Everything is Relative
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC.
In the morning after Christmas, Severus suddenly addressed Luna and Harry. "Ms. Lovegood, Mr. Potter, would you perhaps be willing to teach the Potions class on Saturday morning?"
Harry looked up in utmost shock but slightly relaxed, when Luna beat him to a response.
"We would love to teach the class for the former Squibs," she replied and, seeing the Potions Master nod in apparent amusement, continued, "Won't we Harry?"
Harry could only nod, while his mind screamed, 'Me? Potions?'
"We thought that it would be a good opportunity for all of you to try out which subjects you might want to teach in the future in case there will be openings in the staff," Minerva explained, causing Sirius to point out that Severus was only thirty-six and would surely not retire for a long time.
Harry inwardly grinned. 'It's not because of that but because Severus is smitten with Regina,' he thought in amusement.
"Susan and Neville, would you take over the Herbology class?" Pomona spoke up, smiling.
"With pleasure," Neville replied, immediately, and Susan nodded her agreement.
"Petunia Charms, Dudley and Remus Defence? Hermione and Hannah Transfiguration?" Minerva asked, questioningly.
Everyone agreed, and the teenagers divided into groups to prepare for their classes.
On Saturday, the first classes for Regina, Vernon and the two other former Squibs, Brian O'Neill and Eric Burnham, took place, and while Petunia and the teenagers taught the core subjects, the professors alternately looked in on the classes to provide answers for possible questions that Petunia, Luna and the sixth-years could not yet explain.
Everyone did their best, and the newly made teachers soon realised that all four of their students seemed to be happy to have magic and were absolutely eager to learn.
'Uncle Vernon is really good. Who'd have believed that?' Harry thought in amazement, as he observed his uncle eagerly stir his concoction counter clockwise.
HP
After the last afternoon class, Harry invited Regina, Brian and Eric to join them at Hogwarts Manor for dinner together with the extended family, knowing that Flitwick and Petunia would each cast a charm at their guests that was going to prevent them from talking about Hogwarts Manor or anything they heard there.
The evening was pleasant to say the least. Regina told everyone about her childhood and how devastated she had been to learn that she was a Squib. Her early childhood consisted of years of waiting, trying to cast magic in vain, only to be taken to the muggle world by her father's house-elf, when she was six years old.
Brian O'Neill had not been kicked out of the family but had attended a muggle school and went through a higher education in the muggle world, before he looked for a job within the magical world. "Even if I wasn't able to do magic, I wished to remain connected to the magical world," he told them, smiling. After some months of intense research, Tom, the owner of the Leaking Cauldron, had hired him as a cook at the Leaky Cauldron. "Even if it's not possible to make food by magic, having magic will help me greatly in the future," he said, seeming very happy.
Eric Burnham's parents were muggleborn and a half-blood and had easily accepted that he did not have magic. His mother was working in the family department of the Ministry of Magic, and after his muggle education, her connection to the ministry had allowed the Squib to get a job in the Transportation office of the ministry, for which magic was not absolutely required. "Some things are going to be much easier by magic," he told them, only to add, "Thank you so much for making me a very happy wizard."
"If you're working at the Transportation office of the Ministry of Magic, I have a question," Regina spoke up, thoughtfully. When everyone looked at her in clear expectation, she continued, "My sister Rebecca has told me much about the Hogwarts Express and how long it took the students to get to Hogwarts. So, I was wondering why the ministry did not use buses in addition. They could have, let's say a dozen buses running from all parts of the country to Hogsmeade, similar to the Knight Bus."
'What a brilliant idea,' Harry thought in amazement. "Perhaps," he spoke up without even thinking about the matter first, "they wouldn't even have to use their wands, considering that they mustn't use it outside of Hogwarts, but could simply run through the bus stop shelter to board the bus."
"A fantastic idea," Eric acknowledged. "Headmistress McGonagall, what do you think about this?"
