The Cursed Line & The Blessed Heir (Patreon)

Prologue

“Oh, what fresh hell is this?” The young man muttered as he tried to locate something. He couldn’t stray far from where he sat and had no thoughts about straying far. He could still hear the beast's growl and was sure he could not rely on his position to keep him from being found out.

“You dropped your wand. How in the hell did you lose your wand?” An older man questioned from next to him. He was trying very hard to remain calm and was failing badly.

“Shut up, Sirius.” The young man snapped in anger. “Don’t think I won’t punch you once again.”

“Ha!” Sirius barked in what the young man thought was laughter. “You got lucky, kiddo. Don’t think you can pull the same stunt again.”

“Be quiet.” He hissed. “You want to get us both killed?” Sirus snorted. “Harry. He will find us. His senses are extremely sharp right now; he would find us in a few minutes. Trust me, I know.”

“That is why I am worried you don’t have a wand. Remus will recognise me. I have my animagus form for help. You better return to the castle when I engage him.” Harry made to protest, but Sirius held his hand. “I will not negotiate with that. You know that you have no wand. You can’t use this to your strengths.” He held out the one he held. “Spare wands never work better. They are good enough for the basics, and that is all you need.”

Sirius kept a lookout for Remus. “Run for now, and I will contact you later. I will keep him engaged until you reach the castle, and I will leave when you have reached. Will ten minutes be sufficient?” He received a hesitant nod from the young man.

“You don’t look the part, but you have a mean right hook, kid.” Sirius chuckled as he brushed his nose, groaning as he felt some pain. “Imagine the result if you had your ring. That would have knocked me out cold.” He looked at Harry but stopped short when he noticed the expression of curiosity he wore.

“Ring?” Sirius shook his head. “You are trying to pull one over me, right?” He questioned but received a negative shake of his head. “Your Potter family ring? The Black heir ring?”

Again, a negative shake of the head. “Damn.”

“Never mind. We will see to it. For now, you know what to….” Sirius went still when he felt cold. Colder than it should be.  The surroundings began to grow gloomy, and the forest went silent. A sense of foreboding settled in his stomach, and Sirius stiffened slightly before he began to shiver uncontrollably.

“No…no, no, no…” Harry yelled as he took hold of the older man’s arm. “Sirius…move. Move now. Come!” Harry tried to pull the man up, but Sirius could barely move, his skin paling considerably.

“We need to move right now. You are not strong enough to face dementors, Sirius. Move.” He tried desperately to pull the man to his feet, but try as he might, Sirius just couldn’t respond. The dementors were getting to him, and he was losing his stability by the second.

“Sirius…come…” Harry paused when he heard a scream. A very familiar scream. Harry closed his eyes as soon as he heard the scream. The very familiar screams that had plagued his mind for the entire year. The same screams that didn’t let him sleep peacefully.

Harry felt dread take over his body. A sense of foreboding. A sense of sadness. He pried his eyes open with great difficulty and looked around to see Sirius on the ground, his breathing shallow and his skin paler than he thought possible. He looked up, and sure enough, black-cloaked shapes were circling them, gaining upon them with each passing second. There were too many of them, too many to count.

His vision swam once again, and the scream grew in volume. Harry collapsed on his knees, desperately looking for Sirius’s wand. He crawled up to Sirius as quickly as his frail state could muster. He pried the wand out of the older man’s hand.

“R…run..” Sirius croaked out. “P..please…go….” Harry shook his head and turned around, covering the older man’s body with his and raising his wand.

“Ex…Expecto Patronum.” A blinding white light in the form of a ball left his wand and fizzed away. He tried. He tried to think of something.

“H…Harry…no…..p..pp…please…..” Sirius tried to push the boy away. “G…go.” He urged weakly, but the boy would not relent. “Ex...Expecto…pat…pat…Ex…” The swarm of Dementors over the two closed in, and Harry felt his state weaken further.

The next instant, he felt something pulled out of his very being. Something was trying hard to hold on but was being ripped out painfully. Harry’s mouth opened on its own, but no noise came out.

“N…no….!” He heard Sirius scream before his vision went dark. The next moment, he felt his insides burn, and he heard an ear-splitting scream from his mother, followed by a cold, cruel laugh following that painful scream. He felt something in his stomach shrivel at the maniacal laughter when everything went green.

