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.
In the morning of New Year's Eve, Alastor Moody visited the MAMA.
"Together with a team of Aurors, we've tried to enter the Malfoy grounds in an attempt to search for Lucius Malfoy's Horcruxes," he explained to the extended family. "However, the idiot must have warded the premises against everyone. At least none of us were able to get in," he added in apparent frustration.
"Of course, that's how my former husband works," Narcissa spoke up, grimly, "especially as he knows that the matter of his Horcruxes in common knowledge now."
"I thought," the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement continued, "that maybe your Dog Hero would be willing to try entering the grounds and look for the Horcruxes. We've already made a plan and have found a spot, where he could easily slip through the fence. Invisibly of course," he added. "I'm sure that he would be able to easily sniff out the Horcruxes and bring them to us."
Inu, who was lying half-asleep under Harry's chair, looked up. =Tell him I can do that,= he spoke up.
However, Harry was not willing to translate. "No," he replied to the old Auror in a firm voice. "I don't want to endanger Inu like this."
'My baby is growing up,' Lily thought in amazement, as Harry stood up for his familiar.
Inu rose from the floor and, placing his front paws onto Harry's lap, gently licked the boy's face in apparent gratitude.
"I see," Moody replied in understanding. "The only other way would be to destroy the whole place with Fiendfyre."
"Then do so," James spoke up. "You heard what Harry said, and we all agree with him."
"Mrs. Black," Moody turned to Narcissa. "Do you have any remaining belongings at the manor?"
Narcissa shook her head. "No, I haven't, and even if I had, I wouldn't be able to go there and pick them up anyway. Please thoroughly extinguish the place, provided that any possible Horcruxes will be destroyed by Fiendfyre."
"They will," Moody informed her. "Very well then, we'll do what we must." With that, he excused himself and stepped into the fireplace.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Narcissa," Harry spoke up, sadly.
"No Harry," Narcissa replied, smiling. "There's no reason for you to be sorry. I wouldn't want to endanger Inu either, and I don't mind the place being burnt down."
HP
On New Year's morning, the headline of the Daily Prophet shouted 'Malfoy Manor completely destroyed by Fiendfyre'.
'Last night, Malfoy Manor was completely burnt to the ground by Fiendfyre. The circumstances are not clear yet, neither is the question if the new Lord Malfoy, an immigrant from Australia, was inside the manor at the time of the fire. However, we will keep you updated.'
"Oh, I so much hope that he was at home at that time," Narcissa spoke up, letting out a deep sigh.
"The only way to find out might be if Draco tried to gain the lordship," Sirius quipped.
"Definitely not," Narcissa replied, glaring at her cousin.
"The Unspeakables have gone to investigate first thing in the morning," Minerva explained, causing the Mini Unspeakables to glare at the headmistress.
"Granny Minerva…"
"… why didn't Ra take us with him?" the twins asked, indignantly, causing Inu to add a woof of consent.
"I suppose that he didn't want to endanger you," James replied in a firm voice.
"We wouldn't have allowed you to go anyway," Lily added, soothingly.
"We're Mini Unspeakables…"
"… to work together with our team," the twins replied, seemingly upset.
"I wouldn't have wanted you to go either," six-year-old Dorea spoke up, grimly. "Can we go flying?"
"Let's do that," Sirius agreed and suggested, "How about a match kids versus adults?"
When the party of children and adult wizards had left under thunderous noise, the women let out sighs of relief, before they decided to enjoy their quiet time with another cup of tea.
HP
The Longbottoms slowly became used to living at the MAMA, and from January onwards, Frank began to take over from Remus as the Ancient Runes professor, so that Remus was able to fully concentrate on his Care of Magical Creature classes.
The former werewolf was glad to have more time to actually care for the slowly growing number of magical beasts on the grounds – especially as the winged horses decided to have foals early in spring.
In contrary to Frank, who could simply work according to Remus' diligently compiled lesson plans, Alice had to completely plan out the new Latin classes. She began in a slower pace to work on lesson plans for her classes, which would only commence at the beginning of the new school year – much to her relief.
Nevertheless, Harry, Neville and Lily were glad to have the Longbottom parents occupied, so that the twins were not in the main spotlight anymore. Both children as well as Inu were polite and friendly towards Alice and Frank; however, they had readily accepted Frank's suggestion to call them by their given names.
Alice was not outright happy about the situation, however, knew that there was nothing that she could do about it but feel glad for Neville that he had found new parents, while she and Frank were incapacitated. Moreover, she soon felt that she was pregnant again and consoled herself by the prospect of having another baby soon.
During her free times, when the rest of the extended family was teaching or attending classes and Lily was busy with her potions research, she made it a habit to visit Merlin in his portrait in front of the staff room. Thankfully, someone had placed a very comfortable sofa in front of the portrait, so that she could spend hours talking with the ancient wizard. To her surprise, Merlin did not only show understanding for her situation, but was able to give her ideas and comfort for her new life with her new, extended family as well as for the Latin classes.
