In the last chapter: Harry finds Sirius after the trial and they sign the last bit of paperwork that officiates Sirius becoming his guardian. Sirius and Harry go to Grimmauld Place where Harry meets the Black house elf Kreacher, who does not seem to like him very much. Sirius promises to see a mind-healer and Harry asks him to teach him the Animagus transformation.
A full week after Sirius and Harry moved into Grimmauld Place saw to an unexpected visitor ringing their doorbell at one in the afternoon.
Harry hadn't done much of anything since he and Sirius had gone and picked up a few Mandrake Leaves from a potions shop. Unfortunately, Sirius had been completely honest about the Mandrake Leaves.
The leaf Harry chose was the size of a galleon and sat on his tongue for several hours before he gave in to his worry about accidentally piercing the leaf with his teeth and instead rolled the leaf up carefully and placed it under his tongue. It was far safer for the leaf, but it also made speaking nearly impossible, though eating and drinking were easier.
The leaf didn't taste like much of anything, just a slight earthy tang that lightly coated his mouth after some time. The Mandrake Leaf wouldn't wilt or rot, as the magical properties of the plant prevented any sort of decay after the leaf was severed from the rest of the plant. Luckily, Harry wouldn't have to worry about that! Otherwise he probably wouldn't have the will to go through with it.
The lack of speech meant that Harry kept both of his eager friends from visiting them, knowing that the ridiculous pair would have a field day with the situation. Harry doubted he could avoid them for a full month, but one can only hope.
However, the lack of speech didn't mean that Harry would go completely uncommunicative during the long month ahead of him. So, after only two days of silence, Harry broke and sought a spell that would allow him to communicate. Thankfully, it only took an afternoon of searching to find a fitting spell in an old book from the Black library—which Harry had already started combing through.
Flagrate, a spell the ignited trails of fiery red/orange marks in the air left by the tip of a wand. With a bit of experimentation—and help from his friend—Harry was able to perform the spell wandlessly, the words appearing in the air quickly and efficiently. Harry used the spell rather sparingly, his first time using it in actual application was to tell Sirius to 'shut it' after the older wizard had been using the last two hours taking advantage of Harry's guaranteed silence to blather on about either Quidditch or how 'adorable' Harry was when he pouted. Harry had made quite a few disbelieving and indignant noises before flashing the bright words before Sirius' face.
Harry soon came too loath the words 'adorable,' 'cute,' and 'precious.'
As promised, Sirius attended his first session with the mind-healer two days after they moved in. Harry had seen him off at the floo, since Harry couldn't go with him, ushering out the nervous and fidgety man with reassuring and encouraging words. By the time Sirius returned, though, he looked haggard and a little pale. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes and his shoulders were drooping as he moved through the house. The second session went much the same.
Harry barely saw Kreacher during that time. He assumed that Sirius had already demanded the unbreakable vow from the elf, since Sirius seemed completely at ease in the house after the first few days. When Harry did see the elf, it was all venomous glares and curled lips.
Before the resounding thrum of the metal knocker rang through the house, Harry had a few moments warning as the wards were tripped. Harry had been lounging in the library when it happened. It was a strange sensation, a deep vibration in his bones and a low pulse in his ears for just a moment. The only other person to approach their home had been Sirius, and since he was the lord of the house and line, the wards parted like nothing for him, resulting in no sensations at all!
Harry's curiosity brought him to the front door a second after Sirius. Crossing his arms and leaning against the wall as he hung back from the door by a meter or so, Harry watched his Godfather pull open the door and freeze.
At first, he felt alarm at Sirius' reaction, not able to see who was at the door from that angle. Two beats later, though, Sirius spoke and Harry's alarm shifted back to curiosity.
"Remus." He breathed, like the name had been unwittingly carried out on his breath.
'Ah, so this is the last surviving Marauder.' Death curiously intoned, and Harry suddenly wished he could elbow his friend for his lack in subtly, even if Harry was the only one who would ever hear it.
