Familiar

A/N Hey guys this is just a note on last chapter. I know I should have put it there but I wanted to see what everyone thought first.

About Manny

On the subject of Manny not acting like a house elf. I did that on purpose, the reason for which I did this is as yet open to debate as I have not fully decided on her part in the story. I will give you two of my reasons for her character and let you decide which fits most.

First I thought what happened to Harrys grandparents, is Harry the only orphan in the family? If something had happened to them and like Harry, James had no other family who would raise him? His house elf? An I thought we all know Jame’s reputation as a Marauder and that Sirius is his best friend and both of them together are a little tough to handle, well what if Manny was the only one around who could control them? Would she just let her Master run around and be an idiot all the time, no, that would be self destructive (she has no control at Hogwarts though) and a house elf who is set a task cant not do it e.g. Winky n Crouch jr. So what if James n Lily had to leave suddenly with little Harry and she heard no word from them until the day after Harry ‘Lived’ and has since then spent the last seventeen years on her own apart from her daughter. And has had to take over as unofficial master of the house, keep it clean etc. And because of this is used to ordering her daughter around and hasn’t been able to come to terms with having a Master again yet.

Or quite simply she is not what she appears to be, and on that I will say no more because I don’t want to give away part of the plot when I don’t know if I’ll use it yet.

Last thing thanks to everyone who reviewed, to those who didn’t like Manny’s un-elfishness, sorry but as you can see I did have a reason for it and its my problem if I didn’t bring that across very well in the writing.

To Argo I understand what you mean about making everyone sound the same, thats just the way I naturally write but I will try and add in some dialects.

So here is what you’ve all been waiting for the morning after Harry’s transition.


Chapter 6: The Mornin’ After…

He opened his eyes and that was a struggle in itself, never mind getting up, and he wondered why he was outside. He was on his back and above him was a light blue sky with white clouds that passed him by. It took his brain a moment more to wake up and then he remembered, he tried to sit up but he couldn’t. He knew where he was now, the master bedroom, he was staring at the ceiling, a ceiling that along with the walls had been enchanted to resemble the sky outside, like Hogwarts. Seemed his parents had loved the castle as much as he did.

There was a soft hissing next to him, he turned his head to find Krai regarding him steadily.
What~ he asked.
Instead of answering him Krai just tilted his head to the side, Harry looked in the direction he was indicating and found a full length mirror in the far corner. Why would he need a mirror that size? Realising that Krai wouldn’t stop staring until he did what he wanted, he closed his eyes and stretched, preparing to move. His eyes shot open as a sharp ache spread from his toes to his head. And he remembered. It seemed that little jolt of discomfort had brought his memory back into line. He was never at his best on a morning. Deciding that he’d better see the damage, he pushed back the covers and slid his legs out from underneath the rest of them. Once the cool air touched his bare feet, he sat up. He groaned when he did, wanting nothing more than to fall back onto the bed and go back to sleep, but another hiss from Krai stopped him. He rubbed his eyes, trying unsuccessfully to get rid of that glued together feeling that was so annoying first thin on a morning and winced when he shifted a few strands of hair from one side of his head to the other, his scalp felt so tender. And it felt wrong, dry, flaky and crusted.

He brought his hand away and found little flecks of red-brown attached to his skin, he turned back to his pillow and almost jumped out of the bed, it was stained crimson and red-black blood had dried in a little pool in the depression where his head had been, strands of black hair and pieces of skin protruded from the mess. He turned back round not wanting to look anymore and was almost relieved when he couldn’t see his image reflected in the mirrors glass. He reached his hands up to his ears almost afraid of what he would find and was relieved when he felt no change. His body baring his aches didn’t feel any different, he was a little bit weak but that was obviously due to the alterations in his magic and not to mention the blood loss. Wherever that was from?

Deciding that he better take a look in the mirror, he finally stood and promptly fell back onto the bed, his legs failing to support him. They felt strange, deciding that now he had to find out what was going on, he rubbed them trying to ease the strain and when he stood again he remained upright although he was still a bit shaky. He walked towards the mirror, slowly and with increasing discomfort. He started to see his image in the very bottom of the mirror, he walked forward not knowing that he left a trail of dried blood in his wake. The mirror at first just reflected the top of his head, his hair was all over and there was more on his head than there had ever been before. Slowly his face came into view, his skin was tinged almost pink, both from blood and the fact that his skin was nothing but raw, abraded flesh.

