[A/N: Welcome back to another chapter of this new story! Thank you to all that favorited and/or followed this plus left a review. It means so much to me, like you wouldn't know. This chapter will be rather long (I don't think you'll be complaining) so sit back and enjoy. I'm going to reuse the school I used in another one of my stories simply because the difference in definition of what 'primary school' means between America and the UK. It's confusing…]
Chapter 2: Investigating a whole new cookbook (July 1989 to July 1991)
July 1989, one week after the events of their camping trip
Vernon was tired and frustrated; the Grunning's 2000 series bit grinder's main bearing seized up on the operators and damn near tore itself (and the two operators) apart. There was a minor fire that had started from the oil spill and the flying sparks, the operators were fortunate enough to escape with only minor injuries. He had been pressed into service in the efforts to contain the damage and to assess what else could be done to not lose production time, the Mortinson contract was a big one.
He pulled the car up into the garage at the end of the day and sighed heavily. The day was over, he was tired and dirty. The operators were recovering and the production schedule wasn't pushed too far behind. All he wanted to do now was shower, grab a beer or maybe break open that Scotch bottle and relax on his chair.
'I just got back from a vacation and now I'm in need of another one,' he groused internally as he opened the inter-house door and stepped inside. His nose immediately picked up the sharp tang of cinnamon, the sweetness he associated with raisins and something syrupy that seemed rather foreign. Curious, he dropped his briefcase on the table next to the arch that led into the living room and entered the kitchen where he found Petunia and Dudley watching Harry doing something creative with what appeared to be chicken.
"Pet. Dudley. Harry? What are you making now? I smell cinnamon," he greeted the others as he opened the refrigerator and grabbed his favorite brand of ale.
Petunia and Dudley quietly said their hellos before turning back to Harry who was busy concentrating on what appeared to be a new cookbook. Harry absentmindedly waved his hand in his uncle's direction. He grabbed a bundle of green onions and began slicing them slantways in thin strips before dropping them in a small bowl and moving onto the chicken. From the pantry, Harry grabbed the cornstarch, salt and pepper. He deboned and cut apart the whole chicken Petunia had bought yesterday, stripping off as much of the skin as possible and chucking it into a baggie to be tossed out later. Harry dredged the chicken strips in the cornstarch mix and set it aside to heat up a skillet with a bit of oil. Once the oil was sizzling hot, he transferred the chicken into the skillet and cooked it until it was golden brown. Next he added a little bit of butter to the pan along with some minced garlic.
Vernon's nose was suddenly assaulted with the sharp aroma of garlic and it made his mouth water. 'This ought to be good. I love garlic flavored chicken.' He murmured to Petunia that he was going to grab a quick shower and left the room.
Harry's cooking dance continued; he brought out some more ingredients from the pantry. He combined honey, crushed red peppers, chicken stock, rice vinegar and light soy sauce to a bowl and mixed it together then poured it into the pan with the chicken and brought it to a boil, occasionally turning the chicken to make sure it was well coated. After a few minutes, he brought the heat down and let it simmer until the sauce began to thicken.
Harry then turned his attention to another pot that was quietly simmering on the burner. He turned off the heat and removed the pot lid. He retrieved a ladle and scooped up whole grain rice onto several plates stacked up in front of Dudley. He topped the rice with several pieces each of the glazed chicken and garnished each of them with a handful of the sliced green onions before sliding the plates before each of his mesmerized audience.
One bite and Vernon was hooked. 'Oh, my god where has this been all my life!' he moaned internally and closed his eyes as he savored the sweet and hot glaze that burned and soothed his tongue simultaneously. The sauce had cooled enough that the chicken crunched a bit with each bite adding to the heavenly sensation.
"Ahhh, thank you Harry. This is exactly what I needed after the day I had. Where'd you get this cookbook? I don't remember this one from your collection."
Harry grinned around his mouthful of dinner. He swallowed and informed his uncle that he and Dudley had spent the day in the library when he came across the section that had cookbooks from around the world.
"I got a couple of other cuisines too. I got French, Japanese, American and Mexican," he said after taking a sip of his cup of water.
"Did you also do something with cinnamon? I could've sworn I smelled that when I came in."
"I made cinnamon raisin bread earlier." Vernon nodded his acknowledgment and leaned back in his chair, thoroughly satisfied with the meal.
After dinner, Petunia and Dudley assisted Harry in the cleanup while Vernon went to go relax in the living room.
