Harry Potter and the Flip of a Niccal

By: KKM

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or any associated characters. Harry Potter is © J. K. Rowling. I also do not own the Gorillaz or any associated characters/songs. Gorillaz are © Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Comments:

Beowolfalien – Thank you!

Mellra – Thank you for your comment!Unfortunately, I do not want to reveal too much about the future because I want there to be a natural progression between Harry and each of the band members (plus, this story will honestly take me quite a while to finish). I feel that if I reveal different aspects of what is planned, then it might not have as big of an effect or too many people will try and give their "two cents" so to speak. As for right now Harry is just 11 and any types of relationships that he may have in the future are much too later in the storyline to think about now. I will say that I do not want any future romantic inclinations to affect the story line and that this story will not be written with romance in mind. Instead it will focus mostly on the father/son dynamic of Murdoc and Harry as well as showcase a way that the two storylines can co-exist. Thank you again!

Last Time:

Severus bared his teeth at the green man, taking offense. However, somewhere deep within him he knew that he would not give up so easily on Lily's child. Perhaps he had been a bit… overzealous. His dark eyes returned to the upset child and his scowl deepened. "Hear me now, you will never talk to me like that again if you ever want my help. I admit I was more cross with you than I could have been, but I do not allow students to address me with anything other than respect." When Harry and the other occupants of the room stayed silent, he continued. "If and when I decide to come back, I expect that you will have written me a twenty-four inch essay on why that potion was ruined and how the affects could have been dangerous."

"When you come back it will be all too soon," Harry muttered under his breath, looking petulant as he repeated the Professor's own words to Remus just a few hours prior. The Potions Master gave him a sour look before tossing the floo powder at the fire and growling his destination and disappearing in a violent explosion of emerald flame.

"Such a dramatic git," Murdoc said, shaking his head.

Much to Harry's disdain and Murdoc's amusement Snape did return for the next lesson on time as if nothing had happened. Harry reluctantly gave him the scroll he had begrudgingly written and oddly enough they had no further issues that lesson. Murdoc thought that perhaps it had been for the best that they had hashed out their differences. Even the next time Snape had accidentally bumped into Remus he'd been perfectly cordial. It was a good change and it gave him hope that Harry would still receive a good education while under his roof.

Chapter 14: Things of Nightmares

Murdoc had been keeping a close eye on his son lately. The fact that today was Halloween, the day Harry's parents had died, was surprisingly not the only reason. No, there were things much more troubling than that.

After Harry's initial blow-up on his first day of potions, Noodle had taken to dragging the young wizard with her to meditate and to also teach him some of her karate techniques. Murdoc had no problems with this because Harry seemed to be doing better at keeping his temper around the cantankerous Potions Master and the exercises seemed to be a nice outlet for the boy to let off some steam.

Unfortunately, Murdoc was noticing other areas of concern that he and the others were not so sure about how to deal with. At the beginning of the month, Harry began having strange night terrors. Sometimes, he would wake up panicky with cold sweats and other times he would wake the other residents of Kong with horrible heart-wrenching screams. Each time, Murdoc had made sure he was there. He was not the warmest person on the planet, but he wanted to make sure that his son knew that he cared. Usually he would let Russel do the mushy stuff like sitting on Harry's bed to talk him through what happened. But all the same, he was always in the room leaning against the wall or sitting in the armchair as he watched on in silent support. His presence seemed to always calm the youth down enough to tell them about his dreams.

The dreams themselves were very troubling. Every now and then they'd be the normal impossible dreams that a child would have that might seem scary to a kid. More than once, Harry had told them about a three headed dog that would growl menacingly and viciously bite at him. Other times they would be much worse and both himself and Russel would pale at the implications. Afterall, how often was it that a child would relay hearing a woman's scream and a flash of green light? It left little to the imagination of what that dream was and on those nights were always Harry's strongest reactions. Murdoc found it even more confounding that besides fear, Harry had confided that he'd felt horribly angry in those dreams. Yes, the green man had been very blunt on the roof back when Harry had first joined them about who had killed his parents. But he wasn't so sure that now was the right time to tell the kid that he was actually dreaming of that exact night. It would be a very hard topic. He would eventually talk to Harry in depth about it, but right now he was more concerned about his child's mental health.

Feeling that it was important to have more eyes on the situation, Murdoc had told both Remus and Severus about what Harry was experiencing. This way if they noticed anything, they could keep an eye on Harry for him. Remus had reported back that Harry was beginning to experience frequent headaches in his classes. Snape too had noted that the boy seemed more tired than usual. But in typical Snape style, he'd also commented that his student was probably like all the rest he had taught and was really either just doing it for attention or out of laziness. Murdoc rolled his eyes at that, but knew how to read between the lines. That both tutors were noticing changes disturbed him greatly.

