Chapter 6: Pets, Packs, Covens, and Hope

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT MY OWN IDEAS

Emma had taken a portkey back to the school after the children had woken up and a cover story was put in place. She would explain to the faculty and students that version of what had happened.

With the 13 necklaces being made Caroline took the girls to see the sights of Diagon Alley and Alaric and Ryson stayed at the bank and were tying up some loose ends with Axetooth.

Axetooth was planning on breaching these subjects when they came in the summer but now seemed as good as time as any. The first thing on the goblin's list was helping Ryson make more money. Let's face it even the nicest goblin always has money on their mind. After some back and forth a plan of action was finally agreed upon that made everyone happy.

On January 1, when his automatic transfers would be completed, a one-time payment of 85,000 gallons would be placed into his new investment account. Axetooth would then invest that money for him, in both the wizarding world and the non-magical world. Once a year the account would be emptied except for 1 million gallons if it had more than that. For now, the money would be put into his Mikaelson Trust Fund but when he got older the money would be split between all of his family vaults. As payment, Axetooth would receive 6% of any profits made by the account and an end-of-the-year bonus of 500,000 gallons for every 5 million gallons the account made. To others, the amount that Axetooth would be making probably seemed ridiculously high but Ryson saw it as if Axetooth made lots of money, he would do a good job and make me lots of money. 5-year-old logic. Since it would be a completely separate account the only money Ryson could lose was the one-time deposit of 85,000 gallons.

The next thing on Axetooth's list was the money that the Dursleys were receiving which was 10,000 gallons a year or $500,000. Ryson didn't like that. It was decided that a letter would be sent out to the Dursleys explaining that since Ryson no longer lived with them they would not receive any more money. The money would then be taken from their accounts as soon as the Potter's deposited it and any record of it would be wiped from their account. Unknown to the Dursley's the letter contained compulsions to not speak a word of this so they wouldn't be complaining to the Potters about the money. Thus the Potters would not find out about Ryson through this.

The money would then be filtered through Gringotts into another investment account that had the same stipulations as Ryson's. This one would be slower to turn a big profit since the smaller starter amount but in a few years, the school would have a healthy yearly donation from someone named Gringott.

The payments from the Potter account were automatic so unless the Potters remembered to cancel it the school's investment account will receive 10,000 gallons a year. This meant they could continue to operate as a free school with no tuition fees and focus on helping more kids. They didn't feel bad about taking the money since the money was legally logged as financial compensation for Ryson's care and both the Potters and the Dursleys couldn't care less about Ryson. It was also completely legal in the eyes of magical law.

The last thing that Axetooth brought up was their lack of a stable communication method. Owls couldn't fly across the ocean, so buying one would have been a waste of money. The floo wouldn't work as America was Wiccan territory. Portkeys were okay but they were overtop if one of them just needed to send a letter. Communication mirrors could work to talk, but nothing could be sent through them.

It was decided that the school would rent an instant mailbox from the bank for 5 gallons a year, and the money would be taken out of the investment account. The boxes were just that, a wooden box with the Gringotts logo on it that came in pairs. One would sit in Axetooth's office and the other in Alaric's office. It would only open for Alaric or Caroline so no threat of anyone poking around where they shouldn't. You put something in one box, closed the lid, then the outgoing one would flash green. The receiving one would then glow red until it was opened, but only the renter of the box would see the glow. If a face-to-face conversation was needed all Axetooth would have to do was send a portkey through the box.

A mail ward was put on Ryson, making any mail sent to any variations of his name would go to Axetooth to be scanned for magic before sending through the box. The variations included Harrison Potter as well. The Ministry and Hogwarts would still have him listed as Harrison Rue Potter since they weren't alerted to the name change. Since magicals rarely changed their name, there was no law stating that anybody had to be told of a name change. Loopholes are awesome.

Finally, all their business was complete, and the necklaces were packaged and ready to go. Axetooth supplied a portkey that would send them back to Alaric's office when they were ready and an appointment was made for the summer. Ryson left the bank 16,893 gallons lighter but every purchase was well worth the money.

They met the girls at the ice cream parlor, had a nice break and Ryson gave everyone their necklaces. It was decided that they would spend a few more hours exploring the alley before they went back to a school full of curious students. They visited the clothing shop again to purchase another cloak for the adults since this wasn't a planned trip they didn't have time to or even think of bringing a cloak. They window shopped and just spent time as a family.

Ever since Axetooth had mentioned Owls earlier, Ryson's mind was on animals. Ryson really wanted a pet but after the stunt, he and the twins pulled he didn't know if Alaric and Caroline would allow that. However, when they passed a pet store he couldn't help but at least ask.