BREAK

Sirius Black had it all planned out. He would catch that murderous rat and torture him to his heart’s content. Torture him to his satisfaction. Torture him till he is dead. Torture him to such an extent that his crazy cousin would look like a Hogwarts first year.

He caught him accordingly. He hoped that redhead would let it be, but no. He had to interfere. He would not let it go today. He would never get a better chance than this and would be a fool to pass it up. He had delayed it enough. He had postponed this for twelve years now, and he would not continue to do so. He decided to obliviate the boy when he was done with Pettigrew.

He did not expect Harry to follow him along with his other friend. Typical Gryffindor. The very same typical Gryffindorishness that had landed him into this mess that took away the two people he treasured the most in this world.

He laid eyes properly on the boy for the first time. The same powerful green eyes that he was familiar with. Lily’s eyes. They drew attention. Lily was the same. Her eyes could attract attention from anybody, and Harry here possessed the very same pair of eyes.

His face. Sirius felt his throat constrict as he swallowed deeply. He couldn’t stem the tears as he faced the younger version of James. The boy’s visage was the spitting image of his father—the same face as James Potter.

“Harry…” Sirius croaked as he made towards the boy. “Stay away from him!” The bushy-haired girl shrilled, which he pointedly ignored.

‘Thwack!’  He reeled back a few steps when a fist collided with his nose. His head felt light for a few seconds as he tried to shake off the dizziness, and subsequently, pain followed the impact. He felt being tugged down by his collar. His head was swimming with pain, and despite that, he managed to open his eyes, only to be faced with an angry pair of green eyes glaring at him menacingly.

“You bastard! You fucking bastard!” Harry whispered harshly as he tugged him by his collar.

“Listen to me.” Sirius groaned as he forcefully pulled away from the young man.

Harry turned around in a flash, and in front of his surprised eyes, two flashes of red whizzed in the air and knocked the redhead and the bushy-haired girl. His eyes widened when he realised that Harry had not made a sound casting a spell.

“Silent casting?” He questioned, surprised. “That is fantastic.” He grinned.

“You think this is some kind of joke?” Harry roared. Sirius flinched at the sudden change in demeanour of the boy. “You think I am here to get your approval regarding my stunning spell?”

“How about a blasting curse? Care to test my ability to cast a blasting spell?” Sirius frowned and shook his head.

“Why?” Harry questioned. “What mistake did my father make? What mistake did my mother make?” Black lost his easiness, and his face fell. “I learnt almost a year back that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. Why would I care? I had no idea about this man and didn’t want that changing.”

“I came to Hogwarts, yet I never knew what was happening. A third person comes to me and warns me of my danger. He asks me not to go after Sirius Black and that I shouldn’t go looking for him. Why? None would talk.”

“And then, when I am in Hogsmeade, I heard McGonagall, Rosmerta, Flitwick and Cornelius Fudge talk. The man was a minister worried about finding a very dangerous fugitive who was absconding, and him talking about Sirius Black, asking questions was not an issue. It is then that I heard about it.”

Harry tugged the man’s collar hard, making sure that the man faced him. “That Sirius Black was my Godfather. My Godfather.” He chuckled.

“I had a Godfather. I never knew about him, and on top of that, he was a fugitive.” He paused for a second.

“Frankly, I couldn’t care less. I never knew him before. And I had no intention of getting to know the man. But I heard something more.” He swallowed softly. “Something that well and truly broke me.

“I learnt that Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew were best friends. Thick as thieves, McGonagall called them. That was not it. I also heard that Sirius Black and James Potter were practically brothers. Always joined at the hip.”  He said. “I learnt from McGonagall That Sirius Black was some kind of secret keeper to the Potters.”

“I learnt a few moments later that Sirius Black betrayed the secret of the residence of the Potters to Voldemort.” His eyes hardened considerably, the greens of his eyes glowing slightly, eerie enough to spook Sirius Black, who looked away from the boy’s face.

“Look at me!” Harry roared, and the man’s head snapped back to his face. “Look at me while I speak to you.”

“I learnt later that night what a secret keeper represented.” He failed to hold back his tears.

“They trusted you.” He sniffed, his eyes brimming with tears. “They trusted you, and you killed them. He might have killed them, but you are why they are dead.”