'How is it that such a blunt creature is responsible for guiding the deceased into the afterlife?' Harry projected, internally scolding his companion. Harry felt an indignant brush of cold air wash over his shoulders in response.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Harry silently approached the door way and took in the man standing opposite Sirius. Honey colored hair, tired yet warm amber eyes, and a slash of rosette scars across his face. Remus Lupin looked nothing like Harry had suspected. He looked kind and gentle, like he belonged more in the setting of nurturing young children and infants rather than running through the woods and hunting down prey. Though, Harry wasn't one to talk, he knew all too well that looks could be deceiving.
Harry stayed in the shadows of the doorway as he observed the two in front of him. Remus cleared his throat and broke the silence.
"I heard about the trial, I'd tried to get in to see it myself, but they wouldn't let someone like me in." Remus fidgeted sheepishly, avoiding Sirius' gaze as he spoke. After a long pause, Remus finally lifted his gaze, his expression somber.
"I'm so sorry Sirius. I know that sorry isn't enough and I wish there was a better word for what I felt. I shouldn't have believed them when they said you betrayed Lily and James, or that you did those horrible things to those muggles. But I thought you were the Secret Keeper and-and I didn't know what else to think!" By now Remus had begun to break down, voice trembling and pleading and he looked like he was in so much pain.
Sirius looked like he didn't know what to do, still frozen in the doorway, but when Remus choked out the first sob, Sirius looked like he was in pain himself. Harry put a hand on Sirius' back and gave him a good shove towards his friend. Taking the hint, Sirius wrapped his arms around the broken man in their doorway and tried to sooth him. Remus clung to the fabric of Sirius' robes like he expected Sirius to try to shove him away or something.
Remus had his face buried in Sirius' shoulder, whispering 'I'm sorry' over and over again in between harsh breaths and sobs, so he didn't notice Sirius pulling him a bit further into the house, and Harry coming around to close the door behind them. When Remus calmed down enough, Sirius led him away so that they could talk more in private.
While they sorted themselves out, Harry went to the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea before returning to the library. It was nearly a half an hour before Sirius came up with Remus trailing behind him so that he could be introduced to the other marauder. Aside from a slight irritated redness ringing his eyes, there were no other signs that the werewolf had been in such disarray a short time previous.
Harry put down his book and stood when the two entered, offering a polite smile to the other man. Remus seemed to be frozen, the same haunted glaze in his eyes as when Harry first stood before Sirius. He knew what it was; they were seeing the echo of the friend they grew up with in Harry's features, and perhaps feeling the residual loss that comes with the memories.
Harry ignored the reaction respectfully and opted to holding out his hand for the other man to shake. Although he'd gone out of his way to learn as much about Sirius as he could before the trial—and even before meeting him—Harry knew very little about the man before him. Which meant he would remain cautious until he knew more.
It seems that ten years apart and a rift in their friendship hadn't been enough for Sirius to hold the same caution for his friend.
"Harry, this is Remus Lupin, a good friend of mine and your dad's. He'll be moving in with us." Sirius beamed and didn't seem to even notice the deprecating look Remus shot him, as if that matter was still up for debate.
Harry was glad for the leaf in his mouth, it allowed him to hide his shock quick enough before anyone saw it. He could hear the soft resonating laughter of his companion at his current situation. Harry's eye twitched with irritation as he blocked out the disembodied chuckle from over his shoulder.
"Hello Harry, it's an absolute pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Remus' voice was as gentle as the rest of his appearance, as unintimidating as Quirrell's—though not nearly as awkward, stilted, and trembling. Everything about Remus Lupin seemed to exude calmness.
'Quite the paradox, we have here.' Harry thought as he discreetly studied the man now that he was composed and actually knew Harry was there.
Harry smiled at Remus lightly, watched the confusion bloom in his amber eyes after several silent moments before he turned to look at Sirius for answers.
"Ah! I've nearly forgotten. Harry is currently training to achieve the Animagus transformation." Sirius' eyes gleamed proudly along with a warm smile that pulled at his mouth. "He's only about a week into the Mandrake Leaf." Sirius explained, knowing that Remus would understand the significance. Harry didn't try to use Flagrate in front of Lupin, not sure if the man could be trusted yet.
