CHAPTER 7:

A GROWING BOND

Aerith, oddly enough, proved to be a quick study with a number of spells. Maybe it was her Cetra heritage. After all, her ancestors wielded magic with an ease the rest of humanity envied, that much she knew from her mother's stories. And although Harry's spells came from another world, the wizards and witches of that world, the Planet 'told' her, had Cetra blood flowing through their veins.

The Stunner was certainly one she picked up on easily, and certainly good for non-lethal combat, as was Expelliarmus. A Patronus would be considerably more difficult, and apparently, Harry had the ability to use Legilimency, a mind-reading magic. He rarely used it, citing bad experiences involving a teacher invading his mind and doing so in a violating manner. He mostly learned it as a skill the Unspeakables he worked for required, and even then, he tended to use it more to repair minds that had been attacked by external forces rather than to attack minds or read them.

Most wizards and witches on his world relied on wands for their spells, something he kept out of habit, though both he and Delphi knew how to use wandless spells. Aerith found it easier to use her staff as a medium for spells, something she had done with magic of her own people (assuming the Tempest spell and the like was the spells her people used outside of what magic could be emulated with Materia), but she could do so wandlessly. And it had only been a few days since she started, using the garden of her house, in order to ensure the Turks didn't watch. The Turks had an unspoken rule that they would not spy on Aerith once she was on her mother's property.

As Elmyra watched on, her adoptive mother remarked, "You have a gift for teaching, Harry. Did you ever consider becoming a teacher on your homeworld?"

"A few times, but…the last time I did any teaching, it didn't end well," Harry said.

"Why is that?" Aerith asked. "I know you're not fond of your fame, so was that a factor?"

"In a roundabout way, it did," Harry said. "One year, the year after Voldemort regained his body, my name and Dumbledore's were being slandered by the Ministry of Magic. Worse, I was kept in the dark, by my friends, by my allies, all on Dumbledore's orders. I wasn't happy, to say the least. But the Minister of Magic was just a coward who listened to whoever was passing him money. His Senior Undersecretary, though…" Harry shuddered. "I'm wondering if somehow, some Hedgehog Pies made it to Earth, and she was descended from them. Her name was Dolores Umbridge, and I have a few nicknames for her that I don't like saying in front of Delphi. She was appointed by Ministerial Decree the latest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts. And her lessons, lessons intended for future magical police officers or Aurors, I might add, basically amounted to running away and finding someone in authority to deal with it."

Elmyra stared at him flatly, an expression Aerith herself shared. "You're joking."

"I wish I was," Harry said. "It says a lot that she was the worst teacher in the role we ever had, and that counts a coward who was actually Voldemort's underling, a narcissistic monster hunter who was a plagiarist, a werewolf, and a Death Eater masquerading as a retired Auror. I spoke up, and for my temerity, I was subject to detention to write lines, with a cursed quill that actually carved scars into my hand. I had, until recently, scars reading I MUST NOT TELL LIES written into my hand. And she got away with it partly because that Minister gave her too much power. So, in the end, I basically started up a club designed to teach willing students proper defensive spells, including the ones I've been teaching Aerith."

"I'm guessing it didn't end well," Aerith mused. "I mean, given what you said before."

"Too right. I had…a girlfriend at the time, for want of a better term, but things were already awkward between us for many reasons, not least of which was that her previous boyfriend was murdered by Voldemort right in front of me. She joined that club, and brought a friend who was…well, a cow, to be perfectly honest, as she mistreated another friend of mine. But she also willingly betrayed us to Umbridge, even knowing what kind of creature she was, because she was worried about her mother keeping her job. Never mind that Umbridge intended to torture us to learn our secrets, many of which didn't actually exist except in her own twisted mind. That sort of soured me on teaching."

"I can see why," Elmyra said. "But thank you for teaching Aerith anyway. You know now that I am not her mother by blood, but I am in every other way that matters, and I would hope that Ifalna would approve of what I am doing. Teaching my daughter how to defend herself is something I had to do eventually, even if I didn't like it."

