Spoiler Warning: This story is a sixth year fic that follows on from the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As a conseqeunce this story contains *major* spoilers for book 5. You have been warned.
SNAKE HEALER: THE MALFOY MUGGLE LOVER
CHAPTER 17: PREJUDICES
"Ron! Harry! I've been so worried," Molly Weasley cried as she entered the room. She hurried over to the two boys and pulled them into a bone-crushing hug. It was only when Harry gasped for breath that she let the boys go. "I'm so sorry for being angry with you," she continued, managing to sound extremely worried, deliriously happy and profoundly apologetic all at the same time, "It was just so difficult to see you leaving like that, it reminded me of Percy. I should never have doubted you – I'm so sorry." Molly's attention turned to her adopted son, who she began fussing over. Harry didn't feel left out, she was Ron's mother, whether he was adopted or not, not his. Instead he felt somewhat guilty for intruding on what he felt should be a private moment. Making sure not to draw any attention he moved quietly to the doorway and left the room, closing the door softly behind him. He couldn't help but break into a small smile though; it seemed that the Weasley family had accepted his status as the son of one of their old adversaries.
It wasn't until she spoke that Harry paid any attention to the woman in the corner. "How did he react?" she asked, concern evident in her voice. He'd only seen her once but he recognised her almost instantly, although her pointed elfin ears were a dead give-away – the woman was Aranel, Ron's birth mother.
"I haven't seen him so happy for weeks. He had a massive grin on his face when I left," Harry replied softly. Ron had been slightly depressed for weeks, ever since Harry had met him soon after arriving at Malfoy Manor, it wasn't until Ron had mentioned his falling out with the Weasley's that morning that he worked out why. Now that the issue had been resolved, he couldn't be happier for his friend, which was one of the reasons why he was currently in a very good mood.
Aranel seemed to share Harry's delight, for upon hearing Harry's response to her question, she brightened up immensely. "I thought so. He's missed her terribly, even with you for company he's still been awfully homesick," From the concern in her voice, it seemed that Aranel cared as much for Ron as Molly Weasley did. It was a hint, which caused Harry to ask Aranel a question of his own.
"Aren't you a little jealous, of Mrs Weasley, that she means so much to him," he asked, unsure of what reaction he would get for asking such a question. Although judging from her unchanging facial expression, it seemed that she didn't mind.
"No, I gave up that right when I left him in my aunt's care as a baby," she replied, her voice as calm as before, "Not that I would begrudge her anyway. Molly's a good person and an excellent mother; she deserves his affection. I'm just happy that he loves me too, even after abandoning him as a baby." Harry's surprise at the guilt and self-hate expressed by that last comment was both immense and highly visible.
"But Ron said that under Elfin Law, you had to leave him with the Weasley's. You abandoned him because you had to rather than because you wanted to. There's nothing for you to feel guilty about," he protested hotly, not liking to see anyone, least of all a woman who his best friend spoke highly of, feeling so depressed.
"I know that and I hated it, everyone did – even James. It's one of the reasons why the laws were changed; that and Voldemort," Aranel replied, her whole demeanour had changed in a matter of moments when the issue of abandoning Ron had been broached. The happiness was gone replaced with a deep sadness and a cold seriousness that had not been present before.
"Voldemort? How does he affect your kind?" Harry queried, surprised not only because the elf was prepared to say the dark lord's name, but also because the dark lord was as much a concern for elves as wizards. Given the isolationism of the wood elves and their status as magical creatures, it was a wonder that Voldemort would want anything to do with them.
"He holds a grudge of some kind against us. I don't know the details, but it's something to do with Salazar Slytherin's legacy, you'll find out more about it when the Slytherin Council next meets. He didn't do anything serious during the last war, but he's spent the past year during to incite a revolution with considerable success among my generation, despite James' best efforts. The only way civil war can be prevented is by pre-empting Voldemort's supporters and ending our policy of isolation, if only so they can pass on the legacy of Slytherin before Voldemort gets his hands on it." Aranel explained, concern evident in her voice. Such concern was mirrored on Harry's face, the blond Gryffindor couldn't believe that the dark lord was attracting followers among the elves to replace the death eaters he had lost.
"How many supporters does he have among your kind?" He asked, the urgency of his tone matching the considerable concern that he showed.
