Chapter 9: Shenanigans
January 3rd, Hogwarts
Looking back on the drama of Christmas day, Harry was grateful that his friends had noticed a couple things he missed. Primarily the two gifts that had arrived with the notes. A brand new Firebolt and an amulet. They each had notes with them as well and while he was confident the amulet wouldn't be a problem, the Firebolt was a potential issue. The note it came with made it clear that Sirius had sent the item. Hermione's worries along with Regulus' warning convinced Harry that just to be safe, they'd let Professor McGonagall know about the gift on the off chance Sirius had done something to it.
The week before classes started back up also gave Harry some time to write a few letters. He sent one each to the Accounts Overseer at Gringotts to confirm his current state of accounts, Regulus to try and start a dialogue and Sirius in the hopes that he was mentally stable enough to have a conversation. Harry was really hopeful that Sirius wasn't actually crazy after what had come out during Pettigrew's trial. Harry felt that Sirius may be one of the last who had genuinely cared about him. If Regulus was correct about his mental state though, being around him wouldn't be safe.
While the castle was mostly empty Harry also got to enjoy the slow days and simply appreciate his time and growing ability to hear Magic's music. Hogwarts seemed to have a slow thrum to it. Quiet, but strong and very much alive. To Harry the music of Hogwarts was the most interesting when he tried to consciously call to it. Learning he could make requests of the school and sometimes get a response, Harry stopped getting lost as often in the back halls and corridors. It was estimated that perhaps half of the castle was stable and didn't change, however sometimes getting from one section to another involved the sections that did and was often the reason for being a few minutes late to class. The stairs rarely changed on him after he learned to put his own magic and intent out to ask the stairs to stay or move where he needed them. The corridors wouldn't respond to him the same, but they at least seemed to stop misleading him as commonly as they used to.
The winter break had overall gone very well for Harry. Now that classes had started back up, he was sitting at the breakfast table wondering if he should invite the other friends he'd made to sit with him. He knew there wasn't a rule against sitting at other tables except for nights of a feast. His friends in Gryffindor surrounding him helped keep his own magic calm with their songs, but he was starting to dislike being surrounded by so many people. The detriment of his growing affinity to listening to magic, was too many sources of magic in his vicinity quickly grew disconcerting. He'd have to figure out a way to navigate the problem.
Hermione patted his shoulder to pull him from his thoughts. "Harry, Care will be starting soon so we should get going and stop brooding about the broom."
"Hermione, the broom is the best and most expensive broom that can currently be purchased, he has a right to brood." Lavender stuck up for him like a champion in the night. Harry laughed at his own dramatic thoughts.
"Alright alright, I'm sad, but Hermione was right to be worried. I am too considering who it came from. I hope McGonagall clears it though. I want to take it out flying so bad." Harry smiled as he stood up, finishing the last of the warm coffee he had before they had to go outside in the cold. "Hope you all remembered to put your warm undies on."
Neville looked Harry up and down. He put a comically scared look on his face, "Don't tell me you forgot your own and need to share? Mate I'm a one man per pair of undies kind of guy."
"Oh piss off Neville." Harry smacked him in the arm and they started to play fight as they walked.
"Harry Potter?" A woman's voice interrupted their laughs and exit to the grounds. "I need a moment of your time."
"Yes Professor?" Seeing the divination professor outside of her room was a rare sight, and knowing he'd recently dropped her class mid year, he was curious if she was upset about it. The rest moved on without him. "See you at class."
"My sight has shown me you have your own version of it. It is not suited for interpreting the future like most with the gift, but the here and now. While it is not my specialty, I want to help you hone it. Having a better understanding of what's happening in the world around you could be the difference between life and death. I won't ask you to attend my class as it doesn't suit you, however at least once a week, I'd like a couple hours of your time on Tuesday night after dinner so that we can work on your ability."
"I uh… I'm not sure what to say to that. I feel as though my time is limited as it is with everything I'm trying to accomplish, but I'll do my best to set aside the time you specified."
Professor Trelawney got a distant look on her face as she smiled, "You'll be late at least half the sessions, and miss one entirely, but that's ok, don't use my words as an excuse and get there when you can, and you'll have enough time to learn what you need to before it truly matters." With that she turned away leaving a stunned Harry to go back to her class.
