"So then we both spent some time going over why the snitch was so important to the game, given that the rest of the sport seemed to be perfectly serviceable without a thing like that." Hermione said, after finishing off her plate. She glanced between her parents, both of whom were smiling brightly at her. They had gotten home late, but still early enough that they didn't want to go out for dinner. She had quickly gotten down much of her food before telling her parents all about the celebrity she had met in the bookstore! Sure, he hadn't seemed like much of a celebrity, but he liked books and hadn't been mean to her, which hadn't been the case for most kids she had met since she started skipping grades. She just hoped he remembered to write her. "And he's promised to write me!"

Hermione's parents shared a glance at that, before her mom responded. "That's great, dear." Hermione nodded happily. "Just don't be too surprised if it takes a while for him to write you. He's a celebrity, and that means he must get lots of mail."

Hermione felt a brief moment of fear at that. Her mother was right, Harry probably had better things to do than just write a random girl from a bookshop. Even if he was new to the magical world as well, given what he'd said in the bookshop, surely that just meant he'd be inundated with letters now. She'd just have to settle for finding him on the train. "I'll still try to find him on the trip up, at least." Assuming he didn't attract a bunch of people to his compartment. Why did making friends have to be so hard?

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, dear." her mother said. "I'm sure you'll make lots of friends at school." She was smiling, but Hermione had learned that smile was the one her mother made when she didn't quite believe what she was saying and thought it might hurt Hermione. "Now, off to bed with you! You've had quite the busy day, and don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"Yes, mum." Honestly, she was practically twelve, she hadn't needed reminders to brush her teeth in years. Part of living with dentists, she supposed.

/-|-o-o|-\

"You think she'll be alright?" asked Rupert, turning to his wife. The sounds of his daughter tromping up the stairs and water running letting him know that she wasn't listening in.

"You know how hard a time she's been having in school, and I doubt magical kids will be much different from how non-magical kids are." Emma said. "I'm glad that this Harry was nice to her, but if he's as much a celebrity as she's said, then I doubt he'll have any time for her."

Rupert sighed, picking at the last few remnants on his plate. "Maybe all the kids at the school will fit nicely into the 'wise and intellectual wizard' cliche?" His wife snorted. "Yeah, thought so." He put down his utensils and stood up to go put his dishes in the dishwasher. "Dan still coming over tomorrow to talk about being a shelter?"

"Yes, he'll be by around noonish to talk to us about how we'd like to be listed." Emma said. "If we're lucky, we can keep him around until dinner, and Hermione will probably be off at the library."

"Mmm, that would be nice." He and Emma hadn't had a decent chance to have Dan over in weeks, what with all the excitement around Hermione being a witch. "Do you think Dan counts as family enough for us to tell him about everything? Legally, anyway?" Sure, Hermione knew him as 'Uncle Dan,' but he was pretty sure she also knew that he wasn't really her biological uncle. Father, maybe, the three of them had never cared to know, but with her mother's curly brown hair instead of his wavy red or Dan's unkempt mess of black, it wasn't like it really mattered if anyone were to look closely. Thinking about it, had Emma gotten the chance to give Hermione the talk yet? Rupert knew that he wasn't going to be the one to do so, and as much as he wanted to ignore the fact, Hermione was growing up. And he doubted Dan wanted to be the one discussing matters with her either. Going off to boarding school made it all that much more important that she be educated.

"I'm not sure, to be honest." Emma said. Dan heard the slight scrape of her chair being pulled out, and turned around to watch her walk into the kitchen. "We're not exactly a very traditional family, in any sense, and I have no idea what the magical culture is like." She let out a sigh as she put her own dishes into the washer. "Or if their laws match up, or if the factions that hate non-magicals the professor told us about wouldn't go after us just to make a point."

"Now I wish we had gotten an owl. I don't really want to wait for regular post to try and get a response from her about it." Or to attempt to explain his and Emma's relationship with Dan to her, either. It was hard enough getting other people in the group to understand polyamory, and he certainly didn't want to have to try and explain it to someone who was by his understanding at least sixty years old.

"Well, not much use fretting about it now. Obviously we're going to have to tell Dan, we can't just say we decided to send Hermione off to boarding school without even talking to him." Emma said. "I'm not even that comfortable with all we've done without him already, but given that it's us two that are legally married…"

"He's going to think we've gone round the bend, probably." Dan shrugged. "Not sure what we can do about that, maybe ask to look at some of Hermione's textbooks and whatnot so we can show them to him?"

