Summary:
Previously... Harry reunited with Luna and is plagued by nightmares of his past mistakes.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextCHAPTER 14:
"You must follow every single one of these commands," said Harry as he narrowed his eyes. "You will enter my bed chambers, the master bedroom, and open the cabinet that I have always kept locked. This is the key." He handed the pitch black key. "Place this box in that cabinet and make sure it is locked. You are not to tell anyone of this, understand?"
Harry has made it a habit to be extremely specific when giving out orders, especially to creatures like house elves. With enough influence, a house elf could find a loophole in the orders given and divert whatever was demanded. He had been far too paranoid for that to happen.
Dobby replied with enthusiasm, "Yes great Harry Potter sir!"
Harry held a grimace, "Do not call me that. From now on, refer to me as Hadrian. Dobby I do not like the name for which the world has claimed me to be." Yet again did the elf nod.
His wretched name, Harry . It was the name the wizarding world chose to give him, a name that was given to a savior, a hero. Harry was neither of those, not anymore at least. He liked Hadrian . He liked the greedy person he's become, not the puppet of Dumbledore. The one reason why hasn't snapped at anyone for referring to the butchered name the public has given was because he had to act normal . As normal as Harry Potter without memories of past lives could be.
He gently handed the black velvet box where Ravenclaw's diadem was safely stored to Dobby. He couldn't keep a damn horcrux in Hogwarts. The best bet was to hide it in the warded cabinet in his bedroom back in Potter Manor.
Between all his elves, he'd trust Dobby with this task. The elf had died for him after all. Dobby served him and was being paid a galleon a month. He had offered it to the rest of his house elves but they had refused and claimed his generosity and presence was enough. Who was he to argue with elves? They were stubborn creatures regardless of their requirement of a master. Hah, even the damn elf is more honorable than me.
"Now go— ah wait a minute." He paused, glancing away from the cozy reflection of his study that the room of requirements had given him. "How is Gellert doing?"
"Master Gellert is saying the elves call him Master Felix outside of the Manor. Master Gellert has been studying bloodlines sir. Master Gellert also went to Germany, Winly says to Dobby."
Harry narrowed his eyes at that. Germany? Did he really take the risk of leaving Britain? He pursed his lips, The vaults and archives then. I'll just write to him about it later.
"Good job. Now go. Make sure to remember my orders."
"Yes sir, Master Hadrian sir!" And the elf popped away, doing as he was told in a manner of worship that Harry shuddered about.
Harry could only wish that whatever the hell Gellert was doing in Germany was about their vaults or the artifacts they had hidden. Although, he suspected that their Manor had been burnt down somehow, or it had never been found up until this day. He doubted it. Damian may not have spent much time in Grindelwald Manor, but his magical signature, including his father and sister's, were ingrained into the walls. Dumbledore would have found the manor after Gellert's defeat and Damian's death.
He could only hope that Vinda was loyal to the end and had salvaged all their artifacts and texts to their secret hideouts or Gringotts itself.
§Hungry…§
Harry sighed as he took out Amarantha's gem from under his shirt. He shuddered at the other chain hanging off his neck—the locker Petunia had given him before he ran from Privet Drive. He had done his best to ignore it. Forget the fact he had a piece of his mother hanging off his neck along with the sealed soul of the Basilisk. He quietly fed Amarantha's soul some of his magic. What would Lily have said if she knew?
A Basilisk? How fascinating!
He could hear her voice—questioning him of the properties of Basilisk Venom and the lethality of the serpent's gaze. Hermione reminded him of Lily—the Lily he met as Malcolm that is.
Lils, that's a bloody Basilisk! James would have yelled at her, pulling her back while Lily went to admire Amarantha.
It's a Basilisk, Potter. Malcolm looks like he wants to keep it as a pet while you're here screeching like a banshee.
Harry flinched as he suddenly heard Regulus' voice in his head.
