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.
Almost every Saturday morning, a Quidditch match took place, and the whole school headed outside to watch.
While some of the teachers had predicted that the first- and second-year students would not have a chance against the practised upper years, the first-years with Bill Weasley as their Keeper beat the fourth-years, and the second-years played a draw against the seventh-years.
"It's great to have so many Quidditch matches," Sirius spoke up. "Just the four houses playing against each other at Hogwarts was never enough entertainment."
On the Saturdays without Quidditch matches, the students from first-year onwards were allowed to spend the day in Dragonsedge, where at least five teachers were patrolling the streets to ensure their safety.
From his first visit to Dragonsedge, which took place on the last Sunday of October, Bill brought a bag full of sweets home for Charlie, Fred, George, Harry, Neville and Draco, causing the younger boys to absolutely envy the big students, who were allowed to go to the village just by themselves.
HP
In the morning of Halloween, Lily and James headed to Gringotts. They only brought Dorea with them and accepted Minerva's and Poppy's gentle offer to care for the two-year-old trio, knowing that Harry and Neville were in good hands with Inu and the older witches.
"My wife has an appointment with Buckbean," James informed the goblin in the reception room, who motioned them to wait for a moment.
It did not take long before Buckbean arrived and greeted them as politely as always, before he led them into his office, which always made an elite impression on Lily. The only decoration was a goblin-made sword hanging from the ceiling in front of an opaque window.
Buckbean motioned them to take a seat, before he made himself comfortable behind his desk opened a file that was lying readily on his desk. He let out a grave sigh.
"Lady Lily Potter," he addressed her, "you were born on 30 January, 1960 in St. Mary's hospital in Cokeworth; is that correct?"
"Yes sir," Lily replied in confusion as to why the goblin would ask such a thing.
"You gave us a drop of your blood, when you and your husband accepted the lordship for the Potter family two years ago," Buckbean explained. "Any blood we receive on such occasions is usually examined by our laboratory, and our colleagues found out something remarkable."
Lily stared at the goblin in bewilderment, as he continued, "Have you ever heard of the Mackenzie family?"
"No," Lily replied, shaking her head, while James seemed to remain pensive.
"Robert Mackenzie was the last member of the Mackenzie family, one of the old magical houses that go back to Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff," Buckbean explained. "Apparently, the baby daughter of him and his wife Julia was born on the same day as you, alas, at St. Mungo's," Buckbean explained.
"We've involved St. Mungo's to do some research, and we've also checked the Mackenzies' vault for any information, which is why everything took so long. However, we've found the information required. Apparently, Robert Mackenzie feared that their family and with it their baby was in great danger, because Tom Riddle AKA Lord Voldemort, who was the heir of Salazar Slytherin's younger brother Severin, was determined to extinguish the family in order to declare himself Salazar's heir."
"Excuse me, sir…" Lily blurted out, however, slowly trailed off, when Buckbean hold up a hand to stop her.
"Fearing for his baby's safety, Robert went to a random muggle hospital near Mackenzie Manor and exchanged a muggle baby with his own daughter, believing that she would be safer growing up with muggles," Buckbean continued. "Unfortunately, he was correct, as he, his wife, and what his wife assumed to be her daughter were killed eighteen months later."
"That means that my wife is not muggleborn but the heiress of the Mackenzie and in extension of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff family?" James enquired in apparent disbelief.
"Exactly," Buckbean confirmed. "The story still continues though. Since the Lady Potter is the heiress of the Slytherin-Hufflepuff family and Lord Potter the heir to the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw family, your firstborn, Harry Potter, is the first heir of all four founders of Hogwarts. According to a prophecy made by Rowena Ravenclaw, Harry will be the owner of Hogwarts in the future, as the heir of all four founders."
"Oh well, Harry is two years old, and I don't think that we're going to do anything about Hogwarts, as long as Dumbledore is the headmaster," James replied in a firm voice.
"The owner can dismiss the headmaster and do as he pleases," Buckbean informed him. "Please talk to the founders of Hogwarts about it if you have a chance."
"Thank you, Buckbean. We'll speak with them eventually, as we have portraits of all four of them at our school," Lily replied in determination. "For now, we're happy with our own school, however, and we'll consider what to do about Hogwarts in the future."
"Very well." Buckbean nodded in understanding.
"I still don't get it," Lily blurted out. "This Robert person just exchanged me with his daughter, and neither her mother nor mine noticed anything? The whole story sounds very far-fetched to me."
Buckbean pushed a slim folder over to her along with a small key, which she and James recognised as the key of a Gringotts vault. He motioned her to open the folder, and on the first page, there was a photograph of a young family. The mother had red hair and green eyes, while the baby of about twelve months was the spitting image of Petunia.
