A small error with the dates has been fixed. Can't believe I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out to me. The time line for this chapter goes like this. - 1981, 1981,1981, 1985, 1992, 1992.
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Two thoughts ran through my mind when I saw the response for the first chapter. The first one was Wow, the second was Yikes. Why? Because when I wrote the first chapter, I only had a vague idea of the way I wanted things to be.
I wanted to try something different; though I am not sure if I can succeed but I am sure that I will try my best, while writing this story. I have read the reviews and I appreciate them all. Good and bad.
I cannot answer any of them because even I don't know how the story is going to play out. Though I can assure you that this story is not about marriage contracts or things like that. I can also assure you that I am not going to bash any characters; other than a few jokes I might add at their expense.
Enough babbling from the crazy author, he can ramble all day. Author's note are usually his thoughts when he was writing the chapter. And while there are many and not all of them related to the chapter, the author has managed to filter a few relevant ones in the from A/N's.
Do you think I should start searching for a beta?
If I try and think really hard, will all my head-canons come true?
A/N :- We have read many stories where Harry gets to be the heir to many houses as soon as he asks the right questions to goblins. But what if he had only one lordship to inherit (not counting the Black one at the moment) and that too didn't come with a hereditary seat on the Wizengamot? What if the lordship was very difficult to gain? What if he only had a small fortune that didn't make him the richer than half the magical Britain? What if… I think that is long enough for now, isn't it?
All the dates are approximate and imaginations of the crazy author, he has a habit of researching canon facts and twist them to suit his needs.
Disclaimer :- As anyone can attest, the world of Harry Potter is a wonderful creation that belongs to J.K Rowling. And I am sure that I am not her. You get the idea, don't you?
HpLcp
Chapter 2
Potter manor,
1st November, 1981.
Potter family was a very old family, going back to twelfth century. Over years, every Potter had added to the name with small contributions of their own.
While the Potter family was not extremely rich when compared to other old families, they had been able to amass a small fortune for their name. With this fortune, they had been able to build a manor that passed from one generation to another.
The Potters, while old, were not considered a part of 'sacred twenty-eight'. Nor was there a hereditary seat waiting for them in the Wizengamot. But what the Potter had was a small amount of land for themselves. And that they were awarded lordship of those lands in the fourteenth century for there contribution against the dark wizard Yardley Platt.
But that was a long time ago, and lands were gone now. Yet the Lordship remained, as did its magic. Over time, secrets of magic were researched and that gave birth to Potter family magic. No one has ever been able to understand how sentient family magic was, nor could anyone understand how it worked.
The 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' were said to posses that knowledge. Those secrets never saw to light of day. Family after family chose to perish rather than part with their secrets. One such secret was the working of the lordship rings.
The only thing people knew for sure was that they were forged using ancient spells and that there were stipulations that must be achieved before the ring accepted them. Similar was true for the heir's ring. Not everyone was worthy of wielding the family magic.
The true ritual bound lords were not seen outside of the remaining 'scared twenty-eight' families for the past three centuries. And only a handful from Potter family were accepted by the Lordship rings as worthy of their magic. The last ritual bound Lord Potter was Henry Potter. And that was sixty years ago.
The only one to come close to achieving that feat was Lord Charlus, who was accepted by the heir ring but not the lord's ring. Though he was still known as Lord Potter like every head of the old families were considered Lords.
The Potter line had almost ended with Fleamont Potter who was unable sire children of his own. Fleamont Potter took the Potter coffers and quadrupled it by creating Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Though he had to sell the company when he retired as there was no one to inherit the vast fortune. But them magic blessed him and his wife Euphemia and their beloved boy James Potter was born.
Just as over two decades ago, Fleamont and Euphemia were blessed with a child, so was their boy who married a Lily Evans. It was unfortunate that they were unable to meet their grandson but they were happy for their child despite the war their generation was living through. At least they were alive and fighting for what they believed in.
If only that remained the case, Fleamont and Euphemia would have been delighted to see them grow as a family. Alas, the Potter family remained cursed as once again they were chased by death and destruction. This time in the form of a Dark Lord. And that was why the portrait of Hardwin Potter worried about his descendant's family.
Hardwin Potter had begged and begged his descendants to change their ways and train in the ways of Potters, Live the legacy of their forefathers and follow their footsteps. But they were always keen to follow others.
The Lord Potter followed none. That had been their motto and that was how they lived their life. With firm beliefs and the strength to face the world for them, they rose to greatness. With hard-work and perseverance they built their legacy and protected their secrets.