This never happened. Not after Damian. He never heard voices in his head except for death. He controlled his mind far too well for him to have some sort of hallucination. But then again… Orpheus had been the last to see Luna and Damian didn't have the seer.
Now she was back in his life. He wanted to blame her effect on him, but he couldn't.
Now he was Harry again. He was tied to James, Lily, and somehow, Regulus… The longing feeling had returned, making him grit his teeth and clench his fist. He didn't like these pesky emotions. They were distractions—more causes of his greed. He had done his best to tone it down but he could never do it.
Once the gates that held back his greed were opened by Death, whatever was inside could never go back.
He marched out the room of requirements with a frown. These halls were familiar. He had walked them hundreds of times. These halls had memories he wanted to forget. All he did was freeze as he looked towards the empty corridor. The very same corridor he and Regulus would often meet to hide from their brothers.
Mal, don't you dare tell anyone where I am. Regulus would threaten him but all he could see was an angry black cat.
It wasn't hard for Harry to admit that the catalyst to his current personality was none other than Regulus. Even in his second life, he was still a wide eyed fool of a Gryffindor—until Regulus had grabbed him from the blinding light and showed him the darkness. Regulus had done everything to teach him about politics and how to be cunning. Regulus taught him how to properly lie and control your expressions no matter the situation. Smile, frown, and cry—he could do it on command all because Regulus insisted he learned.
Where's Kreacher?
He promptly froze again. A groan left his lips as he rubbed the side of his head, grumbling angrily as he racked through his mind on what to do. Kreacher, the blasted elf that had served him well in different lives and Regulus' loyal elf.
I'll take care of him, don't worry. He thought as he shook his head. Regulus' voice fit perfectly in his well organized mind of chaos.
He's stubborn.
I know. I'll have to tie him to me to get some of your stuff… and the locket.
You're gonna destroy it?
Harry sighed as he heard that question. Regulus had died trying to destroy that locket. What he was doing went against what Regulus had died for. He felt ashamed of his greed whenever he thought of Regulus. It didn't matter that it was Regulus who taught him that greed was part of being human, it still gave him an ugly feeling for practically defiling Regulus dying wish.
The frozen waters of that lake. He never returned to that cave after Regulus' death. It made him want to blanch.
"Potter!"
His breath hitched as he heard someone call for him. Potter! It was similar to the way Regulus yelled his name in their first year. He stiffly turned around, sighing in relief to see Draco Malfoy's pale face instead of the ghost of his best friend.
"Dra— Malfoy." He quickly fixed his mistake. He has gotten used to referring to the blonde boy by his first name. Blame his previous lives for that foolishness.
Draco raised a brow but shook it off and glared at him. "What the hell are you doing prowling the halls?" He asked. It was an unorthodox question really.
Harry drawls, "Nothing." He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled. "Just going to ancient runes. From what I remember, you also take that subject."
"You switched to Runes?" Draco questioned, confusion on his expression.
"Divination is more of Ron's thing." He hummed, quietly walked in the direction of the Ancient Runes classroom. He smirked as Draco unconsciously followed him. "Runic Magic is more suitable compared to divination. Had Trelawney allowed pyromancy… maybe I'd have been interested."
"Elemental Divination? That's difficult to master."
"Hm… not exactly." Harry, in all his theatrics, conjured flames in his hand and had it burst in a flurry of light. Draco jumped in fright but as soon as he saw that the heat wasn't harming him, he faltered for a moment and stared. "Divination isn't much for me, but Pyromancy might just be possible." He chuckled and closed his fist to extinguish the flames.
Draco silently stared, shaking his head with an unbelieving look. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that what he saw was fake. "What?"
Harry wanted to laugh so badly. He had a natural affinity to fire. Most of his lives did—Damian and Orpheus were one of the most well versed in terms of the fire affinity. Malcolm had a partial affinity to fire, air, and ice. Three elements that were equal and simply above average.
"Hermione hasn't really given me much to study on Ancient Runes. Last year, you tackled the theory and origins of Runes, right?"
