Title: Harry Potter and The Darkness Year 3.
Characters: Harry/Hermione. Mia/Other Character. Draco/Other Character. Ron/Luna. Others will vary!
Rating: Teen/Mature/Adult
Disclaimer: I own nothing but two characters I made up. (If I did own them then book six would have never happened that way).
Summary: The gang is back for their third year and there is a problem. Sirius has been spotted and is now on the run for his life as the ministry has put a hit on him. It's up to the gang to clear his name and grab the person actually responsible for his crime in the first place.
Darkness Series: If first time reading this please read the first two - otherwise you will be lost. Links are in my profile.
Books - 1-5 (Ending of five is different, Book 6 has no place here, except possibly the horcuxes and Snape's betrayal).
Chapter 1: Training, Knight Bus and Leaky Cauldron.
There was a knock at the door. A dog started barking like mad as it scrabbled at the door with its nails.
A small house elf dressed in a small pink dress with a white apron made her way over to the door, gripped the black dog's collar tightly, and opened it slowly.
"Miss Hermione!" she greeted. The brown-haired, brown-eyed girl smiled brightly at the small elf.
"Hey Dee-Di," she greeted as she walked into the house carrying a large duffle bag that was flung over her shoulders.
Hermione Granger was dressed in her normal clothes. She was wearing a baby pink-strapped top and her dark blue denim jeans. Her curly hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she wore trainers on her feet.
Dee-Di shut the door behind Hermione before letting the dog go. With an excited bark, he leapt toward Hermione and jumped up so that he was standing on his hind legs with his paws on Hermione's chest, causing Hermione to laugh.
"Hey boy, did you miss me?" she asked as she ran her hands through the dog's sleek fur. Rex just stretched up further and gave her a lick on her cheek, causing Hermione to giggle as she pushed the dog down before wiping her cheek clean. "Lay off you big puppy," she teased.
Running footsteps sounded down the stairs and a familiar raven-haired female made her way into the hallway. She caught sight of Hermione and an excited smile lit up her face.
"Hey!" the female voice greeted brightly with excitement in her voice. Hermione spun around and her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Mia!" she greeted before both girls bounded over to each other and hugged. Mia Black pulled away at arm's length and looked her best friend over.
"Look at you, you're growing!" she exclaimed and Hermione rolled her eyes. Over the summer, she found that she was growing quite steadily on top, but thankfully it seemed to have stopped for the time being. She was tired of having one bra that fit her one-week but was too small the next.
"Tell me about it," Hermione groaned before she eyed her best friend. "Besides, you can't talk." Mia rolled her eyes. She had been growing too and was slightly bigger than Hermione but she had stopped - seemingly for good - much to her relief.
"Do you have any idea how lucky we are that boys don't really notice us yet?" Mia asked and Hermione laughed before Mia smirked. "Or should I just say I'm lucky?" Hermione blushed before she slapped Mia's arm.
"Will you stop that?" she asked and Mia rolled her eyes.
"Hey," a male voice greeted, causing Hermione to freeze on the spot and Mia to look behind her with a sly smile. Hermione slowly turned around and smiled when she saw Harry while her brain went into overload.
Harry had been growing over the summer. He was a good foot taller than both girls, and though his hair was as messy as ever, it looked like he had tamed it somewhat into spikes instead. He wore a dark green t-shirt and black baggy jeans over his bare feet.
"Hi, Harry," greeted Hermione before Harry moved forward and hugged her. She hugged him back before biting her bottom lip. She reflected, "He's gotten more muscles too," before he pulled away.
"Are you ready for more training?" he asked and she rolled her eyes.
"Can't wait! What are we doing for the rest of the summer?" she asked, curious. Harry and Mia shared an amused look before turning back to her.
"Our elemental and animagus abilities," Harry told her and smiled when he saw her eyes light up with excitement as she looked between the two of them.
"Are you sure?" she asked and Mia nodded.
"Yep, dad and Aunt Cissy says it's time to learn them - they've been so happy with how you've been able to catch up with your fighting lessons that they decided to move us on," Mia explained.
