Harry's Two Moms

by Graydove71

Summary:

When Ron and the Twins do not come to rescue Harry from the Dursleys before his Second Year a different pair come in leading to Harry getting adopted.

Notes:

I do not own any Harry Potter character or location that is in this book I will, however, claim ownership of some OCs as well as personalities of several characters who did not really used that much in the original canon. Also, something to keep in mind in this story Dobby is not the Malfoy's House Elf

Chapter 1: Rescue leads to Adoption

Harry was feeling weak and hopeless. It had been over a week since his birthday and the unfortunate letter from the Ministry letting the Dursleys know he was not supposed to use magic outside of school. His Uncle had since locked and bolted Harry into his room, and with Hedwig also locked up, he could not send a letter to anyone. That plus the blasted House Elf Dobby blocking any letters coming to him, he could not even use a return owl to send a message for help from anyone.

 

He could not help but wonder if someone from the castle would come to check out why he had not shown up for class. Most days lately, Harry just spent the day staring into space bored out of his mind, doodling with some of Dudley's old pens, or sleeping the time away. After a week of having nothing to do, Harry ended up doing some simple exercises trying his best to stay in shape. Due to how little food the Dursleys were feeding him, Harry made sure not to use too much energy as he exercised.  He actually took great pleasure in doing some jumping jacks and hearing his Aunt complain. He did point out to her when she screamed at him through the door that if he did not exercise, he might just have to try to talk to the neighbors through the bars attached to his windows. She decided to leave him alone after that, and Harry was smart enough not to try it when Uncle Vernon was home lest he find himself back down in the cupboard and his school supplies locked up in the room. That did not mean he did not exercise when his uncle was home, he just stuck to more silent activities such as push-ups and sit-ups.

 

A week and a half after Harry had been locked away, he woke up to the sound of tapping at the bedroom window. Waking with a start, Harry saw an owl at his window. At first, he was surprised that an owl managed to get past Dobby's protections before he remembered himself as he got up to let them in. The owl was barely able to fit through the gap between two of the bars and landed on a broken desk Dudley had once owned. Seeing the Hogwarts Crest on the letter Harry knew it had to have come from the castle. Fearing the owl might take off again as soon as he removed the letter Harry quickly scribbled on a piece of scrap paper.

 

Send Help,

My family has locked me in my room. They have been feeding me the bare minimum of food, they had also locked up all of my school possessions. I do not think they will let me out. at all. My owl Hedwig has also been locked up and some crazy House Elf has prevented any other letters from reaching me. I can't take much more of this.

Harry Potter.

 

"Will you deliver this to someone up at the castle?" Harry asked the owl finishing the letter and using the last bit of ink in one of Dudley's old pens. The owl gave him a nod as Harry took his booklist from the bird and gave it the letter. Harry hoped someone would come soon not only so he could find time to get his new supplies but also to get away from the Dursleys. He had tried telling Professor Dumbledore at the end of last year that he did not want to come back to them based on how they had lied to him about his parents and how they had treated him.   But was told that since they were his family, Dumbledore was sure they cared for him but just did not know how to show it. When a member of staff came to see what his living conditions were like, he was sure it would change their tune and allow him to be well shut of them for good.

 

At Hogwarts

 

Due to the summer holidays, there were not many members of staff up at the castle to accept the owl that had arrived from Harry. Enjoying a late tea, Professor Bathsheda Babbling was chatting with Charity Burbage about the coming year when the owl arrived. "Oh that is unusual," Charity said as she reached for a scrap of paper held firmly in the owl's beak. The normally happy and pleasant woman's face fell as she read the small note. Though she had not had the pleasure of teaching Harry she had heard mostly good things about the boy from most members of his instructors last year.

Though not everyone did, as usual, Severus had little praise for any of the students who were not a member of his own House, he was incredibly harsh to Harry, always comparing the young boy to his father. This was something that most staff found quite impossible due to James having died when the boy was too young to have many memories of the man. Charity, was sure if Severus had read what she had just read he would say Harry was trying to pull some sort of prank, but in her mind, no student would ever make such claims even in a prank. "We must check this out," Charity said in a more brisk tone than Batsheda had ever heard her use before.

 

"Um, check out what?" Batsheda asked.

"This note, Batty," Charity said passing over the note only to realize she had no idea where Harry Potter actually lived. "Do you recall who was sent to meet him last year?" she asked.

"I don't recall. I know Minnie met with several Muggleborns but they were all girls, Flitwick met with one of the students whose parent was trying to decide to send their child here or to one of the other schools. I don't recall anyone else meeting with new students last summer," Bathsheda said tapping her bottom lip in thought. "His address should be located in the school records," she said.

"That is why I like you, Batty, always so logical," Charity said.

"Knock it off, let's just go check the records," Bathsheda stated standing up and heading out of the hall.

 

However, when they reached the records room they found that all information about Harry was missing. "This gets stranger and stranger," Charity said tapping her foot in frustration.

"Well if the Hogwarts' records don't work, we should check out the Owl Advisory Board at the Ministry, after all, they keep track of all paths the owls take in Britain they would be able to track the owl that delivered Harry's message," Bathsheda.

"Good idea. I will go track down the owl, You schedule an appointment," Charity said and without waiting for the other to respond left the room for the Owlery. It did not take her long to locate the owl for almost as soon as she entered the Owlery it had flown down to perch on her shoulder its brand of magic letting it know it was needed. "Are you open to helping, Harry, my feathered friend?" Charity asked it as she petted its head. The owl gave her a hoot of confirmation making her smile at the loyalty even the owls had for the students who came to the castle.

 

With the owl riding her shoulder, she headed to Bathsheda's office to find her friend had already set up a Floo call to the Ministry. As both had already completed their work for the summer and getting their classes ready for the new school year, neither of them hesitated as they went through the fire to the Ministry. Thankfully the Ministry workers were able to track the owl's trail to deliver several students' book lists. Figuring that Harry had been the last delivery it had made, they saw that it had been to a house located at #4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging Surry. Having an address the pair quickly checked a map to locate a possible Apparition point they could use that was out of the way as well as changing into Muggle-approved clothing.

 

The pair found themselves in a back alley close to where the records showed the owl had delivered Harry's letter. Most of the houses they saw around them were all the same, with one exception.   One whose backyard was close to the alley that had Apparated into had bars attached to just one of the upper story windows. The owl that was still riding on Charity's shoulder puffed up looking towards the house giving them the idea that it might be where Harry lived. Charity, who was familiar with Muggles found it strange that one would place bars on only one window let alone one that was on an upper level which in her mind gave credence to the letter Harry had sent. "So how do you want to handle this?" Bathsheda asked.

"Just knock at the door with our feathered friend on my shoulder and ask to see Harry just to find out how they react," Charity said as she walked around to the front of the house and saw her guess had been right as she spotted the large number 4 on the door.

 

"What do you want? Whatever you're selling I am not buying," a large beefy man said answering the door.

"We are here to see, Harry Potter," Charity said.

"There is no one here by that name. You leave my family alone, or I shall call the cops," the man growled out his large bushy mustache twitching.

 

"Seemed like an overreaction don't you think Batty?" Charity said once the door was slammed in their faces.

"I quite agree which means, we need to get inside now," Bathsheda said as they both headed back to the alley and secretly unlocked the backyard fence. Casting Notice-Me-Not and Dissalustionment Charms on themselves. Bathsheda then cast a Hover Charm on Charity floating her up to the window with the bars. Charity made short work of the bars first banishing them before putting up an illusion so it would not raise any eyebrows from the Muggles. Seeing Harry inside the room doing some sit-ups she gently knocked on his window making him start. Knowing that he would be able to see her due to the charms she had on her to go unnoticed she cast a spell on the window which would allow him to see her through it.

 

"Hello?" Harry said sounding confused.

"We got your message, Mr. Potter, and have come to check it out. I am very disappointed to see that what you wrote was the truth. Professor Babbling and I will be getting you out of here," she said.

"Thank you, Professor...." Harry said but had no idea who she was.

"Sorry, I am Professor Charity Burbage and I teach the class on Muggle Studies. Now your note mentioned that your school supplies had been locked up as well," Charity said smiling down at the too-small boy.

"My uncle locked them in my old cupboard under the stairs," Harry said as he started to gather the items he had been allowed to have in his room in the hopes of leaving the Dursleys.

 

"Well then it seems, I must come in and collect them," Charity said opening the window and entering the room, while at the same time canceling the charms on her.

"But the door is locked and if any more magic is cast here I will be expelled," Harry said.

"While it is true that as an underage student, you are not allowed to use magic outside of school there is a clause that permits Magicals to use magic to protect their own life. From the small bit you had written about in your note, we shall be fine.  If not I shall deal with it," Charity said as she used her wand to unlock the door to his room and boldly walked out of it.

 

Hearing the door open the entire Dursley family turned to look. "That Boy, if he had just gotten himself expelled, we are not keeping him," Vernon Dursley said lifting himself out of his armchair. But he stopped as he watched the woman he had just turned away from their home walk down the stairs with a wand out, clenching his beefy fist. "What do you think you are doing in my house?" Vernon asked getting ready to hit the intruder. woman or not.

"As I told you earlier, I came to find Harry, and upon seeing the conditions he is living in.  I will be making sure he never comes back," Charity said her anger at what she had seen at the house so far making sparks shoot out of the tip of her wand. "Now Harry, where are your belongings?" she asked in a gentle voice turning to look at him.

"In there Professor," Harry said pointing to the door to his old bedroom/cupboard. Seeing another group of padlocks on the door Charity did not use her magic to unlock them but blasted them apart before having Harry pull them out not wanting to take her eyes off the boy's abusive family. Once Harry had all his supplies out of the room, she shrunk them and placed them in her pocket before leading Harry to the door to the backyard. There they were joined by Bathsheda, Charity gently took hold of Harry's upper arm and took them out of there using Side-Along Apparition. Rather than head back to Hogwarts or take Harry to get his school supplies, Charity took him right to the Ministry to explain to them why she had not only collected Harry but why she used Magic to do so.

 

It had been a short meeting with Charity sharing her memories of what she had seen at that place and showing Harry to do it as well so he could show the reason for the first account of the use of underage magic.  Charity and the Ministry worker were horrified at what Harry's memory showed which went back a little further than a House Elf appearing where it should not have been but also that the cupboard where his supplies had been kept had been Harry's old bedroom.  As the Head of the Improper Use of Magic office saw that it had been a House Elf and not Harry who had cast the Hoover Charm on his birthday it had been expunged from his records.

Harry's case was then sent to the Ministry department dealing with abuse to underage Magicals. As the department sent some Muggle-clothed officers to check out Harry's home, Charity took Harry to Diagon Alley to help him buy all his new supplies for the coming year. For his privacy, she stayed behind as he went to gather money from his vaults only to be called to the back office when a Goblin came to collect her to inform her that due to his current state, Harry had passed out on the ride back and was currently being healed in the Gringott's Healing rooms.

 

Charity could have kicked herself for her oversight.  Harry had written in his note that he had barely been given enough food to get by, and what does she do she takes him to the Ministry and then Gringotts before she tries to get him to see someone who can heal him. As she was led into the Healing room she was still kicking herself only to be met by a well-dressed Goblin. "I was informed that you were the one who brought Heir Potter in today," the Goblin said.

"I was," Charity answered.

"Then I offer you thanks," he said shocking her. "We have been trying to reach Heir Potter for years, but our owls keep being sent back. We tried to reach him last year when he arrived with Mr. Hagrid," the goblin said shocking Charity for there should have never been any reason Hagrid of all people should have been with a student to bring them into the Magical World. "But they left before I could reach them."

 

"Um, why did you need to reach him?" Charity asked confused why a Goblin would need to see a student, or in Harry's case before he even became a student.

"I am his family's Account Manager," the goblin explained which made it clear to Charity who as a Muggleborn had never really had a large enough vault to need a Goblin Account Manager. "And since Heir Potter is the last numerous lines, I had been trying to reach him to give him his Heir/Lordship rings. What is even better with your visit is that as Heir Potter passed out from something that happened in the bank this gave our Healers reason to perform a full cleansing on him. As our Healers did so we found he had been under various potions and enchantments. For his privacy, I am afraid I can not share any more than that with you."

"I understand perfectly, Mister Goblin," Charity said making the Goblin give her a small nod of approval.

 

"May I inquire why you came with Heir Potter to the bank today, by the way?" the Goblin asked,

"Early this morning while at Hogwarts a school owl arrived carrying this note," she said pulling the note out of a pocket and showing it to the Goblin.

"Well that is alarming," the Goblin said looking over the note. "And you did this all by yourself?" he asked.

"No, I was eating with Bathsheda Babbling, she accompanied me," Charity answered wondering where this was going.

"Very well by the Power given to me as the Potter family Account Manager, backed up by the entire Goblin Nation, I declare for the time being you and Bathsheda Babbling shall be granted custody of Heir Potter until further notice," the Goblin said in a very formal voice.

"Wait? What?" Charity asked standing up and bending over the table with her hands pressed hard onto the surface to help ground herself.

 

"In layman's terms due to what we have found out about my client coupled with how you and Bathsheda helped him out of a bad situation, without thought of any type of reward let me put him in both your care. It also did not hurt that your worry and disappointment at yourself for possibly causing him pain sealed the deal. I will mention that just because of your new duty as his guardian, I still can not give you any private information about him other than to point out some general information. In the first bit of advice, you might want to talk to him when he gets up and give him information on the Hogwarts Houses and suggest he look at some of his relationships.

Also while I can not share who it is with, his parents did arrange a Marriage Contract for him between a child of some of their friends from when they had gone to Hogwarts themselves. Now as a Muggleborn Magical, you may not be well acquainted with Marriage Contracts. When a Contract is legal and valid, not to mention those involved are attracted to the other's sexual identity a bond is created between them. I can inform you this at least, that we had found that one of the enchantments that Heir Potter had been under was to block such a bond so he may ask you about it when the results of what we had cleansed from him. If he wishes to share his results with you or Madam Babbling we do hope you keep his information a secret," the Goblin stated.

Chapter 2: Two Test and Two New Guardians

Summary:

Harry is informed of what has been done to him as he is given two test and their results.

A week ago at the Burrow

 

As per Dumbledore's orders, Ron had tried to keep in contact with Harry over the summer only to not receive a response from the famous boy all summer. Thinking that maybe once he was back home, Harry had discovered he and Hermione had been paid to be his friends.  Ron had decided to try to convince Fred and George to help him pick Harry up in their father's modified flying car.

Unfortunately, Percy overheard their plans and told their parents. Just as Ron had convinced the twins to help him out, their parents sat them down at the dining room table. "Percy told us you were going to use the car to check up on Harry is that correct?" their mom asked.

"He has not responded once to any letter I send him. I was worried his family had done something to him," Ron said as he shared one of the tales Harry had told him and Hermione "he said his bedroom was a small cupboard under the stairs."

"I am sure he was just messing with you Ronald," his dad said. "In fact before talking to you about your plan, I had also heard back from the Headmaster. It seems Harry had written to him and let the Headmaster know that he and his family had been on vacation and would be out of the country until the term started. Due to where the family is vacationing, Errol has been leaving the letters at his home. The Headmaster has had to stop by every once and a while to collect all the letters Harry received so the Muggles would not get suspicious," his dad said. Ron breathed a sigh of relief though tinged with jealousy at Harry getting to leave England and have a vacation and most likely buy lots of stuff. While he was no longer worried about Harry finding out about him and Hermione, just thinking of Harry spending all that money made Ron want to really get closer to Harry so he could gain access to all that cash.

 

Gringotts now

 

Harry woke up feeling groggy in a comfortable, yet small, bed where his feet stuck off the end of it. "Ah Heir Potter, you are awake," a soft yet gruff voice said from his left side. Harry spent a moment feeling around for his glasses before finding them on his right and placing them on his face. Turning to look at the speaker, Harry saw it was a Goblin, but rather than the normal suits he had seen Goblins wear this one was wearing a light green robe with a pair of bones in the shape of a cross on the left side of the robes right over where a heart would be on a human.

"Um, hello?" Harry said a little confused for the last thing he recalled was getting some money from his vault and getting back into the cart then blackness.

"I am afraid you passed out on the trip back up, so we brought you to our Halls of Healing. As standard procedure due to your passing out, my team ran a check-up on you and found some troubling news," the Goblin said passing over a roll of parchment to him. "Now I have been told that most of these had been cleansed but also your Account Manager has undertaken some measures to further protect you. I think it would be wise to look over your documents so you can ask any questions about them when Master Bonecrusher comes to see you in a bit."

 

Harrison "Harry" James Potter

Enchantments/Potions in systems (listed by the date the spell was first placed on the patient)*

• Horcrux attached to soul anchored to Cursed scar (creates a block in any Occlumency/Legilimency skill patient possesses)
• Blocking of Marriage Contract Bond with Draconis Abraxus Malfoy
• Magic-induced loyalty geared to Ronald Billius Weasley, Ginevra Molly Weasley, Arthur Septimus Weasley, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and Hermione Jean Granger
• Magic-induced hatred geared to Draconis Abraxus Malfoy, Severus Tobias Snape, Dark Cored Magicals, and Slytherin Students (updated every year)
• Memory Charms to forget/retain ever hearing the words and phrases: "Lordship/Ladyship/Heirship" "Inheritance Test" "Goblin Account Manager" "Cleansing" "Horcrux" "Marriage Contracts" "Peverell" and "Department of Magical Children"
• Magic-induced neutrality geared to Remus Lupin, Molly Muriel Weasley, Fredick Gideon Weasley, George Fabian Weasley, Percy Ignatius Weasley,
• Magical Core Blocked 45%
• Magical Skills Blocked: All-Speak (Parseltongue broken through) Metamorphmagus, Wandless/Silent spell casting.
• Mail Ward is in place so only people approved by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore can reach him.
• Tounge Tied Jinx to only prevent the person from speaking of abuse done to them other than the people approved by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
• Magical Core drain (due to coming in contact with the source of Horcrux. In process of recovering)

Physical Damages (current and pre-existing conditions)

• An extreme case of malnutrition
• An incorrectly healed left wrist
• Bruised ribs
• Numerous scars

 

After Harry had finished reading the medical form, he was both a little angry and confused. His anger stemmed from the fact that he had been enchanted to actually form a relationship with his so-called friends. He was a little confused about why he was meant to be loyal to Ron's dad having never met the man before. Reading about the Mail Ward did make some actual sense to him as he recalled in his youth strange people, he now guessed were Magicals, coming up to greet him yet he had never received a single letter from anyone even at Hogwarts. "Can I assume that you got rid of everything on this list?" Harry asked as he could still recall the words the form stated he was to magically forget.

"Well, the enchantments that had been placed on you have been cleansed, As for your physical injuries, I am prescribing a month-long regiment of nutritional potions with every meal. Your wrist and ribs have been set and while you were unconscious a healing salve was put onto all of your scars and with luck, they shall be gone before your classes resume. The only one that we did not touch was your lightning bolt scar since most of your kind know you from that scar. We had also found that the scar had been cursed, and as you can see on your form a Horcrux was attached to it. Even if we do not use the salve with the Horcrux being cleansed the scar will start to fade over time," the Goblin said. "Now that you are well enough you do have someone waiting to see you," the Goblin said

 

Harry had expected the Goblin Account Manager, whatever that was, the other Goblin Healer had mentioned before they had Harry read the form, but the person was the woman who had come to rescue him from the Dursleys. Harry saw she had changed out of Muggle clothing into a lilac-colored robe as well taking the ponytail out of her hair and letting her black locks drape over her left shoulder and halfway down her robes. "Hello again, Mr. Potter," Professor Burbage said taking an open seat that the Goblin Healer had just vacated.

"Hello, again Professor sorry for this," Harry said.

"None of that Harry, if anyone should apologize it should be me for not thinking to take you to see a Healer after reading the note you sent," she said. "Also I am not sure how to tell you this but it seems that your Account Manager has for your protection placed you in both Professor Bathsheda and my care as your temporary guardians.  So I think for the moment I think it would be alright if you just called me Charity."

 

Harry's mouth fell open in shock for a moment before he decided to tackle one of those issues for the moment.  "That is the third time today, I have either heard or read about an Account Manager what is it?" he asked.

Charity rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.  "From what I know from some of the other members of staff that have them.  An Account Manager is a specified job for Goblins who manage the numerous bank vaults for Magical beings who have over a certain amount of money," she explained.

 

"They also help run the vaults, manage investments, keep track of any legal documents, artifacts, and Grimoire old families such as your own possessed," the Goblin Healer added from the side where she doing some work in the corner.

"Wow," both Harry and Charity said at the same time,

"Sorry I could not give the full info Mr. Potter.  I am actually a Muggleborn so my account with the bank is not large enough to have its own manager," Charity said a tad bit embarrassed.

"It is alright Professor," Harry said.  "Um, not to be rude, but why were you chosen to be my guardian?"

 

"That is actually quite a good question, but once again I can not answer it.  Your Account Manager just informed me that since I came to remove you from your bad situation without any thoughts of reward, Batty and I would be given custody of you until we can all find a more suitable situation for you," Charity explained.

"So you know what the Goblins found out?" Harry asked.

"I was not told of anything though I was told to offer you some advice the first one is to do some more research into the Hogwarts Houses and the second is to look at all your relationships," Charity said.  Harry had already planned on doing as he was pretty sure Ron and Hermione were not really his friends.  "I was also told to be available to answer any question you might have about the Magical World."

"I guess from the list I was given, I would want to ask what is an Inheritance Test, a Marriage Contract, and the bond attached to a contract?"  Harry asked.

 

"Alright I was warned about one of those so I did some research," Charity said pulling out a small notebook.  "Alright, a Marriage Contract is usually set up between old Magical Families, or just really good friends.  They come about when the families have their kids going on playdates with each other and the magic of both children responds well with one another.  Either that or if the child has not yet shown signs of magic before the playdate but when it ends and the kids are to be separated they will get so upset that their magic will emerge.  Now according to the material, the Goblins allowed me to look at, one a Contract has been put in place that strengthens the bond of magic between the two.  If the Contract is created legally ie. set up and signed by all legal parents or guardians the only way to break the Contract is by finding out that over the course of their life, one of the children finds that their preference for partner changes.  As in a Contract between a boy and a girl when one of them finds out they prefer the same sex."

 

"You said legal Contracts, what about illegal ones?" Harry asked,

Charity flipped through a couple of pages in the notebook before finding the answer.  "As the Contract is illegal it is already not valid, however, if say one of the parents or guardians sets up a new contract.  The example I found mentions the parents not having a Contract themselves and ending up getting divorced.  A person will either have to turn to the Goblins for judgment on the Contracts or Lady Magic herself," Charity read from the book.

"Lady Magic?" Harry asked.

"Let's see... think of it as one of the Muggle Deities.  Lady Magic is said to be a supreme being for all things Magical and she is said to work with others representing Death, Time, Nature or the Earth itself, Destiny, sometimes called Fate, and some believe there is one that stands for Life as well," Charity said and sees the Goblin Healer give a small nod.

 

"Alright, that answered the Marriage Contract, I guess for now, but what is an Inheritance Test?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Charity said with a slight blush.  "Um, Madam Goblin, can you answer that question for us?"

Both Harry and Charity looked to the Goblin Healer who put down their work and turned to the pair of Humans.  "I can.  An Inheritance Test is a special test that is usually done on Magicals re-entering the Magical World for the first time after a tragedy occurs such as the death of your parents and being brought up in secret.  I know your Account Manager tried to give you one last year but just missed you. 

Another case is if a Magical suffers from Amnesia either through enchantments or more mundane means.  An Inheritance Test gives a person a range of information about themselves.  The most common pieces of information are their parents, guardians, what lines they hold, the status of their vaults, if they have any Marriage Contracts, and can also give the sort of information that your medical test covered.  You will be getting a full look at one later when your Account Manager comes to collect after I am satisfied," the Goblin Healer said turning back to her work.

 

Not sure how much work the Goblin had left, Charity began to give Harry a more full account of the Hogwarts Houses.  Thus Harry learned that while Ravenclaw was the House of the Knowledge it did not just mean knowledge that came from books but from life experiences, street smart, or just a thirst for any type of knowledge one could get their hands on.  As a former Ravenclaw herself, she also explained why the House had raven in its name but its animal mascot was an Eagle, though made him promise not to spread it around. 

For Hufflepuff Charity let him know that the House was not just a place to make friends it was seen as a place of quiet contemplation saying that while Ravenclaw could be seen as the Mind, Hufflepuff was the Heart of Hogwarts.  Charity also corrected a lot of the negative information on Slytherin House letting him know that it was not a House of evil as some like the Headmaster said it was but was a place of healing that focused on both mind and body. 

Continuing the analogy she called Slytherin the actual Soul of the school.  Harry thinking along those lines inwardly classified Gryffindor as the muscle or strength from the year he lived in the House.  Well, it would have been if not for the actions during the last part of his first year and the incident with Norbert where the House turned against Neville, Hermione, and him.  At that moment the House had acted harsher towards him than even Slytherin had done at that point, though technically during that time it was the Slytherins who had not turned against him.

 

Thankfully before, he went too far into those thoughts the Healer finished her work as she gathered up some papers and had Harry and Charity follow her out of the Hall of Healing.  Harry tried to remember the path they took to wherever they were heading but just like the twisty minecart ride to his vault, he soon lost track of it.  Their journey ended with a set of large obsidian black doors with a ruby dragon on one door and an emerald unicorn on the other.  The Healer knocked on the door producing a surprisingly soft sound before they were told to enter.  The Healer pushed open the door with the dragon before holding it open for Harry and Charity to enter and take a seat.  "Here you go, Bonecrusher," the Healer said passing over the packet of documents containing all the work she and the others had done to his client.

"Thank you Silverwing," Bonecrusher said taking the packet and giving it a cursory look before placing it in a pile of other documents on his desk.  "Hello, again Heir Potter.  My name is Bonecrusher, and I and my ancestors have been in charge of your accounts since their creation," the well-dressed Goblin said holding out a hand to shake Harry's with.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Harry said shaking the offered hand.

"There is no need for such formalities, Heir Potter," Bonecrusher said in what Harry took as a Goblin smile that still made him flinch back a little.  "As you have most likely been informed of by now today I will be giving you an Inheritance Test as well as bringing you up to date on all your vaults," Bonecrusher said.

 

"But I only have one vault," Harry interrupted him.

"As you are still an Heir and not Lord of your family lines yet, I can assume that the vault you have gone to so far is the Potter Heir Vault.  Your main family vaults hold a lot more money and items in them and you are actually connected and in line to inherit, more than just the Potters.  That is another reason for the test so I can find out which vaults you have access to.  Now as you have already undergone a Medical report we can skip that part of the test but I think it is best to add as much information as we can for everything else we can find out," Bonecrusher said as he pulled out a silver goblet which contained specks of Gold and some red material inlaid in it, as well as a short blade. 

 

"Now I am aware we just fixed you up as best we could, so this might seem a little strange but I am going to need you to make a small cut in your wand hand and let four drops of blood fall into the goblet," the Goblin said pushing over the goblet and blade.  Harry was not so sure but saw Charity giving him a small nod to show it was alright.  Finding himself trusting her for what she had done to get him away from the Dursleys, he lifted the blade to his right palm and made a small cut. 

He was a little surprised when he did not feel any pain as he held his sliced palm over the cup and let the four drops of blood fall into it.  Almost as soon as the last drop landed there was a flash of purple-ish light and his palm had been healed of the cut.  Harry marveled at this bit of magic wondering if he could learn it so he did not see what actually was done to produce the results of his test until he felt something tap against his right elbow.  Looking up he saw Bonecrusher holding out a roll of parchment to him with another smile.  Gulping Harry took the roll of parchment and began to read it.

 

Harrison "Harry" James Potter

Parents:

• James Flemont "Prongs" Potter (Deceased)
• Lily Seraphim "Gosimer" Potter nee Evans (Deceased)

Godparents:

• Alice Deborah "Mama Cat" Longbottom nee Beswick (Mentally Compromised)
• Sirius Leapold "Padfoot" Black (Falsely Imprisoned) 
• Remus Jacobey "Moony" Lupin

Magical Guardian

• Remus Jacobey "Moony" Lupin (Ousted due to not fulfilling duties possibly enchanted due to Wereworlf and Godparent bond needing to be suppress to fail duties)
• Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Illegally.  Ousted)
• Charity Samantha Burbage (By Order of the Goblin Nation)
• Bathsheda Brooke Babbling (By Order of the Goblin Nation)

Siblings:

• None

Marriage Contracts:

• To Draconius Abraxas Malfoy signed by James and Lily Potter as parents as well as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy for parents of Draconius submitted February 26, 1981
• To Ginevra Molly Weasley signed by Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley (As put in place when Albus was Magical Guardian partially legal) submitted October 31, 1981
• 71.468 Illegal Contracts submitted after November 1981

Family Lines Heirs:

• Potter (until coming of age) Inherited from James Potter
• Gryffindor (until coming of age) Inherited from James Potter
• Peverell (until coming of age) Inherited from James Potter

Family Lines Lordships:

• Slytherin from Rite of Conquest
• Gaunt from Rite of Conquest

Products and Investments

• Sleekeazy Hair Care Products (created and owned by Potter Line)
• Time-Turner (created by Potter Line.  Sold but paid Royalties for)
• 1/2 Hogwarts School (started partially by Gryffindor and Slytherin Lines)
• Knight Bus (idea thought up by Potter Line)
• 2/5 ownership shares of Zonko's Jokeshops (put in place by James Potter)

 

Longterm/Outstanding payments

• 10,000 Galleons a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to the personal vaults of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore started November 1, 1981
• What transitions to 500 British Pounds every quarter of a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to Dursley family accounts (Muggle Bank of England) started November 1, 1981
• 5000 Galleons a year transferred from Peverell Main Vault to the Bird Fund started January 21, 1983 (Under review due to lack of evidence such a group lawfully exists)
• 1000 Galleons a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to the personal vault of Arthur Septimus Weasley started September 1, 1990
• 500 Galleons a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to the personal vault of Ronald Billius Weasley started September 1, 1990
• 500 Galleons a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to the personal vault of Ginevra Molly Weasley started September 1, 1990
• 300 Galleons a year transferred from Potter Main Vault to vault set up for Hermione Jean Granger started  January 19, 1991

Missing/Stolen Artifacts:

• Peverell Family Wand "Elder Wand" (Stolen 876 currently in the possession of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore)
• Gaunt Lordship Ring/Resurrection Stone (Missing since 1951)
• Sword of Gryffindor (Removed from Gryffindor Vault by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore July 29, 1987)
• Numerous Tomes of family magic, apart from Family's Grimoire (Removed from Potter, Gryffindor, and Peverell Vaults by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and given to Hermione Jean Granger January 19, 1991)
• Numerous Tomes of family magic, apart from Family's Grimoire (Removed from Slytherin and Gaunt Vaults by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore entered a protective state when damaged by a person outside Slytherin and Gaunt families January 20, 1991)

Notes:

The results from the test Harry is given first is a test mainly used for healing which is why there is no information on his family or messing with his vaults

* listed as when it was the first cast not on the most recent cast hence why a spell that included Hermione was listed as the second item.

Chapter 3: Gringotts Rituals

Summary:

Harry is reunited with his second new Guardian before he takes part in a ritual to get his stolen stuff back.

"Are you alright Harry?" Charity asked having backed away to give him privacy to read the test himself.

"Can I get all this money and stuff back?" Harry asked Bonecrusher rather than answer her.

"All we need is your approval, young Heir," Bonecrusher said.

"Oh, I approve it alright," Harry said almost in a growl as he crushed the inheritance test in his fist.

"Very well unless they have spent the money, it shall be back to you by the end of the day.  As for the artifacts that have been taken from you we will have you undertake a Blood Artifact Retrieval," Bonecrusher said making some notes on his parchment. Having never heard of a Blood Artifact Retrivial Harry turned to look at his new guardian.

"Um, a Blood Artifact Retrieval from what I know of it is a way that Magicals can get back items that either belong to their family or were created by them. From what I know it is usually done when objects are stolen or they lend it to someone who refuses to give it back," Charity said.

 

"Madam Burbage is correct," Bonecrusher said, "though there are sometimes when the ritual is used when a family member gives the artifact out to pay for some depts and the person they lend it to does not hand it back after the debt is repaid. As soon we are done here and contact Lady Babbling we shall perform the ritual."

"Why do we need to contact her?" Harry asked.

"According to Madam Burbage both of them came to rescue you from your abusive home. As your results most likely stated The Goblin Nation has placed them in position as you Guardians. We have records of Lady Burbage knowing this, but as of right now, Madam Babbling has yet to be informed of her new status. While you technically have full control of the vauts that you can access at the current time, for us to perform any Rituals your Guardians must give their approval," Bonecrusher explained.

 

A half-hour later Bathsheda Babbling was led into the office looking confused. "I got a summoning to come here?" she said sounding confused.

"Hello, Lady Babbling thank you for coming," Bonecrusher said standing from his desk and shaking her hand which only made the woman look even more confused.

"Um, hi," Bathsheda said taking the seat that Bonecrusher had created for her so that she and Charity were seated on either side of Harry.

"As thanks for rescuing my client earlier today, the Goblin Nation has declared both you and Madam Burbage as Harrison's Magical Guardians until he either comes of age or one of his Godparents is available to take over the role," Bonecrusher explained. Unlike Charity, Bathsheda was a Half-Blood so knew exactly what sort of responsibility was being placed on her shoulders. "And now since we are all here, I need you both to perform your first official duty as his Guardians.   We need your permission to perform a Blood Artifact Retrieval," Bonecrusher said passing over a form to the two Hogwarts Professors. Harry for the moment was worried about what would happen if either or both of them refused for him to take part in the ritual thinking of everything listed that had been taken from him,

 

Thankfully both of them signed their approval, leading Bonecrusher to take Harry to the appropriate Ritual room leaving the pair behind. "Not to be rude but what would have happened if they had not agreed to have me take part in the ritual?" Harry asked.

"They would have been removed as your Guardians and other candidates would have been found," Bonecrusher said. "The Goblin Nation would never allow such artifacts to remain in the hands of thieves if either of them had not signed off on the ritual, they would have faced Goblin Justice for possibly being complicit in what had been done to you." This news made Harry breathe a sigh of relief for not only had the pair of Professors passing the test but it would be the first step in setting things right.

 

Harry stepped into the ritual room and was told to kneel at a specific point within the ritual circle. Bonecrusher leaves him there as through another door a Goblin entered dressed in what looked like a robe of spun gold. "Good day, Heir Potter, I am Ritualist Elmblossom," the Goblin said shocking Harry with its name for he had not personally met that many Goblins all the lessons in History of Magic most Goblins usually contained names that contained weapons or tools in them not the name of plants. "I take it my name surprises you?" Elmbloosom asked.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I thought all Goblins had a weapon or tool-related names."

"That is mostly true for Goblins but Healers tend to take names that are all animal-related while Ritualists use names that are based on plants," they explained.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," Harry said giving the Goblin a small nod of his neck.

"That is alright, young Heir if you are like some members of your family you will end up dealing with my kind on numerous occasions throughout your life," Elmblossom said giving him a small smile letting Harry see that another difference between this Goblin and the others he had met was the lack of sharpened teeth in their mouth. "So shall we begin? Or do you have any other questions about my kind?" Harry had a feeling this was a general question and not the Ritualist getting annoyed that he was wasting time.

 

"I have no further questions at this time, thank you," Harry said not wanting to make a mistake and assume Elmblossom's gender for as far as he knew males and females could look similar to each other.

"Very well, if you think of any do not hesitate to ask for a Ritualsist, such as myself, we just love to explain things and answer any question given to us, or as some say it hear ourselves speak," Elmblossom said with a laugh as they pulled out a roll of parchment, a small scythe, a cutting of wood, and a pitcher of some sort of greenish-pink liquid. "The ritual is quite simple, Heir Potter, I will use the scythe to make a small cut in your non-wand hand's palm to add a few drops of your blood to the Summoning Solution. You will then stir the solution and your blood with the cutting from Yggdrasil, or World Tree while I speak the chant that accompanies this ritual in Old Gobbledegook. Once I am done, I will give you a sign to pour the Summoning Solution onto the roll of parchment."

"Sounds easy enough," Harry said as he held out his left palm and closed his eyes not wanting to see the blood. He winces a little at the sound of Elmblossom's robes not wanting to get his hand sliced open.

 

"You can open your eyes now Heir Potter and begin to mix the solution," Elmblossom said.

"But I thought you had to get some of my blood?" Harry asked confused turning his left palm towards him and seeing it looked like it normally did.

"I did collect the blood, but all rituals done here will not cause a person to feel pain, nor leave a scar as any cut is instantly healed," Elfblossom said gesturing to the pitcher of solution and the small switch of wood. Harry took hold of the wood and let out a small gasp feeling a more powerful spark than he felt when he used his wand. "Yes, it is intense, for Yggdrasil is one of the various World Trees. But while it promotes a strong connection to Magic by old beliefs every Wand Maker in the world refuses to use it to produce wands lest the tress, which there are not that many of, be killed off," Elmblossom explained as Harry started to stir his blood into the solution within the pitcher. Elmblossom's voice took on a lighter and high-pitched tone as they began to chant the ritual as Harry stirred. The voice almost made him feel as if he was falling into a trance watching to greenish-pink liquid start to change into a silver color.

 

Harry was not sure how long he had been stirring while Elmblossom chanted before he was given the sign to dump the solution on the blank roll of parchment. As soon as the liquid was poured on the parchment it unrolled itself as all the items that had been listed as being taken from Harry's vaults were written on the parchment. With a flash of silver light the same color as the final solution, the words disappeared and all the missing items began to appear.

One corner of the room began to fill up with towering piles of books and tomes, some of which looked like someone had tried and failed to burn. As soon as the books arrived the silver light surrounded them repairing any damage done to them before they vanished from sight. Next to arrive were random items including a jewel-encrusted sword, a ring with a sign of an Ouroboros snake, and a wand. Elmblossom directed Harry to handle all three objects to see what he wanted to do with them, at least the sword and wand the ring they had him set aside for later. Harry sent both items to various vaults, after being assumed that since he had started on this the protections on all his vaults had been improved so no one would be able to steal from them again.

When the three items were taken care of, he had thought they were finished only recalling he had now reached the end of the list of all the items stolen from him. He was mistaken as documents began to appear and he was once again directed to go over all of them. Two documents dealt with royalty payment plans for the use of the Knight Bus, and Time-Turners. Yet the majority of the documents dealt with properties that had been taken from the lines he controlled.

These included places called Shell Cottage, Gaunt family shack, Castles for the lines of Gryffindor, Peverell, and Slytherin, Peverell Secret Burrow, The Hogshead Pub, and much to Harry's surprise #4 Privat Drive. On the property documents, it also listed if anyone was using it at the time letting him see that Professor Dumbledore had tried to pass off Peverell Castle as Dumbledore Castle, someone named Aberforth Dumbledore was using the Hogshead as home and business, Mr. Weasley had been holding Shell Cottage for the first of his kids to get married while housing his family at Peverell's Secret Burrow after shortening the name to just the Burrow. The Dursleys were of course living at #4 Privat Drive. Elmblossom asked him what he wanted to do with all the properties leading him to kick out both Dumbledores from his properties and have them Warded against entering them. The Dursleys were to be evicted while letting the Goblins have the house itself to either sell or destroy as they saw fit.

 

Harry did hesitate when it came to Peverell's Secret Burrow for while he did not like the fact that Ron, along with his little sister and father had stolen from him, he had no issue with the rest of the family and did not want to force them to leave if they had nowhere else to go. Letting Elmblossom know that if the family had no other options for living arrangements, he would let them have the place but to place it under Molly's name rather than her husband's. When the property documents were gone the only things left in the ritual chamber were the stuff for the ritual as Elmblossom used the parchment to mark off that Harry had had everything returned to him and properly dealt with before leading him back to Bonecrusher's office.

 

Flashback

 

After Bonecrusher returned from taking Harry to perform the ritual, he came back to his office to talk to Charity and Bathseda about housing for Harry. "As I told Madam Babbling earlier, I can not give too much away without breaking my vows of privacy for my client.  I must stress upon you that Heir Potter should not live at Hogwarts Castle when school is not in session," Bonecrusher informed them as he sat down behind his desk.

"I don't have my own place, having taken up residence at the castle since I started teaching," Charity said rubbing the back of her neck.

"I do have a home but it is a one-person apartment, and even if we don't want Harry to live at the castle, I don't think it is a good idea for him to live on his own at his age," Bathsheda chimed in.

"Then we can only hope that after the Blood Artifact Retrieval, his Rings accept him so that he has full access to all his line's properties," Bonecrusher said as he summoned all the Heir and Lordship rings Harry was entitled to only to find that once was missing before he recalled it had been stolen. He hoped the ritual returned it to Heir Potter, though from the records he had on the family line it was from he did not think it would make that big of a difference in either properties or money for the young human's accounts.

 

End Flashback

 

Harry took his seat between his new Guardians as Elmblossom passed over the ring that had arrived during the ritual. The pair of Goblins had a quick conversation in their native language as the ring was passed over. "Well Heir Potter, Elmblossom tells me it was a good thing we summoned your stolen property through the ritual which has an automatic cleansing involved for it appeared that the Gaunt Lordship ring had a very nasty enchantment which if you had collected it in person would have killed you if you had put it on," Bonecrusher said. "It is perfectly safe to wear now as are all of your other Rings. All you have to do is put them on one at a time they will test your Magic among other things. If the Ring accepts you, it will adjust to your finger otherwise it will slide right off. When you come of age your Heirship Rings will automatically shift into their Lordship counterparts.

When that happens all you have to do is to move them to the finger where you decided your Lordship rings will be worn on. Now while you are firstly a member of the Potter family which would usually mean that is the first Ring you would try out since your test listed you as gaining the Slytherin and Gaunt line through Rite of Conquest they will test you first," Bonecrusher said pushed over the two Rings with the symbol of Ouroboros on them one emerald green the other one black. Almost as soon as Harry placed them on the ring finger of his left hand they adjusted themselves showing they had accepted him.

The Potter family ring, Harry saw, was made of solid gold with a symbol of a lion on it, while Gryffindor which Harry thought would have the lion symbol had a sword etched into the silver surface of the ring. The Peverell ring was a pure black metal that Harry could not identify and had a symbol that made him think of the Muggle depiction of Death with its hood up. Once more the Rings accepted him to Harry's surprise when the last Ring settled into place the two sets of rings merged into a single Heirship and Lordship Ring. Unknown to Harry, or anyone with the possible exception of Bonecrusher, as soon as Harry's had merged and settled into place a spark of magic was released.

 

Inside Malfoy Manor, Draco tried to figure out how to get Harrison to notice him after all he had been told since he was a young boy that the pair had a Marriage Contract with each other. Yet he had not immediately recognized the other boy when they first met in Madam Malkins with Draco only finding out his identity on the train ride causing him to rush from his compartment, only to find Harrison sitting with the Blood Traitor, Ronald Weasley. Draco had been sure that even if Harrison had been under enchantments as soon as they touched due to their bond the other boy would be well again only for Harrison to refuse to shake his hand.

During a letter to his parents over what had happened his father had suggested that Draco make Harrison angry enough to challenge him to a duel. Draco would then use some Cleansing spells his mother had taught him to fix Harrison right up. Yet when Harrison showed up at the duel rather than have to deal with just the Blood Traitor the Muggle Pretended had arrived. Draco not liking his odds against both the traitor and the pretender, nor having any idea how Heir Longbottom would react, Draco and his partner scampered away.

 

Draco cursed his fear of that blasted forest during the detention he had had with Harrison, but at least he found out that Heir Longbottom was on his side having seen that Harrison's so-called friends were bad news. Neville had even agreed to pretend Draco had scared him so Draco could get some alone time with Harrison if only he had used it before they had found the Unicorn. Draco was so thankful to find out that Harrison had been saved by the thing killing the Unicorns having thought that Harrison had followed him as he ran to safety from its blood-dripping mouth.

 

So far the only ways Draco had thus been able to come up with to get close to Harrison in the coming year had been to offer the other boy help in Potions having seen that Harrison was rather bad at it.  However, that could also be due to several of Draco's Housemates who threw ingredients into Harrison's cauldron when he was not looking. That added to the Blood Traitor and Muggle Pretender also sabotaging his work and Professor Snape's hatred of him led to Harrison barely passing the class last term. The only other way Draco could think of was to join the Slytherin Quidditch team as a Seeker so he could try to find a way to cleanse Harrison midair.

If only Harrison had shown up when his family had gone to Diagon Alley last week and had run into Fred, George, Percy, their mother, and the Blood Traitor members of the Weasley family. Draco had tried to ask the twins where Harrison was only for the pair's younger siblings to come over and act like the bullies they were when Harrison was not around causing him to retreat. The Blood Traitor Arthur even tried to fight his father for some odd reason in the book store knocking his Blood Traitor daughter's cauldron aside to send books spilling out of it. Draco thought he saw the man take what looked like a small diary out of his pocket and slip it into one of the girl's books but as the action made no sense Draco let it go.

 

Leaving his desk chair to go ask if his father would get him a broom so he could join his House's Quidditch Team, Draco suddenly froze in place as his Malfoy Heirship ring let out a pulse that seemed to echo around his heart. Somehow Draco just knew that Harrison had been healed and everything was going to be alright.

Notes:

As is my way when I write a Bashing story that does not involve the entire Weasley family, only those characters I bash are considered Blood Traitors, aka Arthur, Ron, and Ginny Weasley. In contrast, the rest of the family are not. Also, I will be going over Hermione Granger's "Muggle Pretender" status later as well as how Draco found out about it.

Chapter 4: New Home, Old Home

Summary:

Harrison goes to check out one of his properties.

Having claimed all three Heir Rings and two Lordship Rings, Harrison, and the two professors were passed over a list of properties that Harrison had control over. Noticing that some properties were written in different colors he looked up at Bonecrusher and asked, "Why are some properties listed in black, while others are in red, yellow, or gray?"

"Well the property listed as gray unfortunately would be considered condemned, yellow would be the properties that you own that no longer have Houses Elves in them, the red while having House Elves need to have their Wards worked on. The ones that are listed in black ink are the properties that contain House Elves and are in good order. Also if you press your finger to any property it will give you some statistics on it such as how many Elves living in it, size, conditions of the Wards, and even some background on the property itself," Bonecrusher explained.

Not sure how good Charity or Professor Babbling were with Wardsing, or even if they had any talent in them at all, Harrison began only to check out the black properties. Not wanting to live in a castle with so few people, he skipped over them getting to some properties which were listed as Manors, but even they were too large in his opinion. He still pressed his finger on them just in case finding out that most that were listed as manors had no less than ten bedrooms, several bathrooms, kitchens, a library, and other specialized rooms. The manors also tended to have somewhere from ten to twenty House Elves. Seeing the number of Houses Elves also made Harrison hesitate to choose the properties due to what Dobby had done to him. Granted he knew it was wrong to judge them all from only having met Dobby.

 

Harrison moved to the properties listed as cottages and felt they were more his size. The first one he checked on was known as Evans' Haven which contained four bedrooms, a small library, two main bathrooms as well as one bathroom that was attached to one of the bedrooms, and a kitchen. The place only had two elves in residence, but it was the history that had caught his eye. According to the history of the place, it had been a gift from his dad to his mom when he started to court her so that she would not have to live at home while she worked on earning her Master's in Charms. So far this property looked the best but he wanted to make sure of something first. "Where exactly did my parents live before they died?" he asked.

"According to the story, you and your parents were living in a village called Godrics Hollow. I am not sure the actual name of the property," Professor Babbling said. "I do know it was destroyed."  With that information in mind, Harrison began to check out the grey properties that were on the list to see if he could find out where his folks had died for surely their gravesite might be near there. When he reviewed the information from the condemned properties, however, none of them had been listed as being located in Godrics Hollow.

 

"Did someone repair the place after my folks died?" he asked recalling Hagrid telling him last year that he had pulled Harrison out of the ruins of the place himself.

"No,' Bonecrusher said giving Harrison a significant look.

"That place was not one of my family properties, was it?' he asked the Goblin.

"It was not, your parents followed Albus Dumbledore's advice as they went into hiding using one of his properties," Bonecrusher explained. "We tried to talk them out of it for the Potters had a longer and more Magical history than the Dumbledores in Britain.  Which means their properties would have better Wards and protections than anything that the Headmaster could provide even with him performing a Fidelius Charm on the property." Harrison's anger at the man grew even more for if he had not talked his parents into leaving their own home they might still have been alive and he would never have had to live with the Dursleys. With this thought alone Harrison decided to see if his new Guardians would like to live at Evan's Haven with him so he could somewhat follow in his mom's footsteps. The only reason, he could think that his mom would need a place to stay was if she had been forced to live with Petunia or someone after leaving Hogwarts.

 

Charity and Bathseda immediately agree to check it out seeing the hope in Harry's eyes. As all three humans thought this was all they had left to do before leaving the bank they got out of their chairs and made their way to the door. Bonecrusher let out a pointed cough causing all three to look back at him. "The funds that you had removed from your vault for your school shopping," Bonecrusher said pushing over the bag of gold that Harrison had taken out earlier which had been held as he had been healed and gone through his cleansing.

"Thank you, Mister Bonecrusher," Harrison said with a small blush as he headed back to the desk and took the bag finding it heavier than it had been after he left his vault.

"It is alright Heir Potter," Bonecrusher said which Harrison took as both it being alright for almost forgetting it, but also as a way to say the added money was no mistake.

 

Harrison did not understand the added funds until he went to get the new books for his classes. Having expected the same price as he had paid last time, he was shocked to find that the books written by Lockhart that had been on his list were rather expensive which would have made him have to head back to the bank for more money if he had still had only the funds he had originally placed in the bag. After they got all his books and the rest of his shopping done they decided to head out to Evans' Haven to check on the building.

Harrison sort of expected it to be like the home at #4 if a little bigger due to the number of rooms, but he was shocked to see that while it was listed on the form as a Cottage it was more along the lines of a small townhouse. Arriving at the place they saw it was at the end of a line of townhouses but unlike the others on the block, it had no numbers on it to show off its address. As if sensing his confusion Professor Babbling, who had also permitted him to use her first name outside of Hogwarts, informed him that Magical homes that were located in the Muggle World sometimes had spells on them to prevent Muggles from seeing them, sort of like the Leaky Cauldron. "While Evans' Haven may have been a Muggle property at some point, if it had Muggle repelling charms on it the Muggles who live nearby would not be able to see it. Unable to see it they of course would report the discrepancy of addresses to someone and get it changed. Unless of course, the address of the place is #13 for then due to their superstitions about that number they let it alone," Bathsehda explained.

 

Harrison guessed that made sense as the three of them walked up the steps to a bright white front door with Lillies painted on it, quite unlike the Muggle townhouses situated around them which all had either black or brown doors. Harrison was told to open the door first since his Rings would be able to unlock it in case the place had been sealed. Feeling a small tingle of magic as he grabbed the knob, Harrison heard the lock release letting him open the door to a brightly lit hallway filled with Magical Photos of what he assumed were his parents and their friends.

After taking off his shoes, he headed down the corridor thinking he would have time to look at the pictures later as he headed to a partially open door at the end beside a set of stairs going up to the second of four levels. Reaching the door he pushed it open revealing a small dining room with a circular wooden table with five chairs pushed in around it. Whoever designed the room made it look like it was outside with light blue paint on the ceiling and halfway down the walls the bottom half of the walls made it look like rolling hills in the distance, and the carpet almost looked like grass. Across the room from the door, he had entered there was another door that had been painted to look as if it was a tree with a panel that was painted beside it that looked like a cloud. Checking out that door he saw it lead to the kitchen of the place where the two House Elves that were said to live and work were busy cleaning. As if they sensed him both turned as one to look up at him.

 

Harrison saw a big difference between the two Elves and Dobby, right away for rather than pillowcases one was dressed in a small pink suit while the other was in a white and orange skirt as well as a red and gold tee shirt. "Um, hello," he said feeling a little awkward due to their staring.

"Master Potter," the one in the skirt said giving him a bow with the suited one gave him a small curtsy.

"I hope you don't mind, but my new Guardians and I are checking this place out and possibly moving in," he said.

 

"Mind, we would love it if you came to live here, Master Potter," the suited Elf said as the pair smiled up at him letting Harrison take in the better grammatical usage this one used compared to Dobby.

"It is nearly lunchtime, Master Potter. Would you like, Celia and me to make you some lunch?" the Elf in the skirt said.

"I guess, though maybe just some sandwiches," Harrison said not sure what Charity or Bathsheda preferred and could not at the moment ask them for the pair had gone in search of the place's "Floo Room" whatever that was, and were going to use it to get some of their stuff from Hogwarts.

"Very well, Master Potter, we shall do so," Celia said with another curtsy.

 

"You can just call me, Harrison," he said finding it a bit uncomfortable to be called anyone's Master.

"Oh, we could never do that, Master Potter.  It would be too rude," the first Elf said who had still not given their name yet.

"Is there anything you can call me that does not involve Master then?" he asked.

 

"Well there is one," Celia said hesitatingly. "But it can be rather embarrassing."

"What is it Celia?" he said willing to be embarrassed than have to be referred to as Master.

