New Guardian, New Life

By: Sheltie

I still don't own Harry Potter


Chapter 8

Molly Weasley was sitting at the dinner table think of what she would do with the Potter fortune once she had her hands on it. She had her sights set on the Harry as soon as she learned of his name and when she found him on the platform alone she took her chance. She first played the part as a loving mother since the boy never had one it seemed. It worked well, but there was one snag. The little Mudblood. Somehow she became Harry's friend and made things more difficult.

Wherever he was she was bound to be there, it was like they were on the same wave link or bonded. That made Molly snort, as it just wasn't possible for a muggle-born to have a bond like that. She prepped her daughter for Harry and everything was going well she thought, but when Harry showed no interesting in Ginny that made her fear that potions were the only solution, which didn't bother her one bit as she was quite good at potions. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Molly asked warily with her wand out.

"Aurors" answered the person.

Molly slowly opened the door to find that they were aurors.

"What can I do for you?" Molly asked now relieved.

"Molly Weasley, you are under arrest for the attempted use of love potion on a minor and last scion of House of Potter," the auror said.

Molly gaped, she couldn't believe that little shit figured it out. She thought she had it planned out so well.

"Are you going to come along quietly or are we going to have to use force?" the auror said pulling his wand.

Molly thought of fighting back, but in the end she surrendered her wand knowing that she had an ace up her sleeve.

/Scene Break/

"What you are all about to see is my adventures at Hogwarts, I warn you that some of it is not for the weak of heart and if anyone wants to back out now I will not judge you" Harry said as he placed his last memory in the bowl.

No one made a move to leave.

Harry nodded and tapped a few runes on the side of the bowl.

They went through the trials that Harry went through and were amazed how he handled it. He had no training of any kind, except for what he was taught and that wasn't really comforting. Amelia was amazed how three first years made it through all the traps that the Hogwarts professors set up with ease. The Grangers couldn't believe it, this wasn't why they were paying Hermione's tuition to learn magic. Neville was shocked, as he like everyone else heard what went on in their first year, but to see it was totally different. He knew there was no way he could have done something like that. Susan was appalled that they would have something so valuable under such crummy protections. McGonagall couldn't believe her chess set was beaten so easily. Luna just watched on with her usual dreamy look.

Second year in the chamber was more of a terror than what happened with the stone as they watched a small Harry Potter take on a sixty foot Basilisk. There were no words to describe the sight. Hermione though having seen it in Harry's memories she still clutched onto Harry's arm tightly. The adults just watched with shock and awe as the twelve-year-old Harry took on the Basilisk and defeated it looking worse for wear. When they heard memory Harry tell Ginny that he wasn't quick enough tears came to their eyes. But as Fawkes healed him there was relief. Amelia made a note to take a look deeper look into Lockhart and his claims.

Third year was shocking also as they saw the events of the Shrieking Shack and the revelation that Pettigrew was still alive. It felt like a movie and they in the climatic part of it. When the Dementors converged and almost sucked the soul out of thirteen-year-old Harry, fourteen-year-old Hermione, and Sirius it was a very tense moment. When Harry and Hermione used the time turner to go and save Sirius it was a happy moment that and the magic users were stunned as they saw Harry cast a full corporeal patronus. Amelia told Hermione that she would not be arrest for illegal use of a time turner, which relieved Hermione.

Fourth year was a whirlwind of terror and excitement, which started when Harry's name came out of the goblet. The adults were displeased with how it was handled. McGonagall still berated herself for going along with Albus. They then saw each task and wondered how Harry had survived so well while the other Champions were hurt worse then he. Harry joked that he has a lot of experience.

The first task was scary as the Grangers got their first look at not just one dragon, but four. And the last one was the meanest one ever. They were in awe as a fourteen-year-old Harry faced the dragon and came out with barely and scratches. Amelia was very impress with Harry's performance. Neville, Susan, and Luna didn't need to see this, but watched too.

The second task was an eye opener as Harry commentated in this one. He told them he thought he was supposed to rescue Hermione first, then when he saw Krum taking Hermione he realized that what he 'sorely missed' was Ron. The Grangers felt admiration for the young man as he saved Fleur's sister even though he didn't have to. Hermione mumbled something about Harry's saving people thing. Amelia wasn't happy with how they selected the Champion's hostages. She could see the first two, but anyone with a brain could see Harry would rescue Hermione more than Ron as she heard from Harry and Hermione earlier how the redhead treated Harry when he was announced Champion.

