The Secret Squib
"Mister Dursley! What a surprise!" Remus Lupin called from his seat at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor as the Dursleys passed him on their way to Gringotts.
"Yes, well." Vernon demurred, "Petunia here reminded me that if I don't make an effort I won't be able to relate to my own son when he comes home. Please, call me Vernon as well. I feel like a stranger here with that 'Mister Dursley' talk."
"Very well. I'm sorry, if I'd known you were coming I would have ordered you a sunday as well." Remus continued as he indicated the waitress walking over with five take-out boxes.
"That's quite alright, I've finally gone back on those magical weight management drops and I don't need to give them more work to do." The larger man joked back, slapping his oversize belly as he did, "But won't that ice cream melt?"
"Not to worry sir," the waitress answered as Remus pulled out some money, "The boxes have a cooling charm inside that's guaranteed to last two hours, minimum. The ice cream sundays will be as fresh as if they had just been made until then."
Once the ice cream was paid for, the three headed into Gringotts to collect their portkey. Vernon had spent all morning psyching himself up for this, magical travel to visit one of his nephew's properties. He'd been trying to take a more hands-on approach to magic since the incident with Tina, and really hoped that doing so would keep him from being blindsided quite so often. That and Petunia threatened to not order the weight drops he was using again if he didn't know what all their children's classes were before they returned home for Christmas.
The 'Portkey' turned out to be a moderately large silver cup of some kind. Remus explained to Vernon that every house had a second copy of the portkey on-site except for the lodge he was staying at now, which only ever had the one in Gringotts. The other one for this house was how Temperance Smith was coming and going since the wards had been reset to not allow entry any other way. Vernon wasn't sure what to make of it though, the cup didn't look magical at all. It didn't have gems or nonsense runes on it, it just looked pretty old. His confusion was abated when all three adults touched the goblet and Remus spoke the command word "Potter Isle," he felt like something hooked him around his midsection and began spinning him away from the ground.
Vernon sputtered as he landed on his behind after the portkey dropped them off. Petunia lost her balance for a moment but was able to compose herself properly, it wasn't her first time travelling to the Isle to visit Temperance and her children. Though it was the first time she would be telling them her real identity and relationship to Harry. So far they only thought she was a very distant relative that had become concerned and intervened rather recently.
"This is quite nice." Vernon said as he stood up, taking in the scenery on the island. There were two large, identical cottages overlooking the water, though 'cottage' was only applicable due to the style. The buildings were two floors, and each was larger than their home on Privet Drive. Vernon could see what he assumed was the mainland in the distance as well. Behind him, the island was lightly forested, and between the two cottages he saw the land marked off where Mister Lupin was planning to install the greenhouses that Harry wanted. Lupin had said that the island was about a mile square, but it seemed a lot bigger when you were standing on it.
"Ms. Acacia, Mister Lupin, welcome!" A voice called from the front door of one of the cottages, "James is making sure Heathcliff gets cleaned up, the children were playing down by the beach earlier. Thank you for sending those toys as well…" She paused as she realized there was another man present.
"Temperance, may I introduce my husband?" 'Ms. Acacia' asked as she stepped to the front of the group, "Vernon Dursley."
The three only needed to wait a moment for Ms. Smith to question, "Dursley?"
"Yes, I'm afraid I've not been completely honest with you until today," Petunia explained, causing Ms. Smith to frown in worry, "'Ms. Acacia' is a pseudonym I used during the war to keep people from realizing who I was, because it would make me a target. My real name is Petunia Dursley, formerly Evans. Lily Potter was my sister, so Harry is actually my nephew-by-blood. I've continued to use 'Ms. Acacia' to keep distance between Harry and myself, and those who would try to use him or his name."
"We've been thinking that it isn't right for your children to not have anyone else their age to talk to and play with." Vernon said, stepping forward, "My wife is also the guardian of a young witch that grew up near us. I wanted to meet you, and we wanted to discuss perhaps bringing Tina out here some weekends. She's the only magical person in our town that we know of besides our own boys, who are at school, so it would do her good as well to have a friend or two she doesn't have to keep that kind of secret from."
"That would be the young girl I told you about last time we spoke," Remus spoke up now, "the one who is performing controlled magic before receiving her wand."
