Chapter 27 –Did you know?
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Monday arrived and Hermione departed for her regular school. I had talked the Grangers into delaying my going to school so Vernon or anybody else's crowd didn't get hold of me.
"Harry we are going to delay going to the office today as you said you had something private you wanted to talk about."
I tried to swallow the frog that was currently blocking my breathing. "We best have a seat in the living room before you guys toss me out as a lunatic but there are a couple of things you need to know."
"I am not trying to tell you…Hermione will…damn this is difficult. Look Hermione will grow to hate you if you stop her from going to Hogwarts. However there are a few things that you have to know but before I tell you… I have to explain about me and that is going to be a bit unbelievable.
"I am not Jerry James Jones and I am not from this time and when. Someone has been playing with me recently and sending me to what I think is different dimensions but you all seem to have the same time line. That means certain things are going to happen. I will not participate in them anymore but Hermione must not do certain things."
"Have you been having bad dream dear?" Emma of course didn't believe me.
The living room lit up from the flash of an arriving Phoenix.
"Hi Fawkes, has the old man sent you to take me back?" Fawkes just shook his head.
"So you just stopped by to say hello?" Fawkes gave a warble and nodded his head.
"You know you're a sly old bird." Fawkes squawked in irritation.
"Ok, you're a sly young bird." Fawkes gave a melodic warble and hopped on my knee for a petting.
"What in the hell is that?" Dan exclaimed.
This is a Phoenix which is a very intelligent and magical bird, very rare to see one." Fawkes appeared to like the intelligent part and gave another warble.
"By the way Fawkes why didn't you tell me that your screach is deadly?" Fawkes looked to be lowing his head in shame but surprised me by bitting me and then droppin a tear in the bleeding wound. Fawkes then flamed away.
I shook my head and said, "I think we had best continue our conversation as I have no idea what that was about."
"You are crazy if you think you know Hermione better than us, she will obey us and if we say she doesn't go she will not go to Hogwarts." Dan growled.
"Oh she will obey but in the end she will hate you. I have known Hermione for many years." I stopped there as I didn't think my saying I knew there daughter for seventy some odd years would help what I needed to say.
"Who are you?" Emma asked.
"Do you want my name or all the titles that people have given me?"
"Your name will do." Emma looked confused.
"Harry James Potter."
"Oh my god, Hermione bought a book about you in that alley." Emma gasped.
"They are trash fiction although I am the only one to live from the killing curse."
"Look Hermione will live for many decades but she is going to run into a few problems and one such problem is going to happen on Halloween coming. Hogwarts rules state that you can get her out of school for family emergencies. Just owl McGonagall and meet Hermione at the Leakey Cauldron the night before Halloween. Don't take no or any fast talking from Dumbledore. Your family emergency is none of their business."
"What's going to happen?" Dan asked.
"A stupid red-head is going to insult her and she is going to go to the girl's bathroom to cry. I am not going to be there this time to rescue her from the Troll."
"What the hell is a Troll? Dan growled.
"It's about twelve feet of dumb muscles, with a hide of a tank, swinging a telephone pole as a club."
"She is not going!" Emma declared.
"Your funeral as she has read half of those books you picked up yesterday. Knowing there is all that new knowledge to learn you are going to stop her? Right, good luck winning that argument and you will be sorry in the long run if you win."
I stayed in my room, thankful I was not kicked out of the house and I was excused from the yelling match going on down stairs.
/Scene Break/
Hermione won and left on September 1st. I was going to go to Gringotts on my birthday but thought better of it as there may have been people waiting there that I didn't want to meet.
A week after Hermione went to Hogwarts Dan took the day off and drove me to Diagon Alley. His accompanying me stopped some people looking to closely at me; they were definitely looking for someone. My ball cap was hiding my scar but Emma dyed my hair blond just for additional cover.
"Yes would it be possible to see Master Lockjaw today?" I asked the teller.
"What would you want with Lockjaw?"
"Why a financial transactions for our mutual benefit of course." I grinned showing as many teeth as I could. The teeth was a Goblin insult. Ask an inappropriate question and you get a nasty reply I always say.
"Master LockJaw I'm Harry James Potter and we have some business we need to transact."
"Very interesting you're showing here at Gringotts when half the magical world is looking for you."
