Mist of Shadows
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Harry Potter and the Magical Girls part 4
🕑 Added 2021-02-09 05:32:39 +0000 UTC"What do you think you're doing!" Molly demanded, staring at Harry's wand and the almost sparklingly clean bathroom in disbelief. "You can't use magic outside of school!"
"No, it's just against the rules," Harry said sarcastically as he waved his wand at the sink. "Scourgify."
"If you can't follow the rules, give me your wand!" Molly snapped as she held out her hand.
"No," Harry replied as he turned and looked at the red faced witch. "You wanted the rooms cleaned, they're cleaned. If you didn't want me to use magic, you should have done it yourself rather than expecting me to spend hours scrubbing at everything with soap and water."
"You could get fined or expelled," Molly snapped, unwilling to admit that she'd wanted them to clean things to keep them out of trouble.
"First of all, the trace is worthless anywhere there are other magic users around. Second, if someone like Snape reports me, I'll make damned sure to ruin his life even if I have to bribe Sirius or the Minister to do it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to scour my bedroom and get unpacked so I can get some sleep, it's been a long day."
"What do you mean? You already cleaned it," Molly said, not sure what he was talking about.
"No, I helped Ron out, I've made other arrangements, he snores like a dragon," Harry replied, not seeing the point in sugar coating things if Ron couldn't even stay on watch so he'd have enough time to hide his wand and blame the cleaning spree on Kreacher or Sirius.
"Hey," Ron complained as he walked out of the library with another sandwich. "I'm not that bad."
"Keep telling yourself that," Bill said as he walked down the hallway with Sirius, having caught the last bit of the conversation.
Molly turned to look at Bill and scowled when she spotted Sirius. "Why did you tell him about the trace?"
"I figured he'd want the chance to learn to defend himself," Sirius replied sarcastically, not seeing a point in mentioning that Remus was the one that actually told him.
"Albus wants him to have a childhood," Molly argued. "What's this nonsense about him picking a different room?"
"Can you blame him, Ron's snoring is bad enough when you have a wall between you," Ginny called out from her room.
Ron scowled at his sister. "How is that my fault?"
"You could have talked to the nurse," Ginny replied, wishing he would have.
"It's just a bit of snoring," Ron complained, not really seeing the problem.
'Screw it! I don't have to put up with this shit.' Harry focused and summoned his invisibility cloak, wanting to vanish before he had to do something drastic.
Molly turned to look at Harry and blinked when she realized he'd vanished. "Where did Harry go?"
"I'm guessing apparition, most people don't like to be screamed at," Sirius pointed out, fairly sure that Harry had just used his cloak as he hadn't heard a pop.
Molly turned and glared at Sirius. "He was being reckless and using magic."
"I don't really care, we both know the Ministry can't tell who actually uses the magic. I know Albus invited you here because of the increased danger to your family but try to remember that this isn't your house and Harry isn't your child, in other words, stop shouting at people and be polite," Sirius warned her, tired of everyone assuming they knew what was best for his godson.
"As good as," Molly snapped.
Sirius shrugged, not seeing a point in setting her straight as that would just make everything more complicated. "If Harry wants to sit around and read books or relax, that's his choice. If he wants to practice magic and try to make up for some shitty teachers, he's more than earned it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to decurse the library before one of the books eats someone."
"Some of those should be binned," Molly complained, thinking about all of the dark books that were probably in the library.
Sirius glanced over at where Hermione was standing in the doorway glaring at Molly, visibly upset at the idea of someone tossing books. He looked at Molly. "I shouldn't have to say this but stay out of my family's library."
Molly scowled. "None of those books are fit for children."
"You're right, but that doesn't change the fact that we're going to have to deal with curses and the dark arts." Sirius turned and headed for the library. "There's a difference between knowing about something and knowing how to cast it or casting it yourself."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure the really dangerous books are locked up," Bill said as he followed Sirius into the library, knowing that ignorance of a threat rarely if ever actually helped keep you safe.
"We should probably look for Harry," Ginny pointed out.
"He'll turn up," Ron replied as he headed into his room to get some sleep, fairly sure Harry would calm down by morning.
"Just go to bed!" Molly ordered as she stalked off to search for Harry.
