Chapter 12: The Ball & the ReunionFlashback…
"How does it feel?" Harry hissed as he was in a state of rage. He could feel the hatred and pain in his blood as he stared down at the Dark Lord who had been at his throat since he was born. "How does it feel knowing that you are at someone's mercy and going to die with no escape?" He said icily as he looked at the defenseless Dark Lord. Today Voldemort was going to die, to hell with Dumbledore's teachings about now attacking someone who is defenseless. Voldemort had it coming to him the moment he had set his Death Eaters to attack Hogsmeade and killing the one person he had ever loved: Ginny.
"Kill me Potter. I have no time for your sentiments." Voldemort, the cruelest Dark Lord of all time had said evenly. He had no idea Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived was a Shadow Mage, if had known sooner, he would have long left The Boy Who Lived alone knowing how powerful the messy hair boy was. Maybe even recruit him! Here he was now, defenseless, ¾ of his army decimated and the other ¼ watching him as he fall to his knees. The most humiliating thing of all was that both sides were watching him as a seventeen-year-old boy that he had greatly underestimated beat him in a duel.
The Boy Who Lived himself…
"As you wish…" Harry said icily. "But first… you deserve pain for what you have done to countless of innocent people… Crucio!" Harry hissed the Cruciatus curse.
Like all of the Dark Lord's victims who had been under torture, he began to writhe in pain as if thousands of knives began to stab him repeatedly.
"Did you like that?" Harry hissed coldly as if he lifted the spell.
Voldemort had only gasped in pain. He couldn't believe The Boy Who Lived was not only a Shadow Mage, but was willing to use the Dark Arts to cause him pain.
"Won't you answer me? I said did you like that? Crucio!"
Voldemort began to grit his teeth at the sheer amount of pain.
"This is for my parents! Crucio!"
Not even knowing he was doing it, the Dark Lord began to scream out loud in pain as everyone watched The Boy Who Lived was torturing the Dark Lord.
How the mighty had fallen…
"This is for Sirius! Crucio!"
Voldemort began to scream even louder as he felt the pain was increased by three times more power. For the first time in ages, he could taste the blood in his mouth. He had bitten his own tongue.
"This is for the Longbottoms! Crucio!"
Voldemort began to writhe in pain even harder as pieces of his skin began to break from the blood inside of him wanting to escape.
"And this is for GINNY! Crucio Maximus!" Harry roared as he put his full power into torturing the dark bastard to hell. Just thinking about how Ginny had died in his arms had driven him into the brink of unholy thirst of pain and hatred.
For the first time in his life, Voldemort wanted to die right their. He just wanted the pain to end and to die in peace.
Harry stopped the Cruciatus curse. Harry could see Dumbledore in the background shaking his head at what he had done, but he did not care. Today was suppose to be the happiest day of his life when he had proposed to the girl he had loved, but because of this filth in front of him, he had lost the one person he was willing to sacrifice the entire world for.
"Now you know the pain your victims had gone through as you tortured them Voldemort." Harry hissed darkly as the Dark Lord began to curve himself into a ball. His wand was in the hands of The Boy Who Lived and the spell that he was hit with at the end of his duel a while ago had somehow completely destroy all of his magic. He couldn't do anymore magic and all of his weapons were already spent or destroyed by the Heir of Gryffindor.
"Kill me." Voldemort gasped out as he was hit with another Cruciatus.
Lifting the spell, Harry decided to show a bit of mercy.
"Very well, goodbye Riddle." Harry said as he locked the Dark Lord in place with his Shadow Mage powers, leaving him immobile.
Closing his eyes, Harry began to chant as the air around him began to get heavy from the amount of magic in the air. He chanted for an entire minute until he was done. "Any last words Riddle?" Harry said as his face was kept as an emotionless mask.
"Yes…" Voldemort had gasped out darkly as he knew he was going to face death. The powers of a Shadow Mage were impressive and he damn wished that he was the person to wield such power.
"Well?" Harry said watching the Dark Lord say his last words.
"I hope you like your goodbye present Potter. It was a shame I couldn't have fun with your fiancée before she was killed." The Dark Lord had chuckled darkly.
Glaring at the Dark Lord with hatred, Harry had raised his hands once more and completed the spell. By slamming his hands to the ground, the sky which was blue was turned solid black and the sun that was once standing was gone and replaced with a red moon.
For a moment, everyone was staring at Harry wondering what he was about to do and it was going to be clear to all of them in a few minutes.
A minute went by and the Dark Lord was wondering what the Potter boy was waiting for until it appeared, a huge red portal dripping with blood had appeared and it was the size of the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
Before anyone could react, an unholy howl had roared from beyond the dark portal and invisible winds began to blast through the battlefield. Suddenly, red like images that looked to be ghosts left the dark portal at blinding speed. One went straight to the Dark Lord in front of Harry and engulfed him in a swirl of red fire. As quickly as it came, it went back to its dark portal with the Dark Lord in its possession.
The servants of the Dark Mark, the Dementors, and all that came with the Dark Lord to attack Hogsmeade and Hogwarts was also engulfed by the red ghosts and brought back to the dark portal in which the Dark Lord was the first to enter. Everyone else who was on the battlefield that was against Voldemort was left alone, not a single red ghost made contact with them.
