Friend Since Birth

*****
Harry couldn’t quite contain his excitement this morning. Today was the day he would head back to Badger’s Den with his sister. To bond his elves. And see his sister.
Really, all he cared about at the moment was his sister.

It was getting on to nine o’clock in the morning, an hour past when she’d said she’d be there, but he tried not to worry. He knew she’d spent the last few days bonding her own elves and he remembered the drain he’d suffered starting the preliminary bond with his elves. Over the course of her efforts, he’d felt a few of them strengthen and he knew she’d managed to take on some of his own, thereby decreasing the drain he’d suffer just before heading to school. He just hoped it took less time, as he was expected on the train in two days, almost exactly.

“Someone’s excited for school,” Molly said with a chuckle as she pushed a plate in front of him, full of hearty breakfast foods.

Harry sighed at the now familiar feeling of the holster on his arm reacting to potions within reach. Apparently, the bezoar powder had a proximity alarm and it had taken some getting used to. But with Molly putting potions in all their foods, every meal, for the last two weeks, it had taken less time than it probably should have. Since it had also successfully dealt with all the others, he dug in, ignoring the question.

“Harrikins is ready to beat Slytherin in Quidditch again,” Fred said airily as he settled on one side of Harry while George took up the other.

“With the TriWizard last year,”

“We’re all itching”

“To show the snakes”

“How it’s done,” they finished.

Harry had to admire how they’d been playing at being potioned still. The jokes abounded about slimy Slytherins, but Harry could hear how much less bite they had now, and he strongly suspected the entire House was about to get a pair of frankly terrifying protectors. Something he was sure would both relieve some of the younger Slytherins and cause no small amount of panic for what exactly the pair were up to in the upper years. But the treatment of the whole House should get better, if only because the rest of the school would be more scared of the Twins’ ire than of following the tradition of bashing the snakes.

If Molly still believed they’d rain chaos on the House, all the better.

They also successfully managed to cover a lot of his brooding with their jokes. He just couldn’t find it in himself to pretend all that much for the woman and she’d written off most of it as anger at the whole lot of them for excluding him from Order meetings and the ‘month’ he’d spent at the Dursleys with no real letters. Again.

He didn’t really care, though. The moment his holster had first confirmed the presence of potions in his food from her, as it only detected malicious potions, he had smiled, made his excuses, and left for his room, where he had a proper crying session and come out of the room with Molly firmly removed from her pedestal in his mind.

“I hope you’re planning on packing soon, boys,” Molly said after a few minutes of quiet eating. “I know we’re due at the station in two days, but it always helps to be prepared and you always take so long.”

Harry resisted the exasperated sigh or the snapping remark he wanted to give. As if teaching them the summoning charm to help wouldn’t have been a good idea years ago. He’d been right pissed when Arianna and Sirius had explained that most young witches and wizards could do magic at home, as long as their parents provided permission and it was a magical household. The only exceptions were muggleborns and muggleraised, as they were usually surrounded by a sea of muggles that could spot something that would need Aurors to intervene. To know that Molly had her children use the mundane way of packing even under the wards around the Burrow that Bill had strengthened with his knowledge gained from dismantling ones thousands of years old, just to reinforce Dumbledore’s ideals about children using magic, was ridiculous.

Harry had been packed almost since he’d arrived, unwilling to fully become comfortable in the house and startlingly reluctant to allow anyone to see just how much Arianna had spent on him in Diagon in her many trips there over the last weeks. He’d had more than one owl deliver a parcel from a shop that he had never visited and the robs from Twilfit and Tattings had arrived via his message box so no one they didn’t want to see would be unaware of the new clothes. So he squirrelled most of it away, sticking to wearing the few pieces of clothing he still had from the Dursleys, what had survived the house elves, anyway, and some of his school uniform that no longer fit well. The many books and games and trinkets Arianna sent him, with small notes about how they reminded her of him or that she thought he’d like it were carefully organized and filed in the compartment of his trunk he’d set aside for such things. The only thing that really made it out of his expanded trunk was the clothing he wore. The rest only got rearranged as he removed his backup trunk for Regulus’ things.

