Tw: Mentions of Child Abuse

Monday morning's tight schedule began with breakfast, which Harry spent consciously keeping his attention on not sneaking food into his satchel.

His satchel was the most expensive thing he owned, mokeskin, with a feather-light charm so that no matter how much he put into it, it would never feel heavy. He had bought it during his school shopping when Hagrid had left him unsupervised.

When Hagrid was around, he ensured that Harry didn't spend large amounts of money, hence his second-hand trunk, shabby in comparison to his housemates', even with its good condition, its feather-light charm, and the enchantment which would cause it to shrink automatically to a convenient pocket size if lifted from the bottom.

Harry had found it strange that he had not been allowed to buy himself clothing other than his robes. The rags given to him by his aunt were all he had to wear underneath, and they hung from his frame like a dress, interfering with the fit of his robes and making him appear rumpled until he finally gave up and wore nothing underneath; after all, it wasn't as if anyone would see under his robes.

After breakfast, the first-year students had potions. Professor Snape's classroom was in the dungeons, however, the room was well-lit and well-ventilated. Harry frowned at the lack of shadows and sat near the front, Draco hurriedly sitting with him. Ron Weasley hurriedly sat next to them at the nearest desk, a yellow-robed boy Harry didn't recognize sitting with him.

Professor Snape began the class by calling roll, and Ron's seatmate was revealed to be Neville Longbottom, the boy who had lost the toad on the train.

Hearing the professor say his name caused a tugging in Harry's chest that he couldn't explain. He stumbled over his confirmation of his presence, blushing with embarrassment; he hadn't stammered since he was six and his uncle had attempted to beat it out of him.

~P.O.V. Change~

Severus was concerned when Harry stumbled over his words, but masked it well, moving on to his beginning of the year speech, which he had given to his class of first-year students every year he had taught.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

Several hands shot into the air (Severus noticed these were the Ravenclaws), while a few Slytherins raised their hands more slowly and respectfully. Harry was among the latter group.

"Potter?"

"I believe that would make a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death, Sir."

"Correct," he said, before again addressing the room at large. "If I asked you to find me a Bezoar, where would you look?"

Again, some hands shot into the air and some raised their hands more slowly, but with no less confidence; Harry was once again among the latter group.

"Potter?"

"In the stomach of a goat, Sir," Harry said.

Severus nodded once, allowing himself a private smile at the intelligence of his Soulmate. "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

This time only two raised their hands, Harry in the same confident manner he had the previous two times and Neville Longbottom timidly and fearfully.

"Longbottom?" He said, deciding it was time he stopped paying all of his attention to Harry.

When Longbottom spoke, it was barely above a whisper. "They're the same plant."

"What was that? Speak up next time. Fifty points from Hufflepuff. Potter?"

Harry's voice was much stronger and clearer than Neville's, audible throughout the classroom though he did not raise his voice, "They are the same plant, which is also known as Aconite."

"Correct. At least someone read the textbooks."

So saying, he moved on to the lesson, teaching them to brew a simple potion to cure boils.

Harry, who had been cooking since he was four years old and had quickly learned to do it properly for fear of cruel and unusual punishment, excelled at cutting ingredients properly and evenly and at recognizing the exact time intervals specified. He followed the recipe carefully while Draco did the same beside him. Professor Snape made his rounds of the room criticizing everyone except Harry and Draco.

Just as they were both preparing to decant their potions, Neville's went up in a cloud of noxious green smoke. Every student in the classroom jumped back from Neville's table, but Ron and Neville had already been contaminated in the initial explosion. Professor Snape quickly contained the smoke before it could touch anyone else and directed it through the ventilation, but Neville and Ron were already beginning to break out in boils all over their hands and faces.

"Go to the infirmary, both of you," Professor Snape said, then paused, turning to Harry. "You escort them, please."

Harry has finished decanting his potion before the explosion, and now he stoppered it, leaving the vial on the professor's desk as he escorted Ron and Neville from the room.

Ron made no attempt to converse with Harry as the three made their way to the infirmary, so he and Neville made quiet conversation instead, leaving the redhead upset over being excluded.

When the three reached the infirmary, the bushy-haired girl from the train was there, her robes trimmed in the blue of Ravenclaw, but something seemed off about her. When she looked in their direction, they all seemed to notice at the same time that her nose was rather larger and redder than they remembered.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Neville asked, though the boils on his face had grown large and plentiful enough to impair his speech and it was obviously painful for him.

~P.O.V. Change~

Madame Pomfrey turned from where she had been attempting to detransfigure Hermione Granger's nose, which had been hit by a stray mispronounced spell in transfiguration class, at the sound of a child who was obviously in much more pain and needed her help immediately. Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley, escorted by Harry Potter, were covered in unseemly boils, presumably from a misbrewed potion.

After sending Harry on to Magical History, she administered a cure for boils to Neville and Ron and gave each of them a bed to sit out the next class period, with a warning that if they got restless, she would send them to class anyway. Afterwards, she returned to Hermione, finally managing to turn her nose back to normal before writing her a note and sending her on to Potions.