Harry couldn't help but look away as he could hear the screams of pain and shouts of pleas coming from inside the portal. The victims who were formerly sucked in as punishment from the last Shadow Mage were screaming loudly as if they were being under the Cruciatus curse.
Those who were being sucked inside were going to be tortured for all eternity.
With the last of Voldemort's army being sucked inside the dark red portal, the blood red portal standing before everyone had slowly faded away, leaving nothing behind.
"Cancelera Finite." Harry said in a relieve voice as he had closed his eyes and broke the concentration he had which had kept the dark sky alive.
As if by magic, the dark sky began to slowly fade and the light sky was quickly shining again.
Nothing was left of the Dark Army that Voldemort had led to attack Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.
Only blood…
Seeing that the spell he cast had successfully avenged his family, his friends, and his love one, he blacked out knowing that he had completed the prophecy.
End of Flashback…
"Has it really been a year and a half since I had defeated Voldemort?" Harry had said to himself as he looked around his room. He had just finished his daily work out and was now remembering about his past battle that had ended it all.
"That was a good massacre Harry. It seems you fulfilled Voldemort's wish of being immortal in a good way." Bill added with a smile.
"I guess you could look at it that way. So what is your project? What do you need from me?" Harry asked.
"I reviewed some of your past battles and your resent duel with Quirrell saw that there is no magical shield against the killing curse. It has to be dodged or blocked with a physical object." Bill said.
Harry nodded and asked "so?"
"I battle its not always possible to dodge something coming at you. The object placed in the path of the curse shatters on impact so it can only be used once. The shattering causes the splinters to fly in every direction and harm us or the person we are trying to defend."
"Where exactly is this conversation headed?" Harry asked getting curious about his brother's thought process.
"I have been working on a magical shield to stop the killing curse. The shield hasn't been tested yet. You can cast the killing curse so I want you to cast it on me." Bill told Harry.
"No!" Harry yelled out loudly. He latter added softly, "if your shield doesn't work you will die. I don't want to lose you."
"Do you know how the killing curse works?" Bill asked Harry. Harry replied in the negative.
"The killing curse destroys the soul of the person. When the curse can't find a soul it destroys the object that it impacts with. Soul magic can stop a killing curse. Your mother's love invoked powerful soul magic, due to which you survived the killing curse." Bill said.
"So you have managed to create the shield which my mother created?" Harry asked getting excited.
"No. the in-depth knowledge about soul magic has been lost in time. My shield is much simpler in nature and easy to produce for a skilled person. If it works I will tell you its working. And don't worry about me. The killing curse can't kill me because my essence is indestructible. This mortal body can die due to other factors but the killing curse can't harm me or my body." Bill said.
"Ok we will test your shield latter." Harry said.
Harry's sense indicated there was some one approaching the door.
They heard a loud voice from the other side of their door.
"Harry!"
"What is it Sylvia?" Harry said as he noticed her hurried voice.
"Can Lily and I go flying? Mommy and daddy aren't going to be home for another three hours!"
Harry couldn't help but groan. He was temporary baby sitter for the morning and afternoon until his parents came back. Tonight, was the night they were going to go to the celebration party the Minister of Magic was holding for his daughters birthday.
"Sure, I'll be downstairs in a moment. Do not go flying until I'm there!" He called out as he had pulled himself together and began putting on his everyday outside clothes.
Later…
"So," Harry said as he was putting his robes on, getting ready for that official ball that his parents had wanted him to attend. It had been five days since the trip to Diagon Alley and going back to Hogwarts was just around the corner. "Are we going to Portkey or Floo their?" Harry asked to his father who looked disgruntle at having to attend. "And what is the name of the place?"
"Portkey, White Castle." He grunted.
Harry sighed. His father was suddenly so stiff and quiet now that they were going to the celebration party. He didn't look too happy to be going to the ball, the Minister's daughter's birthday or maybe even seeing his grandparents again.
'I wonder who else will be coming to this celebration,' Wondered Harry. If he had remembered correctly, this event had never happened in his old universe because Fudge had no daughter. He couldn't help but wonder why Fudge would hold a birthday celebration for his daughter to all the Purebloods in the Wizard World. He knew there had to be a secret reason on why Fudge had done this.
He inwardly wondered what the girl look like. Maybe she was some pudgy looking girl like her father.
"Hey, are you four ready?" Lily had called out.
Harry took the moment to look over his shoulder. Bill was ready before him; Leon was ready, as well as his father. Yeah, they all were ready.
"Yes!" James had shouted out loud in response.
"Okay, we're almost done to!" She called out as she walked past their door and taking a look at them.
"Oh my, don't you three look handsome?" Lily had said as she looked at her husband and three sons up and down.
James had only puffed his chest up in response, Leon had 'maturely' waved it off, Bill remained indifferent and Harry just gave a small smile in return.
"Oh stop it Lily, you're embarrassing me." James giggled in a girly way, his father no longer in his bad mood.
Lily had only rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to go make sure all the girls are properly dressed and the last check-ups."
