Harry Potter and the Lion's Roar
Chapter 5
* * * Number 12 Grimmauld Place * * *
The next morning, Harry was awakened by a very loud, annoying, beeping noise near his head. He rolled over to face the direction it was coming from and after blearily prying an eye open, he groaned in agitation when he saw the blue letters of his alarm clock--the source of said loud beeping noise--glaring back at him with it's customary time fitting phrase. This morning, it had hit Harry's feelings on being woken up so early right on the head.
4:45 ARE YOU CRAZY!
He switched the annoying device off, groggily forcing himself into an upright position as he rubbed his face to try and force himself awake. He reached out, blindly grabbing his glasses from the bedside table, and blinked his eyes open in reluctance. Taking a minute to become more aware of his surroundings since he was barley conscious, he pulled himself out of bed and decided to change. Harry began to slowly pull on a pair of black sweat pants, a blue fitting t-shirt, and hastily threw on socks and trainers. He went into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and washed his face with some cold water, which finally did the job of waking him. He attempted to run a comb through his impossible hair to tame it's worse than usual appearance of bed-head, but gave up after a moment. Leaving the room and wandering down the steps, he stumbled into the kitchen at 5 to 5. Sitting at the table pouring over the Daily Prophet in the dim lighting of the room, with an amused smirk gracing her face, was Hermione. She had on a similar outfit as him--gray sweat pants and a Gryffindor-red beater shirt.
"Not a morning person are we?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry merely half glared at her, before plopping down into the chair across from hers.
"It's 5 o'clock in the morning, we're about to go through serious combat training with a barking mad and more than slightly paranoid Lieutenant Colonel of the Auror corps, and your sitting here reading?" he asked disbelievingly. Hermione laughed and folded the paper up, before standing.
"Yeah, sounds about right," she replied cheekily as she stepped onto the back deck, winking over her shoulder at him. Harry merely rolled his eyes and followed, grumbling about crazy witches and ungodly hours of the morning. The two entered the yard at one minute to 5, and came face to face with the grizzly Alastor Moody. They exchanged good mornings (some more grumpy about it than others), and then the old Auror looked both on them over. His magical eye momentarily stopped swiveling and went with his natural eye as he sized them up, before nodding to himself, which sent the electric blue orb spinning again.
"Alright, you both know why you are here. We will be using Grimmauld and sometimes the Auror training facilities farther north, and when Hogwarts starts up, you will continue training there. Unfortunately for you two, as of every day you step out for training your arses are mine for the duration. You two have done well against Tom so far, but you've survived partially on luck, which, believe me, is never a good thing to rely on. I'm here to fix your problems, as well as shove a full Auror regiment among other skills into your head along with Remus and Nymphadora. The only thing I want you two to think of in this training, is that when your life is on the line, you use what you have to in order to keep yourself alive and send you home at night; anyone or anything in your way is shown no quarter," he started. Both teens swallowed hard at his bluntness, but knew he was only telling them for their own good.
"Have either of you considered becoming Aurors?" he asked, and both of them nodded. Hermione's nod coming as a surprise to both men, though Moody was careful to never let it show.
"Why?" he asked simply, looking to Harry first.
He shrugged. "Just seemed like it fit really. The evil bastard's have taken almost everything from me, the least I can do is protect other people from knowing that pain," he explained. Moody nodded and turned to Hermione.
"I'm tired of seeing people I love throw themselves in the line of fire, only to have more and more ripped away from them and if I can do anything to stop it, I will. This is what I see as helping to stop it," she replied, ignoring Harry's piercing eyes from her side.
The old Auror nodded. "Alright, well, it seems like both of you have someone or something worth fighting for. Good. Focus on them when it gets hard or seems impossible to win; it may just give you that bit of drive that saves your life."
He waved his wand and immediately three bokken appeared.
"You will be trained in all aspects of fighting: Hand to hand, dueling, team fighting when the rest start up, tracking, concealment, and with a variation of muggle and wizarding weapons. Today you will be starting with learning the basics of the sword."
