far more skilled and wealthy than I.
Quick note. There's a scene in here with Harry getting offers by letter from families wanting to take over as his guardian. The general idea for that I saw in another fantastic story Whispers in the Night by Jean11089.
s/12104688/1/Whispers-in-the-Night
There is the url. for her story. Give it a read. It's another great fic with an overly abused Harry and at it's current point I believe they're heading into fifth year at Hogwarts. The author is doing a fantastic job and I wait eagerly for her next post.
Here we go with Soul Scars Chapter 18!
Soul Scars Part Two
Darkness Within
By,
Rtnwriter
Hermione Granger didn't typically wake slowly. She used an alarm at home out of habit, but she'd long developed her internal clock to wake her at the same time every day and when she woke she went from asleep to awake in the time it took her to open her eyes. Rare was it when she was groggy after waking, even if she still felt physically tired.
The day after Harry's rescue from his disastrous attempt to retrieve the chest left for him by his mother was no exception. Her alarm rang at six in the morning and her arm swung out, slapping to top of it to silence the annoying buzzing sound as she sat up and stretched languidly. She sat for a moment, her mind already at work organizing her expected itinerary for the day.
Get up, shower, change, brush teeth.
Breakfast with her parents (who had been able to rearrange their schedule for the day so that they would be accompanying her and the others to the Alley for their school supplies.)
Head to the Leaky Cauldron with her parents to meet her friends.
Hug Harry.
Hug Daphne and Susan.
The rest was somewhat up in the air.
With those thoughts firmly in mind she set about the first tasks on her mental list, showering quickly and moving back into her bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body and her hair wrapped in a second towel to keep it off her neck and to dry it. Pulling open her closet door she pulled out the clothes she'd decided on for the day and set them aside before continuing with the morning ritual she'd started years ago and had even continued at Hogwarts, even after she knew it wasn't necessary anymore.
She stood inside her large closet staring at the full length mirror affixed to the back of the door and slowly unwrapped the towel around her body before she let it fall to the floor and began a careful inspection of her body. She counted in her head as she inspected every scar and when she finished with her front she turned and used a second mirror to inspect her back.
As best she could tell there were no new scars that had shown up in the night leaving her with the same number that'd been there since the day she left for Hogwarts.
"One hundred and forty-eight," she whispered to herself as she turned back to face the mirror again. She found it amazing that, with the number of times Harry had ended up in the hospital wing last year, and with facing Quirrell and Voldemort, somehow he hadn't added a single new scar to their collection through all of that. The scars that had appeared on their sides the day before when Harry was getting whipped had vanished when Tonks healed his injuries.
She had no illusions that she was nearly as pretty as Daphne or Susan or even any number of other girls in the school. She hated her front teeth, slightly larger than she would like and with just enough of an overbite as to be noticeable. Her hair was wild and untamable no matter what she tried, though she consoled herself with the thought that it was something else she and Harry had in common with his own unruly mop of hair that seemed to mock any attempts to control it.
Her hands, face, and part of her neck were a darker tone than the rest of her skin, she noted, not for the first time. Daphne and Susan had told her about the glamour idea to hid their scars and she'd been thrilled at the idea of being able to work on a tan. She loved swimming and the feeling of the sun on her skin, but had been limited in her ability to do so.
She felt that she was too pale and cursed that she had to keep completely covered at all times. Oh, she didn't blame Harry for the scars that she kept hidden. She blamed the monsters that he'd been forced to live with. She blamed whoever sent him to live there. She really wanted to get her hands on whoever had made that particular decision but she shoved those thoughts aside and continued her inspection.
She was the oldest in her year group, her birthday being in the middle of September, so while most of her classmates were just entering their twelfth year, she was approaching thirteen, and she was pleased to notice her body beginning to develop apace for her age. She turned sideways and inspected her profile with a satisfied nod. Yes, she just might need to talk to her mother, it seemed a training bra might be added to her school wardrobe this year.
Susan was already more developed than she was, even being a few months younger, but late night discussions at the Boneyard had revealed that to be a fairly normal thing for the women in the Bones family, and strangely, she still felt no hint of jealousy for her or Daphne despite feeling that both were prettier than she was.
Hermione shook those thoughts aside, glanced at the time, and winced slightly, realizing she'd taken longer in her morning inspection than she usually did. Counting scars took longer and longer each morning when new scars would sometimes appear overnight but she'd gotten lost in the consideration of her growing development from girl into someone on the cusp of being a teenager, which had taken the lions share of the time she'd used up.
She scurried out of the closet, leaving her towel on the floor and practically jumped into her clothes. A simple set of pale pink knickers and light colored knee high socks. A light, flowing skirt was pulled up over her hips that hung to mid calf and a light blouse with wrist length sleeves and she was ready to go, once she wrestled her hair into some semblance of neatness. She brushed it out quickly, still damp and already forming into its usual curls that framed her face and cascaded down to the small of her back. Deciding to leave it loose she stepped into a pair of black flats and hurried downstairs and into the dining room where her parents and breakfast were already waiting for her.
