They said there thank yous and good byes before leaving the room. "I will see you all soon, okay?" Alice told them. They all hugged her and went off to the Daily Prophet room. When they walked into the room Haley swore most of the reporters were praying that she was there to talk to them.
She walked up to the secretary and said, "Hello, my name is Haley Potter. I was wondering if it was possible for me to see a woman by the name of Rita Skeeter."
As soon as she said the name a blond woman rushed to her side and grabbed her hand and began to shake it viciously, "Hello Ms. Potter. I'm Rita Skeeter. Please call me Rita. It is a huge honour to meet you! I am such a big fan. Would you like to come and talk in my office?"
"Yes please. These are Molly and Arthur Weasley. They are friends of mine and will be joining us," Haley told her leaving no room for an argument.
Rita was too excited to care, "Of course! Anyone you want is welcome to join us! Come along Ms. Potter!" Rita was basically skipping all the way to her office.
She closed the door behind them and warded it so no one could listen. When she saw the confused look on Haley's face she said, "There are like fifty curious reporters out there right now. It's better to be safe than sorry. Please take a seat."
There was only one chair in front of the desk so Haley sat in it and Molly and Arthur sat on a couch on the side of the room. "Now what can I help you with, Ms. Potter?"
"Well, I have a story and Albus told me that you should be the person to tell it to if you agreed to a few things first."
"A story? Is it important? Is it about you?"
"Yes, it's about me and honestly I think it will throw the entire wizarding world for a loop."
Rita was getting more excited by the second, "What are your requirements?" She was already sure she would accept but needed to know first.
"Just two things; first you use a regular quill instead of a quick quill."
"Done!"
"And you make an oath to only print what I tell you and what I approve of. I don't need more lies spread about me. I want this to be done properly. Besides, with a story this big and strange lies aren't required to make people talk."
As an answer Rita made the oath and pulled out a regular quill and notepad and looked at Haley ready for her to start.
"Okay, this may be a shock, Rita, but I swear it's one hundred percent true."
Rita nodded.
"I'm not James and Lily Potter's biological daughter."
Rita gasped, "Oh Merlin! You were right this is huge news." She began to write notes. "So you were adopted? Everyone is going to want to know the true identity of the wizarding world's saviour's parents! You should take a lineage test!"
"Actually, Rita, I already did but before I tell you the results I think you should know a few things," Rita stared at her. "I wasn't adopted. I was kidnapped."
Rita gave another gasp, "You're sure?"
"Yes. When I got to Hogwarts the sorting hat wasn't able to sort me because my mind was warded. The Professors found a way to take the wards down but then found that several of my magical abilities had been locked. I'm actually a metamorphagus. Albus realized that the Potters used the training spell to change my appearance before locking the ability so I couldn't change myself back. I'm not supposed to look like this."
Rita was writing frantically but stopped and asked, "May I take a picture of your real appearance? I'm sure our readers would be curious to know what you look like."
"You can take all the photos you want after the rest of the interview."
Rita gave a wide smile, "Please continue, Ms. Potter."
"Well Professor Snape gave me a potion to unblock my abilities and it changed my appearance back to my original state. I didn't look like the Potters so I agreed when Albus told me I should take the lineage test."
"You are on a first name basis with the Headmaster?"
"Only when we aren't in school. I was living with Minerva for the beginning of summer," Haley explained.
"Why?"
"I think I should explain that later. I should do this in order or I may forget something."
"Of course, continue where ever you would like to."
"Okay well Albus and Minerva took me to Gringotts and we got the lineage test done. It was quite a shock when we saw the name. If you want to have a copy of it I have the original copy with me. You can make a double if you would like to add it to the column."
"I would very much appreciate that but right now all I want to know is the results. What's your name? Who are your parents? Do they know?"
Haley smiled at her enthusiasm, "Yes my parents know. Actually I've been living with them since Saturday. My name is Rachel Prewett Weasley and my parents are Arthur and Molly Weasley."
Rita stared at her with her mouth agape. "You are one of the most famous missing person's cases ever! Everyone was involved in the search! And it turned out that an Auror and his wife were behind the whole thing!"
"Yes James was apparently very involved in the search. No one suspected that his new daughter was the girl everyone was searching for."
Rita kept scribbling not wanting to miss a fact.
"When did you take the test?"
"Tuesday."
Rita turned to Arthur and Molly, "When did you learn about this?"
"Albus told us on Wednesday."
"How did you react to finally finding your daughter?"
