Chapter 13: Things are Out of Hand
Harry parked the car near the Leaky Cauldron and got out. The streets seemed a bit livelier than the last time he had seen them; news must get around fast among wizards.
He remembered the last time he was here, hiding Carrie, Pierce and Miranda – muggles – within magical walls. He supposed it only made sense that he was still breaking the rules the next time he approached the building – after all, he technically had a convict hidden in his car. It was still raining, but that didn't bother him; a single warming charm from Tracy had made him feel better last time – and, it seemed to be the only way to make his hair lie flat for once. It was an interview that he was going to, after all.
He gave Ginny a drink and instructions to stay inside the car. Maria rubbed her head against Ginny's hand when the redhead nodded reluctantly. Daphne, Astoria and Tracy all stepped out and followed Harry into the pub.
Now, Harry knew the potential downsides and pitfalls to going public. Fame was a fickle thing, and it was so easy for the public to turn on you, especially if you already had a record.
So he had thought about what he was going to say to Skeeter very carefully on the way down. He'd known from the start that breaking Ginny Weasley out of prison was a risky gamble, and it would pit him against Lucius Malfoy, who was a member of the Wizamgot and a highly respected aristocrat.
While Harry was famous, he was also a troublemaker and had been accused of hurting the other students. The current minister catered to Malfoy extensively, and there were a lot of people in that man's pocket. It put Harry at a disadvantage if Malfoy should decide to accuse him of something.
The only way his words would have weight against Malfoy's was if he went public – loud and fast. So that's what he was doing.
If there was one thing that the public ate up, it was images...if he said his words correctly, they would eat up that image and he could continue to keep his advantage in the strange world he was in.
Besides, he didn't have to tell them everything...just everything he felt they needed to know.
At any rate, women ate up the 'troubled but cute' image. He knew this for a fact; there were a couple girls a block away who would let him get away with murder because of it.
Harry just thought about the letter he was going to send Carrie and the others as they weaved their way through the animatedly chatting patrons, looking for Rita. The lights were overly bright, just like last time, though it could be because it was getting late. There was all kinds of talk of what was going on inside Hogwarts; people were discussing it over beer. He heard at least one father declare that he was having his twins transferred elsewhere. It didn't surprise him, though he missed the kid's names. He spotted Ginny's classmate Meghan Rushman sitting next to her father, who was talking rapidly; perhaps she was being pulled too.
"There she is," Tracy pulled Harry out of his thoughts, pointing to a nearby table. Sure enough, Rita Skeeter was sitting with a mug of butterbeer and her trademark quill, exactly on time just like them. She was wearing a ridiculous amount of glitter, but Harry didn't care about her appearance. He cared about her ability to write a story.
"Be careful what you tell her," Astoria said warningly, "I heard about Rita from my parents; when she hears a story she likes to alter things with her quill when she deems them a more 'interesting' translation of what you're saying. She's ruined a dozen careers by doing so, and she's not very fond of Dumbledore."
"Neither am I, right now." Harry responded. "And I think my soap opera of a life will give her exactly what she wants, alterations or no. Besides, this stuff was going to get out, one way or another. Better for it to come straight from my own mouth than from someone less worried about what might happen to us."
Daphne nodded reluctantly and the four of them made their way over to Rita's table.
Rita beamed at them and offered them butterbeer. Harry accepted it and eased into his chair opposite to her. "Well, I must say, it's a pleasure to finally meet the boy-who-lived," she said cheerfully, "You've been the toast of our world ever since you were one year old."
"So I've heard," Harry responded. "Wish my aunt and uncle had the same high opinion of me. It was weird seeing strangely dressed people bowing to me in the stores and stuff. And after what happened at school I've been wondering if I should be moving somewhere more safe."
"Moving?" Rita asked in feigned shock. "Away from Britain?"
Harry offered her an indecisive shrug. "It hasn't been the safest environment."
"Certainly the last few months have been alarming ones. Have you heard? The Heir of Slytherin escaped custody just before she was taken to Azkaban. The aurors were attacked by a muggle gang, of all things." Rita leaned forward a bit. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Harry met her gaze evenly, smirked a bit and said, "Not a clue, miss. But really; do you honestly believe that an eleven-year-old girl from a family who was staunchly against Voldemort during the last war is the Heir of Slytherin?" His grin widened slightly when he saw Rita wince at the name.
"You think little miss Ginny Weasley was framed?" Rita asked curiously.
"Do I think?" Harry rolled his eyes. "I was there; I saw the actual Heir, I fought his monster. Ginny was out cold, barely clinging to life, the entire time. I touched her – she was solid, not an illusion. So unless there's two of her, I don't see how she could have done it."
"Then who is the actual Heir, Harry Potter?" Rita asked, leaning in. "Perhaps you, hero of the Chamber incident, can tell the world what really happened?"
"That's what we're here for," Harry nodded to indicate Daphne, Astoria and Tracy. "To tell you what our Headmaster and some of the Board of Governors are overlooking."
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You-Know-Who, Living Memory, Heir of Slytherin! Harry Potter, Abused Hero!
By Rita Skeeker
As most of you are undoubtedly aware, for the last four months our children had been ruthlessly attacked within the walls of Hogwarts itself by an unseen enemy. The building, having been repeatedly declared unassailable by both its headmaster and the teachers, had been playing host to an one thousand year old beast that had gotten loose from it's hiding place – the fabled Chamber of Secrets, a place that was thought to only exist in folklore and hearsay.
After four months and ten children put in the hospital, two students, Ginny Weasley and Daphne Greengrass were kidnapped by the creature and taken to the Chamber. They were given up for dead by the teachers, who gave up after Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher Gildroy Lockhart fled the castle rather than face the monster to save the two girls.
Now, I'm sure many of my readers are crying foul at this. A school full of competent, magically skilled teachers including one Albus Dumbledore, defeater of Gellert Grindelwald, and none of them were willing to face the creature for the sake of two innocent children?
This has dark implications cast upon the staff, since it was only when two pureblood girls were attacked that they took action to have the school evacuated. This is heedless to the fact that ten muggleborn and half-blood children had already been turned to stone over the course of four months, and this didn't garner so much as a change of schedule within the building.
