Chapter 3

Healer Marissa Sessions was in a quandary.

Her young patient was obviously the victim of abuse and neglect, but reporting the facts of his case would bring him to the attention of the very authority who had put him in that situation in the first place. She had no doubt that the Supreme Mugwump could and would obliviate her so thoroughly that she'd lose years of medical education and experience.

She kept reminding herself that she wasn't being paranoid; it's not paranoia when the danger is genuine.

The healer watched the boy, a child, really, twitching every few minutes as bone and muscle and internal organs played catch-up with the calendar. He'd already grown five centimeters, and had at least another two or three to go.

He was on his fifth beaker of high protein nutrient potions to provide the building materials his rapidly growing body needed.

Pity he had to be conscious for the procedure, as it was painful. Young Harry endured it though. Largely because of Luna. When he would twist and moan, she would be there with a cool flannel, or she would hold his hand, which had a calming effect.

Luna took the time to tell Harry the story of the Boy-who-lived. How Harry Potter, a mere toddler, had defeated the most powerful dark lord of the Twentieth Century. How his parents had been betrayed by their best friend. Of James Potter's brave stand, and Lily Potter's choice, to place herself between her beloved child and a pitiless murderer.

"But when Voldemort turned his wand on you, he couldn't kill you. Oh he tried, but when he did, the killing curse bounced back and destroyed him instead."

Through teeth clenched in pain, Harry asked, "Hah, how?"

"Dumbledore reckons it was your Mum. She used some unknown magic, old, old magic. And when she gave her life for yours it gave you special protection. Truth is, no one knows, really."

Harry winced, then shuddered.

A tear traced down Luna's cheek, "How much longer, Healer Sessions?"

She checked her watch, "Not long, then he'll be over the worst of it."

"Did you hear that, Harry? Just a little longer."

He smiled bravely, but didn't trust himself to speak again. Afraid he'd cry out if he dared open his mouth.

Xeno's voice echoed up from the cellar, as he shouted, "Ah ha! I knew it was in here!"

He came up holding a wide, jewel encrusted, golden cuff. The healer recognized the goblin markings on the bangle.

"That isn't…"

Xeno nodded, "A changeling armlet, Selene called it the Chameleon Cuff."

"Those are proscribed by the Ministry of Magic."

"So are illegal obliviations, child abuse and neglect."

The healer sighed and nodded.

Xenophilius handed the bracelet to his daughter, "He needs to put it on as soon as possible."

Luna asked, "Will it hurt?"

"A little, at first. Not as much as the growth potions."

"Will it change his appearance? I mean, isn't that the purpose of a changeling's bangle?"

Xeno shook his head, "No, this bracelet is set to change a mage's magical signature. Outwardly, he'll be the same, well, other than the changes we plan to make."

"Alright then," Luna said, resignedly, slipping the bracelet over his hand then up his arm.

Harry looked curiously at Luna, and the odd arm jewelry.

"It'll hide you from the Ministry."

"I-I did, didn't ge-get you any, anything."

Luna touched her forehead to his, "Just a little while longer, Harry."

The healer frowned, "That scar is going to be a problem. It's the most famous scar in the wizarding world."

"Can't we cover it up?" Xeno asked.

"We could, but you'd have to cover it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."

Luna looked pensive, then asked, "Could we move it?"

Healer Sessions and Xeno looked at each other and shrugged.

"I don't think that's ever been tried."

"Maybe you could move it up above his hairline?"

"Let's try and see."

It was an odd feeling for Harry, as his skin quite literally crawled up his forehead to the top of his crown.

It was Xeno's turn to frown, "Anyone seeing that black, unruly mop is going to be reminded of James Potter."

"What color was his mother's hair?"

"Lily had red hair, auburn, not brassy like the Weasley's. And he already has her green eyes."

Marissa set about transfiguring Harry's hair, easy to do since the recessive, red-headed gene was already there. She just had to unlock it.

"I would let the hair grow out so that its long enough to be manageable."

"Now, how to register him?"

Luna asked, "Register?"

"Magical births within Great Britain are entered in the Ministry of Education's register."

"So, Harry will have to be a recent arrival from… where? Canada, Australia, New Zealand?"

Xeno smiled, "Guyana."

Luna asked, "Where?"

"Former British colony, the magical government there is notorious for poor record keeping. Yes, it fits."

Marissa chuckled, "I'll make the entry myself. Recent arrival from Georgetown, Guyana, cousin to Lily Evans. It would be best if we use your real first name, so Harry or Harold?"

Harry sighed, feeling a little better, "Harold, that way I can still be called Harry."

"Harold Evans it is, I'll take care of it this afternoon. When would you like your birthday?"

"Doesn't matter, I've never had any kind of birthday celebration."

"Well, if we make your birthday on or before September the first, you can start your Hogwarts education next year, after that, and you'll have to wait another year."

