The battlefield was desolate… the groans of the dying wafting on the breeze to the battlements of the ancient ruin. A lone figure can be seen standing on the crumbling stone gazing out on the dead and dying tears falling from his eyes as he weeps for the fallen and for the fact that he cannot help those still amongst the living.
The students and teachers that defended the once mighty bastion of learning have all passed on into the next great adventure. Only those who sided with the dark one remain and they lay dying from his last great curse. Our lone witness was too late to save them from their fate. Dead and forgotten he lay as the last battle played out without his aid. His allies were all killed in battle or captured and used as human sacrifices to bind the dark lord's necromantic mark to the skins of those who surrendered or were kept secured in the castle.
Every Student of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was either a marked murderer or dead by the time Harry Potter took a gasping breath and returned to the world of the living.
Love is a powerful thing.
It ties in to all of our other emotions strengthening them and binding them in unusual ways. A wise old man…. Or at least that is how he was billed at the time, once told Harry that Love was "force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature" Having just awoken from a close encounter with death and being the master of all three of the deathly hallows Harry could indeed testify that love is far more terrible than death.
There was no duel, no battle, no spells exchanged. His anchors broken poor Tom Riddle never stood a chance against the righteous fury and anguish that was Harry Potter. Seeing the bodies of all those he fought and died for lying heaped up in careless piles his vengeance was swift.
From the golden throne overlooking the carnage in the Great Hall Tom witnessed something he never thought to see again, his nemesis, Harry Potter standing in the doorway of the great hall. He had time to lift his stolen wand but before a curse could leave it a liquid bar of light seemed to shoot from Harry's hand and strike the foul creature in the chest. In an event strangely reminiscent to a Halloween 17 years ago Tom's body dissolved leaving his clothing and wand to fall to the floor this was immediately followed by a tremendous explosion blowing out the windows behind the throne and damaging the ancient headmasters seat severely.
His anchors all destroyed, with Tom's final death the necromantic magics he bound his followers with began to take the lives of those he had bound to serve him. Much like the ancient Egyptians tomb guardians the Death Eaters would eat death and join their master in eternal servitude.
Harry stands alone and friendless, his only true home destroyed beyond his ability to repair, wanted by the Goblin nation, the Ministry of Magic, and probably others as well, The dying bodies of the remaining death eaters and students that chose to kill a classmate to take the mark were all that remained here. Surveying the destruction he makes a decision. Clasping an ancient wand and staring out over the forest he calls "Accio Resurrection Stone"
The white light pervading the train station seemed somehow less blinding this time. Perhaps it is because it's only occupant was expecting it and managed to show up fully clothed with an ancient cloak across his shoulders, a black stone ring on his finger, and clasping an ancient wand.
"I was wondering when you would show up!" a familiar voice called from behind him. Of course it would be her; it had always been her by his side.
"Hermione!" he rushed forward glad that in this place at least they could touch, needing to hug her to him, crying with joy and shame babbling "I'm so sorry!" over and over.
"Shush" she croons as she strokes his hair his tears soaking into the shoulder of her shirt. "It's not your fault we died, its Tom's fault as you well know." She gently pulls his head up to stare into his eyes as she speaks. "You had no good options at that moment and while I wish you hadn't gone out into the forest alone, we didn't know at the time any other way to remove the soul shard leaching off your scar." After another reassuring hug she asks gently; "Harry, do you know where you are?"
"Dumbledore said it was a place between our world and the next great adventure," he said shakily,"by which I guess he meant death. This is where I came when Tom hit me with the killing curse in the forest. Dumbledore met me here and told me I could go on or go back. I chose to go back but by the time I… woke up again you were all dead. There was no one left to save. But I killed him, Riddle is gone now and he did something, everyone with a dark mark is dying now, some died quickly, but some of the newer death eaters seem to be hanging on longer."
"Harry," Hermione said with a gentle smile, "this is not just a place between our world and the next, it is between all worlds. Since you have physical possession of all of the Hallows you can come here physically. Last time your soul was here but your body remained and everyone thought you dead, this time, there is no body. When you return, you will bring your body with you to wherever or whenever you go."
"… Whenever?"
"Yes Harry, Whenever," She replied with a smile. "Unlike time turners, you are outside of time here, and can go back to any point in time you were alive. Like a time turner there will be two Harrys running around however there is no chance of changing, damaging or destroying the timeline because you aren't looped you have just hopped over to another string."
"String?" Harry blinked owlishly at her excited explanation
"Sorry!" Hermione said ducking her head ruefully before continuing. "Even if you had stayed in the muggle world this is something that usually isn't taught until university, I just read a few books on it when I was younger, and my parents have colleagues who attended Cambridge where some of the more interesting monographs have come out. String theory is a physics thought construct that, among other things, postulates that there are multiple, possibly infinite universes alongside one another each one diverging whenever any outcome has more than one possibility. When a time turner is used to go back, the person's actions must have already happened in the timeline they are leaving from so as to not create another string. If they manage to break one of the rules of time, causing a new string to be created, the original future of that string ceases to exist for them which can and has resulted in the apparent death of the time traveler as they are no longer in our universe. "
"But going back from here doesn't do that?" Harry asked with a glazed look.
"No, from here outside of time you can choose to go back to say the Tri-wizard Tournament to stop Tom's Ritual or at least screw it up, or the department of mysteries, or The chamber of secrets second year, or even First year and the Philosopher's stone and that would simply create a new string or set of strings where you did that." She paused and bit her lower lip pensively. "Actually now that you are here, all of the possible strings where you go back already exist and it is just a matter of you choosing what to do. You don't have to go back you know, you can go on instead."
For a moment Harry seemed excited by the idea but then his face falls. "But if I go to a different world where none of this has happened yet, what happens when I finally move on, will I see those I love from my old world or those from the new one."
