Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

A/N Quick updates are awesome, but how about two in a row! You're welcome. Happy Reading!


Amelia signed the parchment, and just like that, she started the job that she turned down ten years ago. Rufus Scrimgeour's decision to step down from his post as Head of the DMLE and resume as a Head Auror coincided conveniently with the fact that Susan was headed to Hogwarts and Amelia would have a lot more time to run the department. The parchment folded up into a plane was on it's way to the Records Department as she finished setting up her new office. When someone knocked on the door, she looked up and saw her predecessor.

Rufus still looked like someone had dressed a lion in a suit, but an old lion. His light brown mane was graying, skin getting more wrinkled, and the cane he started using sparingly about eight years prior was now as necessary as his wand. He half-smiled at Amelia as he walked into his old office.

"Like what you done with the place," he said dryly and she smiled. In the near-decade that he'd been head of the department, Amelia had been in his office hundreds of times and never got a very homey vibe from it. She'd fixed that with a multitude of pictures, depicting Susan of various ages running around, frame to frame. The few pictures of herself were having a blast too. The best was when the photo versions of herself and Susan interacted with those of the rest of the Bones family. Rufus had the one picture of his wife, but they never had children.

"Thanks. It's funny, I planned on finally taking the step forward in my career once Susan went off to school but I never thought the DMLE Head job would open up right as she was getting ready to go." She looked slyly at her former boss who was now her employee.

His answer was too formal and professional to be serious. "I don't know what you're talking about, Amelia. You are a heavily qualified auror, you've got what it takes to run the whole department, and this job was supposed to be yours a decade ago. My decision to make a little more free time to spend with my wife was not at all affected by your niece's attendance at Hogwarts."

Amelia knew he was full of crap, but smiled and said thanks again. She then looked at the clock on the wall and realized that it was past five. "Are you and Belinda free tonight? I was wondering if you'd like to come over for dinner."

"Belinda will be working late at St. Mungo's, but I'd be delighted to have a bite to eat and celebrate your promotion. Should we floo together, or would you prefer that I stop by in an hour or two?"

"Let's both go now, it'll take just a second to cook and it's not like I've got anything dangerous at home to hide."

Amelia went to the fireplace conveniently located right in the office and threw some powder in, stepping in and appearing at home. She dusted herself off and walked down the hallway to the sitting room. There was a fireplace in that room, as well, but for some reason she was clumsier coming out of that one than the one in the dining room. The sight of the two kids in the sitting room instead of the usual one caused her to gasp loudly, waking up the apparently sleeping children. She took in the situation, and almost fainted in shock.

Susan had been sleeping on the ground, parallel to the couch, which was playing host to none other than Harry Potter. The children looked around, flustered, as anyone would be after being woken up by the thud of a body hitting the floor. Harry looked nervous when he saw her, as he reached for the lamp table and put his glasses on. He then got up to show respect. "Um, hello. I'm Harry, it's good to meet you."

Amelia put her hand up to greet him, though she was still in shock. She was looking at him for the first time in person and not in a pensieve, and she didn't like what she saw, a recent cut on his mouth. Also, he was a lot skinnier than at the beginning of summer, the last morning that she'd checked on him.

Susan's reaction had been to sit up and put a guilty expression on her face. It seemed like she knew just how much trouble she was in.

The situation was worsened by the arrival of Rufus, who had flooed in and turned the corner into the sitting room. For a moment Amelia thought he would just take the situation as Susan having a friend over without permission, but unfortunately Harry's hair wasn't covering his scar. "My word, is that Harry Potter?"

'Very tactful, Rufus,' thought Amelia.

Harry looked confused, but cleared his throat and spoke politely to the man. "I'm sorry, Sir, but have we met before?" He clearly knew nothing about his fame, as he looked completely bewildered. It seemed that at least Susan had left that part out of whatever conversation they had.

Rufus walked past Amelia and held his hand out to Harry. "Rufus Scrimgeour, my boy, it is a pleasure."

He responded. "Er, hi. It's nice to meet you, too. I guess I don't have to introduce myself."