The teachers were simply continuing their days as though nothing out of the ordinary was occurring, instead of evacuating as soon as the first victim turned up.
It seemed that Ginny and Daphne were condemned to die in the cold, dark chamber, completely at the mercy of the monster. But, as it turns out, all hope was not lost. Luckily for the children, their devoted friends and family Harry Potter, Tracy Davis and Astoria Greengrass went beyond the call of duty; they braved the possible danger to locate the chamber, go in and rescue them.
These three children, cut off from all forms of adult support and no one willing to help them, did something that many adult wizards have died in the attempt – they fought and successfully slew the monstrous Basilisk, Salazar Slytherin's first familiar, which had been preying on their fellow students.
How these children, who have suffered from lacklustre Defence teachers for two years, have managed to do this is staggering and a testament to how powerful and intelligent they all are. Surely they will be a force to be reckoned with when they come of age, particularly Harry Potter. Already known for his defeat of Voldemort at 1 year old, Potter managed to draw the Sword of Gryffindor, which had not been seen within the castle for the last five centuries, and used it to slay Tom Riddle's monster.
Now wait, many of you must be saying. Wasn't Ginny Weasley the Heir of Slytherin? After all, Board of Governor Lucius Malfoy declared that she was hiding under the identity of an old student and behind a disillusionment charm while she was carrying out the attacks.
However, the other witnesses in the chamber have boldly claimed that this was a falsehood, and that Ginny was a victim of the attack, not the perpetrator. "Ginny was as frightened by the attacks as the rest of us were," her dorm mate, Astoria Greengrass, stated. "The real controller was the diary that she'd been slipped before she came to school." she then placed a destroyed diary on the desk before me. Although it was ruined, I didn't need an Unspeakable degree to tell that it was reeking of dark magic.
Harry went on to explain that the diary itself had been holding a living memory of Voldemort back in his school days, when he was known as Tom Riddle.
But further discussion of this topic has lead to another shocking discovery; Harry Potter, Hogwart's Golden student may not be so golden after all – not with the life he lead before he came to Hogwarts.
Today I, intrepid reporter Rita Skeeter, had a long and fulfilling chat with Harry Potter about both the vindictive attacks on our youth and his own troubled history.
R: Did you, at any point, question the logic of going after an ancient monster with only your friends for backup?
H: It did – right when its fang dug into my arm and poisoned me. (A, T and D laugh) But honestly, I spent the last four months watching them do nothing. I wasn't sure they'd help even if they knew what the monster was or where my friends were.
R: Basilisk poison! That's lethal had has few known cures. How did you survive?
H: The Headmaster's familiar is a phoenix; it entered the chamber right when I passed out. Phoenix tears can heal anything.
R: Were you friends with Ginny Weasley?
H: I confess I only knew her casually, but she was a shy girl, and very nice. She showed me how to get to the platform before my first year. Outside of a few encounters with her older, twin brothers, I'm not well acquainted with her family, but they sound like a very friendly, loving group.
R: Harry, how did you know where to find the Chamber?
H: I had been in the library for several days before Daphne and Ginny were abducted. I was researching both what could have caused the Petifications and my own family history. During Duelling Club, Draco Malfoy had conjured a snake that menaced some of the viewers. Without thinking, I spoke to it – and it understood me. You can imagine I found that confusing – I had to find out from a book that I was a Parselmouth.
R: A Parselmouth? That's a rare gift, the most notable person who used it was Salazar Slytherin.
H: Yeah. I had a whole bunch of people accusing me of being the next Dark Lord after they heard me use it on those very grounds. They seemed to think I was the Heir. It was another part of the reason I was in the library – I wanted to get away from it.
R: You had to look up your family history? Didn't your aunt and uncle tell you all about your parents?
H: (incredulous laugh) Vernon and Petunia? Are you kidding me? Petunia despised my mother and anything that had to do with magic. They pretending that there was no magical world, and that magic didn't exist. I spent ten years believing my mother and father were drunken, irresponsible layabouts who died in a car crash and dumped me on their hardworking relatives.
R: (shocked) Lily and James Potter, irresponsible drunks? The two noble witch and wizard who sacrificed their lives to save the world and their son? That's a travesty of justice! Why on earth would they tell you such a falsehood? Didn't they at least tell you about You-Know-Who?
H: I don't know, and no. They didn't. I'm not sure they even understand exactly who You-Know-Who is, because why would they concern themselves with the problems of a freak?
R: Why are they even taking care of you, then?
H: No idea. Maybe someone's paying them, maybe they wanted free labour, it's lost on me. They hate magic, they wouldn't have told me about the madman after me if their own lives depended on it. Even just mentioning magic would get me thrown in a cupboard and denied food for long periods of time. Sometimes over a day, if I really made them mad, though that was usually reserved for any occurrences of accidental magic.
R: A cupboard! They didn't give you your own room?
H: No. My cousin Dudley is such an overstuffed whale he needed two rooms, you see. There was another empty room, but it was reserved for guests. So I stayed in the cupboard. I just got dumped on their doorstep, so that's how they treated me – like garbage. It wasn't until I got in trouble with the law that they decided to move me into the spare room – and that was because Vernon was afraid the police would figure out how they treated me.
R: You've been living in an abusive household this entire time?
H: My childhood nickname was 'Freak'. That's all they called me; I didn't know what my real name was until I went to school. Dudley and his gang had something they liked to do called 'Harry Hunting'. They would chase me everywhere and if they caught me, they would beat me up until I could barely stand. I did all the chores, I weeded the garden since the time I was four, I cleaned the house, I washed the dishes. I cooked all the meals, and if I burnt anything I ate the burnt parts while they enjoyed the good food. It was so bad, you know what I did?
R: What?
H: I shoved Dudley off the roof so I would get arrested, because anywhere was better then that house. I spent a good part of my childhood in Juvenile Hall, because even a youth criminal correctional facility was a better home then number 4, Privet Drive. At least in that place, I didn't have to steal my food.
R: This – this – this is a nightmare. An outrage. A subversion of justice. An insult to the memory of Lily and James Potter! Their child, treated this way! Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, forced into criminal behaviour because Albus Dumbledore deemed it a good idea to send him to magic-hating muggles!
