Friend Since Birth

*****
Sirius twitched as he sat under a bush as Padfoot. His eyes were locked on a familiar house and he wanted nothing more than to run down the fat man getting out of his car, fresh from another day at work. But he’d promised to leave it be for now. His pup had plans for the whale, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get a bit of revenge every now and then. He crept out of his hiding place enough for the man to notice movement and growled when the man finally caught sight of him. Only to disappear in a blink when the man startled, glad apparating silently was part of the Auror training. And transferrable to apparating while shifted. It had only taken James and him a few months to figure that out.

“Bloody mutts. I’ll need to call Animal Resource Centre again,” Vernon Dursley cursed before making his way towards the front door. Only to freeze at the cold stare Sirius gave him from his new position in another shadowed bush on the other side of Number 4.

He growled louder when Vernon started cursing him.

Then he apparated away silently, as he’d done almost daily for the last two weeks.

It was taking less and less time to get the man to devolve into swears and Sirius was taking just a bit of pleasure in slowly driving the man barmy.

*****
Harry officially hated his fifth year at Hogwarts. And it wasn’t just because Arianna was incredibly busy and had to stick to mirror calls most of the time. No, it was just in general. Which was saying quite a bit when looking back on his previous years. And the first two days should have clued him in on the whole thing….

Not only did Dumbledore not get the hint that Harry wasn’t going to budge on his unwillingness to discuss his summer, but he then started a campaign to discredit Harry’s explanation why he wouldn’t go back to the Dursleys, not even for a day, let alone the entire winter hols or summer. Every interaction included at least one ‘grandfatherly’ reminder that his family loved him and he should want to go back. At least the Headmaster stopped asking for meetings with him alone after Harry waited over an hour for Snape to finish a lesson so as to accompany him to the last one. When Harry’d finally gotten fed up with the subtle chastisements and shouted about the abuse in the Great Hall, well… To say the other professors were trying their best to protect him was an understatement. Snape may have alluded to McGonagall and Sprout teaming up to shout at the Headmaster, even if no one but he remembered at the end of the day. Snape and Harry made sure to reiterate the truth about the abuse frequently after that, so even if Dumbledore Obliviated the professors again, they’d still know until Snape could arrange to cleanse them and have the goblin mind healers see about returning the missing memories. And Dumbledore could do nothing to stop the students reacting.

The potions Professor was proving to be an ally in the whole mess, though. Surprisingly. Harry had wondered if he would maintain the truce they’d created over the summer when he was surrounded by ‘dunderheads’ again, but Snape made no secret that Regulus was responsible for most of his change. Regulus pushed to get the man to at least try and Snape was grudgingly making the effort. He targeted the Gryffindors less and was shocked when the overall marks went up. He also set the Slytherins to spying on everyone, instead of targeting them, and it was showing in fewer fights. Of course, he’d masked as preparation and practice for possible future ventures. But Harry couldn’t fault him that.

Especially since the resultant decrease in fights was assisting Snape in testing the professors. The plan had been to test the Houses once the professors were cleared, so they could have help, but getting the needed blood without raising suspicions was proving difficult, so they were contemplating switching it around if they couldn’t get all the professors by the winter holidays. Harry was still a bit shocked he’d been the one to manage with Flitwick and he still wasn’t sure how. With his reputation and skills, they’d been concerned Snape wouldn’t manage. Harry suspected the half-goblin had actually allowed it in the end but hadn’t said anything in fear of having the knowledge stripped away.

There was always the possibility of enlisting the house elves, but that was very tricky. Aside from Dobby, who was a bit too much for Harry most days, no one was quite sure which elves were bonded to the school or Dumbledore specifically and there was no way to check without Arianna taking full control of the castle. Even Harry, holding the wards, couldn’t tell without initializing the bond and that would alert Bumblebee if any elves were bonded to both. They were a last resort.