"We could try and take him to the Leaky Cauldron?" Emma said. "Or, no, we'd need Hermione for that, wouldn't we?" She leaned back against the counter, deep in thought. "Maybe he'll just believe us anyway."

"Hopefully." Rupert wasn't too optimistic about that, though. Anytime magic was mentioned Dan just clammed up and denied any possibility of it.

/-|-o-o|-\

"And how are you finding Hogwarts, Harry?" Harry looked up from his food, glancing across the table to see Headmaster Dumbledore watching him. "I daresay the house elves have outdone themselves with tonight's meal." Harry still couldn't quite believe what the headmaster was wearing. If he hadn't caught Professor McGonagall occasionally glaring at the brightly colored robes from time to time, he might have thought he was dreaming.

"Ah, good?" Harry hadn't looked around the room too much, he was trying to write Hermione. Trying and failing, really, mostly because he had no idea what to say. Dinner was… well, it was probably the best thing he'd ever had, except for maybe the ice cream that he'd gotten earlier in Diagon Alley. Easily better than anything he'd ever gotten at the Dursley's, and not just because of the fact that he could eat as much as he wanted. The smallish side room that had turned out to be a semi-private dining hall was nice, he supposed. "What are house elves, though?" Harry said. He didn't think it likely that the elves from the Lord of the Rings would be making meals for a school.

"Hmm, how best to explain… They're a race of magical beings that primarily enter into contracts with wizards and witches to do menial tasks, and occasionally skilled labor." Dumbledore said. Harry thought he saw a flicker of something when the headmaster had said 'menial tasks,' but wasn't sure what. "They'll clean, cook, garden, sew, any number of things for the family or place they're bound to."

"If you've ever heard of brownies in muggle folklore, Mr. Potter, they're much like that." said Professor McGonagall. "The main thing to note is that house elves will stringently refuse any sort of monetary pay in most situations, and instead ask to draw magic from a family or place, or to be compensated with offerings to the fey realm."

"Indeed, at Hogwarts most elves are contracted for an amount of the castle's innate magic, which is refilled by a local leyline." Dumbledore added. "Though a few do ask for offerings from our greenhouses or from the lake."

"So they're like butlers or maids?" Harry asked.

"I think that's a close enough description, as long as you understand that they're very much more than that and quite proud as well." Dumbledore responded. "House elves take the image of their family or house quite seriously, and don't respond well to either insults upon their work or, in their words, attempts to devalue their art by insisting that it's anything money can buy."

"What happens if a house elf wants to leave?" Harry said. He supposed he wouldn't have hated doing things for the Dursley's if they'd actually thanked him for it and allowed him to say no to certain things.

Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall shared a glance. "It's rather rare for such a thing to occur, but generally the house elf in question would simply tell the current contract holder and ask to be released." the headmaster said. "Usually, such requests are granted, and the house elf may mention a different house elf they feel better suited to take their place." He put down his utensils and sighed. "However, sometimes the witch or wizard in question will deny them, and that's when things get messy."

"Messy?" Harry replied.

"Quite so. House elves are immensely cunning, despite what many witches and wizards think." Dumbledore said.

"It doesn't help that house elves primarily speak elvish, and that translates rather poorly to most human languages." Professor Mcgonagall added.

"Very true, Minerva. The general wording on the house elf contracts state that they must do the bidding of the contract holder, but unlike most magical workings, the house elf contracts function exactly as worded, instead of on intent." Dumbledore took a sip from his goblet. "And I'm sure if it was legal to do so, almost everyone would hire house elves as their representatives before the Wizangamot or to make their deals with Gringotts." He looked at Harry then, and spoke in a tone that seemed to reinforce everything he was saying. "House elves will hold the exact letter of every order they recieve, Harry, and not a single bit more." The moment passed, and Dumbledore continued as though nothing special had just happened. "If the contract holder asked them to wash their robes, they might find that the washing had been done so terribly as leave even the sturdiest of cloaks threadbare and ragged. If asked for a dinner, they might get something that left them sick for a week." Dumbledore appeared to stare off beyond Harry as he went on. "Or the most obvious one, the house elf might get everything the contract holder asked for done quickly and find themselves with free time, time in which they haven't been told not to do certain things." A slight chuckle escaped the headmaster then. "The number of powerful witches and wizards who have been brought down when a house elf of theirs has used said time to engage in lengthy conversations with their enemies elves is quite large."

Harry took a moment to take all that in, before asking his next question. "Why do house elves contract with us at all, though?"