Minerva smiled. "I believe that it's a wonderful idea. I am just wondering why no one has ever thought about this," she admitted, smiling, before she turned to Harry. "Harry?"
"Brilliant," Harry agreed, nodding in determination. "Thanks, Miss Lestrange, for bringing this up."
"My sister has often complained about it," Regina replied, chuckling. "Please just call me Regina though."
"I'll speak about the matter with my boss next week then and try to convince him," Eric promised with apparent enthusiasm.
"Regina," Minerva said, thoughtfully, "what is your sister doing now? I haven't seen her ever since she left Hogwarts, which is a pity, because she was one of our best students."
Regina sighed. "She is working at the Ministry of Magic as well," she replied, casting Minerva a smile that did not reach her eyes.
"Where in the ministry if I may ask?" Minerva enquired.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not so acquainted with the ministry yet," Regina replied, seemingly evasive; however, Harry eyed the former Squib with suspicion. 'It's almost as if she was under a spell that prevented her from telling us more,' he thought in confusion. 'I wonder who her sister is. I've never heard about a Rebecca Lestrange.'
"Do you still have contact to your siblings?" Petunia enquired in a soft voice.
"Only to my sister," Regina replied, smiling. "She has been wonderful and understanding all these years. My brothers and my more than horrible sister-in-law are in Azkaban, and I hope that they'll remain there for good," she continued, grimly. "They're even worse than my father was, who abandoned me to the muggle world," she added, seemingly more to herself than to the others.
HP
Much later the same evening, Harry was pulled into a vision. It was one of the visions that he disliked most, where he saw himself talk to the Death Eaters.
"Draco Malfoy," he addressed one of his newest recruits, "it's a year now since you've joined my ranks, but you still haven't fulfilled my request. Are you going to fail me? You must act quickly, before they've put most of my followers back into Azkaban, and I'm not in the mood of freeing them right now, considering that it was their own stupidity that brought them back into the prison."
"I'm sorry my Lord," the boy stammered, and Harry wondered what his classmates' expression looked like under his hood. "Please give me some time. I was almost finished in the Room of Requirement, when it suddenly ceased working. This time, I'm almost close, too, and I won't fail. Please give me four more weeks, my Lord."
"Four weeks is the most you get," he roared, before he dismissed the boy with an impatient flick of his hand.
"My Lord," a female voice spoke up, seemingly hesitant. "Will you not free your followers from Azkaban?"
"I will of course, but only after taking Hogwarts," he replied, feeling thoroughly annoyed at the question. "Now get lost and don't bother me again before going to Hogwarts," he then growled, dismissing his followers in annoyance.
HP
A few days later, the students returned to Hogwarts and classes commenced again.
Harry had told the extended family about his vision, and everyone knew that they had to observe Draco closely. However, they could not detect any action from the boy that was out of the order. 'Strange,' Harry thought, as he watched the blond boy strut through the halls followed by his sidekicks. He stared behind them in disbelief, when Malfoy began to point his wand at the floor in front of him as he went, conjuring small puddles of mud everywhere.
"Oy, clean that up NOW!" he suddenly heard the caretaker's voice, and from seemingly out of nowhere, Filch was standing in front of the three boys.
"You wish," Malfoy growled, before he and his sidekicks blurted out in laughter. "You'd better have magic," Crabbe continued, only for Goyle to add, "Stupid Squib."
As much as Harry disliked Filch, he could not believe his classmates to harass the caretaker in such a way. With a flick of his wand, he cast Scorgify at the mud, causing Filch to glare at him.
"No magic in the halls, boy," he growled at him, causing Harry to shake his head in annoyance and leave. 'Be my guest, have them continue harassing you,' he thought. 'Not my problem anymore then.'
