Parselmouth
(The whole shack..., knocking to come in.)
"Small break, or just keep going?" Flitwick asked.
"How about we just keep going, Professor, I don't think Sirius will calm down until he knows who is at the door." Luna said looking at Sirius. And it was true.
It looked like it was all he could do to keep himself from shaking his godson and demanding to know who was at the door.
Everyone agreed and they let the book continue, before it could though, there was a flash as the room delivered on Snape and Harry's wishes earlier.
At the bright flashes of light, Moody and the Trio were out of their seats, wands drawn, faster than most could blink. Dumbledore and Snape being close behind them with everyone else in the room still trying to figure out what on earth was happening now.
By the time everyone else had their wands out of their holsters, the light had died down to reveal, a younger Ron and Hermione, along with two Draco Malfoys.
The older Trio and Draco all eyed each other warily, the last time they had seen each other had been at Malfoy Manor after all, when they were prisoners and Draco had been in the room when Bellatrix had her fun.
"You ok there, Granger? My aunt was a little... well actually that was very normal for her..." He started and then trailed off.
Hermione reached up to touch her throat, where there would be a scar. Apparently Bellatrix had something coating her knife to ensure scarring, no matter what the healers did, on the off chance her victims escaped. She nodded.
Snape watched, completely prepared to come between the four teenagers. But...
"You recognized me, you obviously know Ron and Hermione and know where I go, they go. So, why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell your crazy aunt that it was us? Would have saved you a lot of trouble later." Harry said, still eyeing Draco with his wand held loosely to his side.
The younger people that had just come just watched everything confused, wondering what on earth was going on, especially Hermione.
Draco shrugged, "Way I figure it, the only chance my family has of being free is if you hurry up and kill the Dark Lord already, and you can't exactly do that when your a prisoner in our dungeons. We were only using the cellar because the dungeon was full. Literally, standing room only just about."
Moody narrowed his eyes at the boy, he would be questioning him later. Sirius looked like he was going to curse the boy at any minute, he probably would have by now if he had a wand.
Harry eyed Draco some more before snorting and digging Draco's wand out of the bag and tossing it to him, Draco caught it with a confused look on his face. Harry just shook his head, "You know, I've always wondered if we wouldn't have been very good friends if my first impression of you hadn't been quite so bad. Oh well... we might want to tell the kiddy's what on earths going on before Hermione blows up or something." He noted, looking at the younger ones with amusement.
Snape had relaxed when Harry threw Draco his wand, which he didn't even know Harry had, how on earth did Harry get that? Could that have been while they were making their escape from the Manor?
Hermione bristled at the comment about her blowing up, even more at what was going on, this was impossible, there was another her! And she was older! This was impossible, impossible, impossible!
McGonagall looked at her and said, "Oh dear, I don't believe anyone from the school has spoken with her and her parents yet." The teachers all looked at each other, this was going to take a while.
"Minerva, why don't you take her aside and explain magic to her, as well as what is going on and get her caught up on the book, and the rest of us will explain to the others where we are and how we got here, and get them caught up on the book." Snape suggested just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something.
Dumbledore slowly closed his mouth in a little bit of shock. Normally, his opinion would be the first one to be asked, and now he was basically being ignored unless something in the book happened that the others didn't like and saw fit to blame him for. He was really confused and starting to actually get a little angry at being ignored.
McGonagall nodded and gestured for Hermione to follow her, which the poor girl did very reluctantly. She wanted to know what that man meant by magic, and she wanted to know now, she didn't want to wait.
"Merlin, was I always that impatient?" Hermione muttered watching her younger self follow her professor out of the room with a sour expression on her face. Ron and Harry glanced at each other before stating that no, she hadn't been that impatient at all.
The other men in the room all raised and eyebrow and the women smirked, those two had already been well trained.
It took roughly two hours to get the boys caught up on what was going on, where they were, and what had happened in the book so far. Ron was so blatant in his hero worship that he apparently missed the part with Sirius and Remus complaining again that Harry had literally grown up in a cupboard under the stairs.
Somewhere you were supposed to store cleaning equipment.
The Draco's, however, did not miss that part. Draco looked at Harry very startled, while Draco looked like he was about to start their rivalry off with Harry worse than it ever got with their older selves and start making fun of his home life, but both his older self and Snape reminded him that his father wasn't here, what happened in these rooms stayed in these rooms as far as his attitude and father were concerned.
Interestingly enough, at least in the eyes of the Trio, Draco almost immediately turned into a polite, well-mannered, curious eleven year old. There was nothing visible in him of the bully they knew at Hogwarts. They were a little shocked.
It also didn't escape anyone's notice that Ron was keeping himself between Hermione and Draco at all times, well, it went unnoticed by Ron, who was still very deep in that 'I'm meeting Harry Potter, and there's two of him, this is amazing' part of his brain where he noticed nothing but the Harry's.
Something that made both Harry's and the Weasley's very uncomfortable. Ron finally had enough and went to whisper something harshly in his younger self's ear.
Whatever he said, Remus and Sirius weren't telling, but it got the kid to knock it off.
By this time, Hermione finally came back, and she immediately started in on how irresponsible it was to lock a child in a cupboard, and how she hoped they could teach her while they were there, she would love to learn magic, and basically going on what Ron and Harry had years ago termed a, 'Hermione melt down'.
Basically it was where she started firing off questions and opinions at 100 miles an hour while barely taking a pause to breathe.
Harry leaned over Sirius to whisper in Harry's ear that he would get used to it, it happened all time. Meanwhile, Hermione was asking Ron (and Draco because he happened to be close enough to hear her question) if she did this all the time, and if this was how him and Harry felt when she went off. Ron just mutely nodded his head, all while slapping a hand over Ron's mouth to keep him from making a dumb comment that would greatly offend Hermione and ruin any chances his younger self had of being friends with her.
Finally, Harry had enough, and with a look at Ron, the two of them started the well practiced and perfected art of derailing a Hermione on a roll.
"Hermione, I know you want to know everything, but we will have plenty of time after this book for you to ask the professors whatever you want, if we can just finish this book first?" Harry asked. Hermione started as she recognized this as something her boys used on her all the time. Ron just glanced at her and grinned.
The professors, though, all turned to glare at Harry, they did NOT want to deal with a questioning Hermione later on! Dealing with her at that age once was bad enough, they really hadn't realized how much she calmed down over the years.
She quieted down, though. Something most of the adults found to be amazing, and when they asked Harry how he did that, he just shrugged and said, 'practice'. Draco looked at the male Trio members in amazement. And here he thought dealing with Pansy hanging off his arm all day everyday was bad.
