Sib
by Roff
CHAPTER TWO
All the changes Dobby made to the room were amazing. First it was several times bigger than it was before. There was a nice bed with a canopy, reminiscent of Hogwarts beds that were extremely comfortable, a much larger and nicer desk with a chair that wasn't broken, a kitchen of some sorts was in the making in the far corner and it looked like a full loo was already in place on that side of the room as well.
The middle of the room was completely empty and there was quite a bit of floor space. Dobby was right in the middle of it setting up something on the floor.
"What are you doing, Dobby?"
"Dobby is preparing for the ritual, Harry Potter sir. Before you go to bed, Dobby and his friends will get rid of that foul soul piece in your scar so you can sleep right after. Harry Potter sir will need rest when we are done."
"Okay, Dobby. Let me know if I need to help with anything."
"Harry Potter sir needs to feed his cub again. Harry Potter sir needs to name his cub too."
Harry went over and picked up the cub who was just starting to complain about being hungry again. He took him back to his desk to sit in his new chair. Hedwig joined them and landed on the desk to watch up close. Harry cradled the little tiger again with one arm while he fed him the bottle with the other.
"What to name you?" Harry asked him and Hedwig. "I gave Hedwig a great name."
"Hoot!"
"See, even she agrees. However, you're really tiny and cute right now but I know you're going to get quite large. As a matter of fact, you could reach thirteen feet long, four feet tall, and weigh as much as 700 pounds when you are all grown up, so I need something that fits now and in the future. I can already see that you're going to be a handful. Right, Hedwig?" he asked looking over at his owl.
"Hoot!"
"Yeah, don't we both know it," he said agreeing with her.
The cub was stopping on occasion and then would start drinking again after a couple of seconds while he was talking. Harry was wondering if he was listening to what he was being told while he enjoyed his dinner.
"Well, you are a Siberian Tiger, a white one at that, but I'm not sure what to call you. What if I used part of the word Siberian? How about Siber? Siber the tiger?" Harry shook his head. "No, I don't think so. "Sibe? …No." Harry thought about it some more. "Well we might as well shorten it one more time and try it. How about Sib? Or Sibby, since you're so cute. …Actually, Sib doesn't sound too bad. I can picture calling you Sib when your all huge and dangerous looking," Harry told the little cub. "Sib, come here. Sib, be still. Sic 'em Sib! See? It works! What do you think about the name Sib, Hedwig? Does it work for you?"
Hedwig tilted her head back and forth a couple of times then said, "Hoot!"
"I'm glad you agree, Hedwig. What about you, Dobby? Do you think Sib will work for his name?"
"Dobby is liking it. Now Sib can learn his name early."
"Now, the question is do you like your new name, Sib?" Harry looked down and asked the tiny tiger. "Oops! He's fallen asleep. I guess I'll have to ask him when he wakes up."
Harry stood and took the sleeping baby cub back to his bed, which was close to his own. He laid him down in it and stroked his fur a little.
"Good night, little Sib," he said softly.
After he was done petting his new feline, he told Dobby that he was going to take a shower in his new bathroom. He wanted to get cleaned up because he needed to tell someone about the dead tiger and cub. He knew people would be out looking for them and he may even have to show them where they're located. However, Dobby informed him that he had already taken care of it so his master would not have to.
"What did you do, Dobby?"
"Dobby moved them away from this area and a little closer to the zoo so someone will find them easily. That way no one will ever know Harry Potter sir has his Sib."
Harry nodded in thanks. "I kind of feel bad about keeping him but I think I need him and he needs me. Does that make sense, Dobby?"
"Yes, Harry Potter sir. Sib needs you and you need Sib. No need to change that."
"Good, because I'm already growing quite attached to the little fur ball."
"Once you finish your shower, Harry Potter sir, Dobby will have everything ready."
Harry nodded. Then while Harry went into the loo to take a shower, Dobby popped off and told his friends he was ready. They followed him back to Harry's room and finished the preparations.
When Harry finished the shower he came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair was still damp.
"Dobby, I forgot to ask you what I should wear for this," he said and then stopped short.
There were four extra elves in his room along with Dobby. They were all in the middle of the room doing stuff.
"Oh, hi everyone. I didn't realize you were here already. Thanks for doing this for me. This means a lot that you are willing to help."
