Back in Black

by Byakugan789

Rescued from life on the streets, Eric Sirius Stark is about to discover the wonders of a hithero unknown magical world. Spells, intrigue and monsters await, buried between class and friends and rivals where no one completes their education unscathed. Enter stranger, but take heed… NOT SLASH, not SI, just OC

10. Chapter 10

AN: I know the sorting song is short and probably not particular original, and I'm sorry about that but song writing is honestly harder than it looks. Also, It's my birthday tomorrow, please offer a Review! ;-D

Chapter 10

Bellatrix Lestrange's throat itched. It was a rather curious sensation and one she had become accustomed to since the change in her imprisonment. She jerked her arms and legs against their restraints again in boredom and wondered if her esophagus had finished healing yet. She knew she was most likely still in Azkaban prison and had simply gone mad from the strain but the stark unending whiteness, broken only by the restraints as they flowed up her appendages, was entirely disconcerting. For a moment she considered going back to screaming obscenities at nothing again simply for something to do.

"If this is hell I can understand why the dark lord works so hard to avoid it" she muttered, twitching a muscle along her back in hopes of waking up her shoulder.

"Oh, I don't know, Bella, he may yet join you here..."A voice hummed from everywhere and yet nowhere.

The violet eyed woman stiffened. "Who's there?!" she demanded, howled really. "What do you want?"

"I should think that was rather obvious," the same omnipresent voice returned "I want you." There was a chuckle that made her flesh crawl and Bella once again began screaming obscenities to an empty room but received no further reply.

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"Must you bait her like that?" Eric looked over towards the speaker. Tonks was currently wearing long shock white hair, a pale heart shaped face and red eyes and red robes. It was an interesting look Eric had to admit as they stood behind a privacy shield overlooking Bellatrix's cell.

"No, but her mind is so shattered I'm finding impossible to make any headway with her. Better to work off my frustrations making that monster squirm than resort to violence against a bound, defenseless woman. Least until I can figure out how to salvage her…" He replied, scratching the ears of an enormous black dog that was sitting beside him, its head nearly up to his waist despite the animal was laying down. "I know you don't like what I've done with our aunt, Dora, but I suppose you have a reason for coming down here?" Eric wondered idly if he would make more progress if he turned up her EoL drip from sustain to repair.

Tonks pouted at the use of her name but nodded. "Mum just mirrored me, says she's met Harry and the Grangers at the airport. They should be here by flu any minute." There was a pause as the now blue haired girl fished in her pocket for something. "Also your school list arrived by owl just after you left breakfast. It was sort of odd not getting one though, I know in my head I just finished my NEWTs a little more than a year ago and I'm training as an Auror, but still sat there for 10 minutes wondering where my letter was." She laughed pleasantly.

"Alright then," Eric groaned, stretching as he really moved for the first time in several hours and electing a number of pops that had Tonks cringing and the bearlike dog huffing in laughter. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yuk it up pops," the red-haired boy said through a groan and gave the animal a noogie. The pooch tried to lick him and Eric dodged giggling and shot for the rooms' door. As he disappeared and was heard thundering up the stair room Sirius transformed back to his usual self.

"So, Nym, how goes Auror training?" the former dog asked as they slowly followed after Eric.

"I'm never going to get you two to just call me Tonks am I?" the girl growled, hair turning red and curly and adopting a willowy figure.

"Nah, not so long as it remains something to tease you about." Sirius replied, grinning easily. "Look at it this way, Nym," Sirius said, taking her by the shoulder as they moved through the intermediate hallway "where from others it might just be to piss you off, from us it's a sign off affection." He squeezed a little as Tonks rolled her eyes, but there was no heat in her expression anymore. "Gotta say though, why Lilly's form?"

Nymphadora looked slightly startled as she took in her current body and grinned weakly. "Just a memory when I was little. I think mum and Mrs. Potter must have been friends because we'd go over to their house occasionally or she'd come to visit and occasionally I'd see her ranting at someone for being an idiot. It was real impressive stuff. Pretty much since then I've adopted the look whenever I wanted to get a good rage on and didn't actually hate the berk." She explained sheepishly.

They were silent for several minutes as they climbed the stairs out into Sirius' house, the den as he and Eric had dubbed it.

"Y'know," she said as they headed towards the living room and Flu, "it's odd. Eric's known me for a whole month, even if we've only really known each other for about a week and a half, and not once has he asked me to morph into anything. Typically it's the first thing people want me to do when they learn about my powers but not him…"

"And you want to know why." Sirius said, letting go of his niece.

