Harry woke up Christmas morning confused as to where he was. Then he remembered. He smiled happily as he lay in bed. He was at Malfoy manor in a big comfortable bed in a big beautiful room. Harry lay there as he thought back to a few days before and his trip to the Ministry of Magic.
Flashback
Harry followed quickly behind Lucius Malfoy as they strod through the Ministry. They met with the Minister of Magic who was a portly looking man who seemed to look up to Lucius as if he could do no wrong.
"Hello Lucius." the minister said. "And this must be Harry Potter!" He said as he grabs Harry's hand excitedly shaking it. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr Potter! I'm Minister Fudge!"
"It's nice to meet you too sir. Mr Malfoy has told me so much about you."
"Indeed. Shall we make our way to the Madam Bones office then?" Lucius said trying to hurry them along.
"Oh of course!" Fudge said as they walk to the elevator. "I had Amelia Bones set up an appointment with you before the Wizengamot session today so she can go over a few things with you."
They walked into the elevator. Lucius edged away from the rather wet looking maintainance worker in the elevator with them.
"Ah Smith was it? Winston's office is raining again is it?" Fudge said making small talk with the drenched looking man.
They get off the elevator and go to Madam Bones's office. A kind but serious looking woman meets them there.
"Ah Minister Fudge. Malfoy." Amelia Bones said as she ushers them into her office. "And this must be Mr Potter. You look so much like your father Mr Potter."
"Thank you mam."
They sit down around her desk.
"So Harry. Minister Fudge told me some of this but I would like it if you would tell me yourself exactly what Headmaster Dumbledore has done to you to make you want him to stop being your magical guardian."
"Well mam, for one thing he left me with muggles who hate magic and hate me for 10 years and he didn't even bother to check up on me in all that time."
"And I suppose you have memories on hand to show the Wizengamot all of this?"
"Yes mam. Mr Malfoy showed me how to remove memory strands." Harry said as he holds up a few vials filled with a silvery liquid.
"Very well. There are just a few more things I need to talk to you about. It took a bit of work for me to make sure that Dumbledore doesn't know that this will be an issue discussed at the next WIzengamot session." Madam Bones said as she thought to herself how wrong she was about Dumbledore. She had thought he was a good man but the evidence she had been given seemed to prove the opposite. As much as she distrusted Malfoy, she was glad that he seemed to be looking out for Harry. She walked them through all they needed to know before the session.
It soon became time to head to the courtroom. Lucius led Harry back to the elevator and they made there way to the courtroom. The courtroom was a large circular room that had chairs facing the center of the room a bit like a theater. They had arrived early so hardly anyone was there. Which was good for Harry because he didn't wish to create a scene when people saw him there. He sat towards the back after Malfoy cast a disalusion spell on him and then Malfoy made his way to his seat towards the front. Soon everyone starting filing in. Harry noticed Dumbledore come in and thought back to the letter Dumbledore had sent to him the other day. It had chastized him for leaving the castle for the winter break and for going with Malfoy of all people. It also urged him to come back to the castle because he would be in danger otherwise. Harry snorted. As if he wouldn't be in danger at Hogwarts as well with a huge dog hiding in the castle and a former deatheater as a DADA teacher.
The Wizengamot session started with various things. Harry wasn't really paying attention to most of it till they got to the issue he was there for.
"We have an issue to discuss here that I believe has gone on long enough. Lucius Malfoy I believe you would like the floor?" Amelia Bones said giving the floor to Lucius Malfoy.
"Indeed I do. Thank you Madam Bones." Lucius said. Harry perks up at this and listens carfully. "It has come to my attention that a certain individual has been wronged by his magical guardian and I have come here today to address this."
"Of course Mr Malfoy this does seem quite bad for a magical guardian to somehow wrong their ward but I do believe we have other channels this could go through do we not?" Dumbledore speaks up.
"Indeed. However because of this individual's fame and the fame of his magical guardian I believed it was prudent to get the whole Wizengamot involved. I am speaking of course of Harry Potter and his guardian Albus Dumbledore."
