Harry Potter and the Metamorphmagus
Dudley Dursley was a great friend. He gave Piers a feeling of superiority that he normally wouldn't have. Being skinny and having a pointy nose and enough of an overbite for people to mutter about behind his back, he knew he'd normally be the kid at school who'd get bullied. Judging from the photos he'd seen of his parents when they were younger, he'd probably be quite spotty in middle school as well. But, because of how good a friend Dudley was, not to mention his rather large cruel streak, he was able to fit in with the other boys in Dudley's gang, despite not being as large as them.
The reason he was thinking about how much he appreciated Dudley's friendship, not that he'd ever admit to it on account of that being girly, was the permanent reminder that he was on top of the food chain at St. Grogory's: Dudley's cousin, Harry Potter. Piers didn't know why Dudley didn't like his cousin and didn't particularly care. Dudley didn't like him, so Piers didn't like him. Being quite a bit slimmer than the other boys, it was usually Piers' job to chase down Harry whenever they decided to go Harry hunting. He'd almost managed to catch up to him, but the other boy was a sneaky little bugger who managed to get away far too often for the gangs liking. They were usually able to catch him thanks to Piers or by fortune of cornering him before he had the chance to run, but whenever Harry did get away, Piers would find another easier target for them to beat up.
Harry turned and began to run for a tall fence at the edge of the park on Magnolia Road, one that he'd managed to escape over before. Piers knew he had to stop him from getting to it because he'd never been able to climb it. He wasn't sure how Harry could and he couldn't, given that Piers was quite a bit taller than him despite being the same age. He knew his legs would be killing him later on, but put on a burst of speed to catch up and aimed a vicious kick to the back of Harry's knee. The smaller boy went down like a sack of bricks. He could hear the others panting as the caught up, so quickly dove on Harry to stop him from wriggling away.
"I caught him, Dudley!" Dudley was too winded to reply, but shot him back a quick thumbs up before continuing to catch his breath. Malcom asked if he should start wailing on Harry. Dudley nodded his head to him as he was still out of breath and Malcolm was the strongest out of them anyway. His dad had tried to become a professional bodybuilder when he was younger, but tore a muscle and had decided to get his son into working out just after his sixth birthday. After two years of that, Malcolm was quite athletic, though didn't have a lot of speed when it came to running.
A swift punch to the face broke Harry's glasses and also let them know they had an audience when the heard someone shouting for them to leave Harry alone. They turned and saw a young girl with red hair storming towards them. Malcolm froze and looked to Dudley for directions. The gang did pick on girls from time to time, but Malcolm's dad had raised him to not hit girls, so he never had. His indecision cost him as the girl didn't seem content to just shout at them and kicked him directly in the crotch, causing him to collapse.
Piers had not been taught to avoid hitting girls, so he released Harry and threw a punch at the girls face. He wasn't that strong, but it was still enough to knock the girl to the ground, though it may have been more from the shock of being punched than his actual strength. "Leave her alone!" Piers started to turn around to insult Harry for speaking back to them, when he was hit by what felt like a truck. He heard the girl, who was getting back to her feet, tell Harry to follow her. All he could do was lie on the ground next to the other boys, who seemed to have been hit by the same truck as he was. All Piers knew was that there was no way any of them would be telling their parents that they got beaten up by a little girl and the pathetic, scrawny boy that was Harry Potter.
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"Are you ok?" Harry looked through the broken lens of his glasses at the strange girl who'd helped him. She had ginger hair going down slightly passed her shoulders and a slightly heart shaped face. Whilst his glasses had been broken and on the floor when she'd been helping him, the blur of colour that he'd guessed was her hair had seemed like a brighter red than it currently was, though he assumed that was due to his poor eyesight. Her lip was also bleeding from where Piers had punched her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But what about you?" The strange girl shrugged it off and gave the same answer as Harry had. "You're not fine. Your lip's bleeding! Plus, Dudley and his friends will want revenge for you standing up to them." The girl looked shocked.