After Elmyra had finished, Aerith asked, "So, I presume that's a former girlfriend. Did you have anyone else at the time?"

"Not really. I tried making it work with a couple of my friends, but…it was better we remained friends. Besides, Delphi's parentage didn't help matters. Neither did my fame, albeit for different reasons. People didn't see me for Harry Potter, a lot of the time. I was just the Boy Who Lived, and when I adopted Delphi, they viewed it as an act of betrayal."

Elmyra shook her head. "It shouldn't have been. If anything, it was an act of bravery, selflessness, and absolute heroism. And you have done an excellent job raising Delphi. Take it from one adoptive parent to another."

Delphi smiled shyly up at Elmyra, while Harry nodded. "Thanks, Elmyra. I wish Magical Britain was as open-minded as you are."

"I'm not as open-minded as you think," Elmyra said, waving a dismissive hand. "But…I'm not an idiot, and the sins of the father or the mother shouldn't be passed to the child. Unfortunately, too many people are like that in the world, and they don't need magic to be like that. Then again, some people will seize on the slightest excuse to fight each other. I mean, Shinra went to war against Wutai because Wutai refused to allow a Mako Reactor to be built. My husband died, to say nothing of thousands of other people, because President Shinra couldn't swallow his pride and allow that to happen. Then again, it's not like the Wutai people are innocent, either. I don't swallow the garbage propaganda Shinra puts out online or on TV or papers, but I heard some horror stories in the letters my husband sent home, of what the Wutai troops and ninjas did to our soldiers. As far as I'm concerned, both sides did a lot that they should never be proud of."

"War is hell. Believe me, I've fought in one. A few things I did, I was not proud of. But in the end, I kept my soul and morals more or less intact," Harry said.

"Believe me, if I thought otherwise, I wouldn't let you or your daughter anywhere near here," Elmyra said. "That being said, I'd be careful if you go back to Sector 7. Rumour has it lately that a few of the more belligerent cells of AVALANCHE are active there. And at least one faction of AVALANCHE has come after Aerith before."

"Joy," Harry said flatly.

Later on that morning, they headed to Wall Market, Delphi having been left behind with Elmyra, to the young witch's annoyance. Someone called Andrea had sent word, wanting them to deliver some flowers to someone called 'Madam M'. Harry looked to Aerith for the answers, even as he escorted her to Wall Market.

"Wall Market, as I told you before, is a centre of vice in the slums," Aerith said. "It used to be a shanty town for construction workers, who needed somewhere not only to live, but to spend their Gil and to blow off steam. But it's now run by the crime gangs, or rather, one in particular, Don Corneo. I told you that much, but what I didn't tell you is that I try to avoid Wall Market when Corneo is looking for new…'brides'."

"Brides? Plural?"

"Yeah. Rumours abound about that little practise, some less savoury than others," Aerith said. "At best, the girls end up as part of a harem. But at worst…in any case, Corneo's not the only wheeler-dealer in town. There's three others, business owners in Wall Market that, while technically subordinate to Corneo, actually hold as much power as he does, at least collectively. Chocobo Sam owns the Chocobo carriage transport system that takes people anywhere they want in the slums, as long as they have the Gil, and has Chocobos racing at Gold Saucer and other racetracks. He also likes to salvage and modify Shinra robots for fighting in the arena at Wall Market. Andrea owns the Honeybee Inn. I suppose you could call it an adult cabaret club. He turned it from a seedy brothel into something wonderful, if a touch gaudy. Then again, the man's camp as a row of tents. But he's also a good man, one of the best in Wall Market. He wants to bring out the best in people, make their dreams come true, and to be free to be who they really are."

"You respect him," Harry noted.

