Chapter Text
It had been three months since the acrobaleno curse had been broken. It had only taken two of those months for Verde to find a way to return them to their adult bodies. This is why they were currently residing in the Acrobaleno mansion as they had before the curse. As all of the ex-acrobaleno were experiencing random growth spurts, it was considered safer for them to all be together to watch each other’s backs. They currently all still looked pretty young, but at least they were no longer toddlers and looking older every day. The lightning insisted that they will be back to their pre-curse ages within 3 months, but so far it had been slow going for Skull. It had already been a month, four whole weeks, and Skull only looked about 6. The others all towered over him with Verde and Viper being the oldest at 13 followed by Lal Mirch, Reborn, and Fon all looking to be 10. Even Colonnello was bigger than him and he seemed to be only 8. Skull was just hoping that none of them would question why he was still so small. He didn’t know which would make them angrier, finding out that he was only barely 18 when he was cursed, or learning that the reason he was so small came from his treatment in his early childhood. The Durselys really screwed him over for later in life, but by that time there was nothing he could do about it.
On this day, all of the ex-acrobaleno were lazing around the mansion not doing anything of much importance. Verde had been dragged out of his room by Yuni and so was sitting at the table working on calculations. Viper was a little ways away counting his money and generally just ignoring any attempts to talk to him. Reborn was calmly sipping an espresso and reading a book and next to him was Fon, drinking tea instead. Lal decided that Colonnello needed more training and so had literally dragged him to the back yard so she could properly run him into the ground. Yuni had no actual need to be here, but she enjoyed spending time with the ex-acrobaleno who she thought of as her ‘aunt’ and ‘uncles’. They all seemed to dote on her as well, so nobody contested the titles. Skull seemed to be the only one acting out of character. The usually boisterous stuntman was being unnervingly quiet.
Skull was thinking. He knew that he was starting to make the others a bit twitchy, but he just couldn’t muster up his usual loud and obnoxious act. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that the acrobaleno curse managed to counteract his usual Potter luck. It was something he was grateful for in those almost thirty years with the curse, but now it seems to be making up for lost time. Oh, nothing had happened yet, but it was coming. He could feel it and it had him tense and focused like the others had never seen him before.
Skull was staring out of the window when he noticed it. The shimmer in the air characteristic of someone under a Disillusionment spell. ‘How has Viper not noticed them yet?’ Skull thought to himself. ‘I thought they put up a Mist Territory whenever they stayed in one place for more than an hour.’ Granted, Skull could have put up some wards, but then he would have to explain to the others why he was circling the house while waving around a stick of wood. He did plan to tell them about himself eventually, just not yet.
The stuntman tried to stealthily make his way to the front yard where he had noticed the intruders, but trying to be sneaky in a house full of assassins and other important Mafioso is not an easy thing. A bullet whizzed in front of his face missing him by a hairsbreadth and leaving a small hole in the door he was trying to quietly open. Apparently the near silent movements that Skull had learned as a small child trying to avoid a beating and perfected during the war were not stealthy enough.
“And just where do you think you are going Lackey?” Reborn was leveling a glare at him now, just barely seen beneath his fedora tilted up with the still smoking barrel of his favored pistol. He hadn’t even bothered to get up and still he somehow managed to look incredibly imposing. Not quite as terrifying as a sixty foot basilisk, but Skull still had a part to play.
“Ha-ha. The Great Skull-sama has decided to take a drive into the dangerous and formidable woods to practice his incredible skills in driving through all terrains and conditions.” It would also give him a good reason to be driving away from the manor and possibly pulling evasive maneuvers. If he could lead the wizards away from the house, then he could deal with them quietly and alter their memories before sending them back to wherever they came from. If they stuck around or split into groups, he would need a way to lure them to a secluded area without alerting the others.
“That may have worked if you had not been acting so strange all day Skull-san. Perhaps you could share with us what it is that has you so unsettled.” Skull didn’t think that a serene smile and a polite statement should sound so menacing, but Fon managed it effortlessly.
Now everyone’s attention was solely on him, but not in a good way. They were all glaring or scrutinizing him. Skull cast a quick glance out of the window where he had previously noticed the intruders. There was still a slight shimmer, but not as much as before. Meaning that there was a group of people and they had split up. ‘Shit. Now where did they go?’ Skull was starting to get anxious. The curse that he had been under for so long had hid his magic signature which is why they had never found him before. Now with the curse removed, his magic could be used to track him again since he had gotten out of the habit of applying the spell to hide him, they must have noticed him suddenly appear and decide to track him down.
Skull was actually surprised that it had taken them so long. They probably spent weeks planning and preparing to bring him in by studying his fighting style and preferred attacks. Too bad for them that living in the mafia had changed Skull in a major way. He no longer saw the world in black and white. Now he knew that dark didn’t always mean evil and light was not necessarily good all the time. He had become much more vicious when defending what was his and against all logic the acrobaleno had become his family.
In that small moment of contemplation, Skull noticed that the sound of gunshots in the back yard had stopped. ‘Why would Lal stop tor-training Colonnello?’
“Oi, Verde. Did you create some more of those invisibility suits recently, kora?” Colonnello came strolling in dragging behind him a rope wrapped around seemingly empty air. It was only when you looked closer that you could see the slight shimmer in the air.
‘So that’s where the other people went. Oh, this is really not good.’ Skull thought to himself. Now he was starting to panic. If the people out front realized that the other group has been found, then they might do something drastic. Skull no longer had time to find a secluded place to remove this threat to his family. This was going to have to be solved now, before things got even worse. It may require him to give up one of this many secrets, but if done correctly he could still keep his character intact and prevent some of his more dangerous secrets from getting out.
“HAHAHAHAHA. The great Skull-sama always knew he had many fans back in school but never thought that they would go this far for an autograph. They must truly admire my most amazing self. I should probably go tells their friends outside too. I wouldn’t want them to miss the chance to meet their idol.” He tried to make himself sound as obnoxious as possible, while still giving a warning that the group was not alone. He pulled out his wand with a flourish and with an overdramatic wave, he sent a silent Finite to remove the disillusionment spell and reveal their captors. It was with a detached sort of interest that he identified the people tied up in front of him as aurors. Most of his focus was on the reactions of his fellow ex-acrobaleno. There was definitely surprise there, but they were not professionals for nothing. There was no visible reaction from any of them, it was only because of so much time spent in their company that Skull could notice any change at all.
“EH!? You didn’t know about the magical world? I thought for sure you would since Viper is a wizard too.” He tried to laugh it off like he hadn’t just changed their entire world view with one simple action. This earned him a venomous glare from said cloaked assassin.
“I was never stupid enough to reveal such things, no matter how much you pay me. There are laws of secrecy for a reason you moron.” Viper bit out quickly. There is no way he was going to be blamed for this. Let Skull get in trouble for exposing the magical world. He was staying out of it.
“Can we focus for a minute on the fact there are still unknown people outside that most of us can’t see? Though you will explain this later Lackey.” Reborn cut in before things could dissolve into an argument. Now knowing what to look for, it was a matter of seconds for the rest of the intruders to be rounded up. In the end they had eight unconscious strangers in red robes tied up in their living room. It seemed most of the acrobaleno were just getting ready to start interrogations when Skull interrupted them still trying to play off the whole event as some overzealous fans.