And like all good things, they too fell from grace. Despite his guidance and advise, only a handful managed to wield the family magic. And only a handful were chosen to be worthy of living in the Potter manor.
To this date, he doubted his descendant's decision to tie the wards of the Potter manor to family magic. While the idea of fidelius charm combined to the family magic was a stroke of genius, he would have liked it if more of his family were able to live in the manor.
A maddening scream brought him from his thoughts. "Mispy." He called in worry. Fortunately, the elf seemed to be nearby and she appeared to him with a pop sound. The elf was shaking as tears formed in her large eyes. "What happened to Harrow?" He asked about the elf that was bonded to James Potter.
"He's is suffering from a broken bond." The elf wringed her hands in worry as her ears flapped against her face loudly. Before he could speak further, the sounds of screaming cut-off abruptly. "Go check on Harrow and tell me what is going on." The abrupt way the bond was broken could only mean that James was dead.
He closed his eyes in pain. He had begged James to change his way at least to the point where the heir's ring would accept him. The wards of Potter manor could survive any dark lord. When James had denied to change his ways, he had approached Lily for help. For years he had tried, but the boy was set in his ways.
The reverence they had for some people was so much that they were willing to forget their origins. The traditions their forefathers followed religiously were forgotten in favour of new festivities. They, like many others, became followers of people with little to no respect for the old ways.
Mispy appeared to him and shook her head sadly as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. "Can you at least feel young Harry?" He asked thinking about the ancient spell he had given Lily when she had come to him sick with worry about the well-being of her child.
The single mindedness with which the most recent Dark Lord targeted the Potter family these past few months had irked him the wrong way. Lily said there was prophecy about her child, but he believed that someone was trying to make it come true. Not every prophecy came true. Most remained unfulfilled.
He had not shared his views as he didn't want the Potters to be afraid of their own shadow. They didn't know whom they trust and the one they trusted seemed wrong to him. Their trust in the old headmaster had been a source of many fights between him and the Potters.
He had chosen to keep his council to himself when Lily came to him fifteen months ago asking for someway to protect her son, even at the cost of her own sacrifice. She needed someway to protect her son from the unforgivable killing curse. And he had helped her find that ritual.
"I's can sense young Master Harry." The little elf nodded through tears. "Good, go to Black's current residence and prepare everything necessary to take care of young Harry." Hardwin sighed. "From the way Lily described him, Sirius would be at Godric's Hollow by now. He should be back to his house in a few hours." Potters had always trusted Sirius and he was certain that they would have found a way to contact Sirius in the event that something happened to them.
He hoped that Lily didn't have to use the ancient ritual. He hoped that little Harry was safe under the fidelius charm waiting for his godfather to pick him up. He always knew that the chances of Lily leaving James to fight alone were slim. He prayed for Lily, hoping against hope that she had managed to get away with her life. And he prayed for James's soul.
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Potter manor,
3rd November, 1981.
That evening Hardwin Potter paced in the limited space his portrait provided. There was a distinct lack of other magical portraits in the Potter manor because not many Potters saw any use in having their portraits made.
In a way he understood their reasoning, there were not many who took time out of their day to listen to portraits ramble on about days long gone. He himself rarely had any visitors after the first century or two.
It was fortunate that he met Lily, who had asked the elf about any old portraits that could help her protect her son, and learned about the recent happenings of the Potter family. The last time Potters lived in the ancestral manor was in 18th century.
He should have tried harder to stop the Lord from connecting the Lord's and heir's rings to the family fidelius. But those were trying times and he understood the need of secrecy when the next person you met was most likely a dark wizard.
Allowing only the ritual bound lord and heir the ability to share the secret was brilliant during those times. And the modified fidelius charm that didn't pass on the secret keepers at the death of the previous ones helped in protecting the location of Potter Manor as well.
He would never have imagined that the number of ritual bound Potter lords would be only handful after that. Nor would he have ever thought that the old ways would fade away so easily as they did.
Any generation of Potters that lived in the manor were special and very rare. Only ritual bound lords and heir were allowed access to the grounds of Potter manor. Over time, it became rare that any Potter visited the manor of they passed the tests for being the lord or even heir. None of them were willing to leave the houses they grew up in in favour of an ancient manor. Not even for their safety.
The last Potter Lord to visit the manor was Henry Potter and that was over six decades ago. He had managed to meet Lily Potter when he helped her add the Lily's pad to the family fidelius charm.
