A Rewritten Life
by Yih

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever. Also there are no spoilers about HBP on this. In the future I may incorporate them, but that won't be for a good while.

Chapter Three
The Second Keeper

"Master Harry must wake up," Yenty said, tugging the covers off him. "It is time for Master Harry to go eat. Yenty was told. Yenty must do this. Master Dumbledore said. Master Harry must get up!"

She ripped the blankets off of him and Harry curled immediately into a ball at the sudden draft of air. The young boy of more than three scowled for a moment before sighing. He fumbled around for his glasses, but as per normal, Yenty found them and placed them on his face for him.

"Master Harry sees?"

Harry nodded and his eyes focused on her. "Yenty," he said and smiled. "Food?"

The house elf nodded her heavily wrinkled face. "Master Dumbledore said Harry is to eat outside. Harry likes outside?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Harry does."

Yenty grinned and snapped her fingers. Harry's pajamas were changed into toddler-size wizarding robes of a pale yellow. Harry took a hold of Yenty's offered hand and let her guide him outside. He enjoyed eating outside in the sun, but he didn't get to as often as he would like.

-

Yenty told him to stay where she could watch him. Harry didn't know why she always hid behind the bushes, but he didn't disobey her and stray too far. The last time he had, she had cried and wailed, saying Yenty had been a bad house elf and that Master Dumbledore would never forgive her. Harry didn't like it when she cried, so he tried to make sure he didn't get out of sight. But sometimes it was hard, especially when he saw big things—bigger than owls, than Fawkes—in the air with what looked like his toybroom.

Harry stared up, watching them fly and giggled when one of them made a winding move. He gasped when one looked like they were going to fall and let out a relieved breath when he saw the person caught by an even bigger person. He wondered when he would be able to fly that high. Why didn't his broom go up like that?

Yenty popped up next to him and tugged on his hand. "Master Harry must go inside!" she exclaimed. "Now Master Harry!"

Harry let him pull her away, but he kept staring back at the people and the brooms. He wanted to fly like that one day.

-

"Hello Fawkes!" Harry greeted brightly when he walked into Albus' office with Yenty holding his hand. "Hello papa!" he said with a smile at the old man behind the desk.

"Albus, Harry," he reminded.

Albus knew Harry didn't understand why Albus wasn't his papa. After all, he had read books to Harry and Albus knew he did all the things a papa should do for a child. So it was logical for Harry to ponder why Albus wasn't. He had promised he would explain, but he still hadn't. He didn't think Harry was ready for it yet, not at his tender age. Maybe when he was six or seven, when he was older. Albus watched Harry gaze down at the bright red and gold rug and he knew Harry was wishing he was older right now!

"Good morning… or is it afternoon?" Albus said. "I daresay whatever it is, it's time for lunch."

Harry grinned and scrambled around and held out his arms. Albus bent down and picked Harry up, placing him on his lap. "What would you like for lunch today?"

"Fish and chips!" Harry exclaimed, looking up pleadingly. He knew that he ought not to ask for the same thing too often. Minerva said it wasn't good for him, but the concept of nutrition went over his head. "Puh-leeze, Alby?"

Albus glanced down at this young child who had utterly captivated his heart. He didn't know why he had even thought to place Harry with the Dursleys, but he had fostered a hope that Harry would be happy there with his family. But where could Harry be more content than to be surrounded by magic? Where it was an everyday occurrence and where accidental magic wasn't considered unusual?

"You know Minerva wouldn't like it very much," Albus remarked. "You had fish and chips yesterday."

Harry let out a sigh instead of pouting. "Well, I don't want broccoli."

Albus chuckled. Harry had certainly grown to detest the vegetable. It had become more severe the older he'd gotten. He absolutely wouldn't eat it, even when it was covered with cheese. "I was thinking of having some roasted chicken and green beans, does that sound all right to you?"

Harry tilted his head, considering and nodded. "All right."

Albus glanced at Yenty. "Would you get the food?"

"Yenty will!"

-

"Now Harry," Minerva said, taking off her witch's hat, "you must count to ten before you can go to look for me, and you must count loudly."

Harry giggled and nodded. "Yes, Minnie!"

"And no asking Yenty for help." Minerva shook her finger at him. "That's cheating."

Harry gave her his biggest grin and said loudly, "One, two, three…" Minerva rolled her eyes and crouched down quickly, changing into her Animagus form. She was darting from her office to Albus' quarters where there was more space to hide. "Four, five, six…"

Minerva vaguely heard Harry shouting, "Seven, eight, nine, ten… here I come!"

Really the boy counted much too fast if she could still hear him. She hadn't even reached Albus' rooms yet. Ah yes, now she was there. She darted through the special door made for her and glanced around the cramped, overcrowded room. Where to hide? Inside the dresser? No, she'd done that last time and Harry had found her. Maybe in… oh was that a cauldron? Had Severus left it there? Never mind it was perfect.