Grunning's Drill Company, Executive Lunch room, the next day
Vernon absently greeted yet another one of the company's multitude of vice presidents and sat down at the table with his lunch bag. He was the only one of the group who brown bagged his lunch much to the continued amusement of the other executives.
"Hey Vernon, wife giving you an allowance to go with that lunch?" quipped the lout from Accounting to the bleating laughter of his cronies. Vernon merely quirked an eyebrow and let a smirk cross his features.
"I'll have you know Croyden; that my nephew made this and I'm forever happy with his cooking."
"Oooh, so you got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich too, eh? Did he pack you a bag of crisps?" Croyden mocked.
Vernon wondered why he thought that the executive level was supposed to be refined. Sometimes he felt that he should be taking his lunch with the workers. They at least appreciated a home cooked meal…
He opened the bag and removed the plastic container that held the leftover rice from last night's dinner, a small bottle of hot sauce, and a foil wrapped set of Hawaiian style kebabs. Each of the kebabs had a square of pineapple, ham, mozzarella cheese, the honey-garlic chicken from last night and a cherry tomato. He placed it all on a microwavable plate and re-heated it then sat down again to enjoy his 'Harry Meal.' The meal looked so good in fact that the others sitting at his table looked on enviously.
Vernon smugly thought, 'Stare all you want, losers. I got the epic lunch and all you have to eat is crow.'
September 1989 St. Grogory's School
'Sniff.' 'Sniff….' 'Sniiiiifffff…'
Harry glanced up at the sound of someone sniffing near his workspace and spotted his new teacher, Miss Bomberg, looking curiously at him.
"Mr. Potter? Why do you smell like pizza?" A couple of Harry's friends chuckled. They knew why.
Harry sighed, "I was experimenting with my spices yesterday and trying to come up with a new Italian blend. I got a bit carried away with the grinder." He made the hand gestures of a cloud exploding into the air.
The teacher's face grew puzzled, "Spices? Grinder? Just what are you into, Mr. Potter?"
"I like to cook, ma'am. Last month was French cuisine; this month is Italian foods."
The look of surprise on her face was funny. The teacher made a mental note to contact the boy's guardian to find out more.
Later at lunch time…
Regina Bomberg sat down with the other teachers for their lunch and listened to some of the conversations. After finishing her bite of a rather bland garden salad she picked up from the store, she turned to the Assistant Headmistress.
"Diane? I was wondering if you could tell me more about one of my students, a Mr. Harry Potter? Is it really true that he knows how to cook?"
Diane Haustenberg sighed happily, "Yep but what he does goes way beyond the ordinary classification of 'cooking.' The talent that boy has when presented with various ingredients is completely astounding. Why? Did something happen?"
Regina shook her head briefly, "No, it's just he came into class smelling of pizza spices and he mentioned he got carried away with experimenting with an Italian spice blend and something about a grinder."
Diane grinned, "Is he now? What did he make from it?"
Regina shrugged, "Said that he was starting Italian cuisine this month and mentioned that last month was French foods." She glanced around the room and noted that everyone was practically hanging onto every word between them. "Is there something I should know?"
Diane patted her hand, "Just wait until you throw a party. You'll be amazed…"
Diane wasn't the only one fielding questions about Harry's culinary skills. Harry himself was surrounded by a group of his school mates all begging him to teach them how to cook. He held up his hands and begged for silence.
"I would be happy to teach you a couple of recipes and how to work in the kitchen but we would need permission from the headmistress and our parents or relatives. Get that and I'll see what I can come up with. In the meantime, I just wanna eat my lunch." He plopped down on the bench and pointedly stared at the kids still milling around until they got the message and dispersed.
His closest friend, Aaron, peered into Harry's lunch bag, "What'd you bring this time?"
Harry pulled out the containers, "I got some wild rice, pan-cooked garlic shrimp fettuccini alfredo and an apple."
Aaron glanced dispiritedly at his own meager lunch, "I can't wait to take your class, Harry. My mum gave me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a packet of Oreos."
Harry nudged his friend's shoulder with his own in commiseration.
October 1989
Now that Remus was involved in Harry's life again and the tourist season had dropped off significantly, he became a regular caller to the Dursley house. Once more, Petunia was surprised with the knowledge that despite Remus being a magical, he also knew how to operate and owned a car of his own. It was early October when he paid a visit to Privet Drive.
Harry was in the living room playing Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo with Dudley when they heard the distinctive duck call that Remus' car horn sounded like. He quickly hit pause and jumped up and ran to the window; a wide grin bursting out on his face.
