Title: Harry Potter and the Rise of the Dark Legacy
Author: enchanted nightingale
Beta Reader: pussycatadamah
Pairs: Harry/Lucius (eventually), Ron/Hermione, Neville/Ginny, Remus/Tonks
Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I merely use them in my plot for fun.
Chapter 8
November 12th:
Draco stepped into his father's chambers carefully. His father had summoned him a couple of nights ago but the teen kept postponing the meeting with various excuses, like homework or Quidditch practice but that very morning his godfather had cornered him in the corridors and pretty much yelled at him for being so childish.
Flashback:
"Your father really needs to speak with you boy and unless you stop being so immature I'll add a week of detention in your reasons for not answering his summons," Severus Snape had threatened him and Draco had listened this time.
Blaise, who was following the blonde not far behind him, approached once their Head of House left the area.
"What was that?" he asked his friend.
"Father sent me a letter to see him," Draco replied.
"So?" Blaise wondered. Lucius usually sent letters to Draco in order for his son to meet him instead of contacting him in the duration of the day. So he was naturally puzzled by Draco's refusal to meet the man.
"Mother wrote him, he said in the letter."
"You think something bad is going on," Blaise understood.
Draco shrugged.
"Just go meet him. You won't know until he tells you."
"I will. You heard Severus, didn't you?"
Blaise chuckled. "That was very considerate of him."
Draco snorted. "Right."
"Come on now, quit being grumpy or the rest of them will wonder what's wrong," Blaise warned him. "Want to play chess tonight? After meeting with your father," the teen clarified.
Draco glared his friend.
"No, after seeing father there's something else I have to do."
Blaise was puzzled by that and kept pestering Draco to tell him for the rest of the way to their Common Room.
End Flashback
Lucius was there, dressed casually and occupied with a stack of papers on his desk. He lifted his head when Draco entered and smiled thinly at his son.
"Just a moment Draco," he said.
"Our essays?"
"The first years, actually. Not one of them knows how to write one, never mind the context of each of them."
"Should I come back later?" Draco asked.
"No," Lucius decided. He abandoned his desk and approached his son. "Take a seat, please. Tea?"
Draco nodded.
A house elf appeared with a tray. Once it was gone the situation became even tenser.
"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Draco asked casually.
Lucius sighed.
"She wrote me a couple of days ago."
"And?" Draco asked clearly confused.
"It would be better if I showed you the letter," his father replied as he produced the letter in question and handed it to his son.
Draco accepted the parchment carefully and with quite a bit of apprehension.
"Is it bad?" he asked.
"Just read it son."
The teen complied reluctantly.
Lucius watched as his son read it. It was easy to distinguish the various emotions Draco felt just by looking at the boy's eyes and face. Lucius was willing to bet that the teen was confused and very surprised about all this.
"Mother asked you for divorce?" the teen finally asked.
"Yes."
"She did not go to our lawyers?"
"Not yet. She merely sent me this letter. To be honest I do not think there is a way to reply, not yet anyway." Lucius sighed. "I just thought you ought to know about this. It concerns you as well since you are aware of the situation between your mother and me."
Draco stared at the letter a while longer before handing it back to his father. "What happens now? I know you two cannot get a divorce unless the clauses in your contract are met, and this way they aren't. And mother speaks about making another family with this guy." He paused with a glare at nothing in particular.
Lucius, sensing where this was going, stood and sat by Draco. After a small hesitation he hugged the teen. It seemed that even Draco did not expect that.
"Father?"
"We are family, Draco. No matter what happens. Your mother and I have you, the one thing we rarely had a difference when you were concerned. If we have a common ground it is definitely you… And perhaps our taste in men."
Draco laughed at the last bit and nodded.
Lucius pulled back from the hug. "Still, do not worry over anything. We are both going back home over the Yule holidays and everything will be settled then."
"Okay, if you say so."
"Now finish your tea. I'd add fire-whiskey but you have classes after and that would not be very ethical of me."
"Father, when did you start worrying about ethics?"
"Since I'm living in the same building as Dumbledore. One can never be too careful around that man."
November 15th:
Forbidden Forest:
Harry walked past Hagrid's hut and into the thick foliage of the forest. Once he was a bit far into the forest he removed his glamour and kept on. He was dressed in casual clothes, with no coat or gloves on and it was
Ailill waited for him in a small clearing.
