Chapter 3: A Visit to Vienna
"6 November 1981
Magicals, I have observed, have a logic of their own that is in some ways similar to our own, yet vastly different in others. At first glance, it seems they despise Mathematics and the Sciences; for that, they have been called inept and incompetent by the muggle-raised.
This is untrue.
It is simply that when most muggles talk about Science, they refer to Technology or Physics instead, which has little use to magicals. Muggle technology is inferior by several degrees to what the average wizard is capable of, and this gap is only widening with each year. Physics, while useful in understanding the world and the rules that govern it, is useless too in the comprehension of magic - an art which by its very definition is to make the impossible possible; to ignore the rules of the universe. The manipulation of numbers offers a little more with its applications in Arithmancy and Numerology, but can hardly be considered as the be-all, end-all answer."
-Lily Evans (1992)
31 July 1991
"Unbelievable!"
Lavender was shaking. Harry averted his eyes, desperate to escape her melting stare. Robert's back was pressed against the door, torn between curiosity and fear. He looked ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
"Why?" Daphne asked, addressing more Blaise than Harry.
"Mum thinks it's time to 'broaden my horizons'." Blaise said. "She's tired of British men, I guess." It wasn't a secret that his mother was a gold digger. "And in my defense, I only found out last week. There wasn't really a good time to share the news."
"Ok." The fact that her frown did not let up at all indicated she felt anything but. She turned to Harry next, offering him a brow that practically shouted "And you?"
"Apparently, my dad and the Headmaster of Hogwarts aren't on good terms."
It would have been more dramatic to say her frown deepened, but at this point, it was impossible to fall any further. "That's a stupid reason."
Harry shrugged his shoulders.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Lavender's voice came out strained and harsh, a mix of betrayal and pain lingering beneath.
Harry felt his throat constrict. A bit more and it would choke him. Great, even his own body was trying to off him now. "Well I, uh…" He swallowed thickly. "Honestly, I...I was afraid you guys wouldn't…"
"Wouldn't what?" Daphne asked, clamping down on his answer as an alligator would around its prey.
"Wouldn't want to…to be friends anymore."
The stinging on his skin disappeared along with the harshness of Lavender's stare. "Why on earth would you think that?" she said. Harry felt silly all of a sudden. "We've been friends for ages! Going to different schools isn't going to change that."
"That's right." Daphne said. "Besides, we'll still see each other loads of times! Like, on summer break, and Easter and Christmas." She must have caught on to the worried look the boys shared, because she followed up with, "What are you two hiding?"
"You tell her," Blaise seemed to say with his eyes.
Harry made a gesture that was supposed to mean "No you", but Blaise didn't appear to understand. He was never really any good at charades.
"One of you tell me. Right now." Daphne said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
Blaise cracked first. "Well, the school schedules don't exactly match up, but the difference isn't that big, honest!"
"How bad?" Daphne asked.
"Our year starts off a week later, and summer break starts on the fifteenth."
"The fifteenth? Of June?" Lavender asked.
"August," said Blaise.
Lavender didn't look happy about that. "Your summer break lasts less than a month? That sounds terrible!"
Daphne clucked her tongue, shaking her head. "Your parents are sadists."
-The Magnate-
"You see awfully chipper. Good day?" asked Joshua.
Lily positively hummed in response. "It was Harry's birthday party today." She brought the ladle to her lips, letting a bit of soup in. It needed the dash of salt she put in. She looked at the saltshaker contemplatively then gave it another shake for good measure.
"How was it?"
"Great, Harry asked James if he could visit the muggle world. The look on Melissa's face was priceless!"
"I can imagine," Joshua said, the smile he wore evident from his voice alone. "Did he say yes?"
Lily walked into the dining room, a trail of plates and utensils floating behind her obediently. "Not as if he could say no on Harry's birthday of all days."
"True." He uncorked a bottle of alcohol, pouring in a hefty amount of the light, pink liquid into a pair of flute glasses. "When's he going?" The only reason he was concerned, Lily knew, was because she promised to go with Harry to explain the muggle world.
