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batsutousaiTitle: Stand Against the Moon
Fandom: Harry Potter
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Harry Potter/Lord Voldemort
Warnings: Violence, character death, Dark!Harry, werewolf!Harry, AU, ending of questionable happiness, underage sexual relationship (depending on the way you tilt your head)
Summary: Cursed against his will, Harry made the best of his life until he found himself, again, wandering in Death's realm. When Death offers him a second chance, a chance to right the wrongs he'd been blind to for too long, he can't possibly refuse.
A/N: I am, maybe-possibly-just-a-little-bit, laughing at everyone who asked if Sirius' new house-elf was going to be Dobby or Winky. I feel I must remind everyone that this is six years before the start of the books; Dobby is still a 'normal' member of the Malfoy household, and Winky is happy with Crouch. Nothing that happened in canon is even vaguely relevant right now.
In other news, enter Remus! :D (Also, a bit more Bill.)
Chapter Four – Drop the Shades
-0-
Sirius' new house-elf was named Pinky, and she was a meek little thing who, so far as Harry could tell, Kreacher hated in sight. He didn't care enough to ask about that, just treated them both with equal levels of fondness and respect, the latter seemingly throwing Pinky for a loop.
Kreacher did seem to appreciate being largely in Harry's service, especially since Harry set him to cleaning up Grimmauld Place, rather than dragging him along on any playdates, as Sirius had intended. Sirius seemed resigned to it, to the point that he told Harry that cleaning the house up was his and Kreacher's duty, and to let him know when they needed him to come in and perform the strengthening charms and any other magic that Kreacher couldn't manage.
It took almost a week before Remus showed up, in the end. In that time, Harry got dragged out to two playdates at the Burrow. He was vaguely surprised to discover that Ron wasn't quite the ball of jealousy that Harry recalled him being at eleven, though, in retrospect, that was likely due to the fact that none of his brothers were yet old enough to have accomplished the list of things Ron had listed off. (Save for the twins who, to hear Bill tell it, proved themselves able troublemakers within an hour of their birth by bringing the midwife who delivered every Weasley child to suggest an exorcism would not go amiss.)
The twins made a joke, the first time they heard Bill call Harry 'Growly' in front of them, that they thought 'Hairy' would have been a far better choice, if they were going with animal names, which had Harry growling at them in irritation. Thus he was dubbed 'Growly' by three of the Weasleys, with everyone else simply using 'Harry'.
Ron and Ginny were a little too young for Harry's patience, and there were times he wanted to curse the twins for being obnoxious, but he got on surprisingly well with Percy, on the rare occasion that the elder came out of his room. Charlie didn't seem to know what to think of him, which made for some strained interactions, but Bill made no secret of his fondness for Harry, nor did he ever try dumbing himself down when he was speaking with Harry, which he appreciated more than he could properly explain.
Bill and Harry had just arrived at the Burrow for Harry's third playdate over – Bill always came to pick him up because Harry was too young to floo alone, which had the benefit of giving Harry the chance to warn him that Sirius didn't know he was a werewolf, which had Bill shaking his head at Harry's reticence – when Pinky appeared at Harry's side, fingers twisted nervously in her tea towel. Harry immediately dropped to his knees in front of her, having discovered it best to treat her like a terrified child, and gently requested, "What is it, Pinky?"
Pinky gave him a wide-eyed stare. "Master sends Pinky to Young Master to return for guest."
"A guest?" Harry repeated, vaguely aware of Bill waving Fred and George back when they started over; the last thing any of them needed was for the twins to terrorise Pinky.
Pinky gave a jerky nod. "Master says is Misters Moon."
"Moony," Harry corrected. "Okay. Thank you, Pinky. Let Sirius know I'm on my way back, please."
Pinky vanished.
Harry stood and glanced over at where Molly was approaching, frowning. "Sorry, Mrs Weasley," he offered. "Sirius' best friend just showed up and he wants me to come back so I can meet him."
"That's fine," Molly insisted with a fond smile. "Bill, will you take Harry home?"
"Sure thing, Mum. Come on, Growly."
The trip back was filled with Harry telling Bill about all the things he'd heard about Remus, since he was honestly excited to finally meet the last Marauder. Bill apparently found the whole thing hysterical, for he kept letting loose a handful of helpless giggles and made a point to put his hand to Harry's forehead a couple times, as though checking his temperature.