“Friends who are as thick as thieves, they said. Who else can we trust if we can’t trust such a friend?” Harry questioned softly as he wiped his tears.

“You want to know why I stunned them?” He nodded towards his friends, who had been stunned.

“I don’t want them to know what I will do,” Harry answered. “Not that I am ashamed of it. No. I would never be ashamed of avenging my parents. Not after what was done to them. I want this to be my secret.”

“Never assumed you had this in you, kid,” Black muttered, smiling. “You are a spitting image of your father, but you are just like your Grandfather and Grandmother.”

He pried his collar from Harry’s hands, and when done, he raised his hands in surrender, sitting in front of the boy and scrutinising the man closely.

“One chance.” He held out a finger. “Give me one chance to speak, and then, you can do as you wish. I won’t stop you. I won’t budge from this place and will not try to defend myself. On my honour as a Black.”

Taking Harry’s silence as a yes, he nodded. “Thank you.”

“James Potter. We are family, you know? His mother belonged to my family. My Aunt Dorea. Your Grandmother.  James and I grew up together. I ran from my place at the beginning of my fifth year at Hogwarts. My mother she drove me out. We always clashed. The woman drove everybody in my family crazy, and she hated that I was different from the rest of my cousins and brother. She threw a tantrum when I was sorted into Gryffindor, you know? Good times.” He chuckled.

“I couldn’t stay back home anymore. I could not bear it, and I just left for your place. Potter Manor. Your Grandfather and Grandmother welcomed me into their home, and I could not have been happier. Not because of finding a place to stay, but I could stay with James.” He shot a look of longing towards the ceiling of the shack.

“When everything was bad after I was put into Gryffindor, shocking the Wizarding World, he was the point of normalcy. The one who just treated me like Sirius. Not a Black. Although we were good friends, having met one another many times, Gryffindor changed our relationship. For the better, let me tell you.”

“In an insane household, I remained sane because of the git.” He chuckled. “That was how we grew up with each other. James was the only child your Grandparents were blessed with, and having no siblings, he treated me just like he would a brother. We were brothers from another mother.”

“And we went ahead like that. Brothers. I had two other friends, but everyone knew James and I were inseparable. James loved me. That is all I can tell you. He welcomed me into his house and made it easy for me. Not a single day did I feel that I was an outsider. Let me tell you, that is not such an easy issue. I lived in my house for many years, yet I never felt like I belonged. I left and did not feel any emotions when I walked out. The sad part, though, is that none of my family cared.  A father who is a yes-man to my mother. A stupid brother who worshipped the craziness that my mother preached. Three cousins who were invested in their fantasies.”

“The only normal people in my household were my Grandparents, who passed away just before my fourth year. After that, I didn’t remain in that house. That place was never my home, to begin with. I barely put up with that madness because of my Grandfather and the fact that I was not brave enough to rough out in the outside world. Off I went and ended up in your family home.”

“Amidst all this nonsense, the only constant I preferred was James. He understood that. He knew when to talk, when to step back and when to stand strong. Just the solution I needed.”

“I dread to think about what would have happened if it was not for him.” He sighed.

“The result, Godfather to one Harry Potter.” He smiled. “I could not believe it. As your mother always pointed out, I was a kid trapped in an adult’s body. She was right. I will never know how James decided I should be your Godfather. But the first time I held you in my hands, I could not thank him enough for doing so. You became my world.”

“Maybe James saw something in me that I failed to believe beforehand. I never know what it is and probably would never know what it is, but I don’t care. He gave me everything. Friendship. Home. A family, and most importantly, you.”

“People will never understand the magnitude of my relationship with James. They won’t get it because my name is Black. They won’t get it because one of my cousins is married to a Malfoy. If I must say so, one is the most feared witch in all of Britain, his right hand for the lack of better words. A brother who willingly followed the Dark Lord. A mother who openly rallied with the Dark Lord.”

“Everything my Grandfather built is now in tatters. Do you know the irony of it all?” He questioned Harry but continued to speak. “The man who promised my mother good things in the future if we follow him, that if we support his stance, destroyed the Black family for the future. But I didn’t care. I had James, Lily and you.” He smiled at the young man.

