The Silver Tongue

Chapter 32

Chapter 32: School Announcements

And another one bites the dust… yeah… ignore me. I'm listening to a very random mix of music… Lady Gaga was on before this one. Okay moving on, welcome back and please enjoy yourselves, read and listen to music to ripen the mood… yeah I might need to stop writing when running on no sleep and listening to mixed music. Enjoy!
I

don't own Harry Potter yada, yada, yada… wish I did though.
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"Talk"
'Think'
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 32 - School Announcements
After the attack at the World Cup Harry found Tom's last letter shoved deep in his bag. He didn't know what he expected but he read it anyway.
Little Alpha
A mindless killer? No, my little Alpha, I am no mindless killer. Every kill was for a reason, fear is a great motivator. You speak of rebuilding the world yet you forget to rebuild something that thing need destroyed. You are not the only one who wishes to change how our world is ran, you are however still young.
Change. It is the same thing we both wish to achieve, yet our methods are different. I will make a deal with you. I will stop the mindless killing as you call it and order my followers to just gather information for a year after I come back to them. When that time is done you and I will meet, share information, and decide together the best way to proceed to changing the world.
Regards,
Tom
A deal? That was what Tom must have meant when he asked if Harry had read the letter. Harry dropped the letter onto his desk. Tom had said that the Death Eater didn't know he was back, that the attack at the World Cup wasn't ordered by him. Harry grabbed his mirror, pulling it off the chain.
A tap enlarged it. "Draco."
Draco answered the mirror almost immediately. "Harry."
"Draco your father's a marked Death Eater yes?" He asked, an idea slowly forming in his mind.
"Yes. He keeps the mark covered but I have seen it plenty of times." Draco confirmed.
Harry nodded. "Describe it."
Draco sent him a confused look but obeyed anyway. "Well it was light, faded, but last night Father grabbed his arm in pain in the middle of dinner. He pulled up his sleeve in shock. The mark was dark and alive looking. Father left quickly after that. He hasn't come home yet. I was going to contact you about it when he returned." Draco hesitated, "Harry I think my father was part of the attack at the World Cup."
"I know he was." Harry confirmed. "That attack wasn't sanctioned by their Lord either."
'Hermione, Luna come here.' Harry called over their bond. The girls were staying with him at his aunt's for the last week of summer.
"How do you know that?" Draco sounded alarmed.
"Hold on." Harry turned to the girl who entered through the library door. "Hermione did our book list come in this morning?"
"Yeah, at breakfast, that you missed." Hermione muttered the last part but Harry brushed it off.
"Good tell the others that we're meeting this afternoon at the Leaky Cauldron. We need to talk."
"Alright." Hermione pulled her mirror out to do as she was told.
Luna skipped over to lean over Harry shoulder. "Hi Draco."
Draco nodded with a smile. "Luna. Harry how do you know that the attack wasn't ordered?"
"I'll explain in a couple hours. Meet at 3." Harry ended the call before Draco could argue.
"Luna get you cloak. We're going to get our supplies before." Harry ordered standing from his chair.
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"Let me get this right, you are writing to Tom who is really Voldemort?" Hermione didn't sound happy. "At the Cup he approached you and told you he didn't order the attack?"
Harry fought the urge to sigh. "Hermione, I haven't talked to Tom since the dementor attacks ended. Yes ,Tom Riddle is Voldemort, and yes I ran across him during the attack. Tom didn't order it. I know that, not because he told me and I take his word as fact, but because Lucius' mark was faded until his first summons two days after the attack."
"Alpha…" George sounded concerned.
"Pack listen to me. Tom wanted me to join him, I told him to prove to me that a partnership could happen. He offered me a deal in his last letter, one that he is still sincere about. Now I have made my decision about this, I will partner with him if he changes his way. It would benefit our work. He's the Dark Lord, Dumbledore is the Light Lord, and I'm the Grey Lord. That's three of the four prophesized Lords and three of the Lords of Old." Harry wasn't going to be questioned in this. They got the message as more than one of them lowered their heads.
Hermione looked unconvinced. "Alpha," She hesitated looking for the right words. "You don't think he's the Lord that needs to die? Tell me he's not and I won't question you but I want you to say it before I accept it."
Harry smiled, that was the best he was going to get from his researcher. "Hermione my magic doesn't see him as a threat. Magic cloaks him in protection, it wouldn't be like that if he was helping the destruction of her."
Hermione nodded. "What's the plan Alpha?"
