My name is Harry Potter and I am a clueless idiot. I’d like to say I started out that way, since it would be easier to explain everything that happened to me; instead, I became one after my latest death defying adventure inside a magical castle deep in the Scottish Highlands. Yes, yes, I know. It sounds ridiculous. I thought it was as well until my best friend Daphne Greengrass filled me in on everything.
Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself there. How did she become my best friend you ask? It was easy. She was the first person I saw after waking up with no memory of who I was or what had happened to me and she told me who I was. She didn’t believe me that I didn’t know at first, of course. In fact, no one did.
It had taken a few days and a few visits by my other so called friends and acquaintances in the house of the courageously stupid for people to realize I had no clue who they were or what they were talking about. Magic? That was a children’s fantasy from books and on the television.
At least, I thought so, until some older woman changed my blanket into a teddy bear that danced on my lap. No, I did not scream and freak out about it and anyone that says so is delusional and a dirty liar.
For the next week, a bushy-haired girl that had previously been petrified had tried very forcibly to convince me that we were friends and had been for two years, as did a bigoted redheaded jerk that argued with her, mostly over the details of the things I apparently did during the last two years inside the death trap that was the magic school called Hogwarts.
Ron tried to make it out to be him that had done the majority of the tasks with me as a tag-along and Hermione tried to reason with him that telling me lies wasn’t going to jog my memories. Heh, she apparently didn’t listen when the healer Daphne hired from St. Mungo’s told everyone I had suffered from acute memory loss and that those memories were wiped away, not repressed.
Apparently, Gilderoy Lockhart was an exceptional obliviator and had even worked for the Ministry of Magic to clean up several incidents, only to claim the stories and fame for himself and became famous after writing some ridiculous books. How did that come about out, you wonder? His magical signature was detected by the expert when he found the massive holes in my memory that an obliviation spell caused.
Gilderoy’s made-up story about me losing my mind after seeing the creature in the Chamber of Secrets fell apart when the man couldn’t say what the creature was or explain how he had entered to handle it. The coward had run away after obliviating me and he knocked Ron out when the boy’s broken wand finally gave up and snapped completely.
Having a grown man push a powerful spell through the damaged wand had been the last magic it could take, apparently. He clubbed Ron with a lose stone and left both him and myself for dead as he fled. I never did find out how he had climbed back out of the sewer slide we had used to get down into the chamber.
Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, since he was sent to Azkaban for permanently harming a national hero, which somehow turned out to be me. I had no idea I was famous! Fame was something that anyone in the world would want, along with fortune, so when Daphne told me I was rich as well, I was fairly happy about it.
Also, after learning about my home life and what the last two years at the school were like, I was more than grateful for Daphne’s offer to have her family adopt me to save me from having to suffer with the filthy muggles that had abused me. The healer Daphne hired was going to continue their treatment of me, since I had many old badly broken bones that hadn’t healed properly and I was severely underweight.
I was glad the school exams were cancelled this year because of the tragedy that happened to me. I was allowed to stay in the hospital wing to recover until the school term ended and we would be sent home on a train. It was a relief and I was looking forward to meeting my new family.
Then again, I did wonder if they were going to faint like Daphne did when she found out I had somehow killed a 60 foot long basilisk. At least, that’s what the barmy old man had said I did, anyway. Even if I hadn’t, it was an interesting story and a great conversation ender.
*
“We have to do something!” Hermione almost shouted and nearly everyone in the Griffindor common room turned their attention to her and Ron arguing. She had been woken up a few days after Harry and Ron had gone down into the Chamber of Secrets to save Ginny.
“You’re too late, Hermione.” Ron said with a sigh. “The slimy Slytherin already has her claws into Harry and he won’t listen to his best mate anymore.”
Hermione almost growled. “If you had stopped lying every time you opened your mouth, he might have believed you, you moron!”
“You’re the one that told him it wasn’t the truth!” Ron shouted. “He didn’t know any different!”
Everyone in the common room could only sit there and watch the train wreck as it happened. No one, not even the Weasley Twins, felt like getting between them or stopping them from giving the entire population of Griffindor House a spectacular show that was a long time in coming.
“Madam Pomfrey said to remind him of what happened, not tell tall tales that wouldn’t let him remember anything!” Hermione shouted even louder. “How is he supposed to recover his memories if he thought what you told him was what really happened?”
Ron barked a laugh. “You heard the specialist, Hermione! He’s not going to remember anything! It’s gone! All of it! Even the things his family did to him!” He shouted back and took a moment to calm down as he shook his head. “The Harry Potter we know is gone and you ruined the only opportunity we had to make him into the best mate anyone could ever have.”
Hermione’s hand flashed across the space between them and the loud crack echoed in the deathly quiet common room. Ron’s head whipped to the side because Hermione hadn’t held back at all as she slapped him as hard as she could. Everyone winced as they saw the bright red imprint of her small hand form on his cheek.
“You loathsome… filthy… little cockroach.” Hermione hissed and Ron took a staggering step back from the hatred in her voice and the look on her face. “How dare you… you… you…” She stopped talking and firmed her mouth into a thin line. “You are worse than Draco Malfoy. At least he openly hated Harry from the start.”
A few people gasped and Ron looked horrified.
“You were always jealous of Harry, of his money, of his fame.” Hermione said and reached out and Ron flinched back. She smiled and let her pointed finger drop instead of poking him in the chest like she intended. “Unlike you, he would have traded all of it away to have the same things you have. A family that cared about him and loved him.”
Everyone watched as she picked up her bookbag and walked over to the stairs of the dorm.
Hermione stopped and looked back at Ron with disgust on her face. “Harry was already the best friend we could have ever had and it was you that ruined it for the both of us, not me. I wanted to help him and all you wanted was to claim his fame for yourself. You are a disgusting pig and I will never forgive you for what you did. Don’t you ever try to talk to me ever again.”
Ron stood there with a kind of dumbfounded look on his face as he rubbed his sore cheek. Hermione’s stomping feet faded just before she slammed the door to the second year girl’s dorm room. Not one person, not even his family members, tried to tell him everything was okay and that she would calm down and would forgive him eventually. He had majorly screwed up and there was nothing he could do to fix it.
*
The rest of term went by quickly, since there were only two weeks left, and the events in the Chamber of Secrets were considered old news by the time the students packed up their trunks to go home. According to Albus Dumbledore, Ginny Weasley had been saved by Harry Potter somehow after he killed the basilisk, which was accepted as part of his duties to the wizarding world. He was the Boy-Who-Lived, after all.
Only the muggleborn and half-bloods complained that the headmaster sat back and did nothing to help all year until a pureblood was hurt by the creature and then he arranged for Harry Potter to deal with the problem. That it was Hermione that solved the riddle of what it was, and how it moved through the school, was ignored by everyone.
Well, everyone tried to ignore it. Hermione made sure to loudly proclaim the truth every time someone mentioned anything about the chamber, or Harry, or how she and Ron had fought and everyone in the school knew about the Golden Trio breaking up so spectacularly.
Hermione also started spreading Ron’s new nickname as well and everyone latched onto it because of how funny it was. Being called MoRon made Ron embarrassed every single time someone said it, which only encouraged everyone to use it more. The thing was, they all knew he deserved it. If it wasn’t for his jealousy, he would still be friends with the clean slate that was Harry Potter.
Both the boy’s future and the possibility he might not come back to school, since he didn’t remember the last two years, or anything else really, had a lot of people nervous… especially a particular old headmaster that ran the wizarding world and his greasy-haired spy. They didn’t know what they were going to do with their years-long plans thrown off so disastrously.
*
I knew most of the Slytherins around me on the train ride home were only there because they thought they could pretend to be my friends and get things from me, instead of the rivals and enemies they had been before. Even with no memories to help me, I wasn’t as stupid as they thought I was.
I listened to everything cautiously and took it all in with a grain of salt, then I would confirm it later with other sources. If it was true or not, I would make up my own mind, which was now clear of all other influences, both conscious and unconscious.
