Fawkes spills the beans
With over 740,000 Harry Potter stories out there so I have probably stepped on someone's toes, for that I apologize. I am having fun and it's addicting, so on with my attempt at writing so let me get out my crayons and get started. You get it as I write it and it's as fast as I can put the words down on the screen. If you look past my grammar etc, you may find a story, then maybe not. This contain lot of character bashing, character death and not book compliant.
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners i.e. J.K. Rawlings, etc. The original characters and plot are the property of their author i.e. J.K. Rawlings, etc. This work is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Not for sale or profit but at least I can give it away. Maybe?
Fawkes spills the beans
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Prologue:
The day had just fallen into night and the black striped cat remained perched on a nearby wall as it had the entire day. Should anyone have paid attention to the cat they would get the impression that the cat waiting for something?
The old man with the long white beard and strange clothing was not Saint Nicholas but he was going to drop off a package. When the huge man riding a motorcycle handed a bundled baby to the strangely dressed man the cat transformed into an elderly lady with a pointed hat. It appeared that no one in the neighborhood was paying attention as the lady exclaimed, "Albus they're the worst type of Muggles!"
The trio departed leaving the baby on the doorstep. The strange man had not removed the sleeping spell he had cast upon the child so the child would not wake for a few hours. It was just as well as a large bird descended from a nearby tree and snatched up the child. Both disappeared in a flaming ball of fire.
Had anyone been able to observe they would have seen a dozen multicolored birds forming a circle around a sleeping child lying in the middle of that circle of birds. History refers to these birds as Phoenixes. They were now chirping at each other as if attempting to come to a decision. Finally it appeared that an agreement had been made and a silver Phoenix approach the baby. The Phoenix nipped the baby on the arm and then dropped Phoenix tears on the baby's small cut, causing the cut to instantly heal. Harry Potter was return to the doorstep just in time to be discovered by the Dursley family. No one missed him while he was gone.
Approximately seven years later…
I was reminiscing how I've done a couple things in my short life that make me very happy. Right now I'm sitting at the Goblins bank, called Gringotts. The Goblins have been oscillating between happy greed and an anger that is something to see and fear. Presently I'm a very smug eight-year-old, and since there is a break in the action I've been looking backwards into my short life.
Flashback:
I was definitely happy that there was a serious side of me and the primary school had a library. I spent a lot of time there studying and avoiding Dudley Dursley and his gang. Being encouraged by my physical safety, that I obtained in the school library, I spent every bit of time that I could sneaking away from my so called home and into the Little Whinging library. In my young life I learned to stay away from Vernon Dursley and my Aunt Petunia Dursley as well as their son.
No one cares and no one will help, so I have become a loner. Dudley and his gang attend the same school as I and live to thump on me especially when I am away from the safe libraries. I have been confined in the Dursley house in a cupboard under the stairs for as long as I can remember. Everywhere I'm allowed to go brings me physical abuse from one or more of the Dursley's except for my library time. That made the local library, besides providing a safe environment, it has given me a valuable set of ethics which in the end may have given me more than I could ever imagine.
Initially the library showed me agencies that dealt with child abuse. But in every attempt on my part…well…all my complaints always ended strangely. For the most part it seemed that everyone just seemed to forget me and my complaints. It was as if my complaints never happened and I ended back at the Dursley's for more physical and mental tuning at the hands of Vernon Dursley.
Rather than cursing the Fates or the Dursley's I was resigned to the fact that I would never be more than an underfed runt that wore glasses. What they couldn't take away from me was my intelligence and what I had learned even though I had to pretend that I was the dunce of the household. If I live long enough I'd be escaping the Dursley's on my 18th birthday. Or so I had thought.
My biggest find was when the Dursley's were happy to inform me that my parents died in a car crash and that's how I received the scar on my forehead. All other information from the Dursley's was forbidden and could lead to my being slapped around for asking any more freakish questions. Somehow I knew I was missing information I should know, so…I set out to see what was missing.
I found in the library that there was "The General Registry Office" which is part of Her Majesty's Passport Office. Since this office maintain the archives of all births, marriages and deaths dating back to 1837 I figured that I might find a bit of information about my parents. That bit of information might lead me somewhere. After all my parents were real, they lived somewhere and they died somewhere.
The Dursley's saw a stupid dumb freak that was worthless and I will say I'm very good at acting that way out of self-defense. In reality the libraries have made me quite a smart and angry little shit. My plans were all set and ready to be implemented.
