Chapter 2.3 A change of circumstances
At the beginning of December, Professor Dumbledore asked to speak to Harry.
"Good evening, Harry."
"Don't call me Harry."
"Isn't that your name?"
Harry resisted the urge to look him in the eyes, but continued to look at his chin. "Don't play games with me. All the professors call us by our last names, old coot."
"As you wish Mr. Potter."
He left a silence that Harry decided not to fill.
"Professor McGonagall told you about the wards placed around your family's house, I think?"
"Yes. And they are not my family, they are my relatives."
"That may be the problem. The wards rely on your being a family. If you refuse to treat them as family the wards are weakened. They are weakening to such an extent that unlike last year you will have to go home for Christmas."
"It's not me who refuses to treat them as family, it's them who refuse to treat me as family."
"And yet, for your own safety, I'm going to have to insist that you try harder."
"And how do you suggest I do that?"
"I'm sure that with the right mindset you can do this."
Harry knew that shouting would achieve nothing, it never had. However, he also knew that nothing he did would ever make his relatives treat him like family. Ten years of trying everything he could think of had made that undeniable. So he simply said, "No."
"Harry, Mr. Potter, I'm your magical guardian. This gives me the right to tell you where you live."
"They are not my family. It's not my home, and I'm not going back there." Harry felt the sloughing off of the magic. Although he couldn't see it, behind his back the headmaster saw one of his instruments still. Harry continued, "and you are not my magical guardian either." When he didn't feel the same sloughing off, he decided he needed to marshal that same sense of conviction, so he spoke to magic herself rather than to the headmaster, "for eleven years you have not spoken to me, or visited me, or did anything as my relatives starved me and treated me like a slave. You notice that my safety is threatened, yet you don't offer to lift a finger to do something about it. You are NOT my magical guardian." There. That did it. Harry was breathing deeply. Now that he had achieved what was needed, he could let himself calm down.
"Harry, you need to let go of this anger. I know from personal experience that in the short term, anger can be a very productive way to fuel your magic, but it's destructive; in the end anger will destroy everything you hold dear."
Internally, Harry scoffed, but outwardly, having already started before Dumbledore spoke, he achieved calm. For the last fifteen months, ever since he had learned about his situation, he had been rehearsing his arguments, so now he only had to adapt them to the situation. "I know this. It's why I am so angry. You created this situation, and now you think you can preach at me about forgiveness, when most of what is wrong in my life is because of you. Voldemort only killed my parents, you marked me much more deeply. You left me with people who taught me that I don't deserve love, who taught me the only two options were degradation or subterfuge. I was hoping that coming here things would be better, but they are just as bad. You allowed a troll to get into the school, you allowed a professor to disappear, you allowed a student to get petrified and seem content to leave him like that for months to come. And you sit here, boxing me in with your words, doing nothing to address the situation. Some days, when I see how much power you have, and how little you care about me or any of your other students, I wonder if the only way I will be able to live is if you die."
Dumbledore looked like he was going to faint. Worse, he looked devastated. However, Harry had little hope he would change his self-important and highhanded ways. Harry waited for some moments, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to say anything else, nor going to attack Harry or have a heart attack, Harry got up, and, never turning his back on Dumbledore, left his office.
Harry went up to his dorm and wrote a letter.
Dear Madam Bones,
Mr Dumbledore just told me that the wards around my former home were weakening, but was going to leave the responsibility of correcting that entirely up to me, despite the fact that he used to be my magical guardian. Because my relatives don't care about me at all, and can't be reasoned with, I gave up my home and magic granted my request for Mr Dumbledore to stop being my magical guardian.
I have no idea whether the headmaster is able to carry out his threat of refusing to let me stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays. I know you are very busy, but there is no-one else who I trust to look out for my best interests. May I ask you to look for a new magical guardian and a home for me?
With kind regards,
Harry Potter
Dear Mr. Potter,
If you had planned to stay at Hogwarts for the first part of the holidays, please sign up when your head of house comes to ask which students wish to stay. I was just about to ask Susan to invite you to spend either the whole or part of the holidays at Bones Manor in any case. You will always be welcome at Bones Manor, so you don't have to worry about not having anywhere to stay. I am looking into appointing a new magical guardian for you.