"Was there a reason I had to come out here in this freezing cold for a lesson? And it is still daylight! What happened to our night lessons?" the teen complained.
The older Elf shook his head. "Where are the good times when you were scared and shy around me, never talked back and obediently followed instructions?"
"Ha ha. Now can you please tell me?"
Ailill sighed. "I thought to test your Aura skills in a natural magical environment and this forest is the best opportunity for this. I was informed you are familiar with parts of this forest?"
"A bit," Harry admitted.
"Good, though it will not matter much. Your task is to track five different creatures using Aura sensing alone. You will use it to dodge trees, stray animals and roots. You are to locate a unicorn, an Acromantula, a Centaur, a Thestral and a Runespoor. Think you can do it?"
Harry shrugged. "I'll try."
Hogwarts Library:
Draco was almost hidden in a dark corner of the library, away from Granger who was always in the room for one reason or another, and every other student that was in the library. He had searched for weeks on various spells that could give a person the appearance Potter had taken. It turned out that no mere spell could do so much. There was no spell for the ears and all spells and potions that caused such radical changes could not be consumed during the summer months because everyone knew Potter spent his summers with his Muggle relatives.
Then he turned and looked around feeling bored, looking for a distraction.
'Or divine intervention,' the blonde thought wryly.
And it seemed like luck was with him that day.
Hermione Granger was in the library that day and she stood from her seat to head to Madam Pince. The sour librarian smiled at the girl and directed her in the Forbidden Section.
Draco blinked. Then he found his chance to get rid of his boredom.
Approaching the desk he was awed by the pile of books she was studying at the same time. Some of them were old, others in good condition and most of them rather battered. She looked like she was taking notes on the books too.
'She reads all these!' Draco was surprised. Then he snorted. 'Blaise would be thrilled,' he thought absently.
He read the titles that were facing him, not bothering to move or touch anything.
Then his eyes caught some of the title, recognizing them as related to one of the borderline books.
'Never thought I'd see this one in Hogwarts,' Draco was impressed.
He skimmed through them till he reached a pile of them that focused more on what he was searching.
ooo
The Gift of Beauty by Nicodème Rhisiart Paul,
Professor of History of Species in Babylonian Institute of Magic,
Head of Veela Clan of Nice, France,
Member of International Magical Rights Committee
ooo
Draco blinked at the title. The volume was thick and worn out. The leather had lost its shine and it looked as if it was gathering dust for quite some time it seemed.
'Why is Granger reading this one?'
Thinking fast, memorized the title of the book and the titles of several others. Carefully, he picked up a couple of books she had already discarded and went back to his table to skim through them. He would see if they were worth his time first before checking them out of the library and he would keep an eye out for 'The Gift of Beauty'. He would wait.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
'Finally some answers!'
In another part of the library, Hermione Granger was at her wit's end.
She had searched all books the library had on Elves. She had tried to find names in history books. Then she had turned to the year books written about wizard families and the various branches, focusing on the Potter family tree for the last century but nothing to reveal anything about the Potter line. In a last minute and final attempt she decided to go through old newspapers with any information about her friend's family. She must have read about a hundred obituaries and marriage or birth announcements until something changed.
She was about to give up for the day until she found a small, warm piece of parchment. It was a prophet, dating back fifty years or so.
"There you are Everard Lionheart," she whispered.
Her eyes quickly scanned the article.
"Today, Tuesday, the 12th of May, 1899, Everard Lionheart, formerly bonded to Emanuel Cadmus Potter, gave birth to a healthy son," Hermione read excitedly. "And the boy's name was…"
Harry's room:
Hermione was anxiously waiting outside the portrait that led to Harry's rooms. Her eyes were darting to the notes and books she held and then around her impatiently. She had ran out of the library the moment she read the paragraph, not bothering to put the numerous tomes of books back to their places, not even noticing when a certain Slytherin took a couple of them to snoop around, and even less the stern librarian who seemed surprised at the lack of decorum her favourite so far student had displayed. Hermione only stopped when she reached the door and then she breathed.
The moment the Gryffindor girl saw dark hair, she pounced.
"Harry!"
