Chapter Text
After supper Harry split off from Hermione to go to detention. Walking slowly like he had every other time he had had detention with Snape.
Arriving at Severus’ office he knocked. A barked, “Come in”, and Harry opened the door then shut it again behind him. Harry could feel the wards rise behind him.
“Hello Hadrian, how was your day? Any problems?” Severus asked indicating a chair Harry could take.
“Yeah a few. My magic flared a few times, the incense in Trelawny’s class is so horrible I kept sneezing finally being sent to Madam Pomphrey, and a first year in the common room nicked his finger enough to draw blood. Luckily only Fred and George noticed the changes and were able to get me out of the room. But that does mean they know. They have sworn not to share the information with anyone. So, it is safe. Oh, and I can feel Karkaroff’s dark mark when he is nearby.”
“What did Fred and George do to get your fangs to go away? You don’t have the control yet to will them away.” Severus asked.
“Oh, right they had a small vial of dragon blood, they got from their brother Charlie. I wasn’t sure if I could drink dragon blood but it smelled good so I thought it would be alright.” Harry said.
“Yes, you can drink dragon blood. You can actually drink any blood, magical or mundane, except for werewolf or unicorn blood. I recommend only drinking dragon blood when you need a power boost or are starving however, as it is very potent and can result in alcohol like symptoms if drunk in large quantities when you don’t need either. That is not permission to go and get drunk on dragon blood.” Severus added sternly
“Okay that is good to know. Also, I promised to replace the dragon blood, would you be able to order some, and I can pay you for it? There is no reason I can come up with that I would need to buy some, and I don’t want anyone to get suspicious.” Harry asked hopefully.
“Yes, I can do that. Now about your magic flares, I am going to teach you to meditate. This will help you gain control of your magic, so it only comes out when you want it to.”
For a half hour Severus walked Harry through, breathing and calming his mind. Then guiding him into finding his magic. When Harry found it, he touched it with his mental fingers, and it spread out around him engulfing him in warmth making him feel protected. He got so lost in the feeling that he could no longer hear Severus’s voice.
---0
Severus expected the magic to fill the room just not how much was filling the space. It was curling around Hadrian and when it touched Severus it tested him for danger.
Severus continued in the same calming voice he had been using for the meditation, “Now grab your magic and pull it in under your skin.” Severus waited a minute, but soon it became clear that Hadrian wasn’t even trying to do as Severus had instructed. Hadrian’s face was serene, much more peaceful than he had ever seen him.
The magic got thicker in the room, growing steadily. Severus reached out to the wards that he had set up and surround Hadrian pushing his son’s magic down. It only worked because Hadrian’s vampiric instincts recognized Severus as his father. Severus’s magic was not powerful enough to contain his son’s magic through brute force.
Slowly Hadrian came back to himself and opened his eyes. When he saw Severus, he looked concerned. “I did something wrong didn’t I?”
“I don’t think you did something wrong, however something did go wrong. Did you find your magic?” Harry nodded, “What happened then on your end?”
“I touched it, and it surrounded me. It felt so peaceful and warm.” As Hadrian spoke about it his magic started to swarm around him again.
“Hadrian, focus” Severus commanded.
“Huh, oh. Sorry.” Hadrian said sheepishly.
“When you find your magic do not allow it to surround you. Instead picture it being contained within you, fully under your control.” Severus instructed.
Hadrian nodded and they began again. This time the magic did not encompass the room, instead Hadrian began to glow. His magic pulsing like a heartbeat. Different colors swirling in the glow, but it did not go past his skin. Severus was amazed at the power that his son held.
“Pull it in closer, wrap it into a ball by your heart.” Severus said.
The glow diminished. Severus led Hadrian out of his meditation after he had held his magic in for a few minutes.
---0
Harry came out of the meditation feeling relaxed and calm. He looked at his father and noticed that Severus was surprised but it didn’t seem negative. “Is something wrong?”