"Well, yeah. It's not entirely comfortable and has ruined a few relationships for me, but it's been so long since someone finding out hasn't asked…"

"It's put you at a loss on how to deal with him." Sirius finished, seeing Tonks nod. "What do you know about Eric?"

"Well, he'd bright, persuasive and when I met him, independently rich. He came off as sort of arrogant, but having heard certain stories from people after me and mum lost track of him at Azkaban I can't help but wonder if it wasn't simply confidence." Tonks said with a shrug.

Sirius chuckled bitterly. "I'd take any rumor you hear about the sprog with a grain of salt, but there's a fair amount of truth to most of them. You see Eric was the son of this girl I met shortly before we heard about the prophesy…" He went on to explain to her how he'd met Maria and a great number of other women in the years after Hogwarts and the details he'd been able to gather from Eric on the boys' mother. He told her how Maria had been killed and Eric built himself out of the ashes of his former life, how he'd met McGonagall and tricked the goblins out of a fortune. He described the club Eric had created from which he taught magic the way he'd first learned it, through his trials living a life on the streets and reading muggle ideas about magic.

"Wait, wait, you're saying he's doing advanced wandless magic, something that's impossible except for fairytales, from reading muggle self-help books and kids fantasy?"

Sirius grinned madly "Kinda makes you proud, doesn't it?" Tonks just looked at him stunned. "You know he'll teach you too…" Tonks nodded before scowling as Sirius mussed her hair and walked off.

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The Grangers and Blacks wandered through the alley slowly chatting amicably as their children scampered about, catching up on their summer activities and scampering all over the alley looking at the various displays, new and old. Sirius was a little sad that Harry seemed so skittish around him but he supposed it was to be expected, the boy had first learned of his existence as the convict who got James and Lilly killed. He amused himself instead by coaxing Dan Granger to rant about how he thought Harry was corrupting his little girl. Just like James he thought chuckling, crushing on the spunky genius, it was the same with Charlus and Dorea according to James' parents when he'd stayed with them.

He figured it'd be best to start by telling the boy's stories of his and James glory days. That and Lilly, if his talks with Eric held any similarity to the ones he would be having with Harry there would be as many, if not more stories requested about Lilly as there were any of his circle of friends.

Eventually they reached flourish and blots to find the place packed. "Wotcher, Arthur!" Tonks called out to a harried man on the edge of the crowd.

"Oh, hello Tonks! Frightful crowd today, what with Lockheart and his books signing." The balding carrot top said, gesturing at the crowd. "Molly and the kids are inside, how goes your training? They're not pushing you too hard are they?"

"Nah, it's the weekend, spending the time off with my family." Tonks replied, smiling as she gestured to Sirius and Eric.

"Do tell, I'd heard you'd gotten out, Sirius. Nasty business."

The dark haired wizard grimaced "Thanks." He replied, "Though if I'd known about the situations with Harry and Eric I'd have gotten out a lot sooner." Arthur Weasley gave him a shrewd look but said nothing. "SO! What's all this about, you think?"

"Gilderoy Lockheart." Eric spat, coming up from the press of people. "Pretty boy in the store who assigned us seven books for a single class, all of them conveniently written by him."

Hermione gave him a scandalized look. "He's really famous thought. He's won dozens of awards and commendations for his crusade against dark creatures and most of his books are really useful." She blushed slightly. "He likes to pad them with a little fluff, I'll admit, but it's not as if he just makes this stuff up like those books on Harry!"

"I'm more concerned how his fluff tends to overshadow all useful information in anything he publishes, we're here by textbooks, not adventure novels those are supposed to be optional." Eric grumbled while Harry just looked at the pair and laughed. "He better be competent at least."

"Come on, we'd best get our books." Sirius said grinning. With a sucking pop he transformed into a Bhargest and knelt down. Using the variation on Legillimancy Eric had been teaching him the last few days he sent get on. Eric grinned and turned to his two friends. "Wanna be in and out fast?" he asked. Hermione looked dubious, but was too interested in what Sirius had done to say no and Harry nodded sharply. The three of them scrambled on to Sirius' shoulders, Harry in front and Hermione in the middle, and he stood up again.

Sirius barked and several people turned to him, before leaping away screaming as the massive dog started forward. There were multiple cries of grim by various wizards and warg by muggleborns but the screaming quickly turned to excited whispers and Harry was recognized riding atop Padfoot. They made their way through the crowd which parted around them, staring in awe as they selected their books, blatently not using their wands to levitate them off the shelves as they passed and headed for the main counter.

