The Two Boys who Lived.
Disclaimer.
A fanfiction story using
several characters from JKRowling's
Harry Potter series.
All recognizable characters are property of JKR
and belong to her and her associated corporations.
This is a writing exercise and no profit is made from
usage.
Chapter 3
Harry's tale
"It took almost a week.. I healed Harry, and he healed me.. we supported each other as best we could. There was a great gathering in Diagon Alley, where the Ministry was lauding the 'great hero of the light" Albus of the many names Dumbledore, who had miraculously returned to life, 'just in time' to save the day... I called him out, in front of all those people, telling the true story of Albus Dumbledore, and the manipulations he had done over the years.. I told them how he actually killed Grindewold.. That infuriated him.. I swore a vow that I was telling the truth.. the glow was bright enough to see in the daylight.. I told the people how he murdered my wife, how he had stolen my life.. and family.. "He was enraged, and started casting horrific magic, demonic magic, without regard as to who he hit. Harry, as usual worked the edges, pulling the innocent out of the way, my best friend was a true hero." Dumbledore leapt from roof to roof, trying to get me, as I cast shields and impediments.. Finally he had me cornered, right where I wanted him, concentrating on me. He cast a killing curse, and as I saw the green light of the spell come my way, I saw Harry pop up behind him and take his head off with the Sword. My final vision before I died was the execution of Albus Dumbledore. "And that's how I died"
they sat silently for a while. "After I died, I went to a waiting room in the light.. it looked a lot like Platform 9-3/4 as I arrived, I saw Dumbledore being escorted into a dark doorway, his head under his arm. I saw Harry, laughing with Hermione, and Ginny. he had the Sword still, He vanished it as he saw me enter. there was a cloaked figure waiting on a throne." Neville looked far off , as if in a vision. "I am seeing this right now, in fact, at this very moment Harry is being sent through a door." they all felt it, it washed through their very being.. a pulse of magic. That very moment,on Privit Drive...
July 31, 1991 BOY! Harry awoke with a jerk. he groaned, silently, so as not to raise the ire of his Uncle. Then he realize where he was, and quickly checked himself out, /alive/ /11 or so years old/ /no wand or magical books around, so, my birthday or before/ /?HERMIONE'S ALIVE!/
The magical pulse washed over them, Neville was particularly sensitive to it..since it was the same thing which had brought him here to this reality not five hours before..
" I...I can feel him..he's confused, no..now determined...he's taking some kind of action...physical...there, he just used some magic...very controlled magic.. " Algie got up and headed for the floo.. "I have to get our sensors online to see if we can determine whats happening.." "Uncle Algie?...stop by Mafelda Hopkirks' office, please?" Algie Croaker looked at his not young nephew and nodded. "he lives at 4 Privit Drive,Little Whinging Surrey" Algie acknowledged the address and stepped into the floo.
Harry went about his business, he went to Gringotts and 'encouraged' the goblin to do the correct paperwork and get his freedom from manipulative old soon to be dead Headmasters, and the Ministry and their dead superannuated and just plain insane legal system.. He had a great many meetings to set up, he considered setting up a storefront in Diagon Alley, considering how many meetings he had in mind to set.. what was that strange feeling.. he could sense someone..whatever..
Now that the PetuniaWhore was hard at work, he really encouraged her to be very public about her business.. He wondered if Dudley was redeemable if he got away from his parents..nah, let the legal system take care of them. Its out of my hands.. There! there was that feeling again.. it shifted.. somewhere closer..
He stopped by the Magical Menagerie and picked up the appropriate owl treats and supplements to keep Hedwig healthy in this climate, since it was not her natural habitat..
The feeling, its closer.. he pulled out his mother's wand and held it close to his side...
"Harry!" he snapped around and saw a young person and an older woman heading his way.. He put out a light shield, trying to sense if this was an enemy or..wait ..thats "Neville!..er..how do you know..wait..I feel you..." they circled around.. Augusta thought they were like predatory cats, each trying to get the upper hand..er claw.. Neville stopped first and grinned at Harry.. he did the Vulcan hand thing and said.."I come in peace" and held the grin for a moment until Harry broke out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.. "No Nev, it's 'Live long and prosper'...he looked at this Nev.. "We've never actually met have we?" He stuck out his hand and the shook on it.. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter, 'the boy who lived, died, lived again..and you?"
"Hi, I'm Neville Longbottom, Also the Boy who lived, etc,etc.. did you visit an otherworldly train platform recently?" Harry's face fell.. "Yes, I had to say goodbye to Hermione, and..." he got a strange look on his face.. "I saw Albus Dumbledore walk by like he was on his way to the Headless Hunt.. care to elaborate?"
Augusta Longbottom stepped in at this point.."Mr Potter, would you care to come to Longbottom Manor, so we can have these discussions in private, and make some plans?." her eyes indicated a rather snooty looking Lucius Malfoy walking by on the other side of the street. Both Harry and Neville grew dark and almost started to do something, but Mrs L stopped them before they could take the first step. "You could kill him now, and be done with it, but wouldn't it be better to take away everything he has, destroy his name, destroy the line of Malfoy, and THEN kill him?..hmm?