"Um, Susan, can I see you in the kitchen for a moment?" She tried to be as pleasant as possible. Her niece, halfway between a smile of amusement and a look of terror, jumped up and hurried to the kitchen. Realizing that she'd be leaving Rufus alone with Harry, Amelia pulled the man aside and said quietly, "He doesn't know anything about why he's famous, and depending on what I find out from Susan, he may not even know about magic. I'll explain later but please try not to mention anything about him or magic in general?"

Rufus glared. "You want me to have a conversation with Harry Potter, one of the most famous names in our world, and not even mention magic?"

Amelia put an innocent smile and said, "Please?"

Her former boss shook his head and shook a finger at her sternly. "I will get an explanation." Then he walked off, grumbling. Amelia went to the kitchen, where Susan immediately started to fire off explanations. She held up her hand to silence her niece though, which worked better than a wand would have.

She listened in to the conversation taking place back in the sitting room. Rufus may not have been able to mention magic, but it seemed he didn't want to wait for an explanation. "So, Harry, how long have you known the Bones'?" He sounded conversational, though she knew his love for interrogation.

"I've technically known Susan since we were five, but we haven't exactly been close. I haven't met her aunt yet, except for just now. Think I made a good impression?"

Rufus chuckled. "Well if you were going for shock and awe, I think you hit it right on the head."

"If I may ask, sir, how do you know my name?"

"Oh, um, Susan mentioned you to Amelia once or twice, and Amelia must have brought it up in conversation at work. I assumed it was you."

"Oh. Okay." Rufus' answer was an okay save, but Amelia didn't think that Harry had bought it.

"So do you work with Ms. Bones?"

"Yes, we, uh, we're in law enforcement. We both come from the same department, the one that deals with the really bad criminals. I've been her boss for about ten years, but she was just made my boss today."

"Yeah, Susan mentioned that. That would be a fun job. I think it would be hard to chase after dark wizards, though."

That was all Amelia needed to hear. She stopped listening to the conversation and turned on Susan, directing her to the dining room so that the inhabitants of the sitting room didn't hear them. "So, what do you think, grounded for two weeks? Three? Heck, we could just make it until you go to Hogwarts."

"Before you ground me Auntie, you should know, those relatives of his haven't even told him about magic! And even worse -"

"Susan, it wasn't our place to tell him! Just last night I told you everything, told you to wait just a few days, just seventy two hours, and you couldn't do that. I get home from work with the man who until an hour ago, was my boss of ten years, and what do we -"

"They're beating him!" The silence following Susan's exclamation was tangible. Amelia could barely form the next word.

"What?"

"I was at the park with Jamie and Dani, and Harry was getting into a fight with his cousin. The kid's a world class bully, so everyone ran, but I couldn't just run, not when I knew it was Harry getting picked on. I should've told you last night but it slipped my mind after you told me he was wizard, but yesterday Dudley and his stupid friends ganged up on him and roughed him up. That's why I was so mad when I got home.

"Today, like I said, Harry and Dudley were fighting. It didn't last long, the kid's twice Harry's size. It looked like he said something that really got to Harry because it got all windy, just in the park. It was really loud, and trees were being smacked around. Dudley must have gotten scared and pushed him over and started kicking him, over and over. Finally I couldn't take it and I ran over to stop it. In hindsight, I know not to try and pick a fight with two hundred pound bullies. He didn't hit me or anything, but I was scared out of my mind. Apparently I was really scared because when he shoved me I let off some accidental magic of my own and he went flying.

"I took Harry here to heal him. His ribs were broken," Amelia quietly whimpered. "but I used some bone-mending tape and healed them. By the way, do you think you could use a couple of healing charms on his face? As you can see it's still a little banged up from yesterday. I think there were more bruises or scars on him or something, 'cause when I lifted his shirt he was really careful about not showing anything but his ribs. He had no idea that anything magical existed, which gave him quite a shock when his ribs were fixed. I suggested he go home until you could come and talk to his family, but he was really scared. When I asked if they were violent at all, he wouldn't even answer. We stayed here to wait for you 'cause we didn't know what to do."

Amelia couldn't even speak for a while after Susan finished. What sickened her most of all was that she knew. As much as she could deny it to herself, as much as the evidence wasn't there for her to see, she had a gut feeling that something was wrong, and she hadn't done anything. She failed that little boy the second that she agreed to Dumbledore's little plot, and even worse was she thought it was best for Harry. She thought his ward would work and it didn't. How could she be so stupid?

