~~ Chapter 4 ~~

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, please come in" Healer Dan Zhou greeted the man and his ward with a warm smile. He'd gotten medical training on the muggle side, as a muggleborn, but he'd also gone to Hong Kong for a few years to get his masteries in potions and healing on the magical side.

He was a general practitioner on the muggle side and a whole-body healer on the magical side and was excellent at his job. He treated magical and muggle alike, and that lack of preference kept his door from being darkened by pure-bloods wasting his time with their "patronage". He never wanted those strings.

But the cases of Sirius Black and Harry Potter were intriguing and infuriating. He'd built up the paperwork to present to the guild for misconduct in the case of Poppy Pomphrey and needed only tell the child that he was submitting the complaint. He would not betray Mr. Potter as that young man had obviously been betrayed by so many others, and about the only thing the child had asked for was serious confidentiality. Dr. Zhou gotten his appointment with one of the inquisitors on the guild a few weeks before, but wanted to make sure that he informed Mr. Potter so the young wizard wasn't taken by surprise. Unfortunately, as he had no way to contact Mr. Potter – Sirius Black apparently had serious security – Dr. Zhou had to wait til Mr. Potter's three-month checkup to approach the child. As that hadn't been til the beginning of December, Zhou hoped that Pomphrey hadn't harmed any students further in the time lapsed.

Harry Potter had obviously been neglected in his home: he had malnutrition severe enough to inhibit growth and his glasses – obviously a donated charity pair – were not matched to his prescription. He had organ damage from the untreated basilisk bite and the malnutrition, nerve damage from the untreated cruciatus, and what remained of his core had old stress scars, never healed properly, most likely from when the child had been attacked by the possessed professor his first year.

Pomphrey had addressed none of the obvious physical or magical trauma. That didn't go anywhere near the mental and emotional trauma the child exhibited. Though Potter was now a squib, the Guild of Healers would be horrified that the woman in question was still in charge of many of the magical youth of the country. Not even Dumbledore would be able to shut down their wrath. Pomphrey would be lucky to come out of this a squib.

But these vengeful thoughts were nowhere near the surface. Dr. Zhou, as he preferred to be called (it did grate those snobby magicals when they had to use a muggle title) prided himself on his bedside manner and putting his patients' needs first. He'd met with Mr. Potter just once, and was anxious to see how effective the rounds of potions and supplements and the physical exertions had been in mitigating the effects of physical neglect and trauma.

He'd wanted to recommend a therapist or mind healer for the non-physical issues, but wanted to get the child physically healed, first, in case Mr. Black balked so much that he refused to return the child for treatment.

Many took the idea that they could use therapy as a bone-deep insult. Dr. Zhou didn't believe that Sirius Black was one of those, and, in fact, at the last meeting, had broached the subject for himself and the remaining effects of his wrongful incarceration. Zhou had several references for the man today. He hoped that Mr. Black would consider one for Mr. Potter.

And so, he turned his best patient-friendly non-threatening smile to his patients.

"And good afternoon to you. You both look quite healthy! It seems as though the potion and exercise regiments are working well?"

Sirius nodded while Harry answered, "I've no complaints. Feel better than I have in a long time, maybe ever, actually."

"Excellent. Let's get some diagnostics."

His wand twirled and a golden glow encompassed Harry. "Back on track for weight, a few centimeters past top end of average for height, BMI is excellent, musculature is recovered… good, good. We'll keep you on nutritional potions, but that's all. Your recovery will continue with just that, I believe. Your organ functions all in line now, and… what's this?"

He ran his diagnostic again then looked over his spectacles at the boy. "You realize that you no longer register as a squib?"

The two men shared a look then Harry swallowed harshly and nodded. "Yeah, I did some accidental magic the other day."

Dr. Zhou smiled. "Well, your core is expanding nicely – rapidly, but it's stable. You're at a bit above average for your age. We'll want to keep an eye because there were some injuries to it in the past. Sorry, but it means another potion. I'd like to see you more frequently to monitor the situation.

Sirius nodded while Harry looked at the doctor. "You won't tell?"

Dr. Zhou holstered his wand and looked quite seriously at his young patient.

"Mr. Potter, I realize that there are few in positions of authority that have demonstrated you can trust them. I, however, took an oath on my magic and my life to protect my patients. Part of that is not telling all and sundry the specifics of my patients' diagnoses and prognoses. Even if they have been landed with ridiculous amounts of undesired fame."

Harry smiled sheepishly.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Speaking of untrustworthy figures: we were talking about why Harry's physical condition would have been ignored. I think he might have been cursed – something that old families were wont to do to heirs of rival families."

