For disclaimer and author notes please see chapter 1. Additional AN: It's hard to get accurate information on what the London Zoo looked like in 1989; most of what is there today seems to be 21st century!
1988-07-31 09:00 UTC, Kithurst Close
"Mione, come on!", whined Harry. He took one look at the backpack Hermione was bringing along and knew what was happening. "No no no no, you are not bringing along any books today", he said a little more assertively.
Not that it did much good. "Oh Harry this is just a map, just in case, you know! And the rest are books about the zoo we're going to, kind of like guide books. We'll be able to plan out what animals we should see and in what order."
"Oh Mione", sighed Harry. He was used to this by now, and he really liked his best friend but sometimes it was a little annoying.
"Look, what did we discuss last night about our visit to the zoo today?", he asked.
"Umm, that we would just enjoy ourselves".
"Right, and that means don't make it like a study trip. If we don't see all the animals, we'll go again some other time. Take the map Mione but you really don't need the rest!"
She pouted a bit, but didn't seem to want to let go of her books, so he had to pull out the big guns.
"It's my birthday", he whined, drawing out the "my" a little.
She gave up, as he knew she would. It was scary, to the adults, how well these two kids knew each other, but then having (almost) no other children for company would probably do that. And it's not that they lacked in social skills; after all they both went to a normal school with lots of children.
But, ever since that first incident of attempted physical bullying almost two years ago, the other children had seen how close these two were. Very few tried anything like that afterwards, and the few that did were quickly disabused of the belief that, being a girl, in one case, or being a little on the short and thin side, in the other, they could be bullied. After a couple of somewhat more serious incidents, people learned to leave them alone for the most part.
Unfortunately, this also had the effect of making them look a little aloof, possibly even a little scary, to many of the other, normal, kids. There were a few brave souls who realised that as long as you didn't try to bully or insult them in any way, Harry and Hermione were perfectly nice and easy to get on with, but even they did not get too close.
Hobby was watching all this with a smile on his face. He loved how he had set it up so Harry and Hermione would meet so early in the game. He had worried that this might make them think of each other as siblings instead of as a romantic partner, and indeed there was still a very slim chance that might happen. He hoped it wouldn't but it was way too early - they were way too young - to say how it would go. It was a calculated risk, but he had to get Harry a much more emotionally normal childhood, and who better to help with that than Hermione?
Sirius was also watching, but not Harry. He was watching Hobby. The elf seemed happy, and definitely did not - Remus could feel it in his bones - have any malicious intentions toward Harry. Yet his suspicions had not been completely allayed - at the very least Hobby owed him and Sirius some explanations. Besides, he always seemed to be either with them, or with Nick and Penny - his master didn't appear to need him any more!
He and Remus had decided to not say anything for now. They didn't have any reason to worry about Harry's safety - indeed the aforesaid master, the so-called Phantom, appeared to care a lot for Harry. One was not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all! And yet, the mystery remained. Who was this guy? Why did he care so much? Everyone has a reason - it didn't have to be a selfish reason, but there had to be one. And yet nothing so far had given them a clue.
Harry and Hermione were having fun. Hermione had - surprisingly not so reluctantly, after all - left behind everything except a not-to-scale map of the zoo, which was something even Harry could not quibble at.
You could not really visit the entire zoo in one day - not if you wanted to spend a decent amount of time at each exhibit. So they each picked three things to see, and visited them in whatever order they figured, from the map, would save the most time.
They went to the aviary. They saw the lions and the tigers and the giraffes and zebras. They spent a lot of time at the aquarium, it was easily one of the most fascinating exhibits - weirdly, it even seemed to be more colourful despite being underwater, perhaps due to the lighting.
And then they went to the reptile house, and that's where things went slightly awry. For Harry, at first, and then for Hobby.
The largest snake in the reptile house was supposed to be - according to Hobby's memories - a Brazilian boa constrictor.
Hobby was planning to introduce Harry to the boa, or the other way around, in a sort of "deep end of the pool" way of helping him realise he was a parselmouth, preparatory to then explaining it all to Harry. He did not want a repeat of second year for Harry, which he blamed almost entirely on not knowing he was a parselmouth, and - worse - not knowing of the stigma associated with being one and the fear it engendered among lay wizarding people.
