Chapter Text
Harry’s summer was very different this year.
After the first talk, changes had started to be made around the house. The wards were changed first, making it impossible for people who aren’t invited inside to enter the grounds without mother’s flora trying to strangle them, and a silent spell being cast on all who enter who weren’t a part of the household. While Snape couldn’t stay, he had left Derrick with a list of suggested potions to brew. Sirius remained, able to roam the house freely in human for when no guests were present, and animagus for when there were guests.
They started Harry’s training immediately. At first, it was mostly Sirius and Papa arguing about what he should learn first, offensive or defensive spells. Eventually, when they finally had Skyla’s graduation party, they told the rest of the family what was going on, and Maria wrote out a special curriculum for Harry. It was switching between all sorts of spells, mostly offensive, with some other things like the Patronus Charm and something called Occlumency thrown in .
“He should learn how to be an Animagus,” Sirius said one afternoon, when they were taking a break. “He could use it to get out of trouble.”
“We don’t have the time,” Papa had snapped. “And it’s illegal.”
“That won’t stop Voldemort from doing things.”
“And if we break the law to do what we want, then how are we any better?”
“Are you comparing teaching Harry something that can help him survive to being a Dark Wizard?!”
“Dad,” Harry said, making both men pause. “Maybe Sirius has a point? Having an Animagus form would be pretty useful. I wouldn’t have to worry about werewolves, and I could use it to hide in plain sight if someone comes after me. Plus, it would be an ability that Pettigrew and Death Eaters wouldn’t know about.”
Sirius grinned, head held high as he crossed his arms. Papa scowled.
“But he has a point too, Sirius,” Harry added. “We learned about Animagi at Hogwarts last year. It takes a month with just the leaf, and then we’d have to wait for a thunderstorm. Not to mention the potion that needs to be brewed. I mean, Derrick could totally do it, but we only have three months left. Less, even, since there will be people here in early August for the summer gala.”
“You can’t seriously still be holding that,” Sirius groaned. “Don’t you get how dangerous it is, with Peter out there?”
“We host it every year,” Papa retorted. “To stop now would be suspicious.”
Sighing, Harry grabbed at his forehead. He was starting to get a headache from all the arguing. Sirius was rather upset, since Harry called James and Lily by, well, their first names, and while he didn’t really forget about them, Harry didn’t think of them as his parents. He’d never known them and he had his adoptive parents so long that they were just his parents now. His father, on the other hand, was still suspicious of Sirius.
They called it in for the rest of the day after that, and Harry went to find somewhere quiet to relax for a while.
XxXXxX
The rest of his summer went much the same way. Days and days of training, learning spells he could use in a life or death fight, and trying to keep Sirius and his father from killing each other.
There was a constant rotation of visiting family throughout the next month. The house had become a bit of a hub, with Harry’s siblings coming in and out to help with his training. His nieces and nephews were training now, too. Marissa joined his sessions often, since Dorian was busy with his job, though she was a bit behind him in spells.
“There’s so much,” Marissa had mused when Harry was helping her with a charm he had mostly mastered weeks ago. “I can barely keep six of them straight, much less the twenty you’ve learned.”
“Feels more like fifty,” Harry chuckled. It was true, he had been learning a lot of spells. But he had moved onto a more physical part of training now, as well as bi-weekly Occlumency with Snape. It seemed to be the only thing that his father and Sirius could agree on. “Besides, I’ve been working on this a bit longer then you.”
Marissa shrugged, and they went back to practice. They had a few hours before they would be forced to stop. Ron and Hermione would be arriving for the Gala, and they would need to be filled in on what had happened. He hadn’t really celebrated his birthday that year, since he’d been so busy, and this was something they couldn’t really talk about over owl.
When his two friends arrived, they were both surprised to find Sirius there. Though, Harry kind of thought it might of been because Sirius was no longer grungy and dirt covered. He looked more like he belonged on stage with Russell’s band instead of hiding out in the Alistair house.
“Guess you’ll be too busy to come to the World Cup,” Ron sighed, sounding rather disappointed. “Man, I was looking forward to you coming along.”
“Ron,” Hermione sighed. “There are more important things besides Quidditch. Harry’s life could be in danger.”
Harry rubbed at his forehead, sighing. “Guys… Can you not argue? I’m getting a headache.”
The two shared a look, but quieted down. They talked for a while after that, before they went their separate ways to get ready. For now, they would act natural and go to the Gala. Harry and Ron got dressed in their dress clothes, with Harry keeping his wand tucked into his sleeve. Sirius would be there as well, in animagus form. His mother had gotten Dizzy to give him a bath and put a bow tie on him, so Padfoot looked hilariously adorable.
“This is so weird,” Marissa whispered to Harry as they stood by the entrance to greet the incoming guests, Padfoot seated to Harry’s other side. “I mean, some of these guys are Auror’s…”
“Just smile and nod,” Harry whispered back. “No one knows and we’re going to keep it that way.”
Once everyone was present, Harry and Marissa shared a dance, as they seemed to do every year. It was a good judge of how much better Harry had gotten, since he only stepped on her toes twice instead of twenty. Sirius spent most of the time seated off to one side, or trying to not get murdered by Harry’s seven year old nephew, Jameson, who really wanted to play with him.