"Alaric. Caroline. I know that we are grounded, and for a good reason, but I was wondering if we could get a pet?" Ryson asked.

At the word pet, both girls turned towards their parents and put on their best sad puppy dog eyes. They tried to stay strong but after the emotional night and the power of the puppy dog eyes, they caved. Not to mention that Alaric and Caroline felt that since Ryson did spend 1,000 gallons on each of their necklaces he deserved something in return. Plus all the parenting books that Caroline had shoved down Alaric's throat when she was pregnant said that having a pet growing up would teach responsibility and help the child's social development. (I made this up don't know if they say that.) The downside was that to not show favoritism or cause jealousy all three of them would have to get a pet.

"Okay." Caroline said "You can each buy a pet but it will be your responsibility. That means feeding it, cleaning it, training it, and cleaning up any messes that it makes. Okay."

"Okay." The three kids said together and rushed into the pet shop.

By allowing them to pick and purchase the pet themselves they would be less likely to neglect it. Something about how since they bought it, it would officially belong to them versus if a parent or guardian bought it. Parenting books did cover everything.

The shop, Animal Companions, was enlarged and had all kinds of animals, what they didn't know was that 'pet shop' was a familiar shop. All the animals had undergone the familiar bond ritual before they were put up for sale. The ritual would keep the animal from aging until they were bonded to a witch or wizard. When they were picked up by their new owners the bond would settle into place and change the animal's eye color to match their bonded.

Familiars were smarter than other animals, they lived as long as their bonded (unless killed), used their bonded's magic to heal quickly if they were hurt, (making them extremely hard to kill) and they would protect their bonded at all costs. Most wizards who had the money would get their child a familiar around their 5th birthday and the animal would last most if not all of their life. The kicker was that a familiar could deny a wizard so it was more of the animal choosing a human than the human choosing the animal. If an animal chose a witch or wizard then they would feel drawn to the animal.

They skipped over the owls because they would be useless, they skipped over the snakes because Caroline and snakes did not mix, they skipped over the rats, toads, and many other areas for all different reasons. The girls were drawn to the feline section to a pair of twin 6 week old Nebelung Cats. They both had grey speckled coats, one with white speckles, one with black speckles. The girls were in love. Josie named the black speckled one pepper and Lizzie named the white speckled one salt before they were even out of the cage. Caroline went to get the shopkeeper to get the two kittens and when the kittens were touched by the girls their eyes changed, signally the bond was complete. Salt's eyes turned blue and Pepper's eyes turned brown.

When that happened was when the questions started and the shopkeeper had to explain to the parents what kind of shop they were in. "Of course the one pet shop we visit is an overly priced magical….." Alaric shut up when Caroline jabbed him in the ribs as the shopkeeper left.

They continued through the store until Ryson was drawn to the K-9 section and stopped in front of a large wolf cub. The tag said it was a 3-month-old female Shadow Dire Wolf. Alaric and Caroline were both wishing they had a pillow to scream into. The wolf's coat was black and silver and it blended into the shadows as if she was part of them. Even as a puppy she looked like she would eat you alive.

At only 3 months the 'puppy' was already the size of a medium-sized dog and it would grow up to be 4ft tall and 7ft long. Her breed was called Shadow Dire Wolves because of their unique ability to cloak themselves in the shadows even if they were a bright white. Of course, the son of Klaus Mikaelson would choose the most dangerous wolf in existence as a pet and call it cuddly and cute.

It was a very resigned Alaric that flagged down the shopkeeper.

As soon as Ryson laid his hand on the huge 'puppy' her eyes turned blue and acknowledged Ryson as her boned by tackling the child and licking his face. Ryson named his new 'cute puppy' Coal because she looked like she had rolled in coal and to honor his uncle Kol. This was going to be a long year, both parents thought as they went to pick out everything they would need for the animals.

Caroline then led the girls to the feline item section to pick out everything their kittens needed. Self-cleaning litter boxes, food, and water dishes, collars with tags, toys, a hanging cat playground for their room, and of course carriers. The playground would attach to the ceiling and walls to maximize space in the children's room. It had everything a cat could want.

The items would all be shrunk by the shopkeeper and could be unshrunk by saying enlarge while touching the item. The collars had charms on them to grow with the kittens and have them come when called. They could add more charms at a later date but for now, those two would do. Lizzie of course got everything in different shades of pink, Josie got everything in purple and the playground was a mix of the two.

