Magic, unbound
It had been a month since Harry first crashed into this dimension. A month since he had moved in with Mr Pleasant -Skulduggery – Harry reminded himself. When Skulduggery found out what Harry had been calling him in his head, he had insisted on being called his first name. He hadn’t given a reason and Harry didn't pry. Thinking over everything that had happened in a month, Harry could confidently say things were so much better for him now than they were before.
The first night in Skulduggery's house had been weird. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but a normal house was not what he expected. Well, normal if you ignored the fact that every room was a type of sitting room. Other than the bathroom or kitchen, but Skulduggery explained that he just hadn’t gotten around to getting the kitchen repurposed yet. He had also showed Harry his favourite meditating chair, which reminded him to ask Skulduggery to teach him how to meditate.
It had only been a day showed him a room upstairs that had been redecorated into a bedroom for him. Apparently, with magic, a lot of general things could be completed much quicker than normal. But Harry didn’t care about that. He was too busy trying not to cry. He had never had his own room before. It wasn’t anything overly fancy and it was a little bare, as Skulduggery admitted he didn’t know much about Harry. That was fine, Harry didn’t know what he liked either. But Harry didn’t care in that moment, because he had a proper bed, and it was a double at that. It was huge! He also had an empty bookcase that he placed his sole book down on. He was absolutely adding to that later. He had a sturdy desk underneath the one window in the room too, with a comfy looking office chair tucked in. The room was still the rich red Skulduggery had before but Harry could change it later if he wanted.
After that, Harry was taken clothes shopping. Well, he was more dropped off at a shopping centre in Haggard while Skulduggery went to visit his friend, a man named Gordon about something to do with children. Skulduggery had said to go nuts and get, quite literally, whatever he wanted, shove his wallet into Harry’s hand and told him he would be back in four hours. Harry was pretty sure that Skulduggery just really hated clothes shopping, but shrugged it off.
Harry’s first stop was to find somewhere that sold very large suitcase, so he could store all his clothes without the need for multiple bags. He got quite lucky when he found a clothes store that sold suitcases. After grabbing a suitcase with wheels, he started pack looking through the clothes. After picking up enough underwear for 2 weeks, Harry decided he would also grab a few pairs of jogging bottoms and blue jeans. Harry was a bit stumped when it came to the tops though. He wasn’t what anyone would call fashionable, so he just grabbed a few t-shirts, jumpers and hoodies in random colours. Some had designs he didn’t recognise. What even was a Pokemon and why was there a fat yellow rat? Maybe something to look into.
After picking up 2 pairs of comfortable trainers, Harry made his way to the checkout to pay. He received an odd look from the lady behind the till, but luckily she didn’t say anything about someone so young paying for their own things.
When Harry finally left the shop, he was surprised to Skulduggery already waiting for him. There was another man with him. The man was clearly very angry having a hushed rant the skeleton, between Doctor Grouse and whoever this man was, Harry was starting to think that Skulduggery wasn’t very liked.
As Harry approached, he began to make out some of the mans hushed words “-could you be so stupid?...-even have a phone, he’s 6! At least if he was left at his house, he would have been safer, not like that would have been much better.” Harry was finally close enough to hear the last thing the man said, before the man finally noticed him.
“See? Perfectly safe.” Skulduggery said, as if proving a point.
The man shot Skulduggery one last glare before he turned to Harry. Instantly, the man’s face transformed. It was clear that this man wasn’t usually angry. He had laughter lines instead of frown marks and a smile that just seemed to naturally belong there.
“Heya, kid.” He said kindly. “I thought we’d come help with your shopping since this one-“ he jerked his thumb to point at Skulduggery, who almost seemed to be sulking, “thought that a 6 year old would be perfectly safe on his own in an unfamiliar place.”
“Oh” Harry said dumbly. He wasn’t used sure what to say. He was used to taking care of himself, and while this was the first time he had ever been shopping, he fully expected to deal with that himself too. “I managed clothes shopping by myself just fine though.”
“I don’t doubt that you did, but I wouldn’t dream of letting my niece out of my sight in somewhere like this.”
“Don’t you have 3 nieces?” Skulduggery cut in.
“I wouldn’t dream of letting my niece out of my sight in a place like this” Gordon repeated immediately. It seemed like a joke between them but Harry didn’t think it was funny. It hit a bit too close to home for him.
Gordon must have seen his distaste for the joke, because he quickly spoke up again. “One of my brothers and his beautiful wife, have a daughter, the same age as you actually, and she’s perfect. The daughter I never had but always wanted. She thinks for herself, doesn’t follow a crowd, likes my books and can’t stand bullies.” Gordon was grinning as he turned to Skulduggery. “She’s up to 9 detentions for that this year. I’d be worried if you two ever met. You’d both be unstoppable.”
“If she's even a tenth as brilliant as I am, I’d believe it.” Skulduggery said, with the utmost seriousness. That got a snort out of Harry and Gordon’s grin grew wider.
“Now, if you’re staying with this one-“ he pointed to Skulduggery, “-then that makes you my unofficial Godson. Which means I owe you a few presents for birthdays and Christmases we’ve missed.”
“You don’t need to do that, sir.” Harry said, feeling overwhelmed.
“Nonsense. Of course I do. You’re going to be family and you deserve nice things. Now come on. Let’s see if we can’t get you a TV and maybe a PlayStation. I hear that there are some really great games out at the moment.” He said with a wink. Harry, seeing there was no room for argument, nodded and followed along.
Shopping, after that became a whirlwind. Harry was brought far too many things for his liking. The only thing he asked for was textbooks for school, as he didn’t want to fall behind if he had to a new one. Gordon had taken that, and brought him all the textbooks he would need end of his 8th year of school. That was 6 years away! He wasn’t even sure he wanted to go back, but when he voiced that opinion, Gordon simply shrugged and said he could take the required tests without attending school and study in his free time, if that was what he wanted.