Chapter four: The Keeper of the Keys
Hermione started when she heard the book start reading itself, her logical mind still trying to tell her none of this was possible and she was imagining the whole thing.
Harry noticed her look and just grinned.
(Boom. They knocked... he said stupidly.)
Dudley groaned. He did not appreciate seeing himself in this light. He didn't like everyone else seeing him in this light either come to think of it...
(There was a crash... rifle in his hands-)
"WHAT! How could you have something like that around two kids?!" Hermione screeched, outraged that an adult could be this irresponsible.
"I'm more concerned about where it came from and how on earth he got it, actually." Harry said slowly. "I didn't even think about it at the time, I was more concerned with our visitor, but now that I think about it... aren't all firearms illegal in Britain?* If I remember right, only a few types of pistols are allowed, and that's only with a special license. Rifles aren't sold, at least not in shops up front and legally. So where on earth did you get a rifle? For that matter, since when did you know how to use one?" He asked his uncle. Vernon just glared at him, stewing at the Freak asking him about the legalities of some of his actions.
Moody narrowed his eye, if that was true, then this Muggle probably broke several laws just in having that, too bad the younger one wouldn't have actually done it when they got out of here, oh well, he would be nailed enough with the charges of child abuse and neglect. But, this was enough for him to have him investigated for anything else the Muggle authorities might be interested in.
"Hold up a moment, what's a rifle and why are they illegal to have?" Draco asked. He was a pureblood, he knew nothing about Muggles.
Before Hermione could get into how dangerous guns were and give entirely the wrong impression of Muggles to the Death Eaters in the room, Harry had the room conjure up a rifle and a target, put a spell around Remus and Sirius's ears so they didn't go deaf, and shot it, hitting a perfect target, unfazed by the recoil.
He then turned to Draco, who was staring at the gaping hole in the target, which happened to have the shape of a person drawn on it, Harry had shot it right where the heart would be on a normal person.
"Now," He said, getting everyone's attention on him and not the target he just killed, "imagine if this," holding up the rifle, "Were in the hands of a criminal or some other irresponsible person who has no business carrying one, and imagine if that target had been a real person." Those who didn't know what a rifle was before this looked back at the target wide-eyed. Muggles were capable of things like this? "They were banned because they are extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. However, the problem with them being banned, is that the criminals still have their ways of getting them, they aren't going to let a law written on a piece of paper tell them if they can or can't have a gun. Their inability to follow laws is kind of what makes them criminals. However, what does this mean for the law abiding citizens?"
Realization dawned on a few faces as they realized what Harry was getting at, "It leaves the law abiding citizens defenseless while the criminals are armed." Draco said.
Draco added, "It would be the equivalent of letting the Death Eaters run around with wands while everyone else's get snapped."
Both Harry's nodded. A few of the others looked outraged.
"I'm not saying gun laws are bad, they do need to be regulated to a point, but... it kind of defeats the purpose when the bad guys are the only ones armed and the innocents are left defenseless." Harry said.
"How on earth do you know how to use that thing?" Dudley asked. He didn't remember his cousin ever touching a gun before, let alone actually firing one, and with such perfect aim, too. Assuming, of course, that he had actually been aiming for the heart area.
A few others glanced over at Harry sharply, that was a good question, especially since he just got done talking about how illegal it was to have one of those.
"Umm, I'm kind of specially licensed and trained to carry all kinds of firearms. Don't ask me how or when, just know I went through legal channels." He glanced around and noticed Hermione looking frustrated about something. His Hermione, though, looked like she couldn't really care less. Then again, they had already had the argument about how dangerous guns were, let's just say, it was one of the few and only arguments he had ever won. "Hermione, its not the gun itself that will kill you, it's the person pulling the trigger. There is absolutely nothing wrong with guns themselves, just in some of the people that carry them. Besides, the Americans did a study or something, statistically, you are more likely to be stabbed or beaten than you ever will be shot. You don't see them banning knives, do you? For that matter, hammers were the most common cause of death than I think knives and guns combined, and yet..." He watched her, waiting for her to cave, and he grinned triumphantly when she gave a tiny nod, showing that she understood.
He understood though, a lot of beliefs were going to be challenged in the next few days.
Moody looked at him calculatingly, probably thinking that he would make the perfect Auror. He seemed to understand both sides of a story.
(now they knew... pause. Then-
SMASH!)
A few people looked at the book oddly, some jumped, they hadn't expected it to produce the sound of a smashing door. Harry cocked his head, wondering if that was part of the magic already in the books and the room, or if it was part of his charm... He glanced at Flitwick, who was looking at the book the book as strangely as everyone else.
Nobody saw Harry carefully tucking Harry's wand back in his pocket. Well, Harry noticed when he felt a hand slipping it back in his pocket, but he didn't say anything. He just glanced at the boy and raised an eyebrow, getting a grin.
He rolled his eyes, Hermione would have a field day if she knew what his younger self that had yet to go to Hogwarts at all had just done.
Especially since it would point her straight to the fact that he'd been downplaying his abilities all this time so that his relationship with her and Ron would be smoother sailing. That, and, he kind of had it ingrained in him to downplay just how smart he really was from his time at the Dursleys. Snape especially would have a fit.
Speaking of Snape, he had noticed something odd when Draco jumped. Namely, that he was still 'jumpy', almost like... Everyone jumped again when Snape suddenly growled, and practically shoved a potion down Draco's throat. Nobody missed Draco's sigh of relief as the potion took affect.
"When did that happen?" Snape growled.
Draco grimaced. "The Dark Lord informed us before he went on his trip that we weren't to bother him unless we had Potter." Snape nodded, he knew that. "So, when Aunt Bella summoned him, he came to our Manor expecting to find Potter in the cellars. Only, Potter escaped seconds after Aunt Bella summoned him."
Snape shot a dark look at Harry, even though he couldn't really blame the boy for not worrying or caring about what would happen to his captors after his escape.
Harry looked uncomfortable. "Ummm..."
Draco snorted, "Don't worry about it, I don't blame you considering what Aunt Bella was doing to Granger, if you didn't escape the cellar when you did, Aunt Bella was seconds away from killing her. Although... did you really have to kill Pettigrew? The Dark Lord was especially not happy about losing his rat for some reason."
Harry and Ron shrugged. "Technically, it was Moldyshorts own gift that killed him. Besides, he betrayed my parents, then he tried to kill my friends, he helped Moldyshorts come back... And I'm claiming self-defense since he was trying very hard to kill me at the time."
Some of the adults looked a little disturbed at his nonchalant attitude, while Hermione looked terrified to be in the same room as a killer, even more terrified at the fact they just said her older self was seconds away from being killed. Moody just narrowed his eyes at Snape and Draco, and Remus and Sirius looked like they were going to cry in joy at hearing that the rat was dead.
