Authors Note: Here's the next chapter. I'm so sorry I took so long to update, work has been crazy for me the past few weeks and I had major writer's block. I can't believe that I now have over 200 people following this story, it pleases me that so many people are enjoying this story, now please enjoy and leave a review.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe or any of J.K Rowling's characters or anything related to the Walt Disney corporation.
Chapter 21
A few days after the Death Eater trials, the goblins at Gringotts decided to attempt to interrogate Albus for one final time, before they send their German counterparts to kill Grindelwald so that there's no chance for him to escape and start another war. Once Albus is in Rockgrinder's office and strapped to their interrogation chair, Axewielder places the veritaserum on his tongue and waits for it to take effect.
"Now, Albus, we want to ask you a few questions regarding your actions the night of Halloween. Why did you leave Harry Potter on a doorstep in the middle of the night at a muggle dwelling?" Rockgrinder asks.
"I was placing young Harry with his mother's sister, the only blood family he has left. I had also placed blood wards around the property so that the minute Petunia brought Harry into the house the protections would activate." Albus states, wondering where this line of questioning was going since it's a different direction than their usual interrogations.
"You should not be messing with information you do not understand Albus. Blood wards are only to be placed around a property by goblins, and also, they will not work around a muggle dwelling. They need to be placed along strong ley lines that run below most Ancient and Noble homes, such as Potter Manor, Malfoy Manor, Hogwarts, and so on." Rockgrinder explains, secretly flabbergasted that someone as old as Albus would be so stupid as to attempt something he knew he wasn't able to do. It had nothing to do with how magically strong he was, it's the fact that he was the wrong race.
"I personally checked to find ley lines when I purchased that house for Vernon and Petunia." Albus said smugly. "When I heard the prophecy by Sybil, I had a feeling Tom would go after the Potters simply because Harry is a half-blood like himself. So not only did I place the family in Godric's Hollow under the fidelius to protect them, I purchased Number 4 Privet Drive for the Dursley's and asked Lily's parents to gift them the house as a wedding present, so that if Tom made it through the fidelius and killed Harry's parents, he would be protected with his aunt and uncle."
"Prophecies only make sense in hindsight, and according to our records, the prophecy could apply to young Neville Longbottom as well as Harry, why didn't you place the Longbottoms under the same protections you did the Potters?"
"They said they would be safe behind the wards of Longbottom Manor, so I let the matter rest."
"And what about the Potters? Wouldn't they have been just as safe behind the wards of Potter Manor? My father set the wards there himself, and they are much stronger than any Fidelius charm on an old cottage." Rockgrinder says.
"At first they declined, but Peter Pettigrew was able to talk them into moving into the cottage, and I thought they would be safe enough because the cottage was also a Potter property." Albus says. "He even volunteered to be the secret keeper for them, although I believed they had decided to go with Sirius as the secret keeper."
"Didn't you think that was a red flag that Pettigrew volunteered so easily for something so important? I know that you let the Gryffindors, both at Hogwarts and alumni alike get away with anything, but you should have seen the Slytherin side coming out of young Pettigrew. In my opinion, the house system should have been abolished years ago when the rivalry between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins started getting out of hand. And before you ask how we know about all of this, a lot of our human employees have a lot to say about what's wrong at Hogwarts, and how many students ended up in St. Mungos because of this rivalry." Axewielder says.
"I thought it wasn't that bad. I had a listening charm permanently planted in the Hospital wing in order to hear about who was in there and for what reason." Albus says, knowing there's no point fighting the veritaserum.
"YOU DID WHAT?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY LAWS THAT BREAKS?" Rockgrinder shouts at Albus.
"I like to think that I'm just bending the rules a bit." Albus says, while knowing full well that he had broken several laws by placing that charm, but he wasn't the type to be caught unaware. "I needed to know everything that was going on in the halls of my school, and unfortunately, there's no portraits in the Hospital Wing that could spy on the patients, so I needed another way."
"It's a good thing you will no longer be setting foot in that school." Rockgrinder says, "Now, back to the topic at hand, why did you leave the last remaining Potter on a doorstep in the middle of the night in a muggle neighbourhood?"
"Like I said, I was placing him with his last blood relatives."
"I remember Lily telling us that her sister hated her, why would you think she would welcome her nephew into her house with open arms?"
"I left her a letter explaining everything, how her sister gave her life for her son, and that no harm would come to their family if they welcomed Harry into their home. I explained about the wards I had set up and that once the wards activated, they would get a monthly allowance to help with the care of Harry."
"And how would they be able to raise Harry? How would they explain what accidental magic is and how would they explain Harry's expectations and his family history? How would they be able to explain his seat on the Wizengamont and his responsibilities as the last heir to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter?" Axegut asks. "Would you have gone to the Dursleys and taught him all of this?"
"Of course not, that's not my job." Albus scoffs.
"You attempted to usurp Sirius Black as Harry's magical guardian by sending him directly to Azkaban without a trial. You tried to seal the Potter's Will so that he would be raised away from the Wizarding World, you refused to listen to Minerva when she said that the Dursleys were the worst sort of muggles she has ever laid eyes on, and if you had succeeded in leaving him with them, how would the rest of the Wizarding World feel about an heir of his caliber being sent to the muggle world? Also, if you were successful in becoming Harry's magical guardian, it would have been your job to teach Mr. Potter about his standing in the Wizarding World, about his standing in the Wizengamont, and about when he would be able to receive his heir ring."
"I was going to teach him that stuff once he got to Hogwarts at age 11."
"Oh sure, blindside a young child with the information that he's famous for surviving a killing curse after growing up away from all things magic related, then what were you planning on doing, make sure he ends up in Gryffindor and pull him into your office at all hours of the night to tell him about his heritage?" Axegut asks sarcastically.
"I was going to send Hagrid to collect Harry once he gets his Hogwarts letter, and make sure to tell him how wonderful Gryffindor is, and that he should follow in his parents' footsteps. I would not pull him into my office at any given hour, but I would ask him to come after supper and tell him about his parents."
"Rubeus Hagrid is not someone you send into the muggle world; he hasn't been able to blend in since he was born. Some people such as Andre the Giant were able to pass of their half giant heritage as a muggle genetic mutation that gave him his height, but Rubeus has been Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts for so long that he wouldn't know how to use the subway to get to a subdivision like Privet Drive." Rockgrinder explains. "Also, weren't you getting the Deputy Headmistress to do all of the muggle born introductions?"
"Yes, but with the Horcrux in Harry's scar, I needed him where I placed him so I could pit him against Tom Riddle when the time was right." Albus says.
"As we told you before, we got rid of the Horcrux in Harry's scar, and what do you mean by you needed him with his muggle relatives?"
"Not only am I a powerful Legilmens, or rather, was, but I also have Seer blood in me, not enough to give prophecies, but enough to see glimpses of one's future. I knew Harry would be mistreated at the Dursley's, and I needed a pliable child so I could fit him into the mould I have set for him. It all comes down to the last line of the prophecy, 'Either must die by the hand of the other.' I needed to mold Harry to become a martyr for the Wizarding World."
"So, in short, your plan was to leave young Mr. Potter ignorant of his standing in this world, and raise him like a pig for slaughter?" Axegut asks, glad that both Albus and Grindelwald will be gone by the time the sun rises tomorrow morning.
"If you put it that way, it sounds heartless. I was sacrificing one life to save the life of many."
"Regardless, you were going to kill off yet another Ancient and Noble House with these actions, I am glad Minerva had the sense to go behind your back and adopt Harry. She is now in the process of opening a daycare centre with Molly Weasley, and Arthur Weasley is working with the Board of Governors to improve the curriculum at Hogwarts and working on incorporating muggle subjects into it as well. Also, we are working on tracking down the last few Horcruxes of Tom Riddle's, since Minerva was willing to work with us, instead of keeping it to herself like you seem to enjoy." Rockgrinder says, while giving Axewielder the signal to quietly exit the room to send word to their German counterparts. Once Axewielder left the office, Rockgrinder gave Albus the antidote to the veritaserum and slowly starts to untie him from their interrogation chair.
"If that is all, shall I get back to my sentence? I believe there's a few marble desks I have yet to polish for you guys." Albus asks, glad to finally be free from his binds.
"No, you will be going down to our hospital, where you will begin sanitizing our autopsy table and equipment down there." Axegut says, secretly enjoying the poetic justice of Albus working in a room with corpses, not knowing he will soon join the others down there.
"Very well, which one of you will be bringing me down there since I have never been near your hospital or your morgue. Tell me, is it any different from current hospitals?"
"Trust me, it will be one of the most magical places you will ever see." With that, Axewielder begins to take Albus down to the morgue, while Rockgrinder goes to his office to pen a letter to Minerva notifying her of the death of a meddlesome old goat and his former lover before they sent a press release to The Daily Prophet.
Later that afternoon
Minerva had just finished putting young Harry down for a nap when Doc popped in with a letter from Gringotts. Once Doc had popped away to go back to his duties, Minerva sat down with a cup of coffee to read the letter, wondering why Axewielder was writing to her.
Dear Minerva,
I hope this letter finds you and young Hendrick well. I am writing to inform you that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald are dead, after interrogating Albus this morning, we found out that he planned to raise Harry as a sacrificial lamb in a plot to rid the world of Riddle once and for all. He also planned to keep Harry ignorant of his place in the Wizarding World and his duties as an Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Once we pulled all this information out of Albus, we sent word to our German counterparts to finish Gellert before he could escape and attempt to finish what he started back in the 40s, and because of the bond between Gellert and Albus, they both passed away at the same time, and luckily Albus was cleaning our morgue when it happened. Now that the bearded goat is out of the way, I am writing to inform you that we would like to set up an appointment with you when you're free to go over some of the finer details of what Harry will need to know as he grows up, also, since his mother was a muggleborn, we would like to do an inheritance test on him to see if anything special pops up as to who his mother was related to, however distantly.
Sincerely,
Axewielder, McGonagall Account Manager.
Minerva lets out a sigh of relief after finishing the letter, glad that there's one less thorn in her side and sees Remus coming down the stairs. "Good afternoon, Remus, how are you feeling?" Minerva asks, knowing the full moon is fast approaching.
"I am doing about as well as you would expect Minerva, although I am glad that I can help raise my honourary nephew and have a steady income, which I have you to thank. What does the letter say?" Remus replies, noticing the letter in her hand.
"It's from Axewielder, asking me for a meeting to discuss Harry's future and to let us know that both Albus and Grindelwald are dead, he thought we would like to hear from them directly before they send a statement to the Daily Prophet."
"As much as I am thankful that Albus let me come to Hogwarts even though I was a werewolf, I am glad he can never do harm to another student again, since I did notice that he gave students far too many second chances as Headmaster."
"I agree, every time I tried to punish students, it seemed like Albus would just undo the punishments I handed out, which is also one of the reasons I finally took a leave of absence. How's Arthur doing as Headmaster by the way?"
"He's doing quite well, he asked the gargoyle to keep his office unlocked unless he's in a meeting, to be honest I never knew why the headmaster's office was password protected but none of the Heads of Houses offices were. Anyways, the students love him as a headmaster, he's surprisingly tough but fair when it comes to helping dole out punishments when there's a difference of opinion between two heads of houses, and he's been corresponding with the board to help overhaul the curriculum, but what we may have to do is talk to some of the muggle raised and see if they would be willing to catch up on the muggle curriculum and then come back to teach it at Hogwarts." Remus explains.
"That sounds like it will take a few years to implement. I have a random question for you Remus, have you thought about hiring squibs or parents of muggleborns to teach these subjects?" Minerva asks.
"To be honest, no, I hadn't thought of that. Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing through the Hogwarts grapevine that witches who gave birth to squibs would just send them to the muggle world, but it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack then track down every squib in Britain." Remus replies.
"You have a point there Remus, maybe I'll message Amelia and see if she can go through the birth records at the ministry, although most of the wizarding world is stuck in the past, at least they knew that birth certificates are mandatory for every child born. I have a feeling that the parents may have filed false death certificates after finding out their child was a squib by them not getting a Hogwarts letter, or an invite to any magical school."