"School starts on Monday. For now it's business as usual. We will step it up on our training. Last year the founders told us that we were close to completing our animagus transformation so I want us to complete that before the Tri-Wizard tournament starts. How is everyone's shadow and element practice? Ginny how is your Metamorphmagus training going?" Harry asked.
Ginny looked excited. "I've practiced a lot over this summer and I don't a problem changing now. I think my problem before was that I tried to picture the whole change in my mind instead of thinking of just the end result. The twins have been helping me with my shadow training, I keep falling through the shadow when I practiced." She told him with a blush.
Luna giggled at her. "I do too. Daddy saw me do it and panicked. Since then he has had me practice with him in the room. The shadows seem to have a mind of their own."
"Yeah I noticed that." Neville nodded at Luna. "I think the shadows gain a life when our magic calls them. I find treating them like they are alive gives me more control."
"How's your element?" Harry prompted.
"Not as hard to control as when we started. I spent most of the summer in my green house. I can hear the plants. I just tell them what I want done and they do it with the magic I supply. I've really got the hang of it. I grew a poppy seed into a mature walnut tree last month. It drained me but I did it."
"Great job Neville." Hermione hugged the boy at her side. Fred slapped Neville's shoulder from his other side. "I haven't had much trouble with my shadow pratice, but i'm able to connect with my animal form in my core more."
Harry nodded before turning to the twins for an update. Fred started, "Well George and I found out the hard way not to practice out elements in the same room. George was practicing lighting and extinguishing a candle from across the room when I was practicing making a mini tornado in the palm of my hand and the next thing we know we have a flaming tornado in the middle of our room and it was growing."
Harry felt the need to hit his head on the table. George picked up were his brother left off. "Other than that, I have full control unless I get mad. Ron said something and when I got mad his hair caught on fire. Mom was not happy."
"I have the same problem. Our elements are controllable unless we get mad and then they just go wild." Fred admitted.
"We'll talk to the founder about that. They must know of a way to control our emotions." Hermione muttered. She pulled out a pen and notebook from Harry's bag to take notes in. Harry just shook his head in amusement.
"Well I guess I'm last than." Draco sighed dramatically. "I think I got a hang of this shadow magic. It's not as hard as I thought it was. It's like an extension of your body. How about you Alpha?"
Harry smirked at the idea of what he was about to do. He set a notice-me-not spell up so no one in the crowded pub would see anything before he called to the shadows with his magic and concentrated on his right hand. A wolf materialized from the shadow under the table. Its form was solid and black as coal. The wolf's eyes glowed the same red as the mark on Harry's hand. Hermione gasped drawing the other's attention to the new wolf that sat at Harry's side. "I was playing around making shapes with the shadows when I decided I wanted to know what would happen if I mix in some blood magic. This was the result. He is tied to me and can only leave the shadows if I activate one of my blood marks."
"You created life?" Ginny was breathless. They all were.
"No." Harry set a hand on the wolf's head at his side. "It's an imitation of life. A physical illusion, if you may, supplied by my blood magic. This wolf is my animagus form's instincts. I just put it into this form with my magic. It's more like an extension of my body." Harry used Draco's earlier words.
"That is wicked." The twins exhaled that sentence together.
"He's cute!" Luna jumped from her seat to get to the wolf. Draco snorted as the wolf's alarmed look as Luna jumped on him.
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"Master that man smells strange." Amara told him at the welcoming feast. Harry glanced back at the man, Alastor Moody. He was the new Defense teacher as Remus had gotten a job with the goblins as a werewolf ambassador.
"Wrong how?" Harry asked his beauty.
Amara smelled in the direction of Moody again. "Like a potion."
Harry didn't reply to that. He listened to Dumbledore do his welcoming speech after the new students were sorted. Food was served and conversations flowed freely but Harry kept an eye on the new man. His magic was telling him that the man wasn't in his true form. All he could assume was that the man was taking Polyjuice potion.
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It was two weeks later that the Pack had their first animagus transformation. Luna looked up at Neville who looked down at her Blackbird body amazed. "Luna, you did it!"
Luna sang out happily, taking flight around the Pack's common room. Severus, who was in the Silver rooms for the first time with Minerva, ducked when she flew right over his head. Minerva clapped her hands at the transformation. "Very good Luna. Twenty points to Ravenclaw for completing such a challenging transformation."
"Our turn." Fred told George with a grin. Helga waved them forward for their turns. They closed their eyes and drew their magic around them. Slowly, painfully their shapes shifted into two foxes. In the spot George stood was a red fox. His snout was back along with the tip of tail and his paws. Fred was the mirror opposite of his brother, a black fox with red accents. They turned to face each other. They circled around a few times until Fred jumped on his twin, starting a fox wrestling match.