“So I’ll just be sure that all of them get some awesome merchandise about the great Skull-sama and drop them off in the next town over.” He tried to sound as casual as possible, but he knew that it could never be that easy. A bullet whizzed right in front of his face as he made a grab at one of the captives.
“And just where do you think you’re going Lackey? Explain. Now.”
“Yes Skull, explain to us why exactly you would assume that the British law enforcers are here for you.” Yup. Viper is definitely pissed off if he is giving out information without even asking for payment.
“Law enforcement?”
“Yes Fon. The red robes they are wearing are distinctive to the British Aurors. Think of them as the police of the magical world.” The way Viper said it made it sound like he was in trouble or something. It was true, but that didn’t mean Skull wouldn’t try his hardest to keep that information away from the people he was starting to see as family. To let them stay oblivious just a little bit longer.
“So does that mean you’re from Britain then Skull? Or did you just manage to annoy the wrong people?” ‘Why do I get the feeling that Lal thinks it’s both?’
“Of course he annoyed the wrong person, kora. He annoys everybody.” Harsh. But that is the whole point of the Skull persona. Focus on the annoying and forget the rest.
“Mu. I wouldn’t be surprised if the idiots came after him just because of his name after their whole Dark Lord mess just before we got cursed.”
“What do you mean Viper? Why would people be coming after the Lackey because of his name?”
“DeMort. It sounds eerily similar to the name that the Dark Lord went by. Even now when he has been gone for 30 years people still fear to say his name.” And hopefully they won’t make the connection that the only person from Britain who would be stupid enough to make fun of Voldemort is the person who defeated him. ‘Distraction. Distraction. Where is a distraction when you need one?’
“Montague, Corner, Pritchard, Harper, Baddock, Bradley, Finch-Fletchley, and Smith. That’s what their name tags say. Do you know any of them Skull?” ‘Not the distraction I meant. I swear if Yuni has already seen all of this and is only saying something to lead us all along, then she is so not getting any homemade treats for like a year…or maybe just a month.’ Of course Skull knows all those names. He went to school with their parents and most of them really didn’t like him for some reason or another. They were probably told all kinds of stories about him growing up, but at least nobody would recognize him as their savior when he looks like a six year old.
Viper had already gone through and collected all of their wands and possible portkeys so he didn’t have to worry about someone getting away to alert others, but if one of them woke up then they might start spouting things that would make the acrobaleno suspicious. Especially Viper. Now that he knows that Skull has magic too, he might put together all of the pieces if these idiots starts ranting about how they were sent to find Harry Potter.
“Well the first order of business would be to interrogate them and learn why they have come here and how they found us.” Verde reminded to keep everyone on task.
“Of Course.” And before Skull could do anything else, Viper send off a mass Rennervate to wake them all up.
A few of them groaned as they blinked their way to consciousness only to find themselves surrounded by a group a children. The first one to regain his wits was the one identified as Smith by his nametag.
“What the bloody hell. Did Potter start some kind of orphanage or something?” While the question seemed to annoy most of them, Viper went completely still.
“Potter? You’re looking for Lord Potter-Black. What makes you think you would find him here when he has been missing since just after the final battle? Why now of all times?” It was Corner that answered him.
“We never stopped looking, but the sneaky bastard learned how to hide his magical signature. Probably some really dark spell or something. Then all of a sudden he shows up again about three months ago. Of course the minister is going to send his best team out to apprehend him. Potter never should have been allowed to wonder off after the battle.”
“And how long has it been since this person ‘wondered off’ as you say?” Fon questioned as he folded his hands into his sleeves. His words seemed to make them all slightly uncomfortable.
“Well, none of us were really born yet when the battle happened, it was almost 30 years ago now, but our parents told us stories about Potter and all of the chaos he caused.” Smith answered for the group. By this point, Skull was mainly just listening in to see if he could figure out what he was being accused of this time while also staying out of the way and hopefully unnoticed. He almost succeeded too, but Reborn always had to ruin his plans.
“And what about you Lackey? You would have been around there at that time. What do you know of this Potter person?”
“Hahaha. Nobody could ever be as awesome as the great Skull-sama. Why would I pay attention to some random person?”
“You and I both know that Lord Potter-Black was never a normal person. He was famous as a toddler. What I want to know is why the minister would be sending people after their savior. What could he have possibly done to still have people after him? Was defeating your dark lord not enough for you people?” ‘Alright so Viper at least can’t be convinced that I am evil in some way, but why? What does he gain here?’ Now everyone was staring at Viper. None of them had ever heard him show such a strong opinion on something and to be offering up information without being paid is really out of character. Before they could start questioning their comrade, one of the captives spoke up again.
“Everyone knows Potter was going dark. He only defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to get rid of the competition. My dad was even attacked by him once. He used Parseltongue to send a snake after him in front of a whole crowd of students and even some teachers, but since he was Dumbledore’s favorite he was never punished. It was obvious he was out of control from the very beginning, but nobody would go against the headmaster to try to reign him in. The papers all said that he was an attention seeking liar, but they couldn’t see just how evil he was. We know though. Our parents told us the stories of what he was really like. That’s why we were chosen to finally bring him in, because we don’t worship him like some kind of saint or something.” At this point Finch-Fletchley seemed to just be raving and ranting, no longer saying anything of merit, and finally Colonnello knocked him unconscious with the butt of his rifle.
“Right Kora! So somebody else explain how you found this place.” He ordered.
“We followed his magical signature.” Bradley explained. “No one knows why he suddenly showed up again, but we weren’t going to just let him get away.” This seemed to give Verde an idea.
“You mentioned that Potter showed up again about three months ago, correct?”
“Yeah. It was really weird. Years and years of nothing and then all of a sudden he just shows up out of nowhere. We came as fast as we could, but he must have seen us coming or something.” Montague seemed to think that Harry had been the one to capture all of them and then had gone somewhere else leaving the group of aurors to be found by his children. He decided to change his strategy a bit.
“Hey. Why don’t you kids untie us? We really just want to make sure that he isn’t doing anything bad. If you let us go, we can take you with us when we leave and find some really nice families for you to live with instead. We can protect you from him. You just have to hurry and untie us before your dad gets back.” That did it for Skull. Just the idea that the acrobaleno could be his children had him in hysterics. The rest seemed to be divided between leveling Montague an incredulous stare and glancing at Skull in confusion before returning their attention to the captives in front of them.
Viper was the only one who was still watching him as Skull rolled on the floor laughing. It seems this was finally enough for him to put all of the pieces together. He quickly did the math. Comparing how slowly Skull was aging, compared to the rest of them, with how old Potter would have been at the time that they were cursed. It was highly possible that the acrobaleno curse could hide his magical signature negating the need for a concealment spell. Viper never bothered to hide his own magical signature as anyone who would be looking for him thought he was dead, but if Skull really is who he was starting to think he was, then it was highly possible that these people came for him even if he only forgot to apply the spells for one day or so. He could still be tracked down and bring this whole mess falling on their heads. Now he just needed to confirm his suspicions.