Remus and Sirius were in the living room when Harry got in, Bill following because he wanted to 'meet this man who makes you act your age, for once'. The adults were standing in the middle of the room, Sirius frowning and Remus stiff. Remus was staring at Harry, expression shifting towards horror, and Harry realised, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, that the was one thing he hadn't really anticipated about this meeting: Remus could tell he was a werewolf.
He stopped in the doorway, uncertain, and insisted, "It's not what you think."
Sirius' head shot around and he frowned uncertainly at Harry. "What's not–"
"You're a werewolf," Remus whispered, and he sounded so very broken.
"Of course he's no–" Sirius started.
"I am," Harry agreed quietly, and Bill rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, a silent promise of support.
Sirius snorted. "Right. Pup, I was with you all day on the last full moon; there's no way you're a werewolf."
Harry took a deep breath, then tugged his shirt off, rings chiming on the chain around his neck as they were disturbed, and forced himself to change, teeth grit against the wash of agony.
"Alpha Lord," Remus breathed in awe while Harry irritatedly tried to escape his trousers.
Bill leant down and helped him out. Harry thanked him by licking his chin, making the teen scowl, and turned towards Sirius and Remus.
Sirius looked completely thrown. "What– But– How–?"
Remus knelt and held out a hand to Harry. When Harry trotted over to him, Remus immediately started scratching behind his ears and Harry couldn't help but let out a happy 'woof'. "Do you still know who you are?" Remus asked.
Harry ducked the scratching hand so he could nod, then glanced up towards Sirius.
Sirius swallowed and said, "Change back so we can talk." Then he looked towards Bill and narrowed his eyes. "You're taking this calmly."
"I found out a couple weeks ago," Bill admitted as Harry let himself change back.
Warm arms wrapped around Harry as he regained human form and he gratefully rested against Remus' chest for a moment while he caught his breath. "Sirius," Remus called, a note of steel in his voice, "a pain potion."
"I'm fine," Harry insisted, trying to pull away.
Remus tightened his arms enough to make it clear that he wasn't going to let Harry go. "You can't lie to me, pup. Not about this."
Harry sighed and relaxed back into Remus' hold, knowing when he was beat. He took the potion Pinky brought without complaint, but when Remus wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and made like he was going to pick him up, Harry pulled away with a snarl. "I am not going to be coddled like a child after his first moon," he snapped at the elder werewolf.
Remus immediately raised his chin to bare his throat. "Sorry, Alpha."
Harry huffed and wrapped the blanket around himself, deciding he didn't care about getting dressed right that moment. "You don't need to call me that, Remus. In fact, I'd rather you didn't, if it's all the same," he added as he made his way over to the couch and curled up against one arm.
Bill stopped next to Harry and dropped his trousers onto his head. "I need to get back home before Mum sends out search parties," he commented.
"First, how the hell could you have known about this for a couple weeks?" Sirius demanded as he dropped heavily into his favourite chair. "You only met a week ago."
Bill raised an eyebrow at Harry and he sighed. "He found me when I came to the Burrow hunting Peter."
Sirius pointed a shaking finger at him. "How could you have possibly known where Peter was?"
Harry sighed again and tugged his blanket tighter around his shoulders. "I had a dream, one night, where I'd been turned into a wolf. There was a man there who I thought was my father, but he claimed to be me as an adult. He told me that if I wanted away from the Dursleys, I needed to go to the weirdly-shaped house outside Ottery St Catchpole and catch a rat who was really a man named Peter. When I woke up, I was a wolf and it took me a bit to figure out how to be human again, but once I was, I decided to hunt down Peter."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sirius asked as Bill left. (Harry knew him well enough to expect he'd sit through some questions from the future cursebreaker as soon as Bill could catch him alone.)
Sirius was clearly hurt by this apparent slight, and Harry felt horrible even as he replied, "Oh, yes, I can just see how that conversation would go. 'By the way, Sirius, I hope you don't mind, but I'm actually a werewolf. No need to be concerned on the full moons, I always retain my human brain, so I'll never accidentally bite you. Please don't have them put me down or send me back to the Dursleys?' "
"I would never do that!" Sirius roared, standing, his face a mask of Gryffindor fury.