Harry waited until he heard Mrs. Weasley stomp up the stairs before he walked out of the bathroom. "Would it have killed Ron to keep watch like he agreed to?" he asked in a whisper as he pulled his hood off, revealing his face.
"Probably," Hermione muttered, feeling less than charitable towards their red haired friend right now. "There was food in the library and he was hungry."
"She'll calm down eventually," Ginny assured Harry as she held out the silver ring. "I figure this is probably cheap enough that Hermione could have given it to me for a birthday present, in case someone asks."
"Considering some of the idiots at school, that's probably better than claiming Harry gave it to you," Hermione agreed, thinking about some of Harry's more rabid fangirls.
"Exactly, I don't need someone stealing it," Ginny said, thinking about some of the girls in her year that were a bit on the crazy side.
Harry took the ring and put it in his pocket. "Looks good. Give me a bit, I want to ask Bill some questions about the rings and curse breaking in general."
"No worries, I'd join you if I could but unlike you, I have to put up with her." Ginny turned and walked back into her room, figuring she could get the details out of Hermione later.
"Sorry about the trouble," Harry offered in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Don't worry about it, everyone is just a bit on edge," Hermione pointed out, hoping that things got better in the morning.
Sirius grinned when the library door opened and he saw Harry's floating head. "Nice choice."
"It seemed easier than getting in a shouting match with her," Harry replied as he stepped into the room and held the door open for Hermione.
"It's generally not worth it," Bill offered as he looked up from examining Sirius' ring. "If I asked where you got the ring, would you tell me?"
"That depends, do you have to report any interesting discoveries to Gringotts?" Harry asked, wanting to make sure he hadn't signed anything that would force him to tell the goblins about the rings.
Bill shook his head. "Only on the job and that's not enforced by magic, just continued employment."
Sirius shivered as he thought about the goblins at the bank. "No one in their right mind would sign a magically binding contract with goblins."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "He's a treasure hunting curse breaker that works for goblins, which part of that sounds sane?"
"He has a point," Bill admitted, trying not to laugh.
"Just tell him, we could use the help," Hermione suggested, knowing Bill was an expert at Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Defense Against the Dark Arts and wasn't nearly as stuffy as Percy.
"I found the ring in a pawn shop and enchanted it with what I learned from a book on transformation items," Harry explained, fairly sure Bill wasn't going to rat him out.
"I don't suppose you still have the book?" Bill asked hopefully.
"Sorry, it turned to ash after burning the information into my head," Harry admitted.
"Do you want me to run some tests for curses?" Bill asked, figuring it was probably a good idea.
"I wouldn't object," Harry replied, looking forward to having some peace of mind.
Bill waved his wand over Harry and started with some basic diagnostic charms then moved on to a couple of more complicated spells when he couldn't find any evidence of curses or the trace. "When did you lose your scar?"
Harry glanced at Hermione then looked back at Bill. "I'm trusting you not to tell anyone the details."
"I'm just trying to figure out why you don't have a trace of dark magic when you should, you were hit with the killing curse and everything else you've been exposed to over the years should have left traces," Bill explained.
"I didn't want to worry anyone but my scar basically exploded when the book burned the information in my head," Harry admitted.
"Exploded?" Bill asked, getting a sinking feeling that he wasn't exaggerating.
"It looked like someone took a can opener to my scar and filled the wound with black sludge when I looked in the bathroom mirror. I cleaned it out as best I could then I healed it using a spell I remembered from the book."
"Shouldn't that have caused the Ministry to send him a notice for underage magic use?" Hermione asked, glancing between Sirius and Bill.
Bill nodded. "They probably would have if he still had the trace on him. I'm guessing the book destroyed it when it flushed his system of dark magic."
"That's a good trick," Sirius muttered, wishing he could do the same for Alastor.
"Can you check Hermione for the trace?" Harry asked, remembering the bit of her aura that vanished when she transformed.
"May I?" Bill asked, not seeing a problem with humoring him.
"By all means," Hermione replied, not seeing a reason to refuse.
Bill frowned when he checked Hermione and found the trace missing. "How did you manage that? It's gone."
Hermione held up her ring. "I'm guessing it's related to the transformation or the ring itself."
Harry shook his head. "It shouldn't be the ring. It's more likely that your alternate form is over seventeen."
"Either way, it should be easy enough to test," Sirius cut in before they got sidetracked.
