The Half Blood Prince Revealed

Summary :

Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?

General Disclaimer :

I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.

08 Invitations

Harry went up to his bedroom cum study and sat down at his desk, briefly considered the correct wordings and then started to write his first invitation addressed to Mrs Longbottom.

Dear Mrs Longbottom

First of all I would like to apologize to you for endangering Neville's life two weeks ago at the Ministry of Magic. With no opportunity to get advice or support from the Hogwarts teachers, I acted instinctively upon the - as I now know mistaken - assumption my godfather was in danger. After a similar experience in December my directions turned out to be correct and as a result a seriously injured Mr Weasley was found in time and was able to recover.

I greatly appreciate Neville's support and faith in me, which is why I'm writing now. My godfather passed away during that fight two weeks ago and he left me a nice house in the countryside. As Professor Dumbledore will be able to confirm it is heavily warded and well protected.

As I will be spending the rest of the holidays there, I wanted to invite Neville, as well as Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Ginny, Ron, Fred and George Weasley for a restful and carefree summer.

Adult supervision will be provided by my guardian Mr Remus Lupin and as they have already accepted my invitation, so will Mr and Mrs Weasley, although Mr Weasley will be at work during the day. Furthermore Professor Dumbledore has found a few worthwile books in the library. Unable to take them with him – the wards are that protective – he too will be a regular visitor to the house. The nights of the full moon Mr Lupin will not be present as per his own request.

The resident house elves have kept up the tradition of growing wonderful plants and flowers one of the previous masters of the house was so fond of. Even Professor Dumbledore was greatly excited about some of the species and I am convinced Neville with his extensive knowledge and interest in herbology will love the chance to see and experience these for himself.

Although I would love to have Neville join us as soon as possible, and the Weasleys arrive this Thursday, the invitation stands for the entire summer. Should you prefer Neville to join us at a later time just advise Professor Dumbledore of the timetable so arrangements can be made.

The only way into the property is by magical password, working only for those on the limited invitation list. From any location or apparition point say "Harry's Haven" and you will be transported straight into our hall.

I am hoping you will allow Neville to come. And if you would accompany him this Thursday morning at 9:15 I will give you both a guided tour so you will see for yourself if the arrangements are to your liking.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Harry Potter

Harry took the finished letter to Remus and asked his opinion. Especially with mentioning the full moon arrangements Harry wanted to be sure Remus understood why they were there in the first place. And as expected, Remus did make a mention of them. Harry replied "Since Professor Snape made your lycanthropy public knowledge, I wanted to make it clear to the different parents that I know about it, and I have faith in you, and it is you who wants the extra safety precautions. It should show the parents my trust in you and your concern for their children."

Now with Remus' consent, Harry wrote slightly altered versions for Hermione's parents and Luna's father, and he wrote a short note to Ron. He decided that Mrs Longbottom might have the most reservations as she would be best aware of the Black family reputation, so Harry decided to ask Lilly to deliver her letter. Delivered by phoenix, a bird widely known to support the Light side she might be just a bit more confident. The other letters were given to Hedwig. "Hedwig, please deliver the one for the Grangers first, then for Luna's dad, and then you can take a rest at the Weasleys. Safe trip Hedwig."

With the invitations now underway Harry went in search of Remus again and found him at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, staring at the outside gardens. "Remus, after I grab a cup of tea too, shall we take a look outside. I could do with a bit of fresh air and maybe you could meet Neferti ?"

"Harry, yes, a walk outside would be nice but are you sure about that sphinx ? They aren't the friendliest of creatures you know."

"Actually Remus I didn't, but the two I've met were nice, and Neferti has a good sense of humour. And what can happen to me anyway, she told me herself I'm her new master."