"As I assume you are Mistress Lily's son, we can call you what we used to call you right after your parents introduced you to us," Celia said.

"And what was that?" he asked.

 

"Little One," Celia said blushing a little. Harrison brought his thumb to his mouth and chewed on it for a bit as he tried to decide what was worse being called Master or having the pair call him Little One.

"We also called you cub, pup, and lion as Master Black, Lupin, and Malfoy did. If you like any of them better" the unnamed Elf said.

"I think, I would prefer Cub, to tell the truth," Harrison said.

"Alright Cub we will start working on your meal it should be ready in a couple of minutes," Celia said giving him a curtsy in their pink suit.

 

Harrison used the time to look around the place peeking into all the doors. He found that the ground floor contained the dining room, kitchen, and one of the bathrooms. The second floor held the library, a parlor with a very large fireplace, and one of the four bedrooms. On the third floor, there were two bedrooms and the other bathroom, while the top floor held just one large bedroom with an attached bathroom inside. Seeing that there was a nameplate on the fourth-floor bedroom stating it was his mother's room he pushed open the door. Inside the room, there was a large bed on the opposite wall from the door framed by two other doors one of which led to the bathroom and the other to a small walk-in closet. There was a large picture window on one wall that looked out onto the street below, with a large writing desk underneath it.

 

Seeing the desk still had stacks of papers on it, he walked over and took a look at them. He could not help but smile as he looked upon his mother's handwriting for the first time in his life.  He saw the pages were full of notes on charms with many revisions and crossing out of lines. Unlike his handwriting which he sometimes got marked down in his homework due to how hard it was to read, his mother's writing was much more readable in smooth-flowing script. Looking over the note on the page Harrison saw his mother had been trying to either create her own spell or improve it so it would work better. Making a decision, Harrison instantly decided that he wanted to use this room himself.   He took out his shrunken trunk that Charity had given him and placed it before his mother's old bed. He hoped neither Charity nor Bathsede minded him taking the largest bedroom, but he wanted to be close to his mother hoping to find out more about his parents.

 

Figuring he had given the two Elves enough time to make lunch, he left the room closing the door behind him, and headed down to the dining room. Pushing open the door, he saw a red and white checkered tablecloth had been placed on the table under a large tray of different kinds of sandwiches. Harrison noticed peanut butter and jelly, various meat and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and banana, submarine sandwiches, and even just butter sandwiches. "We hope you like it, Cub, for we did not know what type of sandwiches you preferred or even what type of drinks you wanted to have with them," the Elf in the skirt said as both Elves raised their hands showing they had a pitcher of what looked like milk, water, lemonade, and some type of juice in them.

 

"I think for this meal, I will take the milk please," Harrison said sitting down at one of the seats at the table before he started to take a few peanut butter and jelly as well as a roast beef sandwich from the pile. The skirt-wearing Elf, who had been the one holding the pitcher of milk came over and poured him a glass of it before placing the pitcher on the table to his side. "You gave Celia's name earlier, but what is your name?" Harrison asked the Elf as they made to step away.

"I am sorry Cub, you can call me Jeffory," the skirt-wearing Elf said with a bow.

"It is nice to meet you Jeffory, and you too Celia," Harrison said using a napkin to wipe his hands before he shook Jeffory's hand as well as Celila's as they rushed forward to get a handshake as well. Both Elves were beaming as they left the room back to the kitchens to clean up a little while Harrison dug into his meal. He had taken a few bits before he snapped his figures thinking he should talk to the pair about what Dobby was doing in collecting his mail as well as bring up the trouble that the mad House Elf had said was going to take place at Hogwarts this year to Charity and Bathsheba.

 

The Dursleys

 

Vernon Dursley was furious as he drove his family back home from the bank. He had sort of been happy to see the freak of a nephew being removed from his home even if it was at the hands of another freak, granted one that was not that hard on the eyes. With the boy out of the house, he and his family had sort of celebrated for a bit only to get a call from the bank which had summoned them to an important meeting.

Having been ordered them all there, the three Dursleys had piled into Vernon's car and drove to the local branch of the Bank of England and had talked to a teller to ask about the summons. The three were told to wait for a bit, which turned out to be over an hour before they were brought into one of the bank's offices. Inside was a pair of men one looking to be about in his early twenties with flaming red hair while the other was an older gentleman in his late forties with slicked back jet black hair. "What is the meaning of this meeting?" Vernon asked in a harsh voice annoyed that he had been forced to wait so long in the lobby while others who had meetings at the bank had only waited five minutes at most.

 

"My associate and I are here representing a client from another bank," the older one had said in a tone of voice dripping with steel.

"What does that have to do with me and my family?" Vernon growled.

"Earlier today said client found evidence of his money being embezzled and your account was mentioned," the man said.

"I assure you, we had nothing to do with such a thing," Petunia said haughtily to the pair giving them both the stink-eye.

"So we would be mistaken that you are the family of one, Harrison J. Potter?" the red-headed man asked his voice filled with fury. Vernon was about to inform the pair that the charge of embezzlement was false and that the money they had received was for taking care of the boy, but as he opened his mouth he saw actual sparks seemed to shoot from the redhead's balled-up fist.

"William," the older man said in a warning tone.

"Sorry, sir," the redhead said unclenching his fist.

"I assure you we got that money legally," Vernon said.

 

"Yes, the notes that were listed on the account for the transfer of funds, stated they were for Harrison J. Potter's upbringing and care. Yet from our records, none of the money you were given was spent on our client except for the loosest sense. In that, if any of the money was used to buy food he would get the scraps from it," the older male said flipping through some papers in a folder before him.

"You have been spying on my family," Vernon thundered standing up and causing the chair he had been sitting on to crash to the floor.

 

"No, our records are just that good when we can use them for our clients." the man said not looking a bit worried as she stared at Vernon still sitting behind the desk. "Now as our records show you have spent a lot of money already, I am here to inform you that you will be paying our client back. This means that for the time being a portion of your wages will be used to pay Harrison J. Potter back."

"You can not do that," Petunia protested.

"You will find I can and we will. You owe a total of 20,000 Pounds to our client and that is before you take in interest. Now I could call for this all at once which would mean I would take control of your business, Mr. Dursley, but I would rather not," the man said steepling his fingers before him as he stared them all down.

 

"Then we will file an injunction over this," Vernon said balling his fist and wanting to strike at the pair.

"I am afraid that would fail due to the circumstances. I should warn you though, if you chose to go that route Mr. Weasley and myself are just two ordinary workers at the bank and I can assure you, you would not want to have our managers get involved."

Petunia suddenly recalled being brought along with her sister when they would get Lily's school supplies which involved going to the Magical Bank and finding Goblins running the place. "Very well," she said, "we will just have to put a mortgage on our home dear, and pay it back quickly." The three Dursleys missed a look shared by the two Gringotts workers at the woman's suggestion knowing that the plan was doomed to failure but neither Bill nor his boss wanted to bring it up.

"Either way," the Gringotts boss said, "the time limit to pay back the loan is Harrison J. Potter's seventeenth birthday so you do have some time to get the proper funds together."

 

Vernon almost got pulled over for speeding multiple times as he drove them home due to his anger at the freak. Making a vow to beat the boy within an inch of his life the next time he saw him, Vernon finally pulled into the driveway of #4. As the garage was full of some of Dudley's old possessions as well as a boat he had been working on the group left the car and made their way up to the front door wondering what a page was doing on their door. Petunia thought it was a notice for the next H.O.A. meeting since she had not been home to have it handed to her directly. Reaching the door before he unlocked it Vernon tore off the note and unfolded it his face going red as he was it was an eviction notice giving them twenty-four hours to leave the building with anything they wanted to take with them otherwise deal with the law. "Petunia?" Vernon asked through gritted teeth looking at his beloved wife.

"Lily bought it for Mom and Dad, who gave it right to me," Petunia said her face going pale as she read the notice. "How was I supposed to know, it was bought with money from their lot? I know you want to fight it dear, but we really can't.  All we can do is pack up quick or," she said but seemed unable to finish as she took a large gulp grabbed his keys to unlock the door, and rushed to the phone to call for a moving van.

Chapter 5: Dobby's Warning

Summary:

Harrison shares the warning he had received from Dobby to his new Guardians

William "Bill" Weasley was furious after getting back from the Muggle bank with his boss. He knew he had been invited due to how much his family knew about the Muggles, but he was also being watched because his father and two youngest siblings had also messed with Harrison's accounts. It had been the first time Bill had ever seen a Goblin undergo a ritual to make themselves look like a human as Grindstone had done to pass as "Devin." And now that they had dealt with the Dursleys he had to take care of business at home. "Ah, that feels better," Grindstone said rolling his head on his shoulders. "No offense Cursebreaker William, but I prefer my form to that of a human."

"It is perfectly understandable sir," Bill said.

"You managed to handle yourself very well Cursebreaker William, but are you sure are willing to undertake your current assignment? Many of us would perfectly understand if you choose to turn it down?" Grindstone asked.

 

"I want to find out why my father and youngest siblings are trying to steal from Heir Potter, after all, according to my mom, the twins, and even my younger brother Charlie from their letters from the last year at Hogwarts Ron and Heir Potter were best friends. I know the first transfer of funds happened before my brother met Heir Potter but I want to see if how he feels about their friendship. Not to mention what my dad had planned with making a marriage contract between my sister and Heir Potter," Bill said.

"Very well, you are henceforth assigned this case and we will expect regular updates," Grindstone said passing over the work contract for Bill to sign. "His Majesty would also like you to make sure that no other member of your family is involved in this, just because they are not listed as taking any money or items from Heir Potter's holdings does not clear them as of yet," Grindstone said taking back the document after the human had used the Blood Quill to accept the job.

 

"I will do my best sir, now does this include everyone in my family, or just the ones living at Peverell's Secret Burrow?"

"I think we can for the moment hold off on investigating Dragonkeeper Charlie," Grindstone said steepling his fingers and looking at Bill. "I will warn you that if during your investigations, you find out that there is another place for your family to live, they will immediately be evicted from the premises. You, of course, can not reveal this to anyone even if you find them to be innocent in the crimes against Heir Potter."

"Understood, Sir," Bill said standing up as he tried to think of a reason that he was back in Britain not to mention why he needed to spend so much time with his family.

 

Evans' Haven

 

Harrison had just started his second sandwich when Charity and Bathsheda returned and took a seat at the table. "It almost feels like we are on a picnic," Charity said as she took a peanut butter and banana sandwich and summoned the pitcher of lemonade. She had taken the first bite of her sandwich before she almost dropped it.

"Is something wrong, Char?" Bathsheda asked.

"My memory it seems," Charity said putting down her sandwich and beginning to pat her robes. "Ah here they are," she said pulling out some bottles of potion. "The Healers told me to remind me to have you take one of these a meal for the next month," Charity said handing the bottle of nutritional potion over to Harrison. "Their first treatment and the cleaning allowed you to have an almost full meal after living off of barely anything but to get your stomach to remain in peak condition those potions are needed." Harrison just nodded as he downed the potion which due to its coloration he chose to think of as nothing more than chocolate milk to make it easier to drink.

"So maternal already," Bathsheada said as she grabbed a submarine sandwich from the stack while pouring some milk for herself.

"I should probably give these to the House Elves who live here, so we don't forget," Charity said ignoring her friend's somewhat teasing tone.

 

"That would be Celia and Jeffrey," Harrison said getting up and going over to the door to see if the pair was busy. Wanting to meet their new Master's Guardians the pair of Elves dropped what they were doing to come out.

"What can Celia and I do for you, Madam?" Jeffory asked giving a slight bow.

"The Goblins told us for a while Harrison will have to take a Nutrition Potion with every meal. I was given enough for a full week, so I will need a Potioneering Elf to help make more," Charity said passing over the collections of potions to the Elf.

"We can make sure Cub has his potion during his meals, but neither of us can brew. You would need one of the higher-ranked Elves who live at the main properties," Celia said giving the pair of Professors a curtsy in her pink suit and making Bathsheda raise an eyebrow at her.

"How would I know which Elf to call?" Harrison asked still a little wary of House Elves. He did like Celia and Jeffory not only for them being rather kind but seeing neither showed any hesitation or embarrassment in how they dressed.

"You would just need to call for the Potter Family Head Elf, he would know," Jeffory explained.

 

"Um, I, Harrison James Potter, would like to speak to the Head of the Potter Family House Elves," Harrison said somewhat tripping over his words not sure if he needed to give the summoning formally or not

At once there was a loud "pop" as an older Elf with a small black beard in an outfit that was half a tux and half a sundress appeared before them. "Hello Master Potter, I have come as requested. As you have not summoned me before, allow me to re-introduce myself to you and your guest. I am Tumbus," the older Elf said doing a gesture that was half a bow and half a curtsy.

"Hello Tumbus, and these are not my guests but my Magical Guardians," Harrison said.

 

"Well then hello to you both and thank you for taking care of a member of my family," Tumbus said performing their earlier gesture again. "So Master Potter, how may I be of service?"

"Cub," both Celia and Jeffory corrected the older Elf.

"A couple of things," Harrison said, "first I need to find a Potioneering Elf to brew some potions for me. But I also have a question."

"I am a Potioneering Elf, Cub. Now, what are the potions you would like me to brew and your question?" Tumbus asked.

"Harrison will need to be under Nutritional Pottions for the next month, but I was only given a week's supply," Charity explained.

"Easily done though I might have to do some shopping if that is alright Cub?" Tumbus said checking out his new Master using the House Elf version of Mage-Site to see how well their Master's health was.

 

"That is fine with me, but what I wanted to ask, or maybe a better word would be bringing it to your attention, is that on my birthday a House Elf named Dobby came to my former home. He informed me that he was preventing all my mail from reaching me, granted there was not much since I also had a Mail Ward on me at the time, but I just want to make sure that he will be unable to interfere with my mail or anything again," Harrison said. At his words, all three House Elves' faces turned thunderous for some strange Elf messing with their family.

"It will be seen to, Cub," Tumbus said their body seething in anger. "And what would you have us do to this Dobby, if we catch him?"

"I guess to find out who is sending him would be the first step, but I don't want to do anything else if he is just doing what he is doing under orders," Harrison said.

"Very well, do you mind if I call Elves away from their normal assignments to watch out for him, as I see you plan to live at this property?" the elder Elf asked.

"Yeah sure you can ask them if they want to help out," Harrison said not wanting to order anyone around. Tumbus gave him a small salute and was about to leave again to pass on the word to look out for Dobby when Harrison asked another question. "Not to be rude, but when I talked to Dobby his speech was a little more primitive as if he was either uneducated or young."

 

Tumbus shook his head a little tisking sadly to himself before he responded. "An Elf speaking in a more primitive fashion has nothing to do with age or education, Cub. After all, Celia and Jeffory here would be considered quite young by Elf kind."

The three humans arched an eyebrow at the pair of Elves in question at Tumbus's statement. "It is true, Mistress Lily was the first Human we had ever served. And we were her first Elves hence our clothing for Mistress Lily had not yet been able to recognize the differences between Elf genders so she had given me a skirt and Celia a suit as our uniforms. She, your father, and us would often laugh about it when she learned of her mistake but until a new Master is taken, we could not change our uniforms," Jeffory explained.

 

"So would you like me to change them for you?" Harrison asked.

"Oh no," both Elves said shaking their heads vigorously and making their ears flap wildly about. "We have both come to love our uniforms if that is alright with you," Celia added.

"That is perfectly alright as long as you are happy," Harrison said earning him a look of approval and joy from the three Elves.

 

"As I was saying, the reason an Elf would more primitive language would be due to them being abused by their Masters, for Elves can not act against their Masters wishes so to compensate for the abuse and their own nature said Elf tends to regress into a more primitive form of itself. Either that or to hide who he really was, this Dobby could have been acting primitive to throw you off a little," Tumbus reasoned. Harrison did not think the latter idea was right for Dobby having seen him living with the Dursleys would be able to see that he might not know about House Elves before he had appeared.

 

As soon as Tumbus left the dining room to pass on the message to the other Potter Elves who might work for his family but not at Evan's Haven, Harrison turned to the two Hogwarts Professors. "I guess I should warn you that besides blocking my mail and doing his best to leave the Dursleys, Dobby did pass on a warning that something bad was going to happen at Hogwarts this year," Harrison said.

"Are you sure, he was being truthful about that?" Bathsheda asked.

"I don't honestly know which is why, I thought I would mention it since you both work there," Harrison said as he took another PB&J sandwich from the stack.

"I am guessing he did not give any specifics?" Charity asked.

"Right the only thing he told me was that it was not being done by Voldemort," Harrison said making the pair wince at the name.

 

"Harrison, never do that again," Charity said placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Why not, I was told that a fear of a name just increased the fear of the thing," Harrison said thinking it was sound advice even if it had come from someone messing with his life.

"It is not only due to fear that people don't say that name," Bathsheda said placing her hand on his other shoulder. "You see You-Know-Who placed a taboo on that name so that he would be able to find anyone who said it which even allows him to bypass the strongest Wards and protection Magic. That was how he had been able to find many of his greatest foes in the last war before the taboo on the name became public knowledge."

"Oh," Harrison said making him wonder what had been Fumbles's plan in having Harrison use the Dark Lord's name and if he wanted him gone in the first place.

 

Malfoy Manor.

 

Draco felt like skipping through the halls of his home, but that would be undignified, at least unless he was fully alone. He had recognized the spark he had received from his Heir Ring earlier as the return of his Courtship Bond with Harrison. Granted due to what their relationship had been like last year, their bond was not strong enough to sense anything from Harrison only that the bond was back in place. He had shared the news with his folks who had both given him tight hugs and told him they were happy for him. Though he no longer needed to become a Seeker to cleanse Harrison anymore, Draco still asked his parents to get him a broom so he could try out as a Chaser at school. His father said he would take care of it and had Draco go back to his room to either celebrate or meditate at his leisure.

 

Reaching his room, Draco closed and Warded the door before taking a running leap onto his bed hugging his body pillow to his chest, and rolling around for a bit. After about fifteen minutes, he had finally calmed down enough to do something productive. Sliding off his bed he went to his writing desk to start a letter to Neville to share the good news. As the pair of them had not been allies at the start of the year, they had both found out that they shared the same goal during that blasted detention in the forest.

Afterward, the pair had laughed about it a lot having wanted to protect Harrison from the blood traitor Ron and the Muggle Pretender Granger. If it had not been for Neville, Draco would never have realized Granger was not a Muggle she passed herself off as. As the pair had searched for the unicorn in the forest, Neville had told that from what he had seen the girl played ignorance of the Magical World so that she and Ron could control when and what Harrison learned. Neville had first come to suspect Granger was not a Muggle when he noticed the girl doing both her homework, but also "helping" Harrison with his that she had not had any problems using a quill. Nor did she seem to have the Muggleborn prep book that taught those brought up in the Muggle World how to use quills. Neville had seen that Dean, Harrison, Lavender, and Lily Moon the four Muggleborn, or at least raised that had been sorted into Gryffindor, had trouble using a quill but not Granger.

 

Neither Draco nor Neville believed the girl had the memory she appeared to possess, which seemed to come from memorizing their course books for if that was true it would not have taken her ages to recall reading about Nicolas Flamel, that Harrison had told Neville about when he discussed how the so-called Golden Trio had found out and protected the Philosophers Stone. Harrison had shared what he and his "friends" had gone through with Neville as a way to apologize and explain why they had to put a body bind on him before sneaking out. Neville, of course, had shared the story with Draco so the pair could both work to protect and find a way to get Harrison away from the pair of traitors.

 

Draco had not been so sure of why Neville had wanted to help him at first; before the other boy explained that he and Harrison were Godbrothers with each of their mom's the other's Godmother. And with Draco having the Marriage Contract with Harrison both boys knew that they could trust each other, at least when it came to Harrison. Granted they did not always agree on their plans, Neville having wanted to be taught the cleansing spell Draco knew so he could be the one to cast it, but Draco would never be able to live with himself if he let someone else cleanse Harrison apart from a fully certified Healer or Goblin. The pair had ended up fighting about it for a bit which only ended when Draco hit him with a Leg Locker Curse. But now that part was all moot now that, Draco had felt Harrison having somehow gotten Cleansed so he was going to fully apologize for his overreaction to his unlikely ally.

 

Evans' Haven

 

After lunch had been eaten and cleaned up Harrison, Charity, and Bathsheda were given a complete tour of Evans' Haven. Harrison saw he had missed some things as he was shown the backyard of the home and found both a broom/tool shed as well as a greenhouse with an expansion charm on it making its insides as large as one of the ones at Hogwarts. During the tour, Harrison also found out that the townhouse had a basement that was separated into two areas one that was food and potion ingredient storage while the other had been set aside for brewing.

He also learned that the lounge was actually the Floo Room making Harrison look around but not seeing how anything in the room could let someone travel to Hogwarts and back again. This caused Bathsheda to teach him about Floo travel, and the Floo Network, as well as even showing what it looked like as she tossed some powder into the fireplace and walked through the green flames before quickly coming back. As the group headed upstairs both, Bathsheda and Charity instructed him the best way to use the Floo was to treat it as if it was nothing but a door to his designation as well as offering to accompany him on a trip through it before the end of the summer.

Reaching the third floor, Harrison found that his new Guardians had both picked out bedrooms on this floor making him feel guilty for taking the largest bedroom only for them to point out it was his right for while they were his Guardians, he was still the Head of the House so he should have the largest room. Reaching his new room Charity unshrunk his school trunk before she pushed him towards the room's desk and told him that since he had been unable to do his summer work until now, he should start on it right away. They did say that since they were Professors at Hogwarts they could not help him too much with his work but could offer him a little guidance if he had any problems.

Chapter 6: Summer Sorting

Summary:

Harry is taken to Hogwarts before school starts to get a re-sort.

Harry was quickly able to go through all of his homework thanks to a little help from his new guardians and even from Celia and Jeffory. So the homework that should have taken the majority of summer to finish, he had finished in less than a week. This left Harry a single week before his second year was to begin. Harry had spent his free time at his new home learning about his mom from Celia, Jeoffory, and his mother's writings from her notes and journals that had been left at Evans' Haven. After going through some of them, Harry called for Tumbus and asked the Head Elf to find any other journal and writings that the House Elves could find of his parents. The House Elves went at the job with gusto as the night after Harry had asked them to look for his parents' writings, his Mother's old desk was soon overflowing with books and parchments with several falling to the floor when Harry closed the door to the room.

 

When he was not reading his parents' journals and old notes, Harry further explored the house. He also took the time to look through the pictures that were hanging in the entrance hall. All the pictures held either one or both of his parents with various people. Celia and Jeffory helpfully told him the names of the other people in the pictures. Thus he was able to give names to some of the people in the photos from the album Hagrid had given to him at the start of the summer. He learned that the two shaggy-haired men in the pictures were his Godfathers Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, the red-haired woman who was not his mom was his Godmother, and Neville's Mom, Alice Biswick nee Longbottom. What surprised Harry though was a blonde-haired male who turned out to be Draco's father and a dark-haired youth with a pointed nose who was in numerous pictures of his mother in her youth was Professor Snape.

 

As Harry explored Evans' Haven and read through his parents' journals, his new guardians would pop out every once and a while to head back to Hogwarts to make sure everything stayed the same as when they left the castle to collect Harry. On one such trip, the pair also talked to Hagrid, Minerva, and Poppy about their interactions with Harry. It raised their eyebrows when Hagrid did not even ask why they wanted to know why they were asking about Harry before he started sharing stories about delivering Harry's Hogwarts letters and the time they had hung out during the school year.

At least Minerva and Poppy had asked why the pair had a sudden interest in Harry making the pair share their new status as his Magical Guardians as bestowed upon them Gringotts. As Minerva asked for details about their new status Charity and Bathsheda handed over the note Harry had sent that led to them going to rescue him. "Those people," Minerva said as a bout of anger caused her magic to set the note on fire, not that it did much since the Goblins had enchanted it to be impervious to almost all forms of magic so they could use it as evidence later on.

 

"What do you mean, Minerva?" Charity asked having only seen her old school friend lose control in such a way only once before, where Minerva's husband had died during the last war.

"Harry had been living with Lily's sister, correct?" Minerva asked ignoring the note burning in her hand.

"He had been," Bathsheba said.

"Albus had me watch them after He-Whose-Name-Shall-Never-Be-Used had been stopped, and I found them to be horrible people. I tried to talk Albus out of leaving Harry with them, after all, Sirius had not yet been found to be a Death Eater, and Remus was still available, but he pointed out that they were Harry's only living family. I discussed with him about checking in on Harry every once and a while, but Albus told me he was doing it personally and that the Dursleys were treating the boy right and taking good care of him," Minerva said standing up and beginning to pace the room.

 

"If I recall from last year's start of term feast, Harry did not look that much cared for," Charity said having used some magic when she had first become Harry's Guardian to recall any memory of him while he was at school, which as he had only been a First-Year meant it was usually just of seeing him at mealtimes and the Sorting Ceremony.

"I know," Minerva said dropping the still-burning parchment and placing her head into her hands. "When I asked about it, Albus said that Harry had become ill due to the vacation his family had taken when Hagrid tried to get him his Hogwarts letter. Hagrid did confirm that when he reached Harry, the family was staying in a small shack in the middle of a lake and Harry had only a thin blanket to protect himself against the cold."

"Yet Harry only went to see Poppy during the winter to get a Pepper Up potion due to a cold," Bathsheba said as she and Charity met with Poppy before coming to see Minerva.

"He did not go to his initial check-up?" Minerva asked in shock.

"Poppy had complained to us about that, but when she asked, Albus he informed her that before term started he had taken Harry to St. Mungos to get tested," Bathsheda explained.

 

"We have something else to discuss about, Harry," Charity said once Minerva called down a little.

"I dread to ask what more you have to share," Minerva asked wondering if she should summon a Calming Draughts.

"Well, while Harry's relatives were bad, they had not initially been as bad to him as the state we found him in. It was down to a visit from a strange House Elf named Dobby who used magic in the home. The Ministry did not take into account that a strange House Elf would come to the home so they sent Harry a warning for underage magic. Learning that Harry could not use magic, something he told us he was threatening to use on them to protect himself from them, led them to lock Harry up," Charity stated.

"It is a good thing he sent a note then," Minerva said.

 

"I was not bringing this up to discuss why we were called to rescue Harry," Charity said. "He informed us that this Dobby warned of trouble possibly happening at the castle. We are not sure if this was a ruse for why Dobby was trying to keep Harry from returning to Hogwarts or if it is actually true. So we thought we should mention it."

"Oh, and I know it is highly irregular but having heard what Hagrid had been told to tell Harry about Hogwarts, as well as a hint from his Account Manager to share information about the Hogwarts Houses, we think he might need a Re-Sort."

"You are quite right it is not only irregular it is also against school policy to do a Re-Sort until a student is in their third year," Minerva said.

 

"A fact that we are aware of, but Harry's Account Manager suggested it himself and said something about it being alright," Bathsheba said.

"While I respect the Goblins of Gringotts I don't see how he thinks his suggestion means anything," Minerva said.

"It might have to do with Harry's lineage," Bathsheba pointed out, "after all doesn't the Potter Line have its origins within the Gryffindor Line?"

"Alright, Harry's Account Manager might know what he is talking about with it not mattering since Harry is an Heir of one of the Founders," Minerva agreed with a shake of her head. "But more importantly, did Harry actually ask you about getting a Re-Sort?"

 

"Not in so many words he hasn't, but I think that is due to him not knowing about the practice.  He was raised in the Muggle World after all," Charity said.

"Be that as it may, we can not perform a Re-Sort until he asks for it, and neither of you can tell him to do so," Minerva said giving them both a hard look.

As both women were old classmates of hers the look did not have the same effect as it would on a Hogwarts student. "If we can't direct him about a Re-Sort why don't you come over and talk to him for a bit to see if you agree with his Account Manager's advice," Bethesda suggested.

 

"If it came from the Goblins why did they not mention it to Harry himself? I assume that you had gone there with him in order to meet the Account Manager?" Minerva asked.

"While Master Bonecrusher could not share with us everything that happened to Harry, he did give me some advice when Harry was getting Cleansed of some pretty nasty stuff," Charity said.

"If he did not share what had been done to Harry why do you say some nasty stuff was on him?" Minerva asked.

"I can only assume since his Cleansing took maybe three hours," Charity said making Minerva gulp having been witness to a couple of Cleansings during her time as Head of Gryffindor House but each had lasted at most thirty minutes.

"Very well, I shall come over to see Harry when I get some time," Minerva said.

 

Surprisingly Minerva finally found some time on the second to last day of summer. Arriving at Evans' Haven she even joined them for lunch. Harry guessed that she had been there before as Jeffory came out with a plate of food for her and she thanked him by name. During the meal, Professor McGonagall asked him how his summer was going, and how he liked living with Charity and Bathsheda (though she called her Batty) if Harry had finished his summer homework and other various things. Harry answered her questions honestly a little shocked for she had always seemed so unapproachable at Hogwarts it was nice to see her hair down as it were.

When dessert arrived Professor McGonagall began to question Harry about his First-Year at Hogwarts. "Most of the classes are fun, I just don't understand the reason behind the point system. When I was told I was a Wizard and was going to learn Magic, I was so excited, but to find out that Hogwarts promotes a rivalry between the Houses. I mean for Quidditch a rivalry would be normal but for simple classwork, it makes no sense. I get that like most schools there is a ranking system for the students but that is more on an individual basis not for people who go to the same House. Also not to be rude or dismissive but to be chosen for a House makes no sense so if one is brave they are a Gryffindor but if they are intelligent they would be in Ravenclaw, at least from the simple descriptions of the Houses when Hagrid came to collect me. Maybe when the acceptance letter is sent to everyone for their first year a little information book could be sent to describe all about the Houses," Harry said.

 

"That is a good idea about the information booklet, I shall suggest it to the School Governors at our next meeting," Minerva said knowing that some incoming students focused on one small bit about the Houses it sort of threw off where they should have ended up. She loved all the students of her House like children and Grandkids, but she knew that some of them had been miss-sorted. The Weasley family was a prime example of this happening.  Sure she was happy they all ended up in Gryffindor, but while William and Charlie had the right traits to fully belong to the house their younger siblings did not. Minerva knew that Percy would have been better sent to Ravenclaw while the Twins would have done well in both Slytherin and Hufflepuff Houses. Young Ronald she was not really sure of for sure when it counted the youngest Weasley son could be brave and was a great strategist, but he was also lazy, and from some of the complaints she had received from Dean, Seamus, and Neville that Ronald was somewhat of a bully none of the traits that a Gryffindor nor any other House should possess.

 

"Hogwarts is run by officials?" Harry asked having never really given thought to who ran the school.

"Not really, Governors is just the title used for the group who make decisions for the school. The group is made up of all four Heads of House, the Headmaster, and six parents of current students. The only rule for a parent to be a Governor is that as I said have a student currently attending the school but also that they maintain a balance between their Magical Cores. Of the six parents they are separated into pairs two with Light Cores, two with Gray Cores, and two with Dark Cores to better understand any issue that could come up for the students, castle, or faculty. We purposely have an odd number so that there is at least one person who can break a tie."

"Seems logical," Harry said.

"Glad you approve," McGonagall said with a small chuckle.

 

"Now speaking of which, how do you feel about the other Houses or students from them?" McGonagall asked him.

"I don't have any issue with any of them?" Harry answered with a shrug.

"Even, young Malfoy?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him having heard of the pair's antagonistic relationship during the last school year. To her surprise, Harry blushed a little.

"No, not even Draco, though I do sort of wish I was given a more complete description of the Houses," Harry said.

 

"And why is that?" Charity asked.

"Well from what you told me at Gringotts, I don't think I would be most suitable to be in Gryffindor House, but from having to live with the Dursleys, and from the Sorting Hat told me I believe I should have been sorted into Slytherin," Harry said shocking the three woman.

"The Sorting Hat really told you this?" Minerva asked.

"Yes he, if a hat can be given a gender, said I would do great in Slytherin and would find some true friends there," Harry said as he thought that if he had followed the Hat's advice he would not have made friends with people who were being paid to betray him.

"The Sorting Hat said you would be good in Slytherin," Harry heard Professor McGonagall to herself. "Thank you for the meal, I need to take care of something." Professor McGonagall set down her silverware next to the remains of the flan they had been having for dessert and left the room to return to Hogwarts.

 

Glad that term was starting shortly and her fellow Heads of House were at the castle, she called them to a meeting in her office. "What is going on Minerva, I have some last-minute brewing to take care of that Albus just assigned to me," Severus asked in an annoyed tone. She quickly filled her fellow Heads of House in on the situation. Pomona and Filius both look horrified at Harry's living conditions while Severus looks angry enough to kill someone. "That old bastard," he growled.

"Seveurs?" Minerva asked.

"Only one person would ever think it would be a good idea to send Potter to live with Petunia," Severus said his anger causing his magic to make her desk shake as if an earthquake was happening, causing a tin of Ginger Newts to clatter to the floor.

"Harry has been removed from that hostile environment and has been placed in the care of Charity and Bathsheda for the time being. Also, I would like to bring Harry in to get a Re-Sort," Minerva said.

"For what reason," Filius asked.

 

"First his Account Manager suggested it, he is an Heir of one of the Founders, but mostly because during a meeting I just had with him, Charity, and Bathsheda he told me he had not been given a full description of the reason a person would be sent to a specific House. Also, it seems that the Hat itself tried to send him to a different House last year but due to his lack of knowledge, he argued against it. So technically all we would be doing is to let the Hat do the job it was designed to do," Minerva explained.

"He also offered a suggestion, I would like to pitch to you so you could think about it before the next Governor's meeting. No matter an incoming student's blood status we send a small info booklet to give a history and detailed description for each House. I know that many of you have students in your House that you don't think really belong there due to most students getting one descriptive factor for each House, so they try to force that through during their Sorting to end up in a House they think they should belong to."

"I think that is an excellent idea," Filius said, "I shall of back you when you submit it to the group."

"Thank you, Filius," Minerva said.

 

The next day as most students were finishing their packing to head to Hogwarts on the marrow, Charity and Bathsheda guided Harry through the Floo to arrive at the Castle, inside Charity's office. Harry was a little shocked to see the four Heads of House waiting for him with the Sorting Hat and the three-legged stool from the Sorting Ceremony of the year before. "What is going on?" he asked looking between the four Heads and his guardians.

"A procedure that is known as a Re-Sort to make sure that you ended up in the right House while you are here at the castle," Professor Flitwick said as Harry was told to take a seat on the small stool before the Hat was put on his head again.

Just like the year before the Hat slipped down to cover his eyes and he heard its voice in his head. "Hello again Harry," the Hat stated.

"Um, hello Sorting Hat," Harry responded in his own mind.

 

"Don't worry this will be just like your Sorting from last year. I take it you don't want to fight me this time?" the Hat asked. "But before that, I would like to answer a question I see bubbling in your mind. The reason I am given male pronouns is because I once belonged to your ancestor Godric Gryffindor, so I tend to be given the same pronouns that he had."

"Thanks," Harry said this time aloud making the six teachers wonder why Harry was thanking the Magical Hat.

"Don't mention it, Harry. And as I said last year, I think you truly belong in Slytherin and not just cause that is where your betrothed is," the Hat said before it announced to the room, "SLYTHERIN."

 

After the Hat called out his new House it was removed from his head, Harry saw Professor Snape's mouth open in utter shock as Bathsheda and Charity clapped him on his back in congratulations. Charity also removed his shrunken trunk from her robes for she and Bathsheba saw no reason to Floo to the castle today only to head back so that Harry would have to ride the train back to Hogwarts the next day. It seemed they had worked this out with the four Heads for everyone turned to look at Professor Snape.

"Follow me, Potter I shall show you to the Slytherin Common Room, as well as fill you in on some of the ground rules of the House," the Potion Master said taking Harry's shrunken trunk and turning to leave the office trusting Harry to follow him. After getting a nod from Charity and Bathsheda, Harry left the office to follow the man. Snape did not talk to him at all as he led Harry down to the dungeons and passed the Potions classroom. Stopping at a solid wall Snape tapped it with his wand to open it up revealing a large room with bay windows looking out into the Dark Lake. Once the door had closed Snape had Harry sit at a small table in the room and took the other chair at it.

 

"When classes start there will be a password just like you are used to up in Gryffindor Tower," Snape explained for the first time in Harry's memory the man did not look at him with a look of scorn on his face. "Also you may not believe me, but I am sorry that you had to be brought up by Petunia, or as your mother and I called her after our Second-Year Tuna Fish." Harry could not stop a small chuckle from the childish nickname for his Aunt. "I know Lily would never have wanted you anywhere near her after the childhood she had with her, and I can't image time has mellowed that... anyway, I would also like to apologize for how I treated you last year, I saw you as your father in miniature, but hearing that you grew up with Tuna Fish I know that could not be the case."

"You were my mom's friends weren't you?" Harry asked.

"Until I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life yes, I was. A mistake that led me into the Dark Lord's camp until it was already too late to do anything for Lily and your father," Snape said. Harry wanted to ask more but thought it was not the time for it.

 

"Anyway the rules for members of Slytherin House, I will give you a sort of condensed version as I also inform everyone after the Welcoming Feast," Snape said. "First of all as I know you have had a few detentions unless you get detention from me, or if you are given detention from Filch for a prank that someone pulled on you.  There will be a second detention you will serve with me at a later date. Unless you are going to the bathroom during class, you are not to travel alone around the castle. I am sure you noticed last term that some students have a very Anti-Slytherin mindset thanks to the Dark Lord once being a member of Slytherin House and students wanting revenge for what he and his followers had done by attacking, cursing, or sending hexes at members of the House."

"I had not noticed that," Harry admitted truthfully though he had similar issues when Neville, Granger, and he lost all the points last year thanks to Norbert.

 

"Hmm interesting, I was informed that one of the perpetrators sending spells to students in your year was your friend, Mr. Weasley," Snape said.

"Well he did not do it when I was around," Harry said not wanting to share with Snape that after everything he learned in the last few weeks, he was no longer Ron's friend.

"I shall trust you on this, since I did not receive notice from any of your classmates of you doing it yourself. Besides not going around the castle and grounds by yourself, on the first night of term, I cast a spell on everyone in the House so that if they get hurt outside of Quidditch, or a certain level in classes, we will be notified of it. I also keep some health potions in the dorms, which I will show you tomorrow with the rest of the newcomers for emergencies.

 

Another aspect of Slytherin House that might be a change from what you are used to is that I have a strict bedtime for all students as a Second Year you are to be in your rooms no later than ten pm and in bed by ten-thirty on school nights. During weekends you are allowed to stay up as late as midnight. As most students who are sorted into Slytherin come from Pureblood or Mixed families, we also maintain strict protocol in our interactions with each other. I can understand that you might not know this so I will tell everyone to give you some leeway for a bit until you can learn it. Basically, it means that unless someone gives you permission you are to call them by their title, or if you are not aware of their title use their last name. I know you have some experience with this having overheard some conversations with Heir Malfoy," Snape said with a marked smirk. "Let's see I usually have come by once a week to check in to see how students are doing in their classes for an hour or two. Which would be a good time for you to meet with me to work out a schedule for some Potion tutoring."

 

"Speaking of potions," Harry said gulping a little as he interrupted Snape.

"Go on," Snape prompted looking down his pointed nose at him.

"For the next week and a half, I will be having potions given to me during mealtimes to fix some medical issues that the Goblins found when Charity and Bathsheda took me from Tuna Fish and her family."

"Professors Burbage and Babbling, Harry, now that you are back at school," Snape said in a gentle reminder. As the rest of what Snape had to tell Harry retained to classes and Quidditch try-outs, he showed Harry to the new Second-Year dorm rooms surprising Harry who saw that unlike in Gyrffindor Tower there were two rooms for the males in his year. Leaving with a warning for Harry to stay out of trouble until his classmates arrived for the opening feast, Snape left Harry to choose his own room. Knowing they had a history but also knowing that his parents had set up a Marriage Contract with him, Harry put his supplies into the room that Draco's name was on and saw a bed, desk, and wardrobe appear in the room. Seeing the wardrobe Harry took out his shrunken trunk calling for Celia to unshrink the trunk so he could put his clothing away for the school year.

 

As Harry did not have to get up early to catch the train, he slept in for a bit before he went to get some breakfast with his guardian. After a quiet breakfast, Tumbus popped in making the three jump a little. "I am sorry Cub," Tumbus said giving them an apologetic bow. "I have just come to inform you that we have captured Dobby. it seems that he was skulking around the entrance to Platform 9 3/4 most likely to do something to you as you tried to get to the train. What do you want us to do with him?" Tumbus asked.

"Please find out who sent him and why he was trying to prevent me from coming to the castle. If you find the threat he warned me about is possibly true, please let one of the proper people know about it," Harry ordered the Head Potter family El.

"I will Cub," Tubmus said giving them a slight bow before popping out again.

Harry spent part of the day exploring the Slytherin Common Rooms and trying to prevent the Headmaster from knowing he was at the castle early in case the man tried to reapply the spells Harry had been Cleansed of at the bank. He resisted the urge to go visit Hagrid or the library just to avoid the man.  He also wondered what everyone's reactions would be when they saw him at the feast.

 

Around six-thirty, Harry slipped on some of his school robes seeing that they had already been changed to Slytherin colors and crest in place. Making his way up to the Great Hall he did not hear any voices, meaning he was a little early so he sat at the empty table Slytherin table waiting for the rest of the school to arrive.

Chapter 7: Another Chance at a First Meeting

Summary:

Draco plans on what he is to do when he meets Harry at the start of their Second Year now that their bond is no longer blocked

Notes:

Some bits of this chapter deal with bits of language and terms which had not yet worked their way into common conversation in 1992 when the story is to take place, but I could not help myself in having Draco say some of these.

Draco's POV

 

The night before he was to return to Hogwarts, Draco had a hard time falling asleep. Knowing that the blocks that had been on their bond were now gone, Draco saw his next meeting with Harry as another chance at their first meeting. He knew that it would be too much to hope for to talk to him on the train without the Blood Traitor and Pretender being there. His only hope was to either catch Harry alone in one of the corridors or maybe before/after one of their shared classes together. The only thing was he could not figure out how to do it. He did not want a repeat of his first two encounters with Harry from the year before when he mistook him as a Muggleborn and acted like a prat, or on the train when he found him with the Blood Traitor who made things difficult.

 

Draco preferred to go to bed early on the days preceding his first day of classes, both at Hogwarts and when he went to Muggle Public School to learn basic skills in writing, maths, and even their sciences. Yet as he worried about what and how he would approach Harry, Draco ended up tossing and turning until a little after midnight when he finally fell asleep. Due to his worry, Draco's dreams were full of scenarios in which he watched himself greet Harry in various ways as well as the results.

 

Draco saw himself approaching Harry in what looked like the D.A.D.A. classroom. "Greetings and Salutations, Heir Harry Potter," his other self said.

"Poncy-uptight-git," Harry said rolling his eyes.

"Man that is too formal for him," Draco thought to himself, "Neville said the Gryffindors don't have the same rules as Slytherins when it comes to protocol. Also just cause our bond has been unblocked does not mean he knows he is an Heir. It could have happened when he was on vacation and got sick so was taken to a Magical Hospital outside of England which would not give him an Inheritance Test like Gringotts or St. Mungos.

 

The scene shifted to Draco approaching Harry, but rather than his normal walk Draco saw his other self somewhat strutting over to Harry. The walk reminded Draco of a character on one of the Sitcoms he saw at Aunt Andy's place near the start of the summer. Due to his Uncle Ted being a Muggleborn, the family had a Magical Television Set, and having learned from Neville that Harry had been brought up in the Muggle World, Draco asked to watch some of it to better understand Muggle Culture. All that the other Draco needed was a backward ball cap to be the same sort of character from the show. "Yo, yo, yo Pott-ah?" his other self said making the Muggle Peace Signs with both his hands as he stuck out his tongue at Harry. Harry did not even respond as he gave the other Draco a concerned look and took his stuff moving to a different table.

"WAAAAY too casual," Draco said to himself running his fingers through his hair. "Though I suppose it could be worse."

 

No sooner had Draco thought this than the scene changed again this time with the other Draco dressed not in clothing but a black and white checkered shirt which was opened up revealing a plain white tee-shirt underneath and a pair of worn jeans. As Harry turned to the other Draco, he arched an eyebrow at the strange clothing for Hogwarts Draco spoke. "Wazzup Harry."

"Oh Merlin and Morgan just kill me now," Draco said burning his face in his hands.

 

Thankfully the scene shifted again, but once again Draco saw his other self was not wearing standard robes rather he had a white ten-gallon hat, a brown leather vest over a black button-down shirt, the same pair of jeans but also some American Cowboy boots. For once the location where this was taking place in the dream had more than just Harry as the entire class turned to look as the spurs on the other Draco's boots sounded off from the floor. The other Draco went to stand before Harry before he tipped his hat as he stated, "Howdy Harry."

Draco could not even take that seriously at all as he burst out laughing. "No way in the nine hells would that happen."

 

"Hey Harry," the other Draco said at least back in his normal robes.

Harry gave the other him a side-eye look asking, "What do you want, Draco?"

"Nothing, just saying hey," Other Draco said.

"Alright you said it, now you can leave," Harry said.

"That is right our bond might be active now, but we are not friends or anything "Hey" would be too familiar."

 

"Hello," the other Draco said making the real Draco wince seeing a small blush creeping up his duplicate's cheeks.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, seriously when have I ever been that demure," Draco said.

 

"A fine day isn't it, Harry," Other Draco said.

"It is okay, I guess," Harry said sounding bored.

"Oh Merlin, talking about the weather," Draco said bringing his hands up and grabbing the sides of his head in annoyance.

 

"How's it hanging H-Dog?" other Draco asked once more in Muggle clothing making Draco facepalm and thankfully miss Harry's response

 

"Bonjour Harry," other Draco said giving Harry a slight bow.

"What?" Harry asked.

"That won't work, I don't know what languages other than English he understands," Draco said running his fingers through his hair again.

 

"Hey Harry," Other Draco said.

"Didn't I see this one already?" Draco asked his dream self.

"What do you want Draco?" Harry asked.

"How You Doing?" Other Draco asked.

"Oh, Merlin, if he knows where that is from he might think I am flirting with him. Am I flirting with him? It is way too soon for that anyway." Draco said.

 

Draco arched an eyebrow as his double walked into the room taking a seat in front of Harry and turned around before he spoke. In Hogwarts, there were no seats like the one his other self was in whose back was so high that only the top of Draco's face was seen as he said, "Hidy ho neighbor." Harry just looked rather confused again.

"Seriously another Muggle Sitcom reference.  I don't know what shows he watches. Why is it another American show again anyway? Also, I am not going to hide the bottom of my face when I speak to him," Draco said.

 

"Are you being served, sir? I am Draco, and I am free," Other Draco said walking over to Harry with a very mincing walk.

"You don't have to call me, sir," Harry said.

"At least that is a British Sitcom, but while I like other males, I don't think I am that stereotypical of a gay guy."

 

"Jelly Baby?" other Draco asked holding out a small bag of candy to Harry.

"What potion did you soak these in?' Harry asked.

"What's next? Am I going to ask him to travel with me in my TARDIS?" Draco asked rolling his eyes again.

 

Thankfully Draco did not recall any more of his dream if there was more of it when he woke up the next morning. "Yeah none of those are going to work at all," Draco muttered to himself as got dressed for the day. Despite having only a few hours of sleep, Draco made sure he was looking his best with his hair just perfect as he arrived at Platform 9 3/4 for the Hogwarts Express. Heading to the Slytherin area of the train, Draco found he was the first of his friends to arrive as he claimed an empty cabin for them to use.

Saying goodbye to his parents and accepting a hug from his mother and a clap on the back from his father, Draco waited for his friends to arrive still working out how he would greet Harry when he saw him again. Daphne was the first to arrive taking a seat across from him and asking how his summer had gone. Draco gave her some random platitudes about his summers as only Neville knew of the contract he had with Harry. Blaise arrived next pulling Theo along, who already had his nose in a book and was lost to the world knowing that Blaise would take care of him.  Just like Draco had with Harry, Theo and Blaise's parents had made a contract between the pair. Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory were the last to arrive discussing the Quidditch games they had seen over the summer of their combined favorite team, the Moscow Murlaps.

 

For once, Draco paid as much attention to his friends as Theo did while he was reading as he tried to think of what to say to Harry. Thinking it might help him if he saw Harry in the flesh again, Draco excused himself from the cabin under the excuse that he had to use the bathroom and went to look for Harry just like he had done last year. As he walked down the train, Draco peeked into each compartment to see if Harry was inside. And while he found the Blood Traitor and Pretender deep in conversation, Draco could not find Harry. He even checked the bathrooms but found them to be unoccupied. He could not ask Neville for the other boy was seated with his other dormmates and Draco did not want them to know about him and Neville being allies just in case they were also friends with the Blood Traitor and the Pretender. He also could not check with his younger cousin for she was sitting with the Blood Traitor's younger sister looking rather uncomfortable to have the redheaded girl sitting with her. Unable to find Harry, Draco headed back to his cabin hoping that Harry was not still in the hospital or something.

 

Ron's POV

 

Ron knew he was going to get an earful when he got onto the Hogwarts Express. And he was correct for as soon as he saw Hermione, she flashed him a confused look. "What are you doing here?" Hermione asked putting up a Secrecy Spell they had both been taught by Professor Dumbledore as he closed the door. "I thought Professor Dumbledore said he was going to make sure you and Harry would be blocked in getting through the barrier? Where is he by the way?"

"I don't know," Ron said answering her last question first. "Dad went to collect Harry from his family's home as a way to get him to the station last night. He came home telling everyone that Harry's family no longer lived there. According to him a for sale sign was on their front lawn."

"Why would he not tell us he was moving?" Hermione asked.

 

"Maybe his family had such fun on their vacation they had gone on they decided to move there," Ron offered with a shrug.

"Don't even joke about that. If Harry does not attend Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore can not teach him what he needs to know for when You-Know-Who returns. Plus if he is not at Hogwarts, we will not get paid," Hermione pointed out.

"Oh, I did not even think of that," Ron said.

"Of course, you didn't," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "So how was your summer otherwise?"

 

"It was alright until about a couple of weeks ago," Ron said.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"Well, my older brother, Bill, came back home for a bit. He said that his job at the bank wanted him to work in London for a while and since he did not want to buy or rent a place, he moved back to the Burrow," Ron explained.

"And?" Hermione asked not seeing anything wrong with that.

 

"Well, it was not the fact that he was back home it was that when he was home he was looking around all around. Mom told me not to worry about it when I brought it up to her, but she just said he must be feeling a little homesick and was just giving into nostalgia. The thing is I don't understand how he could be nostalgic about anything in my room at all," Ron said.

"That is strange," Hermione said but was unable to think of a reason for Ron's brother's behavior. Ron for his part did not care why his brother was acting like he was he was just glad he and Harry did not have to use his dad's car to fly to Hogwarts. However, he did wonder how his dad would react when he found his car, which on the orders of Professor Dumbledore he had enchanted to both fly and become invisible, still in its parking space. Ron was also glad that he did not have to deal with the points he and Harry would have lost for arriving by car having seen how bad it was when Hermione had to deal with it after Hagrid's dragon. The other good thing was with Harry not being there Ron could buy all the sweets he wanted to and not be forced to have his mother's corn beef sandwiches.

 

Draco's POV

 

Draco was finally able to relax about Harry's whereabouts as Sherry Wicker, the Witch who pushed the food cart, stopped by and sold them some snacks. This even caused Theo to stop reading as he leaned into Blaise and let his betrothed feed him a little. Draco cast a small jealous look at them wishing he could do that to Harry, but even if he could think of what to say to Harry, he did not think they would be anywhere close to doing something like that anytime soon. To focus on something else he showed off his new Nimbus 2001 and hoped he could fly it well enough to earn his position on the Slytherin team. "Nice," Pansy said running her hand along the broom's handle, "you should easily outfly Potter with this baby."

"About that," Draco said, "I think I am going to try out for a Chaser rather than a Seeker."

"What?" his friends asked in shock.

 

"I thought you were planning for the Seeker Position, so you could prove yourself better than Potter?" Vincent Crabbe asked.

"Change of plans," Draco answered with a shrug.

"Well it can't be you are scared of him," Daphne teased.

"Of course not, I just thought I would join the team to have fun and not worry about trying to show I am better than anyone," Draco said giving them a plausible explanation.

"Yeah 'cause that sound just like you," Theo said making the others laugh.

"What can I say, I am growing up," Draco shot back to more laughter as he finally started to relax a little. This is how he needed to feel when he talked to Harry not do anything special just treat him as he did his friends and let everything just fall into place.

 

 

When they arrived at Hogwarts, Draco and the other Second Years who did not have older siblings marveled at the carriages which drove themselves to the castle as they chatted about who they thought their new D.A.D.A. Professor was. Draco's dad even being one of the schools Governors had not shared with him who was set to replace Professor Quirrell. Walking into the Great Hall Draco and his friends were shocked to see a gap at the table with a single person sitting in the middle of it. A person with a familiar black rat nest of hair. "What is Potter doing sitting at our table?" Theo asked his shock at seeing the Boy-Who-Lived at their table as bold as brass.

