Some noticed that I use the Malfoys family a lot as a plot point. Truthfully, it's because of Narcissa. While I know the faces and other characters played by the actors from the Potter movies, hers is pretty much unknown to me, so to a certain extent, she is a blank slate I am able to mold in my imagination. It may seem strange, but that is all there is to it.
Yes, the Malfoys are evil, but if you were to read my other stories, you would realize that I write about mobsters finding love, so turning the Malfoys around, isn't such a stretch for me.
As a counterpoint to that, Julie Walters is a character in a television show that seriously annoys me to the point that when she is on, I turn the channel and is partly why I find her so annoying as Molly Weasley. My perception as a result of this other character affects my writing. It's the same for other actors in this series, like Michael Gambon versus Richard Harris, love Richard's Albus, find Michael's to be troublesome as a result of other characters that they have played.
Anyhow, here is yet another plot bunny, this one is rather old and I doubt that unlike many of the others, this one will ever be finished.
Petunia Dursley, Detective
Chapter One: Sally Lockhart is Born
Petunia Dursley stared in horror at the basket on her front stoop. She had awoken early to prepare breakfast for her husband and had opened the door to retrieve the morning paper, only to find her toddler nephew there. Stepping back and closing the door, she tried to pretend that she hadn't seen what she had so she reopened the door only to moan in despair as she once again saw the toddler asleep in a basket, a note stuck to the top of the blanket covering him.
Bending down, she took the note and upon reading it, silently cursed that right bastard Albus Dumbledore, headmaster at the school her now late sister had attended from the age of eleven. When she got to the part of the note where the annoying old moron had written that by merely reading the note, the boy had magically been given over to her custody, she crumpled up the letter and looked around the neighborhood and then bent down to carry the basket inside.
Uncovering the baby, she stared at it, repulsed by the knowledge that more than likely this child had the same odd powers, the same ability to control things that her sister had. Moving the basket from the coffee table to the floor, she returned to the kitchen and sat there, drinking a cup of tea and debating how to handle this mess.
When her husband joined her and upon realizing that there was no breakfast prepared, began to speak, she handed over the note and said in a bitter tone. "I hate that man."
"We just dump the kid at the hospital or an orphanage." He said with a shrug.
She looked at him and shook her head no before adding "According to the note, we can't. I know enough about that freaky stuff my sister could do to know that we are stuck with the freak. I was just thinking of ways we can use it to benefit ourselves."
"What do you mean, Pet?" He asked as he stared off into the parlor where he could see the basket and the blue receiving blanket covering the brat.
With a cold smile, she said "Dumbledore's letter was rather informative, add that to some of the stories that my sister told me and that I know how to access parts of their world, we keep the kid and treat him just like he is our own child."
"Have you gone mad, Petunia?" He asked horrified at what she was saying. "Keep him? Treat him like we would our beloved Dudley?"
"Oh yes, Vernon." She replied with an icy smirk growing on her face. "See, in that letter, that old meddling bastard mentioned that my sister was killed because of that world. By the time Harry is old enough for that man to return to retrieve my sister's child, we are going to do to him what he did to me."
"I don't understand?" He asked looking at his wife who seemed gleeful.
"I am going to make sure that by the time Lily's son entered Hogwarts, he blames the supposedly great Albus Dumbledore, Hogwart's Headmaster for the deaths of his beloved parents." She replied. "Excuse me my dear, by I need to go and awaken Dudley so that Harry, he and myself may make a quick trip to London."
"Dear?"
"The reason I was so sure that a mistake had been made regarding my not attending Hogwarts was because I could see the supposedly magical doorway to that world. I never told anyone, I kept it to myself. I was so sure that a mistake had been made. Well, I snuck past the bartender back when Lily was a student and purchased a book at this rather old-fashioned bookstore I found. It told me I was something called a squib. Anyhow, I am going to take advantage of that and return to that Alley and start to gather ammunition to take down that bastard. I will make him pay for what he has cost me and he has given me the perfect weapon."