"This August. They're planning a trip to Austria for a month, and I'm supposed to join them during their last week. I'm guessing sometime then."
"Austria?" Joshua was surprised. The country, a former member of Grindelwald's Reich-Staaten, wasn't exactly a popular destination for the British. "Why Austria?"
Lily directed the last pot onto the table. "They wanted to give Harry a bit of time to practice his German before school starts."
"Then why not Germany?" asked Joshua, which earned him a quirked brow. "Nevermind, stupid question." The only country less popular than Austria would've been Germany, given they were the first to join Grindelwald's crusade.
Joshua handed her a glass and she took a sip of the drink. "Mmm, what are we celebrating?" Lily asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"The rose champagne." She swirled the liquid before taking another sip. "You never bother with anything this fancy unless something is up."
"Two weeks with my gorgeous girlfriend isn't reason enough?" His suggestive smile triggered a brief memory where he had casually mentioned Katie was spending the next couple of days at a friend's house.
Lily snorted. "Eat your food."
Joshua smiled cheekily. "Yes Ma'am."
-The Magnate-
1 August 1991
It was a normal, quiet morning at the Potter residence.
"Harry! Robert!" Of course, quiet and normal were relative terms. Melissa's voice was shrill and piercing, killing any possibility of sleep. "Better finish up soon! The Portkey leaves in an hour!"
"Like this isn't the hundredth time you've reminded us." Harry said grumpily to himself. She was, thankfully, out of earshot. Finally certain he wasn't missing anything - having combed through the things on his bed twice now – he flourished his wand in the general direction of his bed. "Pack." he commanded. Like soldiers, each item floated up, forming a neat line before proceeding to deposit themselves neatly into his expandable rucksack.
Ms. Lily's gift of Versatile Variations was the last thing to enter the already stuffed bag when he heard Melissa from the doorway. "Harry, good, at least you're done." she was exasperated and very much stressed. "Be a dear and help Robert out? I swear that father of yours is worse than a child with the way he puts off things!" Her voice already sounded far away, no doubt to fuss over some other detail.
Harry tested the weight of his pack with his hand then slung the straps across his shoulders. Thankfully, it wasn't too heavy, even if there was no Featherweight Charm placed on it.
He found Robert in his room. The sight was not pretty.
"Harry!" exclaimed Robert, perhaps a little too happily, "Err, help? Please?" He had this sheepish expression on his face as he scratched the back of his head.
"What happened here? It looks like your closet threw up." It wasn't a hyperbole either. All manners of robes, undershirts, cloaks, footwear and headwear lay strewn across the floor, whereas the cabinet which should have been containing them was empty. "Twice," Harry said, as he kicked at a scarf near his foot.
Robert blushed and ducked his head. "I couldn't decide what to bring…so I tried to fit everything in my bag."
Harry stared at him. "Well course it wouldn't fit. You're not supposed to bring everything."
"Why not? Mum's bag can fit loads of things!"
"Mum's bag is charmed to be limitless," Harry pointed out. "Yours isn't."
Robert frowned at him. "Well, we'll be gone. For thirty days." he said meaningfully.
Harry sighed. "Just bring a few pairs and cycle through them. We can get 'em cleaned there."
"Are you sure?"
"Worse comes to worst, mother will just buy you new clothes. Now, pick out a few sets. Five's enough, seven's better."
Harry glanced at the wall clock hanging over his brother's bed, noting that they had forty minutes left. Their mother's words were becoming more frantic and panicked as the short hand drew closer to 8. "Not that one." Harry said offhandedly when Robert considered a gaudy robe patterned with golden lions.
"What 'cha think it'll be like? Austria, I mean." Robert set aside the clothes he had decided on in a not so neat pile.
"Small, I imagine; a lot less crowded too. Uncle Sirius said they only had 6,000 people."
"Only 6,000?" repeated Robert skeptically. "Oh, here. All done!"