They had almost made it when a tall blond man with periwinkle blue robes stepped up to them. The man was making a visible effort not to sweat as his bright blue eyes flickered between Padfoot and Harry. "Well bless my soul," the man said, his voice ringing with forced cheer "If it isn't Harry potter, here to purchase a set of my books! Come Harry, come together we're worth the front page at least!" He reached for Harry's arm, ignoring Hermione and Eric seated right behind him but froze as Padfoot growled lightly. "Er… that's a… nice pet you have th-there H-Harry… what is it, pray tell?"

"Don't worry Mr. Lockheart, sir, it's not a Grim…" Eric spoke up loudly, laughing internally as everyone flinched at the name "It's a Bhargest." Eric answered for him. "Very powerful, very intelligent magical wolf." The Redhead explained to the crowd enjoying their rapt attention. "It's Harry's familiar and answers only to his call!" Eric continued, spinning bullshit on the spot.

What are you doing!? Harry's mental voice crashed into Eric's head.

I'm giving you and excuse to take Sirius to school with us Eric shot back, still grinning. You wanted to know about your parents, I want to get to know mine, this solves both problems! Plus the old man can teach us how to transform this year like he does!

Harry projected a frown into his mind then receded. He felt Harry begin talking with Sirius at the very edge of his mind and the great dog proceeded forward toward Mr. Flourish's counter assistant.

Not one to be stymied however, Lockheart motioned to his photographer and positioned the pair of them to be photographed as though they were together before announcing to the crowd his appointment to the post of Defense against the dark arts teacher. He tried to bring Harry and the others in for another picture but they had already reached the counter, Sirius growling softly whenever the crowd tried to push them back toward the other showman.

As they exited the store Hermione began reprimanding them. "Eric, how could you? I'd have expected intimidation tactics from a Slytherin, but that was just low, and you Sirius, encouraging him! You didn't even buy his books!"

"If I wanted an adventure series I'd go to a civilian book store, Hermione." Eric said, slipping off his father's back and offering his Gryffindor friends a set of purple hard light steps to dismount. "I'm not going to waste gold on fluff I'm not actually interested in reading." He shook his head. "Besides, this will be much better for defense classes." He said, showing her a book on dueling techniques.

Hermione frowned but nodded. "We'll see" she said simply.

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Albus Dumbledore paced in his office, hands balled in his hair. It made no sense! Where was the stone? Who had stolen it? There were only three people besides himself who could have gotten through the traps he had set, let alone make their war back out without him being alerted. Being that Nick was still in a towering fury and had tried to curse him out of the manor and Dear Gellert was still languishing in Neurimguard that left young Tom. The man had been in the castle at the time, he was sure of that now, but if he had taken the stone why then was he back to possessing vermin in Albania? Had he only taken it shortly before meeting Potter and not found the time to reconstitute himself? If that was the case then why had he run? Why not possess some other nearby body and retrieve the stone then?

"AAAAaaauuurrrggg!" He stormed before the cringing portraits of former headmasters his legendary control slipping and violet wisps of power lighting up the area around him with a soft radiance. This game was hard enough to play with just known characters mucking things up, why did someone new have to introduce themselves? And why now of all times!?

"Severus!" the wizened headmaster barked into a mirror "attend me!"

Moments later the flu in his office chimed and he allowed the sallow skinned man through. "You called?" Snape intoned scowling.

"Yes, of course." The half-blood powerhouse said; his back to the professor. "I need you to get in touch with your old acquaintances. Put our feelers for anyone who's suddenly been building a fortune in precious metals or sudden miracle cures of hopeless cases in hospitals. Also, I need you to contact Ku Lon in Beijing and Ishimura Juo in japan. The immortal emperors have been trying to steal Flamel's stone for centuries; I need to know if either of them has been showing signs of activity in the last decade."

Snape smirked and tossed a recent copy of the daily prophet on his desk. "Perhaps you'll find this enlightening." He said sneering.

Albus whirled around and seized the paper, reading the front page story. "They can't be serious…" the bearded man whispered in disgust. "Augusta, sacrifice herself to restore Frank and Alice?" He scanned the story about the old woman's funeral and the magic she claimed to have wrought to restore the pair. "Severus, see if you can discretely collect samples from the Longbottom's and this mysterious second cousins grandniece would you? I'll supply you with a small sample of the serum for analysis and comparison. In the meantime I'm going to be researching this ritual."

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Ron sat at Florian Fortisque's ice-cream parlor and regarded his purchases with unfocused eyes, slowly licked his pumpkin and caramel cone as he contemplated the feeling of being able to buy things new with his own money instead of getting it second or third hand through his family. It was… nice, light and almost, bubbly?. Visiting Ollivander had been an interesting experience he would be the first one to admit. His new wand had cost him seven galleons and was 14 inches of willow wood and unicorn hair and after a few spells it became painfully obvious how much easier it was to use than Charlie's old one. He was loathe to admit it, but it seemed as if Stark had been right about that too.

