CHAPTER 6:

GROWING BONDS

A few weeks later…

"In other news," Lisa Lavender, the main reporter for the Vale News Network, said, "Sanctum Academy has a prodigy that has already made her mark at the age of 14. Pyrrha Nikos won the Mistral Regional Tournament with a superlative display of skill beyond her years…"

As an image of a red-haired girl with green eyes, and dressed in vaguely Grecian armour came up on the screen, Sirius whistled. "Hey, Moony. Doesn't this girl look a lot like Lily?"

Remus, who was also watching the TV, nodded. They had been watching a soccer match when the news came on. "And don't whistle at her. She's 14, Padfoot."

"Hey, I'm just wondering whether Harry shares Prongs' propensity for redheads," Sirius said with a shrug.

"He's not James, Padfoot. He wasn't even related to them."

Before an argument could break out between them, Qrow spoke up from where he was seated, a bottle of beer in his hand. "Give it a rest, you two. I ain't drunk enough yet to deal with this crap."

"That can't be healthy for you," Remus observed.

"Nope. Aura does wonderful things when it comes to enhancing liver regeneration, though," Qrow said cheerfully.

"You're not setting a very good example for your son," Remus pointed out.

Qrow shrugged, his cheerful demeanour deflating. "Maybe not…but that's what Taiyang is for. I know I'm not a good role model. At best, I'm the fun uncle. Between the missions for Oz and other things, I'm not so sure I'd be that good for Harry. Besides, he was still givin' me the stink-eye when I came here yesterday. Can't blame him. As much as yanking him from Earth was Raven's doing, I was pretty much her accomplice. If that greasy-haired bastard didn't make things go sour, I could have explained things to him better."

"Hindsight is 20/20," Remus said. "Harry will come around. He's just…in shock over the whole thing. I'm more worried about your sister."

"Raven ain't gonna do much. She's a bitch…but I guess she cares more about her family than I gave her credit for, even if that ain't much."

"Hey, changing the subject, what happened on your mission? I mean, with the White Fang?" Sirius asked. "Anything you can tell us?"

"Not much. It wasn't that exciting, just tracking the movements of the cell led by Adam Taurus. Now there's a nasty piece of work. He's worse than Sienna Khan, and he's got his hooks into Ghira Belladonna's daughter," Qrow said. "Why Ghira handed over the White Fang to Sienna Khan, I've no idea. Maybe he just bowed to popular opinion. You gotta keep in mind, in Menagerie, there's a lot of resentment towards humans, especially those working for the SDC, ever since Jacques took it over. Some loud voices have been calling for more violent measures. So when the White Fang started doing more violent acts, many Faunus either believe it to be justice, or propaganda put out by humans. To be honest, most members of the White Fang in Menagerie are those who protect the Faunus there from the Grimm. So it ain't all black and white, no matter how some people like to see it as."

"It's sickening," Remus said. "The same prejudices, just different reasons."

"I ain't arguin' with you, Lupin. While I was tailing them, this poor chameleon Faunus girl, Ilia I think her name was, turned up. She'd joined in Menagerie, and was assigned to Taurus' cell. I overheard her telling Taurus why she joined the White Fang, about her parents dying in a Schnee Dust mine…and her classmates tormenting her for it. They didn't even know she was a Faunus until she started changing colour. Poor girl…and she's joined an organisation that's spiralling into terrorism. I believe in Oz, but fixing the world ain't easy, no matter what Ruby or Yang think. Harry seems to know that already. Oum, that kid lost his innocence too soon…"

Harry stared in shock as Hermione found her match in motor-mouth pontification, a rail-thin man with a messy mop of green hair and thick round glasses. They had stopped for a coffee during their latest trip to Vale when Taiyang greeted the man, one Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, who had a clipped, pedantic, and VERY fast way of speaking. And Hermione and Oobleck had begun speaking…and hadn't really stopped.

"Oh dear Oum, there are two of them," Taiyang said, facepalming.

"Actually, it's sort of impressive, considering Hermione isn't as caffeinated as Oobleck is," Yang remarked. "We've had him guest lecture a couple of times at Signal as well."

"It's like the inverse of Binns," Harry muttered. "Instead of being too boring to stay awake to, he's too fast to pay attention to."

"Binns?" Ruby asked.

"A ghost we had as a history teacher. Great cure for insomnia, given how he goes on and on about Goblin rebellions, and nothing else," Harry sighed.

"Sounds a bit like Professor Port, though he's more informative," Taiyang said.