"Oh of course!" Temperance exclaimed before covering her mouth to conceal her giggles, "Did… did she really turn all the walls green trying to cast a lighting charm?"
"Yes." Vernon, Petunia, and Remus answered together. Vernon in frustration, Petunia in resignation… and Remus in good humour, he was enjoying teaching little Tina. More advanced spells were seemingly beyond her without a wand, but her precision with levitation was improving, and some other simple charms had begun working for her rather quickly as well.
"I was trying to get her to light up her fingers or hand, since she doesn't have a wand." Remus explained, "But she didn't want the light to be white like the one on my wand was, so she kept cutting it off as soon as she realized it wasn't green like she wanted. Vernon walked in and started yelling at us to fix his house, and that's when we realized she'd basically been painting the walls greener and greener every time she tried to turn her Lumos charm that colour."
"That's quite the misfire." Temperance replied, openly laughing.
"Why don't we go inside?" Vernon said, spying a pair of children peeking at them through the window, "Remus here got ice cream for everyone."
The children were ecstatic when Petunia and Temperance began handing out ice cream sundays. Once the two older kids were playing cards in the next room and Heathcliff was napping on the couch, the adults chatted about their plans for the immediate future. Temperance had finished cleaning out both of the cottages on the island last weekend, but she was worried that the other properties would be too large for her to get done while hopping back and forth from the Isle. They also agreed that they would tentatively plan to bring Tina to meet James and Marielle sometime over the next weekend. Temperance had been taking her children to parks every now and then so they could play, but that didn't leave them with the chance to get to know any of the other kids they played with.
There was an extra shock after Petunia mentioned that they were visiting Andromeda Tonks that evening when Temperance confessed that Andromeda was something of her role model. The former Black had been a few years ahead of her in Hogwarts, and the two had spoken on a few occasions during their time there. When she learned of how well Andromeda was doing despite being disowned she had opted to try it herself, eloping with the muggle boy she had secretly grown close to over her last two summers before graduating. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as well as she'd hoped.
The friendly conversation took a downward turn when Petunia offered to give James a leg-up before he went off to Hogwarts in two years, explaining in vague terms why Tina was apparently so capable with her magic despite not getting her wand yet.
"I'm not sure that Hogwarts would be a good idea." Temperance tearfully confided, "My father might try and take them from there if he finds out, he has friends on the school board. I was hoping to have found a way to set up in a different country before then, so it wouldn't be an issue."
While Vernon and Petunia consoled the woman and offered to help her find a solution to her plight, Remus ransacked his brain for any tidbit of magical law or custom that could protect the Smith family.
Just as Temperance was getting her tears under control he asked, "I don't believe I asked before, but did your father officially disown you when you married Joseph?"
The woman looked at Remus like he had just stabbed her heart with a dagger, "No!" she bit out, "He did that after I got pregnant with James."
"Did he ever reinstate you?" The werewolf continued, "Please understand, I'm not asking this just to inflict more pain."
"What do you think you're doing man?" Vernon demanded as Petunia pulled Temperance closer to console her anew.
"No." The distraught witch answered, "He said he was going to, but that was just a lie to get me to come back so he could try and take my children."
Remus smirked at that and Vernon made to punch him before the man explained why he had been asking such emotionally charged questions, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I think I know how to protect you, and your children, so that they can go to Hogwarts in peace. Assuming that is what you wish."
Remus, Vernon, and Petunia left Potter Isle, and a much more hopeful, if incredulous, Smith family, an hour later via portkey .
Time to meet Remus' first, and so far only, pick as Harry's proxy on the Wizengamot.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"You're going to have to do it eventually, Vernon." Petunia huffed from the passenger seat as Remus fought to keep from laughing in the back of the Dursleys' sedan.
This argument had been going off-and-on since Vernon insisted that he would not be taking floo travel. Portkeys were enough magical transport for him for one day, apparently. Knowing that he would have to use it in tandem with Remus if they did go that way didn't make him any more comfortable. Petunia had tried to argue that arriving the magical way would send the right message, and that despite the date this was still more or less a political meeting; but Remus had taken pity on Vernon and offered the suggestion that since Theodore Tonks was a muggleborn they might appreciate arrival by car more than they suspected. Fortunately the Tonks's lived less than an hour from the Leaky Cauldron, but Remus did not envy the pair's eventual drive back to Little Whinging.
