Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.


When Harry and Severus returned home from the lab, Regina and Rebecca were sitting on the sofa animatedly talking. Lucy was fast asleep between them with her head comfortably perched on Regina's lap. Apparently, Petunia and Dudley had already retired to bed.

'Harry, do you want to discuss the matter with them, before we speak with Petunia and Dudley?'

Harry nodded, casting his father a grateful smile, when his father cast a silencing charm at his bedroom door, so that Dudley could not overhear them in case he was still awake.

"What's going on?" Regina quickly made space for Harry to sit between her and Lucy.

Harry let out a deep sigh that turned into a smile, when his father informed his wife and sister-in-law about their earlier conversation.

Rebecca stared at him in apparent disbelief, while Regina shook her head.

"Harry, are you sure you want Dudley to gain magic and be at Hogwarts during the next couple of years?"

Harry gently caressed Lucy's fluffy ears. "He was only a child. He didn't know what he was doing. I think that his parents were wrong, not him."

Just then, Luna entered the room, giving them a dreamy smile. "Am I disturbing something? I am sorry. I'll go to my room right away."

"No, Luna. Please stay." Harry suddenly heard himself speak to the girl. Startled by his unintentional offer, he smiled. 'Her opinion is worth listening to,' he realised. "We were just discussing what to do with Petunia and Dudley. Dad offered to give Dudley magic in spite of what he and mainly his family did to me in the past."

"He really was a bully towards you." Rebecca cast him a sad look.

"He could become a very gentle wizard." Luna smiled, dreamily. "Why don't you keep him here until the end of the holidays and decide then?"

"I believe that's a good idea, provided that Petunia and Dudley agree." Severus glanced at Regina.

"It's fine with me."

"Harry, you're much too nice for your own good. Bad enough that you healed Petunia after what she did to you." Rebecca shook her head in apparent annoyance.

"Sorry, but I couldn't let her die knowing that I could have saved her life, especially that they were only attacked because they're related to me," Harry replied, heatedly. "I don't know why the attackers wanted to get at me." He shrugged, looking questioningly from Rebecca to his father.

"I hope you're not considering giving her magic as well." Rebecca's voice was grim, as she continued, "She really doesn't deserve it after what she did to you."

"I fully agree," her sister said, giving Harry a sad smile.

"I will offer to accompany her home and play my Arabella Figg role for a couple of days. I wish to return there, pack everything and give up the house anyway. I am thinking of renting a small place at Hogsmeade instead."

"Please tell me if you need help. Teddy and I will be happy to assist."

Rebecca sighed. "Thank you, Harry. I appreciate it very much, but I don't want you to do anything right now. Just enjoy the last month of your holidays and do nothing but play around with your friends."

"Rebecca, if there's anything that I can do to help, please tell me. I'll be very happy to have you nearby." The sisters smiled at each other, causing Harry to think that they looked very much alike.

HP

At breakfast the following morning, Rebecca joined them again and offered Petunia to take her home. "My colleagues have finished repairing your house, and I believe that you'll have several things to do considering Vernon's funeral and whatever."

"Will you come back as well?" Petunia cast the woman, whom she had apparently believed to be just a normal citizen, a helpless look.

"I will. For a few more weeks, I will take my Arabella Figg persona again. I'll be off to work at times, but I'll also have to look after my cats and prepare everything for moving. In fact, I only lived there to keep an eye on little Harry. Not that it helped him much."

For the first time that morning, Petunia looked straight at her nephew. "Oh Harry, I am so sorry for what we did to you. I should have separated from Vernon the instant you displayed accidental magic for the first time since you came to live with us."

"Why didn't you?" Rebecca's voice was soft but at the same time accusing.

"I was afraid of what he'd do to all three of us."

"You could have owled me, for example, and I'd have taken Harry in, even against the headmaster's wishes, and so would my colleagues have done." Severus' expression was grim, and Petunia quickly averted her eyes to the floor. "Do you know that Harry saved your life? In the magical world, you owe him a life debt, which means that if you harm him again, no one will be able to save you."