Draco hesitated, but nodded. It seems he's finally understood that he'd been roped into a civil conversation with Harry Potter. "Babbling had us study Gaelic and Greek." He huffed haughtily.
Harry tried not to frown, "She didn't include Norse runes? Not even Celtic, Egyptian, Welsh, or even Druidic?" He asked with a scoff.
Draco gave him an odd look, but the boy pursed his lips and nodded.
"Tch… I might as well transfer to Durmstrang with the shitty curriculum." He whispered. He didn't particularly understand why he was freely acting like himself around Draco. He had pretended to be the golden boy in front of most people, except for a select few—Draco was part of that few.
Does he remind you of me?
He wanted to deny it so badly. He really did, but he looked into Draco's silver eyes and couldn't help but compare them to Regulus'. One of the last living remnants he had of Regulus were the current members of the Black Family, but Draco was like a warped reflection of his best friend.
He's just a boy .
He was just a boy when he received the dark mark in his first life. Sixteen, trying to be what his parents expected.
Maybe because he was selfish. Maybe because he missed Regulus. Maybe it was because he was slowly going insane when he heard Regulus' voice whispering to him from the moment he woke up to the moment he slept. I miss him. And he was greedy and selfish.
"Let's start over." He murmured as he halted in his steps. He stared at Draco, smiling bitterly. The blonde boy looked at him with hesitation, but sighed with an easy understanding. In an all too familiar manner, he offered his hand to the boy. He wore a smile, the same one he wore that day on the train. He had taken the risk. There had been a chance of rejection, but he took the risk and offered the boy in the compartment a smile.
"I'm Hadrian Potter, Gryffindor's favorite pretentious asshole extraordinaire." He said with confidence as he grinned at the befuddled yet amused look Draco wore.
I'm Potter… Malcolm Potter.
Draco shook his hand. He did the exact opposite of what Harry had done to him three years ago. "Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Prince of Slytherin and the best at potions in our year." The tone he used was the exact same cocky tone he used in their first year.
I'm… Regulus Black.
The fondness he felt for the pretentious blonde wasn't a particularly new development. He had been fond of Draco since his third life. He wasn't the same as the one he has grown to favor, but he was Draco regardless… the one who resembled Regulus most.
"Well your highness, it is most wonderful to meet you." He chuckled softly at the raised brow on Draco's face. "Shall we go to our next class?"
Draco smirked, "Come now peasant. I do not wish to be late."
It felt familiar. The light jabs, the crude and cocky jokes. It was like he was Malcolm again. A grin plastered across his face, Harry walking beside Draco as they entered the Ancient Runes classroom with a dramatic flare that they agreed was necessary. The door was slammed open, no teacher in sight but plenty of students from all four houses were already seated.
Hermione was one of them. She gawked at him as he spoke to Malfoy with a mischievous smile. "What I said is still there. You know where to find me if you need anything… from me of course."
"Wherever trouble and danger are, Hadrian Potter is there." Draco sarcastically recalled but was smiling back at Gryffindor. Harry rolled his eyes, waving at him as he walked towards Hermione.
"What?" The girl murmured, staring at him in wonder. "When—"
"Don't question it. It'll just get more confusing." He hummed.
Hermione nodded quietly, but still looked confused. Harry turned towards the group of four Slytherins that included Draco. He was joined by Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and Daphne Greengrass. It wasn't much of a surprising group since Draco's inner circle mostly consisted of children from the sacred twenty-eight.
Professor Babbling soon entered the classroom.
Bathsheda Babbling was a tall woman with straight red hair and a piercing brown gaze. Her features were sharp and aristocratic and from what Harry could remember, Babbling was a half-blood.
"Good afternoon students. Welcome to another year of ancient runes." Babbling greeted them, her thick Irish accent allowing Harry to narrow down his suspected families. She was Irish, meanwhile McGonagall was Scottish.