The only person I knew was genuine with both her concern and her manipulation, was Daphne Greengrass. She never once lied, or said things in a way that obscured her answer. She even openly admitted she was going to use my clean slate to the best of her ability to further her own agenda and that the benefits would be for the both of us and not just her.
Unlike the headmaster had when I asked him a direct question, she never tried to trick me, led me astray, or tried to guilt me into doing what she wanted. All she offered were options and let me choose for myself what I wanted, with her telling me which ones would help her the most. Her honesty touched me in a way I couldn’t describe, as if I was lacking it before or something, and I felt grateful to her for it.
In fact, she even warned me to not trust anyone else, not even her best friend Tracey Davis. Why? Because the girl’s bubbly facade hid a vicious personality and a sharp tongue. There was a reason she was sorted into Slytherin, even if she was a half-blood and didn’t believe in pureblood supremacy. She was ambitious and cunning and her act disarmed people and let her plan and scheme freely.
Tracey was also a little hands-on and kept trying to touch my arm or my knee when she talked. For some reason, I flinched every time and it made her facade crack a little each time she tried to manipulate or coerce me into agreeing with her and it unnerved her that I kept flinching at her touch.
Surprisingly, Tracey didn’t give up trying the tactic until nearly halfway back to London and openly sighed as she glared at Daphne, as if it was her fault.
“I warned you that it wouldn’t work.” Daphne said smugly and gave me a knowing look before she schooled her face and went back to reading the book she had. It was a healing text that Madam Pomfrey had given to her just before we left the hospital wing that morning.
“What happened to your glasses anyway?” Millicent Bulstrode asked. She was a large hefty girl that seemed ugly when compared to her housemates, whom spent a lot of time making themselves pretty. She didn’t care about those kinds of things, mostly because everyone called her ugly and she was about a head taller than everyone in our year and nearly two heads taller than me.
“I wore glasses?” I asked and reached up to touch my nose and felt two small indents on either side of my nose. “Is that what these are from? How big and heavy were they?”
“They were as thick as potion bottle bottoms!” Pansy Parkinson said and laughed. The other girls laughed as well, even Daphne, so I had to chuckle as well.
“Their most distracting feature was they obscured your bright green eyes.” Daphne said without lifting her gaze from the page she was reading. Everyone saw her slightly red face, though.
Tracey gazed at me for a moment and nodded. “They are a bit distracting with his glasses out of the way.”
“Why aren’t you wearing them?” Millicent asked.
“No idea.” I said, honestly. I hadn’t seen any at by bedside and Madam Pompfrey hadn’t offered me any. Then again, she was only a medi-witch and had missed all the other damage I had suffered, too.
My hand went to the crook of my arm and I lightly scratched the circular wound there through the sleeve of the nice shirt Daphne had bought for me. The stupid itch just kept coming back for some reason.
“Can you see okay?” Tracey asked and held up three fingers and swayed her hand back and fourth. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Don’t try to read between the lines this time, Harry. She really is just asking.” Daphne said, again without lifting her eyes from the book in her hands.
Tracey looked at her hand and realized if she put down her index finger and ring finger, she would be giving me the middle finger, a.k.a. reading between the lines. She barked a laugh and swatted at Daphne. “That wasn’t funny!”
Daphne smirked, Millicent laughed, and Pansy looked confused. The much bigger girl leaned down and whispered in her ear and Pansy blushed and then gained a thoughtful look.
“Can you really do that with only your middle finger?” Pansy asked.
“For now.” Millicent said and then grinned. “When you’re older, you’ll want to use a lot more than just a finger.”
The compartment fell silent after that comment and made Pansy, Tracey, and Daphne blush. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, so I ignored it and looked back out the window. The scenery was both familiar and unknown, which was an odd feeling, then I felt a delicate hand slip into mine. I didn’t turn and look, because that would bring attention to the act.
Daphne had warned me in the beginning that she wasn’t used to acting openly like she had with me in the hospital. She had said she would need some time before she was comfortable with other people knowing she actually liked holding my hand when she thought I needed her to.
Surprisingly, I was okay with that and gave her hand a little squeeze and kept my eyes locked on the window. We had spent a lot of silent time together after her lessons with me that filled me in on the magical world I was a part of and all of the things I had lost when I lost my memories. It was nice that she took her time and wasn’t rushing to try and cram everything into my head at once.
The only downside was that I really didn’t remember anything and nothing she told me or the spells she said I should know, gave me any feelings of nostalgia that both Madam Pomfrey and the healer from St. Mungo’s had mentioned I should have. I had no inkling whatsoever that I was recalling them when I tried to perform the simple ones I should have mastered by now, either.
Not only that, my wand felt weird too, as if it was resisting me using it. No, resisting was too weak a word to describe the feeling. Maybe it was fighting against me? Yes, that seemed to be a more appropriate description. I should mention it to Daphne’s parents after we arrived at their home.
The girls went back to talking about more common things, like what they were going to do during the summer, and I listened with half an ear to see if anything seemed familiar or jogged any memories. By the time the train reached London, not one single thing had come back to me. Was it because of the company or was it just that my mind was so empty that even the references were gone as well?
The train came to a stop and I helped Daphne retrieve her trunk, then I was suddenly the only one capable of the feat and the other three girls waited for me to grab their trunks from the overhead rack, too. That only made my previous deduction more valid that these girls were not my friends.
Daphne’s glare at them as I handled the trunks also clued me in, especially since Millicent was two heads taller than I was and her hefty body could have easily reached the racks without standing on the bench seat like I was. The much bigger girl just shrugged and left the compartment when she had her trunk and she walked out of the compartment like it weighed nothing.
I was sweating a little by the time I pulled my own trunk down and Daphne stopped me from dragging it across the floor right away. She stood there and gave me a sad look for a moment, whispered that she was sorry her friends were such jerks, then she let my arm go and picked up one end of her trunk and dragged it out of the compartment.
I shrugged and did the same thing and followed her. We reached the closest door to leave the train and she waved for me to put my trunk on top of hers as she stopped near the doorway and let the trunk go. I did as she asked, mostly because we were one of the last people in the train car and no one was behind us trying to leave through the same door.
“Mother, father.” Daphne said properly and politely as two people approached us.
I watched as a tall man with a blank face and a very pretty woman that looked like an older Daphne walked over to us. That explained why she didn’t step down. It kept the both of us above the throng of other students trying to find their parents and they had easy seen Daphne. That was quite smart of the girl, actually.
“Daughter.” The man said and saw the trunks. “Allow me to get those for you.”
Daphne smiled slightly and motioned for me to follow her off the train. “Thank you, father.”
The man nodded and we moved out of the way and he used his wand to tap both trunks and they floated off of the train and hovered behind him.
I need to learn that spell. I thought and turned to see the woman give Daphne a quick hug in greeting.
“Shall we go?” The woman asked and led the girl away without waiting for a response.
“Come along, Mister Potter.” The man said and walked off behind them.
For some reason, I appreciated him not trying to endear me to him or smothering me with fake affection. It was a worry that I hadn’t expressed, probably because I didn’t want Daphne to laugh at me. She had given me a few lessons on proper public behavior for witches and wizards and I figured that it was only polite to adhere to them.
Of course, that made me wonder how I had acted before if this was the polite way to interact with people. Was I loud and boisterous like some of the other kids, like that family of redheads? Their loud voices were almost drowning out everyone else on the platform.
When I heard my own name being shouted by Ron the MoRon and his arms flailed and waved around, as if that alone would make me materialize out of the crowd near them, I sped up my walking and hid from sight on the other side of the trunks. The last thing I needed was to be mauled like them by the plump woman for saving her daughter.
The twin terrors doing so enthusiastically had been traumatic enough, thank you very much. They had set my recovery back by several days, according to the healer Daphne hired, and all extraneous visits had been restricted after that. Was it worth it? I honestly couldn’t decide if going through it once was enough to stop all future similar events. Why hadn’t visits already been restricted?
