Chapter 11
Harry couldn't believe what he had been forced to do, as he stood in the middle of the large stone chamber miles beneath the school he called home. He sighed heavily as he surveyed the space around him, the chamber was dark and oddly humid, he supposed that was for the benefit of the basilisk, he could see an odd plant like growth similar to moss on the stone face of Slytherin and several of the statues that were still standing and began to wonder what type of plant could survive this environment, he knew there were plants that thrived in the dark have studied devil's snare the year before, he resolved to ask Neville once he was back in the castle properly. The imposing body of the basilisk that had been ordered to attack him was covering much of his view of the room but at this moment he didn't care so long as it wasn't moving anymore it wasn't his concern, he slowly picked up the diary from the floor at his feet, the armour he had called Tilly for right before he had entered the chamber was restricting his ability to reach his feet, he examined it carefully where there had been empty pages before there was now a neat flowing script, he didn't care what it said he knew this was one of Tom's Horcruxes, after the events of the day before he had called for Velma to bring him the Peverall Grimoire and had kicked himself when he read his Granduncle's words about how to find and destroy it before anyone was attacked, fortunately he also had instructions for Harry on how to kill the beast once he eventually read the grimoire. His only surprises were the sheer size of the snake and the identity of the first year slowly coming back to herself at his feet. He had come to rescue her with Remus, and Sirius without asking who was missing, only that someone was and only he could open the chamber, unfortunately his honorary uncle and godfather had been trapped behind a cave in after Sirius had seen something move and had pulled a slab of rock from the ceiling to protect himself. The girl was shaky as she got to her feet clutching on to him for stability, he looked at her in concern trying to ascertain if she was hiding any physical injuries, he noted that much of her blonde hair was black due to coming into contact with the ichor that had oozed from the diary beside her. They slowly made their way out of the chamber, neither speaking, both taking solace in each other's company as they thought back over the events of the past school year since the opening of the chamber.
-FLASHBACK-
In the week that had followed Halloween and the discovery of Jonsey, Harry and Hermione had found themselves ostracised by all but the staff and their few friends within Gryffindor, even Harry's godsister Luna had kept her distance but they assumed she was trying to keep herself from facing abuse because of her association with them, unfortunately Ronald had chosen to show his true colours again and been an extremely vocal follower of the rest of the school in their vitriol towards Harry bringing up Jonsey at every opportunity attempting to get a rise out of Harry specifically. On the next Saturday exactly a week after Halloween the 1st and 2nd year Gryffindors had all been sat together near the staff table eating lunch together when they were approached by Aunt Minnie, Uncle Sev, Remus, and Sirius, the later of them were holding an ornate trunk between them, it was coated in black leather and golden filigree in the shape of various animals. Pansy's eyes darted between Harry and Hermione, the trunk, and Aunt Minnie in rapid succession as she immediately recognised the trunk from her visits to the Parkinson vault with her Father and Grandfather.
"Do you know what that is?" She asked excitedly, all of them nodded. "I can't believe you brought it out of the bank."
"Ragnok told us what it was, and made several suggestions on what we do with it." Harry stated.
"We are going to give the first chance with it to Mr. Filch to see if there is a reaction." Hermione smiled. "Merlin knows he could benefit from it if it does he's had a terrible year."
"That's all well and good." Lavender said a little impatiently. "But what is it?"
"It's a familiar egg." Pansy stated. "It was found deep in the Amazon rainforest and brought home by my Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, it's never so much as trembled for anyone and has sat in the Parkinson vault for nearly two centuries, more than 1000 people have touched it, including Albus Dumbledore, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Amazing." Colin said excitedly from his seat a short way up the table. "But what exactly is a familiar egg?"
"They are incredibly rare eggs gifted to the world by magic itself, only 1 in 200'000'000 eggs lain by any magical creature become one." Hermione replied falling effortlessly into her lecturing mode that she often used when others came to her for help. "When the magic of the egg senses its perfect match it will hatch into that persons perfect familiar, the most radical I've read about was a doxy egg that grew to be more than a foot high, it hatched into a Hebridean Hornsnout a dragon native to Scotland that at the time had been extinct for mor the 3 centuries at the time, due to the magic of the species there are now 40 or so spread across the worlds dragon sanctuaries and reserves."
"Awesome." Colin replied.
"There aren't that many dragons in the world." Ron scoffed as he paused stuffing his face to try and prove Hermione wrong and belittle her again. "Charlie was a dragon handler at the largest reserve, and he said the that there are only a handful of reserves and his only had enough room for 20 full-size dragons at a push."
"Actually Mr Weasley." Uncle Sev said with a small sneer, before he explained politely. "That information only pertains to the sanctuaries of Eastern Europe, in actuality there are more than one hundred such places around the world, all in the most hostile environments that muggles steer clear of. The largest of which is in Siberia and houses nearly a third of all of the world's dragons, and a large assortment of other Class 4X & 5X creatures. That sanctuary is known for its breeding programs and the quality of the magical components that they provide, to put this in prospective all 43 of the Hebrideans alive today that Hermione mentioned were breed there."
"Professor how do you know about this?" Pavarti asked.
"I prefer to get my potions ingredients from the source, given the volume we go through as a school it cuts down the added cost of a middle man." He explained. "And given that they produce them in a quantity that far exceeds the local requirements their prices are reasonable, and dragon dung when used as a fertiliser increases the potency of any plant based ingredients grown in it, and they have that in abundance, they are also one of the largest plant nurseries in the world."
"And they can't export it either, that manure is far too volatile." Neville added, earning him several concerned looks from the staff before he explained. "Dad and Gran tried to get some for our greenhouses over the summer."
