Nestlings

20th of April, 1997.

It was early in the morning. The weekend had caught up with them once more and Harry had taken Tanya with him out to the forest so Qozul could fly around. Tanya wasn't wearing her glamour and her ears kept moving as she listened to the sounds around them.

"Someone is crying," Tanya said after a while.

Harry gave her a strange look. He moved them out of the forest and she pointed towards the trees near Hagrid's hut. They walked over only to find Hagrid standing next to the big body of a hairy spider.

"What has happened, Hagrid?" Harry said. He looked the giant of a man over. There were scratches on Hagrid's arms. It looked like the other spiders might not have taken well to him this time.

Hagrid turned around and sniffled loudly. "'Lo 'Arry," he said. "Aragog is dead," he said. "Mosag sent the spiderlings after me when I tried to… when I removed his body," he blew his nose and started crying again.

Harry nodded slowly. "That is a shame Hagrid," he said. "Do you want to hold a funeral?" he asked.

"You are such a fine young man, Harry," Hagrid said. "You will come, will you not?"

"Of course," Harry said. "Shall we say by sunset? The light is pretty then."

Hagrid nodded and blew his nose again. Then he looked back at Aragog and started crying again.

"We'll see you this evening," Harry said loudly before walking away with Tanya.

"It is nice of you to attend even though I guess you didn't like the spider much," Tanya said.

"He tried to eat me and Ron in our second year," Harry said. "I'm doing it for Hagrid, not his spider."

Tanya smiled and activated her glamour again before they entered the castle. She was glad that she didn't have to bury a spider that evening. Though, she doubted Harry would be going alone. She sat down next to Natalie while Harry kept going until he reached Hermione. "Aragog is dead," he said as he sat down.

"The giant spider in the forest. The one that Hagrid got expelled over?" Hermione said.

"That very one," Harry said.

Hermione rubbed her eyes. "That isn't good," she said.

"The spiders attacked Hagrid as he carried Aragog's body out of there," Harry said. "I'm thinking that maybe some people from the Creature Division should deal with it before it gets out of hand."

Hermione gave him a disgusted look. She didn't like the creature division considering their behaviour towards Buckbeak three years earlier. She could see the wisdom in getting rid of a nest of thousands of class five dangerous creatures but wished they could turn to someone else. "Hagrid won't like it," she said.

"I wasn't considering asking him," Harry said darkly. "The spiders aren't supposed to live in that forest. They are an invasive species and they should be eradicated or moved, whichever we now can manage."

Hermione nodded slowly. She knew Harry would do what he thought was best no matter what she said and to be honest she would feel better if the forest wasn't full of deadly spiders the size of houses.

"Hagrid wants to hold a funeral," Harry said.

Hermione almost groaned. She knew where this was heading. "And I'm guessing you want me to come with you," she said.

"I'm going for Hagrid's sake. I don't care about the spider Hermione," Harry said.

Hermione nodded slowly. She knew what he meant. She guessed they didn't have much of a choice. Neville walked over whistling happily. In his hand, he held a letter from his mother. He saw the look on Hermione's face and knew that something bad was going on. "What's up?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and explained the situation to him. Neville grimaced at Harry. "Do we have to?" he asked.

"No, but it is the right thing to do," Harry said.

"I guess," Neville said.

And that was how the three of them ended up going down to the grounds that evening just before sunset so that they could support Hagrid as he buried his oldest friend. The three of them slipped away when Hagrid got drunk enough to fall asleep. It had been awkward to say nice things about something as dangerous as Aragog, but at least Hagrid had seemed happy they were there.

26th of April, 1997.

Moody watched as the young men and women of the creature division argued with each other. When Harry had brought the dangers of an acromantula nest in the forbidden forest to his attention he had brought that information to the head of the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures. The idea of a nest of dangerous spiders lurking so near their children had sent several people into hysteria and no one was able to actually aid them.

Ray gave his uncle a disappointed glance. "I think the goblins would do a better job," he said.

Moody nodded. "Law is clear. They don't belong here," he said. "Give me a moment, and I'll get you permission."

Ray watched as Moody headed into the chaos. One would have thought that the people who worked with creatures and beings could keep their heads on their shoulders but apparently, they were just as likely to cluck as anyone else in the ministry.

Moody handed Ray a thick document half an hour later. "Read through that before you agree to anything," he said gruffly.

