The Heir of the Western Lands
Chapter 5
Author's notes: Here we are at chapter five! For this story, I have decided to make a more open world. Many other animes/mangas and even some movies/series will be mentioned and some will play a role more or less important depending on my inspiration. The Addams family is one of many, but not everything will be as well featured as that one. I mentioned Youkai Academy in a precedent chapter, but I doubt I will return to it or I am more likely to use a few things from said anime/manga and mix it with the world I intend to build. Now, let's see the stats. We have 19 reviews, 190 followers, 143 favourites, 2 C2 communities and 9 415 views.
Thank you very much for everything everyone. Now for a little remainder before the real chapter. The Youkais don't have an official Statute of Secrecy like the Magical World outside of Japan, China and Vietnam where they work hand in hand with the Wizards. But in a sense, it's even harsher without an official law sanctioned by the government with punishments already in place for defined offenses. The punishments for divulging the secret are in the hands of the Clan Head. It can go from a simple public beating to outright execution if the offense is grave enough. It's very Darwinian.
Last Edit: May 25, 2017.
The second day to the Addams' Mansion was somewhat similar to the first. While the adults were catching up and/or learning about each others, the children were playing together. Wednesday was as much annoyed and elated at the same time as possible. Annoyed, because Harry and Rosiewere clearly not entirely human but refused to undo their disguises, no matter what she and her brother tried. More precisely, Rosie couldn't undo it by herself and Harry refused categorically.
Elated, because they now had two very durable playmates around their age that weren't of Addams blood and they weren't adverse to return the favour, when it was time to try to kill each others. Rosie, while she was not as strong or as fast as Harry, was far more temperamental than him and more likely to channel her magic to attack in high emotions. But it was natural, even a supernatural creature had different stages of maturity and the boy with the emerald green and golden eyes was older than the little girl with warm brown eyes with a bit of gold in them.
Harry and Pugsley had bonded over the different recipes of explosives and unorthodox pranks. Her stoicism had been stretched to the maximum and she nearly laughed out loud when she learned of the prank they played on Uncle Fester, who came back from a road trip the night before. The boys had used Harry's magic and Pugsley's definition of what an Addams family member would find disgusting to change the austere and dark bedroom into something bright, colorful and joyful. The cursing from the eldest of the two Addams brothers was heard everywhere in the mansion for a good thirty minutes. Needless to say, the not so subtle snickering of the boys kind of ousted them as the perpetrators of the prank.
Everyone, even Granny Frump and surprisingly Lurch, had a good laugh at the joke. Well, everyone except Fester that is. Lily only needed to give her son the look for the boy to scurry upstairs at superhuman speeds and fix it before he got punished. As for why it was Gomez who was the Head and not his older brother Fester? Usually, it would have been the eldest who should have taken the place of Head of The Addams Clan like the family tradition dictated it, but the older brother lacked the necessary charisma and couldn't be bothered with all the subtleties that came with the job.
He had long preferred backing his younger brother Gomez with his freakish strength and undying loyalty. Fester was very strong and durable physically, even by Addams standards. So when the brain of the operations was facing some obstacles that he couldn't convince to move out of the way on their own volition; Fester took upon him to make them move, voluntarily or not. But even for all their macabre and weird ways, never an Addams adult would raise a hand against a child except maybe for discipline. And it was not a common thing anyway.
The day was going well, when the children hit a snag in the late afternoon. Wednesday and Pugsley wanted to go play in the cemetery, but the powerful sense of smell of both Potter children really came at an inopportune time. The smell of decay, death, dark magic, freshly upturned earth and stone was too much for them. Rosie had to be escorted to Lily, for she had started to cry and was inconsolable and Harry had to use all of his mental fortitude to not let his instincts run wild. Needless to say, the Addams children were somewhat miffed to be unable to share their favorite playground with their Potter playmates.
Pugsley had the good idea to relocate in the backyard, away from the cemetery, while Wednesday was trying to find out exactly what the Potter children were by reciting the clues she had found, in her head. First of all both of them had supernatural strength, endurance, speed and resistance. Enough to keep up with their Addams constitution and Harry was even able to overpower her older brother who took after their uncle Fester in the strength department! They had also very developed and powerful senses to the point that it could be used against them. Hearing, sight and smell seemed to be the most developed of the five.