"And how would I know that?" Harry snapped, narrowing his eyes at his godfather. "It's not like I knew your best friend was a werewolf. For all I knew, you were some sort of anti-non-human fanatic!" Which, not true, but it fit with the story he was using. Really, he'd just never worked up the courage to tell his godfather that he was a werewolf, too afraid that Sirius would take the news poorly; having a friend for a werewolf did not necessarily mean one wanted a dependent who was one, especially following a stay in Azkaban.
"Sirius," Remus murmured as the animagus turned to stalk away. "Remember how long it took me to tell you what I was? Can you imagine what it must be like for a child who depends on you?"
Sirius held still for a long moment before turning to frown at Harry. "I didn't react poorly to you wanting to turn Grimmauld Place into a werewolf sanctuary, did I?"
Remus turned to Harry with wide eyes.
Harry pressed his mouth into a tight line and looked away. "It's not like you reacted favourably to the idea, beyond being pleased about letting werewolves into your mum's house. Letting me do something I have my heart set on isn't the same as supporting my endeavours, Sirius."
Sirius flinched.
Harry sighed and took a moment to tug his trousers on, then slid off the couch and started towards his shirt. "I'll be in my room, once you've stopped thinking my secretiveness was intended as an attack upon you," he announced before making for the stairs.
He could hear the murmur of words behind him, Sirius and Remus speaking quietly enough that Harry would have to be actively trying, if he wanted to hear what they were saying. For his part, he curled up on his bed and absently turned the Stone over in his hands a few times, honestly startled when he felt the faint chill of the dead settle around him. He glanced up to find Lily sitting on the edge of his bed, her hand brushing over him like she was trying to rub his back. James stood at her shoulder, eyes kind.
Harry clenched his eyes shut against tears. He wondered, sometimes, if the Stone was more of a curse or a blessing, giving him family to comfort him when he needed someone there who already knew everything and didn't hate him.
Remus ended up being the one to come up, knocking lightly on the doorframe before stepping into the doorway. "Hey, pup," he offered as Harry sat up, his parents vanishing the moment he let go of the Stone.
Harry sighed. "Where is he?"
Remus winced. "I told him to go to Grimmauld Place and work off some steam by casting whatever spells you needed. Sirius...has never been good with learning people are keeping things from him."
"You don't say," Harry deadpanned.
Remus shook his head. "Your father told me, once, that Sirius about blew a gasket when they figured out I was a werewolf. Peter...reacted poorly from fear, but Sirius was angry because I wouldn't tell him, because I didn't trust them with my secret. I guess...he spent so long living with people who dealt in secrets, and he'd come to Gryffindor hoping that was over with."
"Incidentally," Harry said, "bravery does not equal honesty; you'd think he'd have figured that out by now."
Remus sighed. "I don't think he expected such a big secret from you."
Harry let out a laugh that was a little too shaky. "Yeah. How's he going to react to finding out I'm prophesied to bring an end to the rule of magical humans?"
Remus closed his eyes, expression pained.
Harry looked away. "Yeah, I know about that. I know I'm prophesied to destroy Voldemort, too. Fate seems to like making me her bitch."
Remus settled tiredly on the bed next to Harry. "How much did that older you actually tell you?"
Harry shrugged and curled around his knees before glancing up at the other werewolf. "He was turned in 2002, after he destroyed Voldemort. Some new Dark Lord in 2007 found a way to control werewolves and he was killed after being made to kill people on the full moon. He made a deal with Death to do his life over again, but do it better. Save the people he cared about." He touched the two rings resting against his chest. "You. Sirius. The Weasleys. All the werewolves he spent five years fighting for."
"I take it he was never the Alpha Lord."
Harry shook his head. "Death may have screwed with the curse a bit." He rolled his eyes. "But no, he never got to suffer that particular responsibility, though he certainly tried to fix things on his own."
"So how did you find out about it? His sire–?"
Harry choked out a laugh. "No. No, if the concept of Alpha Lord even existed for him, he didn't know anything about it. After Bill caught Wormy and turned him in, I flooed to Bloody Eyetooth. A vampire there told me about the prophecy after I got outed by a couple werewolves in residence."
Remus sighed. "What made you think flooing to Bloody Eyetooth was a good idea?" he complained. "I don't go there, and I'm an adult."
Harry flashed him a smile full of too-sharp teeth. "There are some pros to being able to change against the moon," he admitted when Remus' eyes widened. Then he shrugged. "Anyway, I have the knowledge of seven years at Hogwarts and the equivalent of five years in the field as an auror; even without a wand, I know more than enough spells to protect myself."