"Morning Mum, morning Daddy," she said as she slipped into a chair and picked up her fork.
"Morning, sweetheart," her father said, smiling at her over the rim of his coffee mug. "Excited about today's trip?" he asked and Hermione nodded, quickly chewing the eggs in her mouth and swallowing before she replied.
"Absolutely. I took a look through the book list and the new defense texts look fascinating. I really want to work on my defense skills this year."
"So you can help Harry with these adventures he seems to get into or because you're annoyed he scored better than you in that class?" Emma asked with a smile to take the bite out of the words.
"Hey, Harry earned his defense scores. I'm really proud of him," she tried to defend herself.
"But you're still annoyed there's a class you're not at the top of," Dan pointed out, his lips curled into a wide grin.
Hermione scowled at both her parents and pointedly ignored them when they started chuckling quietly to themselves. Eventually, they settled down and the three of them turned to lighter topics while they finished their breakfast. Hermione was so distracted that she didn't notice the way her mother was eyeing her and was surprised when she suggested an extra stop on their way to the Leaky Cauldron.
"I don't understand why you're upset," Emma was saying as they crossed Charing Cross Road toward the dingy little pub. "I would think you would be excited."
"Normally I would be," Hermione admitted. "But not with my dad along for the trip."
"Don't drag me into this," Dan objected, his hands held up in surrender. "I am going to firmly pretend that you're still my little ten-year-old baby girl until the day I die. I would much rather not face the fact that you're growing up a lot faster than I would like."
Hermione groaned and dropped her face into her hands. "Can we please just go in?" she begged. "I'm sure the others are waiting for us by now." Her parents grinned at her back as she stalked off, her posture stiff and somewhat defensive.
Inside the pub, the did indeed find Susan and Daphne waiting at one of the tables, bottles of butter beer in front of them and talking quietly with Neville and Blaise Zabini of all people. Hermione considered the Slytherin student as she made her way across the pub, her parents trailing along behind her.
Blaise hadn't made much of his presence in the study sessions at the Library after Tracey had introduced him just before Christmas the precious year. He'd been present for most of them, and she'd found him to have a sharp wit and a keen mind that she enjoyed challenging with debates on carious aspects of their school work.
But other than studying with them, he'd not spoken to any of them out of class or in the halls, save for Tracey, and had made no effort at all to be friendly toward them in any way. Not that he'd been hostile, but outside of studying, it was as if they didn't exist in the Italian boys eyes.
"Hey, Hermione," Neville called out when she was still couple of tables away and the rest of them turned to greet her. Daphne and Susan stood and hugged her, hugs when she returned wholeheartedly. Neville didn't seem to know quite what to do when he stood to greet her. He'd started to offer a hand to shake but had paused and was fluctuating indecisively when she solved the problem by pulling him into a hug.
"Oh, honestly, Neville," she admonished him, a bright smile on her face. "I think we know each other well enough by now that a hug is appropriate."
He chuckled ruefully and shook his head, a smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah, you'd think I'd know better by now, huh?"
Blaise stepped forward and offered his hand. "Granger," he said, taking her hand and lightly kissing the back of it as he bowed low at the waist. "It's nice to see you outside of class."
"Good to see you, too, Blaise," she returned, flushing slightly and turned to motion to her parents, ignorant of how both Susan and Daphne bristled and glared heatedly at Blaise. "These are my parents," Hermione said, introducing them and was pleased when Blaise greeted them both politely, shaking her fathers hand and kissing her mothers as he'd done with Hermione.
"It is an honor to meet you both," he said after he straightened up and released Emma's hand. They chatted for a few more minutes before Hermione looked around the pub curiously.
"Where are Harry and your aunt?" she asked Susan who shrugged.
"Auntie decided to take Harry to get his glasses squared away before anything else and figured we'd be better waiting here to keep an eye out for you. They'll meet us here when they're done."
"We're here."
The group as a whole turned to face the sound of Harry's voice to find him and Amelia wending their way through the crowded pub toward them, and the vast majority of the small group gaped openly as they came closer.
"That bad, huh?" Harry asked, shifting nervously and with a crooked grin in place as he observed their reactions. His brilliant green eyes regarded them carefully, completely exposed by a distinct lack of glasses perched on his nose.
Hermione recovered first of the girls and shook her head sharply, her hair bouncing with the action.
"No, not at all," she said. "We're just surprised."
Surprised was an understatement. The night before, it'd been startling to see him without his glasses, but they'd been too annoyed with him and his actions to truly appreciate just how startling his green age was without his glasses to detract from them. Added to that his squinting, trying to see them, had further served to temper their initial reactions. Now, with nothing in the way, and his eyes clearly open and fixed wholly on her, Hermione was finding herself more and more hypnotized by his intense stare.