"I see that there are a few new students…" she murmured, her eyes pausing on some students until her gaze landed on him. She raised a brow, meanwhile, Harry just offered a smile. "Very well then. Let us recap topics from last year."
She waved her wand in the direction of the blackboard, as the chalk began to write.
Babbling mostly spoke of what Runes were, what their purposes were, and what Runes could do. Carving Runes was a complex practice that requires patience and focus. Every Rune had a meaning. Sometimes they were single words or actual incantations. There were runes for different runes for protection, several runes for healing, and others were lethal.
She proceeded to explain the activation of runes. The activation varied from what Rune was being used for. Example was how a teleportation tune could be activated by a word or the situation. Harry grimaced as he thought of what had activated the very runes that allowed him to survive the killing curse. Sacrifice. The activation of runes varied and one of the ways to activate runes was sacrifice.
Harry watched as she wrote a Gaelic rune on the board. He recognized the runes' meaning, protection . It was a simple rune but it would prove useful. Babbling then wrote the rune on a vase that she had summoned. The pen she used was silver, not a quill, a pen. It was a runic pen. Runic Pens were made of silver or enchanted metal in thin cylindrical shape—like a pen.
She took a few steps back, " Protection , is what this rune is used for. Runes are powerful and it will help you to learn the language and practice of runes." She explained, before pointing her wand towards the vase. " Reducto! " She yelled as the spell blasted towards the vase.
Rather than shattering, the vase was still intact. The spell had bounced off an invisible barrier surrounding the shield and was darting right towards Hermione. It was an unconscious action, but Harry had immediately pretended to murmur Protego and summoned a shield.
"Ah… My… my apologies Mister Potter, Miss Granger." Babbling apologized, grinning sheepishly.
Harry rolled his eyes and patted Hermione's bushy head. The other girl looked a bit shaken, but found comfort in Harry's head pat. "You're acting like crookshanks whenever I pet him."
That caused her to slap his hand away, "Shut up."
"Ehem!" Babbling cleared her throat, "Now let us proceed. I shall pair you up with different students. If in case one student does not have a partner, I shall decide where to group you with."
Hermione and Harry glanced at each other. Babblings instructions meant that they wouldn't be working with each other. That was apparently a great concern since Hermione's hand was already on the air. "Professor, will our partner stay the same for the entire year?"
"Oh? Of course not. The partnering will just be for today, however, if I think you are better off with your partner than that may be the case." Babbling smiled as she summoned a file of students to her hand. She tapped her wand on the parchment a few times before the parchment floated into the air. Names were being jumbled together, and Babbling smiled as it returned to her hand.
"Then…" she inspected the names before nodding with satisfaction. She began to partner students together. Daphne Greengrass was paired with Ernie McMillan from Hufflepuff. Zabini was stuck with Tracie Davis. Nott ended up with Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw.
"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger."
Harry choked on his saliva, slapping a hand to his mouth to stop his laughter from erupting. Hermione stared wide eyed, while Malfoy's eyes darted towards them. Harry could only give him a lazy thumbs up and a cocky grin.
"Go on. It's just for today." He murmured, gently pushing Hermione to her feet. She looked rather agitated, gulping before she shook her head and sauntered towards Malfoy with a scathing glare. The Slytherin gladly returned it.
"Har—" Babbling paused, before she glanced towards Harry. He simply nodded. "Hadrian Potter and Lincoln Sonnet."
Harry was unfamiliar with the name, but glanced towards the boy who had approached him. He immediately froze.
"Hadrian Potter?"
"I— Yeah. Lincoln Sonnet then. Pleasure to meet you." Harry smoothed expression from the look of surprise he had. He offered his hand to the boy, although hesitate, he took it with a confused smile.
Sonnet had dirty blonde hair and dark eyes. His features were aristocratic but looked soft from a certain angle. His viridescent robes weren't as high quality as Malfoy's. They looked almost second hand, but they were new. Cheap, but new.
