Chapter 25
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Harry noticed another family with a daughter shopping for first year books and attempted to say hello to them. The girl and her parents looked down their noses at him and turned away.
"See what I mean, quite a lot of the witches I've tried to strike up a conversation with are like that," Hermione said sadly.
"Yes, perhaps it's our clothing. Dumbledore said that it was the way we were dressed that made people frown at us," Harry said.
"That suggests it will be better at school once we're in uniform," Hermione said. "But I'm not sure I believe that."
"That would depend how many pureblood students there are. If their world is small enough for them to all know each other, it isn't going to matter what we're wearing. They'd still know we come from the muggle world. It's a pity they wouldn't talk to me, I wanted to ask them about the being they have," Harry said.
"What being?" Hermione and Teyla asked.
"The green being that's following them, it isn't human and it's acting like it is some sort of servant or slave," Harry said.
"Don't tell my parents that you can see her, you'll get her in trouble," A young girl said hurriedly.
"Why am I not supposed to see her?" Harry asked surprised.
"Only her family is supposed to be able to see her, it's a rule for a good elf," the girl said.
"My Dad and I have been seeing them all morning. Papa could see them too once we pointed them out," Harry said.
"I couldn't see her until Harry told me about her, but I can see her now clear as day, I don't know how I couldn't see her before," Hermione said. "What is she?"
"She's a house elf. She's not really a slave, being bound to a family helps her keep her magic so she serves the family in return for the bond," the girl said.
"Can you see the others, now that you know about them?" Harry asked.
"There are more, here in the bookshop?" Hermione asked, looking around astonished. "I can't see them."
"Neither can I though I can see at least one family I know would bring an elf," the young girl agreed.
"There's one following the man in the blue velvet robe, staying as close as he can, there's one over there between the two boys arguing about something, and a third standing by themselves in that corner near the checkout," Harry said.
"Oh, yes. Now I can see them. How odd!" Hermione said.
"I see the first two but what's a checkout?" the young girl asked curiously.
"Harry means the desk where you pay for the books. What would you call it? I'm Hermione Granger and this is Harry Sheppard," Hermione remembered her manners and introduced herself.
"I'm Astoria Greengrass," the young girl said cheerfully.
"If the house elves provide services to get magic from the bond, are they stuck with the one family. What happens if they're not being treated well, can they leave and bond with someone else? Do they earn money if they do more work?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Astoria admitted. "Bessie has been with our family since my mum was a little girl. We treat her well she has a room to live in and she can eat whatever she wants. She looks after me and Daphne and that's not a lot of work I don't think." She looked worried.
"Yes Bessie looks very healthy compared to a lot of the other elves I've seen today, I'm sure you're taking good care of her," Harry reassured her.
"Why is she dressed like that, why doesn't she have clothes?" Hermione asked.
"House elves don't wear clothes, giving them clothes would break the bond," Astoria said in shock.
"I'd like to talk to one of them but I wouldn't want to get one in trouble if they're not supposed to let me see them," Harry said.
"Why aren't they allowed to be seen?" Hermione asked, affronted. It seemed like abuse to her to force someone to remain unnoticed.
"I don't know, it just isn't done out in public," Astoria said thoughtfully. "If you sent me an owl with your questions, I could ask Bessie and write down the answers," she offered.
"Thank you but I don't have an owl, and we're going to see family in America and Canada," Harry replied.
"I don't have an owl either, I was asking for a cat but Mum doesn't think that I'm responsible enough to have one until I'm a bit older," Hermione said. "But professor McGonagall said that there are owls at school I can use so I could send you a letter after the first of September."
"You'll write to me from school? Mum said that Daphne will probably be too busy to write to me individually," Astoria said doubtfully. Hermione could see the sadness and fear of loneliness in the young girl's eyes.
"I'll write to you, I'm sure to have lots of questions for you and Bessie about living in a magical household," Hermione said.
"I'll write too if I'm at Hogwarts, I'm not sure that owls could fly all the way from America if I go to school there," Harry offered as well.
"Come along Astoria, what have you been doing, I thought you wanted to get some new story books," the older girl who'd refused to speak with Harry called.
"I have to go, I'll write to you," Astoria said looking hopefully at Harry and Hermione.
"We're going to America tonight or tomorrow, I don't want your owl to get hurt trying to find me," Harry said apologetically.
"I'd love to hear from you Astoria, Harry's my only other friend in this world and it doesn't sound like he's going to be much use as a correspondent, I'd like to be friends with you," Hermione said smiling.
"Hey!" Harry said, pretending to take offence and making the young girl giggle.
-o0o-
"I have arranged for young Harry to stay with one of his future classmates until he catches the train to school on September first, it will be a good way for him to get to know some of his schoolmates and a little about our world," Albus said, using a wandless compulsion to make the recalcitrant family comply with his wishes.
