Runes Master

Friend or Foe?

It took skill, and stamina. They had both. That, and a good drive from Harry's little speech about regaining the dignity of the House of Black. It started now. Sirius had more experience with dark creatures and knowledge about them but Harry had power in spades and the ability to adjust to any foe, however overwhelmed he seemed. Sirius had never seen such power in a young man. He probably had even more than himself, and he was only a teen! Harry learned quite a few spells the year prior and practiced them a lot.

Harry didn't think about it when coming into Black Manor, but he started using his wand naturally. Horrified of what he'd done at first, he told Sirius. His godfather reassured him that he could use magic whenever he wanted here as the manor was under a Fidelius charm. They were warded through and through. Harry decided to check them out sometime to see if he could add some runic defenses to said protections. He practiced the spider repelling charm he learned in second year so much he found he could herd them in the direction he wanted now. Sirius was laughing like mad when Harry found a nest, split the beam in many directions at the same time, sending the spiders in a choreographed dance that ended up in them pilling themselves up in a tower to avoid the burning beams. Some were so big he wondered if they were related to Aragog.

The snakes were easier to deal with. He simply ordered them to get out of the house and patrol for spiders and enemies of the house. Sirius was a little freaked out by that.

"Parseltongue?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah."

"When did you find out?"

"I had a really busy second year."

"Oh," he said, and they left it at that.

A more serious threat crossed them in the form of two ghouls. They were not as friendly as the one in Ron's house, more like the flesh-ripping kind. They were part of the house's defense system, but were released when Harry canceled Mrs. Black's control runes. That gave Harry the occasion of practicing his Protego spell. It wasn't very good at first, but it had to be at the end, since they were way faster that what they should have been after years unfed. They must have been charmed to be faster. Thankfully, there was no dragon, Harry thought sarcastically. He shared his musing with his godfather who found that very funny.

"If you ever face a dragon, throw a conjunctivitis curse in his eyes and run the hell away, if you can't Apparate already."

Harry was glad to have a godfather so full of wisdom. Even a brave Gryffindor knew when he had to flee.

As they cleared the place, they met a very dusty Kreacher. He was scrubbing like there was no tomorrow. Even Sirius had some pity at the sight.

"Kreacher! Slow down! Don't wear yourself out! We still need you," he said.

The house elf looked up at him with newfound respect in his eyes.

"Master…worry about Kreacher? After all Kreacher said to Master? Kreacher… is not worthy… KREACHER WON'T FAIL YOU!"

The semi-psychotic elf brushed the wall with renewed vigor. Sirius was put off by that, he asked the exact opposite!

"Don't worry, Sirius, I think…part of the house elf magic comes from the master. The better the relationship, the stronger he'll be," said Harry, shrugging.

Sirius smiled and half-joked, "Then I hope he doesn't wear me out!"

Harry and Sirius went to Diagon Alley for the annual shopping trip, meeting the Weasleys and Hermione along the way. For once, things were quiet. A little too quiet, in fact. There were more Aurors than there had ever been before.