"I'm sorry." Tears began to well in Petunia's eyes.

"It's all right now. It's in the past, and I have a wonderful family, the best I could wish for." Harry smiled at his aunt, before he turned to Dudley. "Dudley, would you like to remain here at Hogwarts till the end of the holidays?"

Surprise flashed in his cousin's expression. "I'd like that. Mum, can I?"

Petunia looked sad, however, nodded. "If you may stay here in spite of not having magic."

"As Harry is the owner of Hogwarts, it's his decision, and as we all know, Harry is much too nice for his own good." Severus smirked.

"Hawwy bewy nice." Felix jumped from his seat and climbed onto Harry's lap, where Lucy gave him a thorough face washing.

"Thanks, Harry." Dudley nodded in apparent gratefulness.

"Will you at least come home for the funeral?"

Dudley cast Harry a questioning look and, only when he saw his cousin nod, reassuringly, did he reply. "Yes, Mum. I will, and I will send you an owl every now and then. Luna showed me to the owlery the other day."

Later the same day, Rebecca changed into her Arabella Figg form and took Petunia home.

HP

"Good riddance," Severus said to Regina, when they headed to bed that evening.

"Oh yes. I usually don't despise people, but every time I saw her, I couldn't help thinking how she and her husband abused our son."

"You have a tremendous influence on Harry." Severus smiled at his wife. "His kindness towards everyone reflects yours."

Regina chuckled. "I try, but I couldn't get myself to be kind to Petunia. As Harry said, Dudley is a different matter. A Knut for your thoughts?" she asked, realising that Severus seemed strangely absentminded.

"I was wondering if we wanted to try for a baby girl. What do you think?"

"I'd love it." Regina smiled. "Do you think it's a good timing though, considering that I'm going to begin teaching a new class in four weeks' time?"

Severus reached out and pulled her close. "Then we'll time it, so that the baby will be born at the beginning of the summer holidays."

"A brilliant idea," Regina agreed, feeling very happy, as she slowly drifted off to sleep in his strong arms.

HP

From the following morning onwards, Harry and his parents took Dudley with them to the Great Hall for breakfast and dinner.

"This is my cousin Dudley, and he's staying with us over the summer."

"Harry?" Dumbledore leaned forward in his seat. "You're aware that your cousin is a muggle?"

Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance; however, before he could do as much as think of an appropriate response, Dumbledore directly addressed Dudley.

"Mr. Dursley, I'm afraid that you cannot remain at Hogwarts."

"Nonsense!" Harry rose from his chair, staring down at the headmaster. "First of all, my cousin is not a muggle but a Squib, and as such, he is well able to visit my family and me during the summer."

"Mr. Dursley?" Harry looked at Narcissa in surprise.

"Please call me Dudley."

Narcissa smiled. "Dudley it is, then. If you're interested, perhaps you could attend my summer course for the muggleborns students."

"Oh, Narcissa, that's a brilliant idea and a very nice offer." 'Why didn't I even think of that?' Harry wondered. Realising that Dudley looked at him in apparent uncertainty, he nodded. "Dudley, why don't you just try it out?"

"You will love it. Magic is just brilliant," Luna added, giving Dudley a dreamy look.

Dudley smiled. "Yes please. Thank you for having me."

From that time onwards, Dudley attended the summer class for the muggleborn students, who were going to become first-years during the upcoming school year. To Harry's surprise, his cousin appeared to thoroughly enjoy himself, and even Narcissa told him that Dudley seemed to be as interested as her magical students.

"I just wished I had magic," Dudley said one evening, when they talked about the summer class.

"Is that really what you wish? Have magic and, according to your mother become a freak and attend Hogwarts with the new first-years?" Severus raised an eyebrow at the boy.

