Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.
Some of the concepts that will be in this fic are from other Fan fictions about Harry Potter with my own twist on them. So I would like to acknowledge all the Harry Potter fan writers on this site for great work and hundreds of hours of reading. This is an AU story.
Chapter 11
A Year with the Marauders Part 1
Both Sirius and Remus woke up to the sound of soft giggling and a sense that something was not right with the world. Remus was the first to open his eyes. Harry was sure that they could hear Remus's screams in the village that was several miles away. Hearing Remus scream, Sirius opened his eyes to find himself and Remus hanging upside down from the chandelier in the main room of Potter Manor. As he looked down at the floor his screams turned the giggling into full-blown laughter. Harry was on the second floor balcony rolling on the floor laughing. Standing next to him was Tula; she had her hand over her mouth trying desperately not to join Harry on the floor.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER" screamed Remus and Sirius at the same time. "GET US DOWN FROM HERE!" It just made Harry laugh even harder and it took Harry a good five minutes to stop. Once he had himself under enough control to stand back up, Harry looked at his two victims.
"I told you I would give you a front row seat Sirius." Harry walked along the balcony to the stairs, Tula following along behind him. Harry could see the portraits of several of his ancestors peeking around the edges of the various paintings that hung in the main room, all of them with smirks on their faces.
"Harry, when I told you to hang him from the chandelier…" he said, cringed at the murderous look Remus was now giving him. 'Me and my big mouth' Sirius thought as he clamped his mouth shut and folded his arms across his chest.
"WHAT do you mean you told him to hang me from the chandelier? SIRIUS?" This of course set Harry off again, laughing as he walked down the stairs. "Harry…cub… please let us down?" Remus asked in a soft voice. "SO I CAN KILL YOUR GODFATHER"
Remus continued in a not-so-soft voice. Harry was rolling on the floor laughing again while looking up at his godfather's scared face. Remus was shooting daggers at Sirius with his eyes. Harry finally pulled himself together and walked toward the door to get to the family dining room. Harry could see out of the corner of his eye Biggly peeking around the side of the staircase and holding his hand to his stomach, trying not to laugh. Harry opened the door and was about to walk through when Remus stopped him.
"Are you going to let us down from here, Harry?" Harry stopped and turned back to his two victims.
"Maybe, when you both learn not to leave people hanging." Harry replied with a straight face and walked though the door, Tula followed, closing it behind her. Sirius and Remus could both hear the giggles coming from the room.
"Tula, wait about five minutes, then go let them down, gently. When will breakfast be ready?" Harry instructed Tula.
"Tula will have your breakfast in a moment, oh Master of laughter." Harry stop dead in his tracks with a look of disbelief on his face, he turned to Tula to find her trying to stifle a giggling fit.
"Master of laughter… … … … " That finished off Tula who was now openly laughing. Harry was surprised; the sound of Tula laughing was almost musical because it was the first time he had ever heard a house elf laugh. It was at the moment that the rest of the house elves appeared in the dinning room, all of them smirking and clapping, Harry and Tula both took a bow. From the main room Harry heard Sirius yell out, "THIS MEANS WAR, HHHAAARRRRYYY"
"Better make that ten minutes, Tula." Harry deadpanned.
After more then twenty minutes of hanging upside down from the chandelier in the main room of Potter Manor, Sirius and Remus joined Harry at the breakfast table. Both of them were sporting headaches, and the look on Remus's face was priceless. "I understand you needed to do that Harry." Remus said as he sat down.
Remus had already issued his threats to Sirius while hanging upside down. Sirius, on the other hand, looked like the cat that caught the canary, the smile on his face stretched from ear to ear. "You're just like your dad, Harry. A better executed prank I have never seen or been the victim of. James would be proud of you."
"Oh, I don't know Sirius, dad turning Remus's hair green was pretty funny, scared me when I first saw him." Harry smirked in Remus's direction just as Remus spluttered pumpkin juice all over the table.
"Harry, I am never going to get used to you remembering everything. I had that green hair for a week, even your mum couldn't undo it. Not to mention it was a full moon a couple days later." replied Remus.
"Yeah, I had never seen a green werewolf until that night." laughed Sirius. "This still means prank war though, Harry." Harry looked down at his plate of food. He still couldn't hide the smirk that was plastered on his face. He was so looking forward to it.
"So Harry what are you planning to do for school, you still have another year before you start at Hogwarts?" asked Remus.
"I don't know, I can't go back to my primary school, besides being bored to death, they think I'm in the United States. I tried to hire Mr. Crandall's daughter Lynn to tutor me in potions, but she declined. I guess I could try and find a couple tutors to come here but that has its own problems. I guess I could just self study, I feel like I've been doing that for years now anyway." answered Harry.
"What about you Remus, you have been teaching or tutoring kids for years, Harry could hire you." suggested Sirius. "It's about time you came back to our world anyway, you've been with the muggles for too long."
"I don't know Sirius, what about my furry little problem and I don't know if I would be able to keep up with Harry. I don't even have a floo connection in my flat." Sirius held up his hand.
"Just stop Remus; you know we don't care about the furry problem. You can direct Harry's studies, what he studies and when. You can also just live here, assuming Harry wants you to." Sirius looked over at Harry.
"Yeah, Uncle Remus, I didn't have your room set up for nothing, you know. Besides, are you going to leave me here in his hands?" Harry pointed to Sirius with a smirk on his face.
"HEY" yelled Sirius indignantly. Both Remus and Harry laughed. After several minutes of silence while Harry and Sirius finished their breakfast, Remus finally made up his mind. He wanted to be here for Prong's son and he definitely didn't trust Sirius to be with Harry alone for any length of time, Harry would never grow up.
"Okay…you convinced me, I'll have to let my other students know that I can't continue with them and pack up my flat and give due notice. I'll want to test you Harry to see where you are in your studies. So give me a few days to get everything done. Let's say next Monday I'll have you sit some tests."
"Thank you, uncle Remus!" Harry got up and hugged Remus. Sirius was smiling from ear to ear again, he wasn't fooling himself, and he knew he needed help with Harry, besides Remus was the best possible person for the job, having always been the most levelheaded of the marauders. Even after Harry was born James still didn't match Remus for his maturity.
After breakfast, Remus left to go start taking care of his business. Sirius decided to go see his grandfather early to get the visit over with; he wasn't looking forward to it. Not that Lord Black was a bad guy. According to Sirius; he was just old and set in his ways.
Harry went to the master study to pick up where he left off in the journals. He had figured that each Lord Potter had only one journal and any other stuff like Great Granddad Anton Potter's potion recipes and notes were in the books in the Potter library. That had turned out to be a misconception; some of his ancestors had one or two journals while others had as many as ten.
Fredric Potter, Harry's Great Grandfather six generations removed, loved to write. He had ten journals that covered everything happening in the Potter family. Every political move made, every business investment, anything that happened in the Potter family.
His brother Brian Potter had a daughter named Stacy who went on to become a spell crafter; it was her work that created the index book which kept track of the Potter library now. Fredric wrote in his journal everyday even if the day had been nothing but breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Harry found all of the journals captivating; he learned the Potter secrets, even finding a few metaphorical skeletons in the closet. Not all the Potter Lords were firmly in the light, a good few of them were gray, though none ever crossed the line to the dark arts. The Potters that fought on the front lines against the Dark Arts could all be called leaders of the light, the rest liked to work behind the curtains, pushing their own agendas. Those agendas were always for the better of the wizarding world as a whole and the Potters in general.
