First and foremost, I want to thank everyone that reviewed chapter 1. It was a bit of a surprise for it to get so much attention the way it did. Yes, it's only 14 reviews but for me, that's a lot.
Secondly, I want to give many thanks to MegaB for helping me out with this chapter and for all the encouragement. Also, thanks to everyone over in KNP. You guys rock!
I mean, my Naruto fic didn't get that much attention until I was like 5 chapters in or something.
Another thing is it had 8 reviews the very day I published it. Okay, enough of that. Sorry, I'm just a bit excited.
Anyways, I apologize for taking so long with chapter 2. I kind of got a bit overwhelmed by the feedback I received and I decided that this wasn't going to be like my Naruto fic where I just wrote up a chapter and posted it without even going over it. I want this fic to be the absolute best that I can make.
Now, just to reiterate what I've already said before, Harry is going to have a very, very, different type of life. His time at Hogwarts is especially going to be different. I have a few ideas on what to do during certain events but other than that, the majority of the major events that happen in canon will either not happen or just happen very differently.
One last thing. Anon-reviews. Whether it's flaming or telling me I'm the greatest, I wont accept them. I accidentally let one get through but I'm not doing that again if I can help it. So please, whether you want to say my fic sucks or give me advice or what have you, log-in and then review.
Narcissa Black, once known as Lady Malfoy, slowly backed out of the bedroom she had just spent the last five minutes in and quietly closed the door as she moved into the hallway. A small smile graced her features as she caught once last glimpse of her darling, and only, son who had finally fallen asleep. She stared at the door for a few moments and had decided that it was now time to visit another room within the mansion before retiring for the night when a snide voice behind her spoke up.
"The little ponce has finally gone to sleep has he?" The youngest of the infamous Black sisters, as they had once been called so many years ago, stiffened before spinning around and shooting the person who dared speak so callously of her darling prince.
"Bella!' She hissed. 'Don't you dare speak that way about my little Draco!" She was careful not to raise her voice too high; she knew all too well how much of a light-sleeper Draco could be. She also knew that, when provoked, her elder sister Bellatrix could raise the dead with her cackles and screams.
Said sister sneered before turning and facing the mirror behind her. Narcissa watched in slight envy as her sister fawned over her beautiful, and youthful, face.
She knew better than to be jealous of a painting, but sometimes it wasn't fair to see Bellatrix in the prime of her life.
The painting had been made when Bellatrix was only sixteen years old. Not exactly the "prime" of her life but it was the time in which Bellatrix had been not only beautiful, but innocent. Well, so-to-speak. To clarify, Bellatrix had yet to take the Dark Mark and had yet to fall so deep into the Dark Arts and become the wretched woman she was when she died.
There were, of course, paintings that were made for their middle sister Andromeda; their cousin Sirius and his brother Regulus and finally, for Narcissa herself. Bellatrix' painting was currently the only one active however. No one, not even Sirius, knew what had ever happened to Regulus; and his painting had come up missing when the question of its activation had come up.
The best part, in Narcissa's mind, about when the paintings were created was the fact that Bellatrix didn't have any of the opinions she would later declare to be her driving force. The painting of Bellatrix was the same girl that she was in Hogwarts: snobbish, quick-witted, even-tempered and neutral. That's not to say she was a joy to be around, but at least she wasn't spewing her Death Eater propaganda onto Draco, or anyone else that stayed long enough to listen.
"I'm glad that you never got around to updating your painting Bella. If you had, I know Sirius would never have agreed to hang you up."
The painting quirked a brow, it wasn't often that she heard anything about her life after Hogwarts.
"I'm sure I was too busy for such a mundane task. Though…do tell; about what I did that would have our Lord Black do something so cruel as to deny this ancient house of my presence!"
Narcissa shook her head and turned to walk away.
"Bella, watch over your nephew's safety. I have something that requires my attention."
Her sister rolled her eyes and muttered about "having no choice" but otherwise remained silent. Taking that as a good sign, Narcissa quickly made her way down the hall.
"Come in." The voice from within the study called, startling Narcissa. With narrowed eyes she entered the room to see Lord Sirius Orion Black sitting in his favorite chair in the far corner of the room.
"I never appreciated that little stunt when Dumbledore would do it, and time has done nothing to change that Siri."
Sirius closed the book he had been looking through, moving it to a nearby tray, and looked up with a strained grin.
"I can't even remember the last time you called me that…Cissy."
Narcissa, who immediately recognized the album that held all of the photos that Sirius had of the Potters, allowed her features to soften at the nickname and quietly moved towards the tray the album lay on.
Sirius watched her calmly, not even attempting to hide what had him staying up so late. Narcissa stood next to the tray and opened the album to the middle and looked through a few pages. James and Lily. She honestly never saw that happening. Then again, she had graduated long before the Potter heir had finally wooed the muggle-born Evans girl. Closing the album, she moved towards a nearby chair and settled gracefully into it.
"Sirius…" Was as far as she got before her cousin sighed and stood up and moved to the liquor cabinet against the wall. Narcissa waited obediently as her lord made his drink. She watched as he knocked back three shots before finally making an actual drink and return to his chair.
"No. Narcissa. No. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and next time you come to talk to me, I'll say it then as well."
The widow and mother pursed her lips at being shot down so swiftly, even if it wasn't the first time, and looked ready to begin the age-old argument but a raised hand from Sirius stopped her. Fighting the urge to scream at him in anger, she rose up out of her chair and followed her cousin's example at the cabinet.
"Draco is, by all accounts, Lord Malfoy. He needs only wait till his eleventh birthday and he'll gain everything that Lucius left to him. I am not going to declare him my heir.' His voice tapered off and he nearly whispered the next part. 'Harry is my godson, and he will be my heir. I can't have children; you know this, therefore, everything will fall to my godson."
Narcissa had only thought of having a single shot before making her drink, but at Sirius' last words she poured three shots worth into her cup and downed it in one go. Her eyes watered as her throat burned but she fought through it to make her drink and quickly moved back to her seat.
"You don't even know if he's still alive.' She stated. She wouldn't lose control of her emotions. Even if she was less inclined to extol the ideology behind the pureblood purity movement that had surged up while she was in Hogwarts, it didn't mean she decided to forget everything she had ever been taught while growing up in a pureblood house. She was a lady; a pureblood. She…was drunk already. 'He could be dead in that house for all you know."
"I know." Narcissa had resigned herself to hearing her cousin go on another rant on why he wasn't going to give up on his godson or anything along those lines, but hearing the dead voice that came from him just then; "Damn this muggle liquor!"
"Siri, what do you want? You tell me that you won't name Draco your heir; that it's going to be Harry.' She slumped back into her chair, to weary and drunk to care about etiquette at the moment. 'Now you're acting all…" She waved her hand slightly in the air, not sure what else to say.
"Harry might be dead. It's true, and I'm not too blind not to be able to admit at least that much. I mean, it's been six years almost now. How can anyone, especially an infant, live that long in a single house with no one to take care of them. Even a fully stocked pantry would be emptied within a month, two at the most."
Sirius took another drink, his eyes roving around the room. Seeing this caused Narcissa to do the same. The walls of the study were mostly covered in newspaper clippings that had anything to do with that Halloween night in '81.
DARK LORD DEFEATED!
Attack on Potter family leads to the defeat of the Dark Lord.
YOU-KNOW-WHO IS YOU-KNOW-WHAT!
The Wizarding world has been saved and we owe it all to Harry James Potter!
MINISTRY STATES THAT ALL DEATH EATERS ARE DEAD
Full list of all accounted-for Death Eaters.
SAVIOUR OF THE WIZARDING WORLD: HARRY JAMES POTTER
Ministry claims that our Saviour is under a magical barrier.
Those were just a few of the articles that Sirius had saved. There were many others, but most of those were just "Headline News" in the absence of anything new to report on Harry's status. Such headlines were:
The Fudge scandal, in which a man named Cornelius Fudge withdrew from his campaign for Minister after it was discovered that he had been financially backed by former, and now deceased, Death Eaters.