The woman and Daphne reached the public floo and joined the short line. It only took seconds for parents and children to leave with their trunks and it looked both scary and exciting. However, everyone’s faces didn’t show anything of the sort and they just went through the motions. Just before it was our turn and we reached the large fireplace that spouted green flames when used, Daphne’s father put a hand on my shoulder.
“Since my daughter has informed us that your memory is damaged, I need to remind you how to use the floo.” The man said and then told me exactly how to use the thing.
Take a pinch of powder, step into the fireplace, call out the destination, throw the powder down, and it would spin me like a top to take me there. As soon as the spinning slowed down, I was to take a step as if entering a room and to keep walking to clear the way for him.
I thanked him for the sound advice and he cancelled the spell on the trunks and handed me mine.
“It’s best to stand it on its end to give you enough room for your elbows.” He warned me and I nodded and did so. We both ignored the thumps and tinkles from inside of it and I called out our destination.
“Greengrass Estates.” I said and tossed the pinch of powder down.
The flames engulfed me and the spinning was dizzying for a few seconds, until I closed my eyes and tried to take a calming breath. Soot and ash filled my mouth and I started coughing. I was glad to be holding my trunk tightly, or I would have doubled over and probably whacked my head off of the many exits of the floo network.
The spinning slowed and I followed the man’s advice and stepped out as if entering a room. I coughed loudly again and stumbled, set down the trunk, and fell to my knees as my body was wracked with a coughing fit so strong that my body shook with it. I suddenly felt like throwing up and my watering eyes caught the sight of a brass pot with fireplace instruments in it.
I scrambled over to it and emptied the contents of my stomach inside as I hugged the thing. Coughing and throwing up was not a pleasant sensation at the best of times and I stayed there for several minutes as my body decided it wanted to be completely empty before it could recover.
A delicate hand lightly touched my back and I flinched and threw up again. After a moment, it rubbed my back in slow circles.
“I apologize, Mister Potter. I neglected to tell you to hold your breath after you threw the powder down.” A man’s voice said and he did sound sorry.
“At least he didn’t sprawl across the floor or dropped his trunk.” The woman said, amused.
“Mother, please. He only left the hospital wing just this morning.” Daphne said and continued rubbing my back. “Harry, you’re going to be okay. Don’t let some stupid ash discourage you from using the floo. It’s the main means for people to move around and it’s faster and safer than the other ways.”
I nodded and kept coughing and dry heaving for another few minutes before my gag reflex calmed down and stopped forcing my stomach to empty itself. A glass of water was offered and I took it gratefully. Not to drink, though. I swished some water around in my mouth, spit it out into the brass pot, gargled with some more water, spit that out as well, and then I sat back on the floor.
My eyes saw something shocking and I stared at the now quite full brass pot. “How in the world did I have that much in my belly?”
The brass pot wasn’t small by any means and it could very well spill at any moment, since it wasn’t designed to hold liquids with some solids mixed in. The fireplace instruments had been removed at some point and I must have been too busy crying and throwing up to notice.
“Allow me.” Daphne’s mother said with a chuckle and waved her wand at it. The contents disappeared to leave the brass pot completely empty. Another swish and point had the thing spotlessly clean.
I need to learn those spells, too. I thought as an embroidered napkin was handed to me.
I accepted it and dabbed at my mouth, then I rubbed off my chin before I folded the napkin and wiped at my eyes to dry my face. I let out a sigh at the ash smears on the expensive cloth when I was done. My face must have been a bigger mess than I thought it was and I wasn’t sure what to do about that or what to do with the dirty napkin.
“I’ll take it.” A girl’s voice said and the napkin was plucked from my hand.
I looked up in surprise and all I saw was a young girl’s back as she ran away and her soft shoes barely made any noise on the marble floor. Her long blonde hair was in a braid that looked elaborate and time consuming to do.
“Tori!” Daphne gasped and the other girl’s laugh drifted back to us before a door slammed shut. “Mother? Could you…”
“You know how she gets, dear.” The woman denied, her voice still full of amusement.
“Yes, irritating.” Daphne groused. She was knelt beside me and her face changed to show concern for me. “Harry, are you okay?”
I had the perfect thing to say in answer to that. “If facing a 60 foot basilisk didn’t do me in, a bunch of soot in my lungs is barely a concern.”
The two adults stiffened in response to that and Daphne let out a soft groan.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused.
“I haven’t gotten around to telling them about what happened.” Daphne said.
“What? Why not?” I asked, still confused. “It’s been weeks since it happened and they cured everyone that was petrified.”
“Excuse me.” The man said, his voice like ice. “What’s this about people being petrified?”
Daphne blinked her eyes for a moment, then she narrowed them and stood up as she placed a supporting hand on my shoulder and faced her parents. “Mother, father, check me for compulsion charms.”
Both parents gained the same narrow look as their wands moved and both Daphne and I glowed a soft green. The woman waved her wand and a piece of paper appeared and she used a quill and ink to write the results down, then she did a small complicated gesture with her wand and both green glows snapped and disappeared.
Daphne sucked in a sharp breath and let it out. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Unlike her, I didn’t have any sudden realizations or regained any memories, or recalled any details that the compulsion charms had stopped me from recalling and telling anyone else about them. At least, that was how Daphne described it. Just listening to her gave me a lot of insights about exactly what the old me had gotten up to the last two years.
“I really am idiot.” I said when Daphne was done telling her parents everything about the events that happened during both first year and second year.
“You were sorted into Griffindor for a reason.” Daphne said in commiseration. I could hear the sympathy and pity in her voice, too.
“Does that mean I can be resorted, now that I’m not who I used to be?” I asked.
All three people looked surprised and then thoughtful.
“This could set a new precedent.” Daphne’s father said after a minute. “Perhaps… if I bring it up at the next school governor’s meeting…”
“We have other things to worry about, dear.” Daphne’s mother said and patted his arm.
“Right, right.” He said and motioned to my trunk on its side and Daphne’s beside it. “Check them over for damage and have Hoppy move them to your rooms.”
Daphne and I nodded and she helped me put mine upright and I opened it to see several glass shards. I wasn’t concerned, since they were empty. It was just going to take time to remove the shards from my clothing.
“Harry, where’s your broom?” Daphne asked.
“Broom? What broom?” I asked and her eyes widened.
“Daphne?” Her father asked.
“He’s supposed to have a Nimbus 2000.” Daphne said and her father’s eyes widened as well.
“Check the entire trunk. A teacher might have shrunken it or something.” He said and both Daphne and I started pulling things out and unrolling socks to check.
“I’m not seeing your money pouch, either!” Daphne gasped when we reached the bottom of the trunk.
“I’m calling the Aurors.” Daphne’s father said with finality and went to the fireplace to kneel in front of it as he used a small pinch of floo powder and stuck his head into the fire. “Ministry of Magic, DMLE!”
A one sided conversation happened before Daphne’s father pulled his head back and stood. His wife used the cleaning spell on his face and he thanked her just as two Aurors in red robes stepped out of the fireplace.
“Mister Potter, we heard you’ve been robbed.” The tall black bald man said and the other man took out a piece of parchment and started writing. “Can you tell us what’s missing?”
“His expensive broom, his money pouch, and all of his new books have been replaced with second and third hand ones, except for the Lockhart ones.” Daphne said. “Oh, and his school robes are threadbare and frayed and all of his normal clothes are little more than rags.”
All the adults exchanged knowing looks.
“We’ll need the names of your dorm mates. They had the easiest access to your trunk during your stay in the hospital wing.” The tall black man said.
“You don’t need all of them.” Daphne said with a scowl and both Aurors were going to protest until she spoke again. “You only need one. His jealous ex-best mate, Ron Weasley.”
“MoRon?” I asked and Daphne’s scowl disappeared as she fought to not laugh. “Why would he take my things?”
