December 22, 1944
Tuesday Morning
When Harry awoke to the feeling of wind on his face and the chirping of birds from the nearest tree, he expected to find Elaine leaning over him in that usually weird way of hers. That wasn't the case, instead, he found himself alone in bed with her usual spot right beside him cold. The shower wasn't running, Laddey hadn't woken him up as he would have if she was doing something out of the norm and in general, there was no sound nor action that hinted to her presence.
He yawned and threw off the covers after a few seconds of thinking. Where she was, he hadn't a clue, as she was meant to discuss with him today rituals and other important subjects that he wanted to continue learning about. Thus, her absence annoyed him on account of her having agreed to speak with him only last night. When he spotted the small letter on his desk, he shook his head but moved towards it.
' My love in perpetuity,
Urgent business called me away from your side. You have my sincere apologies for not being there to greet you in the morning. You're handsome even in sleep, know that, and I will see you when you return from your trip to the Goldhorns. We'll speak about rituals and whatever else you'd like to go over in more depth then.
Your lover and wife to be'
Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes. Elaine was so incredibly off-centre, it was jarring at times. He knew what he had gotten himself into when first agreeing to date her, yes, but it didn't make her nature any more pleasant. She seemed so possessive and he knew she was exactly that, so it was only natural that he wondered what she'd do while he was away. He was sure she didn't like the thought of him going to the Goldhorns just as much as he was sure that whatever business had called her away was incredibly important.
Seldom if ever would she leave him alone with nought but a note, especially when he'd be gone for a few days following said note.
"Laddey," Harry called as he set the note down.
"Master Harry sir called?" Laddey answered as soon as he appeared, an eager smile on his face - one that matched all the other mornings where Harry would wake up in his home and call the house-elf for the first time of the day.
"Could you have breakfast prepared please? I'd like to fit in some studying and exercise before I get headed to the Goldhorns this evening… please make sure the Floo connection is shut down when I leave too," Harry patted Laddey on the shoulder lightly and smiled at him. "You remember the day I return, so please put it back on then, alright?"
"Yes Master Harry, sir," Laddey said, a near ear to ear smile on his face as he apparated away from Harry to relay his breakfast order.
Really is dead helpful, he is.
Harry sighed, once more lost in the thought of how Dobby-like Laddey was. It was wicked and horrible, both feelings because of Dobby and the memories of the little energetic house-elf Laddey would provide.
"I wonder if Elaine would exercise first, or study," Harry pondered aloud, thinking to himself as he made his bed for the day and moved over to the balcony, examining his land as he waited for his breakfast to be cooked.
As was usual whenever he looked across the clearcut meadows that led to the surrounding forest or on the opposite side, his gardens, he was filled with a sense of peace. It would be fleeting, as short-lived as he was in his previous world, but the positivity it would bring as he remembered the beauty of nature was well worth the shortness of the moment. Harry supposed it was something unique to this era or possibly his mindset that this era had brought about.
Whatever the cause, he had never previously been one to pause and take in nature. Not more than a few times, at least. He was mentally younger, was one reason; the people of this time and the maturity required not only of himself also indefinitely contributed to his newfound sense of joy while nature-gazing.
Suppose I'll start with a morning workout after I eat and read Walburga's letter. Don't want to waste all my energy and drive on reading if that bit about your bodies fitness correlating to strength is true.
And so that was what Harry did… except he read Walburga's letter after he returned from a short thirty-minute jog and a bit of weight-lifting. He would have done more had he any more resources to work with and the ones that he did have weren't quite so… archaic.
Walburga's letter was, Harry would admit, a lot larger than he thought. She hadn't been incredibly talkative nor trusting when he had met with her that one time in Hogwarts, and he truly doubted following that meeting that it accomplished anything. Had she sent him a short missive telling him off and laughing that she wouldn't follow through with their deal, that she was free to avoid him now that she was home, he wouldn't have been entirely surprised.
Merlin, he could be stupid for thinking Sirius or anybody else from his time would even be born. He'd already changed so much with his presence and actions alone, not to mention the variables that were independently different, ones that his presence hadn't altered - Elaine was an obvious example of those.
' Harry Peverell,
I will remain at my home for the entirety of this Yule break, and while I'm aware that I'm not within your circle nor even vaguely trusted by you, I wouldn't be a Pureblood woman in the highest circles of society if I failed to invite you formally to my family home at least once in this letter. I do hope you recognise that first line as said offer too, else you wouldn't be a very welcome guest. Well, I suppose that isn't entirely true on account of your name, though I do know my family would pick you apart if you acted even remotely innocent or soft.