"My motto is keep them guessing but since time is money I need to get emancipated and drain my trust vault of Galleons and convert them to pounds. Then I need you to sue Hogwarts for the return of my tuition for this year as I am not going to be there."
"An interesting set of goals. How are you planning to convince the Ministry that you should be an adult?"
I pulled a few memories of my being beaten by Vernon. I directed Lockjaw to pull the muggle police report of his arrest and to take a thousand Galleons for his assistance. I also pulled a memory of Dumbledore directing me to return to the Dursleys. I didn't mention that this conversation would not take place for another year. That should take care of my muggle and magical guardians.
"Oh and let's make everyone happy by my requesting you as my steward until I reach the age of majority. I don't think they passed a law restricting a Goblin if I request it, at least not yet."
"Very good, very good indeed. You are aware we have subsidiary muggle banks with credit card for you use free of Ministry entanglements?"
Now I just have to make it till seventeen to get to my family vault.
/Scene Break/
I was busy that day as I bought Hedwig and left a note for Rita Skeeter. I had Dan enroll me in a Karate class as well as a fencing school. Emma took an extended lunch to make sure my muggle clothes buying was not all jeans and T-shirts and I still had time to make my laser eye surgery that afternoon.
It wasn't long before I realized that the Grangers were happy I was there as they missed Hermione who was sending letters of joy from Hogwarts. I wanted to take my NEWT testing at the Ministry but couldn't figure how to do that and not have Dumbledore down my neck. I did many trips to Diagon alley to get advanced books on shields, curses and spells. Then there were my Karate and fencing lessons. I was in one Karate lesson when one of the other students started talking about his fun on the pistol range. I now had another set of classes to attend.
I was in one day to the Eeylops Owl Emporium to pick up some owl treats for Hedwig when I did a little browsing of animals and supplies. The hissing from the snake section was a jumble of words and sentences as they all were talking at the same time. That hissing stopped when I lifted the screen mess on one tank that had a colorful snake.
"Ssshe'sssss wantss to diessss playing with Mel." Some snake hisses so I hissed back.
"So Mel is poisonous?"
"Likesss the worstsss of usss allsss." (This is the last of the ssss's)
"So Mel what is your story?" I had lifted the mesh cover as Mel was hunkered down under a mass of leaves and could only partially be seen and I wanted a better look.
"I hate this place, it's so cold, I want my sunny Florida back, or a warm pocket."
"So if I pick you up you will bite me?"
"I am a non aggressive snake but threaten me and I will kill you dead."
"Poisonous are you?
"Red and yellow kill a fellow; red on black friend of black."
The shopkeeper filled me in on Mel and how deadly a corral snake is and Mel was indeed red and yellow and if he broke your skin you were dead. Mel however was not a fang attacking variety and if left alone he preferred to run. Mel and I came to an agreement that he would not bite me if I provided a warm pocket. Mel preferred to hide under leaves or under the earth and was not a man about town type. Hedwig was not thrilled at our new friend but adjusted to his company as did Mel.
Now during all this time I realized that as an eleven year old I was happy. The Grangers were almost like my parents but not bossy and definitely not like the Dursleys. Of course Emma was sneaky in many areas. I figured out that she was nudging me towards long blond hair and nice clothes. Always a nice word on how the clothes matched my eyes and the hair was gorgeous. The hair soon was being tied back into a pony tail. All I needed was the dragon ear-ring like Bill Weasley. At least my scar was fading; I guess I had died a time or two to many.
/Scene Break/
The day before Halloween Dan brought a fuming Hermione into the house. She was upset that she was upset. A family emergency scared her and when she found out it was to take her out of school Hermione started fuming. The four of us headed to the living room for Hermione to explode.
"Hermione it's entirely my entire fault. Now let me see if I can recap what's going on in the world or Dumbledork…"
"That's Professor Dumbledore, Mr. James Jones."
"As I was saying, Dumbledork started the year off by telling a bunch of students not to go to the third floor unless they wanted to die a horrible death. You have a smelly turban wearing incompetent in DADA. Oh! Have you found out about Fluffy or the stone yet?"
"And how do you know what's happening in Hogwarts? Your no wizard or you would be in Hogwarts. How dare you all take me out of Hogwarts, the Halloween feast is supposed to be fantastic?"
"Pumpkin I wouldn't count on James not being a wizard." Emma ventured into the stormy waters.