Harry was also brought the promised TV and PlayStation2. He wasn’t too sure he would want it but Gordon had brought him a few games that he thought would be “inspirational”. He would give them a try anyway, he wouldn’t waste the man’s money when he was so insistent on spending it on Harry. What Harry was most interested in were the books though. Gordon had given him a small stack of books, winked, and then walked off to look at some books in the fantasy section. When Harry looked at them, he rolled his eyes. All of them were written by Gordon himself, which did mean that their might be clues on some magic in them, if he looked hard enough.
Finally, Gordon dragged them to a small café, to order a lunch. “Skulduggery here forgets us mere mortals need to eat and drink to survive. So, tell me a bit about yourself? Don’t feel like you have to. I just want to get to know you.”
Harry stalled by nibbling on his sandwich. Honestly, Harry was trying to learn stuff about himself too. He didn’t have a favourite anything so far. His only interest was magic at the moment but that couldn’t be spoken about in public. He supposed he could say a bit about his past, if he didn’t go into too much detail. Besides, Gordon was trustworthy if he was friends with Skulduggery, right?
“Honestly, there isn’t much to say. I wasn’t allowed to do anything fun or interesting before. Um, I know how to cook pretty well. My aunt and uncle didn’t seem to think so, but they always ate it all so it must have been decent at least? Uh, I really want to learn how to meditate. Doctor Grouse gave me a book and I might be able to do the really basic stuff if I get good enough.”
Gordon, who had been frowning slightly before then, suddenly had a glint in his eye. “Oh? And what was the book about?”
Harry lowered his voice to a whisper, conscious of the other people in the café. “Druid magic. To do with animals and stuff. Apparently anyone with even the smallest amount of potential can speak to any one kind of animal and transform into an animal that best suits them. I need to learn how to meditate to, uh, understand myself. Or something like that, I think. I haven’t read more than the first two pages because it’s been so busy.”
“I can imagine.” Gordon said, equally as quiet. “Travelling dimensions, learning about magic. Having to adapt to the massive time difference. I was a teenager in the mid-eightys. I know how much has changed here so I can only assume how different it must be for you.”
“Not really, I was never allowed out much. I think I was only sent to school, was because the neighbours had seen me gardening for my aunt.
The table was quiet for a few minutes as Gordon and Harry finished their food. “Well, it was lovely to meet you. We’ll probably be seeing plenty of each other, I hope you’ll show me plenty of whatever you learn” Gordon said. “And let me know when you pick a name. Not having anything to call you is maddening” He winked and then he was gone.
As they were walking to the car, Harry looked at Skulduggery. “You were really quiet.”
“Was I? I thought I was perfectly chatty.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Not even slightly. I’m just debating whether or not to take you to China’s library.”
“China? The person who lent Doctor Grouse the book that wizard wrote?”
“The very same. In fact, that book is the reason why I think we should go. China isn’t likely to let it out of her library without a good exchange.”
“But there’s more to it?”
“She is only ever out for herself. I don’t know if you meeting her yet is a good idea. But that book could be vital to you and your training.”
“Well, why not wait until I have my first lesson with Mrs Crow? She said I was meant to try and get shadows to form in my hand, but I have no idea how to do that.”
Skulduggery looked around as they approached his car. Seeing no-one around, he squatted to Harry’s height and held his hand out, palm facing up. “I can’t teach you necromancy, but I can teach you elemental magic. The easiest two, are air and fire. In my experience anyway. Imagine pooling magic into your hand” Skulduggery said, motioning for Harry to copy him. “You won’t see anything, but you might feel a bit of pressure under your skin. That will be your magic waiting for a release. How that happens is up to you. For air manipulation, you need to focus on how the air around your hand connects before manipulating it. Like this, “Skulduggery said as he curved his hand before snapping it flat, sending a small gust of wind upwards. It was enough to ruffle Harry’s hair and make him wobble. He could see if that was made stronger, it could really hurt someone. But that didn’t change the fact that it was still pretty damn cool.
Harry tried to mimic Skulduggery by trying to pool his magic and feel for how the air connected with his hand. He could feel something, almost ghostly, touching his skin. Harry quickly realised he could feel the air around his hand, but it was fleeting, as the feeling quickly vanished. “That was a good first attempt. I could clearly see when you felt the air, but you quickly lost focus on your magic when you did. You need to be able to learn how to manipulate the magic in your body as easily as you breathe. That will take time so don’t be upset that you didn’t get it first time.”
Harry shook his head. Skulduggery had seen right through him, he was getting frustrated already. He took a deep breathe and let it out slowly. Growing up with the Dursleys had taught him a few ways on how to keep to stop himself having outbursts, that would only lead to more punishments or beatings. It wouldn’t always work but it was better than nothing.
Skulduggery nodded when Harry looked back to him. “Fire is easier to make results but harder for those results to matter. What you saw with air manipulation was one of the weakest results one can get. This is fire’s weakest.” The skeleton then clicked his fingers and Harry saw a spark of all things. “I’ll do that again, but this time I’ll continue to feed my magic into it.”
Harry watched with wide eyes as Skulduggery clicked his fingers again. Harry saw the spark for the briefest of moments, before it quickly grew into a small fireball. Skulduggery then gently threw the fireball to the pavement a few feet away, where it harmlessly splashed against the concrete and faded into nothing, leaving behind the smallest of scorch marks.
Harry was in awe. This. This was magic. What he saw was clearly the weakest it could be but, it was still. So. Cool! Harry quickly shook himself out of his awe and tried to pool his magic into his hand. He could feel the pressure build just below the surface of his skin and readied his hand to click his fingers. He kept his eyes locked on his hand and he continued to focus his magic. Holding that build up of magic, he clicked his fingers and was rewarded with a brilliant spark. It was just the spark, as seeing it shocked him into losing focus, but he had done it. He had done magic!
