The Silver Tongue

chapter 21

Chapter 21: Meeting Lupin

Oh my glorious groupies, (snorts) I cannot believe I just wrote that. Okay, thank you for joining me for another chapter of Silver Tongue. I am sorry for the wait but I hope you all enjoy it anyway.
I

do not own any part of Harry Potter.
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"Talk"
'Think'
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 21 – Meeting Lupin
Harry tried to ignore the soft feeling of fur on his stomach under his shirt but with it moving every few minutes, it was hard. He finally pushed the blanket off his form and let the warm morning light caress his pajama clad body. He stretched, making a sound between a groan and a purr when his spine popped. He turned to look beside him to see Amara still snoozing away on his pillow. The fur moved once again, drawing his attention back to the black lump under his white tee shirt. Harry smiled, petting the ball of fur getting a purr. The fur moved stretching out and moving to the bottom of his shirt. He lifted Nightshade up when she fell out of his shirt and into his lap.
"Harrison can you come help us set up the café before we have to open?" Petunia's voice rang out causing Harry to notice for the first time how late it was. The clock read 7:30, he was normally up at 6 to go for his run before taking a shower.
"Yeah aunty. Let me get dressed and I'll be right down." Harry called back. He pushed up into a sitting position. Setting Nightshade down next to Amara he quickly got up to dress. He grabbed black jeans, a white tee-shirt, a sleeveless black hoody, black ankle socks, and his black sneaker. He pulled them all on as quickly as possible. He walked out of his room pulling his hair into a low ponytail. Minny stood by the kitchen door with jam on toast with a side of egg and bacon. A tall glass of orange juice sat next to the plate to wash it down. Harry took a quick five minutes to eat it all under Minny's watchful eye.
When he finished he made his way down the stairs into the café's back room. He got straight to work by helping Dudley and Petunia set up all the cups, plates, silverware, menus and napkins. When that was done he helped his aunt start on some of the morning's more popular breakfast ideas.
"I got a letter from Gringotts today." Petunia broke the silence of the kitchen. Harry glanced at her for a moment before turning back to the muffin mix he held in his hands. Petunia continued, "It was the forms that I need to fill out so you can become emancipated. They also included a couple of book names, saying that you should read them so you know what to expect when you become a Lord. The books they recommended were already in the library so I had Minny pull them for you. They are sitting by your favorite reading chair."
Harry sent his aunt a smile. "Thanks. I've read books on what to expect and spoke to Neville and Draco on the subject multiple times so I don't feel too overwhelmed. I'm more shocked about how medieval magical families work. The head of the family is in charge of every aspect of the family members' lives. Where they go to school, who they marry, who they associate with, what jobs they can have, and more. I'm kind of glad that there are no other Potter. There are Blacks though. I will need to take a deeper look into the Black family members and set meetings up with them. I'll also need to go see the main Black house."
Petunia took the mixing bowl as Harry finished mixing. "Go get started on what you need to do them. I'll finish up here."
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Harry gave a groan that sounded loud in the empty library. He set his quill to the side to rub his sore eyes. He had gone through all the Potter and Black documents again. He found while the Potter properties and accounts were all in good shape the Black's were not. He also had a small list of people he needed to set up meetings with for when he became Lord Black, two of which were in Azkaban. He slouched back into his chair, just blankly staring at Nightshade who was playing with one of her toys in a cat bed in the corner of the table he was at. He must have sat like that for ten minutes before Hedwig flew into the room. His eyes cleared as he looked at her and the letter she held.
"What do you have girl?" Hedwig held out the letter for him to take. He did and she flew over to a perch that looked down onto Nightshade. Harry paid them no mind, as Hedwig liked both Amara and Nightshade and would never harm either one of them.
The letter was a response to one he had sent to the Ministry requesting a transcript of both Sirius Black's and Bellatrix Lestrange's court trials as the heir and approaching Lord of the Black family. The letter was a denial for both. That should not have happened.
