AN: sorry on the last chapter I forgot to add a disclaimer. I'm not J. K. Rowling therefore I don't own harry potter. This chapter may seem a little rushed but to be honest I went to get to the story so deal with it, at least it is way longer than chapter 1. I made chapter 1 so short because I knew 2 would be a lot longer and I wanted to put something out there. Thankyou everyone who decided they liked it enough to add it as a favorite.
Chapter 2 Diagon Alley
="normal speech"
="parseltongue"
="thought speech"
Harry opened the cupboard and went to retrieve the mail. Flipping through, it was: Bill, Bill, Postcard from Marge, Bill, Bill, Hogwarts Acceptance letters for Dudley and Harry, Bill. Wait! Two letters! This early? Dudley was accepted? Harry quickly went out the front door, not responding to his aunt's yells.
He stuck out his arm hoping despite not having his wand that the bus would appear. He heard it before he saw it.
Knight Bus was scrawled across the side.
"Diagon Alley please! I don't have any money, but when I go home, I'll use you again and pay then. My name's Harry Potter."
Stan chirped, "The Harry Potter? On my first day? Come aboard the trips on us."
Harry stepped aboard only remembering after he sat down that he still had the Dursley's mail clutched in his fist. He set it all aside planning on purposefully forgetting it, keeping his Hogwarts letter in his hand. He broke the seal skimming the contents. It looked the same.
Several stops later, they were at the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry stepped off and went inside.
"Can you help me get into Diagon Alley?" Harry asked innocently or at least as innocently as he could sound.
Once Tom let him through, he sped towards Gringott's. He was thankful he hadn't been recognized yet.
He went to the desk, "I'm Harry Potter and I would like to make a withdrawal from my account, but I don't have my key."
"Don't worry we have ways of testing who you are."
After a blood test, a goblin came out and said, "Mr. H. Potter: 10 vaults; Lords Potter, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw; Made heir of Lord Black upon the death of his family and since he is currently incarcerated at Azkaban, he has 8 vaults that you're open to; owner of two manors set on large estates and a keep, owner of Quality Quidditch Supplies and the Daily Prophet; owner of muggle Gunning's; also owner of the memorial, Godric's Hollow. Total fortune, excluding Black, totals 596 trillion, 923 billion, 322 million, 900 thousand, and 32 galleons; 566 sickles; and 10 knuts."
"I would like the keys to the houses and a bottomless bag holding 5 million galleons. Plus I would like to change the keys to my vaults to be opened by my blood alone.
The goblin nodded and left to fill the request.
Twenty minutes later, Griphook came in with a small bag.
"I trust you find everything in order?" Griphook asked after handing him the bag.
When Harry nodded, Griphook led him to the front. He told one of the clerks that he wanted to change some of it into half a million euros and put in another bag similar to the first.
Harry's first stop was to Madame Makin's.
"I want a set of robes for Hogwarts of the best materials. I want three cloaks with fur trimmings: two for Hogwarts, one in an emerald green. I want a hundred everyday robes in various colors in the best materials and the same for dress robes. I want a trunk that has several compartments. I need one of my everyday robes now so that I can get out of these overgrown Muggle clothes."
Madame Malkin nodded and finished the measurements.
After picking colors and materials, Harry waited for her to finish an emerald green robe made out of silk. He changed into it.
Madame Malkin, "Where could I buy some house elves?"
Madame Malkin looked astonished but gave directions anyway. She told him that they were having an auction that very day and that it started in two hours.
Harry decided to have the robes held for him since they would take a few hours to make anyway because of the quality and quantity. Harry chose a nice oak chest. It had eight compartments. It came with nine keys linked together. (AN: I have no idea what he needs with eight compartments. If you have any ideas for the last 4; one will be for books, one for Quidditch supplies, one for robes, and one for other school supplies; the funniest I will use.) Two locks were there for anyone to see. You stick a key in one and it unlocks the first compartment. You stick it in the other and the first one disappears revealing seven more. In order to make them disappear, you stick the key in the first (originally the second). Harry had Madame Malkin put a notice-me-not charm on eight of the keys and eight of the locks.
Then he had his initials inscribed on the front.
He had her add a permanent feather weight charm and make it expandable or shrinkable by touching, with a wand, anywhere in the space between the H and P. This would magically shrink everything in it without harming it. Then he had her shrink it and stuck it in his pocket.
