Title: The Truth about Magic and Muggles (02/?)
Author name: SuperWitch
Author email: superwitch@brturbo.com
Category: Action/Adventure
Sub Category: Romance
Keywords: Birth Parchment Magical Essence Harry Potter Hermione Granger Legilimency
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OoTP
Summary: Have you ever wondered why magical babies are born from Muggle families? Join Harry Potter in his sixth year at Hogwarts and face with him mysterious deaths, the consequences of the Prophecy and maybe... love?!
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author notes: I'd like to thank my two amazing betas, Lissie89 and GemmaH121. Without you girls, this fic wouldn't probably be posted here. Thanks a lot for your help.
I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to Blizzard, who gave me the sweetest review I've ever got. Thanks so much.
Chapter 02 - Back to the Grim Old Place
Harry woke up hitting his head on the Ford Fusion window. Looking at the car clock, he could see that less than two hours had passed since he left Privet Drive, but it felt as if he had finally been absolved from a long Azkaban sentence. He still had some opened wounds that not even Madam Pomfrey would be able to cure, but being away from the Dursleys made him remember that he still had a lot of things ahead of him… and none of them had anything to do with the prophecy or Voldemort…
Since he couldn't change the past and to keep on suffering would only worsen things, he decided to try not to think about what had troubled his mind for the last three weeks and live one day at a time. To his surprise - he couldn't take his eyes off the landscapes they were crossing - he found that the highway wasn't as unpleasant as his old memories with the Dursleys made him previously believe.
But before he could continue his philosophical ramblings, something extremely pink caught his attention. Straightening his glasses up in order to see correctly, Harry could detect that a pink jumper had been placed on his chest…
"Oh, I'm glad you're awake. I want to show you some places when we arrive at London…" Hermione said, pulling the blouse from Harry's body and starting to fold it. "I hope you don't mind, you started to shiver while you were sleeping and I assumed you were cold."
Hermione placed the blouse at her side, straightened herself up in the car seat and resumed reading a book called 'How to defend yourself from Dark Wizards without using Dark Magic' that awaited her on her lap.
For the first time ever since they met at his aunt's flowerbed, Harry looked at Hermione without any concernment, excuse or lie on his mind. In a less thorough analysis, it could be said that she hadn't changed much that summer… Her brown hair was still terribly bushy, tied in a high ponytail, leaving her nape exposed. Just like he had seen her uncountable times, she was very absorbed in her book, completely distracted from the world. However, maybe due to the brown light from the sunset that was illuminating her contour - maybe because it was one of the first harmonious sights that his eyes had seen after weeks of staring at the moldered walls of his room at Privet Drive - there was something he couldn't place in Hermione that caught his attention.
Maybe it was something that wasn't really recent.
How long has it been there, then?
Perhaps it was something that Harry wasn't curious enough to notice before… Or something that wasn't so evident or alluring…
The fact was that Harry was experiencing something like dé-jà vu, because just like at the Yule Ball, on that day, that girl sitting by his side had nothing to do with the image he previously had of Hermione on his mind. Maybe it was the lack of robes, that tended to hide and diminish everything. Maybe it was the way she was dressed, at Hogwarts she was rarely seen wearing something different from the uniform…
Harry couldn't recognize any of her features... Sitting that way, putting her legs on the rear part of Tonks' seat, he couldn't understand how he hadn't spotted that before. Has Ron ever really noticed that? Maybe that would explain the tension between both of them ever since the Yule Ball…
"Hey, take this," Lupin said, turning to face Harry and giving him a bottle of water. "I think you'd better drink some, it's been some time since we had such an intense summer…"
Looking at his old professor, he could see that on the outside almost nothing has changed… His clothes were still worn and shabby. The only difference in him was some additional gray hair, now prevailing on his head.
However, Remus had a different look in his eyes. A look that showed pain… Something like a permanent pain. But differently from Harry's, it didn't apparently interfere with his social interactions. It felt like Remus had given up fighting against it, as if the only thing he could really do was to wait for it to go away - if it'd ever go away…
"Ah Lupin, I want a sip too… I'm melting… Ooh! Ickle Harriekins has just woken up!" said Tonks, making a great impersonation of Mrs. Weasley and turning her head completely to face the green-eyed boy. In response, Lupin had to stretch out both hands in order to control the steering wheel, that Tonks had let go off. "Oh, Lupin, the car is already working with the 'Drive Safe Charm'… Just let it go by itself…"
Sweat was running down her forehead. Despite the fact that in Little Whinging she had brown shoulder length hair, she shortened it to a minimal haircut that allowed her nape to perspire right after she entered the car. Her business woman suit was completely wrinkled now - her blouse had four buttons opened up and revealed a purple tank top beneath it… "You see, Harry? I bought this to work out with that woman from Muggle tele…"
But Remus didn't look the least touched by her request, "Yes, but despite being sure that we won't hit the car, it isn't invisible and that means that all the Muggles may see the crazy things you're doing on the road…"
Right after they left Little Whinging, it was with relief that Harry noticed that the same charm used in the Knight Bus had been performed in Hermione's car, making the car duck automatically from lampposts, bridges, alleys and bifurcations.
Typical... Hermione is worried even with the maintenance of her family car. But how did she find the Knight Bus spell if she couldn't go to a wizard library?
But before he could ask in which book she found the spell, Harry found Lupin turned back to him, looking intensely at his eyes.
"It was me, Harry. Before we left Nymphadora had revealed that the last time she drove a car was on the day of her driver's test."
Harry laughed. "No wonder I found it awkward... Even twelve-year-old Ron had more coordination to drive the Ford Anglia than her…" And pausing, "And if I were you, I wouldn't call her Nymphadora…"
Lupin beamed. "I like how Nymphadora sounds. And also, it isn't as if she were listening to us..."
Only then could Harry notice that during all the time they were talking, he and Lupin hadn't broken eye contact. He was so absorbed in the conversation that although he had his eyes opened, he wasn't paying much attention to everything else around.
"But how can you know what I was thinking? You didn't use a spell… Where is your wand?"
"It looks like Snape didn't tell you much about Legilimency..."
"Is this Legilimency?!" asked Harry disbelieving. "If so, Snape fooled me, because whatever happened in our training was very different from this…"
"Let's say that there are several Legilimency levels, Harry. Itsay that there are several Legilimency levels, Harry. om this...talking, Lupin and he hadnin herback, looking at his face, wit depends on the congruence of the interlocutors…"
"Congruence? Interlocutors? Legilimency levels?!"
"Yes. I imagine that in your previous training your mind got flooded with bad memories because Snape wanted to teach you how to defend yourself from the most invasive way of mind intrusion," Lupin said.
Harry snorted.
"But the art of Legilimency isn't unpleasant in itself… It can be really useful in war situations as we're facing now, in which allies can communicate without the use of words. Or when you're trying to retrieve information from a vulnerable enemy…"
"Professor," Hermione said out loud, "I'm sorry to interrupt."
"It's Remus, Hermione."
"Okay, Remus. Err, since you and Harry are communicating this way, I'd like to know if you've reconsidered your decision about teaching me Legilimency…"
Only then Harry realized that Hermione has been witnessing all his silent interaction and he suddenly felt very self-conscious, although he couldn't explain why.
"I've never refused to teach you Legilimency. I only stated that in order to provide you an optimized training, it would be good if you could wait a bit until I am able to make some arrangements…"
"But what arrangements?" Hermione asked slightly exasperatedly. "As far as I know, the only requirements of thesked exasperated. ements...raining, it would be interesting if you could wait a bit until art of Legilimency are the minds of two people."
Lupin retorted firmly, "But unfortunately, Hermione, the bonds shared by the two minds is something you cannot fully understand yet. This is why you need to wait until I set up some… err… conditions... Believe me, this will make things much easier for you..."
"I'm sorry, Remus. It's just that I feel really frustrated. This is one of those situations were books don't help at all..."
"We've already talked about it, Hermione. You have to trust me. I've already taken the first step…"
Without breaking eye contact with Remus, Harry asked Hermione, "But why do you want to learn Legilimency, Hermione? Why not Occlumency?"
"It may be useful in times like this, when we can't trust anyone. Besides, I have no secrets to hide…"
"Hohoho, all right," Tonks interrupted.
Remus and Hermione glared at her.
"There is absolutely no fifteen-year-old girl without secrets, Hermione," Tonks said, still laughing at her impulsive interruption.
Meanwhile, Lupin established eye contact again, "How about you, Harry? Are you interested in improving your Legilimency skills? From what I've seen, you have a lot of potential… Now that the prophecy is broken and you've experienced how it is to be influenced, there is no pressure for you to master Occlumency anymore. And don't worry; I can assure you that it will be nothing like what you practiced with Snape…"
"Sure." Harry didn't need to think much for answering. Lupin was the best DADA professor he ever had and he was sure that he could trust him. However, there was still something bothering him. "But how will it work after I return to Hogwarts?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that," Lupin answered and broke their eye contact in order to pay attention to Tonks and Hermione, who where laughing now.
"…You only fool your mother with this rubbish… No, as a matter of fact I doubt that even your mum really buys this codswallop that you have no secrets, Granger."
Hermione glared at her again, in a mockingly way. "Okay. Let me reformulate the sentence..." After a few seconds, she said, "Err, it isn't as if I had secrets anyone would be interested to find out…" if I had secrets anyone would be interested to find out,Hermione, who where laughing now.
"Ooh... The lack of self-esteem of fifteen-year-old girls…" Tonks sighed, shaking her head.
"It's all right, this is normal. Actually, it was worse with me, I guess. Every time I came near the boy I had a crush on, I used to get so nervous that I started to unconsciously deform my nose. On the day that he'd finally noticed me, he looked at my face and found an apple-sized nose, occupying two thirds of my face…"
"What happened, then?" Lupin asked amused.
"The boy started running desperately.... He lived across the street of my Muggle grandmother's house, where I usually went for Christmas. My grandma, who actually thought the whole situation was funny, told his mother that I had a really tough allergy to pig dung and they apparently believed it…"
Everybody started laughing.
Time's passed really quickly since then and Harry's attention had only been diverted when they arrived in London and Hermione started showing him her favorite places in town.
Placing her arm on his lap in order to share the same window, they were taking turns in the two sides of the car to look at the attractions. Harry hardly knew London - the few times he left Surrey with the Dursleys were incredibly displeasing.
It surprised him that Hermione wasn't showing him the famous tourist attractions of the city, but rather her favorite places in town… "You have to see the way they serve the meals, Harry. Imagine five Hagrid-sized guys dancing on the counter… One day I'll definitely take you to this restaurant!"
Although Hermione was still pointing here and there, talking non-stop and Harry was still be able to eventually produce some "uh-huhs" at the right time; he couldn't stop thinking that in neither of the worlds he lived would he have the chance to be a regular teenager. He was the most famous boy of the Wizarding World, with a prophecy that gave him the responsibility of saving the world from all evil or else being murdered by a Dark Wizard. And in the Muggle World, he was a guy without family, without money, without…
Luckily, Lupin interrupted his depressive thoughts. "Great… Finally, we made it! You can start walking, I'll take your trunks."
Harry noticed that Tonks parked the car in a street parallel to Grimmauld Place. It was a dark night and Harry wasn't surprised to see Lupin retrieving Dumbledore's Put-Outer from his pocket and turning off all the streetlamps so that they wouldn't been seen by Muggles. Lost in the dark, Harry observed Hermione's contour coming in his direction and grabbing his hand.
"This way. Watch your feet; this pavement has some holes."