"As grim as that sounds, in my experience fact is always stranger than fiction."
"That it is Remus, case in point is that the magical world is fact, but if we would write a book about this world we live in, all the muggles would view it as fiction, since it doesn't conform to their world views or their scientific breakthroughs."
"You have a point Minerva, and not just at the tip of your wand." Remus chuckles while saying this, but quickly stops when he sees Minerva giving him her traditional death glare over her glasses. Before Minerva can start lecturing Remus about his timing on his sarcasm, there's an incessant pounding at her front door.
"Who on earth would be pounding at my door in the middle of the afternoon?" Minerva asks aloud while Fawkes flies down from upstairs.
'Minerva, I hate to bother you, but I'd thought I'd let you know that Harry is now awake, do you want me to bring him downstairs and set him in the living room to play with some of his toys?' Fawkes asks while hovering above the table.
"If you could wait for him in the living room Fawkes, I'll have Doc pop him in there." Before Minerva can ask Doc to come here, she hears him pop out of the room and shortly afterwards, Minerva sees that Doc had been listening into her conversation and decided to stay a step ahead of her by bringing Harry down to the living room. With that crisis averted, Minerva turns and starts heading towards the door to see who wants in so badly. As she gets closer to the door, the pounding has ceased to stop but now she hears a voice that goes along with the hammering fist, and it's a voice she's well familiar with.
"Minnie! I know your home; I see your car out front! Can you let me in?! I need to talk to you!" Sirius exclaims as he continues pounding on the door. Before Sirius can say anything more, and as he's about to start pounding the door again, it opens to Minerva with her harshest death glare that she reserved for occasions such as this, but since the door opening didn't register with Sirius, he unknowingly starts hitting Minerva in the arm, and next thing he knows, he's flat on his back from a quick wandless and wordless stupefy.
Once Minerva levitates him into the house and decides to let her mischievous side out a bit, quickly windlessly conjures a rope and ties it not only to his ankles, but to the chandelier in the living room. Once he's properly attached, she reverses the stupefy.
"Minnie, Minnie? Why are you hanging off the edge of the world like a bat?" Sirius asks once he's released from her stunning spell.
"You up down silly." Harry replies while laughing at his Uncle Padfoot.
"And why am I upside down? Remus, can you help a brother out?" Sirius asks.
"No, you dug this grave, you have to get out of it yourself." Remus replies.
"This is what you get for waking my son up from his nap early, and why were you using my front door as your own personal drum set? What is so important that you couldn't send a letter first?" Minerva says.
"I have just finished up a visit with my cousin Andromeda Tonks, she has just finished helping me heal from the dementor exposure due to my small stint in Azkaban, and the first thing I wanted to do was see my godson! What's wrong with that?" Sirius explains.
"The problem is I have Hendrick on a schedule! If he doesn't get his nap, he gets cranky by dinnertime and feels that a food fight is more important than nutrition." Minerva explains.
"Well, I would never say no to a food fight, how's the boy's aim?"
"He has his father's arm, I think he will make a decent chaser if he decides to play quidditch in the future, but that's not the point! The point is, you decided an impromptu playdate with your godson was more important than common courtesy?" Minerva says.
"In hindsight, I probably should have sent a letter, but I was excited." Sirius says.
"You need to learn to curb your enthusiasm Sirius. I thought you would have matured when James and Lily appointed you godfather to young Hendrick, but it seems like your childish behaviour overrides any common sense you were born with."
"Why do you keep calling Harry Hendrick?" Sirius asks.
"I changed his name when I adopted him, and if that's all you pick up on in my lecture, then I may just leave you hanging from the ceiling for the rest of the day and give Hendrick a beaters bat and transfigure you into a pinata."
Sirius pales as much as a person hanging upside down can, "Minnie, I'm sorry, but when James and Lily were alive, I had an open invitation to their home, I thought that would apply here as well."
"Well, you thought wrong. Now, after teaching you for seven years I think I know you better than you think. Now spill, why did you really come here?"
"I just got an offer to teach at Hogwarts! Starting next week, you are looking at the new History of Magic teacher!" Sirius shouts. "Now, can you get me down from here? All this blood rushing to my face is making me feel faint."