"Do you mind if I join you in seeing Filch?" Pansy asked.
"I was going to insist that you do." Harry stated. "It's a gift from the House of Potter, so all members of the house still in the castle should be there."
The group reached Mr Filches office as he was leaving it and locking the door, his hands were trembling slightly as he fumbled with the key in the lock, as he turned to face them the noticed the roll of parchment in his hand, and the resigned look on his face.
"Ah Headmistress McGonagall, I was just on my way to see you." He stated flatly. "I hereby tender my resignation affective immediately, I have lost 2 companions to this school in the last 11 months, I cannot continue without one and I cannot stay here to see it happen again."
"Why don't you hold onto that thought for now." She replied with a reassuring smile. "Lord Potter-Merlin has he would like to offer you."
"Harry I do appreciate you trying to help me, but I'm struggling to be here in this castle without my companions, I have lived in this castle for 40 years and I've always had one with me and I am not willing to risk bringing another into this castle."
"Why don't we see if my familiar egg even responds to you before you make any decisions." Harry smiled at him as he opened the trunk that had been placed on the floor behind him.
The egg inside was barely a foot tall, bright orange in colour and speckled with red and yellow, a collective breath was held as Mr Filch stepped passed Harry and Hermione and reached the trunk seemingly in a trance. There was no hesitation in his movements or tremble in his hands as he reached down and caressed the smooth surface of the egg, Harry had no idea what they were waiting for but the entire group let out a sigh of relief as the egg shook, Filch was beaming down at the egg as it continued to shake.
"How in the name of Merlin is this even happening?" He asked in clear disbelief. "I mean I'm over the moon about this, but I'm a squib, I don't have any magic this shouldn't be possible, should it?"
"Actually Mr Filch, you like all squibs do have magic just not enough to use a wand." Hermione explained smiling at him. "It's why you aren't classified as a muggle, you have enough magic to see this castle and its ghosts, enough to activate the runes for all of the secret passageways that require them, and most importantly you have enough for your familiar egg to recognise as its match. This egg has been waiting for you, and it will become your perfect companion."
"Thank you Harry and Hermione, from the very bottom of my heart." Filch said unable to tear his eyes away from his egg. "There are no word to accurately describe how grateful I am for this gift."
All eyes retuned to the egg as they heard an audible crack, they saw a small line appear near the top that slowly widened to reveal a small golden paw clawing at the opening. As the creatures head emerged Remus and Severus gasped loudly, the creature had a small mane of red wispy hair around its face a stark contrast to the rest of its fur, and there were 4 small tusks protruding from its upper lip. As the creature fully emerged and leapt into Filches arms Harry, Hermione, and Pansy were stunned at the length of its red tail as it swished through the air before it wrapped around the school caretaker.
"A Zouyu!" Remus exclaimed. "They are incredibly rare outside of China, and you'll need to be careful Angus they can grow to enormous sizes if they are properly cared for."
"Hello Pretty." Filch cooed at the magical feline as it snuggled into him. "So you'd like a name would you? Let me have a think."
"It's speaking to you?" Pansy questioned
"Indeed she is." Filch replied not taking his eye off of his familiar. "How about Firemane?"
She purred at him happily before she nuzzled his cheek and they disappeared, reappearing a short distance down the hallway and returning to the group again.
"Well it appears that her aparation is unaffected by our wards." Sev chuckled. "Angus I would be grateful for any shed hair or broken claws they would save the school a great deal of money."
"I'll be sure to get them to you Professor." Filch smiled." And to answer your question Headmistress, I will stay. With Firemane at my side I'll be able to get around the castle much quicker and once she's grown I'm sure she'll be as protective of the students as any of the staff are."
"A most excellent decision Angus." Aunt Minnie smiled. "I'll ensure you have a budget set aside to feed her correctly, I'm sure Hagrid can help in that regard, unfortunately Professor Kettleburn is not so familiar with the creatures of Asia."
"I'll discuss it with him over dinner." Angus said as he started to walk away from the group. "But until then I need to show this little one her new home."
November passed slowly for Harry and Hermione many of the castles residents still believed they were in some way responsible for the death of Jonsey, and had only offered Filch their family egg out of guilt. Harry's case wasn't help by the attack on Colin after the Slytherin quidditch match not two weeks after the chamber had been opened. Harry had been laid up in the hospital wing after a harrowing ordeal on the pitch where he had been chased by both bludgers for the entire match, by sheer luck he had managed to beat Higgs (the Slytherin seeker) to the snitch but as he held the golden ball high both of the bludgers has collided with his elbow, had they hit the same side his injury would have been a quick fix, but as his luck was in play they performed a pincer attack and hit him from both sides at once shattering every bone in his arm. Madam Pomfrey had imprisoned him in the hospital wing without allowing him any visitors, not even Hermione was allowed to see him, she said it was to allow him to get enough rest to regrow his bones. Colin had decided that he'd sneak in and see Harry in the dead of night to take a report back to the rest of the house, but he had been petrified in his attempt, he had been brought in by Remus, Sirius, and Aunt Minnie all wearing their dressing gowns.
"What's happened?" Harry asked as they disturbed him from his sleep, had it been anyone else he'd have pretended to sleep.
"I found him on the map while I was testing a new feature, he was near the corridor on the second floor near where we found Jonsey" Remus had replied.
"Looks like he was coming here." Sirius stated pointing at the camera in the boys hands. "Probably wanted a picture of you in you reserved bed."
