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Return of an Alpha | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama Warnings: Death, Mild Language Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 409 Summary: For three years, Harry has been Becoming Alpha of Hogwarts. Now another Alpha is returning, bringing with him darkness, chaos, and battle. Watch as sides line up for war, and people and society change. Hitcount: Story Total: 169705; Chapter Total: 3867 Author's Notes: Huge thanks to Arnel for the amazing Beta job. :) |
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Harry was surprised the day after the Second Task when Tracey and Ginny dragged him up to the Room of Requirement and threw him onto a couch, hitting him upside the head and on the arm. “Ow! What was that for?” he groaned. The blows hadn’t hurt that much, but he hadn’t been expecting them at all. “Those were for keeping the information you had on the Second Task from us,” Ginny stated as both girls took a seat on the couch facing from Harry’s. “Oh…” he muttered, and both girls glared at him. “Why?” was all Tracey asked, but Harry knew that they knew. The girls just wanted to hear it from him. “Everyone was worrying enough already because I was going into the lake,” he said. “None of us wanted to worry the people we knew would be held hostage in the lake, let alone the rest of our friends. It would just let everyone worry, so all four of us kept silent about the idea Cedric had, preparing ourselves to rescue someone we care about.” “If you ever do something like that again, Harry James Potter, we will both make you regret it,” Ginny stated vehemently, her arms still crossed over her chest, as were Tracey’s. “Do you understand?” Harry sighed and nodded, realizing there was no other response he could give that would get him out of trouble. Fortunately for him, the girls calmed down a bit after that, though it was obvious both were still upset at him for keeping that little detail from them until the night before the Task. Before anyone could say anything, Harry felt something warm up against his side. Groaning quietly, Harry made a motion with one hand to keep his two friends quiet while the other went to his right side to unhook the top of a thin, circular leather case attached to his belt, inside of which there was a mirror. There went that secret, Harry thought as he pulled out the warm mirror that Sirius was calling him through. “Yes, Sirius?” he said, already knowing why his godfather was calling him; Harry hadn’t called last night to tell him about the Task. “You haven’t called yet!” Sirius almost yelled through the mirror. “You said you’d call last night if you had the energy, or by ten this morning if you didn’t! It’s almost eleven, Harry; eleven!” Harry was having a hard time not laughing at the look on Sirius’ face in the mirror; it was the picture of pure impatience. “I was on my to the Room to call you from when I got a bit distracted…” Harry said sheepishly, looking up at Ginny and Tracey. Both girls were staring at him and the mirror in disbelief, probably amazed that they hadn’t known about it after almost six months of school. “What do you mean distracted?” Sirius demanded. In response, Harry just turned the mirror from his sheepish face to the still-shocked faces of his friends. It meant Sirius would now understand. “Oh,” Sirius said quietly. “Well, hello Ginny, Tracey, it’s nice to see your faces after so long, no matter how shocked they are.” Neither girl could say anything as Harry turned the mirror back to himself. He could tell that Sirius was trying not to laugh at his friends. He completely understood as he would normally be doing the same thing, if it wasn’t for those little details such as them threatening him just minutes before and how he hadn’t wanted either of them to know of the mirror yet. “They had no idea about this, did they?” Sirius asked, and Harry shook his head silently. “A very interesting way for them to find out, then.” “And it’s all your fault, Padfoot,” Harry complained. “If you hadn’t gotten so bloody impatient, I’d have been able to keep this to myself for another few months!” “Well so-rry for being worried about my godson who, may I mention, just went through a second deadly Task for a tournament he shouldn’t even be in?” Oh great, Harry thought, now Sirius was annoyed with him as well. “Your godson doesn’t earn any of the worry you have for him,” Ginny said aloud, finally speaking as she moved to look into the mirror. “He kept what he knew of the Task from all of us for months.” “How so?” Sirius asked, sounding very interested. Internally, Harry was