But pretending to pack gave a good excuse for him to be absent most of the day, if not longer, especially with the twins running interference with their mother. And it would allow Ron and Hermione to join him, since it would seem as if the pair had to ‘rescue the poor sod before his textbook ate him’. Not an unfounded fear, considering the Monster Book of Monsters still lurked somewhere in the bottom of his trunk. He never did manage to find it after it escaped during the transfer from his old trunk.

It was long past time they had Hermione tested and added her to the Fidelius. She’d gotten all together unreasonable in her efforts to get them to spill their secrets and Harry was quite done hiding in his room. Even if Fred and George tended to invade at least once a day so he wasn’t constantly alone.

“I plan to get started after breakfast,” he said, forcing himself to sound resigned and like he dreaded the day. “Somehow, all of my things have managed to hide away and I’m fairly sure a doxy or two escaped as I’ve had a number of socks disappear.”

In reality, he wanted her paranoid about the poor things. He’d collected all the ones he could find after their first confrontation about the creatures and secreted them off to one of the habitats Arianna had with the help of some pointers from Uncle Newt. Once they’d realized what he was doing, the rest had appeared in his room over the weeks, carrying tiny bags and looking at him pleadingly. So he knew the house was doxy free. He was just being petty.

And it was working if Molly’s exasperated face was anything to go by.

“Well, let me know if you need help, dear,” she said, turning back to the pots and pans she had spelled to scrub themselves.

He gave a grunt of acknowledgement then quickly hid a smile when he felt the tug on his mind that he’d learned was Arianna pulling on their bond. She was here. He tried not to rush through eating the rest of his late breakfast but it was a hard task. He was ready to go and she was late.

When the twins noticed his renewed eagerness, they exchanged a glance over his head and nodded before smiling. Then did something. He wasn’t sure what. But he found out quickly when he caught sight of himself in the reflection of his spoon. His hair was suddenly the same shade of green as his eyes and he turned to Fred in a huff.

“Really? Right before school?” he asked dryly.

“Best time,” George said with a laugh.

“You realize it’s going to take me all day to try and fix whatever you did?” he asked.

He knew it would take him minutes, with his recently perfected metamorphmagus abilities, but Molly didn’t and the horrified look she shot him promised quite the horrible day for the twins. But it would cement the excuse for him to be gone.

“Fred! George!” Molly shrieked. “How could you do that to poor Harry?!”

Harry disappeared upstairs while Ron planted himself between his mother and his brothers.

*****
Fred tried not to shrink into himself like he normally did as soon as Harry ducked out the door. They’d gotten better about allowing the woman to cow them so completely, but it was hard breaking habits they’d cultivated years ago in sheer self-preservation. But with her finally hitting someone else, they were done. They’d not allow her to harm one of their brothers and definitely not Harry. Better she was pissed at them than wondering why Harry was taking so long to pack. Even with the hints they’d been dropping for days in preparation, the boy just didn’t show everyone else enough clothing to warrant spending all day in his room. And he’d been wearing the surviving rags from the Dursleys more than usual to reinforce the distinct difference in his build to his cousin’s.

Though no one had said anything yet, the Order members that regularly wandered through had taken note and the twins were certain Shaklebolt at least was looking into the matters. Remus had reported that the Auror had taken witnessing Dumbledore and Sirius’ spat to heart and was seriously looking into the matter, up to and including spending an afternoon questioning Harry with Sirius present in support. Fred also suspected he was looking into Sirius’ lack of trial, quietly.

Now, though, Harry had a legitimate excuse to stay away and Ron and Hermione would be able to join with ease, to add more heads into the problem of turning his hair to its rightful color. And to give Hermione time to process everything she was going to learn and get cleansed.

The three were going to return exhausted.

