I AM ALIVE!
Literal YEARS after I last updated anything on this site, I am BACK. Basically, adult life is hard and certain people in my life were utter rubbish.
So, for any old hands who have been waiting for this, welcome back. And as for new readers, welcome.
I hope everyone's doing okay, what with all this craziness in the world right now.
For any old hands who have been waiting for this, welcome back.
And as for new readers, welcome.
Also... HAPPY BACK TO HOGWARTS DAY!
"So... Scarlet Fox," Trixx sat atop Harry's pillow while he paced up and down his room that night, unable to sleep. "We have a lot to discuss."
"Well, we'll have all bloody night to do it. I'm still too worked up to sleep." Harry increased the speed of his pacing, as if he was doing his best to wear a hole in the floor.
"First of all, how do you feel?" Trixx asked. "Physically and mentally. That was your first major fight, after all."
"I don't really know what to feel," said Harry. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't been out, Madam Bones and Susan would have died. It was just a matter of luck!"
"Or was it?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at the Kwami.
"It was meant to be!" Trixx exclaimed. "You weren't just there for nothing. Fate decided to give you a helping hand!"
"Really? I wish Fate would have helped me out with other aspects of my life…" Harry muttered.
"I'm serious!" Trixx insisted. "You were there because you were meant to be!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Coincidence or not, it doesn't matter. The facts in this situation are that you were there to help when needed." Trixx said. "That is what matters here."
Harry finally calmed down and flopped onto his bed.
"I got lucky today. I can't be everywhere. I can't save everyone. What happens when I go back to school?" he frowned.
"No one said you had to save everyone. In fact, not everyone can be saved. It is a simple fact of life," Trixx spoke matter-of-factly. "as long as you have done your best, you cannot be faulted."
Harry started to speak, but his expression changed to one of indignance when the Kwami cut him off, holding a paw up to his lips to shush him.
"You listen to me, Harry James Potter! You are NOT responsible for anything this Voldemort monster has done, is doing or will do. You are not responsible for what his sympathisers allow. Neither are you responsible for what his Death Eaters do."
As he was about to try speaking again, Trixx glared at him.
"What did I just say?"
Harry wisely kept quiet.
"I thought so," Trixx looked smug. "Now that's over with. Let's talk shop. Your powers."
"What about them?"
"I must admit that I held back on some information about your powers, just to see how your magic might change things up!"
Trixx didn't look sorry in the slightest as he told Harry this.
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.
Information being held back from him never did him any good, but there was no reason to get upset before he heard the Kwami out.
"Like?" he asked calmly.
"Normally to activate the illusions, you would have to speak aloud the name of the Fox Miraculous' special power, formally called Mirage. Remember though, in your fight? You never actually spoke that word aloud? Therefore… congratulations, you can now perform wordless magic!" Trixx exclaimed.
Harry blinked.
"Technically I did, but if I were to use my wand and not a Miraculous, I don't think I could."
Trixx sighed. "Will you please stop getting down on yourself? You performed wordless magic without a thought in a high-pressure situation multiple times and it was with another magical object besides a wand! I bet when you get back to Hogwarts, you could practice with your wand and be a dual wielder!"
Harry imagined various situations where it could have come in handy in the past.
Quirrelmort…
The Basilisk/Tom Riddle…
The night he met Sirius…
The Graveyard…
The Ministry…
He grimaced.
"I… I see your point."
"Of course you do!" The Kwami looked especially smug. "Next up: your timer. It usually takes a while for a wielder to be able to use it and not time out five minutes after using your special power. As they get stronger, it translates to more transformed time, basically. I think magic also helped you with that. I am not sure if that will eventually work out to you having an unlimited timer though. Just that you have a longer one."
"I remember you telling me about that, yes." Harry nodded. "Thank goodness too. Secret identities don't matter here as much since Voldemort is already after me specifically, but I'd rather not have anyone know about you."
"Which, as long as you are careful will only happen on your terms. Master Fu is not normally a fan of revealing the fact that you have a Miraculous, but…" Trix paused. "I know that this goes against what I said before, but these are special circumstances. We're gonna scrap that secret identity rule! A trusted friend or two that can cover for you and help you train would be pretty dang useful!"
Harry didn't even have to think twice.
"Ron and Hermione, of course!"
Trixx shrugged. "You trust them with your life, so you can trust them with this. Do what you think is best in that matter."
Harry nodded. "Is that all you have to say?"
Trixx was about to speak again when Hedwig, who had been out hunting, came back, with another owl, a tawny one, behind her, the other having a letter tied to its leg.
Harry greeted Hedwig first and chuckled when she perched herself on top of the wardrobe, watching the other owl.
He untied the letter; quickly gave it a treat and watched as it took back off into the night.
"Dumbledore's handwriting," Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn't hesitate to open it.
"Well?" Trixx asked after another minute or so.
"He's coming to pick me up tomorrow. I'm supposed to accompany him on an errand and then he'll take me to The Burrow." Harry folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.
"A fine name for a house," Trixx smiled. "And on that note, I think you should get some rest. You've had a long day."
Harry suddenly found himself sleepy.
