The Unseen Scribe
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The Sorcerer King - Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2024-01-16 18:32:12 +0000 UTCAN: Hey guys.
This Chapter was supposed to be out on Saturday, but I wasn’t happy with it, so I scraped the entire thing and wrote another one.
I think this one is a bit better than the previous one.
This chapter is just a long conversation, were we learn more details about what happened in the magical world after Sirius went through the veil. And Harry decides were to settle down in this new world.
Hopefully you guys enjoy this one.
Chapter 2
“Nice ship.” Harry said, as he and Sirius walked up the plank.
The ship looked a bit like what Harry imagined an early 15 century carrack to look like, no cannons could be found anywhere, which coincided with the information Harry had taken from the mind of the bandits in that forest, this place had no gunpowder. Which means it was a pretty good place to be wizard, gunpowder was the thing that helped the non-magicals breach the gap and actually threaten magicals after all.
Sirius had almost jumped in shock when he saw Harry a few minutes earlier in that brothel. His godfather didn’t really say anything, he just got up, tossed a few silver coins to the women and then dragged Harry out of the pleasure house and towards the ship.
“Thanks, I call her The Marauder.” Sirius said. It was the first words he said since they met again, and the tone of uncertainty in his voice was what Harry was expecting. This situation was weird enough as it was, and Harry wasn’t exactly helping matters with the little smirk he had on his face ever since he saw Sirius. But he couldn’t control it, he was happy to see his godfather again.
“It is a good name.” Harry said, humming in agreement. “And the carvings add a nice touch.” He added.
As they reached the top of the plank, Harry could see that the ship had a lot of large, intricate carvings of wolves, dogs and stags in every single surface that should be flat, and smaller carvings were scattered around everywhere. The sails were embroidered with the same animals, and even the few barrels and crates he could see scattered around had images of the marauders on them. The entire ship was a tribute to their friendship.
They walked through the ship, and Harry nodded his head at every member of the crew that bothered to look at them. The men of the crew were quite similar, but at the same time extremely different. They all had powerful arms and scared hands, and they moved with a certainty that spoke of familiarity with the sea. But they also were vastly different in looks, with a few dark skinned, a few light skinned, a few had an olive complexion, and there were two that looked like albinos, extremely pale with silvery-blonde hair and purple eyes.
Harry knew that those features supposedly came from the blood of valyria. He had gathered from the minds of the bandits that the royal family of these lands had a similar look. But he didn’t think those men were royals looking for an adventure, they didn’t even look like royal bastards, so maybe they came from a different place. Somewhere in the continent to the east called Essos. That was the problem with gathering information from bandits in a medieval society. Most of them came from peasant families so they actually didn’t know much about the world around them, learning little from beyond the lands they were born in.
Sirius walked them towards a small door and opened it, walking inside, Harry saw a small but richly decorated room, the captain’s cabin. There was expensive looking furniture all around, in black, white and golden colored wood. An armour set rested in a mannequin and a couple of swords were in a stand next to it. Overall, the room looked quite nice and homely, certainly not what Harry expected from a ship cabin.
He heard the door close behind him and turned around to see a wand pointed at his face.
“Who are you?” Sirius said in a low tone.
“Is that how you welcome your beloved godson, Padfoot?” Harry said, while carefully raising his arms and showing his empty hands. He might be joking around, but Sirius’ tone was filled with warning and he wasn’t going to give his godfather a reason to curse him.
“Don't lie to me!” Sirius said, his voice getting a little threatening. “Harry is in England right now, far away from here. So who are you? Are you a faceless man?” He asked again.
“It’s me Padfoot. I solemnly swear I’m not lying.” Harry said, and the tip of the wand started glowing so he quickly added. “We met for the first time in the shrieking shack, although I saw you a few months before that when you invaded the gryffindor dorms trying to catch the rat. You asked me if I wanted to live with you that night, before Moony had to deal with his furry little problem, and Hermione and I saved you from a Dementor’s kiss with the help of a hippogriff, Buckbeak.” Harry saw that his words weren’t helping to convince Sirius, only make him angrier, so he told even more.
“The order of the phoenix held their meetings in Grimmauld Place, your old family home. You hated the place but had to stay there because you were still a wanted criminal. Mr. Weasley was attacked by Voldemort’s snake while guarding the prophecy in the department of mysteries.” This finally started to calm Sirius down. “You gave me a communication mirror for Yule, but I never used it before your lovely cousin tossed you trough the veil.” He added, and Sirius angry mask finally broke as he put down his wand and hugged Harry.
“Harry, It’s really you?” Sirius asked, and Harry could hear the tears.
“It’s me, Padfoot.” Harry said, hugging his godfather with all of his strength.
Harry could feel his eyes watering as well, but he managed to hold the tears. Still, he was glad to see Sirius again. Losing his godfather was still a painful and important moment in his life. He had other moments that were even more painful, seeing all the bodies after the second battle of Hogwarts, or any of the other smaller battles during the war against Voldemort, and the most painful of all, losing his wives and unborn children. But despite all that, the day he lost Sirius was still a defining moment in his life. It was the day he stopped holding back, the day he killed for the first time, the day he truly lost his naivety and fully realized that he would have to fight a war if he wanted to live.
