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.
"Over there," Minerva said in apparent shock. It merely came out as a whisper. "Arthur, the two redheads over there. Are they yours? I can't recall having accepted any redheads apart from your twins."
"What?" The Arithmancy professor's eyes darted in the direction, in which Minerva seemed to be looking. "Bill and Charlie," he then blurted out in disbelief, as realisation set in. "Bill is supposed to attend Hogwarts, and Charlie is supposed to be with my wife, be it at Hogwarts or elsewhere," he said, tonelessly.
"Oh well, it seems that your children had other ideas," Sirius spoke up, grinning broadly, while the four-year-old twins jumped from their seats at the high table and ran through the atrium to greet their adored older brothers with Inu on their heels.
"Bill!..."
"… Charlie!" they shouted in apparent excitement, causing everyone to turn their heads towards the table, where the two redheads were sitting among a group of first-years.
"I'm sorry," Arthur stammered. "I had no idea."
"That's fine," Minerva replied in a soothing voice, gently placing a hand on Arthur's arm. "Let's speak with them after the feast, before you make any decisions. I don't mind having them here, and Inu apparently doesn't either," she added, seeing that Inu had followed the twins and was now being petted by Charlie.
"I believe that the time has come," Arthur replied, his expression turning to a mischievous one, "to send my wife a Howler for the first time – for not better taking care of our children."
"How old is the younger boy?" Evelyn Jones enquired.
"He's nine," Arthur replied, thoughtfully.
"That would be the Basilisk class then. Gilderoy?" Minerva addressed her young colleague.
"That's fine," Gilderoy Lockhart replied, smiling broadly. "The more the merrier."
No one noticed a bright flash appear above the students' table just for an instant.
HP
After the welcoming feast, James accompanied Minerva, Arthur and his two oldest sons to the headmaster's office, inwardly groaning, as he could not wait to get home to his wife and daughter.
"Bill and Charlie I believe are your names?" Minerva asked the two boys, who were gingerly sitting on the edges of their chairs, in a strict voice.
"Yes Professor," Bill replied quickly. "I'm sorry for just coming here," he added. "It was my idea, and Charlie wanted it, too, so I brought him with me."
"So, you accept the responsibility for the two of you?" Minerva asked the eleven-year-old, and from her expression, James could assess that she was highly amused by the eleven-year's attitude.
"Yes Professor," Bill replied in a firm voice, glancing at his father. "We decided that from now on, we want to live with our father instead of our mother. We asked Hagrid to take us to platform nine and three quarters, but instead of boarding the Hogwarts Express, we waited for the MAMA express. I really love it. We already became friends with some other first-years, and I'd really wished we could just stay here. Charlie too," he added.
"Yes please," Charlie piped up, causing James to grin.
"Well Arthur," Minerva turned to the boys' father, "your children seem to know exactly what they want. What do you think?"
Arthur let out a deep sigh, before addressing his sons. "Boys, are you sure that you wish to stay here with the twins and me? He asked in a firm voice.
"Yes please," Bill and Charlie replied, simultaneously.
"Very well then," Minerva spoke again, "James, will you please take Bill to the first-years' dormitory? Charlie will need to stay in Arthur's quarters like the twins, as the primary school is only a day-school."
Everyone nodded their consent, and James stood to lead the first-year to his dormitory, just when the nine-year-old spoke up in apparent happiness.
"Thanks Bill for bringing me here. You're the best of all our brothers."
"Thanks for coming with me," Bill replied, giving his younger brother a small slap onto the head, before he said good night to the professors and followed James out of the room.
HP
An hour later, Lily met with their colleagues for tea in the parlour, where Minerva informed everyone about the two Weasley boys, while James took care of their children in their private rooms.
"Mischief managed," Sirius commented, grinning. "Well done for an eleven- and a nine-year-old."
"I'm sorry," Arthur spoke up and, just when Minerva reassured him that it was all right, continued, "could anyone show me how to turn this into a Howler please?"
Everyone blurted out in laughter, as Arthur was the most patient and friendly professor of all of them. 'Oh well, it's fitting that he doesn't know how to send such a thing,' Lily thought in amusement. Somehow, she was the first to get a grip on herself and gently showed Arthur the incantation and wand movement.
An instant later, Arthur's voice began to shout.
"Molly Weasley, how dare you not take better care of our children? Bill and Charlie arrived here today, and just so you know they are going to stay. If any other of our children come here, you're going to find yourself cast out of the family, while I take all seven of them in. Please behave yourself, as long as you carry the name Weasley."
"Very well done, Arthur," Minerva said gently, when Arthur could not help blushing, while everyone else chuckled in apparent amusement.
