Harry Potter - Hellion!

 

July thirty-first, 1986

"Today, Harry would get ready to go into a muggle school to learn how to read and write, or meet his first tutor, had he been home-schooled. I miss my little Prongslet so much!" said Sirius, as he finished his third bottle of fire-whiskey, direct from the bottle’s nozzle. "It is been six months since we heard anything new!"

"I know, The only thing we do know is he is alive; that is not much! He has been collecting shapes left and right, from insects to predators, and is currently in Brazil. I wonder how a boy that turns six today survives so well?" commented Remus.

"Magic, I would say," said Frank. "He sure knows how to use it to the fullest! Remember the wolf pack that degenerate, Fenrir Greyback, had amassed, and what happened to them this spring?"

"Oh yes! These werewolves never saw it coming, especially not Greyback! He thought he had found an easy meal, and lost his teeth in the battle. When we reached the battle site, there was enough werewolf fur laying around to supply an army of wand cores." added Alice.

"And Greyback was so beaten up we thought he was going to die on us. He could barely whisper what happened. He said it was as if he had met a focussed tornado... Which is a good description of what powers come with an air phoenix. I wonder where Harry met an air phoenix; they are not that common, and we have never found out where they nest or if they even reproduce."

"Come on, Alice, everything that lives reproduces, it is the definition of life. I wonder where Narcissa went?"

"To her old home, Malfoy Manor. She does this every year with Draco. We never did learn why she does, but it is like clockwork."

"Because you are too focussed on your search," said Augusta Longbottom. "If you used your brains for their intended use, you would know by now what happens each year."

"Can you tell us?" asked Sirius, interested.

"And deprive Draco of the only thing that the poor boy enjoys each year because you selfish brat would put an end to it?"

"Are you calling me cradle-robber?"

"No, but childhood robber, certainly. If you knew, you would run there, and damn the consequences on the poor child. I leave cradle-robbery to the likes of Lucius Malfoy, may his stay in Hell be hot enough!"

"I can not be that bad!"

"Selfishness has a name: yours."

"Come on! I have dotted on Draco and Neville, all the while dreaming the third one of the trio would be there to enjoy himself."

"Sure! You are trying to convert them, no, pervert them to pranksters."

"Pranking is the first step in learning self-defense, the core of DADA! And they seem to come up with the most creative ideas I have ever seen, once or twice a month. I wonder where they get those ideas? I never was that imaginative when I was their age! It is as if there is someone whispering in their mind about how to do some dirty tricks! Remember that can of paint they had installed on my door, that was Slytherin green? I almost puked at the color."

"You did turn a nice shade of green, Sirius, but I thought it was the paint," replied Remus, smiling.

"Laugh as much as you like, but I can tell you that muggle paint sticks to dog fur like crazy. Changing shape did nothing to remove it."

"I know! I had to give you a Varsol and turpentine oil bath! Three times! And you kept yelping all the time!"

"Varsol between the dick and foreskin burns like hell, even for a dog!"

"Less than tabasco, I would bet!" said Frank.

"That was you! GRR!"

"Think twice before humping my leg as a dog, you perverted mutt!"

"Anyway, if we had visited muggle post-offices while traveling, I would have a good start on a world-wide stamp collection!" said Alice. "Australia, New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea, South Africa, the Congo, Morocco, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, China, India, Shangri-la, that valley in the Himalayas we had never heard of, you know, the one harboring the Buddhist monks that practiced magic while trying to find every name of God? I still can not figure out how Harry heard of that place!"

"Do not forget Nepal, Bhutan, the Indochina countries, and the South Pacific Islands. I, for one, did not know there was a magical school on Easter Island. The British Home Office did not either. I wonder how they hid that from the British Overseas Magical Office of the old ministry? There might be other pockets of magic hiding under our very nose!" listed Frank.

"The Spaniards certainly missed a lot in the Americas," Sirius said, blinking as he thought of all the pranking material he had hoarded during these visits.