Sirius broke the hug and then looked Harry up and down, as if not fully believing he was truly there. And then Sirius punched him in the face.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Sirius screamed in his face.
“What?” Harry asked, rubbing his jaw a little bit.
“Don't start, Harry. The only way you could have arrived here is through the veil.” Sirius said, leaving the question in the air again.
“Well, you will be happy to know that I, unlike a certain old, mangy mutt, didn’t get tossed into the veil by a stunner of all things.” Harry said in a teasing tone. “I walked into it on my own, with my head held high, before the Wizengamot tossed me to the Dementors for daring to kill ‘upstanding members of society’ like Cerwyn and Yaxley.”
“ARE YOU INSANE?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” Sirius screamed again, Harry’s explanation only making his anger grow.
“Because I lost everything, Padfoot.” Harry said in a low tone, his voice cracking a little at the end.
Sirius stayed silent after that, just looking at Harry for around a minute before he went towards a desk. He grabbed a pitcher and then poured some wine in a couple of silver goblets. He put one of the goblets on a low table, near a couple of chairs, downed the other, and then filled his own goblet again before seating on one of the chairs.
“Sit down and explain.” Sirius said, pointing towards the other chair.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and then walked towards the chair but not immediately seating on it. He first took the manor trunk out, un-shrunk and then opened it.
“Dobby!” Harry said, and the little house elf immediately appeared out of the trunk.
“Master Harry Potter sir called Dobby?” Dobby asked.
“Can you bring us my best bottle of Ogden’s finest, and the portraits of my wives?” Harry said, and then sat down on the chair while the elf disappeared.
“Thought you would want something stronger.” Harry explained when he saw Sirius looking at him strangely.
“I will never say no to a good bottle of fire whiskey, it’s been a long time since I had one. But what is this about wives, plural?” Sirius asked in a teasing tone. “You made your dogfather proud.” He added, making Harry snort a little. Harry was about to respond but at that moment Dobby returned.
Harry conjured a stand for the portraits and then floated them up and into it, smiling as he saw the brilliant smiles both Hermione and Daphne were giving him. He then turned towards Sirius and said.
“Sirius, may I present to you my wives, Lady Hermione Jean Potter, and Lady Daphne Anna Black.” Harry enjoyed the look of shock in Sirius’ face when he heard Daphne’s married name. “Ladies, I present to you Sirius Black III, also known as Padfoot of the marauders, mangy old dog, flea bag, and many other similar names. He added, and then dodged a stinging hex from Sirius.
“Black? How did that happen?” Sirius asked, his voice betraying how shocked he was.
“Well, you’re the one that made me your heir. We decided we might as well keep the name going when we married.” Harry explained.
“It is nice to see you again, Sirius.” Hermione said, smiling towards the former prisoner of Azkaban. “So, Harry, your insane idea with the veil actually worked?” She added.
“Hermione, you know it was the only way. They would never leave me alone otherwise.” Harry said, and even in a portrait, Harry could still recognize the look of reluctant acceptance that Hermione was giving him.
“I still think you should’ve just killed them all.” Daphne said.
“And then their heirs would declare me a dark lord. No one would attack Neville, Luna or the Weasleys, so both Andromeda and Teddy would be in danger. Sure, Andy is an amazing duellist, but she could still be overwhelmed with numbers like we were.” Harry said in a tired tone.
It was an old argument for the two of them. Daphne was against Harry just leaving Britain, much less taking a walk through the veil, but in the end, she couldn’t make him change his mind.
“Then you could kill their heirs. Keep killing people until those idiots left you alone.” Daphne said, giving her usual answer to that problem.
“You know, I think I’m starting to realize why you’re here.” Sirius interrupted them. “If your wives are her in portraits, that means that they are dead, and I guess you just couldn’t live without them, right Harry?”
“Something like that.” Harry responded.
“Again, explain. How did this happened?” Sirius asked again.
“Well, it all started that day you were tossed into the veil, I killed Bellatrix and Dumbledore died to Voldemort.” Harry said in a blunt tone hoping for a reaction.
“WHAT?!” Sirius screamed again, and when Harry just looked at him smiling, he picked up the bottle of fire whiskey from the desk were Dobby left it, and then drank straight from it.
“It all happened shortly after you went through the veil. I followed Bellatrix to the ministry atrium, and then tried to cast the cruciatus at her. It didn’t work. She actually laughed at it, saying I had to mean it, she then tried to ‘teach’ me how to do it by casting the curse at me, that was when both Voldemort and Dumbledore showed up.” Harry said, Sirius giving him his full attention now.