Into the important matters, I have been contacted twice since last we spoke and have done exactly as you wished for me to do. I can swear on it or make a contract with you, should you be too distrusting of me. For your benefit, I already plan on informing you exactly what I told to him, that way you can see those words of mine come into fruition.
Finally, the last part of my message will relate to your newly established seat on the Wizengamot, or reestablished as some are calling it. There are four major political blocs with a dozen if not more smaller ones of varying sizes, powers and stances. Elaine has likely given you a talk regarding this, so I'll avoid doing so save for one thing I feel required to share. Do not mingle with the entirely too progressive faction, else that'll have you painted as one of them. I dare say they'll not approach you regardless on account of your numerous paper mentions with the Carrows at private, familial events, but you never quite know.
Your acquaintance,
Walburga Black'
Harry's face was very conflicted when he set down her letter. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd been expecting going into the lengthy letter… not really. The formal invitation at the top, that hadn't been crazy to see. Not with how often she wanted him to visit in his first year at Hogwarts or her continued attempts of all other Purebloods to have him do the same. That she still tried even now, despite her already knowing his answer, he had to admit it was amusing and incredibly real of her.
When he next focused on her second paragraph, the one related to Grindelwald and the fact that he'd sent owls to her twice even if they were through roundabout means, his face turned decidedly sour. Grindelwald was still finding the time despite his recent activity to write to Walburga, and try as Harry wanted to believe her, he wasn't entirely sure if she'd done as he wanted. She didn't seem to have that much of a backbone, least of all while she was alone, so for her to lie or omit portions of the truth to Grindelwald just because of one conversation was highly suspect.
He wouldn't really get into that final part either. Elaine, Corene and a few others had all spoken with him about his Wizengamot seat. It would be his to sit on when he wanted, but that was far easier said than done when considering the time requirements and the lack of knowledge relating to all others who were active within it. The last thing he needed to do was sit with a faction unknowingly and block himself off from a bunch of the other ones.
Well, the Carrows had already painted him as a more moderate figure anyhow, which was actually helpful. It showed he wasn't with the ultra-traditional side of things and at the same time, not working with those that Walburga had called 'too progressive'. With all that Harry had seen thus far, he wasn't incredibly fond of that progressive faction. Not like he used to be at the very least, for he saw the good that came with adhering to the old ways.
Harry sighed and hung his head at his desk, rubbing at his temples before he pushed himself up and away. He would respond to Walburga later in the day, much later, possibly even when he returned and when he had taken the proper amount of time to think about what she said. She was right in thinking that he didn't trust her. He doubted the time would ever come where that wasn't true, but as it stood right now, he just needed to get to studying and for once in his life, not make a rash decision.
He was sure that his future self would thank him for that.
"Would Master Harry sir like any water? Master Harry has worked hard, very hard today, sir," Laddey said as he bounced anxiously from foot to foot beside Harry's desk, a slightly worried and apprehensive look on the as of recently, bolder elf's face.
"I'll take dinner in thirty minutes if you would," Harry finally said with a grin as he smiled at Laddey, the house-elves worry and stronger personality making him happy, especially as it meant his friend was more comfortable around him. "Thank you, Laddey. You're a good friend."
"Laddey lives to serve, Master Harry, sir. Laddey is happy to hear you call him friend too, very happy!" Laddey then exited, snapping his finger and vanishing off to the kitchens as he'd done in the morning.
Harry knew that meant he'd be getting another wonderful meal too. That wasn't to say some of them had been poorer in quality or lacking to his specific tastes, but when Laddey went with them and stayed alongside the cooks, Harry's specific tastes were better met. He wasn't sure if the elf just seemed to have a good connection with him or if Laddey had been taking notes regarding his favourite foods, but whatever it was, worked.
Back to studying, dolt.
He snorted, practically hearing Hermione's voice in his head. Had he actually heard her say that with his new outlook on life in general, he would have said she was right. There was still half an hour left to him, all of that was meant for studying too, else those books of his would be useless and nought but for decoration.
' Muggles have more diseases, afflictions and other illnesses that our superior genes are quite simply immune to. If we're not, another gift of ours can make it so thanks to potions masters. Those wonderful masters make all pathogens and wounds trivial matters so long as they've been discovered before. Some of those that are new or only recently found are just as easily dispatched, should one have a potioneering master worth their weight in Galleons.
