Chapter 330: The Soaring Raven
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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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18th October 1995, London (Earth 2)
Sirius Black stood, flabbergasted, as he watched the alternate version of his godson suddenly burst into a flock of black birds – ravens his mind supplied – which all flew around him for a good minute, before turning back to the strange yet familiar face that met him.
Harrold Smith – he preferred calling him that to avoid being confused in his head – didn't act like he ever expected Harry would. He didn't like to talk much, outside of magical theory, and always looked at the world with a calculating gaze, which reminded him uncomfortably of Albus Dumbledore of all people.
It was hard to see him as a teenager. The fact that he was actually younger than his godson was baffling, to say the least, but he had a mind for politics, often just predicting the ministry's next move when it came to their decisions, and even sometimes Voldemort's moves.
There was a certainty to the way he spoke that just made Sirius trust him. To be perfectly honest, he had only entertained the idea of talking with the boy because he said it would help Harry. He had no idea at the time, what kind of ally he had just made, and how much he would grow to like the young man.
Whenever Sirius spoke to the boy, he was reminded of James and Lily. It wasn't like Harry, where he could see James' nobility and disregard for the rules, where he could see Lily's kindness and her charm. No, when he looked at Harrold, he saw James' mischief, even if he did it – the crap he pulled with that Umbridge woman was more than proof enough – and Lily's wit. He quickly learned not to mention the redhead in the boy's presence; it was a bit of a sore point, and it made him wonder just what the fuck did she do to him that made her such an uncomfortable topic.
Still, what really set the boy apart from the others was his skills when it came to magic. Case and point, "Did you seriously just learn the Animagus transformation in a month? It took us three fucking years!"
Honestly, he didn't think that doing it was even possible. Sirius had decided to teach the boy the Animagus transformation if only to get to know him and make sure that he wouldn't really try to leave for a while, if he wanted to learn the magic, of course. It should have taken the better part of a year, maybe six months if he managed to do all of the steps perfectly the first time. A month was just insane.
The steps were deceptively simple. Keeping a mandrake leave for a month, then use it as an ingredient to a pretty tricky potion, which would have to be left undisturbed in a dark place until a lightning storm. Until then, he would have had to chant an incantation at every sunrise and sundown, before finally drinking the vial on the fated day. As far as he knew, there were no lightning storms happening in Hogwarts and Minerva had learned to make a census of the students on this day to catch anyone trying to achieve this, probably hoping that they wouldn't hurt themselves by somehow messing up any of the steps. To be brief, Harrold shouldn't have been able to perform the ritual in slightly more than a month. And yet, here he was, transforming into a raven of all things.
The boy seemed unconcerned by Sirius' incredulity, "That sounds like you're the ones who were at fault there, to be honest. It's an interesting ritual, now that I understand it slightly. It's pretty neat how it circumvents the normal dangers of human transfiguration. I probably should have done it years ago, but I really quite had the time or was just focused on other projects."
"Seriously, how the hell did you do the ritual without a lightning storm?"
Harrold snorted, "Whoever said that there wasn't a lightning storm?"
"I checked, there wasn't one in Hogwarts," the dog Animagus replied.
"But there was one in Dublin that happened yesterday. I just put the potion there and performed the chants every night there as well. I knew that there would be a storm there, so I accelerated things a bit."
"So, you really are a seer? I thought that you played a prank on Dumbledore and tricked him into thinking that you were."
Harrold rolled his eyes, "Dumbledore's been blabbing, I see. Well, it's not really something I care about people in this world knowing about it, but yes, I am technically a seer. To be perfectly honest, I never really had any real control over it. I just got visions randomly and I couldn't really interpret it. It was kinda dangerous being a seer at my home, especially with Grindelwald running about. Visions could interfere with one another, and I believe me, he's so good with it that he could actually change other people's visions. He did that to me once when I was dreaming. He altered small things in my vision, things that he just didn't want me to see. I've been taking a chance here to learn to control it a bit better. Guessing where a lightning storm would be wasn't that hard, but it's one of the few times I was able to purposefully use my gift. It's been hard but still rewarding."
Sirius tried to ignore the idea of Gellert fucking Grindelwald running around but he couldn't help but shudder. Still, a weird idea came to him, "What about talking to this world's Grindelwald? He was known to be a Seer too. He could give you pointers."
Harrold looked at him like he was stupid, "Seriously? You want me to break into Nurmengard, talk to one of the most dangerous Dark Lords in history, for a magic lesson of all things?"
The dog Animagus simply shrugged, "Hey, he's been in there for half a century, and I doubt he could even cast a levitation charm there."
"This has to be one of the stupidest things you've ever said to anyone."
A grin appeared on Sirius' face, "You didn't say you wouldn't do it."
"For fuck's sake, Black. I'm not going to fucking break out a Dark Lord for a magic lesson. Seriously, what's wrong with you?"
"Fine," he relented, "Can you at least teach me the trick with turning to multiple birds, though? I didn't think it was possible."
The idea of morphing into an army of dogs and attacking Death Eaters was a very pleasing one.
Harrold rolled his eyes, "I'm not transforming into multiple ravens, just one. The rest are either illusions or just conjurations."
"What the point of it, then?"
"Theatricality and deception are powerful agents," the boy replied with an amused tone, making Sirius think that he was missing something.
Nevertheless, he chose to change the subject slightly, "So the whole thing with Dumbledore, then, was all fake, right?"