Nyx nudged Harry out of his stupor and gently pat his wrist like he needed to check his watch. 'Nobody I know wears a watch. How did she even learn that gesture? Weird.' Belatedly realizing she was right though, he hurried to catch up to his friends.
While Care of Magical Creatures was fun, it was Defense Against the Dark Arts that Harry was keen to get to, he wanted to get started on his anti-dementor lessons as soon as possible. Though reminding Lupin of his promise to teach the Patronus charm ended up giving Harry an even more loaded schedule.
It was Defense Against the Dark Arts that Harry was keen to get to; after his conversation with Wood, he wanted to get started on his anti-dementor lessons as soon as possible.
"Ah yes," said Lupin, when Harry reminded him of his promise at the end of class. "Let me see . . . how about eight o'clock on Thursday evening? The History of Magic classroom should be large enough. . . . I'll have to think carefully about how we're going to do this. . . . We can't bring a real dementor into the castle to practice on. . . ."
"Alright Professor, I'll see you then. The number of dementors around the grounds have been making people nervous and I really want to be able to protect myself." Harry hadn't heard of any more attacks, but the dementors made everyone nervous.
Leaving class with Hermione, the two ended up in the library with their study group
"You two are late, get lost in a broom closet on the way?" Ernie wiggled his eyes at them, getting laughter from the others.
"Come off it Ernie, you're just jealous it wasn't you." Harry said as seriously as he could.
Getting punched in the arm was worth it, "Harry! Don't be a prat. That'll make them think we were." Hermione was a bright red and Harry felt the need to push it a little.
"Hermione you wound me, I thought what we had was important. I understand, I'll take Susan into the broom closet with me next time." The music shifted a tad and he immediately dropped to the floor as a stinging hex went over him. Slowly getting up he looked over the table at two blushing witches. "Ladies, we can talk about this. I don't want to be spelled to death and you two will lose a handsome wizard. If you share, you both get what you want." Standing up, he made the mistake of letting his guard down thinking they wouldn't try to hex him again.
Later Neville was helping him get into the common room. "So Harry, what did we learn today?"
"That Hermione and Susan are both competent witches that do not handle being teased well."
"I was thinking maybe that you shouldn't be teasing them so much. I know you see Hermione as a sister, but I've never seen her so embarrassed. I've known Susan since we were little and let me tell you, she is normally very nice and kind, however she probably thought you were going overboard." Neville tried to help Harry learn from his mistake, but recognized Harry was probably going to do it again. This year Harry was considerably more confident and outgoing.
"It'll be ok Nev, I will remember the bit about Hermione, I don't actually want to make her uncomfortable from harmless flirting…. Well I guess it wasn't harmless since I'm being carried back to the common room. I'm going to keep teasing Susan though, the way she blushed was adorable and I'm going to see that again."
Neville shrugged and just kept helping him walk straight. 'Harry must have developed a crush on Susan. I'll have to see if I can help them get together. Hannah is really cute too.' Harry missed the blush on Neville's face as they both contemplated spending more time with their friends.
Lessons, including his extra lessons with Professor's Lupin and Trelawney were going well. Trelawney had helped him pick up on what he was hearing, and a few tricks for when he had time to sit down and try to decipher the music. A lot of what she helped him with was learning to trust the sound spells made when cast and learning the target of said spells based on how they sounded. This was extremely difficult for him since the tone would shift just slightly unless he himself was the target, but even then he struggled. Classes with Lupin ended up involving a boggart he was able to trick into thinking a dementor was his greatest fear. Using the memory of his friends would evoke mists, but he struggled to truly cast the spell.
The firebolt was returned to him without issue by mid January giving him a couple weeks of practice for their next game. Harry was pretty sure he had never been happier. There was a hiccup with another potential attack on a student from a dementor, however nobody was seriously injured. The victim was a second year, however they were not seriously hurt. The rest of their year went surprisingly smooth. Harry started getting antsy in April.
May 1st, Hogwarts
The feeling that something was going to go wrong wouldn't go away. He had started struggling to keep his anxiety hidden. When leaving a study session, someone grabbed his elbow.