groaning. “Turns out what they were going into the lake to rescue was hostages, and Harry’s known it for months,” Ginny stated a bit harshly, obviously still annoyed at him. “He’s known it would be either Tracey or me since December, yet he didn’t say anything until the night before the Task, just moments before Gred and Forge came to bring me to McGonagall’s office.” “Harry,” Sirius said in a mock-disappointed voice. “You should know better than that.” “He was trying to stop us from worrying,” Tracey said quietly, and Harry was thankful to her. Just that one sentence and he knew she had forgiven him. Sure, he wanted to win the Tournament, but he didn’t want to worry his friends any more than him being in the Tournament already did, and she understood that. “His Gryffindor side was showing again, I see,” Sirius laughed, obviously amused that a Slytherin even had a Gryffindor side. “I guess you don’t want to know what happened during the task, Padfoot,” Harry said in amusement, and that shut Sirius up very quickly. “Thought so.” After that, Ginny explained what had happened to the hostages, Tracey explained what the judges had said and everything leading up to the Task, and Harry described what had happened underwater. When it came to how Harry had helped the other Champions while still staying in the lead, Sirius muttered something about Slytherin and Gryffindor, though it wasn’t loud enough for Harry to catch anything more. As all three informed Sirius of what had occurred about the points, he had burst out laughing. None of them understood until he explained it. “It’s just so like Dumbledore and Bagman to do something like that,” he said. “Especially Dumbledore as he’s probably seeing this as Harry being on the light side for sure, which means he should be easy to manipulate. In reality, we all know that this is Harry just being Harry and being rewarded for it.” It still wasn’t all that funny, but Harry now had a lot more to think about, especially when it came to Dumbledore. The Headmaster wanted Harry under his thumb, and if there was anything Harry wasn’t about to do, that would be it. “Sounds like you had one hell of a Task there, Pup,” Sirius stated once everything had been said about the Task. “Definitely,” Harry agreed, “and that’s with all the preparations. I’m afraid to even think about what that would have been like without them.” “A disaster,” Tracey muttered, and Harry privately agreed, even though no one commented on her comment. “Well, I’d better go inform Moony on how it went before he does something drastic trying to find out,” Sirius said. “You three have fun, and Harry?” “Yeah, Padfoot?” “Even if you don’t know what the Third Task will be until May, don’t stop researching and practicing new spells; you never know what will come in handy for the Task.” “I won’t, Padfoot,” Harry promised, already thinking about Slytherin’s journal and how he and Ginny would need to work on that again. With that, Sirius put his mirror away, and Harry did the same before turning to face the two girls, knowing they’d be laying one on him again for keeping it a secret. “Why didn’t you tell us you had this?” Tracey asked quietly, no emotion in her voice as she was obviously trying to figure it out. Ginny was just watching him. Harry just sighed before replying. “I wanted to know that there was a way I could talk to Sirius that no one else knew about or could block,” Harry said slowly. “If too many people know about the mirrors, someone could do something to it or block it from being useable. I know you both wouldn’t tell,” he added quickly as he saw a bit of anger in their eyes, “but I didn’t know who could hear me as I explained it or what might happen if someone heard us talking about it. It was just easier to keep it to myself.” “We’ll let it go this time as we know Sirius is your godfather,” Ginny stated, her eyes a lot softer than they had been earlier. “But no more keeping secrets from us, okay?” Tracey finished. “No more secrets,” Harry agreed, mentally thinking that he only had one secret to keep that led to a few smaller ones, but it wasn’t breaking the promise as Ginny knew about Sebae and the journal, even if Tracey didn’t. One quick glance told Harry that his guess was right as Ginny agreed that her knowing about Sebae meant he wasn’t breaking the promise, even if Tracey would be upset when she eventually found out. At least they weren’t mad at him anymore — for now. “You did well, little one,” Sebae hissed as she lightly licked Harry’s cheek once he and Ginny had finished telling her about the Task. “Keeping a secret from those you love to keep them from worrying might not be something