“Skull. What is it that you find so funny about what was said?” That got him to finally stop laughing with a loud sigh. His entire presence seemed to change in an instant.
“I kinda figured that you would be the first to figure it out, Viper. Of course I would find it funny. I mean, who could actually imagine any of us as real children? Just the idea of being the parent to someone like Reborn or Colonnello is hilarious.” Skull’s comments seemed to catch the attention of the other people in the room. One of the captives, Baddock, seemed to come to a conclusion first.
“Shit. Bradley, they aren’t really kids. It was probably some kind of de-aging potion or something. One of these kids is Potter. But which one?” This had the acrobaleno all looking at Viper and Skull. It was assumed that, as the only two to have magic, one of them had to be this Potter person that they were sent to find. Skull had just mentioned Viper being the first person to “figure it out”. Going by the topic of conversation at the time, it stands to reason that Skull’s real identity is Harry Potter. Great. So who is Harry Potter?
“Lackey. You’ve been hiding things from us. Explain. Now.” Skull chose to drop the persona completely. Why act like an idiot if it really isn’t necessary anymore?
“Well Sempai, you never asked about my past.” The mocking way that he spoke seemed to disquiet them more than anything else he has done that day. This was no longer Skull DeMort. This was now Lord Harry James Potter-Black, the Man-Who-Conquered. Viper was still in shock so it fell to Skull to explain just who they had been working with for the last 30 years.
“I was their precious savior.” He spat. “The Boy-Who-Lived. The only person to ever survive the killing curse. Their martyr. The Man-Who-Conquered and the person who ended their war. I was a child soldier leading a bunch of school children against the worst dark lord to be seen since World War II. As soon as he was gone, so was I. I knew that the government would turn against me next now that their dark lord was dealt with. I disappeared as soon as I could and now, for some odd reason, they want me back. I don’t even know who the current minister is much less what they would want from me.” It was Pritchard who answered his unasked question.
“Minister Weasley may have initially risen to his position because of his association with you, but he was also one of the only people who got close enough to see how truly evil you really are. He told us how you were so easily influenced by the Dark Lord towards the end of the war and how unstable you always were.” It was around this time that one of the captives started to change. The way that Harper’s skin started to bubble and writhe indicated a dose of Polyjuice potion wearing off. A few moments later, sitting in his place was a middle aged woman with silvery blonde hair and cloudy blue eyes. Luna Lovegood had infiltrated the elite group of aurors sent to capture Harry Potter and was now smiling up at him from her place tied up on the floor. She didn’t seem at all concerned that her cover was blown or that she was surrounded by completely hostile people. She was just happy to finally see her old friend after all this time. Skull sighed loudly.
“Luna, why did you impersonate somebody sent to capture me?” He was really hoping that it was so that she could get insider information and stop them from doing anything too terrible and not that he had been betrayed by yet another person that he thought of as a friend. Luna gave another dreamy smile, looking up at him with cloudy eyes, before answering.
“I thought you might like some help explaining your history to your rainbow. Also, I missed you. Others did too. Ginny was quite upset that you left before she could dose you with potions to make you marry her so she could be Lady Potter. I tried to explain to her that you don’t like girls, but that just made her decide to use a stronger potion.” Skull stopped her there for a moment.
“Wait a second. How did you know that I’m gay? I didn’t know until after I left that world.” He hadn’t really thought about it much after being cursed, but in the time right before that, he found himself more attracted to the men around him than any of the women. It didn’t help spending so much time around people like Reborn and Fon. It shouldn’t be possible for men to be that gorgeous. It was during his time with the other acrobaleno that he realized his relationship with Ginny only happened because it was what everyone expected of him and that any romantic things they did together was initiated by her. He had never said anything about his preferences because by the time he understood what he was feeling and that it was not wrong or “freakish” to like the same gender, they had been cursed into the form of infants and any possible crush died a swift death with all of his focus now on surviving this newest catastrophe.
“I heard Pavarti talking about it during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. She seemed quite insistent that you must be gay. How could she have known if you didn’t until years later?”
“Luna, I don’t think she was really serious about that. She was just mad that I didn’t really give her any attention at the ball so she was telling everyone that I must be gay to not notice her. It was a way for her to feel better about herself.” She blinked at him owlishly before giving a sly smile like she already knew the answer to her next question.
“Oh. Then how did you figure it out?” He cut a side eyed look at Fon who was nearest him. Even in his 10 year old body, he was already extremely attractive, though more cute than anything else. He refocused back on Luna hoping that nobody would say anything. They probably noticed and would tease him later, but for now they had other things to think about.
“I’d rather not say.” He answered after a bit of a pause before bringing the conversation back to the previous topic as he walked over to untie her. As an afterthought, he transfigured the auror robes she was wearing into a bright yellow sundress with simple flats to make her more comfortable.
“So Luna, what am I being accused of this time? And what were the team’s orders?”
“Don’t you dare answer him Lovegood! If you do then you will be arrested for aiding a criminal.” Montague yelled trying to stop her from helping the very person that they were sent to capture. Though now he knew why Harper had been acting so weird all day. The name seemed to catch Viper’s attention.
“Lovegood? As in the child of Xenophilius and Pandora Lovegood. I attended school with your parents. If you are anything like your mother, then there is a good chance that you knew what would happen if you weren’t here and decided to change it.” She answered him with another bright smile.
“Of course Mr. Black. I couldn’t let Harry handle this on his own. The wrackspurts would leave him all confused and you would never get the full story. He would probably just tell you to read the papers and we all know how wrong they get things. The only publication you can really trust is the Quibbler. We always be sure to give only the facts. Oh, and it’s Longbottom now. You really should have come to the wedding Harry. We wouldn’t have cared what form you were in. We just wanted to know that you were alright.” Skull’s response was a distracted nod her way as he was staring at Viper trying to figure out how he could be a Black when the list of the people carrying that name ended with his godfather’s death in his fifth year. He though back to the time when Sirius showed him the family tapestry, focusing on any of the names where they didn’t have a body to bury. Only one really stood out.
“Regulus?” His quite utterance was directed to a completely frozen Viper. The minute that Luna addressed him by that name, he knew that his history would also be coming out in this conversation. Logically he knew that the Dark Lord was gone and couldn’t hurt him anymore, the same with his mother, but he still wasn’t ready to think about that world that he gave up when he faked his death while trying to destroy the locket horcrux. It was there in that cave that he awakened his flames. It was his Dying Will that saved him that night, but he knew that he would be hunted if his actions were ever discovered. So he went to ground, remembering his training as a child about how powerful knowledge could be. It wasn’t an easy thing, but he did eventually make a reputation for himself as the best information broker in the underworld. Through his time recreating himself, he kept track of what was happening in Britain. Even as they all celebrated the defeat of Voldemort and hailed Harry Potter as a savior, he knew that it wasn’t over yet. He knew that the Dark Lord would return, and so he kept himself safe in Italy and continued to train his flames and become even more powerful. He also heard about Voldemort’s final defeat and when his Dark Mark disappeared, he knew that the Dark Lord was really gone for good this time. It was shortly after that that he got the letter from Checkerface.