The doctor's eyes narrowed and he looked deeper into the diagnostic. "I'm going to cast again; a different diagnostic this time. I wasn't monitoring prior magical exposure deeply, as I didn't want to do more damage to your already damaged core. But now that you're well on the mend, this diagnostic will be fine. It will show a history of your magic exposure, though the dementor attack and temporary loss of magics should have negated most active spell work." He once again pointed his wand at Harry and cast. Silver light enveloped Harry, and a new set of data appeared on parchment. "Hmm… your worry is founded. There are a few notes of concern here: there's the remnants of a loyalty hex, also of a subjugation curse – I think your tango with the demon broke those. There's a mail ward, and that's been reinforced in the last few months. And yes, yes there it is. There is a ghost curse – that's what we called it in my training. It causes a person's needs – even the person themselves – to be ignored on a wide scale. It, too, was damaged by the summer's attack, but still lingers. The caster must have been a particularly strong magical. I will remove that now." Several motions of his wand and a golden light enveloped Harry. Another diagnostic spell and Zhou nodded his head. "There's that. You're clean now. And you're correct, it would have made most people ignore that Mr. Potter was not getting what he needed and was, in fact, neglected. They would have only seen the boy who lived persona. Brilliant. Evil, but brilliant."

"Would it have effected all of the adults in my life?"

"It should not have affected Madame Pomphrey. She should have a healer's medallion that would block that sort of curse. It would not affect anyone with fully developed mental magics, such as occlumency."

Harry slumped at the confirmation that Pomphrey should have helped him, and didn't. Dumbledore should have helped him, but the fact he didn't wasn't a surprise to the young wizard.

He bet that loyalty hex was to Dumbledore. But subjugation? What was that?

"Can I have a copy of that diagnostic? I'd like to see if I can get information on the magical signatures involved." Sirius knew that the wards on Grimmauld place had the signatures of all of the order stored. If those curses came from Dumbledore, Sirius would know.

Dr. Zhou made a copy of the parchment and handed the original to Sirius. He sighed and looked into his young patient's eyes. "I need you to understand that the neglect should not have been ignored by your healer at Hogwarts. She should not only have treated you fully for your injuries there – which she did not – she should have treated your previous injuries and begun processing for removal from your house of record."

"Dumbledore would never have allowed that," Harry answered quietly.

"Her oaths should have ensured it. There is something seriously wrong with her, and I am required to report her misconduct to the Guild of Healers. I put in a request for a meeting after our first appointment and I'm meeting with our highest-level administrator next week."

"Your oath of confidentiality means you can't discuss specifics," Harry said with a tremor of worry in his voice.

"I am required to turn malpractice cases in to my superiors. Mr. Potter, though you are, no doubt, a special young man, do you think you are the only person she neglected? Every basilisk victim that stayed petrified for more than a day was neglected. The guild would have had mandrake draught in that castle within twenty-four hours, if she had reported the situation to them."

Hermione, was all Harry could think. "Would the petrification hurt them more than she said?"

The doctor smiled, "I cannot discuss specifics, but it would behoove your friends to find a healer to check them."

Harry nodded. He'd talk to Hermione that very night and tell her that his healer said she should see a full healer about being petrified. That Pomphrey didn't have the qualifications to treat her. Maybe he could get her to Dr. Zhou? But what about the others? Of course, Penny wasn't in Hogwarts anymore, but maybe the Weasleys would know where she'd gone? Or Professor Flitwick?

And maybe, just maybe he ought to trust that Dr. Zhou and the healers' guild would take care of it, if he told his healer to do so. He looked at the man who was studying Harry's serious, almost panicked face.

"My friends. Do I need to tell them about this? Whether your guild finds Madame Pomphrey guilty, or innocent, the basilisk victims should probably get a second opinion or whatever?"

"I know, again, that you do not trust easily, Mr. Potter. If the problem is not solved within a month, I shall see your friends over Yule break. I give you my word."

Harry sighed and nodded, leaving the room to his guardian and his doctor.

Harry sat in the waiting room, ruminating on all he'd learned while Sirius got his checkup. When they left the offices, glamours back in place, Sirius spoke quietly. "Dr. Zhou will do all he can to protect your identity, Harry. You aren't the only student who's left Hogwarts these last few years, and only his superior will hear the specifics of the case. Additionally, I want to talk to you about consulting with a mind healer."

"What? I'm not crazy! You didn't buy that garbage in the Prophet, did you?" The paper had spent weeks disparaging Harry until he'd gotten kissed by a dementor. After the Fudge government was overthrown, the paper stopped its smear campaign, but it never contradicted the attitudes and accusations (blatant or subtle) against Harry.

"No, you know I never bought that tripe. But you've been emotionally abused for most of your life and you've been under a subjugation curse. That would have subdued a lot of your natural personality, and the sudden loss of it might leave you with anger issues or damage to your psyche. I'm going to a mind healer for dementor exposure and the fact that I had horrifically abusive parents. Just think about it, okay?"

Harry nodded and actually did start thinking, seriously. Why did he have such an instinctive reaction to the idea of going to a mind healer? It was as though there was a stigma in his mind. He recalled Vernon decrying one of his office mates going to see a shrink when the man's wife had died. Petunia had shuddered and rolled her eyes at the exposure of such weakness.