So Harry and Remus ventured outside, taking in the beautiful tended gardens with flowers and small bushes everywhere, turning a little wilder as they got closer to the edges of the forest surrounding them. While outside anyway Harry couldn't help but take a peek, at the quidditch pits and the broom closet. Blythe mentioned brooms for anybody, but when they took a closer look, they only found the two. And Harry had never seen them before. Although his looked sleek and fast, a bit like his Firebolt, Remus as an average flier, ended up with a model totally unlike any broom they'd ever seen. Harry mounted his broom and took a little tour of the pitch. From what he could sense the broom was a lot like his Firebolt in features too. Remus decided to take a chance and mounted the broom. After flying round the pitch once he remarked how wonderfully suited the broom felt. Never very confident as James had been on any broom Remus didn't like the feel of loss of control when flying and with this broom he felt in control. Harry wanting to test the abilities of his broom better so accelerated, shot up and did a tour of the pitch high up in the air, to descend at a very high speed. He shouted out with glee as the wind whipped through his hair. It'd been such a long time since he'd been in the air … It felt wonderful. Climbing up again higher than before he looked out over the forest but all he saw were tree tops and … nothing else. While descending at a leisurely pace he was thinking about the brooms again and by the time he was standing next to Remus he felt he could smack himself over the head over his stupidity. So he explained his theory to Remus and the man had to agree, especially after he was told about the rooms for the house elves. The house was magical, so why not the broom shed. And just as they were promised bathing clothes for every one, meaning they came in adjustable sizes, so would the brooms, depending on the capability of the flyer. They replaced the brooms in the shed and headed out to the maze. Not really wanting to go the whole way, Harry stepped inside a few paces and called for Neferti.

She came from within the maze with a smile on her face. "Yes master, what can I do for you ? Would you like another riddle to solve ?"

"Neferti, hello again. Not this evening thanks. I hope you don't mind me calling you but I wanted to introduce you to my guardian and friend Mr Remus Lupin. If you ever come across him in the maze don't make your riddles to easy for him. He's good."

"Remus, please meet Neferti, our resident sphinx and riddle maker extraordinaire. And she has a good sense of humor too !"

The two smiled at each other and Harry continued :"Neferti, I promised to tell you when Hermione arrived. If all goes well she'll be arriving Thursday morning at nine. Will you do the honours ? I'll be standing just out of sight should she be too jittery. It is most likely she'll have no idea where she's arriving, so maybe best work my name in there somewhere OK ? There will be more guests arriving a bit later that day, but it would be too confusing, so you'll meet the others at some stage in the maze. Just be gentle with them the first time."

"Ooh good," replied Neferti while smiling, "I'll look forward to it then. Good evening master."

Harry cringed at the title and said : "Neferti, please just call me Harry. I hate the word master."

"I will and thank you Harry.

The two men returned to the house and shortly after ate a light supper. They discussed plans for the next day. Harry would welcome Dobby and Winky to their new home and show them around and tell them about the plans for summer and how best to plan the workload. And after he would spend as much time as he could with Mr Black to learn about the estate and ancient magic. Remus planned a day in the library but needed to go out for some shopping. Harry added a few items to the shopping list if Remus was able to advance the expenses for him. Until they actually had to go school shopping, Harry didn't want to leave the Black estate and so a visit to Gringotts had to wait too. Remus said the few clothes and two boxes of phoenix treats and one with owl treats Harry ordered definitely wouldn't break the bank.

After supper Harry wanted to retreat to his bedroom and read a few more letters from his parents and their friends, Remus was going to indulge himself in the library.

Harry and Remus had said goodnight in the hall, the latter just stepping inside the library when Mr Black beckoned him from the study doorway.

"Harry, I've been meaning to ask, what is with your hair ? Pink doesn't really suit you."

"It is the result of the last prank of my godfather. Sirius wrote about the Black box in his will and how all I had to do was to call for it. So after my first visit here I remembered about it and asked for it. The moment I spoke the words I did indeed get the box, but also pink hair and a mirror charmed to speak like his favourite cousin, Tonks. I'm hoping it'll stick until Thursday, so the others can see it too. You should have seen Sirius' face when I told him what the mirror did when it got a look at Remus and Professor Dumbledore."

"What do you mean, you told him about the mirror ?"