"Waiting another year might be good, that way I'll have more time to learn about magic before I go."

Luna shook her head, "No, Harry, you need to go sooner rather than later."

"You sure? You won't be going until the next year."

"Perfect, I can copy all your notes from the first year!"

Harry sighed, "Pick a random date in August, Healer Sessions."

"Please, Harry, call me Marissa. After all, we're all partners in crime here, we should be on a first name basis. As far as your birthday, how about August twenty-fifth?"

"Works for me, why that date?"

"Easy for me to remember, it's my birthday."

)O(

If Harry had any doubts about the existence of magic, they all evaporated as he stood to look into the mirror at a complete stranger.

He was tall for his age, well, taller than he had been by a good three or four inches. His hair was reddish brown, "auburn" they'd called it, and long enough so that it didn't stick out all over the place. He doubted that his aunt or uncle or cousin would recognize him.

It was December twenty-third, he had just over nine months to learn as much about the world of magic as he could.

Harry chuckled, "I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, like my father."

Luna "squee-eed!" at Harry's Star War's reference. "Daddy and I love the muggle cinema, we go once a month to the Odeon in Devon, and we've seen all the Star Wars films. I love the little goblin warrior, Yoda."

"I watched Dudley's videos when I could get away with it. I wonder if the people who made the movies know about magic, and are just using film to show how it works?"

Luna looked thoughtful, "Mummy asked Daddy that same question…"

Shaking herself, she asked, "You ready to learn some magic?"

"I'll try…"

In her best, gravelly Yoda voice, Luna growled, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try…"

For the first time in his life that he could remember, he didn't have to worry about out-shining his cousin. For the first time in his life he could apply himself fully to his studies.

He took to it like a duck to water.

A large part of his studies centered on cryptozoology, mostly because there were so many books in the tower about rare and improbable, and probably mythical, creatures.

When he couldn't find an entry for a creature, he would simply ask, "Luna, what is a heliopath, or what is a slurtle?"

She would provide the information and, most of the time, a reference.

About three weeks into January he asked, "Luna, what can you tell me about nargelites?"

Luna's normal, serene expression fell, and she sat on the couch next to Harry with a heavy sigh.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not that, I just, well, it's hard."

"That's okay, forget I asked."

"You know how I seem, well, distracted sometimes?"

Harry nodded.

"I see things. I'm pretty sure I see magic."

"How?"

"I'm not sure, but when my Mum, when I lost… Well, since that day, I've been able to see little, golden motes, like clouds of gnats around magical people and animals and plants and things."

"I remember the first thing you ever said to me was, quote, "you have more nargelites than any three people I know," unquote, and I thought I'd just been insulted."

"I've observed a wide variety of magic gnats, nargles, and I thought the little glowing motes looked a little like them, although nargles are whitish-silver. So I called them 'nargle-lites,' and then nargelites.

At first, I thought they were just different kinds of magical gnats, but when you get closer to a nargle, close enough to look through a magnifying lens, you can see it's like a little bug. But no matter how close I get to a nargelite, it's just a speck, a tiny, glowing speck of light.

I even made a microscope slide and looked at one at a magnification of sixty, and it was still a non-descript, glowing little light."

)O(

Luna's mother had created what amounted to a null space as far as the ministry magical detectors were concerned, mostly to protect copyrights on the spells she crafted. One of the happy by-products was that no magic could be detected within the tower. So Luna had been practicing with a wand since her fourth birthday. Harry tried a few basic wand-magic spells but with lackluster performance.

"No worries, Harry, we'll get you your own wand."

This bothered him.

Luna, sensing his change in mood asked, "What is it, Harry?"

"It's just that the Dursleys were always going on about how I was a financial hardship on them, and now, here I am, a burdening you and Xeno."

Luna turned to her father and asked, "Daddy, how rich were the Potters?"

"Not as rich as the Queen, bless her, but much better off than, say, the Malfoys."

"Can we go to Gringotts, please?"

"You just like talking to the goblins."

Luna smiled a tight-lipped smile, one that didn't show teeth.

)O(

Harry stared at everything. The alley, the people. The new, expensive looking, black silk robes that Xeno insisted he wear, but most of all at the goblins of Gringotts.

Luna gave Harry some last minute reminders, "Remember, Harry, try not to smile, if you do, for Goddess sake don't show any teeth. Let me do all the talking. Don't offer them your hand unless it's to give them the token, understand?"

"Don't show teeth, give them the token when you say so, let you do all the talking. Got it."

"Good boy!"

They walked into the bank and ignored the long queues, making a bee-line for the ornate, gilded doors at the back. Two demi-trolls blocked their way with vicious looking, without a doubt, razor-sharp halberds.

Luna growled and spat something that sounded like, "Back off!"

To Harry's amazement, they backed off.

The doors opened to reveal six old goblins, open mouthed in shock.

