Harry Potter was busy making breakfast for his overweight cousin and aunt (his uncle had left for work an hour earlier, after enjoying a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast made by his brat nephew) when his cooking was disturbed by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Not even waiting to hear his aunt's admonishment to "check the door freak!" he quickly switched of the stove plates and wiped his hands on a dish cloth. Heading to the door he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the hallway mirror. He looked drained and pale, apparently not yet fully recovered from his close encounter with hundreds of dementors at the end of his school year.
Opening the door he was greeted by three people, two dressed in muggle police uniforms and the lady in the middle in a fancy suit. Immediately worried that something may have happened with his uncle he quickly invited them in.
"Uhm, please come in officers. I will just go call my aunt." But before he could do as he promised the lady in the middle spoke firmly.
"Please do mister Potter. I am sure she would need to hear what we discuss. It will be best to have your guardian with you." Now gawking at the three officers in front of him, Harry tried to figure out what was happening. How did these three muggle officers know his name?
"I am sorry, how do you know my name?" He all but whispered. The lady in the middle looked at him strangely, before seeming to realize something.
"Oh mister Potter, my apologies. I should have introduced myself. You wrote to me a couple of days ago and asked that we must visit you in muggle attire. My name is Amelia Bones, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This lady on my left is Auror Cynthia Jones and on my right is Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. We have come to discuss the claims you made in the letter that was sent to us." Gobsmacked, Harry could only stare at the three people in front of him. He had never seen magical people blend in so perfectly in the muggle world. Then again, it should not have come as a surprise, as he was certain that their department was probably the one that had to most often work with muggle counterparts.
Before be could respond he heard his aunt's voice yelling from the sitting room. "Who was at the door, freak?!"
"Just a salesman, aunt Petunia!" He quickly replied. Quieter now he asked the three people stood on his doorstep to enter as quickly and quietly as possible. He told them where his room was and asked if they would mind terribly to wait a short while for him, he would be there as soon as possible. "I must just finish their breakfast quickly. I can get my chore list from aunt Petunia when we are done." He finished in explanation before heading to the kitchen to finish the meal he had started earlier. Hoping that the magical law enforcement officers would not be too mad at him for making them wait, he quickly finished up the meal, before grabbing a service platter and making some tea. Hopefully that would be enough to tide his visitors over. He placed the tea server in the hallway where he knew his aunt would not pass, before calling his aunt and cousin to the kitchen for breakfast.
He mumbled that he would be busy in his room with assignments and would do his chores in about and hour's time before quickly leaving the kitchen and heading up the stairs, tea server in hand.
Opening the door he found the three magical law enforcement agents in various positions around his room. Amelia was seated on his bed, a frown marring her middle-aged face. Auror Jones stood in the corner of the room, seemingly investigating the bars on his bedroom window. Auror Shacklebolt was busy investigating the catflap on his door and the locking mechanisms on the outside of the door.
"Uhm, my apologies for making you wait. You see, my aunt is not very... comfortable around magic and the Wizarding world, I do not think she would allow us to have this meeting if she knew about it." By the end of the explanation he was looking down at his shoes, and as such was quite startled when he felt a hand lifting up his chin. Looking up he could see the worried gaze of Amelia Bones seemingly staring into his soul.
"Mr Potter, we need to get to the substance of the letter you sent us, but I believe I speak for all of us when I say that I am appalled at all I have witnessed here today." She had a fierce look on her face as these words were spoken. Worried that he had now completely ruined any chance of seeing his Godfather freed Harry looked down again, before he felt a single tear roll down his cheek. Stealing himself once more, he looked into the fierce eyes of the woman before him as he spoke.
"My apologies madame. I realize that having you wait, as well as meeting in this room is an affront to your station. If there was any way I could meet you at the ministry I would do so, however I have very little means of getting to London and my guardians would not agree to take me. I ask that you please forgive me for this slight and not hold it against my godfather." With some effort he was able to maintain eye contact throughout that desperate plea, and was surprised by the different emotions he could see in the Director's eyes as he spoke. He could see the Director take a deep breath before she replied.
"That is not what I meant mister Potter. I am appalled at the way your aunt speaks to you, as well as the state of this room. Tell me mister Potter, why are there bars on your window? I did not see any bars on the windows at the front of your home, and as such cannot think that it is for crime prevention? Also, why would anybody need so many locks on the outside of the door, and I did not see any animals besides your lovely owl, so cannot imagine why you would need a flap such as that on your door? What is going on inside this house mister Potter?"
By the end of her diatribe Harry's face had turned ashen. He had not imagined that bringing investigators into his home could lead to so many questions. How could he answer the questions without looking weak and pitiful in their eyes.
"Well, you see, my aunt doesn't really like me much, but she doesn't mean I am a freak. It is just like a pet name of sorts." He would not let them know that he had not known his own name until he started school at age six. That he had believed he was called Boy and Freak before finding out his name at school.