"Oh, Harry! I am not just your Hermione you know… I am also a Hermione that was killed by a troll in a bathroom at the age of 12, A Basilisk at age 13, a death eater at 14, a dragon at 15, a Hermione that was a muggle hit by a Bus in London. Shall I go on? This place is between worlds, and although I can remember everything we did together, I can also remember worlds where I died prematurely for other reasons. One day, all of the various versions of me, from She-Who-Must-Not-Knit, to Dark Lady Hermione will come together and we will be one. For now the darker aspects of us are kept separate and being purified of the evils they have done, but eventually we will be whole. Then I might just opt for Reincarnation again who knows."
"She-Who-Must-Not-Knit huh?" Harry teased.
She had the decency to blush. "Well you know how I got about house elves. In one world, I managed to force all of the house elves in England into being free… It didn't end well and most of them wound up binding themselves to families outside of the UK. I was banned from several countries and house elves around the world refused to serve me in any way. I was unable to stay at magical inns or resorts or eat at magical restaurants. It turns out that House Elves have to bind themselves to a magical being of some kind or lose their magic and die after a few years. I never considered that they might be Symbiotes rather than slaves since they are sentient beings."
"So, what should I do Hermione, I don't want to live in a world without my friends and yet I don't want to have to go through all that again. Also If I did go back to another world earlier in time people would be suspicious of me since I am so recognizable.
"Well Harry, why don't we sit down and discuss it with your family, you have the ring, and here outside of time and space calling them is quite easy and painless for them. I am sure your parents and Sirius would like to speak with you again. They wanted to be the ones to explain things, but they all know how much we mean to each other. And besides I have been explaining things to you for years! Not that you listened much!" She added with a playful huff.
Harry looked at the ring upon his hand as if seeing it for the first time and resolutely turned it three times on his finger "Mom, Dad, Sirius," He called softly as he turned it.
Three figures appeared near the bench Harry and Hermione occupied. A slender auburn haired woman with bright green eyes in her early 20's a man who looked like he might be Harry's taller older brother, with hair just as messy, and a much younger looking Sirius Black. The years of starvation and dementor exposure being wiped away from his healthy frame had made Sirius look like a new man.
The joyful reunion was much less bittersweet this time as they were able to touch one another. Hugs were shared as laughter and tears flowed freely.
Eventually Hermione brought the topic up of how Harry could fit in if he chose to return to the past.
"That's easy Harry" his mother commented with a smile. "You are a fairly gifted Metamorphmagus, in fact you were so quick to do impressions that we had to bind most of your ability away since we were living in a partially muggle area before we went into hiding. You were born looking more like a blend of the two of us but you copied your dad's face and my eyes so often that it became the form we bound you to. I am surprised that Poppy didn't lift the binding when you started school. Surely you noticed that your hair rarely changes and grows slowly unless cut and you have never had to shave? You also heal more quickly than most of your peers. Both of those should have been clues to Poppy even if she didn't do a full diagnostic scan."
"Madam Pomphrey should have noticed a lot of things," Harry said glumly. "'ten dark and difficult years' he said. I wonder if he knew just how bad it was. Maybe he did, maybe not. It doesn't matter now."
"I know how hard it was Harry; we were always with you, watching over you. I just wish we could have intervened sometimes. To release the Metamorph binding just point your wand at yourself and say "Figura mutationes devinxeris vicissim" while intending to free yourself from your binds. The binding spell and its counter are in most books that discuss Metamorphs. Tonks was bound while she was in muggle primary school since she never really mastered controlling her hair until after she finished Hogwarts. You'll have to practice of course, but you should be able to disguise yourself fairly easily. And now that that wretched curse scar is just a scar, it should respond to magical healing."
"Of course," James spoke up, "before you go gallivanting about the multiverse you should tie up loose ends with the goblins regarding the Potter estate. Clean out the Heirloom vault see about a damages settlement. If you offer oath that the goblin nation was harboring a portion of old Voldies soul and your actions were solely to destroy him and not steal from the goblin nation they will probably let it go, particularly since Griphook reneged on the deal. Despite his protestations the sword of Gryffindor was granted to the school in perpetuity to be wielded by its defenders, which is why Neville was able to draw it out of the sorting hat despite it being held by the goblins once more."
"Mom," Harry asked some time later, "what can you tell me about the blood wards and how you protected me from Tom?"
"Ah, that was a bit of me being too clever for my own good wasn't it?" she said wryly. "Well, the ritual of protection I used involved me carving a rune over my heart and drawing a matching one on your brow with the blood. It was used by the Norse battle mages, supposedly taught to them by the Norns themselves. If the mage was struck down defending their people those marked for defense would be strengthened against the enemies that struck them down.
That mark you bear is where I marked you with my blood to protect you against him. The sheer magical power forced through the mark split your skin and his bit of soul kept it from healing properly." She sighed before continuing. "The blood wards around Petunias house are a completely different story. Most old pureblood homes have some type of blood based wards that protect the family. Goblin wards sometimes have a blood based component as well. The type of wards I placed around my sister's house specifically were intent based wards they obscured the location, and would have protected them from attack while alerting me. Each year I would need to return to place five drops of my blood on the ward stone to keep them active. There wasn't anything special about them until Dumbledore decided to try to link the wards with the Norn Protection ritual.
Had Petunia or even Dudley been the type to love you and be willing to sacrifice for you, then none of you would have been able to be touched by Voldemort or any with ill intent. Even Severus would have been burned by your touch. As it was, within three years of you being placed there they faded to almost nothing and were constantly on the verge of falling. The protections I had given you from the ritual still lingered, but no longer as strong as they were or Quirril's legillimancy would never have worked on you and you wouldn't have had that horrid pain in your scar." She scowled fiercely before continuing.
By the time you returned to the Dursley's the summer of your second year the blood wards had fallen and my protection had been expended by expelling Voldemort from Quirril. The only remnant of it was used to isolate the soul piece from your mind and core. Dumbledore, not understanding what happened with the wards, used my ward stone and crafted a new blood ward that was fed directly by your core while you were there instead of requiring regular blood donations or emotional ties. I am not sure why he felt that that type of ward would protect you as much as he did. Once the original wards were down you would have been just as safe behind any good goblin or old family wards."
"Is there any way for me to, I don't know, go back and be Harry again? Knowing what I know now?" Harry asked quietly
"There is, but it requires the younger Harry's consent. If you step into time in the past and then bring a younger Harry here not only will his soul leech be taken care of, but you two could choose to blend the way our varied souls do. Then there would only be one of you to return and you would have all of his memories and he yours."
