The Bonds That Bind

Harry Potter looks down at his best friend's prone form and can't help but hate himself. Hermione Granger has been one of his closest companions since his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had helped him in everything; without her he would be dead, without her Ginny would be dead and Voldemort would be resurrected, without her his godfather's soul would be gone.

When she needed him he had abandoned her. It didn't matter that she said it was okay, said she could handle a werewolf, he should have known better.

He should have known better.

It was only thanks to Sirius's insistence in finding her and Fawkes, Headmaster Dumbledore's Phoenix familiar, coming when he called, that Hermione survived the attack.

Harry isn't a very tall boy, nor a strong one. Standing close to five foot-three, his school robes almost swallows him whole, he has rose beige complexion, the long hours he spent in the sun in his earlier childhood turning his pale skin tan with the only visible blemish being a lighting bolt scar over his right eye.

His most striking features are his raven black hair that almost resembled a bird's nest and his green eyes, practically emeralds, only dulled by his round, thick black-rimmed glasses. 

Harry takes Hermione hand in between his own and squeezes it, though there wasn't a mark on her anymore and physically she was completely fine, Madam Pomfrey had to put her under a magically induced coma. Madam Pomfrey, the Matron of Hogwarts had explained that if she was awake right now she would be screaming in agony.

Turns out Phoenix tears had never been used on a werewolf bite and Hermione's body was acting strange because of it. It had been a day and a half and it was still up in the air if Hermione would actually become a werewolf.

From what Dumbledore had theorized the Phoenix tears were desperately fighting the Lycanthrope Curse off and from the looks of it, wasn't losing.

Harry… Harry tries to hope but he had never been good at hoping. So he decides that until he was told otherwise, he was working on the assumption that his friend was going to become a werewolf and he wasn't going to let her suffer alone.

Looking on Hermione's right he sees his other best friend, Ronald Weasley, who's staring back at him with unsure eyes. 

Ronald was much taller than Harry, standing close to six feet. Despite their similar ages, he looks like a full grown man instead of someone just entering puberty.

Like the rest of the Weasley's he has ginger red hair that rests flat, freckles that litter his face and like all the Weasley men, ocean blue eyes. 

Harry looks back at Hermione, more specifically her neck, where the Time-Turner still hangs.

The Time-Turner is a golden necklace with a small hourglass pendant, it was able to send a person or persons' five hours back in time.

For some reason nobody had taken it off her yet, most likely because they simply forgot it in all the horror-inducing excitement but it wouldn't be long before someone remembered to reclaim the powerful magical artifact.

Looking around and seeing no one around Harry reaches forward, unclasps the necklace before quickly pocketing it. He and Ron stand up from their seats and exit the Hospital Wing.

As they walk the halls they begin whispering, "Okay, we have the Time-Turner, now what?" Ron mutters.

"I talked with Professor Flitwick, asked him how Sirius hid from the Ministry. He explained that Sirius most likely used several Protective Enchantments. So that's what we're going to focus on, we can't have Dumbledore finding us and sending us back home before we're ready."

"Where are we going to stay anyway? And what about the Trace?" Ron questions, "And I know we have a Time-Turner but with how you explained it, it sounds like we need a lot of individual space, so we don't run into our past selves."

Harry sighs, "I… don't know."

Ron nods, "Well, at least being friends with Hermione taught us one thing." He smirks at the other boy who mirrors it.

" "Research." "

"Midnight." Harry states, "Away from prying eyes."

Midnight came fast for Harry and Ron, the two bundle under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and walk down from Gryffindor Tower to the Library with a bright Lumos guiding their way and the Marauders Map warning them of any professors or Prefects closeby.

The journey didn't take longer than ten minutes, entering the labyrinth of books the two began searching high and low. They picked up Advanced textbooks both for Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts before heading over to the Legal section, picking up several more volumes.

By the end of it they have a total of ten books to go through. Sitting in a far off corner, away from the entrance's line of sight, they remove the cloak and begin reading.

In the resulting and tiring hours they found several interesting facts; one, the Trace, which detected the use of underage magic, could only work on plottable land, if an underage wizard was in an unplottable land such as Hogwarts or Diagon Alley than it was impossible for the Ministry to detect spell work. Two, underage witches and wizards were required to purchase their wand from a Ministry recognized wand shop such as Ollivanders' or be punished with a hundred Gallon fine.

Fact number two tells them that the Trace is likely being cast on their wands at purchase. Thinking about it logically how else could they track their use of magic if not on the object they casted magic with?

Harry luckily found the Unplottable Charm in the third to last book he searched through. The description from it said the spell couldn't be used on people but Harry wonders if maybe the Ministry of Magic made the author write that to keep kids like them from blocking the Trace.