Dobby waved his hand and the towel was transfigured into a pair of black shorts. Harry looked down and approved. A little female elf ran over and stood before Harry.
"I is Winky and am very proud to help Harry Potter sir, friend of Dobby."
"Thank you, Winky," he replied as she went back to the middle of the floor.
"Dobby, do all your friends know that this is a secret and they can't tell anyone else about this and they can't bring anyone else here to my room?"
"Yes, Harry Potter sir. Dobby's friends from Hogwarts will keep Harry Potter's secrets," he said as the other elves nodded reverently.
"Great! What do I need to do?"
"Harry Potter sir just needs to lay down here," Dobby indicated the area in the middle of the floor that he and the other elves had been working on.
The floor now looked like it had runes on it, but since Harry never took runes he wasn't exactly sure what it was. Harry went ahead and laid down anyway, trusting Dobby to know what he was doing. The elves then gathered around Harry standing in a circle with Dobby at his head.
"We is going to start now, Harry Potter sir. Dobby is sorry for any pain this causes his master."
"Don't worry about it, Dobby. If this gets Voldemort out of my head without killing me then I will endure it, no problem."
Dobby nodded then waved his hand over Harry. Harry suddenly could not move anything but his eyes.
"It is very important that Harry Potter sir not move during the ritual," Dobby explained then nodded to the other elves.
A chant was suddenly heard in the room as all five elves weaved magic around Harry. Dobby was concentrating the hardest on Harry's scar. After a good two minutes, Harry began to get a sharp pain in his scar. He started to groan as the pain increased. Just when he thought it couldn't hurt any more than it already did, it got worse. With a loud scream, Harry broke the binding on his mouth as his scar burst open and blood along with some black substance like ichor, sprayed in a mist up from his forehead.
The blood and black mist was followed by a ghostly looking face as it screamed and yelled its displeasure at being removed from its host. Harry's eyes popped open and he saw the distorted face floating above his head in all the mist of red and black that seemed to be held floating in the air. All the elves were working their magic and holding the piece of Voldemort's soul in place as it thrashed and screamed in agony. The blood wards were doing their job.
Suddenly, the noise just stopped and all was quiet except for a small sound that was heard. It was like a breath being let out as the fractured soul piece of Voldemort faded from view and left this world.
Harry passed out as soon as the event was over.
Dobby removed the binding and cleaned up his master lovingly. He put some Dittany on the scar and watched as it healed and practically disappeared to the faintest of white lines. The other elves removed the runes from the floor as Dobby floated his master to his comfortable bed and placed him in it.
The other elves finished cleaning up the floor then went and completed the kitchen Dobby had yet to finish due to his other duties. The four of them had it done in no time, then one went back and brought a bunch of food from Hogwarts to stock it. The four elves left when they were done and returned back to Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, Sib was making some noise after he was awakened by all the screaming. It was too soon for him to eat again so Dobby picked him up and carried him over to Harry's bed and placed him next to his master. The little cub cuddled up next to the wizard and fell back to sleep, feeling safe again.
Dobby decided he needed a little nap after all that so made himself a bed in Harry's closet and went to sleep.
The next morning, Harry felt something small wiggle next to him as he was waking up. He looked down to find Sib in the bed with him.
"What are you doing in my bed, Sib?" asked Harry as he picked him up and placed him on his chest.
"Sib was pretty fussy last night after all the screaming woke him up," Dobby said from the kitchen. "Dobby knew he wasn't hungry yet so put him with Harry Potter sir so Sib would feel safe. Sib went right back to sleep."
"Well, I'm glad I could be of service, Fur Ball," he said to the cub as it was sniffing his chest. "I read that you'll open your eyes in about two weeks. Then we'll get to see what's behind those eyelids. What color will your eyes be? Typically, the normal orange tigers have yellow or green eyes, but white tigers tend to have blue eyes. Are you hiding some beautiful baby blues behind those eyelids, Sib? Huh?"
Sib let out a baby roar and started fussing.
"I think someone's hungry," Harry said just as Dobby popped over with the bottle. "Thank you Dobby."
Harry sat up in bed so he could feed Sib.
"Dobby almost has breakfast ready, Harry Potter sir. It will be ready after the cub eats."