If Caroline thought the twins shopping for supplies was a hassle it was nothing compared to Ryson and Coal. They didn't get any dog food since a wolf's need was different from dogs. Alaric would have the chef of the school buy more raw meat for the oversized 'puppy'. The money would be taken out of Ryson's account since the wolf would eat about 2-5 pounds a day. There were special dog treats that would keep her coat shiny and full of any vitamins and minerals that meat wouldn't give her. The dog toys that he bought had to be enlarged and strengthened to withstand Coal's bite. Ryson chose an indoor doghouse instead of a dog bed because of how large Coal would get.

It was shaped like a classic dog house, but the inside was enlarged to the size of a small room and the door would enlarge for Coal to enter and exit. It had comfort charms on it so it stayed the perfect temperature while the hardwood floor felt like a fluffy mattress, it was non-breakable and non-chewable, and could transform into a traveling cage. Ryson chose the sides to be a dark oak, the roof to be black and Coal's named spelled above the door in red. All in all a pretty normal doghouse, from the outside.

They would have to make some changes to his room to fit it in there but Alaric already had a plan for that. They would remove the toy box and put all of his toys in the window seat chest and place the dog house in the empty spot. A simple and easy fix.

They got the monster-sized food and water bowls in black with Coal in red and they would be placed next to the dog house. The dog toys would be thrown into the doghouse since there was plenty of room in there.

Their biggest problem was how to keep Coal from eating the new kittens they just got. The answer came with the collar. For more money, more charms could be added to a collar but each charm would have to have a separate anchor point. The best anchor points were small magical crystals that would absorb and use magic from their environment to keep the charms powered. This would be important because of how dangerous Coal could be if the charms failed and Ryson wasn't around to control her.

Ryson chose a red collar with a black nameplate and the ten crystals would just look like studs, it would stand out well on her black and silver coat. Once the clasp was closed it disappeared and it looked like a flawless circle around her neck. Nobody would be able to take the collar off after that. The nameplate only held Coal's name and nothing else. The ten charms that were chosen were: growth charm, disguise charm, easily trained charm, obey charm, non attacking charm, invisible charm, shield charm, portkey charm, home charm, and leash charm.

The charms were pretty straightforward. The growth charm would allow the collar to grow with Coal.

The disguise charm would make her be seen as a regular black german shepherd by any muggles who didn't know what she was.

The easily trained charm would allow Coal to absorb information and learn quicker and it went hand in hand with the obey charm.

The obey charm would make her obey certain words with no training, come, heel, sit, stay, down, and attack. However, when she learned a new command it would be added to the obey charm automatically. This meant that once she learned something she would never forget it or have to have a refresher course.

The non-attacking charm would keep Coal from attacking anything or anyone unless Ryson commanded her to or Ryson was in danger.

The invisible charm would allow Coal to turn invisible at Ryson's command, not needed at night but could be useful in the daytime. This charm also worked well with the portkey charm.

The shield charm used the magic the crystal gathered to put a shield around Coal if any harmful spells were cast at her. It would hold up against most attacks until the portkey charm was activated.

The portkey charm would activate the invisible charm and they portkey Coal to Ryson's location if either of them were attacked or Ryson called her through the bond.

The home charm would allow Ryson to set a building as 'home' and would create a mile boundary circle around the building. Basically, a magical fence that could be moved to whichever building you wanted.

The leash charm would act as a leash when not in the home circle. This meant that Coal would not be able to leave Ryson's side unless she was commanded to by Ryson. Of course, Ryson also got a leash that matched the collar but the charm was an extra precaution.

When the two groups met up the girls were holding their kitten protectively and Coal was calmly walking beside Ryson on his leash. Coal came up to just below Ryson's hip and a little ways above Alaric's knee. The animals were officially introduced and with the charmed collar, there was no kitten death. As soon as the kittens figured out that Coal was safe she became their favorite climbing tree.

Finally, it was time to go back home and face the music.

The family of four landed in Alaric's office scaring Dorian so bad that he almost set them on fire. Coal had seen this as an attack and tackled Dorian to the floor growling in his face. Not a very good first impression for either of them.

"Ryson." Alaric said, " Why don't you take Coal to your room and set up her things."

"But Alaric…" Ryson whined.

"No buts young man. Don't forget that you are still grounded." Alaric said.

"Yes sir," Ryson said and told Coal to come.

"And don't forget that your PlayStation better be unplugged and ready for me to take when I get in there," Alaric said.

Caroline went with the girls to install the kitten's things and Alaric poured one glass of bourbon wishing he could down the whole bottle.

