Harry's still not mine, but I hope some of these ideas in this chapter are unique.

BTW, if you read C 9 on Saturday, go back a chapter before you read this, I put the second half up on the page Sunday, but since it was an edit of a chapter rather than a new one, I don't think an alert was sent.

Grief, Deceptions, and Hope for Freedom

Part 10

Harry was half-way to the library, when he decided keeping all the books overnight was less suspicious than not returning the ones with the Potter, Evans, and Dumbledore cases. He hoped Dumbledore wasn't watching as he went off on Hermione, but chances are he arranged McGonagall's lack of appearance just to set him off. McGonagall hadn't contacted him. He found himself reweighing what he would tell her. Originally he was going to report complaints about Umbridge, as that is why they claimed they needed to cancel the classes, and then request the materials for the canceled classes whilst casually mentioning the abuse of his Aunt & Uncle. In the parchments, he had discovered that the first step to putting Dumbledore in breach of contract would be allegations of abuse. Of course there was abuse, and fraud in accounting, but unless D knew or had sufficient evidence that he should have known he wasn't fully in breach of the letter of the contract in this regard.

Sirius had clipped a note to the section of Lily's will, (his father's was separate and simple, everything to Lily, and if she was deceased, then her will was to be followed in full) apparently, much like the muggle school he had attended before, it was a requirement for every student to have a yearly physical. Harry had not one. And as such, Dumbledore could claim he was ignorant of the starvation, the bones that had been broken, the failure to thrive that he had seen on his muggle medical records. Dumbledore not be held to the full penalties. Of course, if school hadn't required yearly checks, and if the muggle government wasn't paying for them, he doubted they would have taken him. After all, they didn't pay the fee for new frames for his glasses Dudley broke. But the records themselves could prove the neglect of the Headmaster's duties.

Harry headed to the Owlery, as being early for dinner would only make it possible for McGonagall to brush him off. He called for some of the school owls and gave each owl one letter, he then called Hedwig. He stroked her feathers, "Girl, I need you to bring this to Lawyer Ehrmann wait for a reply, and if he gives you one bring it straight to me, no detours." With a nip to his fingers she was gone.

With the first Flourish & Blotts order and the catalog requests done, and his Gringotts account soon to be 100 galleons lighter, Harry smiled. He still had much to do, but some things were getting done and he didn't feel as powerless as he usually did when he was contemplating returning to Privet Drive. He briefly thought of getting another book in his interlibrary loan book, as he'd read all the blood sections, but amount of time to save the other pages of the book, would make him too late.

Dean and Seamus were talking animatedly when Harry arrived in the Great Hall, Neville had been looking for him, and immediately relaxed into his seat and smiled when he spotted Harry. Only Flittwick and Sinestra were at the head table, rather curiously empty. Harry sat down next to his dorm mates with a smile, and loaded up his plate.

At the end of dinner Hedwig returned, and nearly dropped the letter into his pudding. It looked charred, and the envelope was only evident in that there was a lighter x on the back of the letter. The top of it looked like it had been pierced with her talons. Harry worriedly tended to Hedwig petting her with one hand as he offered her his goblet of water. "Are you okay girl?"

Hedwig nipped his fingers, she looked proud. "What happened girl? Was it a death eater?"

Hedwig shook her head, fluffed up like she was offended at the suggestion. Neville spoke up, "There must be mail restriction wards."

Seamus looked confused, "But why would Harry's mail…" He laughed, "More Boy in the Papers crap, eh?"

Harry laughed, "Never heard it that way, but it is all crap. Guess I need to figure out how to get my mail without it getting charred."

Neville had a tight frown. "Only the recipient is supposed to be able to place mail wards."

"So Harry what was worthy of burning. Got a fangirl sending you her unmentionables?" Dean joked.

Harry opened the letter only long enough to check the signature. "Only a reply to a letter I sent earlier. Nothing worth this drama. Maybe the teachers are working on the school wards or something." Hedwig bumped his hand and flew off.

"Hermione probably would know." With that the owl conversation ended, and when some of the fourth years came over to settle a debate about whether quidditch or football crowd riots were more dangerous, Harry and Neville snuck away.

After they were in the Room of Requirement, outside of which they talked about dueling, Harry and Neville settled into the comfortable armchairs the room provided. The room was bare, the walls were stark white. There was a table and two bookshelves full of books and a large padded dueling area on the far side of the room. Just in case, Harry cast silenceos on the eight corners of the room and the door before he pulled the letter from his pocket.

"Boy, I think the room really doesn't want to be accused of spying on you." Neville said with a wary tone to his voice.

Harry concentrated for a moment, and the walls turned deep blue. "There, a little less mental ward. I wonder if the other lawyers I contacted are going to be able to contact me."

Neville looked appalled. "That's against both Hogwart's bylaws and Ministry laws, probably even international laws! You can't block anyone's right to counsel."

Harry snorted, "Probably why I've never been taught anything about the Magical World. If I don't know my rights, how can I know if they've been violated?"