"Can I bring others here as well, or just other Harries?" Harry asked curiously.
Hermione smiled broadly, "Actually Harry, as the master of The Hallows you can bring anyone to this gateway, but only you can choose to go on from here unless they are dead. You can even revive people that have died from the killing curse if you come here to fetch them quickly. Of course they have to want to return." She added frowning briefly.
"If I brought her here would you blend with your younger self? I'm not sure I can do this without you, without my Hermione." He said desperately hoping.
"That I don't know. I don't know if the part of me that was your Hermione would be able to leave us to blend with a living me. Or if we would all blend with her, which could get confusing since we didn't all have the same starting conditions. "
"Starting conditions?" he echoed.
"Yes, in each world I mentioned earlier save one we were both sorted into Gryffindor and had all of the adventures you remembered save I died earlier. The one I mentioned that was different was the life in which I was not a witch, I was a muggle hit by a bus in London you recall. That life had different starting conditions. I had no bursts of accidental magic; magic was never a part of my life. In fact in that world magic may not have even existed for all I know. Or at least no one was able to use it. There are infinite numbers of worlds where Harry Potter never met me, or was a girl, or Neville was the boy-who-lived, or Tom Riddle was a benevolent minister for magic instead of a homicidal terrorist, or Dumbledore was a Dark Lord, and he and Grindelwald won world war two and ruled the world for "The Greater Good." Every point in time where a decision was made, another world spins off into being. Having the memories of all of the "me's" from those worlds blended into a living body could cause complications. Sometimes I think that may be what happened to Luna when she was nine. The accident that killed her mother may have allowed her to see part of the multiverse."
They sat and talked, laughed, cried and planned for what seemed like days, or only a moment, when finally Harry stood, said his goodbyes and vanished.
Gringots Wizarding bank had had a rather eventful couple of days. Their security forces were still reeling from the second successful break-in in seven years. In some cases heads were rolling literally. Then this morning one by one the life stones for most of the ancient houses began going dark, the lords and heirs of almost all of the pureblood houses were apparently dead.
Almost unnoticed in this barely controlled chaos and suppressed panic, a figure strode into Gringotts. Approaching the head tellers station the cloaked figure spoke, to the teller it would seem that the young wizard had appeared from midair, however no active magic had been detected by the wards, and so he attributed his startlement to a lack of attention rather than the unusual properties of the now fully empowered Peverell cloak. The cloak in question now rather than acting as an invisibility cloak, conceals the wearer unless they draw attention to themselves, almost like a modified fidelius charm, the wearer cannot be perceived by any who are not allowed in on the secret.
"Master Teller, I seek an audience with the bank manager or council as I have information vital to the future of the goblin nation." Harry petitioned, giving a brief shallow bow to the teller in question.
Ironclaw sneered down at the cloaked figure, "And what, Human, could you have to say that would be of the least importance to the nation?" He asked, his appreciation for the respect showed carefully concealed by his tone.
"It is in regards to the final death of Tom Marvolo Riddle, the half-blood who styled himself Lord Voldemort." Harry replied, lifting his right hand and showing the resurrection stone ring, he added. "You may tell them Lord Peverell seeks audience if it helps"
The Peverell name hadn't been used in hundreds of years, the only remaining branches known to Gringotts were the Gaunt and Potter families, and if Tom Riddle was dead… "Of course, Mister Potter, the goblin smiled broadly lowering his voice, "I am quite sure the council will be most eager to discuss the events of the last few days with you."
Griphook was young for a goblin, not yet 60, and having spent his entire life in the bank, never having visited Egypt, South America, or China, never being trained in the finer points of curse breaking or Gringotts policies on certain human magics. How was he to know what the senior accounts representatives were even now discussing in council? Had he known he may not have leveled the accusation of thief against the last of the Potter family?
"Soul magic! That's the only thing that could account for all of them dying at once" claimed one elderly looking goblin in fine robes, "we know they were all marked, we just never got the chance to examine the marks up close."
"If he dabbled in Soul magics that could also explain how they were able to resurrect him" interjected a younger looking goblin in similar though less ornate robes. "He must have made a soul anchor."
"Could that be what the Potter heir was after during the break-in?" asked an imposing figure of a goblin warrior in full battle regalia. "According to Griphook's memory he only took one item from the LeStrange vaults. A simple golden cup no matter how historical hardly seems worth the effort to break in unless it were important beyond its intrinsic value"
The question was not answered however as there was a knock at the door, Frowning as everyone knew not to interrupt a council session for anything less than an emergency, the armored goblin barked "Enter!"
A small young goblin wearing the leathers of one of the messenger class entered and sketched a deep bow before announcing, "Lord Ragnok, honored council members, the Potter heir is in the lobby seeking audience with yourselves… He has also claimed the Peverell Lordship." He cleared his throat quietly, "Normally he would be sent away of course, but considering the subject of your meeting, Master Teller Ironclaw thought perhaps you might want to interview him yourself?" he added hopefully.
"Send for him" proclaimed Ragnok manager of Gringotts bank, Lord of the five clans of Great Britain, Chief of the Goblins. "We shall see how he fares against Griphook's accusations of theft and see goblin justice meted out!"
As Harry was lead into the cavernous room he couldn't help but admire the intricate bas relief carvings decorating the walls, in the flickering torchlight they almost seemed to move of their own accord. Though most of them depicted bloody battle with humans on the losing side, they were still quite impressive, but not as impressive as the five goblins seated at the large stone table across from the door. The centermost goblin seemed to be larger than the others and was the only one wearing armor; the others seemed to all be dressed in finely cut robes that wouldn't have been out of place in Madam Malkin's. Strange Harry had never seen a goblin in robes before, they always seemed to wear Victorian style muggle suits or some form of armor. Marshaling what little he remembered from his history text and the more recent crash course on goblin society and etiquette from his parents he bowed deeply before the council baring his neck before them showing that he placed his life in their hands.
And he waited.