~P.O.V. Change~

It had taken nearly a full day for Harry's case to be passed to the Aurors. As Harry took his seat in the History classroom, the Dursleys' home was being raided. They were all found to be under strong compulsions, and Dudley was discovered to have magic, though his core was bound tightly. When the compulsions on Petunia and Vernon were released, they were found to still be verbally abusive towards the wixen who interrogated them, towards their nephew, and even towards their own son upon discovering that he was a wizard. It was clear that the compulsion had only magnified the hatred of wixen that had already been there.

Dudley was taken to the goblins for a full cleanse and inheritance test and was found to be a direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff through his father. It was determined that he had no ill will toward his cousin or wixen in general and he was taken to Diagonal Alley for school shopping and was at Hogwarts by dinner.

Dumbledore, being Harry's self-proclaimed magical guardian, was already under suspicion in the case of Harry's abuse, but when, upon questioning the Dursleys' neighbours, Mrs Arabella Figg revealed that she had been reporting to Dumbledore for years that Harry was being severely abused by the Dursleys and that it had only ever gotten worse, Aurors were immediately sent to Hogwarts to detain him.

Dumbledore was given a same-day trial before the Minister and the Wizengamot, something which was only ever done in cases of child abuse. Upon questioning him under veritaserum, it was discovered that he was directly responsible for the death of Harry's parents and that Sirius Black had not been the Potters' secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew had. Dumbledore, Vernon, and Petunia were all three sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, after which their comatose bodies were left to waste away and die in an Azkaban cell block, and Sirius Black was brought before the Wizengamot for a trial.

It was discovered that Sirius had originally believed himself responsible for Lily and James Potter's deaths because he had suggested that they change their secret keeper to Peter, as he was not as close with James and Lily as Sirius was. It was also discovered that when Sirius had hunted Pettigrew down, he had severed his own finger, caused an explosion, and shifted into his illegal animagus form, a rat, to escape. Sirius, of course, was released and paid reparations for the damage caused by ten years of continued exposure to dementors.

This was all completed by dinnertime.

~P.O.V. Change~

When Harry and Draco entered the Great Hall for dinner after their first Charms class, the first thing they noticed was that Dumbledore was gone, and sitting in his usual place was Professor McGonagall. As soon as everyone was seated, she stood.

"We have a student who was not with us at the weekend. He must be Sorted now. Dursley, Dudley."

Harry watched in shock as his cousin walked forward and took his seat to be sorted. After half a minute, the hat called out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Dudley walked to the Hufflepuff table as his robes changed, joining Neville and the other first-year 'Puffs at the end of the table nearest the hat.

Before Harry could fully get over his shock, McGonagall continued speaking. "Headmaster Dumbledore has been incarcerated for child abuse. He will never set foot in Hogwarts again, and as his deputy, I have been given the position of Headmistress until the end of the school year . . . "

Professor McGonagall was still speaking, but Harry didn't hear her words. Headmaster Dumbledore was in prison, and Dudley was at Hogwarts. Surely, the two events were somehow connected. Had Dumbledore had a hand in his abuse at the hands of his relatives? Suddenly, Harry's appetite was gone. He forced himself to finish eating before leaving the Great Hall. He found himself in front of Professor Snape's office door, knocking. Although Professor Snape had still been at the table when Harry had left the Great Hall, he was already in his office. The door opened and he beckoned Harry in.

"Yes, the Headmaster had a hand in your abuse," Severus said, without giving Harry time to ask, as he handed him his nutrition potion. "He deliberately placed you with Muggles known to hate wixen and placed compulsions on all of them and a core bind on your cousin."

"So, they wouldn't have abused me if the Headmaster hadn't meddled in it?"

"Well, your aunt and uncle still hated magic even without the compulsions, but your cousin was completely changed. The Headmaster only made the situation worse."

Harry considered this. It was hard to believe that Headmaster Dumbledore had had a hand in his abuse; the man had seemed kindly from what Harry had seen of him. Still, he had learned early that the people who seemed kind always ended up hurting him the most.

Harry ended up spending most of the evening in Professor Snape's office, making conversation. When he stepped out, shortly before bedtime, Dudley was standing in the hallway.

Word Count: 2040

According to the Harry Potter wiki, Mokeskin bags are special in that no one but the owner can retrieve items from them and they are essentially bottomless.

Professor Snape's speech, the questions, and their answers were taken from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

I say textbooks, plural, as the Wolfsbane, Monkshood, Aconite question has more to do with Herbology than Potions. This is also why Neville knew the answer, as he excels in Herbology.

This might not be entirely coherent, but I just wanted to release Sirius and get Dumbles and the Dursleys out of the way quickly. I probably won't have more P.O.V. that doesn't center around Harry in future. chapters.

All the love,

Emmi

05/16/2021