The teen was dragging his feet, one hand tracing the wall. Hermione realized it was for support. She briefly abandoned the rush her findings brought her to express her concern for her best friend. "What happened? Did you have a run in with Hagrid's pets? I thought it was an exercise on Auras."
"So did I, but apparently my esteemed mentor has quite the sadistic streak," Harry grumbled. "Let's get inside. I'm exhausted and I can barely sustain my glamour."
"Okay," she immediately agreed.
She sat by the fire as Harry want to clean up. When he returned she had conjured a tea set and looked ready to talk.
"Must be serious. You even conjured those cinnamon cookies of yours," the Elf lightly commended even as he bit one, munching on it gratefully. Hermione had asked Molly Weasley for the charm, but where Ron's mother produced ginger or chocolate ones, his best female friend made the meanest cinnamon filled pastries.
"Never mind that, what happened to you today?" Hermione asked.
Harry explained the test to her.
"And?"
"Have you ever attempted to walk through the forest with your eyes closed?" Harry asked her.
"I try to avoid entering in the first place," his friend admitted.
"Well, I had a bit of trouble first, tripping on roots and such. Then I run into one of Aragog's children."
Hermione sucked in a breath. "You really have rotten luck."
"Tell me about it," the Gryffindor seeker whined. Then he went on with the narration of the events earlier that day. "I failed that part of the test as the spider found me and not the other way," Harry added. "Then Bane decided to show up with a couple more centaurs and that went quite well," he said sarcastically.
The girl winced.
"He mostly talked with Ailill, refusing to talk to me much, but at least he did not insult me. Anyway, after that the unicorns and Thestrals were better as they liked me and kept following me even after I left the forest," the teen continued.
"Really?" Hermione was immediately interested and amused.
Harry shrugged, red tinged his cheeks. "They only left after I entered the castle."
The Gryffindor prefect smiled at that. Only her friend would get caught up in a mess like that. Hermione was about to comment on that when she noticed Harry's robes moving. She let out a loud shriek when the fabric parted and a slender head appeared from under the fabric. The girl was further startled when it was joined by a second and then a third one. Three forked tongues flicked out of the sibilant heads, tasting the air.
"Oh, my…Is that a Runespoor?" Hermione gasped part in fear and part in interest.
Harry thought it natural as she had only seen one dissected before.
$Young one, I smelled a female$, the Planner head hissed.
The Dreamer reached further towards Hermione, tasting the air around her while the third head, the Critic remained with Harry and stayed quiet.
$Meet Hermione Granger, a friend$, Harry hissed back explaining.
$Nest mate?$, the middle head, the Dreamer asked.
$of sort$, Harry amended.
"Oh, my," Hermione breathed, her eyes focused solely on the three headed snake.
"Hermione, meet my new friend, Aapep. Well, three friends if you count their heads," the Dark Elf told her.
"You never give it a rest, do you?" his friend asked exasperated.
"Isn't he a sight?" Harry asked her with a smile.
The girl shook her head. "Only you Harry, only you. Can you please take Aapep away? I really need to talk to you but the snake is making me nervous."
$Guys, do you mind leaving me and Hermione alone? She has yet to get used to you and you could explore my rooms for a spot to occupy$
The three heads hissed their agreement and swiftly slithered away.
"You wanted to talk to me?" he turned to Hermione and asked.
"I finally found an end," the girl beamed.
Harry realized immediately what the Gryffindor genius meant.
"What is it?" he urged her.
"I found something, here, read it, 'Today, Tuesday, the 12th of May, 1899, Everard Lionheart, formerly bonded to Emanuel Cadmus Potter, gave birth to a healthy son," Hermione read excitedly. "And the boy's name was Orodreth Lionheart."
"The equivalent of 'Thomas' in Elvish," Harry observed.
Hermione blinked. She was itching to ask him more about this but resisted and continued about the article.
"Anyway, here it says that the boy was never acknowledged by the Potter head nor the father and I found no further traces of them in the magical community," Hermione said triumphantly. "So I thought to search in the Muggle community. You might not know this but the Ministry keeps track of the magical population that decides to be involved with Muggle's, for the secrecy and all that, so they are listed in this book that will update itself magically…"
"Mione," Harry cut her off. "Is that book in Hogwarts?"
