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.

10 Of Books and Werewolves

Mr Black was smiling at the image Harry conjured and asked if Harry had any questions to ask about the estate now he'd had some time to mull over the information.

"I was thinking, sir, about Remus and the fact that no one can be at Black Manor or the Island if I'm not around. Yesterday you mentioned making someone a warden of Grimmauld Place giving that person some power over the place. Could I do something similar and allow Remus to visit here even while I'm at school ? He loves the library and to be a bit selfish, he would spend more time with me in the summer, if he knew he had unlimited access while I'm at school. He'd be able to come and go as he pleases. I trust him so I'd like to show him that."

"I like it too, Harry, I'll have someone to talk to as well. And yes, it's possible to allow him in. You just need to put an entry in the Book. I believe you made a start at reading it last night, Harry. Do you have any questions so far about it ?"

"I did read a bit of it last night and I couldn't help but wonder how I was able to read all the early entries considering that the language would have been different at the time."

"That's because of the self updating charm on the book. It adapts to new language."

"I also noticed, sir, that there were several different coloured inks used for these entries. Is that significant or just coincidence ? What struck me was the more clinical approach of the entries in black ink compared to the coloured entries."

"Well spotted, Harry. You are correct that there is a difference. All the black entries are the ones generated by the book itself. They are part of the old charms that would have been put in there when the book was created.

The coloured entries are those made by all of the different heirs. It is only since my death that no more coloured entries can be found. These personal notes are where you want to be careful Harry. Through ignorance, spite or carelessness a few of the Black men caused terrible tragedies when entering things in anger or when trying to get even in a stupid quarrel.

The only restriction these notes have is that you can only enter information on the heir before you, that is the one you inherited the estate from, and on those family members who are or were alive at the moment you inherited the estate. Well, Harry, are you ready to create your very first entry in to the family book ?"

Harry nodded nervously but Mr Black was quick to ease his mind.

Together they worked out the text Harry would enter detailing the true story behind Sirius' imprisonment, giving explanation why the new heir was not a blood relation and taking the opportunity to include Remus in the story and grant him the rights to be in the Black dwellings even in the absence of the true heir. No sooner had Harry neatly penned his first entry into the Black family history book when back at Grimmauld Place the family tapestry was updated with the addition of Remus' name and his status as Honorary Guardian of the true heir. Mr Black suggested Harry quickly made a visit to Grimmauld Place to see the changes for himself.

The first sign his entry in the book had indeed worked was when Harry apparated in the Tapestry Room at Grimmauld Place on his own. Next was the appearance of Remus' name and a similar solid silver line linking his guardian's name with his own on the large tapestry.

Harry returned to Black Manor and reported his findings to Mr Black. With just a little over an hour before his visitors would arrive they agreed to finish for the day and Harry then stopped in the kitchen to eat a banana and an apple and drink a large glass of pumpkin juice before finding Remus in the library engrossed in a book.

"Hello Remus, interesting book ?"

At first only a vague "Hmm" could be heard, until Remus' head snapped up and he said, clearly flustered "Hi Harry, yes these books you have are brilliant. Is it time for tea and our visitors already ?"

"Oh no, Remus, we have a little more time. I just wanted to give you a little present."

"Harry, you don't have to give me presents."

"I know but I'm just being a little selfish giving it to you."

Remus clearly didn't know how to take this comment so Harry explained his selfish reasoning behind granting Remus special access to the Black residences.

Harry's explanation left Remus speechless and he was hardly able to say "Thanks Harry. You don't know how much your trust means to me."

Professor Dumbledore arrived early for tea as he wanted to tell Harry about the response to the invitations. Luna and her father had planned a five week trip already and so Luna would join them for the last two weeks of the holidays. Hermione's parents had agreed to let her come, as they'd seen how much Hermione missed her friends. Mrs Longbottom had had most reservations, just as Harry had figured. But she too realized that Neville missed being around youngsters during the holidays. The added bonus was the safety of the Manor. She'd grilled Professor Dumbledore about it and after his confirmation of Harry's statement she now looked forward to seeing the place for herself. The invitation for her to accompany Neville when he arrived had been a brilliant move.

