(Gringotts)
Amelia Bones, Bill Weasley, Severus Snape and Raveark all met in Raveark's private office.
Amelia Bones was looking in shock at the dour potions master and said "You're the one that set this whole thing up Sevrus? I always thought you were loyal to Dumbledore and the order of the phoenix to the point of being blind to anything or anyone else. When did you start to question what was going on?"
Raveark swept his gaze over Amelia and Bill, "You two need to hear Severus' story I think. If I am judging this correctly than you already know something of what's going on here besides what you were told two weeks ago, don't you Bill?" Bill Weasley nodded but didn't commit yet.
Snape sighed "I think it would be a bit easier to understand if I just show you what's going on. Raveark, you have a pensive don't you?" At Raveark's nod Snape asked if he could use it.
Raveark went to a bookshelf and took down the pensive and set it on his desk. With a sweeping motion of his hand he indicated that Snape should continue. Snape put his wand to his head and pulling it back slowly he withdrew a long silvery memory which he dropped in the bowl. He motioned toward the bowl and said "Please, join me." The other three gathered around the pensive and after Snape stirred the memory with his wand the four entered the memory.
"How to explain…" Chandos sighed, "It's not so much the mistakes he made with my family, and it's his total disregard for human life and dignity. He puts on a good act but that's all it is…an act. He is willing to use you till you have nothing more to give and then when your used up its all 'For the Greater Good', His intentions were in the right place in the beginning but now I feel that he is as much a problem as Tom Riddle, perhaps even more so because how do you fight someone who is believed to be so good. Dumbledore lost his humanity long ago and I for one will not sacrifice my family to his great ego."
"I don't quite understand how you can believe that about Albus." Snape said.
"Think about this for a moment. He knew that Tom was abused in the orphanage he lived in and yet he allowed it to continue. He knew that Rubeus Hagrid was innocent of opening the Chambers of Secrets and yet he allowed him to take the fall for it. He knew your parents were abusive and yet he never interfered with them. He knows that Fudge is corrupt and he allows him to continue to take bribes from known Death Eaters. Here's something else he does. He takes 10 of the student fees paid for tuition and uses it to fund his war. He has allowed three families that I know of to die just so he could get his hands on their Gringotts accounts to fund his war. A war that should have never happened and would have never happened if he would have helped a young boy who was being abused about 50 years ago. When you get home look up some of the laws that were passed after he was elected Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and look to the changes in the curriculum of Hogwarts. He's crippling the wizarding community by allowing laws to be passed that limit the freedoms of half bloods and by refusing to allow the children to develop their true potential. It wasn't until he became headmaster that children had to buy their wands from Ollivander's which are monitored I might add and what's this shit about them not being allowed to practice over the summer? He puts out that the kids need to have a break from study but the truth of the matter is that as their powers develop they need to constantly use them or they don't become as strong as they have the potential to become. It antropies away without constant use during their magical growth years, and for normal children those years are from 10 to 16 years old." Chandos looked bitter as he finished his rant and Snape looked dumbfounded.
The four pulled back at the end of the memory and Severus put it back into his head. "That's where it all started. I was visiting Chandos Kane and his family in America when he told me that. When I got back to England I confronted Dumbledore with what I had been told. He Obliviated me or so he thought. I have a misdirection shield that my good friend here placed on me when I first started to spy for Dumbledore. It allows the ones doing the casting to think they can use several spells on me that they cannot. Legilimency and Obliviate are two of them. I can allow someone to think they are successful though. That's how I manage to stay in the good graces of both of the ones I call master. They both think they can get into my mind at will and rape any information they want from it. Of course neither knows the other is trying to use legilimency against me and I don't tell them."
Raveark added, "Both think they are masters of legilimency although the truth be told neither one is that good. They use only the type available to humans and disregard any other as unworthy. That is one of our strengths." He turned to Bill. "Do you have anything to report to us Bill?"
"Actually I do. I checked several members of the order of the phoenix and found that my father, Hester Jones, Nymphadora Tonks and Sirius Black all are memory charmed. In addition Black and my father both wear a charmed watch that promotes loyalty in thought and deed to the one that gifted them with the watches. Remus Lupin and my mom are not spelled in any way and as for Remus I don't know if he could even be charmed like the others are. His half blood state offers some natural protections from some types of magic. So far those are the only ones I've been able to check though." Bill reported.
"Do you have anything to report? Amelia?" Severus asked.