Normally, it would only be possible of the caster was Lord Potter with the lord's ring. But they had managed to modify the charm with little Harry as the secret keeper. He had very impressed with her brilliance.
Lily wanted to have a safe place for her son to go to if all of her plans failed and she couldn't survive the war. With no word from Mispy in the past two days, he was getting worried. Mispy would have returned if Lily was alive.
He could try calling the elf but it was not possible. He was just a portrait after all. And so, he waited for the little elf to return. Hoping for some good news.
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Potter manor,
4th November, 1981.
Hardwin Potter was startled out of his enchanted sleep when Mispy appeared with loud pop. One look at her and he knew that the things had gone very wrong.
The little elf was wringing her hands and fat tears rolled down her eyes. "What happened?" He asked in worry. The elf continued to sniffle so he tried again.
"I's cannot feel young master Harry." She wailed loudly. "And I cannot feel Mistress Lily." She sniffed and he wondered if she would lose mind despite being bound to the family magic.
"What about Sirius? Did he say anything to you? Were you able to meet him?" He asked hurriedly as he knew the elf would not be able to answer anything if she started crying in despair.
"Master Sirius didn't return to his house." She cried shaking her head. "Mispy waited for him to return. Mispy was very worried but then I's could not feel master Harry anymore." What happened to little Harry? He wondered.
There were very few ways to block the elf from sensing its future master. One of them was fidelius. And many others were so dark that he didn't want to think about them. Maybe Sirius did the smart thing and left Harry with the Longbottoms as was the second plan. But then what happened to Sirius.
"Mispy, go bring me the Daily Prophet of the past few days." He commanded loudly. "And return with haste. Harry is possibly safe where he is." He needed the elf sane if he wanted to find about the fate of Sirius Black and Harry.
This time it didn't take long for the house elf to return. If the portrait had any blood in his veins, it would have frozen the moment he read the headlines on one of the newspapers.
'Potter's betrayer' Sirius Black sentenced to a life time of Azkaban for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles.
He was worried further when he read about Dumbledore claiming Harry Potter as the wizarding world's saviour. Dumbledore also claimed that Harry Potter 'the boy-who-lived' was safe and hidden away to protect him from death eaters.
Hardwin Potter didn't know what game the old fool was playing by declaring to the world that Harry Potter was somehow responsible for the destruction of the dark lord. Nor did he like the last Potter being painted as a target for the dark lord's followers like that.
He just hoped that Harry was safe with the Longbottom's while they stayed under the fidelius charm.
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Potter manor,
27th March, 1985.
The headlines of Daily Prophet that fateful day worried the old portrait more. But he was also relieved when he didn't read anything about Harry Potter.
Well-respected Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom tortured into insanity by the Lestrange family and Crouch Junior.
The article went onto describe how judgement was passed on the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes. The only survivor of the attack was their young son Neville Longbottom survived.
Hardwin Potter closed his eyes and tried to think of possible names Harry would go to if the primary and secondary families were unable to take him in as the Will of Potters mentioned.
He knew that the Longbottoms would have felt safe enough to come out of hiding after reading about the fall of Voldemort and the trials of many death eaters. And if the came out of hiding than Harry was not left with them as he had originally assumed.
They had gone in to hiding around the same time as the Potters. The prophecy that worried the Potters could be applied to the Longbottoms as well. While he didn't believe in prophecies, the dark lord seemed to believe it. Though he often wondered how he the dark lord learned about it.
Someone must have heard the prophecy because a seer never remembered any prophecy they made. Somehow a death eater heard a prophecy or some one deliberately leaked it in the hopes that the dark lord would go after the Potters. He just wasn't sure who did that. Nor was there anything he could do about it as long as he couldn't find Harry.
Maybe they were trying to gain custody of young Harry after they learned about Sirius' imprisonment. He couldn't know and that is what worried him the most. Especially since Mispy was unable to sense Harry.
The recent elevation of house Potter from noble to 'noble and ancient' status was worrying him as well. He knew and understood that the people of wizarding Britain held little Harry in high regards but elevation of a house before its time was too much.
Who was going to ensure his education? Who was going to teach him the ways of Potters? The ridiculous boy-who-lived stories were sure to make people think of Harry as some kind of Messiah. At least the children. And if little Harry was not trained then he would not be able to handle the pressure.
He had tried sending Mispy to every contact that Lily had let him know about in the hopes that they could point him to Harry's location. But it was all in vain. No one knew about Harry and no one wanted to push matters when Dumbledore himself was appointed as the magical guardian of the boy.
