Chapter eight

The following day, Harry received a letter from his lawyer. He had began the process of suing the authors for those books, they all received their summons to appear in court. He also found out that Albus Dumbledore was the one that gave them permission and he had been receiving the money, so he will be arrested within the next week or so. Mr. Grenich had also been able to read the wills of Lily and James Potter. Named first to be Harry's guardian was Sirius Black, second and third was Alice and Frank Longbottom, Alice was Harry's godmother. Fourth was Severus Snape, who would take Harry if Sirius, Alice and Frank could not take him.'

'Do you think you should show him the letter?' Neville whispered.

'Yeah, but I don't think he would want to take me. He might be helping but he still didn't like my father, or my godfather.'

'Your godfather will be cleared easier now so it's not like he can take you with Sirius free, he was named first.'

'Oh right, Pettigrew, they should find out the truth and with Mr. Grenich presenting his case, then Sirius will be free. I might show him though, explain about what Mr. Grenich is doing. How much do you think Dumbledore made out of all that?'

'Thousands, they made one thousand dolls, for five hundred galleons each.'

'Blimey, he would have made hundreds of thousands of galleons,' Harry stared down at the letter again then without trying to be noticed glanced up at the staff table, at Dumbledore, 'I hope he ends up losing everything even if I doubt he will go to jail, he knows too many people.'

'Yeah, but when everyone finds out he was stealing from a baby, also the-boy-who-lived, everyone will be calling for his head.'

'Even though I hate it, I've seen the way people are with me so I know you are right.'

'He doesn't look happy, probably because he knows you can access your…ability.'

'Probably, which means it must have been him.'

'Why do you think he did it?'

'Money, but he lives here all year round, even if he could leave for the holidays, so it's not like he had to pay for rent or food.'

'Hello Harry, hello Neville.'

Harry beamed, 'Hi Luna, do you want to join us?'

'I would, thank you,' Luna sat beside Harry then slipped her hand in his making them both smile.

'I've got some work to finish, I'll talk to you both later,' Neville said as he stood but Harry and Luna didn't seem to hear him, they just continued to stare at each other.

'I like your hair.'

'Oh thanks, it's my natural colour, but I like the fact it stays neat now.'

'It does. I wanted to tell you that I will be heading home for the holidays, I thought you might want me to go to the ball with you since I'm now your girlfriend.'

'If I was staying I would Luna, but I'm staying with Neville over the holidays. There is a lot going on but at the moment his grandmother is my guardian. After everything that's happened, we both want to leave for a while. Maybe we can meet up somewhere?'

'We will, I will send you an owl.'

'I'll look for it,' Harry smiled.

Many people inside the great hall was watching Harry and Luna, who didn't seem to be talking, just staring at each other. They had been hearing rumours about Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood, it seems those rumours were true.

That evening Harry snuck down to see Snape, 'Um, sir, I wanted to show you this,' he held out the letter.

Snape was curious as he took the letter from Harry, 'I was named, why would your father name me? We did not like each other.'

'If he knew you changed sides then he knew you were putting yourself in danger, more than others. Maybe he thought you could protect me if they died and the others died. But I didn't know about any of this, only Sirius. Um, do you think this was my father's way of apologising to you?'

'It may be, Lily I can understand, we had many arguments when we were students. I did notice a change in your father after a rather dangerous incident that almost cost me my life,' Severus held out the letter, 'Your father saved me from the werewolf, but it was your godfather who planned that. Your father might have been a bully Harry, but he would never deliberately put anyone in danger. Your godfather might not have meant to harm me but he was raised with some very dangerous people around him.'

'Since you were friends with my mother, maybe he did realise that you could protect me, more than others. I mean if they were such good friends with Dumbledore, you would think they would name him. Everyone knows he is powerful. They wanted people named who would make a good parent along with protection.'

'I do not believe I would make a good parent, my home life was not the best.'

'Which means you would know what to do and what not to do, you would know more than most. I know I could turn my magical gift into a weapon against the Dursley's, but I won't, I don't want to be like them, cruel and hateful. I decided to be completely opposite, use my gifts to help people, not hurt them. I best get back before curfew, thanks again for your help Professor.'

'You're welcome,' Severus watched Harry Potter leave, he believed the boy might be right. It gave Severus hope that one day he may end up with a family of his own.

Harry and Neville both went to McGonagall to put their names down to leave for the Christmas break.

'I was told by the headmaster that you would remain here during the holidays Potter.'

'No, Neville's grandmother, who is now my guardian said I can stay with them during the holidays, I want to.'

'Very well, the decision is yours as long as you have your guardian's permission. Can you explain why you have a new guardian?'

Harry and Neville glanced at each other, Neville shrugged, 'Um, the Dursley's have been arrested, my lawyer is making sure they end up punished for how they treated me. I don't want anyone to know about that, so he is trying to keep my name quiet so it doesn't end up in the Daily Prophet.'

'I was informed that your aunt and her family care for you even if I believe muggles would not understand you.'

'They never liked me, to them, I'm a freak, I'm abnormal.'

'Then I am pleased to hear they will be punished and you now have someone who will look after you. You may go.'

Harry and Neville left the office, 'Do you think it was the old man that lied to her?' Whispered Neville.

'Probably, by the sound of it he did all this for the money. But you would think he gets enough since he has three jobs, three important jobs in the magical world.'

'Chief warlock and headmaster would earn him more than the minister. What could he use all that money on when he lives here?'

'We may never know Neville.'

'No, but we best get to class.'

'We have defence and no teacher.'

'We're going to need another one, what is it with that position?'

