Disclaimer is in chapter 1.
The announcement of the end of term was something of an anti-climax, something that Xander would never have believed possible until he came to Hogwarts. Between learning actual magic and Harry's year end capers, Xander was actually sad to see the Express waiting for them at the station.
Well, almost.
He was really looking forward to seeing Willow and Jesse over the summer, and there was a ton of things to do that he just couldn't get done inside the wards of Hogwarts, so sad wasn't the word he supposed. Still, he'd miss the inherent entertainment that Harry provided just by being around, it wasn't often you got to watch an action movie live, after all.
So it was with mixed feelings that Xander joined the rest, hauling his trunk with the door strapped to its lid. Good thing I built that thing to collapse, I'd feel like a total idiot walking around with an actual full size door.
Wednesday was walking with him, of course, but she was being oddly silent other than shooting him occasional glances through half lidded eyes. Frankly, she was freaking him out, but to be honest Xander was long since used to that. Of course, he was quite certain she was up to something all the same, so that added a whole different dimension of creep factor to Wednesday's usual aura.
If Xander's trip back via the Express was a little antsy, Harry's was its normal level of depression. He loved Hogwarts and the magical world, and had no reason whatsoever to be happy that school was out. The idea of being sent back to the Dursleys every year just made him physically ill so, while he did put on a smile for his friends, the truth was that there was a solid pit in his stomach that felt like he'd swallowed a bowling ball.
He managed to keep joking with Ron and listening to Hermione talk about homework and OWLS, but as the train bore him back to London all he could really think about was the fact that with every passing second he was getting closer to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.
He nodded at all the right times, and laughed at Ron's jokes, but by the time the Express pulled to a stop at the station he wasn't really listening to either of them.
"Harry… Harry! Harry, we're here!" Hermione shook him, breaking him of his reverie.
"Yeah," Harry forced a wan smile, "I guess we are."
Hermione didn't notice him as she grabbed her things, "Oh it's going to be so good to see mum and dad again…"
A look of horror crossed her face as she realized what she'd just said, and who she'd said it in front of, "Oh Merlin, Harry, I didn't mean…"
"It's alright, Hermione," He assured her. And it was, Harry knew that Hermione usually avoided statements like that around him. He thought it was really nice of her, really, but he felt worse when she ducked around them than he didn't even when Ron threw his own family right in his face without thinking.
Friends shouldn't be walking on eggshells around one another.
He just sighed and gathered up his trunk and the cage with Hedwig before following Hermione and Ron off the train.
The platform was full to bustling, as it always was on days the express was in use. Harry didn't bother looking for anyone, he knew there wouldn't be anyone there for him, so he just focused on making sure that Hermione was met by her parents and that he got a chance to say hello to the Weasleys.
The second was proven dead easy, as the wake that Molly Weasley left as she passed would be difficult to miss if he were blind and deaf. Mrs. Weasley hooked Ron before the boy saw her coming, which boggled Harry's mind, roping him into a crushing hug that looked physically painful in addition to the embarrassment that Ron was showing.
"Mo-om!" He wailed, trying to fight his way free, "Get off!"
Undeterred, Molly completed her greeting and instantly yanked Harry in for a similarly smothering embrace the moment she let Ron loose.
"Harry! Oh you poor boy, I can't imagine how difficult this year must have been!"
Harry managed a muffled sound that could have been anything from 'I'm fine' to 'Help! I can't breathe!'. Molly let him loose after a moment, holding him by the shoulders just a little longer so she could take a good look at him.
"You're looking good now, Harry. Try to eat something over the summer, you always seem so frail when you come back to school."
Harry mumbled something in the affirmative, but didn't put a lot of energy into it. Molly didn't seem to notice as she continued fussing over the group as they moved across the platform. She herded them to the magical barrier, only to be brought up short by a familiar and wholly unwelcomed face.
"Mr. Potter." Narcissa Malfoy nodded to Harry and then once more, curtly in the direction of Molly. "Molly."
"Come along, children. The company here isn't to my liking." Molly scowled at the young blond.
Narcissa merely raised an eyebrow in her direction, "Move along as you wish, I have no interest in your company either. I do have a few words for Mr. Potter, however."
"He has no interest in anything you might say."
"Hardly your place to decide." Narcissa replied dryly, eyes on Harry. "Congratulations on your victory, Mr. Potter."
"Cedric and I tied." Harry said, flushing a little.
"Not the victory I was referring to." Narcissa said with a hint of a smile. "Lucius received an… shall we say unwelcome visitor that night."
Harry's eyes widened, his jaw opening in shock.
"Be careful, Mr. Potter." She said, turning away, "You have dangerous enemies… I believe that the Regent Black will likely be receiving an owl with pertinent information. You may want to be ready."
"I… yes, thank you Mrs. Malfoy." Harry managed to stammer out.