And waited, after what seemed like hours, a gruff voice barked, "Rise Human! It has been a long time since one of your kind has come before the council much less one who may be facing goblin justice for his actions, usually they choose to flee and we must hunt them down instead. What brings you before our council, and what makes you think you will leave this room alive? "
Rising from his hunched bow and looking the leader of the goblin nation in the eye, trying to portray a confidence he didn't feel, Harry spoke, "Lord Ragnok, since the death of headmaster Dumbledore I have been on a mission to bring about the final death of the self proclaimed Dark Lord. There was a prophecy that stated only I could vanquish him." Ruefully he added "I am now informed that your curse breakers could have helped me in my task had I had the wit and knowledge to ask. For you see he created foul devices to anchor his soul to this plane of existence.
At this the two robed figures on the left of Ragnok exchanged glances, and Harry felt a glimmer of hope. "I see some of you know of what I speak, I will not utter their name as I understand they are Taboo in Gringotts, I will say that Tom Riddle created seven of the abominations and that all of them have been destroyed along with the homunculus body that he inhabited after his resurrection." A smile seemed to flit across the face of Ragnok but it was to fleeting for Harry to be sure.
"Have you a way to show memories similar to the Pensieve? If possible I would show you how I came to learn of the existence and location of one of his anchors. I feel that it would be far easier to believe than to listen to my recital."
Ragnok was relieved though of course he would never show it. Voldemort had been bad for business, and it was only a matter of time before he turned on the goblins altogether, and this boy-no this young man was responsible for ending this threat to the goblin nation. He only hoped at this point that he wouldn't have to be executed for his crimes. "Bring in the memory viewer and a set of crystals." He ordered one of the waiting runners.
When it arrived, the elder robed goblin on the left spoke, "This device will display memories placed in it in a similar fashion to a Pensieve, however rather than loose memory strands, each memory is captured in a specially prepared crystal. Simply bring the memory to the fore and place the crystal against your temple. It will extract a copy of the memory for viewing. Falsified memories will be evident so do not attempt to deceive this council!"
To Harry's surprised eyes the device resembled nothing as much as the fortress of solitude console from the old Superman movie that he had seen Dudley and his friends watching one summer. Taking one of the cool crystals in hand he focused on the five memories that he needed to share. Dumbledore revealing the cup and locket of Hepzibah Smith, Belatrix furious and scared that someone had been in her vault, Hermione's conclusions, and the consultation with Griphook, the break-in, and finally the Destruction of the Cup. After showing them the memories he concluded. "As you have seen, the cup was the only thing taken from the vault. We were going to use the sword to destroy it as it had been impregnated with Basilisk venom however that was not possible. The item in question was in fact a stolen cursed item that had no business being in the vault of the Lestranges, at the time I did not know that Sirius Black had named me the new head of the Black family nor did I know of Goblin law regarding cursed items so I come before you today not to beg for clemency to a thief but to arrange reparations to cover the cost of repairs to the bank resulting from the misunderstandings following my rather unusual withdrawal." Taking a deep breath and hoping his father had been right about the goblins, he asked, "Have you any questions about what I have shown you?"
"Not having the sword what did you stab the cup with, It looked somewhat like a dragon's fang but surely that would not have been sufficient to pierce the enchantments."
Relieved Harry replied "It was a basilisk fang, from the chamber of secrets; I killed it with the sword of Gryffindor when I was 12 that was when it became infused with venom."
Would you be willing to share your memory of the beast with us, it must have been quite large to leave a fang so large.
"Of course" Harry replied more than happy to share the memory of how he came to defeat a class five creature and learn the true name of Voldemort. As well as showing the destruction of yet another anchor. Several memories and questions and answers later the council seemed in a much different mood. This young man had not only shown fierce loyalty strength and determination in the face of adversity he had comported himself with honor and sought no reward for his deeds showing a surprising level of humility for a wizard, young or not.
"Mr. Potter, Lord Peverell, your actions over the last few days has caused tremendous chaos here at Gringotts, yet not as much perhaps had Tom Riddle had time to turn his attentions to the Goblin Nation. The deaths of several of our security forces, the loss of a valuable dragon, the damages to the structure of the bank, it is difficult to assess reparations properly, however we do admit, that you had the right by inheritance and ancient treaty to enter the Lestrange vault and remove the cursed item so the capital charge of Thief cannot in fairness be applied. As your companions are no longer among the living, their crimes of using polyjuice and the imperious curse in Gringotts are closed, though you could be considered an accessory. In addition as a result of your actions this morning, dozens of pureblood lines have ended. The Potter family has some claim to some of them by virtue of relation, last surviving cousin and so forth, but you personally have the potential 'Right of Conquest' as they were defeated in a declared civil war and you personally defeated the man they had sworn oath to. I think a small say ten percent fee of all inheritances you receive this way would go a long way toward restitution" Ragnok said with a smirk.
Harry smiled close lipped, relieved "That sounds quite fair my lord. I had hoped to set up certain financial matters with the bank in regards to the Potter estate if our meeting ended on a favorable note, but perhaps it would be better to consult with the Inheritance department and let them complete an accounting of the accrued holdings and return next week?"
"I will have you escorted to the Potter Accounts manager, give him the general outline of what you want to accomplish and he can liaise with the other departments to expedite your wishes."
Senior accounts manager Bloodclaw was in a cheerful mood. Well as far as a goblin can be cheerful anyway, several of the oldest and most conservative families had recently ended and it would seem at first glance that the Potter family was going to absorb many of them increasing his portfolio exponentially. He had been seeking a meeting with the young Potter for some time now, but none of his missives had ever been responded to, and to make matters worse, it would seem that the Potter estates overseas needed his personal intervention any time in years past that the young Potter had had a chance to enter the bank. It almost seemed like a cosmic conspiracy to prevent the two of them from meeting. And now not only was the war apparently over, but Mr. Potter himself had turned up at the bank and was having what rumor would indicate was a profitable meeting with the goblin council.
There was a knock at the door, glancing at the lintel and seeing the name of his client Bloodclaw could not help but to smile in vicious anticipation. "Come!" He barked roughly.