It took me months to snitch enough money out of Dudley's room to take a bus to the General Registry Office. I of course would not be given the time of day but Dudley, even at his age, was handed money for sweets or for meals at school. This was done on a constant basis and Dudley would just toss the leftover bills or change in his room. Being a lazy Git, and rather than look around in his dresser or wherever, he rarely looked for that change and went to his parents and asked for more. Of course he was also prone to beat up kids in the school yard for other kids' lunch money. So I could liberate a little bit at a time from his room until I felt I had enough and I was off.
The maps, bus schedules and office locations I found in the library. I wasn't sure what information I could find or what information I could afford but no sooner had I reach the counter at The General Registry Office, when…
"You're Harry Potter aren't you? I never thought I would ever get to meet you! Could I ask if you a few questions?" The clerk was definitely excited as he kept staring at the scar on my forehead.
"Miss Summers could you cover the counter for me for a few minutes, Thank you".
He did most of the talking as he apparently had read a whole bunch of Harry Potter books and was enamored with the legends.
There are books about me, Harry Potter? I almost yelled out loud… what is this insanity?
To say the least I was confused but he kept on going about what was in these books and magic. Any question I asked just received another question from the clerk as he seemed to be answering his own questions from information in those same Harry Potter books.
That's how I got a mind boggling overload of information just from his questions and self supplied answers. One of my questions he did answer, as he gushed over how I could find all of these Harry Potter books, at some place called Flourish & Blott's in Diagon Alley.
"All you have to to do is enter the Leakey Cauldron on Charring Cross Rd. and asked Tom the barkeep for entry into the Alley. I'm a squib and can't use a wand so I can't tell you how to use a wand but you use magic on the wall in the back…"
I don't think I ever got his name but he just kept asking questions. Most of them I couldn't answer before his next question was delivered. Some of the questions were really stupid like…
"How does it feel to ride a dragon when you fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and what does he really look like?"
I was able to pass them off with one word answers such as "fantastic" or "mean" before another question was tossed my way. Overall I thought he was some kind of a nut that fell off the back of a farmer's lorry but one question got my interest as he asked, "Is it true that you have millions of quid in your Gringotts bank vaults in Diagon Alley?"
No one missed me while I was gone.
End Flashback:
Now it's taken me a number of months to snitch enough quid to make it here and see if there is an off chance that there is some money in this Gringotts bank. Not that I was going to be able to do much with it but it was nice to know in planning my future after the Dursleys. Besides I was dying of curiosity, could this place and people like he described really exist?
I found the smoke filled Leakey Cauldron with its peeling plaster and it's sole lighting from candles. Tom was nice enough to do the wall in back exposing the alley which appeared to have fallen out of the last century.
The people really dressed strange and their color coordination was shocking. The stores seem to contain strange and weird stuff like Newt eyes and Dragon scales. Along with all this strange Disney like stuff I spied a couple of multicolored birds on the rooftops that at first I though they were stuffed props. I never come across them in my reading in the libraries. All this seemed like it must be part of some theatrical set for some weird movie.
The people in the Alley were weird enough but some were rude and some downright mean. A blonde haired man and a blonde haired kid that was about my age were the best example. I swear the man went out of his way to shove me to the ground and take a swipe at me with his snake headed cane. Then his kid tried to kick me in the head as he passed sneering something that sounded like, "Mudblood". Being around Vernon Dursley I easily rolled out of their way. The man put his hand on the kids shoulder as they continued on their path down the alley. It was as if they were due this privilege.
I almost ran like hell after seeing the bank guards. However my reading in the libraries had told me that many animals had been trained as guards so I pressed forward. After all they were carrying axes and swords and not automatic weapons. I made it all away onto the main floor of Gringotts before I saw that those creatures were actually running the bank. I am only eight years old and while my brain said one thing my feet were trying to head the other way. I'm sure I looked scared, lost and confused.
"Where are your parents or guardian? We don't allow children to wander around lose in the bank!" This was roughly said by what I was soon to learn was a goblin who changed his demeanor as I turned around and he spotted the scar on my forehead.
"Oh Mr. Potter what can we do for you here at Gringotts?" Apparently my scar was some kind of identification to everybody
That's when even weirder things started happening. I think I stuttered out a question about if I or my parents ever had an account in their bank. I'm not sure what he was thinking at that time but he reached over and grabbed my arm apparently to direct me to a side door. The second he touched my arm he recoiled as if he had been burnt. I got a verbal one way ticket to that side door and a conference room where I was left alone for quite a while.