As Narcissa walked away, Molly scowled at her back.
"Well I never." The redhead grumbled, "Implying that you should contact anyone connected to that family."
Molly sniffed, "Come along, now."
They made it through the barrier a few seconds later, and Molly looked around. She pursed her lips as she recognized Harry's Uncle in the distance, frowning in disapproval. Aloud, however, she just said, "Harry, dear, I see your Uncle over there."
Harry sighed, but nodded. "I do to, alright, I'll see you later in the summer, right guys?"
"Absolutely!" Ron said, grinning. "We'll get you over to the Burrow, don't you worry."
"Of course, Harry." Hermione confirmed.
"Ok, see you then." Harry said, leaving the group and heading across the platform.
Molly watched him go, then tutted and shook her head. "Well come along you lot, Hermione dear, are those your parents?"
Hermione couldn't help it, she squealed in excitement and waved. "Mum! Dad! Over here!"
Behind them, Harry trudged over to where his Uncle was standing, resigned now to meet his fate. It wasn't until he got very close that he noticed something odd and cocked his head as he looked at the figure.
"Uncle Vernon?"
"Not quite."
Harry almost jumped out of his skin as the soft voice came from behind his left hear, spinning around he was going for his wand until he recognized the speaker.
"Mrs. Tonks?"
Andromeda Tonks smiled and nodded, "Yes harry. We have a few things to do before we take you home, so let's be about it shall we?"
"Wait, what's going on? Is that Uncle Vernon?" Harry squinted at the man standing there. Something was off, but he couldn't figure out what.
It hit him when Vernon smiled at him.
Whoever this was looked WAY too pleasant to be Vernon.
"Polyjuice?" Harry ventured after a moment.
"Not bad, kid, but no." Vernon said, smiling at him cheerfully.
"Then what…"
"Not here." Andromeda said, rolling her eyes. "Let's be moving before someone takes note of our presence, yes?"
"Uh, yeah. I guess." Harry let her guide him away.
Once away from the station, 'Uncle Vernon' grinned and shifted. His hair changed color first, becoming a glaring pink that shocked a laugh from Harry before the rest of his body compressed and shifted into that of a young woman who stretched and hopped on the balls of her feet.
"God, that feels so good to drop that ugly mask. Blech."
"Harry, meet my daughter, Nymphadora."
Nymphadora glared at her mother, then at Harry, "That's Tonks to you, kiddo, unless you want to meet the business end of my wand. Got it?"
"Uh… yeah?"
She was all smiled again, "Good. Now then, mum, since I've helped you kidnap the boy who lived, what's next?"
"Hardly a kidnapping, Dora." Andromeda said, rolling her eyes, "We spoke with Harry's Aunt and she gave us permission to pick him up. I simply didn't want to get into some interminable discussion with Molly Weasley over it."
"Or have her talking to everyone about it, I'll bet."
"That too, I will admit." Andromeda inclined her head before looking at Harry, "Did Narcissa have a word with you, Harry?"
He nodded.
"Then you know, he is back, and he has begun gathering his Death Eaters again." Andromeda sighed, "there's trouble ahead."
"I still can't quite believe it," Dora said seriously, "How do you come back from the dead, anyway?"
"Dumbledore never thought he was dead," Harry offered up, shrugging glumly.
"Yes, well, rumors of your near crippling Barty Crouch Jr have begun to spread." Andromeda said, "and since you did that while in combat with the Dark Lord, his reputation is taking a bit of a hit. We have a source of information in his camp, for the moment the Dark Lord is planning on remaining in hiding. Lucius has been instructed to begin pushing the Minister to discrediting you and Dumbledore, so we're going to be taking steps to counter that before it starts."
Harry frowned, "What? How?"
"First, you're going to publish a public apology."
"For what?" Harry scowled, "I haven't done anything!"
"Precisely."
Harry paused, shaking his head. "Uh. What?"
Xander's head was spinning when the portkey dropped him off at Salem, causing him to just stand still for a moment and try to will the world to slow down.
"Mr. Harris, Ms. Addams. Welcome back to Salem."
He and Wednesday looked to the side to see a woman in robes calmly waiting for them.
"I'm Vice Dean Merriman." She said with a smile, "How was the portkey trip?"
"Trippy." Xander said in a voice that wasn't quite a groan, "Very trippy."
Her lips twitched slightly, but otherwise Merriman kept a straight face. "I see. And for you, Ms. Addams?"
Wednesday fixed her with a cool glance, then shrugged, "Trippy. As he said."
Xander couldn't help but grin as the Vice Dean's eyes widened and the woman seemed to choke on something, but just managed to keep things together.
"I… Very well," She said finally, "We've scheduled a series of exams for you, don't worry about them too much, they're to determine placement more than marks. We just want to see where you both stand in relation to full time domestic students."
