Beta: Demos and sent two to others
Original release date: 03/31/2014
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe or any other universe in the way of trademarks.
Chapter Nine – Inquiries Galore
/*hours after the students had gone off to bed*/
Dumbledore paces around his office, deep in thought. Where has Harry been for the past decade? Once I found out that the house the Potters had been living in had been attacked, Minerva and I went straight there, but didn't find a single source of life.
Being so deep in thought, Dumbledore misses the knocking on his office door, and Professor McGonagall sticks her head in and asks, "Something wrong, Albus?"
Turning and facing Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore sighs and wearily replies, "Yes, Minerva, there is."
"What is it?"
Reclining in his chair, Dumbledore steeples his fingers and replies, "It's Harry. Where has he been for the past ten years? Who has him now? And why choose now to appear back in public? That's just the start of it."
Conjuring herself a chair, Professor McGonagall sits down and states firmly, "While I understand that you're curious, Mr. Potter has returned to the magical world, and therefore you should not be worried over him anymore."
"But with whom has he been living with these past ten years? He hasn't been living with the Dursleys as you and I can attest to. A few days after the Potter's deathes, the Longbottom's safe house was attacked and burned to the ground, the family was assumed to be dead, but here is Neville and he looks perfectly fine. Although…there is the chance that Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin have been hiding out somewhere, possibly with Harry and Neville under their wings."
"Albus, just leave them both be. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get the changes to my lessons approved by you, then I'll be off." states Professor McGonagall plainly.
Nodding his head, Dumbledore quickly scans the parchment from Professor McGonagall, and scribbles his signature at the bottom, and with that Professor McGonagall exits the office.
/*early the next morning*/
Sitting up just seconds before his alarm goes off, Harry quickly deactivates the alarm as to not wake his roommates, and looks over at Neville's bed, where Neville is just sitting up from where his alarm went off. But thanks to some basic wards erected before falling asleep, no one else in the room had awoken due to the alarm. As silently as they can, Harry and Neville quickly change into some dark colored clothing, before exiting the dormitory to arrive in the deserted common room with darkness prevailing outside. Quietly leaving the comfort of Gryffindor Tower, the duo quickly and quietly slip through the darkened and muted halls of the castle before exiting the castle and jogging towards the lake for their morning exercise.
An hour later, the duo complete their jogging and quietly re-enter the castle and head towards their dormitory for a shower before breakfast when a meowing sound is heard in front of them. Spotting Mrs. Norris, Harry and Neville quickly jump to opposing sides of the hallway and are barely able to hide behind some suits of armor when a wheezing Filch comes ambling around the corner.
"Where are the rule breakers?" queries Filch to Mrs. Norris in a gravely tone.
Mrs. Norris sniffs the air and stands in the middle of the hallway, unable to decide which suit of armor to go towards first when Professor Snape and his billowing cape enter the hallway from the direction Harry and Neville came from.
"Professor, there are students out of bed." Croaks Filch.
Looking around intently and walking around the hallway slowly, Professor Snape shakes his head slowly and replies slowly, "I haven't seen or heard anything out of place. So I'm inclined to disbelieve your claim" before striding off down the hallway.
Filch makes one more look around the hallway before picking up Mrs. Norris and walks away, murmuring words of comfort to her. When the hallway remains clear for a few moments, Harry and Neville ease out of their hiding spots and continue their trek to their dormitory unhindered.
After a quick and relaxing shower, Harry and Neville change and open their trunks for their bags and books for class. Harry holds up his messenger bag with the characters ME and the smaller text of 'Marauders Emporium' directly underneath, and whispers to Neville, "Do you think that Sirius and Remus want us to test out these bags?"
Seeing Neville nod his head, Harry quietly grabs his books and places them into the organizing pockets that quickly expand and shrink as materials such as books, parchment, quills, inkwells, and the like are placed into the bag.
"Shall we go down to breakfast before going to class?" queries Neville quietly.
Smiling, Harry replies equally as quiet, "Yes, food would be good."
Quietly as they can, the duo leave the still dark dormitory, reach the portrait hole and are about to leave when a voice whispers loudly, "Wait, let me come with you."
Turning around, Harry and Neville see Hermione walking towards them. Nodding their heads, the trio leave the common room and head towards the Great Hall. Looking down at the matching messenger backs, Hermione queries the two of them, "Why do you two have matching bags?"