As Harry entered the office of the Potter accounts manager his eye was drawn immediately to the Potter Family Crest with its golden trio of Cinquefoils. Overwhelmed by grief for a moment, he paused and centered himself, now that he finally understood what clearing your mind was, he was a fairly decent occulumens. Hermione was a much better teacher than Snape.
"Ah, Mister Potter," drawled the seated goblin "I have been waiting to meet with you for some time. My name is Bloodclaw and I have been the Potter accounts manager for the last sixty years. I was most upset that I was not able to meet with you upon your return to the Wizarding world" he continued with a small frown "alas I was unavoidably out of the country for the last week of July that year. Though I am surprised that you never responded to any of my requests for a meeting in the years since" he said "buried in with your fan mail I suppose." The goblin before him added with a slight quirk of the lips that could be interpreted as amusement if you didn't know showing teeth was a sign of aggression.
"Meeting… Fan Mail? Account Manager Bloodclaw I have never received correspondence from Gringotts or any fan mail; I've only ever gotten letters from my friends, Hogwarts and the Ministry."
"Humph", said the goblin with a frown. "It would seem then that you are still subjected to a keyed letter redirection ward. I had assumed that that would have been removed with your return to our world. Well no matter now, better late than never. We should have covered all of this when you were eleven of course. Your parent's wills and the will of Sirius Black need to be gone over to start with. Then we can address any questions you have.
His parent's wills were simple leaving everything to each other and him with a list of approved guardians if they were both deceased. There was also a small provision for Remus, but it was too late now do anything but put it in a trust fund for Teddy. Money was to be set aside for his care and upkeep to be paid to his guardians monthly, Interestingly Petunia was on the list of approved guardians, dead last of course, however if he was sent to her, then he was to be emancipated if he so chose upon completing his first year at Hogwarts. Other potential guardians included Andromeda Tonks, and Amelia Bones, as well as Selene Lovegood. Sirius of course led the rest as his godfather followed by his godmother Alice Longbottom.
Sirius' will was a bit more complicated and had he been allowed at the will reading rather than Dumbledore attending as his proxy he would have once again been offered emancipation as well as the lordship of the ancient and noble house of Black. Sirius' bequeaths were both amusing and appropriate. Hagrid received the Motorcycle, the twins received copies of his Marauder Journals as well as some additional funding for their shop, and Hermione received most of the books in Grimmauld Place. Ron received a rather old chess set carved in India and enchanted by one of the more well known Wizarding chess masters who was known to have beaten Wilhelm Steinitz the Austrian chess master in the 1860's. Harry in addition to the Lordship was tasked with officially bringing Andromeda and Tonks back into the Black Family. As well as pre-generated forms to cast out Bellatrix after dissolving her marriage and confiscating her dowry. That would have been useful. Harry was sure that Hermione was not at the will reading either or she would have not had room in her beaded bag for anything else!
After signing quite a stack of parchamentwork Harry was finally ready to begin setting up what he felt he needed to do to help the British Wizarding world recover from the ravages of the worst civil war since the time of Merlin.
"Bloodfang, In addition to the inheritances we have covered and any the inheritance department decide fall to me as Lord of Potter and Black respectively, I also am Heir by right of conquest to many of the Deatheater families and may be mentioned in the wills of many of the light aligned families. I have made arrangements with the bank to handle all the parchamentwork in the next week or so and the council has assessed a ten percent fee of the right of conquest inheritances as restitution for the damages caused to the bank during my last visit. However I have very clear ideas for what to do with the rest of the money. I would like to set up a series of trusts to restore and maintain castle Hogwarts and repair her wards. Salvage the library and set up a series of portals to the school connecting to the various magical enclaves around the British Isles using similar charms to those on linked vanishing cabinets. I have the book of Names the castle uses to generate Hogwarts letters and I would like the bank to set up a first contact team to find and meet with Muggle parents of magical children as soon as they exhibit their first accidental magic. The school was badly damaged and the Faculty was all killed in the battle along with the order of the phoenix and all of the students still in the castle. Almost all that is left of our world are the muggleborn and any adult witches and Wizards who managed to stay unmarked but didn't fight with us against the darkness. They cannot be allowed to be the voice teaching the new generation of magic users. I want teachers from overseas, expatriate muggleborns and halfbloods, even purebloods it doesn't matter as long as they are unprejudiced, masters of their fields, and have been successful teachers. I realize that this should be the job of the ministry to handle, but they lack the resources or the wherewithal to do what needs doing, and I can't think of a better use of the Deatheaters' money than helping a new generation of muggleborn not only enter the Wizarding world but thrive."
"Mr. Potter, you realize this is a very long term plan." Bloodclaw commented "In the short term, the Ministry may be quite a hindrance to your plans. They have the other copy of this book in their records, and will quite probably decide to take extreme measures to maintain control now that the war is over. "
"That is why I would like Gringotts to forward a petition to the ICW for me." Replied Harry, "I cannot speak before them but I want the Commonwealth countries to send aid to stabilize the government and repeal the insidious laws Tom's people set up. Provide restitution for those in the camps and try the collaborators for war crimes. It can really only be done by outsiders as our system is to corrupt to do it. I will be stopping by the ministry later to disable the trace, the Taboo, and retrieving their copy of the registry of magical births. Without it, they won't be able to do much until the internationals get here. I plan on leaving as soon as I have these things set up and I am not sure when I will return. I have … things I need to do, things only I can do and I can't get bogged down in micromanaging the rebuilding effort or being used as a figurehead or poster boy by the politicians."
"Well then, let us begin."
Hours later Bloodclaw had outlined several specific trusts with clearly defined goals and management philosophies. "Are you quite sure you want goblins chairing the trusts? Some of the older families are sure to object."
"Bloodclaw, when I absorb the Deatheater families, I will get their Wizengamot seats as well, it is quite likely that I now have a one man majority and could effectively rule Britain as a king perfectly legally. I wouldn't do that of course, but I have no problem naming muggles, goblins, house elves, centaurs, vela, and half giants as my voting proxies in Wizengamot settings." He said with a smirk, "Goblins manage our money. Wizards objecting to goblins managing charitable trusts are just upset that they can't steal from them. I have no sympathy for people like Fudge who turned graft and embezzlement into an institution. Speaking of Institutions, I would like it if you could send an independent team of Healers, goblin or otherwise to inspect the Janus Thickey Long term care ward at St. Mungos, I don't know anything but I suspect that there may be patients there that have curable conditions considering how many donations some of the death eater families have made in the past."