For the next hour Moody went through the basics of blocks and attacks with the sword, eventually pinning the two of them against each other to practice as he watched from the side. After about an hour, Remus came to stand at his side, silent.
"How are they doing, Moody?" he asked quietly, watching as Hermione blocked a swipe to her legs. Moody never took his eyes off the pair as he answered.
"It's like they've both done this already Remus; they're sloppy, but its like the already know the motions, they know what to do, just not when to do it. " Remus nodded.
"Well, Minerva's inside and we have something to talk to you two about, so why don't we call it a day for them?" he suggested. Moody agreed and vanished the bokkens.
"That's it for today, I'll see both of you tomorrow morning," he said to the two. Both teens looked utterly exhausted, sweat forming a thick sheet on both of them, but they nodded, and all four started back to the house. They entered the kitchen at the same moment McGonagall and Tonks did.
"All right Tonks, what in Merlin's name am I doing here at 8 in the...?" her voice was lost when her eyes landed on the table where Lily and James happened to be munching on their breakfast.
Before anyone could react, the couple both dove out of their chairs, sprawling out onto the floor with loud bangs to avoid two hastily cast stunners coming from Moody's wand.
"What the bloody hell was that for, you barmy old codger!" James yelled from his comfortable position on the floor. Remus now had Moody restrained, mostly, with a body-bind jinx and Minerva was to stunned to do anything.
"Merlin, Mad-eye you were a bit crazy 20 years ago, but at least then you weren't trigger happy," James exclaimed as he pulled himself off the floor, brushing himself off.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" McGonagall asked, her Scottish burr thickening just a tad.
Remus quickly launched into a hasty explanation of the revival of the three, after which he released Mad-Eye from his bind (though keeping a close eye on him) while McGonagall looked like she was going to faint. With his exceptional sense of timing, Sirius stumbled into the kitchen half asleep a moment later, completely oblivious to the eerie silence or the looks he was receiving from two of the occupants of the room. Harry was biting hard on his lip to prevent himself from laughing at the _expression on his Headmistress' face, and it appeared as though Hermione had developed a fit of coughing. After a moment, Sirius looked up and grinned roguishly.
"Minnie! It's been ages since I've seen you! And Mad-Eye, nice to see you still have some of your nose," he teased.
"Oh Merlin, I never thought I'd see the day I'd happily hear that ridiculous nickname!" she exclaimed, grabbing Sirius forcefully and hugging him harder than a woman her age should have been able to, before quickly moving on to the other two. Mad-Eye merely chuckled at Sirius' remark.
"Nice to see you again too lad," he returned, shaking hands with James and Sirius, and being gathered into a hug from Lily, he apologized about the stunners. After the happy greetings, which got everyone in the room smiling, they all sat down for breakfast, which was as amusing as ever with Sirius and James at the table. The group chatted about old memories and recounted some hilarious, and sometimes embarrassing, tales of when the Marauders reigned. The way they were all behaving was like no one had ever left, cracking jokes and reminiscing about the past. Everyone was treading carefully on the subject of current events, as those who had just been informed of the revival weren't exactly sure of how much the threek new, and those who'd originally discovered it, knew the three didn't know much.
After a few hours, Minerva reluctantly excused herself, saying she had to get back to Hogwarts for some pre-term preparations, and quietly reminding Remus and Tonks of the next Order meeting, which prompted a clearing of the throat from the old werewolf.
"Yes, I know Remus," Minerva replied quietly, turning to Harry and Hermione.
Harry cracked a small smile. "We're getting inducted, aren't we?" he said. It was a statement, not a question. He knew they were getting in, so, really, there was no point in asking. James and Lily looked like they wanted to protest, but held back knowing all would be explained later. McGonagall nodded slowly, sadly.
"Well, I really must be going," she exclaimed after a moment, bidding everyone goodbye and quickly disappearing out the door. Moody followed, muttering something about checking to see if trainees showed up on time. After they heard the front door click shut behind him, Harry stood.
"Well, I think I'm going to get a shower. Would you all like to head to Diagon Alley after?" he asked, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he headed off up the stairs.