"Will do," Ray said. He headed back to the atrium and apparated home.

The scroll Moody had given him was nothing strange. It called for bounty hunters to deal with the nest. The only caveat was that they demanded human participants so Ray couldn't bring goblins along. That wouldn't stop him from having his clan profit. He knew that Clan Alfknif could gain a lot from the ingredients they could gather from the spiders and nowhere did it say that he couldn't bring harvesters with him. As long as they didn't demand payment for any kills it would be fine.

Raiden signed up as the leader of the expedition. Then he headed off to Gringotts. He needed people who wouldn't get themselves killed. The goblins would be able to point him in the right direction even if he couldn't bring their warriors along.

Dumac looked the contract over and sighed. "This would be easier if wizards weren't so phobic against other races," he said.

"I agree, but now this is what I have so I'll have to work with it," Ray said. "Though I would like some of our harvesters with us. The ingredients from the spiders can sell for quite a lot and aren't covered by the contract at all."

Dumac chuckled. "I'll have a talk with Master Ysera. She'll know who to send," he said. "For the people, I'll have to listen around. I'm assuming you want this dealt with today?" he asked.

"Preferably, yes," Ray said.

"Then I'll send some feelers out. We deal with hit wizards sometimes that might think this is an alright contract if we add on some of the profits from the harvest," Dumac said. "The ministry reward won't be enough for them, but I don't want to send you to people who don't know how to deal with this level of dangerous creature."

…

Two and a half hours later Raiden Moody was sitting in a room with five rough-looking hunters and two harvesters. He had mapped the nest they were heading to for them.

"Do you know how to kill one of these?" a dark-haired man named Lowell asked.

"I have killed giant spiders before," Raiden said. "Acromantulas can't be that different."

"Do me a favour kid an' don' get killed," Raven said. He leaned back in his chair and his messy hair covered his eyes.

Raiden rolled his eyes. "So the goblins are offering an additional reward of three per cent of the profit they make of the ingredients that our two harvesters bring in. This does mean that we can't just burn the spiders down since that would render the parts unusable," he said.

"Fine, fine now let's get going," Mordio said as she slammed her book shut and started heading towards the door. Raiden shrugged and sighed before following her out. He guessed they would have to do their best since no one seemed to want to listen to him. He held out the portkey that would take them to a clearing not all that far away from the nest.

Raiden let the hit team move ahead of him. "How much venom would you like?" he asked the harvesters. He was glad they had warded the area off beforehand. No spider was escaping this though they were capturing a few and sending them back to Borneo.

"A few gallons wouldn't hurt," Albin said gruffly. He watched as Raiden disappeared beyond the treeline for a moment before coming back followed by five large spiders. "I'll keep them calm," he said. He waited for the harvesters to do their job and then he killed the spiders with a single spell.

As the Hit-wizards did the hunting, Raiden made sure the harvesters got everything they wanted. Three hours after they had arrived the harvesters headed out. They could have kept going but they didn't want to flood the market and the ingredients didn't keep forever even with preservation charms.

Once the goblins had left, Raiden headed out. "Las Yah Niir," he whispered as he moved. He killed anything even remotely similar to a spider as he moved closer and closer to the nest. He summoned an ice spear and weaved through the trees. He had heard a scream and it worried him. Had one of the hit-wizards gotten hurt? He reached the centre of the nest and threw the spear. It hit the mother spider between the rows of her many eyes. Raiden kept moving and drew lighting from the latent energy around the clearing. He fried spiders as he moved up to Judith. Her blue hair was sprawled over the fallen leaves covering the ground. She hissed angrily as he helped her up. "Damn eight-legged pieces of durian pulp," Judith swore as Ray pulled her up on her feet. His hands glowed and her wounds closed.

"Thank you," Judith said. "Damn thing caught me by surprise."

"No problem," Ray said. He looked around most of the spiders that still lived were hiding now. He wasn't going to let them make it out of this though. They all had to go. This was not nesting grounds for their kind and never should have been.

"What in the name of galloping hippogriffs are those morons doing?" Judith exclaimed.

Ray turned around and looked up. Smoke was rising from the forest. Had they set fire to it? He had to reach the wards so it wouldn't spread. Judith was right behind him as he ran. He slammed a hand into the wards as they reached them. "Iiz Aak Toor Krah Kron," he shouted. The wards solidified into a dome of ice around them. Ray felt how the fire licked the ice barrier. He was glad that he had gotten it up when he did. Now they just had to get out. He grabbed Judith's hand and pushed her through the barrier.