He needed to be told he should keep it quiet, but not in a way that made him fear or loathe himself or caused any other kind of worry. (It's a different matter that the diary was gone, so that precise sequence of events would not happen, but who knew what else might happen!)
But there was no sign of the boa in the reptile house. He was sure it was a fully grown one in 1991, so - if the zoo acquired it soon after it was born - it would have been there in 1988.
Instead, what was there was a Black Mamba - much smaller, and not really black in color, disappointingly, but of course much more dangerous.
So now he found himself really puzzled. What the heck had happened to the boa he had met at this time in his life (well, give or take a few months)? The black mamba was not a snake to be taken lightly - it was not an easy-going beast, like the boa - so he abandoned his plans of having Harry talk to it.
Harry, meanwhile, was fascinated by the snake, and gazed at it through the glass. The snake gazed back at him, appearing somewhat arrogant and unfriendly, its tongue darting out once in a while.
Harry felt a quick surge of pity for the snake. "I bet you're bored!", he said.
Hermione looked at him strangely. "Harry, you were hissing at the snake".
"No I wasn't! I was just saying he must be bored", he retorted.
Hermione shook her head and turned her attention to the snake, as did Harry. The snake looked at him with an expression that could only be described as a sneer.
"Mind your own business, human! It's bad enough that your kind keeps barging in on my quiet time, and I am unable to retaliate. Oh how I would love to bite a few of you... some deaths would surely help us live in peace!"
While the snake was ranting about this, Harry was getting confused and agitated. He had rejected Hermione's assertion that he was hissing, but now it appeared that the snake was speaking to him, and he could understand it. The extreme aggression the snake was displaying, which itself would have been cause for worry, had not really registered over the fundamental issue of "how the heck am I able to understand what the snake is saying?"
By the time the snake had finished its mini-rant, his worry had turned to fear. He backed off hurriedly from the glass wall and ran out of the building. Hermione ran out with him. She had no clue what had happened, but she was sure it was to do with his hissing. Regardless of what it was, she would be there for him, suppressing all her natural curiosity till a later (much later, if need be) time.
Sirius had elected to wait outside, and he rushed to Harry's side on seeing him exit the reptile house in that manner.
He knelt beside Harry, and spoke to him very quietly and gently, because Harry was still a little skittish when adults raised their voices at him in any manner.
"Harry, what's the matter? Are you hurt?"
He thought Harry had probably put his hand into some exhibit where he was not supposed to and had been bitten or something, so he started quietly checking Harry for any injuries.
Harry shook his head, but did not say a word, so Sirius looked at Hermione.
"I'm not quite sure, Sirius", she said. She seemed reluctant to say more, at least not while Harry seemed so out of it. But that was also a good excuse for her to not appear too unwilling to reply to Sirius's question - she turned to Harry and hugged him tightly, occasionally rubbing his back soothingly.
"You both stay here", said Sirius, and, before Hermione could reply, he darted into the reptile house to see if he could find what it was that caused his godson to become so upset.
His eyes fell on the most "out of place" thing there - Hobby! While the muggles could not see him, he had not made himself invisible to the two wizards and witch, and in fact Sirius had wondered where Hobby was when Harry was being spooked so badly by whatever it was that did so.
He walked quietly up - you can't yell at a being that was invisible to everyone else around you - and came up behind him, preparing to tap him on the shoulder and ask him to come out.
Only to stop dead in horror. A strange hissing sound was emanating from Hobby's mouth, and the snake appeared to be listening. Then Hobby stopped hissing, and the snake hissed something. Then Hobby hissed again, and - apparently having said what he wanted to - turned around.
Now it was Hobby's turn to stare in horror. Sirius had definitely heard him hissing, that much was clear.
It was a good thing they had kept the reptile house for one of the last things to see, because there was no question of continuing the trip anymore. Sirius quietly told Hobby to come home later that evening - he needed Remus by his side for this conversation. He then took Harry and Hermione to a somewhat secluded part of the zoo, and quietly apparated them home.
