I promised a chapter on Friday and you got one...even if it's nearly 11pm at night. XD Enjoy!
Chapter 31
She’s a what?
The summer before Harri’s fourth year was spent locked down in Grimmauld Place. The ministry didn’t deem their apartment safe enough to protect her if Peter came after them. So, they had to move into Sirius’ family home, which was considered the safest place for them. Sirius had commented that they must have never lived in Grimmauld place or they’d know that it really wasn’t all that safe. Dark objects were still in the house, even if they were just out of the reach of Harri and Draco.
They had fixed up the majority of the house. The only room they were still trying to clean fully was the kitchen. There was one drawer that gave Harri a migraine and made her scar hurt whenever she looked at it. Whenever she got close to the drawer Kreacher would send her away from it.
During the very beginning of July two things happened to Harri. First she got her vision corrected and she didn’t need her glasses to see anymore. Second, Harri and Draco were taken for their inheritance tests by Remus and Sirius. Harri always found Gringotts interesting. She loved seeing the goblins…she liked their spunky attitudes.
After giving the goblins some blood the four of them sat in silence, until Harri decided to speak. “What do you think the tests are going to say?” Harri asked quietly, not really addressing anyone in particular.
“Probably nothing out of the ordinary… Most likely, just some natural magical skills you might have, maybe some bloodline magic, but there shouldn’t be anything strange,” Sirius replied. In all honestly, he wasn’t sure. Harriet’s father had never gone for his since his parents were too busy fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Draco got his results first. He didn’t have anything too surprising besides natural Occlumency and Animagus skills. He even had a little bit of seer blood in him, much to his pleasure.
It was Harri’s results that surprised everyone. She was a Parselmouth and had Occlumency and Animagus skills like Draco, but what really shocked everyone was fact that she was a quarter Veela.
As soon as Sirius heard the news he promptly fainted. Harri was staring at the piece of paper in shock and Draco was trying not to laugh at Sirius. Remus seemed to be the only person thinking rationally.
“That explains a lot,” Remus commented with his arms crossed. This would explain why James had chased after Lily for seven years. She was his mate and he knew it before the bond kicked in.
He heard Sirius get up behind him. “What do you mean, ‘this is explains a lot!’ This is bad, Mooney, really bad! Harri can’t have a mate!” Sirius shouted. He was not going to let his goddaughter have a mate! “She’s going to a nunnery!”
“She’s only a fourth Veela. Most likely she’ll look extremely beautiful as she grows up and have a mate that she’ll find eventually. It isn’t like she’s a full blooded Veela that needs her mate to survive past her seventeenth birthday, she’ll just be stronger with him around. You’re overacting, Padfoot,” Remus told his friend calmly. Harri seemed to relax a little bit. Obviously, she was worried about needing another person to survive. Sirius was standing next to him, his mouth gaping like a fish.
“So, I’m guessing my dad was half Veela then?” she asked, finally coming out of her shocked state.
“I’d assume so. He did chase after your mum for seven years, no matter how many times she rejected him,” he answered and Harri nodded mutely.
“How will I know who my mate is anyway?” she questioned curiously. It wasn’t like she was going to go and look for her mate. She just wanted to know if she’s ever met him.
“You’d be unconsciously drawn to him and he’d be drawn to you. It’ll be easier for you to tell once your sixteenth birthday rolls around. The other way to tell would be a kiss, but that might just kill Sirius, so I wouldn’t suggest it,” Remus answered with a mischievous glint in his eyes and Harri laughed at her godfather’s horrified face.
“Mooney, did you just tell her to kiss a boy? Whose side are you on?” Sirius questioned his best friend.
“Hey, I’m just the cool uncle. You’re the crazy overprotective parent,” Remus answered with a wolfish grin. Harri and Draco laughed at their antics. She loved it when her family was like this…weird as can be, but happy all the same.
Harri became isolated after the inheritance test. She had been thinking of anyone she was drawn to and came up empty. She wished that Hermione was around to talk to, but she’s off in Bulgaria with Viktor this summer. Wendi had been sending her letters about how nauseating they are together.
Harri stayed in her room and studied most of the time and didn’t talk much during meals. Remus and Sirius had started to worry about her and decided that she needed a friend around, that wasn’t just Draco. Within the next few days Luna and Wendi arrived at Grimmauld place. Sadly, the twins were under lockdown back home and Molly Weasley wasn’t letting them out of the house for the rest of the summer.
It didn’t take long for Luna and Wendi to drag Harri away from her books. Before the two adults knew it the house was filled with laughter and yelling. Draco came down about an hour later covered in glitter and sequence.
“You two hate me, don’t you?” he deadpanned, causing both Marauders to burst out laughing.
It was later that evening when Luna and Wendi noticed that something was wrong with Harri. She was much quieter than normal and wasn’t giving her opinion on anything.
“Harri, is something wrong? Did the nargles get your tongue?” Luna asked, concerned for her first friend real friend.
“You know you can tell us anything, right?” Wendi said as she grabbed Harri’s hands and gave them a quick squeeze to show support.
“Yea, it’s just I was told some interesting news a few weeks ago. You see, I went for my inheritance test and found out that I was a quarter Veela…” she explained quietly and both girls shared equally shocked looks.
“You realize that being a Veela isn’t a bad thing. Harri, you’re going to be beautiful! I mean, you’re already really pretty, but you know what I mean,” Wendi stammered trying to find the right words.
Wendi knew that Harri was never cared about outer beauty. She only cared about the inner beauty of people, so she knew that wasn’t the perfect thing to say. Luna looked thoughtful for a few moments, just staring at Harri.
“You’re worried about your mate, right? Well, Ms. Harriet Potter, you shouldn’t need to worry about that. You’ll find him at the right time. Veela are supposed to have great relationships with their mates anyway. I don’t see what the problem is. It isn’t like you’ll die without him,” Luna said with a dreamy smile. Her eyes seemed to be a million miles away, like they were looking at something else besides the room they were in. Maybe Luna was a seer.
Harri smiled warmly at Luna, who smiled back. It was rare for Luna to come out of her shell and talk normally with people her own age. It just showed how much Luna trusted them.
“Speaking of mates, how are Viktor and Hermione?” Harri asked Wendi, who turned green at the comment.
“Ugh, don’t even get me started. They’re so lovey dovey…it’s gross. I’ve never seen my cousin act so sweet,” she answered as she shivered at the memory of them.
Harri laughed at her friend’s explanation. Personally, Harri was happy for Hermione, she deserved to have a happy relationship.
“I never thought that Hermione would like a Quidditch player,” Luna said offhandedly.
“She surprised us all,” Harri replied, shrugging her shoulders. “So, are you guys going to the Quidditch World Cup with me and Draco?”
Days passed with nothing in particular happening, until Harri had a very unsettling nightmare of Voldemort, Pettigrew and a snake called Nagini. As soon as the nightmare was over, her scar giving her a blinding migraine, and she found herself running to the bathroom across the hall to vomit. She had just watched a man die. She knew that it wasn’t just a made up dream, she had been in the room with them.
“Bambi, is everything alright?” a half asleep Sirius asked as leaning against the bathroom door. His hair was a mess, sticking up at every angle and he was just in a loose nightshirt and a pair sweats. As soon as he saw her leaning over the toilet he ran over to her.
Harri wiped her mouth off with a bit of toilet paper and grimaced. “I had a rather realistic dream of Voldemort and Pettigrew killing a man. Did you know that he has a giant snake named Nagini? I think that snake might be one of his horcruxes. He doesn’t seem to let it out of is sight for too long,” Harri answered as she got off the floor.
She went to sink and rinsed her mouth out a few times before leaning against the counter, waiting for her godfather to say something.
“I’m starting your Occlumency lessons tomorrow. I don’t know how he keeps getting in your head or how you know that the snake is a horcrux, but I’m going to try to have the dreams stop,” he told her soothingly and she hugged him.
“Thanks, Sirius, you’re the best parent I could ask for, you know that right?” Harri told him, her green eyes twinkling.
Sirius smiled at his goddaughter. He ruffled her hair since it wasn’t in a braid. This caused her frown. It was going to take her forever to get her hair to do what she wanted in the morning. “I know, now, off to bed with you. You’re going to have a big day of lessons tomorrow! Ugh, I sound like a teacher…” Sirius said with distain. Harri laughed at her godfather’s face before she went back to her room and dozed on an off for the rest of the night.
The next morning came quickly and Harri started her lessons without complaint. She found herself in the Black Family Library after lunch with Remus and Sirius. Wendi and Luna decided to watch the lessons, since they had nothing better to do besides school work.
“Alright, Harri, clear your mind and think of someplace safe, a place that no one can destroy. The key to Occlumency is to protect your mind from invaders,” Remus explained, while Sirius was pulling books out about Occlumency for Harri to read.
“So, all I have to do is think of a place to hide my memories? A place that no one knows better than me?” she asked raising her eyebrow. Remus nodded and Harri smiled. She knew the perfect place.
“Alright, I’ll try to attack your mind on the count of three. One-Two-Three- Legilimens!” Remus shouted and Harri felt him enter her mind.
As soon as Remus entered her mind he noticed that he was inside Potter Manor. Obviously, she decided that this was her safe place, but didn’t she realize that he knew his way around. He walked to the first door, it was locked. He quickly used his wand to open the door and rolled his eyes. Harri was going to need practice. As he opened the door he saw a chest, where her memories must be kept. He then heard a feral growl. He looked down and saw an angry wolf approaching him.
