It was a bright and sunny day, when I had to arrive at the train station to Hogwarts. I found myself waiting for Hermione and Neville once again, reflecting on all that happened over the summer. It was only a 2 months vacation but I made the most out of it. Though it did end up becoming quite a hectic summer.
The task that took up most of my time was establishing the business I was starting with Sirius. We were still finalizing a name for it, but at the moment we had tentatively decided on Marauders' Inc. We had decided to start small, converting just 2 games to their magical equivalents. We decided on Scrabble and Monopoly; renamed as Quibble and Empire, respectively. The name change was made so that wizards wouldn't discriminate against the games, if they ended up recognizing the original names somehow. Scrabble was selected as it was one of the easiest ones to convert. As for Monopoly, I was hoping the popularity of the game in the normal world would also be replicated in the wizarding world.
In terms of the actual conversion, we started with Scrabble first, or Quibble as it were. We began by placing multiple runes and charms on all the pieces of the board. They would now gather and shuffle by themselves, given a specific command. The wording of that command was made to be customizable, as well. The pieces would also now change colour to represent different players, the colours changing based on the number of players in the game. To keep track of the players, we charmed a self-tabulating points parchment to be included. Based on how many players were put on the parchment, the colours of all the pieces would change accordingly. The parchment could be reset after each game, as well. In terms of the rules of the game, we didn't really change much, as they were already very simple. The only noticeable change was the extra points awarded for any spells, charms or curses placed on the board.
In terms of carrying out the actual work, pulling off the charms was not difficult at all, the main aspect being precision and control. And I had practised that in abundance over the years. The tricky part was the Runes that needed to be added to each piece and the board. I was very textbook in my usage of Runes, trying to implement them exactly as I learned from the books. But because of the size of the game pieces, I had a lot of difficulty placing the Runes. It was Sirius who taught me to be less rigid with my use of them. He taught me different combinations that were better suited than the longer approach I was taking. It was similar to a solving a math question; one student may take 6 steps to solve a question but another might take 3 steps because that student understood where certain steps can be skipped or done at the same time as other steps.
As for Monopoly, or Empire, we had changed the entire aesthetic of the board. The game pieces were changed to; a Wand, a Broom, a Potions Flask, a Witch's Hat, a Snitch, and a few assortments of magical creatures; a dragon, a phoenix, a nundu… All the locations had been changed to that of Wizarding Britain; Hogwarts, Gringotts, the Ministry, Hogsmeade…Jail now became Azkaban. We had also decided on making multiple versions for wizards all around the world. But the other versions would have to wait until we saw how well the game did in Britain first.
Continuing the changes to the game, the Chance cards became Felicis cards, while the Community Chest cards became Treasure Vault cards. The money for the game was replaced with Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons. We used coins, instead of bills, as we didn't want to take the chance that wizards would find the bills too bizarre. The buildings that you could place on owned locations had been changed from, Houses and Hotels to Manors and Castles. And finally, just like Quibble, all the pieces for Empire had been made to gather by themselves, eliminating the clean up time after the game is over.
We also charmed a parchment to be included, that would require players to input their initials and game piece, based on the order they were going to play the game. The parchment would be updated throughout the game with each player's current accumulated wealth so players wouldn't have to guess who is winning. It was also charmed to the actual board, as well. This was because we took out the physical dice and instead created a push down button that sat in the middle of the board. When pushed, a projection of two dices rolling was displayed. Their piece would then move according to the result of the dice, without any need for the players to actually move them. The piece that would move was determined by the order of players written on the parchment.
Currently we were on pace to have a few working versions to give everyone to test out by Christmas of this year. And by the end of the school year, we would have a store in Diagon Alley ready to sell our games.
Over the summer, I had also become very close to the Tonks family. Sirius, the elves and I would spend almost every other evening at their house. Andromeda and Ted became the de facto guardians for Sirius, Nymphadora and I. Nymphadora, Dora as I called her, had become like an older sister to me. S was just as outgoing, playful and clumsy as I expected her to be. She never treated me like a kid, something that always annoyed me about adults, so it was very easy for us to get along. Her and I had began training regularly after she learned of my magical capabilities. We would critique each other after the duels, to improve the other's performance for the next time. I also shared with her a few spells and charms that I found in the Potter Manor to increase her repertoire. And she shared with me any tips she learned from training as Auror under Moody. I had asked her about him, and she described him to be a tough and strict teacher but it was worth the improvements she was making under him. She also joined Sirius and I, on our adventures through London. With nobody responsible to stop us, we wreaked havoc around London all summer.