For those wondering why I would bring up a topic related to Muggles in specifically casual dialogue within the confines of my best-selling book on offensive magic, look no further than the first sentence. Diseases, afflictions and other illnesses. Those Muggle ailments mean nothing to us, and yet at the same time, everything to us. We can take them, examine them and advance them to a point of near-instantaneous lethality if we're proficient enough in spell-making. Should that fail, there's always the chance to mimic conditions of any infection or what have you to incapacitate or otherwise seriously hinder your enemies abilities. Never forget that the best spell is one that isn't easily countered or its effect removed. It's for this very reason that properly dangerous wizards and witches learn spells from all cultures rather than their parent one.'
Harry closed the book and found himself agreeing with everything that he'd read, especially the final sentence. It was especially important. He had done that very idea too, what with all the other spells he'd learned from different cultures and in different languages. The Goldhorns' library was a perfect example of that, for he was approved to learn with Sammi inside of it.
Very smugly, Harry smiled to himself as he thought about how many people in Hogwarts knew Greek spells from the time of the Byzantine Empire or in their Pre-Roman days. Aside from the Goldhorn family, he wouldn't be at all surprised if he were the only person at Hogwarts who knew such spells… that was counting on Dumbledore being at the Ministry still too.
Merlin, that's right!
Dumbledore would be back at Hogwarts before too much longer. That normally wouldn't have inspired him as much as it did, especially after the talk he'd gotten from the older man, but it was Grindelwald's presence that made Harry feel especially happy about that. Harry may be poor in remembering his history, but he knew enough; Grindelwald had never gone after a location near Dumbledore. When one considered that it was Dumbledore who ultimately felled Grindelwald, that made sense.
Grindelwald was scared of Dumbledore, just like Voldemort had been. If he wasn't scared, at the very least he knew the man was a stalemate, one that could tie him down long enough for his forces to be captured or routed. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time before a spell struck Grindelwald while any that he threw out would be countered.
In his mind, Harry pictured himself, Elaine and Dumbledore all fighting alongside one another against Grindelwald himself. If that happened, if there was even the slightest chance of it happening, Harry was entirely confident that they'd win within a minute if not two. Grindelwald wouldn't be a match for his wand when partnered with Elaine and with Dumbledore, ill as he was, fighting in tandem.
With a smile on his face, one that put looks to his thoughts, Harry decided to double down on his efforts of learning new magics from other cultures. If he could do that effectively and surprise those he fought against, it would make any future battle all the more easier for him. He needed that too, especially with how out of shape he actually found himself to be - it was all those sweets that Corene would have her elf bring or the wonderful feasts on Slytherin table during mealtimes… the food Elaine would bake wasn't very good for him either, or the cakes his house-elves would mak-
Fine. There were a lot of times where he ate horribly wonderful things that he should not have, but it didn't make them any less worth it, not until he'd started working out again.
"Does Master Harry sir have to leave for two days?" Laddey asked, his ears down and flappy as he looked up at Harry with those wide, expressive eyes.
Harry smiled, sighed and nodded a few times. "I'll be back before you know it, Laddey. I promise. I just have to go and visit some friends for Yule, we'll have a big meal together too though, don't you worry about that," Harry reclined in the chair. "I have another thirty minutes before I have to go too, so I'm sure you could sit with me if you'd like. We don't even have to talk about anything, we could just sit here and watch the fire flicker if you want."
Laddey rubbed at his eyes before he hopped up beside Harry. He was sad, as sad as he always was when Harry left the grounds, but he seemed happier when he was allowed to join him. The silence that followed wasn't nearly as deafening or awkward as it usually was either, Laddey just happily kicked his legs and occasionally looked up at Harry's face.
He hadn't a clue what he'd done to deserve such a good, loyal friend such as Laddey, but Harry was happy to have him. Even now, with as many people that called themselves 'friend' to him as he had, he wondered if Laddey and the other house-elves were the only ones that really meant it. If that were true, well, Harry wouldn't be too surprised.
Corene was stoic, professional, sweet - if you got to know her as he liked to think he had - and above all, cunning. If any of those nearest to him were able to pull the wool over his eyes, as the saying was, he would believe it to be her. Aster and Reinhard, Ashley and Joseph, the four of them that he shared bunks within Slytherin were all goofy and light-hearted.
Harry winced.
Light-hearted probably wasn't the right word to use, but they were good, honest blokes by and large. Not like Walburga, Elaine… that womanly being that haunted his dreams and apparently had a time limit in speaking with him. He still wasn't sure if he bought that. Not with her being all powerful, enough so to send him back in time in a body that apparently wasn't entirely his.