Harry in turn explained about his meeting with the gardeners that morning and how he found out about the alternative potion they use for their lycanthropy. With Remus admitting that he did feel different since regularly using the Wolfsbane potion Harry had figured it would do no harm to check out the other potion.

As it was now about time for his guests to arrive, Harry left Professor Dumbledore with Remus and waited for them outside. When he saw the four men coming, it was easy to pick out the third brother, as the fourth man stood out by a mile due to his Weasley red hair.

As the four approached, Harry went to meet them, and extended his hand again, welcoming Joe and David and making his acquaintance with Luke and Elijah. As they walked to the kitchen doors, Harry excused himself for the fact they would be taking tea in the family kitchen as opposed to the formal rooms. The idle talk obviously worked as the two new men visibly relaxed. Once Harry had introduced his guests to Professor Dumbledore and Remus, the four house elves showed off and gave them a tea fit for royalty. They served several tea fragrances and included a whole array of little cakes, scones, clotted cream, jams and preserves and a whole number of delicious sandwiches. The seven men did justice to the spread and soon the talk was very relaxed. Harry had already talked to Remus about letting the men in on Remus' lycanthropy should they be a pleasant lot. Now with the nod from Remus Harry explained the situation and asked after the potion they were using. Joe, the eldest of the men started to explain. As Remus and Professor Dumbledore asked more information, Harry eyed Elijah and noticed how the man had been looking at several of the plants in the kitchen, as if eager to examine them from up close. So Harry told him about the ones in the living room and invited him to go and have a look at them. Elijah was explaining how a few of the plants were thought to be extinct and if Harry was interested he could make a fortune if he choose to re-introduce them in wizarding society. Harry laughed at the idea and said that he'd probably kill them if he started handling them. But Harry did talk about Neville and his knowledge and huge interest in herbology. Elijah made a comment as to how good Neville then must be in potions too but Harry was quick to explain about Snape and his hatred for Gryffindors and Harry and Neville in particular and how most students found Potions to be a hard subject to grasp.

At that moment Joe called from the kitchen for Elijah and as Harry and the man returned it turned out that they needed Elijah's better knowledge to explain about a few finer details of the potion.

After a little more talk of the potion Professor Dumbledore asked them about their life and once again Joe as the eldest told of how Elijah was staying with them while his parents were off visiting his mum's parents, how the four of them were camping outside when they were attacked by a werewolf. Their mum looked after them to get them healed up and then about three weeks later, just as Elijah's parents were due back, made them some sandwiches and together with their dad apparated them to the middle of a forest, dropped them off and disappeared without a trace. At first it was all a big adventure but after a while the four boys, aged between barely seven and nine years old got frightened. Through some luck they found some edible food and when the first full moon came around it was mainly thanks to the fact the four boys were together that they survived that night. They did however meet up with a fellow werewolf, much older and more experienced in changing. The man, in their young eyes ancient as anything, took them in. When the man started to question them they experienced some trouble remembering who they were and what was going on but the Professor somehow got out what had happened. Prof. had lived on his own for quite a few years and now enjoyed looking after the boys and teaching them with varying levels of success Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts, Legilimency and Occlumency, Herbology, Ancient Runes, History and Medical Magic.

It wasn't until they were well in their twenties that Professor LeBon told them of the Memory Charm he'd found on them, put upon them probably in an attempt to make them forget their family. They'd had a difficult time but the boys hardly remembered their family anyway. When Joe finished telling their story Professor Dumbledore told the men of the story their parents had told the rest of the wizarding society. Most likely after the parents dropped the boys in the woods they raised the alarm that their boys had been attacked in the night while out camping in the back garden. They must have made up a most convincing story as the boys were never found. And Professor Dumbledore added how Elijah's parents had been devastated upon their return to learn their only child had been killed and both of them had had no will to live after that. The Waverly parents and siblings on the other hand seemed cursed after that. While vacationing near a muggle camping site the father and four remaining siblings caught a muggle disease called measles and in her shock at finding all of them so ill their mother accidentally gave them the wrong potion and they all died shortly after. Their mum left a note saying "I never meant to kill them all." And then drank some poison. The wizarding society always assumed she meant her four remaining kids but now knowing the truth of the earlier situation it meant so much more.