"I do not know about the bars, they were there when I got home at the end of first year, and the locks are just to keep any magical things locked away when I am not here... That is all." Harry could see they did not fully believe him, but was thankful when Amelia decided to drop the topic.
"We will return to those questions later mister Potter, I can see you are not truthful, however as I have shown you no reason to trust me as yet I hope you will be more truthful once we know each other a bit better. Onto the matters you raised in your letter. It would be prudent to have a guardian with you, but as I can see your aunt would not approve, and as the question of who your magical guardian is, is one of the matters we must discuss I will stand in loco parentis at this point in time. It is not a common phenomenon, but when guardians are being investigated it is quite often necessary for a law enforcement officer to stand in their stead during the investigation.
Now, I have no qualms in saying mister Potter, that your missive raised a lot of questions. Questions that I have not yet been able to get answered satisfactorily. You raised many points that my department was completely unaware of. Now firstly, I would like to make it clear that I do believe you. Your conduct thus far has been clear and precise. I will however need memories of everything you witnessed to be able to fully investigate your claims, and will need you to be ready to testify to the validity of these memories when the time comes.
Would it be fine with you if we discuss the different matters you brought to our attention now? I will talk you through the method of giving memories when we have finished our discussion, so that I can watch these as soon as we are done."
Harry could not believe what he was hearing. Not only did Director Bones believe him, she was going to investigate his claims. She was going to help!
"Of course Director. What ever you need!"
"First I need you to explain how you know the Dark Lord's real name. I know for a fact that is something my department researched before his defeat at your hands, and we were never able to get any substantiated information on his birth name." This was the one part of the letter that she had been unable to corroborate or get any further details on, and could not understand how a muggle raised teenager could have come by such information. His answer shocked her to the core, and made her doubt his sanity for a while.
"Oh, Voldemort told me himself, at the end of second year." Was his short and snappy reply. Glancing at her fellow aurors, Amelia could see she was not the only one doubting the young Potter's sanity.
"Excuse me? He told you so? In second year? Mr Potter, Voldemort is dead. You defeated him more than a decade ago!" Harry could see the woman had no idea what he was talking about, and realized he would have to explain fast, before they decided to stow him away in the same ward as Lockhart.
"How much did you hear about the Chamber of Secrets?" Once again, that was not the answer Amelia was expecting. A quick glance to either side showed her that her colleagues were as surprised by the seeming non-sequitur.
"The mythical chamber of Slytherin? The one that was supposedly opened a few decades ago? That one?" Shocked, Harry looked at the woman. He could not believe she had not heard about the opening in his second year.
"Uhm... Madame Bones, it is not a mythical chamber. It is real, and had been opened during my second year at Hogwarts." Amelia could only stare at the boy in front of her. She had heard rumours of course, and her niece had even mentioned something to that effect over Christmas in her second year, but the school board and Dumbledore had all declared that it had been a misunderstanding. A prank gone wrong. What had been kept from her and her department?
"How do you know of this Mr Potter. I had been reassured by numerous people that the chamber was not opened. They assured me that it was all just a big hoax." Harry could only stare at the woman in front of him in abject shock and confusion. He knew when she said people had assured her of such that one such person would have been Dumbledore. Why would the man lie about such a dangerous thing?
"I do not know who gave you such reassurance Madame Bones, although I have my suspicions, but I promise you, and will give you a vow to such effect if that should be required, that the chamber had been opened, and Slytherin's monster had been loose for that year."
Amelia could see the sincerity in the boy's eyes as well as the fear that he would not be believed.
"I believe you mister Potter, I may require more memories than I initially anticipated, but I believe you."
His gratitude was palpable, and he thus continued with a little more confidence.
"During my second year of Hogwarts, the school was terrorized by an unknown monster. Something that seemed to petrify anything that came in its sight. During that year almost the entire school believed that I was the one to have opened the chamber and was thus the heir of Slytherin. They believed this because they found out that I was a parcelmouth, and as such I was the most likely to be the supposed heir. None of the Professors stepped in as the entire school shunned me and called me names. It was like being back in primary school but amplified to the maximum. All the kids bullied me and called me names, nobody stood up for me, besides a few of my closest friends." Amelia could see the young boy still had a lot of pain and unresolved feelings about the situation. She was not certain how much bullying had gone on, but she was fairly certain she had yet another thing to raise with Hogwarts staff when she finally sat down with them to discuss the entire mess. Dumbledore in particular had a lot to answer for.
"By the end of the school year one of my best friends had also been petrified. By that time the student population had started to back off, not believing I would hurt my friend like that. Then one day we got the news. My other friend's sister had been taken into the chamber by unknown means. Desperate to save her we found the entrance and due to a failed memory charm from Professor Lockhart, Ron could not continue on with me into the chamber as the entrance had collapsed. Continuing on, I found Ginny and the spirit of Tom Riddle. It turned out that Ginny had been writing in an enchanted (more like cursed to my mind) diary during that year, and that the spirit of the person that created that diary had possessed her and opened the chamber.
