This chapter took a long time too. I kept writing, and every time I looked at the word count I was like wait...this feels like so much more than only xxxx words. I was asked a few questions, and when one person asks a question, people are probably wondering.
1. No, there will be no Claude. I HATE love triangles. With a freaking passion. I have no desire to turn this into Twilight. Harry will not be the annoying damsel trying to choose between Broody #1 and Broody #2. Seb/Harry is the final pairing, and they get together fairly quickly with no angst at all. I like it that way.
2. No, this fic will probably not become M. I have no intention of writing smut. I will imply several times of them having sex, and maybe have them be interrupted in a scene (I like this idea...Dumbledore finding out about their relationship by walking in on them...ha). Just assume they have sex regularly, I'm not going to have them say "Oh, that sex last night was awesome!" Every morning just so you guys can know they had it...thats not normal.
3. People pointed out my last chapter wasn't historically accurate. I was completely aware of this, but I decided I didn't care (creative license, dur). That said, it seems to confuse people on the timeline. They are now in the year 1900. I will keep it historically accurate from here on, and I do intend to have them inserted into history again. Thats about all I can do until they reach Harry's time. The true plot I have planned out doesn't start until then.
Oops. Rambling. Thank you for reading this fic, and if you stuck through this authors note congratz. I am rather long winded.
Kneazles: Kneazles are cats. In HP canon, Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, was one. They are extremely intelligent, rather good at sneaking, and have a penchant for spying on people and discovering secrets. I assumed everyone would know what a kneazle was from reading HP. My bad.
"Is he alright?" The question was asked rather doubtfully, as if the woman didn't know if she should be asking or not. Harry simply shook his head, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
Sebastian with kneazles was the most adorable yet hilarious thing he had ever seen. He would squeeze it to death while cooing, and it would hiss and claw to get away. Cats and Sebastian, he thought, had a love-hate relationship. For a man who loved cats, he didn't seem to understand holding them that tightly was uncomfortable for them and made them want to claw his eyes out.
Of course, while cats could be smart on occasion, kneazles possessed an almost human like intelligence. Which meant these could retaliate and plan defensive maneuvers. An example of this was Sebastian, being assaulted by every kneazle in the shop right now. Harry winced slightly. That looked rather painful. Sebastian looked like he was torn between delight and hitting them to get them off of him. His love of cats was rather obsessive, Harry decided, when Sebastian simply let the cats continue the assault.
Harry reigned in his laughter, but amusement still shone on his face as he said "Sebastian, do you really have to squeeze to death all of the kneazles? I don't think they like it."
Sebastian looked at him rather forlornly. "I can't help it, Harry. Their movements are so graceful, their bodies are so lithe. They are beautiful."
Harry snorted. "If I didn't know any better, I would think the cats have taken my place in your heart. Come on." Sebastian sighed, long suffering, but complied.
They walked down the lane of shops, Harry marveling at how similar it was to Diagon Alley. The alley really had been severely outdated if it was so like this alley in the year 1900.
The wardrobe of witches and wizards was much more different and similar at the same time. There was much more frills and lace than his time. It made him yearn for the simplistic, modern robes. Both he and Sebastian were forced to buy robes to fit in and not garner strange looks in muggle-wear, but the robes were stifling and irritating.
Sebastian somehow made the robes look dashing. Harry had no idea how, but he was rather resentful of it. Sebastian just kept smiling smugly. Harry was pretty sure that he looked like Ron when he was forced to go to the Triwizard Ball with hand-me-down robes. He shuddered slightly at the mental image. That had been mentally scarring, picturing that. Perhaps he didn't look quite as bad as that.
"As interesting as this place is, what are we doing here?" Sebastian inquired. Harry shrugged. "I just wanted to see it. On top of that, I neglected my education quite a bit before I came here. Even now, I haven't bothered to learn any new magic. I would like to find a teacher, perhaps some books, to teach me. Now, I have no restrictions. I can learn what I like. I think some dark magic is prudent."
Sebastian look slightly surprised. "Magic is restricted?" Harry laughed. "Oh, very much so. The British Ministry of Magic, that is the wizarding government of Britain, was controlled by a bunch of imbeciles and fools. They were afraid of anything they didn't understand or thought could harm them. When Voldemort returned, Minister Fudge completely denied everything. He went so far as to call Dumbledore and me insane. Any magic classified by the ministry as Dark was completely prohibited. There is a rather big stigma to Dark magic."