"Uncle Remus is here!" he yelled happily before racing over to the front door and yanking it open.
Remus was carrying a pile of boxes in his arms when he was hit by a messy-haired missile around his waist, "Hey, kiddo! It's good to see you too. Let me get these boxes inside before they melt, okay?"
Harry pulled back, "Melt? What did you bring?" He helped Remus inside by taking one of the boxes that was threatening to fall off the stack.
"I brought some fresh seafood straight from the beach; figured you might be able to do something with it."
Harry's eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open, "Thanks! Oh, I can't wait. This month we're having Japanese."
Once they got inside the house, Remus was led into the newly refinished mudroom behind the kitchen. There was a brand-new refrigerated storage container similar to the ones found in the convenience stores to hold ice creams and such.
"Where'd you get this, Harry? Is it new?"
"Aunt Petunia found it somewhere and talked to Uncle Vernon about increasing our refrigerated storage. They did something adult-y and had it installed." Harry replied with a desultorily wave of his hand. The two of them opened the lid and made room for the new boxes.
Petunia came in and greeted Remus, "I thought I heard the dulcet tones of Harry's voice yelling to the heavens that you'd arrived. How are you, Remus?"
Remus grinned, "Pretty good. Things are quieted down on the farm since the tourist season ended. Thanks for letting me stop by."
Dinner was a lively affair. Remus came armed with a bunch of hilarious stories from his days at Hogwarts and his friendships with James Potter and Lily Evans, as he knew them then. He kept all the stories kid-friendly and would occasionally pause as he tried to adjust some of the references to something less… risqué.
Harry was in the kitchen busily preparing their meal while Remus observed. He watched as Harry poached some eggs then washed and sliced the mushrooms, radishes, leeks and scallions. He then pulled out a couple of sheets of kombu-style seaweed and soaked it and the mushroom stems in water for 30 minutes then dumped them into a saucepan on low heat for another thirty. Once the eggs were poached, he put them aside on a plate and covered them to keep them warm but not cooking. When the thirty minutes in the saucepan were up, he removed the seaweed and added the sliced mushroom caps and leeks for yet another 30 minutes.
In a separate saucepan, he boiled a package of soba noodles then added them to the mushroom broth. He finished out the soup with a dash of sweet rice wine and soy sauce before assembling the poached eggs on top of the noodles into individual bowls.
"Oh, this is heaven Harry. What do you call this soup?" Remus said complimentarily.
"Dinner?" Harry replied cheekily to the groans of the others, "Sorry, it's called Japanese Soba with Mushroom Broth. I also put thinly sliced radishes in as well for added kick."
"It's incredible, that's what it is. I don't know where you picked up the talent from. Neither of your parents were any great shakes in the kitchen. As a matter of fact, your father was banned from cooking anything more complicated than porridge." Harry laughed along with the others.
Once the soup was finished, Harry got up and served the next course of their meal. He'd made some Japanese Ginger Pork for the mains.
"So explain what you did here, Harry." Vernon asked him as he dug into the exotically flavored pork.
"Well, I mixed together a sauce made from the sweet rice wine, grated ginger and some light soy sauce. Then I marinated the pork slices in the sauce for about half an hour before removing it and putting the marinade aside. I used that new wok you got me and put in a bit of oil, kicked the heat on high until the oil just started to smoke and sautéed the pork for about 2 minutes. I then added the marinade and continued to cook for another thirty minutes. I made some rice and shredded some cabbage for the 'bedding.'"
"Exotic but not unpleasant. I never knew you could do this with pork." Vernon commented as he took another bite with a smile in his eyes.
Along with being a welcome visitor, Remus was also the Dursley's point man for all things magical. He taught Harry and Dudley what he knew of a basic Samhain ritual to commemorate the passing of Harry's parents. He had Harry write a letter to his parents as if he was away at school, telling them all about his life and his wishes, hopes and dreams. He then demonstrated a simple prayer to say as he lit the letter on fire and how to scatter the ashes to the winds. Petunia and Vernon had written a letter authorizing him to act as their representative to Gringott's after he'd told them about the Potter Family Vaults and the Will. Petunia vaguely remembered Lily talking about the Will but for the life of her, couldn't remember what had happened to it. That puzzled both Remus and Vernon as Petunia's memory was like a steel trap most of the time.
"Could that headmaster guy done something to us? Something to make her forget?" Vernon asked one evening.
Remus shrugged but he was concerned, "It's possible though I can't imagine why he'd do that."
