Chapter 17

Harry's birthday was a calm affair. They couldn't really invite anyone, with the whole "hiding from the most powerful figure in magical Britain", not to mention the "wanted man that was Sirius Black" being there.

Still, it may be the best birthday that he can remember, fighting for first place with his eleventh birthday. That day had been the day he found out about magic, after all. It was also the day he found out that he would be starting Hogwarts and get away from the Dursley's.

Now, Harry's fourteenth birthday was different in many ways. Firstly, he had his blood adopted fathers, Sirius, Remus, and Severus there. Secondly, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were also there, happy, and away from Vernon. And lastly, his creature heritage awakened.

It had stood in his inheritance test that he was part Sylph, so Harry had done some research on them. It was a good thing the heritage is from the Potter side of his family, because that meant that there were many books about them in the Potter townhouse library.

Sylphs are a kind of Elemental fae and tends to have two forms. A physical one closely resembling a human, and one of smoke, which might be anything from human to animal-like. Sylphs are generally quite swift by nature, fitting her and there as suits them, and frequently going from being enamored by something, to being bored. It's rare that a Sylph and human have children together, but it is rare. The half Sylphs often have fae magick, like being able to summon winds with their screams – or even just their hands – among other things.

(A/N: The link to the page I used in down in the notes.)

Harry also read that part Sylphs can be quick to latch onto something or someone, becoming close to obsessed, but can be just as quick to discharge it again, but not necessarily. Maybe that's why my dad was so obsessed with my mom. Harry had been on the receiving end of many rants about how in love James was in Lily.

The day was fantastic, in Harry's humble opinion. He hadn't really felt anything change, like the books said it would when his heritage awakened, but there was still time in the day.

It was when he was in his room, ready to go to sleep that something changed. It was a gradual change, first it was the feeling of the air on his skin, a slightly warm presence encompassing him. Second, he could hear much better, he could hear Dudley playing a videogame in his room, and Sirius and Severus talking from their room. He felt different too, airier, like he could fade into the air at any moment. Harry had sat down on the edge of his bed and had to look down at his hands in his lap, physically see that his hands were still solid when he clasped them together slowly.

There was probably more, but Harry was already kind of overwhelmed with all these new sensations. He could begin to get used to them tomorrow. For now, he carefully lay down in his bed and went to sleep.

Five people were sitting by the table and eating dinner. Harry snuck a glance at the empty seat between Severus and Sirius, where Remus usually sat. He was standing surveillance outside the Slytherin Manor with Arthur. Dumbledore had been in there for six days, and Harry was beginning to wonder how long Dumbledore usually stayed in there.

They were talking about Dudley's choice of school for the year when a sudden light jumped through the window. When he looked closer, Harry saw that it was a Patronus, a wolf Patronus.

"That's Remus'!" Sirius shouted out. The wolf slowly walked in the air, closer to them, as they followed it with their eyes. They knew that this was a message and waited quietly for the wolf to talk.

"Dumbledore have, as of now, left the manor. I am contacting you and the Malfoys, and Arthur is telling Bill, Charlie, and is going home to tell the other boys. I'll be staying here to make sure that Dumbledore doesn't come back," Remus' voice came out of the wolf's open mouth. When the message finished the Patronus dissolve into the air.

"Well, fuck…"

"Harry!"

Luckily, everyone could make it the next day. Aunt Petunia and Dudley were the only ones, who were in on the plan, that wasn't there. They had decided to stay home when Remus had voiced his fears about them falling into magical traps. Arthur had managed to convince Molly that he was taking the boys for a "boys' day out", and both Bill and Charlie had managed to take the day off.

Finally, the last of the group arrived with a small "pop" and they began figuring out how to go about this.

