There is something that you need to know. Something that you really, really need to know. What is it you ask? Oh, only that your entire life and everything that you thought you knew about Harry Potter is completely, utterly, and totally wrong. Well, mostly.
Harry's parents were indeed killed by Voldemort. He did indeed repel the Killing Curse, destroying Voldemort's body, and Voldemort would eventually return. He was indeed dumped on his aunt's doorstep with just a letter as justification. But almost all of the stuff besides that? Unfortunately, it's generally untrue. Merely a version of the events that was altered until it was far enough from the actual truth to be shown to the Muggle public.
I am Magellan Guillaume the Third, and I want to tell you what really happened that fateful November first of 1981.
It all began the day after he was dumped. His aunt, Petunia Dursley, opened the door early that morning to let in some fresh air and get rid of the stale atmosphere in the house, then stepped out to retrieve the morning news. Instead of seeing the usual lone paper on her doorstep though, she found herself staring at a squirming bundle of cloth. A cloth that she recognized as the little blanket her only nephew had with him at all times. She reached down with shaking hands and picked the bundle up, brushing the cloth aside as she did so, which left her staring down at the face of the very nephew to whom the blanket belonged. A letter fluttered down from the loose cloth, and Petunia picked it up very slowly, dreading what she knew the letter would say.
She made her way back into the house, the bundle gently cradled in one arm and the letter held in her other hand. She placed the letter onto the kitchen table before laying her nephew down on the couch and sitting down in front of the letter, staring silently at the object before her, trying to convince herself to open it, that it was better to just get it over with. Eventually, she finally managed to make herself reach out, pick it up, and open it. As soon as she started reading, her eyes filled with tears and a sob escaped her lips.
Ten minutes later, her husband, Vernon Dursley, came into the kitchen to see his beloved wife sitting at the table crying and clutching a letter. "Petunia! What's happened, dear?" he asked her frantically, rushing up to her and rubbing little circles onto her back.
"M-my sister and her husband were killed last night!" Petunia bawled, "That insane guy I was telling you about invaded their house and murdered them!" Vernon inhaled sharply at this bit of news, then sank down into a chair beside her.
"Petunia, darling, might I have a look at that letter?" he asked gently. He took it from her hand when she gave a weak nod and read it over himself, his face growing grimmer and sadder with every line. When he finished he tossed the letter aside onto the table and leaned back, letting out a long, low, groan as he did so. "Alright," he muttered to himself, "Alright fine. This is okay. It's just another kid. We'll be fine. We already have a kid, what's one more going to do? Nothing, that's what. Yeah, we'll be fine. Fine, fine, fine." He continued like this, trying and failing to wrap his mind around the fact that his sibling-in-laws, who they visited once a month and whose child they had seen being born, were dead and that that very child was now in their care.
About an hour later, the two adults managed to drag themselves out of their stupor and go about their daily businesses, albeit more mechanically and stiffly than usual, and by the time they had eaten dinner and put the children to bed, they had calmed down enough to think things through a bit more.
"Vernon, what do you think we should do?" Petunia asked. Vernon sighed and looked out the window as if he might find an answer hanging from the blinds.
"I honestly don't know," he finally said, "We have to keep him of course, since you and I both know that we're his only remaining relatives. I'm not worried about the legal side, since it's very straightforward. I'm not worried about finances either; my career is going well and is completely stable. What I'm really worried about is the magic. You know some of course, but you only made up with her a few years ago, so actually raising a magical child might be hard." Petunia nodded, biting her lip as she tried to think of a solution to their dilemma.
"Oh!" she suddenly gasped, "I know! Lily once introduced me to a couple friends of hers, a Pandora Lovegood and Alice Longbottom. Perhaps they could give us some advice! I think I still have their mailing addresses written down somewhere…" Vernon breathed a sigh of relief, then smiled at his wife.
"You know, I really do appreciate you," he told his wife, reaching over the table to pat her on the hand. Suddenly, he was struck by an idea, saying, "Oh! Marge asked to come over next Saturday-" at this point Petunia made a face and Vernon nodded in agreement- "but, since I haven't replied yet, if we invite those two ladies over, we might be able to convince her not to come!"
With this, the two of them doubled their efforts to quickly find and invite the women for dinner, and as soon as they had the letter written out, Vernon called his sister to say that "unfortunately, other plans had already been set for that night, so she couldn't come over," before hanging up in the middle of her screaming, cursing tirade.
Suddenly, Dudley woke up crying, causing Harry to wake up crying as well, so the two adults ran toward their children's bedroom to try to comfort them.
The next Saturday, at six-thirty sharp, the doorbell rang. The two Dursleys, who had been waiting nervously all day, looked at each other and, by silent agreement, stood and opened the door together.