Skulduggery’s voice broke through his internal celebration. “Well done, Harry.” He said, as he ruffled Harry’s hair. And Harry beamed.
------------‐------------------------------------------------Scene break--------------------------------------------------------------
A week after the shopping incident, Harry finally had his lesson with Mrs Crow. She had appeared from a black mass that had appeared in Skulduggery’s main sitting room. Skulduggery, who had been reading over some reports he had been given, merely sighed, got up, said “good luck” and walked out of the house, taking his reports with him.
Mrs Crow, who had her hood down today, merely raised an eyebrow before turning to Harry. “He doesn’t cope well when he isn’t working. He likes to be busy. Come along, we will have to go somewhere more secluded, if we are to train your necromancy.” And with that, she opened another portal and stepped through. Harry took a moment to study the portal, seeing it as thick and inky black as he remembered his being. Harry squared his shoulders and walked into the darkness. The inside of the portal wasn’t what Harry expected. He had expected to fall, or feel the thick shadows against his skin. He felt none of that. The inside was as black as he expected, but he could see the end of the tunnel only a few feet away. There was a clearly visible pathway to walk on between the portals, being a more purple-black, rather than the normal thick, inky black that he had seen before.
Having studied the inside of the portal, Harry quickly hurried through to the other side. Mrs Crow was stood only a few feet away from the portal, looking intently at Harry. Finally being able to get a good look at her face, Harry realised she didn’t look nearly as old as he first assumed. She had black hair, with greying streaks running randomly through it. Her face was slightly aged, with the first sign of wrinkles showing around her face. Her piercing grey eyes had a strong firmness to them, as if staring straight into Harry’s soul, assessing his very being.
“How did my portal differ from yours?” she asked in a stern, no nonsense tone.
“Um, yours had a bridge between the entrance and the exit. The darkness seemed to stay away from me. With mine, I just fell for ages until I reached the end but the shadows were touching me the whole way through. I don’t know if that’s because I crossed dimensions though...” Harry replied. He didn’t know if he was wrong but it wasn’t like he knew anything about magic in the first place.
“I see” she said after a moment. Harry took the opportunity to look around the area. They were at the edge of an old cemetery. There was a light fog, making it difficult to see too far, but he could see there were quite a few headstones that went passed nearby, that continued on for a while passed the fog. The other side led to a forest, which was where the fog was rolling in from.
“Can you tell me a bit about Necromancy? How it works and how to use it? I tried collecting shadows like you told me too, but I just couldn’t seem to get it.” Harry asked. He really had tried with both elemental magic and necromancy, but other than the spark for his fire element, he wasn’t having any luck.
“Very well. Necromancy magic, takes it’s strength from the life force that sustains everything that lives. This is not limited to people and animals, but wildlife and magic itself. When a young necromancer is born, they will be raised in a place where they will naturally be around a lot of subtle death. This used to be the higher levels of the only necromancy temple in Ireland, where they would constantly change out plants and old animals to live out their final days of life, surrounded by the children that were being indoctrinated at the time. This allowed them to naturally absorb the life energy that was released in the final days of the plant or animal’s life cycle. At the moment of death, the highest amount of life energy is released, but as this was a natural death, the amount is reduced enough to not negatively harm the children absorbing the energy. This was the safest way to find out if the children born to the temple would have the natural potential to become proficient in the art of necromancy. Any who struggled, would not be trained in the art and be cast out. You need to understand that necromancy is not something that just anyone can learn, and those who have no natural aptitude for the subject should not even attempt it. The magical pathways that draw in magic can be damaged if the trainee tries to force the life energy through their system and will suffer horrible consequence, such as the loss of the ability to channel magic, to severe mental issues, to even death. I tell you this as this is one of the first lessons that any necromancer, that wasn’t born to the Irish temple, should learn, as to not to try and teach any of those without the natural aptitude to learn.”
Harry had been silent whilst listening to the stern woman's words. He was pretty disgusted with how necromancy magic was powered, even if it did make sense. It still wouldn’t stop him learning it though. This was the biggest part of himself, the part that he was supposed to be best with. He wouldn’t turn away from it. Something inside of him seemed to unfurl at that mental declaration, and he felt himself relax slightly. Mrs Crow had been studying him the whole time he had been silent, seemingly waiting for a reaction. When she got none, she continued.
“The way that initiates are tested, is usually by handing them a training focus, which will cause an instant manifestation of their magic. The effect will vary from person to person, directly in line with their potential in the art. This can either be the size the shadows form, to what item is made to indicate what style of focus suits the user. For myself, it is my cloak, and as it is nearly the size of myself, my potential is quite large.”
Harry nodded, that made sense. But one thing was niggling at him. “Sorry to interrupt, but everything I’ve heard or read goes on about potential, yet sorcerers have a something called the Surge, which locks them into the branch of magic they have used most. Why is potential so important when, someone could choose to be an Elemental user even if they would be better suited to a different branch of magic?”
Mrs Crow seemed frustrated with the interruption for a moment, but didn’t comment on it. “Well, usually sorcerers prefer to follow the branch they find easiest, or simply don’t try other branches once they start learning another. Some just stick with the first magic they tried. Very few seek out necromancy due to its close link with death and dark magic, for example. The biggest reason people should care however, is that some people will be able to use multiple branches of magic. It’s incredibly rare, to the point that hardly anyone bothers to even try other magic after their surge. And then there are the final group, who just want to learn some of every branch magic, as for some sorcerers, after the surge, they are still able to access the basics of other branches that they tried. There is also the fact that there are spells that originate from different branches of magic that anyone can use. For example, the reflection spell, which creates a duplicate of the user from a mirror image, is taken from an adept branch where the main ability to those with high potential can move through solid objects. Those of the highest potential, will be able to travel through reflective surfaces themselves. Though this is a branch that hasn’t had a sorcerer of high potential seen since the 300 year war. Does this answer your question?”