The girl smiled. She produced a leaf of paper. "I copied the page."
Harry hugged her tightly and then took the paper from her.
'Name:Orodreth (magical), Oros (Muggle name)
Surname: Lionheart
Age: N/A
Occupation: Doctor, Gynaecologist
Status: Married, Bonded
Bond's Name: Bill Evans
Descendants:Náriël Morwen Tinehtelë, given up for adoption
Adoptive parents: James Potter, Lilly Potter, nee Evans'
Harry gasped.
"Harry?" Hermione tried.
The teen grew pale. He held up a hand to keep her from speaking.
His mind was working a mile a minute. He read the slip of paper again and felt his chest constrict.
'I'm adopted?' he questioned again and again in his mind. That meant that James and Lilly Potter were never his parents. That he was not who he thought he was. Everyone had lied. Perhaps it was all a big joke and everyone was in on it.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled at him.
He blinked and his eyes got back their focus.
"Listen to me, because if I know you well and I am sure that I do, you are probably working yourself into a frenzy this very moment," Hermione told him.
Her face softened and she hugged the shocked teen.
"James and Lilly Potter adopted you, had you stay with them, gave you a name, a home and finally died for you. Whatever this paper says, they are your parents in all but blood."
Harry nodded numbly.
"I bet no one knew or Dumbledore would have never left you at the Dursley's. And if you check the paper again…"
Harry did and saw one last line, just under the section of his adoptive parents. "They died, a month after I was born," the teen whispered. He trembled.
For a moment he was glad to know that he had not been abandoned. On the other hand, the fact that they were dead meant that he could never meet with them. He had lost not one but two sets of parents, which was even more tragic.
The voice of logic, namely Hermione, spoke again.
"My guess is that since Orodreth and Bill were bonded it took one of them to die for the other to follow. Bill Evans was a squib so my guess is that he was killed. As they were a Potter and an Evans I believe they might have contacted your parents who were again an Evans-Potter pair. I searched your mother's side and saw that Bill was her father's brother, her uncle. It doesn't take much imagination to guess what happened after that."
"No, it doesn't," Harry agreed.
"I'll leave you to it," Hermione told him. she stood, gave him a kiss on the brow and reluctantly left him alone.
"Mione?"
"I know, I won't tell anything to anyone, not even Ron," the girl told him.
"Thank you," he told her gratefully.
December 20th:
Hogwarts grounds:
Harry was sprawled on the woollen blanket he had conjured just for the purpose of laying with his back on the ground. Hermione was sitting next to him, her magical blue flame doing wonders to keep them warm. Ron was sitting with her and he seemed a bit down.
"It seems weird," the redhead shrugged.
"It is just a few days," Harry told him. "Ailill will take me to meet the community. It will be a nice break from everything."
His friends stayed silent.
Harry had been quiet and morose ever since his talk with Hermione and avoided even his two best friends most of the time. He continued with his studies and all the activities he had taken with the Defence and his lessons with Ailill. Many had noticed the change in him but no one dared to ask. Hermione, most of the time took on herself to fend off annoying questions.
The Dark Elf had kept this up for a while until his mentor had confronted him during one of their fencing sessions and made the teen tell him with the threat of the sword tip on his neck.
"You will tell me what has gotten into you right now or I won't let you leave this room," Ailill threatened.
Harry panted and glared the older Elf but at the same time knew the battle was lost. So he reluctantly nodded. The young Elf told about Hermione's research, her most recent findings, her guesses, and the identity of his parents, everything that had made him so grouchy the past few days.
"… And it has been ages since I saw Lucius with that stupid ban of yours!" Harry finished ranting.
"I see," Ailill said finally.
Harry rubbed his throat. He glanced at his mentor as the other sat cross legged before him after putting his sword away.
"So Orodreth was your father," Ailill said.
"You knew him? My father?"
"Yes. I met him briefly. The Council had me meet him. I am mostly in charge of tracking young Elves that pop up all of the sudden and guiding them. I knew Everard, he was much younger than me but I had met him at the Academy. He was much like your friend Hermione, in love with books, but he was restless. He was especially interested in humans and wizards, fascinated by their world. It was really of no surprise that he upped and left our world and bonded with a human. I never knew he ended up with a Potter. He continued living there after he gave birth and until Orodreth bonded a squib that turned out to be his mate, although Bill Evans was not your usual squib."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, eager for information about the people that were his biological parents.
