Chapter 5
"You want us to do what?"
"Oh, honestly Harry," said Hermione. "It's just a family vacation. And many chances will you get to see a Lesser Smokey Mountain Troll?"
"B-but-troll and you know," stuttered Harry. "And what about passports?"
"They're small, cute, furry and very shy," explained Hermione. "And as far as my parents know, the Dursleys have already given you their permission."
"Huh? How did you manage that?" asked Harry.
The two of them were sitting on their trunks waiting for Hermione's parents to arrive at the station to pick them up. Harry was beginning to think that Hermione had told them to pick her up at the wrong time. Hermione had handed Crookshanks off to Blaise before he left, asking him to take care of her cat while she was on vacation.
"I told them you'd be coming when I mailed them your passport." Hermione paused. "You might want to do something about Gringotts. I think they thought that I was speaking for you when I asked them to provide you with a passport. You'd be amazed what Muggle documents they can provide to Wizards. Anyway, they sent me a self-updating passport for you without even questioning me. And my parents have already arranged everything else."
"Why would they give you my passport?" said Harry.
Hermione shrugged. "I think it's because you took me down to your family vault with you. Well, it's the only thing I can think of anyway."
"Why didn't you mention any of this to me earlier?" demanded Harry. "And why did you plan this without my say-so?"
Hermione bit her lip, and looked down. "I didn't want to get your hopes up. You know, if we couldn't get you a passport. And then when it came, you were in the hospital wing and then things got so busy and I didn't know if you would want to come and you don't really need to come I just wanted you to and-"
Harry put a hand over her mouth. "I'll go. Just ask me first next time. Are there any local weres?"
"I have the number for the local Ulfric. Lorelei sent it to me. She said that there weren't any cats or foxes nearby, but I thought you'd want to call." Hermione bit her lip. "And we're staying at the Blue Moon Cabins, which is owned by said Ulfric-not that Mum and Dad know that."
"Give me the number," said Harry. "I'll go call this Ulfric. Do you know his name?"
"Uh, Verne, I think."
"Right. So when will we leave and when will we arrive?"
"Early tomorrow morning. We should be there by late afternoon, early evening-their time. They're in Tennessee, by the way."
"I'll be right back. While I'm gone, write Blaise a note asking him to look after Hedwig this summer." Harry turned to the owl. "Girl, you're going to have to stay with Blaise. Customs is not a nice place for owls. So deliver the note to Blaise and watch out for him, ok? I won't be there to watch his back."
Hedwig hooted. Satisfied that his familiar understood his instructions, Harry went off in search of a phone booth.
**
"Verne, phone."
The werewolf stood and moved to enter the building. "Who is it?"
Roxanne shrugged. "Some kid. Said he needed to speak to you and only you."
"Blue Moon Cabins," said Verne, picking up the phone.
A young British male who's voice sounded as if it was starting to change said, "Uh, hi. Are you Verne?"
"Yes. How may I help you?"
"The Granger family should be arriving sometime tomorrow," said the boy. "And they don't know about uh… my furry problem. But a friend gave me your number. Said you were the local, you know."
"Your leader should be the one to ask permission for you to enter our territory, kid," growled Verne.
"I'm not a member of any clan," said the boy. "Cat flavored, not wolf. And there'll be a fox animagus coming as well."
"Ani-what?"
"Animagus. It's a type of shapeshifter not governed by the moon. She's harmless, couldn't infect anybody if she tried, but she's under my protection."
"Start from the beginning," said Verne, having calmed down somewhat. He'd heard the term animagus before, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember where. "What type are you, why don't you have a group, why did you wait so long to call, and why is a fox under a cat's protection?"
"Leopard. I live in England. There isn't enough of my kind in the country to form a football team let alone make a pard," said the kid. "My name is Harry Potter. Hermione Granger is the animagus-and no her parents don't know. I'm sure they would have thrown a fit if they knew their twelve year old daughter and her friend are shapeshifters. I wasn't even told that I'd been invited to go on vacation with the Grangers until ten minutes ago. You have no right to expect an answer to the last question. And this call was made out of courtesy, not because I needed your permission to exist. I don't want to have any problems with your wolves. It's a vacation. We're going to relax, not to fight."