Vernon smiled as he pulled into the driveway at the address he'd been given. The house looked completely normal, and not overly large like the ones on Potter Isle had been. This was a normal house for normal people. They even had an SUV parked in the open garage. Remus, already being on the passenger's side of the vehicle, opened the door for Petunia while Vernon walked up to the door and rang the bell.
Vernon almost had an aneurism when a pink haired girl in her late teens, wearing ripped up jeans and a too-small shirt, answered the door, "Wotcher! Can I help you?" She asked.
"Erm," Vernon stumbled over his words for a moment as he tried to dismiss the girl's delinquent appearance, "I believe I have the wrong address, my wife and I were meeting with the Tonks's this evening. Do they live on this street?"
"Oh! I'm sorry!" The girl exclaimed, "My mum and dad told me they had some people visiting today but I expected you to come by floo!"
"Your mum and dad?" Vernon asked, worried that maybe Remus didn't know this lot as well as he thought.
"Nymphadora? Who's at the door?" Came a woman's voice from further in the house, causing the girl to groan audibly.
"Is everything alright Vernon?" Petunia asked as she and Remus made it to the front door.
"Are you Mrs. Dursley?" The girl asked when she saw the other two walk up.
"Yes I am, is this the Tonks' residence?"
"Uh, yeah." The girl responded, "Sorry, little confusion here since we weren't thinking you would come by car, come on inside."
The inside of the house appeared just as normal as the outside. Vernon could almost forget that the girl who answered the door looked like either a gang hoodlum or a trashy call-girl. The entryway led directly into a sitting room with a comfortable looking set of couch and chairs centered around a fireplace. The one thing Vernon didn't see in the room as a television, but he knew from Remus and Petunia talking that a lot of active magic makes complicated devices short out. A man met them in the sitting room coming from the other direction introducing himself as Theodore (call me Ted) Tonks, and took over leading his guests through to the dining room where his wife was finishing up setting the table.
"Your house is lovely." Petunia said as they left the sitting room.
"Thank you," Ted replied, "and I'm sorry about the confusion at the door. My daughter dropped in on us this afternoon without calling ahead, she does that from time to time. We can't really say 'no' because we don't get to see her that often with her beginning the auror training program. She graduated back in the spring and she's already trying to strike out on her own."
"I understand," Vernon agreed, "the boys have only been gone at school for two months and we can barely figure out what to do with ourselves. No one mentioned how hard it was on the parents when we were discussing Hogwarts being a boarding school."
"Don't we know it." The woman setting the dining room table said as they entered, "At least we see Nymphadora sometimes now, she never came home during breaks when she was at school."
"Probably because back at Hogwarts no one called me that." The girl in question grumbled from the back, beside Remus.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Andromeda Tonks." The woman said, pointedly ignoring her daughter's griping and shaking both Vernon and Petunia's hands as they introduced themselves, "And I remember you quite well, Mister Lupin. Where have you been? It's been too long."
"Just 'Remus' is still fine, and I spent a long while outside Britain. It's good to be back."
"What should we call you?" Petunia asked the Tonks' daughter, "If you don't prefer your name?"
"Uh," The girl stopped, then smiled that her parent's guests were so accommodating, "if you're gonna probably call my mum 'Andromeda' could you just call me 'Tonks'? No offense or anything, I just don't like my name all that much."
"Whyever not? I think it suits you." Remus said before getting a swift, though light, kick to the shin from the girl, "Alright," He joked, hopping around on the other leg in a pantomime of injury, "'Tonks' it is."
The two groups talked over dinner, keeping the conversation relatively light while they ate, but also taking the opportunity to share some stories of the late Potter family. As well, the Tonks family was quite impressed with the stories coming out of Hogwarts concerning Harry Potter's ability to cast wandless magic. Learning from the Dursleys that their own son, as well as Hermione, could all do it too left them even more so. When Petunia casually mentioned that Tina, a ten-year-old muggleborn girl on their street, was even faster at picking up beginner wandless magic than Harry and Dudley were, the youngest Tonks' hair began rapidly shifting colour and length as she asked rapid-fire questions about what kind of training they were using. With her going into auror training in earnest in January, wandless magic would be a huge bonus if she could learn it.
"Blimey!" Vernon exclaimed as Tonks' hair shifted from pink to bright red to canary yellow in the span of moments.
