Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 16

Disclaimer:

I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.

Author's note:

I just realized I've been spelling pensieve incorrectly as pensive. So, after I post this chapter, I'm going to try to remember to go back and correct where I misspelled it before in chapters 8 and 13.

The Burrow:

Harry arrived in stealth mode near the quidditch pitch at the Weasleys. Even though there was snow covering the ground, two of the boys were out flying around the pitch and based on the approximate age of their appearances, Harry supposed them to be Bill and Charlie.

He began walking towards the Burrow, mindful of vanishing every step that appeared in the snow so as to not leave a trail. It was at this point that Harry realized he needed to incorporate this into his stealth mode in the future.

As he walked, he checked his pocket to make sure that the rat he had bought from a muggle pet shop was still there. He intended to find Wormtail, and cast a permanent and undetectable glamour charm on the muggle-purchased rat to be completely identical and then switch the two out. Even though he felt no particular fondness towards the Percy from his own time, that didn't mean he wanted to cause the 5-year-old Percy of this time to cry because he lost his new pet. He only hoped that a young Percy was not carrying the rat around with him the way Ron had, it would make things more complicated to sneak in and replace the rat, if that were the case.

Looking through the windows, he silently apparated to a spot that was unoccupied, vanishing any lingering footprints as he did so. He arrived in the corner of the sitting room, toys scattered about in all directions. He noticed the twins giggling together as they hid behind the sofa as he walked past to head for the stairs. He headed upstairs, adding a silencing charm to prevent any unwanted creaks, even though his stealth mode should have taken care of it, he did not want to take any unnecessary chances.

Finally, he arrived at the door that he knew to be Percy's and quickly cast a spell that would act like a one-way mirror and allow him to see through to the other side. Jackpot. The room was empty, except for Wormtail snoozing away in his cage. Harry cancelled his spell and apparated silently in front of the cage. Quickly stunning him and then casting a spell that would prevent him from transformation, Harry took him out of the cage and replaced him with the new rat. After comparing the two with a critical eye, Harry placed the glamour that would prevent anyone from noticing the rat had been replaced.

Then he placed Wormtail into a warded cage that would prevent him from escaping and placed him into one of the compartments in his backpack. Wormtail would probably stay stunned for a good few hours, due to the strength of Harry's stunning spell, so Harry wasn't worried about needing to feed him before he managed to finish the wards on the island.

As he was preparing to leave, he briefly wondered if there was any sort of spell he could cast that would prevent Molly from filling Ginny's head up with the Boy-Who-Live nonsense, which was the beginning of her obsession with with being the wife of the BWL, but he wasn't sure that such a spell existed even with the MoD powers, unless he performed some sort of memory runes like he did with Dumbledore's pensieve. Shaking his head, he decided he would discuss the issue with Merope, and possibly the rest of the "family" after they got Sirius his trial, perhaps they could find some sort of creative way to put a stop to it. Then again, maybe because he put a stop to all those false books so early that will stop any bedtime stories about the BWL, unless Molly made them up herself. Shrugging to himself, Harry double-checked that he closed the cage back and then apparated directly from Percy's room in the Burrow to get back to the island.

Arriving back at the island and tent a moment later, having only been gone about ten minutes, Harry announced the task to be done and that he was now going to work on finishing the wards on the island, especially a place for Moony's transformations. Remus appeared to want to ask questions about Wormtail, but before he could, Harry told him that he would talk to him about the rat while they were out fixing the wards.

Back at Grimmauld Place:

Walburga was reading the book she had chosen the night before, Laws of the Wizengamot, when Kreacher returned bearing the response from Harry Potter. Setting aside her book, she grasped the letter handed to her by Kreacher and dismissed him to retrieve her some tea, which Kreacher returned with as she started reading it.

Dear Madam Black,

I would be delighted to meet with you at Grimmauld Place tomorrow after lunch. As we are still getting things fixed up at our new residence, it is not quite suited for visitors, no matter how nice our temporary accommodations may be, so I feel Grimmauld Place would be much more comfortable for the two of us for our first meeting.

I would come to visit you today to make plans, but I need to set some wards on the property nearby that will be strong enough to contain a werewolf on the full moon.

Walburga gasped at the thought of a werewolf living nearby, but shook her head and continued to read. She realized that she had many prejudices that were ingrained in her as a child and she had clung to them for so many years, that she wasn't sure which prejudices were her own or a learned trait. If there was anything this past war on blood had taught her, it was that some prejudice was poppycock. That muggleborn witch that had married into the Potter family had been more powerful than many purebloods, she was just too blinded to admit it before the war was over. Then she turned her attention back to the letter.

In explanation as to why I would be warding for a werewolf; a good friend of mine, that I knew in my original time, was bitten when he was only four years old. He has spent his entire life trying to remain safe and secured during full moons, in order to prevent himself from inadvertently infecting anyone. I'm determined to help him have a safe place, and perhaps open the opportunity up to the other werewolves, if the need arises.

Walburga paused in thought. That would be awful, to be turned into a werewolf in general, but especially at such a young age. And to have never infected anyone, even by accident, sounded like an amazing feat. She thought, perhaps that is a prejudice she could learn to let go of, if she knew that more werewolves were like that. Then she resumed reading the letter.

I was pleased to read you were able to go to the Ministry so soon after you read Sirius' letter, you see, I'm still working on establishing myself firmly in this timeline, and I hadn't quite worked out a way to demand a trial for him. As I'm posing as a Potter cousin who lived away during the war, it would have been quite difficult to make the Ministry take notice of what I had to say on the matter, I would have had to explain how I even knew Sirius, if I had, in fact, been living out of the country for many, many years. Whereas, you are his mother and have sufficient reason to go to them and demand a trial.

Walburga could see the sense in what he said, posing as an out-of-country Potter relative, he would indeed have a difficult time forcing the issue of a trial. He would have likely been ignored entirely, while she on the other hand, had the perfect excuse as his mother to go in there demanding a trial, being a pureblood member of the House of Black probably helped tremendously, too. Returning to the letter, Walburga read through to the end.

I look forward to making further plans regarding Sirius' trial, and I do indeed already have a tentative plan worked out, you see, I have already captured the real betrayer and murderer, so his trial should be pretty open and shut, once it gets going that is.

I will, of course, give you more in depth details when I meet with you tomorrow after lunch. I do hope that 2:00 p.m. is a convenient time. Please do send Kreacher, if that time is inconvenient, and I will, of course, come over at a time in the afternoon when you have told me (through Kreacher) that it is convenient.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Hadrian Potter

Folding the letter back up, Walburga set it to the side to contemplate all that she had read. "So, he has whoever the true culprit is all ready and waiting, this should be an interesting plan indeed," she said to herself. Then she looked at the clock and saw that it was time to get ready to go to the Ministry to see if they had done as instructed.

Author's note:

Additional notes in profile.