"Great, Dobby. I'm pretty hungry," he said as he gave Sib his bottle while Dobby returned to the kitchen.
"Harry Potter sir should be hungry after all that happened."
When Sib finished eating, Harry got out of bed and picked him up to place him in his little bed so Harry could go eat his breakfast. After he laid him down, and started to head to the bathroom, he remembered he never put his glasses on. He turned back and grabbed them from the bedside table and slipped them on.
Suddenly, everything was blurry. Harry removed them and looked around. It was all clear now. He put his glasses back on and it was blurry again. He took them off and put them back on the table.
"Hmm. Dobby, I no longer need my glasses. How did that happen?"
"The foul soul was leaching from Harry Potter's magic and causing other problems. Now that it's gone, no more problems for Harry Potter sir."
"That's fantastic Dobby!"
"Harry Potter sir is taller now too and not so skinny anymore. Harry Potter sir is very healthy looking."
"Taller you say?"
"Yes, Harry Potter sir. About five inches, Dobby thinks."
Harry suddenly realized there was a difference in his height. "But that would make me about 5' 10" now."
Dobby nodded while Harry hurried to the bathroom to check himself out. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was definitely taller and more muscular. He did look healthy though, he thought to himself. Pleased, Harry took a quick shower, got dressed in the clothes Dobby resized for him, and sat down at his kitchen table to eat. He was hungrier than usual so dug in, giving Hedwig a bit of his bacon.
He was no sooner finished eating when he heard a knock at his door. Harry quickly rose from the table and grabbed his invisibility cloak from his trunk. He then spread it over Sib and his bed. Dobby made himself invisible to everyone but Harry.
Harry opened the door and there stood his Aunt Petunia. He opened it plenty wide so she could see all the changes that were made to the room. Normally, she was about an inch taller than Harry but today she had to look up into his face, which was smiling down at her.
"What can I do for you Aunt Petunia?" he asked pleasantly.
She took a double-take at how tall he was now and then her eyes went past him to the room. She stood there sputtering in disbelief.
"Spit it out, Aunt Petunia. I have a lot planned for today."
She stopped sputtering and looked at him carefully. He raised his eyebrows waiting for her to talk.
"I see that what Vernon said was true, Harry. You can use your magic now?"
"Yes," he said with a big smile. "I certainly can. Do you like what I've done with the place?" he gestured to the room inviting her in.
She took a couple of steps into the room and looked around.
"I was going to ask you why you haven't been down to eat after this many days but I can see you have your own kitchen and a bathroom too?"
"Yes, I just finished eating a delicious breakfast. I was famished. Would you like some of my leftovers? I believe I have a couple of pieces of bacon left, if Hedwig hasn't finished it off that is. I could make another egg for you if you want."
"No thank you, I've already had breakfast."
"What else can I do for you?"
"Harry, I was just wondering if we were going to have any problems out of you now that you can use magic outside of school. I know you are probably mad at us for how we treated you so I'm a bit concerned."
"Aunt Petunia, you really don't know me at all, do you? As long as you three leave me alone then I will do the same. However, if Uncle Vernon or Dudley can't control themselves then I will gladly retaliate. The blood wards on this house keep me safe here and they also keep you three safe from attack. When I turn seventeen next summer, the wards will fail. Until then, we need to get along as best we can."
Petunia nodded.
"I have everything I need in this room so we need not interact unless I want to go outside. I think that should make it fairly easy. Don't you?"
"That will work for us, Harry," she said as she started to leave.
"Just a second, Aunt Petunia. Here's that encyclopedia I borrowed. Could you take it back down for me and put it back on the shelf?"
"Sure," she said taking it from him.
"Then I have just one last question. What are you going to do, Aunt Petunia, when you die and you have to face your sister in the afterlife? What excuse are you going to give her? What could you and Uncle Vernon possibly say to my parents?"
Petunia held the encyclopedia to her chest and ran from the room crying.
"That's what I thought," he said as he slammed the door shut and locked it.
Harry went back over and removed the cloak from off of Sib and his bed. He was still snoozing a little.
"Dobby, I think today would be a good day to go shopping. I'm in desperate need of some clothes that fit so I might as well get me some. Can you watch over Sib while I'm gone?"
