DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you've seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$ from this…
A/N: A reviewer complained there is no real problems in this world. Wrong. I had ideas for problems. Truth is, this year (1989) is a problem less year for the most part. Still, I had ideas I was tempted to leave out. Not any more. Enjoy… (And add two chapters to my estimate… Remember, this is Part I of a series. It ends in August 1991).
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: THE MASTER MANIPULATOR
FRIDAY, MARCH 17th, 1989 - HEADMASTER'S QUARTERS, HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.
Albus Dumbledore paced his office with but one name on his mind: Harry Potter. He was certain he had done this before maybe even countless times. Ever since that damned committee, he was certain he had paced this office ruminating over that name. What was so important about that boy? He knew something was. That is the only way to explain some of the things he believed he had done. Why would he set the kid up with abusive relations? Why would he have anything to do with the kid's placement at all? He swore after Riddle he would never take any interest in a child's life again unrelated to his role as Headmaster. Yet he did. Why?
Tom Riddle had been a mistake in more ways than one. It was a mistake that the lad was ever born. He was the son of a horribly inbred, pureblood witch and a wealthy Muggle. The witch's parents had been brother and sister, as had their parents before them and she had been expected to breed with her older brother. Before that union could occur, the brother and her brute of a father were shipped off to Azkaban. The brother died there only a few years ago. The father got out, but came home to an empty house and starved to death decades ago.
The witch had used a love potion to ensnare the handsome Muggle and became pregnant with his child. Somehow, the potion wore off and the Muggle left her destitute and alone in London. The witch sold everything she owned of value, including herself, to stay alive at least until her baby was born. She lived long enough to give birth to the child and name him. He grew up in a less than ideal orphanage in London. That was where Dumbledore first met the future Lord Voldemort.
At the time of their first meeting in the summer of 1936, Dumbledore had been on faculty at Hogwarts for almost fifty years and was the Deputy Headmaster. He taught transfiguration. By custom, the summer before each new year members of the faculty would be sent out to explain magic to prospective Muggleborn or Muggle raised students. This job always fell to the junior members of the faculty, or at least it had. Minerva McGonagall actually liked that job for some reason. Dumbledore did not. He was not very good at dealing with the less accepting parents or guardians. Again, by custom, one of the perks of being Deputy Headmaster was not having to make those forays. But for some reason, Headmaster Dippet had assigned Dumbledore to that boy.
The boy intrigued Dumbledore. In many ways he saw a version of his younger self in the lad. He was smart, cunning, ambitious and had demonstrated unusual control of his magic for one so young. But something disturbed him as well. The boy was certainly a bully, a trait Dumbledore despised in others and seemed to have a cruel or sadistic side. The boy had potential, but that dark side had to be controlled. Dumbledore felt that if the boy felt trusted, he might not turn down a dark path. For that reason, and without telling Riddle, he petitioned to become the boy's guardian. He maintained his distance from the lad. A direct, hands on approach as it were was not Dumbledore's style. But he felt if the boy was shown trust, he would turn out okay. The boy never returned to the orphanage, choosing and being allowed to spend his summer holidays at Hogwarts. Tom was smart and well liked by faculty and staff alike. Perhaps had Dumbledore taken a more active role, Lord Voldemort might never have come to pass. But he didn't and thousands had now died as a result. Dumbledore swore he would never do that again.
And yet he did. Why had he gotten involved in Harry Potter's life? Moreover, his involvement was far more direct in many ways than it ever had been with Riddle. Why? There had to be a reason. He just could not remember what it was.
What could he remember?
He remembered that the boy was the son of James and Lily Potter, Hogwarts Class of 1978. They were both Aurors. Not long after the boy was born, his parents moved to Godric's Hollow, to a house Dumbledore owned. It was placed under a Fideleus Charm with their best friend Sirius Black as Secret Keeper. The Charm was not that surprising. At that time a lot of families were living under that Charm. But why were the Potters at Godric's Hollow? Why in his house and not one of the many Potter properties? That made little sense.
