Chapter Text
"I'll be forever grateful for this," said Sirius. "To both of you."
Harry stared on at the man before him. His thin, impoverished body was visible through the tears of his patterned prison garb. His hair was shaggy, like that of a dog with dirt sprayed all along his face. On first glance, he really did look like the murderer that the wizarding world was posting him as.
But you know what they say, Harry thought to himself. There's more that meets the eye.
Harry took a small step forward, his small figure being shadowed by Sirius' larger. "I-I want to go with you," he said softly, no louder than a whisper.
"One day, perhaps," he said warmly. "But for some time my life would be too unpredictable, even for you." Sirius held Harry's shoulder, a firm group but one filled with love. He stared softly at his godson. "And besides, you're meant to be here in Hogwarts, your home."
"B-but you're innocent!" Harry reasoned.
Sirius sighed. He softly nudged Harry towards a stone bench. "And you know it," he said. "But the wizarding world won't think the same. But even so, you knowing the truth will do enough for me."
Harry looked down dejectedly. He didn't care if his life would be unpredictable with Sirius, he would give anything to stay with someone close to his parents, someone who knew them, someone who would love him. Sirius held Harry's face, caressing his cheeks.
"You're probably too tired of hearing this," he said, gazing into his eyes. "But you look so like your father. I would even think you were your father at a glance. And your eyes. Lily's eyes, like emeralds in a dark cave, giving light to weary travelers. They both were good people, wonderful friends. It is cruel that I got to spend so much time with James and Lily and you so little, but know this, the ones who love us don't really leave us and you can always find them," He placed a hand on Harry's chest, above his heart. "In here."
Harry sniffed, tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "Will I ever see you again?"
Sirius nodded. "Of course you will," he said. "I'll be doing some errands, meet up with some friends of mine. You'll hear from me soon, I promise."
Harry nodded and Sirius stood up. Harry looked on as he dashed towards Buckbeak and carefully rode on his back, holding the chains like reins. He smiled at Hermione. "Dear Hermione," he said lovingly. "You really are the brightest witch of your age."
Hermione smiled and tried to hide the blush forming on her cheeks. Sirius chuckled. "I've still got it," he murmured as he spurred Buckbeak. The hippogriff let out a loud cry as it ran on a narrow pavement then he soared with the burst of his wings. Harry looked on as Sirius soared through the sky, letting out a loud laugh as he flew to freedom. Soon, they disappeared into the clouds, and they were gone.
As soon as Sirius disappeared, Hermione placed a comforting hand on Harry's. "Come on, Harry," she said. "Lets go."
The bell struck twelve and the pair rushed towards the infirmary where Dumbledore waited by the door. The old headmaster raised an eyebrow upon seeing them. "Well?" he asked, his voice grave but curious.
"We did it, sir," Harry replied. "He's free."
Dumbledore scrunched his face in confusion. "Did what?" He waved his hand. "Good night."
The headmaster disappeared down the stairs and Harry gazed in confusion. Strange, he thought. Sirius was a bit hesitant about Dumbledore. He had to clear his head, this was all getting confusing.
He looked at Hermione. "You go see Ron," he said. "I need to go somewhere."
"To where?" asked Hermione.
"Anywhere," Harry said. "I just...I need to clear my head."
Hermione nodded and Harry dashed off.
He walked through the empty halls of Hogwarts, trying to finding some solace, the blue glare of the full moon shining through the narrow pillars of the courtyard's colonnade. As he walked, his eyes focused on the tallest tower in the distance, empty and alone. The astronomy tower. Perfect.
He made his way to the tower, it wasn't a long walk but each step he took felt heavy. Guilt or Relief, he didn't know. The large wooden door creaked as he entered the tower. He carefully climbed up, moving up the winding staircase.
He finally reached the top of the tower. It was a wide floor, circular shaped with multiple telescopes positioned around the railing. In the center of the room was a large globe encompassed by the solar system. Harry could barely describe the beauty of the place. It had a homely feel, the wind blew through his hair, giving him the sense of freedom. To fly away from the world and be free.
He walked towards one of the railings, looking down at the castle below him. Hogwarts felt so peaceful at night. He looked far beyond the Great Lake to the forests. Professor Lupin should be out there. His ears could barely catch the howling above the trees. The night just felt so calm for him, Sirius was free and out of harms way. A patronus memory, to be sure.
Ahem.
A soft voice came from behind Harry and he quickly turned, grabbing his wand from his pocket and aimed it at the voice. Suddenly, he was face to face with a blonde witch. She was wearing the regular Hogwarts uniform but Harry could quickly guess she was Slytherin with the badge proudly sewn on her coat. He had seen her before, she was always in Snape's potion's class, one of his star students, and was with Hermione in Ancient Runes. Daphne Greengrass...What is she doing here?
