"If you still snore you're a dead man," Charlie told his brother.
"You have your own room, idiot!"
The two were sharing a small suite at the inn, possibly until 1 September, though more likely to the end of the school year.
They unpacked their belongings then went up to find Harry sitting on the end of his bed, studying his wand. "Whoa, did you use a whole tin of polish?" It glimmered madly in the candlelight. Charlie snorted at his brother's unintentional double entendre. He knew Bill well enough the older man would be smirking if he meant it both ways.
That made Harry grin though the double entendre completely missed the boy. "No. This morning we went to Diagon Alley and Wizard Ollivander diamond coated my wand. It's got facets instead of following the carving." He held it up for them to see.
"Diamond coated?" Bill asked.
Charlus appeared and explained it briefly as the two Weasleys setup the dioramas they had put together to better
explain what they did.
Albus watched the latest Death Eater as he was lead from the room to be returned to Azkaban. He despised the prison but imprisoning and stopping magicals from using magic was difficult. He had seen a student take parchment, water, and a kneazle whisker and create a working wand just last year—he had given the lad fifty points for it. It hadn't been the most effective focus but it had worked. Even in a prison, a magical could create a focus. Albus had tested out his own hair as a focus and it had worked rather well for a stopgap measure.
He looked at the schedule. Sirius Black was in a holding cell being looked after by Moody himself—after Albus had informed him he was likely innocent—and had Shacklebolt and his current trainee, a young wizard named Largo. Shacklebolt had informed Albus he expected good things of the young man, even if he had been educated via correspondence. Shacklebolt is admittedly a bit of a snob, Albus thought. But a damn good teacher. Perhaps I can get him at Hogwarts a year.
He wondered about the list. There had been a dozen names on it. Of those twelve, five had passed. He knew the top three were elderly and would likely only act as advisors. The other four had returned short messages. Three were 'as the Master calls, my duty will be done' while the fourth had been 'I serve the Wielder in life and death.'
Albus wondered what had cemented that type of loyalty. At first he had thought perhaps they were controlled but remembered his discussion with Charlus. In the children's sixth year, when everyone assumed the Elder Potters had perished, only James's mother had actually died. Charlus had been badly injured and retreated to his redoubt, expecting to return within days or weeks. Instead, the unknown curse had begun to paralyze him from the neck down, weakening him. And with that weakening, the Darklings maintained also retreated to the redoubt. Or died. Albus was still somewhat unsure about their actual constitution.
Shaking his head, he saw the next Death Eater brought in and heard Crouch yelling. Scowling, he gestured Amelia to deal with the man as he was bound to his seat until the questioning ended in forty minutes.
Amycus Carrow. Like most Dark Wizards, he had a minimal immunity to the effects of Dementors, a darkness in his soul that was enough to keep him from succumbing too quickly. That effect had been evident in Sirius as well, worrying Albus until he learned the young man was an animagus, able to turn to an animal. The simpler minds of most animals magnified the best traits of the original mind while also simplifying processes but that transferred over to the wizard or witch when changed back after long periods. He remembered Minerva attempting to clean herself during a staff meeting after spending a whole summer in her animal form. Albus treasured that memory as the woman grew older and more prim, occasionally reminiscing aloud about it to tease her.
He had discussed the issue with Winkinglemons as a theoretical and she had suggested a modification of the common solution. Instead of wholesale memory obliviation, the subject's memories would be carefully edited, removing the actual memories but not the subject's sense of time procession along with memory creation, reinforcing his psyche so that ten years of confinement would still be known but he wouldn't have those memories to fester in his mind. Instead, a series of memories of time in a comalike state could be created, creating a new type of prison memory with the knowledge it covered up a memory he didn't want.
Sirius—and Harry and Charlus—would have to be consulted first but it sounded good to Albus.
The wizard was shoved into the wooden chair and magic chains wrapped him in place, creating a sense of dread as an auror approached, holding a vial.
Two healers tested the vial before administering two drops—the wizengamot, still filled with sympathizers had balked at three—then Albus began asking questions, his assistants taking notes.
When Carrow tried to resist, Albus cast a lightning spell at the chains, causing Carrow to shriek in pain at the feeling of 40,000 volts to the testicles. "Do not lie!" He didn't like torture but it was the proscribed spell to use and not doing so would show him as weak to those in the audience.
Remus scowled as he was finally let through customs. Forty-two hours of being sent from lane to lane while former Death Eaters were let through in minutes. Scowling, he took the floo to his parents' village.
As soon as his father opened the door he was wrapped in an impossibly tight hug as the wizard ran his hands down his back and sides, checking to see how skinny he was.
"Oh Rem my boy, how were the Falklands?"
He pushed his father back. "Not too bad."
"I'm glad you're back. Will you stay?" Lyall asked hopefully.
"Uhh..., yeah," Remus said, surprising himself. But he remembered he was supposed to be better.
"Come on, I just made some soup. More than enough for two!"
Remus smiled at the first bite. His mum's pork shoulder noodle soup. Pulled pork, thick egg noodles, a spicy stock, and lots of veggies.
"You'll really stay?" Lyall asked hopefully.
"Yeah. I think Albus has a job for me. He reminded me it's time to grow up. And I kinda realized I hadn't really."
"Good! And there's a new potion. I saved the article, I was going to send it to you. Lemme go find it." He decided not to press the luck of Remus staying with insisting on paying for the potion.
Remus tried to talk his father into eating but soon heard crashing stacks of magazines—Lyall was a bit of a magazine fanatic, having subscriptions to all english language magical magazines—and soon a magazine was handed to Remus. He read about the potion, created to make a werewolf who took it not lose himself to the darkness during the full moon.
It sounded impossibly expensive but Remus smiled encouragingly though felt sick.
Lyall tore into a crusty bap and soaked up the last of his soup then ate it with great relish. "Come on, let's go see your mum."
Remus stuffed his mouth with the last of his bowl of soup then followed his father out of the house and to the local graveyard.
At the wall abutting the parish, his father removed a tin of polish and a flannel then used one edge to wipe off random brass plates of where others' ashes rested and then dabbed polish and smartened them up.
With the dozen brass plates polished, they finally made it to Hope Lupin's final resting place and his father handed Remus the flannel and tin.
Cornelius sighed. One of the Death Eaters had been held for almost three months too long. Since being a Follower of the Dark-Thingummy wasn't an actual crime, he had to be compensated. Albus had been annoyed as well but then he had pointed out the man was a foreigner and the French Aurors[1] had collected him, confiscating the compensation at the same time. He had suggested a written request to return it.
"Cornelius."
He turned and saw the French Ambassador approaching and nodded. "Hello Jean-Luc."
"My government wishes to thank you for the return of criminal Saltierre. There Is a reward as well." He handed back the man's compensation. "And this is to be returned. Please, let us know a good time to have you visit, the Duc wishes to thank you personally for the return of a man who murdered his friend. A dinner and the presentation of the award." In fact, there hadn't been but the return of the prisoner was a small bridge and the Duc had been so happy to get to execute the wizard, he had decided to grant the Minister a medal a Brit hadn't received in nearly a century.
"I would be honored," Cornelius said, puffing up. "My secretary will give yours a list of dates where I can travel."
The young man behind Fudge opened the Minister's diary and asked, "A three day block, Minister? To allow for some shopping for the missus?" He knew the Minister—and his wife's greedy nature—well.
"Good thinking, lad."
The ambassador's secretary joined the minister's as the two politicians went back to exchanging pointless conversation.
"The Wizengamot is returning to session," a voice said.
"Please, excuse me," Cornelius said. "This is one of our most important interrogations. Actually, would you care to join us?"
Jean-Luc nodded. "Of course."
Inside the Wizengamot, Jean-Luc saw how important this one was. He recognized Rasmussen, the vizier of the Ghost Council; Ghola, a high-ranking shaman from North America; Charles, an African witch-doctor of great renown; and a dozen others he thought he recognized as important wizards worldwide.
They were all standing with Dumbledore and he heard laughter from a few then an aide came towards Fudge and Jean-Luc. "The Chief Warlock says there's enough time to effect introductions Minister, Ambassador."
During the introductions, Charles said something in her native language as she looked Jean-Luc up and down and Albus's cheeks colored. Two others who spoke Afrikaans chuckled.
"What was that?" Jean-Luc asked.
Before Albus could say anything, Charles spoke in badly accented English with what Jean-Luc thought was a French-Vietnamese lilt somewhere. "'Av 'oo eva bean wit' a ree-all weetch?"
Before he could reply—beyond a deep flush, an auror called the participants and witnesses to their seats.
Seated, with the ghost to his left, Jean-Luc smiled at him. "I understand you were a contemporary of Rasputin?"
"Da. Are you a student of Russian history?"
"Not particularly but he's the model of the antagonist of a novel I'm working on. Would you have time for me to pick your mind this summer?"
"I will he visiting the French Ghost Council this summer. Please, leave a good time with your Court's ghost representative."
The conversation ended when the doors opened.
~•~
Sirius Black, flanked by Senior Auror Shacklebolt and Senior Auror Trainer Moody, was escorted in to the center of the court and placed on the chair.
Albus's first query deviated from every prior statement to a Death Eater surprising all that had been at more than one.
"Sirius Black, do you authorize three drops of veritaserum in your questioning and unlimited questions?"
"Yes."
Loud whispers in the court were silenced by a deep blast of sound from the Chief Warlock's gavel hitting the stone desktop hard enough to crack it. "Quiet in my court! Sirius Black, your court records show no trial. Therefore, you are hereby accused of sedition, murder, conspiracy to murder and numerous other charges. Auror, read the charges."
Moody began to do so, reciting four full pages of charges.
"What do you plead to these charges?"
