Chapter Seven
Sirius had begun introducing wand work into their fencing lessons when they returned to Potter Manor from their trip to Italy and Paris. This made the lessons infinitely harder, and they were already the most difficult part of Harry's education. Initially, they spent the first part of each session fencing with a blade only, then introduced their wands as well. Harry was sure when they started that he would never be able to acquire the coordination necessary to deflect a blow or spell or parry or lunge with one hand while casting an attack or shield with the other. However, as time passed, the practice became merely extremely difficult instead of impossible, and slowly Harry realized that he was beginning to develop at least rudimentary familiarity with wand and blade dueling.
Harry didn't realize how well he was progressing in fencing under their usually five times a week summer practices since whatever he accomplished still left Sirius clearly dominant. Harry didn't properly credit that Sirius had had nearly a decade of steady tutorial in fencing before he left the hyper competitive House of Black at sixteen, after which it became less of a fiercely honed skill and more of a friendly competition. Sirius was also further recovering and perfecting his own abilities as he tutored Harry, and at thirty-two was still in his prime as a wizard while Harry was going through puberty. All of those factors meant that Harry was not going to be beating Sirius except by luck for some time yet. In the meantime, Harry collected hard won 'scores' rather than 'wins.'
However, Sirius knew what he was doing introducing the wand with the blade at a time when they could practice it intensively rather than during the school year when they would have sessions only once a week. Sirius knew that without being able to move quickly past the feeling of sheer hopelessness a novice always felt, it would be easy for Harry to become frustrated and begin to resent the sessions. A number of Heirs Sirius had grown up with had dropped fencing at this stage, or opted out of using a wand altogether while fencing which effectively transformed their fencing into a sport rather than a potential battle tactic. Sirius derived a deep satisfaction from tutoring his son in classic wand and blade fencing and dueling, and felt the uncommon training might save Harry's life in the future, so he was determined to manage the lessons in a way that kept Harry engaged.
Harry was better able to hold his own in dueling strictly with wands, and partly for that reason insisted on keeping straight dueling sessions in his schedule with Sirius, as well. Sirius knew what Harry was doing but was happy to help Harry spend time honing a skill where he felt more accomplished, and used the sessions to begin to introduce conscious (rather than just reflexive) nonverbal spellcasting. Sirius ruefully acknowledged to himself, and occasionally to Harry, that Harry kept Sirius on his toes at this point in strictly wanded dueling now that Harry was able to channel an adult level of magical power and perform those of older Harry's spells that came to him reflexively.
Neither Sirius nor Harry discussed the fact that Harry's education in this field was more than the classic training for Heirs of a Most Ancient and Noble House given the looming threat of Voldemort in the background. Still, Sirius couldn't help feel he was on a deadline with only so much time to help Harry prepare before Harry would need to use whatever skills he had in the real world. Reflecting on this while practicing with his twelve year old son sickened Sirius but made him that much more determined to give Harry every advantage he could. Fortunately, Harry seemed to thrive on his full schedule rather than finding the demands on his time to be a burden.
Between House events, family dinners, friend visits and Harry's otherwise full schedule the summer felt short and Harry was startled when he realized that they had reached the date when in older Harry's timeline, Harry would be at the Weasleys' preparing to go to Diagon Alley for his second year school things. While Harry had completed much of his school shopping already, he and Sirius had made a point to mark this date because in the other timeline this was when Lucius Malfoy had slipped Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny Weasley's schoolbook at Flourish and Blotts.
Similar to older Harry's timeline, Arthur Weasley was one of the primary Ministry staff authors of a Muggle Protection Act being discussed for adoption. However, absent Dumbledore's backing and ghost writing – or for whatever reason – this time's Act was nowhere near being submitted to the Wizengamot if it ever would be. Sirius had reviewed a draft of the Act and pronounced it 'well meant, I'm sure.' However, Sirius felt it had no chance of passing in its current form now - nor ever unless it attracted key support and underwent a great deal of reworking to make it practical. It had yet to draw more than derisive looks from its natural opposition.
That was only one of the relevant changes between older Harry's timeline and the current one by this point, and Harry and Sirius both felt it would be surprising if Malfoy ended up getting rid of the diary horcrux in the same manner as he had in older Harry's time. However, they definitely planned to be at Diagon Alley keeping an eye out for the Weasleys the next day just in case.
-o0o-
Unusually, Sirius rose and was ready to leave for Diagon Alley by eight thirty in the morning, saying that if they were going to do this they might as well do it thoroughly and have breakfast at Diagon Alley. Harry told Sirius he was quite certain the Weasleys would not be early – to anything, ever. However, Sirius pointed out that they were actually keeping an eye on Malfoy, since he was the one with the diary. With this in mind they flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry started out the door to the courtyard entrance to the alley.