"Sure honey." James said as he made double sure both his wands were connected with his holsters. Constant Vigilance, like his former mentor had always told him.
Silence had befallen upon the four as they went into the living room and waited for the girls to be ready.
"Why do girls have to take so long?" Leon said clearly annoyed. The girls had gotten dress an hour early before the boys and they were still not ready.
"Don't ask me son, I can never understand women. One moment they hate your guts, the next, they love you."
"Oh." Leon said not understanding what his father meant.
Harry had only rolled his eyes. How true his father was. He could never understand women to. Not even meaning to, he added his little comment to the mix, "I know what you mean dad, when they do something wrong, they expect you to either apologize for it or fix their mistake. If you say no, they get angry at you for something you had not even done."
James nodded sagely at this. His son was already growing into a man and was already facing the dangers known as women.
The four Potters were all immediately distracted when the fireplace lit up, and out came the Black family.
Harry quickly assumed they were going with the Blacks to the birthday celebration together and had a sudden awful feeling about this.
"Hey Prongs!" Sirius shouted as his family had all stepped out of the Floo network.
"Hey Padfoot, I see you and your family is all ready." James said as he looked at all of them up and down.
"Where is Lily?" Amy asked as she looked approvingly at Harry and Leon.
"She's upstairs making sure all he girls are dress appropriately."
"Thank you James, I'm going to go up there to see if she needs any help."
James had nodded at this. "And can you tell her to hurry up? As Aurors, we got to be there early."
"Not patient, are we?" Amy said raising her eyebrow as she walked up the stairs after she had given baby Eric to her husband.
Meanwhile…
"Hey Yuna-chan," Harry said greeting the young half-Veela who blushed. He took noticed that she was not wearing her silver Kimono, instead, she was wearing a very pretty looking silver spaghetti strap dress. "How are you?"
"Harry-kun," She said nodding her head in greeting. "I'm doing fine, you look very handsome."
"And you look very beautiful." Harry said as he grabbed her hand gently like a true gentlemen and kissed it, much to her embarrassment.
That was when he noticed it, why were his robes black and silver like Yuna's dress?
'Oh no… don't tell me… I'm her escort!' Harry thought in disbelief as he realized why the parents were grinning when he had bought these robes. 'Curse them!' Harry thought angrily as he realized he had just been trick… by his own parents no less.
'I told you.' Bill said telepathically.
He was such a sucker sometimes…
Sighing, Harry greeted the rest of the Blacks.
"Hey Alex," Harry said as he shook Yuna's twin's hand. "How are you?"
"I'm doing so-so, how's it going with you Harry?" Alex said in greeting as he shook the eldest Potter's hand. He was currently wearing blood red robes with golden edge trimmings.
"Nothing much, how are you Amanda?" Harry said as he gently hugged the little girl who ran up to him for a hug. Amanda was wearing a Kimono like her mother.
"Hi Harry! I'm doing fine." Amanda said in greeting as she sat on his lap.
"That's good." Harry said as he smiled at baby Eric who waved his hand at him.
"So did your family buy anything for the birthday girl?" Alex asked in a bored voice. "It took us forever to find one. Dad had forgotten to get one at the last minute. If it wasn't for Yuna their, we would of probably forgot."
Harry blinked at this. Did his family have a present for the birthday girl?
"Dad, do you have a present for the birthday girl?" Harry asked in fear. He had an awful feeling about this.
His father, James Potter who was talking to his uncle for a minute had stiffened at this.
"Oh shit." He said as he realize what his son had just asked. "Oh Merlin," James said as he put his head in his hands. "Lily is going to kill me! She told me to get the minister's daughter a present and I had forgotten!" James said groaning.
"Quick! Padfoot, cover me. I'm going to go to Diagon Alley right quick."
"Sorry mate, but you're a bit out of luck." Sirius said as he nodded his head to the direction where they heard thumping from the stairs.
Lily was done and the rest of the Potter girls were on their way down the stairs.
"Oh man, Lily's going to kill me. I'm so screwed." James said hitting his head repeatedly against the wall.
"James?" Lily said confused when she come the downstairs to see her husband thumping his head against the wall.
"Sorry Lils, but I forgot to get the birthday girl a present."
Silence…
There was a soft wind breeze echoing in the background and several leaves could be seen floating by, as Lily was slowly turning red.
"JAMES!" Lily screeched which had caused all the children to shiver in fear. All of them, except Harry, had begun running away from the adults and were heading out of the Potter house. They were going to use the Port-key outside of the house to prevent anything else that might be ported with them.
Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for his father. At this time of the hour, most of the stores in Diagon Alley were closing and it was probably too late to buy the birthday girl a present.
"Lily, calm down," Amy said trying to calm down the fiery red head. "We'll think of something."
"How could you James? I had warned you a dozen times for the past three days! How could you have forgotten? I knew I should have gone to get it myself, but you kept saying you will take care of it!"
"Sorry honey, you see, I was busy and it had totally slipped my mind." James said sweating like mad seeing how angry his wife was.