Skull just stared at Viper completely blank faced. His mind raced. If this was really Regulus Black in front of him, then there was somebody out there that knew about the horcruxes and yet let them be. He knew what Riddle had done in his bid for immortality. He could have searched out the others or warned somebody that the Dark Lord wasn’t completely dead so that they could be prepared when he came again. He could have fought for his brother to have a trial since nobody else in that family seemed to care. Sirius could have proven his innocence right away. Could have lived his life free, not as a hunted criminal. Harry could have been raised by somebody other than his hateful aunt. Here right in front of him was somebody of his family, a person of his blood. But yet, he ran. He chose to save himself first and foremost and didn’t seem to care what happened to anybody else. Of all of the family that he had ever known, all of the people he grew up with, they were all dead but two. Only Adromeda and Narcissa were still alive. The rest of them all died believing that he was dead as well.
Skull was angry that Regulus, no Viper, would just run away and abandon everybody to what he knew would eventually be a dark fate. To leave his own brother in prison to rot, not knowing if he was even guilty. He would have known Sirius’s character. He would have known how close he was to the Potters, how he would never have betrayed them as was claimed. Skull decided then that it was about time that some of those people left behind finally learned the truth, and there was one being in particular that had really missed his master Regulus. Viper noticed the smirk that Skull was sending his way and knew that it couldn’t mean anything good. First though they had some captives to take care of. Skull shook his head focusing again on the group of people tied up on the floor. They all had a lot to talk about, but first the aurors had to have their memories altered and be sent away.
“Right. So Luna, you can tell us anything that we might need to know about this situation and how it came about, so we don’t really need to keep these guys here anymore, right?” Skull commented with a wave of his hand to the people still watching them all, waiting to be either interrogated or tortured.
“Yes sir.” She answered brightly with a small little salute like she used to when he was teaching her in the DA. He responded with a small sigh and a wry smile before turning to Viper.
“Viper, could you alter their memories so that they think that they came here only to find nothing. Make them think that they actually did their job, but it was just another empty lead. Maybe even that Harper was the one to lead them wrong then disappeared instead of returning in shame.”
“Mu. Can’t you just do it yourself? Why should I be the one to mess with their heads?” Skull seemed to become somewhat sheepish at that.
“Well I could, but you are so much better a-” He had to stop there as Colonnello interrupted him.
“Wait a minute, Kora! You mean altering peoples’ minds is normal for your kind.” This made Skull flinch a bit. Not just for the loud voice, but the wording as well. “Your kind” he said. It was almost the same as his uncle. A way to separate out those who are different. He would have thought that being in the mafia would have indoctrinated Colonnello to the weird and bizarre, but knowing of something and tolerating it are two very different things. Luckily for him Lal was very strict with her student. She slapped him upside the head almost the moment the words left his mouth. An angry glare accompanied the physical reprimand.
“Idiot student. It’s an entire community of magic users apparently. How else would they stay hidden if they can’t change people’s perception of what actually happened? It’s probably no different than a mist messing with your head. Just think of them as a large group of mist flame users if it makes it easier for your miniscule brain to understand.” Colonnello seemed confused for a moment, thinking over his words and the reactions to them, including the flinch from Skull and glares coming from Viper and Luna. Obviously he said something stupid without realizing it. Luna was the one to interrupt his musings.
“There is actually a group employed by the ministry to erase the memories of magic from muggles who learn about us accidentally. Normally they would have been assigned to come after all of you because of this incident, but there is a loophole to allow the family of a magical to be informed of our world. You are now allowed to know because you are Harry’s Family.” There seemed to be an underlying threat in that statement saying: ‘You are his family now, so you better be treating him as a proper family should.’
“Muggles?” Fon questioned. Skull flippantly answered him before returning their attention to the task at hand.
“Non-magicals, but we can discuss that later. Right now we need to get rid of these guys.” At the reminder, the others focused back on their captives. It was decided that keeping the aurors around was not necessary, so Viper altered their memories with his mist flames and Skull sent them away with a portkey. They would eventually make their way back to the ministry, but they wouldn’t remember anything about finding a bunch of children in place of the elusive Harry Potter. With the invaders now removed, the ex-acrobaleno gathered in the sitting room for what was looking to be a long discussion. Luna chose to start things off as she did come here with the intent of helping with these very explanations.
“I should probably introduce myself.” She started with one of her dreamy smiles. “My name is Luna Longbottom formerly Lovegood. I went to school with Harry Potter who you call Skull. I don’t really know much about Mister Black. Only the rumors spread about in the pure-blood circles.” She paused there for a moment, adopting a thoughtful look before turning to Skull.
“Would you like me to tell the general story and you can fill in the details or would you like to tell the whole thing?” She asked him. There was no pity or sympathy in her gaze, just understanding. She knew he probably wasn’t ready to tell the whole story in detail, or at least not detailed enough for the people that he has surrounded himself with, so she gave him an out. This was the whole reason she came at this time, to save him the pain of reliving everything that happened to him. This way he could recall everything as a story, just filling in the pieces she might be missing. He gave her a grateful smile.
“Could you do it please?” His quiet plea seemed to unnerve the acrobaleno even more than previous his behavior had. Luna turned back to her audience to begin the tale of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.
“Well then, please leave all questions till the end. Harry can fill in the details once I’m done.” She paused for a moment in thought. “I can’t tell you how everything started as I wasn’t there at the time and neither was Harry really, but everyone in our world knows of his story that started with the death of his parents, James and Lily Potter, on Halloween 1981. Harry is the only one alive that I know of who knows what happened in the time between their deaths and his reappearance ten years later at the age of eleven.” Everyone was watching her intently. Verde was quickly writing in his notebook, probably a long list of questions that he would be demanding answers to. Reborn was most likely making a similar list in his head. Colonnello, Lal, and Fon sat calmly though seemed a little upset that he was orphaned so young. Yuni was curled up in her armchair listening quietly and nobody could tell what Viper was thinking with his face obscured by his hood. Skull had a blank look on his face, trying to distance himself from the memories that were sure to come.
“I wasn’t there for his first year at school, so I can’t really tell you much. There were rumors of course, of children fighting trolls and an obstacle course with a mad-man at the end.” Luna continued. “I will always remember the beginning of his second year, my first. He made quite the entrance that time. Supposedly driving a flying car into the one tree on the Hogwarts grounds that could fight back. My friend, Ginny, later told me that it was her family’s car and that her brothers had used it during the summer to fetch him from his aunt’s house breaking the bars off of a window in the process. Not long after that, at Halloween, a cat was found petrified and there was writing on the wall in blood. This was only the beginning of the terror caused by the heir of Slytherin. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened and the school was no longer safe, at least for some people. The teachers tried to create a dueling club to help the students feel safer, but it had a terrible consequence. During one of the duels, a snake was conjured. It went to attack one of the students. That was when Harry started talking to it and everyone decided that he must be the heir as snake speaking, Parseltongue, was what Slytherin was known for.” This reminded them of the ranting of one of their previous captives, of how his father had been attacked by a snake. This must be what he was talking about.