The suppression of the Potter Will sent all kinds of alarms in his mind. What was Dumbledore trying by suppressing the Will and making himself the boy's magical guardian? Why was nothing being done about the unlawful use of Harry's name in all these ridiculous books. Was Dumbledore trying to make Harry as the poster boy of Light faction and muggle-born wizards and witches?
Potters were primarily a grey family and only recently had they openly started supporting the light. That was only because of James' desire to follow the great Albus Dumbledore. It was good thing that James was not the Potter lord or had any significant political power. He was sure to give all of the power to Dumbledore if asked.
That was why the heirs were educated in the ways of their family since a very young age. The traditions and duties were often forgotten and they were prone to get manipulated by those with better knowledge and use the family's power to further others political agendas.
The Potters were traditionally neutral. They have never should complete support to either sides. They were considered purebloods by many and they had followed centuries of traditions and festivals, rituals and magics.
They had taken a stand against going to war with muggles while supporting the International Statue of Wizarding secrecy. They had publicly spoken against the minister who wanted to kill goblins. The Potters always stood for what they believed in, it would not do for the Potters to suddenly be sheep and follow fools.
He needed to find the Potter heir and soon. Till then, he would follow the plan he helped Lily make and make preparations for when the time came.
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Potter manor,
4th June, 1992.
Hardwin Potter's portrait jumped in sudden fright when Mispy popped into the room and started jumping around excitedly. "I's can feel master Harry again. I's can feel master Harry again. I's can feel master Harry again." The little elf cheered excitedly and a smile formed on Hardwin's face as he thought about little Harry.
"Calm down, elf." He laughed loudly when Mispy did elf's equivalent of blush and looked down at her feet. "Tell me about little Harry." Hardwin chuckled when Mispy started talking at a fast pace.
"Slow down and start over." He smiled patiently. "I's can feel Young Master again." Mispy was positively radiating with joy. "Master Harry is alive although he doesn't seem to be in a very good place." She nodded her excitedly. "Master Harry's goes to Hoggywarts."
"Good." He nodded. "I want you to go and keep an eye on him. Make sure to follow him to his residence but do not, I repeat, do not make contact with him until I tell you to." He was worried that whatever enchantments had kept Harry hidden from the house elf would be strengthened by the caster of they knew about Mispy following Harry.
He frowned when he saw Mispy look down at her feet in sadness. "Don't worry, Mispy. Harry will be with us as soon I get to know more about his current residence and the people he lives with." He smiled seeing the way the elf's face lit up in joy.
"Remember to take the device to locate the ward stones. Oh, and take the memory crystal with you as well. I want to see little Harry too. He should be grown up tall and strong by now." He chuckled as he remembered seeing the little baby for the first time. He would be wiping tears of joy if he was capable of that function.
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Potter manor,
25th July, 1992.
Hardwin Potter snarled and tried to think of all the ways he could make those muggles who dared to treat his little Harry in that abominable manner as he finished viewing the memory.
"They dare…" He sputtered, being too enraged to speak properly. "They dare treat a child in this despicable manner." He roared. "I swear to Merlin I would rip them limb by limb if I ever get the opportunity to." He snarled looking at the cowering elf.
"Mispy." He said sharply. "Go and prepare Lily's pad. There is no way the Potter heir is going to live those despicable muggles." He sneered thinking of all the ways he could employ to destroy those Dursley's.
"Well." He asked sharply when he saw that Mispy had yet to move from her place. "I's think master Hardwin should see the wards first." The elf said after taking some deep breaths. "Master is too angry to think properly." He frowned at the rare show of defiance from the elf.
"Well, then show me." He was still too enraged to think correctly. And for a portrait, that was saying something. But then again, the portraits did simulate the thought process and behaviour of the person. He never could think properly when he was enraged.
The elf rummaged for the correct crystal and within moments he was able to see the ward-stone clearly. "Sweet Morgana." He mumbled and the painting turned several shades pale, if that was even possible.
"Go. Leave me alone for time." He mumbled. "But prepare Lily's pad for Harry's arrival. And leave the crystal working for now. I will try and have a way to counter the monitoring charms of the blood-wards." He could not think why anyone would cast something as horrible as blood-wards on a muggle house.
"Wait." He said before Mispy could pop away to keep an eye on her charge. "I want you check the house and young Harry for any kind of charms. Don't remove them, I want you to make a list of those and bring them back to me. There might be some of those we can use to our benefit."
