Took me a hot minute and a short BNHA+MCU crossover but I'm back!
This was really fun to write near the end, I love putting a twist to the tropes I already liked before. Hope you guys enjoy it!
"But how does it know you're talking to it?" Harry frowns, looking down at the broom near his feet on the grass.
"Magic?" Cho shrugs, "just do it, then we can fly!"
"Alright," he looks down at the broom and puts his hand out hovering over it, "up!"
The broom hits his hand so fast that he jumps back a little but keeps holding it, smiling at Cho after his success.
"Nice," she smiles back before calling her own broom up to her hand, "you get on it like this," she swings one leg to the other side of the broom before putting both hands on the handle, "and you push off real slow, or else you go too high too fast," she kicks off the ground and Harry can only stare as she flies up higher than his head.
"Wicked," he looks up with wide eyes as she hovers on his left.
"Come on!" She yells down, making him look back at his borrowed broom.
Right… sit and don't kick off too hard.
"Whoa!" even without kicking off too hard, he ends up flying higher than Cho, though the broom stops after a few seconds of him staying very still.
"Great!" Cho flies up to his side, "feet on the pedals, pull up to go higher, lean forward to go faster, pull down to go lower, lean back to slow down, and lean to the sides to turn, got it?"
"G-got it!" He nods, leaning forward a bit to get the broom moving, a grin slowly spreading over his face as he gets the hang of it and speeds through the air like a bird.
This is the best feeling ever!
"Harry!" Cho's voice reaches him and he pauses in the air, looking down as she comes up to reach him, "you learn quick. Come on, let's play a seeker match!" she flies down and he follows after her.
She leads them back to the ground, pulling something small and golden out of her pocket. She pokes it a couple of times and it suddenly grows two thin golden wings that start flapping very fast.
"How do we play?" He'd read about Quidditch but just the basics, nothing about a game made for a specific position.
"I let the snitch go and we count to ten before leaving the ground, whoever catches it first gets the point," she explains, holding her arm out with the snitch, "first to five points wins."
"Alright," he moves his broom to hover by her side and they both put their feet on the ground.
She opens her hand and the snitch hovers for a second before speeding away from them almost too fast for his eyes to keep up as he counts to ten under his breath.
"Go!" Cho yells, already pushing off the ground.
Harry grins and flies after her.
"I thought we needed a definitive guardian before contacting any healers?" Michael can't help but ask after Chang's explanation of their change of plans.
"To walk the boy into St Mungo's, but a private healer operates under different rules than a medical institution," she explains, turning back toward the bookcase to shuffle through a couple more volumes, "it's also covered over patient confidentiality. Magically," she adds at his doubtful look, "we aren't a very trusting lot, believe me. There are oaths for everything under the sun, you still have a lot to learn."
"So I'm constantly being told," he sighs, accepts another book as she holds it out to him, and adds it to the growing pile in his arms.
"Deal with it," Chang deadpans before patting his shoulder somewhat encouragingly, "let's check on the kids and get you an extended pouch for those, I have a couple laying around somewhere in my office."
"Thank you," he breathes out in relief, arms already starting to strain under the weight of the tomes.
He's led through a corridor toward a slightly ajar door, which is promptly pushed open by Chang. The inside of the room makes Michael's breath catch for a moment. Instead of the expected four walls, floor, and ceiling, the ground seems to seamlessly shift into a grassy field only a few feet from the door and extends much further than he would have expected. He knows that magic can manipulate spaces, and had even seen a few small hints of it, but nothing prepared him for the sight of a cloudy sky and trees like a park planted on what was supposed to be a simple room in someone's home.
The sound of childish laughter snaps his attention towards it and he catches sight of two figures zooming through the air nearly neck-to-neck, appearing to reach for something. His eyes widen as they lead each other on a merry chase over something he can't quite see from the distance, though his heart nearly stops when they start holding on to their brooms with only one hand, the other extended forward for some unfathomable reason. He has half a mind to yell at them to come down that instant when the chase seems to turn their way, bringing both kids closer by the second. They're only a yard or so away when their light shoves take a turn for the worse and he can only watch in panic as Harry seems to tumble out of his broom, speeding towards the ground.