Sirius caught up with him outside. "You didn't want to eat here?"
Harry looked back at the welcoming but dingy pub. "Can you see 'him' eating here?"
Sirius laughed and pulled out his wand to activate the arch to the Alley. "You have a point, there," he admitted.
They walked through the arch and on a whim, Harry led Sirius to the same restaurant with outside seating where older Harry had eaten his first morning back in time. They could watch a good portion of the Alley from there, unobtrusively, and could keep an eye on the arch entryway from the Leaky Cauldron as well, in case Malfoy came in that way. Sirius nodded his agreement with the location as he sat down at the table before surveying the posted menu for breakfast ideas.
They had just ordered breakfast when Harry heard his name called and looked up to see Anthony Goldstein moving towards them with a dark haired woman Harry assumed was his mother and a younger girl Harry thought must be Anthony's sister. Harry and Sirius rose to their feet as Harry greeted Anthony and introduced Sirius, learning that the woman was Rachael Goldstein and that the girl was indeed Anthony's younger sister, Karen.
"Good call with the DADA test out request." Anthony said when the introductions were complete. "And thanks for sending me the textbook in Japan. We've just come from Flourish and Blotts and Lockhart's books are every bit as bad as you said."
Harry laughed. "Well, I'm glad you're testing out. You're going to join in the study group too, right?"
Anthony nodded. "Absolutely," he said. "I wonder if anyone in any of the other years will be testing out?"
"Well, I know Peregrine Derrick will be." Harry said. "He's counting on top NEWTs this year and once Dora told him about Lockhart, he was horrified at having to waste his time on class and assignments with a bad teacher while still having to teach himself the subject for the NEWT. Dora wasn't too thrilled either but she just missed an O last year so doesn't have the option to test out. Other people are testing out as well but I'm not sure who from the other years. Remus is getting a fair amount of work out of this with all the tutoring and testing requests he's gotten, though."
Anthony laughed. "Lockhart is having a book signing today at 10:30 so if you plan to go to Flourish and Blotts you might want to go before then. I don't know if he'll be very happy with you, assuming he knows you started all of this." Harry grimaced, but at that point the waitress came with his and Sirius's breakfasts and Harry and Anthony agreed to catch up on the Hogwarts Express before Anthony and his family moved on to the rest of their shopping.
"He seems like a good sort." Sirius said amiably as they sat down to eat.
Harry knew Sirius gave Anthony extra points for sticking with Harry when public opinion had been against him over bringing charges against Dumbledore, and he grinned. "He is. I'm not at all looking forward to leaving you and Potter Manor, but I am looking forward to seeing my friends again." Sirius nodded, understanding that. He wasn't looking forward to Harry leaving either, but he was hoping and expecting that it would be easier on both of them this year than it had been the year before since they both had other activities and friends at this point and had had more opportunity to spend time together by now. In any event, they would still be seeing each other on Sundays for dueling and fencing, he reminded himself.
Sirius noted Harry grimacing. "What?"
Harry sighed and unobtrusively cast a privacy charm. "What Anthony said about the Lockhart book signing. When he mentioned that I got a memory. It was awful. Lockhart grabbed older Harry in front of the whole crowd and made a spectacle of them both for the front page of the Daily Prophet."
Sirius looked grim. "Well, you have me now," he growled. "But if you've seen a memory of it, I'm guessing that's when the transfer of the book occurred." Harry nodded glumly. "Well, we'll deal with it when and if Lockhart makes a move. If he knows about you dropping his class, maybe he won't want to call attention to you."
Harry brightened. "I hope you're right," he said. "And I certainly won't be standing in line to get his books signed this time." At Sirius's arch eyebrow Harry cringed. "Not my idea. Mrs. Weasley fancied him." Sirius laughed.
They dawdled over their breakfast, since what they really wanted was to keep an eye out for Malfoy and the Weasleys, but Harry used the time to think over older Harry's memories for the day in case there was something else to watch out for. Sirius noticed when Harry's eyes opened wide at a memory and Sirius raised an eyebrow over his tea and renewed their privacy charm, looking at Harry expectantly.
"I just remembered that today in the other timeline had been the first time older Harry ever flooed and he ended up in a creepy shop in Knockturn Alley. And Lucius and Draco Malfoy came into the shop. Lucius Malfoy wanted to sell dark objects because of 'raids' the ministry was putting on at the time. Sirius looked intrigued. "But he obviously wouldn't sell the diary, so I don't know if it has bearing on the reason we're here today."