Dudley sighed, deeply. "Yes, I'd love that, but I know that it's not possible. They told me that I'm a Squib and Squibs only have about two percent of magic, which is not enough to cast any spell whatsoever."

"I believe that it would be possible for you to gain magic."

"Really?" Dudley stared at Regina in obvious excitement.

"Really." Regina smiled. "However, we'd need your mother's consent."

"How…"

"I'll ask my sister to bring her here sometime during the weekend, and then we can speak with her together."

"Thank you so very much." Dudley cast Regina a grateful look. "I hope we'll be able to convince Mum."

HP

While Petunia was obviously disappointed that Severus refused to give her magic, she accepted for Dudley to become a wizard and attend Hogwarts from September onwards. Unbeknownst to his aunt and cousin, Harry simply paid the Hogwarts fees for Dudley from his own account.

Severus chose the weekend after Harry's birthday for the blood transfusion, so that Dudley would have ten days to get used to suddenly having magic.

"Harry, I can't believe it," Dudley said in clear amazement, when they retired for the night on his first evening as a wizard. "I'm so happy."

Harry smiled. "I believe that immediately. Magic is simply brilliant. I wonder where you're going to be sorted."

"Me too. Your friends… they're all awesome, but they're all in different houses."

Harry shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"I don't know. Does it?"

"No. We have study rooms for every year, where you can study together with all first-years from all houses. We made them at the beginning of our first-year, and everyone is always studying together. During the next few days, I'm going to show you all the classrooms and such, so that you can guide your classmates if that's what you wish. I will then take care of the other two houses."

"Thanks Harry… for everything you've done for me." He paused, and Harry already though that he had fallen asleep, when he added, "… in spite of how I've treated you in the past."

"It's all right. You were only a kid, so, what happened is not your fault. Good night, Dudley."

"Night, Harry."

HP

As the days passed, Dudley seemed to become more and more excited about his Sorting.

"Did we make such a fuss about where we were going to be sorted?" Draco asked one day, when Dudley had gone to the owlery to post a letter to his mother.

"I don't think so." Neville grinned. "He has completely changed, since he came here."

"He feels as if he belongs here now, because he has magic just like us." Luna smiled. "It's nice of Harry to allow him to be here."

Harry sighed. "It's all right. I'm happy for him. I'll be happier though, when the Sorting ceremony will be over."

Everyone laughed at his expression of pure annoyance at his cousin's apparent excitement.

HP

On the Hogwarts Express, Harry enlarged a compartment for the whole third-year class to fit in – much to his classmates' delight and the other students' bewilderment.

"Dudley, perhaps it would be better for you to sit with the other first-years, so that you can get to know some of them even before the Sorting." Neville gave the other boy a pensive look.

Harry nodded. "That's true. Sorry all, does anyone have younger siblings in first-year?"

"My sister Astoria is a first-year," Daphne was the first to reply. "Shall I take you to her?"

"Yes please." Dudley eagerly followed Daphne out of the oversized compartment, and a few minutes later, Daphne returned alone.

She chuckled. "Astoria will take care of him. She can be very annoying, like every other younger sibling probably can, but she's good at taking care of insecure people."

"That's great. Thanks for introducing him. He must feel very insecure, as he has only been a wizard for ten days now."

HP

A few hours later, Harry realised that Astoria indeed seemed to have taken good care of Dudley, as he was sorted into Slytherin, where he happily took the seat next to Daphne and was joined by Astoria a few minutes later. 'Slytherin,' he thought to his father in amusement. 'I wonder if it was your blood or Astoria Greengrass' care that caused it.'

His father merely returned a glare.

HP

Harry immediately liked Regina's class. He had always loved her gentle attitude, which she also displayed in class, and her teaching was different from all the other teachers' methods at Hogwarts. As he had never attended a muggle school, he could only assume that it was because of her different teaching background. Before Felix had been born, she had been a professor at a muggle university in contrary to some of the other teachers, who had never taught anywhere but at Hogwarts.