"That is unnecessary, if Harry decides to attend your school, which is still by no means certain, we have enough leave stay with him until then," John snapped.
"We will probably go to visit my sister and John's brother. Harry will enjoy spending some time with his cousins." Rodney said. "It will also give us an opportunity to look over the schools there."
"But you've just bought books for Hogwarts," Albus couldn't stop himself from protesting in dismay.
"That's the thing about scientists, they can't help but try to learn everything about everything and they never take anyone's unsubstantiated word for anything. They'll probably buy the books recommended by the American and Canadian schools as well so I have more than one frame of reference," Harry said cheerfully, not realising that he was striking fear into Albus Dumbledore. Hogwarts certainly wasn't ready for a Boy-Who-Lived with that attitude. They were even less ready for the boy's family to decide to send him to Ilvermorny instead of Hogwarts and with North American parents and people he considered family in that country it was certainly possible but Albus didn't know how he could convince them that he needed to go to Hogwarts.
"I still have serious concerns about his safety at your school but I also want to read through these books and get an idea what Harry would be learning if he goes to your school before I offer an opinion on whether it might be worth it," Rodney said.
"An education is a lot more than the sum of the books you have studied," Albus objected.
"I agree," Rodney said surprising the elderly wizard. They'd argued with everything he'd said to date, perhaps he was starting to get through to them the importance of Harry receiving a magical education.
"Solely reading through the textbooks is a poor way of judging the quality of an education, the best teachers can be lumbered with inferior books and excel in spite of them, or a teacher might have a very good idea of what they want to teach, choosing a suitable text or have a suitable text chosen for them but no skill in actually imparting that knowledge and inspiring their students effectively. But since you failed in your promise to show us the school so we may evaluate the security risks and have not introduced us to any of the teachers the textbooks are the only information we have available, other than the knowledge that you cannot be trusted to keep your word," Rodney finished.
Albus frowned at that, he'd been telling Harry about the school all afternoon. Why were they discounting his words?
"I could introduce you to the Weasleys, the family that agreed to have Harry stay until the Hogwarts' Express brings the children to school on September first. They have a son starting Hogwarts this year but also five older children three of whom are still at school and of course Molly and Arthur also graduated from Hogwarts themselves," Albus suggested.
"It's still a poor substitute for meeting the people you're expecting us to trust with the health and welfare and appropriate education of our son," Rodney grumbled.
"But it's better than nothing, if they've older children at Hogwarts they must have met the teachers there," John said sighing. He was under no illusions, this family had been handpicked by Dumbledore for Harry to meet for a reason and the old man wouldn't share that reason with them but they still might learn something about Albus' motives by meeting the family the canny old wizard wanted to use to influence Harry, and if the children were present perhaps one of them could be encouraged to speak more freely. Especially since finding out how to find or contact the American and Canadian schools of magic was proving far more difficult than they expected.
"I'm afraid they will not be expecting the five of you," Albus said apologetically.
"That's fine, Ronon and I are here to provide security, they do not need to feed us, we have rations available," Teyla said, making it very clear that John, Rodney and Harry would be going nowhere without the two of them.
They said goodbye to Hermione and the Grangers and Harry promised to write to her at Hogwarts if he didn't end up attending.
-o0o-
Albus took them back to the Leaky Cauldron and taught them how to use the floo since they weren't willing to trust the portkey Albus had made nor to be transported by Fawkes. Albus was incensed that John went so far as to walk across to the bartender and ask for an explanation of what the floo was, what limits were on travel and how to use it even after he'd just explained the whole thing. John was reassured by the fact that Tom informed him that his floo only connected with other fireplaces in England and Scotland, they'd definitely still be in transporter range if required.
They floo'd into an old-fashioned living room which seemed to be both large and overly cluttered with mismatched couches, more like a gathering room on base than a family loungeroom. Mr Weasley stood to greet them before calling his children down and the size of the room was explained.
"Where's your trunk, Harry? You'll be staying with Ron, he'll help you carry it up," Arthur said.
"Harry won't be staying with you. Thank you for the offer but there's no need, we have the time off and will be going to stay with my family and then Rodney's. Harry's been looking forward to seeing his cousins again," John said calmly.
"But he's supposed to be staying with me so we can become best mates," Ron protested.
"I'm afraid Mr Dumbledore did not consult us before making those plans," John replied, frowning at the headmaster.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, said that it would be best for Harry to learn something about the British Wizarding World before starting at Hogwarts," Percy declared, clearly correcting John on Albus's honorific.
