Chapter Fourteen: Dear Uncle William

When Harry awoke in the morning, he found his family tapestry hanging next to his bed and Dean, Seamus and Ron were examining it. Harry thought that he'd come back later and examine it further.

"Blimey Harry, I didn't know you were related to Godric Gryffindor," said Dean.

"Yeah, I am," responded Harry, "Now let's go to breakfast."

As they ate their breakfast, the sixth-year students were handed their schedules.

Monday- Care of Magical Creatures (morning)

Tuesday- Charms (morning)

Wednesday- Transfiguration (morning)

Thursday- Herbology (morning), Defense Against the Dark Arts (afternoon)

Friday- Potions (afternoon)

"Excellent, I've got three afternoons and a morning off," said Harry.

"Same here mate," said Ron as he leaned over to read Harry's schedule, "Blimey, best luck ever. Defense on the first day! Hey, do you know who the new Quidditch captain is?"

"Yeah," responded Harry, "Katie Bell."

Ron began talking about al the things that they should do with the team this year, so Harry decided that he would go down the table and introduce himself to the new student. As he approached her, she noticed him and gave him an inquiring look.

"You look familiar," stated Katie, "Where do I know you from?"

"Well, everyone knows who I am. My name is Harry Potter, also known as the Boy-Who-Lived," chuckled Harry, "Am I as famous in America as I am in Great Britain?"

"Yea, but I don't think most really believe your story," replied Katie, "And that still isn't where I recognize you from."

"Hmm… well, where do you live?" asked Harry.

"My family just moved to Godric's Hollow during the summer," Katie responded.

"Well, that's probably where you know me from. If I got frustrated during the summer, I would take a walk around. I recently inherited my parent's house there," said Harry.

"Yes, that's it!" exclaimed Katie.

"So, what class do you have today?" asked Harry.

"Herbology and then Defense Against the Dark Arts," replied Katie.

"Would you like an escort to your classes?" Harry asked kindly, trying not to laugh, while holding out his arm.

"Well, thank you kind sir," laughed Katie taking his arm.

"Would you like to meet some of my friends?" inquired Harry.

"They aren't mean, are they?" asked Katie.

"Nah, but Ron is kinda skeptical at first but once he warms up to you, he's a pretty good guy, and"said Harry, "just be careful talking about money, that's a rather embarrassing subject to him."

"Oh, well that's ok. My family doesn't have that much money, either," replied Katie.

Harry introduced Katie to his friends and told them that she had the same schedule as them. They greeted her and Hermione said that it was almost time for Herbology. As they walked to class, Harry and Katie began to talk about themselves.

"So, are all those stories about you true?" asked Katie.

"Well, it's true that Voldemort killed my parents and tried to kill me but his curse backfired. It's true that I grew up with muggles," explained Harry in a bored tone, "I was the youngest Quidditch player in over a hundred years, and I recovered the Sorcerer's Stone at eleven. What else? Oh, I killed a basilisk at twelve with the sword of Godric Gryffindor. I defeated a gang of dementors with a patronus and freed my escaped convict godfather. I was the youngest champion to win the Triwizard Tournament and I battled Voldemort upon his "rebirth". Let's see, last year I was almost expelled, I broke into the Department of Mysteries with my friends, stole a prophesy, smashed it, defeated a slew of Death Eaters and caused the death of my godfather…"

"That's terrible," said Katie, "What happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," said Harry, "It still hurts."

"I understand," said Katie as they entered the green houses for Herbology. Professor Sprout taught them about fire bushes, trees of Gubraithian fire whose seeds could be harvested for potions.

After Herbology, it was time for lunch. Harry decided that he would go into his dormitory, retrieved his tapestry and return to the common room to examine it. As he sat down in his favorite chair, Katie walked up to him.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked.

"This is my family tree tapestry. I want to examine it closer to investigate my family more," responded Harry as he took a closer look at the tapestry, "Huh, I never noticed this before."

"What is it?" asked Katie.

"Well, according to my tapestry, all my family is dead," said Harry, "All except my uncle…William. It says that he's still alive. I should try and find him."

Harry went to tell this revelation to his friends and proceeded to go to the library to find information on his family. Unsurprisingly, Hermione trailed his steps, saying something about wanting to get a head start on the Herbology homework, a two foot long essay on the properties if fire bushes. So, as Hermione looked at books on fire bushes, Harry asked Madame Pince if he could find information on his family members. She pointed him to a book called Genealogy of The Ages. Inside, there was information on most of his family dating back to Godric Gryffindor; however there was no information on his uncle. It did say that he was estranged for 'personal beliefs'. Giving Harry little ideas, he went back to the common room to pick up his stuff for Defense Against the Dark Arts. When he reached the common room, he found Ron bombarding Katie Bell, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, about when Quidditch was to begin.