She always divided her class into two parts, discussing a certain topic from her lesson plan during the first half and having the students do practical experiments during the second half.

While she was teaching her classes, Miranda was looking after Felix and Lucky together with her own children. The two-year-olds were as inseparable as Harry and Teddy with the only exception that Lucky was not allowed to take the meals in the Great Hall yet and had to return to the elves' quarters at meal times. When Regina began to teach, she made it a habit to join her colleagues in the Great Hall together with Felix, who had a high chair at the teachers' table.

However, whenever Felix spotted Harry, before his parents were able to put him into his seat, he ran over to his adored big brother and demanded to take the meal sitting on the third-year's lap. Usually, Harry did not mind, even if he rolled his eyes at the girls, who always made a fuss about the kid.

During the first week, Harry kept an eye on Dudley during mealtimes; however, his cousin seemed to get on well with his classmates in spite of his upbringing with muggles who despised the magical world going as far as denying it, and Harry slowly relaxed. 'Thank Merlin he fits in so well,' he thought in relief.

Main topic in the third-years' study room was – apart from the new elective classes – their first Hogsmeade visit. Just like Harry, Teddy, Ginny, Neville and Draco, some of the students had been to the village with their parents; however, others were extremely excited to finally be able to have a look at what was said to be the largest magical town in Britain. Naturally, Hermione had researched everything about it and held a couple of small monologues about the founding of Hogsmeade, its layout and the shops, most of which were situated on both sides of the main street.

"You're lucky to be able to go to Hogsmeade." Luna was wearing a forlorn expression, when she looked around Hermione at Harry and Teddy.

"Sorry, Luna. Next year, we'll go together," Harry promised, resolving to pick some of the girl's favourite fairy chocolates for her from Honeydukes. Only two weeks ago, the Princes had been in the village together with Luna and Dudley, and the girl had introduced him to that specific kind of chocolate. It randomly changed its colour and with it the taste – much to Harry's amazement.

HP

In the morning of the first Hogsmeade visit, Harry was very excited. He, Teddy, Neville, Ginny, Draco, Theo and Hermione had decided to go to Hogsmeade together and meet all the other third-years at the Three Broomsticks for lunch.

"Are you going to take Lucy with you to Hogsmeade?" Regina asked, gently, when they sat together in the living room for a few minutes like they did on most mornings before breakfast.

"Of course." Harry stared at his mother in bewilderment. 'Have I ever not taken her with me?' he thought, however, did not voice it.

"Fewi go wif Hawwy." His brother stepped up in front of Harry looking at him in apparent determination.

"No, Felix, you cannot go with Harry today. Only the big students can go to Hogsmeade today."

"No! Fewi go wif."

"Felix, stop that immediately, or you're going to have breakfast at home with your mother." Severus glared at the child, causing Harry to inwardly chuckle.

'Your glare has more effect on the new first-years than on Felix,' he thought to his father in amusement, only to receive a similar glare in return.

"I'm going to take him and Lucky on a long walk," Regina decided. "Perhaps, we can ask Cicero for a picnic somewhere on the shore of the lake."

"That's a good idea. I'm sorry that I can't accompany you, but I'll have to chaperone today."

"Mum, I think Luna would like to accompany you. She was very sad that she can't go to Hogsmeade with us."

"Yeah, me go wif Luna."

"Let's ask her at breakfast, Felix, won't we?" Harry rolled his eyes at his brother's apparent enthusiasm, "Come on, little one, let's go to the Great Hall and have breakfast.

HP

An hour later, the whole third-year class was heading to Hogsmeade in excitement. As Hermione was the only from their small group who had never been to the village before, they humoured her and took her to the bookshop first, unaware that the short visit to Flourish and Blotts was going to take the whole morning.

