"As Master orders," Kreacher said and popped away.
Harry went to the kitchen and summoned the vial, the book and his cauldron from his pocketspace. He then set about making the potion. It was as difficult as Sirius warned, but what his godfather didn't know is that Harry had studied potions on his own, knowing that that greasy git of a Potions Master would never teach or grade him fairly. The Half-blood Prince's book helped a lot. He had retrieved it after making his friends think it was hidden. There was no way he was going to let go of such a valuable resource.
After hours of chopping, stewing and stirring – grimacing the entire time knowing he was going to have to drink the vile concoction— the potion was done. Taking a deep breath he swallowed it in one go. He was right, it was awful and it took every bit of willpower to not throw up.
According to the instructions, Harry now needed to go to bed, so that the changes could take place in his sleep. So he cleaned up his mess and took himself up the stairs to Sirius' old room. He changed into pajamas and put aside his glasses. Laid down on the bed and went right to sleep.
During the night he dreamed a very vivid dream. He saw his parents and Sirius waving at him from across a raging river. They were making motions for him to join them. The teen wanted to comply, so he attempted to build a bridge, but the water swept it away. He tried to fly over on his broom, but the wind kept blowing him back. He attempted to Apparate, but landed in the middle of the river. The currents pulled him away from his family.
Harry woke with tears streaming down his face and his shoulders shaking with grief. He realized just what being the Master of Death meant. Oh, he understood before, but with this dream it was more of a reality. He would never join anyone in the afterlife. Because he would never die, all his friends would be taking from him in time. He now had a choice to make, either relish the time he had with them or seclude himself even further and save himself the pain. He wasn't about to make that decision after waking up from such a traumatic dream.
After taking many deep breaths, to calm himself and wake up more, Harry remembered what he did the night before and rushed to the mirror to see the changes. His hair was darker, before it had been black with red highlights, now it was a shade of black that reflected blue in the light. It was silkier, yet still had that just mussed look, just not as bad. His eyes were the same, and now he could see without his glasses. He face was leaner, the cheekbones were higher and the chin more pointed, making his jaw less square. His body was the same, he didn't gain any height. He looked a lot like Sirius, but with his dad's ears and his mother's eyes. He was thankful that there were still Potter traits.
The now darker-haired teen felt a bit more powerful, like something was added to his magic. Not overly so, but it could be the Black family magic. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about that, knowing the Blacks point of view he had to wonder if this could affect him negatively. He remembered the Potter family magic coming to him when he turned of age, it didn't seem to affect his thinking, so he shrugged off the new magic as unimportant and went back to his appearance.
The changes were enough that he could probably walk down Diagon Alley and no one would know who he was (not that he wanted to test that theory on Gringotts), but to do that he would need a name. So he took himself to the library and researched star names, wanting to keep the Black tradition. It only took a half an hour to come up with the name Hydrus Black, he felt a water snake was a good description (He found out after his first death that he was still a parselmouth). The young man figured that when he completed his plans, he could pass himself off as Sirius' cousin. He would need to get some paperwork for his new identity, maybe Mundungus would come in handy after all. The petty thief would know shady characters.
With that thought in mind, the now named Hydrus, sent out a letter to the man. In it he asked that Fletcher come to Grimmauld Place and that the rewards would be worth it, if he agreed to do what was asked of him. Hydrus had Kreacher deliver the letter, as he had not replaced Hedwig, and probably never would.
Hydrus then set about going through the rest of his inventory, shifting what he needed first and putting the rest in his pocketspace. Two hours later Mundungus appeared at the door, Kreacher showed him to the parlor.
"Hello, Mundungus," the dark-haired wizard said as he stood to greet the thief. The man was just as vile looking and smelly as he had always been. Hydrus wondered if he ever took a bath.
"Who are ya? And where is 'arry Potter?" the bedraggled man asked as he pulled his wand.
"I'm shocked you don't recognize me, Fletcher. After all, your negligence almost had my soul sucked out," the immortal said in a mocking tone. "Something about cauldrons, if I remember correctly."
"'arry?" the astounded man exclaimed, his eyes widening as he took in the teen's new look. His hand that held his wand dropped to his side.
"In the flesh, so to speak," the new Black stated. He then waved to an empty chair and invited the man to sit.
"What 'appened ter you? Thee look like Sirius, but yew still 'ave yaaahr mum's eyes," the confused man stated after he took the offered chair, all but flopping down in his shock. He pulled his pipe from his battered coat, but didn't light it after Hydrus shot him a warning look.
"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about. First I need a vow from you, not to say anything that we discuss and that you'll do the things I ask— without trickery or questions," the new Black demanded. His piercing eyes boring into the not so trustworthy man in front of him. If Mundungus didn't give the vow, Hydrus had no problem wiping the memory from him.
"Why?" Fletcher asked, now wary of the teen he always thought of as a pushover.
"Don't be stupid, I know you read the Prophet and keep up on gossip, so you know that I need someone to run some errands for me, and possibly do some not quite legal things," he snapped. "Why else would I invite you into my home, after everything you did to me and Sirius?"
"Alright, 'arry, I'll take yaaahr vow, but i' is gon'a cost you," the greedy man said, holding up his hands in compliance. He then placed his unlit pipe back in his jacket.
"First your vow, then I'll explain what I need from you and then we'll talk about your pay," the dark-haired teen explained as he settled back into his chair.
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