Summary:
Five of Cups
Two people stand in front of the same gravestone, one a boy in a silver jacket and the other a dark man, neither seems to notice the other. Both are holding a cup filled with red spider lilies for the grave before them, littered around them are three other cups, and on each cup is engraved a lion, a hound, and a rat.
Notes:
Welcome back, my dear readers to The Heir and the Champions. In this part, Harry is freed from the cupboard, visits his parents, gets some gifts from them, and passes along a letter.
Also, check the comments for a translation from the last chapter, it should be in the 7th chapter comments.
On with the show!
Chapter Text
Harry Potter, October 31st.
Harry did not have a good night's sleep, he had tossed and turned for hours trying to put the odd girl and her little sister out of his mind and her hauntingly familiar eyes out from behind his eyes, he had told Hermione and Ron about the havoc the girl played on the Hunt and how it was pushing him to kill her among other things. Bad thoughts aside he was worried that the girl had the same urges for the bloodshed that he did, and if she would listen to them or not, she had called him a Half-Blood, and Harry was pretty sure she didn't mean the wixen term for it. When he finally fell asleep, well past midnight, he had dreamed of a dark woods, the full moon overhead.
As he walked through the woods he heard the growling and yowling of two great beasts, when he had come across a clearing in those dark woods he saw them in the glow of the silver moonlight. One was a powerfully built panther-like creature, it stood on six legs and Harry could see the thick bands of muscles pulled taught underneath midnight back fur that ended in silver claws that looked as if they could cleave through trees. From its back rose whip-like tentacles that ended in spikes that could rend flesh from bone, its tail curved and ended in some sort of barbed stinger, and its maw was filled with rows of silver fangs as its eyes were like that of the girls, Yellowish-orange with a horizontally split pupil. The great beast was alien and wrong, but still lethal as it hissed and spit at the other beast it was circling around.
The other beast was a great wolf, ever-shifting in its fur, from black, to gray, to brown, and white, like a kaleidoscope of all things that hunted in its name, the wolf was as big as a Russian brown bear and its jaw extended halfway down its body as it seemed to open it wide splitting it's form almost in two as it does, ready to swallow all and any who was foolish enough to get lost in its woods. Eyes of amber and countless of them bloomed all over its sides just above its ever-hungry maw. Chains with links as thick as Harry's arm hung off of it from large pitons driven into its body, the ends were snapped and broken as if to show that it would never be chained or held back, forever hungry and free, it's growl was like thunder and its howl signaled the promised end to the hunt that it was forever on.
But before Harry could approach these great beasts, bloodless and pale hands, as cold as ice, covered his eyes and pulled him from his dream, back into the waking world with a whisper of a promise he had soon forgotten.
Harry had woken up just past eight and got dressed for the day, reluctantly, throwing on a robe before making his way down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione, passing the Goblet without even glancing at it as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Ron piled his plate up with a small mountain of eggs, sausage, bacon, and grilled tomatoes, Hermione with a book propped up against a pitcher of milk had a small bowl of fruit while Harry helped himself to a stack of waffles and was Happily enjoying them before he felt two pair of eyes on him, sighing and looking up at Hermione, he swallows before speaking.
"Hermione," Harry says, and she makes a sound as if she was answering while popping a piece of pineapple into her mouth as she continues to read, "Can you look behind me and see if I have any watchers?" he asks and sees Hermione's eyes flick back and forth between her book and over his shoulder.
"You do," she says after swallowing, "and it's exactly who you think it is, Harry," the bookworm says before turning a page.
Harry sighs ignoring the call to Hunt, "Great," he says before going back to his waffles.
"You know mate," Ron says with a mouth full of eggs and bacon, "If I had a bird as pretty as that watching me, I wouldn't care much about the why," he says with a grin just before, without looking up from her book, Hermione swats him.
"Manners Ronald, or must I write to your mother," Hermione says with a smirk, because she doesn't need to see Ron pale a bit before swallowing his own food and mumbling an apology.
"Pretty sure she wants to eat me, Ron," Harry says deadpanned, pushing his food away, no longer hungry. Ron's eyes snap to him, before going over to the girl, he gets the cold analytic look he has when playing chess before speaking again.
"Right, the Hunt thing,..." Ron says trailing off and tapping his fingers on the table before shaking his head, "Okay, so what do we know about her? She is obviously not human, so a monster?" he says in a lowered voice.
"She's a Veela, or at least part Veela," Hermione states matter of factly, before turning another page.
"Oh, and how do you know this?" Ron asks, looking at Hermione.
"She had you charmed last night when she came to the table, I felt it flare up," Hermione says with a shrug, "and Harry reacting to her the same way he did with the Veela at the world cup was a dead give away," Hermione says before eating another piece of fruit.
"Okay, didn't know they counted," Ron says before nodding slowly, "Okay, so Veela, what do we know? What can they do?" Ron asks, and Harry was unsure if it was to them or to himself, "They have an allure that affects anyone who finds them attractive, except Harry, it has the opposite effect on him, pretty sure they can do something with fire as well," he says with a frown.
