Harry Potter and the Book of Symbols

by kauthreader

What would happen if Petunia wasn't happy with a simple "note" left by Dumbledore? After making him and Minerva come over to explain more, changes are made to what would have happened. As Harry grows up with actual friends and a semi-brother, the changes in this AU is enough to change more than 'a few things' No horcrux, NOT slash, new made-up characters, "M" for later lang/violent

21. Chapter 18: Book of Symbol's preface

Chapter 18: Book of Symbols' Preface

For the rest of November, Dudley seemed to have the personal mission to try and get as friendly as he could with both Davis and Greengrass, well...Harry should really start saying Tracy and Daphne now. Piers seemed to want to get to know them better, but more for Dudley than for himself. Harry noticed that Piers may not have the extra lessons with Professor Snape anymore, but still wanted to get more information on how to be a better potioneer. In the back of his mind, Pier was still going to be the mad scientist of the group, as even as kids he would make weird concoctions and try and get someone, anyone, to drink or eat whatever he made. The real surprise, for Harry, was actually someone that wasn't even in his group of close friends. Tracy seemed snarky at first, but as time went by and he got to know her better, she was the sneakiest, most subtle, and most analytical one of them all; including John. John was good at analyzing anything, and coming out with many different scenarios, but Tracy was the one that had the ability to put probability into the equation and find out which 'paths' (she called them) would be likely, predictable, or irrelevant. It was scary how accurate she was with them too.

The last meeting of the month was coming up, before the holidays started, and things were going smoothly for everyone surrounding the group. In the middle of November, the Weasley's got an answer for the travel plans for the holidays, which John, Hermione, and Tracy turned into a mini-project, and organized a complete itinerary. The plan was to spend about 2 days with their own respective families before heading to Romania, where they would spend the day going off on their own, then meeting with the rest of the Weasleys for a week before heading back. The length of the holidays somewhat surprised Harry, until Hermione told of how it was to be expected, since regular schools had less risk of cabin fever or homesickness than Hogwarts did. Overall, they had about 2 weeks of time off, 12 days, and they planned on spending about half of that time with the Weasley Family. Dudley seemed the most excited for this trip, since Ron accidentally let slip that they would be able to get close enough to the Dragons that Charlie watched over to maybe get roasted. The only ones that were not going on this trip were Neville, John, Hermione, and the two Slytherins, whose family had already had plans for something called a 'Yule Ball' at another 'pureblood function.' Although, after hearing of this Ball, John was interested in what else was different from Muggle to Magical holidays, and soon found out about Samhain, which is what Halloween was apparently replaced.

Also, since it was their last meeting, and it was December already, there was no outside picnic. Even with warming charms, there was no saving anyone from the biting cold of a northern Scotland Winter (Hermione found that out by the middle of their last Astronomy class in November), even with a forest on the windy side of the castle. Although, there was one change that was a little confusing to some of the group. Since the Slytherins started hanging out, and trading tables during meal times with the rest of the group, the professors at the head table seemed to either admire them, or hate them, but did nothing other than smile or sneer. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall usually looked proud every time the group moved tables and attempted to converse with the rest of that particular house, while Porfessors Snape and Quirrel sneered every time they saw the group at a different table.

About halfway through the breakfast meal, Professor McGoagall stood up. The rest of the hall took a few moments to take notice that there was going to be an announcement, apparently. After the rest of the conversations stopped, either from glares or from friends' nudges to shut up, Professor McGonagall motioned for another Professor to stand.

"I have been notified that there is an oversight by one of the students, which was brought to my attention this past week." At that announcement, puzzled looks were traded from person to person, table to table. "There has been a trend in the recent past that, while in more than welcome, is something that the Staff has not had to deal with in at least the past hundred years or so. This occurrence is a student's interest in Magical Culture. This student brought this oversight to my attention by asking questions which are usually not asked at all during Hogwarts, and usually saved for their adult life." A slight pause, at which Harry thought the Transfiguration Professor was looking at him, but realized it was the person behind him which held her attention. Of course, the rest of the students noticed, and turned to look at John.

