Did Somebody Say My Name

by WhoWhoSevenTwo

Long thought dead, Harry Potter and his very much alive parents are compelled to break cover when his name comes out of the Goblet of Fire for the TWT. Harry finds himself drawn to one particular Gryffindor as he attempts to navigate social, political and magical conundrums...

2. Chapter 2 - A Bludger to the Stones

A/N - Standard disclaimer about HP and the ownership thereof, that I'm not making any money out of this blah blah. I had a WIP called Somewhere in Time which I may pretty much abandon (I've not decided yet), but may steal some of the ideas I had in that for DSSMN.

Chapter 2 - A Bludger to the Stones Indeed...

"Did somebody say my name?"

The silence was total as the three newcomers walked up the middle of the great hall toward the flabbergasted group at the top. They could feel the weight of every eye in the building track them as they progressed, the three of them focused on the headmaster. McGonagall was watching in open mouthed wonder as James and Lily Potter returned from the dead and approached.

James was the first to speak, looking away from the headmaster to his former head of house. "Hello Minerva" he said softly, a smile crossing his face. "It's been a while!"

"A while?" Minerva's voice was much higher than usual. "That's… I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead, the three of you, and with…"

James cut her off by giving her a hug, much to the amusement of the rest of the hall, none of whom would ever dare be so familiar. It was Lily though who took up the narrative.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask Dumbledore, he would have told you that we were alive, wouldn't you Albus, I mean after all, you would have known seeing as you had a blood crystal."

Dumbledore was dumfounded. "How did you…" he started, realising too late that he was tacitly admitting having an illegal item.

McGonagall turned on her long time boss and friend. "Ye did whit!" When a highland woman feels the rage, her accent becomes much stronger. "Not only did ye steal the bairn's blood, ye formed a dark item and YE DIDNAE BLOODY THINK TAE SAY THAT THE POTTERS YET LIVED!"

It was the murmurs in the rest of the hall which reminded Dumbledore that the privacy charm had not been re-established. "I think this is a conversation better served being held somewhere the rest of the school isn't hanging on every word. Severus, would you dismiss the rest of the school, young Mr Potter it is a surprise but a pleasure to see you, James and LIly I am sure we have much to talk about, would you care to wait in my office?"

"No." James looked the old man in the eye. "As Lily said we know what you did, so until I know that you had no hand in this farce, there will be no trust coming from me. If you want to speak to us, we will do so in Minerva's office, with her and Filius at least present."

"Some things never change Potter, you come waltzing through the door and straight away act like you own the place. Your arrogance has not changed. If only you had stayed dead." Snape's tone was scathing. "I might have guessed you had something to do with getting your brat in the tournament."

"Shut it Sniv... " James didn't get any further, a sharp prod to his ribs from his wife was enough to shut him up.

"Calm down. Now is not the time to go all Prongs on us" she said in nothing more than a normal voice. Given however the great hall had once again descended into silence, her words were picked up by those closest, which included a couple of red-headed twins. It was their gasp which promoted Dumbledore to realise that he still had not cast another privacy charm. A quick wave of his wand rectified that. Lily looked at Snape. "That said, I agree with the sentiment. It would be best if you were to keep your thoughts to yourself, Severus." Lily's emerald green eyes bore into the black of Snapes as if daring him to say something else. He didn't. "That a teacher would speak like that about any child is abysmal. I had obviously heard that you had somehow got a job here, I have to say I was… surprised."

Dumbledore intervened. "I have to ask however, did either of you, or indeed your son, find a way to enter his name into the tournament?"

James snorted. "I think you know damn well that we didn't."

"And yet, here you are less than twenty minutes after his name appeared. I am sure you can see how that would look suspicious."

"We have ways of being kept informed about what's been happening here. We knew that the tournament was being considered for this year…" He was cut off by Bagman.

"But how? Apart from Dumbledore, the other headmasters, the minister and a select few in the Ministry, no one knew!"

James laughed out loud at that. "Ludo, the Ministry has always been terrible at keeping the secrets it wanted to keep, never mind those it didn't care about."

"You have someone in the Ministry?"

"That's our business and nothing to do with you."

"Gentlemen, please" interjected the Headmaster. "Mr Potter, please continue."

"Continue with what? I've already said we knew about the tournament, we didn't care, we knew Harry wasn't at Hogwarts or the other two for that matter, but we knew. As Lily suggested, we also kept abreast of what happens in the Castle, I'm sure you can guess why, Dumbledore? No matter, anyway, we found out almost immediately after Harry's name came out, so we put some contingency plans in place, and well, here we are."