"I don't know, why don't we ask him?" Draco said swallowing a small lump in his throat as his meeting with Harry happened earlier than he had planned. Still having no idea what he was going to say to Harry, Draco found himself getting closer to his betrothed. His mind was blank of what he was going to say to Harry and he felt as if each step he took rather than his school-approved footwear making echos off of the cobblestones they were producing the echos in his head. Draco felt himself begin to panic as he got within a foot from Harry who had turned around and looked him right in his eyes. "Wotcha Harry," Draco found himself saying filling him with a desire to either facepalm or bury his head like one of his father's ostriches.

"Greetings, Heir Malfoy," Harry said with a slight smirk on his lips.

"I think you are at the wrong table," Draco said.  Draco could not help groaning internally having used his cousin Nymphadora's overly casual greeting, while Harry ended up using a polite formal greeting. 

"Nope, I am where I am meant to be," Harry said shifting his posture so that Draco and his friends could see the crest on Harry's robes had indeed shifted from Gryffindor to Slytherin.

 

"How?" Theo asked his curiosity leading him to take a seat next to Harry. "A re-sort can only be done at the earliest of a student's Third Year."

"Over the summer, I found out some things and went through some major changes in my life. And after informing some of the staff that the Sorting Hat wanted to place me in Slytherin as well as not being fully informed about each House, they decided to give me a re-sort yesterday," Harry explained to the taller pale-skinned boy while occasionally shifting his gaze back to Draco as he talked.

"Why yesterday and not after the First Years get sorted?" Draco asked sitting down on the other side of Harry that Theo sat as the others took their places around the trio.

"One of the things that happened this summer led me to be placed under the care of two members of staff so they talked Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape into the re-sort when we came yesterday. Hence why I was not on the train," Harry said. The group of Slytherins wanted to ask questions about this ranging from who was the members of staff that took him in, to why it had to happen in the first place but they respected Harry's privacy hoping he would tell them when he felt comfortable with them. "I also got a barebones talk about Slytherin House Protocol yesterday from Professor Snape," Harry said making Draco understand the greeting he had gotten from him.

 

The discussion came to an end as the First Years were led into the Hall and the Sorting Ceremony took place.* As the food arrived, Draco and his friends were surprised to find a potion bottle appearing before Harry. Harry reached forward to grab it only for Draco's hand to shoot out and stop him. "Wait you don't know what is in that," Draco said worried that the Headmaster was trying to get Harry to drink some potions to send him back to Gryffindor. Draco grabbed the potion and began to look around for the nearest Slytherin Prefect so he could hand it over to them.

"I know perfectly well what is in it. It is a nutritional potion I am on to repair some of the damage I received during the summer," Harry said snatching the bottle back and uncorking it before he downed it in one large gulp. "It is being made by one of my House Elves, so I know it is fine," Harry said trying to placate the worried look on Draco and the other's faces.

"If you are sure," Daphne said.

"I am, see my family crest is on the bottle," Harry said showing the bottom of the bottle where the Potter family crest was etched into the glass. Putting the cork back into the bottle Harry set it back on the table where it instantly vanished as it was collected by one of his House Elves' magic. The group of second-year Slytherins relaxed a little as they began to fill their plates for supper.

 

Harry had some fun getting to know his new Housemates as he felt a warmth that seemed to fill his body with Draco being so close. He found it a little hard not to lean into the blonde as he ate, sort of like Heir Nott was doing with the even taller dark-skinned male sitting on his other side. It was rather nice that none of them were making a big deal out of his change of House or acting as they had done for the majority of last year seeming to have accepted him as one of their own. As the main meal left the tables to be replaced by the desserts there was a commotion from the Gryffindor table as Ron stood up. "Professor Dumbledore, we have a problem," the redheaded thief stated in a voice that cut through the rest of the conversations in the hall.

Harry saw Dumbles arch his eyebrows in surprise at Ron before his face returned to a grandfatherly expression. "What seems to be the problem, Mr. Weasley?" the old bastard asked.

 

"Not enough of his favorite dessert, most likely," Pansy said in a low tone that was only picked up by those around her which included Harry. Harry had to use a napkin to stop his laughter.

"Harry is missing, sir," Ron said.

"He is not Missing Mister Weasley," Snape's voice drawled from his seat at the staff table.

"Then where is he?" Hermione asked standing up beside Ron.

 

"Due to a personal reason, Mr. Potter, went through a re-sort this last summer so he is sitting with his new House," Professor McGonagall answered,

"And what House is that?" Ron asked.

"That is no concern of yours, Mr. Weasley," Snape said, "everyone should return to their meals." Ron and Hermione did sit down though rather than eating the pair started to look for Harry at the other House tables.

 

Harry scooted down in his seat in the hopes of them not sporting them as Draco moved his head as if trying to work out a kink in his neck. This caused Crabbe and Goyle to shift a little in position to help block Harry from the pair's view. "Had a little falling out with, Weasley and Granger?" Draco asked.

"Hard to have a falling out when they were not my friends, to begin with," Harry said but offered no more explanation.

"So is it Professor Snape and McGonagall that took you in then?" Crabbe asked forgetting Harry had told them that the staff members who had taken him in were not one of the Heads of House.

"No," Harry said, "it was Professors Burbage and Babbling, but I will not be going into it, least of all here."

Notes:

* While I can make up short songs I have no confidence in myself to ever make up a Sorting Hat song that is not just a copy and paste from the books.

I will admit I wrote this chapter just so I could get Draco Malfoy to say "Wazzup" and "How you doing?" to Harry.

Chapter 8: Meeting upon meetings

Harry started to become rather happy being near Crabbe and Goyle who were able to block him from view from where he had seen Ron stand up over at the Gryffindor table. With them between him and his former friends, he was able to sit up straight and finish his meal in relative peace. After the school song, Dumbles made his start-of-term announcements including the new D.A.D.A. instructor, Gilderoy Lockhart, which sort of explained all the man's books being on Harry's booklist. Being released to head back to the dorms, Harry's new Housemates moved in to block him from view as they headed down to the Slytherin Common Room only breaking apart when they were inside to take seats for Professor Snape's announcements.

 

"Hello Everyone," Snape said as soon as he entered the dorms smiling. "We have some interesting new students this year, I am sure you all noticed one of them in Heir Potter. Besides him, a Muggleborn has joined our noble House," at his words to Harry's surprise the entire House burst into applause. "This does mean that you will need to give Heir Potter and Ms. Jane-Smith some leeway for a bit as they learn the protocol you all observe. " Snape then went on to give a rundown for the First Years the stuff he had covered with Harry the day before letting Harry zone out a little wondering about the applause from students to getting a Muggleborn.

He was sure that Ron would say something along the lines of them having a new target for their bullying ways. Not wanting to interrupt the meeting, Harry decided to ask Draco and the others once they were in their dorm room. Harry was brought back to the normal meeting as Snape called for him and the new first years to join him by a desk in the corner. Knowing what was to come from their discussion yesterday, Snape told the First Years that due to members of their House getting targeted by students from the other Houses, everyone was required to put a drop of blood into a Magical Inkwell.   This would register anytime they got hurt out of the dorms or above a certain point while in classes. "Heir Flint will place a notice on the board when he has decided to hold Quidditch try-outs," Snape said winding down with his notices to the House.

"Also as a reminder to some of you, as well as a guideline to our new members, I do not care if you have issues with your classmates but keep from acting on them outside these rooms,' Snape said sending a pointed look at Draco and Harry thinking about their relationship from the previous year. "We have enough trouble with other students in the main castle it is best to be a united front out there." At that, he bowed his head to them all and left the Common Room letting everyone spend some time greeting their friends before they all head to head to their rooms for curfew.

 

Leaving his Snakes, old and new, Severus gathered his strength for the staff meeting knowing that Albus was going to raise hell for Harry getting re-sorted, let alone ending up in Slytherin House. As usual, Pomona, Filius, and himself were the last teachers to arrive at the meeting since they gave their Houses some special rules and guidelines for their own Houses in addition to the normal Hogwarts rules. The group had to wait an additional five minutes before Albus showed up, making the meeting start earlier than normal.

 

"Greetings everyone just a few things to go over for the start of term," Albus said taking his place at the head of the table. "First off a round of applause for Gilderoy for agreeing to join us." There was scattering applause for the fool who stood up and took a bow as if he had got a standing ovation from the Wizengamot. "Secondly the third-floor corridor has been returned to its normal state after its job of protecting the stone and can be used again. Now I would like to ask you," Albus said turning to look at Severus and the other Head of House," why you broke protocol and had Harry go through a re-sort?

"We were fixing a mistake that had been done," Minerva said simply.

"There was no mistake the Hat sent Hary to Gryffindor, and he should remain there with his friends," Albus said.

"That is not how this works, Albus," Filius informed the old fool, "he went through a re-sort, so he will remain in Slytherin until he graduates or decides to leave Hogwarts for another institution."

 

"He could not ask for a re-sort, he is too young and his guardian did not approve of it," Albus fired back.

"They did," Severus said a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth at how Albus took not getting his way when it came to Potter.

"Do I need to remind you all that I am Harry's Magical Guardian? As I did not approve for him to get the re-sort the fact that it happened is illegal and non-binding," Albus blustered

 

"You are no longer, his Magical Guardian," Charity said causing Albus to swing his head around to glare at her.

"Of course, I am his Guardian, Charity, and if you don't mind I am trying to find out why your Co-workers broke Hogwarts bylaws," Albus said before dismissing her with another small glare.

"I must inform you that you are mistaken, Albus," Charity said not backing down. "Due to an event that happened a few weeks ago, you were ousted and Bathsheda and myself were assigned as Harry's Magical Guardians by the Goblins and approved of by Lady Magic herself."

 

"Ridiculous," Albus said.

"Charity is correct," Bathsheda said breaking into the conversation, "It happened after we rescued him from his home where he was being held as a prisoner by his Muggle family." All but Gilderoy and Albus who had not yet heard about any of this let out sounds of shock. "We only found out about it due to him sending a message of help back with his school letter. Since we rescued him the Goblins assigned us as his Guardians. We have already talked about this with Poppy, but if he gets hurt in class we are to be the first one notified just like all parents/guardians of students."

"But why the re-sort?" Septima Vector asked.

 

"After we rescued Harry, he went through a Cleansing performed by the Goblins.  As this was going on his Account Manager told me that I should talk to him about the real history and purpose of the four Houses. Reading between the lines, at first, this led me to think they were telling me to see about getting him re-sorted, which was confirmed a little later. As for why we did it now rather than wait until his third year, Harry informed Minerva, Bathsheda, and myself when we asked him some questions," Charity said as everyone apart from Lockhart hung on her every word. "Harry revealed that the Hat tried to place him in a certain House when he was first going through his Sorting. As we have found due to his lack of knowledge of the Houses, he talked the Hat into placing somewhere else."

"That should not be possible," Silvanus Kettleburn said.

"We think it is actually more common than you would think," Minerva said.  "With students seeming to only know certain things about each House and few details in the Hat's song each year, we think students are not getting the full picture of what each House represents. Hence, on Harry's actual suggestion, during the next meeting of the Governers, I will suggest that each new student no matter their blood status receives a small booklet that gives out the history and purpose of the House. I don't know about Severus, Finius, or Pomona but I will be handing a copy over to my students as soon as it is printed so they can see if they belong in Gryffindor."

 

There were some shocked murmurs at this plan, Albus seethed a little not wanting any student to undergo a re-sort he had everyone where he wanted them. All those kids with Dark Cores were kept together in the dungeons where they belonged. The Dark Cored students who had families that supported them and Gray Cored intellectuals shuffled off to Ravenclaw. The Gray-Cored Magicals who did not necessarily have the brains to be in Ravenclaw and the few Light-Cored students whose families did not support him were sent to Hufflepuff. And finally, the Light Cored Magicals who supported him were in Gryffindor House and given the best of everything that the school had to offer.

 

"If our students read the books and find out the truth we might be having more requests for re-sorts in the future," Minerva continued after giving them a moment to let the news sink in. "I will also talk to the board about allowing students in their Second or First Year to ask for it if they feel they were not placed in the right House."

"Um, a very noble plan, Minerva," Albus said as he fought the urge to grind his teeth. "So what House did the Hat send Harry into?"

"I don't mean to be rude, Albus, but how is that any of your concern?" Pomona asked. "His Guardians know where he is that is enough. As you are no longer his Guardian your only actions towards him should be similar to those you have with any other student here."

"Very, well Pomona, I was just curious is all," Albus said taking her defense of the boy as a sign that Harry ended up in Hufflepuff. Albus thought this could work to his advantage since as everyone knew any student who was in Hufflepuff was a pushover, meaning Harry would still submit to Ronald, Hermione, Ginvera, and himself when push came to shove. "Does anyone have any new business?" he asked as a way to move past the subject. When no one brought anything up, he called the meeting to a close heading to his office to start working on some plans to make sure Harry kept on the path Albus had planned for him.

 

When Harry and his new roommates went to their room for the first curfew the others turned towards him. "Now that we are away from everyone care to explain how you got sorted into Slytherin?" Blaise asked.

"It all started on my birthday," Harry said as he climbed into his four-poster bed, closing the hanging so he could change. "A House Elf came to my home to try to get me to stay away from Hogwarts. He almost succeeded as he used Magic in my uncle's house leading the Ministry to send a letter. As I had been using the threat of magic to keep them at bay, learning I would get expelled if I used any more magic they locked me in my room.

As the Elf was blocking all my mail I had to wait for my Hogwarts letter and send a call for help." Opening his hanging Harry saw Draco in the next bed over wiggling his fingers for a moment before he folded his arms over his chest with a strange look on his face as if he was trying to decide to say or do something. "The owl delivered the letter to Professors Burbage and Babbling who came to rescue me. When I went to get some money out for my school supplies, I ended up fainting due to poor health from my time as a prisoner with my family. It seems that the Goblins have a policy if such an event happens at the bank, they perform a check-up as well as give me a Cleansing."

 

"So that is what happened," Draco said finally understanding how his Bond with Harry had finally woken back up.

"Yes it was, and afterward I was given a test," Harry said while Theo and Blaise were a little confused. "Besides learning of our Bond, I also learned of what my former friends had been doing."

"What were they doing?" Theo asked while Blaise winced a little at his partner's lack of social decorum.

 

Harry did not seem to mind it, however, as he answered. "Well, let's see," Harry said as he began to list the items off on his fingers, "I had been enchanted to be loyal to them, Ronald, his sister, and his dad, along with Granger were given money from my vaults. Not to mention the Headmaster as well. Granger and Dumbles had also stolen some of my family's magical tomes and books apart from the Grimoire." Harry's three new roommates wore looks between shock and anger at the news of the thefts. "Also Dumbles in his role as my Magical Guardian placed a block on all Marriage Contracts except for the one he submitted between me and Ronald's little sister." At this news, a loud crash echoed through the room as Draco's magic went out of control and broke his four-poster bed in half.

"You alright there Draco?" Blaise asked.

"THE BITCH AND BASTARD," Draco said his body shaking in anger that they tried to force Harry into marriage.

"It is alright, Draco," Harry said in an utterly calm voice something that shocked Blaise and Theo to see Draco losing control of himself while Harry was perfectly calm. "After I took my Family Rings it removed all Marriage Contracts but the one between us." Theo and Blaise shared a look now understanding perfectly what was going on.

 

"Is everything alright in here?" one of the male Prefects asked poking their head into the room after hearing Draco's magic breaking his bed.

"I just lost control for a moment," Draco said tugging at his sleepwear as if he was straightening them out.

"Right," the Prefect said in an understanding voice, "Heir Potter, come with me we will find you a new room."

 

"What?  Why?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Well, obviously, you and Heir Malfoy's history together makes you sharing the same room a bad idea," he said pulling out his wand to transfer Harry's belongings to another room.

"You Can't Take Him!" Draco said glaring at the Prefect who seemed rather surprised at the order from the younger student.

"And why not? I thought you would be happy to get rid of him from what I heard," the Prefect said not stopping his spell to gather Harry's stuff.

 

"They have a Contract," Theo said shocking the sixth-year student and causing their spell to end dumping Harry's stuff all over the floor.

"Theo is correct, Draco only lost control for Heir Potter just informed us that someone blocked their Contract in favor of another," Blaise said.*

"I see," the older student said before they sent Harry's stuff back to where they had been and repaired Draco's bed. "I shall have to inform Professor Snape about this."

"Draco will not get in trouble for it, will he?" Harry asked.

"No, that is not what I meant, Heir Potter," the Prefect said before clarifying, "I will be telling him about your contract so he will know if either of you acts out against someone for hurting the other, the possible reason behind your actions."

 

"Oh," Harry said, not getting it, having spent more time reading his mother and father's old journals rather than reading up on Marriage Contracts. If he did, he would have discovered that based on how the kids' magic interacted with each other when they were younger, it usually gave an indication of their role in the relationship, let it be the dominant/protector or the submissive/protectee. A Contract would never actually specify what the parents who set it up noticed in their kids' magic, just in case it fell into the wrong hands or a situation like what had happened to Harry came about. As their role suggested, if someone wronged or attacked a submissive partner, the dominant would make the person pay for their actions, and as long as they did not go too far, they were usually protected by Magical Law.

Sensing Harry did not get it, the Prefect looked to Draco, "Heir Malfoy, when you and the others help Heir Potter learn proper protocol, I would also teach him about the nature of such Contracts." Draco gave a nod of his head at the order as the Prefect, their job done, left the room to inform their Head of House what they had learned about Harry and Draco.  Only to stick their head in again to repair Draco's bed.

 

Flashback: The Borrow two hours ago.

 

Molly Weasley found it a little strange to find the house so quiet. Sure, at the moment, her eldest son was there, but it was not the same as it had been last year with Ginny and her after seeing her other kids onto the train. Even Arthur had headed back to work for the moment. Molly decided that since it was just her and Bill, she would take a moment to talk to him about something that had been bothering her. "William, why don't you join me for a cuppa?" she asked, smiling at him as he entered the kitchen.

"Sure thing, Mum," Bill said, taking a seat at the small, worn table. So far, Bill had not been able to find evidence that his family had used any of the money they had taken from Harry, and he thought it was time to talk to his mother and try to see if he could catch her mentioning them having more money than he knew his dad made working for the Ministry.

"So how are things at the bank?" Molly asked as she passed over a small, well-loved but chipped green teacup.

 

"It is going rather well. My bosses have begun to notice my hard work," he said, not mentioning that this was due to what had been found out about his dad, Ron, and Ginny on Harry's test.

"That is wonderful," she said proudly, smiling at him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, smiling back before dangling some bait for her. "As I have been earning a little extra money, I was thinking about getting Fred and George some new brooms for when they play Quidditch. That way, they can pass their brooms down to Ron and Ginny in case Ron wants to try out for the Gryffindor team."

Molly's face fell just a little bit, though still with the proud look on it. "That is a rather generous offer, William, but you should save your money and use it for yourself. Maybe get a new apartment. Not that I don't like you having to live here, but what would your co-workers say if they find out you choose brooms for your kid brothers rather than moving out of your childhood home?"

 

"It was just an offer, well, an idea for their Yule gifts," Bill said. "Speaking of homes, now that Percy is almost finished with Hogwarts, did you or Dad ever think about moving to another place?

"You know we can't afford that," Molly said, blushing a little, hating to talk about money matters, especially with her kids.

"I get that, Mum, but surely there is some old family property that you could move into in a couple of years when there are just the six of you, so you don't have to clean so much," Bill said.

"We can't. Your dad's father cut him from the family when I got pregnant with you, as for my side, it is under the control of Aunt Muriel, who would charge us outrageous prices just to stay the night, let alone move in," Molly said, placing her tea down on the table.

"I thought Fred and George were in line to inherit the Prewett estates due to them being twins," Bill said.

"Oh, they are, but until they are of age, Muriel has everything locked down tight to not even sending a Knut our way," Molly said.

 

"Can you tell me why you are really here now?" Molly asked a surprised Bill.

"What do you mean, Mum?" he asked.

"Well, for someone who was brought back to England to work at the bank, you have spent a great deal of time here, and now all these probing questions," Molly said, giving him a look over her cup as she took another drink.

Bill had forgotten how shrewd she was, or how she always seemed to be able to see through all but the twins' plans. "It is nothing I can discuss," he said, being as truthful as his contract would allow him to be.

 

Once more, she shocked him as she asked, "Does this have to do with Harry Potter?"

"What gave you that idea?" he asked, unable to keep his surprise from showing on his face or in his voice.

"I am not an idiot, son," she said, arching an eyebrow at him. "For almost the whole summer, Ron wrote to Harry almost every day, only to not get any response. Percy overheard Ron and the twins plan to use your dad's car to go get him from his home. I asked the twins about it, but they told me that they had no idea where Harry lived, meaning they would be searching for a needle in a haystack for him. When I pointed out the flaw in their logic, they told me Ron knew where Harry lived. Now I get that Harry might have told Ron during their time at Hogwarts. Before I could ask Ron about it, your father informed us that he had been told by Albus that Harry and his family had gone on vacation for the rest of the summer.

 

Now I don't want to speak ill of you and your siblings, but I noticed a look of jealousy flash over Ron's face at the news. Before your father shared news about Harry's family going on vacation, Ron told us that, according to Harry, his room had once been under the stairs of his home. From the stories I heard from Fred, George, and even Charlie. I will tell you later," she said, seeing Bill's shocked look at the mention of his immediate younger brother. Making him wonder if Charlie had also told her about the Dragon that he had shared with him. "Harry is not one to make that sort of joke. I did think that maybe Harry's bedroom was just in the basement of his Muggle family's home, but that is now what it sounded like. Another strange thing was that, despite your father telling us that Harry would be gone until the start of term, today, he went to collect Harry from his home last night. I can only assume Albus told him where it was, but your father came back not only alone but with the story that Harry's Muggle family home was up for sale by their bank." Bill took a hasty drink of tea, already aware of this fact.

 

"I see," he said, lowering his cup, hoping his voice sounded normal to his mum, for it did not sound that way to himself.

"Your father, as you are aware, got us all up early today so we would be on time for Percy, George, Fred, Ron, and Ginny to catch the train. Yet for some reason, he had me help everyone else board the train while he and Ron stayed on the Muggle side of the barrier until almost the last moment. I did not find your father again until after the train had left the station, but thankfully, I saw and helped Ron onto the train before then. I quickly asked your brother where your father was, but he told me that they had gotten separated when Ron had to go to the bathroom right before he had rushed to the train.

 

When your father and I headed back to the car, your father was telling me about how some Muggles were desperate and would sometimes steal, or as he put it, "lift" cars from public parking areas. While I found it fascinating, I did not have any fear for his car, for I put some charms on it myself before I even got into the blasted thing. When we arrived at the car, I swear your father looked rather shocked to see it still in the lot, as if he thought it would be stolen. Or maybe he hoped it would, so he could get a real Muggle experience, but it just seemed rather strange to me," Molly said, finishing her tea before pouring herself another cup.

Bill took this information in before he tried to change the subject so that his mother would not inadvertently discover his purpose for being back home. "So what do you plan to do now that Ginny is out of the house and Dad is gone at the Ministry?"

"Well, I think I will give the whole place a very thorough cleaning. After that, I thought about applying for some part-time work," Molly said.

"Oh, where?" he asked.

"I don't know, I could apply to work at the Leaky Cauldron or the Three Broomsticks as a waitress, I suppose. Or I could see if the offer of the Medi-Witch training at St. Mungos is still open to me," she said, surprising Bill again.

 

"Wait, what?" he asked, no longer having to hide his shock.

"Oh yes, when I was carrying you, I had been offered Medi-Witch training up at St. Mungos due to my grades in Potions, Healing, Charms, and Transfigurations. But I could not stand the thought of being away from you right after your birth, and it was not as if we had money to pay for someone to watch you anyway. They told me to reapply when I felt like it, but with you growing up and the birth of your siblings, I never felt the need to go back. But I guess with everyone out of the house, it might be time," Molly said with a smile

 

As Bill processed this bit of information, two owls flew into the room to deposit letters before flying out again. Seeing the top one was from Hogwarts, Molly opened it up, sharing that, like everyone else in their family, Ginny had been sorted into Gryffindor House. When she reached for the second letter, she saw it was sent, based on the handwriting, by Ron. For some reason, it was only addressed to Arthur and written in a very hasty manner. Thinking that whatever was causing his haste also made Ron forget to place her name on it, Molly opened it.

 

Dad,

Something went wrong. I did not see Harry at all before boarding the train. Though I guess you knew that since your car was still in its spot. I could not find Harry on the train either. I began to worry that his family had moved away when they were on vacation, stopping him from returning to Hogwarts. So I asked Granduncle Dumbledore about it in an unobtrusive way. It turns out that Harry, for some reason, got re-sorted into another House, but was told by another member of staff to drop it. Was this part of the plan?

Ron.

 

The letter confused Molly as she handed it off to her eldest, asking what he thought about it.

Notes:

* Blaise uses Theo and Draco's first names due to their familiarity and having been permitted to do so while calling Harry, Heir Potter to follow Slytherin Protocol.

Chapter 9: Slytherins Are People To

Summary:

Harry learns more about his Housemates, both old and new.

The Burrow

 

After Bill finished reading the letter, he knew he would need to head to the bank to report this recent turn of events. Molly, on the other hand, had an inkling more was going on than her husband and youngest kids were telling her. Why were they so worried about Harry and since when was Albus the granduncle to any of her kids? Sure Ron was Harry's friend and she had wanted to help him after finding him wandering alone at Kings Cross. But she did now want to look like she was giving him a handout so had drawn his attention to her by placing a spell on him that would allow him to hear her through the Wards she had placed around her family.

Most magical families used such Wards when dropping off their kids to head to school just in case they said anything about magic. Seeing a young boy with a Hogwarts trunk and an owl looking confused, she had asked her kids how to reach the platform even though she had been dropping her kids off for years. Molly had also watched the boy as Percy, Fred, and George had gone through the barrier yet due to how crowded it was that day, he missed it each time they walked through. She could not help but smile at him when he came over and asked how to get onto the platform in such a polite manner, a manner most kids his age just did not have.

 

Despite all this, there was no reason for Ron to have an issue with Harry getting a re-sort. She wondered what had happened since as a parent member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, she knew only the most extreme issue would allow a student to get a re-sort before their Third Year. She began to wonder if her husband had lied to them about Harry's family taking him on vacation for the summer. Something that did not fit with the stories she had heard about Harry's home life from George and Fred yet not Ron.

It did seem out of character for the polite boy she had met at Kings Cross to tell such tales to the twins as a sort of prank, but that just raised the question of why Ron would not share any stories of Harry's homelife with Arthur and her unless he did not want them to check it out themselves. It was just too confusing she needed some more facts. So as Bill left saying he had to go to the bank, Molly used her magic to make Ron's letter look like it had not been opened yet leaving it for her husband when he finally got home.

 

Her husband did arrive home at his normal time, just as Molly had finished preparing a late-night meal for him. "We got the letter from Hogwarts, Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor House, and Ron sent you a letter. I guess he wrote to say goodbye since you did not see him getting on the train," Molly said pointing to the pair of letters. Arthur sat down and ripped open the letter from Ron reading it quickly before tossing it into the fire. "What is wrong, Arthur?"

"It seems Ron forgot Scabber's cage again and wanted to know if I could send it so he would not have to sleep with his pet all year again. Ron is complaining about how he gets woken up in the middle of the night due to Scabber's walking all over him," Arthur said making Molly give a sound of agreement while confused as to why Arthur was lying about the contents of the letter.

"And you threw it into the fire because?" she prompted him.

"I am just annoyed with him, Molly, the boy is twelve years old.  He should be able to remember to pack everything, or as he is getting older see if he can try to transfigure something into a secondary cage for his rat," Arthur said sounding annoyed that Molly would believe if she did not know he was lying right to her face. She was going to have to get to the bottom of this for it was unlike him to lie to her at least when it came to their kids.

 

The next morning Hogwarts

 

Harry woke up refreshed and eager to start his first official day of class as a Slytherin Student. Technically he had a full day of being a Slytherin the day before, but there had been no classes and he had been by himself.  Today he would get a chance to see how everyone would react to his new House. That would include other members of Slytherin House for he had only given the true story of why he had been re-sorted and had dropped Ron and Hermione like so much useless garbage to Draco, Blaise, and Theo.

He at least learned why everyone had been so excited for a Muggleborn to be sorted into Slytherin. As most Muggleborns coming to Hogwarts were given a skewed message about the House it meant that one of three things had happened. That Ms. Jane-Smith had not believed the anti-Slytherin propaganda and had made up her own mind. The person who had been sent to introduce her to the Magical World had shared with her the real nature of the House. Finally, the students applauded to show her support due to Slytherin House was meant for kids who suffered some hardships due to the great expectations that were placed on them or just had hard childhoods.

 

Harry found himself once more in the middle of the group of Second Year Slytherins as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. This time without even being asked Crabbe and Goyle sat across from Harry and Draco blocking Harry from the view of the spot he and his former friends mostly sat in last year. Harry still ducked a little when he saw Ron and Hermione enter the hall followed by Ginny as the trio sat down in the spot. "And you really are no longer friends with them, right?" Pansy asked who while sitting beside him was not blocked by either Crabbe or Goyle letting Hermione see her and send a glare her way.

"I can assure you I am not, nor will I ever be again," Harry said.

"That is good," Pansy said breathing out a sigh of relief. "I can tell you now that when you were not around those two were real assholes."

"So I heard from Professor Snape, at least about Ron. What did Granger hit you with a book or something?" Harry asked having gotten hit in such a way by the girl if he "interrupted" her study time.

"No, she was if anything worse than the Weasle," Pansy said as she began to put some toast and marmalade on her plate.

 

"How?" he asked.

"Granger has the annoying habit of being able to pinpoint one's greatest insecurities and then use them against you. Like she does when she compares me to a pug just cause my nose is slightly upturned," Pansy said glaring at the bushy-haired witch. Harry felt a little guilty having laughed, as did several other students in Gryffindor Tower when Hermione had pointed out that fact.

"Um, not to be rude but she just saw your nose and made a rude comment.  How does that show she can find someone's greatest insecurities?" Harry asked.

"She has pinpointed our weak points even if it was not based on our looks," Blaise said from around Draco. "She somehow knew about my mother and said I would never find real love."

"Or that I am not that typically manly as she called a girl in disguise," Theo said leaning his head on Blaise's shoulder, "saying I was a freaky crossdressing shemale. I don't know if she was saying it since I am gay or if she somehow knows that one of my parents is transgendered."

 

"She makes fun of my hair," Draco said.

"Well that is not that big of a leap you do seem rather obsessed with it, and I have seen you get flustered when the smallest part of it is out of place," Harry said.

"I admit that I have done so, but I can't help it," Draco said as he ate his bacon. "I do it to honor my Grandma. When I was younger I let my hair go wild going every which way. remind me to show you a picture of a playdate we had. Anyway, my Grandma Veronica Malfoy due to a potion accident in her youth ended up with some issues and would sometimes have an episode.  One of the things that calmed her down was styling someone's hair. When I was five she," Draco said looking as if he had unshed tears in his eyes, "passed away and I was the last person whose hair she had worked on. So to keep her memory alive for myself and my family, I leave my hair as she left it. Yet Granger seems to take pleasure in using some magic to mess it up and laugh about it as I hastily put it back into place."

 

"Let me guess she goes after Crabbe and Goyle due to their intelligence?" Harry asked.

"No," everyone but the two boys themselves that were sitting around him said in unison.

"She makes fun of their specific issues. Do you mind if I share them with Harry, so he understands?" Draco asked the pair. Both boys gave the blonde a tight-lipped nod.

 

"In Goyle's case ever since he was a kid he had some random curse or enchantment that had been placed on him that no Cleansing has been able to get rid of. Crabbe has a communication disorder that makes it hard for him to speak even with his friends," Draco said getting a nod from Crabbe at the validity of the statement.

"What sort of curse are you under Heir or is it Messer Goyle?" Harry asked the hulking boy across from him.

"It is Heir," Goyle said in a soft voice. "For some reason, I am cursed so that when I try to read anything all the letters in a word get jumbled up. With this curse in effect, it takes me ages to read our assignments, and due to it when I have to write our homework, I get points taken down for misspelling the words. Granger made fun of Heir Crabbe and me, last term around finals calling us Neanderthals saying we had no purpose besides being muscular henchmen for Draco and the others. As if we were just brawns and no brains. Heir Crabbe is rather smart, and once I get help on my assignments, I manage to do pretty well myself. Neither of us works out either our strength is part of both of our families' magic where we have a lot of physical strength without even trying.

 

We both dislike that part of our families' magic for before we befriended Draco and everyone, the people we used to hang out with used to treat us as nothing more than strongmen. We thought if we did not use our strength to help them out they would stop being our friends. But they just kept asking us to do chore after chore for them with our strength. This created a psychological issue with us as the pressure built up until we both nearly lost it during a Yule Ball when we were nine crying our eyes out where Daphne and Pansy found us. They helped calm us down and told us that what the people we used to hang out with were doing to us was not right. Once we had calmed down the pair brought us out to the others and introduced us to them and we have been friends ever since," Goyle finished amazing Harry a little who had never heard the other boy talk so much before.

 

"They were bastards, no one should convince someone that the only way to be friends with them is through one factor let it be their strength or money," Harry said holding his hand out to Goyle. "Heir Goyle, Heir Crabbe, I am glad to meet you and would like to apologize for thinking you were nothing but musclebound idiots that Granger and Ron always stated you were. Your curse sounds a lot like the Muggle condition of Dyslexia."

"The Muggles have a name for it?" Goyle asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I had a classmate in my class when I attended Muggle School that required some assistance with it. Maybe they were Magical as well and Dyslexia really is a magic curse."

 

"What was the kid's name?" Goyle asked leaning forward hoping to find another with his same curse to see if they ever got over it.

"Her name was Jenna Peterson," Harry said.

"Not any Magical Family, I have heard of," Draco said as the others shook their heads not having heard of anyone by that name either.

"Maybe you should talk to Professor Burbage to see if she knows any Muggle solutions to your curse since it is so much like Dyslexia," Harry suggested.

"I might look into it thanks," Goyle said with a small smile.

 

"So is that everyone that the bitch I used to call a friend teased?" Harry asked looking at the other Second Year Slytherins.

"I had heard she was the one who started the nickname of the Slytherin Ice Queen about me," Daphne Greengrass said. "Just like Crabbe and Goyle, my family has a rather unique Magical skill that is present in its members. All those born into the Greengrass line tend to have faces that show very little emotion making us hard to read. This is good when the leader of the family is working on negotiations with others, but horrible when one wants to show joy or anger at something," she said her face utterly blank making her look as if she was either annoyed or bored all the time.

"She makes fun of me by saying I looked like a cross between a troll and a pig," Millicent Bulstrode said.

 

"Well if you guys ever want any ammunition against her I know she does not like her front teeth which she fears are too big," Harry said as the meal came to a close and the Heads of House started to pass out their class schedules.

"We will not stoop to her level," Pansy said sounding a little affronted as the others nodded their agreement.

"Not saying you should but just giving you something to level the playing field as it were," Harry said.

"Thanks but no thanks, Harry," Draco said giving Harry a somewhat coy smile that sparked butterflies to seem to appear in the new Slytherin's stomach. Professor Snape soon arrived passing out their schedules with a groan Harry saw that his first class this year was Charms alongside the Gryffindors.

Notes:

Some notes on this chapter. First of all, due to watching the music video of Surface Pressure from Encanto, I was inspired to write a chapter where characters were in similar situations of pressure. Also, the reason I have Goyle having Dyslexia is due to the line in the Chamber of Secrets movie when Harry and Ron have drunk Polyjuice Potion. Draco finding them asks why Harry as Goyle was wearing Harry's glasses and comments that he did not think Goyle could read. This leads to the idea of showing Harry that all his new Housemates have their flaws and are only human after all.

Chapter 10: Lacking charms during Charms

Summary:

Harry meets with his former friends and goes to see one of his new guardians concerning a classmate.

Harry knew it would be hard to predict when his former friends would go to class since Hermione usually liked to be the first person in the room so she could get the "best seat".  Meanwhile, Ron since it was the first class of the day would want to stay in the Great Hall and eat until the last moment. Not knowing if Ron or Hermione's personality would win out in the end, Harry kept glancing at the pair to see when they would leave. It turned out Hermione won out in the end as she bodily dragged Ron from the room all the while he was shoveling food into his face from a plate he had removed from the table.

Harry had never seen anyone do that before so he watches to see what happened. As soon as Ron crossed the border of the Great Hall the plate vanished from the redhead's hands making the food that had been left on it fall to the floor. While he was nowhere near enough to hear Ron, Harry could tell just from his former friend's face the idiot was bemoaning the loss of the food. A look that was soon replaced by annoyance as Hermione turned and began to get on his case.  Ron's look quickly changed again as Percy came over and started to tell him off. Harry had to look away lest he start laughing just on the off chance either of his former friends could tune in on his laughter. Harry ended up looking at the Hourglasses and saw Gryffindor had lost some points already. A few months ago such a sight would have annoyed him, but he had fully accepted his place in Slytherin.  So all the sight did now was make him smile knowing the point loss had to be from Ron taken by Percy since classes had not even started yet.

 

Once Percy had stopped dealing with his younger brother and banished the food. Harry took a few more minutes to allow Ron and Hermione to get up the main staircase before he and his new Housemates headed to class. Reaching the classroom, Harry saw that Hermione had also bullied Ron into sitting in what she saw as the best seats in the class, in other words, two of the seats closest to Professor Flitwick's pile of books that he perched on as he taught. Thus Harry was able to sit in the area of the class claimed by the Slytherin students in a position that was out of their immediate line of sight. It also helped that once again Crabbe and Goyle* sat in the row in front of him along with Millicent blocking Harry, Draco, and Theo from view, though the trio's size was unable to block Blaise's larger form sitting next to Theo.

 

"Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a good summer," Professor Flitwick said entering the classroom. "As we had a full year together, I think I know you all well enough not to have to take roll so let's jump right into it." Harry was glad that role was not getting called meaning he could hopefully avoid being found to be a member of Slytherin House. Well, almost Neville, of all people, managed to spot him sitting beside Draco, but rather than a look of shock or confusion coming to his face, he sent Harry a large smile and a nod before taking his seat.

"I like to have a class of review after the summer break as well as hopefully expand your understanding of Charms. We shall start today with the Levitation Charm. I hope everyone recalls the incantation, but to switch things up I want you to think of a different way in which the spell works on the item you cast it on. Last Samhain, I had you think of the spell creating a cushion of air under the object letting you direct it through changing the air currents.  I would like you to think of something different this time. I don't care what you think of just have it be something different than the air currents from last year. Yes, Miss Granger?" Professor Flitwick asked seeing her raise her hand and wave it in the air.

"What reason is there to change how we think as we cast the spell?" Hermione asked.

"It is a way to grow a little in your understanding of the nature of magic, Miss Granger. Why don't you test it out?" he asked as with a wave of his wand brought forth some pillows and placed them on his desk. "Just think of something other than the air currents and cast Wingardium Leviosa to see how well you can do."

 

The class watched as Hermione scrunched up her face in concentration before she cast the spell. While the pillow she aimed at did float a little it wobbled in the air as if Hermione had just learned how to cast the spell for the first time. "Any other volunteers to try out the spell?" Flitwick asked. Several students from both Gryffindor and Slytherin took turns but got similar results that Hermione had received with the pillow. Finally, Harry decided to take his turn as in his mind he went over some of the items he had read about in his mother's Charm Journals. Recalling her notes on the way to move the items, Harry thought about a giant invisible hand just lifting the pillows and moving them around a little.

 

When Harry was called on to perform the spell, he performed the swish and flick calling out Wingardium Levious in a clear voice, which he knew his former friends would latch onto right away, but he wanted to perform the spell right in honor of his mother. There was a gasp from the rest of the class for rather than one pillow lifting shakily into the air the whole stack of them rose. Easily able to hold them in place Harry reasoned that since the hands holding the pillows up were creations of magic there was no reason for him to use only one of them. Harry soon had multiple hands in play each taking a pillow as he separated the stack of them to float in different parts of the room.

Feeling a little cheeky that his mother's notes had helped him do this on his first try Harry tried to use the hands to juggle the pillows in the air tossing the pillows among the various hands he had created. At least for a few minutes before Flitwick came in and took control of the pillows from him. "Very nicely done, Harry, ten points to Gr... Slytherin for the spell work, but I would caution you to not spread yourself too thin while casting the spell, lest you tire both your body and Magical Core out," Flitwick cautioned as the Slytherins around Harry all applauded him, not for him earning points but his display of magic.

 

As Crabbe and Goyle turned around to give him some thumbs up, Harry caught a look for Ron and Hermione staring at him in open-mouthed shock, though it that was due to finding out he was now a member of Slytherin House or his spell work, Harry neither knew nor cared. The best part was that at least while the class was in session, he was safe from their comments.   He knew Hermione, apart from when she had a question or tried to answer a teacher, would never try to disrupt a class while Ron was too far away at the moment to really do anything. As Flitwick had tasked them all with thinking of a new way to think while casting the spell ,he did not have Harry inform everyone what he had been thinking of as the next person took their turn.

 

By the time everyone had a go Harry had been the only one to manage to get the pillows to float without wobbling, though Theo, Draco, Neville, Daphne, and Lily Moon managed to make more than one pillow float in the air. After the Levitation Charm, Professor Flitwick had them change to casting the Lumos Spell while trying to think of new ways to cast this spell as well. Harry tried not to think about what his mother's notes said about this spell as he thought of something on his own. When they first learned the Lumos spell, Flitwick had told them to picture the flame of a candle burning on their wand tip, so by using that logic Harry pictured not a small flame or even the fires in one of the fireplaces he pictured the burning surface of the Sun as he recalled seeing during a movie in his Muggle school's science classes.

 

This time the results of everyone casting Lumos showed different effects. Everyone in the class was able to make a light appear on the tip of their wand but other than that everyone was slightly different. Some like Crabbe and Seamus created more than one glowing orb making Harry guess that the pair had thought of the single candle being part of candelabras thus the added orbs of light. As Dean Thomas cast the spell his light was more of a beam making Harry guess his former dorm mate had thought of a lighthouse or even a torch (flashlight.

Some classmates' lights were bigger as if rather than a candle wick being the source of it they had gone with a fireplace. Ron's light made Harry think of the tail of a bottle rocket. When it was time for Hermione to cast her spell she gave Harry a superior smirk as she produced a ring of lights with the impression that she had thought of a stovetop as her new inspiration for casting the spell.

As the class had been casting the Light-Making Charm, Professor Flitwick had cast a spell to make the classroom, despite the large glass windows along one wall, utterly dark. When it was Harry's turn he turned his thoughts to the Sun as he called out Lumos. While he had only managed to create one orb rather than several ones even if he did make the orb grow in size it was not the largest one that had been produced by his classmates. The difference was that Harry's baseball-sized orb of light was so bright it cast back all the darkness and caused everyone to shield their eyes with sounds of pain.

 

As Harry canceled the spell and everyone blinked their eyes to regain their sight, Flitwick told them since Harry had been the last to cast the Lumos spell, to form small groups and discuss what they had thought about as they had cast their spells for the class. Harry was prepared to team up with Draco, Blaise, and Theo, only for Ron and Hermione to leave their seats and march over to him. "Come and join us, Harry," Hermione said making it sound like an order rather than a suggestion.

"I don't think so," Harry responded.

"Why not we are your best friends? We have not seen you all summer as you ditched us to go on vacation and come back a slimy snake," Ron whined.

"You have an interesting idea of friendship, Weasley," Draco commented.

"Shut up Malfoy, I am talking to Harry," Ron growled as he grabbed Harry's arm and began to try to drag him out of the seat and away from the Slytherins.

"Let go, Weasley," Harry said struggling to pull his hand free, yet even after getting healed, he was not as strong as the redhead.

 

"Alright, what sort of potions did you slip Harry, when he was on vacation?" Hermione asked as Ron was struck dumb by Harry calling him Weasley.

"Us giving him potions that's a little rich," Theo said.

"And what is that supposed to mean, you sissy freak?" she asked his implied statement making her forget Harry's presence.

"Enough," Harry said having finally extracted his arm from Ron's slackened grip, "I am going to work with my new Housemates, you both can leave."

"But Harry?" Hermione said sounding confused.

"That is enough Miss Granger, Harry has chosen the members of his workgroup," Flitwick said coming over, "Miss Granger I am afraid I am going to have to take twenty-five points off for what I just heard you say to Heir Nott, and Messer Weasley, I will have to take five off from you trying to forcefully move Heir Potter against his will. Now both of you return to your seats or find some people to join you and get to work." Hermione jumped to follow Professor Flitwick's orders blushing at having been caught bullying someone, while Ron's face turned thunderous having lost over thirty points in less than an hour thanks to his brother Percy and now this.

 

Harry and the other Slytherins gave a nod of thanks to the Charms Master as they began to discuss what each had been thinking about as they cast the First Year spells earlier. The others were amazed at Harry's idea of the invisible hands just lifting the pillows, causing him to blush as he admitted that he had gotten the idea from one of his mother's old journals. But in their minds that did not detract from how good it had worked pointing out it had still taken a lot of skill to do what he had done. Harry blushed a little at the compliment especially when it came from Draco.

 

Potter Family Ancestral Castle

 

Tumbus and several Potter family Elves had used their kind's special magic to bind up the House Elf they had caught hanging around Kings Cross train station the day before preventing him from leaving the room or performing any magic at all. "Why have you tried to interfere with the Scion of the Potter line?" Tumbus asked.

"Youse must be letting Dobby go. Dobby must protect Master Harry Potter from evil plot happening at Hoggywarts," the slightly mad elf said struggling with the bonds holding him in place.

"Harry Potter, is not your master, who is?" Tumbus said feeling a little uncomfortable not using Harrison's real name nor referring to him as Cub as the boy had made his wishes known. The only thing preventing Tumbus from showing any discomfort was the knowledge that this Dobby should not be trusted even with that little bit of information about the Cub.

"Dobby never talk about the Malfoy family. Youse use magic on poor Dobby making his says Masters line," Doby said sounding heartbroken. Tumbus did not believe Dobby's words at all for as the Head Potter Elf he knew of the Contract between the Malfoy family and the Potters.

"Ah, you work for the Malfoys eh? Well, they must be missing you since you have been gone for so long. I will have to send you back to them," Tumbus said before calling out the name of his opposite number from the Malfoy family, "Bartholomew."

 

It took a few minutes before the Head Malfoy House Elf appeared, "What do you want, Tumbus?" Bartholomew asked.

"Good day Bartholomew," Tumbus said grasping the other forearm in a traditional Elf greeting. "This shall not take too long, I hope. Recently the Potter Heir has been returned to us and he told us an Elf had given him a message about terrible things about to happen at Hogwarts, as well as trying to stop him from heading to the school. Working on that tip we caught this elf, who claims to work for your family hanging around the train station yesterday in what we think was trying to prevent the Heir from reaching the platform. Is he telling the truth that he is one of yours?" Tumbus asked.

"Merlin and Morgana forbid," Bartholomew said shooting Dobby a nasty look. "You know none of my crew would interfere with any of your family, especially after the alliance that we formed all those years ago." Tumbus was glad Bartholomew had worded his response like that and had not mentioned the Contract set up between the two Heirs in front of Dobby.

"He lies Dobby serves Master Lucius faithfully. Oh, yous trick Dobby again to reveal mores about Dobby's self," Dobby said.

"I don't think he is right in the head," Bartholomew said to Tumbus making the Head Potter Elf nod in agreement. "The fact that he is trying to implicate, my family and mess up with our alliance is troublesome. I might have to stay a little longer to help you get to the bottom of this." Bartholomew said cracking his knuckles a little.

 

Hogwarts

 

After Charms had ended Harry and the other quickly packed up their stuff to avoid any more interaction with Ron and Hermione as they headed to their next class. Thankfully Harry was able to avoid the pair for the rest of the morning only seeing them again when they were at lunch, but he paid them no attention as he ate his meal.  While he ignored them the others did not such as Draco, sitting next to him again but not as close as Harry wanted him to, reported the pair were sitting next to Ron's younger sister with their heads bent together with the trio shooting Harry looks now and then. Harry had other things to think about as he tried to convince Goyle to join him during the break after lunch to go talk to Professor Burbage to see if she knew any Muggle ways of dealing with the curse Goyle was under. Harry was only able to convince him to come along stating that Muggles had some success in handling people who had Dyslexia and as the Muggle Studies Teacher she may be able to help them.

 

Wanting to see if she could help, the rest of the male Second Year Slytherins joined the pair in heading up to Harry's new guardian's office each of them hoping she did not have a class after lunch. "Hello, Harry is everything going okay today?" Professor Burbage asked as they entered her office.

"Apart from a small meeting with my former friends, it has," Harry shared.

"Professor Flitwick told Bathsheda and me about it during lunch. I can say you handled it very well Harry. But what brings you all here today?" she asked the group.

 

"Well, getting to know my new Housemates I was informed that Heir Goyle is cursed by something that sounds a lot like Dyslexia and I was wondering if you knew of anything he could do to reduce the effects of the curse or how Muggles deal with it?" Harry asked her.

"I am unfamiliar with any spell, potion, or enchantment which would make it so it looked like a person is Dyslexic, I think Heir Goyle just might be Dyslexic and not under any curse at all," Burbage shared with everyone.

"Is there a way to fix it?" Goyle asked.

"Unfortunately as of right now, no. But there has been some work done on how to manage it through both Muggle and Magical means," she added quickly seeing his face fall. "I know that some Magicals that are Dyslexic place special spells on their books to make them speak their contents out loud and then have someone proofread their homework to make sure their spelling is correct. I also know that would be a little help to you when it comes time for any test you take.  The good thing is about a decade ago someone came up with a solution," Burbage said as she took out a pair of Muggle sunglasses tapping them with her wand as she said a spell none of the Slytherins recognized. "Here Heir Goyle, try these on," she said as with another tap of her wand changed the lenses to clear them of their tinted surface. She then pulls out a small book and hands it to Goyle for him to see if the glasses work for him.

 

"They work, I can read everything without any issue," Goyle said flipping the enchanted glasses up and down so he could see the cover of the book as he normally saw it compared to how everyone else saw it. "Can you teach me that spell?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course, I can, though the one I just put on those glasses should last until they get broken," she said with a smile as she started to teach the boy the spell as the others left them to it. Goyle gives Harry a thankful nod as Burgage gives him a small wink rather proud of him.

 

In the next class, a Slytherin/Gryffindor Transfiguration lesson, Goyle wore his new glasses with pride. Harry thought he heard Hermione trying to upset his new friend saying something about wearing fake glasses would not prevent him from being a dumb Neanderthal. Harry and the other Slytherins could not help but smile as she came to eat her own words during the lesson. For it seemed, that being able to read without any issues showed that Goyle was the fastest reader in the class he was finished first with their in-class reading assignment and was able to answer Professor McGonagall's questions with no problems.

Shocking Harry's former Head of House and the Gryffindor Students. He also proved his answer had not been a fluke as he got all questions asked of him correctly, all the while Hermione waving her hand to get called on was nearly hitting Ron and Dean who had the misfortune of sitting beside her. She ended up causing so much of a distraction Professor McGonagall was forced to take away five points from her while giving Goyle ten points, the most points Harry had seen the boy receive in any class outside of Potions.

Notes:

* While Harry knows Crabbe and Goyle's first names to avoid confusion by using them the pair will just be called Crabbe and Goyle.

Chapter 11: She is not amused

Summary:

Lady Magic is called to pass judgment

Notes:

The inspiration for this chapter came from a comment by Rowenasheir from the last chapter.

Thankfully after Transfiguration, Harry and his new friends were able to leave the room without Ron and Hermione reaching them, though it also worried Harry a little when the pair seemed to take a while to pack up their stuff as the rest of the students filed out. One would almost guess that Hermione was just ticked off that she had lost points in class and had been outperformed by Goyle, but Harry was not buying it.

He figured they planned to go talk to Dumbledore about him now being a member of Slytherin House, something they had not done yet, otherwise Harry would have expected to either be called to the old bastard's office or a message sent to him via one of the Hogwarts House Elves. Nothing of that nature happened that night either as during supper Harry caught sight of Dumbles' eyes scanning the hall looking for him but if his pawns had shared where he was the man would be looking at the Slytherin table not glancing at the Hufflepuff students. Taking a look at his schedule when he returned to the Slytherin Common room to work on his homework, Harry smiled seeing that the next class he had with his former House, besides Thursday night for Astronomy, was Potions right after breakfast on Friday. Which left him a full two days before having to deal with his former friends again.

 

Right after breakfast the next day, Wednesday, Harry and most of the Second Years had a free period. Rather than return to their Common Room or head to the library to do some work, Draco leads Harry to an empty classroom in the West Tower. "What are we doing here?" Harry asked trying not to smile at Draco holding his hand.

"Checking out the news from your old House," Draco said as he pulled open the door to reveal Neville leaning against one of the broken desktops.

"Neville?" Harry asked rather confused knowing that he and Draco did not get along at all.

