Game of Thrones HP Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry arrived at Winterfell within the day.  It was late nightfall by the time he arrived at the Lord of Winterfell's private chambers, and when he knocked on the door Ned was expecting him, and said nothing as he led him over to a table.  When the door was closed by the knight at the door Ned spoke, “It’s good to see you Harry.  I am glad you were close enough to make it within the day.  That owl of yours is really special to find you as fast as it did.”

Giving the man a smile Harry shrugged, “She is a great bird, but we aren’t here to talk about Hedwig.  What can I do for you?”

It was something Ned always respected about Harry.  The man was all business, and he was glad to get the ball rolling, “I am sure you are aware of the Kings Presence in Winterfell?”

Nodding his head, “I didn’t know until I arrived, but the Kingsguard is hard to miss.  I got a good look at Ser Barristan Selmy. I hear he is one of the best knights in the 7 Kingdoms.”

Ned agreed immediately, “In the world actually.  I battled Ser Barristan in the last great war, and it is possible he would have defeated me had we not been interrupted by the charge of the crowd.”

“A battle is never over until all but one lays dead Lord Stark.  Anything could have happened, and you may have yet won the battle.” Harry said easily.

The man nodded with respect, “This is true, but we aren’t here to discuss this either I fear.  You wouldn’t have been just a babe when the great war occurred so you may or may not know that King Robert and I were not only very good friends before the war, but the two of us led the lands together in overthrowing Aerys the Mad King.  I am telling you this because it seems being friends with the man who became king has born some unsuspected consequences.  It seems that I have been chosen to be hand of the King.”

Harry blinked a few times, and then spoke, “Wow congratulations…What exactly does the hand of the King do?”

Ned’s eyes widened only temporarily forgetting that this young man claimed to be from Essos, or most likely from one of the other major cities across the water.  It was not unreasonable that he didn’t know anything about this sort of topic, “The hand is the man who is second in charge of the Kingdom.  He usually runs finances, and in times of war would help strategize and oversee the small council that consists of the Master of Whisperers, the Master of Coin, the Master of the Citadel, and other things.  The hand is basically there to help the King run the Kingdom and in an ideal relationship it is a pretty balanced relationship, though I fear with our current King I would be in charge of running the Kingdom.

This caused Harry to blink a few more times, “In all our conversations I never thought you would be one to seek such power.”

“Like I said before, being friends with the King has brought unsuspected consequences.” Ned said a little stiffly.

Harry now understood perfectly.  Ned did not want to be hand of the King, but he was politely asked, and knew if he turned it down the next time he was asked would not be politely.  Harry then asked, “I see.  So what would you like from me?”

“In short I am hiring you for your services as a Sellsword.  Your one and only objective is to keep my children safe.  I will pay you handsomely, and this way I can keep my guards Jory, and some of the others at my side.  I fear there could be a lot of treachery in the capitol and we need to be ready for anything.” The man said very seriously.

Harry and Ned held a long stare down, and finally Harry said, “Okay I’m in.  I understand there is a lot you can’t tell me right now, but I hope as we work together and we build some trust you can confide in me a little more about the dangers of this possible task.”

Ned looked relieved and grateful, “I will not forget this favor. In return for your services I hope I can pay you back in due time.  I think you might have a future here in Winterfell, and my children all seem to enjoy your company enough that one of them might offer you a pretty nice position, possibly even in the court if you serve my house well.”

Harry agreed immediately, bowing his head slightly, “When do we leave?”

“At first light.  It’s a long road to King’s Landing.”

Standing up with the Lord of Winterfell spoke again, “Harry I am very grateful for this.  If you serve me well perhaps we can make arrangements for you that will benefit you greatly in this country.  I am open to anything depending on your level of service, and the protection of my daughters.  I am very much counting on you for this.”

Harry left without a further word, and made sure all his things were gathered and ready for the trip tomorrow.

At first light Harry was in the training yard training with Jon.  He was trying to convince the young man with everything he had not to pledge his life to the Night’s Watch, but it seemed he wasn’t having much luck, “It’s an honor, and it will be loads better than here.  With Father leaving I will just be stuck with Lady Stark.  She might actually have me killed in my sleep.”

