"Human speak"
'private thought'
{Cat speech}
$parseltongue$
¥Bird speech¥
£ Wolf/dog speech£
After being shown his room, Potter raised an eyebrow at his Uncle. Mooney made a hand sign saying he needed to debrief with 'Deathbreath' and for Silvereye to get his rest. As Harry closed the door, he turned to see a small humanoid bouncing on the foot of his bed.
"Great Wizard Harry Potter!"
"I am no Wizard." Harry spat. "Wizards are entitled assholes who believe that their birth and magic means that they never have to work a day in their lives."
"The Great Harry Potter knows many wizards." The little … thing nodded his head knowingly.
"First, I am a Hunter. I have tracked, killed, skinned and butchered everything that the common folk were afraid of." He sat on the bed beside the little guy. "But I have never seen anything quite like you."
"Oh, Dobby is a House Elf. We serve a Wizard House in exchange for magic and protection." The bat ears flapped as his head nodded.
"The closest I have seen to you are Homunculi. A homunculus is a crafted familiar." Harry reached out to touch the Elf, but stopped just short so that contact would be Dobby's choice. Dobby ducked his head under Harry's palm and began to rub against it. "Most in Ravnica only have the one eye."
"So Dobby, you said you serve a Wizard's House?"
"Dobby serves House Black, as Miss Cissi asked for Master Doggy to break the Contract. Bad Master Malfoy had violated several key clauses." Dobby looked up from rubbing against Harry's hand. "With Great Hunter Harry Potter being named Son and Heir to Master Doggy, Dobby now serves the Great Hunter Harry Potter!" He would have bounced in joy if he was not in the palm of his master's hand.
"And what are the duties of a House Elf?" Harry stood and unbuckled his belt, before working his boots off.
Dobby almost sqee'd in glee."Houses clean, cook, and mend. We do things Wizards don't want to or can't do."
Harry stripped naked and went to hand the things to Dobby, but the elf backed away. "What?"
"Giving clothes dismisses Elves. If you wanting Dobby to clean yous leathers, just drop them."
"Seems a little rude, but it is your culture." Harry dropped them. "Do not soak them. Wipe with wet cloth, air dry, and oil, olive or mineral works best. Drape over the chair when done. He padded into the ensuite. He silently thanked Nylea for the time he spent in Ravnica, and learned about showers. Some experimentation later found a wet, but happy Harry in Cat form, a wet cat, exiting the bathroom and climbing onto the bed where he made himself comfortable and began his grooming ritual. Then he curled in a ball and allowed sleep to claim him.
HATM
Remus exited the shower, toweling his head dry and wrapping a terry cloth robe about him.
"Hey Padfoot." The clean shaven werewolf took the tumbler of fire whiskey and slammed the finger of amber liquid, and exhaled a flame tongue that washed over the ceiling. Holding the glass out for Sirius to refill to the three finger mark, he sat in the chair opposite his long time friend. "Saw your trial in the Prophet, and knew that they were coming after us. Packed everything I cold into a charmed pack, bundled the cub in my coat, and ran. I knew a friend of a friend that could get me out. Get me where Albus would never find us."
He sipped his drink. "Do you know what a planeswalker is?" Sirius shook his head no. "Let's just say that I went where Albus could not follow. Found a village out in the back water. They had a werewolf problem. I told them up front that I was a wolf too. In Exchange for watching my cub during the night of the full moon, I would heal non wolf related wounds, and help wolf proof the village. They gave me a hut outside the gates, and on the nights of the full moon, a woman would take Harry in." He smiled at the Animagus, "They worked me like a dog. And then when Harry was old enough, they worked him too. They were never abusive and everything they had me do they did too. When Harry began to show his magic, I taught him basic charms. Light, clean, fetch. Things like that. At about four, he started trying to join me on moon nights."
"Oh shit!"
"Yeah. So I started him on the skills you and Prongs mastered. Instead of the potion shortcut, I first had him learn Occlumency. Then I taught him to look within. He found the forms but could not get a lock on them. One night after working in the fields and dinner, holding hands, I tried to guide him through a cross of meditation and letiganacy. He tripped over something and we were no longer in Kissig. We landed in the courtyard of a Hunters fort. Right in front of a Garrison Cat. Harry locked eyes with the Queen, and suddenly was a kitten. While we were there, we learned about hunting things that would make Hagrid dance in rapture. Harry spent three months as a cat before he returned to human form.
"While there, we learned about Hunting, skinning and butchering. We hunted things that Moony was scared of at first. With the Cub at our side and knowledge of how humans hunt the beasts, Moony grew stronger, faster, bigger. And Harry learned a few spells there that I couldn't begin to understand.
"Always Harry would complain that his shape was incomplete. We learned that he was a Walker as well and could learn to take others with him. But he could only go where he had been before or was following a beacon. We tripped over another Walker and they took us to a Realm where the Gods walked among the People, and every third person was training to be a hero. Harry found religion there. And maybe his first love. Nylea Goddess of the Hunt.