"Miss Greengrass," he greeted curtly, though his wand was still pointed.
"Potter," she replied. "Might I ask that you stop pointing your wand at me?"
Harry's eyes widened. "Oh, sorry," he said as he kept the wand back into his coat pocket.
"So, Potter," said Greengrass. "What brings you to the Astronomy tower this late at night?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Greengrass," he said, a bit too sharply, as he narrowed his eyes.
"Whoa!" said Greengrass, raising her arms. "I meant no offense."
Harry sighed as his expression softened. "Sorry," he murmured. "Its just that I have a lot on my mind."
"Care to share?"
"I'm not sure," he said, looking straight into her blue eyes. "Can I trust you?"
Greengrass' expression hardened. "You don't trust me?" she asked coldly. "Of course you don't trust me. I'm just a slimy Slytherin who's cohorts with you-know-who as Weasley calls us."
Harry quickly noticed the change in expression. "No, its not that," he said. "Its just...I don't really know who to trust at this moment."
Greengrass' expression softened as she whipped out her wand. Harry looked on in confusion as she pressed her wand to her arm. "I, Daphne Aurora Greengrass, swear on my life and magic that I will not reveal any secret discussed between me and Harry Potter. So Mote it Be."
A bright burst of magic filled the room. When it died down, he stared in shock at the Slytherin witch. He knew what that was. Professor Flitwick had taught it in one of their classes.
"A Magical Oath is a strong sort of magic. It is where a wizard swears on Magic itself and they are binded to that oath, for life, unless released by their fellow swearer. No one knows where it originated but some estimate it to be from around the Greek or Roman period. If any word of the oath is broken, your magic is stripped away from you, forever."
But now she's taken it one step further, she's sworn her life. Harry wondered why she would do such a thing, especially for a person she did not know or like.
She stared cooly at Harry. "So do you trust me now, Potter?"
Harry nodded hesitantly. "Yes, but you really didn't have to do that."
"I wanted too," she said with a shrug. "It was the only way you could trust me."
"I already did trust you," said Harry. "And call me Harry, calling me Potter reminds me of that git Malfoy."
Daphne chuckled, her cold mask breaking. "Yes, he is a git," she said as she walked towards Harry. "Even to us Slytherin's. To all of us, except to his friends, he's just an immature brat who depends on his dearest father to save his arse."
Harry chortled. "What would he think of you if he heard you say that?"
"Nothing much, he'll just scream 'Wait till my father hears about this' and run off to cry."
The two shared a laugh underneath the silvery sky. As soon as the laughing died down, Harry turned towards Greengrass.
"So, what do you want to know, Ms. Greengrass?"
"Anything thats bothering you," she replied, her cold facade was almost nonexistent as she now stared at Harry with a cool face. "And please call me Daphne, its best that we talk under a first name basis."
Harry nodded before suddenly spoke up. "What do you know of my life Daphne?" he asked. Daphne was caught off-guard with the question. "Have you read those books about me from Flourish and Blotts or maybe hear a rumor from the other Slytherins?"
Daphne took a moment to collect herself. "I hear a lot of things about you. Both Snape and Malfoy call you an arrogant sod who only cares about his fame and rich fortunes while others say you were raised by Dumbledore and is Merlin reincarnate. Some of the Gryffindor's say you were raised by muggles."
"I was raised by Muggles since the day my parents died," he said. "They hated magic. I never even knew I was a wizard until Hagrid told me when I was in 11."
"Wait..." said Daphne, incredulous. "You're telling me that you, the boy-who-lived, never even knew that magic existed until three years ago? And some say you're Merlin..."
"I'm not Merlin, yet," said Harry with a chuckle.
"What was it like living with those muggles?"
Harry's face darkened and he froze. He looked her straight in the eyes, distant and weary. "Do you really want to know?"
She nodded dubiously. "Yes, I want to know."
"Very well." Harry took a breath before letting it all out."It was hell incarnate there. My relatives hated everything related to magic or freakishness as they called it, since I was part of that, they hated me with a rage. They would treat me like a house elf, make me do the plants, cook the food, wash the clothes and all that since the age of four. They would beat me and scold me for simple things such as dropping the food if the pan was too heavy or if I accidentally do something freakish.
"No..."
"My cousin and his friends would do a game called 'Harry hunting' where they would chase me and beat me up and my aunt and uncle didn't stop them, they encouraged them. I would have to act dumber than my actual smarts, if I got higher grades than my cousin, they would beat me up and lock me in my cupboard for days on end without food or water."
Daphne gasped. "A Cupboard? They made you live in a CUPBOARD?!"