The room urupted in whispers. Albus Dumbledore wronged the famous Harry Potter in some way? Harry sat there in the back as he listened to the room wonder what Lucius was talking about.
"Order please. I will have order." Dumbledore said to quiet down the crowd. "Now Mr Malfoy I am sure I do not quite know what you are talking about. I have done nothing wrong to Harry Potter. Everything I have done has been for his safety."
"I for one would like to hear Mr Malfoy speak Dumbledore." Madam Bones said.
"Thank you Madam Bones." Lucius said. "As I was saying, Mr Harry Potter came to me not long ago expressing his concern that his magical guardian did not have his best interests in mind. Of most concern was the fact that he had never even heard of Mr Dumbledore until he heard of him from a friend when he was 8 years old. He apparently had not checked up on Harry at all in the 10 years he was Harry's magical guardian."
"Harry was quite safe I assure you Mr Malfoy. I made sure of that when I left him with his relatives. The only family he has left. He is quite safe and happy at his relatives house trust me, my boy." Dumbledore said.
Harry seethed at that. Safe? Being abused and starved by his 'family' was him being safe? He wanted to curse the twinkles out of that old goats eyes.
"If he was indeed safe as you say then why was Harry quite convinced that he had been abused and neglected by his so called family, a family I have heard that hates magic and everything to do with it?" Lucius said.
"He is just exaggerating. I'm sure that he loves his family and just dislikes doing chores." Dumbledore said.
"I have evidence to suggest that he is not happy as you say." Lucius pulls out the memory vials. "I have several memories that come from Harry himself as well as a few from a team I hired to investigate his so called loving family. I also have evidence from the goblins that you have made several withdrawals from Mr Potter's vaults over the years. Some of which has been converted to muggle money and given to a Mr and Mrs Dursley, Harry's 'loving' relatives, without Harry's knowledge. In fact Harry had no knowledge of his vaults until he turned 11 and went to buy his school things. So I have to wonder where his signatures on these withdrawal documents came from?"
The crowd was in an uproar. A little less than half of the room was certain that Dumbledore could do no wrong that Lucius must be making all this up. The other half of the room was enraged that it was possible that Dumbledore had the nerve to do these things to an heir of an old pureblood family.
"I think it would be prudent to view these memories that Mr Malfoy has. They will reveal the true of the matter." A wizard sitting near to Malfoy said.
Dumbledore's eyes have lost their signature twinkle. Then he perks up. "Memories can be altered. I do not believe that they are sufficent evidence to do anything rash."
Several of the Wizengamot member agree with this and Harry gets angry. He stands up and cancels the disalusion spell on him. "I'd be willing to take veritaserum to prove that what Mr Malfoy is saying is true."
The room stares at Harry in shock, not expecting him to suddenly appear.
"Harry my boy. All that I have done has been to protect you. I assure you that staying with your relatives keeps you safe."
"Safe?! My relatives hate me! They practically starved me and used me as a houseelf! I did the cooking, the cleaning, and the gardening since I was little. They hardly let me eat any of what I cooked. I thought my name was 'Freak' till I started school when I was six years old. They let their son Dudley torture me and egg him on. How is all this 'safe'?!"
The room was in an uproar yet again. People were calling for him to receive veritaserum to prove what he was saying was true. They also called for the memories to be seen. A ministry offical handed Harry a vial of veritaserum and he drank it without any hesitation. He then stood in the middle of the room and repeated what he had said before. They then brought in a pensieve to watch the memories. After the officials had finished watching the memories they had paled considerably. Many of them seemed more than ready to take Harry's guardianship away from Dumbledore. Harry had to leave the room as they voted. After it was finished they let Harry back in.
Minister Fudge stood. "Albus Dumbledore. You are to have your guardianship of Harry Potter stripped. At this time Mr Lucius Malfoy will take guardianship of Mr Potter till such time he is of age. He will not be returned to the Dursleys at the end of the school year." He pauses. "I have to say, my trust in you has been shaken. To knowingly inflict such a horrible family on the hero of the wizarding world, is such a despicable thing Albus."