Ron stirred slightly as he heard a chair scraping beside him. "Hi Ginny" he said without even looking over.

"Hullo" his sister said quietly. "Life sucks."

"Oh?"

"Harry was in Flourish and Blots just now," the girl grumped, putting her head down on her arms "he walked right past me and didn't even notice. I tried to talk to him, get his attention on top of that big wolf of his and I just froze."

"Wolf?" Ron asked, finally looking over at his sister and taking in her pile of Lockheart books with a raised brow. Merlin he was glad he'd managed to convince mum to allow him to buy his supplies on his own this year.

"Yeah, he's just like the stories, came in riding this cute shaggy black dog the size of a bear. He called it a Bhargest and said it was his familiar he'd picked up on his summer travels. To have tamed deaths own hound…" she looked dreamy and Ron turned away in disgust.

"You'll never get him you know." Ron said, his ice cream turning sour on his lips.

Ginny looked up from where her head rested on her arms and glared at him. "What makes you say that?" she demanded furiously.

"Did you see a bushy haired girl anywhere near him?" At his sisters' nod Ron continued, digging the knife in a little deeper. "That was Hermione Granger, his girlfriend. If you want Harry you'll have to get her out of the way first and woe betide anyone who tries. He and Eric made me a pariah for insulting her and defeated a troll in her name during Halloween. Beat the thing black and blue, a full grown mountain troll that left an entire corridor in shambles, craters everywhere." Ron watched as the wheels began to grind behind Ginny's dreamy gaze and she got this determined scowl on her face; it made him smile inside. Ron knew neither of the boys would hurt her unless Gin did something really stupid but he'd just garneted Eric a minimum or six months headaches and Harry and Hermione far longer. Today was turning out to be a pretty good day.

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Eric stared at Arthur Weasley with a goofy grin on his face formed by a strange mix of elation and horror. The Black/Potter household was over at the Weasley Burrow on the invitation of Fred and George when Eric had stumbled on Mr. Weasley giggling amongst a pile of dismantled car parts. The man was covered in grease and had a book on civilian mechanics floating around his head as he messed with the dismantled pieces of machinery. The red haired man had been updating the array of charms he'd spent the last decade layering into the engine and chaises of the vehicle in an effort to make it more magical.

And he'd done it, too. The car was a turquoise Ford Anglia 105E built in 1962 and bought by the Wesley family in the mid 70's when one of their civilian neighbors asked which car was theirs on the way out of the grocers. Arthur, who had received an outstanding NEWT in muggle studies had been instantly fascinated with the machines and bought one from a used car dealer the next day. And that was only one of the many things in the orange haired mans' garage.

"And here's my collection of plugs!" the balding man said proudly. "I've been experimenting with these little beauties for years though I still can't fathom how muggles get this eckeltricity out of them."

"Electricity," Eric corrected.

"Oh? You know about it do you?" his friend's father asked, excited. "What exactly is it? Where do muggles get it from? How do they use it as a substitute for magic?" the man babbled.

Eric grinned and charged his hands with lightning, brilliant white arcs jumping between his hands and explained. "This is electricity" he said "lightning, simply enough. Civilians have been using it for nearly two centuries and have learned to trap it in bottles for use later. When they need it they stick a copper wire into the bottles and attach the other end to one of those plugs." Eric bullshitted the man. He wasn't exactly lying, but he had to translate the basics of the process into something a wizard would understand and it sounded a lot cooler besides. The man oohed and ahhed before launching into another set of questions about how civilians managed to capture electricity prompting Eric to explain the little he knew about batteries, engines and generators. It wasn't much, the smaller red haired boy was displease to recognize, but he'd never put much study into mechanics preferring theoretical physics and electronics over in depth understanding of just how mechanical systems worked.

The pair of them had rigged up a set of magnets and charmed them to spin around some iron rods so that power sparked between them when Sirius came to fetch him for the trip home. "Hey, sprog" the dark haired man said from the door "we should get going. Got the express tomorrow and everybody still needs to pack."

"Alright, old man." Eric shot over his shoulder before turning back to Mr. Weasley. "Mr. Weasley, Arthur… how do you like your job at the ministry?"

The man looked startled at the sudden change of subject but considered it for a few minutes. "The pay is horrible and it's often frustrating cleaning up after muggle baiters, but the work is fascinating and more over it's something that needs to be done, why?"

