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.
"A muggleborn it is," Minerva informed James. "Hermione Granger, born on 19 September, 1979, which means that she'll be four this year. Her parents are both muggles. Oh well, we should visit her on her fourth birthday I assume."
"Oh well, that's still six months away," James replied, coolly. "Before that, we still have to survive two weddings."
"Oh Merlin, don't remind me," Minerva replied, sighing. "Arcturus and I haven't even made any plans whatsoever for our wedding."
James chuckled. "Well, you already know that Unspeakable Croaker is going to wed the two of you here on the MAMA grounds; so, what else is there to plan? I don't think Sirius and Amelia have made any plans apart from asking Moody to come and wed them here, too," he added, shrugging. "I'm sure that our large house-elf population will be happy to have some work to do during the otherwise boring summer holidays."
"That's true," Minerva added, shaking her head in annoyance at the original Potter house-elves, who had more than doubled their number by having one baby after the next.
They were just about to return to work, when the book alerted them to another new entry.
"Another one on the same day?" Minerva blurted out in surprise.
"Oh well, as today is Easter, perhaps they are trying to summon their Easter eggs by accidental magic," James joked, although Minerva had the impression as if it was more an assumption than a joke, as she recalled the Easter Egg hunt for the younger children in the garden that had taken place right after breakfast.
'It was impressive how Harry changed into his canine form and ran after Inu, probably realising how much faster Inu was,' she thought. Even if she had heard from Lily that Harry was a natural canine Animagus, she had never witnessed any transformation before this morning.
"That might be true," she said, pensively, before she let out a gasp upon checking the book.
"Christa Lestrange," she read, "born on December 26, 1979 to the parents Regina Lestrange (Squib) and Brian Blair (muggle). That means that she will be four as well this year. But a Lestrange?" she added in disbelief. "The mother must be about the age of Rabastan and Rodolphus, and I never knew that there was anyone else with the name Lestrange."
"On the Wizengamot, the family is set on extinct," James recalled, "considering that the last living members are in Azkaban, but we'll have to see the relationship of Christa and Regina Lestrange to them to see if there is a possible continuation of the family. I'll speak with Buckbean at the next opportunity. Considering what he told Lily, I suppose that the goblins just know everything."
Minerva nodded in understanding. "Please do so, and now, let's get back to our planning."
HP
"I wonder," Arthur spoke up, when the extended family was sitting together for tea after curfew, "if it would not be wiser to visit the two muggleborns as soon as possible. You all know how good Molly is at writing letters, and the book at Hogwarts will show the same names, even if they haven't put an alert onto it yet."
"Lily," Minerva addressed the younger witch, "would you perhaps be willing to accompany me, perhaps even together with Harry and Neville?"
"Yes, I believe that's a good idea," Lily agreed, knowing that her sons would be thrilled to meet others who were possibly going to attend school together with them. 'Harry, Neville and Inu will convince them to choose the MAMA over Hogwarts,' she thought in amusement.
The two witches decided to ask Godric to keep an eye on the book in the headmistress' office at Hogwarts and inform them as soon as Molly Weasley got wind of the new entries. Godric readily agreed, however, had nothing to report by the beginning of the summer holidays.
HP
Once the students had returned home, leaving the extended family of permanent residents on their own, Minerva made appointments with the Grangers and the Lestrange-Blair family.
"Harry and Neville," Minerva addressed her surrogate grandsons one evening. "Tomorrow morning, your mummy and I are going to visit two children, who might be going to attend school together with you next year. We need to tell them about magic and about our school. Do you wish to accompany us?"
=If they go…=
#... we come as well,# Inu and Fawkes spoke up.
=We can't let you have all the fun…=
#... without us.#
Harry automatically translated, as he had become used to interpret for his two familiars, who were both very chatty and recently had begun to speak just like him and Neville completing each other's sentences.
"Perhaps it would be good to take them, as muggles sometimes don't take it well to hear that their child is magical," Remus said, calmly. "It would be safer for the kids at least."
HP
On Saturday morning, Fawkes flashed the group of two adults, two toddlers and one dog to a spot near the Grangers' residence. Minerva went ahead and rang the bell, while Lily and her children followed slowly, as she did not want the Grangers to be shocked upon seeing them all at once.
"Good morning, Mrs. Granger, Mr. Granger, and you must be Hermione," Minerva greeted the family before introducing herself as Professor McGonagall. "This is my colleague Professor Lily Potter," she added. "She and her husband own the school, where we are teaching, and these are her children Harry and Neville as well as their pet familiars Fawkes and Inu."
"Please come in and take seats," Mr. Granger replied and led them inside the house and into the living room. Once everyone had settled down on the sofas with Fawkes perching on Harry's shoulder, Inu on his and Neville's feet and Hermione on her mother's lap, he enquired, "What exactly brings you here, Professors?"
"Our school," Minerva began to explain, "is the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts. We have a book that tells us if children from mundane families perform magic for the first time." Noticing that Mrs. Granger cast her husband an alert glance, she continued, "Our book informed us that Hermione is a witch and has used accidental magic on Easter Sunday morning."