He spent a few minutes helping Harry settle down. Harry was responding to questions, but only of the "are you alright?" or "do you need something?" kind. About the incident itself, he was silent as a clam.
Harry himself was feeling scared beyond belief. While he did not know about the stigma attached to his skill, he was sure he had spoken to the snake, and he hated it simply from the point of view of it being so different from everyone else, because clearly Hermione could not, nor did he think Sirius could. His best defence in such situations had always been to clam up.
Of course, he hadn't reckoned with Hermione. She made sure he was comfortable, then she started on him.
"Harry, I am guessing you found out you can talk to the snake, am I right?"
Harry just nodded miserably. No point denying it.
"Harry, I think that is a cool skill to have, why do you seem upset?"
"Because it's one more thing that makes me different from all of you", said Harry.
"I'm not sure if we've discussed this before, but I do know you feel that being different is bad, somehow. I think we should talk about this, Harry. I, for one, think you're awesome, and I love all the things that make you different. They're all a part of you, my best friend-"
"Your only friend", interrupted Harry, with a watery smile. Clearly Hermione's pep-talk had started working!
"My only friend, yes. I love the fact that you're the only wizard in our school here. I love the fact that you have a loving family that's not quite what you'd picture when you hear the word 'family'. I don't love the fact that you spent your first few years with a bunch of morons, but I do love the fact that you came through without being too badly affected and are now happy".
"And I love the fact that you're running out of things to say, yet are still trying to cheer me up", grinned Harry, now fully out of his funk. He turned slightly, pulled Hermione close, and hugged her tightly.
"I love the fact that you can turn your emotions around so quickly", said Hermione, determined to show she still had something to say.
Harry laughed at her innate competitive spirit. He gave her a brilliant smile and said, "yes but that only happens when you are the one trying to turn me around".
Hermione just hugged him tighter and didn't say a word. She was sure there was more at stake here than a magical ability - she had also seen Sirius emerge from the reptile house looking shocked, and Hobby looking mortified and worried - both of which Harry had missed in his own state. There was clearly something going on here that needed to be looked into, but there was no point telling Harry all that right now and worrying him even more.
1988-07-31 20:00 UTC, Kithurst Close
Hobby knew he was in a bit of trouble. Having a particularly liberal master could explain a lot of things, but not parseltongue. If it was considered a dark skill to have for a wizard, it had to be much, much, worse for an elf.
So he did the only thing he could. He brought reinforcements!
Harry's mood had gotten much better until about 7pm, when Hermione had gone home. Meanwhile, Sirius was still pretty serious (he didn't even joke about that word today!), and Remus was also looking a little worried, and both of them declined to either let Harry go with her for a sleepover, or for her to stay here.
That instantly brought Harry's mood, and birthday spirit, down, and that was the situation for the past hour or so. Harry was angry because neither of the adults had told him what he had done wrong, and yet they appeared to be punishing him. He wished aunt Penny and uncle Nick would come - it was his birthday after all.
And then, like magic (duh!) there they were! They, and a house elf who looked more worried than Remus was, but aunt Penny was smiling and holding out her hands for a hug, and uncle Nick seemed to have something hidden behind his back - clearly his present - so Harry didn't care about Hobby.
He ran to aunt Penny and gave her a hug. She said "Happy Birthday, Harry!", and he simultaneously said "Thank you aunt Penny!". He then turned to uncle Nick and repeated the gesture and the thanks, carefully not looking at uncle Nick's hands or asking what he had.
Two years and he's still afraid to show excitement about a present that is obviously for him, thought Nick. Then he held out his right hand, and gave him a small bag, smiling encourangingly at him.
Harry took the offered bag and opened it, finding an assortment of sweets, toys, and books. Unlike anything his uncles had gotten him, these appeared to be from all over the world. He thanked them again, gave aunt Penny a hug, and went to his room to put away his new gifts.
"We need to talk", said Sirius, taking advantage of the few seconds that Harry was out of the room. "But we need to wait for Harry to go to bed".
"No. He must be included", said Nick.
Sirius considered again how much he owed these people, and Hobby's master. It was clear that, while he was Harry's legal guardian and was responsible for him, these people knew, and had known all along, a lot of things he had not known. Far more than could be explained by any excuses or rationale he was aware of.