Later that night, Vernon Dursley returned home to find his house looking immaculate and two little boys playing together in Dudley's playpen. His wife and he sat down to dinner and he cheerfully asked. "How was your day, Pet?"
She handed over the paperwork given to her by the Goblins and watched as his eyes widened at what was reported in them. She next handed him the magical newspaper and stated "I requested a clipping service begin to send me all articles pertaining to a whole slew of magical names that I recognized in back issues of this paper."
"Petunia, how can we afford this?" He asked taking a moment to point out that while he was paid a decent salary it wasn't extravagant.
"The Goblins who run the magical bank took care of everything, the Potter family bank executive seemed more than willing to help me. He has also arranged for a stipend to be sent to support Harry, I only had to agree to bimonthly wellness visits and to hand over all receipts for Harry's expenses to them." She answered. "I had them hand over some funds so that I could turn our guest bedroom into a room for young Harry."
"Surely that isn't necessary? Where will Marge stay when she visits?" He protested not liking that his sister was getting evicted from her bedroom for a child he didn't even want under his roof.
"Vernon, after what I was shown at that bank, Marge can stay in the small room, she is only here two weeks a year and a couple of days at the holidays." She said as she filled him in on the rest.
Vernon had his misgivings and still wasn't going to agree to her plan until she told him the rest of the news. "Vernon, we will be getting what equals out to five hundred pounds every two weeks just for room and board, we will be doing this."
Vernon's rather greedy eyes went to the amount of money she pulled out of her purse and was reaching for it when she pulled it back and said "I have an agreement that the Goblins are requiring us to sign before I can hand over the funds."
Vernon read through it, skimming through it, really and reaching for a pen, quickly signed the contract with the thought that he would soon wear his wife's zeal down and get her to agree that the boy was too much trouble. Too bad he didn't realize he had signed a magical contract and that said contract had compulsion charms that would keep him in line...
A month later, Vernon had a vague recollection of a plan to take the funds and get rid of the boy, but for the most part, he just ignored the child and doted on his own son. He heard his wife's voice calling for him to join her in the kitchen where every night after dinner, she sat down and read the clippings she received and the frequent magical mail that they received via a magical mail box at that odd bank of theirs.
Lumbering into the kitchen, he unwillingly sat down across from his wife who was beaming at him as she shook some papers that were in her hands. "I did it, I found the evidence. Just you wait, in nine and a half years, when little Harry attends Hogwarts, he is going to be one Albus Dumbledore's worst enemy."
By the time that Harry was five years old, his aunt had divorced his uncle and had hired a elf nanny at the suggestion of the Goblins for both her own child and her nephew. Vernon had been caught with his pants down with a Realtor in Majorca where he had gone to purchase them a vacation home. Petunia had not forgiven him and had used a Goblin recommended lawyer to take him for all he had.
She had been researching the magical world for the last three and a half years and now was known by some in that world as a reliable squib investigator. She had been amused when the publisher of the Daily Prophet had hired her to research some claims of libel after having heard of her from the Goblins who had been taking orders from the angry woman regarding the non-licensed Harry Potter cottage industry that had sprung up after Harry's disappearance into the muggle world.
Now, she was a highly paid researcher in both worlds who had begun working under a pseudonym created by the Goblins. To her clients she was Sally Lockhart, squib researcher who worked in both the muggle and magical worlds. She had recently received an offer from a rather rich wizard who had her investigating her very own favorite target, Albus Dumbledore and his past with Gallert Grindelwald.
Checking on her boys, she was delighted to see that the diet the elf nanny had put Dudley on recently seemed to have yielded some results. Finding Harry quietly attempting to read the latest magical picture book she had picked him up in Diagon Alley, she ruffled his always messy hair and went to check in with the nanny, Carex.
"Welcome home, mistress Petunia." The elf stated as she snapped her fingers and a cup of tea appeared in front of the weary looking muggle.