Both boys turned to look at her..and enthusiastically "Yes Ma'am!"
"So how did you end up here?"
"You know, the usual BWL luck.. killed a dark lord, all his Deezers, fought a battle that left nothing standing, Brought in airstrikes and left the Ministry a glowing hole in the ground, along with about twenty manors.. total scorched earth.. I killed Dumbledore for his crimes.. put his head on a pike over the front gate at Hogwarts, I did.. but somewhere along the line he hit me with some long term curse.. "
"Why the total destruction?
You have a Hermione in your line?"
"yeah, great girl.. My Harry was going to marry her.. "
"Well, I did, and she is..was the best thing..person to ever happen to me.. God, I loved that woman" he wiped his eyes.. the tears flowed easily. "The old man claimed I wasn't working fast enough, it was time to go after Voldy and he stunned her and sent her to him with a portkey.. The Deez did horrible things to her and she managed to get loose.. and get her wand. Malfoy was teasing her, going to snap her wand in front of her face.. the idiot didn't know she could do wandless magic as well as I can.. and he was within reach. "She castrated him and made him eat his own junk.. then she did a Vlad on him.. he got to watch the rest of it before she died.. though he went before she did." .
He lay back in the chair, tears flowing freely down his face.
"She was beautiful and full of fire.. it took over twenty of them to bring her down, and she made them pay well for it." " I got to see her before she went to her reward. She made me see the need for someone to go and get it right, or I would have happily just gone with her into Avalon.. and see Sirius, and Mum and Dad.. and if I saw Dumbledore there, I would personally escort him to hell."
Early evening 31 July
He turned to Mrs Longbottom and asked. "What's the situation in this version of reality? is DD just as manipulative an old asshole as he was in my home dimension?.
She nodded. "Sadly, he is just as bad as you both have described.. and Neville has explained his current whereabouts to my satisfaction.. no one of our ...contacts knew where he went every year, and now we know.. " Harry grimaced and put his face in his hands..
"Just go there and look for the biggest manwhore on the beach.. and match the face up with any number of Head Boys from the last fifty years.." pause..."I'd rather not talk about that..lets make plans for the Revolution..".. "In my version, the Weasleys were fairly important, as tools and as victims..how about you , Nev?" he nodded. The Weasleys were the first people to show me what family was like, and I ended up marrying Ginny, we were to have a son when the old man murdered her.." Harry raised an eyebrow.. "In my version, he had her dose me with amorentia and string me along, Ron was dosing Hermione." he frowned. I killed him, eventually, and Ginny went nuts. ended up in St Mungo's. " "I think the real reason is that she was never treated for being possessed by Tom in her first year.. he sat there in her mind for six years, festering..and the old goat KNEW. that there was still a problem that could be covered up and hidden with potions and spells." Ginny was a nice kid, I don't want her to go through that again.. And I don't want to have to kill Ron...before the goat got him he WAS my good friend."
"Let me suggest something, if I may" Both boys looked to the matriarch. "The Weasleys are a pivotal family in this world, as well as in your own.. What do you say we bind them to the Potter/Longbottom alliance, where they cannot be manipulated by outside forces..also they give us someone to hide behind as needed." Harry looked quizzical.."Potter Longbottom Alliance?" She nodded.. "The two great families are more powerful together than either are separately.. it's an order of magnitude" Realization dawned on both young men. They turned to each other and held out hands, each gripping the others forearms. "I would consider it an honor to be allied with the Great and Noble House of Longbottom, and as Head of The Ancient and Noble House of Potter, offer my hand in alliance" Harry spoke formally. Neville took his arms in hand. "The Great and Noble House of Longbottom would be very glad and honored to have an alliance with the Great, Ancient and Noble House of Potter." the two boys glowed for a moment as their alliance took hold.
Harry and Neville grabbed each other and hugged like long lost brothers, for that is what they were, maybe not of the same mother, but in their hearts and minds, they were indeed, brothers.
The next day, Arthur Weasley received a regal looking snowy owl. The letter she carried was of the finest parchment, and the seals on the top were shocking, because they had not been commonly seen for years, over a dozen years, actually.. The letter asked that he bring his family, all of them to a meeting at Longbottom Manor at three the next afternoon, for discussions and some conference.
"Molly, I don't know, we'll find out tomorrow, so just don't worry, The Longbottoms are a light family, and I am sure there is no harm, but the Potter crest, I don't know.. no one has seen the Potter boy in ten years.." He just shook his head, and she nattered..
"What will we wear, the boys need new robes, and Ginny.. " they were words that she had gone over several times already, and Arthur knew it was time to shut it down.. He took her by the cheeks and made her look him in the eye. "Molly, Don't Worry!.. It. Will. Be. All. Right!" his forcefulness made her feel safe. and the worry slipped away. "We may not have much, but we are Weasleys, and we stand for the light, and what's right, no matter what"
Molly Prewitt would do whatever she had to in order to keep her family safe, and that fact is what got her and her family in so much trouble in other timelines.. The truth was, she needed the calming influence of Arthur to make decisions.
