The Peverell Legacy

A/N: I own nothing, especially not HP. Welcome to another fanfic, Italics are for thoughts and Bold is for spells. Here's chapter five, it's the second half of the chapter I posted last time, enjoy!

Chapter Five: Padma comes clean

Padma paced holding the baby Harry in her arms. I can't believe that stupid mutt brought them here! Fucking Lupin was bad enough, but Dumbledore? She looked down at the baby in her arms, "I promise you this much if we have to take you to fucking Beauxbatons you will not attend that school while that miserable long-bearded taint-polishing asshole is there." She said in a harsh whisper, "My sister was barely able to function thanks to his 'let's forgive all the Death Eaters' policy, my best friend died because they didn't immediately execute them after their trial, you are not going to deal with that man."

Neither will you Bodhi... She thought about the baby growing within her. Bodhi Peverell would not grow up in a world ruled by blood purists. She would not grow up in a world tormented by Voldemort or his Death Eaters. If I have to set fire to Azkaban and make sure that no one escapes I will.

The two biggest threats aside from Voldemort himself were dead. She'd killed Bellatrix and Narcissa killed Lucius. By now Amelia Bones should have gotten both Crouch and his son, it wouldn't be in the Prophet, knowing the DMLE Director from stories Susan had told them she would do everything quietly to avoid undue notice from the press or the Ministry.

She finally sat down in an overstuffed chair by the fire. The door opened and she saw Minerva step into the room. "Professor." She said quietly, nodding in greeting to the woman.

"Miss Patil." Minerva said sitting down on the couch opposite her, "I wonder if you would be so good as to tell me why you seem so intent on making any sort of encounter with us fraught with ill-repressed anger?"

"Certainly," Padma said as she cuddled the now sleeping baby into her arms. "With the exception of yourself, myself, and Harry, every other adult in this house is in some way responsible for why someone close to me has suffered." She held up her free hand, "First there is the mutt. He abandoned his charge as Godfather because he thought revenge was more important." She held up another finger, "Next we have Remus Lupin; besides abandoning Tonks when she was pregnant, he never spent any time with Harry outside of being a Professor or a member of the Order out of fear of his 'condition'." A third finger went up, "Dumbledore sent Harry to live with the muggles, he allowed Snape to bully and demean not just him, but every non-Slytherin student, thanks to him not using his office in the Wizengamot to push for execution of convicted Death Eaters, Voldemort was able to recover nearly all of his inner circle including Bellatrix Lestrange, the witch who caused the deaths of many, many people Harry considered dear to him including the mutt, Nymphadora Tonks, her father Ted, and my best friend Cho Chang." She held up a fourth and final finger, "The Carrow twins, while not directly the fault of Dumbledore as they arrived after he was killed, tortured my sister to the point where she very nearly took her own life to escape them." She paused for a breath, looking down at the baby she kissed his head gently. "Harry is, as he was in our timeline, stupidly forgiving. He sees this as a chance to have his godfather back, to reconnect with his favorite Defense Professor, and to ensure a world where this Harry never has to suffer the life he had."

"You seem to have had that bottled up for some time," Minerva said to the younger woman.

"Only since I was sixteen for my sister and twenty for the stuff about Harry," Padma said offhandedly. "The man I love deserves better than being used by that long-bearded twit."

"Professor Dumbledore is-"

"He's a jackass who was so concerned with 'letting Harry grow up without the stress of his status as the boy-who-lived affect him' that he ended up letting Harry go face to face with Voldemort without any training outside of the basics we learned by our sixth year." Padma said looking away from the woman, "Do you know how Tom Riddle died for good in our time? He died fighting Harry while a bunch of teenagers and a handful of adults fought his army of Death Eaters, Acromantulas, and werewolves. I watched Lavender Brown, a girl I considered a sister, bleed out thanks to Fenrir Greyback. I saw the line of bodies; Professors, Order members, fucking children left for their families if they had one because he didn't stop it during the very long period where Voldemort was a wraith in Albania!"

The words struck Minerva like a series of physical blows. Padma noticed the pain on her face and winced, "You are the only one here that neither Harry or myself can blame. You stood up for him, you fought for him and with him." She looked contrite as she stroked the baby's cheek, "Harry loves you, considers you part of his family."

"And you?" Minerva managed after a moment.

Padma smiled sadly, "Besides Harry, the little man here, and ours on the way, I don't know if I can fully trust anyone." She watched the baby in her arms grasp her finger, pulling it to his lips and gently chewing it.

Padma knew that she was damaged from her time before. Harry had bought her a book from a muggle shop when they'd begun seriously discussing life together. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He'd wanted her to speak to someone, but the problem with the wizarding world was that they didn't have therapists. They could heal damage to the body, but they couldn't heal minds.

The doors opened and the four men stepped inside. Harry went to Padma's side and kissed her, "Kreacher is wearing his locket again and Riddle is down another soul fragment." He told her happily, "Sirius is ready to go to Gringotts and take the Cup out of the Lestrange Vault."

