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.
"What?" Harry blurted out in disbelief. Summoning a quill and a parchment, he quickly scribbled a response.
'Hello Tom,
I am sorry to say this, but as you killed my only family, my parents, I will never accept you as family.
If I ever meet you again, I only intend to fulfil the prophecy.
Best regards
Harry Potter'
He swiftly attached the parchment to the vulture's foot, only to take it off again. "Thanks for waiting," he told the bird. "But right now, I am not sure what to reply to your master."
With a small sound of apparent indignance, the bird took off, causing Harry to sigh in relief.
'I should show his letter to Felina and Whisker before reacting to it,' he thought, smirking as a plan developed in his mind. Wondering if he should speak with Petunia, Dudley or Vernon about the matter first, he decided against it and excused himself for a while.
"Just be back on time for your birthday party," Petunia advised him, giving him a concerned look.
"I'll be back sooner," Harry replied and returned to the manor to use the shortcut to Hogwarts.
HP
He found Argus Filch in his office, where he seemed to be just having a conversation with Mrs. Norris, his cat, when Harry knocked at the caretaker's door.
"Err, Whisker?" Harry asked, uncertainly, causing Mr. Filch to cast him a horrified look, muttering something about insolent students.
"Come in, Mr. Potter," he finally said and ushered him inside, before he cast a series of privacy spells at the door. "Did something happen?" he then enquired, pointing to a chair in apparent invitation.
"Thanks," Harry replied, as he took the offered seat, pulling the letter out of his robe pocket. "Earlier, I received a letter from Voldemort and I was considering how to reply or what to do about it," he informed the older wizard.
"Since when did you know about me by the way?" Filch enquired, causing Harry to shrug.
"I was not one hundred percent sure, but I suspected it ever since the evening on the astronomy tower, when you saved my life, sir," he replied, truthfully.
Filch nodded in apparent understanding and skimmed the letter, seemingly pleased.
"Well, my charm seems to be efficient, but we don't know how long it's going to work," he muttered, thoughtfully.
"I understand that, sir, but I suppose that we could use this proposed meeting as a trap for him," Harry voiced his idea, only to add as an afterthought, "I wouldn't want to endanger my relatives though."
Filch nodded, before he let out a sigh. "Remember that we have to get rid of his snake, before you can vanquish him," he then reminded Harry. "If he doesn't bring his snake to the meeting, we've won nothing."
"That's true," Harry agreed, pensively.
"Perhaps that could work though," Filch thought aloud. "I will try to manipulate him into returning to the place, where everything began, where he abducted your grandmother many years ago, and to take Nagini with him." He nodded in confirmation. "I'm not sure if it'll work, but I'll try. Don't send him anything, before I tell you that it was all right," he then added.
"All right, sir," Harry confirmed. "When can I expect your response, sir?"
"How can I contact you if I have to contact you quickly?" the Unspeakable enquired.
Harry remained pensive for a moment, before he replied, "Through Professor McGonagall or through any of the portraits of the founders of Hogwarts. Or through Neko. I suppose that you know Professor McGonagall's familiar?"
"Yes," Filch replied, smirking. "Felina was upset, when you didn't want her as your familiar," he quipped.
"She wanted her to spy on my family and me," Harry growled. "I'm glad I rejected her in the first place, as cute as she is."
"Very well," Filch replied, already morphing into his Artemis Nott form, "I'll head to the Unspeakables' office and see what I can do. You'll hear from me."
"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, smiling, before he swiftly left the caretaker's office.
'Filch indeed,' he thought, 'I like his real form much more though. He's much friendlier than as Filch.'
HP
Harry arrived back at Hogwarts manor right on time for his birthday party, which took place on the beach of the manor. The house-elves had placed a couple of tables surrounded by chairs onto the beach, where Harry and his friends and family enjoyed coffee and tea along with a huge cake in the form of the castle.
When everyone felt too full to eat another bit, Harry was ushered to the boat, which was hovering in the shallow water and seemed to be filled with dozens of colourful presents.
"Let's go for a small trip," Luna said, pleasantly, as she ushered Hermione, Susan and him into the boat.
"Dobby wills joins you," Dobby announced in apparent happiness, as he popped up next to them and quickly helped Lucy over, before the boat took into the sea.
'Beautiful,' Harry thought, feeling glad that Dobby saw to it that they did not leave the charmed area of the manor. On Hermione's encouraging look, he slowly began to open his presents. He mostly received books, clothes and other useful items; however, he also received dog treats and a most comfortable dog bed. 'I wonder why,' he thought. 'I only ever sleep in my canine form, when Lucy and the other Animagi are with me anyway.' He also received a present from the Minister of Magic, Albus Dumbledore.
"What is it?" Hermione enquired, eyeing the small phial with apparent suspicion.
"It seems to be a memory," Harry replied, as he read the attached letter in annoyance.