“Your magic reacted is very strong. You were glowing for a few moments until you brought it into a ball. I do not want you meditating to the point of reaching for your magic without me nearby for now. However, I want you to practice the breathing technique whenever your emotions run high, even if it is excitement. Before bed as well. For now, at least.”
“Alright, I will practice that.” Harry agreed.
“Now for the spell that will dull one of your senses when you need. I do not recommend using it except when truly needed as using your senses can save your life.”
Severus went on to show Harry the spell and Harry found it easy to modify how much he could smell and hear.
Right before Harry left for the evening he asked, “I have a letter I wrote to Sirius. I wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I sent it though.”
“Let me see the letter.” Severus sighed. After reading it he looked surprised, “You are much more capable of subtlety than I would have expected. Yes, you can send this, it doesn’t tell him anything he shouldn’t know and in such a way that if it is intercepted no one will be able to understand the truth.”
With that Harry left and dropped off the letter with Hedwig before going back to the common room.
---0
The next few days passed with only annoying ‘Potter Stinks’ badges flashing and Ron giving him the cold shoulder. Hermione was being supportive, and they studied together often. Harry found that he could read much faster than before and retain the information exceedingly well. Even practicing the spells was much easier.
He got a letter from Sirius that Thursday asking to meet that weekend in Hogsmeade as it was a Hogsmeade weekend. Also, it said to bring Nightwing. Confused by this request Harry hung back in potions class until everyone had left. Hermione making sure that no one had lingered in the hall and shutting the door behind her to show the coast was clear. Harry put up a silencing charm.
“So… erm… I heard back from Sirius, and he said to meet him in Hogsmeade and to bring Nightwing? Do you know who that is?” Harry asked.
Severus sighed and had a long-suffering expression on his face. “Yes, it is the name Black and Potter gave me after school, and I had made up with Lily. They used it to talk about me among themselves so that no one knew to whom they were referring.”
“Really? Do you have an Animagus form too?” Harry asked intrigued.
Rolling his eyes, “Of course Black would tell you about their marauder names. Yes, I am an owl. I am unregistered because as a Living Vampire I am not required to. It is part of an old treaty from 1548. All Living Vampires have an Animagus form.”
“I can become an Animagus too! Awesome!” Harry said enthusiastically.
“Yes, however work on that after the Tournament. You still have much to learn about being a vampire first before starting on your Animagus form. I can follow you tomorrow while you meet with Black. I will disillusion myself.”
“Thank you. I know you don’t really like Sirius so thank you for being willing to come.” Harry said fervently.
With that Harry left taking down the silencing charm. As he left Severus noticed that Harry hadn’t used his wand to put up or take down the charm.
---0
The next day Harry and Hermione went to the entrance hall after breakfast and started going slowly down to Hogsmeade. Chatting about schoolwork. Harry heard the sound of a shoe scuffing the ground and then his father’s voice too low for even Hermione to hear say “I am with you.” Hermione must have noticed Harry’s slight pause and looked at him questioningly. Harry gave a nod and Hermione smiled.
They went to Hogsmeade and started wandering around like normal. When they saw the dog, they followed at a discreet distance as the dog meandered through the village. Severus was mildly impressed that Harry and Hermione could be subtle as he had never seen any evidence of it before.
They reached a cave and Padfoot transformed back into Sirius Black.
“Siri!” Harry exclaimed hugging the Animagus.
“It is good to see you, Harry.” Siri said happily, “Careful though. You are stronger remember.” As the hug was just a little too tight for comfort
“Oh, sorry Siri.” Harry said releasing him immediately.
Sirius just laughed “It is no problem. You are just stronger now. Now where is Nightwing?”
Severus let go of his disillusionment spell and appeared. Suddenly Sirius had his wand trained on Severus.
“Siri, what are you doing?” Harry asked, shocked at his godfather’s actions.
“Change.” Sirius commanded. Severus just sighed and transformed into a nondescript owl of medium size. He flew and landed on Sirius’ shoulder pecked him on the head and flew off again, transforming back. “Good to see that you are back, Sev.” Sirius smiled lowering his wand.