“They did the usual trash talk and then started duelling. Then Bellatrix tried to take a cheap shot at Dumbledore while he was distracted and I shielded him, and then the duel turned into a two v two, Dumbledore and I against Voldemort and Bellatrix. The duel was hard fought, but at almost the same time, I managed to cut Bellatrix head off with an overpowered cutting curse, and Voldemort did a wandless summoning charm on a broken piece of the statue and impale Dumbledore with it.” Harry added, and Sirius took another chug of the fire whiskey when he heard about Dumbledore’s death.
“After that, I duelled against the noseless one for another minute or so before I hit him in the arm with a reducto, blasting his arm off and making him flee.” Harry ended his tale of that night, and then quickly cast a shield charm over the portraits when Sirius’ fire whiskey went flying out of his mouth.
“You injured him?” Sirius asked in an incredulous tone.
“Injuring him was nothing, Harry killed him just a couple of years later.” Daphne said with pride and... Something else in her voice, making Hermione groan a little. Daphne had a thing for power, and it always got her in the mood when Harry showed his magical prowess.
Sirius looked at him in shock, and a little bit of pride as well, making Harry feel embarrassed and a bit irritated. The embarrassment came from the fact that he didn’t really had a lot of time to interact with Sirius, even back in Britain, their dynamic wasn’t really defined. And now, after all this time had passed since they last saw each other, it was even less so. And the irritation came from the slight awe he could feel just below the pride. He never liked the people giving him awed looks back in Britain, and he wanted it from his godfather even less.
“That’s still impressive, and a little disturbing.” Sirius said with pride still in his voice. “I guess things ended up becoming worse instead of better? Even if you injured Voldemort, Dumbledore died and after losing two duels against you, the dark lord would need a massive show of strength to keep is death eaters in line.” He added, earning an impressed look from both Harry and Daphne.
“You’re right.” Harry said, confirming his godfather’s theory while remembering how nightmarish those days were. The last weeks of his fifth year at Hogwarts and the first weeks of the summer break, had some of the most destructive actions from Voldemort and his death eaters.
“It didn’t take long for Voldemort to attack diagon alley. Hundreds died.” Hermione added, earning a sad nod from Sirius.
“What happened after that?” Sirius asked.
They continued talking for hours, Harry, Hermione and Daphne telling Sirius everything that happened after that night, from the four major battles of the first war, to the many small ones, the dead and injured in all of those battles, the many historical buildings that were destroyed, both magical and non-magical, and through all of that Sirius listened in silence, drinking from his bottle of fire whiskey.
Some things gathered a more expressive reaction from Sirius, like the cheering for Flitwick’s heroics in the first battle of Hogwarts. Sirius even told them of a duel he fought against Rockwood in the first war against Voldemort, he seemed pretty happy that Rockwood had died in battle, apparently the guy was one of the major players in the attack against the McKinnons, which killed his then girlfriend, Marlene.
Another thing that made Sirius happy was the death of Malfoy. He had a particular hatred for the ‘blonde ponce’, mostly because of the fact that in his words, Narcissa ‘wasn’t that bad’ before she was betrothed to him, only then was when she started to change. So, Sirius hated him for stealing his happy and playful cousin and turning her into what Narcissa Malfoy became.
However, other things made him sad. The losses the Weasleys suffered for one, in his opinion the Weasleys were good people, despite the fact that Molly was a little annoying. He also seemed quite sad when he heard the number of people who died in the war, and he broke down in tears when he heard of the death of Moony and Tonks, and the fact that little Teddy lost his parents, and then lost his godfather when Harry walked into the veil.
But what truly horrified him was what happened after Voldemort took control of the ministry, the guerrilla warfare the resistance fought all over Britain, the many small battles fought in Scotland as the death eaters moved north towards the last bastion of freedom in the isle, Hogwarts. And the worse of all, the muggleborn concentration camps that the Voldemort regime operated, it was estimated that at least two thousand muggleborn died those days, a large portion of their population. By the time Harry, Hermione and Daphne told Sirius everything about the first war, it was already night and Sirius had polished off two bottles of fire whiskey.
“But things got better when you killed the bastard, right?” Sirius asked, with an impressively clear voice after drinking so much.
“Yes, they did. At least for a time.” Harry said. “The country was devastated, but we recovered quickly, and things got even better in some ways. We found out how to expand the wards of Hogsmeade, which facilitated the expansion of the village into a proper town, with many of the war refuges settling there.”
“I remember how busy those days were, hundreds of houses being built all over the town, business being opened and a lot magical research being done to help with managing a large, purely magical town, something that hadn’t been seen since Atlantis.” Hermione added with longing. She loved to help with the researchers as they tried to deal with the many challenges of a magical town.
“Things also changed in the Wizengamot. A lot of the families that held hereditary seats were wiped out in the war, so new families were given those seats, the Weasleys got one, the Lovegoods got one, even with Luna being the only one left of her family after her father died in the war, and obviously the Potters got one as well.” Daphne said, explaining the political changes that happened after the war.
“I never really liked politics things, so I gave my seats to Hermione and Andromeda as proxies, Daphne already had her own seat for house Greengrass. Together with our friends we had a pretty formidable group, Potter, Black, Greengrass, Weasley, Lovegood, Longbottom, Bones, Davies, Smith and Marchbanks.” Harry added, making Sirius whistle.
