Chapter 11
To be Whole Again
Last Time
"Now that your name has been cleared, and you have been given custody of Harry, would I be right in assuming that you will be staying at the Black family home?" Dumbledore asked, and continued on Sirius's nod. "I want to make sure that Harry is as safe as possible, hence would you allow me to cast some protections around the place and add in some security measures? While the protections that were placed around it by your ancestors are quite strong, one can never be too sure."
"I much appreciate you doing this Headmaster." Sirius said, gratefully.
"Think nothing of it my boy, but there is one more favor I must ask of you. Would you allow it to be the temporary headquarters for the Order? Only until we can find a permanent alternative of course. As you know He has returned and we need to set up everything immediately." Dumbledore requested emphasizing the words 'Order' and 'He' to help Sirius understand exactly what he was talking about.
Hogwarts Express, Near London, 30th June 1995
For once Harry looked forward to returning from Hogwarts, as the train moved closer to King's Cross Station. His godfather's name was cleared and he would never have to see the Dursleys again, although a dark part inside him wanted to return to the Dursleys now that he was a master at Wandless Magic, and knew how to perform magic in a muggle area without the Ministry being notified. He did have sixteen years of "hospitality" to thank them for.
' This time I will make sure that Dudley's pigtail is permanent.' Harry thought as an evil smile appeared on his lips. Which caused many others in the compartment to become a bit uncomfortable and his girlfriends to share a glance and frown in his direction.
"What are you planning Harry?" Susan asked, suspiciously. Harry turned to his left where Susan was leaning against him before she questioned him.
"Huh? What? Nothing, nothing. Absolutely nothing." Harry said, the evil smile remaining on his face.
"Harry…" came Daphne's cold voice from his right side. Turning to face Daphne, Harry gave his best puppy expression that he could manage.
"Daph! Really! I am not planning anything. Why won't you believe me?" Harry replied.
"Uh huh…" came the reply.
"Another year done." Luna sadly said as she looked out the window. Earning a sigh in relief from the other occupants of the compartment as the topic changed, but not before Daphne and Susan gave Harry a look that clearly said ' You better not do something stupid.', but the look on Daphne's face subtly suggested that if it was something particularly evil, she would want to be a part of it.
"They do seem to fly by awfully fast." Hannah said.
"Yes, they do." Blaise agreed.
"But it is not like we will be out of touch. We have the floo and now that Harry is moving out from his muggle relative's place and moving in with Sirius, he will also have access to the floo network. And letters are also always an option." Tracey pointed out, trying to brighten the mood a bit.
"Only use letters for trivial stuff that no one but us would care about, I have a feeling Voldemort or anyone of his followers is going to be keeping a keen eye on the owl post, especially if it's coming to me or anyone close to me." Harry said.
Harry, after much discussion with Daphne and Susan, had decided to let their friends in on the truth. Harry from his future knowledge knew that all were loyal, and would not divulge anything he said not to. Also, something that helped them believe in Voldemort's return was the announcement by the Headmaster himself at the end-of-the-year feast. When Dumbledore announced that even though the Ministry was trying to keep it under wraps, he wanted to make the students aware of it.
Though no plans were made by them for the return of the Dark Lord, as Harry had no desire to form any Power Ranger type squad of small kids to deal with a noseless, white-ass guy that he was anyways planning on dealing with. He just made sure to caution them, and if needed he would always be there to protect them.
This topic just caused both Daphne and Susan to hold his arm a bit more tightly while leaning their head against his shoulders, trying to keep the worry from showing on their face, at which Daphne was doing considerably better than Susan, as one would expect, but that did not mean that she worried any less.
After a few moments of silence, Harry moved out of the compartment with the excuse of wanting to free and stretch his legs. In actuality, he wanted to pursue the same business venture he had invested in, in the original timeline.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
It had been a major blockbuster in the original timeline. The shop was a favorite for many Kids, teenagers, adults, and even some of the elderly. It had been a great financial decision on Harry's part to invest in the Weasley twin's business venture.
As he walked down the train, he came across the compartment that the twins were sitting in, as usual talking about other joke products that they could invent.
"Ah, Fred and George, just the clowns I wanted to see." Harry said as he entered the compartment.
"Ah, if it isn't the Boy-That-Won-The-Triwizard-Championship-Without-Entering-His-Name." said George, which only caused Harry to groan.
"Long time no see Harry. But then again, you've been busy with the tournament." Fred said.
"And what did you call us? Clowns?! We are pranksters!" Both twins said at the same time as if being a prankster was the same as being the President of a country.
"Okay, listen up you Jokers. I've heard that you two want to open a joke shop." Harry said, ignoring the offended looks that came his way when he referred to them as Jokers. "And I would like to invest in it with some of my money."
Fred and George exchanged looks as if they thought that Harry had lost his mind. He was throwing away some of his family money, on them of all people, especially after what their youngest brother had done to him. They just did not understand it at all.
"But why would you want to invest in a shop that is owned by two school kids, especially a joke shop?" Fred asked, genuinely curious.
"You guys already know about the Marauders, I won't bore you with the details. But what you might not know is that Prongs, was my father. James Potter. Who loved pranking. Me investing and helping set up a joke shop by the ones that look up to him and his friends would mean more to me than any of you can imagine. It would be like me honoring my father. Doing something for him that I have no doubt he himself would have done if he were here." Harry said softly, remembering his father.
While he did want to invest in the joke shop as it had given him great returns in the future, it was not his primary reason. He did not have to worry about the money, he already was more than wealthy. So, no, he was not doing this for money primarily. He was doing this to honor his father. Hoping that his father would be looking down at him and smiling that big smile of his, knowing that his son had tried to spread happiness and was trying to keep the pranking aspect alive and integrated with the Potter family. Something that he absolutely loved to do.
