Reviews
Mugen-Muse
I don't think Hagrid acting as a truancy officer makes any sense since the school term hadn't started and Harry hadn't accepted his place at Hogwarts. His legal guardians had already gotten him a place at Stonewall High and the law only requires you to attend school, so if you're underage it's up to your parents or guardians to decide which school you go to if get accepted to two different schools.
Dumbledore shouldn't have any authority to send anyone to pick Harry up although sending a teacher to go find out why there was no reply to the letter makes sense, however, Harry's legal guardians made their wishes clear on the matter so Hagrid did kidnap Harry. Also, Hagrid is a groundskeeper he's in no way qualified to take care of a student.
In my view, Amelia Bones is a highly overrated character in fanon. At Harry's hearing in book 5 all she does is ask if Harry can do a corporal Patronus and she makes no effort to stop Fudge from abusing the legal system. Given that Voldemort went after her himself, she sounds like a powerful witch, but so what? That doesn't mean she's different from any other biased pureblood. In fact, given her high position in the Ministry, she's probably corrupt.
Sirius Black isn't so bad. He just needs to stop obeying Dumbledore's every whim and remember who he is responsible for. And yes he will be more serious about being a godfather from now on.
Malfoy is too scared of Voldemort to take action against someone that he believes the Dark Lord favours. Unless Voldemort actually returns and finds out what happened to his diary then there could be trouble. Hiddleston has plenty of time to prepare for that.
Harry isn't a big Dumbledore fan in this story.
frankieu
Thank you.
Crossworld 1 - Harry Potter
Part 31
Hiddleston Residence. Godric's Hollow.
I was lying on the floor of my basement and while this was not the most pleasant of experiences given that ground was made of hard, cold stone I didn't really want to move as I'd just finished the ritual that allowed me to absorb the power of a Horcrux and I felt really happy about it. The ritual had a somewhat narcotic effect on me.
Overall it was a good thing that the only remaining bit of Voldemort's soul hanging around was either haunting a forest in Albania or stuck inside Harry Potter because this feeling was addictive. I'd felt such a rush of power, more so than before, and I might have laughed madly for a while or screamed in joy because my throat felt a bit sore.
Thankfully for Harry Potter, I had no desire to use him in a ritual, and I doubted it would work on a person anyway since people's bodies are meant to contain souls. Even Nagini had once been a woman and she wasn't a Horcrux yet anyway so no sense going after her.
Another thing that made me happy was the look on Malfoy's face when he dropped off the book. It had been amusing, to say the least. I knew that Lucis Malfoy must despise the Hiddleston's, because as John I'd humiliated Draco and Tom seemed to be in Voldemort's favour, however, the older Malfoy was too scared of the Dark Lord to take any action against me.
There had been some risk in having Malfoy deliver the book directly to me rather than have him drop it off somewhere, but I couldn't risk it accidentally falling into somebody's hands and there was always a chance of that happening given that fate was a major player in this world. No, this way had been best and once I confirmed the diary's destruction the threat from it would be over.
I managed to sit up and check out what remained of the evil book. It was just a pile of ashes and burnt remains that I vanished with a wave of my wand after I summoned it to my hand even more easily than normal. Like before this had not only improved my magic it had also given me access to new knowledge.
At this point, I could have sat my OWL exams and got all Outstandings if I cared to try. Because I not only had my own knowledge that Cortana could help me retain I had quite a bit of Voldemort's memories as well. He'd been far more interested in the dark arts than I ever would be, but that wasn't the limit of his knowledge, he mastered many branches of magic and at least I knew a lot about what to expect if going up against a dark arts user.
Now I pretty much knew everything he'd gotten up to until he was sixteen and most of it was actually rather dull. Tom Riddle had spent an insane amount of time in the library when he wasn't in class or manipulating people for his own end. Mostly he'd focused his efforts on a few classmates and teachers who had either influence or wealth, sometimes both.
As for his teachers, I was left with the impression that Horace Slughorn might be one of the few people in the entire world whom Tom Riddle had any sort of affection towards. I also knew that Riddle really had feared Dumbledore as he'd confessed this to his diary and all that was now part of me. Thankfully the influence of an absorbed bit of soul seemed to be limited as I wasn't shaking in fear of the man.
"So you just need to kill Harry Potter and it's done," said Cortana.
The image of her that only I could see was of a naked woman made with streams of dating flowing over her body, a very curvy and well-endowed woman, her appearance appealed to my base form and I shapeshifted into my older form so that I could better control myself. Adult me could more easily ignore the desire to stare at the AI's visual form.