"I respect him as a person, and not just because of the power he wields," Aerith said. "And finally, there is Madam M. Officially, she runs a massage parlour of considerable fame and repute. Expensive, though. Unofficially, she runs much of the prostitution in Wall Market, though she keeps the massage parlour business completely separate from that. She emigrated from Wutai, so the stories say. Then again, half the décor in Wall Market has a Wutaian air to it. I think Corneo has a thing for it…"

Madam M did indeed look Japanese, an older woman, in her 30s or 40s, dressed up as a geisha, albeit the rather saucier kind, showing off a good proportion of her cleavage. However, she also managed to show not inconsiderable elegance, albeit mixed with a haughtiness that rubbed Harry the wrong way. The manner in which she seemed to look down upon Aerith didn't help matters either.

However, she did happily buy the flowers, handing over the money without hesitation. Harry was glad to be away from her afterwards, and Harry was taken by Aerith around Wall Market. Sector 5 and Sector 7 felt homey, but Wall Market, for better or for worse, felt vibrant and energetic, despite still being something of a slum.

They didn't linger, though, and eventually, they were on their way back. As they did so, Harry found himself asking, "What's Zack like?"

"You'd like him," Aerith said. "Tifa was right, he's like an overeager puppy, full of energy and life. A bit of a ditz at times, but…despite Mom's misgivings, he's definitely a good person, even if he was working for Shinra. Don't get me wrong, while some people have a good or neutral opinion of Shinra, I'm not blind to their atrocities. I grew up in one of their labs, after all, saw the evil that lurks beneath the surface. But I know good people work for them. In fact, most of the nastier people are either in the executive ranks, or else in the military. And not everyone who opposes them are good. One cell of AVALANCHE tried to kidnap me once, and as Mom said, some Wutai fighters were every bit as cruel as Shinra's forces. Anyway, Zack…he's a good guy in the end, despite being a SOLDIER, First Class. Hopefully, he'll remain that way."

"Remain that way?"

"Well, Shinra does have a corrupting influence, and Sephiroth confessed what he did to Nibelheim," Aerith said. "But there's also another problem. Tseng once told me…members of SOLDIER have a limited lifespan on average. Something to do with the Mako infusion. It eventually causes cellular degradation, auto-immune disease, and eventually, a premature death. Though in some ways, that doesn't make sense. Mako infusion is dangerous, Mako Poisoning is a real risk, but, while it could cause disease later on, the way Tseng said it, it appears in most members of SOLDIER eventually."

"Maybe it's the way Shinra does it? I mean, they're a corporation, they probably keep some parts secret so that they can keep a monopoly on it," Harry pointed out. "And remember what Sephiroth said. He was created by being a hybrid with Jenova cells. Maybe SOLDIER has the same thing."

"…That's scarily plausible," Aerith said. "Jenova is a being entirely alien to this world. Hybridising an alien's cells with our cells could be dangerous. Sephiroth may have been able to cope physically given that the hybridisation happened while he was in the womb, I presume, or at least at a young age, but…for normal people…" She shook her head. "It would explain too much, but…I'm not giving up Zack for dead, not yet."

"He's a lucky guy, then," Harry said with a smile. "That cow Madam M seemed to think you were plain, but she obviously needs glasses or contact lenses. And you're easily one of the nicest people I have ever met."

Aerith looked to him, before she looked away. "That could sound so flippant, but…that's the truth, isn't it?" she asked sadly.

"…There's people who are genuinely nice, and then there's those who fake it. And there's people who are nice, but do some nasty shit regardless," Harry said. "I may not have grown up in a lab like you did, but…my first bedroom was a boot cupboard underneath the stairs of my aunt and uncle's home, while my spoilt, fat brat of a cousin got two bedrooms to himself. The first true kindness I was given was by a half-Giant called Hagrid, and…well, despite the fact that we were friends, I thought, we had something of an argument about Delphi. I had a lot of those. Some people accepted her, despite her parentage, despite Sephiroth being bound to her, but others…Hagrid was a good man, but he felt too beholden to Dumbledore, and would never hear a word against him, even when those words were true. Plus, Voldemort, back when he was a student at Hogwarts, screwed Hagrid over, and while Hagrid normally doesn't hold a grudge, when he learned the truth…I learned how nasty he could be. Oh, he wouldn't see Delphi dead, he's not that bad, but…he thought my adopting her was a betrayal. So too did more than a few others. Oh, I know they weren't bad people, but…people kept seeing me as this paragon, this hero. But I'm not."