"I'm bleeding?" She touched her hand to her lip. "I'm bleeding!" She looked at him for a moment. "Come on, my mum's a healer. She'll be able to fix us up. Plus, she's booked a week off work so we can get everything moved in and settled." With that, she grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of Magnolia Crescent, despite his objections that he was fine. When she snarked back that he had just had some glass break right next to his eyes, he had no other option but to follow along. Plus, he'd heard Malcolm fall over, so he wanted to know what she'd done to him.
When they got to the girls house she called out to her mum to let her know she was home and a tall aristocratic looking woman with light brown hair came down the stairs with a bright smile on her face, which quickly faded once she saw the blood on her daughters face. "Nymphadora, what happened?" The girl, who Harry now knew was called Nymphadora, explained how she'd seen a group of boys ganging up on Harry and stood up for him, bringing a small frown to her mother's face when she heard that Nymphadora had thrown the first kick at the boys, though it quickly softened since they'd been attacking Harry. "Come through to the kitchen, I'll get both of you patched up." She led both of them through to the kitchen, where she went under the sink and pulled out a box of everyday medical supplies. "By the way, my name is Andromeda. What's your name, young man? I don't want to have to just refer to you as boy." She said the latter part with a touch of humour in her voice, though her eyes were laced with concern as she noticed the boy flinch slightly.
"My name's Harry Potter, miss." At that moment, Nymphadora tripped over one of the chairs at the kitchen table, which meant that Harry completely missed the look of shock on Andromeda's face. She quickly stole a glance at Harry's forehead, partially obscured by his rather long fringe and saw the jagged scar, before helping her daughter back to her feet. "Are you ok?"
"She's fine, Mr Potter. Just a bit of a klutz. I didn't know you lived around here." At the look of confusion on his face, she elaborated. "I went to the same school as your parents, though a few years ahead of them." At this, Harry's face lit up and he eagerly asked if she could tell him some stories about them. He was so distracted by the thought of learning about his parents that he didn't think to question why she was putting the box of medical supplies back where she'd gotten it. "Well, tell me what you know about your parents and I can see if I can tell you anything you don't already know." Harry shrugged and told her that they were drunks who died in a car crash.
"What?" Harry turned in surprise to Nymphadora, who's hair was definitely a brighter red than it had been just a few moments before. "They weren't drunks! That's complete bullshit!"
"NYMPHADORA VALKYRIE TONKS!" Nymphadora's eyes widened as she realised she'd just sworn in front of her mother. "Where in Merlin's name did you hear that kind of language?" Nymphadora quietly mumbled that some the older kids at her old school used to say it. "I'll discuss this with your father when he gets home." She turned back to Harry. "Whilst very inappropriately worded, my daughter is correct. Your parents were not drunks and they certainly were not killed in a car crash. Who told you that?"
Harry's eyes darted between Nymphadora and her mother as he told them both that it was his aunt and uncle who'd said that, though he was more concerned with Nymphadora's hair changing to a limp mousy brown colour. "And I assume that's all you were told about your parents by them?" Harry nodded, prompting a deep sigh from Andromeda. "Well, you should have been told this a long time ago, but your parents, like you, were magic." Harry blinked in surprise and confusion. Before he could say that he wasn't magic, Andromeda pulled out a thin stick and waved it at one of the kitchen chairs. It changed almost instantly into a large cauldron, before another wave of the stick turned it back into a chair. Seeing that he was still confused, she explained further. "Have you ever done anything unexplainable? Something that no non-magical person could ever do?"
Harry thought about it for a while. "Well, there was one time I was running away from my cousin and his friends and was suddenly on the roof at school." Both of the Tonks' frowned at this revelation as they both realised that his cousin was likely one of the boys who was attacking Harry. "Then there was the time Aunt Petunia got fed up of my hair not staying flat, so she shaved it all off except for my fringe. I was awake all night worried that everyone would make fun of me at school the next day because of it, but then it all grew back the next morning." At the second revelation, Andromeda took a sharp intake of breath.