"Petunia! Oh, it was so exciting, being in the Muggle world for the first time in so long! I hardly knew what to do! How are you?" a blonde woman crowed, stepping through the door and throwing her arms around the woman. The two women immediately started talking animatedly, discussing trivialities as the guest removed her coat. The other lady, a short woman with brown hair and bright eyes walked over the threshold and held out her hand.
"I'm Alice Longbottom. You must be Vernon Dursley," she introduced. Vernon smiled friendlily at her and nodded.
"I am. Here, let me take your coat," he offered, accepting the garment from the woman's hand and hanging it on the nearby coat rack, calmly continuing, "So, if you are Alice, then I suppose that would make her Pandora?" Alice nodded before glancing amusedly at the two ladies who were still chattering away.
"Now, now dear," Vernon called, a note of humor entering his voice, "Don't stand there too long, or else Pandora there will have to put her jacket back on." Alice snickered a little, and the two ladies, who were still standing in front of the open door, blushed. Petunia led her friend away from the threshold, playfully slapping her husband on the arm as she did, then closed the door and gave Alice a hug. Vernon turned to his other guest, whom, he suddenly realized, was heavily pregnant.
"Oh! How rude of me, please, take a seat," he gasped, gesturing at an armchair in the neighboring living room. Pandora took it gratefully, and Vernon sat down on the loveseat nearby. Soon, Petunia and Alice joined them, with Petunia taking a seat next to Vernon and Alice taking the armchair next to Pandora. Once they all got comfortable, Pandora and Alice smiled warmly and turned toward the couple.
"I suppose we should properly introduce ourselves?" Alice began, "I'm Alice Longbottom, an Auror, which is similar to your Muggle Police. I'm a pyromancer with a slight affinity for lightning." Alice paused and glanced at the two Muggles. "You know what that means right?" Petunia and Vernon nodded.
"Yeah, James and Lily explained it to us," Petunia said, "There are eight general categories of magic, labeled by color, and each corresponding to a specific element. Red is fire, heat, and destruction; orange is change, transitions, and cycles; yellow is earth, stability, and fertility; green is nature, growth, and creation; blue is water, coldness, and freedom; purple is conflict, protection, and vulnerability; white is time, light, and life; and black is space, darkness, and death. Depending on what element you are attuned to, you can use that element freely. You can use elements beside your own as well, but only by using a wand as a conduit for your magic, and only in relatively limited ways. However, there are rare existences who are attuned to multiple magics." Alice nodded happily and sat up straighter to continue her explanation.
"Yeah! I'm a Red Mage, and since mine is such an inherently damaging attribute, I suppose it's no surprise what my occupation is. I am married to a wonderful man named Frank Longbottom, and I have a beautiful baby boy named Neville, who is a little over fifteen months old. My husband couldn't come tonight because he needed to take care of our son, but he is also an auror and a pyromancer, though he leans more toward manipulation of fire, while I'm better at conjuring it." Upon finishing, she flicked her wrist and conjured a floating ball of flame over her head, which she extinguished a few seconds later.
"I guess it's my turn now," Pandora said cheerily, "I'm Pandora Lovegood. I work in the Department of Mysteries, so I'm called an Unspeakable. I hope you'll understand when I say I cannot speak about my work." Everyone laughed at her joke, and then she continued, "Anyway, suffice to say that I am in the research and development field. I am a technomancer, an Orange Mage, so I can control and affect most types of technology, both magical and Muggle. For example, the magical world has a device called a Sneakoscope, which reacts to danger and secret plans against its owner. I can change this with a single touch, making it detect something else, or changing its range, and so on. Similarly, if given a Muggle television remote, I can touch it and be able to make it control literally anything else." To demonstrate, she picked up the VCR remote on the table, closed her eyes in concentration, and then pointed it at a painting on the wall. With a press of a button, the portrait floated up, ran a few laps around the room, then returned to its spot on the wall. After restoring the original function of the remote and putting it back on the table, she finished her introduction. "Anyway, I am married to a man named Xenophilius Lovegood, a Potions Master. He is a Venomancer, a Purple Mage, a rare talent enabling him to control poisons and venoms, as well as understand them completely. Thus, he has single handedly discovered about half of the most commonly used antivenoms in Europe. Both of us live fairly far from any Muggles, so getting here was quite the journey! I am carrying his child, a girl whom we have decided to name either Sol or Luna, depending on when she is born," she finished, her voice filled with pride when describing her husband and his accomplishments. Now, it was time for Petunia and Vernon to introduce themselves.