It still bugged him that she hadn't been more forthcoming. The fact that somebody had gone to his time to deal with his issues while he dealt with theirs was horrible, it was made worse when she wouldn't share a lick of information. He knew he wasn't asking for much, and really, the hint about saying nothing to anybody else about him travelling through 'time' wasn't useful in the slightest. At least she'd let slip about the bloke he'd swapped with and the other people in this world who had gone through similar issues as he was currently facing.
The fact that others existed, others that he could possibly meet… was good, especially if they helped him. They would likely be older, wiser and a good deal more dangerous too, which also helped unless they were directly opposing him.
What if… what if Voldemort was Elaine acting as Elaine while really being Voldemort?
Harry snorted and shook his head as soon as the thought was finished.
Now that'd just be stupid.
"Well if it isn't Harry Peverell!" Sarah said, her greeting and hug hitting him as soon as he expertly made his way away from the Floo.
I've gotten wicked at that.
"Hey Sarah," Harry said, smiling as he returned the hug and pulled away after five or so seconds. "How've you and the family been?"
"We've all been great, wonderful really. Uncle Giannis won't make it this time around either, most of my family will be here though," Sarah pulled on his arm then, directing him much the same way he'd gone when last he visited her family. "You don't mind that same old tower, right? I know it's nothing new, but I thought you liked it a lot so… I guess what I'm saying is it's basically yours whenever you visit?"
Somebody nearby and unnoticed huffed, making Harry turn his head so that he could see the mystery person; it was Allie, or as he still called her most of the time, Lady Goldhorn. She looked as young, beautiful, welcoming and intimidating as he remembered her.
"I swear, Sarah, I don't know what happens to your ability to speak English when your friends come over. It's almost like it vanishes - it reminds me a lot of your older sister, she's exactly the same even now," Allie then walked over, smiling at the two despite Sarah's blush and minor tug of his hand.
"It's good to see you Lady Gold-" Harry didn't get to finish before the older woman tutted and pulled him into a welcoming hug complete with a kiss on either cheek.
"Allie, my dear. Lady Goldhorn is entirely too formal for a friend such as yourself," Allie then let go of him and stepped away, letting Sarah pull him a few feet towards the door while Allie spoke. "Come down for dinner a bit earlier, please. We have festivities planned and the beach is unusually warm for this time of year. You swim, don't you, Harry?"
"I do, and thank you again, Allie!" Harry said, the last couple of words louder on account of him being pulled into the hallway by an incredibly eager Sarah.
She didn't waste any time, which wasn't surprising. Sarah was always incredibly easy to make eager, especially if you were at her home as he remembered. It didn't stop her from peeking her head around the corner so that she could speak to her mum all the while he was fighting to hide his snicker.
"I'll have him down early, mama. I'm just going to give him the tour again, show him the new outdoor area and then take him to the tower, that's fine, right?" Sarah asked, her head already partially ducking back around the corner.
If that wasn't enough, she tugged on him again, pulling the both of them further down the hall so that her mothers echoed reply got to them without any sort of vision.
"That's fine, my baby."
Sarah's blush was funny and wicked as it always was.
"How much time went into this new garden?" Harry asked, stroking a plant that moved when he touched it.
Had Sarah not told him that it seemed alive, well, intelligently so, he would've jumped back with some sort of shocked exclamation. As it was, the fact that the plant moved away from his touch only mildly freaked him out - it was the overly large mouth at the tip that really did it too. Sarah and her family could assure him all they'd like that it was a harmless creature meant to ward away birds if they tried eating the newly planted seeds, but he didn't trust it.
Really, who wants a plant that looks large enough to eat a small child or whole limb?
"Nervous, huh?" Sarah asked with a grin as she nodded forwards, the old gazebo replaced with something much more ancient-Greek looking.
"That thing doesn't look natural," Harry said with a huff as he pointed at the large, swaying plant with its mouth still open wide open and plant-teeth gleaming.
Sarah giggled and flicked his chest, their height difference a bit too punctuated thanks to her lack of shoes and Harry's growth spurt. "It's actually pretty skittish. It was afraid of your touch and as for the whole species, they avoid meat - people too, if they can help it."
"Why did your family get one then?" Harry asked, curious as he glanced at the farther away plant as they strolled into another new portion of the garden. "I know it's too keep away birds and small game, but couldn't they have gone with something less imposing? Especially if it gets nervous around people and you're having a party soon?"