"Very well Mr. Potter, we will have all the Parchamentwork drawn up and the provisional heads of trusts selected by our meeting next week."
"Thank you for your time Bloodclaw, may your gold continue to grow." Harry said formally as he stood to leave.
The British Ministry of Magic building was in complete disarray. Bodies of the recently deceased outnumbered the living by a factor of three to one. And of those living many had until quite recently been under the imperious curse. One figure that stood out amongst the panicking sheep was Dolores Umbridge. No victim of the Imperious she, the head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission found herself quickly in chains as the survivors realized that the dead were all marked death eaters. The fact that she was not under the curse was all too evident from the vitriol she spouted as she was dragged to the holding cells.
A bureaucracy as old and as large as the Ministry of Magic does not pride itself on efficiency, in point of fact, it is actively discouraged through budgetary policy. Efficient departments have their budgets cut every year until they can no longer operate effectively whereas departments that use all of their available funds and have parchamentwork showing why they needed to spend it all tend to get the same funding as last year and in some cases a little more. This long term negative reinforcement of efficient process tends to weed out practical minded persons from positions of authority leaving only the pragmatic and self indulgent. This tendency was only exacerbated by the Wizarding world's illogical nature.
With so many dead, and so many positions unfilled, most of the processes of government had shut down. While middle managers tend to gain promotions from their old jobs through a combination of good work and sponsorship, eventually most middle managers tend to get promoted to their general level of incompetency. That is to say, they will eventually get promoted to a position they are no longer capable of doing any meaningful work in. Sadly for the Wizarding world, upper managers were mostly Deatheaters, and new recruits were also mostly Deatheaters meaning that the only people still in the ministry building were a large collection of mostly useless old men. Filled with their own self importance and panicking at not having any direction or underlings to do their jobs for them. Not to mention all the bodies… someone really should do something about that. It was almost as bad as the great parchment shortage of '44.
This was the environment that Harry Potter faced as he entered the Ministry Building. Having been informed of the Auror entrance by his father he entered silently and unobserved marveling at the stupidity evident in the blustering arguing wizards he passed. As the master of the Hollows even if Moody's eye had still been able to report to someone, it wouldn't have seen him, making his ghostlike passage through the halls of the Ministry easier than any previous trip. Making his way to level three Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, where the Obliviators were dispatched from, as well as the monitoring for the network of magic detection across the UK. As an Auror trainee, his father had worked here briefly. The Taboo was set here as well as the Magic detection grid. The rows of desks were unmanned and the door to the keystone was unguarded. He supposed that this department at least was out responding to the epidemic of death eaters suddenly eating death. He only hoped that the DMLE was as deserted.
The keystone for the British magical detection grid was in a round room, well at least it seemed round, there was a narrow pathway leading from the door to the center of the spherical room, glowing runes formed interlocking patterns on all the walls, each triangular pattern pulsing gently. The room was like the inside of a geodesic dome… if a geodesic dome was carved out of monolithic rock. Some of the patterns seemed to be flashing brightly and as harry approached the center of the room he could see that a lone witch was monitoring a map and scroll of parchment on a table near the floating ward stone.
Silently stunning her, he turned his attention to the stone, an orb of blackest stone, covered with runes in at least three languages only two of which Harry was vaguely familiar with having never taken ancient runes. But who doesn't recognize Hieroglyphs and Norse Runes? The third one seemed to consist of little triangles lined up in different patterns. Following his mother's suggestions he quickly cast several magic dampening wards around the stone; of the type curse breakers used to isolate ward stones from ley lines before grounding them as the stone slowly sank into the pedestal below it the runes along the walls began to dim. Pleased that it appeared to be working, he continued casting a complex sequence Hermione and his mother had drilled into him to ground the ward stone's power back into the earth. The resulting discharge of magical energy would have set off alarms all through the ministry if he weren't disabling that very alarm system. Once the power discharge was complete Harry felt energized rather than drained, He supposed (correctly) that since he was directing existing power rather than expending his own via spells that his core 'topped off' when he made the connection. Now that the stone was no longer infused with magic it became a simple matter to shrink the stone and pocket it. It would be stored in Gringotts until the internationals had set up a stable and fair government. He doubted that the current ministry had the resources to recreate the stone.
Next stop Level two Department of Magical Law Enforcement: Improper Use of Magic Office. Mafilda Hopkirk, having been impersonated by Hermione Granger and thus supposedly present when Dolores Umbridge was assaulted in courtroom ten, had not been faring well the last few months, being sent to Azkaban without a trial solely on Umbridge's word was enough to make anyone upset, but what really got to her was that while she was incarcerated there could be muggleborns practicing magic at home and no one would know. You see, she had customized the interface to the Trace in 1975 on the 100th anniversary of The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and without keying in an operator it wouldn't give accurate information. Her foresight had prevented the Death eaters from replacing her in the 70's and again in the '97. It made her too valuable to do in. She didn't really subscribe to the Pureblood dogma, but she was terrified of muggleborn children exposing their world or even providing proof of magic in their parents' homes. To her mind muggleborns should only perform magic in the Wizarding world and only trained first contact personnel should ever be allowed to perform magic in a muggle house. If a muggleborn wanted to settle in the muggle world, then they should give up magic altogether.
Here in the DMLE there were quite a few competent people, mostly retired aurors brought back out of retirement and imperioused into handling the day to day paperwork so that the younger death eaters could play at being aurors. Most of them seemed to be on the floo and a few were cloistered around a row of tagged bodies and discussing the logistics of clearing the ministry department by department. Mafilda's old office was unoccupied the Trace system seemed to be powered off, Harry could see where power runes would normally be glowing but he supposed it fed off of the larger magic detection grid. At any rate, he quickly and efficiently demolished the apparatus and vanished the remains. After all, monitoring underage magic should be the jobs of the parents and magical guardians. Not the government.