"Good evening, everyone! I'm Vernon Dursley," Vernon introduced jovially, "I'm afraid I'm not as interesting as you guys are. I'm just a manager and salesman at a company called Grunnings, which sells a common type of construction equipment called a drill. I'm still at the beginning of my career, but my prospects are good and my path is clear, so my job is pretty secure. As for family, Petunia and I have a lovely two-year-old boy we named Dudley." Petunia picked up the thread seamlessly.
"I'm Petunia Dursley, sister of Lily Potter. I am still looking into finding a job, but at the moment it's pretty hard since I have a child and the job market isn't amazing." She shrugged indifferently, but Pandora knit her eyebrows.
"Hmm… How are you at writing and editing?" she asked. Petunia raised her eyebrows in surprise, but answered the question.
"Decent, I suppose? I was the Chief Editor of my school newspaper in Uni, and I have written a couple essays about botany and gardening that went into our district bulletin. Why?" she asked. Pandora smiled brightly and stuck her hand out.
"Then I would like to hire you as assistant editor of the Quibbler!" she declared, "My husband likes journalism, so he started a magazine about potions and magical creatures. He was looking for some editors, and you fit the bill perfectly! All you have to do is read over any articles submitted and occasionally revise some pieces from my husband. You can even have your own column on whatever you want! You can just stay at home, write a few articles, read a few articles, and earn some money." Petunia smiled broadly and laughed.
"I'll think about it," she decided. Suddenly, she sobered up. "Unfortunately, this conversation," she sighed, "as lovely as it is, isn't why I invited you over. We need some advice."
The two women looked surprised for a second, then shook it off and smiled encouragingly at Petunia. Alice nodded, signalling for Petunia to continue.
"We have custody of Harry Potter, and we need advice on how to raise him."
The two visitors almost fell out of their chairs.
"W-well, that's quite the reducto you've cast," Alice managed to mutter, putting a hand on her forehead. Upon seeing Petunia and Vernon's confused looks, she just smiled weakly, saying, "It's a wizarding saying. I think in your terms it would be… a dropped bomb?" The two non-magicals nodded in understanding and sympathy, and Petunia leaned over to pat Pandora on the back.
"You alright?" she asked, "I'm sorry. The shock can't be that great for the baby."
"Oh, I'll be fine," the woman sighed, "but that's really not the point right now, is it? I have a lot of questions. When did you get him? Who gave him to you? Who else knows? Why? Are you sure you want to keep him?" Petunia laughed and Vernon put his hands up, putting a stop to the endless string of questions.
"Alright, alright! I'll explain!" she laughed, "Okay, so. I received Harry on November first, by finding him on my doorstep with a letter tucked into his blanket. The letter explained that Lily and James are dead, and that since we are his last remaining blood relatives, we would have custody of him. We've only told the old Squib Kneazle breeder who lives down the street, named Mrs. Figg, who was apparently put there to watch over us. Still, it's hard to believe that us, who were all but enemies of them until a couple years ago, were first in line for custody!" At this point, Vernon suddenly stiffened and cleared his throat to break in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I just remembered something. Harry has a godfather, a Sirius Black. According to the legal process, shouldn't he be the one who receives him?" he asked. Alice and Pandora grimaced and curled their lips with contempt and anger.
"The bastard betrayed James and Lily! He told the Dark Lord where they lived, then killed Peter Pettigrew plus a dozen Muggles by blowing up an alley," Alice growled. Vernon just stared at them confused, shaking his head.
"That's not possible. Sirius Black wasn't their secret keeper," he told them slowly. The two women gasped with shock.
"Wh-what?!" Pandora breathed, "If that's so, then who IS their secret keeper?" Petunia spoke at this time with a look of dawning comprehension.
"Pettigrew was, they had him tell us where they lived since they thought that no one would think to ask a mere Muggle sister that few even knew existed. I think I know what happened," she said, "I'm pretty sure that Pettigrew was the traitor, and when Black went out to catch him, Pettigrew caused an explosion and escaped."
"But- no- wait- the finger!" Alice stammered, "The only trace of Pettigrew that was left was a single finger!" Vernon rolled his eyes.
"That should have made you suspicious immediately. Think about it; I've seen your duels. A finger would have been the first thing to be destroyed in an explosion, especially one from right in front him. The only way a finger would be left behind is if the explosion was from behind him. Plus, no other chunks of him? Just a single finger? The only way that could work is if the rest were somehow utterly obliterated, and if that were the case then Sirius himself could never survive that kind of energy in quarters as close as inside an alley." With every consecutive point made, Alice and Pandora's eyes grew wider and wider, and when Vernon finished, the two of them buried their faces in their hands.