"Heya, Harry," Neville said pushing himself off the desk, which collapsed into a heap of splintered wood making Neville wince a little. "Sorry did not mean to do that."

 

"It is alright, Neville," Draco said rolling his eyes a little. "What is the news from Gryffindor from the Blood Traitor and Pretender?"

"What?" Harry asked getting further confused.

"Yeah, neither Draco nor I believe that Hermione is a Muggleborn as she claims to be.  Since she seems to know too much about the Magical World to have learned it all from books, even with the amount that she reads. And as for Ron his story of being your friend, yet when you were not around doing his best to badmouth you so others would not try to get close raised some red flags. I did not realize Draco was also trying to get you away from them until, at least the reason he was, our shared detention in the forest the last term. Ever since then, we have been reluctant allies in our desire to help you get away from them," Neville explained.

"Why? I get Draco with the Contract we have between us but why were you working to separate me from them?" Harry asked.

"We are Godbrothers your mother was my Godmother and my Mum is your Godmother," Neville said.

 

"So that explains your reaction in Charms yesterday," Harry said mostly to himself.

"Correct," Neville said. "As for what happened in the Tower last night Ron and Hermione were trying to convince everyone that you had been taken hostage during your vacation and had been slipped potions and have countless spells on you to make you get the re-sort into Slytherin. The thing is though they could not answer how they had come by this information or even where you had been vacationing."

"That's because I had not been. I had been held prisoner at my Aunt and Uncle's house before I got rescued by Professors Burbage and Babbling," Harry said.

"Well, the good thing was that since they could not answer the questions not many people believed them, not even Fred, George or Percy did, though they did believe the bit about only being on vacation."

 

Before Harry could ask how it was that Fred, George, and Percy had gotten the idea that he had been on vacation, the letter he had been expecting since shortly after Charms arrived before him. Having learned from his experiences with Celia and Jeffory that if he did not deal with the letter right away it would just start to hover and knock against random parts of his body until he did so. Getting no indication from his Rings that the letter had any enchantments on it, Harry opened it up and read the message aloud.

 

Harry, my boy.

I am very disappointed in you for asking for a Re-Sort. If you were having trouble in Gryffindor Tower, you should have let me know about it. I know you have a free period at the moment come up to my office and we can talk about all this changing Houses nonsense.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

P.S. This letter will lead you right to the entrance of my office. When you get to the Golden Gargoyle standing guard mention my love of Lemon Drops and it should let you pass.

 

As he finished speaking the letter began to glow on one of its edges to show the way he was to go to reach the bastard's office. "He will most likely have an Elf watching to make sure you come after you read the letter or he will come to find you," Draco surmised.

"It sounds like he wants to meet you alone, which is not only illegal but also highly suspicious," Neville added.

"Agreed," Harry said. "Celia, Jeffory can I speak to you for a moment?"

"What can we do for you Cub?" Celia asked as the two Elves popped into the room making Draco and Neville arch their eyebrows at their clothing.

 

"I was summoned to a meeting with the fool, please let my guardians know about it as well as Professor Snape and McGonagall," Harry said. "Oh by the way the blonde over there is Draco Malfoy who I have the contract with and the brunette is my friend Neville who is also my Godbrother."

"Greetings to you our Cub's betrothed and friend/Godbrother," Jeoffrey said giving them a small bow as Celia curtsied in her pin-striped suit before they popped away to do the tasks assigned to them.

"Cub?" Draco asked.

"I just did not like to be called anyone's Master," Harry said with a shrug. "I guess I better get going before the old bastard comes looking for me."

 

"I don't like it," Draco said after Harry left the room.

"So what did you discover that had been done to him?" Neville asked.

"He had loyalty and love spells placed on him, he had various family artifacts and tomes stolen from him, and they set up a contract between him and Weasle's sister," Draco said not caring if his magic reacted due to the disrepair of most of the object in the room.

"The Fuckers!" Nevilles said as his magic rushed out of him and caused the old blackboard in the room to snap in half and fall to the floor.

 

"My thoughts exactly," Draco said having never seen the Gryffindor boy lose control before.

"If you don't mind what is the nature of your and Harry's relationship?" Neville asked.

"From what I have seen, I will be in the role of Harry's Protector," Draco said.

"Well then I think we both know what you need to do," Neville said as the backboard shattered into even more pieces as if it were a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

"No what?" Draco asked.

"As his Protector, you need to call on Lady Magic to punish those who had wronged him," Neville said.

Seeing the logic of his secret friend's proposal, Draco took a deep breath before he spoke his wish to the Lady. "Lady Magic, I call upon your judgment against those who wronged Harrison "Harry" James Potter, as the role of his Protector as defined by the Marriage Contract between our families."

 

By the time Draco got a response back from Lady Magic, Harry had returned to the room in a very agitated mood. "The idiot," Harry said entering the room and slamming the door behind him.

"What happened?" both Draco and Neville asked.

"Well, it seems that both Professor Burbage and Babbling have classes at this time which is why he called for the meeting now thinking they would not come. I guess he did not think they would take their roles as my new guardians seriously for they canceled their classes and came right to the meeting before laying into him," Harry explained.

 

"So why are you in a bad mood?" Neville asked.

"Before they arrived, he tried to guilt me into going back into Gryffindor saying it would be what my parents wanted, and that they would be disgusted by me becoming a Slytherin and becoming friends with "the likes of Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott Jr.," Harry said using finger quotes on the last bit.

"If your parents really disliked my family there would never have been a Contract set up between us at all," Draco said in a comforting way.

"I know that but it irks me that he singled out you and Theo makes me think of how Granger had talked to Theo during Charms," Harry said.

"He does have a point, do you think that Granger is actually related to him thus how she knows about the Magical World?" Neville asked.

"It is possible as the only way we can find out is to perform a test on her which I don't think even after Harry's show in Charms any of us have the right level of magic to perform it," Draco said tapping his chin in thought.

 

It was then that Draco got the results from his request from Lady Magic as a scroll of parchment glowing with a soft gold light suddenly appeared in his lap. Draco did not hesitate to unroll the scroll and read it for the others.

 

Heir Malfoy,

 

First off I will point out I do not like to have my time wasted and since what had been done to Harrison James Poter had been found years before he reached the age of his Majority, I would normally not answer your call. That being said, Harrison James Potter is a Chosen Human watched over by my younger sister, Death, so I looked into it. You are still getting a slight punishment for wasting my time, which I will reveal at the end.

 

I, Lady Magic after looking into what had been done to Harrison James Potter by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Ariana Cassandra "Hermione Granger" Dumbledore, Arthur Septimus Weasley, Ronald Billius Weasley, Ginvera Molly Weasley, Vernon Chad Dursley, Petunia Karen Dursley nee Evans, and Dudley Chodden Dursley have decided to rule in the favor of Harrison James Potter. Reading each of the perpetrator's hearts, minds, and magic I have come up with a punishment for each.

 

For Ronald Billius Weasley who acted out of jealousy and greed to possess what Harrison James Potter had, he will get his wish. Nearly every time he sleeps he will live out the real memories of Harrison James Potter as he grew up and feel his pain. While these are constituted as dreams, he will sometimes forget them as he wakes up.  Yet the ones he can recall, he will be unable to share with anyone.

 

Ginevra Molly Weasley who acted out of lust and thirst for both power and money shall find none in her life. While I can't pierce the veil of time nor alter a person's fate, I shall make it that if she marries someone for a reason other than a love of them, rather than any possession, money, or fame that they have, I will keep my gift from her children. If she uses any form of Love Potion/Spell to try to attract a mate, her magic shall render her sterile as long as she is with them as the potion/enchantment slowly loses its potency.

 

For the members of the Dursley family who cared more about how others perceived them rather than showing love to a member of the family that was placed in their care, their fate is clear. Though they have moved from the home in which they once inhabited all who lived nearby shall be given dreams showing how they treated Harrison James Potter and know they are the truth. The family itself shall be given a Karmic curse in which they will experience any pain and punishment they had given to Harrison James Potter since he came to live under their care. Any child that is produced by the Dursley family under Vernon Chad Dursley's bloodline shall be given my gift and be able to touch Magic. If these children are abused as Harrison James Potter was anywhere they live their neighbors shall know of the abuse through their dreams.

 

Arthur Septimus Weasley who acted out of wanting his children to have the power he has not, shall find his magic capped at the level he and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had placed on Harrison James Potter. The money he and his children stole for Harrison James Potter shall be found letting one of his children gain the power he so sought. I break all Love Potions and Compulsion spells he has cast on his wife and elder children as well as making them immune from such enchantments which originated with him.

 

Adiana Cassandra "Hermione Granger" Dumbledore was a tough case for me to judge. As a child, she was attacked by Muggles driving her insane leading to her father being imprisoned and her mother's death. She was nearly killed in a duel between her two older brothers and another, only to be stunned by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Being kept in stasis for over one hundred years as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore tried to heal her mind.

It is not technically her fault for being turned into a pawn of her older brother. Her mind shall remain healed and her age kept as it is, but to help her learn not to attack others mentally or physically she will feel the blow as she attacks someone. The Glamor placed on her shall be removed as will the spell hiding her true identity on any documents. If by the age of her Majority, she has not learned her lesson or found help for both her Sociopatich and Psychopathic tendencies* a notice will be sent to the Healers of the nearest local Magical Hospital to remove her from normal society.

 

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore for messing with the lives of not on Harrison James Potter but members of your own family as displayed in what you did with your sister.  It is my will that just like my punishment to Arthur Septimus Weasley a cap shall be placed on your magical ability to the level in which you had kept Harrison James Potter for so long. Since you acted against your own family as my normal judgment in such matters you shall be stripped of your family magic even if you are not removed from your family. With the loss of the connection to your Family Magic, you shall also lose your place as Head of the Dumbledore Family. This shall strip you of your position in the Mortal Governing Bodies of the Wizengamot, International Confederation of Wizards. Your Magical Skills of Mage Sight and Shadow Walking shall henceforth be blocked as you blocked the skills of Harrison James Potter.

 

Akin to my punishment to Ronald Billius Weasley once a week you will live via dreams of the life that you forced upon Harrison James Potter and be unable to share with anyone the events that you lived through. Unlike Ronald Billius Weasley you will recall the events of each dream in detail and be unable to forget what you experienced. The four witnesses that were present when you performed the Fidelius at Godrics Hallow on the house the Potters had used as a safe will have their Memory Charms broken and recall who was the Secret Keeper.

If Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore at any point in the future gets his hands on my sister's gifts to the Peverell line they shall be in their cursed forms. Where the Cloak of Invisibility will make everyone focus on him, the Stone of Remembrance, or Resurrection Stone as the Mortals call it shall only be greeted by those whose death he had caused. The Elder Wand will only produce spells that will not take hold of anyone or backfire and hit him instead. Any Love Potion or Compulsion Spells he tries to perform on anyone from this moment on will not work, but neither will they backfire hitting him instead.

 

Draco Abraxus Malfoy while you brought all this to my attention, you shall be punished for calling for my judgment when the victim is nowhere near his Majority so you shall be mute for the next six hours.

 

Draco had to stop reading as the Lady's punishment took effect making Harry wonder how he was going to explain to their teachers in class the reason Draco could not speak. Neville while he was allied with Draco, could not help but chuckle at the other's "punishment" earning him a small glare from the blonde.

Notes:

* I looked into the difference between a Sociopath and a Psychopath and found that Hermione actually could be seen to have both traits so put them both down. As a way to help in understanding here is what I found on the site I visited. https://www.verywellhealth.com/sociopath-vs-psychopath-characteristics-and-differences-5193369 so you don't have to go there yourself if you don't want to.

Sociopath
Lacks empathy
Has volatile behavioral patterns and is prone to rage
Uses intelligence, charm, or charisma to manipulate others
Displays impulsive behavior
Cannot maintain a consistent work and family life

Psychopath
Pretends to care
Is cold and calculating
Fails to recognize other people's distress
Has shallow relationships
Rarely feels guilt regarding behavior

Chapter 12: Receiving Punishments

Summary:

Dumbles and his pawns receive the punishments handed down from Lady Magic for messing with Harry.

While a mute, Draco sent a small glare at a chuckling Neville the rest of the Lady's punishments came to their chosen recipients. At the moment the Dursleys and Ron were unaware of their punishment since theirs would start only after they first went to sleep. This was another one of Lady Magic's ideas for the Karmic Retribution to the Dursleys would not start until their new neighbors had their first dreams of the family abusing Harry. If Dudley was not away at Smealtings at the time the neighbors would have taken the pain he was showing from her other punishment as a sign that could point to him also being abused.

Lady Magic was not an unkind being and had seen that Dudley was more of a product of his parents' behavior towards Harry, so Dudley being a Squib would only receive the Karmic Retribution when he was staying at Smeltings as well as be forced to recall the actual event that was causing him to experience Harry's pain. As there was still some good in him that had not been corrupted by his parents and Aunt Marge the pain would stop when he returned to the Dursley's new home. That way if any of the Dursley's neighbors who would be watching for any signs of abuse, thanks to the Dreams they all experienced, saw him in pain its source would be Vernon and Petunia and possibly get him away from them and into a loving home where he might flourish for the better.

 

Harry had a lot of magical power in his body due to his family being Death's Chosen, so while he had his Magical Core blocked off by forty-five percent as well as having his core continuously drained due to Voldy's Horcrux, his magical skill had been on the same level with the majority of his classmates. However, this was a trait not shared by either Albus Dumbledore or Arthur Weasley who both felt like they had just run a ten-kilometer run while being very sick as their Cores had the level caps placed on them by Lady Magic. At nearly the same time both men tried to cast a Diagnostic Charm on themselves only to fail due to their weakened Magic. It took Albus four tries to have the spell work for him, while Arthur gave it up and headed to the Ministry of Magic's Infirmary to get checked over. As the new level of their connection to magic had been put in place by the Lady herself they were found to have nothing wrong with them, at least at the moment.

 

A few hours later, Arthur would once more have to go see a Healer for as soon as he walked into the Burrow, Molly would not even bother with a wand as she knees him in his crotch. With the Lady performing a Cleansing of all the spells that she had been under, Molly would recall that she had been engaged to another before Arthur had dosed her with Love Potions at Hogwarts and had gotten her pregnant with William. While Molly did love all the kids she had been forced to have with her rapist, as soon as she found herself free of his control she contacted several people.

The first was her Great Aunt Muriel informing her what she now recalled Arthur putting her through. With her aunt's help, Molly was able to get into contact with her old fiance as well as perform a ritual to divorce Arthur without hurting her kids as she severed the magical bond between her and the man. Now Molly Prewett again, she talked to Bill to get his help in basically clearing out the Burrow of her and her kid's belongings so they could move in with Muriel. Molly had been surprised to find the old woman was not so bad now that she was no longer enchanted. As she had waited for Arthur to return from the Ministry to inform him she was leaving, Molly couldn't help but worry about her fiance and hope she could make it up to her. Molly hoped it was just the bitterness that Rita had experienced after Arthur forced her to break off their engagement that was the cause of some of the nasty articles the formerly sweet, but still, a little bit of gossip had been when they had started their engagement.

 

As Bill helped his mother in clearing out the Burrow, he was also doing his best to find any traces of a secret bank book or anything tied to the accounts of Arthur and his younger siblings. Bill had a feeling that if he had not located them before the end of the day, he would never find them, well at least his father's. If he did not find Ron or Ginny's hidden bank books there would be the chance that the pair would either have them somehow sent to them, which would just require a small Mail Monitoring Charm, or else they would try to return to the Burrow for them which would be even quicker and easier to deal with. Unfortunately, he and his mom spent a lot of the time clearing out the Burrow in the twin's room due to some of the more dangerous items in the room that the pair dealt with in whatever they got up to in their room. However, after finding some self-labeled bottles of potion and some random joke stuff, Molly guessed the pair had been trying to invent things for their pranks or possibly to sell to others. Before she had been cleansed, Molly would have been annoyed and a little angry at this discovery now she just wanted her kids to be happy, though she did rip up some notes dealing with the brewing of love potions she had found.

 

After a quick lunch, as his mother started on Ginny's room, Bill headed out to his father's shed to look around again. Seeing the car his father had enchanted parked in the middle of the shed, he unlocked the doors and checked the glove box and trunk to see if the bankbooks were there, but both were empty. This made Bill wonder if his father was performing magic on Muggles since he did not have a license or registration for the car so if he was ever pulled over he would have to place spells on any Muggle law officers. Finding nothing in the car, Bill slammed the driver's side door shut with a bang and took out some of his frustration in a Muggle washing machine with a kick. After the kick, Bill paused for a moment for he was wearing simple non-protected shoes and his kick to the metal of the machine had not caused him any pain. Knowing his father the machine was most likely enchanted somehow, so as a distraction Bill cast a charm on the machine to say what enchantments were in place. When Bill noticed that besides a protection charm so one would not get hurt if they accidentally, or on purpose, struck the washing machine there was a spell in place that created a hidden compartment.

 

Intrigued Bill cast a revealing charm to find the compartment and heard a small click inside the machine. Lifting the lid, Bill saw that the part in the middle of the machine where Muggles would place their fabric softener on the top had swung aside revealing a small recess. As there had been no traps or harmful spells listed on his early detection charm on the washer, Bill did not hesitate to stick his hand into the revealed compartment. Feeling something Bill pulled the item out revealing the three hidden bank books concerning his father and youngest siblings' hidden vaults.

Giving them a quick look, Bill saw that according to his father's book, the man had so far saved the three thousand Galleons he had been given, but his younger siblings had not. Ron, it seemed had bought some candy as well as some Quidditch supplies so out of the one thousand five hundred Galleons he had been given he only had around seven hundred and fifty Galleons left. Ginny, had also even more of the stolen funds but she had bought clothing rather than food leaving her with only five hundred and thirty-two Galleons, twelve Sickles, and two Knuts. After looking at their books, Bill reached back into the hidden compartment but found no other documents or items. Further detection spells on the rest of the enchanted Muggle items in the shed did not reveal any more secret compartments. Unfortunately, the bank books while being a small portion of the evidence, he had been looking for did not point to there being another home for his family. Though since his mom was packing everything up to move in with Great Aunt Muriel, Bill had a feeling his father was about to not only lose access to Harry's vaults but also access to the Burrow.

 

 

Besides Dumbledore and Arthur feeling the caps placed on their magic, the person who was quickest to notice Lady Magic's punishment was Hermione/Adiana as the Glamor her older brother had placed on her vanished. This caused some gasp from those around her in the library when Hermione's hair lost its overly bushy nature and it straightened out and laid silkily down to her shoulders. The last of the visible changes was Hermione's face becoming more angular rather than rounded. Granted the changes were only noticed by those around her at first since Hermione was bent over her homework for Transfigurations to make up for the freak accident where Goyle had somehow outperformed her in class. She only noticed when a strain of her changed hair came down and blocked part of her vision, but made no connection to it as she just moved the stain behind her ear to clear his line of sight. "Wow, Hermione, what happened?" Ron asked as she returned from the stacks with some books having been bullied into coming to the library with her.

 

"Shut up Ron, I am busy," Hermione huffed at him without even looking up.

"But your hair and face?" Ron said unable to stop himself.

"What about them?" Hermione said looking up to see his mystified expression. "Well?" she said when he had not answered her.

"It is hard to explain, you look good though, really good," Ron said suddenly happy with the part of the plan that his father and Dumbledore had created which led to him and Hermione hooking up.  That way they could pretend to fight and force Harry to waste time trying to get them to be friends again rather than look into aspects of the Magical World.

 

Hermione just gave another huff not liking the look on Ron's face, thinking he was pulling a prank on her, again. As she did not carry around any sort of mirror or stuff like that Hermione improvised by snatching the mirror from the nearby Lavender Brown, after all, she needed it more than Lavender did since the idiot was using it to practice making kissy faces. As she held the small handheld mirror before her face Hermione also felt a small bit of discomfort in her right arm as the punch she had given Lavender as she stole the mirror was felt by her due to the Lady's punishments.

Putting the discomfort aside for later, Hermione looked into the mirror and almost dropped it seeing her new look. She did have to admit she looked pretty good, if she said so herself, as she admired her new face from various angles. She almost gave her a cheer that would have gotten her kicked out of the library when she smiled at herself in the mirror and saw her slightly oversized front teeth were now the same size as her other teeth. Hermione knew she could use her new looks to her advantage along with her brains. She felt she could manipulate anyone into doing anything she wanted for her males, and maybe with the right amount of work females as well.

 

As Hermione got used to her "new" look, the four witnesses to the Fidelius Charm placed on the Potter's safe house in Godric's Hallow found their memories restored. Bonecrusher was angry enough to grab for his ceremonial ax that hung from his wall wanting to go after Dumbledore for the audacity of casting such a spell on one of the Goblin Nation let alone the Prince of all the Goblins in Europe. Yet, he left it alone for now as he reminded himself that unless asked, Goblins kept themselves out of human affairs.

 

Meanwhile, in the office of Madam Bones, the head of the Ministry's Office of Law Enforcement the woman in question created a set of groves in her desk as she raked it with her fingernails before writing up orders for Sirius to be brought into the Ministry so she could talk to him about her newly unlocked memory. She was both pissed off of all Hell as well as sicked that under the memory spell that had been placed on her that she had been part of the group to send Sirius Black to Azkaban with no trial or even an interrogation to find out why he had "betrayed" the Potters to the Dark Lord's forces. This meant that besides sending an innocent man to one of the worst prisons in the Magical World, they had done it in a way that Sirius had kept his Lordships and thus circumvented the right of succession leaving the Black Family with no vote or leadership for twelve years. She would be lucky to keep her job if this came out, with only the fact that she had been enchanted somehow possibly preventing it.

 

In a cabin deep in the woods Remus, though in human form at the moment, let out a howl of anger wishing to wrap his hands around Dumbledore's neck as he recalled being part of the group to witness Peter being chosen as James and Lily's Secret Keeper, while Sirius was made into a decoy. He had been mourning the wrong friend this whole time it was Sirius who needed his help, not that he could offer much as a Werewolf due to Britain's Anti-Creature stance, but he would do all he could. Also knowing that Albus was not to be trusted, Remus was going to seek out his cub for Albus had always told him Harrison was in a good home, but if he had lied about Sirius and Pettigrew's role in the Fidelius Charm, Remus did not trust what him not to lie about that as well. The only issue would be to find Harrison as no one knew what had happened to him after James and Lily had died. Swallowing his pride, Remus decided to call on the Malfoys recalling now the Contract between his cub and the Malfoy Heir that had been created when the pair had been babies.

 

The last witness to the Fidelius Charm being put in place had nothing to change for her as she wandered around the memory Ward at St. Mungos. The removal of the enchantments placed on her from the event did not do anything for her mind after the torture she had received from Bellatrix Lestrange. However, when Neville's next visit to go see her, the Healers would notice a change as Alice would only give her son half of the candy wrappers she hoarded leaving the others in a small but growing pile that she would pass on to her Godson if he ever stopped by.

 

Apart from Harry and Neville, no one caught wind of Draco being unable to talk for the next six hours. Harry could only guess that since their remaining classes for the day were History of Magic and Astronomy.  When they ate supper, all of Harry's new housemates were either congratulating Harry on his Charms work again or wondering what would be different this year in their Astronomy class.  Besides the day of the week, they had the class this year.

 

That night Ron had his first punishment from Lady Magic, he dreamed of a typical day for Harry at the Dursleys during the summer. In the dream, Ron was woken up as Dudley rushed down the stairs causing dust and spiders to dislodge from the underside of the stairs dropping them on Ron. Ron began freaking out as his arachnophobia kicked in, but he did not wake up rushing for the only door he saw to escape the room. He had barely managed to take a step out when Dudley appeared and pushed him back inside smiling at the sounds of Ron's terrified screams from the spiders.

 

"Enough messing around boy," Vernon called wrenching open the door and dragging Ron out by the scruff of his overlarge shirt. "Breakfast is not going to make itself," Vernon growled as he pushed Ron towards the kitchen. Even if Ron had ever made breakfast before, he could not figure out many of the Muggle items in the kitchen to do anything as he stood around utterly confused. It took Petunia smacking him in the back of the head that jump-started the dream connection to Harry's memories lending Ron a small hint of what to do.

Even with the hint, Ron had no experience in cooking causing him to burn the bacon, make a congealed mess out of the oatmeal, somehow set the toast on fire, and due to his emotions interacting with his magic curdle the milk. Rather than be sympathetic like his mom would have done, his failure earned him punishments from the Dursleys as Vernon berated him over his failure at cooking, while Petunia took up the still-hot frying pan and tried to use it as a bludgeon against him. Only Ron's small skill he had acquired from playing Quidditch with his brothers allowed him to dodge the pan. However, based on the memory this dream had come from Harry had not been able to dodge the pan, Petunia did eventually land a blow making Ron see stars for a moment.

 

When he could see again Petunia had taken over making the meal, but to Ron's horror when she was finished she had only made food for the Dursley family. "What about mine?" Ron asked.

Vernon cuffed him with a grunt of, "No questions boy."

"You hardly deserved it for wasting so much food anyway," Petunia said with a sniff. "Now get to work on today's choirs." Ron looked to where the bony woman had pointed seeing a list attached to the Muggle fridge. When Ron began to grumble, Vernon stuck him again and promised if the choirs were not done to his liking Ron would not get any lunch or supper either. Under fear of having nothing to eat for an entire day, Ron quickly grabbed the list and tried to get to work. But having his mom and dad taking care of most things when he was growing up and being rather lazy, Ron was unused to all the work finding himself feeling drained after only ten minutes of weeding the garden. When Petunia came to check his work when she had finished eating her breakfast, she dragged him back into the house. Making him lean over a chair the woman had grabbed a wooden spoon and spanked him in punishment for destroying her prized Tulips.

 

After the spanking, Ron was tasked with vacuuming the stairs as Dudley settled before the Muggle TV and began to watch some random programming. Asking why the fat boy was not doing any choirs led to some more blows from the wooden spoon this time in his arms and an order to get back to work. Ron's unfamiliarity with using a vacuum not to mention using it on a not flat surface led to more physical punishments as Ron realized that all the blows were aimed at locations that were not visible to others such as his face or hands. He barely had time to comprehend this as he struggled with the vacuum, making him miss lunch without even realizing it.

 

When Vernon arrived home from work and saw as well as being told that Ron had made of mess of his choirs, Ron received another spanking. This time on his bare ass with Vernon's belt. Ron had cried out in pain as the metal of the belt ripped his flesh but that just made Vernon's blows harder and Petunia turned on some loud music to drown out Ron's cries. Dudley also turned from the show he was watching to observe his father spank Ron's backside laughing as he ate some snacks as if this was all some form of entertainment.

 

After the spanking, Ron was locked into the cupboard under the stairs without supper. For once Ron's thoughts were not of food as he let out a terrified scream seeing the spiders in the small room that he could not escape from. As in the memory Harry, even using his emerging Magic had never been able to unlock the door, no matter what Ron did, even using the Alohomora Charm kept the door locked tight. Ron had fallen into a catatonic shock before the dream ended. As this was the first dream Ron had from Lady Magic's punishment he called the entire thing as the redhead woke up rubbing down his body feeling as if a hoard of spiders were crawling all over him. As Dean and Seamus wonder what the fuck was wrong with him, especially when Ron climbed out of bed and dropped his pants before the mirror to look at his ass, Neville hid a small smile seeing he had experienced and recalled a dream from Harry's youth.

Notes:

I might have a Dudley redemption arc if I had this story last past the school year.

Chapter 13: A reunion

Summary:

After leaving Arthur in pain on the floors of the Burrow, Molly gets in contact with the person he had prevented her from marrying. Dumbledore also deals with Lady Magic's punishment. Also, Draco tells Harry about his dream before the start of term.

Notes:

Part of this chapter is just an excuse to add more random ways Draco thought about as a way to greet Harry before the year began that I did not just want to edit into the previous chapter leading people to possibly miss them.

During a recent reread I noticed that I had switched to using Harry's birth name (Harrison) for a bit at the start of the story only to switch back to Harry when he headed back to Hogwarts. I will be switching back to Harrison under the idea that everyone was so used to calling him Harry, he got back into the practice of it himself until Lady Magic's document was delivered.

"I don't know what your plans were Arthur, but this is goodbye," Molly said leaving her rapist curled up on the floor after kneeing his groin. As she had already sent most of the belongings ahead with Bill to the Prewett Manor, Molly was not encumbered as she left the Burrow. As she Apparated to her Great Aunt's place, she hoped that the owl she had sent earlier had come back with a response. It all depended on if Rita, first off even read her letter, as well as if she was willing to talk about everything that had happened.  Molly was a little shocked to find only Muriel waiting for her when she turned up at the manor as her great aunt informed her that Bill had gone to the bank to take care of something for work.

 

Molly and Muriel spent the next hour or so putting away the belongings she had removed from the Burrow into the rooms Muriel had set aside for everyone. Molly was sure all her kids would love their new and larger rooms, though there may be some jealousy geared at George and Fred due to them getting a Master Suite since they were Heirs of the Prewett Line. Molly made sure that all other joke and prank items, sans anything to do with Love Potions, were put into a separate room that the twins could use as a Potions/Researcher Lab so she did not have to worry about them getting sick or injured due to exposure of possibly harmful items.

 

As they worked in getting everything put into place, Molly came to realize that besides the enchantments she had been under, one of the reasons that Muriel had acted as she had done when Molly was bound to her rapist.  Muriel did not want to give him any access to any funds, knowing that Molly had been promised to another before he got involved. As they were using magic to put up Ron's Chudley Cannon posters and decorations in her youngest son's new room, the Prewett Owl she had sent her message finally arrived. Molly gulped seeing only nine words on the parchment.

 

The usual place at seven.  Don't be late.

Rita

 

Reading the letter, Molly felt a small twinge of apprehension as she had done during the first meeting she had with Rita back in their first year at Hogwarts. Their first since Rita and her parents set up a contract between them after their playdate as toddlers. Since Rita's mother had been an international newspaper correspondent, Rita had not spent much time in England when she was younger. Though thankfully her folks had her attend Hogwarts for all seven years of her schooling.

Molly and Rita having been sorted into Gryffindor and Slytherin had been best of friends all through their time at school. The pair had allowed the bond from their magic to grow as they started to date each other after the Yule in their Fifth Year. At the time Molly knew that she would follow through with her contract with Rita after they both graduated from Hogwarts. During the first summer after they had started to properly date each other, Molly and Rita discovered a small tea shop/book store in Kelpie Alley that became their go-to place for dates when not at school.

 

But it seemed that some people did not like that, Molly recalled Headmaster Dumbledore telling her she needed to drop Rita as a friend and stick to making friends in Gryffindor or if not that Hufflepuff House.  Molly had blown him off after all he was just the Headmaster and had no right to dictate his students' friendships and relationships. Either by his own attraction to her or on the orders of Dumbledore, Arthur had tried to start to court her in her Sixth Year no matter how many times she turned him down. If she had to guess, Molly would say the bastard started her on potions after one of her Quidditch games when he gave her a drink when she landed. After that Molly hardly ever hung out with Rita thanks to the enchantments she had been placed under making her focus on the future rapist.

 

Molly could only assume that the usual place was the tea shop/bookstore as she tried to decide what to wear. She felt like a teenager again about to go on her first date having trouble deciding if she should go former, casual, maybe a little dressy. Muriel had to step in to help her calm down, she had Molly sit on the bed in her new room as she picked out a simple royal blue robe before she started to work on styling Molly's hair. "I think your hair always looked so good in a pixie cut," Muriel said as she cut Molly's hair before taking her to a large basin sink to wash and use some Hair potions in it. After her hair was done, Molly slipped on the blue robe and as a last touch used her wand to create a fake yellow tulip recalling it had been Rita's favorite type of flower.

 

Still feeling a little nervous, Molly arrived almost half an hour early to wait for Rita.  The fake tulips she had created were held tightly in her fist as if afraid that if she let them go she would find out she was dreaming and was still bound to Arthur. "You're early," a voice said breaking Molly from her thoughts and making her look up with a smile at Rita who was wearing her favorite color and cut of robes. "I have expected this to be some big prank on your part like the last time," Rita said as she took the seat across from a slightly confused Molly and motioned to a server to bring her a drink.

"Last time?" Molly asked.

"You know right after our Sixth Year ended, you sent me a message asking me to meet with you to discuss why you had suddenly broken off our relationship and started to date Weasley. I waited for you to show up for over two hours before I went home and... cried myself to sleep," Rita said not wanting to reveal such a moment of weakness.

 

"I don't recall sending any such message, but if I did it had been under enchantment," Molly said.

"A likely story," Rita said with a sneer.

"I know, I know you want proof, at least you used to," Molly said recalling some of the articles and books she had read over the recent years that Rita had published. "I don't know why he did it, but Arthur had me under Love Potions and Compulsion Charms," Molly explained as she pulled out the results of a test her Great Aunt had paid for her to get done at Gringotts after Molly had found herself suddenly free of the enchantments placed on her.

 

As Rita read over the results her hatred of Arthur Weasley, which had already been higher than most for the Muggleloving Fool, made her feel like she could spew lava, like any volcano. If she had received evidence of anyone else enchanting their partner, Rita would not have hesitated a single moment before publishing the dirt but looking up at Molly and the worried expression on her old girlfriend's face as if Rita would not believe it, she decided just this once she would keep the matter out of the public eye. No matter how much she wanted to make sure everyone knew how much of a bastard Arthur Weasley truly was.

 

Putting down the results she had been handed and ignoring her drink that had arrived as she read the document, Rita shifted her chair closer to Molly and pulled the one person she ever loved into as tight a hug as she could. "The bastard will pay for what he did to us," Rita said to Molly as she ran her fingers through Molly's short hair.

"What about my kids? Can you accept them? For despite how they came from him, I do love them," Molly said looking up with a pair of puppy dog eyes that just melted the ice wall Rita had built around her heart since her Sixth Year.

"I am sure, I will grow to love them as I do you, especially if they are anything like you," Rita said.

 

"I think out of all of them Percy is the closest to my personality before I was enchanted. I think you might get along with the twins for besides loving pranks they tend to find out things that they really shouldn't know. My youngest boy Ron is a little lazy but his heart is in the right place, and Ginny is the apple of my eye," Molly said.* "My eldest Bill, works for Gringotts and has been working from home for a bit, while my second eldest, Charlie works abroad in a Dragon Sanctuary in Romania," Molly explained as she pulled out some pictures of her boys as well as an old family photo she had cast a spell on to banish Arthur's form from appearing in ever again.

"They look lovely," Rita said flipping through the photos one-handed as she held the other tight around Molly's waist. "I have not heard much about you after Hogwarts what have you been doing?"

"I had stayed home to raise my kids but after a talk with Bill, I thought about getting in touch with Healer Noble and taking her up on the offer she gave me to become a Medi-Magical after I served as her assistant at Hogwarts before she transferred to St. Mungos."

 

The pair of old girlfriends spent the rest of the date catching up with each other, with Molly asking Rita if she felt satisfied writing gossip when she wanted to be a major correspondent like her mother had been. Rita admitted she sometimes felt a little guilty but also felt it was sort of her duty to report on some of the corruption she uncovered about various high-ranking people. Having decided to stay for more than just a drink the pair soon ordered some food as Molly told stories about her kids, which Rita did like and laughed at some of them though felt a small twinge of jealousy that none of them were from a pregnancy involving both of them. The biggest laugh that Rita had from the date was Molly's story of what she had done to Arthur after she had been freed from his enchantments. Both agreed that while the attraction they had as kids was still there, they would take it slowly and go through a Courtship again. Molly admitted she would need to get new rings for her old family rings were now, in her mind, tainted for she had given them to Arthur during their bonding.

 

Flashback to a couple of hours ago: Gringotts

 

After helping move most of his younger siblings' stuff out of the Burrow to Prewett Manor, Bill returned to his boss Grindstone. "I got some news, sir," Bill said stepping into his boss's office.

"Good news I take it?" Grindstone asked.

"Great news," Bill said taking the seat before the Goblin's desk. "My mom appeared to somehow get Cleansed of some spells and Potions that Arthur had placed her under. I can only assume thanks to Lady Magic or one of the other Elder Ones stepping in to do it themselves."

"It was the Lady," Grindstone explained, "A few hours ago the bank received notice that she had passed down some punishments to not only your father, and younger siblings, but Albus, and the Granger girl.  Not to mention those Dursleys we met a couple of weeks ago."  Grindstone was not surprised by what Bill was sharing with him for the notice from her Ladyship had mentioned one of Arthur's kids getting the power the thief had sought by finding the money he had stolen.

 

"Yes, anyway, my mom wanted to move out as soon as possible. I helped her pack in hopes of finding the hidden bank books. Which I did," Bill said passing over the three bank books hidden inside the secret compartment of the Muggle washing machine.

"Good work William," Grindstone said taking the books to look over not only to find how much, if any the three had spent of Prince Bonecrusher's client's money but also to find out if he could see which Goblin had helped set up the accounts.

"There is more, sir," Bill said smiling slightly at the praise that Goblin bosses hardly gave out to their subordinates. "As I said I was helping my mother move out leaving just Arthur to live in Peverell's Secret Burrow."

"Which means that since we will not be forcing the majority of your younger siblings and parents out of their home with nowhere else to go we can return it to Heir Potter," Grindstone said leaning forward in excitement.

"Indeed," Bill said with a large smile on his face.

"Brilliant, I shall pass on the information to Prince Bonecrusher," Grindstone said thinking that he and Curse Breaker Weasley could get a promotion and a raise for this.

 

Hogwarts

 

Albus rose from his bed drenched in sweat after the strange dream he had of being forced to weed a garden in the middle of summer wearing oversized clothing for a horse-faced woman without magic.  Though he knew it was a dream, he could not help but look down at his hands to see if they were cut up or covered in dirt as they had appeared in the dream. Finding them clean and healthy Albus moved to a nearby basin and splashed some water on his face to help wake himself up. As he did so his flowing dressing gown knocked a small bit of parchment onto the floor that was his notice that Lady Magic had been called on and judged some of his behavior.

 

Besides the strange dream, Albus had a normal morning as he sought out Potter sitting at the Slytherin table giving the brat a very disappointed look anytime the boy looked over. Not that the brat looked up that much as he was in deep conversation with those Dark Cored monsters sitting around him. Albus did seem to notice something strange when he went up to his office after breakfast to do some work. At first, he noticed that the pile of documents he had today was smaller than normal, but as that sometimes happened, he ignored it. It was only after dealing with the third item in his work pile that he realized that so far everything he had worked on pertained to Hogwarts school. Albus stopped working on his current page as he began to thumb through his work pile. He found not a single document from either the Wizengamot or ICW. Now maybe one of the bodies might not have any new business on a random day, but for both to have it happen on the same day was a stretch. Leaving his desk Albus moved to the special PO boxes he had set up for the Wizengamot and ICW in case for whatever reason his person Elf had not done their duty today. As he thought of it, he had not seen Dobby since he had sent it to watch the barrier at Kings Cross to prevent Potter from getting through it.

 

When he looked into both boxes, Albus found only a single document in each. Still confused at the low number of documents for the day, Albus looked over them. His face drained of color as he read first the document from the ICW and then the Wizengamot that informed him that since he was no longer the Head of his Family line, he could no longer hold the office he had due to ancient rules. Albus was further confused not knowing how he could have been removed from his place as Head of the Dumbledore Line.

His brother never cared for things like that, lacking Albus's patience and vision, as for his sister she was still his pawn for his plans for Potter. He was also kicking himself for it had been his use of an unregistered Veto in both groups that prevented motions from passing that allowed non-Heads of the House to hold positions. Albus was going to get to the bottom of this as he swept from the room unknowingly sweeping the message from Lady Magic into the fire. Thanks to it being sent by the Lady the notice did not burn but sat in the middle of the flames untouched its contents unread.

 

Harrison was in a good mood, much like many of his new Slytherin classmates, due to Draco's conversation during breakfast. Harrison had also, thanks to Lady Magic's sentencing the day before, recalled his desire to go by his birth name and not the one he assumed Dumbles had given him. Having shared it with his new classmates at breakfast caused Draco to start laughing. When he was asked what was so funny he shared a dream that he had the day before returning to Hogwarts where he had felt the block on Harrison and his bond being removed and had dreamt of various ways to greet Harrison that year. With the use of Harrison's true name having never entered into the dream at all as a way to say hello.

 

All the second-year students had begged Draco to share some of the interactions he had dreamt about, leading to a blushing blonde and the others busting their guts in laughter. "How do you know Muggle TV shows?" Harrison had asked.

"I spent a lot of my time when my parents were at work staying at my aunts and uncle's places. One of them is married to a Muggleborn who has an enchanted TV. I spent many a summer day watching them with my cousin Nymphadoda, though if you meet her make sure to call her either Tonks or Dorra unless you want an earful," Draco explained.

 

Harrison was still laughing as he headed to their first class of the day, Herbology, as he recalled some of his favorites. The Muggle flirty line from the show Friends and the commercial "Wazzup" were fun but some were just plain strange. Such as the one wherein the dream Draco had watched himself climb onto the desk situated before where "Harry" had been sitting and holding out his hand while singing, "I can show you the world."

 

One where Draco had approached "Harry" with a deck of cards asking for Harry to take one. Dream Draco had guessed random cards never getting the one that Harry had pulled from the deck. "Well, it looks like you won. I can not guess your card," Dream Draco had said.

"Oh, and what did I win?" Dream Harry had asked in a bored and from the way, Draco had explained it slightly annoyed voice.

"A date with me," Dream Draco had answered.

 

A Dream Draco had come to the classroom in leather armor with a shield, in one hand, a sword attached to his waist, with a bow and quiver on his back. "Harry, would you like to join my adventuring party to rid our world of evil?" Dream Draco had asked in an overly heroic-sounding voice while striking a pose making Dream Harry burst out laughing at him.

 

Dream Draco arrived in a leather jacket and used a sugar quill as a cigarette as he took the seat from the desk in front of Dream Harry and sat on it backward, "Harry you me, the big dance this weekend."

"Are you on something?" Dream Harry had asked.

 

A pair of Dream Dracos who had shown up in the classroom one of which had a Muggle boombox the other with a small hand-held harp and began to serenade Dream Harry with romantic music.

 

A Dream Draco dressed in a parody of a Star Trek series uniform which had stated in a straight face, "Live Long and Prosper Harry, do you want me to beam you up." A comment in which Draco said he had buried his face in his hands due to the double entendre.

 

Another Dream Draco who was "smoking" with a sugar quill this time dressed in a trench coat and wide brim hat pulled low over his face. "I have found you to be guilty of the crime of being too cu..," Dream Draco had started to say before Draco had started muttering "No, no, no. Not going to happen."

 

One Dream Draco had not said a single word but walked right up to Dream Harry pulling him to his feet and kissing him only to get knocked out.

 

As he got near greenhouse three Harrison was pulled out of his memories as a bright flash went off right in front of him. "What did you do that for?" Draco asked as he and the others walking with Harrison blocked their eyes to get over the flash.

"Sorry," a small mousy-haired boy in Gryffindor House Robes said lowering what looked like an old-school Muggle Camera. "But that is Harry Potter, and I just wanted a picture of him to send home to my dad."

"Why," Goyle asked in his normal low voice making the kid jump and mistook his tone for one of anger.

"Well, um you see. I am a Muggleborn and my dads were not sure about me learning magic so we got some extra books that talked about what Harry did for the Magical World as a baby. One of my dads was impressed for he could not believe the boy who he sometimes saw tending the garden as he delivered milk that we heard was slightly disturbed was a Magical," the boy said rambling a little.

 

"Who are you?" Harrison asked still blinking to clear his eyes.

"Oh, sorry," the boy said with a blush. "I am Colin, Colin Creevey."

"Well hello Colin Colin Creevey," Harrison said with a small smile. "Next time ask before you take a picture." Harrison and the other then moved past the first year, utterly ignoring Ron's little sister who was trying to catch Harrison's attention. Harrison was sure that as the door closed on the greenhouse he was sure he heard Ginny offer to pay for a copy of the photo of "Harry."

 

Notes:

* Molly is unaware of Ron and Ginny's darker natures since Bill had to keep quiet that they like Arthur had been stealing from Harry.

Chapter 14: Dragons and Try-outs

Summary:

During a meal where Molly introduces Rita to Bill, she tells the story of the dragon. Meanwhile, Slytherin's Quidditch tryouts are approaching.

Notes:

This chapter has some slight Gryffindor House Bashing, just to the events involving the punishment associated with Norbert from Harrison's First-Year.

Prewett Manor

 

As a way to reconnect with Rita as well as introduce her to some of her kids, Molly invited her old girlfriend to dinner at Prewett Manor. Bill listened in as the pair shared some stories of their time at Hogwarts, from Molly being a Keeper, something that shocked her eldest son, to Rita starting a student paper. Muriel even got involved telling stories of some pranks she had heard about Molly and Rita pulling on Fabian and Gideon. By popular unspoken consensus, they all avoided any mention of Arthur in any of the stories. This included Bill who shared with Rita some of the "adventures" he and his younger siblings had growing up. "So there we were at the Scamander Reserve and no one could find Charlie. The entire park had shut down and the staff was helping us look for him," Bill said over his breaded fish.

"Where was he?" Rita asked looking between Molly and Bill. Molly offered no help as she was biting her lip and trying not to laugh at the memory.

"A worker found him about an hour after searching. He somehow had managed to enter the Dragon enclosure and thankfully was not hurt," Bill continued.

"Dear, Merlin," Rita muttered in shock.

"Oh wait it gets better," Molly said reaching over and patting Rita's arm.

"Oh, yeah it did. When we arrived all freaking out that he had been hurt. We found him giving a young Dragon a belly rub as its parents looked on. Neither of the adult dragons looked like it was going to attack, but I swear looked like any parent who was watching their child play at a park."

 

"I swear that boy and wild beast," Molly said with a slight laugh not that she would change a thing about any of her babies. Well maybe having their other parent be Rita rather than her rapist. "I had gotten more notes about him than even the twins combined."

"How is that possible?' Muriel asked having also received notes about the twins due to them being future Lords of the House since she was the Prewett Steward.

"If he was not sneaking out to explore the Forbidden Forest, which before he attended Hogwarts was just the Dark Forest. It was how he had found and hatched a group of Doxies. So his sneaking into the Dragon enclosure and giving a baby a belly rub did not even make the list of his strangest animal encounters. I knew he would end up working with Magical Creatures, I just wished he chose something other than Dragons," Molly said.

 

"Speaking of him working with Dragons, how would he have any stories about Harry when he had been in Romania since Harry re-entered the Magical World?" Bill asked still wondering if Charlie had shared the same story with their mom as he had told Bill about.

"I got a letter from him back in May," Molly said. "It seems Ron, Hermione, and Harry had found a Dragon within Hogwarts and they asked for his help to get it away from the castle. While what they did was highly dangerous, I never brought it up to your brother for the three of them acted very responsibly for kids so young. They got in contact with Charlie and asked for help to remove it, even doing it at a time when the rest of the students would be safe in their dorms just in case the Dragon escaped."

"That was still rather dangerous for them to act on their own," Rita chimed in, "What if the Dragon hurt them?"

"It did a little," Molly shared making everyone at the table blanch. "Ron, unfortunately, did not help Harry and Hermione get the Dragon to Charlie's friends for a few days before that, the dragon bit him, at least according to a letter Madam Pomfrey sent to us after she treated him. Why they decided to keep it a secret rather than tell a member of staff, I could not even guess. Charlie could not get away so he asked some of his co-workers who were in Wales to pick up the Dragon." Molly once more bites her bottom lip as if she is trying not to laugh again.

 

"What is it my, sweet firecracker?" Rita asked unthinkingly slipping into the old nickname she had called Molly causing both women to blush a little.

"Well when Gon and Killua Zoldyck along with Orion Malfoy helped Charlie pull the Dragon out of the crate they had used to transport it, they found besides food suitable for the Dragon lots of fluff. Once Gon and his husband removed the Dragon your brother cast a repair charm on the fluff to find out what it was. Harry and Hermione for some odd reason packed a teddy bear in with the Dragon for the trip," Molly explained making everyone burst out laughing. "Now according to your brother's letter, he told me that it had been Harry's idea to get in contact with him. And since there had been a Dragon, he at least believes Harry can be trusted to tell the truth about important matters."

"What do you mean?" Rita asked.

"Well, my youngest, Ron, told the bastard and me some of the stories of Harry's home life. Ron thought they were pranks, but I don't think anyone would tell tales about their bedroom being what could only be a closet under a staircase," Molly explained.

"That's is rather a break from the conventional stories told about his childhood," Rita said her journalistic curiosity growing.

"From what I heard from Fred, Ron, George, and even the bastard," Molly said refusing to say Arthur's name, "is that Harry was raised by his mother's Muggle family.

 

"I can't see Mr. and Mrs. Evans having their Grandson sleep in such a room," Rita said recalling meeting Lily Evan's parents when they arrived with their daughter at Kings Cross during her and Molly's last few years of school.

"Harry was not staying with Patirca and Edward, he was raised by Petunia and her husband," Molly said.

"Vernon," Bill added without thinking making everyone turn to look at him.

 

"How did you know that?" Molly asked having never come across the man's name.

As his job for the bank to look into his family had been finished Bill said, "I met the family due to some issues Gringotts had with Harry's vaults."

"Is that why when the bastard went to collect Harry he found the house up for sale?" Molly asked.

"It turns out that Lily had bought the house for her folks only for the Dursleys to move in, so Harry took possession of it and kicked them out," Bill said not sharing that Arthur faced a similar fate from the Burrow now that his mother and younger siblings no longer lived there.

 

"Do you think they would let me take a look around?" Rita asked.

"Why?" Bill asked immediately on edge and wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"So I can find out the truth about his upbringing. I will not even publish it, you have my word," Rita said bringing out her wand and making a Magical Vow. "But I have some contacts with some law officers and if they find out Harry "The-Boy-Who-Lived" Potter was being abused growing up when Albus was telling everyone he was raised like a Prince it could lead them to face some charges. Albus as well but that might be a good thing," Rita quickly added knowing that Molly and the Prewetts were supporters of the Headmaster.

"I will see what I can do," Bill said having been informed by the bank that Albus had also been found to be semi-illegally messing with Harry's vaults.

 

 

Hogwarts

 

Harrison was excited for the weekend as he came down to breakfast Friday Morning. During the night a new notice had appeared on the board inside the Slytherin Common Room about Quidditch try-outs were planned from eleven until three on Saturday. Since last year he had just been added to the team after the try-outs had been held, he wanted to see what went on during them. Even if it was just to see what happened during Seeker tryouts. According to Draco, Blaise, and Theo, the tryouts would be the same done for national teams since Marcus modeled them after what he had seen while cheering on his mom. As it turned out Marcus' mom was a member of the Holly Head Harpies so the Fifth Year boy had seen plenty of tryouts over the years.

 

As the Post Owls arrived Harrison had two pieces of mail delivered to him. One was from Hedwig while the other was from a raven. Wondering who was using Hedwig, Harrison opened it up to see an invite to tea with Hagrid for some time that weekend. Hagrid wanted to check to see how his summer had gone but also why "Harry" had not responded to any of his letters. Harrison was not sure what to think, for while Hagrid was a kind man he had not reported to anyone last year the conditions in which he had found Harrison or where his letters had listed his room being. If so Harrison might not have been forced to go back to the Dursleys at all, but then again maybe Hagrid had told someone. Maybe due to his trust in Dumbles, the large man might have brought his concerns to the Headmaster and been placated by some sort of lie.

To give himself time to think he opened the letter from the raven.

 

Heir Potter.

Our team has finished giving the property of #4 Privat Drive a full cleaning of all skin, hair, and blood that came from you. This will prevent any future owners if they are Magical from using them to impersonate you with a Polyjuice Potion. We have had a few non-Magical humans come to look at the house for purchase. As you stated you did not care what we did with the property, the only reason we are letting you know all this is due to someone inquiring if they can come to take a look at the house. The person reached out to one of our human employees and asked to investigate #4 as a means to gather any evidence against your Muggle family regarding any abuse you suffered in the place.

 

We need your permission to allow this to happen. There are a few things you should be made aware of. First off as we stated above all biological traces of you living there have been removed already so she would be unable to find evidence of blood in the place. You could permit us to share with the person where we had removed the blood from the house and in what quantities to help their investigation. Secondly, we would have to return the locks that we removed from your former bedroom upstairs and under the stairs as well as the bars on the window that were removed when Mrs. Bubage and Babbling came to rescue you. Finally, the person doing the investigation is a reporter for the Daily Prophet. We have been given assurances that she will not publish any story about what she finds but rather she will pass her findings to a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. By doing this she could not only implicate your uncle, aunt, and cousin but also Headmaster Dumbledore as well.

Please let us know of your decision at your earliest conveyance,

Bonecrusher, Potter family Account Manager, and Goblin of Gringotts.

 

Harrison once again did not know what to do. For while he liked the idea of the Dursleys and Dumbles getting tried in a court of law after being punished by Lady Magic, he was not sure if he could trust the promise of a reporter about not sharing anything they found out about him. His new Housemates had already informed him that there was a popular book series about his "adventures" before coming to Hogwarts. Who was to say this reporter might not give the information to the law office and then wait a few weeks, months, or even years to post the story? Maybe he should ask Bonecrusher to have the reporter sign some sort of non-disclosure agreement, assuming they had such things in the Magical World. Maybe he would ask Draco, Blaise, and Theo if they had non-disclosure agreements in the Magical World, but not here just in case.