"How did you find out?" Dumbledore was worried. "I am sure you will appreciate my concern, if there is a security risk at the castle which may cause danger for the students,I must know about it."

"There's no risk to anyone, but knowing you I won't get any peace until you wheedle out the information." James stopped and took a breath. "TRIXIE!" he shouted. Seconds later there was a pop and a nervous looking house elf stood before him.

"What can Trixie be doing for Master James?"

James knelt down to be closer in size to the elf. "It's ok Trixie, you aren't in trouble. Can you explain to the headmaster what you have been doing for the Potter family for the last twenty plus years?"

"Oh yes Master James. Trixie has been working at the castle to make sure that Master James and his friends are well. Master Fleamont placed Trixie here when Master James started at Hogwarts"

Dumbledore stood with his mouth agape. James sniggered. "Oh come on Albus, you know damn well that all the old families have house elves embedded into the elf colony at Hogwarts. It never crossed your mind that after I left, the Potter elf would remain in the castle and be tasked with keeping the family up to date with what goes on?" It was clear that Dumbledore hadn't, at least beyond a cursory investigation. "All the old families will keep their elf in Hogwarts. Trixie here replaced Judie when she became too old. Judie retired to my grandfather's estate, but that's not important right now. Just because I left didn't mean that I wouldn't need a house-elf in the castle for any offspring who may attend. You've never really left the castle after you graduated, so I suppose I can understand why it never crossed your mind."

Dumbledore recovered his composure. "I presume then that Trixie here got word to you?"

James nodded. "I'd guess that all the old family elves will have gotten information home. Word that we are back will be spreading like wildfire no matter how long we stand here and reminisce about old times." James' voice had taken on an edge.

"Very well" said Dumbledore. "We will convene in Minerva's office shortly. Severus, please deal with the students and have them return to their respective areas, Olympe and Igor, would you like to accompany myself to the other champions. Mr Potter, the younger Mr Potter that is, now that you are here would you please join me with the other champions in the room over there."

Harry looked over at his father. "I presume the other two headmasters will also be present?" Dumbledore indicated that was so. James looked at his son and nodded. "We will all wait here until the stuff related to the tournament is done then we can all meet in Minerva's office."

Dumbledore looked like he wanted to argue, but the look on James' face showed that he was not for moving on this issue. With a nod, the elder wizard swept out of the great hall with Harry, Maxime and Karkaroff. Snape had instructed the prefects to escort the students back to their relevant dorms, whilst the senior Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students performed the same task. Correctly assuming that his presence was not wanted afterwards, the batlike potions master swept off to his own quarters, robes billowing as if in a fury of their own.

In the ante-room the other three champions looked astounded as Dumbledore led in what was obviously a younger boy.

"Champions, may I introduce Mr Harry Potter. In an unexpected twist, he was made aware of his name coming out of the goblet and travelled from… Erm… Mr Potter?"

Harry just looked at the old wizard. He had been told in no uncertain terms to answer nothing the old wizard asked without his parents being there. "Yes Professor?"

"I was saying that you came from?"

"Somewhere else, Professor."

"Could you be more specific?"

"What bearing does that have on what we need to discuss here?"

"Well, none but…"

"In that case it's probably something which should be addressed to my parents, Professor."

Dumbledore sighed internally. "Very well." He went to speak but was cut off by an indigent French part Veela.

"What ees thees, 'Eadmaster. Zis ees just a leetle boy!"

"Nice to meet you too" said Harry with a roll of his eyes. He decided to ignore the beautiful blonde and turned his attention to the two older boys. "Hi, I'm Harry. Hey! Viktor Krum, I didn't know you were still at school!"

Viktor nodded stiffly. As the youngest seeker to be selected for Bulgaria for decades, fame was part and parcel of his life, he braced himself, waiting for the younger boy to attempt to ingratiate himself with the quidditch star. He was surprised therefore when Harry just smiled and moved on to the other boy. Victor narrowed his eyes. For all that he professed to be unconcerned with his fame, the truth was somewhat different.

"Hi, I'm Harry" he said, extending a hand. Cedric took it on auto-pilot.

"Erm Cedric. Diggory."

"Cool. I think my parents knew your dad back in the day,"

"Erm, yeah?"