“I also don’t like politics, but I was still raised as heir Black so I know how impressive that is. I don’t think there was ever an alliance that large in the Wizengamot.” Sirius said in an impressed tone.
“Yes, it was quite a powerful block, and we managed to do a lot with it. We elected a good Chief Witch in Madam Longbottom...” Daphne said, and was interrupted by Sirius cackling.
“Merlin, I would’ve paid to see battleaxe Augusta smacking around those old fossils in the Wizengamot, the only one better than her would be Marchbanks. We once said that old Griselda was almost an honorary marauder, she liked a good prank.” Sirius said in a strained voice as he couldn’t stop laughing.
“Yeah, we also wanted Griselda, but she said she was too old for it. We think she just didn’t want to deal with the paperwork.” Harry said in a joking tone, making Sirius laugh even more.
“Anyway,” Daphne said with a little annoyance in her voice. She hated being interrupted when talking politics. “We elected Augusta, then we passed a lot of good laws that dealt with most of the antiquated and harmful aspects of our society, and for a short time things were going fine. But then the old patterns started to appear again.” She added.
“We conducted elections, voting in new members for the elected seats, and then those new members started to vote almost exclusively against our block, even the muggleborn amongst them. They voted to free some of the death eaters in the trials, so some death eaters walked out of the courtroom free for a second time.” Hermione said, earning an angry scowl from Sirius.
“We found out that the vast majority of them were taking bribes from the death eaters, but by the time the investigations were concluded and we managed to arrest the elected members, the death eaters were already free and out of the country, so we couldn’t put them on trial again.” Daphne added, and Sirius actually threw an empty bottle of fire whiskey, breaking it against a desk on his cabin.
“So death eaters walked free again because of corruption!” Sirius said angrily.
“Yes.” Daphne said in a calm monotone, which Harry knew she only used when she was furious.
“We complained about it, I even gave an interview, but nothing came from it. We still ended up with dozens of death eaters walking free, most of them were the younger ones, a few of our year mates, a few older or younger.” Harry added.
“It took a few years for things to go bad again. We had a few years of peace, but in the end, Theodore Nott managed to gather the remaining blood purists from our generation and then openly declared himself a dark lord.” Hermione said in a sad tone. She was even more involved than Daphne in the ministry, mostly trying to get more rights for other magical beings, but she still played the Wizengamot politics. So she took it as a personal failure that another dark lord rose during their lifetime.
“When Nott started his war, the Wizengamot politely asked, and by that I mean demanded, that Harry, Hermione and I fight in the new war. Hermione and I told them to shove it, telling the members that were there and voted for freeing the death eaters that we wouldn’t fight a war that could have been avoided. Then we locked ourselves in potter manor.” Daphne said, with a little bit of her old arrogance in her tone. She was always a true slytherin, and she would never agree to put herself or her family in danger to solve the problems of others.
“A lot of our friends did the same, Neville and his wife, Hannah, also locked themselves up in Longbottom hall, and Luna went out of the country in an expedition with her boyfriend, Rolf Scamander. The only ones who fought were the Weasleys.” Harry said, growling at the end. He always regretted the way his relationship with the Weasleys ended before he walked into the veil, but he would never forgive what Ron said.
“You sound angry about it.” Sirius said, picking up the change in Harry’s tone. “Something bad happened! Was it another Wormtail situation? Did the Weasleys betray you?” He asked.
“It wasn’t as bad as Wormtail, but it was still enough to end our friendship.” Harry said, not explaining much. He didn’t want to get into it and dig up that anger again, but it seemed that Sirius would not accept his lack of explanation. He was prevented from explaining it when Hermione did it for him.
“Ron called us cowards. He said Daphne had changed us, turned us into blood purist. He said we weren’t going to fight because we agreed with Nott. When Harry remembered him of that fact that I am a muggleborn, and Harry himself is a half-blood, and that we weren’t going to fight because the war could’ve been avoided if the Wizengamot actually did what it was supposed to do, Ron called us traitors, and said that Harry wasn’t respecting his mother’s sacrifice.” Hermione said, and Sirius exploded.
“HE SAID WHAT?!” Sirius shouted, jumping from his chair and angrily pacing around the room.
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that Harry quickly made him pay for it. I’m pretty sure Harry would’ve killed him if we didn’t stop him. And even after we stopped him, Ron still ended up having to stay in Saint Mungus for around three weeks.” Hermione said, making Sirius calm down a little.
Sirius gave Harry a respectful nod and Harry smirked. He regretted letting his anger control him after the incident was done, but he was still proud of how much damage he did to the traitor in the less than a minute he had before his wives stopped him.
“I still remember how the Black portraits started treating Harry differently after that day. Even Walburga was somewhat respectful after Harry was done with Weasley.” Daphne said with some humour in her voice, and Sirius stopped pacing around the room to look at her in shock.