Susan put her hand on Amelia's shoulder in comfort, snapping her out of her trance. She loved this child. She'd shown incredible bravery for a boy she didn't even know, and there was no way she would be punished for disregarding her foolish aunt's wishes. She'd done more for Harry in a day than Amelia had in ten years.

"What did you tell him?" she asked. Right now, she could care less about Dumbledore's agenda. She'd find out what he already knew, and fill him in on the rest.

"Just that he was magical, and a little bit of our world. As far as his fame, Voldemort, the war, and his parents, he's got no idea. I figured we could tell him the hard stuff together," she said with a smirk. "Plus I think I need another run-through of it all to completely understand why he was there in the first place."

"Believe me, Susan, it's been almost ten years and even I don't understand fully. Let's go save the boy from Rufus before he bores him to death."

Harry didn't turn out to die of boredom; actually, he asked Rufus if he could continue the story he was on during dinner. It was about one of the first criminals he had caught as an auror. Amelia took some frozen pre-made meat pies out of the icebox and brought them to life with a heating charm. The had a lively dinner, with both Rufus and Amelia recounting their biggest captures that weren't a part of the war against Voldemort. She'd asked him to leave that part out until after dinner, when she enlightened Harry.

After laughing at Harry's attempt to wash everyone's dishes, she used magic to clean, dry, and put them away. He was thoroughly astonished to see wanded magic for the first time, despite it just being a dishwashing charm. To keep his amusement going, she used a simple healing charm to fix the cuts on his face. With everything cleaned, they went to the sitting room for what Amelia had been dreading. She and Rufus sat on a chair each, while Harry sat with Susan on the couch.

"I'm guessing you're not too tired to stay for our chat, Rufus?" She had her fingers crossed, but her hopes were low.

"Not in the least, if it's okay with Harry," he answered.

Harry shrugged and looked at Amelia. She sighed and said, "As long as you don't mind, Harry, it's okay. Now just to warn you, you're not going to like everything that you hear. You were dealt a terrible hand in life, and there are those people that are responsible and those that made it worse. Unfortunately, I was one of the latter."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Let's start at the beginning. I'm going to tell you everything I know, and then, if it's okay, I'd like to hear about what it's like living with your relatives." Harry nodded. "Okay. Your parents, Lily and James Potter, were friends of mine at Hogwarts. I met them through my best friend, Andro – what's wrong dear?" His eyes had already starting welling up.

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping his eyes. He was trying to sound tougher than he was at the moment. "I just never knew their names before. My aunt and uncle never bothered to tell me."

As if the pieces of her heart were big enough to break further, they were ground into powder. What kind of sociopathic monsters were these people? She tried to keep her voice from cracking as she said. "I'm sorry, Harry. They were wonderful people. You look the spitting image of your father, except for those emeralds you have for eyes," she said with a smile. She thought about giving him a picture, but decided it could wait until he had some time to himself to cry. He motioned that she could keep going.

"I met your parents through my best friend, Andromeda Tonks. We were one big group of friends, consisting of tighter knit groups: Myself and Andi, and her husband Ted, your father and his three friends, and your mother and her two friends. Our time at Hogwarts was fun and care-free, at least for the three of us that were older. You see, there was a man who decided that he was going to 'improve' the world. He wanted kill people who weren't of a certain model, and keep the others much like the muggle, Hitler, back in the 30's and 40's. Except instead of the Jewish as his target, he targeted muggles and muggle-borns, who were witches and wizards with no magic in their family.

"He fashioned a nifty pseudonym for himself, calling himself Lord Voldemort." Rufus tensed up a little, and Susan's fists balled up again, but Harry was confused at their reactions.

"What's wrong?" He asked Susan and Rufus, more to Rufus.

Susan answered, darkly. "He was a bad man, Harry. People associate the name with terrible things." She was looking away as she spoke. She wouldn't say the reason she was upset; Amelia would have to say. Finally she looked at him. "You'll see when you meet more people in our world. I just get angry, but the general response to his name is cringing in fear. Usually people call him You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or The Dark Lord, but that one was usually for his followers."