The Weasley clan filed into the grand hall of Longbottom Manor . Already waiting in the room were a group of people. Arthur recognized Augusta Longbottom, matriarch of the Longbottom clan, He recognized by sight, Algernon Croaker, who was Augusta's older brother, and from the halls of the Ministry, he had something to do with the Department of Mysteries. Alongside them were two young boys, Arthur assumed they were Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. No one had seen Harry Potter, so no one was exactly sure what he looked like, but this young man looked very much like James Potter, who was known to them all, from their membership in the Order during the last war.
Dumbledore had built up the legend of 'The Boy Who Lived' over the last ten years, and the wizarding public was in awe of the possibility of being in the presence of such greatness. Harry growled at the looks he was getting from the Weasleys.., so he decided then and there to jump off the pedestal and kick it over.. he waited a few moments to let things settle down after they had all been introduced, and sat down himself...after subtly casting the whoopee cushion spell. "Bfffllllattt!" he sighed with a satisfied look on his face, he then 'noticed' everyone looking at him in shock, and in the case of the twins, awe, "Sorry, ate some Sliders" Everyone over the age of sixteen tried to ignore the gorilla in the room, the ones under , that is to say From Percy on down, made faces. Percy was torn between laughing and being perfect prefect Percy, The twins were 'I gotta get me some of those' Ronald made a face and tried to squeeze one out of his own.. then got a shocked look on his face when he realized he may just have done more so.. Ginny just squeeked and blushed.
Augusta Longbottom hrumphed and called the gathering to order.. "If I could have your attention please?"..."Harry?" He put his head down and mumbled "Yes Ma'am" while smirking a bit. Neville poked him for putting on the act.
"Arthur, as head of the Clan Weasley, you have the control of what is left of the Ancient House of Weasley and the forebears of that house.. " she paused. " The combined clans of Longbottom and Potter would like to make you and your clan an offer of friendship and support, Legal and Financial backing, and an opportunity to gain back what was stolen from your House one hundred eighty two years ago."
Arthur's eyes widened on shock.. The power behind the combined clans was considerable, but he could not see how it would be done, for his family was victim of robber barons all those years ago, and they lost lands, money, and probably most importantly, their seat in the Wizengamot.
He did not even know, completely how it had happened, it was a combination of murder , hidden under the cover of a 'duel', papers that appeared out of nowhere, and the head of the clan at that time being killed off, and his several times great grandfather being made the head of his clan at the age of eleven. without anyone to help the boy, to be his regent or advisor, the robbers ran roughshod over him and what remained of his family, two younger sisters and a brother. The Burrow, the now traditional home of the Weasley clan was left to them, because, having taken all the other lands, it was in an inconvenient location, and no one wanted it.
The matriarch went on, as Croaker looked on, watching closely.. He did this, keeping the attention of the elder Weasleys, this allowed the boys, to subtly invade the minds and thoughts of the clan.
Having taken a measure of the red headed gathering, Harry sat back in satisfaction. This was the signal, to proceed. "We have gathered a history of the events leading up to and during the loss of your families lands and farms, we believe that those properties can be recovered, along with the fortunes built on them, and as an added benefit, end the line which caused the problem in the first place."
She gathered up a folder of documents, and handed them across the table to Arthur.
"The line of Malfoy is a cancer on the world, they have done much to further their own desires at the expense of others, that means they need to be exorcised just as if they were a cancer." The different members of the family gaped and had looks of befuddlement on their faces.
"What..how..why?" He couldn't form a complete question. Algie Croaker stepped in. "We have our reasons, as to why we have decided to make you this offer, the first and most important reason, is that it is the right thing to do" he glanced sideways at Harry and Neville. "The second reason we make this offer is that when we are united to the same cause, then we are stronger than if we stand individually for the same cause."
"You, Arthur, can understand exactly what it feels like, at least by proxy, as your ancestors suffered great losses, here we have two young men, in virtually the same position, with the added problem of people whom they should be able to trust are attempting to manipulate and control them." Molly looked shocked, and Arthur had a hard look on his face. How dare anyone try and manipulate 'the Boy Who Lived'..Molly started to speak up, but Arthur interrupted her.."Madam Longbottom, the gift you are proposing to lay upon our family is immense, and would be welcome..but I must ask...what is the price?"
Harry stood. every eye upon him, not knowing what to expect from a mere eleven year old boy.
"The price is fealty, the cost is in support and friendship, at having someone at your back in time of need, The knowing that you have the support of trustworthy people, people in whom you can give your health, welfare, finances, your very life." he paced. "People in whom you can give them access to your family vault, and not worry about them stealing, people who can receive gifts without some kind of foolish pride, people who are not jealous of others' wealth and status, because they forget HOW the wealth and status came to be.." his face dropped "Because of the death of one's family.."
he turned to face the gaping Weasley family. "I am prepared to make the Weasley family wealthy and powerful and respected , if the Weasley family will do something for me..." they all leaned forward in anticipation. "Cut your ties with Dumbledore, and align yourselves with Neville and I...and I want the Rat."
