Disclaimer:I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her.
Chapter 9:
The day had finally arrived; it was June 16th, around a month and a half before the Hogwarts letter had come for Harry as a student, and myself as an upcoming teacher. Since there was no longer any input from the teacher on the books required for muggle studies, I was sent a letter at the same time as Harry. Harry was only slightly excited as he knew he would be going to Hogwarts this year, but he was sad that he wouldn't be able to stay with his friends, especially with his new best friend Ashley. The story we had given to the school and to his friends was that I had finished my degree in teaching history and had been given a job at a prestigious school in Scotland for the gifted, and I was allowed to bring Harry with me as he had good enough grades for the school. The school was invite only and there was little to no information that could be found about it. We did let them know it was called Hogwarts but they only thought it was a school for gifted children.
The very same day Harry sent an acceptance letter, hoping there would be no reason for any of the Hogwarts teachers to escort him around Diagon Alley. We had decided that we wouldn't let anyone know that we were close at Hogwarts until we both agreed that they would be trusted enough. For now, only Susan and Amelia knew that I raised Harry. The story that would have to be told about his family would be that whilst his Aunt was his mother's sister she didn't really like magic much and neither did his cousin, but his uncle and he were very close. In fact, he called his uncle dad, which would allow for him to talk about his childhood and his dad to his friends without any issues. Both of our occlumency shields were strong enough that we felt we could keep the charade up until Voldemort was dealt with. In order to keep in contact whilst at school without anyone finding out, I found a muggle born who had enchanted two muggle notepads as a way to right to one another anywhere in the world. He had left the magical world after none of the purebloods allowed him to open up an enchanting shop in Diagon Alley, but he had finished off some of his projects including the books before doing so.
However, we did have a story for how he was comfortable around me and how he knew a bit about magic before coming to Hogwarts when he lived in the muggle world. As I had gotten my degree for teaching history in Surrey, I lived pretty close to him. I knew his uncle and I had come by once in a while to explain a bit about the wizarding world. So, I took him to Diagon Alley and brought him to the station for that reason. No one would be able to tell differently, and it would give us an excuse if Harry came to me for help with anything, which is what I expected would happen this year and for the next several years. Also, it would explain how he knew Susan, as that was the only magical kid I knew from my time with Amelia. Both Susan and Amelia had agreed to the story that we had made up to keep people from becoming too inquisitive.
Over the last year, I was having chats with Amelia about the possibility of Voldemort still being alive. I explained to her about what I had found out from the Goblins about what was in Harry's scar when I first found him. She was quite shocked that there was such a thing as a Horcrux, but agreed that it should be kept quiet. I also told her what little I knew about Voldemort's life as a kid and who he really was. I explained that I was going through his past to see if I could find any clues for where he may have hidden his horcruxes. She was happy enough that I had taken up this quest and would be looking to figure this stuff out at Hogwarts as long as I let her know how the search was going. I hated lying to her but there was absolutely no way to explain that I had literally jumped into the story that was Harry Potter after reading about it. So, I gave her bits and pieces of information as time passed by, as if I was learning about it in the present.
Another issue I had to deal with was taking Harry into Diagon Alley, and I wanted him to have the experience of seeing for the first time like many other magical students. So, I slightly transfigured myself and Harry, giving us both brown hair and blue eyes. We could easily pass as father and son and Harry didn't look at all like the pictures in the fictional books about him especially because there was no longer a scar on his head due to the Horcrux.
Once we got there through side-along apparition by Charing Cross Road and through the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was absolutely stunned. He had never seen so much magic before. And while most of the vocabulary about potions, brooms and plants were more known to him compared to Rowling's Harry, he was still quite shocked. After around five minutes of just staring he picked out a destination and I chuckled before I followed him into Flourish and Blotts. He took around ten extra books that had nothing to do with the syllabus, and realizing we hadn't yet bought a trunk we asked for the shopkeeper to hold onto the books for a little while. We then did go ahead and pick up a trunk that was just one size bigger than the regular Hogwarts trunks just for the extra books. Once we picked up the books we went to Gringotts which was the first time Harry was visiting since the removal of the horcrux in his head. Reaching the teller, I asked to see Swipeclaw. Whilst on the way to his office I undid the transfiguration on myself and Harry before stepping through the door. As usual he was sitting on his chair as if nothing had changed in the last ten years.
Once Harry and I were both seated and Swipeclaw was looking at us I began, "Hello Swipeclaw, you look like you haven't aged a bit since I last saw you." I tried using a bit of humour.
"Greetings Jack, it has indeed been quite a while since we last met, but your choices of investment have been pretty good and have so far brought in a lot of money for yourself and myself. And while goblins do not age as fast as humans do, I thank you for the compliment." I grinned at that, it was just like Swipeclaw from all those years ago, much happier to talk to humans than the other goblins it appeared.
"Well then, it appears that it is now time for young Harry here to join the wizarding world. He will be off to Hogwarts come the end of summer. However, we have never received a key for his trust vault. I assume that Gringotts doesn't have it either, is there a way to get him a new one and make the other one unusable?" I asked.
"Yes, that can be done, but Mr. Potter will need to give up a slight bit of his blood as proof that he is who he says he is." He said before shouting to his right in the Goblin tongue.
Harry then spoke out for the first time, "Please Mr. Swipeclaw, do call me Harry. And yes, I am willing to give some blood. Are there any other vaults from my parents or is there only a trust vault?"
Swipeclaw responded, "Well then Harry please call me Swipeclaw, and yes there is one other vault that your parents had, but most of the money was used to help in the war against the Dark Lord during the war, and thus they do not have much in their vaults. Since then no one has touched the money in the vaults and it has not gained anything in a long while."
