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.

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21 Double Trouble ?

Dear Remus, Mr Potter,

I'm sorry my first letter as your legal representative doesn't come with a better message, but I believe there may be trouble ahead.

Ever since I left my home to commence my education at Hogwarts, now almost 20 years ago, I have followed my late father's advice to keep myself up-to-date and well informed. As he has done the many years he practiced law I too have set aside time each week to keep myself abreast of anything happening in the magical world. I spend time studying the latest law cases and I do some research in the Ministry Library. Another source of information is the weekly talk I have with my school chum, who is now a journalist at the Daily Prophet. He has often been my source of additional information and, especially last year, been the provider of the real story behind the printed rubbish.

Thursday is our regular meeting day and we enjoy a meal and a good talk about lots of current affairs and topics. As he too knows of my condition he was very eager to share the latest news, fresh off the press so to speak.

It appears that his (not well loved) colleague Rita Skeeter has been snooping around Diagon Alley this morning and has returned to base with a scoop on how you, Mr Potter, have acquired yourself a new guardian, and a werewolf to boot. The story, as my friend was able to relate, would be that you have fiercely defended your new guardian and even gone so far as to say he's the best thing that ever happened to you.

Knowing her style of journalism (if you can call it that) I thought it better to warn you ahead of time. No doubt she will twist the truth so much you'll hardly recognise the situation. Most likely it will be front-page news tomorrow !

Assuming you'll be able to get of hold of a copy of the paper yourselves, I'll send you a list of possible actions once I too have read the article and will await your instructions, if any, for further action.

With kind regards

Paul Watkins

PS I haven't told my friend of my connection with you, Mr Potter, although he is aware I know Remus. I would also like to vouch for him, knowing how frustrated he is most of the time at being heavily restricted in doing his job properly.

"Harry," said Remus worriedly, "what happened ? Why didn't you say something ? Does what Paul say make any sense ?"

"What Mr Watkins said sounds right but I dread to think how that Skeeter woman will twist it. It wasn't anything big or bad, Remus, really. It was just … Madame Malkin was just babbling while she was packing up our bags when she mentioned there was really no rush for me to pick them up so soon. To which I replied jokingly there was because the only decent clothes I have are those you bought last week. The conversation turned to you, I confirmed you're my guardian and she went off saying all werewolves are dangerous. That set me off saying it's like she means all wizards are bad because of Voldemort and his gang. "

"Well, there's nothing we can do until we read the article tomorrow. We can decide what to do then, OK ?"

"Sure. But they can't take your guardianship away, can they ?"

"Don't worry Harry, they can't. Sirius made sure of that. By making you legally of age in the eye of the Black estate, you no longer need a guardian for that. My status is in name only so the Ministry can't do anything about it. As for the Potter estate and for most of the rest of the magical society, Professor Dumbledore is your legal guardian until your 17th birthday next year. I don't think they can object to him, can they !" smiled Remus.

"I believe you Remus, but it sounds confusing. I think I'll ask Mr Watkins about this dual status of being both a minor and a legal adult. I wouldn't want to do something stupid without even realising it."

The others had been listening in on the conversation and now Fred and George wanted to lift the mood a bit.

"Yes, imagine adopting Draco Malfoy …" snickered Fred.

"… or promising to marry Pansy Parkinson." added George.

"Eww" came the predictable response from the three male Gryffindor youngsters. They set off on coming up with all sorts of wacky things you could unintentionally agree to leaving those around in a constant state of merriment.

"Yes, and if you are not careful, you might end up marrying your eldest son off to the eldest son of your friend by not getting it right !" came from the kitchen door.

Mr Black, closely followed by Dobby carrying Uncle Black's portrait made their way in. Ginny, curious to find out how someone could be marrying off his son to another boy, asked for further explanations.

"Ah, Ginny, it's all in the right terminology. The two men had been drinking rather heavily and one pledged his eldest child to be married to the other's eldest child. The other one, equally drunk agreed, not correcting the gender-less state of said first borns. The normal phrasing goes something like "my eldest son to marry your daughter" or vice versa, depending on the situation. It's a subject in the NEWT curriculum, if I'm not mistaken."