Remus quickly closed the door, not wanting to be attacked by the animal. He found that whenever he opened a door either the wolf, a dog, a stag, or a doe would attack him. The only surprise was when Remus entered Harri’s room. It was guarded by a fox, he had no idea who that symbolized… He quickly closed the door and left her mind.
Harri and Remus opened their eyes right after he left her mind, both were panting slightly, their magic drained.
“Very good, Harri. It was really clever using Potter Manor as your safe place and have all of us guard it. I just have to ask, who was the fox?” Remus praised his honorary niece happily.
“Fox? I don’t remember thinking of a fox,” Harri replied confused, her head tilted slightly to the side. She hadn’t been thinking of a fox when she thought of her safe place…
“It was probably her mate. Her mind unconsciously reaches out to him, so he was bound to show up in her mind,” Luna told the group. She was looking at them like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
The lessons continued and were only stopped on Harri’s birthday, which was interesting because partway through the day the Weasley twins fell from the fireplace and landed on the hard fireplace brick. Both of them had their trunks with them. It seemed that they weren’t just coming to visit. Everyone came to look at the strange scene. Luna and Draco were trying not to laugh, while Wendi looked concerned.
“Is your grounding over?” Harri asked, standing over them as they groaned and sat up. George got off his brother shook his head.
“Hardly, our dad broke us out of our rooms and told us to leave and enjoy the rest of the summer. Our mum’s gone nuts. She wasn’t happy with our O.W.L. results. She wants us to work in the Ministry like Percy and our dad. She doesn’t realize that we don’t want to work in the stuffy ministry…can you picture us doing desk work?” he explained and Harri laughed a little towards the end.
“I can see you two blowing up a desk, but I can’t see you working at one. I thought you two wanted to open your own joke shop,” Harri said helping George off the floor. There was an odd sensation when she grabbed his hand and pulled him up, but she ignored it and helped Fred off the floor. She figured that it had to be some residue floo power or something…
“Yea, we do, but our mum thinks it’s a waste of time,” Fred complained as he flopped down on the couch nearest him.
“Sirius, do you think we should block the Weasley house from our floo network? I know you and Molly don’t see eye to eye on certain things…” Remus said carefully, glancing at Harri who was avoiding eye contact with her godfather.
“Yea, you’re right, Mooney,” Sirius replied quickly and muttered an incantation at the fireplace, it lit up purple for a moment before fizzling out.
Soon enough everything had gone back to normal. The twins dropped their stuff off in their room and Fred started talking to Sirius about pranks. Remus was talking with Luna, Draco and Wendi over something they’d all seen on the news. Harri was quietly reading her father’s Transfiguration book in the corner of the sitting room and George was staring at her over a quidditch magazine he was pretending to read.
Harri had grown up in the past few months. She wasn’t wearing glasses anymore, which made her eyes more prominent. She had more of a figure. She wasn’t too tin, but she wasn’t pudgy. To George, she was perfect.
Slowly everyone started to trickle out of the room till it was only Harri and George. Fred and managed to clear the room. He gave his brother a thumbs up before leaving room, much to his George’s embarrassment.
As soon as the last person left the room Harri’s head shot up, realizing that everyone had left. Well, except for George.
“Everyone left us, George…I wonder what that was about,” she said talking more to herself than her red headed friend.
“Yea, it’s strange. So, did anything happen this summer?” he asked and Harri looked down almost dejectedly. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say.
“Yea, something did happen. Apparently, Voldemort and I have more of a connection than we thought and he’s been invading my mind through my dreams,” Harri replied and George flinched. He didn’t mean to bring up a touchy topic, but Harri wasn’t done talking. “I also went for my inheritance test.”
“Find anything interesting?” he questioned, dreading the answer he was going to get.
“I’m a quarter Veela,” she whispered. George blinked a few times shocked. Was that why he had a crush on her, because she was a Veela?
“Any idea on who your mate is?” he asked hoarsely.
“No, I’m not going to worry about it. I won’t know until I’m sixteen or I kiss the right bloke…” she answered warily.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Fred came back in looking between his brother and Harri. George shook his head and Fred sighed. He was wondering if his brother would ever make his move.
“Sirius was just telling me that you guys were going to the Quidditch final too,” Fred said and Harri’s eyes lit up.
“Even Hermione’s going to be there!” Harri told them excitedly. That was when the twins realized that she wasn’t here with them.
“Speaking of Hermione, where is she?” George asked. Hermione was usually with Harri.
“She’s probably snogging my cousin!” Wendi shouted from the kitchen. Everyone got a good laugh out of that and the discussion of inheritance was forgotten for the time being.
Hope you liked the chapter. I'll be trying to update on Tuesdays and Fridays. Hopefully I can finish the majority of the story by the end of the summer.
~Animerocker
PS
I don't own Harry Potter