They didn't have to walk far until they reached the spot between numbers eleven and thirteen. Remembering the note Dumbledore sent him last year, Harry found again the battered door. As Remus opened it, Harry's felt that sweetish, rotting smell from the last time he had been there invading his senses and found it hard not to associate it with Sirius.
"Harry, you can use the same room you and Ron shared last year. I'm going to take your trunk as soon as possible. Hermione, the same for you - take the room where you and Ginny slept," Tonks said.
"Err, is Ron going to stay at the Burrow until the beginning of the term?" Harry asked.
"Oh, no. We've decided that after been uncovered, Voldemort is probably going to take some time before starting a new onslaught. Taking into account what happened with Sirius, we decided to grant all the Order members some time with their families… We don't know what lies ahead of us…"
Tonks continued, "But tomorrow everything will return to normal. With the approach of the beginning of the school term, the Order activities are starting again. The Weasleys are expected to be here in some hours…"
Satisfied with the answer, Harry went to his room with Hermione right behind him, both being careful not to make any noise to provoke the wrath of any of the Blacks' portraits. However, Tonks, who was following them levitating their trunks, ran up against the umbrella stand - again - falling on the curtain that was hiding Mrs. Black's portrait, who started shouting:
"Ah, I see this scum is back to my house. At least that abomination I brought to the world isn't bringing shame to my noble family name anymore! It was about time that blood traitor met his pathetic Mudblood friends in hell."
Covering the portrait and her ears quickly so as not to hear the insane yells from Sirius' mother, Tonks signaled for Harry to continue walking. However, as he was going up the stairs, Harry couldn't keep the portrait's words from being replayed in his mind. Looking back on the miserable days he spent at his aunt's house and the promise he had made to Hermione, Harry tried to divert his thoughts, opening the door of his room for Tonks to leave his trunk.
Right after he started unpacking his belongings, he heard Tonks' voice:
"Harry, you can unpack this later. Lupin wants to show you something. He's probably at the drawing room waiting for you right now."
What does he want to show me?
Imagining that Lupin was waiting for him with some creature or weapon related to the Dark Arts that he came across in the house, Harry found, to his surprise, his former Professor in the room with his wand pointed at the tapestry that held the Black's family tree.
Turning to Harry, Lupin looked at him in the eye and said, "There is something you need to know, Harry."
Noticing the boy's shoulder go stiff, he said, "It's no big deal, don't worry. I just felt I shouldn't bother you with this while you were at your relatives' house…"
Harry stared at the ground, waiting for whatever it was what Lupin had to tell him. But instead of hearing a sentence, Lupin performed a spell, producing with it a brownish light from his wand.
"Aparecium dono"
Before Harry could ask why that spell was cast, the worn cloth of the tapestry turned black and golden words started being formed:
This house belongs to:
Harry James Potter
Born on July 31st, 1980.
Son of James Potter and Lily Evans Potter
"What?!" Harry asked incredulously.
"I take it you know that Sirius was the last of the Blacks. You, as his godson, inherited all his assets,
including this house."
Harry needed some time to digest the information. Surprised, confused and revolted, the only words he could mutter were,"I don't want this house. I -I don't want any of this!"
If being inside that manor was unpleasant enough last summer, now it was practically unbearable. In the few minutes he'd been inside the house, he couldn't help seeing Sirius coming and going from the rooms, with a doleful and frustrated expression. It was getting really hard not to relate that hideous environment to his godfather and that was the last thing Harry wished for.
"Harry, I know that being here is as hard for you as it is for us, or maybe worse," Lupin said with a fatherly tone, "But the Order needs this house. And your safety is our priority."
"But Lupin, how can you be so sure that this house is so safe? Dumbledore must have told you how they've found out about my connection with Sirius."
"You know the answer to this, Harry. Although Kreacher has revealed a lot of important facts, he couldn't give the address of this house because of the Fidelius Charm. Only Dumbledore would be able to do so."