This caused a stunned silence to spread in the compartment. While both Fred and George were going to start mock worshiping Harry as soon as they learned that he was the son of one of the great pranksters that they looked up to, they quickly decided not to do it once they heard what else Harry had to say. Their eyes lost the mischievous look and became a bit soft while looking at Harry, whom they considered to be their little brother after the bonds that had been formed while they shared the field while playing Quidditch for their house.
"So, with that out of the way. Let's talk business. I would like to invest the money that I won in the Triwizard Tournament." Harry said, changing the topic when the atmosphere in the compartment became a bit heavy and the conversation seemed a bit emotional. Fishing out the thousand galleons he had won from his pocket.
"Harry! A thousand galleons, that's more than we could ever use." George said while attempting to stop Harry from getting the bag of Galleons out of his pocket.
"We can't accept this." Fred said, shaking his hand as Harry attempted to give them the money.
"See! This is the reason you need me. You guys are only thinking about inventing new things. There is a lot more that goes into running a successful business. While you do need money to lease a place, you also need money to actually mass produce your items, maintenance, new ingredients for your products, marketing, staff for cleaning, storage, bookkeeping, and cashier. You need to build a storage room. There are a lot of things that you need to do guys, and all this won't be cheap. And I would think that these thousand galleons would even be a bit less. This I am giving as an initial investment, so you could lease a place, start inventing, and just initiate the business. We will have to invest more once you actually start selling your products before the business can make a profit and sustain itself." Harry explained while placing the bag of galleons in George's hands.
"Thank you for all of this Harry. While we were so focused on inventing the products for the shop, we did not even stop to consider the entire list of things we would require and need to accomplish for the shop to work. But as you said, you are INVESTING, and so we shall have a three-way split in the shop and the profits. And that is not up for debate." Fred said, with a more serious tone than Harry had ever heard him use.
Platform 9 and 3/4, Kings Cross Station, 30th June 1995
As the train approached the platform the group of friends got ready to leave. After a few goodbyes and making a few plans to meet each other the friends left until only Harry, Susan and Daphne were left standing there.
As they saw Amelia Bones and Evelyn Greengrass approach them, both Daphne and Susan turned to face Harry and said at the same time with their hands on their waist and eyes narrowed. "Keep out of trouble."
This caused both of them to look at each other before they started laughing and Harry had a pout on his face, feigning a mock offended look.
"Ok, now, keep in touch. Don't do anything stupid. And be careful Harry. I know you are a strong and capable wizard. But with himback, I just can't help but worry about you." Daphne said before she leaned forward and wrapped her hands around Harry's neck. Harry returned the kiss, their tongues meeting together, as Daphne played with his hair. They were attracting a few stares but neither really cared. They broke apart as Daphne leaned her forehead against Harry's. "I'll see you soon Harry."
"Ok, enough of this. My turn." Susan said as she pushed Daphne out of the way, apparently tired of waiting for her turn to say goodbye to Harry. Wrapping her hands around Harry's neck, she pulled him down towards her for a passionate kiss, trying to outperform Daphne. This gesture only caused Daphne to narrow her eyes, and the number of stares to increase. Once they broke apart, Harry could no longer contain his chuckle at the antics of his girlfriends.
"I can't wait to see you two again. Hopefully very soon." Harry said as he pulled both the girls in for a hug.
"Whenever it is, it won't be soon enough." Susan said and Daphne nodded in agreement. Harry was thankful that there were a number of things that he had to do to prepare for Voldemort to keep him occupied until he saw his girls again.
' God! The teenage years were the years of cheesy dialogues! Argh! Just help me get past this phase too.'
After an equally scary 'talk' with Evelyn like the one he had on the day of the third task with Amelia and a warning to not make her a grandmother too soon which caused all three of the children to blush, Harry made his way down the platform where he could see his godfather waiting for him.
"Hello, Harry." Sirius said as his godson approached him. A good-natured smile on his face. "How have you been holding up so far after what happened?" Sirius asked in a whisper, making sure only Harry was able to hear him. Harry had already told Sirius about his fake memory loss when Sirius visited him after the tournament, and also told him his reasons behind faking the memory loss. While Sirius did not quite understand it, he did accept it.
"I have been good enough, the fact that Voldemort returned is going to make it tough on all of us. But we will eradicate him like the disease he is." Harry said.
' While not the most dangerous, he can cause a lot of problems if not kept in check. I will have to deal with him as soon as possible, so I can focus on the real danger.' Harry thought, a fire in his eyes as he was reminded of the horrific scenes of the past that he had lived through.
"Indeed, grab a hold of my arm and I will apparate us back to my ancestorial house. I do apologize, it is in shambles, no one's lived there since my mother died except for the house elf and he hasn't done all that much to tidy up the place." Sirius said as he shook his head before he held out his arm for Harry to take.
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 30th June 1995
The moment they touched down; Sirius quickly entered the door. The house was covered in cobwebs and it had a foreboding aura within it.
"Keep quiet as we pass here; we don't want to wake up my mother's potrait." Sirius whispered. The remainder of the painting had Harry shuddering. No matter what he or any of his wives did, they just were not able to remove the painting from the wall.
It was finally removed after a particularly loud shouting match between Susan and Sirius's mother when Susan in a fit of rage had demolished the wall itself. Since that day Harry and Daphne both had been cautious whenever Susan got angry.
They passed a worn black curtain. Sirius and Harry both held their breath until they had completely passed it. "Into the kitchen Harry, we tidied up as much as possible, but it's still a far cry from what it should be."
They entered the kitchen and it appeared to be dusty, but at least cleaners than the hallway were. At least it did not have the putrid smell at any rate. Harry sat down on the table as Sirius sat down right across from him.
