Harry stared at the dark portal as a flood of souls of various sizes flooded out of it. Some were no larger than his thumb, while others were more than a meter in diameter. The Dementors on the edge of the room happily feasted as the souls flooded outwards in all directions. The only directions that weren’t covered by them was the floor as the souls that fled in that direction phased directly through the ground. London and the vulnerable muggles were above them, so hopefully they would be given enough time for those souls to be converted into ghosts before they reached a person.
Harry hesitated as he saw souls enter the bodies of the dead children, causing some of them to twitch slightly. Harry could close the portal right now by destroying the stone archway… But he should wait to see if they could be brought to life like he was.
He watched as the souls pouring out of the portal fought for supremacy inside each of the bodies, fighting desperately to bond to them. One by one, there was winner that held back the others long enough to bond. One by one, the soul would bind only for the body to die again and the soul to be severed and vanish into thin air. Taken away by the veil after death. After that second death, no more souls attempted to inhabit the body. The corpse. Harry could only watch unmoving as body after body failed to come to life.
It was with a heavy heart that he stepped forward and raised his arm to strike the archway and close the portal. Then he heard a whimpering cry behind him. He turned and saw that one had survived. Its arms moved weakly and its eyes were scrunched shut, but the soul was firmly bound to it and stayed steady even as the other weaker souls tried to take over the body.
Harry turned and lashed out to hit the stone archway, careful to stop his hand from touching the portal itself. Cracks were sent through the stone, but it still held steady. Harry hit it again, and the cracks grew wider. One final blow, and Harry just barely stopped his hand from continuing through the stone into the portal. Over the course of several more seconds the black portal flickered and then winked out.
The stream of souls stopped and the dementors finished their feast as Harry struck and shattered the rest of the archway into chunks of rock. He couldn’t take any chance that someone would try to recreate Kensit’s work.
He opened his spatially expanded case, ‘In’ he commanded the Dementors and they flooded inside, seeming contented with the results of their outing.
He shattered the glowing orb and the anti-apparition wards locking him down disappeared. A second later elves began popping into existence, carrying Hermione, Neville, Luna, and his parents Alice and Frank with them. All ready to fight.
Harry transformed back into a human and leaned down and picked up the squirming baby. A girl. He looked between his horrified friends inspecting the room and her.
“Please get the other bodies," He said to them, "We should give them a proper burial, I… I’ll explain things later. Pinky, could you get one of the healers from Elfhome? I want to make sure the girl is healthy.”
Pinky nodded and stepped forward and gingerly took the baby from him. “I’ll make the apparition as smooth as could be. She won’t feel a thing,” she promised before cracking away, baby in tow. Harry stared at the spot where she had disappeared for a long moment. At least one of them had survived…
— — — Four Years Later — — —
“Daddy, can I help as a big girl?”
Harry stared down at the eager Laura that stood tugging his pants leg as he made the pancake batter. She was about five now, and growing taller by the day it seemed. Her long dark hair contrasted with her bright blue eyes as she stared up at him with begging puppy dog expression.
“Okay, just be careful,” he allowed, “Remember how you got the egg shells mixed in with the rest last time? We don’t want that to happen again, you have to remember your strength.”
“I won’t…” Laura said, pouting before her form twisted and she shot up in height until her head was nearly to his chest. Her dress expanded to accommodate her new size and Harry stared into the smooth expanse of gray skin on her head and the sharp toothed maw below.
She let out little screeches and growls, but Harry had long thought of it as normal speech over the years. She had gained the ability to trigger the transformation on command at only three years old, something he was glad for. It had been difficult to handle when she would suddenly transform in the middle of one of her tantrums when he first started caring for her…
“So we crack the eggs first? Can I do it?” Laura asked eagerly.
Harry handed her the measuring cup and the box of powder. “First we measure the right amount of powder to put in.”
Laura leaned down a little and put the featureless expanse of her head close to the rim of the cup. She carefully poured the powder until it was at the line, only spilling about half of the powder on the kitchen counter as she went. Then she poured it in the larger bowl.