"Mr Potter, I hope you'll forgive me for saying this, but your aunt and uncle are terrible people." Andromeda pretended not to hear the insult her daughter muttered under her breath, purely because she agreed with the sentiment and it would feel hypocritical to have to punish her daughter for stating a fact. "May I cast a few spells on you to check on your health after living with those awful people?" Harry nodded his consent. Andromeda just hoped he'd be ok with her tricking him. She cast the spells, receiving results implying some measure of abuse. Luckily, there was no evidence of sexual abuse, though there was evidence of a poorly healed broken arm, as well as a few cracked ribs that also didn't heal well. There were also some scars from what appeared to be a mix of whippings, most likely from a belt, and cigar burns. There weren't many burns, though she suspected that the uncle avoided smoking around his son, which would have been the reason for this. One of the spells she cast, brought back much happier news.
"Well, all in all, your health could be worse. It's a good thing we happen to be so close. I'll be able to help repair the damages that living with them have caused and my daughter will be able to help you as well." Harry thanked her for wanting to help him before trying to say she didn't have to, which Andromeda assured him that she wanted to. Nymphadora, on the other hand, frowned and asked what her mother had meant by the second part. "Well, when Mr Potter mentioned that he had grown his hair back, that reminded me of some of the research I'd done regarding metamorphmagi. Whilst some non-metamorphmagi are capable of changing their hair with accidental magic, it's not the most common thing to happen. So, among the medical spells, I cast one that detects metamorphic ability's and it appears that Mr Potter is also a metamorphmagus."
Nymphadora's face lit up with a bright smile. "Really?" She turned to Harry. "You're gonna love being a metamorphmagus, Harry. It's so cool!" Her hair turned a bright shade of green, before turning bright yellow, followed by purple with orange spots. "You can change the way you look whenever you want to! Obviously, not around muggles, but when you're in the wizarding world, you can."
"So, I can change my hair colour?" Nymphadora shook her head.
"Not just your hair colour, but your eye colour, the shape of your face and other things! Some can change their height and weight a bit and you can change your skin colour as well, though most metamorphmagi avoid that to avoid being seen as racist." She demonstrated by flashing quickly through a wide range of eye colours and briefly changing her skin to be bright blue. "Last year I used it to look like a witch that muggles believe in for Halloween. Green skin, a warty nose, all that stuff. I kept being told that my costume was great and looked so realistic." Harry asked what a Muggle was as he'd heard Nymphadora say that twice now and didn't know what it was. "It means non-magical person, but that's not important right now. I can teach you how to make all the changes, if you like?" Harry readily agreed, though Andromeda was slightly concerned about the fact he didn't instinctively know how. She suspected it had something to do with his aunt and uncle.
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Harry raced out the front door of the Dursley's as soon as he'd seen the letter from Hogwarts and grabbed it off the stack. His aunt and uncle had been less horrible to him ever since the day three years ago that he'd been cornered by Dudley's gang. Once Nymphadora's dad got home from work, Mrs Tonks had explained what happened to him and taken Harry home. He didn't know exactly what had been said, but he thought that Mrs Tonks had made sure that they knew she wouldn't be happy if they continued treating him the way they had. Dudley's gang also started giving him a wide berth, though that seemed to have more to do with Nymphadora, who now preferred to be called Tonks by most people after some teasing about her name, joined their school. Since they'd been humiliated the last time they'd met her, they didn't want to have a repeat. They did try once, which resulted in Tonks being suspended for two weeks and Piers having to go to hospital.
Harry had reached Tonks' house and rapidly started knocking on the door. He was greeted quickly by the smiling face of his best friend, who currently had golden hair. They both then raced into the living room to open their letters together. "Breakfast first, then letters." Both eleven year olds sighed and put the letters down on the coffee table and went to sit down at the dinner table where Tonks' parents were sitting to have breakfast. Andromeda smiled at Harry. "Did you eat breakfast at your relatives, Harry, or did you come here as soon as you saw your letter?" Harry told her that he'd been sent to collect the post before breakfast had started and ran straight to the Tonks'. Andromeda flicked her wand and another bowl floated over to the table, which Harry quickly filled with some cereal. Both Harry and Tonks finished their cereal quickly and impatiently waited for the two adults to finish.