"Fred and George are planning to set up a joke shop after leaving Hogwarts and selling their inventions to the public like Zonko's or Gamble and Jacque's. How would you feel if I played financial backer so that you could do something similar with the stuff you've been making in your garage?" the man looked startled at this and Eric plowed on before he could object. "You're obviously a skilled charmer and enchanter, just look what you've done with this car? Open and honest I'd pay you a thousand galleons for that alone." the man looked stunned at that pronouncement and Eric knew he had the man at least willing seriously consider thing. Eric grinned, flying cars! He couldn't wait. "Think about it for a second Mr. Weasley… how much are brooms worth, typically a few dozen galleons a piece unless you buy them second hand or damaged, they're small, typically uncomfortable, can't carry much and seating multiple passengers is difficult, typically slow and merlin forbid you actually try to take luggage with you. But a car… one of purely magical manufacture would be something even the most hardcore purebloods couldn't complain about, would be able to blend in with muggle society, carry large amounts of cargo safely and easily, transport anywhere from one to several dozen people depending on the design and the charms… you would be creating an entirely new market. No regulations to limit you, too early for politics, just exploration, understanding and endless creativity. How about it, Weasley? Would you like to be my wonder-craft?"

The two older men looked at Eric, stunned and reeling. "G-give me some time to think on this." The older redhead said slowly. "I'll have to talk to Molly about this you understand."

Eric nodded and pulled his bag off his hip. Reaching in he drew out a stream of loose galleons that floated together to form 50 stacks of 20 coins glinting in the evening sun light. "I'll leave you this and a two way mirror," Eric said quietly, conjuring a sack to pour the mass of metal and glass into before handing it to the older man "to help you decide. Even if you don't decide to take me up on this business proposition I still intend for you to make my car. Call my name over the mirror later and we'll work out the details."

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On the morning of September first Harry was woken by his godfather Sirius Black nearly an hour before breakfast and asked to come to the study. When he arrived it was to see Sirius seated before the house-elf he had met earlier that summer, Bobby or something.

"Hey, pronglset, sorry for getting you up so early, but would you care to explain to me why I caught an elf trying to steal your trunk?"

Harry looked between Sirius and Dobby confused slightly before he remembered where he'd seen the creature before. "Um, well, he says there's some sort of problem with the school, that his, and I quote 'bad master', is planning something. Wouldn't tell me what or who the problem is though. How'd you catch him anyways?"

"Ah, well, my mother had a rather fowl house elf named creature that she used to set to harass me, ugly unpleasant little bugger, so one of the things I learned during runes and Arithmancy and Runes with Remus was how to set up wards that would work on them. It's pretty complicated stuff to do and all it allows me to do is know when they come and go and pin them down if they try to steal from me, or in this case, you. It won't stop them, but they can't teleport out like they can through a normal anti-apparition, anti-portkey wards."

Harry nodded and turned to Dobby who was sobbing miserably but making no sound. "You silenced him?" Harry asked with a raised brow.

"He wouldn't talk any sense," Sirius shrugged "kept going on about how you were a great wizard and needed to be kept safe as if that isn't obvious." Harry felt a bubbling sensation in his chest as his godfather spoke but did his best to ignore it and asked for Sirius to remove the curses restraining him.

Immediately Dobby rushed to Harry's legs, sobbing. "Great harry potter sir, yous' must listen! You cannot go backs to hoggywarts's, it's not safe! Dobby is seeing that the great Harry Potters' has found himself a family withs his dogfather and does not need to go back to school! Please heed Dobby, Harry Potter sir, please."

"Are you ready to tell me what the danger is, Dobby? Or who your master is so we can stop him?"

The elf shook his head rigorously. "A house elf is bound to keep his masters secrets and his silence" the elf thrilled thought the sobs.

"And yet here you are," Padfoot pointed out "betraying your masters secrets and probably even disobeying him… if you can go that far, why not just tell us straight?"

"Because dobby has not yet told his masters secrets and is not being given orders to be disobeying," Dobby said craftily "warning harry potter that there's are secrets to be feared is not telling or disobeying, but still dobby must punish himself most grievously when he gets's home, sir."

The pair of humans looked at each other for a moment before Sirius spoke. "Devious little bugger isn't he?" Harry nodded before turning back to the manikin.

"Dobby, if you can't tell me who your master is or what he's planning can you at least tell me if it's a threat to myself or a threat to the school in general?"

The elf took several minutes to consider before answering. "The school in general, Mr. Harry Potter sir, but the great Harry Potter will no doubt become a specific target if he stays at school this year."

"And you said it isn't Voldimort again?" Harry asked, confirming what the creature had told him earlier that summer.