The sealing of their will in and of itself was unremarkable given the times. But no one picked up on the timing. Dumbledore guessed it was sealed because Black was a likely beneficiary and a Death Eater. That's what he said during the investigation and what he believed. There was just one problem. The Will was sealed on his orders on October 31st, 1981, the very night the Potters were murdered. The little boy was placed with his Aunt a day later. Sirius did not have his encounter with Pettigrew until November 5th and was not sent off to prison until the 8th. The only way Dumbledore's guess held any water was if Dumbledore knew Sirius was a Death Eater before the murders occurred. Clearly he could not have known that as Black had recently been proven innocent. Dumbledore could not imagine believing Sirius might be guilty without an overt act and he could not recall one. This just did not add up at all.
And he knew this was not the first time he asked these questions and thought about Riddle and this Potter lad. He knew he had paced this office countless times before pondering these same thoughts. Yet he had no memory of those past ponderings at all. Did he leave any kind of record? He then remembered his pensieve, a magical device for storing either memories or copies of memories. As far as he could recall, he had not used it since before the last summer Holidays, but he knew that could not be the case.
_____________________________________________________________
DAMN! Dumbledore thought. He was inside his Pensieve, his unaltered memories. He remembered everything now, including the annoying fact that this was the seventy-second time since the beginning of the investigations back in June that he had reviewed these memories and he knew he had forgotten everything the moment he left the memories.
Too clever for your own good! Damn Blood Wards!
In January 1980, Phyllis Stemenor had informed Dumbledore of her intent to retire at the end of that academic year. The Professor taught Divination and while Dumbledore considered her a personal friend, if she was a seer, he was a Quidditch Hall of Famer, which he was not. If it had been up to Dumbledore, he would have let that subject go away. You either were a seer or were not. It could not be taught. If you had the talent, you had it period. Phyllis most certainly was not a Seer. She was an unrepentant Fortune Teller. While there was possibly true magic involved, it was more geared towards lightening the bank rolls of the customer than actually telling the future. As Phyllis had told her friend on more than one occasion, usually when she was in her cups, a fool and his money are soon parted.
Much as Dumbledore wanted that course to disappear, he had to at least appear to make an effort to find a replacement. That was how he found himself in May 1980 in a room above the Hogshead Tavern with a down and out witch who looked like the worst stereotype of a fortune teller named Sybil Trelawney. Phyllis knew she was a fraud. Sybil believed she was the real deal. Not without any reason. She was, after all, the grand daughter or great-grand daughter of a truly gifted seer. Out of courtesy, Dumbledore held the interview. The applicant seemed to be even more of a fraud than the woman she sought to replace and Dumbledore almost called the interview to an end. Then Sybil made The Prophesy.
As Dumbledore understood it, a boy would be born at the end of July who could defeat Voldemort. That boy would be the only one who could prevent the onset of a dark age. Unfortunately, to win the war, the boy had to die as well. He hire Sybil then and there, not because of her prowess as a Seer, but because he needed her sequestered lest the enemy learn the Prophesy. At the time, Dumbledore did not know that at least part of the Prophesy had been overheard by a young Death Eater - a Potions Master in training named Severus Snape.
At the time Dumbledore thought it would be easy. The boy is born who meets the criteria. Set the kid up. Get a muggle bomb and place it with him. Voldemort comes over, kills the boy and boom! Game over! The odds of two boys being born on the night of July 30th - 31st who fit the conditions of having parents who stood up to Tom three times were astronomical to say the least. True, Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom were expecting and due around that time, but Lily's due date was three weeks after Alice's and neither was due at the end of July. Dumbledore was convinced this boy hero was yet to be conceived. Why do the deities have a sense of humor? Alice delivered late, Lily early. Neville Longbottom was born late in the evening of July 30th, 1980 and Harry Potter not two hours later early in the morning of July 31st, both on the last full night of the seventh month.
Dumbledore figured that Neville was the target. After all, Alice Longbottom was born Alice Abbott, a pureblood witch from an old family. But he was not a man to bet everything on a single roll of the dice. One of these boys was The One. But which one? Voldemort had to "Mark One" as and "Equal." Well as cold as Dumbledore could be, he was not about to let a baby die for nothing. Both families were placed under the Fidelius and Albus was content to wait until maybe years later when there was a reasonably chance that The One could survive his first encounter to be marked. Albus set the wards on both homes, each one owned by him as a further subterfuge. The enemy would expect the two scions of ancient bloodline to hide on their own land, not the lands of a minor house such as Dumbledore's.