'Dear Harry,
as you should know by now, there is a prophecy between you and Lord Voldemort, which says that you are the one who has to vanquish him. Considering that it is difficult to meet with you in person, I have attached a memory, which I would like to ask you to watch in private. I will send you a couple more memories, before we meet to do our next lesson together.
Yours sincerely
Albus Dumbledore
Minister of Magic'
HP
Only when he and Lucy were back in his room late in the evening, Harry used a charm, which Rowena had taught him, to view the memory right from the phial without having to add it to his own mind or a Pensieve. It showed Harry how a much younger Dumbledore had gone to tell eleven-year-old Tom Riddle about Hogwarts.
'Why is he showing me such a thing?' Harry wondered, as he made himself comfortable in his bed, smiling, when Lucy cuddled close to him as usual.
HP
When Minerva stepped into Hogwarts Manor around lunchtime the following day, she handed Harry an envelope. "Mr. Filch asked me give this to you," she told him, giving him a questioning look.
"That's fine, thank you, Minerva," Harry replied, reassuringly, as he pocketed the envelope without even looking at the content.
Only after a quick lunch, he returned to his room for a moment and opened the envelope that contained a small phial as well as a piece of parchment.
'Mr. Potter, please watch the memory and come to see me as soon as possible,' the parchment said in an hand writing that Harry had never seen before.
Casting the charm at the phial, he found himself in a small room, equipped with a table, a sofa and a chair, which were placed in front of a large fireplace. An enormous snake, even if not as large as a basilisk, was resting in front of the flickering fire, while Voldemort himself was sitting on the sofa.
"Nagini," he heard the evil wizard speak, "I feel the urge to visssit the placcce, where the founding of my family began, the houssse of the Evansss family. Will you accompany me, my bessst companion?"
"We already went to that houssse and killed the mugglesss before, Massster," Nagini replied, however, readily vanished from the spot, just when Voldemort apparated away.
HP
'What was that?' Harry thought in confusion. Never before had he thought about the Evans house, which had to be the house, where his muggle grandparents had lived. 'What does Voldemort want there?' he wondered. 'No one is alive there anymore anyway.' He pondered the matter for a moment, before he realised, 'Ah, that was not a vision, but that's probably Whisker's doing. He said something like that yesterday. So I assume that we have to go there, too?' He quickly readied himself to go and look for Whisker.
A few minutes later, two Fregs ran through the empty halls of the castle towards the caretaker's office, letting out a couple of loud woofs in front of the door.
To Harry's relief, Mr. Filch quickly ushered them inside.
Harry swiftly transformed back. "Thank you for the memory, sir. Is he now going to the Evans house?" he asked in confusion. "Excuse me, sir…" Harry began to ask but trailed off, as he took the offered seat and gently caressed Lucy's ears.
"Felina and I went there last night and spread some kind of powder on the ground, which is deadly for snakes," the Unspeakable explained. "I suppose that they will spend a few hours waiting for you and your relatives to come as well, and by the time they realise that you won't come and prepare to leave, Nagini will already have problems, even if he probably won't realise it. Just do as we say," he added. "It'll be all right."
"All right, sir," Harry agreed, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the thought of an ad hoc meeting with Voldemort.
"We'll go by the Unspeakables' office and borrow some robes for you, which will keep you invisible," Whisker, who was now wearing his robes, informed him. "Lucy, I am sorry, but you won't be able to accompany us this time," he told the canine, who gave one of his fingers a mock bite, before she licked his and Harry's hand and made her way to the door to be let out.
"She is very gentle. Now, let's go. Just hold on tightly," the Unspeakable told Harry, holding out his arm for him to grab.
HP
When they arrived in the Unspeakables' office, which Harry recognised from when the Unspeakables had brought him to the medical room to get the Horcrux removed, Felina was already waiting for them in front of Croaker's office.
"Ah, you brought your new colleague?" another Unspeakable greeted them, smirking.
"Good afternoon, Croaker, this is Harry Potter," Whisker introduced him.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter," Croaker said, sounding very friendly.
"Nice to meet you, sir," Harry replied, smiling at the Head Unspeakable.
"We're going to borrow robes for Mr. Potter, before we go and meet Voldemort," Whisker explained, causing the Head Unspeakable to nod.
"Of course. Keep the three of you safe," he replied, not even asking further questions. 'Oh well, Felina probably informed him already,' Harry realised, when Felina held out grey robes to him.
As soon as Harry had donned the robes and put up the hood, Whisker once again asked him to hold on tightly.
HP
They arrived at the side of a street in what seemed to be a normal muggle neighbourhood.
"As long as you're wearing the hood, you'll be invisible, and no one but the two of us will be able to hear you," Felina informed him.
"Thank you so much," Harry replied, as he curiously looked around. They found themselves opposite of a house, which Harry found looked quite nice. It was white with fairly large windows and green window shutters. However, it seemed as if no one was living there. "Was that my grandparents' house?" Harry asked in a small voice.
