Chapter IX

His Happiness Is Paramount


"Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own."

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


The magic that seemed to roll out of Hermione Granger was startling to say the least. Quiet, bookish, rule-bound, teacher's pet, Hermione Granger had lashed out with her magic at the Headmaster of all people in cold fury. The reason why her fury was doubled and targeted at the wizened professor was due to what she had learned from sharing bits and bobs of her life with Harry and his with her.

What she learned was without a doubt cruel beyond compare.

Starved for love and affection Harry was for a good majority of his life. Not to mention the fact he had never even known his own name until the first day of school where he was scolded for lying about not knowing his own name. And to live in the cupboard under the stairs for nearly ten years of his life?

No. Harry returning to Privet Drive Number Four was absolutely out of the question so long as she drew breath.

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said sternly as he leaned forward, "though it is commendable that you would jump to Harry's defense, you must listen to why I had to send young Mr. Potter to the Dursleys. It is pertinent that you do, for there are things in our Magical World that even you do not know of or comprehend."

Harry, quick as a flash, began to placate the young witch sitting right next to him by hugging her to his shoulder and rubbing her back soothingly. He was the only one in the entirety of Hogwarts that knew Hermione Granger, despite being a relatively passive and docile person, had a temper that outrivaled that of Ron Weasley. He knew this only because the Soul Bind had shown him flashes of Hermione's most explosive moments and could feel the rage and hatred seethe within her whenever something had been done to slight her.

She hid her outbursts well, always leaving before it became too much to control of dissipate. For years she had tried her best to control her outbursts because she knew that during those times of outbursts she was never herself, the person she wanted to be. For so long she had been alone with no friends and parents who near constantly demanded near perfection from her to the point seeking perfection seemed almost second nature to her.

He had wondered for so long why he felt that he had found a kindred spirit within her. He now knew truly and utterly why he did. One was a failure born to die. The other, a tool meant to achieve perfection. Though she felt some measure of love and affection, it was tainted by the fact it always was rewarded for academics rather that given unconditionally as a loving parent should.

She loved Harry Potter; not the Boy-Who-Lived. She loved the quiet boy who was polite and kind to others; not the dashing hero in the stories. She was kind to him for no other reason than to be kind to him.

Harry felt her tremble in her grasp and tightened his hold on her while he felt her hand grasp his robes tightly. "Don't get yourself worked up over this 'Mione. They are not worth your tears."

"You are worth all my tears Harry," Hermione sobbed quietly. "I don't want you to go back to that dark place again. I don't want to lose you to that darkness." She looked up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. "I don't want to lose you Harry."

"Do not worry Ms. Granger," Professor Dumbledore interrupted. "Mr. Potter will not be returning to Privet Drive Number Four anymore." He was inwardly shook up at the fact that Hermione had nearly exploded on him if her violently raging magic was any indication.

A passive Legilimency probe performed on Ms. Granger at the moment of her outburst had shown him pieces of memories belonging to Harry Potter, thus explaining Hermione's violent reaction. And when he performed the same on the young Potter Heir when he had begun to soothe the young witch, he had found memories concerning one Ms. Granger during her own Childhood.

'A Soul Bind did this?' he mused silently. 'Despite it all, they still clung to one another, finding a kindred spirit in the other rather than turning away in disgust as I know many people would do.' The old professor sighed sadly as he regarded them. 'There is no possible way anyone would be able to tear the two apart now. Their magic gives the feeling of one rather than two now.' He pondered the philosopher's words. 'One soul in two bodies… Magic indeed,' he chuckled.

"The reason why I had to place Harry with the Dursleys is simple; had I not placed him with those blood relatives, I would have been forced by old by-laws laid down four-hundred years ago to place him in the care of the family closest to him by blood relation." He held up his hand when he saw everyone, including Snape, about to shout in shock about Harry being placed with a better family. Ignorant people. "You know the family dearly Severus, you are the godfather of their child."

Severus paled when he realized what family the Headmaster was referring to. "You don't mean?"

"Indeed," Albus nodded grimly. "The next family related to Harry in blood is the Malfoy family." At everyone's shocked looks, while Harry and Hermione appeared pensive due to their changed relationship with Draco, he explained. "Dorea Potter née Black married Charlus Potter and later bore one James Potter later in life. Dorea Black was the aunt of Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black. Narcissa Black would later go on to marry Lucius Malfoy and bear Draco Malfoy.

"So you see? I had to choose between two evils," Dumbledore sighed. "If I chose the Dursleys, I run the risk of Harry turning into a possibly dark wizard if he gives into hatred born from the abuse of his 'family,'" he spat the word as if the Dursleys did not deserve to be called such in concern to Harry. His face sagged and showed his age and weariness.