His feet are moving before he can think, even though he knows he can't make it in time, but instead of splattering against the ground as one normally would, Harry curls into himself and bounces upon contact with the grass.
What in the world?
"I told you they would be fine," Chang calls from behind him with humour in her tone as if he had not nearly suffered a heart attack at the sight of his kid plummeting to the ground.
"Are you trying to give me a heart condition?" He exclaims, not sure if aimed at Harry or Chang, maybe both.
Harry's giggles as he slowly bounces less and less until the ground becomes entirely solid once again do help the air filter back into his lungs, and he's less frantic as Chang's daughter lands near him, one broom under her and the other in her hand as if used to pushing people to what looks like their deaths.
"Mr Wright, I was flying!" Harry exclaims as he comes closer, a grin so bright on his face Michael doesn't have the heart to cast a shadow over it.
"I saw, you were great," he assures, ruffling the boy's hair, "but please be more careful in the future, the ground isn't usually as soft as it is here."
"Yeah, I got scared when Cho fell first but then she just bounced back!" Harry nods as he prompts him to turn around towards the exit where mother and daughter are now talking while waiting for them, "we played seekers! She won though, but I got two points. It was fun!"
He can only smile at the mood his ward is in, all bouncy and happy. Maybe he should find a way for Harry to fly more often, nothing so drastic as modifying a room but there were some trunks… well, that was a thought for another time, added to a long list of things to do.
"Forget something?" Chang raises one brow as he approaches and his eyes fall to the books previously held by him, now held in place by a levitating spell where he had let them go in a scramble to reach Harry.
"You could have warned me," he hissed in response, collecting the books in order for her to let go of the spell.
"Where would be the fun in that?" Chang smirked slightly, turning back to the corridor to the sound of the children's giggles, "shall we head to lunch?"
"Yes, please!" the tiny Chang - whom he now knows is called Cho due to Harry's words - voiced their thoughts, skipping to keep pace with her mother.
"Show Harry to the table, will you? We'll catch up in a minute," as easy as that, her daughter grabs his ward's arm and steers them away, "come, let's put those away."
They reach the office in a couple of steps and Michael is led to a chair facing the large desk in the centre of it. The bookcases lining the walls dwarf the few in the living room and he wishes he could browse every single title but Chang probably knows best where to begin.
"Any news in regard to the Sirius Black situation?" He asks after dropping his pile of books onto her desk and taking a seat, watching as Chang inspects a couple of titles and pulls even more books out of the shelves for him. There will be a lot of reading in his future.
"There are officially no records of a trial. I put someone in charge of tracking down a charge sheet and, if that also seems to be missing, at least a request for transport into Azkaban with the signature of the one responsible for such a miscarriage of justice," her tone sounds as frustrated as he feels over the whole deal, "In other news, I have three contract options to go over with you and Harry pertaining to the book publishers, but that's a talk for after guardianship is sorted."
"When do you think the healer might be able to meet us?" He follows Chang with his eyes as she drops even more books on top of his already high pile and grabs something out of one of the drawers behind her desk. It turns out to be a brown leather pouch, and she immediately starts to deposit the books inside of it, her arm nearly disappearing into it with every book added.
"The first meeting will probably be over the next weekend, I'll owl you with the exact date and time once I get a response myself," she explained, placing the last book inside and closing the pouch before handing it to him, "she'll sit down with both of you and discuss what needs to be done and what the process will look like, then probably schedule a different date to execute the plan."
"The weekend works, I'll make sure to keep them free," Michael takes the pouch, it's barely big enough to fill both his hands held together and light as if it was empty even with the books inside of it.
"Come along, tome for lunch, you need more meat in those bones," Chang chides as she leads him through the door and closes it behind them, "you just might need a couple of nutritional potions yourself."
"I'm not that thin!" he protests, swatting away a finger meant to poke at his ribs and pretending not to smile when she chuckles at his tone.
This sort of teasing more than anything told him she didn't doubt him as much as her earlier questions made it seem, and he wasn't about to be upset over being worried about. It wasn't a novel feeling by any means, but never one he was inclined to ignore.