"Not really. He tried to get Snape to steal my journal, the one with the calculations to get me home, probably because I stopped the Malfoy brat from killing half the classroom when he tried to throw a dung bomb in an unstable potion. So, I just switched the journal with another one, which I filled with bogus prophecies and information about the Horcruxes, and put a wild goose chase for Dumbledore, since it should have been enough to get the man off my back. I don't know why he's so obsessed with having me in his corner but so far, he's playing the long game. I think he wants me to go to him for help."
Sirius suppressed the urge to flinch at that. Dumbledore had said in a meeting that he was letting Fudge take a bit more authority over the school and it was no coincidence that the following day, the ministry created educational decrees that were enforced in the castle, allowing Umbridge to gain more control over the school, control that she was using to try to make Harrold's life miserable.
The dog Animagus tilted his head slightly, "About that… Apparently, the next decree gives the High Inquisitor authority to alter the punishments of students as they saw fit. You need to be careful. She's probably going to target you or Harry with that."
Harrold waved his hand in dismissal, "The toad practically obsessed with me. I have to admit that it was fun messing with her. I don't really get to indulge that side of me a lot. Things are always so serious. But trust me, I can take it. And it's better for her to be focused on me instead of your godson. The guy is practically building a rebellion of all things."
"A rebellion?" Sirius asked flabbergasted.
"Oh, nothing much. It's just this study group to learn defence, but they had their first meeting a few days ago and around thirty people showed up. Umbridge is kinda unpopular as a professor and the students are pretty worried about passing their standardized exams, especially since the ministry refused to comment about changing them to match the new curriculum."
Sirius couldn't help but burst into laughter, "He made an underground defence class. That was such a James thing to do."
"I know. I've been training him up a bit myself and he has potential. He's not really as good as most of the older students, but he's miles ahead of his classmates and has a good mind for improvisation and making plans on the fly. He'd probably make a good Auror, and might even become head of the DMLE one day. I think this will be good for him. He's a bit skittish around people he doesn't know well."
The boy didn't seem concerned by the matter, "I guess I should get things started then. I'm done with the calculations and finished all of the preparations necessary. I'm ready and Samhain should be a good time for it."
"No offence, but Samhain is less than two weeks away. You're telling me that in just a few days, Voldemort will be dead for good?" Sirius tried to do his best to hide the sheer incredulity from his voice but failed.
"Yes," he simply replied.
"And you'll be gone?" Sirius asked, trying to stop the sadness from spilling into his voice, "Is there any way you could stay?"
Harry shook his head, "I can't."
"Why? You could be happy here instead of your insane world and the constant target on your back. You could just beat Voldemort, and we could live together, just the three of us, Harry, you, and me. We'd have a blast at it."
Harrold shook his head and released a sigh. He looked oddly older when he did that, "I'm tempted, I really am, but I really just can't. It's not because I don't want to, but because I genuinely can't. Travelling between universes isn't really a stable thing. I don't belong here. The presence of another alternate of mine in this place doesn't really make things any more stable."
Sirius couldn't really help himself and asked, "How so?"
"Imagine the universe as a human body. When it feels like an invader, there's an equal reaction to stopping it entirely. After all, they could mess with a lot of things since their arrival hasn't been accounted for. Fate could be derailed; the laws of nature might become skewed. Certain beings, more akin to gods and demons, could easily cause massive damage if they found themselves in this plane of existence. Now, me, I'm a tiny little mortal, maybe a little smarter than the usual sort, maybe a little more talented, so I'm a little blip on their radar. I could have theoretically passed by. However, the way mine and Harry's souls are interacting. There's a reason why Harry subconsciously trusts me, and there's a reason why I took pity on him enough to help him. And that interaction is like a massive beam of light in the middle of the dark. Even if we never met and I landed somewhere halfway around the world, I would have been evaporated in seconds. The only reason I wasn't is because of this."
The boy opened his palm, and a raven made of shadows appeared in it, flying away, before disappearing into his skin once more. The dog Animagus, flabbergasted asked, "What was that?"
"My family's legacy, a way to partially anchor myself into the world. I didn't even notice it doing anything until I delved deeper into my research on going back home. I've put off using it for years. I don't even know why. Was I afraid of what I would become if I did? I've been slowly mastering it in my time here, and I can see its usefulness. I'll even be using it on my trip back home. I'm getting better at it, but I still have a long way to go. Still, I could theoretically stay if I somehow merged my soul with Harry, which is not only very dangerous, and never been done before, but would kill us both whether it worked or not. Whoever that remained will not be either of us, just a stranger with our memories and made of patches of our soul. We wouldn't even be granted an afterlife, just nothingness."
Yes, Sirius had to admit that it sounded horrible. No, he would miss Harrold, more than he thought he would, but he wouldn't sacrifice Harry to get the boy to stay. No, it was even worse than that; he would have to sacrifice both his godson and Harrold to end up with a stranger with their face.
Still, he decided to change the subject, "So, what now?"
The grin on the young man's face made him shiver, "The first step is for the goblins to finally realize that someone robbed one of their vaults. That ought to make things interesting and finally get the ball rolling."
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AN: Finally, things are moving a bit. It's oddly nice writing a Sirius POV, and I'm enjoying it while I still can. As you probably noticed, this arc is going to end soon. To be honest, I think it's time since stretching it would be a distraction from the main plot, even if I've been enjoying writing it immensely. Anyway, you should buckle up, things are about to get pretty eventful soon. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.