And with two such powerful beings - and he had no illusions about that - it didn't seem like he had much of a choice.
Presently, Harry came down, still smiling from the happiness of seeing Nick and Penny. As he walked into the room, he saw how serious everyone was, and he became disheartened again. It seems that, rather than uncle Nick and aunt Penny lifting Sirius and Remus's moods, things had gone the other way.
Penny saw that immediately, and smiled at Harry, beckoning him to come to her and sit on her lap.
Having settled Harry on her lap, with one arm loosely around him, Penny spent a few minutes asking him what other presents he got, and which ones he liked best, and so on, making small talk but staying away from the topic of the zoo.
Once Harry had cheered up a bit, she looked expectantly at Sirius, as did Nick. But Sirius didn't seem to know how to start, so Remus started the ball rolling.
He turned to Hobby, who was standing beside Nick. "Over the last few weeks or so, we've noticed several odd things about you, Hobby", he said. "I think it's high time we received an explanation for all those things, starting with the latest one - today - where Sirius found you speaking to a snake".
At that, Harry looked alarmed. This was, of course, why Penny had asked him to perch on her lap; she just held him a wee bit tighter, as if to reassure him.
"There's nothing wrong with speaking to snakes, Remus. You're the last person I would have thought would be prejudiced due to a so-called dark skill", said Penny.
"This is not prejudice, this is confusion. I've never heard of an elf talking to snakes. As far as I knew that was impossible", responded Remus.
"Well", said Nick. "We probably won't know for sure if that is possible or not, so we'll ignore that for now".
Sirius was puzzled. "I saw Hobby talking to a snake, I saw the snake talk back. Even if the actual sounds were not intelligible to me, and consisted only of various hisses, it was quite clear there was a conversation going on. Hobby is an elf, so I don't know how you can say we won't know if an elf can be a parselmouth, although if you had told me before today I would not have believed it".
"This is... unfortunate", said Nick. "There are some things that we had never intended to reveal to you, and some that would have waited until Harry was a little older, but now I guess it is necessary. By the way, how's your occlumency?"
That didn't help with Sirius's stress levels at all! "Pretty good; I don't think anyone except you two and Dumbledore can get in, and even then it would require force".
Nick looked at Hobby encouragingly, and said "it's your story, Hobby, go for it. All of it, since we do trust these two gentlemen".
"What about Remus's occlumency?"
"I am a natural occlumens", said Remus. He sounded as if it was a bad thing, and Hobby realised it must be due to his lycanthropy.
He nodded at Remus, then began his tale.
"I'm going to give you a brief version of my story first, and we can fill in the details later, OK?"
Remus and Sirius nodded. Harry was not speaking, not even moving. He knew something big was happening, and he was worried they would send him to bed if he said the wrong thing, and he would miss all this.
"I was born a wizard", started Hobby. And immediately had to pause, because neither Sirius nor Remus appeared to be ready to believe it, and had stood up with noises of protest. It took the combined glares of Nick and Penny before they suspended their disbelief and settled down to listen.
"As I said, I was born a wizard. I went to Hogwarts for six years. I fought Voldemort in various forms-"
"What do you mean 'various forms'?", growled Sirius.
"Details later, Sirius", reminded Nick. Sirius growled again, a bit more softly this time, and nodded for Hobby to continue.
"By the time my seventh year started, Voldemort was fully in control, and I had to leave school to go do something essential for Voldemort to be defeated. Once I did that, I faced Voldemort for the last time. Unfortunately, he managed to kill me, instead of the other way round."
By this time Sirius and Remus were not at all sure if the whole thing was one big prank, but both Nick and Penny were looking too solemn for that.
"It turned out that that was not supposed to happen. I was supposed to defeat him, not the other way round. But the deck had been stacked so badly against me, that I had actually died six times prior to that, and each time they had sent me back to start afresh. By this time, they had learned their lesson, so they sent me back with my memories and powers intact."
"They?", asked Remus.
"I don't know much more than you may be able to guess, Remus", said Hobby.
"Anyway, I added a twist. I didn't want to go back as the wizard I was born as - even with memories and powers intact, they would have not been able to send me back to, at best, the end of my third year.