“What?” Harry asked, confused by the byplay.
“Someone under a glamor or Polyjuice potion can look like someone else but cannot change into that person’s Animagus form. He was checking that I am who I appear to be. I know already that he is who he is supposed to be because we saw him transform.” Severus explained.
“Oh, that makes sense. I didn’t know that about Polyjuice though. Nothing I have read says that. What about you Hermione?” Harry asked, turning to Hermione.
“Harry, you have read all the same books I have.” Hermione said sounding exasperated.
“It isn’t in any books as there are so few Animagi that it hadn’t been tested before we tested it. It was an effective way during the war to make sure that we are who we said we are.” Sirius said, “Nice to see you again Hermione. Where is Ron?”
“Right behind me.” Harry said jerking his thumb to indicate where Ron was.
Ron took off Harry’s cloak startling Sirius and Severus, though Severus would never admit it. “How did you know exactly where I was?” Ron asked a bit disgruntled.
“I can feel your magic of course.” Harry said, rolling his eyes.
“What are you doing here Mister Weasley. Are you not currently fighting with Hadrian. Also, I am sure I saw you with Dean and Seamus in Honeydukes on our way here.” Severus asked dangerously.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry exchanged looks before they burst out laughing. “Well, I guess it even works on the teachers if the most observant of them thought we were on the outs.” Harry chortled.
“We are not actually fighting sir. It is a ruse. This way I can openly interact with those that may be planning something against Harry. Also, with a seemingly obvious weakness, people won’t look more deeply.” Ron explained.
“That is brilliant planning Ron. It is curious that we did seem to pass you on the way here though.” Sirius said with sparkling eyes.
“Oh, that was Neville under Polyjuice. He knows how to pretend to be Ron for the day.” Hermione said.
“So, you are the ones that have been stealing from my stores to make Polyjuice potion.” Severus said angerly.
“What?!” Harry said indignantly, “We haven’t stolen anything from you since our second year and we replaced that. Ever since though we have made sure to have the ingredients on hand as well as a batch ready to be used just in case.”
“You guys made Polyjuice in second year?” Sirius asked awed.
“Well yeah, we needed to see who was opening the Chamber of Secrets.” Ron said.
“You keep Polyjuice on hand?” Severus asked, “Explain.”
“Of course, it is dead useful.” Hermione said, “You never know when you need it. And with how long it takes to brew it is only logical to have some on hand. We also keep a few others on hand as well, so we don’t have to rely on being able to get to the hospital wing all the time.”
“What else do you keep on hand and who do you get them from?” Severus asked worried.
“We keep Blood Replenishers, Pain Relievers, Essence of Dittany, and Pepper-Up. Harry also has a stock of nutritional potions and bone strengthening during the summer.” Ron said “And Harry brews them. He is the best at it when not in class. Although, Hermone will if he doesn’t have time for one reason or another. We will also now be carrying Blood pops and drops as well. Neville is getting them as we speak.”
“Hadrian is the best at potions of the three of you?” Severus asked in disbelief, “You do remember that I have all three of you in class and you, Miss Granger hold top with Mister Malfoy.”
“That is what we all want you to think. I aim for middle of the class in all subjects, except of course Defense, since that is where everyone expects me to do well.” Harry explained, “Hermione helps me add in mistakes after I do a perfect essay. Here Siri, this is the test the goblins did, after my creature inheritance.”
“How are you not in Slytherin?” Severus asked looking at his son.
“Because Dumbles didn’t want me to be. It was a lovely manipulation on his part. How he was a Gryffindor I have no idea. Anyway, when Hagrid gave me my letter and took me shopping all he could talk about was how bad Slytherins were and how Voldie was from there as well. He said that every wizard that went bad was from Slytherin, which is a load of bullocks. Malfoy didn’t help matters either though, since he reminded me so much of my cousin Dudley. I asked for the hat to put me anywhere but Slytherin. It ended up being really good though. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had been put in Slytherin? I would have likely been crucified. Everyone would have thought I was going to become the next Dark Lord like they did in Second Year.”
