A/N: I can only assume that you all were Imperiused this week, because Chapter 6 received the most reviews on one chapter that I've ever received without it being the final chapter of a huge fic! You are all so awesome. I can't even handle it. My love overflows. Honestly, I tried to reply to as many reviews as possible, but couldn't keep up while still having time to write more! I tried to answer anyone who left a question that needed an answer (versus a lot of questions that will be answered in this chapter!) Recognising Workshop68 who had review #1000, Hillery for #1100, V for #1200, and Kittykaterina for #1300!
The Reclamation of Black Magic
Chapter Seven
"Doodahs and Gizmos"
January 10th, 1987
Number Four, Privet Drive - Little Whinging
Dorea had to school her expression, remembering every lesson she had ever learned from her parents and friends in Slytherin on how to hide her true intentions and emotions. She swallowed back a choked sob when she saw Harry's mop of unruly black hair that looked just like his father's. Something tight, and horrible, and gut-wrenchingly painful pinched inside of her chest. She wanted to cry, and scream, and pull the boy into her arms and never let go, but he looked absolutely terrified.
Huddled in the corner with his knees tucked to his chest, Harry's eyes were closed tight as though she would not be able to see him if he could not see her. His feet were bare and dirty, tiny toes peeking out from beneath the frayed hem of a pair of jeans that were at least two sizes too large for him. The shirt, likewise, was too big; it had several stains, two holes near the collar, and hung off of one shoulder.
He was so very small.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she whispered, at the same time silently cancelling the Revealing Charm. The light vanished, submerging the cupboard into darkness. When her eyes readjusted, Harry looked like he had relaxed a bit, but not enough. She pushed down the blinding rage that stemmed from the fact that she felt the need to clarify to the boy that she was not a danger to him.
As a child, Dorea and Charlus had tried to educate James on the threat of strangers, but the boy had ignored them, walking through the world with blissful ideals thinking that every adult had the best of intentions. Harry, however, was practically shaking in her presence, despite being in his own home.
His own . . . cupboard!
Depending on the circumstances, Dorea made a silent vow that these Muggles would suffer for a very, very long time.
Already knowing the answer, but wanting to reach him without causing a fright, Dorea quietly asked, "What's your name, sweetheart?"
There was a long moment of silence before he asked, in nearly a whisper, "Are you a teacher?"
Dorea raised a brow in curiosity. "Why do you want to know that, dear?"
"I'm allowed to talk to teachers." She smiled softly, watching as he worried the hem of his shirt between his small fingers. Without prompting, thankfully, he continued to speak. "When I'm at school," he said, pausing for a long moment before finishing, "teachers call me Harry. Sometimes, they call me Mr Potter."
When I'm at school, Dorea repeated in her head. Swallowing thickly and nervous over the specification, she cleared her throat and asked. "And what is your name when you're here at home?"
His brows furrowed. "Boy."
Unable to control her magic, Dorea winced as the light fixture in the hallway behind her exploded with a loud pop! She pushed herself further into the cupboard, pulling the door a bit behind her. There was no standing room, so she hovered in the doorway, stuck between a makeshift bed and the door.
"Is this your . . . room?" When he said nothing, she sighed and took several slow deep breaths. "It's very lovely." Her gaze landed on the spider webs hanging above his head. "I had spiders in my room when I was a little girl. Big ones called tarantulas. Mine were very special, though. They glowed in the dark."
Slowly, Harry lifted his face from where it had been pressed against his knees and opened his eyes. The barest hint of light reflected back the most beautiful colour of green that Dorea had ever seen—like emeralds.
"This is my cupboard," Harry muttered, "and those are my spiders. They're not really mine, though. They just come and visit sometimes."
"Would you like your own spiders?" Dorea asked him with a smile. "And . . . And a bigger room?"
"A room?"
She nodded, exhaling a shaky breath to keep calm. "As big as you'd like. Harry, I'd like you to come with me. Would you like to leave this house?"
He looked nervous and confused, squeezing his knees closer to his chest. "I'm not supposed to go anywhere other than school. I have to come right home."
"This is not a home, Harry," Dorea whispered. "This is not your home. Your home is with family. Harry, I'm your grand—"
"No!" Petunia shrieked. "Don't go in there!"
Harry flinched at the high-pitch and shrank further back into the corner of the cupboard.
"You're not in trouble, Harry," Dorea promised as she stood upright. She gently pushed the door behind her, leaving it slightly ajar as she turned and levelled a withering glare at Petunia Dursley. Cassie and Minerva stood behind the Muggle woman, both looking at the cupboard with horrified curiosity. The boy, Dudley, wore a nervous expression.