After briefly clapping his hands over those enormous ears and whimpering the elf repeated the strained posture he had taken when asked this same question the first time. "Not the name which must not be spoken, sir…" he said with a shake of his head and a pleading look. Sirius frowned thoughtfully but said nothing and Harry looked between the two of them curiously. There was obviously something he was missing in the elf's words, but what he honestly couldn't fathom.

"Dobby," Harry said, turning back to the elf "what is it that makes Harry Potter great?"

"Harry Potter is knowing this sir, yous is a symbol of hope! Yous and yours family's sacrificed themselves to save the world. The house elves was treated like trash under the dark lords reign, though, dobby is still being treated like trash, sir" the midget repeated, looking at Harry confused.

"If I stayed here instead of going to school I couldn't offer my power and protection to those who remained. All that evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing, dobby, knowing that someone is trying to hurt the school I cannot stay back and do nothing. If I did I wouldn't be a great wizard, now would I?" The elf opened and closed his mouth several time looking for all the world like a fish before bursting into tears again and declaring Harry's greatness. Harry sighed, as much as this would probably solve him the problem of being visited by the elven fanboy there was still another threat to the school like there had been last year, he really hoped that this didn't become a recurring theme. Oh merlin he thought, shuddering I'm beginning to think like Eric…

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The train ride had been a rather peaceful event for Eric and the inner circle. Padfoot and Eric's shishi cat 'Tony' lay curled up in the middle of the expanded compartment, Penny was off with Percy in the prefect's carriage and Hermione was chatting animatedly with Su and Padma about Germany leaving him, Harry, Blaise and the twins to talk pranks. The twins latest project had been a series of joke candies and the pair of them were arguing on which approach had been better, charming the sweets or making potions to achieve the desired effects. Eric suggested a few civilian classics like coco-lax, whoopee cushions and face painting while Blaise brought out the big guns and suggested a book on crafting hallucinations and mentioned a number of tricks his mother often used to driver her husbands around the bend. Despite their typical lack of interest in being truly vindictive the twins did actually take quite an interest in Blaise's train of thought and spent several hours discussing the books contents and possible uses and concoctions.

This conversation lasted until they arrived at Hogsmead station and left the train. After the twins directed them towards a line of carriages hitched to what looked like corrupted Pegasus Blaise decided to suddenly speak up. "Alright," he said as Tony leapt up into Eric's lap "Potter goes to Germany, meets his familiar and it follows him to school, I get that, but what's with the cat?"

Eric laughed as the rest of the expanded carriage turned to look at him and the flaming pus curled up across his legs. "It's a Chinese tiger called a Shishi, Dad bought it for me as the first in a series of presents to make up for not being not knowing about me for 11 years. A bit silly, but I appreciate the sentiment. Shishi are kind of like kneezels, but on a bigger scale."

Su snorted. "It suits you," she said, gesturing to the cats' neck and tail "give a flaming kitten to a guy obsessed with fire, as if you needed the encouragement. Your dad's got an interesting sense of humor."

Su and Padma looked at each other for a second before saying in unison. "We're all gonna die."

Eric frowned, "Hey!" he whined "why you got to be so mean?"

"You're cute, Eric, but whining doesn't suit you." Su said deadpan.

"Oh, pish posh." He shot back, waving a hand negligently as the rest of the compartment laughed. "On a more serious note, how are we going to go about dealing with the new class? Active recruiting, or let them come as the rumor mill leads them to curiosity?"

"That depends on your idea of active recruiting" George said.

Eric was about to answer but Harry cut him off "just telling them about what we're going directly and where to find us. Eric's usual theatrics during class helped everyone learn the material better, I'm sure you two have heard the teachers talking about it, I know Hermione and I have."

Eric grinned broadly, "what he said, though I was thinking more entice them there by offering maps of the school and various study aids. The real golden reputation would come if we help a couple of fifth years get O's in all of their OWL's using our method."

The rest of the drive up to the school was taken up talking strategy and the ethics of recruiting. When they arrived at the doors of the entrance hall Eric took another long look at the scaly, bat-like pegasai attached to the carriages before heading inside. He'd have to remember to ask Hagrid about them when he went down to bother him about the ridgeback.

As the reached the great hall the friends split up to take places at their own tables and waited for the feast to begin. It was nearly 15 minutes later when Eric, like many of the other claws, pulled his nose out of a book he'd started reading to watch the new first years stumble in. Eric counted them absently and found himself startled as his count went past 40. As the first few newbies came to a halt at the Slytherin end of the staff table Eric quickly went through them again; 69 he thought, why do seven years of students have between 25 and 45 students while this class has 69? Eric's thoughts were interrupted by Professor McGonagall brought out the sorting hat and the song began.

