Harry and Hermione spent the next five weeks studying everything they could find in the trunk. Harry took Axton's essays and Hermione took the journals. They studied in different rooms of the house to give the other person as much privacy as they could. Harry worked in the kitchen so he could practice spells in the back yard and Hermione took her parents study. The only time they came together was for a short horseback ride around the trial after school and for dinner. Besides that they stayed away.
Harry committed every word on those rolls of parchment to memory. He also tried and seceded in performing each spell. Hermione took pages of notes from the journals and on a big white board Harry made she filled in a time line that looked both bleak and hopeful at the same time. At the end of Five weeks they came together at the table in the backyard on a Saturday so the elder Grangers could hear this too. Harry got up first.
"Axton's homework was a treasure trove of good spell work. In five weeks I made a list of 214 spells and I can do almost all of them. From simple things like shooting red sparks and the tickle charm. To more complex spells like the lock picking charm, and the cutting curse. To the highly complex like conjuring live animals and transfiguring them into other live animals. Supposedly this is one of the most complicated branches of magic in the world. Now, while I have all this down I am by no means done with the subject of magic. This was only charms and transfiguration. I did not start on potions, which was one of Axton's most loved subject. He spent countless hours brewing and he took volume books worth of notes on the subject. He made his own adjustments to recipes to get better results. I also skimmed over most of the defense against the dark arts writing because it's not too many spells, it's more knowledge of dark creatures and a few specialized charms, like shields to block spells. Really, the majority of the lower level defense is about locating and identifying dark creature in the world and how to keep them away. Fourth and fifth years are about learning the different kinds of spells and how to combat them. Sixth and seventh years are all about learning how to silent cast your spells and how to duel which from Axton's notes he found very dumb. Basically you stand facing each other like in fencing and you toss spells back and forth until one person gets knocked out. Very stupid." Harry said shaking his head.
"Wow, so you know 200 spells?" Hermione asked setting up her white board.
"Yes, and If you read Axton's notes you'll know them too. Two thirds of the spells are so simple I'm surprised we didn't figure them out on our own." Harry said shaking his head.
"We lack imagination. We traded in our childlike imagination for facts and knowledge. A photographic memory is hard to compete with. I'm sure we're quite boring to kids our own age." She said with a sad smile.
"I wouldn't know. I don't socialize with the kids in my class, then again I spend most of my time studying books three grades higher than the class I'm in." Harry said with a shrug.
"It's the same for me." She said.
"We don't need other kids, we have each other." Harry said taking a seat at the table where Dan and Emma were sitting. Hermione looked over her timeline and nodded before turning to the group.
"From my notes I have two time lines, Axton's life growing up, and a timeline of the magical world. We'll start with Axton. He was born to David and Mary Archer June 18, 1958. He was homeschooled by his mother until he went off to Hogwarts. He attended Hogwarts as a Hufflepuff from 1969 to 1976. He graduated with O's in both the OWLs and the NEWTs which from the way he described them are top marks. There is more to this but I'll come back to it in a minute. For now I want to explain the wizarding world. The wizarding world is run by a corrupt government called the ministry of magic and the Wizengamot. A house of lords if you want something to compare it to. The government spends half of its time trying to keep the Muggle, that's the term they use for regular people by the way, from finding out they exist. And they spend the other half of their time letting a group of magicals called the Pureblood do whatever the hell they want without getting in trouble. Sorry for the cursing but to read some of the things Axton wrote about is crazy. They get taxed less than non-purebloods. They run the government. They prosecute non-purebloods for crimes committed against them but not the other way around, and on top of all that there was a dark lord that gathered a bunch of purebloods up, gave them white masks and black robes and let them run wild killing and raping the non-purebloods! And the Aurors, Wizard cops, couldn't do anything to stop them." Hermione ranted.
"You've been holding that in for a while having you?" Emma asked.
"I have been, it's because of what Harry and I are. Harry is a half blood and I'm a muggle born, or Mudblood if you want to be vulgar about it." She said.
"Can you explain that for me?" Harry asked.
"Pureblood means both of your parents had magical parents. Making you third generation magical. If one of your parents don't fit this criteria then you're a Half blood. If you're like me and both of my parents are normal then I'm a Muggle born. The magical world has always been this way, but up until WWII it was not as bad or blatant. During WWII a dark wizard named Grindelwald rose to power in the vacuum of the war. He started the purification of the Magical world like Hitler. A wizard named Dumbledore killed him and stopped his reign of terror. Twenty years later a dark lord named Voldemort tried again but this time he did things more subtly. For years his Pureblood followers killed off Muggle borns for fun and sport without the Magical world even knowing about it. It was only when the children of the Death eaters, Voldemort's follower, went to Hogwarts and started bullying the non pureblood students. That's when things came to a head. The fighting became more open. The newspaper, run by the purebloods still didn't acknowledge it but people were being attacked in the streets. The Aurors were prohibited from casting leather spells at the Death Eaters, but the Death Eaters killed everyone. When a death eater was caught they pealed that they were under a mind spell and they were just let go. It probably helped that their fellow Death Eaters and sympathizers were on the Wizengamot." She said looking tired and sad.