That was something that all three girls had always found very attractive about one Harry James Potter. When he looked at them, he wasn't just looking to acknowledge that he was paying attention when they spoke. No. When he looked at them, it was clear that they had his full and undivided attention and that touched something deep inside that they couldn't quite identify.
Crap, we're going to be in a lot of trouble when we get older, Hermione thought, shaken from her daze when Neville stepped between them and Harry to greet his friend. The boys smiled and shook hands, Blaise stepping forward as well to say hello. They discussed their summers thus far for a few minutes, all the children contributing to the discussion as the girls got ahold of themselves and were able to track the discussion.
"I told you the contacts would be a good idea," Amelia murmured into Harry's ear some minutes later as the group finally started to make their way into the Alley. "You have very pretty eyes, Harry, and it was a shame to keep them hidden behind those awful glasses."
Harry merely flushed brightly at the compliment and said nothing as they stepped through the archway and quickly set about their shopping.
#####
"What is going on?" Neville asked, staring in bemusement at the large crowd lined up outside of Flourish and Blotts. The book store had never been so busy before and he couldn't begin to wrap his brain around why the sudden surge of patronage.
Harry shrugged and craned his neck, trying to see past some of the crowd from their place in the long line.
"No idea, Mate," he said, settling back on his heels and shrugging again, this time in defeat.
"Gilderoy Lockhart-"
"-Is signing copies of-"
"-His autobiography-"
"Magical Me!"
Harry groaned aloud, trying to prevent the grin that automatically wanted to spring onto his face and turned to face the Weasley twins. There was no one else that could pull off the back and forth double speak as well as they could. They'd even spoke the final line in perfect unison and they stepped forward when he turned around, each with a hand outstretched.
One grabbed Harry's right hand while the other grabbed his left and they pumped his arms up and down, shaking his hands quite vigorously until Harry was laughing hysterically at the antics.
"Great to see you, old boy," one said.
"Absolutely spiffing," said the other.
"And with your usual entourage."
They suddenly released Harry and greeted Neville similarly before moving onto hugging each of the girls, until they reached Daphne, who fixed them both with such an icy glare that they paled dramatically and stepped back without hugging the blond witch.
"Right scary, that one, Mate," one of them muttered to Harry.
"That she is, but we like her."
Harry noted the small smile Daphne gave him at those words while the rest of the extended Weasley clan approached. At least, Harry hoped it was the rest, as he took in the small army of redheads.
"Jeez, how many of you guys are there?" Harry asked.
"Oh, there's a few more," Ron muttered, coming to a stop near them. Our oldest brothers Bill and Charlie work out of the country. Bill is in Egypt and Charlie works on a dragon preserve in Romania."
The line moved slowly while the large group chatted amongst themselves. Ron was casting suspicious glares in Blaise's direction, who admirably ignored the lanky redhead. Mister Weasley seemed to be an excitable fellow and was pestering Hermione's parents with questing after question about all things muggle. Some of the questions nearly caused Harry to laugh out loud but he managed to hold it in and when Hermione noticed the mirth in his face she smiled and bumped him with her shoulder.
Missus Weasley kept fussing with her hair and looked a bit flushed. One of the twins leaned down and whispered in Harry's ear, "we think mum fancies the Lockhart git," he said. "Any witch that brings him up always goes on about how handsome he is."
The level of disgust in the whispered tone impressed Harry but he shrugged it off and continued forward until they were a few patrons away from the door.
A short, irritable looking man, carrying a large black camera, shoved his way through the crowd and cut through the line, pushing his way toward the door.
"Oi!" Harry yelled when a small blond girl was pushed out of the way and would have fallen to the hard stones beneath their feet if Harry hadn't quickly stepped forward and caught her with an arm around her waist. "Watch it," he snapped at the man who ignored him and the girl and disappeared into the shop past a harried looking worker who was doing his best at crowd control.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, helping the girl get her feet under her.
"Just fine, Harry Potter, thank you," she said in a light, breezy sort of tone and looked up at him. She was very small, probably about the size Harry himself had been last year when he'd started school, but she was just tiny, not malnourished as he'd been. He stood almost a head taller than her, which did more to tell him just how much he'd grown than almost anything else had managed. Her hair was long and perfectly straight, like Daphne's, but was such a bright, brilliant blond as to be almost white in comparison to his bond mates more yellow blond and she had large, almost protruding silvery blue eyes set into a thin, elfin face.
"How did you know who I was?" he asked, letting go of her and stepping back a bit.
"The Nargles told me," she said, peering up at him and he gave her a blank look for a moment. "Besides, everyone knows who you are. You really are much more handsome without your glasses, did you know that?" She cocked her head to the side, looking curiously at him for a moment before straightening up. "Your ladies certainly seem to appreciate it."
Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise, but before he could say anything she'd breezed past him and walked toward the Weasley's, coming to stop by a girl that Harry hadn't noticed, surrounded as she was by four brothers and her parents.
"Who was that?"
Harry turned to look at Susan, absently following along as the crowd continued moving into the store. "I don't know, actually," he admitted after a moment. "She didn't give her name, but she knew who I was and…" he stopped and considered telling her what the strange girl had said but shrugged a moment later and shook his head.
They'd finally moved into the book shop and the group moved out through the rest of the store, thankful to be out of the stupid line. They didn't care about meeting Lockhart, but had been forced to wait just to get into the store. Quickly grabbing the books from their list, Harry made a face as he dropped the collection of Lockharts books into the basket he'd procured. Something about the handsome, grinning face with its dazzlingly white smile staring up at him from the back of the book jacket just freaked him out, so he placed the Standard Book Of Spells, Grade 2, on top to cover it up.
It was as he was trying to edge past the crowd near the back of the store in search of some extra reading material to supplement his book list when disaster struck.
"It can't be Harry Potter?"
Harry cringed and looked around wildly for the source of the voice as the crowd parted near him, whispering excitedly. Suddenly a hand seized his arm and he was jerked, practically off his feet, and up to the front of the crowd, Lockharts arm wrapped around his shoulders. The crowd burst into applause and Harry's face burned as Lockhart grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously for the photographer, who was clicking madly away, thick plumes of purple smoke erupting from the camera.
Harry was momentarily distracted, glaring at the photographer who'd shoved the girl he'd helped outside but his attention was quickly dragged back to his situation as several people approached the front of the crowd, shoving their way through despite all protests from those they disturbed.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said loudly, waving for quiet as Amelia, Daphne, Neville, Susan, and Hermione continued to push their way through the crowd. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time."
"Is that announcement that you're going to take your hands off of my ward right this second before I arrest you?"
Amelia's frigid tones cut through the noise of the crowd like a knife and Lockhart paled dramatically and stepped away from Harry.
"My apologies, dear lady," he said in a shaky tone. "I was simply so excited to see him here that I lost my head for a moment." As he spoke his voice grew stronger and he turned away to address the crowd again. "When Mister Potter came in here today, he only wanted to buy my biography. He had no idea that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He, and his school mates, will in fact be getting the real magical me. Yes, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
The crowd cheered and as Harry attempted to slip away he found someone shoving the entire collected works of Gilderoy Lockhart into his arms. Staggering slightly under their weight, he made his way out of the limelight and toward his friends. Amelia quickly ushered him through the crowd with his friends falling into step with them until they were standing by the Weasley's.
"Here," he muttered to the red haired girl he'd seen earlier, the blond standing beside her, as he dumped the armful of books into the redheads cauldron. "You can have these, I'll just get my own." He shuddered, staring at the smiling face on the book jacket for a moment and turned away, missing the expression on the redheads face as she stared at him with something loosely resembling adoration in her eyes.
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?"
Harry groaned mentally and turned to find himself face-to-face with Malfoy, his ever present sneer firmly in place.
"Famous Harry Potter," the boy continued. "Can't even go into a book store without ending up in the newspaper, eh?"
"He didn't want any of that, Malfoy and you know it," Susan shot back at the Slytherin.
"You should know by now the lengths Potter will go to for his precious fame. Making up stupid stories about giant dogs and traps at the school."
"Those weren't stories," Neville said, stepping forward until he was shoulder to shoulder next to Harry as both boys glared at Malfoy. "We were there, it happened." He yanked up the sleeve of his shirt, showing off the scar on his arm. "That's where I got this."
"Really, Longbottom. Trying to draw sympathy for that ugly blemish," Malfoy scoffed with a negligent wave of one hand. "You're from an Ancient and Most Noble House, you should be able to do better than that."
Nevilled fumed, his face turning red as his hands shook until Harry placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm his friend.
"Let it go, Nev," he muttered. "The ponce really isn't worth it."
A man came up behind Malfoy and placed a hand on the boys shoulder, similar to how Harry was holding Neville. "Well, well, well- Harry Potter."
Harry looked up into a cold silver gaze. The man was tall with the same haughty, aristocrat features that Malfoy had and similarly colored blond hair that hung just past his shoulders. In his other hand he carried a black cane with a silver snake head for a handle.
"Lucius."
Arthur Weasley stepped up in front of Harry and Neville, staring down the other wizard with his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"Arthur," Mister Malfoy said in a falsely polite tone. "Busy time at the Ministry, I hear. All those raids… I do hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into the little redheads cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
Harry tuned out the rest of the discussion, staring at the pompous blond intently. This was the man that had told his son about his visits with the Mind Healer last year. This was the man that was pushing the School Board to have him removed and sent to Saint Mungo's. Harry didn't really know what he'd expected when he finally found himself face to face with the man he'd heard so much about the previous year. But he shouldn't have been surprised to find that he was just as awful a person as the younger Malfoy. Though the father had something different about him.