"Not guilty," Sirius said without emotion.
"He lies!" Someone in the audience screamed.
Albus's wand flew upward and a muzzle formed on the wizard's face. He clawed at it.
"Sirius Black, what were you caught doing in third year by Lily Evans?" Albus asked, knowing the answer already. But Sirius didn't know he knew of it.
"Wanking in the common room."
A voice in the crowd called out, "Who stole all of the sixth year's knickers when you were a fourth year?"
There were muffled chuckles as Sirius flatly said, "I did."
"Yes, well it looks like the veritaserum is working," Albus said. "Add the theft of personal property. We'll leave off the self-abuse as he was punished for that." Lily was vindictive.
Moody read off each charge and received a negative answer.
Albus leaned forward. "What happened after I stored the secret of the Potters's residence in your soul?"
"A few weeks later, James and I realized that a double bluff would be even better. Remus we weren't absolutely sure of because—"
"Leave that and back to the secret," Albus said, wanting to keep Remus off the record.
"We decided to ask our friend Peter Pettigrew to hold the secret. We didn't know he no longer believed we could win and had joined Voldemort—" There were gasps of fright and Albus pinched the bridge of his nose. "He sold out the Potters on halloween night. On learning what had happened, I went after him to kill him for betraying my brother and his wife. I failed. The traitor still lives."
Pandemonium reigned supreme.
Sirius blinked away the sleep gunk as he tried to sit up, wondering where he was. The room was half hospital wing, half themed bed and breakfast. What wasn't white was lemon yellow or covered with images of lemon slices.
"Good morning," said a pretty dark haired witch with bangs that nearly covered her eyes, the rest of her hair was swept up into a bun, held in place with a pair of lemon yellow hairsticks.
Minimal makeup, Sirius noticed. White lipstick and black eyeliner. ...Damn, a ring.
"Errgh, morning."
"I am healer Claudia Winkinglemons. Do you remember coming here?"
"No."
"You can move now." Sirius tried and sat up. "During your trial you were attacked by a wizard. I am informed that Auror Moody transfigured a broken chair into a number of spikes and… detained the wizard."
"Knowing Moody, the detainment was rather…, permanent." Moody didn't kill but his retaliations would often make you wish he did.
"We began your treatment already. What is your last memory of Azkaban?"
"Uhh," he thought, realizing he didn't remember leaving the prison. "It was a surprisingly sunny day and I could see the sun from my cell."
She checked a chart. "Excellent, that was two months ago!"
She sat down and re-explained his treatment as he tried not to look down her cleavage.
Claudia grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her eyes. "Pay attention to me, not my baps!"
He colored from embarrassment at not being able to clock a witch surreptitiously anymore.
"Your next treatment begins in a few minutes. We will continue removing your memories until the moment of your arrest. Once that nine years is gone, we will begin the process of new memories, based on a decision made for you by the most responsible person for you at the moment."
"The Headmaster?"
She smiled. "He was consulted along with your cousin Andromeda and your friend Remus Lupin but final confirmation was made by your godson as he is your listed heir."
"Oh, umm, is he here? How old is he? Is he okay‽"
"He is not." She checked her file. "He is ten years, four months, and ten days old. He is fine that I know of. He is currently residing at a Potter property. I also have a message for you from Charlus Potter. He states 'Sirius, you idiot! Get well then you can see Harry. You're lucky I'm a ghost or I'd throttle you for being an idiot!' I like him. He's very funny. A bit of a pervert though."
Sirius goggled. "Charlus Potter a pervert‽"
"When you're well I'll tell you what he asked of me. Now," she said, pulling her wand from her sleeve, "let's begin."
linebreak
Harry sighed tiredly. The village kids had wanted to play in the bay and he had gone along. While it had been fun, it was also very tiring. He realized he likely needed to eat more. "Gramps?"
The ghost looked away from the paper he was reading. "You told me to tell you if I felt unwell. I'm always tired but rarely hungry."
"You don't eat a lot. Witch Barq mentioned how little you eat at meals. Call for Wallace."
Wallace came to the room and the Darklings disappeared as Harry let him in.
"Hmmm, a trip to St Mungo's would be good but not for the best. Let me contact the headmaster."
The next morning, as Harry was watching Charlie demonstrate how dragons were handled using action figures he had animated and a stuffed dragon toy, a wizard arrived, heralded by Fawkes who landed on Harry's shoulder and nibbled his hair then disappeared.
"Ahh, professor Charlus Potter, is that you?"
"Yes. Did I teach you?"
"For my first year, professor."
"Ah, well this is my grandson. He's been tired lately and not eating enough."
"Right then, lad. I'm medi-wizard Cassius Voodoo. Let's see how you're doing."
He picked Harry up and sat him down on the table then cast a couple spells to raise the table higher and added comfort charms.
He took out a dictaquill and a roll of parchment with boxes and some writing already on it then began speaking. "Patient, classified, codename: hirsute claysmith."
Harry looked confused while Wallace put his hand over his mouth to stop from gasping out laughter. Charlus did burst out laughing.
Wallace left the room, squeaks escaping him.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Patient is four point two-nine stone. Height, 49 inches. Both numbers are below average for patient's age bracket.
"Professor, does your family exhibit any abnormal growth patterns?"
Charlus thought for a moment. James's mother had dealt with these things more often. "I don't believe so. His dad was—the robes he's got now are his dad's from when he was eight to nine-ish."
Voodoo nodded and added handwritten notes besides the statistics, adding the historical notes with a different quill.
He touched Harry's inner wrist and counted his pulse then checked Harry's eyes, his tongue and teeth, his reaction time, and his hair length.
"Why did you measure hair length?" Harry asked, remembering Ollivander.
"We check every variable. Magic is… weird at times."
Harry nodded as the healer took a seven lens focal array out of a case and put it on, leaning forward to observe Harry's scar. "Dark magic residue. Unhealed after nine years. Fascinating," he muttered. "And horrible," he said, leaning back and patting Harry's shoulder. "It doesn't seem to be affecting you beyond the lack of healing. I'll see about an essence mask tomorrow to see if advances in magical healing can do anything about that. Now, lie back and lift your legs up so i can extend the table."
With Harry now lying on the flat table, the healer began casting diagnostic spells, creating magical images of Harry, floating above the body.
"Cool," Harry said.
Voodoo chuckled and nodded.
The first was of his bones. The man clucked and made notes of evidence of broken bones. He wrote down skelegro: 1.25 drachm then cast the muscle diagnostic spell. Aside from the scar, Voodoo saw no issues there then did the nervous system. He continued on, checking more elements of the body.
Finally, he checked the alimentary system and sat up straight, shocked.
"That…. Wow, I haven't seen one that big, ever. You must have had it for years!"
"Is that a magasite?" Charlus asked as he floated closer.
"Yes. You have a type of parasite. It resides in your stomach, making it so that you eat less than normal. The size of this one, you're eating less than half of what would fill you up, maybe only a third. It also steals nutrients and kind of saps your magic because your body is fighting it instead of being available for your use. Shocking the size of the thing," he muttered. "Let me see, normally a shot of magacid would do but… it would take so much and the stuff is toxic. I need to contact a specialist.
"For now, a sip of pepperup potion—" though it was a cold cure, it also acted as a general pick-me-up in small amounts and reinforced the immune system "—at meals and a nutrient potion with each meal to counter that thing.
"You can sit up up now."
Harry did so and tugged his shirt into place. "How long will it take?"
"I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with good news. Now, as for you, drink this nutrient potion now," he said, handing over a blue one, "this white one before bed to help repair bones; the orangey-red is the pepperup, a sip at meals; this green one tomorrow morning when you wake, it's to counter the bone potion just in case; and this one with the white one to help you sleep through how uncomfortable it will be," Voodoo said as he also wrote down the directions.
Harry nodded as Voodoo nodded to Charlus. "I shall see you tomorrow at noon with a month's supply of nutrient potion."
He shook Harry's hand then left.
~•~
Hagrid nodded at the man through the gates to Hogwarts.
"Ken I 'elp ya?"
"Medi-wizard Voodoo. I have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey?"
"Ah, yer 'im then."
Hagrid opened the gates and led the wizard up to the castle then opened the front doors for him.
Voodoo was heading up the stairs when a first year waved at him from the upper floor before dashing down. "Hi healer!"
"Ahh, Azalea, how are you? Are you still using your poultice?"
"Uh-huh. Mummy just sent my new bottle. It smells different though."
"Each time it's made a different fruit is used. The latest batch used juniper berries." Before he could explain it was due to astrological tides, she hugged him then dashed off when she realized she was going to be late to class.
In the hospital wing, he leaned against the wall, watching Pomfrey evaluate a young witch's arm. "This is why we don't try to fly a magical animal we can't see. Do we understand?"
The girl nodded, tears still glistening in her eyes until Pomfrey gave her two potions.
She spun a length of cloth around the girl's arm then restitched together her robe. "Off with you. No heavy lifting or casting until tomorrow morning."
Once she was gone, Pomfrey cleaned up the area then turned to Voodoo. "Cassius. Let's see the file."
She smiled at the code name but the obvious connection didn't happen since she assumed Voodoo had done as all doctors did and used a random phrase.
"Lots of injuries. Smaller than he should be. Underage but I presume he's done magic?"
"Significant. Background from his grandfather had him summoning family cat while still pre-walking, animating his plush toys, accidental apparition, color changing charms when angry, potential metamorphmagus due to hair's unchanging nature. His parents were both animagi. Strangely, he has his mother's quick anger and his father's slow burn too," he added. Wallace had handed him a file his grandfather had had drawn up before the visit.
"Fascinating. But the parasite is the issue. You were right not to use the acid. It'll require surgery."