She also found a good friend in Emma and often visited her in the library that usually only became busy after the end of the classes.
HP
Arthur Weasley was a very happy man. He was glad to be divorced from Molly and free to do as he wished, although he thoroughly enjoyed having five of his seven children at the MAMA with him.
'I can't believe that Bill is already going to finish school next summer,' he thought, feeling very proud of the boy, as Minerva and his colleagues had decided to make Bill head boy during the next school year. Afterwards, Bill was already hired as the Alchemy professor. 'He's going to be my colleague,' Arthur thought, proudly.
The twins were still mischief-makers; however, they spent much time developing their own prank potions under Severus Snape's and Lily Potter's tutelage, and they had their hearts on the right spot. Arthur could not help feeling proud of them. 'Oh well, they're going to be first-years soon,' he thought, feeling slightly relieved that the boys would not have as much time to plan mischief than they had now.
Charlie was very interested in animals and spent every free minute assisting Remus Lupin, and Percy busied himself assisting Andromeda Tonks.
While Arthur himself was teaching Arithmancy, he was still very interested in all kind of muggle things and had become good friends with Dan Granger and Regina's husband Blair. Both men spent much time teaching him a lot about muggle devices and objects like rubber ducks and personal computers. He in return could help them with advice and information concerning the magical world.
'Molly really is a problem though, even if it's not exactly my problem,' he thought, 'being the headmistress of Hogwarts as a noname person is more than embarrassing. I'm surprised that the Board of Governors haven't kicked her out already. They must be extremely biased towards Albus. Oh well, perhaps I should write to Fabian and ask him to take her back into the Prewitt family.'
He toyed with the idea for a few weeks, before he finally sat down and penned a letter to his former wife's brother.
'Dear Fabian,
thank you for allowing us at the MAMA to know that you are alive, a fact which I appreciate very much.
I hope that you do not mind me writing to you. I wish to ask you for a favour concerning your sister Molly, my former wife. I know that Molly can be an absolute nuisance, especially when she decides to write Howlers to people. Fortunately, our house-elves at the MAMA get rid of them, as they apparently still arrive on a daily basis. Nevertheless, I feel that it is my fault that she does not have a family name, and I feel sorry for it. May I humbly ask you to take her back into the Prewitt family? I believe that as an Unspeakable, you will know best how to conceal your identity from her even if you allow her that minimum of courtesy. If there is anything that I can do for you in return – apart from promising the Prewitt family the friendship of House Weasley as long as I live and Molly is not the head – please let me know.
Arthur Weasley'
'I hope he'll accept her,' he thought and, after re-reading the letter once, pocketed the parchment. 'I'll ask little Harry to hand it to Fabian,' he resolved, uncertain if the letter would reach the Unspeakable if sent by owl.
HP
Harry looked up at the older wizard in surprise, when Arthur Weasley cornered him after dinner and asked him to deliver a letter to his colleague Fabian.
"All right. I'll do so right away," he promised, as he accepted the parchment, and – without considering that no one was supposed to know that he could simply pop himself into the Ministry of Magic from anywhere – popped himself right into the room of Team 5 in the Unspeakables' office to look for his colleagues.
Ever since the Mini Unspeakables had taken up their jobs, Devil had taught them to apparate the Unspeakables' way, which was similar to the elves' popping and worked even in areas that were under Apparition wards like the Ministry of Magic. Harry felt extremely happy that he had recently managed to pop for the first time and was glad about any opportunity to use it.
'Thank Merlin they're in the team room,' he thought in relief, only now realising that he had forgotten to put on his robes before popping.
"Fabian, I have a letter for you from Arthur Weasley," he informed the older wizard, who nodded and pocketed the parchment without even looking at it.
"Thank you, Harry," Fabian replied, smiling.
"Is something wrong?" Harry enquired upon noticing his colleagues' stern expressions.
"No, we were just trying to track two of the remaining Death Eaters, but they seem to be hiding well," Arcturus informed him, letting out a deep sigh.
"Perhaps you should have asked Malfoy before burning down his place," Harry quipped, causing his teammates to glare at him.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Regulus replied, grimly. "We don't even know if he's really dead," he added. "He might have been in hiding somewhere, as the Aurors would have been able to find him at the manor."
Harry shrugged. "Oh well, Draco is already nine, but he's still not going to take up the lordship to find out if he's dead," he stated, matter-of-factly, before he bade the older wizards good night and popped back home.
HP
When Harry popped up on his own bed, he realised without much surprise that all the other children, who were not MAMA students and as such spending the evenings in the common rooms yet, were gathered in his, Inu's and Neville's bedroom practising the Animagus transformation. Only recently, Draco and Neville had managed to transform their left hands and were now trying to change their right hands, while everyone else was still stuck at the first step.
Harry, as a natural Animagus, had much less problems than everyone else and was already able to change his whole body except for his head into his phoenix form. No one but Neville and Inu knew about the matter though, as he had not wanted to stand out and frustrate everyone else even more. Therefore, he only feigned trying to change his left hand, when everyone else was together. Only when the trio retired to their own room just by themselves did he actually practise.