Harry glanced disapprovingly as his brother grabbed the mish-mashed pile and tried to dump it into his backpack. "You'll never get it in like that." Normally, he would let his brother work this out himself, but they were short on time today. "Pack." he said, watching magic expedite the process. "That should do it. C'mon."
They made their way down the stairs to see their dad effortlessly balancing a trunk on his head, their mother rolling her eyes at him. "There you two are." She gestured for them to grab onto a length of rope. "James, don't forget to lock down the house."
Harry watched intently while his dad began waving his wand in a series of wide sweeping motions, all the while chanting something under his breath.
Satisfied with his work, James nodded to himself before wrapping one end of the portkey around his hand. "3, 2, 1."
The world melted away.
Or at the very least, that's what it seemed like. In actuality, the high velocity rotation left their sight blurry.
Harry heard the change in scenery before he saw it, really. The howling of wind was replaced by distinct (if incomprehensible), guttural sounds. It was German, Harry realized, yet it wasn't as harsh as he'd been led to believe. In fact, the intonation was almost musical even.
Harry blinked a couple of times, refocusing his eyes.
Humble - that was the nicest way to describe the Austrian Ministry. It had none of the marble columns or the grandiose statues that were the prominent features of its British counterpart. Instead, in the atrium below them, was a solitary stone tablet. If you squinted, you could make out an extremely long word in simple print - "Vergangenheitsbewältigung".
"Willkommen in Österreich!" a voice greeted warmly.
Harry shifted his attention to a mustached, official-looking fellow who was eyeing them appraisingly. "English, yes?" the official asked.
"Yes," James replied, nodding emphatically. "James Potter."
"Ah! Herr Potter. We've been expecting you. This way please." There was a slight accent to his English, but it was otherwise easily understandable. He led them to his desk, one of two that dealt with international Portkey arrivals. From the looks of things, they didn't get much traffic as the other official on duty, a bored twenty-something year old, scurried over eagerly.
The two engaged in a conversation of rapid German that even James, who knew the most German in the family, looked utterly lost. The first official noticed and waved away his associate. Clearing his throat, he shot them an apologetic smile. "Sorry for that, Tomas is new to the job and you're the first tourists he's seen."
"No problem," James said.
"So, Herr Potter, how long is your family staying in Österreich?"
"Until the 22nd, three weeks." The official, Bruno according to his nametag, jotted down that information.
"Purpose of visit?"
"Vacation and maybe a bit of shopping. My son's going to Durmstrang this September," he said, his chest puffing up.
Bruno smiled knowingly. "Ah, my nephew just graduated last year! I would recommend getting winter coats with at least grade three warming charms. The weather can be brutal." He glanced down. "Everything seems to be in order…I just need to check your wands."
"Thanks! We'll look into that," James said as he handed over his. Harry and Melissa's followed.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" James made a negative gesture. "No matter, though I would recommend looking for a place at der Geheime Platz, our main shopping district." Bruno returned the wands after a customary check. "Alright, Herr Potter. I just need your Portkey and you can be on your way. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Uh, just one thing." James handed over the string of rope. "We were told we could get someone to cast the Language Charm?"
"Ah, you want the AIMZ. Take the elevator, which should be down this hallway. Fourth floor, second door on the right."
James smiled. "Danke." he said, leading them away.
"Enjoy your stay in Österreich!" Bruno called out, just before the lift shut close.
The Abteilung für Internationale Magische Zusammenarbeit – the Department of International Magical Cooperation in English – was a step up from the Office of International Arrivals in terms of décor and size.
"Wicked!" the boys chorused, seeing the slowly rotating, multi-colored globe that was the rotunda's centerpiece.
Harry, grinning, nudged the wide-eyed Robert in the side. "Check that out."
Robert looked down to see a painted siren, gracefully circling around their feet. His eyes, if even possible, grew more. It appeared to giggle - though no sound reached their ears – before joining her sisters on the domed ceiling.
"Boys, keep up!" James was already a few meters ahead, holding open a door. The door, it turned out, was the office of an ancient, gnarly witch with graying tresses. She and James exchanged a few words, before she signaled Harry to come closer with her wrinkled hand.
