Chapter Text
Prologue
[HpHpHp]
The bell tinkled.
"Addy?"
The unusual silence continued uninterrupted.
It was relatively dark outside. She'd been closing up the shop, waving goodbye to Margo and Jason, who did most of the apothecary's upkeep and sales.
They'd discovered Margo was a gem with magical plants in addition to flowers, while Jason had a knack for organization and kept Harry from nicking fresh knots of Asian Dragon hair to take back home, a very challenging job indeed.
But now, the apothecary was quiet, the only sound a slight rustling from the venomous tentacula leaves.
Harry grimaced uneasily. If there was one thing that hadn't changed over the years, it was her paranoia.
Her twelve-year-old sister was never quiet. A quintessentially talkative Gryffindor, that one.
Another quick look around her apothecary shopfront confirmed her sister was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly she became very aware of the wards around her potions lab. Or rather, their absence.
Harry moved before she had made the conscious decision to do so, vaulting over the counter to the back of the shop.
Suppressive magic burst from her in a wave, racing towards Addy's hunched figure. The cauldron sputtered one last time and then turned a lurid black.
"Just what are you trying to do, Addy?"
Harry's voice wavered with fading adrenaline.
Her little sister remained stubbornly quiet,
Harry had a feeling she wouldn't like the next few minutes at all. That familiar almost-weightless feeling overtook her, like it always did in uncomfortable situations. If she transformed into a raven and flew away, she could be just the observer instead of the protagonist. She pushed the feeling away.
"I want the barrier off, Harry."
Addy's voice was firm, but she wouldn't meet Harry's eyes.
"It-it itches. Just take it off."
When Harry didn't say anything, she stepped closer, shaking her red mass of hair.
"I thought the wardbreaker potion would work but it's too volatile and my knowledge is too limited. Besides, it's burnt now anyway."
Harry closed her eyes. She didn't want to deal with this right now. But she had to, for Addy.
When she and Archie had first heard Addy at four years old, speaking parseltongue with the Black snakes, they'd nearly had panic attacks.
They'd made frantic plans for Addy to never be exposed to snakes again, but suddenly removing all of Sirius' snakes would raise too many questions, so that wasn't an option.
Finally, after some thought, which really only took ten minutes, Harry had gently taken a dive into Addy's mindscape, a beautiful, strangely solid cloud formation, with half-discernible shapes of toys and animals drifting by. To be expected from a child's mind, she'd supposed. In the center was a cute little pavilion built on air.
When she found the part of Addy's magic that let her speak parseltongue, she'd coaxed it to remain silent until she said otherwise. Addy's magic, with a little acquiescing swirl of air currents, had seemed to agree that the ability should be kept secret. The barrier was really only a silencing ward for the ability, made of Addy's own magic. She could remove it easily when Addy turned thirteen. So she'd let the barrier stay for years now, sure that it wasn't causing any harm. It was nothing, nothing like the way she'd forcefully suppressed her magic as a child. Besides, Addy's magic had let her in so readily.
"Harry?"
Harry opened her eyes and her eyes settled on the burnt potion.
"How did you disable the lab wards, Addy? They're always active for a-"
Addy whipped around, incredulous, and now she met her eyes.
"I cannot believe you're just ignoring this."
Harry just stared, face even.
Their staring match continued and Harry could feel Addy's magic building towards something, until it all suddenly died down.
Addy, correspondingly, flopped down onto a chair with her head in her hands.
"I didn't disable the ward. Just prevented you from sensing it."
What.
"You… layered it with a magic-impermeable ward? One of Hermione's?"
Addy nodded half-heartedly.
"But-but I still would have sensed the layering process-"
Addy looked up at that and her smile was glorious.
"Well, that would be a nifty little time bending concoction I created. Tricked the ward into thinking nothing had happened yet, when it had."
"Addy, that's… ingenious. But you would have had to steal time sand from dad's office and stealing is bad."