"My mama wanted it," Sarah said simply, motioning towards another new star-shaped flower with purple petals.
Harry leaned forward to smell it, the scent was entirely too alluring and wonderful. It was like a lo-
"Nope, you're backing up," Sarah said as she pulled on the back of his shirt, making him stumble backwards into the front of her.
"What's that one?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at it.
"That's the one that makes us end our tour so we can get you upstairs," Sarah said with a laugh as she pulled on him, and boy did she pull much harder this go around. He could make out a sense of urgency almost, her eyes and body language both having it. "You'll want a shower, by the way. Sorry too, that's my fault, I completely forgot about those ones."
Harry was starting to get a bit anxious and nervous, a mixture really. "What were they? What'll they do to me?"
"They're an ingredient used in love potions to help cause, a, uh," Sarah looked away from him, her cheeks growing red as she started to stumble over her words. "They, you see, cause… a physical manifestation of those emotions."
He nearly asked what she meant until he started to feel it, and then he took off at twice the speed to leave.
Merlin, what a start to a day that was.
I've had a right busy day, I have, Harry thought to himself as he reclined on one of the comfortable padded couches that were on his towers deck.
He had too, for there was much that he'd done within twelve hours, and almost all of it had been very beneficial to him. The only thing that hadn't been, were those nasty love potion plants, the reaction they caused wasn't horrible in and of itself but the physical part while with friendly company was less than desirous.
Maybe I'll have Elaine ban love potions, be a proper adult and all. I'd wager she'd go for that too on account of other witches trying them against me.
Harry would still thank Yaxley if he ever saw him again. The spell he'd given him had detected a few irregularities from pranks that Aster and Reinhard had tried to play, but it had never found anything horrible. He still remembered the different colours and the brightness meaning severity. There was that ritual too, the one that dealt with most any poison or potion meant to murder people. It seemed worth it, it seemed really worth it, but Harry wouldn't be doing anything of that nature until he spoke at length with Professor Slughorn and Elaine.
Doesn't help that the old man's a bit nervous about them and Elaine's… Elaine.
"Harry?" Sarah asked, her voice coming a split-second before she nodded on the top portion of his tower quarters. "Can I come in? I was hoping we could speak now that your situation's handled."
He scowled with a small smile on his face as he heard the laughter in her voice. No doubt it had been funny to her even if she'd tried to preserve his modesty. It wasn't her that had to deal with it and it wasn't entirely her fault. Yeah, he should have been more careful in a garden where magic was rampant.
Then again, it wouldn't hurt if there was a painted or otherwise written sign up around the plants. One that warned about the potential issues of each plant, especially those ones. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that it would've been a lot more awkward had he been with Allie or any of Sarah's sisters. As it was, it was still pretty awkward having to look her in the face after that had happened.
"I'll be right there, sorry," Hary said, shaking his head and finally heaving himself up, off the chair and over to the door.
When he opened it with a sharp twist of the handle and mild yank, he saw Sarah with a grin on her face as well as a pastry in her hand. "This is my apology diple, for earlier."
What's a diple?
"It's all good, I shouldn't have stuck my nose at something that smelled so good," Harry said, waving away her concern as he took the tasty-looking pastry from the plate she'd been holding and bit into it with a satisfying crunch.
On first taste, it was incredibly sweet and a bit too crunchy for his own tastes, but one look at Sarah who was biting into her own with a happy smile on her face made him match hers. He didn't want to be rude, and really, it wasn't that bad. If anything, he thought of himself as fortunate for getting to taste it in the first place; Ron, Ginny, all of them would have loved to try any of the new foods he had recently, especially with how much they loved to travel even if they could rarely afford to do so.
"Is it dinner already?" Harry asked, suddenly remembering that he needed to be early to that and an hour had gone by since he'd gone upstairs.
Sarah shook her head, swallowed, wiped at her mouth and finally made to speak with bits of crust at the corners of her lips. "Mama changed her mind since we have other family members running late. You can arrive later if you want, or early like she initially said, but there's not a huge point for being early this time around."
"What was the point?" Harry asked, stepping back into his room and motioning Sarah over to the deck, the girl obliging.
"We were going to show you a family tradition and all be dressed in clothes that match, even you. It's why I have your clothes sizes," Sarah said, winking at him as she pointed towards a dresser that the two passed on the way out. "Mama wants you to see our culture a bit more than you previously have."
"What do you wanna do while we're waiting then? Have anything in mind?" Harry asked as he finished off his treat and leaned against another one of the entrances into his room from the deck.