"Level 2," she said, voice completely flat, "costs 51 Florints and 4 Thalers."
While James was busy counting out the golden, octagonal Florints and the silver Thalers, the witch, who smelled faintly of incense, muttered under her breath and circled her wand over Harry's head. The charm ended with a painful jab to his forehead. Harry recoiled on instinct, eyes blinking rapidly. He shuffled backwards, head feeling like lead. James placed a worried hand on his back to keep him from falling over.
"You might feel strange for a few days. That's perfectly normal." the witch said, sounding unfazed by his reaction. "For best effect, try to talk in German as much as possible."
It took a few minutes for him to get his blinking under control, and he felt his dad's smooth palms on his own, guiding him forward. By the time he could see again, the world was different. He found himself listening into snippets of overhead conversation as they waited in line to use the floo, although he didn't understand most of what they said.
"Alright there, Harry?" James asked.
"Yes," Harry answered and his dad grinned.
Robert frowned at the two. His response of "What" sounded foreign to Harry's ears. It suddenly clicked why Dad was smiling like that. He had talked to him in German, and he understood without even realizing it.
"That does feel strange," said Harry, making sure he was speaking in English.
"You get used to it." James stepped up when the couple in front was swallowed whole by the swirling green flames. "Hello. Four für Geheimnis Platz, bitte," he said to the person selling floo powder. It was a little disconcerting to get only half of what was being said.
"One Thaler und drei Staatenmark, sir."
James gave him a silver piece and three bronze squares with a hole through the middle in exchange for a handful of the fine powder. The Potter family made it to the place without incident.
From the moment Harry walked out of the fireplace, he could see how the Secret Plaza was different from Diagon Alley. Diagon, with shops on either side, was a cramped, narrow and winding street way on the best of days and simply a chaotic, unnavigable mass during the back-to-school shopping rush. Geheime, on the other hand, was a plaza characterized by its spacious quarters and the Austrian need for order.
Their obviously English appearance drew stares from some passersby. It made Harry self-conscious all of a sudden, as if he was being judged worthy of entrance.
"Well." James cleared his throat amidst the conspicuous glances. "How does lunch sound? I'm famished."
-The Magnate-
19 August 1991
"I'm going to miss you." Joshua's breathy words were ticklish to her neck.
Lily rolled her eyes, but could not stop the faint smile from showing. It felt nice to be wanted for a change. "It's just four days."
"Mmm." He continued to nuzzle her hair. "Four days too long." Joshua kept fistful of her robes in a possessive grip. "Are you sure you can't just skip? We could be doing so much more productive things at home."
"With Katie there? I'd rather not traumatize the girl, thank you very much."
"Silencing Charms were invented for a reason, luv."
Lily snorted. "Her dad locks himself in his bedroom with a lady. You might as well just hang a sock on the doorknob."
Joshua pulled apart slightly, frowning at her. "She shouldn't know what that means yet."
"Oh honestly Joshua, she's eleven! I knew what that meant when I was her age."
"You're making me worried for her innocence."
Lily pecked him on the cheek. "I'll bring you back a chastity belt." Joshua sulked and Lily laughed. "I'm just teasing."
"Ahem."
The two broke apart reluctantly to address the newcomer. "Peter?" Lily asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Hi Lily," the mousy man squeaked. "Err, got the Portkey for you."
"Oh! Thanks Peter. This is Joshua, my boyfriend."
Joshua extended a hand towards him, which Peter shook vigorously. "Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Lily's?"
"Of a sorts." He fiddled with his fingers nervously. "We were the same year at Hogwarts."
"Right," Joshua said before he turned to Lily. "I'll go grab your bag from inside."
Once he was out of earshot, Peter spoke up, his voice noticeably deeper. "Boyfriend?"
Lily huffed. "Yes, Peter. Believe it or not, I'm quite capable of maintaining a healthy romantic relationship."
"Does James know?"
