Well here's my explanation... I hope you all find it up to par, you all want such a great thing that I'm hoping this will make the cut. I've already started chapter 5 so the wait for that should be somewhat shorter. Please review.
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Harry Potter and the Lion's Roar
Chapter 4: An Explanation
Once safely inside the house, the group headed into the kitchen and sat down around the table, Remus put on more tea, and James and Lily looking around the room distractedly, Sirius looked slightly miffed he hd to be back in the house he was held captive in for so many months, or years if his childhood counted. Once everyone was settled in, Harry looked between the three of them and asked the question on everyone's minds.
"Not that I'm complaining, because I'm not, but I would like to know how the three of you have accomplished the feat of defying death." he said with a slight smirk, but still a serious look in his eyes that told more than his playful exterior ever could. James sighed and raked a hand through his wild inky hair and nodded,
"Well it basically has to do with a lot of what would probably be considered dark magic nowadays." he started off with a tired tone. The four who were listening to the tale all seemed a bit confused by this, but no one interrupted as the story went on.
"You see the magical laws have changed over the years, or rather our understanding of what qualify's as dark magic has changed. All magic has the potential to be dark, it is more in the users intent of the magic and how he or she manipulates the raw magic that makes it either dark or light." Lily explained. Everyone nodded, it made sense even a simple ACCIO could prove badly if used with bad intentions. James nodded and picked up from his wife's input.
"Right, dark magic is simply magic used in the wrong way, with the intention to cause harm, or good magic manipulated in such a way that it no longer makes for a positive result, or simply has more of a tendency to be used in that way. Well as you all probably know, my family line, as well as Sirius' go back for hundreds of years. Sometime over the course of those years my ancestors decided to use a sort of "dark magic" known as blood bonding." he said, clearly, but slowly, as if not wanting to lose anyone. Hermione gasped at the mention of this particular kind of magic and the color in Remus' face seemed to drain a bit, the other two sent questioning stares at their partners. Hermione spoke up.
"Blood bonding is sort of like the concept of horcruxes, only you could say it was the light version of it. " she began, and everyone besides Harry seemed surprised that even she knew what horcruxes were, let alone understood the concept of them,
"It ties an inanimate object to a person or persons, only instead of requiring great sacrifice and the tearing of your soul, it requires blood from the bonder or bonders and some kind of love, though no one ever figured out how the spell detects the love. It's more rare now than probably the practice of using horcruxes to defy death, but old wizarding lines used to bond one member of the family to something, usually a family heirloom or possession that was held highly to the family, and it could be used later on to bring the members of the family back since all members of the same line had the same blood, or close to it. It was known to bring people back when they were missing, or a few cases even bringing people know to be dead back! It was basically a way to ensure the family's survival, or a family member's survival. But that was only with an immensely complex ceremony that probably no one knows any more because it has been so long out of practice. How are you all here?" she explained easily, her manner of speaking caused Sirius to chuckle at the look on his friends faces who didn't know of Hermione's uncanny ability to know seemingly everything about everything, or if not to be able to learn about it.
"Hermione here is one of the brightest witches of our age, she reminds me a lot of you actually Lils, girl could outsmart a Rowena herself I swear it." he remarked proudly. Hermione blushed, and Harry smirked at her discomfort, reaching under the table and squeezing her hand in a comforting gesture. At any other time, the trail of fire raging up his arm at her touch would have made him think, but at the moment, his mind was too busy trying to comprehend how his three family members were back rather than his potential romantic feelings for Hermione.
James laughed at Sirius' description,
"Well I can see that she definitely will get along with Lily, but yes what she says is right. Blood bonding is an ancient form of trying to defy death, it seems wizards and muggles alike have been fascinated with the subject ever since it first became apparent. Why people died, life after death, what death really was, how to avoid it, all these questions lead to medical and religious revolutions in the ancient world, but in the magical world, it lead to forms of darker, more mysterious forms of magic." he went on.
"So basically, your family performed this, blood bonding thing, but Hermione said it requires some ceremony to actually be of use, how does that help you?" Tonks asked, trying to follow this odd tale.
James nodded, "Ordinarily it would, and yes my family, somewhere along the lines had felt the need to preserve themselves. The object my line was bonded to is a portrait of one of my great grandmothers, with way to many greats in front of it to understand. But it was an heirloom handed down through the generations which essentially, kept the spirit or the soul of the bonded person or line alive, until it was called upon to bring them back, or the object was destroyed."
Everyone nodded, again, following pretty well up to this point,
"This is where is gets a bit fuzzy. Like Hermione and Tonks here have said, the bonding is one thing, but it is pretty much null in void unless someone performs the ceremony and calls us back. Now Lily was connected to the bonding when we exchanged the bit of blood before we where married, and Sirius I'm assuming, through the blood brother bonding the three of us did some drunken night in the dorm." He paused, with a wicked grin which Sirius mirrored, Tonks and Harry only smirked. Remus rolled his eyes but didn't retort, Lily and Hermione looked slightly outraged, but held their tongues, for now at least.