"Harry will need to kill Voldemort" I stated "But we can worry about that later".
Most of Riddle's soul was gone, either trapped in limbo or consumed by me, and he was weak. I might not even need Potter or he might defeat Voldemort long after I was done with this world and had moved on since the Dark Lord couldn't return to physical form without help and there was no one to help him.
Of course, that might change once I started going after the Death Eaters, as one of them, or maybe several, were likely to go running to their old master for protection, but that would suit my plans, and I had to pin the evil wizard down while Harry stabbed him then that was what we'd do. Besides, I still needed a lot of XP to get the raise spell and dark wizards were worth a lot of XP.
I wondered how Voldemort could regain a proper body given that I'd gotten rid of his father's bones. That should delay his return for some time. Which had been the point of me going off and dealing with the remains.
"We can focus on the Death Eaters for now," I said, "And any dark creatures we can take out".
Malfoy was too big to go after. It might work better to undermine him first, but not all of the Death Eaters were so well thought of by those in power. While they might come from old families, that didn't mean they had either great amounts of gold or lots of magical power. I would go after these minor Purebloods first.
Tom Riddle's childhood memories let me know who had been his original supporters and I had my memories of the book series to help me keep track of those who would support Voldemort should he return. Some entire families would need to be dealt with while other families might be innocent aside from a single rotten apple spoiling the bunch.
"Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Gibbon, Nott, Antonin Dolohov, Jugson, Thorfinn Rowle, Corban Yaxley, Severus Snape, Fenrir Greyback, Avery, Mulciber, Igor Karkaroff, Selwyn, Travers, Augustus Rookwood, Walden Macnair, Alecto Carrow and Amycus Carrow" I whispered.
Those were the main ones I needed to worry about. Without them, the Death Eater organisation would be no real threat to anyone unless Voldemort could recruit a lot of new members. They were valid targets and given the magical animal forms, I could take I should be able to take them down once I found them. Which I could do as a thestral given that those beasts were very good at finding places I just needed an idea of where these people lived.
I might need to steal a wizarding world address book from the Ministry, or maybe I could send them a blank letter and follow the post owl as they always seemed to know where they were going. With so many options, it was time to start narrowing down my ideas and put together some proper plans.
(Line Break)
Gringotts Bank. Diagon Alley.
It had taken some time for the goblins to finally sort out all of the treasure that I'd brought in, but it was done and I was now one of the richest wizards in the country, I actually had access to more money than many old families because my wealth wasn't invested in properties or tied with businesses. Compared to the older Pureblood families I was most certainly what could be called New Money, but the Hiddleston family itself was considered somewhat old so I shouldn't be looked down upon too much by the snobs.
Not that I really cared much about their opinions nor really about the money as while it was nice being rich I saw it more as a tool than anything else, a way to advance my plans, and to that end I needed to make some important choices with what to do with my growing fortune. Money like all forms of power needed to be taken care of and nurtured in such a way as it would grow.
My sudden increase in wealth had gotten some attention even if people didn't know the details and not just for Tom. Teen Witch Weekly wanted to interview John Hiddleston because he was Tom's heir. I'd ignored the requests and written my own article on the subject for the Quibbler.
"We've started looking into investments in the Muggle world," my account manager, I'd gotten a new one called Bloodknife, told me "And you are right these computers are selling fast, we just don't know if the market will remain profitable".
I knew that it would even if I hadn't sold my laptop to some nerds, who by now had patented the technology, computers were no fad and would only become prolific over the next few decades.
"It's a sound investment," I said "I've spent time in the Muggle world so I know that computers are becoming more common at both home and the workplace. I predict that before the century ends that most people in the muggle world will have at least one in their home".
The goblin looked at some papers.
"We have a number of Muggleborns and squibs who work for us, they keep an eye on the muggle world for us and act as agree with your assessment" I was informed, "A company called Mircosoft looks promising for long term investments".
If I recalled correctly there had been the Y2K bug that worried people, but that was years away and nothing to worry about. I knew that Mircosoft was still going strong in the 2020s.
"There are a few companies that I want to invest in," I told my Account Manager.
While Gringotts itself didn't play the stock market the goblins as a nation did and had done for a while. They would work as intermediates and handle most of the work for me. Squibs and muggle-borns who had no place in the wizarding world would handle things in the muggle world.