"Don't worry Harry." Madam Pomfrey said comfortingly. "He isn't in any pain and I can revive him as soon as we have some mature mandrakes."
"Aunt Minnie use some of my vault to get some please, enough to help more than just Colin, just in case he can't tell us who did this to him."
"I won't turn down the donation, Merlin knows I don't have the kind of funds spare in this year's budget." She smiled at him. "You get some sleep Harry I'll order them before breakfast."
After he was released a day later almost the entire student populace was adamant that Harry was responsible, not even Madam Pomfrey's testimony that he hadn't left her ward was enough to sway their collective accusation, but what had caused him the most grief was the events of the Duelling Club that Sirius, Remus, Sev, and Flitwick had started to help students protect themselves, everything was going well but during the third session on the first Sunday of December he found himself facing Theodore Nott the second year Slytherin who had taken Malfoy's place in despising Harry. The duel had started well with each of them managing to shield the others attacks, but Nott had summoned a large black adder out of frustration, Harry had instinctively spoken to it and gotten it to return to his summoner, unfortunately several of the Hufflepuffs that were stood at the edge of the duelling platform had screamed earning the snakes attention before Remus could banish it. They immediately decided that Harry had been trying to attack them, and more specifically Justin Finch-Fletchly as he was the only muggleborn among them, apparently having a muggleborn soulmate and another as a mother wasn't enough to convince them of his innocence.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
Harry was brought momentarily back to reality as they reached the chamber door which had closed itself.
"Open." He hissed at it in parseltongue. "Change lock: Hermione Jean Potter."
As they stepped through and the door closed again Harry checked the door and found its passcode had been changed, and being satisfied that only he could open it again the duo began to make their was towards the cave in.
"For what it's worth I'm sorry Harry." The blonde first year said beside him. "If I'd just switched to the diary daddy got me for Yule, but I wanted to use it more as a journal of my Snorkak hunting."
"It's ok Luna." He said reassuringly, as hi mind wandered to his own Christmas holidays.
-FLASHBACK-
Harry had spent the first few days back in the manor in seclusion, only Hermione got to see him, when Sirius had tried to get to him as Padfoot, Velma had dropped him into the ice cold plunge pool that Richard had added to the pool, and while Harry had laughed when he was told about it by Hermione he still hadn't left their suite. On the fourth day Harry was laying in bed feeling especially depressed, he was still concerned for Colin who had only been awoken the day the train returned the students to London for their Yule break. The Mandrakes had arrived quickly but Sev said they needed to brew for 3 weeks before he could add anything else to the restorative draught.
Hermione had had enough with her moping fiancé, she had thrown herself into the decorating of the manor in the hopes that some space would bring him around, but now they were done, in fact they had done so much more than they had the year before, there were trees in the library, the dragon room, the entrance hall, and the family dining room each decorated in a colour scheme that contrasted the room's normal decor, they had garlands lining all of the corridors, and mantelpieces, and probably what had been the most time consuming and draining on the magicals were the thousands of floating magelights in every colour that floated around near the ceilings of all of the communal rooms. She strode into their suite like a lioness about to strike her prey, she took the steps two at at time as she climbed up to their bedroom, Harry didn't react as she stormed into the room, she almost changed her mind as she watched him sleeping peacefully, but her annoyance at him refusing to leave their room won out and she pounced on him straddling his waist and pinning his arms above his head.
"Gah…" He exclaimed. "What… Mi… where?"
She kissed him shutting down his confusion with the unexpected affection.
"Mi what are you doing?" He asked when she finally let him breath.
"I have had enough of your brooding if I'd known you'd be like this I would have left you at Hogwarts." She stated. "So you can either get out of bed and do as I say or I can have Fawkes drop you in the black lake, because he's as fed up with your mood as the rest of us."
"Fine." He said dejectedly. "Let me up."
"Not so fast mister." She smirked at him. "I said you'd be doing as I say didn't I?"
"Yes?" He asked suddenly nervous of where she was going with this.
"While I commend your control of your form it shows your using it enough to stay as you wish but I've been sorely missing my girlfriend."
"You want Rose?" He said shifting his hair colour to his mother's vibrant red. "Is this not enough? Rose is still me after all."
"As good as you look with red hair, it's more to the point that I want to pull you out of the hole that is your depression and the easiest way of doing that is for you to become my dress up doll for the next half hour before lunch and staying that way until I trust you not to fall into your mopey self again." She stated beaming at him as he slowly shifted into Rose piece by piece, only this time he left his eyes alone. "Better now let's get you dressed."
Forty minutes later the couple giggled together as they walked into the library, sat around the table near the tree they found the rest of the manor residents, all talking with each other animatedly. Sirius noticed them first shaking his head and handing Remus a Galleon, who in turn looked at them and tossed it to Richard.
"Betting on us now are we?" Hermione asked her anger evident in her tone.
"Sorry Hermione." Sirius smiled. "But I honestly didn't think anyone would be able to break him out of his mood, not even Lily could break James out of his."
"I of course was on your side Princess." Richard smiled. "As was Remus, our bet was on how you managed it."
"Sorry you two, won't happen again." Remus replied sheepishly.
Hermione and Rose shared a quick look before they burst with laughter.
"Honestly I don't mind so long as your slowly taking the mutt for all he's worth." Rose stated looking at Sirius.
"They're taking your inheritance little lady if you don't want it you only have to say so." Sirius replied with that boy his smile giving away his playful nature.
"Alright that's enough you lot." Viv stated as she stood up. "Now we only have 3 days before Christmas and Harry, sorry Rose hasn't been shopping yet."