"There you are!" Chris' voice is the first to greet them once they step into the dining room, coming from the end of the already set table. The man is smiling and the kids are sitting one on each side of him, they probably interrupted an interesting tale going by their curious looks and the fact that they seem entertained enough not to be running around. "I thought I might have to fetch you from a pile of books."
The room they walked into is in the same tones as the living room, though there is a large light rug in the centre to contrast with the dark tone of the table and the floor under it. Much like the other rooms he's seen so far, it looks too big to fit into the outwards size of the house.
Bigger on the inside, huh?
"That hasn't happened in years," Chang shook her head, walking up to the chair on her daughter's side while Michael moved to sit by Harry, "what are you up to?"
"Telling the kids about my last trip to France," Chris grins, "and how your cousin's croissants are so good they saved a life."
Michael's brows raise a bit at that, a little curious himself. He hasn't travelled much, so any tales of international adventures always amuse him, though they do bring up a bit of wanderlust every now and then.
"Any sweet will save the life of someone with low blood sugar," Chang rolls her eyes, "Qiao."
The house elf appears in the room with the same pop they heard it leave with last time, startling him and his ward, though he hides his reaction better.
"I'll be sure to tell Sabine what you think of her baking," Chris quips at her response, but goes entirely ignored.
"Lunch can be served now," Chang tells the elf, who pops away once more.
A second later, the decorations on the table disappear only to be immediately replaced by dishes containing different kinds of foods, eliciting a gasp from his ward and a slight widening of his own eyes.
Magic is amazing.
October 9th, 1988
"Won't it burn?" Harry grabs Mr Wright's arm almost out of reflex when the man makes to step forward, eyes narrowing at the fireplace. The small smile it earns him doesn't make him any more inclined to let go.
"Not with the floo powder," Mr Wright assures, patting the top of his head, "you shouldn't just step into fire, that's true, but this is the exception. I need you to stay and watch how I do it so you can work it on your own later."
"And you'll be back?" He insists, grip tightening slightly before he manages to let go and cross his arms in front of himself.
"In a jiffy, I promise," Mr Wright reaches for the container on top of the mantelpiece and grabs a handful of the green powder Harry had seen him pour into it a couple minutes earlier, throwing it into the fireplace.
There's a whooshing noise when it hits the bottom of it, and a burst of green fire appears out of nowhere, making Harry step back with wide eyes.
"Chang Chambers," Mr Wright calls once he steps into the fire, disappearing in front of his eyes right along with it.
Harry isn't sure how much time goes by, and he's starting to get worried when finally there's a second burst of green fire that Mr Wright steps out of with only a bit of a stumble.
"It worked!" He grins, seeing no burns on his guardian's skin or clothes.
"Takes a little practice, but it works just fine," Mr Wright nods, "Chang said I could carry you if you don't feel like trying on your own, but it's good to know how to use the floo just in case."
"I wanna try," Harry insists, he doesn't want to make things difficult just because fire can be a bit scary.
"Alright. You saw me doing it, so you know you need to throw the floo powder and step into the fire before speaking," Mr Wright explains, fetching the powder container from the mantelpiece, "speak very clearly and hold your mouth closed right after or else you might end up coughing out soot as I did," he chuckles but agrees that isn't something he wants in his mouth, "Chang said that tucking in your elbows and speaking right as you take another step helps with not falling on your bum on the other side too. Ready?"
"Ready," Harry grabs a handful of powder and takes a deep breath before throwing it in the fireplace. The fire makes him step back again, but the warmth of Mr Wright's hand on his back gives him some more courage, and he steps right into it, eyes pressed closed, "Chang Chamber!"
The world feels like it's turning upside down for less than a second before he's suddenly tripping over his feet. He nearly falls face-first into the dark wooden floor of Ms Chang's house, but thankfully a pair of hands grab him before that can happen, helping him stand back up.
"Not too bad for your first time in the floo," Ms Chang assures, messing up his hair with her hand like adults seem to like doing lately.
The same whooshing sound from before makes him jump a little before realizing it's just Mr Wright coming out of the fireplace right behind him, smiling down at him in a way that makes Harry feel happy for choosing to try it on his own.