Neville replied, "Well, let's fix that. You've been raised as a muggle, right?"

"House-elf muggle, yes."

"And I bet you weren't given a copy of Mundane or Magical or any orientation materials."

"There are orientation materials?"

Neville ran his hand through his hair, "Merlin, Harry, the Minister should have asked you a few questions, then Dumbledore would have been out on his arse. It's ridiculous how many laws he's broken. You are not only protected because you are the sole magical heir to old families, but you are still protected by the squib protection statutes until you are declared the magical heir of the Evans line."

"What the heck are the squib protection statutes?"

"Well, I think I've told you a couple times about my great-uncle, but not knowing about the Statutes probably made it sound like he was trying to kill me." Neville paused for a moment, "Anyway, about the time of the Magna Carta, protections were given to squibs, charms at birth that would take them to the nearest muggle hospital if they were attacked in a way that could severely hurt them. Helped with muggle relations, after all, hard to get along with them when they see the Wizards killing their squib children." Neville chuckled darkly, "That's why Gran didn't kick my Uncle out of the estate, he'd proved I wasn't a complete squib."

Harry didn't know what to say, so he kept his silence.

"I wondered why you let Malfoy call you a half-blood. If nothing had happened to your parents, Harry, you'd still be famous. Your mom wasn't because your family was so old that the heir could only be a male. But all the old families are taught about Gambling Nicholas Evans when they learn about wizarding contracts. "

"Who?"

"See, Harry, your great or maybe great-great grandfather Nicholas Evans was a gambler. The story goes he constantly lost small amounts, but his marriage contract had arranged with Gringotts that he was only given an allowance for this habit of his. Anyways, he thought he was finally striking it lucky, which spurred him on to bet larger amounts. But rather than save his winnings, he spent them, apparently telling his wife he had given up gambling. So then came the World Cup and he bet more than he had. He didn't go to his wife, instead he got a loan from a cousin from a bastard branch of the family, Marvolo or something like that, anyways he swore on his magic and that of his firstborn heirs that he'd repay the cousin within a week. He didn't. And his wife didn't find out until her son was a squib. She was granted the first divorce with full custody of children and property for a woman in Wizarding Britain. And after that magical contracts by law could only be enforced on the signatory parties. It effectively granted children rights as people not property, thus leading to the Squib Protection statues."

Harry's head felt like it was spinning. "So my mom wasn't a muggleborn, she was just the second-born."

"Not just the second-born, Harry. The first witch to receive her power in at least two generations. She must have been powerful. Making you even more so, as the first heir." Neville stood then and started to pace a bit. "You have a cousin, right? A muggle cousin?"

"Or squib I guess."

"Then your parents must not have been able to repay the debt."

"Debt?"

"Losing your magic for good is considered too harsh of a penalty to not have opportunity of relief." Neville stopped pacing, looking directly at Harry, "Possibly your Aunt refused to pay any part of the debt."

"Why would she have to?"

Neville went and sat back down, "Because then possibly she, but definitely her heirs would get back their magic. She'd be considered party to the contract. But if she got her magic yours could be less, but you'd have to risk it anyway if you want your kids to have magic."

"What?"

"Well, Harry, it would mean that you'd have to be second born." Neville's face was apologetic, "Until the contract is paid, and an adult male is declared Heir, all your family would be under squib protection."

"But then how could Voldemort kill my mum?"

"There's no magical protection that can save you from the killing curse."

They sat in silence for a while.

"I guess I need this lawyer for more than my godfather's estate, huh."

"Sorry, Harry. But I think you do."

Harry stood up. "Neville, do you know why we aren't supposed to do magic over the summer?"

Neville shook his head.

"Well, you probably shouldn't let anyone know, but my Godfather told me that it was supposed to be so we could rebuild our magic cores after the end of year tests."

"The OWLs weren't fun, but not enough to cause magical exhaustion."

"And there, Neville, is why wizards today are so much weaker than in any of the stories Binns tells, except for maybe Durmstrang, and the Death Eaters." Harry stood and walked to the dueling area. "Every time you use all your magic, or nearly so, your core grows."

Neville had followed and stood a good paces from Harry facing him, "So, they are making us weaker on purpose."

Harry nodded, "He didn't say if it was the Ministry or Dumbledore but it must be on purpose. Sirius said the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws both still passed it down, very secretly. He only knew because his family was Slytherin and thought he would be. He told his friends, but they didn't make it known because Dumbledore had to be at least not protesting the change."

Neville sighed, "Meaning the students who would be more likely to ignore the rules for knowledge or power's sake would be more powerful."

"And the reason it was before summer break, was that it needs to regrow naturally, with time. Any potions would weaken rather than grow your core."

Neville looked at Harry, "So how do we use all our magic without Dumbledore knowing?"

Harry smiled.

AN: I do so like Neville. Thanks everyone who has reviewed. Your comments are good fodder for the muses.