"Do you have any idea why I've been called to the Headmaster's office?" Harry Potter asked quizzically.
"No, I'm afraid not," the Thunderbird Head of House shook his head. "Did you do something?"
Harry Potter smiled and shook his head. "If I did, do you think I'd talk?"
"Mm," the Head of House for Thunderbird shook his head.
Harry chuckled, trying to keep the smile on his face while he tried to present the front of an innocent student to help put his mind at ease, but it was hard.
Following his Head of House to the Headmaster's office, passing the portraits and tapestries, depicting the adventures and the greatest students who'd contributed to the magical world, who'd been educated here at Ilvermorny. Harry had always taken great pride in his House, Thunderbird, the House of Adventurers.
It certainly matched the life he'd had; he remembered how he had escaped the Dursleys, treating himself to a personal birthday present when he was just 7 years old, and then moving to London where he lived on the streets of the city for the next few years, but before that, he had compelled the headmaster of his old primary school to let him into a board of governors meeting, and he had compelled them to slightly change the curriculum as he'd realised how limited it was, and how they didn't bring out any creative subjects.
The governors, compelled as they were by his magic, had no choice but to obey.
Soon, students like Harry suddenly found themselves building robots, actual robots and other gadgets.
Best of all, Vernon and Petunia had no idea he'd done it, even with all of their paranoia, they were just not good at recognising subtle displays of magic; they were more violent and vicious whenever they came across magic they could see. As far as they knew, Harry had nothing to do with the sudden shift at school.
Harry stayed silent as he reminisced; the way he'd discovered his drawings could come alive, so if he drew a dragon and lifted it off of the page, it appeared, a trick that helped him buy a small flat in London so he could live without going into foster care, and to get him into school without the Dursleys to hold him back; his con involving the Star of Africa; the Tube challenge he had undertaken; breaking into Buckingham Palace and snapping those pictures as he stood over the sleeping Queen.
The Head of Thunderbird House knocked on the door.
"Come in," Headmaster Fontaine called.
Harry steeled himself, wondering what the Headmaster wanted. Fontaine had never called him to his office before, mostly because Harry had learnt to keep his adventures to a minimum and because he was extremely cautious. Okay, sure, he had contributed several findings on new spells and curses to several magazines and books, and been awarded with that new healing potion two years ago, but that was it. Fontaine always congratulated him in private, so today was a bit of a surprise.
He checked his watch; he had hoped to spend his double free period with Melissa, so he hoped Fontaine had something good to tell him. Fontaine was a good headmaster. He always provided excellent teachers to the school and he went out of his way to ensure high standards were at Ilvermorny, so why was he summoned?
Harry walked into the office, and he instantly came to a stop as his brain froze in disbelief and denial. No, no way, this is not happening, he thought to himself desperately.
Headmaster Fontaine was not alone, and the Ilvermorny Head looked uncomfortable as it was. There was the President of the MACUSA, and the Head of the Aurors, Lucie Swallow; she was a tough, no-nonsense woman, who'd risen to the top of the Aurors. Harry had met the woman in the past and one look at her had convinced him messing with her was suicide, as she had deductive abilities that would give Sherlock Holmes a run for his dratted pipe. He suspected the mind arts, personally.
Uncle Jasper and Uncle Isaac were both senior Aurors, and so they worked exclusively with the woman, and he had met her more than once. Lucie had a daughter, whom Harry had dated once but it hadn't gone anywhere.
Harry's heart lifted when he saw his Uncle Isaac and his Aunt Miranda, and Uncle Jasper. Isaac and Miranda were his guardians in the MACUSA; when he had discovered his magical heritage, the same heritage he had nearly been denied as a child, and Professor Babbling from Hogwarts came to tell him about the wizarding world, and of his placement in Hogwarts, Harry had wanted to know more about his family and Professor Babbling had taken him to Gringotts, and they'd done a genealogy check whose results had made him give up his Hogwarts placement and head for the MACUSA because he wanted nothing to do with magical Britain.