Remus ruffled his hair with a helpless look. "Spell knowledge isn't always enough to protect you, pup."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think, knowing what I am, that I lack for allies down Knockturn?"
"For my sanity, can you promise that, in future, you'll bring Sirius or myself if you go down there again?" Remus requested.
Harry snorted. "Assuming Sirius is even willing."
Remus smiled a bit nervously. "I don't know, Sirius. Are you willing?"
Sirius stepped into the doorway, smelling like absolutely nothing, expression worryingly blank.
Harry snarled and jumped away from Remus, furious about being tricked into spilling everything to his godfather.
Remus immediately bared his throat, but Sirius lacked the instincts telling him 'angry Alpha, placate him with obedience', and he walked right up to Harry and wrapped him in a hug. "Knew you were an odd five-year-old," he whispered.
Harry relaxed into the hug despite himself. "Can someone remove the spell?" he requested, voice strained. "You have no idea how disconcerting it is to not be able to smell you."
Sirius snorted and pulled back to touch his wand to his chest. "Normal people don't want to smell me," he pointed out.
"Normal people don't trust their sense of smell to tell them how someone's feeling," Harry muttered and saw Remus' mouth kick up on one side. Then he pinned his godfather with a hard look. "Don't take this the wrong way, Sirius, but you have to understand that you're technically my enemy."
Sirius sucked in a sharp breath while Remus winced. "Harry–" Remus started.
"No," Harry snapped, shooting the other werewolf a sharp look before turning back to Sirius' frown. "This is a simple fact of me, of everything I am. I am destined to bring an end to the power of all magical humans, and that makes them all enemies, no matter my personal feelings in the matter."
"And what are your personal feelings in the matter?" Sirius returned, tone firm, but surprisingly non-confrontational.
Harry swallowed and closed his eyes. "The other me...watching you– watching his Sirius die nearly ripped him apart," he admitted quietly. "And he...he wasn't alone when you met, had friends and something like a family in the Weasleys, but you...but he..." Harry took a deep breath and looked back up at Sirius, took in the cracks of his calm mask where there hid a young man who had lost his family as much as Harry had that fateful October night. "You gave me my first hug," Harry whispered. "I don't want to hurt you."
'I can't lose you again.'
Sirius' arms wrapped around Harry, warm and safe, and the animagus whispered, "I love you too, pup."
Harry grabbed fistfuls of Sirius' robe and stared out of wet eyes at where Remus was watching them, a reassuring smile twisting his lips and lighting his eyes.
Remus didn't even look vaguely surprised when Sirius said, "How difficult would it be to find a vampire willing to turn me?"
Harry pulled back so he could stare incredulously at his godfather. "Are you mad?"
"Is that a no?" Sirius asked Remus.
Remus snorted. "I'm pretty sure Harry could arrange it with little to no difficulty," he replied. "Though I would suggest avoiding a change until Harry's at least in school, or the Ministry will have some..."
"Less than polite things to say?" Sirius suggested before glancing back at Harry, who was staring between them, not quite sure what to think. "So?"
"It could be arranged," Harry admitted before shaking his head. "I'll ask Carmilla about it next time I talk to her." The other two wizards choked and Harry raised an eyebrow at them, regaining his equilibrium at last. "Remus is right, however; the Ministry would never suffer a non-human to be the sole guardian of any child they believe is a human, which will hold doubly true for me, given the deed I've been attributed with. We'll revisit the topic either once the Ministry is no longer a concern, or when I turn seventeen, whichever comes first."
Sirius huffed. "There's my little dictator."
Harry flashed him a smile that was a little too toothy.
"You realise you need a Marauder name, now," Sirius pointed out.
Harry blinked and glanced at Remus, who shrugged. "It's sort of a requirement once you have some sort of animal form."
Harry sighed. "Well, Bill calls me Growly."
"What's up with that, by the way?" Sirius asked, eyes lighting with mischief.
Harry snorted. "When he first found me outside Percy's room, he startled me and I reacted by growling at him." He huffed. "He was bloody lucky the Burrow registers as a safe place for me, or I might well have actually bitten him."
"Let's avoid that, if at all possible," Remus murmured, wincing.