"A thousand years or ago
Before I was ripped and torn,
Four sorcerers came together,
And dear Hogwarts School was born.
Each founder picked the traits
That he or she liked best,
They put their thoughts inside me,
And now I'll put you to the test.

Do you have the stubborn courage
That dear Gryffindor admired?
Or perhaps you have the sheer intelligence
That fair Ravenclaw required.
Would Hufflepuff suit you better,
With your honest dedication?
Or perhaps the cunning and ambition,
From which Slytherin gave station?

Don't fret, my friends, I will decide
Which house is best for all.
And choose the place where you'll reside
In seven coming falls.
So step right up, slap me on,
I'll tell you what to do.
The Sorting Hat will place you
With others just like you."

Eric watched as, one after another, students were sorted into various houses, his attention warring between boredom and curiosity. Why were there so many? What had changed? What was different? Dad had said the war was horrible, had it really made that much difference? But that would only make sense if next years influx was bigger, this group would still have been under the dark lords thumb. Eric briefly considered Sirius' mentions of Harry's prophesy and the year between but that should have decreased the number of children, what with Voldemort searching for brats born on or near July 31st to kill. Or had he known that it would be Harry beforehand?

"Hello, Magneto, are the nargles bothering you?"

"Eh?" was Eric's intelligent reply. He looked up from his hands where a group of metal balls had been dancing in time to his thoughts to see a new girl with dark-blond hair and almost bulbous silvery eyes, thought that was probably an effect of the lenses she was wearing. The glasses were upside down and looked as if they had been made from jam jars cut off and soldered to their frames.

"Nargles, they're transperant little creatures that float in through your ear and turn your thoughts all funny. Signs are staring at things without seeing them, sudden burst of accidental magic, drooling and an expression of constipation." She said handing him a small magazine titled the quibbler, opened to page 13 with a picture of what looked like a cross between a fish and a bumblebee on it. "I thought since you had three of the four symptoms…" she trailed off, smiling pleasantly and Eric heard Su and Padma snort on either side of him.

"Um, no…" Eric said nonplussed, "I was meaning about calling me Magneto."

"Hmm? Oh, it just popped into my head, though those metal balls are sticking together." She said waving vaguely as Su's sniggers kept increasing. "Would you like a radish?" Luna asked, turning to her. "you seem to be suffering from a blibbering humdinger sting, they're quite the tasty antidote."

"We've got to keep her," Padma said on his other side, "I don't think I've ever seen Eric so out of sorts. It's like he has no witty comebacks at all!"

Eric pouted at the Indian girl before giving a full body shiver that reminded him of his fathers' canine form. "So," Eric said, cupping his hands together and concentrating "you were judged worthy of being a raven then?" he asked as the power collecting in his hands ignited in silver flames.

"Oh yes," the girl replied, her airy expression becoming focused as she watched the fires in his hands grow and form themselves into the form of a curvy woman with wings. The features were indistinct as they rippled and fluttered like the flames they were. "most of my family has been and I occasionally write articles for daddy's paper. It's the most fascinating blend of learning and creativity, Muggles call it investigative journalism. May I interview you on your relationship with the heliopaths?"

"What's a heliopath?" Eric asked as the silvery fire fairy began dancing in his hands, its feet tickling his skin as it moved.

"You're playing with one aren't you? Heliopaths are fire spirits, elementals that burn everything in their path." Luna said, taking Eric's attention back from the seven students yet to be sorted.

"Oh. OH! No, this is similar I suppose. This is living fire; I found the spell over the summer when I was raiding dad's family libraries. Want to play with it? It won't burn you, just small bits of your power, they're supposed to change colors based on your life and personality."

Luna held out her hand and giggled as the little fairly like ember moved over her fingers like a curious animal before swarming up her arm and settling near her ear, turning a soft gold at its heart and fading to an angry red with flecks of black at the hands and wing tips. Su and Padma looked on amused expressions on their faces as if they had found a new toy but before anyone could speak the sorting had ended and Dumbledore has stood up.

"Welcome everyone, to another wonderful year! I know you're all eager to get to the food so I won't bore you with an old mans twaddle just yet, instead I'd like to offer these words! Agraffe, witzelsucht, steatopygic, farctate!"

"That's not very nice." Pouted Luna.

"Oh?" asked Padma, "what did he say? I got the impression he just spouted nonsense, the older students all agree he does this to start off most feasts. Nobody really understands it though…"

"The first word is about wine bottles, the second means a poor attempt at humor and the last was telling us to get stuffed."

"So what's offensive about that?" asked Su as she began serving herself from a plate of red pork.