"They can conjure wandless fire and they have wings, though unsure if they can use them to fly or not," Hermione says without looking up from her book, "Though other than that and their beauty, there's not much written about them," Hermione says with a bit of a dejected sigh.
"They're alien," Harry says, and both Ron and Hermione look at him.
"I'm going to guess you don't mean little green men?" Hermione asks as Harry shakes his head and Ron looks confused.
"Like House-elves?" Ron asks
"No," Harry says, shaking his head, "Like, like they're not from this world? Like they're not natural, like they're invaders or something," Harry whispers looking at his half-eaten waffles, searching the feelings he gets from the Hunt about them, "Like an invasive predator or something, the Hunt doesn't want them around, it considers them dangerous," Harry admits before looking back at Hermione who was looking back at him with a faraway look.
"Little green men,..." Hermione mumbles before turning to her book and packing it away, "We need to go to the library before class," she says quickly before standing up and throwing her book bag over her shoulder.
"Why? Did you figure it out?" Ron asks before quickly stuffing his mouth full of food and grabbing his own bag.
"No, it's just a hunch, but I need to see if they have any books on-" Hermione begins to say before she's cut off by another voice.
"Ah, Mister Potter, there you are," the prim and proper voice of Professor McGonagall calls out, making all three of her students turn and look at her.
"Um, yes Professor?" Harry asks as he was halfway up off the bench he was sitting on, his book bag over his shoulder.
"I've been sent to inform you that you are exempt from classes today," McGonagall says, coming to a stop a few feet away from the trio of lions.
"Um, why?" Harry asks, confused.
"You have visitors, Mister Potter, they're already here and waiting in the entryway," McGonagall says with a soft smile, "I was told to keep it all a surprise for you," she says, folding her arms behind her back.
"ah, I really don't like Surprises, Professor," Harry says with a grimace while shuffling from foot to foot.
"I'm well aware of that, Mister Potter, but I think you'll make an exception for this one," McGonagall says, "Now, don't keep them waiting, and do remind them to have you back before the feast at six tonight," she tells him before turning around and walking away.
The trio looked at each other before Hermione sighs, "Go, it sounds like you're leaving the castle which is probably for the best right now, we'll go to the library and collect your homework for when you get back," she says and Harry just nods before the trio went their separate ways and Harry heads to the entrance hall wondering who had come to visit him at Hogwarts, but as he turns the corner while exiting the great hall, he sees who it is.
"Sirius! Remus!" Harry calls out as he sees the two men in the entrance hall before jogging up to them, only to be swept up into a hug from his Godfather.
"Harry! It's so good to see you again," Sirius says as he crushes Harry to him like something precious he didn't want to let go of.
"Hello, Harry," Remus says with a kind smile as he watches them, "How have you been?" He asks as he leans against the stone wall.
"Oh, um, …good, I guess, not allowed to wear my jacket right now, but otherwise fine," Harry says as he breaks away from Sirius, "But what are you two doing here?" Harry asks.
The two marauders look at each other with a smile before turning back to Harry, "I'm guessing Dumbledore didn't say anything, Huh?" Sirius asks before Harry shakes his head confused, He didn't like to bother the Headmaster if he could help it.
"That's good," Sirius says while nodding his head, "I wanted to tell you myself," he says before reaching into the black leather jacket that looked almost identical to Harry's own and pulling a bundle of parchment that was neatly folded before handing it to Harry.
Harry unfolds the folded parchment and squints at the floating words that twist across the page, "ahhh, …" Harry looks back at Sirius with a confused face.
"Oh, right the dyslexia thing, Sorry Harry," Sirius says before pulling out his wand and waving it over the parchment and the symbols rearrange themselves into something Harry's brain could process, "The important part is here, at the bottom," Sirius says pointing with his wand before he puts it away.
Harry's eyes scan near the bottom of the page, reading it under his breath "We, The department of magical child welfare, by the power invested in us by the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot, hereby award," Harry pauses, reading and rereading the sentence over and over again to make sure he was reading it right, "award the custody of Harry James of the Noble House of Potter to, to…to Sirius Orion of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, …" Harry looks up from the parchment to his Godfather's face, eyes wide and full of emotions, he feels the corners of them burn, "No, …No more Dursleys?" Harry asks, vice cracking as Sirius kneels down on one knee to look him in the eyes as he places his hands on his shoulders.
"Never Again," Sirius swears to his Godson, it comes out in a solemn tone, in a solemn oath that was once broken but now picked back up again in front of hearth and home to offer shelter to the lost and broken boy in front of him before they embrace once again, with Remus watching on with a small smile on his face. Harry was, at last, free from the threat that had sat in the back of his mind, the threat of the cupboard and the darkness that had all but suffocated him in his youth, free from the home that never wanted him, free from the yelling, and sneers, free from the hatred and abuse he suffered at the hands of those who should have cared for him, Harry was finally free.
Free to embrace the hope he had found again.
After a long moment, they break from their embrace before Sirius tells him to go up to Gryffindor Tower and change.
"Why?" Harry asks, confused, were they leaving?