Hoping to see you for the last week of the Christmas holidays at the latest,
With kind regards,
Amelia Bones
Harry told Susan that he would like to visit the whole Christmas holidays.
When a new duelling club started, they went to Professor Flitwick, who suggested they keep going with their existing club, but also encouraged them to attend the new one if they had the time. They decided to at least have a look. The new club was led by Lockhart, with Snape, of all people, as his assistant. In a demonstration duel, Snape flattened Lockhart with his first spell, but Hermione still defended Lockhart. "You're unbelievable," Harry told her. When they went around pairing up students to practice against each other, Snape partnered up Harry with Malfoy. They were told only to disarm, but Malfoy started before the countdown was finished and cast an offensive spell. The spell only disoriented him for a moment, though, and he managed to hit Malfoy with an 'Expelliarmus'. Many others hadn't followed the instructions either, and the Great Hall had descended into pandemonium. Lockhart ineffectually tried to get everyone to stop. Snape actually got people to stop by casting a wide area 'Finite Incantatem'. When Millicent Bulstrode wouldn't stop physically attacking Hermione, Harry stepped over and cast a 'Rictusempra' at her. After that she was too busy laughing to do anything to Hermione. Harry waited a few moments until Bulstrode was too out of breath to resume the physical fight, and then cast a 'Finite'.
When Snape tried to get Harry and Malfoy to duel in front of the whole hall, Harry's Slytherin side showed itself, and he loudly objected, "Malfoy started duelling me when Professor Lockhart had only reached the count of two. I refuse to duel someone who has no honor." Snape might hate him even more after that, but the angry muttering from the students told Harry he had made his point. The rest of the meeting was similarly ineffective, and there was no talk of a second time.
The next day, Harry found a petrified Hagrid and Nearly Headless Nick moments before Peeves showed up and started screaming his head off. Confusingly, Hagrid was holding a dead rooster. Several people confirmed that Harry had left the library only minutes before being found next to a petrified Hagrid, but nevertheless, the school was soon flying with rumours that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin.
The last Thursday of term, after classes, Madam Bones came to take Harry to a private spot and undid the memory charm. Then she told him that after he had gotten Professor Dumbledore to stop being his magical guardian, the magically updating records had changed to Sirius Black being the guardian of Harry. His parents' will had actually stated Alice and Frank Longbottom as the first choice of his guardians. Madam Bones had been able to convince several Wizengamot members, who up to that point had supported Dumbledore, to recognise that magic had skipped over them because they were unsuitable as magical guardians because they were in the permanent spell damage ward, and that the fact that Sirius Black had been recorded as his new magical guardian meant that he was suitable as a guardian, and that this was supporting evidence for his claim that Peter Pettigrew had been the Secret Keeper, that Pettigrew had killed the muggle bystanders and faked his own death, and that he deserved a trial. The trial had taken place that afternoon, Black had voluntarily taken veritaserum, and had been found innocent. He was now at Bones Manor, and would see Harry when the holidays started in two days.
When the train got to King's Cross, Amelia Bones had taken Susan and Harry apart and put up a privacy ward, and then told them that Sinclair McKinnon was in fact Sirius Black, and that they hadn't been told because while Madam Bones had had the authority to place a suspect who hadn't had a trial under house-arrest, they couldn't have afforded for the arrangement to become public.
"Mr Potter," Madam Bones started in her official voice, "it's clear that your previous guardians mistreated you. Do you wish the DMLE to start an official investigation?"
Harry at first was inclined to accept his escape from them and leave it at that, but when Madam Bones probed him, he admitted that an official pronouncement of their wrongdoing might help him in the long run. But as to the question of whether he wanted magical law enforcement to investigate, he already knew the answer, though he needed a moment to put it into words, "I would like to report it to the police. I don't want them to be judged by our laws, but by their own laws. Mr Dumbledore had no right to give them no choice but to take me in, and I sympathise with them that magical people quite often disregard the wishes of muggles, but that gave them no right to take their displeasure out on me. Also, there is already too much pureblood hatred against muggles. We don't want to give them anything they can use to bolster their bigotry."