Pretty much all of there younger selves were terrified at how close they were to dying, and he made it sound like it happened every day.
(The door was hit... flat on the floor.)
Sirius jumped and grabbed both boys, clutching them like his life depended on it. He didn't think his heart could handle it until he found out who it was breaking in.
(A giant of a man... under all the hair.)
Sirius went completely still, staring at Hagrid. Harry glanced at him, worried.
"Sirius?" He asked, poking his godfather in the side. Sirius started laughing, causing everyone to turn to stare, making the Draco's and Snape start muttering about madmen.
It took him a while to calm down enough to berate Hagrid about scaring his godson (and him, but he wasn't about to say that out loud) like that.
(The giant squeezed... an easy journey...")
A few people chuckled and turned to glance at Hagrid, only him.
(He strode over to... behind Uncle Vernon.)
"How did you...?" Bill started to ask Dudley, eyeing the size difference between Dudley and his mother.
"I didn't."
("An' here's Harry!"... crinkled in a smile.)
"It's good that all you need is a short conversation and then his size and appearance don't seem to matter anymore." Luna murmured.
A few nodded in agreement. Hagrid did look scary at first, but once you took a couple of minutes to look past that, he was like a giant teddy bear.
("Las' time I saw... got yer mom's eyes.")
"Really?!" Harry said, bouncing a little in his seat in excitement. He had yet to see a picture, despite all the stories he'd heard in the past couple of days.
While the adults exchanged looks and glared at the Dursley's, Harry grinned and pulled out his photo-album that Hagrid gave him, all the ten to eleven year olds crowded around to see.
The went through it while the book continued.
(Uncle Vernon... breaking and entering!")
"What did he hope to accomplish? Obviously if Hagrid knew Mr. and Mrs. Potter, then he's one of 'our crowd', did he really expect Hagrid to apologize and leave, after all the trouble they went through to reach Potter in the first place? Honestly." Draco, surprisingly enough, said.
The Trio had the thought that they just might have been able to get along with this Draco, even if they didn't get along with the one who was trying so hard to please his father and despite the fact that Draco was Marked... But then again, inside this room that didn't really matter.
They were all so tired of fighting, which was mostly why everybody was leaving Snape alone right now.
("Ah, shut up... corner of the room.)
A few people whistled. "That was solid metal." Somebody whispered. Harry thought it might have been Hermione.
Speaking of, it looked like the kids had reached the part of his album where he had pictures of the Trio, a few of the Weasley's, Hogwarts, the Quidditch team, the D.A., but most of them were the Trio.
He glanced over at the mini-Trio, they were staring at a picture from fourth year. It was taken during the snowball fight before the Yule Ball, in the picture, Ron and Harry were sneaking up on Hermione while one of the twins kept her distracted. They then dumped snow down her back, before the picture began its repeat.
The picture right next to that one in the book showed a laughing Ron and Harry running from a laughing and yelling Hermione as she tried to get snow down THEIR backs.
Harry sucked in a breath, "I forgot about that. May I...?" he asked Harry, reaching for his album.
"Ron, 'Mione, remember this?"
They leaned over to look, and exclaimed that they remembered that, Hermione proudly stated that she BURIED the boys once she finally caught them. Both Harry and Ron shivered being reminded, that had been cold.
(Uncle Vernon made... it'll taste all right.")
"Um, Harry..." Hermione started. Everyone else who'd ever had Hagrid's cooking was wondering too, did Harry actually eat that?
"It was actually really good." Harry said, to everybodies disbelief.
"I got a House-Elf ter help." Hagrid said. He knew he was a horrible cook, he also knew that nobody said anything because they didn't want to hurt him, instead they pretended to eat it and like it. They just enjoyed getting together and chatting.
(From an inside pocket... it in green icing.)
"What's with everyone and green right now?" Harry muttered.
"Well, the letters are always written in green because that's Professor McGonagall's favorite color and she's in charge of getting those out. As for the green icing, Hagrid did it because my eyes are green." Harry said.
He laughed when people turned to look at him funny.
"When did you become so observant?" Draco asked.
Neville answered, "He's like me, is used to sitting in the shadows and watching. You'd be amazed what you see when people don't realize your there."
"True." Snape said.
Harry grinned. "By the time first year was over, I had enough dirt on pretty much everybody to put them all in debt to me for life and then some." He grinned suddenly. "I got some pretty good stuff on you, too, Malfoy." Draco thought for a minute about what Harry could possibly have on him, both him and Draco realized it at the same time.
"YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK A WORD OF THAT TO ANYONE!" They both yelled. Harry and Neville just smirked. Because Neville knew it too.
"Anyway, the only person I could never really figure out was Professor Snape, but I was also trying to avoid him because I thought he was trying to kill me, so..."
Ron and Hermione just stared at him, not even they knew about this.
Harry suddenly hissed out, "What do you have on Draco?"
"He has this little stuffed dragon he slept with every night, named Puffles."
When Harry started laughing hysterically, Draco turned to Harry, "WHAT DID YOU JUST TELL HIM?!"
"About Puffles."
"No, why would you do that?!" Both Draco's yelled, falling dramatically onto the couch. Snape shook his head. Harry smirked again.
The teachers always knew that it was next to impossible to keep anything secret from the Trio, now they had more of an idea why. Harry was apparently very observant and sneaky, while Hermione was persistent enough not to stop looking until she had every answer to every question in the universe.
(Harry looked up at... Harry's whole arm.)
"Uh, sorry." Hagrid said, slightly embarrassed.
Everyone else who had ever experienced Hagrid's handshake's just laughed and waved him off. They knew he couldn't really help it, it was just his size and strength.
("What about that... yeh've got it, mind.")
"Hagrid." Molly groaned. She would never understand how people could be so irresponsible as to drink in front of children. Something like a special occasion, or a toast, fine. But to her it was just irresponsible to do any other time. Some people, the alcohol affected them and made them act in ways they never would normally. She had seen it happen before, the most gentle person in the world would get drunk and suddenly he would be the most violent person she had ever seen. That was just not something she felt children needed to be around.
"I was just joking." Hagrid muttered.
Harry smiled at him across the room and made a sign with his hand that he taught Hagrid. It meant 'We love you anyway.' Hermione had started it sometime in second year, when all that stuff with the Heir of Slytherin was going on and Harry was being shunned by the whole school.
Hagrid grinned back.
(His eyes fell on... starting to make tea.)
A few people's jaws dropped. They knew Hagrid kept a lot of stuff in his pockets, some it kind of strange, but...
"Was that meat still good? How long was it even in there?" Hermione asked slowly, like she was afraid of the answers.