He gulped, making space for Sonnet to sit beside him. He couldn't properly focus on the lesson. Sonnet's face was familiar. He kept glancing towards the boy, not looking away when he was caught. Sonnet was only offered a smile, which the boy hesitantly returned.
He looks like Evan.
Harry flinched. Regulus' voice was right. Sonnet looked like Evan but Evan had died young. Evan didn't have time to have children. Evan did not have siblings and neither did he have cousins who could have a child that had a near perfect resemblance to him.
"Right!" Babbling loudly clapped her hands together.
"With your partners, I would like you to practice carving Runes and see if they activate. I shall check on you regularly. This is the only activity you will be doing for the next hour until our time has finished."
The students immediately moved away from each other. Partners were together, as Harry and Sonnet were huddled together in a corner.
"So…"
"Here. These are my notes compiled through the summer to catch up with you guys. Hermione helped but I guess we could trade." Harry shrugged, offering his notebook to the boy. Most of his notebooks were Black now, unlike how he has stupidly bought a bunch of red and orange for his second and third year.
Sonnet nodded quietly and brought out his own notebook. Harry waited for the boy to hand it over and as expected, he had great hesitation.
"Don't ruin it."
"I would never dream of it." Said Harry as he snatched the notebook away.
Sonnet's notes weren't half bad. There were missing parts of certain explanations, he suspected the boy had struggled to keep up with Babbling's lecture. His handwriting was messy but it looked like Sonnet made an effort to copy calligraphy.
"What the hell… you're supposed to be new." Sonnet murmured, staring at the complex yet easily understood notes.
"Nothing wrong?"
"N-Nothing."
Harry hummed. He's not pureblood. The name Sonnet isn't a surname from the British magical community.
"Good. First let's try the sealing rune or the rune for traps. Essentially, it traps something or someone within its range. I guess I can do 2 meters…" Harry murmured, glancing towards Sonnet who looked rather upset.
Sonnet wasn't as sophisticated as the purebloods and some half-bloods of Slytherin. He looked more inexperienced and was trying to adapt to a person's personality. Then there was the fact his surname was unfamiliar.
Muggleborn then. He thought, pursing his lips at the thought. Since the surname Sonnet didn't sound common enough to insinuate he was from mundane origins, he could have passed off as a half-blood from a lesser known family. Plus his face…
Harry shook his head, sighing to himself as he turned to Sonnet with his eyes narrowed. "This won't be a problem for you right?"
"Course not."
"Very well. You choose what to trap and I'll draw the rune. If you want to transfigure something, you can borrow one of my quills. I have plenty." Harry nonchalantly claimed as Sonnet began to think of what to trap.
Harry waited for a few more seconds, until Sonnet slowly took the quill. A grin spread across Harry's face once he saw what Sonnet had transfigured his quill into.
"A rat." He snickered, before grabbing a small square of parchment and pointing the tip of his wand. His magic burned the rune on the parchment, his magic mixed into the burn as he set the parchment on the floor.
Sonnet slowly set the rat to the ground. The Slytherin gulped, watching as the rat turned towards different directions. He stomped his foot on the floor and the rat started to run. It stepped right on the parchment and hit its head on an invisible wall. The rat started to run, trying to escape the invisible box it had been trapped in.
"Excellent work Mister Potter!"
The two turned towards Babbling who looked absolutely ecstatic. She grinned at the captured rat, crouching on the ground. "Such amazing finesse on the drawing. And it was burned into the parchment too." Babbling stood back up and levitated the parchment.
"May I?" She asked, turning to Sonnet who had transfigured the rat. Sonnet nodded, turning the rat back into a quill.
"My, my. Mister Potter, this is your first time in my class, correct?"
"Yes ma'am."
Babbling looked him up and down, suspicious before she turned towards the rune. Her brown eyes glinted as she inspected it.
"It's perfect. The burn didn't damage the parchment and the rune has sufficient magic inside it. This is usually done with a runic pen. Did you use one?" She quickly asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.
Harry shook his head, waving his wand.