Hermione had come up at the beginning of the summer and trained extra hard - this time, Harry, Mia and Draco had been the ones training her. Sirius and Narcissa gave her even more lessons after those before they finally tested her in the middle of the summer to see how far she had progressed.
Much to their amazement, she had passed each of their tests and so they decided to move the kids up a level and get a start on their more specialized training of elemental and animagus abilities.
"When are we starting then?" Hermione asked.
"When Draco comes up. He can't stay too long because his father has been a bit antsy due to the fact that I stopped Voldie from coming back in second year," Harry told her and Hermione rolled her eyes while Mia laughed.
"And Harry doesn't want Draco to kick his butt because he took Dobby away from him," Mia jumped in.
"How is Dobby?" Hermione asked. Harry scratched the back of his head as he shot her a sheepish grin.
"He's a little…overbearing," Mia filled in, causing Hermione to look at her. "He keeps calling Harry 'Master Harry Potter'. Harry has been trying to get him to shorten the title and just call him 'Harry', but Dobby is kinda stuck in a stubborn gear at the moment."
"Oh," Hermione stated in a sympathetic tone while her brown eyes were filled with laughter.
"Yeah," Mia replied in the same tone as she fought to keep the smile from her face over Harry's predicament. Harry wasn't fooled, however.
"Oh go ahead, laugh - it's obvious the pair of you want to," Harry shot at them in a mock hurtful tone, causing both girls to stifle even more laughter.
There was another knock at the door before it swung open. They turned to see Draco making his way into the hallway with his mother walking in behind him. Draco grinned when he saw his cousins and friend as he removed his cloak.
"Hey, everyone is here already!" Draco greeted before he shot Harry a glare. "Harry," he said in a slightly colder tone, causing both girls to cover their mouth to again muffle their laughter. Harry's shoulders slumped down in defeat.
"Come on Draco, it's nearly been a whole month - will you just get over it already?" Harry complained. "Your dad was beating him up!" Draco relaxed back into a smirk.
"I'm teasing," Draco shot back, causing Harry to roll his eyes. "Besides, it's kinda nice not having a nutter of a house elf anymore."
"Yeah, now I get the nutter house elf," Harry muttered under his breath.
Narcissa shook her head at the conversation in front of her as she took off her cloak and hung it up.
"Where's your uncle?" Narcissa asked as she moved closer to the children, turning their attention to her.
"He's in the elemental room at the moment, getting everything ready," Mia told her and Narcissa nodded as she ushered the children over towards the room.
"Why are you pushing us?" Harry asked his aunt. Narcissa looked down at Harry.
"Sirius told me to take you into the room when I arrived, though he never told me what room he would be in," she explained and got nods in return.
Narcissa opened the door and the children walked into the room, where they saw Sirius was pacing back and forth, writing something on his notepad. He usually carried one around during these sessions so that he could write down the progress of each teen on whatever activity they were doing at the time - so none of the group was surprised to see this.
Sirius looked up when he heard the door open and smiled when he saw them.
"Hey kids. Cissy," he greeted and waved them in. They moved in closer to the older man.
"Okay kids, get in your places," Narcissa told them all. Harry moved over to the spot where there were candles surrounding a pillow. Draco moved over towards the grassy area and sat down. Mia headed over to the open area on the far side while Hermione moved over to the pool and sat down on its edge.
"Take your time and concentrate on what your elements are; try and see it in your mind eye. The main thing you want to do is get into contact with the element you are trying to control," Sirius guided them. "It will be difficult do to the fact that this is your first time, so try and not get too impatient."
All four of them closed their eyes, took in a deep breath, and let their mind search out the element to which they were connected.
Hermione could feel the water stirring around her legs as she sat there as still as she could. Draco could feel the earth rumbling slightly under his hands. Mia could feel the air start to whirl around her.
Harry's eyes snapped open and the candles in front of him lit up straight away. His eyes glazed over as he concentrated on the flame as hard as he could. Sirius was looking over their progress, taking into account their levels of magic when he saw Harry's apparent lack of concentration.
Sirius moved over to Harry and, once closer, saw that he was struggling slightly with the flame in front of him.
