Witch Wishing Chapter 10, a harry potter fanfic

Witch Wishing
by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it.
If you don't like it, go and find something else to read or write your own story to your liking!

It was in the morning of Neville's twelfth birthday that Bandhu and Severus popped to St. Mungo's with Poppy and Harry, knowing that it would be wise to have a healer and a person clearing standing for the light side with them in order to be allowed to cast an unknown spell at two patients of the long-term ward.

They had decided to not alert Neville and his grandmother in advance, as they had no proof that the spell, which Bandhu and Severus had worked out from Helga Hufflepuff's ancient spell, would indeed work for the Longbottoms. If so, Neville would be in for his best birthday present ever.

Fortunately, Poppy was good friends with Head Healer O'Brian, and they indeed managed to get into the long-term ward to attempt healing the Longbottoms.

Harry remained at the back of the room together with Poppy and the healers responsible for the Longbottoms, when Bandhu and Severus stepped over to Alice and simultaneously cast their spell. Harry held his breath in excitement, but was brought back to reality when Alice let out a heart breaking cry.

"Death Eaters," she shouted upon seeing Severus stand at the edge of her bed together with an elf who was unknown to her.

Poppy and Harry hurriedly stepped in front of the life savers, and Poppy immediately tried to calm the upset woman.

"Alice, here are no Death Eaters," she said in a soft voice. "Bellatrix Lestrange cursed you eleven years ago, just after Voldemort killed the Potters, and Severus Snape together with Bandhu, one of the elder elves, just healed you from the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse."

Alice stared at the healer in disbelief, before she asked, "Where's Neville?"

"Hello Aunt Alice, I heard that you were my godmother. I'm Harry Potter," Harry spoke up in a small voice and added, before giving Alice the opportunity to interrupt, "Since we didn't know if the spell would really work, we didn't tell Neville in advance, so he's at home, probably celebrating his twelfth birthday as we speak."

Alice reached out for Harry's hand, while Bandhu and Severus walked around the bed to Frank's side. "You're Harry, my godson?" she asked, incredulously, however, a small smile appeared on her lips. "The last time I saw you, you were a baby, just like Neville."

Returning the smile, Harry said, "I'm going to get Neville." Before anyone could keep him back, he popped himself right to the entrance door of Longbottom Manor.

An instant later, Harry had to explain to Neville and Augusta Longbottom that he'd like to take them both with him for Neville's birthday surprise.

Giving Harry a very strict look, Mrs. Longbottom grudgingly agreed, while Neville jumped from one foot onto the other in clear excitement. "Are we going to Hogwarts?" he asked, seemingly happy.

"No," Harry replied, as he quickly made a Portkey from the cork of a potions phial that had miraculously found its way into his robe pocket.

A moment later, the Longbottoms found themselves face to face with Neville's parents, who pulled Neville into bear hugs and wished him a happy birthday.

"Harry, this is the best birthday present ever," Neville blurted out, teary-eyed. "Thank you so much."

"No Neville, don't thank me," Harry replied, shaking his head. "I haven't done anything. It was Professor Snape and Bandhu who healed your parents."

Before Alice and Frank could make a fuss over the two heroes of the day, Severus, who had just quietly spoken with Augusta and Poppy, suggested, "Why don't we go to Hogwarts, where you can stay for a while to get used to normal day life again?"

At Hogwarts, Neville's birthday party continued until after midnight, when it turned into Harry's birthday party, as everyone wanted to speak with the Longbottoms and tell them everything that had occurred during the relatively peaceful ten years of their absence.

Minerva extended Severus' earlier invitation and suggested for Alice and Frank to live in her guest quarters for the time being, together with Neville and Augusta if they wanted.

While Neville happily accepted the invitation, as it gave him the opportunity to get to know his parents and spend some time with Hermione and Harry, Augusta Longbottom preferred to return to her home, promising to come to visit every now and then.