By the time they entered the Three Broomsticks for lunch, Harry swore to himself to only visit the bookshop with Hermione after finishing all the other shopping in the future. 'I didn't even get around to buy chocolates for Luna and Dudley yet,' he thought in annoyance, as he ordered a round of butterbeers for himself and his friends.

Hermione cast him a sharp look. "What's this?"

"Butterbeer."

"Are we allowed to drink such a thing?"

"Ah but Hermione…"

"… as if our Harry…"

"… would willingly make you drunk."

"Hey twins." Harry smiled, happy to see his friends, who were carrying two large bags, one with the inscription 'Honeydukes', the other wearing the distinctive writing of 'Zonko's'.

"Butterbeer doesn't have alcohol." Draco looked around, questioningly. "Or does it?"

Neville shook his head. "I don't think so."

Ginny grinned. "If it has any, then at least it's not much. Cheers."

HP

It was almost two hours later, when their group left the pub to finally do some shopping other than books. However, the instant Harry and Lucy headed out onto the main street behind his friends, Harry suddenly sensed Lucius Malfoy's magic nearby. 'What does he want here now?' he thought in annoyance, glancing at Draco, who was completely unaware of the fact, only to see a green curse head straight towards Lucy.

HP

Lucy stared at the green spell that travelled from the Death Eater to her in shock. She was too fixed on keeping Harry safe to bring herself into safety. However, her shock only intensified, when Harry jumped in front of her, transforming into a phoenix as he did so, saving her from the deadly curse just in time.

'Harry!' she thought in shock. He was not dead. That she knew, because she could still sense him, just when a tiny baby's head appeared out of the pile of ice in front of her.

'Harry!' she thought to him, as she grabbed the naked baby phoenix into her snout.

HP

"No!" Harry screamed and jumped in front of his familiar, summoning his entire magic to transform into his phoenix form, which he managed, just before the green spell hit. An instant later, he could only feel cold.

"Harry!"

"What happened?"

"Where is he?"

Suddenly, Lucy picked him up from where he was lying on the ground. She took him into her snout and gently nudged Ginny.

"Is that Harry?" Ginny looked from the tiny phoenix baby to the canine, who nodded and gently licked him over and over.

'Feels warm,' he thought, craving the warmth of her tongue on his naked skin.

"He must be cold." Harry recognised Hermione's voice, before he felt himself being wrapped into what seemed to be a warm shawl.

'Teddy, can you take me home? So cold.'

"Ginny, please give him to me. He asked me to take him home, and I'm faster, as I can just pop us."

An instant later, Harry felt himself being handed over and felt the distinct sensation of Teddy's popping. 'Thank Merlin, he took Lulu with us,' he thought, as he felt the magic of his family's living room.

'Mum,' he thought to his mother, seeing that she was sitting on the sofa together with Luna, while Felix was jumping up and down in clear excitement, before he seemed to notice Teddy.

HP

Teddy uncertainly hovered from one foot to the other. "Professor?"

"Teddy and Lucy? Where is Harry?" Regina cast him a questioning look.

"Harry managed the transformation into a phoenix." Luna smiled broadly. "Why is he a baby though?"

Teddy quickly handed the phoenix baby that obviously had been too impatient to remain between the warm fabric he had been wrapped into to Regina.

"When we came out of the Three Broomsticks, it happened, but I am not sure what exactly happened. Harry, do you know?"

Harry relaxed under Regina's soft touch. 'I could sense Lucius Malfoy nearby, but before I could see where he was, I saw and felt the killing curse head towards Lucy. So, I transformed and jumped in front of her. As a phoenix, I did not die. I'm so cold though.'

"My poor child," Regina cooed, before she called Cicero.

Teddy smiled, when his father arrived an instant later. Regina began to explain urgently. "Harry managed to become a baby phoenix. Could you perhaps ask Twinkle how he cares for Fawkes after a burning day? He must know what to do. Harry tells me he's cold."

"Of course." Cicero gave Teddy a questioning look, before he popped away without further ado.