He left Madame Malkin's 5000 galleons shorter and went to Ollivander's. He would leave for the auction after that. While he didn't much like enslaving another being, he had too many properties to look after. He would get two thousand house elves: 1500 for the keep and 250 for each of the manors. It was a lot he knew but he knew he couldn't look after everything himself. The original house elves had either died, been sold, or died upon James' father's death.
"Mr. Potter, I remember when your parents were in here buying their first wands."
Ollivander went through half the wands but seemed to be avoiding a certain holly wand.
"I wonder..." Ollivander trailed off.
Harry knew what was happening and quickly grabbed hiswand from the wand maker.
He felt his body shutter.
"How peculiar..." Harry didn't ask what was peculiar. He already knew.
~*~*~Dursley's House~*~*~
Dumbledore had decided to visit Harry and Dudley himself and take them to Diagon Alley. They wouldn't know how to owl back. It was nearing noon. He looked down at his Muggle clothes: tight fitting jeans and a red button up shirt with some Muggle shoe called flip flops. (AN: lol! Could you imagine! I thought it should be something utterly normal that would look ridiculous on him with long hair and long beard and his age.) He had heard this outfit was all the rage. He rang the doorbell but no one answered. He looked thoughtful for a second and decided to wait.
He pulled his beard up and twisted it around his waist like a belt.
Then he pulled a book from seemingly nowhere and started to read.
Several hours later, he glanced up when he heard a car pull up.
A man, a women, and two young boys got out.
Neither looked much like his idea of Harry James Potter. He frowned.
"Petunia and Vernon Dursley, I'm Albus Dumbledore. Could I speak to you about Harry and Dudley? Where is Harry?"
"We don't know! He ran out early this morning without eating breakfast," Petunia said wondering why his name sounded so familiar.
"Well I wanted to escort you myself. Thought it would be easier with two boys about the same age."
"What do you mean escort us?"
"Well, I'll explain it when Harry gets home."
"I want to know NOW! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"
"How about..." He was interrupted when a women came to pick up the thin boy.
He was out of excuses.
He let Petunia lead him inside.
He pulled out, again from seemingly nowhere; the same nowhere the book had disappeared to; two letters: one addressed to the missing Harry and one addressed to Dudley. He noticed the address had changed on Harry's as he was looking at it. It now read Potter Manor. Albus got confused at this but didn't let it show.
If Petunia or Vernon had realized what the letter held much less who Albus was, they never would have let Dudley have the letter much less invited Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the front door.
"Mum, what is Hogwarts? I thought magic wasn't real! I want to go!"
Vernon's face started to turn purple and Petunia screamed and fainted.
"Hogwarts is a school where special boys and girls like you go to learn magic. Hogwarts is one of the best schools in Europe. I'm the Headmaster. Harry and you have been invited to attend."
"Harry isn't special! I bet he'll suck at it!" said Dudley with a mischievous grin on his face.
Just then a phoenix flamed into the room. At first, Albus thought it was Fawkes but realized it was too young. It held a letter attached to one of its legs.
Dear Mr. Albus Dumbledore,
I wish to attend Hogwarts. Looking forward to the start of term.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
This time Albus could not hide his look of shock.
"It seems Harry left early this morning to get his school supplies. How he found them, I'm not entirely sure."
"If Harry goes, I go."
A long argument ensued. His parents seemed torn between giving in or not, as Vernon kept saying, go to that freak school. Dudley finally won. He would be attending.
"We won't pay for Harry."
"Since your family and I already have the key," Albus said as he twirled a set of keys, "I don't think he'll mind paying. It's not like he isn't rich enough that the money would be noticed.
~*~*~5 hours ago with Harry~*~*~
Harry left Ollivander's after also buying a holster and a wand cleaning kit.
He put on the holster and put the kit away in his trunk.
After putting his wand in the holster, he entered Eeylops' Owl Emporium intent on buying Hedwig, but she was nowhere to be found.
He heard whispers from two eggs at first he thought they were two snakes, but he realized one said phoenix below it.
They were both saying:
"Pick me!"
"Pick me!"
He took the two eggs to the front after getting a perch and some treats for the phoenix.
"Do you know what this is?'
"No! I've had it since the store opened. It stubbornly refuses to hatch. Phoenix is a hundred years old. Not had many of them. Legend has it that it picks a master and only they can hear it. That one has a brother. The owner is Albus Dumbledore. We know the other is a snake only 'cause it hisses occasionally. We figure only a parseltongue will coax it out of its shell."