Draco was a loud mouth and a braggart, and thus far, Harry hadn't seen much to back up the blonds words. His father though… there was something dangerous about the man. Something Harry's senses, honed by years of reading people, told him to be cautious around Lucius Malfoy.
His musings were interrupted when Mister Weasley suddenly threw himself forward at the other wizard. The crashed into a set of bookshelves as people started yelling and much of the crowd backed away. Mister Weasely reached back and punched the blond man once in the face before the other wizard was able to rally himself and he shoved hard. Both men stumbled and fell, knocking over the cauldron full of books and sending the red head, and the little blond girl sprawling across the floor as books spilled out and tumbled everywhere.
"Here now! Break it up!"
Hagrid came shoving his way through the crowd, standing head and shoulders above everyone else in the store as he reached down and grabbed the two wizards by the back of their robes, yanking them apart and to their feet.
"Arthur Weasley!" Amelia snapped. "I'm surprised at you." She sighed and turned to Mister Malfoy. "As head of the DMLE I have to ask if you wish to press charges against Arthur Weasley," she asked formally as the wizard in question was puled to the side by his obviously annoyed wife. She fussed over an already forming bruise on his cheek but the entire Weasley clan stood tense and alert, waiting with baited breath for what Malfoy decided.
"No, Director Bones," he said after several long moments of contemplation. "I think we can all agree that there was no lasting harm done and I believe I landed a few solid hits of my own. I think we can call this even for now and leave it at that."
"Gracious of you, Mister Malfoy," Amelia muttered and waved them on as the father and son made their way out of the book store. Draco sent Harry a smug smirk over his shoulder before he and his father left and Harry turned to help pick up all the books and return them to the cauldron.
Hermione handed him his basket, dropped when Lockhart had grabbed him and the entire group, plus the little blond, were ushered out of the store by several irritated workers.
Outside the blond clutched her books to her chest, looking around at the lot of them for a moment before she turned to Harry.
"It was nice meeting you, Harry Potter," she said. "I'm sure I'll see you at Hogwarts." Her gaze seemed unfocused, looking at the air around Harry's head instead of at his face, and before he could respond she'd turned and walked away, vanishing quickly into the milling crowd of people filling the Alley.
Harry sighed and stroked the scar behind his jaw, his mind whirling. "That is a very strange girl," he muttered to accompanying snorts of laughter from his friends.
"I like her," Susan said, and hooked her arm through Harry's on his left side as Hermione fell in on his right with Daphne beside Susan as the four of them continued on their way through the Alley, their friends and family surrounding them.
#####
With their shopping completed, the group spent the afternoon chatting over a meal at the Leaky Cauldron. Neville had been particularly thrilled to show off his new wand (thirteen inches, cherry wood with unicorn hair) and thanked Harry profusely for the letter he'd written to Neville's grandmother, saying that had been part of the deciding factor that pushed the old woman into letting Neville purchase a new wand.
Eventually, as the day wore on, people bade their goodbyes and left the group to head for their respective homes. It started with Blaise, who stood and bowed to the group, offering a formal sounding goodbye before making his way to the Floo, where he disappeared in a whoosh of bright green flames.
Harry was still somewhat on the fence about the quiet, Italian born Slytherin. He definitely seemed to want something, but Harry really couldn't figure out what it was. He pushed the thought from his mind, however, when Tracey and Hannah both stood a few moments later and offered their own goodbyes, resolving to consider Blaise and his possible motivations at another time.
There were hugs all around as the girls said their goodbyes, with Harry and Neville both surprisingly being dragged into hugs as well. Harry stiffened up more than he had in some time when Tracey pulled him into a hug. He idly noted that when Amelia or his girls hugged him he didn't react as badly, but obviously he still had some work to do when it came to contact from other people.
It was dark, and nearly dinner time, by the time Neville made his way to the Floo and the rest of them gathered their shopping together and headed for the Boneyard. Hermione hugged everyone and vanished into the Floo to head home and the tired group ate a quick, simple dinner before heading upstairs to pack and arrange their purchases.
Harry stepped into his room and dropped his things onto the large four poster bed, before he turned and looked at the chest sitting innocuously on the low table near the fire. He made his way over to a plush armchair and sunk into it, his eyes never leaving the chest. The magical contacts Amelia had talked him into were amazing, he had to admit. The day before, without his glasses, he hadn't really been able to make out many details of the chest, other than that it was made of wood and appeared to be locked somehow. Even with his glasses, he wasn't sure he'd have been able to note some of the fine details that he could clearly see now.