"Actually she only needs to get mine." Hermione stated. "Most of our gifts are joint this year, although I think he has something in mind for Sirius."
Rose spent an enjoyable afternoon with Viv, he found the gifts she wanted for Hermione, and the egg gift that the couple had agreed upon for Sirius, they ended the afternoon with a trip to Fortescue's ice cream parlour where they both enjoyed his warm ice cream sundaes. After they returned to the manor Rose continued to spend time with her family but still couldn't put her treatment by the other students at Hogwarts from her mind completely, it was like a small rain cloud that followed her around and anytime someone spoke of the school she got rained on and her mood instantly darkened. When she awoke on Christmas morning she knew she was Harry again and slipped back into focusing on his male pronouns, he was surprised that he was awake before Hermione and spent a while watching her sleeping peacefully across from her, for Hermione only ever used Harry as a pillow she always said now that both she and Rose beginning to grow that it wasn't comfortable. As he watched her sleep he couldn't help but start to caress her cheek softly, after a few moments she started to stir, he kissed her softly eliciting a small moan from her.
"Good morning beautiful." He whispered. "Merry Christmas."
"Harry?" She asked groggily.
"Yes Mi."
"Good morning, and Merry Christmas." She replied rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "When did you get back?"
"I woke up this way." He replied pulling her closer to him.
"I wonder why?" She pondered laying her head on his shoulder.
"Probably because we have guests coming today."
"It's only Neville, and his family." Hermione stated. "He did relay his apologies for not coming sooner but the house elf who help Madam Longbottom to raise him died the day before he got on the train."
"He still would have been better company than I was." Harry said bitterly.
"Stop beating yourself up about it." She replied. "None of us resent you for it, we know you've been the main target of the accusations, it's not like you carried on after I told you I'd had enough of your mood, but no more about this today, it's Christmas we can figure it out once we're back at the castle."
"You're right as always." He smiled. "Now it's still early why don't we go and sort out breakfast give Josie a break it's hard enough on her what with there being extra guests for Christmas dinner."
An hour later when the rest of the manor residents began to show their faces outside of their suites the small of cooked bacon and pancakes had reached every corner of the manor, and with the help of Fredrick and Velma all of them knew where to head. As they reached the family dinning room, what greeted them was unexpected, Harry was sat at the head of the table with Hermione in his lap feeding each other breakfast from one of the nearby platters of pancakes, spread around the rest of the table were platters of other breakfast foods, bacon, hash browns, and large quantities of scrambled eggs.
"Wow Josie out did herself today." Sirius smiled as he entered the room ahead of everyone else.
"Not Josie." Hermione stated. "Why do you think I'm rewarding Harry?"
"You really expect me to believe you cooked all of this?" Sirius asked starting to laugh.
"This was a standard Saturday breakfast while I was living in Privet Drive it's honestly no big deal." Harry stated.
"I never did tell you how much I enjoyed your cooking did I?" Dudley asked as he sat beside Harry and began to pile food onto his plate.
"Thank you Harry." Petunia smiled as she kissed the top of his head.
"Don't worry Aunt Petunia there's a fruit platter in the middle somewhere." He replied smiling at her and knowing she still proffered a lighter breakfast.
"Save some for me." Violet requested as everyone else began to move into the room.
"Of course Vi." Petunia replied smiling at her friend.
Once breakfast was done everyone gathered in the parlour next door to await the arrival of their guests, once Neville and his family had arrived it was clear to Harry and Hermione that he was still grieving for the elf who had helped to raise him, but that he was he was putting on a brave face for the first Christmas he would remember with his parents. His grandmother looked reserved as always but she was looking at Harry strangely as he hugged Alice.
"Is there a problem Madam Longbottom?" Hermione asked her when she noticed the strange look.
"No dear." The dowager smiled. "But I was expecting to meet Rose today, Minerva said she was around at the moment."
"She was." Harry stated. "But sometimes I wake up as her and sometimes she wakes up as me and unfortunately for you in today's case she woke up as me, but I can change if you really wish to meet her."
"You need not change for my Harry." She smiled. "You only need to be comfortable yourself."
"Maybe next time then." He smiled back at her. "I get the feeling she might be around more often over the summer."
"I do look forward to meeting her, now why don't we proceed with the day's activities, Neville could use the distraction."
"Agreed." Frank nodded. "We have a lot to get through."
The group moved into the dragon room, where Velma served everyone tea and the portrait began to fill with the occupants of the the family room in the Lord's suite, each greeted Harry and Hermione warmly and those they knew happily. Then Frank and Alice began to tell the tale of Harry and Neville's first Christmas together in seclusion in Godric's Hallow, James and Lily added what they were able to, and Augusta was happy to tell Harry that she had given him the blanket that he had grown up using in his cupboard, and why it had always been able to comfort him.
"You were always a bit of a fussy baby." She explained. "So I gifted you that blanket that Christmas, it has runes stitched into it to help calm a baby into a peaceful slumber, I wonder where it ended up."
Harry had already moved to hug her before anyone could say anything else.
"I brought it with me." Petunia stated. "It was still in the cupboard Vernon made you sleep in, I've been working on repairing it with Alice's help, I was going to surprise you with it once you and Hermione eventually told us she was expecting a child."
"Thank you Aunt Petunia." Harry smiled also giving her a hug. "It's a nice gesture and please keep it safe for us until then."
"It would be nice to have it as an heirloom for future generations." Lily said from her painting. "Especially given its history."
"Agreed." Sirius nodded. "Now onto presents."
"Who's the child here I'm not sure if any of the actual children are as immature as he is." Augusta teased him.