The air was fresh, and they were standing in the middle of a forest, with nothing but trees in sight, for everyone but Harry. Everyone knew that the mansion was right in front of them, but no one but Harry could actually see it. If they looked hard enough, though, they could see a kind of mirage, like a ripple in the air, but nothing to indicate the mansion. If they had tried to pass through the mirage now, they would only have come out on the other side of the wards. It was like a better version of the wards on Grimmauld Place.

"How should we go about this?" Harry heard Ron ask.

"Well, Dumbledore have set up some detection wards," Remus said first, "so we can't go in before those have been dismantled, and we have to be careful to not alert Dumbledore." At that all the adults stepped forward, towards the mirage they could see, and the teens stepped back, knowing that only the adults had the knowledge to help.

Harry and the other teens found a place to sit down and wait for the adults to dismantle the detections spells. Fred and George were quick to place Harry between them.

"Okay, what is with this?" Ron suddenly voiced out, waving his hands at Harry, Fred, and George. He didn't sound angry, and he sat down opposite them, so Harry wasn't too scared for Ron's reaction.

That didn't mean Harry knew what to answer, though. "Ehh…" he began, "What do you mean?" was what he ended up saying, and Harry immediately wanted to facepalm at himself. 'What do you mean'? How stupid am I? Outwardly Harry still looked back at Ron with the innocence of a 3-year-old. Harry could almost hear Fred and George's amusement.

"Why are you and Fred and George so… so close, all of a sudden?" Ron said, he smirked as he paused, making Harry want to fade into the air.

"Whatever do -"

"-you mean? Oh brother -"

"-ours!" the twins answered before Harry could say anything. "We have -"

"-always been close -"

"-with Harry." They continued as they wrapped their arms around Harry and squeezed even closer, eliminating the remaining space that was between them. Harry could feel his cheeks heat up and hoped that he wasn't as red as he imagined.

Before Ron, still smirking, could continue his questioning, they saw the adults waving at them. Harry heard them calling for them, too. "Looks like they're finished," he said to the others as they all began to stand up and make their way back over to the adults. Harry heard Draco's mumbling, wondering how Harry had known, as his back was turned and none of the others had heard the adults calling either.

"Okay, so now that we have dismantled Dumbledore's detection wards," Lucius began telling the teens, "Harry have to go in and open the family wards," he finished as he made eye contact with Harry.

"As Harry is Lord Slytherin he has access to the mansion and can already pass through the wards, but the rest of us can't. Harry has to give us access," Severus said, maybe feeling the confusion radiating off of some of the teens. Harry took a deep breath as everyone turned to him; he didn't really like all these eyes on him. He knew that they wouldn't do anything to him, but attention had never been good for Harry. This is not Privet Drive. This is not Elementary school. And this is not Hogwarts. Harry was ejected from his thought by the sound of Severus voice; "All you have to do when you get inside, Harry, is to connect with the magic. After that it should be easy to allow us access," he told Harry gently.

Taking another deep breath, Harry nodded, "Okay, that shouldn't be too difficult," he said with a wry smile. "Well, see you all soon," he said before walking through the mirage, effectively disappearing for the others.

Harry walked through the grand gate, the metal hinges squeaking as he pushed them forward and out of the way. He looked around the garden, feeling like he had just entered a garden from the early 1800s, maybe a bit overgrown, but that just added to the charm. On a cobblestone path straight ahead was the entrance to the mansion and to both the left and the right of the path was multiple smaller paths leading through the garden to other smaller structures.

Having finished admiring the surrounding and taking a deep breath of the air, Harry began concentrating on the magic he felt surrounding him. The magic felt different from the presence the air gave of, while air was still air, magic felt like tiny bubbles mingling in the air. The magic was dense here, making the area slightly warmer. The magic twirled around him, making his hair move as if a breeze was blowing through. It didn't take long before Harry felt something snap into place, and Harry opened his eyes, not knowing when he closed them. He knew exactly what to do, the knowledge came to him together with the magic.

He turned around, looking at the people beyond the gate, they were standing right where he left them, talking, and waiting for him. Harry smiled, let's see… with a thought he changed the wards.