"Dumbledore is still getting people together for the Order, he said he should be able to have regular meetings next week, granted I'm not supposed to tell you any of this, but considering this is our house and Dumbledore's not here, I don't see a problem. And I have already told Dumbledore about the restrictions that will be in place if the Order is to use this house. Any place other than the Kitchen is off-limits. And we are not opening a shelter over here, he cannot use this place as a guest house and house anyone he wants over here." Sirius said.
Causing Harry to let out a sigh of relief. That meant that the Weasleys would not be spending the summer over here. It would have been unbearable, and their presence would just serve to hamper his plans.
"Remus will also be here soon." Sirius added.
Harry had no idea what he was going to do about Remus. On one hand, he was a great man and a great friend to his father and godfather. But his habit of blaming himself for everything caused him to be a terrible husband and father. Harry just did not know if he should let Tonks suffer through that uncertainty again.
' I guess I will have to talk to Sirius and get Remus to be more accepting of the prospect of a relationship and him having a family. I will try my best to make sure Remus's first priority is not running away. But it is his wife and child. I will NOT have Teddy be an orphan or grow up without a father. But if he still does not treat Tonks the way she should be treated…' Harry thought, thinking about his son in all but blood.
Harry decided to leave that topic for later, no point in thinking about it right now. Looking around he noticed that the place was really in need of a renovation. He could not and would not allow this… place to be where he invites his girlfriends.
"Sirius, call the house elf. He will clean this place and make it as it should be, being the house of the Black family, or he will be given clothes and be dealt with." Harry said, which caused Sirius to look at him a bit scared. This was the first time he saw a serious and a bit angry Harry. And he reminded Sirius of a certain redhead witch, whom he did not want to make angry after the first time.
"KREACHER!"
"Yes, Master Sirius." Kreacher said as he bowed down to Sirius before muttering. "Blood traitor, bringing half-bloods in this house. Oh, my poor mistress…" That is as far as he got before he stopped when a wave of powerful magic hit him.
"ENOUGH! You are just a worthless elf, that is not even good enough to clean the house. Had I known a creature like you is cleaning MY house, I would have given you clothes years back! This is the house of the Black family and this is how you have maintained it?!" Harry snarled in Kreacher's direction while getting to his feet and walking towards the cowering elf, as the elf sensed just whom he was talking to by the rings on Harry's fingers which became visible as he stood up.
"You give me one good reason why I should not deal with you right here and right now with the way you are talking to your Master and one of the members of the Black Family!" Harry said, coming to a stop just in front of the elf, that had now covered his head with his arms.
"I.. I am.. S.. Sorry Master." Kreacher stuttered, while still trying to hide away from Harry.
"One more incident like this. One more part of the house I see untidy… You WILL be given clothes and relieved of your duties towards the Black family. Go, clean my house!" Harry ordered.
"Yes, master!" Kreacher said as he popped away.
Harry turned around to see a wide-eyed and gaping Sirius looking at him.
While Kreacher was of great help in the second war and had become very loyal after Harry had promised to destroy the Slytherin's locket and complete his final task given to the elf by his previous, loved master while also giving the elf Regulus's locket. He still was partially responsible for the death of his godfather. The elf needed to be set straight, until he could destroy the necklace, this was the only way to get compliance out of the elf.
"And your room is the only room on the top floor. The Lord and Lady's room. Just don't bring any Lady there right away will you." Sirius teased as he showed Harry to his room. While Harry had tried to get Sirius to take the Lord's room, Sirius just did not want to take that room, he wanted to stay in his previous childhood room. "And after the ear lashing you have given to Kreacher, I am sure it's now the cleanest in the house too, but might need a bit of touching up to make it feel comfortable. But that I leave it up to you."
"If you need anything, I am just a floor down on the room third to the right." Sirius said as he left heading towards the kitchen to get something to eat, patting Harry on his shoulder.
As soon as Harry was sure that Sirius was down in the Kitchens, he made his way a floor down and into the room opposite to Sirius's room. The nameplate on the door read "R.A.B".
Entering the room, he saw that the Lord's room was definitely not the cleanest. This room was spotless. No doubt due to the devotion Kreacher had for his former Master, and due to the love he held for Regulus.
Harry moved straight to the place where he knew the locket was kept. Opening the container he saw the locket, reeking the same dark magic he felt around all the Horcruxes that Tom had created. Not taking any chances, Harry took it out of the container and placed it in a container of his own which he had charmed with many safeguards and runes.
Once locked, Harry banished the container straight back to the cupboard in the Chamber of Secrets where he kept all the Horcruxes he had gathered up until now. He was planning on destroying it as soon as he could get his hands on all the abominations. As from the graveyard he knew that Voldemort did feel something when Nagini was killed, now he did not know whether it was due to his familiar dying or due to one of his Horcruxes being destroyed, but he was not ready to take any chances with this. And anyways the charms that Harry had placed around that cupboard made sure that only he would be able to take them out. Only he or anyone of his blood. He had taken the most precautious approach and safeguarded the cupboard with something that the Ministry would term evil.
Blood Magic.
Before leaving he created a replicate of the locket and placed it back in its original place, he did not want an emotional elf on his hands. He had already planned on retrieving Regulus's locket from the cave when he could and gift it to Kreacher, while he was not particularly fond of the elf. Everyone deserved some closure.
Unknown, 25th June 1995
"Are you certain that this will restore me to my full greatness, Severus?" Voldemort asked skeptically, as he tried to keep the sigh inside. It had been a few days since his rebirth and he was already feeling the effects of the botched ritual intensify. He was having trouble even functioning if not for the 30-minute naps he took every few hours.
' I have half a mind just to break Wormtail out from Azkaban only to torture him endlessly. Damn the plans.' Voldemort rage inside his head and not for the first time. He had actually given that plan a thought. If it weren't for the delays and problems it would cause, he would have actually broken Pettigrew out just to torture him.