“My mother was respectful?” Sirius asked in amazement. “I never thought she was capable of being respectful to anyone.” He added with some humour as he sat down again.
“Yes. The portraits never really liked Harry, but they always loved me.” Daphne said with a smirk, making Harry chuckle a little at how much of an understatement that was. The Black portraits almost worshiped Daphne. “What was that thing that Cassiopeia always said?” She added.
“That unlike Sirius, Harry wasn’t a complete disappointment since he at least gave them a proper Lady Black.” Hermione said, smiling a little.
“Really feeling the love, aunty.” Sirius said in a mock hurt tone, making them all laugh.
“Well, the point is, we were receiving all guests at grimmauld place, not potter manor, so the Black portraits had a front row seat to Harry’s one-sided slaughter of Weasley. They actually applauded him when we were alone, even if didn’t like Lily or Hermione, they still respected Harry’s willingness to defend his family against one of his oldest friends. They said he was finally becoming a proper Lord Black.” Daphne explained.
“I still find it hard to believe my family was willing accept a half-blood.” Sirius said with some wonderment.
“You can ask them.” Harry said, making Sirius look at him weirdly, before he explained. “I brought some of the portraits with me, the ones that were not entirely bad, I left the annoying ones to Andromeda. She raised Tonks, so I’m sure she can deal with some annoying portraits.”
“Who did you bring?” Sirius asked.
“Alphard-” Harry began to say, and was interrupted by Sirius.
“I want to talk to him later. I didn’t even know uncle Alphard had a portrait.” Sirius said in a fond tone, and Harry remembered his godfather once telling him about how his uncle Alphard helped him when he fled his home.
“It was in the family vault.” Harry explained. “I also brought your aunts Lucretia-“
“Yes, aunt Lucretia. The woman that probably held the record for the most cruciatus curses cast in a single day against her family, even the children. She’s definitely ‘not entirely bad’.” Sirius said jokingly.
“Cassiopeia-“ Harry continued, ignoring the interruption, but was interrupted again.
“Good old Aunt Cass. The one that tried to make herself more beautiful by ritualistic drinking Veela blood.” Sirius joked again.
“And also your grandfather, Arcturus.” Harry finished, again ignoring the interruption, even if he wanted to laugh.
“I will give you that one, Grandfather had a few good moments. Probably only four or five his entire life, but he did have them.” Sirius said, this time in a more solemn voice. Harry knew that Sirius had a complicated relationship with his grandfather, the man never really helped Sirius when he lived with his parents, but he also never properly cast Sirius out of the family, allowing him to still keep his name and inheritance even in Azkaban.
“We were talking about the second war.” Hermione remembered them, with some annoyance in her tone, making Sirius and Harry laugh a little.
“Yes, tell me all about the fearsome Nott dark lord, or is it dark lord Nott.” Sirius said jokingly.
“That was a weak one, Padfoot.” Harry said, making Sirius shrug his shoulders.
“They can’t all be good ones. And how impressive is a dark lord in his early twenties? He was barely out of Hogwarts.” Sirius said, earning a nod from Harry and Daphne.
“Not impressive at all, Harry killed him even more easily than Voldemort, and Voldemort barely lasted two minutes.” Daphne said, with pride in her voice.
“Yes, well, they still killed us.” Hermione said, casting a sombre mood over the two men and the two portraits.
“They came the day we told Harry we were pregnant.” Hermione said, and Sirius made a choking sound, looking at Harry with a painful expression. “One hundred against the three of us. We never believed he would attack us at our home, no one, not even Voldemort would be crazy enough to do something like that.” She added.
“Why?” Sirius asked with some disbelief in his voice. “Voldemort attacked plenty of people in their homes.”
“But none of them were right in the middle of muggle London, and had no muggle repelling wards.” Harry said, and the look of horror that crossed Sirius’ face was a good indication that he understood what happened.
“We bought an old manor close to the place the muggle Queen lived, and made a ward specifically to prevent muggle repelling wards from being cast over the new potter manor. Hermione called it the nuclear option. No one would ever attack us if it was guaranteed they would destroy the statute of secrecy while doing it. Or at least, that was what we believed. Nott didn’t care, he attacked us anyway.” Daphne said.
“Please tell me the world didn’t end?” Sirius said with some fear in his voice. Despite being a pureblood he knew enough about muggle society to know the muggles could easily destroy all magicals, and he also knew that the pureblood bigots would rather destroy the world than being defeated by muggles.
“Not that I know of. Things were bad for a time, and there were some conflicts in Europe, North America and some parts of Africa, but things were better in India, China and South America. The majority of the population in India and China didn’t really have a problem accepting magic. They didn’t have the centuries of witch burnings that happened in Europe to deal with.” Harry said, making Sirius relax a little bit, but he was still tense.
“The really surprising one was South America. We thought that a majority catholic continent would be the worse place for magicals. But then the pope gave a public speech apologizing for the role of the church in the witch burnings and calling for peace between muggles and magicals. After that, things calmed down surprisingly fast with the Catholics, and there were no schisms within the church.” Hermione added with some pride. She always used to say how the statute of secrecy was wrong, and that it should be repelled.