“Like that?” she confirmed hesitantly. They had only done this together a few times now.
“Just like that, Laura,” Harry replied, smiling slightly, “Do you know what comes next?”
“The milk?” she asked seeming not completely sure.
“That’s right,” Harry said encouragingly, “So let’s measure that out too…”
— — —
Harry was watching Laura play with her ‘Big Toys’ as she put it in the basement in his large form. He was sitting in one of the oversized chairs and saw Laura's soul peacefully bobbing within her chest as she sat cross legged on the floor. Harry had commissioned the large toys and dolls for the oversized space he had built for himself so she could play in her second form down here.
At first he had tried engorgement charms to increase the size of normal toys, but Laura’s magically resistant skin had broken the charm and caused them to shrink back down to their normal size when she touched them. Laura had cried after that and it had taken a long time of Harry comforting her as best as he could to get her to calm down. Hugging wasn’t quite the same in their larger forms and there wasn’t that same sense of warmth they had while they were human. But it still managed to work on her as well as it had when Alice wanted to comfort him back in the day.
Right now she was playing with two dolls, one that looked like them and another a human princess in a big poofy dress. They were working together to help heal her dragon toy that Laura was pretending had broken its wing while it was flying too fast through the air.
It was important to Harry for him to normalize her use of her human and large form as equally as important as each other. He didn’t want her to feel like she had to shut off a part of herself while they were together. It was hard enough on her that she had to remain a human whenever they had visitors or were at her ‘Aunt and Uncles’ houses. She loved going there, but he could tell she was always annoyed when he reminded her that she couldn’t transform around other people.
— — —
Harry sat on the bench and watched as three of Neville and Luna’s children ran around the playground with Laura in London. At the rate they were going, Neville and Luna would be outpacing the old Weasley family soon with how many children they were having. Only James was sitting out the fun right now, too old at fifteen to let himself enjoy such childish games.
The rest were playing tag, and Archie was at the top of the slide sticking his tongue out at Laura. Laura was almost nine years old now, and Archie was the same age as her and they often played together. Laura tried to run up the stairs of the playset after Archie, but he escaped sliding down the slide and ran away. She chased him, but he managed to circle around and scramble back on top of the same slide again. Laura was focused on him and ignored the others, seeming intent on catching only him after he had taunted her earlier.
Finally in her frustration, Harry saw her body twist and grow and then she reached up and poked Archie in the chest with her gray finger. The other non-wizarding children on the playground froze as Harry stood and cast an illusion spell quickly. The human Laura returned in everyone's sight even as the true one turned and seemed to freeze as she saw Harry staring directly at her.
She quickly transformed back into a human and looked guilty as she trudged over to him, still invisible to the others. Harry kept the illusion of her pretending as if nothing had happened for a minute or two more, and the rest of the kids seemed to shake their heads and dismiss what they’d seen. After the coast was clear, he had the illusion run up and overlap with the real Laura in front of him before he dispelled it.
The other kids had only seen Laura transformed for less than a second before she appeared to return to normal. Many probably thought it was a trick on their eyes it had gone by so fast.
Archie gave Laura a knowing look and a mocking smirk before going back to the game. Neville’s children knew about Laura’s secret, it was unavoidable given how much time she spent with them.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Laura said dejectedly as she sat in time out a few minutes later on the park bench next to him, “I didn’t mean to, really…”
“You still have seven minutes left in time out, Laura," Harry said, "As much as I love you, this is serious. You can’t be doing things like that in public. It’s not safe.”
“Why?” Laura said in a small voice, “Archie and Aunt Luna’s other kids know about it. All my aunts and uncles do. They think its cool. Why can’t I show other people?”
Harry didn’t answer her for a moment and just stared at the other kids playing, occasionally throwing wary glances at Laura. Something that she seemed to notice and be hurt by. Harry had tried to avoid this conversation for a while now, but he thought she was probably old enough to know a little more. She was nearly nine now and was beginning to question things more than when she was younger.