He was glad for his Horcruxes, without them he would be dead if this continued without him even fighting anyone. It would have been a pathetic way to go.
"I am certain of it, my Lord." Snape said as the potion had been brewed perfectly, much against his reservations, but Dumbledore had insisted on it. Hence, he had gone ahead with the plan and created a concoction of pepper-up potion, pain-revealing potion, and a couple of other things. It was something that would treat the symptoms, but not the actual cause. Which was the goal, to deteriorate Voldemort's health as much as possible, while making him feel that the ' cure' was working.
"Just a word, my Lord. I assume that the ritual you used would be a rare one, and not easily performed, due to which any complications in the ritual are not documented, making curing the side effects harder. Due to this, the potion I have given you is a temporary one, that you will have to take every seven days. In the meantime, I will continue looking for a more permanent cure, my Lord." Snape said as he bowed in front of Voldemort.
"See that the potions are brewed weekly, and they are delivered to Lucious in batches until you come across the solution." Voldemort said, just before he gulped down the potion, and the effects were instantaneous. While there was no smoke coming out of his ears, as that would have made him suspicious of its content, he did feel revitalized and rejuvenated. But did his best to keep the satisfaction and relief from showing on his face.
"Now as for the information regarding the old fool that I ordered you to bring…" Voldemort prompted Snape.
"Yes, my Lord. Right here I have a list of every known member of the Order of Phoenix that I know Dumbledore has contacted and they have agreed to be a part of the Order. There are also names of some of his key supporters within the Ministry of Magic, men that I have seen him contact and talk to." Snape said as he handed Voldemort the information that Dumbledore had given him. Every name on that list had given their consent to be on that list. And most of the names were the ones that anyone would anyways expect to be on a list like this. Ensuring that the new joiners are kept a secret and the identities of the real inside men in the Ministry were also kept secured.
"While this will be of help, and is enough to satisfy me for now, this is only the beginning. Once Dumbledore's Order is formed, I will want concrete information beyond names, I want any plans you are let in on, and try to gain information on those that you are not a part of as well." Voldemort instructed.
"I already have some information I was able to find, my Lord. Dumbledore was planning on having one of the members of the Order in the Ministry every day, protecting something. I was not able to gather what it was that he is trying to protect." Snape said.
Snape knew that Dumbledore was trying to protect the Prophecy, but letting Voldemort know that would mean that he would focus only on trying to figure out how to work around the guards near the hall of Prophecies. But if he kept the information vague, he would have Voldemort always guessing if there was something else, something more in the Ministry that Dumbledore might be trying to protect. And looking at the speculative look on the Dark Lord's face, they had succeeded in it.
"Depart, Severus. It is unwise for you to be away from Hogwarts this long. I will call on you when I am in need of you. Just make sure that those potions are sent to me regularly." Voldemort said, waving his hand dismissively at Snape. Still thinking of the thing that Dumbledore would be trying to hide. While he had an idea, he could not be sure. There were untold mysteries in the Ministry.
"Of course, my Lord." Snape said as he bowed before he turned away from the Dark Lord and walked off.
Voldemort sat back, he trusted no one, Snape especially, but as long as he had use of the man's talents, he would allow Snape to live. Voldemort was currently thinking about the information that Snape just gave. He was going to assign some low-level Death Eaters to trail the names in the list Snape had just provided. Making it easier to track and assassinate them if needed. And even if they were caught, the low-ranked followers would not even know anything about his plans in detail.
' While I know that the old fool might be trying to protect the Prophecy and while I do need to get that in my hands. Can it be that the Unspeakables have worked on something else as well that Dumbledore is trying to protect?' Voldemort wondered.
AN
So, that was the chapter.
Yeah, so it was not a surprise. I really did not know back then what was going to be there in this chapter. XD.
Harry invests in the joke shop. While many fics that I have read always talked about "Cause we will need the laughs in the future with what is to come." All that is fine, but guys the reason was in the name of your Main character himself Harry JAMES Potter.
How could you not add the James angle to it?
Voldy had been given the potion, not being treated. Only the symptoms are being treated. Do not take it wrongly.
Now, if anyone is waiting for Susan/Daphne, please do not. It won't be happening in this fic. Sorry if I wasted your time by delaying informing you guys about this.
The group decides to meet up.
Harry goes to the Grimmauld place.
Next up
Summer, Hogwarts letter, a bit of romance I think (I am not good at it, so please don't look forward to it XD)
Might have something interesting, a bit of comedy.
Some plot things
Any idea how I could have Harry take the cup from the Lestrange vault, without a break-in? Again. It is a Lestrange vault, not a Bella vault that any Lord Black can just take
If you have any suggestions let me know. I have added the discord links below where you can give your suggestions. There is a separate channel in Peve's sever for my fics especially.
Chapter 12
Greengrass Manor, London, 20th July 1995
Daphne was eating breakfast with her family, sitting opposite her was Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's little sister. She was blonde like Daphne and had blue eyes as well, but not the same shade as Daphne's icy blue eyes. And she was definitely a lot more energetic and excitable than Daphne.
On Astoria's left sat their mother, Evelyn Greengrass, she also had blonde hair and blue eyes with a figure that most models would kill for. It was clearly evident who was responsible for the beauty of the Greengrass girls. On Daphne's right sat her father. Cyrus Greengrass, a man with black hair and brown eyes, looking every bit of the Pureblood Lord that he was, with a stoic expression on his face.
An owl came in through the window, Daphne recognized the snowy owl. Hedwig. Harry's owl. It flew down and dropped a letter next to Daphne's plate.
