Chapter 3 Observations and Howlers
For the next few years the Snowy white owl watched very carefully how little Harry was treated by his horrid relatives, who kept the child locked up in the cupboard under the stairs instead of in a room like they did their own fat little spoiled beach ball of a child. Soft brown eyes flamed with rage each time that she heard the child cry out only to be punished for it. She wanted to step in but was unsure of if the protective wards that she could feel around the house would allow her to pass. She had taken the first step and moved into a little cottage next door to Mrs. Arabella Figg, who she knew was a cat crazy squib, and often babysat for Harry.
One day she decided to pay Mrs. Figg a little friendly visit, and to take over a freshly baked cake for Little Harry to enjoy for his birthday. She knew from her observations of the Dursley's that they never celebrated the boy's birthday or gave him any presents for that matter. They even made him wear their own son's hand-me-down clothes that wouldn't fit him anymore. The poor child had little to nothing of his own that was explicitly purchased for him and him alone, so she decided to change that. Mrs. Figg had just made Harry a nice peanut butter and jam sandwich when she heard the doorbell ring.
"Stay here Harry, while I go and see who's at the door." said Arabella as she walked to the door with one of her cats in her arms.
"Good afternoon, Arabella, I noticed that you had little Harry with you again today, and I thought that I'd bring over a freshly baked cake and a little something to keep him happily occupied when he's with you." said Mimi as Arabella let her inside and took the cake from her after putting her cat down on one of the sofas in the living room.
"How thoughtful of you, Mimi it is the boys birthday today and his family never give him anything. I think that he'd enjoy this little treat." she said as she stepped into the dining room and placed the cake in front of Harry. "Harry, this is my friend and neighbor Mimi Brown. She brought you a cake for your birthday and a little gift that we'll keep for you here so that your cousin doesn't take it from you." said Arabella with a smile as she went into the kitchen to get some saucers and forks to eat some cake.
"Harry looked at the cake longingly before lowering his eyes to his lap and attempting to get down from his chair. "Where are you going Harry? Don't you want any of your cake?" asked Mimi stopping him in his tracks with her question.
"I'm not allowed to have cake. Mrs. Figg is very nice to me and gives me yummy sandwiches to eat when my family doesn't give me very much at all, but I'm not allowed to eat cake." said Harry sadly.
"That's not right. A little boy ought to have a cake on his birthday. Besides I heard that it was your birthday today from my friend Mrs. Figg, and made this cake specially just for you, see it even has your name on it." said Mimi showing the cake to Harry so that he could see the words on it.
Harry looked at the cake and then up at Mimi with a puzzled expression on his little face. "Is that how to spell my name?" he asked pointing at the cake.
"How old are you today, Harry?" asked Mimi as she rooted in her bag for some candles to put on his cake for him.
"I'm this many years old." said Harry holding up his fingers to Mimi as Arabella came back into the room.
"Hum, that means that you are four years old now. Have your family not started to teach you how to count and your letters?" asked Mimi as she found what she was looking for and pulled four small candles out of her purse and placed them on top of the cake.
"No ma'am, they teach my cousin Dudley all of the time but they never let me see or learn with him." admitted Harry feeling ashamed.
"That's okay, dear. Mrs. Figg and I will help you learn your numbers and letters so that when you get to go to school next term you'll be ready. We'll start with what we have in front of us. Here on your birthday cake, are four candles. 1, 2, 3, 4." said Mimi as she lit the candles one at a time with a math. Now blow out your candles and make a birthday wish, Harry. After you blow them out you can count them when we take them off of the cake." said Mimi as she and Arabella waited for Harry to make a wish.
Harry thought for a minute before he nodded and then blew out his candles making his special birthday wish. "Can I count the candles now?" asked Harry eagerly.
"Yes you can, and then after you do that I will tell you the names of the letters that make your name." offered Arabella.
"Okay, 1, 2, 3,4." said Harry as he plucked the candles out of the cake one at a time and sucked the chocolate frosting off of each one before setting them aside on a paper napkin.
"That was very good, Harry. Now I'll point to the letters and say the name of the letter and you repeat it after me and point to each letter." said Arabella with a smile. Harry smiled and repeated each letter after Arabella, and then they cut into the cake and gave him the largest piece to eat.
Mimi and Arabella worked with Harry for the rest of the summer every time that he was at Arabella's house, and he picked it up very fast. His eagerness to learn and how fast he picked things up and remembered things once he had learned them, made Mimi think back to her own daughter who she saw a lot of in little Harry. She had now gotten to the point where she could no longer just stand by and watch how her little Harry was being treated, and decided to take action, and to speak with her oldest brother on how she should go about gaining custody of young Harry before he suffered anymore at Petunia's whims and carelessness.
Upon speaking with her older brothers they were very angry to find that she had indeed not been lying about having a half blood daughter. There Horror intensified when she then told them exactly who her half-blood daughter was and who her grandson was and how he was being treated. One of her brother's happened to be the head of magical family services and was outraged that Dumbledore had gone around the legal aspects completely and had gone straight to the Goblins at Gringots, having Things changed to suit his needs. He gave Mimi his word that he'd go with her and help her gain custody of her grandson, who by right should be with her instead of Petunia.
