Chapter Three – Identity Crisis
Ron, Ginny and Hermione all practically ran into Grimmauld Place after their shopping trip and ran straight into the Kitchen when several of the members of the Order, including Dumbledore, were still there chatting after a meeting having been held.
"Ron, Ginny, Hermione? What's wrong?" Molly Weasley asked her children, frowning in concern.
"There was this weird guy in Ollivander's. Ollivander seemed to know him and made him a customised wand." Ron said quickly. The other two nodded and then followed him to sit down around the table. The Order members looked at each other in confusion at why this made the children antsy.
"Having a custom made wand is unusual yes, but what about this that has made you all seem like you have just seen something terrifying?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling fully when he looked at them.
"Well I asked if we could watch the wand being made." Hermione said, looking at the other two briefly.
"The making of a wand is very personal. Were you allowed to watch?" Remus asked frowning slightly and wondering if whom they were talking about was whom he thought it was.
"Yes. We followed Ollivander, Smokey, that's what Ollivander called the stranger and Flees-"
"Who is Flees?"
"Oh! Flees is Smokey's familiar. The guy said that his full name is Mr Mistoffelees, and Hermione asked something about Gelly Cats or something. The cat acted all offended, but I don't think he ever told us what he was." Ron added contemplatively.
"Hang on a minute. A Gelly Cat? The cat spoke?" Bill asked, looking at his siblings and Hermione as though they were crazy.
"He means Gelical Cat, it's from a Muggle musical about cats. He isn't one but was named after one of the character's from it, which probably means that the stranger has interacted with Muggles at some point in his life, now that I come to think of it." Hermione added, frowning in thought.
"How did the cat speak to you?" Arthur Weasley asked, seeing that Hermione had gone off track once more.
"He changed into a Human! You should have seen it! It was amazing! He still had whiskers and cat ears and a tail, but he was more or less human!" Ginny exclaimed, talking for the first time since they had arrived.
"So this stranger has an Anthrofeline? Interesting. What about his wand. Did you manage to find anything out about him? I do not know the technique Ollivander uses to create customised wands I am afraid." Dumbledore admitted, getting small looks of shock from the three teens.
"Oh yes. That is what we needed to tell you. Ollivander asked Smokey to sit down and answer questions that were asked, whilst looking at us warily. He whispered something to Smokey then and then started with the questions." Ron said, paling at the memory.
"The questions were pretty standard really, but it was the answers that scared us. This 'Smokey' character is the Demonic 'Lost Heir'! He's the grandson of Satan!" Ginny said shrilly, reminding many of the people there of Molly.
"What! Lucifer's bloodline lives on! How! I thought it had ended with Grindelwald!" Remus yelled, commending himself deep down for his acting.
"So had I. Unless Grindelwald was in fact lying about his heritage? We will never know if that is the case, but we will need to find this 'Smokey' character and try to convince him to join our side." Dumbledore said, twinkle dimming by the second. "Can any of you tell us what his wand core was?"
The three teens nodded quickly, but when they opened their mouth to tell him, they found that they couldn't remember for the life of them what was asked.
"Ah, it seems that Ollivander or the stranger has cast a mind web over the information of his wand so that no one will be able to find its signature. What a pity."
"Damn. With that information, we would have been able to find him as soon as he used it." Kingsley Shaklebolt said, banging his hand lightly on the table.
"Indeed, well we will have to keep someone on watch in Diagon, he may visit Ollivander again, if so, we can catch him then. Oh Ron, Hermione. Before I leave. Have either of you heard from Harry at all this summer? It seems he has already left his relatives house and we do not know where he has gone." Dumbledore said, eyes once again twinkling full beam.
"No, we got a letter from him the day after his birthday, thanking us for his presents, but Hedwig didn't stay as she had other letters and when we try to send letters with any other Owl, they come back undelivered." Hermione said, lying slightly. Ron and Ginny hadn't sent any letters back at all, only she had.
"Ah well then, I suppose he will have to visit Diagon Alley at some point for his books. I am just worried about him, what with this Silent Killer being on the loose and all."
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
Harry meanwhile was sitting in his living room, setting up the surround sound system that he just remembered was in his trunk and seemed to be having difficulties. Of course, it didn't help that the only help he had, came from two portraits, the youngest of which was commissioned in 1924, two years before the occupant died. Safe to say, they were not helping him much.
"Well all I said was why not try to cut the coloured strings down so that they will fit." Phineas said, holding his hands up in defence.
"Well that was a stupid suggestion! I am not cutting down the wires! Why would they give you the wires at this length if it was wrong?" Harry snapped, looking slightly frazzled as he sat in the middle of a large pile of tangled and twisted wires, some of which were connected to a large box of some speakers. Most of which were connected to nothing.
"So you not have a guide of some sort?" Salazar asked, glancing down at the wires in front of him.
"Yes."
"So why don't you use it then?" Phineas asked curiously.
"Because I don't need it!"
"Bloody Gryffindor! Stop pretending! We all know you're a Slytherin really! So enough with the stupid pride act and get the instructions!" Phineas yelled back at a now sulking Harry.