"Well, with third word he said our butt's were fat! I don't think I have a big butt, do you?" The rest of the nearby listeners looked at her slightly stunned, had Dumbledore just made fun of everyone? It was such a non sequitur that the other students up and down the table started thinking of the words the headmaster had said in previous years and examining them for hidden meanings. It would certainly fit with his doddering old genius demeanor.

Eric shook off the disturbing train of thought and levitated a platter of steak over to his plate and started making selections. The scene repeated itself up and down the house tables wherever one of Eric's students sat, drawing the jealous stares of older students who had thus far written the sorcery club off as a joke and the awed looks of the younger students. Eric grinned at this new advertisement and began planning his introductory demonstration for new inductees.

Eric glanced over to the end of the Gryffindor table where Harry sat, bracketed by the Weasley twins and Hermione, handing steaks to Sirius. Enjoying yourself, dad? Eric sent as the mans shaggy form stood on it's back legs and hopped toward a floating steak. It was drawing a lot of laughs from the rest of the tables.

Absolutely, his fathers thoughts returned I've played the lovable stray before and James once suggested I make the change permanent. The shape I could handle, but the fleas were murder.

There should be a charm for that… Eric returned thoughtful, but I'd rather a father than a pooch and I'm sure Harry would appreciate his dog-father being able to give him a home more than a pet.

Hey, it was your idea to bring me like this the older black reminded him.

It was the best pretense I could think of Eric returned with a mental shrug. Unless you think Dumbledore would hire you as a teacher? Next years defense instructor maybe? Or first official sorcery instructor, the old coot's been pushing me to get an adult for the position.

Eric got an impression of the steak his father currently had his teeth in as it stubbornly hung in the air, forcing the great dog to hop around on his hind feet to eat it. Well, no defense teacher has really lasted a year for the last 20 so perhaps get rid of Lockheart? He was a claw a year or two ahead of me and the school joke. Great at theory, but practically a squib otherwise. As for sorcery teachers, perhaps you could entice Nymphadora… there was a fair amount of insinuation in Padfoots thoughts that Eric wasn't sure he wanted to think about but the suggestion was an interesting one.

I thought she was training to be an auror?

Tonks likes to help people, probably comes with being a puff, I suggested the teaching position to her and she looked like she was actually putting thought into it. Eric contemplated that for a few moments before his father spoke again you also impressed her by not asking her to become anyone with her powers.

Eric sent back a wave of confusion how so? It's not as if illusions are difficult magic, thought the control she has over them is somewhat jealously inducing… Eric stopped as his father started laughing at him over the link. What? What did I say?

Nym's powers aren't illusions! Sirius sent back, mirth flowing through the connection in waves she genuinely changes her body to suit her mood, it's an old bloodline ability the blacks used to be famous for called metamorphmagus. Something that tickles me no end is that it and the black fire haven't been seen in over a dozen generations only to show up the moment our house sprouts a pair of halfbloods! Not really the point though, during school people often took advantage of her ability to engages in various fantasies, asking her to become various things or people for their own amusement most people who learn of her ability immediately ask her to become someone for them. She takes it in stride, but tends to keep relations with them short. You though go for over a month knowing her and don't ask, just treating her as family.

Fascinating Eric sent back. As if he didn't have enough reasons to like Dora already… Eric thought about how to approach his second cousin about her ability as it was obviously a touchy subject when the feast ended, prompting Dumbledore to stand once more.

"Well, now that everyone is drowsy and content from this fine spread, I shall ask you to remain awake for these start of term notices. First, the danger of the third floor corridor on the right hand side has been cleared, and a good thing too as our now professor of Defense, Gilderoy Lockhart," he paused for a moment while the blond wizard stood and bowed to his applause, "has chosen to make his office and class there as opposed to his predecessors choice of the first floor."

Eric nodded absently, reaching down to scratch Tony behind the feline's ears as it rubbed against his leg. He listened as the man went down the list of new items filch had banned from the school and an announcement that Ravenclaw would be trialing seekers and beaters to replace recent graduates as would Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Eric wondered briefly if he could try out for beater with his cloak instead of a broom but quickly discarded it, playing magic teacher, fun as it was, already cut into enough of his research time, he didn't need to add another distraction.

After another rendition of 'Hoggy hoggy hogwarts' the hall broke and headed for their respective dorms.

AN: Shorter than usual I know, but it was cut it off here or go for another 7k as my next breaking point was the end of lockhearts lesson. In September 1992 the first falls on a Tuesday so classes start Wednesday and that's morning defense for the purrs and least by the schedules I've managed to dredge out of the net.