"I want to invest in Apple, a computer company, and DELL another computer company" I informed the goblin "Starbucks and the Monster Beverage. Also, I want to purchase stock in Yahoo and Amazon".
These choices had been made by Cortana. The other companies made sense to me aside from Monster. Cortana had explained to me that Monster Beverage would within the next few years begin the trend of heavily caffeinated drinks that result in the stock climbing in value over the next decade or so.
I had very little idea how the stock market and investments worked, but Cortana did so I just repeated to the goblins what she told me to say. We couldn't just buy a lot of stock in one company because that would affect the market too much so my AI wanted to build my wealth up over the next few decades. I wouldn't always be travelling the multiverse after all and I was immortal so I could wait.
"Aside from the investments I want to make sizable contains to St Mungos and Hogwarts School" I mentioned.
I had more money than I needed and I might as well help a few people if only because doing so made me feel good about myself. The goblin and I discussed some numbers before I started signing some paperwork.
"Very well Mr Hiddleston," said Bloodknife "Your instructions will be carried out".
I took that as meaning that it was time for me to leave. I did have things to do as Hogwarts would be starting up again soon which meant I needed to purchase new supplies and books. I could afford the best now and I was going to buy them.
(Line Break)
The Knight Bus. Islington.
It was a surprise to me when not long after getting on the bus so that it could take me to King's Cross where I could board the train to school as John Hiddleston, the bus diverted from its course and ended up in a very familiar street. This was Grimmauld Place I should know as I'd visited it a couple of times, but I'd not been here since I'd come to meet with Sirius Black as Tom Hiddleston so that we could talk about my bike.
The bus stopped outside the house to allow both Harry Potter and Sirius Black on board. I was surprised to see them together as Harry was surprised to see me. I wondered why Black didn't take Harry on his motorbike, but the trunk that Harry was dragging along answered that question.
"John!" he called out as he moved to sit with me on one of the benches that take place of the beds when the bus is out and about during the day "Guess what. I live with Sirius now. Sirius this is John Hiddleston, he's been helping me a lot at school".
The older wizard to a seat before commenting on that.
"Thank you for keeping an eye on the pup," he said before addressing a different matter "I'm not sure if your cousin mentioned that we had a few words over the summer, he played a bit part in getting me off my backside and back out into the world".
Of course, I knew about that because he'd been talking to me as Tom Hiddleston, but I'd not know if I'd had much of an impact.
"He told me all about it," I told Mr Black "We were both rather upset that no one cared that Harry was taken from his relative's home".
Harry seemed very pleased about the whole thing. Clearly, he didn't feel that he'd been kidnapped.
"Well, after that talk, I went to the Ministry and arranged to take full custody of Harry like I should have done as soon as I got out of Azkaban" Sirius let me know "When you next talk to your cousin you can tell him that he was right".
I promised that I would before starting to wonder if Harry would find himself back at the Dursley's house after Sirius suffered some sort of accident or found himself back in Azkaban. It depended on how badly the Headmaster wanted Harry to be abused by his relatives. He might allow Sirius to keep custody of Harry as long as his godfather was a Dumbledore supporter and Harry didn't get too big for his boots.
The bus soon arrived at the train station. Harry and I were soon heading for Platform 9 and three quarters. The station was packed with Muggles, but unlike a certain red-headed banshee none of us felt the need to yap about it. The bus didn't take long to get anywhere, however, it was getting close to 11.
"I'll have to leave you here," said Mr Black as we reached the barrier "I need to report in with my new boss".
He walked off to find his own way just before Harry and I ran into Ron Weasly who looked as if he'd been left behind by his family. What were the odds of this happening?
"The way onto the platform is gone" commented Harry after he and the Weasel had crashed into it.
I could only assume that Dobby was behind this. I was going to have to call upon the House Elf soon and explain to him that I'd destroyed the dark object. For now I needed to sort out these two boys and get their luggage sorted out before we planned our next move.
"Let's take my Dad's care" insisted Weasly.
That was a really bad idea.
"We can take the bus directly to Hogsmede," I said to Harry "We can go directly to the village and send an owl to the school to let them know we missed the train. We don't want to get into any trouble".
Thankfully Potter listened to me even if the Weasley boy didn't.
(Line Break)
The Three Broomsticks. Hogsmede.
One ride on the Knight Bus later we found ourselves in the charming little village that I would be allowed to visit this year since I was a third-year student, assuming that I didn't get into a lot of trouble, not that the school's rules would stop me if I wanted to go anywhere.