"Yes, Harry Potter sir. Dobby will take care of the fur ball."
"Thank you, Dobby. I'll be back later, Hedwig."
Harry left and went out the front door. Vernon was at work while Dudley was out likely terrorizing the neighborhood with his gang. Harry made it down the driveway and to the sidewalk when he heard a female voice right beside him.
"Where are you going, Harry?"
Harry stopped.
"Hello, Tonks. That is you, right?"
"Yep."
"How come you're not at work with the aurors?"
"Day off."
"And you chose to spend it sitting in front of my relatives house?" he asked incredulously.
"You're a pretty important guy, Harry, and for some reason you are a lot taller than the last time I saw you. That was quite a growth spurt! You're not wearing glasses either and, wait a minute, your scar is practically gone."
"You're pretty observant, Tonks."
"Auror, remember?"
"Right, anyway I must look stupid standing out here talking to thin air. Do you mind removing the cloak?"
"Just a second, Harry."
Harry felt a Notice-Me-Not spell being cast around them and then Tonks removed her cloak.
"Ah, much better Tonks and I must say you're looking quite pretty today."
"These old things?" she said looking down at her combat boots, black jeans, and Weird Sisters t-shirt. She then looked back up quickly at Harry. "Wait! Are you flirting with me? Cause I'm a little old for you."
"No, of course not."
"Well, you didn't have to deny it so emphatically!"
"Sorry, did you want me to flirt with you?" he asked confused.
"Innocent flirting never hurt anyone, Harry. I'm the biggest flirt I know."
"Well, I wasn't flirting with you. I was just stating the obvious. You look pretty. Actually, you always look pretty because you're a pretty girl… er… woman."
"Now, you are definitely flirting with me!" she said with certainty.
"Am not!" he said flustered.
"Alright, let's change the subject."
"Yes, let's."
"Where were you going?"
"Growth spurt, remember? Doesn't matter anyway. I needed new clothes even before the growth spurt. I have a pocket full of cash so I'm headed for some Muggle stores to buy me all new clothes."
"Dumbledore wants you to stay inside the wards, Harry."
"What Dumbledore wants and what Dumbledore gets are two completely different things, Miss Tonks."
"Ouch! What did Dumbledore do to you?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Harry paused for a few seconds. "Why don't you just accompany me to buy all my stuff in Muggle stores? You know, places where Death Eaters are less likely to be, I might add? Besides shopping is new to me and I might need some help. You would be a good person to provide that help. I need everything, including underwear. What do you say?"
Tonks put her arm through his and started walking with him down the sidewalk.
"Harry, you had me at 'hello.'"
As soon as Harry walked them to the area he was familiar with, which was about twenty blocks from his house, and Tonks saw all the shops, she took over.
Tonks dragged him from store to store making sure he got everything he needed. She had asked him on the way there how much he had to spend. When he said he only had two thousand pounds on him, she said she could work with that and that she did. She actually left him with almost a thousand pounds still available.
In one bigger store where they spent more time, a teenage girl who was very pretty and was working in the men's department was helping them with the selections. Tonks sort of slipped into the background as she let the sales girl help Harry. She was bringing him all sorts of clothes to try on and having him model for herself and Tonks so they could see if they worked or not for him. The girls were having lots of fun playing dress up with Harry.
Harry? Not so much.
He was glad when it was all over. As they walked back with all the packages shrunk by Tonks, she insisted that the sales girl was shamelessly flirting with him but he thought she was just trying to make a sale.
"No, Harry. She was definitely flirting with you. She was constantly touching you. I saw her smooth out more wrinkles that didn't exist on your clothes, than I could count."
"She was a very pretty girl. She seemed nice too. She was just using her feminine wiles to cement the sale. That's all there was to it. She used flirting as an art form to make more money. I don't blame her. If you got it, flaunt it."
Tonks laughed. "If that's what she was doing then she had me convinced, especially when she asked you to come out and model the new boxers too. I think you should have asked her out. That would have called her bluff… or yours."
"What would I do if she said yes? Bring her back to my wards?"
"Hmm. Good point. You're too young to date anyway."
"Hey! I'll be sixteen next month! When did you first start dating?"
"None of your business," she mumbled.
"Right. I wonder who I could ask to find out that information?" he pondered out loud.