A cough interrupted them. "There will be time a-plenty to exchange pleasantries in due course. Now you have all been chosen by the Goblet of Fire to take part in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. This will challenge you magically, intellectually and emotionally. There will be three tasks, each will test you in different ways. The first task will be on November 24th, so you have ample opportunity to plan and practice. You will not be told the nature of the task until the morning of the 24th. You may not receive help or support from any members of staff from your own school or the others. You may consult with your peers, but they may not provide material help during the tasks themselves. Any questions?"

Harry looked like he was going to say something but figured that his parents would have questions coming out of their ars… erm… arms… so he'd leave that to them. On the face of it, Harry was calm and collected. Inside however he was in turmoil and had been ever since Trixie had popped into the house they were staying at in such a state. He knew of his parents' mistrust of Albus Dumbledore ever since the events of Halloween '81, and now here he was, literally at arms length.

The other three champions also decided that any questions would be better kept for another time giving Harry the chance to make a statement. "I don't have a question, headmaster, but I want to make it clear to the other champions, and to you, that I had no part in my name being put in the fancy tumbler, and I am here very much under duress."

Dumbledore just nodded and with a silent sigh continued.

"Right then, Mr Diggory I believe Professor Sprout will be waiting to accompany you back to Hufflepuff house, Miss Delacour and Mr Krum, your headmasters will do the same for you, Mr Potter your parents and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick will still be in the great hall, I suggest we join them."

With that, Dumbledore turned on his heel and swept out of the room, back into the hall, followed by the champions and his foreign peers. Harry saw James look at him as he walked back out and gave a single shallow, almost imperceptible nod. As the rest of the party made their way to where they needed to go, the Potters, McGonagall, Flitwick and Dumbledore went to the deputy head's office.

Flitwick conjured some additional chairs for the assembled party but it was Dumbledore who started things off. "Firstly, I am sure I speak for everyone when I say that I am delighted and amazed at your return. Now, I believe that there will be some frank discussions this eve, may I suggest that we make our first order of business agreeing what we will do with regards accommodation for the Potters, senior and younger, allowing young Harry the opportunity to rest?"

Lily shook her head. "This discussion involves Harry, he stays. Unlike some in this room, I don't keep secrets. Anything and everything we discuss will impact my son, he has as much of a right as anyone to have an input. That said, we will need to arrange accommodation, whilst my son is forced to compete in this farce, without the benefit of the same support structures that the others have, I will not abandon him!"

"Lily, are you sure it is wise to subject Harry to some of the more harrowing…" Dumbledore didn't get any further.

"Too fucking right I do" growled James, interjecting to cut off the headmaster. "It was your fucking secrets which got us in the shit to start with. It was YOU who convinced us to hide behind the fidelius. It was YOU who talked me into changing secret keeper to the the fucking rat, it was YOU who stole some of Harry's blood, it was YOU who decided that we didn't need to know the fucking prophecy behind all of this crap." Dumbledore paled at both the vehemence in James' voice, and the mention of the prophecy.

"James, I must say that I do not believe that talk of such things should be done in open forum. I would be interested to know how you found out however"

James didn't back down. "One, pardon the Klatchian, but I don't give a fuck. Two, I refer you to my previous comments regarding the Ministry. Politicians are, by and large, self aggrandising arseholes with an over inflated opinion of their own importance. If the wrong people get a little bit of information that someone else doesn't have, they are quick to lord that over them, once you know who is doing the lording, the rest is pretty fucking easy."

Lily was glaring at her husband, not because she disagreed but because he was letting his legendary temper run away with him. "James! You know I agree with your opinions, but is the industrial language really necessary?"

Minerva laughed at that. "Oh Lily, by Methuselah's wrinkles, I have missed you! I had forgotten how volcanic the Potter temper can be." She looked over at Harry. "I can only hope there is more of your mother's temperament in you Mr Potter."

Harry sniggered. "I keep telling them both I've got both the best and the worst of both of them. And please, call me Harry, just Harry. Calling me Mr Potter makes me think I've done something wrong!"

"Well I can but hope you have more luck with finding acceptable euphemisms for any untoward linguistic tendencies! Something I begged your father to try and develop over the years. One of my most obvious failures!"

"Yes, well, be that as it may" Dumbledore tried to steer the conversation. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to fill us in on what happened on the night you disappeared?"