"He only has about a dozen true supporters, who would be willing to become death eaters, no one else would consider joining him. However, as leaders of a political faction, these twelve have a lot of support and could get in a position to overthrow the council of elders. If that happens, Voldemort will effectively control every single wood elf. Fortunately the elders are doing everything they can to stop that happening," Aranel replied, trying to ease Harry's fears by making the problem sound insignificant without really succeeding in doing so, mainly because it was obvious that she was highly concerned by it. "Although," she continued, sounding slightly less concerned, "the elders do want to meet you at some stage during the next few days. They think you can help them."
"What do they want to talk about?" Harry asked, both surprised and flattered by the elfin elder's request. He was curious as to find out what they wanted with him, a sentiment obvious in his question.
"I'm not sure," Aranel replied apologetically, "My grandfather just mentioned it in passing to me, they'll probably contact you either tonight or tomorrow about it and arrange a meeting. You're not the only one though, they also want to meet Lucius too, and Dumbledore. Talking about Dumbledore, he wants to see you in ten minutes, once he's done with Snape and Moody. It's just a few formalities to do with your change of identity."
It was actually fifteen minutes before Harry got to see Dumbledore, time which he spent listening to tales of his mother and of Ron's summer as told by Aranel. The few formalities that the elfin woman had mentioned consisted in Dumbledore explaining what Lucius had already told him, that he was going to return to Hogwarts as a new student, and the signing of a letter responding to an unsent acceptance letter. He was thankful to learn, however, that he would not have to be sorted. That he'd already chosen his NEWT courses and received an equipment list was irrelevant.
Half an hour later Harry found himself in the Ministry Archives with Lucius signing a form, which removed Leo Jason Malfoy from the Ministry's missing persons list, thereby completing the final step of a legal process designed to change his identity from Harry Potter to Leo Malfoy without anybody realising that the two people were the one and same. According to Lucius, who had been Head of Ministry Archives at the time, they had forged an extra birth certificate, on James Potter's request and with the agreement of Molly and Arthur, to hide his identity as Ron's true father, apparently on the request of Harry's mother. Thus, Harry's parents had pretended that Ron's true birth certificate, i.e. the one for Caranthir Harold James Potter, son of James Potter and Aranel Spencer, was actually Harry's own birth certificate. Apparently, the ministry had also secretly issued a death certificate for Caranthir Potter, dated the day of Voldemort's attack on Janus Malfoy's home. When Harry had born, he was registered under his true name and declared missing a few days later. Of course, Voldemort, when he had been trying to find babies born in late July, had seen straight through the ruse.
Afterwards Harry and Lucius were joined by Narcissa, Draco and the Law Enforcement Officer assigned to watch over Lucius in buying the Hogwarts supplies for Harry and Draco. It was a far from pleasant experience, and that was not because of the presence of the Malfoy's. Rather it was the snide glances and barely disguised disgust coming from the other shoppers that made Harry feel uncomfortable. It was like second year when everyone had believed him to be the Heir of Slytherin. Fortunately such reactions were far from universal, but the majority viewed the party of Malfoys with hostility, suspicion and fear, but then they were being accompanied by a former death eater, whose face had been all over the Daily Prophet just a few weeks previously. After visiting Gringotts for money and withdrawing a moneybag's each worth of Galleons from the Malfoy Family Vault, which was at least ten times bigger than Harry's own vault and which contained infinitely more money, they made their way in a companionable silence to the Apocethary for Draco to buy his potions supplies. Harry, having only achieved an A in Potions, was not taking NEWT level potions, so waited patiently for his Slytherin half-brother to find the ingredients he needed and check their quality, something Harry had never done, before buying them. He found fault only with the newt's livers on display, regarding them as too small. Harry couldn't tell the difference, but the owner seemed to because he went into the back room and put a new batch on display, which met Draco's approval.