“Because he could.” Daphne said. “At least he doesn’t have your vault key.”
“My what?” I asked and Daphne’s and every adult’s face paled.
“We need to head right back to the Ministry to get Arthur Weasley.” The black man said and his partner nodded. “Don’t worry, Mister Potter. We’ll have this sorted out as soon as possible.”
“Thank you.” I said and both men disappeared into the fire after calling the same destination.
“Don’t bother repacking your trunk, dear.” Daphne’s mother said to me. “Just move it off to the side there and we’ll repack when you get your things back.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I said and easily picked up the mostly empty trunk and put it at the side of the room as Daphne pretty much kicked the clothing over and her mother stacked the books into a pile and levitated them over to beside the trunk.
“It might take a while for them to do their investigation.” Daphne’s father said and motioned down the nearby hallway. “Show Mister Potter to the guest room.”
“The previous guest room.” Daphne corrected and took my hand, which was against her usual behavior. “I’ll show you where you’re going to sleep from now on and where the bathroom is.”
“Is it an ensuite?” I asked, curiously.
“What’s that?” Daphne asked as she led me down the hallway.
“That means there’s a full bathroom in a side room attached to the bedroom.” I said and heard several whispered words behind me that said it was a great idea and would save them a lot of time in the mornings.
“Oh, that would be a dream to have.” Daphne said wistfully with a smile on her face. “I wouldn’t have to share one with the little menace anymore.”
“I heard that!” A girl’s muffled voice shouted from a room down the hallway.
Daphne rolled her eyes and opened the first door on the left side. “This is my room and no you can’t have it.”
I had to smile at that, then I saw the view out the large windows and knew why she wanted to keep it.
“Being the heiress of my family has some perks that I don’t mind.” Daphne said, preening a little.
I nodded and she led me around and showed me her favorite things, a few she hid with a blush without telling me what they were, and then she led me back out and across the hallway and opened the door.
“This is your room.” Daphne said and bought me inside. The large trees I could see out through the smaller windows gave the back yard an enclosed feeling and I was sure there were many times their family spent out there to enjoy the solitude.
The room itself was a soft blue color, with white accents in the crown moulding and window frames, with the large bed taking up a good portion of the room itself. A closet and a dresser were the only other items inside and gave the room an unfinished look.
Daphne saw the look on my face and knew what it meant. “You can add things to make it more yours, of course. It’s your room, after all.”
I nodded and walked over to the bed, still holding her hand, and sat down. Daphne sat beside me and looked around for a moment, then she looked back at my face. Instead of saying anything, she just sat there and looked at me. She wasn’t staring, though. She was giving me her undivided attention.
“Your eyes are as captivating as you claim mine are.” I commented. The icy-blue color made her look like those wolf dogs they had in the arctic that pulled sleds. It made her look both pretty and dangerous, too. How the hell I remembered facts like that and nothing important about myself was beyond me, though.
Daphne’s face flushed red. “You’re not supposed to say it like that.”
I tilted my head slightly at the qualification. “How should I have said it?”
Daphne opened her mouth, closed it, and looked thoughtful for several minutes. “I think I need to include some other important information in our lessons I didn’t realize you lacked.”
I smiled in response. “I appreciate it, Daphne. Thank you.”
Daphne blushed again at my gratitude and started another lesson, this one was about appropriate comments to make when in the company of the female persuasion and how to word the things I said to not make it sound like I was complimenting myself as well. Compliments weren’t supposed to be ambiguous, apparently.
*
The Burrow, the home of the Weasley family, was in a huge uproar. Several Aurors were searching through everything as they looked for stolen property. Molly Weasley, the matriarch of the family, screeched for several minutes at the invasion and the destruction.
Arthur Weasley tried to quiet her, only to be completely unsuccessful. Why completely? Because one of the Aurors placed her into custody for interfering in an investigation and was silenced at first, then she was stunned and left on the floor when she tried to physically stop them from doing their jobs. With a sigh, Arthur left her there in case the Aurors thought he was trying to escape with her if he moved her.
The children had been rounded up in ones and twos as the Aurors spread out to the other floors to search for the evidence and they were brought down to the kitchen. The four of them protested being manhandled like they were, quite loudly in fact. For the first time in forever, it was Arthur that shouted at them to be quiet and said that everything would be explained as soon as the Aurors were done.
Raising his voice for the first time in their presence had shut the children up quicker than anything else he could have done. The shock and awe on their faces was clear to see and the Auror assigned to watch the witnesses, a pretty Auror with bubblegum pink hair, barely managed to hide her laugh at their reaction.
The first piece of evidence brought into the house was a broom covered in dirt and grime. A swish of the Auror’s wand cleaned up the handle and the engraved lettering of Nimbus was revealed. The youngest child and only girl, Ginny Weasley, gasped and immediately knew what was going on.
“RON!” Ginny shouted and whirled around to glare at his red face.
Ron looked embarrassed as his brothers George, Fred, and Percy also turned to glare at him. “I didn’t…” He stopped talking when another Auror came down the stairs with an armful of school uniforms.
“How could you?!?” Ginny asked in an accusing voice.
“He can’t remember anything!” Ron defended himself. “Why should I let someone else take everything? I’m his best mate!”
Arthur sighed and covered his face with a hand. “You can’t just help yourself to Harry’s things, Ron. No matter how good of a friend you are to him, you’re always supposed to ask to borrow them.”
“He never said anything before when I took his stuff!” Ron stupidly admitted.
“He probably didn’t know his best mate constantly went into his trunk and stole his things.” George said, sadly.
“I’m starting to regret defending you when people called you MoRon.” Fred said in disgust.
“Hermione was right about you, wasn’t she?” Ginny asked.
Ron didn’t respond and two more Aurors came down, one with a very light money pouch and a silvery silk like cloak in his hands, and the other carried expensive dragonhide gloves and a stack of practically new books.
Percy looked scandalized at the clear evidence and knew for sure that his little brother was a no good thief. It also made him wonder where some of his stashed away money had disappeared to when he lost it, now that he thought it hadn’t been so much as lost as it had been taken.
“Mark down how much is left in the pouch, the extremely expensive Invisibility cloak, and the names of the books, Auror Tonks.” The tall black man said and handed her the practically empty pouch and hung the cloak over her shoulder.
“You got it, Auror Kingsley.” Tonks said, knowing she had to be more professional to make sure that none of the other Aurors thought she was being soft on the Weasleys, even if they were a predominately light family. Every family had a black sheep somewhere and it seemed like they had found another one.
The Weasley family watched as she dumped out the pouch into her palm and only found a single gold galleon, 7 silver sickles, and 2 bronze knuts.
“Wow, you really cleaned him out, didn’t you?” Tonks asked Ron as the Auror with the books discreetly cast a temporary compulsion spell to speak and feel happy, which was a modified cheering charm solely used by the Aurors to encourage a suspect to talk.
“He wasn’t using it.” Ron said with a shrug and a smile, as if he got away with something. “He can’t remember anything anyway. He’ll never know there was 38 galleons, 26 sickles, and 55 knuts or that I’ve been sneaking them away all year.”
All of his siblings stared at him as if he was an idiot. His father just rubbed his own face in frustration.
“That’s impressive.” Tonks praised and Ron stood a little straighter. “How much did you manage to take last year?”
“He was a lot more careful last year and I only got 15 galleons, 20 sickles, and 30 knuts.” Ron admitted and both Fred and George slapped hands to their foreheads. “Even if he noticed, which he didn’t, he wouldn’t have said anything, anyway. I’m Harry’s best mate and he trusts me.”
“Not anymore.” Ginny whispered.
Tonks wrote everything down, added the book titles and their estimated cost, then the cloak, gloves, clothes, and the broom. When she put the total down, her eyes widened slightly and she schooled her face as she signed it, had the other Auror sign as a witness, and he folded it and tapped it with his wand. It duplicated and a Ministry of Magic owl flew in through the window and landed on his arm.