Having Molly focused on them most of the day was worth sparing them a little effort in trying to remember the story they were supposed to maintain. Though, now that she advanced on them, they were starting to wonder if it had been the best plan.

“Mum,” Ron snapped, stepping between the twins and the irate matriarch. “Harry didn’t seem to mind much and it’s not like it’s gonna stop him from packing.”

Molly visibly flinched at the logic and Fred wondered what exactly caused her to. More and more he was wondering about his mother’s stability and how exactly his father had fallen for the Prewett girl.

“And if you hit any of my brothers again,” Ron continued, voice dropping to an icy whisper that sent shivers through the twins. They agreed on their shared connection right then and there to never be on the receiving end of that tone. “I’ll go to the Aurors and report you for abuse,” Ron continued. “We are all well past the age of needing a stern hand every now and then and I will not let you hurt anyone again. And you’re lucky Charlie and Bill never saw you hitting the twins or you’d already be under investigation.”

Molly stood stunned, staring at her youngest boy in shock. And Fred noticed Percy in the hall, hidden around the corner and just as shocked. But whereas their mother was trying to figure out how to respond, Fred could see a glimmer of hope in Percy’s eyes. It was unexpected that Percy would still be here, since he was normally in the Ministry far more than was probably healthy since he’d taken over for Crouch, but there he was, staring into the room. And he made a snap decision.

He dragged his twin with him as he beat a hasty retreat from the kitchen, leaving Ron to glare it out with Molly until he made his excuses and left to pack his own things. A quick snatch and Percy was pinned between them as they made their way quickly to Harry’s room, thankful the teen had allowed all the Weasley children access, even if he wasn’t particularly fond of Percy.

They bustled into the room and managed to shut the door before Percy exploded. And before Arianna could apparate away with Harry after Percy spotted them.

“What is going on?!” Percy demanded.

Arianna just looked at them in question, but Fred stared back meaningfully and it took just seconds before Arianna understood. She sighed but nodded. “I’ll let Sirius know,” she said before hugging her brother and disappearing with a crack.

Percy sputtered and gaped at the empty space before turning on them sharply. Fred shared a commiserating look with his twin before turning to their rule-following brother, casting the special privacy ward, and explaining what they could without triggering the Fidelius.

*****
Arianna collapsed when they landed in Badger’s Den and only Harry’s quick recovery and reflexes spared her a bruised nose. She gave him a cursory check and was grateful she hadn’t accidentally splinched them…

“You’re certain you’re alright?” he asked worriedly.

“Just tired,” she answered before digging into her reserves of energy to straighten and show him to the grand hall.

The large space was again prepared for a large influx of house elves, but at least this time, she hadn’t had to cook everything herself. The other elves were quite taken with the idea of having more elves to talk to and knew many of Harry’s elves would fall into the more timid category, since many of them were from the Slytherin and Gaunt houses. With the Potter and Dumbledore holdings solidly in the untouchable sphere for the moment, there were really not that many elves for Harry to bond. The Peverell title was old enough and had lain dormant for so long that they were in much the same state as the older of Arianna’s, with the magic drained enough to prevent many children, but it had a number. However, between the three he would be taking on today, Slytherin had by far the most. And Voldemort had reigned over the house for years, even without taking the Lordship ring. The same with Gaunt. At least there, his relatives had sold many before dying and leaving the elves to take care of the last descendant Morfin, the insane uncle of the country’s Dark Lord... To say Arianna’s elves were looking forward to helping his elves would be an understatement. And when he took on the Potter ones? Well, that would be a day to celebrate. She missed them.

“As long as you’re sure,” Harry muttered.

“As much as I can be. Eir is taking good care of me and I’ll not be doing much today now that you’re here. Everyone else is coming to me,” she said with relief.

“I still don’t understand why you can’t be with me while I bond them,” he grumbled.