A: Wait, Dumbledore put him there? I don't understand. He's not related to Harry, is he?
R: The Headmaster of Hogwarts always claimed to have your best interests in mind; he somehow claimed magical guardianship of you after Sirius Black's incarceration.
A: Isn't that considered attempted meddling and subverting of an Heir?
R: It could be, but he never divulged any information about Harry's situation, and he's been held in highest esteem for years now. Tell me more about the Chamber, however.
H: Well, I saw the last message after my friends disappeared. The teachers told Lockhart to go find them. I mean, really? That guy? I had him as a DADA teacher for a year and a half and I've never seen him cast a single powerful spell. During Duelling club, Professor Snape knocked him over with one Expelliarmus. Where they honestly expecting him to save them? A werewolf would have made a better rescuer.
R: We heard he fled the castle soon after being told to search the Chamber.
H: (snorts) Why doesn't that surprise me? Anyway, myself, Astoria and Tracy all ran down to the girl's bathroom, where the entrance was. I opened it with Parseltongue, and we jumped into the Chamber. From there, we walked for a little before finding Ginny and Daphne.
R: So what exactly did the diary do?
A: I'm not clear on the details, but somehow it allowed Riddle's memory to possess Ginny and force her to open the Chamber. He went through her memories to get his targets; they were all students who had interacted with her at some point. At the end he meant to simply take her to the Chamber and drain her of her lifeforce. Daphne was looking for her and saw him materialize, so he took her too.
R: So You-Know-Who is the Heir of Slytherin?
T: So it would seem. Now, if someone would kindly lift the accusations of Ginny Weasley, I'm sure she'll turn up again.
R: You're sure you don't know how she vanished?
H: (smirks) not a clue.
And that concluded our interview, which leaves a lot of questions to ask. Why did Dumbledore leave Harry with muggles who abused him? And why would Lucius Malfoy, supposedly an upstanding citizen, accuse Ginny Weasley of being the Heir of Slytherin when he had formerly worked with the man, albeit supposedly under Imperious?
Why is Harry Potter being forced to live like a criminal after what he did for the magical world?
Exactly how much did Dumbledore know about the Chamber? After all, the phoenix appeared to heal Harry's injuries – after he defeated the basilisk. Familiars usually can't go places that their masters aren't aware of. If he knew about the monster, why would he abandon two girls to it and leave their rescue on the shoulders of three students?
Are any of our children safe at Hogwarts? The year before this six of them were attacked by a starving Cerberus, and then this. Is there a conspiracy to destroy the school and anyone who attends it afoot?
And how much about Harry's situation and You-Know-Who's history does Albus Dumbledore know about? Remember, this living memory had been attacking students right under his nose. One thing's for sure, you can count on this reporter to keep digging until she has the truth.
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Petunia Dursley was making lunch for herself and her husband when she looked out the window and gasped. Dozens upon dozens of owls were all flying towards their house.
Vernon looked out the window and let out an angry roar, "Why the bloody hell are they coming here now? The brat is at school now! Unless he's managed to get himself expelled – the little troublemaker, it would surprise me at all – but he should just stay with the other freaks rather than tainting our reputation!"
Dudley stared up from his plate, fork stuck halfway to his mouth.
The owls all flew to the rooftop, and suddenly numerous red envelops cascaded down their chimney and into their kitchen, fluttering around the room like small birds. There had to be at least several dozen of them.
One of them opened.
Petunia and Vernon had to throw their hands over their ears as Molly Weasley's voice, amplified a hundred times, echoed through their house with the force of an explosion.
"YOU SELFISH COW! HOW DARE YOU TREAT HARRY POTTER THAT WAY! HOW DARE YOU MAKE UP SUCH DEMEANING LIES ABOUT HIS PARENTS! I OUGHT TO MARCH OVER THERE AND TRANSFIGURE YOU AND YOUR LARD TUB OF A HUSBAND INTO PIGS, JUST LIKE YOU ARE INSIDE! THAT CHILD WAS DEPENDING ON YOUR CARE AND YOU TREATED HIM LIKE GARBAGE! YOU CALL YOURSELF A MOTHER?"
Then another went off, then another, and another, and the Dusley house began a cacophony of noise and screaming voices, the victims of which were all lying on the floor with their hands clamped over their ears. The noise could be heard for blocks. Such an assault of howlers hadn't been seen in one place ever before. Neighbours looked over at the house, not daring to get close but wondering what on earth was going on.
The racket would continue for several hours until finally some Aurors came to the family's rescue, Obliviating the neighbours and putting up a mail redirection ward to keep out any more Howlers.
The family had been rendered deaf by the assault, and would have to be fixed by magic. Dudley was shaking like mad, having seen his father soundly defeated by a bunch of envelops. No one had ever screamed at him like that.
Unfortunately, they didn't count on one young Auror getting so irate at the sight of the overweight abusers that she decided to follow up on Molly Weasley's threat and transfigured the elder Dursleys into pigs.
The Aurors were so focused on the task at hand that they didn't notice the three teenaged delinquents standing at the corner, laughing themselves sick.
Carrie halted the recording on her camera and turned to Pierce and Miranda, still laughing and said, "I so wish I could put that on the internet! Take that, you fat whale, stuck-up shrew and your useless spoiled spawn!"
Miranda, in stitches from laughter, could only bobble her head in agreement. Pierce then suggested, "We should totally put that on over the speakers at his school when he gets back to it."
Carrie's eyes lit up with maniac amusement. "I like that idea."
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The Auror who had done the transfiguration got nothing more than a stern reprimand from the squad leader, who looked like he was trying to hold in some very unprofessional laughter. The three muggles were temporarily moved to St. Mugo's for care, after which they would have their memories of the hospital removed.
A few aurors discreetly high-fived the female auror when they were certain the higher-ups weren't looking.
It was obvious where the people's sympathies were lying.
Time Skip – Two days later
At Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was under a similar assault, but he was not getting Howlers, although plenty of those had been pouring in. No, he was taking it from all the people who had opted to come in person to express their displeasure.