"Thank you, Carex. How were the boys today?"
"Mr. Dudley was rather upset when he woke up from his nap. He left his new toys at his father's place and wanted to to retrieve them immediately." She stated looking expectantly at the boy's mother for the order to bring the new toys there.
"I left them on purpose, I have told Vernon that he needs to cease spoiling the boy." She said frowning. "As it is it will take weeks to get him back to eating the healthy food recommended by his pediatrician."
Vernon had refused to accept the recommendation of the physician who had threatened to report the parents regarding their son's weight issues. Petunia had admitted that Dudley ate healthy while home, but that when he was with his father and aunt, he was often fed food not on his specialized diet and that when her ex-husband visited, Vernon often slipped Dudley candy.
Thankfully, she had managed to convince Harry not to accept it, because Vernon had often handed as much of the sugary snacks to her nephew as well. Thing would settle down and then Vernon would take Dudley once a month for the weekend and they would be back dealing with a little boy who refused to eat anything but starches, unhealthy red meats and sugary snacks and drinks.
After spending time with the boys, Petunia went to her Goblin warded study and sat down to add to her thick dossier on Albus Dumbledore. The more she found out, the more horrified she was. Dumbledore was only honest when it came to the financial dealings he was in charge of, when it came to all other aspects of his domain the man was a megalomaniac who had way too much power for just one man.
Looking at the lack of evidence regarding a trial for one Sirius Black and grimacing at how backwards the magical world was regarding justice, she picked up a file that was right behind his, the file regarding Frank and Alice Longbottom. Albus Dumbledore seemed way too interested in this family for it to be benign and she wanted to figure out what he was up to.
Tapping her French Manicured nail on top of the file, her mind on how she herself could help fix this mess and at the same time, maybe gain a powerful ally in her future fight with Albus Dumbledore, Petunia Dursley opened her nice leather bound appointment book and circled her mid morning meeting with the brain specialist she had located while working on another case.
Dr. Hathaway was a squib, his parents had been squibs who had fled the war with Grindelwald. He had grown up in New Zealand had and only returned to England because he had received a scholarship to Cambridge. Now in private practice, he had a knowledge of the magical world that she required and at age forty was a world renown healer in brain injuries.
When she had interviewed him regarding another case, she had idly mentioned being a squib to him, which had led to them talking about his views of the British magical world which were very similar to her own. Rather intrigued, she had done some research and had come across an article he had published in the Lancet, a medical journal regarding success using ECT, to treat catatonia, when it was a subset of schizophrenia.
The thing was, how did she get Dr. Hathaway and Augusta Longbottom in the same room without exposing her own interest in the welfare of the couple whose rather conveniently time assault had been fortuitous for only one person, one Albus Dumbledore.
Chapter Two
Three more years later, Petunia was smiling happily at the headlines of the Daily Prophet. It had taken some time, but eventually Dr. Hathaway had spoken to Augusta Longbottom. She been convinced by him to trust her regarding the health of her son and daughter in law.
Twenty four months later, Frank and Alice had walked out of the St. Mungo magical hospital with their arms around their son and the entire Longbottom family had promptly emigrated to the Australian magical community. Petunia had already decided to take the boys to Sydney the later this summer so that she could speak to them.
Harry was now ten and had grown up with the knowledge of his parents deaths and the magical world, but Petunia had not mentioned Dumbledore, instead she had spent the last several years encouraging him to read books, play sports and to mingle with the non-magical or what the magicals called the muggle world. Harry and Dudley weren't friends, more like the cousins with different interests but she was grateful for that because she couldn't help recalling how jealous and bereft she had been when Lily had befriended Severus Snape and had learned the truth about why she could do the things she did.
In a years time, Dudley would be attending Smeltings Academy like his father had years before. It had been agreed upon in Vernon and her divorce proceedings. Petunia let out a sigh as she thought about her ex-husband, the man still lived with his sister as she had destroyed every potential relationship he had tried to explore and considering his deficits there weren't many.