"It's fine, 'Mione, apparently Hagrid is well liked by the House-Elves, they charmed all his pockets so that nothing will spoil in them, no matter how long they are in there."
Hagrid nodded proudly at that. "'Elped a few of them out, they were lookin' for work an' I directed 'em ter Hogwarts."
Molly's eyes narrowed. "Just what was in that bottle you drank from? In front of an impressionable 11 year old?"
"It was jus' Butterbeer." Hagrid muttered. Molly looked happier at that.
(Soon the hut was... he gives you, Dudley.")
A few wizards gave the Dursley's dark looks. Honestly, denying a boy food just because of who provided it.
(The giant chuckled... Dursley, don' worry.")
Now Hagrid was the one getting looks. Sure, Dudley didn't need any more fat to carry around, and sure he was in better shape than Harry since all that fat meant that his body could keep going for longer, but to not give him anything at all, didn't really seem like Hagrid at all.
Hagrid just nervously fiddled with his coat sleeves.
(He passed the sausages... anything so wonderful)
"You are far too trusting of complete stranger, lad." Moody said, disapprovingly. "But, I guess it has been a while since you had decent food... don't let me catch you doing that again!" He suddenly barked.
Both Harry's, well, Harry jumped, Harry just kind of twitched towards the pocket he kept his wand in. Moody nodded in approval at Harry's reaction. Before frowning at seeing the pocket.
Next thing everybody knew, a small pile of wand holsters fell in front of the Trio, and Moody was barking at them to choose one.
Harry chose one decorated with a Hungarian Horntail, and was told by Charlie that it was actually made from Horntail hide, Hermione grabbed the one made from Welsh Green, and Ron got the one made from Norwegian Ridgeback. Draco grabbed one made out of Chinese Fire-bolt. Draco already had one, his had been a 'present' from the Dark Lord for his part in Dumbledore's death.
A note dropped down stating that the younger ones could take anything they received in the Room with them when they went to their own time. With the exception of anything the olders had brought into the room with them.
Harry cheered, he liked the holster his older self picked out.
That explained to Moody how he was going to be able to take his lists with him, he had been wondering about that. Snape heard that and started writing a letter to his younger self to have Draco give to him.
Ollivander looked up suddenly, "Mr. Black, your wand was snapped, was it not?" When Sirius nodded, a pile appeared in front of him, a pile of everything a wand-maker would need to make a wand. "Come here, choose a wand wood and core."
When Sirius did so, Ollivander just hummed and took the materials that were chosen without saying anything and started working. "When we are finished with these books, all you have to do is give this to either Alastor or your godson and they can give it to you once you finally get out. You might want to grab a new holster to go with your new wand."
Sirius nodded and grabbed a holster from the pile that he was told was made of Hungarian Horntail like Harry's.
(but he still couldn't... who you are.")
"Considering your relatives behave like pigs, I'm kind of surprised your manners are as good as they are." Professor Sprout spoke up, startling everyone who had forgotten the motherly witch was there.
For some reason Harry and Hagrid found the pig comment highly amusing while the older Dursley set got even angrier.
"Er, I watched them and decided I didn't want to be anything like them, so everything I saw them do, I decided I would do the complete opposite. They didn't apologize for something, I would apologize, they demanded, I would ask." Harry said, shrugging.
The women frowned. Usually children learned what to do by copying their parents, not doing the complete opposite in order to know what to do.
(The giant took a gulp... about Hogwarts, o' course.")
A few people raised an eyebrow at him. "Albus told me he grew up happy and knowing about magic." He said. "I had no reason ter doubt him."
Now people turned to glare at Dumbledore, who was starting to worry. He knew that, yes, he probably didn't make the best decision in just leaving Harry there, but the Blood Wards were protecting him! But now even Hagrid, the most loyal person on earth was starting to doubt his loyalties to him.
Although, this was the future Hagrid, once they were out of this room, he would still have his Hagrid...
("Er- no," said Harry... Harry said quickly.)
"You apologize a lot, don't you?" Draco muttered.
Both Harry's shrugged. "It makes life easier." they both said.
("Sorry?" barked Hagrid,... learned it all?")
"Does anyone else sense an explosion coming up?" Luna asked.
Every hand went up, then people turned to either Hagrid or Harry. Both of them shrugged, not wanted to give anything away. Dudley's hands went to rub his rear, remembering just what this explosion led to. His older parents started glaring at Hagrid, but didn't dare do anything when they noticed Harry playing with his wand again.
("All what?"... Hagrid thundered.)
"This is going to be a very loud conversation, isn't it?" Remus muttered, rubbing his ear and glaring at the book that was taking it upon itself to thunder just like Hagrid did.
Harry patted his back while Sirius grimly nodded in agreement. He too was rubbing his ear. McGonagall, too, looked like if she were a cat, her ears would be plastered to her head.
("Now wait jus'... abou'- about ANYTHING?")
"Hagrid, I think you just called Harry stupid." Hermione said, looking amused.
"Yeah, and we all know Harry is one of the smartest people in the school, even if he doesn't always do the best on his schoolwork. And yes, I will readily admit that I didn't exactly do the best on my schoolwork either." Ron said.
Both Harry's looked startled, especially the older one, they noticed? Why didn't they say anything? Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, considering. Their older selves certainly seemed close...
Hagrid looked sheepish, "I didn't mean it like tha'."
Harry smiled. "I know, Hagrid, it's fine."
The teachers looked scandalized, but then they looked at the Dursley's, and they understood.
Harry was taught from day one not to show his intelligence. If he did, it meant punishment, probably in the form of no food and days locked in that tiny cupboard.
(Harry thought this... marks weren't bad)
"I thought your marks had to be worse than Dudley's" Hermione said.
Harry grinned. "They were.. The ones the Dursley's saw, anyway."
Harry chimed in and continued. "I have an... agreement, with the principal. On days when I can escape Dudley's gang, I go to his office and complete my homework assignments or take the tests, away from the classroom and teachers my aunt and uncle biased against me. He sets those scores aside and waits until report cards go out at the end of the year before he goes into my file and fixes them to show my real grades."
Everyone stared at the two like they had two heads.
"If he knows that something isn't right with your relatives, then why hasn't he tried to get you removed from that house?" Molly asked, angry at the principal for not doing more.
"Because the last teacher that tried to help me was fired before anything could be done." Harry said blankly. Nobody saw Remus start to turn red.
"Uncle Vernon complained about Mr. Lupin and the nature of the complaints resulted in his immediate dismissal, and the authorities being notified. I don't know what happened to him after that." Harry added. People were now looking at Remus funny. He was blushing hard, he remembered that.