Harry huffed. "My sentiments exactly. Anyway, I never gave him my name, so he picked Growly. Joked he should have gone with 'Hairy'."
"Hairy has possibilities," Sirius mused.
"I will start using your bed as the toilet," Harry snarled, "and I will bully Pinky into never cleaning it up."
Sirius snorted. "You would never threaten that elf." He blinked, looking as though he'd just realised something. "Oh, hey, house-elves are non-humans, aren't they?"
Harry quirked a corner of his mouth in a half-smile. "Yeah. Imagine what I'm going to do with Lucius Malfoy when I get my hands on him."
Sirius and Remus both took a moment to imagine that, nasty smiles crossing their faces.
Sirius shook himself out of it first. "Growly is just sort of...lame. Cute, but not proper... What was it you called him, Moony?"
Remus blinked. "Called him?"
"Alpha Lord," Harry supplied drily as he turned and crooked a finger at a wingback chair sat in a corner. It slid across the floor to him and he hopped up onto it, then raised an eyebrow at the startled expressions Sirius and Remus wore. "Wandless magic. Surprisingly easy when you've never held a wand before."
"Certain that's not just a 'you' thing?" Sirius returned.
Harry grinned. "Always possible. You were critiquing Bill's choice of nickname?"
"Indeed I was," Sirius agreed with a shake of his head. "Growly is too cute for the all-powerful Alpha Lord, as is Little Paws, which would have been my personal choice."
Harry couldn't help but growl at that, disapproving.
"Sol Eyes," Remus said.
Sirius frowned. " 'Soul Eyes'? Like what, window to the soul?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Sol, as in the Latin name for the sun." Understanding painted Sirius' face, but Harry didn't get it. Which must have shown on his face, for Remus helpfully explained, "When it's close to the full moon, werewolves' eyes sometimes turn gold when they lose their temper. But the time of month doesn't seem to have any hold on you, since your eyes turn gold even though it's a week after the moon."
Harry's eyes widened, remembering the way his older self's eyes had gone gold when they merged. "Oh." And then something else occurred to him. "Oh. Oh shit. I'm going to need a glamour on my eyes whenever I go out in public, especially near the full moon."
Remus' eyes widened in concern as well, but Sirius just flashed them both a smile that spelt trouble. "Nah. We just say you really liked the way Moony's eyes did that and had me cast a spell on you that make your eyes go gold when you're angry. I mean, Madam Pomfrey didn't catch your lycanthropy, so if someone gets suspicious and shoots a spell to check at you, it'll come back negative."
"A general medical scan isn't the lycanthropy detection spell," Remus insisted.
Harry frowned. "The other me never registered on the most commonly used spells, but there is a detection spell that would catch it." He snorted. "Given, that spell isn't unknown to send back false positives, so it's unlikely anyone could use it as valid proof of what I am."
"You've never registered as a positive?" Remus asked, frowning.
Harry's jaw tightened and he looked away, remembering the terror of being tied down and force-fed the cooling flesh of a just-killed werewolf. "I wasn't turned in a normal way," he bit out before shaking his head. "Sol Eyes is an acceptable Marauder name, at any rate. And if we're going to say you cast a spell so I matched Moony, we can say it's for that, rather than for an animagus form." He snorted. "I am, after all, only five. Far too young for attempting that bit of magic."
Sirius barked a laugh. "I am not putting anything past you right now, pup."
Harry shrugged and admitted, "Not a terrible policy."
"So, you're moving in with us, right?" Harry asked Remus over dinner, after a day filled with Marauder stories. (Every time Harry thought he'd surely heard them all, Sirius had another one to tell, and Remus was willing to tell plenty of stories that Sirius would have 'forgotten'.)
Remus looked uncertainly towards Sirius. "Well, you sort of lack anywhere to keep me..."
"We can sort something out," Sirius insisted.
"Actually, we may not have to," Harry commented. At Remus' horrified look, he rolled his eyes and allowed, "We can do something for the next full moon, certainly, but let me ask you a question: Does your wolf recognise me as alpha?"
Remus swallowed and set his fork down. "Yeah."
"Then he'll listen to me, and I won't let you outside."
"And if he decides to rebel?" Remus asked, voice strained. "Harry, you're a pup."