"Wonderful." Padma said, "You boys can handle that on your own. I'll take a little man here with me. I've got a tea date with Narcissa and Andromeda in an hour." She stood and shifted the baby so her arm had a chance to rest. "I take it the floo powder is in the same snuff box it was when we lived here?"

He nodded and she walked out of the room. Minerva waited until the door closed back and then looked at Harry, "She is very much like myself when I left the Ministry." She said quietly. "Be sure that she doesn't have the same breakdown I had."

That stunned Harry. "Sorry?"

"When I was about her age, the weight of my time as an Auror hit me. I started having trouble sleeping then all I could do was sleep." She explained, "Andromeda Tonks is a healer, and more to the point she is an escapee of the Black family that she is on good terms with, have her talk to Mrs. Tonks."

"We should go to the bank," Sirius said. Harry broke from his thoughts and left with Sirius and Dumbledore. Remus held back once they were gone, "I didn't know you'd had problems like that, it takes real courage to admit it." He said to the woman.

"I didn't." Minerva admitted, "But she needs help and Harry seems the sort who would push the matter."

Scene Break

At Gringotts, Harry watched as Sirius and Dumbledore spoke with the teller. Dumbledore conversed swiftly in the Goblin tongue, motioning to Sirius and then to Harry as well. Sirius turned to Harry, "He's asking for you to offer proof." He said quietly, "A memory would probably suffice."

Harry nodded. Dumbledore spoke again to the teller before turning back to Harry, "We will meet with the Director in his office." He said as they were lead by the teller from the lobby into the hallway behind the counter.

"What sort of memory?" Harry asked as they walked down the hallway. As they trotted down the hallway behind the teller, Harry heard disgusted guttural muttering from the row after row of portraits. He hadn't known goblins even had portraits, let alone that they could be enchanted.

"A memory of the existence of the Horcruxes." Dumbledore explained, "For example the destruction of the Locket and Diary." Harry nodded, at least Dumbledore didn't think his existence in this time needed to be Gringotts business. He'd already been here once to take back the Peverell account, not telling them at the time might have been a mistake now that they had to go see the Director.

Said Director was at his desk when they arrived. He had two stacks of files on his desk and the Cup sat beside them. "When you arrived the first time Mr. 'Peverell', you could have saved us the trouble of keeping this thing in one of our vaults." He sneered.

"You already got it out?" Harry asked in disbelief.

The Director scoffed, "Of course I did. When the teller sent word to my office about your business here, I had one of our curse-breakers go and inspect the vault. Soul containers are prohibited at Gringotts. We are not in the business of acting as a hotel for up-jumped dark wizards." The Director drew his letter opener from the desk and dipped it into a small vial before stabbing the Cup. "If you would have come with this information in advance we would have drafted you a small reward. As it stands, the reward will be used to cover your part of keeping this item here."

Harry looked confused, "If you were going to inspect the vault anyway, why did we need to give you proof?"

"We want to make sure that you aren't leaving anything else in our vaults like that. Gringotts has no interest in playing hostel to soul fragments brought in without our knowledge." The Director replied, "Are there any more?"

Harry shook his head. The director pulled a small vial from his desk and placed it in front of Harry. "This is a Goblin version of your magical Oaths. Drink it and swear that there are no more of these things here." He smiled nastily, "If you are lying, I can promise it will not be an enjoyable experience."

Harry drank the potion and winced as the sludgy liquid went down his throat. It seemed to pause just before settling in his stomach. Harry swallowed again, forcing the potion all the way down. "I swear that there are no other Horcruxes at Gringotts." He stated. The potion seemed to surge within him before settling.

"Very well. Is there any other business?" The Director asked them, "If there isn't, please see yourselves out."

Scene Break

Padma set the baby Harry down in the living room with the Tonks and a sleeping baby Draco. Narcissa and Andromeda were already sitting with their teacups when she'd arrived. "I don't trust it when Harry is with that group." She said as she poured her cup and sat down between the two witches.

"What has you worried?" Andromeda asked, stirring some sugar into her cup. She sipped the tea and then added another spoonful. "It's not like he's going to start a war with wizards and goblins over a spilled potion."

Padma laughed at that, "No, but he's alone with Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore. I swear to the Morrigan that if he comes back and tells me he's the Defense Professor for next year I'll get him and make it look like an accident." She finished her thought and then took a jam sandwich.

"If you have to do that," Narcissa said chewing on her own treat, "remember: potions are traceable. It's best to use conjured items and not spells that directly affect the body."

Padma shook her head, "This is why they suspected you of killing Lucius." She said dryly.

"He really shouldn't have fallen down those stairs, accidentally." Narcissa replied smoothly, "If he hadn't been carrying that knife, he might not have been stabbed thirty-seven times, accidentally."

"Of course, the 'accidentally' part didn't need to be said once, let alone twice." Andromeda chimed in, "That said he should have been stabbed forty times."

"Accidentally."

"Of course."

Narcissa sighed, "It might have been forty times, but who's to say? By the time you've hit thirty-three, they all seem to flow together." The women shared a laugh at that as if they were discussing an amusing anecdote involving their children and not the well-deserved murder of Lucius Malfoy.