Molly grinned, "We were overjoyed but nervous. We had already met Haley. She was friends with Ron, Fred, George, and Percy at school. They were very close and Tuesday, before anyone knew the results of the test, Albus insisted on buying us all lunch. We thought Haley was such a sweet girl and were glad to have met her. I almost had a heart attack when Albus came and showed us the results. We didn't even know she had taken the test."
"I wanted to keep the possibility of me not being the Potter's daughter quiet until I knew what was going on. After I learned the truth I was angry, scared, sad, and nervous. I wasn't able to face them yet so I stayed at Minerva's house until Saturday. Albus apparated me to the top of a hill near the house. He left me there saying that this should be a private moment. From there I walked to the house and met my family. Although at this point the only ones I didn't technically know were Bill and Charlie. I knew the others from school and I met Ginerva Tuesday in Diagon Alley."
"How did the young Ronald react to having his twin sister back?"
"I'm Ron's twin?!"
Arthur chuckled, "Forgot to mention that."
"Well, I guess it makes sense. We are in the same year and all," Haley said shyly.
Molly decided to answer her question, "The youngest four children didn't know there even was a Rachel. We didn't want to upset them. We would have told them the moment there was any sign of her but since we didn't believe she would be able to come back after so long we thought it might be best to keep it from them until they were older."
"So they must have been very shocked?"
"Yes, but they were happy also. I think they sensed something was missing."
"And now Ginerva has a sister. That must be exciting."
Haley spoke up and said, "I really like Ginny. She's a little quiet still but when she does talk we have lovely conversations. I think we will be very close."
"I'm glad to hear things are going well."
"Well, most things are going well but we have hit a few problems."
"Problems?" Rita parroted.
"Yes you see after James and Lily were murdered I was sent off to live with my moth… with Lily's sister and her family."
Molly was slightly sad when she heard Haley almost call that bitch Lily her mother but she did understand the mistake.
"Are they having problem accepting that you won't be with them anymore?" Rita asked.
"No, um, the reason I had been staying with Minerva this summer is because my relatives aren't very nice."
"What do you mean?" Rita asked confused.
"There kinda abusive," Haley said slowly.
"They hurt you!" Rita yelled in angry. Haley just nodded in response. "What are their names?"
"Vernon Dursley, Petunia Evans Dursley, and they have a pig of a son named Dudley."
"Would you allow me to belittle the bastards?"
Molly and Arthur were the ones to answer, "Yes!"
"There is also Uncle Vernon's sister. She tried to drown me once by throwing me into a lake when she knew I can't swim."
"That bitch!" Rita shrieked. "What's her name?"
"Marge Dursley."
"Are there any other examples of your abuse that you would be comfortable sharing so our readers get a general idea of what your childhood was like?"
"Well Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's favorite punishment was locking me in my cupboard and withholding food and water."
"Cupboard?"
"Yeah, that used it as my bedroom even though their house has four large bedrooms. Their second favorite punishment was to actually hurt me."
"Hurt you in what ways?"
"Well they did quite the number on my back. They wanted to hurt me in places that people wouldn't notice so they would whip, slice, and burn my back."
"Oh god, Haley that's despicable!"
"I know. When I showed Mum and Dad they called Albus and he suggested we go to Madam Bones personally. We visited her before coming here. She is going to try to get Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Aunt Marge sent to Azkaban for a long time."
"As they should be," Rita muttered. "Anything else?"
"I thought my name was either Girl or Freak until I started muggle school. They never called me by my actual name. Oh Aunt Marge pushed me down a staircase when I was six and I got knocked out for two days."
"Two days!" Molly shrieked. "Earlier you just referred to it 'a while'. Two days is more than a while. That's like a coma!"
"I'm fine now, Mum, so it doesn't matter."
"Rachel it does matter. You do matter," Arthur told her.
"I see that you called her Rachel. Is that what you would like everyone to call you?"
"Yes I think I would like being Rachel Prewett Weasley more than Haley James Potter. Plus I would much rather be named after my parents instead of my kidnappers."
"I'll make sure everyone knows that, Rachel. Would you please not tell anyone until the article comes out? It would be a huge boost in my career and I will be taken more seriously as a writer."
"Actually I was going to ask you the same thing. I want one last night of freedom before everyone needs something from me."
"Then we are in agreement! How about those pictures now?"