"Inquisition insured that the mages of these countries took particular care in hiding themselves, Sirius. All the better for us, since we now have under our umbrella the vast majority of South America’s magical population, without the need to conquer the muggles and restart colonialism."

---

Meanwhile, at Malfoy Manor, Draco was having the best day of the year. Harry was playing with him in the woods, behind the tall building that was Draco’s summer home. Harry was telling him of his discoveries, of all the magic he had discovered in his travels, and doing small demonstrations. He also showed a collection of animal forms he had collected, from butterflies to frogs, and to snake. Also included was a nice warm ocelot, and, EWW! A dung beetle. The two boys swam in the pond, as Harry had insisted in teaching both Draco and Dobby how to swim in their natural form. Harry also told Draco of the marvels found deep in the ocean, the fishes that emitted light to try and attract preys, or to find mates, and of exploring sunken ships as a fish or an octopus, how he had reconnected with his dolphin friend and his pod.

All in all, that turned out to be a marvelous day for Draco and Harry, and they enjoyed hamburgers while watching the ice dragon Harry had made all those years back change colors as the sun set over the Malfoy property.

"Have you met other dragons?" asked Draco.

"Yes, I decided to visit Dragon reserves. The last one was in Siberia, and I incinerated the place. They were mistreating the dragons, so I freed them from their bondage, and made a meal out of the keepers."

"So, that was you! Mom told me there was a massive dragon escape reported on the newspapers. I told her so! And she told me to keep quiet on my suspicions. Where are they now?"

"I moved them to the Kilimanjaro area, in central Congo. The dragons will have ample food, be warm instead of freezing to death to ease the work of the butchers that render them for their magical body parts."

"How in the name of Merlin did you do that? Everyone looked for them!"

"There are mountain ranges all over the world. The idiots thought the dragons could not fly in the cold, but once fed properly, they had enough energy reserves to warm up and fly. We made our way out of there in the crux of the night, in a snow-storm, and travelled the mountains. Even muggles are not stupid enough to fly in mountainous areas in those conditions, so we benefited of the cover of the night, of the clouds, and of the storm. We flew at three times the speed of sound, almost at ground level, and came out over the Maritime Alps on the Mediterranean. We flew at sea level across, entered Morocco, made our way over the desert, and made a large curve to follow a tropical storm over the savanna. When we reached the equatorial forest, we made a bee-line for the Kilimanjaro. And there you are."

"How come you know all those place names?"

"They have not changed much lately. And I have learned to read, count, and a lot more interesting things."

"You did not mention writing?"

"I probably know how. I just have not had the material nor the time to practice. It takes a lot of fine motor control to write legibly, and that means I need to practice."

"Can you teach me my letters? I want to start school this year with that advantage. I will be going to muggle school. I hope I will have fun. Mom says that it is now part of the government policy to integrate gifted children into normal schools to allow exchanges and friendships to bridge cultural and societal chiasms. I wonder what all those big words mean."

"Sure. We should go get a book."

"What for?"

"They have a collection of letters in them: big ones and small ones. I never figured out why letters change shape as they grow, but they do."

"Maybe letters are like animals? They change shape as they grow too. Mom showed me a picture book about insects. And she told me we do the same while we are inside our mummies!"

Harry pondered Draco’s explanation, and, finding no flaw in the reasoning, accepted it as fact. Draco led Harry to the Malfoy library and began looking for a book to use so he could learn his letters. Harry kept looking around, feeling something was wrong. Suddenly, he saw Draco try to reach for a book on the shelf above his dad’s study, and felt an unreasonable fear and alarm!

"Draco!" he yelled, "Do not touch that book!"

Draco almost fell off the desk he had stood on at his friend’s yell, and turned to Harry, wide-eyed. He so wanted to touch that book now!

"Why?"

"It is evil! It contains something that is so evil it is a danger to you. Come down and I will prove it to you."

Draco trusted his friend Harry and reluctantly backed away from the dark-covered and oh so fascinating book.

"What now?"

"Now? I will open that window and lift the book outside without touching it! Even I could be in danger from handling that evil book. I have never felt something so evil; even the hydra and the gorgon were not that bad."