“Only then did I go ahead and kill your parents.” He whispered. “You were right.” He said, looking away from the boy. “I killed your parents, not in the way you believe, no. I killed your parents by not being their secret keeper.”

“Are you sure that you are right in your head? What nonsense are you spouting?” Harry questioned angrily, eyes narrowed as he regarded the man. Sirius said nothing but reached into his robes and pulled out a sealed jar. Inside the jar was a rat that looked dead, looking suspiciously like Scabbers.

“Harry Potter. Meet Peter Pettigrew. The man I supposedly killed.” He unsealed the jar and dropped the rat on the floor. “You know the revealing charm?” Harry nodded slowly and cast the spell at the rat, and in a moment, the rat was replaced by a portly balding man with a twitchy face. That face almost resembled that of a rat.

“He..he is alive?” Harry questioned, disbelief evident on his face. “But… how is that possible?”

“That is the crux of the matter,” Sirius muttered. “I never knew that this fucker was capable of something like that.” He snorted. “Wake him up. If you can, I would like you to hear about his achievement from his mouth.” Harry complied. He roused the downed man with a simple wand wave, who looked up groggily.

“Harry…?” The man questioned, shocked by what he was seeing, and an awkward smile adorned his face. “Oh, dear boy. How are you? Look at you. Just like James.” He simpered.

“What is this? What were you doing as a rat and with the Weasley family?” Harry questioned harshly. Pettigrew froze for a second, his eyes looking around nervously as he seemed to think of an answer.

“Answer him, Wormtail.” Peter jumped as he heard Sirius speak and turned around, looking for the man. “Oh, calm down, Wormy. Don’t stress yourself. Today, we clear all accounts.” Sirius chuckled. He stood up from his spot on the ground and shuffled towards Harry.

“Wait a second,” Harry spoke, looking at Sirius. “You will stand next to him. Don’t forget that you are yet to justify this mess. One of you is lying, and I won’t make the same mistake as my father. So, another step forward, and it will be bad. Don’t push me.” Sirius held up his hand and stood his ground.

“I have nothing to hide.” His voice held some sort of joy that Harry found odd.

“Harry!” Peter exclaimed, his eyes shuffling nervously. “He…he killed your parents. He betrayed James and Lily. Get away. Make it quick. Get away and take me with you. He is a murderer.” The man pleaded desperately.

Harry didn’t see it coming, but Sirius was onto the downed man before he could comprehend.

“You fucking cunt!” He roared. “You fucking cunt!” He rained down punch after punch. He was blinded by rage, and half of his punches missed the man. He could make out that the man was crying.

“What wrong did they do?” He questioned, sobbing uncontrollably now. “That woman was so sweet towards us. She was more than a friend. You were practically her family. Why did you do it?” He questioned. “What did he do?” Sirius pointed to Harry. “What did he do to lose his mother?”

“What went wrong with you, Peter? Why? I had always thought about asking this. Why did you do this? I never found an answer. I tried hard to find an answer, but no. I still couldn’t do it.”

“Y…you don’t know about his powers, Sirius,” Pettigrew mumbled. “He would have killed me if I had not agreed to it. Killed me badly. Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same if he…”

“I never thought you could be so cunning, Wormtail,” Sirius muttered. “When I went to face him. He manipulated the situation to make it look like I was the culprit. Manipulations that would make Salazar Slytherin proud.”

“He screamed to everybody within earshot, asking me why I did this. James and Lily were my friends, and he could not believe I would betray them. I was too shocked to react, and he took advantage. He exploded the alleyway, cut off his finger, then turned to his animagus form and scurried away, killing thirteen muggles.”

“That is all talk, Sirius.” Peter snorted. “When you are practical enough, you would know that all you did was just talk. Nobody, and I repeat, will lay down their lives for another, Sirius. Don’t be overdramatic.”

Sirius was shocked by what he heard from the man. The response he received was different from what he had expected. The Peter Pettigrew he knew would never have come up with something like this.

“Never!” Sirius spat, regaining himself from his shock. “I would rather die than betray James and Lily. Die rather than getting them killed.” Sirius replied.