"Finite," Dorea said, cancelling the transfigurations on her clothes. Her petite housedress lengthened and turned black, and her yellow cardigan fell to the floor—as though it had been rolled up into the shortened length—and changed to dark green robes.
Petunia's face paled and her mouth fell open in horror. "You . . . You're . . . You're one of them! Leave my house! Get out! Get out!" She reached out, pulling Dudley into her arms protectively. "Don't you touch my baby!"
Cassie snorted. "Trust me, love, it's not that boy we've come for." She side-stepped Petunia, her own transfigured clothes falling away into their original form. Petunia gaped at her, tugging Dudley ever closer. "He's in there?" Cassie asked her sister. At Dorea's firm nod, Cassie peeked inside to see the boy staring worriedly up at her. "Well aren't you a handsome little thing," she said with a bright smile. "You don't even look very sticky."
"Cassie!" Dorea reprimanded.
Turning to look at her sister, Cassie frowned. "What? Children are notoriously sticky. It's why I never had any of my own."
"Mrs Dursley," Dorea said, returning her attention to the Muggle, "I'm sure you will be delighted to know that Harry Potter will no longer be in your charge. He is coming home to his family." At Petunia's confused expression, Dorea took a step forward. "That boy is my grandson, Mrs Dursley."
"Think of Azkaban," Minerva cautioned. "Don't do anything reckless, Dorea. No matter how greatly it is deserved," she said, jaw clenched tightly; her eyes flashing dangerously when Petunia and Dudley dared to look at her.
"Believe me, I am," Dorea said, her teeth actually bared. "Were I a Gryffindor, this woman would already be burning alive." Petunia let out a great sob, holding onto her son so tightly that the boy was gasping for breath. "However, that would be a very quick punishment. I look forward to dragging this out over an entire lifetime."
Before anyone could say more, the front door opened. "I'm home!"
"VERNON!" Petunia screamed.
Dorea shot Cassie a look. "Take care of it."
The blonde vanished down the hallway.
"Petunia! What's—Well . . . Pardon me, but . . . Excuse me? PETUN—Mmmf!"
Cassie returned a moment later. "Everyone's secure in here," she said with a sweet smile. "Perhaps we could all gather in the living room for a nice conversation? I believe one is greatly overdue. You see, we're taking Harry with us, but before we do, I think his grandmother would be very interested to know what his life has been like here. So you're going to answer any questions we have, truthfully." She leant close to Petunia, pressing their cheeks together as she whispered in her ear, "And if you lie, we'll know because we're witches."
Petunia shuddered at the word and let out another small sob.
"And if you're caught lying," Cassie said with a chipper tone that did not mask the threat in her voice in the slightest, "I will turn into a bird and peck your eyes out."
Minerva looked intrigued. "You're an Animagus?"
Cassie smiled. "Registered in France. Sometimes I just want to shift and disappear into my form forever. Animals have it easy. No need to have boring conversations." She reached out and tugged at one of Petunia's locks of hair. "No need to pretend to like someone when you really just want to claw away at their flesh until—"
"That's enough, Cassie."
"Just take the boy and go!" Petunia screeched.
"Scream again, and see what happens," Cassie threatened under her breath. "Send your son upstairs. We'll not put the blame of the parents on the child. We're not monsters."
Petunia suddenly looked as though she were not quite ready to part with what was obviously her human shield. At Dorea's narrowed gaze, however, she released her son. "Duddydums, listen to Mummy, and go upstairs to your room until we're all done having a chat, all right?"
Dudley looked eager to get away and he darted for the opening in the hall but then stopped and turned around. "Mummy . . . which one of my rooms should I go to?"
Dorea's eyes widened in anger, and two more light fixtures shattered.
oOoOoOo
Entirely unaware of how Cassie had done it without using magic, Dorea could not help but be slightly amused by the position that Vernon Dursley had found himself in. The man was tied up with electronic wires and flipped on his back like a pig ready for roasting; he also had a sock stuffed in his mouth. The fact that he was missing one shoe and sock from his left foot made her grimace in disgust.
Harry had been coaxed out of the cupboard with promises of sweets and reassurances that he was not in trouble, nor in any type of danger. When he still looked hesitant, Dorea promised him that she would not leave him alone with the Dursleys ever again, so there would be no future punishments from them either. He refused to take her hand but clung to the fabric of her robes as they walked into the living room.
Cassie was sitting on a chair, tapping the ashes of a cigarette into the wood that was most likely not Victorian mahogany. On the coffee table in front of the sofa where Petunia sat next to her hog-tied husband, was an angry-looking tabby cat, swishing its tail against the glass, hissing and snarling whenever either Muggle made a noise.