"Is it still that bad?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure, Axton's journals just stop one day, I think Axton didn't make it which makes sense seeing as he worked for the Department of Mysteries under the Operation's side. I'll get into that in a minute. I want to get back to Hogwarts. During Axton's years at Hogwarts is when the Death Eater children started causing trouble. Before this time Hogwarts was split into four different houses. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. The houses were pitted against each other in sport and academics to promote competition and make learning a game. When the Death eater children, who were mostly sorted into Slytherin got there the Houses really started to fight. Spells were exchanged in the hallway. Pureblood families not aligned with Voldemort would get letters or visits from the Aurors about their family members being killed, the Death Eater children who knew about it would needle the grieving kids and they would attack them in retaliation. Prank warfare and humiliation were used as weapons and battle lines were drawn. On the death eater side was Lucius Malfoy, and his friends. On the other side was James Potter and his friends. And yes Harry, I think that's your father." Hermione said. Harry sat at the table for a few seconds without an expression on his face.
"Harry, are you okay?" Emma asked.
"Well I now know they didn't die in a car crash." Harry said sadly.
"I think you need to mind trick your aunt into telling you about your parents." Hermione said.
"If they even know anything. I told you before, I'm pretty sure their minds were tampered with. What we need to do is find a few friends in the magical world and figure this all out. But that's for later, continue with your timeline please." Harry said shaking off the information.
"Right, um, back to Hogwarts. The Headmaster saw this all going on and he did nothing to stop it, in fact Axton thought he kept the fighting going by punishing the grieving children for attacking the Death eaters children. He acted like he played no favorites but Axton and many of the Hufflepuffs saw the old man Dumbledore was manipulative. He would put the Gryffindors with the Slytherins in class so they could fight. He also turned a blind eye to the death eater taunting. Axton's views on the war are very clear headed and almost Zen, being on the outside of the fray gave him a good unbiased view of the war. Axton's mother died when he was young, his father was running an import export business in the middle east. Axton grew up with his pureblood aunt and two house elves. So he had no stake in the war. From his viewpoint the war was being played by two men. Voldemort used the Purebloods to kill the Muggleborns and the light sided purebloods. And Dumbledore manipulated the light sided Purebloods and the half bloods to run into battle with non lethal spells and get killed. The war was good for Dumbledore. It cut the magical population in half. I can only guess that Dumbledore killed Voldemort and used the fame of ending the war to gain more power like he did when he took out Grindelwald.
"What happened to Axton?" Harry asked.
"He graduated and on the day of his graduation he got a black envelope to join the Department of Mysteries. Think MI6, meets a high end research lab mixed with a department of animal control, but for things like dragons and gigantic magical spiders. The department was split up into two groups. Research and Operations. Axton was part of the operations side. His job was supposed to be hunting dark and dangerous creatures, but the Operations group was really picking off Death eaters without anyone knowing it was happening. They would do covert raids on known death eater houses, and they would pick off death eaters during battles from the sidelines. That's what the gray robes were for. They also used enchanted guns that were silent and fired conjured bullets that would vanish after thirty seconds. They were the secret service. The watch Harry found in the trunk works as a two way radio. The heavy leather vests are made out of Dragon hide and yes there are dragons. There are a number of creatures we thought were fantasy in the magical world. His last entry in his journal talks about going to see in girlfriend the next day. I think he didn't made it to his girlfriend's house." Hermione said looking sadly at the stack of leather bound journals.
"Do you think it's still like that in the magical world? Do you think it's still dangerous?" Emma asked.
"Like I said before, I'm just not sure. His last entry was written when the war was still going on. I would like to think the war is over, but I'm not sure. I would like to say we should never cross into that world but I know Harry will need to at some point. The Potter name is an old one. Harry probably has a seat on the Wizengamot. He also might have a trust fund set up by his parents. We need to find the London magical shopping hub called Diagon Alley. We can find the ministry from there and the bank. I think if we return Axton's bank draft book it might net us some good will with the Goblins. And yes the bank is run by goblins. I think we need to get in contact with an Auror and a magical lawyer so we can have Harry's aunt and uncle tested to see if their minds were played with. I think we should also get more books on the other subjects and branches of magic. Like Harry said most of this stuff is easy once we know what we're looking for." Hermione said.
"Well, I think before we do anything we should trade off our notes and start learning the things the other person learned. You more then me. I think I'm happy with this timeline but some more detail into things might be helpful. Then I think we plan out a trip to London in two weeks. We can find the Hub by using the point me spell, extremely useful and so obvious I'm sad I didn't come up with it. Hermione and I can sneak into this alley under our gray robes and have a look around. If it's bad we'll get out, if it's not so bad we'll make our way to the bank. We'll send one of us back to tell you guys how it's going if things are still going good. You never know, we might step five feet into this alley, find a wretched hive of scum and villainy, or we might find a magical utopia. You never know." Harry said shrugging.
Two weeks later Harry and Hermione sat in the back seat of the Granger's SUV as Dan drove around London.
"Take a right up here. I think we're getting close. The stick is making more violent turns." Harry said looking at the stick in his hand.
"I hope so we've been driving around for a good half hour." Dan said with a smile.
"Hold on, I think we're here. Look Harry the Leaky Caldron." Hermione said.
