Title:

Becoming a Weasley

Summary:

Harry's first summar after Hogwarts had been the worst yet until he is rescued / kidnapped by his friends the Weasley family. They try to convince Dumbledore that something is wrong at Harry's home but the Dursleys can explain away everything and with Harry denying everything his hands are tied. Then Harry overhears a conversation that changes his life forever.

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Chapter One

Harry yawned walking down the winding hall of the oddly constructed house. All the rooms were added on in awkward places, looking like a mixed match block tower. It was only held together by the power of magic. No non magical person, or 'muggle' as funny as that word was, could have built a house like this and expect it to stay together. It was pretty wicked.

Stepping down the staircase, in the vital mission of getting a glass of water, Harry's foot paused hearing voices coming from the living room. Despite having poor eyesight he did have excellent hearing. Years of having a cupboard as a bedroom had trained him to make sense of most muffled noises, in order to understand what was going on on the telly in the next room.

"Molly I understand you are concerned for Harry" It was the headmaster "But the Dursleys explanations check out. Bars on Windows may seem like an overly radical thing but this is Harry after all. Petunia told me she was tried of him sneaking out all the time and seeing it first hand at Hogwarts I know the boy does tend to wonder from his bed. Harry himself admits that's the reason for them and although it is a tad barbaric it seems to be a muggle custom. There are whole neighborhoods that have bars on all their windows, a very strange practice but maybe it's a statement of some kind"

"A statement that they like keeping children prisoners in their own homes!" Mrs Weasley growled.

Dumbledore sighed "Molly I looked into it as you asked and nothing seems to be out of the normal for muggle culture"

Harry rolled his eyes. Wizards knew absolutely nothing about muggle anything.

"What about the fact they were starving the boy!?" Molly growled

"Unfortunately Mr Dursley lost an important contract and they haven't been able to feed either of the children their fill"

Harry just barely resisted snorting. As if the Dursleys would ever let their precious Dudley go hungry for even an hour.

"I increased the monthly payment I give them to compensate"

"You REWARDED them for starving a child!"

"Lady Weasley" Dumbledore's voice got a bit harder but took on a more scolding then angry tone "Surely you of all people wouldn't condemn them for falling on hard times"

"I always make sure my children have full bellies"

"Muggles do not have the ability to buy seeds for plants and grow them in a matter of seconds before ever meal as you do. They cannot use spells to do the same to livestock and breed them indefinitely. The basic necessities such as food cost them a good deal more then it does us. Petunia is a proud woman and will only accept so much of my help. Again something you should be able to relate to"

"Albus, whatever my financial situation I have always made sure my children have what they need"

"I'm know Molly, you are an excellent mother. Anyone can look at your children and see they are happy and healthy. I'm just saying the absence of magic and their bizarre cultural norms makes it harder for muggles to do so in the best of circumstances"

"I think we are losing sight of the problem" Mr Weasley suddenly spoke up. Harry didn't even know he was in the room until then. That guy really wasn't much of a talker "Albus, it is obvious to everyone that Harry is being abused but it seems you keep telling yourself convenient excuses. This can't just be about the blood wards. You could just transfer those over to Harry's cousin, worst case scenario. Both boys would have to be removed from the household if the parents were found abusive and it be best to keep them together anyway" great prove the boy wrong by saying a complete mouth full. Harry smirked a bit at his mental joke.

Dumbledore sighed "You're really thinking far too much about this. Harry himself keeps assuring me everything is fine"

Mister Weasley insisted "Albus have you stopped to think that maybe the boy is scared?"

"Harry knows he can tell me anything" Dumbledore assured "I let him come to my office whenever he wants... although he doesn't tend to visit that much"

Harry felt a stab of guilt at how sad Dumbledore sounded that he didn't visit.