Harry snorted at this.  Jon was always a little dramatic in the few years they had known each other.  The boy was very gifted with a sword however, and hoped that no one would be able to actually slay him in his sleep, “I think you are overreacting, and you are still the son of a High Born.  I think you should take your chances and go do some traveling.  You are skilled enough to defend yourself with a sword, and decent enough with a Bo to hunt.  I wouldn’t go swearing off women and marriage until you at least experience something like it.  If it turns out it’s not for you then by all means go forth and take your vows, but a lifelong vow that gets you killed for breaking is not to be taken lightly.”

Jon thought on his words and just shook his head as he swung his sword hard at Harry.  The boys fought for fifteen minutes landing light hits on the other every now and then, but never stopped.  Harry had to admit the boy was only getting better and better.

Robb and Theon joined them shortly after their little break, and Harry was now taking both boys on at the same time, “You have to be faster.  You are at the advantage with two extra swords.  USE THEM!”

Harry blocked, dodged, weaved, and kicked his way through their attacks with ease, “Ladies please.”

He dodged a nasty swipe from Rob and a strike that would’ve taken his head right off from Jon if he hadn’t swept down and took the legs out from Rob and sprung up so fast his sword was at Jon’s throat.  Poor Theon at that point just pointed his sword to the ground in surrender not wanting to get hit as hard as Rob, “Don’t let your emotions get in the way.  It will only get you killed.  Always remember an angry enemy is a dead one, because he will make mistakes and then you can beat anyone.”

A sarcastic clap broke off from the side.  Joffrey Baratheon, the crown prince, was standing beside an enormous man who had a burnt face, and a pissed off look on his face, “Well done.  For children I suppose.  I forget that here in the North they don’t train with real weapons.”

Harry looked at the boy in confusion, “A real weapon?  Why so I can cut off the arms and legs of my boss's kids?  That is a sure way to get fired besides these two are far too aggressive for such a thing.  They would hack each other to pieces everyday with real swords as hard as they fight though I wouldn’t expect a prince to understand such ferocity.”

Joffrey recoiled like he had been slapped, “Who are you?  I am the prince of-“

Harry yawned quite loudly turning to Rob, “Can we go get lunch before I go?  Would love to hear how you are going to run the place Rob.  Theon don’t forget that you owe me a sheathe after-“

Suddenly the boys shouted to look out, and Harry turned so fast and caught the rock that was thrown at his head with fire in his eyes he shouted, “Who threw that?”

Joffrey looked shocked to silence, while also paling dramatically.  Harry took threatening steps towards the boy to confront him and find out just what his problem was when the large man from before stepped in between them hand on his sword, “Not another step.”

Harry growled, “What are you his bitch?  Is the little puppy all bark and no bite?”

The man growled heavily drawing his sword, “Listen here you little fuck head.  I am not sure which highborn family you are from, but I can assure you that you cannot just go threatening the crown prince.”

“That boy threw a rock at my head which could have severely injured me.  I am about to be on a job for Lord Stark himself, and when he finds out that the prince just tried to assault me I can assure you there will be consequences.  No matter who his daddy is.”

The large man merely glared at Harry, and Harry glared back very ready to do combat, but the man backed down and put a hand on the prince’s shoulder indicating they should leave.  The boy was bustling with rage saying that the stupid Dog should turn around and fight, and Theon whistled, “The biggest balls in all the North eh Potter?  Standing down the face of the Hound, and not even blinking, the balls!”

Rob shook his head, “He is one of the best fighters in the seven Kingdoms.  Mostly on brute strength, but I hear he is obnoxiously fast for a big guy.”

Harry rolled his eyes and threw both his arms around the two Stark boys as the four of them walked towards lunch.  Harry told them that he would miss their training, and that he hoped Bran would have a speedy recovery from his fall that had only occurred a few days before.  Harry had checked on the boy a few times late in the night under the invisibility cloak.  He had been giving the boy skele grow, and hoped that in time the bones would grow back right.  He was thankful the boy was unconscious during the potion process.  Brewing skelegrow and other potions was nasty business in this world, but with the survival of more than a few magical creatures beyond the wall he was able to make do with just less potency.

The journey began shortly after lunch.  Joffery had been glaring at Harry throughout lunch, but the young man pretended the prince did not exist, and merely kept his conversation going with the Stark Children.  Arya was ecstatic that Harry was hired to protect herself and Sansa.  Sansa blushed a dark pink when Harry told her that they would all be spending lots of time together, much to the amusement of the older Stark Brothers, and Theon who couldn’t help but tease the girl.

