What if someone was willing to stand up against Albus Dumbledore
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, Dumbledore maybe also Weasley bashing

A.N. If you missed chapter 2, which I only posted 24 hours ago, please go back and read chapter 2 first before continuing here!


Albus Dumbledore was just having a conversation with his most trusted colleague about the soon-to-be vacant position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, when an alarm sounded through his office, which he had never heard before nor wanted to ever hear.

"What's that sound?" Severus enquired, quirking an eyebrow.

"The blood wards around Harry's residence seem to be coming down," the old wizard replied. "Severus, would you go over and check if they're not attacked by Death Eaters?"

Severus' expression changed to a grimace. 'Of course, he doesn't like that; he's always hated everything Potter,' Albus realised. "Oh well, never mind, I'll just ask Arabella Figg to check the Dursleys' house," he corrected himself and, seeing Severus nod in approval, leaned into the fireplace to contact the Squib.

After a minute, the alarm stopped, and a short while later, Arabella's head appeared in the fireplace.

"Albus, everything is quiet here, and the Dursleys aren't even at home; their car is gone," the Squib reported.

"Thanks Arabella," Albus replied, contentedly, "please keep me updated if anything out of the order occurs."

"You mean apart from how the Dursleys treat poor little Harry?" Arabella asked, sharply.

"Yes, my dear. You know that he must live with his relatives," the headmaster replied in the nicest grandfatherly voice he could muster, before he closed the connection.

HP

Harry listened with interest, when Croaker began to read his parents' will.

'This is the last will of Lily Potter, née Evans, and James Potter.
If you are reading this, we should be dead, probably because Peter Pettigrew, who is our Secret Keeper, betrayed us to Voldemort.
We leave all our belongings to our Baby Harry, apart from a monthly stipend of 1000 Galleons for our good friend Remus Lupin. His godfather Sirius Black is to raise Harry in our stead. If he is unavailable for some reason, our friend Alice Longbottom shall care for Harry. If she is not available either, Harry shall be raised by our good friend Amelia Bones or by Remus Lupin. Under no circumstances shall Harry be given to his horrible muggle aunt, Petunia Dursley, and her even worse husband.

Harry, please know that we love you very much and wish you a happy life. We are sure that Sirius AKA Padfoot will be a wonderful father to you.

Lily and James Potter'

"That mongrel," Ra blurted out, seemingly angered.

"Slowly Ra, we don't know what really happened," Croaker cautioned the old wizard.

"Perhaps he's innocent. I don't think that he had as much as a trial," Raros spoke up, seeming equally annoyed, even if Harry did not know why. "Harry," Raros then turned to him, "as it said in the will, Sirius is your godfather. However, after Peter Pettigrew seems to have betrayed your parents and sold them out to the Dark Lord, Sirius was framed for it. He's also said to have killed Pettigrew along with thirteen muggles, probably to avenge the Potters. Possibly, that's not true either, because I know for a fact that my brother wasn't able to harm a fly, at least not willingly, reckless as he was."

"Your brother?" Harry asked in a small voice, not really able to follow the conversation.

"I'm Regulus Black, and Sirius is my brother. Don't tell anyone about me, though, because I'm supposed to be dead," Raros added in a firm voice.

"They both are my grandsons, but no one is supposed to know about my presence here either," Ra continued, only to add, "for the same reasons."

"All right sir," Harry promised.

"Raros," Croaker spoke up in apparent determination. "While Ra and I do the formalities with Flash, you go into the ministry and firstly, file the emancipation of Harry Potter. Then, point two, do take a look at the file of Sirius Black. If it's not one hundred percent evident that he has killed those muggles and Pettigrew, we're going to fetch him here for questioning under truth serum."

"Understood, thanks Croaker," Raros replied and, donning his robes again, swiftly left the room.

Harry had to sign a couple of parchments and had to swear an oath to keep the Unspeakables' secrets to himself and to follow their rules. He carefully spoke the words that Croaker slowly whispered to him. When he said the last words, "So mote it be," his whole body glowed golden for an instant, making Croaker and Ra stare at him in obvious surprise.