Their dad needed glasses and none of them had the need for them. Rosie was also seen often crooking her fingers in a claw like gesture and not balling her fists in anger when Harry wasn't acquiescing to her every whim under the pretext that as a Lady you shouldn't told her no. Their body language was way more developed than average. They seemed to be able to share some pretty well defined nonverbal signals. The fact that Harry would also growl, bare his teeth and glare at his younger sister when she was pushing the limits of his patience with her demands and that such a gesture would make the younger sibling instantly cower, whine like an animal in distress and present her throat in submission was very beast like, almost...canine.
Add to that the magical haze emanating from both siblings and covering them like an impenetrable cloak, Wednesday could accurately guess that their new playmates were something supernatural outside of the regular magical creatures and that the part of their supernatural heritage came from their mother, since she was also cloaked in a very powerful spell. It was very frustrating that she couldn't see through the disguises though.
Seeing as the subtle methods to make them reveal themselves didn't work, Wednesday decided to go with the good old badgering. Poor Harry was the only recipient of such since Lily had put Rosie to bed for a nap in one of the guest bedrooms showed to her by Morticia. The adults had the time of their lives observing Wednesday follow the Potter boy everywhere and badger him constantly about showing his real self. Yeah, like he would do that. His dad had said to him and his sister a bit before they left Japan that he would tan their hide black and blue the next time they willingly undo theirs glamours outside of Grandfather Sesshomaru's lands.
And Harry has tested it because he was sure his dad was either bluffing or setting him for a prank. No such luck. In between dodging Wednesday and Pugsley, he managed to remember quite well how he learned the painful lesson to take his father's instructions seriously.
It was a beautiful day of spring. Few clouds, the sun was shining, the wind was rustling in the blossoming Sakura trees. Harry was still thinking about what his dad had said. He knew full well that he couldn't show himself to the regular, mundane humans. But the magicals of Japan knew about Youkais and the supernatural. He was itching to feel the wind flowing into his hair and on his furry ears, so he deliberately disobeyed the rules once inside the magical market they were strolling trough to go shopping and he paid the full price for his disobedience as soon as his dad saw what he did.
His father hadn't been bluffing or setting him for a prank like he thought he was doing though...It would have been nice to learn about it before. Well, insight is 50/50 as the saying goes.
"Harry James Potter! What did I just told you this morning? You did that deliberately! No, it's no use to try and deny it or to try to escape your punishment, I felt you use your magic. You know what will happen now! Believe me; it's not over by a long shot my boy. Once we're home, I'll talk with your mother about what you did. We will see how she will react to your bad behavior."
James was furious and also very afraid at the same time. What was Harry thinking? His mother, his grandfather and he had all talked to him separately about that! He knew what could happen if the Supernatural beings were exposed to the general public! He knew! They had explained to him in great details the possible consequences should the Youkais' existence being leaked to the mundane Humans and now, the kid decided to undo his disguise on a whim in a crowded street during the day!
The family man had then hastily spelled temporary glamours on his son with a swish of his wand, took him by the arm in such way that Harry couldn't get loose to escape (technically Harry could have escaped his father's grip quite easily, but as a young child raised into a loving family, it didn't even cross his mind to use his supernatural strength against his dad.), dragged him to a remote backstreet between two shops, quickly erected privacy and silencing spells, transfigured himself a chair from a rock lying nearby and then he forced a now struggling Harry, who had realized what was about to happen, across his lap.
Once he was sat on the chair, James shoved his son's pants down to the boy's ankles and then started to spank him very hard with a wooden paddle transfigured from another pebble until the lesson sank and his son's bottom was black and blue. Of course, after the third slap, Harry had started crying and begging, but James didn't stop because he knew that his son needed the punishment to see how much trouble he was in. Even if doing such a thing to his son was pulling harshly on the strings of his fatherly heart. Normally he would have never used so much force, but the transgression was extremely serious and his son was a hanyō. He was more resilient than even an adult wizard and had a very good regeneration factor that would only get better as he matured.