He sighed. "Which reminds me. Magical creatures have little to no rights within the law. I had an uncle, a werewolf-"
"Yes, Lupin, you told me of him."
Harry nodded. "He couldn't even find a job. The only one who would take him was Dumbledore, and even then, at the end of the year when everyone knew he was a werewolf he was forced to resign and look elsewhere for work. Magical creatures are looked at as lower things, to be stepped on and limited. I'm fairly certain this applies to demons."
Sebastian merely shrugged. "They may try what they like. We can always kill the lot of them." He smiled wickedly.
Harry merely shook his head. "You know that's just too…easy. I would rather have some fun with it first."
"I know. I still want to rip out their spines and shove them down their own throats, though. It would be rather satisfying."
Harry laughed. "Yes, it would."
They continued on walking, simply observing the people and shops. Harry kept a sharp eye out for the more black market side of things. In Diagon it had been Knockturn Alley and alleys branching from it, here it was sure to be similar. That would be the simplest place to find the things he was looking for. Of course, if they were smart, it wouldn't be quite as obvious as Knockturn Alley. He had always wondered why they had made it so obvious what was down the alley. It just screamed 'This is where all the illegal things happen!'
They walked for quite a while, every once in a while stepping into a shop that had caught their attention. They had no galleons, so they couldn't buy anything. They would have to convert their pounds to magical currency; otherwise they wouldn't be able to pay for anything.
Harry caught sight of a man. He was walking as normally as everyone else, but there was awareness to his stance that made it obvious he was more than a common wizard. Harry, with the honed senses of a man who had sold information for ten years, knew that he was most likely involved in whatever wizarding underground they had here.
He murmured "Sebastian, the man." Sebastian followed his gaze and saw the man. He nodded, and together the two followed him.
The man walked for a good ten minutes before finally reaching an alley that branched off to the side. There was no large discernable difference between that alley and the main one. It appeared quite similar.
The man walked down it, and they continued to follow. He made no turns for a while, only walking forward. Eventually he found another side alley, and turned off into this one. This continued for a few minutes, with him walking forward then turning after a while. As they went the building grew more dilapidated and imposing, and more questionable looking people appeared.
Harry smirked. It hadn't been hard, after all, to find this place. It would be rather difficult, though, to retrace their steps. This alley was certainly harder to find than Knockturn.
Harry considered stopping his pursuit of the man, before discarding the idea. The man had been useful, and he looked competent enough. He might very well still be useful. Harry glanced at Sebastian. "Should we approach him and ask if he knows of a teacher, or should we have a look around?"
Sebastian turned a thoughtful gaze on the man. "It would be quicker to ask him, if we can get a real answer out of him. That will be the difficult part."
Harry nodded, knowing that to be true. People were always reluctant to answer questions about illegal things, lest they incriminate themselves. Harry himself was always careful who he told his information, although several times he had been approached by police as either a suspect or for information. It had been rather amusing, at the time.
Now, it would be annoying. He had no patience for weaseling anything out of anyone today. Using speed he usually kept hidden behind a human façade, to the man he seemed to simply appear in front of him, out of nowhere.
Sebastian followed him, appearing by him a second later. The man stopped, seemingly surprised to suddenly have his way blocked by these two men.
Harry let Sebastian speak, as he was the only one of them who knew French. He would have to learn it, he decided. He didn't want to sit and let Sebastian do all the talking with him only understanding the words that sounded close to their English counterparts. He wondered, briefly, if there was a translation spell. It would be incredibly useful, if that were the case. He resolved to try to find something of the sort.
He tuned out what Sebastian said, knowing he wouldn't be able to understand it. Instead, he let the words flow across his ears. Sebastian's voice was truly beautiful. It was deep and soft, and seemed to caress his ears. He was pulled out of his reverie by Sebastian.
"Pravus."
He blinked. "Yes?" He tried not to think about what he had just gotten lost thinking about.
Sebastian looked amused, and Harry couldn't help but feel that he knew exactly what he had gotten lose thinking of. He shook off that ridiculous notion. Sebastian was no mind reader.