And then he was looking at his whole face and he gasped.
~The changesss do not ssstop if there are thingsss that magic can ssstill change. In that place you lived, you were stunted, underfedsss, like a plantsss that asss been kept in the dark. Ssstunted…without light, this changesss your body and mindsss. And can kills s’you if happensss too long. During these yearsss magic ssstill growsss, developsss… cannot help you til now. Nothing of yoursss wasss right, if you had lived sssomewhere elsse you would have been thisss way~ Harry stepped closer to the mirror.
~Why isss my hair’s sso long~
~Ssssince you did not live that life, physssical changesss made by yourssself, and othersss don’t exissst. That isss why you sssee clearly now, your eyesss due to your life there, were damaged. Your magic hasss changed you into the perssson, life would have made you…you would never have worn glasssesss if your parentsss had not died~
‘Yeh, many other thingsss wouldn’t have happened to me asss well. And many more thingsss, thingssss that would have been good~ he said bitterly.
~Ssssimple thingsss~ Krai asked.
Yeh sssimple thingss, like playing a board game on a rainy day. Your Mother asssking you what you did in ssschool. Playing football with your Dad. Thingsss like that~
He looked in the mirror again, he didn’t know how to react to the changes he could see but maybe that was because of the blood still covering his body, the image wasn’t exactly pleasant. Come to think of it his life wasn’t pleasant, his whole life had been hard only at Hogwarts had he felt like he was worth something. Only at Hogwarts, everything good he had ever known came from that world. But from that world came other things, enemies, hatred and the scar that made his name famous. He had grown up oppressed by his only family, but when he got to Hogwarts it wasn’t as ‘happy ever after’ as he thought it would be, had those years in their own way took as much of a toll on him as the Dursleys had?
~Voldemort took a lot from me. More than I ever realisssed~
~Only if you let him Massster~ Harry just nodded.
~If you go into the bathroom Massster a bath hasss been run~

***

He did as he was told and found that several hours in a permanently hot bath did wonders for the aches in his muscles and by the time he got out and dressed, he was feeling more like himself. The weak feeling was gone, but that was probably due to the double dose blood replenishing potion and the numbing potion he had found on the coffee table and took before his bath. He had known that his hair had grown but he hadn’t known it had grown that much, he was eager to see how long it actually was. With almost his usual amount of energy he went back into the bedroom to find a clean bed and a covered dish on the coffee table. He didn’t think he’d see much of Manny, as Dobby had said “the mark of a good house elf is that you don’t know he’s there” and he couldn’t say he was disappointed really. Seeing Krai ‘sit up’ expectantly from his perch on the bed, he crossed to the mirror.

He liked what he saw now, better than what he had seen earlier. If this was what he looked like before his creature blood manifested, what would he look like with it? If he had any, but for some reason he knew he would. Imagine if he had Veela blood. He looked at himself critically, trying to see himself how other people would see him. The first thing you noticed, were his eyes, no longer hidden by his glasses they seemed to glow brighter. And as lenses made your eyes seem smaller, his now seemed a lot larger. They were framed by thick lashes and he was sure they would be the first thing you saw across a crowded room. His eyes, that were now a brighter and more polished variety of emerald when combined with his now refined face, created quite the effect. His features were sleeker, his cheekbones more pronounced and his soft jaw had hardened giving his face a more chiselled look. But a softness still remained, which came from the large, expressive eyes and the soft slightly full lips. His skin was un-blemished, no scars (baring of course the obvious one) remained, no freckles or beauty spots, nothing. His skin was more obviously golden now and his unruly hair was gone, instead it fell almost completely straight, all the way down his back to his knees. It kinda reminded him of that Lou Diamond Phillips guy when he was in that film… Young Guns 2. Though sleeker, more controlled, which was something he never thought he’d think about his hair. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that his creature blood had manifested and that he was…an elf. But he didn’t have the ears and if it could manifest this early Krai would have told him…no that was still to come and he couldn’t imagine what would happen to him when it did.

He then turned his attention to his body, he was taller, he could tell, he guessed he was not 5 10 maybe 5 11, he didn’t know for sure. He had always been skinny but overnight he had filled out. He’d say he was more lithe now, than anything. The muscles he had built up as a seeker were even more prominent now. The only thing that stood out and did so glaringly, was the scar, his skin was so smooth now it made it look like a jagged crack in a marble statue. He had changed, in more ways than one and he couldn’t help thinking the change was for the better. Yes he would probably get more attention now, but for once he felt that he looked like a hero, a saviour.

And now that he thought about it he could feel the difference, before he had been too tired but after his relaxing soak earlier he had felt better, more awake, more alive. It wasn’t the same as the feeling you got after a good nights rest. It was different it was like his body had been revitalised, it was almost like static electricity was coursing through his veins. He knew that this had to be his magic, he was grateful, ecstatic really, it meant he had a chance to survive but he hoped it wouldn’t feel like this all the time. His skin was constantly tingling now, if it didn’t go away he supposed he would get used to it. He couldn’t wait to find out what he could do. He expected that Krai would know exactly what he could and couldn’t do. And he was quite right, Krai did know what he could do, in fact he was having trouble thinking off something Harry couldn’t do.

A/N… hope you guys liked it, I struggled a bit describing Harry how I pictured him in my mind. I’ll try an reinforce his appearance in the next chapter, I think we need to see how people will react to him now.