"You're right. This is the place." Harry said looking at a man dressed in robes walk out of the pub. "I'm going to go find out how we get in." Harry said getting out of the SUV and walking up to the drunk wizard. He waved his hand in front of the drunk's face. "You will tell me how to get into Diagon Alley." He intoned.
"Walk through the pub and out the back door tap on the brick wall and it will open for you." The drunk said.
"Move along and forget I asked." Harry said walking back to the SUV on the corner. "We have to walk through the pub, the entrance is behind the pub. We'll wait until someone goes in and then sneak in behind them. If it's bad we'll be out in a few minutes. If it's not bad Hermione will come out and update you while I go to the bank." Harry said pulling on his gray robe.
"Okay, be careful." Emma said looking worried as Hermione pulled on her gray robe. Harry took her hand and pulled up his hood vanishing. Hermione followed him and they stood by the pub for a few minutes until a few people walked in. They followed them in and headed to the back door. The gateway was still open and they both rushed through. The Alley was a hive of activity. Harry spotted the bank at the end of the street and Harry lead her up the stairs and into the bank. They saw a lines of people standing at teller windows and a few goblins sitting at desks marked accounts. Harry and Hermione walked over to a corner and took off their hoods. They took seats at an accounts desk and the Goblin looked up at them board.
"Account name?" The goblin asked.
"Potter. I'm Harry potter and I would like to speak to the man in charge of my family accounts." Harry said.
"Potter?" The goblin asked looking at Harry's forehead before his eyes got big. "The director will want to talk to you." He said standing up and rushing them down a hallway to a big gold door. He knocked and walked in, a few seconds later the goblin came out and pushed them in. once inside they saw and old goblin sitting at a gold desk.
"Hello, I'm director Ragnok. I'm so glad you got my letters. Have a seat, I've been trying to get you to come down to sign the paperwork for your Head of House status." Ragnok said.
"Head of House? Letter? We came here because we found out about Magic from a few old journals in a trunk. We were hoping to get some information." Harry said sitting at the desk.
"You haven't been getting my letters!?" The goblin yelled looking livid. "That old manipulative bastard. That's why he's been trying to pass those new laws!" he said to himself.
"Are you talking about Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"I am. For the past year he's been trying to get a new set of laws passed regarding age of a Head of House and now I know it's to keep you in the dark. We have a lot to talk about. This is going to take a while. We have documents to sign, rings to be handed out and I'm thinking you should get in touch with Amelia Bones the head of the department of Magical law Enforcement. You're being robbed." He said.
"Can Hermione go get her parents? I want them here before I sign anything. They're muggle. Can they come in here?" Harry asked.
"They can if a magical holds their hands as they cross the Muggle repelling wards. I'm Ragnarok by the way, I don't remember if I introduced myself." He said with a small laugh.
"It's nice to meet you, We'll go out and get them and bring them back here." Harry said getting up.
"You might want to put your hoods up, you are famous after all." Ragnok said.
"Famous?" Harry asked looking confused.
"Bless the Bed Rock! You don't know who you are?" He asked holding his face.
"No, but I'm thinking that call to the cops is defiantly in order." Harry said getting angry.
"Yes, most definitely. I'll also have my assistant bring you out two robes for these Muggles. You don't want to stand out in a crowd. I'd send guards with you but that would only draw attention." Ragnok said.
"I think that's a good idea." Harry said.
I took a half hour but soon the Grangers and Amelia bones were sitting with the kids in the Director's office. After introductions were made and lunch was ordered Ragnarok and Amelia traded off as they explained who Harry was, who the Potters were, what happened to end the war, and how Harry's image was traded around in the Magical world as they ate. After they were finished Harry sat in his chair very quietly.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked taking his hand.
"I think so, it's just a lot to take in. I think coming here was the best thing I could have done. I say we handle any paperwork you need me to sign so I can get my title and the power that comes with it. Then I think we're going to have to have a talk about how I grew up." Harry said looking calm but his voice spoke of someone who was tired of being fucked with.
The paperwork took about an hour and at the end Harry's wrist felt like it was going to fall off. But he had a nice big shiny gold ring with a red dragon, a bank draft book connected to an account with ten million gallons, or two hundred and fifty million pounds, Emancipation papers, and the power to make whatever decisions he wanted in the Magical world. After that he explained how he grew up and under what conditions until he figured out he could do magic. Amelia was appalled but Ragnarok just shook his head.
Amelia called in a team of Aurors to check the Dursleys for compulsions and check the house for wards. She also advised Harry to get a Law wizard. And pointed him to Andromeda Black, who was both good at her job and not a fan of Dumbledore. She was called in and once the situation was explained to her she was ready to take on the world for Harry.
But, at the end of the day, things just turned out to be a bust. There were no mind altering wards around 4 Privet Drive. In fact there were hardly any words at all. He had the goblins put up wards around both his aunt and uncle's house and the Granger's estate. When the Aurors checked the Dursleys their findings were inconclusive. Because of the last three years of Harry adding compulsions to their heads it was impossible to tell if there was anything there in the first place. They were taken to a mind healer and once everything was stripped away the Dursleys acted like they did the last two years, happy to see Harry and very loving as family should be. Because of this Amelia was sure they were under a compulsion to beat and mistreat Harry growing up. She knew it was probably Dumbledore's doing but the problem was she had no proof because to clean up the effects of the charms they had to all be stripped away. It was a double edged sword. If Harry had never started mind tricking them two years ago they would have proof, but if he didn't start mind tricking them he might not be standing there today. In the end Amelia added it to her report and promised to keep an eye on Dumbledore.