Albus Dumbledore was furious. He has exhausted his goodwill from the other members of the Wizengamet and wondered what he was going to do. He wondered where he went wrong with the boy. He should've kept a closer eye on him. To lose him to Malfoy of all people was a huge blow to his plans. Perhaps things could still be salvaged. He just had to think.
Harry was brought back to the present by Draco entering his room excitedly. "Harry! Get up! Its Yule morning! Presents!" He tries to drag Harry out of bed.
Tobias enters the room a bit more sedately, smirking. "Is that how pureblood heirs act Draco?"
Draco straightens up and fixes his hair. "Its Yule. Im just excited."
"Ok ok I'm up." Harry said as he rolled out of bed smiling. Nagini slithers into the room behind Tobias.
"Why is today so exciting to the hatchlings master?" Nagini hisses.
"Its a holiday Nagini. A holiday where wizards and witches gather around a tree and get presents. I've never really understood the excitement myself."
Harry snorts. He would actually be getting presents for the first time ever so of course he was excited. "Come guys I need to get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs." He ushers them out of the room. Nagini stays.
"Little master. You seem much happier these days."
"I am. I finally get a family that cares about me. I don't have to stay with my awful relatives. It's the best present Mr Malfoy could ever give me." Harry said to Nagini.
"I am glad for you master. Now don't keep other master and the blond hatchling waiting."
Harry quickly gets dressed and leaves his room, placing Nagini around his shoulders. He makes his way downstairs. Malfoy manor was so big it was easy to get lost but the various portraits in the manor would help him direct him when he first got there.
Harry sees the big beautiful tree. Under the tree there are dozens and dozens of presents. Some of which he bought himself for his new family the other day after the Wizengamet session. Lucius insisted on taking Harry to be fitted for some expensive formal robes and a few other things he would need if he were to be living in Lucius's home. He was able to slip away for a bit to get a few things for gifts. He got Narcissa a beautiful necklace he had seen in his family's vault. Draco would receive an expensive broom cleaning kit for the new broom he would no doubt be getting. Tobias would be getting some rather old books he had seen in his family's vault. Lucius would receive some old books from his vault as well. He had also sent some gifts to his other Slytherin friends by owl.
Soon Lucius and Narcissa made their way downstairs. A houseelf served Lucius some tea as he settled into a chair to watch the children open presents.
"Alright Draco darling you can start opening presents." Narcissa said as she sat down next to her husband.
Draco practically dives into the pile of presents. He starts sorting them out making sure he finds all the presents that belong to him. He gets esspecially excited at a long thin present of his that looks like it could be a broomstick.
Harry is shocked at the amount of presents that have his name on them. He gets a bit choked up. Tobias notices Harry staring at all the presents. He smiles and hands Harry the present he got for him. "Happy Yule Harry. Here you go."
"Thanks Tobias!" He takes the present. He opens it up and he finds that Tobias has gotten him a nice dragon leather wand holster. It's not the most expensive thing he's seen but from Tobias who didn't have all that much in his vault it was a big gift.
"Its great. Thanks Tobias!" Harry straps it around his arm and holsters his wand.
"Well I didn't want you to keep putting your wand in your back pocket Harry. That's a very careless place to put your wand." Tobias said. Harry hands him his gift.
Tobias opens the present to find an old expensive looking book about defensive and offensive magic. "Thank you Harry. Is this from your vault?"
"Yep. It was." Harry said.
They hear a woop from inside the pile of opened up presents. "Its a Nimbus 2000! Harry look!" Draco said as he sticks his head up from the the pile of ripped up wrapping paper and lifts a broom into the air. "Its the fastest broom yet!"
Harry smiles and starts opening his other presents. He also receives a Nimbus 2000, several books, wizarding candy, a broom care kit, and other things.
Narcissa thanked Harry for the lovely necklace he gave her. Draco opens the broom care kit Harry gave him and uses it on his new broom, already done with opening his presents. The only present that Draco wasnt too sure about was his Aunt Bella's present to him. But it just turned out to be a book about some nasty curses.
