I am so sorry for the long wait. First of all, I'm in France. As in, I moved to a different country for eight months. O.O So adjusting to that has been crazy. Then, I found out two of my grandparents both have cancer, and one's not looking too good. On top of all that, it's NaNoWriMo, so I'm writing a novel also.
But here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5
"Mum?"
Harry's eyes shot open at Teddy's voice. Teddy didn't talk much – when he did, it tended to be important.
Teddy was looming over her, his own eyes wide. Harry tried sitting up, only to wince.
There was another IV in her arm.
But she wasn't in the hospital. There were no machines. No; she was in a bedroom.
Sherlock's bedroom?
Yes. Sherlock's bedroom. Her mind whirled at the thought. And he hadn't taken her to a hospital. He'd…brought a hospital to her? She watched the IV for a moment before pulling Teddy closer with her free hand.
"Are you hungry?" Harry asked Teddy. He shook his head quickly.
"Ate food," he said before holding out a piece of mush to her. Harry took it from him.
It was a strawberry. Or, it had been a strawberry before Teddy had kept it in his hand for however long he'd had it. Harry went ahead and put it in her mouth, knowing Teddy wouldn't rest if she didn't. She knew without a doubt that she had a little Hufflepuff on her hands.
If he'd be allowed to go.
Harry swallowed at the thought. She couldn't allow those thoughts. It was much too early to worry about it.
Harry eased herself into a sitting position, examining the IV. She could move it. It was on a fold-out stand. With much patience, Harry stood, allowing Teddy to stand next to her. The two of them walked out of the bedroom, listening carefully for any sounds as they did.
Sure enough, someone was arguing in the kitchen.
John.
"I just don't understand any of this!" John was saying.
"I just showed you evidence that Harry is in fact your cousin. That's DNA. You know DNA, don't you?" Sherlock's biting voice retorted.
"So you're saying I'm this…squib….whatever the hell that is?" John said.
Harry's eyes widened.
"That is the word we were given. I'll need to analyze your blood next and see if I can find any certain little tells that show a difference between you and Harry before I can determine what this so-called magic is," Sherlock said.
"I've never found a tell. Trust me. I've looked," a woman's voice that Harry didn't recognize responded with.
"What I want to know is what we plan on doing to protect Harry now? Those two were certain they knew who she was. We can get her some contacts soon so she matches my sister identically," John suggested.
"Yes. Already on that. Hillsdime is on his way over to figure out her prescription and leave with us colored contacts for her," Sherlock said, sounding bored already.
"What if they look into my sister though?" John worried.
"They shouldn't," Sherlock said.
"But what if they do?" John persisted.
"John, don't worry. They won't even think to do that. It's not in their culture," Mary reassured him.
"You can come in the kitchen, you know. We are, in fact, discussing how to help you. You might be able to offer us some pointers," Sherlock's voice was distinctively louder this time, directed to carry over to Harry. Silence followed his words.
Harry slowly made her way into the room, dragging the IV stand alongside her and Teddy.
"What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting!" John said, immediately on his feet. He led her by the arm to the seat he had just vacated and eased her into it.
"I'm fine," Harry responded automatically. She noticed that the other woman there was the same person she'd seen with Sherlock at the hospital when she'd escaped, last month.
"Two people came looking for you. Wanted me to find you for them. Told us about magic and such. Narcissa and Draco Black," Sherlock said.
"What?" Harry asked, eyes wide.
"They said they were there to help you get to whomever it was that abandoned you on the streets without proper communication," Sherlock said disdainfully.
"But Draco was in Az – prison," Harry corrected quickly.
"He was just released. Father still there," Sherlock informed her.
"But you do know them?" John persisted.
"Yes. They were bad. But they helped me in the end. I…I think they're on my side," Harry said, but she couldn't feel 100% about it. Not when Teddy's life was on the line as well as her own.