Lowell came running around the barrier moments later. "Thank the moon you are safe," he said as he reached Judith. "Rita got caught by surprise and her response was explosive. We couldn't contain it."

"At least everyone is safe though, right?" Ray asked.

"Yes, everyone else is outside the barrier too," Lowell said.

"Then it might as well burn," Ray said. He placed his hands against the barrier. "Yol Toor Govey Laas," he shouted. Inside the ice barrier, the fire picked up and sought out anything still alive. As the fire died out Ray sank down to his knees. He was breathing heavily and sweat poured down his face.

The barrier fell to reveal the barren landscape beyond it. The trees, the bushes, everything was gone. Only ashes remained. A breeze picked up and the ashes danced around.

"Well, that's another job perfectly executed," Raven said and grinned brightly.

"If you could call it that," Rita said.

"This wasn't quite the result we had promised," Flynn said.

Raiden rose from the ground stiffly. "No, but it was expected and has been accounted for," he said. "A portion of the income from the harvest will be sent to Hogwarts so they may introduce new life to this area," he said.

"As long as they don't find some more lethal spiders right," Judith said jokingly.

"As long as," Ray said.

28th of April, 1997.

Hermione sat down next to Harry while giving him a concerned look. The past two days he had been more quiet than normal and he kept trying to hide yawns. She had tried to ask him what was wrong, but he just told her not to worry.

Truth be told Harry was exhausted. He had used far too much of his magical reserves in a short amount of time. He was fine all things considered just tired. He would be back to normal in a few days as long as he ate and slept properly, and he didn't need someone else to tell him that. Hermione's concern for him was heart-warming but slightly annoying. He knew he had messed up. He should have been more careful. Harry yawned again and got up. He might as well try to get some more sleep.

14th of May, 1997.

It had been raining most of the day. Droplets still clung to the window of a faintly lit study. Inside, hidden from the bad weather, stood Lucius Malfoy. In his hand, he was clutching a letter from his son. Most of Draco's letter was what one might expect from a sixteen-year-old boy who cared too much about his image. He had lost against Harry Potter again. Considering how Potter flew, Lucius wasn't surprised.

There was a knock on the door and Lucius turned away from the window while tapping his fingers against the letter. Kato looked like he had been in the middle of something when Lucius' message reached him. "Good evening," Lucius said.

"Good evening Lord Malfoy," Kato responded. "You wished to see me?"

Lucius nodded slowly. "I received a letter from my son," he said. "Where he says that Heracles delivered a letter to one Harry Potter. Presumably, this letter came from you, but you were not here to deliver a letter on that date, however, I sent one to you with Heracles who also carried a letter for my son at the time," he said.

"And your conclusion is?" Kato asked calmly. He had honestly expected Lucius to figure things out eventually. If he had wanted to truly stay hidden, he would have been more careful.

"Either Mr Potter is lying though I find it strange that Heracles would seek him out, or you have not been entirely truthful with me, Mr Peverell," Lucius said.

"I have been mostly truthful," Kato said.

Lucius' eyes narrowed slightly. "What I cannot figure out is, how. How come you appear older than your years? How do you know magic that you couldn't possibly have had time to learn?" he said.

Kato chuckled. "You assume that the Harry you see at Hogwarts is the real one," he said. He reached up and removed his glamour earrings. His hair bleed over to black and his eyes turned green. "This is me with no glamours," he said. "I'm Harry James Kato Potter Peverell. That is my full legal name. I split it for convenience's sake between the adult and the teenage roles I play. Eventually, it will not be so, but for now, that is safer for everyone involved."

"How?" Lucius asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Harry asked. He watched Lucius as the older man considered his options. At this point, Lucius could choose to wash his hands off Kato. It would be sad, but Harry wouldn't fault him.

"I want to know," Lucius said finally. He had put a lot of faith in Kato. He wanted to trust Kato with something very important to him. Knowing that Kato was also Harry didn't necessarily change that. Unless Kato had been lying to him this entire time just to try to get something. But then why would he have made such clumsy mistakes and revealed himself like this?

Harry held his hand out and Lucius took it. He stumbled slightly as he was pulled into Harry's memories. He was standing in a clearing with trees all around him. With him were four dragons. If he wasn't mistaken these were the dragons that the tournament champions had tried to steal a golden egg from.