In thirty minutes top once the spanking was over, what the boy would only feel a slight discomfort compared to the pain a normal human would still feel. The bigger difference between James and Charlus was that the elder of the two never had the courage nor the mental fortitude to really harden his heart and physically discipline his son for his horrid behavior; thus letting James develops such a cocky devil may care attitude and a very big head while in school. While his mother was never a follower of the pureblood supremacy nonsense, she was still a pureblood from an old family and was somewhat dismissive of the magic-less populace.
She didn't hate them, she even though they were needed somehow, but in her books they didn't have many good things that could be useful for the Magical community. Also in the Potter clan, traditionally the heavy discipline was the sole domain of the father, so Dorea never physically disciplined her son either more than a slap on the wrist when found looking through the cookie box between meals. Thus James really wished in insight that his parents had been firmer with him. It would have prevented many incidents, like many of his fights with Snape per example.
James didn't want for his son to grow up with the same big head and bad attitude that he had in his youth. To prevent such a thing, he would harden his heart and punish his son physically to make him understand the lessons he wanted to impart to him and to think about the consequences of his acts. Harry's consequences for said acts were going to be quite harsher than he first thought; he was in for some miserable months. Once home, James sent him immediately to his room. He was grounded indeterminably, he was to stay in his human disguise until told otherwise and couldn't come out of his bedroom with the exception for trips to the bathroom until called and his focus ring was confiscated from him upon entering into the Lands.
Someone, likely his mother or another of the Inu Clan's Sorceresses would come later to bind his demonic powers. He was also completely forbidden to play with any of his toys. The boy obeyed in silence and went upstairs, his eyes still red and his throat still somewhat constricted from crying. But it didn't stop there. Oh no, it would have been too easy. Once Lily was made aware of the situation and what punishments her husband decided for their son, she left him to take care of Rosie and went to their son's bedroom, shaking with a strange mix of almost crippling fear and boiling anger. Lily let herself in without knocking in Harry's room, in her natural form since they were home.
She didn't waste time with words or explanations, for in three great strides she was upon the bed; she sat there swiftly and forced her struggling in vain boy across her jeans clad lap. For the second time in a few hours, Harry was again pant less and received another severe spanking. This time, Lily put a good deal of strength and a bit of her own youki into the hits to bypass her son's regeneration factor. Unable to harden her heart completely like her husband could but stubborn to a fault, she ignored her flesh and blood's cries and pleas and kept hitting again, again and again while she openly sobbed in silence.
Why had her foolish son done that?! He knew! He knew that he risked to be put down like a diseased animal if he had compromised the secret of the Supernatural creatures' existence! They had to discipline him! It couldn't just be swept under the rug! As it is, they were lucky to not have been in America while he did that very stupid stunt! All around the United States, they were Supernatural aware humans who were hunting their kind and all sorts of other creatures! Wendigos, Bible demons, shape shifters, wild ghosts, unreasonable vampires and more!
They were ruthless and wouldn't have hesitated a single second to gun him down with a firearm loaded with blessed munitions! Either for sport or for the pretext to protect those not in the know! His age wouldn't have made any differences! Hunters were ruthless, heartless and never gave up easily! Then, there was the boogeyman of the supernatural to be taken in account! John Winchester! He was known to shoot first, shoot again, shoot a third time then ask questions if he was in the mood!
Once her son's bottom was black and blue again, Lily stopped spanking him. Forcing herself to not take her baby boy into her arms and comforts him; she reached with a clawed hand into the collar of Harry's t-shirt for the necklace with a relatively small emerald on it. She observed the Runes inscribed with a knowing look, and then with a quick application of Youki mimicking Wizarding magic, she changed the "programming" so to speak. Those Runes were what were taking a small part of Harry's youki and converting it into the necessary energy to power the glamours hiding his true nature.
Recently, she had changed the inscribed Runes on it to let him have the responsibility and the choice to active or deactivate the glamours at will. But since Harry was clearly not mature enough for this responsibility in nature of his previous stunt a few hours ago, the mother took the responsibility she had given him, back. Now her immature baby boy could no longer remove the glamours or the necklace without the help of an adult keyed into it.