Laughing, Harry replies, "These bags are prototypes of Sirius's and Remus's shop. We apparently get to test these out, although I'm not completely certain what's so good about them, other than the pockets that have Undetectable Extension Charms on them and the bag has a Featherweight Charm. However, the pockets do help keep the bag organized for quick retrival."
Looking curious, Hermione asks slowly, "Would one of you two mind me taking a look through your bag? I may want to get my parents to order for me."
Neville wordlessly and instantaneously takes his bag off of his shoulder, and offers it to Hermione, who murmurs a thanks, and proceeds to look through the bag with a careful hand. A few minutes later, Hermione smiles and returns the bag, saying, "That is a lovely bag. I like staying organized, and your bag seems much nicer than mine. Can someone contact Sirius or Remus about a bag for me? I'll gladly pay for it, or my parents will."
"Yeah, no problem, Hermione." comes Harry.
Arriving at the sparsely populated Great Hall, the trio sit down and begin a quiet breakfast. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, a lot more of the student populace begin to arrive in the Great Hall, with the rustling sound of owl wings being heard over head. A black colored owl swoops down and lands gently in front of Harry, offering its leg to Harry.
Taking the letter, Harry reads the letter from Sirius.
Harry,
You remember the pieces of parchment that I gave you and Neville on the train? If you use the password that I gave you [it's 'the marauders strike back'], you can see a map of Hogwarts. We made one in our later years at Hogwarts, but with some work, we've made a newer version of the map. It shows who is where, and can't be tricked by polyjuice potion or animagi. With this newer edition of the map, each person will be represented by a black dot and their name above the dot if they are in their normal form and a red dot if they are in an animagus form.
Now, to the messenger bags that were included in the trunks, they are of my design, with a thin sheet of metal between two layers of cloth for durability and to hamper someone's ability to use a cutting jinx to cause your bag to spill. There is a featherweight charm on the bags [Remus suggested that] with six pockets, or three pockets per side with an open middle section. The pockets have an undetectable extension charm on them so you can keep organized and hold all of your needed supplies. In addition, we've added an Imperturbable Charm to the outside of the bag to also help prevent curses and can be used as a makeshift shield in the most dire of situations. Your bags are in the upper tier of the selection, because of the metal plating. The standard messenger bag does not include the plating and only has four pockets.
-Sirius
Harry finishes his lengthy letter and puts it away in one of his custom robe pockets, before turning to Hermione and says, "The messenger bags are for sale, however, there are apparently different tiers of them, with Neville's and mine being the upper tier model. Sirius didn't say how much they are, but I'm sure I can get you one delivered in a few days and let your parents figure out how and when to pay Sirius and Remus for the bag. That is, if you want one."
Hermione scrunch her eyebrows together in a thinking expression, and a minute or two later replies, "Yes, please do order one. I'll talk with my parents about money later."
"Do you want the normal tiered one, which has four pockets and doesn't have a thin layer of metal between the layers of the bag, or the upper tier like Neville and I have?" queries Harry.
Pausing for a moment, Hermione replies, "What you and Neville have would be nice, thanks."
Smiling, Harry pulls out a piece of parchment and quickly drafts his request for a bag and the cost of the bag in wizarding money and the rough equivalent in muggle money, before tying it to the leg of the black owl, which promptly flies off.
Professor McGonagall arrives and passes out the trio's schedule. Looking at the remaining schedule in her hand, she queries, "Where is Mr. Weasley? He has class in twenty minutes."
"He was still in bed, snoring, when we left the common room an hour ago. He's probably still asleep." replies Neville.
At that moment, Ron stumbles into the Great Hall, rubbing his eyes slowly. Sitting down, Ron pays no attention to Professor McGonagall, who clears her throat a few times, before looking up at the intimidating professor. Eyes going wide, Ron asks timidly, "Yes, professor?"
Glaring down at Ron, Professor McGonagall hands him his schedule and states sternly, "Don't be late to class, Mr. Weasley", before striding away, out of the Great Hall.
Stuffing his face, Ron queries, with specks of food flying from his mouth, "-at class we 'ave firs'?"
Glaring at Ron, Hermione looks down at her schedule and replies, "Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall."
Turning to Harry and Neville, Hermione asks, "Shall we go wait for Transfiguration?"