Andromeda jumped in next with her side of things. She would gather as much evidence as she could for three lawsuits. When she had enough evidence she would bring forth all three lawsuits at once so there would be no time for Dumbledore to out maneuver her. She would file two lawsuits against Dumbledore for taking Harry's gold, and trying to block him from becoming head of his house by tampering with his mail. She would also file an injunction to stop people from selling things with Harry's likeness or name. She told him about the rampant use of his likeness and the lies printed about him in books and comics. She would also get a story printed in the Prophet with all the details of the tree lawsuits so the public would know about everything. That way the old man wouldn't be able to hide anything.
As they were all getting ready to leave Harry remembered the bank book in his pocket.
"Oh, before I forget, I wanted to return this to the bank. We found it in the trunk." Harry said placing Axton's bank book on the desk.
"Let's see what we have here. Axton Archer." He read out loud.
"Did you say Archer?" Amelia Bones asked.
"I did, I remember the name but can't place it." He said.
"They're an offshoot of the Bones family line. Where did you find this bank book?" She asked.
"In a trunk at an estate sale. We felt the pull of Magic and collected the magical things from the house. One of the things was a trunk belonging to Axton. Reading his journals and homework parchments is how we found out about the Magical world." Harry said.
"I would like to see the things you bought one day. Some of them might be Bones family heirlooms. I would of course be willing to pay…" She started to say but Harry stopped her.
"That won't be necessary. As you can see I'm not hurting for gold and I think friendship is worth more then whatever gold you can pay. All I ask is that we can keep Axton's things. We've grown very attached to Axton through reading about his life and work and we would like to keep those things." Harry said.
"Agreed, the Bone's and Potter houses were once very tight allies. I think, if it's alright with you, I would like to stop by tomorrow and look at the items you found. I can even bring my niece, she's your age and she grew up in the magical world, she'll be attending Hogwarts with you both next year." She said.
"Why would we go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"Well you have to. To sit on your seat as a member of the Wizengamot you have to have a wand, to own a wand after the age of fifteen you have to pass the OWLs. To take the OWLs you have to attend a school. The only schools that offer the full OWLs are Hogwarts, Bobatons, and Dumstrang. Hogwarts is the only one on that list with courses taught in English. It's also a point of pride in the community. If you want to work anywhere in the British wizarding world then you have to attend Hogwarts." She explained.
"Well crap." Harry said shaking his head. "In that case I want Dumbledore by his short and curlys before I step foot into that school." Harry said.
"I think that can be arranged, and if you ever need me I have a phone number and a floo address." She said handing them both a card.
"Thank you madam Bones." Harry said shaking her hand.
By the time they left the bank it was getting late. They stopped off at a bookstore to pick up a few history books and a few advanced spell books before heading out of the wizarding world and to a pizza place in London. The Grangers and Harry sat at a booth eating pizza and not talking. They were all in a state of shock over what happened that day. Finely Dan broke the silence.
"So it looks like you guys are going to be heading off to Hogwarts next year." He said stating the obvious but it was what they needed to hear. Of everything they went through today it was that fact that shocked them both the most
"True," Harry said in a voice full of thought. "We never wanted to attend the school. It sounded like a joke. Axton, a Level headed nice guy even called the school mostly a joke. We both know most of the standard book of spells grade 1-7. We also know advanced Transfiguration. With a few more weeks of summer We'll be as good as Axton was at potions and he was thinking about getting his mastery in the subject… Mastery?" Harry said looking to Hermione.
"Maybe? We both know what we wanted to do after high school. We know how they recruit. You get a black letter on graduation day from Hogwarts. We were planning on breaking into the Department one day and seeing if we could get a job that way. Maybe we go to Hogwarts, test out of most of our classes, or just breeze by them as we study advanced Magics from the library. We take our OWLs as early as they let us, our Newts as soon as we can and get out early. That kind of record setting pace has to get us a black letter." She said with a grin.
"And if that doesn't work we'll sit for our masters in a few subjects." Harry said.
"I'm in if you are." She said.
"I'm in, but we make a set of outs, if they push us too far we walk. We don't need wands and contrary to what Madam Bones said I think 'Harry Potter' can attend any school he wants and sit for his OWLs." Harry said rolling his eyes.
"What are you two talking about?" Dan asked. "What job?"
"Well," Harry started to say but stopped.
"We want to be unspeakables." Hermione said.
"Come again?" Emma asked confused.
"Um, it's like dark creature hunters, and researchers. They study odd things in magic and they hunt down dark creatures that get loose." Harry supplied.
"Right, we will talk about this later, for now we have to get back to the house to relieve the dog sitter." Dan said. Harry and Hermione shared a look and they both knew what it meant. They were going to have to spin this over time so they could get the job they wanted without freaking Dan and Emma out.
They drove back to the Grangers house and let the dog sitter go. Harry and Hermione took the puppies out. And Dan and Emma sat down on the couch with two glasses of scotch.