“So the more potential someone has in a branch, the more obscure abilities they will have with it? And spells from different branches can still be used by those after the Surge?”
“In very basic terms, yes. I know this might not apply to you, since you’re a wizard. From what Kenspecle told me, you should always be able to access any branch of magic, just without going past the basics in a lot of cases?”
Harry thought back to the crystal that tested his magical potential, he should be able to use a decent amount from a wide variety of magic, and barely scratch the surface of others, like druid or emotion manipulating. “Yes, though my necromancy magic is by far my best branch, I should be very good with all the elements, along with other branches that Doctor Grouse didn’t recognise.”
Mrs Crow nodded “now, lets move on to the practical part of the lesson. Show me what you have been able to achieve this week.”
Harry raised his hand and tried to pool his magic in his hand, like he would do when practicing his elemental magic, but focused on forming shadows around his hand like a glove. Unfortunately, like every time he tried before, nothing happened.
Mrs Crow spoke up, after Harry lowered his hand in defeat. “How are you trying to form the shadows?”
“I was pooling my magic in my hand and focusing on forming a shadow glove over my hand.”
Mrs Crow frowned for a moment, and pulled a small black orb from her pocket. “Usually, this is used to test the potential in sorcerers for necromancy. It was always assumed that was the only function. I wonder if it also helps aid in helping get a ‘feel’ for the life energy that is used to channel it. Your attempt was correct, but you were trying to channel your magic only. The life energy you would have naturally absorbed should flow with it when using necromancy. Hold this, and try and channel shadows through it.”
Harry gently took the orb. As soon as it touched his skin, he felt a wave of coldness pass through him. It wasn’t uncomfortable, if anything, it felt like it had always been there, only being unnoticed until now. Now that he could feel it though, he felt complete. Like half of him had been locked away and was finally free. He could feel his magic and life energy flowing all throughout his body, from the tips of his hair, to the ends of his toes. He didn’t realise it before, maybe it was because he had always felt somewhat subdued, but now he felt alive and free.
Harry placed the orb back into Mrs Crow’s hand. He raised his hand in a fist and focus his magic and the life energy he had absorbed throughout his life, and pictured an inky black orb surrounding his fist. The moment he had focused on creating the orb, it sprang into existence. Harry smiled at his magical creation, before opening his hand, and manipulating the shadows into long tendrils, coming from each finger.
“Incredible” Mrs Crow uttered softly, voice full of awe. That was quickly replaced by a ferocious rage. “Some bastard dared to seal your magic and life energy away. The damage that would have caused if left would have been crippling.” Her voice never raised, but it was a cold fury that flowed with her words, that Harry on edge. He could see why she had been appointed as one of the elders, if the raw power flowing from her was any indication.
Mrs Crow took a deep breath and slowly released it. As she did, Harry could feel her magic receding back into her. Once she had calmed down, she spoke once more. “I don’t think there is much I will be able to teach you, you seem to have a natural grab of manipulating your shadows. I would like to still have a few more times to go over necromancy techniques and uses. I believe you will have better luck experimenting with your powers and seeing what works.”
“Thank you, Mrs Crow. Can you teach me how to Shadow travel at least, before we end today?”
“That is simple, just focus your shadows into creating a sort of door from where you are, to where you want to go. It may be easier to focus on a person, rather than a place if you can’t visualise the place well enough, and once you feel a connection between the two places form, step through. Unless you intentionally make a corridor between points, it will be a single step through.”
Harry aimed his hand to his side, and willed the shadows to form a portal. It took a bit more concentration than he was expecting, but he soon felt the connection between places lock in.
“Thank you for the lesson, Mrs Crow. I’ll see you next month!” Harry called out, as he dove head first through his portal and landed straight on to his bed. Neither Harry, nor Morwenna noticed the man, hidden behind the trees.
Harry let the connection snap and the portal disappear. He could feel the drain in his magic already lessening as he lay on his bed, going over everything he learnt. All he knew, was a trip to Doctor Grouse was in order, to see if he had any subconscious memories to explain why his magic had been bound.
Harry heard the front door open and close, so he went down to tell Skulduggery what he learnt. Maybe even impress him with his necromancy.
------------‐------------------------------------------------Scene break--------------------------------------------------------------
For the next 3 weeks, Harry spent most of his time practicing his magic. His necromancy, as Mrs Crow predicted, he had no problems with. Sure, there were techniques and abilities that he didn’t know about, but anything he tried to make worked within reason. Anything physical, he could create, as long as he could picture it. He could make a fog of shadow to obscure people, which he did once to prank Skulduggery. He could even make a board out of shadow that he could ride around on. He wasn’t sure enough in his powers to test how high he could go, or how fast, but it was something he planned to practise when he was older, or at least more experienced.
His other magic that he had tried had more varied success. Air and fire manipulation was going very well. He was now able to feel and manipulate air almost as well as Skulduggery already. Skulduggery wasn’t that surprised though. While he was proud of Harry’s quick progress, after seeing his potential crystals and knowing how easy air manipulation was to learn, he had expected Harry to pick it up quickly. Not as quick as he did, but not too far off.
Fire manipulation was his other big success, though he still had control issues. He often found himself pouring far too much magic into the sparks, causing a flamethrower like effect. Skulduggery had admitted that nearly all elementals, himself included, never really thought to get creative with their magic, so Harry would probably have a lot of success with new ways on how to use them.
Skulduggery had explained how water manipulation worked. Taking water molecules from the atmosphere and condensing it to actual water. The only uses that Skulduggery had as examples was to make it rain on Harry and then dry him after by collecting all the water off of him and dispersing it back into the atmosphere. He also mentioned that in large bodies of water, he could compact the water further under his feet so that he could walk on the surface.