Not done, she applied her right palm on his bare back after lifting his t-shirt and with a grunt of exertion; she applied the punishment her husband had decided by binding her son's demonic powers. That way, without his focus ring, he could no longer mold his youki for Demonic techniques or Wizarding magic. When she was done, she cleared her eyes of tears and met her son's accusing glare. As to why her son didn't protest, what nobody knew was that Harry had found a nice little trick on how to flare his power just the right way to undo any bindings put on him.
He had to develop it since one of his friends in the Clan had the tendency to use her talent in seals and bindings by practicing on him and their others friends. But he was smart and shrewd enough to not reveal that tidbit of information to his parents or to do it in front of somebody with a form of authority over him...
"Don't give me that look, young man! We told you what could happen! Many times even! Your father, your grandfather and I, we all took the time separately to make sure that you understood clearly what was at stake here! You have been warned many times that ousting that secret would have grave consequences! Now, tell me what was going on in that head of yours when you decided it was a good idea to expose yourself in public like that and risk your life and the life of your sister."
Lily's tone was still scathing, making him flinch. She was laying it a bit thick, but better to scare him good right now to avoid a repeat of this incident. But he did not back down of his accusing and defying glare, until his mother, quite fed up with his open defiance of a higher ranked pack member, let out a powerful bark from her throat and bared her white fangs while flaring her youki at the same time. Backing down with a greater flinch and averting his eyes, Harry finally muttered something, but his mother's sharp hearing caught it.
He thought that the law was only in place for the mundane populace since the Wizards of Japan, China and Vietnam were in the known and working alongside the Youkai population inside their borders. He also thought that his dad was setting him up for a prank like he was known to do often, so he took the warning with quite a few grains of salt and a very healthy dose of scepticism. It was a somewhat valid concern in a way seeing that the last prank war was stopped only two days ago after Harry switched his dad's shampoo with green hair dye and mixed a cheap feminine perfume he bribed his tutor Yashima to get some for him at a human store and put it into his father's aftershave in retribution for transfiguring a dog out of one of Rosie's dolls and had said dog ate his homework!
Learning this, Lily couldn't help but let out an annoyed sight and pinch her nose in an irritated manner. So her son's immature behaviour was in part caused by the healthy mistrust of what his father was saying so soon after another prank war. Said prank war that her loving hubby lost. Great. Just great... Damn it all. James should have known that their son wouldn't take him seriously for a good while after a prank war he started in the first place! Sometimes she was wondering if he had matured at all! Seriously, transfiguring a dog out of one of their daughter's dolls and make it eats their son's homework with the goal to make him use the lame excuse that a dog ate it to his tutor!
It was in times like this that Lily cursed her husband and his pack mates' mischievousness. The whole debacle could have been avoided if he hadn't regressed again as a teenager! Well, now she had her husband to punish since her son's case was resolved. Letting out a sigh, she decided to get up and just before exiting Harry's room, she said
"It doesn't matter what you were thinking. You were forbidden to reveal your true self outside of your grandfather's lands and you disobeyed your instructions, putting the whole Clan in danger. You are punished until we leave for vacation and you might even stay here while we go. Like your father said, you are grounded. No playing with your toys, your TV privileges are totally revoked as of right now, you are forbidden to use magic outside of emergencies, no more guitar courses for you since it will be confiscated. No more sword training with your grandfather and no more going to work with your dad and uncles.
You will stay here and help me take care of your sister all day. When your help won't be needed, you will be expected to work outside with the clansmen charged with the Lands' maintenance, without pay plus your regular chores without allowance. Now, go wash yourself and try to think about your acts until I call you down for dinner. One more toe out of the line Harry and I swear to God you will regret it bitterly. Don't test me young man, the Alpha of this pack, it's me."
With that, Lily exited her son's room, closing the door behind her. Harry threw a last defiant glare at the closed door before waiting a few minutes, laid down on his belly on his bed, waiting to make sure his mother was downstairs. She was not a good sensor, thus if she wasn't really close, she would not feel him flare his youki unless it's a very big amount, but his trick to undo the bindings on his power didn't require a big amount of energy. With the help of a meditating exercise, he calmed his breathing and the beating of his heart.