When Albus set the wards over the new Potter house in August 1980, Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper. Apparently, about a year later and without Dumbledore's knowledge, Peter Pettigrew became the Secret Keeper. The list of people who knew where the Potters were was short. Aside from Black and Pettigrew, everyone else was either a natural occlumens or had a condition that made them immune from a mind attack. Minerva was the natural. Remus Lupin, being a werewolf was immune. And Rubeus Hagrid, being a half giant was also immune. Albus was not in on the secret. That was by his own request. The truth was more people knew about the Longbottoms and more of them could be forced into revealing the Secret Keeper than the Potters. The odds were in favor of an attack on the Longbottoms and, as Albus knew their secret, he watched their hiding place figuring that was where Voldemort would strike.
By then, Severus Snape was back in the fold. He told Albus that Voldemort was targeting the Potters first. He begged Albus to keep Lily Potter safe. While it was clear that Severus could care less about Lily's husband, the Death Eater knew a young mother would rather die than let her son come to harm and begged Albus to keep those two safe. Albus assured his new spy that they were as safe as could be and only a traitor amongst the five who did know would be able to change that. To this day, Dumbledore regretted his decision not to erect a blood ward then and there. Then again, although he was sure there was a spy in the Order, he did not suspect any of the Potter friends.
When the switch of Secret Keepers was made, Peter Pettigrew was living mostly as his rat Animagus in a hole not far from the Burrow. Sirius was a friend of the Weasleys and was a frequent visitor and having his rat friend nearby meant he could check up on the rat frequently. No one would have believed Peter a Death Eater. The man was technically a Muggleborn! All of his grandparents were Muggles. Black's family was mostly dark and if not Death Eaters were open supporters. But Pettigrew? Then again, Severus was a Half Blood, technically not Death Eater material, yet he was inner circle. Obviously, Voldemort was not as concerned about blood lines as were most of his followers.
Within days of the switch, Voldemort attacked. The One had been marked in a manner which changed the details of Dumbledore's plans. However, the general plan remained unchanged.
Prior to the attack, Dumbledore could only guess at the meaning of the Prophecy. Such things were always vague until something happened to shine a light on the true meaning behind the words. Consequently, until one of the boys was marked and the nature of that mark known, both had to be prepared for the One's destiny. At that time, Dumbledore had no reason to believe the One had to die. Consequently, his plan was for each to remain hidden away for as long as possible, maybe even for decades. It was a calculated risk for Dumbledore knew better than most that the war was not going well at all. Unless something dramatically changed, he figured the Ministry would fall within a couple of years at best. Still, there was no point in exposing "The One" before they were ready and that was years into the future.
In the event of the Ministry falling, Dumbledore planned to take trusted members of the Order into hiding. In addition to being a nucleus for a counter-revolution at one point, each had skills and knowledge that would be useful to the two boys. He had checked them both not long after they were born and knew that with training they would grow into very powerful wizards, which was why their training had to be strictly controlled. If they were trained "normally," with their growing powers came the inevitable temptation to dabble in the Dark Arts, an unacceptable prospect. It would not serve the Greater Good to replace one Dark Lord with another. Hence the boys would be trained by the Light for the Light. And Dumbledore planned to begin their training as Light Warriors early, not later than age eight.
The attack on the Potters changed everything. The One had been marked years before Dumbledore would have guessed. Longbottom was no longer an option. All his efforts could now be concentrated on Potter and because Voldemort had been destroyed, Dumbledore knew he had time.
Dumbledore was the first to arrive at the scene of the attack. There were only two bodies: James and Lily Potter. All that was left of Voldemort was his robes. Dumbledore immediately appreciated the basics of what this meant. He had always suspected Voldemort had fashioned a horcrux and based upon the man's boastings, probably more than one. Dumbledore knew that while Voldemort could be defeated, so long as any of those vile things remained he could not be killed and could return. Returning would not be easy and could take years, even decades.