"That may be an issue. His grandfather is uncomfortable taking him to St. Mungo's at the moment. Could we perform it here?"
"Well yes…," she thought aloud. "We would need the Headmaster's permission and actually, it would be good to have one of them alive to do some research on. I've had some ideas about them and their properties for years but since I'm here, I'm low on the pole when we do do surgery to remove them." Even as a highly respected medi-witch, when she had retired from St. Mungo's to be the nurse at Hogwarts, she was moved down the specimen priority list at St. Mungo's.
"Alright then, tomorrow at noon I'll be doing my followup for the other issues. Can we floo to your office?"
"Only from St. Mungo's. The headmaster can create a portkey that can enter school grounds though."
"Then I shall go see him. Thank you, Poppy."
"Of course. I'll call St. Mungo's for a temporary replacement while we work. Cappy, service!"
As Voodoo prepared to leave the hospital wing, a house-elf appeared. "Yes Nursy Pomfy mum?"
"Prepare the surgery suite." She wrote down a schedule then handed it to Cassius.
~•~
The Headmaster smiled at Voodoo as he came in. "Anything I need to know?"
"Just that we need a portkey to bring him to Pomfrey to examine him herself due to her specialty."
The Headmaster nodded. "Very well. When?"
"Tomorrow at noon."
He turned to his feathered friend. "Fawkes, would you be able to meet them tomorrow where you delivered Master Healer Voodoo?"
Fawkes sang then went back to devouring the pomegranate a house-elf had surprised him with.
"I shall see you tomorrow then, Cassius."
The medi-wizard nodded and, yawning, left the office.
Albus rolled his eyes as Fawkes began rolling around in the remnants of his pomegranate then got out the cleaning kit. The pith always got stuck between feathers.
Harry ate even less than usual at dinner.
Wallace noticed and said, "Magical surgery is even safer than Muggle surgery, Harry. You'll be fine."
He nodded but only ate one more forkful of the salmon pie.
Wallace left to go to his own room while Harry tried to distract himself by creating leather via the darkness, using the sheath for his wand as a template.
He was looking at the leather with the magnifying glass Witch Barq had lent him when there was a knock at his door. "Harry?"
He walked over and flipped his hood up then opened it to find Licorice in her pajamas, holding a book. "You left this in the dining room."
"Oh, thanks."
She hugged him and said goodnight then headed for her family's quarters.
He put the potions book back with his other books then decided to give up on Darkness armor practice for the night and turned on the muggle radio he had bought.
His grandfather's ghost floated in to the room and settled on the chair next to the bed. "Taking a break?"
Harry nodded. "It's hard to concentrate."
"When your dad had a lot on his mind and I was around, we'd play gobstones or chess. We could have a darkling stand in for me?"
Harry shook his head.
"Want me to teach you a spell, tell you about your dad, or go away?"
"Spell and dad," Harry said after some thought.
"After his first year, he came home incredibly excited about his group of friends. Knowing your dad, I decided to teach him a spell that I made good use of over the years. Watch my finger."
He made a ん to ) then a / shape, completing itself to look like a swoopy A with it and had Harry repeat it until Charlus was satisfied. "This spell, using this motion, can only be used on other people or items until you have gotten to the point of being able to just jab spells and incantless casting, then you can selfcast it. The spell is abo-RĒS-ko. And be sure you use the Ess and not the Zed sound as you cast. Use that chair as your target."
Harry did as told. A small point on the chair seemed to vanish.
"Good, good. Your dad learned this spell well as did his friend Remus. The other two took longer to get it. i think Sirius finally got it right in fourth while the rat took until sixth?
"Let's try again. Remember, you want the chair to fade away."
By the time and hour had passed, the splotch that was invisible had grown to palm-size and when a Darkling moved the chair, Harry saw the splotch looked as if it had changed into slightly springy looking glass, creating a strange looking optical illusion.
"This spell, coupled with slow movement and a few other charms is wonderful for sneaking up on a target. A disillusioned, silenced, and aroma-less Darkling is a fantastic assassin or distraction. I especially used this to sneak out past your grandmum to tie one on with the lads down at the pub."
Harry laughed. All the stories about his grandmother made it sound like she was even more dangerous than a Wielder could ever be but also an amazing wife and mother.
Remus nodded at the witch as she came in to Sirius's room. When he had met with Albus, the old wizard had suggested being by Sirius's side would be best and Remus agreed only after learning the nephews of Gideon and Fabian Prewett were Harry's tutors and part of his entourage.
The witch nodded back and peeked at Remus's notebook. "Have you thought of more people to contact?"
"A few. A couple of his exes, some aurors we knew from out of country. Albus said he and Moody would check up on them for us."
She nodded then turned to Sirius and hit him with the tickling charm, shocking him out of an enchanted sleep. "Time to wake, Sleeping Beauty."
"Clau? You are an evil witch!" Sirius groaned but sat up, glaring at his healer as she grinned and held out a vial of something black and bubbling.
"Memory enforcer potion. You'll take this once a week to make sure your memories stay. Your flexible mind is already trying to shake off your first modified memory."
"Sirius? Flexible?" Remus teased.
"The Animagus portion of his mind—" the mindset stayed though the heightened and different senses of the form didn't "—knows something is different. We could change that but then he'd likely lose the ability or it would at least become exponentially more difficult.
"Oh, and Remus, your father flooed, to remind you that you need to pick up groceries."
"You're staying with your dad?" Sirius said, shocked. For a moment, Remus thought Sirius was going to mock him until he said, "that's awesome! Your dad is almost as cool as Pop was." Sirius had stayed with Remus and his parents occasionally as well when he had issues with his parents.
Done checking Sirius, Claudia took the list from Remus and promised to owl it to the Headmaster then headed to her next patient.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"The boat to Azkaban then dreams of being in Azkaban."
Remus nodded. That was the implanted memories. "And now?"
"I still expect Harry to be toddling along the floor but I also know he's almost eleven now?"
He nodded again. "Come on, you have physical therapy now."
"What's that?"
"A half mile walk a day for at least one week. Maybe two weeks then a mile a day then two miles. When you can pass auror physical standards you'll be able to leave, they said.
"And remember, this clinic has muggles in it."
Sirius nodded as he slipped his feet into the furry boots Remus had brought for him.
"These boots are great. Really warm."
"They're muggle. From Australia, I think. They had a rip in them so I got them for a couple pounds. They'd never been worn, either."
Outside, the two followed a stone trail beset by bursts of color of various trees with fragrant blossoms. The clinic's garden had won dozens of awards from muggle and magical gardening publications.
Both walked silently, unsure of what to say.
Harry's lesson for the day was different. Instead of giving him a background of magical knowledge, his grandfather and the Keeper were discussing the dreams he had been having.
"Have you dreamt of the First Wielder, his war against his family?"
Harry shook his head, his throat suddenly dry.
"The first Potter was the youngest prince of King Harthacnut, a cruel and evil man who professed to the christian religion while persecuting all," Charlus said. "When it was learned what the First could do—magic that is, it was the only time the king showed any form of mercy. He banished his seven year old son, forbidding him from his name, his right of birth, and had him whipped twice a day as he was transported out of the country.
"Near death, the First was found by a witch and her muggle husband, a potter.[2] The two raised and trained him in magic, and how to craft clay.
"The First took the name Potter and threw himself into studying magic, eventually traveling to Scotland and studying at Hogwarts for four years before he learned that his mother had been burnt alive by his father for allegedly consorting with devils." He noticed Harry's confused look and smiled sadly. "He killed our ancestor because he believed she had sex with a devil."
Harry gasped.
"And so, on learning this, the First, now fifteen and a good friend to another royal who was also a cousin with magical talent, was granted an army. It was small, less than a gross of men." He realized Harry wouldn't know that term. "One hundred forty four is a gross, twelve twelves?" Harry nodded. "But each was magical enough to properly use the bows, swords, and mail enchanted by the First's witch-foster mother.
"They became a reign of terror on Harthacnut's realm, raiding as they pleased, destroying the false christian king's places of worship, until finally, one day, a seventeen year old First stood before his father and granted the man's pleas for mercy. A quick, ruthless chop removed the king's head.
"The First passed the realm to his patron in the actions and received all the spoils of war his men could carry as they left the realm."
"Wh—" Harry's voice broke and he tried again. "Why didn't he take the throne? Wasn't it his by right?"
"And by might. But the First wanted to continue his education as a wizard.
"And then one day, he met the Peverells and was enchanted by their twelve year old daughter. Two years later, it happened."
This time the keeper began to speak.
"On the night of his mastering her—"
"Their wedding night," Charlus interjected.
Harry looked horrified. "She was fourteen‽"
"And he was twenty-one," his grandfather confirmed. "Different times, different customs and mores. At that time, she was about a year past marrying age. Disturbing, I know. Let the Keeper continue, my boy."
"On that night, the Peverells had elected to use a special blood based spell to help protect their daughter, knowing that the First was going to lead a dangerous lifestyle.
"As well as that spell, the First elected to use a runic combination that would empower his wife utilizing the sacrifice of her blood on their wedding night.
"An old ritual rarely used due to the danger of harming the male but he elected to use it.
"Her pain, fear, the two spells, a lunar eclipse, that night being the lunar solstice, and a comet piercing an astral ley line that was heralding great magic as related by centaurs led to the ancient magic of the universe combining in their pooled blood and imbuing both with power."
"Combined blood?" Harry asked. The sex talk Charlus had given earlier had related the significant chance of a woman bleeding their first time but there hadn't been mention of men bleeding.
"A sore on his penis," Charlus said. "Speaking of that, make a note to discuss and look up new ways of protection."
The Keeper wrote it down in his book.