As Harry read back through the journals, back though time he was becoming more and more accustomed to the writing styles of whatever time period the journal came from. He would get help from the portrait of the Potter who had written the journal if he got stuck on the meaning of a word, making it much easier. He figured he had another couple weeks of reading to get though the rest of the journals barring any distraction. If there was the one thing he missed, it was the quiet of the Surrey Library, although it was only Sirius and him, and now Remus. But ever since coming to the wizarding world he had been for a lack of a better word 'hunted' by Dumbledore, taken on the mantle of Lord Potter, freed Sirius from prison, and become one of the richest people in Britain.
-oo00oo-
Madam Bones entered the London branch of Gringotts with a lot of things running around in her normally ordered mind. Almost a week after the fall session of the Wizengamot she was still trying to understand the ramifications. The Wizarding world had been turned upside down and shaken, what fell out would take years to clean up. Right now her Aurors were in search of over a dozen witches and wizards, most of which had held seats of power within the Ministry until last Thursday.
The new Minister of Magic, Newton Crabtree, was doing everything he could to support her and run the Ministry at the same time. The Wizengamot vote of no confidence against former minister Fudge had been successful that morning; the man didn't even show up for it. The Daily Prophet had speculated that the DMLE was going to open a case on Fudge's dealings; they were not far from the truth.
The questioning of Bellatrix Lestrange was ongoing and so far they had the names of every one of Voldemort's inner circle. Some were known to be dead or in Azkaban already and some like Lucius Malfoy were now on the run.
'Madam Bones walked into the interrogation room. Strapped and chained to the chair was Bellatrix Lestrange. She looked haggard and feeble. Her hair was falling out, her eyes sunken and lifeless, and her face was grimy, all covered in dirt. Obviously no one had bothered to try getting her cleaned up, she looked pathetic.
"Hello, Bellatrix, it has been a long time. How are the Dementors treating you, I understand they have taken a liking to you?" There was an empty chair a few feet in front of Bella, Amelia sat down in it and crossed her legs.
She was not allowing anyone to enter this room with a wand and two of the biggest Auror she had stood behind the prisoner. Bellatrix spat at Amelia's feet. "That wasn't very nice Bella, but it doesn't matter. I am here to inform you that the laws preventing the use of Veritaserum on prisoners is temporarily no longer in effect. You will answer all our questions, whether you like it or not. Have a good day, Bella." The screams coming from the room as Amelia left were heard echoing deep into the heart of the DMLE.'
Malfoy Manor had been searched from top to bottom and despite the discovery of several Dark Arts and cursed items, Lucius was not found. His wife Narcissa and ten year old son Draco had been at the Manor but didn't know where he was.
Peter Pettigrew was still in the wind, the Aurors didn't even know where to start looking for him, they had a picture of him from eleven years ago, and a description of his illegal animagus rat form from Sirius Black's trial. She wasn't yet willing to release that description to the public or she would have people delivering rats to the ministry in droves.
On top of everything else on her already overflowing plate, the name Harry Potter had popped up, although at least in this case it was not a bad thing. It seamed that while the wizarding world was being turned upside down Harry Potter had become Lord Potter, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter.
His file had turned up on the Minister's desk because of some general orders left behind by Fudge. After going through the file Minister Crabtree had called her to his office. They had found out that Sirius Black was Harry's godfather. A copy of the Potter Will had also appeared in the file, which they had several questions about. With that in mind it was not too far of a jump to realize that Harry may now be with the famous Sirius Black. The Minister wanted an interview with the new Lord Potter and it was her job to find him, she wanted an interview with Sirius Black as well.
"Madam Bones, how can Gringotts help the Ministry of Magic today?" asked a goblin sitting at one of the desks.
"I would like to speak with Mr. Scott Crandall, if I may?" replied Amelia politely. The goblin looked over his shoulder at one of the goblin runners, who immediately turned and entered a door along the wall.
"Have a seat Madam Bones; someone will be right with you." Amelia walked to the waiting area and sat in one of the waiting chairs.
-oo00oo-
Sirius returned later that afternoon to the Manor and when he entered the master study, Harry could see that he looked troubled. Harry waited for him to sit by the fireplace across from him. He didn't look ready to talk about whatever it was that was troubling him so Harry returned to his reading. After some time, Sirius turned to Harry. "Well looks like we are both going to get our feet wet in the world of running an Ancient and Noble House." Harry looked up questioningly, and then spotted a new ring on Sirius's hand.
"What happened with your grandfather?" ask Harry.
"He's getting old and he has been in seclusion for the last nine years within Black Manor. With me in Azkaban, the House of Black would have fallen to Narcissa's son Draco if Arcturus had passed away or was killed. Arcturus wants to spend whatever remaining years he has enjoying his life, so he officially passed control to me." Sirius slumped back into the chair.
"You're looking at the new Lord Black. Arcturus is writing a public statement for the press, it will be in tomorrows Prophet." Sirius sighed.
"He gave me some advice about what I should do, finished the last entry in his Black family journal and retired. He's going to live in one of the Black family chateaus in France until he passes away. I have put all of the other Black properties on lockdown until I figure this all out."
Harry got a worried look on his face. "You're… going to stay here with me though, right?" Harry asked desperately. Sirius jumped up from his chair and knelt down in front of Harry taking him in his arms. "I'm never going to leave you again pup, that's a promise."
Remus walked in at that moment, he stopped at the door and watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek. Remus backed out of the room while mentally making the same promise. He walked up to his new rooms leaving the two to their time together.
-oo00oo-
The next morning, Harry and Remus were sitting down to breakfast; Sirius was still asleep, when Biggly popped into the dinning room. "Harry, Mr. Crandall is here."
"Biggly, show him in please." Biggly nodded his head and popped away. A minute later Mr. Crandall entered the dinning room.
"Join us for breakfast Mr. Crandall? This is my Uncle Remus Lupin, no blood relation." Harry offered, introducing Remus. Remus stood up to greet the man that had been helping Harry for the past few weeks.
"Thank you Harry and it's nice to meet you Mr. Lupin. Harry and Sirius told me that they were going to try to find you." Mr. Crandall shook the hand that Remus was extending to him.
"It's nice to meet you as well Mr. Crandall, I can't thank you enough for everything you have done for Harry and Sirius." Remus sat back down while Mr. Crandall took a seat across from Harry.
"I got your letter Harry and I had a visit from Madam Bones yesterday." Harry looked at Mr. Crandall, waiting for him to continue. "I had Gringotts look into it and the author is using a pseudonym. Whoever it is, is writing anonymously, so it's going to take some time to find out the persons name. We could file against the publisher but I'm going to recommend that we wait on this."
"Why is that Mr. Crandall? The idea that someone has been making money off my name and spreading lies about my life is driving me nuts. I skimmed through all the books and they are all complete fabrications. Even the supposed history books paint me as some kind of super wizard with no facts to back them up." Mr. Crandall held up his hand to stop Harry, he could tell he was getting worked up over this.
