[Children of the Sun series]: Silver Shadow Snake, gen, PG-13, 13/?
Part Twelve.
Part One.
Title: Silver Shadow Snake (12/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: Gen other than background Lucius/Narcissa
Content Notes: For this part, mild angst
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Harry wasn’t sure when he first started noticing the odd doubleness of Professor Quirrell’s familiar, but he had no doubt it was there. And since no one else was doing anything about it, he thought it was probably up to him.
Author’s Notes: This is the beginning of a longer story arc, which will be updated every Saturday. You should read the other fics in the series first: Children of the Sun series.
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Part Thirteen
“You’re going to be fine.”
Julian spoke the words in an undertone as he sat next to Harry and Golden. Harry only nodded to him. He did think that he was going to be fine as long as people told the truth and could resist Dumbledore’s magic.
He had a question to ask about that, too. “Why can’t he just use his spreading magic and get out of the charges against him?”
“Because those cuffs restrict him. The one placed on Fawkes means that he can’t even reach out to his familiar for extra power to his magic.”
“Oh.” Harry blinked and glanced sideways at Golden, who was coiled around the legs of the chair. They’d come to Julian’s office at the Ministry. Apparently they would need Harry to give his side of the case. “Can I do that, too?”
“You have spreading magic, as all people with golden familiars do, yes.”
“But-I mean-”
“You have not influenced anyone that I know of, Mr. Potter.”
Harry shook his head. He was shuddering as he thought about what Dumbledore had done, the kind of thing he could do, too, and the way Golden had acted on his own. “But you haven’t always been right there. You don’t know everything for certain.”
“The spreading magic has to be conscious, not unconscious. And I know that you have not influenced people because I heard the tale of the time you spent with your-relatives. You would have influenced them into leaving you alone if you wished. That tells me your repugnance for the thought of using such magic goes far deeper than your desire to use it.”
“Oh.” Harry bit his lip. He supposed that made sense, but he wished he could know for sure. He changed the subject. “Have you ever seen a familiar act on their own the way Golden did?”
“When they knew how to counter some kind of magic and their wizards didn’t.” Julian reached out, and Golden reared up and slithered over to him, flicking his tongue out to scent delicately at his fingers. “For example, I know that Golden countered Dumbledore’s spreading magic. That’s not something you could have done on your own, given that you didn’t know he could even pull that trick. And sometimes the familiar acts to save their wizard’s life or give them exactly what they need.”
“He did that, too. He looked into my eyes and I saw the memory of a book page I’d read.”
Julian paused with his eyebrows creeping up. Then he said, “That is more than I expected him to be able to do. Other familiars can remember the books and bring them to their wizards, but memory transfer is…exceptional.”
Harry glared at Golden. Golden hid under Julian’s chair. Julian shook his head. “Why are you angry at him?”
“I didn’t know that he could do all this,” Harry said, with a bitter twist in his stomach. “He just went ahead and did it without my permission. And I don’t like the thought that I have this spreading magic. I don’t want to-”
“Influence others? Affect others without their permission?”
“Yes!”
“You’ve already done that.” Julian’s voice was gentle. “People react to news of you being born to the gold with gladness or fear or respect, and you can’t keep them from doing that. It would be more wrong if you could. We all move through the world and touch other lives. You want to be careful in how you do that, which is a good thing; certainly Albus Dumbledore has never been careful enough. But you also have to accept the good consequences of such power, Harry. You are allowed to accept things for yourself.”
While Harry was thinking about that, Golden crawled out from under the chair and nudged softly against his hand. Harry looked down at him and caressed his neck. He knew Golden was anxious to be forgiven.
“All right,” Harry said finally. He wanted to change the world. He supposed he couldn’t be upset if he had the power to do so. “But I really need to work with Golden and find out what he can do. He can’t just keep surprising me.”
Julian smiled a little. “Given how much attention this investigation has attracted in the Ministry, you should have a number of volunteer teachers soon.”
*
Albus kept his head turned slightly away from the door as Madam Bones entered. The cuffs were cool against his wrists. Albus had already tried his spreading magic, and the cuffs had glowed gold in the places where gold was already threaded through the silver and then forced the magic back into his body.
It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but it did underscore how far he had fallen.
“Are you ready to confess, Albus?”
“I have no confession to make. I did what I thought was best.”
He heard the chair creak as Madam Bones took it. Into the corner of his view stalked her silver tiger. He bared hungry teeth. Albus frowned at him. “Control your familiar, madam.”
“Phantom is perfectly under control,” Madam Bones said calmly. “He only senses how much you’d like to hurt me, and reacts accordingly. And I want to know why causing me pain is part of your thoughts, Albus. If you were really sorry for what you did, placing a child with those abusive Muggles, then you would understand my stance, even if you didn’t agree with it.”
“I did not mean to cause him pain.”
“I know. But it happened anyway. And most of the time when that happens, we apologize.”
Albus wanted to cover his face with his hands and sigh, but the chains between the cuffs attached his arms to the chair. “Amelia,” he said, hoping that matching her informality with informality would encourage her to listen to him. “That boy is dangerously uncontrolled.”
“You think a Muggle family would somehow control him?”
“No. But it would teach him humility, that he cannot simply throw around his magic and his name to-”
Amelia laughed. Albus quieted and looked at her. There was a sharp jut to her jaw that he had never seen before.
“You’re the one who needs to learn humility,” Amelia whispered, above the steady growl of her tiger. “Not that you’ll ever admit it. But the rest of us can recognize reality when it slaps us in the face.”