“Thanks, Gertrude.” He said and handed the owl a treat. It hooted at him in thanks and he tied the copy to her leg. It flew away and he put the original into his pocket and set the books on the table beside Tonks. “I’ll hand the record to Kingsley.”
Tonks nodded and was left alone in the kitchen with the Weasley family. As soon as the man was out of sight, Ron became the sole focus of angry rants and complaints, most of which he shrugged off and ignored. He told them that he was in the right to claim Harry’s things before anyone else did. As his best friend, he should have had first dibs anyway.
Arthur Weasley knew he had done something wrong when raising his youngest son when he heard that and stepped close to tell him off for it, then all of the Aurors entered the kitchen and placed Ron in handcuffs. Arthur opened his mouth to complain that petty theft wasn’t an arrestable offence and stopped when cuffs were placed on his wrists, too.
“What are you doing to my family?!?” Ginny shrieked in a fair imitation of her mother.
Kingsley Shacklebolt held up two bronze vault keys. “Only one of these belong to the Weasley family.”
“Why wouldn’t Mum have the key?” Ron asked. “She bought Harry’s school things for him.”
“She’s kept it for a whole year?” Kingsley asked, surprised.
“Harry didn’t need it while in school.” Ron said scathingly, as if the Auror was being an idiot. “She was just keeping it safe for him until he needed it.”
“That’s not for her to decide.” Kingsley said, his voice hard.
“Harry’s as close to being one of us as our own son.” Arthur offered.
Most people thought he was a simpleton and not much of a thinker. It wasn’t true, since it took a lot of spell knowledge to counter the things that wizards and witches did to muggle artifacts. It was the artifacts themselves that he didn’t understand, since he was a pureblood wizard.
His idea was to use his words to try and mitigate the damage this event was going to cause him and his family. Even if he was sure that Molly hadn’t taken any money out of Harry’s vault for herself, just having the key in her possession, without being his guardian or a family member, was enough to see them seen as untrustworthy and possibly ostracized.
The worst part about that was Harry himself no longer had any memories about them, their good nature, or how much they cared about the boy. His treatment at their home the summer before was forgotten and there was no basis at all for him to come to their defense or to forgive their actions.
Molly was cuffed as well and Percy was left in charge as the three cuffed criminals were taken through the floo network to the Ministry of Magic. They were placed in separate holding cells and Arthur hoped that Molly didn’t freak out again when she woke up. When he thought about that, he sighed and accepted the fact that none of them were being released anytime soon.
In all the hubbub during the search of the Burrow, no one noticed a lone rat escaping through a crack in the wall and fleeing across the lawn. It didn’t want to be discovered and caught, so it scrambled to get away. Unfortunately, he wasn’t watching where he was going and ran right into a large group of Garden Gnomes.
“FOOOOOOOD!” They all yelled at the same time and dove for him.
The rat squeaked in terror, voided its bowels, and tried to run. He was not anywhere quick enough to escape gnomes that had been dealing with the Weasley Twins for years. He was quickly caught and torn apart, each of his limbs claimed by a different gnome, and the torso and head were separated and the leader happily crunched his stone-like teeth through the rat’s tiny skull to get at the tasty brains.
*
I woke up in a very nice bed and wondered where I was. It took me a few seconds to remember I had been spirited away by Daphne Greengrass and her family and I was now safely ensconced inside their mansion. I also remembered her words about not trusting anyone and wondered if that also applied to her family.
“What happened to your scar?” A soft female voice asked from beside the bed.
I blinked his eyes open and turned my head to see the face of the small girl I had seen briefly the night before. By her age, she would be starting Hogwarts this year, so I was about two years older than her. “Tori?”
The girl huffed. “Only my stupid sister calls me that. My name is Astoria.”
“I’m sorry.” I said and sat up and stretched. My back popped loudly and I felt relief flood through me as the slight tension in my back muscles faded away.
Astoria gasped and hopped in fright at the sound.
I had to chuckle at her reaction. “The healers said the large amount of Skele-grow I had to take in the hospital wing worked hard to fix the unnatural bend in my back from sleeping in a cupboard. If it hadn’t been treated, it would have become a permanent slouch and I’d stay this short forever.” I explained. “It’s going to pop like that until I hit a growth spurt and the bones in my spine spread out a bit.”
Astoria looked horrified and tears came to her eyes. “Oh, Harry!”
I wasn’t prepared for her to jump on me and hug me, so I toppled backwards from her lunge and we rolled over and ended up in a pile on the other side of the bed. Thankfully, the bed was huge and we didn’t end up on the floor. It could have been painful if we had, since the floors were hardwood.
Astoria clung onto me and cried her eyes out for a minute or two, then she let out a soft sound and fell asleep. I assumed the excitement was too much for her and she fainted or something. I tried to shake her shoulder, only for her to not react besides holding onto me tighter.
I let out a sigh and did my best to move the both of us into a more comfortable position. I felt it was prudent that I should try to go back to sleep as well, since I had no idea when someone else would show up to save me from Astoria’s vice-like grip.
What seemed like a very short time later and must have been hours, a dainty hand shook my shoulder. I felt groggy instead of snapping awake like the last time and I needed a moment to come to my senses. As I did so, I saw the stern look on Daphne’s face as she glared at how I was cuddling with her sister. Instead of explaining what actually happened, I asked her a question.
“Does your sister assault all of your house guests?”
Daphne lost the glare and sighed. “Surprisingly, yes.”
“Oh, I thought I was special and it was just me.” I said, a little cheekily.
“Well, you are the Boy-Who-Lived.” Daphne said with a small smile.
“Lovely.” I wanted to roll my eyes and barely stopped myself. “I could use some help.”
Daphne nodded and looked down at her sister’s clinging hands, looked thoughtful for a moment, then smirked evilly and dove her hands into her sister’s armpits and tickled her.
“BAHAHAHA!” Astoria loudly laughed and let me go as she tried to fight her sister off. She had been pretending to be asleep and listening to us, apparently.
I escaped by rolling back over to the other side of the bed and climbed off and stood on the floor. Daphne let her sister go and Astoria’s laughing slowed down to a soft giggle.
“Breakfast is ready.” Daphne said and looked over at me. “Casual dress, since it’s just my family. We will have to go shopping soon to replace the rags you own with actual clothing.”
I nodded. “My only objection is I’m entering puberty soon and we should buy a size or two larger, just in case.”
Daphne raised her eyebrows at me for a moment, then her face showed she just realized something. “You bought all of your school outfits from Madam Malkins.”
“I did?” I asked and smoothed out my pyjamas to be more presentable.
“It’s the commoner’s store.” Daphne said, as if it was a bad thing.
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows at her.
“Twilfitt and Tattings is the higher end store and they add resizing charms to their base clothing, so they always fit.” Daphne said and patted her own belly. “I’ve had these pyjamas for two years now and they still look brand new.”
“It’s well worth every knut.” Astoria said and sat up as she smoothed out her nightgown with her hands. “But, we also have many choices, so we don’t only have these things in our closet.”
“It cuts down on the wear and gives us lots of options when we have multiple copies of the same clothes in different colors and slightly different styles.” Daphne told me. “I can fill you in on more while we have breakfast.”
“I’d like that.” I said and walked around the bed to offer her my arm.
Daphne smiled slightly and accepted it. We walked across the bedroom and out into the hallway.
“Hey! He should be escorting me!” Astoria shouted and followed us. “I was here first!”
I thought about making her wait for lunch to have a turn and then stuck out my other elbow. “I do have a free arm here if you need it.”
Astoria beamed a smile at me and took it, then she practically skipped along beside us as we went down the hallway and down the stairs. Daphne looked like she was trying to not laugh at her sister as she led us into a large dining room that was both ornate and homey, with a well-lived in look and it still looked expensive.
“Good morning, dears.” Daphne’s mother said.