"First of all, Harry, you need to calm down. The reason I think we should wait is so we can find the author first, the other reason is that you would have to come out in the open, which would let Dumbledore know for sure where you are. I think we should wait until you are on your way to Hogwarts, and then file the lawsuit that day; this is going to be big news." Scott could see that Harry was thinking it over.
"You're right, we should wait. I was also thinking this over last night, with all this fame that I have because of these books, shouldn't I be getting fan mail by the truck loads? Gringotts told me they have been sending out my statements all these years; I never received any of them." Mr. Crandall looked lost in thought.
After a few minutes of thinking he pulled a piece of parchment from his robes. Tula appeared at that moment with an ink well and quill. "Thank you Tula, you do Harry proud with your attentiveness." The little house elf beamed a smile at Mr. Crandall and disappeared. "I'm going to write a note to you Harry and have it sent by Owl post; I'll place a tracking charm on it to see where it goes." After finishing the note and placing the charm on it, Tula appeared again holding out her hand. Mr. Crandall smiled and handed her the note, she then popped away. "Wish I had a house elf like that one Harry." Scott commented.
"All you have to do is treat them with respect, kindness and genuine friendship and they will bend over backwards for you. All of the elves here are family to me know." replied Harry.
Sirius strolled into the dinning room just after Harry finished talking. "Good morning all, nice to see you again Scott. So what's going on today?"
"We are just going over a few things, namely the books I found and the fact I don't get mail from all this fame." replied Harry. Mr. Crandall nodded his head in greeting to Sirius. At that moment Tula popped back into the dinning room. "I has sent the letter from Diagon Alley Owl Post." She then handed Harry the Daily Prophet.
"Tula I set up a subscription to the Prophet, it should be delivered by post?" questioned Sirius.
"Nasty newses paper is delivered to Manor owlery, addressed to Mr.'s Black." Sirius nodded as he dug in to his breakfast. Remus had finished his breakfast and excused himself, he had more to do today, his flat needed to be packed up and moved here to be put in storage. Harry looked at the front page of the newspaper, finding what Sirius had told him earlier.
New Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Black
In a move seldom seen within the Ancient and Noble houses, Arcturus Black has passed control of the Ancient and Noble House of Black to none other then the recently found innocent and still infamous Sirius Black. It is normal for the Lordship to be passed on after the death of the current Lord to his heir apparent. In a letter received last night by the Daily Prophet from then Lord Arcturus Black, he stated that he is tired of hiding away from his Death Eater relatives that hoped to gain control of the Black family fortune by his untimely demise. By passing the Lordship to his now exonerated grandson Sirius Black, he could live his remaining years in peace.
Many believed that Sirius Black had been disowned by the Black Family, however, this rumor has been proven untrue. As a last act Lord Arcturus Black signed papers disowning Bellatrix Lestrange after annulling her marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange. The now nameless Bellatrix is still being questioned by the DMLE. Lord Arcturus Black also annulled the marriage of Narcissa Malfoy to Lucius Malfoy, who is now wanted for questioning for his dealings with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Lord Arcturus Black did not disown Narcissa, leaving that decision up to now Lord Sirius Black.
The article went on to give a short history of the Black family and Sirius's history in general. Harry passed the paper over to Sirius who groaned at having to deal with all these problems. Harry turned back to Mr. Crandall who was enjoying a small meal. "You mentioned a visit yesterday?"
"Oh yes, Madam Bones stopped by Gringotts yesterday, it seems your Ministry file turned up on the desk of Minister Crabtree. It updated itself when you took over as Lord Potter. After reading the file and finding out that Sirius here is your godfather, the Minister and Madam Bones have passed on a request for a meeting." Harry remembered that there was a Crabtree listed in the access book for the Manor. Harry excused himself from the table saying he would be right back; he needed to talk to his granddad.
Mr. Crandall sat finishing the delicious breakfast as he waited for Harry to return. Sirius had other issues on his mind. He turned to Mr. Crandall. "Could you have papers drawn up for the reinstatement of Andromeda Tonks to the Black family and disownment papers for Draco Malfoy? I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do about Narcissa." Mr. Crandall nodded his head as he currently had a mouth full of pancakes.
When Harry didn't return before Sirius and Mr. Crandall finished breakfast they both decided to look for him. They found Harry in the Master Study talking with his Granddad's portrait. Harry turned around when the two entered.
"Ok, Granddad says that the Crabtree's and Potter's have been aligned for several generations. He's meet Newton several times and says he's a good guy. So, ya, I guess I can meet with him. Granddad says it would be best if we do it here though, can that be arranged? Say a couple weeks from now so Remus, Sirius, and I have some time to get settled?"
After another hour of talking Mr. Crandall departed, heading back to Gringotts. Harry returned to his books while Sirius decided to take care of some of his family business. Which in his case was finding out what the family business was, Sirius had never before paid attention to what was going on in the Black Family other then what was happening in his own little corner of it. Sirius had a lot of catching up to do, more so then Harry in some cases, because Sirius still had family, even if they were just cousins.
The rest of the week proceeded mostly the same way, Harry would spend his days reading the family journals, Sirius and Remus would spend a couple hours in the morning with him then run off to take care of whatever they had to take care of. Then after dinner the three would sit down in the family lounge to talk and spend time together. Most nights Sirius and Remus would trade off telling stories about Harry's parents, stories about their time at Hogwarts and before Harry was born. They both avoided stories about the war and what Harry's parents went through.
Harry found out that his mum had become a Spell Crafter. She wanted to add to all the wonder that was the Potter library. Sirius called her the fiery bookworm. "The first time your mum…"
'"And this is the library" James swept his hand around the room. Sirius watched as Lily's eyes went as wide as saucers at the sight of thousands of books. "Oh… James, can we just move in to this room?" Lily asked as if she was a kid in a candy store. "Now…now Lils, if we did that I would never get you out of it and I still want to see my new bride from time to time." replied James. Sirius had laughed at the look on Lily's face as she locked eyes with James. He could see the start of one of their rants.'
Remus said his mum had been the best researcher he had ever met. She could go through the index book faster then anyone else. They both told him that up until his parents went into hiding that Lily would spend at least a couple hours a day in the library.
By the weekend Remus was finally moved in, all of his belongings were either in storage in one of the Manor storerooms or in his suite. Sirius had been out to see his cousin Andromeda Tonks. He reinstated her to the Black Family and blessed her marriage to Ted Tonks, who was a muggle-born wizard. He had also met Andromeda's daughter Nymphadora, who was starting her sixth year at Hogwarts on Saturday. She had almost decked Sirius when he called her Nymphadora; she preferred to be called Tonks. Harry told Sirius that if he wanted he could invite them over for dinner some night.
-oo00oo-
Sirius received a letter from his other cousin Narcissa, the former wife of Lucius Malfoy. She requested to speak to him about what had happened. Sirius replied that he was still considering the issue and would get back to her, but that there was no saving her son, he had sent the disownment papers along with his reply. The reply howler from Narcissa had rocked the entire manor. It started out with her calling Sirius every name in the book, which Sirius was laughing hysterically about, and ended with her begging him to reconsider, which took away Sirius's jovial mood. Sirius replied back telling her that he would meet with her in one year's time to discuss it, that he would reconsider her son if he was sorted into any other house except Slytherin when he started there next year.
