A/N First to answer a question a few people have asked, yes, this story will be mostly in Susan's POV. Thanks for reading and again, I make no money on this and everything is owned by JKR.
CH. 2
In a secluded hut in the highlands of Scotland, Albus Dumbledore sat in front of the fireplace sipping his tea thinking over the previous year and how everything had gone wrong. He had lost everything because of Bones and forced to flee like a common criminal. His plans for the Greater Good where in shambles and he had to think of a new plan to rid the world of Tom Riddle for good and once again take his rightful place as the Leader of the Light. But in order to accomplish any of that, he had to get Hogwarts back.
A sharp nock on the door brought Albus out of his thoughts. He got up and answered the door knowing the only person that could be. Opening the door he welcomed Severus Snape into his cabin. Of all the professors from Hogwarts, Snape was the only one who would still work with Albus and that was only because the oath he extracted from the young man when he came to Albus to try to help Lily Evens.
"Severus it's good to see you, would you care for some tea?"
"No thank you, I will not be staying for long. I just came from dinner with Lucius. He is not happy with the Muggle Protection Bill that is being passed and he is worried about the announced raids from Weasley. He is planning something that he is quite excited about and thinks that it will not only help kill the bill but accomplish something that and I quote, 'bring back some of the fun from the old days of killing mudbloods.' I wasn't able to ascertain what he is planning but it isn't good."
Dumbledore sat back and thought. 'This is interesting, I might be able to use this to get me back into Hogwarts and pay back an old friend.' "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. This might be just what I was looking for. We will let whatever he is planning take its course and I will come and save the day. They will have no choice but to re-instate me when they see what kind of dangers that only I can deal with." Albus smiled at the younger man, "Leave this to me Severus, I will take care of everything." Severus nodded sharply at the old man and turned and left the cabin. Once alone again, Albus sat at the fire and thought up a plan that would ensure the Greater Good came to pass.
SH
A few nights later, Albus was standing disillusioned outside an upscale restaurant. His sources had informed him that Lucius was having dinner tonight with the Minister of Magic. Lucius Malfoy walked out of the restaurant and bid goodnight to the minister and Albus saw his chance and sent a silent stunner at the elder Malfoy. Dumbledore quickly put a portkey on Lucius and together they traveled back to Albus's cottage.
Once back, Albus bound Lucius to a chair and ensured he was secure before waking him up.
"Dumbledore" Lucius drawled. "What is the meaning of this? When I get out of here, I will make you regret your father ever giving your mother their first kiss."
"Now Lucius, is that anyway to speak to your host? I insure you that I mean you no harm. I just want to ask you a few questions."
"You can ask, but I will not be telling you anything." Lucius struggled against his bonds trying to escape.
"Ah now there is the problem. You are assuming that I would be asking you questions. I have a quicker way to get the information I want." Albus sat in a chair in front of Lucius and pointed his wand at Lucius and muttered Legilemens. Albus could feel a slight resistant to his spell as his eyes bored into Lucius's as he had some training in Occlumency but was no match for Dumbledore. Albus was quickly able to discover the plan Lucius had dreamt up and how he was going to accomplish it. Albus saw a dairy with the name of T.M. Riddle on the cover and saw Lucius's plan to plant the diary on the youngest Weasley then sit back and watch as she opened the Chamber of Secrets and watch the fallout. He hoped that the mudbloods would either flee the school or die and when it comes out that it was Arthur Weasley's daughter who attacked the muggleborns, then not only would his bill be scrapped but he would be run out of the Ministry. Over all it was a good solid plan.
After extracting all the information that he needed, Dumbledore sat back and thought. He would let this plan go through but with a few alterations, manly having Weasley open the chamber. He had a better idea of who should open it. Albus got up from his chair and went to a cabinet in the kitchen. Taking out a potion bottle with an acid green potion in it he returned to Lucius who was just coming out of the daze from the mind attack.
"Now Lucius, I think we can work with your plan. But first you are going to drink this potion. It is a wonderful concoction that Professor Snape came up with a few years ago. This potion will make you very susceptible to suggestions. It won't be total control like the Imperious but it will allow me to change certain parts of your plan. You will also not remember any of this meeting or why you changed the plan." Albus stood behind Lucius and tilted back his head pouring the potion into his mouth. He held his nose and mouth close and forced him to swallow. Lucius's eyes became glazed as the potion took effect. "Very good, now as to your plan for the diary, instead of giving it to young Miss Weasley, you will give it to Miss Bones." Lucius nodded in understanding. Albus took out his wand again and surgically removed his presence from Lucius's memory and planted a false memory of Lucius going to his favorite pub after the meeting with Fudge. Albus then stunned Lucius and sent him to the back alley of the pub. When Lucius came around in the morning he apparated home and started to plan how to get the diary to Susan Bones.