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The weeks passed by and soon Harry's 13th birthday was only a day away. Draco had sent a letter a week before asking if he could hoist Harry's birthday at his family's manor. The answer was positive and so invites were sent out to the Pack, all of Harry's marked followers, and many others as the party was also going to be his Lordship celebration. While Harry, for his part, wasn't worried about the party, he was worried about the process of being named the Lord of five different houses.
The goblins were setting up the ritual needed to complete the transfer of titles and the witnesses were already picked out by Harry himself but the idea that he, a 13 year old, was going to have to run five powerful families (be there only him and a hand full of people or not) all under the eyes of any who wish to watch was a heavy thing. Though not all was heavy, he would also get half control over Hogwarts as a Lord of two founder houses.
While the weeks passed Harry spent most of his time split between plans for the next school year and setting up meetings with living family members. He had a meeting with Narcissa set up for the day after his birthday as he and the Pack were staying the night. He had a meeting with one Andromeda Tonks 'nee Black, Narcissa's sister, the day after that. The last meet he had set up, as he was being denied seeing as Sirius and Bellatrix were in Azkaban, was with one Remus Lupin who was Sirius' werewolf mate. That meeting, while set up, didn't have a solid date yet.
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"Master, you need to sleep. You have a busy sunrise." Amara reminded Harry. "It is close to midnight already. You need sleep."
Harry looked up from the papers he was going through. Amara lay in front of him with a glare directed at him. "Amara I'll go to sleep in an hour or so. I need to finish going through this and taking notes. After that I have my birthday celebration."
"What are you reading that is so important?" Amara crossed the table. She made her way up his arm to lie across Harry's shoulders. She looked down at the papers Harry had in front of him.
Harry gave her a pat on her head. "I sent Samuel a letter telling him to find me anything he could on Sirius and Bellatrix. He sent these papers with a note about how this was all he could find. He thinks that the rest are locked away somewhere."
"What do you think?" Amara turned her attention to Harry.
Harry wrote a few more notes down before pushing the pile of papers away from him. "I think things are missing. I think things are being hidden. I want to know what those things are. I need to find a way to meet with them. I need to find what the ministry is trying to hide about them."
"Didn't you say this Sirius has a mate?" Amara asked.
Harry nodded, leaning back in his chair. "He does. I've tried to get a date tied down to talk to Remus. He's a werewolf so he is skittish, with right, for the way the Ministry treats his kind."
"You think he might know something?" Amara pressed for information.
"He's his mate, a werewolf mate. Werewolf mates have no secrets. They know everything about each other. Whatever the Ministry is trying to hide about Sirius he will know." Harry signed, "All I need to do is find how to get him to tell me. I know I'm Sirius' godson but that might not be enough to get answers."
"Harrison. Are you awake in here?" Harry turned to the door where Dudley stood shyly poking his head into the room.
"I'm awake Dudley. What are you doing up? I thought you went to bed hours ago." Harry pushed away from the table so he could look at his cousin better.
Dudley slowly slipped into the room. "Mom mentioned something that caught my attention before I went to bed. She was baking a cake and I asked her why. She told me that every year you two count down the minutes to your birthday and celebrate it together. Mom told me that I could join you but I wanted your permission. This is your tradition. I don't want to intrude."
"It's fine Dudley. You can join us." Harry stood, stretching his hands in the air to pop his back.
"We should head down there. It's only three minutes till 12." Dudley gave Harry a happy smile.
Harry picked up Nightshade from her cat-bed where she was curled up asleep. They were quiet on the way to the dining room. Petunia was already there singing to herself. Dudley sat but Harry stood leaning on the door frame listening and watching his aunt. "Have no fear. When the night draws near, and fills you with dreams and desire. Like a child asleep, so warm, so deep. You will find me there waiting for you. Nocturne."
"Are you coming to sit Harrison?" Dudley caught Petunia's attention making her stop singing.
"Hey sweetheart. Come sit down." Harry followed her command. He sat in the chair to Dudley's right, across from his aunt.