"How much are you charging for custom transformation items?" Bill asked, wondering if he could afford one.
"In general? No idea," Harry admitted, glancing at Bill's fang earring. "For friends? I'm willing to enchant jewelry that hasn't been charmed or enchanted for free, at least once. The materials for the basic transformation items aren't particularly expensive, mostly just the jewelry and some alchemy supplies."
"I'm not my brother and I have a better idea how wealthy your family is but if you need me to help grab supplies or help you practice dueling, I'm more than happy to help," Bill offered, figuring his magical expertise and ability to acquire supplies was more valuable than the gold he could afford to give him.
"Deal," Harry replied with a grin. "What do you want enchanted?"
"Do fangs from magical creatures count as charmed?" Bill asked as he reached up, took his earring out and handed it to Harry to look at.
"It should be fine," Harry replied after taking a few seconds to look the earring over with his magical sense. "Using magical ingredients actually boosts the transformation talisman though I might need to adjust the runes to avoid bleedover."
"What type of bleedover?" Hermione asked as she walked over and grabbed one of her empty journals and a pen.
"Animal traits or changes in appearance in his alternate form," Harry explained as he walked over and sat down in front of his supplies. "Worst case, I'll enchant an extra ring and he'll have an extra form he can use for parties."
"I'm fine with that," Bill said, not seeing a problem with having multiple extra forms.
"Any idea what goblin silver rings would do?" Sirius asked thoughtfully.
"Not a clue," Harry admitted as he worked on writing down the first rune.
"Considering how goblins view property rights, I'd avoid that," Bill warned them.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, making a mental note to read up on goblins.
"They basically consider everything the property of the smith that created it which means everything is just an extended lease as far as they're concerned or at least with their stuff, they don't extend the same 'rights' to wizards that enchant things," Bill explained.
Sirius nodded. "Which means you should generally avoid buying anything from goblins if you can avoid it. It would be one thing if they were upfront about it but they often bury that particular detail in fine print."
"If they're that bad, why do you work for them?" Hermione asked Bill.
Bill shrugged. "They're not particularly nice but they pay well for skilled work, if they didn't, no one would work for them or put up with them."
"I'd rather run a repair shop," Harry said as he continued drawing the next rune. "One simple spell and a couple of thousand dollars of damage is gone without requiring an investment in parts or supplies. Hire a couple of muggleborns or family members of muggleborns that know their way around a shop to change the parts you can't just wave a wand and fix."
Bill shook his head. "Not nearly as much fun as fighting your way through monster infested ruins."
Sirius made a mental note to discuss the idea of starting a repair shop with Remus.
"At least we know why you didn't end up in Ravenclaw," Hermione mused as she studied the runes Harry was drawing.
"I also don't care about looking intelligent or wise," Bill replied as he walked over to look at the runes Harry was drawing. "They look like some of the older Norse runes."
"Only some of them," Hermione said.
"Sadly, the book didn't actually give a name for the script," Harry admitted as he continued working on drawing the runes he wanted to use. "Sirius, can I talk you into telling Mrs. Weasley that you found me and that I crashed out before she comes back?"
"Sure, it gives me a chance to deal with the grandfather clock that shoots crossbow bolts at people," Sirius said as he headed for the door, looking forward to selling or breaking the cursed thing that had almost killed him a couple of times growing up, mostly because Kreacher had kept moving it to different locations.
"Why do you have a clock that shoots crossbow bolts?" Hermione asked, wondering if she'd ever understand the wizarding world.
"I'm guessing for uninvited guests but it could have been a failed assassination attempt that they ended up keeping," Sirius mused as he headed to the door.
"The more I learn about the wizarding world, the crazier it sounds," Harry said as he finished drawing the last rune on the parchment.
"To be fair, there are plenty of cultures around the world that are pretty strange once you start studying them," Bill pointed out, thinking of some of the people he'd run into in his travels.
"Fair point." Harry glanced between Hermione and Bill. "I'm going to need everyone to be quiet for a couple of minutes so I don't screw something up."
Hermione grinned and made a zipping motion across her lips while Bill simply nodded.
Harry ran through the runes a couple of times in his head to make sure the symbolism worked then started drawing the runes on the fang and earring, doing his best to fit everything on the earring and not make a mistake.
'I should probably ask Sirius if his family has any books on enchanting,' Hermione mused as Harry finished enchanting the magical fang.