Harry is surprised to receive quite a few gifts from fellow Slytherin students in the mail. He received a lot of candy and books from most of the first year Slytherin students. Even Pansy Parkinson sent him wizarding candy. Tobias strangely even received gifts from some of the older Slytherin students. He theorized that it was because he was doing well for himself they were trying to suck up.
Harry also received gifts from a lot of the wizarding public. It seemed as if most of the wizarding community had read in the papers how he had been treated with the Dursleys and many people felt sorry for him. Lucius sent all of these gifts to the goblins at Gringots to check if any were cursed. He was taking no chances. He also sent a rather suspicious present for Harry from Bellatrix to the goblins just in case.
After they finished opening presents, they had a rather lavish breakfast. After that, Draco took Harry outside to try out their new brooms. Tobias stood outside watching them with Nagini around his neck. He hadn't received a broom as a gift but that was only because he had expressed no interest in getting one. Lucius knew his ward well enough to not bother with getting one. Harry and Draco flew around the grounds around Manor for awhile and Tobias watches while he reads one of the many books he received. Nagini coils around him trying to stay warm.
Harry loved the feel of flyng. He zoomed around on his new broom. The Nimbus 2000 was an amazing broom. Harry did a few tricks on his broom. Draco was impressed by Harry's flying. Harry hadn't spent his life up in the air like Draco but he seemed like a natural. Harry had flyed once before during flying class at Hogwarts but that was on an old falling apart broom. That was a memorable moment though. A Gryffindor boy, Nevile Longbottom, had gone up in the air and couldn't control hs broom. Harry went up on his broom, despite not having ever flown before, and helped him down. He received 10 points for Slytherin from the flying teacher Madam Hooch for helping Nevile.
Harry and Draco are having so much fun that they don't notice that Aunt and Uncle Lestrange have arrived. Bellatrix claps when Draco does a rather dangerous looking trick on his broom. He nearly falls off when he hears hs aunt clapping.
"Well done wittle Draco! You are going to be a great seeker when you get on the Slytherin Quidditch team." Bella cheerfully yells at Draco. She then notices Tobias with the large snake around him. "Cousin Tobias. That is quite a beautiful snake you have there dear. But how on earth do you keep it from biting you?"
Draco and Harry land and go up to them. "Tobias is a parseltongue Aunt Bella." Draco said.
"Really? Wow." Bella looks very interested in that information. "I didn't know the Thorn family were known for that ability."
"As far as I know, my family isnt known for it. Just me." Tobias said, a little irritated that Draco told her.
"You are quite the interesting person Mr Thorn." Rodolphus speaks up.
"Very much so Rodolphus dear." Bella said agreeing with him.
"Well shall we go back inside Bella dear?" Rodolphus asked. "It is getting quite cold."
They go back inside the manor. Draco and Harry put their brooms away in the broom shed.
"Master. Can we go back inside as well? I'm freezing." Nagini asked.
"Alright then Nagini. Sorry for keeping you out here for so long." Tobias grabs his book and starts to head back inside, Draco and Harry following behind him.
When they are back inside the manor, Draco goes up to his mother. "Mother, why is Aunt Bellatrix here?"
"Draco she is family. I've invited her to dinner tonight. Your grandfather is also coming for dinner." Narcissa said.
"My grandfather really?" Draco looks even more upset at this information. "Aunt Bella didn't come last year. Neither did grandfather. Why now?"
"Well they wanted to support our decision to take in Harry I assume. I know Bella is a little scary to you but she is your aunt and she cares about her family." Narcissa said.
"Grandfather is a bit scary too mother."
"Draco they are your family. They all care about you. You have no reason to fear them." Narcissa scoffs. "Besides, Severus will be here and you adore Severus."
"Yes mother." Draco said.
Draco, Harry, and Tobias tried to avoid Bellatrix and her husband for the rest of the day. Harry and Draco out of a sense of self preservation and Tobias because Bellatrix had taken to staring at him with a thoughtful expression he didnt quite like.
Severus arrived later in the day and spends his time in Lucius's study talking with Lucius.
