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Bonded chapter 25
🕑 Added 2022-08-03 22:32:33 +0000 UTCChapter 25 - Reunion.
'Remind me to do something nice for the Weasley twins,' Harry thought to Venom as the pair walked around Hogsmead under Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry was well aware that Venom could turn them invisible but Harry had chosen to use his cloak instead since that way Venom didn't have to worry about putting in the effort to keep him invisible, not to mention that Venom could turn him invisible in case something happened to his cloak.
'This place is beautiful.' Venom complimented as Harry carefully walked around, trying not to bump into anyone.
'You're definitely right about that.' Harry smirked as he looked around. The whole place looked like a winter wonderland, with snow covering the footpaths and roofs of the various buildings around him. The people here looked happy, really happy and as if there was nothing wrong with the world, and Harry couldn't help but smile as he walked around. 'This, this Venom, this is what I've been missing my whole life. I could have been coming here all the time, but instead, I spend my summer with a bunch of idiots that spend all of their time trying and pretending to be normal.' He thought bitterly.
'Not next summer,' Venom said in a firm voice.
'Hopefully not,' Harry nodded his head slightly. 'Dumbledore will make a fuss about it.'
'Then I'll just eat his brains,' Venom said simply as if that solved all of the problems in Harry's world. Harry couldn't help but smile in amusement, he knew that Venom's approach might not be the best one to go with but the fact that he cared enough to come up with a solution was a good enough reason for Harry to be happy.
'Thanks, now, let's go and find a place that sells a lot of chocolate.' Harry decided.
'Yay!' Venom cheered.
(.)
"Now, Mr Potter, try it again." Professor Flitwick said as he gestured to the trio of wooden training dummies that were standing opposite Harry.
"Right," Harry nodded before aiming his wand at the dummy that was standing on the left side. "Incarcerous!" He yelled and a couple of ropes shot out from his wand and quickly wrapped around the dummy, Harry then quickly aimed his wand at the next dummy. "Reducio!" He yelled, a spell shot out from his wand and turned the dummy from six feet to about one foot. Harry then turned his wand to the last dummy. "Reducto!" A beam shot out from his wand and connected with the dummy, obliterating it into dust.
"Marvellous!" Cheered Professor Flitwick while clapping his hands as he bounced up and down in joy. "Marvellous! Truly marvellous! That last one was truly a powerful curse for someone your age! Well done, Mr Potter."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, blushing slightly. He couldn't help but wonder how Hermione would react to hearing him receive praise like this from a teacher, especially one as well-liked and respected as Professor Flitwick.
'Let's be honest, she would probably be jealous.' Venom commented.
"You keep going at this pace and you'll even outstrip your own mother at charms," Professor Flitwick grinned. "And that is not an easy task to accomplish, let me assure you. I, well and truly, believe that she would be proud of you right now."
"That means a lot, thank you," Harry smiled at him. "So, is there anything else you want to teach me before I go?" Harry asked, knowing that their time was pretty much up.
"Not today," Professor Flitwick shook his head. "But I do look forward to teaching you more during our next lesson."
"I'll happily be there." Harry nodded. "See you later, Professor." Harry gave him a wave before he walked out of the classroom and started walking down the hallways, intending to go to the Gryffindor common room. He had just turned a corner when he saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil walking towards him from the opposite direction.
"Hi Harry," He heard them say as they giggled while walking past him.
'We look good,' Venom said in a way that made it all too easy to imagine him grinning.
'To be fair, I think we do.' Harry agreed as he looked down at himself, he was wearing a pair of white trainers with a few black stripes on them, he also wore black jeans and a grey shirt under an open dark red jacket. He was truly starting to enjoy being able to buy and own his own clothes.
After a few minutes of walking, Harry was able to get to Gryffindor tower and enter his room, once he was inside he saw it was empty, meaning that he had the room to himself. He closed the door behind him before he went over to his bed and sat on it, closing the curtains as he did so.
"Pass me the map, please." Harry politely requested, a second later a black tentacle that was attached to Venom's head emerged from Harry's right shoulder and Harry found himself staring at Venom.