"Brilliant!" Remus responded in surprise, looking down at Harry with mild reverence in his eyes as he seemed to reassess the young Hogwarts student before him. "That is quite impressive, Harry. That kind of magic isn't even mentioned until your third year at Hogwarts. I heard that you're in Ravenclaw, must have quite a mind to be placed in that house. Though, I'm not surprised, Lily always gave all of the Ravenclaws a run for their money when it came to academics. Beyond that, I know that this transformation takes quite a bit of power, are you sure you're up for that so young?" Remus sounded concerned rather than condescending, so Harry didn't let any of the irritation leak into his expression.
Sirius huffed, garnering the attention of his friend once more.
"You have no idea, Remus! Already mastered wandless magic, that he has. I mean, I know that James and Lils were certainly not lacking in the magic department, but to be so powerful so young, it's bril! I'm telling you, if anyone could do it at his age, it'd be Harry." Sirius all but preened, the embodiment of what Harry suspected a dotting and proud parent to be.
The idea was a bit of a shock to Harry. Sure, Harry was already quite fond of Sirius and looked forward to their time together. But Harry always only saw Sirius as a guardian, an adult keeper until he reached legal age, and a friend of his late parents. Never had the weighty title of 'parent' ever crossed Harry's mind, not even jokingly, and frankly, it felt way too soon anything close to that. The sheer immensity of the word made Harry uncomfortable and forced him to shove it into the very back of his mind to reassess at a much later date.
Well, there goes any notion of keeping my talents a secret for a while. Harry grudged with only mild inconvenience.
"An exaggeration, I assure you." Harry watched as the burning words formed in the air. His intention wasn't to show off his abilities, but Harry knew that if he didn't stop Sirius now, the man would run away with his tales and start ridiculous stories about things Harry's never done. In his presence, at least.
After the initial introductions, Remus Lupin seemed to slot into their lives like he'd been there though whole time. It didn't take long to see that his presence was a soothing balm to Sirius' chaffed mentality and naturally picked up the emotional and comforting slack that Harry left, having no experience with those particular matters.
It didn't take long for Remus to grow on Harry as well. Harry felt himself constantly surprised with the number of people flooding into his life and settling themselves in for the long haul like there was no other place they'd rather be.
Not even a few days after Remus had moved in, Death had decided that vacation was over and lessons had begun. With the heavy wards adult magic users in the house, Harry was able to actually practice his magic quite freely. This time, his companion didn't hold back anything and taught Harry everything from harmless hexes that could be turned into far more serious curses later on, to all of the basic and moderate forms of defensive magic.
It was a struggle getting around the lack of verbal incantation, but Death reasoned that he will need to be able to cast them silently anyways and that he 'shouldn't crawl when he was already on his feet and capable of running.' So the spells became more challenging and once he'd cemented the fundamentals, Death pushed Harry to follow the ridged rules of the spells much less.
He believed that every spell had a spectrum of its own and that they were more nebulous than definite. It meant that every spell could have hundreds-to-thousands of different outcomes based on the flexibility and competence of the caster. The concept was still in its infantry for Harry, but he understood the concept and was having more and more success as time went on.
Harry only held out for another week before he caved and allowed his two very pushy and nosy friends over to visit him. They of course found out what he was doing with the leaf in his mouth and aside from a bit of initial teasing for not being able to speak, they were both immediately accepting of what he was doing.
During their visit, Harry sat quietly and listened to them excitedly recite the happenings of their summer. Occasionally Harry would use the Flagrate spell to input something or answer one of their questions. Otherwise he just sipped his tea, nodding and using expressions to communicate to the others. Draco had been jealous of his use of wandless magic, but the blonde was easily appeased by a bit of praising from Harry and Anthony on his summer adventures.
Seeing his first two Hogwarts friends had brought thoughts of Hermione to the forefront of his mind. They wrote to each other weekly, as Harry had with Draco and Anthony, but she hadn't visited and Harry hadn't invited her. He considered her a friend, sure, but Harry still didn't fully trust the eager bushy-haired Ravenclaw.
Everything was still too new.
His relationship with the ex-Azkaban prisoner and his werewolf buddy, his transition from muggle-world to wizarding-world, his blooming friendship with a Slytherin and fellow Ravenclaw—both coming from families with a history of dark or muddled-grey magic, his rather precious secret companion, and immortality.