Harry stared, wide-eyed, at his uncle and was unable to stop the small giggle that escaped him. Vernon tried to speak around the sock in his mouth, glaring his beady little eyes at the boy. At the sound, Harry gasped and covered his mouth but relaxed when all Dorea did was laugh with him.
When the cat turned and narrowed its eyes at her, Dorea sighed. "Now, Harry, you should never tie up people like this on your own, am I clear?"
Still looking slightly amused, if still a bit nervous, Harry nodded.
"Come and have a seat, darling." Dorea sat down on a sofa opposite Petunia and Vernon, putting all of her attention on Harry. "Did you overhear any of the conversation I had with your aunt a few minutes ago?" When he shrugged one shoulder, she sighed again. James had been a constant chatter box at this age, even with strangers. "I'm your grandmother, dearest. My name is Dorea Potter. I'm your father's mother."
Harry turned and looked at his aunt and uncle, his brow furrowing. "You said . . ." He stopped and then returned his attention to Dorea. "They said . . . my parents died."
Reaching out, Dorea ran her fingers through his hair, frowning when he flinched at first, only to lean into the touch a moment later. Taking another chance, she slowly put her arms around him and pulled him into her lap. He was stiff, shoulders bunched up to his ears, but he began to relax when she gently hugged him close.
"Yes," she whispered. "Your parents did die, and that's very sad. I miss your father very much. He was my son, and I loved him more than absolutely anything in the world. Would you like me to tell you about him?"
Harry nodded.
Dorea felt a weight lift from her chest. "Would you like to see where your father grew up? If you'd like, you can even sleep in his old room. It's a very big room. Larger than this one we're sitting in."
Eyes wide in awe, Harry turned and looked at her, mouth open. "I get . . . It's that big?" he asked in shock. At her nod, he swallowed nervously. "How long will I stay with you?" he asked, side-eying his aunt and uncle, both of whom refused to make eye contact with him.
"Forever, if you'd like," Dorea answered him with a smile, reaching out and taking one of his small hands in her own and kissing it affectionately. He looked surprised by the gesture, but didn't flinch away like he'd done before. Looking down at his hands, Dorea frowned. "Harry, what are these from?"
Harry curled his hand into a fist and pulled it back. "Sorry," he said automatically.
Cassie glared at the Dursleys, and Petunia began to whimper in fear.
"What are you sorry for, my love?" Dorea asked.
Harry tucked his chin to his chest and whispered, "I burned the bacon again."
Dorea kept her expression soft when Harry returned his gaze to her, as though he were expecting some form of punishment over the reminder of his mistake. She instead kissed his forehead, her lips lingering just above the lightning-shaped scar on his skin. "Harry, say goodbye to your aunt and uncle. You won't be seeing them again."
Harry said nothing.
"Are we not going to question them?" Cassie asked.
"I know everything I need to know," Dorea said, looking at Petunia's terrified face. "Cassie, please instruct Mr and Mrs Dursley to take their child and go for a drive while we collect Harry's belongings. When they return, we will be gone, and they need never see any of us ever again."
Cassie frowned. "Excuse me? We're letting them go? These filthy Muggles have—" She stopped speaking when Dorea shot a look her way. Sighing dramatically, she reached over and tugged at the end of one wire, which loosened the others.
Vernon Dursley's limbs all fell from their bindings, his right foot hitting the edge of the coffee table with a loud thunk! He immediately pulled the sock from his mouth. Red-faced, he made to shout, but the tabby let out a low growling noise of warning. Instead, he swallowed, cleared his throat, and said, "Petunia, get Dudley. We're going to visit my sister."
"That would be best," Cassie said with a bitter smile.
The Dursleys left the house, not even stopping once to look back at Harry. Once they were gone and the door was closed once more, the little boy whispered, "I don't have things. It's all Dudley's." He tugged at his large shirt and frowned. "Do I have to leave my clothes 'cause they're not mine?"
"You can wear these out, dear. We'll get you brand new clothes later on," Dorea promised. Now, we're going to be travelling for a bit, and you might get sick on the way there since it's far away and you've not travelled much." Pulling a phial from the pocket of her robes, she held it out to him. "This will make you very sleepy, but you won't get sick. I promise."
Harry stared at the potion anxiously for a long time, only reaching out for it when Cassie offered, "You can have pudding later if you drink it." It didn't take long for him to fall asleep in Dorea's arms once he swallowed the draught.
"You're handling this better than expected," Cassie said thoughtfully.
Dorea's hands were shaking, and her voice was barely above a whisper when she said, "I need to get out of here as soon as possible before I set the house on fire with accidental magic."