We would go to Carnivals that were in the city and cleaned out as many of the games as we could. The people manning the games were left speechless, as they had to hand top prize after top prize to the three of us. We handed them out to any kids that we passed by, it was a little like Robin Hood robbing the rich, to give to the poor. Okay maybe not at all like that, but that's how I imagined it. We also took to roaming around bars late at night, looking for anybody we could pull pranks on. Specifically, any obnoxious drunks that were making other people uncomfortable. The best prank had to be when we convinced one particularly aggressive drunk that werewolves had begun taking over the world. Sirius' Animagus ability and Dora's Metamorphmagus ability had made it easy to pull it off.
Now while I knew Sirius was having a lot of fun spending time with Dora and I, it was also very clear that he missed his last remaining best friend, Remus Lupin. I thought that once Sirius' release was made public, he would turn up. But months had now passed and there was no sign of the werewolf. I couldn't tell Sirius to ask Dumbledore because I wasn't supposed to know that Dumbledore knew Remus' whereabouts. So unfortunately, I had to watch Sirius lament over Remus' whereabouts. Hopefully, Dumbledore would still ask Remus to teach DADA for the third year.
I didn't let any of the fun I was having with Sirius and Dora or the ongoing work on the board games, stop me from continuing my training. My wind magic had improved by leaps and bounds. I could now summon wind magic without calling my wand to my hand, or having it out in front of me. Though, I still had some way to go before I could make wind tornadoes and hurricanes. The next element I started working on was fire, which was infinitely harder to work with than wind. Fire, by nature was destructive, so any mishaps could result in a lot of damage. For this reason, I had to take each step slowly and so I worked with candles in the beginning to reduce the damage I might cause. I would start by changing the size of the flame, making it larger or smaller. And then eventually trying to take the flame off the actual candle wax, while keeping it burning. Then I added another candle to mix, then another, and so on…
In addition to practising with the wand, I also prepared for the fight that was awaiting me at Hogwarts this year. I had chosen to not visit the Chamber of Secrets last year, as I only had one Horcrux to destroy, and I didn't want to face a Basilisk just for the one Horcrux. But this year I would have three Horcruxes I could destroy so I prepared to fight the obnoxiously giant snake. I put blinder on my eyes so I couldn't see at all with them, and instead called on my Magical Perception spell. I had improved to the point that it could act like my eyes for me, it was as if a mental blueprint of my location was created in my mind, every time the spell was activated. I could now move about without issue, even when blindfolded. I made sure to test my skill in all different types of environments, like the Tonks house, the field behind Potter Manor and so on…
During my preparation for the second year, I was visited by another who was preparing his own plans to keep me safe, of course, I was talking about Dobby. Tipsy had caught him trying to alter the wards of the Manor. He was extremely apologetic when he was caught but was insistent on the danger I would be facing at Hogwarts. I tried convincing him that I would be fine but he was very adamant so I had to reveal that I knew of the diary and the danger it represented. Maybe that was a mistake, as his admiration for me rose to an exponential level after that. He began calling me "the Great Harry Potter, the All-Knowing wizard" and it was made worse because Tipsy had also started calling me that from time to time.
Now while all of those activities and tasks had made the summer very enjoyable, the most satisfying had to be seeing Petunia and Vernon get their comeuppance. The start of it came about a month after the talk with Randall. He had flawlessly created paper trails for Sirius and I, as he said he would be able to. Once it was confirmed, Sirius went to the authorities with the story we had come up with. And 3 days after that, we were called to the station so I could answer some questions. I made sure to answer every question with as much detail as possible, ensuring to highlight the days I was forgotten after being locked in the cupboard, not given food or water. I made sure to allude to the hospital visit so they could follow up on that. And five days later they informed us, they had brought the Dursley for questioning and I asked to be present at the interrogation. They didn't want to say yes, but I made sure to take advantage of my young age and gave them a heart-wrenching, pleading expression that they couldn't say no to. I was told the Dursleys had not been made aware as to why they were brought in. It explained why they didn't ask for a lawyer to be present. Big Mistake!
"For the record, this is a joint interrogation of Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley. Investigators Dai Thomas and Garcia Spencer will be performing the interrogation. For the record, both Vernon and Petunia have declined their right to have an attorney present." The investigator, Dai Thomas said to the recorder on the table. Dai had spent quite a few years as an officer, you could see it on his face. The toll of all the horrors he had seen, was visible in the hard and grim expression he looked at you with. His partner Garcia was a younger officer, much younger that Dai. She was most likely partnered with Dai, so she could learn from him. But I didn't ask to confirm, just let it be a theory in my head.
"Alright to start off, I want you two to explain the current whereabouts of your nephew, Harry James Potter." It was Dai, who began the questioning.