"I hope we're not late?" Mr Wright looks at Ms Chang, who shakes her head.
"Healer Greengrass is waiting in one of the guest rooms, I'll take you there," She answers, walking ahead.
Harry follows by Mr Wright's side, eyes finding even more moving paintings along the hallways, none of people but all of really interesting-looking places. He doesn't see Mr Chris or Cho anywhere, so he doesn't ask about the paintings or getting to fly again, but maybe when they're done with the healer Mr Wright would let him? He'll make sure to do everything right so he can ask later.
"She's waiting inside," Ms Chang tells them when they stop at one of the doors, and Mr Wright thanks her before opening it and bringing him in.
There's a lady standing by the window, wearing a light green dress - or are those robes? Some of them just look like dresses - and with her brown hair in a bun, who turns to look at them right as they walk in. Harry's met a couple of doctors before and she doesn't really look like one, there's no heart-listening thing around her neck and she doesn't look very old, but maybe witch doctors are just different like that.
"Hello, I'm Dahlia Greengrass," she gives a small bow instead of holding out her hand like Mr Wright said some older ladies do, so they just bow back, "I take this is my patient?"
"This is Harry," Mr Wright nods, putting a hand on his shoulder, "You can call me Michael. Chang said today is mostly for explanations?"
"Mostly," she nods, "Please take a seat, and feel free to call me Dahlia," Harry looks around but there's only the bed and a chair by the corner, so he pulls himself up to sit on top of the bedcovers, careful not to mess it up. Mr Wright grabs the chair and drags it to the end of the bed, making him feel a little better with him close by, "Lei told me you want to do a bloodline tracing ritual, so I'll be explaining what that entails. I'll also be performing basic diagnostic charms and determining what potions will be needed, if any. Is that okay?"
Harry waits for Mr Wright to answer but realizes they're both looking at him.
"Ye-es," he nods, cheeks heating up at the stutter. He's not used to getting to make choices!
"The ritual for tracing your bloodline can be a little off-putting, it involves putting a few drops of blood into a potion and drinking it, basically inducing you into a trance and letting your magic speak," she probably notices their wide eyes and backtracks, "it's called spirit writing, you won't be speaking but your body will know what to do by itself, and it will make you write the names your magic recognizes as those of your predecessors as far as it can trace for as long as the effects last."
"Why-" he glances at Mr Wright but he doesn't stop him from speaking so he continues, "um- the bank test showed my parents, can't I do something like that but… backwards?"
"It's not quite the same," Ms Dahlia shook her head slightly, "the Gringotts key test pretty much only shows the vaults you've had your blood bound to at some point in time and anything else associated with the accounts they belong to, but if you were never added to a vault that should be yours to inherit, it won't show up in there. This sort of bloodline test is usually what you would bring them to try and claim other assets, though it's mostly used every other decade or so to either update personal records or provide a starting point or update to family tapestries."
He thinks he understands that, kind of. If his blood was used in any vaults it was probably when he was a baby, by his parents. They obviously didn't have to figure out their own relatives, probably even grew up knowing their grandparents or more, and wouldn't have needed this sort of ritual.
"Why is this performed by a healer and not the ministry? Don't they keep a record of births and marriages?" Mr Wright asks, and Harry can see how that might make sense too.
"They do keep a close record of ancestries, though usually only old houses have anything past the last ten generations, and there's no tracking at all of squibs or muggles, as well as very little point to a ritual when one would need to read through piles of paperwork instead," she explains, "in this case, what the ritual pulls on is the family magic. Every wix has it, no matter what the noble houses would like others to think, and it allows for a unique link to every member of the family, so long as they share blood by any means."
"Alright, seems straightforward enough," Mr Wright says, looking at Harry, "It could be a bit scary not to be in control of your own actions, we don't have to do it if you don't want to, but it would really help."
He can't really imagine not controlling his own body, so he can't quite tell if it will be scary or not, but if it'll help Mr Wright, then it's an easy answer.
"I'll do it," Harry grins at the nod and smile that earns him.
"Then I'll have the potion prepared for our next appointment," Ms Dahlia adds, "should I also include the usual potions taken by wixen children? Lei implied they might be out of date, and the last thing we need is an entirely avoidable case of dragon-pox."
