Disclaimer: this work borrows from the world of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books; some plot elements, characters, and concepts are hers.

Chapter 8: Hope

Harry felt a mixture of shock, embarrassment, and confusion as he looked into the suddenly frightening eyes of Mrs. Figg.

He wasn't sure what she meant by 'magically drunk' but there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind that it should be obvious.

Harry shot Mrs. Figg a questioning look. "What do you mean, magically drunk?"

Mrs. Figg sighed. "Have you had any potions in the last few days?"

"One, though it didn't seem harmful." He said, with the dawning realization of where this was going. "You mean that the potion got my magic drunk?"

Mrs. Figg nodded. "Yes." She said brusquely. "What was in the potion? And how long ago did you drink it? I need to know so that I can make a potion to re-stabilize your magical cores." She said, ushering the two up the walk to her front door.

"We drank it two days ago" Harry replied.

Jacob nodded "And it had ground dragon claws, ground unicorn horn, and shredded peppermint with an alcohol base." He said, remembering the ingredients that he had mixed.

Mrs. Figg stopped, and stared at the two of them in shock. "Dragon's claws and unicorn horn?" she nearly shrieked. "Are you insane? And you survived two days with that in your systems? You should know better than that Harry! Couldn't you feel the effects increasing? You're lucky that your magical core hasn't ripped you apart yet, and half of Surrey with you!"

Harry hung his head. Now he knew how his friends felt at school when their parents sent them a howler. He wanted nothing more than to be able to sink into Mrs. Figg's walk and disappear. He felt humiliated.

Jacob was standing in a similar fashion, until part of what Mrs. Figg had said clicked in his mind.

"What do you mean, increasing?" He asked curiously.

Mrs. Figg sighed and started moving them towards her front door again.

"I mean increasing! The warm tingling inside you, that changes from warm and tingling to searing fire and the feeling of hot pokers being rammed into you as your magic destabilizes and rips itself –and you- apart."

Harry's head shot up, and he stopped, fixing his bright green eyes on Jacob.

"That feeling has been diminishing for me, how about you Jake?"

Jacob nodded. "It has been going away for me too. And I have been regaining control of my powers slowly since drinking the potion, haven't you?" Harry nodded.

Mrs. Figg once again looked at the two in shock, and shook her head. "Be that as it may, the two of you are taking a stabilizing potion as soon as I can brew it." She said firmly, ushering them inside.

Harry looked at Luna in surprise as Mrs. Figg firmly guided him past her into the kitchen.

"Sit" she commanded in a not unkind voice.

She quickly pulled a cauldron out of a magically enlarged cupboard and set it on the stove, lighting the gas burner below it with a wave of her hand, as she quickly started preparing the ingredients.

Over the next hour Mrs. Figg alternated between scolding the boys, asking Luna for help, and talking excitedly- though half to herself- about the possibilities of modifying Jacob's experiment into a stable, non-dark power enhancer.

Mrs. Figg made the boys drink the potion that flickered between electric blue and sickly green.

Nearly instantly after drinking it, Harry felt the tingling feeling leave, and the warmth that still enveloped him seemed to settle deeper inside him.

Finally allowed to speak rather than be spoken to, Harry turned to Luna.

"Hi Luna, how has your summer been" Luna smiled "It's been allright Harry, I'm staying with Mrs. Figg since Daddy has a lot to do right now, she is an old friend of his."

"Harry" Jacob said nervously "I don't mean to cut in, but we should be heading back, Mum will be worried that we were gone this long."

Harry opened his mouth to object, wanting to talk with Luna some more, but he stopped, seeing Jacob's point. "Allright Jake." He said, and turned back to Luna. "We'll talk later then, alright?" Luna nodded, and the two hurried out the door, and back towards number 7 Privet Drive.

"Well, I'm glad we got that taken care of" Harry said with a relieved grin. He had been getting worried over the effects of Jacob's potion, and was glad it had been resolved.

As they were about to turn the corner onto Privet Drive, Harry saw a shape shoot up into the sky, growing as it did so.

He turned and looked at it, and froze, a feeling of dread sweeping over him as he saw the image of a skull floating in the sky, with a sickly green snake coiled around it, coming out of the mouth.

Harry didn't know how, but somehow he knew what it meant. "Oh god no, not Karen" he pleaded as he sprinted around the corner, hoping that someone was listening.

Jacob picked up on his panic, and quickly caught up to him. "Harry, what's going on?" he asked, his voice filled with fear. "What's that thing have to do with mum!"

"Nothing, I hope" Harry panted in reply "Jake, if you see anyone in a white mask, kill them and ask questions later" He said as he drew the silver katana from it's magical sheath, still sprinting down the street. "I'll explain later."

Jacob nodded grimly, drawing his own sword. If you threatened Jacob's family, then hopefully god would have mercy on you, because there was no way in hell Jacob would.