Harry smiled as the ink vanished. "That should do it."
Bill waved his wand over the earring a couple of times as he whispered various detection spells, wanting to make sure that Harry hadn't made any obvious mistakes. "I'm not seeing any obvious problems which means I should probably test it." He pointed to the corner of the room with his wand and made a sweeping gesture, conjuring a full length mirror then swished his wand the other way and conjured an old fashioned changing screen.
"Cool, I'll start working on Ginny's ring or at least the runes," Harry said as he pulled Ginny's ring out of his pocket and set it on the table.
"Good," Bill replied as he grabbed the earring. "There's no point sticking our heads in the sand, Voldemort's people aren't going to stop just because we ignore them," he said as he put his earring back in and walked behind the screen.
"Speaking of ostriches, are there any libel laws in the wizarding world?" Hermione asked, wanting to ask someone that wasn't inclined to ignore things like the rest of the Weasleys or Dumbledore.
"Not as such, that's mostly handled via dueling," Bill replied as he activated the earring, changing into a tall busty blue haired teenage girl with green eyes. "Not bad, I wouldn't look out of place at a rock concert…" he trailed off as he focused on the strange feeling in his eyes and they changed into slitted pupils that looked rather dragon like. "I might need shades."
Hermione turned to look at the screen. "Something wrong?"
Bill glanced at his wand, not all that surprised by the fact that it was glowing. He focused on the strange sort of mental switch behind his eyes and 'flipped' it, grinning when the mirror stopped glowing and his eyes went back to looking normal for his new form. "No, just weird, give me a second," he said as he waved his wand and conjured a black robe.
"Weird?" Hermione asked, curious what the curse breaker considered weird.
Bill pulled the robe on then walked out from behind the screen. "It's probably easier if I just show you."
Harry blinked when Bill's eyes shifted to resemble miniature dragon eyes. "Huh, I might need a bit more practice."
Bill glanced over the glowing books on the shelves, fairly sure most of them were charmed if not outright cursed. "At least it makes seeing magic easy." He flipped the mental 'switch', causing his eyes to go back to normal for his female form. "They're back to normal, right?"
"Normal enough," Harry replied as he went back to work drawing the runes he was planning on using for Ginny's ring. "Does that mean the earring is acceptable?"
"More than acceptable," Bill replied with a grin as he changed back to his normal form. "Being able to see the curses without casting advanced detection charms that are often warded against should make my job easier and safer."
"Is there anything you can teach us about breaking curses?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Bill glanced at the books on the shelves then up at the clock on the wall. "Let me grab some dragonhide gloves then we can get started."
"Thank you," Hermione replied, glad that someone was actually helping rather than whining about them being children.
0o0o0
Harry looked up from writing some notes when Professor Dumbledore knocked on the open door to the library. "Were you able to find out anything about my Aunt or who sent the dementors after the Dursleys?"
Albus glanced at Hermione then looked back at Harry. "Your aunt is understandably distraught but otherwise unharmed, at least physically. Unfortunately and understandably, she wants nothing more to do with you or the wizarding world and will be moving to parts unknown as soon as she can arrange it."
"I can't say I blame her," Harry offered, not sure what else to say that wouldn't be a lie or sound horrible as he was glad that Vernon was dead or at least that he'd never have to deal with him again. "What about the dementors?"
"Alas, that is where things get murky," Albus admitted. "The only dementors unaccounted for were part of the Minister of Magic's security force. One of the aurors remembers Fudge's Undersecretary giving them orders but no one can prove anything and Fudge is calling everything a tragic accident."
"That's ridiculous," Hermione snapped.
"I agree," Albus assured her. "The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is looking into the matter, hopefully Amelia will find something that ties Umbridge to Vernon and Dudley's deaths."
"At which point, they get a slap on the wrist?" Harry asked sarcastically, more annoyed at the corruption than the fact that Vernon and Dudley were dead.
"That depends on what Madam Bones can prove," Albus admitted.
"Lovely," Harry muttered sarcastically, fairly sure the wizarding world would disappoint him yet again.
"Is there any reason they don't just dose her with veritaserum?" Hermione asked.
Albus sighed. "Unfortunately, the Minister has vetoed that option on account of her knowing sensitive information."
"In other words, she knows something that Fudge doesn't want seeing the light of day," Harry grumbled.