"I've been asking that since I met him." Hermione laughed. "I honestly don't know how he manages to stay composed and in control of his classroom."
"He knows he has to answer to me." Aunt Minnie stated. "And I've been able to make him run in fear with a look since he was 11."
"I'm right here you know?" Sirius said getting annoyed.
"Alright who's giving out first?" Hermione asked ending his teasing for now.
Augusta's gifts were simple, everyone got a book she thought they would find useful, Harry and Neville both got the same book on the history of their families alliance, Hermione's was about her duties as Lady Potter, Dudley's was about positions he could fill in the magical world as a muggle and how to achieve them, Pansy's was one on fashions of the past century with a note that it was to help her keep some of her designs a little more traditional to start with, Sirius' was about parenting a teenager, Remus' was about curse breaking as he had started a project with Bill on the subject, Minerva's was a large journal with the Hogwarts crest on its cover, Frank, Alice, Richard, and Viv all had various fiction novels as none of them were currently working on anything actively. Frank and Alice had only gotten gifts for Neville, Dudley, Pansy, Harry and Hermione and had given them a set of connected journals to allow them to write to each other without then need to use owls. Richard and Viv had done something similar but had opted for a box of honeydukes for each of the children, Remus had given them all a books of easy ways to memorise the rune alphabets in preparation for their classes next year as he was planning to teach Dudley as they didn't require wanded magic to use them, Minerva had done something special, she had visited the the Magical Menagerie in her cat form and found pets for two of them, for Hermione she had found a ginger half-kneazle tom who she immediately cooed over and named Crookshanks, for Neville she had found a pure black Krup puppy that was already trained enough to be allowed inside Hogwarts, he named him Albert after his favourite uncle, Pansy was given a tabby cat she called Tigger (she had fallen in love with Whinne the Pooh the previous summer), and Dudley had been given a Labrador puppy as he wasn't magical, he immediately named her Lilith as a nod to the aunt he had gotten to know through her portraits.
"Now Harry I know you already have enough familiars with, Hedwig, Fawkes, and Frigga so I thought I would do something different." She smiled at him. "This is for you."
He open the wrapping to find a terrarium, inside was a miniature forest with copies of all of his familiars flying above its canopy, the terrarium itself was a perfect cube standing a foot high, and the trees only occupied the bottom 3 inches, it was perfect for the miniatures of all of his animals.
"This way you can always have a link with them no matter where you are." She explained. "Ive made it indestructible and light as a feather, you already know the shrinking charm."
"It's brilliant." He smiled at her.
Sirius went next and it was immediately clear that he was aiming to outdo everyone else, all of the adults received jewellery or watches depending on gender, all of it golden and covering in small gems, Neville was given a piece of parchment containing a list of plants that had his jaw hanging open when he was told that they would be delivered to his greenhouse on the first day of the summer break, Pansy was given a magical sewing machine that had the ability to stitch runes into clothes and was shown to a room full of fabric bolts for her to use, Dudley was gifted a Super Nintendo with several games and large TV to play it on, Hermione was given a large box of Sleakeasy's hair potions, there were more than 30 separate potions all with different effects and multiple bottles of each, but it was Harry that he had gone all out for he had gifted him a copy of the marauders journal, and a small version of the family clock that the Weasleys had given him for his birthday, only this one only had a single hand, it was linked to Hermione and was about the size of a watch.
"Why the watched keyed to me?" Hermione asked.
"If he's in a life threatening situation without you he'll be beater able to concentrate if he knows you're safe." Sirius stated. "That and what else do you get someone who owns every book ever published and enough money to by whatever they want."
"At least none of the books they have been given today are published then." Augusta smiled. "All of the books I gave them are written by myself or Dorea."
"And mine was a collection of noted from myself and Lily, who beat me every year in our runes studies." Remus stated. "Now who's next?"
"I am but I've only gotten something for Dudley, Harry and Hermione." Petunia stated. "Sorry to everyone else."
Her gift to Hermione was a journal of Lily's that she had left at her parents before they had passed away about how she adapted to being a member of the magical world as a muggleborn, Harry and Dudley were each given a photo album, inside were the same pictures showing a young Lily and Petunia playing with a blonde haired couple as they grew up, the picture continued up until Lily met James who appeared in several of the pictures near the end of the album.
"I found this in my mother's dressing table after she passed away." Petunia stated. "I had Violet duplicate it for me, I know you never meet your Evans grandparents but I hope this lets you know them a little."
All of them hugged her as Violet gave Pansy her gift a simple gold locket, when she looked at the picture her mother had chosen she snapped it shut and hugged her mother tightly. Neville then revealed his gifts, and gave everyone a small cactus thats flower changed colour depending on the mood of the room it was in, currently they were yellow, which he explained meant everyone was happy, he also gave people a small book on how to read the plant. Pansy gave everyone a drawings that she had done one was of everyone as a group, then each family got one of just them. Dudley had done something similar but he had carved animals out of wood, he had been shown wood working by Richard and fallen in love with it, and as Harry examined his griffin he had to agree that Dudley had found his talent.
"So just you two left." Viv smiled looking at Harry and Hermione.
"Indeed." Hermione replied. "Why don't we start with you two."
"Here." Harry smiled as he pulled a small three inch cube wrapped in golden paper out of his pocket.
"Who expanded your pocket space?" Aunt Minnie asked accusingly. "As advanced as you are I know it wasn't either of you two."
"Velma." Hermione stated, as she watched her mother open the box.
"A key?" Richard asked.
"A portkey." Hermione clarified. "To the Greek Villa, where you will find a safe full of drachma enough to spend more than 2 months living there."