"I'm a failure as an Auror!" "I'm a failure as an Unspeakable!" Alice and Pandora cried out simultaneously. Petunia stood up and went over to pat them on the backs, throwing a mildly disapproving look at Vernon, who cast a sheepish and apologetic look back before opening up his mouth to speak again.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I was rather rude with those statements, and you didn't deserve such harsh words," Vernon apologized, "Your friends had just died, and I shouldn't have expected you to be able to approach the matter with pure logic. Anyway, we need to get Mr. Black out of jail and get everyone set on the right track, so chin up! High ho, and away we go!" With the last sentence, the two women sitting in front of him looked up and smiled a little, then stood up.
"Yes, we really must rush," Alice declared briskly, "Sirius is scheduled to be on the morning prison bus, so if we have any chance of getting him out in a timely manner, we had better go now. Just let me contact my husband and mother-in-law." She stepped away and pulled what looked like a pocket watch out of her purse, then split it into two circles, holding one to her ear and one in front of her mouth. It was clearly some kind of communication device.
It was now that the two toddlers in the house decided to make their presence known by starting to cry. Petunia a little squeak of surprise, then hurried into the next room, where the two babies had been napping in a pair of cribs. She picked them up and gently rocked them, and before too long they calmed down again. Pandora slowly walked in, soon followed by Alice.
"So, this is your child? Dudley?" Pandora asked, gesturing to one of the babies in her arms. Petunia nodded and carefully gave her new friend her own child, then gave her other friend her famous nephew. The two women cooed and and giggled at the wiggling, bright-eyed babies in their arms until suddenly there came a metallic ringing noise and Alice quickly gave Dudley back to Petunia and pulled the metal discs out of her bag.
"Hello? You're at the Ministry already? Okay, we'll be along soon," she said. She then put the contraption away and beckoned to the others. "C'mon, we gotta hurry. The Ministry closes access for the general public at eight, so we need to go now."
"Okay, let me just go fetch Mrs. Figg," she said, grabbing the phone off the kitchen counter and punching a few numbers in. A moment later, Mrs. Figg picked up the phone. "Hello? Arabella? Would you mind coming over for a little while to watch the babies? I'm sorry for the late notice," Petunia asked.
"Oh not at all!" she replied, "I love little Duddikins, and I would have the company of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived! Oh, I was so surprised when-"
"Bella, I'm sorry to interrupt but I do need to go," Petunia cut in.
"Oh! Yes, I apologize. I'll be over in a second."
"Lovely. The key's under the bush as usual."
With that, they could leave, and did just that. Within ten minutes, the four of them had apparated their way into the Ministry and were heading for one of the lifts.
"Oh hey, I forgot to ask, but what were those metal discs?" Vernon asked, "I don't think I've ever seen one of them before, and I've met more wizards than you might think." Alice just smiled at them and nodded toward Pandora.
"It's her invention, called the Conversircles. It's still in the testing phase, and rather difficult to use since you have to power it yourself. If I were a weaker witch, I might not have been able to use it at all, and even as it is I still can't hold conversations longer than thirty seconds. Due to these power issues and the fact that they were only developed two weeks ago, they haven't hit the public yet," she explained. Pandora just blushed and pushed Alice playfully.
"Stop it! You make it sound like I did it all by myself. I had help!" she insisted.
"Yeah, sure, a single assistant who handed you water and books. This is your accomplishment," Alice retorted.
"No! Director Croaker helped too!"
"He gave you two sentences of advice."
"And a book."
"Okay fine, and a book. Look, you're the best technomancer the Department of Mysteries has seen in at least a decade or two."
At this point, Vernon and Petunia burst out laughing. The two witches glanced at their companions, then at each other, and started laughing as well. The person at the front desk started to speak, but Alice just flashed her badge and stuck her hand into a little recess on the wall, which proceeded to glow briefly before dinging. The man nodded them through, and they stepped into a lift and went down to the DMLE floor. Once there, Alice led them down a hall, through a door labeled AUROR HEADQUARTERS, then to the doors at the other end of the room labeled HEAD AUROR, where she pulled out her badge and pushed it into a small hole near the door knob, causing the doors to unlock. Pushing them open, she led the whole group into the office, grabbing her badge from its new location on the tray beside the entrance.
"Good evening, Head Auror Bones. How do you do?" Alice greeted cheerfully as she walked through the door, smiling at her husband, who was sitting across from the head of the Auror division. He gave a happy smile back at her and stood up to introduce himself to the two Muggles in the room, who looked rather lost and afraid.
"Hey-o! I'm Frank, Alice's husband. You must be Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Any relationship to Nicholas Dursley?" he asked, holding his hand out to shake.