"Or choose the Malfoys and know that they would either serve Harry up to Voldemort or mold him into an instrument of darkness that would put him on the opposite side of us." Finally understanding Dumbledore's previous dilemma concerning the family to place Harry with, the entire room fell silent at the implications.

"But Harry could not have possibly joined the Death Eaters," Filius spoke up. "It was because of their leader Voldemort that his parents perished. Surely he would not have joined them?"

"I thought of that too," Albus said with a shake of his head. Silently bracing himself, he prayed that he would be forgiven for what he would later say. "But if Harry was pampered and raised with enough care by the Malfoy's and told that, he would more than likely still stay dark. Indoctrinate enough information in a child, and you can skew their view of the world. Not only that, but he would have already adopted the Malfoy's as his parents and considered them his family rather than Lily and James. Why would he then care for a family he never knew and was taught to hate?" He sighed once more and rubbed his eyes.

"I at least had the hope that with the Dursleys that they would either leave Harry alone and let him come into his own or… abuse him enough that he would rebel enough to want to be his own person rather than someone to be controlled."

The glare that Harry and Hermione leveled him was enough to show the wizened professor that he may have overstepped his boundaries concerning Harry's life. But he stuck by what he had decided long ago.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't," Albus sighed. "I could ensure Harry's happiness at the cost of safety, relatively speaking, or ensure his safety at the cost of his happiness. So I chose to sacrifice his happiness for ten years of his life to ensure his safety with the hopes that he could find happiness here." The Headmaster smiled at the two children embracing each other. "I believe he found that happiness he so yearned for."

Hermione, ever so smart Hermione Granger, finally understood what the difference in home life would have entailed for not only young Harry, but the entire Magical World. She would have died a year ago on October 31st in the girls' bathroom at the hands of that Troll if not for the efforts of Harry. Ouroboros would have gone a reign of chaos throughout the school had not Harry intervened. Myrtle would not have gained her task to free her beloved had Harry not confronted Tom Riddle.

Dumbledore took a risky gamble that hinged far too much on a myriad of independent variables she mused. The gains would take a while to show and the process of removing the mental abuse instilled in Harry would take time. She looked up at him and realized though that because of the abuse he took, he came out of it stronger and morally higher compared to all others.

Shaking her head, Hermione did not want to even imagine a different life had Harry been raised by the Malfoys. Would everything be different? Her eyes widened realizing that if the Malfoys took custody of Harry, they would also have full access of the Potter family vaults as well, practically increasing their power. Shivering in fright at what could have been, she turned to the professor.

"Apologize." The statement was short and ambiguous. But Professor Dumbledore was not known for being one of the greatest wizards since Merlin himself for nothing. He knew the art of subtext. Nodding his head, Albus gave a heartfelt apology to Harry. He apologized for the horrible trials he had to go through for ten years.

"I'm am most sorry however, that, despite all the power I hold, I could not free your innocent Godfather from his wrongful imprisonment Harry."

A moment of silence followed. Albus waited a little longer to see if either Hermione or Harry would react violently, but the two of them just seethed where they sat, glaring balefully at the wizened professor. No, it was Minerva who reacted violently by throwing a powerful banishing hex at him. He had luckily had the Elder Wand at the ready in case an outburst had occurred. Unluckily though, it was Minerva firing the hex rather than Harry or Hermione doing so.

The backlash of the clashing magic caused both Albus and Minerva to be thrown back into their seats. Both were breathing heavily, their chests heaving slowly, the Headmaster's due to age and McGonagall's due to blinding rage. The glare she sent his way just reaffirmed the fact that Albus was descending further and further down everyone's shit-list.

He sighed heavily, knowing that despite all the things he did to ensure Harry's safety and ability to choose his own life, to ensure the safety and prosperity of the Magical World and its future generations, Muggleborn, Half-blood and Pureblood alike, he had gambled it all at the expense of Harry's happiness.

"Are you calm now Minerva?" Albus asked with a raised brow. He sighed at the huff she gave. "As I was saying, despite all the power I have, I could not turn over Sirius's conviction, or rather the lack thereof." At everyone's glare, save Severus who had a brow raised in a curious manner, he explained, "There are few things that you must understand. Everyone, save me, believed Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper.

"He was in fact not. Peter Pettigrew was the Potter's Secret Keeper." All the adults in the room had absolutely gobsmacked looks on their faces, rendered speechless at the revelation of the news. Their gobsmacked looks changed to looks of fury directed once more upon the Headmaster. "I had only just learned this recently when I talked to Sirius in Azkaban."