There were many reasons to hold Hermione Granger at an arms-length—as well as the others for that matter. One of those reasons being that many of the people orbiting him had ties to the dark even if they didn't claim so for themselves, and considering his chosen path, Harry would continue to be surrounded by shady and blatantly dark characters. With Hermione, it was too much of an unknown element. He would first have to know how open she'd be to positions other than the light.
It was very touch-and-go with muggleborns and even a few half-bloods, since muggleborns aren't born into this world, they are brought in and fed biases from the moment they enter. Harry would have been too, had he not met his companion.
So, until Harry knew she would be open to that particular part of their world, he would wait to bring her completely into the fray. Otherwise he would need time to deconstruct certain fallacies. Harry was playing a very dangerous game and at that point, he couldn't allow anyone to see his hand before he made his first move.
Speaking of, Harry often asked Death about the Horcruxes and when they'd start actually looking for them. Every time he asked, his companion headed him off with vague answers of 'not ready yet' and 'soon' and 'just a few more things to learn.' It was frustrating to say the least but, grudgingly, Harry understood why. Harry's arsenal of spells was still mediocre compared to the average upperclassmen or Hogwarts graduate, and neither of those could ever hope to find Voldemort's six Horcruxes—minus the one unobtainable, leaving five to find.
Harry would need to be able to disguise himself quickly (animagus) and apparate (which he could learn later on in his second year) and Harry would need to master certain spells wandlessly before he dove in and encountered Voldemort's protections, or possibly even Voldemort himself. Besides, as loathsome as he was to admit it, Harry was still only eleven-going on twelve and a year or two can make all the difference in spell casting.
He would just have to be patient, work hard, and keep as low of a profile as possible.
About a week before Harry's twelfth birthday, his initial Animagus training finally came to an end.
Harry had been relaxing on a large maroon couch in the Black Library, reading about the magical properties of mud formed under different moon phases at the base of a willow tree. Without any sort of warning or preamble, the Mandrake Leaf shot out of Harry's mouth, leaving a sting of spit on his chin, and unraveled. The leaf glowed faintly for a moment, as if there was a light shining behind it, or within it, and then it dimmed as it slowly drifted down to lie delicately on the cushion before him.
Wiping his chin quickly on his sleeve, Harry reached out and picked up the leaf between his two fingers, studying the same leaf that's been stored under his tongue for a whole month.
With a start, Harry realized that it had been a whole month! That he'd completely his training/meditation or whatever it was that he was doing.
Harry hurried to find his guardian, leaf clutched firmly but gently in his fist as he moved quickly through the halls. He found Sirius and Remus in the kitchen, Remus stirring something with a savory smell and Sirius leaning back against the counter next to him, smiling at Remus fondly.
"I did it!" Harry announced, his voice a little scratchy from disuse. The pair turned to Harry in surprise, immediately sighting the intact leaf in Harry's hand.
Sirius nearly pulled Harry right off of his feet and swung him around when he hugged him, squeezing him till his shoulders and ribs ached, but Harry didn't utter a word. Harry felt a warm hand soothing over his hair and knew that Remus was right there as well. With his head buried in Sirius's chest, Harry allowed himself to smile true and bright as contentment flooded his body.
He felt warm. He felt home.
It was as he was lying in bed later that night, reveling in the prospects of really training for the transformation and still basking in the intoxicating simplicity of home life that Harry felt it. The low hum of his soul, droning on like a tuning fork that never ceased it's call. Curling up on his side, he pressed both hands to the center of his chest and listened.
It was like listening to the mournful notes of a siren's call. It was seeking, yearning, pleading.
Something was missing. And Harry, staring unseeingly into the shapeless black of his room, hoped desperately that he hadn't already lost it for good, that perhaps this is the true price of his gifts.
I just hope that it isn't too late. . .
Harry's twelfth birthday came and went. The celebration had been small—per Harry's demands—and Harry made sure that Sirius didn't try surprising him in any sort of ridiculous way. He tried! But Harry used his companion's ability to observe a multitude of things at once to his advantage and nip every attempt in the bud. Harry didn't like surprises, especially not when he was working on his wandless magic all summer and would likely hurt someone accidentally if they tried to scare or surprise him.