“Do you think Arianna will ever remarry?” Harry had asked offhandedly, as he watched his older sister try to get Jameson to stop bothering Padfoot.
“I don’t know,” Marissa said, turning to look with Harry. Jameson had finally let go, and Arianna was showing him how to gently pet Padfoot. “I don’t really remember Uncle James- Her husband. He died when we were, like, eight. But I do remember that she loved him a lot.”
Harry hummed at that, giving a little bow when the song ended and they stepped apart. He had fully intended to go over and check on Padfoot, or go see how Ron and Hermione were doing, only to get swept up by Blaise tugging him back out to the dance floor.
“Blaise?” he choked, blinking in confusion as his roommate and friend started leading him around the floor. “What the hell?”
“Just thought I’d get a dance in with a friend before things really get crazy at these things,” Blaise chuckled. “We’re almost of age, after all. This will probably be our last chance.”
“What?” Harry asked, then shook his head as he thought better of it. “No. Forget it. Got any news? You usually seem to know when things are happening.”
“Sort of,” he hummed, forcing Harry into a twirl. “Only rumors. Some kind of contest that’s hosted between three schools might be coming back. Super dangerous.”
Harry frowned, thinking that over. A contest that was dangerous and hosted at school? Knowing Dumbledore’s insanity, it was probably coming back and Harry would somehow get roped into it. But it was a contest… As long as it wasn’t nomination based, he just wouldn’t put his name in. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could finally have a safe and worriless year at Hogwarts.
“Thanks for the heads up,” Harry said when the song ended and he could step away from Blaise.
“Just figured you should know, since you always seem to get yourself caught up in that kind of thing. Now, if you don’t mind…” Blaise ran a hand through his hair, somehow both smoothing it back and ruffling it. “I think I’m gonna ask Marissa to dance.”
With a chuckle, Harry shook his head and turned to make his way back to the tables. He looked around for Ron and Hermione, surprised to find them sharing a rather uncomfortable dance, and decided to head outside instead. Padfoot, who had finally settled into doing tricks to keep Jameson from accidentally strangling him, instantly took notice and came after him.
“Dizzy’s going to have a fit if you got hair on the carpet rolling around on it,” Harry told him, pausing to straighten the little bow tie. “And you better be careful outside. She’ll probably strangle you if you track mud in.”
“Still talking to dogs, I see.”
He turned back to look at who had spoken, and smiled a little when he saw Draco. The blond was seated on the bench in Harry’s favorite spot, looking almost exactly the same as he had two months ago. He looked a bit taller, and Harry tried to not let that bother him, since he hadn’t hit his own growth spurt yet.
With a shrug, Harry moved to take a seat next to Draco. Padfoot gave a little bark, and jumped up to sit in the middle of the long bench. Harry simply raised a brow, and shooed him off so he could sit down.
“You have the strangest pets,” Draco mused, eyeing Padfoot with a raised brow.
Harry chuckled, leaning back. “Yeah, I do, don’t I? What with the basilisk and all.”
Instantly, Padfoot’s head whipped around to stare at Harry. He winced. He forgot he hadn’t told his parents about Sila… She was probably being pampered by Hagrid again.
“Yes,” Draco agreed. “But I suppose the basilisk is probably the stranger of the two.”
“I have more,” Harry said. “Pets, I mean. Not basilisk. I have Hedwig, my owl, of course, but I also have this nest of vipers that live in a flower bush in my room.”
With a sigh, Draco shook his head. “Of course you do. I don’t know why I bother thinking you could get less strange.”
He shrugged, not sure what to say to that. After all, there was a lot that Draco didn’t know about him… Harry didn’t like keeping secrets from his friends. It was why he told Hermione who he was back in his first year. But this was different. Draco and the other Slytherin’s were his friends, sure, but he wasn’t as close with them as he was Ron and Hermione. He wasn’t sure that he could trust them with the truth about things like Sirius or who his birth parents were.
And that thought pained him. He wanted to trust Blaise and Theo and Draco. But they had hurt him in the past. All of first year, they hadn’t really spoken with him, and had actually antagonized him for half of that. He wanted nothing more then to trust his friends, but…
Shaking the thoughts way, Harry looked at the sliver of the moon in the sky. It was getting late, he realized, and he really should head back inside.
“I’m heading back in,” Harry said, standing up. “You should to, if you don’t want to catch a cold.”
Draco looked up at him for a moment, before giving a simple nod and turning to look back up at the dark night sky. With a sigh, Harry turned and headed inside. Arianna was waiting by the door, Jameson yawning next to her and her other son Joseph. Harry hadn’t really talked to her as often as he had some of his other siblings, but she had always been very kind.
“Jameson is getting tired,” she said, “so we’ll be going home. He just wanted to say goodbye to… ‘Padfoot’.”
“Bye Padfoot,” Jameson yawned, waving one of his hands.
Padfoot, thankfully, didn’t run from the boy that had been tormenting him most of the night. Instead, he moved forward to let Jameson and Joseph pet him before Arianna was ushering them away. Harry stood for a moment, watching his older sister leave, before heading back inside.
“You know,” he said, soft so anyone nearby wouldn’t hear. “You two seem to get along pretty well. Maybe you should ask her out.”
Padfoot let out a yelp, wiping his head around to look at Harry, only to run into a wall. Harry couldn’t help but laugh.