DISCLAIMER- I don't own the creations of JK Rowling
A/N- Lily did not tell the names because she hoped Harry will easily find out Neville and Luna.
Will return to the storyline in next chapter, but hope you like this one. When reading this chapter, keep in mind that it's fictional.
Chapter 10- World of magic
Lupin dialed the telephone number and talked with Petunia. He told her that Harry's magical core has been unbound; the boy is weak because of the exhaustion and will return the next day after buying his school supplies, he will take care of Harry for the night. The woman had said "All right." and then put down the receiver without saying anything more.
He lived in an apartment called the London Magimansion, a housing project under the ministry to accommodate the poorer sections of wizard society. Muggles can see the place, it is in a suburb of London but don't know about the nature of its residents, nor see the sign. The ground floor had some common facilities, including a pub, muggle telephone and a floo station. He obtained a suite of rooms when he showed that he had no criminal records and had signed a bond that he would lock himself up or be absent during the full moon nights.
Then, he went back to his apartment. Harry was fast asleep in the bedroom out of exhaustion, it was actually bolted from outside for now. He himself smiled at Severus Snape waiting in the living space and the two wizards had a glass of lager each and began to talk, second time after Lupin was summoned by Dumbledore. The first meeting had taken place in the dungeon, at Snape's office. The headmaster had not doubted anything fishy, after all Lupin was in the same year as his pet potions master and was not Severus's arch enemy like the other two of his group in school.
Lupin started the conversation "I really cannot thank you enough, after what you did for James's son. And the way you did it, it was so, so.." his voice trailed off as he was at a loss for words.
Snape lifted an eyebrow and completed "Slytherin of me? I did it because he is Lily's son, she became your friend too after fifth year as I recall. If it was only the son of James, I would not have bothered to find him, right? Actually, I had to find a way round the headmaster's nose, I told you that."
"You still hate James and Sirius after all these years?"
"I don't care about James; he is now dead for nearly ten years. I must admit that I was surprised when Lily began to go out with him but she was happy and he became much less of a spoilt brat, so I didn't mind- one does hope a childhood friend-cum-sister to be happy. I hate Sirius now, but you know the reason and I expect the same for you."
Lupin looked down and shook his head "I couldn't believe you at first, but after you showed me the Pensieve memory, I was shocked. He placed the boy there, had a spy and what was that woman doing? I smelled that house before I came to Number Four, it smelled too much of cats as you said- the woman must be still living there, I smelt a human too. I don't respect that man anymore, thanks to you. I was a fool to have faith in him. Actually, he was not really a great leader of the Order, performance speaks for itself. Thanks for opening my eyes."
"I disliked him more and more over years, as I observed him. If he expects Gryffindor-ish hero worship or Hufflepuff-style loyalty from me, he is mistaken. Anyway, the boy is to attend Hogwarts, I have to give him detentions in front of everybody. The old coot would not doubt then why I am spending much time with the boy, but no other way to bluff him under his long nose. I have no other way. Maybe the boy will be in the red house, just like his parents and you. "
Remus changed the topic "You hit the two adults at weak spots, but I must say that casting compulsion charms over a full class of children to bash the gang of four was daring, but brilliant."
A cold, hard voice answered "You must know that I hate bullies. Maybe I should leave now. The boy must not see or know of me yet. You bought the special gift for him that I recommended?"
"Yes. Severus, listen please. I am not justifying it, nor saying that you totally forget the past after all these years. I just want to say that you don't know the full truth. Those two were at the front when bullying you, but most of the nasty pranks were thought out by Peter, believe me. They got carried away as idiot teenagers, sometimes me too. He even did spying for the two. You know how the poor boy met his end?"
"I have my own doubts regarding it. Peter going out alone to confront someone? In school, he always stayed behind his three other friends at all times, I have not forgotten that."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Harry woke up, he slowly tried to understand where he was. He found that he was wearing a bathing robe, lying in a simple but comfortable bed, with a table lamp on a small table nearby. He found his own clothes folded in a neat pile on the table. This felt very much real, not like where he was last time.
