Chapter 11: Growing a Spine
June 5th, Hogwarts
The last couple weeks had been a pain in the neck for Harry. He was having some trouble relaxing with all the correspondence he had needed to send between his solicitor and Gringotts. Shafiq had been a godsend though and had been an immeasurable help. He did get a laugh out of Shafiq's inquiry regarding the sheer amount of galleons he was authorizing the goblins to spend. With the frequent updates he knew that Blackwater Fortress would be in livable condition for him. Just two more weeks and he would have a home all his own. Mercury had been over the moon that he would have a place to take care of, though Harry had made sure he knew that Dobby was allowed to help if he wanted to. Mercury had gotten slightly possessive and tried to claim all the upkeep of the fortress to himself, but Harry was worried it'd be too much for the young elf.
Most of his friends had already agreed to visit as well. The summer was already shaping up to be the best of his short life. Nyx would occasionally dampen his mood whether she intended to or not. He really didn't know how to handle her and she would occasionally do things that made him feel pretty awkward. That morning he woke up with her gently pawing the tent he'd erected and making direct eye contact with him as she did it. He wanted to get angry at her, he really did, but he could also feel her rising tension and anxiety about her own issue. After their conversation he knew that his magic was slowly fixing her body to what it should be. At the same time though he had severe reservations about doing such adult things with a woman that he was pretty sure was older than his mother. On the other side of that coin though, he couldn't deny she was beautiful. All of which just made his feelings regarding the issue more and more complicated. As he rolled out of bed that day, Harry decided it was a future him problem.
Joining Hermione and Neville for breakfast, the rest of their group was already at a table sitting together. The staff had grumbled a little when so many from different houses started sitting together, but when the Headmaster said it was good for inter house relationships, nobody stopped them. The only caveat that Dumbledore set was that at important feasts, he would ask them to sit at their house's assigned tables such as the year end feast.
Harry was lost in thought regarding his future potential problems with Nyx and the horned serpent he was going to have to handle in a couple weeks when he felt someone shake his shoulder. "Harry you zoned out, are you ok?" Hermione was looking at him with worry. At his nod she continued, "You know, I didn't think about it much earlier in the year, but I haven't seen your scar cause you pain once this year. Our first two years it was a regular problem. Do you think bonding with a creature so resistant to dark magic may have gotten rid of the curse that was affecting you?"
Harry nearly dropped the breakfast toast in hand when he heard her. "I didn't even think about it. The bond with Nyx was so new and so much changed that I forgot about it. You're right it used to bother me a lot. I vaguely remember Madam Pomfrey telling me she didn't feel anything from my scar anymore when I saw her after bonding with Nyx. Maybe that curse was affecting my magic and ability to learn? Could that be why I feel so much better this year and so much more motivated to learn?"
Susan was sitting on the other side of Harry and couldn't hold in her own question. "Harry, what do you both mean by your scar being cursed? This year you've definitely put in effort to improve yourself." She gave a quick up and down look that had her cheeks red. She had seen him carry Nyx up several flights of stairs without breaking a sweat and was positive the cat weighed more than she did. Hermione had seen the look on her face and struggled to keep from laughing out loud.
"When I was younger it would occasionally pulse and cause me pain. While I was here at Hogwarts it was actually worse. I think that's because of the people and magic that were around me at the time though. First year, Quirrel had a wraith of Voldemort attached to him. Second year there was a piece of Voldemort's soul stuck in a diary that and being around both caused me numerous problems since The Dark Wanker was the one to give me the curse in the first place."
"Harry," Neville was sitting across from him, "Is that why you've always said you believe he isn't gone? You've actually fought him twice since he supposedly died? I think I need to tell my gran about this and see if our House can push the Wizengamot to increase the training for the aurors."
"I am definitely telling Auntie Amelia. Harry doesn't get anything about lying about that. He's already plenty famous and the only time I've seen him try to draw attention was to make Draco look bad when he annoyed him." Susan laughed at Harry's embarrassment.