"Uh, y-yes. He was my great-great-grandfather," Vernon stammered, shaking his hand, "I looked him up when James asked me the same question and then told me that he was a squib." Frank smiled and clasped Vernon's shoulder.
"Then you are officially a family friend! Anyway, Alice told me a few things about the situation over the Conversircles, but I'd like to know some details," he said. Vernon and Petunia nodded and sat down to tell their story all over again.
"... so, in summary, based on the lack of remains and the fact that we literally had James and Lily tell us that Pettigrew is the secret keeper, we believe Sirius Black to have been framed, which led to us being the ones who would legally obtain custody of Harry Potter," Petunia finished. There was a long silence, filled with grim and enlightened looks, and then a long, loud sigh as Madam Bones leaned back in her chair.
"Well, this changes a lot, to say the least. Well! At least this means that I'm right. Come, we need to take this to the Head of the DMLE," she declared. With that, the six person strong group trooped along out of the Auror division and down the hall to the doors labeled HEAD OF DMLE. Madam Bones, who was leading the group, knocked on the door, waited for permission to enter, and then did so, leading the whole group in behind her.
"Hello there Director Marchbanks. How's your sister holding up?" she asked respectfully. The man sitting there raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly distractedly.
"She's doing well. Still complaining about declining Charms grades and that the NEWTs need to be updated," he told her, glancing inquisitively at the other five people standing behind her.
"That's good," Madam Bones sighed, casually sitting down across from her boss, "Anyway, now that the pleasantries are over, let's get down to business. There is new evidence that suggests that Sirius Black is innocent, and it's significantly stronger than the evidence that incriminates him."
Director Gregory Marchbanks had been the Director of the DMLE for over forty years. Before that, he had another forty years of being a Wizarding Barrister under his belt. He was the younger brother of the famously formidable Griselda Marchbanks, Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority. He could reasonably say that not much fazed him.
This did. Oh, Merlin, it certainly did.
Director Marchbanks stared at Madam Bones for a full minute, then leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for another minute. Then, he sat up, looked seriously at Madam Bones, opened his mouth to speak, and promptly fell face down on his desk.
"Oh dear," Pandora sighed, "He fainted. You gave him a rather bad shock, Madam Bones!" She shook head and glanced around the room, saying, "I don't suppose any of you happen to have some smelling salts on you? I'd use Rennervate, but he's a bit too old to handle the stress." Petunia timidly raised her hand.
"Um, I do," she squeaked, pulling a small case of capsules out of her purse, "My next door neighbor has very low blood pressure, so she faints a lot. We meet for tea often, so I carry them around out of habit." Pandora took them from her with a grateful smile, then turned to the old man flopped over on the desk and cracked open an ampoule, waving it slowly around under Director Marchbank's nose. With a loud snort and a painful-sounding cough, he jerked up and shook his head. He coughed again, looked around in confusion, then almost choked, which launched a coughing fit. Eventually, he calmed down enough to look up at the group in front of him, who were patiently waiting for him to gather himself, and spoke.
"By Merlin's busted, chitinous, hairy left buggered testicle, you bloody well have to be kidding me. Are we on the same page here?! Are you talking about Sirius Black, the man who the ENTIRE nation of Britain believes to be a traitorous, insane, mass murdering Death Eater spy, the man who we all thought betrayed not only the whole Wizarding World in general, but also the icons of the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the heirs to the largest fortune Europe, the best Auror and Charms Mistress in decades, and Black's own best friends, James and Lily Potter? Not to mention Healer-In-Training Pettigrew, who chased after him to stop him and was killed for his efforts? You say he is INNOCENT?" he shouted in a single breath, disbelief and fear dripping from his every word.
Madam Bones tutted, fixing the man with a look of disappointment. "You know," she said, a little malice tinging her tone, "If you had just let me investigate properly like I'd wanted to, you wouldn't be so surprised and angry." At this statement, Director Marchbanks had the decency to look a little sheepish.
He leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. After a long moment, he grunted and looked back at them with tired eyes. "Let me see this evidence of yours," he requested quietly. Alice Longbottom nodded silently, gesturing to the Dursleys. They stepped forward and, by mutual agreement, Petunia started first.
"Hello Director Marchbanks, I'm Petunia Dursley, Lily's sister. I can give you an eyewitness account showing that Peter Pettigrew is the Potter secret keeper. Do you have a… what was it called, Vernon? A Pan-Sieve?" Her husband shook his head helplessly, but Pandora nodded.