"Concentrate!" Sirius snapped only to jump away from Harry, as the flames from the candles shot up higher, almost burning Sirius. "Harry!" he exclaimed.
Harry's eyes flickered back to their normal intensity and then widened when he saw the flame going down from its unusual height till it finally went out.
"Cool!" Mia exclaimed as she hurried over to Harry and eyed the candle with interest before she turned back to Harry. "Looks like that means you're more powerful than we realised."
"What happened?" Draco asked, curious to what had forced the flame even higher. Harry shook his head.
"I don't know, I was just frustrated with the lack of success and when Uncle Sirius growled at me, it was like everything snapped and forced it out," Harry explained.
"Hmm…could be linked to your wandless powers," Mia mentioned. "Remember how yours just broke free when you really got frustrated?" Harry nodded. "Maybe it has to be the same way for fire."
"She could be onto something," Draco told Harry.
"So that means all we have to do is the same thing we did to control our wandless magic?" Harry asked.
"No," Sirius told them and they looked at him. "Wandless magic and elemental abilities are two completely different things. I think frustration comes into play with fire because it's an unpredictable element - you never know how a fire is going to react. Harry was frustrated and it broke through, forcing the flame to be dangerous. I think it all depends on your emotions.
"You can do some wandless magic?" Hermione interjected excitedly and Draco nodded.
"Yeah, we've been doing it since we were kids but we can only do small stuff at the moment," Draco explained.
"Oh, so when do you think I'll be able to wandless magic?" Hermione asked.
"Have you ever found yourself doing something you didn't mean to do?" Mia asked. Hermione thought about everything she had done over the years.
"Sometimes but I just thought they were accidental magic," she admitted.
"Do you remember what each occasion was like? Were you under stress or were you relaxed?" Sirius asked only to get a shrug from Hermione.
"Sorry, I can't really remember, I didn't really think about it that much at the time," Hermione explained with an apologetic look.
"Don't worry about it, these things happen," Sirius assured her. He looked around the room before looking at his watch. "Okay, time to give it a rest - I didn't expect any of you to break through the barrier straight away. You made some progress so we'll leave it there for the time being."
"Go and get ready, dinner will be ready soon," Narcissa told them and the kids nodded as they made their way up the stairs to their bedroom. Narcissa turned back to Sirius with a concerned look on her face. Sirius nodded.
"I know," Sirius, told her, understanding her fears about what was happening. It looked like Harry was a lot more powerful than any of them had expected and they wondered what to expect in the next few years.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
It was now Harry's thirteenth birthday and he was enjoying the presents that he received from Hermione, Mia, Sirius, Narcissa, and Draco. Narcissa and Draco had left two days earlier because Lucius Malfoy had summoned them home, but everyone else was seated around the kitchen table.
Harry opened a Broomstick Servicing Kit from Hermione.
"Oh, wow!" Harry uttered and Hermione smiled.
"You love that broom too much so I decided to get you something to take care of it with," she informed him and got a huge hug in reply.
Mia had gotten Harry a wand cleaning kit - she explained that wands needed to be cleaned regularly and it turned out that the reason why none of them had done it when they were younger was due to the house elves taking the wands and cleaning them for their master or mistress.
Draco had gotten Harry new Quidditch gloves because his were getting a bit worn out in addition to some new Xbox games for them to compete over whenever Draco was visiting.
Sirius and Narcissa had chipped in together and given Harry new dragon hide protective clothing that consisted of a dragon hide jacket - which looked like leather to everyone else - and dragon hide boots that he could wear on any occasion.
Soon there was a ringing sound from within the house causing Sirius to glance up from his paper to see what set off the alarms before turning back to his papers once more.
"Letters and more presents," Sirius called out as the owls floated down into the kitchen where everyone was sitting at the table.
Errol, the Weasleys' family owl, crashed into the side of the table, causing everyone to wince.
"Poor Errol, he must have flown for ages. He really looks beat," Hermione told them as she picked up the owl. She untied the package that was wrapped around his legs before setting him up on the counter with a small dish of water.