"Trying to get rid of us are you?" He asked chuckling.
"No Daddy." She replied. "It's for a holiday, you and mum never really took a honeymoon when you got married so this is for you to do that, we know you've spent a lot of time relaxing together since the start of last summer but this is for you to go on holiday together without having to worry about anything."
"It's a wonderful gift thank you both." Viv smiled pulling them both into a hug.
"Right everyone this next one is special." Harry smiled as he pulled a crystal flask full of swirling silver potion from his pocket. "Uncle Mooney we made this with Uncle Sev's help it came out of the Merlin Grimoire."
"He didn't?" Remus chocked. "Are you telling me that there has been a cure since the time of merlin but no one knew about it?"
"Yes." Hermione smiled. "And today just happens to be the perfect day to take it."
"I'm sorry what's going on?" Augusta asked.
"I'm a werewolf." Remus stated. "And that right there is the cure, although how nobody else has figured it out in 100 years I'll never know."
"Sev thinks they did it's incredibly close to Wolfsbane this requires more refined ingredients and twice the brewing time." Hermione smiled. "And it has to be take the day after a new moon, which is today."
"So bottoms up Mooney." Sirius prompted handing him the flask from Harry.
Remus took it with a trembling hand, he took a moment to steady his nerves before he uncorked the flashed and drank down the potion. In the end it was anticlimactic nothing about Remus changed at all, at least on the outside.
"I feel strange." He stated. "Wolfie is still here but I can't hear him quiet so well, and my senses feel dulled."
"You will go through a small change on the full moon." Harry stated. "Where any of the curse left in you is purged and you should be healed of the wounds it caused you."
"Well if one last night of difficulty means I can actually sleep in my own bed on a full moon it's a small price to pay." Remus smiled. "I honestly don't know how to thank you enough for this."
"You can join us on our animagi journey." Hermione stated. "We can all learn together."
"I think that would be perfect." He smiled hugging them.
"Now Madam Longbottom." Harry smiled as he pulled a tiny rectangular gift from his pocket and set it on the table standing upright.
"FINITÉ." Hermione cast tapping it with her wand and it grew to be 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide.
"My dears please call me Gran." She smiled at them. "At this point I think that level of familiarity is appropriate, and you really didn't need to get me anything."
"We'll this one didn't cost us anything." Harry smiled. "So it's really no bother."
She carefully removed the wrapping paper to reveal an ornate golden frame and a completely black painted canvas.
"While it is a lovely frame what am I looking at?" She asked.
"A frame with a locked connection to all of the frames here at Potter Manor." Charlus stated as he stood onto the canvas.
"Oh my dear children." Augusta said sweeping them into a big hug. "I have missed speaking to my friends, even just to have their echos is a wonderful thing."
"We thought you might like it." Hermione smiled.
"Aunt Minnie we struggled to find you something you would like." Harry said after Gran had released them.
"But upon looking through the artefacts in our vaults." Hermione continued. "We found a item we think you should have."
Aunt Minnie took the gift offered to her and opened it with a shaky hand, what she found took her breath away the small broach in her hands held a crest she had not seen in many years, it was a raven holding a thistle.
"You found a Ross Clan broach?" She asked.
"In Dumbledore's vault." Harry stated.
"Along with a note from a person unknown saying he should return it to you." Hermione added. "We don't know how long it was there before we took over the vault."
"Either way I cannot thank you enough for this." She smiled. "This is the Clan Leader broach of my late husband's Clan, with it I can claim my rightful position as dowager of Clan Ross and name an heir of my clan, for now it will be you Harry, but I will one day pass it to one of your sons, if I live that long."
"You will Minnie." Augusta smiled. "Your younger than I am and I plan to be alive to see the great Clan of Ross restored."
"Ok as Sirius was soo impatient earlier he can wait to receive our gifts." Hermione stated. "Neville, Pansy, and Dudley, these are for you."
Each gift was identical, a Sony discman that using Lily's help they had modified to run on ambient magic, each one came with a compilation cd of music of the last 40 years.
"So this will work at Hogwarts?" Alice asked looking at Neville's while he hugged them.
"Yes Alice." Lily answered from her frame. "I helped them with it it needed so me thing a little different than the record player but they got it working Hermione has been using one while she reads since she figured it out on the first night back here."
"It's awesome." Dudley smiled looking at Neville and Pansy. "I'll share some of my other CDs with you two as well."
"I'd like a look as well Dud, Hermione's collection is good but not all of it is to my taste." Harry stated earning him a playful smack on his shoulder.
"Say something next time." Hermione admonished him.
"Okay I promise." Harry said hugging her himself. "Aunt Petunia, I know you miss your roses, so you'll find a greenhouse is being built off of the west wing, the section nearest the house is for you to use as you like, the rear section will be for our potions supplies and I don't recommend you enter without some serious instruction in herbology."
"That's sounds wonderful Harry." She smiled. "When will it be ready?"
"A week into the new year." He replied. "The goblins put me onto a team of dwarves who are experts in magical construction."
"I can hardly wait."
"I look forward to helping you over the summer." He smiled at her. "Now Uncle Frank, and Aunt Alice."
They opened the gift in front of them to find a small notebook written in Hermione's neat handwriting.
"This is wonderful but what is all of this?" Frank asked.
"A stepping stone of sorts." Hermione smiled. "It's the combination of Potter, Merlin, and Parkinson research into a problem we're told you're having."
"Will it work?" Alice asked excitedly.
"I don't know most if it is beyond us but if your struggling I'm sure Madam Pomfrey and Uncle Sev will be happy to help." Harry smiled as Alice hugged them both.