"Since you asked so politely," Venom grinned at him before a second tentacle shot out and handed Harry the marauders map.
"Thanks," Harry said appreciatively, he still found it a bit hard to wrap his mind around the fact that the alien that was currently living in his body had the ability to store things in what were basically pockets, but honestly, after nearly three years of magic, he could get over it.
"You're welcome," Venom replied pleasantly. "Hmm, James Potter must have been smarter than we have originally thought." He commented as he stared at the map.
"True," Harry agreed. "I know he was a transfiguration genius and a good chaser and a prankster, but not much about his school life apart from that."
"Hmm, we don't know how much of this was him and how much was done by the other three." Venom pointed out.
"Still, it's amazing either way." Harry shrugged before staring at the map, he began looking around, trying to find Hermione and Ron. "The twins are at the great hall, Dumbledore's pacing in his office, Snape's in his classroom, probably thinking of ways to torment me."
"Dickhead."
"Yep," Harry nodded. "It would be really cool if we could figure out a way to..." Harry paused and trailed off as he noticed something on the map. "..umm...Venom?"
"Yes?"
"I can't help but notice something weird." Harry quietly spoke before gesturing to a part of the map that showed the school grounds, the part he was specifically gesturing to showed Hermione and Ron. It looked like they were running based on how fast they were moving on the map, though the weird part was when he saw the two names that were with the two.
Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.
"What are the chances of this being wrong?" Harry asked, already parting his curtains and standing up.
"We can't risk it." Venom replied, taking the map and absorbing it back into himself just as Harry picked up his broomstick.
"Fair point." Harry opened the window just as Venom retracted back into Harry's body. Harry leapt out of the window without a hint of fear and allowed himself to freefall downwards for several seconds before he climbed on his broom and flew off in the direction where Hermione and Ron were supposed to be.
Pushing the broomstick to the max allowed Harry to quickly cover the necessary ground he needed to fly over to get there. Eventually, he managed to spot Hermione running across the grassy grounds, chasing after Ron who was screaming out loud as a massive black dog was dragging him away by his foot. Harry couldn't help but notice that the dog was dragging Ron towards the whooping willow, the Hogwarts tree that was infamous for attacking anyone that goes too close.
'Why the fuck do we even have a deadly tree at a school?!' Venom couldn't help but ask.
'Take it up with Dumbledore.' Harry mentally responded before pulling his wand out just as Ron was dragged inside a hole in the tree and casting a freezing spell on it to stop the tree as it raised one of its branches so it could attack Hermione.
"Harry?!" Hermione gasped as Harry landed next to her and shrunk his broom.
"The one and only," Harry confirmed.
"But you're not the only Harry, there are plenty of people that are called..."
"Don't ruin a good line, Hermione,"
"What are you even doing here?" She asked.
"I go to school here," Harry shrugged.
"Harry Potter, that is not what I meant and you know it." Hermione huffed just as Harry walked towards the entrance.
"Come on, I don't know how long my freezing spell will hold." He added as he slipped inside and walked down a couple of stone steps while Hermione followed after. "Well, that'll be fun," Harry muttered sarcastically as he stared at the long and dark tunnel in front of him. "What had happened anyway?" He asked.
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "One moment Ronald and I were walking back from Hagrid's house, we were talking..."
"You mean arguing?"
"When all of a sudden his stupid rat started acting all weird," She continued talking as if Harry had not interrupted. "And then the rat actually bit him."
"Scabbers bit Ron?"
"Yeah, he looked desperate to get away, nearly managed it as well but Ron quickly caught him, then the dog appeared," Hermione shivered. "It just started attacking Ron and grabbed him and pulled him down here."
"Wherever here is." Harry rubbed his eyes.
"Where do you think this leads to?" Hermione asked as they both cautiously walked down it.
"It is my sincerest hope that it'll lead to a bunch of good chocolate but I know that I'm not that lucky," Harry sighed.