Why was he basing his own opinions on those of that family? Hadn't he sworn to be the antithesis of all that was Dursley?

The train ride back across the city was mostly quiet as they sat, thinking, but unwilling to talk in front of so many muggles.

As they entered Grimmauld place, Sirius escorted Harry to the study. "This is the ward stone," Sirius said. He pulled out his wand. "It has a register of all of the magical signatures that have come through the wards and linked them with names in the ward book. Even if they've been blocked at this point, well, no one can come into a house like this one and expect magical privacy." He pulled out the diagnostic sheet and cast at the ward stone. Names appeared on the diagnostic sheet next to the magical signatures. He sighed heavily as he sat. "The loyalty hex… that was placed by Molly Weasley, early in your Hogwarts career. Perhaps the summer you stayed at the Burrow? It could be that is the reason you went into the Chamber of Secrets."

"It certainly explains why I sided with Ron over Hermione in third year and why I accepted him back so easily after he'd called me a liar and cheat last year." Sirius nodded.

"The subjugation curse was Dumbledore. He wanted you to follow some sort of behavior he had in mind. Apparently, you're a stubborn lad as he had to shore it up multiple times since your second year at school." Sirius grinned a little and Harry shrugged.

"Even someone thick as Weasley could see that every bloody year I was put through a gauntlet. It could have been chance first year, but after second, I could smell something rotten in Scotland. I suppose that curse would be why, after the dementors wiped it out, I developed such a hate-on for him. I seriously hate him; I'm not exaggerating."

"And that's one of the reasons I want you to go to a mind healer. Hate is not something you want festering in your soul, Harry. Disdain, dislike, mistrust… those are all healthy in moderation. Hate isn't. If nothing else, it's an investment, and he's not worth it."

Harry smiled bitterly. "I suppose. But you're not telling me about the ghost curse."

"I'm going to a mind healer, for sure. My hate on for Snivellus just took an exponential turn."

"Snape cursed me? I thought he owed me a life debt?"

Sirius snorted. "That's Dumbledore propaganda. Snape's oathed to his gills to Dumbledore and Riddle. If I didn't know what a bitter piece of shite he's always been, I'd feel sorry for him. And Dumbledore would certainly have known about the curse. He's a master occlumens."

"You're not helping me with my hate issues," Harry said, bitterly. "Hang on, that ghost curse – did it act on me only at Hogwarts?"

Sirius looked at the diagnostic again, and his eyes fired before he took a deep breath to calm himself. "No, the curse has been in place about fourteen years. James would never have let Snivelly near you, so…"

"He was there that night," Harry concluded for Sirius. He swallowed harshly.

Sirius shook his head and smiled weakly. Finally, he came back around the desk. He put his arm around Harry's shoulders, now almost of a height with his own. "We'll figure it out, Harry."

When Harry mirror called Hermione that evening, he told her about his visit with the healer. He felt guilty that he still didn't tell her of his returning magic, but she was still in the castle with two people who were now his confirmed enemies. They would destroy her in a second if it meant getting to him.

He warned her that Pomphrey was probably going to disappear in the next few days, and her shock and sadness were palpable. Poppy Pomphrey was a gentle soul and had helped Hermione a number of times now. She also helped Luna, a new friend who was bullied horrifically in Ravenclaw.

Harry thought that Hermione's glumness might not be completely from his own news – she had seemed rather down when they first started speaking. But she wouldn't open up to what was bothering her in the castle. Whether she didn't want to remind him that he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore or didn't want to burden him, he didn't know. Instead, he started talking about some of the history he was currently reading for GCSE's and they had a great discussion and by the end, she was his bright little bookworm again.

"I miss you so much, Hermione."

The abrupt change, when they had just been talking about the major battles in World War II and how they reflected in muggle and magical history, made her pause. Her eyes watered. "I miss you, too. I mean, I've made friends, but it's just not the same."

"What would you think of hiring tutors for magic next year and attending day school – muggle side – with me?"

Hermione's eyes widened. She hadn't thought… but now that she wasn't prefect – would never be head girl – should she weigh that option?

Why wouldn't she weight that option?

"I think that sounds like a really interesting possibility. Let me think it over the next few weeks. Weigh the pros and cons. You have a good library available there?"

"My mum's library – which is the Potter library, updated by Hermione Senior, by all accounts – is in a trunk available for use. You've seen the Black library that was here, but Sirius recalled the full thing – apparently, Malfoy had gotten a hold of a lot of the books, maybe some of the other cousins? But the library here has expanded to hold the full offerings of house Black. Between the two… well… it's not Hogwarts…"

"But it's rather close? You do know how to tempt a girl. Again, let me think about it."

He smiled, knowing he had a good shot of getting what he wanted.

~~ this is a scene change ~~

Remus Lupin came in to the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld one afternoon to Harry fixing supper and singing along with a song on a muggle radio that Sirius had rigged to work in the house. Remus had been gone on assignment for his muggle job for a few weeks, and he could see more than usual how much physical progress Harry had made.

