“Calm down, Miss Potter, I’m not a snitch - I’m a hat! I’m here to sort you, not pass judgment on your life choices.”
“So don’t freak out, but I was sorted into Slytherin - surprise!”
“My son is in Slytherin?!?” Sirius facepalms. “Prongs, mate, where did I go wrong?”
“Must be because of Archie’s ambition to be a healer, Pads. That’s honest ambition, but the hat probably can’t tell the difference. Archie’s not a slimy snake.”
“Slimy snake? Really, James." Remus is disappointed. "How old are you? Not that it matters, but I would have pegged Harry as a Slytherin before Archie.”
“Take that back, Mooney!”
“At least Harry doesn’t have to worry about Houses at AIM,” Lily says, with only a touch of bitterness.
"Oh, please, Young Sir"
Binny smiles to herself as she leaves "Young Sir" with the Lost and Found bin.
Binny knows the difference between a Young Sir and a Young Miss.
Binny also knows how to keep secrets.
“. . . ster, ah, Mister. . . forgive me, child, but I cannot recall. . .”
Garrick Ollivander snorts as Severus Snape and Harriet Potter left his shop. As if he’ll ever forget who he’s sold a wand to!
Garrick isn’t going to give up Miss Potter’s secrets. It is none of his business if the halfblood Potter Heiress is wearing male Hogwarts robes, sporting a male hair style, and being escorted by a Hogwarts Professor during term time.
It is, however, his business to see that she is properly matched with a wand.
Garrick admits to himself that he hasn’t done right by Miss Potter that first time. He is glad she has returned.
An improperly matched wand is bad for everyone, wand, witch and wizard.
Garrick Ollivander believes this time he’s done right by Miss Potter. A phoenix’s allegiance is hard won, but he knows she will win it.
“How are Healing classes, Harry? I was a bit surprised you went that route.”
James is over the moon upon hearing his potions obsessed daughter is forgoing Potions for healing.
As for Lily . . . Surprise doesn’t quite cover it. She’s shocked.
She worries when Remus blithely and obliviously suggests that Harry rather than Archie is the better fit for Slytherin.
Lily knows her daughter. She knows that Harry is stubborn and determined. That Harry is capable of unimaginable trouble. That Harry does not capitulate easily.
Harry tells her family that she and Archie are going to try and fulfil each other’s dreams. This magnifies, rather than mitigates, her mother’s misgivings.
Lily resolves to research magical means to keep secrets.
“. . . he is not asleep. He is not even truly unconscious.”
He is also not a “he”, Poppy learns to her great surprise.
Not that this is of any import now. Healer-patient confidentiality will protect Rigel.
Poppy has other, more pressing, issues to address. Not least of which is the Malfoy Heir, allergic to the only potions available to sustain him.
Later, when the crisis is over, Poppy’s thoughts turn once more to young Rigel.
She buries all memories of Sirius Black and his friends. Friends who include one James Potter. James Potter who has a halfblood daughter.
Rigel is an incredible child who gives so much. First brewing till exhausted, then healing the sleeping sickness stricken students.
Poppy will defend Rigel with all of her ability, all of her heart, all of her strength. The child deserves no less.
“. . . Parseltongue doesn’t run in the Black family . . .”
Severus is well aware that Parseltongue doesn’t run in the Black family.
Upon realising his animagus form is a snake, Severus is horrified to discover Parseltongue is a Peverell and Potter gift. Thankfully it skips his teenage tormentor’s generation.
For Parseltongue to suddenly show up in Rigel Black. . .
There are some things Severus deliberately does not think about.
“. . . who knows what’s swimming around the Black gene pool after all these years?”
That’s how Sirius laughs off the gossip from Hogwarts that his son is a Parselmouth.
James laughs it off too. But James worries.
It is something few people know, a deep dark secret that the Potters keep hidden, but it is a secret James once shared with Sirius, although perhaps Sirius has now forgotten.
The Potters are Parselmouths.
James himself isn’t, nor was his father. James knows, though, that the trait sometimes skips a generation or two, after which it returns with a vengeance.
Harry.
Adriana.
James has told no one but Sirius. Not Remus. Not even Lily.
James worries. Wonders how to tell Lily. Considers a desk job he’s not otherwise contemplating.
“It’s sitting empty, fully furnished, not fifteen minutes from where we sit.”
Marcus Flint is not an idiot.
The first time he sees “Rigel Black” at Hogwarts, he knows the boy before him is a halfblood imposter.
On hearing Harriet Potter has access to a fully furnished but empty flat in the lower alleys, he suspects that Harriet Potter is Rigel Black.
Rigel’s mention of parents supports that.
Harriet Potter being a pioneering potioneer confirms it.
It isn’t in his interest to blow her cover. Regardless, the Sealing Curse keeps the secret.
“You two always did share everything”
Clothes, yes. Wands, no.
Lily knows she hasn’t misremembered their wands. Archie’s wand is elm. Harry’s is ash. Neither is holly.
Harry heals Tiberius Ogden. So does Archie. Archie is also very enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about AIM’s Healing syllabus. . .
Meanwhile Harry and Draco Malfoy appear more familiar with an incident that apparently happened to Archie.
Lily’s investigation of Sealing Curses becomes a priority.
The old spell seals a secret in a soul. It prevents knowledge from being shared voluntarily or involuntarily. But it won't prevent a knowing James from acting differently.
Lily thinks she can tweak the spell to hide the knowledge even from herself, from James, unless certain conditions are met.
Just . . . how will she approach James?
She conjured a Fortis shield to protect her as she pulled her boots free with a squelch. . .
Margo, Cora and Jack are watching the third task on the huge mirror in Diagon Alley.