His thoughts became disrupted when he heard the floo flare to life.

"I GO' EET!" 2D yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran down the hall covered in toilet paper from his mummy costume, knocking Mudz over in the process. "Sorry, Mudz!" he called back over his shoulder, not pausing even as he lost a couple squares of tissue in his hurry.

"'Oi!" Murdoc yelled as he slowly got up and rubbed his sore behind. "Bleedin' arsehole," he grumbled unpleasantly under his breath. He sneered down at his now rumpled German officer uniform and shook his fist in the air. "I'll get you back for tha', Tusspot!"

But 2D didn't seem to hear as he was already in the livingroom greeting their guest with enthusiasm. Remus gave the younger man a bit of an embarrassed look as 2D shoved a poorly wrapped package at him.

Since your goin' trick o' treatin' wif us tonight, I made you a costume," 2D was saying with a large grin as he practically bounced up and down in excitement causing the torn bits of his own costume to flap up and down. His white wrappings seemed to make him look even more awkwardly tall and gangly, but his sunken eyes were shining in joy. Halloween was his favorite time of the year! "I hope yeh like it. Russ an' 'Arry helped me make it, but I designed it!"

"You didn't have to go through all that trouble, Stuart," Remus said politely as he began to unwrap it with nimble fingers. Truth be told, he was very touched that his blue-haired friend had been thoughtful enough to think of making him a costume. Remus did not spend money frivolously due to having troubles keeping steady jobs and had not bought a Halloween costume for himself. He'd accepted the offer to come along but had never fathomed that they would make a costume for him. However, as he opened the package, his eyes widened as he pulled out a furry hooded jumpsuit with ears. "Uhhh…" he trailed off, paling slightly.

"It's a werewolf costume!" 2D explained, either not noticing or completely ignoring the shocked look on the other man's face. "It's from one o' my favorite movies, An American Werewolf in Paris. Yer always sick 'round tha' full moon so I thought it was perfect! It reminded me o' you an'… Remus, you alrigh' mate?"

Remus was holding onto the costume a bit shakily and his hands were trembling slightly. "I… remind you of a w-werewolf?" he stammered, his mind working on overdrive.

"Well, o'course you do. Tha' main characta' is a nice enough bloke an' always does wot's right! Plus…" 2D trailed off getting slightly starry eyed as he clasped his hands together, "Werewolves are cool."

"Oh, I s-see," Remus' cheeks turned slightly red as he witnessed the horror buff's obvious love of werewolves. Remus cleared his throat and looked down at the soft jumpsuit in his hands thoughtfully. He was now reasonably sure that this was just a strange coincidence… maybe. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to think at the moment, but it was obvious that the bluenette had put a lot of thought into this costume and it really was well made. He didn't want to hurt the other man's feelings by rejecting it. So instead, he smiled. "Thank you, I'll go put it on now.

"Excellent! But yeh betta' hurry! Mudz was wantin' tha' band to record a message to tha' fans and then we're gonna' go."

Not long after that, the band met up in the studio. Harry was dressed as a pirate with Hedwig perched comfortably on his shoulder. Since it was Halloween, they had figured that most people would think she was a prop so Harry had been given permission to take her along with them later tonight. He and Murdoc were currently fiddling with the camera while the other band mates got ready. Remus was sitting beside Harry as he watched the others mess around. 2D was currently walking around the set with his hands outstretched and his tongue sticking through the gap in his teeth. Russel was dressed up as silent film actor Charlie Chapman in a nice suite with a small rounded top hat and a little mustache on his face. Noodle was polishing a golden sheriff's badge on her costume with a small smile on her face.

"Hang on, hang on!" Murdoc instructed, not realizing that Harry had slyly pressed play causing the bassist to have a rather unflattering close-up as he messed with the focus on the camera lens. "Oh yeah, tha's it! This is gonna' look great!" he smirked before running back to the others.

This caused Russel to get his first look at their leader's more than slightly offensive costume choice. "Oh man," he groaned out in his low baritone. "Where'd you get that outfit? You can't go dressin' up as a God damned German officer, you cracker-ass." *

"Why not?" Murdoc gave a snort, "If it's good enough for Lemmy, Keith Richards, and Leonard Nimoy, then it's good enough for me," he fired back with an over-dramatized chuckle.

2D, oblivious to the argument, continued zombie-walking in the background making little groaning noises. Noodle too looked to be ignoring them, only she'd tilted her head slightly to hear them better. With her large sunglasses it was difficult to make out if she was really looking at them or not so Harry had zoomed in on them for a moment before zooming back out to focus on the unfolding drama instead.