She just reached into her briefcase and pulled out a folder and handed it to Severus without a word. He opened it and briefly looked though the contents. With a quick nod of thanks Severus handed the folder to Raveark and asked him if he could make a copy of it for the rest of them so they could all study it at their leisure.
"What I'm about to tell you is not common knowledge yet although Bill knows some of this and Raveark knows even more of the story Amelia. Dumbledore has apparently found Harry Potter and he has control of the boy at this time. I'm not sure if he has somehow managed to obtain legal custody or not but he is saying that he was given custody to protect him from those who mean him harm. Included in the list of those who would do harm to the boy are the remainder of his blood relatives, Death eaters and of course Voldermort. He had the boy spelled with a blood ward and a really nasty memory charm. Albus also has most of the boy's magic bound and he has several different types of tracking charms on the boy. The memory charm on the boy was making him slowly forget something. At this time we aren't sure what Potter was being forced to forget but I have my suspicions that the charm was over a period of time forcing him to forget his adopted family. The blood ward forces him to obey any order given him by the caster. The magical bindings are of the standard sort used on children that have their magic go out of control abet stronger than most. Potter has a tremendous amount of magic at his disposal without the binding but right now his magic is reduced to what most normal 14 to 15 year olds have available to them. I know that binding a child's magic isn't illegal but that's only at the parents discretion or unless the child is a clear threat to himself or others around him. Albus of course has the authority from the school board to bind any students' magic in an emergency situation but Potter should not be in a place where Albus had the chance to make that choice. I know for a fact that his adopted parents did not and would not allow him to attend Hogwarts."
Amelia listened to Snapes report with a shocked expression on her face. "Oh that poor boy." She whispered when Shape finished talking. "How do you know these things Severus" she asked him.
"The first time I was alone with him at Hogwarts I cast a designo magicus (1) on him and found traces of a cutting curse, several petrificus totalus', the blood ward, a few sleep spells, the magical bindings, the memory charm, tracking spells, glammors and a monitoring spell. He had also recently taken a aquaticus acies potion(2), stemma -atis potion and one that I could not identify." Snape looked over at Bill before he continued. "Bill examined him a few days later and confirmed my findings."
Amelia nodded her head in understanding. "One thing puzzles me; you said apparently when you said that Dumbledore had Potter. Is there some doubt that the boy is Harry Potter?"
"Yes there is doubt. We only have Dumbledore's word that the stemma -atis potion produced a genealogical tree of the boy. For all we know the chart Dumbledore showed Potter was a fake." Snape shrugged his shoulders. "I am brewing another dose of stemma –atis so that we will know beyond any doubt if it is indeed The-Boy-Who-Lived."
Amelia shivered. "Did he agree to take the potion or are you going to force on him."
"I suggested it and Potter agrees that it's the only way to be sure of knowing who he really is. Amelia, I may make decisions based on the things I see going on around me that some may not like but I would not force him to do anything unless it was a mater of saving his life. I had nothing to with the boy being in trouble like this. Besides, I met him on my trip to America and I like him and I respect his family. I am trying to help him." Snape said.
Raveark studied Snape for a few seconds before he sighed and explained to the other two. "Severus and I have been friends for many years. He wears a mask to show to the rest of the world but to me he cannot hide his feelings." Severus scowled at the goblins words but remained silent. "After Severus told me what was going on I froze the Potter accounts and sent a letter to Dumbledore demanding he produce this supposed Potter heir so I can test him to find out if he is truly the Potter he claimed to be. Dumbledore was in this morning trying to see me to discuss what I had done. My assistant refused him admittance on the grounds that he did not have an appointment with me. He strongly suggested that he either produce the heir or make an appointment and then he had the guards throw him out."
"Priceless" Amelia laughed. "And you can get away with it too." She said as she smiled at Raveark.
With a smirk Raveark bowed to Amelia. "We goblins take great delight in causing trouble for pompous wizards that think they are above the law."
Raveark dismissed the three conspirators with instructions to meet back here again next Sunday unless something happened that they all needed to know before that time "In which case you can inform any of us and we will make sure the others find out as soon as possible"
On Monday evening Shadow went to his remedial potions lessons and was pleasantly surprised to be given a packet that contained several letters from his family. He tore open the packet and eagerly read the letters. "My family misses me and my father is out looking for me." Shadow explained to Snape. "It says here that dad left the same day I did. Mom also says that Ice is doing o.k. with his lessons but I'm the best at teaching him about control for his elementals. Mom also says that they gave my staff to someone named Raveark at Gringotts so that it will be safe and close by for when I need it. She says I'm to place my trust in you and no one else here."