Verne let out a sigh. "The fox is twelve?"
"Yeah, she is."
"Harry, how old are you?"
"Eleven," the kid mutter.
An eleven year old? Shit. What sort of sick fuck infected a kid?
"I'll warn the rest of the pack. No killing other than wild animals and no fighting with any member of the pack unless they challenge you. Understood?"
"I can live with that. I'll make sure Hermione knows as well," said the boy, sounding rather relieved. "Thanks."
"No problem, kid."
**
Harry watched, eyes bright as they drove along the side of a mountain. So much forest. So many places to explore and hunt in. He could practically feel Hermione's excitement. He knew she wanted to run in the forest as much as he did.
From what he understood, the Grangers generally went to someplace in Europe for their summer vacation, but with Hermione's interest in the preternatural, they'd decided to come out to Tennessee on the off chance that they'd see one of the Lesser Smokey Mountain Trolls instead.
As for the Dursleys… he wouldn't actually have to see them until August. When he'd called the house, nobody had picked up, so he'd told them he was staying with a friend for July and would be back for August. If worse came to worse and they actually kicked him out, Harry knew he could always live in the forest next to Hillsdale or convert some of his Wizarding money to Muggle money and take a room someplace. Although he'd have to be particularly careful if he did the latter.
He'd left all but three of his knives and the machete hidden in various places in the Granger's house. There were only so many objects he could hide with magic before somebody noticed. At least this way he wouldn't have to worry overly much about a lack of weapons.
While Harry did not know how to use a sword, he was very familiar with knives. Even before he'd become infected, Harry had known how to use one. Dudley wasn't the only danger in Little Whinging and carrying a weapon was always a good idea, no matter how safe the adults thought the neighborhood was.
As for the sword, he'd already talked to Blaise about that. With some luck, Blaise would be able to locate a good tutor. Harry really wanted to learn to use one.
Leopold parked the rental car in the small lot in front of the main cabin. He turned back and said, "Hermione, Harry, watch Trudy and stay within yelling distance while Bronwyn and I get us checked in."
Once the children agreed, they hurried out of the backseat. They'd been cooped up for what felt like days.
Knowing how long the trip would be, Hermione had worn jeans and a t-shirt instead of her usual outfits which consisted of skirts and dresses. Her hair was tied into a tight braid that ended less than half a foot above her ankles Harry had dressed much the same, his hair tied back in a pony tail. Gertrude, on the other hand, had been dressed by Mrs. Granger. She wore a dress and her waist length hair was in two French braids.
Hermione quickly got Gertrude interested in some sort of hand game while Harry boredly walked on his hands. He would have loved to have gone for a run in the forest, but he settled for doing gymnastic moves instead.
Hearing somebody approach, Harry righted himself, making sure to stay between the girls and whoever it was. A werewolf-and a powerful one at that.
The man was rather tall with dark skin and long hair tied into a multitude of braid with beads in them. The man tilted his head to the side in a rather dog-like way, studying them. He raised an eyebrow at Harry.
With a mental shrug, Harry studied the man as well. Definitely werewolf, so hopefully he'd avoid a fight. Verne had said they would be allowed in his territory.
"Harry Potter and Hermione Granger?" said the man. "I am Jamil, Skoll of the Thronos Rokke Clan."
Harry nodded, then added, "And Hermione's younger sister Gertrude."
The man glanced at the girls, then said, "Verne has already explained your presence and would like to speak with you when you can get away from your guardians."
"Is he within yelling distance?" asked Harry.
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Mr. and Mrs. Granger just said that Hermione and I had to stay within yelling distance. If you can delay them and swear that Gertrude won't be harmed in any way or find out about Hermione and I, we can speak to Verne now."