So Harry once again explained how, since he returned to Privet Drive he'd been able to call for Sirius and how he appeared from behind the veil and they could speak to each other and he'd started getting his anti-dementor feeling and how somehow Remus felt it and experienced the dreams too. Harry went on to explain how he figured it was Sirius' promise in the letter to haunt and help his godson that did the trick.

"In a way it is Harry," explained Mr Black, "in a way it is. But by combining his love for you and the love of your parents for you, more specifically the sacrifice your mother made, it most likely produced the Amor spell. You won't find it referenced often as not much is known, for it is very rare to have the kind of love and right circumstances needed to activate it. Obviously it worked for you. It is very interesting that you can spread it too. You say Remus was able to feel it too."

"Oh yes, it was just after the meeting in the Ministry was finished. I returned to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts and Remus was sitting there, all depressed. So I deliberately said something I knew would bring the feeling about, and Remus heard them laughing and felt the warmth too. Before I'd only heard my parents though, and that was when Sirius joined too."

"Well, Harry, as a scholar myself, I would ask you to note these things down, make it into a sort of diary mentioning anything that happens related to the feelings and sounds. It will provide excellent material to study the charm. I realize that a lot of this will be personal, maybe too much so for you to willingly show anyone, but in a few generations, it might prove to be invaluable to someone going through the same.

And out of curiosity Harry, did you see the Black tapestry ?"

"Yes, sir, before and after. Last year I spent part of the summer holiday at Grimmauld Place and it looked decidedly tatty then. Half eaten and dirty. But when I returned there after the charm was performed it looked spectacular with loads of colours. It looked stunning."

"And did you see your name and your godfather's ? And the line that connects them ?"

"I did, it was the only one in a broad silver line, some two inches. The others were all shades of red from very light to nearly black and all very fine. A few of the lines were a bit broader, but nowhere near as much as ours. The one between Tonks and her mum was broad too, at maybe half an inch and a very bright red."

Well, Harry, these lines indicate the blood connection and regard the two have for each other. The broadness is an indication of love. Sirius must have loved you very much for the line to be that broad. The one between Tonks and her mum would be more the norm. The bright red there means that Tonks and her mum are blood related and they hold each other in high regards. The blacker the line the less respect the two feel for each other. The colour of the line between you and Sirius indicate that there was a high respect and regard between you two, but no blood relation. It is probably the reason why the Amor spell has come about. It has left me with lots to ponder.

"Oh and Harry don't be surprised if you have visitors in the next few days. There are many beings on the estate. The forest surrounding the tended gardens continues on off the estate and the two combined provides an area large enough for them all to live and provide for themselves. They'll all be wanting to meet you. Neferti has already highly praised you and as word gets round that Lilly has shown up again I'm convinced they'll want to see and meet you for themselves. For their way of life would be greatly improved if you allow them to be here. They have had to live in secret and could be killed at any time. And Harry, don't worry, the wards of the estate stretch the entire estate. The charms for beings and animals are set so that they too are scanned. No being with the express intent to hurt anyone on the estate can get in."

"Just out of curiosity, Mr Black. How big is the estate if it can support several beings ?"

"Well Harry, there are more than a few beings, as the estate is some 25 000 acres. That is about a tenth of the surrounding forest."

"No wonder all I could see were trees when up in the air", thought a confounded Harry. "Sir, he continued, do you have any more of these surprises for me ? Because I believe I might as well have them all in one go."

"You know about the four main Black residences. You have visited two-and-a-half seeing as the Island Manor is identical to this one." Mr Black said smiling. "But actually there are quite a few more. Most houses are rented out through the goblins and are situated all over England. But Gringotts is the main building that is Black estate. We do good business together. They don't pay rent, but we don't pay any fees. The funds I left in their care should have done well by now too." And with a "I'll leave you for now Harry. I'm going to read up on everything I can find about the Amor spell so I can hopefully tell you more tomorrow. Goodnight." Mr Black left Harry in the study as he glided through the wall into the library.

Author's Note :

Thanks for reading. Would love some feedback from you though.

If you enjoyed this (and previous) chapter(s), you might be interested to know the story is a few chapters further along on my yahoo group (for link see profile page).

Have a nice weekend all.

kadedeetje