Unbecoming
Chapter 1 - A Beginning
August 3, 1990
Good morning or day or night. Whatever time you are reading this. I'm starting on this project – again (Ugh!). I've vanished two pages of writing already because of a total lack of organization and some bad spelling. Something I've been instructed to pay attention to. This first entry will be proofed by someone else before I'm allowed to continue writing.
My full name is Jayson Mumford Wrightson (Jamie, to my friends) and I received this journal as one of the presents for my 10th birthday. As it came from my very best friend, she thought that I might want a record of my day to day life; especially as we are both looking forward to attending Hogwarts Schoolof Witchcraft and Wizardry next year. I've found a few blank journals in the house library and will probably use one of them for the regular entries. This present will be reserved for something I consider special and private (my lives). While I originally thought it may be a little girlie for a bloke to do this, I've seen and heard about such things (journals and diaries) from the adults I have had contact with. Also Uncle Cyrus and some magical paintings that I have had discussions with says it's a great way to revise my own thoughts and feelings that I've had over time.
Yes, I did write magical. I (and most of my friends now) live in a world hidden from the people without magic. The 'norms' or 'mundanes' as they say in the States. The term that most of the magicals in England refer to the rest of the population of the world is insulting and I'm not going to write it down if I have a choice. The magic that people have is explained by various theories: it is a gift from the gods, an evolutionary enhancement, or (for those born into mundane families) a fortunate combination of genes. All to use the magic that exists in and around us.
My new aunt(guardian) warded this book with the best spells she knows so that no one can open or read it without my permission. I hope somewhere in the future to find someone I like enough or trust enough to share my private history with. I have been fortunate to have been raised for the last two years in a magical family. They have raised me and guided me in the amazing world of magic and magical culture. Knowledge that I wasn't aware of as I was brought up in a regular household.
You may wonder at this seeming contradiction, but the truth is that I had another life and another totally different existence before the… I guess I'll call it my death and rebirth. If I've trusted you with my secret identity, you need to hear what happened to me. The other 'famous' name you know is buried for the time being. I've trained myself publicly to ignore it. Privately, it's very crucial to my future and my place in magical society when I attain the age of majority. That age of majority is a subject of debate between the kids who I hang around with, the adults I know and the few goblins that I have talked to in my dealings at Gringotts. I'll explain that a little more about that later when I've got it straightened up in my head. There are so many different ideas because of the circumstances I find myself in.
I have some time now to start the background and story of my life tonight, but I am not sure it all can be conveyed in the time I have before I go to sleep. Since this journal has also been enchanted to add more pages to itself over time, I will try to describe who I was, am now, and who I hope to be in the future. And exactly what happened that one night in my past. My memory is intact to a certain point but after that it's just a theory.
I remember the horrible pain. Then magic, my magic, saved my life. And luck and circumstances gave me another one.
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August 9th, 1990
Practice essay -JMW
In the latter half of the 1970's, a great war was being waged. This was not a battle of guns, bombs, and great armies struggling against each other but a battle between magical humans that lived in the island of England. A great, but evil wizard, was attempting to take over the government of the magical people and ridding the world of people that he didn't think worthy of having the gift of magic. That powerful wizard called himself Lord Voldemort. He led a group of like-minded, ruthless wizards and witches that hid their identities behind silver masks and black robes. They called themselves Death Eaters as they supposedly feasted on the life-ending suffering of those that opposed them.
Opposing the terrible and powerful Lord Voldemort and his followers was the Ministry of Magic which had governed magical England for many hundreds of years. Special agents of the Ministry of Magic called Aurors and Hit Wizards defended the Ministry and magical people against the dark forces that Voldemort led.
Also opposing those terrorists was the most powerful wizard in England (or maybe in the world) Albus Dumbledore. He had distinguished himself by defeating the previous Dark Lord to help end the planet wide conflict called World War II.
After that earlier war between good and evil, Dumbledore was awarded high honors and became the most respected wizard in England and regarded as the most powerful wizard in the magical world. He was chosen for the highest important responsibilities that included the Supreme Mugwump of the International Council of Wizardry, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot (the ruling body of magical England) and the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witches.
(condensed summary : Chapter 15, "A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry". This fulfills the History portion of the writing I was assigned as I try to understand the past and the part of it my family(s) plays. And my role(s).)
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My first parents were married six months after they graduated from Hogwarts. He was a well-respected Auror, think magical policeman, that came from a very, very long line of magical people. My mother, on the other hand, was a first-generation witch meaning both her parents were ordinary mundanes. That fact brought her a lot of attention at Hogwarts, most of the bad sort originally. Some of her classmates disapproved or even hated the fact that she could perform magic. A faction of traditional family's opinion on the world was that anything the came from the other(mundane) world was inferior and that some witch or wizard that had zero or one parent that was normal was a crime that went unpunished.
My mother threw that bigoted idea back into those faces, becoming one of the most talented and powerful witches of her generation. She was so good at her studies that she was chosen to be Head Girl in her 7th year and was assigned special quarters to make it easier to handle her responsibilities. It was no small accomplishment as the choosing of the Heads of Students was reserved to the very best and brightest.
(However it happened, it was my father that was chosen to be Head Boy that same year. The private quarters, with two suites and a common area, must have given them many opportunities to converse and form a stronger bond between them. I'm not going to even think about what other things might have been going on between them there also.)
