The castle that housed the students of Hogwarts had nearly emptied out as the winter hols came; most students opting to leave and spend the merry times with their families. Bizarrely, three female students had decided to stay for the time being, having been given permission to stay for a few days before Christmas to help out a permanent resident during ol' Saint Nick's holiday, and his newly discerned ward-that-turned-out-to-be-his-pet-owl.
Harry fastened the strap of his knapsack onto his shoulder, as well as tying his invisibility cloak close to his body. The group of caretakers found themselves near the secret passageway that led to Honeydukes' cellar in the early morning.
"Everybody remembers their roles?" Harry asked the three ladies that stood with him in the hallway.
"Yeah, yeah. We're more worried about you in this situation, I mean, you are doing most of the legwork." Pansy stated matter-of-factly.
"Doesn't hurt to be safe." Harry responded with a grin, "So, I'll fly all the way to Diagon Alley and get myself into Gringotts to see if I can get my emancipation going."
The group had worked day in and day out to come up with a suitable plan for Harry to discreetly leave Hogwarts grounds and travel all the way to Gringotts and get emancipated. Sue Li and Pansy had been a godsend; Sue Li aiding in dealing with the laws and regulations concerning his liberation and Pansy had the know-how of any Pureblood laws he could take advantage of.
And Susan and Holly baked chocolate-chip cookies, which equaled the help the two knowledgeable girls had given him.
"And make sure not to get under any rain. It'll wash off the foundation on your scar." Pansy reminded him.
Harry nodded and softly touched the place where his scar was usually seen, hidden away by Pansy's foundation.
Taking one last look at the group, he took a small step towards Holly, who had adopted a sullen expression on her face, and tapped her on the forehead, eliciting a small eep! from her. She pouted but reduced the distance and leapt into his arms.
"Be safe please."
Harry patted her on the back and held her closer, "Don't worry, I will be, buddy."
After releasing themselves from each other's grasp, he entered the dark hallway that led to the outside, taking a second to look back and see the encouraging smiles from them all. His conviction strengthened, he nodded at them and delved deeper into the dark.
When his silhouette was no longer visible, Susan took hold of Holly and carried herninto her arms, quietly intoning to Holly, "Let's go, we can draw something for when Harry comes back safe and sound."
Holly, the normally vibrant and rambunctious one of the bunch, nodded softly and silently.
As they walked away, her eyes stayed glued to the wall where Harry disappeared into.
"Hey, watch where you're going, old man!"
The man did not pay the woman in the suit any mind as he had bumped into her, hastily strolling away from her. He smiled as he saw her simply turn and leave, not noticing the missing wallet in her purse, and by then he would already be long gone.
He changed directions and entered a dark alleyway, away from any prying eyes that might have seen his sleight of hand. As he stopped to count the bills and monies he had incurred with his theft, he failed to realise the hanging spirit above his head…
And by the time he had seen it, it was already too late.
The same man limped out of the alleyway but this time, if you were to look meticulously, his irises were the same colour as the blood in his veins.
'Filthy, decrepit, such a useless host…' Voldemort thought out of disgust as he struggled to even stand up straight. Holding onto the walls as he made his way to the corner of the street, where the Leaky Cauldron would be, he would purchase a wand from one of the illegal wand makers from Knockturn Alley and from then construct a way to hit Potter where it hurts.
Speaking of, there he was walking right inside the pub…
"POTTER!"
Voldemort let out an inhuman screech - the people around him holding their ears out of pain - he could see that the boy took a moment to pause to see who had called out to him and looked at him in confusion. Voldemort tried his best to run and grab a hold of the boy, but in his blind rage, he bumped into several people, those of which did not take kindly to his forced battery.
"Get out of the way, you filthy mudbloods!" He spoke in contempt as he shoved his way through, earning a few glares and shouts of anger from the citizens he pushed and shoved.
"Alright, enough of that."
A burly man took a hold of his lapels and pulled him aside, roughly holding him against a wall. Voldemort coughed out in pain and struggled against his grip.
"Hey, there he is, honey! That's the old man that bumped into me earlier!"
A large, burlier man stepped up, the woman from earlier pointing at Voldemort.
The two pillars of muscle looked at each other, nodded once, and pulled Voldemort into an alleyway, a line of people following, each holding an array of objects.
It did not take too long before Voldemort once again was without a body. He did however find new ways for the human body to experience pain like no other…
Cruciatus be damned.