"I have a Pensieve. All Unspeakables are required to carry one at all times to prevent people from discovering secret information through Legilimency or similar tactics," she explained, pulling a small stone pot from her purse, setting it on the desk, and pressing some runes on it. The pot expanded into the usual stone basin, and Pandora quickly emptied the memories inside into a set of small glass bottles. When she was done, she nodded to the Dursleys, who just looked expectantly back. After a second, Pandora, Frank, and Alice burst out laughing while Director Marchbanks just stared at them confused.
"Here, allow me. I forgot that you guys were Muggles. Do you know the mental procedure?" Frank asked, drawing his wand. The two non-magicals nodded and closed their eyes to focus. A moment later, Vernon's memory were floating around in the Pensieve on the table. Everyone present glanced at each other, then extended their hands and entered the Pensieve together.
The seven people found themselves standing in a well-lit living room which some recognized as the Dursley's. For the benefit of the rest, Petunia said, "My living room."
Suddenly, there came a knock at the front door, and the group watched as Memory-Petunia walked out of the next room to open the door. In walked a group of five people.
All of the virtual visitors choked up at the sight of a healthy, living, and happy James and Lily Potter. Sirius Black, then Peter Pettigrew, and finally Remus Lupin, followed them in. The four wizards and one witch were warmly welcomed, and as the seven invisible apparitions watched the seven people in the memory laugh and speak animatedly, there wasn't a single dry eye in the group. There also wasn't a single person who didn't notice that Peter Pettigrew was sweating and nervously fidgeting. Memory-Petunia even asked him what was wrong, only to be dismissed with a "N-nothing!"
Before too long, everyone was in the living room chatting and drinking tea. James Potter drained the last few drops of Earl Grey from his cup before setting it down on its saucer, then placing both on the coffee table in front of him. He grew serious and leaned forward to look the two Muggles in the eye.
"We've come here for two purposes. The first we've already accomplished: we wanted to catch up with you guys. The second one, though, is far more serious," he warned, "it concerns the safety of not only us, but you yourself as well. Do you want to talk about it?" Vernon and Petunia just stared at him before scoffing with derision.
"What kind of question is that? Of course we want to know! We're family, you pudding brained idiot!" Memory-Petunia declared. The invisible Petunia smiled sadly, shaking her head.
"I was proud of that insult. In hindsight, it wasn't that good, was it?" she whispered.
There was no response except for an absent minded "that's nice, dear," from Director Marchbanks. Everyone was too involved in listening to James' response.
"Okay. I'll tell you then," Memory-James muttered, seemingly more to himself than to anyone else, "Alright. So. The essence is this: the house that Lily and I have been living in has been placed under a charm called the Fidelius. This means that people literally cannot even conceive of the location of it. All knowledge of its existence has been wiped from human knowledge. But, of course, if absolutely no one knows about something under the Fidelius, it would be completely useless, so there are four entities that will know about it. One: the person who the charm directly affects. In this case, it is me and Lily. Two: a person called the Secret Keeper. This person is the only one who can spread knowledge of the subject of the Fidelius. In this case, it is Peter here." At this point, James paused to get another cup of tea and take a sip. The invisible visitors took this opportunity to start cheering madly. When James started speaking again though, they all quieted to continue listening.
"I know what you're thinking. You thought I would have chosen Sirius right?" James continued, "Well, that is exactly why we didn't choose him. It is too obvious. Remus is no good since his lying capabilities are worse than his potion brewing skills, which is to say they are nonexistent. Thus, Peter is the best choice. Plus! Dumbledore himself recommended that we have him be the Keeper! Anyway, yeah. The second person is the Secret Keeper, Peter. The third entity is anyone that the Secret Keeper gives the Secret to. This will soon include you. The last entity, and perhaps the most important one, is the caster of the charm. This person is incredibly crucial, since he or she will have absolute control over the spell, as well as have all the abilities that the Secret Keeper has. They can end the charm at any time, can change the Secret Keeper at will, can give the Secret to others, and more. On top of that, they must be very strong magically, since it is an extremely difficult charm to cast. So, I think it is obvious that, for this part, we chose Dumbledore." Gasps and shouts came from the wizards in the invisible group, causing Vernon and Petunia to look at them in confusion. Frank flicked his wand, "pausing" the memory, and tried to explain.
"Well, y'see, for several days after the Potters and Voldemort were gotten rid of, the Ministry was in chaos," he began, "Dumbledore was there every single day, and knew everything that was going on, including Sirius Black's apparent betrayal. In fact, he definitely knew, given that I was the one to tell him and show him Black's cell!" He grimaced, the muscles in his jaw working to such an extent that everyone considered it a miracle that his teeth didn't crack. A glance at the Muggles' confused expression though told them that they did not fully understand yet, so Alice decided to carry on the explanation.