Meanwhile, else where in the edifice:
"Bank Manager Ragnot THE wizard child of prophecy is in conference room four but he doesn't know who he is and is asking if he has an account here."
"WHAT! Explain Knifethruster!
"The child, it's Harry Potter, he has the scar and I could feel the dark magic residing in him but he apparently doesn't know anything. He was asking if he or his parents had an account or has an account here in Gringotts. It appears that he knows nothing about the wizard world. In fact he's dressed like some poor Muggle beggar."
"Have the word spread throughout Gringotts that no one is to pass any information to that child or that the child of prophecy has been found. Tell everyone that if the child enters the bank that you or I should be called immediately to assist Lord Potter. If what you say Knifethruster is accurate the Goblin Nation can gain greatly, if this is properly handled. Imagine THE Goblin prophecy unfolding in our lifetime."
I've been sitting in this room not knowing what was coming next for what seemed a very long time. But then I started considering my current position as being in a larger room in my new cupboard under the stairs. That was until an older goblin entered the room.
"Knifethruster says you're claiming to be Harry Potter and you are asking if your parents had an account in this bank? Has not your magical guardian discussed your finances that exist in the magical and mundane worlds?
"I'm sorry but what's a magical guardian and why is everybody I talk to talk about magic like its real? Uncle Vernon would beat the crap out of me if I use the word magic as he says it doesn't exist."
"You're stating that Albus Dumbledore has never explained your finances or explain that you're a Wizard?"
"I don't believe I've ever heard that name before and as far as I know I've never met the individual. And I guess Uncle Vernon must be right and I am a freak."
The flood of questions I was asked only brought more questions when I gave what few answers I could. Crikey! I may study in the library a lot but I am only eight years old. I told him of how Vernon beats on me and how I live in the cupboard under the stairs but who knows what a Hogwarts is or how many Knuts are in a Galleon?
I then end up getting another overload of information, most of which was nice, like I am a really rich wizard kid. Only one bit was upsetting and that was going to be checked on a bit later. So after pricking my finger and putting some blood on a piece of paper, I am now again waiting. They apparently now know that I am me. I just wish they would explain to me who everybody thinks I am. But right now I'm being ignored as they are too busy being all agitated and scurrying around like angry ants.
As I sat there I saw paperwork being produced out of thin air and signed with feathers. It seems like I have a number of titles and vaults but I can not take money out until I was seventeen. BUT! It seems that a few people had broken a few rules and have upset the Goblins. Knifethruster had me sign a couple of documents with a strange feather that made the back of my hand itch something terrible. The books in my schools library had never mentioned any of this stuff but the older Goblin said everything would be explained it all to me later in the day. So now I'm again waiting alone in a room.
Finally some goblins came and I'm led off to what looks like a hospital room where I was given something to drink and I fall asleep.
I hoped no one missed Harry Potter while I was gone.
Chapter 1 – –Truth and lies
Around this time that Harry Potter was dealing with the goblins in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was at his desk rubbing his hands together. He just made a substantial withdrawal from the Potter vaults under the auspices of a new wardrobe and subsistence allowance for Harry Potter at the Dursley's. In fact, all the money had increased his vault substantially. Dumbledore had plans to stop by and introduce himself to Harry next year. At that time he would explained about magic and Hogwarts which would put the kid completely in a daze. He would then give the kid of few Galleons and have him sign a stack of documents. His eyes twinkled as he thought of the Will that would be hidden in the midst of all those unimportant documents. He was sure the kid would sign everything without reading and he could add the actual signing date on the Will just before the kid met Tom. Then all those beautiful Galleons in the Potter vaults would be his. There was no way that an untrained kid could take on Lord Voldemort without proper training and live. Yes, Sybill Trelawney's prophecy would be fulfilled as all the signs were that Lord Voldemort to would be returning. After all Dumbledore had been planning and manipulating for 50 years, ever since Tom Riddle had been found in an orphanage.
/Scene Break/
"I'm sure that you have a headache so if you drink this you will find that the headache will go away. It was a nasty piece of dark magic in that scar in your forehead." I drank and the headache did go away, now if I could get the taste to go away. I was then led to a very fancy office where the older Goblin was sitting behind a desk.