He then looked off into the distance, trying to remember exactly why everything seemed to go against Harry Potter. That's right… the Prophecy… Shaking his head he turned back to regard everyone.

"During the war, everyone remembers how Minister Bagnold was given emergency powers to do what she believed was necessary to end the war. One of those emergency powers was to be able to assign any person believed of being in connection with Voldemort." The adults all remembered this and then remembered what the exact shape of the government was and fully realized the implications meant by that. "Yes," Dumbledore nodded, seeing the other professor's reactions. "Despite being in the Pro-Pureblood movement and taking bribes from Purebloods, she was popular with all magicals."

"So, if I'm getting this straight," Snape began coolly, "Because of public support for the end of the war, emergency powers, and a corrupt government, Black was wrongfully sentenced to Azkaban… correct?"

"Indeed," the Headmaster sighed. "And despite my urging that Sirius was innocent, I could offer no proof that Sirius was innocent other than my word. I was already at the time facing cross-examination at the time." He gazed at the adults gathered. "You know what I speak of."

"What about the?" Filius' eyes widened in horror at what did not come from mouth. "They placed that under a Fidelius Charm?!" he asked absolutely shocked.

"If you mean a piece of paper meant to be activated after death, yes. Lily and James took extreme precautions to ensure no one could execute it save Harry or Sirius. They wanted to make sure any inquiries made into the details of it would be halted without the exact words to access it."

"Paranoia will cause anyone to jump at shadows, especially in the type of climate our world was in at the time," Pomona sighed. "To think all of this could have been avoided if Tom had never sought revenge."

"I feel that even if that did not happen, a different evil would have been born." Leave it to Snape to be a killjoy, despite having a point. "Our society bred the evil within Tom Riddle. Who's to say another would not have risen if he did not?"

"Quite," Albus agreed, interrupting the discussion to bring them back on topic. "Even if we could access it, the details entailing Sirius' absolute innocence were written in Gringotts Wizarding Bank rather than in a Ministry Department due to the atmosphere at the time." They were all startled out of their socks when they heard Filius utter Gobbledegook in a furious tone, his face awash in rage.

"Quite right Filius," the Headmaster agreed once more with a sigh. "Though some words were rather colorful, because Gringotts is considered foreign soil, and Goblin soil no less, the Ministry, due to its laws, is allowed to ignore any documents written up. The autonomy that Gringotts has is in this case a double-edged blade for us."

"Is everything seeking to wreak havoc with Harry's life?" Minerva sputtered angrily. "The government, Voldemort, you?" she added Dumbledore onto the list as well. "Can Harry have at least a break for once in his life? Is that too much to ask?" Tears were now falling from the Transfiguration Professor's eyes. "He's suffered enough, let him be for Merlin's sake."

Albus rose from his seat and, after banishing his seat to storage, began to pace. "That is why over the summer I will be working on a way to have Sirius exonerated." The Headmaster almost jumped in fright when young Ms. Granger shot from her seat and began yelling at him.

"But I thought you said you couldn't free Sirius!" Hermione shouted, standing quickly from her seat, her anger reaching a boiling point. "Can you or can you not?! You said despite all of your power, you could not free him! So are you just doing this out of guilt because you don't want Harry to suffer anymore?!" She was once more crying furiously. "Harry's happiness should have been paramount! Why didn't you ensure that before today?!"

Once more, quick on his feet, Harry had grabbed Hermione by the waist and hugged her to his body. The bushy haired girl quickly turned in his grasp and bawled into his robes, tears of anger toward everyone save Harry, pain because of their now shared memories, sadness that he had to live through those times and love for him and only him pouring forth from her soul.

"Trying to do everything at once, trying to bear the burdens of the world," Albus sighed, summoning his chair and slumping into it, "While at the same time trying to run a school and watch over everyone… For so long I've been trying to do everything at once." He closed his eyes and let a tear roll loose. "I have been arrogant to think I could do everything alone. All the power pushed upon me by the world has made me forget a fundamental truth, that I am just one, single man."

"You need to place faith and trust in others," Harry told Dumbledore calmly. "I know you're a great wizard, a great man Professor Dumbledore. But you're just that, a man. You can't do everything. That's why you have to trust others to bear the burden with you and go through the trials with you." He looked down at Hermione and kissed the top of her head.

"I know that without Hermione, or even Ron, that I would be dead." None of the adults could dispute him on that due to conviction in his own voice and words. "Trust people to help you. There is no harm in doing so." He then cleared his throat.