"The amount of magic or other such things offered is usually quite significant, and the ability to act somewhat freely in our realm is a major reason as well." said Professor McGonagall. "From what little witches and wizards have managed to gather, it's also a sign of status to them to be able to maintain a home or family here." She let out a short laugh. "There's a theory that says the house elves that come here are essentially the upper crust of the fey realm, taking care of humans as charity to show off to the others back home."

"Yes, that article was an interesting read, Minerva." Dumbledore said. "However, I do believe we've gotten rather far from what we initially wished to discuss with young Harry." Professor McGonagall let the smile fade from her face.

"I suppose so, Albus." She turned to look at Harry. "First off, I'd like to make it perfectly clear: You won't be going back to Privet Drive." He felt a small bit of tension build in his chest. Were they already kicking him out? "However, you're only allowed to stay here for a week before we need to contact the board of governors and get dispensation for you to remain here over the summer holidays." She glanced over at Dumbledore. "I've already offered to house you if we can't find another suitable candidate in that time frame, but I'm less than ideal for a number of reasons."

The headmaster cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that as she's deputy headmistress, a large number of important tasks are assigned to her with alarming frequency."

Professor McGonagall shot him a look. "I'd have less of those if you'd drop one or two of your other titles and focus on being headmaster." Dumbledore shrugged. "But yes, I'm always busy during the summers and while I have no doubt that you'd be able to manage on your own, I'd prefer you to have someone able to watch over you properly."

Harry looked between the two adults, a little bit calmer knowing that he wouldn't be shoved onto the streets. "There's no one from my dad's side of the family?"

Professor McGonagall took on a pained expression. "No one that we'd trust, or that wouldn't result in a massively lengthy court battle."

"A court battle?" Harry asked. "The Dursleys probably wouldn't even show up."

"On that, I think you might be mistaken." Dumbledore said. Professor McGonagall shot a furious glare at him and made to speak before he cut her off. "Although they might only be doing so to maintain the stipend that was outlined in your parent's will for whoever took you in. However, in such a case, I imagine they would find themselves engaged in a rather different court battle quite quickly." He sighed. "However, they are not the ones we're worried about. There's no direct relations on your father's side, however, you are distantly related to the Black family, which has two remaining members that could seek custody of you. One of these families is the Tonks, related through Andromeda Tonks, who was kicked out of the family for marrying a muggleborn wizard. She has a daughter just entering her last year at Hogwart's this year, who you might see around if you end up in Hufflepuff."

Professor McGonagall shot an odd look at the headmaster. "Yes, Nymphadora is certainly a… unique individual." Taking a sip from her goblet, she picked up where Headmaster Dumbledore had left off. "Unfortunately, Andromeda has a sister named Narcissa who was not kicked out of the family, and would undoubtedly have a stronger case for gaining custody of you. The issue with this is that her husband, a Lucius Malfoy, was known to be one of the followers of Death's Flight."

"Wait, what?" Harry asked. "How is he not in jail, then? Or did he get out or something?"

"Mr. Malfoy was able to avoid being imprisoned by claiming to have only followed Death's Flight while under the imperius curse." Harry's confusion must have been evident, because she spoke up quickly to explain. "One of a handful of curses considered so reprehensible that merely using it on an unwilling sentient target carries a life sentence in Azkaban, the highest security and most terrible prison the magical world has. The imperius curse can very loosely be described as a mind control curse."

"So he didn't really-" Harry began.

"Oh, he most certainly agreed with the policies and rhetoric espoused by Death's Flight. The only debate is whether or not he actually needed to be controlled into acting on the man's orders." Professor McGonagall sighed. "It's also entirely possible that Death's Flight would imperius loyal followers at random, just so if caught they could claim that they were imperiused to take certain actions, and so avoid jail time."

Harry felt his head begin to spin. "That sounds horrible. How would you even begin to sort out who was willing and who wasn't?"

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter, there isn't really a good answer to that. A large number of witches and wizards who were caught eventually ended up being released due to lack of evidence." she said.

Headmaster Dumbledore chose that moment to speak up. "And perhaps most importantly, this means that we must find you a suitable guardian who will not have ties to those suspected of being a death eater, or who would cause those same families to have reason enough to seek custody." He leaned back into his chair. "Which means, most probably, that we'll be looking to have you stay with a muggleborn family."

"I guess I can understand that…" Harry said, staring at his plate. He certainly didn't want to trade the Dursleys for the Dursleys but with magic.

"And now, Harry, I feel I must apologize for the circumstances that lead to you being placed with your mother's sister and her family." Dumbledore said. Harry looked up at him. "While it is true that the Dursleys had the strongest claim on you due to the closeness of their relation, I myself did not entirely do my diligence in making sure that they were taking care of you."

