Heritage of the North: The Power of Ice and Betrayal

A groan escaped Harry's lips as he awoke on the hard stone floor of the prison cell. It had not done very much at all for his joints. Bellatrix had explained before he fell asleep the previous night that sleeping mats were rare and she preferred the hard floor to the fleas and other creatures that inhabited the mats.

He opened his eyes and found Bellatrix watching him from her standing position above him. Apparently she wanted to get started on his training as soon as possible. Harry was hungry however. "Any breakfast in this joint?" he asked as he sat up and propped himself against the wall.

"In a few hours." she answered. "Meanwhile, there are a few mental exercises that we should get you started on. They are absolutely necessary if you wish to perform some of the special tasks I'll be teaching you. Until you can perform these new talents at a moment's notice, you'll have to do these mental exercises every morning and every night."

Memories of Snape's Occulmency lessons were suddenly prominent in Harry's mind. He shoved them aside owing to the fact that Bellatrix seemed to be much more pleasantly disposed than Snape was. Harry wanted to clear a few things up first though. "Before we began, could you tell me what I'll be learning?"

"Of course." she readily consented. "I have composed a list of certain things that you will find useful when escaping from this island and then after that, for the rest of your life. You'll be learning some wandless flying and hovering charms. These don't last very long, but can save a life. Occulmency and Legillimency naturally. Have you met my niece? I think her name is Nymphadora."

Harry answered affirmatively.

"Good. You'll be learning a simple equivalent to the talent that she possesses. This will help in disguising your appearance for short periods of time. We'll practice Scrying, a handy technique for spying. Shield charms are a must. A few simple wandless charms and spells and then some extremely valuable invisibility charms and last, but not least, I'll teach you the rare art of 'turning.'"

"Turning?"

"It's a similar spell to that of Apparition. You can only travel up to one hundred feet or so, but it can give you an instant advantage over an enemy in a fight."

"That all sounds useful." Harry said, now catching her excitement as well. "Let's get started then."

She knelt next to him and took the arm with the Warlock rune on it. Before he knew it, her finger was on it and the strange feeling he had experienced the night before returned. "I want you to clear your mind. Don't necessarily ignore your concerns, simply set them aside for now. Focus on the rune and the sensations it is causing. Try to concentrate your power."

Harry closed his eyes and began meditating. Eventually, Harry was able to cast his worry, anger, and fear out of his conscious mind and concentrate on the rune as Bellatrix had instructed him to. He could feel power seeping into his body at an appallingly slow rate. That was probably normal though.

This continued for what seemed to be both an eternity and a only a moment until a stray thought interrupted Harry. "Would he be able to perform this exercise if no one was touching his rune?" This caused him to worry and his concentration slipped. The power he had felt fled.

He opened his eyes and found his cell mate on the other side of the cell wolfing down what appeared to be breakfast. Apparently she had not been touching his rune for some time. Bellatrix looked up when he moved. "Two hours is amazing for a novice." she commented.

Several weeks later, Snape sneered at the backs of a first-year Potions class as they all hurriedly exited his classroom to escape him and to enjoy their weekend. Not a single one of them had any aptitude for his subject.

The professor was pulled away from his thoughts when Remus Lupin entered the classroom. Apparently his scheduled meeting with the Headmaster was complete. "Why do you want to see me?" the werewolf asked.

"In my office." Snape said as civilly as he could manage.

The two men mad their way towards Snape's office and entered. Before closing the door, Snape made sure that no one was in the general vicinity and then placed several anti-eavesdropping spells around the office.

They both sat down and Snape began. "Albus asked me to brew some extremely large amounts of the Progenic Potion. He intends to administer it to as many prominent family representatives as he can."

Remus winced. "I know, he gave it to several Order members as well. It tastes horrible."

Snape smirked. "Of course it does."

"You were saying."

"I decided to secretly keep a rather large amount of that potion and modified it somewhat. The modified brew specifically searches for the House of Polairix rather than naming any and all houses the drinker is descended from. If anyone of the right descent is found, their hair is supposed to turn silver. They don't even have to be the heir to the House like the original potion requires. They just need to be related." Snape said.

"Are you suggesting that we administer that to Harry or other people Dumbledore hasn't?" Lupin asked carefully.

Snape rolled his eyes. "No. With the help of a house-elf named Dobby, I spiked the drinks and several dishes for multiple meals. Every student in this school has had multiple doses of that potion and none of their heads have silver hair."

Lupin was confused as to what Snape's intentions were. "Why did you do that?"

"Because it's the easy way to test candidates quickly." Snape said impatiently. "All the prominent families of the wizarding world have multiple children that are related to them in Hogwarts. Not one of them reacted to the potion. So I did more research on the House of Polairix and the Earl of the North. The Dark Lord had some interesting tomes in his collection and I believe that I've found the answer."

"What is it?" Lupin asked eagerly.

He watched as Snape stood up and retrieved a large tome from his bookshelf. Snape opened the book to a certain page and set it down in front of Remus. "That is a portrait of the last man to hold the earldom of the North."

A tall man clothed in silver robes stood proudly in the picture. The charms that had made the drawing mobile had worn off, but he still looked as imposing as he must have been when the picture had been made. When Remus noticed the man's eyes, he gasped. "Those are Lily's eyes!"