He muttered several profanities about irresponsible wizards who had nothing better than to endanger muggles in order to further their own agenda. "Remember to disguise yourself properly and make sure to do nothing that could alert the magical sensors that are sure to be on that house."
"Oh, and I want you to mix calming draughts in everything they eat in that house. Make sure to give a purging-potion to Harry first. Who know what he has been eating for the past year without making sure that they were safe?" He wondered if anyone was callous enough to potion a child in Hogwarts but then again, he could never be sure.
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Potter manor,
29th July, 1992.
"There." He pointed. "Do that stroke properly. Do it exactly the same as described in the book." He muttered thinking about all the tracking spells, anti-scrying spells, health monitoring charms and mail blocking charms the elf had to remove from Harry while adding a mail-redirection charm with the location of the enchanted letter box linked to the Lily's pad.
The caster of those charms had gone out of his way to ensure that Harry couldn't be contacted through letters and that he was aware of the abysmal conditions Harry lived in. The were so many tracking charms on his things that left him baffled at what the caster was trying to achieve there.
Many of them were so strong that removing them left the little elf exhausted. And Mispy was a particularly strong elf; given the fact that she was bonded through the Potter's family magic. "Very good." He praised the proud house-elf.
"Now, you remember to place them exactly as I directed and make sure they cannot be seen by the muggles." He had managed to device a way to fool the blood-wards. Being as ancient as he was had a few perks as well.
Someone very strong had managed to cast the blood-wards on a muggle house. He didn't want to think about the effects they had on the residents but he was duty bound to investigate. It was his nature to help others when in their time of need.
"Remember to cast the charms to repel the house elf you sensed on the property." He was thankful that Mispy was not as crazy as the other house elf. House elfs while childish were not so crazy as the one that lurked around Harry's house. "Yes, Master Hardwin." The little elf answered dutifully as she packed the ward-stones.
"Good. Now, once that is done, I want you to keep an eye on the house elf who keeps stealing Harry's letter. Make sure that Harry sees the elf in some way, use compulsion charms if you must. Harry should be perfectly capable of dealing with the situation by himself." The elf nodded and he continued with his orders.
"I want to appear before as soon as he utters anything about family elf or anything remotely related to potter's house-elf. Not a moment before that, do you understand?" The little elf nodded excitedly at the prospect of being near young Harry again.
"Good. When you appear to him, I want you to act like you are visiting him for the first time." He explained further when the elf looked confused. "He wouldn't be happy if he knew that we were spying on him. You don't want little Harry to be mad at you, do you?" The elf shook her head frantically and squeaked out hurried denials.
"Besides, we don't want him to know that we him to know that we were poisoning their food with potions; even if they were just calming potions, do we?" He asked rhetorically.
"Now, I want you to then take him and all his things to Lily pad where you will be giving him a potion to help with the nausea of apparition travel. You will mix a mild sleeping draught in that potion." He sighed thinking of all the deception he had to ask the elf to commit.
"And then you will treat him for all the scars he has as well as give him regular doses of nutrition potion and prepare the ritual for removing the soul leech that he is stuck with." He muttered.
"Yes, I know that we are not certain about the soul leech yet but that is why we have the instruments in working order in his room." He spoke when the elf looked ready to protest. "They will be able to confirm the suspicions Lily had."
The dark lord had somehow managed to survive being blasted apart at least once from what he could recall Lily telling him. Well, not being blasted apart but losing enough body parts as well as blood that no one could recover from.
That worried him. There was a reason Voldemort generated so much fear that people couldn't even speak his name without flinching. That was why he wanted to deal with the soul leech as soon as possible. He wanted no part of the foul dark lord near his little Harry.
"Then, while you prepare for the ritual, I want you to dose Lily's sister with weak truth serum and ask a few questions." He was not certain whether that would work or not. But with right questions, he hoped to at least find out why Petunia treated her nephew as horribly as she did.
He knew that the sisters hated each other for a long time but he was also aware that they were trying to mend their relationship. Especially after the death of their parents. With a sigh he hoped what he found was not as horrible as he suspected.
HpLcp
A/N :- How's this for something a bit different? I have always found it a bit suspect that Dumbledore would announce it to the world that Harry Potter was the reason for Voldemort's fall. Especially with all the death eater who had managed to escape prison with the excuse of Imperious curse. It was almost like he wanted Harry to be targeted. *shrugs*
He could have just not announced to the world about Harry's involvement and just said that the dark lord perished after the attack on Potters. But those are just my thoughts. You can share what you think about that action.