AN: Holy crap, it's been nearly a month since the last update! I'm seriously sorry guys! I blame my writer's block and the general craziness that is my life. The next chapter will be in Gotham and how Prank is getting used to acting like Harry...hopefully it won't take me another month to put it up...
BTW, edited it slightly because of a mistake some reviewers pointed out.
"I can't believe you did that," Remus muttered, wiping soot off Harry for the second time that day.
"I can," Harry smirked before rubbing his forehead, "Um, Remus…am I missing an eyebrow?"
"…you're missing one completely and the other's partially singed off," Remus informed.
"…never had an explosion do that!" Harry beamed widely, extremely proud of himself for the bit of unintentional destruction he had caused.
"I'd tell you not to make a habit out of it, but it's far too late to do that," Remus sighed.
"You got that right!" Harry responded, laughing slightly as Jin licked the spot where his eyebrow used to be.
"Could you possible tone it down while you're at Hogwarts?" Remus asked, "I don't think anyone would be happy at the fact you could be the youngest person to be expelled in the school's history."
"I make no promises…unless they involve pie," Harry answered.
—HJH—
Remus glanced over to where Harry was sprawled out on the bed, asleep; Jin was curled up on the bed next to the tired boy and being partially used as a pillow, Harry sleepily muttered something about jelly donuts before shifting slightly and turning over. Remus smiled at the scene before quietly exiting the room, stopping briefly to cast a quick spell on the door to make sure no one else would enter until he came back; he quietly made his way through the empty pub and into Diagon Alley before going into Knockturn Alley, after making sure that no one was following him, for once he was somewhat thankful for his condition since it made walking through the gloom a bit easier and allowed him to quickly locate which shop might be the most promising. Entering the dimly lit shop, Remus scanned the room before being startled by the sudden appearance of the shopkeeper.
"Can I help you with something, this evening?" the man asked.
"I need a custom wand made, quietly of course," Remus spoke.
"You've come to the right place, what do you want it made out of?"
"It's not for me, it's for my…" Remus attempted to come up with a good excuse when he was interrupted.
"Say no more, who am I to judge who acquires these things? If you wish to know, there are several ways to make a custom wand," the man spoke, "But its true power lies in the core that's used, and I don't mean things like phoenix feathers or unicorn tails…"
"What do you use then?" Remus asked.
"I can make a core from the hairs of the person who'd be using it, a crystal with their blood in it, a variety of things…for the right price," the man informed, "Using blood is usually taboo as it has the unfortunate connotations of being used for 'Dark Arts' but they provided a much better flow of magic."
"…I'll come back tomorrow with the person this wand is needed for," Remus spoke, leaving a few coins on the counter to make sure the man would keep his silence and exiting the dark shop. 'Harry will be happy with this news…hopefully he won't try to blow up anything else in celebration.'
Remus was grateful to get back to the room and was amused to find that Harry had kicked off his sheets and was almost falling off the bed; he carefully nudged the boy into the middle of the bed and covering him up again before going to sleep himself.
—HJH—
"Hey Ze'ev, we need to figure out how I can contact home since you said Hogwarts doesn't have phones, which is really stupid, and owls would take too long," Harry spoke as they made their way down the alley, "By the way, why'd you make me change my look?"
Remus glanced down at the now blonde haired and blue eyed child before responding in a quiet voice, "We're heading into Knockturn Alley to get your other wand, so don't draw attention to yourself."
"…you're kidding, right?" Harry retorted, a disbelieving look on his face.
"Just keep quiet," Remus sighed, 'It's a good thing we left Jin behind, or else it'd be too hard to slip into Knockturn with him.'
"Which shop is it?" Harry asked, intruding on Remus' thoughts.
Remus glanced around slightly before pointing out the shop he had visited last night and quickly leading Harry in.
"Welcome back, sir, I believe that you said you'd be bringing along the person we were making the wand for…or was that simply an excuse?" the shopkeeper spoke, not seeing Harry.
"Down here," Harry retorted before muttering under his breath, "I hate being short."
The man looked down at Harry before glancing up at Remus, "I don't take kindly to jokes."
"This isn't a joke; in the muggle world, he has a tendency to do things that are…frowned upon by most people," Remus responded, "I doubt being in the magical world will change that a bit."
"If you try to mess with me, I'm strapping you down to a chair and will torture you slowly…starting with a cheese grater and tacks," Harry threatened.
"Don't do that," Remus spoke, "When your mother does it is bad enough, I don't need you to start."
"You're no fun!" Harry pouted.
The man cleared his throat in discomfort, mainly at hearing a child so earnestly and casually discussing torture, to grab their attention and spoke in a slightly strained voice, "Let's get started making that wand, shall we?"
"Can't wait," Harry responded.
The man collected a stone bowl that had runes carved into it, and started asking Harry several questions, adding an ingredient from a jar, pot, or bottle after he would answer.
"What're the questions for exactly?" Remus asked, after Harry had answered an inquiry about whether he preferred the darkness or light, the response being darkness.
"To craft this mixture specifically to him," the shopkeeper answered, "There shouldn't be anyone else able to even use the wand when everything is completed."
"But 'should' implies that someone might be able to," Remus pointed out.
"The chances of that are very slim; the person would have had to experience everything he has and be identical completely to him in everyway, especially if certain ingredients are added in," the man clarified, asking one more question on what was more important: riches or companions.
"Who says you can't have both?" Harry answered, causing a raised eyebrow from the man.
"I see…" the man muttered before adding one more item and giving the contents of the bowl a few slow stirs, "It's almost finished."
Harry wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from the bowl, "Okay, so what do I do now?"
"Just add some of your blood or hair or both if you like," the shopkeeper informed.
"This is getting really weird now," Harry muttered, plucking a few hairs off his hand and tossing them into the bowl before cutting open his finger and letting some blood fall, "Second time in two days I've lost blood without getting into a fight."
The shopkeeper let out a small noise of astonishment as the mixture started to turn a dark green, "Never seen that in someone so young…"
"What is it?" Remus asked.
"Nothing, nothing," the man responded.
"Tell me what's up, or you'll lose the use of one your hands," Harry threatened.
The man swallowed loudly in nervousness before speaking, "It's very rare, for a child to have such darkness in his systems. That usually happens if his parents were very dark themselves of he has been exposed to that kind of magic."
"Really… well, I've never been known to be a normal kid, so who cares?" Harry remarked, "Is there anything else I need to do or are we done?"
"No…just place your hands in the circles on the opposite sides of the bowl and try to focus your magic into it…if you can," the man informed.
"Don't underestimate me," Harry spoke, glaring slightly as he did as instructed. He closed his eyes as he exhaled slowly, not noticing that that runes carved into the bowl began gleaming an odd shade of green; they started at the circles surrounding his hands before spreading to the rest of the surface, bathing the room in an eerie glow.
The two men stared at the sight before becoming aware of the fact that the runes had started to go up Harry's arms.
"What's happening?" Remus asked, reaching out to pull Harry away.
"Don't!" the man warned, "If you disrupt him, there will be a magical backlash that will most likely injure us and ruin my shop. It's best to let this run its course."
"…if this is permanent or does any lasting damage to him, if you're lucky, his parents will only skin you alive," Remus warned.