The snake seemed to sense he was a parseltongue because it started to hatch in his hands.
"I will give you them both on account of the fact that I thought I'd never be rid of them."
He paid for the accessories after putting everything but his familiars away.
He put the snake in one pocket. It kept changing colors. He'd decided to name it Arcobaleno which was Italian for rainbow. It seemed better then calling him rainbow.
He still had a little time to kill before the auction so he bought a lifetime's subscription to Broom and Quidditch Weekly, a Nimbus 2000, and a broom servicing kit. Then he left.
~*~*~At Gringott's pt. 2 with frustrated Albus and upset Dursley's~*~*~
Albus was starting to regret going to the Dursley's. Maybe he should have sent someone else to get Dudley and Harry. Harry wasn't even there!
Albus walked up to one of the goblins with a fake smile on his face.
"I would like to make a withdrawal from Mr. Potter's vault. This is Harry's family. I'm sure he won't mind."
"I'm sorry, but the locks have been changed this morning. Only Harry can get in."
"I'm sure he won't mind you sharing his new key."
"There is no key. He has to open it himself."
Albus groaned. There went his plan to get an idea of what Harry had and to try to keep it from him. He wasn't allowed near it until Harry was old enough. He had planned on taking everything and letting Harry think he had only one vault. It had a lot but it didn't have the most. Maybe he could get Harry to sign everything to him if anything happened to Harry. Dudley going to Hogwarts was a start. Dudley hates Harry. He had pretended not to notice. Maybe Dudley could kill Harry and it would solve everything. He just needed to make sure they were both in Gryffindor. He would start training Neville to beat Voldemort if Harry failed.
"I'm sorry! You are going to have to use your own money. I have been locked out of his vaults, I mean vault," Albus purposefully let slip.
He hoped their greed would help matters.
He'd hired Quirrell knowing he was linked to Voldemort somehow.
The Dursley's couldn't hide their anger, perfect.
"He owes us! We have taken care of him for ten years and now he owes us because he never paid us anything. We fed him, put a roof over his head and clothed him."
"I'm sure he doesn't know you weren't going to have the money. You could use the money you brought or go to an ATM and get more out."
~*~*~House Elf Auction~*~*~
Harry walked into the auction and spotted his old nemesis, Draco Malfoy and his father Lucius. Before going over, he noticed there were hundreds of thousands of house elves. He doubted they'd all be sold. Maybe that was the point.
Harry walked over to Draco.
"Hi, I'm Harry. This is my first house elf auction."
"I'm Draco. It isn't an auction not really. You just buy the ones you want. When the elves get down to a manageable number, it turns into an auction."
"Ah! I have several houses and I need a lot of house elves to take care of my houses. The houses no longer have any."
"Dad is getting me my first elf. Where are your parents?"
"They're dead."
"I'm sorry."
Draco and Harry chatted as they looked through the elves. Draco settled on Dobby. After an hour or so, Harry finally had all he needed. He kept three with him and sent the rest to take care of the houses.
"I have to go back to Diagon Alley and finish my shopping for school supplies."
"Father, can we go?"
Lucius nodded. The boy seemed of good breeding and incredibly wealthy if how he tossed money around like it was nothing was anything to go by. He would be a good mate for Draco if he ended up in Slytherin.
"Which house do you want to go into?" Harry asked as they walked into Madame Makin's.
Before Draco could answer, Madame Malkin came out, "Just in time Mr. Potter. Your robes are finished."
Draco glanced at his scar while Harry pulled out his trunk.
"You're Harry Potter?"
"Yes, sorry I didn't say my full name. I wanted to be liked for me not for who I am."
"It's alright. I never gave my surname either. I'm Draco Malfoy."
"I hope we can be good friends!"
"Definitely, I want to be a Slytherin. How about you?"
~*~*~With the Dursley's~*~*~
Dudley hated Albus Dumbledore. They had to leave Gringott's to get money. Dad had told us to go ahead and look around that he'd be back soon.
Dumbledore led them to get his robes first. They walked in and the owner was reading a magazine. She finally glanced up.
"Sorry Albus."
"It's alright. This is Harry's cousin, Dudley."
"She doesn't know..."
"Harry Potter's cousin?"
"Yes."
"How do you know Harry?"
Madame Malkin looked puzzled, "Who doesn't know Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived?"