"Harry take a seat I need to explain some things to you. First off you may call me Ragnot. I'm going to skip all the legal stuff, if you have questions please ask. The Goblin Nation has determined that you have been abused by numerous people in many ways. Because of these improprieties we were able to make you a ward of the Goblin Nation after a few threats of bank closure. We are also now your magical guardians. The first thing we need to do is determine where you're going to live. If you wish you may return to your relatives or you can allow us to make other accommodations for you." He was grinning when he said the last part about returning to the Dursley's.
"You mean I can decide not to return to the Dursleys?"
"Yes Harry you have sufficient Galleons to live quite comfortably elsewhere."
"Thank you, I'll take the elsewhere, I never want to go back to the Dursley house ever again."
"We will arrange living quarters for you and ensure that you receive tutors to give you the training and medical attention that your last magical guardian should have been providing."
I wondered if anybody would miss me now that I am gone from the Dersleys?
/Scene Break/
The next couple weeks were a whirlwind of information on things to learn via hired tutors. I had potions to drink, learning who I was and why I could afford all this. Give or take a galleon or two I could afford all this due to a loophole. While I was unable to touch my family vaults money until I was seventeen there was a trust vault. My parents had set up a trust vault with 30,000 galleons to be refilled to that level annually but they had not stated that early withdrawal was prohibited.
"The basic idea was for you to learn how to invest and make money and of course cover your tuition and expenses while at Hogwarts. That way you would be able to responsibly take over the Potter financial affairs after your parents decided to retire." Ragnot exsplained.
The Goblins rented me a two bedroom flat over the Shrunken Head store in Knockturn alley which I paid for along with my paying for my tutors. The Goblins could not accompany me without drawing attention, especially in downtown London, so I was now the proud owner of Libby a female house elf. She would be able to POP me, in case of troubles, to Gringotts and could remain out of sight while we were in London.
Most of the explanations from Ragnot were over my head but some of it was crystal clear…
"Harry, Dumbledore has not provided you crucial training and information that every heir apparent should receive. It's obvious that you were put in an abusive household and not checked upon, we believe the person responsible was again Dumbledore. We are also investigating his making large withdrawals from your family fault attributed to schooling costs and your general upkeep. Why are you laughing Harry?"
"Uncle Vernon always complained he never received anything from anybody for my upkeep. His mantra was that I be grateful for the table scraps and secondhand clothes from Dudley." I could care less, I was now a ward of the Goblin Nation and my life had turned up roses.
"Harry this is Libby and she has instructions to report to me but she will take you around Wizard and Muggle shopping for wardrobes, books and made sure you are properly fed. She will invisibly escort you around both Alleys and even parts of London." Ragnot then launched off into the explanation about house elves and that she was to accompany me for my protection.
Not that I cared but every once in a while I would stop and wonder if anybody had noticed my absence. There was definitely nothing in any of the news papers considering how famous I was supposed to be.
Around this time the Goblins made a mistake which ended up being very positive in both of our futures. Neither of us currently would recognize the mistake. The Goblins had hired a great number of tutors, both wizard and Goblin, which were teaching me all kinds of magic but the Goblins mistake was allowing me access to their libraries. These libraries were Goblin libraries and no one considered that certain spells and potions were for Goblins only. They weren't labeled "For Goblin use only" they were just there and what did I know at that time in my life…
What I knew was there was a lot of material that I was being taught. There was everything from spell incantations, proper potion and brewing procedures, wizard law to etiquette such as the use of cutlery, the way of eating formally and addressing other ancient and noble families. My head was ready to explode and then I found a potion in the library that would help me "learn faster". Potions was like cooking in the kitchen and I had definitely been doing that for the last number of years at the Dursley's. All the strange ingredients were easily found in the Alley so…Of course I brewed it and swallowed it and…I didn't become Superman. In fact I couldn't tell the difference so I pressed on. What was missed was the Goblin's definition of "learn faster".
/Scene Break/
Ragnot made sure he saw me every week to receive further explanations on what was going on that affected me and why the Goblins were involved in and what they were doing.
"Harry with your scar removed it is not likely that people will recognize you as Harry Potter. To further keep the unwanted people away from you you're going to have a new name and a few other changes. In the future you will be known as Lord Harold Wilhelm Smythe."
"Ragnot that is a horrible name, can't I be known as something simple like Harry Smith?"
"You can make up your own nickname Harry but right now you need to get use to being called by a different name. We are using a name that was used by a real family long ago and is recognized as Muggle nobility."