Harry, Madam Bones and Sirius went to the Great Whinging police station and filed a case against the Dursleys. Madam Bones explained that she had been involved in legal prosecutions before and would act as the contact person, while Sirius was introduced as the new guardian. The police took them to 4 Privet Drive, where Harry showed them the cupboard under the stairs, which still contained evidence of having been used as Harry's bedroom, and the contrast between Dudley's and Harry's rooms, the former with lots of games, new clothes and quality furniture, while the latter had broken toys and damaged furniture, and Harry had also brought the clothes that the Dursleys used to make him wear.
Although Harry realised it would still take time, now that getting closure on the Dursleys' treatment had been set into motion, he asked, "Madam Bones, what can I do to get Mr Dumbledore brought up on charges for his involvement in illegally sending Mr Black to prison, and not carrying out his duties as my magical guardian?"
"I'm afraid that Mr Dumbledore has too many allies and people who owe him favours. Too many Wizengamot members are still convinced that sending Sirius to prison was reasonable at the time, given the available evidence, and can now be excused as an honest mistake. And you noticed yourself how little the average wizard or witch thinks of muggles, so they don't really understand how they can be a real threat to children in their care. I feel that at this time starting legal proceedings against Mr Dumbledore would be counterproductive. I am very sorry."
"I understand. … I'm grateful you sound at least as frustrated about this as I am."
As part of the change in guardian, the Potters' will had been unsealed, which led Sirius to tell Harry, "although the Bones have been most hospitable, and have not suggested I move out, if you agree I would prefer to find somewhere else for us to live." When Harry did not object, Sirius went on, "we don't have to decide now, but our four main options are staying here, or moving to the Black townhouse in London, the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow, or Potter Manor, also in Wales. Since you've already been to Godric's Hollow, I wonder if you'd like to go to Potter Manor in the next few days?"
"I'd love to go. Maybe tomorrow?" When Sirius nodded, Harry continued, "what about the Black house?"
"It's the house that I grew up in. My parents were admirers of You-Know-Who, and I left home when I was sixteen. Your grandparents let me come and live in Potter Manor until I started auror training and found my own place. If you want, we can go and have a look at it as well, but since my mother died four years ago nobody has lived there, and it was already gloomy and radiating dark magic before that, so I expect it will be pretty dismal by now."
Sirius was right, Potter Manor was much nicer than the Black house, and the cottage in Godric's Hollow was damaged and fell under the ministry, so moving there would take two time-consuming steps. By contrast, there were two house-elves at Potter Manor who maintained it in excellent condition. Harry also agreed that moving out of Bones Manor was a good idea. They visited the cottage as well. Last year, Harry had seen that his crib and the floor around it were covered in runes. Now that he had two more years of Runes knowledge, he wanted to see how much of it he could understand. He could see that it had the characteristics of both a ward and a ritual circle. He copied down all the runes, so that he could try to decipher it as he learned more.
Sirius and Harry agreed with Madam Bones that they would stay until Christmas. One of Harry's presents was a toothpick from the Dursleys, accompanied by a note telling him to find out whether he could stay at Hogwarts over the summer holidays as well. Harry showed the letter to Sirius and Madam Bones, and then forwarded the 'present' to Dumbledore.
Potter Manor had three house-elves and was ready for habitation, all Harry's worldly possessions fit into his trunk, and Sirius hadn't had time to accumulate much either, so they moved on Boxing Day. Harry and Sirius encouraged Susan and Neville to visit frequently. Sirius also agreed that he could invite the second-year muggle-born students to stay for his birthday and the first week of August. Harry wrote to Mrs Figg, telling her he wouldn't come to Little Whinging anymore, thanking her for her help in getting him through primary school without starving or losing his love of learning, to distinguish between what people said and what they meant, and to showing them what they wanted to see. He mentioned the case the filed with the police. He also expressed a hope to see her again. Mrs Figg wrote back a kind letter congratulating him on getting away, getting his godfather released, that she was ready to act as a witness of abuse, and telling him something of life in the village, and her cat and kneazle breeding. This started an infrequent correspondence that would last for years.