"Harry, do you realise what building this is?" Hermione asked when they finally exited the tunnel and found themselves inside what looked to be a house that hadn't been cared for in years. It was covered in layers and layers of dust with various spiders and insects all around the place. The furniture all looked like a stiff breeze could knock them over and there were several footprints leading up the stairs. "This is the shrieking shack! The most haunted building in all of England!"
"They can't be any worse than Peeves or the literally 'bloody' Bloody Baron," Harry responded before claiming up the stairs with Hermione following after him. Harry followed the footsteps until he found an open door and saw Ron inside a room, sitting on an old and damaged bed whilst tightly holding Scabbers in his hand. "Ron!" Harry and Hermione rushed in.
'No, wait!' Venom tried to stop Harry but it was too late since Harry had already entered the room and was now standing in front of Ron. 'Danger, behind you.'
"It's a trap, he's the dog, he's an animagus!" Ron blurted out just before two disarming spells shot toward Harry and Hermione from behind. Hermione's wand was ripped out of her hand but Harry was much quicker, not to mention the fact that he had the added bonus of Venom's assistance, and was able to step to the side and avoid the spell which crashed harmlessly into the wall behind Ron. Harry quickly turned around and aimed his wand at the man standing by the broken door that they had walked past.
The person in front of Harry looked far more like a corpse than a regular person, he wore a pair of heavy-looking black shoes along with a grey prisoner uniform that was slightly ripped at the chest, allowing Harry to see his tattooed, pale and incredibly skinny body. His face was quite skinny and looked more like a skull that had just had a layer of skin attached to it. His beard and hair looked wild and messy while his teeth were yellow and his eyes looked unhinged and crazy.
"Manners, Sirius," Harry said in a surprisingly calm yet disapproving voice. "We've not seen each other in years and the first thing you do is try and attack me?" He tutted while shaking his head at Sirius.
"Sirius Black?" Hermione grew pale and took a step back.
"Please!" Ron begged. "Just let us go! We haven't done anything to you!" Scabbers made a fair amount of noise as well as he struggled to escape Ron's grip.
But it appeared as if Sirius Black was not remotely interested in listening to either Ron or Hermione as he stared at Harry like he was the only other person in the whole room. Sirius's eyes had widened slightly, he breathed in and his lips parted just enough to let a fresh batch of oxygen into his body as he exhaled
"H...Harry? Harry? Is that you?" He asked in a raspy voice as he lowered his wand, the whole room going silent instantly, even Scabbers didn't so much as dare make even the tiniest of squeaks.
"Yeah, Sirius, it's me," Harry gulped slightly as he stared at Sirius.
"You look...like James...look just like James...spitting image of him," Sirius whispered to himself as he continued staring at Harry, though everyone could still hear what he was saying. "L...Like James...but...Lily...James...like James but with Lily...Lily's eyes. Green eyes...James with green eyes...James with Lily's eyes...Prongs had sex...Lily and James...Harry?" He stared at Harry, tears forming out of the corner of his eyes.
"He's barking mad!" Ron hissed to Harry and Hermione, the latter of which couldn't help but nod her head in agreement.
"Why are you here, Sirius?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes off the escaped prisoner.
"Rat...all they could find was a finger...escaped...stupid!" Sirius shook his head before slapping his forehead a few times as if trying to restart his brain. Meanwhile, Harry's own eyes widened with disbelief before he looked at Scabbers and noticed that the rat was missing a toe.
'But then that means...' Venom trailed off and allowed Harry to fill in the gaps.
A second later Harry rushed forwards toward Sirius, Ron and Hermione had barely sucked in their breaths while Sirius hadn't even had time to raise the wand he had stolen from Ron. Sirius had just about managed to close his eyes before Harry pulled him into a hug.
"It's good to see you again, Sirius," Harry whispered. Slowly, Sirius raised his own arms and returned the hug.
"What the bloody hell is going on?!" Ron blurted out.
Comments
great chapter.
Darkanlan
Think I would have preferred if he ran towards Ron and stomped the rat. So long as he only half crushed it, it'd still be useful. Especially if he stomped the back half of it and let Pettigrew live while crippled from the waist down. No chance of him escaping if he can't run.
