Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HP world for if I did I would be one happy woman.
Author Notes: This story contains slash if you don't like boy on boy action then don't bother with reading it and then flaming me about it. Got it? Good!
Author Notes: This is completely AU, Cedric Diggory is alive and Harry never attended Hogwarts due to his Uncle. There is a courting season and all have the option to participate. British caste system are used in this fic, so if you don't know you can look it up and understand a bit more about why people are in certain castes Let the story begin!
Courting Harry
By Mindige0
"Look Dursley, I've come to collect" a man with glasses sitting on a face that just showed how unhappy he was with where and what he was doing.
"Amos"
"That will be Duke Diggory to you from now on" the man said his facial features becoming even more unhappy.
"I….I….I don't have the money" a walrus looking like man said, shaking across from the other man.
"Then you shall pay in another form"
"What…." The walrus looking man asked afraid to know the answer.
"I want payment and I want it now"
"All I can give you is…." And here a small lithe teenage boy passed behind Duke Amos Diggory trying to not get noticed.
"Boy!" the walrus man shouted, which in turn made Duke Diggory turn to see who the walrus looking man was shouting to.
"His name is Harry" Dursley said watching as the teenage boy made his way closer and closer to where the pair stood.
"No last name?"
"Abandoned" Dursley was quick to explain, something that Duke Diggory noticed but didn't comment on, they were in need of another worker at the estate and this would be a good way to get it. They wouldn't have to put an ad in the local paper only to have half the world seek employment and only because of his son, Cedric. The thought of his son brought a smile to his face, his son would finally be turning sixteen this summer and they had a huge birthday party planned. After that it would soon be courting season and Cedric would be going back to Hogwarts for his last year of schooling, unless of course he decided to go to university; an option with his son grades.
"I shall take him as payment, but don't you dare think that you will be dealing with me any further" Duke Diggory said before glaring at Dursley and then grabbing the small teenage boy and making his way to the waiting limo and driver.
"Sit up front" Duke Diggory demanded before pushing the small teen towards where a large man stood dressed in all black, looking almost like an assassin. The teen did as he was told and spoke not one word the whole drive back to the Diggory Estate.
"Duke Diggory we have arrived home" the driver said as they pulled to a stop outside of the front doors to a large manor that sat on the top of a small hill, leaving the vast front yard laying below them.
"Thank you Abay" Duke Diggory said from his backseat position, looking out over the grounds and smiling to himself. His son would be home in just a few short week, his only son; one of the few bright spots in his role as Duke Diggory.
"Take the boy down with you" Duke Diggory said as he stepped out of the open door that Abay held open for him.
"Yes mi Lord" Abay agreed before waiting until Duke Diggory had entered the house to turn his attention to the small boy who now stood next to the passenger's side door his head down, looking like a meek servant.
"Follow me" Abay said instantly smitten with the young boy that stood before him. Abay was certain that he could be no older than ten or eleven, of that he was certain. The boy followed without question, which rose eyebrows; even the new help had asked at least a few questions when arriving to the grounds.
"Here we are" Abay said before showing Harry a room that was close to his and his wife's, the head maid, Emmeline. Abay waited for the young boy to enter the room, he had a feeling that the boy didn't have much in life and he was certain that the living quarters they were giving him would be in much higher standards than what he was probably used to.
"For me" Harry whispered afraid to speak, he hadn't been told to speak but certainly the man had picked out the wrong room for him to occupy for the duration of his life, and so he hope he would be allowed this slip-up.
"For you, me and my wife are right next door should you need anything" Abay supplied shocked that he had even told the young boy that tidbit of information.
"This is much, too much" Harry said clearly surprised that they were giving him a room of such quality, granted it didn't have the luxuries that one of the guest bedrooms in the manor had but it certainly an upgrade from the cupboard under the stairs he had been staying in for the past fifteen years of his life.
"It's perfectly acceptable" Abay said the sinking feeling he had in his heart, sinking even further.
"I don't want to inconvenience…."