“I’ll tell you when we get back home,” Harry told Laura, “I promise.”
“Okay…”
After her time was up, Harry let her go and she kept playing with Archie and Neville’s kids. The others avoided her. Luna walked up to him and sat down. “Going to tell Laura about the past, Harry?” She said dreamily. She was still absentminded most of the time, but now she had kids was a little more grounded when she was watching over them.
“Yes… I think its time,” he said, feeling a little down.
He felt Luna’s hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry, Harry. You’ve seen her, she knows we all accept her the way she is. If she doubts herself you and we’ll be there for her. It won’t be like how you felt you had to hide everything from us for so long. Surprised all of us, you know...”
“I know,” Harry said, “I just didn’t want her to be hurt by it. She loves her other form and I don’t want to take that away from her.”
“She has to learn eventually, when she goes to school,” Luna replied, “May as well tell her where it’s safe. Oh!” she looked up and they saw that Archie had fallen off one of the monkey bars and scraped open his elbow, “Seems I am needed…” she finished before gliding away and fussing over Archie who protested his treatment by Luna, just wanting to go back and keep playing with the injury.
Harry looked at Laura as she kept playing, running and having fun with others her age. Something that Harry had never had growing up. Luna was right, he couldn’t hold back on telling Laura about it anymore.
— — —
As soon as they got home, Laura transformed into her big form, now slightly taller than Harry in her gray skin.
He went into the basement and she followed behind him. He transformed and sat in his big chair, and a few seconds later lifted Laura up so she could sit in his lap. His four meter height let her sit on his lap easily and rest her body against him as they cuddled.
“We’re so cold when we cuddle like this,” Laura said after a moment.
“We are,” Harry agreed, “Do you want to transform and do it as humans?”
“No…” Laura said and gripped him tighter.
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“Laura… you’ve been curious of where we came from. Why we are like this, and why we have to hide what we are from other people?”
She looked up eager and also nervous, “Yeah. I mean, why did those kids hate my other form so much? You always say that both forms are important Dad, but then I have to be a human all the time around everyone else!”
“I’ve tried to protect you,” Harry said, “You’ve grown up around your Aunts and Uncles that know what you and I am and accept it. You know, I didn’t tell most of them until years after I graduated from school and only your Aunt Hermione knew for the longest time. I was scared that the others would be like those kids on the playground and fear or hate me. But your Aunts and Uncles hardly cared at all. I didn’t want you to grow up worrying about what other people would think of us.”
Laura’s expanse of skin on her head was pointed directly at Harry as he spoke. He could tell by the wrinkles on its surface that she was confused and frustrated.
“But why? Why would they hate you? Hate us? I don’t understand,” she asked.
“Well, the children on the playground were just frightened and surprised," Harry said, "We look very different from humans, and it was strange for a little girl to suddenly double in height and grow big sharp teeth. But there is more to it for the adults in the wizarding world.”
She inspected herself and seemed slightly surprised, “I do look different I guess. I didn’t think about how they’d it would look when they saw me suddenly getting so big… Why are the adults different?”
Harry paused trying to find a comforting way to explain it. He had to tell her the truth, but not in a way that would crush her.
“There was a very old and mean wizard that altered me so that I would have this form when I was very young,” Harry said to the riveted Laura in his lap, “I was special, with my perfect memory and the special language I can speak. You know the one. As well as the other things that make me different from most other people.”
Laura nodded, he had tested speaking Ascendant to her a few times but all it had done was give her a headache. She didn’t understand it and wasn't able to speak Ascendant herself.