"It's a good thing there was absolutely no evidence, only the complaints of one man, or I would have had to fight my way out with obliviations, as it was, I had to renew my teaching license under a new name and glamours." Remus said, trying to ignore Sirius's laughter. As happy as he was that Sirius was laughing... he didn't think that accusations like that were something to laugh at.
"THAT WAS YOU?!" Vernon yelled. He was disgusted that his boy had a freak for a teacher, who knew what the freak taught him?
"SHUT UP DAD! Mr. Lupin was the best teacher I had, the teacher they brought in to replace him was awful." Dudley yelled back.
Harry nodded, "The new guy was a complete jerk, he made up stuff we did wrong, blatantly favored Dudley, and gave completely stupid punishments, and then he didn't even teach us anything!"
Hermione frowned. "If he favored you so much, then why do you not like him?"
All four boys shuddered. "Because Uncle Vernon should have filed those complaints against him, instead of Uncle Moony." All the adults looked at the Dudley's in alarm. "He didn't actually do anything, he just made a lot of inappropriate comments and gestures to me." Dudley explained. The Dursley's looked alarmed. They were torn between their horror at having a Freak teach their son, and their horror that a pedophile was the one to replace the Freak.
"Yes, Dursley, that was me, and quite frankly sir, I was appalled at the treatment the other children received at the hands of your son, and the lies you tried to convince me of in regards to Harry. By the way Harry, why didn't you say anything on the train your third year?" He asked, smiling at Harry and completely ignoring Vernon, who was now yelling soundlessly, who knew who was the one to fire off the silencing charm. For now he chose to ignore what the boys said about his replacement and come to that again later.
Harry shrugged. "Because I didn't make the connection until later, and then you didn't say anything, so I didn't say anything. That, and I was a little surprised to see you teaching, at a magic school and clearly a wizard, not in jail, and teaching kids again." He said.
Remus nodded, he had a point there.
("I know some things,"... about to explode.)
"Here it comes." Remus muttered.
("DURSLEY!" he boomed... famous. You're famous.")
"And here is where I learned the truth, finally. I really hate my fame." Harry muttered. Ron heard and looked at him, shocked. He looked at Harry and saw him nodding, saying that he was not looking forward to that part of re-entering the wizarding world.
("What? My- my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?")
"Really, that's the part you get stuck on?" Draco asked, incredulous.
Both Harry's just shrugged. They weren't used to attention, how else were they supposed to react when they are suddenly faced with the prospect of attention from the whole population of a secret society?
Ron glanced at his older self, Ron caught his look and nodded, confirming what he said earlier, that Harry didn't need or want fame, or hero worship. He just needed and wanted a friend.
("Yeh don' know... a bewildered stare.)
Hagrid winced, "I really wasn't expectin' ter have ter be the one ter tell yeh."
Harry smiled at him. "You did your best explaining. You told me what you knew."
("Yeh don' know... tell the boy anything!")
Everyone snorted. As if that would stop Hagrid.
(A braver man than... him all these years?")
"Did you really not see the day coming when we would send someone to get him? If you actually read that letter, then you would know that there was no way Savior Potter wasn't coming to Hogwarts." Draco said. He couldn't understand how somebody could be that deluded.
"The letter never said anything about Harry's fame, I wanted him to have a normal childhood without knowing about it." Dumbledore said softly. This only earned him a few glares. Clearly his childhood was not normal.
("Kept what from me?"... gave a gasp of horror.)
Snape sighed, "Always so dramatic, Tuney."
Both Petunia's growled at him, he ignored them.
("Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry- yer a wizard.")
Hermione blinked. "That was... anticlimactic." Harry and Hagrid just shrugged.
Hagrid would be the first to admit that it would have been best for Minerva or even Severus to be the one to go give Harry his letter. He was really not qualified to introduce a child to the Wizarding world for the first time.
(There was silence... a what?" gasped Harry.)
Hermione snorted. "Nice reaction, Har'. If I remember right, didn't my parents and I try to call the police on you, Professor?" Hermione asked McGonagall.
McGonagall snorted, "You did, the whole time your parents were yelling about me being an insane drug addict who needed to stay away from their daughter." She said dryly.
Hermione blushed. "Did I ever apologize to you for that?"
"No need, dear, I get that all the time."
The whole conversation, everyone in the room was staring between Hermione and her Head of House.
"A wizard, o' course,"... yeh read yer letter.")
"FINALLY!" Everyone yelled. They were getting a little tired of all this run-around by his relatives.
(Harry stretched out... they await my owl?")
"That's your first question? Seriously?" Hermione asked. "You saw about how I reacted, and you heard about how my parents reacted, and all you do is ask what they mean by 'awaiting your owl'." Her voice got progressively higher as she ranted.
Finally, two hands reached out and slapped across her mouth. "Yes, Hermione, that is really how I reacted. Now, if your voice gets any higher you are going to blow out Remus and Sirius's eardrums." Harry said calmly from across the room.
Her eyes widened as she looked at the canines to see that they were slowly lowering their hands from their ears, and their faces were full of relief that she had stopped yelling. She nodded and Ron and Harry slowly pulled their hands away. Looking over, she saw that Harry was also pulling his hand away from Hermione's mouth from where he had leaned over the back of the couch.
His job done, he walked back to his seat beside Sirius, where he burrowed back into his blanket Sirius summoned for him earlier and leaned against him.
("Gallopin' Gorgons, that... could read upside down:)
Everyone who had ever tried to read Hagrid's handwriting stared at Harry for a bit. "Impressive, Mr. Potter. Hagrid's handwriting is often too difficult for us to read right-side up." Snape said, with his eyebrow raised. "Perhaps, we should offer you a job just for the purpose of reading Hagrid's notes to the rest of the staff."
Everyone gaped. Had Severus 'I Hate all Things Potter' Snape just offered Harry Potter a job?
"What are you all looking at?" He sneered. "Well, Mr. Potter?"
"Um, no thank you... um, I'm good." Harry said, glancing at Hagrid. The Draco's were shaking, trying not to laugh at the looks on everybodies faces. The only thing stopping them was their godfather's hand on their knee.
"I'm surprised you aren't saying anything about that owl, Charlie." Bill said suddenly.
"Hm? Oh, I helped Hagrid charm that pocket to make it a nice little owl den. It's actually kind of comfortable in there. I would imagine that the reason the owl looked ruffled was because it was probably in the middle of a nap." The Weasley's nodded in understanding.
(Dear Professor Dumbledore,... Hope you're well.
Hagrid)
"Short, sweet, and to the point." Hermione said.
"What?" Draco asked.
"It's a Muggle saying." Harry said. "Basically, it's just a comment on how whoever is talking or writing got to the point and didn't dance around it."
Both Draco's nodded.
(Hagrid rolled up the... and closed it quickly.)