* * * * * * *
An hour later, six of the seven occupants of the house were Flooing to the Leaky Cauldron, as Tonks had to head to work. Lily, James, and Sirius were all under some glamour charms so as to not attract attention while walking through the alley, and all were completely unrecognizable.
Lily's normally fiery locks were transformed into curly, dirty blonde strands. Her eyes were now an amazing shade of blue, which rivaled her natural color in intensity. Her light skin had transformed into tanned and she wore a pair of Hermione's jeans and t-shirt, since she didn't have any of her own. Sirius had lightened his ebony locks to a dark brown, and made them look shorter, a fringe falling just about his eyes. Remus and James had cracked jokes about it being his playboy look, to which he merely smirked. His eyes were a warm hazel, much like James' natural color. James was sporting a look much like that of Charlie Weasley; long fire red hair pulled into a pony tail, his eyes now a deep silvery gray and temporarily corrected to not need his glasses. His tanner skin had been lightened and his face dotted with freckles, which Sirius had found very amusing. He and James had dug through some old boxes in the attic, luckily finding Sirius' old clothes and now both were wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt like the rest. The three of them were answering to alias names: Lily was now Anna, James was now Ben, and Sirius had taken it upon his creative genius--or so he'd dubbed it--to name himself Jack. They were, if anyone asked, old friends of Remus' visiting from Australia, which wasn't entirely a lie anyway.
When they emerged from the pub through the gateway, the group headed towards Gringotts first. Hermione, Sirius, and Remus went to wait in line to exchange Muggle money into galleons, while Harry and their goblin guide led Lily and James down to their vault.
Harry sighed tiredly as the vault doors opened and he noticed that his fortune had in fact grown since the last time he was there. He quickly entered, filling his bag with enough galleons for today's trip and money for school, before he noticed his parents were simply leaning in the doorframe.
"You know it's your money. You should take some to have on you," he suggested simply. James looked around quickly before his eyes found his son again.
"If anything, this vault has grown since I was here. Did you use any of it? We did leave it for you to use," he asked quietly. Harry sighed, filled up two other spare moneybags for his parents and exited the vault without answering. He waited only until they were back on the cart, watching as the goblin finished locking the doors, before giving his answer.
"I didn't know I had anything until I was 11, and then when I knew the circumstances in which I gained the money, I didn't want it much. If people had to die so I could use it, I didn't want it. Plus, it gets bloody annoying that people assume because I have the money that I'm a snob with it. I mainly use it for Hogwarts stuff…that's pretty much it," he replied simply.
"You didn't know you had it until you were 11?" Lily questioned confusedly.
Harry smirked. "Yeah. Aunt Petunia didn't take very kindly to my being a wizard; I probably wouldn't have even known I was one until Hagrid showed up to take me to Hogwarts," Harry answered.
"What the bloody hell do you mean Petunia? Why were you under her care?" Lily screeched, causing the goblin who was climbing into the car to stumble a bit from shock and glare at her.
"Sirius was framed for your betrayal and the murder of 12 muggles. He was sent to Azkaban. Really it was Pettigrew, as I'm guess you figured out, but he staged his own death to frame Sirius by cutting off his finger. And then Dumbledore figured out I had some sort of protection from Voldemort through your blood, and in turn, Petunia's, because of the sacrifice you made to save me," he said.
"Sirius was in Azkaban?" James asked quietly, staring at the floor and looking a bit fearful.
Harry nodded grimly. "Yeah he was, he didn't tell you?"
James shook his head. "He said it was your story to tell, not his."
Harry sighed deeply. "Well, I'll explain the whole story when we get back. But just for some basics, since I'll probably be gawked at when we're in the Alley today, I'm apparently the only one to be cursed and survive the killing curse. So from when I was a baby, I was famous, though I never knew it until I was 11, and since then I've faced Voldemort 4 times because of the damn prophecy that he knows part of," Harry explained at the cart came to a rushing stop. James and Lily's eyes widened at his mention of the prophecy.
"You know about that?" Lily asked quietly, the way any mother afraid for her child would.