"While genuine curiosity is a fine learning tool, and can at times should be explored with caution, in this case the curiosity is justified. For the rest of us who have lived in the Magical Community for the entirety of our lives, most of us in this institution have not. Holidays such as Yule, Samhain, and other traditional holidays and practices are more often than not forgotten. For this reason, a new Hogwarts Club has been authorized to be opened to the public. Professor Vector, if you may." At her mention, the other professor walked to the front of the staff table, and waited for another round of 'students, be quiet.'

"As you may or may not know, I am Professor Vector, and I teach Arithmancy here at Hogwarts. Since all clubs and student-run organizations must have a professor as a sponsor, I volunteered to be that sponsor. For those that have attended one of my NEWT-level classes, you know that I bring up traditional Magical Holidays as a reference point in some of the calculations for some arithmancy work. Other students may not realize this, but Magical Holidays are not just a tradition for tradition's sake, they have a magical property of their own which factors into magical branches which students which have never taken my Arithmancy NEWT-level class never realize. This is just one example of why Magical holidays are not self-explanitory. For this reason, the Magical club will be covering any magical tradition, regardless if there is a holiday for that tradition or not. It will be open to the public, and will hopefully have a separate level for multiple areas, sections, or even year groups, so that learning, or re-learning, the history, traditions, and reasoning of some of the these traditions." Over her was the smatterings of whispered conversations, which droned out what was said next. A soft, but loud, pop was heard, and the Headmaster was standing next to Professor Vector. "Thank you, Headmaster. As I was saying, the group will have a sign-up sheet in every House's Common Room, and after the winter Holidays I will be collecting the sign-up sheets in order to move to the next step. Obviously, the club will not meet until after the holidays. As there is still a few days before the Holidays start, I will also not collect the sign-up sheets until a week after those going home for the holidays return. Thank you for your time."

Then the conversations returned if full bloom, louder than ever, and a new item was on the agenda for the meeting following lunch. John silently smirked and noded his head when everyone in the group sent a questioning glance his way. Since not a single conversation could be heard over another, they finished their breakfast and headed to a classroom which was shown to them by the Weasley twins. The classroom itself wasn't all that special, but it was an unused classroom that the twins told the group no one, except for a prefect or two, visited; and only then when it was nearing curfew, and for 'adult conversations.' As soon as the last two entered and closed the door behind them, Hermione turned to John, and not waiting a moment to ask him "Did you go to a Professor and ask that a club be started like that?"

After trying to hide his laughter, failing, then smirking again, he finally answered Hermione. "Yeah, I did, but not in the way you are prolly picturing. I kept finding a magical tradition that I didn't understand, kept asking older students about them, and never got a straight answer. So I asked a few professors. Madam Pince didn't know much other than about Yule, and Professor Flitwick knew about Samhain, but almost no one else did. Then a Hufflepuff 7th year, I forgot her name, said that Professor Vector would know."

"Who was the student you asked? I mean, what did she look like." Hermione asked the second question, but only after remembering that John said he didn't remember her name.

"Well, I can't say for certain what she would look like."

"What does that even mean?" Piers asked.

"Was she that ugly?" Dudley teased.

"No, it was definitely not that." John looked up to the ceiling before looking at Dudley again. "If I see her again, I'll tell her what you said, and that you called her by her first name."

"OH! I know -"

Looking at Daphne and putting his finger to his lips, he looked then to Dudley and said "She kept changing her face. Looked had a pig nose, a cat's mouth, and an Goblin's ears. Then she looked like someone else entirely. But she usually has pink hair."

"Pink hair?"

"Yes, Dudley, pink hair. Bright Pink. You usually don't see pink hair in the great hall because she only changes it to pink after meals. During meals, she changes from blond to brown."

"Wicked, I wish I could do that." Ron looked like he knew what his wish was going to be if he ever met a Jeannie.

"Well, other than that club being made, did you ask about anything else?" Tracy now looked exasperated, but Harry and Neville didn't quite understand why.

"Anything else? What do you mean by 'anything else'?"