"As I said Mr Dumbledore did not consult us. We do not want to part with Harry until we need to. Harry will benefit more from visiting and reconnecting with the grandfather, uncles and aunts who will come to his aid if needed, it's been several years since we've been able to be home," John said in a tone that had he used it on base would have sent everyone scurrying to obey. Anyone who knew him, knew he was irritated at being argued with.
The Weasleys didn't know this but it was effective in silencing any further protests Ron, Percy or the twins may have voiced. It had very little effect however on their sister. "But the Headmaster promised us that Harry would stay with us for the rest of the summer and part of the holidays every year," she complained.
"It isn't our responsibility to change our plans just because Albert made a promise he had no right to make," Rodney said irritably.
John, Ronon and Teyla smirked at the name but didn't bother correcting their teammate.
"Albus," Arthur said faintly before turning to the children. "I know it's a disappointment but as his fathers have explained it isn't Harry's fault that the Headmaster made plans for him without getting approval from his family."
"But this isn't his family, he's Harry Potter, not some American kid. Harry Potter lived in a castle in Wales and works with the Aurors to keep our nation safe," Ginny declared.
"Ginny, those are just story books, they're fiction not factual," Arthur said sighing.
"What story books?" Harry asked warily.
"There's a series of children's fantasy story books about The-Boy-Who-Lived growing up and having adventures, they're designed for eight to ten year olds and Ginny adores them," Arthur explained.
"Someone is making a profit out of Harry's name and stupid moniker, due to that ridiculous assumption that a one-year-old baby could stop a serial killer. Who wrote them and how do we stop it?" Rodney asked angrily.
"I don't think that they're doing any harm," Albus protested.
"You just heard yourself the harm they're going to do Harry if he decides to go to Hogwarts. This little girl just refused to believe that this is Harry because he isn't living up to her fantasy idea of him fuelled by those moronic bloody books! How many of his classmates are going to have read and believed these stupid books and have unrealistic expectations of Harry?" Rodney yelled.
"Probably most of them, they were pretty popular among the first years, even in my year level," Percy reported.
"I want to see these books, so we can assess the damage they'll do," John said.
Ginny, go and get some of your books for Mr Sheppard to have a look at," Arthur requested.
"Only if he promises to give them back," Ginny said before running up the stairs. She returned with two books. "I have more if you want to look at them after returning these," she said handing them to John.
John handed one to Rodney and they quickly skimmed through them, before handing them to Harry. "They're silly little adventures and they'd be harmless if the hero in them was a fictional character, but if your classmates all believe you fly about on a pet hippogriff and battle dragons, nobody's going to expect a kid who only found out about the wizarding society in the last couple of months. They will expect you to know their history and all their customs and manners. They'll probably be pretty unforgiving when you get them wrong."
Harry knew what that meant. He'd heard plenty of stories of closed societies who expected all visitors to conform to their beliefs and customs without offering any education of them and taken sometimes violent offence over broken rules. Frequently these stories were used to explain why one or both of his parents were spending a few days in the infirmary.
Albus frowned at the exchange. It was clear that both Harry's guardians thought the books would cause misunderstandings and difficulties for Harry. Albus had to admit he'd never considered that side of things when failing to prevent the books being published but it was clear that Harry accepted their evaluation without questioning it, instead of accepting his and Arthur's reassurances.
Molly entered the room to be introduced.
"This is my wife Molly, she's a wonderful cook and mother, you'll see Harry would be safe staying here at any time you weren't able to get away from your duties to collect him from the station or take him to the train," Arthur said fondly.
"I'm pleased to meet you all. Harry would be more than welcome at any time," Molly said smiling. "Dinner's ready if you'll come through."
They sat down at the table and Molly called the children wash up and join them. For a moment it seemed that they were never going to fit but they somehow all did, though Rodney and John were jammed in well away from Harry as the table had expanded between them. Harry wondered why Professor Dumbledore was so insistent that he meet this rowdy bunch of red headed boys who all spoke over each other so much without listening to what the others were trying to say. Teyla would scold Torren and he severely if they'd acted like that in her hearing, and his parents would too if they'd been paying attention to them but the Weasley parents seemed to be ignoring their children. Mr Weasley was asking all sorts of ridiculous questions about America and Canada and Mrs Weasley was busy dishing up the dinner on her own. Harry thought it odd that the boys were seated at the table waiting to be fed and none of them were expected to help set the table, offer their guests something to drink or carry the dishes in.
Molly and Ginny brought over the food, a bright orange drink somewhat the wrong colour for orange juice, fried fish with wedges of lemon and duck-a-la-orange.
Rodney and John both paled and tried to push back from the table urgently as hands around them reached eagerly for the food. Harry took one look at the food and panicked, losing control of his magic and his temper vanishing the lot, plates, cutlery, tablecloth and the top of the table leaving the legs to clatter onto the ground.
