Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
Lucius Malfoy let out a deep sigh, as he lowered himself into his favourite armchair, craving the warmth of the fireplace.
"I'm sorry that I was already asleep, when you returned home last night. How did the meeting go?" Narcissa cast him a questioning look.
Lucius sighed again. "I don't know what to believe anymore. The Dark Lord is indeed back, but he claims to not have been himself during the time before his downfall. According to him, the late Lord Rosier had him under the Imperius curse ever since he was a fifteen-year-old."
Pressing a hand against her mouth, apparently to prevent herself from laughing at the incredulous accusation, Narcissa stared at him wide-eyed. "Why would Grandfather have done such a thing?"
"In his youth, the Dark Lord had a crush on your mother, at least that's what he told us. However, as she was already promised to your father, your grandfather put the Dark Lord under the Imperius curse, efficiently making him act as the Dark Lord."
Narcissa remained pensive for a moment. "Mother never said anything about the Dark Lord having been her friend during their time at Hogwarts. Oh well, my parents were devoted to him, but Grandfather was as well. Somehow, this is absolutely confusing."
Lucius nodded in agreement. "I am not certain about our allegiances," he admitted to his wife what he would not easily tell anyone else. "On the one hand, it is delightful to have him back, but on the other hand, his goals greatly differ from before."
"How that?" Narcissa leaned forward in her chair with apparent interest.
"He told me that his goals for the future would be the rights of all magical creatures, including elves, giants and whatever."
Narcissa blanched visibly.
"Apparently, he is going to work together with Harry Prince, Severus' adopted son. The boy even showed up during the meeting to confirm their so-called friendship."
Narcissa's eyes widened. "That's a dilemma. Draco actually is very fond of Harry and has already been pestering me if he can spend a week with Severus and Harry during the Yule holidays."
Lucius shook his head. "We should keep Draco away from the boy and rather teach him the old ways of thinking."
"Harry is a pureblood as well."
"Yes, but it's not becoming for a pureblood to free house-elves. According to the Dark Lord's elves, the boy is seen as the saviour of the elves. It even became clear that it was an elf who killed your late grandfather. Drath or something like that. I don't remember the exact name. Do you know him?"
Narcissa nodded. "Draht. That was Grandfather's elf, before he somehow managed to free himself. It's going to be difficult to keep Draco from Harry though, considering that in ten months' time, they're both going to become students at Hogwarts."
"Well, then we can only hope that Harry Prince is not going to be sorted into Slytherin."
Narcissa let out a small scoff, very unbecoming in her position as the Lady Malfoy. "You're aware that Harry is the Heir Slytherin, aren't you?"
Lucius sighed. "Ah, right, there was something. Oh well, I shall think about something."
HP
A few days later, Severus dismissed his student assistants on time for curfew and headed to the headmaster's office, as he had promised Albus to show him and a few of their colleagues Regina's memory of the prank that someone had played on them during lunch on Sunday.
The other three heads of the houses as well as Remus and Miranda were present. Severus quickly added the memory to Albus' Pensieve, before he invited his colleagues to watch it.
While his colleagues jumped at the opportunity and headed into the Pensieve, Severus exchanged a few words with Fawkes, the always pleasant phoenix.
"Hi Fawkes, how are you?" he cooed, gently petting the bird's crown feathers, causing the phoenix to let out sounds of apparent pleasure. Only when Severus let go, knowing that his colleagues were going to return soon, 'They can't see the evil bat of the dungeons pet a phoenix,' Fawkes let out a series of trills.
#Where is your little one? Please tell him to come and visit me soon. I can't wait for him to become a phoenix Animagus and play with me.#
"I'm sorry, Fawkes, but I can't understand you," he drawled.
"What a pity," a male voice spoke up, causing Severus to look up at the paintings of the former headmasters in surprise. It was Godric Gryffindor, who kindly translated Fawkes' trills for him.
"Thank you, Professor Gryffindor." Turning back to Fawkes, he added, "Harry is a canine Animagus."
Fawkes let out a sound resembling a scoff. #Then it is all the more time for the nestling to practise transforming into a proper bird. Tell him I can't wait.#
Severus' eyes narrowed at Godric's translation. "Would he be able to have a second Animagus form?"
This time, Godric did not wait for Fawkes to respond, but growled, "Harry is my heir. Of course, he will be able to have at least two Animagi forms."
The conversation ended, when the other professors left the Pensieve and once more occupied the seats around him.
"I wonder who did that fantastic prank. It is worth at least one hundred house-points."
"Albus!" Minerva immediately scolded the headmaster; however, everyone else seemed to agree with the old wizard, causing Severus to smirk.