“Nobody?” Harry questioned as he gathered the attention of the two men. Peter nodded resolutely. “I am sorry, young Harry. I am. But when it came down to my life and your family. I chose mine. You can’t fault me for that. Nobody can fault me for that. Yes. It was me that betrayed your parents. I was the one that brought the Dark Lord to your house that night. Why? Because my life mattered to me the most. I could care less for him, your father, Remus and that mudblood. ”

”You just said nobody would give up their lives to save somebody else’s, but that is not true, right?” Harry questioned challengingly.

“My father stood his ground. He stood in front of your Dark Lord, and not once did he think about fleeing. He would rather die than let that bastard reach his wife and son. My mother sacrificed herself, and here I am, healthy and alive. They considered my life. A life that was not more than a year old rather than thinking about their future. A future that had just begun.”

Peter faltered slightly when questioned.“It is a good thing you confessed, Pettigrew. This clears up a lot of things for me.” Harry’s wand didn’t waver from the man who destroyed his family.

“And makes what I am about to do easier.”

Nobody saw it coming. Not Sirius, not Peter. “Accio!” Harry intoned harshly, and Pettigrew’s front teeth were pulled from his jaw. Harry watched without a hint of emotion on his face as Pettigrew writhed on the ground in pain, his hands clutching his mouth, screaming in agony as blood oozed out of his mouth.

“Hold on. Hold on.” Harry said calmly. “Silencio.” He flicked his wand, and the man’s screams went mute. “You will face the same situation you faced all those years back.”

“You wanted to live and chose the Dark Lord to live. Today, you want to live. What will you do? Who will save you from me today?” He questioned and followed up with the same procedure of pulling out another one of his teeth, though no sound came out of the man anymore.

Harry turned around to face Sirius, who stood silently to the side. “Come on.” He nodded towards the writhing man. “We should surrender him to the ministry.”

“What?” Sirius questioned, surprised. Harry tutted in annoyance. “We should get him to the Ministry. We can ask for a trial or something.”

“You want to give him to the Ministry? You want to let him live?” Sirius questioned disbelievingly.

“I would be a fool to do so. Not after everything he has done to my family.” Harry muttered.

“Then why….”

“Don’t be daft, Sirius Black.” Harry shook his head. “We should free your name from the mess he has created.” He nodded towards Pettigrew. “Do you want to remain absconding for the rest of your life?”

Sirius swallowed softly, a lump forming in his throat. “No.” He whispered, shaking his head.

“Of course you don’t. Despite that, you ask silly questions.”

Harry's lips curled upwards as the older man chuckled. “As you wish.” He raised his wand, and with a few flicks, Peter went still, and his body floated up. “What about them?” He pointed towards the two friends of Harry, who were still knocked out.

“Let them be here. The curse will wear off by morning, and I will be here to bring them back.”

The two left the room; a frozen body floated beside them. “This place is not haunted, is it?” Sirius laughed. “No. This place was given to Remus by Dumbledore for his conversions. The rumour that sounds were heard from this place was Remus’s screams. They were enough to keep people away from this place.” The two continued in silence and stepped outside the Shrieking Shack.

“You know….” Sirius began, but he went quiet. “Never mind.” He muttered, turning away, but Harry prodded further. “What is it?”

Sirius stopped walking momentarily, and Harry did the same, watching the man in confusion.

He was engaged in a battle of sorts with himself. Harry could make it out quickly. He seemed to be trying to talk about something but was nervous.

“Come live with me.” Sirius rushed his words, but Harry could make it out. He understood what the man was talking about. “What?” He questioned again, his eyes wide as he tried to comprehend what the older man had asked of him.

“I want you to come live with me.” He replied, more confidently this time. “I…If anything happened to your parents, you were supposed to be with me. I was supposed to take care of you.” He looked away from the boy.

“I failed.” He whispered, but Harry could listen to him. “I didn’t think of you for a moment, and I threw away twelve years of your life in the hands of that stupid cow Petunia.”

“Not anymore.” He shook his head. “When this is all over. We will have a proper home. Only the two of us, just like it should have been all these years. If you agree, that is. It is fine if you….”

“Sirius!” The man paused for a moment and faced the young man. “You were rambling.” Harry smiled slightly.

“Do you mean it?” Harry questioned. Sirius nodded resolutely. “I do.” He returned.

“I want this. I want my Godson to live with me. This is not me trying to correct what happened twelve years ago. I want this to be how it was always supposed to be. To be with family.”