Jack is keeping one eye on potential marks, the other on the screen. Margo is watching Rigel Black.
Margo has suspicions about Rigel Black. She recognises Harry’s boots in the second task and tells Cora.
Watching now, Cora concurs.
“Those’re Harry’s boots. That’s Harry.”
“Don’t be silly, Cora. That’s Harry’s cousin, Rigel. He’s a toff,” scoffs Jack.
“Since when do toffs free duel?” asks Cora. Her troupe provides half time entertainment for formal wizard dueling competitions. She knows they have strict rules that ‘Rigel’. Is. Not. Following.
Jack watches the rest of ‘Rigel’s’ matches closely.
“You’re right,” Jack admits. He knows free dueling. He watches Harry train with Leo. “That’s Harry.”
It is unspoken that Harry will be in big trouble if she’s caught.
“We do whatever the king tells us to do to protect Harry,” Margo says firmly.
There is no dissent. Just fervent agreement.
Rigel’s accelerated spell reached him before his shield was fully formed. . .
Eleni recognises Rigel’s trick with the wandless banishing charm.
How could she not, when she’d taught that very trick to her son?
She knows that it’s a move Leo doesn’t share with anyone - but then to Leo, Harry isn’t just anyone.
Harry might claim to have taught her cousin, but Eleni also knows that Merriam is living alone in the Dogwood Lane apartment Harry rents.
Harry is also not at AIM, even if Hermione Granger thinks she is.
Eleni thinks that keeping Leo’s secrets can be complicated, but Harry’s are a magnitude more complex and dangerous.
Eleni worries but has faith Harry will be safe. The alleys will protect Harry. Leo will protect Harry.
“Who is that boy up there, Sirius? How could he have changed so much so quickly?”
Remus and Sirius are about to work it out.
The stars align; the conditions are met. Lily remembers.
The Sealing Curse. Harry. Archie. The switch.
She desperately tries not to think about her daughter in the tournament.
Lily must be strong. Harry has the Dark Defense Disk. Harry is a powerful magical prodigy. Harry can beat them all.
Lily protects Harry by Sealing the Knowledge of the kids’ duplicity in Remus and Sirius with her Modified Sealing Curse. She and James are already Sealed. Safe from inadvertent revelations.
Making sure the kids are safe is a much harder ask.
There is nothing, though, that she, James, Sirius and Remus won’t do for their family.
Rigel held a knife in the hand that had been freed. . .
Leo’s heart skips a beat. He knows that knife. It’s the one he gave Harry.
Everything falls into place.
Harry’s secrets.
Her apartment.
Her anger at Marek visiting AIM.
Hermione’s stories of Harry.
Harry and her cousin swapped places.
That doesn’t faze Leo.
What terrifies him is the possibility that she’ll be caught.
Leo takes a deep breath. He has a lot of work ahead of him, but he will do it. He will protect Harry.
“My… family found out I haven’t been at proper school all this time like I said.”
Mrs Botting is no fool. She was watching the tournament on the mirror. She knows that Harry doesn’t live here, not during the school term.
She recognises the Rigel Black look-alike in the corner of the room. The real Rigel Black?
It doesn’t matter. Harry brews for Krait. She saved Cora. Harry is part of the alleys.
The alleys protect their own.
A potioneer like Rigel couldn’t hide his talents forever.
Rigel doesn’t hidden her talents.
Harry Potter has licenses to brew Wolfsbane and Seifer’s Solution.
She invents a new brewing technique at the age of twelve.
She brews potions for Horace Burke (a real stickler for quality) and has been doing so for years.
Severus is embarrassed it’s taken him so long to realise that he’s only ever had one amazingly talented apprentice.
Having found her, there’s no way he’s ever going to give her up.
Riddle be damned.
“We weren’t looking for that sort of deception,”
Who could possibly think a halfblood heiress would pose as a pureblood heir?
But the similarities between the two are too great. The only difference being that of gender, and no-one had ever seen Rigel Black undressed.
Not modesty. Necessity.
Harriet Potter is Rigel Black.
Pansy is relieved to know that her best friend is not homeless and starving.
For now she has to bury the knowledge. Perhaps she could learn occlumency? Maybe there’s other magic that could help.
Then she can work out how she and her other friends can help.
For Rigel . . . Harry . . . will always be her best friend.
". . . why didn't Harry take Archie's spot at Hogwarts?"
Hermione has met Rigel Black and she meets Harry Potter again today.
Hermione understands a halfblood's desire to attend Hogwarts.
Hermione's parents believe Sirius, but Hermione knows otherwise, not that she will tell.
“This girl gave me a roof and a respectable position when you couldn’t.”
Merriam knows Harry Potter is Rigel Black.
She doesn’t need a Sealing Curse to take that secret to her grave.
“Ron and the twins are beside themselves, Percy is willing to go to war with the DMLE, and Ginny - she hasn’t been the same since that horrid task.”
Ginny just happens to mention that Rigel’s mental avatar has long hair. Ron confirms this.
Percy covers his ears. He is a lawyer.
If he wants to defend Rigel, there are things he can’t know.
(But he does know. He desperately wants to be cursed with a Sealing Curse. He wants to defend Rigel with all his strength).
“What your first thought when we first met Harry Potter?” George asks his twin.
“That she looks like a girl Rigel?”
“. . .”
“. . .”
“The best prank ever just gets better!” the twins chorus.
Ron, overhearing the twins, has an epiphany. So does Ginny, but she hides it better.
Fred and George make sure to bring lots of fireworks to the closing ceremony. Even Percy takes some.
Anything to help Rigel. To help Harry.