Petunia grunted, "I wouldn't put it past him. Did you ever see the letter he left with Harry that night he dumped him on our porch after that Halloween?"
"He did WHAT?" Remus yelped.
Petunia grimaced as she rose from her seat and headed to their closet under the stairs where they kept all the important papers and stuff. When she returned, she handed him the now faded letter. He quickly read it and began to frown.
"The wording in this…" he trailed off.
"Very condescending and odd. It was like he wanted us to treat Harry like a slave and to make him crave attention from outsiders," Petunia confirmed, "At any rate, we would like for you to contact whomever it is that is in charge of the Potter account at that bank of yours and see what they can do to get the Will probated. I have to believe that they left something behind for him. Maybe you could also look into why letters addressed to you about Harry mysteriously vanish?"
"What do you mean 'mysteriously vanish'?" he frowned.
"I know that I wrote you a couple of times but when I asked our mail carrier if there were any letters from you, he'd give me a strange look and told me that I'd never sent anything out."
"That is strange. What about parcels and packages?"
"Those went through just fine. It was the letters that were the problem. It got me thinking that maybe Dumbledore or whomever did something so that letters with keywords and phrases involving Harry would disappear."
Remus' face took on a pensive look, "That makes a scary amount of sense. A mail redirect ward is easy to set up and a variant to screen out letters based on content is just as easy to install." He handed back the letter. Family Will and Mail tampering was a serious offense no matter which side of the magical divide you were on. He'd look into it as soon as possible.
"Petunia? There's one other thing I noticed that I've been meaning to ask you about. Rumor's had it that Harry had a lightning bolt shaped scar from where Voldemort's curse rebounded but his forehead seems to clear."
Petunia sat back down in her seat after getting another cup of tea and tilted her head in acknowledgment, "True but we had it removed when he was about six. We kept getting glares from the other parents and even a visit from Family Services about the report that we abused him," she shrugged a shoulder, "So we finally got tired of it and contacted his pediatrician about getting scar removal surgery. It didn't take long and he was in the hospital for only a couple of days. There was one odd thing though."
"Oh?"
"The surgeon told us later that when they incinerated the medical waste at the end of the procedure, there was an inhuman scream that erupted from the furnace. He joked that it was the end of Harry's time with that ugly scar." Vernon explained as he entered the conversation and the room.
"So to finish up, the surgeon explained that he healed up the site on Harry's forehead and he'd only have a thin line just above his eyebrow that you'd only notice when he got a tan and if you looked close enough," Petunia said as she shifted her feet underneath herself.
November 1989
Gringott's Bank, Diagon Alley, London
"Next!" the Goblin teller yelled out as Remus stepped forward and sketched a small bow.
"Good business, Teller. I seek a meeting with the Potter Family account manager at his earliest convenience. I do not have an appointment but I am willing to wait." Remus informed the slightly sneering Goblin.
"Very well." He wrote a short note and sent it on its way, "A message has been sent, you may wait over there," he gestured towards a small area with benches, "Is that all?" Remus tilted his head once and gave the appropriate thanks and walked away.
Not ten minutes later, an escort appeared and led Remus to the office of Daggerclaw, the Potter Family account manager. Greetings given and a seat offered, Remus got straight down to business.
"I have a letter from the muggle guardians and relatives of Harry James Potter wishing that they would like me to act as a magical steward on this side of the divide as they have no means of traveling here." He promptly handed over the letter of authorization to Daggerclaw who quickly scanned it and approved the veracity of the contents.
"So what can I and Gringott's do for Mr. Potter's Steward?"
"First, the family would like to know if the Potter Will had been probated yet and if not, they'd like to start those proceedings. Next, they'd like to have an audit performed on all Potter vaults if possible. They suspect that Albus Dumbledore has been playing 'sticky fingers' with the monies and properties. Their reasoning is that the man dumped infant Harry onto their doorstop with only a thin blanket and a rather condescending letter. The letter is on the desk in this packet." He motioned to said packet; Daggerclaw held out his hand for it. "Additionally, and they're willing to pay for it themselves, but they'd like to have their house inspected for any sort of illegally placed wards. They suspect Dumbledore again doing things like mail redirection and tampering."
Daggerclaw finished reviewing the packet to his satisfaction. He loved working with the muggleborn parents and their offspring; they tried their hardest to provide as much information as possible to facilitate speedy results and financial gains. He quickly sketched out a request for the Will retrieval from the Records Department as well as one to the Accounting Department for an auditor and someone from the Warding Inspectors office. Both arrived within moments of each other.