"Calm down Nymphadora." Her mother chided her as she put a hand on her arm, "You're being rude."
"How… how did she do that?" Petunia asked. She knew changing your appearance with magic was possible, but what she had just seen was way more than that.
"Our daughter is a metamorphmagus." Ted explained, "She can change everything about her body at will. Hair colour, eye colour, even her physical build to a large extent."
"I can imagine that would be quite handy for a law officer." Vernon said, trying very hard not to think of what else her power could be used for. Probably why the girl didn't like her suggestive name. Though why did she feel the need to dress like that if that's the case?
"So would wandless magic," Remus added, "which I could try and help with. Assuming all goes well tonight and Petunia agrees." He glanced over at his employer.
"You want to see if she can feel the ward and use that to help her like Tina and Hermione?" The squib asked.
"Yes ma'am, though I think it would be best if she spent a week or so completely isolated from magic first. Professor Flitwick has the right idea there with his summer seminar."
"Wait," the metamorphmagus said, "Flitwick is starting a wandless magic seminar this summer? No fair!"
The group spent another hour talking and eating. Mostly about wandless magic and the whys and hows of learning how to start it. After the explanation was given, the two healers seemed to understand the mechanics pretty easily, and explained it in greater detail for their daughter and Remus. Witches and Wizards developed a 'magical tolerance' over time that prevented them from getting a spook or a jolt whenever they passed from one ward to another. Andromeda was surprised that no one had thought of that before, but then realized that wizards probably did and they just wouldn't be the type of wizards that could publish it in Britain. No pureblood, not even she, would cut themselves off from magic enough to not have that high magical tolerance. Even Nymphadora was raised in-and-out of magical households often enough to have a tolerance of her own, despite the Tonks' residence having the minimum of wards placed on it.
After dinner, and extracting a promise from Remus to write her later about training, Nymphadora went up to her room to study for the opening exam for the auror academy, leaving the rest to begin speaking of more weighty topics.
"So, may I ask why you want me to be Harry's proxy in the first place? I've only been working part time at St. Mungo's, so I have the time just… why me?" Andromeda finally asked once the five had made their way to the sitting room with a pot of tea for the evening.
"Has Remus told you about the state of things in the House?" Petunia asked, earning negative response that sent her and Vernon into a brief explanation of how Harry came to be living with them, followed by a rundown of what they learned from Gringotts concerning his finances.
"The main reason we're asking you about this though," Remus concluded once the Dursleys were done explaining, "is that Harry just doesn't want Amos Diggory representing him anymore." Remus gestured at himself, "I'm sure you know why I have an interest in that, but Harry is very much like his parents, especially his mother, with regards to wizard-creature relations. We exchanged a few letters about some of the laws that Diggory has supported and Harry pressed for us to find someone else, hopefully someone willing to start attempting to backpedal those laws."
"You know that will send a strong message in the Wizengamot." Andromeda answered, "The Diggory family is not as important as the Potters, but they are traditionally seen as being on the same side. Replacing him as proxy and then working to undo what he'd done could end in an investigation against his family due to Harry's situation." She frowned, "Replacing him with me, due to my own family reputation, could do even more harm to him."
"If Dudley wasn't friends with Mister Diggory's son, I wouldn't honestly care." Petunia said, "But if you accept and that happens then feel free to throw Albus Dumbledore under the bus, as it were. I'm sure Harry would agree, you could make an official statement that Harry doesn't hold Mister Diggory culpable. It was completely a failure of communication caused by Dumbledore, who neglected his duties while he was Harry's magical guardian."
"That should work," Ted mused, "and hopefully pull any backlash away from the Diggory family. I understand why you don't want him on the Potter seat, but he's not actually a bad man himself. But it doesn't answer why you chose my wife first."
"There's one other thing, that means it has to be you." Remus added, "We aren't asking you to just be Harry's proxy anymore. Since you are blood related to the Potters through Dorea Black, we would like to ask you to take the mantle of Regent of House Potter. That way you can handle political matters for the House outside of the Wizengamot Chambers as well."
Andromeda was shocked at that, Regents were almost never as distantly related to the Heir as she was to Harry, "Why?"
