Sword-Sister 1
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, watching the boy leave for the second time. Things had not gone as he had thought they would, but they had worked out well enough anyway. His eyes fell upon the Sword of Gryffindor, and he moved to place it in a display case, closing the glass carefully. Walking towards Fawkes, the old man stroked the phoenix, "He is learning. Harry was willing to act to save Miss Weasley in spite of the dangers. We need him to be self-sacrificing. It's sad, but necessary." He didn't sound terribly upset at the prospect, in spite of his words.
The phoenix pecked Dumbledore's finger and flamed away, obviously not agreeing with this sentiment. The old man sighed, "He'll come around." Unnoticed by the old man, the Sorting Hap turned slightly, its peak falling as its strange magical gaze fell upon the sword. A slow pulsing could be seen along the blade's length, visible only to those who could see magic.
It was waking up, thanks to the courage of a young boy.
I don't think your plans will go as you wish, the Sorting Hat thought, amused. Not when she awakens.
HPHPHPHPHP
Harry trudged into his room at Privet Drive. Just as he'd expected, the trip home was full of Vernon's tirades, and he was not looking forward to the summer. His uncle was still upset about his failed dinner party last year. They'd already locked up his trunk, though he'd managed to save a few books and some parchment so he could do at least some of his summer homework. Putting the books down on the floor by his bed, he sat down, sighing. For a time, he worried, darkly thinking about what had happened at school that year. Part of him still wondered how Dumbledore had failed to figure out that the monster was a basilisk.
Suddenly, he noticed something resting on the table by the bed. A familiar-looking sword. Harry blinked slowly, staring. What was that doing there? He slowly reached out his hand and clasped the hilt. A flush of warmth filled him, much like what had happened when he'd been chosen by his wand. He heard a girl's voice in his head, words a low alto, "Well, finally. It took you long enough to notice me."
"What's going on?" Harry asked, a bit unsure about the situation. "Who are you?"
"Isn't it obvious? You drew me from the Hat. You performed a brave deed worthy of me. That was enough to wake me up." Harry slowly put the sword down beside him on the bed, and he heard, "Sorry, now that you've bonded to me, I can talk to you whether you're holding me or not."
"Do you have a name?" Harry asked hesitantly. This was right out of a story. A talking sword?
"Father used to call me Annwyl," the sword answered.
"Okay. Nice to meet you, Annwyl. And father?" he said, feeling stupid for talking to a sword.
"You would call my father Gryffindor. You don't have to speak, you know. All you have to do is want me to hear them, and I can hear your thoughts. It's a pleasure to truly meet you, Harry," Annwyl thought to him.
"Thank you, Annwyl. So what are you doing here? Weren't you in Dumbledore's office?" Harry responded in his head.
"I am not Dumbledore's sword. I was Gryffindor's. Now I am yours. I go where you go," she explained.
"I, uh, can't carry around a sword all the time." A sudden image of him stabbing Draco in the groin appeared in his head. Hey, he's a boy. "No matter how fun it might be."
"That's all right." The voice wasn't in his head! Turning, he saw a beautiful girl who appeared to be in her twenties sitting at the foot of his bed. She wore an old-fashioned red dress, more of a gown, and had beautiful silver-blond hair and ruby-red eyes. "As you can see, I don't have to be a sword." Her lips quirked into a smile.
Jaw dropping, Harry stared a long moment. "I don't think that helps. The Dursleys wouldn't like you being here. They hate me enough as it is. Someone else here would drive them crazy."
"You make things so difficult," chided Annwyl with some amusement. "You're probably right though. I heard from the Sorting Hat that your home life was troubled. It's one reason he brought me to you; he'd hoped I'd wake up and could help you. I can be more than a sword, you know. I can become any bladed weapon, even one as small as a quill knife. I can also become a wand, of course."
"Wait, you can become a wand?" Harry asked, looking at Annwyl curiously.
"Of course. You felt it when I bonded to you, didn't you?" she asked. Annwyl offered her hand to him and Harry took it, gently holding it. Her form flared into silver sparks and shrunk down and he was holding a silver wand with a red ruby at its base. "Like so. You'll find I work quite well for you, or we wouldn't have bonded at all."
"This is so cool!" Harry began. "What happens if I drop you, or someone takes you?"
"I will return to you. Even if you find yourself disarmed, I can appear in your hand or wherever I wish near you," Annwyl answered.
"Can you change your appearance? Silver and ruby makes a wand stand out, you know," Harry asked.
"You really are demanding," sighed Annwyl. Slowly, the silver became a dark brown wood with intricate carvings along its length. The ruby disappeared. "There. Can I at least keep the carvings?"
"Of course," Harry answered. "I can always say I purchased another wand and asked for custom work. Does Ollivander do that?" He wondered after a moment.
"If he doesn't, others do, I'm sure. Just be vague about where you got me," Annwyl answered. "One thing you should be aware of is I don't have what you people call 'The Trace' on me. I'd like to see them try to apply it to me! So you can use magic without worry. At least, if there's no other detection charms around here."