It was made of a light colored wood and covered in intricately detailed carvings of celtic knot work, with the Potter family crest burned into the top of the lid. There didn't appeared to be a latch, but there was a small opening in the front, and a set of brass hinges on the back. Curious, he poked the index finger of his right hand into the hole and a moment later cried out and yanked his hand back when he felt a pinch.
"Dammit," he muttered and glanced at the small wound on his finger, barely a pinprick but a drop of blood welled up as the chest glowed and the lid popped open, just slightly, a moment later with a loud click.
The pain in his finger forgotten, Harry eagerly lifted the lid and looked inside at the chests contents. There were several leather-bound journals, a golden snitch, it's wings folded tightly around the ball and a small pile of letters. Sifting through the letter he saw his name written on the outside of each envelope in two different hands. One he recognized as the handwriting on the letter from his mother while the other was unfamiliar so he assumed those letters were written by his father.
Before he could open any of the letters, or explore the chest further, there was a loud crack behind him that had him jumping from his seat, spinning around with his wand already in hand, courtesy of the wand holster that Amelia had given him, when a voice squeaked out, "Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts!"
Harry barely had time to take in the dirty and dishevled form of the house elf when a loud, blaring alarm sounded through the house. Another loud crack and Binky popped into the room, immediately tackling the other house elf and the two started wrestling, rolling across the floor as they squeaked loudly at each other.
"Yous cannot be being here!" Binky shouted at the top of his little voice.
"Dobby must warn the great Harry Potter!"
"No! Yous must go!"
"What in the blazes is going on in here?"
Harry turned, wide eyed, to the door to his room to find it standing open with Amelia filling the doorway, her wand in hand, and he could just make out Susan and Daphne standing behind her.
"I don't know!" Harry yelled over the still blaring alarm and the loud fight taking place between the two elves. With no idea what else to do Harry holstered his wand with a flick of his wrist, grabbed both elves by the back of their respective clothes and hauled the two apart, holding them each in one hand just as Hagrid had done to Mister Weasley and Mister Malfoy earlier that day. Harry almost quirked a small smile as he thought of the image of himself in place of Hagrid but quickly focused on the task at hand.
"Hey!" he yelled as the two elves continued to reach toward each other, intent on continuing their battle. "Cut it out," he added and shook them both for a moment. The two quieted instantly and Amelia stepped the rest of the way into the room with Daphne and Susan trailing behind her.
"Binky, can you shut off the alarm please?" Amelia asked and Binky nodded, still glaring at the other elf before he raised one hand and snapped his fingers, vanishing with a loud crack from Harry's grip. Moment's later the alarm shut off and Harry felt almost deaf in the sudden silence.
He set the elf he was still holding down and backed away, dropping back into the chair he'd abandoned as the others came and seated themselves near the fire.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Harry asked the elf.
"Dobby is being Dobby," the little elf squeaked after straightening the filthy pillow case he was using as his only clothing. "Dobby is being warning the great Harry Potter. Harry Potter must no return to Hogwarts!"
Harry exchanged a look with Amelia and the girls before returning his attention to Dobby.
"Look… Dobby, right?" the elf nodded rapidly, his ears flapping back and forth with the motion. "Dobby, I have go to go back to Hogwarts. I need to go to school and that's where all of my friends will be."
"It is being dangerous at the school this year," Dobby squeaked. "The great Harry Potter and his bond mates must not return."
The four of them started, staring blankly at Dobby for a moment before Harry found his voice. "How do you know that we're bonded?" he asked.
"It is being easy for elveses to see the bond. Most times, bond is between two peoples. But Harry Potter is a great and powerful wizard, it is no surprise he would bond with more than one."
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. "Look, Dobby, why don't you have a seat and we can talk about this," he said, waving to the one remaining empty chair. A moment later he was taken aback when Dobby burst into tears.
"Dobby has heard tell of Harry Potter's greatness," he wailed, huge crocodile tears streaming down his wrinkled little face. "But never, never has Dobby heard of his kindness. To ask a lowly house elf to sit, as an equal."
"Well, you can't have met many decent wizards, then," Harry said as he directed the elf to the empty chair.
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up from his seat and started banging his head furiously against the table, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" over and over.
"What are you doing?" Hary yelled, shocked by the little creatures behavior. He grabbed Dobby by the shoulders and pulled him back to the chair and sat him down again.
"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, looking slightly cross-eyed in Harry's general direction. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir…"
"His family?" Harry asked, glancing at the women in the room and as one all three of them nodded.
"Yes, it's something some of the old families do, requiring such complete obedience even to the point of severe punishments for slightly infractions like speaking poorly of the family in question," Amelia said with a disgusted sniff. "It's an awful and repugnant way to do things but there's nothing to stop them and the laws are written in such a way that it is completely legal."
"Does your family know that you're here?" Susan asked, leaning forward to look Dobby in the eyes.
"Oh no, miss, no…. Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see Harry Potter Sir. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door. If they ever knew…" Dobby trailed off and a violent shudder ran through his body.