Harry had been so slight, so small. The difference was startling when compared to his current physique. How had Remus never noticed? Why had he never tried to help?

Sirius watched Remus watching Harry. He noted the looks of pride and confusion warring on the werewolf's face. He nodded to himself.

"Hey Moony," Sirius remarked quietly. He smiled slightly as Harry turned around and grinned at both of them.

"Pizzas tonight, mates. And a good salad. And a chocolate torte. We're celebrating Moony coming back with unhealthy food. Don't tell Dr. Zhou."

"Sounds great!" Moony answered with a smile. "And I love this band. They're from America?"

Harry nodded, still kind of humming the tune. "Stone Temple Pilots. They've been around a while. I love them." He went back to mixing whatever he was mixing and Sirius nodded to Remus to take a seat.

"He looks so good. So much better. Why didn't I…?" The werewolf's voice trailed off. Sirius sighed deeply.

"We found a curse on Harry – a variant of a dark curse to make people not want to help him. Dr. Zhou called it a ghost curse."

"It explains how the bullying at Hogwarts got so out of control, how I could almost be killed in a quidditch match and no one did a thing," Harry contributed as he put a pan in the oven. He was listening and had ears like a cat. Remus winced then got over himself.

"Is there any way to trace who did it?" Lupin asked.

"The signature on the curse was Snape's. Snivellous strikes again," Sirius stated, bitterly.

"Dumbledore has always insisted that we could trust Severus," Remus stated with shock, wanting to deny what was becoming the obvious truth.

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe we can, for some things order-related. His hatred of all things Potter is obviously also something we can trust. Yes, he saved Harry from Quirrell in Harry's first quidditch game. But he also tried to have me kissed by a dementor. He lied about what he knew. And, beyond that, he cast the curse fourteen years ago,"

"Hold on," Remus interrupted. "That would mean it was set right around the night Riddle killed James and Lil. What other access would Severus have had to Harry?"

Sirius nodded shortly, having already come to the conclusion that Snape must have been in the house the night Prongs was murdered. It made his blood fire, so he resolved to think of it no more. "My guess is he was in the room, trying to revive Lily, with Harry crying. He cast the curse because he wanted Harry to suffer. Beyond the curse, Snape's gone out of his way to make Harry's life at Hogwarts miserable; almost as miserable as his life at the Dursleys."

"He has a role to play… If Dumbledore was affected by this curse then…" Remus still tried to protest.

"The curse is negated by anyone with full occlumency, which Dumbledore has. Harry's been in the hospital wing multiple times. He was obviously crucio'ed at the end of the competition last year. Dumbledore almost certainly knew the ghost curse was there and did nothing about it, did nothing to help Harry, but he did reinforce his own subjugation curse on the pup. Harry's upbringing was a lot like mine – no way would he go out of his way to save other kids or stand up like he's done – unless Dumbledore made him. Harry being selfless and altruistic is something the headmaster seems to have wanted. Two things an abused child would never be, voluntarily."

Remus took some small consolation that he had not been able to do more to help Harry than he had. The wolf protected his mind from intrusion, so he'd never learned occlumency. At the same time, though, he could not believe that the headmaster who had allowed a werewolf schooling would allow the outright abuse of another child. "Albus would never condone the abuse of a child!"

Sirius had enough. It was time for some home truths. "He left Harry with the Dursleys. We're still fixing issues months later. Months, Remus. His internal organs are finally back on par with someone his age, and his size has been mostly corrected. But his vision may never recover." Remus lowered his gaze and looked at his hands, his eyes watering. His cub. His cub. Harry, however, spun and glared at Sirius.

"Lasik, Sirius. If they can't fix it magical side, I'll get it fixed muggle style. You'll see. Dr. Zhou said I can think about that when I'm twenty-two. And he thinks that a new spell regime out of Estonia might fix what I have wrong."

Sirius smiled. Harry seemed to focus on the positive a bit more these days. Just one session with a therapist and he could already see some small differences. He turned back to Remus.

"Look, we know Albus trusts Snape. That's actually a blind spot he'll never admit to. He believes Snape to be a redeemed tragic hero. Nothing we say – nothing anyone says - would make Albus doubt Snape, because that would make him doubt all the rest of his terrible decisions. After all, no one could put a child in an abusive situation and feel okay with that unless they could completely shut off their conscience."

Remus looked horrified and guilty and just… broken in a way he hadn't been before.

"His reasons don't matter," Lupin said with a dead voice. "I don't care what his justification is." But he did, he did… his heart was broken. The confirmation of the man who had been his hero was nothing but a child abuser was soul-crushing. But he had his cub, and it was time he helped as he hadn't before. He straightened his spine and turned to Harry.

"You're back on track, health-wise?"

Harry nodded, still a bit wary. "I see the healer bi-weekly right now, and a therapist, too. I'm catching up on the height and weight scale, and the potions are working better for me now that my magics are coming back."

Remus stiffened; his eyes wide. "Your magic is coming back?"