"Considering he was willing to take bags of money from Lucius Malfoy without going to any real trouble to hide it, I'm not surprised," Hermione complained. "Do we have any legal recourse to deal with him?"
"With any luck the scandal will be enough to force him to step down," Albus offered, knowing that wouldn't be much comfort but not sure what else to do other than try to get the IWC involved before the Ministry fell apart.
"In other words, you're saying that giving a list of the Death Eater names I heard at the graveyard to the head of the Department of Law Enforcement wouldn't help?" Harry asked, wanting to exhaust all of the legal options before he resorted to practical, effective and efficient solutions that resulted in a lot of dead bodies.
"I'm afraid not, Fudge wouldn't let her act on it," Albus admitted, knowing it wasn't what Harry wanted to hear but trying to be honest. "What happened to your scar?"
"It exploded," Harry admitted, letting Dumbledore change the topic. "Probably about the same time as the Dursleys died. There was a lot of nasty black fluid when it burst. Any ideas?"
"Several," Albus said thoughtfully. "It's possible that the wards falling released one last burst of magic that was able to break your connection with Tom. It's also possible that he managed to destroy the connection in an attempt to cripple you and the timing was nothing more than a coincidence."
"Or the wards went down and he took advantage of the situation?" Hermione offered, fairly sure it was the book that snapped the connection but unwilling to rat Harry out.
"That seems more likely," Albus admitted after considering the timeline he'd pieced together. "I heard you had a bit of an adventure getting to the Leaky Cauldron and trouble with Molly."
"All things considered, I didn't have a lot of options for places to go and no one bothered to tell me about Fudge smearing my name through the mud. As for Mrs. Weasley, she wanted me to waste a couple of hours of my time cleaning stuff without magic when it would take her less than twenty seconds with magic. I'm not remotely interested in being a slave, I had enough of that with the Dursleys. If she wants the house cleaned, she can either do it herself, talk Sirius into having Kreacher deal with it or not complain if we use magic."
"Just because the Ministry can't tell you're the one using magic, doesn't mean it's not illegal and Molly was raised to believe in following the law," Albus pointed out.
Harry snorted. "Cry me a river of tears, this is the same Ministry that tossed an innocent man in hell and threw away the key. Not to mention they had no trouble covering up the murder of two muggles because I'm politically inconvient. I don't give a shit about their morals, lack of ethics, rules or much of anything. Worst case, you turn me in and I pay a fine then withdraw from Hogwarts and head to America. Maybe Voldemort can hunt me down, maybe he can't but I'm willing to spend the next few years learning magic somewhere I don't have to worry about insane Potions and Defense teachers then hire a bunch of American hit wizards to come back with me to kill the bastard."
Albus shook his head. "Professor Snape isn't insane and I'm not planning on informing the ministry."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
"For one, it's no longer my job but mostly because I'd be a hypocrite considering I certainly took advantage of the fact that my parents had magic to practice during the summer when I was a student," Albus admitted. "I'll remind Molly that you've spent far too much time cleaning at the Dursleys and I'll talk to Sirius about Kreacher, cleaning everything would probably help his mental state, house elves like being useful."
"Thank you," Harry offered. "Can you convince Snape to stop being a bastard?"
"Alas, some things are beyond me," Albus admitted. "But I will remind him to tone things down. I'll be here tomorrow if you'd like some practical Defense lessons or perhaps Potions?"
"That would be appreciated," Hermione cut in before Harry could say anything to make the Headmaster rescind the offer.
"That would be great, thank you," Harry offered, figuring it would keep Hermione happy, if nothing else.
Albus covered his mouth with his sleeve and yawned. "If you'll excuse me, I should probably turn in before I fall asleep on my feet."
Hermione glanced up at the clock. "It got late."
Harry glanced up at the clock, surprised that he'd been looking over his Potions book for an hour. "I lost track of time."
"It happens to the best of us," Albus replied as he turned and left the room with a smile on his face, happy that he didn't have to leave Riddle alive or dance through hoops to get him to break the connection with Harry.
Harry smiled at Hermione. "I'll see you in the morning."
Hermione handed Harry his History of Magic textbook. "Just in case you can't sleep."
"Thanks?" Harry asked sarcastically, giving her a smile to let her know he was mostly joking.