Her sister's rolling eyes conveyed just how ineffective her little lecture had been.
She tried again.
"Addy, why would you even go to all this trouble-"
At that, Addy shot up. Her face was flushed red, and Harry saw with horror, that there were tears in her eyes.
"Because I want it off! I had to come here with all these fancy plans, because mum won't stop hovering over me at home, Hermione's nearly as nosy as mum and twice as intuitive, so Archie's house was out, and Uncle Sirius doesn't even have a lab and I WANT IT OFF!"
A vial shattered. Harry vanished it with a flick.
Her sister seemed to gather her words and tried again.
"Harry, I know, alright? I know my ability has something to do with a great big secret, that topic of conversation everyone tiptoes around at the dinner table."
Softer now, Addy continued, "I know you're worried about someone from Hogwarts finding out. Kyprioth knows everyone there is obsessed with the RBC-I've heard enough to know they think you were his confidant or something-But I can keep a secret, okay? So just tell me, and we can keep it together."
Harry stood quietly for several moments, then looked up.
"Everything I've done since I turned fourteen has been to keep our family and you safe, Adds."
"I know. I've never doubted that."
"And to make Hogwarts open to all bloods again."
"I know."
Harry looked at Addy for a long moment. Her adolescent sister with her quick hands and quicker wit.
"Fine, Addy. I'll give you what you want. I wanted to wait till you were thirteen just a year away now, since your magic would have matured by then. If things went awry and people found out, you'd have a decent chance at defending yourself. But you have to keep it secret, Adds. Even I didn't-"
Harry stopped herself there. She was being careless
"What?"
Addy's eyes had sharpened.
"It doesn't matter anymore... Just be careful, Addy. People's perceptions change rapidly when confronted with abilities like this. Even family. You'll have to lie to them too."
Her voice was robotic, devoid of emotion but Harry didn't want to feel anything.
Old ways, wrong ways, her mind whispered.
But her mind shied away from it, away from the fact that she was asking her sister to keep secrets, dangerous ones.
But she had to trust. She'd been resourceful at 12, hadn't she? Selfish and headstrong, but she'd survived the mess. She had to trust Addy.
When she was done coaxing Addy's ability out again in her mindscape, she swiftly exited and stood up to leave.
"Wait, Harry,"
Addy's voice was soft and she was back to avoiding eye contact.
"Today's family dinner, remember? You're supposed to stay with us at Potter Place today."
Right. Family dinner. A compulsory weekly house visit now that she'd moved out.
She turned to Addy and said, "You go first, Adds. I'll follow."
Addy took hesitant steps but ultimately made her way out.
Harry wanted to call her back and say 'I'm sorry I couldn't trust you enough to keep a secret before, Addy. I'm sorry you have to keep it.'
A swirl of green flames had enveloped her sister by the time she finally opened her mouth.
[ApApAp]
She lay in bed staring upward at the dark swirling patterns she'd painted onto her ceiling. The door to her room was open, so she could hear when the adjacent door to hers, Harry's, cracked open.
Addy heard the hushed sound of water pouring into a cup from the jug they kept in the hallway, the sound of soft sips, then Harry stood silhouetted in her doorway.
'She thinks I'm asleep.'
If Harry wanted to put the barrier on her again, now was the time.
Addy's heart beat so fast at the thought, she was sure Harry would realise she was awake.
Harry walked to the bed, and sure enough her wand was out. Addy knew that in the way Harry's magic was rearing, even as her own surrounded her in a little coil. Her breaths slowed to a semblance of deep sleep.
But Harry's magic never took shape.
Instead she whispered, "Addy, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I know how it feels, I'm your sister. I love you."
Addy felt the soft press of lips on her forehead.
They lingered, then left, taking their warmth with them.
Later, when Harry's steps had faded, Addy peeled the covers from her body and sat up.
"I know, Harry"
It came out in parseltongue.
And for the second time that day, Addy cried.
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