Chapter 17:
Disclaimer: Still own none of the HP characters or anything you might recognize.
Contains slight spoilers for the end of book five or book six.
As promised the next chapter :)
Albus Dumbledore, most likely most powerful wizard of his time, was shocked. Harry Potter, the boy who lived, son of Lily and James Potter, didn't want to go to Hogwarts. Never in his whole time at Hogwarts, first as a teacher now as Headmaster, had he come upon a child who didn't want to go to a magical school. Sure, a few of the Muggle parents weren't thrilled, but their children always wanted to go. Who wouldn't want to learn magic?! Well, Harry Potter apparently.
If he was honest with himself, Dumbledore never thought the Dursleys would treat their nephew well enough that he would want to stay with them. Had he thought of that possibility, he might have foreseen the troubles. Hagrid had told him why Harry didn't want to go. Knowing the about Lily and her muggle sister, he knew it wouldn't be easy to get Harry to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore sighed. Had it been any other child he would have left him alone, but Harry Potter was needed in the magical world. The old wizard had revisited his memory of the prophecy. There was no doubt Harry was the Chosen one, the one to beat Voldemort. He needed Harry to learn magic at all costs.
Feeling rather tired the Headmaster wrote a letter, announcing his visit at the Dursley's.
It was only after Dudley went to bed the evening of Harry's birthday, that he realized something: There was a fully trained, mad wizard after Harry!
And while his little brother could do quite some magic, he most certainly wouldn't stand much of a change against this Voldemort.
Within seconds he was out of bed and in Harry's room.
"You need to go to Hogwarts!" He blurted out, waking Harry, who looked at him sleepily.
"Why?" The younger boy asked, still not fully awake.
"You need to learn to defend yourself against Voldemort!"
"He probably won't even go after me. When I don't know magic I won't be a threat. You are overreacting, go back to bed, Dud," Harry groaned.
"He attacked you when you were still a baby. If he saw you as a threat back then, he will still see you as dangerous," Dudley argued.
"And I survived back then. How dangerous can someone be who can't even kill a baby?!"
"Harry...," Dudley started, but was interrupted.
"I just don't want to lose you!" Harry exclaimed, looking at the verge of tears.
"You won't, no matter what," Dudley promised, hugging his younger brother.
It took some time till Harry spoke again: "Alright, I will think about it."
"But first I want to see what this Headmaster will offer me," he added with a mischievous grin.
"How do you know he will even come?" Dudley asked.
"Please," Harry replied in a teasing tone. "I am the savior of the wizarding world! Of course he will come."
Dudley laughed a this. "Good night, oh savior of the light," he offered, before he went to bed, feeling a little more at ease.
Sure enough Dumbledore's owl reached them the next morning. The professor wanted to visit on the 4th of July at point 3pm.
While the Dursley's didn't like the prospect of a wizard in their house, their two boys convinced them to meet Dumbledore. Dudley by telling them Harry needed to learn to defend himself and Harry by arguing he might find a way to show Dudley Hogwarts.
They send the owl back, agreeing to the meeting.
Sure enough Dumbledore turned up at the Dursley's doorstep at the time they agreed on. Vernon, who went to open the door, frowned at the man's purple robes, but didn't say anything.
Dudley looked at the man interested, as he entered the kitchen. The wizards eyes were twinkling in a friendly, relaxed way, as he greeted Petunia and him. Still Dudley noticed, that the man was aware he wasn't exactly welcome here. Also when he eyed Harry his eyes got a sharper look to them. He was already planning how to get Harry to join the wizarding world.
Dudley couldn't tell if his little brother noticed the change too. On the outside Harry looked calm, even a bit sceptical, while Dudley knew he was actually brimming with excitement. If Harry wasn't so loyal and stubborn it would be a piece of cake to get him to go to Hogwarts.
Albus Dumbledore however couldn't know that.
When he watched Harry he didn't know what to think of him. While he looked quite like James, unlike his father he managed to hide his thoughts. With James Dumbledore had almost always known what he thought, the man couldn't hide his feelings for his life. It had gotten him and his friends caught many times for the pranks they pulled. The Headmaster chuckled fondly at the memory.
Harry however wore, what some might describe as a pureblood mask. It was curious, as he was raised by his muggle relatives... Or maybe he got that from his mother. While fiery and generally quite open with her feelings, she had been able to hide them.
As Dumbledore drifted off, musing about the past, the Dursleys sat down with them.
So far his visit was going surprisingly well and a lot better than he had thought possible. While it was obvious Petunia still held a grudge and her husband thus didn't like him too, they had been very civil so far.
When he looked at them, sitting opposite him, Dumbledore smiled. Dudley was sitting on Harry's right side, Petunia and Vernon sitting left and right of the boys. It was clear Harry Potter had found a family here. Never would the old wizard have expected that, but it made him happy none the less.
The silence dragged on, until Harry spoke. "So, why are you here, Mister Dumbledore?"
It wasn't lost on the wizard, that the boy neither called him Headmaster nor Professor, making it quite clear he didn't intend to go to his school.
"Well, young Harry," he began. "Coming straight to the point, just like your father, I see. I am here to invite you to my school personally."
Dumbledore had long since decided to go at it carefully. Kind of testing the water first, or what was the muggle saying?
"As I already told Hagrid: I don't want to go. I won't leave my family behind," the boy stated calmly.
"Harry, I think Hagrid told you your role in the wizarding world, didn't he?" Dumbledore ventured.
The boy looked uncomfortable, but remained stubborn: "That doesn't change anything."
"Oh but it does, young Harry," Dumbledore continued. "Everyone else, every single student has a choice, if he wants to go. And mind you, you are the first who doesn't want to go to Hogwarts. Unfortunately you are also the only one who isn't given a real choice."