The third task was one of the hardest to watch. They watched Harry get through the maze, but that wasn't very stressful. It was when Harry entered the graveyard is when everyone turned pale. They watched as Cedric Diggory was struck down by the killing curse and felt chilled when they heard the voice that said kill the spare. They watched Harry tied to a tombstone, which Harry pointed out was Voldemort's father. The ritual was scary, but when Voldemort rose from the cauldron is when gasps were heard. Hermione's nails were digging into Harry's arm. Susan was clutching onto Neville tightly. Luna though looked like she was unperturbed, but she shaking. The Grangers were scared out their minds as they thought that this is what Harry had to face. Amelia never faced Voldemort, but heard horror stories, this didn't even compare, this was worse. McGonagall couldn't believe her own cub faced the murderer of his parents face to face. What ensued had tears coming form the eyes of everyone in the room. When James and Lily Potter appeared there were choking sobs heard. When they heard Cedric's ghostly form tell Harry to take his body back to his parents there wasn't a dry eye left in the room. After that they heard everything from Fudge's denial to the beginning of the start of Dumbledore's resistance.

Fifth year was hard as they watch Harry plagued by nightmares from Voldemort. Hermione vowed never to question Harry ever again if his scar started to hurt. The flight and fight in the Department of Mysteries was astounding and Amelia had to give the teens credit for handling some of the most vicious Death Eaters and survive. When Hermione fell Emma cried out. When they saw Sirius fall and what happened afterwards was something. Amelia told Harry he'd have to pay a fine for using an Unforgivable, but that would be dealt with later. The duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort was amazing unlike any they have ever seen. But what really took the cake was when Dumbledore revealed the prophecy to Harry. They already knew it, but it didn't make it easier to hear.

When the exited the Pensieve there was a break for a meal and for Neville to tell his Gran he'd be staying the night. They also used this time to collect their individual thoughts.

/Scene Break/

Hermione was the only who had a handle on her feelings and what she saw in Harry's memories since she saw them when they bonded, but even though she saw them it still terrified her. What infuriated her was the fact Dumbledore kept the prophecy from Harry for so long and let him endure all the pain he went through and got no help afterwards. She had plans for the headmaster and they involved pain, excruciating pain.

Luna looked like her dreamy self on the outside, but on the inside she couldn't believe what her friend had been through. She thought her time at Hogwarts was bad with the pranks played on her and the taunting, but compared to what Harry went through she had no right to complain not that she did at all. She vowed to help Harry and Hermione in any way possible even if it meant for her to lose her life. She never had friends before and when Harry offered his friendship to her she took it and that changed her life forever. She was no longer going to take it anymore and was going to stand up for what she believed in, and that was Harry.

Susan just couldn't fathom what Harry had been through. She heard the rumors of Harry's adventures and even saw the events of the first task, but seeing all that Harry has done even seeing what happened in the second and third task was shocking, amazing and terrifying all at once. She wondered how Hermione stayed sane through it all. She knew she'd have gone bonkers with everything. She thought of herself as a loyal friend, but that paled in comparison in the loyalty Hermione showed to Harry. She knew that she had to step up and she would, she wanted to help and here was her chance and she wasn't going to waste it.

Dan's opinion of his son-in-law rose exponentially after what he saw the young lad had been through that and what his daughter told him about his home life. He couldn't believe that this young man turned out like this with the upbringing he had. He thanked god that he was there to save Hermione from that troll. But what really got him was that the young man had been through so much yet never wavered from his beliefs. He really liked this young man more and more with the more he saw and prayed that he'd get to know him better. He was angry that the so-called most powerful wizard kept information from the person it would be of use to. That same wizard also was the one who put Harry in that home and that was unforgivable.

Emma was frighten for Harry and the life he's had and what he had to do. She liked watching horror movies, but this was real and that's what scared her. The fact that her daughter was also a part of it, in fact she was in the middle of it. But she knew that there was no way to talk her daughter out of it, once her daughter had her mind made up it was pretty much a done deal. She liked Harry, heck she loved the young man and how he pulled her bookworm daughter out of her shell into the woman in front of her. This made it worse as she now thought of Harry as one of hers and she was a very protective mother when it comes to her children. Dumbledore was the first person on her list.

Amelia has seen a lot of things as an auror, but never has she seen what she saw today. She had training to prepare herself for duty, but Harry didn't and yet he's done and lasted longer than any auror she could think of. She was very impressed at how he handled every situation he was in even if he had no training or experience. Yes he made mistakes, but that was human nature. She wanted to strangle the old man for all he's done to the boy. She knew James and Lily very well and knew they'd kill Dumbledore for what he's done to their boy. But she was responsible for Harry even if he was married and now was looked at as an adult she felt like she owed it to James and Lily to do everything in her power to help Harry. The sake of their world depended on it.