 

Later as Harrison left History of Magic to come down for lunch he was pulled into a side corridor. Thinking about what Professor Snape said about Slytherin students getting sometimes attacked in the corridors, he casually reached for his wand. He stopped when he found himself looking at Oliver Wood. "Hey Harry, how is it going?" Oliver asked.

"Um, good and I go by Harrison now," he responded.

"Good, good. There is something I have been meaning to talk to you about," Oliver said placing a hand on both Harrison's shoulders and looking him in the eye. Harrison was a little shocked to see what looked like tears in the Sixth-Year's eyes.

"What's up, Oliver?" Harrison asked.

"I am begging you please, pretty please, do not join the Slytherin Quidditch team. You are one of the best young Seekers, I have ever seen and I doubt anyone in Gryffindor could beat you. So out of loyalty to your old team don't try out," Oliver said shaking Harrison a little.

 

Unlike the decision, he was still contemplating from the letters that morning, Harrison found his choice here easy to make. "Loyalty for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, hm," Harrison said.

"Yes," Oliver said a smile coming to his face seeing Harrison got it.

"You mean the same loyalty that you all showed after me and a couple of others got in trouble last year. Where you would not even use my name in practice but called me Seeker," Harrison said seeing the smile slide off Wood's face. "Where apart from Fred and George no one apologized for how they treated me after the point loss. How I tried to back out of the team, which finally got you to look at me and talk me out of it, not for loyalty but the idea that Quidditch was the only way to gain back all the points that were lost? That team?" Harrison asked.

"Well yeah," Oliver said looking a little uncomfortable.

"I am going to try out, who knows I might not even make the team. I wish you luck with your try-outs, and hope you treat any new player better than you treated me," Harrison said as he pulled himself out of Oliver's slackened grip and continued down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Notes:

Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with any of the members of the Quidditch Team but I did not like how they treated Harry after the point loss from Norbert. Also, no one is ever seen to apologize for how they treated Harry, Neville, and Hermione.

It is like he faced Quirrellmort and won let's all forgive him but not say we are sorry for how we acted. I get that the students are all kids but J.K. never seems to have anyone apologize for anything they do to Harry and he just accepts it due to the abuse he got from the Dursleys. (Sorry for the mini-rant)

Chapter 15: "Apology" and Lockhart

Summary:

After lunch, Harrison's former Housemates come to see him.

Notes:

Sort of moving into some Oliver Wood Bashing that I started in the last chapter. This is due to in the books his one defining trait is his love of Quidditch and willingness to do almost anything to make sure his team wins. Also, I will be handling Lockhart's Quiz making up some questions that are in neither the books nor as far as I know the extended scene in the movies.

As Harrison took his seat at the Slytherin table for lunch, he could not get what he told Oliver out of his mind. Looking around at his new Housemates, he realized that none of them had apologized to him after the events with Norbert last year, but he guessed they hardly needed to. For they did apologize for how they acted the majority of the previous year to him, after Norbert all they did was cheer him on and thank him for helping them win the House Cup. So he was just a year early in that regard, he supposed.

 

As Harrison was enjoying lunch at the Slytherin table, Oliver went to gather his team at the Gryffindor table for a small council. "Alright, we have something to take care of," Oliver told them without preamble.

"Informing us when you, plan to have a try-out?" George asked.

"No," Oliver said dismissively. "Everyone needs to apologize not only Harry,"

"Harrison," Fred, and George said while Neville, who walking behind Oliver to his seat also cut in.

"Whatever, we need to apologize to Harrison, and the other two students who lost all those points at the end of last year," Oliver said.

"We did that before Harrison was allowed out of the Hospital room after his encounter with Quirrell," the twins said.

"Well, good for you," Oliver said somewhat sharply sending up red flags in the twins' minds.

 

"So why did you wait so long to say you are sorry?" Fred asked while at the same time, George asked, "Why now?"

"Well, I just asked him very politely if he would hold off on joining the Slytherin team," Oliver admitted. "Trying to appeal to his loyalty to our team."

"Let me guess, he pointed out how we treated him and asked you what loyalty?" Fred asked.

 

"Yeah, can you believe him? Anyway, I think if we all apologized and get the others in the House to do it it will show him that we are sorry for how we acted," Oliver said.

"Or if he has more than two brain cells, realize you are trying to manipulate him," George said his voice dripping in contempt at the Sixth-Year Keeper.

"Yeah, Oliver, what the Bloody Hell?" Fred asked. "We know you prefer Quidditch to almost everything else here apart from Study of Ancient Runes, but this plan is a little messed up. Just hold try-outs for a new Seeker and train them correctly, not to mention treat them right and just have fun with the game." At that, both of the twins grabbed their plates of food and left the rest of the team behind to go sit with Lee.

"Forget them, this will work," Oliver told Katie, Alicia, and Angelina who were not so sure about it. However, the whole conversation did make them feel a little guilty that they had not apologized to Harrison for how they had treated him during practices after the loss of points last year.

 

After lunch, Harrison's class was the single House study session in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had thought no teacher could be worse to follow than Binns who put everyone to sleep or the persona that Quirrellmort had used the last term with the stutter. He had been wrong as Professor Lockhart was a full-on Narcissist. The first thing the man did, apart from listing all his accomplishments was to give them a quiz, to see how much of his books they had read. The books were another point against the man since talking with students in the other years it seems he had made all four Houses and all seven years but all but his autobiography. Now from a class, he recalled in his Muggle school where the teacher had written a book, a certain number of volumes had to be sold before the writer could get any money back from them. But as Lockhart's books from what he had been told topped the best sellers list the man most likely sold enough copies to start getting paid for each volume that was sold. This means he was making money off of every single student at Hogwarts and that was so wrong.*1

 

And then there was the quiz itself, nearly three pages, front and back filled with fifty-nine questions. None of the questions had anything to do with Defense rather they were all about the man himself. After the second question, Harrison just started writing in random answers such as the question about the man's favorite color which considering the man always wore the same lilac-colored robes should be an easy answer, Harrison wrote in Deathshade Black. What type of product would Gilderoy Lockhart put his money into producing? Harrison put his answer as photocopies of Lockhart's ass. What in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's best achievement to date? The fact that he can move around and get through doorways with such a large head. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite quote and life motto? Pay attention to me. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's ideal birthday gift? A life-size golem of himself so he can make out with it.

 

Harrison could not see anyone taking this "quiz" seriously. Due to just giving answers that seemed to suit the man's personality, Harrison finished almost ten minutes before the half-hour time limit came to an end. Looking around the room he saw Draco also done laying back in his seat and possibly pretending to be asleep. Blaise was busy making the "quiz" paper into a paper airplane. Both Crabbe and Goyle were sending dark looks at the pages as if deciding to rip it up or scrunch the parchment into a ball to throw into the trash.

Theo of all the Slytherin males in the room looked to be taking the quiz seriously but then again he reminded Harrison of a nicer version of Granger who would try to get all the correct answers he could even from the monstrosity of the "quiz." Of the females in the room, it seemed Millicent was the only one who was trying to treat the "quiz" as anything but the joke it was, looking like Theo as she scratched out her answers with her tongue poking out of her mouth. Pansy had used the parchment for origami and had produced a very nice paper swan. While Daphne was just sitting at her seat, her quill untouched not a single question was answered, as she filed her nails.

 

Harrison shot a look up at Lockhart to see how he was taking the way they were all treating his test, but to his astonishment, the man was not even paying attention to them. The man had placed a large mirror on his desk as he used one hand to comb his hair and the other to check his teeth. Harrison could not tell if it was some spell or enchantment placed on the mirror but he swore he could detect a lens flare sparkle from the reflection of the teeth in the mirror. Harrison had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing at the fool, He was rather surprised that Lockhart did not cast some sort of spell on himself to make it look like wind was blowing on him to give him a heroic windswept appearance.

 

When the chime to mark the end of the quiz went off, Lockhart finally stopped primping and used his wand to summon everyone's papers. He scowled a little as Blaise's airplane and Pansy's swan landed in his hand. His scowl deepened when he saw that apart from Theo and Millicent everyone else either gave random answers or had bothered to fill anything in. "Come now students this was hardly a tough quiz if you had read the books for class," Lockhart told them after he "graded" the quizzes and went over the correct answers. Harrison could not take it anymore as the man went over every question shooting his hand into the air. "Ah yes, you have a question, Harry?" Lockhart asked seeing his raised hand and giving Harrison a smile with his overly bright teeth as if he was posing for a photo.

"First off the name is Harrison," Harrison said, "and secondly what do any of those questions have to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts?

"What do any of those questions have to do with the Defense Against the Dark Art, Sir," Lockhart said trying to correct him.

"No, sir is a title of respect and since you just wasted half an hour of our class with a quiz about yourself, I really don't think you deserve that level of respect," Harrison said.

 

"Detention Mister Potter, my office Monday night at eight," Lockhart growled out.

"Kay, but that does not answer my question of what the quiz had to do with Defense?" Harrison shot back.

"Very well, I was hoping to leave these until your practical lessons but you forced my hand," Lockhart said slamming the quizzes onto his desk and almost toppling the mirror. "I had the quiz based on me so you can learn what type of person it takes to handle everything dark this world has to throw at us."

 

"I think you mean evil," Harrison interrupted. "Dark does not necessarily mean evil as Merlin himself had a Dark Core would you consider him bad?"

Lockhart ignored Harrison's interruption as he continued, "It is my job to get you ready to handle anything. Be warned you will be facing things in this class that will make you cry in fright. Just know nothing bad will happen to you while I am around." The man then pulled out what looked like an oversized owl cage covered with a lilac sheet. With a dramatic flare, he removed the sheet to reveal a cluster of blue pixies.

"Cornish Pixies?" Crabbe asked with a deep belly laugh.

"It would be wise not to laugh Mr. Gregory," Lockhart said.*2 Then to their utter disbelief the idiot opened the cage letting the pixies out as he said, "Let's see what you make of them."

 

As the pixies broke loose from the cage the class of Second Year Slytherins were ready for them as Daphne, Theo, and Pansy started sending stunners, which all had learned from their overprotective parents at a young age, at the group of bright blue blurs freezing them in place. Harrison was standing in as a second line of defense as he used the changed Windgarium Levious spell to catch any pixies that made it past the three's spells. Meanwhile Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent all cast a spell to produce a gust of wind to shove the pixies back into the cage. The power of the five wind spells not only forced the pixies back into their cage but also caught Lockhart and blew a wig off his head revealing he was completely bald. The man shrieked in despair as he brought his hands up and made them smack into his bare head before he fled the room with what looked like tears in his eyes. No one paid the idiot any mind as Harrison used Windgarium Leveious to lock the cage back up.

 

While Lockhart had fled the room there were still fifteen minutes of class time left so everyone just settled into their seats to wait for the bell. "If this is how this class is going to be, I am going to write to my Papa to get permission for self-study," Pansy said.

"Self-study?" Harrison asked.

"When ones are not satisfied by the way a class is being held they can ask for permission to study on their own. Though to do so one needs permission from both their Head of House and at least one of their parents or guardians," Pansy explained.

 

"Why does no one do that for History of Magic?" Harrison asked.

"Since Binns has been teaching here so long most see it as a rite of passage to make it through his classes," Blaise said going to Lockhart's desk to retrieve his airplane and began to throw it around the room.

"That seems dumb, I used to like History before I got Binns," Harrison said.

"Well, you can try talking to Professors Snape, Babbling, and Burbage if they will allow you to self-study for it and possibly this one too," Millicent said going up to get her quiz. She had not seen an issue with the quiz until Harrison pointed out how useless it was for the class not to mention how big a fool Lockhart was. Now she was going to use the quiz to send home to her moms to get them to let her do self-study. Everyone seemed to reach the same idea as they went to collect their quizzes from the desk, Harrison thought he would show it to Charity and Batty to show why he had gotten detention with the man. Professor Snape as well since he did not want to serve another detention just cause Lockhart was an idiot.

 

As the bell sounded to end the class the group headed to their Transfiguration lessons with the Gryffindors. Along the way, the group's path was blocked by the three Gryffindor Chasers. "We would like to speak to Harrison please," Katie said.

As she used his correct name Harrison came to the edge of the cluster they had been in to ask, "What do you want?

"Look, Oliver pointed out that we never apologized for how we treated you at the end of last year," Angelena said.

 

"Yeah, and he told you to do it now so I will not try out for the Slytherin team?" Harrison said his voice dropping an octave as he got a little angry at Wood.

"Join the team, don't join the team whatever makes you happy," Alica said with a shrug. "We just wanted to say we are sorry for only calling you Seeker during practice. We discussed it and if you want you can just call us Chasers from now on, or Bitches but only for a week please?"

Harrison let out a laugh seeing that the three of them were asking for an apology rather than trying to tell him what he wanted so he would feel obliged to pay them back. "Nah you are all good, Well at least you sounded sincere. Good luck in your try-outs and matches. You Chasers," he said giving them a playful wink and making the three older girls give him thankful smiles as they headed to their next class.

 

Reaching the classroom, Neville caught Harrison and Draco's eyes giving the pair a put-upon look. Both figured they would figure out the meaning behind the look, after class when they could meet up in secret. But as soon as Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender saw them enter the room they left their desk and made their way over to the group of Slytherins. Behind them Neville shook his head, Ron looked annoyed, Hermione had her nose in her book, and Dean looked a little embarrassed.

"What do you want?" Draco asked moving to block the trio from reaching Harry as Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward to flank him flexing their muscles and Millecnet and Blaise blocked Harrison from view.

"We just came over to offer apologies to Harry," Seamus said.

"That is not his name," Goyle said using a finger to push his enchanted glasses up his nose a little.

"As if you would know. Harry and I are better friends since we shared a room the entire last year unlike you who has only done it for less than a week," Seamus said. Having been informed by Harrison that in the Gryffindor dorms, all students in the same year shared the same bedroom this fact did not shock any of the Slytherins. Nor did it lead Goyle to correct the small Irish boy that he and Harrison were roommates.

"Sharing a room does not make you someone's friend," Goyle said. "After all it is quality, not quantity which helps determine things like friendship."

 

"Whatever just get out of the way so we can apologize to Harry," Lavender said stamping her right foot.

"Just sit down so we can reach our seats before the bell," Harrison said from his protective position beside Theo, Pansy, and Daphne behind the others. "Also unless you actually mean the apology you can keep it."

"But Harry," Seamus starts only for a cough to interrupt him.

"Is there some sort of problem here?" Professor McGonagall said coming out of her classroom office in the front of the room.

 

"These three will not let us get to our seats Professor," Draco said.

"Let them into the room and return to your seat," McGonagall told Parvati, Lavender, and Seamus.

"We were only trying to apologize to him," Seamus grumbled as Harrison's three former Housemates went to sit down.

"From what I just heard, young Harrison, did not want any form of fake apology you should have accepted his wishes," McGonagall said as she pulled out her wand to help teach them the new spell for the day, transfiguring bits of turtle shells into pieces of china.

Notes:

*1 I actually had a college professor tell my class about this after putting his own book in the assigned books for the class. Though he admitted once he reached the point where he would start getting paid from the book sales he would remove the book from the syllabus so as to not profit from his students.

*2 Lockhart being so Narccasistic and having the same level of bigotry aimed to Dark Cored Magicals as Dumbles, does not take time to learn any Slytherin students' names.

Chapter 16: The woes of Arthur Weasley

Summary:

Arthur Weasley's luck goes from Bad to Worse, could not happen to a nicer guy.

Notes:

there will be a conversation in this chapter between Ginny and the Diary. Even though it is all happening on the page I will still be putting it in quotes.

Also while I had not explained it before the reason Ron and Ginny refer to Dumbles as their Granduncle is not due to any family connections but having a relationship with them like some call their parent's best friends an Aunt or Uncle. They call Dumbles "Granduncle" due to how old he is.

For the rest of the day, Harrison had to deal with members of his former House coming up to him and "apologizing" for how they had treated him at the end of the last school year. Most of them he ignored knowing they were doing it so he would follow Wood's plea of not trying out for the Slytherin Team, but others such as Percy, Lily Moon, Lee Jordan, and a few others who at least seemed sincere, he did forgive. For the rest of the House, each fake apology just made him more annoyed and angrier at Wood for most likely being the instigator of this wave of apologies. Thankfully, at least in Harrison's mind, was that the students in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seeing this going on did not start to offer him apologies as well. As the twins told Wood before he convinced the House to apologize to "Harry," Harrison having more than two brain cells figured out why they were all doing it making him all the more eager to try out for the Slytherin Team.

 

He let his frustration out once he was back inside the Slytherin Common Room, loudly dropping his books onto a table in anger. At least after meeting with Batty, Charity, and Snape showing them Lockhart's "test" and explaining his response to it did not earn him any further punishment from getting detention with the man. As he began to do his homework, Harrison once more found the letters he had gotten that morning that he had forgotten about due to all the fake apologies he had to deal with. "Does the Magical World have anything like a non-disclosure agreement?" he asked Draco, Blaise, and Theo.

"Oh, yeah sure," Theo answered, "do you want to make one to stop your former Housemates from telling tales about you to the press?"

"I did not even think of that," Harrison admitted. "No the reason I asked is someone learned about my childhood with the Dursleys and wanted to look into it. According to my Account Manager, she wanted to check out my old house before they sold it to gather information for someone in law enforcement. But according to the letter I received this morning, the person is a reporter for the Daily Prophet and I want to make sure she does not share anything with anyone else to sell a story or something."

"The Goblins have some of the tightest NDAs out there," Blaise said knowing his mother had to deal with numerous Goblin NDAs due to her job as Minister for Magic of Italy.

 

"Knowing the Goblins if they are selling the house what could they learn about anything?" Draco asked.

"Well my manager said they would return all but my genetic material before they allowed them inside," Harrison answered.

"That is dumb, why not just have her use a Pensive? Since they already got rid of everything this would allow the reporter to see everything that was there without them having to put it back and even if the memory they showed had your hair, blood, and whatever in it she would be unable to take a sample of it," Draco said.

"What's a Pensive?" Harrison asked.

"It is a magical artifact that allows someone to store or share memories. My father uses them a lot during his job as a Barrister or lawyer," Draco said having not shared much about his family with Harrison yet as he was still showing Harrison who he was unlike how he had acted last year. Thinking this was a good idea Harrison wrote a response for Bonecrusher to send out with Hedwig tomorrow before starting on his homework.

 

As Harrison wrote his letter to the bank, and did his homework, up in Gryffindor Tower, Ginny was doing some writing of her own. "It is not fair Tom. I get to Hogwarts ready to meet my future husband only to find out he is no longer in Gryffindor but has become a fucking Slytherin," Ginny wrote in the diary her Daddy had slipped to her as part of Granduncle Dumbledor's plan for her to eventually marry Harry.

Tom's response took a little longer than normal, the Horcrux that once belonged to Tom Riddle came from a time when he was still at Hogwarts getting slightly angry at the silly child's thoughts about his Hogwarts House as well as family line. "I am sorry, Ginny that must be rather tough," Tom responded trying to sound empathetic.

"It is," Ginny wrote quickly making it look like she was doing her homework when Percy looked her way. "What is worse is that today when I saw him heading into a class I just left, he utterly ignored me. But on the bright side, I did convince a classmate who had taken his picture to sell it to me."

"Did you use the methods I taught you, to get a discount?" Tom asked.

"I sure did," Ginny wrote back proudly. "I pretended to flirt with him to make him think I had any interest in him before "begging" him to sell the photo. When he was reluctant I pressed my chest into his arm and asked again right into his ear while gently running my hand over one of his arms. Mentioning to him how muscular the arm was. He folded like a wet noddle, and what was even better is that he is a Muggle so does not yet understand our money so I got it for a single Knut."

"Good girl," Tom said praising her which made her smile feeling as if her magic was being caressed.

 

However, her large smile drew Percy's attention to her making her put away the diary and start doing her actual homework before her older brother discovered it. If Percy found it he might try to turn it in if he discovered that it responded to her. She knew if Percy showed it to either her Daddy or Granduncle Dumbledore, they would just send it back to her with orders to be more careful with it, but if Percy gave it to anyone else it might ruin the plan.

 

Ministry of Magic

 

Arthur woke up with a small groan as he got up from the makeshift bed he had put in his office having nowhere else to go. After Molly had left him curled up on the kitchen floor from the knee to his groin, he had stayed there a while. Only to be forced up and out of the property when some Goblins came in and evicted him. He was slightly confused since the property was in his name making him ask to see their documents and straighten everything out. He saw that he no longer owned the Peverell's Secret Burrow but it had somehow been transferred to Molly. Rather than be mad he was slightly amazed she had accomplished this without him knowing about it. Man, he loved the fire in that woman which is why he convinced Albus to help him get her to marry him rather than that slimy snake Rita. Albus of course agreed to help him since he never liked it when one of his precious Gryffindors ended up with a member of another House, especially Slytherin.

 

The pair of them had only experienced two issues when trying to get Molly to start dating Arthur. First, the firey woman seemed to be immune to all of Arthur's flirting and come-ons leading him to have to start dosing her with Love/Lust Potion geared towards him. While that had been an issue the real problem had come from Rita and several others. After Arthur had started to date Molly he made her send an invitation to Rita for the pair to meet up somewhere to explain why they would never work out. As Rita waited for who knew how long, not that Arthur cared how long, he and Molly went to go see Molly's parents start planning their wedding. Ginvera and Willam Prewett were rather suspicious of the change that had come over their daughter, Molly's older brother more so.

 

Thankfully Arthur had planned for this which is why he had made the potions give her feelings of love and lust to him. Arthur explained to Molly's family that due to how close he and Molly were Molly had accidentally gotten pregnant and he wanted to do the right thing and marry her. Unfortunately, rather than reducing the mistrust they had of him, this caused the four Prewetts' uneasiness to grow exponentially.

Thankfully this led them to mistakenly ask Albus about it since Molly had gotten pregnant while they were at Hogwarts. This allowed Albus to place spells on all four of the Prewetts who started to trust Arthur greatly and think the idea of marriage was a great one. Even with the spells in place, the Prewetts had to act horrified in public as they "turned their backs" on their daughter and the man who had gotten her pregnant bringing great shame to their family. But in private the four agreed to support Molly and Arthur financially if they needed to.

 

Arthur had thought he had been set for life due to how much more money the Prewetts had compared to the Weasleys, but something had gone wrong. Maybe it was due to the spells Albus had placed on them or their advanced age but Molly's parents died shortly before the wedding. While Gideon and Fabian were of age and now were the Heads of the House, the pair had let Ginevra and William run things. As the Prewett twins began to study how to run the Prewett family line, the power was transferred to Wiliam's twin sister Muriel who followed the public response to Arthur and Molly's wedding by cutting the pair off from the Prewett family fortune. Even when Gideon and Fabian reclaimed the House they did not change anything back to what they had agreed to before the wedding.

 

Arthur found out later, from Albus that when the twins were undergoing their training to take the positions Muriel had them both go through a Cleansing just to be safe which had removed the spells Albus had placed on them. So rather than help Molly and Arthur the pair left them cut off from the family vaults and even started to vote against Albus in the Wizengamot. While Albus did not care that they were not helping Arthur out, the fact that they stood against him made him put the twins on his shit list. It took a few years and a fake Death Eater attack but Albus had been able to get rid of Fabian and Gideon Prewett along with two members of the Bones family which helped distract Amelia Bones which was a great bonus.*

 

"Arthur this has to stop," Perkins said hobbling into the office.

"I am sorry Perkins, but I have no other place to go and you know I lack the funds to even rent a hotel room," Arthur said.

"I get that Arthur, but this office is cramped enough without all your stuff in it," Perkins said struggling to close the door and get to his desk around the enchanted Muggle items in the room as well as the makeshift bed and two suitcases.

"Well unless I can find somewhere to stay there is nothing else I can do," Arthur said giving his partner a pointed look.

"Oh, no you don't, I don't have the room to have to stay with me Arthur and the most I could offer you is my old tent," Perkins said.

 

"I'll take it," Arthur said gladly.

"I was not offering it to you I was saying it was the most I could do, not that I would do. I hate to say it Arthur but if I gave it to you, I don't see myself getting it back and where would you stay if you did get it?"

"Some field," Arthur said. "Don't worry I would put up Muggle repelling charms and other protection."

"That is not the point Arthur," Perkins said shaking his head. "My old tent is a very barebones model it can not handle heating charms being placed on it. If you do not find a place soon what will you do when the weather starts to fall?"

"Well, hopefully by then I will have saved enough to get a small place," Arthur said while Perkins did his best not to roll his eyes knowing how unlikely that was to happen.

 

Suddenly the door to their office opened and someone struggled to get into the room. "I got a weird one for you guys," Amos Diggory said holding onto an odd collection of items. "Don't know why but a couple of our agents found this collection being sold at a Muggle Pawnshop," Amos said putting an old gramophone, a pair of ballet slippers, a tea kettle, and an old dirty magazine on the pair of desks. "The Muggles who had purchased them all died, well apart from the gramophone and the magazine thankfully the two Winchesters arrived just in time to save the Muggles who had them. What's going on in here?" Amos asked finally looking up from the items he had brought in.

"What do you mean Amos?" Arthur asked.

"I mean the bed and luggage that are in this room?" Amos asked.

"Well, I had nowhere else to go after Molly kicked me out and none of my friends offered to take me in," Arthur said sending a small glare at the pair of them.

 

"So you moved into this room?" Amos asked.

"Nowhere else to go," Arthur said again slowly as if Amos was a bit dim.

"I know you are having a bit of a rough patch Arthur, but I am afraid I am going to have to report this," Amos said sounding like he regretted it.

 

"Come now, Amos, surely not," Arthur said in a pleading tone.

"I can't help it, Arthur," Amos said. "You know the rules ever since Newt Scamander was granted the job here after the Grindelwald Affair and was found to still be living in his suitcase. No one is allowed to live within the Ministry apart from the House Elves. Now I am sure you don't have anything in your suitcases that will cause trouble like Newt's did but rules are rules."

"What am I to do? Live in my car?" Arthur asked.

"If that is what it takes," Amos said sadly. "I have seen Muggles forced to do it when they are suffering from hard times. I will not report this today, but if the bed and suitcases are still here in two days, I will have no choice but to report it to Madam Bones and Chief Scrimgeour." Arthur could only grumble as he used his wand to gather his stuff and move it right away not wanting to be put on report after everything else.

 

His anger increased when he got to his car and found that a Muggle Pleasemen had given him a ticket for parking in a No Parking Zone. What was worse, was that since Arthur had barely left the Ministry in the last three days the Pleasemen had put some contraption on one of the wheels preventing him from moving his car to a new location. Looking around to make sure no one was around, Arthur tried to get the thing off but it seemed that due to it being close to his car the protections he had on it to prevent anyone but him or Ron from unlocking it had extended to the item. Grabbing the ticket Arthur saw he would have to pay over two hundred Pounds, not only for the illegal parking but also to have the boot removed. He gulped seeing that unless he paid the amount by the end of the day his car would get towed, and even if the Muggles did not find his enchantments it would lead to a larger cost he knew he had to act fast. Knowing that if he wanted the Muggle funds he would need to have a Galleon exchanged for it, Arthur did not head back into the Ministry but Apparated to Gringotts.

 

After waiting in line for over ten minutes, Arthur asked for a trip down to his secret vault knowing he was going to have to start using that money if he wanted to get his car back as well as find a place to stay. He nearly lost it when the teller informed him that the vault he wished to go to had recently been closed and all the funds inside transferred back to their original owner. Hoping that Molly had a Galleon saved up he requested a trip down to his vaults but was informed that they had been recently emptied and the contents had been used to pay back money to Heir Potter. Unknown to Arthur was thanks to Bill, Molly and the rest of the family finances had been transferred over to the Prewett vaults but since Arthur made the money that had been in the Weasley spending accounts that had been left alone to be collected by the Goblins to pay for Ginny and Ron's debts to Harrison. As that had been not enough to cover it Arthur's paycheck would be garnished until the funds had been repaid in full.

 

Keeping his anger in check, just barely, Arthur left the bank to head back to the Ministry to see if he could get Perkins to lend him some money which he would pay back after their next paycheck. What he found when he got back to his office was an angry Amelia Bones, "Where did you go, Arthur?" she asked tapping her foot in annoyance.

"I had to take care of something,' he said.

"While you were on the clock?" she asked arching an eyebrow at him.

"Well you see," Arthur said sharing with her what had happened.

"I see," she said no longer tapping her foot. "I am sorry about what has been happening to you, Arthur, but you should have dealt with this all during your lunch break or at least clocked out. But since you did not and have informed me that you had been living in your office which you know is against the rules, I have no choice but to suspend you without pay for a week. I hope in that time you get your life back together." Amelia was not an unfeeling person, however, as she even lent Arthur a Galleon to help get his car back before sending him out of the building.

Notes:

* As of this moment I am not sure if I want to have Albus kill off the Prewett Twins and Susan Bones' parents or if he kidnapped them and kept them someplace for a plan down the line.

Chapter 17: Memories and Tryouts

Summary:

Rita is allowed to see the memories of Harrison's home life as the Slytherin Quidditch Tryouts take place.

Arthur had no choice but to take the offered Galleon from Madam Bones to go get the strange item off his car before it was towed away. As she banned him from coming back for a full week, he also had no choice but to shrink his belongings and take them with him on one trip. Seeing him do so, Perkins got a little annoyed wondering why the idiot did not shrink his stuff when he was not using them in their small shared office.

 

Arthur returned to Gringotts to have the Galleon exchanged for some Muggle money before going to the Pleasemen station and paying his fines. Thankfully one of the Pleasemen was free and drove him to his car and took the item, she called it a boot, from his car. Arthur plastered a fake smile on his face as he thanked her for her help wishing he could perform a memory charm on her or the other Pleasemen and get the Galleon back since he would have no money that week. But as his car was parked right outside the entrance to the Ministry, he would most likely be discovered doing so. If he was lucky he would just be fined, but casting magic on a Muggle could lead to him getting fired and spending some time in jail which he did not want to go through.

 

With his lack of funds and options, Arthur had to follow Amos' suggestion and begin to live in his car. Thankfully he was able to use magic to make sure he never ran out of gas just by making it refill itself rather than paying for it. Arthur drove a little bit out of town before parking the car on the side of the road. After he made sure no one was around, Arthur began to add some more enchantments to the vehicle to expand how much space there was inside as well as molding the trunk of the car after some Magical trunks to add a small bathroom and kitchen inside. That way he would not have to drive to a gas station or other place of business which might make him buy something just so he could go the bathroom, nor would he have to do so outside. Having learned his lesson with the Pleasemen, he also cast Muggle Repelling Charms on the car and a spell that would make it impossible for Muggles to see his car when it was parked. He planned on returning to where he had parked across from the Ministry when his week suspension was up.

 

Having finished adding his new spells, Arthur climbed into the car and tried to think of what to do now. He did not have an owl that he could use to contact Albus to ask his old mentor for some help. He had no funds in any of his accounts, his secret ones having been discovered and shut down, and if they found his the bank most likely had also found Ron and Ginny's so there would be no way he could dip into their funds either. With his suspension, he was not going to be paid that week so to eat he would have to forage for food or transfigure something.

He was halfway tempted to fly the car to Hogwarts to talk to Albus but with all the enchantments he now had on the Muggle vehicle, he was not sure if he was possibly overtaxing it. And if the spells became too much for the car making it crash he would have nowhere to live for the time being. Or worse yet if he was spotted since the Invisibility Booster he had installed by order of Albus would only last for five minutes before it gave out the car could be spotted flying getting him in more trouble at the Ministry.

Even if they did not fire him for all the spells he had on the car, basically breaking his own department's rules on Muggle items being enchanted, they would most likely fine him, and since he had no money at the moment would garnish his pay which the bank was also doing. While he would need a fraction of the money he had been using since he did not have to support his family, at the moment, two institutions garnishing his pay would leave him with very little funds which he would need to live off of and hopefully save up to buy a new place. Something he hoped would not take him that long, as he shifted his body to find a more comfortable position.

 

Gringotts

 

Having received permission to allow Rita to have access to memories of #4 Privat Drive before it was cleaned and fixed up, the bank summoned her into one of their Pensive Rooms. "Now Lady Skeeter we do have word from Cursebreaker Weasley that you gave a Magical Vow not to write about anything you see in these memories but just pass it along to the Ministry's Law Department. But the Potter Heir has also written that he would like us to use a Non-Discolosure Agreement. I am sure you can understand for he was not present for your vow," Bonecrusher said as he slid the document over to her.

"I understand perfectly," Rita said showing no hesitation as she read the full NDA to not make a mistake and get into trouble. Finding the agreement something she could do, Rita used the offered Blood Quills to make the document fully legal and binding.

"Good, that seems to be in order," Bonecrusher said taking back the NDA and quills from her. "As the memories concern one of our clients, you will be accompanied by a Gringortts employee during your review of the memories. They have all been put into Static Mode so you will not see any other worker in them for privacy reasons."

 

"Um, not to be rude but why do you think I would care about any Goblins working on this?" she asked.

"Due to the property located in the Muggle World, the team we used to clean and fix up the place were our human employees. So to prevent you from knowing their role at Gringotts you will not see them. We can understand your knowledge of Cursebreaker Weasley's job within the bank but other than him you can not have access to anyone else. In fact, he offered to be the one to accompany you into the Pensive for your visit," Bonecrusher informed her.

"Well, that was nice of him," Rita said hoping to bond a little more with one of Molly's kids.

"He is not doing it to be nice but to make sure you live up to the agreement, and to continue the job he was assigned regarding the Potter Heir," Bonecrusher explained.

"Gotcha," she said making a two-finger salute at the Goblin. "So when can we begin?"

"You can enter the memories as soon as Cursebreaker Weasley arrives," Bonecrusher said as he began to pack up his items to leave the room.

 

Hogwarts

 

Harrison was finally sick of it. Seeing that their "apologies" had not worked his former Housemates started to apologize to him at every opportunity. After the third time Seamus, Lavander, and Parvati apologized to him before a class, preventing Harrison and the Slytherins from reaching their seats before the bell, Harrison decided enough was enough. He stewed in his annoyance during the lesson, not missing much since it was a joint History of Magic. A little upset that like Draco and the others said Professor Burbage, Babbling, and Snape he refused his request to self-study in History just adding to his annoyance as Binns droned on. As the bell rang at the end of the class, Harrison moved to block his former Housemates knowing they had to get to Herbology when the Slytherins had a free period. "Can you get out of our way, Harry?" Seamus asked trying to hold back a look of annoyance on his face.

"In a moment," Harrison said, "and as it has been established multiple times this year I am going by Harrison, not Harry."

"Fine whatever can you move Harrison we have got to get to the Greenhouses?" Lavender asked.

 

"I just wanted to give you my response to all the apologizes you and the other Gryffindors have been so kind to not stop giving to me," Harrison said with a smile as he tried to be as wordy as possible making them have to rush down to Herbology. Draco and the others had already let Neville, Lily Moon, and Dean get through since Harrison had accepted their apologies.

"And what is your response?" Parvati asked glancing down at her watch.

"I would like to thank you all for the time, though lack of sincerity with all your apologies. You can inform Oliver that I got the message loud and clear. But I am still going to try out for Slytherin Seeker. If I have any more Gryffindor students come up and offer me an apology after today I will be filing charges for harassment starting with him since I know he was the mastermind of all this. I will not make an issue of it today since I am only telling you this, so if tomorrow I find you did not pass on the message to the rest of the house I will make sure to add you to the harassment charge," Harrison said and without leaving them any chance to respond spun on his heel and left the room with his new Slytherin friends leaving the trio a little gobsmacked before recalling they needed to get to Herbology and forcing them to run to make it in time.

 

Gringotts

 

I took Bill five minutes after Bonecrusher had left to arrive in the Pensive room for them to start going through the memories of Harrison's former living conditions. Rita who had sometimes worked as a reporter during a trial had often seen Memories and Pensives in use, but she had never seen the type of memory Bill pulled out from his robes. Rather than being carried in a vial and looking like some silvery liquid the memory of #4 Privat Drive was in the form of a silver marble-like object. "I take it this is your first time with a Pensive's Static Mode?" Bill asked her.

"It is," Rita responded.

"Alright to explain, rather than just being one person's memory a Static Mode Memory or SMM is gathered from numerous sources so that one entering the Pensive can see the full location without a memory playing out. I know that some Auror and Law Officers use it to study crime scenes for clues if the crime happens in a Muggle Area so they can clean it up without the Muggle noticing anything yet still study the scene," Bill explained. "This SMM covers the entire inside and back garden of #4 Privat Drive as found by our Gringotts team. There has been only one modification to it, in some bars that Professor Burbage was forced to remove when she and Professor Babbling rescued Harrison."

"I see," Rita said making a note on the pad the Goblins had allowed her to use. By both her agreement and the terms of the NDA she was using a normal quill rather than one of the Quick Quote ones that she had mostly enchanted to make her articles a little more entertaining, or as Molly put it gossip spreading.

 

Bill moved over to the locked chest holding the Pensive unlocking it and setting it on the table between himself and Rita. Bill dropped the SMM into the stone basin and held up a hand as Rita bent down to enter it. "An SMM takes a few moments to start working," he explained. "Now as this covers the home, Harrison had been living the doors have been shut in the memory. To open them just tap the doorknob," he said giving her one last piece of advice as they entered the Pensive and arrived at the front entrance of #4 Privat Drive. As Bill had not been inside either the memory or the real building both looked around for a moment seeing the spotless walls and side table where the Dursleys placed their car keys when they were home.

 

"Rather too clean, if you ask me," Rita pointed out.

"From what I have heard that is down to Harrison, who was treated like a House Elf and made to clean and cook for his family," Bill said leading Rita down the short hallway to a door with two heavy padlocks alongside a natural lock that was under the stairs heading to the upper floor. "This was Harrison's room before he got his first Hogwarts letter," Bill said tapping the doorknob which caused the door to open despite all the locks being latched on the outside.

"Dear Merlin," Rita said as they both peered into the small room with the slanted ceiling.

"We obviously can not see what it looked like when Harrison was using it for a bedroom but as you can see it is too small of a space for even a normal eight-year-old boy to use let alone a ten or eleven-year-old one. Our team did some scans on the pad and found it to be from a baby's crib and was covered in traces of Harrison's hair, piss, blood, and even some vomit," Bill said passing over a document Gringotts had approved of for Rita to see on their results. Rita had tears in her eyes as she skimmed the document but her focus was on one of the crossbeams in the slanted ceiling where a childish hand had written the words Boy's, Freak's, and finally Harry's in front of the word Room.

 

"Has Harrison seen a Mind Healer?" Rita asked.

"I do not know," Bill answered.

"While I may be out of place, I think he needs to start seeing one with how he was forced to live in this room as well as the two names he had before writing Harry," Rita said now hating the Dursleys almost as much as she despised Arthur.

 

"I will pass your suggestion to my boss who can hopefully get in contact with Harrison or his new guardians," Bill said as he led Rita away from the cupboard under the stairs.

"Is that Harrison?" Rita asked seeing the photos lining the walls of the place of an extremely fat man an equally skinny woman and a large boy making her wonder how Harrison had fit inside the small cupboard.

"That is his cousin, Dudley. It seems that besides treating Harrison worse than a House Elf they spoiled their own son maybe as a way to mentally abuse Harrison. I am afraid to say Harrison is both too skinny and short for a kid his age, though some of the Gringotts Healers have started him on a health plan to hopefully correct that," Bill explained as they finished looking around the ground floor of the place and headed upstairs. Without even looking at the notes his boss had given him, Bill could see which room Harrison had been using. The door to the room had six deadbolt locks added to it as well as a dog door put in at the bottom.

"What is the pet door for?" Rita asked finding it out of place.

"From what Harrison shared with his Account Manager and Healer, his family kept him locked in the room after they got a notice of underage magic being used here from the Ministry. It seems, Harrison had been using the threat of using magic on them to get them to leave him alone, so finding out he could be expelled for more magic use caused them to lock him up," Bill explained.

 

"That makes no sense," Rita said making some more notes.

"What about it?" Bill asked.

"You said he was staying with Lily's sister she would have been aware that students could not use magic outside of school," Rita pointed out.

"Maybe she thought the rules had changed or never looked at the letters Hogwarts sent home with Lily over the summer?" Bill guessed.

"Who added all the locks and pet door, do you know?" she asked.

"I don't have anything on them," Bill said, "I can look it up for you though. Is it important?"

"Well if it was done by a member of these Dursleys it is one thing but if they had someone come in to do it we could have further witnesses to the abuse that Harrison was forced to live through. Also if the person who put the locks in noticed it and did not state what was going on in this house there were more legal issues to deal with for not reporting it or if they did report it why nothing was ever done about the reports," Rita pointed out making Bill make a note for himself to bring it up with his boss later.

 

"Harrison has an interesting collection of belongings," she said looking around the room and seeing broken Muggle toys and a shelf of books.

"They do not belong to Harrison, hence why he left them behind when he was taken away from here. When talking with workers at the bank he only ever called it his cupboard under the stairs and Dudley's second bedroom. I think his family moved him here after his first Hogwarts letter but from what I have seen most likely never let him forget it was not his bedroom but something of his cousins that he had been allowed access to. Just like from what I heard all but his school robes which seemed to be hand-me-downs from his cousin," Bill said.

"He must have looked quite strange for the boys in the pictures seemed to be large even as a toddle so even if they gave Harrison clothes from when he was a younger boy they would have been too large for him," Rita said.

"You are not wrong there," Bill agreed sadly shaking his head. "If you want to have a look at him as well as his family, I would suggest you talk to Mom to see if she will show you meeting him off the train last year."

"I shall do it and still use what I learn under the terms of the NDA," Rita assured him. Not that he was worried about that seeing that unlike what her articles in the Prophet painted her as.   Once Rita had found a source for her anger, such as in Arthur, she was focused and looked for the truth rather than gossip.

 

The rest of the tour in the SMM was uneventful apart from some blood samples the Goblins had found in some of the gardening and tools located in the garden shed that belonged to Harrison. As they left the Pensive, Rita promised to wait until Bill got back to her on who had added the locks and pet door before going to her contact in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She also wanted to check out Molly's memory of Harrison at Kings Cross to see if she could detect the boy's state of mind when he met up with the Muggles at the end of the last school year. Rita utterly refused to think of the group as Harrison's family for nobody who treated someone like they had treated Harrison should even be called the family of their victim.

 

Hogwarts

 

It seemed that Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati had spread the message for no one was coming up to "apologize" to him anymore. Making Harrison all the more excited about the tryouts even after the weekend was over he still had his detention with Lockhart to deal with. Harrison was surprised he had not gotten more detentions from the man as he had warned Neville what was coming in the man's classes. This thankfully helped Neville along with Dean, Lily Moon, and several others to be prepared when Lockhart tried to unleash the Pixies on the Griffindors as well. Neville had laughed about it stating just like Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent had done as the group of Gyrffindors who had been forwarded unleashed a combined wind spell to keep the pixies in their cage, also blasting Lockhart's wig off. Draco had sent a similar warning to a cousin he had in Ravenclaw while Blaise contacted some allies that were in Hufflepuff so all four Houses knew what to expect. Though from what Harrison had gathered only the Second Year Slytherin and Gryffindor classes had discovered the man was bald.

 

On Saturday morning Harrison joined Draco and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team hopefuls as they headed out to the pitch. He had chatted with Draco about guessing what to expect since Marcus kept the tryouts closed to all but those trying to join the team. They were almost to the door to the pitch when a hand came down and grasped Harrison's shoulder turning him around. "Don't do this, Harry, I beg you," Oliver said.

"Get off," Harrison said trying to remove the older teen's hand from his shoulder without causing a scene.

"Come on, I get you don't like how we treated you near the end of the school year, but we were/are still your team," Oliver pleaded with him.

"Emphasis on "were," Oliver," Harrison said getting ready to use his broom to smack the other's hand away when trying to shrug off Oliver's hand did not work.

 

"Is there a problem here, Wood," Marcus asked as he brought his hand down on his Gryffindor counterpart's shoulder.

"Just having a quick chat with Harry here," Oliver said turning to Marcus.

"I don't think Harrison agrees with you," Marcus said prying Oliver's hand off the Second Year's shoulder. "Head inside Harrison, I will be in there shortly, after I have a quick word with Wood here."

"Sure," Harrison said hurrying away and finding Draco waiting for him. "I take it Marcus showing up was down to you?" Harrison asked.

"No he did just arrive," Draco admitted as the pair walked onto the pitch.

 

"Oliver this is ridiculous, you need to let it go," Marcus told the other Captain.

"Don't put Harry on the team he is hard to work with and does not listen to directions during practice," Oliver said thinking if he could make Harry seem like a bad player it would get Marcus to not put him on the team.

"Well that is interesting for that hardly seems like Harrison at all," Marcus commented. "If I did not know any better, I would think you were trying to sabotage his tryout with these lies something that would force me to take some points from Gryffindor," Marcus said fingering his Prefect Badge which was pinned right beside his Quidditch Captain's badge.

"You wouldn't dare," Oliver said.

"Try me," Marcus said leaning in so his and Oliver's faces were just inches apart from one another. Thankfully this unspoken threat got Oliver to leave letting Marcus enter the pitch to begin tryouts.

 

Marcus decided to start with Seeker tryouts to just get it over with in case Oliver decided to come back and try to spy or interfere with Harrison during his test. Only four people were trying out for the Seeker position. Harrison, Terrence Higgs who held the post last year, Darnelo Slim a Fifth Year boy, and Shoko Nakanaka a Sixth Year girl. "Alright, let's get this show on the road," Marcus said clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. "This year we will start with the Seekers, so everyone who is trying out for a Chaser please step forward and grab a ball." Harrison looked confused as the thirty Chaser candidates moved forward to grab different-sized foam balls. "We shall do this by age Terrence you go first. You need to find this ball," Marcus said holding up a small black ball the size of a Snitch. If you land or get knocked off your broom you are out of the runnings. You can make any wrong catch if you wish to get one of the balls out of play but that will add to your time. Chaser candidates are you ready? Terrence mount your broom," Marcus ordered.

 

Harrison had not seen the issue of this training until it began. Rather than just tossing the balls they had collected each of the Chaser hopefuls used a different spell to keep the ball they had picked aloft as Terrance had to fly through it and find the one Marcus had said was the goal. Some of the magic floating balls just moved through the area the trial was set up in, while others directed by the student controlling them acted like Bludgers for Terrance. It took the Seventh Year ten minutes to find Marcus' ball holding it aloft as soon as he caught it to make the other balls back up.

 

When it was Shoko's turn she flew into the mass for a few seconds and collected some balls before dropping them onto the ground and getting them out of her way. But just like Marcus had warned this ate into her time so that by the time she found and collected Marcus's ball, which was different from the one he had used with Terrance she had taken ten and a half minutes.

 

Darnelo shot into the storm of balls on his turn so fast he sent a few flying away and began to knock them out of the field as he looked which was faster than Shoko's method but also was causing the Fifth Year more damage than the other two, despite all the balls being made of foam. He also appeared to be more focused on speed than all the details for when he found Marcus' ball he grabbed for it and accidentally grabbed a similar ball right next to it and did not realize his mistake until he landed thus taking himself out of the contest for the position.

 

When it was Harrison's turn he did not know what to expect since some of his new Slytherin classmates might try harder against him than the others due to how he flew against them last year. There was also the possibility that some of the older students came from families that supported the Dark Lord and were looking for a way that they could bully Harrison without getting into trouble. His suspicions seemed to be correct as several students had their chosen balls act as make-shift Bludgers against him as he headed into the training field. Even with all the extra fake Bludgers zooming towards him, Harrison easily dodged them all and at one moment he had to swing one-handed under his Nimbus. He just barely managed to get back on top of his broom, especially when one of the larger fake Bludgers came rocketing at his head.

 

When he resumed his seat he finally saw the ball Marcus had picked out for his trial. The ball was bigger than a normal snitch but smaller than a Quaffle. Locking his eyes on his target, Harrison zoomed after it. The watching crowd seemed to notice he had spotted it as well for the Bludgers became more ferocious as they tried to block him from reaching the fake Snitch. Harrison just instinctively flew around them even at one point doing a loop de loop without losing track of his target. As he grabbed the ball and pulled it to his chest, Harrison heard a wolf whistle that he thought belonged to Draco as he came in for a landing.

"Well with a time of nine minutes and forty-three seconds in retrieving his fake Snitch, Harrison Potter is our new Seeker." There were some cheers from the crowd as Draco came up giving Harrison a tight hug for his job well done. Harrison was then directed to the stands to watch the rest of the tryouts. Draco thanks to his Nimbus 2001 was able to outfly the others trying out for Chaser as he soon joined Harrison in the stands.

Chapter 18: The Gryffindor Quidditch team fallout

Summary:

Wood should have stopped when he was ahead.

After being threatened by Marcus, Oliver decided to take matters into his own hands to make sure Harry would not join the Slytherin team. Well, his hands and the other members of his team. Gathering Katie, Angelina, Fred, Alicia, and George, he lied to them about scheduling practice for the morning. As none of them were as dedicated to Quidditch as he was, Oliver knew they would not have confirmed with the Pitch schedule. Since they had not had their first practice of the term yet none of the team had moved their brooms down to their locker room which Oliver saw worked in his favor.

 

Walking across the grounds with their broomsticks over their shoulder, and before they got in sight of the closed front door to the Pitch, Oliver said, "How about we dust off our summer cobwebs by doing a lap around the Pitch before heading inside?"

"We are not even in our uniforms yet, Oliver," Katie pointed out.

"So, who needs uniforms when we can fly together again?" Oliver countered. "Anyway it is just a quick lap and once we land we will just go change."

"Fine," Angelina said as she fixed her robes a little since she had been wearing a skirt rather than the normal training gear. Not that she thought Fred or George would try to peek and Oliver was too into Quidditch to seem to care about any form of romance.

 

In near-perfect unison, the six members of the Quidditch team took off at the same time and did a lap around the pitch. As Oliver had not instructed them on what direction to take Fred and Alicia headed clockwise for a bit before changing direction to return to the others. "So why did you schedule a practice rather than tryouts?" Fred asked once he and Alicia had rejoined the others.

"I wanted to give Harry some time to realize his mistake and come back to Gryffindor," Oliver said causing the whole team to stop for a moment and hover in midair.

"Oliver, you idiot," Katie said. "First off, his name is Harrison, and secondly he was Re-Sorted, a student can only do that once so he is now a Slytherin student until he graduates or changes schools."

 

"He was not re-sorted he was just sitting at the Slytherin Table before everyone came in rather than have the Hat change his house after the First Years were sorted," Oliver reasoned making them facepalm.

"Oliver if he had not been Re-sorted even if he sat at Slytherin as a prank, he would have shown up in the Common Room that night for whatever guards the Slytherin Common Room and dorms would never allow him to stay overnight," Alicia pointed out.

"Yet he did which means he was sorted into Slytherin before we all arrived. Which I think is down to Professor Burbage becoming his guardian or so I overheard," Angelina said.

"But he is too young," Oliver protested while trying to get them flying again so they could disrupt Harry's tryouts. "One can only be re-sorted after they are in their Third Year."

"That is correct but as Professor McGonagall has not done anything about it, nor Snape they must have permitted him to do it sooner than normal," Fred said.

 

"Fine, enough I will book the Pitch for Seeker tryouts later we should get to our practice. After all, it is not like this is the first time we had practice without a Seeker," Oliver said.

"You seemed rather eager for practice," George commented as Oliver wheeled in the air and took off with a burst of speed for the lap around the pitch.

"Some Muggle logging company started working in the woods near my house over the summer so I could not fly that much," Oliver lied.

"Ouch, did your parents get in contact with the Ministry just in case they got too close?" Fred asked.

"I think my dad did," Oliver said digging himself a little deeper forgetting who the twin's father was.

"We can send a message to Dad for you. He can help you clear everything up," George said.*

"I think my parents got it covered," Oliver said quickly as he started to angle upward and let his wand leave his sleeve to fall into his palm. If Marcus was anything like him or the other Quidditch Captains regarding tryouts the Seekers would be done last. So even with all the time he took to gather his team and get them up there, Harry would not have been called forth yet. A simple Cunfundus Charm or depending on how Marcus tested his Seeker some other spell and Harry would be out of the runnings.

 

Oliver smiled when he saw what looked like Chaser tryouts as someone flew through an obstacle course that had been set up while foam balls were thrown at them. He could not spot Harry in the crowd but a lot were trying out so Oliver figured he was just missing him in the number of students. He would have saved himself some trouble if he looked down at the stands below him for Harrison was sitting there watching the Chaser tryouts after he had made the team. "Oliver, what is going on?" Angelina asked as she and the others reached him and found the Slytherin tryouts in progress.

"It seems I was overruled in my booking of the field," Oliver lied.

"Yeah, I believe that," Fred and George both said at once their voices dripping with sarcasm.

"Is this why you had us fly around the Pitch rather than go through the front?" Katie asked.

 

"No, I am sure I booked the field, Snape or someone must have given them special permission to use it during our time," Oliver said.