"You knew the Chamber had been opened!" Daniel Greengrass roared at Dumbledore, his face the very picture of fury. "You were going to abandon my daughter down there? Couldn't you have even attempted to look for the Chamber's entrance? You sent your least competent staff member to search for her and her housemate! That monster could have killed her and my youngest child! What the bloody hell were you thinking?!"
"This is the final straw!" Angela Greengrass howled, her hands shaking with anger. "Unless you step down from your post as Headmaster I'm withdrawing Daphne and Astoria from this establishment, and I will be pressing charges! How dare you!"
"Ginny is a good girl!" Molly Weasley screamed when Daniel and Angela stopped for breath. "She never would have opened the Chamber, and you threw her to the wolves? To Lucius Malfoy, and into prison? How could you! Now I don't even know where she is! And you didn't even tell me that my boy Ronald had been petrified since Christmas! I will never trust you again, Albus Dumbledore, if I had the money I would transfer my children out of this school this instant! You can consider this the end of any support you might have gotten from my family!"
"Headmaster, I am demanding answers! My son was petrified for an entire month and not a word from the staff!" Sohpia Diggory threw her two cents in. She was a slender woman from whom Cedric had gotten a lot of his good looks, but right now her face was red with righteous outrage.
"I was told this was the safest place in Britain!" Michael Thomas cried. "But you were keeping a monster in your basement! And a couple of kids had to fight it! How much did you know about that thing?"
"My daughter and Heir could have been killed!" Shrieked Sakura Davis, expressive brown eyes alive with rage. While she spoke she was shouldering her way through the crowd with intent on at least punching the old man, though she was deterred by a hastily cast Protego. "You left her to fight a monster that kills most adultwizards who challenge its kind instead of going down yourself! How dare you?!"
"Is it true that you only began an evacuation after two pureblood girls were attacked?" Demanded Marcus Abbot, waving a copy of that day's Prophet over his head. "What about the other children? Did you even try to protect them?"
"Did you not take the precautions to take care of our children?!" Michelle Pritchard demanded, clutching her daughter's hand tightly. "Did you honestly let the imprisonment of Ginerva Weasley stand without even an enquiry?"
Serena Pritchard was standing next to her mother in the office, watching the scene before her in a mixture of terror and awe. She'd been the last student to be de-petrified at the end of March; she'd been lucky enough to have only been frozen for a week. Her mother had waiting for her to wake up. Unsurprisingly, her father had been absent.
Serena had heard all the news and reaffirmed her belief that Ginny was not the Heir of Slytherin, citing their friendship as the reason for it. She was both amused and appalled by the content of Harry Potter's interview with Rita Skeeter; had the woman made that up or was it all true?
After her mother had finished expressing her relief that Serena was alive, she had marched herself and her daughter straight upstairs, not prepared to leave until she got a straight explanation from the Headmaster.
They had walked into an office that was all but crammed to standing room with other furious parents, all demanding the answer to the same question. Serena was barely able to fit in past the door and their voices were nearly drowned out by all the shouting. Her ears were ringing from the noise. She had never seen anything like this except for recollections of the Death Eater trails that she had heard from her father.
Fawkes was flying overhead in distress, despite not being the target of ire. The phoenix was feeling the negative aura of the room and it was starting to drive the gentle bird into distress.
Dumbledore had put up a Shield charm around himself, and was watching the crowd in front of him as though he couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't. He had always been respected and admired by parents; he had never seen their outrage directed towards him. He understood that not everyone understood the necessity of the Greater Good, but this was something else entirely.
How had things gone so wrong? What was supposed to be a simple test of strength and character for Harry had turned into a debacle he was rapidly loosing control over. All the boy was supposed to do was solve the puzzle, realize what was causing the attacks and confront the one responsible.
He had known about the basilisk after the first attack, but had refrained from commenting because he needed to see if his hunch was correct or not. He had to make sure Harry was still going down the correct path, after his troubled childhood. More drastic measures would have had to have been taken if the boy had simply sat idle while his classmates were being attacked by some unseen enemy; Dumbledore would have had to pull him out of his apathy and install some heroic tenancies in him.
Well, as it turned out despite his undesirable qualities Harry was willing to risk life and limb for other people, which had Dumbledore sighing in relief. The boy had almost gotten himself killed, but Fawkes had dealt with that. He had meant to be there when Harry had awaken, answer all his unasked questions and get him and his friends on board with the Greater Good. The girls might have required a little persuasion, but surely dimming their memories of the event to his favour would erase any hesitance.
Unfortunately, some muggleshad had the audacity to intervene on Ginny's escort to the minister, allowing the girl to escape with knowledge that could potentially lead to the Horcruxes being discovered before the time was right. The publicity that had gathered only had fuel added to the fire when Davis had gone to her mother before he could Obliviate her memory of the Chamber. Then this Prophet had come out and it was going steadily downhill from there.
He had had but a mere suspicion that Riddle's diary was a Horcrux, and he had wanted Harry to confirm it with the way he destroyed it. The only good thing he could see coming out of this mess was that he now knew for sure that Voldemort had created Horcruxes.
Harry Potter – he knew he should have stunned those children and dragged them back to their dorms. He went to the Prophet? To Rita Skeeter? This was a public relations nightmare worse then the last time the Chamber opened!
Forget stunners, the minute that boy returned to school for third year Dumbledore was rewriting his memories. He couldn't afford to have the boy-who-lived behaving this way. When he was finished modifying the boy's mind, he wouldn't hear a word against his beloved Headmaster. But first he had to make sure he still was Headmaster by the time the lad's third year had rolled around.
"I assure you all," He addressed the crowd of parents, "The safety of the children has always been my number one concern..."
"But you didn't even search the castle after Colin was Petrified," The pureblood girl Serena Pritchard chimed in from the back. Damn those girls for inciting Slytherin tendencies in Ginny! If she had just remained the meek like Harry Potter worshipper, he wouldn't be in this position! "You didn't even change the schedule. Are we supposed to believe that?"
"You didn't act when your familiar went into the Chamber! You must have known where Harry and his friends were!" Molly shouted.