Minerva swiftly shifted back into human form and frowned looking down at the sleeping boy. "I could happily murder those Muggles. Damn Albus Dumbledore to hell," she hissed angrily. "Harry will need a full health evaluation as soon as possible, and St. Mungo's is out of the question."
"Can Poppy be trusted?" Cassie asked.
Sighing, Minerva shook her head. "I would trust her with the welfare of any child, but if she left Hogwarts, it would rouse suspicion."
"Send word to Cedrella," Dorea told her sister. "She studied to be a Healer long ago. At the very least she still knows Diagnostic Charms."
"As many grandchildren as she has . . ." Cassie began to say, but stopped when she saw the look of anguish in her sister's eyes.
"Salazar . . . He's too small. Look how thin." Dorea lifted Harry higher up into her arms, which should have been much more difficult than it was. Tugging at the large shirt he was wearing, she revealed bruises on his upper arms. They were small, and had no particular shape.
"Probably that other boy," Minerva suggested. "Two bedrooms for one child, and a cupboard for another. I admire your ability to let them walk out of this house, Dorea."
"Don't admire me too much. I plan on returning on them tenfold for what they've done to my grandson." In his sleep, Harry curled against her chest, relishing the warmth of her robes. "They had him for five years," she said, brushing black fringe away from his face. "Which means they will not know joy for the next fifty."
"Can't use magic on Muggles," Cassie reminded her.
Dorea pressed her cheek to the top of Harry's head and breathed in deep, rocking him slightly in her arms. "No. So I suppose we'll have to be creative then, won't we?"
Grinning excitedly, Cassie darted out of the room.
Minerva sighed, looking concerned. "We had better follow her. Merlin knows what she's up to."
When the two witches made it into the kitchen, the blonde was switching on every appliance she could reach, including the cooker.
When the flame burst through the small metal grate, Cassie smiled. "Oh goodness," she said dramatically, fanning her face with one hand and feigning distress. "All of these Muggle things . . . I'm so very confused." She took a frying pan that had been drying on a rack next to the sink and tossed it on the stove with a loud clang! Minerva's eyes widened when Cassie opened the refrigerator and pulled out a package of wrapped bacon and threw it onto the pan, paper and all.
"Burned the bacon," Dorea growled under her breath.
As Cassie disappeared into the next room, likely to plug as many cords into outlets as she could, Minerva looked over the cooker as the bacon and paper began to sizzle and smoke. "Sirius's antics at Hogwarts are making more sense by the minute."
"Found this upstairs," Cassie said as she returned, thrusting a stack of papers at Dorea. "Locating Charms are easy when you're searching for a name on paper. Learned that trick whilst studying for my N.E.W.T.s. Pretty much all the legal Muggle documents are there. Educational records, birth certificate, and what have you. There's also a letter from a meddling prick that we all know. Says something about the wards on this house. They'll drop the second that it's not Harry's home, by the way," she said with a grin, adding, "or if there's not a home left here for him to return to."
When Cassie opened the door to the microwave oven, Minerva's eyes widened. "Cassiopeia."
Dorea raised a brow. "What? What's happening? What is that contraption?"
"We need to leave," Minerva encouraged as Cassie began sticking tins of soup inside the microwave. "Quickly."
Cassie looked back. "What? Does this do something?" she asked, batting her eyes innocently. "You'll have to forgive me, I'm so inexperienced with Muggle doodahs and gizmos."
Speedily moving out the back door with Harry in her arms, Dorea looked back at Minerva. "Go to Hogwarts. Try to stay out of Dumbledore's path until I send word. If you're gone too long, he'll grow suspicious." Cassie stepped through the back door, a freshly lit cigarette in hand and a smug grin on her face. "You meet me in Gringotts."
Cassie tilted her head to the side with a grin. "Do you smell smoke?"
They all Disapparated away before any of them could see the fire.
oOoOoOo
Gringotts Wizarding Bank
A private room had been given to the Black sisters, while the goblins took a small sample of Harry's blood. They needed to compare it with the vault security system since Albus Dumbledore was in possession of the physical key. While they waited for the goblins to return, Cedrella Weasley was guided into the room by a burly little goblin who was missing half his left ear.
"You did it," she whispered as she slowly approached Dorea and the sleeping child.
"Found him with his Muggle relatives," Cassie said for Dorea, who looked as though she were trying to grind her teeth into dust from the anger and stress building up inside of her.