"Albus" Molly sighed "I know you love Harry but maybe that's why you can't see the obvious. You want so badly to believe he is happy, of course you do, but he's not. Those people are horrible to him"

"She's Lily's sister Molly" Albus said that like it meant something "They may not have gotten along very well but Lily believed her sister would step up and do the right thing if the worst should happen. I know for a fact that if the roles were reversed Lily would have cherished Dudley like her own son. Why should I believe anything less of her own kin?" Dumbledore awaited an answer as if he actually expected one. When he didn't get it he sighed "I know you care for Harry but I can assure you he is safe. If he wasn't completely happy with his living situation he would tell me. I'm his grandfather after all, honorary though it may be... I'm more concerned about what to do now that the trap with the stone has failed" ... trap? "Harry is in much greater danger after accidentally helping Voldemort's wraith to escape. Harry even stopped him from getting the stone. However noble his intent he not only stopped my plan but my backup plan. Perhaps I should have put a sticking charm on his bed that day" Dumbledore sighed "And he got your little one hurt as well"

"As you said" Mr Weasley spoke "The boys had the best of intentions. The flaw was setting traps so easy a small group of first years could get through them!"

"I figured Fluffy could be used to scare the children off. Hagrid trained it far to well to hurt the students, although it did give Severus a little nip but they never did get along. It is a big scary three headed dog. I assumed the children would stay away. The rest of the traps I needed to look intimidating but something Voldemort could get through even in his weakened state. Traps that would make him feel like he outsmarted us... I'm so sorry your boy got caught in the middle"

"Ron is fine Albus" said Mr Weasley "It was his own recklessness that got him injured but he's fine now. Harry is not so lucky"

Dumbledore sighed again "Arthur, I can assure you Harry is not being abused. He's-"

"What's that?" Mrs Weasley interrupted feeling the wards go off. With a house full of seven children she set them up to alter her if any of the children were in emotional distress. She got up from the couch and stepped out of the living room. She was about to walk up the stairs when she saw the dark haired child sitting on the steps with eyes filled with tears but making not a sound "Oh Harry" she looked on sadly "How much did you hear?"

As Harry continued to silently cry Molly attempted to pull the child into a hug but the boy flinched at the touch.

"Want me to take you to Ablus?" Molly asked

Harry quickly shook his head. Molly sighed and took a seat on the stairs next to the boy. She tried again slower this time, gently pulling Harry into a hug. Several minutes passed before Harry could speak but the first thing out of his mouth wasn't what he was expecting "Dumbledore knows" was the seemingly ransom comment still Molly encouraged him to get the entire thought out "He knows... how the Dursleys treat me... he just... just doesn't care" Molly seemed to tense for a second before asking

"What makes you say that?"

Harry fiddled with his hands "It... it said it..."

"Said what Harry?" Molly spoke kindly

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He tried this before, told a nurse at his muggle school where the bruises were really coming from. The nurse had tried to help but the Dursleys called Harry a liar and... Harry didn't back it up. When the child serves people talked to him he couldn't bring himself to say it again. They wrote it off and the nurse ended up getting fired... and Uncle Vernon whipped Harry till he was bloody and left him locked up for a week, telling the school he was sick.

Harry swallowed, he wanted to say it. He had to, and he had to have the courage to go all the way through this time "The cupboard under the stairs... it... it was may bedroom until I got my Hogwarts letter... the Dursleys thought someone was watching them so they moved me into Dudley's second bedroom... I'd get in trouble if I touched any of his stuff though"

Molly looked at him a moment before saying "I'll get this sorted out Harry, I promise, but right now I need you to go up to Ron's room. It's well past bedtime"

Harry hesitantly nodded and went back up stairs, forgetting whatever it was that made him come down here.

Harry laid in the second bed in Ron's room for near an hour, just watching the hands on the clock. He couldn't sleep, he felt too miserable and to... scared. When the door began to creek open he instinctively pulled the sheet over his head. He listened to the sound of feet approaching and gulped when he felt the bed sink. Someone was sitting on it.

They were silent for what felt like hours but couldn't have been longer then seconds "Is what Molly said true Harry?" was the voice of Dumbledore but it sounded so strange.

Harry hesitantly peeked out from behind the sheet and say Dumbledore tear stained face. He'd never seen a grown man cry before "Harry" the man tried "Are they... the Dursleys... hurting you?"

Harry's first impulse was to shake his head 'no' just stopped half way.