Hermione sat back down next to Harry and saw that he had already opened his presents from Ron. "What did Ron get you?" Hermione asked as she leaned over Harry's shoulder.
"A Sneakoscope," Harry told her before he placed it one side and read the letter before smiling. "They went to Egypt to visit Bill with their money that they won in the draw."
"Cool, how long did they say there were going away for?" Mia asked as she pushed some of the wrapping papers to the side.
"They went away for a month - they say they should be back the week before school starts and wonder if we could meet up with them then," Harry informed her as he reached over toward another unopened parcel only to jerk his hand back when it growled.
"Huh?" Sirius asked, started as he pulled the newspaper away from his face and looked at the unopened parcel. "Who is that present from?" Sirius asked.
"Hagrid," Harry replied, not once taking his eyes off the package.
"He wouldn't have sent you anything dangerous, would he?" Hermione asked, though her voice gave away her uncertainty.
"No," Mia told her, not sure herself. Hedwig hooted from where she was sitting on top of the cupboard while Rex just tilted his head curiously at the parcel.
The package then moved slightly causing the three kids to move back from it before Harry mustered up the courage to act. He wasn't in Gryffindor for nothing.
Harry leaned in and hurriedly unwrapped the present. Everyone watched as the paper fell away to reveal a fur-covered book with what look liked teeth protecting the paper within its mouth.
"The Monster Book of Monsters," Mia recited while Hermione grabbed the letter from Harry and skimmed it.
"Hagrid says you might find it useful for the new term," Hermione told Harry, causing him to look at the young woman with an arched eyebrow.
"Useful?" Harry demanded as the book started to scuttle sideways like a crab before it reached the edge of the table near Harry. Harry watched it warily only to see eyes pop out of the book, reminding him of a spider.
All of a sudden, the book let out a snarl before it launched itself at Harry, snapping its mouth.
"Argh!" Harry yelled as he shoved the book away from him. It landed on the ground with a loud heavy thump before it started sliding all over the place, growling and snarling. Rex started barking as he bounced about with excitement and fear. Hedwig was just watching the scene with interest.
"Catch that book!" Mia shouted.
"Rex, calm down!" Hermione shouted as everyone rushed into the living room, chasing after the book.
Once they arrived in the living room, however, the book was nowhere to be seen.
"Where on earth did it go?" Sirius asked, puzzlement colouring his voice as he moved further into the room while looking around.
When Sirius passed the couch, the book shot out from under it, causing the kids to spring to action.
"There it is!" Harry shouted and all three of them launched themselves at the book only for it to scuttle away from their grasps. They groaned as they collided and hit the ground, hard.
Sirius grabbed the book before it could go anywhere further and bound it with a spell from his wand before he looked down at the kids on the floor.
"Oh," Mia groaned out as she blew a strand of her black hair out of her face while Hermione just rolled onto her back and Harry placed his forehead on the cool wooden floor.
"Only Hagrid would send me a book that would attack me," Harry muttered.
"We're heading into Diagon Alley - maybe the book keeper would have an idea on how to handle it," Sirius suggested and Mia shook her head.
"I don't think so. Otherwise there would have been a note to tell us how to handle it," Mia told him.
"Maybe it's simple, I mean - with beasts, you stroke them - right?" Hermione asked and got nods in reply. "Maybe it's the same with the book, maybe you have to stroke it somewhere for it to open up properly?"
"I'm not touching it," Harry informed Hermione.
"I'll do it," Sirius told them as he started stroking the book, looking to see where its spot was till he brushed his hand over its spine. Sirius felt it shudder in his hands before it relaxed and fell open to the first page.
"He did it," Hermione told Harry and Mia as she watched Sirius upside down from where she was lying on the ground.
"How?" Harry mumbled, not once lifting his head from the floor.
"He stroked the spine - we can spread the news around to the shop keeper if he don't know so they can pass the message on to the students," Hermione told him.
"Great," Harry told her before he winced, lifting himself off the floor. "But I vote that we don't have any more of those books running about."
"Agreed," Mia agreed as she rolled over on to her back and sat up, carefully.