"She deserves it," Severus added in a firm voice.
"Thank you all so much for your encouragement and help – and for accepting Bill and Charlie into the MAMA. It means a lot to me," Arthur replied, smiling.
"They seem nice boys, and we're happy to have them," Minerva commented, before Lily excused herself to return to her husband and children.
HP
Fawkes was sitting on his perch, cleaning his back feathers, deep in thought, when all of a sudden, Molly Weasley stormed into the headmaster's office. He absolutely detested the woman, who was loud and annoying beyond belief. Unfortunately, the headmaster never consulted him about whom to invite and allow into his office in spite of the fact that he was living in said office all day and should have some say in the matter.
"Bill and Charlie are gone," the woman shouted. "They were supposed to be on the Hogwarts Express, but they didn't arrive at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore questioned the annoying redhead for a few minutes, before he gave up, and Fawkes inwardly groaned in anticipation of what was going to come.
"Fawkes," the headmaster finally addressed him, as could be expected. "Could you go and see if you can find William and Charlie Weasley?"
#Yes,# Fawkes replied, shortly, and left in a bright flash. He flashed to where he could sense the two children, who were at least less annoying than their mother. Making himself invisible by hiding in a dark corner, he took in the situation around the boys, realising exactly where they were and that it had been their own choice to come to the MAMA. Without further ado, he left and returned home, where he peacefully continued cleaning his back feathers.
"Did you not find them?" the headmaster enquired, causing Fawkes to look up for an instant.
#No,# he trilled in response.
"I'm sorry, Molly. I don't know why Fawkes was unable to find them, but I'm sure that they can't get lost on the platform or the train," Dumbledore said to the woman before suggesting, "Perhaps we should go and take a look at the station. They might have missed the train and are waiting for someone to pick them up."
To Fawkes' relief, the grumpy old coot swiftly stepped into the fireplace closely followed by the more than annoying bitch, and he returned to the task at hand, determined to enjoy the peace and quiet as long as it lasted.
HP
Harry, Neville and Inu immediately liked Charlie. When the other pupils of the primary school stepped into the fireplace to return to their homes before dinner, the twins and Charlie remained at the MAMA and played with them. At dinner time, the younger boys followed Charlie to sit with Bill and the other first-years, and they felt soon comfortable together with the first-years, as everyone was very friendly and did not ridicule them for only being two or four years old.
"Mummy, when will Dorea be bigger…"
"… and come to dinner with us?" Harry and Neville asked Lily one day, feeling fed up with the baby that did nothing but sleep all day.
"Just give her a few months," Lily replied, smiling, inwardly groaning at their way of speaking, which they had to have learned from the Weasley twins, who liked to complete each other's sentences to the adults' great annoyance. 'The only person who thinks that it's cool must be Sirius,' she thought. "Do you really have to speak like the Weasley twins?" she asked in exasperation.
"Yes…"
"…. We like it," her sons replied, grinning broadly.
"The twins…"
"… are cool."
HP
Around two weeks into the school year, students and teachers settled down, and Minerva noticed in relief that the school was almost running by itself. The house-elves still informed her that Howlers from Molly Weasley for her, the Potters and Arthur were arriving on a daily basis; however, other than that everything remained peaceful.
It was during a staff meeting three weeks after the beginning of the term that Evelin Jones, the muggleborn witch, who was teaching the Dragon class, spoke up in apparent distress.
"I'm sorry, but there's something that's really missing here," she informed her colleagues. "The library needs a librarian like the one at Hogwarts. Today, I took my students into the library to teach them how to find books on certain topics, so that they're well prepared when they become first-years next year, but it was really difficult to find things. Of course, we were able to find whatever we needed for our NEWTs last spring, but these children don't have any experience, and they really need someone to help and advise them, something which exceeds my teaching time in their class considering how many subjects we have to cover."
Severus glanced at Minerva. "That would be a position suitable for Narcissa," he spoke up, smirking.
"Are you sure, and would she be willing to become the librarian?" Minerva enquired, sceptically.
"She will, considering that she wrote you she'd accept any job to get away from the dark manor," Severus insisted.
"She'll make a good librarian," Lily spoke up. "She was a sixth-year prefect, when I was a first-year, and she was not only kind but also efficient, when she helped me find something in the library in spite of the fact that she was a pureblood and I a muggleborn. After that encounter with her, I never needed help to find anything in the library anymore."
"Very well, I'll offer her the job of a librarian," Minerva decided. "Is that all right with you, James?"
"Of course." James nodded his approval. "Due to the many students who came right from the beginning, our financial situation is good enough to hire at least five additional teachers," he replied, grinning.
