Author's Note; According to Google, the average salary of a teacher of a Private school in Scotland is Scotland - £32,994 to £41,412. And from the Gringotts Converter that would be 6,625 Galleons 5 Sickles and 3 Knuts to 8,315 Galleons 11 Sickles and 7 Knuts. Now, the Wolfsbane Potion is supposed to be very expensive, and Remus could afford to buy it while he was on a Hogwarts salary but there was no need to as Snape brewed it for him. So I've decided that the cost of the Potions will be 7,000 Galleons and 8 Sickles exactly. Convert that into Pounds and it would be 34,862 Pounds and 34 Pence.
Also, I am extremely sorry for the delay, buy I had to edit this chapter to make sure there were no errors.
Reviews: Thunderfordeath97: Charlus and Dorea would have eased the story line a bit but I have my reasons for picking them. I hope you didn't expect me to name him Hadrian or Harold because, A) They're overused and B) The reason for naming him will be revealed soon. And no Arcturus and Dorea are actually cousins, but Arcturus had a sister, Lycoris. She didn't marry and had no children so I just took her out of the story. And no Charlus is not a blood supremacist but he is wary of muggleborns, the reason - will be explained soon.
The county of Kent was not an overly extravagant place. It was home to mostly working-class families but here and there you would spot the occasional extravagance. Potter Manor was one such place. The beautiful site had been standing tall since it's construction in 1940. The other inhabitants of Kent knew that it was a vacation home for a member of a foreign aristocracy. What they did not know was that the aristocrat was not foreign, but was an aristocrat..Of sorts.
And he was a wizard.
In fact, one of the reasons the townspeople saw almost zero activity was because there were only two people who lived in the massive house.
One of them was a young boy, with messy black hair green-blue eyes and glasses. His name, was Harden Potter.
As the 'boy-who-lived' Harden led a pretty easy life. After the death of his parents, Dumbledore had almost immediately moved him to the Manor. Not that he was complaining, mind you.
One could never get bored at Potter Manor. It was a beautiful four-story construction. Made entirely out of gleaming white marble. All the window frames, doors and arches were made of solid gold. It was situated on a sprawling green field, with perfectly maintained cypress trees lining the sand path up to the mahogany and gold double doors.
It had eight bedrooms, a library, and indoor and outdoor pool, a dueling room, a potions lab, a nursery and a study. And yet, compared to Potter Castle the Manor was only half the size!
The ballroom, which had a capacity of two hundred people, and with space expansion-charms it could be hiked up to a thousand. It was located right on the first floor, but it did not have any entrance hall at the front. At the back, the same marble floor continued out to a veranda.
The ballroom was flanked by the formal sitting-area and the formal dining area. The second floor had four guest bedrooms, along with the family sitting and dining area in one room, and the medium-sized kitchen. Elsewhere on the second floor, the library, dueling and potions rooms could be found.
Finally, the third floor had the main bedrooms, as well as the nursery and the study. The pool was also here.
And yet, despite its many offerings, hardly any of this was used. In fact the only floor that was used was the second floor, and the outside pool. At one time the Manor employed two house-elves. But now, one had decided to take care of the many over-seas residences the Potter's owned while the other still resided in the Manor, but was hardly called upon.
The reason for all this; Remus Lupin. The son of Lyall and Hope Howell, he had been raised in a modest environment. He was not at all used to the luxury and splendor Potter Manor offered. But he was the Godfather of Harden Potter.
Remus had been on a mission for the Order when two of his close friends, James and Lily had been murdered. Should anything happen to them, their youngest son Harden would be left in his care. And since James had come from an insanely wealthy background, he had arranged in his will, that every month Remus would get a sum of twelve thousand Galleons from Gringotts to take of Harden and of his furry little problem.
He had been suitably horrified when he returned to find four of his friends gone, two killed indirectly by the fourth, while the third had been killed directly. To make matters even more complicated the fourth friend – Sirius Black was already in Azkaban, and he was also the godfather of Hardwin 'Harry' Potter, the elder brother of his godson.
Initially the Ministry was hard-pressed to make sure he did not get custody of Harden, as he had become national icon. And the fact that Remus was a werewolf. However, Dumbledore quickly put a stop to that with his smart wording...Well he had basically just pointed out that the Ministry was ignoring the will of James Potter, an Order of Merlin First Class holder, a highly decorated junior Auror and the late Heir to the House of Potter. Also, he was rich.