Harry grinned. "Yup. Big time. It's a secret, because I'm still not done healing, but Dr. Zhou says my core is growing and filling at what he called an 'astounding rate.' So, Sirius has me set for OWLS in June – homeschoolers take them the week after Hogwarts has them set. Want to go back to being a professor and help me plan my attack?"

Remus grinned.

"Oh, Harry, you don't know what you've set yourself up for," Sirius warned. Remus had always been the swot of the gang. He'd been helpful with Harry's GCSE planning, surprisingly. The wolf lived in the muggle world a lot – even had a uni degree! - so Harry had a good tutor for muggle subjects. Moony would be a total asset for OWL planning.

"I've been self-studying for a few months now. I do have questions on runes and arithmancy, as I've never had formal instruction there," Harry admitted.

"Mmm," Remus concurred, going to the cold box and opening a beer for himself. "I'll look at what you've done and plan out a schedule to get you to sixth level by summer. And I can help you learn other specialties. I'm good at potions – Lily was best, James was great, but I'm damn good. Sirius is helping you with charms?"

Harry nodded. "And transfiguration is pretty natural for me."

Remus huffed a laugh, "Just like your dad, again."

"But I do better…" Harry hesitated, then decided to try to explain himself. "I do better when I have interesting projects that require me to learn a skill. I'd like to learn warding, or dueling, or something like enchanting, because they'd require me to learn transfiguration, runes, charms, and defense as background." He sounded hesitant, and an alarm went off on the stove. He flicked his wand from his holster and, using a complicated corkscrew motion, put the dough for the pizza through a second kneading and then put some kind of charm on it.

Remus hummed in appreciation. Silent casting. Harry might think his levels were low, but most fifth years could not cast silently. He didn't bring attention to it, but instead turned to what Harry had just said. "We were the same, as far as projects go. Why do you think we made the map and mirrors and did all that pranking? Oh, and you'll find that potions are required in some enchanting, too." He chuckled at Harry's face.

"Want to become an animagus?" Sirius asked. "That will make you learn occlumency, and there are a few potions you'll have to make, there, too. Your Potter ring should help with the occlumency and the Black ring will tutor you in potions, if you let it. I hated my family so much I never wore it." Sirius sighed in some regret but mostly in relief that his little family had purpose and unity. Things were looking way, way up.

They put together a rigorous schedule and Harry smiled. He liked studying but he liked doing better. And he now had two adults that weren't arseholes, and maybe more of the adults weren't bad either, if they were affected by the curse, like Lupin.

Time would tell.

~~ this is a scene change ~~

The next afternoon, after a thoroughly exhausting workout and several hours dedicated to trigonometry and physics, Harry was studying his divination text – he would still take that stupid OWL though he thought the whole class was bollocks – when he thought again of the prophecy Dumbledore had alluded to.

How would he get the prophecy without anyone knowing? How could he just pop into the ministry and pop back out again?

And it came to him. He laughed at the idea and thought – there is no way this would work.

"Dobby?"

Dobby popped into his room.

"Master Harry call Dobby?"

"Yeah. I have a question about what you can do. When you pop, can you carry a wizard with you?"

Dobby's forehead scrunched with thought. "Dobby think so. Dobby not see why not. Master Harry want to pop with Dobby?"

"Maybe. Can you pop into the ministry?"

Dobby nodded firmly. He'd been asked to spy by bad master before. "Dobby can."

"Do you know where the room with prophecies is?"

Shaking his head, the elf answered. "Dobby does not know that. But Dobby can find out?"

"Only if you can do it without getting caught or hurt. Don't touch any of the prophecy orbs." Sirius had explained how the prophecy room worked, and that if anyone besides a person named in a prophecy touched it, they would go insane.

Dobby was quite crazed enough, as it was.

"Dobby scout. Dobby good scout." Dobby nodded firmly and made to disappear. Harry hastened to finish his request.

"Wait! There is supposedly a prophecy about me. Made sometime before I was born, but not too long before. Maybe two years? A year? If you could somehow find the area where that prophecy would be?"

Dobby grinned maniacally. "Dobby do. Dobby not get caught, not be seen, and be sneaky Potter elf. Dobby find prophecy about Great Master Harry Potter. Then Dobby pop Great Master Harry Potter to prophecy?"

Harry shared his own maniacal grin. "That's the plan."

Dobby found the prophecy within two days. By the time he and Harry popped back to Grimmauld place, orb firmly in Harry's hand, Sirius and Remus were in on the plan.

Sirius was giggling at the thought of stealing the thing out from under the headmaster's obscenely-large nose.

The four of them – five, since Kreacher asked if he could participate, and both elves were sworn to secrecy – listened to the prophecy with concentration.

"Well, marked as equal is rather clear," Remus commented dryly, looking at the faded scar on Harry's head.

"Did Mum and Dad really defy him three times?"

"Oh, at least," Sirius admitted. "I can think of three times they refuted him, publicly. And kicked the arses of several of his henchpeople, incidentally."

Harry smiled sadly.

