Chapter 2: Director Bones
Life at The Burrow was as different to Privet Drive as Harry could possibly imagine. Everywhere he looked was something magical; pots and pans washing themselves, self-shuffling playing cards, items zooming through air after being summoned by one of the older Weasleys, and the Weasley clock. The Weasley clock fascinated Harry more than any other object. Unlike normal clocks that had 3 hand for hours, seconds and minutes, the Weasley clock had 9 hands, on for each of the Weasleys clearly labelled and rather than pointing at times the hands would point at things like 'work', 'home' and 'commuting'. There were also some more ominous points on the clock including 'hospital' and 'lost' which so far he'd not seen any of the hands pointing towards. Seeing the 'school' point on the clock made Harry wonder, could the clock be altered? Could you add and remove points? After all the Weasley children wouldn't be at school forever. He made a mental note to ask Mr Weasley about it later as at the moment his hand showed he was already at work. This morning the clock also showed Charlie and Bill (the elder Weasley siblings) at work while all the other hands pointed at home. Charlie he knew was working in Romania with dragons, and Bill worked for Gringotts and travelled to all sorts of places 'looking for treasure' as Ron described it. To Harry that sounded like the perfect job even if he did find the Goblins slightly terrifying.
When Mrs Weasley declined his help preparing elevenses Harry returned to the large wooden table and sat with the boys. Ginny was still studiously avoiding him but Percy despite being so different to the younger Weasleys in attitude apparently shared their appetite emerged from his room to join the twins and Ron for a morning snack.
"Help yourself to pumpkin juice dear" Mrs Weasley said placing a large jug of the sweet smelling juice in front of him. Then with a wave off her wand plates piled high with scones, muffins, jams and butter swept through the air landing smoothly on the table to be immediately plundered by the always hungry Weasley children.
Harry hesitated a moment startled by the sudden commotion when a plate of scones was thrust in his face, "They're best when they're hot," Ron explained past the half chewed scone in his own mouth. Obediently Harry placed a scone on his plate adding butter and jam and ate it slowly as he soaked in the happy atmosphere around the table. He smiled and nodded his compliments to Mrs Weasley when she looked his way. With all the colour and chaos in the house they all looked like there was nowhere they'd rather be, even Percy in all his stuffiness seemed more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him at school, he was even laughing at the twins' jokes. Plans for having a fly in the orchard were made for the afternoon with a promise that they would have a homework session the next morning overseen by Percy. There was good natured groaning at that but they knew it would be easier to get on with it that way. Harry was particularly pleased as he hadn't been able to do any of his while his trunk was locked away under the stairs and while he might not be as studious as Hermione he did want to do well, at the very least he wanted to avoid getting in trouble with his teachers.
It was as everyone was starting to leave the table that Harry noticed the clock changing. Mr Weasley's hand swung around to commuting rather than work. Mrs Weasley also noticed and stared at it frowning in confusion before continuing with the post snack clean up. Sure enough only a few minutes later Mr Weasley strolled into the kitchen accompanied by a tall woman in deep red robes wearing a monocle.
"Ah Harry, just the chap I wanted to see" Mr Weasley greeted him enthusiastically. "Director Bones and I have been having a chat about your underage magic warning and she felt it would be easier to sort out if she spoke with you directly. You don't mind do you?"
Harry nodded his agreement reassured by Arthur's confidence. "Harry, this is Madam Amelia Bones the Director of the DMLE," He introduced the tall red head. "And Director, this Harry Potter, he came to stay yesterday as I mentioned." Mr Weasley continued the introductions pulling Harry forwards causing him to flinch at the unexpected contact.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr Potter," greeted the Director shaking his hand formally. "My niece Susan has told me about you."
Harry perked up at this, "Oh, you're Susan's Aunt, she's mentioned you too; you work for the wizard police right…" he trailed off uncertainly as he saw Mr Weasley's confusion but Director Bones smiled in encouragement. "Uh, sorry, but what does DMLE stand for exactly," Harry was used to feeling stupid, particularly about wizarding things but he was determined to learn.
"The Department for Magical Law Enforcement, so you're completely correct, we're very much like the wizarding equivalent of the police," She agreed with him, "which is why I'm here. Mr Weasley has been telling me about a great miscarriage of justice involving yourself and a house elf." She raised her eyebrows in a show of astonishment. Harry warmed a little towards the clearly important woman. "In order for me to investigate the case fully and get the charge removed from your record I do need a statement from you personally. Mr Weasley is quite confident in your innocence and having checked the recorded magic in your area there are enough inconsistencies that further investigation seems warranted. So Mr Potter, we're going to have a sit down with a cup of tea and you're going to talk me through the whole day in question and see if it matches up with the evidence."
