Harry Potter and the Azkaban Guards
Written by Tommy (me!); Beta'd by none.
Disclaimer: Characters from the Harry Potter series are the property of J.K. Rowling, and various publishers: including but not limited to Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Warner Brothers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended by the writing of this story. It is merely written for entertainment purposes.
Summary: Following his fifth year and after being locked up at the Dursley's, Harry will now be taken away into a new family where the way of a Slytherin rules. Determination leads him to gain knowledge, seeking the power to destroy the Dark Lord for good. However, this new path will be long and hard and no year with Harry Potter seems to be without at least one great adventure… Follow him as he discovers his Slytherin side, and tries to figure out just what in the world a Dementor really is…
Chapter Six: A Tedious Summer
The summer had never been so hot in England before; green grass was turning brown, roses being under a constant water hose from their owners, and the 'oh so common neighbors' was too exhausted from the heat to spy on each other. Hogwarts was no different, though it certainly wasn't roses and grass they were tending. Sometimes you could find the herbology professor going through the greenhouses, watering unusual plants and getting rid of the unwanted bugs and insects.
It was at this time, almost four weeks after school was let out, that you could find Alastor Moody and Albus Dumbledore walking through the quiet back garden of Hogwarts. A garden rarely walked in, though still kept in good shape thanks to magic. Dumbledore was wearing his usual dress in a sharp pink color, while Moody was in an outfit completely black, most likely layered with protection spells.
"I've told you Albus, the boy needs training. The kids you've given me, with the exception of a few of them, are a totally disaster. I'm ready to strangle the Weasley kid already, and the Granger woman is a menace. Constantly raising her arm in the air, wanting to ask questions, and to answer mine. Even when I'm not asking! The most decent one is the Longbottom boy, and I've had trouble even getting him to apply himself, with him complaining about Mr. Potter not being here. He even told me, to my face, that Mr. Potter was a better teacher for him than me! And no one, not even I, can understand the Lovegood girl. Not far enough to judge her, anyway."
Albus Dumbledore had never seen his friend this frustrated. Clearly he was not happy with the children, but then again, he was used to training aurors, was he not? Surely they couldn't be that bad?
"They'll do well enough for the task we've given them, Alastor. We can ask no more of them. And Mr. Potter is not up for question, I've told you that already." Dumbledore's answer only seemed to frustrate Moody more, though he kept his mouth shut.
"You'll regret this, Albus. When the Potter boy finds out, which he will whether we tell him or not, he will not be happy. You'd think you wouldn't do the same mistake as last year, though I'm clearly in the wrong." Moody said, while his eye was swirling around, checking for intruders.
"I'll have to get back to the ferrets you've set me in charge of. I just hope you know what you're doing, Albus, because I doubt it." Not even waiting for an answer, he turned back towards the school, hurriedly walking through the garden, his wooden leg making thumping noises along the way.
"I know I do… I know I do." Dumbledore said, though his face betrayed how unsure he really was.
Harry Potter was currently going through his daily Tai Chi morning exercises. His skills had improved nicely over the last week, especially in Tai Chi and Aikido. Blaise was still a little better at Ninjutsu, though not by much. No longer did Harry let out unexpected forces of Ki, and his Occlumence defences were improving with each day gone by, though Frank had managed to get into his head with Legilimency one hour after his Tai Chi practise; obviously the Ki defences didn't last forever. That didn't mean that they wouldn't last longer with a lot of practise, however. His books on martial arts were also starting to include magical parts. For example, his Ninjutsu book had taught him how to silence his walking, just by using Ki. The Tai Chi book had also taught him how to fuse both magic, and Ki, with his punches and kicks.
Frank had been sent flying five meters into a wall under one of their duelling lessons.
Frank still managed to win 90 of their fights, but for an inexperienced dueller like Harry, that was a huge step. And of course, seeing as the Death Eaters didn't know martial arts, he had no fear of loosing a fistfight against them.
Finishing his training, he headed for the shower. Thinking about the last week brought a small smile to his face, - especially the nightly sessions with Blaise. She'd taught him how to hide his emotions, and at the same time, how to deal with them.
He had spent an hour crying about Sirius… in her lap.
Sirius was dead. He had accepted the fact, and moved on. He did not, however, forget him. Happy memories of Sirius telling him about his parents, licking his face in dog form, and spending Christmas with him, was sent through his mind.
He was also getting closer to Blaise, getting her to open up a bit more. He'd already heard several stories about her child hood, and about the pranks she had once played on her father.
Harry wanted to bring back that skill. Blaise did not.
The next duelling session between Frank and his daughter however, proved otherwise. – Frank left the stage with pink bunny-ears, green skin, a pink dress, and every time he tried to open his mouth, he'd say 'Blaise is the best person in the world, and I'm planning on giving her the broom she wants, otherwise I'll get a pink umbrella to go with the dress.'