"And you only used your wand. Raw magic… astonishing." Babbling shook her head in amazement. "Can you do any better than this?"
"I can try."
"I insist you must! Can you draw in the air?"
Harry took a few seconds to process what he heard. He smiled, glancing towards the other students who had stopped their work to watch. Hermione and Malfoy looked utterly annoyed with each other but both were focused on Harry. He grinned.
"What Rune would you like me to use?"
"The trapping Rune, the same as this one. Use it on me."
Running a finger on his wand, Harry stared at Babbling for a few seconds. He felt his magic course through his arm and towards his wand. He harshly waved his wand around the air, drawing a rune with golden threads of his magic. With the last line done, the Rune had printed itself under Babbling's feet and glowed. The professor pressed a hand against the barrier, eyes wide in awe. She tried to push, tried to escape but she was trapped until Harry allowed her to leave.
His magic was stronger than what it once was, thus the rune was weakened to an extent that wouldn't essentially make him the next Merlin. He wasn't as strong as Dumbledore…yet at least. His magic was sti adjusting with his body and his core was also trying to contain his magic.
"This is the best rune creation I have ever seen from a beginner. Even my sixth years couldn't draw a rune with raw magic alone, especially doing it in the air and casting it somewhere."
Harry winced. Ooh… right! Fourth years aren't supposed to be able to do this. Shit! I underestimated myself.
"Oh…" Harry feigned surprise. "Then I chose the right to join your class."
"Absolutely! And… can you perhaps free me now?"
Harry nodded, waving his wand in a downward motion as the glow of the rune flickered. Babbling seemed to hum at the somewhat amateur trait. The goal was to make her assume he was great at creating runes but had to improve deactivating them. Harry sighed, returning to Sonnet who looked at him with stars in his eyes.
Somewhat ignorant? Check. Not so fancy uniforms? Check. Unable to hide his emotions properly? Check. Half-Blood maybe, but Muggleborn more-likely. Harry thought. Sonnet's magic felt too fresh for it to be of a Half-blood's. Half-bloods may have fresh magic due to less inbreeding but Muggleborns had magic so new that it could be easily distinguished. It wasn't tainted by inbreeding.
"That was brilliant!" Sonnet praised. For a moment, the boy avoided his eyes before turning to him like a child would turn to a person they admire. "Potter, could you… could you teach me?"
Harry hummed. It was a great opportunity really. To educate a muggleborn from Slytherin, one that has stayed hidden for almost four years. He had admired the muggleborn snakes. Their survival instinct was better than those of purebloods and at least half of the half-bloods. He had done it as Arcturus; he could do it as Hadrian Potter.
You just want to keep him around cause he looks like Evan.
Harry promptly ignored the voice's jab.
"Call me Hadrian or Harry." He said and offered his hand to the boy.
The boy's eyes glimmered, "Lincoln then!" Sonnet— Lincoln grinned. Harry silently promised that he'd fix Lincoln's struggle with keeping a poker face.
So you'll do what I did?
I'll do what you did.
The voice didn't appear for a moment, but Harry exhaled once he heard it again.
Good.
Notes:
Ah...Trauma.
Nothing like a good cup of trauma to spice up a story. Harry is a master of death, so it's only reasonable there are voices in his head that sound like dead people. Unfortunately, that includes a certain regulus black who won't move out of his head.
New character introduced as well as a brief display of Harry's magic in regards to runes! The magic system I've made for this fic isn't exactly "Wizarding Magic".
Anyways, Lincoln is another trigger for Harry's trauma, but then again, it's Harry! He's approached his supposed half-brother and his mother who doesn't even know the existence of his sixth life, so trauma isn't that hard of a subject.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
The addition to Regulus' voice is gonna affect Harry. That's all I can say for now.
School is back to full blast and I've just cried over the fact that I've barely passed any of my exams. Anyways, I rewardes myself with some food even thought I failed.
Here's a chapter to help me cope with my failure by making Harry succeed.