Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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12 May 1995, St. Mungo's Hospital

Arcturus Black opened his eyes and winced at the brightness of his surroundings. The blinding light was already giving him a headache, which made it hard to think. He motioned to yell at Kreacher to close the bloody drapes, only to release a faint croaking sound. His throat burned slightly as if he hadn't spoken in a while, and when he tried to use his arms to shield himself from the sun, they felt as if they were made of lead.

It took embarrassingly long to realize that he wasn't in his bed at the manor. It was too small and wasn't nearly as comfortable. Despite himself, he mumbled, "Where am I?"

A woman's voice answered him, "Oh, Mr. Black, you're finally awake. You're in St. Mungo's for magical maladies and injuries. You were brought in after an incident in Diagon Alley."

Oh, right. He was in Diagon Alley with Harry. They were separated, with Harry having decided to walk around the alley with his girlfriend while he was in Gringotts to deal with the paperwork of reactivating his vault. The Goblins really did their best to make things difficult, since they assumed that they would have been given the contents of Harry's vault in a few decades. Extinct magical lines didn't happen often, but it was the bank and the ministry that gained the most from that. With Voldemort wiping out many family lines, they were projected to make quite a bit of gold in a few decades anyway.

It was probably Fudge's way out of the dreadful pit hole that was magical Britain's economy. He probably hedged that even after a few decades they would have access to enough funds to kick the ICW out. It would be too late – their influence would have been very established with an entire generation being born before that time – but it was still technically a safety net that Fudge could theoretically rely on by making the reckless move of allowing Gringotts to access dead vaults earlier for an increased fee. Of course, it would be a terrible precedent to make and he didn't see the Wizengamot agreeing easily. But it was still a path to take.

Thankfully, the minister had the foresight to use whatever leverage he had to kick out the ICW's influence, to the joy of a large majority of the members of the Wizengamot, so that risk was unlikely to happen. However, there was still a chance that the economy would be shaken once more.

Where was he? Oh, right, he was leaving Gringotts and got attacked by Lycans for some reason because they thought that Harry had killed the Red Witch. Which was preposterous, of course. His ward was many things and would kill a dangerous witch without any hesitation, but not his mother. No matter how much he liked to deny it the boy still cared for her, and her death had shaken him.

There was something fundamentally wrong about killing your own kin. Something deep inside their magic resisted the notion, which was why marriage was such an obvious way to build alliances between magical families. Sure, family crests were very important factors for old families, but not every family had the privilege of having one. Of course, arranged marriages ran out of favour after the Statute of Secrecy fell. Only certain families practised them, and it was mostly to preserve certain magical traits from spreading outside the family.

With a jolt, he sat up, ignoring how his bones ached at the action, "Harry. Where's Harry?"

"Your ward is fine, Mr. Black," the healer answered, "He visited you many times while you were here."

Many times? That didn't bode well, "How long have I been here?"

"Around ten days. People were in an uproar about what happened and the entirety of the Lycan population went into hiding. I can't really blame them. It was really touch and go for a bit. A lot of the wounds, especially around your chest, resisted most of the healing charms we tried to cast. However, the bigger danger was the way you strained your magical circuits. You're very lucky that my supervisor specialized in that type of injury. At your age, I'm not exaggerating when I said that it's a miracle that you're still alive."

"Believe me, I've been through worse," he muttered.

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Oh, that I believe you. I've never treated anyone with so many scars. Though, a colleague of mine once treated Alastor Moody, so you might be behind on that front. She said that it was a miracle that he was even still alive."

She didn't expect a reply since she continued casting while muttering to herself. Healers were always a mysterious bunch. He had no idea how they were trained in that guild of theirs, but anyone who could shape flesh and blood like clay was bound to lose a bit of their empathy. His attending healer seemed remarkably upbeat.

Still, with most of his worries being abated, Arcturus took the time to observe his surroundings. It was a large room for a hospital, probably for his own privacy and status. There were a few flowers. Violets, Melania's favourites. He always took care of the ones in the mansion personally as an homage to her. They were probably from Harry.

He smiled faintly, only to stiffen as he saw a robed man standing silently by the door. It was easy to find out what he was. The way he was stiff, ready for any action, the dragonhide holster, "What's with the Auror? Am I under arrest?"

"Merlin, no," the woman answered while shaking her head, "Minister Fudge was kind enough to give you guards to make sure that there would be no repeats of the attack. It was in the Daily Prophet and everything."

Arcturus gave her a dubious look, "Fudge arranged for my protection."

A familiar voice spoke up, the door having been opened without a sound, probably a silencing charm, "Oh, he certainly wasn't very happy about it. I have to say, I heard rumours about your time in the Great War. It's nice to see that you haven't lost your edge."

"Believe me, I was very rusty," Arcturus answered, "Why have you come, Amelia Bones?"

"Didn't you hear? Our wise minister has declared that all available Aurors are to protect you from further attacks. Unfortunately, I happen to be one."

"You're the Head of the DMLE, Bones."

The woman snorted, "I am, which is why I am quite vexed that instead of protecting the interest of this nation, I'm forced to stay here and make sure that you don't get yourself killed. It's a miracle that there hadn't been any other Lycan attacks. We were very lucky in that regard."