"But what about Bellatrix Lestrange? Narcisa Malfoy? Being relatives, both of them should know this house, they've surely come here in the past…"
"Yes, but as relatives, they used to come here in the past using the Floo Network calling by 'The Black Manor'. Now it is only possible to get to this house using its Muggle address… The fact that this house is unplottable is really important to our safety."
Harry was trapped. Defeated, he was trying to adjust his now familiar stomachache with the fact that he was the owner of that horrid manor when a question popped up into his head.
"As the owner of this house, is there anything that I have to do in order to keep it?"
"I was expecting for you to ask me that. The answer is: yes and no. In order to establish yourself as the owner of this house, there is a certain spell you have to perform. But after that, you're free - you don't ever have to return here if you don't wish to. But of course, we will require you to return here as long as this war goes…"
Hmm, not so bad.
"Err, okay. Is this spell complicated?" Harry asked, already dreading the answer.
"No. It's quite simple actually. Just point your wand to the tapestry and say 'Registra dono'".
"But what about the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry… There is something I haven't told you yet… Because of the number of O.W.L.s you've achieved…"
"How do you know that?" Harry interrupted him surprised.
"Dumbledore told us. Yes, all the members of the Order know and - I've got to say - we are really proud of you, after the year you've experienced…"
Noticing Harry's embarrassed expression, Remus continued, "Well, Dumbledore and Minerva made some negotiations with the Ministry of Magic and they managed to get two licenses allowing the use of magic outside school, one for you, and the other for Hermione."
"What about Ron?" Harry asked confused.
"Err, in order to get this kind of authorization, we had to provide them the rationale and proofs that you would use magic with responsibility."
"And what justification did you give?"
"Well, in your case, we've argued that it would be important that you had unrestricted access to the use of magic, due to the fact that you're Voldemort's greatest foe. In Hermione's case, well, she's doing an extra-credit project for Hogwarts and Minerva managed to get permission for her too…"
Still suspicious, Harry asked, "And how did you prove we were responsible?"
"Well, we basically presented your O.W.L.s results…" Lupin answered. "If Ron had achieved more O.W.L.s, we could still have tried to find some rationale to ground it, but we couldn't even start a negotiation with just six…"
Harry was at a loss for words.
"But what are Hermione and I going to tell him?" Harry asked already fearful of Ron's reaction.
"I've talked to Hermione and she agreed not to perform magic in his presence outside school…"
"What about me?"
"This house is unplottable, remember? There is an ancient law in the Wizarding World that allows house owners to perform magic inside their homes. I think Ron must know that. So, it is definitely permitted for you to perform magic inside this place."
Defeated, Harry rose his wand slowly. But then he stopped, unsure if he really wanted to do that.
Noticing his hesitation, Remus started, "Harry, you're the only one who can do it. Please..."
Holding the wand firmly in his hands, the boy finally let out a low "Registra dono".
His eyes were momentarily blinded by the silver light his wand emanated. Suddenly, his feet started trembling, just like all feet that were in the house at that moment. When he finally opened his eyes, he could see a brand new tapestry and to his surprise, the Blacks' family tree had vanished.
Finding it hard to believe what his eyes were showing him, Harry read in the brown corduroy tapestry:
The House of Potter
There, he could find only one spot on the left with the name 'Harry Potter' in it.
"What does this mean?"
"Don't worry. This kind of tapestry is a bit behind the times…"
But before Lupin could complete his sentence, Harry heard some light steps coming in his direction. Approaching him with his huge eyes, Harry saw Kreacher taking a bow, almost leaning his nose against the ground.
"M-Master..."
My special thanks to:
shawnpickett, gal-texter (Thanks for reviewing in FA too), Cassie Valentine, Arthur Hansen, harrifreak, ears91, MissMoral (love your fics!), Beppo (Your question will be answered in chapter 5 or 6), Sbys, harriherm84, Blizzard and GemmaH121 (Thanks for your help again).