He had also offered to take in Harry, but the initial assessment from St. Mungo's confirmed that Harry was a squib. Dumbledore had been worried that it would drive a wedge between the two brothers, but Remus persisted, saying it was wrong to take siblings away from each other.
After a long argument, Remus eventually agreed. Because it would be wrong use magic in front of Harry, but how could a wizard not use magic? So, it was decided that Harry would go and live with Petunia Dursley, Lily's muggle sister.
Remus had heard from both James and Lily that Petunia – to put it nicely was not a nice person. However, Dumbledore assured Remus that Harry would be best protected there. And so Remus began his new life with Harden at Potter Manor while Harry was taken to the Dursley's.
The whole process was extremely tiring, and twenty-one-year-old, jobless werewolf Remus Lupin found himself taking care of Harden Potter, a national hero, the scion of an important family and a sign of hope for the entirety of Wizarding Britain. It was certainly a demanding task.
Harry Potter had been left at the Dursley residence for precisely one week before Arcturus Black came to take him away for good. It had not been easy for the child. He was only a year old, therefore he could not understand the disdain the family held for him. Already, he had been dipped into a hot bath that had nearly scalded his back. He got the bare minimum amount of food and was constantly pinched and bullied around by his cousin.
Dursley Residence,
Number 4 Privet Drive-Surrey.
Arcturus Black walked briskly up to the Muggle house. For the past week, he had kept close watch on this house thanks to a house elf. He had pulled as many strings as he could to get the address of the Muggles, and yet it had not been easy at all.
He was dressed as muggle-ishly as he could. In a brand-new two-piece charcoal grey suit with a navy tie. Normally he would not have bothered, he was Arcturus Black of the House of Black. But it would not do good if Dumbledore, or anyone who knew who lived here heard that there was an oddly dressed man walking around in this neighborhood.
He knocked briskly on the door (he did not know what a bell was). It was opened by what he could politely call a giraffe. The woman had blonde hair pinned up into a bun, beady dark eyes that scrutinized every bit of him, a face that reminded him of a horse and a long neck that would look odd on any human.
Before she had the chance to say anything but a startled "Eeek!" he pushed his way inside the door and stunned her.
"Homenum Revelio," he said the nearest human presence was down the hall, to the left. The blue light pulsed steadily as he walked closer and closer to a..boot cupboard?! Frowning he opened the door, wand at the ready and promptly gagged at the smell.
A broken-down cot had been placed in the middle of small space. The sheets, which may have been white once upon a time had turned an ugly brownish-yellow and a child was sleeping in the middle of the soiled bedding. He put his anger and shock at bay. He had work to do right now.
"Gus!" he called out, and with a crack a house-elf appeared, eyeing the surrounding around him distastefully.
"Gus, take this boy to Black Manor and get him cleaned up. Treat him with respect, for he may as well be your future Lord."
The house elf bowed respectfully as he walked into the dingy cupboard and took the boy. Arcturus had just shut the door when a loud voice from the door at the end of the hallway stopped him.
"Petunia where's my – " A large rotund man had appeared at the doorway, and he stood shocked for a second before his eyes traveled to the 10" Red Oak and Dragon Heartsring wand(A/N) in his hand.
The man was only able to emit a strange, gurgling sound before Arcturus stunned him as well. Hw stalked back to the woman, Rennervated her and pointed her wand straight at her forehead.
"Obliviate." "You will forget all your memories of your nephew. You will forget that he came and lived with you. And should anyone ask, you will tell them that you have no knowledge of him."
He did the same with the walrus of a man, before taking a last look around and disappearing with a crack. In his haste, he had forgotten all about the last member of the house, another child, Dudley Dursley.
If one compared the childhood of the Potter's, they would have been startled at the difference.
Harden, up until the age of eight, had been raised as any normal child would be. He had extremely basic lesson in Charms, Transfigurations, Herbology and History of Magic. Remus taught him basic wand movements in Charms and theory in Transfigurations. When it came to Herbology and History of Magic, he mostly taught Harden out of the books from the Manor's library.
Professor Dumbledore visited sometimes and was always happy to demonstrate some Transfigurations to Harden. He also had lessons in basic Arithmancy and Muggle History.
Most of the time Harden would go to The Burrow where his best friend, Ron Weasley lived. They had first met when they were eight, as Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea for Harden to socialize with other children.
