In Every Darkness
Chapter Forty Seven: The Marge Case Begins
18.9.1996
Harry stood at a window in the Room of Requirement, watching the sun rise, his thoughts roaming absently. He rested his hand on Grypis's feathered head, and smiled down at the griffin beside him.
Grypis had resumed his true form while in the room, as the door was closed and would not let anyone in without Harry's say so. The griffin stood as high as Harry's hip now, with huge golden wings folded majestically against his flanks.
"Gryphas," it was Grypis. He rarely used Harry's 'soul name', but on the rare occasion that he had to speak Harry's name, he did sometime's use this one.
"What is troubling you, friend?" Harry asked in reply.
"I need to learn to fly, and meet others who are if not of a kind to me, kindred in magic. I wish to leave you for a time, when you have no need of me. Not now, of course, and not until the court case is over and done with."
"Grypis, my friend, never would I presume to keep here against your will. You are my friend, not my pet, as are free to go where and when you wish. I am honoured that you have chosen to stay with me for so long, and I know that you will return to me in time, but your life is your own," Harry replied.
"You are truly a welcome change from most of your kind, Gryphas. You bear a soul name, for one thing. There are few humans that may take a soul name, though all griffins do. I am not sure why, but doubtless I will find out, in time," Grypis said, resuming a cat form as a knock came at the door.
Harry walked over to the door, asking the room, "who is it?"
Immediately an image of Albus Dumbledore appeared on a mirror over the door, and Harry told the room, "Let him in."
A moment later Dumbledore entered and smiled gently at Harry. "We will leave before breakfast, I think. No use in attracting attention that we don't want or need. We can always eat at a Muggle place on the way," he said.
Harry smiled, only faintly. "Let me leave a note for my friends," he replied. "Otherwise they are all too likely to become somewhat hysterical because they can't find me."
"Of course," Dumbledore replied, his eyes laughing. "When you are done, give it to me and I will ask Minerva to deliver it for you at breakfast."
"Thanks sir," Harry replied, quickly scribbling a note and then handing it to Dumbledore, who concentrated for a moment. The paper disappeared with a small flash of white light.
"Sir, how did you do that?" Harry asked curiously.
"It's part of being the headmaster of
Hogwarts, Harry," Dumbledore replied. "If I must, I may send things to Minerva,
who is my deputy. I generally don't, however."
"Why not?" Harry wanted to know, lifting
Grypis, now again in cat form, to his shoulder.
"It is tiring, if I try to use that power too often. Come, Harry, we will go to Tatsu's house via the Floo network," Dumbledore replied, noticing Harry's immediately brightening at the mention of Tatsu.
"Here," Dumbledore held out a pouch of Floo powder. Harry wrinkled his nose slightly, Floo was almost as bad as Portkeys, he thought … but if he didn't take the Floo network, then he would have to take a Portkey.
Well, he had to take the Floo anyway, and he would rather that than a Portkey … but only just.
Taking a handful of the powder, Harry threw it on the fire and stepped into the fire place when the flames turned green. "Tatsu's House, Number Six Privet Drive," he announced clearly, remembering all too well his first trip by Floo, to Knockturn Alley.
He was spinning, faster, and faster, grates flashed before his eyes, dim blurs, as his glasses were in his pocket. On his shoulder, Grypis clung on tightly, claws dug so deep into the leather pad on Harry's shoulder that he could just feel their tips against his skin.
Suddenly the spinning stopped, and Harry tumbled forwards. Suddenly hands were steadying him, but almost as soon as they offered support, he was standing back, hand going to wand.
Tatsu raised his hands in a gesture of peace
with a smile. "You're learning," he said, as Harry put his glasses on. "Now move
out of the way so that Dumbledore can come through."
Harry smiled and did so, and a moment
later Dumbledore stepped smoothly from the fire. "Good morning to you Tatsu,"
Dumbledore greeted with a smile. "How have you been?"
"Fine, though my thanks for asking,
Albus," Tatsu replied, smiling in turn. "Come, the both of you. I'll drive you
around to the court house. The case begins in two hours, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "But we had
hoped to find a place to stop for a spot of food along the way … Muggle place,
perhaps. I have been meaning to try out some new Muggle food for some time."