Sarah shrugged. "Like I said, we could still go down early if you want to. There's not a huge point, but we could get snacks or just talk and mill about until it's actually time to eat," Sarah glanced from him back to the view of the coastline that he had, that view looking larger than it previously had as if the Goldhorns had clearcut a larger portion of the treeline this time around. "I love this view, don't you?"
"It's definitely one of the better ones I've ever had… I guess it only really compares to Slytherin's view," Harry laughed at Sarah's put-out expression. "Trust me, that's a good thing. In the Slytherin common room, you can see a good distance under the lake. It's wicked, really. Maybe one day we can show you."
"You'd have to break a few rules to do that," Sarah said with a laugh before sobering up and poking at him. "Don't pull a Marcus, Harry. You don't want to get in trouble like him and Vee do, they're bad examples."
"I won't do anything like them, I promise," Harry laughed, stretching and holding out an arm for Sarah.
She took it almost immediately, laughing when he pulled her up so quickly that she flew a bit.
"You're stronger, huh?" Sarah asked in a teasing tone, poking his upper arm as she walked towards the door. "Does this mean you want to eat dinner now too, or are we getting up for some other reason?"
"We can do a bit of walking if you want. Just a bit hungry, really. That pastry you made or brought up if someone else made it was really good," Harry smiled when Sarah did, and when her cheeks heated up, he figured his compliment was actually for her baking; he knew a good bit about cooking or baking in the kitchen, but when it came to Greek foods of any kind, he was lost.
Very lost.
"Let's walk through the Muggle gardens on the other side, then we'll go to eat. How's that sound?" Sarah's question was asked in a teasing tone, one that seemed more prevalent the longer he'd gotten to know her.
He narrowed his eyes at her before he made to respond. "Still think that's funny, don't you?"
Sarah nodded once, those dimples of hers completely viewable and her smile as wide as it would ever be.
"Not even gonna say anything? That was horrible, I'll have you know. Horribly horrible," Harry huffed, his feet now making him stalk towards her with a faux-dangerous look running through him.
If he thought Sarah would say anything else, he was wrong - she took off down the stairs, running as fast as those short legs could take her. Had he his broom, he would have caught her within seconds, but being only with his legs he still figured he could catch her before she made it to the bottom of the tower. He was a good deal taller, athletic if a bit pudgier than he'd used to be on account of too much good food from friends and Hogwarts… oops… and really, he was just used to running around a lot.
Thanks, Voldemort, made it easier to catch girls, Harry mentally paused as he continued physically chasing after Sarah, I hope you didn't hear that and if you did, I hope you know what I meant, Elaine.
With his future wife in his head, it was probably for the better that he put the occasional disclaimer around too. At the very least it would keep him safe and a bit less open to having his friends 'mysteriously' hurt if Elaine really could hear his thoughts through that link of theirs. He didn't think there was any reason she couldn't either, even if it hadn't really happened yet.
The link he had with Voldemort, he could see whole scenes; people, talking, actual actions, all of it he could hear and witness as if he were truly in the room with them. It was a frightening thought to think Elaine could do the very same thing, even if that would come to be an eventuality more than something that had already happened.
"Gods, you're fast!" Sarah exclaimed when Harry was right at the bottom of the tower and only a foot behind her.
"I try," He said with a grin, his darker thoughts wiped away in the face of a happy Sarah.
"Let's go to that garden then - no race this time either, I'm wiped already. If I get any more tired, you'll have to carry me like Sammi always wanted when she was younger," Sarah held out her arm then, a loop available for him to slide his arm through, which he did. "Always a gentleman, what a lovely friend. No wonder my mama likes you loads more than Marcus, she calls him crass and impulsive."
Harry laughed as the two started their journey, and while they did, he couldn't help but think just how right Allie Goldhorn was; Marcus, like Harry had been, was impulsive and never seemed to think of the repercussions of his actions.
Fixable, that is, else I wouldn't be nearly as good as I currently am.
December 23, 1944
Tuesday Afternoon
"I'm sorry for being late, Harry," Sammi said as she approached the entrance of the Goldhorn library where he had been waiting. "Sarah and my mama needed me for something, but I'm all free now, evidently."
"That's not a problem," Harry replied, shrugging it off and smiling at the more serious of the Goldhorn girls; she was the only serious one, really.
All of the others, from the eldest down to the youngest, they were either incredibly sweet or dangerously mischievous. If he remembered the youngest one correctly, Kathy he thought, she was a mixture of those two traits but didn't have either of them diluted. With her, it was like flipping a coin.