Snape scowled at Shadows rambling. "I too received a letter from your family. They are leaving messages for Chandos in places they think he might check in his search for you. I hope they catch up to him before he does something that gets himself into trouble. He doesn't know that the headmaster is engaged in a power struggle and is using you to try to solidify his power base."
At the mention of the headmaster Shadow grinned. "So what's up with Dumbles anyway? He was in a bad mood yesterday afternoon and today. Every time he sees me he scowls at me and looks like he wants to kill someone. Did I do something to upset him?" Shadow kept his fingers crossed in the hopes that the answer would be in the affirmative. He really wanted to do something that upset the headmaster and if it was something that couldn't cause him more trouble than that was even better.
Snape snickered. "Apparently the headmaster got a letter from Gringotts on Saturday and yesterday he paid them a visit or at least he tried to pay them a visit. They froze the Potter accounts till they can confirm or deny the identity of the one claiming to be Harry Potter. They are demanding to see you in person and privately to determine if you are who you claim to be. The headmaster is somewhat opposed to that idea. He doesn't want you outside of the school grounds and most definitely does not want you away from his control in such a situation. If something goes wrong then he would have to do some damage control that he is not expecting to do at this time." His face turned serious. "Shadow, I think he is going to have to take you there but he won't do it unless he is sure you will do exactly what he wants you to do. Please be careful Shadow. I don't know what he will do but you know he is very dangerous."
Shadow looked troubled. "I don't understand what you mean by Potter accounts. I'm not even sure what Gringotts is. I kinda thought it was a person but now I'm guessing it's a bank or credit union or something like that but you said accounts, plural. Does this mean I have more than one and if I do where did they come from and why would it be necessary to freeze them?"
"So far as I know there would be your student trust fund and a family vault holding your family trust. The Potters were a fairly wealthy family before they died and you are the only heir." Snape explained. "Freezing them would insure that an imposter did not gain access to those vaults so they would want to confirm your identity before they allowed you access to any monies or material things in them."
"What I don't understand is why it would matter to him if my accounts were frozen. It's not like he would have anything to do with them anyhow." Shadow said.
Snape sighed and shook his head no. "I'm sorry Shadow but from what we know right now your parents appointed Dumbledore to be their financial advisor before their deaths. He has been removing monies all along and investing them in a dummy business to finance his war against Voldermort also Gringotts has allowed him to withdraw monies from your trust fund to finance the search for you. They kept fairly close tabs on how much he took out and he had to give them a statement of what the monies was spent on."
Shadow looked stunned. "Fuck, I paid for my own kidnapping." He started laughing, "This really sucks. I paid for my own fucking kidnapping." He put his head in his hands and leaned over his knees. "Tracy is gonna make me eat a whole bar of soap. I'm turning into such a trash mouth lately." He laughed again. "What else am I paying for here?"
Snape laughed as well, "I rather think the extenuating circumstances that surround you at this time will give you some latitude in the trash mouth department. As for what else your paying for that would be your school tuition here and for your upkeep. The law allows the physical guardian to withdrawal a set amount from a family or trust fund to take care of the minor child"
"So I paid for these robes and for a broom that's not nearly as good as the one I own at home. I'm also paying for the chance to be educated in stuff I already know. Please go on, this just keeps getting better and better." Shadow said. "If he's allowed to take money from my accounts does that mean that he is my physical guardian? How could he do that? My father did adopt me you know. I've seen the paperwork so I know it was done legally."
"I don't know for sure but I think he claimed that your father kidnapped you from your aunt and uncle's care when you were three years old. If he claimed that your father lied on the adoption papers then the adoption would not be legal. One clear advantage you do have is that you are fourteen years old and that means you can testify as to weather you are in physical danger from Chandos and Company. You also should have some say as to who you wish to live with." Snape got up and walked over to a shelf and took down a small vile of potion and a small piece of parchment. "I made another dose of stemma –atis for you. I know you were fed some before when you were unconscious but we have no way of knowing if the chart you were shown was really the result of the potion or a fake. We are assuming that you are Harry Potter but we don't really KNOW yet. Will you take the potion so we can find out for sure?"