"What do you think about all this?" She asked.
"I think our little girl is special. I think one day she's going to do extraordinary things. But I think they both forget they're ten." Dan said.
"True, but if everything they told us is true, then they are going to this school next year and we won't be able to see them. They'll be doing God knows what and facing all kinds of danger. Harry is powerful and our little girl is no slouch but I don't know if I can let them go off to some school for ten months out of the year." She said getting emotional.
"Agreed. I don't trust anyone from this magical world besides the old goblin and the law wizard. Those two were straight shooters. They both work for Harry because he is paying them. But everyone else they talked about had some kind of agenda. Even the police chief Bones had an agenda. Did you see how she reacted to the friendship line Harry gave her. She's looking for allies and Harry is some kind of celebrity. I doubt it's for anything bad, and she seems like a good person, but still I don't like the fact that she's coming here. I don't trust any magical as far as I can throw them. They all seem a bit shifty." Dan said.
"I agree," Harry said walking into the room with Hermione and the four dogs. "It's why I fed her the line about friendship to see how she would react. She seems like a good person to have in my corner. If the old man Dumbledore is trying to control me then I'm going to need powerful allies. Tomorrow we'll see what she wants from me, if it's something like an endorsement to run for a higher office or something like that I'll do it. But if it's something else I'll cut ties to her. I don't trust the old man, everything we read about him and everything we were told about him paints a very bad picture for me. He tampered with my mail so I couldn't get my inheritance. He put me with the Dursleys and tampered with their heads so they would beat and mistreat me. I can only imagine why he would do that, and every story I can come up with is bad. We will be getting our letters soon. Bones said Hermione will get a home visit, at that point the curtain will be pulled back on us. We need to get as much support as we can before that happens." Harry said sitting next to Emma on the couch.
"We are a part of this world now, and we can't go back. All we can do is face it with courage and honor. We started out as JedI. We trained and we studied, now we find out we're wizards. I see no difference. I think we continue to study the arts but we keep our JedI identity. We are protectors of those that can't protect themselves. And as for being away from you guys for ten months, I agree that's too long. We will find a way of staying in touch with you. We're not just going to pack up and leave." Hermione said sitting next to her dad.
"You know, you kids really take the fun out of being a parent. Always thinking ahead. Always making mature decisions. It's hardly any fun at all." Dan said hugging Hermione to his side.
"Sorry?" Harry said shrugging. "We'll try to be more irrational in the future?"
"Don't pay any attention to him Harry, you two kids are perfect." Emma said holding Harry closer to her side. The puppies all hopped up on to their laps and for the rest of the night that's how they stayed.
The next day Amelia Bones showed up on their front door step with two girls. A blond and a red head. Emma answered the door.
"Good morning Emma, this is my niece Susan, and her best friend Hannah Abbot." Amelia said as she walked into the house.
"Nice to meet you." Emma said leading them into the family room where Harry, and Hermione were waiting with a table full of objects. Amelia gasped as soon as she saw the skull and cross bone ring in the box.
"The original head of house ring." She said in a reverent tone as she picked it up with shaky hands.
"What is it aunty?" Susan asked.
"A long time ago in the 1600s there was a pirate in the waters of south and central America. His name was captain Bones and he was our however many great times of over grandfather. He was the first one to sail under the Jolly Roger and this was his crest. When his son gave up the pirate life he moved to London and dropped the crossbones from our crest and added Dust to Dust. This, is our family's head of house ring." She said looking from the ring to Harry.
"Wow, cool." Susan said looking at the ring.
"I am forever indebted to you for finding this." She said.
"Like I said friendship means alot to me. I'm just happy I can return this stuff." Harry said.
"You have the humidor too. Are you sure you just want to give this to me?" She asked with a smile.
"Sure." Harry said.
"I'm going to make you regret saying that in a second." She said opening the humidor. She twisted the skull on the inside of the lid and they heard something click. She lifted out the tray of cigars and showed Harry the twenty black little boxes in the hidden compartment. She pulled one out and set it on the floor. She waved her wand at it and expanded to a big trunk. She opened the lid and inside was thousands of gold coins. "You still just want to hand it over?" She asked with a smile.
"Sure. What's gold?" Harry asked waving his hand and making an identical trunk full of gold coins.
"Oh My God." She said looking at the trunk.
"What?" Harry asked grabbing a few coins and tossing them to Dan.
"You can conjure gold?" She asked.
"Sure?" Harry asked making a gold bar and handing it to her.
"But you can't conjure gold. It's one of seven impossible to conjure things." She said.
"But I just did it?" Harry said.
"What are the other things?" Hermione asked.
"Gold, Silver, Platinum, Bronze, Diamond, Ruby, Emerald." She said and Harry conjured each one as she said it. By the time she said Emerald she felt faint and lightheaded. She fell into the couch and shook her head. "How long does the things you make last?" She asked.
"As far as I can tell? A long time. The first thing I conjured was this book, I made it for Hermione's birthday last September." Harry said summoning the book with a thought.
"My Gods, you're a Maker. An arch mage." She said before turning to Hermione. "Can you make these things as well?" She asked.
"No, but I can conjure a lot of other things. Gold has been a real problem for me, now I know why." She said with a smile.