Professor Dumbledore also told them he'd known Professor LeBon very well as his own Potions professor while at Hogwarts. He'd been a good teacher and enjoyed his job immensely but he'd left his teaching job unexpectedly and had claimed research as his reason for leaving. Everybody of the teaching staff had been quite surprised but never questioned his motives. Now knowing these facts his decision made a lot more sense.

The stories were a lot to take in so conversation was non existent for a short time. It was Dobby's question if more tea was wanted that brought everyone back to the here and now. David checked his watch and as Joe and himself were expected at a potential new gardening client's house in a short while the four men said their thank you 's and goodbyes after Harry invited them back for lunch on Sunday a week.

After arranging for a light dinner to be served a bit later Harry asked Remus and Professor Dumbledore for a few moments of their time before they disappeared in the library. They remained sitting in the kitchen while Harry explained about Mr Black's talk about the Black estate.

"It made me wonder what the Black estate really means in terms of properties and money. Sirius mentioned a vault when he explained about getting me the Firebolt and he obviously must have believed to have enough money to leave 100 000 galleons to you Remus. But Mr Black explained that when he set up the inheritance charms he made a deal with Gringotts that they would be looking after the estate and they've had an almost free reign with a large part of the money for the past 300 years. Even Mr Black has no idea about the current situation. So I drafted a letter for Gringotts telling them I'd be visiting them soon but also asking them for a report on the current status to be picked up by Lily. After talking about the Black estate and drafting the letter I got thinking of the Potter estate. Can you tell me Professor Dumbledore, if there's anything left other than the money in my vault ? Are there maybe any family portraits or other heirlooms of the family left ?"

"Alas Harry, that's the one thing I cannot answer for you. Most families have several vaults. There is the main family vault most often containing heirlooms, paperwork and possessions from ancestors. This vault is accessible only by the head of the family and sometimes his or her spouse. Secondly there would be a vault purely for money that is used for household expenses. That's where the money would come from to pay for shopping and any bills. And last there would be a vault for every member of the family. It is an old wizarding custom to open a vault for each child in the family upon their first birthday even if they only deposit a few knuts or sickles. When the child gets access to it however will differ per family. You got access to yours when you were introduced to our world at eleven but in some families it's when the child enters third year or even comes of age. Upon the wizard's death the vault will be emptied and the contents placed in either of the two family vaults. Now I can but presume that the Potter vault indeed will contain some family heirlooms but even as the rightful guardian of the estate I never had access to it. As for the money Gringotts has been looking after it.

Now let's see … Why don't I write them a letter giving them permission to provide you as future heir with an overview of the properties and assets of the Potter estate. If you add a paragraph to your letter and attach my note I am sure they'll send you a report too. And maybe we could arrange a visit to the Potter family vault so you could at least have a look around."

"That would be brilliant, Sir. Other than the few pictures of my parents that Hagrid arranged for me after my first year I have no idea whatsoever about my family."

Leaving Remus and Professor Dumbledore to retreat into the library once more Harry hurried upstairs and rewrote the letter to Gringotts, adding a paragraph with his request for the Potter estate details and mentioning the letter from Professor Dumbledore.

Harry had been reading some more in the Black family book when Dobby came to tell him that dinner was about to be served. Taking the Gringotts letter he thanked Dobby and went downstairs where he met up with Remus and Professor Dumbledore as they too made their way to the kitchen. Professor Dumbledore handed Harry his parchment addressed to Gringotts and an eager Lily turned up on Harry's shoulder to carry off the missives.

The three men enjoyed another delicious meal and then retreated to the sitting room with Professor Dumbledore soon engrossed in an old looking tome of a book. Harry and Remus sat at one of the games table with Remus explaining how the game of Code-breaker was played. One player got to set a code by means of five runes. The other player had to guess the right combination helped by hints provided by the board. Sensing the inexperience of Harry the board only provided the 'beginners' version and Remus explained he knew of 'advanced' versions where up to 25 runes were used to set the code.