A few people chuckled. Yeah, they supposed that could look a little strange to people not used to it. Harry suddenly missed Hedwig.
("Where was I?" said... going," he said.)
People groaned, "I will give you this, Dursley, you are persistent." Moody said absently. He snorted. "Even if you need to learn to choose your battles better."
(Hagrid grunted. "I'd like... Muggles I ever laid eyes on.")
"Literally, and figuratively. They are huge physically, and their egos are the size of China." Flitwick said cheerfully. The Dursley's glared.
"Why haven't they said anything in awhile?" Hermione asked suddenly.
"Silencing charm. After Dudley yelled at Uncle Vernon to shut up, I guess the room took him literally and silenced all of them." Harry said absently. He was playing with the edge of his blanket and trying to remember where in the conversation with Hagrid his aunt had her blow up.
"How do you know that, Potter?" Draco asked.
"I felt the room do it." He shrugged. "I've always been able to feel magic to an extent. At Hogwarts, the castle herself shields me from it because the first time I stepped foot in there, it was like sensory overload. I got used to it over time, but..." He shrugged again.
"It has come in handy the past year." Hermione added in.
("We swore when... of him! Wizard indeed!")
Another tornado went through the room as Snape and Dumbledore lost control of their magic for a moment again.
"Yes, Mr. Dursley. 'Wizard indeed.'" Snape snarled. Emphasizing the word wizard.
("You knew?" said... Aunt Petunia suddenly.)
"And here we go," Harry muttered. He quickly threw up shielding spells around his aunt. Both of them, then he burrowed deeper into his godfathers side than should have been possible, much to the man's concern.
("Knew! Of course... a witch in the family!")
The longer her rant went on, the angrier and angrier the wizards in the room became. Sirius held his godsons closer than should be possible when they both started to shake slightly, the shaking grew stronger when Petunia started calling her sister a Freak. Snape's face went white with fury. Petunia's rant showed him that she only got worse over the years.
He glanced at Potter and went back to writing his letter to his younger self. He was going to make it very clear to his younger self the mistake he made in regards to Harry Potter. At this point, the only thing that made Potter's childhood better than his own was the fact that Potter's relatives weren't physical. 'At least, I hope not.' He thought, thinking back to the bruise balm he tossed the boy yesterday.
(She stopped to draw... say all this for years.)
"She was." Snape said absently as he wrote. Hopefully his younger self would follow his letter and pay Petunia Dursley a little visit. Potter may or may not yet be out of the house when his younger self got there. It depended on how long it took Moody to get there, and that depended on whether or not Dumbledore tried to stop him from removing the boy from the loving care of his relatives.
("Then she met that... got landed with you!")
There was a second of silence before Molly and McGonagall exploded. Everyone else just stared at the boys huddled into their godfather's side while their godfather whispered something into both of their ears. Finally, he got up and half-carried the boys out of the room while the witches unloaded on the Dursley's and Dumbledore.
Snape and Moody were both scribbling fiercely, the Draco's had their heads together and were whispering together, the Twins were plotting with Remus, Hermione was staring at the door Sirius took the boys through with tears in her eyes. She didn't let them fall though, she knew that Harry would only shy away, he hated anything he saw as pity or sympathy. Ron and Hermione were staring at the Dursley's in horror.
Ron was horrified because this was his hero. His hero who he'd always grown up believing lived in a golden palace, who was super powerful, and spent his days finding and defeating evil forces. To hear that he was hated at home and he hadn't even known... what his older self had told him was finally starting to sink in. Harry didn't need a fan or to be placed on a pedestal. He needed a friend.
Hermione was horrified because she couldn't believe somebody could be this hateful towards family. She had grown up very protected, and maybe a little naive. Sure, she never had friends in school because of her intelligence, but families loved each other. She had always been loved, her mother never even fought with her sister (that she saw, anyway), she just couldn't comprehend a family that didn't love each other.
Ron shook his head after staring at the wall for a moment and started plotting with Neville and Luna.
Finally, the witches calmed down and Sirius led the boys back into the room, both of them avoiding looking at anybody. Sirius sat them down and wrapped them back up in their blankets before handing them their stags back and sitting back between them, both of them leaning back into him.
Ron glared at Draco for a moment, daring him to say anything, while Ron did the same with Dudley, who was actually opening his mouth to say something.
(Harry had gone very white.)
"Fer a second there, I thought he'd turned into one o' the 'ogwarts Ghosts." Hagrid said sadly.
(As soon as he... in a car crash!")
Sirius tightened his grip on the boys even as he growled at the Dursley's. There was another outbreak of muttering from the witches, they didn't react too much this time though since Harry had already let this lie slip earlier.
("CAR CRASH!" roared... knows his name!")
Both Harry's suddenly growled and Harry started muttering something about cake molds. Harry nodded in agreement with whatever it was Harry was talking about.
("But why? What happened?"... Hogwarts not knowin'.")
"The Slytherin's in particular would have torn you apart if they thought you didn't even know."
"Either that, or who knows what versions of the story the other students would have filled your head with. With all those Harry Potter's Adventure books out there?"
"Harry Potter's Adventure books?" Harry asked, looking like he really didn't want to know.
"Yup, books have been written about various adventures you've been on... I think in one you are hunting down and killing werewolves, in another it's vampire's..." Ron said, ticking them off on his fingers as he named all the adventures Harry was rumored to have gone on. Both Harry's stared at him in horror as he just continued listing them.
Finally, Draco cut him off, "You mean, you never knew about these books? You never saw them in Flourish and Blotts?"
"Er, I've only been in Flourish and Blotts twice... first year with Hagrid, and third year after I ran away... Second year doesn't count because I couldn't see the bookshelves through all the Lockhart fans, and then that whole thing happened between your dad and Mr. Weasley..." Harry trailed off. "I am surprised I didn't have a bunch of people coming up to have me sign one or something."
Neville and the twins turned to raise an eyebrow at Ron who coughed, his ears red with embarrassment. Neither Harry noticed though. Everyone else did.
Now, Draco wondered how on earth Harry didn't know Ron had been keeping all those fans away, when he knew about Puffles.
(He threw a dirty... myst'ry, parts of it...")
"Not really." Harry muttered.
(He sat down, stared... help it. No one does.")
Harry groaned and shook his head, muttering about idiots scared of a name.
("Why not?" "Gulpin'... All right- Voldemort.")
People turned to gape at Harry. "You got him to say it." Remus asked in a hushed whisper. Harry smirked and nodded.
Hagrid winced, it wasn't so much that he was afraid of him, it was more to do with the fact that the man was the reason he was expelled, the name held bad memories hearing it brought them up.