"On the other hand, it gives us an idea of where he may be. Do you remember what time of day that was?"
"Probably around ten?" Harry said. "After that older Harry and the Weasleys went to Gringotts then to Flourish and Blotts but Lockhart hadn't been there that long when they got there and the book signing had just gotten into full swing."
Sirius nodded and put down money for their breakfast. "Well, it's nearly ten. Maybe we can stroll a bit closer to the entrance to Knockturn Alley," he said. Harry nodded and they were about to leave the restaurant when Harry heard a very familiar woman's voice and turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Percy, Ron and Ginny come out through the archway from the Leaky Cauldron and move towards Gringotts.
Sirius followed Harry's gaze and then looked back at him and recognized that Harry was being deluged with memories. Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder, pulling Harry out of his thoughts enough for Harry to drop the stunned expression he had been wearing.
Harry followed the Weasleys with his eyes. "It's just…." He started and pulled himself together. "They aren't my memories or my feelings, but they were really important to older Harry. Ginny at this age was star struck by him which was awkward since he was staying with them for a couple of weeks." He gave Sirius a quelling look as Sirius smirked. "Older Harry hadn't ever had anyone who treated him like they cared about him before them, though. They just sort of included him like he was one of their kids when he was with them." Sirius nodded gravely, looking after the Weasleys thoughtfully, then led Harry out of the restaurant.
For a short while they were behind the Weasleys, but only until the family started up the stairs at Gringotts and Sirius and Harry continued towards Knockturn Alley. Once they reached the stretch of alley between Flourish and Blotts and the entrance to Knockturn Alley, Sirius and Harry stopped to look in windows to prolong their presence in the area since they had no real destination, just a hope of seeing the Malfoys.
Their search was rewarded as the Malfoy family came out of a cafe rather than from the direction of Knockturn Alley. Narcissa, walking with Black Family elegance, was referring to a list in her hand and was discussing it with Draco, who looked sulky.
"Your father already agreed to buy you a racing broom." Narcissa said in a low tone as they passed by, apparently not noticing Harry and Sirius who were looking into the window of a potions supply shop. "If you want any other luxuries you will need to budget them from your own vault. That is the reason you have a vault, to learn to manage your money." Her voice was soft but firm and she seemed exasperated. She fascinated Harry, who hadn't had memories of her from any key moments he had reviewed and found her surprisingly like a blonde Andromeda from first impressions. Harry pushed down rising memories since he did remember that she had had nothing in particular to do with the diary horcrux which was what they were trying to run down today. It became clear that the Malfoys were going to enter Flourish and Blotts, so after a short delay Sirius and Harry followed, moving around the line of mostly middle age women and girls that stretched out of the door.
As they entered Harry noticed the Weasleys were approaching the door as well and turned slightly to keep them in sight as he pulled a supplemental third year transfiguration text off of the shelf to 'browse.' He might as well 'fake read' something interesting. Sirius was poking around the defense section without much enthusiasm, sticking close to Lucius Malfoy.
"Can it be! It's Harry Potter!" Lockhart's voice was a dash of cold water as Harry backed rapidly away from Lockhart who was bounding up from the table to try to grab Harry by the shoulder. Sirius inserted himself between them in a flash.
"Unhand my son." Sirius growled, looking dangerous, and Lockhart blanched and drew back.
"Sirius Black!" Lockhart tried cheerfully. "So good to see you out of Azkaban!" Harry's eyebrows rocketed to his hairline at that greeting.
"Ta, ever so." Sirius said, dryly, the humor of the situation striking him despite his protectiveness having been provoked. "Weren't you having a book signing? The line seems long." He looked pointedly at the waiting women who were eagerly following the discussion and whispering, pointing at Harry while the Daily Prophet photographer present snapped pictures of Lockhart, Harry and Sirius. Sirius noted that last bit and his features became grim again.
"But let's just get a good picture first!" Lockhart insisted. "Together the three of us – "Seeing Sirius's narrowing eyes he tried a different approach. "Your son and I together would rate the front page!"
"My son has no interest in being on the front page." Sirius declared firmly, but Lockhart now turned to Harry.
"Surely you want your picture in the paper Harry!" Lockhart insisted, flashing his award-winning smile.
"I'm not interested." Harry replied coolly, grateful for Sirius's presence. Then remembering Lockhart's unwanted familiarity with older Harry, he added for good measure, "And please - never touch me." Sirius rounded on Lockhart clearly ready to enforce that request, but Lockhart laughed merrily as if it were all a joke and turned to address the crowd.