Susan was looking him in the eye, "Harry what's wrong?"
He wasn't sure how best to explain himself. "Before this school year, it felt like something always went wrong. This school year started that way, and somehow it still went ok. I got Nyx, I made more good friends I can rely on, but I just feel like something bad could happen at any time. Sirius is still out there somewhere and I know he is innocent of betraying my parents, but I also have reason to believe he may not be mentally stable. All of it together is starting to stress me out."
"Oh Harry," Susan hugged him, "I'm sorry we didn't realize sooner. I have an idea, it's still early and we are all done with our homework. Come with me, I'll show you something cool." Once they had grabbed all their stuff, she took his hand and took the blushing Harry from the library to the basement. "You have to promise to keep it a secret, see this painting of fruit?" At his nod she continued, "tickle the pear here and it'll open the door to the kitchen. The house elves are all really sweet and so long as you are polite, they will get you almost anything you want." Showing him she meant tickle literally, she showed him into the kitchen.
Walking into the kitchen, Harry was hit by a small missile followed by a small pop. He had caught Mercury in his arms and Dobby was nearby with a smile on his face. "What can Dobby do for the Great Mister Harry Potter Slayer of Basilisks and his Misses?" Susan went from surprised to shocked to embarrassed all rather quickly.
"Susan here was showing me the Kitchen Dobby, I didn't actually know how to get here. It's good to see you and Mercury. Susan this is Dobby, I helped free him from an abuser, and this little guy I'm holding is Mercury. Mercury is my house elf and hugs me like this whenever it's been too long since I saw him last." Harry extended his arms holding Mercury under his arms while they both giggled.
Mercury put a hand to hit head in a salute, "Merc be reporting for hugs and things to do Mr. Harry Layer of Basilisks."
Susan started laughing as Harry almost dropped Mercury. "Merc please stop listening to Dobby if you're just going to say it wrong. Also, please just call me Harry." Sighing he gently put him down. "Would you two mind getting Susan and I something to snack on?"
The two teenagers spent a couple hours talking and joking in the kitchen before they were shoo'd out for preparations for dinner. Harry made plans with Susan to try and see her over break since he'd miss her. For all his flirting, he was still quite dense.
The next morning Harry received another couple of letters. One asking for an interview with Teen Witch Weekly which Lavender demanded he do and offered to help him prepare. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided he would. "Lavender I'll let you know when the interview is, and if I need to go shopping for whatever reason, I'll invite you and the rest out to make sure I don't pick something stupid. There were two other letters, one from his recently assigned personal accounts manager and one from Regulus.
Dear Harry
With Sirius still missing, I had the goblins reach out to you about potentially refitting the Potter properties. I have already started the process for the Black properties. Despite being a criminal I am still able to approve some things. I am unsure how much gold the Potters held as they were notoriously secretive, however the Black vaults are comparable to small countries. I am offering to pay for any repairs or upgrades done to any Potter property you may choose to live at. With your magical guardian alive and legally innocent of any crimes, nobody can legally force you to live somewhere you don't want to unless it is proven an unsafe location. I have had the goblins poke and prod the government to make sure if you choose to live on your own, nobody should give you any trouble. I still hope to meet you and give you a proper explanation for my actions. When you visit gringotts the account manager will help arrange that meeting. I'll be going dark until that meeting as I have found tracker spells placed on your beautiful owl. Don't feel bad or that it's your fault if I am unlucky and found.
Hope to see you soon
Regulus Arcturus Black
Most Handsome Black
Harry did feel bad if his actions were causing Regulus issues. He seemed to be one of the few adults properly concerned about his well being, and he was a convicted murderer, change of heart or no. He ran that thought through his head again and confirmed it was indeed messed up. He pocketed the letter and opened the other
Dear Mr. Potter
At the urging of a concerned individual, we have inspected all the properties still listed in your family accounts that currently have room for you to live in and have provided estimates to bring the building to what would be considered "proper" condition. There will be a second quote for what it would cost to install War Wards. There is an attached pamphlet to describe all that is included and how they are handled for maximum customer Safety. The properties below are those you could theoretically move into.