Harry cringed as the howls of pain echoed out the alleyway, combined with the frenzied yells of anger of the crowd of people, probably kicking and punching the poor sod that had stoked the anger of the crowd. Though he could have sworn those screams of pain sounded somewhat familiar…
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he entered the Leaky Cauldron, setting his mind back to the task at hand. Walking in, he was surprised that nobody paid him any attention, perhaps a glance but nothing more than that - some even offhandedly commented on his uncanny resemblance to Harry Potter - Tom, the barkeeper, gave him a nod and a smile and Harry greeted him back with a lopsided smile and a wave, amused and slightly freaked out that not even the man that two years ago gave away one of his rooms for him to stay in the summer, failed to recognise him.
'I should ask Pansy to cover my scar way more often.' Harry absentmindedly thought as he entered Diagon Alley.
Again, none of the wizards and witches noticed the supposedly famous Boy-who-lived walk amongst them and he entered Gringotts without any trouble or interference.
As he fell in line to wait for his turn to speak to the goblin teller, he ran in his mind the plan he and the girls had made up: First, forge some documents from the goblins to emancipate Harry from his guardians, citing abuse and neglect as a probable cause for his emancipation.
Next, speak to Susan's aunt to get evidence, both magical and muggle, so that the process of making his emancipation real is airtight. Finally, adopt Hedwig and make sure every authority and law recognize him as her rightful guardian. It wasn't exactly fullproof, but it was the best they could come up with with the assets they had at hand.
Walking up to the no-nonsense goblin, impatiently drumming his fingers on his wooden table, not looking up as Harry gulped his nervousness down and spoke to the teller softly, "Good morning, I need to speak with a goblin that can create some documents for me."
"What kind of documents would that be, sir?"
"Emancipation papers, specifically for me."
The goblin raised his head and his eyes widened a fraction as he finally recognised him, but still followed protocol and asked him, "May I get your name?"
"Harry Potter, sir." The goblin nodded, expecting as much, and eyed where his scar normally would be. Pressing a button on his desk, a door appeared out of thin air behind him and the goblin stepped down and motioned for Harry to follow him. They walked past a corridor, countless doors filled the hallway with names in front of each door, Harry read some as he and the goblin made their way past some; Gildiron, Macefire, Colonspinchter.
But it was a door with the name "Goldpine" that they had stopped in front of and opened. Inside, another goblin sat, this one wearing a distinguished suit and monocle.
"Good day, Goldpine. I have a client here that would like to see you." Said Goldpine stood up and shook Harry's hand.
"Thank you very much, I'll take it from here, Sweettooth."
The aforementioned Sweettooth gave a nod and left Harry and Goldpine all to their lonesome.
"Good day, Mr. Potter. Please take a seat." Goldpline gestured to the chair in front of his desk, walking back to his desk and hoisting himself up to his spot behind it. Harry occupied the chair and began anxiously tapping his leg.
The impeccably dressed goblin began to sort papers on his desks, looking and perusing several documents, his eyes never stuck on one for long, "Now, how may I help you today?"
"Uh… I'm here to see if I can get some documents made. Specifically those that can get me out of my guardians' hands." Harry tried not to stutter too much, knowing how abrasive and stern goblins can be. His assumption was not too far off as he noticed Goldpline look at him above his monocle at his stammer.
"Ah, emancipation papers then? Let's see here…" Goldpline began to rifle through countless documents, some Harry managed to catch some words briefly, but not enough to even comprehend what the papers were for. Ultimately, he had found the parchment he was supposedly looking for.
"Here we are: Now, Mr. Potter, please prick your finger and let a drop of blood fall right in this spot here." Goldpline pointed to a particular spot in the parchment, bottom right where a line was drawn next a circle, "And after that I'll have you sign this document and we can see if you are eligible for emancipation."
Harry followed through with the instructions given to him by Goldpline and he in turn rolled the parchment and pressed a button on the underside of his table, which was followed by a large tube descending from the ceiling to the side of the room. Goldpline let the parchment enter the tube and get sucked away.
"While we wait for that, may I know why you want to be free from your guardian?" Goldpline held a quill and looked at Harry expectantly, "Any reason that can help your case when it goes to the legal channels."
Harry's eyes averted from his gaze and he rubbed the side of his arm nervously, "Er, well… I've been living with my aunt and uncle, along with their son; um, my cousin. They weren't really the best when it came to my well-being and welfare."
"Mind being more specific; examples of their methods and any mentions of your living circumstance will be helpful."
Wincing internally, Harry began to recount the state of his living space when he was younger; doing chores as soon as he was able to, the constant verbal abuse from his so called relatives, Harry Hunting, and of course, the cupboard that also counted as his first ever room. By the end of it all, even Goldpline had his brows furrowed; showing emotion of anger not caused this this time by idiotic wizards/witches, but by idiotic muggles.