Then with a subtle push of youki carefully channelled toward the bindings, the young Hanyō undid them all, thus giving him full access to his powers anew. He wasn't much fazed from the lost of his focus ring; he had gotten the hang of focus less magic about two years ago. It wasn't his fault that his mother was too busy with his sister to remember that accomplishment of his and that his father and uncles' mentalities were stuck in the "Focus less Wizarding magic is impossible" state. Now, to hide his guitar in a subspace dimension like Yashima taught him before his mother or father came back to confiscate it...
Coming back from his reminiscence and quite fed up with the badgering, Harry told them frankly
"Yes, I'm not fully human. No, I'm not removing my glamours no matter what you say and do, for two good reasons. Reason number one: I can't remove them by myself any longer. Reason number two: It's totally forbidden to do so outside of my Grandfather's Domain. I learned the hard way before the start of our vacation that disobeying my parents about that subject will have very harsh consequences. I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. So if you really want to see and know the truth, go bothering my parents about it."
The frankness in Harry's tone of voice took the wind out of the sails of both Addams children. Pugsley, not very interested into the mysticism to begin with, decided to forget about it. Wednesday was stubborn though. She wanted answers and she intended to have them. With the air of someone on a mission, she left the boys to their devices and went into the parlour to convince Mr. And Mrs. Potter to show her the truth. Wednesday would leave the parlour disappointed after being politely but firmly rebuffed about half an hour later. When she went to find the boys, it was to find Thing, the disembodied hand, telling her in sign language that they had roped Lurch into giving them a lift for downtown.
Well, from what she could see from the windows, they were trying to rope Lurch into giving them a lift. But the butler wasn't in the mood to indulge the boys and after taking the keys of the car with him and putting said keys inside the pockets of his suit, the giant zombie shooed them away. Lurch was not one for much talking, but he was intelligent and responsible. No way will he drive those two troublemakers in town without adult supervision! The family had enough trouble according to him with the judge living nearby; they didn't need to add oil on the fire so to speak by letting two mischievous boys run rampant without adequate supervision into the city!
The rest of the Potters' sojourn in New Jersey went without a hitch. Wednesday was still annoyed to not have her answers, but her parents had preached the virtue of patience. At least they had gotten playmates able to keep up with them who weren't blood related to the Addams Clan for a time. She had to admit it had been nice, not been obligated to hold back, not hearing screams of terror and worse, clean up after her less durable playmates when they soiled themselves. Gomez and Morticia were loving parents, but even with the services from paid maids and many employees to help maintain the Mansion, they insisted that both Pugsley and her do their share of work.
After all, how would have they learned to play safely with the instruments of torture hadn't they took the time to maintain them manually? After a few rounds of goodbyes and promises to write, the Potter family left New Jersey and North America, behind. Their next destination was Central America, Mexico, Mexico City. Now if only James would shut up about the Chupacabra, everyone would be happy. Sirius and Remus would meet them there, since the Padfoot wanted to indulge into Latina women and Remus was due for a vacation. The laws against werewolves were quite reasonable in Mexico. It was a country highly against anything slightly tied to vampirism though.
They toured the sights and what sights it was! Mexico City is a fascinating capital that beguiles its visitors with endless options. One of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with sixteen boroughs and more than three hundreds neighborhoods, it might seem a bit overwhelming to the first-time visitor, though it doesn't have to be. Many of the most visited tourist attractions in Mexico City are concentrated in the historic center, including the Plaza de la Constitucion or Zocalo, the National Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral, Templo Mayor, Palace of Fine Arts and Alameda Park.
A few blocks north of the Palace of Fine Arts, Plaza Garibaldi is one of the best places in Mexico City to hear live mariachi music. They didn't stay into the city all the time though. They did plan a day trip to the closest Aztec pyramids. Don't forget the beaches! Padfoot would never go anywhere sunny without visiting the water edge, be it in human form to flirt with the ladies or in dog form when he was playing fetch with the children. All in all, they had very much fun in the three weeks they were there. Then it was another long plane ride to England for a visit to Grandma Evans.