“After I was created, this wizard worked hard to recreate a person like me many times as I grew older," Harry continued, "I didn’t fully transform into this form for the first time until I was nearly thirteen. But none of the other people he altered could switch so easily between their two forms. They were stuck halfway. He… this wizard created you to try to replicate my powers eight years ago now, when you were only a baby. You were someone that was like me and could switch between both forms easily. He had the others that couldn’t transform properly attack the Ministry when he was creating you, had them hold back the Aurors for him. Many people were very hurt by them. So a lot of people in the public and government were scared afterward of something like us ever attacking them again.”
“What happened to him?” Laura said in a small voice, clutching him tightly, “The bad wizard?”
“He’s gone, Laura,” Harry said, petting her head gently, “He’s gone. I fought and stopped him from hurting any more people. But if people saw the two of us in this form, they would think of the ones that attacked the Ministry. That’s why we remain hidden. That’s why I took you in as my daughter. I didn’t want you to have to grow up with no one to rely on like I did.”
“Rely on? What about great-uncle Vernon and Petunia?” Laura said, “Didn’t they take care of you? No one talks about them very much…”
Harry stopped rubbing Laura’s head for a moment before resuming.
“No,” Harry said, “They didn’t like that I was different even before I first transformed. They were very mean to me when I was a child, and didn’t take care of me properly. That’s why no one likes to talk about them.”
“Oh…” Laura said, “Sorry…”
“No, It is okay Laura,” Harry assured her, “It has been a long time since then. I just don’t want you to have to ever go through something like that.”
She didn’t say anything else for a while and they just sat there together on the massive chair.
“Laura, I realize I’m not exactly… that expressive,” Harry said eventually, “But you know that I love you, right? Just tell me if you’re feeling sad about something and we can talk about it.”
“I know, Dad,” she replied, “It’s the other people that are wrong. This form is awesome. Archie knows about it, and we still play all the time. He’s jealous of me, even! I just don’t like hiding. And you're the same as everyone else even if your face only moves a little bit rather than a lot when you feel things.”
“I know, Laura. I'm glad you know that. I don’t like you having to hide either, but that’s how it has to be for now.”
Harry turned that thought over in his head. Hmmmm. Maybe he could…
“Laura, how would you like to go on a trip? I could ask for permission to visit Elfhome and have you meet all the elves that live there. They won’t care the least bit about which form we’re in besides whether we’ll fit in the buildings. You’re old enough now, but its a big journey. Probably a week or more travel at least. But I think it could be fun, maybe we can even convince your uncle Dobby to come with us.”
“Can I really?” Laura asked excitedly, “He’s said so much about it, I just can’t wait! It’s like a big adventure from my books.”
“That it is,” Harry said chuckling, “We’ll have lots of fun, I’m sure. I’ll even bring the spatially expanded trunk so we can transform inside on the journey there. How’s that sound?”
“Good, oh but what toys should I pack?” she said in shock. She quickly squirmed out of Harry’s grip and jumped to the ground, running around excitedly to pack what toys she should bring with her for the journey. Harry mentally smiled down at her, wrinkling the gray skin on his featureless head. It would be her first trip outside of Britain. Due to her issues with staying as a human for long periods, Harry rarely took them for vacations outside of the house lasting longer than a day or two to minimize the risk of her getting spotted by someone when she transformed. This would be a totally new experience for her.
— — —
Laura had a great time as Harry apparated them across Europe. Dobby didn't want to close their enchanting shop for so long, so he was staying behind to keep things running. Laura got sick the first time they apparated, but powered through as she got more used to it. Harry occasionally stopped at little towns or places of interest on the way to give her a break when she needed it. She was excited to see all the new places and explore the world,
Harry diverting to explore whenever she pointed out something she wanted to inspect closer as they moved across the world. It ended up taking them close to two weeks to reach Nepal, from which they took a portkey directly to Elfhome from the capital. They took the portkey was so that no one would be able to follow them when they went to Elfhome, even if the Fidelus charm alone should be enough protection.
Elfhome was dominated by the stone tower covered in creepers and garden boxes rising high in the sky. The elves hadn’t stopped modifying and adding to it even after all these years. The HELF organization was growing, no longer fully under Ragnok or Gringott's control. They worked closely with the elves and Harry was glad they were gaining some wizarding allies to help them in the world.
