Ch. 3 The Muscular shift

When they were getting into the Bently, Harry joined her in the front seat just like she had once done with skulduggery. It brought back memories to her too and she felt her jaw clench like it wanted to smile.

She had been a Skeleton for 3000 years and yet Valkyrie was still not used to not being able to smile, blink, or smell. At this point, she doesn't think she would ever get used to it.

Looking at the clock in the car she let out a sigh, 2 am. They wouldn't get back to the manor until nearly 5. She hoped Harry didn't try to try and stay awake that entire time. It wouldn't do the 11-year-old any good at all.

The moment they left Dublin, Valkyrie felt her bones relax. She knew the country roads to her home like the back of her hand. She had been taking them for over 3000 years after all.

Looking to her left she watched as Harry Read through one of his school books, she could see even from a single glance that he was exhausted and was about to doze off. Skulduggery had clearly woken him up before the boy had been ready to wake up.

Her mind wandered to the person who had erased Mr Boyle's memory and tried to stop Lily and James's last wills being put into effect. Of course, both Potters had made their enemies. Lily especially so when she was working with Valkyrie. But Mr. Boyle was an extremely powerful magic wielder in his own right and could handle himself, especially against most of their enemies.

So it had to have been someone that Lily and James trusted for them to have gotten close to Mr. Boyle…and someone powerful.

Valkyrie gritted her teeth together as she realised the culprit. She had never trusted the conniving old wizard and not just because he had tried to have her killed on several occasions. Something about him always sent chills up her spine. And the way he treated Lily…she never liked him one bit.

Albus Dumbledore.

Albus felt his fist curl up in a ball of Fury as he stared at the shattered glass ball. Most just thought of it as one of his other random trinkets but it was much more than that. It was how he kept a close eye on one young Harry Potter.

Made sure that he didn't leave the confines of the Dursleys outside of Hogwarts school year and would be…neglected to the point that Harry would listen to whatever he had to say. His own little puppet.

But now the orb was shattered. The Dursley household was being reflected back into his eyes through several large shards of glass. That could have only happened had Harry renounced the Dursleys as home. But he shouldn't have done that unless he had a chance to escape…unless he had hope…someone had given him a home.

Dumbledore wanted to kick and scream like a spoilt child but instead, he calmed his breathing. There's only one person that the Potter would have let Harry be taken in by, that he hadn't dealt with.

Skulduggery Cain.

It should be more than easy enough to make a complaint to the British wizarding government about the Irish sanctuary and deal with her. Maybe this time he would actually get to kill her.

The walking Skeleton had been a pain in her backside for too long after all.

The Rumbling of the car came to a stop and Harry was forced awake as his whole body rocked forwards. His eyesight was groggy but through the darkness, it looked like there was a large house that was three floors high. Yet despite how Lonley the house looked. Harry felt like he could call it home already. Perhaps because it reminded him of Hogwarts. But he couldn't say for sure.

Lifting his glasses up for a second he rubbed his eyes before putting them firmly back on his face. Turning his head he turned to face Valkyrie who was staring at the house intently. Gently he asked, "Is everything okay?"

There was a creek as her skull faced him and he thinks she tried to smile as he said "Everything's fine, just needing some rest -Oh shut up you"

Her head snapped around to the back seat as she finished the Skeleton. Harry raised his eyebrows "Were you saying that last but to me?"

Skulduggery shook her head "Sorry, no I wasn't. I was talking to someone I'm going to introduce you to once we are inside and you can see him."

Confusion sparked in his head but Harry nodded. Opening the door it creaked in the same way as Valkyrie's head had. Looking behind the car he saw another manor on the hill across the way and asked gently "Who lives over there?"

Valkyrie stepped out of the car. Holding the door open for a moment and Harry swore he could hear a sigh of Nostalgia as she said "That would be Gordon Eldgey. He's a horror/Adventure writer. A good one at that. I'll introduce the two of you at some point. Your Dad loved his writing…your mum thought he was a bit overrated."

"You really cared about my parents didn't you?"

Other than a hoot from an owl and the opening of the boot of the car there was silence for a minute before Skulduggery let out a sigh "More than you could ever imagine. When you're a skeleton like me. You don't tend to get close to people, so you cherish the people who you do get close to. Now come on let's get inside and get you in a proper bed. We've got a semi-early start tomorrow and I want you feeling somewhat ready to face the world." Harry grinned and pulled his gear out of the boot.

The pair made their way to the door and Valkyrie said "Now this may seem freaky at first, so prepare yourself" She pulled a key out of her pockets and unlocked the door which swung open. All of the lights went on at once. The house was dimly lit yet Harry felt it was a comforting warmth. From within he could hear the fire of a fireplace crackling away providing the house with heat.

But Harry was used to things suddenly becoming light all at once. It was what came next that took Harry by surprise.

Pink Flesh started to form around Valkyrie's Skeletal hand, twisting and turning as it wrapped around her palm and fingers. Tightening until it formed muscle fibre with light blue veins forming down on top of the muscle. From the edges of her fingertips, skin started to form, covering everything up. Her skull wasn't much different with the muscle hand skin hiding the bony face that Harry had been getting to used to over the previous day. The strangest thing was watching as her eyeballs grew in as she entered the house, Hiding the empty sockets. Hair shot from her scalp knocking off the fake hair and glasses showing off her straight black locks that made Harry jealous. As she entered the house fully, she looked like a 28-year-old who was in her prime.

Studying her up and down, Harry could almost mistake her for a female version of his dad with the same colour of black hair and hazel eyes he had. Shaking himself out of those thoughts he managed to get out "How? I…What?"

Valkyrie chuckled in front of him, her hand covering his face "Sorry your face right now is amazing. By the ancient ones, I wished I owned a camera right now. It's some kind of magic from your world, I think your mum called it a Rune. She created it for me, shortly after she left Hogwarts. It allows people to see me how I see myself. And well I still see myself as if I was human."

Toughing her hand, Harry was surprised to find that he could actually touch the skin and not go straight through it. But her hand was cold, so cold; it sent shivers up his spine. "I still can't feel anything but It does feel like I've got some actual mass on me which is nice. Now come on in, it's the middle of the night and it's freezing."

His new guardian went further in leaving him more room to get into the warm house himself, the moment he got in he felt the heat of the fire and his entire body relaxed. He felt even better once the door closed shut behind him, Valkyrie aiming her finger at the door like a pistol.

With a flick of her finger, she got him to follow close behind her into the living room. She sat down on a lone seat and singled for him to sit on the couch across from her, the fire creating shadows that roared across her face. She looked at him carefully,

"Before you go to bed, I want to introduce you to someone, and I want to do it tonight before you get a fright in the morning. Skulduggery get your arse through here."

Seconds later a flying Skull flew through the open doorway from the kitchen into the room. The Skull was hovering in mid-air but was covered in mystic green flames with his eye sockets filled with glowing purple. A hat similar to Valkyrie's rested on top of his skull. The Floating Skull seemed to tip his head slightly

"Nice to meet ya Kid!"

Rubbing his eyes, Harry was starting to wonder if he had passed out before making it to the living room. Because a Walking Skeleton he could just about accept, but a floating skull that could also talk seemed like it was taking things too far.

Without missing a beat Valkyrie said, "Harry meet my former Mentor, My Best Friend, Eternal pain in my arse and the original Walking talking Skeleton; Skulduggery Plesant."

Waving Nervously he replied, "Nice to meet you, Mr Plesant."

"Now Skulduggery will be helping me with your training in the house…he's not much use outside of the house because I'm the only one who can see him then. As your mum confirmed to me several times in the past. Now let's get you to bed! You can sleep in your mum's old room."

The second she got out of her chair, Skulduggery Flew over to the chair and plopped himself on it making an indentation, the flames disappearing. "Night you two!"

Harry followed Valkyrie's example and stood up, following her out of the room. When he caught up with her, she was already halfway up the stairs, his chest being dragged behind her with ease. He kept a few steps behind her just so he would have time to jump out of the way in case she dropped the chest but she seemed to have a strong grip and he never had to dart to the side.

They reached the top of the staircase and immediately Valkyrie stopped and said "The room to the right is my study which you're not allowed in without me or Skulduggery and to the left is my 'bedroom' There's not much in there." They walked halfway down the corridor and passed a bathroom and another closed room which when he asked what was in there, he just received a "You'll find out in the morning."

Eventually, they arrived at the final room of the corridor and Valkyrie opened the door "This will be your room while you're staying with me. It's the same room your mum stayed in when she stayed with me during the summer of her 6th and seventh year and then for the next two years before she married your dad. She left quite a lot of stuff in there so if you need any of it just use it. I'm never going to need it. Goodnight Harry."

She dumped the chest in the room before promptly turning on her heel and leaving the room, not even giving him a chance to respond "Night Valkyrie…" Entering the room he closed the door behind him and sighed. It was bout the size of his room at the Dursley's but it felt like his dorm at Hogwarts homely…maybe even more so.

His eyes darted around the room and he looked at the Double Bed with its fresh sheets, even though his mum had been dead for nearly 11 years, Valkyrie still made his mum's bed. That was sweet of her. His new guardian seemed to be the kind of person who pretended to be a hardass but was actually a big softie at heart. He could get behind that, he wished he could be more like that.

Continuing his scan of the room he noticed he noticed the dressing room table that was across from the bed with room for a chest next to it by the window. He quickly dragged his chest over to the free space and slotted it in, the chest fitting perfectly. Looking at the dressingroom table he noticed the pictures on it and picked one featuring 6 people.

On the floor on their knees grinning was his dad, hair even more messed up than in other photo's he had seen. His dad was looking left nervously before grinning to his right where there was a man who was neatly trimmed with a prankster look in his eyes that could rival the twins when they got a bad idea in their head, and he really did mean a bad idea. Next to that man was another who looked a lot more rugged and who was resting his head on the previous man tiredly and full of affection. To all of their right, further away from the other three men was a man who looked skittish and nervous, almost rat-like, a bad feeling settled in Harry's stomach when he saw the man.

Above the 4 men were two others; Valkyrie and his Mum. His Mum was grinning, wearing a black suit similar to Valkyrie's, and was holding the skeleton tightly, occasionally she would look down at the 4 men and roll their eyes at them before looking at Valkyrie with tons of affection. Valkyrie on the other hand was resting a hand on his mum's other side proudly and seemed to only be staring at the camera. What kind of adventures had his mum gotten up to with Valkyrie in the past?

Maybe if he wrote to Hermione, she could tell them something about Valkyrie. His new guardian certainly was a interesting one and he would like to know as much about her as possible.

That's when his tiredness hit him, the brief sleep he had been having throughout the day really hadn't been doing him any good. Not having enough energy to look into his chest, he pulled open one of the drawers and found one of his mum's old nightshirts and got changed into it trying to avoid how flat his body was.

Harry didn't understand why he felt like that when he wasn't at Hogwarts, but every night he got those dreams and felt uncomfortable with his body. But the second he put his his mum's old nightshirt on he felt his entire body relax. Something felt right about it, and it was so soft and comfortable.

Flopping on the bed, Harry almost immediately fell asleep and just like the previous two nights she didn't dream of her adventures at Hogwarts or his friends. He didn't even dream of himself as the boy-who-lived. Instead, they dreamed of their parents being alive and being the The-Girl-Who-Vanquished-The-Dark Lord.