"Harry" Dumbledore tried again "I can't do anything unless you tell me the truth"

Harry took a gulp of air "They lock me up in the cupboard" he admitted "And Unlce Vernon... hits me when he's in a bad mood"

Harry yelped as Dumbledore pulled him into a hug "I didn't know" he assured "I didn't know"

"B-but my letter,"

"Harry" Dumbledore pulled back, placing his hands on Harry's shoulders "The letter is addressed by magic to the place a child feels safest. Usually a tree house or some such. It's supposed to help convince Muggle born children that the letter is authentic. I doubt anyone would feel even comfortable reading the address on it as it would be very private for the child and many times is a secret place only they know about"

"Oh..." Harry looked down

"Harry... I love you. I... I genuinely through you were happy"

Harry hesitantly nodded

"I need to take care of some things... some people from the ministry will want to talk to you but... I'll make sure your placed with the Weasleys if that's what you want"

Harry nodded again, not trusting himself to speak

Dumbledore lightly kissed Harry's forehead "Now go to sleep Harry, everything will be just fine now"

Harry hesitantly laid down his head

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The next week that followed wasn't pleasant for Albus Dumbledore. Not only was he dealing with questioning and public shaming by the ministry (who 'accidentally' let a child abuse case get leaked to the press despite strick laws against such things). He still hadn't figured how he was going to stop Voldemort after he escaped. Getting the dark lord to go after the wrong stone took a decade of planning and leaking misinformation. It was unlikely they could do something like that again. Any future plan would have to involve Harry but that was precisely what he wanted to avoid. Albus knew what Voldemort had gone to Harry even if the vile man didn't.

Harry was a Horcrux, a dark container for a slither of a person's shattered soul. They were used to keep the spirit bound to the world and could even give them another body to inhabit if it claimed a sacrifice. However if all had gone according to plan none of the Horcruxes Voldemort had created would be of any use. Voldemort's wraith would have been forever trapped inside the Mirror of Erised, lost in an illusion of his greatest dreams forever like so many others before him. Not the horrible fate many would like for such a murderer but it would trap him for all of time where he could do no harm ever again... and perhaps finally find some measure of piece himself. Voldemort... Tom... really was Albus' greatest failure. If he had just nurtured the boy, given him some sense of belonging instead of hounding him his entire school days... there wasn't a doubt in Albus' mind. He created Voldemort. He turned a sad lonely child into a monster, taught him that the world was cruel and unfair, and proved that all he had was himself. Little Tom, when he started out, just wanted to make the world a better place but the boy's fear turned him to the darkest of magic. When he made his first Horcrux is when he changed. The ritual required a murderer and so the boy reasoned if he killed someone evil, someone who wronged him and others greatly, then it would be okay. He tried to rationalize it but even after performing the deed their was still hope for him... but not after what he did to himself. Slicing off a piece of your soul and locking it away doesn't come without cost. Tom slowly lost more and more of his mind with each Horcrux he made until their was nothing left of the poor misunderstood child he once was.

Harry had been created by accident, a horcrux was intended to be made that night but was undoubtedly going to be placed in something a little less perishable.

Now that the plan to capture Voldemort had failed as well as the backup plan of Voldemort getting the fake stone and having it curse his magic to the point he could never regain a body... Harry would have to die... thank Merlin for Lily. She was so smart, truly the greatest witch of their time. She had used her death to fuel a number of protection spells. The blood wards of course that should have been keeping Harry safe but turned out be keep him imprisoned. Then She and James had sighed a magical contract, transferring all their magic to Harry on their deaths, which is why the boy was so powerful. And finally, and most importantly, she placed a rune on Harry's forehead, one that when fueled by the ultimate sacrifice of a loved one would protect them from the killing curse. If Harry ever got hit by the killing curse it would put him in a death like sleep for maybe an hour, and possibly kill the caster, but he would wake up and be fine. The Horcux would most likely be destroyed if this happened and Harry would be safe but the only way too do that would be to cast the killing curse. Albus had tried, tried so hard, to do it but he couldn't form the spell. In order to use the killing curse you have to have absolute hate in your heart. You have to want the target dead. The spell could not be used to save a child from a horrible fate. All attempts to cast it fizzled out. Voldemort had to be the one to cast it, it was his go to spell. Any other death eater would most likely use something else and Harry was immune only to the killing curse. He could die just as easy from any other spell... This meant Albus had to make it even more personal, had to goad the Dark Lord into trying to kill Harry himself. It was the child's safest bet. Hopefully he wouldn't be a child when this all went down. Hopefully Harry would be a grown man and have the plan explained to him. The boy might want to fight but it was better to use him as bait, use him to weaken the dark lord so the Order could take him down. First they have to destroy the other Horcruxes... no first they need to figure out how many there are and where they are located.