"Hey Hedwig! How have you been? Harry has not done something stupid has he?" Daphne asked Hedwig as she stroked the owl on her head, and Hedwig hooted in reply. Hedwig at first had been very observant of Daphne and Susan, noticing their every move whenever either of them was near Harry. At first, it did creep both of the girls out a bit, as though they were being judged by their boyfriend's mother. But after a few days Hedwig had started to get a lot more friendly with them. Nipping their ears, rubbing her head against their cheeks, and often visited them when she came to meet Harry during their breakfast at Hogwarts.
It was only over a week back that the three had met, it was then that Harry had told them about his visit to Sweden for a duelling exhibition of some sort.
She noticed that her whole family was looking at her expectantly, while Astoria was literally bouncing in her seat. But she was not going to give them anything. Knowing Harry, he must have added something in that letter, that if she read it out loud, she was surely going to be embarrassed.
Hi Daph,
How are you Daph? All good, I hope.
It's been an exciting few days here already in Sweden. I just got into an argument with a little girl, well, when I say argument, I mean she screamed at me a bit, made a pout, put her hands on her hips like you girls like to do, screamed a bit more, and pulled me into doing some weird little dance around a pole.
Now before you get some disturbingly horrific images in that dirty little brain of yours, let me tell you it was a dance that kids, women, gents, and the elderly, all were doing. What they were doing I have still not been able to figure out, but apparently, it's called a 'Frog Dance'. In which the Swedes imitate frogs, hopping around the maypole while singing the classic tune 'Små grodorna' (The small frogs), which describes frogs in (biologically incorrect) detail.
So, how's your summer going? Did you meet up with Susan anytime recently? Say Hi to your family for me, and prank Tori a bit for me will ya? She must have started to feel really secure now that I am away. Remind her I will be meeting her soon.
Could you do me a favor and look after Hedwig for a while? She somehow made her way there, all the way from Sweden, and I don't want her to make the trip back. Could you take care of her for a while? Once I am back, you can send her back to me.
Oh, and I totally forgot about the tournamentexhibition, it's going great. By the time you would get this letter the qualifying rounds would be over. It's so exciting.
Anyways, I have to go and I'll see you next week.
From,
Harry Potter
"So… What is this 'exhibition' that Harry is talking about in the letter? I know he was going to Sweden, but he didn't say anything about this to me." Astoria said, making Daphne jump in her seat.
Daphne turned to glare at her sister as she pulled the letter close to her chest, hiding it from her sister's prying eyes. So engrossed in reading the letter she was that she did not even notice Astoria sneaking up behind her. "What are you doing reading my letters?" Daphne hissed.
"Are you talking about the Under 17 European Duelling Championship that is being held in Sweden?" Cyrus asked, being a dueling enthusiast himself.
Hearing this Daphne instantly paled, and her eyes widened comically.
"I knew boys were into dueling, but I did not know Harry was passionate enough to go see the tournament in person." Evelyn said.
"Umm... Knowing Harry… He might not have gone as an audience, but rather…." Astoria replied to her mother, but her eyes were on Daphne, who was crumbling Harry's letter and her paled expression was slowly turning into one of fury.
"Oh Harry, you are so dead. SUSAN!" Daphne shouted as she walked out of the dining room at a fast pace, making her way towards the floo; Girls did NOT run, especially Slytherin girls.
Duelling Stadium, Sweden, 23rd July 1995
Harry's summer was quite eventful so far, he had done many things that summer. He had put Kreacher in his place and gotten him to start cleaning the Number 12 Grimmauld Place and had also attained one of the Horcruxes of Voldemort.
Harry along with Sirius, and Remus were currently here in Sweden for the Under 17 European Duelling Championship, while he did not want to change the timelines in fear of losing the advantage of having the knowledge of the future, he was ready to make some compromise in order to keep people off his back.
His beating the Dragon and knocking it out in the first task of the Triwizard tournament raised a lot of questions, questions that Daphne herself had. How was an average Wizard able to incapacitate a dangerous creature like a dragon? While many might have not asked this question mainly because of the excitement around the tournament itself in the air, the question would still be raised especially now that the tournament was over. For that, Harry needed to show how he got so good at magic, and Duelling tournaments were the best way. With the help of the goblins, he was able to create a fake set of documents, which told the story of the Boy-Who-Lived competing in many low-level dueling tournaments under glamor to secure his identity and win them since his second year.
This would give Harry a somewhat digestible answer, that he had been practicing dueling for the last two years and due to that he was able to perform so well in the Triwizard tournament. Winning this tournament would just make it a bit more believable.
So, with that in mind, here he was. In the finals of the Under 17 European Duelling Championship. He had stormed through the competitors, earning the amazement of the audience. But he had made sure to make it look a bit more believable and purposefully got hit a few times just because of that.
Just before entering the arena, Harry made to look in the stands where he knew his Godfather and uncle were sitting, nervously looking down at Harry, and why wouldn't they be? This was a tournament where anything except Unforgivables were allowed, and competitors could die in the tournament. There were as few rules as possible.
But as Harry looked in their direction, Harry paled, his skin was paler than Malfoy's pale skin. Looking down at him, angrily glaring at him were his two girlfriends, Susan and Daphne, along with them sat an amused Evelyn.
' How did they come to know about this?! I made sure to not talk anything about me competing in it.' Harry thought. As the girls noticed Harry's eyes on them glared with more intensity and put their hands on their hips, a clear indication of their displeasure with Harry, causing Harry to gulp in fear.
Deciding to take it as it came, Harry turned and entered the arena.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"
Harry winced as he heard his girlfriends scream. It was never good when either of them used his full name.
He had just come out of the arena, majorly unhurt, but had a few cuts and bruises as a result of the fight. It had been a short one, all Harry had to do was distract the opponent with a few snakes, make multiple copies of himself as he had done in the first task, acted like he was going to use the same lightening spell, which caused the opponent to run for cover, and that is when Harry ended it with a barrage of stunners. But he had made it seem a bit more believable, this was the final match, not some school ground fight, due to that he initially had traded a few blows with the opponent which caused the cuts and bruises that Harry now sported.