Considering what the Minister is like, he wouldn't doubt it.

With the Marauders' Map he could at least see if it was possible for a person to become unplottable. 

Though now knowing the Ministry couldn't detect magic being used at Hogwarts made Harry think that maybe they didn't need to find another place to go, they could just stay at Hogwarts. The more he thought about it the more the idea made sense.

Hogwarts has all the rooms they needed to use the Time-Turner, they just needed a way to keep the professors from realizing they're still in school but considering Sirius managed to sneak in without anyone the wiser, twice, then they could obviously do it too.

Seeing the sun shining through the library windows Harry takes out the Time-Turner from his pocket and wraps it around his and Ron's neck, holding onto the book with the Unplottable Charm, he takes the hourglass pendant and turns it over five times.

The world around the two boys blur in a cascade of colors, moments later they find themselves in an empty classroom, the sun no longer in the sky.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaims as he stumbles, "That wa–" His mouth is covered by Harry's.

"Ron. Quiet." Harry hisses.

Ron winces and nods, "Sorry." 

Harry rolls his eyes before sitting down, "Okay, let's practice." He sets the old yellow parchment, which the Marauders Map resides on, down and opens the book and quickly finds the Unplottable Charm, "Okay, the Charm is a Protective Enchantment with a sub-classification of a Masking Spell. The Charm, when used correctly, can make any building unplottable, meaning it can't show up or be put on a map. To use the spell properly, your intent must be for the building in question to be concealed like a secret."

Harry continues reading for another thirty minutes until they get to the page that has the incantation and the illustration for the wand movement.

"Okay, I'm going to try it." Harry mutters, as he looks over the Marauders Map.

Performing the Counter Charm for his Lumos, which Ron quickly replaces, he points his wand at his face and draws a tight circle before adding an 'X' in the middle, "Obstusra." He feels a small tingle but nothing else, looking at the map he still sees his name floating about.

He tries again and again, and again. 

After an hour he stops and lets Ron try, giving the other boy light to work with.

Nothing happens but Ron keeps trying and really that's all he can ask for.

Harry tilts his head in thought, he had successfully used the Patronus Charm to drive off hundreds of soul sucking Dementors, a feat worthy of someone like Dumbledore not a thirteen year old boy but one of the reasons he was able to use the Charm to such a degree was because he knew he could.

The first time around he briefly saw a person cast a Patronus that drove all the Dementors away, saving him and Sirius's life on the shores of the Black Lake, only to go back in time and be met with no one but himself, at that moment he knew it was him who casted it.

Knowing he could make the Charm that powerful, made the Charm that powerful.

Harry guesses that it might be what's contributing to his failure with the Unplottable Charm, he thinks he can do it but thinking isn't enough, he has to know it.

He waits as he watches his friend repeat the spell for the next hour but Ron's name on the Marauders' Map stays strong. They eventually switch off again with Ron lighting the room.

Harry takes a breath, he changes nothing from his previous attempts, just his thinking. He no longer thinks the spell might be successful, he knows it.

He knows it because he's the youngest seeker in the century, he knows it because he slayed a Basilisk with a toothpick, he knows it because he drove off hundreds of Dementors with a single Patronus.

Harry is skilled and powerful, so of course he will master the Unplottable Charm, "Obstusra."

He feels a small shock run through his body and can just tell the spell is a success. He and Ron both look at Marauders' Map and neither can find his name.

"You did it, Mate." Ron claps his shoulder excitedly.

"Your turn now." Harry grins a bit impishly. He still needs to practice but this was a good first step in hiding from anyone looking for them, maybe not the Ministry because they would be staying at Hogwarts anyway but from Dumbledore? Or the Weasley's?

Harry lits up his wand and lets Ron practice but internally he thinks about what his discovery means for him.

The days silently pass for Harry and Ron, the two continuing to practice the Unplottable Charm when they have the chance.

For Harry it lasts little more than an hour, for Ron well he still hasn't completely figured it out. He's sure the other boy will, it'll just take more time but in the meantime he'll continue to study other Protective Enchantments.

He learns the Repelling Charm, used to repel Owls and objects. It's far easier than the Unplottable Charm but difficult to practice without an Owl of your own, it was a good thing Harry has Hedwig, his snowy white pet Owl.

It was funny to see her make a sudden stop as she tried to swoop down on his shoulder only to make a sudden retreat. Of course he and Ron paid for their laughter later when they used the Counter Charm and Hedwig smacked them with her wings.

