Familiar: Chapter 3 (Patreon)

The jolly visage of his godfather greeted the pair as they disembarked from the Hogwarts Express. Quickly spotting them, he made his way forward and grabbed his godson in a firm hug, clapping his back before holding him at arm’s length.

“You’ve no idea how long I waited to do that,” Sirius said emotionally, and Harry smiled at seeing his eyes moisten a bit.

“Cut it out, you,” he chuckled and hugged his godfather again.

“You’ve already met her, but this is my girlfriend Valerie,” Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her beside him. A small shadow crossed over Sirius’ face before his normal cheerful smile resurfaced.

“Nice to meet you again, Mr. Black,” Valerie greeted with a small smile.

“Please call me Sirius,” he said, before grinning at Harry, “you make me proud, Harry, snatching such a pretty bird already, way to go!”

The blushes on their faces had the older wizard chuckling.

“I’m kidding, relax. Just be happy, you two, that’s all I would want for you,”

“Thanks Sirius,” Harry said with a smile, and Valerie nodded.

“Now come on, the new house awaits,” Sirius declared, and turned around. They followed him through the barrier and outside the railway station. The trio made their way to a side alley where Sirius fished out a muggle pen from the pocket of his coat.

“Here, grab on,”

“A portkey?”

“Yeah, better than apparating the two of you,” Sirius shrugged. The couple grabbed the pen, and with a tap of his wand, Sirius sent the three of them flying away in a swirl of colors. Harry stumbled slightly when they reached their destination, and Valerie grabbed his arm to steady him. Harry gave her a soft smile and thanked her before grabbing her hand.

*****

As he looked around, he saw they had portkeyed in an alley beside a park. The area was surrounded by tall brick-walled buildings that gave off vibes of an upper-class heritage.

“This way,” Sirius led them out of the alley and toward a particular row of buildings. However, when they came to a stop, Harry looked on confused.

“Umm... where is the Number 12?” Valerie asked the question on his mind.

“Here,” Sirius fished out a piece of parchment from his pocket, “read it,”

Harry took the parchment and held it between him and Valerie, and they both read it silently.

‘The ancestral house of the ancient and most noble house of Black is situated at #12 Grimmauld Place’

Suddenly, the buildings shifted to the side, and an additional one popped out of nowhere.

“Fidelius?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, handing the parchment back to his godfather.

“Yep, Dumbledore insisted, what with you residing here from now on,” Sirius pocketed the parchment and the trio started walking ahead.

“I see,”

“Don’t worry, Harry, I am the secret keeper,”

Harry nodded, relieved.

“That’s good then,”

“I won’t make the same mistake twice, Harry,” Sirius remarked solemnly as he held the door open. Harry gave his shoulder a soft squeeze with his free hand as he and Valerie entered. Sirius shut the door behind him.

A small gasp had Harry looking at Valerie, who was looking around the house with wonder in her eyes. Harry gave her hand a soft squeeze and Valerie turned to look at him. ‘Later’ he mouthed, and she nodded with a smile.

“This is very nice, Sirius,” Valerie remarked, turning around to look at Sirius.

“I know, right! You should’ve seen this hovel earlier, I had to pay twenty-five percent above the market rate to make this place habitable, worth every knut though,”

They made their way inside, and Valerie took in every bit of the house. Gone were the old tapestries, paints, and decorations; the new house was renovated in an entirely modern British design. The walls were painted in light cream color, the floor tiled white, and the lamps hanging off the walls emitted a fluorescent glow. The entire house was an antithesis to the name of the family, and Valerie smiled. It seemed that her cousin had leveled up his rebellious streak against his family. Oddly this didn’t bother her in the slightest.

Her younger self might not have been a pureblood fanatic, but she still took pride in the fact that she belonged to a house as esteemed as the house of Black. However, that was before this very family sold her off like livestock to that vile family. If only her grandfather Arcturus hadn’t passed away back then. His passing had given her aunt Walburga the ultimate power over the house since Orion was a spineless coward who did nothing to keep his harpy of a wife in line.

Valerie shook her head to clear it off those ill thoughts. It didn’t matter now. She was free of those shackles, she had a great life now, she was married to someone she respected and liked a lot, and she couldn’t ask for more. A soft squeeze of her hand brought her attention back to her husband who was looking at her in concern.

‘Nothing,’ she thought and shook her head. Harry nodded, but she could tell he was not entirely convinced.

“Well, if what you had told me of this house was true, I’d say it was a discount,” Harry remarked. Sirius chuckled. “Too true,” he nodded.