Harry ducked his head as by now he knew that both the girls would go for his head, but what he did not account for was that the girls would take a hold of both his ears, twist them painfully, and march him off to the medical tent to get checked out, before chewing his ears off.
"What did I specifically tell you not to do when you were leaving for Sweden?" Daphne asked, with one of her hands on her hip and looking at Harry with a hard expression.
"Umm… I forgot?" Harry replied, causing Daphne to roll her eyes and Susan to snort behind her hand.
Harry could see Sirius, Remus, and Evelyn looking in their direction with an amused look.
"Did I or did I not tell you to not do anything foolish that would get you hurt?" Daphne asked once more.
"But Daph, I did not do anything foolish…" Harry said as he rubbed the back of his head, which he often did when nervous.
"Yeah right. A fifteen-year-old boy, entering into a tournament that has minimal rules and close to no safety regulations is the definition of a smart decision, isn't it?" Daphne asked, rhetorically.
Harry did not know what to say in response, or even if he was required to say anything. So, he leaned towards Susan and asked in a whisper. "Am I supposed to answer that Susie?"
This only caused Susan to bend over laughing hysterically, and Daphne to roll her eyes before flicking Harry on his forehead and saying. "It was a rhetorical question, Harry. Arghhh"
"Anyways, Congratulations Harry!" Daphne said as he pulled Harry into a heated kiss. Threading her hands into Harry's hair and pulled him closer to her, letting out all the worry she felt while Harry was in the arena competing. Both the girls were on edge of their seats and gripping the seat cushion with a vice grip.
"Why is it always you first! I was the one that roped him in first!" Susan said as she pushed Daphne away from Harry and claimed his lips with her own. As they broke, all three of them heard a loud wolf whistle, as they turned towards the sound, they saw Sirius looking at all three of them with a wide grin on his face and Remus was also fighting a grin of his own.
This caused both the girls to blush in embarrassment, but Harry only returned the grin and pulled the girls closer to him by their waist. Both, Susan and Daphne hid their faces in their boyfriend's chest.
"Mr. Potter" a voice called out from behind the trio.
The three of them turned around to see their charms Professor, Prof. Flitwick making his way towards them.
Duelling Stadium, India, 23rd August 1995
Daphne and Susan were currently sitting in the stands of one of the big stadiums in India. What were they doing there? They were sitting on the edge of their seats, one biting her fingernails, while the other was close to impaling her nails into the cushion of the seat, even though they were charmed to be unbreakable.
The reason for this was, as usual. Harry Potter. He was now competing in the Under 17 World Duelling Championship. The previous one acted as a sort of entrance round for this championship. The Under 17 champions from each country were there, competing for the title of World Champion, a prestigious title and an honor that only a select few got.
While they were adamantly against the idea of Harry competing in the tournament, which had almost no rules, they had to reluctantly let him compete. Otherwise, there would be two major things that would come out of Harry not competing, first is that the continent of Europe would have no Champion to represent them, and the second, which finally convinced them was that if Harry did not compete, many would say that he was scared and a coward, hence he did not compete. And knowing the British media and the reporters, it would not be long before they saw a version of that statement in the headlines. One thing they could not let happen, in any case, was to let someone call their boyfriend a 'coward' while he was the one that had faced Voldemort multiple times and escaped to tell the tale.
So, with that in mind, the entire Greengrass and Bones family were present for the tournament along with Sirius and Remus. Initially, when the tournament started the only ones to accompany Harry to India were Daphne, Susan, Astoria, and Evelyn along with Sirius and Remus. But once the news of Harry moving into the finals got out, Lord Greengrass, and Lady Amelia Bones turned up, with many British wizards and witches also making the trip to see the Boy Who Lived compete in this tournament.
The tournament had progressed smoothly, and while there were some close calls, Harry had been able to beat all of his opponents until now with only a few bruises to show for it. If he had no cuts then that was because of the girls.
" If you are going to compete in this idiotic tournament which has no rules, you are going to do it with proper attire that will make sure you get adequate protection and not this joke of a robe you call your dueling robes."
That was what Daphne had said, and together the girls had selected a dragonhide armor for Harry, to make sure he got enough protection.
"Don't you worry girls, he will be sure to win this. He is my godson after all. I mean if he could deal with that crazy girl that was trying to behead him with a Katana during the European tournament, he can easily handle a couple of these kids." Sirius said, trying to ease Susan and Daphne's worry.
The emphasis was on the word ' trying' as that did nothing to ease their worries at all.
"WHAT?" both the girls shouted, not caring for the attention they got due to that. The girls' eyes widened and their heads snapped in Sirius's direction before turning back towards Harry when the start of the final duel was announced causing Daphne's grip on the seat to tighten, and Susan to hold her aunt's hand painfully tight.
"Good job Padfoot! Idiot." Remus said while smacking Sirius on top of his head.
"What?" Sirius said, with a confused expression, not understanding what he did wrong, this caused all the adults there to roll their eyes and Remus to smack him again.
"You just told them that their boyfriend was close to getting his head cut off by a girl in a tournament that theoretically is the qualifying stage for the tournament he is currently competing in." Remus explained, causing Sirius to look sheepish and mumble something like ' I shouldn't have said that.'
Harry walked up to the stage. Dressed in thick dragon hide armor, with a billowing cloak behind him, he stepped up on the dueling platform, looking every bit of the dangerous competitor he was. This might have been a duel for the spectators, but for him, it was just a way for him to justify his abilities with the wand after he oh so foolishly knocked out the dragon when he saw the dragon free from his chains in the first task of the Triwizard tournament.
