raised by dementor

chapter 27

Harry moved through Azkaban through the air once more, he had been feeling bored for the last few days of the summer since returning to his home and only had a few days left before he needed to get the train. Lucy was on patrol and today there was a definite sea breeze and mist which ensured he would not be going with her today; he could still feel the cold while she as a Dementor could not. Or so he thought but it was never something he had discussed with his adoptive mother, though today was a special day as today was his twelfth birthday.
"Harry! Happy Birthday!" Bellatrix greeted with a wide smile as he entered the maximum security ward, for some reason his aunt had been far livelier and for Sirius looked like he was on his deathbed from sheer annoyance.
"Hello Bella, Sirius," he replied with a smile,
"Hey pup, Happy birthday," Sirius greeted almost sleepily as he lay on the ground of his cell,
"How are you two?" he asked, he had seen them pretty much every day and their answer rarely changed but it was the thought that counted.
"Oh nothing much, you know the usual; talking, chatting, laughing, crying, planning a daring escape and the rest of the stuff we get up to," Bella joked, Harry laughed but for some reason got the inclination that something was hidden in her words. But he was not here to do detective work so he disregarded this feeling immediately
"Send me a postcard from wherever you two end up," Harry smiled continuing the joke, Bella nodded enthusiastically
"Sure, dear Harry we are fine, love from Bella and Sirius who are not in Hawaii," she murmured to herself about what she would write.
"Now once again we would have bought you a present but living here means we only have a few shopping locations so we'll just pool the money, the running total is nine hundred galleons or so," Sirius laughed;
"You could get a broom with that," Harry pointed out.
"Not that you need one, maybe we could market you. The new Harry broom, only one in the world and gives rides if you're under eight stone," Bella considered and for the second time Harry wondered if she was joking or not. His concerns quickly melted away however as they branched into conversation and for a while they just talked,
"Harry," Lucy called suddenly cutting their conversation short once more, she had chosen an all night duty so she would be free today for his birthday.
"Well good luck with the escape see you," Harry waved goodbye to his aunt and Godfather who grinned.
"Should we tell him?" Bella asked darkly
"No, we need to plan and get your form up and running before anything happens," Sirius told her gravely; they were planning an escape for next year and both knew that Harry couldn't know about it.
"Ok but he's going to miss us," Bella pointed out
"I know," Sirius sighed with evident hurt and worry.
Meanwhile
The owls had come in flocks this year, last time it had been a few but this year a lot more appeared. Lucy could only sense individual animals vaguely but the amount of owls sent her senses sky rocketing. She sighed ever so slightly as the first entered the room, dropped a package and left which was repeated about twenty or so times.
"Harry," she called using their mental connection, the one they were actually using to spy on each other's minds but for now their agreement was lasting... how long it would last was something else.
"Hey mum, are they for me?" Harry wondered when he finally arrived and looked slightly surprised he got so many cards and presents, some were from his friends while others were from well wishers who had been given a ministry address for Harry Potter.
"Yes," Lucy replied, she held a badly wrapped brown package which Harry smiled at, she spent so much time doing things for him it was unreal and when she handed her present to him he opened it first. A book with a rabbit, dog and fox fell out and Harry looked slightly confused; he had no idea what the book was about
"I found your animagus research notes and the book, I thought if you're serious about this which I think you are then I should help in any way I can. This book gives you the recipe for a four month potion which will unlock your inner self, it also has a tips on what each animal say's about you," she explained and Harry had to smile. He pulled her into an embrace which she returned, a sign of their solid relationship as mother and son,
"Thank you," he whispered. The present was amazing enough but her help was invaluable, her approval meant a lot to Harry and her helping him unlock his animal form showed she approved.
"Anyway let's see what else you've got," she suggested suddenly and Harry turned to the pile of presents. The first was a piece of parchment from Draco but there was something very different about it;
Hi the words suddenly appeared onto the page and Harry jumped back slightly.
Oh yeah I should have mentioned it's enchanted, whatever you write on this I can read and vice versa Draco explained via the enchantment. Harry looked and grabbed for a quill
Very clever he wrote back
I know I am was Draco's response. Hermione sent him a diary which as he found out quickly shouted at him if he missed or forget a date; a strangely appropriate present which Harry decided would help him not forget. Cho had sent him a Quiditch guide and underlined one of the rules that said a player cannot fly on anything other than a broom; she had also included annotations on what she thought they should do in the next game. Crabbe and Goyle had sent a wizard chess set with cartoon paintings of all six of them on the black pieces which Harry thought was quite witty considering everything that had happened. Hagrid sent him a plate of rock cakes, Neville had sent him a herbology guide which was the only subject Harry found hard; not the theory itself but the fact plants seemed to die when he was around them.