Another nod, then Jamil motioned for another werewolf. Once the man was within hearing distance, Jamil said, "Tell Roxanne to delay Mr. and Mrs. Granger while Verne and Richard speak to the visitors. The girl is under my protection until the meeting is over. Send somebody to tell Richard and Verne we're coming now."
The werewolf gave a nod of acknowledgement then ran off.
"Come on."
"Hermione, Gertrude, we're going for a walk," announced Harry.
Giving Harry a questioning glance, Hermione picked up Gertrude, balancing her on her hip and walked over. Her eyes widened when she took in Jamil. She took a step closer to Harry. Without a second thought Harry gave her a one armed hug, acknowledging that Hermione was under his protection.
The four-nearly five-year old snuggled closer to Hermione, letting her head rest on her shoulder. She yawned, then wrapped her arms around Hermione's neck. Following Jamil and Harry, Hermione put a hand against the back of Getrude's head.
She said two words in Greek, allowing a tendril of magic to flow from her body to Gertrude's. The girl let out another yawn before drifting off to sleep.
"What was that?" asked Jamil.
"Sleep spell," said Harry. "She'll either wake up on her own in a couple hours or one of us will wake her. This way Gertrude doesn't hear anything we don't want her to."
**
Richard watched the three children with interest. He hadn't quite known what to expect when Verne had told them that a wereleopard and a fox shapeshifter would be spending a month there, but he certainly hadn't expected two children young enough to be his students. The third was a girl no more than four or five sleeping in the fox's arms. Perhaps a sister, judging by the resemblance.
Verne had invited Richard to attend his meeting with the two shapeshifters. Since it wasn't his territory, it wasn't necessary for him to meet them.
"Harry, Hermione," said Verne.
"Hullo sir," said Harry. He gave Richard a questioning look.
"Richard is a visiting Ulfric from St. Louis. Now, what are your plans while you are here?" he asked.
Harry motioned toward Hermione who said, "We'll be doing whatever Mum and Dad want us to do. I think we'll be heading to Nashville for a couple days, but the rest of the time will be spent here, hiking on the mountain and stuff like that. Harry and I were thinking of camping out in the woods for a couple days if you didn't mind."
"I've already checked about Nashville," added Harry. "Hermione and I shouldn't run into any problems up there. If you don't mind, Hermione and I would like to spend the full moon in the forest-if you do, we'll find someplace else. Oh, do you mind if we practice magic? We won't do anything to the locals, but we promised Gertrude that we'd start teaching her this summer."
Now that he took a closer look, Richard noticed that all three children were rather powerful witches. Harry and Hermione had rather good shields. If he hadn't known they were shifters from the beginning, it probably would have taken several minutes for him to pick up on it.
"You may camp in the woods and use it during the full moon, but all other magic must be approved and supervised by vargamor," announced Verne. "The rest is all acceptable. If you venture into the woods, I suggest you keep an eye out for the local vampires."
"Ah," said Harry, clearly understanding Verne's warning. "Don't worry, I live near London. The locals are very… old fashioned."
Richard remembered quite well what had happened in London less than two weeks earlier. The local master hadn't quite taken to being a public figure and had gone insane, leading to a massacre. He'd been told what the master had been like before then and couldn't help but agree that Colin was quite like him, though much less powerful.
Hermione bit her lip, then said, "We know wards to keep vampires and their servants out. We've used them before-around my parent's property and the forest Harry uses during the full moon back home. If we go camping, I won't feel safe unless we put those wards around wherever we sleep. I could teach your vargamor how to put up the wards in exchange for being allowed to put them around our campsites."
Harry gave her a sharp look. Hermione paled, then looked down.
"What's wrong?" asked Richard.
"Those wards are Potter family spells," said Harry. "Just because I taught them to Hermione does not mean that she can teach herself or offer them to others."
"If these wards work, what do you want in exchange for teaching them to our vargamor?" asked Verne.