"What's a maker?" Harry asked.
"A maker is a branch of Arch Mages. Let's start from the beginning. To have Magic means you were born with a magical core. A well of power you can tap into to cast spells. There are wizards and witches that are born with huge magical cores and because of their larger cores they have access to outer branches of magic only they can do. Things like wandless magic, enchantments, and rituals. These magic users are called Mages. Both you and Hermione rank in the mage scale. Now there are Mages that are born with even bigger cores and they can do thing with Magic that most regular mages only can only dream about doing. These Mages are called Arch Mages. There are two types of Arch Mages. Elementals, and Makers. Elementals can tap into the power of nature. Things like lightning, fire, earth, water. Makers on the other hand can make anything and it will last forever. Harry, is a maker." She said holding her head.
"Cool. In that case I never need to buy anything ever again." Harry said shrugging as he made a bottle of lemonade and took a sip.
"We never have to go shopping for food and Harry is cooking from now on." Emma said laughing.
"Do you have any idea how powerful you are?" Amelia said looking at Harry.
"I mean I can guess. But this is not something new to me, it just means I can make permanent things. Aside from that this is not earth shattering to me." Harry said.
"Well you would be the first Maker in a few hundred years. Godric Gryffindor himself was the last Maker and he made every stone that went into the castle." Amelia said.
"Cool, can you tell me what this other stuff is?" Harry said waving to the other things on the table.
"Um, sure. These knives and daggers are enchanted. It looks like simple enchantments like sharpness and durability. These curved bladed daggers are made from a fang of some sort and I would bet they were poisoned, I'd watch out for those. This bowl is a Pensive. You can pull memory strands out of your head and place them in the bowl and other people can view them. This broom is a very old clean sweep 4. It was a good broom ten years ago…" Amelia said until Harry cut her off.
"Wait, do you mean this broom flies?" Harry asked picking up the old odd shaped broom and looking it over.
"Yes, it's a fast broom too. The Clean Sweep 4 is the same as a good low end sports car from a decade ago in terms of speed and handling." She said smiling at the smirk on Harry's face.
"How do I make it work?" Harry asked.
"Place the broom on the ground, stand next to it, place your hand over the broom and say up." She said from memory.
Harry set the broom on the floor, stood next to it, and called up before anyone could stop him. The broom shot up into his hand and Harry hopped on and took off out the back door. Hermione and Dan went to go look at him when he shot back into the house and stopped on a dime right next to Hermione.
"You want to give it a go? It's fast and turns very well." Harry said with a smirk.
"No thank you, I'll stay on the ground for now. What is this?" Hermione asked holding up the ruby necklace.
"That is a shield charm enchanted set of jewelry. You would wear that to a party or ball and you would have a shield charm surrounding you so you wouldn't need your wand." She said.
"Cool. I'm going to have to make something similar. It's always good to have a shield so you can't get shot in the back." Hermione said.
"Well it's also good for non-magicals to have." Amelia said.
"Even better idea." Hermione said looking at her mom.
"Well, I think you can keep that one. In fact the only thing I want is the humidor and the house ring, unless there is something important in Axton's trunk. The rest of this is the equivalent of magical nick nacks." Amelia said looking at the daggers.
"I can bring down the trunk but most of it is schoolbooks and uniforms." Harry said.
"Wasn't there another necklace?" Emma asked looking at Harry.
"No, it was just this one. There was a plane gold watch but it didn't feel magical." Harry said giving Emma a look, and she knew it meant keep it quiet.
"Well then, since we have a pensive, I would love to take a look at some of your memories growing up in that house. If that's okay with you." Amelia said bringing the bowel closer to her and activating the runes on the side of the bowel with her wand.
"Sure can you tell me how to pull the memories out?" Harry asked walking up to the bowel.
"Just think about a memory and I'll pull it out for you." Amelia said.
"In that case I'll give you a montage of pain." Harry said closing his eyes. He thought about all the worst moments of his life growing up in that house and when he had three dozen memoires all set he nodded and she pulled a long silver strand out of his head. She put it in the bowel and looked at the group.
"Who wants to view this with me?" Amelia asked.
"Can I?" Emma asked.
"Yes, you don't need magic to view a memory in a pensive." Amelia said.
"Then I think Dan and I would like to see this." Emma said holding Harry's shoulders in a protective way.
"Well I sure as hell don't want to see it. I lived it once, that was enough for me." Harry said touching Emma's hand on his shoulder as he hopped back on the broom and shot out of the house.
"I'll go check on him." Hermione said looking at the glowing bowel and the door.
"No, we'll make sure he's okay, you should see this." Susan said directing her friend Hannah out the back door.
"Okay, everyone take a seat and put your finger in the bowel." Amelia said.
For the next hour Harry's family and Amelia bones watched as Harry was beaten, starved, verbally and emotionally abused. The last memory was the night Harry came back with his new mind trick skill. When the memory faded they came out of the memory and found themselves sitting around the dining room table with tears in their eyes and shocked looks on their faces. Harry stuck his head in the room from the kitchen.
"Good you're done. I have lunch ready. I made sandwiches." He said carrying a platter of finger sandwiches into the room. Susan and Hannah came in behind him with trays holding the tea service, and the pastries. He set down the trays and cleared away the daggers and knives. He next took the pensive and set it on the side board. "You guys were done with that right?" He asked ignoring the sad looks they were giving him.