Harry replied after thinking for a second, "So that means that no Goblin has been investing using my parent's money since the war. How come?"
As a contraption was rolled in by a new Goblin in the room, Swipeclaw responded, "At the time of the war, the instruction from James Potter was to keep all the money in the bank, I assume in case your parents needed it quickly which can't happen if it is invested. And since they died without providing any new information on what to do with the money except to have a trust vault for you, the Potter account manager could not use the money available. And since we make commission off of money from investments, he no longer stayed as your account manager. I can bring him in here if you want, his name was Gorhook I believe."
Harry quickly shook his head, "No thanks Swipeclaw, you seem to have done a lot of good with my dad's money, so I would be more than happy if you could take over as my account manager. And, please invest the money there like you do with dad's money, is that alright?"
Swipeclaw looked quite happy, "Of course if that is what you want, I will take charge of your account, let me just pull up the documents for you to sign while you get a new key with Bogrod over here." He finished before shuffling through the paper on his desk. Bogrod was the goblin who had come in with the contraption and was now near Harry and Myself.
"Greeting human, my name is Bogrod. Please prick yourself on this metal point for five seconds." Harry quickly complied and after a minute or so the device showed Harry's name proving his identity before pumping out a decently big sized key that he then gave Harry. Without another word Bogrod rolled his device back out of the room.
Swipeclaw quickly restarted the conversation, "Don't worry about Bogrod, not all Goblins are as accepting of humans as myself. Anyway, now that you have the key, here are the forms and a quill with ink for you to sign Harry." Harry looked at me quickly and after I gave him a quick nod, he signed the document. "Alright Harry, from now on I am your account manager, I am confident your gold will grow just like your dads has done. Jack, your takeover of the Daily Prophet has been complete and you have over fifty percent all under aliases of several muggle-hating purebloods, which was the only way to get Malfoy and Fudge to sell their stocks. I've started discussing with the chief editor there as a representative of the majority owners and my instructions so far have been to write only the truth and to ban the use of quick-quotes quills at the Daily Prophet. I hope that is fine for now, as and when Harry comes into the news I will make sure that it mostly stays positive, is that fine?"
I was surprised, I didn't expect Swipeclaw to go as far as he did with my taking over of the Daily Prophet. I didn't think he would go further than just investing for me so I responded, "Wow, that is amazing news. I had no idea you would do. Please increase your commission from eight percent to twelve percent. You deserve it!"
Swipeclaw just grinned at me, "Thank you very much Jack. Now if that is all for today I will get Bogrod to take Harry down to his trust vault before you leave. And I would recommend transfiguring yourself again before leaving this room." Both Harry and I said our goodbyes before following Bogrod to his vault and then back out onto Diagon Alley.
After looking around the alley and picking up a snowy owl which Harry and I both agreed should be called Hedwig, we made our way to Ollivander's. Surprisingly, he did not recognize us, which meant that he generally used legilimency to know who his customers were like he did with Harry in the books. However, it still took forever for Harry to get a wand and it was the same; eleven inches, holly with a phoenix feather core. Again, surprisingly Ollivander didn't mention that Voldemort had the brother wand of Harry's like in the books.
-Time Skip-
A few weeks later and it was September first, the first day of Hogwarts. Harry and I were relatively on time as we had a good routine going from when Harry went to regular school. He had packed the night before and you could see the excitement coming from him as the time for the train to leave drew closer. We apparated just outside the station at 10:30, and made our way through all the human traffic before I held Harry's hand and walked through the wall of platform 9¾. Wanting to be early I let Harry go fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to leave. We weren't going to be too far apart and the notebooks would help, but we were both quite emotional with our last hugs before he ran onto the train to find Susan. I needed to get to Hogwarts by noon as McGonagall had asked the new teachers to come in early and settle into the castle before the kids arrived.
As I walked back through the wall, I saw the Weasley's just coming through, and soon enough I heard Mrs. Weasley ask, "Now, what's the platform number?" before Ginny responded, "Nine and three-quarters!" Quite a few people around her were looking at her strangely as she was still decently far away from the notice-me-not charm around the wall that took you to the Hogwarts express. I quickly pulled out my wand and placed a notice-me-not charm around the family before walking up to her. She seemed slightly distracted as if she was looking around for Harry, in fact, she even mixed up her twins as they walked through the wall, something which I find hard for a mother to do. I said, "Excuse me, could you please not discuss the name of the platform out loud around the muggles. A lot of them were looking at you strangely when you agreed with your daughter about there being a platform nine and three quarters. I had to put a notice-me-not charm around you to stop the looks. If enough people mention the platform name then the muggles will start to ask questions."
She looked quite mollified at that, "Yes of course, sorry Mister?"
"Mister Stark, or as your kids will soon know me as Professor Stark. I am the new muggle studies professor."
She quickly nodded, "Right, sorry Mister Stark, it won't happen again." She did look disappointed in herself and it seemed like she knew how much trouble she could be in for what she had just done.
I let her go saying, "Alright, you better get this one on the train then, you wouldn't want him to miss it, would you?" I said whilst pointing to Ronald.
She quickly sent him through the barrier after once again apologizing and thanking me. It seemed like Dumbledore did in fact ask Mrs. Weasley to be around watching for Harry, probably to get him form a friendship with one of the members from the order of the phoenix which would help keep track of him. Already his plans were beginning to unravel and Harry was going to have a much better time at Hogwarts than he did in the books.