"I need the Hogwarts school uniform."
"It's going to be a little expensive given your weight."
Madame Malkin began measuring him. By the time she finished, his father was inside the shop.
They paid for a standard trunk and left.
~*~*~With Harry and Draco~*~*~
Harry and Draco were having a really good time. They'd already gone back to Ollivander's and Eeylops Owl Emporium where Draco chose an eagle owl. It was about this time his baby phoenix decided to hatch. Harry took the egg and watched. Finally a brilliant flame burnt the egg shells and the baby took flight.
She, Harry had no clue how he knew this, had the most brilliant emerald eyes that looked just like his.
"Esmeralda," Harry thought, "Emeralds shall be your nickname."
Harry borrowed a few pieces of parchment from Lucius and quickly completed a note to Albus Dumbledore and attached it to her leg.
"Please take this to Albus Dumbledore."
Esmeralda nodded and took off in flames.
"You have a phoenix?"
"It was calling to me."
Harry turned to one of the elves with him, "Take Arcobaleno home and find a rock, heat it over the fire and put him in a box with the rock for now."
He whispered to the snake before handing it over, "Please be good. I will take care of you when I get home."
He looked at the second one, "Go buy groceries for dinner."
Just as he was about to give directions to the final elf, a forth popped in, "Master Harry, there is a Remus Lupin staying at the manor you chose to live at.
Harry composed two quick letters. He handed one to this elf and said, "Give this to Remus Lupin."
He left with a pop.
"Go steal the pet rat from the Weasleys'. Put it in an unbreakable cage and take it and this letter to the Minister of Magic. Make sure he reads the letter."
~*~*~At the Ministry of Magic~*~*~
Cornelius was cleaning his bowler hat avoiding paperwork that needed to be signed when a house elf popped in. It was holding a cage with a rat in one hand and a letter that had, "MINISTER OF MAGIC" stated clearly on the front.
He avoided the rat, giving it a disgusted look before taking the letter:
Dear Mr. Minister,
It has come to my attention that the rat my house elf is holding is an illegal animagus posing as a pet. Please do something about it. I only wonder what happened to it for its missing a toe.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Understanding showed on Fudge's face at that.
He called in a few aurors and some Veritaserum. "Mad Eye" Moody was among them.
He had them ward the room so no one could get out.
Then one of the aurors turned the rat back into a human. A fat human was now standing there. He looked unmistakably like Peter Pettigrew.
"Give him the Veritaserum, and add anti-animagus wards to the room."
The aurors obeyed.
After strenuous questioning, the truth came out. Mr. Pettigrew had been the Potter's secret keeper. He had betrayed the Potters. Then since two people who knew the secret were dead and Harry was an infant, that left him and Sirius Black who everyone already thought was the secret keeper. So it wasn't hard framing Sirius especially after he went after him. He framed him for thirteen Muggles and his own death. Who would believe talentless Peter Pettigrew had bested Sirius Black one of the best duelers of their year? He blew up half the street, removed a finger and escaped into the sewers as a rat. Then it came out. James, Sirius, and Peter had all become illegal animagus to help Remus Lupin during his transformations back at Hogwarts. James was a stag. Sirius was a grim like dog. Peter was a rat.
Dementors were called to give Peter the Kiss. Then Fudge told them to get Sirius Black. It was time to free him.
Fudge gave orders for a fine and imprisonment for breaking the law but both would be weighed against time spent in Azkaban. Sirius would end up getting paid for wrongful imprisonment. Then he told them to take him to St. Mungo's to be evaluated physically and mentally before he could be truly freed. Then he wrote a letter to Harry telling him everything and sent it with the house elf.
~*~*~At Potter Manor~*~*~
The werewolf was surprised when hundreds of house elves suddenly popped into Potter Manor.
"Who are you, sir?"
"Remus Lupin, I was told to live here in James Potter's will."
The elf disappeared with a pop presumably to tell his master.
A few minutes later it reappeared and handed him a letter with his name on it:
Dear Mr. Remus Lupin,
I know all about you. I wouldn't dream of kicking you out. I'm moving in. The Muggles I've been living with have treated me abysmally. I hope you don't mind that I'm moving in. I already know about your "furry little problem". It doesn't bother me. It will be nice to live with someone that can tell me stories about my parents when they were growing up.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
Remus looked stunned. How did the boy know about his inner werewolf? As far as he knew, Dumbledore was refusing to let anything above a squib near the boy 'til he went to Hogwarts. He had tried, but with his condition, he didn't stand much chance anyway.