And then there was Regulus. While Harry and his friends were attending classes and working to test the professors, Regulus was living in the Chamber of Secrets, in the study Harry had been too terrified to discover the last time he was there. They’d agreed very soon after Regulus woke that the pair of soulmates couldn’t be separated, especially with how tenuous the pregnancy was for so long. So they’d snuck him onto the train with Harry, hidden in his Invisibility cloak and behind a hidden door in his own compartment. To Snape’s mild surprise and Sirius’ amusement, the normally social man was proving to dislike being around a large number of people and even more so when those people were children. He’d spent the night in Severus’ chambers, with the thought that everyone would be too busy with the arrival of the students to notice the additional person for a single night. Then they’d snuck him down to the Chamber the next morning, well before classes started. Harry shivered at remembering the anger from Snape at seeing the huge carcass that took up so much space. The study had been just behind the statue, hidden from sight. Yet once the study was discovered, Snape had instructed Regulus on how to harvest parts from it and left it at that. Harry wasn’t naïve enough to think he’d never get another lecture on it, but he was grateful for the reprieve and was careful not to remind the dower man about it.

And Regulus seemed happy the few times Harry had seen him since. Snape had transfigured a bed in the study and there was an attached, fully equipped bathroom, so in theory, Regulus could stay there indefinitely. They’d even confirmed Kreacher could access it easily and was very happy to provide the pregnant man with foods, at any time, thereby relieving Snape of dealing with the 3am cravings. To keep busy, the younger Black was doing what he could to follow Snape’s instructions and strip the Basilisk hide of ingredients, only coming up from the Chamber to go on strolls around the grounds or unused portions of the castle when the twins could guarantee privacy with another castle wide prank. Even more surprising was that Peeves often assisted in the efforts to get Regulus fresh air. And when Regulus wasn’t elbows deep in Basilisk innards or sneaking around, he was focused on reviewing his own schooling and preparing for the birth of his and Snape’s child.

His pregnancy was something that still had Harry’s muggle raised brain reeling, but Hermione had simply handed him a book and left it at that. A book about how wizards varied from muggle males and could magically grow a womb if desired. Harry had skimmed it, trying not to blush at the pictures, but Regulus had just laughed and assured him he could ask his godfather’s little brother anything he wanted. Harry was starting to like the man and the more he spoke with him, often slipping into Parseltongue accidently, the more that like grew. And the more he could see how the younger Black would have fit in perfectly in Gryffindor, even before his sudden desire for solitude. If how the man had seemed to come alive away from the influences of Slytherin was any indication of how he would have been treated, Harry was thankful he’d managed to convince the hat to put him in the lion house. They could both admit, though, that it was a bit odd with Harry being closer in age to Regulus than Regulus’ own brother thanks to the suspension field he’d been in, but Sirius just crowed about there being no doubt who was more mature now.

Snape hadn’t been too amused by that but had conceded that there was little they could do about it and the age gap was still within societally appropriate margins. Not that either really cared about that. And with Regulus presumed dead, there was no one to say anything. But Arianna pointed out it would be an issue when things came to light and Regulus took his place as Heir Black again. If he wanted it. Sirius admitted he had no preference, wouldn’t be changing his will beyond adding Adrianna, and the only thing that would change if Regulus did was Harry and Adrianna would get the Heir Presumptive rings instead of the Heir Apparent ring they currently had, as those would go to Regulus and Severus as his husband.

But all of the progress they were making in the various plans to overcome the lies and betrayals were overshadowed by the nightmare that was the rest of the school. With Dumbledore targeting him blatantly for lies about his home life, there were others that took that as confirmation he was lying about other things. Seamus and Dean turned their backs on him completely and started pranking him constantly, even with Ron scolding them angrily every time he caught them setting one up. And they weren’t the only ones. Students from all four Houses decided the proof provided by his memory in Diagon was not enough for them, even if it convinced the Ministry. There was barely a day that went by that he didn’t have someone call him a liar or new Dark Lord, and there were only so many people willing to stand up for him. Weasleys aside, Hermione and, surprisingly, Malfoy maintained their belief in him, going so far as to hex anyone that tried to shoot a spell at him. If his holster and hidden rings didn’t absorb most spells and potions, he would be far more worried about the issue. And if it wasn’t so common a reaction in his school years to the new adventure he was unwilling thrust into, it would shock him more. As it was, his reflexes were getting fantastic responding to all the not so subtle hexes, jinxes, and outright curses some of the students sent his way that his protectors missed. Uncle Theseus would be so proud when he tested Harry’s reflexes later. And he rarely ate anything without checking it first with the magic of his holster. He was almost glad for the practice he’d gotten at Grimmauld over the summer.