In the mean time Dobby was having a quiet conversation with Uncle Black to determine where the portrait would have the best position. Once firmly affixed to the wall, Mr Black made the introduction to his descendant. The living soon found out why Uncle Black had been one of Sirius' favourite family members. He possessed a keen intellect but also shared Sirius' sense of fun and humour.

They had been talking to Uncle Black for a while already when yet another unknown owl made his way over to Remus. Not recognising the handwriting Remus quickly scanned the note and informed them it came from Elijah Teague.

Hello Remus,

When Harry first asked for an additional portion of our werewolf potion, my friends said yes, as brewing a little extra is not a problem.

But it didn't dawn on me until just now that there is quite a bit more to it than just taking the one portion, in fact, there are three very different possibilities.

Assuming Harry wanted that potion for you, the main issue for now is for you to tell us of your previous intake of any type of 'anti-werewolf' potion (be it Wolfsbane or one of the other available potions). If you've had more than ten full moons worth of Wolfsbane since you became a werewolf, you'll need to start your first intake tonight.

It's a bit complicated to explain in full detail, especially when time is possibly short should you want to start on our alternative potion this month and you have indeed taken a lot of Wolfsbane potion.

Please send word with our owl. If you do require your potion today, I'll come to Black Manor at 9 o'clock tonight to show you where we live and explain in detail the workings of the potion.

Regards

Elijah Teague

Remus gave the note to Harry to read and hurried over to the study to write his reply. Just before Remus gave the note to the owl, Harry said :

"You do know you don't have to take this potion, don't you Remus ? I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time …"

"I know Harry, and thanks for your concern. But what they said about the Wolfsbane potion is correct. And if you look at the four of them, they're in their sixties, but they don't look that old. I'm in my late thirties and I sometimes look older then they do. So there must be something beneficial in their potion. So don't worry. In fact I'm sort of looking forward to it. Surely it can't be as bad as Wolfsbane. That tastes and smells vile." laughed Remus.

Harry, feeling slightly better, nodded and they got themselves out to the quidditch pitch for a quick airing before tea and a catch up lesson with Mr Black.

They were all still sitting at the kitchen table when their new potion teacher came at 9 to pick up Remus. He explained that Remus would be gone for a while, since he'd need to take a cleansing potion in combination with the werewolf draught. It would leave him a bit fuzzy and so it was advised to stay put for that time. After saying goodnight to the two men, Harry was feeling a bit out of sorts.

Mr Black was able to take his mind of his worries when asking about Harry's visit to Black Castle. Harry told him of the impression he'd gotten from the short visit and confessed he'd need another visit at leisure to make more of it. Mr Black was able to confirm the double vision the master of the house had of the place, and while he had seen the place with several levels to accommodate all the guests in his younger days, in his lifetime the castle had never been used as a prison. Mr Black did however know that his grandfather had housed a small army of prisoners at some stage as a favour to a friend. The extra levels had not added height to the building as happened when lots of guests arrived, the prison floors had on the other hand appeared below ground.

The moving rooms that Harry thought to have stairs in them were a quite wonderful way of transport. From what Mr Black described they were a combination of a magical version of a muggle lift and a room of requirement. You got in the smallish room and it transported you to your desired floor. These moving rooms appeared as soon as an additional floor was added to the castle, which was why Harry didn't get to see and test them. From what Mr Black understood from his grandfather's stories of the month with prisoners, any of the moving rooms for the guests brought you up and down as required. However, on the 'prison floors' they worked differently. Any moving room would take you down to your correct floor, but if you needed to move up, that was a process of going up one floor at a time, and you needed to move to the next moving room. It was an ingenious way to confuse prisoners of their whereabouts.

Mr Black also expressed his surprise at the appearance of the house elf ghost but was happy to confirm that Gregory had moved on now he'd fulfilled his promises.

Harry also learned that Mr Black's pensieve had contained the memory of how he had set up the wards and inheritance charms, just in case his plans would have gone awry. Mr Black could only assume that either the memory had disappeared over time, or that it had vanished when his plans had worked so wonderfully well. When Harry asked about written records on Mr Black's work on the family charms, the man sheepishly admitted he'd destroyed his notes just before he passed away for fear his handiwork might be undone with the information on how they were built in the first place. When Mr Black admitted he regretted his inability to write as a ghost, Harry remembered the special quill he'd purchased and together they got it working for Mr Black. When Harry left the study a little while later an elated Mr Black had already started taking down his first notes.