When he walked upstairs towards the founders' quarters, he heard Filch mutter something to the boys about lingering on the astronomy tower every night, causing Harry to doubt if the caretaker had any brain left. 'As if Malfoy and his cronies had girlfriends,' he thought, rolling his eyes at the idea. 'Oh well, apart from that Parkinson bitch maybe,' he lightly corrected himself, as he returned home, where Lucy made him quickly forget about unsympathetic Slytherin boys and caretakers.
HP
Flashback 30 January, 1959, Hogsmeade
Rebecca Lestrange headed to the Three Broomsticks to meet with her best friend and colleague, Artemis Nott, in private. When they had finished Hogwarts the previous summer as proud Ravenclaws with the best grades of the year, they had become Unspeakables. They were still in training, and only when Devil, their trainer, would be satisfied with their performance, Croaker would allow them into one of the teams. He had, however, already promised to not separate them, for which Rebecca was eternally grateful. 'There's no better friend than Artemis,' she thought, as she headed through the empty streets of the village.
Usually, they neither had the time nor the energy to go anywhere but to the office or their own home, as training with Devil was so hard that they could barely lick their wounds during the rest of the day. Today, however, was Sunday, and as every Sunday before, Rebecca and Artemis met for lunch. 'Devil really is a slave driver,' she thought, as she headed upstairs, glad that Rosmerta used to reserve a private room for Unspeakables.
To her surprise, Artemis was already there, and he gently helped her out of the warm Unspeakable robes and into a seat.
"You're early," she stated, her voice laced with surprise.
"I couldn't wait to tell you the news," Artemis replied, smiling. "I'm sorry though. You won't like it."
"What is it?" Rebecca asked impatiently, her brow furrowing.
"I heard that Paul Evans was going to marry a muggle," Artemis informed her in apparent amusement.
"I know," Rebecca replied, letting out a deep sigh of resignation.
"Here," Artemis said, pointing to a small clip that had been torn from a newspaper.
'Announcement of the wedding of Paul Evans and Rose O'Neill…,' Rebecca read in anger.
"I know that. He had the gall to send me an invitation to his wedding. It's going to take place on Sunday next week. I think that he's been dating her from before we were even out of Hogwarts. That stupid cunt. He doesn't know about his own heritage now, does he? He's the heir of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. How can he marry a muggle?" she blurted out in anger.
"It seems that he's really unaware," Artemis replied, sighing. "He told me once that he was muggleborn."
Rebecca nodded in understanding. "Oh well, I know for a fact that their family is dominated by Squibs, but still, he should head to Gringotts and ask the goblins if he can't do that much of a research by himself."
Artemis quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought Paul was so wonderful?" he asked, teasingly.
"Oh, shut up," Rebecca growled. "I still like him, but that's too much."
"Have you been in contact with him after Hogwarts?" Artemis enquired.
"I've met him twice," Rebecca admitted. "We just went out to have a drink at the Leaky Cauldron. You?"
Artemis rolled his eyes. "You should know better," he lightly admonished her. "Remember that I feigned my own death, when I took up my new identity?"
"Oh right," Rebecca replied, remorsefully. "It slipped my mind for a moment."
"Shouldn't you have done the same?" Artemis asked.
Rebecca shook her head. "No, I'm keeping my real self alive in case Regina will need me some time. Yes, I could help her in my function as an Unspeakable, but still."
"Oh, your Squib sister," Artemis said in apparent understanding. "How is she faring?"
Rebecca let out a deep sigh. "Well, she's eight now and attending a muggle primary school. Apart from the psychological shock that my father kicked her out of the family two years ago, she's doing well. I've connected her fireplace to the floo network, so that we can easily visit in the evenings. She really needs my support. Sometimes, she even stays overnight."
"Are you going to attend his wedding?" Artemis enquired.
Rebecca nodded. "I believe that I have to see the bitch to find some closure," she admitted. "Don't worry. I'm going to behave. I won't do anything to her apart from perhaps a small Legilimency spell to see what she has done to win him," she added, chuckling. "How is Dorte by the way?"