James looked at Lily who nodded. "I'd spent the day at the Ministry, I was speaking to Amelia, we were going over some notes, the details of that are irrelevant now. I got home around 6 I think. Lily had fed Harry and put him in the cot, hoping he would settle for the night, but he was wired. Sirius has been round and brought him a toy broom, Harry had been flying it around the room and loved it. Anyway, Sirius had gone by the time I got home. I'd just settled when there was an explosion at the front door, I grabbed my wand, shouted on Lily and then saw the fucking rat cowering behind Voldemort. Useless prick didn't do anything, just stood there literally shaking like a fucking leaf. Anyway, I fired something, reducto I think, Voldemort batted it away then started the killing curse before stopping and laughing. He said that he would kill me last, not first, after he had made me watch him kill Harry then Lily in that order. One overpowered petrificus totalis later and I can't move as much as a hair. He levitates me to Harry's room where Lily was casting the charm which ultimately saved us. Anyway, she fired a piercing hex at the dark bastard which was about as effective as my reducto, she was bound too and he levitated Harry up from his cot."

James' voice had lowered as he told his tale, even now, 13 years later it was hard to talk about that night. Lily put her hand on his back, the support helping James go on.

"Harry was hovering above his cot, his eyes locked on Voldemort. I was looking straight at Harry and I could see clearly. His eyes never left the bastards, but there was no fear. I mean Harry was fifteen months old, he probably didn't know exactly what was going on, but I remember thinking how brave he was and how proud I was of him." He looked over at his son. "I still am. Anyway, Voldemort was giving it all the 'I'm the best, blah blah blah, the world will be mine' all that crap, and raises his wand, absolutely screams avada kedavra. I've never seen a killing curse move as slowly as this one did, but it hit Harry in the forehead. Harry screamed in pain, which staggered me, I wasn't expecting that, I expected him to…" James couldn't finish the sentence. "Anyway, the tail of the killing curse turned black, Harry was encompassed by some kind of magical lightning which coalesced around the scar which was left by the killing curse. It travelled back along the path that the curse had taken and wrapped itself around Voldemort who was screaming himself by this time. His body looked like it was having every fibre of its essence sucked out of it before my eyes. I saw his eyes cloud over and the body fell to the ground. As it did, some sort of black amorphous cloud seeped out and started to move toward Harry. At that the bindings were dispelled and we could move again."

At this, Lily, who had been keeping a close eye on Dumbledore saw the old man's eyes widen a fraction and knew that she understood what he thought it meant. She interjected. "I know what it was Dumbledore, I can see from your reaction you do to. The original Book of the Dead had a whole section on it. It never touched him, before it got there I had enough strength left to cast Animum Tuam Infernum." She knew she wouldn't have to say any more.

"How did you get a copy of that book? It is one of the most restricted books in the magical world?" The shocks kept on coming for Dumbledore.

"Where do you think?"

"Grimmauld?" Dumbledore's question was met with a nod. James continued his story.

""Anyway, as I said, the spells binding Lily and I dropped and we both collapsed too. Lily recovered first and went to Harry, made sure he was alive and then tried to treat the wound as best we could. I recovered enough strength to see if I could find Pettigrew, but the fucker must have transformed and scuttled away. Lily had managed to stop the bleeding in Harry's scar, she gathered him up as I tried to get a hold of Sirius. As I was wandering around what was left of the house, two death eaters turned up, I don't know who they were, but they must have been raw recruits, cause they were fucking useless. I barely had the strength for a 'lumos' but I was able to take them down. Two more reductos to their faces saw to that."

James was spent so Lily took over the story. "We had plan B, C and D in place if the balloon went up in Godric's Hollow, so when it did we modified one of them. I got some pepper up into James, that gave him the strength to transfigure the dead death eaters into reasonable facsimiles of us. We gathered up what we could, and had one of the house elves apperate us away.

"Where did you go?" That it was Minerva who asked the question saved the answer from being much more forthright.

"Forgive me Minerva, but there's some details I don't feel comfortable sharing, not until I know that I can trust everyone in this room. As James has said, at this point of time, we don't." Lily didn't even try to hide the fact that she was looking at Dumbledore as she said that. The old wizard just nodded sadly,

"I would be interested to find out more about the charms you cast which you say were instrumental in saving Harry."

"I refer the headmaster to the answer I gave some moments ago."

Dumbledore sighed. "I accept that I have made mistakes, Lily. I apologise for them. I promise however that I am on your side. Some of the comments you have made indicate that you have reached a conclusion similar to my own."