Tonight however, he decided to feign enthusiasm, as he changed his left hand, causing everyone to cheer for him and applaud.
"Well done, twin," Neville supplied, grinning.
"Ahh, soon everyone but us…"
"… will be able to transform," the Weasley twins sighed, tragically.
"Although it would be so convenient…"
"… to be able to change into our Animagi forms…"
"… before becoming students here."
"Excuse me," Hermione spoke up, giving the older twins a doubtful look, "what use would your parrot forms have during class time?"
"Ah that…" the twins replied, simultaneously, only to continue in their way of speaking that was identical to Harry's and Neville's.
"You must know…"
"… that we've reconsidered…"
"… and decided to become phoenixes, too…"
"…. a few months ago…"
"… That would easily give us opportunities…"
"… to get away and join you…"
"… or do mischief…"
"… all over the MAMA," they finished together.
"Good luck then," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes in annoyance at their way of speaking.
"I have a question," Susan spoke up. "Did you get your way of speaking from Harry and Neville, or did they get it from you?"
Everyone laughed, however, observed the two couples of twins with apparent interest. The four boys exchanged a look, before they replied.
"No idea," Fred and George said, shrugging.
"… But we had much time to practise," Harry and Neville added, grinning.
"What kind of phoenixes are you going to become?" Christa spoke up with apparent interest.
Harry smiled, knowing that Christa wanted to become an ice phoenix with white feathers and light pink back feathers, while he was practising to transform into a water phoenix. His feathers were different shades of blue and green, and he loved it.
"Oh well, you still have the whole summer holidays to practise," he said, pleasantly.
"I can't wait to be able to transform, too," Hermione agreed. "Let's practise on a daily basis during the holidays."
Everyone voiced their agreement, just before Lily entered the room and threw everyone out.
"Good night everyone. It's time for you to go to bed," she said in a firm voice that everyone knew to obey instantly.
HP
During the leaving feast, which Harry and Neville spent sitting with some of their friends who had to return home the following morning, Inu suddenly left his spot between Harry's feet and dashed away in a fast speed, causing the twins to turn around and look after him in surprise.
Inu ran straight towards the second-years' table and – to everyone's shock – began to fervently attack Percy Weasley. Only his classmates sitting nearby could see that his attack rather concentrated on the boy's robe pocket than on Percy himself. Before they could interfere, however, the boy's rat familiar got out of Percy's robe pocket and fled, apparently running for its life, as Inu was closely following it.
'Inu, what's wrong? Come back here,' Harry thought to his familiar, although he knew for a fact that Inu would not attack anyone if not for a reason.
'That rat's evil,' Inu replied, promptly, and Harry observed how he chased the rat all over the atrium, before the rat managed to slip through a small gap in a slightly open window, causing Inu to remain in front of the window, growling.
'Inu, come back here,' Harry thought to him, and the dog obediently returned to Harry and placed something small into his hand. It was a complete rat foot – apart from two toes that were missing.
=Please tell Percy that I'm sorry, but that the rat is evil,= Inu woofed to Harry, who made his way to the second-years' table to inform the older boy.
"Why would Scabbers be evil?" Percy protested, crossly. "He's my familiar."
"I'm really sorry, but that I don't know," Harry replied, apologetically. 'I just hope the rat is going to stay away from here now,' he thought.
HP
During the following few days, Percy's rat did not return, and Harry promised the boy to buy him a new familiar if the rat did not come back during the holidays.
"Thanks Harry, I appreciate it, but if possible, I want Scabbers back," Percy replied, glaring at Inu, who completely ignored the boy in favour of a huge bone, which he was professionally holding with his front paws.
"Percy, you heard what Inu said," Arthur Weasley spoke up in a strict voice. "I've no idea how a rat can be evil, but if Inu says that it's evil, it must be true. He is a very peaceful and intelligent dog, and he wouldn't attack if it wasn't absolutely rectified."
"Exactly," Minerva spoke up in apparent confidence.
"Inu," Remus suddenly entered the conversation, seemingly alert. "Could that rat be an Animagus?"
=Yes,= Inu confirmed, nodding his head for everyone to understand.
"Could he be Wormtail?" Remus asked, turning to James and Sirius.
"Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form," Sirius growled before asking, "James, is the manor not warded against him?"
"How long did you have that rat?" Lily enquired, giving Arthur a sharp look. "Seven and a half years?"
"Yes," Arthur admitted, seemingly horrified, when James rose from his chair and headed to his office to adjust the wards.
HP
Later the same day, while Lily took Percy, Harry, Neville and Inu to the magical menagerie to buy a new pet for Percy, Arthur finally received a response from Fabian Prewitt. He unfolded the parchment with apprehension.
'Dear Arthur,
thank you for writing to me and offering me a deal. I will allow Molly back into the family, however, under one condition.
'Condition?' Arthur thought, horrified, as he hurried to read on.
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the 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: "Deals".