"What would be power he has not? Family magics?" Remus began to speculate aloud.

"He's a parselmough from the Gaunt side. Are you still one?" Harry shrugged. Remus serpensortia'd a python and Harry heard nothing but hissing.

"Guess I'm not. It was part of him, as Dumbledore surmised."

"Albus told you that?" Sirius asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Like he tells anyone anything – very indirectly. He said that he suspected that the skill came when Riddle attacked me. I think he was referring to the horcrux, but that's hindsight."

"You know," Remus began, hesitantly, looking off in the distance, "if some of his magic and talent was in each of the horcrux, and they had access to each other, he would have had access to that magic - and yours - until they were drained. Once they were drained, he would have lost not only access to you, but to all of that magic attached to the soul slices in each horcrux."

Sirius sent an alarmed and hopeful glance to Remus.

"You're saying the prophecy – marking them as equal – is actually lowering Riddle's power levels to something Harry could fight?"

"Maybe?" Remus broached, not at all certain.

Harry felt the hopelessness lighten at that thought.

"So… the power. Should we ask Dumbledore?"

"He'll be pissed you removed the prophecy. Also, it would give away that you had your magic back. Without magic, you couldn't activate the orb."

"We're on our own, then?" Remus asked.

"As we always are. Dumbledore never really shares anything until after the fact," Sirius answered balefully.

"True," Remus concurred.

"Well, he was awfully interested in my mother's protections." Harry thought back on the many conversations he'd had with the old meddler. "He kept me at the Dursleys for that protection. And he was super interested both when I burned up Quirrell and when Riddle used my blood in the resurrection."

"A mother's love," Sirius rolled his eyes. "That sounds like the kind of codswallop that Dumbledore preaches. Riddle's mum kicked when he was a baby?"

Harry nodded, "As far as we know. He grew up in an orphanage. At the least, his parents abandoned him. Maybe Dumbledore thinks Mum's sacrifice would be the power he knows not. But that would have ended the prophecy back in 81, then, right?"

"And it didn't. But that doesn't mean Dumbledore hasn't justified love as being the answer." Remus thought about his interactions with the old man and knew that would be something the old bastard would push.

"He's a bigger hippie than any pot-smoking muggle, for sure," Sirius concluded. They talked a bit more but came to no conclusions that day.

~~ this is a scene change ~~

One of the next things that Sirius arranged was a secret appointment for Harry at Gringotts. Now that he was recognized as magical again, he could begin to take on the role of heir to both house Potter and house Black.

Grimsneer, the Potter account manager, and Oresmith, the Black account manager greeted the heir and his guardian in the normal, surly manner of the goblin. Harry was respectful and solemn, as Sirius had instructed him to be.

"Potter business first," Grimsneer declared and glowered at Harry. "I have been informed by your reinstated guardian that you have not received any notices from Gringotts?"

Harry sat in the truth chair and answered firmly, "No, Account Manager Grimsneer. Aside from a few missives from Hogwarts and the Ministry, I've only ever received a few pieces of informal correspondence from friends."

The Potter account manager grunted. "Mail ward. Probably saved your puny form from dangerous mail. Your elf will carry Gringotts correspondence from this point forward."

It was a statement, not a question, so Harry simply nodded.

"Call your elf to us now, Heir Potter."

"Dobby, could you please come to me?" Harry asked. The elf popped in but remained silent. He obviously knew the etiquette of Gringotts.

"Dobby, these are the account managers for houses Potter and Black: Account Manager Grimsneer and Senior Account Manager Oresmith." That the child had remembered to use their full titles took one galleon per hour off the charges for Harry Potter. "They have asked that you carry all correspondence for me from them. Is that ok with you?"

The fact that he asked the elf and did not order was very strange. It showed the wizard's muggle background, for certain. Elves were pests when unbound, and only useful when bound strongly into servitude. But the child was not obsequious with it. He probably thought he was being polite. Stupid human.

Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Dobby listen for goblinies, sir. May Dobby stay with Master Harry now?"

Harry smiled. "If the goblins say it's alright with them, it's ok with me."

"The elf may witness," Oresmith declared. Grimsneer grunted, then waved his hand, revealing a small wooden box that glowed with magic.

"The Potter heir ring." The gnarled finger pushed the box forward, and Harry looked for a nod from Sirius before leaning in to carefully enclose it in his hand. Opening the box, he found the simple mithril band inlaid with what Sirius had said was garnet. He took it out of the box carefully, raising it to the sight of the two goblins, his guardian, and his honorary uncle.

"The ring of the house of Potter. I will do my best to uphold the traditions and vision of my house." When the four nodded in agreement, Harry donned the ring. It resized to fit and immediately began to… introduce itself. It was a very intelligent ring, and greatly powerful with mind magics, such as occlumency. Sirius said one of the features of Heir rings was to teach the heir. The Potter ring went one step further and could learn from texts and pass that information to the heir while the heir slept. It was already lining up the texts it wanted the neglected heir to learn.