"Given their heinous and deplorable treatment towards you, it will be difficult for anyone to even think of going against your freedom from these heathens." Goldpline said, a slight hint of disgust at how a child, let alone the supposedly wizarding world's hero, was treated during their formative years. That led to Harry having hope that maybe this was the right choice of action, although the guilt of going behind Dumbledore's back was still there.
A blast of air resounded from the pipe where Goldpline had first put the parchment from earlier, and now in it, contained another piece of parchment. Goldpline reached and grabbed the document, unfurled it, and read its contents. As he eyes went down, his eyebrows proportionally furrowed. After reaching the end, he sighed and sat back down, looking straight at Harry. The action had Harry's nervousness to amp up tremendously.
"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, but it seems you cannot be emancipated."
Harry's eyes shut in dejection. Of course, it wouldn't be that simple. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, a flame of confidence as he remembered that this wasn't only for him, "Mr. Goldpline, I'll do anything to get emancipated. Be it galleons, basilisk skin, or a way to get revenge on someone who crossed you by making any container they have smell like piss, I'll give you anything!"
The goblin worriedly eyed the boy at the last part of his statement, but gestured for Harry to calm down, "Mr. Potter, although your offer does sound tempting - Er, perhaps not the piss - you may have mistaken the meaning to my words."
Harry confusingly frowned a bit, before Goldpline explained more thoroughly.
"I meant you cannot be emancipated, as you already are emancipated."
A pregnant pause followed, as well as Harry's nonplussed face morphing into a deeply puzzled expression, "Wait, what?"
"It is as I said, Mr. Potter." Goldpline took another look in the document and read out loud, "As per this document, Harry Potter shall now henceforth be emancipated and considered an adult in both the wizard and muggle world. Signed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Barty Crouch Snr., and Ludo Bagman."
A look of realisation dawned on Harry, "The Triwizard Tournament…"
"Hm, as I said. As you are already emancipated, you are not eligible for emancipation." Goldpline stood up and went around to Harry, he held his hand out, which Harry took and shook weakly, still reeling from his unbeknownst emancipation.
"Oh, er… Thank you, Mr. Goldpline." Harry thanked the goblin.
"My pleasure, Mr. Potter. But if I may ask, how come you are not happier with this information, given that you were looking to get emancipated."
"I've always expected for things to take a turn for the worst, and so expected for something to get in the way of my emancipation. I had this whole thing planned where I'd forge documents and have a back alley ministry worker get it officialized as the real thing. Barring that; sneak into the ministry and do it myself. So for things to go this smoothly… It's just plain strange."
Goldpline sweated a bit at the boy's conviction to get emancipated and ignored the fact that he admitted to conspiring to commit a crime - his paycheck was way too low from having to deal with wizard authorities - and good-naturedly patted Harry on the back instead, "Well, that is now entirely unnecessary. Now if you do not need anything else, I will have to ask you to leave. Thank you and please come again."
He ushered Harry out and closed the door to his office, leaving Harry in a bit of a daze. His feet dragged him out to the streets of Diagon Alley, where once again, nobody was none the wiser to the Boy-who-lived walking amongst them.
"What is up with this year?" Harry couldn't help but ask out loud to no one in particular. The bewildering state of events giving him whiplash. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour came into his vision and he decided that one thing was in order.
A banana sundae to be exact.
Holly solemnly coloured in the sun that was in the corner of her drawing pad. Usually, a smile would be drawn on such a character, but this sun had a frown, giving an insight as to the current emotion she had been feeling since Harry had gone to Gringotts. Everything in the drawing had a frown; the stickmen, the flowers, the house, windows, doors, and even the roof. Susan, Sue Li, and Pansy looked on worriedly.
"She's been like that for the past hour, shouldn't we do something?" Susan asked the other girls quietly, not wanting Holly to hear their conversation - although Holly could have heard it easily, if it wasn't for the cloud of sadness occupying her mind.
"We tried, remember? She wouldn't budge, I think that's her fourteenth page of just drawing things with frowny faces." Pansy said, "I guess she's never been without Harry until now."
"That doesn't mean we should stop trying. Come on." Sue Li stated, standing up and making her way to Holly. Susan and Pansy followed behind the studious witch and stood on the sidelines as she attempted to catch the sullen child's attention.
"Holly? Wanna play with the three of us?" Sue Li adopted a soft jovial tone, hoping that Holly would be much more receptive.
"Nuh-uh. Not until Harry comes back safe." Not looking up from her work - which moved on to a mountain side with a huge frown on its facade - Holly's refusal to do anything without Harry continued.
