Severus grumbled as he woke up from yet another nightmare of Harry falling to one of the many numerous things that had attempted to kill him during his time at Hogwarts.
"Why couldn't the imp have thought to summon a trained wizard instead of his bloody broom when dealing with the blasted Horntail?!" Severus muttered to himself as he got up only long enough to fetch a glass of water. He knew why. The Accio spell that Harry had used was dangerous to try and use on living things except, perhaps, for plants... maybe. Then too Harry had been told he wasn't allowed to have any adult help without risking the loss of his magic.
Severus shuddered at the thought of his imp trying to face any of the tasks without magic as some idiot would have been bound to do had Harry's magic been claimed by the Goblet of Fire. Still trying to recover from finally understanding the danger his son had faced every year he returned to the oversized bed where he happily cuddled up close to his imp of a son. He was only able to fall back asleep because Harry was alive and practically in his arms.
"~He doesn't hate my Harry-hatchling,~" Hedwig hissed. She was carefully staying still in her dragon form so that she could swap back to her small kitten-Nundu form once the midnight discussion was done without waking her Harry.
"~No, he doesn't. The old goat forced him into swearing to protect the imp on his very life even knowing the imp's birth sire used to torture him,~" Nagini explained from her place on the warm stones. "~Even when our Severus thought he hated our youngest speaker he was ready to die for our Harry-imp. Whatever they saw when they were away and found you has made them more protective of our Harry-imp.~"
"~They watched many of the memories of when my Harry-hatchling was hurt at Hogwarts, things that he shared with no one but me or those who were also there,~" Hedwig explained simply. "~Harry refused to tell them of the harm during the warm months that I will not let him go back to.~"
Nagini hissed in displeasure as the earlier conversation made a great deal of more sense. She had guessed at much of the answers she now possessed but it didn't make the confirmation any more pleasant. After a long moment of silence the pair returned to their own rest. Voldemort lay awake thinking on everything until his eyes forced themselves closed and he returned to sleep just as dawn began to break, touching the sky outside with pink.
*+ovo+*
An odd group of a Vampire, a Veela, a Goblin, and a Dwarf gathered together in a pub down Knockturn Alley. The richness of their attire brought them only an extra glance or two as they all ordered strong drinks with the casual command to keep them coming.
"The young mage saved us all," the Veela started without preamble after their server was gone.
"The Wild Hunt has already been enlisted to go after those who have wronged him," the Goblin told them with an evil chuckle. "The muggles, at the very least, will not escape harming him. Dumbledore is increasingly implicated as the insane thief and puppeteer with the young Dark Lord as one of his other victims. I can say no more on the matter."
"Tell me, goblin, when did he become one of yours? A part of your people?" the Vampire asked shrewdly.
"As soon as he was adopted by Master Snape he was entered into the rolls of my people's children. His ancestors held the title of goblin friend but his first sire nearly lost it for all of his kin," the goblin answered with another evil chuckle. The Nation wanted no mistakes among the creatures and magical beings. The small powerful family was theirs! "I will, however, admit that most don't check the registry and that I only became aware of his changed status after the public announcement of Master Snape on the matter at the viewing. Regardless the order had already gone out. We have had permission to go to war over him since the hunt was called."
"This, I feel, is one of those times where we need to teach a young warrior together and claim him as both Goblin and Dwarf," the Dwarf offered up with a grunt of interest. "I have not yet spoken to my people but I feel that he will insist on it. As a warning, I do not think that the various rulers who will suddenly take an interest in him will be happy that he is restricted to a mortal span of years."
"Turning him wont work, not with that venom and those tears in his blood," the Vampire pointed out pre-emptively. "By now those ingredients are bonded to his blood and will likely carry on down to any children. Its something that will have to be watched for and may kill any spouse he takes."
"As if any of our leaders would accept a half-life for him!" the Veela spat indignantly.
"I only mention it to take it off the table," the Vampire said pointedly as he took a sip of his expensive whiskey laced AB+ blood.
"Technically, the Dark Lord could be considered temporarily immune to staying dead but the method is... damaging. Its one of the reasons why he needs our healers," the Goblin added carefully, staring purposefully into his drink and talking to the liquid rather than his table mates. "As to the potential for the venom and tears carrying to his offspring even if it requires the sacrifice of the mother... there is more than one family which would make the offer. Thankfully, unless he actually arranges for it, only his children will be considered as part of our Nation, not his spouse or in-laws. The wizards wont be able to keep the children."
"Considering how they treated him? I think that is a very good thing!" the Veela huffed, scowling into her drink.
"Why hasn't the Phoenix he boasts of for his familiar rescued Dumbledore yet?" the Dwarf asked abruptly.
The table shared a groan as they realized they were going to have to deal with the insane powerful wizard running around and making a mess. They had just gotten the Dark Lord under nominal control and now they were going to have practically the same problem with the self-proclaimed Light Lord!
"From those memories he is obsessed with forcing the little mage into fighting and dying on his command against the Dark Lord," the Vampire growled. "Possibly, assuming young Harry survives against all odds, the goat will force him into being his personal warrior and assassin against anything he deems unacceptable. A fate we can not allow to befall the young mage."
"If he knows how the two are linked then his focus is not unexpected," the Goblin snorted derisively. "The obsession bit will have to be checked for the Dark Lord but his unhealthy interest in our young warrior is noted and very concerning to us."
