DISCLAIMER: HARRY AND HIS FRIENDS AND ENEMIES DO NOT BELONG TO ME! THEY BELONG TO THE AMAZING J.K ROWLING! ONLY THE PLOT IS MINE!
A/N: This takes place at the start of the Christmas holidays, OotP. Does not follow HBP or DH timelines.
Chapter 7—The Trunk
"Sirius?" Harry yelled. "Sirius!" He yelled again. Then he heard the front door close. He rushed downstairs. "Sirius?" He asked, but nobody was here.
"Harry, are you okay?" Ron and Hermione caught up to him.
"Er yeah…I'm fine." Harry said. He looked around again. "Have you guys seen Sirius?"
"No, sorry. We were in the kitchen." Hermione said. "Did you check his bedroom?"
"No." Harry replied. "Hey, why didn't you guys go to Diagon Alley with the others?"
"Why didn't you?" Hermione countered.
"Fair enough. I thought I might want to learn more about Occlumency and devise ways to get rid of Snape as fast as possible."
"Professor Snape, Harry." Hermione said sternly. Both of the boys rolled their eyes.
"What about you? Why didn't you go?" Harry asked. They blushed and mumbled something. The gears in Harry's brain clicked into place and his eyes widened. A delighted grin made its way onto his face.
"No, seriously?" He laughed. "Were you guys snogging in the kitchen?" He asked slyly. Hermione blushed a darker red and Ron turned as red as his hair. Both looked thoroughly embarrassed. Harry held up his hands.
"Okay, I'm going to leave you to your smoking, searing snogging sessions. I need to find Sirius anyway." Harry grinned and loped off and up the stairs, leaving a pair of still blushing teenagers behind him.
"Wait, did he just use an alliteration?" Hermione asked after a long while, blinking herself out of her stupor.
"I dunno. What the heck is an alliteration anyway?" Ron asked.
"An alliteration is a literary device in which—" Hermione cut herself off embarrassedly, realising that she was about to lecture Ron on a predominantly Muggle writing device. Ron grinned.
"I don't mind learning more." He said, and Hermione's face practically glowed.
Meanwhile, Harry was knocking on Sirius' door.
"Sirius?" He asked softly. When there was no response, he opened the door gently. It swung forward without a single noise. Harry's feet brushed against the plush carpet. Nobody was in the room. It looked unslept in, but was probably recently visited, as the layer of dust was disturbed. He was surprised. Where did Sirius sleep if not in his room? Then something caught his eye. While everything else was untouched, there was a stack of yellowed parchment on the table.
Feeling curious, Harry approached it. He knew that he shouldn't read what was probably a private stash of letters, but he really wanted to know what they said. He picked up the topmost parchment. He noticed that the handwriting seemed feminine and very elegant. In fact, it wasn't just normal writing—it was a beautiful, flowing calligraphy that decorated the parchment charmingly. Now he was really interested. Sirius had a lover? Then he silently chastised himself. From what he could piece together from gossips from the girls in Hogwarts, Sirius had been very handsome when he was young. At least, that was what he heard in third year. He had no reason not to believe it, though, because Sirius looked handsome even after twelve years in Azkaban. Harry chuckled to himself. These were probably some letters from fangirls. Why would Sirius keep them, though? Well, he'll start with reading the content first.
Dear Sirius,
It's been dreadfully boring here at Black Manor. Mother and Father took Andie and Cissy to Diagon Alley. I, of course, already have everything I need for Hogwarts. They were slightly mad at me for not coming since, after all it is Cissy's first true experience at Diagon Alley, buying her own material and things, but this is my OWLs year and I'm afraid I have to throw in a lot more effort than I do usually. Ugh, how utterly ridiculous. I bet I could pass those tests with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back!
Harry raised an eyebrow at this. He guessed this was Bellatrix, as she wrote about Andromeda 'Andie' Tonks and Narcissa 'Cissy' Malfoy. He never knew she was so…casual yet arrogant at the same time.
Anyways, you don't have to worry about these for another eight years. Eight! Merlin knows what I'll be doing by then. Would I be married? Would I have children already? Blah, yucky little creatures.
Harry repressed a snort at this. He shouldn't be finding anything Bellatrix writes amusing at all, but there was obviously a lot of her history he was missing. Maybe these letters would give him some insight into her character before she went all batshit and became Voldemort's right hand woman. He didn't have the time though, and as soon as he cast his eyes back on the parchment the door opened, and he turned quickly to Sirius, a guilty expression on his face.