"It's really nothing at all, it was free" Abay said quickly wanting to make sure the small boy understood that he wasn't an inconvenience probably like his old master said, which made him wonder on why Vernon Dursley would expend any sort of energy berating the staff in such a manner.
"If you're sure" Harry said taking a step into the room, eyes wide at the amount of space he had as well as the quality of the items in the room, like the person who bought them actually cared that the person in the room was comfortable.
"Positive, now why don't you settle in. My wife will be by soon" Abay said watching Harry as he touched the items in the room, almost as if he had to make sure that they were real and tangible. Abay made his way next door hoping that his wife would be in their rooms, and it seems luck was with him since his wife was busy rushing about the rooms, looking as if she was a woman possessed.
"Emmeline" Abay called out, having stopped at the door to their quarters when he saw the flurry his wife was in.
"You" the woman with beautiful white/gray had said pointing what looked to be a spoon at him, as if it was a wand.
"I didn't do it" Abay said, instantly reacting to his wife's actions. He had seen this scene one too many times and it usually centered on, someone blaming him for something he didn't do.
"I lost another hand today! Another one!" The woman said before she continued her rant, not at all bothered that her husband stood at the doorway to their quarters scared out of his mind.
"She just up and quit, said it wasn't what she was looking for. I'll tell you what she was looking for….a fairly tale ending, where our dear sweet Cedric sweeps her off her feet. It just won't happen, I tell ya" the woman continued to rant waving her spoon around as if she was conducting music.
"Emmeline" Abay said slowly not wanting to get any of the wrath his wife was sure to dish out.
"What?" Emmeline snapped not at all happy to be stopped in the rant she was in.
"We just got a new hand"
"What?" Emmeline snapped at her husband, she was clearly not happy at all.
"Lord Diggory received a new hand today"
"Male or female, I won't have some chit walking about the grounds acting as if she is the soon to be Mistress"
"No, a male and a very meek male; he can't be any older than ten or eleven" Abay said watching as his wife perked up at the idea of a male hand and a young one at that being on site.
"Show me" Emmeline demanded before Abay turned around in the doorway and made his way next door with his wife right behind him.
"Harry" Abay called into the room looking around and not finding the small male he had left in the rooms.
"Sir?" Harry said coming from under the bed, looking most embarrassed to being caught doing something under the bed that was in the room.
"My wife has come for a visit" Abay said before turning around and giving his wife a look.
"Be nice, he's had a hard life" Emmeline glared at her husband before pushing him aside and seeing Harry standing there in clothes that were much too large for him, his hair all over the place and he looked to be covered in dirt.
"Hullo" Emmeline said surprised at what was before her, she could tell that her husband's words were correct and that they would need to be careful with Harry until he was comfortable in his new surroundings.
"Ma'am" Harry said in greeting before looking down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with the pair that stood before him. He had, had that lesson beat into him one too many times to forget it.
"Harry, is it?" Emmeline asked surprised at the way that Harry was acting, none of the recent hands that had been hired on acted this way. Most when it came down to it were looking to get Cedric's attention and be swept off their feet.
"Yes, ma'am" Harry answered still looking at the floor.
"Well look at me, we gotta get you presentable" Emmeline said before moving closer to Harry and then lifting his head so that he looked into Emmeline's eyes.
"You won't be going back there, this is home now; we are home now" Emmeline whispered to Harry before she saw tears begin to gather in his eyes.
"No more pain" Emmeline said knowing that Harry's life at where ever he had come from had been one of pain and humiliation, something that no person should have to live through.
"Now how about we clean you up, feed you and show you around the grounds?" Harry nodded his head silently, tears now running down his face, cleaning the dirt off the beautiful skin that lay underneath.
"Good, now….Abay!" Emmeline shouted before giggling when she saw Harry crack a smile at seeing her husband jump at her calling of his name.
"Luv?" Abay asked wondering what his wife had told Harry for him to smile and act as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.
"Go and get a tub ready, Harry must be presentable….where did he come from? Some, some two bit, ill titled Baron, I bet" Emmeline said before hearing a giggle come out of Harry's mouth, a sure sign that she has achieved what she set out to do.