"Who told you?" She asked whispering the their ears.
"Neville." The replied as quietly as they could.
"He knows?" They both nodded in response.
"Right Violet and Pansy." Harry said looking at mother and daughter. "It has been a crazy year for all of us but there hasn't been a lot of time for the two of you to be alone as a family, so you'll be spending a week over the Easter break on an al expenses paid trip to New York I'm sure there will be enough shops to sate your desire and I'm sure it will help with your designs Pansy."
"Harry that's too much." Violet protested as she hugged him.
"Nonsense you're both daughters of the House of Potter." He replied resolutely. "And members of my house deserve nothing but the best."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Pansy chanted as she talked him.
"You just need to familiarise yourself with our storefront over there it can be yours if you want it."
"Really?"
"Once you've got your NEWTs." Hermione stated. "Neither Harry or w much about fashion, and they do really well over there but it would be good to have a potter at the helm again."
"Well now you've done it she'll be the next you." Sirius teased.
"Alright Harry it's just you and I left." Hermione said ignoring Sirius.
"And what am I exactly?" Sirius asked.
"Alright you can have yours first." Harry smiled at her cottoning on to her plan, and handing her a small gift.
She opened it to find the jewellers crest that she was becoming accustomed to with his gifts for her, she slowly opened the box to find a sliver jewel encrusted butterfly flapping its wings at her.
"It's beautiful." She smiled at him with a tear in her eye. "But what is it?"
"It's a hair pin." He replied as he picked up the pin and slid it into her hair above her right ear. "And don't worry there is a rune on it that can make it be still for the muggle world."
"Thank you." She smiled as she kissed him. "Now open yours."
She placed a similarly sized gift in front of him, except when he opened it there was no crest on the box, he opened it to find a heart shaped pendant with H engraved in its centre, it was golden and had a centimetre think chain.
"I honestly didn't know what to get you." She stated.
"It's great it matches the I got you for your birthday." He small as she put it on him.
"So it does." She chuckled. "I hadn't even realised."
"Finally what did you get for me?" Sirius asked impatiently as they hugged.
"Here." Harry smiled handing him a very small gift.
"And here." Hermione smiled handing him a bigger one. "Do mine first."
"Okay." He replied with a tinge of nervousness tempering his excitement as he opened the gift to see a tiny pair of orange and blue shoes. "Er… what is it?"
"FINITÉ." Hermione cast making the shoes grow to their original size.
"Running shoes?" Richard asked as he began laughing. "Looks like she's telling you you need to exercise."
"I'm not that bad am I?" Sirius pouted.
"You got out of breath following us up to Gryffindor tower last week." Neville stated. "And we started on the 5th floor."
This had everyone laughing.
"Ok fine, I see your point, thank you Hermione." He said hugging her before he began to open the small gift from Harry. "Jewellery? Really? When do I ever wear jewellery?"
"Just open it Sirius." Remus said forcefully.
When Sirius opened the box his heart stopped and his jaw hung open, inside was a platinum ring shaped into the word DAD, he closed the box and knelt before Harry.
"This means a lot to me, but I'm not your dad, I could never replace him." He said seriously.
"He's not asking you to." James stated. "But you are the closest thing he's got to a father."
"Put it on Sirius." Aunt Minnie smiled.
Once the ring was securely on his finger he hugged Harry as if his life depended on it.
"Right now that that's out of the way why don't we see about lunch." Richard suggested.
"Actually I've got another gift." Harry smiled mischievously. "Has anyone seen Padfoot at all."
Sirius shook his head and morphed into his grim, and stood there barking at Harry.
"Ah there you are." Hermione smiled distracting him by scratching his ear, while Harry slid a collar around his neck.
"There you go boy it always bothered me that you never had one." Harry smiled.
Padfoot whined and tried to scratch off the colour.
"What does the tag say?" Augusta asked.
"If found please return to Amelia Bones." Viv laughed, soon the entire room had joined in.
"You do realise I can just take this off." Sirius said as himself again. "Right?"
"Actually no." Harry managed through his laughter. "It's an anti-theft Krup collar only I can remove it, so if you don't want to be seen in public with it on you'll refrain from teasing or pranking until we return to Hogwarts, otherwise you'll be wearing it until summer, and every prank or tease after that will add a month onto your sentence."
"Heir of the Marauders indeed." Aunt Minnie chuckled.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
Harry was brought back to reality as they reached the cave in, it was still there and there was no response as he called out to Sirius and Remus. He was just stating to move the rocks out of the way when he felt a presence arrive behind him.
"Firemane?" He asked the new arrival who promptly leapt into his arms and snuggled against him. "Did Mr Filch send you?"
The zouyu nodded.
"Can you take both of us up to the bathroom upstairs?"
Firemane didn't respond, she just wrapped her tail around Luna and they were suddenly standing by the now closed entrance to the chamber, rushing towards them were Aunt Minnie, Uncle Sev, Sirius and Remus.
"You did it?" Sirius asked. "What of the snake?"
"It's dead." Harry stated. "But I'm not going to tell the story more than once."
"Well let's get you both to the hospital wing." Aunt Minnie stated. "Severus was coming to tell me he'd finished this batch of restoration draught, Miss Clearwater and Hermione should be waking up shortly."
"It was just lucky I kept the brewed mandrakes under stasis." Uncle Sev smiled at Harry. "Why don't I support Miss Lovegood you go with Sirius and Remus.
The group slowly made there way to the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey was trying to subdue two irate witches near the far end of the ward.