Sirius just smiled at the kids as he watched Hermione gingerly stand up from where she was lying.
"We're heading into Diagon Alley today and you kids are going to be staying over at the Leaky Cauldron - the Weasleys want to take you all to the train station," Sirius told them.
"They what?" Harry moaned, causing everyone to look at him. "Sorry, it's just - Ginny said, back in second year, that her mother was worried about me despite the fact that she had never met me and…" he trailed off as Sirius caught on.
"Yeah, Molly can be overbearing when she wants to be. All I can say is try and stay out of her way if you can," Sirius told him and Harry nodded.
"At least we can get our things," Hermione told them and remembrance hit Harry.
"And your present!" he blurted out, causing Hermione to look at him, startled.
"Harry?" she asked, concerned.
"I told you that I would buy you a pet as a present for your birthday," Harry reminded her and understanding dawned in Hermione's dark eyes.
"Oh yes," she remembered.
"Okay, you all go and get yourself ready. We want to try and get there tonight," Sirius told them. They nodded as they headed up to their bedrooms to pack their trunks for Hogwarts.
A few hours and a couple of panic attacks later, they finally had their trunks packed and ready. Mia and Harry had let their owls out so they could fly to Diagon Alley to wait for them rather than carrying them along in the cages.
Harry and Hermione's trunks were waiting at the bottom of the steps while Mia was dragging hers down the stairs.
"How are we getting to the Leaky Cauldron?" Mia asked.
"By the bus," Sirius told them as he helped her drag her trunk down to the hallway. With all the trunks together he brought out his wand and tapped them twice before they shrunk down.
"Bus?" Harry asked, wondering why they were going to us a muggle form of transportation. Sirius smiled.
"Relax Harry, it's still a wizarding transport - it's better for some people who would rather not floo or don't like brooms," Sirius told them before he tapped the top of his head three times to change his usual disguised form of Mac Johnson.
Everyone picked up their now shrunk trunks, placed them into their pockets, and made their way out into the street. Mac closed the door behind him and locked it before he led the way down until they came to a stop at the edge of the pavement.
"What now?" Mia asked as she looked around, curiously.
Mac just smiled as he lifted up his wand and all of a sudden there was a loud bang and a purple triple-decker bus stood in front of them.
"Bloody hell," Harry exclaimed, channelling Ron.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for stranded witch or wizard," the conductor in a purple uniform announced as he leapt out of the bus.
"Emergency transport?" Mia whispered to Hermione, who just shrugged back in return.
"Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike; I will be your conductor this evening," Stan finished before he looked at his customers.
"Anywhere?" Hermione asked as one eyebrow rose slightly.
"Anywhere but under water - can't go anywhere underwater," Stan corrected while Mia turned her head to the side, muffling her laughter.
"Diagon Alley, Stan," Mac told him as he handed a couple of gallons to cover the price.
"Right you are," Stan told him as he stood to the side and let the man and 3 teenaged children on the bus.
Harry, Hermione, and Mia stopped in their tracks when they saw that there were no seats, only beds.
"Beds?" Hermione asked. Mac smiled.
"It takes a while to get from one place to another and sometimes people would like to have a nap during the ride - some actually think it makes the ride easier," Mac explained.
"Easier?" Harry asked, latching on to such an unusual word to describe a bus ride. Mac just chuckled as he settled himself on a bed while the kids took another
"That's Ernie Prang, the driver," Stan introduced to the sleeping driving in the front of the bus.
"Is he supposed to be sleeping?" Mia asked.
"He likes to take a quick nap at each stop," Stan informed her before he turned around to face the driver. "Take her away Ern," Stan told the driver with a tap of his knuckles on the window. Ernie sat up and took a bite of his sandwich before he pulled the clutch and pressed his foot hard on the pedal, causing the bus to shoot off.
"Argh!" the kids screamed as they were flung backward on the bed. Mia flung a hand out and grabbed the pole to hold herself up. Harry grabbed Hermione instead and pulled her close to his body to brace themselves against the frantic motions caused from the bus weaving its way through traffic at an incredible speed.