"Well, you ain't them!" Russ was informing him matter-o-factly, obviously getting annoyed at the older man.

"NEITHER ARE THEY!" Murdoc exclaimed, beginning to lose his temper. "Who's idea was this anyway?" he muttered stubbornly, trying to play it off.

"It was yours!" Russel said, shaking a finger in his face as he complained in earnest looking disgusted. "I have an appreciation for fine clothes…" he trailed off looking suddenly thoughtful as he tossed the hat away hitting 2D (who ignored it) and began muttering about petticoats and diamante shoes. He didn't seem to notice Murdoc grinding his teeth or the other man's eye twitch as he mentioned the Wizard of Oz.

"Well, why didn't anyone tell meee it was crap!?" Murdoc growled, fidgeting with the little prop whip he'd brought with him. Unfortunately, just then his pants fell down and Harry quickly pressed the off button as he laughed out loud.

"Oh man, I can't wait to edit that later," he snickered to Remus as Murdoc quickly pulled his trousers back up and marched off of the set in a huff to go change his costume. "Come on, let's go get our stuff so that we can go trick-or-treating!" Harry suggested as they all began leaving the studio.

Russel had decided to go to a party so he wasn't with them as Harry, Remus, 2D, Noodle and Murdoc (now dressed in his normal black clothes with his upside-down golden cross) all gathered in the livingroom. They were just about to leave when the floo suddenly roared to life startling them all as a very haggard looking Snape limped into the room with a frown.

"Severus, are you bleeding?" Remus asked in concern, able to smell the blood due to his heightened senses. However, the stern man ignored him in favor of frowning at the resident Satanist instead.

"Niccals, I need to speak with you right away," he said, getting to the point. His dark eyes roamed over their troupe in distaste. "Preferably alone and without the wolf," he added as Remus began to step toward him. The normally shabby dressed man gave him a warning glare, however since he was technically dressed as a wolf, he let the comment slide.

Murdoc was looking at the man with a silently calculating expression. Though he'd honestly wanted to see Harry's first holiday as a happy child, he could tell that whatever had prompted this unannounced visit was very important. His mismatched eyes flickered to the troubled look on Harry's face before returning his gaze to Snape. "Fine," he nodded in acceptance, then turned his focus back to the now disappointed child. "Ah, don' give me tha' look. You'll have fun enough with this lot," he promised. "Go on, you c'n tell me all about it tonight. But yeh betta' give me some good stories later when yeh trick, yeah?"

"I will, I promise," Harry grinned with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He and Murdoc had come up with several fun tricks they could play on people who didn't give out candy.

"Tha's a good lad," Murdoc said proudly, patting him on the head before leading the limping professor from the room. "Alrigh' Snape, What's got yeh knickers in such a twist this time?" They didn't hear the man's response as instead they all climbed into the lift and made their way down to the GEEP. Since Russel and Murdoc weren't with them, Remus had the honor of driving the famous vehicle.

The night started off great as the four went from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. There were a couple of houses that did not give candy. When that happened, Harry and Noodle delighted in TPing their houses (had Remus known that Murdoc had taught Harry a nearly permanent sticking charm, he probably would not have been so amused about this). But for the most part, the pirate known as Harry was quite happy with his haul so far. Even Hedwig had stolen a treat or two from his bucket.

Everything had been going fine and Harry was just about to show Noodle one of his favorite candies when the worst headache of his life suddenly hit him. His scar felt like it was exploding! He let out a yelp of pain and fell to his knees causing his bucket of candy to drop everywhere and for Hedwig to fly off with a startled squawk. He was vaguely aware of hands on his forehead and worried voices, but he couldn't make them out. Instead his mind focused on the pain in his scar and the horrible anger raging war on his mind. Then, when it all became too much, he blacked out.

Murdoc had never had never had such a stressful Halloween. Severus had told him in private about how he suspected that one of the Dark Lord's minions was at Hogwarts. Because of a promise he made to himself after Lily's death, he could not ignore something that could possibly lead to the boy to harm and had decided that he would tell Murdoc what he knew to better help him protect Harry.

He had told him about a stuttering man named Quirinus Quirrell whom had taken the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts that year and how he did not trust him. Murdoc had kept perfectly silent as Snape had told him the story of how a troll of all things had been let into the school and instead of that bumbling idiot taking care of the beast, the man had run and caused a scene in the great hall where he'd passed out and then just as suddenly disappeared in the chaos. A student had almost been killed if it hadn't been for a student named Weasley and another named Longbottom.