Malfoy had surprised everyone in his change of heart, especially since he’d missed the main discussion that first night. Harry still didn’t know what Hermione and Ron had told the Slytherins, but it was enough that they weren’t openly hostile anymore. Snape’s edict on spying instead of targeting aside, some, like Malfoy, were being almost nice. He’d stopped openly sneering at Harry and the Malfoy heir had even gone so far as hex the first person to try and sabotage his potion in class, a Slytherin obviously trying to curry favor within his House by targeting their favorite victim, obviously oblivious to the change of tactics. Malfoy’s defense had spread the message clear that Harry was no longer the bane of his existence. Then he’d stunned the older Ravenclaw when he’d tried to hit Harry with a bat-bogey jinx in the back while he was on his way to the library. And it just went from there. Apparently, finding out Harry hadn’t intentionally snubbed his offer of friendship in their first year was enough for the blond. And he planned to illustrate his willingness to put it behind them in typical Malfoy fashion. To the extreme and incredibly public.

Harry couldn’t really deny he appreciated it.

After all, it got him at least half of Slytherin house as backup if he needed it, if Malfoy kept his position as its Prince. Slytherin House politics and structure was something he was going to have to learn, what with being Lord Slytherin and all… He’d probably get the whole house on his side if he announced that little gem of information. Well, the not crazy ones anyway.

But the loyalty and respect the snakes showed now might also have something to do with his little speech at breakfast that first day. More than one Slytherin had approached him to thank him for separating them from their parents and it made Harry wonder just how messed up the entire school was if simply saying they weren’t all murderers and despots and bigots like their parents was enough to gain the loyalty of a notoriously prickly bunch. Just how much damage had been done by prejudice and hate in previous generations?

Yet if anyone asked why he hated fifth year, even more than his third, where he spent the majority of it thinking an insane escaped mass murderer was targeting him or last year when he’d spent the entire time an unwilling participant in a game discontinued due to the death toll and ended in seeing his friend killed in front of him, he would answer with one word.

Umbridge.

Not only was the woman a horrible pink toad that had no business teaching let alone teaching such an important subject when they were on the brink of a war their parents had almost lost, she also seemed to harbor a hatred of him that was more reminiscent of Snape’s before this last summer. A hatred that only grew when McGonagall granted him and his entire House with permission to self-study Defense if they could prove they could make progress on their own, with some quiet backing of the Board of Governors to override Dumbles’s previous denial. She’d arranged for tests every two weeks and, after two successive Os across the board, even those that struggled with the subject previously, they were granted permanent permission. It was a method the other Heads agreed to quickly and effectively cut the official Defense classes in half. Only those that didn’t believe Harry returned to the classroom after the first week, and even then, only about half actually thought Umbridge would teach them anything. But that didn’t stop Umbridge from basically stalking Harry and assigning detentions at least once a week.

After that first night, he’d even tried staying out of her sight to keep from suffering that again. He’d been furious when Malfoy had admitted to convincing Filch into letting him go after only an hour cleaning the Trophy room. Yet he couldn’t fault the blond. Umbridge seemed to keep well away from the Slytherins and Harry had no doubt it was because she didn’t want to risk the wrath of their parents, hence why she didn’t protest the Board of Governors’ edict on the self-study. From the little speeches she gave each night he was forced to write lines, he suspected she herself was a blood purist and didn’t want to damage the little purebloods in Slytherin or upset the powerful people on the Board. He could easily stop her constant demeaning of his own status by citing his mother’s squibborn status, discovered with Arianna’s inheritance of the Plato title through Lily and by request of the original family, but he said nothing and tried to stay out of her way.

It really didn’t matter though. Everything he did to stay out her way eventually got banned by an increasing number of rules and ‘educational’ decrees Dumbledore insisted he could do nothing about in the meetings the Headmaster himself had insisted upon earlier in the year. The loss of Quidditch and his Captaincy for the year was hard. The loss of his broom was harder. But the one about student organizations this morning at breakfast had been the last straw and they had plans to start a secret club at the next Hogsmeade weekend, inviting any and all who had participated in previous meetings. Apparently, while she wouldn’t do anything about the self-study, she could and would do something about the study group….