"Oh Merlin, your magic must be very strong," Ra uttered, only to add, "You're my great nephew by the way. Your grandmother Dorea Potter was my sister."

Harry stared at the older wizard with mixed feelings. His experiences with relatives were not the best, however, it was good to know that he had more relatives, who were much friendlier than the Dursleys and magical at that.

"I'm glad to get to know you, sir," he replied, smiling.

"I'm not a sir, you may call me Uncle Arcturus, only in private though. Outside of this room, I am just Ra, just like you are Flash and not Harry."

Harry nodded in understanding. He was almost disappointed, when Raros did not return, before Croaker decided that it was time to take him back to the Greengrasses.

"They're probably worried about you. Tomorrow, one of us, possibly Raros, is going to fetch you at nine o'clock in the morning," he informed him. "First thing that we're going to do then is make a wand for you."

'A wand,' Harry thought in excitement. 'How cool is that?'

"Thank you, sir, and thank you so much for everything," he replied, gratefully, before he said good night to his great uncle and firmly held on to Croaker's arm.

HP

While Croaker spoke with their parents, Daphne and Astoria eagerly questioned Harry about his experiences with the Unspeakables.

"Are you emancipated now?" Astoria enquired.

Harry shrugged. "I suppose so. I don't know. I had to sign many papers and make an oath."

"What oath?" Daphne asked in apparent concern. "On your magic?"

Harry shook his head. "Sorry, but I've no idea. I just did as they told me. I suppose that I can rely on them. They only took me in, because they wanted to help me."

"Well, yes, I suppose so," Daphne hesitantly agreed.

"So, you're a real Unspeakable now?" Astoria asked in apparent excitement.

"I think so," Harry replied, smiling, showing the girls his Unspeakable robes, which Raros had instructed him to keep in the pocket of his trousers. "I've no idea how these fit into my pocket, but somehow they do," he said in amazement.

"That's magic," Daphne informed him. "There probably is a charm on them to fit into the smallest pocket. When you take them off, you probably don't want anyone to know that you're an Unspeakable."

"You know," Astoria added, grinning broadly, "magic is absolutely cool. What did they make you do by the way?"

"Astoria!" Daphne scolded her sister, while Harry was still contemplating how to respond. "Harry just told us that they made him swear an oath. He can't tell us anything about the Unspeakables."

"No, I can't," Harry confirmed. "But everyone is very nice to me, just like everyone here was, so I'm really happy. Thank you so much for changing my life for the better, Daphne and Astoria. I will never forget, what you did for me by inviting me." 'I've never been allowed to talk so much before,' he realised, as he cast the girls a genuine smile, which both girls returned, seeming equally happy for him.

Harry's happiness still continued, when Jessica Greengrass led him into the guest room instructing him to make himself comfortable in the large, comfortable looking bed. The thought 'I'm not supposed to sleep in a bed' popped up in his mind, however, Astoria, who snuck into his room, as soon as her mother had left, managed to completely destroy his worries.

"Good night, Harry, sleep well and know that I'm really very happy to have you here," she gushed and, before Harry knew what happened, the nine-year-old placed a hushed kiss onto his cheek.

"Good night, Astoria," Harry replied in total confusion at the girl's affection. "Thank you so much for everything."

"You're welcome," the girl replied, before she swiftly left the room and quietly closed the door.

HP

At seven o'clock on Sunday morning, Croaker lowered himself into the seat behind his desk, yawning. 'I could as well add a bedroom to my office,' he thought, 'considering that it was only five hours ago that I returned home.'

He was just about to review the matter with Harry Potter and his godfather Sirius, who was just being fetched from Azkaban by Meta and Mento, when Sphinx entered his room.

"Croaker, Dumbledore's office is live on channel six. It might interest you," the old wizard announced.

"Thanks," Croaker returned and swiftly followed his college into the watch room that was full with screens monitoring a few select places within the magical world. Eight years ago, he had placed monitoring runes in Albus Dumbledore's office. Whenever Harry's name was mentioned in the office, it would trigger a video to be displayed in the watch room, where one of the Unspeakables was always waiting for any displays of interest to occur.