But this had made Snape very suspicious because this man was apparently well known for his ability to tame trolls. Why would this one be any different? It had apparently been a runt and there had been nothing particularly terrifying about it. No, Snape suspected that the man had caused a diversion to get to something that was hidden in the castle. He had not been able to tell Murdoc what was hidden due to a magically binding contract, but he was able to describe something else that had made the green man's blood run cold.

He had tried to head the man off in a corridor that he claimed housed a Cerberus.

How many times now had his son woken up crying with dreams about a ferocious three-headed dog? Murdoc had lost count. But surely this didn't bode well. Was it possible that Harry had seer blood or was this something more sinister?

It was hours after Snape had left that the lift had suddenly burst open and instead of seeing happy faces full of sticky candy, he had found fearful looks of worry as Remus carried Harry's limp body to him. After a brief explanation from them of what had happened, Murdoc had carried his son back to the child's room and tucked him in. He spent the whole night watching vigilantly from the armchair in the corner of the room.

It was all connected; it had to be! There was no other explanation for it.

"D-dad?" a scratchy voice broke through his brooding. Seeing that Harry was trying to sit up, Murdoc stood and offered him some water that he'd brought into the room earlier in the night. Harry gratefully took several long gulps from the glass before pushing it away and looking up at the man tiredly. He'd never seen the normally carefree man look so stressed before. "What happened?"

Murdoc sat back down with a sigh and eyed Harry for a long time before speaking. "It's come ter my attention that yer somehow seein' wot's happening at Hogwarts," Murdoc tried to explain. "I don't know how, bu' that dog yeh been dreamin' about is real and it's protectin' something at the school. Ol' Snape seems to think this has somethin' ter do with Voldemort. Considerin' wot happened at tha' school today an' yer episode, I think it's connected."

"But what's at Hogwarts? What does that have to do with me passing out?" Harry asked, looking both curious and frustrated.

"I don't know," Murdoc answered him honestly. "I have no idea wot's so bleedin' important at that school an' I don't know why yeh visions are causing you pain. Bu' I do know that it's obviously no' something that's good fo' yah."

"Then what can we do?" Harry asked with a frown, feeling very uncertain about how to handle this information.

"We fight it, o' course," Murdoc said with a small smirk, trying to cheer him up a bit. "Niccals have always been good at fightin' the tough shit. I 'ave some ideas," he explained. "I think tha' maybe it woul' help for yeh to 'ave more control over yer mind. That would help you in focusing on yer studies and protectin' yourself."

"How would I do that?" Harry asked, trying not to look ashamed at being called out for not putting his whole effort in his studies.

"There's a few things yeh could try. There's a branch o' magic called occlumency. I've neva' been very good at it, bu' Snape might know it if we asked 'im," he chuckled as he watched the boy wrinkle his nose at that idea. "I think your meditation or woteva' with Noodle was prolly a step in the right direction too."

"What do you do to clear your mind?" Harry asked curiously. Besides moments like now, for the most part he felt that the older man seemed to be mostly level-headed unless he was acting a certain way on purpose to throw people off.

"Well," the Satanist began awkwardly, "ter be honest, focusing on my religion has always helped."

"I don't really know much about religion," Harry admitted. "I know Aunt Petunia was Catholic, but I don't really remember them ever attending a mass except at Christmas and I wasn't allowed to go."

At this admission, Murdoc looked extremely uncomfortable but still wanted to at least try to be helpful. "Religion is something yeh 'ave ter figure out yourself. It works fer some people an' not at all for others."

"I understand," Harry nodded, looking thoughtful. "I will think about it and I will ask Noodle about meditating more," he promised.

The older man almost seemed to sag in relief that the subject had been dropped and then he gave his son a small smirk. "Tha's the ticket, kid. Now, get some mo' rest," he ordered as he got more comfortable in his chair.

Harry smiled in the darkness at the thought of the green man watching over him as he slept. Murdoc may have had the whole world fooled into thinking he was some kind of hard-ass. But Harry felt he knew the truth behind the famous Murdoc Niccals.

A/N: Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had fun embarrassing Remus with 2D's costume choice for him, lol. Also, I know that it seems a little out of order that Snape would tell Murdoc what happened before Harry passed out but I felt this worked well for what I wanted. I'd assume that once Quirrell was safely in his rooms after being questioned by Dumbledore (assuming he would have been questioned…), that Voldemort would have definitely punished the man for failing. So, the anger that Harry is being affected by is supposed to represent when that would have occurred. Tell me what you think!

*I changed Russel's words here because I don't want my story taken down because of a word in passing. I've seen it happen before to others so I didn't want to push it. I'm sure that we all know which "German Officers" Russel was talking about in the Fancy Dress skit.

Please read, review, and fav!