Remus had told Harden his secret early on. During the week of the transformation, Harden normally left to live with the Weasley family, while Remus would go to his childhood home, Lupin Cottage in Wales.
He would get his Wolfsbane Potion, pack an overnight bag with a Healing Kit, just in case, and Apparate Harden to the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. The Weasley family, The Diggory family and the Mortimer families all lived in the same village, and they all had children Harden could be around.
Harden's day started normally enough. His bedroom was on the second floor of the Manor, and he dressed himself and went into the kitchen. And sure enough Remus was there, preparing breakfast for him.
Harden eagerly dove into breakfast, (waffles with blueberry and maple syrup) as Remus Floo called Molly Weasley.
"Alright Harden, you'll leave after your lessons are over."
"Awesome Uncle Remus." The lessons were rather good, Remus and Harden sat in the hall, which had been partially turned into a study room.
The first lesson was Charms. Harden loved Charms. Today they were learning the incantation for the unlocking charm – Alohomora. After that they had Transfiguration, where he learned the theory of changing a matchstick into a needle. Transfiguration was followed by basic arithmancy.
The lessons he had in arithmancy were no where near to the ones he would get as a third year in Hogwarts but were enough to help give him a slight edge later. Remus had a particular habit of assigning homework in it, because according to him, if he chose the class in Hogwarts then he should be ready for copious amounts of homework.
After that two-hour long session, they had a break, after which they returned for Muggle and Magical History.
The Muggle History he was learning was probably not on par with what ten-year-old muggles learned, but it was good enough to give him a basic understanding of the muggle world. Today they finished up with the story of 'the wheel' and how muggles used it today, and a newer topic – Nazi Germany.
Remus liked to incorporate stories into his lessons, which was one of the reason Harden thought he was such a good teacher. Remus had chosen the story of Anne Frank when it came to the lesson about the Nazi's and the Second World War. Remus also pointed out that during this time the Wizarding World were going through a war of their own – The Grindelwald War.
The Magical history was slightly more confusing, as Remus pointed out once he got to Hogwarts, history would be deathly boring and not at all informative. At this point, they had reached the beginning years of the rise of Voldemort.
Remus was happy with the progress in history, as they had covered all the important and relevant information, from the time of the Hogwarts Founders, Witch Hunts, Goblin Rebellions (the real deal, not the shite they teach at Hogwarts, Remus had said) and the rise of Voldemort.
"Alright then Harden, could you give me a recap of the lesson today?" Remus asked, as he did after every lesson.
Harden nodded. "Right, so we started with the incantation in Charms, for Alohomora. Which is the unlocking spell."
"Correct." Remus said.
"Followed by the matchstick-to-needle theory in Transfiguration. And then we did the four-digit cubes and squares in Arithmancy." "Which by the way, you gave me too much homework in!"
Remus simply smiled at that.
"And then we finished with 'The Wheel' and how muggles use it in their land ve-hickles – "
" – Vehicles," Remus corrected.
"Yes that thing. And after that we learned about the Nazi invasion in Germany, and about Anne Frank and her family. Also, about the second big war the muggles had."
Remus nodded for him to continue.
"And finally, we learned about the time Voldemort revealed himself for the first time."
"Excellent!" Remus said happily.
"I want you to do some reading on the Second World War, and complete the questions I gave you in Arithmancy, got it?"
Harden rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Oh, also, I noticed you haven't cleaned your room up, so get done with that please." Harden sighed, but he knew it would be worthless to ask Remus to use his wand to do it. Remus had a firm belief that Lily would like him to know some things to do without the use of magic.
As Remus was leaving the room, he turned around again, "Have you cleaned out Godric's cage yet?" he asked with narrowed eyes. Godric was Harden's owl.
"Yes, Uncle Remus, I did that yesterday!" Harden said with a roll of his eyes. Remus smiled at him, "Good!" "And if you need any help with packing for the Weasley's just ask me."
Remus's transformation time was in two days, which meant that Harden would go to the Weasley's today. Remus would be weak and slightly sick tomorrow and day after he would be running a fever, so he got done with all the work today.
Harden had just finished cleaning his room, he was sitting on the bed and debating on which shirts he should take with him. In front of him sat an open weekend bag. He had already put in three jumpers, socks, underwear and two pairs of jeans. He shrugged to himself and put in a white shirt with golden snitches decorating it. It was new, and definitely his favorite.