He stood there watching for what felt like forever until finally Harry appeared. He looked as Lucius remembered him that year. A right mess with that black mop of hair and the thick round glasses.

Then one of the dragons spoke.

"Let me take you on a trip to Skyrim," Harry said as he walked up behind Lucius. "Let me show you a world of wonder where those with magic don't need to hide, but everything is out to get you."

…

Lucius' head was spinning as he returned to his own body. Harry had been through so much. The people around him were terrifying. He had been raised by people who would be considered criminals on Earth yet they had been the good guys… or something along those lines. He now understood better why Harry had continued to accept his invitations despite them not being on the friendliest of terms before. Chances were that Harry saw him as similar to the Khajiit. Not a good person but not a bad person either.

The one thing Lucius knew for certain after seeing Harry's memories was that he was making the right choice. There was no way that the Dark Lord would see this young man coming and Harry would deal with things if he had to. It made the question he had wanted to ask originally easier to ask. "Will you take on Draco as your apprentice?" he asked.

"You wish for me to teach him what I can do?" Harry asked. "The magic I know is dangerous and volatile. Draco hasn't proven himself to be responsible enough to handle that."

Lucius nodded slowly. He had been worried Harry would say that. Harry and Draco did not get along all that well after all. "The Dark Lord is calling our children into service," he said softly. "If I could get Draco a Master who would not be happy having a marked apprentice…" he trailed off.

"You want me to protect your son?" Harry said. He sighed. He couldn't ask what he was asking from Lucius without giving something in return. Could he teach Draco? Probably. "You'll have to be unspecific about what I will teach him, but you can tell the Dark Lord that I will teach him Dragon Tongue," he said. "The rest is up to Draco. He has to prove that he can use the magic right. I already know that you can learn so he will be able to as well."

Lucius let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Having just confirmed that Kato Peverell and Harry Potter were the same person, he had been worried that Kato would no longer accept his proposal. He had to put Draco's safety first.

"I assume that the Dark Lord will have to agree to this," Harry said. He put his glamour earrings back in and met Lucius' grey eyes with his own amber ones.

Lucius confirmed Harry's assumption and sat down. "I will have to write the contract to appease him," he said.

"Leave the time open-ended," Kato said. "Something along the lines of until the Master finds his progress appropriate for self-study or some other such nonsense."

"If I make it seem that you follow the old ways will that bother you?" Lucius asked.

"Depends on what that means?" Kato said.

"It was common enough for Masters to enjoy the youth of their apprentices as they saw fit," Lucius said. "I can write the contract so that it seems you would be the same. You, of course, do not need to act upon it at all."

"Why do you want to add that?" Kato asked.

"Because it will give the Dark Lord a feeling of superiority if he thinks I missed it or he will feel as if you'll owe him as he essentially has to approve it."

"It will make him feel good about himself meaning that he'll be more likely to agree to this," Kato said. He shrugged. "But Draco has to read and approve the contract himself," he said.

Lucius smirked. He was pretty certain he could write it in such a way that Draco wouldn't realise what was going on. It wouldn't matter anyway since Kato would never use Draco in such a way.

It took Lucius the better part of an hour to write together a contract that they were both happy with and then Kato copied it so it would be written in his handwriting instead. They couldn't let the Dark Lord know they had colluded the whole thing.

"Let me know how this goes," Kato said as he rose to leave.

"I will," Lucius said. He considered a question he still had and before Kato left he asked, "If I hadn't accepted the truth what would you have done?"

"Sealed the knowledge so you wouldn't have been able to spread it," Kato said. "You figured it out. Nothing says you couldn't have done it again."

Lucius nodded slowly. At least now he knew. He was glad to be on Kato's side. The Dark Lord was terrifying. Kato was dangerous on a whole other level.

Kato apparated home to Ennerdale as he left Malfoy Manor. "You really know how to make a complete mess of things don't you Harry," he said. "Rashall-dar would be disappointed." He sighed. At least Naya and Rhavaniel would have been proud of how he handled it. He headed upstairs to check in on Alice and Frank. He might as well since he was there already.

24th of May, 1997.

Almost a week had passed since Harry's last meeting with Lucius. Hermione had chewed him out for being reckless in revealing things to a man like Lucius. She hadn't lived with Rashall though and couldn't quite understand why Harry was willing to trust Lucius as much as he did. They had been working on how to dismantle the dark mark when the owl from Lucius had appeared asking for Kato's presence the following day. Hermione wasn't sure about Harry's decision to teach Draco. He was glad she didn't know exactly how the contract was written. She would flip.