Wednesday just nodded as Xander groaned.
"More tests?" He asked plaintively.
"Don't be an infant, Alexander." Wednesday said with a roll of her eyes.
"Yes mum." Xander smirked, totally ignoring the death glare she shot him as he fell into step behind the Vice Dean.
"Ah, Miss Tonks. A pleasure as always."
"Rupert," Andromeda inclined her head to the editor of the Daily Prophet, "Good to see you again."
"Now, what can I do for you?" He asked with an affable smile.
Andromeda returned it just as blandly, knowing that the man in front of her would cheerfully slice her and her charge to ribbons if he thought he could get away with it. "Mr. Potter and I would like to take out an ad."
Rupert Collins raised an eyebrow, head pivoting sharply to examine the young man with Andromeda for the first time. "Mr. Potter. An honor, Sir."
Harry just nodded back nervously.
"So what is this ad about?" He asked, turning back to Andromeda. Rupert Collins was well aware that Andromeda Tonks, while technically of little influence, still managed to swing a heavy beaters bat in certain circles, she had friends in the Ministry so he wasn't going to go gunning for her without good cause.
Andromeda, for her part, smiled coolly and handed him a copy to examine.
He slipped on a pair of glasses and started read, making surprised sounds every so often as he noted that it was a public apology from Mr. Potter to… well, his public actually. When he reached a certain part, Rupert's head snapped up and he stared right at Harry in shock.
"Is this true?"
"It's all true, Sir," Harry said, "but which part are you referring to?"
"This bit about the mail wards."
"Ah, yes," Harry confirmed, "I've never received any mail until after I got my Hogwarts letter."
"And then," Andromeda picked up, "Only from specific owls. Hogwarts, Ministry, his own, and owls belonging to a close friend. We suspect they've all been charmed to pass through the wards."
"They'd have to be, wouldn't they?" Collins mumbled, pouring over the page. "I happen to know my niece sent you cards every year for almost a decade."
"I've heard similar stories, Sir." Harry said, shaking his head, "Truth is, though, some years I don't even get mail from my friends. Never occurred to me until last summer that anyone would send me mail like that."
"But you're the boy who lived!"
"Yes, but I've not been raised in the magical world." Harry said, following Andromeda's plan for the meeting. "My relatives are Muggles, Sir, and while they know about magic they have absolutely no desire to be involved in this world. I wasn't told about magic or even my parents until Hagrid came to deliver my Hogwarts letter."
"Shocking…"
Harry shrugged, staying clear of personal details like his treatment from his relatives. They'd considered exposing that bit of information, but had decided against it for various reasons. Andromeda felt it would be a bit too much like whining, and could turn some people against him, and Harry simply didn't want to air his personal life to the public any more than he absolutely had to.
"You'll run the ad, then?"
Rupert nodded quickly, "Absolutely."
"How much for a full page?"
The editor waved a hand off, "Let me be frank, Miss Tonks, Mr. Potter… I should pay you for this. It'll bump circulation up at least threefold is my bet, we'll tease it on the front page and run it on page four… if that's acceptable?"
"Eminently." Andromeda smiled.
"Mr. Potter," Collins hesitated for a second, "Could we arrange a follow up interview?"
Harry glanced at Andromeda, who inclined her head slightly before speaking.
"Mr. Potter isn't adverse to the suggestion, however you will understand if we're hesitant to throw him to the wolves. He is still a minor, Mr. Collins."
"Of course, we'll let you screen the questions," He offered.
"We also reserve veto on the interviewer." Andromeda countered, "So if you choose to send, for example, Ms. Skeeter, kindly inform her that should she step out of line Mr. Potter will take future interviews to a different reporter… or a different paper, yes?"
"Of course." Collins smiled woodenly.
"Then we have an accord, Sir."
"I'll be in contact with you, Mr. Potter… ah," Collins glanced down at the paper, "Or perhaps I should contact Mrs. Tonks?"
"That would be best, yes," Andromeda confirmed with a smile. "At least until we work out this mail issue. You may also leave messages with Gringotts Estate Management, however there is no telling how long before those will be retrieved, given Mr. Potter's time at school and the fact that he has limited access to the magical world during the summer."
"Yes, I see. Very well, I'll list you as the contact, Andromeda." Collins rose to his feet, extending his hand to her.
She reciprocated and smiled tolerantly when he bent over it and lightly brushed his lips to her knuckles. "Thank you, Rupert."
He let her hand go, and Andromeda quietly but efficiently ushered Harry out of the offices of the Daily Prophet. Collins watched them go, and found himself staring at the door blankly for the longest time before coming out of his fugue state.
When he did, he glanced at the time and was suddenly galvanized. He lept up, rushing for the bullpen with the copy in his hand.
"Hold the presses!"