Lily had only glared daggers at her husband. Why couldn't he do anything right? Why was it that her husband had forgotten to buy a present? She was pretty sure it would be rude for her family to go the celebration without a present and she knew her mother-in-law would have some say about this and would probably say it was her fault.
"Mom, we're going to be late!" Harry said trying to pacify his mother.
He gave his mother a tug. He had a present in his room right now and it was for Ginny since her birthday was coming up pretty soon, but at the moment, if he wanted to calm his mother down, they were going to need a present for the birthday girl.
"What?" Lily snapped as she looked at the person who had tugged on her dress. She was stressed out at the moment and she did not fancy getting embarrassed in front of the entire Ministry.
Harry had immediately looked hurt when his mother had yelled at him, but it had quickly hid it in a blank mask.
Lily eyes widened when she realized she had just yelled at her son. She immediately regretted when she noticed he looked hurt, but he had quickly hid it under an emotionless mask. Where he learned how to hide his emotions, she would figure that out later.
"Sorry sweetie," Lily had said apologetically quickly. She did not want her son be cross with her, especially when he had been nothing but sweet to her the past year and a half. Lord knows the last time he was angry with her, he didn't speak to her for months. However, with her son's latest attitude this past year, she was unsure how he would react to this.
Harry... for some reason, the way his mother had snapped at him, he did not know why, but he was slightly angry with her for snapping at him when he was trying to help.
Keeping his voice steady, he spoke in a calm cool voice. "I have a present I made for my friend upstairs, since we do not have the time to pick a present, we can give her the one I was planning to give to my friend. I can make her another one later."
Lily looked sad when she noticed her son was looking at her not in his usual kind warm way, but in a cool way in which people would usually make snide remarks. Before she could say anything, her husband had spoken in an excited voice.
"Wow son, you're a life saver, why don't you go get it then? I owe you big for this kid."
Harry had only nodded at this. Again, he did not know why, but he wanted to get away from his mother suddenly. The way she snapped at him had somewhat angered him.
"Harry…" Lily said trying to stop her son, but he had already gone upstairs without looking back.
James and Sirius, who was obvious was going on had only cheered at Harry saving the day. As the two were talking in relieve voices, Amy, beside Lily had noticed Harry's suddenly changed demeanor.
"Oh Lily, you really need to control you temper." Amy said comforting the red head. Lily looked angry with herself for snapping at her children.
"I know! I was just so frustrated at James forgetting to buy the present. I didn't mean to snap at him." Lily said her shoulders sagging when she noticed her eldest son had returned, but he had not even glanced at her.
"Here you go dad," Harry said giving his father the present, not even glancing at his mother.
"Thanks son, what's in it?"
Harry had only given a smile. "You'll see, trust me, I know she will like it. She's what, nine right?" He had changed his mind the last minute a while ago and decided to just make the birthday girl a present instead of giving a complete stranger, Ginny's present.
Sirius had nodded at his words.
"Well, since we got the present, let's go shall we?" Sirius said excited as he put his hand inside his robe and pulled out a long string, which was the portkey. "Come on people! Let's go outside where the children are waiting."
Not waiting around for his mother, Harry walked ahead of the group to get away from her.
As they got outside to take the portkey, Harry couldn't explain why he was acting so immature. These emotions… they couldn't possible be his. He had not blamed his mother one bit for snapping at him, she was stressed out, and it wasn't her fault. He didn't know why, but something was invading his emotions. For example, he felt some strange odd emotions that he was sure was his, but in other concept, not really his at all.
Was he going crazy?
'That might be a side effect of you some how managing to unlock the memories of the Harry that you replaced.' Bill told him in his mind.
"Harry..." His mother said trying to talk to him, but Harry reflexively jumped away from her. He didn't mean to jump away from her and when he saw her hurt look, he felt really bad.
"Umm... let's go everyone." James said nervously as he had finallynoticed the tension between his eldest son and wife. He would have to ask her later why the two weren't getting along suddenly. Usually, they were buddy-buddy with each other.
"R-right," Sirius said as he noticed his Godson had jumped away from his mother. He, like all his children had seen the hurt that Lily had showed at her son's reaction. "Everyone touch the long string, that's it... ready everyone? 5... 4... 3... 2...1... Transport."
The last thing Harry saw at the corner of his eye when the portkey had taken effect was his mother looking at him apologetically.
White Castle...
"Why hello James, hello Lily," A smiling Amos Diggory said as he shook hands with James Potter and then kissed the hand of Lily Potter as all of them had landed on the portkey pad.
"Hello Amos," Both James and Lily had greeted. Sirius was to busy trying to help the children up as almost all of them had fell, except for Harry, Yuna, and Little Lily who was clinging onto Harry during the portkey trip.
"I don't suppose you have ever met my son Cedric?" Amos had said as he moved to the side so that his wife and son could be visible.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Hi Harry." Cedric greeted as he waved at Harry.
"Hello Cedric." Harry said inclining his head in greeting.
"Sirius, I haven't seen you in so long mate!" Amos greeted.
"Hey Amos, how goes the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?" Sirius said as he shook hands with his old senior classmate.
"We're doing fine at the moment, nothing hostile is going... on... at... the moment..." Amos had trailed off as he looked at Amy, Sirius wife.