"That night, we were formed for the first time in a corporeal form," The Keeper said. "Our will was the First's. Our duties his. We were ancient magic, the magic of the universe itself, stolen and bound to a human bloodline.
"And yet, his will was such that we were used in such a way that we found great satisfaction. For by being an extension of his will, we had sentience. And a mission. It was a lessening of us and at the same time, an expansion for as the magic of the universe, we were without thought, without guidance, without knowledge."
Harry blinked.
Pomfrey blinked in surprise. The codename for the file had been amusingly apt.
Harry Potter thanked Fawkes for the delivery to the school and the bird disappeared then returned with a wizard she thought she recognized as a former seventh year when she started at Hogwarts.
"I'll just wander down to the library until I'm needed," Wallace said and Harry nodded then took his pocket-watch out and clicked the crown after Dumbledore effected introductions then made his leave.
"Charlus?" Pomfrey said as the ghost was released from the watch.
"Ah, hello," the ghost said. "Lovely to see you."
"I want to pick your mind about a research project I'm taking part in," she told the ghost.
"Can it wait until September when he starts school?"
"Yes. I'll just be done with primary work then.
"This way, Harry. You'll need to change into a robe. Now, do you want to be knocked out or would you prefer a lot of calming potions so you can watch."
Harry's eyes widened. "Watch!"
He came out of the changing room in an old fashioned style nightgown then Pomfrey helped him up onto the table. Two more witches entered the room with bubblehead charms in place and carrying trays of potions.
"Adjust the mirrors so he can see," Pomfrey told them then picked up a vial of pink and gold potion. "Drink this then lie back and count to twenty."
"One…. Two…. Three…. Four…. Five…. Six…. Seve…."
Harry was completely relaxed at that point and could only blink to signify yes and no.
As Madam Pomfrey used her wand to vanish the nightgown from hips to undeveloped pectoral muscles, a house-elf appeared and began wiping Harry's body down with a slightly purple potion. As soon as it was done, one of the medi-witches began rubbing another potion, this one blood-orange red.
"I'm going to cast a bubblehead spell on you," she told him. "You'll be seeing through a thin slightly orange film. It's to keep the smell from you. Blink twice for okay."
He blinked twice then saw her cast the same spell on herself but it only covered her mouth.
"I have to be able to smell during this. I'm about to open you up now. If you are uncomfortable, blink repeatedly and medi-witch Tonks will stun you. Two for you understand."
Harry blinked twice.
He watched a laser like light come from her wand and soon he was looking at his skin and muscle of his stomach folded up onto his chest and a fist sized hole showed his stomach, bulging rhythmically.
"Merlin, that's big," the other medi-witch muttered.
Medi-witch Tonks sniggered then the other witch realized the double-entendre and rolled her eyes. Her eyes still flickered to the boy's groin then she scowled at her action.
Another potion was poured onto the stomach as Pomfrey manipulated it, making sure the liquid covered all of it.
The stomach roiled more from the manipulations and the parasite inside feeling a potion causing its metabolism to slow, stopping it from spitting acid into Harry's stomach.
Harry's eyes widened slightly as she used a muggle scalpel to open his stomach then begin to pull out what looked like a psychedelic millipede, the third witch hitting every segment of its body with a stunning spell as it was pulled out.
"Ugggh," she said, when the last segment was stunned. "Ninety-seven! That means the thing is nearly twenty-three feet long!"
Tonks took the parasite and stuffed it into a freshly slaughtered pig's stomach then cast dozens of charms on it as Madam Pomfrey began inspect Harry for eggs. When she finished that, potion after potion was poured into his stomach then carefully siphoned out.
Finally, a stomach acid replenishment potion was poured in, his stomach closed back up, then his skin and muscle restored. "Fascinating," Pomfrey said. "I was sure you'd have to be stunned almost immediately."
"He's a Potter," Charlus said proudly.
"But now you will be," she told Harry, ignoring the ghost. "We can't let you move around for two hours then you'll need to sleep for a couple days. Sweet dreams," she said then canceled his bubblehead spell and dropped a paralytic sleeping potion between his lips. "If he still has a scar in September, I"ll fix it th—"
Harry stood in the candlelit room, looking at himself in the mirror. Almost six weeks of study and he now stood in the armor of the Darkness, a light drinking black scale- and chainmail over leather and silk, the armour quite different than his grandfather's due to Harry's mental image of armour.
"Excellent, lad. Most excellent. Now that you have a mental image you strongly understand you can begin modifying your mental image until the armour fits your style of combat."
Harry nodded, putting on a dueling pose Wallace had shown him with his wand hand over his head, aiming at his mirror image.
"And what is wrong with that pose?" Charlus asked.
"Umm…, oh! I'm waiting for their attack?"
"Yes! Never react, Harry! It's how people die. For now, stun or disable in some way then figure out what to do.
"Anyway, you mentioned Iron Man had cool armour?"
Harry nodded and took out his comics from the bedside table. He had a trade paperback missing a few pages and three comics with torn covers he had rescued from bins at school.
"And muggles can build these‽" Charlus exclaimed, shocked so much he accidentally floated into Harry.
Harry laughed. "No. I read this editor's note in an issue that certain aspects of the armour could be built but it couldn't fly or do some things."
Charlus looked thoughtful. "Harry, you're magical. You could easily build this armour, possibly by the time you're done in school!"
Harry's eyes went wide as he thought about it.
He whipped out parchment and his self-inking quill—filling a regular quill every line or so was infuriating and it was one from a package of seven that was a gift from Wallace when Harry complained about losing his last biro—and began writing the abilities Iron Man Armour had exhibited in the various comics he had had a chance to read.
As he wrote, Charlus said, "Once you have all the list and the list of things you want to be able to do, part of your school time should be spent researching magic that can replicate what the armor does."
"Yeah!"
Remus shook Wallace's hand as the wizard asked, "Are you both ready to go?"
Remus nodded. Sirius had spent over a month recovering and having his memories modified. Now that christmas was almost upon them, Sirius was finally to see his godson.
He came bounding down the steps and Remus sighed, muttering, "He's eleven again."
Wallace laughed as he opened the door of to vehicle.
In the vehicle, Sirius asked what all the buttons were for. With a muggle mother, Remus was able to demonstrate and explain all the functions of the vehicle then had to stop Sirius from having a drink when he realized there was a bar in the centre console.
"Why not?"
"Do you really want to smell like liquor? You're being evaluated to see if you're ready to care for Harry, you idiot!"
They arrived an hour later—Wallace had been told to take the long route by Charlus.
"Wale—oh, this is that pub they owned. Or still own, I guess," Sirius said.
Inside, a witch looked up from a book. "Welcome, do you—oh, it's you! Your rooms are this way. Harry went for a walk with his tutors. Wallace, he left a message for you," she said, holding out a folded sheet of parchment, the message written on the inn's stationery.
Wallace took his list and saw it was from Charlus via Harry, a list of supplies.
He went to fill it while Remus and Sirius were shown to their rooms on either side of the Weasleys's room.
"As soon as Harry comes back I'll let him know you're here. His suite is on the next floor up. Touch your wand to the name plate and say 'Harthacnut sucks' to open the door. If the door at the top of the stairs is locked just tap the sign of the cross on the glass. You know that?"
Remus nodded as she told them the time they served meals and other amenities of the inn.
"Sign of the cross?" Sirius asked after she left.
"Spectacles, testicles, wallet, heart," he said, tapping them on himself.
"Oh. That religious thing. Wonder why?"
"Well, her husband is muggleborn from the states so he could be religious. But I bet it's just a mnemonic to remember the opening."
They went upstairs and in Harry's suite found a small potion lab with the ingredients and recipe for a cleaning potion laid out, a small bookshelf with books for all seven years of school "—Hey, this is James's charm book! See? The flipstory I drew—," and a small pile of freshly laundered muggle clothing.
Remus picked up the potions book and saw childish handwriting had annotated the recipe. For a moment he thought Harry might be a potions genius then realized it was likely Charlus's advice. He picked up the quill and corrected the spelling of Julianne to Julienne.
The door opened and they turned to see Harry followed by a ghost and two redheads.
"Sirius Black, if I had hands I would—Harry, add a golem controllable by a ghost to the list—as I was saying, if I had hands I'd throttle you!"
"Pop‽" Sirius hadn't been informed about the ghost after his initial memory of him had to go, mostly because Remus wanted to see a moment like this.
Harry added the idea while Remus burst out laughing at Sirius's expression as the ghost floated forward and attempted to pat his cheek. "Sirius."
"Pop. You stayed after you died?"
"Charlie, Bill, give us a few?" Charlus asked.
"Of course, sir," Bill replied.
As soon as the door closed, Harry asked, "Did–did my dad ever mention the family magic?"
Remus nodded and after a moment, Sirius did as well.
"He said that one day he'd show us the most amazing thing ever," Sirius said but held his tongue on his then reply of 'But I already saw Lily in the shower.'
Harry closed the blackout curtain then the room was filled with Darklings, a two foot tall one electing to sit on Sirius shoulders as Harry had a decade before, picking its nose. As Harry had.
~·~
Sirius and Remus had spent an hour talking with Charlus in hushed tones in the corner while Harry had worked on the potion with Bill overseeing the work after Sirius has hugged the stuffing out of Harry and cryingly apologized until Harry had finally gotten him to accept his acceptance of his apologies.
"Alright, Harry, turn off the heat and bottle a sample and we'll test it."
He set the sealed bottle next to Bill's sample and Harry's shoulders dropped. It was a pale straw compared to Bill's lemon yellow potion.
"It's just a little weak, Harry. It would work fine in the home, just not at a level where you'd be able to work as an apothecarist." He took out some colored pencils then colored in a pair of bottles sketched on some parchment. "Look up various potion reactions and try to guess where you went wrong on yours."