they like, but it is very noble. It reminds me of what Salazar described Godric doing at times.” “Just more proof that you could have been in any House,” Ginny hissed in amusement. “Of course, it’s also the reason you’re the Chosen Heir. Only someone with traits to fit all of the Houses could have brought them together.” “Harry did not have to be able to be in any House to be the Chosen Heir,” Sebae said. “He has to be a Slytherin and work to bring the Houses together, nothing more. How he could have been Sorted only helps make that possible.” “Can you stop talking as if I’m not here?” Harry demanded with his arms crossed over his chest. “I’m not deaf, you know.” “You sure act like you are at times,” Ginny commented with a raised eyebrow, and Harry groaned. “I’m sure you know as well as I do that that’s my way of keeping out of fights between people until I’m needed or to keep myself out of trouble,” Harry muttered, and he knew by her grin that Ginny did know. “Anyway, weren’t we going to do something else while we were here?” “Oh yeah; the charm!” Ginny exclaimed, suddenly remembering it. “Sebae, Ginny and I need to practice the Invisibility Charm Salazar created just for you,” Harry hissed, turning to the giant snake as Ginny moved to be next to him. “Of course,” she replied. “I remember Salazar using it on me all those years ago.” “So you know how to use your eyes with it on, then?” Ginny asked quickly, and Sebae nodded her head. “Great!” “Sumo Futurus Turpis,” Harry whispered, aiming his wand at Sebae, smiling a bit as it worked. Suddenly, Sebae’s yellow eyes appeared off to their right before disappearing again. Harry and Ginny could hear her moving, but Harry knew that in a battle she’s be silent compared to the rest of the sounds of fighting. As long as she didn’t hiss at all, which she wasn’t even doing right now, no one would know she was there until they died seeing her yellow eyes. Of course, not hissing would also mean Voldemort wouldn’t know a snake was around, and he was the most likely to attack Hogwarts while Harry was alive. “Exsisto Promptus,” Harry muttered, pointing his wand at the yellow eyes as they appeared again. Sebae came back into view, and Ginny quickly hit her with the spell again. All in all, Sebae had been visible for all of three seconds. “This will be a huge advantage if Hogwarts is ever attacked, especially if it’s Riddle,” Harry hissed in amusement, and Ginny was smirking next to him. “It’ll be so brilliant to be able to make him realize we’re using the basilisk he used to control against him,” she agreed. “Justice and revenge.” “Let us just hope I am never needed,” Sebae reminded them as Ginny made her visible again and all three settled down. “While I do not like that Heir of Salazar, I would rather not get a chance to get my revenge on him for making me attack students than have him attack this school.” “So would we, Sebae,” Harry sighed, “so would we.” Harry walked into the Room of Requirement on the Saturday morning after the Task, and immediately a black snake around three feet long wrapped itself around his leg and slithered up to rest around his torso. Light green eyes looked into his emerald green ones, and Harry chuckled slightly as he closed the door and moved into the room. “Enjoying your first transformation?” he hissed in amusement. “Very much so!” the snake that was Maya hissed in excitement, and Harry only laughed again. Looking past Maya, he saw Graham and Natalie were sitting with Tracey, almost done with their first transformation. It seemed they were both just missing the head, so Tracey was trying to talk them through the final step, which was the whole thing at once. Ginny and Harry had asked Ankh if he would help Maya, and he had agreed, so they had been acting as translators for the corn snake during most of the training sessions. Of course, in the end, Maya would have to finish it on her own, but she had admitted that the advice from Ankh had been quite useful, just as Tracey’s advice had helped the two first years. “I’m glad to know you and Ginny can understand me while I’m transformed,” Maya added suddenly, and Harry smiled. “I’ll be useful, that’s for sure,” he agreed, ideas of how it would be useful already zooming around in his mind. “I wonder if I can still understand and talk to you while I’m transformed…” “Try it?” she suggested, sliding off of him as he pulled his bag off of his shoulder. Harry transformed into his wolf form. It had been a while since he had done so, so he stretched and tested out his senses, running around in a circle for a little to readjust to it, though everything always came naturally. In his mind, it