He examined the boy and noted the odd scar on his forehead and the tell tale signs that the killing curse had been cast upon him. He pondered how it was that this baby survived and could only conclude that the dead woman lying in front of the crib sacrificed her life for her son's. He could not prove that was what had happened and knew he could never prove that was what allowed the boy to live, but it was the only theory that made sense.
He examined the scar, and with the results everything changed. He detected another soul fragment. Somehow Voldemort had accidently made the boy into another horcrux. Before that realization, Dumbledore was more than willing to train the boy into a powerful magical warrior, one who could stand toe to toe with Voldemort and have a decent chance of winning. The horcrux changed everything. Yes, Harry would have to be the one to kill Voldemort, but he would also have to die. From all Dumbledore's research, he knew that any method that would successfully destroy the horcrux would be fatal to Harry. Harry had to be trained by the Light, but not to such a point where he could win and live to tell the tale. As Dumbledore contemplated this change in plans, a second cry caught his attention. In the next room he found another baby, much younger than Harry. He had not known Lily had another child, but this presented another opportunity. In his original plans, Harry had to live long enough to have an heir. He was the last of his line. Neville had cousins who could assume the mantle of Lord Longbottom. Unless Harry had an heir, House Potter, one of the oldest and one that was the symbol of the Light, would die with him.
With a little sister, Dumbledore could hedge his bets. In the event that Harry died without issue, the little sister could carry on the Potter line through her children. It was for that reason he decided they should be separated. Harry would have a target on his back until Voldemort could be vanquished once and for all and maybe even beyond. If anyone knew he had a sister, she would be a target as well. The girl would not be told of her heritage unless Harry died without an heir. Until then, it was best for both of them that she grow up separately and ignorant of her importance. This last factor applied to both of them. Harry could not be placed with a magical family. Even the kindest of them would treat him like the hero he was and he could become just another arrogant aristocrat. Such arrogance would make his training as a martyr all but impossible. Until he was old enough to attend Hogwarts it was best that he remain ignorant of the magical world. Better yet, it was best if he were placed in an environment that would leave him yearning for acceptance and a sense of belonging when the time came. That, and the need for protections more powerful than the Fidelius Charm led Dumbledore to consider the Dursleys.
He had met Petunia and knew she hated magic. He knew she and Harry's mother had a falling out and was certain that while she would probably take care of the boy, she would never love him as a son. Her blood connection would allow Dumbledore to erect a blood ward for the boy's protection, but it would be weak enough that various monitoring spells he could cast upon the boys would work which would allow Dumbledore to keep an eye on the boy from a great distance. It helped that a Squib named Arabella Figg, who was a member of his resistance organization, live a few doors down from Petunia.
Thus it was that when Sirius arrived, he was instructed to take Clarice and find her a home in the Muggle world. Sirius protested, but followed his orders. Dumbledore took Harry to Hogwarts for the night while McGonagall cased the Dursley residence. It was early in the morning of November 2nd, 1981 when Harry was left on the Dursley's doorstep with a note. Clarice had been left with Muggle Social Services the day before and was adopted by unknown Muggles days later. Phase one complete, the children were safe and separated and Harry was in an environment that would make him a blank slate for Dumbledore when he finally returned to the magical world. Dumbledore had ten years to figure out how he was going to fill that slate when the time came.
With the Potter will sealed, Dumbledore assumed the role as magical guardian as to both children. This would prevent anyone from interfering with his plans. Clarice would remain an unknown. She would be a back up plan for the continuation of the Potter line. Harry would famous but unseen. In the meantime, Dumbledore could arrange for Harry to eventually sire an heir. A wife and child were things worth fighting and dying for after all. He knew that the boy probably already had offers for betrothal and would receive countless more once this news broke. That would give Dumbledore many choices to find a match that would both produce an heir. He would accept an offer from a Pureblood family, preferably one loyal to him. In 1981, however, not one surviving member of the Order of the Phoenix had a daughter. The best options then were Nymphadora Tonks, who was a half blood about six years older than Harry; Susan Bones, an orphaned pureblood living with her Aunt; Hannah Abbott, a Pureblood from a Light family that had sat out the war as best they could; and Ginny Weasley, a newborn whose parents were supportive of the Order. His first task after sequestering the Potter children was to check on the betrothal offers. Oddly, the only one of his preferred candidates to make an offer were the Weasleys. In time, he knew he would accept that offer.