"We informed them that you are Harry Watson, John's apparently magical sister, and that Theo here is our son," Sherlock said.
"Theo?" Harry asked.
"Yes. When they showed me a photo, I figured I'd have to slightly change his name. Nothing too drastic, yet something less like him," Sherlock said. Sherlock looked up from his microscope, staring intently at Harry.
"Speaking of which, Theo's hair was blue in the photo. Blue, and he had hazel eyes," Sherlock said.
"Yes," Harry agreed uncomfortably.
"Did you use magic to disguise him? Why didn't you use magic to disguise yourself?" Sherlock wanted to know.
"How did you hear about….magic?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Molly burst in the room, stick in the air, and the other two pulled out sticks as well. They had to explain things," Sherlock drawled.
"And Sherlock has his own magic, it appears," the woman Sherlock had referred to as Molly informed her.
"I was also informed that my family came from the Black family. A disowned branch, much like John's must have been to the Potter family," Sherlock said. Harry stared at him.
Really stared at him.
He did have eyes the exact shade as Draco, Harry realized. And his mass of curls were similar to the other Black's she'd met. No wonder Teddy's hair had resembled his. It was more of Teddy's base form than she'd realized.
"I see," was all Harry could muster.
"You're overwhelming her," Mary pointed out.
"We need to figure out how to keep her safe," John pointed out.
"What I don't understand is why you told me she was John's sister when she's not. When she's really Harry Potter," Molly said.
"Because we were trying to keep her a secret. She looks just like Harriet, just with green eyes. Something we'll fix in a few minutes," Sherlock pointed out.
"So he's not really your son? He is Teddy Lupin?" Molly asked for clarification.
"At the moment. I'm working on that. As soon as I have something Mycroft wants, I'll have records falsified and Theo Holmes will come into existence," Sherlock said firmly.
"Why?" Harry asked, staring at them.
"Why what?" John asked, waiting for her to continue.
"Why are you all…helping me?" Harry asked.
"Because we want to. You're family," John said with a smile.
"I like the child. He seems halfway intelligent," Sherlock said offhandedly.
"He also wants to study magic, now that he's found himself doing it," Mary added, a smile twisting on her lips.
"That is an added bonus, I'll admit," Sherlock agreed.
"Something that didn't quite make sense to me earlier was your question. Did you really ask her to marry you?" John asked Sherlock.
"What?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"John, that was a lie. He was trying to get rid of them. He laid a claim on Harry in saying that. He was trying to scare them off," Mary tried explaining.
"However, it does bring up a good point. It would mask your identity that much more. On top of that, Mummy might stop trying to convince Mycroft and myself that she needs grandchildren," Sherlock mused.
"You're already there, remember? You're claiming the child as yours – Mrs. Holmes gets a grandchild," John said.
"Ah, but Mummy has a sense of honor. She'll then want us to be married, for propriety's sake," Sherlock said with a grimace.
"You can hold her off, I'm sure," John said.
"I could, indeed. Ah! He's here," Sherlock said as someone knocked on the door. Sherlock was on his feet and out of the kitchen in a heartbeat. Seconds later he led another man into the room. The man had a large briefcase that he sat up on the table. He popped it open and held a chart up.
"Read me as far down as you can," the man said. Harry blinked at him for a moment before looking at the chart. She started to squint at it, only for Sherlock to lightly smack her arm.
"Don't squint. That messes with the results," he chided her.
"I can't read any of it," Harry admitted in return. The man frowned.
"Can you tell there are letters?" he persisted.
"The top one has a lot of black ink. I can't really seem much other than a few smudges on the next line," Harry admitted, feeling small.
"I don't think I'll have the right prescription then. I have one that might be close enough to manage for a few weeks until we can get a new pair in. Try these," he said, handing her a tiny case. She stared at it.
"What do I do with it?" she asked.
"You put them in your eyes," Sherlock said with a sigh.