McGonagall and Snape had assured him in their own strange ways within minutes of the announcement that they were working to get their study group allowed, but it was not looking promising and Harry was not going to leave himself defenseless. Even if he was in detention for the rest of his life and did permanent damage to his hand thanks to her cursed quill. As it was, he was fairly sure the skin was scarred. Something that made it harder to hide but not impossible. He’d learned glamors fairly early in his magical education to hide some of his most obvious scars and the bruises Uncle Vernon sometimes left just before he went back to school. A rather sweet Hufflepuff girl had shown him when he’d expressed curiosity and then he’d devoured a book the girl had given him. He’d gotten good enough that no one seemed to suspect at this point, so the addition of a glamour on his hand was not so hard to add. It did make Harry wonder if he was alone in his punishment with the thing. No one else seemed to say anything about it and he’d not noticed anyone gaining a surprising scar. He wouldn’t be surprised if she saved that particular punishment special just for him, though...

So, with all of that, it was not really surprising to him when the twins basically kidnapped him after lunch to go flying. He knew he was tense and the races, the feeling of the wind in his hair, and the joy of simply flying on his Firebolt after so long grounded helped stave off the now persistent black mood. He’d never gone so long without flying while at Hogwarts and he’d sorely missed it.

Seeing his sister after almost two months apart? He was over the moon. He was less than pleased, though, when she had to leave after only half an hour, but he knew she had important work to do. Work that involved more politics than he even knew existed. Work that required stealth and careful timing and maneuvering. Work that meant long hours in conference with Ragnok and Uncle Theseus and Sirius. Work that required a very visible and loud entrance into very tense relationships on either side of the light/dark debate that had been raging in Britain since Grindlewald’s time. Work that required extensive repairs to the investments, properties, employees, and political connections of almost a dozen Houses that had long stood neglected but with the power to change the world. Work he couldn’t help with at the moment.

Work that would eventually require him to stop hiding his intelligence and had already required he deal with professors suddenly wondering if he’d drank an intelligence booster potion or was copying off Hermione. Work that required him to swallow his fear and tell Hermione bluntly that she reminded him of his aunt and uncle every time she tried to snatch his homework only to be surprised when he was proven right in his answers. That had been a hard conversation in the first week…. But after spending a few days in stunned, horrified silence, she’d rallied. She tried to remember to ask if he needed help and she was slowly realizing he didn’t need it and often, they were able to have conversations about homework that had Ron scratching his head trying to keep up. She even supported him with the professors, going so far as to accept the anti-cheating quills the Flitwick had offered for the term to prove he wasn’t copying her work.

Even Ron got one in a show of solidarity and Harry had to gently remind Hermione when she tried to protest that their friend wasn’t an idiot. He just struggled with the written word. Something Hermione had slapped herself for missing and proceeded to read the text to Ron any time he was having more trouble than usual or didn’t feel like using the spell Arianna had shown him over the summer. She’d even written the Ministry’s Educational Department for books that accounted for such troubles, proudly presenting the special textbooks to the redhead only last week. Ron had been ecstatic that such books existed, and Harry had every confidence that his marks would also improve this year as they figured out how to help and Hermione stopped harping on them.< p/>

And if all of this helped Arianna in any way to actually fix the mess the magical world was in, then one more scar wasn’t really too high a price to pay to keep her focused on the things he couldn’t do. After all, he had enough scars already and the only one anyone seemed to care about was the one on his forehead. And she was doing what he couldn’t.

He’d questioned many of the issues in his four years in the magical world, but he’d never actually thought to change them. He only wanted to survive the newest attempt to kill him and get away from his relatives. Two things that proved to take most of his concentration, if he were honest, and often overlapped. And achieving that with the potions and spells and blocks he’d had? Next to impossible. He was continuously surprised he’d managed so well. But he saw the light at the end of the tunnel now, in part due to his sister’s efforts at reassurances over the summer, and he just had to hold out a bit longer. As Arianna had said.