SH
Susan Bones was having a wonderful dream. She was flying on a magic carpet through a sky blanketed in starts. As the carpet was flying through the air she felt a chill run through her and she shivered. She felt a pair of arms encircle her from behind and pull her close. A husky voice spoke close to her ear sending fresh shivers through her body. "A little cold Suzy? Let me keep you warm." She turned her head around to see a head resting on her shoulder with a pair of emerald eyes and messy black hair. The head moved closer to her and right when their lips where about to touch she woke up to someone saying her name.
"Suzy, wake up we are almost there." Susan opened her eyes to see those same green eyes looking at her. Her head was resting on Harry's shoulder and he was trying to wake her. She blushed remembering the dream and how close they were together.
"Oh Harry, sorry about that" she said trying to banish the blush from her face. "What happened?"
Harry smiled at her "You fell asleep while we were reading and you just slumped over onto my shoulder. I would have woken you but you seemed to be having a nice dream."
Blushing even further and not looking at Harry, "It was but I can't remember now." she lied. "Thanks for being my pillow."
"Any time, what are friends for if not acting as a giant pillow?" Susan giggled and sat back in her seat.
"How much longer do we have?" No sooner had she asked the question when the pilot came over the intercom announcing they would be landing in Orlando in 15 minutes and for the flight attendants to secure the cabin for arrival. "Well, I guess that answers that question. How far did we get in the book before I fell asleep?"
"We made it through 4 chapters. After you fell asleep I worked through the next two, so I am about half way done." The plane landed and the group worked their way through customs and headed out of the airport. When Susan got outside the humidity and the heat hit her like a wall.
"Wow, it is hot and muggy here. I think that I will be changing into shorts as quickly as possible." Everyone agreed with her assessment and the group waited for the bus to their hotel. The hotel that Amelia had booked for everyone was Port Orleans. Hannah and Susan shared a room, while Neville and Harry had another. The Abbotts and Amelia had their own rooms on either side of the kids with connecting doors between the rooms. After everyone was settled in and freshened up the group went to find some dinner. After dinner they all decided on an early night to try to recover from jetlag and get an early start on the morning.
Susan was awoken in the morning to a pillow to the face.
"Wake up Bones," Hannah said from her bed. "I want to get going and go to the parks."
Susan shot a glare at her friend. "You just wait Abbott, one of these days I will wake up before you and you will pay for all those pillows to the face." Hannah just grinned at Susan and ran into the bathroom to get ready for the day. While Hannah was in the bathroom Amelia came and knocked on the door to make sure that everyone was up.
"We are going to head to breakfast soon and decide where to go first." Amelia left and went to go repeat the message to the boys' room. Hannah came out of the bathroom and Susan took her place getting dressed into a pair of shorts and a loose shirt complete with Hufflepuff yellow flip-flops. Ready for the day the group made their way to breakfast.
"Ok, so where should we go first today?" John asked the group. After a short discussion it was decided that they would start with the Magic Kingdom. Together they boarded the bus and went to the Happiest Place on Earth. Susan loved the Magic Kingdom with everyone having a good laugh at the castle at the center of the park. After living in a castle for the better part of the year Disney's idea of a magic castle was rather funny. Her favorite ride was Space Mountain which Hannah and Neville would only go on it once with her but Harry and her rode it five times in quick secession. For some reason she enjoyed riding the tightly packed ride with Harry more than the actual ride itself and she was always sad when it ended and they had to get out of the cart. Amelia and the Abbotts took loads of pictures with a muggle camera that Amelia explained could be developed with a special potion that allowed the pictures to move.
The next few days at Disney World passed much like the first. They would all wake up early and get to the parks right when they opened and spend the whole day there. Two days into the trip Susan was once again woken up abruptly from her sleep. This time it was because everyone decided to shout "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" at the top of their lungs. With all the excitement of their trip Susan had almost forgot that today was her twelfth birthday. She smiled at her friends and family as she was enveloped in a giant group birthday hug.
Susan was able to decide on what they would do for the day and decided to go to MGM Studios. "I love movies and that is a park complexly dedicated to them." Once their Susan almost dragged everyone to the Indian Jones Stunt Show where to her amazement she was selected as an extra to help out in the show.
"Ok, someone is going to have to explain to me who Indiana Jones is now." Neville said as they were leaving the show.