"I mean, about other subjects that don't have classes to go with them. Duh. I mean, you basically got a group started about Magical Traditions, which is basically the opposite of Muggle Studies. You could get some of the other things that aren't taught at Hogwarts started in the forms of clubs."

"To be honest Daphne, I didn't even think me asking questions would start a club. I was only told yesterday by Professor Flitwick. Oh, great, now the twins are gonna think I pranked them."

"I know you're right about that. Remember the first meal, after the sorting? They accused one of the girls of 'stealing their prank' basically. They're gonna prank you now, better watch out." Ron looked like he knew the feeling of getting on the wrong side of the twins' pranks, and looked on in pity.

"Well, anyways, we had better just start this meeting." Harry announced.

"Not until we"

"Have our say"

"And we heard that, John"

"We know it wasn't a prank"

"But we can't just let you slide."

"How about I give you a counter-argument?" The twins now looked skeptical.

"We're listening"

"What if I was to out-prank you, but only on the Staff?"

"If you do that, then"

"You get a pass." The twins, after finishing the last sentence in tandem, looked at the rest of the group, saying "You can get their help, if you want. It won't help much, as we're the pranking Kings, but good luck."

"Well then, who is going to sign up to this club, since it's fresh in our minds. I am definitely going to, but I don't know about the rest of you." John was obviously going to sign up, but felt it still needed to be said.

"Let's make this easy, hands up for yes to signing up, keep hands down if no." Harry was the one who was the first to raise his hand, raising his left hand before he even finished speaking.

After counting the hands, mostly out of reaction, he realized that everyone, except for the Weasley's, had their hands raised. He then sent a questioning glance towards all of the traditional purebloods, that is, Daphne, Tracy, Neville, and Lily Moon.

Lily seemed to know why he was looking at them all, saying "I might be able to learn something new, or help others with stuff that I knew already; before, after, or during the club meetings."

"That makes sense," Neville said.

"What were you going for then, Neville?" Hermione, it seemed, didn't quite understand Neville yet.

"Because everyone else is going. What else would I be doing during those times? I can't exactly go down to the greenhouses that late."

"Late?" Dudley asked.

"Well, club time is usually after dinner, so, that would be late to go to the greenhouses." Neville definitely was speaking more, and more openly, than any month previously.

"Now that that's settled," Harry began, "Does anyone have anything to ask before we get to the Marauders part of this?"

The twins always perked up when anything related to the Marauders was talked about, but for once seemed placid. That is, until Hermione spoke up, when they perked up once again.

"So Moony is definitely coming to Romania with everyone else?"

"Yes, and although it would be nice to have everyone go, I understand why you wouldn't go to a very cold place in the middle of Christmas Holidays. Although, Moony said that after the 21st, Remus said that he could meet with those that aren't going if they, and their families, wanted to. Either before or after we leave for Romania."

"Well, Gran said that she wouldn't mind Remus coming over, since they apparently knew each other before, but only after the New Year. We have other plans before then."

"My parents said they would rather meet him themselves first." Hermione spoke up.

John was the next to add his input, telling the group that any time is good for his parents to meet with Remus, followed by both Tracy and Daphne saying that their parents also wanted to meet with Remus before meeting with the children. The rest of the group, however, would be meeting Moony either in Romania, or the days before their trip. With that settled, the next thing to talk about was what everyone planned on doing after the holidays ended. The 'meetings' usually was ended with this kind of talk. Mostly, it was to see if there was any help or interest from someone else. Already, Tracy was interested in the same things as John and Hermione, with regard to education, and wanted to organize a tutor session with some of the older students on future classes, at the least, so that they could all get a head start on the ones that interested them the most. For John, Runes was the most important class for him, as he wanted to be an anthropologist, which Ron called a treasure hunter, and Runes was an integral part of that career path. Hermione wanted to know everything she could, so there was no real career path for her to decide on just yet. Tracy wanted to do something with Arithmancy, but didn't know exactly what as of now. Everyone else was still completely undecided, but some things were on their immediate to-do lists.

