Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

3 May 1995, London

Harry walked into a portal into what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. From what he could tell from the outside, it was just some regular farm. At least it would have looked like one if it wasn't for the signs of magic all over the place. Dark clouds loomed overhead, unleashing a relentless downpour that soaked the fields, while thunder boomed ominously every few minutes, shaking the very ground beneath the farm.

It had been less than an hour since he left Arcturus' side, and he already found this place. It hadn't been particularly hard. All he had to do was walk around Knockturn Alley under his invisibility cloak and look for any Lycans in any of the seedy pubs there. From what he understood, Lycans, especially young ones, tended to exhibit some sort of pack-like behaviour. There was a sense of comradery there and considering that Arcturus probably massacred a good number of Lycans, there were likely others that tried to mourn them by drinking themselves to death.

He had tried to use the blood from the scene to track them down, even use it as an anchor for the resurrection stone to interrogate Arcturus' attackers, but it seemed like any sort of magical trace or use of it had been negated. It was probably Lily's work, considering how impressively delicate it was.

Sure, Harry could work on it and bypass whatever protections Lily put in place, but it would have taken him a couple of days, and this was a lot easier. All it took was an hour walking around and casting a tracking charm at the first drunk Lycan he could find, followed by a compulsion charm to return home.

He had been tempted to demand an answer from Gringotts about how their meeting was leaked, but he knew that it would be a lot harder to pull off. Oh, he would have his dues, but he was on a bit of a time crunch and would save hunting down traitorous goblins. After all, they wouldn't be going anywhere.

The last Potter walked with purpose towards the farm, and stood there, walking slowly up the gravel path that led to the weathered wooden door. As he approached, the faint glow of enchanted lanterns illuminated the area, revealing intricate runes etched into the stones surrounding the property. Harry paused, sensing a subtle magical barrier that hinted at hidden defences. He drew his wand, eyes darting around for any signs of movement, before gently knocking on the door.

Lightning flashed in the distance as a man opened the door. He was pretty large, with scars all over his face, and a bushy beard. He looked around his thirties, and from the wolf medallion he was wearing, he was also a Lycan. Seemed like he was in the right place.

The man obviously recognized Harry, from the widening of his eyes and how his song turned from a mixture of fear and anger. Harry looked the large man directly in the eyes and said, "I'm here for answers. Why don't you let me in?"

The man looked like he was about to unleash his claws, only for his hand to freeze where it was, with Harry giving him a condescending look, "Please don't. Do you seriously think you can stop me from coming in? Why not save us both the trouble and go summon your leader or whatever, while I sit down."

The Lycan retreated and Harry followed him to the living room, commenting, "It's quite the nice place you got here, very secluded. I'm guessing it's some kind of safehouse for your operations than a home."

Harry could have pointed out many things, including the lack of pictures, and the way the wards were being used. Whoever set them up didn't consider this place to be home. It lacked the impact that it would have had when this was the case.

The Lycan led Harry into the dimly lit living room, the sound of rain tapping against the windows creating a tense ambience. Harry sat down, unconcerned, as dozens of growls started to echo across the room, "You have some guts coming here, Potter."

"Seriously?" the Last Potter answered, "You're the one who attacked my guardian. You owe me answers."

Slowly but surely, dozens of Lycans began to fill the living room, their wands pointed threateningly at him. The room, once quiet and secluded, now buzzed with tension as the Lycan leader stepped forward. His commanding presence was evident despite the disarray caused by the sudden influx of his followers. He was by far the larger, wore the cleanest clothes, and the others obviously looked at him for leadership.

"You come into our home and demand answers after all you've done?" the leader retorted, his voice gravelly with restrained anger.

Harry took a deep breath, his frustration evident in his voice as he launched into his tirade. "What I've done? Believe me, I have had nothing to do with your sorry excuse for a revolution. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking? I have no idea. Normally, I wouldn't have given a damn about you. I've learned the hard way that the world is full of people like you who relish violence and chaos. If someone hunts you down, something else will take your place."

He paused, his eyes scanning the room, meeting the gazes of each Lycan present. "Before you, there were the Death Eaters. Before them, the Knights of Walpurgis. And before that, there was Victor Rookwood's gang. The cycles go on and on like that. So, believe me, your activities are nothing new, and I couldn't care less about what you do."

Harry's expression hardened as he leaned forward, emphasizing his next point. "But you see, you attacked someone very dear to me. If I don't hear a very good explanation for why you did that, well, this little meeting will not end in a way either of us will like. Well, that last wasn't exactly true; I'll definitely enjoy it. So, I want you to think very carefully about your next move. It might just save your life."

The room fell silent for a moment, the weight of Harry's words hanging heavily in the air. The Lycans exchanged uneasy glances, the leader visibly having a harder time taking control of the situation. It looked like the man was about to say something, only for one of the Lycans behind Harry to try attacking him.

Harry didn't even wave his wand, or really move, for that matter. The Lycan seemed to be sent away flying by some invisible force. The young wizard raised an eyebrow at that but didn't have time to say anything as his opponents seemed to have considered this to be a sign to attack. Even the leader's clear reluctance didn't seem to stop him from following them.

The young wizard simply waved his hand, throwing most of the Lycans into the ceiling, before letting them fall down. He ducked as he felt a spell coming his way and waved his wand towards the walls, which slowly started to grow hands, which grabbed a few Lycans from the back, trapping them inside the walls.