"Well what are you waiting for? An invitation? Go get the tub ready!" Emmeline said before hearing her husband move from the doorway of the room to down the hall.
"I swear that husband of mine" Emmeline bemoaned to Harry, only to have him smile in return.
"Now why don't we see what we can do about those clothes of yours? I doubt you have any that fit, am I correct?" Harry nodded his head afraid to speak.
"Speak freely Harry, we don't punish you for speaking your mind" Emmeline said remembering what her husband had said about how Harry had been living.
"First stop is the linens, there has to be a uniform that will fit you. It's been such a long time that there has been someone so young. How old are you? Ten? Eleven?" Emmeline said as the pair of them made their way down the long corridor that housed all of the hands that worked the grounds of the manor.
"I'll be sixteen this July" Harry said quietly, afraid of the reaction he would get from Emmeline.
"What?!" Emmeline said very, very confused. Her husband had told her that Harry couldn't be any older than eleven, but it seemed that her husband was wrong.
"I'm fifteen" Harry said watching Emmeline for a reaction that was sure to come.
"Then we'll have to celebrate your sixteenth birthday. That's an important age after all" Emmeline said not wanting to even ask on why Harry was so small for his age, she had a feeling she already knew.
"No"
"I, no we won't take no for an answer" Emmeline said arriving right on time to the linen area where there were piles and piles of linen.
"How about you stay right here? Lucy's a right chit when she wants to be" Emmeline explained before entering the large room and making her way over to where a red headed woman stood screaming out orders. Emmeline returned back quickly, before she guided Harry back to the corridor that they had been in.
"Here we are, now let's see if that husband of mine was able to get you a tub ready" Emmeline said before knocking on the door and then opening it. Abay stood next to the tub, hands in pocket looking proud as a peacock that he was able to get a tub ready for Harry.
"We will talk" Emmeline said quickly to her husband before testing out the water, nodding her head and then waving Harry into the room.
"Now here you are, if you need anything just give a shout. We will be outside, and take your time" Emmeline said before placing the clothing she got from Lucy the Linen demon and then leading her husband out of the room. Once the door was closed did Emmeline start in on her husband.
"Where did he come from?"
"Baron Vernon Dursley"
"He's fifteen, Abay, fifteen!" Emmeline whispered screamed, appalled that someone would treat their staff as badly as Harry seemed to have been treated.
"What do you mean fifteen? He's no bigger than a ten year old?" Abay said shocked at what his wife was telling him.
"He just told me his sixteenth birthday is in July"
"Dursley" Abay growled out, this just made him even more curious on what Baron Vernon Dursley was hiding when he had given Harry to Duke Diggory.
"That man is a horror" Emmeline stated before she heard a noise coming from inside of the bathroom.
"Shhh" Emmeline said while swatting her husband, who was mumbling to himself about all the ways he was going to kill Baron Vernon Dursley.
"Harry" Emmeline called out taking a step closer to the closed bathroom door, and then knocking waiting for Harry to respond.
"Come in" Harry said quietly, he hadn't wanted to bother anyone but it seemed as if he would have to.
"Harry" Emmeline called out as she took her first step into the bathroom and then closing the door behind her so that her husband was left outside to stew over Baron Dursley.
"I…I need some help" Harry said quietly while sitting in the full bath tub. Emmeline got one look at Harry's body and gasped. What had that man done to this child?!
"Let me get Abay to get some supplies" Emmeline said before turning and the opening the door just a tiny bit.
"Get the medi kit, its worst than you can imagine" Emmeline said quietly so that Harry couldn't hear her. Abay nodded his head and made his way to the medical kit that his wife had in their rooms. He returned quickly and handed over the kit to his wife.
"Go walk it off, he's going to need us" Emmeline said before closing the door to the bathroom and making her way with the kit in hand over to where Harry still sat in the bath tub.
"Now let's get some clean water in here and fix you up. Do you want to talk about it?" Emmeline said helping a blushing Harry out of the tub and guiding him to where a large towel was that he could use until she got another tub full of water ready.