Since Harry owned an owl we could send a note to the Deputy Headmistress about Harry and me being in the Three Broomsticks. Hedwig shouldn't take long to find the teacher as she was a very smart owl.
"We should go have an early lunch and wait for a teacher to come to get us," I said to Mr Potter.
I didn't think trying to enter the castle was a good idea as the staff would be very busy preparing for the new school year.
"Food sounds good" commented Harry.
Since I'd never met a 12-year-old boy who would say no to a meal going to the pub for a bite had made sense as part of my plan. Thankfully the Three Broomsticks opened at 11 and while it was a little early for lunch I was sure that Madam Rosmerta, the owner of the Three Broomsticks, wouldn't turn away what seemed to be two hungry boys and I planned to tip very well.
"Bless my soul, is that Harry Potter?" asked a customer.
The Boy-Who-Lived did his best to hide his scar and thankfully Rosmerta took us over to a table and made it clear that we were to be left alone by some stern glances at the other customers.
"Now why aren't you two on the train?" she asked.
Given that there was only one train that came to the village's station we didn't need to ask which train she meant.
"The barrier closed before 11" I answered "So I figured that it would best to take the Knight Bus to Hogsmede and then to come here since there's nobody at home today. We just sent an owl to Professor McGonagall letting her know that we'd wait here for her".
Rosmerta nodded in approval.
"That was sensible of you," said the owner of this business "I'm not ready to serve lunch just yet so how about some soup and drinks for now?".
I agreed to this and not long after our soup arrived Professor McGonagall came into the pub. She spotted us and came straight over, not bothering to take a seat just yet.
"Mr Potter, Mr Hiddleston," she said, "Can you explain to me why you are not on the Hogwarts Express".
My note had been short on detail since I'd known I would end up explaining what happened in person soon enough.
"Mr Black took us to the barrier at Kings Cross and then left us to go to work," I told the teacher as Harry seemed a bit nervous "We met Ron Weasly there and we tried to get through the barrier only it became solid and I noticed that the muggles saw Ron Weasly and Harry crash into the barrier. But it was before 11 am so that shouldn't have happened".
Professor McGonagall looked as if she was deep in thought.
"Are you sure it was before the train was supposed to leave?" she asked "Perhaps you were just late".
That made no sense as the platform still needed to let people back into the King's Cross once the train had left or the parents would be stuck on it. The non-magical parents couldn't simply teleport away. Perhaps Professor McGonagall had just forgotten that because she was distracted by some concern. She did look worried about something and I didn't think that it was us.
"I checked the big clock at the station and my pocket watch to be sure," I answered "It was five minutes to 11 and the way into the platform was already closed. I figured that someone had gone wrong with the enchantments so I suggested to Harry and the youngest Weasly boy, who for some reason was waiting around the platform, that we take the Knight Bus directly to Hogsmede and then owl someone at the school to let you know we were okay. We couldn't go home because my cousin left this morning on some business and Mr Black is at work".
Professor McGonagall took a seat and ordered a drink. I didn't begrudge her for having something that I knew contained a shot of spirit even if it smelled very fruity.
"I see now that neither of you is to blame for what happened," she stated "I was in my office talking to Mr and Mrs Weasly when your owl arrived. Apparently, their youngest son got it into his head to fly the family car to Hogwarts rather than come along with you or wait for his parents. The Ministry got wind of this and they are not happy since the car was seen flying by several Muggles. When I got your note I worried that there might be more students who missed the train".
While I kept control of myself Harry did not hide his shock.
"We never should have let him go," he said.
I decided to clarify that in such a way as to make us seem blameless.
"Ron Weasly told us about his parent's car and that we could take it to the school" I informed the teacher "I assumed that he was offering to ask his parents to drive us here, but I didn't see the point if we could get here so quickly on the bus. I don't know the Weasly family and after what happened over the summer I don't trust them".
Professor McGonagall looked sternly at me.
"Yes, I heard about the misunderstanding you and the other Mr Hiddleston had about Mr Potter here spending time at The Burrow" she mentioned as she quickly finished her drink.
It had been kidnapping, but Dumbledore had authorised it so that meant it was okay.
"The Headmaster would like to speak with you both" Professor McGonagall let us know
Hopefully he really just wanted to get Harry back into the castle.
"I'll be having words with our new Professor," said the Deputy Headmistress as we started to make our way to the castle "Mr Black should have made sure that you both got onto the train before coming to the school".
It took Harry a moment longer than me to process that information.
"Sirius is teaching here?" Potter asked.