"He never needed to be a wizard. He was tall, with thick black hair and emerald green eyes, much like Lilly Evans and you actually. He had little magic, mostly associated with Herbology and a few potions. He never attended Hogwarts and mostly dealt with half bloods and Muggle-borns. He wrote a couple of books on the subjects but those are mostly used in Durmstrang as the British Ministry classified them as borderline dark."
Harry swallowed, feeling a proud.
"Your other father, Orodreth, was a Dark Elf with dominant Elf blood and no wizard magic's what so ever," Ailill continued. "He was educated by Everard himself and was a natural healer, hence the doctor occupation. I saw him a few times but he was very down to earth as opposed to his husband Bill. I never knew they had children."
"Thank you," Harry whispered.
"Don't mention it. Are you at least feeling better?"
The teen smiled. "Much."
And that had been the end of the discussion as well as his bitter attitude. Harry was now feeling light hearted and amicable.
The change was also welcomed by his friends, who had been disappointed that they would not celebrate together this holiday.
"I suppose it can't be too bad," Ron decided at last.
"Nope, you'll have Hermione all to yourself," Harry teased.
Ron's face turned red but he did not deny it.
December 21st...
Girls Gryffindor Dorms:
Hermione was packing her trunk meticulously. She was considering how to organize it as she found herself with more things than she had originally come to school with. Ginny entered the room and saw her struggling.
"She's been at it since morning," Parvati told the red haired girl.
Ginny giggled. "Okay, I'll be careful."
The older girl smiled and left. Ginny popped on Hermione's bed, making the mattress bounce and the things on it to follow the movement.
"Ginny! Don't do that!" Hermione scolded. She stood exasperated over the trunk and then with a curse she swished her wand and all things came out again.
"What seems to be the problem?" Ginny asked casually.
Hermione sat down on the floor with a huff.
"I can't pack my things."
The Weasley girl burst into laughter.
"Ginny it is not funny!"
"Yes it is! You have two more days!" The fifth year Gryffindor started laughing again.
"Ginny!"
"Oh, give it up! It is funny!"
Hermione glared but then her ire deflated and she shrugged. "I am just neat. I like things done orderly."
"Sure whatever."
"Don't tell the boys?"
Ginny nodded with a choked laugh. "Sure whatever you want. Need some help?"
Hermione exhaled. "Please?"
"So, what seems to be the problem?"
"You are enjoying this immensely," Hermione accused."
"Yes," Ginny admitted.
"I have more things than I had when I came."
"Huh. Did you charm it to have more space?"
"I did three times already," Hermione told her.
"Then you need a bigger trunk," Ginny told her. "Or less things. What did you buy?"
"Just a couple of books…"
"Aha, Hermione, I've known you for years, try the other one."
"Okay, I bought two Potion journals, one on Transfiguration, a series on Arithmancy, two on Elves, a couple of planners, a book on Defence, a tactic book for strategy, I think there was one with Charms, one with beauty charms…"
"I'm borrowing that one," Ginny cut in."
Hermione nodded as she continued on.
Finally Ginny groaned. "Mione, those are twenty books, not a couple."
The older girl had the grace to blush.
"But you can shrink those," Ginny muttered.
"Not all of them," Hermione admitted.
"What else did you buy?" the younger girl asked suspiciously.
Hermione coloured. "Just extra clothes?"
Ginny, having the twins as role models for the majority of her life, immediately caught on that there was something decisively bad Hermione had done.
"Clothes huh? Like I'd buy that! Hermione Jean Granger, you've been naughty," she smirked.
"No!"
"That blush says it all," Ginny told her knowingly.
Hermione sighed. "Promise not to tell anyone."
"Promise," Ginny said.
Hermione swallowed. She cast a spell to make sure no one could eavesdrop in on them.
"Must be serious," Ginny commented.
"I bought a few things over the summer."
"Okay… Unless it is drugs or dark arts related you have little to worry about."
"It's lingerie," Hermione mumbled.
"There's nothing naughty about that," Ginny pouted. "Or rather there is but my brother is too much of an idiot to do something about it."
"Ginny!"