Amelia continued. "He built himself an army of those followers, and by the time Ted, Andi and I were all graduated and started at the Ministry, we had a war on our hands. It was in full bloom when your parents and the rest of their friends graduated the next year. Unknown to most people, me included, all seven of them joined up with Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school. He put together a secret society of vigilantes to fight Voldemort. It was the worse decision that they ever made, but it wasn't their fault.

"Dumbledore knew how to get what he wanted, I'm sure Susan told you." Both children nodded. "He convinced them all that it was for the 'greater good' to fight Voldemort themselves. It turned out that the greater good didn't involve them. Rumors started to circulate that Voldemort was after your parents and your mother's friends, Frank and Alice Longbottom. The reason was never confirmed but it was most likely to convince them to join them. They all went into hiding, but..."

She wondered whether it would be too much to tell him about the betrayal. He was just a boy, but she did tell him that she'd let him know everything.

"But your father's best friend, Sirius Black, betrayed your parents' location." Harry's hands tightened up and his eyes became squints. "On Halloween of '81, Voldemort was able to find them, and he killed them." He wasn't loudly crying, but tears flowed down Harry's face.

"And he was their friend?" Amelia just nodded. "He's in Azkaban now. I don't know if Susan told you about that place, but it's a prison that's guarded with horrible creatures. Only the worst of the criminals get sent there, because only the worse of them deserve it."

"Well he deserves it," Harry said loudly. Susan started rubbing his shoulder to comfort him. Amelia didn't think it would work, but his breathing calmed after a minute. She went on.

"When Voldemort finally got to you, he used the killing curse on you. It stops the heart of the recipient, leaving no sign of foul play. But it was used so frequently in the war that we now assume the killing curse if there's no sign of the cause of death. It's unblockable, and nobody has ever survived it."

"Except for you, Harry." Scrimgeour spoke for the first time in quite a while. "You had the killing curse thrown at you, and you came out of that house with just a scar." He pointed to the Harry's forehead, and the boy's hand touched his scar. Rufus' words seemed to spook him. He cleared his throat. Tears were still on his cheek but he stopped crying after Susan had calmed him down.

"How," he began, but couldn't finish. He tried again. "H-how did I survive it?"

"Nobody knows," Amelia answered. "But if you go out in the wizarding world, Harry, and that scar's showing, people are going to recognize you. You're one of the most famous wizards in history because of that night."

"You didn't buy that excuse I made earlier, did you, Harry?" Rufus asked, and Harry shook his head.

"No, Sir."

Rufus let out a small chuckle. "That's my boy."

"I can't even remember it," Harry said after a few minutes of silence. This was a very tough conversation to have. "How could I be famous for something that I can't even remember?" Susan grabbed his hand, then scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

The girl started talking from his shoulder. "When I was two, about a month from that Halloween," she started. Amelia was surprised. It was extremely rare for Susan to feel like talking about that day. "Auntie was taking me to my birthday party. I can barely remember it, but I guess we'd been out all day. My parents, my grandparents, and my uncle Edgar and his wife and sons were all at my parents' house, waiting for us. One of the only things I can remember about the day was a big, green symbol in the sky over the house. It was a snake, weaving through a giant skull. I can't remember being so scared." She had to stop for a moment. "When we got there, Auntie found them all, dead. I guess the fact that my mother was a muggle rubbed Voldemort's followers the wrong way, well that and the fact that my Uncle Edgar was in league with Dumbledore."

The few times that Amelia talked with Susan about that day, she had never mentioned the mark to her, and Susan had never revealed that she remembered it. She had her hand covering her mouth, eyes filling up. She wanted to say her nieces name, to grab her and hug her and never let go, but she couldn't bring herself to separate the two of them.

Amelia thought that she would die before she let a boy that close to Susan, but the image of the two children, one of them just finding out the gut-wrenching truth about his family and the other knowing how he felt and trying to comfort him, it just felt necessary to keep them together.

"What happened to everyone else?" Harry asked after another while. The news of their family's loss seemed to slightly quell his own anguish, though Amelia knew it would be years before Harry got over this. "You said there were seven of them, my mom and dad and their friends."

