The Mutt who Lived Chapter 5: Death Eaters, a harry potter fanfic

The Mutt who Lived
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, Dumbledore/Weasley bashing.

"Peter," Sirius repeated, "he was together with a woman with red hair. She looked like Molly Weasley; I'm not sure if it was her though."

"Oh well, I can imagine that Dumbledore sent her to explore our school," Lily said, grimly, "but Peter? Do you believe that Dumbledore's sunken low enough to cooperate with Death Eaters?"

James shook his head. "I don't think so," he replied, reasonably. "It's a pity that he's not cooperative enough to send Fawkes after Peter though. A phoenix would surely be able to find that rat."

"I wonder…" Lily began, thoughtfully, "… Do you remember that Inu never liked Peter, no matter in which form?"

"Yes, he always growled at him," James concurred, giving her a questioning look.

"Perhaps we should have Inu check out the students before accepting them into the MAMA," Lily suggested, causing the others to stare at her in apparent surprise.

"That's a brilliant idea," James agreed, "even if too late for these ones," he added, just when the train pulled into the station.

Just a mere instant later, the previously deserted platform was filled with students, laughter and excited talking.

"Hello students," James addressed the crowd using a Sonorus charm, as he lifted Inu onto his arms and stepped aside, so that everyone could see them. "Welcome to the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts. I am James Potter, the deputy headmaster, and this here is Inu, our school mascot. Please follow me up to the school.

While James led the crowd through the short avenue, which was flanked by trees and old looking stone walls, Inu slowly made his way through the students until he reached her and Sirius shortly before they arrived at the school.

=The students seem to be all right,= he informed them in a series of small woofs, which Sirius quickly translated for her.

"Thank you so much, Inu," Lily replied, smiling. "You're the best."

Minerva and the other teachers were waiting for them in the entrance hall, where the headmistress greeted the students and led everyone to the newly made atrium, which rivalled the Great Hall in size and decoration.

Awws and ohhs could be heard from the students, when they entered the atrium and looked around with apparent curiosity. Not only the roof was charmed to look like the sky, but the walls were also charmed to allow the view onto the huge garden of the manor.

"There are no house tables, and you may sit where you wish," Minerva informed them, and with much excitement and corresponding noise, the students chose their seats together with their friends, while the teachers sat at the high table together with Harry and Neville.

They had long discussed the question if the teachers should just sit together with the students, only to decide against it, knowing that the students would probably prefer discussing things without having teachers sitting nearby. Occasionally, the professors would also find it necessary to speak about certain matters without waiting for their late-night tea after curfew.

"From the summer onwards, we will have younger students here as well, and then, you may join them at their tables if you wish," Lily told Harry and Neville. "There will even be four-year-olds, and you'll be two by then, and maybe you can sometimes play with them.

"HawwyNeneInu pway," Harry commented her remark, cheerily, before he stared at his plate, wordlessly vanishing his peas.

"Well done, Harry," Sirius blurted out, seemingly proud of his godson.

"Harry," Lily lightly scolded the boy. "It's important that you eat your vegetables."

"No wike peas," Harry countered, looking at Neville's plate, where the peas were suddenly replaced by carrots, causing Neville to tuck in with gusto, smiling broadly.

'Oh Merlin, how powerful is Harry?' Lily thought, horrified at the willed display of magic of her seventeen-month-old son.

When everyone was finished eating, Minerva rose from her chair. "Now, the fifth-years will follow Professor Pomfrey to their common room, the sixth-years please follow Professor Sprout, and the seventh-years will go with Professor Snape. I believe that you know them all from your time at Hogwarts. They will show you the shortcut doors to your dormitories and also inform you about our in-house communication system within MAMA."

While the dormitories were in the West wing and the common rooms in the East wing, they had made shortcuts all over the manor, so that everyone, especially the teachers, would be able to get everywhere quickly. 'Even without these shortcuts, all places can be reached faster than at Hogwarts,' Lily thought, feeling very contented with their new school.