Sirius smiled wryly. "I suppose I should have put those away, but no matter." He cleared his throat, and Harry place the letter down quickly, flushing with embarrassment. He stepped back sheepishly.
"Come. Bring those letters with you, actually. It wouldn't hurt to know a bit more about Bellatrix before…well," He grimaced. Harry nodded, taking the letters up carefully. Sirius glanced at the top piece as they walked out.
"Her fifth year." He remarked quite calmly, "When I was seven." He clarified. "That year was when she started to slip. She was fine until after she took her OWLs. Correspondence stopped at the beginning of year six." He said absently, walking down the twisted, rickety stairs towards the basement. Harry cast him an unbelieving expression, and he smiled. "I guess you're having a hard time believing that she and I actually could hold a civil conversation back then."
Harry nodded mutely.
"Granted, it was a long time ago," Sirius muttered. He walked through something and turned invisible, alarming Harry. "Ah, I forgot." He heard Sirius's voice come from the other side. Hesitantly, he raised a hand to it, and too late did Sirius's sharp voice reach him. He screamed when the pure arcs of energy raced through his body, sending him crashing a few feet back, trembling like he was suffering some aftershocks of a mild Cruciatus curse. The letters were scattered over the floor.
"Fuck!" Sirius swore, reemerging from the barrier. "Curses, I forgot!" He said, bending down. When Andromeda followed him down, she could see him perfectly well beyond the repelling ward as she was a direct Black heir. Harry, however, while having partial Black inheritance, received it only from his grandmother, whose generation's influence is not strong enough to help him bypass the wards. That reminded him—he would have to legally adopt Harry after he gets his name cleared. How he was going to do that…well, he was actually reconsidering having Narcissa divorced from Lucius Malfoy, for he needed a favour that he believed the current Lord Malfoy could aid him with, albeit through some subterfuge. He was a Black, though, and subterfuge was child's play to him despite everything. Some things, he learnt, never really leaves a person.
Murmuring a healing spell and another to ease the muscle spasms, Sirius helped Harry up.
"What was that?" Harry groaned, rubbing his head.
"A blood repelling ward." Sirius replied, to which Harry gave a horrified look. "It's a precaution." He said hastily. "A bit of Dark Magic, although it really depends on your definition of 'dark'." He explained. "Politics." He said simply when Harry appeared to be confused. He would have plenty of time later to explain the corruption of the Ministry to Harry, although he knew his godson already has more than just an inkling as to just what goes on between the higher authorities.
Harry scowled, thinking of Fudge's incompetency and that despicable toad Umbridge.
"I, Sirius Orion Black, heir to the family, hereby allow Hadrian James Potter to enter the blood wards." Sirius said firmly, touching the barrier. A pleasant hum made itself aware to Harry, and when Sirius stepped forward again, he could see the man pass through something that rippled subtly. Cautiously, he did the same, and to his relief he was unharmed. He looked at the dead end in front of him with a question on his lips, and was met by a whirring knife-like object that slid out of the wall smoothly. Sirius drew blood, and a monotonous voice dictated,
"Sirius Black, age 37, male. Second person detected."
Sirius nudged Harry forward, and with an air of nervousness around him, the teen nicked his finger on the presently completely clean point.
"Hadrian Potter, age 15, male." The voice recognised. "Unauthorised."
Sirius scowled and tapped a part of the wall with his finger, revealing a small keypad. He entered a code, and the doors hissed open almost reluctantly after a small beep. Harry gathered the letters up again.
"Bloody family magic. The sooner we get on with this the better." He said, striding in. They walked until they reached another door which Sirius threw open.
Harry was floored by what he saw. Sirius smiled broadly. He enjoyed the reactions every time he brought somebody down here. Considering he was the true heir, only he knew of this location through his father Orion, who approved of him slightly more than his mother, at least while they were alive. His recent talk with Walburga left him stunned and unsure whether he would want to converse with his mother again.
"This…all of this…can't be legal." Harry finally managed.
"Well done." Sirius laughed. "It isn't hard to figure out that my family wasn't the most law-abiding of the bunch."
Harry rubbed his head with a chuckle, eyes still roaming around the room. He placed the letterd down on a desk and approached a particular wand on the wall that he felt some sort of connection with, and Sirius watched warily.