After what felt like an hour to the children, but was really only a couple of minutes, they were excused and quickly rushed to open the letters. They eagerly read the list of things they needed to get for Hogwarts. "Ted and I both took the day off work to be able to take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies. I asked Minerva what day the letters were going out, so we could prepare. Harry, I think it would be best if you took a different form for the day. Too many people there would recognise me for us to be able to pass you off as Nymphadora's brother, but we'll say that you're a friend of hers whose guardians are muggles." Harry agreed and shifted his hair into a nondescript brown colour and his eyes to a light blue. "Make sure to hide the scar as well." Harry scrunched his face up and the scar disappeared from his face. "Good. Now, both of you put your shoes on and we'll leave."
Both of the children quickly put their shoes on and came back to the living room so they could floo to the alley. Shortly afterwards, both Harry and Tonks were sprawled on the floor, having left the floo with very little grace. They even managed to bring Ted down with them when he'd tried to catch them. Andromeda, however, left the fireplace in The Leaky Cauldron with perfect poise and grace. "Sorry, Dromeda. I tried to stop them from falling over, but I underestimated their clumsiness." Andromeda shook her head and helped her husband and the two children back to their feet, before they made their way to Gringotts.
"Now, James, I know you haven't been to Gringotts before, so I'll warn you, the bankers can look a bit scary if you haven't grown up with them." The Tonks' had explained to Harry that he was rather famous in the Wizarding world, so he assumed Andromeda was calling him James to avoid people realising who he was. "Be careful not to react poorly to them, ok?" Harry nodded and assured her that he wouldn't.
They quickly entered the bank and went to one of the tellers, where Andromeda requested a private meeting with her account manager. They were waiting for a few minutes before a goblin came and showed them the way to a meeting room. "Good morning, Accounts Manager Gornuk."
Sat behind a very fine wooden desk, was an intimidating looking goblin. He did not seem to be very impressed. "To business. I assume you are here to collect money to pay for your daughter's school things, though you could have done that without involving me. There's been no update on any efforts from the remaining members of House Black to have your bequeathment money be recalled to the family vault, though I doubt they've given up, despite it not being possible." Harry and Tonks both looked up at Andromeda in confusion at that last part. Andromeda ignored the statement and asked Gornuk if he knew who the Potter accounts manager was. Gornuk pursed his lips. "I assume this is something you do not wish me to discuss with the members of House Black?" Andromeda told him that this was the case and if she ever found out any of them had discovered the information from him, she would open a breach of trust case against him. Gornuk's response was to nod curtly and turn his attention to the door, where the goblin who had directed them there was reentering the room. "Griphook, please send a message to Accounts Manager Barchoke requesting his presence at his earliest convenience." The other goblin nodded his head before closing the door. Gornuk turned back to Andromeda. "Would you like me to summon an elf for refreshments whilst we wait?" Andromeda indicated that she would.
The tray of tea and scones had barely appeared on the desk before Griphook once again opened the door and informed them that Accounts Manager Barchoke had arrived. After a nod from Gornuk, Griphook stepped aside and allowed a rather impressive looking goblin to enter. He conversed briefly with Gornuk in the language of the goblins, laughing together briefly at what Harry assumed was some kind of joke they'd shared, before turning to look at Andromeda. "My associate has informed me that you have asked to speak to me. I would like to know what business a former daughter of House Black has with the Potter accounts."
It was clear from the tone that while there was no question mark at the end of the sentence, Barchoke did expect an answer. Instead of providing one, Andromeda turned to Harry. "Harry, dear, could you show your face to Accounts Manager Barchoke?" Harry quickly relaxed his face back into its natural form. Neither goblin revealed a hint of surprise at seeing this. Andromeda turned back to the goblins and continued. "Approximately three years ago, my family and I moved house. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Harry Potter and his family lived quite close to the house we had purchased." She looked down fondly at Harry. "After that, Harry and my daughter became very close friends and we offered to bring him to Diagon Alley to do his shopping for Hogwarts. I thought it would be good to introduce him to his heritage as a Potter whilst we were here. I'd have brought him sooner, but my daughter was helping him master his metamorphmagus ability's and he still had Muggle schooling to attend." Barchoke nodded.