Sirius, as Lord Black, overturning Andromeda's banishment and bringing her and her daughter into the Black family, it had only been headline news because it tied into Sirius annulling Narcissa's marriage to Lucius which had her reverting back to her maiden name. Sirius had also taken Malfoy Mansion as recompense for Narcissa's dowry.
Albus Dumbledore named interim Minister when Millicent Bagnold had unexpectedly resigned, leaving now successor. Bartemius Crouch, the head of the DMLE, would've been the likely successor if he hadn't also resigned after it was revealed that his own son, Barty Crouch Jr, had been a Death Eater. With his son's death and his wife's failing health, Crouch Sr had opted out for Minister and resigned from his post. Dumbledore had initially stated it was only because there was no one else that he would take up the position of Minister, but he wouldn't be keeping the position.
Narcissa took a small drink as she eyed the moving picture of the former Headmaster. He had said it was only temporary, but in the end, he remained as Minister. Not that he had a choice. With him in that position, no one dared to run against him. The ICW did require him to resign from his post as Headmaster of Hogwarts however; it was just too much power for one man to have, even if it was Dumbledore.
Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock, Headmaster, and now Minister; Dumbledore stunned the very few of his naysayers by resigning from the Chief Warlock position. The position had been up for grabs, Dumbledore declaring he would not vote either way for any candidate, and in the end it was a man by the name of Amos Diggory that had taken up the position.
Other than those, not much else was really noteworthy, even if Sirius had put it on the wall. More likely than not, many of the clippings were on the wall simply because Harry had been mentioned for one reason or another.
"Sirius..." Once again she was cut-off but this time it wasn't Sirius that had done it. The two, drunk though they might have been, were instantly on their feet when the wards alerted them of an arrival by Floo.
Quickly exiting the room they moved towards the fireplace, wands drawn, and as they neared they heard the person's voice suddenly shout out via Sonorus.
"SIRIUS! COME QUICK!" Andromeda's amplified voice echoed throughout the mansion and Narcissa darted in front of her cousin, entering the greeting room.
"Andromeda! What in the devil is wrong with you?! You had better pray that you didn't wake Drac…" Narcissa's splitting headache didn't do anything to improve her very poor disposition. She had been interrupted so many times this night, she was drunk, and her sister had silenced her with nary a word and only the barest of wand movements.
Sirius didn't even bother with the infuriated woman, instead he had made his presence known to his favorite cousin. Upon seeing him Andromeda grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him towards the Floo.
Grabbing a handful of powder and throwing it into the fireplace she shouted out "St. Mungos!" She then turned to Sirius and with one word she convinced him to leave.
"Harry!"
Thirty Minutes Earlier – Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow.
Auror Charles Elliot and Auror Rebecca Coulson stood across the street from the site of the Wizarding world's most famous building. Normally the guards were supposed to patrol around the perimeter but, after over five years, those who would be assigned this duty had learned that it wasn't absolutely necessary for a thorough patrol.
Charles and Rebecca had partnered up more than a few times and had their own little routine for their shift. They would start in front of the home; Charles would take to the sky with a broom and Rebecca would walk the street. After fifteen minutes they would take a break and chat or eat. When they resumed their duties they would trade off; Rebecca taking to the air and Charles on foot.
They were currently halfway through their shift when a sudden pulse of magic lifted them off their feet and slammed them into the wall behind them. Luckily, they only flew two feet or else they might've been rendered unconscious.
"What the hell was that!" Charles cried out in astonishment. He had never felt anything like it, and he had used to follow the dueling circuits and even once witnessed a demonstration by none other than Albus Dumbledore. The wave of magic he had just felt now though…
"I don't know but call it in. The Minister said that if anything like this ever happened he wanted to be alerted right away." Was his partner's response.