"Fawkes is a phoenix," Dumbledore said placating, "He often knows things that I don't. I realize that I should have evacuated sooner-"
"Sooner? No kidding! What exactly were you waiting for?" Michael Thomas demanded. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but several half-bloods and muggleborns were attacked but you only acted after Weasley and Greengrass were attacked – is this a way of saying that you're primary concern is the betterment of purebloods, not the rest of us?"
This caused a lot of shouting and protests from the other parents, some agreeing while others denying they had received any special treatment.
"I am not a supporter of pureblood dogma," Dumbledore said firmly. It was true, after all. He knew that muggleborns and half-bloods were essential to strengthening the weakening pureblood lines. However, this required keeping as many of the scions of those pureblood lines alive, no matter how they behaved. He figured with a little rehabilitation even Bellatrix Lestrange could be an upstanding member of society. His spy didn't share the sentiment, but he worked with Dumbledore because it was the only way, so he didn't do anything about it. And he was the one Dumbledore gave all the critical information to. "Ron Weasley and Padma Patil were both attacked before Ginny and Daphne were taken to the chamber. I was certainly not stalling in hopes of damage being done to those that Voldemort's kind considered 'lesser bloods'."
This, for some reason, did little to mollify his audience. Some had started shouting again; Serena Pritchard and her mother were staring at him as though they couldn't believe he had just said that.
Daniel threw off a canon-like blast with his wand. The crowd quieted and turned their attention to him. He looked about, picking out his fellow governers in the crowd before nodding sharply at them. A piece of paper was rapidly conjured and passed around the room, with many parents writing on it.
"I understand this has been a difficult time for many of you, but the children have come to no permanent harm. I merely wish to continue things as they are, since the beast is slain and everything has turned out for the best." Dumbledore said. "Send them back to Hogwarts next year and I promise that I will have a replacement Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who will make up for the last two...what is this?"
Angela gave Dumbledore a look of utter contempt and slapped the paper down on his desk. "That, Headmaster Dumbledore, is what we call a 'no confidence' vote." She declared coldly. "The teaching staff is to be looked over and a new Headmaster selected."
Dumbledore whitened at this. Him, loose a post at school? That could have devastating implications for his reputation, since many Heirs went to Hogwarts and he was tasked with their safety. If the elite of society didn't trust him with their children, that would send a message that he was not to be trusted at all.
He was about to roar at the insolent woman and cast a mass obliviate when the door suddenly swung open. Serena Pritchard squeaked and said, "make some room! The head of the DMLE is here!"
Dumbledore went even whiter as Amelia Bones politely edged her way through the crowd and towards the desk. The room grew quiet again.
When she reached him, she regarded him coldly; her niece Susan had had a friend named Hannah who was one of the victims. "Albus Dumbledore, this is a requirement from the Ministry. The school is to be shut down and investigated. You are required to appear before the Wizamgot for an enquiry this Thursday."
A cheer went up from the audience and Dumbledore went from white to green.
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In little Whining later that evening, Harry was reading the evening edition of the Prophet on the Dursley's lawn. He'd received an owl about Hogwarts being closed a few months early and headed straight home after his friends were picked up by their house elves.
This time, his aunt and uncle hadn't even let him inside the house; they had just taken one fearful look at him and slammed the door in his face.
Now safely away from the wizarding world, Ginny Weasley had emerged from under the cloak and was petting Maria, listening to Harry read aloud. Most of the people were crying for the ruling of her being put in the Ministry holding cell to be repealled, but until it was said officially she was going to stay with Harry. From the moment they had entered the muggle neighbourhood, Ginny had pestered Harry with questions over just about everything she saw, from gardening tools to television sets to cameras that captured non-moving pictures.
She had met Carrie, Miranda and Pierce when they came to see Harry return. She had, at first, been embarrassed and curious, having never met any muggles before.
They won her over quickly and now the five of them were laughing crazily over the recorded footage of the Dursley house being attacked by Howlers.
"I can't believe that really happened!" Harry laughed, watching the shaky recording. Carrie had apologized for that, saying that she'd been laughing too hard to hold it steady. Not surprising at all. "Damn, no wonder Vernon had looked like he was going to pass out when he saw me on the front steps! I thought they would have Obliviated their memory of that!"
"I get this feeling that they wanted to make a point." Miranda said, pointing at the Aurors who had just turned the corner. "You seem to mean a lot to some of these people."
"About that, I still don't really understand that," Harry said. "Okay, maybe I blew up their master when I was in my cradle, but he was only one guy, and I had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the war."
"I think I could hear mum," Ginny said, listening carefully to the words being said. After a second she smiled. "Yes, she's definitely there. Mum's Howlers are legendary; I've seen her preparing ones to send to the twins or Ron and I wouldn't like to see what it's like to be on the wrong end of one, much less..." Her eyebrows scrunched a bit as she tried to count the ones floating outside the windows. "...twenty five?"
"There's probably more inside the house itself," Pierce chuckled. "It was the loudest thing I had ever heard."
"This is like the last ten Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!" Harry laughed as he watched the female Auror transfigure Petunia and Vernon into pigs, her hair turning from pink to bright red as she did so. "Whoa! Never seen that before."
"We thought it was a wizard thing." Miranda said, pointing as the auror's hair changed back to pink. "See?" Everyone glanced at Ginny, who ducked her head and smiled sheepishly under the scrutiny.
"She's a metamorph." The small redhead explained.
"A what now?" Pierce asked.
"It means she can take on any shape that she likes." Ginny explained. "Expressing her emotions can result in changes in hair or eye colour. I've never met one before."
Harry closed Carrie's camera, giggling madly, "I've gotta find that girl's name and thank her for that," He said. "That would be the best makeover anyone ever gave uncle Vernon." The kids snickered.
Carrie looked over the newspaper, scanning the columns. "Harry, I'm not sure I like some of this." She said, pointing at some of the later articles. "You said in your letters that it's like they're expecting you to do something. And is says here that one of the reasons Headmaster Dumbledore has been suspended on a no-confidence vote is that he knew you were in the Chamber fighting the monster but didn't do anything?"
"Was that confirmed?" Harry asked, leaning over the page.