"Yes," Felina replied, letting out a long sigh. "Don't tell anyone, but I was good friends with your grandfather," she said in a soft voice. "In fact, he was my best friend apart from Whisker."
"My grandfather?" Harry asked incredulously. "But he was a muggle?"
"No," Felina replied, letting out a small chuckle. "I don't know why he pretended to be a muggle, but he was a wizard and attended Hogwarts together with us. He was even head boy in our seventh year."
"Cool," Harry replied, even if the story sounded like a fairy tale to him. "Too bad that I never knew him," he added in a small voice.
"One day you will," Felina replied, matter-of-factly, causing Harry to inwardly roll his eyes in annoyance.
Just then, Voldemort came walking around the house with a large snake slithering behind him.
"Someone mussst have repaired the houssse, after we came here the lassst time,= Voldemort hissed to his snake that raised its head towards him.
"Yesss, I ssseee that.=
'Who would repair the house of my grandparents? Perhaps Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, but they never even told me about the house,' Harry thought in surprise, wondering why he had never even wondered about where they had lived.
"I don't think any of my family will come," Voldemort finally decided. "I don't know why I got the idea that we could meet my daughter and grandsssonsss here. Let'ssss go home.=
With that, he apparated away, and Harry noticed that Felina quickly cast a spell at the area in front of the house.
"Anti apparition wards," she whispered in explanation to his unasked question. "Nagini is poisoned and should not have much power left. Please try to stun her and leave the rest to us."
Harry quickly cast a stunning spell at the large snake, staring in surprise, when the body of the serpent simply sank to the ground. Immediately, the two Unspeakables cast spells at the defeated snake, and a small, black cloud emerged, which one of his two companions quickly dispelled.
"Was that the last Horcrux?" Harry enquired, sighing in relief, when Felina and Whisker replied positively. 'That seemed so easy,' he thought, only to realise, 'Oh well, the two of them have prepared everything brilliantly.' "Thank you so very much for your help," he said, gratefully.
"You're very welcome," Felina replied, gently.
"Why don't you join our team and become an Unspeakable?" Whisker asked him. "You're certainly talented."
Harry stared at the Unspeakables in shock. 'Do they really mean that?' he wondered, automatically obeying when Whisker instructed him to hold on tightly.
HP
A few days later, when Harry was assisting Petunia at the Whizkidz, he decided to enquire about the Evans house.
"Aunt Petunia," he hesitantly addressed his aunt. "I was wondering about the houses, where my parents and my grandparents lived. Is anyone living there now? Do they still belong to our family?"
Petunia let out a deep sigh. "Yes Harry, they still belong to us, but both of them were destroyed badly, when Voldemort went after them. I don't know if it's worth repairing them, as I've never been to any of them since then."
"I heard from someone that at least the house of my grandparents has been repaired," Harry informed her. Seeing Petunia's incredulous look, he added, "I'm sorry, I went there with an Unspeakable, as they lured Voldemort there to get rid of his pet snake…"
"You did what?" Petunia asked, seemingly flabbergasted. "Harry, I know that you're of age and have been for a few days now, but still, I don't want you to endanger yourself in any way," she said, reproachfully.
Harry let out a deep sigh, before he promised, "I won't. I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to tell you more. It's just that the house looked really good, and I was wondering about it. I'd also like to see my parents' house sometime."
"I can take you there," Sirius spoke up, who had apparently followed their conversation. "Don't get your hopes up though. It's badly destroyed."
"That's all right. I'd just like to see where they lived," Harry replied in a soft voice, casting his godfather a sad look.
"All right, Harry. As soon as we close the shop this afternoon, I'll take you there," Sirius offered, and Harry gladly agreed.
HP
"I really need to take my Apparition licence," Harry groaned, when Sirius asked him to hold on to his arm and not let go.
"You should do that," Sirius agreed. "I thought the tests were taking place at the end of sixth year."
"Originally yes, but the examiner was unable to come at the end of the school year, so we're only going to have the test in September," Harry replied, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"Stupid ministry workers," Sirius growled. "As you're of age, you could simply go to the ministry and ask to take the test right away though. Perhaps you should ask Eric, considering that he's working in the Transportation department.
Eric Burnham, one of the Squibs, who had accepted the Second Magic potion, was still coming to Hogwarts together with Regina, Vernon and Brian to study magic every Saturday, and the extended family had got to know each of the former Squibs quite well.
"I'll do that," Harry replied, "but can we go now?" he asked, feeling impatient.
"Sure," Sirius replied and without further forewarning apparated them to Godric's Hollow.
HP
Harry stared at the beautiful white cottage in front of them that was surrounded by a small park in surprise. 'Mostly destroyed?' he wondered, looking up in shock, when his godfather whispered, "Harry, let's go home quickly. I'm afraid this is a trap."
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 and needs the feedback.
Next chapter: "Godric's Hollow".