"As I said on a previous occasion," he drawled, "there are only three children in this school who would be able to brew such a complicated potion."
Minerva was the first to understand and groaned in apparent annoyance. "Harry and the Weasley twins."
Severus smirked. "Of course."
"Well, then it is one hundred points to Slytherin." The headmaster smiled, pleasantly.
"I just hope Harry is going to be sorted into Gryffindor."
"Why would that be?" Filius cast Minerva an incredulous look. "As studious as the child is, he's surely going to be sorted into Ravenclaw. I wasn't aware that Slytherin recently has the most inventive pranksters, by-the-way."
"Oh," Severus recalled, ignoring his colleague's comment, "there is something that I'd like to alert you to. Harry intends to have his elf familiar Teddy attend classes together with him. Is there any rule against it?"
Albus shook his head. "Severus, you will understand that we cannot have house-elves attend classes at Hogwarts."
"Teddy is an elf, not a house-elf," Severus lightly corrected the headmaster, causing Minerva to chuckle.
The conversation was rudely interrupted, however, when Sirius Black suddenly stepped out of the fireplace.
"You!" he growled at Severus without even acknowledging anyone else present. "Is your master back, and are you bowing to him again? I knew that we should have never allowed you to adopt Harry."
"Now Sirius, take a seat and calm down," Albus lightly admonished the man. "What are you talking about?"
"Sorry, Headmaster. Earlier today, You-Know-Who, who somehow managed to return from the dead, came to the ministry, accompanied by Lord Nott. They spoke with Minister Bagnold, who then called Meli to the meeting. The murderer claims to have been under the Imperius curse by the late Lord Rosier, who conveniently died last week." Sirius scoffed. "Meli wanted to question him under Veritaserum to at least have some proof; however, he refused stating that he would only agree when Snivellus was with him and would administer the potion as well as the antidote if there was a question he didn't want to answer. Headmaster, I believe that it's time to call your chicken order to life again, but without him." He pointed a finger at Severus.
Uncertain how to respond without causing a huge fight in the headmaster's office, Severus was glad when Remus spoke up in his stead.
"Sirius, before you accuse Severus of anything, please remember that it was him to both free you from Azkaban and to cure me from lycanthropy."
"Exactly." Albus agreed with the former werewolf. "There is indeed the need to activate the Order of the Phoenix again considering that Voldemort is back; however, Severus will be a member of it just like any of our colleagues who wish to participate."
'Did I ever say I wished to participate?' Severus thought in disbelief. 'This time, I am absolutely certain where my allegiances lie.'
HP
Considering that Marvolo wished to have Professor Prince in attendance, Amelia Bones decided on a Sunday for her questioning of what she still assumed was an evil wizard.
"You're much too nice to Snivellus. The students would be happy if he cancelled his classes for once." Sirius rolled his eyes in apparent annoyance.
"Sirius, don't be so mean towards Severus. Don't you remember that you owe him your freedom?" Amelia shook her head in exasperation over her husband's stubbornness. During their more or less regular meetings with Regina, Miranda, Severus and Remus on Saturday evenings, she had become good friends with each of them and could not really understand Sirius' distrust of the Potions master.
"Just so you know, Meli, I am going to attend that meeting as well in my capacity as an Auror to keep you safe."
Amelia let out a deep sigh. "Well, if you don't have better things to do on a Sunday morning, I don't mind. However, you have to promise to behave yourself and remain quiet. You may only watch and not actively participate in the questioning. If you behave, I'll have a surprise for you later on."
Sirius grudgingly agreed. 'Oh well, if he manages to behave, I'll tell him about the baby later on,' Amelia resolved. So far, she had not let him in on the secret of her pregnancy, however, intended to do so at the next opportunity anyway. 'He'll be very happy, although I wished he would grow up a bit more. He's more like an overgrown child himself,' she thought, giving her husband a fond smile.
HP
When Harry woke up on Sunday morning, he felt Severus' magic nearby, and from the occasional rustling of pages he realised that he was reading, 'probably his Potions Quarterly. It sounds like that.'
"Good morning," he said, smiling at his adoptive father.
"Good morning, Harry," the older wizard replied in a soft voice. "I just wanted to let you know that your mother and I am going to have breakfast at home this morning. Right afterwards, I must head to the ministry, where Marvolo is going to have his questioning today."
"Ah, all right. That's why he's so excited right now."
"Can you feel his emotions all the time?" Lucy, who had just returned from doing her business in the herb garden, showed him the concerned look his guardian cast him.
"Not all the time, only when he's extremely happy, sad or excited." Harry gently caressed the canine's fluffy ears.