Minerva scrambled in and curled herself into a tight ball when she heard the door to Albus' rooms open with a loud bang. She wondered how long it would take Harry to find her. It didn't usually take him very long, though it wasn't like there was a large area for which she could hide. Well not until the students were out for summer holidays and that wouldn't be for several weeks more, but this would do for now.

"Minnie, Minnie!" Harry exclaimed, running in—his feet drumming against the floor. "Harry find!"

She held her breath, not making a sound when she heard him come close the cauldron. When he moved away she let herself inhale some air. She really did need to start working on proper grammar and sentence structure with him. Harry spent far too much time with Yenty for his own good. Of course, Albus thought it was fine, but Yenty had been his personal house elf for years and years.

"Harry find!" he squealed when his hands reached into the cauldron and grabbed her gently around her abdomen. Minerva yowled in surprise and gazed at him with her golden eyes. "Minnie," he cooed and stroked her belly just where she liked it.

Minerva sighed and rubbed her face against his chest. How had Harry found her so quickly? She was positive the cauldron had been the perfect place. It was too bad Harry couldn't quite explain to her how, at least not yet. But soon, she vowed, soon he would.

-

Harry stared at Fawkes. He liked looking into the bird's eyes. They were strange and they glowed. Albus had told him this was a… phee-nick. It was different from the other birds that came to Albus. Those were… ah-wls. Harry reached and grasped the phoenix's tail and pulled.

Fawkes let out a high-pitched squawk. Harry giggled and stopped when he felt Albus' eyes on him. "Harry, are you bothering Fawkes again?"

Harry hid his hands behind his back. "No-oo," he stuttered.

"Harry…"

"Yesss!" Harry cried and bent his head down. "Sorry! Harry is sorry!"

Albus sighed and that was worse than the words. Albus looked… sad and Harry hated making people sad, it just wasn't nice. Harry knew it felt awful. It was like that time when—

"Come here, Harry."

Harry hesitated for a moment before running around the desk and flinging himself into Albus' lap. "'M sorry."

"You must understand, Harry," Albus said gently. "Lies aren't very good."

Harry nodded and clutched Albus' robes.

"You know Minerva would want me to punish you."

Harry only gripped the robes more.

"I should think no dessert would suffice?"

Harry didn't protest, but he did hiccup.

-

"We really need to do something about his speaking patterns," Minerva declared after classes had let out. "They're atrocious."

"Now, now, my dear, they aren't that bad." Albus poured her a cup of hot tea and slid it to her.

"He speaks like a house elf," Minerva retorted.

"Yenty is well-spoken," he remarked.

"For a house elf, but not a young boy!"

"Harry is only three," Albus pointed out.

"In a few days he'll be four!"

Albus took a sip of his tea. "What are you suggesting?"

"We should start schooling him."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you think Harry might be a bit young?"

"No," Minerva stated firmly. "I think it's time he had some proper instruction."

"And I presume you will tutor him?" Albus inquired. "I remember my grammar and spelling not quite up to snuff."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure it's quite adequate."

"I haven't taught in years…"

"Albus!" Minerva exclaimed. "You were one of the best professors to teach at Hogwarts!"

"Harry's quite a bit younger than my normal—"

"You let him mutilate your beard, and you're implying you might not have the patience to teach him?" she almost shrieked.

Albus shrugged. "It would be a change."

"You've something in mind," Minerva muttered, taking a huge gulp of the tea.

"Neither of us will have much time to instruct Harry fulltime during the school year," Albus remarked. "You've already dropped a few hints before that you'd be keen on the idea of Harry improving his vocabulary and grammar, and really I think we should consider hiring him a tutor."

"That is hardly safe, Albus."

His eyes twinkled. "Won't you at least hear my suggestion before jumping to a conclusion?"

Minerva sniffed. "Who do you have in mind?"

"Your old student, Remus Lupin, of course."

-

Harry didn't quite understand the game behind Exploding Snaps, but the cards made him giggle and smile so Albus didn't feel it was bad to let him play. The cards seemed to like Harry well enough because even though Albus wasn't playing to lose that badly, he did in fact lose very badly

The game was over quickly as it usually was. Harry was reaching for the cards again to deal them out in his weird fashion, in which he kept all the cards he liked and gave Albus the ones he didn't. At least, that's what Albus assumed since it was what Harry did each time. Though why Harry didn't like the Ladies or Knights eluded him.

Albus placed his hand over Harry's. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Minerva kept telling him he shouldn't talk to Harry like he was an adult. As Minerva pointed out frequently, Harry was a child and he ought to be treated like one. But Albus had been talking like this to Harry for nearly two years and he wasn't about to stop now. It had become a habit.

Harry nodded and placed his hands on his lap. It was hard not to think of Harry as quite grownup when he acted with more reserve than many of the 1st years. Albus smiled and took out a lemon drop. "Would you like one?"