"Ahh," Mrs. Granger replied, as realisation set in. "That was when Hermione and her cousin Melody were searching for Easter eggs. Melody, who is two years older than Hermione, was much faster, and all of a sudden, a large Easter egg was hovering through the air right into Hermione's outstretched hand, and we were wondering how she did that if it was her doing at all."
"Melody is mean," Hermione spoke up, grimly. "She always calls me a freak."
"You're not a freak," Harry reassured the girl, smiling at her.
"You're a witch," Neville added, smiling as well.
"I'm not a bitch," Hermione said, indignantly.
"Not a bitch…"
"… a witch," the twins immediately corrected her.
Lily nodded. "Yes, it was her doing," she replied, gently. "Our sons are magical, too, and they sometimes do things, which will look strange to you."
Mrs. Granger cast her a concerned look. "What do we have to do?" she enquired, gently pushing Hermione's bushy hair out of her face.
Minerva took over again and explained that they had come to invite Hermione to their school.
"When can I go?" Hermione blurted out with apparent interest. "In the playschool, everyone calls me freak, ever since I did some strange things before."
"Hermione has done strange things before," her mother confirmed.
"Perhaps these actions were not magically strong enough to register with our book," Minerva said, pensively.
"Hermione, why don't you take Harry and Neville into your room and play for a while, so that we can speak with the professors?" her father suggested, and Hermione happily agreed.
"Come," she instructed them and led them upstairs into her room.
"Now tell me everything about your school," she demanded, sitting on her bed, cross-legged and with her arms folded in front of her breast. "I want to know everything."
Harry and Neville exchanged a glance, before they began to explain about the primary school classes, the older students' classes, Quidditch and visits to Dragonsedge.
"Oh, this sounds fantastic," Hermione cheered. "I just hope my parents will allow me to go. What class are you in then?"
"Only children from four…"
"… can attend classes…"
"… and we are almost three," they informed her.
"Oh, that's too bad," Hermione replied, sadly. "I'm going to be four soon though."
Hermione continued to ask many questions, which the boys obediently answered, as far as it was possible for two magical two-year-olds, before they were called downstairs.
"Now Hermione, would you like to attend the school for magic?" Mr. Granger asked his daughter, who jumped up and down on both feet in obvious excitement.
"Oh yes please," she replied, eagerly. "When can I go?"
To the children's great pleasure, their parents agreed that Hermione should join Harry, Neville and Draco at the MAMA right after the summer holidays, even if only for the days, instead of attending her muggle play school.
"I can't wait for you to come to the MAMA…"
"… We'll introduce you to Draco and Dorea, our baby sister…"
"…. but she's still too small to play…"
"… and we're going to have so much fun," the boys told their new friend.
"You have a baby sister?" Hermione asked in apparent delight. "Oh, I can't wait to meet her. I love babies."
"I'll be glad to have an assistant," Lily commented, smiling at the eager girl.
In the meantime, Minerva had connected the Grangers' fireplace to the Floo network, however, with only access to or from the entrance hall of Potter Manor and had invited the Grangers to come over together with Hermione at ten o'clock the following morning.
HP
The meeting with Regina and Christa Lestrange and Brian Blair went equally pleasant, even if it was a shock for Minerva and Lily to hear that Regina was the abandoned Squib sister of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. She had been living with her family in the magical world up to the age of six, when it had become clear that she was a Squib. Her father had then ordered a house-elf to take her to the muggle world, where she had attended a muggle school.
Only when her daughter Christa was born and she had felt that Christa seemed to have magic, Regina had told her husband about the magical world, and Brian seemed to be very supportive of it.
Christa was as eager to attend classes at the MAMA as Hermione, and Minerva and Lily spontaneously decided to ask one of the house-elves to teach the three-year-olds. "Lissy would be perfect for the job," Lily said, pensively.
"This should remain an exception though," Minerva decided, sternly, and Lily immediately agreed.
"Still, it's horrible, isn't it? Can you imagine kicking your son or daughter out of the family just because they're a Squib?" Lily blurted out once they were back at the school.
Minerva shook her head. "No," she said, letting out a deep sigh. "I can't imagine doing such a thing, but I know that many of the pureblood families would abandon their children that way. It is indeed horrible," she added. "I'm surprised that Mrs. Lestrange is such a bright woman and seems to not hold what happened against the magical world."
"Yes, that's true. She is a very likable woman," Lily agreed.
HP
Just two weeks later, Sirius and Amelia finally married, and Amelia came to live at Potter Manor together with her niece Susan, so that the trio of Harry, Neville and Draco grew to four children.
During the summer holidays, the teachers had much time to occupy the energetic children together with the now five-year-old Weasley twins as well as Bill and Charlie. They explored every single part of the school, and no shortcut or secret room remained a secret from the children. They also helped Remus with the winged horses and unicorns and sometimes assisted Pomona in the greenhouses.