He went out of the room on bare feet, it was actually a small apartment. He found Lupin outside, the man said it belonged to him. He said Harry had been really exhausted when the checkup was done and his "magical core" was now unbound. Lupin had chosen to carry the boy to his place for the night.
He talked with Lupin for the rest of the evening, it was already afternoon when he woke up- he checked that in a clock. Harry would buy his things and return to his relatives the next day, Lupin told him that Petunia has been informed on the phone. He was liking Lupin, but not trusting him fully. That meant not telling anything about Hagrid or his own concerns regarding the headmaster.
He had a mild sensation in his forehead- where the scar was and when he looked in a mirror, he found a sticking plaster was covering it. He asked Lupin about his parents and learnt that Lily really was two months pregnant with a girl when she was killed. He asked about what was wrong with the health check-up, Lupin shrugged it off and said that it was just a malevolent spirit which was residing within his body, such things do happen now and then. Regarding his scar, he was told that muggle medicine could not treat a magical scar; it was now attended to by the goblin healers and will heal.
He once peeked out of the windows; Lupin told that it was nested in a London suburb, all the occupants were wizards. He found a collection of photos hung on a wall, one showed a little Lupin with the man's parents, the other were a mixture of school years and beyond- he found his parents in a few of them. Else, the man seemed to have some furniture, a wardrobe and some leather-bound books only.
Lupin did not have a proper kitchen, but he told Harry that there was a pub at the bottom of the building; he brought a mug of hot chocolate and a platter of cookies for Harry. He gradually felt happy, he never knew that he could talk so much with his father's school friend and for the first time in his life, he found someone carefully listening to his questions and answering them.
When he asked about the strange red jersey that James was wearing while holding a broomstick in the school pictures, he asked about it and learnt of the sport of quidditch, James played in the house team of the school. Lupin told him about other wizard games like exploding snap, magic chess, gobstones, etc. but quidditch was the most popular one in the magical world globally, he learnt. Harry was not bothered about the rules of any of them yet, he had too many other questions.
Lupin also told about the Isle Quidditch League, popular among wizards. There are fifteen teams in the British Isles, there is an annual league. The winter time is off season, and then the stadiums are used as venues for fairs, there are various attractions including cinema, the one thing that wizards seem to lack.
He asked Lupin if the latter could tell the names of the two children his mother had asked to meet. Lupin could not tell the names, but mentioned the surnames Longbottom and Lovegood. He asked about his mother's childhood friend, but Lupin said that he did not know anything about it.
He asked about who had killed his parents, he thus learnt of the name Lord Voldemort, though it sounded a French made-up to him, the man was British. He learnt that the name is still not spoken by wizards out of fear, the man is referred to indirectly by the magical population.
Then talks turned toward school and Harry understood the titles of the headmaster. Harry already had a curiosity towards Dumbledore; he soon learnt that apart from being headmaster of Hogwarts, the man held two more official posts that made him a politician and he was also advisor to the current Minister of magic. Harry had often heard his uncle saying that politicians are perpetual liars, was it the same in the wizarding world- he wondered. A headmaster of a school flaunting his political titles in a school letter addressed to children and their parents at most, it sounded unusual to him.
He asked that whether Lupin was given the address by the headmaster, the answer was interesting. Apparently, a type of magic called a tracking charm can locate a person anywhere on earth- but it was put only in certain conditions. Harry now could guess how he was tracked on the coast.
The talk then turned to the Ministry of Magic. Lupin told that it was the government of magical races in Britain, though wizards feature prominently. The building was located underground somewhere in the Whitehall region of London. It began with an atrium in the top, various departments in the lower levels and finally the "pit of mysteries' at the bottom, where masked magicals work at the very borderline regions of magic, though Harry did not understand that concept well.
Harry asked about the exact location of Hogwarts, the result was Lupin saying that it was un-plottable and teaching him magic geography, which he barely grasped. Apparently, he learnt that the globe that he was shown at school was not correct- there were 11 "planes" of earth wrapped around each other and muggles know of only one. Lupin then tried to explain how un-plottable lands are like "filaments of various sizes sticking out of each of the 11 main threads of the earth" and some even wrap around the "filaments" of the other planes. There are natural and even magic-made filaments. Harry's head was spinning by the end of it but he could only faintly grasp it.