He touched its holster gently, as if afraid another reaction like the one with the ward would happen, but only a small tendril of warmth shot up his arm. He took the wand from its place swiftly and simply held it loosely, sighing with pleasure when hushed murmurs filled his mind. Not even his original wand had bonded with him like this. He gripped it firmly, and gave it a wave. Golden streaks of light danced in front of his eyes, and Sirius raised an eyebrow, impressed. He walked over, skimming the plaque beneath the holster, which he took off and tossed to Harry, who caught it with his Seeker skills.
"Yew and Blackthorn, 12 inches, core of…" He paled briefly. "Merlin's balls and Morgana's tits, Harry. How did you bond with a wand that has Basilisk venom as its core?" He squinted. "Stabilised with Pheonix tears. Bloody hell."
Harry gaped at the wand in his hand. The wand itself looked ordinary enough; pale, slender wood that had dark patterns that was the Blackthorn running up somewhere near the tip. The base was thicker at a noticeable point, giving Harry a comfortable grip on it.
"I guess it'll be your secondary wand, then." He mused. "Dual-wand wielding is nearly unheard of at this age." He explained. "I myself have a custom wand made of Black Walnut, 13½ inches, Dragon Heartstring from a Hungarian Horntail. The wand I received from Ollivander was 12¾ inches, Cedar with Dragon Heartstring of a Chinese Fireball. Dual wielding requires the wizard or witch to be ambidextrous." He smiled at Harry's grimace. "Don't worry, practice is what'll get you there." He said with a glint in his eyes Harry didn't miss. He gulped. "I suggest you strap the holder to your left arm under your clothes. These are designed so that with a flick of your hand the wand will be at the ready, in your palm." He helped Harry put it on and placed the wand there. He then demonstrated the snapping motion of the wrist and forearm that Harry repeated carefully. He was surprised when the wand shot into his hand, but was so surprised he dropped it. Sirius picked the wand up and grinned when Harry took the holster off.
"It's useful." He admitted.
"More than." Sirius said, walking over to a trunk next to what looked like extremely dark artifacts. Harry walked around them and reached the trunk, which Sirius opened. "Most people will not be expecting two wands on a person, Harry." He said. "But I will instruct you further when we get to the actual training. For now I want you to know that you will be using this trunk for everything afterwards."
Harry looked at is skeptically. "It looks no different to any normal trunk."
Sirius's eyes glittered, and Harry got nervous. Whenever his godfather looked like that, he was up to no good.
"Don't worry. I just like proving you wrong." Sirius teased. "Second compartment activate." He murmured, and the second trunk expanded quickly. Sirius hoisted himself up and hopped in. Harry expected him to get stuck, but he disappeared. Harry peered in to see some spare books lying around, and he heard Sirius's laugh from inside the trunk .
"Jump in. It's charmed so that people don't suspect anything going on in here."
Harry grabbed the stack of letters and obeyed the instructions, landing upright, surprisingly, and looked around in wonder. It looked like an apartment in here. "It's like Moody's trunk!" He suddenly exclaimed, looking around. "Except…much more comfortable." He put the letters on a sidetable and walked around.
"Of course. This will be my living quarters from now on." Sirius replied brightly. Harry peered at him.
"Are you feeling alright, Sirius?"
"Merlin, that's the second time someone asked me that today." Sirius said exasperatedly, thinking of Andromeda. "Of course I'm alright, I know exactly what I'm doing. While you are in school I will be accompanying you every step of the way. I won't even show up on the Map because of the enchantments on this." He said, patting the light-coloured wallpaper fondly. "And once we break Bella out, she'll be staying with me in here."
"Are you insane?" Harry asked loudly. "How do you know she won't wander off into Hogwarts and terrorise the students or run and find Voldemort?"
"…" Sirius hesitated. "Family magic." He finally said. "There are a few nooks I haven't managed to clear up yet but I assure you I have a foolproof plan." He certainly sounded a lot more confident than he felt.
"I'll have no choice but to trust you, will I?" Harry looked resigned, and surprisingly mature at the moment.
"I, ah—no." Sirius said sheepishly.
"So let me get this straight, this trunk will be my new trunk for Merlin knows how long, and I will have my godfather and his insane cousin-murderer-escapee- convict-fugitive-whatever living in here." He listed.