"Because today we'll be doing something that's long overdue, Harry," Remus tells him.
"We're going to visit your parents," Sirius says to him with a sad smile.
Harry Potter, Godric's Hollow
Harry, once again in his favorite jacket, Sirius and Remus had apparated to just outside of Godric's Hollow and followed the winding cobblestone street up to the Cemetery, they had stopped once to see the war memorial that sat in the middle of town, it had made Sirius scoff and say that it looked like neither James nor Lily, to which Harry had agreed with. He had pictures of them and had spent many sleepless nights looking at them, not counting the time he had spent in front of the Mirror back in his first year, they had gotten the shape of his mom's face wrong, his dad's hair line was too far back, both had looked a lot older than they were when they had been killed.
They had moved on quickly enough to the graveyard, it was a solemn and quiet place, filled with the resting dead, the trio of lions followed the path up the small him before Sirius veered off from the path, Harry and Remus following him for another moment or two before coming to a large double gravestone.
James Potter ~ Lily Potter
26th, March 1960 - 31st, October 1981
30th, January 1960 - 31st, October 1981
"And the Last Enemy to be Destroyed is Death,"
The white marble gravestone seemed to glow white in the dreary and drab overcast sky, surrounded by dead leaves and an aura of melancholy that Harry couldn't quite place as he looked at the grave of his parents, he reads the words etched into the white stone and can't help but feel amused by the words for some reason. Looking at the final resting place of his parent's questions he had never spoken out loud, but had always wondered about came bubbling to the surface of his mind. Would they be proud of him? Even after killing three people? Would they pity him for what his life was like when he was younger? Would they be angry at him for giving up hope in the darkness of his cupboard? For believing all the lies the Dursleys had told him about them? Would they still love him, flaws and all, if they could meet him now?
Sitting on the grave was a bouquet of red spider lilies, resting sad and alone in the gloom of the cemetery, and Harry wondered for a moment who had left them. But his attention is drawn to Sirius, who with a swish of his wand, had conjured a bouquet of yellow roses and Remus had done the same before they both laid them down on the grave one by one before standing back and looking at the grave with mournful looks. Sirius places his hand on Harry's shoulder before looking at him, He could see tears in the man's eyes before he sighs and shakes Harry slightly.
"W-What am i-i supposed to-to d-do?" Harry asks in a stammer looking between the two men, Sirius' lips press into a thin line, and Remus sighs.
"What do you want to do, Harry?" Remus asks, "Some people talk to those who are buried, to get comfort from the act, telling them how the time before visits have been, some leave flowers or treats that they believe appease the dead, and some pray quietly over the grave," He explains in an even, but sad tone.
Harry wanted to leave, he would not get his answers from a cold stone in a churchyard full of them, so he does. Harry turns around and walks away from his parent's grave.
"Harry, whe-" Sirius begins to say, but is stopped by Remus putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Let him go, Sirius," Remus tells him softly, "He just needs time, to himself, to come to terms, let him grieve how he will," Moony tells Padfoot who deflates and watches his Godson wonder amongst the graveyard.
Harry doesn't know how long he had wandered, or how far as his thoughts turned inward to himself. He would not find the answers to his questions at his parent's grave, for the dead could not speak, they could not hold you and tell you how they loved you and still do, how proud of you that they were. But that was fine, he knew in their last moments they did love him, they had died so he could live, and the best way to honor them in death was to continue forward. The weight he felt on him was still heavy, however, and Harry wondered if he could move forward, beyond the abuse of his past, to become greater than the sum of the demons that had cast him into the fires, his mother's love, and protection had never felt so heavy before.
Harry's hands travel over the gravestones as he walked, brushing over them to give himself something to do as his mind wanders in itself. But as they passed over one, he stops, it was older than the rest in the section weather-worn and beaten down by the elements over the centuries that had sat here, it was tilting in the dirt and the name was almost illegible thanks to the dirt and moss covering it, the only real thing he could make out was the symbol on it, a single line set into a circle set inside a triangle. His scar tingles before he flicks his wrist and first cleaning the ancient gravestone before repairing it.
Ignotus Peverell
12th, July 1214 - 19th, May 1292
"I was the first, and I shall be the last, for I am eternal in endless sleep."
"Doesn't look like it, Buddy," Harry mutters under his breath before sighing out, content with his good deed for the day, he left the long dead to dream enteral in endless sleep. "No one escaped death, no matter if they built a bridge to death over a river of life to try and escape it, all things die," the thought came unbidden to Harry as he walked away back to Sirius and Remus, leaving the dead to rest.
Potter Cottage, Godric Hollow.
"So, why are we here?" Harry asks, confused looking up from the plaque that marked the site, scrawled with dozens of messages of thanks and new hope for the future, Which, in Harry's opinion, was a far better war monument.
"Well, thought it would be a brilliant idea if we'd stop by, break in and grab some things and leave," Sirius says with a shrug as he stood right outside of the wards that protected the house inspecting them as Remus leans on the fence across the way with an amused look on his face as his arms were crossed.
"The Plaque says it's a protected site," Harry says pointing at the item in question, "isn't that breaking the law?" He asks, looking between Sirius and Remus.