Dumbledore paused a moment, letting the statement sink in. Harry crossed his arms and frowned while the rest of his family glared at the wizard.
"Harry, the wizarding world needs you. You are destined to go to Hogwarts. Voldemort is most certainly still out there somewhere and you may well be the only one who can defeat him. People will die in the war, because there are some who won't bow to the evil. You will be needed," Dumbledore tried to convince him. He felt slightly bad, for burdoning the young boy in front of him like that. Oh, how he wished, he wouldn't have to tell him. To let him grow up, thinking he was like any other boy, despite the fact he defeated Voldemort. But it couldn't be, Harry needed to go to Hogwarts - at all costs.
"Why me?" Harry asked. "There must be many older, more experienced wizards out there."
"Because Voldemort chose you, giving you that scar," Dumbledore explained as gently as possible.
"Even if we should be able to defeat Voldemort without you, you won't be safe. You have to learn how to defend yourself and your family. The wards I put up, linked to the blood you and your aunt share, will only hold till you turn seventeen. And as much as I would like to, I can't promise you Voldemort will be defeated till then."
Harry looked at the Headmaster, his green orbs showing his feelings for the first time. Dumbledore was shocked by the intensity of the emotions.
"You know, what happened between mum and aunt Petunia," Harry stated. "Dudley is like a brother to me. I lost my first family, I can't lose them too."
Petunia put an reassuring arm around the raven haired boys shoulder, while Dudley inched closer and Vernon hovered protectively near his family.
"It is you choice, Harry," Petunia said. "But I don't want you to go, so you can protect us. If you choose not to go we will find a way through the danger together."
Dumbledore was impressed. Petunia clearly was more like her sister than anyone would have thought.
Silence reigned for a while, they were all leaving the choice to Harry.
After thinking for some time Harry spoke.
"I can see why you want me to go to Hogwarts. But Dudley wants to see that school, too. And I can't really leave him behind."
Than, as if he had just thought of it he added: "Maybe if Dudley could visit me there..."
Dumbledore sighed. He knew allowing Harry's cousin to visit was the only way to get Harry to agree. While it was not common for Muggles to visit at Hogwarts, it was not unheard off. Muggle parents were of course allowed to visit their children in special situations, if they got hurt for example. Still, visits for fun were frowned upon and generally not allowed by the teachers. If he allowed the Dursley boy in, he would have to allow other siblings too. Dumbledore knew he was getting in a lot of trouble, but the wizarding world kind of depended on Harry. That was why he said: "Alright, if that's what it takes for you to go to Hogwarts, I will allow Dudley to visit."
"A week in the spring holidays each year?" Harry asked innocently.
Dumbledore sighed, but agreed.
"Could you please write that down for me, like a contract?" Harry ventured and Dumbledore willingly complied. He would have kept his promise either way, he was a Gryffindor at heart after all.
"Then I will gladly go to Hogwarts," Harry told him. "Thank you, professor."
Dumbledore smiled at him, then at the rest of his family. "Good, I am looking forward to it. Now that we agreed on that, I'll better be on my way. Hagrid will come by tomorrow, to pick up your school supplies. Petunia, Mr. Dursley, boys, have a good evening," and with one last wink the greatest wizard of the world left their kitchen.
Back in his office at Hogwarts Dumbledore thought about Harry Potter. The boy was certainly something else. Dumbledore was well aware he had been played. The boy who lived had pulled it off like a true Slytherin. Also the boy was clever. Ravenclaw clever? The old wizard didn't know. He knew however Harry's emotions had been true. He was loyal to his family like a Hufflepuff. The reason Harry didn't want to go had clearly been his family. He didn't flee from the responsibility that being the boy who lived brought. He would gladly fight for this world and the people he loved, like his father, like a Gryffindor. Dumbledore was really curious in which house Harry would end up. While the headmaster silently hoped and believed it to be Gryffindor, he could rule out neither of the other houses, as his visit had shown him.
Right now, though, he had more pressing problems. He had to tell the schoolboard and the other professors of their new visitor days for muggle siblings. Even though he had probably saved them all with it, none of them would be pleased. Dumbledore sighed, being Headmaster and leader of the light was difficult sometimes.
Back in Privet Drive Harry and his family tried to wrap their heads around all those new information.
"Are you mad at me, for going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked his aunt and uncle timidly.
Petunia and Vernon looked at each other, then at Harry. They both found there was only one answer they could give the boy. Harry had grown to be their second son.
"No Harry," Vernon finally replied. "I am sure wizards are not all bad. Being a wizard is nothing to be afraid of."
Harry sighed in relief, his uncle still liked him.
"You did well, Harry," Petunia continued. "And we are very proud of you. We will still love you, whatever happens. Just do your best at your new school, like any other student."
Suddenly Harry looked worried again. "But I won't be like any other student... The Headmaster made it sound, like I carry the responsibility for the whole wizarding society."
"You are still a child and no child has to carry responsibility for someone else then him or herself," Petunia told him.
"Just do what you see right. We might not be able to do much, but we will help you, in whatever way we can," Vernon assured him.
"And Voldemort is not there right now, so you will have some time, till you must deal with that," Dudley cheered him up. After a little pause, he jumped at his little brother.
Hugging him, he sang: "We are going to see Hogwarts!"
And in that moment Harry Potter was happy. He didn't care about the responsibility he might have to carry in the future. He had a loving aunt and uncle and he wouldn't lose his brother.
In that moment Harry Potter looked forward to going to a magical school like any other 11 year old witch or wizard. He was sure Hogwarts was going to be great!
The end? Not really, more like the beginning!
The story I have to tell however is almost finished. Next chapter will be the Epilogue.
I hope you liked it and look forward to bonus chapter.