That wasn't as bad as Katie or Sana though, the pair of them were the ones you always had to keep an eye out for. Merlin, even without having seen them save for at the meal he was still keeping a lookout for either of them or the pair of them. If he saw them together, he would scurry away as quickly as possible.
He didn't need the trouble that two of them would bring.
"We're in," Sammi said, turning towards him now and motioning for him to enter first. "We'll go to the portion in the back right once I close and lock the door behind us. It's filled with books that Uncle Giannis and a few of his friends provided, so all of them will be very good reads. I suppose that only matters if you're looking to continue your learning about offensive magic, the meaner kinds of it."
"I am - whatever you have that you don't mind me reading. I wouldn't want to intrude or read anything that's not meant to leave your family," Harry said with a polite half-smile at the younger girl, hopefully showing that he meant his words and wasn't saying them as if he were going through the motions.
Sammi rolled her eyes and pull at his arm in a manner very similar to Sarah, the two even had the same amused dimples that came to their face in times of levity. "Harry, I may not be quite as sweet on you as Sarah, Webster or my mother, but I still like you. You're a good friend, sweeter boy than almost all the others at Hogwarts and enjoyable to study with. I can guarantee that anything in that corner is fine for you to grab."
"I jus-" Harry started, only for Sammi to place her hands on her hips and stop, the pose identical to Sarah when she was getting short with someone.
"Nope, explanations, excuses or whatever else you want to say relating to that is pointless. You're going to read whatever you'd like to read since you're my friend and that's that," Sammi grinned when he huffed, and then she resumed her pulling of him over to that same corner that she'd spoken of. "I'm glad that you realise it's pointless."
"That what's pointless?" Harry asked, pulling out Sammi's chair before he did the same for his own.
Sammi laughed for a few seconds, thanked him and then spoke as he was taking his seat. "That arguing with any Goldhorn girl is pointless. That'll save you a lot of time as you continue to visit our family, especially if Sarah and Mama continue liking you so much. Greek girls like us will make sure you have everything you want even if you think it's too much, we're second only to our great grandmother from Russia, before it changed - if you ever meet her, you'll see what I mean. She won't let you leave her presence until your stomach's full enough that she can see food in the back of your throat."
Harry blinked a few times.
Merlin, Ron would have been in heaven if he ever met the Goldhorn family. Makes me wonder again what happened to them and a lot of the other families. I hope they didn't exist in our time rather than…
"That sounds like that could be pretty wicked for a while, and eventually a bit rough," Harry said with a laugh.
He could picture every food he wanted, especially some of the rarer and more annoying ones to make on hand in quantities so high that he could never eat them all. It wasn't that different than having house-elves, really, but he did always hear that a grandma's cooking was better than theirs. He wasn't sure of the validity, but he'd probably learn eventually.
"She should be here tonight, so we could have you find out if you want," Sammi then glanced over at a taller portion of the bookshelves, the thing overflowing with so many parchment scrolls, tomes and newer-looking books to the point that they were stacked on top of each other with seemingly no order. "Those are the ones that you'll probably want to get into. I think you're a level or so ahead of me, at least in so much that you can understand Seventh Year stuff at Hogwarts."
"I usually can, but how many of those are in English?" Harry's question was met with a grin from Sammi, the short girl pulling out her wand and casting a spell unfamiliar to him that drew a colourful line in the air. It was done to match a mark on the bookshelf, one that looked deliberately placed about two-thirds of the way across. "From that line and over to the left, they're written in English. Uncle Giannis knows that most languages save for English and Greek are lost on me, so he translated everything into English."
Harry made a face at that, but Sammi answered before he could ask his question.
"I want to get better at English, more so than I already am. It'd be helpful if my reading, practise and speaking was mostly done in English rather than Greek since I already speak it perfectly. It's helpful to my friends too, and it was his hope that I could learn with a couple of friends like he did. Uncle Giannis probably thought my sisters or brothers would take after his teachings too, but most of them just like when he visits, they don't really care about the magical knowledge he has," Sammi shook her head at that, a sideways glance then shot at him.
"I'm really lucky then… thank you, really. It's wicked being here, and it's wickeder that you're sharing all of this with me," Harry said as he stood up and made his way over to the shelf, stopping halfway to glance back at Sammi. "Anything you'd like me to grab for you?"
Sammi's eyes danced at his question, the girl likely enjoying his offer and his thanks. Courtesy went a long way, he knew.