On the following day, Amelia Bones arrived at Hogwarts with Susan in tow, to congratulate the former Aurors and offer them their positions back, whenever they were ready. She also announced to Neville that the Aurors had captured Bellatrix Lestrange and, since she had once escaped from being sent to Azkaban eleven years ago, she had been sentenced to the Veil, a verdict, which had already been executed on the previous day. Needless to say that Neville and his parents were outright happy at the news.

It was later the same day that Albus informed the Longbottoms at dinner that Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet had contacted him asking for an interview with the Longbottoms.

"No," Frank outright refused. "We're still not ready, plus we missed a lot during the last couple of years. Maybe Neville or anyone who knows everything around our rescue can speak with her."

"Harry and I will," Hermione spoke up, noticing from the corner of her eyes that Harry nodded his agreement as could be expected.

'Oh yes, we will, and neither she nor the Minister of Magic will like it,' Harry thought to her, smirking.

As soon as the following morning, Rita Skeeter visited Hogwarts for her interview with Hermione and Harry. The reporter was wearing green robes and seemed over excited to meet the boy who lived and his friend.

"How does it feel for children if their friend's parents are suddenly back?" Skeeter asked in a sweet voice that almost made Harry gag.

"Ms. Skeeter, we'd like to tell you a little about the background of the Longbottoms' rescue," Hermione replied in a business-like voice, completely ignoring Skeeter's question.

"Harry here is the heir of the four founders of Hogwarts, which makes him the owner of Hogwarts," Hermione began, noticing that the most annoying witch on the other side of the table eagerly made notes of each single word she said.

"As such, he has access to Helga Hufflepuff's library, which is where we found the spell, which became the basis for the spell that Professor Snape and Bandhu invented," she continued, only to explain, "Bandhu is an elder elf and our Professor of History of Magic."

"You have an elf teaching at Hogwarts?" Skeeter asked with a combination of apparent interest and shock.

"Bandhu is the elf who taught us the spell to cure Professor Lupin from lycanthropy," Harry took over in a dangerously quiet voice, only to add, "The wizarding world owes him greatly."

"Wait a moment," Skeeter interrupted Harry in apparent excitement. "You can cure people from lycanthropy?"

Harry shook his head. "No Madam. We could, but we won't. We have an agreement with the elder elves to only cure the werewolves upon the rescinding of the Statute of Supremacy from 1265."

Skeeter stared at Harry in utmost surprise. "The Statute of Supremacy?" she asked in confusion, letting her eyes wander over to Hermione.

"The Statute of Supremacy was made by the British Ministry of Magic as a result of the human - elven war, which took place from 1252 to 1256," Hermione informed the reporter and continued to lecture, "Ever since then, the elves have been enslaved by the wizards and witches, which is absolutely intolerable considering that they're at least as magically powerful and intelligent as the humans."

Skeeter let out a chuckle of disbelief. "So what? You want everyone to free their elves?"

"No," Hermione replied, shaking her head. "We only want the Statute to be rescinded, making it possible for the elves to choose if they want to belong to a family as an equal member, to be free and paid for their services or whatever," she then explained. "They could also wear proper clothes like the free elves do on the Isle of Elves or Professor Bandhu at Hogwarts."

"During the last few years, we've been taught by the elves, the goblins and the humans," Harry added in a firm voice, "and we intend to do so in the future. The elves as well as the goblins have taught us many things, of which the humans are not aware. The cure for lycanthropy is just an example."

Skeeter thanked the children for their interview in apparent confusion, before she left, seemingly deep in thoughts.

"Oh no, tomorrow's Daily Prophet won't be pleasant for us," Hermione spoke up, rolling her eyes after the reporter, who hurriedly left the castle in the direction of Hogsmeade, seemingly eager to get away.

"I don't care," Harry replied, shrugging. "It's just because she's too stupid to understand. You know what we promised the elder elves, and I'm going to fight for the rights of the elves."

