Harry, Skulduggery and the girl, Valkyrie, were just polishing up the last of the plan when Skulduggery's phone rang. He picked it up and a muffled voice rambled through the receiver.
"Yes. No. Yes. And why would I want to do that? No. No. Of course not! Fine. We will do it soon." Skulduggery bit. The phone was shut off and the three of them walked down the stairs talking about the situation they needed to attend to.
They had been ordered to arrest and detain a man named Vaurien Scapegrace for the attempted murder of Alexander Remit, Sofia Toil, Cothurnus Ode, Armiger Fop, Gregory Castallan and Bartholomew Cise. All of these were from various countries around the world but since he was sighted in Dublin it was up to them to capture him.
"By the way, why did you call me up the stairs?" Harry asked curiously.
"I thought we needed a plan so I had to find a way for you to come upstairs and away from them."
"Awwww Skulduggery has finally realised running in head first to a situation is dangerous and that we need a plan. I am so proud!" Valkyrie exclaimed while raising a hand to her heart and leaning on Harry. The teen again laughed at Skulduggery's expense and he just huffed.
Once in the hallway of the bottom floor they stood straight, wipe the mirth from their eyes and marched towards the locked doors.
Harry waved his arms and the doors flew open silently. The occupants of the room gaped at the sight of them and suddenly Harry clicked on to what was the matter.
While they had been up the stairs Skulduggery saw no need for his disguise and so had taken it off. He now stood there with a gleaming white skull and hollow eyes. They bore in to each occupant in the room and when he only received terrified glances he turned to Harry questioningly.
"You, um, forgot the disguise."
Skulduggery nodded quickly and hummed while replacing his beloved hat. The gleaming had now dimmed and the first two guests to recover were the Headmaster and the man who was introduced as Auror Moody.
"Right now that my business has been taken care of I will need to ask you why you have come." Harry said in a strong voice, while seating himself on the largest armchair there. Valkyrie sat on the arm of the chair with Harry's arm across her waist and Skulduggery stood behind the chair resting a hand on each of their shoulders. All in all they looked menacing and powerful.
"Mr Potter-"
"Edgley."
"Mr Edgley you are a wizard. Before you deny it we would like to ask: have you ever done anything unexplainable when you were angry or scared?" Dumbledore asked leaning forward on his chair; fingers arched beneath his beard.
Harry burst in to pearls of laughter and Valkyrie hid her smile behind her hand. Skulduggery showed no expression but if you knew him well enough you would be able to feel that he was smothering a smile as well.
"Mr Dumbledore I already know I am a wizard. I have known since my Uncle took me in."
Dumbledore nodded and turned to Professor McGonagall. "I told you that Vernon and Petunia was good people underneath but you didn't believe me did you?" He asked rhetorically and she stared at the floor in shame.
"Vernon and Petunia?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes the Uncle you have just mentioned was your Uncle Vernon was it not?" Inwardly panicking Dumbledore inconspicuously released a tendril of legilimency at Harry but he was thrown backwards off his chair when he encountered a spiked wall of steel and stone.
"Are you ok Albus?" Minerva cried as she flew to his side. He groaned and looked directly in to Harry's eyes.
"I'm fine." He exclaimed with a small smile but his eyes that were still locked on to Harry's were hard and menacing. "I must have lost my balance." Hermione and Minerva helped the Headmaster up and sat him back on the chair.
"To answer your question Headmaster no it was not my 'Uncle Vernon' who told me of magic. It was in fact my Uncle Gordon."
"Oh my gosh!" Auror Tonks exclaimed as she bounced on the balls of her feet. "Is Gordon Edgley really your Uncle?"
Harry and Valkyrie laughed and nodded.
"Is he yours as well?" She asked Valkyrie.
"Yes he was. Me and Harry inherited this estate and all of his royalties but we cannot access it until we turn eighteen." She explained and Tonks promptly fainted.
All of the order members crowded Tonks and someone whispered 'Ennervate'. Tonks sat up and looked at the teens in unashamed astonishment.
"You are the two people he dedicated the vanishing knight book to; aren't you?" she said and the pair looked at her questioningly. "Oh my gosh, you didn't know did you?" And when they shook their heads she ran around the room looking for the book.