"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?" Harry asked, still trying to wrap his brain around the strange turn the evening had taken.
"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they remind me to do extra punishments…"
Harry frowned, wanting to suggest that Dobby simply leave this family that treated him so horribly, but knew that only the family presenting Dobby with clothes would free him from their service.
With no other options he shrugged and focused his attention back on the little elf. "Dobby," he said. "I have to go back to Hogwarts. I can't miss school. Why do you think I shouldn't go?"
"Bad things be happening at Hogwarts this year, Harry Potter Sir. Very, very bad things. Dark things in the school. Harry Potter Sir is so great, so kind, he must not return or he will be in grave danger. Dobby has heard that the Great Harry Potter Sir faced the dark one for a second time, just weeks ago and defeated him again!" The elves eyes shone with a level of hero worship that was making Harry extremely uncomfortable.
"Dobby, I can't just not go back. I belong in the wizarding world and part of that is going to school and learning to use magic."
Dobby fidgeted with nervous energy, wringing his long fingered hands together as his entire body practically vibrated with fear. Eventually he heaved out a huge sigh.
"Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts," he said again. "Dobby has warned Harry Potter Sir and, for now, that is all that Dobby can do. Please, sir. Please do not return to the school."
Before any of them could react any further he snapped his fingers and disappeared with an earsplitting crack.
The four of them stared at the empty chair for several long moments before Harry turned his attention to the others.
"What the hell was that all about?"
#####
"What is all this?" Harry asked, early the next morning. He was standing in the archway leading into the kitchen staring at the scene before him. Amelia was sitting at the head of the table, three piles of letters on the table in front of her while Daphne and Susan scurried back and forth, relieving the letters from the dozens of owls that perched and sat on almost every available surface. As one owl would leave another would swoop in through the open window to take it's place.
"These are the offers from families wishing to be your guardian," Amelia said as she waved her wand over a new stack of envelopes, handed to her by Susan, before she started separating them into the three different piles. Harry balked, looking at the sheer volume of offers in the middle of relieving a regal looking eagle owl of its burden. A clack of its beak reminded Harry of what he was doing and he quickly untied the string holding the envelope in place. The owl clicked its beak again and spread it's large wings as it took to the air, soaring silently out of the window as two more owls flew in just after it cleared the space.
It took another twenty minutes of the three children untying letters as fast as they could and handing them off to Amelia before the flow of owls finally stopped and Harry collapsed into a chair, a mug of coffee appearing in front of him as he started, dumbfounded, at the mounds of envelopes piled onto the table.
"This is insane," he muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I told you you'd likely get a lot of offers once the news broke," Amelia reminded him and he could only shrug.
"But why? I'm not anything special really. Why would so many people want to take me in?"
"Aside from all the wonderful things that you are, Harry, to most people you're still the Boy-Who-Lived. Of course there are people out there that want to help you, maybe to pay back what you did in removing Voldemort all those years ago. Others may want to ride your political coattails, or use you in some other manner." She shrugged and tapped one of the piles in front of her.
"I've got these broken down by category. This first pile I call 'interesting' the second is 'maybe' and the third is 'hell no'."
Harry snorted a laugh into his coffee, looking up to find Daphne and Susan grinning impishly at him.
"Hell no, was my suggesting," Susan supplied, helpfully.
"Why are they 'hell no'?" he asked.
"Because they're all families that are known or were at least suspected of Death Eater activity in the last war. The maybe's have some that might have supported Voldemort's ideas but never actively participated in any way. While the 'interesting' pile has families that are known to be light aligned or slightly grey. I think there's an offer from the Weasleys in there."
Harry hesitated for a very long moment, staring intently at the piles before he spoke. "Is there one in there from you?" he asked.
Amelia gave him a smile but shook her head. "No there isn't an offer from the Bones Family in the pile. I wanted to talk to you first before doing or offering anything."
"What about?" he asked, trying to keep a level tone of voice. He couldn't keep the wave of sadness from filtering through the bond to Susan and Daphne, however. Moment's later the bell for the Floo chimed through the house and they could hear the sound of rapid footsteps approaching the kitchen. Moment's later, Hermione appeared in the doorway, still covered in soot and breathing hard, her eyes darting quickly around the room for a moment before settling on Harry, then on the piles on the table.
"Morning," she said after she took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Sorry, 'Mione," Harry muttered and stood to banish the soot from her clothes with his wand. He'd just returned it to the holster hidden by his long sleeve when she pulled him into a bone crushing hug, the scent of parchment and vanilla filling his nose as he buried his face in her wild hair.
"Good morning, Hermione," Amelia, Susan, and Daphne called as the two separated and returned to the table.
"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Harry asked after they were all settled at the table, drinks in front of them. He contemplated getting a second cup of coffee but the first sat heavy in his stomach already and he didn't feel it would be a good idea.