"You have to get the Headmistress she needs to know what's happening." The taller of the two with black hair stated furiously.
"And I will once the two of you are back in bed."
"Better keep Harry's open." Sirius called out. "He's had a run in with a class 5X creature."
"WHAT?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed.
"That's what we were trying to tell you." Hermione stated before she ran at Harry. "You figured it out then?"
"No you figured it out I just killed the thing that tried to hurt you." He teased her as they hugged each other.
"Both of you on your beds again." Madam Pomfrey instructed after a few moments. "Now Harry you fought a class 5X which one?"
"It was just a snake I'm fine." Harry protested as he sat on his reserved bed.
"No it's not Harry a basilisk is no trifling matter." Hermione snapped at him.
"Dear Merlin." Madam Pomfrey exclaimed performing an in-depth scan. "You have traces of its venom and phoenix tears, where did it bite you?"
"It was only a scratch." Harry stated. "Besides Fawkes healed me right up."
Hermione was on him again in a flash, she pulled the curtains around his bed closed and began to remove his armour, his attempts to stop her were quickly quashed by her stern looks and her worried and angry expressions.
"What did it do to you?" She asked him worriedly as she started taking his clothes off as well. "You're covered in bruises."
"It's a long story and I only want to tell it once." He stated.
"We can all hear you." Aunt Minnie stated.
"Fine." He said as Madam Pomfrey began to examine the healed puncture mark on his arm. "Well after you and Penelope were found petrified yesterday I decided to see if there was anything that could help us in the front section of the Peverall Grimoire, and if I'd opened it before the year started none of this would have happened, but it told me how to get into the chamber, and what awaited me, but we already knew that from the paper I found in your hand last night. So Aunt Minnie was in the process of closing the school when we found out Luna had been taken into the chamber, so knowing where it was Sirius, Remus, and I set about rescuing her, the plan was only to have me open the door and them to get her out but Sirius caused a cave in and forced me to go on alone."
"Don't look at me like that Minnie." Sirius said from behind the curtain. "I saw movement and I reacted how was I supposed to know the ceiling would collapse?"
"You were in a unknown tunnel deep beneath a millennia old castle." Severus stated. "Use your brain next time."
"Anyway, after that I called for Tilly to get my armour." Harry continued. "I don't know why I did but I certainly am glad that I did."
"Me too." Hermione smiled at him.
"Anyway I entered the chamber to find a young Tom Riddle standing over Luna, he seemed solid and was holding her wand, he revealed his name to me which is how I knew who was there, he launched into a monologue of why he was the best and how he couldn't understand how I could have defeated him as a baby, that was when he called for the snake, it came out of the mouth of a statue of Slytherin, he told her not to listen to me and ordered her to attack, I immediately turned my back and started running, Fawkes flashed in above me and gave me a sword and moved off to attack the basilisk, he took out her eyes for me I turned back around to see what I could do. That was when she charged straight at me a dodged to the right but she threw me into the wall."
"Just how did of a basilisk are we talking here that it could throw you into a wall?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"I don't know many 60 to 70 feet long, 12 to 15 feet high." He replied nonchalantly.
"How more students aren't dead I'll never know." She stated. "You are owed a debt the magical community can never repay."
"I'm calling it youngest Order of Merlin recipient in history." Sirius chuckled.
"I'll contact Amelia in her official capacity, she already knew what was happening but didn't have the scope to do anything, now she can bring the Department of Mysteries and we can search the chamber as well." Aunt Minnie stated.
"You'll need me to get inside." Harry stated. "I changed the phrase to open it and I'm not telling anyone, and I won't open it near any other parselmouths."
"Good thinking." Hermione said giving him a hug as Madam Pomfrey worked on his bruises.
"Well after that I lead her on a bit of a chase through the pipes that are connected to the chamber, I found a long stretch that was narrow enough that she couldn't turn around inside of it and threw a stone down it, she went to investigate and I headed back into the chamber itself, after a few moments she burst out of the water and immediately lunged for me, that's when I held the sword out in front of me and it skewered her through the roof of her mouth, but one of her teeth found the weak spot in my armour." He said pulling off his gauntlet so Hermione could see the wound. "I already knew the diary was a Horcrux from reading the Peverall grimoire last night so I stabbed it with the sword and he screamed himself out of existence that was when I noticed the pain of the venom, but Fawkes felt it through the bond and returned he cried on it for a few moments and the pain subsided, that's when Luna state recover and we walked out together, I want the diary placed inside my most secure vault in a locked and warded chest, he cannot discover that I've destroyed it."
"A good plan." Remus nodded.
"I assume you would like the beast rendered." Uncle Sev said. "And the profits split between the 5 victims and yourself?"
"That would be great but Hermione and I will only take a a sixth of the cut the other sixth will got to the school, the snake was school property after all." Harry stated. "And before you argue Mi I gave them my share, and we honestly don't need both."
"I wasn't going to argue with you Hero." She smiled at him. "If I'm honest i this it's still too much."
"I'm sure the goblins can help with the rendering." Remus stated. "And they'll definitely have the contacts to get the best prices on the components."
"Anyway back to your treatment young man." Madam Pomfrey staid. "Your bruises as healed but you'll be sore for a day or so, now I can't heal the bite location but I might be able to purge the venom, but you'll be in my care for at least a week."
"I'm sure I'll be fine." Harry said trying to get up.
"Nonsense, you'll stay in this be until she's finished." Hermione stated. "Or you'll find yourself alone in our quarters until the summer break."
"Fine so long as we're done before the 14th I've got plans." Harry stated.
"I make no promises." Madam Pomfrey smiled