"The two duellists have taken their place on the dueling platform, and I would like to inform everyone that there are no bars to the magic demonstrated in this duel, except, of course, the use of Unforgivables which are held as a criminal offense in some of the competing countries. Hence, apart from Unforgivables, all spells and magics are fair game, and the duel shall continue until one of them yields or is incapacitated." The commentator announced as the nine-time world dueling champion Filius Flitwick walked onto the stage as the referee to the duel.
As Filius Flitwick walked onto the stage, all who knew him saw that his cheerful countenance vanished under a serious demeanor, as he stood in the middle of the stage. "On the count of three, the duel will begin. It is expected that both opponents shall make it a fair and honorable fight." Flitwick said in a clear voice before stepping back and raising his wand into the air as he yelled. "One… Two… Three…" On the count of three, a firework left Flitwick's wand and exploded into the air.
He stepped to the side as the audience sucked in their breaths in anticipation.
BOOM!
Two powerful exploding curses shot out of both the finalist's wands and raced towards each other, the curses met in the middle and then blew up with a tremendous explosion, as the most anticipated battle of the tournament began its course. Harry started off slow after that first assault. Going on the back foot, defending, and dodging the curses sent his way. He wanted to get a feel of what his opponent's magical power was like. While he had noticed his opponent's duels, he had also noticed that he tried to change his strategy in every duel of his, trying to confuse his opponent, and always using variable levels of power, so nobody knew when to produce a powerful shield and when a low powered shield would be sufficient. Causing his opponents to tire out quickly because of them having to always use full-powered shields all the time.
The first few minutes were spent dodging the spells for Harry, while his opponent was clearly growing frustrated with his inability to hurt Harry.
"Avis!" The other finalist named Raj shouted, as he conjured small birds and set them on to Harry with the intention of distracting him.
With a wave of Harry's wand, the birds turned around towards Raj and turned into flaming projectiles. Harry slashed his wand diagonally towards Raj and the projectiles dived towards his opponent with high speed. Harry made sure to subtly move the projectiles such that they only grazed his opponent. He did not want to kill the boy.
Raj, not expecting to see the birds turn into balls of fire and shoot towards him with bullet speed, was not able to produce a shield in time, but thankfully for him, none of the projectiles made a direct impact on him, only grazed him. But a flaming ball grazing would leave some mark behind. The areas around the skin where the balls made contact were burnt, but not overly so.
The seventeen-year-old finalist was growing frustrated and angrier by the second, as he was currently losing to a boy 3 years his junior. The frustration reached its limit as he heard all the cheers from the stands when Harry managed to hurt him, while he was not even able to land a single spell on his opponent.
Raj fired a sizzling red colored hex that had a dark black center and something close to lightning was shooting out of it all around it as it raced towards its target. Straight at Harry's head with the clear intention to kill him and end the duel. The crowd gasped at this. The spell looked particularly evil, normally when a spell was fired it illuminated its path. This spell seemed to absorb all the light into it, enlarging in size as it raced towards Harry. None in the audience had any doubt. The spell was aimed to kill. This was the first time someone was clearly trying to kill his or her opponent during the World Championship rounds.
Harry calmly blocked the hex with a shield that glowed golden in color, as the hex impacted the shield the impact it made, made people think that the noise would have been heard by the muggles in America, the ground where the shield was conjured seemingly exploded outwards, sending dust everywhere, the shockwave was such that Raj himself was sent back a few feet even after managing to produce a shield.
"HARRY!" came a few shouts from the audience, fear in them evident.
All there held their breath to see what had transpired because according to them, they had just seen the death of the Boy Who Lived, the defeater of the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Some had started crying, and a few of the judges were out of their seats, Flitwick on the edge of the stage, stopping himself from running towards his Ravenclaw student.
But as the dust settled, there in the middle of the massive crater stood Harry Potter. Gone was the laid-back attitude that Harry had when he started this duel. His eye's glowed with an emerald fire.
Gone was the fourteen-year-old boy.
Gone was the fourth-year passed-out student.
Gone was the amusement in Harry's eyes.
In his place, now stood a man in a boy's body.
The defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort.
The defeater of the greatest Dark Lord in history.
The man that now held rage that was suffocating every human, goblin, elf, or animal present in the stadium.
Standing in the middle of the crater was now Lord Harry James Potter Black.
"I love you Harry." said the soft red lips, the dark blue eyes conveying all the love the being held in her heart for Harry, the reluctant acceptance was visible in her eyes as the red-colored hex made its way towards her, destroying everything in its path.
Yet the words did not convey any accusation, nor did they convey the want to live, or fear. They conveyed acceptance, understanding, and most of all. Love. Towards Harry.
Harry watched on helplessly, as the angry red ball of energy made its way towards the love of his life. Not able to do anything to save his wife, being entangled in an epic duel with the most dangerous man alive.
" YOU WILL PAY!" Harry roared as a potent wave of magic was released outwards, with Harry as the epicenter.
The dust and derby that had settled down were sent flying outwards, and all the audience members were pushed back in their seats, the seats making a squeaking noise as it was pushed to their limit and was trying to stay in place, the judges that were standing were pushed back into their seat with a force that was unexpected.
And Raj was currently shivering in his place, looking into the eyes of one Harry James Potter, the brightest emerald green eyes he had gazed his eyes on. If one looked closely, one could notice a symbol in the sea of emerald green light, a white symbol made up of a triangle, a circle, and a line.
The symbol of the deathly hallows.
This was no ordinary opponent Raj was facing.
This was the Master of Death.
And he was angry.
"I YIELD! I YIELD!" Raj yelled as he threw his wand to the ground and ran to cover himself behind a huge rock that was sent flying out of the crater after the magical backlash of his spell.