"Of course I'm in, Harry," Hermione said in a soft voice.

As could be expected, the following morning's newspaper caused huge uproar all over the magical world.

'Boy who lived turning away from the human magical world?' the headline screamed, making Hermione and Harry groan.

'This reporter had the pleasure to interview the boy who lived and his friend at Hogwarts yesterday, and the information received was surprising to say the least. Both children have been taught by elves and goblins, and they have set their aim to fight for the rights of the elves. This goes as far as refusing to cure people from lycanthropy in spite of being able to do so if not for the rescindment of the Statute of Supremacy over the elves from the middle ages. Read more about the Statute of Supremacy on page 5, on Frank and Alice Longbottom being cured on page 9...'

Sirius laughed out loud. "Did you really tell her such a thing?" he then asked, looking from Hermione to Harry in amusement.

"Yes Sirius, it's not funny though," Hermione replied in a stern voice.

"I trust that you both understand what this is about," Albus spoke up, gently, however, without the usual twinkle in his eyes.

Feeling everyone staring at them, Hermione and Harry explained about their promise to the elves concerning the Statute of Supremacy, making it very clear to the professors that they fully meant what they had told the reporter.

Later the same day, a raging Minister of Magic stormed into the headmaster's office, demanding to speak with the children, however, since it was a Saturday, Hermione and Harry were spending the day at Gringotts and were unavailable, much to Fudge's chagrin.

"See to it that you teach them properly," Fudge finished his rant, before he stepped back into the fireplace, even more upset now due to the headmaster's unwillingness to confirm that the children had gone too far.

During the following weeks, Hermione and Harry received many howlers from all over the magical world, however, two of the household elves took it upon them to check all mail arriving for the two children first, so that none of these letters reached the children.

One day, Hermione and Harry headed to Diagon Alley to meet with Susan, Draco and Neville. Since their friends were accompanied by their guardians, Sirius joined the children in spite of being sure that Hermione and Harry would be well able to buy their school supplies by themselves.

Since it was one of the last days of the summer holidays, Diagon Alley was full of students, who had come to the wizarding shopping centre to buy everything that they needed for the new school year. As happy as Hermione and Harry were to see their friends, they were glad when they finally left the crowded area and popped back to Hogwarts.

"Next year, we should go as soon as we return from the Isle of Elves," Hermione blurted out, sighing, as she let herself sink onto her favourite spot on the sofa in Minerva's living room.

"I fully agree," Harry replied, grinning.

"Are you going to board the Hogwarts Express?" Minerva enquired. "Or will you just join everyone at the welcoming feast?"

"Hogwarts Express," both children replied, simultaneously, explaining that they had decided to just pop to the platform an hour early, so that they could reserve a compartment for themselves and their fellow Aperta second-years.

With everyone wanting to tell the others everything about their holidays, even if some of them had met each other at multiple occasions, the train ride passed much too fast for the second-years' liking.

Hermione and Harry became very worried though, when Susan showed them a black book that had been in the bag together with her new school books.

"I don't know how I got it, but it replies when I write into it," she told them in clear excitement, causing Hermione and Harry to exchange a worried look.

"Susan, books don't write back," Hermione spoke up, eyeing her friend in concern.

"Did you show it to your aunt?" Harry asked, only to add, "If not, you should better give it to Professor Lupin or any of the other teachers. It might be dangerous."

However, Susan merely shrugged and replied, "It doesn't do anything. It only answers my questions, so it's quite some fun, that's all."

At the Sorting later in the evening, Aperta house received eight new first-years, and their older housemates were outright happy about their new members. Six of them were boys, with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood as the only girls.

Shortly after the Sorting, an owl swept into the Great Hall and landed on the table in front of Harry.

"An owl at this time of the day?" Hermione stated, incredulously, causing everyone to watch when Harry took an envelope from the owl's leg.

"From the Hogsmeade owl post exchange office," he read from the back of the envelope in confusion, giving Hermione a questioning look.