After he had taken Harry back to the Greengrasses the previous evening, he had already viewed a memory of Dumbledore realising that the blood wards around the Dursley residence went down. The old wizard had not seen fit to do much about it – much to Croaker's relief.

The scene of this video was live though. He saw Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore having a conversation and swiftly restarted the memory.

Beginning of memory

"Albus," Molly Weasley greeted the headmaster in apparent excitement, "I have news concerning Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?" Dumbledore enquired in obvious bewilderment. "He's safe with his muggle relatives, and no one is supposed to have any news about him whatsoever."

Molly shook her head. "No Albus, yesterday, all children of the members of the Great Alliance between eight and ten were invited to one of the Greengrass girls' birthday party, and Harry was there as well," she blurted out.

'Shit,' Croaker thought in annoyance at the trouble that the red headed bitch caused him.

"Did the Greengrasses invite him?" Albus enquired, sternly.

"I don't know," Molly replied, shrugging. "I was just very surprised to hear that. My daughter was crying all evening, because the boy seemed not at all what it said in the books."

"Ah Molly, I'm sure that she'll come around," Dumbledore said in a soothing voice. "It's still some years for the betrothal contract to activate."

'The what?' Croaker thought, before he decided to act upon hearing Dumbledore's parting words.

"Well, thanks for alerting me, Molly, I'm going to floo to the Greengrasses to enquire about the matter," Dumbledore decided, dismissing the talkative witch.

End of memory

Croaker swiftly entered the time room. Standing on the travel spot, which was a clear glass plate with a large board on the wall beside it, he pointed his wand at the writing '1 hour back' and mumbled, "Activate."

Checking his arrival time '26 May, 1990, 6:12 a.m.', he nodded contentedly, before he returned to his office and stepped into the fireplace, stating, "Greengrass Manor."

HP

When he climbed out of the fireplace, a house-elf was awaiting him, bowing deeply.

"I is Tanny, Mr. Unspeakable. Lord and Lady Greengrass are still in their private rooms, sir," the elf informed him.

"Would you please tell them that I must urgently speak with either of them concerning Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore?" Croaker requested in a no-nonsense voice that made the elf comply immediately.

Tanny returned a moment later and led him into the parlour, where he nursed a cup of tea, before Cygnus arrived after a few minutes later, dressed in a dark blue bath robe.

"Croaker," he greeted him, sounding alert. "Did something happen because of Harry?"

"Yes," Croaker confirmed and told the man about the conversation that he had witnessed earlier.

"Molly Weasley gave us out," Cygnus repeated, angrily. "That means that we're going to exclude their children from further activities with our children, Harry and the other kids of the Great Alliance."

"That sounds like a good plan," Croaker agreed, "however, it doesn't suffice. I'm going to take Harry with me right away, and you should talk to your family and prepare them for Dumbledore's impending visit. He should be here not later than in an hour."

Cygnus nodded in understanding. He called for Tanny and instructed her to wake up Harry and bring him to the parlour. "What about Harry?" he enquired. "Can he not stay with us for the time being?"

"I shall contact you later on. Today is going to be an eventful day, and I suppose that we're going to have a session of the Wizengamot as soon as tomorrow morning," Croaker informed the man, just when Harry entered the room.

"Good morning, Harry," Croaker was the first to greet the boy. "I'm sorry for coming three hours earlier than agreed, but Dumbledore found out about you being here, and he'll come to try to retrieve you and probably take you back to your relatives in about an hour. Still, I suppose that you can return here in the evening."

"Of course," Cygnus added, "Harry, you'll always be welcome here, just for now, it's safer if you go with Croaker."

"I understand sir," Harry replied, returning the older wizard's smile. "Thank you for everything, and I hope that I'll be able to come back tonight."

HP

'I wonder how Dumbledore found out that I was here,' Harry thought in confusion, as he firmly held on to Croaker's arm like he had learned to do on the previous day.

Only when they safely arrived in the head Unspeakable's office, did he voice his question.