Tom Marvolo Riddle was the original owner of that diary, and he was the one that possessed little Ginny Weasley. Apparently Lucius Malfoy had thrown the diary into her schoolbag at the start of the school year, without anybody noticing.
I know this all sounds confusing, it is just a bit of a jumble in my mind, so many things happened in that chamber that day." Amelia wanted to wrap the young man in a hug when he said that, his terror and confusion was clear to see. She had the distinct feeling that he had never had the opportunity to voice all that had happened in the chamber. If that was the case there would be hell to pay, as even with only hearing half of what had happened it was clear this young man, and miss Weasley for that matter, should have received counseling as soon as they exited that chamber. It should never have been swept under a rug!
"Where was I, oh yes, I had found Ginny and the spirit of Tom. He told me that he was Lord Voldemort (it is actually an anagram, as you will see in my memory). He planned to use Ginny's lifeforce to assist in his ressurection. He then called upon his monster, and as such I had to run for my life and try to fight his basilisk."
"Basilisk! There was a fucking Basilisk in that school! Merlin! My little Sue was that close to a Basilisk?" Amelia knew she was raving and slightly hysterical, but finding out your niece was stuck in a castle for a year with an animal that had previously brought about the extinction of countless animals and was used to enable the genocide of entire countries, would be enough to drive anybody slightly hysterical. Jones and Kingsley looked just as horrified as she felt.
Harry didn't quite understand the level of hysteria, but did pick up on one part of her meltdown. "Sue? You know Susan Bones? She's nice. She was one of the few kids who didn't shun me." He wasn't even certain Amelia had heard him, but decided to continue with his tale.
"Fawkes, that is Headmaster Dumbledore's Phoenix, showed up and helped me by pecking out the basilisk's eyes, so it was not able to kill by sight any more. Unfortunately it could still smell me, so I had to continue to run and try to kill it, and save Ginny. I got Gryffindor's Sword from the sorting hat - Fawkes had brought it along, I am still uncertain how that had even worked - and I managed to stab the basilisk through its mouth. I was too slow to get my arm out of its mouth, so it bit me before dying."
That brought Amelia out of her thoughts immediately.
"It bit you? Mr Potter, a Basilisk bite is fatal. Are you certain it was a basilisk?" Maybe the lad had been mistaken. Maybe the students had never been in the danger she had spent the last few minutes imagining.
"It was a basilisk, and yes it did bite me. However, that was when a miracle happened and my life was saved once more. Fawkes had remained in the chamber and cried tears on the wound. These tears healed my arm and neutralized the poison. There is only a small scar left from the bite." Having said this Harry showed her his upper arm, and sure enough a small scar could be seen in the crook of his arm.
"Tom was extremely mad when he saw Fawkes' interference and I could see he was trying very hard to complete his resurrection. I still don't know why I did it, I think Fawkes may have sent a subliminal message in some way, but I grabbed the Basilisk fang and pressed it into the diary. Tom gave a massive scream and then vanished. I was able to help Ginny get out of there and we made our way to the infirmary along with Ron. That is the basic outline of how I found out that Voldemort's name is Tom Riddle. As far as I know, Dumbledore has known of that fact even before Voldemort's defeat in '81."
That was news to Amelia, and she could feel a headache starting just thinking of everything she would need to discuss with that old codger.
"So let me see if I have this straight. Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort, possessed a first year girl, opened the chamber of secrets, released a basilisk that petrified the muggleborn students, this possession was done by a diary that was slipped to the girl by Lucius Malfoy, a man whose son also goes to school in that castle, you went after Ginny Weasley when it appeared she had been kidnapped, killed the basilisk, got poisoned in the process, was saved by Phoenix tears before killing Voldemort for a second time in 12 years? Is that correct?" Just listing it as such left Amelia feeling slightly light headed. How could so much happen to one young boy? She also needed to make a mental note to have the boy checked by a healer at St Mungo's. There was no telling what effect a combination of basilisk venom and Phoenix tears could have on his system in the long term.
"That is mostly correct to my recollection, however technically it was actually the third time I had killed Voldemort, although I personally do not like to count the time when I was a baby, as that was my mother's magic that killed him."
"What?!" This time Amelia was glad that her outrage was shared by the others as well, for it was Kingsley that expressed their surprise that time.
Looking quite sheepish Harry mumbled something inaudible. "I didn't quite catch that mister Potter."
"Well, I sort of killed a Voldemort possessed professor during my first year." Amelia could only stare at the young lad in front of her. They had come to discuss his godfather's innocence and his guardianship, instead they now had a dead basilisk, possessed diary and apparently a dead possessed professor that they needed to investigate as well. It was going to be a long week.