"I fail to see how my romantic partner is any of his business." her reply came out more sharply than she intended.
"He is the father of your child, you know."
"I'm well aware Peter." Lily said in a more measured tone. "I was the one who had to carry Harry around for nine months."
"Well, does Joshua know? About Harry, I mean?"
Lily crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You're being awfully nosy. Did James ask you to stalk me or something?"
"Hey!" Peter exclaimed, indignant. "Can't I express a little curiosity without being suspected of ulterior motives? Besides, I volunteered to deliver the Portkey 'cuz I had the day off and thought it would be nice to catch up with some old friends."
"And by old friend you thought of me?" She continued to eye him with suspicion.
"Among others."
Joshua chose then to return. "Have a fun trip, luv." he said, kissing her once more.
"I will." Lily strapped on her bag and grabbed the soon to be active Portkey. "See you in a few!"
Peter was already gone before she was whisked away.
-The Magnate-
Harry jumped over the last wooden step of the Bärenhöhle's stairway with a boyish grin. "Good morning, Harry!" called out Jakob, the innkeeper. "Staying for breakfast?"
"You know I can't say no to your food, Jakob." Harry said in effortless German, the product of two and a half weeks immersed in the language.
Jakob chuckled heartily. "Sit down, sit down. I'll be right out with your food."
He chose a seat at the counter and swept the room with his eyes. Aside from an elderly looking Italian couple on the far side of the room, he was alone. "Slow day today," he said to Jakob when he returned with a plate.
"It's barely past seven. I'm surprised you're even awake right now."
"Why's that?" Harry picked at the roll of bread – Semmel, Jakob had called it.
"You wake up at eight, at the earliest. Something got you excited today?"
"Uh huh." Harry let out a delighted sigh while he chewed on some smoked bacon. "Ms. Lily's taking me to the muggle world today."
The innkeeper took a sip of his black coffee. "Ah, the famous Ms. Lily. She's your tutor, yes?" Harry made an affirmative sound. "August is a good month to visit Vienna. You are lucky there aren't many tourists this year."
"Any tips?"
"The palaces, Schönbrunn and Hofburg, are definite must sees. How do you feel about muggle art?" Harry made a face. "No? Well, I guess you can't go amiss sailing the Danube."
Two hours passed quickly with Jakob to keep him company. During the wait, Dad and Rob joined him, wanting to see him off for the day no doubt. As 9:30 approached, the trio headed over to Habergeiss Tor, the southernmost gateway that opened near the city center.
Ms. Lily, punctual as ever, was waiting for him already. "Your clothes, they're new." were her first words.
"They are." Harry agreed. He was wearing his recently purchased Durmstrang uniform.
She gave him the once over before answering. "Red is a good color on you," she said finally, "but you can't go to the muggle world dressed in that."
Harry looked himself over. His getup was decent, if he said so himself. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Muggles don't wear robes. You'd be an odd duck." Harry's heart sank. He'd been looking forward to this trip.
"Nothing a bit of transfiguration can't fix," James said.
"Maybe a glamour would work better?" suggested Lily. "The robes, they're new after all."
"Maybe that'd be best, Evans." Lily had the charm set in a jiffy. "Be sure to bring him back 'round eight tonight."
Lily nodded stiffly.
"Bye Harry!" Robert shouted as they neared the gateway which would transport them across the city.
"Have I ever told you why I chose a mastery in Charms?" Lily began all of a sudden.
"No," Harry said, curious to know why. "Why did you?"
"Magic is a truly wonderful thing to muggleborns. It's the sort of thing we only hear about in fairytales and bedtime stories. As we grow older, we figure it doesn't really exist. Could you imagine our shock when we find out its real? That there's a hidden world out there I can be a part of?"
"I'd be ecstatic," Harry said.
"I was too," Lily said. "The possibilities with magic are endless and Charms are the best way to actualize that. Technology was developed to address the wants of the muggles. They've been working on it before written history began, and they've still got a long way to go. With Charms though, there's a spell to answer every problem, if only we bothered to look."