"Harry…" Emma started to say but Harry stopped her.
"No, I don't need to hear it and you don't have to say anything. You took me in and took care of me. The people that did those thing to me were never my family. I just recently got to know my family. The things that did that were not my aunt and uncle. Those were monsters created by an old man that needed me beaten and weak before he could get his hands on me. He failed. If you treat me like a victim then he wins. I'm not a victim. I'm a warrior. Now lets eat." Harry said.
"Okay." Emma said wiping the tears from her eyes but when Harry came around the table to set a teacup in front of her she grabbed him and hugged him tight "I love you Harry." She said she rubbed his back and felt him sigh. She let go and she smiled when he went back to passing out teacups like it didn't happen. Dan touched his arm and Hermione pulled him into a tight hug and forced him to sit next to her so she could hold his hand.
"Well you might want to act like that didn't happen but I'm going to fill out a very long report when I get back to the office. We have no proof it was the old man that set this in motion and even if we did we couldn't get a conviction with him basically running the government, but we can use this as leverage. We can attack him in the court of opinion and score more points then we could in a court of law. We can also hold it over his head to make sure he keeps his hands off you while you attend Hogwarts." Amelia said.
"Good, I don't really care if I ever attend that school and I can care less about a wand. If that old man tries to play games with me I'll walk out of that school and walk right into the newspaper office and give them a copy of that memory. Just because I don't like being a victim doesn't mean I can't play one. I'm famous, weather I like it or not. With that fame comes a fan base and I will turn them on the old man the first chance I get." Harry said.
"Harry, it might be a good idea to copy that memory and give it to a few people to hold onto in case something happens to you. Also it's good to have someone on the outside holding something over his head just to make sure your days at Hogwarts go as smoothly as possible." Amelia said.
"That's a good idea. We'll make three copies, one will stay with the Grangers, one will go to my Law-witch Andromeda. I think another copy should stay with you so you can show the old man you have him by the short and curlies." Harry said.
"Good thinking. Now we have to talk about what our plans are moving forwards. We have basically three to five weeks before Hermione gets a home visit from Minerva Mcgonagall. She the old man's second in command and we need to know if she's in on the whole plot to undermine you or if she's an unwitting pawn in the old man's schemes. We have a few options, but I think we should play this off like you don't know what's coming and mind trick her into spilling the beans. I have little in the way of legal maneuvering with her just like the old man, but if you were caught off guard by a witch coming into your house and you whammied her with you mind powers then any information gained would be legally binding under the laws of a head of house. You have Head of House status and as soon as you get the visit and get her to confess any wrong doing than we can go on the offensive. The bank will release your head of house status, I'll contact the old man and tell him in no uncertain terms that I know what he did to you and we have damming political proof that would ruin him if he doesn't play ball. At that point you just have to wait for the beginning of the school year and see how things play out. If you get to school and he treats you like a normal student then we hold back and let Andromeda handle things in the courtroom. If he singles you out or you feel like your life is in danger contact me and I'll be there in minutes to get you out and I'll have Andy go to the Prophet with the memory. We just need a way to make phone calls inside the school." Amelia said.
"Will this work?" Harry asked making a copy of Dan's Motorola MicroTAC 8900.
"I think it might? How does it work?" Amelia asked.
"Well I just copied Dan's phone and made it run on magic. Let's see." Harry said hitting 1 on the phone. The house phone rang and Emma picked it up. "Is it clear? Can you hear me?" He asked.
"Well of course I can hear you, you're right here." She said making them all laugh.
"Right, I'll be right back." Harry said putting the phone in his pocket, grabbing his broom, and shooting out of the house a few seconds later he was at the back of the woods behind the house. "How about now?" He asked.
"Loud and clear. I can't believe you made a magic phone." She said sounding shocked.
"I'm going to hang up now and see if I can call Dan." Harry said before hanging up, he hit 2 and the phone rang a few times before Dan picked up. "Can you hear me?" He asked.
"I can, now came back to the house and make me one. The bill for this one is staggering." Dan said laughing.
"Right, I'll be right back." Harry said hanging up.
He flew back to the house and made a few more phones. He gave one to Dan, Emma, Amelia, and Hermione. Each one was numbered on the back and the number corresponded to the number you punched in to call that phone.
"Good, now I can call every night." Emma said with a big smile.
"I must admit I've been thinking about something like this for a while." Harry said.
"So now we have a way to keep in touch. I think I'm going to make the copies of the memory and head off to Andy's office. Can you make a phone for her, and I'll give it to her." Amelia asked walking over to the pensive.
That afternoon when Amelia left with the two girls the Grangers and Harry sat on the couch and talked. It was decided they would spend the next few weeks until the visit from Mcgonagall practising spells and lightsaber dueling. If they did run into trouble in the school they would be able to fight back. They started wearing the dragon hide vest everyday under their clothes to get comfortable wearing them and soon getting up in the morning and putting on the vest became second nature to them. It was something the elder Grangers saw them do but they never said anything. Hermione was sure it was just a form of denial her parents were in.