"Twenty points each to Gryffindor, Fred and George. Very good. Now please stop rough housing." Minerva smiled down at the two foxes that ran into the wall.
"Alright Harrison you turn." Helga covered her laugh at seeing the twin's dazed expression after the collision with the wall.
Harry stepped forward with a calm breath. He closed his eyes and pictured the wolf he saw made of shadows. He felt his magic become charged in his veins as it forced his body to shift and change. Pain raced through his body with every crack and reformed bone. His skin burned as his skin stretched and sprouted black fur. When the pain faded and the sensation of his body shifting left him he opened his eyes.
He blinked, he thought wolves were partially color blind. He could see all the colors around him, brighter and in more forces then when he was human. He could also smell better, so much that he lowered to lay on his belly and moved his front paws to cover his nose. Luna swooped down, landing on his head. He rubbed her head on his in a comforting manner.
"Harry are you alright?" Severus kneeled beside his godson as Harry rubbed at his nose.
"He'll be fine. He's just overwhelmed at the scents that are assaulting him. Fred, George curl up with him. Your scents should help." Helga explained. The twins ran over to their Alpha. They both curled up over his back and shoulder, brushing their tails across his snout.
"Well twenty points to Ravenclaw." Minerva sat beside the four animagi students. She scratched Harry behind his left ear. Harry slowly relaxed into her touch.
"Alright Hermione lets have you next." Rowena motioned for her to come forward.
Hermione hesitated, fear written all over her face. "I-I don't think I'm ready to fully transform yet."
Harry pulled his head up from under the twin to look at her. 'Hermione Granger, you are not getting cold feet on us now. You said that you were able to see your form in meditation and interact with it so what is the hold up? Get your butt up here and do your best. That's an order.'
Hermione looked down at Harry in bewilderment. 'Being told off by a wolf covered by two foxes and a Blackbird on his head, yeah that's not strange what so ever.'
Draco choked on his laughter from his spot on the couch. Neville wasn't much better next to him. Ginny was giggling behind her hand but a snort could be heard here and there from her too. Even the twins in their fox forms were letting snorts and chirps out. Harry huffed, lowering his head back down. Luna, lovely, sweet Luna, rubbed her head on his again but even she was singing in laughter.
'Hermione just change. Draco is after you.' Harry muttered grumpily.
Hermione, feeling better with her nerves calmer, stepped forward. Her transformation took longer than the other but in the end she was a majestic Raven. Unlike Luna she didn't try to fly she just hopped over to Harry's form to nest on his head next to Luna. Draco snorted and stood without prompting. He blocked out Minerva giving points to change to his own form. His was the quickest transformation. In moments an albino panther sat in his place. He took a look around before promptly falling over. His back against the twins and Harry.
'I don't think I have ever been this tired before.' Draco yawned from his stop.
'At lease you weren't overwhelmed.' Harry reminded him with a huff.
You could just see the smugness rolling off Draco's from with his counter. 'No I was smart enough to stay here where I knew the first think I smelled was you guys.'
'Shut up. Neville time to change and join out pile I guess.' Draco snickered over the bond at his Alpha.
Neville was sure that he was a house cat. Not a bad form, he would be able to go around without much notice. So when he changed he was happy to just jump on Draco to take a nap to adapt to his new form. 'I'm a kitty cat.'
Hermione snorted and in the form of a raven, the sound was strange. 'Neville if you call a Lynx a kitty cat I may need to get you a book of felines.'
'Lynx?' Neville looked around for a mirror. Ginny was nice enough to transfigure one for him. Neville looked himself over liking his form better than a house cat. He then looked at the picture they made, all of them in animal forms laying on each other. 'We look so cute. All we're missing is Ginny. Ginny turn into an animal and join our nap pile.'
The other laughed as much as they could in their new form. Ginny explained to Severus and Minerva what they were going to be doing before turning in to a golden retriever. 'We need another canine.' She curled up on Harry's other side. Soon after the Godparents left Amara and Nightshade made their way into the pile on the common room floor. The founders ended up watching over them for the rest of the night with a smile on their lips.
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Harry felt that this year was the slowest they have ever had at Hogwarts. There were only a few new recruits in the new batch of students and classes were easy for him thanks to all the extra training the Pack puts themselves through and the extra studying. The only interesting thing is how their animagus form made slight changes to their human forms. Sharper vision, stronger scene of smells, and the closer the Pack felt. When Harry had asked Sirius about it he had laughed. Sirius had explained that it was normal and then proceed to tell how himself, James, and Remus had formed a similar bond after the first time they ran under the full moon together.