As much as Harry knew he'd done nothing wrong he wasn't sure this was great idea. It hadn't been a great day and he'd never liked talking about his life in Privet Drive. He stood observing the Director for a moment as she made herself comfortable at the table. Mr Weasley trusted her and he trusted Mr Weasley, besides it seemed like she was actually going to listen to him. He started violently as Mr Weasley clapped his injured shoulder encouragingly as he guided Harry to the other side of the table.
"Molly dear," Mr Weasley called, "Amelia and Harry are going to have a chat in the kitchen if that's OK."
As if like magic Mrs Weasley appeared with a pot of tea, two cups and saucers, sugar, milk and Harry groaned internally to see even more scones, he was convinced he might actually explode if he ate any more, he had no idea how Ron managed it. "Of course that's no problem dears, Amelia it's lovely to see you as always, you and Susan must pop round before she they all head back to school." she served up the tea then quickly bustled back out of the kitchen closing the door behind her.
Harry sat awkwardly at the table staring at the cup of tea he didn't really want wondering how to start. He decided to start with the eyes he'd seen in the hedge bypassing his aunts attempt to hit him with the frying pan and moving swiftly to the house elf's appearance in his room. Director Bones however had other ideas.
"Mr Potter," She interrupted gently, "I appreciate your attempt to tell me the important parts of the story however I need to hear about the whole day in detail. I want to know what time you woke up, what you had for breakfast, what the weather was like, what you watched on the TV, any conversations you had with anyone. Even if you think it's embarrassing or makes you look bad, every single inconsequential detail you can provide helps to prove the truth of you claim as much of it can be verified against other sources."
This was the last thing Harry wanted, well maybe not literally the last thing, but he definitely did not want to describe any part of his life at Privet Drive in detail.
"Harry, may I call you Harry?" Harry nodded, "I realise it can be difficult, it was few days ago now and I'm sure a lot has happened in the meantime. What I suggest is you close your eyes and walk yourself through the day in your mind. As I understand it it was your birthday, start with waking up and realising it was your birthday, what time was it, what was the first thing you did?"
Haltingly and with no small degree of embarrassment Harry did as requested. He told the Director about the breakfast he had made for his Aunt and Uncle and Cousin, about cleaning the house ready for the guests that evening, about the gardening that needed to be done and the trouble he got in for getting the sink grubby when cleaning his hands. Once he'd started talking Harry found it very difficult to stop, Director Bones proved to be a good listener, at first she would interject with questions about details, "what did you eat for breakfast, which room did you clean first, what were the Dursley's doing at this time?" but Harry soon got the hang of including the required level of detail and the Director would simply nod and write down notes as he spoke. Harry hesitated and blushed as he told Director Bones about how he'd pretended to say magic words to get his cousin to leave him alone and lowered his eyes in shame as he mentioned dodging the frying pan. She never passed judgement or commented on anything Harry described but despite her professional demeanour Harry could see she was not happy with how he was treated at the Dursley's. Neither was he of course but it had never occurred to him that someone might be able to help, might actually be on his side. After his Hogwarts letter has been addressed to his cupboard and Professor Dumbledore refused to listen to why he didn't want to go home during the summer he'd just assumed that nobody else would care either. Even Mrs Weasley hadn't batted an eyelid when George told her about the bars on his window or being locked in his room.
Harry spoke for a long time describing his day and eventually arrived at the moment the house elf Dobby appeared in his room. He described the leathery looking creature wearing a tattered tea towel, the elf's wailing cries at civility and attempts at self-punishment. He told the Director everything the house elf had said and how he was sure Dobby was trying to give him a hint about something. Harry explained how Dobby had been taking Harry's post and tried to convince him not to go back to Hogwarts before finally describing the moment Dobby levitated the pudding and smashed it in the kitchen in an apparent attempt to get Harry expelled. Harry fell silent then and glanced up at the director desperately hoping she believed his tale. Her head was lowered as she studied her notes, unconsciously twirling a tendril of her rich auburn hair that had escaped the tight bun that held the rest in check. Her gaze lifted suddenly and she twirled her pen at him in encouragement, "Then what happened?"
Harry had thought he would be finished once the magic had been explained but seeing the Director waiting expectantly he took a deep breath and ploughed on. As unpleasant as the earlier part of the day was things only got worse once the owl arrived with his warning letter. He described in exquisitely brutal detail the displeasure of his relatives and exactly how they conveyed their feelings now knowing he couldn't do magic at home. Harry rubbed his still painful shoulder unconsciously as he recalled Mr Dursley's fury at missing out on his deal. He'd curled up on his bed that night hungry, scared and in pain and absolutely furious with the Ministry for ruining the precarious stalemate he'd managed to navigate at the Dursley's, he told Director Bones this as well, his resentment overriding more prudent thoughts.
It seemed Director Bones was at last satisfied as she put her quill down and removing her monocle looked directly at Harry.
"Well Harry, I'll have to compare your testimony to all the other evidence we've gathered but you should be reassured to know that some brief checks I made earlier I did show evidence of house elf magic being performed in your home around that time which goes a long way to corroborating your story. It may take a couple of days for the finalised report but I'm fairly confident your warning will be removed." She smiled kindly at him and Harry smiled back gratefully. She hesitated a moment before continuing, "If it's OK with you Harry I would like to come back to speak with you again specifically about how you are treated by your relatives?"
Harry stared blankly at the Director, he rubbed the back of his neck as he so often did when feeling uncomfortable. "What for?" He replied guardedly. Harry saw the surprise on the Directors face when he didn't immediately agree. He wanted to agree, he wanted to believe she wanted to help him, that she could help him but what if she just made things worse, what if it just made the Dursley's even more scared and angry. He needed reassurance first. "Director Bones, if you start asking me questions, or my relatives questions what then? Nothing will change, it never does and I'll end up back there next summer with them angrier than ever." Harry watched as she processed his argument, again he was relieved to see she actually listened to him and didn't immediately dismiss him.
"I'm going to assume you've unsuccessfully attempted to raise your own concerns about the Dursley's before?" Harry nodded in confirmation. The Director pursed her lips in thought for a moment, "I can't just leave you to their mercy Harry though I do at least understand why you might be reluctant to cause a stir," she reached a hand across to towards Harry's own before apparently thinking better of it, "How about a compromise," Harry listened intrigued as Director Bones explained further, "I promise we will not in any way contact or make ourselves known to your relatives at any time without your express permission, they will have no indication that anything is amiss including neighbours, owls or by any other means, however we will gather evidence from your testimony, your house and where possible any other witnesses. Once we know what we have to work with we can discuss the next step together."
Harry watched her closely as she watched for his reaction. He'd only met her a couple of hours ago and yet he couldn't help but trust her, not just that she meant well, but that she was actually capable of doing what she claimed, that maybe just maybe he'd get away from the Dursley's. He took one deep steadying breath and nodded, "OK."
Director Bones smiled at him as she rose from the table "thank you Harry. Now one last thing I promise, can you show me your injured shoulder?" Harry froze, halfway risen from his seat. The request took him by surprise, he hadn't realised it was so obvious, he was usually better at covering up any injuries. "It's best if we can add the injury as evidence now, then we'll see if we can get you patched up" she added. Resignedly Harry pulled his injured arm out of his much too large t-shirt revealing the mottled bruising and Director Bones made further notes. After a few moments she nodded at him and he righted his shirt then with their meeting apparently finished Director Bones popped her head out the kitchen to catch Mr and Mrs Weasley's attention. "Molly would you take a look at Harry's shoulder and see if you can't patch him up a bit, I gather he's supposed to be out flying shortly and I'm sure it'll be a more enjoyable ride that way."
"Harry!" exclaimed Mrs Weasley, "why didn't you tell me you were hurt, just you wait there a moment, I'll go get some healing balms" and she vanished before Harry could even make a reply.
"Uh Director Bones" Harry shyly drew her attention.
"Please Harry call me Amelia, I think we know each other well enough for that," she suggested.
"Well, OK uh Amelia, I just wanted to, well to say thank you I guess, for you know, listening and believing me," Harry stuttered self-consciously as Mrs Weasley reappeared with a collection of jars and vials.
"You're very welcome Harry" she replied warmly.
"Oh and could you say hello to Susan for me, she said she'd write but well you know how that went." Harry shrugged a little helplessly.
"Oh I will, She'll be pleased to know she wasn't being 'ghosted' as she put it" Amelia smiled indulgently at the thought of her nieces concerns. Moments later the Director of the DMLE and Mr Weasley gathered their belongings and with a final swish of red robes they were both gone first to 'commuting' then to 'work'.