"What are you doing here? Get out!"

Luna snarled, "Shut it!"

The doors clanged shut.

What followed was less like a conversation then a long overture by a chorus of scalded cats, there was much growling, shouting and spitting. Until, at last, a portly goblin in a gold-embroidered long coat stepped in from a side door.

Luna and Xeno dropped to one knee. Harry quickly followed their example.

"Your gobbeldy gook is excellent, youngling, and your profanity prodigious indeed. I believe we can do business. Is this The Potter?"

Luna nodded, then whispered, "Harry, the token."

Harry rose, still not meeting the goblin's eyes, and held the golden token in his palm, offering it to the Goblin Seneck, or leader.

"The Clan Potter offers the return of this goblin artifact as a token of our good faith, Seneck Goblin."

"What would you have us do, youngling?"

Luna said, "Freeze all Potter assets after today, call it an audit, but let no wizard or witch touch either the main vault or the Potter trust vault for seven years. Meanwhile, invest the funds as you see fit, provided we see no less than twenty percent growth per annum for a period of ten years."

"And anything over twenty percent?"

"Call it the Potter incentive for the Goblin Nation to invest wisely."

"You realize, of course, that the Potter Magical guardian will object, strenuously."

"Then you should remind the Potter Magical guardian that his own accounts may also require auditing."

The Goblin Leader inclined his head, "May you be reborn a Goblin of the first rank. By the unspoken Name of the Matriarch, It shall be done."

Luna hawked and spat over her left shoulder, hissed like an angry cat and backpedalled in the direction of the gilded doors, which were opened by the demi-trolls, who were, themselves down on one knee.

Harry and the Lovegoods didn't turn to leave until the ornate doors were again closed and the guards stood at their posts.

"Well done, Harry. That was the Goblin Seneck, the leader of the Goblin Nation and second only to The Matriarch, who is, for all intents and purposes, the Goblin Goddess."

Luna led them out looking for all the world like a queen, until she saw, "Oh, purple pixies!"

Harry smiled, he knew she couldn't last, not with so many colorful distractions.

)O(

The next stop was Flourish and Blotts, where Harry picked up all his first year texts, even though he still had most of the year to wait, then to the apothecary and lastly, Ollivanders.

"Uncle Ollie!"

"Xeno, Luna. You know I'm not supposed to give you your wand until next year, when you begin Hogwarts."

"Then why did you give it to me as a birthday gift two years ago."

"Because what we do is not always what we're supposed to do?"

Ollivander looked at Harry as if he were from another planet.

"I don't know you, young sir. Yet I can see you are a wizard. Are you muggle born, that is, a first generation wizard?"

Luna whispered, "Harry, take off the arm band."

With a polite, "Excuse me, sir." Harry reached all the way up his left arm and removed the changeling bracelet.

"Ah, Mister Potter! I was wondering when I'd see you. It's a bit early, but fortune favors the prepared, eh?"

A few questions, some measurements by an overly enthusiastic and invasive charmed tape measure, and Ollivander gave Harry a series of wands to try.

None of which would suit.

The pile of disregarded wands grew alarmingly large.

It had been years since Ollivander had enjoyed a challenge as much as this one.

"A difficult customer. Not to worry, if we don't find one, we'll make one!"

He went into the back muttering to himself.

When he returned, it was with a single, long box that he held almost reverently.

"Try this. Eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather."

As soon as Harry grasped the handle there was a warm glow and subtle forces, like wind, swirled around him. He gave it a wave and an impressive array of bright red sparks geysered from the tip.

"Curious...very curious..."

"Sorry, but what's curious?"

"I remember every single wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather. Just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you your scar."

Harry touched the spot on his forehead where the scar had been.

"Not to worry, Mister Potter, no one can see it; I know it's there because I know who you truly are."

Harry replaced the changeling bracelet, then waved the wand once more, just to be sure. No worries, the wand had chosen him, and wouldn't be fooled.

"How much?"

"Seven Galleons."

Luna gave Harry a small, velvet bag.

"What's this?"

"It's your moneybag, it connects to your trust vault."

"I thought that was locked down."

"Harry Potter's trust vault is locked down, Harold Evan's vault is fine. The goblins transferred the contents of your trust vault to, um, your trust vault."

"Ah, Harry's to Harold's?"

"Exactly."
Harry pulled the coins from his moneybag and asked, "Is there anything I should know about maintaining a wand, should I bring it in for tune-ups or the like?"

"Very good question Mister, ah, Evans is it? Yes, yes, when you get a little older it will be normal for you to want to polish your wand daily, sometimes more than once a day. Perhaps Luna will help you with that little chore."

Luna smiled and gushed, enthusiastically, "Anytime, Harry. Just ask."

"Thanks."

)O(

If you close a chapter with innuendo, does that make it end-nuendo?

Many thanks to Tommy King, Brit picker extraordinaire!