Harry smiled at the man and nodded. “I will come with you.”

Sirius made to say something when the two of them heard a low growl. Sirius perked up, his eyes widening fearfully. “Fuck…” He swore, looking up. “It’s a full moon tonight.”

The growl, low a moment ago, was heard clear and loud this time, and Harry picked up two glowing ambers in a nearby shade. His wand was up in a flash right when a dark shadow hurled itself at the two. Harry fired back a repelling charm, which hit the beast head-on, as he fell into Sirius, knocking themselves onto the ground. The beast was knocked back half a dozen feet into the tree line nearby.

“Sirius, let’s go.” Harry pulled himself off the ground, but when he turned around, he noticed Sirius searching for his wand, probably having dropped it somewhere. Harry noticed Peter was down on the floor; the spell lifted off him. Before Harry could react, the man quickly turned into a rat and scurried away.

“No!” Sirius roared, stumbling forward as he tried to run after the rat. He somehow regained his balance and followed the rat, trying desperately to catch him from escaping.

“Sirius….Sirius come. Let it be.” He held the man back, who tried to pry himself off.

“Sirius, now is not the time. We should leave.” He looked around, hoping desperately that they could escape the werewolf.

“Sirius…Come on. Now.” Sirius cursed under his breath as he gave a final desperate look but failed to locate the escaped Pettigrew. “Run!” He heard Harry shout as he shot past him.

“Don’t look back. Just run!” And run he did, trying desperately to keep up with the younger lad running ahead by a few meters. “Watch where you are going, Harry.” He called back as he caught up with the boy.

When the two realised that the two had put some distance between them and the werewolf, they ducked behind a clearing, crouching close to each other.

“Shit!” He heard Harry mutter, looking around furiously. “What happened?” Sirius questioned.

“I lost my wand!” He grumbled, sagging next to the man. “Seriously?” Sirius questioned disbelievingly. “You lost your wand?” He shook his head. “You didn’t have a holster?” Harry frowned. “I don’t know what the hell that thing is. No.”

The two remained silent for some time, taking deep breaths to regain strength. “Oh, what fresh hell is this?” Sirius heard Harry mutter.

The next thing he knew, he felt the cold creeping into his veins. Sirius stiffened when he felt the familiar feeling of dread that he had been accustomed to for twelve years. He tried hard to fight it. He tried hard to hold himself together. He could not go back on the promise he just made to his godson. But he couldn’t fight the powerless feeling he felt.

He felt Harry shake him. He was losing it, and so was Harry. Sirius could not hang on any longer. He pushed Harry away with as much strength as he could muster. He asked him to run away, but the kid was as stubborn as his stupid father. He watched as an entire hoard of Dementors descended on them. Harry was still kneeling next to him as the Dementors attacked him. Sirius could barely keep his eyes open but observed something black being sucked out of Harry’s forehead. He clawed at the ground desperately, trying to get up, but failed.

He watched, breathing hard as Harry’s eyes went dark. The green eyes of his godson were replaced by pitch blackness. Sirius felt the dread leave his senses, the coldness evaporating slowly. He pushed himself up, and he couldn’t prevent the sharp intake of breath that escaped him as he watched Harry.

With bated breath, he watched Harry slowly raise his hand; the dementors, for some reason, were frozen in their spot just like Sirius was. “Expecto Patronum.” It was impossible to be heard if not for the current scenario they were in. Amidst the quiet of the forest, Sirius heard him say so, barely. He made to grab the young man when a thick beam of white light rushed out of his hand, blinding Sirius for a second. He stepped back in haste, covering his eyes from the light that seemed to erupt from the young man.

Just like that, the white light seemed to scare away the dementors, judging by their screeches. Sirius didn’t know that those wretched things could scream. Their patronus could drive them out, and he was well versed in casting one, but he had never seen this reaction from the ‘Guardians of Azkaban’ nor heard of it.

All he could see was a powerful beam of light that zoomed around the open sky, gathering the wraith-like beasts into a small area, ensuring they could not escape. Sirius watched in awe when the white light slowly assumed into what Sirius thought was a horse?

No. It looked like a horse but was not a horse. The skeletal wing-like structure flapped about as it dug its hoove into the ground or what was supposed to be the ground in the air.