A month later found Mary Brown walking into the office of Griphook the head goblin of Gringots bank with her brother Alford in tow to back her claim. "So Lady Brown, do you have any proof of what you claim?" asked Griphook as he pulled Harry Potter's file out of his desk filing cabinet.
"Yes, I have my daughter's birth certification, and a lock of her hair that I placed in my locket after she received her first haircut that should be enough to prove my DNA is the same as Harry's." said Mary handing over Lilly's old birth certificate and the locket that held the lock of hair.
"Yes, yes, I see, well, Lady Brown according to my tests you have every right to have custody of your grandson. I am the one who aided Dumbledore in placing the wards around the muggle's home, and can tell you that only Albus Dumbledore or a blood relative can enter the wards undetected. The Headmaster is as of currently the magical guardian of Harry James Potter, and has complete control of all of his assets and accounts. However, considering that you are a blood relative, his guardianship is now considered known and void. Would you like to see a list of all of Harry's holdings and where his money is being invested and dispersed too?" asked Griphook.
"Yes, please, afterward, I'd like to go and collect my grandchild from my step-daughter's home if you don't mind." said Mary firmly as the Goblin handed her Harry's folder to look through. After looking through the entire folder and making quite a few changes by stopping any further funds from being given to the Order of the Phoenix, Mary ordered that Griphook make Headmaster Albus Dumbledore pay back every single knut that he had withdrawn from Harry's accounts. An official Gringots howler was immediately sent to Hogwarts along with another from Lady Brown that was headed straight for Albus Dumbledore hoping that he was in front of a large crowd when it arrived for him.
Over the many months Mary had attempted to contact Harry's true father to speak with him, only to get absolutely no reply from the man. She finally ended up writing a well worded howler to him as well that she intended on giving to him in person. She knew that he couldn't step up yet because she knew that Voldemort was not completely gone, but she at least wanted him to be reasonable about something. Making up her mind she morphed into her animagus form and grasped the letter in her beak before flying to where she knew him to be. By now she knew his routine better than he did and it was very easy to track him down.
Severus was walking through Diagon Alley with his arms full of bags of potions supplies that he needed for a bit of research when suddenly hear heard the screech of an owl and felt the claws of the infernal bird dig into his shoulder. He attempted not to drop his bags as he rearranged them so that he could take the vivid red envelope from the birds beak with a frown. "Why is your owner so damned persistent in bothering me? I have nothing to say to him or her, and just want her to leave me alone." he said as the envelope suddenly burst into flames at his words and an angry woman's voice echoed around the entire shopping district making all heads turn in his direction.
"SEVERUS TOBIUS SNAPE! HOW DARE YOU IGNOR MY LETTERS! I TOLD YOU THAT THE DAY WOULD COME WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE TO GROW A PAIR AND MAN UP! I'M NOT SAYING THAT I EXPECT FOR YOU TO ACT, BUT YOU COULD AT LEAST PAY ME THE RESPECT OF RETURNING A SIMPLE REPLY! DO YOU THINK THAT MY DAUGHTER WOULD HAVE EVER TREATED ME THIS WAY? I'M SO ANGRY THAT, I COULD BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD OR HEX YOU BLACK AND BLUE! IT WAS ME WHO TAUGHT LILLY THAT WICKED VERSION OF THE BAT BOOGY HEX! PERHAPS I SHOULD GIVE YOU A PRIVATE DEMINSTRAITION SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY BELIEVE THAT I'M PLAYING WITH YOUR HEAD!" shouted the angry voice before it turned to ash and blew away in the morning breeze.
The next thing that he knew the owl leapt from his shoulder and landed in front of him, only to transform into an elderly grey haired witch wearing lavender robes with forest green trim silver rimmed spectacles and an enraged expression on her face. Severus stood there stunned for a second before the familiar scent of lavender and roses entered his nostrils, and gazed into soft brown eyes that seemed so very familiar, yet lost long ago. Before he could speak she reached forward and took his bags and sat them on the ground before she drew her wand and cast a slapping hex at him for being so disrespectful.
The force of the slapping hex was so powerful that he was knocked to the ground and sat up stunned with dark purple bruises shaped like hands marking up every inch of his body. He felt as if he was a child again and had been beaten by his drunken father again simply for existing, and the tears almost started to fall when he noticed that the old witch was holding her hand out to help him up. On her wrist was two handmade bracelets that Severus recognized instantly as the ones that he had made with Lilly to give to not only his mother but to hers for mother's day a year before Lilly's mother had supposedly passed away.
"Mimi, you're alive! How is this possible? We attended your funeral." said Severus in a shocked tone as he took her offered hand and got to his feet.
"I promise that I'll explain everything, but now in the middle of the street is not the proper time or place. Go and take your potions supplies back to your home and then meet me at this address for dinner." she said as she handed him a lavender piece of parchment with familiar forest green script on it. "Dinner is served at the usual time. You do remember what time I used to serve dinner to my family, don't you?" asked Mimi as she stepped back and prepared to transform back into her animagus form.