Harry sighed. "First off, I very much doubt Moony is going to pull anything on me. If he does," he continued, raising his voice when Remus opened his mouth to disagree, "I have no doubt Padfoot will have something to say. He can hold you off plenty long enough for me to retake human form and conjure up a cage for the rest of the night."
Remus shoved away from the table. "No," he stated, hands clutching tightly at his knees. "No. You will never be human while–"
"And what do you expect you can do to me?" Harry wondered, calmly meeting the older werewolf's panicked gaze. "You can't turn me, Remus."
"I can kill you!" Remus shouted, jumping to his feet.
"Moony–" Sirius started.
"No! No, I am not–!"
"Sit down!" Harry shouted.
Remus was in his seat, throat bared, before the last syllable left Harry's mouth.
"Look at me," Harry requested, voice calm and firm. When Remus met his stare, clearly upset, Harry ordered, "Breathe, Remus."
"We'll build a cage, or spell a room," Sirius promised after a moment of silence. "We'll see what happens this first full moon. If it doesn't go well, Remus can stay somewhere else. If it does, we'll stick with it. Safety first," he added, staring at Harry until he looked over and inclined his head in understanding. "Remus?"
Remus let out a shaky breath. "One test," he agreed. "If Moony tries to attack you, you need to get out," he added to Harry.
Harry very much doubted that would be a problem, but he nodded, aware that the man needed the security for his human half, too used to distrusting the very instincts that kept trying to placate Harry when he lost his temper. "One test," he agreed quietly. "We'll figure out some sort of ridiculously small doggy flap that I can escape out of if Moony proves a danger to me."
Which was how Remus moved in with them.
It took Bill a couple days to get Harry alone, but he did finally manage to squirrel them both away up in his room by bribing the twins into distracting the rest of the family with mayhem.
"So," he said while Harry fingered the comforter he'd been wrapped in all those weeks ago, "what is 'Alpha Lord'."
"Title of prophecy," Harry admitted, having already decided to trust Bill with a fair bit. Bill had, after all, once been part-werewolf, and he'd married a part-veela. Never mind his having a degree of trust from his goblin employers, which was markedly difficult to manage for any human. "It decrees that I serve the interests of all non-humans."
Bill stilled, his hands wrapped around a puzzle cube Harry often saw him playing with. The solution changed fairly regularly, so one had to be quick about solving it if they hoped to ever get the cube open. "I'd wondered about that," he admitted quietly enough that, had Harry been human, he'd never have heard him. "I thought, at first, that you were just afraid of what the Ministry would do to a werewolf child, but then I realised you...you actively hate them, don't you?"
Harry shrugged. "No. I don't hate the Ministry, nor to I particularly fear them, though I am concerned about what the outcome of my being discovered might be. I hate those who marginalise non-humans, who think that, because we aren't completely human all of the time, we should serve as the stepping stones of humanity. It's so very much like those purebloods who think muggles or muggleborns are beneath them, just because they don't have fully magical parents, except it's so much worse, because this mentality is so utterly ingrained in the magical community that you don't even think about it. You see a werewolf and you think 'monster'. You see a house-elf and you think 'servant'. You see a giant or troll and you think 'idiot brute'. You see a goblin and you think 'greedy'."
Bill had opened his mouth at werewolf, but it had snapped shut when Harry'd mentioned house-elves, and he'd looked away entirely at the mention of giants and trolls. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Harry sighed and jumped off the bed, stepping forward to touch Bill's hands. When the teen looked down at him, so very wounded, Harry offered him a tired smile. "I don't blame you for the world you were born into, or for sharing the mentality of thoughtless abuse that you've been taught since the moment you first breathed. You're good people, you Weasleys. That's easy to see, no matter who you are." He stepped back, dropping his hands to his sides. "But that's part of the problem; it's never individual people, it's not the government, it's the culture.
"My title, 'Alpha Lord', it means I have a duty to completely destroy your culture, to remake it into something everyone can live with. Something that you can write home about without having to cut out the nasty bits: Goblins warring for equality, house-elves shrinking away from a hand held out in friendship, werewolves who can't keep a job."
Bill stared down at his puzzle cube for a long moment, silence falling heavily between them, and Harry wondered if he hadn't laid in on too thick, hoped he hadn't played too close to his true hand, because he knew Bill would never accept a new world order where humans came out on the bottom, which was the only thing the non-humans would accept after thousands of years of discrimination, but he hoped the other could accept this happy medium, this suggestion of equality.