888
Haley was so happy when they got home. Rita had to have taken hundreds of pictures of her. She even had a makeup artist come in to help Haley looked her best in both forms. Rita was nice enough but somewhat annoying. She had her posing every way imaginable and they took picture everywhere. Some were in the Ministry. But then she wanted some more personal ones so they went to Hogwarts. Then she wanted family portraits and went to the Burrow. When she finally left Haley was exhausted. She was the last to enter the living room.
She dropped onto the floor beside Ginny and looked at Molly saying, "If I ever do another stupid interview never let me say you can take as many pictures as you want again!"
Everyone laughed at her and Ron said, "Next time don't drag me down with you. Rita wanted a bunch of 'twin found' photos. The makeup lady tried to put some on me!"
"She did put some on us!" Fred and George yelled oddly cheerfully.
"How was the rest of the interview?" Charlie wondered.
"Not bad I think. I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"And the meeting with Madam Bones?" Bill asked.
"Good she's getting a warrant to arrest Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Aunt Marge."
"Wait. Who's Marge?" Charlie asked confused.
"Uncle Vernon's sister."
"What is she being arrested for?" Fred asked.
"Um, I believe Madam Bones said child abuse, child neglect, and attempted murder."
"Murder!" several people yelled.
"Dad, what is Haley talking about?" Percy asked.
"I think Rachel should tell you herself."
"Wait Rachel?" Ron said getting distracted.
"Yeah I want to be known by my birth name. And as for the murder part I think she was referring to when Aunt Marge threw me into a lake when she knew I couldn't swim."
"Did someone save you?" Ginny asked.
"No I managed to use one of the docks legs to surface myself."
"That's horrible," George whispered.
"I'm fine. Oh! I met my godmother today!"
"Who are your godparents?" Ron asked.
"Frank and Alice Longbottom," Molly answered.
888
Haley went to her room early that night.
"How wasss Massstersss day?"
"Oh hello Medusa. It was pretty good. What did you do today?"
"I ate a ssspider," Medusa told her proudly.
"That'sss good! Well I think I'll get sssome sssleep."
"Lazy humansss."
888
Rachel woke very early the next morning. She was out of the shower and sitting at the breakfast table waiting for the mail before anyone else even woke up. She knew it was ridiculous to expect the mail so early but she was very nervous about the article. She was too staring out the window to notice anyone enter the room. "It won't be here for at least two hours," a chuckling voice told her. She turned to find Charlie watching her.
"You'd be nervous to if you told a reporter all of your secrets," Rachel countered.
"Touché, but then again I don't have secrets like yours and no reporter would care what I have to say anyways," he said as he took a chair across from hers.
"They'll care soon."
"What do you mean?"
"In a few hours everyone will know your little sister was kidnapped and then defeated Voldemort. Your name will be almost as famous as mine."
"Do you think being famous will help with the ladies?" Charlie joked.
"I don't know. I mean you're already a strong man and you work with dragons. If you can't get a girlfriend already there might be something wrong," Rachel teased back.
"Ouch! Haley! You cut me deep," Charlie gave her a mock hurt.
"Actually, as of today, I am not Haley James Potter. I am proud to be Rachel Prewett Weasley!"
Charlie smiled and said, "Well right now you don't exactly look like a Weasley."
"What?" Rachel got up and looked in the mirror. He was right her hair was green again. She focussed and it changed back to her favorite red hair. "Better."
"Agreed but this Christmas you should totally walk around like that," Charlie said grinning.
"What are you doing up so early anyways?"
"Oh on Tuesdays I'm in charge of giving the dragons breakfast. It's hardwired in me to wake up early."
Rachel nodded, "Want to help me cook breakfast?"
"I don't really cook."
"Oh come on! I'll do the hard parts!"
Charlie grinned at his little sister and decided it would be a good bonding moment, "Alright just tell me what to do."
"Yay! Okay now what do you want to eat?"
Charlie chuckled, "Food."
"Simple enough!" Rachel joked.
Rachel and Charlie worked together to make pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad, and sausages. They had a lot of fun doing it to. Rachel realized that the sake of flour they had been using is bottomless and somehow Charlie thought a flour war was a good idea. When Molly and Arthur entered the kitchen they saw the table was full of food and Rachel and Charlie were covered in flour.
"Good morning," they said looking very innocent.
Arthur chuckled, "Do we want to know?"
Charlie yelled, "Rachel wanted to cook breakfast."
"I see that," Molly giggled.
"Charlie found the bottomless bag of flour," Rachel told her.
"Rachel needed to have some fun."