Their next stop was Madam Malkins for both boys to buy new school uniforms and on the prompting of Lucius a new set of dress robes each. Whilst dress robes were not on the uniform list, it was made perfectly clear that they would both be attending a formal event of some kind within the next few months. Much to Draco's disgust, however, he refused to give details, saying that they would find out at the Slytherin Council meeting later that night. Unfortunately, their entire conversation surrounding the issue was overheard by two seventh year Ravenclaws who were waiting for Draco and Harry to finish being fitted, one of whom made a snide remark to his friend about "Daddy taking his family to a death eater meeting." It was a remark that was overheard by Lucius, who stopped mid sentence and turned towards them, his face frozen in ice cold fury. Harry didn't overhear, so was initially curious as to what had provoked his father, such concern was quickly replaced by anger when Lucius repeated what he had heard.
"Oh, I'm going to take my sons to a death eater meeting am I? Well that was last nights entertainment and I assure you Voldemort did not enjoy losing three quarters of his followers, several of his dementors and narrowly escaping with his life twice. Is it to much for your petty minds to learn the difference between a death eater and a Slytherin, unless, of course, you wish to accuse the Minister of being death eater?" He sneered harshly, before turning his back to them and walking over to the over side of the shop. He didn't sound that angry but it was clear that he was putting up a pleasant façade and that actually he was furious with the two boys. From the looks on their faces, it was clear that the two boys were well aware of Lucius' true anger. With the Malfoy patriarch out of earshot the two boys soon recovered their composure when the boy who had made the original comment whispered another joke to his friend, which both boys seemed to find hilariously funny. This began a whispered exchange of anti-Slytherin jokes, at least that's what they were saying when Harry walked past, who, incensed by the unfairness and outright hostility of their anti-Slytherin beliefs, added a comment of his own.
"Here's some information for you," he said, failing to his irritation at their comments, "Voldemort has just twenty two death eaters. Of these, five were Slytherins, six were Ravenclaws, eight went to Durmstrang, one was a Hufflepuff and two, much to the dishonour of my house, are former Gryffindors. That includes the two unidentified death eaters Lucius killed last night." This was something Lucius, had told him just that morning, when he had asked how extensive the death eater revolt was going to be.
What they thought of the fact he didn't know, as they seemed to be more concerned with Harry's own house placement. "You're a Gryffindor?" the shorter of the two Ravenclaws squeaked disbelievingly.
"Yes. I'm a Gryffindor," Harry replied as he followed Lucius, Draco and Narcissa from the clothes shop. Much to his exasperation, that fact alone seemed to amaze them.
They quickly finished the rest of their shopping, and treated themselves to an ice cream at Florian Fortrescues, during which the topic of conversation inevitably turned to the encounter with the two Ravenclaws. Draco raised the topic initially, with a comment about his father's choice of words.
"You shouldn't have mentioned the Minister, father. They'll probably start thinking he's a death eater now, just when they need to have the confidence in his ability to lead the war effort," he said critically, his tone completely serious. It was a comment, which amazed Harry, who was still struggling to comprehend the scale of the two boys' prejudice against Slytherins.
"Surely, they won't go that far?" Harry exclaimed, whilst he could understand some degree of hostility towards Slytherins, he could understand why someone would show such prejudice, it was as bad as the anti-muggle prejudice common among, but not confined to, the Slytherins themselves. It wasn't Draco or Lucius who responded, but rather the Law Enforcement Patrol Officer assigned to accompany Lucius as part of his parole conditions.
"Some people do, they simply refuse to see that anything good can come from a Slytherin. Just like some people refuse to see that any good can come from muggle-borns. If anything it's worse, because at least the muggle haters can offer a plausible argument for their prejudice, I've never heard a Ravenclaw, let alone a Gryffindor, give any sort of possible explanation for hating us beyond stereotypes and yet more prejudices. Even those that pride themselves on being logical condemn us as nasty bullies, whilst ignoring that Gryffindors can be much worse. For every Slytherin that picks on Gryffindors, there's a Gryffindor that picks on Slytherins. And, don't think it stops after graduation either; no Slytherin has been accepted on the Auror Training Program since the time of the founders, and that's just the most obvious example. " The pointed glares from Lucius and Draco that accompanied the officer's condemnation of anti-muggle bias were not lost on either Harry or the Patrol Officer.