"I convinced him to show us to the best tutor he knows." The way Sebastian said 'convinced' made it evident to Harry that he had done a bit more than that. He inwardly shrugged. Whatever worked was fine with him. He didn't really care either way.
"We still have no galleons." Sebastian frowned. "Yes, that is a problem isn't it?"
Harry sighed. "I'll go convert our pounds to galleons at the bank. You go with him, I'll catch up later." Sebastian nodded.
Harry eyed the multiple alleys leading from this one. He knew it was rather maze like, and as good as his memory was, it wasn't even close to eidetic. The best way to get back to the main alley and find a bank, he decided, would be by rooftop.
He climbed the side of the nearest building as fast as he could, too fast for anyone to really see him. He started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading for the large gap he could see in the distance. That, he guessed, was the main alley. He dropped down into an alley that lead directly into it and started walking at a much more reasonable speed. He reached the main alley and kept walking, keeping an eye out for a bank.
Eventually he found one and stepped inside. The teller spoke broken English, to his relief, and he had no trouble converting half of their pounds to galleons, sickles and knuts other than a raised eyebrow from the teller. Harry assumed not many wizards had muggle money they wanted to convert. He personally thought that was rather stupid. A good businessman wouldn't limit himself to one world; he would use both to his advantage.
He exited the bank and took back to the rooftops, heading back to the spot where he and Sebastian split up. Once he found it, he carefully followed the scent of the man's soul through yet more streets. After a few minutes of doing so he stopped in front of a building as grimy as the rest. Sebastian was waiting outside for him. He smiled when he caught sight of Harry, and stepped forward. The man was beside him, looking slightly nervous. Harry assumed Sebastian had threatened him again.
Now that they were all here, the man stepped toward the door and knocked. For a few moments nothing happened, then the door swung silently open. Standing in the doorway was a man, dressed finely. He had reddish-brown hair, hazel eyes, and a trimmed goatee. When he spoke, it was with British accented French.
"Leon, qui sont ces gens?"
The man answered quickly back, barely bothering to breathe in between words. Harry got the sense that he was rather nervous.
"Ces deux hommes veulent apprendre la magie noire, monsieur. L'œil rouge était plutôt insistante."
The man nodded, and stepped back. Harry took that to mean they were to come in. He and Sebastian walked into the house. The man, who Harry now assumed was called Leon, did not enter. Instead he bowed quickly to the Brit and hurried away.
Contrary to the grimy appearance of it outside, the inside of the house was actually quite nice. It was clean, with elegant and understated furniture. They were lead into a sitting room, where the man sat on the couch. He crossed his legs and spoke. "I'm assuming, then, that one of you wants me to teach you?" His gaze switched back and forth between Harry and Sebastian. Sebastian inclined his head in Harry's direction, and his eyes focused on him.
"You, then." His eyes sharpened in a way that might have made a lesser man uncomfortable.
"My fee is not cheap, and the training is not easy." Harry nodded, accepting that. He had not expected the training to be easy. "How much?"
The man eyed him for a moment, and Harry got the distinct sense that the fee was not a set price, but rather varied from person to person. "We'll get to that once we're done."
Harry blinked. The man was just going to teach him, without him even paying him first? Inwardly he frowned, but outwardly he remained expressionless. This was rather strange.
"What should I call you?"
The man seemed slightly amused by the question. "You can call me whatever you like. I don't need to know your name, and you don't need to know mine. I'm assuming that you know Occlumency?"
Harry shrugged. A demon's mind was quite different from a human's. If someone were to enter his mind, they would go insane very quickly. He had found that out when a man had tried to use legilimancy on him. He had felt the intrusion in his mind immediately, and without even trying to kick him out of his mind the man had become a gibbering mess.
The man raised an eyebrow at the non-answer but didn't push. "The lessons will be daily. Come back tomorrow at sunrise. If you aren't here, I'll assume you don't want lessons anymore. If you are late, I'll assume you don't want lessons anymore. If you comply with this, the lessons will last until I deem you ready, and not when you deem yourself ready. Now go."
Harry blinked at the abrupt dismissal, but left. Sebastian followed him out of the house. "That was different than I expected" Harry commented.
"I didn't expect anything."
Ah, yes. Sebastian was still fairly clueless about the magical world. Harry would have to fix that.