"Marauder rule number one, Harry," Sirius says, "Rules and laws are for chumps," he says with a straight face, which confused Harry even more as Remus lets out a laugh, "Besides, this is still technically your house, and if we try and go through the Ministry they'll give us the run around for months before they even begin to hear us out, better this way," He says with a nod as he draws his wand and takes a few steps back.
"Are you serious?" Harry asks as Remus moans out in pain.
"That's the thing, Harry," His Godfather says with a grin looking back at him, "I'm always Sirius," he says, as Harry looks at him like he had lost his mind before he snorts out a laugh.
"Before you commit breaking and entering, Sirius, I think I'll take my leave and hit the store down the street for a snack," Remus says with a roll of his eyes before he starts on down the road.
"Wait, why?" Harry asks the retreating man, "I thought you wanted to come with us?"
"Oh, I do," Remus tells him as he passes Harry, "But someone needs to be able to bail Sirius out when the Aurors show up," he says with a shrug and a smirk.
"Ooh, can you get me a bag of those pretzel things I like?" Sirius asks the form of his retreating friend.
"If they have them, Padfoot," Moody calls out over his shoulder, and Harry couldn't help the creeping suspension that they had done this before.
Sirius nods before planting his feet in the dirt as if he was bracing himself, "What are you doing?" Harry asks before Sirius motions him to get behind him.
"There are two ways to get through wards, Harry," Sirius explains as Harry walks over behind him, "The first is you carefully pick them apart layer by layer until you create an opening that you can squeeze through undetected or," he says as he holds up his wand and grips it with both hands, "You overwhelm them with more magic then they can handle and shatter them alerting everyone tied to them but it's much quicker than the first method," he says before the last scion of the House of Black smiles a mad grin and gathers magic to point of his wand to the point Harry could taste it in the air, "Fuck the Ministry," Sirius says, "Anarchy in the UK," before letting his spell fly free knocking Sirius back on his ass as it digs a trench in the road before colliding with the ward set around the Potter property. There's a sound like twisting and grinding metal as the magics meet with force and Harry watches in awe as cracks begin to form at the point of impact in midair before they begin to spread around in the shape of a box, Harry could see some of the cracks repair themselves and right when he thought that the spell wouldn't work, the sound like shattering glass fills the air before the wards crumple like wet paper.
Sirius pops back to his feet with a laugh before brushing off his backside and turning to Harry, "Come on Harry, someone was sure to feel that, so the Aurors will be on their way soonish," He says as he hops over the garden wall with Harry following soon after.
"Hey, ah, S-Sirius, I've, ah, been meaning to a-ask you something, if-if you don't m-mind," Harry asks, stammering a bit but gets through it as they approached the doorway to the cottage, the door no longer on its hinges.
"Ask away Harry, I'm an open book," Sirius says with a grin, "Unless it's about any of the guys or gals I've been with, then I'm a shut book, I have a reputation as a gentleman to keep after all," the former convict says.
"Been with?" Harry says confused before shaking his head, "No, it's, ah, how, how did you, um, know about…me?" Harry asks, unsure how to say it or put it into words.
"Your mom told me she was pregnant?" Sirius says, looking at Harry, equally confused.
"No, not that," Harry says as they stop before the door, "About, you know,..." Harry trails off hopping foot to foot and looking around, as Sirius watches him for a moment before understanding flashes in his eyes.
"Ooh!" he says, head tilting back a bit before nodding, "You're talking about Artemis, right?" He asks before walking through the door and Harry follows behind him.
"Y-Yeah," Harry says as he looks around the sitting room he had just entered, it was in shambles, the furniture was transfigured and destroyed, and he could see deep gouges on the wall in the open wall kitchen along with shattered tiles scattering the floor. It looked like a warzone, and Harry guessed it was, this was the last place that Voldemort had fought at before he was scattered to the wind by Harry's mother.
Sirius had stopped a few feet into the house, staring at a spot on the ground before letting out a shuddering sigh and shaking his head.
"I met her, in this very room, in fact, a long time ago," He says softly before conjuring a large wooden box and begins to flip over knocked-over picture frames from the mantle before placing them into the box, "Your mom and dad went out for a date night a few months after you were born, and asked me to come to babysit for a few hours, I was telling you stories while we were sitting in front of the fireplace, I don't remember who fell asleep first but when Lily and James came back they woke me up asking where you were," Sirius chuckles a bit as he moves into the kitchen to look around a bit, "Imagine my surprise when you weren't curled up with me," He says looking back at Harry with a grin, "Anyway, after freaking out and doing a sweep of the first floor we moved upstairs to check the rooms, that's when I first saw her," he pause in his search, eyes far away, "She was standing in the moonlight over your crib, looking down at you like you were the most fascinating thing in the world, I raised my wand to curse her but James, knowing who it was, force me out of the room before explaining exactly who she was," He says with a nod walking back over to where Harry was standing.