"So if we were to check the schedule we would find your name for today?" Alicia asked.

"I did it through Professor McGonagall," he said.

"And she would back you up?" they all asked as Fred and George placed hands on his shoulders and forced him to the ground so they were not spying on the tryouts.

 

"How did you see this going, Oliver?" Fred asked.

"I just wanted to see what was going on," Oliver answered.

"The Truth Oliver!" Angelina said pulling her wand on him and casting a charm that would detect if he lied to them.

"Fine, I figured we would sabotage, Harry's chances of getting on the team and knowing he loves Quidditch swoop in and try to get him to return to Gryffindor so he could continue to play."

 

"That is..." Fred said struggling to find the words for his disappointment and hatred of Oliver's actions. "You know what, Oliver? I knew you were utterly devoted to Quidditch but this is too much. I am out." Fred said getting off his broom and wiping his hands together as if he was cleaning them off over the Sixth Year's actions.

"Ah, come on Fred that is taking things a little too far," Oliver called out to him. When the redheaded Beater did not respond or turn back Oliver looked to his brother and said, "Talk to him."

"Why? I agree with him. This is disgusting Oliver. Have fun finding a Seeker and some new Beaters," George said as he followed his brother back to the castle.

 

"What is wrong with them?" Oliver asked the three girls.

"Hm, let's see, you try to get Harrison to not try out for the team by convincing the entire house to apologize to him without meaning it. And since as the twins told you earlier Harrison had more than two brain cells he realized you were trying to manipulate him. Since that did not work you come up with a plan to sabotage Harrison's tryout dragging us all with you. If you had succeeded and it was found out could have led to our expulsion," Katie said as if explaining seven minus three equaled four. She decided to put her oaths in the equation as she stated, "I knew you want to win, Oliver, and while I can agree with most of your tactics and smack talk to the others this crossed a line. Have fun." Katie followed after the twins catching up to them just inside the Entrance Hall. They were then joined by Alicia and Angelina as the five of them without saying a word headed up to Professor McGonagall's office together.

 

 

They drew some strange looks since they were still carrying their brooms, but the group ignored them as Angelina knocked on their Head of House's office door. As it was the weekend McGonagall was not there but thanks to the magic of Hogwarts let her know that they were there. Thankfully she was still at the castle rather than out at Hogsmead or someone else so it only took her twelve minutes to arrive. "What can I do for you all this morning? Trying to book the Pitch?" she asked seeing their brooms. "I am afraid that the Slytherins will be using it all day for their tryouts."

"Actually we came to let you know that we are leaving the team," Angelina said.

"All of you?" Professor McGonagall asked in shock as she sank into her desk chair at the news.

"Yes," they all replied.

 

"Do you mind telling me why?" her voice nearly breaking.

"In a word, Wood," Fred answered.

"If you are sick of his training methods, they are not a reason to quit. Did he get you all up early and take you to the Pitch without informing you of the Slytherin tryouts?"

"It is not that," Alecia said. "Well he did tell us he had practice planned for today but that was less than an hour ago."

"Foolish boy, did he get into an altercation with Marcus again?" McGonagall asked.

 

"We don't know. All we know was that he planned to sabotage Harrison's tryouts and get us to convince Harrison to come back to Gryffindor and the team," George said.

"HE WHAT?!?" McGonagall thundered running a hand through her hair and undoing her normally tight bun.

"We stopped him but hearing this plus how he was getting everyone to apologize to Harrison, Hermione, and Neville about how they were treated at the end of the last school year, we decided enough was enough," Fred explained.

"So that is why...," McGonagall said rubbing her brow. "Well, I should commend you for your job in stopping him five points a piece. Would you still be willing to be on the team if Oliver was no longer the captain and banned from playing?"

 

The five students huddled together for a quick conference. "We might be," Angelina said.

"I will work towards that. Miss Johnson as you are the next senior member of the team the Captaincy would fall to you if you accept it," McGonagall asked.

"I shall do my best," Angelina said.

"Well, you can't be worse than Wood," the twins teased.

"I shall straighten this out and get the badge to you by supper at the latest. Thank you for doing what is right," McGonagall said as she dismissed them from her office and began the paperwork to strip Oliver Wood as Gryffindor Team Captain, not to mention giving him a full month of detention. Before she worked on a form to replace him with Angelina Johnson. And even though nothing had happened to Harrison thanks to the others she did write up a report before going to find Charity and Batty to inform them what had happened. She hoped Harrison's new guardians did not let emotions get in the way and decided to add to Oliver's punishment for his actions against their new charge.

Notes:

* Molly has not informed Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny what she has found out abut Artur wanting to do it in person rather through a letter.

Chapter 19: TIMBER!!!

It took Oliver a few moments after his team had abandoned him to fly back to the lip of the Pitch. Did they not get what he was doing? Harry had been their only chance of beating Slytherin last year, and if he joined them there was no way Gryffindor could end their Quidditch losing streak which had begun after Charlie Weasley had graduated. There was no one at the castle as good at Quidditch as Harry, that Oliver had seen so whatever team had him would win the cup. And if everyone were going to accept Harry being a member of Slytherin now, it would be up to him to take Harry off the board.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Marcus still was not testing the Seekers, though he had moved on to the Beater's testing. Oliver watched as Marcus had those trying to join the team fly in a small area as the crowd pelted them with the foam balls, Olvier had seen them use earlier. The Beaters could smack the balls away, by the look of it, but among the balls was one that resembled a Bludger that Marcas looked to be controlling. Oliver could not make heads or tails of what his Slytherin counterpart was doing as he settled in to watch and wait for Harry's test.

 

 

Minerva had finished with the paperwork to remove Oliver from his position of Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Now all she needed to do was inform Oliver that he had been removed from the team and collect his badge so he would be unable to use the Prefects' Bathroom. "Zoey," Minerva said calling her personal House Elf.

"Yes, Mistress?" her Elf said appearing and as always dressed in a toga of the McGonagall family colors, yellow and orange.

"Where is the Gryffindor student, Oliver Wood?" she asked the elf that she had bonded with shortly after leaving home and naming it after her mother.

"Messer Wood is at the Quidditch Pitch," Zoey informed her.

"Oh, Merlin," Minerva said bolting out of her chair. She should have gone to get Wood first rather than leave him where the others had said they had left him. "Do better for your students," she muttered to herself a new mantra she had begun after eating lunch at Evans' Haven during the summer. She had allowed the students last year to bully and harass Harrison, Neville, and Hermione all because Albus had convinced her to not do anything using the excuse that it was all part of growing up.

 

She saw how wrong it was to take over one hundred and fifty points from the three last year just because Harrison had protested her taking fifty points from them. From her lack of sleep due to the time of night and having to patrol around the forbidden corridor, she had seen his protest as a challenge and had taken all the points away, and worse not doing anything to stop the trio from the school's reactions to the point loss. She had vowed to make sure to stop any bullying or harassment she saw from that lunch on.

She had done nothing seeing students coming forward to apologize to Harrison for their actions last year even if he was not accepting them. For she had thought that they believed they had done him wrong, but now according to George Weasley all of the apologies had been Oliver's idea, in a way to manipulate Harrison. And with Oliver hanging around the Pitch during tryouts for the Slytherin team even after the others had left him there, it looked like he planned on messing with Harrison's chances to join the team.

 

She was not going to allow it. Minerva ran from her office down to the Pitch making some students gasp at her in shock having never seen her move so fast or with a look of worry and anger on her face her hair flying wildly behind her out of its normal bun. Under Zoey's direction, Minerva found Oliver as he hovered on his broom on the opposite side of the arena from the front doors. "Ground Him!," she ordered Zoey as she began to count from one to ten first in English, then in Latin, and finally in Galic to help calm herself for little good it did her. Zoey obeyed the order using some House Elf magic to gently suppress the enchantments on Oliver's broom which allowed it to fly.

 

Oliver looked confused as his broom began to sink making him lose sight as Marcus started the Keeper portion of the tryouts. No matter what he did he could not get his broom to head back up, and neither would it follow his orders to move in any direction other than downward. As he got close to the ground, he could not help but gulp seeing Professor McGonagall standing there angrier than he had ever seen her before. Her mouth was the thinnest of thin lines and even though the Pitch blocked the wind the tight bun her hair normally was in had come loose as it flew around her head. "Mr. Wood, would you care to explain to me exactly what you are doing?" she asked her voice holding none of the warmth he was used to even when he was accused of trying to sabotage another team as the last match of a year drew closer.

 

Knowing better than to try to lie to her he said, "Watching the Slytherin team tryouts."

"And?" she prompted him.

"Looking for pointers," he said which was a little close to the truth for he had found Marcus's test for his team a good way to gauge their skill.

"Nothing to do with Harrison?" she asked a glint in her eye telling Oliver that she knew his real reason for being down here.

"Fine I wanted to make sure he did not make the team so we could have a chance at winning the cup," Oliver admitted.

"I am aware of this since the rest of your team came to me to leave the team. I manage to talk them out of it," she began.

 

"Good they just didn't have the stomach to do what needs to be done," Oliver interrupted her but she just shook her head at him.

"They are staying on the team because you are being removed as the captain," McGonagall finished.

"What?" he asked in shock.

"You are being removed from the team and banned from playing at Hogwarts this year or the next," she informed him.

"But.. but my dreams. You said I had a chance of joining one of the national teams and that there are scouts who come to the games during the second term," Oliver said reminding her of the Career Meeting they had last year when she told him that he would have no problem pursuing a career in Quidditch after graduating.

"You should have thought of that before harassing a second-year student and trying to interfere with another team's tryouts," she told him.

 

"You can't do this," Oliver protested.

Minerva once more counted to ten lest she increase his punishment like she had done to Harrison last year after he had said the same thing to her. "I am afraid you left me no choice, Mr. Wood. I have heard reports of you telling the rest of Gryffindor to apologize to Harrison, Neville, and Hermione even if they did not mean it just so you could manipulate him and I caught you trying to interfere. You are not losing any points for this but you will lose your position and join me in detention for at least a month," Professor McGonagall said holding out her hand for the Gryffindor Team Captain's badge. When he made no move to remove it from his robes, she summoned it to her palm before repairing the rip she had caused in doing so. "Your broom will also be grounded until further notice, as well as any broom you try to use within the grounds, lest you try to interfere with any other tryouts," she said shaking her head as she turned her back on him and headed to give Angelina the badge.

Once she had left him Oliver slammed his fist into the walls of the Pitch. His cry in outburst had less to do with the pain of punching a wooden cross beam and more with anger as he cried out, "HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO ME?!?" Needing to calm down he decided to see if he could find one of the Seventh Years who sold black-market Fire Whiskey to get a drink.

 

 

Ministry of Magic: Head office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

 

 

Madam Bones was going over a report given to her about Harry Potter's living conditions with his family before he was recently rescued over the summer. She had already signed an arrest warrant for the Durlseys for a clear sign of child abuse they had done to Harry. Suddenly the door to her office opened making her look up. "Annie, what is the meaning of this?" she asked looking at her flustered assistant.

"I am sorry Madam, but he inserted in meeting with you. I told him you were indisposed but well," Annie said as a Goblin pushed past her.

"Madam Bones I have business with you," the unknown Goblin said.

"As my assistant, no doubt told you I am working on a case right now, please schedule an appointment, or if you have the time you are welcome to wait until I have a free moment," she said trying to sound as civil as she could for it was never wise to upset a Goblin.

"I came at this time for we had been informed that you had been given the results of a study of Heir Potter's old home," the goblin said moving deeper into the office rather than out of it.

"And how do you know that?" Madam Bones asked.

 

"Ms. Skeeter got her information from us," the Goblin said.

"This is from information provided by Rita Skeeter?" Madam Bones asked thinking she was going to have to tear up the arrest order rather than fall to any of that gossipmongers' schemes.

"I assure you for once, Ms. Skeeter's results are accurate, we made sure she did not embellish or lie in them as part of the NDA we had her sign before showing her the memories," the goblin said now taking one of the seats before her desk.

Amelia rubbed her forehead for a moment before waving Annie to leave the office and close the door. "Alright, you got my attention.  What interest does Gringotts have in Harry's homelife?"

Heir Potter," the Goblin corrected her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Harrison Potter is Heir to the Lines of Potter, Gryffindor, and Peverell not to mention Lord through Rite of Conquest to Slytherin and Gaunt," the goblin explained.

 

"Should I summon Albus for this since he is Harry... Harriosn's Magical Guardian?" she asked,

"He is not anymore. He failed his duties in more ways than one. Since Heir Harrison Potter was rescued his guardians are Professors Charity Burbage and Bathsheda Babbling. And they are aware of this meeting happening, even if they are not aware when it would take place," the goblin said.

"Right," Madam Bones said feeling slightly confused. "So what is this meeting about then?"

 

"After Heir Harrison Potter was rescued he was brought to the bank. Due to the state, he had been in he was healed and Cleansed during his visit. This allowed me to talk to him since last year we did not meet," the goblin began.

"And you are?" she asked.

"I am Prince Bonecrusher, the Potter family Account Manager," Bonecrusher said before continuing. " During our meeting, I pointed out some issues with his vaults among other things. One of which was the fact his parents' Wills had been blocked."

 

"WHAT!?!" Amelia asked finding herself on her feet without recalling standing up as her chair crashed to the floor.

"Yes, this is rather alarming," Bonecrusher stated as if commenting on the weather.

"Why has this not been brought to our attention before now?" Amelia asked glaring at Bonecrusher. "You have known the Potters' Wills have been blocked but you took over a month to inform the Ministry? If you were not from the bank I would have you arrested," she said.

Bonecrusher just arched an eyebrow at her not cowed at all from her angry outburst. "As the Wills were left with the bank rather than your Ministry, we did not feel the need to inform you of anything until A) we found out how they had been blocked. The party who had done so has since been found and punished." Amelia could only gulp a little as Goblin justice was well known where some who had troubles with the Ministry and Goblins begged to be tried by the Ministry and sent to Azkaban rather than face the Goblins. "And B) we went over the Wills to find any wishes that had not been carried out. I can tell you that Heir Harrison Potter was not to spend a single nanosecond with Lily's sister and her twisted family according to the Wills but was to be sent to a large list of people the Potters trusted.

 

I will not give you the list for at the moment he is for One at Hogwarts, but also people that my people have approved of," Bonecrusher once more began.

"You have no right to decide who will be his guardian," she said her anger rising again.

"Another reason I am not going to share with you the list is that I think we will agree on Heir Harrison Potter's guardian after I share with you parts of the Potters' Wills," Bonecrusher said passing over two documents. "These are two areas which I think you will find very interesting."

"What am I looking at?" Madam Bones asked looking over the first document and finding it to be nothing more than the standard part of the Will that discussed who would get certain properties belonging to the deceased.

"Do you notice anything missing?" Bonecrusher prompted her to read the list again.

"A list of properties most of which they gave to their son, one each for Alice Longbottom, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin," she said.

"Yes, and?" Bonecrusher once more prompted.

 

"Sorry I am not getting it," she said laying the list down.

"Out of all the properties that the Will lists there is one that seems to be missing," Bonecrusher said.

Suddenly she understood. "Godrics' Hallow."

"Yes the place Lord James Potter and his wife died, was not owned by them," Bonecrusher said.

"Who owned it then?" she asked.

"The property was once owned by the Dumbledore family. It has long since been abandoned but due to the spells on the property, no Muggle had ever owned it. So I think it is safe to say that it still belongs to the family," Bonecrusher said before nodding to the second document. Picking it up she saw that this was a passage from the actual will.

 

To Peter Pettigrew, I leave nothing. For as this version of the Will has been written, he is our Secret Keeper. It was based on Albus' suggestion that we use him rather than myself, Lily, or my Brother-in-all-but-Blood Sirius Black. Sirius was chosen as our decoy and was added to the spell thanks to Lily's ability in Charms without Albus' knowledge for one can never be too sure. After all, he did talk us into using Godrics' Hallow rather than one of my family's properties.

If Lily and I die from being attacked by old Voldypants, he could only have found us by Peter spilling the beans, as Lily put it. If the attack does happen I can see Peter trying to worm his way out of harm's way, so I will inform whoever reads this that my friends and I became Animagus back at Hogwarts to help Remus Lupin during his change. I became a white stag with eight points in my antlers just in case rather than kill me, Voldypants did something that trapped me in my animal form. Sirius can become a large black dog while Peter for reasons of reaching Remus during his change back at Hogwarts can become a rat. Though who am I kidding?  Since Sirius knows that Peter is the Secret Keeper if we die he will go after Peter himself to bring the rat in.

 

"But he didn't he killed Peter," Amelia said after she finished reading.

"Did he?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Of course he did, Black blasted Peter with a curse that destroyed a street killing a dozen Muggles and exposing the sewers... underneath... huh. You know I don't think anyone ever checked to see if Peter had actually died. After all, witnesses did claim that he yelled that Sirius betrayed the Potters, and even if he tried to blame Sirius, the man was an Auror he would not have destroyed the street just to kill Pettigrew. The moment Sirius laid eyes on him he would have cast some enchantments to make sure Peter could not Apparate away. So if Peter destroyed the street to cover up his change into a rat he would be responsible for killing all those Muggles," Amelia said working everything out.

"With these documents, I was told to pass on a message from Fangtooth, the Black Family Account Manager. He would like you to know that it is about time someone tried to free the Lord of the Black family from Azkaban," Bonecrusher said making the blood drain from Amelia's face.

"I have been working on it.  Ever since I recalled that Peter had been their Secret Keeper, but I kept getting blocked," Amelia admitted.

"You know Lord Black is innocent?" Bonecrusher asked not recalling the woman being present during the Fidieus Charm Ritual he had recalled being asked to stand in witness for.

"For about a week or so now, I suddenly recalled Albus performing the ritual and making Pettigrew the Secret Keeper.  As I just said I have been trying to get him free since I recalled my memory and had it tested.  Yet even the Healer who verified it was a real memory would not help me due to Sirius killing Peter and the Muggles.  I think with this I can finally free Lord Black," Amelia said deciding to use the part of the Will as an excuse to check out the Ministry records department dealing with Magical births and deaths to see if she could find out if Pettigrew was still alive, thus proving Sirius was completely innocent.  "You can tell your fellow Account Manager his client will be out as soon as I can manage it."

"That is all he wishes," Bonecrusher said as he bowed and left her office.

 

Hogwarts

 

Harrison and Draco sat down to supper both feeling rather happy yet exhausted. After the tryouts, Marcus led the new Slytherin Team in a practice putting everyone through some strength training. It had surprised both Second Years that the training included a couple of laps around the Pitch on foot as a way to build up some muscles and stamina. It had been grueling but a little fun as after the run the team let off some steam with a game of dodgeball on broomsticks before practicing some maneuvers. It was rather different from what Harrison had done last year with the Gryffindor team, which had focused on mock games against itself during practices. Hearing some gasps of shock from the Gryffindor table, Harrison looked up to see people seeming to applaud and pat Angelina Johnsons' back. As if she sensed him looking Angelina turned to smile at him letting him see on her chest the badge showing she was the Quidditch Captain now. He wondered what had happened to get Wood to step down.

 

There were some more gasps as an owl flew into the hall holding a bright orange envelope. It circled the hall a couple of times before it landed in front of Harrison. "Who would send you a Howler?" Draco asked.

"A what?" Harrison asked.

"That type of letter is called a Howler, when it is opened the sender's voice will come out of it magically magnified to scream at you," Draco explained.

"So I won't open it," Harrison said.

 

"If you don't do it the letter will combust and open itself," Blaise explained and Harrison saw that the letter was already beginning to smoke a little.

"So what would happen if it took longer to reach me than it did would it explode and hurt the owl?" Harrison asked taking it from the bird that looked like one of the owls that belonged to the castle for students to use if they did not have their own.

"There is an enchantment on a Howler so that it only can activate once it has been delivered. No one tries to intercept it for obvious reasons," Theo said.

"It only screams at me it can't cast a spell or enchantment right?" Harrison asked.

"I have not heard that that is possible," Theo answered as the others seated around them nodded in agreement.

"It is just yelling who cares," Harrison said opening the envelope having experienced more than his fair share of being yelled at by the Dursleyes.

 

YOLVE LUINED MY (Hic) LIFE YOU BWOODY WANKER.

 

Harrison thought he recognized the magnified voice but it was hard to tell since the words were slurred a little as if the speaker were drunk. As everyone was distracted by the Howler he sent to Harry, Oliver stumbled into the hall drunk off his ass. He was going to make Harry pay for him getting kicked off the Gyrffindor Team and make sure the brat never played Quidditch again. He was glad he had pulled out his wand before sending the Howler for it had taken him a few attempts due to how drunk he was to get it free of his pocket, so he did not have to worry about doing so now as he approached Harry's back getting ready to cast a curse on the younger boy. But before he could utter a spell, he was too drunk to even try the new non-verbal magic they were learning in class, he was hit by a Full Body Bind Curse as well as a Cushioning Charm just in case he fell over.

 

Some of the students cried out in alarm as they saw the two spells launched from Professor McGonagall's wand hit Oliver Wood trapping him in place. "Oliver Axel Wood!" the Deputy Headmistress bellowed in anger. She thought she had been bad catching him trying to sabotage Harrison's tryouts earlier but to think Oliver would try to attack or curse Harrison in the Great Hall.

"Now Minerva I am sure there is a logical explanation here," Albus said in a placating manner.

"Albus, he came into the hall the moment Harrison opened the letter trying to use it as a distraction, and was pointing his wand at Harrison's back. This is a clear sign Oliver meant him harm. Even if Oliver is as drunk as he appears to be, we can not ignore this he will be suspended at the very least, and depending on if Harrison, Charity, or Bathsheda wishes to press charges he could be arrested," Minerva said surprised by Albus reaction who despite his failure as Harrison's guardian had always been rather protective of her former Lion, apart from the events over the hundred and fifty points loss last year.

 

Notes:

As far as I know, Oliver was not given a middle name in the story so I thought I would give him one that was appropriate to the situation. Axel or Ax to go with my pun in the title of TIMBER or Oliver's fall.

Chapter 20: Out of Sorts

Summary:

The Governors convene to discuss what to do with Oliver Wood.

Molly's POV

 

It had been a hectic week for Molly, first seeing her children off to Hogwarts leaving her and Arthur alone at the Burrow for the first time since Bill had been born. Granted Bill had been there but he was only crashing there for work, or so he had told her at the time. Then she discovered that Arthur had placed enchantments on her stealing her away from her betrothed and raping her. Molly had quickly moved in with her aunt who had been supportive rather than the old shrew she had been used to, and met up once again with Rita to see if the blonde bombshell would give her a second chance.

Rita had and they had started to court again and had even joined Molly, Muriel, and Bill for a meal or two. During the mean, since his assignment had finished, Bill had been able to explain why he had been staying at the Burrow. He had been looking for funds that had been embezzled out of Harrison Potter's accounts and sent to secret accounts held by Arthur, and to Molly's shock, horror, and shame Ron and Ginny as well. Molly was going to have to sit those two down to find out why they had done what they did, but it would have to wait until at least the Christmas/Yule holiday months away since they were too young to go to Hogsmeade. She could have requested permission to take them out of school for a weekend from her fellow Governers, but she would have to explain why she needed to see them, and she was not yet ready to share it with anyone, besides Rita. She had not even written to explain to any of her kids what had happened between her and Arthur, not even Charlie.

 

To take her mind off Arthur and what her two youngest had done, Molly had got in contact with Healer Noble to see if the offer to come work part-time at St. Mungos was still open. After meeting with the old Hogwarts Chief-Healer, she had been told that since it had been nearly twenty years the best Healer Noble could do was offer to have her shadow a Healer to relearn all that she might have forgotten as well as learn the modern way of doing things. As Molly had provided health to her kids as they grew up, Healer Noble had decided to help her get into the swing of things again the easiest Healing Wards Molly would work in was one dedicated to taking care of kids.

 

Molly had been a little nervous to learn that the Healer she was going to be shadowing was Narcissa Malfoy, not only due to the somewhat bad blood between the Weasleys and the Malfoy family but also due to the recent fight that Arthur had with Narcissa's husband during the trip to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies for her kids. Molly had thoughts about going back to her maiden name but once again she would have to explain her reasoning for it and she felt she should talk with all her kids before that. Yet Narcissa had been nothing but professional, even friendly, to her as they worked together. Unless Molly was mistaken she thought she had actually impressed Narcissa a few times with her knowledge of healing which she contributed to her seven kids and all the scrapes and stuff they got into, especially the twins.

 

As if moving back to Prewett Manor, and starting her new job at St. Mungos was not enough on the first Saturday Night after classes had begun, she got a letter informing her of an emergency Governors meeting to take place the next day around two in the afternoon. The letter said that since it was so close to the normal meeting after the reason for the meeting was dealt with they would move on to normal business so they were to bring any item they had been working on for a normal meeting on Sunday.

Molly was thankful that for once she did not have anything, nor did she expect to get anything this time. As she was one of the few Governors who had not had a job she tended to do extra work for the Governors, but now that she was at St. Mungos she was not going to volunteer to cover the work again. The only other times she had not done the extra work was when she had been pregnant with her youngest since she had been a member of the Governors since Bill's Second Year of school. If asked she would just inform the others she had started to work again as to why she could not do it if they asked her to. She had already been tested by Healer Noble and was thankful that she was not pregnant from Arthur again. She would have still loved the child but it would always be a reminder of what he had done to her, more than the others.

 

Since the letter had not specified the nature of the emergency meeting, Molly had been shocked to see Oliver Wood along with his parents, Oliva and Trent sitting off to the side. She shot them a curious look as she took her normal seat at the Light Cored parents' table. She was a little shocked as Lucius came over and set a cup before her. "My wife said that you seemed to prefer this tea and I got here a little early so I made you some," he told her.

"Um, thanks," she said not knowing how to respond to the drink as he gave her a nod before moving over to his seat at the Dark Cored parents' table.

 

"Thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting," Drake Vasel said the head of the non-staff portion of the Governors.

"What is all this about?" Legvistus Nott asked.

"We are here to discuss the punishment for Oliver Wood," Drake said.

"What?" several people asked confused looking between the Sixth-Year student, his furious mother, embarrassed father, Minerva who had her mouth in the thinnest of thin lines, and Albus who looked unconcerned.

 

Seeing them turn to him Albus said, "It was all a misunderstanding."

"This was no misunderstanding," Minerva said glowering at him.

"As his Head of House, please tell us what happened," Drake asked her.

"Due to Heir Wood's obsession with Quidditch he talked the members of Gryffindor House to harass a Second-Year Slytherin student, and tried to sabotage said student's try-outs for the Slytherin team. Something he got the rest of the Gryffindor team involved in leading them to quit the team and come see me. Upon hearing what was going on, I removed Heir Wood from the team and placed Captaincy in the next senior member of the team, Miss Angelina Jonnson. Heir Wood did not take his removal from the team and banishment from playing quite well as he decided to get drunk. In his drunken state, he decided to send a Howler to the student, he had been harassing.  He then used this as a distraction to try to attack the student right in the middle of the Great Hall," Minerva explained.

 

"Oliver is a good kid he is just passionate about Quidditch," Albus protested.

"Albus he tried to attack an underage student in front of everyone," Lucius shot back. "Was the student hurt?"

"No," Minerva said glowering at Oliver. "I noticed Oliver approaching them with his wand out and knowing the issues between them, I stunned Oliver before he could cast anything."

"Who is the student he was targeting?" Jarred Mood asked.

"Harrison Potter," Minerva said simply.

 

"Wait he was in Gryffindor last year?" Molly said confused.

"Yes he was," Albus said smiling at her.

"He is too young to have gotten a Re-Sort," Jarrad Moon said.

"He was, true," Albus said shooting a smirk at the four Heads of House.

 

"We will deal with this after deciding Heir Wood's punishment. I can assure you all that Harrison was sorted Legally before term started and is now a Slytherin. Both he and his new guardians do not wish to press charges against Heir Wood but only because he did not use magic on Harrison," Minerva explained.

"But even if they do not wish to press charges of harassment and potential assault on Heir Wood does not mean, we are going to let this slide," Severus said. "Pomona, Filius, and I all agree with Minerva's decision to ban Heir Wood from playing Quidditch at Hogwarts ever again. I would also like to add a note to Hogwarts records that would prevent him from coming back after he graduates to take up a post at the castle that involves it as well."

"I second that decision," the other three Heads of House said leading to a vote and Oliver's face to become thunderous.

 

"Should we not hear Oliver's reasons for what he did? As I still think this is just a simple misunderstanding," Albus said.

"Very well, Heir Wood why did you target Heir Harrison Potter?" Drake asked.

"He was somehow placed in Slytherin House, and as I have never seen anyone fly as he does with possibly the exception of Charlie Weasley," Oliver said nodding towards Molly, "I could not let him join their team otherwise, we would stand no chance."

"And you did not think to train harder or use different tactics from last year when Harry was on your team?" Molly asked making several people look over for her wondering how she knew anything about Quidditch.  Evidently, the Governors who had gone to school with her forgot she had been the Gryffindor Captain herself until Arthur placed her under enchantments.

 

"They would not work," Oliver said.

"So you gave up before you even tried," Molly said shaking her head at him.

"I agree with Molly about this, that is no reason for you to target a second-year student," Lucius said shocking everyone, though Severus arched an eyebrow thinking of what he learned of the relationship between Harrison and his Godson, Draco. "I say at the very least Heir Wood should be suspended for the rest of the year,"

"The year has just begun, Lucius," Albus said.

"Yes? And your point is?" Lucius said shooting a dark look at the Headmaster. "I said the least but I personally would like to see Heir Wood expelled for he harassed someone who just the year before he might have been friends with before trying to attack when Harrison had his back turned. I would also suggest Heir Wood met with a Mind Healer for his actions but also obsession if this is what it led him to do."

 

There was a moment of silence to greet Lucius's suggestion which was broken by Minerva who shocked everyone once again as she said, "I second Lucius's suggestion." Since she seconded it a vote was called and by a vote of seven for expulsion against three to just have him get suspended from the four Heads of House and six parents of students with Albus and Drake unable to vote due to it not being a tie, Oliver was expelled from Hogwarts. However, the school would cover the cost of the first couple months of Mind Healer treatments for the teen. Oliva and Trent were upset that their son had been expelled but happy he had not been arrested for his attack nearly had to drag Oliver out of the room as he screamed at everyone who had voted for him to be expelled.

 

"Now that, that has been taken care of, we shall move on to other business," Drake said as the door shut behind the Wood family. "Our next order of business is Harrison's Re-sort."

"I would very much like to hear this," Legvistus said.

"A week after Harrison's birthday when he received his new school list, Harrison sent the owl back to Hogwarts with a cry for help. The two members of staff the owl delivered the message went to go check it out, and found Harrison held prisoner by his relatives who we have since learned had abused him growing up," Minerva said.

"What does this have to do with Heir Potter getting a Re-Sort?" Jarred Moon asked.

"I am getting to it," Minerva said. "After taking him away from his home, Charity Burbage took him to Gringotts to help him get his school supplies before finding someplace for him to stay for a while. While at Gringotts, Harrison passed out and was seen by some Goblin Healers and his Account Manager. The Account Manager let Charity know that it was a good idea to give Harrison a full description of all the Hogwarts Houses and why someone might be sent there. It seems that Harrison was only informed of basic information before his sorting. When I was informed of this I went to go see Harrison before classes began and he informed me that due to his lack of knowledge, he had argued with the Sorting Hat to send him somewhere else. This is what led him to get a Re-Sort," Minerva explained.

 

"As well as some other business, we would like to bring up," Filius said.

"And what is that?" Drake asked.

"We would like to send informational packets to every new student, no matter their background covering the different Houses so they will not argue with the Hat's placement of them during their Sorting. Something we feel happens quite a bit," Filius explained. "The Founders knew exactly what they were doing when they placed the charms on the Hat to make it choose the best House for someone, but since it is also semi-sentient it can choose to go against its choice if the child argues hard enough."

"But why would someone not want to go to the House the Hat had in mind for them?" Molly asked.

"It could be a number of reasons. Maybe the kid does not want to upset their family hearing every member had gone to a certain house, or maybe the opposite where they wanted to be different from the family and chose a different House to be sent to. Maybe hearing the rhetoric of their parents or others claiming one house was evil due to a single student who had been in the House made them not want to be sent there," Severus said doing his best not to glare at either Molly or Albus seeing both of them doing it to make sure students wanted to be in Gryffindor.

 

Molly sat back in thought filled with worry that she had done either of those things to her kids. Had she pushed them to think that she would only love them if they were sent to Gryffindor?  Was that why Percy who she had always thought should have been in Ravenclaw had joined his older brothers as a Lion? Did she let the grief and anger at a Slytherin Student from her year being behind the attack on her older brothers leading to their death frighten her kids away from Slytherin? Maybe it was part of the enchantments Arthur had her under since she had loved Rita who had been in Slytherin. "I second this motion," she said making Severus and Albus give her shocked looks.

"We already had a booklet made so we can share it with the current students at the castle," Pamona said passing out a booklet to each of the three parent tables as well as handing one over to Drake at his desk across from Albus. "We would like to give the students, even if they are in their First Year a choice to get a Re-Sort after placing these booklets in each of the Common Rooms." After a vote was called the motion passed nine to one in favor of both ideas.

 

"The next order of business is Lockhart," Drake said.

"What about him?" Albus and Molly asked.

"He has utterly failed at his job as a teacher," Pomona said.

"It has only been a single week of class," Molly said confused.

 

"Yes, and that normally would mean he would have nothing that had been graded. But it seems that on the first day of all of his classes, he gave everyone little quizzes on his books before he graded them. Since many students know that a book for the class will be discussed over the year they don't read them until they are assigned so to grade a pop quiz on the first day of class using all the books he had assigned led to only three students passing the quiz out of the entire student population. We might have been able to forgive this if Lockhart had not given them actual grades on the quiz maybe," Pomona said.

"What do you mean by "maybe?" several people asked.

"After the quiz many of our students shared with us copies of the test," Filius said as all four Heads of House pulled out stacks of documents. "These were taken from students in every year showing the quiz he gave was the same for every class." The quizzes were then passed out to everyone with all twelve Governors having at least three copies from various students in different years before them.

 

"This is the test?" Sonah Chang asked in disgust.

"Yes, it seems rather than wanting to see if the students had read anything in his books about his many heroic deeds, he wanted to see how much they knew about him personally and then graded them for it," Severus said with a sneer. "I know I had several students who upon seeing the test did not take it seriously and received detention for it. I heard that during the detention Lockhart had them address his fanmail and in the case of Harrison Potter kept him out three hours past curfew."

"He either needs to stick to the same curriculum of the previous Defense teachers or we need a new one," Legviustus said.

"Agreed," Jarred Moon said looking down at this paper in disbelief.

"Lockhart will be a great instructor, he is just finding his flow in class," Albus protested.

 

Everyone just ignored him as Lucius asked, "What qualifications did he have again?" As no one could remember a House Elf was sent to retrieve his application.

"He does not even have a Master in Defense or standing as a normal law officer let alone an Auror how did he get hired?" Molly asked the glass shattering in her belief in the man.

"It does not say," Drake said going over the entire form.

"Well since he does not meet the requirements to even teach the subject, he should be fired, immediately," Legvistus said horrified that such a thing could happen at Hogwarts even at Sycamore Academy if a teacher did not have a Masters in a Magical subject they were not allowed to be a part of teaching crew for non-Muggle subjects.

 

"There were no other applications for the post," Albus said.

"This year, but there were in previous years which we passed over that might like to come work at the castle," Drake said calling for an Elf to collect past applications for the Defense Post. "Well Anna is out she also does not have a Masters," Drake said going through them. "We could reach out to Dappu Domon to see if he would like to come back again. There is also Remus Lupin." Severus hearing the name bristled for a moment thinking of his old classmates in anger before thinking about what he had learned about Harrison before term started and wondering if he was letting his old feelings cloud his judgment again. For out of all the Marauders, Lupin never sent curses and jinxes his way, not that he stopped James or Sirius from doing so but it was something.

 

Hogwarts

Several of the booklets had appeared in all the House Common Rooms Monday night letting the students look into the real history and reason a person was sent to a specific Hogwarts House.  Some students, such as Hermione looked through the booklets but could not figure out why they had appeared or why they were full of lies.  Others, such as the Weasley children understood the letter they had gotten at breakfast from their mom telling them to think about if they really belonged in Gryffindor House.  In the letter, Molly had made it clear that she would not think any less of them if they decided to ask for a Re-Sort which according to a placard near the booklets was now open to any student no matter what year they were in at least until the Winter Break.

 

Percy thought long and hard about if he wanted to remain in Gryffindor.  He had argued with the Hat to send him to Gryffindor during his original Sorting ceremony out of commitment to his family and wanted his folks and older brothers to be proud.  He had also done so to cheer up his mum who was still sad about Uncles Gideon and Fabian's recent deaths, but now seeing that she did not care where he ended up and she would be happy for him made him wonder if he should have let the Hat place him in Ravenclaw as it had wanted to.

 

Like he always did when he had a question he went to go talk to a teacher.  Knocking on Professor McGonagall's door he gathered his thoughts.  "Hello, Percy how can I help you?" she asked as she let him inside offering him a Ginger Newt as he sat down.

"Hello Professor I wanted to talk about the Re-sorts," Percy said.

"Well, you are not the first person who came to see me about it.  What would you like to know?" she asked smiling at him.

"I can assume that I will lose my Prefect status if I go through with it," he said more as a statement than a question.

"That is correct if the Hat sends you someplace else.  I will warn you though that if you felt like you argued with the Hat to place you in Gryffindor there is a chance that as you grew as a person it became the place you were meant to be after all," Professor McGonagall said.

 

"But if it sends me somewhere else where does that leave you?  I mean with Wood getting expelled there are no other males in my year to take up the post," Percy asked.

"Percy, let me worry about that.  If you do not feel like Gryffindor is not the place for you.  While I would hate to lose you or anyone else I still want you to be happy even if that is with another House.  You will still be one of my students and that is good enough for me.  I respect your sense of duty, but don't let it be a roadblock to your happiness," she said reaching across her desk and patting Percy's arm.

"Thanks, Professor," he said feeling glad for her support. "I would like to get a Re-Sort."

"Are you sure?  You are aware that you can only get one Re-sort while attending Hogwarts?" she asked playing devil's advocate.

"I am sure," he said standing up.

 

"Then let me tell you, I am sorry to see you go, but I wish you the best," she said getting up as well and after making sure it was alright with him pulled him into a tight hug.  "Now would you like to do the Re-Sort in private or before everyone?"

"Fred and George say even though I am a Prefect I never do anything to get others' attention.  Let me prove them wrong and have the Re-Sort done before supper," Percy said giving her a small smirk.

"I will see to it," she said giving him another hug.  "Once more I will be sorry to see you go, and I wish you the best for wherever you end up."

"I am just getting a Re-Sort not graduating," he teased her.

"I know but Head of House's prerogative," she teased him back.

 

At supper, everyone was shocked to see the food not on the serving plates yet, as well as the Sorting Hat sitting on a larger stool than normal before the Head Table.  "As you all know, if you read the new notices in your Common Room anyone can ask for a Re-Sort at any point before the Winter Break.  Some students have chosen to take this option and were Re-sorted before the four Heads of House," Professor McGonagall said.  "One can also choose to have it done before everyone at a mealtime.  We have had one student request to do so.  Prefect Weasley, please come forward."  There was some gasp of shock from the Gryffindor table as Percy got up and walked to the stool and let Professor McGonagall place the Sorting Hat on his head.

 

"Well, hello again Percival Weasley," the Hat said in his mind.

"Greetings Hat," Percy responded back.

"So you feel that the House you begged me to place you in, is not the place for you?" the Hat asked.

"It worked but I never felt fully comfortable there," Percy admitted.

"I can bet," the Hat said.  "Though I will say you do have many traits of a Gryffindor now.  But you are right there is a better place for you.  But while you found some Gryffindor in you, I was also wrong in where I wished to place you.  I saw your love of knowledge and wanting to learn all you can and thought you would do well in Ravenclaw but I see that your time in Gryffindor and all your experiences since our last meeting has made you grow.  While you still have a thirst for knowledge you also want to be accepted as you are.  As I see Professor McGonagall has informed you earlier today, don't let your duty to others nor what you see as your duty to learn to hold you back from true happiness so I see there is really only one place for you now.  HUFFLEPUFF,"  the last word the Hat shouted to the Hall before Percy's friends, the twins, Harrison, and the whole Hufflepuff House broke into applause.

Chapter 21: Night and Day

Summary:

Percy hears back from his parents concerning his Re-Sort

Notes:

There is some Hufflepuff bashing in this chapter but it is coming from Ronald and Mr. Weasley. Also, there is some slight Gryffindor Bashing but that is only due to Percy having been the one to take charge even though he was not the oldest Prefect in the House.

After the meal, Percy was led down the left-hand stairs beside the Grand Staircase by the Sixth-Year Hufflepuff Prefect, Vaan Arbuckle. "I don't know how the Gryffindors got into their Common Room, but to get into Hufflepuff all that is required is a special knock," Vaan said. "Since entry is based on a knock, there are heightened security protocols compared to other dorms, or so we have been told. If there is anyone who is not a member of Hufflepuff House is around, the door to our Common Room will not open. If perchance a member of a different House learns where the door is and our knock, they will receive a face full of vinegar for their trouble."

Vaan then guided Percy to a large wine barrel across from a portrait of a bowl of fruit which Percy had heard from the twins lead to the kitchens. Vaan reached up and knocked on the front of the barrel in a distinct pattern before the surface swung open to reveal a comfy-looking room filled with old couches, some bookcases, and numerous plants. "We will have to find out who you will bunk with before curfew tonight," Vaan said.

"What?" Percy asked a little confused.

 

"Hm?" Vaan asked back.

"What do you mean by where I would bunk? Why would I not be with the rest of our year? And curfew?" Percy asked.

"Okay I guess there are some other differences between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," Vaan said guiding Percy over to the desk Professor Sprout usually used when she came for her weekly meeting with the House. "We have separate dorm rooms of two or three people each per year and gender," Vaan explained before he started to tell Percy the other rules of the House such as when curfew was, and the day of the week Professor Sprout usually stopped by. How to access the special study rooms if Percy wanted to be left alone while he worked or some silence as he read. The fact that while the Hogwarts House Elves did clean up the rooms it was up to all the students to take care of the plants in the Hufflepuff dorms. The only reason a person could get away with not tending to the plants was if they were allergic to them. Percy felt like he should be taking notes, but then again that was his normal thought process when it came to learning something new.

 

The Next Morning

 

Percy felt well-rested for the first time since he had become a Prefect. He still loved Gryffindor House but no one, not even the older Prefects was into rules as he was leading him to take charge of the dorms. It had always felt like herding cats, since he had barely any support from the other Gryffindor Prefects let alone Professor McGonagall. Granted he had some experience dealing with hardships as he had helped his mum trying to get his younger siblings to behave once William and Charlie had left home. But since he was no longer a Prefect, all he had to do was worry about his stuff sitting back and watching how calm Hufflepuff House was compared to Gryffindor while sometimes being just as loud, but it had been an orderly chaos rather than the mayhem that he was used to.

 

As he ate with his new housemates an unfamiliar owl landed before him holding out its leg to him. Since he normally only got letters from his parents even if this was not Errol, he assumed it was from them. He had overheard a conversation his parents had one night when his Mum thought that since Ginny was coming to Hogwarts this year she should get some part-time work. For some reason, his father was against it, but maybe he changed his mind thus allowing his parents to get some more money for a new owl.

 

Percy,

Congratulations on your Re-Sort. I hope you make some new friends. If you want I can redecorate your room to show off your new House Colors.

Love,

Mum.

P.S. If you are not too busy during your next Hogsmeade weekend please let me know, I wish to talk to you about something.

 

Percy arched an eyebrow at his mother's request to see him during the weekend, making him shoot a look over to the twins to see if they also got a letter asking them to come to the meeting. But Fred and George were busy making their friends laugh with George having stuck their straws into his mouth to pretend to be a walrus again. Percy did not look over to Ron or Ginny since neither of them would be old enough to go to Hogsmeade in the first place.

 

Since Percy had not looked over, he missed Ron's look of anger directed at him for changing houses. Ron was also upset his parents had not sent a Howler to Percy to make him return to Gryffindor since it was obviously the best house. When no Howler arrived during breakfast, Ron wondered if his parents even knew Percy had fled Gryffindor like the pansy he had to be since he ended up in the main house of wusses at Hogwarts, Hufflepuff. During his free period, Ron used a school owl to send to his dad to inform him of what Percy had done.

 

 

While Harrison was happy with Percy getting a Re-Sort and the courage it took to do it in front of the entire school, he was still a little on edge due to Wood's actions before he was expelled. After what happened with Wood, and the reveal about Ron and Granger, Harry began to seriously doubt his ability to judge people or make friends. He thought he could trust Draco, since their bond was no longer blocked he could somewhat feel the blonde's feelings toward him.

He also felt he could trust Draco's friends due to Draco making them and how easily they accepted Harrison into their group. Their reawaken bond also made Harrison want to imitate some of what he witnessed in Theo and Blaise's relationship. While Harrison found himself curling closer to Draco in the Slytherin Common Room, he found it hard to do so when out in the main school.

Maybe it was all in his head, but Harrison felt that if he leaned in and let Draco feed him or wrap an arm around his waist like Blaise did with Theo, he would never hear the end of it. And he could see Granger and the two youngest Weasleys making a scene where they might accuse Draco of bewitching him or attacking the blonde. Depending on what happened he could see them all getting detention, Draco included and did not want to force Draco to get the second detention with Professor Snape because his former "friends" were assholes.

 

Draco decided to take Harrison's mind off of Wood, Granger, and the youngest Weasleys by introducing him to his cousin. Draco felt if anyone could get someone to relax it was his Cousin Luna. He even introduced Harrison to her on the weekend so Harrison could see her out of her school uniform and in her preferred clothing. So rather than meeting Luna in Ravenclaw House robes, Harrison was introduced to the blonde girl with her in a paint-covered smock. "So you paint?" Harry asked seeing the multicolored blotches on the smock.

"Nope," she said in an almost sing-songy voice.

"Then the splotches?" he asked looking to Draco for some help but the other male was doing his best not to catch Harrison's eye as he bit his lip to stop himself from giggling.

"I just like the color. It is more fun than the drab black school robes they make us wear," Luna said.

"And your bare feet?" he asked.

 

"People steal my shoes, but that is alright for I like the feel of the grass and dirt between my toes it helps me connect with the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Luna said simply as she wiggled her toes.

"The what?" Harry asked seeing from the corner of his eye Draco bringing his fist to his mouth and biting down on it as he tried not to laugh.

"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack. It is a marvelous creature, Daddy and I have been looking for, "Luna said before she started to describe it. According to her, the thing had three horns coming out of its head, which had a large bone plate that also extended over its next to cover a small portion of its back. The Snorack walked on four legs, a stumpy body, and a powerful tail, yet despite its tail and trio of horns, it preferred to just eat plants.

 

Something of her description reminded Harrison of some of his lessons back at his Muggle School. It almost sounded like a dinosaur he had learned about called a Triceratops making him wonder if Draco's cousin and Uncle had just seen a picture of Muggle dinosaurs and thought they were magical, or if rather than going extinct dinosaurs evolved to have magical powers like humans had.*1

Wanting to test his theory, Harrison paid another visit to Professor Burbage to see if she had any books on dinosaurs which included pictures to see if the thing Luna was talking about was a triceratops or some distance magical offshoot of it. However, Charity did not have any books on hand dealing with dinosaurs or Palentolgy so they had to order some from a bookstore located on a Magical Alley he had never heard of before, Kelpie Avenue. Charity said that maybe if they had time during the holiday break, she and Batty would take him around to all the Magical streets in England so he could see what other types of stores there were. Since Diagon Alley had shops set up for incoming Hogwarts students as a one-stop shopping district for Muggleborns entering the Magical World.

 

 

A week after Percy's Re-sort, which had led to other students asking to get one as well though sometimes the Hat decided to keep them where it had sent them, the silence in the Great Hall during breakfast was shattered.

 

PERCIVAL IGNATIUS WEASLEY,

HOW DARE YOU DISHONOR OUR FAMILY. I ORDER YOU TO GET YOUR ASS BACK INTO GRYFFINDOR, OR I WILL DISOWN YOUR SISSY-ASS. I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO BE A PANSY FUCKING HUFFLEPUFF BADGER. YOU ARE A GRYFFINDOR LION SO GET BACK THERE NOW.

 

Looking over to the Hufflepuff table, Harrison saw a look of mingled anger and sadness in Percy's eyes as those around him pulled him into a hug or patted parts of his body that they could reach all looking just as angry as he was due to how their House was referred to and what the sender of the Howler had sent to Percy.

 

Fred and George looked thunderous having recognized the voice of their dad being the one to send the Howler. It confused them a little that their Mom who was the one to normally send Howlers had sent them all the letters saying she did not mind if they got a Re-sort, yet it was their dad who screamed at Percy changing houses. They had never really seen their dad angry before, but to get mad at something like this pissed them off.

They had seen how much happier Percy was in Hufflepuff they could not hold it against him from wanting to be a member of that House, so to hear their dad ordering Percy back or getting disowned made them decide for the first time ever, they were going to prank their father. It was almost too easy to do, for they both recalled the hat that Bill's pen pal had sent that had been cursed to latch onto their eldest brother's head to make Bill bald and nearly cause his ears to fall off. While they did not want to do that, no matter how angry they were at him, George still took Percy's old Gryffindor Hat that he left after his Re-sort and placed a curse on it so that when their dad touched it he would lose control of his emotions. As they had never seen their dad angry they had assumed he kept things bottled up so the curse on the hat would uncork the bottle letting him show his true colors.

 

It might be a good thing if their dad showed some emotion rather than take the abuse from his co-workers at the Ministry people might start to respect him again. Not that they cared about that at the moment as they had further plans to mess with their dad after the Howler. While they liked being in Gryffindor and all the friends they had made, since their dad had made such a fuss with Percy getting a Re-Sort they thought they should ask for one as well. Who knew maybe it would give them more clients in the other Houses if the Hat decided to send them somewhere else. And just like Percy had done they would ask for the sorting to be done before a meal rather than in private showing their support for him, despite what their dad had screamed.

 

 

Ron could not help but smirk over at his older brother. He hated to admit it but he missed Percy in Gryffindor. For about a day or two the Tower had been great there was no one getting on people's case for not going to bed or doing their homework, with even the other Prefect messing around without Percy being there. But then Hermione stepped in and started to order everyone around. Ron was used to dealing with that side of her but the rest of the House did not take too kindly to a Second Year ordering them to do their homework and stop messing around.

They had either ignored her, leading Hermione to try to force the issue by smacking them with a book or just laughed at her. Ron saw that without Harry there Hermione and him were not getting the respect they deserved but Hermione had taken it too far when she used her book on the Seventh Year Prefect. The Girl glowered down at Hermione and told her in no uncertain terms that if Hermione had any issue with what was going on in the main room she could work up in her dorm room or the library.

When Hermione tried to protest the Prefect gave Hermione a detention and took a point off for every person Hermione had hit with a book, leading to Hermione losing nearly thirty points. The House turned on them as a couple of girls took Hermione by her arms and dragged her out of the room and up the girl's staircase. When Ron went to follow the stairs turned into a slide preventing him from heading up. Now without Hermione to help him his grades were starting to suffer. Ron was sure that once Percy came back and took charge again everyone would forgive Hermione so she could help him with his homework again.

 

Ginny did not care that Percy was no longer in Gryffindor, in fact, it made it easier to write in the magic diary Daddy had given her without having to worry about it being taken from her. Unlike Ron, she had no issue with Hermione being forced to study in her dorm room, since if Ginny needed the Muggleborn girl whom her brother seemed to like she could still reach her. Not that she needed to ask for Hermione's help since Tom was able to help her with her homework leading her to be the top-ranked student in her year, at least when it came to homework. She still had trouble casting spells as if something was preventing her magic from being called forth, but she was sure it would pass. *2

 

As Percy calmed down from his dad's Howler, he suddenly realized something. His parents had separated. It was the only conclusion he could reach since his mother had sent a letter the day after he got Sorted and it had been in support of him. Yet his dad's Howler had come a full week later as if he had not been at the Burrow when the Hogwarts notice was sent out about his new House placement. Also with his mom's wish for a meeting during the next Hogsmeade weekend, it made perfect sense. She wanted to tell him in person that they had separated. He did not know why she was not informing the twins yet, but maybe she wanted to meet with them one-on-one rather than in a group.

 

Harrison's heart went out to Percy but he did not want to get involved with what was going on, especially since it had been a male voice screaming from the Howler meaning it might be Percy's dad who had been stealing from Harrison, or the head of the Weasley family which meant it was a family's personal politics which he should avoid at all cost. It did take him a moment to realize Hedwig had shown up with the book he had ordered. After she got his attention he thanked her with some more bacon than usual before he opened the paper to get his book on dinosaurs hoping to show it to Luna and see if they were the creatures she had told him about.