Harry also learnt before the last Monday of May the Notice-Me-Not Charm and much like the other two, it has a sub-classification as a Masking Spell. It causes an object or person to become harder to perceive by others even when it's right in front of them.

The Charm is the easiest to practice, Harry uses it on the main couch in the common room and watches as their fellow Gryffindors sit on the floor like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Unlike the Repelling Charm, the Notice-Me-Not Charm did wear off and pretty quickly. It wasn't even half a minute when the other students realized there was a perfectly good couch beside them and sat down.

A little experimentation and Harry came to realize the bigger the object or the more significance the object had than the less likely the spell was going to last. The same goes for people, Harry had used it on Ron who then went to Ginevra Weasley, his younger sister.

It took less than two seconds before the girl broke through the spell and greeted Ron like normally.

Later the two enter the Great Hall, Hogwarts dining area, and see their fellow students religiously studying for the end-of-term exams happening in about a week. Neither of them felt too worried, with Hermione as a friend they already knew all the material months before the exams were a twinkle in their teachers eyes.

The two boys went to the far right table and sat across from Fred and George Weasley, Ron's older twin brothers who knew everything about Hogwarts.

Despite being two years older than Ron they stood a good few inches shorter than him. Though they were much stockier.

"Hey Gred, Forge?" Harry began, immediately getting the two older boy's attention, "You guys know where the kitchen is?" 

"Oh? And why, oh why do you need that information?" Fred questioned, "Finally poisoning Malfoy? Honestly, it took you long enough."

George hums along, "Though, do be careful, you will be suspect number one, you don't want his father to hear about it." He sat up straighter and put on a pompous face. "Yes father, it was Potter!" The older boy spat his last name much like a Draco Malfoy would, "That half blood scum always one upping me, making me look like a lemon!"

"But son, you are a lemon." Fred imitated Draco's father, Lucius, "The biggest lemon in the world! How could I raise such a disappointment? So un-Slytherin like."

"Father!~" George whined, a large pout across his lips, the pout didn't last long as he began laughing, quickly joined in by Fred and some of their table mates.

"You joke but honestly, who could be proud of Malfoy? For someone in Slytherin he's not all that cunning. Frankly his father must be disappointed in him." Harry smirks.

Fred and George look at one another and shrug.

"Makes sense." Fred says without care.

"Anyway, the end-of-term is coming up pretty fast and well, I want to be a little more prepared for the Dursley this summer, if you know what I mean." Harry's lips press down tightly in an embarrassed smile.

The twins' smiles become a little more strained.

"Well when you put it like that," Fred starts.

"How can we say no?" George ends, he makes a come here gesture with his left hand, beckoning Harry over the table, Harry leans over with the other boy meets him halfway, "You can find the kitchens by going through the door on right just outside the Great Hall, when you go down the staircase you'll find yourself in a corridor, the walls are lined with portraits of food, the kitchens are hidden behind a large portrait of a silver bowl of fruit, to get inside just tickle the pear." He whispers as quietly as he can.

"Thanks, George." Harry smiles as he sits back down.

"Hey!" George frowns, "I'm Fred, Potter!"

"And you call us your friends." Fred shakes his head.

He rolls his eyes, "Sure." The boy plays along for a moment. "And I'm the Head of Slytherin. Honestly, if I can't tell you apart by now, then that would be pretty sad."

Fred and George give mock pouts.

"Ruin our fun, why don't-cha?" Fred mutters.

Harry shrugs, a moment later he grabs a plate and starts piling up the food, Ron was already halfway done having immediately dug in to the feast as soon as he sat down.

The same night, Harry and Ron went down to the Hogwarts Kitchen, safely hidden under the Invisibility Cloak. Standing in front of the large portrait of fruit the Weasley Twins were talking about, Harry briefly bundles up the cloak, exposing his and Ron's lower half, and reaches for the green pear which he tickles.

The boys hear a brief giggle and the pear turns into a handle.

They enter a moment later.

"Whoa…" Ron mutters, the kitchen was large, just as large as the Great Hall with five tables identical to the ones above, on the other end of the room is a large brick fireplace that warms the room.

"Who is there?" An elf, a small humanish creature with large eyes and larger bat-like ears, questions as crawl out of a barrel. They were wearing a tea towel stamped with a Hogwarts crest and tied like a toga, "You want some food?"

Harry and Ron look at each other.

"I mean, their offering?" Ron whispers.

Harry sighs and takes the Invisibility Cloak off them, "Hi." He gives a small wave.

"Hello!" The elf waves back, "What is it, you want?"

"Um, we just want to ask a few questions?" Harry starts.

"And pie, we also want pie. Blueberry." Ron adds, ignoring Harry's small huff, "With some milk, chocolate if you can."