was nice to be a wolf again. “Having fun?” he heard Maya hiss, and he turned towards her and showed all his teeth in a grin. “Lots,” he hissed, somehow knowing how to instinctively move his wolf tongue to make the sounds. “Wow, this is just instinctive, as if it doesn’t matter what form I’m in.” “This will be useful if we ever use our forms to fight; three of us can communicate, two in human form,” Maya mused. “Plus we have Ankh, so there are two snakes that can go out ahead unnoticed.” “Very useful,” Harry agreed before holding out a paw to Maya, touching it to the ground so that she realized what he was offering. “Really?” she asked, and he nodded, snorting. Maya slithered up his leg and around his torso again. He then padded over to where the two first years were with Tracey, still trying to transform. They stayed there, just watching the pair as Tracey walked over and scratched Harry’s head while trying to help. “When Ginny, Hermione, and I all transformed, it was because of what Harry had told us,” she said. “We all closed our eyes, and we imagined what Harry told us to imagine while remembering our forms. In our own ways, we changed it around slightly, but in the end, it all came out the same: We were transformed. I’m going to try the same thing with both of you. “Picture that you’re outside, grass all around you. Your ears are twitching as you hear a sound nearby. Listening, you decide to run towards it, your paws hitting the soil under the grass as you run as fast as you can, the wind blowing through your fur and making your whiskers fly all around. The sun heats up your body, and you feel as if nothing can catch you even if you are just a small little cat.” Harry was grinning as he saw the pair twitching, fur slowly growing to cover their faces and ears growing from their rapidly-shrinking hair. A pink nose was on the end of their noses while whiskers grew from their cheeks and fur covered the skin completely, their bodies shrinking to the size of a housecat. They had transformed. “Open your eyes,” Tracey whispered, and slowly, green and brown eyes opened. Each cat looked the other over before rushing over to the mirror to see itself, and it was obvious they were happy and pleased with the result. One black cat and one light brown cat, though her fur was darker than Tracey’s. Before transforming herself, Tracey poured both of them their potions. Once that was done, the three of them were playing around. At one point in time Tracey led the two new cats around, seeing how much they could do in their forms as they would learn more as time went on. “They’re having fun,” Maya commented from her resting place on Harry’s head. They had long since moved so that Harry was on his stomach on the floor with Maya on top of him, both of them just watching as the others trained around them, many transformed to play around. “I’m glad,” Harry whispered quietly. “They’re only eleven; they need to have a chance to grow up and have fun before the war starts, which is why you’ll enjoy the war games we play during the summer.” “I’m sure we’ll enjoy it immensely,” Maya said. Both tried not to laugh as Graham fell on top of Natalie. Harry was grinning anyway, glad that they could still have fun with everything going on. “Are we ever going to have that Quidditch tournament?” Blaise complained one evening as Harry and his friends were hanging out in The Den. Those around them, including many not among Harry’s friends, perked up at the idea of it. Suddenly, there was much complaining and questioning until it spread throughout The Den, reaching even those in other rooms. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students rushed to get friends and Viktor until all the Quidditch players in the school, many not even on the House teams, were in the center of the room with Harry and his friends. “See what you did?” Harry groaned to Blaise, who looked quite sheepish as he recognized the chaos that had ensued from his question. “Okay, everyone quiet!” Everyone in the room was quiet as they all turned to where Harry had just stood up from his seat. “Why don’t we start the unofficial tournament next weekend?” he suggested. “Lee Jordan will commentate as usual, and we’ll have a game every weekend with more teams in the tournament than usual. We’ll do this until either we’re told to stop or until we Champions are informed of the final Task so that we’ll be busy preparing. Is that fair?” Around Harry, people were nodding in agreement. It seemed they found his ideas fair, though they were all now curious about the teams. “Okay, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang can each have one or two