 

Notes:

* I know I have described Luna's creatures before and I tend to stick with the same look in my stories regarding them, but recently, I randomly had the idea that Harrison guesses Luna and her dad mistook dinosaurs from the Muggle World were lost mystical creatures, or that like Humans rather than dying out the dinos tapped into the world's magic. When I came up with this idea I randomly got the tune/music "Sniff, ribbit, and Roar: Luna Sees a Dinosaur."

*2 Her magic is being Blocked by the Diary as it begins to corrupt her with the Horcrux it contains. Just like Harry had trouble casting a Patronus while wearing Slytherin's Locket in the book, Ginny is just having more blocked due to her being underage and her core not being fully developed yet, since Harry was an adult when he wore the locket.

 

The title of this chapter is a reference to the reactions to Percy becoming a Hufflepuff from his parents being as different as Night and Day.

Chapter 22: 1, 2, 3, 4, Luna's Magic Dino tour

Summary:

Draco watches Harrison and Luna bond and feels a little jealous and comes up with a way to recapture his bethorved attention.

Notes:

The third installment of Draco's dreams greetings to "Harry" that he had before coming back to Hogwarts

It took a few days for Harrison and Luna to have a shared break so he could show her the book he had sent for. As he waited for their meeting, Harry did some research in the library on his own and even asked Madam Pince to see if the Magical World had dinosaurs. He had found out unequivocally that it did not since he had been unable to find a single mention of them during his research. Even after he showed Madam Prince pictures from his new book, she told him she did not know such creatures. This just furthered his belief that Draco's cousin and uncle just saw either a book or pictures of dinosaurs and started to believe they were magical creatures. This did not explain the name Luna had given for a triceratops but maybe the names had been blocked by something or they had been too far away from the picture to read them.

 

"Can I ask you a question or two?" Harrison said during their shared break as he sat beside the blonde First Year Ravenclaw.

"Questions are the best way to learn. So yes," Luna said.

"After you told me about Crumple-Horned Snorkack it sounded like a creature I learned about back in Muggle school," Harrison said.

"Okay," Luna said kicking her feet as they dangled a little from her chair.

 

"I wanted to see if they are the same thing so I ordered a book on them," Harrison said pulling the book out. "In the Muggle world the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, as you described it to me, is called a Triceratops." He opened up the book to the page he marked on the three-horned dino sliding it over to her so she could take a look.

"That looks nice. Must be an earlier evolution of it. Things must have changed since this was taken," Luna said looking down at the picture.

"That is not a photo or a painting but a guess of what a Triceratops would look like based on the fossils that had been discovered of it," Harry said.

"As I said it must be an earlier evolution. Nowadays they are a bright purple stand about this high," she said holding her hand about a foot above the table they were at. "And are mostly used to protect the property of anyone who can see them.

 

He was not sure if her belief was just so strong, or if somehow the meteor that was said to have killed the dinosaurs had evolved them and placed them into the magical world. Thinking he had helped her out by saying what creature he thought she had been describing in the Triceratops he tried again. "How about this one?" he said taking the book back and flipping to a page at random and somehow ending up on the one for a Tyrannosaurus.

"Ah a precursor form for a Gibble," she said taking the book back.

"Is she just making that up, or has she talked about one of them before?" Harrison asked Draco who had come along to see what would happen between his cousin and Harrison.

"She has," Draco said. "Let's see, if memory serves a Gibble is a creature that has a large head filled with sharp teeth, tiny arms, is bright blue, shorter than the table, and is said to eat bad dreams?"

"That is correct, Draco," Luna said beaming at him.

 

"Alright what other creatures have "evolved" from the dinosaurs in this book," Harrison said giving her free rein to introduce him to her creatures or at least a form of them. Draco could not help but smile seeing that his original plan for bringing Harrison and his cousin together had worked since Harrison no longer looked as stressed as he had since Wood's attack.

"Okay, this one looks like a Shigmac though they are bright pink," Luna said, pointing at the picture of a Pteranodon.

"And does it have a special function as well?" Harrison asked her.

"A Shigmac is quite rare, compared to other Fea Beasts," Luna said. "They will only appear to one person when said person is the only one who can help someone in great need."

"Did you see one that came from me, Dray?" Harrison teased.

"No, I have only ever seen one type of Fea Beast," Draco admitted.

"Really which one?" Harrison asked.

 

With a smile, Draco motioned for Luna to slide the book over before flipping a couple of pages stopping on the one for Apatosaurus. "The Fae Beast name for this thing is a Nargle and it has a strange ability to turn invisible, at least its legs, tail, and body. For some reason its head and neck can not so it sometimes appears as a floating snake." Rather than describe the color it was in contrast to the picture from the book, Draco took out his wand and used it to change the picture. The thing became striped with alternating bands of orange and green. His spell also caused purple bubbles to appear along the neck going from a brighter purple near the head to a dark purple nearer to the body. "That is better," Draco said turning the book towards Harrison.

"So does this thing do? All these Fea Beasts have some special purpose so far, right?" Harrison asked.

"They do," Luna said. "Fea Beast protects those that need it in various ways. A Nargle for instance will come to one who needs guidance for a job they think is too big to do alone or impossible to accomplish no matter how much help they are given."

 

"Draco why did you see this one?" Harrison asked.

"It was after our trip into the forest during detention," Draco said.

"I asked why you saw it not when," he pointed out.

Acting as if he had not heard Harrisons' comment the blonde continued. "I had just learned that Neville and I shared the same wish to get you away from Granger and Ronald. But I was not ready to trust him, for despite how close he could get to you I saw him as weak. If you recall your second Quidditch match he, Ronald, Crabbe, Goyle, and I got into a fight. I heard Ronald say Neville gave Crabbe a black eye but in truth, it had been a miscalculated blow from Goyle that caused the black eye. Neville's attacks did not even register with them. And from what I had seen in class he was not that powerful with casting spells either. All he had going for him was his access to you. So I told him to give me some time to think about it. During the day I was visited by a Nargle."

 

"Go on," Harrison said wanting to see how the thing could have helped.

"I found out the reason it can turn mostly invisible was due to having heightened mind powers. So when it made its lower body disappear it filled my mind with Neville's power. it showed me his youth and how he stood up to members of his family as they bullied him and his grandmother. All the ways they tried to make him reveal his magic while they ignored the signs of his magic protecting him from their abuse. It even showed me that the reason that Neville is so weak when it comes to his spell casting is due to him using a wand that has not fully bonded to him. Seeing all this I agreed to team up with him as we tried to rescue you from Granger and Ronald. And when I had the time try to get him to go out and get a new wand. He told me that would be hard for it belonged to his dad and while his Grandmother is mostly on his side with the rest of their family she wants him to use the wand to honor her son, Neville's dad."

"I don't mean to criticize her but that seems dumb. I get wanting to honor a dead member of the family," Harrison said thinking of his mother's Charm notes and how he had studied them as a way to get closer to her. "But to place Neville at a disadvantage to do so is just dumb."

"As you said," Luna said flipping through the book some more smiling down at the different colored and sized versions of her Fea Beast.

 

Harrison seethed a little at what Neville's Grandmother was doing to her grandson. He was pulled out of his funk when Luna let out a happy giggle. "What's up?" he asked.

"This is my favorite Fea Beast," she said tunning the book to show off a Saurolophus.

"And what is it called now?" he asked.

"A Quibbler. Daddy named his paper after it. They are said to be sources of inspiration a Muse if you were," Luna explained. "I call mine Ducky."*1

 

"Ducky?" Harrison asked.

"Well, it has a duck-like mouth and when it talks to me it sounds like a duck that has been enchanted to speak in the human tongue," she said.

"They can talk?" he asked.

"Of course, they can. How else can they inspire someone like me? I have heard that Quibblers are different for everyone maybe mine would be mute if I drew or painted pictures but as I write and compose small songs it makes sense that Ducky can talk to me," Luna said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Would everyone have one?" Harrison asked thinking of the times he got inspiration for stuff and wondering if a Quibbler was around that he could not see.

"I think so, but most tend to disbelieve them so much their own minds block all Fea Beasts from their senses. I think I can see them since I am so open to the idea of them.  I also think they have a shared ability that all Fae Beasts possess to make those who might pose a danger to them forget about meeting or seeing them."

 

 

Draco watched in joy as Harrison took Luna's words to heart and began to ask more about them. For all that the other boy had been through Draco saw he had a great deal of innocence and trust that his Muggle family or the two betrayers masquerading as friends had not taken from him. But as Harrison and Luna continued to chat about the various beasts she knew, Draco was surprised to feel a little pang of jealousy. He had thought the meeting would be short and Luna would leave them alone so Harrison and Draco could hang out. But seeing Harrison show such interest in learning about Fae Beasts, Luna did not look like she was going to head out after all.

 

Feeling a little petty, Draco decided to get Harrison's attention back by sharing more of his dream second meetings with his betrothed.

 

Dream Draco approached Harry who turned to look at him. "Moshi Moshi, Harry,"

"Why did you just meow at me?" Harry asked.*2

"Another language again, I don't know if he knows any language besides English," Draco had muttered to himself thinking Dream Harry did not know Japaness since he mistook Dream Draco's greeting as a meow.

 

"Namaste, Harry," Dream Draco said once more using a foreign greeting as he pressed his right fist into his left open palm before bowing to the seated Harry.

"Not this day what?" Harry had asked making Draco facepalm.

 

"Greetings and Hallucinations," Dream Draco said.

"Are you high?" Harry asked.

"He has a point or am I going to launch into a deep philosophical ideas to use that introduction?" Draco muttered to himself

 

"Hello, Harry. In just a couple of minutes, I can tell you why we would be a serious power couple," Dream Draco said pulling out what looked like a projector and slideshow.

"Freak," Harry said turning away.*3

"How would that end? I thank him for coming to my Ted Talk?" Draco asked himself with a laugh as he thought about his Uncle Ted doing that during one of his trials.

 

"Come with me if you want to live," Dream Draco said grabbing for Harry's hand dressed as the character from the Muggle movie Terminator.

"Just go and die then," Harry shot back.

"I like the leather jacket look but I doubt he would really go for it until he got cleansed," Draco said.

 

"When the moon hits your eye like a big old Pizza Pie that's amore," Dream Draco sang as he somehow approached Harry at his desk in a gondola.

"Your singing is terrible," Harry said.

"Okay I disagree with that completely my singing is fantastic, but that was a little sappy even for me," Draco said.

 

Dream Draco walked right past Harry's desk dropping a letter onto it as he did so. Draco read over Harry's shoulder to see the note "Do you want to go out with me? With two boxes for Harry to mark either Yes or No. Rather than check either of them Harry ripped the note into shreds and threw it into the air like confetti.

 

"Two to beam up?" Dream Draco asked using the Vulcan Hand sign.

"Not on your life," Harry responded.

"Another American show, plus I have never been able to do that," Draco said failing to make the hand sign.

 

Once again there was no dialog, though there was music, as Dream Draco entered the classroom dancing as if he were in a ballet.  After a couple of toe steps, and a twirl Dream Draco made a running leap at Harry as if expecting the other boy to catch them and hold him aloft.  Harry in the dream stepped aside just as Dream Draco lept into the air causing him to crash into the desk and making Draco wince.

 

"You'll have my ax," Dream Draco said without preamble as he stepped up to Harry's desk with a giant scraggly blonde beard and dressed like a dwarf from the Half-Blood Tolken's Lord of the Rings books.

"You can take that ax and go chop wood," Harry said before adding "or use it to shave that crumb collector.

"Okay I get he is being a dwarf but there is no way in the nine circles of Hades would I even be that messy with my hair," Draco said wishing he could cut and style his dream-selve's beard.

 

"You know it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing," Dream Draco sang as he approached Harry snapping his fingers in time with some jazz music that was suddenly playing.  For once Harry did nothing allowing Dream Draco to take his hand and pull him to his feet before spinning Harry in place.  "Here's looking at you dollface," Dream Draco said moving in to kiss Harry only to get slugged and knocked out with a single punch from Harry.

"I/he might have earned that," Draco said looking down at his unconscious dream doppelganger.

 

 

 

Ginny's POV

 

Ginny glowered over at the nearby table seeing Harry hanging out with not only Malfoy but Looney as well.  What could he see in that girl when Ginny, herself was right here?  She might be okay with it if Harry was shy and was trying to ask Looney about how to woo her, but he did not even look her way at all.  No, he sat between the two blondes as they first went over some random book before Malfoy began to talk causing Looney and Harry to laugh at him.  For once Ginny wished they were in the library so Madam Pince would storm over and tell them to be quiet or kick Malfoy out due to him being the cause of the laughter.

Well if Harry wants to play hard to get she could as well.  Taking out Tom's magic diary she flicked her hair over her shoulder in a way she had seen the older girls do when they were flirting before she placed her body in a pose that would show off her form to Harry.  "Nothing is working Tom.  He still ignores me." Ginny complained to the magic diary.

"Have you been doing all I have taught you?" Tom wrote back.

"I have done it all and more yet he would rather spend time with the likes of Malfoy and his two gorillas.  I thought you might be right that he is just too young to notice girls.  As you told me girls mature faster than boys.  But now he is with Looney Lovegood of all people laughing, touching and so close they could kiss as they leaned over some book," she complained.

"Tell me about this girl Looney is she a Mudblood?" Tom asked.

 

Ginny did not take offense at his term since he had used it before and she was beginning to see his issue with those not from Magical families.  Hermione was alright, since she could help Ginny and was allied with Granduncle Dumbledore, her dad, and her older brother.  "No she is from a Magical family but they are all insane.  She and her dad spout off about random creatures that don't exist," she answered.

"Well, sometimes families do go wrong their insanity is possibly the first step before a Squib is born into that line," Tom said as Ginny discovered a new idea in her mind that such family lines should be pruned from Magical family trees.

"If only there was a way to get her to back off my man," Ginny wrote with such anger she almost ripped the page with her quill.

"There is," Tom wrote as the world seemed to darken around Ginny.  When she could properly see again, Ginny was confused as to why her robes were covered in feathers.

 

Notes:

*1 All the Fea Beasts are an old call-back to the majority of characters from the old animated movies The Land Before Time.

*2 I really love all the random ways to say hello to someone and this even actually happened when I once said Moshi Moshi to a co-worker who thought I had meowed at them.

*3 When he had the dream, Draco was unaware of the issues Harry/Harrison has with this word.

Chapter 23: Behind the Scenes

Summary:

Some interesting events that are happening at Hogwarts and other places

Hogwarts

 

Fred and George decided to wait until their own Re-Sort before sending Percy's old hat to their Father for their prank. That way if they were sent to another House they could send their own Gryffindor hats along filled with the same enchantments on them. Or possibly save one for their Mom, in case she also sent a Howler after they were sent to another House. The twins decided to follow Percy's example and get sorted before a meal. Yet unlike when Percy had gone through with his plan the four Heads of House had given the hall an announcement first.

"Due to several students taking up the offer to be Re-Sorted, we have decided to change the Quidditch Schedule this year," Professor McGonagall said causing some sounds of surprise from the students and a nasty look from the Headmaster before he quickly schooled his face. "We are not preventing students from playing nor using their brooms to just fly around for fun but since several students who had been chosen as a Member of a House Team have decided to go through with the Re-Sort, we are giving each Captain some more time to hold tryouts and train their team."

 

"At the moment," Professor Flitwick said stepping forward, "we are looking about finding a suitable room to hold a game within the castle's various empty rooms. That way we can start the season later and if there is bad weather the games can still be held."

"So far," Professor Sprout said taking over the speech, "we have found a possible room for the games to be held. The only condition of using the room is that while it is big enough for a match there is not enough room for spectators. We are in talks with some of the Gringotts Goblins to see if they can come in and adjust the Wards so we can place Charms on the room which will broadcast the match to the Great Hall and other areas of the castle. Apart from the library, of course," she added to some laughter from the students. If anyone had been watching Dumblebore during the speech they would have seen him break his glass by gripping it too tightly as Professor Sprout mentioned having the Goblins look at the Wards.

"We will keep you updated, on what happens," Professor Snape said as he took the Sorting Hat from its current position in the hall and called the Weasley twins forward.

 

Ron sent a glare at his older brothers, why would they follow Sissy-Percy and leave Gryffindor? The only thing he could think of was one of their pranks had messed up their minds making him decide that if they were sent to another House, he would talk to Madam Pomfrey about them being addled. After he sent a letter to his dad, of course, to show that they were also disrespecting the family.

 

To the great shock of the school Fred and George reversed their order as George sat down first to be Re-Sorted. That hat took a few moments to talk with the younger Weasley twin before it called out to the hall, "SLYTHERIN." Harrison could not help but smile as he clapped as loudly as George's other friends glad he would be in the same House as the older boy again.

Yet as George made his way to his new House table and Fred sat down for his sorting the hat barely touched his head before it called out his new House. Yet rather than having Fred remain in Gryffindor or even join his twin in Slytherin, the Hat announced, "RAVENCLAW." There was a moment of stunned silence for the twins being separated before the Ravenclaw table broke into cheers, along with George, Percy, Harrison, and the rest of Fred's friends.

Fred stood up sweeping the Sorting Hat off his head before handing it back to Professor McGonagall. As the castle's magic changed his robes to show his new house Fred said in a carrying voice, "Well at least you should not have any trouble telling us apart now." There were some good-natured chuckles at his comment as Professor McGonagall pulled him into a hug before letting him take his place at his new House table.

 

"Co-Heirs Fredrick and Geroge Weasley were the only two Re-Sorts we had tonight, but before we begin our supper, we have another announcement," Professor McGonagall said still smiling a little at Fred's comment. "The Hogwarts Governers, after careful review had decided to remove Professor Lockhart from his post. Any students who had been given detention with the man for their actions to his "quiz" will not have to serve them if they have not already.

Any student in their first or second year who has served a detention with him will be given some compensation in the form of a one-use trip on the next Hogsmead weekend. This voucher will allow you to go to the village but can only be used on the next planned trip unless you get sick on the day where you can use it on the second visit." Professor McGonagall said making a voucher appear before Harrison and the other students who had earned it. "Defense classes will not be canceled for the Board had also found a replacement teacher during our last meeting. So I would like you all to help welcome Professor Remus Lupin."

Unlike the applause from the twins' Re-sort, very few people clapped after Professor Lupin stood up looking rather out of place in shabby robes compared to the rest of the staff. Harrison gave a start hearing the man's name recognizing it as a friend of his parents that Celia and Jeffory had mentioned making him one of the few students to clap his hands. Unlike Lockhart who had treated the applause at his introduction as if he was winning a great reward, Professor Lupin blushed a little before he quickly sat down.

 

With no further announcements planned supper began as the Hogwarts House Elves sent up the food to the tables. "So how are things, Harrison?" George asked from his new seat right across from the younger boy.

"Better," Harrison said with a smile as he subconsciously leaned toward Draco. "I get to go to Hogsmeade for a bit, so that will be interesting."

"I am sure it will. You should join Fred and me, we can show you the sights unless you want to explore on your own," George said having noticed Harrison lean into the Malfoy Heir's side, though without touching him unlike the pair of Second Years sitting on Harrison's other side.

"I would not want to get in your way," Harrison said.

"Nonsense, you are like the Little Brother, Fred and I always wanted. Too bad we got stuck with Ron," George teased though was slightly confused when rather than laugh at his statement as he thought they would, Harrison and his friends shared a significant look among themselves.

 

Fred was feeling a little lonely at the Ravenclaw table, as he was the one to usually figure out how his and George's pranks would work while George would plan out the best way to use them, Fred had not spent that much time with Ravenclaw students from his own year. It did not help that the majority of classes had Gryffindor and Slytherins together meaning the only class he had with Ravenclaws had been History of Magic, Astronomy, and his electives. Not knowing his new dormmates that well, Fred had chosen to sit beside his neighbor Luna. He was a little shocked to see her looking over a book and not one of her father's magazines. "What do you have there, Luna?" he asked after he had filled his plate.

"Oh, hey Fred glad you could join the House of the Eagle," Luna said looking up from her book with a smile. "This is a book, Harrison got me."

"He got you a book, I did not even know you had met him before," Fred said.

 

"Oh yes, Cousin Draco introduced us to help him calm down after the whole thing with your old Quidditch Captain," Luna explained turning the page in the book before taping it with her wand.

"So why did he get you a book?" Fred said ignoring the news that Luna was cousins with the Malfoy family.

"Well, to calm him down I told him about the Crumple-Horn Snorkack," Luna said making several students sitting around them roll their eyes at the girl and the crazy beast that she talked about. "He bought this book saying my discretion of it sounded like a creature he had heard back in Muggle School. A few days ago he showed me the book and I began to tell him all about the creatures and how they had changed from the Muggle World's version of them, apart from being alive and all not extinct," Luna said making several Muggleborn and Halfbloods look over to see the book she was looking at.

 

"So you are marking which ones you talked to him about?" Fred asked about her using her wand on the book.

"No I was correcting the color and names that the book gave them," Luna said placing the book down so she could show Fred a picture of a "Dilophosaurus" which had been retitled as a Bibiblowak.

"So what does this Bibiblowak do?" Fred asked having heard enough about Luna's Fea Beast to know they all had a special purpose.

"A Bibibowak often shows up at tea parties that little kids throw. The Bibibowak use their imagination to make tea appear in their cups. Only those whose imagination is strong can taste the tea it creates. Which is a shame since it is delicious."

"You still have tea with it from time to time, don't you?" Fred asked which from anyone else might have seemed like he was teasing her but she knew he was just curious.

"Of course, I do," Luna said.

"Well, next time you do how about inviting me to see if I can taste Bibibowak tea," he said.

"It is a deal," she said shaking his hand before putting the book away to start on her meal.

 

Remus could not believe he was back at Hogwarts, and a teacher at that. He had always loved the castle which had taken him in despite his "furry little problem" as his friends had called it. His time as a student besides introducing him to his friends, and the backstabbing traitor bastard, had started his love of learning. Since not many places in England, Britain, and Wales would hire him due to being a Werewolf, Remus had basically become a full-time student.

Despite being so young, he had a Masters in Defense and History, but had also earned several degrees in Muggle sciences. If he counted his Masters as Degrees he would have fifteen at the moment. He could not wait to pass on his knowledge to others, James and Lily's son most of all. It had been a shock when Lord Malfoy, Drake, and Molly Weasley had come to see him a few days ago to invite him to take over the post of Defense Professor at Hogwarts. They had already had a plan in place for his monthly change. Rather than use the Shrieking Shack again, he would be provided with some Wolfbann potion. They even told him that since he needed it to become a member of staff, the potion would be provided well not free of charge but at a reduced price which would be paid for by a couple of Galleons taken from his paycheck.

 

Having heard that Severus was the Potions Master at Hogwarts, Remus asked to see if the man had agreed to brew the potion for him. "We had discussed that at our meeting, but he pointed out that he had already too many Potions to brew for the school. Something we agreed to look over during our next meeting," Drake said. "So he decided to get us in contact with Potion Master Humphries who agreed to either brew or supply the potion for you. Potion Master Humfries even talked us out of using Wolfsbane pointing out it had a nasty side effect of creating a Wasting Sickness to any Werewolf who took it. Hence you will be given the superior Wolfbann Potion," Drake explained.

 

And now Remus was at Hogwarts where he could meet with Harrison again, provided with a potion to help handle his furry little problem, and hopefully make up for some past mistakes. Hearing from the three Governors that Harrison had become the Ward of Bathsheda Babbling and Charity Burbage, he hoped he could arrange a meeting with James' son outside of class to see how the boy was doing. Maybe apologize for not getting in touch sooner as well as seeing if his wolf-side still saw Harrison as a cub in his pack.

 

 

Albus was furious. Not only had the four Heads of House gotten in contact to have the Goblins come to check the Wards. Which would lead the nasty beasts to find the improvements he had made over the years to them before they got rid of them. If he got lucky after they "fixed" the Wards and did the job his idiotic staff wanted them to do, Albus could put his improvements back in place. However, if his luck went the way it had been doing lately, the Goblins might find a way to place monitoring spells on the Ward Stone so they could detect and get rid of his improvements as soon as he added them.

 

If that was not bad enough, now Remus was back at the castle. Sure he had considered the werewolf as a possible pawn to use later, but the fact that he had lost control of his weapon meant that he could not make sure Remus kept a distance from the boy. And then there was the fact that it had been the Board who had not only agreed for the wolf to come and teach but had gone to hire him. Since Albus had not been the one to approach the man himself, Remus would not feel indebted to him for the job. The morons on the Board had even agreed to Severus' plan to buy Wolfbann from an outside source.

 

Albus hated Wolfbann Potion with a passion for the "improvements" it had made to the Wolfsbane Potion he had created under a pseudonym. He had made sure there was a Wasting Curse attached to his potion since he saw it was an easy way to slowly rid the world of Werewolves which could make him a hero to numerous groups of people the world over once again. As he thought of what to do now, Albus had to smile as he came up with a plan.

He could use the fact that Remus was using Wolfbann to his advantage. All he needed to do was get access to it before the wolf did and add some salt, which rendered his Woflsbane useless. Thus when Remus turned the potion would be seen not to work. If Remus as a wolf got out and killed or turned anyone, Albus was willing to allow it to help move his plans forward. Plus the attack would lead to the man's death thus cutting some possible support away from Harry.

 

 

Ginny felt a little strange, ever since she had blacked out a few days ago and woke up with her robes covered in feathers, she felt both stronger but also weaker if that made any sense. Her magic would randomly flare up so that during some lessons she could easily perform the spell they were working on normally, while at other times her spellwork would hardly cause a light breeze. Still, other instances when her magic was so overpowered she ended up breaking something and almost got punished for nearly hurting one of her classmates.

 

She had also suffered from a couple more random blackouts, but rather than finding feathers on her robes, she found her pants and the bottom of her robes covered in dust and grime that she did not remember dirtying them with. Before anyone had noticed how dirty her clothing was she would quickly change out of them as she wondered what she had been doing while blacked out. She could not ask any of her classmates, for apart from the Mudblood Creevey boy whom she had only befriended to get pictures of Her Harry, she was not friends with any of them. After all, why should she need to become their friend when she was the Future Lady Potter?

 

Having no one else to turn to, Ginny had shared her concerns about her blackouts with Tom. He had offered her support as he helped calm her down. He just always knew the right thing to say during their chats. She wondered if she was writing to an actual person and if the diary was a magical communication device rather than an enchanted object that her Dad told her it was when she had found it in her cauldron after getting her school supplies.

 

Besides worrying about her blackouts, Ginny was a little upset that she had not been given a detention from Professor Lockhart. Since she had heard Her Harry had served one with the man, the pair most likely talking about all the Heroic Deeds they had both done, Ginny knew Her Harry had gotten a Hogsmeade Voucher. If she had gotten one as well, she could have joined him on a date to the village without worrying about Looney or Malfoy being there. Sure he might join her stupid older brothers but Ginny had long ago learned how to deal with them to get her way. Maybe she should talk to Granduncle Dumbledore to give her a voucher despite having never served a detention of Professor Lockhart.

 

 

A Department of Magical Law Enforcement Safe House.

 

"I am sorry for meeting you here, Sirius," Amelia said as she entered one of her department's safe houses.

"This place is heaven to where I have been staying, Bonsey," Sirius said his voice cracking a little as she rolled her eyes at the old nickname he had given her.

"I can only hope this will be for the short term," she said telling him again as the Mind Healer she had assigned to him under an NDA had instructed her to as a means to help focus him and help with recall.

"I know, I know," Sirius said giving her a lopsided grin. "I am only here until you find Wormtail who really lived up to the name he gave himself. Since you found I was innocent of the phony baloney charges I had been sent to Azkaban for."

 

"That is correct," she said glad that he had retained the information.

"Bonsey, just cause I spent over a decade in Azkaban does not mean I am not the same man I was. I was able to resist the Dementors slightly since I knew I was innocent of the charges the human guards told me I had been sentenced for," Sirius said sounding a little annoyed.

"I know Sirius but I was instructed to do this just in case you have issues," Amelia said.

"Well, Healer Noble was always an overprotective Mother Hen," Sirius commented since the old Hogwarts Healer had begun to see him after his release from the Prison. Healer Noble had not only started him on a health regimen but also started some Mind-Healing sessions. The woman had even bullied him into getting a haircut, which he had fought at the time, but once his hair had gone from a scraggly mess of sweat-drenched dirty tangles to a textured fringe haircut. Sirius was rather pleased with it since it still had just the right amount of hair to be messy without being too dirty.

 

"Well, she just wants wants you to get better. As do I," Amela said patting his arm. "Not only for your sake but since you are Harrison's Godfather for his sake as well."

"Why what happened to him?" Sirius asked hoping this time she would answer him.

"After Lily and James' deaths along with your illegal arrest and imprisonment, Harrison was sent to live with Lily's sister," Amelia said.

"TUNA FISH? What Did That Bitch Do!?" Sirius asked showing anger for the first time since his release.

"This is why we have waited to talk to you about this," Amelia told him in a warning tone.

 

"I am calm. I am collected. I am not picturing myself gutting the bitch like a fish," Sirius said.

"Yeah, that would be more convincing if you had not added the last line," Amelia said passing over a Calming Draught and making him drink it before she continued. "We found Mrs. Dursley and her family had been abusing Harrison. He was removed from them by two members of the Hogwarts Staff when they got a return letter from the owl that delivered his latest booklist. One of the staff members took him to get his supplies only for Harrison to pass out during his trip back from his vaults, so I have been told," she said patting Sirius' arm to keep him grounded. "Since Harrison passed out inside the bank it gave them the authority to heal him, which they did, and seeing what had been done to him made his two rescuers his guardians."

"Who?" Sirius asked.

"For right now that is all we have agreed to inform you. After a few more sessions with Healer Noble, she might agree to let me share more. But she instructed me not to share the names of your Godson's new guardians less, you try something foolish like trying to send them an owl to thank them for taking up their post," Amelia said.

 

"I have the right to know," Sirius said getting angry despite the Calming Draught he had just drunk.

"I agree with you, but we want you in a more stable frame of mind first. I will say that neither of Harrisons Guardians is a Head of one of the Hogwarts Houses. And both have done their best to protect and care for him thus far," Amelia said.

"I don't like it," Sirius grumbled.

"And I understand where you are coming from. Just think of this as a reward to spur your recovery on," Amelia said patting his knee.

 

Potter Family Ancestral Castle

 

It had taken Tumbus and Bartholomew a few weeks of working together, often time hampered when Bartholomew was recalled to Malfoy Manor, but they had finally got some good intelligence from Dobby. The Elf was more crazed than either two could have ever imagined. As Tumbus had told the Cub, Harrison, during their first meeting usually when a House Elf speech became primitive it was a sign of the Elf fighting against its nature to follow an order it did not agree with. Yet Dobby seemed to fully support its master's plans, and neither was the speech being used to hide the identity of its Master. For the last couple of weeks it had still held to its story that it was Lucius Malfoy's personal Elf, but finally that very morning they had found out the truth.

 

Dobby was a House Elf of Albus Dumbledore. By probing Dobby's mind and memories the Head Potter and Malfoy Elves found that the reason for Dobby's speech was a spell that Albus had cast on Dobby when he had claimed the Elf as his servant. Tumbus and Bartholomew were horrified at the spell which not only made Dobby's speech the way it was but it forced the Elf to have absolute loyalty to Albus. The pair of Elves had been horrified at what the loyalty had forced Dobby to do in service to the man. Not only had Dobby been used to try to drive a wedge between the Potter and Malfoy families by messing with Tumbus' Cub. But the man had made Dobby do jobs that no Elf would ever accept. Such as going to another family's home and slipping potions into their drinks. It was worse when the family in question, the Weasleys, had no House Elves of their own so the potions would not be detected.

 

But even worse than sending Dobby to slip Potions to several families that were not protected by other House Elves, were some of the jobs the man had Dobby do at Hogwarts. In one of Dobby's memories, Tumbus and Bartholomew had watched Albus present Dobby to the Hogwarts House Elf contingent and order them to not interfere with Dobby's work for him at the castle. The man had worded it in such a way that the Hogwart House Elves' magic would block Dobby from their senses as he did his job.

Both Head Elves were sure that if the Hogwarts Elves knew what Albus had ordered Dobby to do, they would have both rebelled and reported what was going on. For once Dobby was blocked from view and interference from the Hogwarts Elves, he had followed Albus' orders to spy on several kids at the school. As far as Tumbus could tell, Albus was not having Dobby mess with the kids as he had with Tumbus' Cub. But Dobby's actions were not much better, as the crazed Elf's memories showed him using a Magical Camera to take pictures of the kids sometimes when they were naked changing clothing, or getting out of the shower.*

 

The only good news that both Elves found was that Albus had done nothing to the random kids he had Dobby take pictures of. If that had not been the case, both Elves would have gone right to the Human Ministry and reported everything they had learned. Since Dobby's mind was already in such a bad state they did not want to report anything until they could get all they could from the miserable wretch before taking him to an Elf Clinic. They hoped the Elves working would not only be able to remove the spell Albus had placed on Dobby but also get rid of the Bond between Elf and Human.

 

Enchanted Ford Anglia 105E Deluxe parked outside the Ministry of Magic

 

Arthur groaned a little as he worked out the kink in his back for still being forced to sleep in his car.  He hoped that since he was back at work again he could start to earn enough money to at least rent a room for a while. Getting out of the car, he made sure no Muggles were around before he entered the trunk to the kitchen/bathroom he had added a week ago. As he prepared a simple meal for himself a letter and a package slipped into the trunk and landed on the table. Seeing they were both Hogwarts School Owls, he assumed they were from Ron and Percy to let him know that the Wussy-Freak Percy had followed his orders to return to Gryffindor House. Yet opening the letter he saw that while it was from Ron, his youngest son had written to say Fred and George had left Gryffindor as well. George even ended up in Slytherin.

 

Arthur wondered if he had been too soft on the brats when he talked Molly into not punishing them for all the pranks they had caused. Looks like he would have to borrow some more Howler paper from the Ministry to send some letters to the twins. As he opened the package he could not help but wonder what it was for he had thought it might have been from the Wussy-Freak Percy as an apology for leaving Gryffindor, but now he was not sure what to expect. Opening the box he found three Gryffindor hats lying inside causing him to grind his teeth knowing they had come from the three brats. In his anger, he did not even consider they had been enchanted or cursed by the brats as he grabbed one of the hats and shook it in his fist. As he shook the hat the spells Fred and George had placed on all three to remove the block Arthur had forced on his emotions was removed.

 

With his anger at the brats no longer being suppressed like he normally did, Arthur dropped the hat he had been holding back into the box before setting the whole thing on fire. Still in a towering temper, Arthur finished his breakfast and tossed his dish into the sink breaking it. Which only increased his anger as he tried to repair it which took him a couple of attempts, due to his new lower level of magic.

With a grimace still on his face, Arthur left the trunk and headed to work. He did his best to nod in greeting at his co-workers though he found himself having a tick at the corner of his mouth as if he wanted to target them with his anger. He managed to keep his anger barely in check until he was riding the elevator up to his floor when Amos asked him how he was doing with his Muggle experience of living in his car.

Arthur could not take it anymore as he lept at Amos grabbing the man's head in his hands and began to pound it into the wall of the elevator a couple of times. Arthur felt a little better as he gave the man a bloody nose and knocked him unconscious. At least until the door to the elevator opened up and he heard a gasp. Letting go of Amos who fell to the floor at his feet, bruised and unconscious but at least not dead, Arhut said, "He deserved it." Even though it was not his floor, Arthur made to leave the elevator only to get Stunned as Tish Madox summoned a Healer for Amos and some Ministry Security to deal with Arthur.

Notes:

* As I have had several people comment, not on this story but others, that Albus has some Pedo Vibes I added this part. I do hate that there is an old stereotype that Gay men, which JK announced Albus was, go after kids which is why I try not to use that idea. Tumbus and Batholomew will share this with not only Lucius but the rest of the school board/Governers they just are not doing so in this chapter.

Also, I know some of the events of this chapter, Dobby's reveal and what happened to Arthur for instance, might seem like I am drawing the story to a close already, but at the moment that is not my plan.

Chapter 24: High Tea with a Bibibowak

Notes:

During my reread/edit I made some changes since I had forgotten that Madam Bones had been freed from the memory of Albus' casting that made people forget who had been the Potter's Secret Keeper, yet in a later chapter she had to be informed by Bonecrusher of Sirius' innocence.

Department of Magical Law Enforcement Safe House

 

Amelia watched Sirius as he performed his daily task from Healer Noble to help heal his mind and body after being in Azkaban for so long. As Sirius performed some Yoga moves, Amelia felt a buzz from an inside pocket. Sirius looked on while doing a Downward Dog as the Head of the Ministry's Law Enforcement department pulled out what looked like a Muggle cop's ticket book. He knew for a fact that looks could be deceiving recognizing the book as an extraordinary artifact that the Heads of law enforcement and Aurors used to keep them apprised of their agents' statuses.

 

"What's up Bonsy?" Sirius asked while holding the Yoga position seeing the color drained from her face. "Did one of your agents find Wormtail?"

"There had been an attack within the Ministry," Amelia said sinking into a seat.

"Oof," Sirius said as he lost his balance at the news. "What happened?"

"Arthur Weasley was taken into custody after he brutally attacked Amos Diggory inside one of the Ministry Lifts," Amelia read from her messenger book not worried about secrecy since Sirius had been an Auror. This caused her to pause for a moment as she wondered if the Ministry had removed him from his post before sending him to prison or had left it along just as they had his Lordships. "Anyway," she said shaking her head at the concern that she would look into later, "Amos was in pretty bad shape but thankfully was just put into a coma with a broken nose and fractured skull."

"Ouch," Sirius said as he tried to get back into doing some stretches and other activities to resume strengthening his body. Though listening to Amela just led him to sit before her with his legs bent together so his feet touched looking like a kid during storytime.

 

"It gets worse," Amelia said.

"How? Was Arthur enchanted to do this?" Sirius asked wondering who would enchant the redhead or think to use him to attack the Ministry.

"While the arresting agents ran a scan, they did find a spell on him, but all the spell did was unleash a block Arthur had on his emotions," Amelia read out.

"That does not sound like a spell someone would use for a planned attack on anyone," Sirius admitted.

"You're right it doesn't. But it gets worse since my agents also agreed with your assessment, they did not remove the enchantment until they could learn more about it. Thus Arthur was led to a Ministry cell still unable to block his emotions. From some accounts of some workers, which I only got due to Arthur being a part of my department and people writing about what he was liked as he passed as he yelled at them. They make it sound like he is acting like your cousin Bellatrix."

"I find that hard to believe, I have never met someone so calm and collected as Arthur Weasley," Sirius said.

"Well, we don't know when he had the blocks placed on his emotions. I might have to call a Healer to look into it to see if he had anger issues as a child which caused his parents to send him to a Mind Healer who placed the blocks on him as a means to help him," Amelia said.

 

"Would any Healer worth their salt leave the blocks in place for so long?" Sirius asked.

"It all depends on how many issues Arthur had or maybe the blocks were only meant to be short term but the Healer died without leaving notes about putting them in place. That is why I will need to have someone look into this," she said.

 

Malfoy Manor- Lucius Malfoy's Private office.

 

Lucius was a little confused to receive a summoning to his own office by Bartholomew. Normally if a House Elf, especially the Head Elf of a family wanted to speak to the Humans they took care of they would just pop in and say it. He had never heard of an Elf summoning a human before. The Blonde's confusion grew as he entered his office to find Bartholomew was not alone but accompanied by another elf. Lucius could see this was not a Malfoy Family Elf since it wore a mix between a tux and a sundress which was not the normal uniform for a Malfoy or even a Black Family Elf.

 

"You asked to meet with me, Bartholomew?" Lucius asked walking around to his desk and perching on the front to talk to the pair of Elves.

"I did indeed, Master Malfoy. First off let me introduce the Potter Family's Head Elf Tumbus," Bartholomew said nodding to the other Elf who gave a mix of a bow and curtsy to Lucius.

"Hello, has there been an issue with the boys?" Lucius asked knowing that the enchantments that Harrison had on him to block the bond between himself and Lucius' son had been removed. He could not help but wonder, despite what Draco had written to him and Narcissa that something had changed in the boys's relationship.

"As far as I know, Heir Malfoy is alright," Bartholomew reported.

"My Cub is doing fine as well," Tumbus said having no issue with revealing what Harrison wished to be called by the Potter Family Elves with Lord Malfoy due to their alliance unlike when he had kept it secret from Dobby.

"So why did you both wish to see me?" Lucius asked barely reacting to Tumbus's title to Harrison knowing everyone had their own preferences on what to be called by their House Elves.

 

"Shortly after our Cub had returned to us he mentioned a strange House Elf had been messing with him, collecting any mail sent to him, and even got him into trouble with his Muggle relatives. Though I don't think the Elf had fully planned that out since messing with the Muggles removed Cub from them and got him back to us. He told us the Elf also mentioned something would be going on at Hogwarts this year. Thinking this Elf might try to interfere as he tried to get onto the train, some of my crew kept an eye out for him and managed to capture him," Tumbus said.

"That is good, but what does this have to do with me or my family?" Lucius asked.

"Under questioning Dobby let it slip he was a Malfoy Elf, and your personal Elf at that. I could not see this being the case since his actions looked to be trying to create a wedge between our families," Tumbus reported.

"I can assure you this Dobby is not part of our Elf Contingent," Lucius said bristling a little at someone trying to break the alliance or Marriage Contract between Draco and Harrison.

"Oh, I know Lord Malfoy. Upon hearing Dobby's lie, I contacted Bartholomew and he told me the same thing. Together we have been trying to find out who Dobby really belongs to. Earlier this morning we finally got through the spells and conditioning on him to find out who he serves," Tumbus said.

"And you want me since your Cub is underage to press charges against Dobby's Master?" Lucius guessed.

 

"In time, but we have more pressing matters to deal with Master Malfoy. The reason I asked only for you to come rather than summoning Lady Malfoy as well as we need to relay some information to you and Lord Vansel," Bartholomew reported.

"The head of the Hogwarts Governors?" Lucius asked getting confused again.

"That is correct please bring him in so we can share some of our findings," Bartholomew asked bowing to his boss. Nonplused but curious, Lucius placed a Floo call to Drake's Townhouse asking the Muggleborn Head of the Governors to come see him at his earliest convenience.

 

Hogwarts

 

During a free period right after lunch, Luna had set up a tea party in one of the numerous abandoned classrooms around the castle. Since Fred had asked her about a Bibibowak that morning she decided to see if his mind was aligned enough to experience the tea it could create. Also as Harrison had shown interest in Fae Beast she had invited him and cousin Draco along as well. Fred, of course, had invited his twin brother so she had set up six places for their tea party. "Why six places when there are only five of us?" Harrison asked when he entered and took his assigned seat.

"You don't expect the Bibibowak to just serve the tea and snacks without being allowed to partake in them do you?" she asked.

"Good point," Harrison said hoping he would be able to see the creatures casting glances as the spot right next to him which did not have a name card before it making him think that was the place Luna had chosen for the Fae Beast.

 

Despite it being right after lunch, everyone showed up to see if they could eat and drink the snacks that the Bibibowak would create from their gathered imaginations. Not even Luna could say if the food and drink would fill them up so just in case everyone, but Harrison, had eaten a smaller meal than normal at lunch. Draco and George had made sure Harrison ate a full meal knowing about the starvation and other food-related issues he had thanks to the Dursleys.

 

"They are not here," George pointed out once everyone had taken their seats around the table Luna had set up.

"Of course not, Bibiblowaks like to be summoned," Luna said as if saying two plus two equaled four. She then reached for a small bell she had set up before her and used her wand to ring it. The sound was rather loud for such a small bell and the ringing went on for a while. Yet Harrison saw that the bell while ringing was not moving.

"What is up with the bell, Luna?" he asked making her smile.

"What's with the smile cousin?" Draco asked also finding the bell ringing without moving rather strange."

"If you can still hear the bell that means your mental focus can allow you to see Fae Beast," she said as the ringing came to a stop.

"Hello there," a strange voice said from beside Harrison making him turn. Harrison almost fell out of his chair as he laid eyes on a baby-blue-colored Dilophasaurus.

"Um, hello," Harrison answered it while Draco, Fred, and George also gave it startled greetings. Luna got out of her seat and gave it a curtsy as she thanked it for showing up to their party.

 

"I sense that for some of you, this is a first meeting with members of my kind, that is to say, Fae Beast, not just Bibibowaks," the Bibibowak said in a very posh accent.

"You are correct, they seem interested so I thought I would invite you to a party to see if they could see you," Luna said resuming her seat.

"Well, I am glad to meet you all but let us have some tea in our cups before we continue," the Bibibowak said. Unlike what Harrison thought was going to happen with the creature spitting the tea into the cups like he had heard Dilophasuarus did, the Bibibowak pulled out a teapot with one of its hands while the other summoned their cups to it to pour the tea. Harrison guessed this made sense for the Bibibowak's arms were a little too short to reach their cups without magic.

 

Once all their cups had been filled, the Bibibowak also made a gesture and the plate for snacks filled up with multicolored pastries and cakes. "To new friends," the Bibibowak said raising his cup in a toast. Harrison and the others joined in the toast before taking a sip of tea, though Harrison noticed both the Bibiblowak and Luna had not taken a sip yet.

"You were right, Luna, this is awesome," Fred said as he nearly downed his tea in one go due to how good it tasted.

"Hm, and what does it taste like?" she asked.

"I taste chocolate, a hint of peanut butter, some coconut, and something else I just can't place," Fred said.

"You are mad Freddy, it tastes like a drink made out of the haystack cookies Uncle Avan makes around the Yule," George protested.

"I think it tastes like freshly baked bread, with some garlic dust and pepperoni," Harrison said.

"I taste jasmine tea with honeysuckle," Draco said turning to look at his cousin. "What is going on Luna?"

"The reason everyone loves a Bibibowak's tea is because it will always taste like something they really love," Luna explained.

 

"Just wait until you try the treats, I brought," the Bibibowak said with a smirk around its reptilian mouth. Wanting to see if they tasted differently to each person, Harrison and the others took a snack each. They also cut or broke the snack into two pieces and shared it with someone else. They found the taste was anchored to the person who originally grabbed the snack for Harrison's tasted like German chocolate cake, while the piece he got from Draco tasted like French silk cheesecake. Meanwhile, Fred had gotten some peanut butter marble crumble that he shared with George whose cake tasted like the haystack or chow mein noodle cookies that Uncle Avan made.

 

"This is a remarkable bit of magic," Draco commented as he tried a piece of Fred's cake.

"All powered by your own imaginations, I just give it a little help," the Bibibowak explained as he took a piece of all their cakes to experience what they tasted like for themselves.

"Can I ask you a question, even if it might be a little personal?" Harrison asked turning to the baby-blue Fae Beast.

"As Questions are the best way to learn, go ahead," the Bibibowak said with a smile around its face.

 

"When I was in Muggle school we learned about dinosaurs and according to Luna all the dinos are Fae Beast did the Muggles just get it wrong or?" Harrison asked unable to think of an alternative.

"Now that is a head-scratcher and a tall-thumber of a question. It is hard to say exactly what happened, it was so long ago after all. But from our histories, there was once another species on this planet besides you mammals and my kind as you call them dinosaurs. This third species seemed to be a mix of what your kind has become but reptilian we called them Homo-Reptilia. They lived as you do in cities with though made out of stone rather than iron and glass. They were still rather advanced. Yet as they got reports of a stay planetoid coming to the Earth they all went into deep hibernation.*

 

Yet they left many of their inventions and machines behind. As the planetoid came it actually became the moon but something strange still happened. Somehow the moon affected the Homo-Reptilia's machines and gave some of my kind full sentients while somehow allowing up to perform magic. This led those affected by the strange events to enter a divergence evolution to the normal dinosaurs leading us to live when a meteor hit the plant to kill them off while we survived thanks to our new magic and began to grow. Despite what they had been before the change be it herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore my ancestors left your precurior species alone since some with the magic of Pecognition saw you becoming the new dominant species on the planet.

 

We finally revealed ourselves to your Ancestors when we noticed they could also perform magic. At this moment we made ourselves known to them as my kind helped train them to harness and master their new gifts. We have watched your species become better at it, which unfortunately made some of them forget about our influence in helping them learn to use magic. That was alright with us since we have lived long enough not to care about credit," the Bibibowak explained holding everyone's attention to his unknown history of Magic in their world. Even Luna listened in intently since she had not known about their connections to dinosaurs, she had never thought to ask about Fae Beast history just taking them as part of the world. They all wondered if it was because of the Moon that had led to the change or if it was somehow responsible for magic.

 

Malfoy Manor- Lucisus' Personal Study.

 

It had taken nearly an hour and a half before Lord Vansel was able to get to the manor. Not wanting to leave in case the man had shown up when he was out doing some work on a case, Lucius took his lunch in his study and had another Malfoy House Elf bring him some work to do as he waited. "What can I do for you Lucius?" Lord Vansel asked, only gaining his title due to being the Head of the Hogwarts Governors rather than blood.

"I have a pair of House Elves that wanted to speak to the pair of us," Lucius said getting up from his desk to greet his fellow governor.

"What about?" Drake Vansel asked looking at the pair of House Elves.

"While questioning an Elf who tried to mess with the Heir of my family we found out something rather disturbing," Tumbus said.

"Okay," Drake said looking to Lucius who gave him a look that said he would explain later.

"We found the Elf in question worked for Headmaster Dumbledore," Bartholomew said making Lucius scrunch his hands into fists wanting to attack the man for messing with his family not to mention trying to break the alliance via Marriage with the Potter line.

"While I see how this would affect Lucius, possibly, why am I here?" Drake asked not knowing which of the two Elves were bound to the Malfoy family.

 

"When we found out about who he worked for, we took a look at his memories since his speech pattern was rather primitive," Tumbus explained confusing Drake who did not have any Elves but Lucius would explain it to him later. "We found the reason for his speech was a spell placed on him by the Headmaster which made him utterly loyal to the man. One of the things that this led the Headmaster to do was have his Elf spy on various Hogwarts Students over the years. All males, as they got undressed or took showers while using a magical camera to take pictures of them." Both Drake and Lucius' faces drained for color at the news knowing they needed to get Albus out of the castle at once.

Struggling to find his voice again, Lucius asked, "Not that we don't believe you but do you have any proof of this?"

"Not yet, Master Malfoy," Bartholomew admitted. "We have just freed the Elf from the spells and are working to remove the bond he has with the Headmaster. We hope that once the bond is severed and he learns what he had been forced to do, he will be willing to collect copies of the pictures he took."

"Anything you need to help do it faster than you can let me know," Lucius said.

"Thank you, Lord Malfoy we shall do so if we need it," Tumbus said as both Elves bowed before popping away to talk with the Elf Healers working on Dobby's case.

 

"As if we needed something like this after the massive re-sort going on, some of the students killing off the school's roosters, and what I just learned," Drake said collapsing into a chair before Lucius's desk.

"What's wrong?" Lucius asked.

"Right before I got your message, I was summoned to the St. Mungos. They were asking permission to let me allow Heir Diggory to visit his father," Drake explained.

"What happened to Amos?" Lucius asked.

"He was attacked by Arthur Weasley, of all people, and is now in a coma," Drake said.

"Something is going on with that man," Lucius said as he shared what happened to him while taking Draco to get his school supplies before the term where Arthur started a fight with him in Florish and Blotts.

Notes:

* A reference to the Suliarians from Doctor Who

Chapter 25: Hogsmeade Weekend

Summary:

As Harrison uses the voucher to visit Hogsemead a year earlier than normal other events happen around the castle.

The Hospital Wing/Hogwarts Healing Ward

 

Once more Hermione went to see Madam Pomfry hoping to find out what was happening to her. Granted she did not mind that her looks had changed for some strange reason a few weeks ago, but she hated that multiple times a day she was getting hurt by something. The worst time had been shortly after Ron's older brother had become a Puff and she tried to take control of the chaotic Gryffindor Common Room. As she had tried to make everyone quiet down and do their homework she kept getting hit by something, which she guessed was someone having an issue with her trying to take up the leadership position within the dorms. As far as she could tell no one was causing the bouts of pain she experienced through physical means which meant they were casting some sort of spell on her.

 

So far Madam Pomfrey had been unable to find out what was causing her pain. This did not stop Hermione from coming back every few days and some more research in other tests the Matron could run on her. Seeing her enter the wing, Hermione saw the Matron let out an annoyed huff. Hermione could not figure out why the woman had so much trouble finding out what was wrong with her, Hermione bet if she went to go see a Muggle Doctor they would not have this amount of trouble to determine what was wrong. That is if her issue was not caused by magical means which she assumed it was.

 

"You want another test, I take it?" Madam Pomfrey asked doing her best to hide her annoyance. Since it was a Hogsmead weekend this meant most of the students were gone which should have allowed her to have a day off or leave the castle herself, if not for Ms. Granger's strange illness.

"Yes, I came across a spell that is said to find out the source of long-distance curses," Hermione said pulling out the library book she had found her for her latest theory.

"And even if I told you, I had run such a test on you already?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Then you must have done it wrong," Hermione said making the Medi-Healer bristle at the young Gryffindor girl.

 

"I can assure you that I have run all the tests just as they are meant to be done," Madam Pomfry said through gritted teeth.