“You were a Horcrux?” Sirius interjected horrified, having been reading the inheritance report while the others talked, “That monster made you into a Horcrux?”
“Actually, we don’t think Voldie did it on purpose. Did you see the percentage of soul that was left in Harry? Only 1.6%. This shows that he made more. There is no way in the ritual to control how much soul is torn from the main piece. It is always half. That means that Voldie created five before he went to kill Harry when he was a baby.” Hermione said.
“And how would you know that, Miss Granger?” Severus asked incredulous.
“Books of course. I researched it after learning that Harry was made into one.” Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.
“Where did you get books about Horcruxes?” Severus demanded, “That is very evil magic and none of the books in Hogwarts would have any mention of them much less a description of the ritual used.”
“Well, I went to Knockturn alley while Harry was getting purged and picked up all the books I could. The goblins provided me with a glamor charm so no one would realize that a student was out of school nor that I was muggle born.”
“You should not have been in Knockturn alley. It is a very dangerous place to go for any underage Wixen no matter that you didn’t look it. You don’t have enough training to protect yourself there.” Severus said.
“We have been going to Knockturn since summer before third year. I was able to explore all the Alleys during my three weeks stay in the Leaky Cauldron. I am good at wandless glamours, so I was able to disguise myself. The books in Flourish and Blots are not sufficient. They only have light and grey spells nothing that covers the dark arts except for cursory defense of them. The Death Eaters and Voldie will use the darkest of arts that no one should use so we need to know them and how they work so that we can best protect ourselves.” Harry said, “We won’t use them ourselves as the stuff that they use aren’t just dark, but evil and is likely why Voldie is insane. In Second Year, the shade of Voldie that I met in the Chamber was not nearly as unhinged as the one from First Year, or the one that came to kill me as a baby.”
“You can do wandless glamours?” Severus asked, “How long have you been able to?”
“I have been doing wandless glamours since before Hogwarts. I didn’t know it at the time of course. I found the term in Second Year.” Harry explained.
“You can do it without the incantation?” Severus inquired.
“Sure.”
“Do it now. I want to see this glamour.” Severus said.
“Er, alright, sure.” Harry then closed his eyes and morphed in front of them all. His hair became long, wavy, and a rich red. His face became more petite and feminine. When he opened his eyes, they were chocolate brown.
“That isn’t a glamour, Harry,” Sirius said shocked, “You are a Metamorphmagus.”
“That can’t be right. How can I be? I am not a Black by blood. You didn’t blood adopt me only dad did.” Harry said startled.
“Well, yeah but James’ mother was a Black, so it is not impossible just wasn’t likely. You did not show any signs of being a Metamorphmagus when you were a baby and that is when it normally shows up. Especially with the control that you have over it.” Sirius said.
“The only other one this generation is Nymphadora Tonks, and she didn’t have that kind of control when she was in school. Her hair specifically would change to display her emotions continuously,” Severus added having had taught her in school.
“Er, Harry. Your scar is gone.” Ron said.
“What?” Harry said, reaching up to feel for his scar. “But it has never gone away when I use a glamour, er, I mean change, er morph? What is the right term for that?”
“Morphing works. And what do you mean it has never gone away when you morph? How have you stayed hidden?” Sirius asked.
“It must be because of the Horcrux being purged.” Hermione hypothesized.
“Well, that makes sense.” Harry said to Hermione, then turned to Sirius and said, “One scar isn’t noticeable if there are many others. In Knockturn Alley it is common to have scars or have one’s hood up. I did both and if the hood ever came down, they would just see a man with many scars and not Harry Potter.” Harry changed back into how he normally looked.
“Alright Ron report. What is the situation in the castle?” Both Sirius and Severus looked bemused at this.