Then she left and he almost cried when he felt her leave the wards. It was a strange thing, that, to feel the wards around the school. But he’d discovered the sense within hours of returning to school and usually just ignored it, letting the brush of magic stick to the back of his mind.

Today, however, he sensed the change as soon as Arianna stepped fully off the grounds, far past the gates and well into Hogsmeade. The wards shuddered then snapped their focus on him and he gasped as the magic flooded him. Only the sudden brightness in the small antechamber clued him in that he was glowing as he felt the wards anchor to him and allow him to see the strands of magic all around him. It glowed beautifully, interwoven in the very bricks of the castle and in a large dome over the entire place, stopping just short of the small village outside the gates. He studied it in awe for a few minutes before it began to recede. He blinked when his vision was back to normal and he stared at the twins in shock.

Then his mirror started singing softly, indicating Arianna was calling. Harry scrabbled for the small mirror and answered eagerly.

“Hello, kiddo, how are you doing?” she asked immediately when the mirror shimmered into her face.

“What was that?” he asked breathlessly.

“That was the wards accepting you as a Lord and rightful holder,” she explained quickly even as Harry saw parts of the village shuffling past behind her. “I felt the same when I took them over earlier. Now, I don’t expect you to fix anything, but hold them for now, so don’t try, please. I want you focused on your classes. I also just wanted to make sure they didn’t hurt you.”

“No, I’m fine,” he denied, sensing the lingering glow finally fading and the persistent magic thrum in his head much stronger than ever before. “I’ve a bit of a headache, but it should go away once I get used to the boost. I could sort of feel them before but it’s much stronger now.”

“I figured,” Arianna said with a sigh. “Well, I’ll try to relieve the pressure whenever I’m there. Two anchors should balance it out when I’m in the castle. If it gets to be too much, let me know and I’ll see if there’s anything to help. I can always ask Dagger if he knows anything. He was around for the building of the place, after all. Or Merlin again.”

“Dagger?” Fred asked with a snicker.

“Gryffindor was apparently not creative in his naming of his house elves,” she said dryly. “All his are various weapons…. Dagger is the oldest and quite happy to have a new mistress so he’s been writing his adventures and knowledge of the Founders down for me. I’m hoping to have all the elves doing it soon, so there might actually be an accurate history of the last few thousand years. Might publish it as a book with the proceeds going towards elf rehousing efforts, for when a House goes extinct or needs to sell off an elf without another family already in mind. And no one really notices the House elves when they are in a room, even when discussing secrets. Since we’re now lords of houses both light and dark, I figured we could get both sides of the tale. The goblins are great for the banking and business stuff, but they are far from unbiased in the rest.”

George snickered at that but nodded and Harry laughed full out at the tale.

“Well, I’ve got to go for certain now, pup,” she muttered. “I’m glad the wards didn’t hurt you and I’ll see you soon. I love you. You too, you menaces.”

Harry beamed and bid his sister an honest goodbye.

“Now, Harrikins,” Fred said, pulling his twin to him and staring at Harry mischievously, “How about we prank Umbitch?”

Harry eyed them warily, as it was well known over the entire school that the twins pranked alone and never shared their secrets, Peeves excluded. He’d assumed that would remain the same, even if he was their soulmate. Ron had been product testing for them and Lee was usually just their cover, not actively involved in the planning and execution of any pranks. The teen had been adamant about that whenever Professor McGonagall had interrogated him where Harry could hear. Harry would admit that he was slowly allowing himself to accept he loved them and he loved them as they were, secrets and all.

To have them offering to have him join? It was interesting.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, our dear Lady has introduced us to the wonders that is muggle glitter and Peeves has a new mission we could easily assist with,” Fred said with a frankly terrifying grin.

Harry felt a matching grin spread across his own face.

Yes, he could get used to helping the twins. It was his legacy, after all, wasn’t it?

And he’d been very neglectful of his legacy previously. Lots to make up for, really.

Harry laughed gleefully and nodded, letting the twins guide him from the room and allowing their efforts to relax him for the day, even if, come Monday and his latest detention, he’d be tense again by Tuesday. It was worth it for calling the woman a bint and having McGonagall stifle a laugh.