"I was wondering when the board was going to make you the offer." Minerva says, while quietly handing Harry an inflatable baseball bat.
"You knew?!" Sirius asks, not noticing Remus sneaking behind him and towards Harry.
"Knew? Sirius, I thought you knew me better than that, I recommended you for the job. Now Harry!" With those magic words, Harry starts hitting Sirius everywhere he can, which happens to be Sirius' face.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Harry, why are you doing this?" Sirius asks.
"Mama Minnie said it pwaytime, so I'm pwaying with pinata." Harry explains while laughing at Sirius and hitting him. What made it funny in Harry's eyes is that Remus transfigured Sirius' clothes into a pinata costume while Minerva was lecturing him.
"Ok, ok, I will never drop by unannounced again, now Harry, can you stop hitting your Uncle Padfoot?" Sirius asks.
"You not Uncle Pa'foot, you Uncle pinata." Harry replies and makes sure he has a smile on his face when Minerva gets a shot of Harry happily whacking his uncle with the camera she keeps in the side table in the living room. Once Minerva gets the photo, Harry puts the bat down and goes back to his train set.
"Alright, I think you've been punished enough." With that, Minerva vanishes the rope and hides her grin as Sirius comes crashing down on the floor. "Oops, did I forget to levitate you down gently or at least place a cushioning charm under you?"
"No wonder we could never prank you Minnie, you are a prankster yourself." Sirius says while groaning and picking himself up off the floor. "At least the room is carpeted, and I thank you for that Minnie."
"The day you can successfully pull a prank on me is the day I die Sirius, now, have you learned your lesson about planning ahead and asking before deciding to practice your drumming skills for your band? Or do I have to drop you into the pool next time for the lesson to sink in?"
"I have Minnie."
"Good. Now act your age, not your shoe size. You are now responsible for more than just your godson. You need to start planning your History of Magic class, and if I may suggest that you start on something other than the goblin wars? I think Cuthbert has droned on enough about that particular subject." Minerva states.
"My thoughts exactly. May I write to you if I have questions about how to teach?" Sirius asks.
"There is no secret to being a good teacher, just keep your students interested in the subject, engage them, get them to participate in the class, and a piece of advice, if you respect the students, they will respect you." Minerva says. "But, if it will help, I can give you a hand with some of your lesson plans."
"Thank you, Minnie, that would help a lot. When can we start the lesson plans?"
"We can start them tomorrow after breakfast, if you would like to spend the night you can bunk with Remus in the guest room."
"That sounds like a good plan Minnie."
"And another thing, stop calling me Minnie, always use someone's given name unless they ask you to use a nickname, especially students."
"I will work on it Minnie, err, Minerva." Sirius replies, seeing her death glare.
"Wonderful, now, since Tilly and Doc are working on supper, we have some free time. Hendrick, what movie would you like to watch until suppertime?" Minerva asks.
"Dalmatians! Dalmatians!" Harry exclaims excitedly.
"Very well, 101 Dalmatians it is." Minerva says as she goes to the shelf and pulls out the VHS tape.
"What is 101 Dalmatians?" Sirius asks.
"It is a Disney movie Sirius, surely Lily introduced you to muggle entertainment?" Minerva asks as she sets the TV to the right channel for the VCR.
"She got me hooked on their music, but we hadn't gotten around to movies." Sirius explains.
"Well, you're in for a treat then, ever since I adopted Harry, we have been having movie nights once a week. Maybe we can start doing these movie nights every Friday so you can have some quality time with your godson and still have the rest of the weekend to do your schoolwork." Minerva says.
"I accept. I would do anything to stay in Harry's life, and this way, you may be able to help me figuring out how to grade the students' papers as well." Sirius says.
Minerva agrees to give Sirius a helping hand until he gets into the swing of things. She remembers how hard it was when you're just starting out teaching, at least she had started out as an assistant to Albus before he ascended to the role of headmaster from transfiguration teacher. With that thought in mind, Minerva is looking forward to setting up a meeting with the goblins, since her plate is quickly getting filled again.