"Oh, okay!" The elf nods and claps, the dark kitchen lits up, letting Harry extinguish his Lumos, the elf quickly starts moving around the kitchen, gathering the necessary ingredients for Ron's request.

"So, can I ask what your name is?" Harry starts.

"Oh, I'm is Quiver!" The elf, Quiver, says, "Who is, you two?"

"Um, just two Gryffindor's." Harry semi-introduces themselves, resisting the urge to flatten his hair and draw attention to his famous scar, "Any way I'm just wondering, do you report students who come down here at all?" 

Quiver tilts their head, "No, why would we?"

"Just, well, the teachers would like to know when students break curfew and well, don't you work for them? Aren't you supposed to, I don't know, help them even if they don't ask."

"No, no, no." Quiver shakes their head as they finish carrying a pan of an uncooked pie to the fireplace and floats it in the flame, allowing it to cook, "We don't work for teachers, we is Hogwarts House Elves! We is bonded to the school with only the current Headmaster being able to direct us, if we don't want to do something that is asked of us by students or teachers, we don't have to."

Harry nods before asking another question, "And you work here during the summer?" 

Quiver looks offended at his question, "Of course! Who else but us would keep Hogwarts clean?"

"And if, rhetorically, two students don't leave during the summer for… reasons, would you report them?" 

Quiver looks at Harry with curious eyes, "Hm, unless theys' is putting themselves or the school in danger then no. It is none of our business."

Harry smiles, he watches as Quiver floats the pie out of the fireplace and places it on the counter, the elf raises their hand and he sees cool air blow from the palm.

"Pie is ready! Let me get yous', chocolate milk." Quiver exclaims and runs away in excitement.

Ron smiles at Harry as he rushes over and cuts himself a piece of pie, "You gotta love House Elves."

The end-of-term had come, arriving faster than either boy anticipated despite the liberal use of the time-turner. While for everyone else it had been three weeks since Hermoine's attack, for Harry and Ron it was more like two months.

Ron had made some progress with the Protective Enchantments, now able to use the Unplottable Charm to some degree. The Repelling and Notice-Me-Not Charm had become as easy as breathing for him which was a great sign.

Though Harry didn't stop at those spells, learning and mastered more Protective Enchantments.

Ron, well, he knew the theory and would practice them when given the chance but considering his difficulties Harry would be the one to Ward the rooms against intrusion.

Harry and Ron stand inside a now abandoned classroom on the third floor, the door has been Disillusioned and spelled with a Notice-Me-Not Charm, a Locking Charm, an Anti-Alohomora Charm, and an Intruder Charm.

Pushed across the room is a Boundary Concealment Charm, if someone manages to open the door then they would see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing. The room would look completely normal to anyone outside the boundary.

They were as concealed as could be and with the whole castle to themselves they had two weeks before the next full moon to become Animagi.

An impossible task, impossible if one didn't have a Time-Turner.

Now it was just improbable.

Both of them have read the one and only tome on the Animagus Transformation Process found in the Restricted Section. If that wasn't a hint enough, the first page with large bold letters practically begged them to put down the book if they weren't Masters of Transfiguration.

The Animagus Transformation Process wasn't only a physical journey but a spiritual one. One needs to know themselves wholly, body and soul; it isn't enough to know the qualities you have but also why you have them.

Why are you the way that you are? How have the experiences in your life shaped you? Have they made you better or worse? Kinder or meaner? Do you like yourself? Do other people like you? Does that truly matter? If you could change, would you? 

It's the type of soul searching most try to avoid but it was the only way to find one's animal spirit.

If that wasn't difficult enough, the actual Animagus spell was scary in concept. You have to reconcile with your spirit animal, basically Transfiguring your soul, which could result in you going feral or being partially Transfigured with little hope of it ever being reversed.

You get one chance to do the spell right. 

Harry has an edge as he knows the Patronus Charm which summons a Guardian powered by your happiest memory, or in his case, thought. From his understanding it represents what you valued most at your happiest, so he knew that he valued his father, who his Patronus was based off of, a great deal.

It wasn't exactly news but it did make things clearer for him.

He missed his parents and not in, I'm an orphan and I just want to be loved but in, I may have never known them but I still love them and the wound of losing them is still there and still bleeding.

Ron on the other hand, well… Ron has never been good at self reflection. Though the boy was as stubborn as they came when it truly mattered. 

Harry is sure that his friend won't fall behind.

He'll make sure of it.

Currently the two were silently reading side by side A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration. It was the textbook for N.E.W.T level students, a perfect way to start their training on Human-Transfiguration and Trans-Species Transformation that was needed to become an Animagus.