However, his wife merely shrugged, giving Harry the impression that she had no idea either.

Curiously, Harry opened the envelope. To his surprise, he found a letter, which was not written by a quill but a typewriter. 'A Muggle letter,' he realised in confusion, wondering who in the Muggle world knew him apart from his relatives, who would certainly not write him a letter.

'Dear Mr. Potter,
My name is am Benjamin Cunningham, I am a Squib and work as the representative of the Office for the Relationship to the Magical World at the British government. As such, I am closely working together with the British Prime Minister and - usually - with the Minister of Magic, however, the current Minister Fudge is not very cooperative, which is why I nowadays have to rely on the Daily Prophet in order to retrieve information.
I hope that this letter will reach you, as I am working in a complete Muggle environment and don't have an owl available to send you this message.
With great excitement, I have read the article in the Daily Prophet about your announcement that you're going to work on the relationship between humans, goblins and elves. I am very interested in working together with you and would like you to consider including the Muggle world in your task.
I know about the prophecy that was once made about you and You-Know-Who, and I wish to offer you the full support of the Muggle world in your fight against the evil within the magical world.
I am looking forward to hearing from you. Don't hesitate to send an owl directly to me.
Best regards,
Ben Cunningham'

In complete surprise, Harry glanced at Hermione, who had been reading together with him.

"Where is it from?" Neville asked, curiously.

"Ah, just from an old Muggle friend," Harry lied, not wanting to discuss the matter in the Great Hall.

"We'll tell you later," Hermione added in a whisper.

First thing in the morning, Harry composed a response to Mr. Cunningham.

'Dear Mr. Cunningham,
thank you so much for contacting me.

Hermione, my betrothed, and I are interested in working together with you. Would it be possible to meet at Gringotts this Saturday at three o'clock in the afternoon? At this time, we finish our classes with the goblins, while at other times, it would be difficult for us to get away from Hogwarts. I could offer having one of the elder elves and a goblin with us at the meeting if that was convenient for you.
On a different note, if you need information about the magical world that Minister Fudge is not willing to give, I suggest that you contact Amelia Bones. She is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and - in my opinion - not only much more competent but also much more forthcoming than the minister.
Best greetings and I'm looking forward to your reply. I will ask the owl to wait for it in front of your window.
Harry Potter'

"Will that do?" he asked his wife, when she descended to the common room just a few minutes after he had finished writing.

"That's really good I think," Hermione replied, smiling. "Who are you going to involve, I mean from the elves and goblins."

"I was thinking about Bandhu and Buckbean," Harry replied, shrugging. "If they're not available, Malcolm or Cicero and any other goblin would do though."

Before breakfast, Hermione and Harry headed to the owlery and handed the letter to one of the school owls with the instruction to wait for a response.

"I'm a little worried about Susan," Hermione admitted on their way back. "Until late last night, she was lying in bed writing into the strange diary."

"Hmmm," Harry replied, pensively, before he asked, "Did you cast the spell to check if it's a dark object?"

"No," Hermione admitted. "Do you think it's dark?"

Harry remained thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know, but usually, books don't reply, so something seems a little strange about it."

By the time they reached the Great Hall, the children decided to closely observe Susan when she would be using the book again, and Harry promised to unobtrusively cast the spell to check if the book was dark.

Before Hermione and Harry could take any action whatsoever though, Susan approached them showing them the diary.

"Does any of you perhaps know who Tom Riddle was? He told me he was a fifth-year prefect in Slytherin and the heir of Slytherin," she said in a small voice, causing Hermione and Harry to gasp.

"Tom Riddle is Voldemort," Hermione blurted out.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle was his real name, before he rearranged the letters to Lord Voldemort," Harry added, firmly.

"Susan, please let's take that book to Bandhu," Hermione said, pleadingly. "This could really be dangerous."

To Hermione's and Harry's relief, Susan agreed, and the three children headed to the Defence professor's office.