In no time at all, Minister of Magic Albus Dumbledore; Head of the the DMLE Amelia Bones; ten Aurors and three Unspeakables – if their outfits were anything to go by – were on the scene.
"People, I believe the time has come for the barrier to come down. Once it does, I will personally lead a small team inside. This team will be made up of Amelia, Head Auror Longbottom, Unspeakable Smith, Unspeakable Smith, Unspeakable Smith and myself. All Aurors are to spread out and surround the cottage."
A few of the Aurors cracked some grins or just snorted in derision at the names of the Unspeakables but they all readied themselves.
Albus Dumbledore had been waiting for this moment for nearly six years. He had postulated that the magical dome would come down at the exact same time that it went up and his belief had been correct.
He had not expected this event to occur six years after-the-fact though. It was also some kind of coincidence, in his mind, that Harry would emerge as a seven year old. It would've been more alarming if the barrier had come down on Harry's birthday, of that he was sure, so he wasn't putting too much thought into Harry's age.
His eyes sharpened as the barrier began to fade in and out. A low hum could now be heard, whether it was from the barrier itself or from within he wasn't sure. Then, in a rather anti-climatic fashion; the dome disappeared.
The Minister blinked in surprise, a sentiment that was shared by all in attendance. Potter Cottage stood as it did that night in '81, as if nothing had ever happened; though the shattered door that gave Voldemort entry that night stood out glaringly.
After only a minute, Albus took a single step forward and that's when things got interesting. The windows on the first floor had been the only ones intact after that night. All the ones on the second floor near the baby-room had all been destroyed by Voldemort's attempt to escape. When Albus had moved forward, the window suddenly exploded outwards sending glass and broken wood flying.
Hastily erected shields easily stopped the flying debris. Once things calmed down, all eyes returned to the house and every single pair of eyes widened.
The house was literally aging before them. White-painted exterior walls were turning brown, shingles were sliding off the roof in pieces; any wooden parts of the home that could be seen were quickly rotting.
Albus was now alarmed and he turned towards those gathered.
"We must enter now! Aurors, surround the home; those coming with me let us go.' Even as he gave his orders, he was already moving across the street, Amelia, Frank and the Unspeakables at his heels. 'I fear the house will not remain standing for much longer."
Albus was the first through the door followed by Frank. Amelia entered after the first Unspeakable. Frank was already moving towards the kitchen while the Unspeakables each split up in various directions. Amelia decided it was best to follow the Minister.
Albus had only one destination in mind and that was the nursery. He had ignored the quickly-decaying walls as he ascended the stairs to the second floor. He was well aware of Amelia following him but it wasn't something he cared to debate at the moment, any reason he might've had to be able to see the room alone had left his mind once the house started to literally fall apart.
Lord Frank Longbottom, Head Auror, had already checked the kitchen and backdoor. So far it seemed that the Dark Lord had been the only one to entire the house. The backdoor was intact, well, aside from the decaying it was going through currently. The windows were all shattered but that might've just been from what they had all seen earlier. He had quickly moved through the living room and was once more near the front door.
After a few moments two of the Unspeakables reappeared. Frank turned towards them and asked the question that was now burning a hole in his mind.
"Have either of you two seen any bodies?"
Albus had a death-grip on Amelia's arm as they stood in the entrance of the nursery. As soon as he entered the room his eyes immediately fell upon the small figure under the crib, Amelia had come around to his side and once she saw where he was looking she made to go towards the child but Albus' hand stopped her.
"Amelia, I do not believe that simply walking up to him would be wise right now."
Amelia gave him a look that clearly said that she didn't understand. Albus sighed and he gestured towards the small boy.
"My glasses have a special charm on them that detects ill intent. Not only does it see that on him, but it is also showing me that he has completely surrounded himself with magic.' Slowly, Albus took off the glasses. 'In fact, it's almost blinding."
Taking a deep breath, Amelia slowly stretched out her senses and tried to feel for what Albus had described. It only took a split-second and she instantly shut it down. She was now staring wide-eyed at the figure beneath the crib.
