Runaways

Moon: Welcome back to runaways! I admit, I'm surprised how many people have liked this, since it was meant to be purely experimental! Thanks for that! I promise, promise, promise I'll try to avoid 'invincible sue Potter' plotlines that usually spawn from Harrry/Claire leaving the Dursleys. If she's going to get powers there's going to be an explanation for them, like tudoring at home or a strange book!

I do not own Harry Potter! Enjoy1

Chapter 3: Dragon Familiars, Singing and Painting

At the same time, Claire, Ginny, Luna and Draco had sat down on the beach sands, awestruck by what they were seeing.

Literally hundreds of dragons were flying overhead. They were surprisingly friendly with both each other and the kids, as in they didn't attack them despite them being on the beach. They were radiant, so many types and breeds were flitting about it was like many jewels had been thrown into the air and were hanging there.

Ginny had brought one of her many dragon books and they played a game of identifying as many species as they could while they were there.

Suddenly, several young dragons broke free of the crowd and swooped down to the beach. The kids sprang to their feet and watched with wide eyes as the dragons speculatively looked over them, and then inclined their heads, as though telling them to come forward.

Tentatively, they all did so, Draco looked close to hyperventilating, "Oh Merlin it's actually happening, I can't believe it!" Claire was too psyched by the situation to ask what he was going on about.

Luna looked at a snow-white dragon that glittered like ice and smiled, "oh yes, my name is Luna. What's yours?" The dragon snorted and walked closer. Luna raised a hand and, her friends waiting on baited breath, she placed her hand on the dragon's snout. "Aletha? Oh, that's very beautiful name. It means truth." There was a brilliant flash of multicolored light, then Aletha snorted playfully and nuzzled Luna, almost causing the laughing girl to fall over.

"Dragon familiar." Draco squeaked, "Luna as a dragon familiar!"

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Luna was ecstatic, she rambled about Aletha for quite some time even after they stopped flying. the other dragons became more friendly when they saw Aletha bond with Luna and let the other kids ride on their backs for a little. Claire was just happy Stormcaller liked her.

Eventually they sat down in a circle in the Entertainment Room before Draco said, "Wow, just wow. You're a lucky girl Luna. Dragons willingly offering themselves as familiars hasn't occurred since the time of the Founders."

"Who were the Founders?" Claire asked. "You said they founded Hogwarts, yes, but what else did they do?"

Draco looked all to happy for an excuse to launch into a history lesson. "Godric Gryffindor was on of the greatest duellists who ever lived. He was one who decided to pull the magical world back from the muggle one, resulting in the ward lines and separations that still exist today. Helga Hufflepuff was a healer, she started some of the first real hospitals. Rowena Ravenclaw was a philanthropist and a consummate teacher; she was the one who decreed that everyone had a right to learn, not just pureblood nobles. And then there was Salazar Slytherin. He was a genius when it came to spellwork. He created and organized many of the spells that became commonplace, and it was his quick thinking and hard work that saved many young witches from the muggles pyers."

Ginny glanced at Claire, "Claire, why did the muggles try to kill all witches?" She asked, frowning.

Claire sighed, "The muggles used to believe that a woman could get magic by selling their soul to the devil in exchange for powers, and that they used it to bring bad luck and suffering on the people and land around them."

"Are they talking about Necromancers?" Luna asked.

"Necromancers?" Claire echoed, confused. "Those exist too?"

Draco and Ginny wore equal looks of repulsion. "Necromancers are the foulest wizards that exist in this world," Draco told her, "No necromancer is a good person; and some wizards have hypothesized that they get their powers from dread spirits."

"That would make sense. And the muggles wouldn't be able to tell a Necromancer from a normal witch, so they'd attack anyone they saw using magic." Ginny concluded.

"Merlin, that sounds terrible." Draco said with a sigh.

"My mum says all kinds of terrible things about Slytherin though," Ginny said with a frown, "I thought he hated all muggle-born students."

Draco threw back his hand and chuckled dryly, "I thought that too. Blaise laughed when I told him that."

"Why?" Luna asked.

"History is written by the winners, Luna." Draco responded. "Slytherin and Gryffindor got in some sort of fight about something some time after they finished creating the school. Blaise wasn't sure of the exact details, but it was really bad. Slytherin left, and Gryffindor – being oh so noble and chivalrous – did everything in his power to demonize the memory of his former friend. Thus, the history that we've been told."