"Be careful now," Hermione said as Harry headed out.

"Will do," Harry said. "Though I doubt Lady Narcissa will poison the tea."

Hermione huffed and sank back into her armchair. Sometimes she really hated her brother's relaxed attitude.

Kato Peverell, Master of the Mind etc. walked into Malfoy Manor like he owned the place. He wore a Skyrim-inspired robe that ended at his knees. Qozul sat on his shoulder fully visible for once. Lucius had warned him that the Dark Lord might be lurking so this was purely a business meeting. He was glad that Lucius had passed along the warning though or he wouldn't have dressed up quite this much just to make sure that the contract was signed. Then again this was probably a better first impression for Draco as well.

Kato took Narcissa's hand as he entered the drawing room. He kissed her knuckles. "Lovely as ever my Lady," he said.

Narcissa smiled. "Why thank you, my dear," she said.

Kato bowed to Lucius. "I hope business is going well, Lord Malfoy," he said.

"Quite well," Lucius said.

Kato turned to the two last people in the room. "Potion Master I hope things are going well," he said. "We need to meet up and discuss the Lycanthrope Cure at some point soon."

Severus nodded slowly. He had expected Kato yet he wasn't quite ready for this professional behaviour. "Certainly," he said.

At least Kato's amber gaze landed on Draco. "And this must be young Draco," he said.

"Draco, this is Master Kato Peverell," Lucius said. "He has agreed to take you under his wings and teach you how to communicate with dragons among other things."

"I expected you to be older Master Peverell," Draco said.

Kato chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure many people do," he said. "My merit list is rather long after all."

Draco stood up. He was almost a hand taller than Kato yet somehow he seemed smaller next to him. Kato's held an aura that commanded respect. Draco wasn't looking at Kato though. He was studying Qozul, who was quite pleased with the attention. "Is this a dragon?" Draco asked.

"He is a Crystalback. Currently the only known one alive," Kato said. "As I can speak with him I have the authorisation to keep him."

Draco seemed fascinated with the small dragon. "And you would teach me how to speak with him?" he said.

"Among other things," Kato said.

Draco turned to his father with a determined look on his face. "I would like to become Master Peverell's apprentice, father," he said.

Lucius pushed the contract forward. "Master Peverell requested that you sign this yourself," he said.

Draco wanted to run up to his father and snatch the quill from him, but he refrained from doing so knowing that his parents certainly wouldn't approve. Instead, he walked over to Lucius and read through the contract. If he hadn't known Master Peverell had written this he would have assumed his father had. It was so full of complicated terms that he had a hard time following. He didn't care though. If he could learn how to speak to dragons he would. Draco signed with a flourish.

"I will pick you up at the station when the summer holidays start," Kato said. "Until then I have a lot of things to do. If you would excuse me, Lord Malfoy. Lady Narcissa. I will see you soon." He took farewell to the other two as well before heading out of the manor. He hoped that Lucius now had what he needed to deal with the Dark Lord.

"Don't you look dashing," Alice said as Kato came walking towards the house.

"I needed to look presentable today," Kato said while shrugging. "I signed on an apprentice."

Alice gave him a concerned look. "You are taking on too many responsibilities, dear," she said.

"This one won't really affect me that much until I have finished my studies. My apprentice attends the same year as me so I'll tug him around this summer and then not care too much during the school year."

Alice smiled softly at him. At least he was trying not to overload himself. "Frank is much better," she said. "He was a little tired so he is taking a nap now, but we walked around the garden earlier."

"That is great," Kato said.

"We're both very grateful you let us stay here," Alice said.

Kato smiled. "No worries Alice. The house just stands empty. Winky is glad to have guests. I spoke to our warders and they are starting work on Longbottom Villa next week, but they don't have that many warders to spare so it will take a while to finish. Someone should be coming over in a day or two to have a talk with Frank as he is the Head of House. It's mostly formalities since I have already taken the order."

Alice smiled. "You work so hard. Do you ever get to relax?" she asked.

"I promise to work in some downtime this summer," Kato said. He smiled at Alice. "Would you take a walk with me?" He offered her his arm. At least he could slow down for a bit and walk with her.