"Yes, that's what I surmised as well." Snape said. "She must have been a descendent of a squib somewhere along the road."

"We can prove that Harry is the Earl and that all the prophecies are still valid!"

"We can't." Snape said shortly.

"Why not?"

"The potion I used isn't recognized as a valid means by which one's ancestors can be traced. The eyes are just eyes. Anybody can have green eyes." Snape retorted.

"No one has green eyes like that except Harry."

"Not good enough." Snape growled. "Even if Dumbledore and the Ministry believed us, what would happen? They still believe that Potter is guilty of burning down Privet Drive. They would put our 'savior' on a leash. Potter would become even more resentful than he probably already is. The prophecy Dumbledore was talking about stated that 'he who holds the Black Rod will decide Voldemort's fate.' Notice that it doesn't say anything about someone else choosing for him."

"I see." Remus said carefully. "I think that we should secretly put our loyalties towards Harry. Then we can perhaps try to get him out of Azkaban and then help him defeat Voldemort."

Snape nodded grudgingly. It was the same conclusion that he had come to earlier. He didn't enjoy the thought of loyalty to Potter, but it was necessary. "My thoughts exactly. I would appreciate it if you would talk Tonks, Moody, and anyone else sympathetic to Potter's cause. Once we get a fair number of people on board, we can hold a meeting and discuss some options."

Lupin stood up. "I suppose I should probably get onto that right away." He turned to leave but paused. "How about seeing if you can get some students involved? We'll need all the support we can get."

"I'll do that." Snape said. In just a little over two weeks, Snape would get his opportunity.

Neville Longbottom deliberately took his time to put away his supplies after six-year NEWT level Potions. He watched from the corner of his eye and Ron and Hermione quickly cleaned up and left.

Harry Potter had not returned from the Christmas holidays and Neville was worried. Harry's best friends and teachers did not seem to know why he had not returned, nor did they really care. Neville had a sneaking suspicion that something was up. Snape was his last hope. All of the other teachers had put him off.

Gathering his courage, Neville made his way to the front to address Snape. "Sir, I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

The professor looked up from the stack of Potions essays that he was sorting. "What?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me why Harry didn't come back from the holidays, sir."

Neville observed as Snape carefully considered his answer. "Mr. Potter has been sent to Azkaban on a life sentence." he finally responded.

"B-but why!" Neville asked as his eyes widened in shock. "Do Ron and Hermione know?"

"He was framed for the mass murder of several Muggles. As for his friends, yes, they do know his fate. After all, they did testify to everyone that Harry had been practicing the Dark Arts to a large extent."

"That's preposterous!" Neville said vehemently. "Harry would never do that! If he was practicing the Dark Arts, it was only to help educate himself and the members of the DA."

Snape nodded tersely. "That's what several others have concluded. However, we are in the minority. Speaking of DA, what happened to it when Potter didn't return?"

The more Neville thought about the situation, the more outraged he was. "Ron got up at our first meeting and announced that, apparently, Harry was not going to return to Hogwarts and that we needed a new president for the DA. He nominated himself on the grounds that he was Harry's best friend. Hermione backed him up."

"Isn't that interesting?" Snape mused.

"Is there anything that can be done, Professor?" Neville inquired.

"Yes, there is." Snape said, looking around his classroom to make sure no one was listening in. "Some of us are trying to put together a movement in Potter's favor. There's no way that You-Know-Who is going to be brought down unless it is Potter that does it. You can discreetly get some other students in on it."

Neville nodded eagerly. "I think that would be quite simple to manage. There's loads of students that don't think Ron is a very good DA leader, and who think that foul play must be involved in Harry's disappearance. What would we do?"

"Mostly keep an open mind and be ready for when Potter gets out of Azkaban, whether it be from being proven innocent or by other means. He'll need assistance and friends. You might as well train up like you do in DA as well." Snape advised. "Whatever you do, keep Granger, Weasley, and his sister out of it."

"Of course. What should we call ourselves?"

Snape's lips curled into a sardonic grin. "Potter's Legion."

On the afternoon of the day before Valentines, Bellatrix Black found herself watching Harry Potter's sleeping form in their cell. Five weeks of extensive training and meditation had done a lot for Harry. In a matter of seconds, he could now draw in an amount of power that would require days of meditation by any other wizard or witch.

He had also showed an unusual talent for both Legillimency and Scrying and had invented a method to combine them for very profitable results. Bellatrix unconsciously shivered when she remembered him prying into her mind. Fortunately, she had managed to hide some of her more embarrassing thoughts from him, most of which happened to feature him.

His eagerness to learn had doubled when he spied on his two old friends with his Scrying talent. Apparently they too had betrayed him, perhaps even more than Dumbledore had. Mostly, he managed to set aside his feelings about them, but when they came to the surface, Bellatrix could feel his pain intensely. How dare they.

Bellatrix's thoughts soon turned to their growing friendship. Five weeks of extremely close proximity in the cell and no privacy whatsoever had forced them to become familiar with one another. Harry had done his best to ignore that though. That stopped their close friendship from going further, much to Bellatrix's dismay, which grew, day by day.

She reached over and ran her fingers through his filthy and uncombed hair. It was no use worrying about it anyway. She was a horrible person who had done horrible things. How could he love her? Besides, she was old enough to be his mother! She decided not to think about it.

As she rested, a grin crept across her face. Tonight, they would be free.