"I know just the place," Tatsu assured him. "Not to far from the court house either."
"Then let us go," Dumbledore cried, delightedly.
As they walked outside and piled into Tatsu's small car, Harry could not resist the urge look at what had once been number four Privet Drive. It had not been rebuilt yet, although most of the wreckage had been cleared away.
Closing his eyes firmly, Harry turned his head away from the scene, tears prickly his eyes. He reminded himself that while the Dursley's were gone, Remus was still around, sometimes.
"Professor," Harry spoke up, as Tatsu turned a corner.
"Yes Harry?"
"Who is my legal guardian? I mean, the Dursley's were, but they're dead now, and Sirius might have been, but he's dead and everyone thinks he's a Death Eaters."
"Well, you don't have a legal guardian, as such, any longer, because your relatives did not have it in a will, and Sirius would have chosen Remus. You have people who will watch out for you, and should it be asked, it will be said that you were staying with friends until such a time that a legal guardian could come forward," Dumbledore replied.
"Have you thought of anyone for the post?" Tatsu asked. "Either you, Albus, or Harry."
"I certainly haven't," Harry replied. "I wouldn't want to ask the Weasley's – they've to enough mouths to feed in their family already. The only other people I could think of are Dumbledore and you, Tatsu."
"I had thought of myself as a possible candidate, but I do not think that it would work well," Dumbledore stated slowly. "I have so many things to do, and my residence in Hogwarts, whether school is in or not. I would not be able to take care of a teenager with any ease. I had also considered the Weasley's, Harry, but like you, I dismissed them, and for the same reason. I have put some thought to the matter, and, again like Harry, the only adult I could trust enough to do such a job would be you, Tatsu … And your position here is a complete secret to the rest of the magical community – being made Harry's guardian would bring you to public attention."
"Harry needs a guardian," Tatsu informed them both. "If there is no one else for the position, I would be honoured to take it up, if only until he comes of age, which is only another year away. That way if I wish to leave the country, Harry will be able to take care of himself. His father was my friend, as was his godfather."
Harry blinked. All of his childhood he'd wished for someone like Tatsu to come and take him from the Dursley's. Sometimes, since he'd met the man, he'd wondered what it would be like to think of him as a father … Or an uncle.
Tatsu pulled up into a parking space. "We can talk of that again later – you've a different case to deal with now … don't you?"
"Well, in a sense, they are linked. Harry will need a proper legal guardian to speak for him in court matters. They will understand that there has been a delay in finding someone, but I have a feeling that the judge will not give his or her judgement until Harry has a guardian to speak for him," Dumbledore replied.
Wow, this was going fast, Harry thought to himself.
"I think that speed is the essence here," Grypis told him, laughter in the griffins mind voice.
"I suppose so," Harry agreed, with an almost sigh.
"Well, we have to take that matter up with the Ministry of Magic," Tatsu pointed out. "They have to know, and approve, of any non-related person who wasn't named in a will taking guardianship of a magical child."
"So we do," Dumbledore agreed.
"This is starting to go over my head," Harry remarked to Grypis. "All I wanted to know is who my legal guardian is now that my relatives are dead, and now it seems I have to go to the damn ministry!"
"You don't like the ministry," Grypis remarked. "Then again, from what you've told me of them, I can't blame you."
Harry smiled fondly at the griffin, his mind taken off the matter of the adults conversation.
"Harry," Dumbledore brought Harry's thoughts back to the matter at hand. "You'll have to miss a fair bit of school during the next few weeks, I'll make sure you get the homework and the lesson notes for all of your classes, but we really have to take care of these legal things now."
Harry sighed. "Yes, that's fine," he assured Dumbledore. "I want this over and done with myself. Besides, it being the beginning of the year, I have the rest of the year to catch up with everything."
"So you do. You're a capable boy, so I'm sure a few weeks of school won't upset your learning too much," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Tomorrow, or today after we're out of the court room, I'll have to take you and Tatsu to the Ministry of Magic to get them to give their approval for Tatsu to become your guardian."