He still worked at Grunnings and while not a great father to their son, mainly do to his absolute blindness regarding healthy living, he was at least acceptable. That was the one thing that Petunia regretted, that Harry didn't have his own father figure. Vernon had never been mean to Harry but he had also never tried to accept her nephew.
Hearing her watch beep, Petunia realized that she had to attend to her last meeting of the day and changing into clothes that were acceptable in the magical world, went off to meet this potential new client, one Lucius Malfoy who she was well aware was a dangerous man in the magical world.
Arriving at the conference room in Gringotts, she had no sooner sat down her briefcase and opened it to retrieve her leather note case than the tall blond wizard entered the room. She couldn't help noting his good looks were marred by the sneer on his face as the Goblin exited the room and closed the door. Standing, she held out her hand and stated. "I am Sally Lockhart, Mr. Malfoy."
The blond looked her over and she felt the mental tingle that the goblins warned her about and said with a lilt to her tone. "I may be a squib Mr. Malfoy, but I do have my own version of physical and mind protection defenses. Please stop trying to find out what I am thinking about."
The blond scowled and sat down across from her. "Are you related to that idiot Gideon Lockhart?"
"The blowhard whose books are full of contradictions, no." She replied wondering why he was asking more than positive he had researched her and found what the Goblins had allowed him to which was strictly her cover story.
"Good." He tersely replied. Taking out a sack of galleons, he placed them on the table and said "There is fifty galleons in this bag, another fifty when you find what I am looking for."
"Mr. Malfoy, I don't work blindly." She replied as she looked between the sack with the compulsion charm on it and the wizard. "I am also not foolish enough to accept the funds. I am quite certain that you are well aware of my reputation."
"Fine." He snapped angry with this squib, furious that she was his best chance of getting what he needed. He HAD done his research and knew from speaking to some of his former cohorts that she had no restrictions on who she worked for. She had even found what had been needed by Theodore Nott Senior to free himself from his unwanted betrothal to that Umbridge woman. "I want to know everything you can find out about the Black family estate. My son is the heir and he will be claiming his inheritance on his eleventh birthday next year."
"Let me save you the funds." Petunia said a bit disappointed on not really having a case. "I did some research regarding this very subject for another client. What I am about to tell you is a matter of public record if you know where to look and not covered by privilege."
"Do I look like the sort of person who gives a damn. Just tell me what you know." Malfoy said removing half the sum from the sack and putting it on the table.
"You aren't going to like it." She warned. "Warburga Black, who is my guess why you believe that your son inherits the estate, had no legal authority to bequeath it to anyone. She also had no legal right to expel anyone from the family. Her husband didn't have the authority to hand anything but his own trust over to his youngest son Regulus. Only the Black Head of House had the authority to decide the heir to the Black fortune."
"Arcturus Black outlived his son and daughter-in-law and he left the fortune to Sirius Black and had disowned Orion and Walburga to start with." she stated.
"Black is in Akzaban." Malfoy pointed out.
"Yes, he is. However, if he were convicted or to die, his will would be enacted. I found that the Goblins, the Ministry and the Muggle world all have copies of his will and in it, he leave his entire estate to one Harry James Potter." She said. "Your son would only inherit from Warburga and even that is suspect because she never updated her will. Her will left everything to her son Regulus whose will left everything to Sirius. So Harry Potter could also make a claim on that part of the estate."
"I am sure that will is a fake. Why would Black leave anything to that boy when he was responsible for the deaths of the boy's parents." Malfoy sneered.
"All I know is what is on record. You should also know that..." Petunia pulled out her rather thick file on various magical families and found the family tree she was looking for. Laying it out on the table, she said "This is the Black family tree... there are no male heirs in the line of Sirius and Hestia Gamp Black. Molly Prewett Weasley is the last of the female line from that branch but as has been stated, Arctumus disinherited both of his children."