"I…."
"It's okay honey, take your time. You're not going back, I'm going to make sure of that" Emmeline promised Harry before turning and fiddling with the taps and then beginning to fill the tub up with water.
"He's my uncle" Harry said quietly, wondering what the woman before him would do with the information. Emmeline said nothing knowing that Harry was in his own world while he spoke, she could tell by his voice.
"They tell me that my parents didn't want me, so they gave me to him…I don't like him much" Harry said before sighing, and then continuing to talk.
"He made sure to make my life….hard…..and my cousin was no better" Harry said before Emmeline turned and made her way over to where Harry now stood shivering, looking as if he was reliving one of the horrible moments with his time at the Dursley Manor.
"Well no more, now let me get a look at that wound. I'm pretty sure it's infected" Emmeline said before watching Harry drop the towel and turn to his side a bit, where a huge wound lay weeping an almost white liquid.
"My stars" Emmeline said before she heard Harry speak again, she could tell he was fighting to keep his emotions under control.
"I burned the bacon, or so they say" Harry said knowing good and well that he hadn't burned the bacon but that it was a flimsy excuse to do something horrible to him.
"Baron Dursley will get his" Emmeline comforted Harry before setting about working on the wound and trying to get it cleaned and ready for stitching that she was certain it would need.
"There, I'll have to ask Doc to stitch you up" Emmeline said happy at the job she had done. She hadn't put anything on it since Harry would need another dip into the tub but she knew that the wound was at least clean enough for the new bath to clean out the rest that may lay deep in the wound.
"No need"
"Yes, and don't fight me on it. You'll lose, my husband knows that all too well" Emmeline said with a wink and then helping Harry into the tub.
"Need any help?"
"I…yes, please ma'am" Harry said before Emmeline was all business with cleaning Harry up. She started on the body and then moved to his hair. It was thirty minutes later that Emmeline deemed Harry clean enough to leave the bath tub and bathroom.
"Now, I guessed on the size. We'll have to get you some clothes tailored" Emmeline said more to herself than to Harry, who's eyes were the size of saucers at what she was rattling on about.
"No need to do that" Harry said before realizing that Emmeline wasn't listening to a word he said.
"Abay" Emmeline called out as the pair stepped out of the bathroom.
"Em" Abay responded before getting an earful from his wife about what needed to be done.
"I'll do that now" Abay said before disappearing down the corridor and to go off and do what his wife had requested of him, and if he just so happened to stop by the Duke's door to let him know about Harry's life then that was all right too. Emmeline was soon showing Harry around the grounds and the areas that needed keeping, making sure to stop everyone to introduce him to the hands. Most were shocked at the presentation that Emmeline was giving but then knew better than to ask while the young man beside her was with her.
"I'll have you work inside until your side heals up" Emmeline said to Harry a few hours later, after Doc has seen Harry and stitched him up as Emmeline promised.
"What did you do at Baron Dursley's manor?"
"I worked mainly indoors, but I like being outside" Harry said before blushing when one of the hands that worked the horse stable on the grounds started laughing.
"Byram, hush" Emmeline snapped at the man before taking Harry's hand and guiding him away from the horse stables that they had been standing near.
"Maybe I can get Laurel to have you help in the garden, does that sound nice?" Harry nodded his head, tears forming in his eyes. Even here people laughed at him.
"Come, come" Emmeline said seeing that Harry was about to cry, she would make sure that Byram paid for his rudeness later on.
"Laurel?" Emmeline called out to a figure that stood in between rows and rows of flowers.
"Em?" Laurel called back before making her way over to the pair of them.
"Laurel, I want you to meet Harry. He's our new hand, I thought he could spend some time with you" Emmeline said before conveying with her eyes what she couldn't say with Harry standing next to her.
"Of course, come now. What's your name again?" Laurel said taking on the role of mother quiet well.
"Harry, ma'am" Harry responding before being pulled off down the rows of beautiful flowers that were in bloom or almost ready to bloom, she could see that Harry wanted to stop and touch each flower; a good thing in her book.