Rose had graciously aged, even if time had made a visit since she had quite a few streak of grey into her now pale blond hair and the grief to losing her husband took its toll. But she was now an Evans woman and they weren't weak of heart. Her husband was a brave man; he died protecting her and their youngest daughter, giving them the time to get away, taking with him fifteen magical terrorists. Her soldier had protected them to the end just like he promised in his marriage vows. Now, a genuine smile was on her face, seeing her youngest daughter and her family in her home was making her radiant. Hugging and kissing her grandchildren took twenty years of her body.
For Rose Evans nee Bernard, it didn't matter if Lily wasn't the fruit of her womb. She had taken her when she was still an infant sucking at the teat of her dying birth mother. Lily Evans Potter was not human, but for Rose, Rirī of The House of the West would always be an Evans woman. The family was sitting into the living room, talking of this and that, when Rose asked to the Potter patriarch
"James, where are those two scoundrels Sirius and Remus? Usually they can't get enough of the cookies I bake. Now I baked four plates just for them and they decide they don't want to visit?"
Then she directed her attention to her daughter and said to her in a pleading tone
"Lily dear, please remove your disguise and those of your children. We are the only ones here and Petunia and her family just left two days ago, so nobody else is supposed to be coming. I'm aware of the Supernatural since your father Michael and I took you in as our child. I want to see how my grandchildren really look like."
Petunia and Lily didn't get along, not anymore. Their relationship had eroded over time, with Lily gone almost all year long to Hogwarts and Petunia not having magic, had to stay in the muggle world. Having met Vernon Dursley, who was slated to take a job at Grunnings, a company that made and sell drills, she had fallen into the role of house wife. They were practically estranged a year after Lily's graduation. The final nail into the coffin was at their father's funeral. Petunia had accused her of being the reason why he was dead, that had she not been a freak, those other freaks would have not bothered a perfect normal family. What burned the bridge and made sure that it would never be repaired was Petunia quoting a passage of the bible, of all things!
"Exodus 22:18! Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live! We should just gather all your God damned impious kind and burn you all at the stake! You are nothing more than a good for nothing murderous monster!"
Between crying and shouting at a shell shocked Lily, Petunia had the gall to spit in her face before storming away with her then fiancé.
Petunia kept in contact with her mother, but refused categorically to talk about anything related to her younger sister. In her words
"I do not have a younger sister. I am an only child."
Needless to say that Lily didn't bring her family to #4 Privet Drive.
After that painful bout of reminiscence, James answered reassuringly
"They will be here in a few hours, Mrs. Evans. It's been a while since we were in the United Kingdom so they popped up to Hogwarts to go see the Headmaster to talk about what's going on in the magical community. Don't worry Mrs. Evans; they wouldn't miss your cookies for anything less than a catastrophe of global proportions. You know how they like your cooking!"
Rose smiled at that, amused. It was true; those two could be controlled by their stomachs. She then frowned a bit and declared
"James, stop with the Madam Evans. Call me by my first name. Rose. Now, repeat after me. R-o-s-e. Rose. It's not the end of the world. Now what about those glamours Rirī? "
It was somewhat funny and ironic. Rose had great fun at calling her adoptive daughter by her birth surname while her father tried to call her by her westernized surname. The younger woman let out a defeated sight and after a quick admonition towards her children to not go play near the windows, she undid their disguise. The happy grandmother was then cuddling her granddaughter, passing a brush in her long raven black hair with red and white highlights.
Her grandson was wrestling on the floor with his dad and was it funny to see a grown man be somewhat serious in a physical activity to not be outdone by his son. Harry had his hair cut recently, since it was a bird nest. He really had inherited his father's and paternal grandfather's hair while Rosaline had inherited the hair of her mother side of the family. It was idyllic really. Soon enough, Remus and Sirius arrived and the latter loudly demanded his cookies, only silenced by a yelp when Rosie sent a weak yellow energy whip at his face that he barely dodged and told him with all the seriousness a five years old girl can muster
"You don't demand things from a Lady, uncle Padfoot! You ask politely and if you're nice, maybe you will be allowed some! Now change into dog, sit, lie down and stay! Bad Padfoot, bad doggie!"
Harry looked up from pinning his sulking father to the ground and said
"At least Uncle Moony is better trained than you and he's a wolf! We should really send you to a dog obedience school!"
That was the cherry on the cake. Everyone started laughing, even Sirius. Ah, it was great to pass time with his chosen family.