After two minutes of spell casting and checking on the book, Bandhu turned to the children, sounding grave as he explained, "This is a Horcrux. I've told you about them. Please step back, so that I can destroy it."

Hermione, Harry and Susan observed with mixed feelings how Bandhu waved his hand, uttering a long incantation of which they could not understand anything. Finally, the elder elf let his hand sink.

"Please return to your common room," he finally spoke up. "I shall inform the headmaster about this."

On their way back to Aperta, Susan profusely thanked her friends. "Thank Merlin you knew that it was Voldemort. I can't believe that I really liked him. He was friendly, and he knew so much..." She slowly trailed off, her eyes clouded with tears.

"That's all right, Susan," Hermione replied, gently laying her arm around Susan's back. "You couldn't know."

"Susan," Harry asked, carefully, "would you like me to fetch your aunt?"

Susan cast him a hopeful look. "Is that possible?"

"Of course," Harry replied and instructed Hermione to take the girl to the founders' quarters, before he popped away.

"Let's go, Susan," Hermione said in a soft voice and led her friend into the living room of the founders' quarters, where she called Malcolm and asked for hot chocolate and biscuits for four persons.

Five minutes later, Harry stepped into the room with Amelia Bones in tow, who quickly found herself with an armful of a crying twelve-year-old.

"What exactly happened?" Amelia asked, sternly, causing Hermione and Harry to take turns telling her the story about the black diary.

After Susan had finally calmed down, Harry showed Amelia Mr. Cunningham's letter and asked if she was willing and would be interested to join their meeting, which Mr. Cunningham had already confirmed at lunchtime, on Saturday afternoon.

Amelia looked at the boy in clear surprise. "Thank you, Harry, for inviting me," she said, smiling. "I'm willing to pass one or the other information to Mr. Cunningham, considering how inactive Mr. Fudge is. It's just that I'm surprised that he contacted you at all, since the relationship between the Muggle and the magical government is extremely delicate."

"Madam Bones," Hermione spoke up, pensively. "Is there any way to get rid of Mr. Fudge as the minister? He seems extremely unfit for the position."

Amelia cast the girl a surprised look, before she replied, "I believe that many share your opinion, and we're working on it by chasing the Death Eaters. Only this morning, we have finally arrested Lucius Malfoy, who is one of Fudge's biggest supporters. With all the remaining Death Eaters at Azkaban, or even with a minority of them being put through the Veil, Fudge's support will vanish quickly. The next step would be a vote of no confidence in front of the Wizengamot," she added, smirking. "Now I believe that it's time for you to return to your house," she then said, glancing at her wrist watch. "Thank you for calling me, Harry."

"Any time," Harry replied, returning the friendly witch's smile. "Shall I quickly pop you back to the Ministry? Otherwise, you could use the fireplace over here," he added, explaining, "The elves have recently connected it to the Floo network."

Amelia gladly stepped into the fireplace and returned to the ministry, while the three second-years walked back to the common room.

"Thanks for helping me," Susan whispered, before they stepped through the portrait hole.

"No thanks needed," Harry replied, warmly.

"That's what friends are for," Hermione added, before she wished Ceridwen in her portrait good night.

The meeting at Gringotts on Saturday afternoon was interesting to say the least. Hermione and Harry, Amelia Bones, Mr. Cunningham, Bandhu and Buckbean met in Buckbean's office for the conversation that had the aim for the different parties to get to know each other.

After an hour of discussion, it was decided to set up a group between each of the parties that would meet twice a year, or if the need arose, for an exchange of information and opinions.

"This group can only be unofficial, otherwise, Director Ragnok would need to be in it instead of myself," Buckbean spoke up, causing everyone to nod in understanding.

"If it was official, I couldn't be here either, as it would be Minister Fudge's job," Amelia added.

"Same here," Hermione spoke up, "even if Harry might be in."