Rufus took over. "Other than what happened to your parents, and Black in Azkaban, the others didn't fare much better. A day after Halloween, one of James' other friends, Peter Pettigrew, hunted Black down and confronted him. Black killed thirteen people that night. All that they found of Pettigrew was a finger. About a week after that, the Longbottoms were attacked by some of Voldemort's most loyal followers. They were trying to torture information out of them using a curse that lands you in Azkaban for using it. They were put under it so long that they're still in the magical hospital, unaware of who they are, or who their son is. I don't recall what happened to Lupin."

Amelia didn't know either. "Your father's last friend, Remus Lupin, was extremely poor and for some reason could never keep a job. That combined with the loss of all of his friends, it's no surprise I haven't heard from him in years."

"Are you okay, Harry?" Susan asked, lifting her head from his shoulder. He looked at her and tried to smile.

"It's just a lot to take in. I have to ask, why am I just finding this out now? I know that my aunt and uncle aren't good people by any definition, but I don't really understand how there were two witches living down the street, and I was never told."

"I'm also interested in that, Amelia," said Rufus. This was what Amelia had been dreading. She wouldn't be surprised if Harry wanted nothing to do with her or her family after she disclosed this information.

She told them about the night after Halloween; her walk in the neighborhood, confronting Dumbledore, listening to his reasoning, and finally agreeing to go along with his plan. She explained to Harry that she thought Dumbledore's wards would hold true to what she had heard about blood magic, and couldn't bring herself to look into his or Rufus' eyes, or even Susan's, though her niece had heard this story last night.

Barely able to keep herself together after finishing the story of that night, she wiped her eyes. "I am so sorry, Harry. I failed you, and I failed my duty to both morality and the law. I thought that I was doing what would keep you the safest. It sounds like the plan had backfired in the worst way."

What happened next was the least expected thing of the night. Harry stood up and hugged her. She was completely shocked, and it took her five long seconds to interpret what was going on and returned his hug with full force. "I promise I will never fail you again, Harry."

He replied, still in her embrace, "You did what you thought was best for me. The horrible people I left this morning are to blame, they failed."

Rufus hadn't cried the whole time. Amelia never knew him as an emotional being. He glanced at his pocket watch and stood up. Harry went back to his spot next to Susan, who grabbed on to his arm. The head auror spoke. "Well, it is rather late, I must be heading home. Susan, it's always a pleasure. Harry, if you ever consider a career in the auror department, I could use help catching dark wizards in seven years."

"Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure to meet you." He reached and shook Rufus' hand.

"Goodbye, Uncle Rufus," said Susan.

"I thought I told you never to call me that."

"Auntie said that you secretly like it." Amelia, through the emotional wrecking ball of the last hour, managed a laugh.

"Guilty as charged," she said. "Speaking of guilty..." She half expected Rufus to bind her wrists and take her away right there.

Rufus smirked. "We'll talk in the morning, boss."

She mouthed "Thank you" to him, and he flooed back to his home.

Amelia turned to the kids. It wasn't very late, and they had napped a couple of hours ago, but Susan's eyes were starting to droop down. Harry's head was sinking and quickly rising again, over and over. "Alright, I think you two need to get some sleep. It's been a rough day for both of you. Harry, I know I wanted to know about your relatives, but that can wait for tomorrow, if it's still okay."

"Thank you. Are you sure that it's okay that I stay over? I really don't want to impose."

"Nonsense, Harry." She flicked her wand at him and the slightly oversized clothes turned into a clean, fitting pair of pajamas. "Go freshen up for bed and I'll get the guest bedroom ready. There are extra toothbrushes in the hallway bathroom, take one."

Harry looked like he was going to break down again due to someone being hospitable to him. He eventually turned and went upstairs, leaving Amelia with her niece. She sat on the couch next to her.

"Thank you, Susan."

"For what?"

"I've been a foolish idiot manipulated by a maniac for a decade, and no matter how many sleepless nights I had, no matter how much I regretted it, I put off going over there and taking him from those people. I knew something was wrong, I could feel it, but I never did anything. He deserved so much more than what he must have gotten his first eleven years. I'm just scared to hear his story tomorrow." She shook her head and said again. "Thank you, you wonderful girl. Last night I still tried to convince you to join me in my stupidity but you did what was right today. You're braver than I ever was, Susan."