"So, about potions, I know that Neville and John are not the best brewers, but I was thinking of asking some of the other people from fourth and sixth years to help set up a tutoring group, mainly because, although the man is a prodigy when it comes to potions, Professor Snape doesn't like to teach the subject unless a student catches his eye."

"Like you did" John said to Piers.

"Yeah, like I did, but he is also extremely strict. He said to me in the first lesson that he would have taught me more about the processes than the basic knowledge, and I was starting to get some of it before, well, before he told me no more lessons."

"What's the difference between those?" Dudley asked.

"Well, the basic knowledge is more like how to read a cookbook, attention to detail, and following steps without forgetting anything. But the processes is more like how to change things to make it work better, or easier, or improve the steps, ingredients, or process of making the potion itself."

"So, basically," Hermione started, "it's like adding salt to spaghetti instead of boiling just the water."

"Kind of, but more like using a completely different spice, or changing the recipe to use a ground ingredient instead of a smashed ingredient. Or using less ingredients overall, but changing every ingredient to get the same or better result. It's very complicated after OWL level, because you'd be changing things that have way more variables."

"So, more like just being more competent, or proficient, instead of just being good at timing or following directions."

"Exactly John, but with a lot more work into it."

Hermione then asked "What level did you get up to so far? I know that you're studying things that are at least third year potions, I saw you with the third year book last week."

"How did you know it was a third year book?" Harry asked.

"I asked a third year for their textbook while looking up one of the potions, and it was the same book that Piers had."

"Well, with potions over, what is everyone planning on studying after the hols?" asked Ron.

"I plan on studying more runes, for warding and enchantments mainly" Daphne stated.

"Potions with Piers for me, but I can help you guys for anything with Herbology. Thanks to John and Harry, I'm up to 4th year stuff now."

"That's great Neville, cuz I will take you up on that. I just don't understand plants" Dudley was always bad with the gardening chores growing up, Harry reflected.

"Warding in general" Was Tracy's response. Lily apparently wanted Hermione's help with Astronomy, John was studying more about languages, written and spoken, and Harry was planning on going over Defense Against the Dark Arts stuff, but for 2nd year materia, since he had already reviewed all of the first year material. The twins only answered with "A little of this" and "A bit of that" which, even for them, was very vague. Ron was the only one who just wanted to stick to first year stuff, other than Dudley, who was having trouble not only in Herbology, but also History of Magic, Charms, and Transfiguration. It wasn't that he was stupid, just that his learning process involved more practice than study, to which Harry, Hermione, and surprisingly Daphne agreed to help with.

The group split up with talk of actually giving themselves a name on the agenda for the first meeting after the winter break. With everyone heading to their dorms to get ready to leave, Harry noticed Dudley once again following Tracy and Daphne towards the dungeons instead of the entrance to the Badger's Enclave, as Hufflepuffs apparently called their common room area.

Just as he was turning the last corner to head to Gryffindor Tower, he saw a flash of pink hair, and held in a laugh with difficulty. If that was the aforementioned girl with the forgotten name, Dudley was going to get hexed for saying she was ugly, even accidentally.

As soon as Dudley and Harry saw Auntuney and Vernon at the platform, the parents also saw that there was a large group following them, and not just children. All in all, there were probably about thirty people following the two children to make introductions, and frankly, it surprised Petunia that either Dudley or Harry had made that many friends. Then she picked up on the smirk that Vernon, standing beside her, had plastered on his face. With a raised eyebrow, he answered with a nod towards one half of the group. They were all redheads. This must be the family that Harry had mentioned had seven children from one set of parents.

"Mom, Dad, I want you to meet all my friends and their families." Dudley first motioned toward a intimidating woman wearing a vulture-topped hat.

"I am Madam Longbottom, and this is my grandson Neville." Pleasantries were traded, and it was a long line of "How do you do's" and "Pleasure to meet you's" one after another. The weasleys were the big surprise, with every one of them redheaded, freckled, and an arrangement of career choices.