The house elves were rustling around cleaning the entire house to please their new master. They had moved him out of the master bedroom to another room. Not that he blamed them, it was rightfully Harry's to use to begin with.
~*~*~St. Mungo's~*~*~
Sirius Black was in a state of continual confusion. He had been removed from Azkaban and not told a word. He was now at St. Mungo's being force fed potions. He had no clue what they were for. Fudge, the current Minster of Magic, walked in.
"I'm very sorry Mr. Black. We have recently come into some evidence that we wrongfully accused you of murder. Sign these papers and everything will be fine. It acknowledges that your animagus is a grim like dog. If you could show us it will be officially documented. Once you have undergone both a physical and mental evaluation, we can release you as long as you're fine mentally.
After Sirius changed into Padfoot, his form was documented, and signed the paperwork; Sirius stuttered in a hoarse voice, "Peter Pettigrew is the real murderer."
"We know. We put him under Veritaserum. He spilled everything. He got the Kiss. We know he could change into a rat and escape. It would cost too much to contain him, so he got the Kiss.
"He deserved death for what he did to Lily and James!"
Fudge looked nervous, "Is that why you went after him that night?"
~*~*~Diagon Alley with Dumbledore~*~*~
Albus was starting to get a migraine. Dudley was horrible. He was a spoiled whiny brat and his parents catered to his every desire. He wanted a broom he couldn't fly or bring to Hogwarts; he got one. He wanted the best materials money could buy; his parents were going broke doing what he wished. He almost felt sorry for them.
He was starting to rethink Dudley killing Harry. He was too much of an idiot.
~*~*~With Draco and Harry~*~*~
Draco had decided he liked Harry Potter. He was a nice kid not all the stuck up prat his father expected him to be. He'd half convinced Harry that Slytherin was the house for him.
Unbeknownst to Draco, Harry let Draco think that he was convincing him when in fact he'd known all along he'd go into Slytherin this time after all. Pretty sly!
Harry led Draco into Flourish and Blotts. They picked up all their school books and Harry grabbed a copy of the book catalog intent on buying more when not in front of Draco.
Then Draco and he had headed into a supply store. He picked up a sack of floo powder. They each got a leather knapsack that cast a spell on the items inside making them weightless. It also had a spell to keep it from breaking. A box caught his eye. There were two different kinds. One held just an endless supply of parchment. The other would stretch or shrink to the length you needed just by thinking real hard on the size and tapping the box. Only one sheet was inside but once you took it out and reopened the box, another appeared. They decided Harry would get one and Draco the other to decide which they liked best.
They were selling phoenix feather quills that had an endless supply of ink so you'd never have to look at another ink bottle again. They weren't really made of phoenix feathers they just had a spell on them. You'd take it out of its box and start writing with it, when you were finished, set it down for more than five minutes and it would flame into the box. It also had a memory. You had to write with it for five minutes when you first got it so that it would only recognize your hand. Thus it also had an anti-theft feature. They both bought about ten apiece planning on giving one to everyone in their dorm year plus keeping a few for themselves.
After going to the Apothecary and getting their potion supplies, it was getting late. They were about to part ways after agreeing to write each other, when Harry came to a complete stop and hid behind Mr. Malfoy. He knew it made him appear weak but he'd just seen the Dursley's leave Gringott's with none other than Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked pissed about something and was holding a whole ring of keys, one of which he recognized as the key to his vault. His fingers were holding the keys so tightly that they were white. The Dursley's didn't look to pleased either.
Harry waited until the Dursley's had disappeared into Madame Malkin's before speaking, "I'm sorry. Those are my Muggle relatives. I'm not sure who the old man was, but he looked pissed. And the keys he was carrying, I suspect were to my vaults considering cousin and his parents were with him. I didn't want to be seen by them because they hate me and they would have just demanded to be allowed into my vaults to take all the money for themselves as if it was their right to do so.
"They would claim that I owed them because they fed me, clothed me, and put a roof over my head, but it's not like they put much effort into it. They treated me like the house elves we just bought today. I cooked and cleaned for them since I could walk. My so called room was the very small cupboard under the stairs that they managed to stuff with a small mattress and thin blanket. I was fed scraps left over from feeding themselves and their whale of a son. My clothes were Dudley's cast offs that he'd outgrown, so they swallowed me. They were big enough to hide the fact that I was way too small for my age and all the bruises and cuts Dudley gave me as his own punching bag.