Then Bill looked up and met Harry's unflinching gaze, determination in the set of his mouth before he opened it and said, "I've seen the fountain in the Ministry, the one that has the non-humans looking at the humans like they hung the moon. I've never– I never thought–" He took a deep breath, the air seeming to shudder over his teeth. "I'm only fourteen, but if you need my help with anything, for anything–"
Harry smiled at him, forcing it out past the weight of his too-heavy heart. "Thanks, Bill," he said, and it tasted like the blood of innocents on his tongue, staring at a man who had been his friend while he agreed to his own death sentence.
Bill grinned back, too trusting, and Harry wondered if making a horcrux would hurt more or less than this moment.
The day of the new moon, Sirius sat down across from where Harry and Remus were crawling around on the ground, working on a jigsaw puzzle, and stated, "I had a question."
"Merlin preserve us," Remus muttered and Harry bit the inside of his cheek to keep from giggling. "Ask away, Padfoot."
Sirius was quiet for long enough that Harry glanced up at him, one eyebrow raised. "You said you were prophesied to defeat Voldemort."
Harry sighed and sat back. "Yeah. Did Mum and Dad tell you about that when they went into hiding, that there's a prophecy about me?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah." He glanced towards Remus, who was frowning, but nodded when Harry looked at him too. "They told all of us, had to tell us something to explain why they were going into hiding. But I never learnt any of it, just that it painted a giant target on your back."
Harry scratched his cheek with the puzzle piece he was holding. "Essentially, it says that either Voldemort or I have to kill the other." He shrugged. "Really, I'm not sure how true it is any more." He tapped his forehead, where his scar used to be, then leant forward to place the puzzle piece. "My scar was sort of important to the prophecy, it serving as my mark as Voldemort's equal and all that rot."
Sirius took a deep breath. "He's not dead," he said, and his voice shook a bit, turning what had obviously been meant as a statement into something of a question.
Harry met his stare. "No. He's trapped as a spirit right now, weak, but far from dead."
Sirius closed his eyes. "Could we... Do you know how to kill him? Can we just take care of him while he's a, a spirit?"
Harry picked up another puzzle piece and warned, "You're not going to like this."
"We need him," Remus suggested, clearly aware of the direction of Harry's thoughts on the matter, and Sirius let out a broken moan. "We need him to bring down the Ministry."
Harry nodded. "Yes." He glanced towards Sirius' sick expression before turning his attention back to the puzzle. "The Ministry has to go. Honestly, anyone in any position of power needs to either willingly give up that power, or lose it in such a permanent way that they would never think to try regaining it, or we're going to end up with a civil war within a year."
"And when Voldemort decides to double cross you?" Sirius snapped, fear hidden in the anger colouring his tone.
Harry turned hard eyes on his godfather. "Then I kill him. I know how to, have known how. It's not hard, really, once you know how."
"How?" Sirius demanded.
"Tethers to life," Harry allowed, certain that was vague enough–
"Horcruxes?" Sirius breathed, eyes gone wide.
Harry froze for a beat, honestly surprised his godfather had caught that. That he knew enough about such dark arts to know what Harry had been alluding to.
"What are horcruxes?" Remus requested.
Harry cleared his throat and looked at the other werewolf. "Containers to hold a piece of a person's soul," he explained and looked away when Remus paled, towards where Sirius was watching him with hard eyes. "Yes. I currently have two of them."
"He made more than one?" Sirius hissed, horrified.
Harry smiled at him. "Really? You're actually shocked? You know what he's capable of; do you honestly think he'd balk at splitting his soul multiple times just to assure no one would ever kill him?"
"How many?" Remus asked, voice rough.
Harry took a moment to consider that. "Right now...he's got five. I was six, Nagini made seven."
Sirius turned away, making a noise that was somewhere between disgusted and horrified. "Seven."
"To be fair, he had no idea I was a horcrux."
Sirius stiffened, clearly having missed that part. "Excuse me," Remus whispered, a hint of a growl in his voice, despite it being the dark of the moon, "but you were a horcrux, pup?"
Harry sighed and tapped his forehead. "My scar was, yeah. Unintentional. It's gone now, though."
"That was why Albus cared!" Sirius realised, throwing his hands up and turning back towards Harry. "You said you've got two?"