"Every room is equipped with a green point, a so-called wiz-to-wiz point," Minerva continued, pointing to one of the green points that were integrated into the wall of the Atrium at intervals. "Touch the green point with your wand and state the name of the person you wish to contact and your message, and a Patronus will be sent to the recipient. It will arrive in the form of Inu, our canine mascot. Those who are able to cast a Patronus themselves, may of course just do so without using the wiz-to-wiz points."

"Oh, can you demonstrate it please?" one of the fifth-year girls shouted with apparent eagerness.

Nodding in understanding, Minerva pointed her wand at the nearest green point and uttered, "Professor Pomfrey, it's time to take the fifth-years to their common room."

A mere instant later, a small dog manifested in front of Poppy and relayed the message – much to the students' amazement.

'Oh Merlin, if our oldest students are so amazed by it, what are the younger ones going to say?' Lily thought with a feeling of foreboding. 'We're probably going to see lots of these Patroni travel through the school during the first few weeks,' she assumed, as she led her children back to the nursery for the night.

Classes began in the morning, and during the next few weeks, the teachers had the impression as if the students were much better behaved than at Hogwarts.

"Probably due to the lack of the houses and the completely unnecessary rivalry," Minerva said, and everyone agreed.

'Here, it would have been much easier to be friends with Severus,' Lily thought, feeling happy for her own children to be able to grow up at the MAMA. 'As much as I loved Hogwarts, our school is better,' she thought, 'especially without the meddling old coot being able to interfere in anything.'

It was during a short staff meeting two days later that Godric Gryffindor suddenly spoke up from the portrait of the founders of Hogwarts.

"Just so you know, Dumbledore sent Molly Weasley to spy on you on the day the students arrived."

"He what?" James growled, while everyone stared at Godric in disbelief.

"Well, she could not enter the school of course, but she was at the station, where she was hidden behind a tree and observed how the students arrived. Anyway, last night, she reported to Dumbledore that there were at least one hundred students arriving at Dragonsedge."

"And what is he going to do about it?" Lily growled in annoyance.

"He asked her to send her first-born to the MAMA to spy on you, and she agreed," Godric informed them.

Minerva nodded in apparent understanding. "Her first-born is Bill Weasley, and he should be eleven in the summer," she spoke up. "I suggest that we refuse him."

"No," James contradicted. "Let's invite all students, from whom we receive an application, to a short meeting with either you or me, of with Lily if the child is going to attend the primary school. We'll have Inu there, and he can either accept or refuse the kids."

"We'll have that Weasley bitch wait in the entrance hall though," Sirius spoke up in a firm voice, causing everyone to agree.

"Nevertheless, we should refuse the Weasley boy, even if Inu doesn't, because the child might look fully all right to him," Lily agreed with Minerva.

On the following day, the application for William Weasley arrived, and Minerva sent an invitation for an admission interview in return, in which it said clearly that the headmistress or the deputy headmaster and the school mascot were going to have a short conversation with the applicant to approve or deny their admission to the MAMA, while the adult accompanying them had to wait in the entrance hall.

They had chosen a Saturday, so that Minerva and James were both able to attend the first admission interview for the new students, and Bill Weasley arrived with his mother on time.

Molly Weasley threw a temper tantrum, when she was told to wait in the entrance hall, shouting, "I can't have my baby go into the school just by himself. It's his first admission interview, and he'll need me."

"In that case, I'm afraid that we'll have to deny his admission in the first place," Minerva replied in a firm voice. "If students won't be able to come to school without having their parents around, they won't be able to study here."

"All right then," the redhead finally relented, advising her son, "Take good care of yourself."

"Self-cantered bitch," Lily growled from where she was sitting in the parlour together with the other teachers observing the scene. They had implemented a charmed screen, which could be used as a spy window to any room within the manor. Currently, it was displaying the entrance hall.

"Absolutely," Remus agreed, before he switched the screen to display the headmistress' office, which Minerva just entered with James, Inu and Bill Weasley in tow.

Minerva motioned the boy to take a seat behind her desk, and the boy complied, looking around with apparent curiosity.

"Why do you wish to attend the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts instead of Hogwarts?" Minerva enquired in her usual strict voice.

"Because my Mum said that the headmaster of Hogwarts was an old coot," Bill replied, sounding slightly uncertain.

"Do you even know what an old coot is?" James enquired, glaring at the boy.