Harry heard the faint cracks of the Death Eaters disapparating.

The scene at number 7 Privet Drive brought up memories buried deep in Harry's mind. He had seen this done to a house before, but where? The front of the house was blown open, and debris had been showered everywhere. Inside the living room, which had a wall missing, he saw a crumpled form lying amongst the ruins.

Harry walked toward it, nausea sweeping over him.

Rather than a look of terror on her face, Karen had a look of peace, though it was mixed with pain and fear.

The only things that Harry could feel at the moment were vague surprise that Karen had not died with a look of terror on her face like all of the other victims of the killing curse that he had seen, combined with an overwhelming rage.

Why Karen? She was a peaceful, loving woman. She wasn't a wizard, and had never even interacted with the wizarding world, or anyone in it.

Except for Harry. He realized that with a pang of grief. This was his fault. He realized that someone had either followed him and Jacob home, or placed a tracking charm on them. They come there to find him, and since they couldn't find him, they had killed Karen instead.

With that realization Harry dropped to his knees, tears falling freely down his face.

Jacob stared at his mother's corpse in shock, but soon anger overwhelmed his shock and grief. "Harry, it's time for that explanation." He snarled angrily. "Who did this?" he nearly shouted.

"Death Eaters." Harry said sadly. "They are a group of terrorist wizards who believe that only pureblooded wizards deserve to survive." He looked around and shuddered, realizing that he recognized the damage to Jacob's home from when Voldemort had killed his parents, and tried to kill him as a baby.

"This is what they do." He forced himself to continue. "They kill publicly, and leave, I think it's called a hit-and-run tactic"

Harry shook his head "First Bella killed Sirius, and now this. It's just too much" he said sadly.

Jacob firmly shoved his emotions aside. He would grieve later, first he had to find out about the monsters who did this to his Mum.

"Bella? Bella Black?" he asked sharply. Harry stared at him in shock. "Her married name is LeStrange, how do you know her?"

"Bloody cow!" Jacob muttered under his breath, and stalked quickly to the filing cabinet in the study, he quickly opened it, and searched for a moment before he found what he was looking for.

Harry stared at the piece of paper that Jacob held in front of him.

It was a muggle birth certificate. What shocked him were the names.

Father: Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Mother: Bellatrix Black.

Name: Jacob Black.

Harry looked up at Jacob "Jake, how is this possible?"

Jacob sighed. "I was adopted by mum and dad when I was a year old." He explained evenly. "When I was born, my mother was in prison for working with a terrorist group, I was taken from her at birth and placed in an orphanage. I don't know anything about my parents except that they were terrorists who were ruled to be unfit parents, and their names." Anger tinged the sadness in Jacob's voice now "And honestly, that's all I want to know. Karen's my mum, Rick's my dad, and I'll be damned before I give anyone else those names!"

He looked at Harry, fire in his eyes now. "Black worked for the same terrorist organization that did this to mum, didn't she?" he asked with venom in his voice.

Harry nodded. "Yes she does." He stated softly. "They broke her out of prison a while back, she killed my godfather about a month ago." He said, tears forming in his eyes again. Jacob nodded sharply. "How do we fight them?" he asked simply, grim determination in his voice.

Harry shook his head "I don't know Jake" He said quietly, and sighed.

"They have taken everything from me. My parents, my godfather, people who were just friends like your Mum. Everything I have ever hoped for is gone. I don't know what else I have left to hope for." Harry sat there silently, tears running down his face. He had never felt so miserable in his life.

"Harry, hope is not a living thing, so it cannot die. Hope is a weapon, which is made. Look at what people do for hope. They will sacrifice everything for it, they will sacrifice their lives, their homes, and their families for hope." Jacob said, talking to himself as much as Harry.

"Hope will drive people to do terrible things, and impossible things.

Hope has not died, Harry, the wizarding world has simply run out of it, and someone needs to make more."

"How do you make hope, Jake?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Hope has three ingredients, difficult to find, but easy to gather once found. Hope is made from the blood, sweat and tears of someone willing and able to fight without it."

Harry nodded, and shoved his grief for Karen and Sirius aside roughly. He would cry over their deaths after he had avenged them.

"I wish we had someone else to help" He muttered to himself

There was a gentle popping sound.

"Harry Potter sir needs help?" a small squeaky voice asked. Harry blinked, and looked at the small figure that had appeared beside him. The creature was about three and a half feet tall, it wore a pink top hat, with holes cut for it's bat-like ears, a lime green woman's tank top that had the words 'Yes, they're real' emblazoned on the chest, a green and red kilt, a pair of tie-dyed socks, and a pair of flip-flops that were twice the size of it's feet.

"Dobby?" Harry asked quietly. Dobby grinned "Harry Potter sir is needing help?" He asked "Dobby always helps Harry Potter sir, if he asks!"