Harry nodded as they reentered the main bank. "We'll talk more later, but, yeah, I do know about it. Dumbledore told me the end of 5th year," he said quickly as they approached the other 3 waiting by the door. Harry immediately brightened upon seeing Hermione and Remus chatting adamantly about something, and Lily and James silently agreed not to ask anything else until their explanation time.
The group headed out of the bank talking cheerfully, careful to use alias names so as not attract too much attention, as much as that was possible when it came to Harry Potter. Once they arrived at the store, Harry opened the door chivalrously for Hermione and Lily before stepping in behind them. They were immediately swallowed up by the crowd of people, most appeared to be Hogwarts students of various ages bustling around with one or both of their parents trying to find books.
Harry and Hermione quickly retrieved their lists from their pockets and collected their needed books; Harry for the subjects of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and Muggle Studies (which he'd decided to pick up merely for the way it looked on a resume as Hermione had so graciously pointed out when she'd owled him about schedules). Hermione, as usual with her overload of work, had the same as Harry, but with the addition of Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and History of Magic.
Both Potter men were forced into a few more minutes of browsing for the women when they pulled the puppy dog pouts, though both admittedly didn't put up much of a fight. After each woman grabbed a small collection of books that peaked her interest, the group then maneuvered their way to the register and paid the shopkeeper. Harry insisted on carrying Hermione's bag with her tomes in it, and looked down for a brief second to pick it up.
He barely looked up in time to notice Hermione knock into a pudgy dark haired girl and promptly fall flat on her back. The dark haired girl whipped around to reveal her face and Harry silently groaned. Pansy Parkinson was staring back at him. Harry helped Hermione to her feet before Pansy spoke.
"Potty, you should teach your little Mudblood better manners! She should know to watch where she's going. Now I'm going to have to burn these robes seeing as they have Mudblood filth on them," she said snidely, causing everyone in the group's hands to itch for their wands.
"Parkinson, get lost! Shouldn't you be trailing behind Zabini now that your precious Malfoy is in hiding?" Hermione replied acidly.
Pansy glared at her. "Oh, Mudblood, did St. Potter over here forget to teach you your place, too? Well, I suppose I should expect as much from a half-blood Dumbledore crony like him."
That was the last straw for Hermione. She could take her own mistreatment from Pansy, and she knew Harry could handle himself too, but taking a stab at him in front of her was the wrong move. She forgot all means of magic as she pulled a punch starting somewhere around her waist and connecting with Pansy's big crooked nose. The nose immediately started to bleed profusely and Pansy let out a shriek.
"You little wench!" she screamed before pulling out her wand, and firing hexes at Hermione. A few hastily cast Portegos did the trick and before Pansy could warm up for round two, Harry stepped in front of Hermione,
"Parkinson, just leave, that's enough," he said simply. Pansy glared at him for a few minutes before finally marching out of the store in a huff, without even purchasing her books.
The group all looked around and shrugged at each other, ignoring the odd quiet that had over come the store and exiting quickly before the shopkeeper could throw them out. The rest of the trip was uneventful; after a trip to Madam Malkin's to allow the three of the group without clothes to get some they Floo-ed back home seeing as how no one really felt like spending much time in Diagon Alley today since it was much too gloomy and ominous. Though in the back of Harry's mind, the chat he was going to have with his parents was having the same effect on him.
* * * * *
Ok first I would like to apologize for the post, un-post, and re-posting and so on that my story has been doing, I've been changing my mind about stuff and it's just blah! Second, I'd like to thank my new beta reader Jacqueline for all her work on this chapter, it is much better than it was originally I assure you. Lastly I would like to warn you all, I'm leaving for vacation in 2 days and I won't be able to update until the 23rd when I get back since I recently smashed my laptop.... don't ask it's a long story involving a tv falling and my dog.... yeah. But my point is, I'm hard at work on chapter 6 and I'm hoping to have it in my beta's able hands by the time I leave so I can post quickly when I get home. And as always, reviews a re much appreciated, thank you all for being so patient.