Sirius wasn't the type to hold the son for the sins of the father. What no one knew was that Sirius had seen Narcissa and Draco in Diagon Ally the day he had gone to meet Remus. He spotted her leaving Gringotts with her son just as he had concluded his business with the Goblins. He hadn't anything else to do until he meet with Remus for lunch so had discreetly followed them around. What he witnessed of Draco was a carbon copy of Lucius. The boy was arrogant, rude, and a bigot. Lucius had taught the boy well to be the perfect pureblood.
'They were walking by Quality Quidditch Supplies, stopping to look in the window. Another young boy was standing at the window at the time with his father.
"Dad, what's Quidditch?" the young boy asked. Sirius could tell it was a muggleborn and his father. They had probably just learned about magic and where shopping for the boys first year supply's for Hogwarts.
"I don't know John, let go in and find out." replied the father.
Sirius watched the look of disgust come over Draco's face as he heard the conversation. "Mudblood!" Draco called out.
Before he could say anything else Narcissa covered Draco's mouth with her hand and started saying something to him in a hushed manner. Sirius could tell she wasn't happy with her son.
The apple didn't fall far from the tree Sirius remembered thinking. Sirius was willing to give Narcissa a chance to change the boy.
-oo00oo-
Come Saturday, Harry asked Sirius to teach him how to fly on a broom, He had asked Remus to join them but was told that Remus was preparing his tests for Monday. So on Saturday morning Harry got up early and had his breakfast. When Sirius had not shown up by the end of breakfast Harry decided to wake him up. Having someone jumping up and down on your bed will wake anyone up and Sirius was none to happy about the early hour as he chased a laughing Harry around the Manor complaining about the time.
An hour later Sirius and Harry were standing outside the front of the Manor. It was the first time Harry had been outside the walls of the Manor. Up until then he had only looked through windows, and spent a couple hours one day sitting on the stairs in the main hall looking out over the cliffs down at the ocean at the back of the Manor.
Looking around, he could tell that the front was meticulously cared for. Biggly had told Harry that Roper, who was the new groundskeeper elf, had been working day and night to get it all cleaned up. The front garden had new flower beds growing and would soon be in fall bloom. The green grass was perfectly cut and trimmed; around the walkways were several park benches. All of this surrounded a moderately sized fish pond that had a fountain in its center.
Sirius had shown Harry where the broom closet was, just off the main hall. There had been about a dozen brooms in the closet; Sirius telling him that they were Cleansweep 6 brooms, which had been the latest model ten years ago.
"Okay Harry, these are full power brooms. So I want you to take it slow." Sirius walked into a grassy area and placed the broom on the ground, Harry then copied him. "Hold your hand over it like this and say up."
Harry held his hand over the broom just like Sirius was doing. "Up." The broom shot into his hand like it was meant to be there. Sirius watched and smiled that Harry was able to get it on his first try.
'James and Sirius walked out of the Manor, following Harold. Harold put the three brooms on the ground and stood next to one, instructing James and Sirius to do the same. "Now hold your hand over it and say up just like this." Harold's broom jumped up into his hand. James copied his father and the broom jumped into his hand on command. Sirius had to try twice before it would do as he told it.' Sirius remembered that day many years ago, the look on Harry's face was the same one Prong's had had.
"Okay you mount the broom like this." Sirius showed Harry. Harry again copied him. "Now all brooms today have a cushioning charm on them so you feel like you're sitting on a chair…" Sirius explained how to go up, down, forward, and back. "Okay, go ahead and kick off lightly." As soon as he said it Harry was a blur heading into the sky.
"WOOOOHOOOOO" was all that Sirius could hear as Harry turned the broom and buzzed around his head. "Prongs, he's a natural just like you." Sirius said, with his head up watching Harry. Sirius jumped on his broom and took off after Harry, following him around as he sped back and forth around the gardens. They played follow the leader for twenty minutes or so then landed back where they started. "So what do you think of your first solo flight?" asked Sirius.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, I remember dad flying me around a couple times but this was so much better." Harry replied with a smile stretching across his face.
"Okay, no flying without me or Remus until we are sure you will be okay by yourself. Now what do you want to do?" Sirius replied sternly.
"I want to take a look around the property and go see the greenhouses." Harry was already getting back on his broom.
Sirius mounted his broom again and took off after Harry. They spent another two hours flying back and forth over the Manor grounds. The forest that started about two hundred meters from the front of the Manor and surrounded it on all sides except the back went for at least a mile or more in each direction. As they flew out over the forest Harry could see a town off in the distance and slowed so Sirius could pull up next to him.
"What town is that? Do they know that there is a manor out here?" asked Harry.
"You know I don't think James ever told me, I've never been there." replied Sirius. "This entire area is what we call unplottable, kind of like it doesn't exist, the muggles don't see the forest, and they think the town is on the edge of the cliff. And if any of them get the idea to go for a walk on the edge of the cliff or the beach below they suddenly find they have something else they need to do, its part of the wards." Harry nodded in a sort of understanding.
They flew low around the forest until they came around back toward the Manor when Harry spotted a clearing about a five hundred meters north of the Manor. A stone path lead from the Manor gardens through the forest to the clearing. In the clearing Harry could see five buildings, which were all made of glass. Harry turned in that direction, landing on the path to the greenhouses. As soon as his feet touched the ground he heard a soft 'pop'. Klisk, the house elf he had bonded with to take care of the green houses, stood waiting for him. Harry hadn't had much contact with Klisk since the bonding other then the day he had to put the Manor in lockdown. Biggly had told him that the greenhouses were in bad shape and Klisk was only able to do so much.
"Master Harry, you has come to see the greenhouses?" asked Klisk, as he bowed. Harry dismounted his broom, Sirius doing the same.
"Klisk, I've asked you to just call me Harry." Klisk shook his head.
"I like to use your proper title Master Harry." Klisk replied. Harry walked to the house elf and put his hand on the house elves shoulder.
"It's okay; you can use the title if you like." Harry could see in the house elves eyes that it was his wish to do so. Klisk stood up a little taller and gestured to the greenhouses.
"Welcome to the Potter Greenhouses. Klisk has been working hard to get them in order but it is difficult. They are very overgrown and Klisk is not recognizing some of the plants. Some of them are very aggressive." Klisk was looking upset again. "Klisk is finished in greenhouse one but Master Harry should not enter the rest. Klisk is not Herbologist; Klisk is needing the help of Herbology master to get the other greenhouses in order."
"Klisk is right Harry; the Potters had some very rare plants in the greenhouses. There was even a couple that the rest of the wizarding world thought to be extinct. How bad are the other greenhouses, Klisk?" Sirius explained to Harry, before turning back to the house elf.
"Very bad, Devil's snare has taken over entire night greenhouse. There is another vine in greenhouse four that Klisk have never seen before and it is choking out all the other plants. Klisk needs help!" Harry nodded his head, another thing that he was going to have to see to, and then an idea came to him.
"Sirius, do you know if any of the Potters were Herbology Masters? I haven't finished reading all the journals yet; maybe one of the portraits can at least direct Klisk." Harry questioned.
"I don't know, but we can ask Harold when we get back." Harry nodded.