This all gave Harry ideas but so far, all Harry had been able to do was make a small puddle and disperse it again. He wasn’t too upset though, he was trying to learn a lot of magic and had come a long way in a small amount of time.
The only elements Harry was barred completely from practising completely for the time being was, earth, lightning and ice. Earth was a completely defensive technique that turned the user to stone and Skulduggery didn’t want Harry to do that accidentally. Lightning was also off the table, at least until Harry completely understood how electricity worked, which was enough incentive to keep up with his normal school work, for the most part.
Ice was the only element Harry was allowed to try, but only after he had better control over fire and water manipulation. Skulduggery had explained that ice was the absence of heat, so more fire control could only help and since ice was made of frozen water, being more skilled in water manipulation could only help. Harry thought Skulduggery was just getting payback for the shadow fog prank he had pulled though.
The only other magic he had practiced, was his druidic magic. He had asked Skulduggery for help with his meditating, and had finally had a small breakthrough with being able to settle his emotions and thoughts since his lesson with Mrs Crow. He had even bitten the bullet and asked Gordon to take him to the zoo, to see if he could understand any animals there. Gordon had turned up at Skulduggery’s house within the hour, incredibly excited to take Harry out for the day, and had been suitably impressed in Harry’s progression in his magic.
The day at the zoo had been fun for Harry, as he had never been before and found he really enjoyed Gordon’s company. Gordon was surprisingly knowledgeable about most of the animals, which he had explained that he would often research random things for his books. He was also quite funny and laidback and had managed to get Harry to not see the day out as research, but as a day off, albeit one where he might learn something about himself.
He had also found what he was looking for. When he and Gordon had entered the reptile enclosure, Harry had heard far more voices than there were people. It turned out he could talk to possibly every type of reptiles. Some were harder to understand than others, almost like they had accents but he could still understand what they were saying. When he first tried to tell Gordon that he understood reptiles, Gordon had burst out laughing. Apparently, speaking reptile sounded and felt exactly the same to Harry, so all he had done was hiss in various different ways at Gordon. It did come with the unintended conversation with a Komodo Dragon. It had possibly the strongest accent but was still interesting to talk to. Apparently, speaking to animals was one of the rarest talents to have, according to Gordon. This had all resulted in Gordon practically begging to let him get Harry a pet reptile for his birthday. Harry had said yes, but only if he could pick it out. He didn’t want to get a pet he could understand and it be boring or mean.
His only attempt at finding his animal form had resulted in just an image of the colour black. He wasn’t sure if he had failed or if his animal was black. It was frustrating but not everything he tried would be an instant success.
Turning his thoughts to the present, Harry exited his meditation. He had been meditating over everything he had learnt and achieved over the past month to help him with two very important decisions. The first was whether or not to ask Doctor Grouse to using him memory viewer to learn more about his parents and any other family he may have had. He also wanted to see if he could find who had bound his magic. He had been putting it off, as he had no intention on returning to his old dimension. The problem was, it was bugging him. Someone had tried to hurt him so deeply and he knew it couldn’t have been his aunt and uncle, but maybe it was someone who betrayed his family? Or whoever it was that left him with the Dursleys in the first place?
The other thing that was bugging him, was that he knew their was at least one book written by a wizard, about wizardry. He even knew who owned it, but Skulduggery was really apprehensive about letting Harry meet this China Sorrows. He would just have to bite the bullet and convince him.
Finally making his decision, Harry headed downstairs to talk to Skulduggery and get breakfast. It was usually the best time to catch the detective anyway, as Skulduggery finally couldn’t bring himself to stay off work for any longer when their were mysteries to be solved and bad guys to take down. Skulduggery’s words, not Harrys.
Bringing his cereal into the main sitting room, Harry saw Skulduggery going over some newer reports. “Anything good?” Harry asked. Honestly, Harry thought that being a detective was pretty cool. Solving mysteries and murders, as morbid as it was, it was fun to Harry. Putting all the clues together and catching the person responsible was fulfilling in a way Harry couldn’t describe. The fighting sounded less fun, but Harry hadn’t practised hand to hand fighting, and had only been on the receiving end of beatings before. Safe to say, that part wasn’t as appealing.
“A tablet of unknown origin has been stolen from the archaeologists that were trying to translate it. They were halfway done too. There was a ritual about draining a sorcerer of their magic and transferring it to the conductor of the ritual. Pretty dark stuff. What are your plans for today? Are you finally going to see Grouse? He’s been on my case about you, you know.” The last part Skulduggery said whilst look directly into his eyes. That was the intention, Harry thought.
“I’ll go see him either today or tomorrow. Depends on if you can do something for me.” Harry replied, after eating a big mouthful of cereal.
“You want to read that wizard book.” Skulduggery said, suddenly far more serious.
“Yes, I know you say that we can’t trust China-“
“Because we can’t”
Harry huffed but he didn’t say anything. He had heard before how she would do anything to get what she wanted, and would only do something if it benefited her in someway.
“But I can’t just ignore that I’m a wizard and not a sorcerer. Yes I can use sorcery, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t at least look at what was written. For all we know, I might not be able to read it and Doctor Grouse has already gotten everything we are ever going to get out of it.”
Skulduggery was quiet for a few minutes. Harry was beginning to think that he had slipped into his meditation to think. It wouldn’t be the first time, but it would mean that Harry would be waiting a while for him to come out of it. Luckily it was only around ten minutes before Skulduggery spoke up.
“Grab your coat, and remember-“
“Don’t tell anyone my name, don’t tell anyone my main branch of magic and don’t trust China. I know.”
Skulduggery nodded and headed to the car, whilst Harry ran for his trainers and jacket.
An hour later, and they were pulling up in a seedy car park, full of graffiti and rubbish laying around the place. It really was grim. Skulduggery lead Harry to an apartment complex and up a flight of stairs. They walked up to a door, ignoring all the ones without door handles, and knocked. A panel opened up and a weedy looking man in a mask looked out for a minute. He clearly recognised Skulduggery but frowned at Harry. The man then closed the panel and opened the door, moving aside to allow them to enter.