"In case you don't know, Dumbledore is a very powerful and influential person in our society. He is the most powerful wizard alive right now, and he is well over a century in age, not to mention the vanquisher of Grindelwald, who was essentially a magical Hitler. He is a political juggernaut, magically unrivaled, and universally respected and loved. He has a hand in every major thing to happen in the last fifty years," she explained, "Anyway, the essence of what my husband and I are trying to say is that Dumbledore definitely knew that Black was accused of being the traitorous Secret Keeper of the Potters." She could almost see the gears turning and the dots starting to connect in their heads. "And he also knew that Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper since he was the one to cast the spell in the first place." The last few ideas finally coalesced, and looks of horror and disbelief filled their faces. "So Dumbledore was in the perfect position to free Sirius, and could have done so literally within minutes, but did not. It reeks of something suspicious." Everyone around frowned deeply, and silence reigned for several seconds. Finally, Director Marchbanks broke their reverie with a long sigh.
"We will have to discuss this later. Let us finish watching this memory, and see if there's any more terrible revelations we will have to deal with," he suggested. There was a murmur of consent, and Frank unpaused the memory.
At this point, Peter Pettigrew was about to tell Petunia and Vernon the Secret. "Okay, so, James and Lily Potter live at 1031 Riddle Way, Godric's Hollow." Petunia and Vernon's eyes clouded over briefly before clearing again, and the two of them shook their heads briskly before grinning at their friends and family.
"Gotta love the effect magic has on us Muggles," Petunia laughed, "It's awfully tingly." James just smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Alright! Any questions you two?" he asked. Vernon seemed to suddenly think of something, and piped up.
"What will happen if Peter gets captured and tortured for the Secret? Will you know?" he asked. Jame just smiled conspiratorially and leaned forward.
"Okay, what I'm about to tell you is a fairly closely guarded secret," he told them, "We four guys are all secretly Animagi, which means that we have animal forms. Most of us are in the middle of registering ourselves with the Ministry, but Peter will not so no one will know about that particular skill. His form is that of a rat, which is very good for sneaking around and, of course, escaping capture. We even have a contingency plan for when he must escape: he will go the pet store near Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley, and someone will go find him as soon as possible. No one really knows about it, and few people take rats as pets anyway, so we can fetch him easily enough." Memory-Petunia and Vernon just nodded, but the invisible group burst into cheers.
"We found the rat!" Madam Bones cried. The memory ended as they celebrated, and they all came out of the Pensieve whooping and hollering. Even old Director Marchbanks was doing a little jig around his office.
"I'm going to call an emergency Wizengamot session for the morning," Marchbanks declared. Everyone gave their total support, and Bones rubbed her hands together gleefully.
"I know of the pet store that they talked about," Pandora offered, "The owner is my second cousin. I think he's still open; he likes to keep late hours on weekends."
"Then off we go!" Director Bones shouted, running out of the door. Everyone except Director Marchbanks followed her out, with the old man already starting to fill out paperwork and make the necessary fire-calls in order to call an emergency session of the Wizengamot.
The other six were soon standing at the Apparition Point in Diagon Alley nearest to Fortescue's. The shops were closing all around them, but several proprietors still stepped out of their stores to say hi and find out what was going on.
"Hello Madam Bones. What brings you here this fine evening?" Fortescue asked, looking for all his life like he thought they would say that they wanted a round of fudge sundaes. Bones just shook her head.
"Sorry, no time for small talk. We're on official business," she declared, leading the group away. Pandora pointed out the pet shop on an off-shooting lane, and as she predicted the lights were still on and the door slightly ajar.
The group of them trooped on in, all of them waving at the owner, who was carrying a box out of a back room. He glanced over at them and flashed them a smile.
"Hello! It's nice to see you again Pandora. How can I help you guys?" he asked, putting the box down and stepping out from behind the counter.
"Hello Albert. We just want to know if you got any new pets recently," Pandora told him, "More specifically, we need to know if a rat came in at any point in the last week." Albert just shrugged.
"Sure, I got three. They're right over here," he said, leading them over to a corner of his shop. There stood a shelf with a row of cages on it and with rats in the cages. Most of them, upon seeing them coming, came forward a bit, noses wiggling and beady eyes looking out at them. One of them, though, squeaked loudly at the sight of them and cowered in the far corner of its cage. This did not escape the notice of Madam Bones, who immediately pointed at that particular animal.
"Might I see that one please?" she requested. Albert nodded and took the cage down, carrying it to the front counter, where he opened the door to the cage and expertly captured the struggling rat.
"Here you are, ma'am. He's a feisty one, to be sure, and must have gotten into a lot of fights. Look, he's missing a toe right there!" he described, pointing at the front right paw of the rat. Madam Bones just smiled dangerously before flicking her wand at the rat, levitating it in front of her face.