Harry held out his hand and popped the lemon drop Albus gave him into his mouth.

"Well Minerva and I've been talking about some things, and we think you ought to learn how to read, write, and speak properly. It's not that you don't speak well," Albus quickly said when he saw Harry pause in sucking the candy. "But wouldn't you like to speak better? Use more words to express yourself? You have to admit that… sometimes you get quite frustrated when you don't know how to say something."

Harry blinked and Albus was fairly certain a good deal of what he said wasn't being understood. He was thinking of a way to explain it better when Harry said, "Alby?"

"Yes, my boy?"

"Harry wants…" Harry scowled when the words wouldn't come.

Albus was relieved that Harry seemed to get the majority of what he was saying, though Albus did think it a little weird that Harry understood that much and yet couldn't speak. But vocal cords were a tricky thing to work. And really hadn't he read somewhere that some people could understand languages and not speak them?

"You want to learn?"

Harry nodded and the frustration faded. "Yes!"

"Well, that's good news," Albus remarked. "Minerva and I will be teaching you most of the summer, but when the school year starts—when the bigger people come back—you will have someone big like me and Minerva teach you while we're busy. Does that sound all right?"

Harry smiled and that was enough of an answer.

-

"Now when you're talking about yourself," Minerva said, pointing her finger at Harry. "You should use the word, I, not Harry. When you say you want something, you should say, I want something."

"I want something," Harry repeated.

"Very good," Minerva replied, smiling. "What would you like to drink?"

"Harry wants milk!"

Minerva stifled a groan. Obviously, Harry might be able to mimic but that didn't mean he understood quite what she wanted yet. Ah, the idiosyncrasies of children. If only Harry could drop the horrible house elf grammar and pick up a few words—he'd be on his way to being a well-spoken child.

Abruptly Yenty popped into the room. "Yenty heard Master Harry wants milk!"

Minerva sighed when Yenty snapped her fingers and a glass of milk appeared for Harry. It didn't help either, she thought with resignation, that Yenty had a habit of appearing during lessons and reinforcing Harry's bad habits with a verbal reminder of how not to speak. Why had Harry picked up the house elf's manner of talking? After all, Yenty didn't talk anywhere near as much as Albus did with Harry.

Sometimes the world really didn't make sense.

-

"We haven't made much progress," Albus mused, watching Harry babbling with Yenty.

Minerva scowled. "No, we haven't."

"Have you sent the owl to Lupin yet?"

Minerva turned sharply to him. "Do you think it's wise?"

Albus gazed at her calmly. "You were once his Head of House and I believe you once considered him a top contender for Head Boy."

"You know my concerns," she said softly. "You know that Remus and Sirius were fairly close friends, though not as much as Sirius and James. Can we be certain of his loyalty to Harry? Or must we worry about his old connection to Sirius?"

"I think to place our trust in him would not be unwise."

"You hardly make perfect decisions," she snapped.

"No," he agreed. "I could be wrong."

"And aren't you the one who says your mistakes are far greater than others?"

Albus inclined his head. "But I do not think I am wrong here."

"But if you are—"

"And if I'm not?" Albus interrupted. "You know he's the best choice."

Minerva pressed her lips together, turning her head to observe Harry and Yenty in an odd game that probably only made sense to the two of them. "I don't want to be wrong."

"There is no one I can think of that would be a better choice."

Minerva shuttered her eyes. "I suppose so."

"Can you think of another one?"

Her eyes snapped open. "There is the Weasley family. Molly Weasley. She has a child around Harry's age."

"We need someone who can stay in the castle," Albus stated firmly. "And you know the issue of Harry's safety is nil. Even if anyone would betray the information, they have to know who the Secret Keeper is." Albus glanced at Harry, who was on the floor giggling while being tickled by Yenty. "You know the ramifications of the Fidelius Charm. You know I won't speak."

"But we know the limitations of the spell," Minerva said. "And won't people wonder why Remus is here?"

Albus smiled. "Not if you're his Secret Keeper."

TBC

Author's Note: 985 hits… 33 reviews. (wibbles) You can do better than that, can't you guys? Anyway, I really liked HBP. I knew my thoughts on Dumbledore (in Chimera) were perfectly validated. He makes mistakes and he knew. But I like the way this story is turning out. I think Dumbledore cares about Harry and I want to show that. You also get Remus and an awkwardly mother-like Minerva. Enjoy and review!

Thanks to sweet as lemon(Yes, this story is set to go through the books in some way, shape, form but not the same way hence 'rewritten'), Tracy Mintzmyer (Thanks for the support and understanding), keebler-elmo (I refuse to believe Harry is an ordinary wizard. He has something extraordinary about him. His problem is he just never found it in him to use it).

As always, I'm usually online on sevviepooh so if you want to chat about the fic or HBP feel free to message me.