“At this point, people started to fear him.” Luna explained. “Most people avoided him in the halls or ran away. People continued to be petrified. It was only once one of his best friends was attacked that people realized he was innocent. Then, a student was taken. My best friend at the time, Ginny Weasley, disappeared and the writing on the wall said that her skeleton would lie in the chamber forever. She told me later how Harry must have saved her. You see it had been her opening the Chamber the whole time. She had been controlled by a book that talked back to her. She trusted that book and whoever, or whatever it was, took advantage of that. It used her to release the monster, a basilisk, and to terrorize the school. She told me that when she woke up in the chamber the snake was dead and Harry was there covered in blood and holding a sword. Once Ginny was returned safe and sound, the school seemed to go back to normal as if nothing had happened.” She paused there for a moment gathering her thoughts.
“The next year started with an escaped convict. Or so everyone said. I always did believe he was innocent of those murders.” She gave a small smile to Harry before continuing. “Sirius Black was said to have murders 13 people and betrayed the location of the Potters to the Dark Lord. To try to protect the students, the ministry decided to place dementors around the school. A dementor is a soul sucking creature. When they are around, you relive your worst memories and gain a feeling like you’ll never be happy again. If given the chance, they will administer the dementor’s kiss where they suck out your soul through your mouth. On the way to the school that year, these beings went through the entire train with all of the student present. Many of the students were traumatized. The dementors stayed sound the school the entire year. They usually stayed outside the grounds and away from the students, but there was one time that they ventured closer. It was when all of the students were gather in one place out on the grounds. There was a quidditch game that day, with Harry as one of the star players.” Most of them had no idea what quidditch was, but from the context, they could tell it was some kind of sport and apparently Skull was really good at it. Viper was the only one to understand just how dangerous it would be for the dementors to interrupt an already quite dangerous game. He had player seeker himself when he was in school so he knew how focused the players could get and if they didn’t notice the dementors in time, then they could be caught unaware and possibly fall off their broom.
With thoughts focused on the soul sucking creatures, they almost missed the name of the escaped criminal. Sirius Black, and Luna had called Viper “Mr. Black”. Is it possible that they are related? It seems third year was bringing up all kinds of questions, but they would have to wait until the end to ask their questions. Hopefully Skull would give them more details. They would ask Viper, but he would probably charge them for it. Luna seemed to realize that they might not understand how dangerous quidditch was without a proper explanation and if she left that to Harry they might get a lot more information about the sport than they can process right now with all of the other new things that they are learning about.
“Oh, right.” She articulated her realization. “Quidditch is a sport played on flying brooms. The players would be very high up in the air and moving at high speeds. When the dementors interrupted the game, most of the players managed to stay away from them, but they seemed to be attracted Harry more than anybody else. He was surrounded by a swarm of the creatures and when they were finally chased off by the teachers, he was free falling with his broom nowhere to be found. The headmaster managed to slow his fall enough that he didn’t die, but he was unconscious and had to be immediately taken to the infirmary.” She tilted her head to the side thinking for a moment. “I believe that that is the only game that Harry had ever lost the snitch. Ah, the small golden ball that has to be caught to end the game.” She knew she was leaving out a lot of information about the game, but they could get that later. For now she continued her story.
“There was also a couple times during the year that Sirius Black managed to get into the school. It was at the end of the year that it was announced that he had been captured. The story we were told is that one of the professors had captured Black when his accomplice, a werewolf that was our defense teacher that year, transformed and the both of them attacked Harry and his two friends. Later that night as Black was to receive the dementor’s kiss, he escaped and nobody knows how.” Verde seemed fascinated with the idea of actual werewolves. He started planning some test that he could do if he ever managed to capture one.
“It was after that year that things started to build into what would later become a war fought mainly with scare tactics and won by children. The first major scare was at the Quidditch World Cup that summer. A group of Death Eaters, the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, attacked after the game and ran through the campground surrounding the arena while terrorizing a group of muggles. Most of the people fled as soon as they recognized the dark robes and masks. It was confirmed as a Death Eater attack when the Dark Mark was fired into the air. The Dark Mark was the Dark Lord’s symbol. It was used to show where his people had attacked and many of his followers carried his mark as a tattoo on their arm.” The rest of the acrobaleno were wondering why she and Skull were looking at Viper when they mentioned how he marked his followers. Viper for his part, refused to look at any of them and tilted his head down, hiding even more of his face under the hood of his cloak. Luna chose to continue her story.
“Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts started with the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament. This event is held as a competition between Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. This time it was hosted by Hogwarts. For the tournament, each school was represented by a champion. The champions were chosen by the impartial selector the Goblet of Fire. A student would submit their name into the goblet and on the day of the selection the goblet would return the names of the students who were chosen. To make the competition safer, it was decided that only students that were over seventeen could enter their names. On Halloween, the champions were selected. Fluer would represent Beauxbatons, Victor for Durmstrang, Cedric for Hogwarts, and surprisingly Harry Potter was chosen as well. He was forced to compete against people three years his senior in a tournament that he didn’t enter, but the students didn’t see that. They just saw famous Harry Potter doing something fantastical again. Suddenly Harry was being ostracized by three fourths of the school. Nobody wanted to believe that he didn’t enter himself, not even his best friend. It wasn’t until after the first task, when people saw just how dangerous the tournament would be, that they questioned why he would volunteer for such a thing. And the tasks were dangerous. The first task was to collect a golden egg from a nesting mother dragon. Harry chose to do this by out flying his dragon to get to the egg. The egg itself was a clue for the second task. I don’t know what the clue actually said, but I was told that it made quite the screeching noise when the egg was opened.” Skull gave a quiet snort at that, remembering the horrible sounds that came from the egg until it was submerged in water. The others were completely engrossed in the story. Verde was already on his third notebook and looking like he might need more.
“In between the first and second task was the Yule Ball. It was quite the fun night, but you of course had to be careful of the reporter snooping around. The second task took place at the bottom of the lake. We really couldn’t see much so it wasn’t very exciting for the spectators, we were just told that the champions had an hour to find what had been taken from them. Fluer was the first to return, but she didn’t have anything with her and was really upset about something. Cedric was the next to return, but after the hour had passed and he had his girlfriend with him. It was about then that people realized that the thing to be taken from the champions was people. Probably people close to them. Victor came back next with Harry’s friend Hermione. Then finally Harry came back with his friend Ron and a little blonde girl. Harry still received second place after the judges talked with the merchieftainess and learned that he had found the hostages first but chose to stay and make sure that everyone was safe.” The acrobaleno all sent bland looks at Skull. They were all familiar with his inability to leave anybody behind and how vexing that could be on a mission.
“The third task was a maze so we weren’t able to see much, but everybody saw the aftermath when Harry appeared with the trophy and Cedric’s dead body.” Skull had to close his eyes for a moment, remembering the first innocent death of many to come. Luna pushed forward still, well aware that it would only become more painful from here.