"Silvertooth, I want you to take a team and audit the entirety of the Potter vaults. I suspect foul play from that gobrek smear Albus Dumbledore." All the Goblins sneered at the man's name. "Get that report back to me as soon as possible." Silvertooth bowed once and departed. Daggerclaw turned to the next Goblin, "Goldhammer, here's the address of a muggle home suspected to have illegal wards placed upon it. You'll most likely have to go in under the cover of darkness to make your inspection. Again, Dumbledore is the likely suspect here." Goldhammer grinned maliciously, "If the old goat should appear, am I allowed to repel the bastard?"
Daggerclaw glanced over at Remus who silently nodded, "Yes, at the very least he should be stunned and have his memory of the visit removed. Dump his wrinkled butt in another county if you have to." Goldhammer acknowledged this and left the office. Daggerclaw and Remus then turned to the Potter Will on the desk. There were the usual boilerplate statements and such along with the bequeathments. Remus growled quietly at first when he read that Sirius Black was listed as primary contact then gave a whine of surprise at the declaration that he'd undertaken the Godfather Oath. 'There's no way that he would've been able to betray the Potters if he'd undertaken that Oath. He'd be dead the moment the Secret left his lips!' The next shock was the knowledge that Harry should've never been placed with Petunia and Vernon Dursley that while they were family; they wouldn't have the capability to raise a magical child. Finally, the Will stated that James and Lily had filed a copy with the Ministry and had Albus Witness it but considered the one with the Goblins to be the True Will (Albus never witnessed this one.) James had included a note that stated 'while he respected Dumbledore for his past achievements, there was something conniving about the elder man that just didn't sit right with him. Albus was holding secrets that could help the Potter family as well as the wider wizarding world but refused to share them all under the guise of his oft-stated 'Greater Good.''
"Well," Remus croaked after he'd finished reading the Will, "The DMLE needs to be notified about Sirius Black and maybe the manipulations of Albus. I request that Albus be removed from all accounts and all monies and properties be recovered with full prejudice pending the results from the audit." Daggerclaw returned with a wicked Goblin grin, one with fully bared teeth. "I would like a certified copy of this Will to take back with me to the Dursleys, if I may?" Daggerclaw waved his hand over the parchment and a second document appeared which was handed back to Remus.
The appropriate farewells were given and Remus left the office. He had one more stop to make.
Flourish and Blott's Bookstore
After getting a fortifying cup of tea to calm his flustered nerves, Remus entered the bookstore to pick up some textbooks and things so he could begin some basic instruction with Harry to prepare him for his reintroduction to the magical world when the boy turned eleven years old. He got a magical history book, a book on etiquette and customs, a primer of basic light-sided rituals and a couple of magical cookbooks.
He knew firsthand that most of the complaints from the pureblood families was the lack of knowledge and the tendency to trample over their customs of 'their' world by the muggleborn and raised. He rightly figured that if the incoming children from non-magical families at least knew the basics, it would smooth over whatever gaffs that may arise. The history book was always helpful because who didn't like to know where and how they came to be. The ritual primer kind of tagged along with the etiquette book in that many of the traditions the magically raised revolved around certain rituals done throughout the year like Samhain, Yule, Beltane and many others.
The cookbooks were obvious…
Back at the Dursleys…
Harry was confused by the information overload that Remus had pretty much dumped on them. He sat there leaning up against his aunt's side as he tried to make sense that someone could be so callous as to disregard someone's instructions for their only son then to turn around and steal from their vaults all for some stupid reason as that crazy notion of the 'Greater Good.' Frankly, it sounded like this Dumbledore guy had been watching too much Star Trek.
He was appreciative that Uncle Remus had gotten him the cookbooks and was excited to read and try the recipes. However, Uncle Remus had made him promise to wait until he was available to help him with the magical aspect until he got a wand of his own when he turned eleven. Harry made a disgruntled face but agreed to wait. The history, ritual and etiquette books were a surprise and while the ritual and etiquette books didn't hold much interest in him, the history book did.
"Harry? Why don't you take these books up to your room and read them quietly while your Uncle Remus and I have a little chat?" Aunt Petunia suggested. Harry grabbed the books and headed off upstairs.
Once Harry was gone (Dudley was at a friend's house), the conversation took a darker turn. There was much anger directed at the discovery of the manipulations of Albus Dumbledore and many questions were raised as to why the man would want to interfere with their lives. Vernon growled that it probably had something to do with that idiotic notion of his.