“Morning, mother!” Astoria said loudly.
“Good morning, mother.” Daphne said, much more demurely.
“Good morning, Mrs. Greengrass.” I said and sat Daphne at the table first, since she was the older sibling, then I sat Astoria beside her. I walked around the table to sit beside their mother.
The woman looked quite pleased at my actions. “You may call me Francesca in private, Mister Potter.”
“Thank you.” I said and bowed my head to her. “You may call me Harry.”
Mr. Greengrass entered the room and walked over to his wife to give her cheek a kiss, then he did the same to Daphne and Astoria. “You must have impressed my wife if she’s allowed you to call her that after only a single day.” He said and sat at the head of the table. “It would be unfair of me if I didn’t allow you the same courtesy myself.”
“Cygnus was quite happy to bring you into the family, Harry.” Francesca said as plates of piping hot food appeared on the table in front of everyone. “Daphne told us what happened to you.” She looked frustrated. “What Dumbledore let happen to the saviour of our world.” Her face smoothed out as she gazed at me with intent. “Once we knew, we had to step in to ensure you were properly educated in our ways and traditions.”
“They were as shocked as I was to learn you had no clue who you were, both before and after you lost your memory.” Daphne said and helped herself to a bread roll to tear into small strips and she dipped them into the yokes of her sunny-side up eggs. “Even if you weren’t the Boy-Who-Lived, being the sole member of your family is enough to put you near the top level of our society.”
“You’re also in line to inherit the Black family fortune.” Cygnus said.
“I am?” I asked, surprised. “I didn’t know I was related so closely to them.”
“You technically are not.” Francesca said with a small knowing smile.
So that’s where Daphne learned it. I thought and tasted the mashed potatoes my current diet required. They were creamy and whipped to a lightness that practically melted away as soon as it entered my mouth. I made an appreciative sound and took another spoonful.
“Your great grandmother was a Black, sister to the previous head of the Black Family, Arcturus. Dorea was her name and she married Charlus Potter.” Cygnus said beween bites of fluffy pancakes. “Both my wife and I have spent some time in the Ministry’s Archives digging up paperwork and things for the Potters. Old alliances, any defunct contracts, properties, and anything else that was rightfully yours and was denied to you.”
I appreciated the effort on my behalf and told them so. My expressing that seemed to make them both happy.
“It’s no trouble, dear.” Francesca said and patted my arm. “It was enjoyable and enlightening, both for the good and for the bad.”
I held in my sigh at that. “I assume you’re going to tell me my finances and fiscal wealth have been gutted?”
“In some respects, yes.” Cygnus said and chewed on a piece of bacon for several seconds before he swallowed. “All business contacts, shares, and other means of investments were all sold off for a pittance of their actual worth. Nearly all of the properties the Potters used to own were pretty much given to others and all rents and fees were lost.”
“Nearly?” I asked.
“The previous Potter Manor was burned down by fiendfyre during the last days of the war before you were born, your magical grandparents were murdered despite people claiming they died of Dragon Pox, and the house you lived in at Godric’s Hollow has been turned into a museum by the Ministry in honor of your family’s sacrifice, with no compensation given to you or your vaults.”
I was shocked to hear that. “How can they do that without my permission?”
“The same way they kidnapped you and stuck you with those filthy muggles.” Cygnus said, almost with a growl. “They even covered up your treatment at their hands and sealed the records of the investigation.”
“What? Why would they do that?” I asked.
“They were covering everything up as a favor to Dumbledore.” Francesca said and her hand rubbed my arm, as if that would calm me. “They claimed it was to protect you and all it’s doing is saving his reputation and their asses from being roasted for allowing him to dictate where you were raised without any oversight at all, which is supposed to be against the law.”
I had to think about that for a minute as we all ate in silence. “How do you know about it?”
“As your newly registered magical guardians, we were entitled to see the records and peruse the evidence, so we could know how to treat you going forward.” Francesca said and let my arm go to raise her hand towards my face.
I flinched for some reason and she looked sad, then she lightly touched my cheek and slid her hand up to rub her hand through my hair. It felt weird and uncomfortable, so I stayed stiff and didn’t move, and I didn’t know why. Francesca gave up after a few seconds and pulled her hand back. The sad look on her face didn’t go away for quite some time.
“I’ve already started proceedings to gain either compensation or to remove the cottage from Ministry custody. It was seized by them without replacing it or giving you the opportunity to repair it. It’s a family home, a wizarding one, and they had no right to claim it.” Cygnus said.
I thought about that. “Did they give you copies of the investigation?”
“Yes, they did. However, we swore an oath. We are not allowed to tell anyone about it outside the family.” Francesca said, sadly.
I let out a soft huff. “Then make another copy of the folder and leave it open on the dining room table. Invite someone from the newspaper, maybe even the editor himself, and tell him you can’t tell him about the biggest story of his career. Excuse yourself to the bathroom or something and leave for several minutes. If it’s still there when you come back, call Daphne in and only talk to her about the contents of the file.”
Cygnus, Francesca, Daphne, and Astoria stared at him like he was the most interesting thing in the world.
“I think I know where you’ll be sorted if we can get you properly learned up by September.” Daphne said, a little proudly.
“Hufflepuff?” I asked with the same small smile she used.
Astoria laughed pretty loudly and Daphne lightly swatted at her. She easily dodged and started eating again.
That broke the tension around the table and the meal progressed as Cygnus whispered with his wife about such an ingenious plan and how effective it could be if used properly. They could even slip a few other things into the file folder as well, including the gutting of the Potter family’s holdings after James Potter’s death.
That had left myself with liquid assets that were only a fraction of what they could have been if they had been kept going for the last 11 years. Rebuilding the family mansion would have been easily done with so many years of rent and profit to use. The words ‘flush with cash’ could have been applied to me if that had been the case.
Little did they realize their plans would result in much more chaos than they ever thought was possible. The first thing to change was confirmed when the Daily Prophet was delivered by an owl and it was given two knuts as payment by Cynus. The headline on the front page showed the Weasley family members being arrested for grand theft and line theft.
“It seems the Aurors were more efficient than I thought they would be.” Cygnus said as he quickly read it before he handed the paper to his wife.
Francesca softly chuckled as she saw the shocked face of Arthur Weasley as his son was sentenced to three years in Azkaban prison for stealing a family heirloom and items worth more than 1,000 galleons. She leaned to the side and held the paper for me to read about it as well.
“Their meeting me was arranged by Dumbledore?” I asked, surprised. Since I couldn’t remember it, it really was a surprise, and I wondered how it had been arranged.
“It seems so.” Francesca said. “Molly was there to meet you and lead you into the platform.”
My eyes widened when she pointed to a paragraph and I read it. It was scandalous!
“She also admitted she dosed her husband with love potion to get his attention back in school. She normally jokes about it in conversation, except it seems she kept occasionally dosing him to make sure he stayed interested in her.” Francesca explained. “Each dose resulted in one of their children, apparently.”
“Wow.” Astoria said, astonished. “How did they get her to admit to that?”
“She tried to take the full blame for Ronald’s behavior.” Cygnus responded. “Once she claimed responsibility, veritaserum had to be applied to verify her claims.”
“I thought purebloods were exempt from that.” Daphne said with a slight frown on her face.
“They usually are.” Cygnus said and then chuckled as well. “It would have been better to claim to be imperiused than actually admit you committed a crime in front of the Wizengamut.”
“Ah, that would have saved her some humiliation.” Daphne said with a nod.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“The crime would still be committed, only she wouldn’t be blamed. Being under the Imperius Curse automatically puts your suspicion into doubt, since you can’t control what you do while under its effects.” Daphne answered.
“But, who would have applied it to her?” I asked, a little confused.
“It doesn’t matter. The victim wouldn’t know and no one would ever admit to it, since it is an automatic life sentence in Azkaban if used on another person.” Cygnus said.