They stepped into the shimmering gateway and found themselves in a whole new world entirely. Something shrieked nearby, a red metal box on four wheels. Their streets too, Harry noted, were odd. Instead of cobblestone, it was grey and grainy and rough.
"Those are cars," Lily said. "Muggles use them to travel around the city."
"Do they run on eleclicity too?" Harry asked, peering at it as it shook slightly.
"Electricity and no, they run on gasoline, an extract of oil," Lily said.
Harry frowned. "How does that work?"
"I'm not too sure how either, but from what I understand, the gasoline is burned up by a device called an 'engine'. The process releases energy which powers the car."
Muggle magic then, Harry thought, nodding to himself.
"How fast do they go?"
"Two hundred kilometers per hour? Maybe?" Lily shrugged. "I've never been on one, to be honest."
Harry's nose wrinkled. "That's terribly slow. An old Cleansweep could match that."
The car sped off suddenly, Harry's gaze trailing after it until it reached another box, black with three smaller circles of light on it, the green brightest of all. "Colorful," he said, pointing before turning to Lily. "What does it do?"
"It's a stoplight, they tell the muggle car users whether to go, stop or slow down."
Harry made a face. "Why would they need to be told that?"
"To prevent accidents," Lily said. "Muggle healing isn't as good as ours."
"Really? How so?" Harry asked.
"It take quite a bit of time for them to recover, so they tend to be more risk-averse than wizards. We can grow bones overnight and make ourselves new organs - muggles can't. We can cure cuts and bruises and fractures with a flick of our wands; it takes them weeks to heal."
"I can't imagine living like that," Harry said. "Must be horrible!" She shrugged.
Buildings towered all around them; some, far off in the distance, even dominating the skyline. "Why do muggles have to build things so tall?" Harry asked, pointing to one of the taller buildings along the street.
"They need the space," Lily said.
Harry gave the building a meaningful glance. "What on earth would they need that much space for?"
"Muggles don't have magic," Lily reminded him. "That means no Expansion Charms, no making places bigger or things smaller."
"That's incredibly inefficient." He stopped before this oddly-shaped black thing sticking out of the paved sidewalk. "Oh this is lovely. Is it some sort of art?"
Lily giggled. "That's a fire hydrant. It's to help muggles put out fires."
"Don't they use electricity for everything nowadays?"
"Despite that, fire is still a major hazard," Lily said.
Harry shook his head. "I really don't see how it could be a problem. They don't even have to deal with magical fire."
"There are all sorts of fires aside from magical ones. Electrical, chemical, metal-" Lily's fingers shot out one by one as she listed them, "-each needs to be dealt with differently. Electrical fires for example, can't be extinguished with water."
"How come?"
"Water is a conductor of electricity," Lily said. "Sort of like how wands are a conductor of magic. It makes it flow easier."
"Okay."
"So when they use water, they run the risk of getting electrocuted. It's like being struck by lightning, or so I'm told."
"Well, it can't be that bad then. Anyway-" Harry clapped his hands together, "-what do muggles do for fun? Flying, I hope?"
"Only the rich ones," Lily said. "They do what wizards do. Reading, sports-"
"Like Quidditch?"
"Nothing quite like Quidditch, but we have a few similar to it. Football, for example, involves two teams kicking a ball around a grassy field."
"That sounds nothing like Quidditch," Harry said. "No brooms, for one thing. Speaking of which, how do muggles fly?"
"Using planes."
Harry frowned. "How does a flat piece of land let them fly?"
"Not plains." Lily looked up, as if searching for something. "There, see that blip in the sky?" Harry's gaze followed her finger, finding some sort of metal bird descending. "That's a plane. It's what muggles use to fly."
"And how fast do they go?"
"Around nine hundred kilometers per hour," Lily said.
"Wow, that's way faster than any broom I've heard of!" Harry said. "Are muggles really that advanced?"
"Not really," she answered. "You used a Portkey to get here right?" Harry nodded. "Well, that would be our equivalent to the muggle planes. We would never use brooms to travel for very far, barring unusual circumstances."