From her place on the carpet six-year-old Nymphadora Tonks was in heaven. Two babies to play with! James, the dark-haired baby was the more active of the two. So, of course, he was the one she gave the toy broomstick. Draco, her blonde cousin tended to sleep more, she'd noticed.

There was a knock at the door and Tonks raced to the door, "I'll get it!" She yelled as she darted past her mother, aunt, and unofficial 'Auntie Pad'. They heard a loud whoop of excitement from the girl, which told Padma whom exactly had come in.

Sure enough, Harry was led into the living room by the pink-haired six-year-old. "Gringotts has taken care of that one so that just leaves the Ring and the Diadem." He said as he kissed Padma in greeting, "Andromeda, Narcissa." He said to the others nodding.

"Harry."

"Mr. Peverell." Andromeda and Narcissa replied to him. Andromeda indicated the tea service and he took a cup.

"So, when are you going to Hogwarts for the Diadem?" Padma asked him, "I hope that you weren't roped into becoming Defense Professor." Harry didn't answer, instead, he sipped his tea. Padma raised an eyebrow, "I said 'I hope that you weren't roped into becoming Defense Professor'."

"It's really beautiful weather outside," Harry said to Andromeda, "I haven't seen it so-" He was cut off when Padma reached over, pinching his arm hard, drawing him down to her eye level.

"Did. You. Get. Roped. Into. Becoming. Defense. Professor?" She said slowly to her fiancee. "If you did I would suggest that you use the gemino charm on everything we own because I'm taking that house and you can bloody well live in Scotland!"

"No, I didn't." He said finally pulling back so he could rub his arm. "He has someone lined up for this year already."

"So he did ask you?" She replied draining her teacup.

Harry nodded, "Not about that position though. He needs a new Muggle Studies Professor, the current one has had an illness in the family and needs to take some time off." Harry took a step back as he saw her eyes narrowing. He held up his hands, "It would just be for this term. Padma, we need to get into the Room and I have to kill that basilisk while I'm there."

"Wait, what basilisk?" Narcissa asked.

Harry made a dismissive gesture, "There's a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. You have to be a parselmouth to get in there. I am one, so I'm going to kill it while I'm there."

"He's 'going to kill it while he's there'." She said lightly mocking the man.

Andromeda smirked, "As one does."

Padma glared at the two sisters, "Not helping." She turned to Harry, "You know I hate that place, why would you say yes?"

Harry sighed, "I need to get into Hogwarts. This was the only way to do it and ensure that Dumbledore wouldn't try to find the Horcrux by himself. The last time he did that he got a withered hand out of the bargain."

"Let him get a withered hand. Let him put the Diadem on and let it eat his brain." Padma said angrily.

Harry reached over and took her hand, "I also did it because if I'm there, I can keep an eye on the students. Snape is there and he's still a jackass, I can guarantee it. Those kids are going to need someone they can talk to if he's giving them a hard time. I'm doing it for them and for their education; do you remember the classes when we went? Hermione said that the biggest achievement in the textbook was that muggles had the 'horseless carriage'."

"One year." She said quietly. "One. And I want you home every weekend. You aren't Head of House, so you don't need to be there all the time." She frowned, "You know I don't like this right?"

He nodded and leaned down to hug her, "I do know that. I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you."

"This is what happens when you fall in love with a bone-headed Gryffindor," Padma said over Harry's shoulder to Andromeda and Narcissa.

"Look on the bright side," Narcissa said, "You own him for at least the next few months, if not the entirety of his time at Hogwarts."

"That's true. He'll have to make this up to you." Andromeda pointed out, "My suggestion: fancy dinners out."

"Your suggestion is pitiful sister dear, jewelry is the better choice," Narcissa said rolling her eyes at Andromeda.

Padma laughed in spite of her irritation, "The correct answer is that you are both thinking far too small." She broke the embrace and looked into Harry's eyes, "I am prepared to forgive you for not consulting me, but you have to do something important."

"What?" Harry said, "I'll do anything."

"Say I was prettier than Granger at the Yule Ball." She told him.

"You were prettier than Hermione at the Yule Ball."

"Say that you are going to take me shopping at the place Fleur took me in Paris." She said after that.

"I'll take you to that boutique in Paris."

"Good boy. I reserve the right to add extra demands, but for now, you are safe from winding up completely hairless thanks to a painful curse I learned from Daphne." She said and kissed him, "Now, go home and prepare a delicious dinner for me."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said. He mock saluted and left the house.

Padma turned to the others, "He is an idiot sometimes, but he is my idiot."

As Harry crossed the path from Andromeda's house to theirs he grinned. Padma would be mad for a little while longer regardless of the act she put on, but this would allow him to take her when he went shopping for his new robes. They could go check out a muggle bookstore that Remus had suggested. Remus was very interested in self-help books and was sure that Harry could find something that could help Padma. It might not be the same book I got her the first time, he thought, but there's got to be something out there...