"I guess it's a good thing we never got around to including Peter." he remarked absently, and instantly all cheerful expressions vanished from the attendants of the table. James shook his head and trudged on.
"Anyway, back to my point, I understand why we were all able to be called back, but what I'm still having trouble grasping is how we were called back." he answered frustrated. Lily took a second to place a comforting hand on his before turning to the group,
"We do have a theory though," she said, "We think, that inadvertently, Harry may have called us back."
Harry looked shell shocked to say the least,
"Me?" he managed to ask. Sirius nodded,
"Think about it Harry, the original spell was created for the purpose of protecting your family line, using the power of love. Now, my guess is, your subconscious need to have the three of us here to help you defeat little Tommy, and the love you held for us, may have found a sort of loophole, in the whole ceremonies and rituals and the lot." he explained. Hermione nodded,
"It would make some sort of sense if you put it that way." she said quietly, Remus nodded and chimed in,
"And this might not be the first time it's happened, if what you said about this bonding being so rare in the first place is true, I'm guessing there wouldn't be too many documentations of a rare event caused by a rare event, if that makes any sense." he remarked. Everyone chuckled a bit but nodded, and then a few moments of silence ensued. Before finally Harry spoke up,
"So essentially, you're here because of some lighter form of dark magic, some really old portrait and in some twisted way, me?" he asked, trying to clarify for a moment. The three exchanged glances and shrugged,
"Yeah, pretty much." Sirius replied,
"Like I said, I still don't understand it. It was like one minute I woke up from a nap or something, and I was suddenly aware of where I was, but I had no body, like I was free spirit or something, and then my body just ...materialized it the best way to put it. It aged the same way I suppose I would have naturally, but all of a sudden I was just there..." James said in a slightly awed expression. Sirius and Lily merely nodded with him and everyone was quiet again, it was finally sinking in to everyone. After a few moments of processing it, Harry sighed a raked a hand through his hair.
"Well this is certainly a minor shock." he said quietly, causing everyone to chuckle, or at least crack a smile at his blatantly obvious remark. Remus eyed the boys condition for a moment, then glanced at the clock, noticing it was almost past midnight and he had yet to speak with him as he'd intended to before they were interrupted.
"I think we could call it a night for now, everyone I have something to discuss with Harry before we get to bed. " he said casually. Almost everyone looked ready to object but he silenced them with a hand,
"I know more than anyone here that the three of you would like to be caught up on the world happenings and I know you, Harry, want to catch up with your parents, I'm sure they're curious as to your life so far as well, but believe me when I say we'd be here until dawn trying to explain everything and after my chat with you Harry I think you'll agree Hermione and yourself will need some sleep." he defended his previous statement. Sirius sighed and silently agreed, pulling himself from the chair and turning to him
"Which rooms are off limits to sleep in, just so I know." he asked. Remus smiled gratefully at his old friend. He knew the man wanted, and very possibly could, force them to sit and explain everything tonight, but he was giving in easily for his sake if nothing else. Remus knew Lily and James would be more lenient to leave if they saw Sirius giving in so easily, he was usually the stubborn one.
"My room, from the last time you were here, Nymphadora and I are in there, as well as her old room, that's Hermione's, and yours Harry took that one." he responded easily. Sirius nodded, smirking in Harry's direction before leaving the kitchen with no more fuss. Tonks stood next, giving Remus a chaste kiss and murmuring about meeting him up there before she too followed out. Remus sent a pointed look in Lily and James' direction, and when neither moved he sighed tiredly. Harry noticed, and cut in before a struggle ensued.
"Remus is right you guys, I wouldn't even be able to explain half my life to you before dawn, let alone any questions you might have, and I have to speak to him about something first so you're better off crashing somewhere upstairs, and in the morning we'll get McGonagall and Moody over here, then maybe head to Diagon Alley to get you some clothes, which I'm pretty sure you need, and Mione and I can get out stuff for Hogwarts. Then the rest of the night is yours to get any and all information out of us, I promise. " he said in a slightly pleading tone. Lily sighed and stood up, pulling a more reluctant James up with her.