"Okay, but what abo- why is that muggle talking to himself?" Harry gestured discretely to a man in a suit walking past them, holding a big bulky box to his ear...or something. "Is he a few pieces short of a set?"
"Oh no, that's a cellular phone. It lets muggles talk to other muggles without being near them."
"Fascinating," Harry said. "How come we don't have something like that?"
Lily shrugged. "Wizards don't really need it, do they? I mean generally, we could just Apparate to whoever we want to talk to. Besides, the cellular phone has its drawbacks too. For one, it doesn't work quite as well in rural areas and they have to pay for it. At worst, we could just use the Floo."
It could still be useful. "Do muggles have something like the Floo too?"
"A landline phone, for their houses. Unfortunately, it doesn't show you who you're speaking with or allow you to travel."
Harry snorted. "How pitiful. Still, it's amazing that they've managed to get this far with their own magic."
"Technology."
"Yeah, that. Mother still seems to be of the impression that they live in mud huts and struggle with lighting fires," Harry said.
There was a moment's pause. "How about some muggle art?" Lily asked. "There's a museum nearby."
-The Magnate-
"You found the museum dull," Lily said. It was the reason why they were coming back two hours earlier than planned.
"A little," Harry said, "I mean there were some things that were cool, but everything was far too...stationary. I prefer my pictures and statues moving, thank you.
"I can't believe this!" Melissa's voice was muffled by the heavy door, but still comprehensible.
Harry sighed heavily. "Mother and Father are fighting. Again."
Lily glanced at the door, then back to Harry. "We should give them some privacy," she said, sounding worried.
"It's fine." Harry waved away her concerns. "I mean, usually, it's the same things they fight about."
"I promised him!" James screamed. "What did you want me to do? Not let him go with her today?"
Harry's face scrunched up. Were they fighting over him? He leaned in closer to listen.
"That's exactly what you should've done!" his mother shrieked. "That half-blood whelp of yours has too much freedom!"
Half-blood? That couldn't be him. He was a pureblood, through and through! Still, curiosity piqued, Harry kept his ear by the keyhole.
Harry picked up on the faint sound of clattering wood. "You are talking about my son!" Father's voice was like thunder, a loud, angry warning.
It didn't deter Melissa in the slightest. "You always bring that up, always! I know he's your son!" she snarled. "Every time I look at Harry's face I see his mother's!" Harry's heart hammered so loudly in his chest it might have given him away.
Was Melissa not his mother? Was he really a half-blood? The very idea was preposterous, and yet mother's words rang true to his soul.
"It's a constant reminder of who he is, of what you did!" she continued.
"We've been over this before." Father said evenly. The volume of his voice suggested many things – frustration, fatigue, futility. "You raised him."
"I have only one son, James, and it is Robert – not Harry!"
Robert wasn't his brother? Harry stammered backwards on shaky feet, the revelation hitting with the force of a hundred Bludgers.
A pair of soft hands fell on his shoulders in support. "Harry…"
"I…she's not my mother." he whispered. His head whipped around. "Please, please, don't tell them I know. I…I need time to deal with this."
Lily wanted to say something, she really did, but Harry didn't look like he could handle anymore.
"Please," Harry begged.
"Okay." She acceded. "If you want to talk about it, I'm here." she said gently.
"Thank you. I…I'm going for a walk." He rubbed his eyes, feeling them go pricklish suddenly.
Harry was thankful it rained that night.
-The Magnate-
"Date: August 19th, 1991. Subject: Lily Evans, mudblood. Known member of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, vocal mudblood rights activist and suspected Phoenix Movement recruit. Subject is exceptionally talented at Charms and was one of Dumbledore's trusted researchers. Threat Level 4. Recommend that further surveillance be conducted upon her return.
Subject: Joshua Bell, pureblood. Possible muggle sympathizer. No known affiliations. Threat Level 1. Further research on personal history required..."
-Threat Report by Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Watcher Division