The Dursleys, who had been unaware of the reason they were brought in, were caught off guard by the question. They didn't answer the questions, instead looked towards each other in confusion.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, can you tell us the current whereabouts of your nephew Harry Potter?" Dai asked again when they didn't reply.
"…He...He's with my sister." Vernon stuttered out the first answer he could think of.
"With your sister? Mr. Dursley, we have already spoken with your sister and she claimed he's been at a boarding school. So, which is it? Is he at a boarding school or living with your sister?" Garcia asked this time.
"Oh yeah… the boarding school, that's where he is!" Vernon acted like he forgot and tried to backtrack his answer.
"Okay, what is the name of this school?" Garcia challenged him.
"Hogwards, the name is Hogwards." It was Petunia who answered, when Vernon couldn't come up with an answer. So close Petunia, so close. You should have paid more attention to your sister's life. It wouldn't have helped her situation knowing Hogwarts correct name but at least get your lies in order.
"Well, could you give the contact information for the school and the address? Garcia challenged Petunia, this time.
"Okay fine! The fr- boy doesn't live with us anymore." Vernon answered testily. I could tell he wanted to leave as soon as possible; beads of sweat had started showing on his forehead.
"Doesn't live with you? You are his guardians; how could he not live with you?" Dai took the lead this time.
"Because, we didn't feel like we could give him the care he needed, so we gave him up to be adopted." Petunia explained trying to sound disappointed at herself.
"The lies you are giving us, are getting more and more convoluted. Now I believe you, when you said you couldn't give your nephew the care that he needed but as for your story of adoption, well…" Dai replied, placing a folder on the table. "The records in this folder show that you have collected child benefits from being Harry Potter's guardian for 11 years now. If he had been adopted as you claim, they would have gone to the new guardian."
Neither Vernon or Petunia responded, unsure of how to answer the unasked question. The investigators let the silence hang in the air for a minute or two.
"Alright, since there is a lot of uncertainty of your nephew's current whereabouts, let's switch focus to when he was living with you. Can you tell us how you cared for your nephew?" Garcia eventually broke the silence.
"Car- Care? What do you mean?" Vernon asked with a visible gulp.
"I mean how did you go about providing care to your nephew. What meals did you make for him? What were his favourites? Where was his daycare? You have a son, right? How did Harry and your son get along?" Dai clarified for them.
"We, um, we gave him the best care possible. We would make his favourite food often, and always made sure he had enough toys to play with, and…" Petunia took the reigns to answer the question but was interrupted.
"Let me stop you right there Mrs. Dursley. We need to show you some photos. They are of a particular cupboard in your house that was chained up. When we were able to open it up, we could tell that it had not been opened in years. But what got our attention was the old tattered mattress, and the thin blanket on it…We've already seen your son's two rooms, and your room, so we have to wonder; Who used to sleep in the cupboard?" Garcia asked the last question rhetorically. By this point the Dursleys knew they were in trouble but where Petunia was getting more and more worried, Vernon looked to be getting angrier.
"We also have hospital records from when Harry was younger, indicating he had to be brought to the hospital after suffering severe malnourishment. If you were making your nephew's favourite meals all the time, as you said, then how did he end up at the hospital with malnourishment?" Dai continued right after Garcia without missing a beat. I knew investigators would practise their questioning tactics, but still the rapport between the was impressive, despite the age difference.
"You don't understand, we had to." Vernon replied tersely.
"Had to, what do you mean you had to? You starved an innocent child, kept him locked in a cupboard and now you're saying it was something you had to do. You're right, we don't understand, how two parents could do that to a boy the same age as their own child?" Garcia asked, angered at Vernon's response.
"Because he's not a boy! He's a FREAK! We had to make sure his freakishness didn't infect our Dudders, that's why we kept him locked in the cupboard. That's why we didn't feed him! We couldn't have his freakishness grow strong enough to taint us. You d-" Vernon exploded on the investigators after he couldn't hold back anymore. But stopped when he saw the investigators disgusted expressions. It was then he was hit with the realization of what he just said, and so without saying anything else, he sat back down as he gave one long look to Petunia.
The rest of the interview was straight forward after his angered confession. They ended up admitting to all the abuse when Dai mentioned that it may help reduce their sentence. They even admitted to not reporting me missing, so they could claim the benefits without having to care for me. After their questions were done, they left the room and entered to where Sirius and I were watching the interrogation from. They tried not to, but the pity they felt for me was fully evident on their faces. Taking advantage of it, I asked for some alone time with the Dursleys which they only gave after Sirius confirmed he would in the room with me.
"You!" Petunia and Dursley exclaimed, standing to their feet, when they saw Sirius and I enter the room.
"Of course, it's me. Were you hoping I'd died?" I asked with humor in my voice.