Claire scowled, before saying thoughtfully, "Well, that at least explains why everyone treats Slytherins badly. It's kind of like Richard the Third after Henry the Fourth usurped his throne. Henry put it out that he killed his nephews, and that he was a horrible baby-killing tyrant. Historians now believe that he wasn't guilty of half the things he was accused of."

"It's remarkable that there are parallels between societies that couldn't be more different," Ginny mused, "I wonder if muggles and wizards can live together peacefully one day."

Draco smiled wryly, "Don't put it on the calendar Ginny. Purebloods barely tolerate wizards and witches born of muggles, they'd flip out at the thought of having to share the world with non-magical people. And right now they are the people in charge of many places."

The four young kids thought about that for a minute, "I want to start recording music tomorrow," Claire said. "And maybe do some painting."

"Sounds like fun." Draco said. "But maybe we should get some sleep now."

Ginny yawned expressively and said, "Sounds like a good idea." They said good night and all went up to their respective bedrooms.

Claire saw a letter sitting on her bed, and it was addressed from "Lupin". Excited, she sat down and opened it. Remus had sent her some pictures of her parents along with a letter. He told her about some of the maurader's exploits back in school and about her mother, Lily Evans.

Claire went to sleep happy, he was doing well and now she knew more about her parents. And about Sirius Black. Claire couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was something wrong regarding Sirius's supposed betrayal, she'd have to think about it more tomorrow.

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The next morning Claire woke easily enough, got dressed and went downstairs. She went into the music room and looked around. Everything was sitting pretty and shiny, waiting for her. Claire slowly got onto the stage and walked to the microphone. She turned it on, along with the recorder on the sound system.

She stared at the mic for a second, and then the words started coming.

"I don't care what they say

I'm in love with you

they try to pull me away

but they don't know the truth

my heart's crippled by the vein I keep on closing

you cut me open and I

Keep bleeding,

keep, keep bleeding love

keep bleeding

keep keep bleeding love

keep bleeding,

keep, keep bleeding love

you cut me open,"

And it kept going. The words just seemed to come to her, along with the image of her dancing with a red head in a massive room during a party, with people laughing and shouting joyously. The image left her feeling very adult, especially when dealing with the redhead, whom she loved, but couldn't tell who it was. Hell, she wasn't even sure if it was a boy or a girl, the image was blurry. Surprisingly, the thought it might be a girl didn't particularly bother her.

A strange thought, but she was already different so what would a little more different matter?

She glanced to the right as she was nearing the end of the song, Luna was standing at the doorway. She smiled and pointed at the piano. Claire nodded, and as she closed the song Draco and Ginny walked in as well.

Draco: "Need a backup?"

Ginny: "Can I play drums?"

Claire laughed and said, "Sure thing."

Her two friends grinned and hopped up on stage. Draco grabbed the second mic in a way that was so dramatic Claire couldn't help giggling, and Ginny looked like a hungry shark as she overlooked the drums. Cute and petite she might be, that girl could be a demon when the energy struck her.

They kept at this for a few hours. Claire's lead voice was like 'angels singing' as Stormcaller would tell her later that evening, Luna and Ginny were liked fiends on their instruments, and Draco's tenor voice actually wasn't half bad, despite the aspirations he himself had cast on it earlier.

There were several songs, and they just seemed to come to Claire. Luna told her it was the nature of empathetic magic, and that depending on her mood or the shape of their future different kinds of songs would come to her.

'Bring Me to Life' was rattled out right after 'Bleeding Love'. Then there was 'Run' and 'My Hands', two sadder songs when the kids thought about what they had to leave behind. 'Fear' and 'Asylum' came from the pain and fear they had suffered. By far the most fun 'Heart Attack', which was light hearted again and about love. It went on for a few hours.

Claire eventually got tired and had to drink water. Ginny shut off the recorder and said, "You know, we could totally sell that to a record company. Listen to that!"

"It sounds awfully beautiful and mature for kids our age." Luna remarked. "It's like our voices got deeper."

"Lunch, anyone?" Draco suggested.

After lunch they went on a dragon ride around Norway. Draco was right – it was a beautiful place, and there were so many things to look at. The cities and the mountains, the forests and the ocean were all prime painting material. Claire decided that she was the luckiest girl alive.