"You're right," he yawned. "It really has been a long day…"
The next night, Harry rushed around the room, haphazardly throwing things into his trunk and stuffing his rucksack.
"I can't bloody believe I forgot what time Dumbledore was coming!" Harry panicked as he threw some quills and old parchment into the trunk.
"Well," Trixx spoke between mouthfuls of crackers as he casually lay on Harry's pillow. "I did try to remind you of the time today…"
"While we were out in public amongst Muggles!" Harry snapped.
"Technicalities," Trixx waved him off, not bothered in the slightest. "You could have played it off as you having one of those mobile phone things I saw in the newspaper."
"I don't have a mobile phone!"
Trixx rolled his eyes. "Oh, you poor, naïve little child. How are you almost sixteen and do not know how to lie?"
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself, wondering for a split second if having the Fox Miraculous was worth all the lip its accompanying Kwami was giving him.
The doorbell rang, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Oh bloody hell, he's here!" Harry stopped short.
"I forgot to tell the Dursleys he was coming!"
At this revelation from his human, Trixx cackled.
"This is going to be great!" the Kwami rubbed his hands together in glee, before flying through the wall to go and see the ensuing confusion.
"Trixx, no!" Harry jumped over the trunk, which was in the way of the door and ran to the stairs, just in time to hear Dumbledore start speaking.
He sprinted down the stairs two at a time, stopping just low enough to see Dumbledore's frame in the doorway, the old wizard dressed much more tamely than he normally did.
The headmaster looked up and noticed Harry standing there and looked up at him with an approving expression. "Excellent, excellent."
Vernon, who had opened the door, looked at Dumbledore incredulously, clearly thinking that anyone who could refer to Harry as excellent was clearly someone he could never get along with.
A heavy silence ensued, only slightly interrupted by Petunia and Dudley, who stopped short when they realised who the visitor was.
Harry broke the silence finally as he followed Dumbledore through the hallway. "Sir, aren't we leaving?"
"Oh we shall, there are just a few matters we need to discuss first," Dumbledore spoke calmly as he made his way to the sitting room and settled himself into an armchair. "and I would prefer not to do so out into the open. We will stay here a bit longer to do so."
"You will, will you?" Vernon followed them into the sitting room and had seemingly finally managed to get back a bit of his courage.
"Yes," Dumbledore said simply. "We shall."
Harry heard a faint snicker somewhere behind him and when he turned to look, he saw a flash of Fox Kwami tail.
He sighed.
Dumbledore drew his wand from his pocket and as he did, Harry noticed that the hand was black and shrivelled, as though the flesh had been burnt away.
Dumbledore saw Harry looking and shook his head.
The sofa zoomed forward and knocked the Dursleys into it, then zoomed back into its original place.
Another flick of the wand conjured a dusty bottle and some glasses, which filled themselves from the bottle.
"Might as well make ourselves comfortable," Dumbledore replaced the wand and Harry wrenched his eyes away from the sight of the cursed-looking hand.
"Now, let's get down to the business at hand," the Headmaster paused. "Sirius' will."
"I like that Headmaster of yours!" Trixx cackled once Harry was back in his room, after having been allowed by Dumbledore to finish packing the few things he had left to pack.
Harry grinned. "Yes, that was bloody amazing seeing him put them in their place like that…"
He made sure that Hedwig was comfortable in her cage, then tucked the Miraculous jewellery box into his rucksack.
Rummaging around in his trunk, he pulled out a jacket with pockets on the inside and slid it on.
"Come on," Harry gestured to the inside of the jacket. "It's a bit chilly tonight, so I have an excuse to wear this."
Trixx flew into the jacket and made himself comfortable in one of the pockets.
Harry dragged all his cargo downstairs, where Dumbledore was waiting at the bottom.
The older wizard looked at it all and drew his wand again.
"You won't need to drag all these around with you. I shall go ahead and send them onto The Burrow. I would like you to bring your Invisibility Cloak though… just in case."
Harry pulled the Cloak out and quickly slid it inside, hoping that Dumbledore wouldn't spot Trixx.
Dumbledore waved his wand, making Harry's possessions and pet vanish.
"And now, we go off into the night," Dumbledore gestured for Harry to follow him as he opened the door and stepped out first.
"You alright?" Harry whispered inside his jacket as he and Dumbledore walked out into the cool night.
"Fine, for now," Trixx whispered. "How are we getting to where we're going, by the way?"
Harry was about to answer when he realised that Dumbledore had stopped abruptly.
"Since you haven't passed your Apparition test, I will have to take you myself," Dumbledore offered his left arm for Harry to take.
Harry glanced inside his jacket at Trixx and grimaced, mouthing: "Sorry!"
Trixx raised an eyebrow. "Whatever fo-"
The Kwami was cut off as he, Harry and Dumbledore twisted away, everything going dark.
A moment later and there was no sign of them on Privet Drive- or that they had even been there in the first place.
This is more of a bridge chapter than anything else, where we start to see a bit of Trixx's influence on Harry's personality, which will come out much more in further chapters, I can assure you.
Also, for those of you who use AO3, this story is up there as well. The link to my AO3 profile is on my profile here.
Here's hoping it doesn't take me another 3 years to update this...