The only people in attendance were the Goldstein's, the Grangers, and the Malfoys. The first two had got on great with Remus and Sirius, though Hermione's parents seemed tense in such a magic-saturated ancestral home—dark magic or not, so many layers would make any muggle uncomfortable.
The Malfoys, on the other hand, were another story. Sirius had downright refused to allow them—especially Lucius—into his home. Remus had tried to politely persuade Harry into not inviting them, but Harry put his foot down with both Marauders. He had to remind them both several times over that Harry had stayed with the Malfoys for a week before the trial and had been nothing but gracious hosts to Harry. Harry didn't mention his little 'pact' with Narcissa for obvious reasons, but otherwise what he said was completely true.
A few days after the party that was more or less a hit, Harry received a letter from the Ministry, informing him that a trial had taken place for Peter Pettigrew and that he'd been found guilty. The man had been given a life sentence and in a year, would have another hearing to decide whether he would receive the Dementors Kiss or not. Aside from being put off about not being informed of the trial before-hand, Harry was pleased with the outcome.
Apparently the scandal with Sirius had been enough for the Ministry the first time around, so they kept all mentions of Peter out of the paper and kept it a closed trial. Harry didn't even want to know how much they had to pay Rita Skeeter to keep Pettigrew's name out of her articles!
Sirius continued to go to every single mind-healer appointment as scheduled. Remus always dropped him off. Then he'd come back to Grimmauld to spend time with Harry, such as: play chess, scour Sirius's personal stash of books full of pranking spells and hexes, cook, garden, and just sit and talk. Harry supposed it was considered special bonding time with the other resident of the house. Not that he would complain, he quite enjoyed the werewolf's company.
Sirius was improving. It was a very slow process, and occasionally he had setbacks, but there was certainly some measure of progression over the summer. Harry just tried his best to be supportive and a source of encouragement, but he knew he wasn't even remotely adequate, which made him ever the more grateful that Remus was around.
As for his Animagus transformation, after the Mandrake Leaf it really just came down to practicing the magic that came with the actual transformation. After the first few lessons, Sirius left Harry to carry on with the process on his own, since there really wasn't anything more he could do for Harry.
The reason that it took most witches and wizards over a year to achieve it, though, is that the transformation was a form of wandless magic and most adults didn't know how to do wandless magic while children had too little training and power to do the transformation.
With how long Harry's been practicing wandless magic, it shouldn't take him long at all to achieve his animal form.
And it didn't. . .
It was nearing the end of August. Harry, Sirius, and Remus were all anxious for the beginning of the school year, though Harry was more on the end of excitement while the other two were nervous and reluctant. Harry still had yet to go to Diagon Alley to buy his school supplies and hadn't even touched his trunk at the end of his bed.
Harry found early on that he had much more success drawing up the required magic for the transformation when he was meditating and in solitude, preferably someplace warm with sunlight. So there Harry sat, legs crossed, sat on the smooth wooden floor of his bedroom, the wood beneath him warmed to the touch by the strong beams of sunlight streaming through the window on a rare day of a cloudless sky in the rainy country.
Harry's eyes were closed, orange and pink light filtering through his shut lids. His back was postured straight, but relaxed, breaths coming in slow and easy. His hands cupped loosely over his knees and skin warming in the light.
As Harry sat there, he concentrated on the thought of physical form being more fluid than ridged in the presence of magic. He slowly coaxed his magic out from his center, letting it wisp out around him and move through him as if he weren't even there. Goose bumps rose on Harry's arms despite the warmth of the sun and his clothes.
With his mind, Harry asked it again and again for 'disguise, transformation, and freedom' the three things that are fulfilled by the transformation. His magic has to believe that not only is he ready, but that he truly wants it.
After almost half an hour of holding onto the magic swirling around him and chanting that mantra again and again in his head, Harry took a deep breath and prepared himself to once again attempt the transformation.
Stilling his magic's lazy circulation around him, Harry waited for only a moment—enough to gather his thoughts and prepare himself—before he gripped his magic tight and jerked hard on his magic. It converged on Harry all at once and usually the magic just dissipated, unused and restless, but this time, it felt as if something reached right into his core and plucked it like the string of a harp.