"Hello," Cedric said ogling at the pale blonde beauty.
"Hello," Amy said in greeting as she bowed, she raised an elegant eyebrow at the drooling looks the males around her were giving her, except for her husband and James.
"Ahem!" Mrs. Diggory coughed, but it was ignored. "Amos... Amos!" She called out, but he was still looking at Amy dreamy eyed much to James and Sirius amusement.
Amy was not amused. She was quite use to the looks, but seeing her husband laughing about it slightly, she pinched him.
"Oww… Sorry honey." Sirius said deciding he should shut up now.
Slap
"Oww… Sorry honey." Amos said repeated the same works like Sirius to his wife. He couldn't believe he was caught off guard by the Veela charm! As a member from the Department of Regulations and Control of Magical Creatures, he should have been prepared for something like this. Nursing his cheek where his wife had slapped him, he gave an embarrass look to the Potters and Blacks who were looking at him amused. As he had said his goodbyes, he had pulled his son away as he gave his wife several apologies.
"That was funny." Sakura giggled.
Yuna, who was also giggling with her friend, couldn't help but smile widely at the looks that were sent at her mother. She knew in a few years people were going to start ogling at her like they did with her mother, but she had only one person in mind that she wanted to be ogle at. She briefly gave a glance at the person that seemed to be immune to almost everything around him.
He was looking lost. He didn't seem to care about the world around him. Out of everyone in the group, he was the only person who didn't seem amused or stern about how Mr. Diggory had made a fool of himself. Harry just had a faraway look as if he was in deep thought.
"Well, come on." Sirius said in relief as his wife had forgiven him.
As the two groups left the portkey pad, they had then headed toward the reservation guard who was standing by the elegant doorway. While they walked to the guardsman, they had stopped a few times as people came and stopped them in greeting.
Harry found it annoying as people were greeting his parents. By the look of his parents, he knew some of the people that came to greet them really didn't know each other quite well. Harry knew his family was a well-respected family and it deserve a lot of respect. Before the two groups had entered, James and Sirius had turned around grinning.
"Listen up everyone. Once we go in, all of you please remember your manners children." Sirius said ignoring the raised eyebrow his wife sent him as if to say shouldn't you listen to that rule?
"Yes daddy." "Yes Uncle Sirius." The voices of the children say at once. Harry and Leon was the only one who didn't say anything.
Sirius paused as if he was dying to say something as he stared at Harry to Yuna back and forth.
"What is it daddy?" Yuna said looking at her father oddly as he looked as if he was fighting a battle inside.
Sirius gave up and glared at his friend to speak for him.
James Potter had only sighed and looked at his wife apologetically, then looked at his eldest son and the eldest daughter of the Blacks.
"Harry, Yuna," James said taking a deep breath. "As you may know, sorry... let me rephrase that. Harry, you will be escorting Yuna in as if she is your date. I know you two are surprised at this, well... more you Harry then Yuna, but..."
"Alright dad," Harry interrupted his father. "Can we enter already?" Harry said as he automatically hooked his arm with Yuna's, much to her embarrassment and anger that her father had dared embarrass her crush and herself.
Harry on the other hand, had long known what his father and Godfather were trying to pull. Instead of embarrassing his father by arguing with him in front of a lot of respected wizards, he just went along with it. His dad had never asked much of him and the best he could do for his father was do this for him. Besides, the looks on the fathers, they were simply ecstatic. Yuna didn't look bothered either, well, except for the fact that she was glaring at the two fathers, she looked happy at the arrangement though. If everyone else was happy, who was he to argue about it?
"Good," James said in relief. He was expecting his son to protest, but was surprised to see his son waved it off like he understood. "Now listen," James said as he closed his eyes not knowing how Harry would react to his grandparents with his new attitude. If he didn't it any better, he say Harry would probably ignore them coldly and pretend they were not their. "I know you may not get along with grandpa and grandma, but show them the respect that deserve."
Harry narrowed his eyes. He could feel the outsider emotion that was inside of him growl at his father's words.
'Harry no matter what they do or say they are still members of our family. We don't attack family members unless they betray us.' Bill told Harry in a stern voice.
'Alright I won't tear them to pieces but I will…' Harry was cut of by Bill. 'Everything else is fine.'
"Why should I show respect to the people who badmouth their own grandchildren and doesn't even claim them as their grandchildren?" Harry said coldly to his father. The air around had went somewhat cold, much to his father's fear.
Yuna could be seen nodding in agreement with an icy look on her face. She was too angry to notice the air around her turning cold.
James didn't know what to say of this, his wife Lily just looked like she agreed as well as his pal's wife Amy. Sirius just pretended as if he didn't hear a word when he was standing next to them.
Sighing, he just threw his hands in the air as if he gave up.
"Good evening. Auror James Potter and Mrs. Lily Potter correct?" The Guardsman by the door asked as he looked over the invitation to the Celebration party that James had gave him.
"Yes." James said a bit nervously. He had forgotten to tell his eldest son Harry to expect lots of attention today, because a lot of people at the Ministry had heard about his heroics in saving the Sorcerer's stone. "These are my children, my eldest son Harry Potter and his escort Yuna Black."