With a flick of his wand, he conjured a shield, protecting him from a volley of spells. He followed up by conjuring a whip of energy, using it to hit one of his opponents in the face, before animating it to wrap itself around his waist, and using him as a projectile to hit other incoming Lycans.

Harry quickly ducked as a gigantic wolf-like creature came to attack him, and manipulated gravity around it, making it float into the ceiling, and trapping him inside it.

He was being pretty gentle with them, all things considered. There was something inside him that wanted to let the anger that had been building slowly ever since he saw what happened to Arcturus, but he restrained himself. It would have been something else if they attacked him, but Harry had personally sought them out. He owed them a sliver of mercy, not that it wouldn't be snuffed at a moment's notice.

The young wizard felt one of the Lycans try to kill him from the back, only for Harry to dissipate into hundreds of ravens, and the attacker found himself bound by chains and sent flying towards one of the walls.

Harry calmly turned towards the last Lycan standing, the leader and spoke up, "Now that we got that out of the way, let's finally get to what I came here for. Why was Arcturus attacked by Lycans?"

The man looked pretty shaken by Harry's display, not that he couldn't understand that. Harry had literally just come into his safehouse, and dispatched of his entire squad while barely even lifting a finger. The Lycan then released a defeated sigh, "I wasn't part of the operation. It wasn't really sanctioned, not by Lupin, not by anyone, really. I genuinely don't know for sure."

"But you have a guess. After all, you all obviously think I did something to you. Look, I don't know why you're so hesitant to tell me. If I did something, then I'm supposed to know about it anyway. It's not supposed to be a secret."

"NOW!" the Lycan yelled.

Harry felt something try to grab his legs, and simply used his invisibility cloak to phase through it. The Lycan leader had leapt towards Harry with his claws raised, aimed at Harry's neck, a killing blow.

So, he wasn't so hesitant after all. The leader also wanted Harry dead but didn't want to get his squad killed. Whatever was driving them was obviously very important, which was very weird. What could he have possibly done to earn him and Arcturus the enmity of Lycans? If he had to guess, it would be that there was a change of leadership with Lily gone, and whoever was in charge would have united any possible factions by needing a greater evil, a bigger target, and they chose Harry and Arcturus for some reason.

Still, with the leader obviously wanting to kill him, Harry was done playing with them. Using Alchemy, Harry turned a piece of wood into silver sand, and threw it at the incoming Lycan leader, specifically into his mouth. He then turned and stunned the rest.

The Lycan leader fell down, coughing, and screaming as he breathed in something that was purely corrosive to him. Harry conjured some chains, and used them to immobilize the man, before slowly squeezing him, "Imagine you were dying. Imagine that you were afraid and in terrible pain. But that pain is just physical, isn't it? It doesn't compare the feeling of failure you're feeling, or the grief you're going to feel if you don't answer my questions very clearly."

The Lycan spat out some blood at Harry, only for it to freeze in the air and fall to the ground, "Let me put it in a way you'll understand then. You're going to tell me what I want right now. You're going to tell me why you attacked Arcturus, why Lycans all think I did something. And if you don't, I'm going to kill every single person in this place, and then I'm going to go to another farm and repeat. I'll do it again and again, even if I have to wipe every single Lycan from the map. You know I can do it. It took me less than an hour to come here and do this to you and believe me I was playing with kid gloves. I can be much more efficient. So, I want you to think very carefully about your next move now."

Harry turned another piece of wood into a silver knife, and stabbed the Lycan in the leg, making the man howl in pain, "Why was Arcturus attacked by Lycans?"

"Because… Because of you," the broken man answered.

"So, they wanted to kill him to get to me. Why? What did I do?"

For some reason, the man gained a look of defiance, "You killed our queen, monster."

They thought he killed Lily. In a way, it made sense. What better way to take control of the Lycans than by turning them against an enemy, claiming he was the one who killed their leader, their creator, their goddess? With the artificial loyalty Lily had planted, they were sure to go wild seeking revenge. No wonder none of them wanted to talk to him or answer his questions, not even the simple ones. They'd all been programmed to hate him—the same loyalty that made them loyal to Lily now turned them completely against Harry. Answering his questions went against their very instincts. They all wanted to kill him on sight, but it was only their survival instincts that held them back from attacking the moment they saw him.

Harry shook his head, trying to process it all. Lily's conditioning was so deep that it had completely changed their priorities, and someone had obviously weaponized it to be used against Harry. This made it almost impossible for Harry to get any straight answers from them. They saw him as nothing but a target, a dangerous enemy they were programmed to destroy, and only when in tremendous pain, when their survival was at stake, that could give him any possible answers.

At least that gave him a very clear goal, someone to blame for all of this, and so, he asked, "Who said that? Who accused me of killing the Red Witch?"

The Lycan leader glared at Harry, and the young wizard was about to stab him again, only to hear a familiar voice yell out behind him, "Harry! That's enough."

The last Potter turned, "Hello, Remus. It's been a while. I believe there's a lot we need to talk about."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: This chapter was kinda harder to write than I expected. It was pretty tricky to show the contrast between Harry's self-control and his desire to let anger lose at the people who attacked Arcturus, while also making sure he doesn't go too far. I hope I pulled it off, so, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

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.