Harry had also been watching Mad-eye Moody, as something was off with him but for the life of him he couldn't tell who the man really was. In the classroom he was a fantastic teacher. Outside of the classroom though he acted crazy. Ron had tried to start trouble in the courtyard the first week of school and before anyone could retaliate Ron was turned into a red ferret. Moody then proceed to bounce him around the courtyard. It only ended because Minerva had seen the incident and lectured Moody about how teachers couldn't uses spells to discipline students.
Soon October came. An excitement started to buzz in the air. The students could tell something was about to happen. The teachers were scrambling around the castle making everything look perfect and the house elves were cleaning every inch of the castle within an inch of its magical life. Harry smirked and called a meeting with all his Venatores. Harry straightened Neville's cloak on his shoulders, noting that they should get new ones made.
"Or we can use the leather trench coats you got us all. They are cool after all." Draco looked between the two pieces of clothing. "Yes the trench coats. The others can have the plain cloaks. We do need a uniform of some type after all."
"What about masks? Should we use them too so no one outside of the marked know who we are?" Ginny asked, her pencil fling across the sketch book in her lap.
Harry scrunched his nose in disgust. "It's too much like Death Eaters to me."
"Yeah but it protects his followers doesn't it?" Draco pointed out fixing his coat to fit right. A quick spell made the temperature cool enough to wear inside the warm castle. "I like this. Whose design was it this time?"
"Hermione's." Harry pointed to the girl in question. These trench coats had silver buckles that went down to the belt. This let the bottom half flare out with each step. Now while the others had this simple design Hermione had added to his coat. She had cut the sleeves from the top of the shoulder all the way down to his wrist and laced them back together with leather string letting any shirt he wore under the coat to peek through. She also took out the top three claps and replaced them with the same lacing as the sleeves. Harry didn't mind as he like the laced style and it gave Amara room to wrap around his neck under the coat. "Hermione where is my ear-ring?"
"Oh Luna said she got you a new one so I put your old one in my jewelry box." Hermione told him with a smile. Harry wore that same small black ring with the small porcelain moon every day since Luna had pierced his ear for his birthday. He took it out every night and put it back in the next morning. Most of the time it was hidden but the Pack always saw it there.
"Okay Luna, what did you get me?" Harry like his first ear-ring. He didn't need a new one. Yet Luna bound over in her own trench coat with a happy grin. He let her pull his head down and put the jewelry into his ear without complaint. She pulled away with an even bigger grin. "What did you get me this time?"
Amara let a chuckle type hiss out. "It's a moon like your last one but with a silver skull hanging beneath it on a chain. It's a little bigger than the other one too. It's more noticeable not by much but just enough. You need a snake one next time."
Harry laughed, feeling the new ear-ring. It was a larger porcelain moon, the skull was only a little smaller than the moon and hung about an inch below the moon. "I love it. Thank you Luna." He glanced around the room. Everyone was in their coats and looked ready for the meeting. "Let's get this started."
They room of requirements slowly morphed around them. The warm open atmosphere of a common room left. The room enlarged and darkened. Green fire burned on the wall like in the Slytherin common room and a platform appeared with seats for each Pack member, including the ones missing.
Harry concentrated on the band that the Pack all had. With gentle pulses he called them to him. All the Pack felt the call but it was light enough they could ignore the call if needed. He had given Minerva and Severus a couple days in advance so they appeared first. Sirius and Remus were next. The looked amazed that they were able to get into Hogwarts but brushed it off when Harry motioned for his godparents to join the rest of the Pack in their seats. Harry sat tall with Draco on his right and Hermione on his left. The twins and Neville all sat to Draco's right while Luna and Ginny sat to Hermione's left. Minerva and Severus joined the girls on the left while Sirius and Remus joined the boys. This would be their first meeting. Harry was looking forward to it.
"Okay Ginny. You want to do masks go ahead." Harry waved his hand, inviting her to do as she pleased. Ginny was out of her seat before he finished. She moved person to person muttering a whispered spell making a mask appear before each person. They were all half masks covering the forehead, eyes, and nose. They were all black with silver lines that swirled and curves in different patterns. Every one of them was unique with the design. At first Harry thought she wasn't going to give him one as she passed him by to continue with Draco but she came back to him after Severus put his mask on. "Ginny what do you have planned?"