"I didn't believe him at first, thought he had gone around the bend, but then she came down the stairs," Sirius tells him while gesturing over to the stairs, "It was one of the scariest moments of my life when she looked at me, and mind you I've dueled Voldemort before, but when she looked at me with those eyes it felt like I was a rabbit in the face of a hungry wolf and she laughed at me," he says shaking his head, "Dog star indeed, Sirius Black, and a good guard dog you will make, is what she told me," Sirius says with a sigh, "Fantastical fuck up on that last part, some guard dog I am didn't even remember you until that night I made it into the tower," He says with a shake off his head as he turns to the stairs.
"You didn't?" Harry asks, as he follows Sirius and the box he was levitating in front of him up the stairs.
"No," Sirius says in a disappointed voice as they go up the stairs, "I don't remember a lot of things when I got out, I barely remember who I was, let alone you or James, or Lily, all I remembered was that there was a rat I had to kill in a castle to protect something, that's it, Padfoot remember more than me, set me on the right path," he says as they reach the top of the stairs.
"Aren't you Padfoot?" Harry asks, confused, as he follows behind Sirius.
"I am, but I'm not at the same time," Sirius explains unhelpfully, "Padfoot is also my animagus form, it-it's hard to explain where the line lays between the two of us, we're both one and separate at the same time, so while I had forgotten everything, Padfoot didn't," Sirius tries to explain, and, to Harry at least, it sounded a lot like the Hunt, He was apart of the Hunt and at the same time, a separate entity.
"What does he look like, Padfoot, that is?" Harry asks, and Sirius looks over to him before smiling and placing the levitating box down before Harry watches as Sirius' form twists into place and changes into the Grimm, the same Grimm that he had seen throughout his last year at Hogwarts.
Harry's jaw drops, and the normally stoic boy is shocked as he blurts out, "I know you! You were outside of the Dursleys the night I ran away!" He says as he points at Padfoot who wags his tail and barks Happily, "You wanted to see me?" Harry asks before Padfoot barks again and transforms back into Sirius.
"You can understand Padfoot?" Sirius asks, grinning.
"Well, ah, yeah," Harry says with a shrug, "Anything that Hunts really, Hounds, Wolves, Hawks, Snakes, and Owls, if it hunts I can understand it," he says scratching the back of his head as Sirius continues to look at him smiling.
"Wicked," Sirius says before clapping Harry on his shoulder, "Hell of a trick, Harry, normally I have to be Padfoot to understand other animals, and even then it's patchy," he says with an impressed look on his face.
Harry shrugs before turning to look down the hall, "So, ah, what all are we grabbing up here?" Harry asks.
"Oh, just a few things I know James and Lily had tucked away, pictures of your Grandparents, of your first birthday, first Christmas, stuff like that," Sirius says with a shrug, "How about this, I'll hit there bedroom and you can look in their offices, I know James had a picture of Fleamont and Euphemia on his desk, and some things you might find interesting, just grab whatever you want, Okay?" He tells Harry, and the boy shuffles a bit awkwardly but nods. Sirius points out the first two doors in the hall on both sides being the offices of his parents before leaving Harry to explore them by himself, the box sitting in the middle of the hall.
Harry goes into the right door first, it was a small office, neatly kept with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that sat mostly empty with a few books and pictures sitting on them, and a large mahogany desk dominates the room. The red and gold theme with a few old quidditch posters was a dead giveaway of whose office it was, Harry looked at the pictures to find them mostly full of Hogwarts years of a younger Sirius, Remus, his father, and Pettigrew, one of his fathers Quidditch team, one of his father standing next to a younger looking McGonagall, one of His father with two people Harry vaguely remembers from the Mirror of Erised. He quickly grabs them and packs them away in the box in the hall before returning, the desk was mostly empty, with only a few sleeves of blank parchment, quills, and inkwells. But hanging off the chair was something else, a red cloak trimmed with gold, thick black leather covered the shoulders, back, and down the front of the chest like armor, the red silk-like fabric was sewed into the leather with gold thread. Harry picks it up off the chair, it was heavier than it looked and weighed almost as much as his own jacket, the leather was ridged and made to fit over a form a bit bulkier than his own, and soft padding was sewed in on the inside, near the collar and hood was a tag with a name and a series of numbers sewed in James F Potter, 0064773. Harry carefully folds the cloak before leaving the office and placing it in the box before moving to the next room.
Unlike his father's neat and orderly office, this one was a proper mess, Harry could barely make out the dark burgundy of the walls because of all the cork pushpin boards that covered the walls, like his father's office, it to had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves but they held nothing person like the pictures and objects in the other, they were crammed with books, so much so that the shelves seem to buckle under the weight of them all, and to Harry's surprise, he could read a few of the spines as they were in Ancient Greek. A desk was pushed against the back wall, missing the chair, with a small pewter cauldron sitting on a burner, the desk was covered in parchment that had notes written on them, as well as the cork boards, hundreds of thousands of handwritten lines, diagrams, runes, and circles danced across the pages, Harry couldn't even begin to fathom the number of hours or days if not weeks and months that went into it all.