"Well, there's different ways for a family to take over your guardianship, Harry, and you need to be sure of what you want before taking any of these offers into account."
"Different how?" he asked, curious despite himself.
"They can take over as your guardian, as I've done so far this summer. That gives me some legal authority over you, but you're still in control of the lions share of your life, for the most part. Another option is for you to be adopted, like I did with Susan. Some families might want you to take their name or might allow you to keep Potter or even hyphenate and add another name. It all depends. The question is, which do you want? Just a guardian, or do you want to really be adopted into and become part of a new family?"
Harry blinked in surprise and then frowned, stroking the scar behind his jaw with one finger as he thought furiously over the question.
"Well… I wouldn't want to give up my name. I mean… being a Most Ancient and Noble House wouldn't that potentially cause some problems if I changed my name? The Potter line would basically become extinct then, wouldn't it?"
Amelia nodded, but said nothing, watching him work through the situation on his own.
"And Hyphenating it by adding another family name wouldn't really be much better in the long run. Yes it would be better, but not by a lot in the end. So I think just having someone be my guardian would be for the best."
Amelia watched him for a moment longer before speaking to the girls. "Girls, would you please leave Harry and I to talk for a minute?"
"Is something wrong, auntie?" Susan asked even as she stood.
"No, nothing is wrong, I promise you. I just need to talk to Harry privately for a moment."
The girls quietly trooped out of the room, each stopping to give Harry a quick hug as they passed him.
"I'm really glad you said that, Harry," Amelia said leaning forward to stare intently at him after the girls had been gone for several minutes. "I would have made an offer to remain your guardian, but I wasn't sure what you wanted. I can't, in good conscience, adopt you if that was what you wanted."
"Why is that?"
Amelia smirked. "Well, since you and Susan are technically betrothed, I didn't think you'd want to face the possibility of perhaps one day being in a relationship with your adopted sister."
Harry blanched at that and Amelia laughed at the expression on his face once that information had sunk in.
"True, you'd only be siblings on paper, but still, I felt that might be somewhat awkward and difficult to work around so best to avoid it entirely." She chuckled quietly for a moment before she drew herself up and addressed him again in far more formal tones. "Lord Harry James Potter, Head of House Potter and last living member of said House, I, Madam Amelia Susan Bones, Regent of House Bones would like to formally offer my services as your legal guardian from now until such a time as you wish to select another as your guardian or until you reach your legal age of majority. I offer you a place where you will always be welcome, guidance when you need it, and discipline when it is required. Moreover, I offer you a family, and a home. A place to be who you truly are and not who the vast majority of our world expects you to be. Do you accept my offer?"
With trembling hands and a quaver in his voice Harry nodded his acceptance before he spoke, "I, Harry James Potter, Head and last living member of House Potter, do gratefully accept the offer of legal guardianship from Madam Amelia Susan Bones, Regent of House Bones, from now until such time as I wish to select another as my guardian or until I reach my legal age of majority. Even more, I accept the offer of a home and a family to call my own."
After he finished speaking there was no flash of light, no chime or sound or signal of any kind to show the oath they'd sworn to each other, but when Amelia stood and stepped around the corner of the table with her arms open to him, Harry felt that the warm, comforting hug that he eagerly accepted was better than anything he'd ever experienced.
He finally felt as if he had a home, a true, real home of his own with family that cared for him and wanted nothing but the best for him. With his face pressed into her shoulder, and her arms wrapped securely around him, Harry vowed silently to work hard and prove himself be worthy of the gift he'd been given.
It was some minutes before they pulled apart and Amelia held him in place at arms length with her hands on his shoulders.
"I've got some paperwork to draw up and file that we'll have to sign. As soon as I get everything ready we'll go over it, sign it all, and I will officially be your guardian before the end of the week."
Harry nodded, smiling broadly up at her. "What about all of those?" he asked, waving to the piles and piles of envelopes with offers to be his guardian.
"We'll have to respond to them, but if you right up a simple form letter, politely declining, I'll have Binky make copies and we can just fill in the names where we need to and send them out. Don't worry too much about it, okay?"
Harry nodded and Amelia released him after patting his should comfortingly. "Now," she said as she retook her seat at the table. "I think you should go change into some workout clothes. Auror Cadet Tonks should be here in the next half an hour or so to put you through your paces. She'll be by every day for the remainder of the summer so you can get used to the routine which I expect you to stick to even once you're back at school." She gave him a firm, but not angry look, and Harry winced but nodded his acceptance. As punishments went, after what he'd pulled, he honestly couldn't complain. And he did need to get onto the physical training routine that Gant had given him. He understood that it would only help him in the long run, it had just been something he kept putting off, lacking the motivation really to start it all on his own. With someone pushing him to complete the routine, he realized it would be much easier to get the work done.
With a quick smile and a wave to Amelia, he retreated to his room to change and wait for his trainer to arrive.