The lessons with Redbeard, as Harry had dubbed the man in his mind, were actually quite strenuous. Dark curses were much harder to cast and control than light spells. It took a lot of willpower for him to do the spells, and he found that what Bellatrix had said in the Department of Mysteries applied to all dark curses. He had to mean it, to will it into fruition. It did not take long for him to realize that dark simply meant destructive. The magic itself was not evil, it simply had more power behind it. He snorted. The ministry and fear seemed to go hand in hand.
He learned, though, and a few years went by. He was surprised by just how much there was to learn, and how much Redbeard had to teach him. He had had, at the beginning of their lessons, to go get a new wand. The more he used his old one, the more he realized it was not in tune with him anymore. It did not take a genius to figure out why. Holly wood was known for its purity, and pure he was not. The same could be said for the phoenix tail feathers at the core, if it weren't for the fact that Voldemort's wand had still worked for him even after he had descended into darkness. That could, of course, be attributed to the yew, as it was known for being the exact opposite of holly in terms of meaning and symbolism.
He had had to go get a custom wand made. It was made of mahogany, with a piece of his own hair and blood used as the core. The wand was more in tune with him than his holly wand had ever been. He did not need to use it, as Redbeard had made a point of teaching him wandless and silent magic, but it was still useful as a focus for his magic. It magnified the strength of his spells greatly.
He taught Sebastian what he knew of the magical world, which, really, wasn't as much as it could've been. They explored together, and amassed a rather large collection of books. Harry was forced to go buy a trunk, and while he was there he had found a one enchanted to have an apartment inside. He had bought it for the sole purpose of no longer having to rent rooms wherever they went. Muggle repelling charms were cast, and he himself applied a bloodlock on it. To get it to open, he or Sebastian would have to press their thumbs into the mouth of the decorative snake head on the lock. It would take their blood, and if it was them the trunk would open. If it was someone else, the snake would inject a strong paralytic into the persons system. Harry was rather proud of himself for creating it.
The trunk had one bedroom, a kitchen combined with the dining room, a bathroom, and a study. The study held their collection of books, all of them arranged by subject on the shelves. The rest of the rooms were decorated with random interesting things they found in the shops.
Sebastian and he grew to be almost inseparable. They could both easily say that the only person they truly trusted and loved in the world was the other.
Harry had used an ancient blood ritual to bind their minds together. They could both communicate telepathically, no matter the distance, and they always felt a pull in the direction that the other was in. They were determined to never be separated against their will.
Sebastian also taught Harry how to use traditional weapons. Sebastian preferred to use kitchen knives, which irked Harry to no end. Why would he want to use such small things as that? Harry found he much preferred the sword to any other weapon. He kept one on his back at all times, enchanted so that it was invisible while in its sheath. His wand was kept in a holster on his wrist, also invisible unless he held it. He did not bother to get a backup wand, as unlike other wizards, even with no wand or even no weapon, he could easily hold his own.
Today, when Harry showed up at sunrise, he was surprised to see that Redbeard was not waiting for him as he usually was. He entered the house and stopped. The entire house was empty. The furniture was no long there, and there was certainly no Redbeard. Attached to the wall was a small piece of rolled up parchment. He picked it up and unrolled it.
Goodbye, Greeneyes. Lessons are over.
Harry rolled the parchment back up and with barely a flick of his fingers set it on fire. He had a feeling this was the last he would see of Redbeard.
He walked out of the house and back to the one room they rented in an inn. He ignored the room itself and instead walked to the trunk, pressing his thumb to the snakehead. The trunk opened, and he walked down the steps. He knew Sebastian would be in the study, reading as he always did in the morning. He seemed to have a new book every day. He looked up when Harry entered.
"The lessons are over, then?" Harry nodded. "I would like to leave as soon as possible. We've stayed here far longer than I ever thought we would." Sebastian closed his book with a snap, and put it on the shelf.
They left the trunk and Harry shrunk it so that it would fit in his coat pocket. They left the inn, not bothering to get back the down payment they had put in that week for another weekly stay.
"Where to?" Harry asked.
"You said you wanted to choose where we went next time" Sebastian answered. "Something about me having bad ideas?" He smirked at Harry.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. Hmm…I've always wanted to see Germany." Sebastian smiled. "Germany it is."
Foreshadowing. Don Don Don. It's a few years after the year 1900. They are going to Germany. Guess who?