"You freak! How dare you do this us, after we took you in? After all that we did for you?" Dursley questioned angrily, his face turning tomato red.
"You're right! You did take me in, you didn't have to, but you did. And that's why, I did all this for you two. Since you gave me the "best care" you could, I thought you deserved the same. Now you two will also be locked in a small room, only allowed to eat, to bathe, to go outside on the whims of someone else. Hopefully you come to enjoy your new home, at least more than I did." I said with mocking care and comfort in my voice.
That's all I wanted to say to them and so left the room with Sirius right after, the Dursleys were screaming numerous expletives as we left. I wanted them to know that it was me who put them in there. I took satisfaction at the thought that they would soon be forced to contemplate of how terribly the treated me because the would be getting a similar treatment in jail.
The investigators later told me that there will be a sentencing hearing in the next year or so. I will have to be present at the hearing, and that I may be asked if I wanted to speak. It wasn't necessary but it was something they wanted me to think about starting now, rather than making me stress about it closer to the hearing. Just before we left, I asked them what would happen to Dudley, and they informed me that most likely Vernon's sister would take him in. I didn't know how I felt about that, unsure of how she would raise him, but that was not my problem anymore. I could now, figuratively, close this chapter of my life. I would still struggle from time to time, with the nightmares from my time with the Dursleys, but I would be able to sleep a little easier now.
While this summer had been packed and hectic, it didn't stop me from making new plans for the coming Winter Break, more like one plan, actually. This one came about from my last outing to London with Dora and Sirius. While we were walking about an area we hadn't been to before, I had my Magic Perception spell activated. It was to practise differentiating all the various objects caught in my range. And that's when I sensed a building that radiated a large and dense amount of magic. I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from screaming out from shock.
The building itself looked like any old townhouse but that was just a veil that hid the true size of it. Similar to the veil put on the Leaky Cauldron or on Grimmauld Place. The difference though, was I could tell the magic used to hide the building was not wizard magic. It most likely home to someone practising in a form magic found in the Marvel world. And the power that was emanating from the building indicated that it was a very powerful magic user. He or she was definitely stronger than Voldemort or Dumbledore, but I couldn't remember which powerful magic user lived in London, England. Dr. Strange lived in New York, the Ancient One is somewhere in the Himalayas probably, Agatha Harkness should be somewhere in America. I just couldn't figure out who it was. And since it was the last day of the summer, I had to postpone finding out who lived there until the Winter Break. Hence, I now had the first task to do for the holidays. Hopefully, whoever it was, would be willing to help me deal with Voldemort. It would be a nice to know I had such a powerful person in my corner.
It was Neville who came first and stopped me from my reflections. As we waited for Hermione to join us, we caught up on each other's summer. I told him about; meeting the Tonks, getting Sirius certified as my guardian in the normal world and about some of the adventures, Dora, Sirius and I went on, through London. I kept the work on the games a secret, to surprise Neville and Hermione later in the year. After I was done telling him of my summer, he told me of the estate that he went to. It was apparently where his grandfather had grown up, but had become abandoned over the years. Neville's grandmother, who had been very impressed with his improvements in magic, had decided to give the estate to Neville as a graduation present, when he finished Hogwarts. She took him to the estate now so that Neville could point out any changes he wanted made. He had tried to deny it, thinking he didn't deserve it but his grandmother had insisted. Saying it was also a form of apology for the way she behaved with him before Hogwarts. He didn't really explain what she meant by that, but he didn't have to.
Just as Neville was finishing his recount of the summer, Hermione walked in, looking a little tanner than before. She explained that she had spent a lot time travelling around Italy, exploring all the wonders she could. She even had the chance to look around Italy's version of Diagon Alley. She described it to be livelier, and more vibrant. The shops had more variety and diversity than the ones in Diagon Alley. After she was finished her recap, Neville and I both took turns recounting our summer for her. And it was only when the train left the station that I realized the scandal of the flying car would never come to be. A very good thing, as I knew SHIELD would have immediately jumped on the story if it had happened.
The Welcome Feast this year was fairly uneventful, no surprises from any of the Sorting's. The only thing that I really cared about was that Ginny Weasley had indeed joined Hogwarts this year and was sorted in Gryffindor. All the pieces were lining up, now all I needed to do was confirm the diary was in her possession. If possible, I wanted to get the diary before it has a chance to take over her mind. I also had the elves decide on a rotation to keep watch over the 2nd floor washroom if I couldn't get it before hand. I knew Halloween would be the day when the first petrification happened but I didn't know if Ginny had been to the chamber before that. I wanted to be prepared for all eventualities as this year would be the first real step I took, in my fight against Voldemort.