"That top one with the hand and a heart symbol in it," Sammi said, pointing at the book in the top right of the English portion.
Harry grabbed it along with one that looked interesting to him - it had a few weird-looking creatures on it - and went back over to the table, where he handed over the weird heart-hand one to Sammi. He opened his up immediately after doing so and saw a personal note from Giannis on it, the man said that the book in Harry's hands was filled with spells meant to harm those that were magically resistant to, well, magic.
"That's an awfully good read, though it's a bit dated considering some of those creatures no longer exist or are exceedingly rare thanks to hunters," Sammi said, pointing out a large snake-like creature with wings and multiple heads. "I don't quite remember that one's name, but my grandparents had seen one once. It was right off the coast of our land and as dangerous as they look, they're typically harmless. They were very intelligent, you see, but much of their body made up important potions ingredients."
Seems like that can be said for a lot of things, 'cept those ones don't get hunted to extinction.
Harry shook his head and nodded towards her book, one that looked like it was meant for making love potions or romantic magic. "What's that one for?"
"Necromancy," Sammi replied easily, smiling up at him. "The symbol is for a Goddess in some lost culture. Her followers believed she sought perfection in undeath, and so they tried to perfect all forms of immortality via a limited form of undeath. It never quite worked out the way they wanted, but there's no shortage of useful magic within this book - we could share it if you're not squeamish or against inferi or those types of monsters."
Normally, he would have had the knee-jerk reaction at the word 'Necromancy' alone, but Harry was more intrigued than anything else. Necromancy, he remembered, was all about reanimating corpses and making those creatures that Sammi mentioned, inferi. They were mindless, vicious killing machines that didn't have any form of compassion or pain-sensories like most wizards and witches had, especially the latter part.
He didn't think he would ever use them, Harry didn't have the stomach for the undead or most anything related to them, but learning about the favoured creations of a good deal of Dark Lords would probably help him out. At the very least, he would have an ace up his sleeve if he ever really needed to have some throwaway distraction to save his life.
Who knew, had he known this magic back when he had been attacked at Hogsmeade, there was the chance he could of casually cast it at the corpse of one of Grindelwald's dead so that it attacked its former comrades. It would have been horribly dark, he was sure, and the bad publicity… whatever, Harry was more concerned with staying alive than anything else.
"If you don't mind, I think I'd actually like that. I've never really learned about Necromancy," Harry said as he slid his seat closer to Sammi's, the Goldhorn girl smiling and scooching the rest of the way to meet him.
"That's not a problem, Harry. Magical Britain, France, the Yankees, most of them don't like those types of spells or magic," Sammi grinned then, motioning to the library, or land, around them. "Luckily for us, Eastern Europe and even parts of Central Europe aren't quite as reserved as they are. Magic would be horribly boring if they were."
Harry couldn't help but snicker at that. From what he'd learned across all these cultures and the magic that came from each and every one of them, especially recently, it was the more 'civilized' nations that considered so much magic banned. Sure, that was good and all, but Harry had come to learn that doing such things only hindered your population.
You need to learn about everything, especially since you're going to face people from other countries who have done exactly that.
"Definitely," Harry said once he was fully in his seat and looking at the cover of the book. He shifted while Sammi yawned, the hand with a heart cut into it still staring at him. "I have to ask, why the hand with a heart cut in it? Is there any reason they liked that for their symbol?"
Sammi shrugged and opened the front of it, revealing walls of purple text rather than blue or black. The colour seemed to match the art on the front of the book, so it seemed that Uncle Giannis or his friends that helped had a sense of humour.
"She was as much a goddess of love as she was for undead, so that's probably got a hand in it," Sammi finally said, the pair of them on the third page now.
That did make sense, in a way. If th-
"You said it like that on purpose, didn't you?" Harry asked abruptly, watching Sammi giggle and shake her head.
They went on to have a bit more fun before the real studying kicked in, and all the while, Harry was left wondering how Necromancy could be considered so evil. Many of the spells actually seemed good, like the ones that aided the dying by using portions of your vitality or another spell that seemed to slow your organs into a sense of near death but somehow kept them working.
He wasn't sure how it worked, that would be explained much further in the book, but he enjoyed it. Sammi was nice like always and the subject matter at hand didn't seem wholly dark. Not at all, and really, that meant more to him than he thought it would.
I can't wait to see what Elaine thinks when I whip out some different types of undead creatures in that fight against Grindelwald… knowing her she'll probably snog me senseless.