Harry nodded then cleaned up his potions mess, pouring Neuman's Oane Newt-Troll-Eye-Soar—Garius Neuman had been a notoriously poor speller, using phonetics and mondegreens in product names—into the cauldron and swirling it with pure water until it turned a sludgy white, signifying it was done. Bill vanished it then Harry wiped it dry.
Instead of doing the potion studying right then, he and Charlie went down to the village so Harry could try to identify dragons by the components.
Charlus smiled as he watched his grandson turn the corner then turned back to the two while Bill left the room.
"I always thought James was joking about the Darkness," Remus said. "Is it really as powerful as he said?"
"The Darkness is the magic of the universe," Charlus replied. "It existed before life and it will exist long after we're gone. He'll be a fine Wielder. It's your job now to make sure he lives long enough to master his powers."
They nodded then Charlus chuckled. "Because once he Masters the Darkness coupled with the Potter curse, he will be a force of Nature."
"Potter curse?" Remus asked.
"Luck. Not good or bad, just luck. My father once sat down to figure out his bad luck and good luck events. It was neck and neck until he decided that had one more evidence of good luck than bad luck. Then my mother blew up the library trying out a new cleaning spell, knocking my father out when a trophy bludger got activated and it went straight for him. From the other side of the manse. Through eighteen walls.
"Just don't tell him about it. I want to see if its breakable."
"It's an actual curse?"
Charlus nodded. "Done by a Black, actually. When she was spurned by the sixth Wielder. She used her death to power the curse the grimoire says."
"Merlin, she used a blooded ritual to suicide curse him‽" Sirius asked. "Hu-uh… Claudia told me I'm the head of the Blacks, actually. I'll see if there's any info about it in the library."
"Well if you can find it, that could be useful but truthfully, the good has outweighed the bad," Charlus thought. "At least, I think so, looking back."
"Remus, you're going to be my regent," Sirius told him. "To deal with the shit I don't want to as a head of House and proxy for Harry's."
Charlus nodded. "Good," he agreed before Remus could even try to say anything. "Now, you need to think about where he'll stay before school next year."
"The family house is likely a mess," Sirius thought aloud. "The Potter Cove is gone. Sorry about that, Pop."
"Unless you broke our privacy spells, released dragon flu infected krups, and then blew up the house, you have no need to apologize."
Sirius flushed then realized Charlus was being his usual snarky self. "I had forgotten how much of a prick you were, Pop." The ghost snickered. "Oh! The island! When we were in Australia," Sirius said. "James and I got in to a high stakes poker game. We won an island! It's magically hidden and maintained by house elves."
"How do we get there?"
"There's a city in a cove nearby where we left the boat that can navigate itself to the island. Lily called it a Boston waiter."
"Do you mean a whaler?" Remus asked.
"Maybe?"
"You know them?" Charlus asked.
"Of them. They're a very good muggle brand of boats."
Charlus nodded. "You'll need to see if the island is still inhabitable. Remus, you work on the supply issues for ten. My old fireteam should he here soon. We'll leave after New Year's."
Harry sat down on the bench, thinking about all the changes in his life since Halloween night. "Keeper."
He peered out of a nearby shadow. "Master?"
"Do you know much about Sirius?"
"He's your godfather as you know. Your dad trusted him utterly no matter who his family was. He and your dad were proper villains at times," he said cheerfully.
"Villains?"
"They could be bullies but the people they bullied were bloodists."
Harry nodded. The recent history of the magical world was not good.
"And he loved you. When you were seven months old you urinated all over his face. It was hilarious."
Harry's mental image of how that happened left him with a confused face until he remembered a scene from a movie where a baby being changed did the exact same thing.
"He chased your father around the house, urine still all over him until he caught your dad then rubbed his face in your dad's hair to get the urine off.
"Your mother then transfigured them both into puppies that you played with for hours until you fell asleep, hugging puppy Sirius."
"So you and grandpa just watched us? All the time?"
"When he was awake, yes."
Harry nodded then stood. "I left my money in my room."
A moment later, a Darkling held out his wallet and the small money pouch and Harry grabbed them. "Thank you."
The Darkling gave a salute then vanished.
In the muggle portion of the village, Harry waved at the kids playing in the park then lined up to buy spiced hot cocoa from the café from the gorgeous redhead who owned the place. As she served him, Harry's cheeks reddened as she leaned forward, revealing the bright green bow on her brassiere. "Here you go handsome."
He turned even redder then fairly fled the café. He heard her chuckling as he was waved over by Isabella, one of the leaders of the muggle children in the village. "Hi Harry."
He nodded hello then took a sip. "You're all out of class?" he asked as he watched them building a legion of foot tall snowmen.
"Yeah, winter break began yesterday. Do you have a winter break?"
"Kind of. My tutors are going home in a few days but I still have classwork to do while they're gone."
"Boring. Miss Sarah's hot choccy is really good, eh?"
Harry nodded again then offered her a drink after he heard the Keeper whisper in his ear it was the polite thing to do.
Isabelle shook her head. "I had one this morning. If i can't fit in my christmas dress my mum'll kill me."
Harry was about to reply when Licorice and two boys from the mage quarter of the village appeared and Licorice called his name. "It's time for tea, Harry."
Harry said goodbye to Isabelle and the others then walked back Licorice as the two boys headed home on a different path.
Back at the inn, Harry and Licorice joined the guests for afternoon tea and the entertainment, a five piece string group.
Both children were rather bored during the recital and ended up leaving once they were full and ended up outside, making a snowman. Licorice pulled out a red licorice lace and a pair of bright pink all-sorts then a carrot for the face and Harry lifted her up to place them, the Darkness subtly reinforcing his clothing and taking most of her weight to make it look effortless. Licorice proclaimed that Clarice looked happy once Harry's scarf was wrapped around her neck.
This time they were called in as they started working on Clarice's snowdog.
Harry went up to change—tonight was dinner theatre—then when he got down to where his usual table was he saw it had been replaced and notecards for Sirius, Remus, Bill, Charlie, himself, Licorice, and Wallace were on the settings.
Harry put his watch on the table so his grandfather could better hear as the others took their places. Licorice pouted as she saw the booster on her seat then giggled as Sirius pointed out Harry had one as well.
Harry glared at Sirius who just smiled. Harry made a mental note to do what his father would do.
~•~
Sirius Black awoke to find his bed encased in a massive shipping crate and Remus rapping his fist on the outside. "Sirius?"
"What is this‽"
"It says 'fragile: booster seats' and a shipping label to send you to someone named Cheri Littlebottom from Harry.
"Wow. The runes on the outside are an anti-apparition jinx.
"It says there's a screwdriver to undo the screws from the inside if you can find them.
"Well I'm gonna go to breakfast."
"Remus!"
The door closed.
He spent the next hour and a half figuring out how to use the screwdriver and carefully feeling along the interior until he found the screws.
In Harry's room, he glared at his godson then picked him up, surprising him as he hugged the boy tightly. "That was brilliant!"
~•~
Remus, Bill, and Charlie had taken Harry out shopping for christmas presents while Sirius was being helped by Wallace to fill out Ministry parchmentwork.
"You used to be a hit-wizard didn't you?" Sirius asked as he worked out his current decaological sign. "Who bloody thought this kind of information was required‽"
"Some undersecretary convinced the Minister that the paperwork needed more identifiers. And yes, as well as an Unspeakable during the war. I beat you senseless during the combat training you and James went through."
"Why are you in Transport then?"
"I see everything in inverted colors. You're a bluish-black with white hair streaked by black. My glasses invert for me so i see normally but I couldn't enforce the law or research anymore."
"Wow," Sirius replied. "That's kinda cool sounding though."
"My wife finds it amusing. She'll show me an item and a color chart so I can tell her the exact contrasting color. She owns a style boutique if you want to fix your hair. Her hair color charm lasts a year and is finiteproof."
"I've been thinking about it—done, finally!"
He folded the parchment and stuffed it in an envelope then stood and stretched. "I'm going to deliver this then do some christmas shopping in Diagon Alley."
"Charlus said for me to protect you it you went out so gimme a couple minutes."
Sirius sighed and nodded. "I'll go wait by your car."
~•~
"So he's ten. What do you get a ten year old?"
"What did you want when you were ten?"
"To not be related to my mother. A broom?"
"He technically has a couple. From your stash in Hogsmeade? And he decided to wait to learn to fly until Hogwarts."
"Ah," Sirius hummed. "Makes sense. A gobstone set?"
"Licorice gave him one so they could play together."
"Oh, I know! And it's in my stuff so then on to Remus's present." He stroked the snowy owl who had been eyeing him and got a polite nibble on his finger from the bird before it went back to preening.
The two spent an hour picking out presents for Remus, the Tonkses, and a few others then they headed back to the village.
They stopped in the sitting room of the inn for mulled cider and Sirius found two of the witches were from his year at Hogwarts though from Hufflepuff. They had seen him in the village and drawn up lists of pranks they had thought were rather inventive. Sirius signed it then promised them both dinner to make up for the pranks they hadn't liked.
"I am in like Flint," he said softly after they left.
"You've seen that movie?" Wallace asked.
"Movie?"
"I'll show it to you sometime."
Upstairs, Sirius put his packages in his wardrobe and saw the remnants of the shipping crate was gone. He wondered how Harry had done it then realized the most likely solution: the Darkings had assembled it and his grandfather had told Harry how to draw the runes.
A house-elf popped in to the room. "Oh, guesty here. Sikky apologizes."
"I'm leaving, go ahead and clean. Oh, and you can wrap my presents if you like, just leave a card on top of each one with what's in it so I can label," he said as he dug out Harry's present and set it with the gifts.