There were only two large breeding populations of enslaved house elves left in other countries, both owned by their countries governments and heavily guarded. The price of a house elf was astronomical these days, as the HELF raided and rescued them whenever they left the heavily guarded government fortresses.
The majority of the house elves in the world besides those two large groups had been rescued and resettled at Elfhome in that time, so their population here had exploded in size since when it was first founded years ago.
The elves were more than happy to give Laura a tour, and she was happy that they didn’t care about her second form one bit. The only snag was that they couldn’t understand Laura while she was not a human, which frustrated her a little. But still, she didn’t need to say much as they dragged her around and chattered about this or that thing they had built into the structure around them.
Harry had shown the elves here his own transformation several times, and despite them no longer being so subservient they still seemed to think that the ‘founders’ of Elfhome could do no wrong. The founders of course being him, Dobby, and Hermione who were the ones that first found this place and brought the first of the house elves to it.
There was even a few statues or carvings of them scattered around the place, which Hermione had found rather embarrassing when she saw them. Harry thought they had great craftsmanship and artistry and he didn't mind them all to much. The elves had improved rapidly in skill to create things that good in the time since they’d been bound to Elfhome and he thought it was a nice gesture to show their appreciation for all the work the three of them had done scouring the world to find the perfect place.
As his daughter, Laura was treated with almost as much respect as him. His daughter in truth now as long in emotion. He had bought the blood changing potion from Gringotts before they had left and bound her to his family magics. Her facial structure shifted slightly as it changed her to the Potter bloodline after drinking it, and her hair grew a little darker.
Her eyes had turned green like Harry’s, but only a little, now half way between blue and green. Luckily, it didn’t do too much more than that and it wasn’t enough of a change that Harry thought most people would notice and now she would be included in his inheritance as well. She hadn’t even given it a second thought when Harry told her about the potion, just taken it without hesitation. Harry knew that he was an overthinker, so it had come as a surprise how quickly she had agreed without fully understanding what it was just trusting him that it was something good for her.
Harry mostly sat at the edge of Elfhome during the course of their stay and stared into the windswept Himalayan mountains as the elves pampered Laura and showed her around. She would be safe here without him hovering over her all the time. Maybe it would give her a greater sense of independence with her having to interact with so many of them on her own.
She was getting to the age where she would be going to Hogwarts soon. Harry worried that he had sheltered her too much growing up, and she would have a rough time when she transitioned to school life. At least Archie would be in her year, hopefully they could support each other as they were adjusting…
Laura’s soul was big enough that Harry was sure she would be very magically powerful. He had never seen a muggle with a soul that large before. She had displayed magic a few times in her life, so at least he knew she definitely had magic. He felt at the Slytherin locket hanging around his neck. At the end of the trip he would be handing it and access to the Chamber of Secrets over to her. She could learn from Salazar and make sure she could protect herself from anyone that would want to attack her while learning all sorts of amazing magic unseen anywhere else in the world.
He just remembered how unsafe the school had been while he was there and worried she would be hurt. But it was only unfounded worries. Headmistress McGonagall took student safety seriously and had made things significantly safer at the castle over the years from what Harry had heard from Luna and Neville.
“Dad? The elves told me that they have a big pool here underground,” Laura’s voice sounded from behind him. Harry turned and looked at her and saw the gray skin on her face wrinkled in what he could tell was a smile.
“Want to go swimming in there together?” she asked, “I almost never get to swim when I’m in my big form.”
“Sure,” Harry said making his way to his feet and shrinking back into a human, “Sounds fun. Did you thank the elves for their tour?”
“Yeeeeeess?”
Harry waved her off, “Go do that first, Laura. It was nice of them to give you such a detailed tour, and they have their own lives here they took their time out of to help you. After that, we can go to the pool. I’ll see you down there.”