"Well I'm glad you had fun but Charlie clean it up while I make sure the others are up," Molly said still smiling.
Charlie just flicked his wand around and all the flour disappeared. "Magic is so convenient," Rachel said smiling. Arthur and Charlie laughed at the girl's amazement.
Soon everyone was around the table. "Mmm, Haley these pancake are delicious," Bill told her.
"First of all, my name from now on Rachel and second of all I technically didn't make the pancakes. Charlie did. I just told him what to do."
"You taught Charlie to cook?" half the table asked.
"You really can do everything," Bill snorted.
She gave him a cheeky grin, "Always the tone of surprise."
After breakfast Rachel went back to staring out the window. The only difference this time was that nine other people had joined her. Now it was a more realistic time for mail. Any minute an owl with her fate could fly into everyone's windows. Did someone already have the paper? Were they reading about her life at that moment? Would they think she was weird? Would she have their support?
The others knew this was going to be hard for Rachel. Everyone was going to read this paper. They would know everything. How would their lives change? Will people be constantly bothering them? Did they care? They realized they didn't. They just wanted to have Rachel with them and happy. The girl deserved it. Would this make her happy though? It's not like she had a choice in this.
After an hour of waiting Hedwig flew through the window and dropped a paper on the lap. Haley picked it up and opened it. There she was. Plastered all over the front cover. There was a large picture of her standing outside of Hogwarts. One second she's in Haley Potter's body and the next she's Rachel Weasley. She read out loud, "Not a Potter? Haley Potter's shockingly true story. For full details turn to page 4.
Rachel turned the pages quickly and continued reading, "I was given a special visit from the one and only Haley Potter yesterday. She had horrifying story that needed to be told and she trusted me to tell you what you needed to know. They bombshell of the century is that famous Aurors James and Lily Potter are not Haley's biological parents. Now I know most of you are probably thinking, 'The Girl Who Lived was adopted?' That's what I thought as well but once again we are wrong. The truth is Haley James Potter is not who we thought she was. Her real name, and the name she would like to be referred to from now on, is Rachel Prewett Weasley! That's right, readers! They biggest kidnapping case the wizarding world remembers has come to an end. James and Lily Potter kidnapped their friend's daughter and pretended she was their own.
I also spoke with Molly and Arthur Weasley. Molly's exact words were, "We were overjoyed but nervous. We had already met Haley. She was friends with Ron, Fred, George, and Percy at school. We thought Haley was such a sweet girl and were glad to have met her. I almost had a heart attack when Albus came and showed us the results. We didn't even know she had taken the test." The test she is referring to is the lineage test that is available at Gringotts.
When Rachel got to Hogwarts the sorting hat wasn't able to sort her because her mind was warded. The brilliant Professors found a way to take the wards down but then they found that several of Rachel's magical abilities had been locked. Rachel would like to thank Potions Master and Professor Severus Snape for making her potions to unblock her abilities. Once Rachel took all the potions she learned that she is actually a metamorphagus. Albus realized that the Potters used the training spell to change her appearance before locking the ability so she couldn't change herself back. She was not supposed to look the way she did. When Albus figured this out he convinced Rachel to go to Gringotts to learn the truth.
Now Rachel is living with her real family happily. Apparently her father Arthur and two of her older brother, Bill and Charlie, took leaves off work to spend some time with Rachel. Rachel is getting along with them all very well. Her brothers Fred and George taught Rachel, who had a fear of water, how to swim. She has spent long hours playing three on three Quiddich with some of her brothers. And unfortunately for her older brother Charlie, Rachel has not yet lost a match. Rachel is ecstatic to have a little sister. Rachel believes they will grow to be very close. Of course we can't forget about her twin brother Ronald. The twins who actually became close friends before realizing who they were. They grew close over there year at Hogwarts.
The sibling that seems to have made the biggest positive impact on Rachel though was her older brother Percy. Percy will be going into his sixth year at Hogwarts this fall. He is a prefect and gets good grades. Yet he put all of that on the line to speak up for a girl he barely knew. You see my dear readers, not everything is what it seems. Rachel grew up with very abusive relatives. On Christmas Percy Weasley learned of this past and had some very heated words with his Headmaster. Luckily Albus agreed with everything Percy said and removed Rachel from the home. At the time they did not know Rachel's true identity so Rachel has been staying with her head of house Minerva McGonagall. The two ladies are now every close and Rachel would like to thank her for everything she's done.