"She married and moved to Australia together with her husband," Artemis replied, matter-of-factly.
"What?" Rebecca asked in surprise. "You never told me," she added, accusingly.
Artemis let out a deep sigh. "It wouldn't have changed anything," he said, reasonably.
"That's true, but still," Rebecca contradicted, only to add. "I'm sorry."
End of flashback
HP
As much as Harry and his friends tried to keep an eye on Draco Malfoy, the blond boy always managed to get away from them, and Harry already feared that the Slytherin was in possession of an Invisibility cloak.
One evening after dinner, however, when each of his friends was somehow occupied and he was roaming the halls just by himself, he observed how Draco walked upstairs towards the Astronomy tower, and the words that Filch had told the boys a few weeks ago crossed his mind. 'I'm going to follow him,' he thought in determination.
He was very careful to not be seen by the other boy and managed to follow him up onto the tower, where he remained hidden from the sight behind a wall projection. 'What is he doing?' he wondered, knowing that usually students frequented the tower together with their girlfriends. 'It's a bit cold for such a thing though, and he's alone anyway,' he realised, observing how the blond boy cast a couple of unidentifiable spells at the wall in front of him.
All of a sudden, he felt a voice speak right into his mind. 'Harry, be careful, he's tampering my wards.'
'Hogwarts?' Harry thought back in shock, looking at the wall next to him.
'Yes my boy,' the voice added in apparent urgency.
Unobtrusively reaching into his robe pocket to grip his wand, Harry stepped out of the shadows and addressed the Slytherin. "Malfoy, what are you doing?"
Draco spun around, casting him a look of pure horror. "I'm doing an errand for the Dark Lord, and you're not going to disturb me," he hissed, pointing his wand at him.
"Can you please do that somewhere out of Hogwarts?" Harry enquired, trying to remain calm in spite of the fact that he was feverishly thinking what to do. 'Susan, Hermione, Luna, call the Aurors to the Astronomy tower quickly. I need help,' he thought to his girlfriends in urgency.
To his relief, he received a triple 'All right, be careful,' just an instant later.
This short moment of inattention, however, gave Draco the space he needed to cast an Unforgivable spell at him, and Harry realised in shock that it was too late for him to simply jump aside.
He readied himself to die from the impact of the killing curse, however, before the spell could reach his aim, a sharp voice from his right side shouted, "Expelliarmus."
The green light that had been steadily travelling towards him vanished into thin air, and Harry gratefully looked at the Unspeakable, who only now came into view. 'Where did he come from all of a sudden?' he wondered. He did not know who it was, as the Unspeakable robes changed the person's voice. He was certain, however, that it was not Raros, knowing his Unspeakable personality quite well.
Before he could utter as much as a thank you, however, five people, who were wearing masks, arrived on the tower by broomsticks.
"Death Eaters," the Unspeakable uttered, when suddenly three more Unspeakables popped up beside them and immediately began to help them fight the Death Eaters.
During the fight that barely lasted five minutes, three of the Death Eaters fell from the Astronomy tower, and the other three including Draco were sent away by Portkeys that the Unspeakables tossed at them.
"Thank you so very much for coming to my help and for securing the safety at Hogwarts," Harry addressed the four Unspeakables. "May I ask to whom I owe a life debt now?"
"I am Unspeakable Whisker," one of the Unspeakables informed him. "You don't owe me a life debt though, as it is my job as an Unspeakable to save innocent people's lives. It was the second time by the way. Why do you think that Fawkes suddenly arrived with the Sorting Hat, when you were fighting the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, hmmm?" he added, sounding amused.
Before Harry could even comprehend what the Unspeakable was telling him, the four Unspeakables popped away soundlessly.
"Whisker," Harry muttered to himself. "I must ask Raros about him."
Just then, a group of Aurors burst onto the tower.
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and what you expect from this story. Any ideas or opinions are welcome. My muse really appreicates the feedback.
Next chapter: "The Baby".