"You were saying about finding a way to exonerate Sirius?" The blatant hope in his voice of finally finding a way to escape the Dursleys had the professors smiling in spite of themselves. He smiled down at Hermione when she turned up to look at him and kissed her nose, causing the girl to giggle. The two then turned back toward the Headmaster and saw that all of the professors had their eyes averted.

"Yes, right," Albus coughed slightly, drawing everyone's attention. "I had found that to the only way to free Sirius was to have Millicent Bagnold's action overturned. The problem being is that the current Minister is the only one who can override the action of a previous Minister." The gathered adults groaned in sync, once more realizing that this was not going to be an easy task. "Indeed." If he sighed once more, Albus was going to have to see himself checked on by Poppy later.

"And after enough pestering, Cornelius told me that I would have to find irrefutable proof that would prove Sirius' innocence and bring it before him to consider having Sirius exonerated." He then chuckled. "I then asked him if I brought him Peter Pettigrew alive, would he do so. His reaction was 'If you bring me Pettigrew alive, I'll exonerate Black, shake his hand and offer him my job!' Cornelius then stormed away before adding, 'I'll eat my hat too afterward!'" The seven gathered all had a laugh at that.

"So all we have to do is find Pettigrew?" Snape asked with a roll of his eyes. "That's nice. Finding a man who has been on the lam for over a decade shouldn't be too hard." The sarcasm was hard to understand, as many knew Snape to be a blunt man.

"Was that a joke Severus?" Pomona asked with a grin.

"I said no such thing," Snape replied rather too quickly.

"Back to what began this discussion," Dumbledore once more interrupted, steering them all back on course. "We must discuss Harry's summer lodging." He then steeped his fingers together. "As you know, students are not allowed to stay in Hogwarts during the summer. And because Harry is underage, he must return to the Dursleys, lest he be forced to head home to the Malfoys. However," he added, "students in apprenticeships in a field may stay within the castle to learn from the professor in that field over the summer." He smiled at the dawning realization on Hermione and Harry's faces.

"Did you hear that Harry? You don't have to go back to the Dursleys!" The two shared a heartwarming hug that had the ladies cooing at them and the men coughing and averting their gazes, yet smiling all the same. Snape just had his eyes closed, sighing sadly before looking away and ruminating silently.

"There is one hiccup though. Harry must return to Privet Drive and stay there for twenty-four hours. That part of the rule was made for those who were to be pursuing a teaching degree so that when live in the castle the following term to have hands on experience at teaching students they can say goodbye to their family." He smiled ruefully. "It was demanded by a few mothers so that they could still see their children a little while after school before they left again."

"Exceptions to the rule always seem to make my life just a little interesting," Harry chuckled, seeing the reoccurring theme with his life.

"I'm going with him!" Hermione interjected. "There is no way I am letting him stay alone there." Her stern glare broke under the Headmaster's kind smile.

"I would have asked you either way. However, if you wish to be by Harry's side during the summer, you must as well be in an apprenticeship."

"I will take Harry as my apprentice," two voices, one female and one male, said at the same time. Minerva stared at Snape as if he had suddenly grown another head.

"Yes?"

"A way to create violently reactive potions and such in a dark dungeon? Hunting for rare ingredients out in the wild? Learning how to do something in the Magical World that doesn't involve a wand and is nigh untraceable?" Harry cackled with glee, steeping his fingers around Hermione. "Excellent."

"On second thought…"

"Nope! Too late," the Headmaster said with a grin. "You asked for Harry as your apprentice first. Right Minerva?"

"Indeed. I do believe he did," the Transfiguration Professor agreed, smiling as if she caught a canary.

"Potter," Snape groaned into his palm. "Please go easy on me."

"No promises Severus." The grin was absolutely devious.

"Harry," Hermione warned with a glare.

"Yes dear." No matter what, the only thing Harry Potter feared more than anything was a pissed off Hermione. Because a pissed of Hermione meant no hugs or kisses.

A quick peck to the lips had his spirits shooting up once more.

"Whipped." Snape smirked back at the glare Harry sent him.


As you'll notice, no scene or point of view changes. There will be few of these types of chapters. This, as you'll notice was exposition and a very deep explanation into the flaws concerning the government and Dumbledore. So... any holes I need to fill? Because I'll go back and edit if need be. PM me if you wish to discuss the 'excuses' I made more in depth. Politics and law aren't my strong suites, so if you had your jimmies rustled by the points in this chapter, PM me so you can rant and explain this and that to me.

Chapters are getting kinda heft ain't they? Don't worry. I'm going to do my best to keep the word count below 2.5k for future interval chapters and below 4.5k for heavy plot point chapters. If I do that, I should be able to have another chapter out by the end of today. Wish me luck!