"Yup, a cupboard," said Harry. "I lived in a spider infested cupboard till I was 11 when dozens of Hogwarts letters came flowing in, they thought it would stop if they moved me somewhere. So they moved me to the second bedroom in the second floor where my cousin's toys were."
"This can't be..." muttered Daphne. "The savior of the wizarding world being treated like a lowly house-elf... Please tell me your exaggerating."
Harry stared at her vacantly, it looked as if his emerald eyes were a void. "I have the scars to prove it." He slowly unbuttoned his shirt and revealed to Daphne the dozens of scars. She looked on in horror, her hands hovering above the still healing scars. They were horrid, scars the size of an arm were seen from his back to his chest. Some hadn't even dried up. She was near tears at that point and on the verge of throwing up, but held herself back.
"I'm so sorry..." she murmured.
"Its all right," said Harry as he buttoned back up his shirt. Harry chuckled cynically. "That's just one of the things filling my mind. Story of my life it seems..." He looked at her then, his eyes hard. "Do you remember Sirius Black, Daphne?"
"The man who was imprisoned for betraying your parents?" she asked. "Yeah, he broke into Hogwarts and was caught till he escaped again."
"Well, thats the thing," Harry said. "He didn't betray my parents, he was framed by someone else."
"What?!" said Daphne shocked. "Who framed him?"
"Sirius Black is my godfather, and by magic he is not allowed to hurt me as we share blood," Harry explained. "He was framed by his friend, Peter Pettigrew who was actually Ron's pet rat Scabbers."
"Weasley's rat?" she said surprised. "Well, what happened?"
"He-um- kinda kidnapped Ron into the shrieking shack..." Harry said. "But he had a reason for it, to reveal Pettigrew since he was an Animagus."
"An Animagus?" asked Daphne. "Like McGonagall?"
"Yup!" said Harry. "It was all my fault, Sirius was about to kill him but he said something about my father not doing that and I said to let the law deal with him but I forgot it was a full moon and Professor Lupin transformed."
"He was a werewolf?"
"Yeah, when we were being chased, Sirius and I were ambushed by an army of dementors who tried performing the kiss..." Harry said in a low tone which worried Daphne very much.
"Its alright Harry," she said rubbing his back. "You don't have to tell me what happened next."
"I used the patronus charm to save both of us from the kiss," said Harry coldly.
"THE PATRONUS CHARM!?" Daphne asked in shock. "Thats advanced magic! How do you know how to produce one?"
"Professor Lupin taught me over the last few months," he said as he whipped out his wand. He waved his wand in a flurry. "Expecto Patronum!"
A white glow came out of his wand and soon formed the shape of a stag, it began moving around them and went near Harry, who smile and patted its head. Harry softly got Daphne's hand and let her pat the stag before it disappeared into thin air.
Daphne looked at Harry with awe. "That's amazing, Harry!" she praised. "No one in our year could even produce a charm like that and you can do it like it's nothing!"
"Thank you Daphne," he said smiling softly. "So what brings you to the astronomy tower this late at night?"
"I come here sometimes to clear my head. It happens a lot more now that I have a blonde arse chasing you like a piece of meat," she replied coldly.
"Malfoy?" he said glaring towards the wall. "What does he do to you?"
"He keeps saying that we're betrothed and he thinks that he's so powerful that he has money and can get anything he wants, including me."
"He's as worse than I thought."
Daphne cast a tempus charm and looked at the clock.
"Well Harry," she said as she cast a tempus charm. "Its 11:30, we better head back to our common rooms."
"Yeah," he said nodding as he stood up. "It was a pleasure seeing you tonight Daphne, you helped a lot."
"No problem Harry," she said smiling.
"Hey-um-Daphne," he said weakly. "Are we friends?"
Daphne smiled and nodded. "We're friends. If you need to talk to me about something, just tap me and I'll help but I actually need a bit of help in something."
"Anything."
"I know you hate Malfoy, so is it okay if you sit beside me tomorrow at breakfast? I think you could help push Malfoy away from me if you're there."
"Of course, anything to push you away from that git," he said smiling.
She suddenly engulfed him in a firm hug. "Thanks Harry, you're the best."
"No problem Daphne, goodnight."
"Goodnight Harry."
Daphne turned and made her way down the stairs, leaving Harry alone in the tower.
As he looked out towards the moon, he suddenly felt a burning sensation flow throughout his body. He sagged down to the floor, holding unto the railing for support. It was a like a surge of energy flowing through him, it felt as if he was being freed from the chains that somewhat held him down.
When the pained subsided, he felt like a new person. He felt powerful, feeling the raw magic coursing through his veins. New words went to his lips and years of knowledge soared to his mind as he opened his eyes. He was free.
He was Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, the last of the Ancient and Noble House. Potentia noster est socius.
Power is my friend. Woe to those who stand in the way of greatness.