She almost wanted to bring up the incident at the zoo all those years ago, since she could still picture that man's face even now, with perfect clarity, even though she had not seen him once since that day, but refrained. Instead, she just asked him about the dragons which he watched over and took care of. The answering "You'll see for yourself" wasn't all that comforting, even though she and Vernon had already agreed to visit Romania this holiday. Cold was not her comfortable environment, but Dudley was really looking forward to it, so it was a strained affirmative that they would sacrifice a week to go.

Vernon looked from one family to the next, and felt that he could mentally evaluate each of them. The Weasley family, though obviously varied and eccentric, were a decent and supportive family, while the Longbottom Matron seemed way too overbearing and strict. The Granger family were easy-going, and didn't look like a middle-class family; more like at minimum a lower high class family. After meeting them all, though, even he could see how Harry and Dudley had more friends than they had ever had in schools before this one. Next was to meet this Mr. Lupin that Dudley and Harry were talking about most of the time in their letters home...well, since November at least.

It was agreed that Mr. Lupin would be meeting them on the 23rd, the day that the family was planning on heading to Romania for the majority of their holiday, and from what Harry mention, was mainly because of this mysterious illness that Harry apparently didn't even know the name of. Well, his thoughts were to find out what this illness was, and if it was dangerous in any way. If it was, then there would be a limited time that Remus Lupin would have to see either Harry or Dudley, if he had anything to say about it. And knowing the magical world like he had until now, it could be something that was never heard of before. It could even be something that he had heard of before, but thought to be fiction by 'us muggles' as they magical community seemed immediate to say.

As they were heading home, Vernon was in the process of asking about their studies, what classes they enjoyed, what teachers they liked, and things about the school in general, when Dudley spoke up about that damnable Book of Symbols that both Petunia and Vernon was trying to ignore. Speaking to his wife about it the night before, they both realized that, with Dudley's habit of remembering almost everything, it was only a matter of time before it was brought up. What to do, that was another conundrum entirely. At first, Vernon wanted to ignore it, but Petunia raised a good point; answers would need to come out eventually, and it would be better to have the answers said by themselves instead of this Remus Lupin, who seemed to know the Potter family pretty well, from what the boys said. So, unto the breech once more, as it was said.

"Uh, we'll talk about it at the house, but we just wanted to tell you up front that we think you'll find more answers at school than from us. We only know a little bit about it, as it stands."

"Okay Dad, just, well..we didn't find out anything other than that it wasn't Runes at all. We've looked around, and the only hint that we got was from the goblins at the bank, and only Harry was told that hint."

"What he is trying to say is, when I went to Gringotts, the goblin that took me to my vault apparently knew of the symbol, but not what it meant, and that if I ever did find out what that symbol was to come to him and tell him."

Auntuney looked up and seemed to debate something in her thoughts, but otherwise said "I'm not sure if that is something you should, or could, do Harry. From what I was told, that book is a family heirloom, and its something that was protected by your family for a very long time. But we will talk more about it at the house."

"Okay, I understand" then to himself he muttered "I think..." Dudley apparently herd him, and got a nod in the affirmative as a response.

After another half an hour of driving, they were finally pulling into the driveway, and none other than both of the cat ladies of the neighborhood were walking past the driveway. The neighbor practically ran to her door and rushed inside, while Old Lady Figg attempted to look disinterested, but was obviously curious. Harry had a gut feeling that there was a specific reason as to why she was there, but couldn't think of what that reasoning may have been. Other than general curiosity, since she occasionally babysat either or both of the boys at one point or another.

Getting inside, both of the boys rushed up to their rooms and shuffling could be heard. Vernon guessed, correctly, that their school things were shoved in the nearest storage area before rushing back down to hear about the book. As soon as thirty seconds passed by on his watch, stomping footfalls could be heard from both of them in a rush to get to the living room first.

Sitting themselves down on the couch, both of them could be seen looking at the parents' hands for evidence of the book. Seeing nothing, curiosity and confusion bloomed on both of their faces.

"Just so you know, the only one who can, apparently, safely touch that book is Petunia" Vernon answered the unanswered question on Harry's face. "If I try to touch the book, it feels like electricity going through my fingertips, like I accidentally touched a wire when fixing a socket or outlet."