Sunday was the study group's rest day, so after breakfast they went their separate ways. Harry visited Hagrid for a couple hours with Hermione and spent the rest of the day trying to relax for the next week of exams.
Exams for the week went smoothly for the group. Speaking of the study group, they had spent dozens of hours every week working together to make sure they had every subject covered. Even teaching each other spells and the like. The group had de facto leaders for each major subject. Harry felt at home guiding his friends through defense and helped Susan teach the others charms. Hermione and Ernie both helped the clothes with transfiguration. History was hard for everyone so that would be a mess for the group without Hermione. Care was surprisingly Lavender's favorite subject, though she would blow a gasket if she got dirty. "If you aren't cute and presentable, how can the creatures you care for trust you can keep them cute and presentable?" Harry thought it was weird logic, but she was damn good at it. Lavender was one of the few that Nyx would allow to touch her. Neville was by far the lead in Herbology and his word was law on the subject. The first time Harry had ever seen Neville yell was when he had written a bad herbology report and received a fiften minute rant from Neville on how wrong he was. If Neville hadn't been so right, Harry may have laughed at him. Potions ended up being Terry's favorite subject with Snape gone and he was blooming without the man watching over his shoulder.
That Thursday, after the last test had been completed, the group was discussing their results on the lawn. Harry was confident he had done well, but it took talking to the other intelligent people of his year to realize he may have missed a couple trick questions throughout the various exams. "Well shit. I was hoping for a perfect score on at least one exam. I still haven't gotten the patronus down, so I couldn't get extra credit on the charms exam."
Terry shook his head as the others laughed, "Harry that is a newt level spell that most are never able to properly cast. I've seen you cast the spell. It's just not fully corporeal so you act like it's a failure. That's already better than 90% of wizards from Hogwarts, and Hogwarts is considered the one of the best schools in the Wizarding world. You'll be fine mate."
Lisa picked up where Terry left off, "Yea Harry I wouldn't worry. From what you've told us, I bet you just need to find the right memory to use. Nobody here thinks its a lack of magic power."
"Thanks you two. It's just frustrating." As soon as he said that there were yells of alarm from the other side of the lawn. Looking over they saw a large black dog dragging someone towards the Whomping Willow. "Fuck. Hermione, Neville, Susan I want you to back me up. The rest of you, I need you to get a teacher. A student is being attacked." He started running.
"Got it. Stay safe you four. We won't forgive you for getting hurt." The rest split up and started running for the castle or after Harry.
It took a couple minutes to run across the lawn. Harry was grateful he had been working out. He had seen the dog drag a student into the Whomping Willing but he didn't see exactly where. "Nyx, that thing will batter me properly if I get close, but it will leave animals alone. I need you to look for a safe way to follow."
As she was looking around the base of the tree, the other three caught up to him. "Harry, we don't run like you do, we can't help if you run off without us." Hermione was breathing hard.
"Stay up, if you bend over, your lungs can't expand the same so you can't breathe in as much air." Harry absentmindedly advised when he saw Neville rest on his knees.
After a deep breath, "Thanks mate, what are we waiting for?"
Harry noticed Susan wasn't breathing as hard as the other two, 'She did say her Aunt leads the aurors, I wonder if she works out so she can join them.' The thought of Susan working out was nice, but he had to stop distracting himself. "Nyx is looking for how the dog got that student into the tree. I didn't see who it was, but I think I recognized the screams."
The tree stopped moving as Nyx turned to them and meowed.
"Ok clearly she found something, move fast in case it's temporary." They moved forward and followed Nyx down a tunnel.
Harry was nervous but felt they should know if they were willing to follow him into danger. "Ok so just so you all know, I think I know the dog. I think it's Sirius Black."
Hermione hit his arm. "Harry, you said he was dangerous even if he was innocent, why would you knowingly run off after him?"