Klisk gave Harry and Sirius a tour of greenhouse one, the inside was much bigger then it looked on the outside. It looked like Klisk had been very busy just in that greenhouse, all the plants were lined up neatly, seedlings were growing, and everything seemed to have had a fresh trim. Klisk explained that all the trimming he had done were ready to be processed for potion ingredients and had been taken to the lab under a stasis charm he had been taught. He went on to explain that most of the plants in the greenhouse were mundane but had magical properties. The tour lasted half an hour, Harry learned quite a bit in that short amount of time. Harry was even intrigued by all the plants, so he added it to his list of things to learn more about.
The two explorers returned to the manor for lunch, after which Harry returned to his reading. Sirius wandered off to find Remus and see what he was doing. He found him in the research wing of the Manor in one of the study rooms working on Harry's tests. Remus had contacts in the muggle world; teachers he could go to, to get their standardized tests. He had tests for all muggle subjects, including math, science, reading and writing, social studies, geography, and a dozen others. The most difficult exams he had were university entry level. He was currently working out a schedule for the exams and in what order to give them in. When Sirius walked in, he looked up. "Harry is going to have a very busy week, maybe even two." Remus told Sirius who sat down next to him.
"Have you included any Magical courses?" asked Sirius. Remus shook his head.
"No, I will include them in his studies after I get an idea of where he is in all of this. I have a feeling that he is well beyond where any other magical kid would be at his age, since they would have stopped studying beyond the basics." Sirius nodded.
"He's a smart kid, James was brilliant and Lily could outsmart James. You know, he added Herbology to his list today after seeing the greenhouses. Have you seen the results of his family tree ritual?" Remus looked up from his writing. He knew about Harry being Heir to the four founders but hadn't been told that they did a Family ritual.
"No, I didn't know he had one done. That would really help in setting up what he should concentrate on." Remus replied.
"I'll get it for you; Harry didn't tell me what magical abilities got listed on it. Scott Crandall hinted at them, but I'm getting the impression that something was on it that Harry didn't want me to see." The two friends talked for another hour before Sirius went off to find Harry. He found him in the master study; sound asleep on the couch, with a book hanging open from his hands. Sirius gently took the book, putting it on the table and then covered Harry with a blanket which he found under the couch.
At dinner that night Sirius asked Harry about the ritual parchment. "Harry, it would be good if you let Remus see the parchment so that he can focus on your abilities."
"I know, I'm just… it's a lot to take in… there was something on it that Mr. Crandall told me I should keep to myself." Harry managed to finally say.
Harry though about it for a minute as his godfather and uncle waited. "I'm… a Parselmouth. I can talk to snakes…" Harry finally just blurted it out. If he couldn't trust his Dad's two best friends and his guardians who could he trust? Mr. Crandall was under oaths keeping him from saying anything. Harry watched as Sirius's mouth opened and closed a few times with nothing coming out. Remus didn't even try to say anything but he didn't look disgusted or scared, just thoughtful.
Harry continued in a soft voice. "I'll understand if you don't want to be around me anymore… Mr. Crandall told me that everyone thinks it's a sign of evil." He then let his head drop, looking down at the table, a tear running down his cheek.
Sirius's goldfish impression stopped. "Harry, you're not evil! I promised that I would stand by you, no matter what." He walked over to Harry, wrapping him up in a hug. After Harry was settled down the three discussed the implications of this.
"I say let people know about it early, it will eventually blow over and people will forget. That way, you could be seen using it all the time, but keep a good image. You know, take the stigma out of it." This advice came from Remus. "Before you say it Sirius, I know I should follow my own advice." Harry thought about it, while Sirius and Remus debated back and forth. He decided to see what happened, if it came out somehow he would deal with it then.
-oo00oo-
The welcoming feast at Hogwarts went without any surprises. The students had arrived on time and without incident. The Sorting Hat sang its yearly song, and then put the first year students in their respective houses. Dumbledore listened without much interest. He had other things on his mind.
As he watched the first years come up one at a time to have the hat placed on their young heads he would see Harry Potter sitting on the stool. Every time a student was sorted into Slytherin he would cringe, but he would give a small smile for each new Gryffindor. Students sorted into the other houses got no reaction, just indifference. After the feast he gave out his normal 'welcome back' speech, introduced the new defense against the Dark Arts teacher, and then sent the students off to bed, because classes would be starting on Monday.
His time now would be limited as far as the search for young Harry went. He had many ideas as to where Harry was but no way to prove any of them. He wasn't going to test the defenses around Potter Manor, which would be a futile effort and draw too much attention from the Ministry and rest of the wizarding world.
He was certain that Harry was with Sirius Black at this point, the timing of Harry disappearing, Sirius getting released and then disappearing also, Harry taking up the title of Lord Potter, Sirius getting appointed Lord Black, all within a few short weeks, was just too much to be a coincidence. Albus was also certain that, if the young man he had seen the other day was Harry and that the man in the hooded cloak had been Sirius, the other man could only have been Remus Lupin.
All of this was speculation at this point; he had no proof to show otherwise, except that Harry was now indeed Lord Potter, his file had confirmed that. Albus had also sent out several letters to Harry, Sirius, and Remus. He had at this point received no replies and the tracking charms he placed on the letters disappeared after entering someplace in north Wales. Albus knew the Potters were from Wales and he had been to the Potter Manor many, many times but he did not know where it was actually located. Wherever the letters were going, it was unplottable.
Albus also concluded that Harry was still getting help from some unknown person. Harry's disappearance had been the first in the chain of events. The Dursleys disappearance was still a mystery and they had just dropped of the face of the planet, he had no leads to follow in tracking them down. He had tried sending them a letter with a tracking charm on it as well; the poor owl had circled the owlery for five minutes before returning to its perch. Albus had even gone so far as to ask Fawkes to take him either to the Dursleys or to Harry, but the phoenix, his long time friend, had refused. That at least helped settle his fears a little, Fawkes would not refuse if Harry was truly in danger.
All of Albus's plans for getting rid of Voldemort once and for all were going down the tubes. The words of Harold Potter's portrait were still ringing in his ears. 'YOUR greater good, you are playing with other peoples lives Albus, to me you are no better then Voldemort. You are willing to sacrifice others for your Greater Good.' Was he himself turning Dark? Fawkes, still sitting on his perch in Albus's office, negated that possibility; Fawkes would never stay with him if he was Dark. The other thing troubling Albus Dumbledore was the new prophecy.
The Heir of the FOUR comes
Found as the EIGHTH moon rises new
Lord of family he has LOST.
TAUGHT by moon and grim
Remembers ALL placed before him
Friends he will have BEFORE.
Enemies he will find NEW
Troubled will he be with the PHOENIX companion
The HEIR comes.
He had been thinking about this prophecy for over a week now and was no closer to figuring it out. It seemed to be a prophecy within a prophecy, to all outward appearances it looked to be about Harry. But how could it? Albus was aware of the link the Potters had to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but as far as he was aware, there was no Hufflepuff heir and Tom Riddle had been the last Slytherin Heir.
FOUR, EIGHTH, LOST, TAUGHT, ALL, BEFORE, NEW, PHOENIX, HEIR, Sybil had emphasized all of there words. It had taken him three viewings of the memory before he became aware of the significance of those words. "What does it all mean?" Albus asked the room. An answer was not forthcoming. Albus Dumbledore fell asleep that Saturday night with those nine words circling around in his mind.