"That's why my first stop after Gringott's was to Madame Malkin to get out of the so called clothing. I want nothing to do with any of them."
Lucius seemed to get over the boy's shock as he spoke and an idea popped into his head. He could use the boy's fear of his relatives to get rid of Dumbledore once and for all. The boy already seemed to dislike him because he was with his relatives. They would go back to see if Dumbledore had in fact, as he suspected, been trying to steal from. Harry. Once he did that, it would be easy enough to convince the boy to turn against Dumbledore and file a complaint with the Minister of Magic and the rest of the board of governors for Hogwarts.
~*~*~Potter Manor~*~*~
Remus had tried to set up his new room after being from the Master Bedroom but the house elves had shooed him out.
It was about this time he received a letter from Minister Fudge:
Dear Mr. Lupin,
As Much as I loath writing you because you are a werewolf. You are the person left alive on the list of emergency contacts for one Sirius Black. He has been recently been found innocent of all crimes, and he was taken to St. Mungo's for a battery of tests before he can truly be a free man. Please come to St. Mungo's as soon as possible.
Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, Great Britain
As this would occupy the time waiting for Harry, he called a house elf and told him to tell Harry he was going to St. Mungo's.
~*~*~With Dumbledore~*~*~
Albus was just deciding to take the Dursley's to Potter Manor for Harry's "safety", when an owl appeared with a special edition of the Daily Prophet. He paid the owl and it took off.
"This is one of our newspapers, the Daily Prophet. I recommend taking out a subscription."
Albus glanced at the front of the paper and saw a huge picture of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. It was a picture of them when they were still attending Hogwarts and the title under it read:
SIRIUS BLACK FOUND INNOCENT!
TODAYMinister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge recei-
ved a letter from an anonymous source stating
that they had found an illegal animagus in the
form of a rat.
Fudge had an auror change him back and long
thought dead, Peter Pettigrew appeared. He was
Veritaserum where the insidious plot to frame Sir-
ius Black came to light.
He had in fact been the Potter's Secret Keeper,
not Sirius Black. He was a Death Eater and You-
Know-Who's right hand man. He'd delivered the
Potter's to You-Know-Who and then set about fr-
aming Black.
In Fact, the only thing he should have been in
prison for, and certainly not ten years was being
an illegal animagus.
rest continued on p. 23 under Black
Albus Dumbledore turned really white upon reading this.
~*~*~Gringott's~*~*~
Harry had in fact learned more of Dumbledore's devious plots when they returned to Gringott's.
Dumbledore had not only been trying to take the Dursley's to his vaults, but he'd been witness to his parent's will.
A will which Dumbledore, under a blood and magic (as all wizarding wills are) oath, as one (the other was dead, probably killed on Dumbledore's orders) of the witnesses, he had blatantly ignored. It stated that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper and to find him if anything happened to Lily and James Potter. It stated that Harry should receive their six Wizengamot seats. Which upon further investigation, it appeared Dumbledore had stolen for himself on their deaths along with a lot of the rights reserved for Lords Potter, Black (through Harry who was Sirius Black's only heir), Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. Using them to make himself head of the Wizengamot and Chief Mugwump.
This was easily fixed as Dumbledore had taken a blood and magic oath as witness to the will. The goblins filed a few papers and Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was reduced to little more than a squib. It would take a couple of hours for the Ministry to catch up and aurors sent to pick up Albus Dumbledore, newly made squib, on all the charges. As a squib, he would be stripped of everything and after a trial, be sent to Azkaban for a few years, and then left to the Muggle world.
It would take a couple more hours for Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall to be notified of her new post.
~*~*~St. Mungo's~*~*~
Remus arrived at St. Mungo's not long after receiving the letter. He wanted to see it for himself. Sirius Black was in the mental ward. He was chained to a bed near Frank and Alice Longbottom. When he entered, Sirius looked up.
"Is it true? Are you free?"
"He deserved to be tortured to death for this. Not given the Kiss. I was in Azkaban for ten years for this!"
"Who?"
"Peter Pettigrew! Who else?"
"But you were their Secret Keeper!"
"Peter was! We changed at the last moment."
"If you're so innocent, why do they have you chained to the bed?"
"I have to pass some psychobabble (An: I Figured Sirius would say something like that) tests first. I was in Azkaban around Dementors for ten years. They want to make sure I'm not insane."