Now I understand you may be confused when I say that they famous girl that saved us all was abused but I assure you it is the sad truth. After the Potters deaths the girl everyone believed to be there daughter Haley was sent to live with her only living relatives, Lily's sister Petunia Evans Dursley, Petunia's husband Vernon Dursley, and their extremely overweight son Dudley Dursley. While residing there Rachel was the victim of several atrocious crimes. They would lock her in cupboard that she considered her bedroom for long periods of time. They withheld food and water from the poor girl but that's not even the worst of it. Those monsters would cut, whip, and burn the small girl they were supposed to take care of just because she is a witch. Rachel has assured me that she has gone to Amelia Bones herself and trusts her with taking care of them. If she didn't, I wouldn't judge if anyone else took matters into their own hands in teaching these horrible people a lesson.
Rachel surprised me when she said not only were Petunia and Vernon Dursley guilty of these crimes but so is Vernon's sister Marge Dursley. The reason the young girl used to be afraid of water was the fact that Marge roughly threw her in a lake when she knew fully well that Rachel was unable to swim. One time she had her horrid dog actually attack Rachel. She had to run up a tree to escape it and stayed up there well past midnight because the revolting woman refused to call the dog off. When Rachel was six the creature of a woman shoved Rachel down the stairs with such a force that she was knocked unconscious for two days.
When you meet the young girl it is impossible to see how anyone would want to hurt her. Rachel is very sweet, very kind, and very innocent. You would never guess that she has hurt the way she has. I hope that I get to work with her more often. We had such a lovely time telling stories and taking pictures that I forgot I was with her for work purposes. I will keep you informed on any information I get regarding the Dursley's trials and Rachel's new life."
Haley looked up and said, "Well that was better than it could have been."
"Looks like Percy is gonna by pretty famous himself," Charlie teased.
"Actually we all are," Haley told him.
"What are you talking about? It hardly even mentioned the rest of us," Ron told her happily.
"That was just one article. I didn't read you other stories."
"What are you on about?" Bill asked slightly worried.
Haley smirked and read,
"Rachel Weasleys School Life – Page 5
Fred and George's Famous Pranks – Page 6
Charlie Weasley's New Dragon Research – Page 7
Molly's Wonderful Recipes – Page 8
Arthur's Work with Muggles – Page 9
A Special Look into the Weasleys with People That Know Them Best – Page 10"
"Bloody hell!" Ron shouted.
"Welcome to a day in my life," Rachel said sarcastically.
"Oh no, Rachel, it's not a day in your life until we get our own dolls, posters, chocolate frog card, and bobble heads," Bill told her.
"Wait! I have a doll, bobble head, and chocolate frog card?"
Everyone nodded.
"That's kinda creepy."
"I own the Haley Potter bobble head," George told her smirking.
"I actually have the Haley Potter doll," Ginny told her.
"This just gets weirder and weirder."
Suddenly the fireplace roared and the heard a voice yell, "It's Albus! May I come over?"
"Sure thing, Albus!" Arthur yelled.
Moments later he was standing in their kitchen and said, "Hello everyone!"
Rachel stood up and gave him a large hug, "Hi Albus!"
He chuckled at the girl. When she let him go he said, "So I see you've been reading the paper also."
"Yes and it's scary reading about ourselves from other people," Percy told him.
"I very much agree with you Mr. Weasley. I have had my share of articles written about myself. However no matter how bad the fame will get for all of you it will be even worse for Rachel. I wouldn't doubt if the Rachel Weasley doll came out soon."
"Oh my god! I so want a Rachel Weasley bobble head!" Fred yelled earning a slap on the shoulder from Ginny.
"I would actually like one of those also," Dumbledore said earning himself a slap in the stomach from Rachel. "In other news I went to Gringotts this morning. They paperwork is going through right now. Tomorrow you will be able to collect your inheritance and you may move into one of your many other houses. They did let me bring you all the information on the properties you will be inheriting complete with floor plans and photos so you will be able to decide on your new home." He pulled out several large envelopes and set them on the table. "I am sorry to say that you will need to put up with the reporters spying through your windows to try to get a glimpse of one of you for today. After tomorrow all you will need to put up with is the ridiculous amount of fan and hate mail you will get."
"I never got fan mail," Rachel informed him.
"That's because you did not have a real guardian. All fan mail was rerouted to me. I still have it if you want but you will be getting a lot more of it. It is like your inheritance. Now that you have a true guardian you can have it."
"You can keep the old stuff. I won't be needing it."