After a few test games to get the hang of it, Harry's first real game took a surprising twelve goes before he broke Remus' code and when they switched sides the board provided a ten runes version for the intermediate player that Remus was. "Sheer dumb luck" as Professor McGonnagal would call it made Remus set seven out of the ten runes correctly on his - always a guess - first turn and with only two more goes Remus broke the code. After a few more games each and Harry now back to code setter he decided to try a bit of bluffing and set a complete blank code using none of the runes. The frustrated sounds from Remus after this thirtieth go brought Professor Dumbledore to watch the game and he chuckled as he saw Harry's code and the manoeuvres Remus had already made. When Remus heard this reaction he finally gave in. Harry apologized to Remus to try something so sneaky, but as he'd had no one to check the validity of his 'code' with and the board's willingness to be used gave him the idea it was permitted.

Remus was quite surprised at the unusual use of the game and frowned in concentration as the implications for future games set in. For a moment Harry's survival instincts from his Dursley days kicked in gear but it was a sudden glint in Remus' eye and a chuckle that set Harry's mind at rest. "Brilliant Harry, we'll see how Kingsley Shacklebolt will break that code next time I get him to play."

For a next game Remus switched places with Professor Dumbledore with Harry in the code breaking seat. Harry's first guess with an all clear code indicated that Professor Dumbledore used two blank spots and used three runes out of the five available. Luck was on Harry's side and he finished the game in only three more tries. With Harry now in the role of code setting the board showed 15 runes indicating that Professor Dumbledore was an experienced player. When the Professor was no were near a solution twenty three tries later it was Remus who came up with the solution. "Albus you are cheating on this game. Normally you are much better at this. It never takes you this many tries to solve the code."

Professor Dumbledore had the grace to slightly blush and his eyes were twinkling like mad. "You are both right and wrong Remus. I did not cheat on this particular game and you've seen my true level of expertise – or should I say lack of it. When I play I usually pick up stray thoughts from the player. It's a form of legilimency you develop over time. But Harry here has been occluding his mind so well I've been stumbling about in the dark."

Harry had been smiling at the story the Professor was admitting to until he heard the part about himself occluding his mind.

"Em Sir, I have to admit I'm not doing anything of the sort. Ever since I returned to Privet Drive I've been dreaming of nothing but Sirius, and I'm sure it is him and not a false image from Voldemort because he's been telling me things no one else would know. Even Remus will have to admit that."

"You are quite right Harry. That could be no one other than Sirius. No amount of polyjuice could make him so … Sirius !"

Professor Dumbledore was getting more and more confused when Remus too was talking about seeing Sirius in his dreams so Harry, liberally aided by Remus explained about Mr Black's theory that circumstances had led to the activation of an Amor spell and that Harry apparently was able to 'spread' it out. For the first time in ages Harry was well rested, despite his visits with Sirius, and Voldemort was not giving him any grief.

"So that's what Voldemort is so upset about !", exclaimed Professor Dumbledore. "Severus has reported that ever since the beginning of the holidays Voldemort has been upset and he figured it might have been regarding his sudden cut in funding or the loss of some of his Inner Circle Death Eaters but that situation had been in place a bit before the start of the holidays so we were in doubt. But this makes perfect sense. He's lost yet another round against you and while doing so has been sighted and the Wizarding world now knows of his reappearance. On top of that he lost one of his strongest weapons against you. Harry this is indeed good news. You say Mr Black is looking into this Amor spell ? I've never heard of it."

"Yes sir, but apparently it's a rare occurrence. He asked me to write down all the things that happen that I can attribute to the spell to further the knowledge about its effects. I guess that I can include occlumency on the list of things it does."

Both Remus and Professor Dumbledore were smiling at the face Harry pulled at the idea of yet another something that set him apart from the normal kids and for some time Remus and Harry talked to Professor Dumbledore about the conversations with Sirius they'd had and how it helped them both.

It wasn't until Harry muffled a yawn that they realized how late it had become and they all went to bed.

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