"Yes ma'am Mimi, I won't be a second late." said Severus as he watched her transform back into the snowy white owl before she flew to his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze and flew away.
Meanwhile Albus Dumbledore was just sitting down to dinner with all of his staff except for his new potions master and head of Slytherin house who was away purchasing stock for his personal stores of potions supplies. A black owl came flying at him and dropped an official looking letter in front of him emblazoned with the Gringots seal. He decided to place it into his pocket and read it later in the privacy of his living quarters later after dinner was over, and was about to settle and to take a bite of his dinner when a snowy white owl came swooping in and started to scratch at his face screeching angrily until he had taken the red envelope from its beak.
With his hands and face bleeding all over the place he struggled to get the owl away from him and open the letter at the same time before it exploded. The owl was sitting on top of his pointed hat pecking him over and over and biting anyone who tried to help remove it from the head of the headmaster. By the time Albus managed to get ahold of the owl it bit him hard taking off a chunk of his right thumb just as the letter exploded and an angry woman's voice erupted into the great hall echoing and rebounding around the mostly empty room making everyone cringe.
"ALBUS PERCIVAL WOLFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE! HOW DARE YOU NOT CONTACT ME WHEN MY DAUGHTER DIED! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I HAD TO FIND OUT ABOUT IT FROM MY BROTHERS WHO WORK IN THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC! YOU ARE A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A WIZARD! YOU KNOW DAMNED WELL THAT MY DAUGHTER'S WILL CLEARLY STATED THAT HER SON HARRY JAMES POTTER WAS NOT TO BE PLACED WITH HER HALF SISTER PETUNIA BECAUSE OF HER HATRED OF MAGIC! YOU WILLINGLY WENT AGAINST LILLY'S WISHES AND NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED LEAVING THE CHILD WITH EITHER MYSELF OR HIS TRUE FATHER! YOU WILLINGLY PLACED HIM IN THE CARE OF PETUNIA DURSLEY DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOUR DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS WHO IS ALSO A CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE INFORMED YOU OF THE HORRID NATURE OF THE MUGGLES. AND AS IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH YOU ARE CONSTANTLY ASKED ON HOW YOUNG HARRRY IS DOING ONLY TO LIE AND TELL EVERYONE WHO ASKS THAT YOU VISIT THE CHILD AND CHECK ON HIM EVERY MONTH! I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU DO NOT! I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU, AND I HAVE MORE FRIENDS THAN YOU REALIZE WHO ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BOTH HARRY AND YOU TO TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT I DO NOT SEE FOR MYSELF! SINCE YOU SEEM NOT TO TRULY CARE ABOUT THE WELLBEING OF MY GRANDCHILD, I HAVE WENT TO THE GOBLINS AND THE HEADS OF THE MINISTRY AND HAD YOUR MAGICAL GARDIANSHIP REVOKED! BY THE TIME THAT YOU GET THIS, MY GRANDSON WILL BE WITH HIS FAMILY WHO LOVES HIMAND YOU WILL HAVE NO ACCESS TO HIS FUNDS TO AID IN FUNDING YOUR PRECIUS ORDER OF THE PHOENIX! I ADVISE YOU TO BE MORE PRUDENT IN THE FUTURE IN YOUR DEALINGS WITH MY GRANDCHILD, AS I CAN ASURE YOU THAT I WILL NOT TAKE ANY FURTHER INTERFIERENCE FROM YOU. OH, AND BEFORE I FORGET! YOU HAVE BY NOW RECEIVED A LETTER FROM GRINGOTS BANK INFORMING YOU THAT YOU ARE TO PAY BACK EVERY SINGLE KNUT THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM HARRY'S ACCOUNTS OR YOU'LL NOT ONLY HAVE ME AND MY ENTIRE FAMILY TO DEAL WITH BUT A BANK FULL OF VERY ANGRY GOBLINS TO CONTEND WITH! WE'LL MEET IN PERSON SOON!" screamed the letter before it burst into flames burning the food that was on Albus's plate so that it was no longer edible.
Dumbledore's jaw dropped in shock and horror as all around him the other professors gasped and muttered to themselves. Minerva got up from her seat beside him and moved to the Gryffindor table just to get away from him. As if it couldn't get any worse the owl that had brought the howler swooped over his head and left behind a hot splash of owl droppings that felt as if someone had hit him with a vicus bat boogie hex from above. As she flew back to her home to prepare to collect her grandchild and confront her step daughter, Mary Brown laughed at the sight that was now Albus Dumbledore. If he thought that what she had done was bad, she couldn't wait until her grandson was old enough to attend Hogwarts. She fully intended to make Albus's life a living Hell for what he had done.
A/N So ends the latest chapter of my tale, please stay and eagery await the next chapter wich I will post with my phone next wek. I haven't decided what day I will post the update on yet, but I think that you will like it.