Francesca nodded and pointed to the last paragraph of the article. “Molly received ten years for line theft, since Arthur was dating a Hufflepuff in sixth year and he suddenly broke it off and started dating Molly.”
“What an idiot.” Daphne said with a huff. “She should have waited for them to have a fight, or caused one to happen from a misunderstanding, and then dosed him and kept her mouth shut about it. She never would have been caught if she had been more sneaky about it.”
“Is that how you would do it?” Astoria asked, her face showing a lot of interest.
Daphne gave her sister a smug look and then looked right at me. “If it came down to it and there was no other way to gain his interest, I would. As it stands, all I had to do was be patient. I gained the chance to do the same thing, only I would have told him about it, since I promised to be truthful about my manipulations with him.”
I nodded at that, because she really was completely honest with me.
“I’d say that’s not very Slytherin of you, except you’ve already proven that it’s the right track to get what you want.” Cygnus said and toasted her with his orange juice. “Well done, daughter.”
“Father.” Daphne said with a blush.
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel objectified as Daphne was praised for winning me. She had taken a golden opportunity to influence me and she was quite effective with it. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t objecting to it, though. Was it because it felt nice that someone had gone through so much effort to gain my favor?
Francesca let out a little laugh at her daughter’s embarrassment and used a hand to lightly rub my head. I had only flinched a little and she paused for a moment, then she ran her fingers through my hair.
“Harry, I know this seems a bit forward…” Francesca started to say.
“Madam, you are caressing my head as if I was a valued pet. I doubt what you say will be any more forward.” I said and her face flushed red. I had to chuckle at making her blush and she cutely huffed at me, which showed me where Daphne had learned the act from. Like mother, like daughter. I thought and smiled at her. She didn’t stop petting me, either.
“Your hair is almost feathery and light, which might explain why it’s like a bird’s nest when it’s so short.” Francesca said and played with it a little more. “What if you grew it out? Would it be tamed or would the nest only grow bigger?”
I did not miss the brief look of jealousy on Daphne’s face from her mother petting me like she was. “That is an idea.” I said and thought about it. “It will take months to grow it out enough for even preliminary tests, though.”
“Ha, try an hour.” Daphne said as she sat up straight. “We have a potions setup in the back room and the ingredients to brew a Manegro potion. It’s a first year potion and isn’t that difficult to do.”
“Oh! You can teach him how to make it and I can watch!” Astoria said, happily.
Francesca smiled at her enthusiasm. “That sounds like a good way to spend the morning.”
Daphne nodded and pushed her mostly empty plate away as she stood up. “Mister Potter, would you be so kind as to escort me to your first potions lesson?”
I stood and bowed slightly. “I would be honored to do so, Miss Greengrass.”
Both Cygnus and Francesca looked proud as I walked around the table and offered Daphne my arm. I escorted her out of the room with a practically skipping Astoria following behind us. She was really happy about learning things she wouldn’t be able to for at least another few months.
*
Barnabus Cuffe was a smart man. He almost never received a personal invitation to dine with a prominent family, especially one like the Greengrass family. He suspected it was because of the stories he approved his reporters to write and had published in the Daily Prophet about their newest ward, Harry Potter.
They were sensationalized a bit, since it sold papers faster, and kept their readers entertained. He only regretted a few things, like overzealous reporters giving away too many details and they couldn’t milk the story to have several articles published. Well, he couldn’t have everything always go his way, could he?
The meal was of much higher quality than he was used to, so he struggled a little to get it down and to keep it in his stomach. If he had half a mind to consider it, he would realize they had intentionally fed him unpalatable food on purpose to discourage him from accepting any follow-up meal offers.
When it was over, he was surprised when he was invited into the sitting room to chat. No one chatted with him. Ever. He was suspicious immediately and mentally put himself on guard, in case he was attacked, and he entered the ornate room with trepidation. Shadows seemed deeper, eyes seemed to look at him from the paintings, and he was sure a house elf was hiding under the couch.
“Please, sit.” Cygnus said and waved to the corner of the room where a small gathering area was. It had two comfortable chairs with a high wing-back style and a heavy coffee table between them. Several magazines and newspapers were on it, almost scattered haphazardly.
“Thank you.” Barnabus said and did so.
Cygnus sat across from him and reached for the Daily Prophet. “I have to say, I appreciated the colorful commentary that raked the Weasley family through the muck, as it were. It was impressive to…”
Barnabus barely heard a word the man said as his eyes had immediately caught sight of the edge of a very important file folder. The distinctive purple color was the same as the ones used in the Wizengamut, the Ministry of Magic’s legislative branch of the government. He had seen many of them in his dealings with various whistleblowers and he barely stopped himself from lunging for the thing.
“…we’re hoping the Aurors return Mister Potter’s personal effects soon.” Cygnus finished, just as a knock came on the door. He turned and looked. “Yes, what is it?”
The door opened and Daphne entered. “I’m sorry to interrupt, father. Astoria’s had another coughing fit and is asking for you.”
Cygnus sighed and nodded. He looked at Barnabus and hid his smirk at the man’s eyes that were still locked onto the mostly hidden and strategically placed file folder. “You must excuse me for several minutes, Mister Cuffe. My daughter needs my attention.”
Barnabus nodded several times and almost waved the other man way, just to get him out of the room quicker. He completely missed the satisfied look on the face of Cygnus as the man left the sitting room and shut the door.
The folder was carefully slid out from where it was hidden and Barnabus felt his eyebrows rise and his eyes widened as he skimmed through the documents inside the official folder. He couldn’t believe it. Albus Dumbledore pillaged the Potter holdings and spread their previous wealth among his fervent supporters!
He flipped the papers and found that it was Dumbledore that had squirrelled the Boy-Who-Lived away from the wizarding world in the first place and stuck him with magic-hating muggles for 12 years, then the government didn’t do anything against them when they found out, because Dumbledore and his friends covered the whole thing up. Gold even exchanged hands and it was Potter’s gold!
Barnabus set the open file folder down and copied only the sheets of parchment, since copying the folder itself was illegal. He stuffed the sheets into his coat and close the folder, after making sure nothing else was disturbed, then he very carefully slid the folder back under where it had been before. He didn’t notice he had dislodged a small piece of parchment put under the folder to show it had been moved.
The door opened and Cygnus came back inside the room. “I’m terribly sorry about the inerruption, Mister Cuffe.” He said and sat down across from the newspaper editor. He saw the moved paper and mentally smiled. He would check for the copy spell after the man left. “Where were we?”
“I apologize as well, Mister Greengrass. I just remembered I have a pressing matter to attend to and to finish the layout for the morning edition. I need to go and deal with that.” Barnabus lied and stood. “I humbly thank you for the meal.”
Cygnus stood and shook the man’s hand. “I’ll show you out.”
Barnabus barely kept his composure as he left by floo and stumbled out into the office at the newspaper. He plopped down onto the chair behind his desk and took out the pieces of parchment he had copied and smoothed them out. “I have so much work to do!” He said eagerly and did just that.
*
Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge read the latest edition of the Daily Prophet and knew his career as a politician was over. The newspaper had printed all of the illicit bribes he and members of his administration had accepted in order to gut a prominent family of their considerable wealth. Selling buildings and business shares for knuts on the galleon had been too blatant for anyone else to accept.
When it was revealed that a considerable amount of the current Malfoy’s family wealth was because of ripping off the Boy-Who-Lived and his inheritance, as well as everyone that supported Albus Dumbledore gaining apartments and controlling interests in various businesses, the entire public was up in arms over it.
The Ministry confiscating the Potter Cottage as a monument had been considered the least despicable thing done to the famous boy. The things Harry Potter had done at school were horrific for a grown wizard to go through and he had done them at 11 and then at 12. That was 2 years in a row that the boy had saved everyone in the school, and they had all treated him horribly because he could speak to snakes.