"Soon, Ron," shouted Bell, "How many times do I have to tell you?!" Katie then stalked off.

"Oh, well," said Ron, "Did the search pull up the identity of your long lost uncle?"

"No, but I do know why he's my 'long lost uncle'," replied Harry as he explained the estrangement.

As they walked to Defense, they found a lost Katie Smith trying to pry directions from the repulsive poltergeist, Peeves.

"Well, ickle newbie, first go down that hall," said Peeves, in as kind a voice as he was capable of, as he pointed down the sixth floor corridor, "find the picture of Sir Cadogan, and tell him what class you need to go to. If he sends you back to me, I'll point you in the wrong direction. HEE HEE HEE!" Peeves then began to cackle and throw chalk at Katie.

"PEEVES!" yelled Harry, "Leave her alone!"

"Or what, Potter you rotter?" asked Peeves.

"Remember when Nick was petrified?" said Harry, "Well, I'll teach you how he felt!"

At the threat, Peeves zoomed off, forever more increasing the number of people he listened to, to two: the Bloody Baron and Harry.

"Thanks, Harry," said Katie, "How do you get to Defense?"

"Come on," said Harry, "and a word of advice: Never ask Peeves for anything. He lives to cause trouble."

When they entered the Defense classroom, they noticed a visible difference than the last rooms: there were pictures of famous Quidditch players on the wall. Harry recognized some as Chudley Cannons players, as did a thrilled Ron. Standing at the front of the room was Professor Strindell. He began the class with a roll call. When he got to Harry's name, he suddenly looked up at Harry and became very flustered.

"H-Harry P-Potter…," called Strindell, attempting to gain his composure.

"Here, sir," replied Harry.

After the roll call, Professor Strindell began to tell them about his course aims.

"Upon, reading your last teacher's notes from last year, it would appear that you slept all last year," laughed Strindell.

"Well, sir," said Harry, "We were forced to copy notes, very much awake. If we didn't we got detention, in which we were forced to write with her accursed quill that would cut into our hands as we wrote."

"Huh, well that's terrible," replied Strindell, "Not to worry, I have no such quills. This year, I expect to have a more practical class, rather than theoretical. Now, I understand that many of you participated in an illegal Defense club last year. This year, we'll put to test that knowledge that you learned and see if we can't expand it any more."

"Er- sir?" spoke up Harry, "I plan on continuing that club this year and teaching more. You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all, in fact I encourage it. From what I've heard, you could probably replace me as the teacher," said Strindell, "However, I hope you'll wait until either I leave or you're of age. I don't want you to embarrass me too much. Now, what defenses do you know?"

"Just name something sir," said Neville, quite unexpectedly, "Harry's taught us a lot over the past year."

"Hmm… Let's see, how bout a Patronus'?" asked the Professor, "Really? Very good, Potter, I commend you on your teaching skills. But, who'd like to demonstrate? How 'bout the teacher himself?"

Harry stood up, conjured the best memory he could, and bellowed "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" A silver stag erupted from the end of his wand, took a lap around the room, and disappeared.

"Excellent, Harry! Twenty points to Gryffindor for that brilliant patronus," said Strindell, "Well, for now let's talk about what you learned last year. It appears I need to completely readjust my plan if you already know most, if not all, of it."

For the rest of the class, the students explained to Strindell all the things they learned in DA. By the end of the class, the Professor began adjusting his plan while the student's talked amongst themselves. Katie situated herself near Harry.

"Did you really teach everyone all that?" wondered Katie.

"Yeah," chuckled Harry, "I guess I was pretty motivated last year. Would you like to join us this year?"

"I don't know. Would I be very far behind?" asked Katie.

"No, not necessarily," replied Harry, "No, others will be joining this years, first years and those whose parents told them not to join. See, last year we were a group against the Ministry. Now, we're a legitimate club, so more will join."

"Ok, well, when's the first meeting?" queried Katie.

"I'll let you know," answered Harry as the bell rang, "I'll see you later, I need to talk with Professor Strindell."

As the class emptied out the door, Harry walked up to the professor.

"How may I help you, Harry?" asked Strindell.

"Professor, when you read off my name for roll call, you seemed to get troubled. Most people look for my scar, but you looked at me as a person. I was just wondering why," held Harry.

"Well, what do you know about your family?" wondered Strindell, noticeably unnerved by Harry's question, "Your father's family?"

"Well, I know that their all dead" responded Harry, light dawning upon him, "all are dead except his brother."

"Very good," said Strindell, "What happened to him?"

"Well, according to Genealogy of the Ages, he was estranged for his beliefs," answered Harry, "However, it doesn't say what those beliefs were."