"You mean I'm going to be staying with you for the next year?" Harry asked, turning excitedly to Tatsu.
"Easy kid," Tatsu grinned. "Yeah, I'll be your
legal guardian, you and your friends are always welcome in my home. You'll
probably be spending most of your time at Grimmauld Place, though."
Harry was grinning widely as they
finished a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs. Tatsu leaned over to Harry and
whispered, "remember, upset, helpless and bewildered."
Harry looked and smiled briefly, then adjusted his features, thinking of all the deaths that he'd seen or heard of in his life – particularly that of Cedric Diggory.
For a moment he felt anger rising his mind. No, he thought fiercely at it. I don't want you now. I don't want to be angry – I want to look helpless and confused!
The anger faded, much to Harry's relief and surprise.
"Good," Tatsu nodded approvingly at the expression Harry wore. The boy let his body droop slightly, as if an overwhelming burden was lying heavy on his shoulders.
Dumbledore came back from his adventure – paying the bill for the breakfast – but stopped suddenly when he saw Harry. "What happened to you?" he asked mildly.
"Just following some advice. It's not like I can do much in the court," Harry pointed out.
"But if he looks like this, the judge, and the jury might be swayed towards him at least a little bit," Tatsu added. "It's not much, but if you and the woman Marge's lawyer do equally well in presenting your arguments, it might be enough to bring us a victory."
"The dragon doesn't lightly give up what he wants," Dumbledore remarked with amusement.
Tatsu just smiled in agreement and walked with Harry and Dumbledore around the block to the court house. "Well, I'd best come with you, if I'm to be Harry's guardian!" he said, cheerily.
"So you had," Dumbledore agreed, sounding suddenly serious. When Harry looked up at his teacher, he noted that the twinkling light in Dumbledore's eyes and dimmed, and the old man seemed to have grown in stature.
"He's great man, Dumbledore," Harry recalled Hagrid saying on more than one occasion. Harry remembered the look of complete fury on Dumbledore's face the night that Barty Crouch Jr. had taken him from the Quidditch stadium.
A feeling of power, much like back then, radiated from Dumbledore now, making everyone on the street step back from the small party, awed by something that most would not understand.
Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of this time, Harry thought, not the for the first time, and not, he knew, for the last.
The trio entered the court house, Dumbledore led them to sit behind a bench at the left hand side of the room, right at the very front.
Behind them were a few people, Harry didn't know any of them personally, though most of them were friends of his Aunt and Uncle, though he knew some, by description, to be friends of Marge.
But, he noted, there were also wizards and witches present. He didn't recognize many of them, at first. There was Alastor Moody, wearing a wide brimmed black hat and a eye-patch, to cover his rather … distinctive magical eye, Arthur Weasley, wearing a neat, Muggle suit, Percy Weasley, standing at the other side of the room, probably standing in for the Ministry.
He was sure that were others, people he didn't know by sight. He could almost feel their surprise at his companions. Dumbledore, of course, was expected, everyone knew that Dumbledore helped Harry whenever he could, but Tatsu … He knew that very few people in the wizarding world would recognise Tatsu – there had been few pictures taken of him, even back in the war against Voldemort.
"They don't recognise you," Harry muttered to Tatsu.
"They aren't supposed to," Tatsu replied, smiling faintly. "I don't like being in the public eye, any more than you do, you know that."
"So I do," Harry agreed. "I wish they didn't recognise me."
"You can't help being in the public eye, a helplessness that I don't envy," Tatsu responded. "You are too famous, have done too many things, too many public things."
Harry just rolled his eyes, though he kept his face turned towards the ground. Only Tatsu would have seen him.
"Remember," Tatsu said, as the door burst open again, "Upset, helpless, bewildered."
Marge Dursley entered the room, her bulk forcing the people seated in the aisle seats to move a little away from here to enable her to pass through.
With her came a Muggle that Harry didn't recognise, nor, he sensed, did Dumbledore. Then again, the other man was a Muggle, so why would Dumbledore know him?
The judge raised a small graval and three loud taps rang out, reducing the room to silence.
The court case had begun.
***
I bet you hate me again, don't you? Oh well, you'll find what happens next soon enough.
~WolfMoon~