If Hermione was here, she would probably go crazy trying to figure it all out and going through everything to try and make sense of it all to find everything of importance, but she wasn't, so Harry moves to the messy desk. He could make out a few words on the parchment on the desk, but they seemed so far out of his depth that he quickly moves on from it and starts to search the drawers, but the top two were nothing but parchment, quills, and a rainbow of different color inks. The bottom drawer opens up like a cupboard door, and Harry was surprised to find what was inside, an iron safe with runes carved along the sides. It had no keyhole or turn dial with numbers, just a handle jutting out of it, Harry shrugs to himself before reaching out for the handle, he grabs it and tries to turn it but quickly finds it locked. Just before he could sigh in disappointment, there was a click before he felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hand.
"Ahh, fuck," Harry hisses out pulling back his hand and shaking it before seeing a small bleeding cut near the bottom of his pinky, he was about to curse again about to kick the stupid thing before the handle turned by itself, and the safe opened.
The inside was a bit bigger than the outside, and sitting in the same was a thick muggle binder stuffed with Parchment, two brown leather Journals, a stack of letters wrapped in twine, and a final folded piece of parchment sitting on top of it all, addressed to Harry. With a shaky hand, Harry reaches out and picks up the parchment, and opens it. It was written in Ancient Greek, as if His mother Lily knew he wouldn't be able to read it otherwise.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this, whenever that may be, then the absolute worst has come to pass, and Voldemort has found a way past the charm that protects the house. How he did this is something I won't speculate on, I don't want to even begin to consider the possibility of something like that.
But I do know one thing, he won't touch you. In my research, I came across a lot of old magic and ancient rituals that date back to the very founding of magic, one of them protects someone from death in exchange for another life. It was normally used on the sick and dying with an unwilling sacrifice to cure them of whatever brought them to death's door, but I've modified it. I won't bore you with the unnecessary details in this letter, but if he does come, you will be safe from him forever after this.
In this safe, you should also find a few other things, letters to people I care about with my final words to them, two journals, one for you and one for Albus Dumbledore. The one to you contains all my notes and research into the two rituals that both made you possible and the one that will save you. The one for Albus is full of research and notes on how one can escape death, he'll know what to do with it.
The last thing is a folder containing copies of both mine and your father's wills, his research in Transfiguration for his Mastery, if he ever takes it, as well as my own for charms, potions, runes, and arithmancy, I will add to them as time passes but do with them what you want, I'm leaving it all to you.
With all of that out of the way, I want you to know, before anything else, that I love you. I love you more than anything else in this world and I gave my life to protect you because of that love. Every day I spent with you and your father was the happiest day of my life, even in these dark times. You were the light in that dark, lighting my world up with soft moonlight, and know I went to my death with a smile knowing that I was protecting that precious moonlight. Never blame yourself for my death, Harry, I did this knowing it would take my life, and the only regrets I have is that I have only one life to give for you and that I won't be able to see you grow up. I don't know if your father survives what's to come, if it comes, but if he does tell him that I'm sorry and that I will always love him.
There was so much I wanted to show you, to teach you, to see you do, because I know you'll do great things, Harry, I know you will. But do not take that as some dead mother's expectations that you need to take on to honor me, I have no expectations of you Harry, because, in the end, the only thing I want you to do is to live. Live a long and happy life however you want, however you choose, to find love, to be happy, nothing more, nothing less. If that means letting go of my memory and embracing someone else as your mum, then do so, because no matter what I'll be with you, protecting you always.
On the subject of mothers, there is something you need to know, if you don't already, whether James has told you or she did herself, I'm not your only mother. The details aside, we had a little help creating you. Her name is Artemis, and believe it or not, she's a Goddess, which in turn makes you a Demigod. I don't know what that entails, Artemis told us the night she granted us her boon that she would return after your birth and explain it to us, but as I write this she still hasn't shown up as of yet.
But I know she'll love you as much as I do, who couldn't after all, you're far too cute as a baby. I just hope you're not like your father and accidentally anger her, from the stories she has quite a temper, so be nice, polite, and respectful when you do meet her, whenever that may be.
Listen to your father, if not him, then listen to Sirius but trust nothing that comes out of his mouth following the phrase "I have a brilliant idea", it's just his way of saying "Let's get into trouble," Remus should be the only one you listen to out of your dad's old friends, the other two are just trouble makers and lovable pranksters, Remus hasn't tried to trick me once.
Say Hello to Alice, your Godmother, and pass along my love, to her husband Frank, as well. Gosh, I hope you and Neville grow up to be good friends, Like Alice and Me, Godsiblings the both of you.
Make lots of friends, don't eat too many sweets before bed, and always brush your teeth. Learn what you love, and always love what you learned. Never let anyone try to tell you something based on your heritage, if they do, punch them in the nose. Find someone you love, no matter who they are, and love them with all your heart, don't forget to do your homework, always keep a knife on you, and buy a wand holster.
There was so much more I want to say and tell you, but I can't think of them now.