Lucius and Narcissa had bought him a book titled
how to act like a pureblood which was surprising considering Harry himself was no pureblood; Pansy had sent him a book on how to pick up girls which Harry decided to put down until he was sixteen after looking at the third page. Fudge had sent him another book called Politics in magical Britain and Harry was pleased to discover the Weasley's had not sent him anything.
September 1 st
The funniest moment of the day was seeing Molly Weasley's face when Lucy swooped in with Harry, they had both decided to use shadow travel and after the exhilaration of speeding through the underworld had worn off he saw Molly take a few steps back.
"I'm going to miss you even more this year," Lucy sighed as they approached the train, there was still half an hour to go so after they had loaded Hedwig and his trunk into the train they were left with nothing much to do.
"I'm going to miss you to," Harry confessed, if Lucy had lips she would smile but instead pulled Harry into a deep embrace, then halfway through Harry found a third person had joined them. Literally someone else was hugging them both, he pulled back to see a young girl beaming at them for no apparent reason. She was a new first year judging by her size but her short blond hair seemed slightly odd due to a bright orange hair band that cut vertically through her hair instead of horizontal, her wand was perched on her ear and she was dressed in a luminous green cardigan and a long skirt which seemed comprised of two different fabrics.
"Hello?" Harry greeted looking at Lucy who looked at the girl; who was she? And why had she joined their embrace
"Hello," she smiled back at them acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Right I'm confused," Lucy announced, Harry could only agree and moved to ask the girl who she was.
"Oh was I interrupting, Sorry but the Dementor's hug has been known to have a number of benefits, unlike the kiss which can only be administered by two soul bonded Dementors or a human and Dementor who are soul bound and if they are not soul bound then the soul is removed from the person," she explained looking at Harry with unblinking eyes.
"Whatever she's taking you need to stay away from," Lucy told Harry looking slightly awkward. She then asked Harry a few questions which he answered but found himself wondering if she knew more than he thought; her dreamy voice seemed to mask curiosity and she made a number of comments which Harry found strange and yet accurate.
"Luna dear where have you been, oh you found a Dementor. Good to see your making friends already,"a man announced as he approached from behind and Harry assumed was her father. He had much longer blond hair which went down to his shoulders and rested on his brown robes with golden symbols all over it, instead of introducing himself he just pulled Lucy into a hug.
"What is going on!" she screeched to Harry as another of these strange people embraced her for no apparent reason.
"I'm Xenophilius Lovegood and it's a pleasure to meet you," he nodded "Come on Luna let's get your stuff on the train before any Nargles show up." And they left without another word.
"What the hell just happened?" Lucy demanded.
The train
The six of them were sat in their normal compartment chatting and catching up, however about half an hour into the journey the strange blond first year entered the compartment.
"Excuse me can I sit here?" she asked bluntly, Harry was about to say yes when Draco stood up. While Luna was a little strange for some reason Harry found himself liking her, she seemed interesting enough if not a bit mental and she was nice. Her father was the same and while Lucy may disagree the family seemed like good people
"That depends on if you can pass the test," Draco announced dramatically.
"What test?" Cho demanded
"The test to see if you eligible to join the group," Draco answered acting as if this was a formality.
"I don't remember taking a test," Hermione pointed looking slightly confused as to what Draco was on about, Draco ignored them.
"Ignore them but first you need to answer question one. Are you a maniac?" Draco asked Luna gently who nodded without really thinking about it.
"Then you're going to fit in just fine around here," Draco beamed showing her to the seat next to Cho
"And then there were seven," Harry pointed out, seven was a powerful magical number and there was always space for more in this group. Always, so the conversations continued and Luna interjected with a number of things that often resulted in Hermione mouthing what, Draco making a comment which ended up with Cho threatening to kill him and Harry trying not to laugh when Luna brought up a giant invisible dragon called Bob she had heard flying once to Crabbe and Goyle.
"Hello," a voice squeaked from outside and Harry turned to see a flash of red hair run out of sight, he looked confused.
"Great now we're being stalked," Draco sighed before turning back to whatever conversation he and Cho were engaged in, most of it seemed to be vain threats with Luna interjecting about random stuff but Harry relaxed slightly. Luna already seemed like part of the group and with a new member then this year was going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed.