Before Hogwarts

School 3 (age 9)

Hermione was excited, school started back tomorrow and she couldn't wait to ask her teachers a lot of questions. It would be so much better if Rick or Lucy knew more about non-magical education, but what they did know was from the US and things were different there. She had been surprised to learn that Lucy had a college education in the states, as did Rick. Lucy had explained that there was a lot taught in school that was useless in later life so it was quickly forgotten and only the knowledge you used often was retained.

Harry was back at #4 Privet Dr., but he wasn't sure why he had to continue to stay there. He had asked Rick and Lucy but all they said was it wasn't time for him to leave yet. He asked Sirius and was told that until Sirius was cleared he was unable to care for Harry in a proper manner. Remus' explanation was that the ministry would never allow a werewolf to care for a child not his own. So Harry was stuck at his aunt and uncle's home.

It was the second day of school when Harry was called to the headmaster's office. Harry was told that there had been an inquiry about how Harry could raise his grades so much in a short time. Therefore the Office of Education had ordered another exam to be administered by one of their staff to make sure Harry wasn't cheating on his exams. The exam was scheduled for the following Monday morning and a letter had been sent to Harry's guardians notifying them of said exam. Harry was not to attend classes until after the exam, so he could review and be ready. Harry was told to gather his stuff and to return to the school at 8am the following Monday.

As soon as Harry got away from the school he had an idea. He ducked down an alleyway and hid behind a dumpster and called Twinkie to him.

"Twinkie, I need to see either Rick or Lucy as soon as possible. I've been sent home from school due to some complaint, I really need to talk with one of them", Harry expressed with a scared tone of voice, almost crying. Twinkie took Harry's hand and popped him back to Rick's house, right into Harry's bedroom.

"Master Harry put his things away, Twinkie get Mr. Rick or Ms. Lucy. Both out right now, but Twinkie find", was all that the little elf said before she popped out.

Harry put his school things away and was just going downstairs when Remus came in the front door of the house. "Harry what are you doing here at this time of the day? Why aren't you in school, is anything wrong?", Remus asked excitedly. Harry explained what had happened and why he was there at the house instead of going back to the Dursley's. Remus said he was sure Rick or Lucy would take care of the matter as soon as they heard about it. Remus then suggested that the two of them go raid the kitchen until someone else showed up.

It was an hour later when Lucy came back and she was surprised to see a young boy flying around catching golf balls thrown by Remus Lupin. Once she got the whole story Lucy said she would return soon. Lucy didn't waste much time, she changed clothes and disapparated to #4 Privet Dr. Petunia was very surprised when she opened the door to see Lucy, and Lucy didn't look happy.

"Petunia, I am sorry to be so blunt, but do you know anything about Harry being sent away from school today?", Lucy asked very abruptly.

"No, this is the first I've heard of that. Where is Harry, he hasn't come home if he was sent away. I've been here all day and was getting ready to go to the grocery to get a few things for supper. But I can wait until the boys get home from school to go", was Petunia's response, though she did seem a little concerned. Lucy explained that Harry had gone to their house instead of coming to Privet Dr.

About that time the mail arrived and there on top was a letter from the school, but it was addressed Vernon Dursley only. Lucy really wanted to see what that was about, but Petunia said it would only make Vernon mad if they opened the letter. Lucy asked that Petunia let her know if the letter concerned Harry. Harry didn't return to Privet Dr. that day and Vernon seemed happier about that, he didn't even ask about Harry.

Vernon had gone to bed when Petunia got a chance to read the letter from the school. It was a notice that Vernon's complaint was being investigated and they would notify him of the results of that investigation and thanked him for bringing the matter to their attention.

Meanwhile at Rick and Lucy's, Rick had found out about Harry and was a little suspicious of the circumstances and very upset at the same time. Rick said he would have a talk with the school the next day and since Harry wasn't allowed to go to classes he could stay at the house and review. It was 8am before Petunia called the next morning to tell Lucy about the letter.

Rick was at the main office of the school system by 815am, he didn't know about Petunia's call. It didn't take much to get in to see the Superintendent of Schools after he indicated that he might be suing the school. The superintendent was able to tell Rick that they had received a complaint that suggested that Harry had been cheating and that the cheating might have effected several students. The policy of the school system was not to reveal the name of the complainant so as to encourage more people to report what might be inappropriate actions and situations. Rick asked the superintendent which were higher, local standards or international standards of education.

According to the superintendent the standards were equal except that locally it was required to have more interest on British history than was required by international standards. This was understandable to Rick as the US did the same thing and each state required more state history than needed. Rick requested that Harry be tested based on the highest standards available and that several other students from all the schools in the system be tested at the same time in the same place. He pointed out that this would serve two purposes, first it would prevent Harry from being singled out, and second it would give the school system a ruler to measure the progress of the students system wide. The superintendent agreed with Rick, though with a little reluctance it seemed.

That night when Harry called Hermione to tell her what was going on she told him she too had been sent home until Monday, and Hermione was very upset about that. Rick had left as he said he had a few errands to run that pertained to the upcoming testing of Harry. Rick's first stop was at the Dursley's home where he was informed that Harry had just disappeared. When asked why they had not informed anyone of this , Vernon said it didn't seem important. Rick explained that every day Harry was missing it would cost Vernon 500 from the allotted funds and if it turned out that Vernon had been in the least responsible for Harry's disappearance then it could get very nasty and costly.

Vernon was even more upset when he found out Dudley had been sent home from school that day and was not to return until the following Monday. Dudley was to be at the main school building at 8am on that day, plus a parent had to be with him all day. Vernon got even more upset when he found out that either he or Petunia had to be there for Harry and the same person could not represent two students unless the students were brothers or sisters. Which meant that both of the adults had to be there all day and Vernon had to miss work.

Rick noticed that the evening paper had a picture of Sirius on the front and commented that it was strange that Harry's godfather was missing also. Vernon lost all color from his face and quickly suggested that maybe Sirius had taken Harry. Rick smiled very brightly, on the inside, as he agreed that was a possibility, but of course the fact that Sirius was Harry's godfather wasn't to be mentioned to anyone due to the magical protection on Harry by the person who placed Harry with the Dursleys. In fact Vernon wasn't to mention that Harry was missing to anyone else except the police.

On that Monday Harry was at Privet Dr. by 6am so he could be taken for his exam at the same time as Dudley. When Vernon asked where Harry had been Harry told him "just around" and that the person he had been with had said not to say anything else about his location. Three Dursleys and a Potter were the last to arrive at the testing and were admonished for being late by the superintendent of schools. The first hour was taken up by all the paperwork that had to be done, then the first test was started with the adults placed in the seats above the students so they could observe the testing.

Each test was allotted an hour with a 30 minute break between each test. Harry and Hermione got together after each test to compare answers and experiences, they were the only ones not stressed by the testing methods. It seemed that the school was using electronic answer sheets like those used in the US and both kids had received instruction from Lucy and Rick on this over the past few days.

The fact that Harry always talked to the same girl after each test did not go unnoticed by Vernon and he cornered Harry to ask about that girl. Harry just told him that he knew Hermione from his summer vacation and they had struck up a friendship. At the end of the day everyone was told the results would be out within a week and that all students were to return to their regular classes the next day. That was good, what was bad was the conversation that Dan heard between Vernon and the superintendent.

"Mr. Dursley, I want to thank you in person for your report. That was just the thing I needed to justify the school wide testing of students so we can compare the different schools methods. Rest assured that you will remain anonymous to all but myself. I was even able to get your son included in the testing so he would be rewarded for hard work in school, even if his grades are a little low", the superintendent was heard to say by Dan.

Vernon just acknowledged the superintendent's words and didn't say much else. Dan made sure that he told Harry to have Rick come see him that evening, but didn't tell Harry what he had heard. When Rick heard what Dan had to say, Rick told Dan that he had suspected something like that but it would end up costing Vernon a few pounds out of his bank account to cover the cost of reviewing Harry and Hermione by special tutors. Dan and Rick, who had struck up a good friendship by now, both had a laugh at that thought. Dan knew who the special tutors had been - Rick and Lucy.

The following Tuesday Rick received an official copy of Harry's results:

Math age 9 - 99% (tied for top of year)

Math advanced - 98% (tied for top score)

Composition age 9 - 98% (tied for top of year)

History age 9 - 98% (tied for top of year)

Science age 9 - 98.9% overall (best of year)

Biology 98%

Chemistry 99.8% (top score school wide)

Languages 97% over all

English age 9 - 92%

Latin - 99% (top score school wide, age not considered)

Rick was astounded by Harry's scores, he knew the boy was smart but this was amazing. He called Lucy to tell her the results and found out that Hermione had about the same scores except her Latin score was lower and so was her Chemistry score. Their scores averaged 98.15% for Harry and 98.10% for Hermione. Lucy said Emma was ecstatic with the results and wanted Rick, Lucy, and Harry over for supper to celebrate.

That afternoon Rick and Lucy were waiting when Vernon got home so they could see the reaction when he read the scores. It was not a happy day for Vernon. They had received two letters, one to Vernon and one to Petunia. Petunia's covered Harry, overall average was 98.15%. Vernon's letter covered Dudley, overall average was 59%; plus a note saying that Dudley's scores were well below par and that if they didn't come up by year's end Dudley would be retained a year. Vernon wasn't sure what "retained a year" meant, Lucy explained that Dudley would have to repeat the year and possibly have remedial classes.

Vernon's day got worse when Rick handed him the bill for Harry; it showed the 2,000 for Harry missing for 4 days, plus 5,000 for 5 days special tutoring. The next entry sent Vernon to the hospital, all funds for the year were withheld due to noncompliance with the contract he had signed regarding Harry's care. They learned later that the shock of the money lost had raised Vernon's blood pressure to dangerous levels and he stayed in the hospital for a week to get it under control.

When Dan and Emma heard about the incident they both agreed that while it was too bad about Vernon's health it served him right for causing so many problems for Harry. When Hermione heard about Vernon her only reply was "maybe he will learn his lesson, Dudley sure hasn't learned his". Harry didn't return to Privet Dr that night, since Vernon was in the hospital.

When the threesome got home they found Caesar waiting with a letter from Sirius to Harry and one for Rick. Harry's letter told him how Sirius was doing and how much he was enjoying his new wand and job. He had been hired to work for the same agency as Rick and was chasing down criminal wizards and witches. Rick's letter was actually two, one from Sirius and one from Darrell.

Darrell's letter said that after reviewing the memory of Sirius' interrogation under truth potions and repeating the interrogation under another potion, Sirius was considered cleared of all charges and offered a job working with Darrell in the MBI, fugitive division. Also, a certified copy of the interview was sent to the ICW and requested that an investigation be launched as to why Sirius had never been charged or tried. Their request had asked that Dumbledore be excluded from the investigation as it might be a conflict of interest on his part. Darrell also included a copy of the local magical paper with a very interesting headline:

British Ministry Found to be at Fault in Sirius Black Incident

The article went on to explain that evidence had come to light that Sirius had never been charged or tried for his supposed involvement in the deaths of James and Lily Potter eight years ago on Halloween and had been denied a chance to defend himself. This was a violation of the International Confederation of Wizards bylaws, which one Albus Dumbledore was the defacto leader of. The article also pointed out that Dumbledore was the head of the British wizengamot at the time of the incident and so should be held liable for the injustice done to Sirius. The article also pointed out that only Dumbledore knew where the young son, Harry, was presently located, or if he was even alive. It was reported that the US had offered Sirius sanctuary and political asylum. Evidence from the British Ministry's own DMLE had shown that the spell, or spells, used to kill a dozen people could not have come from Sirius' wand or direction. Since the wand of Peter Pettigrew had never been found it was assumed that the spell, or spells, had come from him or another person close to him at the time.

Rick just at down and looked concerned, this was much more than he had expected. Also, these turn of events could affect Harry in a negative way. But first Harry needed to know what was happening, Rick believed that Harry was old enough to understand.

"Harry, the three of us need to talk, no we need to include Remus in this please go fetch Remus and ask him to join us.", Rick instructed Harry.

Once Harry and Remus returned Rick handed the newspaper article to Remus first, then had it passed to Harry and Lucy in that order. Rick then explained that if things went as it was indicated this could cause Harry problems in that Dumbledore was sure to try and contact Harry.

The four of them discussed the situation and the three adults thought that Harry should go to the US and finish his schooling, he could live with Sirius (Lucy wasn't too sure about that part). Harry on the other hand didn't like it one bit, that meant that he had to leave Hermione, his only friend his own age. The subject was left in the air until later so they all could think about it. After Harry went to bed the three adults restarted the discussion, none of them wanted Harry unhappy.

"Remus, I guess it's time to explain something to you about Harry. It seems that when Voldemort killed James and Lily and then tried to kill Harry it left something of a connection between him and Harry. Harry doesn't know this and thanks to Lucy, that connection has been removed. But that is minor compared to what I believe. I believe that Voldemort will return because I believe he created at least one Horcrux , or soul anchor if you will. What this means is that he didn't die completely since part of his soul was stored somewhere else. I also suspect that Dumbledore thinks something similar and that is why he has been hiding Harry. Dumbledore also tried to set up blood wards on Privet Dr. but was not completely successful since I was able to breach them two years ago and he still doesn't know.", Rick explained quietly.

Remus just sat there quietly and appeared to be in shock before speaking, "Rick is there any way to hide Harry from Dumbledore and let Harry continue to attend school like he has been doing?"

Rick said there were ways to hide Harry from Dumbledore, one way was to obliviate Dumbledore, another was to place Harry under a Fidelius charm. Doing anything to Dumbledore was risky since he was so strong magically, the Fidelius charm would work until it was time for Harry's Hogwarts letter then it would have to be removed. Rick was sure that moving Harry to the US would keep Harry safe, but not happy. Then Remus asked why Harry had to go to Hogwarts, even if it was his, Sirius', and Harry's parents alma mater? Rick was about to explain about the prophesy when Lucy interrupted and said she might have a way to fool Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore doesn't know his wards have been replaced by yours, correct?" Rick nodded. "So, what if we replaced Harry with a stand in and allowed Dumbledore to talk with said stand-in who tells him to get lost since he has done without him so far. Then once Dumbledore leaves set the wards to exclude any wizard not keyed to them. We could reset the wards after Harry starts school, or add people to the wards", Lucy explained in an excited manner. So it was decided that unless Harry had a problem with it that was what would happen. Harry had no problem as long as Hermione could visit without problems.

The wards were set as suggested that day, but surprisingly Dumbledore never showed. The news of Sirius' innocents appeared in the Daily Prophet and it turned out Dumbledore was asked to step down from the ICW post and his post at the ministry. He was able to retain his post as headmaster at Hogwarts. There wasn't much left to do, except keep Sirius from hexing Vernon.

Things went well until just before Christmas. It was a week until Christmas break when Petunia had another fainting spell just as Lucy arrived to pick up Harry for a shopping trip. This time while waiting for the ambulance Lucy examined her and found the cause of the fainting spells. Petunia's magic level had increased and the system shock had made her pass out. Lucy thought that this could be caused by the extra magic surrounding her and Petunia's small core reacting to that magic. So while Petunia was in the hospital this time Lucy got busy brewing a special potion used in the US to suppress this type of reaction.

During the holidays Lucy got Petunia to agree to visit at Rick's house, without Vernon or Dudley, and to take the potion. The test would be having Petunia in a high magic environment and her not passing out. Petunia had no problem, and the amount of magic floating around was very high what with Hermione and Harry dueling each other - though this did scare Petunia a little; Sirius and Remus having a friendly duel, and the many diagnostic charms cast on Petunia by Lucy. Lucy told Petunia what had been happening and come to find out Petunia had had this problem before when Lily still lived at home after starting Hogwarts. As long as Petunia took a full course of potions she should be fine, one a day for two weeks then one a month as long as Harry remained in the home.

While Christmas is a time of surprises the biggest surprise that holiday was when Petunia asked if Lucy would show her how to get something magical for Harry, or was it when Petunia apologized for the way she had treated Harry to Harry's face and cried doing it. The moment was broken when Hermione asked about Vernon, Petunia said that was a lost cause. The holidays went by too fast and it was soon time to go back to school and work.

Sirius called Harry to the side and told him that he had decided to stay in the US until Harry started Hogwarts. But, he had made arrangements to come to Rick's just about every weekend to spend time with Harry, and Hermione, so they could develop a closer relationship. Sirius said he was having too much fun as the American crooks weren't as much of a challenge and he was learning new things to teach Harry. Harry wasn't too happy about that but understood that since he was in school he wouldn't be able to see Sirius very much anyway, besides the coming summer he would be back in the states and get to see Sirius more.

The rest of the year was real quiet, no real problems. Unless you count the time Dudley got petrified by one of the wards set on Harry's desk when he tried to take some candy off the desk without Harry's permission. Or the time Sirius showed up to visit without telling anyone and got shocked by the wards around the house (Sirius was now keyed to the wards after hexing Remus and Rick for forgetting to do it in the first place). At the end of the school year Harry got another certificate of achievement for his grades, this one Vernon just ignored (it was safer that way Petunia told him).

A/N: Well Sirius is free, Dumbledore won't be causing problems for a while and Harry is growing up healthy and strong, not to mention smarter. Now if I'm lucky one of my reviewers won't guess what is next and I can surprise her and entertain all of you. I know there are several misspellings in this but I haven't found the correct spelling of several magical places or such. You can help by send corrections via PMs and I will fix it.

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