Ragnot also explained that the evil man Lord Voldemort, who killed my parents, left a piece of himself in my scar and his evil followers would be happy to capture me, should they find Harry Potter. Somehow I had the feeling there was a lot more to all this and I would find out more at a later date. I had enough to keep me busy with the tutors teaching me from books, the potions I had to drink, and then there was always something popping up even while I was gone from the bank…
"Master Harry, the Manager Boss-man state that Lord Harold yous needs to go to London to be getting new hairy styled. When wees come bank manager Boss-man wants your eyes fixed in the bank's hospital and your essays is due on potions."
/Scene Break/
In the headmaster's office Dumbledore had a number of documents spread across his desk. The documents contained the cost of running each area of Hogwarts. Dumbledore was in the process of seeing how he could manipulate funds so the Deputy Headmistress McGonagall didn't catch him skimming Galleons into his personal vault. It took a lot of Galleon in bribes to effect people that kept 'The Great Leader of the Light' in so many powerful offices. That's when his silver little trinkets started to scream and puff smoke; there was trouble at number 4 Privet Dr. Potter's blood wards had collapsed. Sticking his head in the fireplace he called for Professor McGonagall.
"Yes Albus what can I do for you?"
"Minerva could you contact a couple of our friends from the Order and have them meet me at Privet Drive, it appears the wards have fallen and I will meet them there."
"Fawkes!"
The house at number 4 Privet Drive look normal so the great leader of light walk up the walkway to the front door and knocked. He was met with, "Vernon their master freak is at the front door!"
Vernon stormed the front door and yelled, "Get off my property you freak and keep the rest of your lot away from this house."
"Mr. Dursley I would like to see Harry Potter."
"He's gone and good riddance so now you can get gone! AND! don't try any that freakish hocus-pocus. I've got letters exposing you and your world in a number of locations. If anything happens to my family you and your freaks will be exposed big time!"
"Mr. Dursley I give you fair warning that you will be in horrendous danger if we don't find Harry Potter and return him to this house…"
"Get gone you old pervert or I will call the local constable!"
Albus Dumbledore was not a happy camper, he found that Harry Potter had disappeared months ago. It was now time to reactivate the entire Order of the Phoenix, Potter must be found.
/Scene Break/
About a year after Harry departed the Dursley's:
"Harry it's now time to start teaching you how to cast the spells you've been learning about. Since you can't be waving around a wand at your age without bringing the Aurors down on us so were going to the upper level of Knockturn alley and get you a focus ring."
"I'm ready to go Mr. Sullivan, Lippy!"
"We will be going to go up the stairs to Wandnesttons wands and please let me do all the talking. Remember Harry your Harold Smythe and you should use this focus ring in public unless it's an emergency, okay Harry?"
Ragnot had all my tutors swear an unbreakable vow of silence when it came to my information. He also provided training facilities in Gringotts and the special room for when I got my focus ring. One aspect that I had read up on and talk to the tutors about was wandless spell casting. I was learning spells, didn't they think I would find a way to perform them? While the tutors weren't of much help I had been playing around and found that I could summon small light objects without a focus ring or wand. I finally realized that I was restricted to small light objects but then I wondered if I could send the objects away. After much practicing on my own time I got quite accurate sending items back from where I had summoned them. Unfortunately that was the extent of my wandless magic.
/Scene Break/
The Wandmaker was really nice…"Now you will find the ring expand as you grow but I must again warn you. Mr. Sullivan is assured me that you receiving training with this rings' use but be careful at your age things can go wrong. If you don't focus your magic and focus on your ring and a specific target, Merlin only knows what will come out or when."
I got another lecture from Mr. Sullivan on the way back to Gringotts and my training room. Upon entering the training room I saw a huge dummy, well at my age an adult was huge.
"Now Harry, what you do is aim you ring at the dummy. Our first the training is going to be about accuracy because if you can't hit what you're aiming at your spell is useless. Now focus on pushing the dummy backwards by forcing a bit of magic through your ring and at the dummy."
"SPLAT!"
A bit later:
"Director I really wasn't expecting anything on his first try. Even if he got it right I expected a minimal effect on the dummy. But not only did he hit it but it was flung with such force against the wall that it was actually crushed." Tutor Sullivan was approaching a loss of control.
"Excellent, keep up his training and make sure he is learning as much and as quickly as he can." Bank Manager Ragnot was displaying a large goblin grin.