"Now, that was a good bit of work done." Andromeda said serenely as they walked out of the Prophet offices and down the side alley that led back to Diagon. "And it'll put a bit of a crimp in any plans to make you look like some spoiled child screaming for attention."
"Not sure how it keeps them from attacking Dumbledore and me…" Harry frowned.
"I couldn't care less what they do concerning Albus Dumbledore." Andromeda sniffed, "The man has been a politician for longer than I've been alive, he can look out for himself. As for yourself, it won't prevent an attack. What it will do is blunt its edge, by putting a conflicting image of you in people's minds."
Harry nodded dutifully, but he didn't really understand it all.
"We're not done, either, but we don't want to fling all our curses at once," She informed him. "A motion of this nature has to be done steadily, over time, for greatest effect. A little here, and a little there, our goal isn't a huge swing in opinion over the short term. We want to build a concrete foundation that will last a lifetime."
"You'll have to learn this, Harry." She said, "both as Regent Black and Sir Harry, Potter of Potter. You're a public figure as the head of your clan, and acting head of mine, and people will attack you in order to harm your family."
Harry's face tensed, he hadn't thought of that. Usually he worried about people attacking his friends to hurt him, it had never occurred to him that it could work both ways. "Why would they want to hurt my family?"
"Both the Blacks and the Potters have made many enemies over the centuries, Harry," She explained patiently as they walked, "some of those resulted in feuds of varying degrees that could be a cause, but more likely is that they'll attack you to tarnish the names of the families you represent as a means to increase their power by decreasing yours."
Andromeda was pleased to note that Harry was listening intently, apparently deeply involved in what she was saying. She could only wish that Nymphadora had paid remotely as much attention when she'd tried to impart this series of lessons. Of course, at the time she hadn't expected them to be terribly important to her daughter, as their family was a relatively unimportant nonentity in the most vicious of circles that followed these traditions. Had she been a Black at that time, she would simply never had put up with Nymphadoras inattention.
"Remember, your family… and mine," She added carefully, "Hold power in their name. Power you can use to do whatever you think is best for the clan and the magical world. Other people recognize this, and they guard their own power jealously. To keep you from undermining their own positions, or just to bolster their position in general, many of them would not even blink at destroying everything you and your family has built. We learn these lessons, not only to promote our own positions, but to defend our family name and history."
Harry was slowly nodding, but didn't say anything. Andromeda smiled slightly, mildly pleased with what she was seeing. He wasn't a fool, she knew that, but Harry rarely showed real determination. When he did, she suspected few things in the world could stop him, and unless she was greatly mistaken… he was showing some very impressive determination just now.
Perfect.
"How did they do?"
The Vice Dean glanced up to see Arthur Fitzpatrick standing in her doorway, eyeing the papers on her desk with a genial, if curious, eye.
"The Addams child did as expected, near perfect in all her scores." Miranda Merriman said calmly, "Though her answers on the ethics portion of the tests were enough to send your average murderer screaming for the local constabulary."
"I'm sure," Arthur chuckled in amusement. "And the Harris lad?"
"Mixed." She said, "He's slipping behind in his mundane classes, but his general magical understanding is remarkably high. Higher than the Addams girl in some places, Harris shows an intuitive comprehension that you don't learn from a book."
"Wonderful."
"Arthur, we need to get these two out of Hogwarts." She said sternly, "While you'd be hard pressed to find another school with a Charms or Transfiguration program to match, Harris is starting to show some signs of falling below standards in all his mundane classes… well, save History. Boy shows a real talent for history, a lot of enthusiasm for the subject."
"Really? That's a rarity these days," Arthur said, sounding pleased, "children are so focused on the future, even in our world."
"Yes, well, he's also dropping below standards in Potions…" Miranda frowned, "Which makes little sense, the boy showed early signs of being a potions prodigy."
"Hmm…" Arthur caressed his beard idly, "That may be evidence that some of the rumors concerning Hogwarts potions master are true."
"I can't imagine any education would let someone that vile near children, Arthur." She countered, rolling her eyes. "I expect that he's just getting bored with the normal curriculum. If he is a prodigy, you know as well as I do that it's frightfully easy to ruin one of those."
"Sadly true." Arthur nodded, straightening up. "I'll take your concerns under consideration, Miranda, but you know as well as I that they've chosen to go to Hogwarts. We can't force them to change."
"Poppycock." She muttered, "Just withdraw the exchange program."
"Miranda, Miranda," he chided her with a smile, "If I did that I promise you that Gomez Addams would instantly replace it with funds from his own pocket, and then he'd likely pull his donations to our own programs. No, I don't think I'll be slicing off my nose to spite my face on this subject, Miranda. We'll talk more later, though. Enjoy the rest of your day, my dear… it's lovely out."
Miranda Merriman sighed, knowing he was right. It was still terribly frustrating to see a potentially great student wasted however.