“What the fuck?” Sirius stuttered as he rushed towards Harry, but he stopped short when he watched the boy’s eye.

“Bloody….” His voice caught in his throat as he observed jet-black eyes instead of the regular eyes that he had admired a few hours later. This was creepy. He seemed to be possessed. Sirius was alarmed by what he had seen.

“Harry…” He shook the boy, holding his shoulder. Harry didn’t budge, his eyes never leaving the ethereal horse-like structure. Harry shrugged the man’s hand and raised both his hands. He opened his palms, and the similar white light from before shot through his hands and charged towards the already circling patronus. Just like that, two more patronuses joined the fray and, with a final snort, converged into a single point, the shrieking dementors.

What happened next shocked Sirius to his core. The patronuses converged, and with a mighty boom, the horde of Dementors burst into a black flame, flaring furiously, a whizzing sound discharging along with it, reverberating around the silent forest.

BREAK

Everything was green. He could see nothing but that dreaded colour. The colour that was haunting his dreams recently. The colour he associated with his mother screaming in pain whenever a dementor attacked. He felt his vision shifting gradually, the green disappearing from his sight. He blinked a few times, adjusting his vision to the darkness around him.

“Mean it, boy!” Harry flinched when he heard a voice, cold as ice, cutting the silence around him. He shot up to his feet, searching desperately for his wand. He looked around, expecting trouble to spring out from any direction, but Harry could see nothing but pitch darkness.

“When you cast a spell, any spell, you have to mean it. Intent, we used to call it.” Harry jumped when his surroundings lit up dimly, showing him to be present in what seemed to be a stone room. He was inside a stone structure. The entire place seemed to be made of stone.

“W..who is it?” Harry questioned cautiously, looking around.

“All will be revealed, young Harry. All will be revealed.” This was not the same voice that spoke to him a few moments ago.

“Now, you have a job to do.” The same voice continued. “This time, mean it.”

“But…but how?” Harry questioned in confusion. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“For now, time to go back.” Harry’s vision swam once again as he seemed to be pulled into a void of some sort.

He heard two sources of laughter and stepped forward, looking for the source—a warm fire burning in the fireplace, lighting up the room, a cosy little hall. On the couch in front of the fireplace, Harry made out a tall man lying down, a baby sitting on his tummy.

Harry's breath caught in his throat when he heard the older man speak. “You keep bouncing like that on my tummy, and I will empty my stomach now.” His voice was laced with fake annoyance as he tried to control the excited toddler. He had heard this voice. He had listened to this voice when the Dementors attacked him. The voice of his father. The voice of James Potter.

“Okay….Calm down you…” He caught the boy from bouncing again and pulled him down so the babe was in his arms. He began tickling the toddler, eliciting peals of laughter from the babe. “Won’t be down for a second, will you?” He chuckled as the babe shot him a grin, babbling on his own.

James Potter stared at his son, his eyes tearing up slightly. “Prophecy or not, that bastard won’t touch you. Not until I am alive. You are the pride of the Potters, little man.” James kissed the baby on the forehead. “There is so much left, Harry. I want to watch you fly your broom for the first time. I want to be there when you buy your first wand. I want to see you board the Express and go off to Hogwarts. To see you become the best damn wizard, there will be. I want to teach you many things so you can get on your mother’s nerves.”

The babe laughed when he said that, and James followed. “You are a naughty little boy, aren’t you? You recognise troubling your mother the best of everything I spoke of.” He laughed as he tickled the boy once again.

“There is a lot of your life that I want to be a part of, and I will be there no matter what.” The older Harry couldn’t stop crying as he heard the man talk. He could not help but feel happy. Hearing the man expressing all his thoughts was overwhelming to listen to.

“You are being rather melancholic today.” A female voice spoke up. “Are you trying to cook up some trouble with my son?” The baby peeked from the couch and noticed Lily Potter standing at the doorway. Harry always knew that his mother was pretty. He had seen the various pictures of Lily in a photo album that Hagrid had gifted him in his first year. Just like expected, she was lovely. Her beautiful eyes, the red hair. The smile on her face just added to the beauty of the woman.