Harry turned to him and signed that it was alright, they would get him. Ron and Hermione smiled at him and signed their agreement.
Harry was really glad Hermione made him and Ron learn sign language during second year before she got petrified. He was also really glad that they took the time to teach Hagrid.
(Hagrid shuddered. "Don'... do with the Dark Side.)
"No they wouldn't." Sirius said fiercely. Snape scowled, that was why he lost his friendship with Lily, him yelling at her like that at the end of fifth year was just the last straw in a long line of offenses. The problem was, his magic itself just naturally leaned towards the Dark, she just hadn't been able to understand that.
("Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way.)
"Yeah, except he wasn't after them. He was after me." Harry said quietly. Then he started muttering about prophesies.
(All anyone knows... a sound like a foghorn.)
Everyone jumped when the book made a noise like a foghorn. The Trio had their wands out and were trying to find the threat, only to find none. They slowly sat back down to Moody's approving nod. Harry burrowed back into his blanket.
("Sorry,' he said. "But... myst'ry of the thing)
"Wasn't a mystery." Harry muttered.
(- he tried to kill you... a baby, an' you lived.")
Sirius breathed out shakily and ran a shaking hand through his hair at the mention of the Mckinnons. When Harry looked at him curiously, "Marlene Mckinnon and I were engaged. She was killed only a week before our wedding. Her and our unborn child." Both Harry's had their arms around him and were hugging hard, Remus reached over and clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed. Snape looked a little uncomfortable.
"We lost a lot of good people back then. Your Marlene, my brothers Fabian and Gideon, Amelia's brother and his wife, James, Lily, so many more that I lost count... and more since he came back a couple years ago." Molly said, doing her best not to look at Sirius, Moody, or Dumbledore when she said that. Although Sirius figured it out when he felt Harry's arms and Remus's hand tighten even more when Molly mentioned losing more people.
"We are going to change that. Those people will not going anywhere if Moody and I have anything to say about it." Sirius reassured her, and Harry.
She smiled shakily at him.
(Something very painful... high, cold, cruel laugh.)
"You remember that?" Sprout breathed out, horrified.
Harry nodded, "That used to be all I remembered, until third year, when the Dementor's were set to guard the school. Now, I remember all of. Every word that was spoken that night." Sirius hugged his boys, hard. He couldn't even imagine being able to remember the night your parents died, especially since Lily was killed right in front of him.
All the witches looked at him in horror, and the beginnings of pity in their eyes until they remembered him saying earlier that he didn't want anything to do with their pity.
Draco was horrified, he made fun of his reaction to the Dementor's, when this whole time, he heard his mother dying every time he went near them?
(Hagrid was watching... yeh ter this lot...")
"That's not right," Sirius said suddenly. "You took him from me, then I lent you my motorbike to get him to safety while I went after Pettigrew, to ensure he never had the chance to touch Harry again."
Hagrid looked uncomfortable. "I thought yeh were the traitor, I wasn't going ter tell him he had a traitor fer a godfather."
Sirius nodded, he had a feeling it was more like Dumbledore told him not to say anything about Sirius. "I handed him to you thinking you were going to take him to Hogwarts, not leave him with the people his parents specifically said in their wills that he was never to even know they existed. Something you knew, old man. I seem to remember you being one of the witnesses."
"What?" Moody barked. "You didn't mention this before because...?"
"Forgot. You will have to forgive my memory, Alastor, less than 48 hours ago, I was in my cell surrounded by Dementors. They aren't exactly known for promoting good memory and mental health."
Moody went back to scribbling on his parchments like mad. Now that it was mentioned, he had forgotten the Potters even had wills, which was stupid of him considering it was required for all Aurors to have their wills written up and finalized within one week of graduating the academy. He paused. Just how had he forgotten that? He growled and his magical eye pinned itself to Dumbledore while he started scribbling faster.
Was it his imagination, or did Dumbledore go pale at mention of the wills?
("Load of old tosh,"... Dursley's were there.)
So did everyone else in the room.
(Uncle Vernon certainly... to a sticky end-")
The room went up into mutinous muttering again. Draco was suddenly reminded of a time when they were younger when he said something very similar to Potter, except he told Potter that he would come to the same sticky end as his parents. No wonder Potter hated him so much in school.
(But at that moment,... from inside his coat.)
Mutterings rose up of, 'do it, do it, do it...'
(Pointing this at... you- one more word...")
Nearly everyone who had been chanting leaned forward on the edge of their seats...
(In danger of being speared... right down to the floor.)
Only to slump back in disappointment. They didn't get to see Fat-Muggle-shish-kebab.
(Harry, meanwhile, still... if he was comin' back.)
"Except, they weren't really in trances. They lied to get out of being sentenced to Azkaban." Snape said.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, "Yes, Miss. Granger, I know it is not right, but that is how politics work. The sooner you figure that out, the longer you will live in this world." Snape snapped. The Rons, the Harry's, and Hermione all turned to glare at him. He waved a hand at the book to suggest they get back to reading.
This conversation was making him edgy for some reason... could it be because he knew the truth? He knew about the soul-piece in Harry's scar, he knew exactly what happened that night, not even Harry knew everything of what happened that night, and he'd been told as much as Dumbledore wanted to tell him until the old coot was killed by him. He resolved to speak with the oldest Weasley boy about possible rituals he might know from his time with Gringotts to get rid of the soul-piece.
("Most of us reckon... been a horrible mistake.)
A few eyebrows raised in Harry's direction.
(A wizard? Him? How... around like a football?)
"I'm afraid it doesn't always work like that, pup." Sirius said.
("Hagrid," he said quietly,... boa constrictor on him?)
Sirius and Remus frowned. "That is a disturbing lack of magical incidents." Sirius said, Remus nodded beside him.
"Maybe the Dursley's insistence that they was no such thing as magic affected his control over his magic? Like, almost like it... shut itself down, almost, to protect him. Keep him from being punished." Remus said.
Sirius shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know... He was practically constantly doing magic in some for other before That Night... I need to check something." He said as he got up, going over to a corner where a bunch of books appeared. He eyed them with distaste before grabbing one and starting to leaf through it.
Harry could feel the Dark Magic pouring off them in waves. "Siri?" Sirius looked up, "I'll be fine. Just checking something, I hope I'm wrong, though." Then he went back to the book.
Harry looked over at Moody, and saw that his magical eye was trained on Sirius in the corner. "Don't worry about it too much lad, one of the things that made Black so good as an Auror, alongside his amazing fighting skills, was the fact that he grew up learning the Dark Arts on his mothers knee. He may not have liked it, or agreed with hardly any of it, and tried to avoid it like the plague, but he knows it. The Black Family was notorious for their Dark Magic, their library contained some of the Darkest Magics known to wizard kind. If he thinks something is wrong or sounds familiar, and then goes straight to those books... then you can bet he will figure it out and do everything he can to fix it."