"Of course he isn't he must go to school at least until he passes his OWLs." Hermione stated this thus ending the discussion.
"I believe you will be getting most of your answers tomorrow in the Dailey Profit."
"What have they got to do with all this?" Hermione huffed.
"Not telling, see it tomorrow in the headlines." I smiled knowing she would stomp off in a huff as she had passed her foot tapping stage minutes ago. The note to Rita Skeeter would have her there if I guessed correctly.
Hermione was not being told that I was Harry Potter because of Snape and Dumbledore's mind reading tendencies.
The next morning Hedwig dive bombed Hermione at the kitchen table with the Dailey Profit. Everyone was watching her to see her reaction.
"Oh my god, how can they say that about him?
The headline read "Dumbledore incompetent or senile, students endangered"
They started off by describing the Troll that had smashed up the girl's bathroom. Then they went into Quirrel, the DADA teacher, being possessed by some unknown entity. On page two was a picture of a Cerberus which is a three-headed dog. The paper went on to speculate what the dog was guarding.
"Oh my they actually got a picture of Fluffy." I couldn't keep a straight face.
"How did you know its name, you said that name last night." Hermione demanded.
"Fluffy is a pet that Hagrid has and its one of a few traps on the third floor. Fluffy is guarding the Philosopher's Stone. Dumbledork is hiding the stone as a trap for Voldemort wrath who is hiding under Quirrel's turban. Moldeshorts want the stone to get his body back and Dumbldork is doing all this as a trap. The question is if the trap was for Harry Potter or Voldedork since Potter did a runner…"
"How do you know all this?" Hermione demanded.
"I must be a seer like Sybill Patricia Trelowney."
"She's a fraud!"
"What would you have done if Ronald Weasley had said in public that you are a know-it-all and that's why you have no friends?" Hermione just stood there with her mouth open.
I never should have said the name Potter because about then the brightest witch of her age suddenly recognized something staring her in the face. I saw her eyes flash to my forehead; she raised her arm to point, said "you" and fainted.
Her recognizing me was something I was sure to happen but I had hoped it to happen a lot later. Hogwarts rumor mill must have been alive with stories of the missing Boy-who-lived. It took both me and her father to stop her from running to the Headmaster.
Her father's threat of removing her from Hogwarts was the deciding factor in her not telling Dumbledore.
/Scene Break/
On one of my excursions out and about I hire a muggle legal firm. They were to tell the Grangers that there was a will and contained therein was a set aside trust to support Harry Potter. So while they never wanted anything from me I still got to give them something one way or another.
On another trip I dropped a note to Skeeter about Sirius Black never getting a trial. I also included that Pettigrew was still alive and hiding as a Rat Animagus. I didn't think it would do any good but it might lay the ground work for later actions.
/Scene Break/
I was getting cocky and I knew it but it was fun. With all the classes to keep me busy during the day and a family at night I just was enjoying life. Well most of the time. I did join the gun club or maybe that is a prohibited term. Loaning your gun is technically against the law and is prohibited. So you must own one yourself. If it's to short it's prohibited, if it's anything it's prohibited. To get the FAC (Fire arm certificate) the police must be satisfied that a person has "good reason" to own each firearm, and that they can be trusted with it "without danger to the public safety or to the peace". Under Home Office guidelines, firearms certificates are only issued if a person has legitimate sporting, collecting, or work-related reasons for ownership. Self defense has not been considered a valid reason. The current licensing procedure involves: positive verification of identity, two referees of verifiable good character who have known the applicant for at least two years (and who may themselves be interviewed and/or investigated as part of the certification), approval of the application by the applicant's own family doctor, an inspection of the premises and cabinet where firearms will be kept and a face-to-face interview by a Firearms Enquiry Officer (FEO). Only when all these stages have been satisfactorily completed was a 5 year license issued, maybe. So after a couple of 'Obliviate' and a number of memory charms I had a 22 cal pistol. The license is only to own the stupid thing, not carry it.
The karate is of course a discipline so I have to exercise. The gym was the last straw as they asked me to show ID and register. While the ID was not mandatory it seemed I was in need of some. Since I didn't want a driver's license I applied for a passport. Again a couple waves of my hand the red tape was cut and I had a passport in the name of Jerry James Jones.