"Very well, it's an unofficial group then, however, it might be much more efficient than any official group could be," Bandhu stated in a firm voice.

They decided on the name 'Circle without Borders', which expressed their hope of cooperation between goblins, elves, Muggles and magical humans, and they chose Cunningham as head of the circle.

Buckbean provided each member with a pendant of a small dragon on a silver necklace and explained that if any of the members wished to call the others together, they merely had to touch their pendant and say "Circle, get together." When being called, everyone had to make their way to Buckbean's office, be it by popping in or coming through the fireplace, as soon as possible.

When everything was decided, Hermione spoke up in a different matter. "There's something with that we would really appreciate some help," she said, hesitantly, before she explained about the Horcruxes that Voldemort had made and the need to find them.

"Once they are found, I can easily destroy them," Bandhu offered. "However, we have no way to find let alone summon them, as we only have a general spell to detect and summon dark items, not solely Horcruxes."

"I'll speak with Director Ragnok, and we'll see what we can do," Buckbean promised, nodding with apparent confidence.

"That was really efficient," Hermione said to Harry once they were back at Hogwarts. "It's good that you invited Madam Bones."

"Yeah, she'd be a much better minister than Fudge," Harry replied, sighing. "Maybe someday in the future..." He trailed off, when they reached the Great Hall just on time for dinner.

During the following months, the Daily Prophet was full with information about Death Eaters who had either been sentenced to Azkaban or had been pushed through the Veil depending on what they had done. Among them were also Draco's parents, who both ended up in Azkaban.

"Oh no Draco, I'm so sorry," Hermione spoke up upon hearing the news.

Draco shrugged. "It's their own fault," he said in a firm voice. "Uncle Severus is now my guardian, so I guess I'll be staying at Hogwarts with the two of you and Neville during the summer holidays."

"At least you have a nice godfather," Harry threw in, "and I know that Sirius has offered to take you back into the Black family if that was what you wanted."

Draco nodded. "Yes, that's really nice of him. For the time being, I've decided to remain a Malfoy though. We'll see how everything develops."

"Are you all right?" Neville asked in a soft voice, giving the blond boy a sharp look.

"Of course," Draco replied, confidently. "I know they're my parents, but they really did bad things, and at least my father hasn't changed in the slightest. If my father knew that I wouldn't want to follow his footpath, he'd surely kicked me out of the family anyway. I only feel sorry for my mother."

From the beginning of their third Hogwarts year onwards, the matter around the Death Eaters slowly quietened down, and over the months, Hermione and Harry did not even think about the matter anymore, although Amelia had told them in private that there had to be at least a dozen more Death Eaters, whom the Aurors had not been able to locate.

Buckbean had found two Horcruxes for them, one from inside Gringotts and one from the Gaunt family, and Bandhu had destroyed both. Nevertheless, it was feared that Voldemort had made at least two if not three more Horcruxes, which had not been found yet.

During their third meeting of the Circle, which took place just a year after the first, Buckbean told them that the goblins supposed that one Horcrux would be in the old Black house, while another one could probably be found at Hogwarts.

At the same time, Amelia Bones informed the members of the circle that the Aurors who were stationed at Azkaban had reported that the Dark Marks on the arms of the prisoners at Azkaban were slowly becoming darker.

"That means that the Voldemort is getting stronger," Buckbean replied, and to Hermione's and Harry's horror, everyone agreed.

"We can only wait and see what's going to happen," Bandhu said in a firm voice. "However, with his Death Eaters gone and all of us supporting Harry, we should be ready when he comes back."

"I hope so," Amelia added. "Even without his followers, he's said to be the most powerful wizard in the world, even more so than Dumbledore. Apparently, Harry is the only one who might be able to top him, but Harry isn't even an adult yet."

"Harry and Hermione have been trained to fight better than most adults though," Bandhu spoke up, calmly. "When Voldemort returns, they'll be ready to fight him. Unfortunately, according to the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, it will be in the near future."