Harry was amazed at the inside of the apartment. The whole floor and those above had been transformed into a massive library! Skulduggery led a still amazed Harry through a maze of bookcase, seemingly at random, before coming out at a small alcove. Sitting in a regal looking armchair, that was really more of a throne, sat a young looking woman with glossy black hair, and a face that anyone would call beautiful. Harry felt there was something off about her but couldn’t put his finger on it.
“And here I thought you would never come” the lady spoke.
“Yes, well I have more important things on my list, but I finally had time” Skulduggery replied, he seemed relaxed in this person’s presence, but not with his guard down.
“Well I’m glad you found the time.” The lady said, before turning her eyes to Harry and cooing in an annoyingly fake voice. “And who’s this little cutie?”
The off feeling Harry had felt in the woman’s presence increased and Harry found himself getting frustrated quickly with whatever the woman was doing.
“Whatever it is you’re doing, can you stop? It’s really annoying.” Harry said trying to sound polite, but clearly failing.
The lady frowned, “stop what, sweetie?” and the feeling intensified further.
Harry’s skin was crawling with repulsion as he could physically feel tendrils of magic trying to probe at him. He took a deep breath and slowly released it to calm down and assess what kind of magic she was using. Going off of his own reaction, he could tell that his own emotions were being poked around with. For whatever reason, he could quite easily resist the manipulation.
Harry looked the woman straight in the eyes and reigned in his emotions. “Stop trying to manipulate my emotions. I’m not sure what you’re aiming to make me feel, but clearly, it isn’t working. It is taking a lot out of me not to get very angry with you, so please just stop.” As Harry spoken, the woman’s eyes widened, before she seemed to regain control of her surprise.
Skulduggery on the other hand, clearly wasn’t trying hard to hold back how he felt. “Oh kid, that was hilarious.” He chuckled, and the woman’s face went red in frustration. “I don’t think I ever heard of anyone completely resisting China before” he continued, still chuckling.
The woman- China- seemed to regain her composure. “Yes, well, I suppose it was going to happen at some point in life. We do live long enough that it was never an impossibility. Still, a child. How embarrassing.”
“Look, we came here to borrow something. Can we just move past this for a bit? I have other things I want to do today.” Harry broke in. China didn’t seem malicious, but his first impression of her didn’t exactly warm him to her either.
“And what might be, Mr....?”
“Merlin’s book on wizardry. And you can learn my name after I pick one.”
“And what would a child like you, need a priceless artefact like that for?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was for a school project?” Harry snarked. This woman, intentionally or not, just irritated him.
“Well, I can certainly let you take a look, but it will be as useless to you, as it has so many others.” China then turned to the table next to her and tapped a symbol Harry could just make out in the wood. A moment later, the masked man who let them in, walked up to China.
“Please bring Merlin’s book to my apartment.” She told the man. As he hurried off, she waved Harry and Skulduggery to follow her.
Trailing behind slightly, Harry whispered to Skulduggery, “You were worried that I would end up under her magic, weren’t you?”
“Everyone does, it just fades over time” the skeleton whispered back.
“So, do you think I’m immune to emotion magic, or do you think the result just ended up all mixed up?”
“It’s hard to say, we will probably never know because it isn’t something that we will be able to test it.”
“Because the emotion magic is rarely used?”
“That and it’s far too subtle for most people. Most people like flashy.”
“Is that why you became an elemental? To show off?”
“Do you really think I would do that?”
“Absolutely”
Skulduggery hummed in a non-committal way as they approached the door China was opening. Inside, the room was bathed in ancient books and priceless treasures. Even the furniture look regal and expensive. A book was already waiting for them on the table, and Harry approached carefully. It looked ancient, yet sturdy. The pages, yellow with age but the cover and spine, bound in intact leather. Harry immediately felt a draw to the book, as if he knew untold secrets lay inside.
China’s soft voice broke through his trance. “I will make you the same deal that I have made everyone else who asks for this book. If you can somehow read it, I want you to write down a translation, word for word.”
Harry narrowed his eyes at her. That could potentially disastrous if any dangerous information stored in this book got to the wrong people. But this could also be his only way to learn wizardry. He didn’t really have a choice. Nodding, he opened the first page and grinned. He could read it.
“It’s a journal. Merlin’s notes on the differences between sorcery and wizardry.” Harry flicked through some pages. “Different branches of magic unique to wizards. Spells and rituals he developed. Some magic objects he created. I think I’ll have to check with Doctor Grouse to see if any were hidden from him.”
Harry looked up to see China stunned. “Oh yes, did I mention that I’m a wizard. Let me tell you, travelling between dimensions, kind of peaceful, in my experience.”
China quickly shook herself out of her shock and looked at Harry with a new-found respect. “I trust you will keep to your end of the bargain?”
Harry nodded, “I will, but I will be editing out parts that I feel are better left a secret. I don’t want to be the reason some mega death weapon gets made.”
China pouted but didn’t argue. Apparently she could be reasonable, with the right incentive.
Skulduggery spoke up, “Well if that’s everything, we should go. A pleasure doing business with you.”
China seemed reluctant to let them, or the book leave. She sighed and looked at Harry. “Don’t be a stranger, I would love to discuss that book with you from time to time.”
Harry nodded, he may not like her, or her magic, he wasn’t sure which, but he wouldn’t alienate her. If only to have access to the library and any other information it may hold.
As they were leaving, Harry spoke up. “Was that anything like how you thought that would go?”
They both passed a man in black robes on the stairs as Skulduggery replied, “Not in the slightest. It was a very pleasant surprise.”
“Was that a pun? Because if it was it was awful.”
“I thought it was rather brilliant.”