She saw his lip curl and moved to the next branch of the tree. "Cygnus and Violetta Bulstrode Black, had one son and two daughters. Pollex, Cassipedea and Dorea Black. Pollax was the father of Warburga who of course tracks back to Sirius inheriting. Alphard who died without issue. And your father-in-law who had daughters. Cassidpeda lost her magic and lastly there was Dorea Black Potter who had a son who had a son."
Lucius tightly gripped his snake cane as he realized that by the rules of patrimony, Harry Potter was the heir after Sirius Black no matter how you looked at it. He had been seen the family tapestry and had been told that his son would inherit the estate by his father-in-law and Warburga.
Grimacing at the knowledge that Dumbledore had more than likely been controlling the Black seat in the Wizengamot all this time on behalf of Potter, he stood, nodded at the squib and began to exit only for the woman to speak. "Mr. Malfoy, there is another matter I am hoping to speak to you about. I have a client who is interested in discussing avenues to remove a certain Headmaster from his seat on the International court."
Malfoy turned and looked at the squib. "Why would this concern me?"
With a smile on her face, she said "My client is well aware that you have spent the last several years trying to remove the headmaster from his various positions. My client intends to succeed in their quest. I have been authorized on their behest to offer you a part in the plan."
"I would want to meet this client." Malfoy stated.
"I am sure you would but that isn't part of the bargain. You will be taking none of the risk only benefiting from their work. I will be frank, my client is concerned that any plan you yourself might put in play might expose their own plans. He is more than willing to allow you to benefit from his hard work, his plans are about revenge not power." She stated.
She saw the cold gray eyes narrow as Malfoy returned to the chair he had previously been sitting in. "I am listening."
"I believe you are aware of a wizard named Barty Crouch Senior..." she asked and saw his frown as he heard the name of one of the men who had not believed his claim of being under the imperio curse. "Yes, I would say you are. We are going to have Dumbledore removed as Supreme Mugmump and Barty Crouch put in his place. Barty is compromised, my employer owns him and no, it isn't anything that would help you."
Lucius looked at the horse faced woman seated across from him. He had had her researched and had come up with very little which wasn't surprising as most pureblood families tended to disown squibs. What he had found had intrigued him because she seemed to come out of nowhere after the dark lord's demise.
Now, here she was offering to pass on information on behalf of this mysterious employer of hers and he was cunning enough to be interested but cautious enough to not just fall in with her plans. Yet, Barty Crouch was a non-entity other this the man's believe that Lucius was a death eater. "How?"
"All you need to know is that my employer is going to request that you use your connections with Cornelius Fudge to get him to appoint Barty to this new position. If it helps, Barty won't be in it for long and you are quite free to put into the open seat whomever you would like." Petunia said hiding her need to smirk. She had seen his tell, Lucius Malfoy would be a formidable poker player except for one small tell. When something interested him, he had a tendency to run his hand over his wand handle in an almost indecent caress.
Petunia had no intentions of letting the pureblood faction win, but for now, she would let them think that they were building a power base and weakening Dumbledore, because that was the one thing that they were doing. The truth about power however, well that she had under her control already, even if no one in the magical world would ever suspect a squib of being able to out maneuver them.
Lucius looked into her eyes and saw the cool smooth almost amusement in the brown eyes staring back at him. Thinking on the latest vote by the Headmaster in regards to certain laws and he nodded his assent before standing and heading out the door without so much as a polite goodbye.
Petunia took pleasure in reading in the Daily Prophet how after a few health issues, Albus Dumbledore was stepping down as the Supreme Mugmump of the International Wizarding Courts. With a quiet chuckle, she tucked the clipping into her locked files and using a red pen crossed that chore off her list.
Sitting back in her chair, she shook her head as she once again was very grateful that logic and common sense were lacking in the magical world. Even better was that no one would ever suspect that one of the most revered men in the magical world could be infected by a muggle illness.