Arianna chuckled but knew he wasn’t actually asking. They’d had a number of discussions on the topic since they started planning and Harry knew that he needed the one on one connection with the elves to transition the preliminary bond and establish the main bond. Having her there would mess with the connection and pull the elves in two different directions. The ones that served the Lord and the Heir would already have a connection to her, but they needed the stronger one to Harry to balance out the hierarchy. Arianna taking them on first would just mean they drew on her core first, since she had a larger one until Harry came into his majority. Though it was honestly a toss-up which would have more power in the end, especially now that both their cores were unblocked. At least the elves didn’t draw on a core unless they were performing a large feat of magic. Everyday household magics tended to be small and didn’t require the elves to touch their master’s magic. And Harry had to have at least some of his constantly to learn in school.

“Just remember the instructions and you’ll be fine,” she said. “Besides, you don’t have to explain to Hermione what you’ve been keeping secret from her all summer. Or now have to explain to Percy what’s really going on with your family. The only thing that could make my conversation better would be to have Ginny suddenly join us.”

Harry winced at her words and then grinned unrepentantly. “Too true! I’ll take the elves!”

“Thought you would,” she said with a laugh. “Now get. They’ve waited long enough and you still need to call them. We’d planned for you to start much earlier and I do apologize for being late in picking you up. Eir wouldn’t let me leave before I’d eaten something.”

“No need to explain beyond that,” he said, chuckling and making his way into the room. He gave her a cheeky wave before closing the door.

Arianna slumped as soon as he was out of sight, almost slipping to the floor again. She was so tired and sore. The bonding had pulled on her magic extensively and she was extremely glad there had been a number who requested to wait. She wasn’t sure how she’d cope if she’d had to bond all of them. There had to be a way to distribute the mental and magical load.

“Part of the problem is that you’re the only one in so many of the Houses,” a familiar voice explained. Arianna glared at her ring, willing the projection of Merlin to appear so she could glare at him.

“What?” she asked once his golden form was walking alongside her as she hobbled to her study.

“You’re the only official member of more than half your houses,” he said again. “The elf bond is meant to be evenly distributed throughout the members of a House, so the Lord or Lady doesn’t have the problem you’re now facing. Many of the branches off the main tend to get their own elves and have a few family elves that assist. Your biggest problem is that there are no recognized branches of yours so there’s no families to assign elves to and no additional people beyond young Harry to share the load. I imagine he’ll be similarly drained when he takes on all his own elves. Or if he takes on any of your Heirships.”

“Then looking at the family genealogy books is moving up in priority,” she muttered as she eased herself into her comfortable chair in her study. She loved this room simply because of the number of extremely cushioned furniture and the extensive amount of wood. The intricately carved desk sitting in prime placement by the fireplace added to the appeal and she could see herself easily spending hours here in winter, enjoying a good fire and a hot cup of tea while she worked on paperwork. Add in the warm browns and deep purple color scheme, a welcome break from the amount of yellow elsewhere, and it would take a Hungarian Horntail to pry her away.

“I would imagine the books will only tell you who could be added and not who should be,” he pointed out. “As we’ve learned, there are a lot of magicals now that need to be watched closely. You cannot simply add whomever you’d like just to ease your burden.”

“Yes, thank you, Merlin,” she said snidely. “I was not aware of it, as I had no hand in discovering many of the issues. But I’m fairly sure the Black line is involved in at least one of my Houses and I wouldn’t mind calling Sirius family and mean it in more than just a blood-adopted way. I know Da and he were distantly related cousins, but if I can add him to one of the older holdings, he could use it to garner political alliances without involving me. If we can ever clear his name. I’m still not sure why they’re hesitating in collecting the rat, but I do hope they get on with it…. I want my godfather clear.”

“Ask and you shall receive,” Sirius said smugly, announcing his presence and grandly plopping a cage on her desk.

She smiled evilly at the terrified rat that cowered in the corner of the cage, the silver paw glinting in the light of the lamps. When he focused on her face, he squeaked and frantically tried to dig through the plastic at the bottom of the cage.

“Muggle cage?” she asked curiously.