The house-elf nodded happily and disappeared then reappeared with matte red paper with gold stripes and fluorescent gold paper with matte red stripes and red and gold ribbons as Sirius left—Sikky was very intuitive when it came to knowing color combinations the guests would like.
In the suite, he found Harry and Bill working on what he thought was third year runes material. "Making a light rune array?" Sirius asked. It was one of the first arrays taught because it was a simple one but could be endlessly complicated to create new functions and was one of the easier enchantments.
"He's showing me how the Egyptians lit their tombs."
"Oh, gubraithian flames. Your mum could do the charm. I think James could too but never saw him cast it. I've tried, not done it yet."
"The egyptians also has a runic array that caused wood to be renewed as it burned," Bill said. "Wrong, Harry. Remember, each rune has a specific stroke pattern. You went from right to left. That one requires left to right then down in the J shape to create it. The magic can tell if you did it wrong. It's as much ritual- as charm-work."
Harry erased it then redid the stroke using the silver and magicite ink.
As soon as he completed it, the burnt out sulphurhead of the enlarged match ignited and continued burning as Harry tried to blow it out.
The ink faded away when the flames burned down to the first rune and the match went out. "Excellent."
Remus and Wallace walked in as Charlie gestured for Harry to join him for a short class on the morphology of dragons.
Harry awoke christmas morning to find a pile of presents in front of his bed that dwarfed his father's school chest—which Sirius had retrieved for him on Charlus's recommendation—and a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a tray of biscuits.
He took a sip and sorted through the presents, a massive grin on his face. Three from Sirius, one from everyone else he had spent time with lately, including a large bag of homemade licorice from Licorice, and something from Bill and Charlie's mum if the Mrs. Weasley on the package meant anything. Even one from Isabelle, the muggle girl in the village who was the leader of the group and one he ended up chatting with fairly often outside of playing. He wondered how she had gotten it to him since the mage quarter was hidden then remembered Wallace liked jogging and she knew he was his minder.
"Glad I got her that journal," Harry said to the Keeper. "What are you doing?"
"Listing who you need to write thank you notes to."
"Oooh, good idea."
He began opening the packages, admiring the black sweater from Mrs. Weasley with its ornate green H on it, with what he thought was a red poinsettia leaf behind the H. Or it was a splotch of color. Either way, he liked it.
He decided to try it on and then opened the one from Remus as he tried a piece of licorice. It was incredibly sticky and very strong and Harry really liked it.
Remus had gotten him a book of photographs, mostly of his parents together but a couple of his mother alone or with friends when she was near his age and older and a lot of his dad with the rest of the friends. The first two photographs were of his parents as eleven year olds with their respective families just before leaving for Hogwarts, his father's picture magical while his mother's wasn't. He looked at them both, trying to see the similarities then continued on. Harry poked one with Pettigrew prominent in it. "Why did you betray people who would have died for you?"
The picture just waved and Harry closed the book. "Traitor."
"Don't worry, Master. We'll hunt him down and present you with his tongue on a platter and his skull to piss into."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's gross. And really awesome of you."
The Keeper grinned, quite evilly Harry thought. "Your great-great-great-grandmother once requested we bring her the reproductive organs of the witch who castrated her favorite kneazle. The Wielder talked her out of it but rather liked the idea of organ presentation that matched the offense."
"I think Sirius and Remus would prefer him alive," Harry decided. "They said something about krup-and-rat games."
He continued opening his presents and the Keeper continued writing down names and gifts.
Finally he was down to the last two, one from Sirius and one from his grandfather.
The small gift from Sirius was a small mirror with a huge runic array on the back and runes around the mirrored side along with a small scrap or parchment telling him how to use it: say Sirius's name and it would vibrate Sirius's mirror to let Sirius know Harry needed to speak to him.
"Very rare device," the Keeper said. "Technically illegal in the UK, your father bought them before second year while visiting Africa with your grandmother."
Harry blinked then noticed the smaller script in Remus's handwriting saying that technically the gift was also from James.
He swiped his arm across his eyes.
He opened his grandfather's gift and found it was a bladesheath for his wand and seven styluses that he thought were colored pencils until he read the note. They were Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet stained holly pencils with occamy silver bonded matching color charcoals to act as backups for his main wand, each diamond coated save for the eraser and the charcoal portions.
Harry affixed the bladesheath and grinned. Unlike Wallace's which looked like a supersonic jet in Harry's eyes, the blades on his wand spiraled around the wand, one blade metal coloured and serrated, the second black as night with a blue sheen to the edge, and the third a milky white with an orange sheen to the blade.
He pressed the stud that made the blades descend back into the hilt portion.
"Cool."
~•~
Dressed in overrobes over his muggle clothes, he went downstairs for breakfast, his stomach growling. Ever since the surgery he had been having trouble eating his fill due to not realizing he could eat more. His Darklings would remind him go eat more at his order.
Before he even had made more than a step into the dining room, Licorice was latched onto him, hugging him and babbling her thanks for her her new doll. He turned his head a bit, going red from how tight she was holding on to him. "You're welcome," he finally uttered, seeing the doll ballet dancing across the floor.
Sirius grinned at him then gestured over two beautiful women and a balding man. "Licorice, he needs to breathe," he said teasingly.
She turned redder than Harry and fled back to her doll as Sirius introduced his cousin, Andromeda and her husband Ted Tonks and their daughter—
"Just Tonks," the teenager said, sparing a glare at her mother who grinned.
He ended up sitting next to Andromeda and across from Tonks after Licorice left to go have christmas dinner with her parents in their rooms while Remus and Sirius fought each other with the toy wands from their crackers.
All wore the hats from their crackers and the meal was incredible then Harry and Tonks ended up sitting by the fire.
"Do you like music?" Tonks asked.
"I haven't really heard a lot except for soundtracks from movies."
"Here, check these out," she said, picking up her satchel and digging through it until she found a Sony Walkman.
For the next three hour Tonks gave Harry a crash course on east coast rap, punk music, and glam rock. Harry liked the east coast rap but loved the punk.
"Dora, it's time to go," Ted said. "It was wonderful to meet you Harry."
Harry stepped off the boat then turned to help Marianna. She smiled and patted his cheek then she, Atum, and Zebedee moved off to make sure the island was properly secured.
"They've got their own place to stay in," Charlus said, "and they'll set it up later. For now, Sirius, Remus, follow them. You might learn something. Charlie, Bill, your bungalow is the one near the tree line. Remus will be in next one then Sirius and Harry're in the big house."
Harry looked around the cove they were in. The island was k-shaped and they were on a jetty on the 'bottom' of the shape. Covered mostly with trees, there was a cleared area from the beach to the trees where the house, bungalows, and an ornamental garden lay.
Their new house-elf, named Sinister, jumped off next and grabbed onto the piling to stop herself from swaying.
"Harry, your anti-nausea potion."
He took it out and then Charlus told the house-elf to take a small sip.
It got the house-elf over her motion sickness and a nod of thanks before she disappeared to get to work along with seven crates of supplies and to find the surviving house-elf in charge of the island.
Harry's trunk floated off as well and Charlus said, "Why don't you explore a bit?"
Harry wandered off, following the beach until he came to the tidal pools in the next cove.
He watched a large fish swimming in a pool about nine times bigger than it until he moved and his shadow crossed it. The fish leapt and crossed the rock, its tail flicking the rock as it went back into the sea. Harry grinned as it swam away.
~•~
Harry, sitting in the kitchen, was nursing a mug of cocoa and eating some chocolate chocolate-chip cookies for a mid-morning snack. "Why is your name Sinister?"
"I is left handed," she replied as she jumped from the stove to the sink. Barely a foot tall, it was amazing how strong she was as she handily lifted a cast iron skillet Harry knew weighed more than she did.
"Sinister is an old word for left handed. House-elves are nearly always ambidextrous or able to use either hand for drawing and writing," Remus said as he entered the kitchen.
Sinister nodded furiously as she set out another mug of cocoa and cookies for him.
"It's an insulting name," Remus said. "Signifying she's less than capable."
"Oh. I thought it was cool. Especially since you're so dark, it makes you sound awesome. Like my Darklings." She was much darker than the other house-elves he had seen, her skin closer to a midnight blue than the greenish-brown to brown of the other house-elves.
She grinned and blushed as Remus nodded at Harry's summation. The house-elf had met his Darklings already and while they left her feeling nervous, they served her master so she accepted them in the household utterly.
"Sirius wanted to know if you wanted to learn how to fish?" Harry nodded. "He's out on the jetty."
Harry wrapped his cookies in his napkin and before he could stand, his mug was replaced with a travel mug at a snap from Sinister.
On the jetty, Sirius was making sure the poles were ready. "Hey Harry. Ready to learn to fish?"
He nodded and held out his cookies. "Want one?"
"Thanks," Sirius said.
Soon the two were sitting on the edge of the jetty, bobbers bobbing lazily, a light wind ruffling their hair as Sirius told Harry about his and James's first year at school.
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An owl floated down out of the sky, looking extremely tired. Harry blinked then realized it was a messenger owl. "Sinister, service." The house-elf popped in. "Can you find something for the owl? It looks really tired."
The house-elf brought a bowl or water and a squealing rat as Harry undid the package. "Ah, it's from Mr. Ollivander for grandfather. Thank you," he told the bird then headed into the house, figuring his grandfather would be reading.
He found him in the library, listening to the wireless.
"A package for you, from Mr. Ollivander."
"Ah. Should be the prototype." He gestured for Harry to open it.
Harry did so, revealing a wand with a crystal at the end and a letter. He set the letter on the table so his grandfather could read it then placed the wand above it. "Ahh, he got it done! Okay, pick it up and try a circle from the top clockwise then a jab and say lumos."