Lily nodded, but it was Flitwick, who had hitherto sat in silent shock as the hits kept on coming who asked the salient question. "What conclusion?"

It was the youngest participant who answered.

"Voldemorst isn't truly dead."

Four words. Four little words. Well, three little words and one bastard of one. Four words which seemed to suck the air out of the room.

"What… what makes you think that?" The half-gobin was so glad he was already sitting down.

"I'm not going to go into details, but we have spent a good portion of the last 13 years on research to fill in gaps in the knowledge we had, gaps caused by someone keeping things far too close to his bony chest" growled James. "We had help, as I am sure you have surmised. To answer a question from earlier, yes we have someone in the Ministry, more than one person actually, although there's no promise that they know they are helping us. And no, I'm not talking unforgivable charms or the like, just a bit of Marauder ingenuity. Add to that the house elf support and the fact that there's a small underground in Britain who at worst suspected, at best knew, that the Potter line was still extant, we have directed them through third, fourth and fifth parties. Lily really is quite brilliant you know, and I will confess that I have an absolute newfound respect for all those muggle spy novels she was so fond of!"

It was getting late, evidenced by a stifled yawn coming from Harry. Dumbledore took that as his cue, he had a lot to mull over and wanted things brought to an end for the evening. "We still have the small matter of accommodation for the Potters to resolve."

Minerva made the suggestion. "Neither of this year's head students are Gryffindor, sadly, so the suite of rooms for Gryffindor heads will be available. There are no restriction charms on either of the rooms, so James and Lily can take one, Harry the other."

James just shrugged his shoulders, Lily nodded, Harry rolled his eyes. "Can you soundproof their room so I don't have to hear dad's snoring?" That got the laugh he was hoping for.

Dumbledore agreed to that solution and figured now was as good a time as any to try to start mending some bridges. "That would be acceptable for the time being. If you are going to be staying for the duration of the tournament, I would be happy to make the head suite available for you. Can I ask about Harry's education? He is clearly a bright enough young man, and I presume that either the two of you have been teaching him, he has had some tutors, or a combination thereof?" Lily indicated the latter. "I would then like to offer the opportunity for Harry to continue his education with yearmates. He could follow a timetable based on one of the houses, or we can develop a bespoke timetable for him."

Lily spoke before James or Harry could. "The last thing Harry would want was for people to think that he was getting some sort of special treatment like his own timetable. I trust Minerva, I trust Filius, I'd be happy for him to follow either the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw timetable."

James looked at his wife. "You know every word after Gryffindor there was superfluous?"

Harry decided he wanted to have his own say. "If I'm going to be a student here, shouldn't I be Sorted?"

Dubmledore thought about it. "You are correct in that you should, however, you are not an official student, you are technically a non-Hogwarts student making use of Hogwarts facilities."

Flitwick added something the youngster hadn't considered. "If you were to be Sorted, that would make you by default a Hogwarts student. The goblet can only produce a maximum of one student per school, I have already presumed that whatever was done to force your name out included making up a fictitious school. If you were then to become a Hogwarts student, we would find ourselves with two Hogwarts champions. I truly have no idea at all how the magical contract would react to that."

Harry looked a little cowed at that. "Ah" was all he said. He mulled it over. "I like to think that I'd have followed mum and dad's footsteps, so if I'm going to follow any timetable, I'd like it to be Gryffindor please."

Minerva looked delighted. "I am very happy to hear you say that Harry." Her smile was wide and genuine. "I will arrange for you to have the password to the Gryffindor common room. In light of what Filius mentioned earlier, I am not sure that it would be wise to have you resident in the dormitory, just in case, but I am sure your parents would be happy to let any friends you might make during your time here visit you in the heads suite."

James and Lily both nodded.

"I believe that concludes our business for this evening then" said Dumbledore. "I am sure you can arrange for an elf or two to provide breakfast in your rooms if you wished to avoid the hall tomorrow, it will be a couple of days before we can arrange to insert Harry in all the classes, feel free to use the library for study sessions, there are a multitude of empty classrooms on the fourth floor of the astronomy wing still, or you can have your rooms set up to provide a study area for the next few days." With that Dumbledore stood and excused himself, leaving the Potters, Minerva and Filius. The aged witch couldn't help herself. As she stood she reached out and pulled Lily into a hug.

"It's so good to know you are still alive, and even better to have you back with us. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"You and I both Minerva. But, it is what it is."

"I take it you remember your way to the suite?"

The smile on Lily's face said it all.