Okay, the last thing, Harry, Never let anyone use me or your father's memory against you, and never let what other people say about living up to mine or, Gods forbid, both of our legacies. We never want you to feel pursued by us or what we leave behind, we want you happy and alive, and as long as you are those two things, we're proud of you. And if there ever comes a time that it feels that way, don't think of it as a weight on your back, but as our hands pushing you forward. All you have to do is take that first step, Harry, the rest will come naturally.
With all the love that I can give and more, my little moonlight,
-Lily Evans Potter
(Your mum)
Toward the end of the letter, the perfectly neat script that was written with a flourish had devolved into a shaking mess, much like Harry's own handwriting, ink blotted here and there on the page as his mother cried as she wrote him a letter, because she knew that if Voldemort would ever make it past the Fidelius Charm, she wouldn't get the chance to ever write him again. She would die, Had died, to save Harry, so as Harry wiped away his own tears from his face, the raw emotion of the letter even affecting him, he folds it up and tucks it into the inside pocket of his jacket. Harry didn't know how to feel about it all, He knew his mother loved him, but it was another thing entirely to read it in her own words, emotions warred in his chest over it all. The want and need to cling on to the few tangible things of his parents that he had left, the letter that held no answers but all of them at the same time, and the words of his mother explaining that it was alright to let them go, to live a happy and long life for that was the reason they both died for.
So Harry could live.
Harry decides to do what his mother asked of him, to deliver the letters to as many as he could, to drop off the journal with the Headmaster, and maybe…maybe he'd listen to her, this was his chance for a happy life, out of the cupboard, away from number four, maybe he would embrace it after all. He takes everything from the safe before dropping everything but the letters into the box, Harry unties the twine that held them together and starts flipping through them.
Alice and Frank Longbottom, had to be Neville's mom and dad, he passed the letters along through Neville.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter each had a letter to them, at least he could pass along the letters to two of the three remaining Marauders.
The Headmaster, McGonagall, and Flitwick each had a letter to them, easy enough to do after Sirius and Remus.
Aunt Petunia, Harry didn't know how to feel about that one.
And finally, much to his confusion, Severus Snape, why Lily had written to anyone like Snape, Harry had no idea, but he would deliver it all the same.
Harry takes out the letter for Sirius to start the deliveries as soon as he could, He would give Remus his when he got outside and got ready to leave. Harry moves down the hall to the room that Sirius had entered, as he comes to the doorway that Sirius had entered he pauses as a cold chill passes down his spine, He could hear Sirius in the room shuffling things around, but Harry's attention is drawn behind him. On the other side of the hallway from his parent's room was another room. A nursery, THE nursery, his nursery, and Harry turns around and slowly walks to the room.
The door was splintered and scattered across the floor, random debris mixed in with the toys, both magical and muggle, open children's books, and a few stuffed animals. Harry carefully steps into it looking around at the bright blue and green wallpaper with moving broomsticks and flying snitches. A small bookshelf was on the right side of the room along with a dresser with a nappy changing station on the left. The roof collapsed in, showing the overcast sky outside, and the remains of a crib lay under it. He could tell from the mattress and blanket that stuck out from under it all, Harry swallows thickly, emotions bubbling in his chest, loss, regret, pride, love, and an odd sense of remembrance he couldn't quite place. He shivers but not from the slight chill in the air but from a memory of being cradled in ice-cold arms, being pulled close and held by someone, his breath comes out like a mist as his scar tingles a bit as he steps in front of the crushed crib.
Harry slowly gets to his knees, overwhelmed by it all, this is where it had happened, where his mother had willingly given her life for him. Where Voldemort had taken away everything from Harry, Where Peter had sealed Harry's fate of growing up in the dark of the cupboard, and Where Artemis had thought him dead for so long. Harry didn't know how long he sat there looking at the crib, his eyes running over every detail of it, the turning point in his life, like the one he was at now, he kneeled in the room where it had all started, at the end of it all. In the wreckage of his ruined crib, he sees something that didn't belong. Among the dark stained wood of his crib, and the clay tiles of the roof, a pale white wood stuck out like a sore thumb, Harry reaches out in almost a trance and pulls a wand from between the mattress and frame of the crib.
It was pale white, maybe Ten inches long, and carved in a twisting pattern that showed off the grain of the wood. As soon as he held it in his hand, he felt his magic cling to it like with his spare but no magic filtered through it as if it was dead. Harry knew who this wand belonged to as soon as he held it, it was Lily Potter's wand, it was his mother's wand that had cast her final spell to protect him. He cradled it in his hands like it was the only precious thing in the world.
"Freeze, don't move!" Yells a familiar voice from behind him, and contrary to what was said, Harry quickly turns his head to see Dora standing in the doorway dressed in her red Auror cloak like the one Harry had found in his dad's office with her wand pointed at his head. As Harry turns and looks at her, her eyes go from narrowed, hard and angry, to wide with shock and surprise. Her wand falls to her side as her jaw works but no words come out, until she swiftly turns around with a curse before yelling that echoes throughout the house.
"Sirius Black! Get your bony ass out here right bloody now!" Dora screams and after a moment of pause, Sirius answers back.
"Harry! It's the fuzz! Cheese it!"