"But this is the perfect time for my little announcement! When young Harry came in to buy my autobiography…" Sirius clamped a hand on Lockhart's shoulder.
"You will not use my son to puff yourself up. He wants no part of you, and you would be well advised to stay clear of us both!" Sirius growled quellingly, shooting a frustrated look from Harry to the door, clearly wanting to remove Harry from the situation but not wanting to let Lucius Malfoy out of their sight. As the best compromise he could come up with, Harry walked out of sight of the crowd behind a bookcase. Through the shelves, Harry saw Sirius relax and take back his hand and Lockhart segued into his announcement that he would be teaching at Hogwarts, now clearly deciding that avoiding any reference to Harry and Sirius would be in his best interests.
Harry shook his head at the man's gall then began to move towards the end of the book case so that he could watch either the Malfoys or the Weasleys. However, at that moment he heard loud voices and a crash and moved out from behind the bookcase to see Arthur Weasley had just struck Lucius Malfoy. The blow had sent Malfoy flying back into a bookcase with books showering down on his head. Narcissa was moving towards the two men with Draco by her side.
Sirius watched carefully from near at hand, but was not getting involved, and Harry moved towards the Weasleys, planning to greet Ron and ask him what had happened. As Harry neared the fighting men, Malfoy stuck a book into Ginny's cauldron saying something Harry couldn't hear and whirled to leave the store, catching his wife's eye as he did so. Narcissa and Draco wordlessly followed Lucius Malfoy out of the door. As the door closed behind them, Ginny apparently caught her first view of Harry standing near to her, and promptly dropped her cauldron with an "Eeep!" scattering its contents. Harry automatically dropped beside Ginny to help pick up her things but didn't see Tom Riddle's fifty-year old diary peeking from amongst Ginny's books.
Harry put his hand on Ginny's arm to forestall her from scrambling for her belongings. "Allow me," he said gallantly, blocking her view of the books momentarily as he shifted them to make sure the diary wasn't tucked into one of them. Seeing no sign of the diary, Harry scooped up the books and the rest of Ginny's things into her cauldron then stood, offering her his hand. She stared at it until Harry eventually started to withdraw his hand, at which point Ginny lunged abruptly, pulling him off balance until he steadied himself and pulled her to her feet.
Harry disengaged his facial muscles as Andromeda had taught him and avoided eye contact with anyone to keep from laughing but Ginny's brothers showed no such restraint and she snatched her cauldron from Harry with a muttered "Thank you!" then darted behind her mother to hide her scarlet face.
Harry looked over to say hi to Ron but he and the twins were busy snickering at Ginny and being scolded by their mother, so Harry looked at Sirius who had moved up beside him, his facial expression bland. "I didn't find anything I want to buy," Harry said. "Did you?" Sirius shook his head. "I need some potions ingredients and I still need to go to Gringotts." Harry continued as if they had been discussing their shopping requirements. Sirius nodded and the two of them walked out of the store, casting their eyes around the alley to see if the Malfoys were still in sight. Unfortunately, they weren't, and despite walking around the alley and eating lunch, and even venturing into Knockturn Alley, Harry and Sirius saw no more sign of them.
Harry was somewhat disconsolate when they returned to Potter Manor at the end of the day, even though he and Sirius hadn't held out much expectation that Malfoy would still pass the diary to Ginny in this time line. This left them with no particular plan to intercept the diary before it possessed someone, if it was going to possess someone.
Harry couldn't help feeling that this horcrux was the creepiest and darkest of the bunch. The other horcruxes older Harry had dealt with had been mere artifacts with the locket coming closest to actually causing any damage. The diary however, had possessed a friend, opened the Chamber, released a basilisk to attack students, and had turned into Voldemort to battle older Harry.
As he was explaining this to Sirius and Sirius asked questions about what had happened in the other timeline, Harry remembered the memory he had stored of events down in the Chamber. Unsurprisingly, Sirius wanted to see it and asked, dryly, if there were any other memories Harry had stored regarding Voldemort or the horcruxes. This caused Harry to duck his head in embarrassment and confess there were but that Fleamont had him record them the first day he woke up at Potter Manor and he had forgotten about them until just then. Sirius shook his head wryly, but wasn't angry. He did clutch Harry to himself in a death grip however, after they had entered the Chamber of Secrets memory as soon as the young Tom Riddle called the basilisk, and didn't let go until the memory ended.