Harry was not the same scrawny boy he had been in his world.  His year on the run with Ron and Hermione then his now five years of sword training had made him more broad shouldered, and with the Death of the Horcrux that was in his head, eating right, and working out he grew into his body a little more, standing taller than before.  He had even outgrown his glasses, and figured without the leech in his head he was able to see a lot clearer, which was a nice trait to have gotten from his mother.

The journey began shortly after lunch.  There were lots of heartfelt goodbyes, and promises to visit one another.  Lady Stark promised when Bran was better she would join him in King's Landing, and the rest of the Stark children agreed to come and visit so they could all stay close.  Harry gave heartfelt messages to both Jon and Rob.  To Jon he said to follow his heart, and do what he felt was right.  To Rob he told him to lead his people to the best of his ability, and to never hesitate to use Hedwig to contact him.

The journey ahead was long.  It involved lots of complaining, lots of are we there yet, and many many complaints from the crown prince.  Harry had gotten good at ignoring the boy, and was doing his best to stay out of the way of the King, and the Lannisters.  Harry thought about silencing Joffrey forever by using a ward on him, but didn’t want any suspicion to fall on him in a camp of people who had known each other forever; the blame would likely fall on a stranger.  Still he toyed with the idea in his head amusedly.

It took an entire week before Harry found himself in the spotlight.  Arya was crying her eyes out, and holding onto Harry dear life in front of the entire camping party.  Joffrey had attacked the butcher's boy, and Arya hit him with a stick, which in turn got her struck, and before Harry could get involved the girl's Dire wolf came to the rescue.  Thankfully all the Direwolves liked Harry so when he whistled the creature stopped immediately and stepped off the terrified boy.  All in all his injuries were very minor, but nonetheless his mother was calling for blood.

Ned however being the reasonable man he was asked for Harry’s perspective as Sansa was stuck closed lip in a hard place between her betrothed and her sister.  Harry was trying to keep the heat off Sansa, and that was how he found himself in the limelight.  He bowed lowly to the King, “Your Grace.  The children, and by children I mean the butchers boy and Arya were training under my tutelage with wooden sticks.  I am not sure of the exact words that were exchanged in the conversation, because I had left to relieve myself, and when I came back Joffrey was swinging an actual blade at the boy's head.  When Arya tried to defend the boy in panic instead of explaining herself she swung a stick at your son's head.  Before I could intervene the Direwolf which is trained to protect Arya attacked Joffrey.  I trained the direwolf well, and as soon as I commanded the beast she stopped immediately.  I believe the whole thing to be a misunderstanding sire.  Joffrey thought his betrothed sister was under attack, and he responded in what he felt like was the best action.  I likely would’ve done the same.”

Trying to expel blame from everyone so the prince wouldn’t throw a fit nor would the mother was the young man’s hope. Harry found himself unsuccessful as Cersei Lannister spoke, “That beast almost killed my son.”

“That beast your grace is only doing what it was trained to do.  The direwolf is the symbol of House Stark, and it protects all of its children.” Harry said calmly.

The King looked at Harry suspiciously, “Who are you?”

“Harry Potter sir.”

“Potter I don’t know of any Potter house.” The man said, eying the boy even more suspiciously now.

“Lord Stark has hired me as an extra guard and tutor for his children.  Arya has become quite taken with the ways of the sword, and like her family before her she is near prodigious.  I was told by Lord Stark that she inherited much of her aunt’s traits, and we hoped to encourage this skill.”

Harry was a master manipulator at times.  Playing on the man’s known affections for Lyanna Stark was a bold move in front of the queen, but it paid off when the man smiled, “Very well.  You keep training young lady.  I agree with Mr. Potter however that this sounds like one big understanding.  Joffrey well done on attempting to protect your ladies family, and as for the matter of the Direwolf I see no reason to condemn the beast.”

The queen immediately objected screeching like a harpy which led to Ned protesting as well.  The King looked furious and finally said, “Fine!  The beast will be set loose, and that is the last I want to hear of this bloody topic.”

This led to screams of despair from Sansa, and a quiet attitude from Arya whom Harry knew had already released her Direwolf into the wild.  This was Harry’s doing.  He feared the backlash might get the dog killed, and he convinced Arya to set the wolf free.

Harry hoped this was the last time the King’s attention fell on him, but with his luck he doubted it.