Minerva saw horrors in the last war like Amelia, but nothing prepared her for what she saw. She berated herself for not doing more when Harry came and warned her about the stone. She just brushed it off because she trusted Albus. She kept making that mistake over and over and she hated herself for it. She saw a strong young man being stretched to the limit each year and still come out on top. She vowed to herself to do everything to she could to redeem herself for the wrongs she caused. She was not going to let Albus do anything he felt like, she was going to protect her students from him and his pet Death Eater. She was going to help Harry in whatever way possible.

Neville just came back from his Gran's with permission to stay the night, but his thought were on Harry and what his friend had been through. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he could've been the one in the prophecy. But he didn't want to dwell on that, there was more important things than that. He already decided to stand by Harry and he was going to stick by that. He knew that the Longbottom house and the Potter house had a long standing alliance with one another and he was going honor it. He knew he wasn't as good as Harry in magic, but he'd do everything he could to help.

/Scene Break/

After the meal a somber group trooped back into the sitting room for a talk.

"Well, are there any questions?" Harry asked breaking the silence.

Hermione snorted at this.

Harry turned to his wife who was wearing an innocent expression. This broke the tension in the room, which everyone felt was due.

"There is one thing that's bothering me, did Dumbledore know Molly was going to use love potions or were they working separately though trying to achieve the same goal in separating the two of you" Amelia said.

"That's a good question and I don't have the answer to that, but maybe Fawkes does" Hermione said as she turned to Harry.

Harry called Fawkes and when the phoenix flamed in he asked the bird about the love potions. With a series of trills and musical notes the phoenix answered then flamed out.

"According to Fawkes is that Dumbledore didn't know about Molly's plan, but had planted thoughts into Ron's head about getting Hermione. He was going to have Snape make the potions and have house elves slip them to us during meals" Harry said.

"Well he will have a difficult time since our bond negates all love and lust potions" Hermione said smugly.

"I quite agree though I suggest that you stay on your guard no matter what" Amelia said.

"You sound like Mad-Eye" Harry said grinning.

"Where do you think I learned it" Amelia said with a smile.

/Scene Break/

Draco Malfoy was pacing, he was in deep trouble and had no way out of it. Usually he had his father to bail him out, but he no longer had that option and now that his mother was gone also he had to do something. He had two choices, one good to the dark lord and beg for mercy and hopefully still join the ranks of Death Eaters like is father was. Second was to go to Dumbledore and Potter and beg for protection. The first one was suicide that he knew, but the second one had more of a chance since he knew that the old man is so easy to con. The hard part would be Potter, but he could deal with it. The only thing was could he swallow his pride.

/Scene Break/

Dumbledore was now at his wits end as he finally tried for the umpteenth time to try to expel Miss Granger with no success. He couldn't hear Fawkes and the sorting hat chuckle after every attempt. Dumbledore finally gave up and settle down in his chair just to get that queasy feeling again. This bothered him as he been having for some time now and had not yet subsided. This worried him greatly, but he moved it aside and worked on what he had to do for the year. He needed a way to get Harry back under his control and since the expulsion plan wasn't working then he had to come up with something else.

/Scene Break/

"Hello Susan, can I help you with something?" Neville asked.

Susan entered the guest room that Neville was using trying not to blush.

"Yes Neville, I want to talk to you about something" Susan said timidly.

"Well what is it?" Neville asked.

Susan tried to sort her thoughts as her mind went back to the conversation she had with Hermione and Luna just a while ago.

Flashback

Susan was in her room with Luna and Hermione talking when Hermione decided to toss a grenade.

"Susan, what are you going to do about Neville?" Hermione asked.

"Wh-wh-what?" Susan sputtered.

Luna smiled.

"Well I've seen how you've been looking at Neville lately and I can say that it isn't friendly" Hermione said smirking.

Susan still was sputtering.

"Yes, you've been looking at Neville like he was a piece of meat you want to devour" Luna said jumping into the fun.

Susan was blushing red and looking down.

"Susan, I'm not going to make fun of you, god knows I've been made fun of enough in my life to do that to someone else" Hermione said putting a comforting hand on Susan's shoulder.

"I've had a crush on Neville since third year, but never thought he'd ever look at me like that" Susan said softly.

"I don't think he can miss you with those" Luna said pointing to Susan's chest.

Susan blush deepened.

Hermione scowled slightly at Luna.

"She does have a point Mione" Harry said.

"Harry, have you been listening the entire time" Hermione said.

"No, just the last few bits and I have to agree with Luna, Susan can't go unrecognized with her, well big chest" Harry said.

Hermione inwardly sighed.

"Yes, but that wasn't very appropriate" Hermione said.

"Luna speaks bluntly, that's why I like her, she isn't afraid to speak her mind" Harry said.