The Guardsman had blinked at the twelve and eleven year old who were hooking arms.
"I see." The Guardsman said grinning, much to Harry's confusion.
'Why did dad needed to tell the Guard my name and Yuna's name for?'
'I going to love the show!' bill said getting excited. Harry had a bad feeling about this. His brother rarely acted in this manner.
When he was about to voice his thoughts to Yuna, he saw his father leaned in to whisper to the guardsman. A moment later, the Guard turned to the inside of the hall and yelled out in a charmed loud voice.
"May I have the honor in introducing: Auror James Potter and his wife Lily Potter?"
Harry's eyes had widened when he saw what was going on, before he could protest, his parents had already pulled the rest of the young Potters into the beautiful ballroom. Harry had tried to follow, but the Guardsman had pulled him back.
"Not yet young man. I have yet to announce your name."
Harry had only groaned. He preyed that Ginny or the Weasleys were not inside. He didn't know why he was thinking about Ginny when he had already considered giving up on her.
"No, please not this." He said in a horrorstruck voice, but the Guardsman had already talked over him.
"May I have the honor in introducing: Auror Sirius Black and his wife Amy Black?"
Yuna's parents went off taking the kids with them, leaving Harry and Yuna alone, much to his dismay. When the Guardsman had cleared his throat again, Harry had only trembled.
"May I have the honor in introducing: Harry Potter and his fiancée, I mean," The Guardsman said looking apologetic to the couple that he had embarrassed. "His escort: Yuna Black!"
Yuna was blushing madly at the mistaken identity.
Harry on the other hand wanted to throttle the Guardsman or his father or his twin. He knew his father or twin had something to do with this…
He would find a way for punishment later if he had time…
In the meantime, he saw inside the Great Hall two of his rivals... or enemies were watching him with a surprised look. Deciding it was now or never, he decided he was going to use his perfected noble heir manners that were taught to him and drained into his head by his Aunt Perenelle when he had attended a small elegant ball that was held in his old dimension.
With professional ease that had shocked and impressed his parents, the Blacks, and Yuna, Harry held Yuna in a polite caring manner with his back straight, his chin up high as if he was the Heir of the Potter fortune, and he glanced at the people around him as if he was a true noble Pureblood.
"Thank you kind sir," Harry said as he dropped a Galleon into the Guardsman hand, much to his shock. No one that whole night had ever thanked him or tipped him a galleon as a thank you.
"Mi'lady," Harry said in a commanding respectful noble voice as he escorted Yuna toward the parents that were staring at him amazingly. Harry looked very different. He looked like a true prince and noble that had manners ingrained to him since birth.
Looking at his mother and father as loving as possible, Harry spoke in a loving manner. "Hello Mother... Father..." Harry said as he kissed his mother's hand and bowed to his father in greeting. Seeing Sirius and Amy was next to them, he bowed to his escort's father and kissed her mother's hand gently as he spoke. "Greetings Mr. Black... Mrs. Black."
"W-wow," James whispered out in shock. Had his wife really taught his son that?
Harry had said nothing else after that. He knew his Grandparents were here, so he might as well show them how much he changed. At the corner of his eyes, he caught many surprise and looks of respect from the Wizards and Witches. He had seen the looks of disbelief and anger from his two rivals when he had entered the ballroom: Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom. No doubt, they did not have their name announced out loud like he did. Maybe except Neville, since he was The Boy Who Lived.
"Odd..." Harry mumbled. When was he suddenly acting so immature? "Can't I keep the emotions of the dead Harry in check?" He mumbled in shock. Why would he try to infuriate his enemies and rivals by showing off his mannerism and Yuna?
"Harry? When did you learn all of that? That was perfect technique." Yuna said in a surprised voice once all attention was turned away from them.
"I... I don't know." Harry lied shakily. He was still a bit shocked and alarmed at his sudden odd immature thoughts.
Taking the time to sit down with his parents and the Blacks, Harry took the time to enjoy the rest of the evening, which wasn't looking too good for him for the next hour and a half.
He had seen many familiar looking faces and families at the celebration party, which included Aurors who worked for the Order, the Malfoys, the Longbottoms, the Patils, Dumbledore and his staff, and surprisingly, the Weasleys.
At first, he had wanted to leave his family table to go about and talk to the Weasleys, but it was considered rude in Wizard custom for someone his age to leave his family to talk to his friend and his family. He had caught a few looks from the Weasleys as they were trying to catch his eye: Fred and George who were eyeing Yuna and winking at him. Ron was staring at Yuna and Yuna's mother as if he couldn't believe his eyes, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who waved, in which he waved back, and lastly, Ginny who was looking at him with a sadden expression.
It was really strange...
He had thought maybe she would have been staring at Neville Longbottom, and not him. Then again, that damn Guardsman who had 'mistakenly' said out loud that Yuna was his fiancée had no doubt caused several reactions from his classmates who attended school with him. He had seen the young and beautiful pale blond girl Blaise Zabini looking at him in shock and betrayal. He had never ever seen the pale blond girl look shocked and betrayed before. Padma, who was somewhere in the crowd, could only look at him wide eyed.