Harry frowned, but nodded.
(Harry looked back... right famous at Hogwarts.")
Both Harry's sighed again. Hagrid flashed Harry an apologetic grin. Harry just grinned back.
(But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.)
Moody shook his head and muttered about idiots who didn't know how to choose their battles.
("Haven't I told you... books and wands and-")
"Huh," Harry said, cocking his head to the side. "You know, looking back, I'm really surprised he was able to say those words without choking up." Harry said thoughtfully. "One time, Dudley demanded the salt, so I asked him what the magic word was. If I remember right, didn't you fall off the chair in fear, Dud?" Dudley went red from embarrassment.
By this point, Draco was really wondering how on earth Potter turned out as well as he had. Even he had to admit the boy was a powerful wizard, and his jokes and pranks weren't half bad, at least, not when they were directed at Slytherin...
("If he wants ter... TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.)
"Yes, Yes, YES!" The twins suddenly yelled. Everyone else leaned forward in anticipation. They all knew Vernon had seriously messed. It may or may not be that way anymore, but you did NOT want to insult Dumbledore in front of Hagrid.
(But he had finally... a hole in his trousers.)
"YES!" The Weasley boys and Ginny howled. The parents and other teachers looked faintly disapproving, but at the same time accepting. They knew something was going to happen, they knew Hagrid could get like that when it came to protecting people he cared about.
"Oh, Hagrid." McGonagall said, shaking her head, with a faint smile on her face. Everyone easily ignored the Dursleys glaring and silently yelling at Hagrid.
Dudley was rubbing a hand over his bottom and grimacing at the phantom pains while Dudley was looking at Hagrid, scared. Dudley caught his attention, "Don't worry about it, frankly, I think he was really aiming for dad, but he missed." He whispered.
(Uncle Vernon roared... wasn't much left ter do.")
A few people looked at Dudley, only to see him shrug in agreement. "Yeah, I guess I did kinda act like a pig a lot, huh?"
(He cast a sideways..."Why were you expelled?")
"Good luck getting him to answer, Harry. That is the one secret he will never tell. Believe me, we tried." Remus said.
Harry just smirked at him. "Maybe you tried too hard." He quipped, then the Trio and Hagrid waited.
Remus's jaw dropped. "You know? Did he tell you? How did you find out?"
The Trio grinned, "That's for us to know, and you to find out." They said in unison. Everyone stopped to look at them funny. "That was creepy..." Neville said to Luna.
("It's gettin' late... yer books an' that.")
"Nice subject change, Hagrid." The big man just shrugged.
(He took off his... one o' the pockets.")
"That's the end of that chapter." Flitwick said.
"Snape, Bill, come here a moment." Sirius called from his corner. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked concerned.
"What did you find?" Bill asked. Sirius held up a hand to tell him to wait a minute before he turned to Severus.
"Did Albus ever mention anything about Riddle transferring some of his power to Harry, or did he confide in you about suspicions of a Horcrux?" He demanded.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "He has confided in me that his plan for the final battle is for Potter to play the sacrificial lamb... because of the Horcrux residing in his scar. It is his belief that, if the Dark Lord himself were to be the one to cast the killing curse, then the curse would kill the soul-piece, leaving Potter perfectly intact and in perfect health."
Sirius was white-faced with rage. He had to take a moment to control his temper before he went over and attacked the crazy old man. "There is no guarantee of that happening though, according to all these books," He waved a hand over the books he'd been going over, "It is not possible to place a Horcrux in a living person without the Horcrux taking over. The only theory I can come up with for Harry not being taken over is because Dumbledore also placed a block on his core, to give the Horcrux less to feed off of, less to latch onto."
Bill looked confused. "Why would he do that? The Goblins have rituals that would have gotten rid of the Horcrux in Harry without harming him. It would have also started a search for his other Horcruxes years ago, long before he ever had any chance to come back. If Dumbledore wanted to keep it quiet, I can understand, the goblins would have kept their search quiet no problems. But... he could have stopped all of this before it ever happened."
Snape looked concerned. "Perhaps, Bill, you should write a letter to your younger self, ask him to start looking into the Potter Accounts, make sure they have not been tampered with and that nothing has been taken from them that shouldn't have been."
"Why would Albus have access to Harry's accounts?" Sirius asked.
"Because, Black, Albus placed Potter with the Dursley's, completely against Lily's will, and named himself Potter's magical guardian. Before you were ever arrested and thrown in Azkaban. Now that I think about it... I'm not sure if Potter even knows he has a Family Fortune, or that his family holds a seat on the Wizengamot."
"You think Albus has been helping himself to the Potter accounts and Political might?"
"It's possible. Albus is not the man I thought I knew... there have been many things over the years that have had me wondering. Finding out he could have ended all this before it began, simply by going to the goblins... This is just one more thing to wonder about."
Sirius sighed. "I'll also look into it when I get out of prison... officially get out of prison. For now... can you perform the cleansing rituals Bill?"
Bill shook his head. "No, I know the theory behind them, but they require Goblin magic. Wizards magic just... isn't potent enough. Either we wait until we finish these books and you or Moody can take Harry to the bank and get him checked out, or we ask the room to bring us a few goblins, from either time to perform the ritual."
"I would almost rather wait until we finish the books. I doubt you would mind it, Mr. Weasley, but I, for one, would rather not have to deal with a few goblins the entire time we are stuck here."
Sirius grimaced. "I can't believe I am going to say this. But, I... agree... with Snape on that one. It's nothing against goblins. They just, aren't the friendliest." There was a pause while the other two stared at him, with Snape smirking. He glared.
"Alright, I will continue my letter to my younger self, Mr. Weasley, you write a letter to your younger self, and we will explain to Moody what the plan is, he can add this new thing to investigate to his list or something... For now, we don't say anything. I highly doubt that anyone over there knows what a Horcrux is, beyond Moody, the Trio, and obviously Albus, I don't want to panic someone." Like Molly/mum, all the men thought.
Both of them agreed to the plan, Sirius reluctantly. He still couldn't believe he asked Snape for his input. But, he would do anything for his godson, even pick the brain of his old enemy.
"Figured out what you needed to, boys?" Sprout asked. They all nodded, "Well, then, shall we continue?" She asked, clapping her hands together and turning to reactivate the charm on the book.
Chapter five Diagon Alley
* This was what really got me, I didn't really think about it first time reading this, but where did he get that rifle? I looked it up, with Britain's gun laws, there is no way he got that legally. Especially in the few hours since he left them locked in the car. Unless I miss read those laws somewhere.