Having decided on little Ginny Weasley, Dumbledore had begun working on the infant's mother Molly. To ensure an heir before Harry had to die, he needed Ginny pregnant early and, if she bore a daughter, often. Dumbledore wanted their first child to be born before Harry finished Hogwarts, preferably before he came of age at Seventeen. This meant Ginny needed to be pregnant with Harry's child at fifteen or sixteen. This meant the girl had to be groomed to be Harry's wife. That would take time and a lot of effort from her mother. One thing Dumbledore did not want to resort to was any kind of compulsion magics for either child. Dumbledore did not think Molly would be as hard a sell as she turned out to be.
Grooming was common practice among traditional Purebloods whose daughters were typically married off by arrangement. The process took years but if done properly, the girl would look upon her betrothed as her one and only true partner. As a young teen she would be encouraged to experiment and practice various techniques designed to please a man short of losing her virginity altogether. The goal was to create the perfect wife such that the marriage would be a stronger one. Dumbledore knew Molly knew about this as her marriage to Arthur had been arranged, although by the time they married they actually were in love with one another.
Molly wanted nothing to do with either arranging a marriage or grooming her daughter as she had been groomed. As to the former, Arthur had already offered the contract, but Molly knew that the prospective bride and groom could break the contract if they were not married before the older of them turned seventeen and she also knew that the only way for them to marry at a younger age was with the consent of all parents and magical guardians or if the girl became pregnant. She had no intention of turning her only daughter into a groomed spouse and would not consent to a marriage before Ginny was seventeen. She wanted her daughter to marry for love. Dumbledore was nothing if not persistent and persuasive. It took him over three years, but by the time Ginny was four, Molly was onboard.
At Dumbledore's suggestion, the normal bedtime stories and fairytales had been replaced with the Harry Potter Boy Hero stories that were all the rage. Shortly before Ginny's fifth birthday she was no longer allowed to see her friend Luna. Isolating the girl from outside friendships was one part of the grooming process as it was supposed to help her fixate and fantasize about her intended. Friends would be a distraction from the specially created fantasy world that was deemed needed. The girl would dream of her hero and when she re-entered the world it would be at Hogwarts and her dream would be there in reality.
Dumbledore's role in this part of his plan was to control Harry's social life. He would not actively interfere in casual romances, at least until it was time for Ginny to become his girlfriend, but he would interfere if anything at school got serious. Outside of school, Harry would be restricted to his Aunt's house or the Burrow. Thus he would spend days and even weeks in a house where the only girl his own age or thereabouts was Ginny Weasley.
The whole plan required that Harry arrive at Hogwarts at age eleven in a condition emotionally to look upon Dumbledore as a father figure and savior of sorts. He needed to be empty so that he could be filled, ignorant so that he could be taught and pliable so that he could be molded and set firmly on the path to fulfilling the prophecy. Dumbledore, in the mean time, would look for any way to avoid the death of the lad, but he believed it was a fool's hope. Harry was a horcrux. The vessel for the soul fragment had to be destroyed. Still, one never knew. There might be some magic out there that would spare the child that fate. Dumbledore would look for it, but would not wait to find it. Should and when Voldemort returned, his destruction took priority over Harry's well being. Harry's life was not worth the thousands or millions who could die in the next war. Better one life lost than an entire generation. This was the Greater Good after all.
The plan would have worked. It would have worked but for the Dursleys. Albus wanted a boy who was pliable. He did not want the arrogant pureblood scion the boy would or could have become had he been raised in the magical world. He did not want a determined and self-confident boy that was the product of a loving and supportive family. Harry was sent to his Aunt because the boy was to be starved of affection. However, despite his 150 years, Albus was quite naïve. He was never a parent nor had he paid much attention to that discipline at all. He was an academic and lived in the world of theory and books, not the real world of relationships. Physical abuse of a child was a concept so foreign to him he could not even consider it as a possibility. He had dismissed Arabella Figg's letters about the abuse as delusional fantasies. She had been a primary school teacher and abhorred any form of corporal punishment on a child. Dumbeldore assumed Harry had been nothing more than a victim of a common spank.