"Perhaps, I should teach you Occlumency." Severus seemed pensive. "It might help blocking out Marvolo's emotions. It won't be easy though, considering that you're only ten and it's fairly advanced magic, which usually isn't even taught to the students."
"Please teach me. You know I am not scared of difficult things."
"Oh, that reminds me of something. When I spoke with Fawkes the other day…"
"Can you speak with Fawkes?" Harry was too surprised to realise that he rudely interrupted the older wizard.
"No." Severus smirked in apparent amusement at his excitement. "Godric Gryffindor was so kind as to translate for me. Apparently, Fawkes was his familiar in the past, and he is a phoenix Animagus. Anyway, Fawkes told me that he is waiting for you to become a phoenix Animagus, and when I informed him that you're a canine Animagus, Professor Gryffindor insisted that as his descendant, you'd well be able to have multiple forms."
"Really? Wow, that's cool. Of course, I will try to become a phoenix then. It would be brilliant if I could fly without a broom."
Severus shook his head. "How are you going to take Lucy or Teddy with you to be able to see when flying in your phoenix form?"
"Oh." Harry had not even thought about that. "That won't work. Oh well, I will still try to get a second Animagus form. Please don't tell anyone about it though, especially not the headmaster."
"I won't." Severus nodded, reassuringly.
"May I have breakfast at home, too?"
"If that's what you wish, of course you may. As you're not a student yet, you don't have any obligation to take the meals in the Great Hall."
HP
Harry spent the morning in the elves' quarters playing with Teddy and Lucy. 'I wonder if I can trigger the interrogation,' he thought, recalling how he had watched Marvolo talk with his followers before. From Marvolo's excitement, which seemed to intensify by the minute, he could sense that it was going to begin soon. Just to be sure that his friends would leave him in peace for a little while, he informed Lucy and Teddy what he intended to do. Careful, so as to not alert his mind friend to his presence, he wished himself into Marvolo's mind, smiling happily, when it worked. Just like before, he was even able to take in Marvolo's surroundings through the older wizard's eyes. Shortly afterwards, the interrogation commenced by Amelia asking Marvolo questions.
To his disappointment, the interrogation was not overly interesting for him, as Harry had already heard everything that had happened to Marvolo at least twice before. Only after the man had explained about the Imperius curse, which the old lord had reinforced frequently to prevent that it might wear off, the questioning turned to matters, of which Harry had not heard before.
"Why did you go after the Potters?"
"That was because of a prophecy made by Sibyl Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore. It said that a boy would be born with the power to defeat me. It became clear that the boy would be Harry Potter. When Severus Snape asked me to spare Lily Potter and her family, I decided to simply ignore the prophecy, of which I have only heard the first part anyway. However, Rosier decided otherwise and forced me to go after them. Fortunately, at least Harry survived. As a descendant of the Slytherin family, he is my only living relative at this time."
"What are your plans for the future?"
"I intend to take over the lordship of House Gaunt, the family from my mother's side, seeing that Harry has been made the heir of the Slytherin family by his defeat of me. I wish to work on improving the situation of all magical beings, including Squibs, muggleborns, elves, dwarfs, goblins and so on. Harry and I decided to work together in this direction. He has already managed to cure the werewolves from lycanthropy together with his adoptive father, Lord Severus Prince, and among the elves he is known as the saviour of the elves."
"Harry is my godson. Do not take him from me like you took my brother," Sirius growled at Marvolo. "How did Regulus Black die?"
Severus sent a bloodcurdling glare at the Auror, which was echoed by Amelia's, while Marvolo replied.
"He betrayed me and by doing so succumbed to one of my safety features. It was his own decision."
"Sirius, you're going to sleep on the sofa tonight," Amelia added, motioning for Severus to administer the antidote to the Veritaserum.
'Sirius is not nice,' Harry thought in shock, as the meeting ended and he retracted from his connection to Marvolo. 'No wonder that Marvolo is upset. I hope that Amelia Bones believed him though, considering that she questioned him under Veritaserum.'
"I'm going to speak with Remus for a moment. Will you come with me?"
Teddy and Lucy immediately agreed, and Harry popped the three of them right in front of the Lupin quarters, where he politely knocked at the door.
"Harry, Lucy, Teddy!" Miranda smiled broadly, as she ushered them inside. "That's a nice surprise."
"Is Remus at home, too?"
"Yes, he is. Harry, is something wrong?" she enquired, apparently noticing his subdued expression.
"Not really, but I'd like to talk to the two of you about something."
Sitting on a sofa in the living room between his two familiars, he told his godparents about Marvolo's interrogation by Amelia Bones.
"Wait. Let me get this right. You can look into Voldemort's mind?" Remus sounded horrified.