Around Dorea's first birthday, just a month after Harry, Neville and Inu turned three, the baby managed to say 'Mama.' From that time onwards, Harry and Neville competed with James, trying to teach the small girl to say 'Inu' next, while their father wanted the girl to say 'Dada'.
To everyone's surprise, however, Dorea's next word was neither Inu nor Dada but 'Haha'.
"It's obvious that she adores you most," Lily told Harry, smiling at her oldest son, while Dorea hurried to say 'Nene' and 'Ini' just a few days later.
HP
When school began again on the first of September, Lissy began to care for Harry, Neville, Draco, Susan, Hermione, Christa and Inu during the day. The kind elf, who had already helped raising James, taught the children everything that they would need to know to properly attend classes in the primary school.
To Lily's relief, Inu, who remained inseparable from Harry and Neville, apparently liked Hermione and Christa, and they seemed to be comfortable around him in return.
To everyone's surprise, the six children were so eager to study and learn new things that by Christmas, each of them was perfectly capable of reading and writing at least large letters and figures.
"What am I supposed to teach them in class?" Glenda, the teacher of the four- and five-year olds asked one day, causing everyone to chuckle.
"I'm sorry," Lissy said, helplessly wringing her hands. "They wanted me to teach them…" She slowly trailed off, bowing deeply.
"Lissy," Lily said in a soft voice, "stop bowing and apologizing. You did a wonderful job so far, and it's not your fault that these six are quite advanced for their age. Everything is all right."
HP
One day at the beginning of January, the headline of the Daily Prophet shouted, 'Headmistress of Hogwarts, Molly Weasley announces Primary School classes at Hogwarts from the age of 8 onwards'.
'As the numbers of students have been decreasing ever since the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts has opened its doors and as Hogwarts has many unused classrooms, the school's headmistress Molly Weasley has announced that Hogwarts is going to have its own primary school from September onwards,' the article underneath continued.
"All right, we need to continue putting efforts into the recruiting of younger children," Minerva commented in apparent determination.
"Do you know why she's doing that?" Arthur blurted out and, when everyone at the high table gave him enquiring looks, explained, "Percy is going to be eight this summer. Being the headmistress, she probably doesn't have much time to look after her three remaining children."
A collective laugh followed his explanation, and everyone relaxed, knowing that the MAMA's reputation had become much better than that of Hogwarts during the two years since it's opening.
"I wonder how long they'll be able to keep Hogwarts open with so few students," Remus spoke up, and several colleagues nodded their consent.
HP
Now that Dorea was sixteen months old, perfect at running around and shouting as loud as her older siblings, the baby spent much time with the older children – especially as Susan and often enough Hermione and Christa were around to look after her. The three girls loved caring for Dorea, who just adored her big brothers and their friends. This gave Lily some much appreciated time for her potions research together with Severus.
One day, there were just in the middle of a intense discussion about an advanced Wolfsbane potion, when James stuck his head through the door.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but we need some efficient help. Minerva is just in a shouting contest with that bitch Umbridge about some kind of werewolf law. She demands that we hand over Remus to her, which of course we won't. Arcturus has taken him with him to Black Manor for the time being," he added as an afterthought.
"We'll be there in a minute," Severus promised, grimly.
HP
By the time Lily and Severus entered Minerva's and James' office, Minerva and James were both still engaged in a heated discussion with a woman in pink robes. Lily could recall that she had met her once or twice in the Wizengamot. She could not remember what the woman had said at that time, only that it had been ridiculous.
"Professor Lupin is taking the Wolfsbane potion on a regular basis and is in no way endangering any student," Severus spoke up in an icy voice.
"According to Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley," Umbridge replied in a high voice, which Lily immediately disliked, "the Wolfsbane potion is extremely difficult to brew and is not safe."
"Nonsense," Severus growled. "Professor Lily Potter and I are both in possession of our potions mastery and as such are entitled to brew and administer potions like the Wolfsbane potion."
"I must still insist that you let me take the wolf with me," Umbridge countered.
"No," Minerva said, crisply. "And now I suggest that you leave our office, before we have to call the Aurors and have you removed from here."
Umbridge was still considering an adequate response, when Amelia entered the office, alerted to the problem by the portraits all around the manor.
"Dolores, what is the problem?" she asked in a no-nonsense voice.
"You're employing a werewolf here, which is against the law," Umbridge informed her, grinning mischievously.
"I don't know of such a law," Amelia disagreed.
"I just made it this morning," Umbridge replied, seemingly contented.
"There was no Wizengamot to confirm it since this morning," Amelia stated, calmly, while the MAMA professors listened in amazement at her ability to keep the upper hand.
"The Minister of Magic has approved it," Umbridge replied with apparent pleasure.
"Very well," Amelia said, nodding in confirmation, "as soon as tomorrow morning, we're going to have a Wizengamot meeting to have a vote of no confidence against Minister Fudge. I'll send out the invitations." With that, she turned towards the fireplace, pulling the pink robed witch in with her before shouting, "Ministry of Magic, Aurors' Office."
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: "The Parsel mouth".