"Fine. Why don't you go and sp on Dumbledore or something?" Harry asked, glaring at Phineas dangerously, and making Phineas flee his portrait quickly, with a large gulp.
"Well that got rid of him. Now get those instructions and we can sort this out. What time are the Laz-e-boy chair's coming?" Salazar asked, talking about the five chairs that Harry had been talking about noon stop.
"They said they would deliver it here at about four."
"How will they see the house?" Salazar asked curiously.
"I took George with me when I was ordering it, he wrote down the address in the order form and made it so that only the delivery man would be able to read it. Or something like that anyway." Harry said, walking back over to the red and black mess on the floor with a small booklet in his hands.
"Right, well I thought I should tell you that it's half past three."
"What! This will never be done!"
"Just read that piece of parchment that you have in your hands and it will be done in no time."
"It's in German."
"Ah. Well you grandfather could speak it."
"Could you?"
"Well… no."
"Ah."
"Are there any pictures?"
"No."
"Hmmm. Phineas might be able to speak it. Would you like me to go and fetch him?"
"I'll ask Flees."
"Alright then." Salazar said, watching as Harry closed his eyes and probably had a conversation with Flees. Either that or he was singing some inane song in his head and was just making Salazar wait. Sal preferred to think that it was the former. "Has he told you yet?"
"Hmm? Oh yes, he said no."
"Ah, I guess it is Phineas that we shall have to ask then hmm? I will just go and fetch him, making sure that Dumbledore does not notice or recognise me if he does notice… er…. Not that he will of course. I'll just go shall I?" Harry nodded, smiling slightly at him before he looked down and sighed at the mess of wires in front of him.
"I only speak French! It's not my fault! Anyway, apparently it would have been a different German that I would have learnt anyway!" Phineas said, appearing in his frame and looking at someone behind him.
"How'd you figure that?" Harry asked, standing up to look at the frazzled portrait.
"The German language changed at some point during the last century. Probably when the wall fell down." Phineas said thoughtfully.
"How do you know all this?"
"One of my portraits is in the Headmasters office remember. Plus there is another in a house and one more in that blasted vault for the last fifty years. New portraits for the blacks got commissioned every time a Black turned sixteen. You should be getting yours by the way. And I had three new ones done when I turned seventy-seven. Like all Headmasters I had a Portrait painted after thirty years of service to Hogwarts."
"You could have just said, 'I know because I know' and left it at that." Harry said, stifling a yawn.
"Yes, but then you would have bitched and moaned saying that that wasn't an answer and demanded a real answer."
"Can't argue with that. Wish I hadn't asked though." Harry added as an after thought. "So the conclusion of this is, that none of us can actually read these stupid instructions and thus I won't be able to install the surround sound system." Harry said, running his hands through his hair in frustration and tugging at it.
"Well there is one thing you could do." Phineas said off-handedly.
"What?"
"Well a simple translation charm would have sufficed and we wouldn't have had to go through any of this." Harry gaped at him and then banged his head into the wall.
IIIIIIIIIIIIII
Harry smiled at the delivery guy, who was about two hours late by the way, and lead him into the living room, sniggering at Phineas and Salazar as they tried to stay completely still. Harry had considered moving their portraits to the training room, but he thought it would be more amusing to watch the two portraits struggle.
"So where do want these?" The guy asked, struggling with the lounger with another delivery guy.
"Um, just place them down, I can move them around later." Harry said, waving his hands around in a vague movement. The delivery guys nodded and then began to bring in the five different chairs.
"Whoa. Who is that guy? He is Ugly." Delivery Guy number one said, pointing at Phineas' portrait. Harry glanced at where he was pointing and burst into laughter.
"He's my Great times five uncle on my mothers side. The guy next to him was um… something like a father to me." Harry added, seeing Delivery Guy Number Two looking at Salazar, who was clearly having difficulties in not laughing at Phineas.
"Dude! Sorry. But I mean, you look nothing like either of them!" DGN1 said, looking over at the Salazar to compare the two.
"Oh I don't know. I think he looks a bit like this one." DGN2 said, still looking at Salazar. "What were they called?"
"Huh? Oh he was called Phineas Nigellus Black. And that one there was Salazar Lucian Potter." Harry said, pointing to their respective portraits.
"Cool names. Weird. But cool." DGN2 said, turning round to look at Harry.
"I suppose. Thank god they called me Harry. Nice and normal."
"True. I like weird names though."
"Hmm. Would you two like a drink or something?"
"I would say yeah, but as you have probably guessed, we are running a touch late with deliveries and we still have one more after this. What time is it by the way?" DGN1 asked, still glancing at an almost visibly sweating Phineas.
"Um… about half past six. What time was your last delivery supposed to be?" Harry asked, grinning at the facial expressions on both of the Delivery Guys faces.
"Ah, about sixish. Bugger they are going to be so mad. Well are you sure you will be able to move those chairs by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'm having a few friends around later so they can help if they want to sit down." Harry said, smirking at the two guys.
"Oh cool. Don't mind me saying though, you seem a bit young to be living in a house on your own. How old are you?" DGN1 asked.
"Seventeen."
"What? How can you afford this house and all these things that you have bought?" DGN2 asked in shock.
"Ah, well this house has been in the family for quite a few years so it has already been paid off. I don't have to worry about mortgages and things like that. And as for the money for all this stuff. Well I am an orphan and my parents left me quite a bit of money. Hell I'm loaded." Harry said with a smirk.
"What about school and things?"
"I go to a boarding school in Scotland and so this house will be empty during the school year. I'm starting my last year there in September."
"Oh cool. Boarding school. Fancy." DGN1 said, whistling his approval.
"Thank you. It's not too bad."
"Well we should really be off, don't want to get into too much trouble with the next customer and the boss." DGN1 said, tugging on DGN2's arm.
"Yeah guess you're right. Well see you around some time Mr Potter." DGN1 agreed, following Harry has he lead the two Delivery Guys to the door.
"Okay then, thanks for bringing the chairs. Bye." Harry said, smiling at them and then closing the door behind them once they had gone.
"I can't believe he called me ugly! He clearly had a bad up bringing! How rude of him!" Phineas exclaimed as soon as Harry walked back into living room. Salazar snorted in the frame opposite him and Harry sniggered as he began to float the loungers into the right places, making sure to watch the newly installed surround sound system.
"Well he has a point Phineas." Salazar pointed out carefully.
"He does not! I'll have you know that I was considered very a attractive and sort after man in my day. Shame that I got married off to Ursula Flint. Actually I suppose you could say she was quite attractive as well in her day." Phineas said, starting to reminisce.
"Sirius didn't look much like you. Who did he get his looks from?" Harry asked, stemming the impending argument that was building up between the two portraits.
"Hmm. I think Sirius got some of his looks from me, but then he got his more delicate features from Walburga."
"Who is that?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at the portrait.
"His mother. Walburga Black."
"Wait. I've seen a portrait of her in Grimmauld Place and she never appeared attractive to me."
"No, I suppose not. Well she was when she was younger and Sirius is almost the spitting image of her brothers Alphard and Cygnus. I think they must have gotten their looks from Ursula. They certainly didn't get them from their mother. She was a Crabbe you see."
"Hmm. Freaky really, how inbred the Purebloods are." Salazar commented, getting a glare from Phineas in return.
"Even freakier is the fact that all the families in the Black family tree are all 'dark' sided if there is ever a war or dispute between the two sides. The Potters seem to be from both sides and more neutral if anything. Well until you get to my true great grandfather. Then it is all 'light' sided families." Harry commented, walking over to the large tapestries that had been placed side by side on the wall opposite the entertainment system.
"Yes, well your great grandfather Harold, I believe you were named after him, was a true believer in all that is good. Your father and grandfather followed him sadly. You on the other hand, is what both of these great families needs. If all else fails in this world, then you can take the Black and Potter families with you to the Demon world. They can start a new there I suppose. I think a Potter married a Black at some point though." Salazar added, making Harry look at him in shock before turning to look at the two tapestries to see.
"Oh yeah. My great, great uncle Charlus. He was the brother of my great grandfather. They had a son, but he didn't have any children. So I really am the last Potter according to this anyway."
"You're not the last Black though, are you." Phineas said, smirking darkly.
"No. No I'm not. So how is it certain that I am the true Black heir? I mean I was only adopted."
"Doesn't matter. Magic chose you, along with the final Black Heir, Sirius. You are on the tapestry so you are the Heir."
"So Sirius was never disowned, even though Mrs Black blasted him off of the tapestry in Grimmauld Place?"
"Nope. Walburga never really had the power to disown anyone from the Black family. That was Orion's job and he never would have disowned his oldest son." Phineas told Harry who nodded his understanding and then moved away from the two family trees.
"So what is the plan of action for tonight?" Salazar asked suddenly, making Phineas and Harry both look at him like he was crazy.
"Um… well it's the Malfoy's tonight. I will see how far in Narcissa is, but Lucius is a definite."
"And the son. The second Black heir?" Phineas asked curiously.
"I don't know. Draco never really struck me as the Death Eater type. Sure Ron swore by anything that he was Death Eater in training, but I never saw it. I suppose I will see what he is involved with and then decide then." Harry said with a shrug.
"What if both the parents are, but Draco is not?"
"Then I suppose I will offer him sanctuary with me, not that I expect him to take it. Or I will tell him the location of one of the Black properties that he can hide out in until the end of summer."
"Ah. Not a fool proof plan youngling, but an alright one." Salazar commented, Getting a sheepish grin from Harry in return.
"When are you leaving then?"
"I think me and Flees will be leaving the house at around ten-ish."
"Right. Changing the subject slightly, but what date are your Gryffindor friends coming round?" Salazar asked, getting himself a funny look from Harry.
"The fifth. Why do you want to know?"
"Just wondering youngling. Just wondering."
"Riight. Well let's watch some CSI then shall we?"