"Harry grew so skilled that he gained the notice of more than Nylea… and one just to spite her, jumped us to Ravnica. Imagine a City so large, it covers the whole planet. And you have Ravnica. While there, I enlisted the aid of House Boros to teach him to fight and House Selesnya taught us Herbology and allowed us to run and hunt in their woods.
"It was there that we learned that this plane is not to be traveled to because of a curse on the place. Not that we could not travel here, we just needed to know the place, and House Dimar purged all Planeswalkers or ripped the knowledge from the minds of those they left alive. Death was quicker and preferred.
"While we were there, Harry learned his second form. A Hawk. One of the Houses used them like we use Owls, and Harry in Hawk form learned how to hunt from the air. He got quite good at stealing scrolls from the other Hawks. Then they got good at avoiding him.
"We returned to Kissig just in time for a war to break out. I joined a Werewolf Planeswalker by the name of Cord. And learned how Moony was not just another side of myself, but a reflection of my true self. And I needed to fully embrace him and the lifestyle. About that time, the church caught up to us, and purged both of us of our taint. I have a brand over my heart and the curse was purged from my flesh. Harry's is in his head. That funny mark over his scar. The Priest who was running the whole thing went zealot on the basis that only he could purge the unclean, but when he went for the local witch, the village threw him out the gates, just as the moon was rising."
Lupin snorted, "He was running for the next village crying for help and preaching the whole way. The Pack caught him just outside the gates… thirty metres outs. What ripped his throat out was a gryphon. He reared up before the gates spread his wings and screamed. Turned and trotted back home. When a villager on a horse arrived the next morning, everyone told him about why he was hunted down."
Kord got wrapped up in a hunt for the Moonsilver Key. And as members of her pack, we followed her into the Vampire Houses. I won't go into the details, because I don't know them all and the one time I asked he went full Alpha on me. And MSelesnyaoony went belly up faster than you on Marlean."
The old dog laughed as he remembered the witch that had him chasing his own tail more often than not. And as always, he was saddened when he remembered the loss of Her and her whole House.
"That was when his eyes got that silver ring. When he gets angry they flare green, like a green flame. When he is hunting… they burn silver, liquid silver, it is scary when he turns that gaze on you."
"All that in only thirteen years."
"Pretty much." Lupin shook his head, "Time flows slightly differently out there. He might be slightly older or slightly younger."
"Has he shown any interest in girls?"
"Often he would hunt mice or rats, and bring me the dead. Then allow the girls of the village to groom him."
"Bring you the dead?"
"Yeah. He skins them, and makes a stew from the meat. I don't know what he does with the furs, but the stew is delectable, the meat so tender… oh Merlin! He left the Horned rabbit head stew on the fire!"
HATM
Three girls sat in the dorm apartment of two of them. Daphne and Tracy were hosting Pansy.
"So… that's Potter." Tracy coyly smirked at Daphne.
"No." The prim princess smirked back. "That is Heir Black."
"Draco is Heir Black." Pansy argued.
"Draco is Lord Black's female cousin's son." Daphne Stonefaced Pansy. "Potter is Lord Black's Godson, blood sworn, and Chosen Heir. And Thanks to Lucius Malfoy, I am contracted to Potter. The only way Draco is inheriting Black is if he can kill both Lord Black and Heir Potter."
Tracy snickered. "He can't even beat Longbottom in a fair fight. What makes you think He can take an Auror and whatever Potter is?"
"The Wizengamot…" Pansy started to say.
Tracy shook her head. "Black has more money then Malfoy, before he stripped House Lastrange to the bone and reclaimed half of House Malfoy's total worth." She smirked,"Potter will need a wife for both Houses, unless he is combining them. Besides his genes are good, other than weak eyes, there is nothing wrong in five generations of the Potter bloodline."
Pansy frowned, looking at Daphne. "You are contracted under a line continuation, correct?"
"To Black." Daphne nodded."Luscious blood sealed it so only the Heir of Black or his Regent could alter the terms, and then tried to squeeze Father for a bigger piece of the family business and right then. That's when Father found out that Malfoy was not the Heir."
"And to be fair, Draco has all but publicly declared that the contract between you two is null and void." Tracy poked a sore spot on the darker Burnett. "Tomorrow, join us in welcoming Potter to Hogwarts, Publicly."
"How publicly?" Pansy asked.
"I was thinking, everything but tongue, in the Great Hall. Of Course Weasley will throw a fit. But Longbottom will know that we are just sampling the wares. Malfoy will have a fit, but if you talk to Black on a House Matter. Black, not Potter." Tracy licked her lips. "You are an only child, and you need a continuation contract if Malfoy has turned you away…"
" For a halfbood, you play dirty." Pansy smiled at the girl. Then she frowned. "What about Granger?"