Small, almost too small, hands were gripping the bars of the crib that had been pulled down so that it almost made it seem as if the boy was in a cage. Not much could really be seen of the child except; his eyes.
They were like coals in a fire, such burning intensity that was only amplified due to the darkness of the room. Those green orbs stared back blankly, but the wariness, the hostility, were there lurking in the background.
Looking around the room, Amelia remembered Albus' own words about the house and knew that they didn't have time for this.
"Dumbledore, we need to get him out of here. Even if you have to stun him and risk him attacking you when he wakes, it's not going to do him any good to stay under there when the house crumbles around us."
Albus blinked and came back to his senses. He wasn't going to admit it but he had been trying to scan Harry's surface thoughts. He would not have been surprised, really, if the boy had strong Occlumency shields for any reason that he could think of; he would've been thankful if the boy had no shields at all. Instead, the boy was completely blank. There was nothing to read, there were no shields, there was nothing.
Stepping forward carefully, both arms stretched out and his palms facing Harry to show he meant no harm and wasn't secretly holding a weapon of any type, he decided to see if they could do things the easy way.
"Harry. My boy, you've grown since last I saw you. I know that you don't recognize or know me, and I know you don't know my colleague here, but, I was hoping you would be willing to come out from under there so that we could take you to a nice place where you can get medical help. You have been in this house for a very long time and by the looks of it, you haven't been eating well. So, could you please come out?"
Amelia nearly rolled her eyes at Dumbledore for talking to a child who had never had anyone to teach him such simple things as the English language and here he was talking to the boy as if he was anyone else. Of course, once she thought this, the boy defied her by slowly moving out from under the crib.
The two adults looked at the boy in shock as he crawled out and stayed on all fours as he moved to the center of the room before slowly standing up straight. Then, in a move that further shocked Amelia, the boy held up his hands in a gesture that easily said "Pick me up."
Albus had taken a step forward and the boy had dropped his hands and stepped back. Slightly taken aback, Albus smiled kindly before turning to Amelia who looked at him incredulously. Nevertheless, the woman moved forward with only a little bit of hesitance and was rewarded by the boy raising his arms again.
The middle-aged woman carefully picked up the boy by lifting him from under his arms. Once she got him up she brought her right arm down and under the boy's bottom while her other arm came up around his mid-section, her hand pressed against the his back. It was only now that she could fully understand how malnourished the child was. He felt as if he weighed absolutely nothing. Unbidden, tears welled up in her eyes as too-thin arms slowly snaked their way around her neck and the boy laid his head against her shoulder, facing outward.
Amelia turned towards Albus who had not moved from the entrance. Just as she was about to tell him they should get out of the house she heard a whisper right next to her ear.
"Mum."
She moved her head to the side so she could look at the child and she was startled to realize that she hadn't felt him even move. Instead of his head lying against her shoulder, he was now facing behind her, his chin resting against her collarbone.
The tears that threatened to fall before now had nothing holding them back and the woman hugged the child as tightly as she could without hurting due to his small frame. While she had no children of her own, she had raised her niece since the girl was a babe but Susan had always referred to her as "Auntie" which Amelia never had a problem with.
Now, though, this child that had asked to be picked up, that had grown up in a house by himself since he was only one-years old; that had lived in a house where both of his parents were murdered; a boy that never knew a mother's love or a father's praise; this boy was calling her "Mum" and she couldn't help but be conflicted.
How could she take away the sacrifice that Lily and James gave, especially Lily, to protect their child by allowing said child to call her by an endearment that was only meant for his true mother; on the same token, how could she tell the boy not to call her that?
In the end, she decided to stay silent and slowly walked out of the room, following after Dumbledore who advised her to stick close to him in the event that a part of the ceiling fell.
If either adult had looked where Harry had been looking when he had said what he had, then perhaps they might've looked under the crib once more.
They might've seen glowing green eyes staring out from the darkness.
And there you have it! Man, I cannot say how many times I started this chapter and then restarted it again. Sometimes, I would just sit in front of the computer and come up with nothing.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter.