CHAPTER 2: 4 Years Later
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY WITH YOUR LIFE!"
Harry snickered to himself and blended back into the shadows. He watched as a tall blonde haired teen wheeled around the corner and shot straight past his hiding place. Draco Malfoy rocketed through the house looking for the elusive birthday boy. A slightly shorter boy followed at a more leisurely pace, his long sandy brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. His blue eyes shown with mirth as he watched the blond chase shadows.
"Give it up Draco. You know you won't find Harry till he's ready for you too." He laughed with a deep voice that rang with the mirth that showed through the bright eyes, his slight fangs exposed in his wide smile.
"Doesn't mean I can't look for the pest." Draco ragged as he started patting down the walls. "What did he do to you this time anyway?" Dante laughed. "It doesn't matter. Why aren't you pissed, Dante? He got you too, didn't he?" Draco accused. "Yes, he got me. Changed all my robes and underwear bright pink but if you ask me, he's running out of ideas."
"HEY!" Harry cried indignantly, stepping out from the shadows. "I was letting you off easy!" He cried. "It was for good behavior, and the fact you said you were getting me a broom for my birthday." Draco laughed. "And you believed him?" "Dante doesn't lie to me unlike someone." Harry shot back playfully. "Look up gullible and there will be your name Harry Potter."
"Gullible isn't in the dictionary, Draco." Harry teased. "Yes it is!" Draco shot back. He summoned the dictionary with a flick of his wrist and turned to the 'g's. Handwritten in next to gullible was Draco's name beside it and a 'XP' smile face next to it.
"WHY YOU!" Draco dropped the book and launched at Harry knocking his legs out from under him. Harry retaliated as soon as he jumped out of his roll away from Draco, with a kick at the younger boy's legs. Harry jumped and blocked the punch aimed at his right cheek, recalculating his position. Soon a full out brawl was in place.
Dante watched from the sidelines, obviously board. He yawned then looked at the two fighting boys, tripped them both and was brought into the battle. They made their way treacherously down the stairs and into the kitchen, each boy defending himself before launching their own attack.
"Morning boys." Regulus called over his copy of The Daily Prophet. All three stopped instantly bowed and said "Good morning Uncle Regulus" in unison before returning to their brawl. The made their way through the kitchen and into the den where Remus and Sirius where lounging on the couch.
"BOYS!" Remus cried stopping the scrap instantaneously. "What have we taught you?" He asked in a singsong voice. "Right." They cried, each hiking their arms up a bit more, spreading their feet out a bit wider before continuing. "Happy birthday Harry!" Sirius cried as they made their way into the battle rooms. "Thanks!" Could be heard before a loud crash and clang as the boys ripped weapons off racks and faced each other.
"Well they'll be busy for most of the morning." Narcissa hummed coming into the den with Regulus, wiping her hands on a towel, dusting flower from her apron.
"Should we get ready then?" Remus asked.
"Best if we did. We don't want them walking in on us." Narcissa answered.
A ringing of battle-axes on a shield and the resounding clang of sword quickly following it greeted their ears with shattering volume.
"I think we have time." Regulus laughed.
The other joined them and all four adults left for the kitchen laughing as the sounds of furious battle seeped through the walls.
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Harry raised the battle-axes for a final blow but fell over onto his back, causing Draco to laugh through his thick panting. Dante just pointed from his position belly down on the stone floor wheezing in an air attempt at a laugh, black wife-beater soaked through with sweat. Draco rang out his own white wife-beater and watched with a mix of satisfaction and disgust as a puddle of sweat dripped onto the floor. Harry laughed shortly as he regained his breath.
They had been at it for over four hours when the boys finally gave in. No one had landed a winning jab at the other, proving yet again they were on the same level with weapons, though their hand-to-hand was slightly tipped in Harry's favor, just as potion fell to Draco and tactic was Dante's major.
They sat panting on the floor for twenty minutes before stretching out and showering. When the left the adjoining changing rooms, the battle room had cleansed itself, replacing the weapons on the shelf and draining the pools of sweat from the floor.
Harry smiled as he pulled on his dark green t-shit sporting the phrase "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it" which had been a gift from Dante the year before as a joke when Harry started laugh for no reason.
Dante himself was sporting a blue shirt reading "I have multiple personalities and none of us like you" which Draco had given him for his birthday on April 1st as a joke/birthday present, teasing him about being a werewolf.
Draco was the only one without a message on his shirt, because it was still plastered across his forehead from Harry's birthday prank. "I love my boyfriend" flashed in rainbow colors from underneath his blond bangs, irritating the teen to no end.
They entered the den to find a note from Narcissa telling them to come around back. The shrugged at one another and made their way out. The backyard was decked out in streamers and balloons with a large banner readying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" in bright gold letters over a table laden with so much food Harry was sure it was being held up by magic.
"Happy birthday Cub!"
Harry spun around to see Sirius, Regulus, Remus, and Narcissa coming out from the gazebo where a table had been set up with plates and cups with pitchers of pumpkin juice and a large 3-D Quidditch stadium cake with moving figurines of all three boys as well as the four adults.
"Wow, guys! This is amazing!" Harry cried running over to the cake. He reached in and pulled out Draco's figure before biting off its head. He smiled at Draco's scandalized look before the blond rushed over and took up Harry's biting off the raven-haired teen's model's head.
Sirius and Remus laughed as Narcissa conjured up two more figurines of each boy and replaced them in the game before motioning for everyone to gather around so she could get a picture of them with the cake, Draco and Harry still munching on each other's character.
The party was well underway, everyone laughing and joking and recounting old stories while eating all the while when the doorbell rang. This was cause for alarm. Not only did they live in the middle of nowhere, there were repelling charms and other spells protecting them from being seen by anyone or anything.
Sirius changed into a dog, Regulus, Draco and Narcissa hid, Harry morphed into a replica of Dante with black hair and the two followed Remus to the door.
Standing outside was none other than Arabella Figg. Remus smiled and motioned for everyone to come out. The crazy old cat lady Harry once knew was in reality, a young blond Slytherian friend of his parents and Regulus's fiancé.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" She cried picking up the still black haired Dante twin, knowing it was him, as he always used that disguise.
"Thanks Aunt Bella." Harry laughed as she swung him around. She gave him a decoratively wrapped present and turned to Remus. "Sorry for the scare. I managed to get out from under Dumbeldore's thumb sooner than I expected."
"It's just good to see you Bella." Remus smiled hugging her tightly. "And you too Evangeline." He knelt down to the ten-year-old girl who clutched at her mother's skirts. She had long blond hair like her mothers but had he fathers charcoal eyes instead of her mother's chocolate brown ones.
"Bella!" Regulus cried running toward his wife, hugging her tightly with a passionate kiss that drove the three young boys into the garden with disgusted looks on their faces. He knelt down and picked up his daughter, swinging her around in the air, to her delighted giggles.
"You're just in time for cake and presents." Sirius laughed as he changed back and hugged Bella after Narcissa who had moved on to Evangeline. The two had been closest, other than Bella and Lily. All three girls had formed a close friendship, akin to the Marauders.
"Oh, good, my favorite part." She laughed taking Regulus by the hand and running into the garden sitting them down at Harry's feet as he moved his stack of presents closer to himself. Sirius laughed and hugged Remus to him. Narcissa took up her trusty camera in one hand and Evangeline in the other and Harry groaned.
"Aunt Cissy! No more pictures please?" Harry pleaded with his photo-obsessed aunt.
"Not a chance Harry. It's not everyday a young man turns 11." She laughed snapping another shot. Evangeline laughed and Harry stuck out his tongue at her. "One would think that you'd be turning 5 not 11 wit the way you act, Mr. Potter." She teased. "One would think you'd be turning 6 instead of 10 with your height Eva." Harry shot back. Evangeline stuck out her tongue saying "It's okay for me cause I'm a cute, little, innocent, girl."
Harry shook his head and took up his first present while Sirius started serving cake.
As Harry ripped through his presents Regulus left Bella's side to get a drink only to find Bella following him, leaving Evangeline to banter with her favorite plaything, who was trying not to turn his birthday gift, most of which were weapons, on her.
"You're not going to tell him before he leaves for Hogwarts are you?" She asked, her hyper attitude suddenly gone. Her voice was as beautiful as when she was perky but the serious tone didn't fit her. It was like an adult was speaking out of the voice of a child, like the way Harry sometimes talked.
"No, he doesn't need to know why we're training him just yet. He's got enough on his plate." Regulus replied as watched his surrogate Godson pull his bangs back close to his bad eye.
He was more ashamed of that eye, more annoyed by it then he was of the Boy-Who-Lived lightning bolt on his forehead. But who could blame him? The lowest form of life had done that to him, and while the eye had been replaced, giving him added advantages, such as seeing through spells, and pulling up ward grids with a blink, etc., the scar would haunt him forever reminding him of that man.
"To this day, no matter what any of us do, Harry is still scared of muggles. He has never once ventured into muggle London and even has a hard time being in Digaon Alley without throwing up a shield three feet in diameter. It has taken almost a year and a half for Harry to relax around us and I'm under the impression it was only the child's photographic memories that showed him what we were like in his past that helped him accept us so quickly.
"The boy has enough to deal with without knowing about the horcruxes. He would have to face them soon enough, so why worry about them at the moment, when there where so many other evils to overcome?"
Regulus turned back to the boy who was tarring the rapping paper of a new set of twin blade swords with emerald stones set in their handles to help enhance his Parsamagic, once he learned it. He smiled as Harry fawned over them as if they were a new broom. "Besides, we've corrupted him enough for now." He smiled. Bella smiled and took Regulus' hand.
"You're going to make a great father to a second child, one you'll actually be able to raise." She whispered. "Not till we're married." He muttered back. She pouted and dropped his hand before stalking back to Evangeline and taking her to eat, unnoticed by Harry, who had just unwrapped a glock with heat seeking bullets, as the center of all the boys attentions. As three boys fawned over the gun, the other weapons laying forgotten in the grass for the moment, Regulus shook his head. "What have we done?" He muttered munching on Sirius's figurine player.