“The first thing that Harry said as Cedric’s body was taken away, was that Voldemort had returned. The ministry didn’t want it to be true, so they called him a liar and tried to discredit both Harry and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who tried to warn people and help them prepare for the war to start again. That entire summer the paper was constantly slandering Harry to try to convince people that he was just an attention seeker and that there was no way the Dark Lord could be back. The ministry even put him on trial, though it was really unclear what for. Things continued to get worse with a ministry employee as our defense teacher that year. She wasn’t really there to teach, she was there to watch the professors and the students. In class we were told to read the book only. There was no practical work at all. We knew that we would never learn to defend ourselves by following her lessons, so we got our own teacher. Harry became our teacher. He taught us the spells we would need and ensured that we would not be defenseless against the Death Eaters that the ministry was convinced did not exist. Umbridge, the ministry toady, tried to do everything she could to make us obey her. She managed to get herself a place of power within the school and started making decrees that all of the students had to follow, but by far the worst was her detentions. You might think that writing lines is not that bad for a detention, but when the teacher has you writing with a quill that carves the words into the back of your hand as you write with your own blood, it becomes something much more terrifying. It was noted that Harry Potter had detention with her quite often. I noticed later that he had a very distinct scar on the back of his hand.” When she mentioned this, the acrobaleno looked to Skull. Specifically the gloves that he was always wearing and that he never removed in their presence.
“Then came the end of the year.” Luna stated quietly knowing that this would be hard for Harry to relive. “It was during one of our secret defense lessons. Her and some of the students that she favored attacked. Most of the students got away, but the main instigators were captured. Dumbledore took the fall and was almost arrested, but the lessons could no longer continue. It was not long after that that Harry asked me and a few others to help him break into her office so that he could contact his godfather Sirius Black. He had had a vision of him being tortured by Voldemort and wanted to be sure he was alright. We were caught of course. She threatened to torture Harry to make him talk. To give her secrets about Dumbledore and where he might be, but Hermione convinced her that they had created a weapon to use against the ministry and had stored it in the forest. Harry, Hermione and Umbridge went out to the forest, so the rest of us were left under the watch of her Inquisitorial Squad. They really were not that hard to beat thanks to the training that Harry gave us. We met up with him again and all decided to go with him to find his godfather. We rode thestrals, large flying skeletal horses, to the ministry in an attempt to save Sirius. It was a trap. Sirius had never been captured we were all lured there so that Harry could retrieve the prophesy. The one that named him as the only person who could defeat Voldemort. As soon as he had the prophesy in hand, we were attacked. It wasn’t long until reinforcements came to help us and it turned into an all-out battle. It was because of this battle in the ministry itself that it was revealed that the Dark Lord was alive. Unfortunately the very person that we had gone to save, Sirius Black, died in the fight, killed by his own cousin.” She paused for a moment, giving Skull a chance to compose himself. Viper seemed pained as well. This is not really how he wanted to learn of his brother’s death, and to know that it was a family member that killed him, to know that somebody that they used to play with as children would be so obsessed with this Dark Lord as to kill their own family, it hurt. The Black’s had never really been the sanest and certainly not the nicest family out there, but family, blood, was important. Thinking about it, he realized that it must have been Bellatrix to kill him. She was the only one obsessed enough. He made a note to hunt her down later if possible. He focused back on Luna as she continued.
“The next year was surprisingly quiet for the most part. The new potions professor was a little strange, but overall harmless. The Christmas party that he threw was fun so thank you for taking me Harry.” She smiled at him trying to lessen the earlier tension. He managed a small smile back, but knew that there was a lot more going on that year than she was aware of. She became serious again as she went on.
“It was the end of the year again when things began to happen. Harry and Dumbledore had disappeared somewhere and when they came back, Death Eaters were invading the castle. In the battle that followed, Dumbledore was killed and a number of people were hurt. I believe it was then, at Dumbledore’s funeral, that Harry decided he would not return for his final year of schooling. I didn’t see him again until Bill Weasley’s wedding. It was at the wedding reception that we heard about how the ministry had fallen to Voldemort. Harry was forced to go on the run. There were wanted poster for him in all public places. There was also the Snatchers to watch for. There were rumors that a taboo had been placed on the Dark Lord’s name. He knew that with Dumbledore dead, Harry was one of the only people brave enough to speak the name. The snatchers would appear if his name was said. It was because of being captured by this method that Harry was able to save me from captivity. They were keeping me there with a few others to convince my father to stop printing stories about them. I was held there for a few months before we escaped and afterwards returned to school where we had resurrected the DA, our defense club that Harry started. It was a few months after that when Harry returned to the school looking for an artifact that had been missing for centuries. I suppose he managed to find it, but Voldemort had learned that he was at the school. He chose to attack. That night was later known as the final battle. The younger students were evacuated, but I chose to stay and fight with my friends. The Dark Lord had amassed an army including dementors and giants. We were a group of school children and a few adults. There were many casualties. Eventually we were given a break, a time to collect our dead and nurse our wounds. He called for Harry to come to him, promising that no one else had to die. He returned not long after carrying Harry’s body, claiming how he had finally kill the Boy-Who-Lived. But Harry wasn’t really dead. No one knows how he survived, but he did. He then went on the defeat Voldemort one final time. When the battle was over, I could see that he only wanted to be left alone. Everyone was trying to crowd around him so I created a distraction to allow him to get away. That was the last that anyone had seen of Harry Potter. Until today.” There was silence as Luna finally finished her story. It was assumed that the near death experience mentioned at the end was what had activated Skull’s flames though an argument could certainly be made for any of the other near death experiences in his seven years after entering that world. It was now Skull’s turn to fill in the details. Verde started off the questions.
“Where were you in the time between your parent’s death and starting school?” Skull gave a sigh knowing they wouldn’t like this answer. It was a good thing that the Dursleys were already dead. Vernon from a heart attack and Petunia from a car accident. This way he wouldn’t have the guilt of their deaths on his conscience.
“Well after my parent’s death, I was left on the doorstep of my mother’s sister, Petunia Dursley. They were never asked if they wanted to take me in. If given the choice they would have refused. I was made very aware of the fact that I was not wanted there from a very early age. Up until I got my first Hogwarts letter, my room was the cupboard under the stairs. I did almost all of the chores in the house and never had anything to call my own. I was constantly reminded that I should be grateful for the rags they gave me to wear and the scraps they gave me to eat. When my letter came, I was moved to my cousin’s second bedroom because they became paranoid that they were being watched. They were, but the watchers never did anything to stop them from hurting me. Every summer I begged to go somewhere, anywhere else, but every summer I was sent back.” Skull paused for a moment to observe the acrobaleno. Lal was refusing to look at him. Viper seemed to be trying to think of who could have left him there. Fon was hiding a frown behind his sleeve. Yuni gave him a sympathetic smile knowing how hard this was for him. Reborn’s expression was hidden by his fedora and Colonnello was staring at him with slightly wide eyes. He almost looked guilty, but that couldn’t be right. ‘What would he have to be guilty about?’ The acrobaleno were actually thinking about how their treatment of Skull had matched that of his early life. They had always treated him as less than them just because he was a civilian. Skull had never seriously fought back against their treatment and now they know that it was because he was already used to it. Reborn asked the next question.