When the truth came out about Harry's former living situation during the investigation, Dumbledore had become physically ill. His goal was to avoid creating another Dark Lord, yet he knew from history the life he had sentenced the boy to live was the fast track to that eventuality. The need to regain control over the boy was immense, but he now lacked the ability. He had lost his guardianship. He knew he would not get that back in time. Molly Weasley had sent him a Howler following his testimony that basically told him he was Persona Non Grata at the Weasleys. The Weasley's had even gone so far as to rescind the betrothal contract. It was an unnecessary yet significant gesture. Once Dumbledore's status as magical guardian had been revoked, any and all unfulfilled contracts he had entered into on behalf of his Wards were null and void. This step by the Weasleys meant that even if he ever regained that status, Ginny was not available to him ever again, at least not as a match for Harry. Once a contract of such nature was rejected or rescinded, it could never be renewed with the same person, that person being the guardian and not the child. He had lost Arthur and Molly Weasley. Unless he had to communicate with them about a Hogwarts matter involving one of their children, his letters and floo access to the Burrow was denied. Her reaction was hardly atypical. He had been relegated to little more than the Headmaster. Even then, he was on probation.
He had lost ten months on his project for the boy. Merlin knows how much this might have cost the Greater Good. There was no way Dumbledore could undo a lot of what had happened. Those damnable Durlseys were now dead. The blood wards, however, were stronger than ever. That meant Harry and his sister were together again. He seemed to recall that now from the investigation, although at the time he could not connect that boy with Harry Potter of the Prophecy. With those damn wards in place, Dumbledore knew that the moment he left this Pensieve, his memories of the Prohpecy and how it was connected with Harry Potter would be wiped yet again. Seventy-two times thus far he had come in here looking for answers to nagging questions. Seventy-two times he had found them. And seventy-two times he had promptly forgotten them once he left.
What was infuriating was that he knew of only two ways for him or anyone else to retain their memories of Harry Potter. Oh they could be reminded of what they knew just as he was when he was in here, but as soon as one went on to something else, the memory would fade. No, there were only two wyas to retain the memories. The first was if he gained the boys trust. That was unlikely for several reasons. First off, Dumbledore would have forgotten that the boy was of any importance. He would have no reason to even meet the boy, much less to gain his trust. Then there was the fact that the whole wizarding world knew it was him who had placed Harry with the Dursleys. It was doubtful he would even be allowed contact outside of Hogwarts. He would permanently regain his memories of the boy the moment the lad arrived for sorting at Hogwarts. But that was over two years away. The plan he had for the boy would be in ruins by then. There had to be another way. Unfortunately, Dumbledore knew his memory would be wiped. Perhaps if he tried to remember something simple, something not directly related to what he had known about the lad. Perhaps then he could begin to solve this puzzle. He knew it would take time. It was, however, his only option and with Voldemort out there and the prospect of another bloody civil war looming, he had to do some or anything to minimize the damage and end Riddle's life once and for all.
Dumbledore left the pensive, having forgotten whatever it was he was reviewing. Still, he remembered an idea and picked up a quill and piece of parchment.
Bring quill, ink and parchment into the Pensieve next time, he wrote and left the note beside the pensieve before leaving his office for the evening meal after which he was meeting with Hagrid and others down at the pub to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
SATURDAY, MARCH 18th, 1989 - POTTER HOUSE, LONDON, U.K.
The "Weekend Warriors" were all present in the Ballroom. Harry stood before them. "On today's agenda," he began, "we are going to begin to learn shifting."
A cheer went up.
"But before we begin," Harry continued when they settled down, "there is something else. For centuries the Potters have rune the Potter Foundation. It is a philanthropic and charitable organization…"
"What's that?" a voice asked.