"It seems to be popular consensus, though he never used so many words. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement seems to be looking into the Chamber of Secrets incident more thoroughly." Carrie responded, leaning over the page. "Hey Ginny, good news it seems – you're officially no longer the Heir of Slytheirn."
Ginny cheered at this, smiling happily. "That's nice to hear. I have to go back to the Burrow today then," She said. "I missed my mum and dad."
Harry grinned. "Well Ginny, here's something for your father. I hear he's interested in muggle works." He gave her a small box filled with a phone, a pez dispenser, a snow globe and a couple other muggle nick-nacks. "Tell him I'm sorry about his car trouble."
Ginny smiled radiantly at Harry. "You know Harry," She said. "I grew up hearing all kinds of stories about you. There are dolls and storybooks all keyed to you. I kept imagining what you'd be like when I finally met you...and you're different from the stories."
"I am?"
"Yes. But honestly...I think the real you is better. Not perfect. But better." The redhead finished, looking a little embarrassed but managing to hold his gaze.
"Aw," Pierce cooed, causing both Harry and Ginny to blush fiercely and scramble to their feet, looking up at the older boy with identical mortified expressions.
"Whoa!" Miranda yelled, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Guys! Guys, did you miss this? It's kind of important!"
"What? What?" Harry demanded, staring at her.
Miranda jabbed a slender finger at the bottom of the column. "There, right there, in itty-bitty writing at the end of that DMLE article – Harry Potter's magical guardianship still belongs to Dumbledore, but if he looses it, it will go back to mass-murderer Sirius Black!"
"MASS MURDERER?"
End Chapter
Aaaaaand that ended on an awkward note. Sorry, I wanted to introduce Sirius Black into the story differently than usual. At any rate, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter - I feel it should be longer - but I find I can't really expand it without boring, useless rambling on my behalf. Next chapter deals with Harry going to Gringotts and finding out something interesting - House Restoration.
Chapter 14: House Resurrection
Harry was at Gringotts.
It had been a year since he was last here, with Hagrid. He hadn't really had any desire to get entangled in the world of money-handling and he didn't trust himself not to do something stupid in a place where thieves were decidedly less well received than the usual society
But the revelation of the reason Sirius Black was in prison had sent him here on business. He remembered the man from the images of his parent's wedding, a smiling, laughing man. James's closest friend. He betrayed them? Murdered thirteen people? Harry's mind was spinning; he wasn't sure if he could trust anything he was hearing.
People that close...people that close didn't just betray each other. It's like that person is an extension of your soul; you can no more betray them in such a way than you can cut off your own hand and cast it away without agony.
He knew this, because that's how he felt about Carrie, Miranda and Pierce, and about his magical friends.
It scared him, how much he cared for them, what he was willing to do for them, what he knew he was willing to do. He was so used to disappointment, to the dark cupboard, to being lost and lonely.
He was reckless because he had nothing to loose. And now he did, and that, more than the idea that the man who killed his parents was still out there, more than the thought that the Headmaster wanted to use him, chilled him down to his very bones. The thought that he could loose any one of them.
So he was going to try and fight, to find some way of emancipating himself so he could be free of this potential danger. Even if Sirius was inside Azkaban, he didn't want him having magical guardianship over him; for no jail was infallible.
Now he just had to hope that there was a way to pull this off. Harry raked his fingers through his long black hair, resisting the urge to groan.
It really said something about the wizarding world, he thought ruefully, that a twelve-year-old boy had to do his own banking.
He wasn't sure what to expect when he got into his vaults – he had a vague idea of what was inside them, but nothing else. It wasn't as though he was going to go in and discover he was King Arthur's Heir or some such nonsense and all his problems would be magically solved. But hopefully his birth family would have left behind something that could help him out.
As he walked through the huge doors into the building, Harry desperately wished Carrie or Pierce could have come in with him – Miranda should steer clear of this establishment for her own safety – because having sharp-toothed creatures his own height watching him menacingly every step he took got off-putting very fast.
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"Thank you for coming, last scion of the Potter and Black house." Griphook said.
"Thank you, sir." Harry blinked. "I'm sorry? Did you just say the Potter and Black house?"
"Yes," Griphook said. "Your godfather Sirius Black had come to Gringotts soon after you were born to confirm his guardianship. He told us, with James and Lily by his side, that if anything happened to him he would take you in as his own son, and his house will be your protection."
"I heard that Sirius Black is my godfather," Harry said cautiously, "But I also heard that he was a mass-murderer."
Griphook looked disapproving, but nodded. "However, these wills were written ironclad before he was accused, because he didn't want Narcissa Black financing the Dark Lord with it. So it's yours now."
Harry Potter-Black thought about this for a moment and asked, "Can I see my parent's will? I want to understand exactly what's left for me."
"Absolutely." Griphook disappeared into a back room and then returned with a long scroll. He handed it to Harry, who opened it up and looked down at it.
This is the last will and testament of James Potter and Lily Evans-Potter
To Sirius Black, we leave custody of our only son and 1 knunt, as we agreed.
To Peter Pettigrew, our real secret-keeper, we leave 1000 galleons. Good luck healing your mother.
To Alice and Frank Longbottom, we leave you a vacation home in the Bahamas. Thank you for all the years of your friendship and take care of Neville.
To Remus Lupin, we leave you vault 15, and if Sirius cannot take care of Harry we would like you to. Despite your 'furry little problem' you're one of the kindest, most genuine people we've ever met. Take care of yourself.
To Severus Snape, we leave the east Library. Sni-Severus, I was a git to you when we were younger, and that's my old shame. I'm sorry about that. Please watch over our son when he goes to get his education.
To our son Harry, we leave the rest of our estate, including all money, properties and titles. We love you dearly Harry and we're sorry if we didn't get to see you grow.
In case anything goes wrong, we're letting you know now that Peter was our secret keeper, not Sirius. Your father thought it would be an excellent prank. Also, if we die, you ARE NOT to go to my sister Petunia Dursley and her husband. Okay? You'd be better off with Remus on a full moon then with those people.
Harry, we're sorry that you're having House Restoration dumped on you, but its something that activates when our houses are as diminished as ours. It may be off-putting, but I think that you'll find it's not so bad in the long run. I hope it won't bother you too much.