"Set him down gently, face up and arms at his sides," Cedrella instructed, quietly passing a Calming Draught to Cassie and nodding her head toward Dorea with wide eyes. When Dorea finished making Harry comfortable on the leather sofa and stepped back, Cedrella began casting a multitude of Diagnostic Charms. "He's terribly underweight, Dorea. Were the Muggles poor?"
"Well off enough," Cassie said bitterly, putting the Calming Draught in Dorea's hand and directing it to her mouth. When her sister complied, swallowing the potion, Cassie looked at Cedrella and scoffed. "The Muggles had a boy of their own, you know. You should've seen the little beast. If Harry's underweight, it's because that boy took both servings at every meal for himself."
"Did you leave them alive?" Cedrella asked warily, lifting a brow as she made eye contact with Dorea, who was more likely to have a tell, seeing that Cassie was generally unashamed of her actions, murder included—no matter how deserved it might have been.
"For now," Dorea whispered. "I'll deal with the Muggles another time. My pressing concern is Harry."
"He has burns on his hands," Cedrella said, looking at each individual finger, one at a time. "Poor dear. To have gone through so much in so short a time."
When Dorea didn't speak again, only closing her eyes to clearly drown out the rising stress that was fighting the Calming Draught, Cedrella stepped back. "He'll need to be put on a variety of potions to build up his strength. Unless he can tell you what he's used to eating, I would start him on small portions. A treat would not go amiss, however. Might do him some good to be made happy with all these changes. The potions will help supplement any nutrition lost."
She sighed softly, reaching out to touch the boy's hair. "Handsome little thing, isn't he? I'll give you a Potion for Dreamless Sleep as well, in case of nightmares. He's young. He'll likely bounce back from whatever happened to him, but you're in for a rough start, Dorea."
"Luckily, she has us," Cassie said pointedly.
Cedrella inclined her head in agreement. "Toujours Pur and all that rot." When Cassie smirked in reply, she looked at Dorea once more. "We'll need to act fast."
Ragnok returned with a key in hand. "He's Harry Potter, all right," he said as though making a grand announcement. When none of the witches responded with relief—already knowing who the boy was—Ragnok huffed and held out the key to Dorea. "To the Potter vaults. I had your account manager take a look inside. Other than the sum put away for Harry Potter's education, everything has remained intact, including the will of James and Lily Potter." He held out the rolled parchment to Dorea, who unravelled it slowly, grateful for the Calming Draught as her hands would ordinarily be shaking.
"Dumbledore has no rights," Cassie said, reading over her sister's shoulder. "There's a whole list of people that Harry should have gone to if Sirius were unavailable to raise him. Who's Remus Lupin?"
Dorea winced. In the worry over Harry living with Muggles and Sirius in Azkaban, she had neglected to think about another unofficial member of her family. "One of James's closest friends. He's how Dumbledore gained legal access to Harry without the Wizengamot interfering," she said angrily. "Sirius was arrested, Peter Pettigrew was dead, and both Frank and Alice Longbottom were hospitalised. That left only Remus."
When both Cassie and Cedrella stared at her, confused, Dorea shook her head sadly. "He's a werewolf."
"No one would leave a child, especially this child, in the care of a werewolf," Cedrella said.
"Remus was a sweet boy," Dorea argued. "Cassie, would you send word to Belina? Perhaps one of Borgin and Burkes customers has connection in the werewolf community. I'd like to find the boy."
"Might ask Lucretia to do that, instead," Cedrella offered. "Her husband works in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
Ragnok, no longer a part of the conversation, loudly cleared his throat. "Will you have further need of Gringotts today, Dorea Opaleye?"
She offered him a polite smile. "I would like Albus Dumbledore forbidden from accessing the vaults or any information about their contents. Also, I plan on requesting horde assistance to restructure the wards around Potter Manor now that Harry is with me." When the goblin nodded his head in agreement, Dorea bowed her own. "Thank you, Ragnok. You've been efficient as always. The Black family vaults will be opened within the week, I assure you. I trust you to organise whatever you need to do to have them properly audited."
Ragnok bowed his head just slightly once more before exiting the room.
"Audited?" Cassie asked, shocked. "This is new information."
"I'm returning the goblin-made artefacts that our family has hoarded over the years. They're not ours, and I'd much rather have goblins as allies in any form than enemies who think we stole their gold." Dorea stood and leant down to pull Harry back into her arms. "I'll send word from Potter Manor with Floo access for everyone," she said. "Quietly assemble the others, and see that Minerva brings Nymphadora with her."
"What are you planning?" Cedrella asked.
Dorea's eyes flashed silver in anger, and then they returned to purple once again. "We start our work tonight. I won't let our enemies wake another morning without our family having the proper protection we need. Tomorrow the world will know the Black coven."