To Harry's surprise it was already close to midnight and the others had gone up to bed. Sipping juice in the kitchen Harry stood undecided what to do. He really wanted to wait for Remus to return but was unsure how the man would take it. The decision was taken from him when Remus stumbled inside, looking tired but happy nevertheless. Luke Waverly helped him stay upright and was the one that answered Harry's question.

"Remus, are you alright ?"

"Now I know why he insisted to come back so soon. Yes, Harry, he is fine. Just very tired from the cleansing potion in combination with the werewolf draught he took. By tomorrow morning he'll be fine. This time will be the worst, when he starts the potion regime for the next full moon it'll be a little better and after a few full moons he'll be right as rain."

"Is that because the potion has to fight the strength the inner werewolf got from the Wolfsbane ?"

"Indeed, Harry. Someone who never had any werewolf potion before only requires two extra doses to begin with. Remus who had quite some Wolfsbane potion in the last years will need to take more potion over a longer period before he too will have enough with just the one portion per full moon cycle."

"OK. That makes sense. I better take him up to bed. Thanks for bringing him home, Luke."

"Don't mention it, Harry, it was the least we could do. Do you want help to get him upstairs ?"

Harry was about to accept when Dobby made an appearance.

"Dobby will move mister Remus to bed."

"Thank you Dobby, that would be a great help."

With Remus expertly popped into bed, Harry thanked Luke again and they said their goodnights. Before crawling into bed himself, Harry did quickly check on Remus all tucked into bed and sleeping peacefully.

That night Harry paid another visit to Sirius, Remus on the other didn't show up. Harry recounted the last days' happenings and what he feared to happen the next days. When Harry told him about the two paintings from the Potter vault, Sirius was able to tell him about the Potter tradition to have a painting of the whole family when the eldest child turned 16. That had been the summer Sirius had broken with his own family and was therefore included in the Potter family portrait. In view of the prophecy James and Lily had decided to have a painting made shortly after Harry's birth, just to be on the safe side. As Harry was telling him about the overheard conversation from that morning, Sirius was able to pick up on Harry's sudden realisation that he might not like it that he'd been replaced so quickly in his godson's affection and quickly set about reassuring him.

"Yes Harry, I can see how Remus would be so important to you so quickly. I'll be the conceited marauder, and know that you cared even more for me when I entered your life in your third year, but unlike Remus who only has his lycanthropy going against him, I came laden with problems. I was emotionally mixed up, physically not in the best state either and there was a prize on my head ! Even if things had worked out two years ago I am convinced we would both have needed Remus around to keep us going."

It was a content Harry who woke up early the next morning. Having vaguely touched the subject of his own demise Sirius had taken the opportunity to address Harry's mixed feelings. It had been disconcerting for the young man to realise that in some twisted way he was actually happy that Sirius had died. After all his godfather's death had set in motion an incredible series of fantastic events. Harry didn't have Voldemort snooping around in his mind and dreams anymore, he had been able to leave the Dursley's in record time and had acquired a real home that offered protection of an unheard of level and he was spending the best ever summer with his friends, his family. So with Sirius' help Harry had looked at his feelings properly and been able to work out that under the circumstances, Sirius wasn't really dead to him, there was nothing else for him to do but to be happy.

So Harry got out of bed, washed and dressed quickly, checked in with Remus, who looked like he hadn't moved so much as a muscle throughout the night and was still sleeping peacefully, and made his way downstairs. Dobby was in the kitchen preparing breakfast as usual and while Harry poured himself some juice and filled a bowl with fruit salad, the house elf popped out to fetch a newspaper. Harry just enjoyed his breakfast, safe in the knowledge that no matter what that paper printed, those who really mattered knew the truth of it. As for the rest of the wizarding world, they really needed to wake up to reality.

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Author's Note :

Thanks for reading. Would love some feedback from you though. If you have any questions about the story, I've opened up a forum you can access from my profile page. Please don't be shy. I'll be checking at least once a day so you can expect an answer within 24-36 hours maximum.

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).

See you next week.

cheers

kadedeetje