"You seem lucid enough."
"I'm innocent that was my only thought, and since that wasn't a happy thought, they didn't take it away. Plus, changing into Padfoot helped some, too."
~*~*~Ministry of Magic~*~*~
Harry and the Malfoys walked through the guest entrance. Harry pretended to be enthralled as if this was his first time. He had mentioned making his house inaccessible to undesirables such as the Dursley's.
Lucius had offered to help.
The three of them got into one of the elevators and Lucius pushed three for transportation.
Harry oohed and aahed and asked questions about things in order to seem appropriately interested.
Lucius seemed satisfied knowing more than him.
~*~*~Diagon Alley~*~*~
Albus and the Dursley's had just finished shopping for Dudley's school supplies when aurors aparated into Diagon Alley.
"Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest for crimes against Harry Potter. You will be tried immediately at an emergency Wizengamot hearing."
~*~*~Hogwarts~*~*~
Minerva McGonagall, as Deputy Headmistress, had just finished her duties and was getting ready to leave to have a summer with her husband, kids, and grandkids, who the eldest were to come to Hogwarts in a couple of years (AN: I know the books she never said if she was married but pretend she is.) when an owl entered her office. It looked like it was from the board of governors. She planned on taking it upstairs and leaving it in Albus' office when she noticed her name on it.
She held her breath as she broke the seal.
Dear Minerva McGonagall,
We are offering you the position of Headmistress of Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore has been fired due to inappropriate and unlawful actions against Harry Potter in which, he was witness to Lily and James Potter's will. Since he disregarded their will, the appropriate action has was taken by the Goblins. Since he is now a squib and facing jail time, he is unable to remain Headmaster of the school. Please send a reply soon.
With the power of the governors and popular vote, you are our chosen new Headmistress. Choose wisely.
Sincerely,
Lucius Malfoy, head of the Board of Governors
P.S. You will need to find a new head of Gryffindor and teacher for Transfiguration
~*~*~At Dumbledore's trial~*~*~
Harry was enjoying the man's destruction. They had given him Veritaserum and all his transgressions and years of manipulation were coming out. Every last one.
Harry felt vindicated seeing Albus Dumbledore handcuffed to the chair in front of the full Wizengamot like he did/would when he cast the Patronus before fifth year. He cared little for the money he'd been trying to steal. It was everything else he had done and had been attempting like leaving him with the Dursley's. When the case was almost over, Harry stood up wanting to know if he'd left him with the Dursley's knowing how they would treat him.
This had opened a whole new line of questioning. In the end, Dumbledore was facing fifty years in Azkaban. It seemed very small for a wizard but most wizards agreed the worst thing you could do was to take away a wizard's magic. It only happened to those who offended the goblins. Wizards wouldn't do it to their own even if they could.
It was decided the Dursley's would also be tried. They were already talking punishments as if it was already a done deal. The trial would be a formality. They didn't want to have another Sirius Black. At least the Dursley's were really guilty. The Wizengamot seemed decided. The Dursley's were going to Azkaban and would lose Dudley. They would be charged with two counts of neglect. Harry had been neglected to the point of abuse and they had let Dudley eat to the point of excess. That was a different type of neglect. They were trying to decide what to do with Dudley. They had decided Marge Dursley would not be a good choice. So, he would probably end up in an orphanage.
"He can live with me. It's the least I can do. His family took me in for ten years. I may hate them, might not have been fed well, might have been given Dudley's cast offs, and forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs, but at least I had a place to live. He'll stay with me until he is seventeen."
The Wizengamot looked surprised, "You'll take responsibility for him after everything they have done to you?"
"Yes."
"We'll make you his guardian. A little unorthodox considering he's older than you, but you are his only living magical relative."
~*~*~A week later~*~*~
Dudley had moved in a couple of days ago and he was acting like the house belonged to him. Harry had told the house elves to ignore him. He could clean his own room if he wanted to. He still treated Harry like shit. He didn't seem to realize Harry was the one in control.
Harry wasn't going to bankroll his previous lifestyle. He was going to learn to respect him.
~*~*~Hogwarts~*~*~
Minerva was going crazy no one was good enough for the transfiguration post and now she had to replace DADA also!
She was about to throw her quill down and give up for the day when there was a knock at her office door. She hadn't had time to change the password so there wasn't one since Dumbledore left.