"I was hoping to help him. If he needs medical help, I can make sure he gets that. I just ask that if he does act crazy, that you try to restrain him first. I'm sorry for running into danger you guys." Harry had his wand out and was ready for something ridiculous to happen.
Susan sighed, "It's fine Harry, we are just glad you remembered to bring friends this time."
"I resent that. I had friends with me in my first and second year too. I just got separated from them both times. That wasn't my fault either." He couldn't help laughing. "I really am a danger magnet, I really hope things settle down eventually."
Neville couldn't help adding his two knuts, "C'mon mate, you know it's more likely for god's to descend and declare you their champion than it is for you to live a peaceful life."
Harry paled at the thought, "Neville shut the hell up, you're giving me anxiety. What if the gods turn out to be real? Magic is crazy enough as it is, we don't need gods getting involved."
Ahead of them Nyx huffed at them. Exchanging looks, they all stopped talking and followed her. Wands drawn, they saw a door that hadn't closed at the end of the tunnel. Some blood smeared on the bottom of the doorway. "Remember, we don't want to permanently harm anyone unless life is at risk. Let me be your shield, hide behind me if it's possible. I'm hopeful he won't attack me, and if he does, it'll give you all a temporary shield. Nyx no breath attacks. That would kill everyone but me."
"Wait what? Can Nyx really do that?"
"She's a Nundu, remember? Dumbledore thinks I'm immune to her, but you all wouldn't be." Harry said it quickly as he pushed forward and opened the door with an outstretched hand. Wand readied to cast and a spell on the tip of his tongue, he pushed into the building.
He saw stairs up and with a glance around, he noticed more bloodstains on the stairs. Seeing more blood made him realize he had no idea how long the student had if they were so bloodied. "I'm going to rush, be careful behind me." Not waiting for a response he moved up the stairs.
Searching the house in a rush, he finally found a room with someone laying on the bed. Seeing them from the doorway, he rushed in to check on them. Ron was on the bed unresponsive with a large amount of blood staining the bed. Trying to stop the bleeding, he didn't notice the figure move up behind him. He watched the wound on Ron's leg close up and sighed in relief. The books from Madam Pomfrey had been useful.
"I did a number on him." Harry spun around to see a disheveled man with a crazed look on his face.
"Sirius Black?" He saw his friends past the man's shoulder, Neville and Susan had wands pointed at him while Hermione seemed to be watching the hallway. He vaguely noticed a shimmer out of the corner of his eye. Nyx must have hopped onto the bed invisible. His anxiety dropped, realizing they had his back.
"Oh yes. I've been waiting to meet you Harry. It's been so long. Now tell me, do you know what happened to the boy's rat? I really need to have a talk with him." Harry could see it on Sirius' face. The man looked like he was a single step away from losing his sanity.
"You're speaking about Peter Pettigrew correct?"
"WHERE IS HE?!?!" He lunged forward yelling. Grabbing Harry by his robe, he pulled him close.
Harry tried to keep his cool. "He's in prison. A brand new punishment was thought up by the Dowager Longbottom just to punish him and try to deter future acts of death eaters or those of like mind." Sirius took a half step back but didn't release him.
"What punishment?" The crazed look on Sirius face had lessened but was still present. Neville and Susan had walked into the room to make sure he wasn't hurting Harry, but they had stayed silent up to this point.
Neville spoke up, "My grandmother suggested they break his magic core, bind him to secrecy regarding the magic world and stick him in a muggle prison."
"Frank? No, you must be his son. Merlin, you look almost as similar to him as Harry does to his own father." Sirius took another step back and finally released Harry. As soon as he did, Nyx showed herself. She was on the bed just a foot or two away and was staring Sirius down. She had clearly been ready to pounce at any second. "Oh she's a beauty. I've seen her from afar a couple times following you around the castle grounds and wandering the forest late at night a few times. Brave of you to let a Nundu hunt on her own Pup."