Discovering his parents were not only alive but had left him with the Dursleys, actively paying them to look after him, a contradiction in terms had been the last straw, and he'd had the goblins contact the MACUSA when he'd learnt there was a branch of the Potter family here. While he would have preferred living on his own while he did his schooling, magical law was prevented, so he had to contact the American Potters. It eventually turned out to be a godsend.
But it was the other people in the office that instantly had his blood pressure dropping like a stone in his shock.
There, on the other side of the room, as if the MACUSA people made it clear they weren't welcome, were Lily and James Potter.
His parents.
And they were not alone. Harry, like all modern wizards, recognised Charlus Potter, his younger brother and his even younger sisters, but that was the only familial connection he was willing to admit to.
And they hadn't come alone. Albus Dumbledore was there, looking decrepit even in his robes of lurid blue.
Lily stood up, tears in her eyes. "Harry, you've grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were just a toddler." She walked over to him, arms outstretched as she hurried over for a long hug. But at the last minute, Harry stepped out of her way and walked over to where the American Potter branch was sitting.
"You'd remember that, wouldn't you, just before you dumped me with those filthy No-Maj animals," Harry shot back over his shoulder, to where Lily was righting herself, and blinking in shocked hurt. But Harry ignored her as he hugged Aunt Miranda tightly.
Turning her around so he only had Miranda, Jasper and Isaac in his line of sight, Harry whispered, "What the hell is going on?"
"Sorry, kiddo," Jasper looked down at his toes. "Something big has happened in Britain."
"What?" Harry couldn't work out what would be so major the British Potters had come all the way here to meet with him, and why was Dumbledore here?
"It's best if you hear it from them, Harry," Isaac answered before he pulled a reluctant Miranda away.
Harry sat down in a chair, as far from the other Potters as he could get. "What's this about?" Harry asked the MACUSA personnel, ignoring Dumbledore and the Potters completely.
President Hallow sighed. "Are you aware of the Dark Lord Voldemort, Mr Potter?"
Harry stiffened. He did know. Voldemort was a figure in his past that he could have done without. He was the reason why he had been abandoned, that and the fact the Potters were so stupid they hadn't bothered to get him checked multiple times to see if he had magic or not before he was just dumped without a word.
"You mean am I aware he's the same Dark Lord who should have been dealt with long ago, but wasn't because so many believed the rubbish he spewed out before Charlus Potter 'vanquished' him?" The British Potters were stunned by the sneer that crept into Harry's voice while he used air quotes. "Yes, I know of him. I know the British press have spent the last 9 months denying it and calling Charlus Potter here a liar, although why someone would lie about that, I have no idea."
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed happy looks from his brother, but he paid him no heed.
"You…believe your brother?" James said hopefully.
"Voldemort's body was never found, that's more than enough for me to be suspicious," Harry's voice was detached. "Why are you here? I've been in America since I was 11. When did you find out I was here?"
Lily, James, Dumbledore and the kids were disturbed by how empty Harry's voice was. That was nothing compared to how the Americans felt.
"Harry, you're the Boy Who Lived, not Charlus," Isaac decided to cut to the chase.
That was a shock. "What?" Harry's voice rose as he swung around to face his American parents in shock, wishing that he hadn't heard what he had. "I can't be."
"You are, Harry," Aunt Miranda said before anyone said anything else. "Dumbledore was forced to show us a memory of a battle that recently took place in the Ministry of Magic in Britain. The Dark Lord admitted while his memory is fragmented, slightly, he does remember there being two boys in the crib when he attacked."
"And he cursed you, when he saw your power in your aura, even at that age," Uncle Jasper, likewise, didn't believe in taking it slowly, "so he cast the Killing Curse at you, only it rebounded."
Harry nodded as his sharp mind processed what he was being told. "Is that why those stupid Healers believed I was a squib, only to be chucked away like a garbage bag on the Dursley's doorstep?"
"Er, no, it wasn't like that," Lily murmured tentatively, gazing sadly at her son. "We…we took you both to St Mungo's, and had you checked, but the hospital was swamped. There had been many attacks that night, and so there were many casualties and the Healers were having a hard time. We got to see a Healer but they mixed up the results."