No one but no one would have any idea that all that was wrong with the man was simply arsenic poisoning. Not even to kill him, just enough to make him appear frail and unhealthy. Dumbledore had tried to protest his removal, had even suggested that it was merely a matter of his overdoing things on his schedule but that had played straight into her hands and had allowed her to plant the seeds of doubt about his age.
Petunia knew that she had to start outside of Hogwarts which was were Malfoy had gone wrong. The pureblood wizard had repeatedly attached the elder wizard at where he was strongest, instead of going for his weakest link. Now, Barty Crouch was where she wanted him to be and doing what she told him in an effort to keep his deep dark secrets hidden.
Even better, he had been convinced by a 'friend' that the muggles had a way of changing someone's thought process and had sent his son for the procedure in an effort to change him. Too bad Barty Crouch Jr had not responded well to EST or what muggles called Electro Shock Therapy.
The former Death Eater was little more than a drooling idiot that Barty had being supervised by a house elf. She would let him keep his position until her nephew was a student at Hogwarts, then she would remove the creepy bastard from his position and with Albus busy trying to deal with what she was hoping Harry threw his way, the pureblood faction would put their person in place allowing her to use her newest contacts to bring if not equality at least a form of democracy to the magical world.
Chapter Three
It was two weeks before Harry's eleventh birthday and he was sitting across from the strangest looking creature he had ever seen in his aunt's study staring at the man, er goblin in disbelief. "So you are saying I am a wizard?"
Petunia verified what the goblin had to say and gently told him the truth about the murder of his parents. All Harry had ever known was that they had been murdered by terrorists. As he was told the story, she watched and saw his eyes narrowing at her story of his arrival at the house of Privet Drive.
"You mean, like Moses in Egypt, right? A baby in a basket?" Harry said skeptically. "Was the symbolism intentional?"
"I don't know." Petunia answered wide eyed at the questions her nephew had asked, she had never once wondered about the symbolism of how he had ended up with her. That became another line of inquiry for her. "This man, Dumbledore, he portrays himself as a pureblood, out to save the souls of others, but in truth he was the child of a muggleborn as well as a pureblood so he might have been aware of the story."
Petunia thanked the goblin who had given Harry the paperwork her nephew needed to take care of and soon used the fireplace to return to Gringotts. "Aunt Petunia, why did you not tell me about this before now?"
With a heavy sigh, she went to her safe and pulled out the clippings and said "I have to take Dudley to his father's place. Read these and when I get back, I will answer any questions you have."
An hour later as she pulled off the A4 and drove back to the house on Privet Drive, Petunia calmed her emotions and organized her thoughts. Finding Harry still seated in the same chair in her office, most of the clippings having been returned to the desk, she said "How are you doing?"
"So these magicals, they think I am this Boy Who Lived? That I did this?" He asked holding up the headline that announced he had defeated He Who Must Not Be Named.
"Yes." Petunia replied.
Harry asked a few more questions, all pertaining to the previous war and his parent's part in it. When he was finished, he asked "How do you know so much?"
"I dug deep and made friends with people that have no idea my connection to yourself or your mother." She replied. Removing another file, she handed it over. "I have been having the Goblins shutting down most of this schlock, but collected a great deal of it so that you would be able to see this. Especially these books which I was unable to completely remove from circulation."
Harry took the file and the box that was on the back credenza and went to his bedroom. Getting comfortable on his bed, he began with the pre-teen books that described him as some sort of wizarding superhero. Midway through the first book he had laughed so hard he had almost injured his ribs as he heard his aunt calling him to join her for dinner.
At the dining room table, he looked at her and said "How on earth could anyone believe any of that nonsense to be true?"
"Harry, you will soon learn that common sense isn't so common in the magical world and that they have such a circular logic that they believe everything that they read and that the government tells them." She replied as she served them both chicken over rice and some steamed vegetables.
After loading the dishwasher which was on his chore list for the week, Harry went back to finishing the books and tossing them back into the box at the foot of his bed, completely disgusted with them.