Harry didn't know what to say, but thankfully he wasn't the only one there. "Mr. Black, my understanding is that you're innocent of the crimes you were originally charged with, but you are wanted for questioning regarding your escape. My aunt wants to know how so many broke out of Azkaban. If you were responsible for any of the deaths, there may be a problem, but if you just escaped in the chaos, she promised she'd help you seek recompense."
"Oh yes, punish the innocent man for over a decade and maybe if we shut him up with a weight of gold, itll be all peachy fucking clean. I'm a Black girl. My family line is buried in wealth and power. What the fuck can the ministry possibly pay me back thats worth so long in Azkaban? Voldemort took my family, the ministry took my freedom and that cuck of a warden just ignored my pleas for a trial. No, the ministry can go fuck itself." The look in his eye had shifted back towards crazy as he spoke.
"Sirius, besides my friends, I don't have many people left. If you were my dad's best friend, I'd like you to be part of my life too. Tell me honestly, did you hurt anyone in your escape? From what I can see, you need a healer. Can we take you to Saint Mungos or somewhere similar? We can get you looked at and have you cleared of charges all at one."
"Harry, I could take him to my home. We could get a healer to look at him and invite an auror there to make a statement. However they wouldn't be able to arrest him without permission. Modern day politics still has rudimentary guest rights. If we allow him to be arrested after promising safety, it'd cause problems, but at a hospital, public safety issues can transcend that." Neville finished his suggestion looking between the two, but he looked nervous.
Sirius seemed shocked by their words. "I attacked a child for seemingly no reason. Oh god what have I done?"
"Neville, can you and Susan take Sirius and get him out of here? Hermione and I can wait for Ron to wake up. We see what he remembers. If he only remembers the dog, we chased it off. If he saw Sirius, we tell him the truth, we got him help. Sound good?"
Hermione called out from the hall, "If he takes too long to wake, we can levitate him to the castle."
"Young man, if Harry trusts you, I will too. It's hard to imagine the son of Frank and Alice going back on their word. I will follow your lead." Sirius was fidgety and clearly uncomfortable.
"Once school is out, if you've been cleared, I'll invite you over to my home Sirius." Harry was hoping the man would be ok.
As the three left, Sirius led them to Hogsmeade. Using a floo would be faster and coin exchanges could keep silent for long enough to make it to freedom.
With just Hermione and Harry watching over Ron, the two eventually grew bored and brought him to the castle. Meeting a large group of students and teachers looking for them. Lupin passed right by them. Telling him a short and edited summary of what happened, he ran off past them to the Shrieking Shack that they hadn't even realized they were in. Madame Pomfrey was pleased with Harry's healing, and pissed that it took him so long to bring Ron to her. "Harry, do you know how much blood he lost? This could have been quite dangerous. He needs a blood replenishing potion immediately." Immediately subjected to a lecture, Harry wasn't happy, but had to admit he earned it.
By dinner, Neville and Susan had returned to the castle. Dumbledore had apparently been quite miffed with them for flooing into his office without a good explanation. "He was lectured by gran for nearly twenty minutes for not turning himself in sooner. Apparently after he got free he hasn't read a single newspaper."
"Watching him read the paper reporting the trial was hilarious. He was laughing about your interview for at least another ten minutes. Said something along the lines of you must have a good amount of black blood in you, because the Potter's are supposed to be low key historically speaking. He seemed rather proud of your actions so far." Susan had added on 'helpfully.'
Hermione couldn't help laughing, "I can't wait to tell him all the problems Harry has either been dragged into or jumped into head first. Maybe we can finally get an adult figure that will reel him in."
"Fat chance Hermione, otherwise he wouldn't be the lovely Harry we have all come to adore."
"Oh fuck off Neville. I think I'm going to charm your bed to give you a sex change the next time you lay in it. Then we will see who is adorable." Harry smirked, life was feeling good.