"Simply put, it makes tons of money and then give it all
away to people in need. Specifically, it funds magical education. Almost forty percent of the tuition that will send witches and wizards to the magical schools here in Britain this year came from Potter Foundation scholarships. Most families pay what they can and the foundation picks up most of the rest. There is another foundation that does the same thing, except it only funds Purebloods. All others are funded by my family's Foundation. Seventy-five percent of the Muggleborns receive half or more of their tuition from this fund.
"I guess none of you lot really care about that stuff. But you should. You see, over the next few years, the Foundation is going to pay to send the lot of you to the Watanabe School in Japan for summer session."
A huge cheer went up.
"Before you lot get too excited, I must tell you we cannot send all of you beginning this summer. The cost of that school is 25,000 galleons per person per summer. That's 5,000 galleons per academic year…"
"Bloody hell! That's a lot!" a voice called out.
"How much is Hogwarts?" another added.
"Or St. George's?"
"St. George's is a thousand," Jason Evans, the oldest of the Evans children said. "Thousand per year."
"Hogwarts is 3,000," Dora Tonks added. "Then again, it is a boarding school."
"Still that Japan school is wicked expensive," Daphne Greengrass noted.
"Hence the reason we cannot send all of you beginning this year," Harry said. "The Foundation has committed funds for three summers at the school for each student, with reserves for a fourth summer if you wish it. This summer three of you lot's families are sending their children and we can send seven more."
"And how do we pick the seven?" a voice asked.
"Age," Harry said. "Oldest go first."
Hermione stood up. "Will the following people please rise: Susan Bones, Colin Dunbar, Jason Evans, Amber Evans, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Justin Parker, Trisha Powell, Ian Smith, and Dora Tonks."
The kids stood.
"The Britain Class of 1989," Hermione said.
"Now," Harry said, "because you older kids are only now learning wandless magic, you will enter as Third Year Magicals. Yes, that means a few of you will take O.W.L.s again. But this is a chance to do better and take different electives. Professor McGonagall will be available to talk about the various Masters you can pursue and what O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s you need to pursue them. Mind you, aside from our three youngest in '89, the rest of you lot will return here next summer with your N.E.W.T.s in hand."
"Magical studies aside," Hermione continued, "you lot will be tested for your non-magical study levels. If you can read, write, add, subtract, multiply and divide, you will be level three, fifth year non-magical. Otherwise you'll probably be level two. If you can do pre-algebra and have a basic understanding of sciences and history and such, you might pass for level four. But don't worry. Whatever level you test into you will learn loads of stuff and will be at and beyond university when you're done."
"Wicked!" a voice said.
"Be seated," Clarice said. And the Class of '89 sat down. "Over the next couple of months you will be receiving paperwork to get you there and back again. We will travel by Muggle means and that means we fly in a Muggle airplane to Tokyo. We get to school from there by magical means. Since we are 'going Muggle,' there will be passports and such for the lot of you. Don't lose them! We leave here from Heathrow in London on June 28th. We get back on July 30th. We already booked the flights and will be seated together. Those of you who have wands can bring them, but you must pack them in your bags. All of you will get new wands in Kyoto."
"Why?" Dora asked.
"One, it is part of the tuition. Two, they are unregistered here which means you can practice with them at home without getting a visit from the ministry."
"Wicked!"
"Now for the rest of you," Hermione said. "Will the following please stand: Regina Darcy, Aaron Evans, Michelle Evans, Andrew Kirke, Maggie Meeks, Robert Parker, Roger Sluvey, Alicia Spinet, Fred Weasley and George Weasley?"
The children rose.
"Assuming you still want to," Hermione said, "you're off to Japan with the rest of us the summer of 1990."
"Wicked!" Fred and George said.
"And last but not least, our class of 1991," Hermione continued. "Terry Boot, Millie Bullstrode, Billy Evans, Cynthia Evans, Astoria, Daphne and maybe Renee Greengrass, Ernie McMillan, Padma and Parvati Patil and Ginny Weasley."
"And my brother Ron?" Ginny asked.
"It's up to your Mum," Harry said. "Right now, no."
"Cool!" Millie said.
"We hope there may be others by then" Hermione finished.