"You heard Harry, Auntie. He blames them, not you. When he tells us what he's been through over there, remember that it was them that did all of it." She hugged her aunt. "Hey, Auntie?"

"Yeah?"

"I really don't want to leave Harry alone tonight."

Amelia sighed. She knew that one was coming. "The door stays open. You may only be eleven but I'm not that cool."

Susan rolled her eyes. She was already a teenager.

"Go freshen up and let Harry know. I'm going to stay down here for a while." She kissed her niece's forehead. "I love you, Susan."

"Love you too, Auntie." Susan walked upstairs.

Amelia poured herself a glass of much-needed muggle wine and sat on the couch. It had been one of the longest nights of her life. She couldn't stop her cruel imagination from thinking about what Harry had been through the past ten years. She wanted to cover her ears and never have to listen to what Harry had truly gone through, but she knew that she would have to. Despite what Harry and Susan told her, she still blamed herself and she doubted that she would ever feel differently.

She got up and walked to her fireplace. She hadn't planned it seconds ago, but she felt that he should know what his actions led to. Throwing her powder into the fireplace, she called, "Request Albus Dumbledore, at Albus Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She didn't want to kneel down on the ground, so she put a request in the flames to make him do it. A minute later Albus' head was in the fire.

"Amelia, long time no see. I don't believe we've spoken to each other directly in almost ten years. Congratulations, by the way, on the promotion. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just thought that you'd like to know, Albus, that your blood wards are crap. I'm thinking that either it doesn't apply to those who already live in the house, or muggles in general."

"What are you talking about?" She took pride in getting him to drop his fake pleasantry act.

"Susan found Harry at the park today, getting beaten up by his own cousin. He broke a few bones, but we keep a healer's first aid kit here. By the way, he had no idea magic existed. Anyway, it would appear little Dudley isn't the only violent one. When asked if his aunt and uncle were abusing him, we couldn't get a straight answer out of him. By the way, Susan told him about magic, and tonight, we sat him down and told him everything. That doesn't spoil any plans for you, does it?"

"I will drop by Number 4 tomorrow night and speak with the Dursleys. His Hogwarts letter should be arriving soon, so it is good that he now knows about the magical world. I shall speak with his family about that, as well. I thank you for taking him in for the day. If you could bring him back to his relatives' house tonight or tomorrow morning, I would appreciate it."

"Excuse me? I don't think I heard right. You want me to take Harry back to his abusers?"

"I would like you to bring him back to his family. I will speak with them to make sure that this does not occur again. He needs to spend as much time at Number 4 as possible to charge up the very wards protecting him and his family."

She shook her head. How could he sink that low? "I don't think so, Albus. Harry's going to be living here, at least for the time being. You see, I would rather keep Harry here, where he's free of violence and abuse, and risk Voldemort coming back from the grave than have him stay with people who subjected him to ten years of hell just because he'll be safe from some ghost or spirit or whatever you think Voldemort is now."

"You don't know the danger that could be falling upon you and your family, Amelia. If Voldemort should return, I believe that only the blood wards will be strong enough to keep him out."

"Did you not just hear me, Albus? I don't care! I'm not subjecting him to harm in order to protect him. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Amelia, I implore you to see reason."

She thought for a second. Almost ten years ago, she stood just a foot from where she was now, and listened to an old fool who claimed to have Harry's best interest at heart. To him, the ends justified the means. To her, some means weren't worth it. She aimed her wand at the fireplace to turn it off and lock it from calls, but first she said, "Screw you, Albus."

Walking from the fireplace, she activate the wards on standby to prevent unwanted visitors, especially keeping in her mind those who were associated with or were Albus Dumbledore. She had spent tens of thousands of galleons on state-of-the-art wards put up by the Gringott's goblins. Money wasn't the only thing they were good at protecting. 'Try getting past those, Supreme Mugwump.'

She lay in bed, and though earlier she had expected to have one of those sleepless nights again, it took just a few minutes to drift off. Even though it would talk a long while before she forgave herself, the most potent sleeping draught wasn't as strong as the words coming from Susan and Harry that night.


A/N Hope you guys liked it. It looks like Harry's out of the Dursleys, for now. Please review!