Harry paused for a moment before very carefully setting his puzzle piece to one side. "One is in my room," he admitted as he reached under his shirt for the chain with his two rings on it. "The other is right here." He held up the Peverell ring.
"You wear it?" Sirius demanded, reaching for it.
Harry snarled and curled his hands around the Stone tight enough to ache. "It is mine!" he got out between too-sharp teeth.
Sirius hurriedly stepped back, holding his hands up in a sign of peace. He waited until Harry had relaxed a bit, one hand still tangled up in his rings, before saying, "Horcruxes are poison, pup. They fuck with your head."
Harry clenched his hand around the rings, feeling their edges mark his palm and fingers. "I know exactly what they're capable of – that's why I don't carry around the other one – but this one is different."
"It's really not."
Harry smiled coldly at his godfather. "The Stone of the ring is a powerful magical artefact in its own right; the mind altering properties of the horcrux are almost entirely nullified."
"What–?"
"Leave. It," Harry ordered, clamping down on the urge to snarl at his godfather again.
"Let it alone, Sirius," Remus said when Sirius looked like he was going to pursue the matter. "If Harry starts acting odd, we'll revisit this then. For now–" he looked at Harry "–what are the other horcruxes? Would it hurt anything to gather them all in one place so he can't go hiding them later?"
Harry shrugged and forced himself to drop his necklace back under his shirt, the weight reassuring against his chest. "Ravenclaw's diadem is at Hogwarts, Hufflepuff's cup is in Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts, and Voldemort's diary is with Lucius Malfoy. I expect the diadem is safe where it is until I can collect it my first year, but I'm not sure how to go about getting the diary or cup."
"I might be able to get the cup, as Head of House Black," Sirius admitted.
Harry grinned up at him. "That would be awesome. I can give you a rough description or, if someone can get their hands on a pensieve, I can show you a memory of when that older me got it."
"I'll look into the pensieve," Sirius decided before shaking his head. "As for Lucius... If I manufacture a way to get us into Malfoy Manor, can you get it?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Very likely. It would help immensely if I had Dad's Cloak, but I can probably manage the theft without it."
Sirius frowned. "His invisibility cloak? It should be in your family vault."
Harry shook his head. "I looked. My older self got it from Dumbledore Christmas of his first year."
"Why would Albus have James' cloak?" Sirius asked, looking towards Remus, who shrugged. "Well, I can ask him about it; you should have it back anyway."
"And I'd feel better about knowing you're going to Bloody Eyetooth every month with that cloak in your pocket," Remus added. He'd already agreed to accompany Harry that evening, but it was clear he wasn't happy about it.
"Nothing for it tonight," Harry pointed out with a shrug. "But I agree: It would be nice to have it for any future visits."
Sirius nodded. "I'll see to asking Albus tomorrow, then." He was quiet for long enough that Harry went back to the puzzle. "Pup?"
"Hm?"
"How long do we have? Before Voldemort comes back."
Harry clicked a puzzle piece into place. "For the other me...he almost got his hands on the Philosopher's Stone in my first year. In fourth year, Wormy helped Voldemort perform a ritual to get his body back." He glanced up at Sirius. "I honestly have no idea. But I can ask the non-humans to keep an eye out."
Sirius nodded and left the room.
Harry snapped another puzzle piece into place before asking Remus, "He's not taking this as well as he's pretending, is he?"
Remus snorted. "I expect, if we didn't have house-elves, we would come home to a wrecked house tonight."
Harry rolled his eyes. "How are you taking the Voldemort thing?" he had to ask, glancing up at the other werewolf.
Remus was still for a moment before meeting Harry's eyes. "I don't like it," he admitted, "but a part of me, I think, already knew this was where we needed to go. We need a scapegoat, someone to take the fall for bringing the magical world to its knees. And, hey, look. Convenient Dark Lord."
Harry laughed, and it only sounded a little strained.
Stand Against the Moon Chapters:
Prologue - Like a Ghost in My Town
1 - Procuring Freedom | 2 - Exeunt From Hell, Stage Left | 3 - Never Quite Perfect
7 - Determining Boundaries | 8 - International Acclaim | 9 - Age of Mystery
10 - Absence | 11 - Eye of the Storm | 12 - No Regrets
Nose to the Wind Chapters:
01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07 || 08 || 09 || 10
11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20
21 || 22 || 23 || 24 || 25 || 26 || 27
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