"They'll work," growled Harry, obviously offended. "My family specializes in warding. I would not dishonor the family name by offering a defective ward. In exchange for teaching the spell to your vargamor, he or she must swear on oath of my specification to never pass on this knowledge without my knowledge, Hermione and I will be allowed to set up this ward in a ten foot perimeter around whichever cabin we and the rest of the Grangers are assigned along with our campsites and we will be taught an unfamiliar spell, ritual, or potion of lesser value than this ward by your vargamor. We are, of course, more than willing to swear the same oath about whatever your vargamor teaches us."
"What are the requirements of this ward and what does it do?"
"It requires several pieces of stone carved with certain symbols-depending upon size and strength, a couple candles, and a ritual performed at either sunset or sunrise. The ritual itself needs some of the blood of the caster and for the caster to say a long, complicated spell."
"Should our vargamor agree, I see no reason to refuse this exchange," said Verne. "I will speak to you again once I've spoken to her."
Harry nodded his acceptance.
"May I ask what you meant by family spells?" said Richard.
"Sure," said Harry. "My father was the last in a long line of magic users. In certain magical societies, families specialize in particular types of magic and develop spells, potions, etcetera accordingly. The Potters were warders, so we have a great number of different ward spells and rituals that were developed by and kept within the family."
"How long a line?" asked Richard.
"Since the ninth century."
"More than a millennia," said Richard, a bit shocked. He'd heard of families like that, but hadn't quite expected to meet a member of one.
"Actually, nearly three millennia, I should have specified," said Harry. "My first known magical ancestor was born sometime in the early ninth century, B.C."
Richard would have said something if he wasn't sure that the boy was telling the truth. Everything about the boy suggested that he was.
Deciding to change the subject, Verne said, "Harry didn't explain your type of shapeshifter to me very well over the phone, Hermione."
"Oh," she said. "I'm a fox animagus. It means that instead of being infected or cursed, I used my own magic to make me a shapeshifter. Including myself, there are eleven known animagi in the British Isles. But I'm not registered and three of the ones I know of weren't registered either. Technically, we're supposed to register, but I'd rather risk being fined a couple thousand pounds. The government has no qualms about using people if it suits them."
"They added a year in Azkaban to the fine last year," said Harry.
Hermione let out an annoyed growl. "Fascist pigs."
Verne and Richard shared a look. "But how do you `use your magic to make you a shapeshifter'? Does it involve pelts of shapeshifters?"
"What? No," said Hermione. "The animagus transformation is less powerful than being a true shapeshifter, but I chose it because I didn't want to hurt anybody or have a curse that would be passed on to my children put on me. Harry, could you hold Trudy?"
Harry took the sleeping child from Hermione.
"I'll show you," said Hermione.
Before anybody could react, Hermione had called up her beast and started to transform. It was unlike any transformation he'd ever seen before. There was no left over goo or torn clothing. In fact, if Richard had not seen the girl transform, he never would have believed that the adolescent fox in front of him was really Hermione.
She moved around a bit, leaving Richard to wonder why her clothing was nowhere to be seen and where most of the girl's mass had gone before transforming back. She was completely clothed and none-the-worse for her impromptu session as a fox. Her hair was even still braided.
"I can't figure out where the clothing or the other four fifths of her weight go either," said Harry. "It's just part of what makes the animagus transformation the animagus transformation. And don't even get me started on how many times she can transform in an hour without getting tired."
"I'll speak to you two again tomorrow," said Verne. "Your parents will be worried if you two don't get back out to them."
They nodded and scurried off. Once they were out of earshot, Richard turned to question Verne.
"What do you know of those two?"
"The girl wasn't a shapeshifter before she went off to Scotland with the boy for school. The local packs generally don't mess with the boy anymore. He's killed all male challengers. They were nasty deaths at that. They're both members of a coven run by the mother of the Ulfric of the pack in London-but neither know it. The woman's name is Lorelei" Verne shook his head. "They attend a school of magic in Scotland for a hidden magical society."
"Hidden magical society?"
"Apparently Marianne attended one of their schools in Salem as well. From what she, members of this society are all strong witches that officially broke away from the rest of the world during the inquisition in Spain. Their numbers are around three millions and they regularly recruit witches without magical families or witches that they consider powerful enough when they are eleven. The boy's family really is that old. From what I understand, he's famous for accidentally killing a dark wizard when he was an infant."