"And that's it?" Harry spat in disgust as he snarled at his stunned parents. They had never seen Charlus this angry before, but the anger pouring off of Harry was a sight to behold, and it scared them. The air was crackling with magic and his face was demonic with fury. "You took me to some stupid Healer who got confused, and you didn't bother going back and getting a second opinion? What did you do then, you just heard what they said, broke down crying, and then walked off without a backwards turn while you left me on the Dursley's doorstep without even knocking on the front door?"
Lily and James looked down in shame. They hadn't been thinking about anything, except to protect their son from the bigoted elements in the magical world; it wasn't until now they realised they'd made so many stupid mistakes, like not checking on Harry, or even keeping contact with the Dursleys. Until now, they hadn't even known Harry had vanished years ago.
Harry had no hesitation whatsoever in bringing that up. "You didn't check on me when you should have done, and you certainly didn't keep in contact with the Dursleys, did you? Anything could have happened to me in that fucked up house, and you wouldn't have known because you did not care!"
Lily gazed at him in honest confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked.
Harry gazed at her in disgust. "You mean you don't know what your petty, filthy, spiteful, disgusting bitch No-Maj sister, and thuggish pig bastard husband were like to me?" When his biological parents didn't reply, Harry shook his head. "I'm wasting my time."
"Now that's not fair, Harry," one of the sisters piped up.
"Yeah, we know Mum and Dad made a mistake, but there's no reason for you to be so angry," the second sister added while Charlus looked at him sadly without saying a word.
"Oh, there's every reason for me to be angry with them," Harry said, "Go back to Privet Drive. Get inside the House. Look in the Cupboard under the Stairs and don't fall for the Dursley's lies."
"What do you mean?" Lily repeated, her voice thick with tears and sadness. And something else. Was that worry?
Harry smirked at her in disgust. "Oh, no, why should I spoil it for you by making it easier? It wasn't for me! You can go and check, on those filthy animals!" Spittle flew out of Harry's mouth before he turned to Dumbledore. "What does it mean for me to be the Boy Who Lived?"
"Yes, what does it mean?" President Hallow asked before the elderly wizard could speak, and she pinned him with a glare. "You've been vague about what it means, except it's of critical importance. I want answers. Mr Potter is a MACUSA citizen and if his life is in jeopardy because of Britain's petty conflicts, we need to know, and please don't give us any of your pathetic secrets, Dumbledore. You are still persona non grata with us for several reasons."
Dumbledore sighed, "There's a prophecy connecting you with Lord Voldemort; you and your brother were both born in July and you were marked by him as an equal, meaning you have the power that he doesn't know and you are the only one who can stop him."
"You're trying to turn my boy into a child soldier?!" Miranda leapt to her feet. Lily felt her heartbreak when she saw Miranda hug Harry tightly.
"Madam, this isn't something that can be avoided. The prophecy chose him."
Miranda gazed at him in disgust. "I never had respect for you, you old coward, for letting Grindelwald get out of hand but now I've got more reason to despise you. You make children into child soldiers for your ends, and you let him?" Miranda swung around to face Lily and James, her disgust and fury visible to all, "You call yourselves his parents? You abandoned him to a lifetime of abuse, and you want to snatch more from him?"
"What do you mean, abuse?" James leapt to his own feet.
"Is that what you meant by Cupboard under the Stairs?" Lily also leapt to her feet, her face panicked.
Harry didn't want to get into that topic right now. "There's no way to avoid this is there?" Harry whispered.
"I'm afraid not. I will teach you once you leave Ilvermorny and begin attending Hogwarts-," Dumbledore said, but he was swiftly interrupted and put in his place.
"What?"
"You have no right to tell my students which school they should be attending, Dumbledore. Don't start getting delusions of grandeur in my school!" Fontaine spoke for the first time. He had been listening to the meeting with interest.
"Mr Potter is a MACUSA citizen; his parents gave up guardianship of him long ago!" President Hallow snapped.