"You said that he was the leader of the resistance to fight this Voldemort character, right? Well, fight a war long enough and it becomes all you know and even crave to some extent. He doesn't know anything beyond war and conflict. The idea of peace is probably scaring the life out of him. By squirreling away Harry with us and not allowing anyone else to get a look in, he can say whatever he wanted to keep the tension going."
Remus blinked, "That makes a lot of sense, really. Scary thing too is that it's entirely plausible."
Before Remus left for the evening, he informed Vernon and Petunia that he'd requested a Warding Inspection team to come by and look for anything that shouldn't be there and that if they got the sense that they were being watched, not to be alarmed by it.
December 1989
Remus got the certified copy of the inspection report and it was disheartening to say the least, infuriating at the most. Not only was there a mail redirect ward but there was also a communication blackout on any letter containing the keywords and phrases that involved Harry Potter or anything relating to his care and well-being. Additionally, there were a number of monitoring wards that sent their information back to somewhere up north towards Scotland. Both Remus and Daggerclaw suspected it was being sent to Dumbledore in his office at Hogwarts. The monitoring wards covered things like Harry's health and general well-being, time spent away from the house (it looked like it had been adjusted from a hour's duration to nearly ten when the lad turned old enough to go to school), there was even a Fidelius ward set up to keep the magical population unaware of where the boy lived. Again, Remus and Daggerclaw figured this was to keep friends of James and Lily interfering with whatever schemes Dumbledore had concocted.
"I don't understand how these wards are being powered. There are no Ley lines anywhere near the Dursley residence," Remus commented.
"The wards appeared to be drawing off the magical signature of young Mr. Potter at a trickle and then amplified by the wardstone. Given how young Mr. Potter is, the warding inspectors felt it prudent to sever the connection to the boy and install a temporary power crystal. Neither the wards nor Mr. Potter will be aware of the changeover." The Goblin Inspector Lead explained.
Daggerclaw also reported that all Potter properties had been recovered and were in the process of being examined for any 'enhancements.' An invisibility cloak was the one that was currently giving them the biggest headaches. There was an unearthly quality about it and frankly the fact that it was incredibly old yet still in perfect condition was…worrying. A pensieve with the Potter crest had been recovered and the memories within removed and stored in bottles. Daggerclaw mentioned that the memory retrieval team viewed the memories and was aghast at their contents.
"Definitely not family viewing then," Remus quipped sourly. He really didn't want to know how far Albus had fallen. Daggerclaw shook his head at that observation.
When Remus filled in Vernon and Petunia, they naturally hit the roof. Vernon was all set to head up to that blasted school and give over his feelings on the matter directly to the old goat himself from a very personal distance, preferably using a 9 iron. Petunia was disgusted at the level of depravity one man held upon an entire community and voiced her concern that maybe Harry shouldn't go to that school while Dumbledore was free.
"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions just yet, Petunia. Don't forget, we still have a little more than a year and a half before Harry turns eleven. With any luck, the DMLE will deal with this problem and arrest the old man for his illegal actions. I know that Amelia Bones is the Director of that department and is an incredibly fair minded person who sees things clearly and is not blinded by misplaced loyalty."
"As for the material properties, once they've been inspected and whatever alterations have been removed, they will be placed into the main Potter Vault where not even Albus has access to. The ancestral home of the Potter family is currently under lockdown and seems to be in fair condition. Whatever elves were there must have been reassigned to the school or died off. In the meantime, all we can really do is plan for the future and make sure that Harry is aware and understands what's in store for him."
With that, the Dursleys, Harry and Remus celebrated the New Year and wished each other luck for the coming times.
[A/N2: I decided to stop here because the chapter was becoming too long. While I do appreciate a chapter with a lot going on, I tend to shy away from those mega-chapters that are 10k words or greater. It's too much at one time; better to break it up into two parts. So Albus has been discovered to being a naughty boy and playing sticky fingers with things that don't belong to him. Greater Good, my you-know-what! Next Chapter covers January 1990 to June 1991. As always, if you like it, please drop a review.]
minor edit: 10/10/2020
Recipes:
Honey garlic chicken & rice (Pinterest)
Hawaiian chicken kebabs (Pinterest)
Pan-cooked garlic shrimp fettuccini alfredo (personal recipe)
Japanese Soba with Mushroom Broth (Yummly)
Japanese Ginger Pork (Yummly)