The book lay on the back walls shelf and she removed it with the utmost delicacy. The cover was black leather with swirling gold letters imprinted on to the front. The pages were yellowed and old though the book was published only a few years prior. Tonks pointed to the first page and everyone crowded around the small table the book was lying on.
'I know I have never ever EVER dedicated a book to anyone but I have decided to for this one. This is for my darling niece and nephew. Though one is adopted and the other is a pain in the butt I love them both and hope they read this one day because I won't EVER point it out to them. I, as you should know my faithful readers, am far too proud to say so myself so I will put it in here myself and hope to god they don't find this while I'm around.
I love you both and know that I will be proud of you with whatever you do in life.
(Oh and by now you will have probably met a bony friend of mine so give him my love and tell him he is never getting those shoes replaced)
After reading the short passage Harry and Valkyrie had tears in their eyes and Skulduggery was chuckling softly at the word of his friend. The order watched the trio awkwardly as they remembered a lost family member and friend. It took the trio about 5 minutes, a few whispered words and some small smiles to get them back to normal. Harry replaced the book on the shelf as Valkyrie hugged Tonks shortly. Then everybody sat back down to carry on the discussion.
A pregnant pause settled so Harry looked directly at the Headmaster and asked if he was going to be interrogated.
"Of course not my boy," Harry growled lowly and Valkyrie put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing something he probably wouldn't forget. "We are just here to ask you if you would like to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"I'm not sure. Why would going to Hogwarts benefit me in the slightest? I have plenty of home tutors here that have been teaching me since I was 8, I have a home, family and friends so why would I want to leave?"
The headmaster stuttered for a few moments and then grasped his bearings. "I understand your reluctance but it would be safer for you to come-." The Headmaster was interrupted by Harry's booming voice. The air crackled with magic and Harry glowed with power.
"Safer! Safer! You may think me ignorant but believe me I am not! You think I would be safer with the Triwizard tournament at Hogwarts rather than here but it took you 4 years to find me and even then it was only because of your Auror here on another mission! I have had a loving home and a family who cared for me since I was adopted so I no longer trust your judgement after you put me with those magic hating Muggles who locked me under the stairs, fed me as little as possible, gave me endless chores, called me freak and only gave me hand-me-downs from my fat lump of a cousin! I didn't even know my name until I went to Primary School and even then the children called me names because of Dudley's bullying! When Uncle Gordon adopted me I was malnourished, small and frail! No-one could even touch me after the game Harry Hunting my cousin started terrified me of any physical contact. It took them 2 years to break my habits of not eating, flinching, not asking questions and hiding in small dark places but even now I get relapses! So I'm terribly sorry if I can't trust your judgement of what is safe!"
All of the girls in the room were crying and even some of the men had red eyes. Dumbledore lowered his head but because he was facing Harry only he could see the dark smirk he wore. Valkyrie hugged him close and he collapsed in to her arms. They settled on the couch and all of the women came and patted him on the back or whispered their apologies but it was just plain aggravating.
The man who was introduced as Sirius came forward from the crowd and knelt in front of the armchair Harry and Valkyrie were sharing.
"Hello Harry, I'm Sirius Black. I am your Godfather but I'm not sure if you know why I wasn't there for you when you were trapped in that hellhole. I have only been declared innocent recently and so I would like it if we could start anew. I understand that you have a life here and a family but I would love it if we could get to know each other better. I'm not going to lie; I came here with the hope of whisking you away so we could live happily ever after but I understand now that that will never happen so all I hope is that you can make a little time for us to at least speak."
Harry nodded at the request and he gave Sirius a brief hug.
"You look so much like your father you know. But you have Lily's eyes." With that Sirius pulled away and walked back in to the crowd.
Harry stayed standing and everyone turned to look at him. "Have you got anything else to say headmaster or can you just leave?"
"I will convince you to come to Hogwarts my boy. Even if it is the last thing I do." With that Dumbledore turned to the Order and was just about to tell them that they were leaving when the fireplace roared to life.
"God dammit, why now?" Harry asked as everyone swivelled to face…
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MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA I feel evil for the little cliff-hanger there hehehehehehe... don't ask! ;) So what did you think? Was it any good? Please review because it really makes me speed up; even if it is just to tell me to hurry the hell up lol :)
HadesFTW- Yes I am trying to get them longer; this one is at least but because this is my first fan fiction on here it's really hard. I will try though :)
Skippy- Haha thanks! :p