Lily could not help gasping at the sight.
"The exchange of the babies took place right after the two of you were born," Buckbean explained. "The key is for vault number 5, one of the oldest we have. Please check it out at your leisure," Buckbean advised them. "In the vault, you can find Robert's diary, and everything is explained in it. When you've made up your minds, I suggest that you accept the lordship for the Mackenzie family and take your seat on the Wizengamot as well. Just contact me when you're ready."
"We will," Lily replied, smiling. "Thank you for everything, Buckbean. This will just take a while to comprehend."
"Shall I send a goblin to fetch you the diary?" Buckbean offered, and Lily gratefully accepted, carefully pocketing the diary together with the folder she had received.
They profusely thanked the goblin, before they took their leave.
HP
Arriving at the school, they quickly made their way to their own rooms, glad when they did not meet anyone on the way.
"That means that Petunia is not my sister," Lily said, looking from her daughter to her husband in disbelief.
James nodded. "The baby in the photograph is the spitting image of her," Lily added, opening the folder. "Strange that Mum didn't realise that something was wrong with me," she added in confusion.
"She loved you as if you were her own, and that was the best for you," James said in a soothing voice, before he leaned over and pulled her into a long kiss.
HP
During the following weeks, Lily and James did not tell anyone about the revelations they had received at Gringotts. However, they closely examined Robert's diary as well as the vault at Gringotts, only to realise that – as unbelievable as it sounded – everything that Buckbean had told them seemed to be true.
"I think I'd like to tell Minerva and Severus," Lily said one day, giving her husband a questioning look.
"Let's do that then," James agreed and invited their the two of them into their private quarters for the same evening, while Lily addressed the four founders of Hogwarts as well as Merlin and asked them to slip into the empty photo frame in their master suite for a little while.
To Lily's great relief, their friends as well as their ancestors in the portraits showed understanding and sympathy for her revelation and agreed that they did not have to do anything about Hogwarts right now.
"I already had a vision how you're going to handle your baby and ours in the future," Rowena informed them in a gentle voice. "I will let you know at the right time. For now, please just concentrate on your own baby MAMA."
"Thank you, Rowena," Lily said, gratefully. 'Thank Merlin,' she thought. 'As much as I always liked Hogwarts while I was there, the MAMA has become my home now, and I really like our new school. I can't believe that we only set it up just a year ago. I also like Dragonedge, and it's still growing now due to the fact that the students visit at least once a month.'
HP
Before Lily was mentally able to fully accept the fact that she was the heiress of the ancient and noble House Mackenzie, Christmas was upon them and with it the Yule Ball.
The Yule Ball was a new, however, regular event at the MAMA, which took place on Christmas Eve. It was mandatory for the fifth-years who were attending the voluntary Dancing class that was offered only during the first half of the OWL year. To everyone's surprise, all fifth-years were attending said class, which was taught by Rolanda.
"Oh Merlin, I'll be glad when the Yule Ball is over," Minerva sighed one day, after the fifth- though seventh-years had to be taken to Dragonsedge the third Saturday in a row. "I hope everyone has their dress robes now."
Lily could not help chuckling at the older witch's apparent annoyance, recalling well that the whole event of the Yule Ball had been Minerva's idea in the first place. Sirius had even gone ahead and invited his grandfather, and Arcturus had readily agreed and asked Minerva to accompany him to the ball.
'Thank Merlin I have James and know that we're going to attend the ball together,' Lily thought, as the whole school had witnessed the never-ending procedure of finding partners by the fifth- through seventh-years. While the Yule Ball was not compulsory for the sixth- and seventh-years, all students seemed to have decided to attend. During the last three Sundays before Christmas, Rolanda had even offered Dancing lessons for the sixth- and seventh-years, and they had been received with great interest.
HP
Another event taking place on Christmas Eve was the bonding of the roughly twenty new baby elves, who needed to be bonded. While Lily and James had insisted that they should rather be bonded to the school than to the Potter family, Minerva had outright refused to do the bonding and left the matter to James, who then in the end informed Lily that – in contrary to everything he had said before – he was going to have them bonded to the family as the head of the family rather than to the school as the deputy headmaster.
Accompanied by Lily, Harry, Dorea, Inu and a teary-eyed Gina, James finally performed the bonding ceremony for the twenty-two baby elves in their private quarters with Gina's assistance. Lily was torn between annoyance and amusement, when Harry and Inu saw fit to add a hug and a hand-lick to all the elf babies, before the ceremony could be finished.
It was later the same day, when Lily and James were playing a game with Harry, Neville and Draco to keep the much too excited two-year-olds entertained until dinnertime, that Gina and Dobby popped up in front of them.