Lucius Malfoy had one but he was having trouble tracking the others with it... Lucius was a cruel bastard who wanted nothing more then to wipe all muggles from the face of the Earth but he was not an idiot. He knew the Dark Lord was insane and would be the end of all magic. Lucius had been helping the Order fight Voldemort when he could but mostly he was a free lancer, destroying the man from the inside. He was a powerful ally who played his part as their enemy very well... probably because he would turn on them whenever was most convenient... it was too bad Harry insulted the man's son when the boy offered his friendship... but then again little Draco had just insulted Ron and Harry was fiercely protective of the ginger even after the short time they spent together... Still it would have been useful for Harry to be friends with the Malfoy heir. That could have given Dumbledore greater influence over Lucius (and no doubt Lucius thought it would do the same for Dumbledore)... politics, it was common for children to get swept up in them.

Thank Merlin it was the summer. The Weasleys would make sure Harry didn't see the paper highlighting his abuse and by the time school rolled around this would have become old news for the other children. This really wasn't going to help relations between muggles and wizards. He left Harry in Petunia's care because he trusted her. That vile woman, Albus would have them sent to Azkaban if it wasn't for Harry's sensitive soul. A muggle prison would have to do... Lily would be proud of Harry. He was so like her, so forgiving.

Albus was currently working on getting the Dursleys imprisoned, gaining custody of their son on the grounds of the necessity to keep up the blood wards, and arranging for the Weasleys to be made the legal guardians of Harry Potter. Albus would still be the Magical Guardian and although he could legally look after Harry himself he was far too old to keep up with the boy and really didn't like the idea of acting as disciplinary when he could be the loving grandfather. This meant he was effectively appointing the Weasleys as the boy's nannies who would gain legitimate custody of the child upon his death as he was an old man and did not expect he had many more years ahead of him.

Albus sighed looking at the front page of the morning paper, once again covering Harry's abuse and shaming Dumbledore for his inaction. Today's topic was how Dumbledore waved off the mandatory physical all Quidditch players must go through before being allowed to play at school. Albus was worried his Med Witch would say Harry was to weak and frail to play Quidditch, as she was a rather overprotective women and Harry was so small for his age. As the boy's magical guardian he could give his permission for the boy to play anyway and it just seemed like such a hassle that would undoubtedly embarrass and upset Harry so he used his position as headmaster to ignore it all together. The paper was kind enough to point out that if Dumbledore hadn't done that and acted more responsibly Harry's abuse would have been discovered at the beginning of the school year. It was little wonder Harry thought he not only knew about the abuse but was covering it up... it still pained Albus so much to know the child he loved, the closest thing he had to a grandson, could ever think something like that. Albus willful ignorance had hurt the boy so much but he just didn't want to think Petunia was capable of that. She was Lily's s sister. Albus had known her since she was a child. After what he turned little Tom into Albus always tried to think the best of people and not accuse them of anything without some pretty damning proof. It seems he just traded one extreme for another.

He really was far too old.

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A/N:

This is part of my Paradox Unleashed crossover universe but I'll be focusing mostly on the Harry Potter Franchise. Still you may see creatures and Characters from others occasionally but they will not play a large role in the main plot. In order for this fic to fit in my universe I'm using the 'Time is always being rewritten' concept from Doctor Who. I'm reusing many of my ideas from my fic 'American Warts' which was a American Dragon Jake Long crossover with Harry Potter so that, without the crossover element, I'll be able to focus more on them. I will still be working on American Warts so don't worry.