Severus Snape, Hogwarts, October 31st, 5:23 PM
Severus Snape sat in his office, coldly staring into the hearth as he swirls a glass of fire whiskey, the cheap kind that you would get not caring about how it tastes but how quickly it can get you inebriated. He hated Halloween for, in his own opinion, a good reason.
It was the day that Lily died through his own sheer stupidity, he was man enough to admit that, and for the last thirteen years he had looked back on this day and found no one he could blame more than himself, the Dark Lord may have killed her, Pettigrew may have betrayed them, but it was Severus that started it all when he had told the Dark Lord of the prophecy that he had overheard in the hogs head inn. He sighs as he takes another gulp of the cheap whiskey, wincing a bit as it burns down his throat, hoping that it would give him the strength to put up with tonight's events and Karkaroff, the bloody coward. Hopefully, this circus of a tournament would pass quickly and the Brat wouldn't be somehow pulled into it all.
A sharp knocking at his door cut into his thoughts, Snape sighs, leaning his head back, intent on ignoring whoever it was. His Slytherins knew that this one the one day of the year that his office was closed and he didn't want to be bothered unless it was a life-or-death emergency, even then, his prefects were picked out for a good reason so they could manage the house without him for a day, But after a few moments, the knocking came again.
"Go away," Snape calls out, "My office is closed until tomorrow," He says with as much patience as he could muster, intent on not moving from where he sat for another thirty minutes.
"Professor," the voice of the Brat calls out, "It's, um, me, Harry," the Brat calls out nervously, he could probably tell from Severus' voice that the Potion Master didn't want to be disturbed.
Severus sighs again before downing the rest of the whiskey in his cup and standing up, quickly walking over to the door. He really didn't need the boy here today of all days, Snape had no desire to look into the Brat's eye and see Lily looking back at him, But the Brat rarely ever came to see him of all people willingly, which is just how Severus liked it.
He unlocked his office door with a wave of his wand before pulling it open and looking at the Brat with his more unfriendly glare he could sum up, "What do you want, Potter?" he snaps at the Brat before he watches him take a step back.
"I have, ah, a letter for you, sir," the Brat says, his eyes instinctively looking away from the angry Potion Master's face, Snape just raises his brow at the Brat.
"Funny, Potter, but you do not have any feathers and while I'm flattered, I'm afraid that I can not return your feelings for multiple reasons," Severus snips at the Brat, finding how confused the brat looks amusing but makes sure it doesn't show on his face.
"Wha-" the Brat begins to say, before shaking his head and reaching inside his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of parchment before holding it out to him, Severus frowns before looking at the letter, and as he reads his name on the front of the letter, his heart stops for a second; It was Lily's handwriting on the front.
"Where,..." Snape begins to say, snapping his mental barriers shut and clearing his mind from all emotion, "Did you get this, Potter? You didn't get it from Black did you?" He says with narrowed eyes.
The Brat shakes his head, "No, I…went to the cottage today, and their grave, we, ah, kinda broke in and I found this with a bunch of other letters in her office," The Brat says, shuffling foot to foot, "Did, did you k-know her, S-Sir?" he asks, looking everywhere but Severus' face.
"And this was a conversation that is NEVER going to happen," Severus thinks to himself before snatching the letter from the Brats hand, "Mind your own business, Potter, and go get dressed for the feast, because if I see you in that jacket again this year, you'll be spending every weekend gutting rats," The Potion Master says before slamming the door on the Brats face before locking it again. He ignores the muttered words from the brat calling him arse, which granted, yes he was.
He walks back over to the hearth, turning the letter over in his hands, his eyes soften a bit while looking at the familiar scrawl across the parchment, tracing the S in his first name before turning it over and breaking the wax seal on the back. Severus closes his eyes as he opens the letter, preparing for the worst, for her final words to be as sharp as a dagger and more painful than any Cruciatus Curse. For her to curse him, for her to hate him, because he knew he deserved it more than anyone in the world.
Severus takes a deep breath, before opening his eyes to look, to read, but there were only four words on the page, and if it wasn't for his mental shields he would have sobbed, he would let the tears fall, he would cry. But such sentiments were for fools and those who have no control over themselves, something he had mastered long ago. So Severus merely walks over to the hearth, casting the parchment into the flames, and as he watches the paper burn, he whispers softly to the ghost he was now ready to let go of.
"I'll protect him, Lily," He says as he watches the words he always wanted to hear, but knew he would never deserve burn, "Even if I must give my life to do it, I will see him safe," Severus Snape says, renewing the oath he had made over the grave that he would leave flowers on every year, as the words:
"Sev, I forgive you."
Burn to ash in the Hearth.
Notes:
Chapter done
I was originally going to call this one "Wheel of Fortune part one" but I found that the Five of Cups fit much better.
This whole chapter was set up for Harry and Snape to finally let go of their pasts and start to heal, for Harry it is the turning point for his character, where he starts to let go of the cupboard and starts to embrace what's beyond that door he always saw locked.
The next chapters are:
The Wheel of Fortune
Three of Swords
Ace of Cups
Queen of Pentacles (Part one)
Queen of Pentacles (Part two)
Queen of Swords