Wrong, All Wrong

Quick Wandwork and Swift Inference

-Quick Wandwork and Swift Inference-

Aside from the unwanted separation from Aster, Harry believed his time away from the orphanage so far was proving successful. The books and newspapers in the library kept him informed of recent Wizarding history and current events. Harry purposefully avoided accounts of Voldemort, Death Eaters, and the Boy-Who-Lived from the 1980s after reading too many drastically conflicting writings.

All of them wrote falsehoods concerning Aster and his role in Voldemort's defeat, clearing fabricating their own sensational accounts of how his brother survived. Some described Voldemort (in their words You-Know-Who) as a despicable monster terrorizing Muggles, muggleborns, and any of their sympathizers. Other sources categorized him as a political force driven by an aggressive ideology. Few mentioned actual attacks, deaths, or disappearances, focusing instead on arguing over the motivations and morality of his and the Death Eaters' actions. Whether or not that was because there were few other attacks aside from the one on the Potter household could not be determined. This, the encounter with Lucius Malfoy, and Sirius' job as an Agent encouraged Harry to learn more about the inner structure of this new world he entered.

Through his talks and lessons with the adults at Spinner's End (as he learned was the name of this residence) he had a solid foundation in Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration though the latter two only involved theories. Following the flying incident Sirius finally gave up his attempts at turning Harry into a Quidditch star (a sport which Harry concluded was best seen in person to fully understand) and began answering Harry's inquiries on the subject of magical transformations. He was confident he would not be behind his peers once he began his Hogwarts education next year after so many years estranged from Wizarding society.

Not that he was ever truly worried. All other children he encountered so far possessed slower rates of comprehension and learning, even Aster.

At the moment Harry was in Severus' tutoring room, practicing eye removal and juicing of beetles while cross-referencing a "short-cut" Sirius mentioned regarding object-to-creature transformations with an actual Transfiguration textbook. Reading and learning more capabilities of magic continually frustrated Harry when he remembered wands were restricted from children until the months leading up to their schooling.

Keeping his fingers out of the way, he used the tip of the blade in his left hand to pop the eyes out of the beetle in his right hand, rotated the blade to crush the beetle on the desk, and then wiped the blade on a cloth. He used the motion of the wipe to turn the pages of his text and his notes then continued his work on the beetles.

As Harry was using the blade to guide the beetle's juice into a vial he heard a crash outside the door.

He slid out of his seat and darted to the side of the room's entrance, blade in hand. The closed door muffled the following sounds of hurried footsteps.

"Saphyr, go." He quietly opened the door wide enough to let the serpent through and shut it again.

Shifting to Saphyr's eyes, Harry saw Remus standing in the doorway to the sitting room. The man was stiffly waiting in place, gazing across the room. On the other side of the room was a fallen vase, likely the cause of the earlier crash.

Moments later Sirius walked in with Severus in tow, one hand dragging the Potions Master and the other fidgeting with his hair, shirt, robe... When the two men stepped fully into the room, Sirius and Remus began silently staring at each other. Severus moved his hand to rest around Sirius' waist and the man immediately stopped fidgeting.

"What is your business here, wolf?"

The tone of Severus' voice surprised Harry; the Potions Master was often terse with the other house occupants, yet not even the disdain voiced toward James was as biting as these words toward Remus. The term 'wolf' interested Harry, as Severus' precise diction meant that it indicated a characteristic of Remus', similar to how Sirius the dog Animagus was called 'mutt'. Was Remus also an Animagus?