“When I left to go to my trial in the ministry, Andromeda was actually thinking of moving to South America with Teddy. The muggle governments there were already giving jobs to magicals and trying to be the first ones to make use of the benefits magic could give them. They would have a lot of opportunity there, and they would also be far away from the chaos that was going on in Britain.” Harry said, remembering his last conversation with Andromeda.
The woman had become a sort of mother figure to him in the years after the war, they bonded over their losses and the little one they were responsible for. Harry would miss her a lot, but Andromeda and Teddy would never be safe with him around, his enemies would always try to attack him, and Andromeda understood that.
“Going back to the war.” Daphne said, bringing them back to the original point. “After Hermione and I died in the attack at potter manor, Harry went crazy. He killed the rest of the attackers, including Nott, and then he hunt down everyone that supported either Voldemort or Nott, killing every single one of them. He killed hundreds of pureblood Bigots.” She added, making Harry lower his head in embarrassment while Sirius looked at him with a weird expression of both pride and horror.
Harry could admit now that he wasn’t grieving for the loss of his wives and unborn children that he went a little too far with his revenge, but it was something that needed to be done. Things would never get better in magical Britain while the bigots still existed. There were other ways of dealing with the problem, joining Hogwarts and instructing the children in a different way, or a more aggressive law enforcement towards the so called ‘blood crimes’ against muggleborn. But they all took time, time that Harry knew he wouldn’t have.
“Harry spent a couple of months recovering in grimmauld place, spending time with us, Andromeda and Teddy was enough to get him out of his rage. But then the Wizengamot did what we expected them to do, they blamed Harry for killing the bigots, saying he was out of control and turning into a dark lord. They even tried to blame us for the destruction of the statute of secrecy. That was when Harry made his suicidal plan of walking into the veil, and that’s how we ended up here.” Hermione finished their tale. It was highly abbreviated, but it was enough for Sirius to know the major events that happened after he fell through the veil.
“That’s... Well, I don’t even know what to say to that. I never thought things could end up that bad, but I’m glad you three could find happiness, even if it didn’t last as long as you deserve.” Sirius said, giving a sad smile towards Harry and the portraits. “What do you plan on doing now, Harry?”
“Settle down somewhere I don’t have to see people. Spend my time with the portrait, elves and studying all the magic in the books I brought with me.” Harry said, his mind made up. He was already a bit of an introvert in his youth, and after everything that happened to him, he just wanted to be left alone. Not that he believed his wives would allow him to, even as portraits Hermione and Daphne still ended up winning all arguments with him.
“Harry we talked about this, you need to be around people, we won’t let you become some crazy old hermit living alone somewhere. You need to interact with people at least once a month. That was the deal, remember?” Hermione gave the answer that Harry was expecting. He was really hoping he didn’t have to go ahead with that deal he made with his wives while he was recovering at grimmauld place, but it seemed they were going to force him to keep his promise.
“You also need to keep taking the elixir, find a new wife, have a few children and live a few hundred years with her. And don’t even think about saying were only portraits because you used the stone and our shades told you the same thing.” Daphne added, making Harry groan. That was another thing he was hoping not to do, no one would ever come close to his wives, he would never love anyone else as much as he loved them.
“What’s this about elixir and stone?” Sirius asked curiously.
“Hermione made an improved version of the philosopher stone, and I gathered all three of the deathly hallows during the war against Voldemort, the stone was in the Gaunt ring that Voldemort turned into a horcrux, the wand belonged to Dumbledore, and I won its allegiance when I defeated Voldemort, and the cloak, which was already mine.” Harry explained, and laughed at the look on Sirius’ face. It was almost the definition of ‘my brain stopped working’ and it was one of the funniest things Harry had ever seen.
“James’ cloak was The Cloak, and you have a philosopher stone?” Sirius asked, his expression showing that his brain still hadn’t properly caught up with the facts.
“Yes and Yes.” Hermione responded. “The cloak became a potter heirloom when Iolanthe Peverell, the last of her family, married Hardwin Potter. And I don’t know if you know about it, but I’m the cleverest witch of my age.” She added, throwing back the quote that Sirius said about her all those years ago when they were children, making him laugh loudly.
“I know all about it, Hermione. A funny, and more importantly, handsome wizard once said those same words.” Sirius joked, drawing a laugh from Harry and Hermione. “But I never thought that replicating the stone was possible.” He said a little more seriously.
“That’s not important right now, we can talk about it later.” Harry interjected, trying to move things forward. “Do you know anywhere I could settle down?” He asked, making Sirius stop to think for a while before responding.
“Well, if you want to be isolated from others you could always go to Sothoryos. I don’t think anyone will bother you in the middle of the jungle.” Sirius said.
“Pass.” Harry said quickly. “We went to Castelo Bruxo once when Daphne wanted some rare potion ingredients. I don’t want to deal with all the mosquitos again.