Property Name Location Refit Cost War Wards cost
Potter Cottage Godric's Hollow N/A Government held
Potter Manor Blackpool 495,000 galleons reactivation costs
Blackwater Fortress Blackwater Could not inspect, active wards
Other properties held in your name are currently being rented, as such if you wish to know your full holdings as you requested before, you will need to come of age. They will continue to be managed by Gringotts in the meantime. At this time, it is recommended to have Potter Manor fixed up. Reactivation costs are variable as the wards are in good shape, however the ward stones were drained without a powerful wizard living on property. If you would like a proper quote for Blackwater Fortress, please arrive at Gringotts at your earliest convenience as we will need your help to get on property. Our records show nobody has lived there full time in 400 years so the active wards surprised us greatly. Until confirming both magical and non magical records, we were unaware the Potters were proper Lords unlike the current lords in the Wizengamot.
Regards
Accounts Overseer
Coppery Ballingers
Slightly stunned, he decided to just get things taken care of the potential problem. He would rather live on his own than go back to the Dursleys' and with how they frustrated him, Harry was worried that Nyx might just eat them. He got up and walked to the head table stuffing the letter in his pocket to join the others. Professor McGonagall was probably his best bet to handle things properly so he aimed right for her as she spoke to the temporary potions professor. A Professor Slughorn that always made him feel a little weird like Slughorn was trying to assess his value.
"Professor, I got a letter from Gringotts that is requesting my presence. Would it be possible for a teacher to escort me there and pick me up before dinner? I believe it will take several hours to handle." He put his serious face on and almost laughed at himself. He still struggled to take him seriously. From others point of view though, Harry looked quite serious. Harry was taller, nearing 6', his constant exercise had resulted in a lot of muscle build up and to those who could perceive magic like McGonagall, Harry's magic gave his presence weight.
She was surprised, "Mr. Potter is it something that can wait for the weekend? You would miss a couple classes today."
"My understanding is that the sooner the better. I also plan to grab my two heir rings while I am there. They have been complaining to me that I haven't already done so in previous letters, and this letter left that matter out of it completely."
"Minerva, if the goblins didn't mention something that important, we really should let the boy go. If I remember right, it is our classes he would miss and with Quidditch over for the year, he has time to make up for any missed work." Harry appreciated Slughorn helping him out. He still wasn't sure what was up with the guy, but at least he knew he wasn't an enemy.
"That is a good point Horace. Okay Mr. Potter, I will ensure you get there safely and one of the teachers will meet you in the entrance of Gringotts an hour before dinner, that should give you roughly eight hours to handle your business. If you are ready significantly earlier or you will be late, have them contact us by floo. If you learn the business will take longer than today, I will be quite cross with you if you don't reschedule it or have a valid excuse." Professor McGonagall had a warning look on her face and several students watching had wondered if Harry managed to get himself in trouble. "Meet me in my office in twenty minutes Mr. Potter, I need to let the Headmaster know and then we can be on our way."
"Thank you both, I really would like to get all this house business taken care of." Harry gave a slight bow and started to walk out the great hall.
"Potter, get yourself in trouble again? It's been too quiet this year and I was wondering if you'd get in trouble." Malfoy had left his table and decided to try and regain some of his influence in Slytherin by making Harry look bad. It was not a well thought out plan.
"Actually Malfoy you're just the bloke I wanted to see. You see I have a date later and was making sure McGonagall didn't mind me missing a couple classes for something as important as making sure I had an heir." Harry wasn't quiet and spoke loud enough that several had started actively listening in.
"Don't be ridiculous Potter, nobody would want a pathetic half blood like you."
"Well Malfoy I'm glad it's her opinion and not yours that matters. So help a man out will you? I need your help." Harry was trying to be just dramatic enough that the smarter people could tell he was messing with Draco, but not so dramatic that the idiots like Draco would see through it.
"Oh and how can I help you? Finally realize that I'm the superior wizard and can give you a tip or two?" Malfoy looked much too smug for Harry's taste and he could almost taste his coming victory over the ponce.