Soon evening arrived along with Draco's grandfather Abraxas. Lucius brought them all out to greet him. He arrived by floo dusting himself off. He looked at Draco with an appraising look. "Good evening Lucius, Narcissa." Abraxas said sternly. "My grandson still looks small for his age I see."
"Good evening father." Lucius said. "I trust you are well?"
"As well as can be expected. I've had to give clothes to several of my houseelves lately. The houseelves in France seem to be quite lacking." Abraxas said as he looks towards Harry. "So this is Potter." He sized Harry up. "I was quite surprised when Lucius told me he was helping you. Though I do find it quite horrifying that a wizarding child would be placed with filthy muggles. It is quite the disgrace. I am glad that Dumbledore lost some respect for that. And for that I thank you Harry Potter. Well met." He extended his hand to shake Harry's.
"Its a pleasure to meet you sir." Harry said shaking his hand.
Abraxas then looks towards Tobias. "Tobias Thorn is it? I knew your father. He was quite the formidable wizard. Lucius has told me you are quite skilled yourself at least in your classes."
"Yes sir." Tobias said.
They all go to the dining room for dinner. The houseelves have outdone themselves. There is so much food that Harry doesn't think theyd be able to eat even a quarter of it. Abraxas seats himself at the head of the table, leaving Lucius to sit elsewhere reluctantly. Bellatrix sits near to her sister and engages her in conversation while Bella's husband sits near Abraxas talking with him about various things. Draco sits next to Severus and chats with him about potions. Not surprisingly, Harry sits next to Tobias.
Harry tries to eat as elegantly as the Malfoys. He can't quite manage it though. Tobias chuckes under his breath a little. "Harry its ok. They don't expect you to be perfect at etiquette right away. Just relax."
Tobias talked politly with Abraxas as he tried to ignore Bellatrix's staring at him. Abraxas thought to himself that Tobias reminded him of another boy he knew when he was a child. It woud be interesting to see what Thorn would do with himself later in life.
After everyone is full, and dinner is over, the Lestranges and Abraxas leave. Snape stays behind to talk with Harry.
"Mr Potter can we speak?" Severus said.
"Of course Professor. What is it you would like to say?" Harry said reluctantly.
"I have to say I misjudged you Mr Potter and I apologize for that. It is clear to me that while you look like your father, you are not your father."
"Thanks professor. I accept your apology sir."
"To be honest, you seem more like your mother to me. We were friends as children did you know?"
Harry looks up in interest. "You knew my mother sir?"
"Yes we were quite close." Severus said fondly. "She was quite the skilled witch and a good friend. I ruined our friendship though while we were at Hogwarts. I said something to her that I regret and I don't blame her for not forgiving me. You have her eyes did you know?"
"Could you tell me about her sometime sir?" Harry said trying not to get choked up.
"Of course Harry. Come to my office sometime and we'll have tea and I'll tell you all about her." Severus said. Harry follows him to the floo room.
"It was good to speak to you Harry. You have no idea what a load off my shoulders this was." Severus said as he prepared to leave.
"Of course sir. I will definitly take you up on your offer to speak about my mother when we are back at school." Harry said. Severus nods his head and then floos out.
Harry goes to bed that night very happy. This was the best day of his life. He had a family that cared about him, good friends, and a place to stay over the summer that he never would've imagined having. Things are finally going well for him.
Meanwhile a very irritated Dumbledore thinks hard about how he could alter his plans. He cant influence Harry to do what he needed to do if Harry didn't even trust him. If he had been in Gryffindor things would've been easier. Harry could've made friends that Dumbledore could ask to keep an on Harry for him. Although...that Tobias Thorn. Despite being a Slytherin, he helped students from other houses and seemed to be a good influence on Harry. It seemed that despite his deatheater father and his current living situation, Mr Thorn was not quite as dark as his peers. Perhaps it was because of his former living situation. The Lees were good Light people and it seemed that despite them going insane and trying to kill Mr Thorn, they made a good immpression on him. Maybe he would have a chat with Tobias Thorn and try to get him to look after Harry for him. Keep him away from bad influences. This could work he thought to himself.