Anyway, I came along a little over two years later after they graduated. My dad and his very best (?) friend had risen very rapidly in the ranks of Aurors engaging the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort. My mother assisted my dad as she could, but she was also working on her Masteries in Charms and Potions with a few professors at Hogwarts. Despite talking to some of her friends and classmates about her, I'm still uncertain whether she was preparing to teach at Hogwarts, was working to establish her own business or some other option that I'm not aware of. I hope my parents both had journals or diaries in the family vault that I will gain access to when I get older.
My parents and I went into hiding at one point because Lord Voldemort had focused on plans to remove many people that stood directly in his way. Especially those that survived encounters with him or his followers. He focused his attacks on the Ministry leaders and those Aurors that resisted him.
He attacked my family and killed my parents on Halloween – October 31st, 1981. I was Harry James Potter, and this is how I died. And what happened to me next.
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The Very Private Journals of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Pensieve Memory Summary: 12-37
December 31, 1937
I made the acquaintance of a potentially remarkable wizard today in doing my duties for Hogwarts. My task was bringing the invitations for Hogwarts to the muggleborn around London. In a rundown orphanage in one of the seedier districts of the West End, I met young Thomas Marvalo Riddle.
My pretense of investigating a lost heir of a well-to-do family gave the matron of the facility enough interest to inform me a little of his history and behavior. When I assured her that her warnings about his character would not deter me from my search, she led me to the boy's room in the back of the building on the second floor.
It did not take me more than a few seconds to look around the room and in young Tom's mind to see that he was a very powerful wizard for his age. He also had the temperament and attitude to be the epitome of a true Slytherin leader.
He recognized me quickly as a person who had the sort of special powers as himself. He exclaimed in delight about the explanation of the difference between himself and the other occupants of the orphanage. That he would be trained to control his abilities and grow in power and knowledge brought a very sly smile to his face. I warned Mr. Riddle about the consequences of overstepping his boundaries and the resulting problems that might happen should he continue the stealing and bullying of his fellow orphans. He was quite contrite that his 'habits' had been discovered but promised to do better in the future.
As I had many more invitations to deliver, I could not stay as long as I wanted with the young sorcerer. However I was happy to leave that place, as I had found a key player in my plan for the Greater Good!
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August 9th, 1990
I have been lucky that I have some pictures of my parents from when they attended Hogwarts up to the time that they were advised to go into hiding. (Something I still do not understand, as I've been told that the wards at Potter Manor rivalled those protecting Hogwarts.) Most are from friends of my parents and were taken while they were students, and some are from the time when they were married and had me.
I see the family resemblance to my parents when I look at those pictures. I had a mess of dark hair upon my head that didn't surrender to a comb or brushes efforts. I bore a strong resemblance to my father but the significant difference I had to him was the emerald green eyes of my mother. Something very distinctive which are now disguised by colored contact lenses. A simple but effective mundane solution that would stand up to a spell that look for a magical glamour.
It was decided very soon after I left the Dursleys behind that any chance I would have to enjoy a normal childhood, could only be made by disguising myself. Though no other persons were present in the house in Godric's Hallow the night my parents died other than us Potters and Lord Voldemort, my description soon made its way into common knowledge in the magical world. For someone that supposedly was in hiding from the followers of Voldemort, having my features written about and displayed in a series of juvenile adventure books with my face on their covers seems to me to be defeating the effort at obscurity. (The Goblins tell me I must wait until I am 14 to demand a cut of the profits of those books since whatever person wrote those books did so without my knowledge and approval. My magical guardian, of course, has never informed me about this. He also never checked up on me after he abandoned me on the Dursley's stoop.)
Half of those pictures I have of my family were taken with one or both parents holding me. The others were taken with friends of my family, especially my father's 3 closest friends (The Marauders) or in rare social meetings considering the threat of the Dark Lord and his followers.
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The Very Private Journals of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Pensieve Memory Summary: 8-80
August 14, 1980
The monthly meeting of the Order welcomed two unofficial young Lions tonight. Neville Franklin Longbottom was presented with much pride by his parents, Frank and Alice. Harry James Potter, born one day later than Scion Longbottom, was also welcomed to the meeting held at Prewitt Manor. During the break for refreshments I had the opportunity to briefly hold both children and clandestinely measured the levels of magical potential each boy held. Both boys rated very high on that scale and I only deliberated for a matter of seconds before confirming my suspicions about the two progenies. Both would have to be bound magically in certain ways to prevent them from realizing their potential. The young Longbottom to grow up shy, awkward and insecure would keep him in the background until he had long graduated from Hogwarts.
Young Master Harry would be the perfect poster boy for the side of the Light. With very little manipulating on my part, the betrayal of the Potter adults would confirm the prophesy I had Imperiused Sybil Trelawney into saying before witnesses. The Potter fortune would go a long way into funding my plan for the Greater Good of Magical England (and myself of course).
Luckily, I have in my possession the remarkable Invisibility Cloak that the Potter family owned. It has been handed down from generation to generation for almost all of recorded history. A small unnoticeable compulsion spell cast on James made him more than willing to aid my tracking down of the Dark Forces. It may take many discrete visits to the Longbottom and Potter nurseries to properly prepare and constrict the abilities of my two future students until such time as they are needed to fight Tom Riddle for the benefit of the magicals.
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(Authors Note. I'm attempting to make this mostly Harry's viewpoint, although Dumbledore's thoughts may show up from time to time to see what his plans really were. This may or may not work out well, but we'll see how it goes until Harry (Jayson) receives his Hogwarts letter.)