"I know those would be temporary, I'll just tell the whole school I'm a transfer and they have me sharing your bed." Neville declared with an imperious look, trying to keep a straight face as he said it.
"Susan, which of them do you think is lusting after the other harder considering what we just heard?" Hermione asked while tapping a finger to her chin.
"Oh Neville for sure. If Harry followed through, we could just claim he wanted to ogle another pretty girl, but if Neville followed through, he'd have to sleep in Harry's bed to make it convincing." The two girls started giggling at the looks of disgust on the boy's faces.
The next day Harry was having a rough morning when he noticed Professor Lupin wasn't in his seat like he normally would be. The day after that, he was still missing and Harry started to worry. He may not feel exceptionally close to the man, but he was close to his parents and he was hoping he could help Sirius.
Lupin didn't return to the school, but nobody seemed to know why. The last day of school, the newspaper arrived with a piece regarding Sirius' confirmed innocence. He was condemned for breaking out, but ultimately any issues were swept under the rug considering he was innocent of the crimes he had been accused of in the first place.
"Neville, can I visit Saturday or Sunday a couple weeks from now? I want to make sure there is prepared space for Sirius before I invite him to my new home. If he is ok, I'll take him home that day."
"Yea, that's fine Harry, I'll send you a letter next friday with a specific time in the afternoon so you don't have to wait for someone to walk by the floo."
"Thanks Nev. Also I was looking at the school wide grades. Our whole group is in the top twenty of our year for average grades. Having Professor Slughorn take Snape's place really helped us all out. I hope he returns next year."
"If he doesn't, can we do worse than Snape? At least we have seen the worst, so we can appreciate any step up."
The ride on the Hogwarts' Express was smooth. When Harry got off the train, he said goodbye to friends and their families. Susan stayed back with him. "Harry, my aunt said she has something to give you. It was an item that was recovered from Severus Snape's home, but that it should be in your hands. She cleared it's release from evidence, but it took a while which is why you are just now getting it."
"Oh, ok. Does she have it here or will I need to pick it up?"
"She has it here. I told her about Mercury so we know you have a way to safely move it. There she is, come on Harry." She grabbed his hand and pulled him over. His blush turned him crimson.
"Hello again Mr. Potter. Thank you for making sure I caught up to him today Susan." Amelia Bones looked every bit the professional that he remembered from the Wizengamot.
"He's a friend and you said it was important. I didn't let him out of my sight." Susan looked adorable being so proud over something that could be perceived so small.
"Ah yes, in sight, and in hand. I see you certainly weren't taking chances." The aurors in the area got a good laugh at the teens' expense when they noticed they were still holding hands. "Mr. Potter, I would never impose a will on my niece, however if you have intentions to court her, I would like to be made aware."
"Auntie!"
"Ma'am she is an amazing witch and if she'll tolerate me, I'll earn her favor." Susan's jaw dropped and the auror's around were impressed by the guts the kid had. Bones was famous in the DMLE for having a fiery temper and running the department with an iron fist. Nyx rubbed against his knee and he could feel her annoyance through his bond.
Her eyes met Harry's as she seemed to try to pressure him. "Is that so? My my, how presumptuous after just meeting me for the first time."
"Ma'am I met a Grim last summer, I bound to a Nundu the same day after attacking it and about two months before that I killed a sixty foot basilisk with a sword. The opportunity to be honest with you and myself presented itself so I took it. I invited Susan over to Blackwater numerous times for a reason after all." Harry was surprised with himself. He didn't feel nervous at all.
"Susan, you found a brave one. I approve. Now onto why I asked her to bring you to me." She called out, "Trilly." A small house elf showed herself with a large painting bigger than her floating behind her. There was a large cloth covering it. Amelia stepped forward and pulled the cloth off.
"Oh she warned me you'd look like him, Harry?"
"Mum?" Susan grabbed his arm and squeezed in support. It looked like he owed the Bones family much more than he realized.
End of chapter 11