Sue Li inwardly sighed and looked at the others, signalling whether they wanted to give their shot. Susan was the one who kneeled down and spoke to Holly next, "Don't worry so much, Holly. Harry is a competent and responsible wizard. I'm sure he's as safe as can be."
"I know that." Holly replied poutingly, her tone almost steering into rude territory, "But knowing him, he's probably somehow got the whole goblin society on him, or maybe his foundation wore off and now he's being chased by a bunch of people who want to get a piece of him."
"Now Holly, no need to think so pessimistically." Pansy returned back to her.
"I'm not, I mean, don't you guys remember what happened last year?" Holly looked up at the three for the first time as she asked them.
"Yes, well I'm sure that was-" but Sue Li's words were cut off by what Holly said next.
"Not to mention the one-hundred dementors."
"...Did you just say one-hundred dementors?"
Sue Li's shock was apparent, her slack-jawed expression and widened eyes comprehending that that many soul sucking apparitions were anywhere near the castle. She had heard rumours - the sudden chilliness of that one night felt by everyone - and it was true that the Minister had come by and perhaps needed extra security, but one-hundred dementors?
Oblivious to their utter shock as she looked down to recall her owner's past, Holly continued, "And also that Basilisk that bit him."
"A Basi-what now?!" Susan goggled at Holly. And did she just say that a Basilisk bit Harry and he survived?!
"Quirell was also a big problem, but that was mostly because he had Voldemort on the back of his head."
Pansy hadn't the strength to say anything, her legs shaking as she remembered staring at the quivery man's turban, never guessing that Voldemort was the thing hiding behind that turban. She had even bumped into him…
A shocked silence followed after Holly's journey to memory lane. Their first thought was to disabuse Holly's statements, the crazy and insane happenings towards Harry too outlandish to believe. But what reason did she have to lie?
The opening of the door had the three girls jump from fright. Harry entered, holding a bag of ice cream on his arm, and loosening the invisibility cloak off his body.
"I'm back, and you cannot believe what I'm about to say." Harry started but was brought to silence as all four girls stared at him; one looked at him with a happy smile, whilst the other three simply had the same shocked expression that hadn't waver just yet.
"Harry!" Holly ran up and hugged Harry, almost bringing him down to the floor but managing to just brace himself and hold his position.
"Er… Something I missed?" Harry uncertainty asked, worried at the three girls' faces.
Pansy softly shook her head, a thousand-yard stare on her face as she dragged her feet to leave the room, "Nothing. Just… Going to wash my body and scrub a layer off of my skin."
Harry's worry increased at that eerie statement. It was Susan next who also made a move to leave.
"I need to go to the Owlery and write a letter to my Aunt." She rushed past Harry. Once again, Harry was left to wonder what happened while he was gone. He looked to Sue Li for answers as he asked, "What's with those two?"
Sue Li did not immediately respond, instead, stood up and moved in front of Harry. Looking at him up and down; if he didn't know any better, it was almost as if she was appraising him. Finally, she finished and nodded to herself, "You are quite a specimen, Harry."
She left Harry with those words, not giving Harry any more understanding as to the situation at hand. He looked down to Holly, who never let go of Harry during the whole ordeal, and asked succinctly.
"What just happened?"
Holly let out a happy hum, not caring too much to answer his question. He let out a sigh and moved to keep the ice cream he had bought for all of them from melting. He'll ask them tomorrow.
Today was just too strange for Harry.
A/N: Boo! Did I scare you? Writing opportunities have been scarce. I had finally scrapped up the time to finish this chapter. Poor Harry, after dealing with everything he has, things going smoothly is as weird as it can get. Maybe something will happen? Who knows… Leave a review, an ice cream cone with each one!
And just in case someone decides to ask about the emancipation thing: I know that canonically (From memory and looking at the wiki), the age ring around the cup was the only thing stopping students 6th year and below from participating, and that past tournaments had younger participants being able to join the Triwizard Tournament. But in my headcanon, to legitimise Harry as a participant in the eyes of the public as he is a sort of hero figure, Dumbledore, Ludo, and Crouch Senior made and signed papers that had Harry be realised as an adult in the wizarding world, in case anyone would try and get the people in charge of the tournament into trouble. I think that Ludo and Crouch especially would push for this type of action, as to minimize ire from the public by saying "Hey, he's actually seen as an adult now! That means it is now okay for him to be a part of this tournament!" Does it sound stupid? Yes. But it fits the types of things government workers try to do to save face when they goof up. Anyway, that's all. See ya'll next chapter!