“There is also the Shadow Lands in the far east near Asshai. But the only time I visited those places I felt a lot of necromantic energy coming from the north. So, there is either a large horde of Inferi is hiding in the mountains, or a powerful dark lord lives there.” Sirius offered.
“Pass, I dealt with enough Inferi in the war against Voldemort, and I’m tired of fighting dark lords.” Harry said, shuddering at the thought of Inferi. He only fought those once in a minor battle a few months before the second battle of Hogwarts, but he still had nightmares about them. He considered himself lucky that he never went near that cave Voldemort had hidden the locket. Speaking of that, he realized that they needed to tell Sirius about his brother soon.
“The next option is one of the Thousand Islands north of the Shadow Lands. They are mostly empty, but the few native green skinned people that live there are extremely aggressive, so they will keep trying to attack you. And then there is the fact that the necromantic energy can still be felt there, this time to the southeast.” Sirius offered another option with a smirk, already knowing it would be rejected.
“Pass, same problem with the other option.” Harry was quick to give his opinion again.
“You could settle in one of the ruined cities of the kingdom of Sarnor, the problem there would be the Dothraki. Think Mongols but even more vicious and destructive.” Sirius said, this time outright laughing.
“Is there no place in this world where I can live without having to kill some idiots?” Harry asked exasperated, making Sirius and his wives laugh.
“There is also the Isle of Cedars. It is uninhabited since the doom of Valyria, but it also seats in one of the busiest trade routes in the world, right in the mouth of Slaver’s bay and the three large cities there. If anyone saw you doing magic there the slavers would either try to capture you, or pay you to do magic for them. They tried to do it to me once.” Sirius said, a little more... seriously.
“This one sounds promising!” Hermione voiced her opinion, making Harry snicker at the eagerness in her tone.
“Hermione, love, I dislike slavers just as much as you do. But we can’t settle somewhere just because you’re hoping they will piss of Harry and he will kill them all.” Daphne said softly.
“He doesn’t need to kill them, only maim or seriously injure.” Hermione said with a smirk, making Harry and Daphne laugh loudly. Harry had shown his wives the memory of that night with Dobby. It was always hilarious whenever one of them found a way to use that quote.
“Next option please, Sirius.” Harry asked Sirius, who was looking at them weirdly, not understanding the inside joke.
“Well, you could settle in Andalos, in the land between the little Rhoyne and the upper Rhoyne. It is the only piece of land in western Essos that isn’t claimed by anyone. Neither Braavos nor Pentos wants to deal with the troubles they would have developing the Velvet Hills, and the constant dothraki raids make building anything in the area a risk that the free cities aren’t willing to take.” Sirius said.
“Pass. Same issue with Sarnor. I don’t want to keep killing horse lords for the rest of my life.” Harry said quickly.
“Well, then the only other option I have for you is here in Westeros, beyond the wall in the ruins of Hardhome. The wildling tribes there would probably attack you once or twice, but they consider the place cursed. So after losing a couple of times, they should leave you alone.” Sirius said.
“And is the place actually cursed?” Harry asked.
“Not really.” Sirius responded. “The curse they say the place has is just the feeling of the large number of ghosts around the area. The town was destroyed some six hundred years ago when the valyrian dragon lords took most of the population as slaves. So the ghosts of the people who died to dragon fire stayed around. You could probably get most of them to pass on if you tell them that the valyrian freehold was destroyed.” He explained.
“... But, there is a tiny problem.” Sirius added, and he sounded a little fearful.
“What is it?” Harry asked, the fear in Sirius’ voice was almost exactly like people had when they said Voldemort’s name.
“There is necromantic energy coming from the north pole of the planet, a lot of it, and it is stronger beyond the wall. I’ve never felt anything that strong before, I’m pretty sure there is something bad up there in the lands of always winter. That’s why I mostly stay here in the north, because I want to keep an eye on it. I went beyond the wall a few times, but I never found anything. There are legends of what people call The Others, and they sound like sentient Inferi with ice powers and capable of raising the dead on their own right. Pretty bad, but nothing that a good dose of fiendfyre can’t solve.” Sirius explained.
“There is also the peaceful giants, wargs, and the little deer people who use blood magic, people call them the Children of the Forest.” He added, almost as an afterthought.
“None of those sound like good options.” Harry concluded in a thoughtful tone.
“You can always join my crew and travel around the world with me. If your wives want you to find another woman, I can introduce you to some lovely girls in Lys.” Sirius offered, giving Harry a wink.
“Not interested, Padfoot. I’m pretty sure those women aren’t exactly marriage material.” Harry said, a small smile on his face. Sirius would never change.
“This coming from the guy that locked Charlie Weasley in a room with five women, and paid for a full weekend as a birthday gift.” Daphne said with an eyebrow raised.
“It was mostly George who did it as both a gift and a prank, Bill, Ron and I only helped with it a little bit.” Harry defended himself, while Sirius laughed loudly.
“I’m so proud!” Sirius said in tears, still laughing.
“That’s not the point. Where do you all think I should settle?” Harry asked, trying to move things forward again, and stop himself from blushing in embarrassment. He was too old to be doing that kind of thing anymore.
