Chapter Text
The drive to the Navy Yard did not take as long as Severus thought it would. He talked to the agent about what the agency does. He found out that they work with the United States Navy and Marines. The agent Dwayne Pride talked about New Orleans when Minerva asked about his accent. They discussed the culture differences between the USA and England, even the differences between England and Scotland where the older woman was born and raised.
Pride in turn told them a little about the case.
"How did Harry get to the USA?" Minerva asked.
"He said he was vacationing here in Washington DC with his relatives. They had gone to Virginia Beach for the day and stopped at a motel on the way back. That is where he witnessed the accident." Pride explained.
"Is Harry injured at all?" Severus had asked.
"He hurt his hand when he tried to break the window of the car to get Kelly out. He has a brace on his arm. He was already seen at the hospital for any injuries he has." Pride made sure to clarify at the end.
"When can we take Harry back to England? School starts in a few weeks." Minerva asked.
"Until the individuals who are involved in the case are caught, Harry must stay with the Gibbs family in protective custody. We need your permission to get his official Statement. We don't anticipate the case to go on much longer. We have more than enough evidence now to put the group away." Pride said.
"I have paperwork listing his guardians that his parents left in their will. While at school Minerva is his guardian due to it being a boarding school. I have not looked at the list other than confirming that Minerva here is on the list." Severus said.
"We will need to copy that when we get to the office." Pride said. They spent the rest of the drive talking about different things from what they enjoyed doing to more about Harry from what they knew. Some of the things the agent had said that Harry did to escape with Kelly really did not surprise the professors. They hoped he did not use magic but would not blame him if he needed to.
They pulled into the parking garage where they went through security. Minerva followed the instructions while watching everything Severus was doing. She had never gone through a metal detector before. Luckily their wands were under notice-me-not charms so that they did not have to bring them out. They easily passed through a scan of their items, mostly consisting of a passport, some loose change for Severus and the paperwork about Harry.
"We will meet in the conference room first and make sure the paperwork is legal. My team lead Supervisory Special Agent Mike Franks will be meeting with you. Follow me upstairs." Pride said. He lead them to the elevator where they rode up a few floors to the bullpen. Severus had to keep the sneer off his face when he saw the orange walls. Minerva was looking around in amazement at how much the muggles are able to do. She is not one who looks down on muggles, however she does not always see the advancement in technology like mobile phones.
"It is very colorful here." Minerva said.
"Yeah I do not know who decided that orange was a good color for the walls. Okay we are going to be in conference room one, up the stairs there." Pride said. He was used to being asked about the orange walls. He knows that it is a bit weird but he liked to think that it makes NIS more memorable, who could forget the agency with orange walls.
"Good evening, my name is Mike Franks, I am the one who called the Grangers yesterday. Are you Severus Snape, the one I talked to earlier?" Mike said, shaking hands with both when they got to the room. Pride sat down next to Mike while Severus and Minerva sat across from them.
"Yes I am Severus Snape, this is my colleague Minerva McGonagall. While Mr. Potter is at school she is his guardian and head of house." Sev said. He pulled out the chair for Minerva as they sat.
"While we look through the list of guardians you brought I will be bringing you up to speed on the situation. A few days ago Harry witnessed an accident occur while he was walking along the road. He had seen the car crash and after making sure that it was safe, he went to help. He found two of the adults in the vehicle were already deceased and that Kelly, a girl a few years younger than him, was injured but alive. He helped get her out of the car where they them had to find their way to safety. Kelly and her mom Shannon were being watched by our agent in protective custody so when Harry found out about that he felt he had to get her somewhere safe. They said that they went and got some of Harry's belongings before getting on a bus and making their way to Kelly's grandfather. He then contacted us so we knew that Kelly was safe and the brave actions of Harry. We then brought them here where we now need your permission to get Harry's official statement for the record." Mike said.
Pride had looked through the list of guardians and noticed that first listed was a Sirius Black followed by Remus Lupin, Alice Longbottom, Minerva McGonagall and then Severus Snape. There was even a specific note at the bottom that Harry was not to go to her sister Petunia Dursley nee Evans under any circumstances. He showed Mike who told him to call Tom down as they would need the Director for this as Harry was placed with Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Tom came into the room sitting beside Mike.
"Good evening, my name is Director Tom Morrow. I was one of the first to see the children safe. Now have you gotten to look at the list of guardians in the will?" Tom asked.
"I have not, I made sure that Minerva was on the list before making the trip but did not look further, why?" Severus said. Minerva just shook her head no that she had not seen the list.
"There are a couple issues I would like to address before we can allow you to see Harry and sign as his guardian. Now you are both on the list, that is not the issue so do not worry. The first listed guardian is Sirius Black is he available at all? We must go down the list to make sure the court cannot dispute your claim." Tom asked.
"Sirius Black is currently in jail for thirteen counts of murder and the suspected of two others. He will not be available." Minerva said as Severus just sneered at the name. A reaction that all three agents noticed.
"Alright, next of the list of a Remus John Lupin. Is he available at all?" Tom asked, writing a note about Sirius on a notepad to look into later.
"Mr. Lupin was diagnosed with a chronic medical condition that denied him his request of custody when Harry was first orphaned. We can try to get in contact with him but he cannot claim guardianship of Harry at this time." Minerva answered again. She shared a look with Severus, not sure how long it would take until they had to reveal the wixen world.
"Okay, next on the list is Alice Longbottom along with her husband Frank." Tom said. Once more writing down more about Remus.
"Alice and her Husband are both survivors of torture, however they are permanent residents in a care ward as they are no longer able to take care of themselves. They do not even have custody of their own son Neville, he is in the care of his grandmother." Severus said. He had been secretly working on some potions he hoped would help with their care and recovery.
"Okay after that is Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape so you will be able to sign for Harry." Tom said. He noticed that Snape looked very shocked to be included on the list of guardians, making a note to ask him later. "Now the last issue that I found is down at the bottom here the will specifically says that Harry is to never be placed with Petunia and Vernon Dursley, however that is who we found him to be with."
"Wait, he has been with Petunia?" Severus asked. He was starting to get a bit of a wake up call about Harry. He had always thought that the boy was brash, arrogant, attention seeking. However he knows that growing up with Petunia could only mean neglect at best. He would need to go through his memories tonight and see if the behaviors are indicators of abuse.
"Yes Albus told me that they were his only family left and that it was the only option for him. When Remus applied for custody and was denied he asked to visit but Albus would not allow me to tell him where Harry was." Minerva said. Severus noticed her eyes glaze for a second, likely indicating a compulsion. He knew that she would have told the wolf if she could as he was friends with Potter.
"I knew Petunia as a kid and she was awful then, she always bullied Lily and I and it got worse after she found out about our school." Severus said.
The professors eventually finished signing paperwork and brought up to where Harry currently is. They walked in to see him sitting on the lap of a man in a military uniform. He was holding a bear wearing a similar uniform and playing with the little girl they had heard about.