Harry, not in the mood for some shit like a tournament, magically raised himself in the air, before gliding towards his opponent.
Raising his hand, Harry turned his wrist and the rock behind which Raj was hiding was sent flying out of the stadium.
Noticing her Master's distress and anger Salena manifested herself around Harry's neck, rubbing her head against Harry's cheek and subtly forcing Harry's head to turn towards where she knew Susan and Daphne sat. Knowing that her master would calm down considerably if he laid his eyes on her Mistresses.
" It's all right Master. Mistresses are all right. They are here, looking at you from there on the stands. Please calm down. Damn with the plan of keeping the powers and keeping the timeline secured and a secret, just think about Mistresses for now. You do not want them to see death, right? Please leave it. We will deal with him later. He is not worth it right now. " Selena hissed, slowly turning Harry to look towards the stands.
" You will pay! One way or the other. You are mine now! I might not have been able to recognize you due to that stupid mask you used to wear, but now that I know who and where you are from, look out. Fear your own shadows. Beg the devil to have mercy and swallow you. Because I know I won't show any mercy. " Harry hissed, looking at the cowering opponent before him.
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 25th August 1995
Albus Dumbledore sat at the head of a long table, smiling as if nothing was wrong in the world. The Order of Phoenix meeting was currently underway.
"My sources indicate there were some shady figures lurking around the entrance to the Department of Mysteries." Moody said. "The Ministry seems to think it's a false alarm…"
This caused Harry to sit up straight as the monitoring charms started to work their magic.
' I need to get the prophecy out of there before Voldemort gets his hands on it. Even if does not say much and give away anything, it would still frustrate Voldy to no end about not being able to get his hands on the prophecy. Or should I just replace it with a …..' Harry thought before he suddenly started laughing, causing Susan to look at him with a confused face.
"They are after it." Snape said quietly. "The Dark Lord said about as much."
"After what?" asked a voice that Harry was not able to recognize.
"That is not important right now, but the fact is that we need to make sure we guard the Department of Mysteries from intruders, even if that is not what Voldemort is after." Dumbledore said. "There are many unknown objects and inventions in the Department of Mysteries that might be of much interest to Voldemort, any of which that Voldemort can put to great use for him, spelling horrific consequences for us."
"If it's what I think it is, why don't we just take Harry in there at night when no one is there and have him remove it from the shelf, smash it into pieces, and replace it with a fake ball of glass? That way we won't have to waste our time guarding a stupid glass orb, while we could be doing something actually helpful." Sirius suggested.
"Now Sirius, we should not put Harry in danger. If what Moody has heard of figures lurking in that place at night is true, then it is not safe there for a schoolboy." Molly said.
' Ever the mother hen.' Harry thought as he smiled, while he had nothing against Molly, she could be a little overprotective.
"Well, if we're not putting him in danger, why don't we tell him the prophecy, so Voldemort does not use it as a bargaining chip to lure him into danger." Sirius said, knowing exactly what he was doing.
There was a pause before many started mutterings about what prophecy it could be and what it had to do with Harry.
"Long story short, it's a prophecy that involves Harry and Voldemort." Dumbledore said evasively, trying to silence the people muttering and speculating. "All you need to know for now is that we need to protect the Department of Mysteries at all costs."
"Let's talk plans and schedules then…"
Ministry of Magic, London, 27th August 1995
In the Department of Mysteries, Harry stepped inside, covered in his Invisibility Cloak as he saw a figure stagger around in a half-hearted attempt to guard the door. The man was named Mundungus Fletcher or Dung for short. "Dung" pretty much accurately described his abilities to properly guard anything, whether it was the Hall of Prophecies or Harry's aunt's house in the original timeline. Quickly, Harry conjured a stone and threw it down the corridor. Dung was distracted by the sound and moved off to investigate the noise. Harry slipped inside the Department of Mysteries and walked forward.
He moved through each door instinctively, knowing all the traps and alarms in place, and taking special care not to trigger any of them. How did he know of the alarms? Well, he was from the future, was an Unspeakable field commander, and had a research Unspeakable as his wife.
Harry moved ahead and towards the Hall of Prophecies, where he knew the orbs were kept. As he entered the Hall, he noticed shelves and shelves of Prophecies in the room. The hall filled to the brim with those glass orbs. Making his way to the 1980-1981 year section, he searched for the right Prophecy. Quickly, he swapped the real glass orb with a fake one with a surprise for dear old Tommy, just in case Voldemort got his hands on the prophecy. Harry had every intention of revealing him to the world at the end of the fifth year like it had taken place in the original timeline.
AN
So, that was the chapter.
So, first things first. I have noticed many of you talking about Harry already being Lord Black and not needing regent and all. But even if you are an adult in govt body there are rules, you can't just up and fight for the position of president if you are 18 years old. So, Harry does need a regent to sit in his seat till he is of age. I hope I am making sense
Yeah, yeah, I know that the frog dance is a June thing, but I needed something to add to the letter.
A bit of European championship, a bit of Daphne home, I know I need to focus on Susan too, which I will be doing shortly.
And a lot of you talked about Hedwig, I accept, I had forgotten about her. Hence added a bit about Hedwig.
A bit of girls chewing Harry out
Girls POV
Stupid Sirius
And angry Harry
And Selena makes an appearance and reveals to the world that Harry has a snake, now how this would play out I don't know. But I surely won't be playing that stupid public card where they go against Harry cuz a paper said something, and the bug is dead anyways right? I think Harry stepped on it during the yule ball if I am not wrong.
Need to go through it again XD.
And Harry taking the prophecy, don't know what he left behind
Next up
Fifth year, First class, Don't know who the prefects are.
Maybe we will find out if Umbitch is there or not
Maybe I would on the pairing more in that chapter
Who knows