"Alright, but tomorrow you're telling us everything." she said, in a tone no one at the table wanted to disagree with, as it was eerily similar to Molly Weasley when she wanted something, and if the two red heads were anything alike, they were in for sure danger if they went against her wishes. Harry nodded to her with a small smile,
"Don't worry mum, you'll find out everything whether I want to tell or not, I'm sure." he replied. Lily smiled, leaned over and kissed his forehead goodnight before turning to James and pulling him out of the kitchen before he could fight. Harry watched them go quietly before turning back with a slightly overwhelmed but nonetheless, happy expression, to Remus, who was smiling softly in his direction. Hermione grinned broadly at him, before slowly standing,
"I guess I better get going too then." she said quietly. Harry looked up to her and nodded with a small smile on his face, squeezing her hand in a silent goodnight. Remus looked on, barely stifling a laugh at how obvious the two were, yet neither seemed to have acted yet, if they even knew, before he cleared his throat.
"Actually Hermione can stay, I've already told her, but if she wants to sit and hear it again I have no objection." he offered. Hermione shrugged and took her seat next to Harry once again, both looking expectantly at Remus. He took a deep breath, looking down and tracing the wood grain of the table before he spoke.
"Harry the Order has decided to start training you, and Hermione, since she is so close to you" he remarked quietly, sounding almost pained to have to say it. Harry looked a bit stunned, but nodded slowly all the same digesting what his werewolf friend had said, and Remus continued.
"We should have started long ago, but I guess there was always that feeling that you were just a kid, and you deserved to be one, and have a shot at a normal childhood, but we both know it never really worked out that way. Dumbledore left us instructions in his will, along with a letter to you." he said, reaching in his robe pocket and pulling out a thick letter sealed with the Hogwarts crest and putting it on the table in front of Harry. Harry eyed it with some trepidation, but turned back to Remus, waiting for more.
"You'll both start at 5 tomorrow morning, with Moody, he'll be doing most of your training, as well as myself and Nymphadora at times too." he continued with a serious look, before sighing,
"It's not going to be easy Harry, it's combat training. Dueling, hand to hand, sword fighting, the whole shebang. You're basically going on an accelerated Auror training regiment. So be prepared." he finished quietly.
"What about Ron and everyone else?" Harry asked in a slightly dazed voice, "Hermione is training because she's so close to me, why not the rest of them?" Remus sighed,
"Because frankly none of them are up to the standards of you two, or with the exception of Ron in nearly as much danger. They will be trained, once you two are a bit further and those of us training you feel they're ready."
Harry nodded and stood up, he was slightly surprised at this announcement but it was not unwelcome, he knew as well as anyone he'd need as much help as he could get for the upcoming battle with Voldemort. He took the letter and bid Remus goodnight, Hermione on his heels as he left.
"5 am in the backyard, wear something to work out in. And don't be late, you know Moody." Remus called after the two. Harry waved over his shoulder to signal he'd heard him, and disappeared out of the kitchen. Remus sighed, staring where his nephew in all things that counted had just been standing, it was gutting him to force the boy into this, but he really didn't have a choice anyway, at least with training he'd be prepared. Taking one last look around the kitchen and sighing again, before standing, and with a flick of his wand darkening the room before exiting. He checked the wards before climbing the steps up to his room, where he was sure a certain fuchsia haired witch would be waiting for him.
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Harry and Hermione exited the kitchen and climbed the steps in a contemplative silence until the reached the floor holding both their rooms. Hermione turned to him and smiled meekly.
"So I tonight was a big night." she remarked bluntly. Harry snorted but cracked a grin at her statement all the same.
"No really?" he joked. Hermione half glared at him and playfully punched his shoulder which Harry laughed at and held his hands up in surrender.
"Easy witch, I was only joking, no need to maim me." he pleaded. Hermione rolled her eyes,
"I did not maim you, you big baby, I smacked you, It did not hurt." she drawled. Harry smirked, rubbing the spot she hit with fake pain.
"Did too!" he replied indignantly, though fighting to hold his serious expression.
"O Merlin, the boy who lived my arse." she shot back, turning to walk away with a smile.
"O you're in for it now Granger!" Harry growled playfully.
Harry took all of two seconds, to grab her around the waist, both laughing hysterically, and twisting her around to face him. They continued to laugh for a moment of two, until they both were suddenly aware of their close proximity. Their noses almost touching, feeling the hot breath of the other on themselves and feeling the tingle it sent up each of their spines. Harry cleared his throat and stepped away, both of them blushing the color of the Weasleys' hair.
"Well I guess we better get to bed, we have to get up in a few hours " Harry said awkwardly, Hermione nodded, and mumbled a good night with a shy smile, before turning and practically running into her room, closing the door and leaning up against it breathing heavily. Harry watched her go, and when he door shut he growled at his stupidity, banging his fist on the wall lightly, before turning to his room too, trying to sleep before the hard day he was sure to endure tomorrow. Dumbledore's letter left unopened on his bedside table, until he was more put together. Though despite both their efforts to be rested in the morning, it was a restless sleep for both teens, new thoughts and feelings about each other, and the three new comers as well as the changes in their lives swirling around their minds as they dreamt.