Harry did so and the light on the end turned orange.
"Okay, now a jab and wingardium leviosa. And draw out the oh lad."
The wand tip turned orange again.
This time he told Harry how to do the lumos spell properly and the wand turned green. "Excellent. When it turns orange, the incantation is correct but the movements are wrong. When it turns red, both are wrong. When it turns yellow, the incantation is incorrect but the movements were correct. We will make so much money with these!"
"How so?"
"Muggleborns can't practice magic at home. For the simple reason if they mess something up there's no adult to repair it. But with these, young children pre-hogwarts age can practice to their heart's content and anyone can practice outside school. For each year a different wand will be available."
"And they could come in designer styles," Harry suggested. "For the different houses or schools or quidditch teams or gold plated and the like."
"Yes! Brilliant!"
"You could add a tracking spell," they heard and turned to see Remus standing in the door. "So if people try to practice dark magic we'll know where they are."
"Oooh, yes. Best to set up a seller in Knockturn Alley selling 'modified' versions," Charlus said, using finger quotes. "A year or so after releasing the originals. For a bit less. We can shut the store down then open a new one a month or so later for more per wand. Do this repeatedly."
"But even knowing the right motions and words, it still takes time to realize how to shape the magic," Remus warned Harry.
Harry nodded and spent the next hour testing out various spells that Remus, Charlus, and—having woken from a nap on the hammock—Sirius suggested he should learn with Sirius and Remus adding a few dozen more spells to the list of spells Charlus expected him to know by the end of Hogwarts, putting asterisks by theirs as they reordered the list by year learned.
Atum and Zebedee stood in front of humanoid Darklings, the darklings holding a marking wand and swords.
Instead of bowing, the darklings attacked without warning, sword strikes towards their necks.
The two elderly wizards reacted incredibly spryly and during the fast and furious magic duel and sword fight, they avoided serious blows and magic attacks until finally Atum triumphed over his as Zebedee 'died' to his attacker, immediately 'saved' by a real blasting curse to the Darkling, dissipating it.
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed.
"It's alright Master," the Keeper replied. "The Darkling is just a manifestation. The only ones that have real personalities are myself, a few others in the redoubt, and the oldest Lightlings. His tactics were good," he said as Sinister brought both wizards water bottles.
Charlus nodded. "You must remember, the Darklings are expendable. In a pinch, even the Keeper is expendable because a new Keeper can be reformed. You as the Wielder are the only one that is necessary and even then, once you have a son, then you can take more risks.
"But remember! Calculate your risks. Don't rush in. Think you're walking in to a trap? Send in tiny Darklings on disillusioned paper planes they can control. They'll map the area for you." He continued on and Harry made notes, entranced by the ideas his grandfather had for everyday items.
Done with the notes and Atum and Zebedee having caught their breath, the two began his first arms lesson with a makeshift buckler and a sword. "Is a lightsaber possible?" Harry asked as he practiced against a Darkling his size.
"Yes," Remus said. "But everyone who's made one has injured themselves."
Harry grunted. "Can-can magic be like locked so it can't be used against you? Like a magnet pushes away another magnet?"
"That's…," Charlus trailed off. "Wow, I don't know. That would be some serious spell creation."
An hour later, as Harry was taking another break, he asked, "What about hiring people to develop ideas, like you did with Mr. Ollivander?"
Sirius and Remus both started writing, not having been as tired out from their own practice alongside Harry's.
Their time on the island was coming to an end. A home had been purchased for their use by Dumbledore, utilizing a very small portion of Sirius's reparations, an amount Albus had to fight not to grin about when he heard Fudge bemoaning it. Sirius having donated a large portion to various charities that Fudge was on the board for did help though, and the 'small' donation to Fudge's reelection campaign.
The house was particularly nice in a neighborhood near the Dursleys but larger and not part of their suburb, instead a series of what Americans called McMansions though the lovely young woman who had shown it to him described it as an 'Executive's Home.'
It had a large three car garage with two servants flats above it, perfect for Charlus's fireteam and a furnished basement below. Suitably reinforced, that would be perfect for Remus's monthly. The house had enough rooms for Harry to have his own bedroom and walk in closet and a separate library/playroom—as most purebloods of Potters's wealth preferred for educating their children via tutors before school, offices for Sirius and Remus with living and bedroom suites for entertaining privately, a media room—Albus had been amazed by that after seeing it demonstrated, a room with lovely sconces and built-in bookcases for a library, a massive dining room with space for a twenty foot dining table, six foot walls and fifteen foot tall shrubbery gave the backyard privacy with a wrought iron gate to a small bit of forested land that sound deadened a nearby motorway, enough room in the backyard for a nice sized magical garden and two trees perfectly spaced for a hammock, and a good sized basement that Albus had spent hours placing permanent charms to enlarge it and make it safe for Harry's training with open ended spells for adding to the capabilities then adding an unbreakable bracing form to hold the walls in place should the charms be broken.
He had also found Sirius's motorcycle near where Hagrid had left it and cleaned it up, parking it in the garage.
Low level muggle avoidance spells—muggle acquaintances could approach the home but a solicitor would pass it by—had been applied, a handful of other charms and jinxes for protection, and the recentering of the spell that protected the Dursleys's home and magically reshaping it so that both homes were protected by the spell from followers of Voldemort's.
It had taken nearly two weeks of time-turner abuse to do it but now instead of a dome, a tube connected each site, creating a permanent rainbow only visible to phoenixes and any who had been healed by true phoenix tears. A risk but phoenixes would be incredibly unlikely to heal someone who wished Harry harm.
Tired, he packed up his tent and called for Fawkes. Two hours of parchmentwork for the school and Minerva knocking on his door had him turn back two hours then head into his small quarters off the office for a kip.
After his nap, he nodded to himself as he disappeared backwards in time then opened the door. "Hello, Minerva. How can I help you?"
"I had free time today and was checking the student files for next year. Mr. Potter's is in some sort of flux? Only his name was visible, everything else was randomly shifting."
"Interesting. This happened with another Potter, actually. I just finished looking at the historical records and this correlates to an issue he had as well. I will hand deliver his letter myself." A Potter who became the Wielder before the age of Hogwarts had also had this issue, the magic inherent in his abilities scrambling the scrying abilities of the school's artifacts.
"Very well. Have you returned?" she asked as she fell into step beside him, walking to the stairwell to his office.
"Yes, save Ministry and International business, I am back until August nineteenth." His usual vacation time was nine days over that, utilizing his time-turner to turn it into nine weeks on occasion.
"The Head Boy wishes to speak with you about a recommendation for an apprenticeship with any of Flamel's students living in Africa and the Weasley twins have another detention requiring your review." He raised an eyebrow and she elaborated. "They were able to set a charm on the exit to the other house's entrances to turn their uniform robes golden and their hair red. Four first year muggleborns had some sort of nervous breakdown about being soulless gingers, Albus."
He snickered. "It is a meme circulating in muggle society at the moment. Older muggles and muggleborns understand it as a joke but first years are still young enough to think the joke to be true. I believe whatever you set will be fine."
She nodded and stepped onto the stairwell after him then headed to the great hall as Albus headed towards the library.
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Harry yawned tiredly as he stood in line, waiting to reenter England. He had spent the last month in a crash course of combat training, getting a grudging pass from Zebedee, pronouncing him fit enough to qualify for auror training's physical component—obviously he didn't have the educational base to join. The three members of Charlus's fireteam expected him to be able to run a seven minute mile then avoid spells from two of them for two minutes at the end of the year.
One aspect of his training had been very exciting to him. Incantation-catching was something he hadn't even mused on being possible until Marianna caught one of Atum's spells and flung it back at him, casting her own spell right after it, cracking his protego with his own stunner and hitting him with her tickling spell.
They had spent seven days practicing with Harry catching his first spell on the third day then only doing it with any consistency the fifth before catching all spells on the seventh. Though his timing on casting his own spells after was not as good. Some Spells moved faster than others. Harry had issues with selecting spells just slightly slower and instead occasionally cast faster spells, destroying both as they connected.
"Some Spells can be energized," Charlus reminded them. "Teach him the Konig."
The Konig turned out to be a static charge spell that on its own was annoying but when used on returned spells, its charge was much more powerful, capable of turning a tickling spell into a humiliating spell that caused the person to defecate and urinate from overstimulation. It affected a list of other spells as well and Harry had put asterisks on them after adding them to the list of spells he needed to learn.
"Kid?"
Harry was broken out of his ruminations on combat training. He turned and held out his parchment scroll and identification packet for the auror. He looked at the file then at Harry, his cheeks pink. "Oh, um, welcome back, Mr. Potter!"
Harry sighed along with Sirius as everyone within hearing distance turned at hearing his name.
"Harry, portkey," Sirius said. While he didn't actually have one, Harry stepped into the shadows and said, "Shank Safety."
"Why the fuck would you say his name out loud‽" Sirius hissed at the auror. "Finish processing our group, immediately. I'll be speaking with Amelia and Moody quite soon!"
"You can't talk to me like that!"
"Really? Who's going to stop us?" Atum said as the full group of seven adults, all veterans of wars or very dangerous careers looked down upon a fresh auror. "Chief Warlock Dumbledore was expecting us. Now we must move to the safehouse and retrieve the young Master and now you have added an hour long delay of process to our day."
They continued chastising him until a superior auror came along, apologized, then fast tracked them through customs, ignoring Remus's status due to the importance of his traveling companions to Dumbledore and their relationship to Harry Potter.
~•~
Harry left the suite and immediately walked into Mrs. Barq's breasts. She hugged him and Harry relaxed into the smell of bread, chocolate, and wine that came off her as she said hello.