“Mama…” Baby Harry squealed as he tried to climb over the couch. Lily chuckled as she joined James and Harry. “And what are my boys up to?” She questioned as James sat up, Harry sitting on his lap. Lily occupied the seat next to James, and he placed an arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to him. “This one is very mischievous already.” Lily bumped little Harry’s nose with her finger, but Harry caught her finger with his hand, babbling excitedly.

“Look at that. He is trying to complain that his father is conspiring against me.” She winked at her son. “Isn’t that right, little prince?” The little boy crawled into his mother’s arms and settled into her lap. She placed a kiss on the top of his head.

“Mama loves you….Dada loves you…..We love you.” She whispered as she cradled the boy in her arms. James made to shift slightly so that mother and son could sit comfortably, but Lily held his hand. She pulled him back to her side and leaned down on his shoulder.

The love in their eyes. The love they held for each other and their son. The love they held for him. This was how it was supposed to be. This was how it would have been if they had lived.

The next moment, he was back in the forest, a horde of dementors floating above him. With renewed strength and a compulsion to raise his hand, he spoke.

“Expecto Patronum.” Looking into his life before the nightmare of the Dursleys was blissful. The emotion he felt when he remembered the hug his parents shared with his younger self. The love that was conveyed through their eyes. The love that was shared with whispered words, small kisses and tickles.

He couldn’t stem the tears. He couldn’t reign in his emotions. He understood what the voice asked of him. He finally understood what he should have done. He employed it. He let his thoughts envelop his senses, every fibre of his body and the next instant. He felt a powerful force accumulate at the tip of his fingers, and when he pushed gently, a white beam shot off his palm, gradually turning into what was a horse-like structure, rounding up the dementors one by one.

Out of pure instinct, he raised both his hands and just as quickly and naturally as he did before, he summoned two more ethereal horse-like beings to join the fray. When they had all trapped, they converged towards the trap's centre, and the many dementors burst into a black flame, burning furiously.

His eyes didn’t waiver from the scene for a second. He watched the Dementors burn, reduced to nothing in a few seconds. Harry didn’t feel sorry. He felt sorry for Quirrel when he was killed in his first year, but when these Dementors burned, he didn’t feel sympathy. Instead, Harry thought it was right. He had done something worthy in his eyes. Dementors were the foulest creatures in the world. The effect it has on innocents is highly inhumane. He was glad to rid a few of them from the face of the earth.

“Harry?” he faced Sirius, who looked alarmed. “Your eyes. Your eyes have turned black.”

“Really?” He was curious more than anything else. Was this an effect of those strange voices? He took a deep breath and felt some kind of pressure, minute as it was, being lifted off his body. He opened his eyes and observed the relief on the other man’s face.

The two stood silently for a few minutes, not talking a word, watching the three patronuses circling above their heads.

“Since when can you cast a patronus?” Sirius questioned incredulously. “And multiple ones at that?”

“Since now,” Harry answered with a shrug. “You said you dropped your wand. Mine is here. What the hell did you do? Cast it with your palm?” Sirius questioned disbelievingly.

“Yep,” Harry muttered, looking down at his palms, opening and closing them gently.

“Wandless magic?” Sirius questioned and received a nod. “Wandless magic.”

“What was with those black eyes? I was convinced that you were being possessed. Especially after a black-coloured wraith-like thing was pulled out of your head.” Sirius leaned to the side to see if the young man was alright and blanched.

“You are bleeding!” Sirius exclaimed, looking closely. “Let me….”

“You should leave, Sirius.” Harry broke in, looking around. “It will be morning soon. Time to escape. We will see what we can do.” Sirius wanted to protest, but Harry shook his head.

“No time to argue,” Harry whispered urgently. “I will be fine. Just leave.”

Sirius was sure that he could not convince Harry to consider otherwise. He agreed, albeit reluctantly. With one last glance at Harry, who nodded, Sirius transformed into his animagus form and pattered into the forest.

“Thank you,” Harry whispered to the three patronuses before him. “Thank you very much.” He enjoyed the warmth of the patronuses that now circled him. He felt his eyes droop and sat down, leaning against a tree.

“Excellent.”  He heard the voice whisper. “That was supposed to be how a spell is cast.”

The last thing he heard was that familiar voice from a few minutes back, praising him for a job well done before he felt everything go dark.

TBC—---------