Just as they were leaving through the door, Harry felt like something was watching him, but as he turned to look around, he saw nothing but an empty corridor and stairwell, missing the man hiding in the shadows, watching him.
------------‐------------------------------------------------Scene break--------------------------------------------------------------
Skulduggery dropped Harry of at the Hibernian cinema an hour later. He had said he had a lead to follow up on the stolen tablet case, but Harry thought that he just didn’t want to have his good mood ruined by Doctor Grouse chewing him out for something. Harry could have shadow travelled here, but he did like riding around in the old Bentley. It was such a nice car. Better than the car Vernon had. That thing had been horrible. Harry remembered the rant Vernon used to have, about how “proper British Leyland cars couldn’t be beat”, but his car would struggle to make it to their destination and back after the first year of owning it.
Harry quickly shook off the memory. While Vernon’s delusions could be humorous in hindsight, he didn’t want to dwell on those times. He was in this dimension now and was happy with where his life was heading. Harry quickly walked through the halls of the cinema, to the room that held the projector showing Doctor Grouse’s lab. Briskly walking through the screen, that never stopped being cool to Harry, he worked his way through the pristine lab’s corridors to find Doctor Grouse. It didn’t take him long to find him in his main lab, tinkering with a new metal stick. What this one would do, Harry wasn’t sure.
Knocking on the door, the good doctor looked up and gave Harry a small nod and turned back to his work. Taking the nonverbal permission to enter, Harry approached Grouse, studying his work to try and guess what it would do. He had no idea, other than “something medical, maybe”.
“It’s good to see you, Harry” the doctor said, after finishing whatever it was he was doing.
“It’s nice to see you too. I would have come by sooner but-“
“You finally had success with your magic. Morwenna mentioned something had been blocking your magic. It’s a surprise you’re alive at all with how much must have been outside of your reach. None of my scans even picked up on them. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find them Harry.”
Harry waved him off. “Don’t be silly. None of us had any reason to think that anything was wrong. But I think it was more than just my magic being bound.”
“Oh? What makes you think that?” Doctor Grouse asked, judging by his face though, he had a few ideas.
“When the ‘bindings’ broke, it wasn’t just my magic and life energy I felt. I felt less suppressed. Like half of had been locked away, out of reach. I can think more clearly, meditate easier, feel and control my emotions better. I can also remember more and in more detail, I’m more confident and I might be a bit smarter? That one could just be the better memory though.”
“It sickens me that someone could do that to such a small child. I assume you want to go through some of your subconscious memories to see if you can find out who did it?”
“If possible, I know you said I need to focus on something I remember, and then your viewer would dig out the rest of my memory, but is there anyway to scan my mind for memories on specific people?”
“That might work if you can remember the person, but I couldn’t be certain unless we try it.”
“Brilliant. Can we start? I get the feeling this is going to be a very long afternoon.”
After hooking Harry up to the viewer, Doctor Grouse explained that he had updated it. There was no and small black panel that had a few labelled symbols on it. The symbols made the panel work as a form of remote for the viewer, letting Harry pause and play the memory, rewind or fast forward through it, or end it early. Harry still had to focus on something he could only vaguely remember, which had gotten easier now since the bindings broke.
The first vague memory he focused on was of flying through the air on a flying motorcycle with a very, very big man. He was almost sure this one was a dream, but no. The giant man was real.
The memory had started with baby Harry waking up and staring at a man with a bushy black beard and sad beady black eyes. It took him a while to notice baby Harry was awake, as he seemed to be distracted by something while walking. When he finally noticed that baby Harry was awake, he smiled sadly at him. “I’m so sorry ‘arry. Your folks were good’uns. Some o’ the best.” He said in a deep gruff voice with a strong accent Harry couldn’t place.
Harry sped up the memory as the man walked, it was taking a while and nothing interesting was happening, until they entered the most magnificent castle. Harry resumed the memory at normal speed when an older looking woman in an old fashioned nurse’s outfit came rushing towards them. She took baby Harry into her arms and rushed through the castle to a medical wing. Harry was pretty sure he had seen portraits move and talk, but he couldn’t be sure.
The nurse pulled out a wand and waved it over baby Harry, frowning and muttering as she did. Not after she had finished, what Harry assumed were scans, an old man in ridiculously bright robes and a long, grey beard walked in and had a hushed conversation with the nurse. He could hear what was being said, but she didn’t look happy. The man pulled out his wand and a small flash of light left it and struck the nurse. Harry saw her body and face relax, as the man seemed to bustled off out of the room leaving Harry with the man.
The old man turned to baby Harry, and Harry could see the almost victorious look on the man’s face. He walked up to baby Harry with his wand point and him. “Marked as his equal indeed.” The man said. “That scar is going to be famous. When Voldemort returns, and he will, he will hunt you down, and you will die for the greater good.” The man rambled quietly. “Whatever you did tonight, cannot be repeated. He will need to kill you, for neither can live while the other survives. And once you’re gone, I will end him, and this nightmare will be over.” Looking directly in baby Harry’s eyes, the man almost seemed saddened. But then he pointed his wand between baby Harry’s eyes and many different coloured light struck baby Harry. Harry could feel phantom sensations as he watched the flashing lights. The very first one had blurred the screen harshly. Clearly that one damaged his eye sight. The next made his bones and muscles feel weak. From there, each coloured flash made him feel more and more hollow and disconnected with himself and the world around him.
When the lights finally ended, Harry felt drained. This had happened to Harry years ago but seeing it happen, he could almost feel it happening again. It hurt. It hurt to have his magic bound. It hurt to have been almost blinded. It hurt to be made physically weak. Never again. Harry didn’t want power. This man was clearly powerful, and he was mad with it. Thinking he could manipulate Harry’s life like it was his own little game. No, power made people like him. Harry wanted strength. Strength to defend himself and those he cared for. Strength to stop bad people doing bad things. The strength to do the right thing.