"Come in."
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin walked in.
"Minerva, we were wondering if we could talk to you about this school year. We are just getting to know Harry and we don't want to part with him when the summer is over. We were wondering if you could do anything."
An insane idea popped in her head. She know she would possibly regret it but she was desperate!
"I have two positions on staff available and I need a new head of Gryffindor. Lupin, you could take the new DADA post; Black, you can take over Transfiguration; and one of you could take over as head of house."
Lupin and Black looked surprised.
"I know I must be losing my mind hiring two marauders to teach and with the Weasley twins, it's going to be a disaster. Get out of here before I change my mind."
~*~*~Diagon Alley~*~*~
Harry was walking around Diagon Alley. He had come to pick up a few jokes to play on Sirius and Remus. He had also stopped into Flourish and Blotts to pick up some order forms for some of the rarer books for the Potter library, a library so grand, even Hermoine would be jealous. It had a lot of rare books but Harry was looking for a different sort.
As Harry rounded a corner, something caught his eye, later he would not be able to recall exactly what; when he got closer, he noticed a going out of business sale and a for sale sign. On the board above the door, a sign proclaimed, "Muggle Wares for Wizards".
Harry walked inside. He found all kinds of neat Muggle things that Dudley had owned but he had not been able to touch. There were laptops of all sizes with names Harry didn't recognize, they had hundreds of accessories for everything under the sun: keyboards, mice, games, cases, software. They had cell phones that looked modern than the muggle version. They had paper for printing called insta-paper.
"Why are you going out of business?"
"It's expensive to stay open when hardly anyone shops here. Those that know about us, can't afford much of anything and even if they could, they have other things to pay for. Or, they're purebloods with no wish to buy wizard made muggle products. You would think the Muggleborns would at least buy but even they don' or don't know about us."
"Maybe the right advertisement, a change in name, and in influx of cash would work."
"Where would I get that?" This is my shop. I'm the only worker."
"I'm Harry Potter. If I say I use it, then people will buy it. I'll buy out your business, let you run things, cut you in on the earnings since they're your products. I'll put an ad in the paper. Then I'll talk to McGonagall about a deal to purchase one for all of her staff and students at a discounted price of course. We'll just need enough by July 31 for the staff and the rest by September 1. We could also sell guides to help get used to the product. I was thinking ϟ Inc. What do you think? We'll put a lightning bolt on everything and we will buy the patent from the ministry. I think that should do it."
Harry walked out of the newly minted ϟ after paying lots of money to hire a bunch of workers to help and McGonagall to talk to her about at least ordering a laptop for all of her students. After much discussion, she had agreed. They had also added a catalog. Harry had thousands of copies of it made to be sent out with tomorrow's Daily Prophet with a note from him saying that all products had the Harry Potter stamp of approval. To the parents of students attending Hogwarts, he had sent a note saying that they would receive a laptop September 1 upon arrival at Hogwarts.
Harry himself purchased a "basic" laptop. It was two screens on the inside of a fold down top. It had little place where you insert chip like things to enhance the compute. The bottom screen was touch screen so you could select multiple things to open at the same time. He had bought a keyboard, camera that took pictures and put them in a temporary folder on the background; a "drawing pad" that effectively worked like a small laptop that you could save info on and send to the big laptop; a mouse that could be used like a touch pad or it could come out, it had been charmed to look like a mouse, it scurried around to move the mouse on the screen, the e yes were left and right click, and you petted the head to scroll up or down; and games like WSIMS the wizarding version of SIMS. The bottom could be used as a copier/printer, you selected which you wanted than you put the parchment face down on the bottom screen and either printed a selected document on the screen or copied the parchment you set down. He had purchased the same for Draco thinking Draco would want everything first. It would be a heads up. He attached a note in one of the store's bags. They were made of dragon hide, at least the ones sent by owl because they had to be stronger.
~*~*~Malfoy Manor~*~*~
Draco looked up when his father came into his room, "You got a package from Harry. His phoenix showed up downstairs, scared you mother half to death, I forgot to tell her about the phoenix. Here you go!"
Draco opened the bag. He pulled out a bunch of stuff with a look of confusion. He didn't recognize any of it. He found a letter.
Dear Draco
Hey! I just bought this company and made a deal with Headmaster McGonagall. Everyone is going to be getting one on the first day. I thought I'd give you one in advance.
Harry
Draco looked through the stuff with more interest.