Bill shrugged. "He's very old, but he comes to visit often. He came this morning, too, and Mum likes him," he admitted, only to add, "He promised to pay my school fees if I attended the MAMA."

Lily found it not surprising that Inu did not have a problem with the boy, as he was not evil at all, but was merely used by his mother. Nevertheless, Minerva and James decided to evade the trouble with the outspoken redhead and advised the boy to attend Hogwarts if his mother was good friends with the headmaster.

Finally, they accompanied the boy back to the entrance hall, and Remus quickly switched the screen back to display the only room in the manor that was not included in the main wards of the school but allowed even parents entrance.

Needless to say that a Howler arrived first thing in the morning.

"How dare you refuse my son admission to your school?" Molly Weasley's voice shouted through the cellar room, where all post owls for the whole school arrived and were checked for jinxes and spells by the house-elves, before they were delivered to the teachers and students at the next meal time. "My son has done nothing wrong. If that is how you treat possible new students, you won't be able to make your school great like Hogwarts, which is the best and only school in the country anyway. I hope your school will be finished before the beginning of the new school year."

When the elves displayed the memory for Minerva and James to view, they stared at each other in disbelief.

"I will send a letter to Arthur Weasley to let him know about his wife's activities. I'm sure that he is not involved in this," Minerva said in a firm voice.

"Please do so," James agreed, sighing. "Tell him that we won't accept any of his children if he doesn't get a grip on his wife."

"You know," Minerva said, pensively, "maybe you should write as the Lord Potter."

"No," James disagreed, pointing out that she had been Arthur and Molly's head of house for seven years.

After dinner the same day, Arthur Weasley personally arrived at the MAMA, and Minerva led him into her office, asking James and Inu to accompany them.

"I am so very sorry for my wife's actions," Arthur spoke up. "I'm sorry, Minerva, Lord Potter. Please do not hold Molly's actions against our children."

"We won't," Minerva assured him, "however, as long as Molly instructs your children to spy on our school for Dumbledore, I'm afraid that we won't be able to accept any of them."

Arthur let out a deep sigh. "I wish to separate from Molly. She's unbearable, and it's getting worse. The problem is that I would have to find a better paid job first in order to be able to support her and the children, which, at least at the ministry, is not possible."

"We're lacking several teachers," Minerva replied, thoughtfully. "Do I remember correctly that Arithmancy was one of your best subjects?"

A small smile crossed the man's face, before he replied, "Yes, that was my all-time favourite."

'He'd be a good teacher, and Inu likes him,' Minerva thought, seeing that Arthur was gently petting the canine, and offered, "Would you be willing to become our teacher for Arithmancy then? I believe that your salary would be at least better than in your current position."

"Provided that you don't relay information about the school to your wife and Dumbledore," James added.

"I won't," Arthur promised, "and yes, I'd like that." He remained pensive for a moment before asking, "Would it be possible to bring my twins? They're going to be four in April, and my wife can't get along with them at all."

"Of course," Minerva reassured him and proceeded to make a contract with the young wizard who had once been one of her Gryffindor prefects.

Arthur Weasley and his three-year-old twin sons moved into the school at the beginning of February. He had not divorced from Molly Weasley but had separated from her and had made it very clear that none of her children apart from the twins would be accepted at the MAMA, where he was going to become a professor.

The three Weasleys' arrival at the MAMA had two consequences, the first being that Howlers from Molly Weasley arrived in the post room on a daily basis. However, the elves just banished them with a flick of their hands.

The second consequence was that Harry, Neville and Inu absolutely adored the twins, who were two years and four months older than themselves and were able to teach them many things, which they had learned from their three older brothers.

Harry's and Neville's talking improved greatly, and the five toddlers – including Inu – became inseparable, much to everyone's amusement.

"I don't understand why your wife calls them trouble-makers," Minerva spoke up one day during lunch time, when the teachers observed how the twins gently helped Harry and Neville to a second helping of ice-cream.

"They do a lot of mischief, but they have their heart in the right place," Arthur replied, smiling, when they observed how Inu accepted some fruit from one of the twins' hand.