"The only problem is that her son is about the age of Harry and Neville," Minerva added, thoughtfully.
"That's not a problem," Severus informed her. "Tell her to bring her house-elf Dobby. He's the one who has mainly been raising Draco so far. Narcissa didn't really bother to teach him much, before her husband went to Azkaban."
HP
Two days later, Narcissa, Draco and Dobby arrived at the MAMA. Minerva led them into her office, where Severus was waiting for them together with Harry, Neville and Inu.
To her relief, Inu seemed to approve of the three of them and even went so far as to lick Dobby's hand, which he only used to do if he really liked someone.
"Hello, I am Draco Malfoy," Draco introduced himself to Harry and Neville.
"We are Harry…"
"… and Neville…"
"… and Inu," the boys introduced themselves.
=I like the elf,= Inu informed Harry, who quickly translated, smiling.
"This is Dobby," Narcissa Malfoy informed them, "Draco's elf, and he is going to help your mother taking care of all three of you."
"Four," Harry and Neville corrected her, simultaneously.
"Draco, Harry, Inu and me are four," Neville explained, smiling at Narcissa.
"Nice to have you and Draco and Dobby here," Harry added, causing Minerva to cast him an appreciative look.
'The two of them are as friendly as Lily and James are,' she thought, contentedly. 'I wonder if they're still aware of the fact that they're not really twins. Maybe not, considering that Neville calls Lily and James Mum and Dad, and Harry calls Augusta Granny just like Neville. Oh well, at some stage, when they're older, Lily and James need to tell them about it, before they hear it from anyone else at the school.'
The children's laughter brought her back to reality, and she readily agreed when Severus offered to take Narcissa and Draco to their private quarters.
"Gina," she called the head house-elf of the manor, "this is Dobby, and he will stay with us from now on. He's responsible for Draco and will also help Lily with Harry and Neville and possibly Dorea."
"Dobby likes children very much," the small elf spoke up, wringing his hands in apparent excitement.
"Gina understands, Mistress Minerva," the elf replied and reached out to Dobby, uttering, "Dobby, come with Gina," before she popped away with him.
HP
The following day was Saturday and the day of the Quidditch try-outs. One of the seventh-years, who had already been the captain of the Ravenclaw team at Hogwarts, guided the younger years through their try-outs.
James and Sirius had brought Harry, Neville, Draco, the Weasley twins and Inu to observe the try-outs from the stands, and the two-year-olds had much fun.
At one stage, however, Harry blurted out in a loud voice, "Daddy, de Seeker is not good. De Snitch is over dere, but he isn't looketing." His high, childish voice could be heard all over the pitch, and the older students burst out laughing, as everyone followed his outstretched finger pointing to the Snitch.
"I didn't see it," Neville admitted in a small voice.
"I didn't either," Draco added.
"Harry must be really good…"
"… at finding the Snitch…"
"… as we didn't see it either," Fred and George added.
"Yeah, he always catches de Snitch," Neville explained to Draco.
After Sirius had given them both children's brooms for their second birthdays, they had gone flying with James and Sirius and the twins a couple of time, and it had always been Harry to catch the Snitch, before Neville, the twins or the adults had even spotted it.
"Can we go flying?" Draco enquired, giving James and Sirius a pleading look.
"We will," James promised.
"Tomorrow morning," Sirius added. "Right after breakfast, we'll take the five of you flying."
On Sunday morning, Charlie decided to join the younger boys as well, and from that point onwards, it got a habit for the three Marauders to take the six young boys flying every Sunday after breakfast. Usually, they put up two teams with a Keeper, a Seeker and two or three Chasers each; however, no matter what the team constellation was, Harry's team always won – due to him catching the Snitch at an early stage.
HP
One day around a month into the new school year, Lily received a letter from Buckbean, the Potters' account manager at Gringotts.
'Dear Lady Potter,
recently, a grave mistake that occurred more than twenty years in the past has come to our attention, and we wish to see you to discuss the details in person. Please come to see Buckbean at 10 a.m. on October 31. Feel free to bring your husband and sons if you wish.
May your gold always flow and your enemies cower before you
Buckbean
Account Manager at Gringotts'
"What?" Lily blurted out, handing the letter to James.
"I don't have a clue what this means," he commented after skimming the text.
'More than twenty years ago?' Lily wondered in disbelief, when she was feeding Dorea. 'I was only born twenty-two years ago.' She pondered the matter for a while, before she decided 'It must be a mistake' and passed Dorea to James to make her burp.
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.
Next chapter: "Revelations".