The next half an hour was spent touring the house, and it was a big house. The living room was easily the size of the Gryffindor common room, the kitchen was modern and sleek-looking, and the bedrooms were renovated to suit the tastes of an upper-class lady. The decorators had done a tremendous job.

“And this... is your bedroom,” Sirius remarked as he opened the white door, and they made their way inside. It was a spacious room with a king-sized bed in the middle. The walls were painted soft blue with a white ceiling and cream tiles on the floor, giving the room a welcoming ambiance. Valerie loved it.

“Now listen,” Sirius began in a seriousvoice, “I know the two of you are dating and all, but sharing a room is a big thing. I’m not telling you to do anything or not, I’d be a hypocrite if I did that, but whatever you do, remember your responsibilities,”

Harry smiled at his godfather.

“Don’t worry Sirius, we know,” he assured him and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against his side. Valerie wrapped her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder and smiled. Sirius chuckled.

“My job was to give you that boring disclaimer, the rest, you’re more than smart,” he shrugged.

“Noted, mutt,” Harry chuckled as he leaned back and Sirius’ harmless swipe of his hand went through the air. Valerie poked him in the stomach and Harry winced.

“Hey, no abusing the boyfriend,”

Valerie and Sirius grinned at him.

“Now if you’re done, put your trunks away, and follow me, there’s the upper floor left,” Sirius walked out of the room. They pulled their shrunken trunks out of their pockets and enlarged them. Stowing the trunks near the wall, they walked out and joined him.

“This is the topmost floor of this house, and here we have things that my lovely family held dear,”

“What do you mean?”

Sirius didn’t answer and opened a door.

“The Black library, there’s no dark tome you won’t find in there. You two can access it, but I’d advise caution. You never know what disturbing piece of crap you might find,” Sirius shut the door and walked ahead.

They reached another door, and Sirius pulled it open but didn’t enter.

“And this,” he started with a sneer, “is the Black family ritual room. Always gave me the creeps. You see that window? That’s for natural sunlight or moonlight to enter the room. Apparently some rituals require them,”

He shut the door closed before they could look properly inside. Harry had a distinct feeling that Sirius didn’t like rituals very much.

They walked ahead and reached the final room, and Valerie started getting a bad feeling. Suddenly her eyes widened, but before she could do anything, Sirius pulled the door open and walked inside.

“And this is the room that holds the family tapestry,” Sirius remarked, and they slowly entered. Valerie hoped with all her being that she was wrong, but one look at the tapestry where her name should’ve been dashed all her hopes away.

“You know, you’re directly related to the Black family,” Sirius began, looking at a particular name. He beckoned Harry forward.

“See this, that’s your grandmother. She was my grandfather’s youngest sister,”

Harry was looking at the name with a wistful expression on his face.

“Dorea Potter,” he whispered.

“Yep, and there’s James and Lily, and below them...” Sirius’ voice trailed off.

He slowly turned around to look at them, his eyes wide.

“You... you’re... you’re MARRIED!?”

They winced at his shout, and Harry looked at him with pursed lips.

“Uh... yeah... I guess so...”

“You guess so!? You guess so!? When? How!? Merlin...”

Valerie looked at the name on the tapestry right beside Harry’s and released a small breath.

‘Valerie Potter’

She had feared that her birth name would be visible, but it seemed the ritual she had undergone had worked perfectly.

She recalled the time when they had discussed the matter with Dumbledore. The headmaster had been the one to suggest she undergo the Abjiciat Familia Ritual to discard her previous relations, familial and even her birth name. That would ensure her new identity remained ironclad. As she looked at her name beside Harry’s, a small smile bloomed on her face.

“Let’s go downstairs, we can talk there,” Harry suggested. With a sigh, Sirius nodded. They made their way down to the living room in silence. Had they looked at the tapestry in its entirety, they would’ve seen the name of one Bellatrix Lestrange completely greyed out, signaling she was dead.

*****

Harry was going through what he would say to his godfather. It wasn’t as if he could admit who Valerie was in reality. There was no guarantee Sirius would take it well, and there was also the fact that they had decided not to tell anyone the truth unless they had no choice.

Valerie was also wondering what they would tell Sirius. She could see it had come as quite a shock to him, which was quite understandable as his godson was married in his teens. She bit her lower lip in anxiety.

The trio entered the living room and took their seats. Sirius sat on the lone sofa while Valerie and Harry took their seat on the wider one, sitting close to each other with their hands clasped. Sirius levitated two bottles of butterbeer in front of them and procured a firewhiskey for himself. Valerie looked around with a frown. Wasn’t Kreacher supposed to be here?