Harry nearly added more, only for his new Scroll, bought on the last trip to Vale, to chirrup. He pulled it out, and found a message. In Vale. Can I come say hi?

After a moment's thought, he typed in a response. Sure. At Bean There, Done That. Oobleck here. He's met his match in Hermione.

Oh dear. I'll be there soon.

"Was that Velvet?" Yang asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "You don't mind?"

"Nah, she's cool to have around," Yang said. "Plus, she probably needs more friends. A lot of the Faunus students get dumped on, especially because of the White Fang, but even before that, there's a lot who treated them like animals."

Harry nodded. Soon after getting his Scroll, he put Velvet's Scroll address into it, and they began chatting. Harry learned, through Taiyang, that Velvet's parents died shortly after she started rooming at Signal (which did have dorms like Hogwarts). They had died in what was supposedly a Grimm attack on their village, though there were suspicions that the Jaegers were involved, a group of human supremacists who despised Faunus, and had been born shortly after General Lagune's spectacular failure at the Battle of Fort Castle. The Jaegers were rumoured to be bankrolled by Jacques Schnee, with many rumoured members of the Jaegers being part of Jacques Schnee's own enforcers and security guards.

"It isn't right," Ruby muttered. "They just have different ears or tails or stuff, they're still people."

Oobleck, with ears sharpened by years of teaching experience, noted her utterance, and turned his gaze to her. "And you are correct, Miss Rose. Faunus are people, with all humanity's virtues and vices, and yet, there are many who are unwilling to countenance that they are humans' equals. It is because of such appalling treatment that the White Fang came into existence, and took a turn for the worse recently. Ignorance is part of the problem, but some prejudices may never go away," he said in his clipped, rapid-fire speech, though his voice held a lot of solemnity. "The best I can do is to reduce the ignorance in the world through my teaching, and to do my duty as a Hunter."

"Don't forget to breathe, Doc," Taiyang said. "You were like that, and Gretchen and Glynda would always remind you to breathe. Remember the time you passed out while we were gathering sap in Forever Fall?"

"I was merely explaining the manifold uses of the Red Sap. And I did not pass out, merely got a little dizzy from hypoxia."

"You fell over and practically planted your face in Gretchen's chest," Taiyang said. "Hazel nearly tenderised you for that."

Oobleck blushed slightly, and remarked, "That was an accident, and the Rainarts knew it. Hazel always had a temper…not that Gretchen didn't." Oobleck's face fell. "I miss her, Taiyang. Ozpin told me of the fate that befell her. She did not deserve that. I am just glad that she has a legacy that lives on." His eyes flickered over to Harry, who wondered exactly what Ozpin had told Oobleck.

The pall that descended over the group was soon broken when Velvet arrived. "Hello," she said. "Umm, am I interrupting anything?"

"It's fine, things were getting too heavy," Harry said. "How's things, Velvet?"

"Oh, good. Nothing much new, though. Coco's using me as a tailor's dummy, though," she chuckled nervously. "What about here?"

"Hermione has met her match in Oobleck…well, as far as talking at warp speed goes," Harry said.

"I'm just pleased to meet a young, inquisitive mind who can follow what I am saying, and long before she goes to Beacon!" Oobleck babbled. "If only my current students were as attentive and inquisitive!"

"…They speak faster than I can move with my Semblance," Ruby said in a quiet, awed, and somewhat lost tone, her silver eyes wide as Oobleck and Hermione continued their conversation. "How is that possible? How do they breathe?"

"Ruby, you get like that sometimes when weapons are involved," Yang said.

Ruby pouted, and Harry chuckled. Over the past few weeks since coming here, Ruby and Yang had grown on him even more. While technically cousins, they felt more like sisters. Ruby actually reminded him a little of Ginny Weasley in terms of her shyness and social awkwardness, at least outside anything to do with Hunters and weapons, though she opened up fairly quickly to both Harry and Hermione. Yang, on the other hand, acted a bit more like the Weasley Twins, albeit less prank-inclined and more worldly, despite being about 14. Though you didn't mess with her hair unless you had a death wish. She had a bad habit of losing her temper if that happened.

Over that time, Harry had gotten to know Remus and Sirius better. In fact, he thought of Remus better now, as an uncle. Okay, he was annoyed that Remus never tried to track him down at the Dursleys, but between Dumbledore and the draconian laws towards werewolves, even those who tried to avoid being monsters, he could understand it.

As for Sirius, well, he was fun, but Harry…couldn't make the connection Sirius wanted him to have. Sirius seemed to want someone who was James Potter, and Harry…he wasn't sure what to make of that, especially as he now knew James wasn't his real father. Plus, Sirius reminded him too much of Qrow, drunkenness aside, and Sirius also seemed to be still on edge after so long in Azkaban and being on the run.