"What are they?"

"I told you about the Hydra last year: remember the reptile with many heads that I ate for breakfast as a dragon? I think I had heart burns from that for a couple of weeks."

"Yes. I am glad you got rid of it. But you never told me why you had to eat it."

"I was hungry after the fight, and there was a slab of meat to the shore. No reason to leave it to scavengers. I had done the work, to me the spoils."

"Makes sense. And what is a gorgon? A type of cheese?" asked Draco, as he thought about gorgonzola, a cheese he thought of as evil due to its strong smell.

"No, it is a fish-woman that has a nest of snakes as hair. Her eyes can kill with a look, converting someone into stone. I taught her a lesson or two about snakes and stoning people! She learned I could do the same in my snake form! And I drained her of her insides after making her outside rock-hard. I felt like a giant spider having lunch from an insect. But she was tasty, like crab."

"Mommy showed me the Monster Book of Monsters. Would you believe that book tried to bite me? Anyway, there was a description of a snake that kills with a look, and can also petrify so it can feed from the victim at a later date. It is called a Basilisk. I do not want to see that! The book said the basilisk had no control on what its eyes did, so if you changed, you could kill me without wanting to."

"All right!"

"The spider, I do not know for sure, but I have seen a picture of an Acromantula, whose silk is what mom uses to get her dresses cut out of. Maybe that is where you learned how to become one? Anyway, it is ugly! BRR!"

"I do not know, maybe! I did not know you were afraid of spiders?"

"Usually, I am not, but Acromantulas have venom that is deadly. Come to think of it, so does the Basilisk. I wonder where you found the, what do you call it? Map? For that one."

"Maybe with all those bad guys that try to kill me all the time, one carried a piece of cloth made from a basilisk hide. I know that it happened with my first dragon form. I remember playing with big boots, probably dad’s, and that I had that strange feeling while handling them; I did not know it at the time, but I was copying the dragon’s map from the skin. I wonder where my parents are? I still do not have a name, as every time I ask those I am about to kill, they either answer ‘bastard’, ‘half-blood’ or some other derogatory term, but never my name. Maybe they do not know it either."

"Could be, you know. I never thought to ask mom. You are my friend, and she does not seem to care what name you might be stuck with."

"I do remember there was a man that visited regularly, ‘Pafoo’ but I think it is a nickname, a false name if you want, and that I could not remember the name fully. I lost my parents so long ago there is a whole slice of my life that is foggy."

"Better foggy than nothing. Somehow, I have trouble remembering when I met you, as if I lacked the words to describe the time and events. The only thing that sticks out is that day you made me this ice dragon, which I still find as beautiful as ever. I know you can not show me, but have you tried becoming other dragons often?"

"I practice, just before I leave an area. It seems I attract the attention of my trackers the moment I change to dragon form. That is why I flew in, and will fly out, as an eagle. That seems to go unnoticed."

"Okay. Probably due to size."

"Probably. Let us go deal with that book. I want to be outside, in case things turn bad."

---

A few minutes later, said book was sitting on a granitic pedestal, conjured by Harry in the middle of the grass.

"Let me see this thing... Okay, "T. M. Riddle’ at the bottom, and ‘Journal’ at the top. So this is a type of book, called a journal, owned by ‘T M Riddle’, whoever Riddle is."

"What a riddle!" exclaimed Draco. "I always loved riddles!"

"I doubt you will like that one. Okay, page one... is empty?"

"That is not fun!"

"Master, a journal is a book that is written by the owner. One would expect, a date, a comment on the day’s events, etcetera."

"Thank you Dobby. The thing is, that journal reeks of evil magic. There is a thing to force someone do do something against his will."

"A compulsion charm, Master,"

"Okay, a charm to make it indestructible, another to force someone to protect the book, another to open up their feelings, another to confound the mind to believe everything the book says. I did not know books could talk back. Then right at the core, there is that dark, ugly thing controlling everything, like a conscience that is tied to the book."

"A soul anchor, Master. That is very dark magic."