"Pretty much." Sirius mused. "Also maybe Andromeda and Narcissa will drop in at times."
"Please tell me you have arrange some alternative method of getting them into the trunk…like, other than them arriving at Hogwarts and clambering into my trunk, which will be located in the Gryffindor dorms ensuring that if they get caught I will not possibly be able to explain their presence." Harry pleaded.
"I'm working on it." Sirius said. He had planned to make Portkeys keyed into the trunk's wards, since there is no fireplace in the trunk, denying them access to the Floo network. Even if they did have a fireplace, like the Room of Requirement, the trunk is a hidden place distorted by magic, and would not register on the network properly. He knew, though, that having only one primary form of transport would be extremely risky, so he planned to also ward the trunk so only blood-relatives and people allowed by himself to apparate in could do so.
"Alright. How will you get food?" Harry asked.
"I can apparate to Muggle London or something, under a glamour." Sirius said. He had given this more thought lately, and figured he would cover himself with makeup and glamours to change his appearance after he takes the de-aging potion. He could use this for his cousins as well, and it was simple to just change their hair-colour with a spell. After all he was no stranger to those, considering the amount of pranks he devised similar to that.
"As long as you sort everything out." Harry shrugged. "So I guess the other compartments serve for other purposes?"
Sirius nodded. "The first compartment will be your usual storage, where you put everything, and don't worry it's divided up. Anything else you don't want to put in there but you want to have, you can put it in this one. I can put it in one of the spare bedrooms. As for the third compartment, it's for your training, and by that I mean the more physical sort. See those small blank spaces on the wall over there?" Sirius pointed at the weaponry section. "I've selected some of the most useful and easy to use weapons and put it in compartment three already. Three will also have a duelling stage for mock duels. There are also armours and protection in the storage of three." He paused to let Harry absorb this.
"Compartment four will be the potions lab. I've already bought new equipment and ingredients and moved the stash in, so it should be easy to make potions. Compartment five is the library. I took the liberty of moving practically all of the library in this house to the trunk, so that if this house is ever raided or discovered we won't lose the books."
"And you're trusting me not to lose the trunk?" Harry asked sceptically.
"Homing ward." Sirius shrugged. "My father made this trunk and I simply improved on it to suit our needs. You or I will always know where this is, you as heir, me as Lord." He explained. Harry never knew there were so many wards that could be added for so many conveniences.
"Anyways, the penultimate compartment will give me access to the Black family's Gringotts account." He smiled wickedly at Harry's gobsmacked expression.
"How do the goblins…? What?"
"It's a Black family ward, personalised." Sirius shrugged. "Don't ask me took much about that one, I think my father even had to ask grandfather about the specifics. And finally the seventh compartment is the control compartment. I've already changed the settings." He rubbed his head. "I made a mistake in setting the entire trunk to the 1 second 1 hour ratio, but I realised that if I lived in such a time ratio in compartment two I'll have spent 60 hours in here even though I might think it's just one minute." He chuckled.
"You can control time?"
"Only for this trunk. More specifically compartments three, four, and five." He said. "It's a mixture of arithmancy and runes." He said. "Again, I don't know the details, I only know how to control the settings." He said, reaching up for something invisible. A chain materialised in the air and he grasped it, disappearing. Harry stared, and looked up to see a perfectly ordinary ceiling. He did the same, and as soon as the chain materialised in his hand he was dragged up, and somehow he was standing next to the trunk again, slightly disoriented by steady nonetheless.
Sirius tapped the trunk with his wand and muttered an incantation, and the trunk shrunk.
"It comes with a feather-light charm." He placed the trunk in Harry's hand, walking out of the room. As they ascended the stairs, Harry still looked a bit stunned.
"I think I might want to sleep this off." He said incredulously. "I would never even have believed that something like that trunk could exist!"
"Magic!" Sirius ruffled his hair. Harry didn't even complain.
"Magic indeed." He said, walking back up to his room and completely forgetting what he went to find Sirius for. Only when he saw the Occlumency book on his bed did he realise. "Crap!"
Alright, I have no excuses, just that I lost interest in Harry Potter for the longest time. Now that I've dived back into the fandom, I hope I can continue this story until the end. Bear in mind I do not have a beta and there may be a lot of unexplained points and plotholes in here. Please point them out so I can fix them!