"Well, I'll have to verify his identity." The goblin turned to Harry. "Could you give me your hand, Harry?" After he was holding Harry's hand with his left, he flexed the other hand. "This may hurt a little bit, Harry, but it is necessary for bank procedure." He used one of his claws to draw a small amount of blood from Harry's finger, causing Harry to wince slightly from the pain. He then rubbed the blood into his palm whilst murmuring a chant in the same language he'd been speaking with Gornuk. The blood glowed slightly and Barchoke nodded. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Potter." His hand briefly glowed, healing Harry's cut. "At present, you are only able to remove money from your trust fund, though that will change upon turning seventeen. I can also provide a pouch that allows you to take money directly from your trust fund for a few drops of blood." Harry allowed Barchoke to take the blood to provide him with a bag. Barchoke also agreed to a correspondence with Andromeda to allow her to teach Harry about his family legacy. After this business was concluded, Harry returned his appearance to his James persona and he and the Tonks' left the bank and moved on to their school shopping.
"Right, we'll start by getting your wands." Andromeda and Ted led the two eager children through the alley to an ancient looking shop, where they were greeted by an elderly man who introduced himself as Garrick Ollivander. Tonks tried two wands before successfully being chosen by a wand that Ollivander claimed was made out of blackthorn wood and had the heartstring of a Hebridean Black.
"Ah, I have been looking forward to meeting you, Mr Potter." Startled by being recognised, Harry turned to Andromeda, who quickly demanded to know how he knew Harry's identity. "Well, you may have changed Mr Potters appearance with a glamour, but I remember everyone who enters my shop. Next time, I'd recommend changing the structure of his face as well. He is the spitting image of the eleven year old James Potter who walked in here to get his first wand. With the exception of his hair and eye colour, of course. Tidier hair style as well." After this, Ollivander helped Harry find his wand, though it took fifteen unsuccessful attempts first.
They then moved on to Madam Malkin's to pick up their uniforms. Ted volunteered to go and pick up their books, due to an incident in his sixth year when he'd been pricked by a needle and knocked a display mannequin through the front window. He didn't think Madam Malkin would recognise him, but he wanted to play it safe. Harry and Tonks were directed to stand next to an dark skinned boy who appeared to be on his own. "Hi, my name's Tonks. Are you starting Hogwarts this year too?" The boy gave a wry chuckle.
"Very friendly, aren't you? Yeah, I'm starting this year. Name's Blaise. Though to be honest, you seem a bit too cheerful to be in the House mother wants me to get into." Tonks frowned and asked which House that was. "Mother's of the opinion that I need to be in Slytherin to be a worthy heir. That I should be cunning and sneaky." A slightly sarcastic and mocking tone coloured his voice. Behind them, Andromeda frowned.
"Excuse me, young man." Blaise turned to look at her. "I know it isn't my business, but I was sorted into Slytherin. Like you, it was what was expected of me. Eventually, I met a man that I knew my family wouldn't approve of and was able to gain the courage to do what I wanted to do. If I had that courage when I started, I think I would have tried to avoid Slytherin. As much as I did enjoy my time there, the pervasiveness of the dark arts and blood supremacy in that once noble House tainted my experience and the friendships I had made." Blaise smirked.
"Well, maybe I'll break with tradition." He turned back to Madam Malkin's assistant who had just informed him that his measurements were done and that they'd owl the uniform to him. "Thank you, ma'am." He pulled out a small coin purse and extracted the necessary money from it, giving it to her before turning back to Tonks, Harry and Andromeda. "Right, well, I'd better head off home. It was nice meeting you. I'll try to find you on the train."
Andromeda frowned. "Shouldn't you wait for your mother to return?" Blaise laughed sardonically.
"Mother would never deign to be seen leading a child around Diagon Alley. Especially not when she could be finding a new husband. I believe her eye's currently on a member of the Wizengamot." He frowned. "Or was it that Frenchman with the exporting business?" He shrugged and waved goodbye as he left the store and walked in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron.
Tonks turned to Harry. "I like him. He seems like a sound lad." The two then proceeded to get measured for their robes and finish the remainder of their school shopping.