"What? It is true!" A pause as the red head thought. "I could recruit the twins to help us on this…"
"Us?" Hermione asked. "And did you say those two? Never, absolutely never!"
"They can help."
"I know. But I worry about what they'll do when we ask them. I refuse to use lust potions. And leaving open books on sex aids is embarrassing, plus one of the younger kids might see it," Hermione told her. "Dropping hints just does not cut it for Ron and neither is stating the obvious, as he might faint. As for beating it into him, I might make him angry."
"You know, he may be having the same trouble as you," Ginny told her.
"Doubt it. Harry would have told me so just to do something about it and make Ron stop nagging him," Hermione stated.
"Probably true," Ginny admitted. "Perhaps you should wait a bit more. You are staying over for the holidays. Maybe he has something planned for then. You have to admit Ron is a good strategist."
"Yes, if he can get past your mother," Hermione reminded her.
"True," Ginny chuckled. "Come on now. Forget it. You said you needed help packing and you have it."
"What did you have in mind?" the older Gryffindor asked.
"Send some books to your parents, I could put a couple in my trunk and no harm done," Ginny decided.
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Nope."
"Okay then," Hermione agreed. "That would be great."
"Hm, too bad I can't tell anyone about what you told me here today," Ginny mused. "I think I'll burst!"
"Ginny!"
"What? I won't even have Harry to tease you guys along. It will be dull as I have to also stay away."
"Ah, yes, with Neville's family," Hermione remembered.
Ginny nodded.
"I hope Harry gets lucky over the Yule holidays as well," Hermione said then.
"You want him to find his mate? Isn't it early? I doubt he had time to get used to the ears and all," Ginny wondered.
"Most of us are paired up. I've seen Luna more dreamy than usual. Parvati is dating Justin and Padma a seventh year from Slytherin, Dean is going out with that Fawcett from Ravenclaw, Hannah Abbot has a long distance relationship with one of the guys from Beauxbatons, Seamus is dating Terry Boot, Susan Bones is betrothed to a guy nobody has ever seen, Zacharias smith dated Greengrass briefly and now is with McMillan, Lavender is dating a guy from Ravenclaw…"
"This week," Ginny amended.
Hermione giggled but nodded. "Everyone is paired up."
"All but our Harry," Ginny said.
"Exactly."
"Hermione, what do you have in that mind of yours?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
The Gryffindor prefect smiled. "I am going to help Harry find his mate. Now that I am done researching his family tree."
"I bet you are using it as an excuse to snoop around the library some more," Ginny teased.
It seemed that she was accurate on that one as Hermione blushed deeply, but she still was not fazed. Ginny admired her resilience on looking over things and focusing on what was on her mind.
"Does Harry know you are helping him?" Ginny asked then.
"No, I want it to be a surprise," Hermione admitted.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes," the older teen said with conviction.
Ginny sighed. She did not have the heart or will to make Hermione change her mind and could only hope it would end well.
"I'll help you pack and we can meet the boys out on the grounds. They said something about the last joint snowball fight before holidays."
"Sure," Hermione agreed.
End of chapter
A/N: 1
Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter. They made me happy and some were rather helpful.
A/N: 2
Also, a few words about runespoors from the net, check my profile for the link:
The Runespoor is a three-headed snake native to Burkina Faso in Africa. Runespoors are six to seven feet long, with orange and black stripes. Since they are very easy to spot, the Burkina Faso Ministry of Magic has had to make several forests Unplottable for the Runespoor's use.
The Runespoor has long been associated with Dark Wizards, and what is known of their habits is due in large part to the Parselmouths that have conversed with the creatures.
Each of the Runespoor's head serves a different function. The left head is the planner, the middle head is the dreamer, and the right head is the critic, whose fangs are highly venomous. It is common to see the far right head missing, as the other two heads often band together to bite it off when it criticises the other two heads too much. Because of this, the Runespoor rarely lives to a great age.
The Runespoor bears its young in eggs that it produces through its mouth, and is the only magical beast known to do so. Their eggs are very valuable in making potions to stimulate mental agility and have flourished on the black market for several centuries.
I hope that helps some as Harry will have a new companion in mischief.
A/N: 3
'Aapep' means 'moon snake' in Ancient Egyptian