A quick stop in the Hall of Records and his trip will be done.
Of course it couldn't be that easy.
The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation, though narrow in focus: To stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts in Wills. With a rather stringent requirement: The Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them. In actual practice was used fairly indiscriminately by certain ministerial personnel to help themselves to the estates of certain families and to take out of circulation certain items and texts that then found their way into the restricted library and secured vaults of the ministry accessible only to certain persons such as the Librarian, the Unspeakables, and the Minister for Magic's senior staff. The Book of Magical Births was kept in this restricted library rather than the hall of Records where one would assume it would be, this was because unlike Hogwarts version, the Ministries copy of this book was able to quickly and accurately display the magical ancestry of any name selected by a tap of the wand. And all names in the book had magical ancestry. There were no Muggleborn, merely the descendants of squibs. Of course this small fact was lost to the ages more than 200 years ago, long before Gregor Mendel could have told the wizards that even if their children were not magical that didn't mean that their children wouldn't be. Not that the heads of the ancient pureblood families would have listened to a muggle scientist, much less one that was a member of the church that had so persecuted them long ago.
Eventually locating the stacks of the Ministry's secured library Harry was amazed. Hermione would have loved this and been outraged that these books weren't available to all he mused sadly. Deciding not to pass on such a rare opportunity Harry spent some time browsing the stacks for anything that seemed like it would be useful, of course never having taken runes or arithmancy made this more difficult, in the end he decided to call for Backup.
"Kreature!"
*POP*
"Master calls for Kreature?
"Kreature, with the death of Voldemort and the Deatheaters the Ministry has collapsed. Hogwarts is to be repaired and its library restored to its former glory by the House of Black. Bring some of the Hogwarts elves and retrieve this library in its entirety to be incorporated into Hogwarts Library. Any tracking charms or ownership marks are to be removed and the Hogwarts library stamp is to be applied to all of them. If there exists more than one copy of a tome and it does not already exist in the Black library retain a copy for the house of Black as well."
"Master is Confiscating the Ministries Confiscated library? Kreature asked with a sly grin.
"Exactly Kreature, I knew you would understand!" Harry replied with an equally devious grin of his own. "Sometime in the next few days a team of Goblin warriors, warders, and builders will be coming to Hogwarts to begin the reconstruction, please inform the Head of the House elves that the restoration is being performed at the request of the Heir of Slytherin and Gryffindor and is being financed by the spoils of war from the attackers at the bequest of the Ancient and Noble house of Black. Now quickly and quietly, let no one in the ministry see any of you, not that anyone is likely to be down here everyone is still dealing with the immediate problems of the aftermath of the battle. "
After Kreature popped away, Harry quickly returned to the Ministry Atrium and made his way back out into the streets of London. Succumbing to curiosity Harry couldn't help but test the book's family tree function. The book seemed to be organized chronologically with the newest names in the front of the book, it apparently had one of those endless pages enchantments so that new pages appeared as needed and the book never became any thicker, you could lay it flat and flip through it like a rolodex. Interestingly there were not just himself and Neville born at the end of July that year. Though none of the names were ones he recognized. Tapping his name he was pleased to see that his father was right, appearing on the parchment of the book in a similar fashion to the Marauders' map was an intricate family tree, showing magical relatives on both sides, apparently The Evans' came from a family that had squibbed out, that is to say, had no magical descendants for three generations. Apparently one hundred and twenty years prior their squib child had been cast out into the muggle world and a few generations later Lilly was born. Well that was interesting… Apparently on her mother's side she is related to Sirius as well. She would have shown up on the tapestry if Isla hadn't been disowned. In Harry's generation there was another Evans at Hogwarts, perhaps another cousin? Harry could see how the Purebloods wouldn't want this information available to the Muggleborn they might want to institute laws that allowed them to revive dead magical families and claim a portion of the inheritance of families absorbed through marriage when no magical male descendent existed. It would be Chaos… Harry liked the sound of that.
Harry stood in silence on the corner of Privet Drive in little Whining, Surrey. The cool autumn air was still, but he felt no need for warming charms yet. A rather distinctive tabby cat was intently watching number four as its occupants went about their daily lives. Then at the other end of the street a figure appeared, tall and slender with a long flowing silver beard and equally long silver hair hanging down past his waist his distinctive half moon spectacles glinting in the light as they rested on his crooked nose. His long robes and purple cloak did not blend in well with the still perfection of suburbia… Perhaps realizing this he removes a small glinting object from within his robes and with a flick opens it and it begins putting out the street lamps leaving the street in gloom.
Initially harry was confused by this but then he realized that casting a notice me not spell would have shown up on the detection grid, but this device probably would not. Clever, don't want the ministry stooges knowing where Dumbledore is tonight. He is close enough to hear his old headmaster greet his head of house and listen in on their conversation. It confused him, how did word get out about an attack on a fidelius protected home so quickly, and where did they get the idea that he had survived, who spread the rumor? It had barely been twenty four hours! Then Hagrid arrived… and his statements just added to the confusion. His parents had been attacked last night just before midnight. Hagrid must have taken him somewhere before flying over tonight as the motorcycle didn't have an invisibility booster. Probably Hogwarts, but why is he acting as though he came straight from the attack, it was almost a day later?
Harry knew it was almost a day later as he was unable to enter this world until both of his parents had died… Hermione was mostly right he could only go to times where he was alive but more than that, he could only go to times where he was master of the cloak, which could only be passed down through inheritance. He had spent most of the day watching number four to see how the wards were modified, He was a bit surprised when Prof. McG showed up, but as far as he could tell, his mother's wards were unchanged from when he arrived in this world. Perhaps Dumbledore set them up after speaking with Petunia?
As he continued to listen to their hushed discussion he remembered he isn't going to speak with Petunia; he's going to leave a letter! He had almost forgotten about that bit, left on the doorstep like the morning milk used to be. McGonagall was pissed and rightly so, leaving little Harry here with nothing but a letter was an extremely bad idea. Dumbledore's facetious dismissal of McGonagall's questions about the scar sounded particularly suspicious knowing what he knew now. Come to think of it, why was she even watching the house today?