"Well, my beliefs were those along the lines of the Dark Lord's. I left my family and created a new name for myself," said the uncle of Harry Potter, "However, I was lucky enough to have joined him. When I found out what he did to my brother and sister-in-law and attempted to do to my nephew, you Harry, I immediately repented and have spent the last fifteen years attempting to redeem myself for my selfish actions. Now, you know who I really am. I will be telling Professor Dumbledore and the staff that you know. However, I must ask you to tell no one, not even your friends."

"Why, Professor?" asked Harry, unable to believe what he'd just been told.

"Good to see you still respectfully call me by my title, rather than 'uncle'," said Strindell, "Harry, I don't want to show favoritism, among other things. Some people might think that I might favor you in my classes. Also, any enemies I may have might begin to take shots at you, trying to get into a position to kill me. I don't want you to be placed in that position. Professor Dumbledore has told me about what has happened to most of your parental figures. I don't want that to happen to me. As you care, I know that the taking away of another figure would rip you apart. That is something I couldn't allow happen to you. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes, why did you have the views that you had?" questioned Harry.

"Ah, well. I was the first Potter to ever be Sorted into Slytherin. Yes, I was the only Potter to be a Slytherin," said Strindell, looking at the shock on Harry's face, "You see, all my friends ended up as Death Eaters, but as many reasons as I had to join the Dark Lord's army, I still had my doubts. When he did what he did to you, I vowed to spend the rest of my life defending others from him. Now I am about to tell you something you probably don't know. My parents, your grandparents, were killed the week your parents went into hiding at Godric's Hollow. I believe he, or some of his followers, murdered them in an attempt to draw out my older brother. I feel that I must tell you this because when I realized the fatal decisions I had mad, it was too late to apologize to my family. I would have liked to have been welcomed back into the family but was denied by events beyond my control. Now that you have become old enough to make your own decisions without outside input, I was wondering if you would allow me to return to the Potter bloodline."

"Of course, Professor Strindell," replied Harry, "I hereby retract your estrangement."

"Thank you, nephew," said Strindell, "Now tell me, have you found the wonders of Potter Manor?"

"All you know, and more," said Harry, "Unfortunately, it has grown late and I really must be going."

As Harry left, he became invisible so that he didn't have to worry about the student body or teachers. As he flooded his mind with thoughts of his uncle, he didn't realize that he slowly had made his way to Hagrid's hut. Absentmindedly, he knocked on the door and was surprised to see Hagrid's massive form in front of him. 'What am I doing here?'

"Hello? Someone there?" asked the hoarse voice of the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.

"Right in front of you, Hagrid," replied Harry. 'Hang on, I'm invisible, he can't see me.'

Suddenly, Harry reappeared causing Hagrid to jump back and Fang the boarhound to yelp loudly.

"Blimey, 'Arry! Yeh nearly scared me an' Fang to death," said Hagrid.

"Sorry, Hagrid," apologized Harry, "I didn't even realize that I had walked down here, I was deep in thought."

"Tha's okay, Where'd yeh learn that little trick, anyway?" asked Hagrid.

"Oh, an old relative taught me during the summer," said Harry, "Well, I had best be going, it's getting late. 'Bye."

""Bye, 'Arry. It was nice seein' yeh," said Hagrid as Harry became invisible and returned to the castle.

Harry slowly made his way to the Gryffindor tower; He waited for the Fat Lady to open for him and, again, realized he was invisible. He became visible, causing the Fat Lady to gasp.

"Sorry about that," apologized Harry, "I seem to forget no one can see me when I'm invisible."

"That's okay, lad," said the Fat Lady, "but just so you know, I might not always be here when you go wandering the corridors at night."

"Speaking of that," said Harry, "About eight of us are going out at different parts of the night. We're gonna have to try and find a way back in if you're not here, just letting you know."

"Well, thank you for the warning," responded the Fat Lady as she swung open for him, "Now, run along inside."

As Harry entered the portrait hole, he was bombarded with questions.

"Blimey mate," said Ron, "Where've you been?"

Based on the way Harry plopped into an armchair and sighed, they both knew that they should drop the subject. As Harry sat there deep in thought, Ron and Hermione exchanged sideways glances.

"Hey, Hermione," said Harry, "Is there a way for me to contact the Guard using my mind?"

"Now that you mention it," said Hermione, "I remember reading a book at your Manor about it. It uses—"

"All I need is the name of the book, Hermione," said Harry, "I can just have Dobby get it for me."

"Oh, er- 'Using Your Mental Magic to Talk With Friends'," responded Hermione, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, soon we'll be ready to patrol the corridors," said Harry, "If any of us is in trouble and needs some backup, they can call me and I'll be able to direct those necessary."

"That's brilliant, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, "I wish I had thought of that."

"Now, in terms of Saturday," said Harry, "Let's meet at the Room of Requirement at noon. I'll tell Hannah and Ernie tomorrow at breakfast. I'm going to bed. 'Night all."