During the following months, the trials against the Death Eaters took place. James as the head of the Wizengamot and Alastor Moody as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement held three trials per week and – with the consent of the majority of the Wizengamot – questioned the Death Eaters under Veritaserum. As a result, ninety percent of the wizards and witches, who were on the list that Severus had handed in to Alastor Moody, were sent to Azkaban. Only few Death Eaters, such as Peter Pettigrew, remained in hiding and could not be found. Severus himself did not have to undergo a trial, as Lily, James and Sirius confirmed to Moody that he had always been a spy for their side and had done his best trying to save the Potters' and other people's lives.

Only James, Sirius and Moody knew that Dumbledore had tried to accuse Severus of being a Death Eater nonetheless; however, Moody had decided to not prosecute him, stating that, even if he had made a mistake in the past, he had regretted his actions and done much good to make up for it.

When the last trial was over, James stood from his seat and addressed the remaining members of the Wizengamot.

"I am very sorry to have to say this, but during these last few weeks, I have realised that I don't have enough time to do this job perfectly while being the deputy headmaster and Transfiguration professor at the MAMA at the same time. I therefore wish to resign as the head of the Wizengamot, and I suggest Lord Greengrass as my successor."

Due to the lack of the dark party on the Wizengamot, a decision could be made much easier than it would have been before, and after a short discussion, Cygnus Greengrass was confirmed as the new head of the Wizengamot. He profusely thanked James for a very well-done job so far and for nominating him.

"Congratulations Cygnus, and no, it's me who has to thank everyone for their kind support during these last few months," James replied, smiling, causing everyone to applaude.

"Thank Merlin you got rid of that job," Lily sighed, as more and more applications for the new school year arrived.

"At least we won't have any new students for sixth and seventh year," James replied, smiling, "and Minerva, Inu and I are already used to the interviews. By now, they only take five minutes, as Inu only needs a few seconds to assess the children."

"Thank Merlin," Lily replied, knowing that they had received at least thirty applications per year, and they still had to watch the book of magical children on a daily basis to spot any possible new magical children in muggle families.

"By the way, now that the twins are taking care of our triplets at least some part of the time, what do you think about giving our own a small one to look after?"

Lily let out a deep sigh. "I dread the day the twins are going to attend the primary school and our children can't. They won't take it well, but yes, I'd love that," she agreed, her expression brightening at the idea.

The teachers had decided to separate the primary school into seven classes, each named after a magical animal. The four-year-olds, such as the twins, would go into the unicorn class, for the five-year-olds, there was the lynx class, and the older classes were named after a griffin, a phoenix, a hippogriff, a basilisk and a dragon.

They had hired four promising NEWT graduates, who would always watch two classes each. Only the dragon class for the ten-year-olds had one teacher for themselves, as they needed to be efficiently prepared for the classes at the MAMA.

"Oh Merlin, they're going to have fun," Minerva said to James after the interview of Nymphadora Tonks, who was going to be a member of the basilisk class and was a metamorphmagus. "Just think of all the mischief that girl can do."

"Let's just hope she won't get to know the twins," James agreed, grinning, as he thought, 'She seems to have forgotten that three of our professors are Marauders. Thank Merlin she doesn't know who was involved in the prank on the seventh-years last night.'

"I wonder how Hogwarts is faring," Minerva brought him back to reality.

"Why don't you ask Godric?" James suggested, knowing that his ancestor often visited his own portrait in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Even if the founders of Hogwarts often advised the professors from their portrait in the staff room, just like Merlin did, he knew that they still cared a lot about their own baby AKA Hogwarts.

"Ah, right now, Hogwarts only has about twenty students or less in each of the houses," Godric informed them, "and Dumbledore has sent an application to the Ministry of Magic to have access to your school restricted, stating that the number of students should be divided equally between the two schools."

"Does he even have enough teachers?" Minerva enquired.

"Apparently, he convinced the members of the Order of the Phoenix, who are still on his side, to come and teach at Hogwarts, including Molly Weasley," Godric replied, smirking. "There's another thing I must tell you though," he added, glancing at the triplet who was playing with the twins in the play corner on the head side of the staff room.

tbc...

Thank you so very much for the many 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.

Have a happy New Year!

Next chapter: "A new year".