"It did that to me the first time also, but after Harry opened it, I didn't really feel much. Not sure why, it just did."

"Well, that might be best answered at Hogwarts." Auntuney still looked like she was trying to find a starting point, took a few minutes, with both of the boys waiting patiently, then finally decided. "I got the book via mail, muggle mail mind you, on a Sunday. That wasn't the weird thing though. It was originally covered with parchment, and when I took the parchment off, I realized that the whole covering was actually a letter."

"Who was the letter from?" Dudley seemed to guess, but said nothing at Harry's question.

"From your mother, Harry. My sister. She sent, or set up to be sent, that book to me about a month after you got here. We don't know if it took that long to get here, as it seemed to shock, or electrify, anyone who touched it, or if it was sent after the fact by a family friend. All we know is what the letter said. Well, in general, actually."

Vernon started laughing, then explained. "After we read the letter, out loud, the letter started burning, and ashed itself. We don't know why either, but it reminded me of some 007-type stuff. All secrecy and all that. After that, we wrote down what we remembered, but that also flamed and ashed itself."

"So, we memorized what we could, and tried to remember everything we could. I know by now you're asking yourselves what the letter said exactly, but we don't have your memory, Dudley." A thoughtful look appeared, but it was Vernon who started.

"It started off with saying that the book was enchanted with some pretty rare stuff, and that it would only be made available to the 'Head of the House of Potter' were the exact words. I only remember because that was a weird way to phrase anything, to me anyway."

"Then it said, basically, that you, Harry, would be the Head of the House of Potter on or about your 17th birthday, and that the book should be given to you then. Well, you got it a lot earlier somehow, I don't know how, because it was stored in the attic until that zoo trip. Afterwards, it mentioned that the symbols are 'incomprehensible' to anyone other than a true Potter, and that the language could only be learned by yourself until you reveal that language to others. At that, I wasn't sure if it was something like a Potter Family code that you can teach others, or if it was something that only immediate family could learn. We asked around, and not a single person, including the Headmaster, knew of that book, nor the symbols in the book. And when we asked him later, he had no knowledge of us even asking about it. We asked four different times, and every time it was like the memory of the book at all was wiped from his mind, so we just stopped asking."

"So, what you're saying is that the book is so enchanted, that it has its' own rules?"

"Kind of Harry, but more like its a self-kept secret. Seems like if someone wasn't supposed to know about it, they wouldn't."

"What else did the letter say?" Dudley asked. Once again, his memory was proven to be spot-on.

"Not much else. The only thing that we actually remember is that there was a note at the end, telling us that when the book thought you to be ready for the knowledge, it would 'reveal itself' and let you open it. Otherwise, it would remain closed and let no one touch it."

"That's it?" Harry asked.

"Pretty much, at least, that's all we can remember. The letter itself was short, and even after all these years, we remember everything that we did right after reading it. There was one thing at the bottom, but it was just the same symbol that was on the cover."

"The same one that we had an inscription of when we went to Hogwarts?"

"The very same, and since Dudley was the one to remember it, I don't think he got it wrong." Vernon seemed to have a slightly diluted level of the same memory capabilities that Dudley has. It was helpful for business, and it showed at his place of work, even though most people didn't realize it until a certain level of familiarity was attained.

"Well," Harry paused, then remembered that the book opened already for him. "Since it already opened, that means that the book deemed me ready for the knowledge, right? Does that mean that I should be able to read it soon, or that I might see a symbol and recognize it sometime soon?"

"I'm not sure Harry, the letter didn't exactly say anything about that. I think that Mr. Lupin might be able to tell you, but that, I guess, depends on whether James Potter told him about it or not. I'm just not sure."

With that, the conversation seemed to be non-progressive at that point, so the boys trudged up the stairs to talk about what they found out, which was close to nothing. After a few minutes, it was agreed to ask Remus as soon as they could.

AN: I still don't have a name for the group yet, and am still working on it. I might have Lupin 'invent' one, but still not sure. Also, I have a plan for the Romania trip, but its only a basic outline, with like 2 plot points on it, but ill see what end us being written, as always, as im writing it.