"You better not!" she warned.
Harry chuckled.
Tonks ended up getting him back into the house, just inside the foyer, where she unshrunk all the packages for him then immediately headed back outside before her replacement showed up. Harry floated all the packages up to his room where Dobby began cleaning them and putting them all up for him.
Harry changed into some new workout shorts and did some exercises to loosen himself up a little after that grueling shopping trip. Meanwhile, he asked Dobby to go get him some store catalogs from the shops in Diagon Alley so he could buy some things.
When Dobby returned Harry immediately picked out several books he wanted from Flourish and Blotts, making a list. They were mostly spell books for defense. He also listed some advanced books on Charms and Transfiguration. There was a book on spell creation in there so he put that on the list with the others. He had other catalogs but for now he just wanted to take advantage of being able to use magic so learning new spells was a good place to start.
Dobby went back with the list and plenty of galleons to spend. When he returned, Harry had enough to study for some time. Dobby then created a space in the middle of the room that Harry could practice his magic in. The rest of the room was protected from any stray spells while Harry practiced. Dobby even conjured a dummy for Harry to practice on.
So Harry went to work and learned many spells, making sure he could cast them correctly against the dummy. However, the spell he used the most was the Reparo Charm so he could fix the dummy for reuse. He noticed a significant increase in power since the ritual was done.
When he finally opened the book on spell creation, he discovered that it was very fascinating to him. It tied back to Magical Theory that was taught in first year. The basics were taught back then on how spells worked before they got into learning specific spells. Spell creation continued in the same vein as Magical Theory with a bit more advanced learning which the new book was supposed to cover. It was titled The Art of Spell Creation.
During all this study time and spell practice, Harry had to take breaks to feed Sib and interact with the cub more as he aged and grew quickly. True to what Harry read in the encyclopedia, Sib opened his eyes around the two week mark and he showed everyone his baby blues. He had already started moving more as he grew older, but once he could see where he was going, there was no stopping him. He refused to stay in his bed.
Sometimes at night, he would wake Harry up because he was being too noisy playing. Siberian tigers liked to hunt at night so it was natural for him to be active then. Harry sent Dobby to Diagon Alley to pick up some toys and a scratching post for Sib at the Magical Menagerie. He also had him buy something large he could climb on with cubby holes he could get into. They had these items made for bigger house cats or kneazles.
The hardest part was getting him potty trained. Luckily Harry and Dobby had magic to clean up his messes, but they stayed persistent with teaching him to use the bathroom where Dobby had created a small alcove and put in a place for him to go. It was a large bowl similar to a toilet but built low and into the floor. Dobby even put a button on the side that could be pushed to flush it. While Sib was being taught to use the special toilet when he needed to go, he was also being taught to flush afterwards.
It was a slow process. That was due to how young he was. Siberian tigers tended to be very intelligent and Sib was no exception. Patience and steady instruction was what was needed. Dobby stayed on alert most of the time to catch him before he went and even Hedwig got in on the action. She would give a warning if she spotted him about to go on the floor.
After another week and more growth from Sib, Harry received an owl from Gringotts. It was the notification for the reading of the will of one Sirius Orion Black. Harry had been happily distracted with Sib and all the things he was able to accomplish with Dobby's help, so the reminder hit him hard.
Sib sensed the change in Harry so went up to him and bothered him until Harry picked him up and played with him some.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you Sib? You could sense my change in mood, couldn't you? Thanks for that. I'm glad we found each other. I know Sirius would want me to be happy and not constantly mourning him like I was doing before I found you. So with that in mind, I'm not going to let it get me down anymore," he said as he scratched the little cub behind the ears. "Will I miss him? Sure. But there's no need to wallow in it."
Harry put Sib back down and watched him scamper off and find some trouble to get into.
"Looks like I'll be going to Gringotts next week for the will reading, Dobby."
"Dobby knows Harry Potter sir misses his godfather very much, but Harry Potter sir has come very far in improving his life since then. Sirius would be proud and Harry Potter sir will handle it just fine."
"You're right, Dobby. I'm in a much better state of mind to handle this now. I'll be fine. Can I get you to take me there when it's time to go?"
"Certainly, Harry Potter sir. Dobby will always be available to help his master."
"I can always count on you, Dobby."