"Really! I'm surprised. A House Elf did magic here and I got blamed for it," Harry told her.
"He probably made his magic look like your own. The Trace is based on an older magic that is the basis for spells like the Taboo," Annwyl answered.
"How do you know so much, if you've been asleep?" Harry wondered.
"I know everything that Gryffindor knew. I also..." Annwyl trailed off, "...understand that which Hogwarts knows. And as you might guess, Hogwarts knows a lot, thanks to her link with each Headmaster. Just as I'm bound to you, I'm bound to Hogwarts."
Brow furrowing in thought, Harry asked, "So Hogwarts basically learns everything each Headmaster knows, because of their link to the school, and you can access that knowledge?"
Annwyl turned into the silver-haired girl again, releasing his hand as she sat back down, "Exactly! Aren't I smart?"
Harry couldn't help but laugh, "I suppose you are." He paused. "Could you teach me, maybe? I know I'm not the smartest person, but after the past two years, I could use the help..."
"You're a lot smarter than you believe you are. You hold yourself back an awful lot, you know?" Annwyl said to him. "I know. I can't read your mind unless you allow me to, but I get..." She tried to think about how to describe it, "...let's say the shape of your mind from the bonding. You're actually very bright, but you don't apply yourself for some reason."
Harry slumped his shoulders, "I guess you're right. I learned to keep my head down when living here. Standing out just made the Dursleys hate me more, and it's hard to get out of that habit at school. Plus, everyone always stares at me for something my mum and dad likely did."
"Let's start with this, then. What electives did you choose for next year?" Annwyl asked.
"Care of Magical Creatures and Divination," Harry answered with a shrug.
"Ignoring Care for a moment, why Divination? You don't have the Sight," came Annwyl's response.
"It's what Ron was taking, and, well," Harry was suddenly embarrassed, "He said it was an easy class."
"Do you really think you need easy classes, with what you've been dealing with the past two years?" Annwyl asked with a wry smile, "Think, brother dear. Arithmancy is useful in many endeavors. So are Ancient Runes."
"Brother?" Harry asked, focusing on that first.
"Well, yes. I'm too young to be your mother, but too old to date you," Annwyl said without batting an eye, smirking at the young boy's blush. "Besides, sisters get to tease brothers, and that's fun."
"Aren't you a thousand years old, or something like that?" Harry asked dryly.
"Shush, you. Besides, I'm a sword. I might be a person, but I don't age like one," Annwyl said with another smile. "Keep it up and I'll send a few girls love letters and sign your name." She paused, "I might do that anyway. It could be fun."
"Please, don't," Harry said with a shudder. "I doubt any girl would care about me, rather than "The Boy Who Lived", anyway."
"They never will if you don't get to know them," Annwyl pointed out. "I bet more than you think would care if you let them." After a moment, she continued, "Okay, first thing you need to do is write a letter to your Head of House telling her you're changing your electives. You want Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magic Creatures. I really wish they still had a class on magic theory and rituals. They folded some magic theory into Arithmancy and Charms, but not enough. I'll have to give lessons on that, myself. I'd suggest dropping Care of Magic Creatures, but I know you want a class with your friend, Ron."
Wrinkling his nose, Harry said dryly, "Yes, Mistress. Anything else, Mistress?" as he half-copied Dobby's speech.
"You're a snarky little git, aren't you?" Annwyl said approvingly. "I can work with that. You don't need Divination or Muggle Studies, you know, so you need at least one of those classes. If you truly want to push yourself to excel and want me to help, you want the other one as well."
Harry shrugged, "As long as you help out if I need it, I'm willing to try them," he admitted.
"Don't try. Do." Annwyl said, causing Harry to break into a laugh. "What?"
"You don't realize, do you? You kind of quoted a movie. This little green alien talking to his student," Harry explained.
"I am too cute to be a little green alien," Annwyl huffed. "Just for that, you wait. I'll get you back."
"And how will you do that?" Harry asked dryly.
"I'm not sure. But I'm sure I'll think of something," Annwyl said with a smirk. "Now, onto something else. The Sorting Hat told me your life here was hard. How does your family treat you?"
"Relatives. They're my relatives, not family," Harry said with a sigh. "And..." He trailed off. "...not good," is what he settled upon.
"That's vague." Pointing a finger at Harry, Annwyl said, "I need details, Harry, if I'm going to help you."
"I didn't know my name until I went to primary. Until then, it was just 'freak' or 'boy'," Harry began. Once he started to speak, it was almost like he couldn't stop talking. "Until I went to Hogwarts, my bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs. That's where my Hogwarts letter was addressed." He rubbed his brow, sounding tired, "I never got enough food, though they didn't exactly starve me. I got most of the scraps. All my clothes were Dudley's hand-me-downs and even now, the only good clothes I have are my school clothes. I'm worried if I get normal clothes, they'll realize I have normal money and try to take it. I do pretty much all the chores in the house, though my aunt cooks sometimes." He shrugged at Annwyl. "They don't really physically abuse me much, but my aunt's tried to hit me with a frying pan a few times, and my Uncle does slap me around some." He took a deep breath, "I guess, they just don't love me and even hate me; that's it in a nutshell."