“Well, the majority of Gryffindor think you did put your name in the goblet but think it was a great prank pulled off. They are supportive. Neville knows you would not do that though and has spoken to Hannah and Susan. They both believe that you did not do it. Most of Hufflepuff hate that you are taking the light off Cedric because the Puffs rarely get to shine. Susan and Hannah also report that Cedric does not believe that you did it and refutes anyone in his house that says anything in front of him. They have stopped discussing it in front of him, but still talk about it when he isn’t around. They do not talk about revenge however, and no one is planning to actively sabotage you. Ernie McMillian and Justin Finch-Fletchley have been talking about how this parallels Second Year and how everyone turned on you, but you were innocent. They have also been telling anyone that you could not have put your name in the goblet. They might be good to cultivate.”
“Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones?” Severus asked.
“Yes, they are our contacts in Hufflepuff. They let us know if there is anything going on that should be dealt with through Neville. He works with them in the green houses often enough that if they meet Neville in an emergency, it won’t raise any questions.” Hermione explains.
“Right, that is the state of the Puffs. The Claws know you couldn’t have put your name in. They looked up your scores you get in class and believe that you don’t have the smarts to do it. Especially after looking at an account of all the spells known to be on the goblet from the last Tournament. They however will not interfere, Padma said that they don’t want to get in the way of the person that wants you dead.”
“Who are your Ravenclaw contacts?” Severus asked.
“Padma who passes messages through Parvati. And Luna who will go to any one of our people when needed. She seems to have a bit of the sight and warned us that I would be chosen. This allowed Ron’s reaction to be planned.” Harry explained.
“Do you have anyone in Slytherin?” Sirius asked.
“Of course, they don’t.” Severus said looking affronted at the thought.
“Well actually we have Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. Theodore Nott is thinking about joining as well. He doesn’t want anything to do with Voldie but also doesn’t want to join Dumbles. At this point he is neutral.” Hermione provides.
“They report what happens in Slytherin house?” Severus asked dumbfounded.
“Not quite. There is the whole ‘what happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin’ thing. So not much about intra-house politics. They only report things that would be a true danger to us.” Harry explained, “Some of the upper years tried to kill me a few times in Second and Third Year on orders from their parents.”
“Why was this never reported?” Severus asked, his blood going cold at the thought of someone trying to kill his son.
The trio exchanged looks, “We didn’t think we would be believed. After Dumbles set us up First Year we knew he would not interfere, and McGonagall doesn’t take us seriously at all. The adults in school have not given us any reason to trust them. Except you now though.” Harry said, looking at his father.
Severus was horrified that no adult at Hogwarts was considered trustworthy to the trio. “Why not contact your guardians about it? They should have been able to do something about it.”
Harry laughed at this. Both Ron and Hermione looked rather uncomfortable and refused to meet Severus’ eyes
“What is so funny?” Severus asked apprehensively, not liking that laugh. There was nothing joyful about it.
“I suppose Dumbles never told you who he put me with did he?” Harry asked.
“He told me that he put you with a magical family that would take care of you but keep you out of the spotlight until coming to Hogwarts so that you could have a normal childhood.” Severus said.
“Yeah, he lied. I did not grow up in the magical world. I grew up with Mum’s sister and her family.” Harry said, “I assume you knew her since Mum’s letter said that you knew her before Hogwarts.”
“Yes, I knew her when we were children.” Severus narrowed his eyes, “She would not have willingly took in a magical child. She wanted nothing to do with freaks.” Severus saw Harry flinch slightly at that word and knew that his childhood had not been a good one. Severus made a mental note to discuss this later.
“Anyway, Ron what is the report from Blaise and Daphne?” Harry said, turning back to Ron to change the subject.
“There isn’t much to say. They all don’t believe you could have done it after Blaise pointed out that Malfoy was giving you way too much credit to be able to get passed Dumbles spells. Malfoy instead decided to make those badges. The older students with Death Eater parents believe that this is a way for Voldie to get to you so won’t bother you with lethal spells so as not to interfere.”
“Wonderful, at least we don’t have to worry about that so much.” Hermione said.
“One more thing to report. The first task is getting past a nesting dragon and retrieve a fake egg from her nest. Charlie is part of the team that is bringing them.” Ron said.