Harry and Louise had never laughed so much in their life. Blaise however, seemed quite satisfied with the results of her spells.
A week later, a month before school, found Harry sitting in the library, going through several of the books that Frank still hadn't looked through. He had found several interesting ones too, among them a book on stealth. Mixed with the book on Ninjutsu, Harry was sure he'd have some fun, nightly, walks around Hogwarts… with Blaise, of course.
Looking at the clock, he could see it being almost two in the afternoon already, and he headed down for lunch.
Silence.
'That's unusual. They're usually eating by now.' Harry thought. The kitchen was empty; the dinner table devoid of anything that would signal that lunch had been eaten. Walking towards the living room, he pondered whether or not to check the training-room.
"SURPRISE!" – The shout brought him out of his thoughts, and when looking around the living room he could see all of the Zabini's standing in front of a pile of presents.
His birthday.
He had totally forgotten. The shock was obviously showing on his face, because Blaise was starting to snicker.
He didn't have to wait long before Louise embraced him, Frank following with a hand on his right shoulder.
"Do you want cake?" The question from Blaise seemed to shake Harry out of his thoughts, and before he could answer, Blaise took his hand and dragged him over to the couch.
"Happy birthday Harry!"
It was no doubt about it; this had been the best day in his life. His presents were currently occupying his bed; the large books thrown into a big pile at the head, while a few t-shirts and pants was neatly laid together in the middle, among them a t-shirt with the adorning letters; Even though Voldemort is a hypocrite, I'm sure his muggle-daddy still loves him.
He'd told Blaise about Voldemort's heritage in one of their evening-chats.
One of the books he'd gotten was also about how to become an animagus, curtsey of Frank Zabini. - Frank had also told him he'd show him how to find his form later.
He had not gotten anything from his friends at Hogwarts though, with the exception of Luna and Neville, who had together sent him black pants, a blood red shirt, and a coat… all made of leather. A quick letter from Dumbledore told him that he'd get his presents from the rest of the student body (what Dumbledore termed his 'other friends') when he got back to Hogwarts on the 1. September. – Though Harry had the feeling that most of them had forgotten it in the first place.
Right now, however, he was getting ready for their daily training. Blaise had told him that he could always skip it since it was his birthday, but Harry had denied the offer. He loved the training; the peaceful feeling of Tai Chi, the flowing techniques of Aikido and the assassin-like way of Ninjutsu. The training had also done him a lot of good. Six hours a day for a month were a huge accomplishment, especially when thinking about his previous fondness of skipping homework and classes. And even after all this time; all this training; he knew he wasn't anywhere near the level he had to be to beat Voldemort. Not even close.
Frank had also given him another present. He had found a martial artist, a 7th Dan Aikido instructor. And hired him.
The instructor, his name unknown to Harry, had known about the wizarding world, though he himself was a muggle. Apparently his grandfather had been one.
Tomorrow, after lunch, the instructor was supposed to arrive. They were going to find out how far along Harry and Blaise were in training, whether or not to correct anything they'd learned wrong, and to make up a schedule of how they were going to continue; this time with an instructor.
He was really looking forward to it.
Grabbing his shoes, he set out for the training room, intent on beating Blaise in their next spar.
His instructor was harsh, and even that was an understatement. Jogging, sit-ups, pull-ups… nothing was excluded. Then the real training had begun; even with his Ki training, this muggle easily beat them in the simplest techniques. While there were few techniques they had done wrong, the way they had learned the arts had been harder and quite unnecessary compared to the way the instructor had shown them. According to the Sensei, which they were forced to call him, going with the flow was easier, and gave you a feeling of accomplishment. A feeling much needed when doing the techniques… being unsure when throwing an opponent could easily make you do a mistake. Harry and Blaise had used more force and hard-put training than anything else, when all they needed was cooperation.
The Sensei, a tall oriental man with dark eyebrows, brown eyes and black hair, was named Occumaru Farsei, though they were forbidden to call him that.
According to Sensei, they were probably a couple of grades up, in what he'd called 4th Kyu. (Starts on 6th, then 5th, … and so forth, until 1th. The 1th was the same as a black belt.)
Harry wasn't so sure about whether or not he was looking forward to their next training.
Hey Harry!
It's been awhile since I talked to you, and much has happened. For our 'protection,' our mail is being screened, just to make sure no 'unwanted' person finds out something he shouldn't. I don't really have much to say; with the exception of letting you know we're all well taken care of, and safe. I sincerely hope that you are well, and that wherever you are; you remember that I'm most loyally by your side. There is no need for you to send a reply; we'll see each other again on the Hogwarts Express. Just to inform you, Mr. Weasley (a red head with name Ronald Bilius Weasley) has implied, not so discreetly, that this year he'll be the one leading the DA. According to himself, which was a statement supported by most of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs (the Ravenclaws didn't care, with the exception of Luna who voted against), he was now much better 'knowledgeable' than you, thanks to some reading he did by himself.