"Right then, Shifiting!" Harry said.
Tonks listened intently. As it had been all year, whenever the trio introduced them to new magic, there was always a history lesson and Hermione usually gave it. It was far better than any history lesson at Hogwarts. Hermione's "lessons" dealt with the development of magic, not boring goblin wars and such. Hermione explained why western Europe had forgotten magic and why much of the rest of the world had not. It all came down to the wand and the Greco-Roman myopic view of things that plagued magical and non-magical Europe for a thousand years or more. If the Greeks and Romans did not consider it, it was obviously not important.
Wandless magic was thousands of years old, dating back before even the dawn or writing. Every magical child could do it, yet the Western Europeans who practiced the Greco-Roman magics did not develop this talent. The wand was invented probably in Italy before the founding of Rome sometime between 1000 and 700 B.C.E. It spread through Italy and into Greece when the Greeks began trying to colonize the Italian peninsula and Sicily. It spread east into then Babylon and Persia and beyond with the armies of Alexander the Great and west and north with the Roman Legions. In the first century, it reached Britain. But while most of modern day Europe was part of the either the Roman Empire or it's allied States, parts were not. The Gauls and many Germanic tribes fell to the wand and sword and adopted the wand for their magicals. They soon forgot the old ways.
But many cultures integrated the wand into the wandless ways. Scandinavia, for example, did not encounter the wand until the Vikings went about. Through the Vikings, the wand went east into Russia and the Ukraine. The Mongols brought the wand to China and through trade it landed in Japan. European explorers centuries later brought it to the rest of the world. It was the ancient Roman Empire that had given up on wandless magics. The Arabs and Persians had as well having been brought to the wand before the rise of Christianity and Islam. Wandless magic was considered in the West to be primitive. It was anything but that. True, it was the oldest form of magical expression, but it was as advanced as anything. Yet the prejudice of the Greco-Roman tradition favored the wand over all other magics.
Shifting was a wandless form of magic. If your magic was wand magic and you had no wandless skills, you could never learn to shift. That was the main reason why it had been forgotten and why it was not taught in Britain. It was considered primitive and unreliable because the Greeks and Romans did not do it. Apparition was the wand based counterpart of Shifting in most respects. Shifting was the oldest and in many ways easiest form of magical transport. But it was not known in the West because the Romans had invented Portkeys and Apparition, both being wand based magic.
Shifting had some advantages over the Greco-Roman modes of magical transport. First off it was not range limited. Harry, Hermione and Clarice could shift from London to Kyoto no problem and they had to prove it to themselves. Apparition had a maximum range of 900 kilometers over land if you were powerful enough. Over water, it was limited to no more than 100 kilometers. With a portkey, you could travel over land and water about 5,000 kilometers. Shifting was also instantaneous. You were here then you're there. No uncomfortable delays in transit while the Greco-Roman versions took at least a few second, and even more at maixium range and those were always uncomfortable ways to travel. Shifting was also unaffected by wards. You could theoretically shift into Hogwarts or Gringotts. Theoretically.
Shifting also had disadvantages. First off, you could not "Blind Shift." With apparition and portkeys, you could travel to France even if you had never been there before. Shifting did not allow that option. You could only shift to a place you had been before or a place you could see prior to shifting. Harry could portkey to Hogwarts, but he had never been there so shifting was out of the question. His trips to the Burrow, Black Manor, Longbottom Manor and The Rookery were all initially by portkey or side-along apparition. It was only after this first trip that he and the others could shift there. There was no such thing as side-along shifting. You could not bring someone else with you. Finally, shifting was impossible if you were under too much physical, magical or emotional distress. This was why in a prolonged duel, the opponents stopped shifting altogether. They just could not do it any more. Apparition, on the other hand, while riskier was not so limited. You could blind apparate, side-along another and apparate under stress. True, there was the risk of injury, but in battle it was a better means to ingress and egress than shifting.
"And how to we do it?" Dora asked.
"Same way with all wandless forms," Harry replied. "Think of what you want to do, touch your inner magic and command it to happen."
Tonks shifted home that day. Within three weeks, shifting was the norm for all the "Weekend Warriors."