After dragon riding was painting. Draco was good at this, and explained that as a Malfoy he was expected to have some talent at the arts, for an air of sophistication. Claire let her mind wander when she started to paint after mixing it carefully, eventually she ended up painting the image of innocence, it was herself, Luna, Ginny and Draco with angel's wings and a golden glow around them.

They spent several hours painting landscapes and creatures, getting themselves quite dirty while they were at it. The images at the end were pretty, but in a rather ethereal way, like they were looking into Elysium or one of the nine realms, something far above the world of men.

At dinner, still wearing paint-stained clothes (much to Missy's dismay), Claire glanced in the direction of the one room they hadn't tried out yet and suggested, "How about we try out the ballroom?"

They walked into the ballroom, it was expansive and probably the most beautiful room in the house, and that was saying something. Draco went through some of the records Missy had brought in, he eventually picked something and put it on a record player. He then offered his hand to Luna.

"May I have this dance?" He asked politely with a friendly smile on his face. Luna looked at his outstretched hand with a look of indecision on her face.

"But, but I can't dance Draco," The blonde said, her voice unusually timid. Despite her oddness Luna always had a certain strength of character to her, like the unmovable foundation of the world. Seeing her vulnerable was simply strange.

Draco seemed to think this too, he smiled kindly at her. The smile softened his angular features, made him look approachable and, actually, fairly attractive. "Don't worry...I'll show you how."

Luna's smile lit up the entire room.

Ginny and Claire looked at each other. Ginny took in Claire's ethereal beauty, from her smooth pale skin to her long raven hair to her brilliant emerald coloured eyes, she was like an angel, it was more than the fake, paper-thin images that the media sold them about their 'Savior', it was too soft and powerful to be anything other than angelic and tangible.

To Claire, Ginny was all fire and passion, her entire body from her flame hair to her golden brown eyes was perfect, like a bolt of lightning jagged and white hot. She appreciated the warmth and the light that came from that fire, she was glad to have Ginny, it was like there was a space in her soul that Ginny filled up.

Claire reached out and took Ginny's hands and slowly they started to dance to the music. They were quickly swept up into the beautiful tones of the violin and flew around the room right behind Draco and Luna. It was wild and passionate and Claire could almost feel their souls intertwining.

Eventually, the music slowed to a liting pace, Ginny was still holding Claire close as they tapered to a waltz. Ginny searched her soul-bond's eyes and said, "Something's bothering you Claire, I can see it in your eyes...what's wrong, you know you can tell me."

Claire looked back into those golden brown eyes and knew she could, "there is something...I'll tell you after we're done dancing."

A little while later the runaways holed up in the entertainment room, their designated meeting room, to talk. There was an official meeting room but they decided that would only be used to hold 'war councils' should the need ever arise. It was there she told them what had been nagging at her.

"Wait, you think Sirius Black is innocent?" Ginny repeated.

Claire nodded, "Some times I have dreams, like I can hear my mom begging Voldemort not to kill me before she died," all four of them cringed a bit, "but my other dream was my godfather, Padfoot I called him, came to get me soon after my mother died saving me. He had to give me to someone else because he had to go after the person who betrayed my parents, Wormtail. If Sirius Black is my godfather then he can't have been the one who betrayed my mother and father, he can't be."

"Did you say Wormtail?" Draco asked sharply. When Claire nodded he said, "my dad mentioned when he was really drunk on victory that there was a Death Eater who could was a rat animagus who was also a spy. Called him Wormtail. Also I found this map in the Black vault." He took out a small piece of parchment, pointed his wand at it and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Immediately a map appeared, it was the inside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Firstly the title said "Prongs Padfoot Moony and Wormtail are proud to present the Mauradurers Map." there were a lot of names on the sheet but it was the title that stuck out.

"Okay, so James Potter had three friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, they must be the other three names mentioned here." Luna said. "Who is who though?"

"Remus must be Moony, he's a werewolf so the name makes sense." Ginny said. "And since James died that night that only leaves Sirius and Peter. Sirius was Padfoot so Peter must be Wormtail."

"Wormtail, as in the slender tail of a rat," Claire realized.