Hermione let out another inward sigh.

"Hermione, you're doing it again" Susan said.

"Sorry" Hermione apologized.

"What were you and Harry talking about this time?" Luna asked.

"We were talking about your comment about Susan's um, chest" Hermione said with a bit of embarrassment.

"Oh, and what did the talk entail?" Susan asked wanting nothing, but change the subject even if it still involved her.

"Oh no, you're not changing the topic, we need to get to the heart of this Neville thing" Hermione said turning on her bossy mode.

Susan blushed brightly.

"Yes, let's continue with that, it was just getting good" Luna said brightly.

"Fine, I bloody well like Neville and want him as my boyfriend" Susan blurted out.

"There that wasn't so hard" Luna said patting the girl's hand.

"But I don't know what to do, I mean I never been one to go up to boys and put myself out there" Susan said whining a bit.

"Don't worry Susan, I've been Neville's friend since first year and Harry has shared a dorm with him also so it won't be that hard" Hermione said.

"How'd you talk me into this?" Harry asked.

"You have no choice since you decided eavesdrop on this conversation" Hermione said.

She heard Harry sigh making her grin inwardly at her triumph.

"Good, now Harry has agreed to help you get Neville" Hermione said.

"How'd you do that?" Susan asked.

"Hermione can be very persuasive when it comes to Harry" Luna said simply.

Hermione eyed Luna, but said nothing.

"Alright, well Neville loves Herbology, he's very good at it and um he has grown very nicely too and uh, I think that's all I have" Hermione said not happy with her lack of information.

"He has grown up" Luna said, "Neville isn't the boy who was clumsy and couldn't cast magic to save his life. He now has self-confidence, which he was lacking and I can see that he'll become a very powerful wizard though not as powerful as Harry or Hermione, but powerful in his own right. He also has a moral code that is strong and will stand up to people to defend a friend."

Susan and Hermione looked at Luna like she grew a third eye.

"What?"

"Uh Luna, how did you know all that?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, how do you know all of that since I've been friends with Neville longer than you and you seem to know more than I know" Hermione said.

"The Nargles told me" Luna said simply.

Neither Susan nor Hermione commented on this, but continued giving Susan courage to face Neville and admit her feelings for the boy.

"But what if he doesn't like me the same way" Susan said.

"Please, Harry just told me that he has a picture Colin took in fourth year of you at the Yule Ball, so I think he has the same feelings for you" Hermione said smirking.

Susan couldn't believe that Neville had a picture of her and that made her blush slightly.

"So, we have eliminate the wall that stand in the way of you and Neville getting together, so what are you waiting for?" Hermione said.

"But how should I go about it?" Susan asked nervously.

Hermione cocked her head slightly and then frowned as she furrowed her brow.

"What is Harry saying Hermione?" Luna asked.

"He says to just go in and see what happens, typical Harry go in blind and wait for the moment" Hermione muttered.

"I think that is a wonderful idea, thank Harry for us" Luna said.

"Luna, you can't be serious" Hermione said.

"It's a good plan and if that doesn't work we try something else" Luna said.

Hermione sighed and nodded.

Flashback end

"Susan, is everything alright?" Neville asked as he watched the blond look like she was doing a very good Luna Lovegood impression.

Susan snapped out of it.

"Sorry Neville, I kind of spaced out there" Susan apologized.

"No problem Susan, though you looked a lot like Luna at that moment" Neville said smiling.

"I did?"

Neville nodded.

"Oh, well I'll take that as a compliment then" Susan said.

"Fine, so what is it you want to talk about?" Neville asked as he sat on the bed.

"Oh, well, um, Neville do you like me?" Susan asked shyly.

Neville blushed.

"Why do you ask?" Neville said.

"It's an easy question Neville, do you like me or not" Susan said.

Neville didn't know how to answer since he didn't just like Susan he had feelings of love for the buxom blond. But what was he going to say to make sure he didn't give away anything.

"I like you Susan" Neville answered simply.

"Well Neville I like you too, a lot" Susan said as she kissed the boy on the cheek.

Neville felt his whole face explode and Susan's face wasn't any better as they now had matching red faces.

"Um, Susan would you like to be my girlfriend?" Neville asked with all the gathered courage he had.

Susan beamed.

"I'd love to" Susan said.

Neville grinned and lean in to give Susan a kiss when a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Susan, are in there?" Amelia asked.

"Yes auntie I'm here" Susan called.

"It's time for bed say goodnight to Neville" Amelia said.

"Night Neville" Susan said as she walked towards the door.

When she got to the door and was about to open it she felt a tug and was spun around only to embraced with a kiss.

"Night Susan" Neville said after they parted.

End of Chapter