When they exited the memory Sirius sat, white faced, looking at Harry. "You had had no training at all. Just first and second year DADA." Sirius said tonelessly, acutely aware of how much of Harry's success had depended on sheer nerve and instinct – and luck.
"And that was Quirrell pretending he didn't know anything and Lockhart who truly didn't know anything." Harry agreed. Sirius nodded, still coming to terms with what he had seen.
"Are the other memories that bad?" Sirius checked.
"Well, the one of Voldemort getting his body in the graveyard and the one where older Harry and Dumbledore had to go across a lake filled with inferi to get the fake locket, then fight the inferi – then came back to fight death eaters Draco Malfoy had let into Hogwarts - which is when Snape kills Dumbledore - are pretty intense. The one about the real locket isn't great, but isn't nearly as bad. It's just that that was when older Harry and his friends discovered that sticking too close to a horcrux can prey on you and make you think and act differently. I don't remember how much of that is actually in the memory I collected though. The memories about the diadem and cup aren't as creepy, although older Harry and his friends did have to flee fiendfyre with the diadem, and I already told you about Gringotts and the cup."
Sirius nodded, his face even grimmer as he heard Harry's recital. Viewing the memory obviously drove home the danger older Harry had gone through in a way Harry talking about it clearly hadn't.
"Riding on a dragon." Sirius remembered, his lips twitching with an attempt to regain his good humor. Harry nodded. Sirius sighed. "Well, I definitely think it's important to see them, but maybe we can see them over the next few days and not all at once. I think I'll remember details better that way." Harry agreed, more than happy to spread the memories out particularly seeing how they affected Sirius.
"There's only the diary and the cup now, at least." Harry said encouragingly, and Sirius smiled, nodding.
"So far." Sirius added. "He can make more if/when he gets a body, right?"
Harry nodded. "But Dumbledore felt that he was reaching his limit of how many times he could split his soul. Apparently, he hadn't meant to leave a horcrux in me, his soul was just that unstable after being split so many times."
Sirius nodded. "In light of that, do you think that Voldemort will consciously limit the number of horcruxes he makes?" Sirius asked, and Harry felt odd realizing that Sirius considered him to be the expert as between them on what Voldemort might think.
"I think he intended to make six, keeping one portion of soul in himself, because seven was the most magically powerful number." Sirius nodded and Harry hesitated, then continued. "But I think it will depend on whether he learns the other ones were destroyed. I don't think he was really sane at the end after he returned, and I think that might make him think he can make any number he wants to if he feels he doesn't have enough in reserve." At Sirius's resigned sigh Harry quickly added. "I really don't know, of course, I'm just guessing." Sirius smirked wryly at Harry's transparent attempt to undercut his own prediction and Harry shrugged one shoulder slightly, a sheepish expression on his face.
"Why don't we watch whichever of the horcrux memories you think is the shortest, then do some wand and blade fencing to get our minds off things?" Sirius suggested, surprising Harry since it was far later in the day than they usually began fencing and they had already had five sessions that week. Looking at Sirius, Harry saw he was being treated to what could only be described as 'puppy eyes', and he rolled his own eyes in exaggerated exasperation. However, he agreed to the additional fencing, realizing it would make Sirius feel better.
The next day after watching the memory of Voldemort regaining his body and fighting and using the cruciatus curse on fourteen year old older Harry at Little Hangleton cemetery, Sirius increased their usually five two-hour wand and blade fencing sessions a week to a daily three hour routine, still augmented by straight wand dueling sessions and Harry's other lessens. Harry didn't protest because he knew Sirius was only doing it out of concern for him, but during those final two weeks of summer Harry sometimes crawled into bed looking forward to returning to Hogwarts as a bit of a break.
Still, when the last day of August rolled around, Harry had to fight to keep his spirits up, and he took refuge at the Potter ritual circle, recharging himself and becoming one with the land and the Potter family magic. The Peverell magic within him hummed contentedly as well, and his smaller supply of the Black family magic seemed to stand by indulgently. Harry could easily tell the three apart, and had begun to become more sensitive to their presence, which he found comforting. Once recharged and in better spirits, he returned to the Manor to have breakfast in the kitchen.
Harry was surprised to have Sirius join him shortly after he sat down. "You're up early."
Sirius smiled at him wryly but looked refreshed. "I felt whatever you were doing with the family magic, and thought I'd join you for breakfast on your last day of summer."
Harry smiled at him as Marta brought waffles and bacon to the table for them to serve themselves. "I appreciate the company," he said in contentment, drizzling his waffle with Potter Manor honey as Harry determined to revel in the feeling of his last day home.