Susan explained "Indian Jones is a Professor who goes and finds lost treasure. He goes on wild adventures and fights Nazis and crazy magicians. It is probably the second best trilogy ever made. When we get home we will have a movie night and watch them." After the show they got in line for another ride. "Now to experience the best trilogy ever made. It is time for Star Tours." The kids rode Star Tours five times that day and vowed to watch Star Wars at the hotel that night. Later that night they did just that. The kids watched all three Star Wars movies one right after the other. Neville and Harry the only two in the room who had not seen Star Wars sat on the edge of their seat for the entire thing.
"That was amazing. I heard Dudley talking about Star Wars but I never got to watch them. I wonder if we can learn how to summon things with our hands like Luke did." Harry said with a wistful look on his face.
"That would be so cool Harry." Hannah said. "We learn the summoning charm in fourth year I think; maybe we can figure it out before hand."
"Do you think they will ever make more Star Wars movies?" Neville asked, "It would be cool to see what happens next, or maybe what happened before Darth Vader became evil."
"I don't know, what happens if they make the movies and they totally suck. I think I would rather have no more Star Wars movies then bad Star Wars movies." Susan responded. After the movies were over the kids went to their respective rooms and went to bed. Susan went to bed thinking that this was the best birthday she had ever had.
The next day, they took a break from the parks and went on a tour of NASA. Everyone stared in wonder at the giant rockets that carried muggles to the moon and back.
"I think I remember someone telling me a story about this once. I think it was about Lenn who flew to the moon in the belly of an Eagle." Neville said. "I thought it was just a fairy tale. It's amazing what Muggles have accomplished. I don't know how people like Malfoy can look down on people who can go to the moon."
The next day they spent the day at the beach. With some inconspicuous sunscreen charms everyone was able to run around and splash in the water and not worry about burning. Susan was a little sad that her aunt wouldn't let her get a bikini like some of the other girls were wearing on the beach especially when she noticed that Harry's eyes would sometimes drift to the other girls. At first she was angry at him until later in the day she would catch his eyes lingering on her more and his cheeks reddening when she caught him. She smiled to herself when he was not looking. She did notice that Harry had filled out a bit more. A year of nutrient potions and good food had gotten rid of the almost skeletal thinness of his body and replaced it with a healthier more filled out body. His scars were almost completely gone thanks to Madam Pomfery's salve.
The two weeks passed quickly with multiple trips to the various parks. Before she knew it, Susan found herself repacking her suitcase and getting ready to head back to the airport and fly back to Britain. On the way back, Harry and Susan sat in the middle with Neville in the window. Susan noticed that Neville had lost almost all of his nervousness at being in the Muggle world during the vacation. She decided that they would try to do more stuff in the muggle world over the summer. London had a lot of things to offer and she was sure that neither Neville nor Harry had done any of them. Settling into her seat next to Harry she fell asleep again with her head resting on Harry's shoulder with a smile on her face. This had been the best vacation ever.
SH
In the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the School Governors where calling the meeting to order. Augusta Longbottom sat at one end of the table and looked over the agenda. Today they would be finally hiring a new Headmaster.
"I call this meeting to order." intoned the Chairman on the Board rapping his gavel on the table. "Since we only have one piece of business for this meeting we will skip straight to it and allow us to move this meeting along quicker." He looked around and saw no objections. "Professor Foote, please step forward. A middle aged man with greying hair stood up and approached the long table. "Thank you for attending today. Will you please tell us a little about yourself?"
"Thank you Mister Chairman and Board Members for your consideration, my name is Professor Adam Foote and I have been a professor at the Salem Institute for almost thirty years. I have taught many subjects over those years but mostly I taught Runes. I have my Mastery in Runes, Charms and Transfiguration. I hope to bring a fresh perspective to help Hogwarts regain its spot as the best magical school in the world and move it into the 21st Century."
"Thank you Professor Foote, your credentials and record are extemporary. If you could step outside for a few minutes for us to discuss the matter between ourselves we will let you know our decision." Professor Foote rose and left the hall. As soon as the doors closed Lucius Malfoy stood up.
"I do not like him. First of all, why do we need an American, there are plenty of qualified people here. Secondly, the man does not have the proper background to run this prestigious school. I vote that we reject him and go back to looking at the candidates that I put forward."
Augusta pursed her lips and rose to speak. "The fact that he is American is exactly why he was selected. The education level in Britain has been declining for the last fifteen years. We need fresh perspective to turn the trend around. And as too his 'background' as you call it Lucius, I think his credentials and academic background show that he has the background to run this school. And let's not forget that all the candidates that you put forward had shall we say a rather colorful past. Having an accused Death Eater might work for places like Durmstrang but it will never work here. I move we vote on whether to accept Professor Foote." Augusta sat back down. The vote was close with Lucius and a few of the other ultra-conservatives voting against the appointment. The motion was carried by only one vote and Professor Adam Foote became the new headmaster of Hogwarts.