"Of course. Son of a bitch!" Draco exclaimed, "That all makes sense, Pettigrew was the spy, he gave up the location of the Potters. That crime seen had been perfect – too perfect! If he could turn into a rat, he could have held his wand behind him, shouted that Sirius betrayed the Potters, killed those muggles, transform into a rat and escape unnoticed, leaving Black behind with a wand in his hand and the only person at the crime scene."

"Uhh, guys? It says here that Peter is in Hogwarts right now." Luna said. She was pointing at the Gryffindor dorm. Sure enough, Peter Pettigrew's name was sitting right next to Percy Weasley, one of Ginny's older brothers.

"Shit," Draco said, stupefied. "The little bastard is still out there."

The four kids looked at each other. Claire was in a quandary, they had all sworn they would never return to Britain but she couldn't just let the traitor who got her parents killed walk free while her innocent godfather suffered in the worst prison in existence.

Ginny voiced her thoughts. "What do we do? I suppose we could fly in on Stormcaller and the others and blow a hole in the place, but we'd still be vulnerable to Dementors and we don't know which cell block he's in. Plus if we don't clear Sirius the Ministry might be able to get a cross-border warrant to chase him into Norway."

"We'd have to get Pettigrew." Draco said, already in chessmaster mode, "frankly I don't trust a single soul in Britain enough to want to stick a foot over the border but this calls for drastic measures. Pettigrew must be staying with the Weasley family so he could keep an ear out for Voldemort's return. So he'll probably stay with that family for as long as he could, they're poor enough that they wouldn't question the fact that he's living longer than most rats should as long as it means one of them as a familiar. We can't go to Dumbledore or the Ministry until we have him because Dumbles would brainwash us and the Ministry is utterly useless. I think we should take a single year of school at Hogwarts and grab him while we're there. It'll also give us a chance to deal with loose ends."

"Great. Brilliant. We'll do that then." Ginny decided.

"Draco, speaking of You-Know-Who, how exactly is Voldemort keeping himself alive?" Luna asked.

"Very dark magic, Bellatrix mentioned it a few times when she was really drunk. Lucius never repeated what he heard around me but I think it has something to do with splitting of the soul." Draco said.

Claire blanched, "but that's an abomination."

Draco snorted. "You think he cares? His only concern is becoming an immortal tyrant, no matter what logical fallacies might be involved. We can look into that later. Firstly, we need a plan."

"Don't get sorted into Gryffindor or Slytherin." Claire said. "It will draw lines that we can't afford having drawn around us."

"Don't get involved with any of the teachers. Stick with other students who are in the fringes, or who aren't accepted by others." Draco added.

"There are going to be a lot of powerful people who will want to control us. I think we better kick up our magical learning, I think we should already be past the first grade when we get to the school." Ginny said worriedly. The others nodded. "And make sure our return here is locked in ironclad legislation. No locations will be disclosed."

"I'll ask Missy to find us a map to that magic mine I've mentioned before." Draco concluded. "So, we get Pettigrew and have Sirius released. I'll be sure to reinstate him and my aunt Andromeda back into the House of Black. Then we get the hell back here."

They nodded and put their hands together, sealing their pact.

Draco leaned back in his seat and said, "Who wants to become an Animagus?"

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They went into that mine Draco had talked about.

They couldn't tell anyone else what they saw, since spirits who had made visits from the afterlife were known to be irritable. And you never wanted to irritate a ghost.

The first thing the four runaways learned how to do was foster a mind-link between each other. It was complicated magic but their closeness helped foster it faster than any other wizard in the last few decades, and soon with some concentration they could have conversations solely inside their heads. They also learned to be able to tune each other's thoughts out when they weren't having a direct conversation so they could respect each other's privacy while also having this as emergency or secret communication.

They also focused on strengthening their familiar bones with Stormcaller and the other dragons, they could feel their closeness now like a second heartbeat and if need be they could call on the dragon's magic reserves when they needed to make a more 'conclusive' attack, or when they needed an extra power kick. They just had to be careful how much magic they drew from each other so that no one got exhausted or hurt.

It took them several months more study the transformation themselves into animagi, to be sure they were doing it right. It usually took years but these were smart children.

End Chapter

Okay, it's a bit shorter than the other two but it's more of a bridge and an interlude. The next ones will be longer.

Read and Review please!