By that time, the wizard that I was, had already suffered quite a bit. A lonely, hated, existence till the Hogwarts letter came, and even after that, I had constant danger, very few friends, everyone trying to take advantage of me and my fame in every way possible. I didn't want that to happen, but they said going back as early as I wanted was not possible; I would be too young.
So I asked if I could go as someone else. During my days there I had freed an elf from the Malfoys, an elf who already hero worshipped me, and who ultimately gave his life for me. I wanted to go as him, both to honor him, as well as to spare him the many years of pain and punishments from the Malfoys."
Hobby took a few seconds to compose himself, while trying to gauge Sirius's reactions.
"Coming back as someone else would allow the real 'me', to have as normal a life as possible, and I know that was very important to me. Probably the most important thing, the biggest thing I would like to have changed."
"And this wizard was a parselmouth?", asked Remus.
"Was, and is, too", said Hobby.
"And what is his name?", asked Sirius, although he had a sinking feeling he knew. Didn't Nick say Harry's welfare was uppermost in the Phantom's mind?
"Wait... before you answer that, who is the Phantom?"
Hobby merely changed into the Phantom for reply.
"And to answer your earlier question, I think you already know who I was. Making sure he is as happy as can be, and does not have to deal with any of this, is very important to me."
Harry hadn't moved from his place on Penny's lap. He was just a bit too young to truly understand what was happening, but no one was shouting at anyone else, and things seemed to be cordial, if only because Sirius and Remus appeared to be almost speechless!
Sirius and Remus, for their part, were all set to ask for explanations of every one of the incidents and events which had caused them suspicion. Clearly, that was all moot now; this really answered everything. It was only the sheer impossibility of it - but the evidence was irrefutable - that shocked them.
It explained how he knew so much about Harry - his favourite foods, books he had wanted to read but was not allowed to, his state of health. It explained why his eyes flashed green when he got angry (at the idea of giving Greyback a fair fight). And many of the others - while they would bear some discussion - were no longer total mysteries.
While Sirius and Remus were mulling this over, Hobby turned to Harry. "Harry, I know you got worried about the snake speaking to you, because it's not normal. I agree it's not normal, but that just makes you special. I'd like to explain a few things about this to you tomorrow, OK?" He waited for a hesitant nod from Harry. "Meanwhile, I don't want you worrying about it, OK?"
After a while, Harry was bundled off to bed, so the adults could continue talking. Sirius asked what was, to him, the most important question. "What's the Hermione angle? Clearly she is the reason you made us buy this house, but what's so special?"
Hobby sighed. "Hermione was my best friend, or at least one of two. She has been by my side, never let me down, and frankly, without her I would have been dead several times. Case in point: when we were barely halfway through our first year, she set fire to Snape's robes because it looked like he was cursing my broom enough to make me fall off from a great height".
Hobby clearly knew how to get these two, or at least Sirius, on his side!
"One of the things I was told was that Harry was meant to be with Hermione, and I wanted to give them a head start".
"Doesn't it feel weird to you, that someone else is living your life? I mean, you're you, and Harry is a different person".
"Yes we are, and that's fine. The people who sent me back - they only care about Harry, and possibly Hermione. So do I, for obvious reasons. So, however weird it sounds, this is the method I chose to absolutely maximise Harry's happiness. Honestly, except for the Dolohov incident, I'd say I did pretty good!", he smirked.
"Besides", he continued, "now that circumstances have conspired to make me take you both into confidence, we can finish this thing off much more safely than Nick, Penny, and I could have done, because you - Sirius - are Harry's guardian. You knowing about me opens up a lot more possibilities for intervention."
Eventually, Hobby detailed his entire life to Sirius and Remus, who were suitably impressed by all his escapades. When he came to Sirius and the veil of death, Hobby was almost crying, and Sirius - God bless him - ignored all the confusing aspects of this whole day and gave him a hug.
Late in the night, when they were all talked out, they all went off to bed; they'd have to continue this tomorrow.
Hobby wondered if either of them would remember the Malfoy angle, and ask him about it, especially why he did not appear to be spending much time there lately, and especially during the past two months or so.