Harry turned his attention back to his replaying memory, as the man cast one final spell on baby Harry and seemed pleased with his work. “Just enough magic accessible to still be accepted” the man muttered. He then picked baby Harry up, and Harry felt disgust roll through him. How dare he touch him.
Before the old man could leave the medical wing, the doors burst open. A man with long black hair and stylish facial hair was panting, clearly having run the whole way here. After the man caught his breath, he looked at the old man and then to baby Harry. Harry could see his own baby arms reaching for the new man. “Pa’foo!” his baby self cried.
The man smiled down at baby Harry and went to take him, but the old man pulled away. The man scowled. “Hand me my son, Dumbledore. I won’t ask again.” The man growled.
“Harry is Lily and James’ child, Sirius.” The old man said, as if speaking to a child.
“They made me his Godfather. They trusted me to take him in if anything happened to them!” The man’s voice broke when he shouted the last part. “James was my brother, in everyway that mattered! They agreed to the blood adoption! You know that makes him as much mine in blood, as much as he is theirs! He’s a Black! As much as he is a Potter!”
Harry committed the man’s face to memory. If he was telling the truth, he wanted to see if he could remember anymore about him.
The man was pulling his wand out, but the older man struck first and a light splashed against Sirius. Sirius instantly went slack and the old man started to speak. “You will hunt down Pettigrew. It will be your biggest goal in life to kill him. Even more important to you than Harry. You will not look for Harry, even if you manage to hunt Peter down.” Sirius’ eyes cleared and didn’t say anything as his face contorted in rage and he ran off.
The memory warbled a bit, and suddenly cut to baby Harry being passed to the giant man again. “Take him to his aunt in Surrey, Hagrid. She is his only family he has. She will take care of him. I’ll meet you there.” There was a soft pop and the old man disappeared.
The giant man, Hagrid, looked down at baby Harry. The amount of care the man had for him was clear on his face. “Don’t worry ‘Arry. Professor Dumbledore knows best. If he says you’ll safe, then I ought to reckon you will be.” Harry was saddened to see that this man, who was clearly incredibly kind, had no idea of the truth.
Hagrid climbed onto a motorcycle, and drove down the path before it suddenly took off into the air. The memory warbled a few times before it finally ended. Clearly, baby Harry had been exhausted from everything that had happened.
------------‐------------------------------------------------Scene break--------------------------------------------------------------
Harry had gone to find Doctor Grouse after viewing the memory. He still wanted to find some about Sirius, so he wasn’t done for the day. He just didn’t want to be alone for a while. He ended up joining the doctor for lunch, and discussing some of what he saw.
“So, did you find out who blocked your magic?” the doctor ask, before taking a bite of his sandwich. He clearly knew the answer, but he was letting Harry give whatever detail he wanted to. Harry appreciated that, and ended up telling everything about Dumbledore had done.
“It felt like I was feeling it all again, with every spell, I could feel the effects. Obviously, my magic hasn’t been blocked again, and I can still see. But it just hurt so much. And people trust him! That Hagrid and Sirius clearly trusted him! And he turned on Sirius, made him hunt down someone.”
“You seem to be very worried about this Sirius person”
“He said he had blood adopted me. That he was my father as much as James was.”
“How is that possible? People can only be made from two sets of DNA. The mother and the father. Yes, there are ways that a child could be biologically someone else’s. Adoption, for example. Or someone can be born to a mother than isn’t biologically theirs.”
“How does that work?”
“Well..” the doctor began awkwardly. “I won’t go too in detail, as you are a bit young to know how babies are made. However, babies are made when the mother’s egg is fertilised by the father’s sperm. This can be done the natural way- no I will not explain that part- or, and this is a relatively new procedure, the father can donate sperm, to fertilise an egg, which is then implanted into the mother. This doesn’t have to be the man that raises the child, bare in mind. Just a male, willing to help parents who can’t have children naturally. This also applies for females. A lady can donate eggs, which can later be fertilised and implanted into the lady that wishes to be a mother. The lady who gives birth won’t be fully biologically recognised as the child’s mother in this case.”
Harry was looking a bit green at all this information. “First, ew. Interesting but ew.” Doctor Grouse chuckled at his pain. The git. “Second, none of that has to do with blood. Sirius said ‘blood adoption’ so it must have been something magical. Do you want to see if we can find out?”
“If you’re willing to let see your memories with you, then it would be an honour, Harry.”
Harry grinned and nodded, and they made their way back to the viewer. They watched a few very happy memories, all with Sirius, some that had one or both of his parents too. They got to see some interesting, if useless magic too. Different colour bubbles floating out of Sirius’ wand, that when popped made fart noises, Harry riding around the house on a real, small, flying broom, Sirius and James turning into a big black dog and a stag, and giving baby Harry a ride on their backs. Sirius and James really were big kids, and often got chewed out by Lily, who nearly always looked like she was trying not to laugh.
Harry was over the moon to finally happy memories with his family. And when they finally found the blood adoption, Harry couldn’t have been happier with the man he could call a second father.
The adoption was fairly straight forward, Both Harry and Sirius’ blood was added to a pre-made potion, Sirius’ first, then Harry’s. It was then poured equally into two ornate vials, decorated in symbols. Sirius’ glowed a golden colour and Harry’s, a silver. And then Harry was nearly sick, when he watched Sirius drink his blood potion, while Harry was fed his by his mother. He saw Sirius glow a soft gold, while Harry glowed a soft silver. He could only see his glow in his hand, as he was playing with his mother’s fiery hair. And then it was done. Harry could feel a ghostly wave of magic go through him, as if remembering the effects of the ritual he just witnessed. The ghostly wave of magic reignited something in his brain, and when he looked at memory Sirius, he could feel the familial connect.
James was his father, Lily was his mother and Sirius was his dad. He was Potter by name, Black by blood.