"Legally, Dumbledore can't claim any of the three or their probable future family members," the Vampire mused thoughtfully as his mind snagged on something in the back of his skull. "That leaves trickery, illegal means, and force... I think we may need to establish a multi-faction magical claim on them. We should then possibly start their training in something from each of those who magically claim them as a part of their people. The claims will have to be ratified by our leaders if only to avoid it causing problems later and officially agreeing that these three and their families will be shared as equal members of the involved people. Anyone sent to them for training will either need guards themselves or have the ability to act as guards."
"It wont be enough if the bastard uses the Phoenix," the Veela pointed out. "I also now wonder if the Phoenix is with him willingly or forced to his service."
"No, it wont," the Vampire agreed. "But it might make him pause. We can investigate the Phoenix later and young Harry's own familiar might aid us in checking that."
"Are there any outstanding arranged marriages for any of the three?" the Dwarf asked with a thoughtful frown.
"I would have to check but I will bring the question to my superiors and the warning on Dumbledore," the Goblin told them. A swallow of his acid green drink had the small spatter on the table steaming and eating a bit at the wood. The group generally finished off their first round and signaled for another round. They waited for their new drinks before starting back up again.
"The land and stone stirred briefly when the young warrior entered the chamber for us to view his memories," the Dwarf commented absently, causing his table mates to choke briefly on their own drinks.
"Anansi, the spider of Africa was up near the ceiling the entire time. He watched young Harry closely. It was my understanding that he had arrived to look in on the mage as spiders are normally fond of him for some reason and Anansi wanted to see that he was alright. Apparently, his last brief check was only to see why the spiders near him liked our young mage so much," the Veela offered quietly. There was a certain amount of animosity between the Veela, who were of birds and fire, and those of Anansi's domain. This wasn't really a surprise as many spiders tend to be eaten by birds.
"I am so glad he refused to claim the Acromantula when that fool of a witch bred them," the Goblin sneered as red warning flags went off in his brain.
Anansi was fairly powerful and remembered widely on both sides of the Statute of secrecy. There were rumors that, like the Greek Gods and Greek Titans, he boasted the blood of fallen angels in his heritage. Anansi was, to those who believed in the fallen angelic bloodline, thought to be fully half fallen angel.
"If Anansi is interested then we can not afford to loose track of the situation and failure to act may doom us all. Yet he is still better than that blasted Coyote!" the Dwarf snarled. Mentally cursing the trickster spider and story teller even as he shivered at the thought of the trickster foxes of Japan and trickster coyote joining forces with the already present spider.
"I will send a message reminding them of the Phoenix but I doubt they will be willing to relocate so that we may offer aid," the Goblin pointed out with a shrug. "Anything more will require authorization... as I suspect is the case with all of you as well. There was a round of grumbled agreement as they finished their second drinks and signaled for their third.
"See if you can arrange another meeting with the three will you? I don't think the golden goblet and bottle or two of 2019 Copperplate Whiskey riding on this mess is going to be enough. I'll bet you a bottle of Fireshroom Vodka that by the end of the week our leaders are going to be scrambling to figure out what in all the fiery depths is going on while keeping that lad safe," the Dwarf offered, just as their third round arrived.
"No bet," the Veela snorted. "That boy is a trouble magnet and his magic has clearly learned to warp luck ultimately in his favor. The more powerful he becomes the more likely Magic its self will demand he handle something... and we will need to follow his lead. No, its best if we prepare him for it and hope that he is simply an Avatar that only needs to live peacefully."
"That is assuming he reaches that particular level of magical power," the Vampire corrected. "No, even if he isn't an Avatar or tasked with something important if his magic rises much above Mage... well lets hope the only problem happens to be the mundane humans. It would be bad if we needed to fight them but at least we know they are there and their rough capabilities are simple enough to read up on by purchasing a book or two from their stores. If, on the other hand the threat is something still unknown..."
"Agreed," the Dwarf grumbled. "Let us make certain that those he claims to his family have every skill they wish to be taught and then some in those we offer them as links to our peoples. After they pass any citizenship requirements we should quietly pass around their placement. No need to tell the idiot wizards that they have access to a few extra resources and safe havens."
There was a murmured agreement. Talk shifted to something lighter as they finished up their night in the pub. Rumors sprouted after they left that the Dark Lord had impressed the Vampires, Veela, Goblins, and Dwarves while finding a mage. By dawn the entire underbelly knew that the Dark Lord was on the rise but using something different this time and was probably hunting the Mage for either capture or to convince him to join the Dark Faction. Rumors that would spread to the ears of the Order of the Phoenix and the ears of a certain insane old man.
*+ovo+*
*+ovo+*
A/n: I have the starter ideas for the next two chapters but its going to finally be dealing with things away from our boys just as most of this chapter did. I have been asked to rehabilitate Sirius and Remus so I am giving you all fair warning now that it isn't likely to happen. Sirius is too broken and Remus hates himself too much if I am being generous. I just can't work with that without it hurting me and I don't have someone to cuddle to make it better. I might be persuaded to rescue some of the Weasleys but not Ron or Ginny and Hermione is out too unless the muse latches onto a fantastic idea that she just wont drop.
I didn't start this fic as some grand ambition but it looks like it wants to turn into a monster length fic. Hopefully it wont insist on becoming and epic of more that 300k words but when the muse latches on all bets are off even when my health interferes with the actual writing. Enjoy the ride!