“Okay!” She ran off, presumably to track down the elves that had been helping her. Harry walked underground, already knowing the place she was talking about. The elves had made it large enough even for him to swim in it comfortably when he was four meters tall. Maybe he should get one of these at the Potter Manor…
Laura eventually came down escorted by one of the elves and they had a fun time, generally just splashing around and diving down into the water from the side. With their strength in their larger forms, they went for a while not growing tired as they played and swam around having fun.
After a fun few days, it was time to leave Elfhome and return back home. Harry thought Laura was taking the revelation on why they had to hide quite well, even if she seemed to be more focused on their adventure currently. But Harry felt better now that he had told her about it. She would have some time to think and already know why she had to remain hidden when she went to Hogwarts and he could help answer whatever questions she had before she went to school.
— — —
“You have the Slytherin locket, and made sure to make it invisible?” Harry asked Laura as they left the house, “Have everything else you need?” he continued. Laura was eleven now, and it was time for her to take the Hogwarts express to Hogwarts.
“I’m fiiiiiiine, Dad. I have everything ready,” Laura said putting her freshly bought wand back into her pocket, “That’s like the fifth time you’ve asked. Stop worrying so much! And the locket’s safe.”
She put the hand to her neck and the locket shimmered into existence for a second before disappearing again. He had given it to her and ceded control of the chamber to her right after their trip to Elfhome so she would get used to wearing it all the time before going to school.
“Fourth time I’ve asked,” Harry corrected, “And this is a big day for you, I don’t want you to forget something important.”
Laura picked up her spatially expanded traveling trunk with all the greatest security features that Harry could buy. And he was very rich. No one would be able to steal her things like they had done to Luna when she was in Ravenclaw.
“Ready?” he asked and she nodded.
He put his hand on her shoulder and apparated them to the stone apparition site at platform nine and three quarters. The large engine itself sat there waiting as the various students loaded their things and pushed their trolleys filled with luggage around.
Now that they were here, Laura seemed nervous glancing at all the other kids running around in Hogwarts robes.
“Hug?” Harry asked her, and she looked at him.
“What?” she said, “Ugh, no…Daaaaad.”
Harry hugged her tightly and despite her protests she hugged him back, the bag in her hand awkwardly banging into Harry’s back as she reached around him.
He released her and she glanced around, looking embarrassed at his public display.
“Now be safe and make lots of friends,” Harry said giving her a big exaggerated smile, “Don’t forget to send me letters about how you’re doing.”
“I will,” Laura replied, her cheeks still a little red from embarrassment, “You don’t have to smile all big, I know you care even without it…”
“But I want to,” Harry said, “I feel just amazing seeing my daughter all ready to go off to school for the first time. I know you’ll do great there.”
“You do?” Laura asked hesitantly. Harry tried to never lie to her, so when he said something like that he really meant it.
“I do,” he said firmly, “You will, if you just believe you can do it.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said brightening considerably under his praise before glancing at the train.
“I, uhm. I guess I should be going now. On the train,” she said.
“Go ahead,” he said, “Hogwarts is waiting for you.”
She went through the crowd and went inside and found a seat. Harry stood there unmoving for several minutes and just watched the students moving into the train in a rush.
“Bit scary, isn’t it?” Harry heard from next to him. He turned and saw Neville standing there.
“Sending them off for the first time that is.” Neville finished, “Nearly had a panic attack for my first. You’ve done good with Laura, she’ll do fine.”
“I know,” Harry said, “...I know she will. I can only hope she finds a friend as good as you are to me.”
Neville laughed, “Ha! You’re getting sappy, Harry. That’s unusual for you. Why don’t you come home with me and Luna, we’ll find some way to cheer you up.”
“Thanks, Neville,” Harry said before watching as the train finally began to pull away from the station. The beginning of a new chapter to both of their lives. Laura Potter was finally going to Hogwarts on the start of her own journey to adulthood. A school of magic and wonder and danger both.
He was sure she would thrive.