"Don't be an ass. Here," John said, kneeling next to her. Mary handed him something and he held a mirror out right in front of her face before unscrewing one side of the case.
"Now, get it out. Yes. Notice how the sides are curled up? That means it's the wrong side. Yes. Now hold your eye open as wide as you can without blinking and place the contact over the center of your eye," John instructed as Harry nervously did as he asked.
The entire world blurred. She blinked hastily, trying to clear it up.
"Put the second one in now. Otherwise you'll feel disoriented," John warned her lightly. Harry did as he asked, repeating the process for the second contact.
And she was blown away by how much she could see. Everything was clearer than it ever had been. Her previous glasses had never been a very strong prescription – she feared they were nothing more than reading glasses her relatives had bought her, and she'd never thought to mention it to anyone.
"I should have the new contacts done in a week," the man was saying.
"These are perfect," Harry breathed.
"You still shouldn't be able to see as much as you could," the man said, but Harry shook her head.
"I've never seen this clearly before. They're amazing!" she said, her smile threatening to break her face in half.
Sherlock and the man talked for a few minutes before the man handed Sherlock something else and left, briefcase firmly in hand.
"But you had glasses," Molly pointed out. Harry frowned; oh. She had grown up hearing about Harry.
"My relatives bought me those. I suspect they were nothing better than reading glasses," Harry said with a sigh.
"And you never thought to get a better prescription?" John asked.
"Why would I? I was told that they would fix my vision. I assumed that was all anyone could see," Harry said with a shrug.
"These relatives. You haven't mentioned them before," Sherlock said, eyes immediately on her.
"I tend not to, no," Harry agreed, not offering any more information. The less she could say about the Dursley's, the better.
"Are they the cause of the scars on your back and shoulders?" Sherlock asked.
"Scars?" Molly asked, eyes wide.
"Some of them," Harry admitted.
"Are they related to me as well?" John asked.
"No. They are my mother's family," Harry said, swallowing as she said the words.
"Why was Teddy's hair blue?" Sherlock said finally, bringing her attention back to a previously asked question.
"He's a metamorphmagus," Molly said plainly.
"So he can morph himself?" Sherlock said, unravelling the word.
"Basically, yes," Molly agreed.
"How do you know about all of this?" John asked his fiancée.
"My family is like the two of yours. Only my mother was a witch. So I know all this already, despite not having magic myself," Mary explained.
"That's not important," Sherlock said, waving them off.
"Is this a conscious choice of Theo's? Or is it instinct?" Sherlock wanted to know.
"Instinct," Harry said.
"Then how are you able to keep him from doing it? I've never seen his hair change colors," Sherlock pointed out. Harry swallowed and took the bracelet off of Teddy's wrist. Teddy glanced at Harry for a moment, then at the others. Harry nodded to him.
"Go ahead," she told him. It had been awhile since the bracelet had been off. Teddy wasted no time in flashing his hair though six colors before settling on a baby blue.
"Whoa. His face is changing. Is it supposed to?" John asked uneasily.
"It's a bit uncomfortable for him to hold a form so long," Harry admitted.
"Do you know his base form?" Molly asked, moving closer.
"I suspect it is close to the form he was in. I've tried to keep him near that same form to keep from arousing suspicions," Harry admitted. Mary moved closer, smiling at Teddy.
"Teddy? Can you go to your comfortable form?" Mary asked him. Teddy stared at her for a moment before sighing and allowing his body to morph.
Only to keep the baby blue hair.
"Assume his hair is black. He prefers the blue, just as his mother preferred the pink," Harry said with a soft smile.
"His eyes are amber. Otherwise, with black hair he could be my son," Sherlock said with a nod.
"He got his eyes from his father," Harry said fondly.
"That's all he got from his father, correct?" Molly asked suspiciously.
"He would have received much more from his father. Why does that alarm you?" Sherlock asked, staring Molly down.
"His father was a werewolf," Molly all but hissed.
"Which is one of the reasons we had to run. Teddy is not a werewolf. He has some wolfish traits, but the child is the sweetest you'd ever meet. He is not a werewolf," Harry pointed out. Sherlock moved closer, prying Teddy's unsuspecting mouth open. He felt at the teeth in his mouth.
"Hmm. Canines are slightly longer than normal but not sharp enough to do much. The amber color is wolfish. I can test this. Theo, can you go back to black hair but keep this look?" Sherlock asked him, keeping his voice level. Teddy regarded him for a moment before his hair shifted. Sherlock swiftly plucked a hair from his head and moved to the table, labelling the hair in a tiny back before wiping his finger…on a microscope slide?
"I'll examine the DNA later to see how this werewolf gene thing works," Sherlock announced.
"Shift back now. Bracelet needs to go on," Harry told Teddy regretfully. Teddy turned his wide eyes on Harry, begging.
"You know why," Harry said with a sigh.
"Don't like it," Teddy mumbled.
"I know. I don't either. Shift back to mini-Sherlock," Harry told him. Teddy pouted at her but did as she asked.
"So that's why he looked like my clone," Sherlock said.
"Indeed. That was the point. You'd seen him. Others have seen him. He has to stay the same," Harry explained.
"Why didn't you just cast a notice-me-not charm on him?" Molly asked.
"Yeah. I haven't seen you with one of those sticks," John pointed out.
"It's called a wand," Mary corrected him gently.
"I don't have one," Harry said.
"What?" Molly asked in disbelief.
"It snapped when my portkey dropped me here. My wand and my communication mirror shattered when I hit a fire escape in my landing," Harry said with a wince.
"That's why you didn't have a house. If you had your wand, you coulda confundled someone and bought a house," Molly said slowly.
"Everyone needed paperwork and a name. I couldn't give it to them," Harry explained grimly.
"How much longer until Harry can be taken off the IV?" Sherlock asked Molly suddenly.
"Er…now," Molly said after examining the bag.
"Good," Sherlock said, leaping to his feet. He gently pulled the IV from her arm and hung it up, helping Harry to her feet.
"Slip on some clothes. I'm taking you out to eat," Sherlock said.
"WHAT?" John exclaimed.
"You're the one whose always telling me to eat more. Me and Harry need to eat. So I'm taking her out," Sherlock said, shrugging his coat on. He gave Harry a light shove towards his room.
"Right side of the closet and the middle two drawers are yours. Bottom two are Theo's. Go on!" Sherlock urged them.
"Why can't we all just eat here?" John asked.
"Oh no. You misunderstood. We're not going out to eat. Just me and Harry are. And Theo. He's an unfortunate tagalong," Sherlock said, earning a glare from an aware Teddy.
"I thought you said you needed to keep her from your brother. And keep her out of public's sight," Mary pointed out.
"Normally, yes. However, what we need right now is names for them. Your sister's name will only last so long. Mycroft will spot them on the feed and research them quickly. Her appearance will match your sister, which will confuse him when he finds your sister elsewhere. He'll be here within the evening. Now, is there any records of Theo's birth?" Sherlock asked.
"Probably not. Not where your brother can find it," Harry admitted quietly.
"Then he'll connect dots and make a deduction involving Theo, myself, and you. He'll arrive with Theo's identity in his briefcase, along with a marriage certificate which we can easily ignore," Sherlock explained as he reached his room. He gave Harry one last shove and closed the door behind her and Teddy.
"What do you mean, she has clothes in your closet and drawers?" Molly asked, eyes wide at his behavior.
"I wanted her back so I went ahead and arranged for everything to be set up when she did return," Sherlock said.
"In your room? Not in my old room, where you were going to have her stay?" John pointed out, crossing his arms.
"Of course not. Your room was too far away. If I am to keep a proper eye on them, they need to be in my room. It's not as if I sleep often anyway," Sherlock reminded him.
"You're going to overwhelm the girl!" John hissed.
"She doesn't seem overwhelmed to me," Sherlock mused.
"Of course she doesn't! She's got enough medicine in her system that I doubt much of anything is sinking in! She would have already taken off running if she had been completely here," John pointed out.
"Maybe I should keep some of this medicine around more often," Sherlock thought aloud.
"No! You can't drug her! Just…no! I will move her and Teddy – Theo – in with me and Mary if you so much as suggest that again!" John threatened, eyes flashing.
"I doubt she'd be happy to be living in a house with newlyweds, once you get married," Sherlock scoffed.
"Better than being drugged by you!" John sputtered angrily.
"John, I know you missed her, but give Sherlock a chance," Mary urged.
"If she's not John's sister, why did he miss her so much?" Molly asked curiously.
"He isn't close with his family and felt like Harry was his second chance to become close to them. He didn't react well when I let her run off," Sherlock said, waving his hand.
"You all but forced her out of here!" John boomed at him.
"Unnecessary semantics," Sherlock waved it off once more.
"Necessary semantics!" John retorted angrily.
"Boys," Mary chided, nodding towards the door. Harry stood there, looking undecisive. As if she were contemplating running with Teddy or waiting it out.
"Where's my purse?" she asked Sherlock, gripping Teddy's hand tightly in hers.
"Did you get her any normal clothes, or are they all outfits like yours?" John asked Sherlock.
"I got her outfits that looked nice," Sherlock defended himself before stepping towards Harry. Standing on the side opposite of Teddy, he gently turned her and pointed her into the living room, towards the bookshelf.
"Behind Shakespeare's complete volume on the fourth shelf," he informed her. Harry nodded and moved quickly, shifting the books without disturbing anything else on the shelf. She pulled the crossbody purse out and slipped it on.
"I didn't quite understand why you had a purse. The backpack made sense, but the purse seemed more valuable to you. Especially now when you didn't even ask after the backpack. I couldn't open the purse," Sherlock pointed out.
"No. You couldn't," Harry agreed, unzipping it effortlessly and glancing inside. She fumbled around with something before focusing more intently at the contents. When Sherlock moved closer, she closed the bag.
"It surely cannot contain enough items to hold your interest so intently," Sherlock scoffed.
"Unless it has a charm on it," Molly suggested.
"What kind of 'charm' would be on such a bag?" Sherlock scoffed at her.
"Undetectable extension charm," Harry supplied tentatively.
"So it's bigger on the inside?" Sherlock asked derisively. John let out a laugh behind them.
"Was that the most sophisticated way you could phrase it, or have you been watching Doctor Who when I wasn't around?" John asked Sherlock with a grin. Sherlock ignored him effortlessly.
"Yes. It is," Harry answered when it became obvious that that was what Sherlock was waiting for.
"Why don't you have another wand in there?" Molly asked.
"I have two wands. My primary wand snapped and my other…my other is hidden somewhere I can't get without a wand," Harry said regretfully.
"Why did you hide it?" Mary asked, staring intently at her.
"Because it's too powerful. I don't like it and don't like having control of that much power," Harry explained.
"Does power come from the wands?" Sherlock asked. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.
"No. However, certain wands channel more power. Mine….my hidden one…is the most powerful wand out there," Harry admitted with a wince.
"And how did you come to possess the most powerful wand?" Sherlock wanted to know.
"I won it. In a duel," Harry admitted.
"Not…Voldemort's wand?" Molly gasped.
"It was never his wand. I won it before. From Draco. Who won it from Dumbledore, who won it from Grindlewert," Harry pointed out. Molly just stared at her, mouth gaping.
"Now, Harry and I have a dinner date," Sherlock said, placing a hand on her back and gently leading her towards the door.
"I'm not leaving until you get back," John swore.
"I didn't think you would," Sherlock retorted drily, shutting the door firmly behind them. He then offered Harry his arm.
"Dinner?"