Now, I'm sure you're perfectly capable of choosing your own girls – we're certainly not infringing on that! – but here are some houses that are either light or neutral, which would be safer bets for you than others. Even without Voldemort, enemies lurk in shadows waiting for an opportunity to strike.
House Bones
House Greengrass
House Davis
House Rushman
House Weasley
House Jones
House Moon
Harry, this is Sirius. Ow! Stupid voice-dictating quills! As your godfather, I am making you my Heir as well – don't let my lovely cousins get you down, okay? Be the best Maurader since your father's time. With any luck, I'll be there to see it happen.
Good luck, your loving family
Lily and James Potter, witnessed by Sirius Black.
Harry stared at the parchment for a long second, before repeating, "House Restoration?", in a bewildered, nervous voice.
Griphook raised a solitary eyebrow. "You've never heard of it?" He said. "Strange. I would have expected someone who's the Heir of two Ancient Houses to have been made aware of this, especially two very old houses who are down to their last branches."
"I – I admit, I have no idea what it is," Harry responded cautiously. "Would you be so kind as to tell me about it?"
Griphook looked somewhat disbelieving, but launched into an explanation nonetheless. "House Restoration is something that occurs when an Ancient and Most Noble House is down to two Heirs or less. It's one of the oldest traditions in existence; if my memory serves me it was installed by the children of the Founders. When a House is down to two Heirs in all its branches, these Heirs are allowed to have more than one bride. It is encouraged that you marry young, and to have at least five ladies, actually."
Harry's jaw dropped open. "W-W-Wives?" He stammered at last, his twelve-year-old brain nearly breaking down as he attempted to process this. "More than one wife?"
Griphook nodded, giving a curious expression that was probably the closest thing a Goblin had to an amused smirk. "That is the essence of it, yes."
Harry leaned back in his chair, mind spinning. Five ladies...counting all his female friends, that still wasn't quite the quota. He could hardly comprehend having a girlfriend, much less one wife, much less five. Even as he accepted a list of properties to review, his brain was still stuck on that. And then he realized something.
He tapped a finger against the name Peter Pettigrew. "Sir, what's this? It says here that Pettigrew is the real secret-keeper. I don't understand, everyone's saying it's Sirius Black."
The Goblin scowled. "Have you ever heard of misdirection, Heir Potter? That was the intention of your parents when they switched secret keepers."
It took a second for the full implications of this statement to sink in, regarding both Pettigrew and Black. Pettigrew gave up his mother and father, and then fled when Sirius found him...taken to a busy street, where he needed to cause a commotion to get away...so he blows it up. The reasoning gave him a bolt of wild energy and Harry jumped to his feet. "Wait, that means Sirius was wrongly incarcerated!"
"Lower your voice," The goblin said. "And yes, he was. Black's innocence has been long known among the goblins, but wizards aren't going to take our opinion at face value and the physical evidence is against Black. Something I will tell you is that Pettigrew's vault is still active."
That means he's still alive, Harry thought, his mind racing. In all of the pictures, there had been something slightly off to Pettigrew, like he was deeply unhappy. Should have at least suspected...Harry shook his head, "Thank you sir."
"I'll need a little blood to confirm that you're an Heir to the Black estates now."
Harry went through the tests, grabbed his coat and then hurried back outside, his mind spinning. There was a lot for him to consider and work out.
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Harry was headed back to Privet Drive with the news and was completely flummoxed to see both Astoria and Ginny standing on the steps, waiting for him. He had figured that they had gone home at this point. Daphne was also conspicuous in her absence, but more likely than not her parents had insisted she go to St Mugos after her experience in the Chamber for a check-up. Both girls were looking homicidal, so whatever it was it wasn't good.
Harry skidded to a halt in front of them, looking between them. They looked quite pretty in muggle clothes, and the memory of house restoration passed in front of him. He rapidly banished the thought and said, "Ginny, Astoria, I thought you'd be at home. Well, alright – there is some stuff I've got to tell you-"
Astoria grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it hard. "So do we. Lucius Malfoy's a Death Eater."
"WHAT?" Harry shouted, losing his train of thought at this statement.
Ginny nodded vehemently, making a noise like Maria when Dudley had trod on her tail. "He's the one who dropped the book in my cauldron," She explained angrily. "And since that thing contained Riddle's memories, we decided to do our homework. What do you know – Mr Malfoy worked for You-Know-Who in his time."
"That's why he holds his forearm whenever the man is mentioned," Astoria ground out. "I should have known; I've read about the first war against Voldemort and his name was mentioned sevearl times. To think I never made the connection!"
"Why isn't he in Azkaban, then?"
"Oh, that's easy – he just put on a big production of horror, cried some fake tears, claimed he was under the Imperious Curse and lined a few pockets." Astoria snapped her fingers. "And there! - He was out of jail without so much as a slap on the wrist."
"He's not the only one," Harry said darkly. When both Ginny and Astoria looked at him oddly and with some concern. "Come on, there's something I have to tell you."
He walked down the alleyway with the girls right behind him, headed for the park.
What he didn't realize was that Arebella Figg, his caretaker and spy for Dumbledore, had heard this entire conversation and opted to follow them. She'd heard the name Malfoy and knew that he was of importance to Dumbledore's plan. She grabbed an umbrella and chased after them, being careful that she wasn't spotted.
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"Sirius Black is innocent!" If Astoria had been angry before, it was nothing like now. Her green eyes were alive with righteous fury at this piece of information. "Innocent! This is madness; he wasn't even given a bloody trial before because, oh 'the evidence was against him'! Now he's spent twelve years suffering in Azkaban for something he didn't do! How is that justice!"
Harry nodded darkly. "I'm just wondering why Dumbledore didn't intervene and give him a trial. As Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederacy of Wizards it would have been easy for him to overrule Barty Crouch."
"You're not the only one," Ginny admitted. "After what happened to me in the Chamber my parents are starting to wonder if Dumbledore really has our best interests in mind. He never explains why he does anything to others, not really anyway."