"That's- That's really okay, sir, you can't have-" Harry said.

"I fear that is not entirely the case, my boy." Dumbledore said, sounding slightly choked up. "I was not in the best frame of mind at the time, and while I was quite busy with the chaos caused by the death of Voldemort, those are not excuses for why I should have given carte blanche to the Dursleys in dictating the terms under which they would take you in." Professor McGonagall reached over and put her hand on top of his. "They demanded to have no contact with the magical world, largely owing to the dramatic split Mrs. Dursley had with her sister over her sister having magic and her not. I skirted the rules there, having someone close by to watch you, someone who could send me messages if there were obvious issues in the household, but did not pay enough attention to the reports I was given. I ignored multiple warning signs, and while I'd like to say that the safety of having you in a house that contained some small part of your mother's blood was worth it, I do not honestly know that I can do so."

"My mother's blood?" Harry said, still reeling from what the headmaster was saying.

"I believe that by being able to share a home with your mother's blood, carried by her sister, the protection Lily gave to you the night Voldemort tried to kill you would last you until you no longer called that place home." The headmaster drew in a deep breath. "However, that protection would only be from physical threats, and only from those originating outside the family."

"But did I really need that protection?" Harry asked. He couldn't believe that all the suffering he had gone through, years of torment and abuse happened mostly because of an attempt to protect him from some nebulous threat, probably long dead.

"Until a few years ago, I would have said yes." Harry stared at the headmaster. "Even up to months after Voldemort's fall, there were many of his followers still going around and attacking random innocents. You were a tempting target, and in those months I know of at least five separate attacks that were aimed at yourself." Harry gaped. "The attacks became less frequent, with the latest one having been four short years ago."

"Wait, was that what those people in black who were following me home from school that day wanted?" It was a particularly vivid memory for Harry, because they hadn't shouted abuse or hatred at him directly, instead remaining silent as they casually followed him through the park and seemed to drip with malice. Harry had run and ducked under the slide when they weren't looking, and waited for them to leave.

"I suspect so. However, Harry, that doesn't mean that it was worth keeping you with the Dursleys." Dumbledore said.

"But if that was where I was safest, wouldn't it better I stay there and stay alive?" Harry said.

"There are far worse fates than death, Harry. Abuses of magical children, and I do not say this to alarm, but abuses of magical children, particularly the kind that attempts to keep them from their magic, can cause the most serious of issues." Dumbledore's eyes seemed to mist over. "My sister was the victim of such an incident, many years ago, and it led to her death when she was no longer able to control her magic. It would burst out of her violently, and caused immense strain between myself and the rest of my family." A chill went down Harry's spine. "Child abuse is rare among magicals, not least for this reason. Accidental magic is some of the most powerful there is, since there is often nothing other than sheer panicked intent without any guiding caution." Dumbledore closed his eyes. "I hope that I can begin to make up for my mistakes in causing the miseries of your childhood."

"I... " Harry felt as though he was missing something. "Aren't you the headmaster of the school? Why would you be expected to handle all of… that?"

"While I am indeed, the headmaster here, I also hold many more titles and positions, both in England's magical government and in the International Confederation of Wizards. There is very good reason for me to feel personally responsible for some measure of your suffering, through neglect and willful ignorance." Dumbledore said.

"But why do you have all those positions? I can't imagine being able to handle all of those things at once." Harry thought it was like when Aunt Petunia expected him to have all the dusting, mowing, and cleaning done by noon for one of her gatherings. It simply wasn't possible, no matter how hard he had tried.

"While I enthusiastically pursued the post of headmaster here, I have become increasingly aware as of late that you are correct-" Professor McGonagall snorted. "In stating that I am not able to handle 'all of those things.' Many of those positions were foisted upon me by others, some in part due to my accomplishments, others because quite simply I am well known and well regarded within the international community." Dumbledore took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I fear I could not quite turn down many of these offers, simply because I, in my hubris, assumed that I would be able to handle everything, and handle it better than anyone else." The headmaster looked up at the ceiling of the small dining room they were in. "And in some ways, I felt responsible for helping them. When you have been a teacher for as long as I have, you end up being able to recognize a vast majority of the magical community, and still feel as though they are the bright-eyed and fresh faced students that you took charge of for seven long years." He glanced over at Professor McGonagall. "And as I'm sure Minerva can attest, I don't merely look the part of doting grandfather, most times I tend to act that way as well." The professor rolled her eyes at that.