"Right, he's up to date with his vaccines but probably only took any potions a newborn would take," Mr Wright agrees, "and is there something we can do about his eyesight?"
"I'll take a look," she looked at him, "Those are muggle clothes, yes? No embedded charms?"
Harry looks down at the dark jeans and white shirt he's wearing before nodding at the healer.
"That's good then, for future reference any clothing with magical properties such as dirt-repellant or size-adjusting have to be taken off to perform diagnostic charms," Ms Dahlia explains and they nod in understanding, "what I'll be doing now is using my wand to examine a couple of things, like recent injuries, if your bones are in the right place, and your eyesight," she adds with a tilt of the head to Mr Wright, "is that okay? All you have to do is sit still."
"Mhm," he nods, a little curious but mostly wanting to get it over with so he can ask to play with Cho.
"Very well," Ms Dahlia takes her wand from her sleeve and starts waving it around him, and it would look a little silly if there wasn't also a bit of light leaving it and sometimes even some lighting up around him when the spell seemed to hit, but nothing hurt so he stayed still until she put her wand back where it was, "there we go, that wasn't terribly long, was it?" he shakes his head and it earns him a smile. He likes adults smiling at him, it's much better than the looks of anger or disgust, "Your bones seem to be just fine, and you could use some more iron but that's easily fixed with some meat and spinach, no need to add potions to the mix. I can't be more thorough than that without a diagnostic ritual or spending nearly three hours casting, so if there's anything you feel needs to be looked at more closely, we can schedule one of the two."
"Why would anyone choose to stay still for three hours?" Mr Wright asks, and Harry wrinkles his nose just thinking about sitting in place for that long.
"Certain conditions make it dangerous to perform the ritual, and some healers don't know how to perform it and correctly interpret the results," Ms Dahlia explains, "but Harry is perfectly able to undertake it if you feel the need for more specific results. As for his eyesight, there is a potion that could make it good as new, though I don't carry it around. You'll have to check the stores or get in touch with a potions master for Aspectum and put three drops in each eye before going to sleep for a couple of months."
"Thank you," Mr Wright says and Harry echoes it, "we'll hold off on the diagnostic ritual, focus on the bloodline first if that's alright?"
Harry nods and the healer too.
"He shouldn't take part in back-to-back rituals at this age, so it would have been my recommendation to put a couple of weeks in between," Ms Dahlia adds, "one last thing, his baby block was still somewhat active, if a bit frayed, but I took the liberty of dispelling it."
"Baby block?" Harry asks before Mr Wright can even open his mouth.
"Some couples put a block on the magic of young children, usually to avoid any stances of accidental magic, especially if living in muggle areas," she explains, "that's why we call it a baby block. I suppose no one took the time to dispel yours after… well, it's done now. Usually, only whoever cast it can take it off but it was frayed enough that a bit of a push was all it took. You might have a couple of days of more active accidental magic but it'll settle just fine by the weekend. Any other questions?"
Harry looks between the healer and Mr Wright but no one says anything, so the lady just nods.
"Then I'll be seeing you in… six days?" She asks and Mr Wright nods.
"Yes, Saturday works," Mr Wright gets up and Harry also jumps down from the bed, vibrating a little in place but trying his best to wait, though his best probably isn't enough since his guardian turns an amused look at him, "Do you want something, Harry?"
"Can I please play with Cho?" He blurts out, cheeks heating up slightly but not enough to make him regret asking.
"Sure, just ask Ms Chang if it's okay," Mr Wright chuckles and Harry doesn't wait for another second before rushing out the door to find Ms Chang.
Having friends was the best!
I admit that Teen Wolf gave me the basic idea for this bloodline tracing method and I just ran with it, can't wait to write about it happening next chapter.
My favourite pastime is sneaking random references into my writing and seeing if anyone catches them, heh.
In case anyone likes a bit of trivia from the writing process: The floo address to the Chang household is "Chang Chambers" in reference to the rooms used by lawyers in British law.
Also, I forgot to mention before but Lei(雷) is obviously a Chinese name but it also means Law in Portuguese. Yes, I think I'm funny.