"What type of cake did you make this year aunty?" Harry tried to peek under the plastic cake cover. Petunia giggled, flicking his hand away to remove the cover herself. Harry grinned seeing a German chocolate cake. "It's been a while since you made me one of these. Thank you aunty."
"30 seconds." Petunia set the 1 and 3 candles on the cake. With a flick of a match she had the candles lit and ready. A beep from Dudley's watch was the signal. Harry closed his eyes and blew the candle out. He just wanted for his birthday to pass in peace. He wanted his first day as Lord to pass in peace but he had a feeling that today might not go as smooth as he wishes.
"Happy Birthday Harrison." Petunia and Dudley smiled at him.
The cake was cut and passed out with light-hearted conversation between them. Harry teased Dudley for his crush on a girl in town; Dudley teased Harry about being a bookworm. Petunia watched her boy with a sad smile. This was how things were meant to be from the beginning.
"Present time. Want to open mine first?" Dudley looked like a child with his big grin. He held up a colorfully wrapped package. Harry took it with a laugh. He ripped off the paper and opened the small box. Inside was a ring. The ring was made somewhat clumsily out of gold, probably a testament to the rudimentary skills and tools used to craft it. The ring had the sign of the Peverell family inside the black stone being held by the gold.
"I saw the symbol on some of your papers and on one of the rings on your necklace." Dudley explained. "Do you like it?"
"Where did you find this?" Harry rolled the ring around in his hand to look at every detail of it. His breath hitched as he felt the brush of another's magic come from it. This time he recognized the owner of the magic without much thought. He pushed his magic into the ring, feeling a curse break under his magic's strain and Tom's magic sank deep into the ring to sleep. Harry flashed his cousin a grin, he did truly like the gift.
Dudley smiled, seeing that Harry did like it. "I found it in a little hole in the wall of a shop in Diagon Alley."
"Thank you Dudley. I really appreciate it." Harry slipped the ring onto his right index finger, locking it into place so no one could take it off.
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Harry walked into the Leaky Cauldron alone. He was tired and already just wanted the day to be over. His Pack was there waiting for him. They stood by the bar with only Hermione sitting on a stool with the others standing around her. They were all talking and drinking butterbeer together. He silently walked up behind Ginny and Luna and wrapped an arm around both of their waists. "Hello Pack. Ready to go?"
"Good morning Alpha." Luna kissed his cheek in greetings. The others nodded to him in greetings, seeing how tired he looked.
Draco offered Hermione his hand to pull her to her feet. Fred and George quickly guzzled the remains of their butterbeer and slammed the cups loudly on the bar when they finished. They joined Harry and the others towards the Alley entrance. Neville rolled his eyes at the twins when they wrapped an arm each around his shoulders.
Draco glanced at Harry. He was tense. "Are you ready for this Harry? In an hour or so you will be a Lord."
"After that there will be no reason we could get in trouble for calling you Milord Alpha." George grinned.
Fred threw in his own two Knuts. "Snape can't say anything about it."
Ginny giggle evilly on Harry's right arm. "He might just have the two of you follow him around and compliment him every few minutes if you piss him off enough."
Hermione rolled her eyes at the mental picture. "Oh I can see it now. 'Your eyes sparkle like diamonds sir' or 'You smell like a brisk summer day'." She snorted in laughter.
"I think he would rather turn them into potion ingredients." Draco shook his head at the lunacy of the conversation.
"Let's get this over with. We have a party to get to after this." Harry reminded them with a smirk. With his Pack around him all the worries and stress just melted away. He could get through this day.
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Harry dropped to his knees in exhaustion. He had to drop all his concealments and illusions so they didn't cause trouble with the power flow. Sweat rolled down his neck only to be absorbed by his shirt collar. His hair had fallen out of its tie and was plastered to his face. The ritual had taken thirty minutes to complete. He had used a lot of magic passing the bloodline tests. None of the tests were hard but they did demand a lot of magic to establish his right to the bloodlines, not only blood purity but by power too. The Black lord ring was the worst. It had pushed and pulled at his magic, tring to make him submit to it instead of the other way around. Harry now had much respect for the past Black Lords, as that ring would have killed him if he had lost even a moment of concentration.
"Harrison, are you okay?" Hermione wasn't going to chance stepping into the circle. She didn't know if everything was done or not.
Neville had no such problem, knowing that everything was done. He made his way to Harry's side and helped him to his feet. Harry swayed before finding his center. "Steady Harry."
"Lord Evans everything is done. Your heir rings will change into your Lord rings the moment you place them on your fingers." Ironhide approached from his spot by the door. He handed a file of paper to Harry and bowed. "May your gold ever flow."
"And may your enemies be vanquished. Thank you Ironhide." Harry bowed before letting Neville and the rest of the Pack lead him out.
"So Harrison," George broke the silence halfway down the hallway, "when did you get that body?" He looked his Alpha up and down with a nod of approval.
Harry snorted. "I've always had it. I was born in it."
Fred lightly slapped Harry upside the head. "Smartass. What my dear twin meant was, why did you hide your real body from us and how long have you been like that?"
"I have taken potions to heal my body. I had an all-around weak body. As time passed by I noticed my body was starting to get better. I didn't want Dumbledore to know. I then figured that keeping a full body concealment charm up all the time would be a good magical exercise." Harry suppressed a yawn. "Anyway I can sneak a nap before the party?"
Luna let out an airy laugh and wrapped her arms around Harry middle, cuddling into his side as they walked out of the bank. "I think we can buy you an hour or so for a nap."
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It was only 1 o'clock and Harry's birthday party was about to begin. The twins had sly, mischievous grins on their faces. They slowly opened the door to the room Harry was sleeping in. They were silent as they tiptoed to the side of the bed. Harry, looking nothing like the boy they greeted this morning, looked so peaceful and innocent laying under the green blanket. Both Fred and George held up a blue vial full of some unknown potion, ready to throw it on their Alpha.
"You go throw those at me and I will make you two regret it." Harry spoke in his seemingly asleep state surprising the twins and making them drop the potions at their feet. Harry's eyes fluttered open. "I take it that the party is to start soon and this is why you two have come in here."
"Yeah. Well that and there is a man here asking for you." Fred frowned at the potion soaked into the rug. That was their first batch and the next wouldn't be ready for another week.
George dramatically sighed at the lost opportunity to prank their Alpha. "He said his name was Remus Lupin. Snape's was not happy to see him. They looked to be in a yelling match behind some muffling spell when we came to get you."
Harry gave a nod to show he understood. He pushed the blanket off him and stretched before getting out of the bed. A quick flick of his wrist had his clothes changed back into the nice robes he showed up in. He brushed his shoulder-blade length hair back into a low ponytail with his finger. "Let's go make sure that Severus doesn't kill Lupin. I need to speak to this man and hopefully get some answers."
Harry sent a message to the rest of the Pack through their bond to meet in the sitting room where Lupin was. When they entered the others were in the sitting room waiting and watching the muffled argument between Snape and another man. This man, Lupin, looked tired and worn but there was also a fire in his amber eyes. He was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been patched in several places and were frayed at the ends. He looked ill and exhausted with pale skin covered with scars, and although he was still young by wizard standards, his light brown hair was flecked with grey.
"Uncle Severus." The two men froze. Snape flicked his wand, canceling the muffling spell. Harry nodded. "Thank you. Now I would appreciate it if you either left the room or found a seat so I may speak with the Mr. Lupin."
Snape sent one last searing glare at Lupin before turning on his heels to go sit on a chair by the back wall. Lupin, for his part, looked ashamed for the argument with the potion master. Harry indicated for him to sit in one of the chairs around the fire place. Lupin did so with a wry smile and nod.
"Mr. Lupin I am surprised to see you. From your correspondence I was under the impression that you were out of the country." Harry started the meeting as he leaned against the chair opposite of the man. Luna smiled up at him and pulled him down to sit as she maneuvered herself on the edge of his lap.
Lupin chuckled at the sight. "I was until yesterday. I received a letter from Dumbledore. He wanted me to talk to you." He lost his smile and his eyes darkened. "I had begged to see you since the minute I found out that your parents had been killed. I tried to get custody of you when I found out you were living with your aunt and uncle. I was denied. I even tried to visit you but the wards around the house wouldn't let me through. I had to make due with sending letters and gifts. I never got a reply but I still sent them." He fell silent in thought.
Harry was surprised. He never knew any of this. His aunt didn't know any of this, she would have told him if she did. He pushed that to the back of his mind to puzzle out later. "I never got any of the letters or gifts. That is something I will look into. What did Dumbledore want you to talk to me about?"
Lupin pulled himself out of his thoughts. "A number of things. He doesn't want you to take up your Lordships yet, he wants you in his custody, and have eyes on you at all time. Dumbledore wants you under his thumb as his pawn. I won't talk to you about that though. Your mother and I lost trust in that man long ago. I am here to see and talk to my nephew for the first time in 12 years."
"My mother wrote about losing trust in Dumbledore." Harry mused aloud. "She wasn't happy with a lot of things he was doing in the war."
Draco just shook his head. "Why does Dumbledore want control over Harry so much?"
Lupin was about to answer but Snape cut in. "It's because Harrison is the chosen one. Dumbledore thinks that the Dark Lord will come back and Harrison will be the one to kill him again."
Lupin nodded but added more. "Before Harrison and Neville were born, a prophecy was told. I don't know what it was about but Dumbledore was sure that one of you two were going to be the subject of it. It turned out to be Harrison. The only one who knew what the prophecy said was Dumbledore and Lily. Lily used to scoff at the subject, she would never tell why though."
Draco opened his mouth to ask another question but he caught the look Hermione gave him. He shut his mouth with an audible click. Harry ignored them. "Would you know why the Ministry might hide Sirius' court trial?"
Lupin looked confused. "They can't. All who get a trial are put into public record. These files can be sealed but not hidden. If there is not a file then there was not a trial."
'What do you think Alpha?' Luna asked through their bond. The others listened on waiting for the plan.
Harry bit his lip in thought. No file means no trial. 'Draco, who from the Ministry did your parents invite?'
Draco got a glint in his eyes. 'Father knows many in the Ministry and even invited the Minister himself. Do you want to get answers tonight as they have been ignoring most of your letters?'
'Yes.' Harry looked at his twins and Neville, 'I want answers today.' Harry turned his attention back to Lupin who was lost once again in his thoughts. Luna started lightly bouncing from something one the others must of said in the bond. Harry didn't know what it was as he blocked the bond to concentrate on Lupin. "Remus, please you are welcome to join the party. It would allow us both to get to know each other."
Lupin smiled ruefully. "As much as I would like that I am neither dressed for a party nor comfortable at them. I fear I may ruin this day for you if I stay. Shall we get together in a couple of days?"
"I would like that. Do you have a place to stay?" Harry pulled Luna closer to him to stop her from moving around.
"I am at the Leaky Cauldron." Lupin nodded.
"If I remember reading the papers I received from Gringotts right, Sirius had a condo in Muggle London before he was imprisoned. They said it was his main residence and was closed off the day of his imprisonment. That was your home too wasn't it?" Harry knew the answer already but he wanted it told to him anyway.
"Yes. Sirius and I moved there after we graduated Hogwarts." Lupin answered. He also looked sad at the memory. He had lost his mate, his home, and his Pack mates in one day.
"Go back home then." Lupin looked at him in confusion. "I became Lord today. You can go back with my permission. Take Sirius' vault key, as you were written as a dependent on it and it should have never been taken from you in the first place, and move back into your home. I'll come visit in a few days or so." Harry summoned his key ring from his bag he left in the room he took his nap in. It fell into his hand and he pulled off one of the black key, Sirius' personal vault, and handed it over to the shocked but happy werewolf. "I'll see you in a couple of days with news of Sirius. I give you my word."
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Here it is. I hope you all enjoy it.