'No idea, Remus Lupin was great but he had to leave. Quirrell died, Lockhart lost his memory, now Moody…or Crouch was arrested. What is it with Dumbledore hiring shitty teachers? You have a ghost who puts everyone to sleep, Trelawney is a fraud who can't stop predicting my death and now an ex-death eater who wanted to resurrect Voldemort. I think he's getting too old to run this place, maybe that's why he wanted the money, to retire.'

'Let's hope he does, but he won't have the money.'

The following morning Harry got a letter from his lawyer, the authors were made to release a statement saying the information in the books was misleading or completely false. They were put on probation, they can never publish anything again without first having complete proof to confirm what they wrote. The money they made off the books was to be given to Harry, who already advised his lawyer that he wanted the money donated to help people like the Longbottom's. Harry never told Neville that, he did not want to get his friends hopes up. But Harry figured if the healers could research more then they just might come up with a cure.

Mr. Grenich also wrote that Albus Dumbledore has been informed that he will need to appear in court about the money he received from the books as well as the money he received from the sale of the dolls, t-shirts and posters. Mr. Grenich was having the dolls recalled, every person who bought a doll was registered, so he was going to make sure those dolls were destroyed, at Harry's request. That would be done during the holidays, as it would be the best time to catch people at home. If the people no longer had the dolls, they had to give proof or they could be charged.

Harry, Luna and Neville shared a compartment on the train as they left Hogwarts. They had worked on when they would meet up during the holidays. Harry wanted to find something nice, but unusual for Luna, she was nice, but very unusual. He had his gift for Neville organised, he had spoken with Snape about some rare and hard to find plants. Harry figured since Snape was a potions master then he would probably know where to find these plants or if someone had them. He did, so he organised to buy them for Harry, they will be delivered to Longbottom manor early on Christmas morning.

Harry wanted to do something for Snape, for all the help, so Harry had opened the chamber of secrets, then the inner door to the chamber. He thought that someone like a potions master just might be able to use the parts of the basilisk. Snape had been surprised, then explained to Harry that if he sold the basilisk he could get thousands for it. Harry didn't need the money, but he knew Snape could use the parts for potions and he could use the money to research.

That first evening of the holidays, Hermione, Ron and Ginny realised that Harry and Neville were gone. Ginny wrote a note to her mother, she wanted to know where Harry went, probably with Sirius, her mother would find out. If he was, then Ginny could leave for the holidays, plan to work on some type of visit and hopefully talk Harry into being her boyfriend. Hermione still believed Harry was just being stubborn, but he refused to allow her to explain, then basically told her they weren't friends anymore. It had been more than a month since she tried to talk to him, she hated to admit it, but she missed her friend. Ron was still saying Harry entered then lied, he refused to believe all the rumours that were going around. That it had been Moody who entered Harry, but it wasn't really Moody, but a death eater. Ron thought Harry leaked those rumours so people wouldn't think he lied. He would never admit it to anyone and would deny it if anyone said otherwise, but Ron missed his friend.

A few days before Christmas Neville and Harry stepped into the dining room to see Augusta already there, reading the Daily Prophet.

'Good morning,' the boys said together.

'Good morning boys,' she smiled then waited until they sat and dished up their breakfast, 'There is an interesting article in the paper. It seems Peter Pettigrew faked his death to set up Sirius Black for murder. Peter has been sentenced to life in Azkaban and Madam Bones is asking for Sirius Black to come out of hiding, so he can be questioned about what happened that night. It's written that it's all just a formality, that Sirius Black has already been cleared of all charges.'

Harry grinned as Neville hugged him, 'I bet his jumping for joy Harry.'

'He's probably running up and down the street, naked, he said he would do that if he ever got his name cleared. Well, I got my Christmas present early, Sirius did as well.'

'Write to him after breakfast mate, he's bound to want to see you during the holidays.'

'I'll do that,' Harry smiled then began eating. He felt great, he was happy for Sirius and relieved that his godfather was finally free. Hopefully now Sirius could get a decent place to live.

Neville had been so shocked at the plants Harry had given him for Christmas that all he could do was stand there with his mouth open, naturally that made Harry laugh before he hugged his friend.

Neville had given Harry a wand holster that would attack to his forearm, but it would also allow him to flick his wrist and his wand would instantly pop into his hand. It also had an anti-summoning charm on it. Harry loved it and kept flicking his wrist to see how fast he could draw his wand. Harry also received a handmade leather band for his wrist from Luna, who said it would protect him from the evil's of the world. Harry wasn't sure what evil's Luna was talking about but he didn't really care, he loved the leather bracelet, which was Black and red, plaited together. Harry thought Luna might have used those two colours for his parent's, Black for his father's hair, red for his mother's hair.

Harry received gifts from Hermione and Ginny, he returned them, unopened, he did not even write anything, he hoped they got the message. He did received gifts from Sirius, the twins and Lee, Harry had also sent them gifts. But with the gift Sirius sent was a letter, how Mr. Grenich had taken him into the ministry to see Madam Bones. He was official cleared of all charges and also had been given guardianship of Harry. They would meet up in a few days to work on where they would live, Sirius would organise that while Harry was at Hogwarts.

'Things are looking up for you Harry. You have your godfather back and free, you have a great girlfriend and you helped uncover the truth about Crouch, Pettigrew and…him.'

'Maybe my luck has turned around and it all started when I told Ron to piss off. Maybe he was bringing me bad luck and you're bringing me good luck.'

Neville laughed but he knew that Harry finally had a chance at being that normal boy he always wanted to be. They still might have to be wary about Dumbledore, but that was also going to be taken care of soon enough. The two boys just wanted to enjoy their time over the holidays, but also make sure that nothing dangerous or serious happened.