That night Ryson made a decision that would make or break his stay at the school. He decided to tell the students about being a Wand User. He was tired of hiding even a little part of who he was and he knew the girls weren't looking forward to having to do the same.

He talked to Alaric, Caroline, and Emma and they told him that they were okay with that and that the only reason they didn't tell anybody was that it was his secret to tell. The next day another assembly was called but this time it was Ryson that spoke.

"You all know me by now and have all heard about what happened the other night. I came to this school looking for a place to belong and to find a home, which I did. You have all been kind to me even though I am the son of Niklaus Mikaelson, and have treated me fairly. It is time that I share something about myself with you. The reason I am a Tribrid Heretic and not just a Tribrid is because I have two kinds of magic."

United gasps were heard and seen throughout the room.

Alaric took over from there and explained how Ryson's mother was a Wand User and what that meant. He gave a brief overview of their society and government. He also explained how they saw Wiccan Magic, werewolves, and vampires as dark and evil. If they wanted to learn more then they could take the course on Wand Magic next year. He explained that Ryson's connection to Wand Magic is why a new coven-pack was formed instead of him just joining the Gemini Coven. He told them that the three of them now shared magic but nothing else. Only family and coven-pack members would ever be told what really happened that night.

Anyone who joined the coven-pack would be under coven-pack magic that would never allow for their secrets to be disclosed. If anyone ever left the coven-pack then the knowledge would be erased from their minds.

Ryson then told everyone about his new pet Coal and how special she was. The faces that were made when her disguise fell away and they saw her real form were priceless. The girls then brought their kittens out who promptly climbed up on Coal's back and went back to sleep.

After those two huge revelation days, everything got back to normal. Coal became an instant hit with the students after it was assured that she wouldn't eat them. Salt and Pepper could be seen riding or sleeping on Coal's back most of the day or in Josie's and Lizzie's arms.

Ryson spent his grounding wisely by training Coal to do all sorts of tricks. She could now crawl, rollover, sit pretty, jump, turn around, shake, beg, fetch any item that she knew the name of, play dead, bark on command, follow scents, search for intruders, guard the school, pull people on a sled or skateboard, take orders with hand signals, run an obstacle and agility course, would stop if her leash was dropped, and pull someone out of the pool. Coal was the most well-trained K-9 that Alaric had ever seen. It was truly amazing how fast she learned and absorbed what Ryson taught her. The only downside was that she only listened to Ryson and nobody else. Ryson also considered Coal part of his pack.

The girls tried to teach their cats some tricks but let's face it cats are lazy and just yawned in their face. They are not useless, however. When a new witch had pushed Josie down Pepper came out of nowhere and jumped on the older witch. Coal had heard the commotion and Ryson had felt Josie's pain. All it took was a snap of his fingers and Coal took off towards his bonded's pack mates. Before the witch could even mutter a spell Peper had jumped off into Josie's arms and Coal had her on the floor by her neck. That was the day that they learned that Coal could be directed by Ryson's thoughts and not just verbal commands.

Later that night the witch had snuck into Ryson's room with the intention of putting the brat in his place but she didn't get very far. As soon as the door closed Coal was on her but she had prepared for the mutt and cast a dark pain curse on her. Coal's screech was what woke Ryson and both of his magic's reacted instantly to aid his familiar. The outburst of power sent the witch flying out the window and landed on the concrete below, breaking her neck.

When Alaric and Caroline made it to his room Ryson was on the floor, crying his now golden glowing eyes out and holding Coal as she whined and recovered from the spell. When what happened reached the other students not one of them blamed Ryson. It was clear that it was an act of self-defense, however, Ryson took what happened very hard. It was never easy taking a life, and being so young it took a great toll on him. He now had weekly counseling sessions with Emma and was getting back to his old self.

Alaric sent a letter to Axetooth to ask why Coal's collar didn't protect her as it should have and they found out that the collar would only protect against wand magic. For a fee, the goblins fashioned Coal a new collar using goblins enchantments that work with both types of magic. Axetooth came himself to take the old one off and put the new one on as the old one was non-removable and had to be cut off using a goblin blade. The new collar was just like the old one but was made of a liquid metal infused in leather and had a black border around the edges. The infused metal would store and hold more magic than the regular collars, thus giving Coal more protection.

The students were very excited about the new course next year but even more excited about the field trips to Diagon Alley that they would get. Their parents on the other hand were not, but they had a whole year to convince them to sign the permission slips next year. Axetooth's visit just hyped up their excitement even more. The old goblin stayed for an extra hour answering questions about everything the students could think of.