"How do you know that, Dobby?"

"We house-elves are discounted and we hear a lot; we keep things to ourselves. But it does not mean we are deaf or idiots."

"I was thinking of using fire to burn the book, but, somehow, I doubt it will be enough. Draco, Dobby, I must ask you to walk inside and call all the elves and anyone to the other side. I will attempt to destroy it, but it will be dangerous, very dangerous, for anyone nearby. Draco, take care of your mommy, you have only one, and she is precious; Dobby, call the other elves to the other side, and do not allow anyone from going off or to go missing. Draco, use your ‘Master’ voice to keep the other house-elves in line. Dobby knows better than to do anything foolish."

"Okay, but you better be safe."

"I will do my best, Draco."

After Draco left at a run, Harry held Dobby. "Dobby, I will become, for a short time, a basilisk, to bite that thing. Somehow, I hear a voice deep inside me telling me that ‘fiend-fire’ and basilisk venoms are the two most potent ways to destroy this, and I hear a strange word associated with it, horcrux. I have fought one already, and that battle was not easy. It was some four or five years ago, so a long time for me. Dobby, my friend, protect Draco and the other house-elves. I would be inconsolable if my gaze hurt any by mistake."

"Yes Master of Magic."

"That is a new one, Dobby. Where does it come from?"

"You are great elf, High Elf, therefore you are Master of Magic. You can give or take magic away."

"I did not know. Thanks for telling me. Now, off you go."

Once Dobby and Draco were safely away, Harry changed to his basilisk form and crawled to the granitic pedestal. Wrapping himself around its base, he took the journal in his mouth, and immediately noticed the burning sensation it produced in his maw. Not waiting, he took a mighty bite, closing his two left fangs on the book.

The result was immediate: the burning sensation intensified tenfold, and Harry spit the book out, in pain. He then changed into his air phoenix to remove the foul magic out of his body. As he watched from above, a certain distance away, the book began exuding ink then emitted an ear-shattering scream, before a dark cloud, in the shape of a sixteen-year old boy, took form within the cloud. The cloud, still boy-shaped, tried to attack the phoenix, but could not keep up with its speed. Another ear-shattering scream later, a scream of unabashed rage and hatred, and the cloud began to disperse.

Once it was gone, Harry landed, and returned to his human form, to collapse on the grass. The knowledge the soul shard had transferred during the attack left Harry feeling sick. T. M. Riddle was indeed sixteen, a student at Hogwarts, and had killed an innocent using a basilisk in a ritual that allowed it so tear his soul in half, anchoring that half to the book. What Harry noticed was that the shard he had destroyed was very tiny relative to the one he had just disposed of, but had the same magical signature, somewhere in the vicinity of 1%, if he understood fraction. Doing some maths in his head, a feat he was finding unpleasant due to his raging head-ache, he came to the conclusion that the original soul had been split into seven pieces, and that, as far as he knew, he had destroyed two of them leaving the task incomplete by a large margin. Five more to go, he thought, before sitting down, leaning his back and head on the cold pedestal and closing his eyes to reduce the sun’s glare.

---

That is how Draco, Dobby, and Narcissa found him later. They had heard the two screams and felt the soul-drenching cold that had passed over them and it took Dobby’s untamable courage for them to find out that the boy was seemingly resting on the grass at the foot of the pedestal he had conjured for the circumstance.

"Dobby, port Draco’s bed outside. I know the boy does not feel safe in a house."

"Yes mistress."

---

That is how Harry found himself in a baldaquin bed, snuggling tightly with Draco, a light bed sheet on them both. As he opened his eyes to find them looking at the ice-blue of Draco’s, he realized he had an urge to mate, but also a furious need to pee.

"How are you?" asked a concerned Draco. "You had us worried."

"I am fine. It was a tough battle. Where is everyone?"

"Sitting on the grass, Master of Magic. We were all worried," said Dobby in a murmur from the other side of Harry. So, that was whom was hugging him from behind.

"It has been a long day, Draco, Dobby. Let us rest. I need to go later tonight, after the evening meal."