Astoria gave an unladylike snort. "So he's got an information withholding complex. Fantastic."
there was a crack, and then Daphne appeared in front of the park bench they were sitting on. She thanked the house elf that had brought here here and hugged her sister. "Astoria! I was so worried, do you know that Malfoy's a death eater?"
"The Senior Malfoy? Yes, just figured it out this morning – there's more, Sirius Black is innocent."
"WHAT?" Daphne shrieked furiously. "How'd that happen?"
"This is what happens when people don't get trials." Harry said stiffly. "And in this case, when people's wills aren't read carefully. I went to Gringotts this morning and found out that my parents had the switch of secret-keepers written in their will. So unless it was never read, I don't see why my godfather is still in prison."
Ginny whitened, "Oh Merlin, that poor man." She had narrowly dodged a stay in Azkaban herself, and the mere thought of going there had filled her with terror.
Daphne clenched her fist and sat down next to her sister. "Convicted Death Eaters walk free while innocent men get tossed in prison. And not just any Death Eater, an extremely rich one, so he can finance You-Know-Who or the next dark lord should either of whom appear. Nice handling of that, Crouch," She said spitefully.
There was a period of silence as the children fumed over the injustice done. "Any word on what's happening to Dumbledore?" Harry asked eventually.
"He's been suspended as Headmaster," Daphne recalled. "Professor McGonagall will be taking his place,"
"That's nice," Harry muttered. "She's sensible, at least, and cares about the students. Has anything else happened?"
"There were charges that people wanted to bring forward, but he's the 'great Albus Dumbledore' so none of them stuck." Astoria spat. Her knuckles whitened as she thought of the man who had put her sister's life in danger was walking around free.
Harry bit into his bottom lip, scowling. While it was good that Dumbledore was no longer Headmaster – the creepy old guy couldn't stalk him anymore – but the idea that he wasn't in any other real trouble for nearly letting them die...
"What are we going to do?" Ginny asked softly. "We can't do nothing. But we're children, they're not going to take our word for it,"
"I think we should torch Malfoy Manor." Daphne said coldly, reaching out and taking Astoria's hand in hers. "And I don't care what I do, my baby sister is not going to marry a Death Eater's spawn."
"Amen to that," Harry said fervently. Astoria nodded in agreement. Harry felt a small smile cross his face. "You know, today Draco and Narcissa Malfoy are going to be out shopping."
Daphne frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"
A beaten-up old pick-up truck drove to the corner and stopped. Carrie waved at them and hit the horn. Harry stood up.
"It means everything. Come on, there's something I'm going to show you – we're going on a little trip." He said. The girls glanced at each other in confusion but followed him nonetheless.
"Hey there Trouble," Carrie said with a grin as Harry and his friends got into the car. "I've got everything you asked for in the back. There's enough in there to completely blow out the supports of a sky scraper."
"Good." Harry smirked. He glanced back at his girls as the car took off. "Well, it's not traditional torching, but I was making sure the child and his mother wouldn't be in the house. I didn't feel comfortable blowing them up with it, you see."
Astoria and Daphne's eyes widened, but Ginny just grinned. They glanced over the back of the seat to see the sizable trunk filled with muggle explosives.
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"You know Trouble, you've been in trouble for arson before, but this is going to take the cake," Carrie remarked dryly as she attached the explosives to the wall.
"I have noble reasons for doing this!" Harry protested. "If he looses his huge fancy mansion and everything in it he'll loose a lot of money and clout. And if his finances fall below a certain line, the contract between Astoria and Draco will be terminated."
"And him being a Death Eater doesn't?" Carrie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They don't know yet," Harry explained while he walked down the wall, putting up more of the dynamite. "But with any luck that will be the final nail on the coffin. I won't let him get his hands on my friend."
Carrie grinned, "You were hoping to get your hands on her?"
"Carrie!"
"I'm serious, though," Carrie responded. "You've got that weird law to repopulate your house, the requested minimum is five girls. You and Astoria seem to be quite close for twelve year olds; you could offer to marry her instead."
"I was going to ask for Daphne," Harry thought about that. "Would asking for both sisters be out of line?"
Carrie laughed out loud at this, "Kid, considering who you are and what you've done, I think he'd be all to happy to."
Harry flushed, while Daphne appeared from around the corner. It was Astoria's unwanted connection to Draco that allowed them to approach the mansion, that and the Malfoys seemed to arrogant to consider the possibility that a muggle might be able to do them harm. Amusingly enough, the house was carefully warded against magical attacks but completely vulnerable to demolition charges. Well, that's what you get for not doing your homework.
"It's all set up," Daphne said as Ginny and Astoria joined her, "At least I think it is, the instructions were a little confusing."
"I'm sure you did fine," Carrie chuckled. "You guys go back to the car, I'll check and then start the countdown."
The four students headed back to the truck, halfway there Daphne put a hand on Harry's shoulder. He paused and she kissed him; it was over quickly but it sent thrills down his spine and weakened his knees. "Thank you for this Harry."
"Anytime," Harry responded, dazed. Daphne smiled brightly before catching up with the other two girls.
Harry stood rooted to the spot until Carrie put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey! You don't want to be standing here in a minute!"
Harry snapped out of it and nodded. "Right. Of course." He hurried to the truck a good distance away and sat on the roof in front of the windshield, the girls already there in a line. Carrie handed everyone earmuffs and they counted down on their fingers.
The explosion sent shockwaves as far as their car, and it just kept going. Fire exploded out of every corner as the building was blown to bits, collapsing inward as it fell. Carrie high-fived the students as they piled back into the car, backed up and shot down the driveway, laughing and cheering the entire way.
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Daniel Greengrass was sitting at his desk with some Hogwarts papers when his two daughters burst inside. He looked up in alarm, "What's wrong?"
Daphne brandished a copy of the Daily Prophet over her head. "Haven't you heard? Malfoy Manor has been destroyed!"
"What?" He took the paper from them and read it with wide eyes, he didn't catch the quick smirks his children sent each other.
End Chapter
Harry wanted to do that himself, and I always wanted an excuse to blow up Malfoy Manor. Here's the girls and Harry getting closer, finds out the truth about Sirius, annd Summer Break really begins, because the school term was ended early