"My Dinner," Molly cried out in dismay, echoed by her husband and sons. "My grandmother's best tablecloth and dishes."
"You planned for my father to come here and didn't warn her about his allergies? Were you trying to kill him?" Harry yelled at the old man furiously
"Harry James Potter. You apologise to the Headmaster right now. You do not speak to your betters like that," Molly Weasley screeched.
"In my defence, I wasn't expecting your parents and the others to accompany us to the Weasleys, Harry," Albus protested slightly less that truthfully. "While the invitation to dinner was given on short notice, he had expected Harry's adoptive parents to at least want to meet the people they'd be leaving Harry with until school began and Molly had prepared the meal with three guests in mind. The allergy had completely slipped his mind as unimportant in the scheme of things.
"The headmaster knew my father is deathly allergic to lemon and anything citrus! I explained it to him fully when he magicked up a lemon for his tea when he visited us. Even airborne droplets from across the room could kill my Papa and you trapped him at the table surrounded by lemon wedges that were going to be squirted everywhere and no food that was safe for him to eat or drink. Dumbledore owes us an apology. To let you serve a meal like this was either criminal carelessness or outright attempted murder and if you truly didn't know that, then he made you his unwitting murder weapon so stop defending him," Harry said furiously. He tapped his earpiece to connect to the communications network.
"You could hardly have forgotten after Harry's reaction to the lemon you conjured last time we met," John said perceptively.
"Apollo the five of us are ready for transport. I've made up my mind." Harry said, confusing the witches and wizards still sitting around the now non-existant table
"Acknowledged five for transport to the ship for relocation to Colorado when we come in range," the transporter tech replied and the next minute the Harry and his father's team were aboard the Apollo greeting Colonel Ellis.
Albus and the Weasleys looked at each other in shock as the-boy-who-lived and his adopted fathers and their escort dematerialised in front of them.
"That wasn't portkeys, or apparition," Molly said shakily.
"No, I don't know what it was but it left no magical signature or trail," Albus agreed calling for Fawkes.
He was very disappointed when Fawkes flatly refused to transport him to Harry's side without an appointment.
"They could have brought the food back," Ron said plaintively. While not openly complaining, everyone else agreed.
Dumbledore pulled out his wand and tried to reverse Harry's accidental magic and was surprised and worried to find he couldn't at all. How strong was the child. It was more important than ever to get Harry to Hogwarts where he could influence him to keep him in the light. It was a pity that Harry would no longer trust Mrs Weasley but surely the boy wouldn't blame the children for his oversight.
-o0o-
"Harry, you don't have to turn this opportunity down for me. Of course, I'd rather that you didn't go to Hogwarts because I don't want you to give up your choices and ambitions for this voodoo but…" Rodney began, breaking off as Harry hugged him fiercely.
"I almost lost you because that old fool didn't think your allergy was important enough to mention, and the witch didn't think to ask if we had any allergies," Harry said sobbing.
"It's okay Harry, you got rid of the food and then got me away from there in time," Rodney said soothingly.
John just knew he was probably going to be subjected to a monumental rant about the danger of his allergy and idiots that didn't take it seriously later, but he was impressed and proud of his husband for putting Harry's emotional upset ahead of his own. He could see that Rodney wasn't fine. He'd not been exposed to the citrus thanks to Harry's quick reaction, but he was still shaking from the close call. With that much citrus in the air even the three epi pens that they carried might not have been enough without immediate medical attention.
The fact that there was citrus in every single dish and drink on that table was suspicious. Just the fish and lemon wedges or just the chicken might have been an innocent mistake but both and nothing but an orange juice-based drink to drink looked more like a murder attempt to him. But what would they possibly have had to gain by killing Rodney? John would still have had total custody of Harry and Harry would never have trusted them if his Papa died as a result of the allergy that he'd already told the old man about and John would never have let his son go to that school after that even if Harry had wanted to. Even the close call had damaged Harry's trust in Dumbledore and the British wizarding society. John tried to put the suspicions aside for the moment and wrapped his arms around his husband and son to offer what comfort he could.
Ronon also had suspicions that if Rodney had had an anaphylactic reaction it might have distracted the team enough for an abduction attempt to be successful, not that the Daedalus couldn't have found Harry anywhere on the planet but he was sure the wizards didn't know that, nor did they have a way to block it if they had known though they might have thought their 'magic' might have hidden him. He realised that now wasn't the time to talk about it and went to order food for them all since they'd all been hungry before the incident, that fresh fish frying had smelt amazing, it was a pity the redheaded woman had turned such good cooking into a murder weapon. He was glad that Harry had removed the danger and would never criticise him for keeping his Papa safe, but it was a criminal waste of food he mourned as he headed to the mess hall for a meal.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.