Ryson's first full moon was amazing. He was down in the cellar in a transition space with Coal at his side and was expecting a painful transition but it never came. Instead, his veins started to glow gold and he was enveloped in white light. When the light disappeared he was a wolf cub. His fur was the opposite of Coal's, being silver and black, and he was the same size as her. The most important thing was that he had complete control.

Just like a normal Hybrid or Tribrid, he could control when he turned but unlike them he couldn't resist the pull of the full moon.

As he grew he and his pack would take to patrolling their territory, the school, and its grounds, during the full moon. Any werewolf that joined his coven-pack would have the same transition as him and would join him on the full moon. This was discovered when his best friend Jed asked to join his coven-pack. The adults saw nothing wrong with this since they would be at the school and under their watchful eyes, so the pack transfer ceremony was set up the following Saturday in the cafeteria.

The ceremony was just Jed formally stating that he left the school pack, Tom, the alpha, acknowledged this. Then Ryson would state that accepted Jed into his coven-pack with Jed acknowledging this. Then the alpha bond would be transferred from Tom to Ryson. An alpha bond was similar to the family bonds but would allow Ryson to give orders through it and track the members of his coven-pack.

Jed officially became safe to be around on the full moon and could be seen running around the school permitter and playing with Ryson and Coal. He received his pack necklace at the ceremony and bonded it to himself in front of the whole school. His symbol turned a royal blue with his name in silver.

When it got around that Jed now had a pain-free transition, could change at will, and was always in control, Ryson's small pack grew. By the time New years came around his pack consisted of himself as the alpha, Jasmine and Jasper shared the beta position, and Jed, Jackson, Coal and Karen made up the rest of the pack. If the twins ever turned they would be considered alpha females but Ryson would still be above them in the pecking order. Nobody knew what position Hope would take if she ever joined the pack. She was an alpha in her own right and may not take too kindly to her baby brother being her alpha. Only time would tell.

Daniel and Cal, the two witches in their group of friends didn't want to be left out and joined the coven-pack. Unsurprisingly they gained a magical core upon entry and now had wand, and wiccan magic.

All their friends ine the coven-pack took the news of Lizzie and Josie's species change well. Every new pack member and coven member was given a necklace. The pack members had the shield aspect modified to draw magic from their surroundings to form a shield, (like Coal's collar) not as good as if they had a magical core but it would do. Jasmine and Jaspers were orange and black. Jackson's was black and gold. Karens were teal and silver. Daniel's was green and silver. Cal's was yellow and black.

The older wolves and witches couldn't bring themselves to bow down and let a 5-year-old become their Alpha or coven leader so they stayed with the school's pack and coven.

All the current vampires at the school liked the small vampire family they had and didn't want to join. They all had plans of world traveling before finding out what to do with their immortality.

It had become common for the coven-pack to spend a couple of hours together on Saturday as bonding time to strengthen their bonds. Each member had a pack bond to each other but an alpha bond or leader bond towards Ryson. The magic in the bond would enforce coven-pack laws and erase the memory of any knowledge deemed coven-pack knowledge if they ever left the coven-pack.

By the time Christmas break came and their grounding was over, everything had died down and became routine again. Ryson had accepted what had happened and determined he wouldn't change what he had done because when it came down to it, protecting his loved ones would always come first.

Christmas came and went with everyone getting lots of gifts and before everyone knew it, it was New Year's Eve. At the stroke of midnight, Ryson made his first-ever new years resolution. "He would find his family this year."

That night as he slept he found himself in a dream that was not his own. There was a big white farmhouse with a wrap-around porch. The house was surrounded by woods and the sun was shining. He could hear laughter from in the woods and he went to investigate. At a small table, there was a red-haired little girl who was laughing at a pink dancing unicorn. He walked up to the table and spoke.

"Can I join you?" Ryson asked.

The girl spun around with a gasp, the unicorn disappeared and the sunlight dimmed a little with the girl's fright.

"Who are you? How did you get here? Mom told me that his house was cloaked and nobody could find us here." the girl asked as she stood up and took off her bracelet.

"My name is Ryson and I'm sorry for coming into your dream without asking, I don't know how it happened and I'm sorry for scaring you," Ryson answered.

"Dream?" The girl asked

"Yes. You are dreaming right now, can't you feel it." Ryson asked confused. He had always been able to tell when he was dreaming.

"No. It feels the same. Are you sure that I am dreaming?" The girl asked.

"Have you ever seen a pink dancing unicorn when you were awake?" Ryson asked with laughter in his voice.

"No." the girl answered with equal amounts of laughter "My name is Hope. Hope Mikaelson."