After what seemed like forever they finally came to a stop outside a familiar building. Hermione couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as they all got off the bed and made their way over to the doors at the front of the bus.
"The Leaky Cauldron," Stan told them all as the kids shakily got off the bus with Mac following close behind.
Hermione was clinging onto Harry while she rested her head against his chest, trying to overcome the traumatic ride.
"Maybe I shouldn't have exposed you kids to the bus," Mac told them, amused. Mia was resting her back against the wall, bent down at the waist while her palms were planted against her thighs.
"Laugh it up," she informed her father. "That has to be the worst form of transportation in the wizarding world."
"Ha, you should have seen James after the first time he was on it! The boy was so high up on adrenaline that his mother was thought he was on drugs," Mac told them and Harry looked at his uncle.
"He liked it?" Harry asked, aghast, and Mac nodded.
"Oh yeah, he loved it - Moony on the other hand didn't accept it too well. I think it was mostly due to his furry little problem," Mac explained. They all nodded their understanding.
Moony was a nickname for James and Sirius's best friend - Remus Lupin. He was a werewolf due to being bitten by another werewolf when he was a small kid. Ironically, it was the same werewolf that had been hanging around Draco's house lately.
"Why not owl him?" Hermione asked as she slowly regained her self-control.
"Why would he believe me?" Mac asked and Harry sighed.
"Because he was your best friend and I bet if you two were to meet up and clear the air between you, he'd understand," Harry explained.
"They're the smartest students in the school, you are best off listening to them," Mia pointed out as she straightened her spine and shifted her whole back against the wall. Her colour was slowly returning. "Besides, Harry, Draco, and I wanna know about our Uncle Moony - it's not fair that we only get one side of what our parents were like."
Mac couldn't help but laugh at that. "Maybe one day kids," he told them before he straightened. "And we better get you in there before Molly comes out with a frying pan and hits me."
They all straightened up. Mia pulled out her wands and preformed complex charms on her father to make sure that the image was sticking firmly in place and that no counter charms could revel his identity.
Once she was satisfied, they all made their way into the Leaky Cauldron and Mac led the way over to the check-in area.
"Mr Johnson and guests, I believe you have three rooms for us?" Mac asked, using his alias. Tom, the bartender, looked up at the guest before flipping through the book and stopping at a particular page. He smiled when he saw the guest's name written in the book.
"Yes Mr Johnson, here are your keys," Tom told him as he handed over four keys.
"Thank you," Mac told him and Tom nodded.
"Dinner will be served at 6 pm. If you wish to have it earlier or later, please let me know," Tom told him. Mac smiled at him before he walked back over to the kids.
"Okay kids, let's get ourselves settled in. We all have a very busy day tomorrow," Mac told them as he led them upstairs to their rooms. He handed each of them their own key and let them headed to his own room. The reason that they all wanted their own rooms was because the girls' sleeping habits were different - Hermione had a habit of staying up late reading and then getting up at the crack of the dawn. Mia liked listening to her music while she read and she hated getting up in the morning. They had tried sharing a room early in the summer but gave up after one night, each claiming that the other was a nightmare to share with. Harry preferred having a room to himself because it gave him peace from their chaotic schedule.
Harry took his key and opened his door; he found that his was next to Hermione's room while Mia and Sirius were sleeping across the hall.
"Night," Harry told them all.
"Night," they replied and they all stepped into the rooms. Harry closed the door behind him and smiled when he saw that Hedwig was sitting on the edge of a small desk in the corner.
"Hey girl," Harry greeted as he reached over and stroked her white feathers. He pulled out a small owl treat and offered it to Hedwig. She hooted and nipped Harry's fingers softly before taking the treat into her beak and feasting on it hungrily.
Harry turned back to the bed and got himself ready to sleep. He had a feeling that it was going to be an interesting week.
TBC
Little author note; I had noticed that in my last story reviews, a majority of you had mentioned how you had wondered how this story would go considering Sirius is free - Sirius is NOT free - he is in hiding and was smart enough to hide in the muggle world - somewhere the Wizards do not have any control over. Sirius is still on the run from the Ministry and always will be unless someone comes forward to clear him.