The newspaper clarified the biggest sticking point, though. If nothing was done to reverse everything, or to compensate the boy for pillaging his inheritance, Harry Potter could claim all of the life debts he was owed by everyone in the wizarding world and the double life debts owed to him by the students in the castle. A basilisk could have killed them all if the perpetrator hadn’t been stopped by him.
Fudge didn’t bother trying to do anything, though. His career was already ruined with the people calling for his head and Albus Dumbledore’s arrest, with their removal from all their positions as a side effect, especially removing Albus as headmaster. Everyone in the school had been in danger from the man’s complete negligence and uncaring attitude for the students that he was supposed to be protecting.
The Minister of Magic penned his resignation and grabbed his green bowler hat, slipped his travelling cloak over his shoulders, and left the office. When his secretary tried to stop him when he passed her desk, he loudly said she was fired as his last act as Minister. She was to leave the building immediately and to not steal anything.
The Aurors assigned to guard him, one of them his nephew, grabbed the short woman’s arms and carried her over to the elevator. Fudge didn’t speak to the ranting woman for the entire ride to the lobby and then he strode to the fireplaces like his own butt was on fire. Just as he flung some floo powder down into the flames, Amelia Bones came out of the second elevator.
“Stop him!” Amelia gasped and pointed at him.
Fudge smirked at getting away from her and whispered his destination. He was glad he had most of his money in a personal vault under a fake name, so there was no way she could rob him of all the funds he had earned.
Little did he know that his wife was smarter than him. She had taken the key that morning, emptied the vault, filed papers for divorce with the goblins, and fled the country with his own illegal portkey.
Fudge himself would be apprehended an hour later. His hastily packed suitcase was tossed aside as he dejectedly walked out of the bank after finding all of that out. He didn’t protest being manhandled by Kingsley or said anything in his defense at his speedy trial. The sentence was 10 years in Azkaban and he went without a word.
It wasn’t until he reached his cell, and a Dementor paid him a visit, that he realized he should have included his wife in his escape plans instead of planning to leave her behind.
*
Albus Dumbledore revealed his reasons for treating the Potter Heir like garbage the next day at his own trial. He needed Harry weak and pliable to mould him into a proper sacrifice to give to Voldemort and complete a prophecy. When the specific wording was told to the Wizengamut, he was berated for being so stupid to remove all of the financial resources from the savior of the wizarding world.
Albus tried to explain that there was no way to train Harry to Voldemort’s standard to fight him on an even playing field, so letting all that wealth and knowledge go to waste when Harry died was stupid. Albus used it for its intended purpose and spread it around, to make many people very happy, and Harry would have understood and accepted it if Gilderoy Lockhart’s memory wipe had not worked.
It took less than an hour for Albus to be sentenced to death. It might have been bribes, or the influence of the death eaters hiding in plain sight, or the people finally seeing him for the dark lord he really was. Under his influence, the innocent suffered and the guilty ran free. As he was tossed through the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries, there were satisfied looks on everyone’s faces.
The Dumbledore accounts were wholly handed over to Harry Potter as compensation, as were most of the assets and deeds for various buildings and businesses. After so long in other people’s hands, nothing less than complete ownership would have been proper.
One of the upsides to it all was that the Malfoy family was gutted and their wealth was split between Harry Potter and the Black family accounts, which meant Harry received it anyway. Lucius Malfoy had seen the train wreck coming and losing his fortune, so he had poison slipped into Sirius Black’s food.
With him dead, Lucius could claim the Black family assets on behalf of his wife’s son, Draco Malfoy, the last Black by blood. Narcissa was a first cousin to Sirius and had the strongest claim, or so they thought.
It was just too bad Lucius didn’t know that Sirius had made Harry Potter his heir when he became his godfather back in 1980. That meant his plan backfired, quite spectacularly, and he was arrested when the prison guard didn’t receive his payment for the service of feeding Sirius an extra special meal.
The guard now had a cell in the very prison he guarded and Lucius was given the Dementor’s Kiss for murdering the head of an Ancient and Noble family. Narcissa fled the country with Draco, against the young man’s wishes, and they were never seen again.
If anyone had bothered to check, and they never did, they would have found out that the boy’s self-entitled behavior had revealed who they were barely a few days later while in the wrong crowd. Both of them had been killed for being associated with British terrorists and their deaths covered up and their bodies disposed of.
The other upside was that the magical public dealt with the Dursleys and no one ever found out about it. Officially, anyway. There was plenty of evidence and many witnesses, only not one person admitted to seeing anything or having anything to do with the public lynching. The bodies were quickly buried in an unmarked grave and the incident was never spoken of again.
*
I read the latest newspaper while between lessons on magical theory. The school would be delayed opening by a month, because half of the teachers had been compromised by Albus Dumbledore’s indoctrination. Some were so loyal to him that they wouldn’t believe he was responsible for the things the newspaper claimed, even with the proof right in front of their faces.
“We’ll have enough time to have you up to speed.” Daphne said as she lightly ran her fingers through my long wavy hair. Apparently, the bird’s nest I used to have when my hair was short, was my hair trying its best to curl itself without the means to do so.
“I can’t believe they arrested Professor Snape!” Astoria said and pointed to the picture of the man’s scowl as he was dragged between two Aurors.
“The school governors aren’t under Malfoy’s and Dumbledore’s thumbs anymore, so they can’t force the board to keep the ponce in his prominent position.” Daphne said with a huff as she wrote down something she wanted to point out to me in the next lesson.
“I thought you liked him?” I asked and looked away from the newspaper to look into her eyes.
“He’s a wonderful head of house and did that job well.” Daphne said and scratched out a sentence and wrote a correction under it. “He’s horrible as a teacher, though. Even the sixth and seventh years taking NEWT potions can’t stand his methods.”
“He’s a brilliant potioneer, though.” Astoria said and leaned into my side. “Harry? Could you?”
I rolled my eyes at her and let the newspaper go to put an arm half around her and lightly scratched her back through the silky cloth of her nightgown with my trimmed nails. Astoria shivered and then started to purr like a cat as my hand made steady motions up and down her spine.
“You know, you shouldn’t encourage indentured servitude.” Daphne said to me and then gave her sister a glare. “He is my boyfriend.”
Astoria didn’t bother opening her eyes as she rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re busy and he’s too nice to say no.”
I almost snorted and let out a soft chuckle. “She does have a point, I suppose.”
“She’s just trying to convince you to give her one of your shares in our father’s potion ingredient company.” Daphne said. “She’ll trade it to father to bribe him to let her go shopping in London for new outfits that he has to pay for.”
“It’s a valid strategy.” Astoria said and cuddled in as she wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’ll coerce you after lunch, though. You’re too warm and comfy for me to concentrate on seducing you right now.”
To my surprise, Daphne let out a very unladylike snort and she had to turn away to muffle her laugh. “You… seduce…”
“Hey, I have cuteness and adorableness on my side.” Astoria defended herself and rubbed her cheek on my chest. “What do you have?”
“Breasts.” Daphne responded before she could stop herself or thought about her response, then she blushed to a bright red. She had been so used to arguing with Astoria that she forgot I was right there.
Astoria barked a laugh and then giggled at her reaction. I myself was surprised, then I realized she was so comfortable with me around that she had been acting normally with Astoria and wasn’t trying to be reserved with me there.
I reached out to take Daphne’s hand and her head whipped around to stare at me. I gave her a genuine smile and her blush didn’t fade. “Thank you.”
Daphne didn’t say anything and only nodded. I could see in her eyes that she knew what I was thanking her for, so I nodded back and turned my head to place a small kiss on Astoria’s forehead. She let out a happy sigh and snuggled in tighter.
Whatever my life had been before, it was gone. I was who I am now and my life was one that I would do everything to protect. The people in it were sneaky, underhanded, and sometimes cruel… to other people. If you were considered family, they would do everything they could to help you.
My name was Harry James Potter and I was the Boy-Who-Lived. My girlfriend and I would soon show the world what true Slytherins could do with immense wealth and political power.