Nodding, Harry leads the way out of the Great Hall, with Hermione and Neville close behind him. Ron just shrugs and continues on eating.
Elsewhere in the Great Hall, Dumbledore is eating his breakfast while pursuing the Daily Prophet. Doing a double look, Dumbledore re-reads the article he was looking at before, stating that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin have opened a shop in Diagon Alley. Dumbledore stands, begins his exit of the Great Hall, and thinks to himself, it looks like I need to go talk with Sirius and Remus.
As the late bell rings, Ron manages to slid in through the door and sit down in the only seat available; a chair at the front of the classroom.
Professor McGonagall calls role and when everyone answers, a smile flashes across her face, before beginning class. "We are here to transfigure every day objects into other objects."
Without warning, Professor McGonagall waves her wand, and the desk that Ron had propped his head on with his hands transforms into a cactus, and Ron yelps loudly, jerking his arms away from the cactus.
Class continues and the assignment of transfiguring a match into a needle is only achieved by Harry, Hermione, and Neville. The Gryffindor first years then traipse from the Transfiguration classroom to the Charms classroom. Professor Flitwick also calls role, and then lectures on the uses of Charms, and then sets the class off to practice the levitation charm, with Harry, Hermione, and Neville, alongside Susan Bones from Hufflepuff achieving the task of lifting a feather off of their respective desks.
Sitting down in the dank dungeon of a potions classroom, Hermione looks around the room, curious to find out where Professor Snape is hiding. The sound of the drawling voice of a certain blonde ponce brings Hermione out of her musings.
"Don't tell me we have class with the lions."
With a fierce look in his eyes, Ron growls, "Malfoy, you git-"
"ENOUGH! Five points from Gryffindor for language, Mr. Weasley" commands Snape, striding into the room, cloak billowing out behind him. After calling the roll, Snape prowls around the front of the room restlessly, and asks, "Mr. Potter, what is the Draught of Living Death do?"
"I'm not certain, sir."
"It causes a deep slumber of which one can only be awakened from using a Wiggenweld Potion. Where would I find a bezoar?" inquires Snape sharply.
"I'm not certain, sir."
"Fame is clearly not everything one needs to succeed in the world. A bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat. Now what is the use of Polyjuice Potion?"
"Polyjuice Potion is used in conjunction with a strand of human hair to transform into the owner of the hair for an hour so at a time, sir." replies Harry calmly, with a hint of a smirk playing at his lips.
Frowning, Snape says shortly, "One point to Gryffindor. Now, the rest of you, if you haven't written the questions I just asked down, then WHY AREN'T YOU?"
Everyone hurries and writes down the questions and answers. A few cauldron explosions later, class ends, and the students file out, quiet as they can, as to not cause Snape to explode at them and take points away.
Author note: Due to some reviews, I've looked at my plan for the series in regards to relationships and changed a few things around. I won't say who is getting with who, but there have been changes in regards to my original plan.
T.H. Enesley, Yes, my writing is more like instructions sadly as I'm a software engineering major, and writing manuals and programs don't require emotion, so my writing is often dry. Although I'm trying to modify my writing to be more expressive. To your question as to why Hedwig was already named, after reviewing my chapter notes, I do not have a good reason as to why Harry didn't get to name her.
Loveandpower, I'm glad that you learned a new term. Reading in elementary helped my vocabulary increase, and I'm glad that I could pass something along. Regarding the sword, that was to be less seen/known about until later in the series, but I made a slip up. Harry and Neville have both been taught hand to hand combat and some minor sword skills from Sirius, with Remus teaching more practical defensive skills/spells. I'm not saying when or what the sword will be used or what for, but I have a plan.
Jharry1960, I didn't know about the offspring paying towards the household bills, and I appreciate it.
Guest, I'm not ruling out a Harry and Ginny pairing, but if I do write it, it won't be her being a fangirl and being unable to communicate with Harry. That was hopefully the point that I got across in chapter five where Ginny was forced to communicate with Harry and Neville when playing the minified version of Quidditch, despite her crush.
EDIT: 4/1/2014
Jharry1960 has pointed out to me that in the books that Harry got Hedwig's name from the History of Magic book and then named her at the Dursley's. I appreciate that. With that in mind, I'll keep my eyes out for future chapters when considering to use similar parts of the book.
To everyone else who has reviewed, thank you. Thanks for sticking with me.