“What of your first year? Miss Luna mentioned something about a troll.”
“Ah. That.” Skull responded. “That is actually how I earned the loyalty of one of my best friends. One of the teachers had let in a troll during the Halloween feast. She was hiding in a bathroom at the time because she had been bullied and she didn’t hear the announcement so I dragged the boy who had been bullying her to help me find her and tell her about the troll. We ended up finding her and the troll in the same place. We tried to distract it and finally managed to knock it out when the teachers showed up. After that Hermione became one of my best friends.”
“You fought a troll when you were eleven?!” Viper sounded incredulous and mildly horrified. Skull gave a hollow laugh.
“That barely scratches the surface of my first year. I also helped the game keeper hatch a dragon then also smuggled the dragon out of the school. We got caught after sending it away and were given detention in the forbidden forest. At night. With my luck, I ended up running into the thing that was killing unicorns to drink their blood.” Viper choked at that.
“To drink unicorn blood would leave a person living a half-life. You would not die, but you would not really be living either. A punishment for killing such a pure creature.” The other gave a nod of understanding for the explanation before skull continued with his first year.
“We eventually figured out that the headmaster had hidden the Philosophers Stone in the school. We were convinced that one of the teachers were going to try to steal it, so we went to one of the other teachers to warn her and she told us that it was properly protected and we should just leave it alone.” That got a groan from the group, knowing how impossible it was for Skull to leave something alone once he was interested in it. He seemed to know exactly what they were thinking.
“Of course we didn’t listen. We got passed the three headed dog easily and the living plants that would strangle you weren’t too bad either. I was able to find the flying key and we moved on to the life size chess set. Ron got us past that one, but he had to sacrifice himself to win the game. The troll in the next room was already knocked out and Hermione figured out the logic puzzle in the next one. It was only possible to get one person passed that stage, so I went on alone. In the last room where the stone was, I was expecting to find the potions professor. Instead, it was the defense teacher for that year. He was a stuttering, cowardly mess all year. No one would have thought he could be working with the dark lord, but he actually had Voldemort stuck to the back of his head. Quirrell died down there in that chamber. I don’t know if it was from the possession or if it was something I did. Dumbledore told me that my mother’s love and sacrifice is what protected me, but he didn’t see a person crumble under his fingers. Once I was finally let out of the hospital wing, I begged Dumbledore not to send me back to the Dursley’s but he insisted that it was the safest place for me.” The questions continued following the timeline. Fon choose to ask next.
“The flying car. It was mentioned that it had been used to rescue you. Recue from where?”
“From the Dursley’s of course.” Was the blithe reply. “Most of the summer was pretty good since they feared what I could do now that I had started training my magic. Nobody had told them that I couldn’t do magic over the summer. About half way through though, I was visited by a house-elf. House Elves are the servants of the magical world. This one had heard about his master having a plan that would make Hogwarts dangerous the next year and he was insistent that I couldn’t return. He got me in trouble with the government, making them believe that I had performed magic. The ministry sent me a letter and my aunt saw it. Once they knew that I wasn’t supposed to do magic, they locked me up. There were bars on the window and I was fed through a cat flap on by door. I was only let out a couple times a day for the bathroom. That is where I stayed until Ron and his brothers flew the car up to my window, broke the bars off and picked the locks on my door so that they could go collect my things from my old cupboard. I was brought back to their house to spend the rest of the summer. When it was time to go back to school, that demented house elf struck again by blocking the barrier to the train. Ron and I choose to fly the family car to the school since we couldn’t make the train. It was pure bad luck that we crashed into the Whomping Willow. The car disappeared into the forest after we crashed, which was a good thing later. Turns out the thing was somewhat sentient and choose to help us get away from the giant man-eating spiders in there.”
“Giant spiders?” Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Skull replied. “Hagrid said that if we wanted to know what had happened the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, then we should follow the spiders. So we did and they lead us to Aragog, the acromantula that Hagrid had raised when he was attending Hogwarts.” Verde interrupted there.
“Are you saying that one of the students was raising a giant spider in the school and no-body noticed!?”
“Oh somebody noticed all right.” Skull gave a grimace. “The problem is that the person who noticed choose to frame Hagrid with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets to hide his own involvement. Tom Marvolo Riddle. If you rearrange the letters, it spells ‘I am Lord Voldemort’. He was so afraid of dying that he put a piece of his soul in his old diary. That diary then possessed a student and opened the chamber again.”
“So how did you free the girl from the possession?” Yuni piped up. He gave a sharp smile.
“I stabbed the diary with a fang from the basilisk. When I shoved the sword of Griffindor through the roof of its mouth, a fang broke off in my arm. Basilisk venom is considered one of the most dangerous substances in the world with the only antidote being phoenix tears, so I took a chance hoping that it would be enough to destroy the diary.” Now it was Viper interrupting.
“How the hell did you survive that? You should have been dead within minutes.”
“I got lucky? There just happened to be a phoenix there and it cried directly into my wound. It probably wouldn’t have been enough, but my flames decided to get involved and multiplied the healing properties of the tears. That’s why I heal so quickly.”
“So you were almost killed saving another student after being ostracized from everyone else the whole year and now that she is safe everything just goes back to normal?” Colonnello seems insulted on his behalf.
“Did anyone even apologize?”
“You know, now that I think about it, I don’t think that anybody did. I think that the only good thing about the whole debacle was ousting Lockheart as a fraud. He was our defense teacher for the year, but the only thing that the idiot was any good at was memory charms. He would find somebody who had saved people from some dark creature, get all of the details from them, then wipe their memories so he could claim their accomplishments as his next book. When Ginny was taken into the chamber, we still thought that he was somewhat competent. Just my luck that the one time we go to a teacher like we are supposed to, it is the most incompetent teacher possible. We brought him with anyway if only to force him in front of us so we would know to turn around if he died. That turned out to be a bad idea since he stole Ron’s wand and tried to erase our memories. Too bad for him, Ron’s wand was broken. He ended up causing the tunnel to collapse. He and Ron were on one side and I was on the other, left to go after Ginny all by myself. The next time I saw him he couldn’t even remember his own name. I think I prefer the Lockheart with no memories over the obnoxious one that we had all year. He was less dangerous when even he knew he couldn’t be trusted with any responsibility. I’ll never really forgive him for vanishing all the bones in my arm when he tried to heal it. Though I still blame Dobby for my arm being broken in the first place.” He had to stop for a moment here as Reborn and Verde converged on him trying to see for themselves that the arm had healed properly. Viper made a small sympathetic sound.
“Skelegrow then. Awful taste and horribly uncomfortable. I had to take some once for a broken bone, but to regrow your whole arm must have been excruciating.”
“Yeah. My arm got broken during the quidditch match when Dobby, the house-elf, set one of the bludgers to attack me. He was hoping that if I was hurt bad enough then I would have to leave Hogwarts.”
“It sounds like this elf was determined to get you away from the school.” Lal said.