**
The cabin was actually very nice. At least in Harry's opinion. There were two bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen/living room/dining room. The Grangers had taken the main bedroom, put Hermione and Gertrude in the other bedroom, and set Harry up on the foldout couch.
Once they'd all woken up, Mr. and Mrs. Granger gathered supplies for lunch and water to drink before taking the children on a hike. They'd had quite a bit of fun with that one, though both Hermione and Harry had ached to explore on their own. Once they'd returned to the cabin, Harry and Hermione had set out to find Verne. Hopefully they'd be allowed to put up the necessary wards.
**
Marianne studied the children in front of her. It wasn't often that she'd run into fairly competent witches less than thirteen years in age. Then again, they were wizards.
She'd always felt rather annoyed at the British government for their actions during the war against Voldemort. The way they idolized Harry Potter for surviving where his parents did not just made it all the worse.
The boy in front of her was nothing like the stories of a spoiled, arrogant child. Then again, the Daily Prophet was not reliable and they obviously had no idea their savior was a lycanthrope. Marianne knew quite well that if the Wizarding world knew what Harry Potter was, he'd be shunned. They were quite unreasonable about lycanthropes. Much worse the Muggles, in fact.
"I know you're a wereleopard, but I don't know what you are," said Marianne.
"Fox animagus, ma'am," said Hermione.
Marianne quickly raised her respect for the girl's magical abilities. "I didn't become a wolf animagus until I was in my twenties."
"Really?" said Hermione.
"Well, that explains why you're their vargamor," said Harry. "Why doesn't your Ulfric know…"
"Verne knows that I'm a wolf shapeshifter, but I only explained that I was an animagus once."
"Ah," said Harry. "So, since you've agreed to the terms, I'll need a magical oath not to purposefully reveal the method to the anti-vampire wards."
"Completely understandable, Harry," said Marianne. "I'll be teaching you two legilimency in exchange. I'd originally planned to teach you occlumency, but your shields are already very good. And before you ask, I will not ask you to swear an oath."
"That's really too much," protested Hermione.
"Nonesense. Legilimency is a common spell and this ward is a family spell. Though training in legilimency is rare, it is still less valuable than a family spell."
**
Harry led the way, more in touch with the forest than he had been for days. Hermione and Harry had carefully arranged it so that they would be on a three day camping trip during the full moon.
Though a bit reluctant at first, Hermione's parents had eventually agreed when the two had mentioned that they wanted to see nature in its purest form and couldn't with Gertrude tagging along. Hermione still couldn't believe that they'd bought that excuse.
"Greetings fellow travelers."
Harry and Hermione stopped short. They turned to see a pretty blonde girl hanging from a tree by her knees. She blinked at them with her large eyes.
Harry couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't been able to sense, hear, or smell her before. Reaching out with his senses, his eyes widened. The girl was certainly a witch, perhaps more than a witch.
"Hullo," said Hermione. "I'm Hermione Granger and this is-"
"Harry Potter." The girl flipped, landing on her feet. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Did you know you were a wereleopard?'
"Yes, actually," said Harry, now sure that the girl was a member of the Wizarding world. "How did you know?"
"You feel like a cat." Luna gave Hermione a second look, then let out a loud laugh. "It's supposed to be the fox and the hound not the fox and the leopard."
"Uh, right," said Hermione. "Um, what are you doing here?"
"Daddy and I are searching for our jackalope cousins." Luna paused, finger on her chin. "Well, we're searching for my jackalope cousins. I'm related to them through Mummy, not Daddy."
"Uh huh. How are you related to jackalopes exactly?" Harry asked, rather sure he didn't want to hear the answer.
Luna gave them a disbelieving look. "Everybody knows that jackalopes are the colonial cousins of wolpertingers."
"What's a wolpertinger?" asked Harry.
"Made up creature from Germany," said Hermione.
"I am not made up!" snapped Luna, stomping her foot.
-->