He tried to ask how much un-plottable lands are there, Lupin said that the various magical governments keep record of them. He asked about the other 'planes' of the earth, he heard that it is "classified information" kept by the Department of Mysteries, along with International Co-operation on it.
He then asked about whatever "magical" is present in Britain, the answer was very interesting. Lupin answered "There is Diagon Alley in Leadenhall, the Ministry in Whitehall, St. Mungos hospital for magical and mundane maladies, the British Museum of Magic, the Magic Zoo, Botanical garden and a few more points like theatre and port-key zones. Hogwarts School is in the north. There are enchanted forests, sacred places as well as private properties like residences, potion sheds, greenhouses, etc. spread in many places across Britain. We keep some liaison with the muggle government."
"Are there other magical schools in the world if not in Britain?" asked a curious Harry.
"Wizards are present throughout the world, I cannot tell you all since I don't know. I know a little of the schools in Europe and can tell you about the situation in North America since I stayed there."
"How many schools of magic are there in Europe then?"
"The five major ones in mainland Europe are Beauxbatons Academy in France, Durmstrang Institute in Scandinavia, Mageia Parthenon in west Greece, Volkhvy School in Russia and Yagga Memorial Academy across regions north of Greece. You may feel curious when hearing the word "across" but it is actually a mobile structure that floats in the sky, particularly hugging the Carpathians. Muggles cannot see that."
"And there are more schools called minor ones too?" asked a curious Harry.
"There are more, I cannot recall all of them. There are smaller schools- in Ireland, the Basque region of Spain, one in the Ardennes region that teaches only in Dutch and the Diana Witches' School in Italy. The German-speaking wizards are total paranoids who refuse to tell anything about their schooling system. They are the most secretive in Europe, but keeping in mind that witch hunts were most rampant in that area they cannot really be blamed ."
"What about the schools in North America? Is there a witches-only school in Salem?"
Lupin laughed "Who told you that? If you read even muggle records, you will find that there were 4 men, 15 women and a dog hanged after the trials. You may later try to find who were labeled witches when you grow old, when our people decided to live in secrecy, you will read it in History too."
"So, how many magic schools are there in North America?"
"The situation there is a little complicated, though Ilvermorny was the earliest one set up by arriving Europeans. There is the magical government called MACUSA, they have a Board of education that annually hold exams in all magical subjects for three different levels. They hold both theory and practical exams, then provide blood certificates and grade cards at the end. They do not care for the age of the candidate or the institute, even home-schooling and private tutoring is overlooked by them. I know of the top, did not care to find out the bottom. They may register separately, but I did not bother to check."
Lupin then told him that the former had bought a book for Harry. He had purchased it back in the US. It was a small encyclopedia that provided a general overview of all magical subjects and magical life in general; he had wanted to gift it to Harry. Harry replied that he would love the book. Then he learnt that Andromeda had left some money with Lupin to buy Harry a birthday gift. Then, Lupin said that he had purchased another gift that made the little boy very curious.
It was an amulet, with a circular disk adorned with a complex design. Lupin told that it would protect the wearer from Legilimency, which was the magical term for mind reading. If Harry wore that thing and avoided eye contact with any grown wizard, nobody could read his mind. Lupin told him that if one is fully trained in the art of erecting mental shields, then such a protection is not necessary; Harry could sense anyone trying to enter his mind and block out the person or even show him false images. The boy liked the gift, but did not know if such a thing was necessary but Lupin told him to wear it.
Later, Lupin went out again, to bring a large sandwich for Harry as dinner. Harry took it and then went to sleep for the night. He tried to go through the pile of information Lupin told him and also fondly remembered the meeting with his parents. He did not know when he had drifted off to sleep.
Next morning, he was shaken awake by Lupin. He was told that a bowl of porridge and strawberry was waiting for him, he had to quickly bathe and change. After that, they would again use the floo station below to travel to Diagon Alley to buy the school things.