"Let's take this outside," she almost snarled, walking toward the door. Everyone dutifully followed, including one very confused shopkeeper.
Once on the street, she threw the rat to the ground and, with a flick of her wrist, the concrete around it rose up several feet, trapping it in a small circle. "Ready immobilizers," she commanded before drawing her wand. Alice and Frank copied her, aiming their own wands at the creature on the ground.
"Well, Peter, looks like you won't be as lucky as you had imagined," Madam Bones smirked, "After all, the hardest thing left to do is remove your animagus transfiguration." The rat just squeaked in a distinctly terrified fashion. Madam Bones took a deep breath, slowly raised her wand, and then spoke with an authority and power so great, everyone's magic flared up in response.
"Arcanum Finite Maximus!" she intoned, pointing her wand at the rat on the ground. It started to glow brighter and brighter, until finally, in a blazing display of multicolored sparks, a man flew out of the cloud of light and collapsed heavily on the ground. Alice and Frank reacted before the man could even lift a finger.
"Locomotor Mortis!" "Stupefy!"
The two spells hit the man in the side and he suddenly stiffened before lying still. Madam Bones approached the man and flipped him over with a kick, then smirked with satisfaction as she found herself staring at Peter Pettigrew.
"Well, well, well. The rat is caught!" she cackled. The others glanced at each other before shrugging and starting to conjure ropes, reading Pettigrew his rights, and discussing what to do with him. Vernon and Petunia, left with nothing to do, decided to talk to the shocked owner who was standing in the door of his shop.
"Hello Albert," Vernon said quietly, "How are you holding up?" Albert just let out a strained chuckle.
"Not too great," he replied, "but thank you for asking." Vernon just clasped the man on the shoulder and gave him a bracing smile, and Albert started to turn around to go back into his store.
"Wait a second," Petunia interjected, "I have a question for you."
"Alright," Albert sighed, turning back toward her, "fire away."
"I know that witches and wizards often have… familiars, I think? How does that work?"
"Oh, that's simple. A familiar is an animal companion that the wizard forms a deep connection with, allowing them to communicate on a basic level and slightly heightening both of their abilities. They can only have one in a lifetime. A familiar can be any animal, but they are often just common ones like cats, dogs, or owls.
"It usually takes about a year or so to form a bond deep enough to become a familiar bond, so many people think it has to be a huge decision. Really, it doesn't have to be, since there honestly is no right or wrong choice. Many end up just becoming familiars with their housepets.
"Of course, some people also end up with very rare familiars. For one, Dumbledore is supposed to have a Phoenix as a familiar, and I have met a man with a Thestral familiar! Sometimes, it's just all about luck."
At this point, Madam Bones called them over since everyone was leaving, so the Dursleys thanked Albert and hurried back to their friends.
"Ready? Grab this rope. We're going through Portkey to the Ministry lockup chambers," Bones explained, "I want to bypass as much red tape as possible. Director Marchbanks, would you please take care of the paperwork and the Emergency Session?" Marchbanks nodded sharply, and Bones smiled before calling out the Portkey activation phrase.
The group of them arrived to a scene of total chaos. Aurors and hit wizards were running everywhere, and all of the activity seemed to be centered around a group of four people. Madam Bones shouted above the din.
"What in Merlin's blue balls is going on in here?!" she demanded. Activity around them slowed, and Alastor Moody limped out of the crowd, still on crutches since his leg injury was still relatively recent.
"We have some good news and some bad news," he declared, "Put simply, these four attacked the Longbottom home in Manchester, setting off alarms. Dowager Lady Longbottom was taking care of Neville at the Longbottom Manor, so they were safe. When these four realized that the house was empty, they were apparently angry and started to destroy the property, giving us time to respond. We were able to catch them, but the house and everything around it was destroyed with Fiendfyre. But, we now have Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Junior." There was yet another uproar, and this time the people in the newly arrived group were part of it.
Suddenly, people started to notice the person that Amelia Bones had floating behind her and screams rang out.
"How the bloody buggering hell do you have Peter Pettigrew floating behind you? I thought he was dead!" Moody shouted. Bones smiled victoriously.
"Simple. Black wasn't the traitor, Pettigrew was!"
The volume in the chamber doubled. The Dursleys shook their heads. This night was turning out to be a lot more exciting than they expected.
After an hour, the details were wrought out, the Emergency Wizengamot session put on high priority due to the appearance of not one major criminal but five, and everyone satisfied. Vernon and Petunia Dursley went to sleep that night slightly confused, but filled with a sense of fulfilment that they couldn't quite explain.
They didn't realize just how important that night was, not for several years.