When his attention came back to the room, he found Sirius and Grimsneer going over the accounts. A full audit had been done since the heir had been so long without his key and the guardian of ministry record was not the guardian set in the wills. Nothing was missing from the accounts, though they had been mostly in stasis. Sirius asked Grimsneer to prepare a lawsuit to stop production of Boy Who Lived paraphernalia and to get back profits from those companies. The goblin grinned in menace.

The donning of the Black heir ring was much the same, though that ring was more of an etiquette, history, and, surprisingly, potions tutor and could be used to detect potions being used on the heir.

When they had concluded the business for the house Black, Harry asked permission to speak. Permission was granted.

"I was wondering: is there was any way to commission a piece of goblin-wrought jewelry? Specifically, I'd like to commission the crafting of a pendant necklace. It's come to our attention that I'm the… subject of a prophecy. My secrets – namely that I'm still magical and I'm the key to a prophecy – need to be kept, but I wanted to share them with my intended. A necklace, like my Potter ring, that would give a mind shield to Hermione - maybe anti-tracking and scrying charms, too? - would be priceless." Grimsneer nodded. He named a price that had Sirius blanching.

"That will empty your trust vault."

"And it will refill from the boy who lived nonsense. If I wasn't the boy etc, I wouldn't need this necklace. Oh, and can I sell the basilisk? Is it worth anything?"

"Basilisk parts are rare but not terribly useful," stated Oresmith, the senior account manager. "We can sell skin to line dueling chambers; the venom for potions. The heart strings can be used in wizard wand making, I believe. But the meat… well, it's useless. Except to goblins. When did you slay the beast?"

They bartered over the basilisk corpse. While Sirius worked with Oresmith on further investment details for the Black estate (some dark businesses were about to find loans coming due), Dobby took a pair of goblins to the chamber and they came back with dimension and quality (slightly decreased since the corpse had been rotting for two years, but there were three extra shed skins found). The deal was made. For the basilisk parts, the goblins would make the pendant. The goblins were certainly getting the better part of the deal, but it mattered not to Harry. He wasn't doing anything with the dead snake anyway, and as the goblins had already relocated it, it kept the whole thing out of Snape's hands.

Harry talked to Hermione that evening, telling her nothing about the trip to Gringotts, but instead, talking about the elves, how Dobby and Kreacher both seemed to take pride in the new uniform of the house of Black (Dobby especially liked the pockets, though with his access to dimensional storage, he'd no need of them). It got Hermione to thinking about dimensions and talking about physics and suddenly, Harry didn't need to prevaricate about Gringotts. Instead, he just listened to her postulating and speculating and being his Hermione. When they signed off for the night, he felt warm knowing it wouldn't be too long now before she was back, in London, and he could say goodnight like he wanted.

~~ this is a scene change ~~

Minerva McGonagall stood at dinner, three weeks before the Yule break. Quiet rapidly ensued as all saw her stern, almost angry features. "It is my duty to inform you all that Madame Pomphrey has been called away. Hogwarts has been provided a new healer by the healers' guild: Master Healer Apollo Panakos." That gentleman stood and bowed to the children, and there was a smattering of applause in welcome. "All students will report to the medical wing in the first two weeks of next term for a full workup. If your parents wish to avoid this, they must provide a certified record of health – physical, magical, and emotional – from a master healer. Over the next few days, several of you will be called to the healing wing. A list will be given to faculty and elves will be delivering the appointment slips. Please be mindful of the schedule; Master Panakos's time is quite valuable. Thank you for your attention."

She sat, and the chatter ensued. Why was Pomphrey called away? Who was getting called to the healing wing? Why were they demanding full physicals? Most noted that Professor Snape had a look of fury about him – it was almost like Potter had won the house cup again, one older Gryffindor noted. On the other hand, several noted that Headmaster Dumbledore looked stymied and sad. If they could have heard his thoughts – if any were versed in legilimency and he were not proficient in occlumency – they would have been shocked.

His train of thought ran along the following tracks: How had the healer's guild found out Poppy was compromised? Had young Harry found a magical healer to look at him? Dumbledore thought that the child certainly would have gone to a muggle physician. What self-respecting healer would treat a squib? Had they gone deep enough to see the neglect that Poppy would have addressed, had Severus not neutralized her?

The better question should probably have been, why did Dumbledore allow Snape to commit such an action? Albus had seen how the abuse – bordering on torture - of the Potter heir had so pleased the potions' master. But all Albus was concerned with was: how would this affect the war effort?

The healers' guild, now that they had decided to move, acted quickly. It was determined within hours that Severus Snape had cursed Poppy. He had neutered her medallion. When he was pulled from Hogwarts that very evening and questioned with a patented, Tibetan version of truth serum that overcame all occlumency and training, he confessed. Or he confessed what he could. Some secrets were unbreakable, and a healer, no matter how angered, would never kill. What Snape confessed was enough.