"That's right," Lucie glared at the old wizard. "I don't know who you think you are, and don't spout off those nice titles of yours; they only give you so much power."
"But we're his parents, and I was hoping to see him at Hogwarts!" Lily protested.
"Well, he's not going!" Miranda snapped.
"Why not?" James demanded.
"Yeah, why not; I was hoping to see my brother at Hogwarts with me," Charlus said.
"Harry's not leaving Ilvermorny. He's certainly not attending Hogwarts, just to fight in your war. What would be the plan, Dumbledore, to make him leave and when he is finished he is expected to come back here like nothing happened?" Uncle Jasper snapped.
"We're his guardians and adoptive parents since his real ones turned out to be useless and stupid," Uncle Isaac added, glaring at Dumbledore in disdain. "We have the paperwork and we say he will not be leaving the school."
Aunt Miranda nodded. "Harry's settled here, and he won't be leaving. If you take him, then you'll be endangering him even more. Did you not think of that, you old fool?"
"Whatever training you've got in mind, you can come to Ilvermorny; surely you can get here if you're supposedly the most powerful and greatest wizard in the world?" Harry said to Dumbledore as he mocked the old wizard, making it clear to the horrified Potters from Britain what he thought of the old wizard. "By all accounts, you have a phoenix familiar. It shouldn't be hard for you to use it to get here."
Dumbledore looked displeased at the notion, but as he looked around the room, he could see that he didn't have many choices. "As you wish."
While he was curious about why Dumbledore wanted him at Hogwarts so badly, Harry planned on getting help. He was not going into this blind.
The meeting went on for another hour. The Potters (the British ones) kept butting in to ask Harry questions, but he generally ignored them and pretended they didn't exist.
Finally, the meeting was over. Harry was pleased with that since Dumbledore kept wrangling, trying to get his way, but he was hemmed in since his power base was in Britain and he didn't have a lot of power in the ICW despite what his title there claimed.
"I'll be seeing you then," Harry smiled at Hallow and Swallow before he hugged Isaac and Jasper before he hugged Miranda and let her kiss him while Lily and James looked on in jealousy.
"Give our love to the other kids," Jasper said.
"Will do."
"Are you gonna see more of Melissa?" Miranda asked teasingly.
"Oh, Aunt Miranda!" Harry protested, but he couldn't hide his red face.
"You're so easy to tease, Harry," Miranda chuckled.
"Who's Melissa?" Lily asked. She had been watching with her heart breaking at how easily Harry interacted with Miranda and the others.
"Mind your own business!" Harry snapped, losing his jocularity.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Lily persisted as she became desperate to know more about her eldest child.
"What does it matter to you?" Harry glared at her.
"I'm your mother, I have a right to know!"
"Well, it's a good thing you gave me up then, isn't it, Mrs Potter so you'd never have to bother, hmm?" Harry's expression was dark, merciless and angry while he took in his mother's new pained expression, and felt nothing but satisfaction.
It might have been childish and petty, but he didn't like the way these people came waltzing back into his life after walking away without a backwards glance. He had survived four years on the streets of London with only his wits to live by while he coped with people strong enough to kill him while he conned them, and now he had these people here poking their noses into his life.
What made it worse was he still couldn't believe they had the gall to come to him now after failing to keep him appraised of what was happening at Number 4 and speak to him as if nothing happened.
"Remember what I said before, Mrs Potter. Check the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said and walked out of the office. He didn't look back.
Miranda turned to Lily and James. A part of her felt some kind of sympathy for them both, but not a great deal. She had seen the scars on Harry's body, to say nothing of the mental agonies he had gone through. "I'd do as he wishes if I were you if you want to understand some of the anger he's feeling. It's one thing to come all the way here, hoping he'd forgive you, but it's not going to happen. You two are disgraceful parents. I have kids myself, but if someone attacked them, I wouldn't go to one healer to find out if they were okay. I'd get a second opinion. That's what separates us, you gullible idiots."
Isaac hugged his wife, hoping that Lily and James wised up soon. Harry wasn't going to forgive them ever. It would take a lot of liquid luck for that to happen.