"Trust me Alpha. You'll like it. Hermione gave me the idea last week when she brought up the Summer Solstice gala at the Malfoys." Harry sighed and let her do as she please, even when she pulled the simple blackened silver headband that Hermione had bought him for the gala. She traced the runes making them glow emerald before placing it on his head refitting so it sat over most of his scare. She created the mask around it. A mask that only covered his eyes and nose, that had the bares hints of emerald lines mixed with silver, and that made his eyes pop even without pushing his magic into them to make them glow. She clapped her hands happily. "Perfect."
"Good now make you own and sit. It's time to call the others." Harry smiled at her as she scurried back to her seat all the while making her own black and silver mask.
He sent the call out, a pulsing in his mark. It didn't hurt but it was persistent call. He felt his mirror warm on his chest and pulled it out. He tapped it to enlarge it to the three inches and then tapped it a second time enlarging it to two feet and spelled it to flout in the air before them all. Five faces appeared in the mirror. The greeting of Milord rang from them all.
"Samuel, Gemma, Yatin, Marcus, Oliver." Harry acknowledged. He looked out to the rest of the room. It was filling up quickly. Within five minutes every Venator was present. They were on a knee bareing their throat and mark. "Rise."
Harry waited till they were all on their feet. He let them take in the change of the Pack before addressing them. "Venatores, this year as you all know, we are getting a chance to expand outside of Hogwarts. Blaise Zabini since you were the one to report this information just remind everyone of this chance."
Blaise stepped forward with a bow. His voice was steady and proud as he made the announcement. "Hogwarts is hosting the Tri-Wizard tournament. We will get the chance to not only gather information of the other schools and their politics we are given the chance to expand them Venatores to those schools, to those countries and ministries. We are given the chance to farther out goal by years. We will be another step closer to changing the world back to as it should be, change the fact that magic is dying."
Cheering raged through the Venatores. Blaise bowed once again before joining the bodies of his peers and cheering with them. Harry raised his hand cutting the cheering off. "My Venatores, the schools will be here soon. I want you all to be on the lookout and keep your ears sharp. Do not approach any to talk of our goals. I just want you to report to one of the Pack if you think one of the foreign students are agreeable." Harry ordered. "Samuel when can we expect you?"
"On the drawing of the champions, Samhain. They want us there to just keep the peace between the students. We'll be here until the other schools leave." Samuel reported.
"Yatin, Marcus what made them start the tournament up again?" Harry asked. That question had bugged him since he had hear that it was coming back.
"Not much is being said about why, only that Dumbledore said it was time to have another go at it. Said that it was a tradition they shouldn't just dismiss." Marcus answered. "That's all we could find out."
"Very well. Looks like we need to keep an sharper eye on our esteemed headmaster more than normal this year." Harry didn't need to look over at the rest of his follower to know that they got the order. "Gemma what have you found about Voldemort and his followers?"
Gemma straightened his back. "They are underground. There is absolutely no activity since the World Cup. A house elf is being blamed for casting the dark mark."
"Really" Hermione snorted. "It seems that our governing body is dumber than we first imagined."
Harry chuckled looking at her. "Not really. We may have just given them too much credit." He turned back to Gemma. "How is the recruit prospects?"
Gemma pause in thought before answering. "No many but there is one I think is perfect for us. Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is fair and disagrees with how the Ministry is running. There is also a Nymphadora Tonks, she's an Auror a year older than Samuel. She was trained by Mad-eye Moody himself."
"Alright." The meeting continued on like that fashion for an hour more. The meeting ended with Draco, Ginny, and Hermione assigning them their new uniform. It consisted of a common style shifting grey cloak with a copy of the Venator's mark embroidered in black in the back, the coloring making it hard to see if you didn't know what you were looking for, and a plain full black mask.
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It was only five day before Samhain that Dumbledore made the announcement of the tournament to the school. The schools were going to be there the 30th. Harry couldn't help but feel that something was going to go wrong with the tournament but kept his peace as he didn't feel that it would hurt his own. He glanced over at Luna. "This is going to be a hell of year."
"Yeah, just be careful Alpha. The future has never been very clear but never has it been so diverse either." Luna's voice sounded far away like she was dreaming. A cold chill ran down in spin and settled in his stomach. Luna was seeing many things this night and that worried him more than any of his bad feeling.
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Well I finished this quickly… I hope you all liked it. Please review and tell me what you liked, what you have questions on, and so on and so forth.
♡Natalia♡

(Nat-a-leah)