“You know that I’ll walk out of the Ministry, Amelia.”
“Will you? I wonder. You’ll have trial in those cuffs, Albus. You won’t be able to use your spreading magic to influence us as-I suspect you must have done before now. And you think you’ll be able to interfere in Harry’s placement?”
“You’re not calling him Mr. Potter, Amelia? That shows a dangerous level of intimacy already.”
“You’re not his legal guardian.”
“I honestly had no idea of that. I was so close with his parents, and I was the one who performed the Fidelius Charm for them, although not the one who chose the Secret-Keeper-”
“You aren’t. Apologies would help, but since you won’t give them, and you don’t seem in the mood to confess your wrongs, either…” Amelia stood, shook her head, and walked out of the room. Her tiger remained, staring at Albus. The perch with Fawkes stood in the corner, but given the cuffs around his arms, Albus could not use his familiar to attack the great cat.
Albus leaned slowly back and closed his eyes. He was going to get out of this. And he would make Harry and the rest understand that he had only acted for the best. No one could love someone like blood family could. Lily and James’s fierce devotion to their son proved that. His own ache where he still missed Ariana proved that.
It sounded as though Petunia and her family had not loved Harry the way Albus would have preferred. But they must love him deep down. He must understand, deep down. He was reckless, but one could expect that of a child. If he could grow past that, if he could learn to understand and be understood…
Then Albus’s mission would have been accomplished no matter what he currently sat in chains for.
*
“Mr. Potter. You are Mr. Potter?’
“Yes, um, Madam Longbottom?”
“Mrs. Longbottom will do, child.” The woman stepped forwards and eyed him carefully for a moment. On one shoulder sat a bronze eagle, its feathers all ruffled. Neville’s Gran saw his gaze and nodded. “This is Signora, my Lord.”
“Please don’t call me that,” Harry said, feeling something inside him wilt and die of embarrassment. It would probably be worse when she heard Golden’s name. “This is Golden.”
Mrs. Longbottom only examined Golden for long enough to, it seemed to Harry, see his color, and then she sank down in a curtsey. “If you prefer that I won’t use the title, then I won’t. But I will show respect.”
Harry opened his mouth, then checked himself. This might mean that he would get to have her treat Neville better. “Okay, Mrs. Longbottom. And anyway, I’m excited to come and live with you. Neville is already my friend.”
“I’m glad that he has one friend worth something. Merlin knows that he won’t find many in a House like Hufflepuff.”
“Mrs. Longbottom, please listen to me. Neville is really strong. He’s braver than he knows. He keeps going to Potions class every day even though the teacher terrifies him. And he would help me with anything I asked for. He’s loyal. And he has a work ethic. Are those bad things?”
“I wanted him in Gryffindor. His father was. Neville should strive to be more like his father.
“But I’m in Hufflepuff. How can you say that you respect me and yet be upset that Neville’s also there?”
Mrs. Longbottom paused. Harry was actually glad to see the way her face worked. It meant that she wasn’t just going along with whatever he wanted, the way she would have if his spreading magic was an issue. He wanted to let people have their free choice.
Across the office, Julian gave him a small, amused smile.
“Neville has a strong legacy to live up to,” Mrs. Longbottom finally said. “And so far, he has shown no signs of being worthy of that heritage.”
“But you could say the same thing about me.”
“Nonsense! You were born to the gold.”
“But I haven’t done a lot with it so far, have I? I haven’t changed the world yet. Don’t you expect people with golden familiars to do that by the time they’re eleven years old?”
“Perhaps these are the first of those changes,” Mrs. Longbottom muttered, but she was looking at him thoughtfully. “You think Neville has the potential to become something more?”
“Yes. But he needs some things. He needs to know that you love him and respect him, too.” Harry took a deep breath. “And he needs a new wand. I’m sorry, Mrs. Longbottom, but he’s just not compatible with his dad’s.”
Mrs. Longbottom frowned harder. “That was his father’s wand.”
“But Neville’s not his dad. I’m sorry,” Harry repeated, when he saw how Signora was stretching her wings. “But he’s not. He needs his own wand so he can have his own kind of greatness.”
“I imagine that you think he’ll grow something valuable in the greenhouses?”
“Why not? Professor Aurora Black did.”
Mrs. Longbottom frowned harder. Harry thought she just didn’t want to admit that she’d never heard of Aurora Black, who was a Herbology genius and one of the first wizards to come up with ways to combat dangerous plants like mandrakes. She should have heard of her, living with Neville, who talked about her all the time. “Hm. Well, all right. I’ll escort you back to the school now.” She nodded to Julian and turned away.
“You’ll be summoned to testify formally soon,” Julian said quietly, and put away the notes that he’d taken from talking with Harry earlier. “Both about the investigation into Professor Quirrell and into Dumbledore.”
“All right.” Harry shook his arms out. He felt tired, but at least he’d probably got Dumbledore out of the school for a while and got some help for poor Professor Quirrell and got Neville into a better place.
Not a bad start.
He told Julian good-bye and followed Mrs. Longbottom, eyeing Golden as he did so. Golden crawled along and acted oblivious of the way that everyone in the Ministry stopped and stared at him. Harry was glad when they got into a lift that was empty except for them and that couldn’t happen anymore.
Mrs. Longbottom chuckled suddenly. Harry looked up at her. She gave him a thin smile and said, “It will be a pleasure to ride behind you as you change the world, my Lord.”
Harry didn’t roll his eyes, but only because he tried really hard. Why can’t I just change the world and not be called that?
Part Fourteen.
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