Perhaps the curse on the DADA job was still going if I had destroyed the diadem. I assumed that Black hadn't mentioned anything as he'd wanted to surprise Harry.
"Is Professor Lupin too unwell to keep teaching?" I wondered.
He hadn't been the DADA professor for a full year as he had replaced the one I'd killed after a term had passed so I'd thought he might last until Christmas.
"Mr Black is our new duelling instructor" Professor McGonagall explained "The Board of Governors have noticed that our the results of the DADA OWLS and NEWTS have been less than stellar. Thanks to a recent donation the school can afford to not only reopen the club, but we can also expand it. Duelling will be an extra-curriculum class as Professor Dumbledore doesn't believe it should be considered a proper subject".
Of course, he didn't. What tyrant wants subjects who are able to fight back? Although given Dumbledore's army, something he must have known about, perhaps I was being too harsh.
(Line Break)
Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Albus Dumbledore couldn't help smiling as while right now Ron Weasly was breaking the Statute of Secrecy in a big way and running one of the Headmaster's plans, at least Harry was now back in Hogwarts and under Dumbledore's ever-watchful eye.
The youngest Weasly boy would have to be sacrificed, unfortunately, had Harry taken the car with young Ronald it would be a different matter as Fudge wouldn't have dared expel young Mr Potter, not while the lad was so popular with the general public, and that would have shielded Ronald since they couldn't spare one boy while condemning the other.
Not that Dumbledore would have ever placed Potter in that car, yet he found himself a little disappointed that the two boys hadn't bonded together and come to the school as a pair. It had taken some work to get Ronald reenlisted into the school so that he be Sorted again and hopefully into the proper house. All that time and effort had been wasted. Minister Fudge had been clear about the boy being expelled.
He was actually grateful that the younger of the two Hiddleston wizards had taken the much more sensible course of action by taking the Knight Bus directly to the village and then contacting a teacher. If only the Weasley boy had been smart enough to tag along. Albus wondered what could have been going through the mind of Arthur and Molly's youngest son. Had he been trying to show off?
John Hiddleston clearly had a good head on his shoulders, and it might be good for Harry to have a friend who would stay calm when faced with a problem. That combined with the recent donation made to the school by the older Hiddleston made Dumbledore wonder if that family might not be as against him as he'd first thought. Perhaps he could bring both John and Tom around to his side.
Perhaps Bagshot had been the real driving force behind that blasted book and Tom Hiddleston had merely been the sponsor? Judging by the fact that the wealthy wizard was now writing articles for the Quibbler he seemed to have worked towards becoming a writer for some time.
When Minerva entered his office with the two young students, Dumbledore made sure to look at them both with his kindly grandfather expression as he looked into the mess that was Harry Potter's mind. He saw their recent adventure and this confirmed what the Headmaster already knew.
"I am glad to see that you two are well," he said.
John avoided looking at him, and seemed transfixed with Fawks, not odd as phoenixes were amazing creatures and even wizards could go a whole lifetime without seeing one.
"I wanted to discuss what happened over the summer," Dumbledore told the boys "Harry went to the Burrow with my permission and I've always had his best interests in mind".
John avoided making eye contact and kept a passive expression on his face. He must at least know the basics of occlumency, which involved avoiding eye contact and staying calm.
"It's not my business" was all the third-year student had to say.
The older Hiddleston certainly had thought so. Not that it had gone anywhere. Bones was an ineffective head of the DMLE and this was just the way those that really ran Wizarding Britain wanted it to be. Dumbledore certainly didn't want anyone poking around in his business.
"Out of curiosity why didn't you contact me?" asked Dumbledore.
He wanted Harry to see him as someone he could call upon in a time of trouble.
"You're a busy wizard," said John Hiddleston "I figured that you might be at the Ministry doing some important work".
That made sense and Hiddleston had no reason to think he should send a message to Dumbledore, but it was a shame that Harry hadn't thought to contact him.
"I also brought you here to thank you both for being sensible and not doing anything stupid," said the Headmaster "You will both be awarded points when the term starts and I promise that the enchantments at the platform will be checked for any tampering".
He wouldn't have to do anything about that since the Ministry had already sent people.
"The school is still closed, so you'll have to amuse yourselves in the Great Hall until this evening," said Dumbledore "Perhaps there's some studying you can be getting on with".
Both of the boys just nodded their heads and since neither of them seemed inclined to talk he decided to let them go. He'd have to talk to Hiddleston in private some other time as he was rather busy today.