Later after the Minister had made his introduction of the celebration ball, the Minister had then began walking around to every table with his wife and daughter, the birthday girl to chat with his guests, it was considered yet again rude by custom if the host did not greet all of his guests. Harry was surprised to hear that the birthday girl was now eleven-years-old and would be going to Hogwarts this year with his sisters Sakura and Rosa.
At that time, many people had come up to his family's table to talkto not only to his father or his mother, but to talk and meet theHarry Potter who had killed the rogue Death Eater and saved the Sorcerer's stone. If Harry hadn't known any better, he would say he was getting as famous as Neville Longbottom and he had not wanted that of all things.
Finally, when the Minister had reached the table made for the Potters and Blacks, Harry had only groaned. He had an awful feeling that something was going to happen and he wasn't wrong. First, the Minister had introduced himself, his wife, and then, surprising his daughter who he had expected to be pudgy like her father, but she had cleared inherit her mother's pretty face and petite form. Harry was slightly surprised to see the ten or eleven-year old girl had not inherited anything from her father, Cornelius Fudge.
"Hello," Aeris, the Minister's daughter had said out shyly as she bowed politely to all the adults, but when she caught Harry's eye, she couldn't help but blush furiously and looked away embarrassingly. She had tried to cover her blushing face by moving her face slightly to the side so that her long beautiful amber hair would cover it.
This had caused numerous reactions much to Harry's annoyance. First, his father and Godfather began eyeing each other horrified, his mother was looking at him proudly, Amy, Sirius wife had gave the young birthday girl a small smile, Cornelius Fudge was looking confused at his daughter, Elly Fudge, his wife was looking at her daughter with a blessed smile, and lastly, and not least, most of the Potter and Black children were glaring at the birthday girl as if she had stole Christmas.
Harry had only scratched the back of his neck embarrassingly as he noticed the girl was smitten by him.
'Why is it that in this dimension, so many girls have crushes on me at this age?' Harry thought to no one in particular. 'And why do I get the feeling that they all are going to look beautiful when they get older?'
When he had introduced himself to the young girl, she had only blushed furiously pretty in return. Harry couldn't help but want to run his head against the wall repeated as he had probably somehow possessed Veela traits that had attracted females like a mosquito to blood.
Trying to hide his daughter who was currently embarrassed, Fudge had quickly said he had to go greet the other guests. Thankfully, he had not tried to talk to bother Harry like every other person that came before him about how he had saved the Sorcerer's stone.
"God... I don't think I should have come to this celebration." Harry said miserably. He had noticed how his parents were somehow a bit offended at how most of the adults in the room had rudely wanted to meet and talk to Harry Potter, instead of them.
"Oh Harry, you don't mean that," Yuna said patting his forearm softly as if comforting him. "I know you may not like the attention, but people are excited at meeting the person who had defeated a Death Eater. Its not everyday people hear an eleven year old had stopped a Death Eater from stealing the Sorcerer's stone."
Harry had only shrugged in response.
"I guess..." He said unsurely not wanting to meet his mother's gaze. Sure his father was happy that no one was bothering him but he was quite angry people were bothering his son of all people. His mother on the other hand, he had not looked her in the eye throughout the whole time, so he had not known what her reaction was to the people coming to talk to him. His twin was in different from all the attention he was getting.
"Hey Harry," Yuna said excitedly. "Are you done eating?" She asked as she noticed her date for the night was done eating and just watching how people coming to their parents' table and talk to them.
"Yeah I'm done eating, why?" Harry asked as if he felt a sudden chill down his spine, but he ignored it.
"Umm..." Yuna said losing some of her cheerfulness. "Well... I... umm..." She said looking a bit nervous. "Do you... I mean... do you want to dance?" Yuna said hopefully as she looked at the few couples that had just got up to dance to the music.
Harry couldn't help but winced at Yuna's hopeful look. Yes, he had learned how to dance thanks to his Aunt Perenelle, but the way she had showed him how to dance was to the extreme. She had taught him two ways of dancing. One was the one like Fleur taught him, dirty dancing surprisingly for a seven hundred year old pretty lady. The other was waltz and ballroom dancing, which required precise movement and moving with elegance. There were others that she had taught him, but she did not really want to teach him, so he decided learn it on his own.
Harry was about to say no because he really didn't fancy dancing in front of everyone, but when he noticed two familiar looking people approaching his parents table, an old man and an old woman, both looked sort of like his parents, except both were older. His choice to dance or not, was now clear to him.
"I would love to dance with you Yuna."
Yuna had squealed in delight at his and jumped on him for a hug.
This had caused the fathers to grin madly and the mother's to look anxious. From what they had understood, Harry had never known how to dance because no one had ever taught him. They wanted to see how he would react to Yuna who had taken dancing as a hobby.
Seeing that his grandparents were closer to the table and that no one had yet noticed beside him, he decided to hurry.
"Mi'lady Yuna," Harry said in warm voice. "May I have this dance?" He asked as he offered her his hand.
Yuna had eagerly accepted it.
"Why thank you Mi'lord." Yuna said in a sweet kind voice.