Three weeks later the day finally came. The grangers were just about to sit down for lunch when someone rang the bell. Hermione went to get the door and found an old severe looking woman in a strict looking dark red dress that covered her from neck to ankle. She smiled a very half hearted smile at Hermione.
"Hello dear, I'm here to talk to your parents. Are they home?" She asked.
"They are, hold one second." Hermione said with a gentle smile before turning around and calling for her Mom. Emma came to the door and after a round of pleasantries she let the witch into the house. She shared a look with Dan and he walked back into the kitchen where Harry was keeping an eye on the fish. Harry's smile fell of his face when he saw Dan.
"She's here?" Harry asked.
"Yes." Dan said.
"Good, call Amelia and tell her it's time for the fun to start." Harry said shutting off the stove and wiping his hands on a kitchen towel.
Harry waited just long enough for Dan to get Amelia on the phone before walking into the room as Mcgonagall was pulling out a few pamphlets and Hermione's letter. She took one look at him and almost passed out. It was a combination of shock at seeing him in the house and not expecting him. She schooled her face and tried to play it cool but the jig was up. They all saw her shocked look. She tried to think on her feet and figure out what to do.
"Is there something wrong Professor?" Hermione asked with a smirk.
"No, um who might this be?" Mcgonagall asked.
"This is my friend Harry Potter. Harry this lady was trying to tell us that our Force powers are magic, can you believe that?" Hermione said with a laugh.
"Magic?" Harry asked laughing.
"What do you mean Force powers?" Mcgonagall asked really starting to look panicked.
"Well, for a few years now we've been able to use the Force." Harry said lifting the pamphlets out of her hand and pulling them to him. If she was shocked before now she looked ready to run out of the house.
"Is that all you can do?" She asked.
"No, but it's all I'm willing to share with you at this time." Harry said with a smirk.
"If you'll excuse me I need to make a call." Mcgonagall said trying to get up and run out of the house but when she got to the door she hit the wards which Harry triggered when he walked into the room. The professor whipped out her wand and Harry jumped in front of her.
"You will tell me what I want to know." He intoned in a calm but firm voice and her eyes glazed over.
"I will tell you what you want to know." She said but he could see she was struggling.
"Did you know about the compulsions on my family to beat and mistreat me?" He asked.
"No." She said fighting her mouth the whole time.
"Did you know I was being beaten and mistreated?" Harry asked adding more power into his spell.
"Noooo...not really." She said looking more shocked.
"What does not really mean? I want facts!" Harry intoned pushing with his power.
"I overhead a conversation between Arabella Figg and Albus she said you were being mistreated by your family and he told her he was watching the situation very closely and that you needed discipline and that the Dursley's were just teaching you some discipline." She said fighting with all her might to stop talking.
"And you bought that?" Harry asked trying to not freak out about the fact that Mrs. FIgg was magical.
"Not at first but he told me we could not interfere with the discipline of a kid outside of our control. He also said you were a little delinquent. That you needed to be punished for the bad things you did." She said turning red as the blood rushed to her head.
"Did you suspect the old man was doing anything wrong?" Harry asked.
"N….. ye… not really." She managed to fight out.
"We can play this game all night professor. You walked into this house and then you tried to rush out and when you bounced off the wards you drew your wand. Under the law you attempted to harm the Head of an Ancient and Noble House. Now out with the details!" Harry said pushing more power into the spell.
"I know Albus has been manipulating people his whole life but it's always for the greater good." She gasped out.
"Greater good my ass, Did you know he was tampering with my mail to keep me from getting my titles and assets?" He asked asked with a booming voice.
"Yes. He said you needed to know more about the world and how it worked before you were handed the burden of your title." She said shaking hard.
"Harry, you're hurting her. Let her go." Hermione said.
"This is our chance to get information." Harry said looking at his friend before turning back to the professor.
"Harry, you're using your power to hurt someone. Harry look at me, you're turning to the dark side." She said in a calm but powerful voice.
Harry turned back to her and saw the look of disappointment in her eyes. He also saw the fear in Emma and Dan's eyes. He sank a few inches into himself and dropped his hand as well as the wards.
"You are free to go. You tell the old man I know what he's up to. I'm not the weak and beaten puppy he was expecting to show up at his joke of a school, I am an Arch Mage, and if he thinks he can fuck with me I'll take his political power, burn his reputation, and end his fucking life. I am not to be trifled with. Begone minion of the old man." He said.
Mcgonagall took one look at the power rolling off his form and ran out of the house and popped away as fast as she could. Harry turned to look at his family and sighed as he fell to his knees in front of Hermione.
"I went too far." He said softly.
"Yes you did, but it needed to be said. Maybe not like that but it needed to be said. The old man needs to know not to mess with us." Hermione said hugging Harry's head to her chest.
"I think I need to sit and meditate on what I just did." Harry said softly as he stood up and walked out of the house. Blaze saw him walk out the back door and ran up to him. He saw the sad look on his master's face and licked his face.
"Hey boy. I need to sit by the tree and think." Harry said petting his now big dog. Max was a good two foot tall at the shoulders and he weighed more than Harry. But he was not fat he was all lean muscle. Harry walked out to the back of the yard and took a seat under the big oak tree. He sat crossed legged and let his mind fall away. He took time to think about his actions and his misuse of power.