Annwyl's face turned stony as she listened to Harry's words, and by the end, her hand was clenched so hard her knuckled were white. "And Dumbledore sends you back here? Did you tell him?"
"I tried, once, at the end of my first year. Asked if I could stay at Hogwarts or live somewhere else. I didn't get to go into detail, he just gave that smile of his and said that I needed to come back, that it was the safest place for me. I gave up trying to convince him at that point, he didn't even listen," Harry said with a sigh.
"Father would be appalled. So would Uncle," murmured Annwyl. "Auntie would just kill them..." As she spoke, she considered, "All right, there are two options. Do you want the violent option or the subtle option? I lean towards violent simply because I'm pissed, but the subtle is probably better."
"Er, well, what are the options? Can you go into detail?" Harry wondered.
"The violent option is you go down there after I turn into a sword, and you threaten them. The issue is they might react violently. It might be worth it, to see them afraid of you for once and you can take care of this immediately." Annwyl's voice was full of rancor. "The subtle option would be for you to walk around the house with me in your pocket, so I can look around and make sure there's no extra charms to detect magic. Once we're sure of that, I teach you a charm that will make let you touch their minds and make them ignore you. You'd live here, but they wouldn't bother you. That would take longer, as you'd have to learn a complex charm."
Harry really wanted to choose the first option. But there's a reason the Sorting Hat considered putting him in Slytherin. "All right, I choose the more subtle option. It seems safer," Harry said.
"I'm a little disappointed, but that's probably the smarter choice," Annwyl told him. She offered her hand and when he took it, she turned into a pair of scissors. Harry blinked at her, "Well, I guess scissors have blades, technically." he thought at her as he stuck them in his pocket. "I just have to wander the house?"
"Yes," Annwyl answered. "I don't 'see' like you do in this form, I see through magic. I can also see other magics. I can already sense strong defensive charms on this property, including one or two that worry me. None are directed at detecting magic from the occupants, though. Let's look around so we can get you safe."
"Okay," Harry agreed as he went down the hallway, looking into each room briefly. Thankfully, the Dursleys were downstairs, so he didn't get spotted near their bedrooms. Heading into the bathroom, he looked around, then went downstairs to the ground floor. "Did you want me to make dinner, Uncle Vernon?" He asked this as an excuse to look around the living room.
Vernon glared at him, "No. Go back upstairs, we're ordering out today. You aren't getting dinner tonight, as we had to go to London to pick you up."
"All right, sir," Harry said quietly and turned towards the hallway. He peeked into the kitchen and then turned, heading up the stairs to his room. "The only places I couldn't check is the attic and the cupboard," he told her.
"Actually, you were close enough to both that I could see if there were spells present and there weren't. Remember, I'm not seeing with eyes, but through magic. Walls aren't that important," Annwyl explained. "So now I teach you a charm."
He felt her turn into a wand in his pocket and he drew the wand. "What charm is it?" Harry asked.
"The Confundus charm. It lets you confuse a person's mind in various ways. You can use it to implant the suggestion that they ignore you," Annwyl explained. "It will likely be very difficult for you at your age, but I'm sure you can learn it.."
"Okay, tell me how," Harry said to her.
"You're a demanding little brother, aren't you? All right, let me take control of your arm. I can't use your magic, but I can show you the proper movement to use. The incantation is 'Confundo', and you move the wand like this." It was an odd sensation, as he felt his arm move on its own, doing a hook-like motion in the air in front of him. "As you cast it, you have to have a very strong idea in your mind of what you want them to do. In this case, focus on them ignoring you no matter what.."
"How do I practice? I doubt I'll get it right the first time," Harry thought.
"It works on animals and won't hurt them. You could ask your owl, or go into the garden and find a mouse or snake and practice on one of them," Annwyl told him.
Harry took one look at Hedwig and said, hesitantly, "I think if I tried it on Hedwig, she'd kill me."
"Ooh, Gryffindor owl? I approve!" Annwyl thought at him. "Garden creature it is then. Even an insect would work, really. You can even confound magical objects, though that really doesn't matter in this case and it's more complicated."
"I'll do that, then," Harry concluded. "In fact..." He looked around his room and saw a spider web in the corner. And a spider. "Will a spider work?" he wondered as he pointed his wand at the spider, making the same hooking gesture that Annwyl showed him. He imagined the spider hopping onto the nearby desk. "Confundo." Nothing happened.
"It will. And don't be disappointed. If you'd done it on your first try, I'd have probably fainted," Annwyl told him. "You're very young to learn this spell."
"I'll keep practicing," Harry decided, and spent nearly half the night focused on trying to confound the spider. Finally, he went to bed when Annwyl told him he needed his rest.
He fell asleep with Annwyl sitting beside him, fingers running through his hair gently. It was probably the first time anyone had comforted him like that since his mother and father died.