Harry paled at that pronouncement. “Isn’t fire supposed to be particularly lethal to vampires?”
“Mundane fire will not harm you as a Living Vampire, along with some of the minor fire charms any more than it would if you were human. Undead Vampires are very susceptible to any fire. Dragon fire, however, is dangerous for you and will kill you easily.” Severus said.
“What about that ritual though? I remember there was a fireproofing ritual.” Ron said contemplatively.
“Oh, yes. And that works on dragon fire as well. The Gelu Natura Concarnatio Ritual. It lasts for 7 days we should have all the ingredients as well. I will double check when we get back to Hogwarts.” Harry said.
“How do you have all the ingredients for that ritual. It requires Basilisk scales. There have not been any on the market for a century or more when Basilisk breeding was outlawed by the ICW.” Severus looked at the trio and when none of them met his eyes he scowled. “What have you done?”
“Well, you know the monster that was in the Chamber. It was a Basilisk. I killed it at the end of Second Year.” Harry said nonchalantly, still not quite meeting his eyes.
After a moment to compose himself, Severus glared at them, “Why do you look so guilty if the beast is dead?”
“We may have hatched an egg that was in the chamber. It technically isn’t against the law since we did not breed one. There was already an egg in stasis in the Chamber that we saw no reason not to hatch. The ingredients we can harvest off one and sell through a contact in Knockturn Alley Harry made before Third Year. It has been funding all of our projects.” Hermione admitted.
“You saw no reason not to?” Sirius squeaked, “They can kill you with a look!”
“Not yet. They don’t develop the power to kill with their eyes until they are at least two decades old. Also, you have to remember that I am a parselmouth. Once bonded to a family they cannot disobey that family. This is why the Basilisk obeyed Voldie fifty years ago and killed Myrtle. He then wrapped the Basilisk to the power in the diary so that if someone else of Slytherin Blood came around she would still obey only him.” Harry said, “She was originally there to protect the school and never harm any students. Not even the muggleborn students.”
“Really? I thought Salazar wanted all muggleborns dead?” Sirius questioned confused.
“Not at all. He did want those without magical parents to be taken away from their families. That was only because the persecution that was going on at the time for anything that was considered witchcraft, including paganism which was practiced by muggles at that time as well. There were several instances that magical children were killed by their muggle parents, or the children became Obscurials.” Harry explained.
“How do you know all this?” Severus asked bewildered.
“Salazar’s journals that we found in the Chamber. It is fascinating to read the founders’ history. Salazar had a Naga mother, and his father was a muggle-born that was driven out of his home by his parents at the age of seven. His father was taken in by a Naga tribe.” Harry said.
“Can I read these books?” Severus asked intrigued.
“I haven’t translated them all yet. They are all in Parselscript. I can make a copy of what I have so far. Though, I focused on the care and raising of Basilisks, so Hermione and Ron could help with Sheshna. There is also information on the properties of different basilisk parts that you would probably find interesting.” Harry offered.
“That would be appreciated.” Severus nodded.
“Now back to the task. Ron, do you know which breed of dragon will be here?” Harry asked, turning back to Ron.
“Not yet. Charlie will let me know when they arrive, and we can go see them. Once we know which breed, we will have a better idea of how to get past them, besides the fireproofing ritual.” Ron said.
“I’ll gather the ingredients from the apothecary when we are done here.” Hermione said.
“Very well. Sirius,” Harry said turning to his godfather, “about my parentage, when were you planning to tell me? You could have at least told me to go to Gringotts to get an inheritance test.”
Sirius cringed, “Harry, I am sorry that I could not tell you when we met before. I did not remember until the school year had started back up. I have been working with a mind healer because of the damage that the Dementors did to me. I am lucky to have been as sane as I was after 12 years in Azkaban. I lost a lot of memories that I am only now starting to get back.”
Harry sighed, “I’m sorry Siri, I should have thought about that.” Harry looked between Siri and Severus then confused, “What about Lupin? Does he know anything about this?”