-oo00oo-
On Sunday, Harry spent some time studying. Not that anyone could see him doing it though. He sat in the library all day with his eyes closed, going through his mind and reading through the information stored there. Remus had informed him that he would start with math, reading and writing on Monday morning. Mr. Crandall stopped by in the afternoon; it was mostly a social call to inform everyone that the Minister was looking forward to meeting Harry the next week. He had tracked the letter sent to Harry to Hogwarts, more specifically, the Headmaster's office. This was just another thing to add to Harry's list of grievances with the old man.
Mr. Crandall asked Harry to come to Gringotts with him so they could check him for hidden charms masking Harry's magical signature. It was the only way to divert mail; Mr. Crandall told Harry that Dumbledore must have a device in his office giving off the same magical signature as Harry. If Harry's more powerful signature was unmasked then the Owls would start coming to him.
It took only a few minutes for Harry and Mr. Crandall to make their way to Gringotts via the floo network. Again, Harry got glimpses of other people through the grates. Harry was taken to a small office at Gringotts to wait for a curse breaker to come take a look at him.
A goblin and a young man entered the office where Harry and Mr. Crandall waited. Mr. Crandall introduced the Goblin as Rockhammer. Rockhammer then introduced the young man as Bill Weasley, a new Gringotts employee that was learning curse-breaking from Rockhammer before being transferred to Egypt. However, Mr. Crandall did not introduce Harry to the two.
Rockhammer supervised the young man's spell casting as the curse breaker waved his wand over Harry. It didn't take very long to find the curse masking Harry's magical signature. Mr. Weasley was then directed on how to break the curse. When everything was done Harry felt lighter, a test owl was sent again, then Harry portkeyed back to the Manor. To the excitement of Harry the owl arrived a couple hours later.
-oo00oo-
On Monday morning, after having a large and very tasty breakfast, Harry found himself in one of the research wing's study rooms. He was sitting at the desk in a straight-backed chair with a pile of papers stacked on the left edge of the desk. Remus told Harry that the test was timed; he had until lunchtime to finish the current stack of papers. He also informed Harry that he had to use ink and quill instead of muggle writing instruments so that he could judge Harry's ability using them.
Harry began scratching away with the quill, this was his math test and it covered everything from basic math to calculus. As Harry finished each sheet of paper on the pile, the test got harder. He was currently in the advanced algebra section and still had at least three hours until lunch. At the moment he was at ln(x – 2) + ln(2x – 3) = 2ln x, it only took a minute or two to get the answer so he moved on. In his mind he visualized a representation of himself running around in his minds library pulling its hair out. As Harry worked on each problem his virtual self was pulling books off shelves trying to find the answer or the steps to find the solution to each new problem. The pages in the index book he created in his mind to manage everything was a blur, flipping one way then back the other way. As Harry finished another sheet of problems, he stopped for a moment. "I'm going to spend all night putting the books back on the shelves in my head." Harry said to himself.
When Tula appeared in the room to announce that his time was up and that lunch was ready, Harry was stressed out. He hadn't finished all the pages in the stack but he was nearly done. Harry had his lunch with Sirius and Remus. Remus already had the test in front of him; he graded it while looking at the answer keys. After lunch Harry returned to the study room to find a new stack of papers waiting for him, along with a stack of books.
Remus explained to him that this was his reading, writing, and comprehension test. Harry had told Remus about his ability to speed read so Remus wanted to test it.
"You have until six tomorrow night to finish this test. You can take the books out of the room to read if you want but the test papers have to stay here. After you finish reading each book it will disappear and you can start that books part of the test." Harry read the titles of the books, they ranged from children's books to 'Beyond Good and Evil' by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. He had already read eight of the ten titles so he only needed to read the last two. As soon as he realized that he had read those books they disappeared.
It took Harry until six the next day to get through the test. He was one page into a two thousand word report on the last book when his time ran out. The last book Beyond Good and Evil had given Harry food for thought as he went to sleep that night.
The rest of the week went the same way. By Friday night, he was ready to kill Remus. After math, reading, comprehension, writing, world geography, and British history, Harry was ready for a break.
Harry and Sirius spent most of Saturday flying. They checked up on the greenhouses again. Klisk was making a little more headway with the help of Anton Potter's wife, Amber, who had been a Herbology Master, she had provided Anton with all his grown potion ingredients.
Klisk now had a small portrait frame that he carried around with him from greenhouse to greenhouse. Even with the help the elf had now, he was still in way over his head. Amber agreed that even she would have a hard time reclaiming all of the greenhouses after nine years of neglect without help. Sirius told Harry he would look into finding someone they could hire to help Klisk.
All three of the Manor residents spent Sunday relaxing. They had all flown down the cliff to take a walk on the beach that Potter Manor overlooked. It had been the first time Harry had been in the ocean, so he didn't go to far out, no deeper than his knees; and it was also the first time he tried swimming. He wasn't very good at it but had a great time trying.
Over the course of the next week, Harry was secluded in the study room again, taking more tests. This time it was world history, basic world politics (muggle), physics, chemistry, and biology. When he finished the tests Harry didn't want to see another test for the rest of his life. He knew that wasn't going to happen though, he hadn't even formally started his magical education, Harry didn't really count his self-studying magic.
On Saturday, Harry slept in. Remus had told him the night before that he would have all his scores by dinner, which he was having with Mr. Crandall, Sirius, Remus, Amelia Bones, and the Minister of Magic Newton Crabtree. Mr. Crandall was the first to arrive, a little after lunch was finished.
"I'm still not entirely sure what is going to be discussed tonight. As far as I can tell, they just want to meet you. I think they are going to have a lot of questions though." Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Harold's portrait all listened while they sat in the study. "It may be best if we let them take the lead, find out what they know, and then see what we want to tell them." finished Scott.
Harold spoke up next from his portrait. "Use the formal dinning room tonight; there are enough portrait frames in there for all the past Lord Potters. I don't know Amelia Bones but the Potters were on good terms with the House of Bones. Just to warn you, Newton is a very blunt person, he'll try to get to the point early on. He doesn't like to beat around the bush and play word games with people."
"I still don't agree with this." Sirius started. "Neither appears to be aligned with Dumbledore, apart from being on the Light side. But can we really take the chance of them telling Manipu-dore?"
"I know he's done a lot of things to Harry, and most of them have been bad, but can we really alienate Dumbledore forever? He is still the recognized Leader of the Light and he's simply got too much sway, too much influence and power for us to just ignore. To be honest, I believe that everything he has done, with the exception of putting Harry with the Dursleys, was to protect Harry, either from remaining Death Eaters or fanatic fans." Remus was trying to be the devil's advocate.
"Remus," Started Sirius who was displaying his anger. "As far as I am concerned, Dumbledore can rot for what happened to Harry because of his manipulations. He is going to need to explain himself a lot better then using the excuse that it's for the greater good because of some prophecy."
"I just wish we had a way to keep an eye on the old man." replied Remus, in an attempt to calm Sirius down. "someone at Hogwarts to tell us if he is up to something." The moment Remus had the words out of his mouth, Harry shot from his chair, running toward the door of the study. "TULLAAA" was the last thing the three adults heard as Harry got out the door. Tula appeared in the room in time to see Harry running out and followed after him. Sirius started to get up, believing that the conversation had hurt Harry in some way; so he was shooting Remus a dirty look.