"Hello, Mrs. Barq," he replied into the incredibly comforting warmth of the woman's bosom. This much contact should make me very uncomfortable, he mused.
She finally let go and said, "Licorice is in the village at the fete with her father. Why don't you join them?"
He hesitated then nodded. He wasn't supposed to go anywhere alone save safehouses but he knew every shadowstep-able place in the village.
He took a long route where he was never more than a few feet from a shadow then he saw Licorice and called her name.
Instantly she was a Harry seeking missile that tackled him to the ground as she hugged him then kissed his cheek. "I missed you so much!"
Her father got her off Harry then helped him up and touched his fingers to his forehead. Harry got the clue and pulled his hood into place. "How was Australia?"
"Awesome. You should go if you ever get the chance. Swimming the barrier reef is amazing, especially with gillyweed."
"What's gillyweed?" Licorice asked, holding onto Harry's arm.
"It gives you gills so you can stay underwater," her father said softly. "Tell us more later," he suggested and Harry nodded.
For the next two hours, Harry saw his shadows—Marianna and Zebedee in muggle clothes—following them. He flicked a Darkling at them and chuckled as it pinched them both before disappearing. Zebedee gave him a wink the next time they caught each other's eye but did nothing else.
Finally it was time to head back to the inn with a sleeping Licorice on her father's back.
"Taking off, really?" Sirius asked as he walked in.
"It was all calculated," Harry protested. For the next hour he had to explain his paths and plans to escape trouble. While everyone agreed his plans were good he still ended up with a future grounding. They would be staying at the inn for a few more days then they'd move to their semi-permanent home.
"Where‽" Harry asked after he was informed.
"Their house is a mile away," Sirius said. "And we'll only spend a few weeks during the summer there. The rest of the time we'll be in Australia, I think. Or traveling. There are other Potter properties and you have two living cousins in America that don't know they're Potter-Potters."
Harry sighed and nodded.
"Besides, that muggle friend of yours you mentioned lives nearby," Charlus said. "What is a media room?"
"A home movie theater," Remus replied.
"Ah, like that silent thing I saw in New York?"
"Possibly," Remus replied. "But now movies are in color and people speak in them. We'll get a good collection of films."
~•~
The new house was huge, Harry thought. The house on Privet Dr. was one of a hundred just like it, only with different cladding. This home was built to last from the best quality materials, he had read in the brochure. And the Headmaster had reinforced the home with so many spells the media room and any other room where they wanted muggle things—which were all rooms they decided, save the basement and the library, which were all getting strong muggle repelling spells—needed magic attenuation spells to protect muggle devices.
His bedroom was an explosion of red and gold with a large bed covered in gold silk sheets and a red comforter, a magic proofed telly—which was useless until they got service but Remus admitted he had a workaround with pink cheeks, a huge boombox, a stack of mix tapes and a few CDs that Tonks had sent him, his comics—Harry didn't know Remus had told Sirius they were serials and his godfather had told Remus to get him subscriptions to anything related to his 'treasures,' and his few clothes in a dresser. Harry had turned his nose up at any sort of shopping spree, finding his current clothes enough until Hogwarts.
The en-suite bathroom had a door to another room, his library where his father's trunk—in its desk mode—was with the combined Potter and Black Libraries, save the darker books which were stored downstairs, and his school books. His list of spells to learn and the latest prototype of wand was sitting on top of the letter from Ollivander asking about names for it. Harry had jokingly suggested the Wave And Know Device, dropping the k from know which had gone to the top of the list of names to Harry's chagrin.
He had an epiphany and added P to the front then wrote Prepratory over WAND then POTTER in between the two in brackets.
That evening at dinner—where Sinister had gone to the extreme in preparing all of Harry's favorites she had learned of in Australia—his new addition to the name got a nod of approval from Charlus.
"Excellent. The P works for both while keeping us anonymous."
"Squib artisans can do a lot of the work," Remus said. "And the first batch of prototypes can be done by us."
"Maybe sell some prototypes to muggleborns at a discount during the summer tour?" Sirius suggested. "To get feedback?"
"Wizard Ollivander's work is impressive," Atum said. "I will happily work on this."
Charlus nodded. "Yes to both."
"A lot of muggle and squib werewolves are mechanically minded," Remus said. "And the magical ones that aren't a part of his pack are usually pretty good at spellwork. We could recruit from there. We might have to train up but you suggested there might be a lot more ideas," Remus thought aloud, "so even if we transfer production over to another crew they can work on the next prototype. It would create loyalty," he said, grimacing at the thought. It felt disingenuous to think it that way but a loyal pack would be good for them as well as for Harry et al.
Charlus nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Harry has had some ideas, I have ideas, Sirius had an idea that didn't involve women dressed scantily,—" Harry couldn't help giggling at that "—and I'm sure you might have an idea someday too," he teased Remus, knowing the man was more often the one who made his sons' harebrained schemes possible.
After dinner, Sirius was looking through the various board games Remus had purchased and ended up spilling one all over the place. As Sinister popped in to resort the white and red pegs into two groups for each side of the game, Remus had an idea. He grabbed his notebook—everyone now carried them at Charlus's orders—from his pocket and began sketching a modified Battleship for magicals.
As Sirius and Harry played, Harry held up the submarine Sirius had sunk. "I wonder what a magical version of this game might be like. Like nundus and dragons?"
Remus gaped at him. "That—i'm writing exactly that! A magical version. Dragons for carriers. Nundus for battleships. A magically variable battlefield. I thought Battlewizards?"
Sirius abandoned the board and he and Remus began transfiguring bits of paper into parts and the coffee table books into boards.
Harry went to get Charlus and they came back to find the prototypes done and the two discussing how to enchant the pieces.
"You'll need three versions," Charlus said. "Obscenely expensive with gold and platinum pieces and gem thingies—what are those Harry?" "Pegs." "Yes, pegs, normal where stuff moves and is marked at player's command, and then a static set where the player has to mark it like a muggle."
Remus added that to the notes.
Tired, Harry headed up to his room to listen to one of the tapes Tonks sent.
Harry looked at the backpack of his father's, finally ready to open it. He touched his father's wand—both of his parents' wands had been stored along with every other Potter wand and trophy wand in the family vault—to the small lock on it and it snapped open. He placed it back on the small stand, crossing it with his mother's so they formed a slumping X under their muggle wedding picture above their wedding bands, his mother in simple white robes and his father in gold and red overrobes over a pair of dark red slacks and a black shirt.
He touched his own wand to the base, reactivating the protection spells.
Harry opened the bag and debated between dumping it on the bed or reaching in.
Looking in, he saw three pictures on the top. One of his father holding Harry as a newborn, looking down at him supporting his back and head with his hands while Harry rested in his crossed legs, revealing the tattoos that covered his father's body, many like Sirius's.
The next photo was of his mother asleep, Harry nestled between her bare breasts. Blushing at the image, he put it aside face down.
The third was of his mother wearing a muggle outfit, a short denim skirt, rainbow tights, and a white long sleeved top tied to show off her midriff.
Harry tucked the first and third photos into the frame of the wedding photo then put the topless photo in his small safe under the bed, weighting it down with his folder of copied parchmentwork of Sirius's adoption of him. There had been a short discussion during where Sirius had suggested that while legally he was now his father, James was Harry's dad and that term was reserved for him.
Remus had pulled Harry aside after and whispered, "If you're ever ready to say something like that, I suggest calling him Pad."
Harry had shocked Remus then by hugging him. "Thanks Moony!"
Shaking that thought off, he closed the safe and reactivated the dirty pants illusion then looked at the next items. A Sneaky Pete which Harry set aside—even though he was untrained he was registered as an official independent cursebreaker thanks to a short run-in with Fudge and a handshake that got into the paper and a signed copy of said paper framed for his office, a set of pure magicite rhodium stabilized cursepicks, a pocket knife he placed in front of their wedding bands, clothing he set aside, then a book. He looked inside and read a page of poetry about his mother, turning brighter red when he realized what dewy tulips meant. "Gah!"
A bag of money he set aside to add to the safe then the last item, something wrapped in a leather cloth. Setting it aside, Harry summoned his Darklings. The Keeper and two others appeared. "Open that, please."
The nameless Darkling did so eagerly then turned to present the bollock dagger with a very ornate penal haft.
"Oh, gramps told me about that!" It was a family heirloom from the fourteenth century, an eighteen inch dagger that could turn into a stave "with a knob on one end" for casting with or "just smacking idiots" gramps had said, snickering as he did so.
Harry took it reverently then placed it in the safe with the money and the book of poetry then he placed the Sneaky Pete and the cursepicks in his satchel.
He turned and saw the pocket knife then decided to leave it there.
Standing, he said, "Sinister, service."
The house-elf appeared. "I need a hook for the wall to hold up this bag."
She disappeared then reappeared with a oak leaf shaped plaque with a hook extending from it. One of many in the house though the spares were hidden by the house-elf. "Where, master?"
"Above the shrine." Behind his parents' photos was a shrine to Hecate with a cone of joss waiting to be lit.
Once she placed it, Harry hung the bag then thanked her and went down to train with Marianna.
1. I thought about using gendarmes or some other french term. I agonized over this decision, deciding that pre-statute, my magicals would have been close to a singular governing body for Eurasian and African magicals while the new world would be dominated by Shamans. European and Asian descent magicals in America go to Livermorny or schools in Eurasia while Native American/Indigenous descent magicals go to a school near Machu Picchu.
2. in canon, Harry's name doesn't come from this type of Potter but in fact comes from a king nicknamed thus due to his pottering around. I don't like that canon and elected to stick to what has become a fanon convention while, at the same time, utilizing the essence of canon.**
**totally by accident.