"Include her." Tracy smiled, "What she doesn't know about Pureblood cultural norms is staggering. She tried to go on a hunger strike for the elves. Her moral code is too muggle, but offer to teach her as we train Potter…"
"Train?"
"Train." Daphne smirked. "We will only share him with those who raise his interest or are already contracted to him, before Samhain of 1980. He will need to know that his witches know what is best for him."
"And that is my cue." Pansy stood. "Milly will need the option of joining, unless she has a better option of her own." She left the room, and Daphne engaged the wards.
The two witches were quick to change into their sleep wear and tuck in, They had a male to hunt in the morning.
HATM
Severus Snape had his arm in a sling as he was to avoid moving it as much as possible. And it hurt. He had refused the pain potion as he was planning to get drunk that night.
"This good news, my boy." Albus was almost gleeful over the prospect of having Potter under his thumb. "Now I just have to remove him from Sirius' grip. Can't send him Azkaban, this time. Maybe I can do something about him handing the boy."
Snape saw that the old wizard was not going to be any good or comfort, so he just went to his quarters and opened a bottle of Vodka that Igor had brought him.
HATM
Longbottom was writing a letter to his parents.
Hello Mother.
Hello Father.
I am at Hogwarts
Weasley is trying to
Kill us with his farts
Reporting some news
Potter returned
Wearing Leather trews
Headmaster plotting
Black is happy now
Tension is mounting
Trevor is Healthy
Witches will know
That Harry's Wealthy
Ladies and Tarts
Best come see them
Here in Hogwarts
Black has him in hand
He's wild as can be
He must join the Band
Alpha of the Pack
Only the Stupid
Target and Attack
To Avoid a Mess
Your presence here
To Look and Access
He used caps and a measured verse to convey more than just the mere words. He did not sign it, as that too was a code
He smiled at the words as he had overheard Hermione singing to herself in the stacks of the library. When he had asked her to share the full song, he laughed at the song, and had asked her to get him the records of muggle music, both that she liked, and a sampling of what was in play. He kept his player and his record collection in Greenhouse three, where the plants protected the player and collection. He had charmed the player impervious to ward off water, and the Venomous Tecla even learned to wind the crank and move the needle to the start of the record.
Camp Granada was his favorite to hide things in. Uncle Moody had taught their third year, and had ten years to imprint a degree of paranoia on the boy. Where the old Auror used charmed bins and hoses, Neville used his Gift with the Green.
He rolled the letter around a scroll rod that was cursed to 'bite' anyone not of his blood who tried to unroll it, and handed it to the owl perched over his desk. He then stood and let the lesser horned owl out the window.
"Just had to tell your Parents about our new guest?"
He smiled as he closed the window and turned to his friend from first year.
"Hermione, I know you know not to ask about House Business."
"I will take that as a yes." She scratched the ears of the orange ogre cat crossbreed in her lap. "Besides, I only asked if you wrote them about your Godbrother. Not what was in the letter. You are almost as paranoid as Moody." She began to purr, and only because she was out of rhythm with Crookshanks did he know it was her.
"Are you going to pursue him?" Neville grinned at her, only because he had his eye on Abbot in Hufflepuff, did he not have an interest in her. Besides ever since that first train ride in 91, she was his sister in all but blood. He had even busted Ron's nose and stormed off on her heels. He was knocking on the Loo door when McGonagall found him, and asked him about why he had punched the git. He told her to see to Hermione first, then he would answer for punching the loudmouthed git.
"Maybe to find out where he went thirteen years ago, and what magic he learned out there." She answered as she stroked the beast from ear to tail. "I will admit that he filled his leathers very well."
"That he did. For a minute I had to decide if I was jealous or in lust." He shrugged, "If I am honest, I don't know how I would swing if he expressed an interest in me that way."
"He will need to watch where he steps, as both Weaslette and Vane look to be practicing tripping him and beating him to the Floor." Hermione smiled.
"Greengrass and Davis looked to be looking to tag teaming him, though will trip and who will catch I have no idea." Neville stepped over and kissed the crown of her head, as he made his way to bed.
HATM
[ Translated from French]
In the Carriage Cottage, the Beauxbatons Champion was combing her hair as she conversed with her one friend. Another 'part' Veela.
"Did you see that Barbarian in the leathers?" The redhead asked. "The Goblet spit his name out as the old fool started to turn away, and a column of fire exploded up to the rafters. Then the two fell to the floor, grappling like your mother's tennis pros trying to decide who goes first."
"He moved like a hunting cat." Fleur set the comb down and started braiding her platinum locks. "While you might enjoy a shag by any Tom with a Hairy Dick."
"Well this Tom with a Dick is named Harry." The dyed redhead smirked.
Fleur threw her comb at the witch.
TBC