Picking up the non-fiction books, he read about the history of the last two wars in the magical world and was still reading when his aunt entered his room and pointed out that it was almost midnight. "You should have been fast asleep two hours ago, young man."
"Sorry Aunt Petunia." He replied as he tossed down the last of the books. "It's just...well I see what you mean about common sense and logic. There is so much background missing to the history books and those fiction books read like some of Dudley's more cheesy graphic novels."
"Tomorrow, I will give the other view." she stated as she moved around the room straightening things and waiting for him to slide under the covers. When he had done so, she said "Lights out, young man."
With a small smile, she watched as he lay back and went to sleep before heading downstairs to let Carex know she had to head out for a late night meeting. Arriving at her meeting with Lucius Malfoy, the pureblood wizard who no longer sneered at her, but instead was proving to be a bit of a asset after she had done as promised.
"Crouch was exposed as having had his son removed from Azkaban prison." He bluntly stated as he looked across the conference table at her. "How long did you know?"
"I can only say that my employer found this out two years ago. When I told you it would do nothing for your cause, I meant it. Did you heard about his son's medical status?" Petunia asked.
"No one is sure what happened though there are some who believe he was kissed by a dementor." Lucius answered.
"The boy probably wished he had been by the time that his father was finished with him. See, there is a muggle remedy for certain illnesses of the mind, but on a healthy mind, well the cure burns away brain cells. Are you aware of what electricity is, Mr. Malfoy?"
"It's how muggles power things." He answered.
"Yes, the average plug carries 220 volts of power and it is enough to do serious damage if you accidentally touch it. What happened to that man's son, was a hundred times worse. He was hooked up to a machine on his father's behalf with small contacts all over his body and the voltage was surged through his body. It is similar to the affects of the crucioed over ten times in mere minutes and he was under this for at least a half hour. When it was over, his father had him returned home and didn't give him any follow up treatment. His son tried to escape recently, Barty decided to have the final solution done and had his son's brain essentially removed."
Shuddering as this squib sat there and recited all of the gruesome details without so much as a change of tone, he asked "What next?"
"You and your faction get to put a new Supreme Mugrump in place." She replied. "You should also know that there is going to be an investigation by the International Council into Barty Crouch and I know what it is going to find. Your bought and paid for Minster might want to get out in front of it, right now, if he stays silent it will seem as if he was a co-conspirator."
"Of what?" Lucius asked.
"This ties back to my research into the Black family." she said with a cool expression on her face. "Look into the trial of Sirius Black. Oh wait, you can't because there wasn't one. If this were to be exposed by the wrong hands or if Black suddenly died, it would ensure that Fudge was no longer Minister. If he were to expose the wrong doing of Crouch, it will not only take down Crouch, but Dumbledore and his group would take a huge hit in the press."
She could almost see Lucius Malfoy crapping his pants as he realized that his own self interest in keeping Sirius Black in prison might hinder his deep routed needed to take down Dumbledore. "If it helps, this is going to happen either with or without your help."
"What do you want from me?" He asked..
"Myself? I want nothing." She answered. "My employer, well he wants it done quietly. He has a score to settle with Mr. Black and it would work best if he was quietly released and then there a large spectacle in the ministry and press about how the wrong man had been imprisoned. If Fudge really needs his hand held and led to the path, do a little research into the magical effects of being a godparent. Sirius Black was and is magically the godfather of young Harry Potter."
Lucius looked at the woman and said "Anything else?"
"Dumbledore performed the ceremony." She replied and saw a slow smirk grow on the man's face. "Oh and if you want this to work, you are going to have to oppose the werewolf legislation that the current Undersecretary to the Minster is proposing because you are going to need the testimony of one RJ Lupin, werewolf to prove this."
Two days later, Petunia read the article in the Daily Prophet and handed it over to her nephew whose eyes went wide. "I have a godfather and he is in prison?"
"Yes, but he is innocent." She answered as she continued to eat her eggs and bacon. "What do you think of the werewolf bill?"