Letters had been exchanged with the Weasleys, and Harry and Hermione were glad to get in contact with Ron and the Twins. Ron, thankfully, had managed to avoid blame from Fudge about the whole fiasco, and was glad that Raven Branwen killed Snape. He was also glad to hear that they were safe, more of the point. So too were the Twins. The same went for the Tonks family. Indeed, Nymphadora, after hearing about what happened with Amelia Bones, was strongly considering quitting Auror training, wondering whether she could do more good on Remnant instead.

Velvet chuckled. "Is she really that bad?"

"Worse," Yang said with a grin.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby complained. "I am NOT that bad!"

"Yes, Ruby, you are," Harry said flatly.

"Not you too, Harry! Why're you all picking on me?!"

"It's just some teasing, Ruby," Taiyang said, reaching over and ruffling her hair, making her pout. "And you can be that bad…"

"So, what's it like having Qrow Branwen as a father?" Velvet asked Harry as they had their drinks: tea for Harry, and coffee for Velvet. The others were sitting elsewhere, Yang apparently masterminding having Velvet and Harry get some alone time.

Harry winced. "I dunno yet. I only met him a few weeks ago. Long story short, I had been adopted by other people who found my mother after she escaped captivity. They died fighting a terrorist, and I survived by a fluke. And, well, Qrow and his sister all but kidnapped me when they found me, although we were being attacked at the time."

"Why?"

"A few reasons. One of them was that Sirius was accused of crimes he didn't commit. Another was that I had a teacher with a major grudge against me, and who wanted to spite us by setting the authorities on us. I'll tell you more details later."

"Okay," Velvet said. "But you seem to be a bit angry about him."

"Long story. I mean, he may be fairly well-known as a Hunter here, but to me, I never heard of him until he barged into my life. He and his sister, as I said, pretty much kidnapped me. I was taken from everything I knew, so I'm a bit annoyed to say the least. I feel better around Taiyang and his daughters, my cousins, than I do around Qrow. I dunno what I can say to him. Besides, have you seen how much he drinks?"

"No. I mean, I hear about it when he's teaching at Signal, but he never drinks in front of us," Velvet said. "I heard at least one other teacher call him a drunken old scarecrow."

"Maybe. And there's what happened to my mother. Apparently that made my uncle go off his nut. I wonder how he'd react to knowing I'm alive. Anyway…I'm not sure how much longer it will be before I can talk to him like he's my father. All my life, I was told James Potter was my father, not Qrow Branwen. It's a bit much to take in. I just need time."

Velvet nodded. "Okay. So…will you join Signal?"

"I don't know. I have a very unusual Semblance, one that a lot of people would be scared of. So…it's doubtful. I wish I could, though. This seems more interesting than the school back home."

"Must be pretty bad if your Semblance would be a problem," Velvet remarked.

"Pretty bad, yeah," Harry said. Which was the understatement of the century. If it became known that he could turn part-Grimm, there'd be an uproar of massive proportions. Ozpin and Taiyang had already made that clear.

And that haunted him. The fact that he had such darkness within him. Thanks to Salem, he had to deal with having a monster within.

One thing was certain. He would find a way to avenge his mother…

CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:

So, we've had Hermione finding someone who could match her in lecturing without needing to breathe. And before you ask, no, this is NOT going to be Hermione/Oobleck. Hermione's too young at this point, and even when she is of age, there is going to be an age gap. No, they're just going to be a very enthusiastic teacher and student.

The Jaegers in this chapter were something I made up on the fly, but they were partially inspired by a brief reference to a human-supremacist group called the Blood of Atlas in the oneshot Fall of Adam by dracohalo117. I think of them being like the Ku Klux Klan in many regards, or a bunch of neo-Nazis that Jacques Schnee basically controls as his own little private army for dirty deeds. The term Jaeger is German for 'hunter', so they're basically rogue Hunters with a human-supremacist ideology.

Review-answering time! hakon2feb: Regarding Harry and Hermione's children having Aura and magic, well, they will have both. It's stated that the magical power of the Maidens is separate to Semblances, so any children Harry and Hermione have will have both. I've gone with magical power being derived from Aura, but not necessarily being a Semblance.

Manda's Priest: Holiday is pretty much on hiatus for now. I don't know when I'll update that or Vert the Emerald and the Cetra Heritage. Don't ask when they'll be updated: the only answer you'll get is I don't know.

No numbered annotations this time.