“He was. He was owned by a man named Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy was the one that gave Ginny the diary, even if she didn’t know that. After the fight in the chamber, I ran into him as I was leaving the headmaster’s office. He had Dobby with him at the time and I managed to trick him into freeing him. Dobby was completely devoted to me from that day forward.”
“Strange elf.” Viper remarked. “Most would be horrified to be freed.” Skull nodded to him.
“Yeah. Dobby always was a little strange. The Crouch elf, Winky, was devastated when she was freed in my fourth year. Apparently she took to drink and was quiet miserable. Then there’s your own elf. Even after he thought you dead, he still tried to destroy that locket. He even followed orders from your mother’s portrait. It used to drive your brother crazy.” Viper gave a wry smile.
“Sirius never did get along with the servants. Or mother for that matter. I can only imagine the shouting matches between him and mother’s portrait.”
“Well he could have yelled at her in person those last few years if he hadn’t been stuck in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.” Verde broke in here double checking his notes from Luna’s telling.
“So Sirius Black is your brother then?” This was directed toward Viper.
“Yes. My real name was Regulus Black. I was believed to have died in 1979.” He really didn’t want to go into his family history right now and besides this was supposed to be about Skull.
“That brings us to third year then, when Sirius escaped?” Viper said trying to change the focus off of him. Skull chose to let it go and continue the story.
“Alright. So Luna pretty much covered all the major points in third year. Sirius was innocent. He was framed by Peter Pettigrew. Both of them were animagus meaning that they could turn into animals. Sirius as a dog, Padfoot, and Peter as a rat, Wormtail. There were two others in their group. My dad, Prongs. He turned into a stag. And Remus Lupin, Moony, the reason that they learned to turn into animals in the first place. It turns out that if an animal is bitten by a werewolf, it isn’t infected. When my dad and his friends learned that one of them was a werewolf, instead of fearing him and running away, they learned to turn into animals so that they could spend the nights of the full moon with him.”
“Ms. Longbottom mentioned that your defense teacher for that year was a werewolf thought to be conspiring with the escaped criminal. Was this your father’s werewolf friend?” Fon queried. Skull nodded to him.
“Yes it was. Professor Lupin was probably the best defense teacher we had. He was fired at the end of the year because the parents didn’t want a dangerous creature teaching their children. He didn’t even know that Sirius was innocent until the end of the year when everything came to a head as it always seems to at that time. Sirius had been trying to break into the school all year, not to find me like everyone thought, but to find Peter who had been hiding in his animagus form. The night that my parents were killed, Sirius had gone to check on Peter only to find him gone. When he showed up at my house, he found it destroyed and my parents dead. He planned to take me away that night as was his right as my godfather, but Dumbledore had sent Hagrid to collect me instead. So Sirius being the trusting person that he was, handed me over and went after Peter. He knew that the only way that Voldemort could have found us was if Peter had betrayed them. Sirius did eventually find him and confronted him in the middle of a busy street. Peter started yelling about how Sirius had been the betrayer then he blew up a part of the street killing a number of bystanders. He then cut off his finger, turned into a rat, and escaped, only to be found by a small child and brought home to be a pet to a wizarding family. The Weasley family. When Ron started school, he brought with the family pet, a rat called Scabbers. Wormtail had been living in the same dorm as me for years and no-one knew until Sirius saw a picture of the Weasley family in the paper that the minister left on one of his rounds of Azkaban. Azkaban is the wizarding prison and is guarded by the dementors. At the end of the year, Sirius made his move to capture Peter. Ron, Hermione, and I were walking back to the school from visiting Hagrid at his hut when Sirius in his dog form came running over and tried to take Scabbers away from Ron. He ended up pulling Ron, by his leg, into a hidden tunnel under the Whomping Willow. We followed of course, and Remus followed us. It was then that we got the whole story, but Remus had forgotten to take the potion that lets him keep him mind when he transforms on the full moon. Sirius managed to lead him away from us, but he was injured in doing so. Then he was found by the dementors. That’s where I caught up to him. I tried to fight them off, but I wasn’t strong enough. I thought for sure that we would both die there, but we were saved. At the time, I thought it was my father, right up until I saw it again from a different place. See, Hermione had chosen to take all of the elective classes that year, but there was a number of them that overlapped. To make it to all of her classes, the teachers had given her a device called a time turner.” Viper sucked in a sharp breath.
“I am going to assume by the name that this device allows a person or persons to travel through time in some way.” It looked like Verde was already planning what kinds of test he could perform on such an interesting artifact.
“Yup. It looks like a necklace. Anyone wearing the necklace at the time that the hourglass is turned is sent to the past an equal number of hours to the number of turns. So Hermione used the time turner to bring the both of us into the past so that we could save Sirius. He was captured after I fought off the dementors, but we managed to free him. Unfortunately Wormtail got away in all the chaos. He caused problems at the end of my fourth year. Luna gave a pretty good description of the tournament, so I won’t go over that again. The final task was the worst. The trophy that was in the middle of the maze transported me to a graveyard where Wormtail was waiting. They only wanted me, but I had convinced Cedric that since we reached the cup at the same time that we should both take it. He was killed just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I tried to fight him, but I had just worked my way through the maze so I was already exhausted. Eventually I found myself waking up tied to a statue. Wormtail had this big cauldron set up and started on some kind of ritual as soon as I was awake. Apparently one of the ingredients that he needed was my blood, but I was too well protected at the school. It was there in that graveyard that Voldemort was revived. Right away, he called for his followers. There were some that didn’t come, but the ones that did…they were punished for not trying hard enough. Then, he released me. I guess he wanted to make a sport of my death instead of killing someone that couldn’t fight back since that didn’t work so well for him the first time. I did manage to get away and tried to warn people that he was back, but that didn’t really work very well. As Luna said, nobody wanted to believe me.” Here Reborn interjected.
“She mentioned a trial.”
“Yes. They put me on trial for defending myself. A couple of dementors had found their way to my residence that summer, and my cousin happened to be there when I had to fight them off. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to use magic during the summers. Officially, I was being tried for breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Unofficially, the ministry was trying to silence and discredit me. They had been printing in the papers that I was some kind of attention seeker, so an irresponsible young wizard showing off to his non-magical friends seemed to fit the image that they wanted everyone to believe because of course there couldn’t be any dementors near there. They are all under the ministry’s control.” Colonnello gave a snort.
“Sounds like a cover-up to me.” Skull nodded to him.
“It was. One of the higher ups in the ministry had sent them after me. She also happened to be our teacher the next year. That whole year was a disaster really and losing Sirius in the end just made everything worse. She never planned on teaching us anything and was paranoid that the Headmaster was trying to create an army out of the students to overthrow the ministry. For detention she had the students write lines with a blood quill. The quill would use your own blood as ink and engrave the words into the back of your hand as you wrote. They were usually used to sign official documents and the cuts would heal up right away. To cut deep enough to leave a scar takes a lot of writing. I tried to keep her attention on me so that she wouldn’t turn on the younger kids, but I wasn’t very successful. The only thing that I could do was to teach the students how to defend themselves, so I did.