"Molly Weasley, the mother of two redheads, a boy and a girl, who attended the party yesterday, informed Dumbledore," Croaker replied, and Harry realised that the man's voice was laced with anger.

To his relief, he realised soon that the anger was not directed at him. 'That must be the mother of the boy who asked the weird questions,' he thought. 'They were a bit strange and not very nice.'

"Now let's go and have breakfast first," Croaker suggested, pleasantly, and Harry followed him to the training room, where they joined a few other Unspeakables in the corner with the tables and chairs.

"Tap your wand against the table and think of what you wish for breakfast," the man, whom Croaker had introduced the previous evening as Devil, the trainer, instructed him. "This place connects to the ministry canteen, and the elves are capable of just making anything."

"I don't have a wand, sir," Harry replied in a small voice.

"Try using your hand," Croaker told him, and Harry hesitantly tapped his right hand against the table, wishing for the breakfast, which he received at the Dursleys on a lucky day.

Devil stared at the small piece of toast with jam in apparent disbelief, and, while Harry could not see the other Unspeakables' expressions due to their hoods, Croaker let out an angry hiss before tapping his own wand against the table in front of Harry. An instant later, a full English breakfast appeared right in front of the boy, causing Harry to look at it, wide-eyed.

"This is what we call breakfast, Flash," Croaker informed him.

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, feeling somehow relieved, when the head Unspeakable sat next to him and ordered the same breakfast for himself, before he motioned for him to eat.

'If the Dursleys knew of this,' Harry thought in amusement, as he thoroughly enjoyed the best breakfast, which he had ever eaten.

When Harry let his fork sink, certain that he would not be able to stomach any more of the delicious meal, Croaker rose from his chair.

"Flash, let's go and see to it that you get a wand," he told him.

Together, they left the training room and headed to the team room of team five, where Ra and Raros were already present, seemingly engrossed in a conversation. Harry slowly pulled his hood off, seeing that the older wizards were not wearing them either.

"Ra, Raros, please see to it that a few drops of blood are taken from Harry for the wand and some research as well," Croaker instructed his colleagues. "I need to pay the Dursleys a short visit."

"Aye boss," Ra was the first to respond and walked over to Harry, while Croaker vanished from the sight without as much as a sound.

HP

'Scumbags,' Croaker thought, as he approached the Dursley residence. Not bothering to do as much as ring the bell, he swiftly allowed himself inside and headed straight into the kitchen, where he found the muggles gathered around the kitchen table, letting out shrieks of fear at his sight.

Not willing to lower his hood, Croaker addressed them. "I just wanted to let you know that Harry is visiting a friend, a magical friend at that," he emphasized, before adding, "and I wanted to leave a thank you gift for you for raising Harry so well."

Before the Dursleys could reply, he wandlessly cast a disillusionment charm at himself that made the muggles think that he had disappeared already. Since he had placed runes all over the house ever since the boy had been taken in by his relatives, he knew his way around the house well, and he knew everything that had happened in this house during the last eight years. Unfortunately, Harry had been too small for him or his colleagues to do anything for him at an earlier time.

He cast a spell at the muggles that ensured that they would tell everyone who asked that Harry had gone to visit a friend and would be back later. Nodding contentedly, he proceeded to the small cupboard under the stairs and, from the residue of magic in the small place, he conjured a ghost, which looked exactly like Harry and would accompany Petunia Dursley in her house, as long as she lived. 'She can even move houses, and Ghost Harry will still be there,' he thought, feeling very much contented with his small revenge at the little boy's tormentors. Before leaving for good, he cast another spell at the muggles that ensured that they would not be able to speak with anyone about the ghost that would be invisible to any muggles apart from the Dursleys.

When he returned to team room 5, he realised with a combination of surprise and concern that the five team members were sitting around their small table in apparent shock.

"What happened?" he enquired, causing his five colleagues to stare at him, wide-eyed.

tbc...?

Thank you so very much for the overwhelming reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and what you expect from this story. Any ideas or opinions are welcome.

The names of the Unspeakables are taken from my own story "What if Lily was not muggleborn".