Arcturus suppressed the urge to chuckle at that. More attacks? The Black Patriarch knew his ward and he could say for a fact that the boy would guarantee that the Lycans wouldn't even try to do anything like that again, either through subjugation or termination. The fact that Harry obviously still visited him meant that whatever threat to his life was probably gone, especially since it had been ten days since the incident.

Still, there was something that didn't really make sense, "Why did Fudge force you to do this? I appreciate it, of course, but it seems like a waste."

"Well, it had something to do with the Potter boy, I'm guessing. I don't know what exactly Fudge had been planning but he asked dozens of my roster of Aurors to accompany him here after the attack. Apparently, he had gotten it into his head to arrest your ward for what happened. I'm genuinely not sure what his angle was. Maybe someone bought his allegiance, maybe he thought that a scapegoat would help calm people down. It doesn't really matter. He called a state of emergency, citing complications with the Lycans and the Goblins, and used that to issue a warrant without my involvement. All I can say is that Potter must have had balls of steel, and he definitely didn't like that. I'd respect the kid, but, somehow, he ended up convincing Fudge to have my Aurors act as glorified security guards. As you said, it was a waste of resources, which I'm hoping will be over now that you're awake. With that said, I'd appreciate it if you could shed some light on a few details of the attack. Do you have any idea about the motive behind it?"

Arcturus obviously failed to hide the amusement he felt. It was just like Harry to do that. He liked being clever, using people's strengths against them. In Fudge's case, he practically hijacked his Aurors to protect Arcturus. He was touched, really, by the act. Harry wasn't one for outward acts of affection – neither was Arcturus for that matter – but this more than made up for it. The Black Patriarch honestly had no idea what Fudge was hoping to achieve with this. Harry hadn't even been here during the attack until the very end, where he caught Arcturus. He hadn't even cast a single spell, let alone killed any of the Lycans.

Still, this still gave him an opportunity to curry favour with Bones, and what better way than to offer her information seemingly freely? The woman was likely to be the next minister after Fudge inevitably gets voted out next year, and she also had teams of Aurors under her command in case he would need to mess with one of Dumbledore's or Grindelwald's plans legally. He had been planning on speaking with her anyway, but she was either too busy or he had been preoccupied by his assets abroad.

He took a deep breath and spoke up, "The Lycans thought I was involved somehow in the death of the Red Witch. They wanted revenge and more information about the scheme. Utter nonsense, of course, but they obviously believed it."

The Bones Matriarch froze at that, "The Red Witch is dead?"

Arcturus didn't judge her for the way she reacted. The Red Witch was the main force behind the Lycans, both the source of their strength and restraint. Without her, the beasts were weaker, but far more unpredictable. But what he didn't expect was the way she paled in fear, "Yes, she is. I had nothing to do with it, of course. But there's something you're not telling me. Come on, I was completely frank with you. It wouldn't hurt to share a bit."

She glared at him before relenting, "The dementors have disappeared. Again. We feared that the Dark Lord made his move. And if the Red Witch is dead, he won't have any opposition. We haven't heard anything from the Lycans since the attack. It's very possible that they switched sides, and found someone else to follow, even though the Dark Lord was probably the one who killed their previous master. I thought that things were settling down, but we're in the eye of the storm."

The Black Patriarch knew that most of her assumptions were false. Harry had told him that Lycans had a form of enforced loyalty carved into their cores and that they would never join someone that Lily considered an enemy. But the dementors' disappearance was very disturbing. He had seen Harry threaten them with annihilation when they came with Riddle to attack him. They had backed off and went back to Tartarus – much to the confusion of most of the nation.

For them to go rogue, would mean that they felt secure in their position, in surviving Harry's threat. That was very dangerous indeed. He'd need to talk to Harry about it. Still, he had no plans of sharing his insight with the witch in front of him. After all, he couldn't have her drop her guard anytime soon with whatever Dumbledore and Grindelwald were planning.

Thankfully, he didn't need to say anything since a very familiar voice spoke up, filled with both mirth and relief, "Well, you surely took your time to wake up from your little nap. I suppose that's age catching up with you."

The Aurors in the room stiffened, their wands in their hands and pointed at the intruder, only to relax at the sight of Harry Potter. He gave them a lazy wave, "Hello everyone. Please, point your wands at me if it helps you relax."

That seemed to break the tension and Bones glared at him, "I left instructions to not be interrupted, Potter."

Harry shrugged unrepentantly, "Oops. I didn't know you left instructions."

The woman held her head and murmured, "Bloody teenagers," before turning back towards the older wizard, "We'll be in touch in case I have any further questions. You've already given me enough to deal with. I'll leave you two be. After all, you barely have a few days together. Who am I to deprive you of them."

The Black Patriarch gave her a questioning look, which caused her to smile smugly, "You didn't hear. I suppose we haven't announced it yet. McGonagall is finally opening Hogwarts back up. You should be back in school next week."

And just like that, she left, her Aurors following her. Deciding to file that piece of information for later, he turned towards his ward, "So, what have you been up to? I assume you spent some time hunting wolves."

Harry snorted in amusement and chuckled, "Oh, you have no idea. Let's just say that the last few were eventful."

When the boy started telling him about what happened, Arcturus realized that this was probably the understatement of the century.

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.