Harry sat silent for a moment, trying to figure out how he felt. All the events of the day came crashing back onto him, the emotions that had been buried for so long straining to break free. He could just barely hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. "I don't-" Harry paused, trying to maintain his composure. "I'm really not-" His fists clenched in his lap, slightly too long fingernails biting into his palm. "I'm just me, sir. I'm not that important." He looked down at his plate to avoid seeing the headmaster. "I'm no one special, and you don't have to apologize for anything. You tried, and-" Harry bit back a sob. "It's over now, so you don't have to worry about it anymore." He felt someone lightly touch his shoulder and flinched away, blinking back tears to see Professor McGonagall standing by him.

"Mr. Potter, I can assure you that you most certainly are important, and quite special." she said.

"And even if you were not, Harry, that in no way means that we would do any less than what we are doing right now." Headmaster Dumbledore added. "Nor would it absolve me of my own derelictions in finding you a suitable home, or in making sure that you were given as happy a childhood as possible."

They stayed like that for a while as Harry continued to silently cry, giving him the time to compose himself. When he finally felt like he could shed no more tears, Professor McGonagall handed him a handkerchief, and he cleaned himself up as best he could. "Thank you, Professor."

"That's quite alright, Mr. Potter." she said. "I've always found it better to just let it out, myself."

"Quite so." Dumbledore said. "But I think it might be time to move to some lighter topics, over dessert." He then clapped his hands twice and the platters that before had held various roasts and vegetables were suddenly replaced by dishes of ice cream and trays of treacle tart. Harry found that he quite liked the tart, and did his best to participate in the lively conversation on quidditch that broke out over the treats.

/-|-o-o|-\

AN: [Letter]: Hermione is not giving up on getting a letter from Harry quite that easy, but her expectations have fallen somewhat. She has written some authors, and gotten responses from a few, so she doesn't think it impossible that Harry will follow through.

[The Grangers]: If anyone's wondering about the exact dynamic going on here, Rupert and Emma (and I couldn't resist going against the Dan and Emma trope a small bit) are officially married and have Hermione as their daughter. Dan is someone who's generally assumed to be a close family friend, and who was independently wealthy enough to help them start up their dental practice. In actuality, Dan, Rupert, and Emma are a polyamorous triad, with Dan essentially being part of the family in all but name and public perception. Neither Dan nor Rupert have cared enough to find out who the biological father of Hermione is, and both of them love her no matter whose child she is.

[Dinner]: I'm immensely sorry with how long this scene ended up being, but it kind of just kept going on and on.

[House Elves]: Basically, when someone wants a house elf, they have to either ask a house elf if they know one that would be willing to work for them, or directly petition the fey realm. No one intelligent directly petitions the fey realm. House elves have their own language, which is part of why they aren't so hot at English or other human languages, but they're more than willing to play up how bad it is for a laugh (and to keep humans in the dark about how clever they are, but that's another thing). House elves have enough ways to get even that it's generally considered a capital B capital I Bad Idea to mess with them or abuse their generosity, but it still happens with some frequency. There are some laws against actual physical abuse, but generally they don't tend to be enforced because the elves do a good enough job of taking revenge on their own (not that that makes it right or okay, but people are rarely perfect, and frequently willing to overlook things that aren't their problem or that might benefit them). If Lucius wants to hit his elf or punish them, well, it's all the more likely that his elf will manage to completely fuck him over somehow, so why put a direct stop to it?

[Custody Battle]: In an ideal world, Harry probably ends up at the Tonks. However, the possibility that Narcissa could challenge Andromeda for custody and win was considered too high for that to really be an option, by both Dumbledore and the rest of the order at the time.

[Attacks]: There's certainly no shortage of fanfics that make the claim that Harry didn't need the protection of living with Petunia, however, I find that unsatisfying as a perspective since it's certainly not what the characters in story would have guessed. Remember, the attack on the Longbottoms came something like a few days after Voldemort fell, and that's the incident that's going to stick in everyone's minds as they debate whether the Dursleys are the right place for Harry to stay. The initial placement was a panicked "We need to get the kid to safety, NOW." response, but in the aftermath of that attack it was widely considered to be prudent to keep Harry there until at least the time they went to Hogwarts.

[Dumbledore]: Part of why Dumbledore reacts so strongly here is that he's got more of a personal interest due to the parallels to Ariana that he can make, and he's had enough years of experience to know that generally, owning up to one's shortcomings immediately is far better than spouting excuses left and right. He's seen far too many prominent witches and wizards fail to grasp this to fall victim to that way of thinking, and he truly does care for Harry. Sharing some of his usually well guarded history is his way of trying to show that, and hopefully it feels natural for the character as I'm writing him.