"Err, yes. We are somehow connected, and I can feel his mind, and if I really want to see what's happening around him, I can do that."
"That's extremely unusual." Miranda's voice was laced with surprise and apparent concern at the same time.
"That means that he's probably able to do the same." Remus gave him an assessing look.
"Yes, he can." Harry smiled. "He always watched how my relatives treated me, and he realised that I couldn't see anymore, but he couldn't do anything about it, because he was too weak. Only recently, um, perhaps about a year ago or so, he became stronger and could contact me. Then, I could help him gain a corporeal body again."
His godparents nodded, looking at him in apparent amazement.
"You're really a gentle young man, a godson to be proud of. I just know that your mother would be very proud of you." Miranda smiled.
Remus nodded. "She was one of the kindest witches I ever met, and your behaviour reminds me of her."
"Thank you," Harry replied, feeling very happy to hear that he resembled his mother. 'Usually, everyone only always tells me that I looked like my birth father, before Severus blood adopted me,' he thought. "Anyway," he brought the topic back to the interrogation that he had observed earlier and told his godparents how Sirius had behaved.
"He wasn't supposed to ask anything, and Amelia and Severus were both very angry, let alone Marvolo. He was terrified." He hesitated, not really sure what he wanted to ask.
Remus let out a deep sigh. "All right, Harry. There are multiple factors, which you need to know to understand the situation. First of all, Sirius probably did not believe Marvolo about the Imperius curse, especially as he did not have any proof and the person responsible died last week, as you told us. I know that he took Veritaserum, but there is an antidote to the truth serum, which he could have consumed before. To be really sure that he did not take an antidote, they'd have had to take him to a ministry holding cell twenty-four hours before the interrogation. As to the relationship between your adoptive father and Sirius, it has always been more than strained."
"Which is not Severus' fault in the first place." Miranda's voice was as soft and pleasant as usual.
"As you probably know, Severus was in Slytherin and proud of it. Sirius, your birth father and I were in Gryffindor and equally proud of being in the house of the lions. Sirius and James always pranked Severus using spells and charms, and he retaliated, mostly with prank potions. Unfortunately, their pranks got more dangerous by the year and escalated so far that Sirius almost got Severus killed if James had not warned him on time."
"Oh." Harry let out a deep sigh.
"While Sirius and James were Severus' childhood nemeses, Lily was his best friend."
Harry nodded, smiling. "He sometimes tells me about my Mum, but he never said much about my birth father or Sirius. I only knew that their relationship was not the best, but I didn't think that it was so bad considering that you often go out together on Saturday evenings."
"Well, so far, Sirius always behaved himself, if only to please Amelia," Miranda replied, shrugging.
"I don't think it's only that. He also knows that Severus is Harry's adoptive father and that he has to behave to be allowed to keep in contact with him."
Harry nodded in understanding, thinking, 'Oh well, if I had to decide on just one of them, it would be Severus of course.'
HP
During the two weeks before the last Wizengamot meeting of the year, Marvolo spoke with Buckbean at Gringotts and took over the lordship of the Gaunt family.
'Congratulations,' Harry thought to him upon noticing how happy his friend was.
'Thank you, Harry,' Marvolo replied. 'Will I see you at the Wizengamot meeting? You could accompany one of your parents.'
'Really? Oh all right, I'll ask Severus,' Harry promised, somehow feeling excited at the idea of attending the meeting.
The Wizengamot meeting took place on the first day of the Christmas holidays, much to the Prince-Lestrange family's relief, as Regina and Marvolo both wished to attend the meeting for the first time, and Severus intended to accompany them.
"Marvolo asked if I was going to accompany you," Harry spoke up, when he went for a walk over the snowy grounds together with Severus and Lucy.
"If you wish to accompany us, you may do so," Severus replied in apparent surprise. "Considering that you're the heir of the Potter, Prince and Lestrange families, you may choose if you wish to sit together with Remus, Regina or myself. I don't believe that the meeting will be very interesting for you, and there might even be topics, of which you don't know anything yet."
Harry remained pensive for a moment. "If I have any questions, I could ask you if I sat next to you, but maybe Regina would feel safer if I sat together with her. She said that she's slightly anxious to take the Lestrange seat."
"Harry, that's a very gentle thought, and I appreciate it. I don't mind you sitting with Regina, and if you have questions, which she is not able to answer, you can always ask me using telepathy."
"Oh, that's true," Harry agreed, smiling. "I will sit with Regina then. May I take Lucy and Teddy with me?"
Severus let out a deep sigh. "I am very sorry, Harry, but Teddy cannot accompany you to the Wizengamot meeting. Lucy is of course welcome if she remains quiet."