He hated people in general and children specifically. He hated Potter – anything Potter – most of all. He had cursed the Potter child when it was a baby, the night the Dark Lord slaughtered Lily and that wretched James. He had been afraid to attempt to kill the child when he saw what happened to the wizard who had just tried to do so. Besides, torturing a person lasted so much longer than killing them. The brat wouldn't cease its screaming, begging for attention when Lily, poor Lily, lay dead because of the whelp. Severus decided then and there that none would ever again help Potter. He had cursed Pomphrey to ignore the plight of children because no one had helped him when he was a child. His revenge – harming the children of his childhood enemies and crippling the Potter heir – was lasting and quite sweet.

Needless to say, the children of Hogwarts got an early present for Christmas, whether they celebrated or not. Snape was barred from interacting with children and charged with assault. His past as a death eater saw him remanded to custody as he awaited trial. He would never be allowed at Hogwarts again. The department of education, having been briefed by the aurors, provided a potions master (Master Pauling) who had no Dumbledorian ties, as the guild believed some of the unbreakable vows would be to the headmaster. As a known occlumens, Dumbledore should have overcome the ghost curse. They could not prove that he ignored the plight of his students, but it was enough to suspect that he was in cahoots with the potions master.

Dumbledore would be carefully monitored. The Bones administration had no time for any headmaster that put his own plans before the very health and safety of his charges.

Dumbledore was in a quandary. Of course, he mourned the loss of his spy in the death eater cause – though Dumbledore knew that Severus never told all that he knew. He was a double or triple agent who kept his own interest at the core of what he told whom. After all, some information, however tainted, was better than none.

More critically, Dumbledore had been using Snape to keep tabs on Harry via Miss Granger. The order members who had contact – Remus, Sirius, and Nymphadora – all had mental protections of one sort or another. They might answer direct questions, but Albus wanted unfettered, anonymous access. Information was gold, but since Harry was not in the castle, no portraits or ghosts could give information, and he was in a warded home, so scrying and other magical eaves-dropping methods were blocked. Albus was forced to use what he had in the form of Severus obtaining information from Miss Granger, who communicated with a rapidly healing young Potter, daily.

Of course, since Minerva had given Miss Granger detention with Severus, the young student had avoided the potions' master's eyes. Even in class, she never looked at him. The scuttlebutt in the teacher meetings was that Miss Granger was not participating in any class at this point – not even charms, though Filius had done nothing directly to her. She had been a prize student, and still did excellent work, but now would not engage any of the faculty if she could avoid it. According to Severus, as his class was OWLS potions, and a Gryffindor/Slytherin mix, he had entirely too much on his hands to force the issue.

Of course, the child's resentment over her first punishment would fade. She was too much reliant on the praise of teachers to hold this silence and avoidance for long. By second term, she would be interacting again, and Severus could once again skim her thoughts for information on Potter.

But now, Dumbledore had no recourse. Should he confiscate the communications mirror? Should he borrow it; somehow tap into its enchantments to monitor their conversations directly? Should he encourage the connection and mentor/mind-read the girl himself? Over the term break, he would have to correct the situation. Perhaps when Remus aided him with the horcrux hunt? He stroked his beard… perhaps.

~~ this is a scene change ~~

Hermione had talked over the healer situation with Harry on the mirror. He had warned her that his healer was turning in Pomphrey for dereliction of duty, but she was still shocked when they had acted. And then to have Snape pulled also… she had to wonder if any of the adults in the castle worked in the best interest of the students.

Hermione had sighed deeply, remembering Harry's comment that all adults were arseholes. She was finding fewer and fewer contrary examples. This year alone, both McGonagall and Pomphrey, two of the more respected faculty members at Hogwarts, had fallen. She'd also found that a fourth-year Ravenclaw – her friend Luna – was being systematically bullied within her own house, Flitwick knew, and he did nothing. In her discouragement and disgust, Hermione did all she could to avoid the arseholes in the castle.

Hermione was also a bit worried, when Harry had told her about his healer's findings, that she, herself, might be in trouble. She, in fact, was worrying about how to get to a reputable healer over yule break, since her parents insisted they go to France to visit her mother's family. Since it was assumed that Pomphrey didn't heal her petrification in a timely manner, perhaps the mediwitch ignored other injuries? Hermione's month as a cat-person came to mind. She made up her mind to ask the new healer – Panakos – for an appointment if she wasn't one of the ones tapped the first day.

Her fretting was for naught. She was the very first person given an appointment with Healer Panakos. When he heard her concerns, he set her immediately in a cot. His diagnostics were thorough and painless and revealed several problems that would be easy enough to correct. He told her to return after dinner for a new potions' regime that would clear up any remaining problems. He also asked about her general health, well-being, and sexual activity. Between blushes, she did reveal that she had a serious boyfriend in the muggle world. He made sure she knew the birth control charm and told her that she was not immune to sexually transmitted diseases, so she should still use alternate protection if she engaged in sexual activity.

Hermione left the hospital wing with a clearing bill of health, a mind full of new information, and a face flaming with embarrassment.