He saw when it took effect, it was instantaneously. The two had had their heads turned the other direction, but as a visible chill ran up their backs they turned around, and promptly gaped. Harry could see the confusion of the others at Fred and George's actions, and Harry let out a snort, and burst out laughing as Fred and George realized that only they could see.

Their eyes met his as they heard his laugh, but nobody else heard. So the wards stop sound also? Cool. Harry smiled and beckoned Fred and George to come. Fred and George already had the attention of everyone else as they began walking. Just as they were about to cross the mirage Harry once again changed the wards to allow the rest access. He saw the chills running up everyone's backs and the awe take over the confused looked they were all wearing as they finally saw the mansion.

"Harry, you prankster!" Fred and George yelled at him as they passed the gate, as their smiles and laugher bubbled over. Harry just smiled at them as they finally came up to him, once again positioning themselves on either side of him. The three of them waited for the rest to arrive, which didn't take that long considering they were at most ten meters away.

"Well," Severus began, "though you were being funny, now did you," he said, and though Harry couldn't see Severus smile, he heard the smug tone.

Before anyone could say anything, and Harry could see both Ron and Draco bristling up to attack and felt how Fred and George stiffened on either side of him, Harry answered, "Well, yes, actually," he smirked back at Severus. Immediately, Harry saw Ron and Draco stop, and their expressions morphed into confusion yet again.

Severus let out an audible sigh. "You really are your mother's son," Severus's face had taken on the wry smile that Harry had gotten used to over the last week. Harry smirk softened into a smile at what Severus said.

A hand landed on Severus' shoulder and Remus began talking, "Okay, boys. We have a schedule."

"That's right, let us go!" Arthur said and began walking towards the big entrance doors of the mansion. That kick-started the rest of them and soon all of them was in the entrance hall. "How are we doing this?" Arthur asked when the last person had arrived and closed the door. The murmurs began as soon as the question was asked, questions were asked, wants were voiced and wishes.

"We'll go in groups of three, with one group having to be two," Sirius said before a fight happened. Quickly groups were formed and given a part of the mansion to search. Everyone was quick to leave the entrance hall and begin.

"Do we have to?" Ron and Draco said at the same time. They, Percy and Harry, Fred, and George were the only groups left in the hall. Harry could understand them not wanting to be in the same group, because even if they had been under compulsions, they had still fought. Harry could understand that the pictures they had of each other were not flattering and that both Ron and Draco were scared of either having that picture reinforced, or themselves reverting back to how they were before. Harry had had the same fears at the beginning of the week, when he had learned that Severus would stay with them. "What if he didn't change? What if I didn't change?" were the thoughts going through his head for the first few days, but he also knew that avoidance would not solve anything.

"Yes, you two have been avoiding each other this whole time," Harry said as he turned to begin walking away, seeing that Fred and George had waited for him by the stairs to the second floor. They were already half-way up when they heard Percy take charge and guided his youngest brother and the blonde Slytherin through the arch in the wall to the left, which lead to a hallway.

Harry, Fred, and George made it to the second floor, before turning to the right. The left was being searched by Lucius, Narcissa, and Arthur, while Remus, Sirius, and Severus were searching the right-hand-side of the first floor, and Bill and Charlie had taken the middle of the first floor.

They all searched for hours, through every room, hidden or otherwise. They met up at the entrance hall again for lunch at some point, sharing what they had found. Bill and Charlie found a library filled with books on dark magick, and Severus told them about the room they found filed with dangerous herbs and plants. They all went back to searching after lunch, still having almost half of the mansion left to go through.

After many hours, and dinner, the whole mansion had been searched, and none of them had found Fabian, Gideon, or anyone else.

link to the site i used for the facts about Sylphs: https://themonsterblogofmonsters.tumblr.com/post/100945903814/sylph-elemental-air-fae-a-kind-of-elemental