For 'personal reasons', both Luna and I have decided not to join the DA this year; we simply have too much on our plates already.
I look forward to see you again.
Neville Longbottom
PS; Luna says 'hello'.
Neville's not-so-discreetly-letter made Harry wonder whether or not they actually screened the mail. There was no way that an order member couldn't pick out the clues written in there.
'Though perhaps it was Mad-Eye checking his mail; that would explain a lot.' Harry thought.
He wasn't really surprised by the letter. He had always known that the loyalty he had within Neville and Luna was unbreakable.
'Then again, I thought the same with Ron and Hermione. Maybe Hermione has gotten over that little bout of jealousy yet…' his thoughts were straying towards the more uncomfortable ones, so he concentrated on the letter again. He hadn't planned on continuing the DA anyway. If they weren't loyal, then they weren't worth telling his secrets to, which included his training in martial arts.
Raising himself up from the creaky chair placed into one of the corners in the library, he headed for the dining room, where he knew he could find Frank. He could just as well show him the letter, and then get himself a much-deserved break from all the heavy reading he'd done, not to mention the gruesome training with Sensei.
The attic was dusty; white (or at least they were once) sheets were tucked tightly around some of the furniture, obviously to keep them in shape, and old boxes of all sizes were strewn everywhere. There were only two windows, one giving a view towards the garden, the other towards the driveway. Or they would have anyway, if somebody had actually bothered to clean them.
The floor however, was dust-free. Obviously there was some type of enchantment on it, to make it stay that way. Why they didn't use that on the furniture and all the other stuff up here, Harry didn't know.
"I'm sure it's here someplace…" Franks voice broke the silence. They could hear a couple of squeaking noises, signalling that something, probably rats, were scurrying around the floor.
"What are you looking for?" Harry asked, while trying to keep the dust from entering his nose, having already sneezed twice because of it. Louise and Blaise were following not far behind, set on making Frank and Harry 'activate all the traps first' as Blaise said.
Harry didn't know whether or not she was joking.
"A mirror, the size of a door. You can look around, though I want you guys to be careful. Who knows what kind of creatures is living here now." Franks voice sent another rat scurrying past them, and if not for Louise's silencing charm, Blaise's scream would probably have shaken the whole neighbourhood.
"Here it is." Frank said, while walking towards a huge shape covered in a sheet in the right corner of the room. Throwing off the sheet, Harry was sure that he was again looking into the Mirror of Erised. But that one had been destroyed, had it not?
Moving closer to it, Harry could see that it showed nothing extraordinary.
"What is so special with this mirror?" Harry couldn't help but ask. Frank though, looked like he had been waiting for that question for a long time.
"This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the Mirror of Sugamina. The only one in the world, if I may say so." Franks voice betrayed how proud he was.
"Sugamina? What kind of name is that?" Blaise was frowning, her voice a little horse from all the dust.
"Animagus." The word left Harry before he could think about it. "Sugamina spelled backwards is animagus. The mirror is probably supposed to show us our animagus form or something." – Harry had remembered how the Mirror of Erised was actually the Mirror of Desire, 'erised' being 'desire' spelled backwards.
"Right in one!" – Followed was a long and tedious explanation from Frank about its origin, history and use. Apparently there was also an enchantment on it to keep it from showing the animagus forms to just anybody.
"Just say; Mercon Articlou Animagus - don't ask me what it means, I've no idea." Frank said, shoving Harry in front of the mirror.
He was nervous. What if he didn't have a form? – What then? Not wanting to just stand there doing nothing, he took a deep breath, and said the spell.
"Mercon Articlou Animagus!"
Nothing happened at first, with the exception of a slight ripple through the mirror, almost like water.
Then it happened. The reflection in front of him was changing, but not in the direction Harry wanted it to. He didn't have four legs, like a cougar, lion or anything. Nor did he have wings, like eagles or phoenixes… no; there were few changes to his reflection.
He had blood red eyes….
And fangs.
He, Harry Potter, had a vampire as an animagus form.
AN! - I've not abandoned this story! - But I've just started at the University in Bergen (Norway) - and I've had work up to, and above, my shoulders. I won't update as often as I did at first, though not as late as I did this time either, - in the future. Hopefully you'll be able to forgive me for my... - eh... - 'not-so-often' updatedstory... I've alreadystarted the next chapter though, so I assure you, you wont wait forever... besides, I'm looking forward to the happenings in the next chapter.. It's not everyday you see Ronald bashing:D
Next chapter: 'There is No Such Thing as Black and White!'