teams depending upon how many of their students play. The normal House teams, which I know are short players as many have graduated, will form and fill in missing positions. Then each House can have a second team for those who want to play with reserves from the other team if something happens to a player. Think of this as a way to find potential players for future years or just reserves for next year.” “What if the captains of a House are gone?” Draco asked, and all the Slytherins and Gryffindors in the room muttered in agreement as their Houses were the missing their captains after last year. “The team can elect one for the games,” Harry said with a grin. “Who knows? Maybe that’ll give the Heads of House a little hint on who we want as a captain for the team next year. So, are we all in agreement?” Nods and sounds of agreement were heard around the room. “I suggest making your teams now, then, and we’ll have a schedule for practices on the board in here starting tomorrow; no more than two a week per team.” No one could complain with the number of teams that would be on the pitch for practices, so everyone split off. Harry could see the Gryffindor team along with other players like Ginny and Demelza over in one circle with Angelina talking while Cedric was in charge of the Hufflepuffs. Roger Davies was helping out with the Ravenclaws, and the Slytherins had all converged on him. “Quiet!” Daphne called around the Slytherins, and they all were quiet so that it would be easier to speak. “We need Beaters,” Draco stated once it was quiet. “After that we can decide on the second team.” Harry nodded and looked up at Astoria, who was sitting quietly by Daphne and glanced up when she felt his gaze. “I know what you’re going to ask,” she said softly, and everyone looked at her in confusion until they saw Harry watching her. “If you’re willing, I guess I’ll play.” “Anyone else a pretty good Beater?” Harry called to the Slytherins around him, and no one was willing to own up to any skill until Maya growled aloud and pushed her brother forward. “Put him on the team,” she stated. “Trust me, he’s a really good Beater. Unfortunately, he’s a bit too afraid to own up to it right now. Just watch him play at practice and you’ll see.” Harry and Draco nodded before Draco spoke up, “And which of us is going to be captain?” He was looking at Harry, but Harry was shaking his head. There was no way he wanted to be captain. “Draco, I’m the Seeker,” he stated, and Draco looked a bit confused. “All I do in practice is try to find the Snitch. I have no idea about plays or anything except not to get hit by a Bludger or another player. Besides, Seekers are so out of the game because we’re up high and have to pay attention to finding the Snitch that I’d be a terrible captain. You do it.” “Me?” he asked in shock, but around Harry, the rest of the people on the team, even Astoria and Graham, were all nodding. “You know your plays,” Blaise agreed. “I’ve also seen you make up new ones and teach them to Theo and Daphne. It takes me forever to catch onto some of them because they’re so good and unexpected.” “We’d follow your lead,” Daphne added, gesturing between herself and a nodding Theo as she said it. “You’re captain of our team,” Theo stated, and Draco slowly began to grin. It was then that Harry knew he’d make the better captain between him and Draco, so he had to hope that Snape would choose Draco next year for the badge. “I think Draco should choose the second team,” Harry said, not wanting to have to deal with it at all. “I mean, if he’s going to be captain of our team for the tournament, he should help out with the other team for Slytherin, right?” Around Harry, most agreed, though it was obvious most of the younger students were wishing he’d help out. When they tried to beg him to help, Harry just shook his head determinedly. He knew Draco needed to do something like this. “Let me know when practice is,” he called over his shoulder as he left The Den with Tracey, leaving the rest around Draco. All he got in response was a wave of Draco’s hand, which made him and Tracey chuckle. It was obvious that Draco fit into his role of two minutes well. AN: I asked myself just yesterday how I had managed to make it so that the Third Task wasn’t until Chapter Twenty-Eight, and then I went back and read the chapters, and it all made sense again… Yes, this might seem to be partially a filler, but I think they all need to have fun. Plus, much of the next few chapters leading up to the maze is actually quite important to the later plot, including some parts of this very chapter. |
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