“Okay Harry, why don’t you tell me now?”

Harry took a deep breath.

“Believe it or not, it was an accident,” he began, and Sirius snorted.

“You’re telling me you got married by accident?”

“Yeah, not your normal accident though,” Harry braced himself, “it was a ritual gone wrong,”

Sirius jumped to his feet and looked at him with wide eyes.

“What the fuck Harry!? You did a ritual!? And you botched it!? How can you be so irresponsible!?” Sirius exclaimed. He could feel his heartbeat skyrocket and his hands shake in fear. Merlin, I hope something didn’t go too wrong...

“Sit down, man! Let me explain!”

Sirius sat down and downed a large gulp of his firewhiskey. He motioned Harry to continue.

“You have to understand that I had no idea it was Valerie at that moment, I had found a cat in Hogsmeade, and I brought her with me. This lady here thought it would be a good idea to play a prank on me. When she showed no sign of going away, I thought ‘why don’t I make her my familiar?’”

Sirius’ eyes bugged out.

“And you did the familiar ritual with her, thinking she was a cat?”

Valerie nodded. “Yeah. None of us had any idea what that entailed. The ritual was successful, but we were bound in life and magic. We saw each other’s memories,” Sirius’ eyes widened, “and told Dumbledore what had happened.”

“Dumbledore knows?”

“Yeah, he does,” Valerie nodded again, “I had planned to greet Harry after so many years by pranking him, but it somehow escalated into something else,”

Sirius looked at her.

“So you’re a cat animagus?”

“Yep,” she said proudly, and Sirius chuckled.

“A remarkable achievement for a third year,”

“Oh, I’ve heard your group became animagi in your school years as well,” Valerie remarked, and Sirius nodded with a proud smile.

“We did, but even we didn’t manage it by our third year. You should be proud,”

Harry wrapped his arm around her and brought her closer.

“Harry,” Sirius began, “are you happy with this arrangement? Are both of you happy being married?”

Harry and Valerie looked at each other with soft smiles on their faces. They did not doubt their feelings. They might not have said the words to each other, but in their hearts, they knew they loved one another.

“We are, Sirius,” Harry remarked, not taking his eyes off her lovely ones, “I won’t trade this for anything,”

Sirius leaned back in his seat with a smile on his face. He was very happy for his godson. He could see the love the couple held for each other, and he couldn’t ask for anything else. If they were happy together, he would stand behind them with his full support. That was the least he could do after so many years of failure.

However, this was becoming way too sweet now. Any longer and he was afraid he would get diabetes.

“Should I give you two some privacy?”

Valerie flushed and reluctantly tore her gaze away from her husband’s, and Harry turned around to give his godfather an exasperated look.

“Must you?”

“What? I was getting uncomfortable. You try seeing a couple being all lovey-dovey in front of you while suffering from a dry spell and you’ll know,”

Harry grinned. “Guess I’ll never know then,”

Valerie slapped his chest playfully, and Harry kissed her head softly.

“Alright, no need to rub my face in it,” Sirius muttered before smiling, “and you two have my full support. Congrats Harry, Valerie,”

“Thanks Sirius, it really means a lot,” Harry smiled.

“Yes Sirius, it really does. Thank you,” Valerie intoned softly.

“Now, even if you’re married, my previous statement holds true, do what you want but remember your responsibilities. I don’t want to see little Potters running around this house already,”

“Merlin Sirius! There’s no way we’re ready for that!” Harry exclaimed while Valerie flushed. Sirius howled in laughter, mirthful tears leaking out of his eyes. Harry simply shook his head in exasperation.

*****

“Oh I just remembered, now that you’re an animagus,” Sirius started, looking at Valerie, “and a member of the family as well, you need your own nickname!”

“Nickname?” Valerie cocked her head to the side, wondering what he was on about.

“Yeah, we all had nicknames. I was Padfoot, James was Prongs, Remus was Moony, you get the picture. So we need to get one for you as well. Any preference?”

Valerie got a thoughtful look on her face.

“I got one,” Harry chimed in, “What about Kitty?”

Valerie swatted him on the back of his head. Sirius chuckled as he rubbed the spot tenderly.

“I won’t be called Kitty ever,” she stated, giving him the stink eye.

“But it’s so endearing!” Harry protested.

“No!”

“Come on, Val! It’s really good!”

“I said No! No, no, no, no, no!” She stated, poking him on the chest with every syllable as Sirius sat there chortling.

“Okay okay! Merlin! No calling you Kitty!”

“Good,” she huffed.