Hagrid borrowed the bike from Sirius and was planning to return it to him. Another point he had missed when talking about that night with both Hagrid and Sirius later. Well, he may not be able to do anything about his parents but he could make some changes for the better before merging.
Hagrid's mournful howl was touching in its honesty and only served to remind him that he truly loved him, he must have been much closer to the Potters than he had told Harry in his school days. And now Dumbledore shoos them away with blithe comments about joining the festivities. No new wards, no spells on Harry's basket, just a blanket and a letter. Perhaps no one told the good headmaster that fifteen month old Harry could walk… Hagrid mounts the bike, McGonagall slinks away in feline form and Dumbledore retreats back down the street before restoring the lights with the same device… is it the deluminator he gave Ron? He wondered. A breeze stirs ruffling the hedges as Harry approaches the bassinet. There young Harry is stirring, turning over in his blankets one hand clutching the letter. No sleep spell, not even a warming charm he thought, what was Dumbledore thinking? Well, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.
McGonagall who despite the headmaster's assurances was not convinced this was the right thing to do, remained behind for a few moments longer and to her watchful eyes one moment little Harry was resting peacefully in his basket, the next the basket and he were gone.
By the time she and a panicking headmaster returned not only was Harry gone but so were the wards. The small ward stone Lilly had used to protect her sister's house was gone leaving a small indention in the ground under one of the corner hedges.
Sirius Black was a man on a mission; to kill a rat. Had he been thinking more clearly, he would have involved the Auror forces that were in the order perhaps Frank Longbottom or Amelia Bones even old Mad Eye. They could have helped him track down the traitor, but he wasn't thinking clearly. So when a white stag patronus appears before him and asks him to meet at the muggle entrance to the Cauldron in James' voice, he went, even though he knew James was dead. He had grieved over his body and that of Lilly just hours ago. He in his manic state gave no thought to how Prongs could be alive.
Apparating to the alleyway closest to the Leaky Cauldron with a soft pop he quickly strides forward only to be met by a cloaked figure somewhat shorter than James with emerald eyes he has only seen in one other face.
"Padfoot, we need to talk. But not here, can I side along you to my rooms?" Sirius is shocked, James' face, Lilly's eyes and too young to be either, but far too old to be his Harry. Upon his brow is a faint line in the shape of Sowilo upon his brow just where Harry had been marked last night. Grimly nodding, Sirius replies, "Yes, I think we have quite a few things to talk about."
With an almost inaudible pop they vanish from the street and one moment later re-appear in a muggle hotel room. "First off there is someone I think you need to see, then I will answer any questions you have," the young man began. Gesturing towards the blanket wrapped bundle on the bed.
Harry, his Harry, safe and well, the cut on his forehead all but gone, looking as though it may heal without a scar. "I put a mild sleeping charm on him and a basic monitoring charm when I went to get you. I currently don't have access to a babysitter I trust with the little guy. Not until the rest of the Deatheaters are rounded up anyway."
Gently picking up his godson, and cradling him to his chest, tears threatening to spill, Sirius finally broke through the haze enough to formulate a few questions. "Who are you, why do you look like my Harry, and how do you know the name Padfoot?"
"Excellent questions but to have you believe me I will need to ask you a question" said Harry with a small smile. "Were you aware that James' invisibility cloak was a family heirloom that had been passed down for generations? "
"Yes, he told me about it when we were in Hogwarts together, but what does that have to do with anything?" asked Sirius
"Ah, everything, most invisibility cloaks fade in time and cease to function. Not the Potters, it has been passed down since the day it was given to Ignotus Peverell; the youngest of three brothers. Do you recall the tale?"
"You mean to say that James' cloak was death's own cloak?" Sirius scoffed disbelievingly.
"Well, something like that yes, I am Harry James Potter, born to James and Lilly Potter on July 31 1980. I am seventeen years old and recently became the master of the Deathly Hallows of legend. Using their power I was able to travel back in time but only to the point I became the master of the first hallow." Grimacing he continued "I couldn't stop their deaths as that was the moment I gained ownership of the cloak, the moment I returned to." He said with a heavy sigh. "I need your help Padfoot, Voldemort came back, he made Horcruxes and the second war ended badly. "
"Horcruxes?" Sirius paled "As in more than one! My god… what kind of monster…" he trailed off lost in the thought of what someone would have to do to rend their soul into pieces.
"I need you to take care of Harry, be the godfather he needs and keep him out of sight for me. I also need you to send Patronus messages to Amelia Bones, and Mad Eye Moody about Peter. I know where he will be tomorrow morning at 10 am. And if we work this right we can catch him. I also need you to warn Frank and Alice that the Lestranges have fixated on them and will be targeting them because of some prophecy regarding Neville. In my timeline the three Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. tortured them into a near catatonic state just a few days from now. If we work with them and Moody we can set a trap for them instead." Harry smiled. "I also need you to send a letter to your grandfather Arcturus; the Wizarding world needs to use Veritaserum on all Deatheaters that claim to be under the Imperius curse, and as things stand now several of them are going to bribe their way out of prison despite having killed dozens of witches and wizards with the killing curse, torturing with the Cruciatus curse and Imperius curse and generally fermenting rebellion against the ministry." Harry pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing somberly.
"The Dark Mark is soul magic Sirius, it requires a necromantic ritual where the one to be marked murders an innocent in cold blood. The blood of the innocent is used to seal several binding spells and a protean charm that make the bearers virtual slaves to Voldemort. But they must be willing to take the mark in the first place. Every single Deatheater is a murderer. And they all need to be put away or put down."
They talked and planned for hours, finally Sirius arranged to come into the DMLE to be questioned by Amelia and Mad Eye about the Secret Keeper switch. Meanwhile young Harry was left with Andromeda Tonks and her Husband Ted and their daughter Dora. Harry the elder performed the Fidelius charm to hide the fact that Harry Potter was staying with the Tonks which would neatly circumvent any blood based trackers Dumbledore may have had. This time Sirius was the secret keeper.