Before he could get to the door, Tula appeared back in the study with a pedestal that she placed in front of the sitting area where everyone had been sitting. Sirius looked questioningly at the elf. Before he could ask exactly what was going on, Harry strolled back into the study with a large book in his arms. He was holding it as if it was his most prized possession. Harry walked to the pedestal placing the book there.
"Remus, I don't care what I get on those tests that I just spent two weeks killing myself for, I already know that I'm an idiot. This is the first time I can honestly say that perfect memory isn't perfect. This was on my list and it slipped off the bottom somehow." Harry kept babbling about being dumb and forgetful, Sirius finally had to stop him.
"Harry what you going on about? We all know you're not dumb or forgetful." Harry looked up like he was just seeing everyone in the room for the first time.
"Whaatt… oh… This…" Harry pointed to the large book. "We don't need anybody to watch the old man at Hogwarts. We already have something better." Again Harry pointed at the large book. "Hogwarts!" While Harry was talking Remus got up and looked at the cover of the book and the title.
"Hogwarts: a History?" he asked.
"Yeah." replied Harry. "Godric Gryffindor's original… It is self-updating, according to the letter that was with it, everything done or said within the grounds or walls of Hogwarts gets recorded in here. The castle itself is watching his every move for us."
Everyone in the room just stared at Harry. Harry opened the book and turned to the first blank page. Speaking to the book Harry asked. "What is the Headmaster doing right now?" On the page words started to appear as if someone was writing a story.
"Minerva, how are the Gryffindors settling in?" Headmaster Dumbledore
"Good Albus, a few case of homesickness that the prefects took care of, I have restarted my private lessons with Ms. Tonks, and for some reason after two weeks of lessons Gryffindor house is at the bottom of the points total. While once again Slytherin seems…" Deputy Headmistress McGonagall
"I can't help it if your Gryffindors are behind my Slytherins, you do have the twins which by the way I have assigned to detention with Mr. Filch." Professor Snape
"Stop" Harry told the book. The writing remained. "See…" Sirius and Mr. Crandall had stood up and were looking over Harry's shoulder with Remus.
"It looks like a staff meeting." stated Remus. Harry nodded his head.
"Is Headmaster Dumbledore currently in a staff meeting?" Harry directed the question to the book.
"Yes." The word appeared below the other text.
"Wow… Harry where… how?" Sirius was speechless. "
"Only three things: this, a letter, and the Gryffindor's ring, were in his vault. When Godric died he left everything to his grandson, the first Potter." replied Harry. Harry looked back to the book. "Show me any conversations Headmaster Dumbledore had in his office after 1978 where he mentions any Potter?"
The book started listing hundreds of dates on the page, the first being December 28th 1979 the last being just three weeks ago. "Show me December 28th, 1979." Harry stated.
'December 28th 1979 4:35pm
Headmaster Dumbledore is pacing his office. Only he and the phoenix Fawkes are present.
"Fawkes, that new divination teacher I interviewed today, she made a prophecy. I have to move fast, I can only think of two families that fit, the Potters and the Longbottoms." Headmaster Dumbledore
"Yes." Fawkes
"One of Voldemort's spies heard the first part of it and escaped before I could stop him. He will report it to Riddle." Headmaster Dumbledore
"Yes." Fawkes
"I have to tell James, Lily, Frank, and Alice the prophecy; they will have to go into hiding, they need protection. Their children will need protecting; one of them will defeat Riddle." Headmaster Dumbledore
"Yes" Fawkes
Headmaster Dumbledore then left the castle via the floo in his office. His destination was Potter Manor.
The writing stopped there. All three read the passage, Sirius didn't know what to say, Remus was staring at the book, and Mr. Crandall had his usual thoughtful look. Harry turned away from the book, walked over to the couch and plopped down. Just based on all the dates listed in the book it was obvious that Dumbledore mentioned the Potters quite often. Harry was starting to get the feeling that he would never get out from under Dumbledore's manipulations.
"Harry, I'll go through all of this and find out what is going on." offered Remus. Harry just nodded; he was lost in his own thoughts. Sirius sat down next to Harry putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Everything will work out; don't worry so much or it will drive you mad." Harry looked up at him and smiled.
"I'm worried about all of this. I just want to be a kid, learn about magic, and live my own life with friends and family. Maybe Remus is right; Dumbledore is not a bad guy, just misguided like granddad has said. He can't see the people; he ignores them in favor of the big picture." Sirius frowned. "I'm not saying I'm going to go running to him and do what he says, just it would be better to have an ally than an enemy. He has a lot to answer for, I can't trust him right now…" Harry trailed off.
Mr. Crandall took up the conversation. "Sirius, Harry, wait until you start at Hogwarts before you make any decisions, you have a way to keep an eye on him but the book doesn't give you all his information, it can't read his mind and it only shows you what he says out loud. Once you get to Hogwarts, watch him, and see how he treats you. After tonight you may have more options open to you on how to deal with him."
Remus looked up from the book, he had been quietly asking it questions. "Wow… it has all of our pranks in here Sirius." Remus laughed, he was trying to lighten the mood in the room. Sirius jumped back up and rushed back over to the book.
"LET ME SEE, LET ME SEE." He was acting just like a kid in a candy store.
-oo00oo-
Harry was in his room, getting ready for his guests to arrive. He had added the names to the access book earlier. Mr. Crandall was going to greet them at the floo. Tula had laid out a set of his formal robes and was helping Harry to put them on. The robes were a nice green color that went with his eyes; they had the Potter Family crest on them with nice gold stitching. Biggly appeared in the room. "Your guests have arrived, Harry."
"Okay, see them to the formal lounge." Bigly bowed and popped away. Harry checked himself in the mirror one last time.
Harry had Tula set his Granddad's portrait up in the lounge on an easel after the meeting he had earlier. Sirius had spent the afternoon with his nose in the book reading about his old pranks while Harry had gone back to reading his family journals; he was way behind because of all the testing he had done over the past two weeks. Remus had left to finish grading his papers so he could have Harry's grades done by dinner. Mr. Crandall had returned home for a couple hours, but he had just returned half an hour ago. All that was missing were the guests.
Harry walked into the lounge about five minutes later. He could see Sirius, Remus, and Mr. Crandall standing and talking to his two guests. The lady standing with them looked very formidable to Harry. She had a broad, squared jaw and short graying hair; she was about as tall as Sirius, and was wearing dark blue dress robes with a monocle hanging from a chain around her neck.
The other man in the room was just as tall as the woman; he looked to be about the same age as Mr. Crandall but his brown hair had started to turn gray in places, he had a round face with kind blue eyes. He didn't look very formidable but Harry had been finding out that looks could be deceiving, just take Albus Dumbledore for example. Mr. Crandall had been the only one facing the door to the lounge with a clear view and spotted Harry first.
With a smile Mr. Crandall beckoned Harry to join them. "Minister Crabtree, Madam Bones, I would like to introduce you to the Lord of the Manor, Lord Harry James Potter." Mr. Crandall held out his hand in the direction that Harry was coming from. Harry slowed his pace a little as everyone turned to look at him; He was feeling nervous about all this. He had never been in a formal situation before and didn't know what to do. He tried to smile as he closed the distance but it didn't want to reach his eyes. Sirius and Remus were giving their support with their smiles.