"Well as you know I need an heir for the Potter family line, so I need to make as good of a first impression as I can. So tell me, what's your mother's favorite flower?" As the laughter surrounded them, Draco looked like he was about to explode. Harry leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Temper Draco, you couldn't take me before this year, and now whole groups of wizards wouldn't be able to take me with Nyx watching my back, and she is always watching my back." Harry took a step back and saw Nyx was casually leaning into Draco's leg to make it look like he was petting her. Harry snorted, he loved Nyx. Malfoy's face was pale and he was clearly trying not to tremble.
Harry glanced around and saw the majority of the school was whispering as they watched the two's confrontation. So he smirked and raised his voice. "Thanks for the tips Draco, I'll get those flowers and I didn't know she liked Honeydukes so much, I'll be sure to bring her the treats you mentioned. I'll let you know how tonight goes." Harry turned and started laughing once he was out in the great hall. He almost felt bad before remembering how often Draco did stupid stuff to try and get a rise out of him.
Later, after he had been waiting a few minutes, Mcgonagall arrived at her office and took him and Nyx through the Floo. Arriving at Gringotts with McGonagall she reminded him of the time limit and the qualifiers she had mentioned earlier. After she left, he asked for his Account Manager.
Being led to an office, he walked in and was greeted by a somewhat portly goblin. "Hello Harry Potter, I am the Potter Accounts Manager. My name is Ragnuuk. I have been working closely with the Black Account Manager to make sure that your financial situation is properly taken care of. I know you were told you couldn't do much with your portfolio before you came of age, however when the issue of you not having a place of your own to live was brought up and the fact that you yourself have already earned your account millions of gold with the sales of the basilisk, we decided we would do what we could to help your situation. Since you are here, I assume you want to inspect the castle or you could have just written a letter for the Manor. Correct?"
"That's true. Also I'm unaware of proper etiquette with goblins, I'm still learning how to treat other wizards. Would you mind telling me the basics?" Harry wasn't sure if asking was even the smart thing to do, but he forgot to ask Professor Flitwik and hadn't been sure if doing so would've been racist.
Ragnuuk grinned a nasty grin and pulled a small book out of his desk. "Ten galleons and you can keep it. You may not be surprised how few think to ask the first time they meet a goblin."
Harry told him and pocketed the book, "If you don't mind I'll read it when I have time. For now I'll default to being polite, so long as that's reciprocated. Is that fine?"
"Reasonable. I appreciate you not willingly wasting my time. Since you are here, I will leave shortly to grab a portkey to Blackwater Fortress and a small group to act as guards just in case." He stood and walked out.
A short five minutes later he returned with ten other goblins. "We will portkey to a safe location outside of the wards and see if they let you in. I also retrieved the heir ring for you. If you still can't get us on property, you may need to be Lord Potter."
"Got it Ragnuuk, I appreciate you and the others helping me try and take care of this." Going to their "outbound" room, the guards were a little miffed when Nyx showed herself to put her paw on the portkey as well. "Sorry everyone, I forget others can't see her sometimes."
With a flash of light, the group appeared on a paved walkway along a small river. Looking around Harry could see buildings in the distance. "Ragnuuk, I know the location was listed as Blackwater, but I was under the impression that it is a city outside of London. Those buildings are clearly Magical in nature."
"Yes there is a non magical city by the same name. This magical community is actually far from there. Roughly 170 miles to the southwest of the non magical Blackwater or roughly 20 miles north of Plymouth if you are familiar with that name. It is the third largest magical community on the isles after Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow. I believe roughly 315,500 magicals live there. My understanding is that while it is technically land owned and governed by the Potter family, they have not enforced their rule on the people there since the last time the fortress was occupied. You will be interested to note Mr. Potter, that the fortress was built with the help of goblins and druids. Your family has a history of helping those in need. We are actually quite happy to be here today."
That was a lot to take in, was he responsible for those people's safety? He would have to find out. "Wait, there are that many? Hundreds of thousands of people? I had no idea there were that many magicals in the United Kingdom let alone in one place."
"Well there are roughly ten non magical for every magical. There are around 58 million non magical people in the United Kingdom. There have been three wars in the last 100 years that have harmed the people here. Two were non magical started, but magicals helped. The last was almost exclusively magical, but non magical people suffered. These fights had a lot of casualties like your family. The Potter Family used to have dozens of family members. However Fighting, kidnapping, torture and assassination attempts all lowered the numbers. You are the only name on your family tree. Many other noble families have gone extinct. The vast majority of magical families are half bloods. To be clear, when I mention magicals, I also mean those like Veela that cannot exist without Wizards. I don't include goblins since we are our own race though we can have children with wizards. However that still leaves four and a half to five million total magicals living in Magical Britain alone."
They had been walking up the road and finally came across a gate. Harry noticed that Nyx seemed oddly anxious, but he felt nothing from his senses to put him on edge so he tried to calm her through their link.
"Here Mr. Potter, I am unsure what method your ancestors used, but our curse breakers were sure that to get in, we would have lost people and that simply wasn't worth it for an inspection."
Harry could feel the magic and listened to it. Putting on his ring he reached out until he felt the barrier. Letting out some of his own magic, he listened. Feeling the wards, he could slowly feel himself almost communicating with it. The magic in Hogwarts felt similar, but vastly different. Alive and active. The magic here felt like he was coaxing it awake. Calling out to it, he tried to change the way his magic called out to the wards. He tried to have the magic sync together.
With a loud clap, the ward dropped, but only through the gate. The wards seemed to have come alive and magic reached out from the castle, feeling its surroundings. "I will walk through. If I am unaffected, Nyx will follow. After that, I believe you all should be ok. I am trying to get the magic to let you through. It feels like it's listening, but I'm still learning runes and my understanding of wards is limited. I think I need to find the wardstone."
One of the guards stepped forward, "The Breakers always say the wardstone should be at the center of the magic. If you can feel it, follow it, but be careful and move slow. We are here to protect you and Ragnuuk."
"Understood, I'll try not to rush into danger. No promises." Harry stepped forward and marveled at the castle before him. It wasn't as big as Hogwarts but it felt much more functional. It felt like a building of war. He remembered seeing pictures of Dover Castle and Blackwater Fortress was similar in base design, but much bigger. Following the magic as the goblin said, he was soon at the front door. He simply waved it open and once more just fell in love with magic. He knew he didn't have control of the wards yet, but being family, he could already control minor aspects of the building. He vowed to train as hard as possible to protect his future family. Walking into the greeting hall, he appreciated the magical fires popping into existence so he could see. He felt the wards react when Nyx crossed the threshold into the building, but he quashed the response before it could harm her.
Following the pull of his magic once again, he marveled at the building and couldn't help imagining his own future children running down the halls, blushing as he realized he was imaging children that looked an awful lot like his favorite Hufflepuff. As he walked past a dining room, he imagined his friends over for breakfast and the feeling of being home grew overwhelming as he got into the basement. The guards had to stop at the door to the down stairs. The wards wouldn't allow anyone not bound to family down. He assured them he'd be fast.
Finally reaching the Ward Room, he had to cut his hand and put his blood on the door for it to open. Listening to the magic he realized if someone else had put his blood on the door, the magic backlash probably would have killed anyone in the hall. The Wardstone was nearly as big as Harry was. Magic runes carved into exposed parts, with floating halos of runes floating around it like a gyroscope. Harry was fascinated, but the magic felt like it was pulling him closer so he finally put his hand on the stone and everything seemed to click into place. With his hand on the Stone, he could feel everything the wards could. Including how the cat behind him wasn't actually a Nundu at all.
Harry looked at Nyx and wondered how he was going to handle this situation, she looked extremely nervous and he finally figured out why she had been so anxious. She must have realized she was going to get found out. He sighed, why couldn't anything ever go smoothly. Nyx looked up at him and seemed to give him a heavy sigh. She stepped back as he stared at her.
Undoing her animagus transformation she stood up and looked at him anxiously. Nyx's head came up to Harry's chin, she had long dark hair and thankfully she was clothed. With her figure, he was honest enough to know he'd have trouble looking away. Her voice soft and filled with fear, "Hello master, um, any possibility you could pretend you don't know anything about this and we go back how things were?"
Harry, as intelligent and eloquent as ever, "Fuck."
End of chapter 9