“I vote for this place north of this wall. You can keep an eye on this dark magic, and Sirius said he spends most of his time here, so you would be closer to him that way.” Hermione said, and Harry nodded his head in thanks, both for the advice, and the fact that she didn’t laugh at him too much.
“I agree with Hermione.” Daphne said simply, after getting her laughter into control.
“I would like to have you in my crew, but if you want to settle somewhere, then I also think Hardhome is the best place.” Sirius gave his opinion. Harry could see how much Sirius wanted him to join his crew, wanting to spend time together. But they could still do it, even if Harry settled down somewhere. Portkeys had a massive range, and there was no ICW to control international ones in this world.
“I would prefer that place called Isle of Cedars, but I guess I’m outvoted.” Harry said, earning looks from his wives that said he messed up.
“You just want to settle there because it is uninhabited. Don't think we don’t realize that!” Daphne said accusingly.
“Sirius, we want you to find a few people willing to settle there with Harry.” Hermione said, earning a nod and a smirk from Sirius.
“Now, wait a minute, there is no...” Harry started to say, but was interrupted by Hermione.
“We told you we are not going to allow you to become a crazy hermit, Harry. You’re going to have people around you, and you’re going to like it, Harry James Potter.” Hermione said. The old, bossy Hermione of their Hogwarts years making an appearance, like she always did when Hermione though he was being stubborn. And like always, Harry went along with it.
“Yes Mistress Potter.” Harry said, imitating a house elf and earning a laugh from the other three.
“Whipped!” Sirius said, and Harry glared at him, making his godfather quickly back down from the teasing.
“Now, with that decided, I’m going to sleep. You can keep talking if you want, but I had people try to feed my soul to Dementors today, and I’m tired. So, goodnight.” Harry said, and then opened the manor trunk again and went into it.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Unknown to Harry, another conversation happened between his wives portraits and his godfather after he went to sleep.
“You think you can find a few people to live close to Harry, Sirius?” Hermione asked.
“I’m sure I could.” Sirius responded with a smirk. “The royal family here in Westeros never bothered me. I guess being descendents from a place that had a lot of magic like Valyria makes them a bit more aware of not bothering a wizard when he doesn’t want to be disturbed. But the people here in The North, mostly the peasants, are always asking me if I don’t want to become a Lord, or even just buy some land and employ them. They heard about the few times I used magic in combat here, and I guess they want to be under the protection of a wizard.” He added, still smirking.
“That’s nice, I’m sure Harry would be willing to protect them. He always had a ‘saving people thing’ and it didn’t go away, even after everything that happened to him.” Hermione said, not thinking anything wrong about the smirk in Sirius’ face.
“My ship can transport a few dozen people, and I can hire a few galleys to transport a few hundred more.” Sirius said, still smirking. And Hermione started to realize what he was planning.
“Sirius, no!” Hermione tried to shout while still keeping her voice down.
“Sirius, yes!” Both Sirius and Daphne said at the same time, and then they laughed.
“Daph, that’s not the time for your weird power kink. You both know how much Harry hates politics, and you want to turn him into some sort of king. You know he will hate us if you try it.” Hermione tried to dissuade Sirius from his plan, but Daphne’s agreement seemed to be enough for him.
“Harry could never hate us, Hermione. It will be the perfect prank, get him buried in paperwork.” Sirius responded, shuddering at the end, as if paperwork was a Dementor, sucking away all of his happiness. And Hermione almost believed him. He had a lot of experience with Dementors.
“You said it yourself, love. Harry has a ‘saving people thing’. He will be annoyed by it for some time, but the moment one of those tribes Sirius talked about attack the settlement, He will be right there defending the people, and then they will declare him as their king.” Daphne said, in that husky tone she always had whenever Harry showed his power. “You think I can call myself Queen Daphne?” She added, almost whimpering.
“Merlin, it is a good thing that bodily processes don’t work on portraits. If they did, yours would be ruined right now.” Hermione said, knowing exactly what would be happening to Daphne if they were still alive.
“I’m out of here, I don’t need to hear it.” Sirius said, raising from his seat and walking towards the door.
“Why, Mister Black. I heard you’re good with the ladies.” Daphne said with a teasing tone.
Sirius turned around briefly and said: “Not this time. I might never have met you, but I know Hermione since she was a kid, I’m definitely not making any comments about you lovely ladies. I once made a comment about Lily’s quaffles and James put me in the hospital wing for three weeks, they weren’t even dating at the time. And uncle Alphard once told me about the things uncle Charlus did to the people who messed with aunt Dorea when they were betrothed. I definitely don’t want to find what a Potter man does to people that mess with his wife.” And then Sirius walked out of the room, leaving both portraits laughing.
AN 2: Poor Harry doesn’t know his own wife and godfather are plotting to saddle him with paperwork.
Next chapter we see Harry making his first moves beyond the wall.
I will see you guys in the next one.
Comments
travis btmb
Tftc good job