"Master James, Mistress Lily, young Master Harry," Gina began to speak, and Dobby added quickly, "and young Master Draco." Both elves bowed deeply, something that James and Lily had instructed Gina to not do on their first day at Potter Manor.
"Dobby and Gina would like to ask for permission to marry and have a baby together," Gina continued in a soft voice, and while the two-year-olds looked none the wiser, James began to outright laugh.
"Please do so," he replied, laughing. "I look forward to seeing your baby soon."
"Master Draco?" Dobby asked, looking at the clueless two-year-old.
"Dobby would like to have a baby with Gina," Lily explained to Draco, who merely shrugged.
"Babies such as Dorea are too small to play," he voiced his opinion, and Harry and Neville nodded in agreement.
"Is it okay for Dobby to do so?" Dobby enquired, and Draco nodded his head.
"Originally, Dobby was bonded to former Master Lucius also," Dobby explained to the adults, "but as he was sent to Azkaban, the bonding was lost, and Draco is Dobby's only master now."
"I believe that Draco wants you to be happy and agreed, so it will be all right," Lily said in a soothing voice, causing Dobby to squeal in apparent delight and run around giving everyone a bear hug.
"Gina, have fun," James said, grinning at the hyper elf's antics.
HP
Very late on Christmas Eve, when the Yule Ball was still ongoing, Severus led his partner for the evening, Narcissa, to a table to have some drinks. Just then, Sirius and Arcturus joined them.
"Lady Malfoy," Arcturus addressed Narcissa, causing her to stare at her great uncle in apparent surprise.
Severus eyed the old man in suspicion; however, Arcturus was giving the former member of the Black family a rare smile.
"On my grandson's suggestion, I would like to offer you something," the old wizard continued. "I could dissolve your marriage with your evil husband and accept you and your son back into the Black family."
Severus busied himself with the glass of wine in front of him, recalling that Narcissa had told him that her sister Andromeda had already suggested for her to ask Lord Black for exactly the same, and he knew that she had honestly pondered the matter for a while.
"I'd like that," Narcissa replied, smiling. "However, would you be so kind and accept my sister Andromeda back into the family as well please, even if she doesn't really need it? And what is going to become of the Malfoy family and the Malfoy fortune?"
"The easiest would be to have the Malfoy family die out and to integrate the heritage into the Black family," Arcturus informed her, "and before you ask, my heir is Sirius. However, I suppose that you wish your son to have a seat on the Wizengamot in the future. Therefore, he could take the name Black-Malfoy and still carry on the Malfoy name and accept the lordship if he wishes to do so once he's an adult."
"Yes please, the second option please," Narcissa agreed, smiling. "Thank you, Lord Black, for offering this to us. I appreciate it very much."
"As to your sister," Arcturus continued, "please tell her to contact me and inform me if she wishes to be reinstalled into the family. I'm sorry, but now I believe that my date of the evening is waiting for me. Please excuse me." With that, he walked away in a speed that did not give out his age.
"Congratulations Narcissa," Severus said in a soft voice.
"Thank you, Severus, and thanks Sirius," she added, turning to her cousin.
"You're welcome, and good luck to the two of you," Sirius replied, grinning, before he excused himself as well, muttering, "Meli is waiting for me, too."
HP
On Christmas morning, most of the students who had remained for the Yule Ball returned to their homes, and there was only a handful of students remaining at the MAMA. Breakfast time saw Harry, Neville, Draco, Dobby and Inu running around the large Christmas tree in the atrium in utmost excitement.
Many colourful presents were lying under the tree, and Inu crawled under the tree, sniffing at one or the other present with apparent interest.
"Just let them open their presents," Minerva suggested. "Otherwise, they'll never eat their breakfast."
Lily agreed and, gently placing Dorea into the playpen that James had set up next to the high table, reached out for the first present.
All three children opened the fairly large box in obvious excitement that only intensified, when they realised that it contained a huge load of animals.
"For the Hogwarts Express," Harry shouted, wide-eyed.
"Now we have lots to animals to travel with it…"
"… instead of only rabbits…" the two others fell in, causing Lily to grin.
Sirius had once given them a box with a dozen small rabbits, which the children usually put onto their train to have them travel from London to Hogwarts and back. Knowing that, James and Lily had bought a huge box with various animals inside.
She quickly handed them the next gift, which the children opened in equal excitement, happily trying out the large, magical play book together.
Lily gave them two minutes, before she turned back to the presents still lying under the tree. When she reached out for a dark blue parcel, however, Inu pushed her out of the way, firmly placing his right front paw onto the box. However, as soon as the canine's paw touched the object, he was whisked away – to everyone's horror.
"Inu!" Harry, Neville and Draco shouted in shock.
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: "Bonding".