A few minutes later both he and Remus left for their monthly trip to Diagon Alley. Their first stop was Gringotts, where Remus had to pick up the (way too much, in his opinion) monthly allowance that James and Lily had set aside for them.
Exiting Gringotts, they made their way to Flourish and Blotts Remus loved books, so naturally it was his favorite shop to got to. It also helped then since he usually had no energy on the days coming up to his transformation, he could simply lie down and read a book.
While Remus was browsing for his books Harden leaned against a wall and picked up a quidditch magazine so his face would be hidden, even from the few shoppers at this time of day.
After that they left for Honeydukes. The owners had a small shop in the alley, which was normally packed with people. Remus and Harden both shared a strong mutual love for chocolate.
They both came out laden with bags. Harden instinctively made his way to Quality Quidditch Supplies but Remus stopped him.
"Nuh uh, you can't be going alone." Harden shrugged. "Where are you going?"
"We have one last stop to make. Remember?" "Ah, yeah, let's go." Harden said in a slightly abashed voice.
He trailed behind Remus as he made his way to Little's Linen's . Inside the shop Remus picked out few towels and one large sheet. Harden did not need to be told to know that the sheet was for the "Wolf".
As soon as they exited the shop Harden made his way to Quality Quidditch Supplies.
"Wait a minute Harden!" "Is there anything else you need?"
Harden flushed slightly at his forgetfulness.
"Uh yeah, I need some parchment and some owl treats for Godric.
Remus nodded. "Next time, just make a list please." Harden nodded as he ruffled his hair.
"Well go on then." Remus said as he nodded in the direction of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
"Thanks!" Harden said over his shoulder as he ran off.
Barely ten minutes passed before Remus came back to collect him. In one hand he was carrying a neat cardboard package with purple lettering. Harden would recognize it anywhere, it was the Wolfsbane.
In the other hand he hand a paper bag with the other things they needed. Which was presumably the extra parchment for Harden and Godric's treats. They were finished with their shopping now, it was time for their final stop. Lupin Cottage.
Lupin Cottage was a three-bedroom two story house at the very end of Tintern Abbey in Tintern. The house had a cream-colored picket-fence, cream painted walls and navy-blue window frames and shutters.
It had a small and simple patio in the back, cut off from the rest of the house, it was simply decorated with a table, two chairs and an umbrella.
You entered the sitting-area as you came into the house, which had two off-white sofas, a grey carpet and a wooden coffee table. On another wall was the fireplace, connected to the floo.
The living room led into two more rooms, one was a corridor with the staircase and a door that led outside. The was on the other side, simple decorated with an L-shaped white marble counter-top with two bar stools on one side and a simple dining table in between.
Remus had mostly packed the furniture up in the place after he moved to the Manor. The staircase led upstairs to three bedrooms, two of which were completely empty save for the beds and other furniture.
Harden helped Remus in cleaning up one of the bedrooms, which took only about an hour. After that they had a quick lunch and then, Remus Floo'd him to the Weasley's.
Upon his arrival, Harden was greeted by the sight of freshly baked cookies, which he promptly took a bite of.
Ron came into the room, glad to see his friends as the Twins were driving him up the wall.
"Hello Remus, Harden, mate, glad to see you!" Ron and Harden only got to see each once a week every month, which was quite the amount of time.
Harden had a fun filled day. They played Quidditch, had delicious food, courtesy of Ron's mother and they just got to catch up.
As he lay back in the camp-bed he had set up for himself in Ron's room, Harden realized that there was Hardly a year left until he went to Hogwarts and met his brother.
Oh, he knew all right. Dumbledore had told him that before he went to Hogwarts, he would be able to meet his squib brother.
Harden had not been privy to all the reasons, but he knew the basics. He had a brother, who was a squib and lived with his muggle relatives.
Even though there was much more going on, for him that was all.
The next chapter will be about Harry's childhood. And the reason I chose Red Oak as Arcturus's wand was because I though the description would suit him perfectly in this story.
Extract from Ollivander's notes in wizarding world.
"In fact, the true match for a red oak wand is possessed of unusually fast reactions, making it a perfect duelling wand. Less common than English oak, I have found that its ideal master is of light touch, quick-witted and adaptable, often the creator of distinctive, trademark spells, and a good man or woman to have beside you in a fight."
"As a rule Dragon Heartstring produces wands of the most power, capable of the most flamboyant spells."
Let me know what you think.