“No, he was never told. He was at the time in deep cover in a werewolf pack that was being courted by the Death Eaters. He knew that he was kept out of most of the information loop for the safety of the Order since it was pretty dangerous. He was gone for two years with only information going to the order not the other way around. This was also why he was never considered for secret keeper.” Sirius said.
“Ah, I had wondered about that.” Hermione said, both Ron and Harry nodding in agreement.
“How loyal is he to Dumbles?” Ron asked, “And how easy would it be to sway him away from the bastard.”
“Language.” Severus said automatically.
Sirius snorted then looked at Ron, “Moony didn’t tell Dumbles about me being an Animagus last year even when he thought I had betrayed James and Lily. He is loyal to me at least. I will speak to him and feel him out, see how he feels about Dumbles. I’ll point out how Dumbles should have been able to bring my case to the Wizengamot as Chief Warlock. If he felt like the case would not have been heard here in Britain, Dumbles could have brought it to the attention of the ICW since I never had a trial.”
“Are you sure you can be subtle enough to not rise suspicion, Black?” Severus asked with a sneer.
“I may have been a Gryffindor, but I was raised a Black. I know how to be subtle when needed.” Sirius glared.
Severus snorted disbelievingly, “Very well.”
“Alright is there anything else we need to cover? There won’t be another Hogsmeade weekend before the task. Do you think you can sneak into the castle Siri when we know more about the dragons for a planning session or are you going to be working on Moony?” Harry asked.
“I’ll have to let you know. It won’t be a problem getting into the castle, but I don’t know how long it will be to talk to Moony.” Sirius said.
“Right, we’ll revisit that, then we have a week and a half before the dragons show up. So, there is time before we can do any real planning regarding that anyway.” Harry stated.
“Send letters to Grimmauld Place to reach me. I had Moony go there for a place to stay. It is the Black Family Townhouse where I grew up. No one can get in there without Black Blood without being invited by one with Black Blood. So, they are safe right now.” Sirius said.
“What about Black Castle?” Harry asked. “Why not go there. It has to have more space for Moony to run.”
“That would have to be unlocked by you as Lord Black. You’ll have to get a portkey from the Goblins and unlock it before anyone can go there. I only have access to Grimmauld Place on the proviso that I have an heir that would be taking the Lordship.” Sirius grinned.
“If you are alright with waiting then I’ll deal with Black Castle after the first task. That way I can open it to you during the Hogsmeade Weekend in December.” Harry nodded.
“I’ll get going then.” Ron said and took out a phial, grimacing as he drank it down. Soon Neville was standing there instead of Ron.
“Weird. Your scent changed with the Polyjuice potion.” Harry said speculatively “Not your magic though.”
“Really?” Hermione asked, looking like she wanted to start taking notes.
“Why don’t you guys get going now. I do want to see you this evening though Hadrian.” Severus said.
“Okay, see you later.” Harry said and the trio left.
---0
Severus watched them leave the cave and then turned back to Black. “Do you have what you need right now?”
“Yes, I’m good. But I did want to talk to you about Harry. He looks too much like James. I don’t know if it is conscious on his part, but I would guess not since he didn’t know he is a Metamorphmagus. Could you check that he is allowing himself to revert completely? It takes magic to constantly hold any changes. The more complex the changes the more magic it uses. It usually isn’t a lot even holding the change for a long time, but it is good to get him to take a break every once in a while. If he has any trouble reverting completely there is a spell that will force him back. This is often used on young children to get them used to the change, so it won’t harm him. Nativitas corporis formam.” Sirius said.
“Yes. I will have him revert back to his original form. I am concerned about what his home life has been like. With what has been slipped about him needing to have extra healing and nutrition potions with him during the summer holiday.” Severus pondered.
“I am worried too. That night when we met and Pettigrew was found, I invited Harry to come live with me. He immediately agreed, but at the time it did not alarm me. I was still not thinking clearly.” Sirius agreed.
“That is very concerning. No child should agree to live with someone they thought was a murderer earlier that day. Even with your innocence proven.” Severus said worried.