“Done with your lover’s quarrel?” Sirius asked with a smirk. Valerie glared at him, daring him to continue, and the old mutt held his hands up in surrender.

“Okay okay, we have time to think up your name, so no need to hurry, I’m sure we’d come up with something good,”

Valerie nodded.

“Hey Harry,” she piped in, and the two wizards looked at her, “why don’t you become an animagus as well?”

“Brilliant idea!” Sirius crowed, elated.

“Me? An animagus?”

“Yeah! Why not? It’s a real nifty skill to have,”

Harry contemplated the thought for a moment. Sure, the process was somewhat hectic, but the benefits were enormous, as long as you were not something like a goldfish or a snail. However, he didn’t think he’d be anything like that. Maybe he’d be a feline? Or a reptile, like a snake to complement his parseltongue ability? Or a flying creature that soared high in the skies? The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea became.

“That sure sounds great,” he admitted, and Valerie and Sirius beamed.

“Brilliant!” Sirius clapped his hand, bringing their attention to him, “you’re in for a treat, godson of mine,”

Harry stared, confused. “What treat?”

“Well, we Marauders while undergoing our transformation, with the help of Lily, modified the normal method. So you won’t have to keep a Mandrake leaf stuck inside your mouth for a month or wait for a thunderstorm. We developed a nifty potion. Take a sip, go into the mindscape, conquer the inner beast, and voila! A bit of practice and you’re done!”

Valerie looked at him with her mouth hung open.

“Seriously!?” She exclaimed. Her inner potions mistress was raring to come out.

“Yep! Brilliant witch, your mum was,” Sirius remarked with a wistful look on his face, and Harry smiled.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s do this!”

“Whoa! Hold on Harry,” Sirius chuckled, “we have to brew the potion first, and it has certain conditions,”

“What conditions?” Valerie asked, eager to learn more.

“Well, first, the potion takes a month to brew,” Sirius began, chuckling at the slightly crestfallen look on Harry’s face, “and we will have to begin brewing it during a thunderstorm, that’s it,”

“Well, it’s a good thing that we’re during the season then,” Valerie remarked happily, “it’s the time for frequent storms. If we keep the ingredients ready, we can begin as soon as tonight, given the storm occurs. I’m certain we can be done in thirty five days at the max,”

Sirius nodded.

“I’ll get the notes for our potions prodigy then,” Sirius teased, and Valerie smiled proudly. Potions were her specialty, having scored the highest in her past life, and her skills had not deteriorated in the slightest. Harry was sure she easily surpassed Snape in the art of brewing.

“Sure,” she grinned.

They sat there in companionable silence, sipping their respective drinks before Valerie asked a question that had been on her mind for a while.

“Tell me Sirius,” she began inquisitively, keeping her actual thoughts in check. The older wizard looked at her.

“Yeah?”

“How would we maintain this house? It’s too big, don’t you think? There should’ve been an elf in my opinion,”

Sirius smiled grimly.

“Well, you’re right,” Sirius nodded, “there was an elf in this hovel of a house. Kreacher, his name was, an old bastard off his rocker. A proper house elf for the bigoted house of Black though, worshipped the ground my hag of a mother walked on,”

Valerie of course knew all about that. As much as she detested that elf, she wanted to know what happened to him.

“Where is he then?”

“Dead, what else?” Sirius asked rhetorically, and their eyes widened.

“I found that batty old elf dead on the third floor inside that ritual room,” Sirius began with a grim frown, “you won’t believe the scene I found him in. The room reeked of foulness, and that grin on his face, Merlin that was disturbing," Sirius shuddered. Harry exchanged a look with his wife.

"I have no idea what he did inside that room. The only things I found alongside him were a glass vial and a burned and blackened locket. Didn’t waste a second on it though. Disposed of him with all the elf heads that adorned the foyer, good riddance I would say,” Sirius shrugged.

Valerie and Harry sat there, stunned.

“Did you call anyone to check what foul magic he was doing inside the ritual room?” Harry asked, slightly alarmed.

“Err... no...”

“Sirius!” Harry exclaimed, exasperated.

“If could be really dangerous!” Valerie exclaimed, stunned that Sirius had overlooked such a thing.

“So... uh... Dumbledore?”

“Dumbledore!” Harry nodded emphatically.

“Right!” Sirius gulped the entire remaining portion of his firewhiskey down, exhaling harshly, before bolting toward the floo. Harry sighed.

He turned toward Valerie who folded her legs underneath her and cuddled up to him. He dropped a soft kiss on her head and leaned against her. This summer was surely shaping up to be an interesting one.

*****

To be continued...