“Yup,” Sirius said, crossing his arms and glaring at the creature. “With some modifications that prevent him from escaping again. He can’t transform and he can’t get out until someone keyed to the spell removes him.”

“And you all got away without notice?” she asked urgently.

“Completely safe,” he said soothingly. “Queenie was perfect. She could sense when Voldemort was off doing Morgana knows what. And the rat kept to the same routine. I could set a watch to him…. Something he should know better than to allow, working around James and I so long…. Basic Auror training. Or, you know, prank avoidance. Though, I do not envy the poor wizard that has to deal with Voldemort’s wrath at the loss of his whipping boy.”

“How much do you want to bet it will be Severus?” she asked quietly, still studying the betrayer of her parents closely and trying not to let the manic gleam disappear from her eyes.

“Not likely,” Sirius denied. “He’s too valuable. Both as a spy and as a potion master. He’ll be fine.”

“We’ll have to keep an eye out then,” she said. “I’ll not have some innocent pay the price. We’d be no better than the Ministry if we allowed that if we could prevent it. I’ll have the elves keep an eye on the known Death Eater houses to see if anyone suffers an increase in visits to healers or need for specific potions.”

Sirius grumbled but agreed. He’d gotten better about his prejudice with the blocks cleared but he was adamant that some crimes couldn’t be excused, even in the face of the types of blocks and potions they were up against.

“So, should we even test him, or just hand him over to the Ministry? And if we’re just handing him over, how are we doing that?”

“Well, we did include Theseus in the protections on the cage,” he said mildly.

Arianna’s grin grew and Pettigrew’s squeaking rose in volume and intensity.

“He already started?” he asked, looking toward the door.

“Yeah, and we’re going to have an extra guest later,” she said. At this point she was seeing just how panicked she could make the little rat, just by staring. “I expect them in a bit and I was hoping you could sit in to ensure we’re covering everything and add them. Both are just slightly obsessed with knowledge and I’m actually surprised they both ended up in Gryffindor.”

She could see the moment he made the connection, but stayed silent on names in deference to the rat. He smiled gently at her when he was sure the rat wouldn’t see and she smiled back just as gently. They’d both been concerned about the possibility that Harry would lose friends to the revelations but if both his best friends could be trusted to be added to the Fidelius, he’d at least have support when the truth came out. As it was, the Ministry was trying valiantly to keep the incident in Diagon secret, but were having little success. They’d managed to suppress the story until the morning, but by then, news had already spread and the spin they’d put on the whole thing was ignored in favor of questions they couldn’t answer. Now Harry was heading back to school and would need friends to protect him and confirm the stories and questions being asked. From all accounts, Hermione would be invaluable in pressing logic into the situations and was fiercely protective, if a bit of a pushy know-it-all.

Arianna was looking forward to putting the witch in her place in regards to the intelligence of those around her.

That was a task for later today, though. Now she had a rat to deal with and a godfather to clear. A quick floo call had her uncle Theseus immediately abandoning his continued review of laws with Graves and Tina to return to the Den and take custody of the rat.

“You know what to do?” she asked as he started for the floo again.

“My dear,” he said, turning back to her with a raised eyebrow, “do you really need to ask?”

“Since it’s Sirius’ freedom on the line if he escapes again or someone doesn’t listen?” she said, leaning against the desk and pinning the quivering rat to his cage wall with her eyes. “Yes.”

Theseus studied her a movement before nodding and making his way out, only to pause when Sirius called out.

“Remember, we haven’t added anyone in that place to the list, so no one can know yet,” he reminded quickly.

Arianna knew he and Remus wanted to add one of the Aurors they’d known before, but were hesitating until they could get a better read on the man. Maybe Theseus could give them the confirmation they were looking for that it wasn’t just sentiment they felt that compelled them to add the man.

Theseus nodded at the words and then left. Once he was gone, she took a conscious breath to bury her fears and turned to her godfather.

“So, how’s Remus?” she said, tone edging to teasing and a smirk on her face at his sudden blush.

Oh, that was interesting.