Harry shuddered violently at the sensation and it felt like everything inside him was twisting, tugging, and moving. Harry's skin tugged uncomfortably in some places and slackened in others before being pulled taunt again. As Harry fell to the floor, he couldn't help but feel grateful that the transformation wasn't painful, just strange and a bit unpleasant, but Sirius had said that the first time would be the worst and after that it would be as easy as breathing.
The first thing that Harry noticed when he settled into his Animagus form was that he no longer had any arms or legs. At first Harry thought that something had gone wrong during the transformation, but when he started to move around and turned his head around to look at his body, he was immediately relived to find that it had gone fine, Harry was just a snake.
As Harry coiled up to study his new appearance, he was struck with the sight of his scales in the sunlight. What had seemed black at first glance, was actually much closer to oil slick. In the light, a gleaming rainbow of colors appeared on his scales, with the base color still black. Harry's belly was a shiny cream color with thin stripes only two scales wide slicing up his sides like ribs, though each stripe was about half a foot apart.
Based on his size and length in comparison to the objects around him, he estimated to being around 7-8 feet long and about as thick as an adult's upper-arm. Which was surprising, seeing as how Harry was only 12 and his Animagus form would grow with him.
Harry reveled in his success with the transformation and curling up in direct sunlight was nearly euphoric in his new form, the heat of the light warming his body easily.
Being a snake took a little getting used to, moving and getting from place to place took a bit of practice. Also, the form was quite surprising, though Harry supposed that he was just as likely to be placed in Slytherin as Ravenclaw, but the fact that Animagus forms reflected the person within and that he turned out to be a snake was intriguing.
Before he shared the news with Sirius and Remus, Harry decided to do a little researching to figure out exactly what kind of snake he was. Harry was a bit nervous about trying to explain away the connotations that came along with that particular form to the two Gryffindors, but it was not something he could change and he saw no logical reason to be ashamed of it.
It took an entire day of digging through the Black library to find what he was looking for. Harry doubted that information on normal animals would ever be found in the Black's extensive library on all sorts of magical matters unless for potion ingredients, but Harry had a feeling that his snake form was not simply a normal snake—besides the part about the snake actually being a wizard in disguise.
Eventually, Harry found a book with published studies about magical snakes. There was a seven-part series with different types of magical animals, but Harry ignored those. The book wasn't very thick, but the pages were cut very thin and the hand-written script was small, cramped, and hard to read. Halfway through the book, Harry finally found a snake that sounded the closest to what he was.
The Boelen Python Ostium is a close cousin to the Boelen Python, this particular species is extremely rare and has several magical properties. Unlike it's cousin, the Boelen Python Ostium has venom potent enough to kill several adults with only a single drop, potency rivaled only by the Basilisk and several other magical snakes. Pythons are typically constrictors and nonvenomous, but this snake uses both—constriction for prey, and venom for protection against predators. The average adult measures to be roughly fifteen feet in length and can weigh around 200 pounds, though females tend to be a bit larger. This snake is considered endangered due to poaching for potion ingredients and is tremendously dangerous. Do not approach.
Harry closed the book with a thoughtful hum. There was more on that species, including a physical description, various potion uses, behaviors, habitats, and a short list of magical properties. Harry brought the book back to his room to read more extensively later.
His companion seemed quite pleased with the outcome.
'The Boelen Python Ostium, what an amazing creature. Beautiful and deadly. How fitting.' Death mused, causing Harry to roll his eyes in indignation.
Don't be ridiculous! Now that I've learned this form, I can move on to more challenging spells and eventually apparation. Then I will just need to figure out a way to get the stone to Voldemort and gather all of his Horcruxes before he tries to recover his body. Harry projected, thinking through the skeletal plan they had formed at that point.
'Exactly. Now, go tell those two lions about the new snake in the family. Also, you'll be wanting to go shopping for your supplies tomorrow.' Death didn't elaborate and Harry didn't ask. He knew he wouldn't get a straight-forward answer, but something about tomorrow must have been significant enough for his companion to mention it. Harry just hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn't drag him into anything unnecessary.