Shadow reached out his hand and took the potion from Snape. "What do I have to do, just drink it?"
"It needs the blood of the person who uses the potion. It makes the genealogical tree with your blood so you need to make a small cut in the palms of your hands and then set them close to the edge of the parchment. The tree will grow out of the blood." Snape explained
Shadow looked at the small piece of parchment. "The one Dumbles showed me was really big. About 5 times the size of that one."
"We don't need that much detail to find out the truth Shadow. The potion will keep working till the cuts stop bleeding or the parchment is full or your palms are removed from the parchment. We only need your parent's names. This is big enough for that." Snape handed the parchment to the boy. "Bring it over to the desk and we can get started."
Shadow laid the parchment down on the desk and Snape applied a sticking charm to it to prevent it from moving. He then took a small dagger from his drawer and motioned to Shadow. "Drink the potion then hold out your palms." Shadow did and Snape made two shallow cuts in the boy's palms. "Place your palms on the edge of the parchment" Which Shadow did. The two watched as the writing began to appear on the parchment. Once the names Harry James Potter son of Lilly Rose Potter nee Evens and James Montgomery Potter appeared Snape removed Shadows palms from the parchment and healed the cuts on the boy's palms. "No doubt about it now."
Shadow just kept his head bowed as he felt tears gather in his eyes. He would not cry, he would not! Shadow felt Snapes hands on his shoulders, the gentle squeeze offered in comfort as he was directed back to the chairs they had sat in before.
Snape and Shadow sat back down and Snape raised Shadows head so the two were looking eye to eye. "Look Shadow, Raveark and I are working together along with Bill Weasley and a woman named Amelia Bones to try to figure out exactly what Dumbledore is doing. I know he is doing things that are illegal but we need solid proof that will stand up in a court of law that favors him. He is a master of illusion and misdirection. He can take the truth and twist it to suit his own purpose. He is perceived as the guardian of the light side, the keeper of all things good. That's what we need to overcome. That is what we are fighting. You need to understand exactly what we are dealing with so that you don't make any mistakes. If you do then you will suffer the consequences. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he can get legal guardianship over you as well as control of your money. He may have already done it as a matter of fact. If that happens then he can move you to another location, isolate you even more than you are now. He can cast more spells on you and more wards on you and we would have no legal recourse at all."
"You make it sound so hopeless." Shadow rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What do I do now?"
Snape looked at his watch. "Now you go back to your room and get a good night sleep. Keep all of what we talked about confidential till we can do something about it and Shadow, we will I promise you, we will do something. We just need time to gather information."
Shadow nodded and said goodnight then went back to his room to do his homework and get ready for bed.
(Ministry of Magic)
If it weren't for the file being missing no one would have know that a break-in had occurred at all. As it were, why would someone go to the trouble to retrieve the floo addresses of the people who worked for Wizarding Children's Services? It wasn't as if that information were confidential or anything. Still it was disturbing…
(Riddle Manor)
Voldermort had several Death Eaters out looking for information on Aurors. He wanted at least three recruited to his cause as soon as possible.
With a smile he walked over to his pet and stood looking down at him. "Lucius tell me what you know about the woman called Dolores Umbridge."
Malfoy dropped the scrub brush back into the bucket of water and kissed his masters robes before telling him. "Master, she is Fudge's personal assistant. She also acts as a go between the press and Fudge. She is much more intelligent than Fudge and she hates half breed mixes. She works on legislations to restrict the movements of the half breeds and is trying to pass laws that will make it mandatory to arrest any half breed that is unemployed and remains that way for more than two months. She also spearheaded the kill laws that were passed for dangerous sentient creatures."
Voldermort lowered himself into a crouch so he could face Lucius face to face. Softly he said as he slowly stroked Lucius face, "Your failures are so numerous my pet. You disappoint me at every turn but I still carry a soft spot in my heart for you which is why I have allowed you to live till now." He reached behind Malfoys neck and with a quick burst of power loosed the collar from around the man's neck. "Go and bring Umbridge to me my pet. I want her as one of my own. You have five hours to bring her. If you fail in this it will be the last time you fail me. Do you understand?"
Shaking, Malfoy again kissed his masters hem. "I will not fail you this time my Master."
With that Voldermort stood. "See that you don't now go."
Malfoy got to his feet and almost ran out of the manor beyond the wards and with a pop was gone.
(1) designo magicus magical trace
(2) aquaticus acies watery eyes