"That's what makes it so unfair! When a Slytherin joins Voldemort, it's because he's a Slytherin but when someone from another house joins Voldemort it's because he's a bad person. It's completely unjustified, you can't say an entire house is evil, just because Voldemort and several of the more high profile death eaters are some of its former students." Harry exclaimed angrily. He was still incensed by the unwarranted and unjustified comments of the two Ravenclaws from earlier and the fact that such incidents were an everyday occurrence for the Slytherins. In the face of such discrimination and hostility it was no wonder they turned to Voldemort, not only because the dark lord would treat all houses equally, but also so they could get back at their tormentors. That wasn't to say such actions were right, far from it, but they were at least understandable. Harry knew perfectly well what it was like to be picked on, he had been bullied by Dudley and his friends for years, you either ignored it, as he had done, you fought back, as most of the Slytherins seemed to, or you cracked and let them affect you, a path which at its extreme led to suicide.
"Try telling them that, they won't believe you. Their prejudices are too ingrained in them, you can't change it, nobody can." The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol Officer responded, his previous passion replaced by an air of resignation, which only annoyed Harry even more. He looked at the faces of Lucius and his family for support, but found none, they all seemed to express the same resignation to a lifetime of being looked down upon by the majority of the wizarding population. Whilst he acknowledged that some of the hostility directed against the Malfoys was undoubtedly warranted, given Lucius' death eater past and their anti-muggle prejudices. The systematic branding as Slytherins as irreparably evil and beyond redemption was deeply offensive to Harry's sense of fairness, tolerance and decency.
"I can at least try. Somebody's go to." He stated with an air of finality. His anger at the situation the Slytherin's faced had morphed into an unshakeable sense of stubborn determination to do something about it. The look of cold determination on his face reflected this, indicating that he made up his mind on a particular course of action and that nothing could change it. Both Narcissa and Draco recognised the expression and knew it's meaning; it was pure Lucius. From the significant glance he shared with his wife the Malfoy patriarch understood what it meant too. As for the Officer assigned to watch over Lucius, any attempt at a response was cut off by the commotion caused by sight of the seven Wood Elves who had just entered Diagon Alley. Harry's reaction was to wonder what on earth Caranthir and the other elfish Hogwarts student, who his friend had mentioned in passing, were doing shopping for school supplies without hiding their identities and to wonder what James Potter was doing with them. He also noted that Mrs Weasley was nowhere to be seen.
Yes I know its been two months since I last updated, you have my apologies. Hopefully, the next two chapters should be out soon. In what little time I've had to write, I've been working on the early chapters of another fic, which may be posted after I've finnished my current WIPs,
In case you've forgotten Harry is 'Jason' and 'Leo' whilst Ron is 'Caranthir'. Some of you are probably confused by my reference to three birth certficates for the two boys, so here's a short timeline for the year of Harry and Ron's birth to clear things up.
March 19th: Ron is born, and a birth certificate is issued for him under the name Caranthir Harold James Potter, with his parents declared to be James and Aranel.
March 26th: Aranel is ambushed by death eaters and escapes using the teleportation/Avada Kedarva trick mentioned in chapter 13. Under Elfish Law she is forced to leave the human world without her baby son, who she leaves with her aunt, Molly Weasley, because she does not trust James to raise him
March 27th/28th: Lilly and Lucius break up and Lilly returns to James. Molly offers to let them raise Ron/Caranthir but they say no, consequently Ron is placed under a disguise and following James' insistence they raise him themselves.
March 29th: Arthur and Molly go to the Ministry to officially adopt Ron. After discussions between Lilly, Lucius and James they secretly produce a false birth certificate for Ron, declaring him to be Molly and Arthur's son. Arthur and Molly's friends are told that Ron was adopted.
Sometime in April, May, June or Early July: Draco is born.
July 31: Harry is born, a birth certificate is issued for Leo Jason Malfoy. Following a decision made in March, Lilly and James disguise him as a Potter and tell the world he is Caranthir Harold James Potter. An adoption certificate is issued for Lilly and James to adopt Aranel and James' son so as to make people think that Harry is in fact Aranel's abandonned baby. Lilly and James' friends are told is that the child is the product of Lilly's affair, they are not told the true father. Everyone else is told nothing and the memories of the staff who tended Lilly are wiped of her presence and the record of her stay removed.
August 1: Leo Jason Malfoy is declared missing and access to his birth certificate is restricted.
Thank You to all those who reviewed chapter 16, your reviews were most appreciated. If you want me to e-mail you when I update this fic leave your e-mail address in your review.