"I agree and disagree. True, I know you hate the thought of being a hero, and, well, heroes have a nasty habit of dying young, or turning into the next villain," Aerith said. "But…you're selfless and caring, Harry. And…you're braver than I am." She looked down at the ground. "I wish I could do more to stop Shinra. But…even with the magic I wield, I am weak. And I'm also afraid of my own power. Sometimes, I even hate it. When I was a child, the other children of the slums sensed something different about me. Sometimes, they bullied me. Biggs was my first friend, and he was older than me. He left for Sector 7 later, but…I started to get more. Yet…I still feel set apart with my power, and yet, despite that, I can't do much with it."

"Aerith…if you saw someone in trouble in front of you, would you run and hide, or would you save them, even if it meant putting yourself in danger?" he asked. "Don't answer that, because I know the answer. You'd save that person. Besides, it's not like I'm not guilty of the same thing. I could have tried to change the Ministry of Magic, Aerith. After beating Voldemort, I did try. But…it felt too big, like the corruption there was an even worse monster than Voldemort, especially once they started going after Delphi. So I ran, ran with Delphi. I had no idea what I was going to do, aside from trying to keep her and my friends safe. I was on the run after Voldemort took over the Ministry too. Too many thought me a coward then. I'd be a hypocrite if I ever called you a coward."

Aerith shot him a grateful smile. They didn't know it, but their bond was beginning to grow. True, there was a limit to its growth for now, but soon, it would grow, even if it took tragedy to take off those limits…

CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Harry and Aerith are bonding, and only a certain puppy is in the way. Sorry, Zack.

Review-answering time! Dragon Man 180: If he was a Servant, Sephiroth would most definitely be a Saber in this form.

codywhite162: Harry could probably curbstomp a Turk in a one-on-one battle. Reno might give him some trouble with his flash-stepping, but that's what Apparition is for. Ironically, I view Harry's combat style as being not unlike that of another Final Fantasy protagonist: namely Noctis from Final Fantasy XV. Noct uses his warping ability to move in and out of the battlefield, blindsiding foes, and I view Harry as doing the same with Apparition.

Against some foes, Harry will have trouble, but they're usually either monsters, mechs, or enhanced beings like members of SOLDIER. And against groups of enemies, unless his allies aren't in the way, he will take longer to pick them off.

Lordlexx: A Harry/Tifa story is still on the cards. I'm still considering a story where Harry replaces Cloud's soul when the latter is suffering from Mako Poisoning in the lab in Nibelheim. I put the initial chapters of my first stab at that story into the Cauldron as Cloudy Days for Harry Potter. I will try to revise it at a later date and work on it again (in the new version, Zack will survive thanks to Cloud-Harry's intervention). That story will be more comedic, with more references to Team Four Star's Machinabridged series, as well as Mystic 777's Escape Plan Green. Oh, and there'll be a harem, with at least Tifa and Jessie in it (I considered Aerith, but decided it hindered the story), with possibly more. I'm thinking Cissnei as a possible addition. And no, no Yuffie, she'd be too young. I'd pair her with a Harry who is closer to her age…

L: Tifa and Barret won't know until the time comes. Barret will be freaked out, but not as much as Tifa or Cloud. Tifa will eventually be understanding, but it'll take some time for Cloud to accept matters. However, Cloud will come to accept matters, albeit reluctantly. It helps that, thanks to Harry's intervention, he's going to be in full command of his memories, knowing which ones are his own, and which ones are Zack's, but warped by Jenova, so Sephiroth's original self can't manipulate him as easily.

No numbered annotations this time.