"It sucks." He said with the directness of a an almost preteen. "That book you brought me said that they can't help it, so why are they being treated that way? I'm glad this Mr. Malfoy opposed the bill and helped get it defeated."
"Yes, but if you read a little deeper you will realized he didn't do it out of charitable concerns but because of his own self-interest." She replied as she watched Harry lift the paper and reread the article on page three. When she heard the chimes at the door, she said "That is probably Ms Figg."
"Do I have to stay with her?" Harry asked in a dejected tone. The woman's house always smelled of wet cat and stinky feet. "I mean, what if I accidentally do something?"
"Don't and Harry you know why you have to go there." She gently prodded him to his feet. "Just do what you usually do and remember, she is watching over you for the man who put you in that basket."
"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harry said as he dragged his feet while approaching the front door. Greeting the woman he now knew was a squib spy, he gave his aunt a half hearted wave and stood outside.
"Thank you, Ms. Figg." Petunia said in a cold tone, as she claimed that Harry had been misbehaving yet again which was why he was staying with her instead of going to go zoo with his cousin. In truth, Petunia knew that Harry didn't want to go, her nephew had been rather unnerved to realize that he could speak to the snakes and now avoided the zoo as much as he tried to avoid Arabella Figg.
Two weeks later, Petunia Dursley walked into Gringotts and had a meeting with one RJ Lupin who seemed rather earnest in his apologies for not seeking out the son of his late friends.
"I am not the one who you should be apologizing to. That would be my nephew." She coolly replied as she sat down across from the wizard. "Now, how is Mr. Black doing?"
"He is in a private hospital arranged by his cousin Andromeda Tonks nee Black." He replied. "He wishes to see Harry."
"That will be arranged, but not until he is healthy enough. Your good friend needs to be healthy both physically as well as mentally." She explained. "Harry wasn't told about the magical world until this past year. All he knew was that his parents were killed by terrorists. I wished him to have as normal a childhood as I could arrange for."
"How is he?" Remus Lupin inquired.
Taking a muggle photo out of her wallet, she handed over Harry's school picture and said "You may give that to Mr. Black, however only the two of you are to even be able to look at it. There are too many from your world who tried to take advantage of my nephew while he was too young to do anything about it. There is a reporter who has been rather persistent in trying to track him down along with many others including some that I am sure that the Potters considered friends."
"What do you mean?" Remus inquired with a frown on his face.
"I have at least a dozen different wizards and witches try to trick me into signing a betrothal contract for Harry with their daughters. We have had several instances of people trying to claim the Potter vaults and even one witch who tried to claim that her daughter is the illegitimate child of James Potter and the true heir to the Potter fortune. She didn't pass the heir test at Gringotts in spite of repeated requests for the ministry to intervene since she was a pureblood witch."
"You said it was some of the Potter's friends." Remus stated.
"Yes, a family whose name I knew from when Lily was in school. What most don't realize is that I am not a muggle, instead it turns out that Lily and I are the children of a long line of squibs. I myself am one." She replied. "I won't tell you more, frankly I have too many questions regarding how Harry ended up in my custody for me to trust anyone from that world of yours completely."
"You should know, Sirius himself is questioning how you ended up with custody of Harry." Remus bluntly replied. "He said that Lily and you were estranged and that she seriously disliked your ex-husband. There was a will that stated who was to gain custody of his godson."
"The Longbottoms." Petunia announced. "Did you know what happened to them? How they ended up in St. Mungos? How there was an available treatment that would have healed them much sooner. Now they are alive, still magical but are barely up to raising their own son, let alone an inquisitive boy like my nephew. As for Mr. Black's recall, yes, there were problems between my sister and myself before her death, however Harry is MY blood. MY only living reminder of a sister I lost years ago, long before her death at the hands of that foul bastard."
That Petunia meant Albus Dumbledore not Riddle, she kept to herself as she listened to the werewolf/wizard discuss the situation with Sirius Black.
TBC May not?