"Welcome to Potter Manor, Minister Crabtree." Harry managed to stammer out the greeting as he held out his hand to the Minister.
"Thank you Lord Potter, it has been a long time since I set foot in your beautiful home." The Minister shook Harry's hand. Pulling up what was left of his courage Harry turned to the woman.
"Welcome Madam Bones, I would like to thank you for all you did to help my godfather. It was very kind of you; Mr. Crandall speaks very highly of you." Harry took the hand that she was holding out to him and shook it.
"No need to thank me Lord Potter, I was just seeing that justice was done. I must say that I am curious for a great many things about you." Through her stern looks a genuine smile appeared, which helped Harry to relax a little.
"Please, let's all sit before my godson falls over. He looks about ready to run for the hills." Sirius said jokingly. Harry gave him a dirty look, and then smiled, this time it reached his eyes. Everyone, including the stern looking Madam Bones, chuckled as they found seats.
"It is good to see you again, Newton. Minister, now? Your father would be very proud of you." This came from the portrait of Harold Potter. Minister Crabtree turned to see the portrait sitting there.
"Lord Potter, it is good to see you again, I was not told that you had a portrait created. Father had commissioned one but died before the sitting. I believe he would be happy that I stood up for what is right." replied the Minister.
"You did a good thing Newton, getting that corrupt idiot Fudge out of office." There was more small talk around the room. Introductions had been made while they had been waiting for Harry. Harry was not being left out; Mr. Crandall was helping to keep him involved. It was mostly just the grown ups getting acquainted with each other. Madam Bones was most interested in Sirius's health, having just been released from Azkaban.
Biggly appeared at the door a half hour later. "My Lord, dinner is served." Harry turned to the elf.
"Thank you Biggly." Harry led everyone to the formal dinning room. Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see that Madam Bones was impressed with the Manor. Harry took his seat at the head of the table, he held out his hand to the Minister indicating the chair to his left. Madam Bones took the chair next to the Minister. Sirius sat to Harry's right followed by Remus and Mr. Crandall.
The dinner conversation remained light. Madam Bones would ask Harry questions about the Manor which he was very happy and excited to answer. "Oh I love living here; it is so much better then where I was growing up until a little over five weeks ago. It feels like home and with Sirius and Remus here I couldn't be happier." Answered Harry after Madam Bones asked how he liked living here.
That answer set the Minister up for his first real question of the night. "You haven't been here since your parents died, Harry?" Harry shook his head no.
"No sir, I was placed with my mum's muggle sister Petunia and her husband." Harry got a disgusted look on his face. "They did not treat me very well; Aunt Petunia hates everything to do with magic. They moved away somewhere and left me behind." That was the cover story that everyone in the know had agreed upon earlier. Mr. Crandall took up the story from there.
"Harry found some letters mixed in with stuff they left behind; they were from his parents, addressed to his aunt. They were unopened so Harry read them and found out he was a wizard. From there on, following a letter that was left for him in case his parents died, he found his way to Gringotts. He claimed his rights and has been here ever since."
Minister Crabtree looked to Harry. "I believe there is more to the story. I know the Potter Will was sealed by Chief Warlock Dumbledore. Dumbledore has been quietly making inquiries, looking for you. The evidence that helped Sirius Black; now he's here living with you. Harry, our families have been allied for centuries, I would like to know what is going on so that I can help you. You can trust me. Just tell me what's going on."
Harold started laughing from the frame he was currently watching from. "I told you he was to the point." Harry turned to look at his granddad smiling. Everyone was finished with their dinner.
"Maybe we can take this conversation someplace more comfortable." suggested Harry.
During dinner Harry had been watching Minister Crabtree and Madam Bones and was getting good vibes from them. Everyone agreed so Harry led them to the family lounge instead of the formal one. Tula appeared in the lounge as everyone was sitting down with Harold's portrait.
"Before we answer those questions Minister Crabtree, we need you to swear not to go to Dumbledore and tell him where Harry is. There are issues that need to be resolved between Harry and Albus Dumbledore, that at the moment we don't want Ministry involvement in." Mr. Crandall began the conversation.
It was Madam Bones that replied. "If there has been a crime committed, the Ministry needs to be involved. It is the responsibility of the government to manage any domestic problems if the issue arises." Minister Crabtree held up his hand to stop Amelia.
"You said 'at the moment'. I can agree to that. But I didn't agree to take over as Minister just to trade one corrupt administration for another corrupt one. If this is a family matter then the Ministry need not be involved at all."
Harry was the one to reply. "My granddad said you were an honest person, Minister. It is hard for me to trust people, but I do trust the advice of my friends and family." Harry nodded to Mr. Crandall as he stood up. "I'll be in the study if you need me." The Minister and Amelia looked on as Harry left the room then turned back to the remaining people.
"He doesn't want to go through the story again. It was hard on him the first time and he has had to retell it several times now." explained Sirius with a grim expression.
Between Mr. Crandall, Sirius, Remus, and Harry's Granddad, they told Harry's story. They stuck with the story that the Dursleys had abandoned Harry and disappeared. Madam Bones wanted to prosecute the Dursleys under Ministry Law for child abuse and with Harry's memories she was sure she would be able to put them away in Azkaban. Sirius told Amelia that he didn't want to put Harry through a trial; it was bad enough that he would never forget what happened to him. Minister Crabtree agreed that it would not be good for Harry's wellbeing. When the two people were told the prophecy that had started everything in motion, Amelia was appalled at what Dumbledore had done and believed. Minister Crabtree agreed that Dumbledore did what he did with the right intentions but the wrong methods.
It was a couple hours later when Harry returned to his guests. Amelia couldn't look him in the eyes for the first few minutes. "Harry," started the Minister. "I am sorry you had to go through what you did, I would like to formally renew the family alliance, if we can set up a time next week where we can talk it over will that be okay." Harry shook the hand that the Minister held out to him. "That would be wonderful Minister." Harry replied.
Amelia finally looked at Harry. "If you need anything just ask." Harry thanked her, shaking her hand as well. It was at that point Remus cleared his throat.
"I have your grades here Harry. Do you wish to share them with everyone else?"
"Sure, why not." Remus pulled a sheet of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. Harry opened the parchment and started reading it.
Test result for one Harry James Potter.
Passing Grades
O = Outstanding
E = Exceed Expectations
A = Acceptable
Failing Grades
P = Poor
D = Dreadful
T = Troll
Subject, Grade, Level
Math, O, level 12
Reading, O, University
Comprehension, E, University
Writing, A, level 8
World Geography, O, level 12
British History, E, level 10
World History, E, level 10
Basic World Politics (muggle), A, level 8
Science (physics), O, level 11
Chemistry, A, level 9
Biology, A, level 9
"The level is where you maintained a passing grade. Yes, in a few cases you went from Outstanding to failing within a grade Level. You are beyond the current education level of all magical students as they stop all primary school studies when entering a magical school." Remus informed Harry.
Harry passed the parchment to Sirius, who read it and proudly clapped him on the shoulder when he finished. Everyone congratulated Harry after reading the grades. Harry was happy; all the recognition was making him feel good.
Harry's guests departed a short time later; Harry gave the Minister and Amelia open invitations to visit. By the time he laid his head on the pillow that night he was feeling better about his life. He fell asleep and dreamed that his parents had been there to see his accomplishments.