And so Remus and Petunia explained about Temperance Smith nee Burke, and how her father had tried to take her children from her. The former Black remembered Temperance from her time in Hogwarts as a sweet girl who loved painting and keeping things tidy. Her heart ached for what the poor woman had gone through, and she was the first to explain to the Dursleys how magical guardianship worked in this case. Until that point it hadn't dawned on those raised outside the magical world that Temperance would have to be dead for her father to reinstate her underage children into the family without first welcoming her back. That he never had any intention of doing that meant that he was likely planning to arrange her death so that he could take sole guardianship of the children. Andromeda also agreed that, having met the man, he most certainly would have beaten or possibly killed his half-blood grandchildren if given the opportunity due to his and his family's views on blood purity.
The quintet spent another half-hour discussing various points that Andromeda would need to know if she accepted Regency. Beyond Temperance and her family, who they wanted to make Wards of the House, she would also need to start talking to some of the other Light families and see how hard rolling back the restrictions and sanctions on werewolves and other less-dangerous magical creatures, particularly goblins, would be.
About eight o'clock, as the group was enjoying a last cup of tea before splitting up for the night, a dinging sound rang from the hearth in the room, which lit itself and flared in green fire before dying into smoldering ashes. A woman's face formed from the ashes and spoke with Professor Mcgonagall's very troubled voice, "Andromeda? Mrs. Tonks? Are you there?"
"Yes, I'm here. What's wrong professor?" The woman answered, confused, as she stepped into the face's line of sight.
"Are the Dursleys still there?" Mcgonagall asked, her voice fraught with worry, "Their neighbors told me they were going to meet with you tonight for something."
"We're here Minerva, what's going on?" Petunia asked as she followed her host's example and stood directly in front of the fire. Andromeda, for her part, was shocked at how familiar Petunia seemed to be with Professor Mcgonagall.
"There's been an attack at the school. A troll got through the wards somehow while the feast was going on. One of the students was missing when the announcement to evacuate to the dorms went out and your son decided to go find and warn him, picking up Mister Potter and Miss Granger along the way. Harry is in the hospital wing at the moment, I think you should be here for him ma'am."
"Oh my god! Is he alright?" Petunia was freaking out at this point, what is a troll? She thought to herself, as Andromeda hurried to get her floo powder.
"He'll be alright, but he's very shaken up. So are the other students involved, though not as much so in the physical sense. When you're ready to come through, come to 'Hogwarts Transfiguration Office', the password is 'Catnip'."
"Here's the floo powder." Andromeda said, offering the clay pot full of glittering dust, "You should go Petunia."
"I think we should go with her ma'am." Remus added, "I need to be there because Dumbledore will be, but Madame Pompfrey might appreciate someone to help her with the children after something like this. If Harry is able, you can take this opportunity to meet him as well."
Agreeing with his assessment, the two women preceded him through the floo.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Thirty Minutes Earlier
"Poppy," Professor Mcgonagall whispered to the matron as they watched Harry Potter lying on the hospital bed, "I need you to keep absolutely everyone out of here until I return. That includes the headmaster."
"I understand, but you do know he's waiting outside don't you?" The woman returned.
"Yes," Mcgonagall lamented as she made to leave, "he's probably going to argue with me the whole way to my office. But I fear if we don't take this incident seriously enough then those three might be withdrawn from Hogwarts. I know for a fact that they have the means, and ability, to learn magic elsewhere if that were the case."
She was right, Albus argued with her the entire way to her office (after being told he couldn't enter the Hospital Wing) that there was no need to be so hasty in contacting guardians over something that would be fine by the next afternoon. But Minerva Mcgonagall held her ground, one of the first times she could ever remember directly opposing her mentor with more than lip service in her entire life.
"Ms. Acacia needs to know what happened here tonight so that she can make an informed decision about her wards' futures." She huffed as the turned to face the headmaster at the door to her office, "She deserves better than learning from a note, she needs to know that that boy is alright. Magical guardians may request to visit their wards at any time so long as it does not disrupt classes, she deserves the chance to check on him."
Albus frowned, the chance to finally meet the elusive Ms. Acacia was hard to pass up. But at the same time, he was worried that if she came to the school while Harry was in the state he was in now she might pull him out immediately. With a Steward allowing him access to his family vaults, and he still needed to find out who that was, Harry could learn magic from tutors along with his cousin and the Granger girl. That would be a disaster for Magical Britain!
"Alright Minerva," He relented, "but please bring Ms. Acacia by my office afterwards. I would like to meet with her, and hopefully try and clear the air between us a little."
"Only if you can tell me how the bloody troll got through the wards by the time I get back." She said, exacerbated, as she closed her door behind her, separating them. She couldn't apparate through the Hogwarts wards, and the Dursleys did not have a floo connection in their home, so her first destination was the Leaky Cauldron before rushing out the back door to reach the apparition point.
Despite no lights being left on, the professor knocked on the Dursleys' door and rang the bell several times before deciding that they weren't home. Due to her stress, she was at a loss for what to do until she remembered that the Polkiss family lived only a few doors down. Quickly transfiguring her robes into an outfit similar to one that she'd seen Petunia wearing before, she hurried over to the Polkiss's, praying to Merlin that their religion kept them from being avid Trick-or-Treaters.
They weren't, as she found out when Mister Polkiss, Timothy, opened the door. Seeing Tina peeking around the corner and watching them, Minerva kept her explanation short to avoid worrying the girl. It took a minute of convincing to get them to tell her that the Durlseys were visiting the Tonks family, much to the transfiguration professor's shock. Mister Polkiss followed her back outside as she left, and she was able to explain that Harry had been injured in an accident after dinner. With a glance around to ensure there was no one else on the street, apparently Privet Drive wasn't big on trick-or-treating, and a request to inform the Dursleys that she was looking for them if they got home before she found them, she apparated back to the Leaky Cauldron so that she could return to her office. She didn't know where the Tonks lived, but she knew they had a floo connection.
"Daddy, is something wrong?" Tina asked when her father walked back inside.
Timothy Polkiss frowned and considered not answering at all before he realized that would only make her worry more, "Harry got hurt today, sweetie. The professor said he found out another student was in danger and went to go help them and got hurt doing so. But don't worry too much dear," He added to placate his child, "she didn't sound like it was too bad. Just enough to bring Petunia up there."
Upon arriving back in her office, Minerva ran to her deck and pulled out her list of floo addresses. She had a small list of healers that she kept in case anything happened to leave Poppy indisposed. Finding the Tonks took longer than planned, since she'd apparently put them under 'A' for 'Andromeda' instead of 'T' in her alphabetized list by mistake.
Finding the address and taking a handful of floo powder, the professor activated her fireplace and pushed her face into the floo, "Andromeda? Mrs. Tonks? Are you there?"
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Please come with me," Minerva Mcgonagall said as the three people in front of her brushed the ash off their clothes, "my office is a few levels above the Hospital Wing."
With the professor guiding them through the castle, Petunia had to do her best not to gawk as they went. Paintings that moved freely and spoke, staircases that randomly moved direction throughout the school, and ghosts! It was all the squib could do to keep from screaming when a ghostly troubadour with spectral bagpipes floated through walls of the hall they were walking in. Her need to see Harry kept her going through it though.
"The ghosts are currently helping patrol the halls and keep students in their dorms." Mcgonagall offered by way of explanation.
"About that," Petunia asked, "what is a troll? Could you describe it for me?"
"Three meters tall, a half-ton of muscle, and as brainless as it is magic resistant." Remus offered, "How in Merlin's name did it get inside the school in the first place?"
"The headmaster should be investigating that," Minerva replied, "he wants to meet with you as well, Petunia, but I told him I wouldn't introduce you unless he could tell me how this happened. I think I know, and if I'm right I'll be dragging him over the coals for it."
Petunia was almost as pale as the ghosts as the two spoke, "And you're sure that they're alright? Harry and Dudley and Hermione?"
"Mister Dursley is completely fine except for some minor cuts, just like the student they saved from the troll. Miss Granger has some burns on her hand that I hadn't received an explanation for when I left to get you. Mister Potter is…" Mcgonagall glanced at the younger woman, "he'll be alright. He'll probably be able to leave the Hospital Wing tomorrow afternoon. That's what you need to remember."
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Petunia hissed at her.
"Anything I say would make it seem worse than reality, and when I told Hermione and Dudley that I was going to try and get you here they insisted on waiting until then to tell the story of what exactly happened." Mcgonagall sighed, "They didn't want to go over it twice."
"What about Harry?" Petunia and Remus asked at almost the same time.
"Mister Potter was unconscious when I left, but Poppy was getting ready to wake him for a check-up as I was leaving." The transfiguration professor replied.
When they reached the Hospital Wing Minerva was surprised to find a privacy ward on the main doors, something must have changed while she was out. The ward was keyed to her, so a simple tap of her wand dispelled it and allowed the four entrance into the Wing.
Once inside, Petunia didn't care that she saw Albus Dumbledore standing over an unconscious Harry casting spells that swirled in a golden halo around them. She didn't notice the look of strained concentration on his face, nor the worry that seemed to be pouring off of both Dudley and Hermione, as well as a redhead she didn't recognize and the woman who was obviously the hospital matron. The only thing she could focus on was Harry, unconscious and laying on top of the bed sheets, with both of his legs seemingly deflated. As though all the bones below his pelvis were simply gone. Not only that, his body seemed to be one giant bruise that began at his chest and went all the way down. She remembered, somewhere in a far off, rational, corner of her brain, that they could grow his leg bones back; but that small corner was not the one in charge at that moment.
Before she could rush to her nephew's side, Andromeda and Remus grabbed her and held her back, "Ma'am, whatever Albus is doing, we shouldn't stop it." Andromeda insisted, "It could hurt Harry to interfere."
While the two of them worked to get the now borderline-hysterical Petunia under control, Minerva went over to Madame Pomfrey for an explanation, "What is happening? He wasn't supposed to be allowed in the room."
"Mister Potter's body rejected the skele-gro and began reacting poorly to it." Poppy answered, "Probably because his core was almost completely drained out. I didn't think to check that before administering the potion. I put him under a sleeping spell that will delay the effects, meanwhile Albus is attempting to open what he called a 'temporary channel' in the bond between Mister Potter and his familiar." She indicated a medical table on the other side of Harry that they hadn't noticed on first entering. Najash was situated on it, in the middle of a runic circle that had been carved directly into the metal.
"He hopes," the matron continued, "that this will give Mister Potter enough of a boost to accept the potion, otherwise I don't know what we're going to do here. We may have to move him to St. Mungo's. His leg muscles will be in danger if he spends too long boneless and without treatment."
"Why did you remove his bones already then?" Petunia asked as Dudley made his way to her and gave her a hug.
"Mum," Dudley said, trying to be strong for her and not cry, "Harry's legs were totally crushed. She had to or it would have been worse, they were turning colours."
Two minutes later, the golden glow ebbed and Headmaster Dumbledore stumbled backwards, falling into a chair that Mcgonagal hastily conjured for him. Najash slowly slithered from the table onto Harry's chest before curling up and looking at the newcomers with interest.
Glancing over once he realized that there were more than just the students present, Albus almost passed out when he saw who it was. Remus he understood, it was obvious now, in hindsight, that 'family troubles' meant Potter family troubles if he was here now. Andromeda Tonks was a mystery, but Petunia Dursley should not have been able to be here at all. Muggles were able to get through the Hogwarts wards only with the help of a special charm that the Headmaster alone could create. He had never made one of those charms. To his knowledge, one hadn't been made in about fifty years, not since the last time a student had died while attending. But if he hadn't made her a charm, and she was here anyways, then there was only one explanation that would fit.
Petunia Dursley wasn't a muggle. If she wasn't a muggle, and obviously wasn't a witch, then the only explanation was that she was a squib. But if she was a squib…
Albus recalled something from the end of the war, something he hadn't deemed important or relevant until this very moment. When Arrabella's husband had died in a Death Eater attack she had taken to using a fake name to avoid immediately being recognized. If he recalled correctly she'd gone by the last name "Newton" for a couple years to hide from people that might have been after revenge for something her husband had done during the war.
While he was pondering, Petunia and Lupin stepped over to either side of Harry's bed to verify for themselves that he was still breathing. Najash tensed up and rose to strike at Remus until Petunia pet the snake on the head and he seemed to accept the new wizard's presence. The werewolf eyed the serpent a bit apprehensively while Poppy told Andromeda Tonks and Minerva that she would be waking Harry up soon to verify that the procedure had worked and reactivate the potion to restore his legs.
Deciding to be the one to initiate the inevitable conversation, Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat and asked out loud, "Ms. Acacia, I presume?"