"Then why have you been unable to find out what is causing me to experience jolts of pain, or for that matter why my looks randomly changed?" Hermione said.

"As I keep telling you. Over and over again, I don't know," Madam Pomfrey said her anger at the girl's attitude getting the best of her.

"Well, then what about calling for a fully licensed Healer, since you can't do your job," Hermione shot back.

"Listen here...," Madam Pomfrey said before stopping herself from saying something that she might regret. Taking a deep breath she counted to twenty before she decided to perform a spell she had not yet done on the girl.

 

Rather than looking for or blocking the strange pain Ms. Granger was experiencing, Madam Pomfry just cast a simple diagnostic spell in the hopes of finding out what curse might have been cast on her. To Madam Pomfry's shock, two rolls of parchment appeared when her spell had finished. As one was rolled up and sealed, Madam Pomfry took the parchment that looked like the normal results of her spell. The Matron did not even get passed the first line of the results before her eyes bulged a little. "Well, I have found out why your appearance has changed at least," she said.

"Final some results," the girl said with a small sneer.

Madam Pomfry was so focused on the document she did not even seem to notice Hermione's response. "According to this, your body had a Glamor spell placed on it to make you look like the offspring of Carey and Dexter Granger."

 

"Why would I need a spell to look like my parents?" Hermione asked.

"According to this, the Grangers are not your parents. Your parents were Percival and Kendra Dumbledore. It seemed something happened to you in your youth and you had been placed under a Healing Coma with a stasis barrier for over one hundred years. Your birth name is Ariana Dumbledore and you are the younger sister of the Headmaster," Madam Pomfrey explained.

"That is a bunch of bullshit," Hermione said snatching the page from the Matron so she could read it herself.

 

Hermione was shocked to see Madam Pomfrey had not been lying. According to the results, she was Ariana Cassandra Dumbledore and had been under a stasis healing spell for over one hundred years. Where Professor Dumbledore had tried to fix her mind, which according to the test had only been marginally successful. The test revealed that besides a Galmor on her to make her look like the offspring of Dexter Granger and his wife Carey Granger nee Dumbledore, she had false memories implanted in her head to believe she was the daughter of her niece and nephew-in-law.

 

As Hermione/Ariana read over the test results, Madam Pomfry checked out the roll that had also appeared with them. The Medi-Magical could only gulp as she saw the wax seal on the roll of parchment was the sign of Lady Magic. Madam Pomfry now had a good idea of what was causing the girl's strange bouts of pain, but just to be sure she opened the scroll and read the message from Lady Magic. Like all such documents from the Lady that appeared during an Inheritance Test or Diagnostic Charm, only the punishments that had been given to Hermione/Ariana were listed rather than anyone else who might have been punished by the same judgment from Lady Magic. The page did not even mention who had called for the girl to be punished in the first place.

 

"Ms. Dumbledore, it seems that the reason your Glamor was removed was that someone called Lady Magic to pass judgment on some of your actions. Not only that the Lady placed a Kameic Retribution Spell on you. This means," Madam Pomfrey said seeing the confused look on the girl's face, "that the pain you are experiencing happens anytime you cause pain to others."

"First off, I don't hurt others," Hermione/Ariana protested. "And secondly what does the reveal of me being Ariana mean for my student records? Since my grades have all been given to Hermione, my transcripts would show I have not had any success as Ariana."

"You are causing pain if you are feeling it behind done to you since this was put in place by Lady Magic. This also explains why I have never been able to find it until now nor can I prevent it from happening. As for your grades, it should not matter," Madam Pomfry said shaking her head at the girl's priorities.

"Of course it matters, I am Hermione Jean Granger, and I am the smartest Witch in my year. Yet if anyone looks at Ariana Dumbledore's grades they would think I was an idiot or just got where I am due to the Headmaster's help."

"If you wish to keep going by Hermione Granger that is your own choice. After all, it is just like some classmates who decided not to go with their birth names seeing them as dead names," Madam Pomfry said placing a calming hand on the girl's shoulder.

 

"Great, so if anyone looks closer at my results they will think I am a freak who is so messed up in their mind they think they were a boy in a girl's body. I will never become the Minister for Magic now," the girl moaned.

Madam Pomfry had to count to thirty this time to keep her cool recalling the other part of the note from Lady Magic about Hermione/Ariana's psychopathic/Sociopathic tendencies. "Miss Granger, that is a very disgraceful line of thought, and anyway it is completely untrue. There have been several Ministers for Magic who had Dead Names and have been widely regarded as successful during their time in office," Madam Pomfrey said.

"Who?" Hermione shot back wanting to make sure she looked into those freaks so she could figure out how they convinced everyone to get themselves elected. She would follow their example before she made it a law to outlaw such behavior as thinking a person was born the wrong gender or other mental illness like it.

As if sensing what was going on in the girl's mind, Madam Pomfrey decided not to tell her which Ministers she had been talking about. "That is neither here nor there, Miss Granger. I have found out what has been happening to you, so unless you have any other medical issues, I would like to head out and enjoy my day off."

"You can't leave," Hermione protested.

Sick of the girl's attitude, Madam Pomfrey gave her a little smirk, "Watch me," she said as she went to her office and used the Floo to leave the castle.

 

Remus' Lupin's office.

 

Remus wished he could take the day off and visit Hogsmeade. He had learned that thanks to Harrison getting detention from Lockhart, his cub had been given a single-day pass to visit the village. But just like when he had been in school the first Hogsmeade Weekend of the year happened around the same time as a full moon. So Remus was staying close to his office. Severus had already stopped by to give him the Wolfbann potion that Potion Master Humphries had brewed for him. As Remus had reached for it, Severus had stopped him saying that the potion had to sit for a few moments within the same room as Remus to work the best. So as the potion settled down, Remus was gathering his notes just in case he would be unable to attend his classes on Monday so that whomever they got to cover for him knew the lessons for the day.

 

"Ah, Remus, not going to the village?" a voice asked making Remus look up to see Albus smiling at him from the doorway.

"Too close to the full moon, Albus," Remus said with a smile. While he had heard that Albus had been Harrison's Guardian, and had left his pup in an abusive home, Remus also knew how busy the man was so guess he had not had time to check in on James and Lily's son like he was meant to. Remus could also look past the memory spell placed on him to make him forget that Peter was James and Lil'y's Secret Keeper, for Albus must have done it to protect everyone and cast a similar charm on himself and thus had been unable to prevent Sirius from going to Azkaban. Which he had come to believe after the memory charm had left him a few weeks ago, unlike what he had felt right after it broke when he had wanted to attack Albus for his actions.*

"Ah, I see," Albus said taking a seat before Remus' desk. Albus smiled to himself seeing the Wolfbann potion smoking beside the man. He could not figure out why Remus had not taken it yet, though he was glad the wolf hadn't since it had taken him a few attempts to place a spying charm on Harry as his weapon had gone to the village. Albus hated that for some reason most spells these days required him to cast them at least four or five times before they worked. He put it down to how weak he had felt a while back, as well as somehow losing the Elder Wand shortly before term started.

 

"So what brings you here, Albus?" Remus asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing with all your classes. I must say it must be a change from being a student to teaching them, eh?" Albus said with a small chuckle hoping to put Remus at ease.

"It has been an experience, but I think everything is going smoothly," Remus said with an answering chuckle.

"So what are you working on?" Albus asked.

"Just making some notes in case I can't get to class on Monday due to the full moon tonight so that my substitute knows exactly what we are doing in class," Remus explained.

"That is a good idea, my boy. In fact, I might do it myself if I have time so tell me what everyone is working on," Albus said thinking that if Remus was absent and Harry attended D.A.D.A. on Monday it would give him some access to his weapon without anyone getting in his way besides the boy's classmates. And Albus did not see them causing him any issues even with his trouble in casting.

"Well, I have a third-year Gryffindor/Slytherin class and we are focusing on handling Magical Beast so the lesson will be on Gindylows. My fourth-year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaws are dealing with advanced curse protections and blocking. I am doing some test prep for both my fifth and seventh-year classes due to how strained their lessons on the subject have been since they came to Hogwarts," Remus shared as he passed over his notes for Albus to look at.

"I will try to keep to your lesson plan if I have the time to teach them," Albus said though thinking he would not do so since it seemed that Harry did not have D.A.D.A. that day.

 

"Thank you, Albus," Remus said giving him a grateful smile.

"You are welcome, my boy. Now you said your third years are dealing with Grindylows do you have one to use for an example?" Albus asked though he could clearly see the tank holding the water creature right behind Remus.

 

As the wolf turned to look for the tank, Albus quickly moved his hand above the smoking goblet of Wolfbann and dropped some salt into it. If Albus had done his research into the potion he would have realized he had made a mistake. Potion Master Patrick Peter Silvans having created Wolfbann after hearing about the Wolfbane Potion, which Albus had created under a pseudonym, had fixed several issues with the Wolfbane. Knowing that some people who disliked werewolves might try to use salt to render a Wolfbane Potion useless, Potion Master Silvans added a spell to be cast on the potion after it had been brewed. If the spell detected salt being added to the Wolfbann rather than rendering it useless would actually strengthen the potion and make the control the user of the Potion had over their wolf side during their change stronger. So rather than sabotaging Remus' potion to make him possibly attack an inhabitant of the castle and possibly get arrested or put down, Albus would make Remus have better control of himself during the full moon for as long as he took a Wolfbann Potion even if no more salt was added to it before he drank it.

 

Hogsmeade Village.

 

Harrison had taken the Weasley twins up on their offer to show him around the village during his special trip to it. He had been told that while the voucher he had gotten due to having served a detention with Lockhart, he still needed permission from his guardians to go to the village. He had not worried as Professor Burbage and Babbling had signed off him going without him even needing to ask them. All Harrison wished was that he had some more money with him so he could get some items from the village, but thanks to Lockhart's books as well as the book for Luna he had no extra money. He guessed the Goblins had seen him not riding the train so had not left any extra for snacks. It was still nice to see the place as Fred and George showed him all the sights.

 

They started on one of the side streets with the Corner Store, which according to Fred was owned and operated by one of his new Housemate's family. The place was a combination book and Quidditch supply store. Despite not having money on him at the moment, Harrison checked out to see if any books on Muggle Dinosaurs might contain more dinos and precursor Fea Beast that had not been in the other book he had gotten Luna.

 

After the Corner Store, Fred and George took Harry to a couple of stores that sold seeds for Herbology, and Potion ingredients, before leading him to the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted place in Britain. Though according to them the place had been silent for a little more than twenty-five years. After the shack, Fred took them down another street, "Now this is Madam Puddiefoot's tea shop. It is one of the main places for dating couples to use when they want a bit of privacy. However," Fred warned, "the main theme of the place is frilly and confetti. So unless you and Heir Malfoy are into that, I would avoid it."

"Yeah there is a better place anyway that is not so crowded," Geroge said as he led Harrison to a small out-of-the-way burger joint. "This is Thrawn's. They serve the best burgers bar none. It is also a local secret so try not to spread it around lest it get as busy as the Three Broomsticks during the trips when you are officially allowed to come here." As if to prove their point about how good the burgers were, the twins bought a three-slider combo meal and let Harrison have one as they took the other two. Harrison who was a fairly good cook thanks to his time at the Dursleys as well as the meals prepared up at Hogwarts, was amazed at how good the burger was. Harrison could not wait to come back next year and introduce Draco to the place, unless of course, Draco did not already know about it. He would love to see Draco eat a burger, which seemed out of the blondes's typical food maybe with them sharing an order of greasy fries and a milkshake.

 

Maybe if Draco was as impressed with the food as much as Harrison was, they could share it with Draco's friends and also tell them not to spread the secret of Thrawn's around to the other students. Harrison smiled as he thought about next year when Harrison, Draco, and all the blonde's friends sat around a table to talk about what was going on. They could no longer do that at Hogwarts, for a couple of Draco's friends had decided to see if they would remain in Slytherin if they went through with a Re-Sort. Thus Millicent Bulstrode who looked like a large mean girl, but had a soft spot for all things cute and cuddly like dogs and cats, had joined Percy in becoming a new member of Hufflepuff. And much to Draco and the rest of the Slytherin's surprise when Daphne Greengrass had gone through her Re-Sort, she had become a member of Gryffindor House. Harrison and Draco gave her numerous warnings about Granger, and Ronald but were glad to see Daphne had become friends with Neville and some of the other Second Year Lions giving the pair another source of information about Harrison's old house.

 

After leaving Thrawn's, the twins took Harrison down the main street of the village. "There is Zonkos the perfect place to get pranking material unless you want to get it from us," Fred said with a small wink. "And over there is... Mum?" Fred said a little confused to see his mom standing outside the Three Broomsticks.

"Ah hello, you two. I hoped I would get a chance to see you today," Molly said smiling at both her sons before turning to Harry. "Harry, I must apologize for what had been done to you. Can the three of you join me in a private room here for a moment?" she asked though not looking away from Harrison.

"I, guess. And I go by Harrison now," Harrison told her.

"Ah, sorry about that," she said leading the three teens into the packed restaurant and up a flight of stairs to one of the private rooms. But rather than go inside she turned to look at them for a moment. "Fred, George please go inside, I want a quick word with Harrison and I will join you. Percy is already inside as well as someone who wants to meet you both. She will say hello, and quickly leave so I can explain what is going on," Molly said ushering the twins into the room.

 

While they were not in a private room, they were far enough away from the crowd downstairs that Molly was able to whisper to make sure they were not overheard. "Once again Harrison, I would like to apologize for what my ex-husband and two youngest did to you. I assure you I had no idea what they were doing. As you can guess, I left Arthur, though not just because of what he did to you, I am looking into getting Ron and Ginny to see some Mind Healers to find out why they did what they did to you. I know that seeing a Mind Healer will not excuse what they did or make you forgive them. I am going to share something with my kids, don't worry I am not telling them what Arthur, Ron, and Ginny did to you. I do feel bad about getting in the way of your day with the twins, so here get yourself a Butterbeer and some food on me," she said passing over some money to him.

"I can't take this," Harrison said.

"Nonsense, they took a lot of money from you, I can at least buy you lunch. Also one of the things I am telling my kids is that I have gone back to work. I am working at St. Mungos so I have more money. Now before I go see my kids can I hug you?"

"Um sure," Harrison said seeing she was generally sorry for what had been done to him. Molly smiled as she enveloped him in a warm hug patting his back a little.

"You are a wonderful kid, Harrison don't ever lose that," Molly said before letting him go.

 

"They are waiting for you Molly-dear," an unfamiliar voice said making Harrison turn to see who had spoken. He saw a blonde-haired woman with turtleshell-framed glasses. "Heir Potter it is nice to meet you, I am Rita Skeeter, an old friend of Molly," the woman said as Molly went into the room patting the blonde's shoulder. As soon as the door was closed, Rita smiled at Harrison and held her hand out to him. "Heir Potter, I would like to thank you for trusting me to see the memories of your Muggle Family's house. Just to let you know, I have kept my word as well as the NDA I signed, and have not talked to anyone about what I saw besides a law agent I know. I don't know if your Account Manager or anyone else let you know of my suggestion, so I will tell you myself. After seeing somethings in that House, I suggest you look into finding a Mind Healer to talk to about what you had to live through there," Rita said. "I know you might not have any reason to trust me, but just like my reason to want to see your old home, I have your best interest at heart. And not just because I am an old friend of Molly," Rita explained as she walked Harrison down to the main floor. and hearing he did not want to accept the money for a meal from Molly, she paid for a Butterbear and a spicy chicken sandwich for him. Some of the older Slytherins who recognized Rita worried about what they might read in the papers soon about Harrison.

 

Inside the private room, Molly smiled at her three middle sons. She took a deep breath before explaining why she had made the special trip to Hogsmeade to come and meet them.

Notes:

*Thanks to Albus letting him come to Hogwarts as a kid, Remus still trust Albus at the moment, mostly due to not being informed everything the bastard had done to Harrison.

Chapter 26: Sorry our fault

Summary:

Fred and George join their mother, Percy, and Rita for a meeting before they find out that since having tea with the Bibiblowak they can now see other Fea Beasts.

Notes:

This chapter focuses on Fred and George. Also, I noticed that after a while in several of my stories, I tend to switch the focus from Harrison/Harry to others in the story. I will try to ensure the next chapter is just on him and Draco. While I still don't feel like I am close to ending this story, I have a plan near the end I will combine all Dream Draco's encounters with "Harry."

Fred and George felt a little bad about leaving Harrison to meet with their Mother, but they also knew that she would not have shown up if it was not important. They were confused when they entered the private room to find Percy talking with some blonde woman with turtle-shell glasses and several large rings. "Hello, you two must be Fredrick and George, I am Rita Skeeter," the woman said holding out her hand to them. Both twins shared a look recognizing the name of the woman as they wondered why she was there. Rita did not seem put off when they did not shake her hand but just smiled at them. "I have been hearing a lot about you and your brothers from Molly. Now she has informed me that your full name is Fredrick but you go by Fred. Or is there another name you prefer to be called, that goes for all of you," she said looking at George and Percy.

"Fred is fine," Fred said still confused about why the woman was there.

"Molly will explain everything when she comes in," Rita said sensing their confusion but once again not taking offense at it. "I will go check on her."

 

"Rita will be right back," Molly said as she entered the room and moved to sit down before motioning Fred and George to take a seat. "I gave come to see you guys to tell you of some changes that have recently happened. First off since Ginny has started classes, I talked to the old Hogwarts Healer and started at St. Mungos," Molly shared smiling at her three middle kids before she seemed to gather herself to share her next bit of news. "Now unfortunately the next thing I have to tell you is not so good. A few days after you guys left, I found myself free of some spells and enchantments that had been placed on me. I can only assume that for some reason someone asked Lady Magic for a judgment which led to me being Cleansed for I had done nothing. The spells, potions, and enchantments were placed by your father, making me break off an engagement to Rita. I have since divorced your father," Molly said doing her best not to do anything that would turn her sons against the man in case they wished to visit or live with him. "Since I was under an enchantment to be with him and give birth to you all, I want you all to know I still love you all.

 

During your Yule Break, I will take you all to Gringotts or St. Mungos to make sure that none of the negative effects of being born from a union where one participant was under love potions are affecting you. I have also moved out of the Burrow and for the moment have moved in with your Great Aunt Muriel. We have given you all your own rooms, Fred, and George, we even set up a potions lab for your product development. I, however, destroyed all your notes and prototypes dealing with Love Potions. I beg you not to try to make them again. Now while I have come to see you three and explain what is going on, I ask you not to tell Ron and Ginny about any of this. I will tell them myself when you all come home for the Yule," Molly said not revealing to three boys what she had found out about what their younger siblings had done to Harrison and she was looking for some Mind Healers for them. "Do any of you have any questions?"

 

"Can we talk to Bill and Charlie about it?" Percy asked.

"Yes you can, Bill was with me when I found out and helped me move our stuff to Prewett Manor. I have just sent Charlie a letter telling him about everything and suggesting he get tested," Molly said.

"Was divorcing him the only thing you did to Dad?" Fred asked.

Wanting to be honest with her kids about everything, Molly admitted, "Well, after I got Cleansed, and we moved everything out of the Burrow, the next time I saw him I kneed your dad in the nuts."

"Way to go," Fred said as George laughed.

"I don't know if I should be happy you approve or not," Molly admitted with a small blush.

"Since you said you talked to Percy about this a little, did he tell you about what Dad did?" George asked.

"Did about what?" Molly asked.

 

"My re-Sort. He sent a Howler ordering me back to Gryffindor. That is how I figured out you and he had split," Percy admitted.

"Percy, I am so sorry," Molly said reaching over and taking his arm though rather proud of how smart he was. "That was one of the things I did not take with me when I left the Burrow, Howler Paper, I mean. Since after being Cleansed I recalled raising some trouble when I was a student, so I will let most of your pranks slide so long as no one gets hurt or you use love potions," she said looking at the twins.

"Twins' Honor," Fred and George said doing a random salute by covering their right eyes with one hand while their other hand grabbed their elbow making Molly laugh a little and Percy roll his eyes at them.

 

"What is going on in here now?" Rita asked entering the room after buying the Butterbeer and spicy chicken sandwich for Harrison in the main restaurant downstairs.

"Just George and Fred promising me they will not do certain things when they prank others from now on," Molly said moving a little over to let Rita take the seat right next to her. "Now Rita was the person I had been engaged to as well as having a marriage contract with before your father got involved. We have since made up and have begun to court each other again. I expect we will be spending more time together in the future. Also since I know she has a reputation, she promised me that she will not report anything that your father did to me or messed with our family," Molly told them.

 

Fred and George could not help but wonder what else Arthur Weasley had done to mess with their family besides enchanting their Mum and sending a Howler to Percy when he became a Hufflepuff. However, they also felt they should have done more to the hats they sent him after hearing what he had already done. The pair were so lost in thought it took them a moment to realize that Molly and Rita had begun to share some of their pranks when they had been students at the castle. When the twins finally started to pay attention, they began to get ideas for new pranks or in this case old ones that their Mum and Rita had done.

 

The students who had seen Harrison in the Three Broomsticks alongside Rita Skeeter, were shocked when no article appeared about the Boy Who Lived. Some older Slytherins whose families still supported the Dark Lord were also disappointed that no article had been written by the woman by the gossipmonger ripping his fame to shreds. No one could figure out why the woman had been with Harrison but had not done anything with it. Though even more surprising was an article about Rita in Witch Weekly which shared that the woman had been seen out on what looked like a couple of dates with Molly Weasley. Any Hufflepuff that read the article refused to ask their new Housemate about it, while most of the population were too scared to ask the twins lest they get pranked.  When they asked Ron or Ginny about it the pair could offer no answers having no idea what was going on.

 

After coming back from the first Hogsmeade weekend and hearing the stories of their Mum's pranks, Fred and George had upped their prank game. Hearing about how Rita had convinced some House Elves to help pull off the pair's pranks, the twins asked the Elves if they would be willing to help out again. The Hogwarts Elves agreed to help out so long as there were no dosed food or drinks involved. Thus hardly a day would go by now where thanks to the Elves someone was not slipped color-changing pellets, or hair Growth formulas around the castle.

 

As the twins started to come up with even more pranking ideas, not only due to their Mum stories but seeing a dot called Moody on the Maruaders' Map, Fred and George started to notice something strange out of the corner of their eyes. As they planned pranks and looked off into the middle distance to think who to target or what to do, they would catch sight of a strange creature that looked like a lizard with a duck-like bill. It took them a couple of times to see this strange creature when they recalled the Bibiblowak making them wonder if this was another Fae Beast. Since it had not approached them yet, Fred asked Luna if he could borrow the book Harrison had given her so they could look up what creature they were seeing.

 

Luna had been busy with the book changing not only the dinosaur's color scheme into their Fea Beast form but adding sticky notes that explained the Fae Beast's duties as well as its real name. George and Fred soon found that the creature they were spotting was a Quibbler who worked as a muse for random ideas. They figured the Quibbler was close by to help them either plan or create new pranks for almost as soon as they found it in Luna's book it approached them. "It took you long enough," the Quibbler said in a voice that sounded like a Harlequin and made the sound of horns honking with each step.

"Well, we only met another one of your kind before," Fred informed it.

"I am aware, which is why you can see me now. You have accepted my kind's place in the world so you can interact with us more than you could. But now that that is done, let's get planning some Pranks. I had a few ideas," the Quibbler said as with a flourish of his hand a roll of parchment appeared and began to unroll steatching all the way to the door of the prank labs the twins had set up within Hogwarts.

"A few, I would hate to see you with a lot of ideas," George quipped.

"Hey I am just expanding on your work," the Quibbler said as they pointed out one where a color-change pellet could be combined with some hair growth solution to give someone a rainbow-colored afro or beehive hairdo.

 

"That is brilliant," Fred said. As usual, the twins tested out the new prank on themselves first to make sure it was not overly dangerous making them nearly pass out in laughter as Fred got a twelve-foot round afro of red, yellow, purple, and green hair while George's hair turned into an eight-inch beehive made up of pink, teal, black, and orange hair. Like most of their prank objects, there was a time limit so both had their normal red hair in just under half an hour.

"We are going to have so much fun with that one," George said adding it to their master list of pranks to pull.

"Yes but who to test it on first?" Fred asked.

 

Their Quibbler pranking Muse was not the only Fae Beast that Fred and George came across after the tea party and the trip to Hogsmeade. The weekend after meeting Rita, the pair saw a Shigmac. The only reason the pair did not freak out upon seeing the massive pink bat-looking thing was after meeting the Quibbler the pair had looked through Luna's entire book to discover more about the Fae Beast since they now knew they could see and interact with them. Knowing that a Shigmax would only appear to people who could offer much-needed help at a certain time, Fred and George dropped what they were doing to follow the thing. The Shigmac led the pair down towards the Hogwarts Kitchens before it turned to a hidden side corridor they had never seen on the map, nor had even known about. At the end of the corridor was one of Hogwarts' many unused classrooms.

 

The room, however, was not empty at the moment as George and Fred found Fifth Year Cedric Diggory holding onto Percy's collar lifting their older brother off the floor. "What is going on here?" Fred asked bursting into the room shocked that their neighbor Cedric looked like he was about to beat up Percy.

"I have just returned from St. Mungos," Cedric snarled still not letting go of Percy.

"So?" the twins asked confused.

"Oh, yeah you don't have time to read the Prophet with all your bloody pranks. Well, your dad went ballistic and smashed my dad's head over and over against the wall, breaking his nose and putting him into a coma," Cedric said still snarling a little.

"What does that have to do with why you look like you are about to pound our older brother?" Fred asked.

"It would make me feel better," Cedric admitted as he lowered Percy to the floor.

 

"But it would be nothing better than what the bastard did to your dad," George pointed out.

"Wait what?' Cedric asked not expecting that.

"Our father is an asshole and bastard," Fred said moving forward to force Cedric to let Percy's robes go. "We found out during the Hogsmeade weekend. That is why Mum has been spotted going out with Rita Skeeter. Mum found out the bastard enchanted her and broke them up."

"Damn, I just thought... Look, I am sorry," Cedric said.

"Eh, no problem," the twins said.

"I disagree," Percy snapped. "I get your anger but you could have said something first, and I could have told you about the asshat." Fred and George goggled a little at their older brother for the name he had given to their sire before they blushed a little.

 

"It actually might be a little bit our fault," Fred said.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked. "How could you be responsible for the asshat enchanting Mum?"

"No, we mean that the bastard hurt your dad, Cedric," George explained.

"How?" Cedric and Percy both asked.

"It is thanks to the Howler he sent after your Re-Sort. Neither of us could recall the bastard getting that mad before. So we thought he must bottle up his emotions. We thought that we would send him a cursed hat that would remove the block. We thought it would allow him to finally stand up for himself to the abuse some of the other Ministry workers give him at work. We did not imagine he would end up doing something like that," Fred said as both he and George got on their knees and bowed to Cedric in a show of pure shame for what they had caused.

"We will have to report this to someone," Percy said. "For if the asshat gets punished without it being revealed that he was cursed, he might get off on the attack."

"And we would be the ones that get punished," Fred said fearing his and George's expulsion and possibly even arrest.

 

"The Ministry already knows," Cedrci said still breathing a little heavily.

"What do you mean?" the three Weasley sons asked.

"Madam Bones came to see my Mum and me when we sat at my dad's bedside in St. Mungos. She explained what they had found out about the attack. Including your Dad"

"Bastard." "Asshat," the twins and Percy interjected.

"Losing the blocks. Madam Bones had figured that the bastardhat," Cedric said combining both names for the man who attacked his dad, "either had some traumatic experience in his youth or had seen a Mind Healer who had placed the blocks on him. Though not why the blocks had been removed. So yes while I would like to reveal why the blocks were gone, I would rather have the bastardhat sent away than you two," Cedric said.

"You don't want us to say it was because of what we did?" Fred asked.

"Maybe just getting rid of the blocks and the reason for it, but to be honest, I don't know," Cedric admitted.

Chapter 27: PDA

Summary:

After his early trip to Hogsmeade and seeing the older couples at Hogwarts interact with each other, Harrison feels ready to start displaying some affection to Draco.

Notes:

During a re-read, I noticed that when I had Tumbus and Bartholomew inform Lucius and Lord Drake about what Albus was doing to certain male students at the castle with Dobby's help, I had Lord Drake mentioning the Chamber being opened. While this is the twenty-seventh chapter, it is barely halfway through October. So even with Ginny letting Riddle in as a means to attract "Harry" she has not set the Monster on anyone yet nor revealed the Chamber is open.

Harrison had enjoyed his time in Hogsmeade, even if he had not liked that to "earn" the trip he had to serve a detention with Lockhart before the man had been removed from the castle. The detention had been completely insufferable with the man making Harrison sign his fan mail. For the first twenty minutes, the fool spun some sort of lie about wearing a bald cap under a wig of his normal hair for some reason. To be honest, Harrison had not really paid attention to the idiot to recall the bullshit the man tried to feed him. Yet after the explanation as to why he "wasn't bald," Lockhart began to spout out random lines like "Fame is a Fickle thing." Harrison was equally shocked that the moron had kept him so late and he had not gotten in trouble heading back to Slytherin for being out past curfew.

 

While he could not wait to head back to the magical village next year, not only so he could get stuff at some of the shops the twins had shown him but to also spend some time with Draco out of the castle, Harrison felt there was something he could do now that he had witnessed during his day out. Harrison had seen couples around Hogwarts both the year before and this one, but seeing the older students at Hogsmeade felt a little different. And not just cause some of the students were not wearing their school robes. Most of the older students who were dating were more open with their PDA especially if they came from different houses than what they would show while back at school. It sort of reminded Harrison of the amount of public displays that Theo and Blaise typically did. Something that Harrison was a little jealous of since he had yet to find the courage to even take Draco's hand in the Common Room.

 

A week after his trip to the village, Harrison finally felt like he had gathered his courage enough to make a move. It also did not hurt that for some reason many of the older students and not just from Slytherin were watching him again. What he did not know was the students were trying to figure out why they had seen him in the Three Broomsticks with Rita Skeeter with the woman buying him some food yet no article had been written about him by the gossipmonger yet. As the older Slytherins had started to lose focus on Harrison again and had changed topics to finding the Hogs Head closed*1, Harrison felt it was finally time to do something.

 

Having finished his Charms homework early one day, Harrison sat in his normal spot beside Draco as the other worked to finish his assignment. Feeling like he was in a spotlight despite having done nothing yet, Harrison shifted his seat closer and closer to the blonde until their chairs were touching each other. Having gotten no reaction from Draco or anyone else in the room, Harrison took a breath to gather his courage to lean in and ask if Draco needed any help. "I am fine but thanks for offering," Draco said without even looking up.

"If you don't need any help, do you mind if I hold your empty hand as you work?" Harrison asked blushing a little as Draco finally looked over at him.

"That would be lovely," Draco said giving him a massive smile as he held out his hand to him.

Harrison took another steadying breath as he took the offered hand. He could not help but experience a moment of fear thinking Draco would find his palm too sweaty and pull his away, but the blonde just gave his hand a comforting squeeze before he returned to his homework. While he had finally shared some PDA with Draco, Harrison did not really know what to do as he sat there holding the blonde's hand as the other wrote out his essay. After a few minutes, Harrison began to fidget wondering if he should do something else besides hold Draco's hand but did not want to do too much lest he distract the blonde from his homework. As if he could sense what Harrison was thinking, possibly due to feeling something in Harrison's hand, Draco said softly, "It is alright we don't have to hold hands if you don't want to."

"But I do want to," Harrison protested. "I just don't know what to do after that."

"You don't have to do anything, this is nice," Draco said as he began to tighten and loosen his grip on Harrison's hand giving it a sort of massage as he looked at the other boy.

"But others do more than this," Harrison protested again. "After all just look at them," he said nodding to Theo and Blaise who were curled up together a little as they did their own assignments.

 

"My mother always gave me some advice when I was growing up, Harrison. She told me to never compare myself to others since I can not be sure what their lives are like nor now if I can adapt to things as quickly as they do. We must find our own pace of things. After all those two had known about their contract for years and they had had the time to get used to each other. While our bond had been messed with and were are basically getting to know each other for the first time," Draco said before leaning in to whisper into Harrison's ear. "And I can tell you that even Blaise and Theo took some time to get comfortable with each other and were awkward when they started to show PDA."

"I want to do more," Harrison admitted. "I just don't want to distract you from your homework.

"Thanks, Harrison," Draco said as he used his grip on the other's hand to pull him into a one-armed hug. Rather than protesting or trying to get away from him, Draco was presently surprised when Harrison leaned into him a little and tucked his head against Draco's shoulder. "Now this might make it a little harder to do my homework," Draco teased.

The blonde was happy to see rather than instantly pull away Harrison actually asked, "Can I just lean in for a few moments before you continue?"

"If you want," Draco said a smile blossoming on his face as he resisted the urge to use his other hand to gently move Harrison's bangs to better look into the brunette's eyes.

 

The "few moments" that Harrison wanted to take leaning into Draco's side turned out to be a little over half an hour as he cuddled against the blonde's side. Not that Draco wanted to push him away guessing from some of the stories Harrison had let slip about his childhood the other was a little touch starved. It was not like he needed to finish his homework right away either since it was only Saturday and he had the rest of the weekend to work on it. Besides meals, the only thing that Harrison and Draco had to do later was attend Quidditch Practice. The Slytherin team had sort of gotten lucky as only one member of the team had undergone a Re-Sort and had been moved to a different House. Marcus had quickly called for a new tryout for the vacant position and had soon replaced the former member with George Weasley.

 

When Harrison realized he had been leaning against Draco for so long he had both moved away and let go of Draco's hand his face a deep red as he blushed in embarrassment for cuddling with the blonde for so long. "It is alright, Harrison," Draco said in a soothing tone. "If I had a problem I would have said something, I am glad you feel comfortable enough to cuddle with me already." Harrison still blushed as he looked around the room as if he was afraid another member of the House would come over and make fun of him, but he was pleasantly surprised to see that no one was really paying him and Draco any attention. Not even Theo and Blaise who were sitting right beside them, nor was Pansy who was seated across the table the group was doing their homework around.

 

Seeing that if they had noticed him leaning into Draco, his new friends did not make a big deal about it, Harrison leaned in a little and took Draco's hand again as the blonde gave him a somewhat cheeky smile before returning to his homework. For the rest of the afternoon, Harrison held Draco's hand, sometimes with his hand in Draco's lap, others with the blonde's hand in his, or even just having their hands lying on the table. Though Harrison still blushed a little with their held hands on the table as he continued to think someone would say something about it but no one ever did.

 

As they made their way to supper still holding hands, Harrison was sure his palm was sweaty and gross by now but Draco did not seem to care. Harrison did not want to stop holding Draco's hand and even ended up swinging their arms a little on the way to the Great Hall. Draco was happy that Harrison was comfortable enough to do this now but was also proud of the other boy as they walked into the hall without letting go of each other's hands. Draco could not tell if Harrison was just focused on their hands and had forgotten about the Blood Traitor and the Headmaster's little sister being in the hall, or if the other was just in such a good mood he did not care how they might try to react to him. Draco, however, did send a look at the Gryffindor table, and was easy to spot the trio who had targeted Harrison. Not that it was that hard since Granger preferred to sit in the same place every meal as if that somehow was important. It seemed that despite Granger regaining her natural look as Dumbledore's little sister which Draco had heard many people thought made her look rather good-looking, Granger's personality had not changed at all. Draco did wonder if she had even become aware of who she really was.

 

Seeing him look over at them, Granger glared at him which only got more pronounced as she noticed he was holding Harrison's hand. Draco was a little impressed that the girl did not immediately cause a scene and got on their case, rather she punched Ronald as a means to possibly distract the others from seeing Harrison and him holding hands not to mention swinging their arms together as they went to their seats. Draco smirked seeing Granger get told off by Ronald who was most likely asking why she had hit him while at the same time, Granger absentmindedly rubbed her arm in the same spot she had hit the red-headed fool.

 

Harrison finally let go of Draco's hand when they sat down to eat. Though Harrison did lean a little into Draco's slightly taller form while they had their supper. Draco thought if he was a little more comfortable with a display of affection himself, he would have taken a leaf out of Blaise's book and fed some of the smaller items of food from Harrison's plate to his boyfriend.*2 None of the Slytherins sitting around them commented on the pair's increased closeness to each other. Granger was doing her best to make sure neither Ginny nor Ron saw lest they make a big scene which might cause issues once they fixed Harry in the future.

 

At the head table, Albus was opening glaring at his weapon and how close he was to the Malfoy brat. Albus wished that Dobby would respond to his calls, wondering what had become of the blasted Elf, so he could have the thing place some potions in his weapon and the Malfoy brat's food to make them hate each other again. When Severus noticed Harrison leaning into Draco's form, the Potions Master bit his lip for a bit still not used to the idea that the son of his best friend and bully had a contract with his Godson. When Remus, Charity, and Bathsheda noticed the pair together they each sent a small smile at the two boys not that they think either student was aware of it. The rest of the staff did not have that much reaction besides maybe an arch of an eyebrow at the new couple and only due to how the pair had acted towards each other the previous year.

 

Even Hagrid just sent a smile their way along with a small toast at what looked like the start of a new couple. Granted the Groundskeeper had been a little worried for Harry when he had first seen him join Slytherin House. The boy had taken a week to agree to come join him for tea, but when he arrived Harry explained a little about what he had found out as well as telling Hagrid he went by Harrison now. While Hagrid accepted and tried to honor the young boy's wishes, he still had the habit of slipping up and calling him Harry before he quickly apologized and called him by his preferred name. It had taken Hagrid a little longer to accept Harry's growing relationship with Draco until Harrison had brought the blonde to afternoon tea with him. Draco had explained that he had not planned on turning Hagrid in for having Norbert last year, but had been more concerned with Harrison getting hurt from the Dragon. Draco and Neville even explained what had happened in the forest during their detention last year after Hagrid had teamed them up as Harrison, Granger, and he worked together to find the hurt Unicorn.

 

As Marcus had booked the pitch for an hour after supper, as a means to train the team in case a game ran long, Harrison and Draco planned on going back to the common room before practice. Yet before they left the table a note appeared before Harrison. As he no longer had to take potions to recover from the Dursleys' abuse, nothing had appeared before Harrison for a while. Thinking it was from one of the Potter elves with more news about Dobby, Harrison opened the letter and read it. He was a little surprised to find it was an indentation to come to Professor Lupin's office. Knowing the man knew his parents, thanks to the pictures in Evan's Haven but not wanting to talk about it during class time, Harrison had sort of expected something like this sooner. Harrison wondered what had taken the man so long but guessed he might have done things properly and asked permission to have a meeting with him from Professors Babbling and Burbage before he scheduled one.

Notes:

*1 I mentioned in an early chapter that the Hogs Head had been owned by Harrison's family so he had taken it back and removed Aberforth from it. I seemed to have forgotten that when I had him visit Hogsmeade but then again the twins might not have taken him there due to it being a bar rather than a full restaurant like the Three Broomsticks.

*2 While they have a contract in place and possibly get married in the future since they have not revealed it to anyone besides Theo and Blaise, Harrison and Draco just consider themselves boyfriends at this moment rather than being engaged. This also has to do with how young they are at the moment and Harrison's Muggleraised upbringing.

As I mentioned in the top note about Lord Drake and Lucius learning about what Albus had been using Dobby for at Hogwarts. I will say that they are waiting for Dobby to be cleansed of the enchantments Albus had placed on him in the hopes that Dobby would break the bond with the bastard before turning over the proof of Albus using him to spy on male students while they were changing or naked. This process will take a while most likely being done around the third to last chapter so Albus can be removed from the school before the story ends.

Chapter 28: Two Meetings and a letter

Summary:

Harrison and Draco visit Lupin's office. Meanwhile, Arthur meets with a Barrister for his upcoming trial. Rita is a little surprised yet encouraged to receive a letter from some of Molly's kids.

Hogwarts

 

Since they only had an hour before Quidditch Practice, Harrison and Draco moved at a fast walk to where Professor Lupin's message informed them where his office was. As the man's note told them just to come right in, the pair did not waste any time as they entered the man's office. "Hello, Harrison, Heir Malfoy," Lupin said from some comfortable chairs he had set up in front of his desk. Remus had done so to make sure they understood that this wasn't meant to be a meeting between him as their teacher but rather as James and Lily's old friend.

"Hello, Sir. I hope you don't mind, but we can't stay long," Harrison said, not moving away from the door in case the man wanted to reschedule their chat.

"I am well aware of your practice tonight, that is fine," Remus said, gesturing to the open seats beside his. "I just wanted to meet with you, Harrison, though I don't mind if Heir Malfoy stays, knowing some of Professor Snape's special rules for your House."

"He is my boyfriend," Harrison said, licking his lips before taking Draco's hand again.

"I know Harrison, I know," Remus said gently. "Not only due to your body language towards each other, but I am aware of the contract your parents set up between you."

 

"So I was right, you did know my parents," Harrison said. He had thought as much, but had no idea how common a surname Lupin was. He had tried to research it, but had not found any books on genealogy in the library. Granted, the man did resemble some of the photos he had seen in Evans' Haven, but for all he knew, the man could be his parents' friend's twin brother or something. He might not have even been a twin since Draco had told him about his Aunts, Bellatrix and Andromeda, who were born years apart but looked so similar they were sometimes mistaken as twins. At least until Bellatrix had been sent to Azkaban.

 

"Well, to be honest, I knew your dad a lot better than your mom," Remus said. "While we were all classmates, your parents started dating halfway through their sixth year. Before that, due to one of your mom's friends, the pair had some issues."

"Was it due to Professor Snape?" Harrison asked, thinking of not only the pictures hanging in Evans' Haven but also what the Potions Master had told him after his summer re-sort.

"It was, the pair never really got along, but at the end of our fifth year, Lily and Professor Snape had a falling out. Which led your dad to show her he was serious about her," Remus explained.

"Alright, I believe you knew my folks," Harrison said, seeing that the man could have easily found out about their contracts as a member of the staff, but would not know about the falling out between his mom and Snape as students unless he was at least peripherally involved.

 

"Did you doubt I was?" Remus asked.

"First, I have no idea how common the Lupin family is, plus you look a little older than what my parents would be if they were alive," Harrison said with a shrug.

"There is a reason for that, I assure you," Remus said, nodding his head at his Cub's logical approach to the issue.

"And that is?" Draco asked, speaking up at last, on his guard for Harrison due to what had happened with the Blood Traitor, the Headmaster's sister, and Wood.

"The reason also pertains to why I had never come to see you before now, Harrison," Remus said.

"And the reason is?" both Harrison and Draco asked.

"I am a Werewolf," Remus said quietly with an anxious look at the pair as if afraid they would freak out.

"I take it you are not one from the pack that lives in the forest, since I heard they were rather feral, meaning you would not have the right qualifications to teach?" Harrison asked, actually making Remus chuckle a little.

 

"I was turned back when I was just four years old. I had been given special permission to come here as a student with some very strict guidelines on what was to happen during my change for everyone's protection. I was sorted into Gryffindor with your father," Remus said, not mentioning Sirius or Pettigrew in case his Cub was not aware of the truth that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban when everyone had believed him to be James and Lily's Secret Keeper. "Your father and our other roommates became fast friends, and while they liked to prank people, your father and my old friend were rather intelligent. Thus letting them notice I would be removed from the castle during the full moon, but rather than confront me about it, they actually figure out what was going on themselves."

 

"And they did not abandon you, I take it?" Draco asked.

"No, they actually did some research and found out that as a Werewolf, I was only a danger to humans, so they turned to one of James's family's allies to help them learn how to become an Animagus. I believe they turned to your father for help," Remus shared, looking at Draco.

"Why?" Draco asked, since he knew that while the Animagus transformation was not taught at Hogwarts, there were plenty of books on the subject within the library.

"Most ways to achieve an Animagus form lead to the person getting a random non-magical animal that they would change into. Yet your father knew of a way that allowed the person to slightly choose their form," Remus explained. "James and his friends knew that they would need a couple of forms that would be large enough to handle me once I changed, but also one of them would need to shift into a smaller form to get past the defenses the staff had set up to keep me contained while transformed."

"That seems rather dangerous," Draco said.

"What did my dad become?" Harrison asked at the same time.

 

"You are right, Heir Malfoy, it was dangerous in hindsight, and something I would often worry about, but my friends and I were a little headstrong, or they were confident in their abilities to keep me contained. As for your father, Harrison, he became an eight-point white stag. Another of my friends became a great black dog, almost a shaggy Mastiff, while our other friend became a rat," Remus said, unable to stop himself from biting out the last words, knowing Pettigrew had shown himself to be a real rat.

"Which one of them was Sirius Black?" Harrison asked.

"Why do you care about that Asshole?" Draco asked, turning to his boyfriend.

"He is one of my Godfathers, along with Professor Lupin here," Harrison shared, making Remus start having not recalled that, making him decide the next chance he got, he would head over to the Gringotts Branch on Trap Street to see if he could schedule a test to see if he was under anything. "And secondly, on one of the tests I got done at Gringotts, it was revealed that Sirius had been illegally incarcerated," Harrison finished.

"But how? He was revealed to be the one to let The-Bastard-Whose-Name-Should-Never-Be-Spoken know where your family was hiding," Draco said.

 

"Actually, he wasn't," Remus cut in, causing both boys to look over at him with matching confused expressions on their faces. "A few weeks ago, I suddenly recalled being present when your family set up the Fidealus Charm on their safe House. The Secret Keeper for the ritual was a man known as Peter Pettigrew, who had been the one to turn into a rat when we were at school, not Sirius." Hearing this, both Harrison and Draco shared a look, confusing Remus. "What's with the look?" Remus asked, thinking it reminded him of the times James and Sirius somehow got the same idea for a prank and were checking to see if each other had reached the same conclusion.

 

"That was around the time I had called Lady Magic to pass judgment on some things done to Harrison," Draco explained, remembering that there had been a line about those witnessing the Fideilus Charm being put in place would recall who the real secret keeper was. Something he had forgotten about due to his slight punishment of Mutisim for a time, and all the other items mentioned in Lady Magic's decree.

"I see," Remus said as he began to run a hand through his graying hair. He could not help but think that his original anger at Albus had been correct, since the man being the one to perform the ritual could not be classified as a witness to it. But he was not sure his relationship with Harrison was repaired enough to ask his Cub the details about it at the moment.

 

"Anyway, to answer your earlier question, Harrison, Sirius was the large black dog, which I guess you could have guessed since I said the fourth of our group had become a rat before he showed that to be his true nature," Remus said. "My change was also one of the reasons I was convinced not to reach out to you before now, thinking that it could cause some issues due to Great Britain's anti-Creature beliefs. Either that or someone recognizing me and thought I was coming to see you as a means to turn you. I will point out I have done my best not to turn anyone," Remus added, having seen some trepidation in Heir Malfoy's face when he had revealed he was a Werewolf.

"I was told when I moved into one of my family properties that some of my parents' friends had nicknames for me," Harrison began.

"Why look into that of all things?" Draco asked, shooting his boyfriend a confused look.

 

"I didn't like that my House Elves called me Master, so they said they could use one of the names I was called when I was a baby," Harrison explained. "They told me Sirius, your dad, and Professor Lupin all had nicknames for me, but they did not explain who gave me which one. Knowing a little bit about wolves from my Muggle school, I was just wondering if Professor Lupin called me Cub or Pup?"

"I called you Cub since that was how my Wolfside saw you, since I doubted I would have cubs of my own," Remus explained. "Sirius called you Pup due to his Animagus form, which you would often play with and crawl over when he visited your folks, and decided to change forms. As for Heir Malfoy's father, he called you Lion since both your parents had been sorted into Gryffindor, but also your family through your father's side is connected to that line."

"That was the nickname I chose for my Elves to call me instead of Master," Harrison shared, making some tears come to Remus's eyes, feeling a little touched, though he knew it was pure chance that Harrison had chosen his nickname compared to Sirius or Lord Malfoy's name for him.

 

Rita Skeeter's Townhouse

 

Rita was a little surprised to find that Molly's kids had sent her a letter. What was more, it had come from the group she had met during their recent Hogsmeade Weekend. She could only assume that one or more of them were reaching out to learn more about her, since, unlike Molly's elder sons, they could not leave the school to talk to her or even Floo-call her. Unrolling the scroll of parchment, Rita noticed the letter had been sent by Fred and George, She could not help but smile thinking the pair were looking for more prank ideas since she had notice the pair had taken some notes during the meeting in the Three Broomsticks about some of the stuff she and their mother had gotten into at school. She was therefore shocked when she read the full letter.

 

Rita,

 

We need some advice. Before you and Mom informed us of everything the Bastard had done, we had already sent a prank to him due to how he reacted to Percy's Re-Sort. We used Percy's and our old Gryffindor-marked School hats to place an enchantment on which would break down the block the Bastard had over his emotions. We have recently learned that the prank had worked, but not in the way we had intended. We found out about it after finding Percy being threatened by one of his new housemates, who is also one of our former neighbors from where we lived before Mum moved out.

 

As this boy was normally friendly towards all of us, we asked what had happened. It seemed that due to our prank on the Bastard, the blocks on his emotions had been removed, which had led him to attack our friend's dad, putting him in a coma. Since we heard that you have some connections in the department of law enforcement, we wanted to ask what we should do. Our friend said that the enchantments to remove the blocks from the Bastard had been discovered, but we don't know if coming forward would A)get us into trouble, or B) change any punishment the Bastard might receive. Our friend didn't know what to do about it either. Hence why we are asking your advice.

 

Gred and Forge.

 

P.S. Sorry that this is the first letter we wrote to you.

 

P.P.S. You did ask us about our preferred names during the meeting, and we did say Fred and George, but we also randomly like to switch or first letter in our names around. Feel free to call us them, especially if it is in a prank-related session.

 

Rita sat and thought for a moment, unsure of what to do herself. Since she had made a vow to Molly not to reveal or do anything concerning Arthur-Bitch-McGilicutty but she could not answer the twins' concerns. Yes, she had friends in the law department, but that was due to wanting to know when a person broke it so she could report it, not due to having any special knowledge of laws in general. She knew her sources in the department would never reveal she had asked certain questions, but she could guess that they would ask why she was looking into the matter of Arthur-Bitch-McGillicutty. That, coupled with some reports of some of her dates with Molly, might end up revealing things neither she nor Molly was ready to deal with yet. Rita felt a little bad, but told them that while she could talk to their mom about it to pass on what they had done, she could not talk to anyone in the law department about any special circumstances lest it break her vow to Molly and their family concerning the Bastard.

 

Ministry Holding Cells

 

Since he had woken up locked in the Holding Cell, which he assumed was located at the Ministry, Arthur had screamed himself hoarse and prowled the cell like a wild beast. His anger had not dropped a single iota in strength since he had left the Ford Anglia before his attack against Diggory. At first, law officers and others would stop by to ask him about what caused him to attack Diggory. He felt like he was dealing with a bunch of morans as he had to explain over and over again that Diggory deserved it since the man's actions led to Arthur's recent suspension from his job, and then making fun of the fact that Arthur was living out of his car. The fools even asked if Arthur did not see that he had gone too far by smashing Diggory's face into the lift's wall so much and hard enough not only to break the man's nose but put him in a coma. It was like he was dealing with a bunch of ignoramuses. Either that, or people who were just messing around, wanting to see him even lower so they could make fun of him like they always did.

 

After a few days, Arthur had been left alone, letting his voice get better rather than scream at the people coming to gawk at him as if he were an animal in a zoo. Since all meals were Magiced into the room by the Ministry's contingent of House Elves, Arthur had not seen anyone for a few days. Which still did not reduce the anger he had for the world at the moment. Since he was being held, he was not allowed letters, so he could not help but wonder what those brats were doing at Hogwarts. He had a feeling they had not changed back to Gryffindor House like he had ordered Prissy-Percy to do. As soon as he was out of here, he would show them that he was no longer Mr. Nice Guy as he forced them to return to their proper Hogwarts House or never return the that school. After all, the only two kids he needed in class were Ron and Ginny due to Albus's plan for Harry and how it would help his family.

 

Arthur stopped his pacing as he heard the sound of footsteps coming his way. Thinking that someone else was coming to gawk at him, Arthur got prepared to yell himself hoarse again to tell the person to fuck off. But as he opened his mouth, the person cut him off, "Arthur Weasley, I have been hired to defend you in your trial for attacking Amos Diggory."

"He deserved it," Arthur shot back.

"So I have been informed you have been telling everyone, but I am going to need more than that to properly do my job," the woman said.

"And why should I trust some random Barrister who is only taking the case because you were ordered to?" Arthur asked, some scorn slipping into his tone.

"Because I was not appointed by the Ministry but hired by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who assured me that this whole thing is a simple misunderstanding," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked, calming down at once; however, he was a little upset that it had taken Albus so long to do anything to help him.

"My name is Andromeda Tonks, I am an old friend of Albus, just like he said you are. So I am aware that he sometimes gives us jobs that seem strange to others. I can only assume that something had gone wrong during a job for him, leading you to attack Amos?" she asked, leaning forward to ask in a conspiratorial whisper while at the same time casting suppressing charms on the spells to listen in to their conversation. If anyone asked about it later, she would say she was just upholding her client's privacy.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 5 of Drarry Bunny Farm tales.