Accepting his hand, both began to head to the dance floor as the fathers began to cheer out loud. Harry could have sworn he heard Mrs. Black squealing about having grandchildren sooner then she had thought!
"Okay... Mrs. Black is just weird." Harry mumbled. He had remembered hearing his mother tell him that Mrs. Black was only joking with him. Truthfully, Harry didn't think she was joking.
Apparently, he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was.
"Tell me about it," Yuna mumbled, as she blushed red. She had still remembered how her mother was trying to give her hints about how to ensnare Harry since her Veela powers seemed useless against him.
Harry had only given the silvery blond girl an uncomfortable smile. Stepping onto the dance floor, which had only a few couples dancing, Harry began to gather his courage together. The majority people in the room, who were still eating and talking to their neighbors, were now staring at them.
"I love this song." Yuna had whispered softly in his ear as the two got into steady positions. Yuna was surprised to see Harry was in a perfect stance formation to hers and he didn't leave any areas of mistake. From where he had positioned his hands close to hers, she couldn't help but melted herself into him. They had not even danced yet and she was already feeling satisfied.
'Oh my god, I'm about to dance with Harry!' She thought to herself excitedly.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked as he noticed Yuna had closed her eyes. He ignored the looks he was getting from the majority people in the room. It was not everyday you see a young couple getting ready to dance. Usually you would see adults dancing and rarely teenagers because of their shyness to the amounts of people, but children?
"I'm ready." Yuna said as she opened her eyes, which had showed nothing but pure determination.
"You lead first." Harry said as he let her guide and he followed her.
Immediately, as if moving by one, both began to dance in harmony much to the surprised of everyone. Yuna however, knew better. She was leading and Harry was following her with perfect accuracy and great precision. Yuna couldn't help but be surprised at this. Dancing was her favorite hobby next to reading and the way Harry was dancing… she couldn't help but feel warmth inside of her. She had tried her best to ignore the excited chatter around them.
Harry on the other hand, was feeling something else entirely different. Sure he was following Yuna with every move she did, but he felt slightly uncomfortable at how close Yuna was holding him. Yeah, when you Tango, you hold each other close, but for some reason, he didn't feel right. He could feel the looks of amazement, awe, and the excited chatter that was aimed at him and the girl in his arms. For some reason, he didn't want to look at Ginny, he had a feeling if he did his concentration would break.
'Why is it that I am always in the center of attention?' Harry thought to himself miserably. On the outside, he seemed happy and a bit relaxed, but inside, he was uncomfortable. If it wasn't for the fact that his grandparents were approaching his parent's table, he was pretty sure he would have given Yuna a negative reply.
While the two were lost in each other thoughts, they had not even noticed that they were the only ones on the dance floor as the other couples stopped and had left the dance floor to watch how brilliant the young couple was dancing. It was amazing as Yuna had clearly stopped leading when the second song began and Harry took the lead by performing some spectacular dance moves that was a mixture of Tango and Muggle Salsa dancing. He had twirled her a few times at the right moment and had sometimes made it look like he was dragging her slightly and smoothly across the floor, but he was just dancing the part of the pattern that Perenelle had drilled into him. She had once told him that girls and woman had preferred a man that could dance and perform mixed dancing techniques that would throw anyone off.
Yuna was speechless as Harry, the boy who she had grown up with, was even better then she had ever thought possible in dancing. Heck, the way he moved and the gentleness as he held her, she knew that he was even better then her! The song they were dancing to was a extremely fast one and it amazed her that Harry was able to perform a unique pattern that she had recognized from professional dancers she had read in her mother's dancing books. Whether it was magical or Muggle, it did not matter, because for some reason, she had a feeling Harry would be able to dance in any way she wanted him to. During the times when she was had made a mistake or had almost slipped and fell, she was very surprised at how Harry had quickly recovered her by making it look like it was part of the dance pattern!
He had yet to even make a mistake himself!
When the song had finally ended, they had stopped dancing and posed beautifully together by holding each other in such a manner, people had thought the two children were married already!
"Harry," Yuna said breathlessly as she tried to catch her breath. The dance that they had just finished dancing had a fast tempo and she was close to exhaustion. If it weren't for the fact that she took dancing lessons as a hobby from her mother, she would have been long expired and passed out from exhaustion. "That was wonderful." Yuna whispered out in disbelief.
Harry had only grinned in reply.
"Care to Waltz?" Harry asked hopefully as he realized his grandparents were still at his parents table. They weren't talking, they were to busy clapping.
But the question in his mind was what were they clapping about and why were they staring at Yuna and him?
That was when he noticed the reason why they were clapping... no... It was just not his family and the Blacks, but almost everyone in the entire ballroom was clapping and staring at two appraisingly.
He and Yuna were the only ones dancing on the dance floor and they were so embarrassed at the attention, they couldn't help but blush as everyone had continued to clap at them.
"Let's wait," Yuna said uncomfortably. "After everything is cooled down, we'll dance again."
Harry was a bit amazed at Yuna's maturity. Usually, at this age, you would expect a young girl like her would either continue to dance regardless of the attention that was aimed at them or continued to dance because she liked the attention.