J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter universe and makes the money selling books
Chapter 7 Ariana tries to meet her father
In the next few days Ariana noticed a big difference in how her body looked, due to the help received from the steroid. She was training most of the day, because she did not have much else to do, except looking after Harry. Berty did most of the work part of looking after Harry, while she did most of the relationship forming part of raising Harry. She liked to train, because it reminded her of who she used to be. She mostly did weight and weapon training at Godric's Hollow, sometimes combining it with the little she knew about dueling. She have received arms training from several masters and practiced the drills against her humanlike conjurations.
She could run significantly further and faster each day. The Dursleys considered jogging normal enough and did not make a big fuss about it. During her exploration of the country she made herself true invisible and inaudible(expert level spells). She had to this, because after two weeks of training her jogging speed was faster than a super athlete running the 800m dash. Within a few days of heavy exercise she burned through Lily's thin layer of fat, and she realized she would have to make a nutrient potion to help her body adjust.
After six weeks she was already six times stronger than she was at the beginning. Even when she wasn't on the steroid the change in her muscles made her three times stronger. She was proud of the progress she made, her training kept her grounded when everything else felt so uncertain. She hid her sudden progress from the Dursleys by using an illusion spell.
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She wanted to contact her father, but it would take some time to find a disguise, one capable to fool a master wizard. Dumbledore would instantly be able to sense something as simple as Polyjuice potion or any of the common spells used as a disguise. He could probably even see magical auras, therefore he knew how Lily's aura looked from her time at Hogwarts and their friendship later in life. Ariana tried changing Lily's aura by teaching her new body some of the spells she learned from all over the world. This would also take time, but eventually her aura would change to resemble something of Ariana's magic.
Working through her spell arsenal, she remembered a ritual which could change her face in a way that is very difficult to detect. A tribe in Africa, used the spell to change their faces to reflect their position in the community, a soldier could make a hard emotionless face when going to war.
The first step of creating a second face was to visualize the face. She prepared for this step by drawing a rough picture of how she wanted to look. She found a picture of her paternal grandmother and incorporated some of her features into the new face. Everyday focusing the image in her minds eye. The next step involved painting her face daily and drawing magical symbols with the paint. She had to wear the paint for an hour before she could remove it. Over a period of a few months using the paint regularly, the second face would become part of her and give her an almost perfect disguise .
Her life at the Dursleys began to take shape. Vernon insisted that they stay with them for six months, probably for the financial benefit and because she regularly watched after Dudley for them. Petunia needed her help and guidance being a first time mother. The children were a handful, but she made her job easier with a few spells that she learned from a friend when she had her first born. She used an expert level notice-me-not type spell so they could not see her doing magic.
Her life was rather lonely, except for the brief chats with Vernon and Petunia, she rarely had contact with people. The children's love helped her with the feeling of loneliness, but she longed for the day she could meet her father.
She regularly "prepared" meals for the Dursleys, most of them made by Berty. She let them think the meals came from small restaurants the Dursleys just did not know of. Only on special occasions, did she get them food from restaurants with famous chefs. She made herself and a warming drawer invisible(plus a notice-me-not for her magic), then she multiplied the chef's completed dishes into the warming drawer and took it home. The Dursleys thoroughly enjoyed the quality food and usually thanked her a few times for the delicious meal. Some time after the meal, she would add a love potion(with the necessary protection added) to their drinks and excuse herself taking the children out to visit her parent's family members./ Note 1. /
She smoothed out her relationship with the Dursleys by buying a car, now when she comes and leaves, she looks just like a normal widower visiting her sister. Being unable to notice the spells she did, made her being magical less of a problem in the household. Ariana's parents also had discomfort with her using magic for everything, so she was familiar how to do chores the normal way around the house.
Petunia appreciated Lily's (Ariana) efforts to be an ordinary person, while living with them. Her behavior around the house was so natural that Petunia sometimes had to remind herself Lily is a witch. She really have changed since the last time they met, like not holding grudges anymore about past events and she did not treat her like she could not do anything by herself. She tried to bait her with comments about her behavior in the past, but she just apologized and tried to move on./Note 2/
Chapter 8
After a six months of practicing, she was sure the face changing spell was well set. During this time she was reading through the books in the Potter library, searching for any way to improve her disguise. A month ago she found the Fidelius compound spell, but was struggling to make any progress learning it. She did not want to contact her father, before she was certain it was safe to do so.
She also found a few of the Potter's hidden books on cauldron crafting at Godric's Hollow. If she could master the skill of cauldron crafting she could re-open the famous Potter shop. She sealed the Potter's will away from everyone the day she executed the Potter's will. Therefore she could say the books on cauldron crafting was left by James to his cousin, Ariana Dumbledore, to teach to Harry once he is old enough. It was an unlikely scenario, but her ownership could not be refuted, not without the will.
It took her a year to master and get the Fidelius spells(master spells) in place, but it had to be done to protect both her identities. This way, when she takes Harry to meet her father, then Dumbledore would see Ariana and Harry would see Lily. Harry would not be able to tell Dumbledore who she are and the spell would change the way they perceive things to help keep her safe.
She wondered why her father have not come to visit Harry in over a year. He may feel guilty about not being able to protect the Potter's, but Ariana felt his familiar presence may do the boy some good. He must have missed the people he used to know.
With everything in place she tried to write a letter to her father. She had to rewrite the letter several times, because she did not know how to approach him with the news. It would probably be a great shock to him, receiving a letter from an unknown daughter. The letter alone would, probably not be enough to convince him that she is his daughter. She told him everything that she learned from her mother's letter about her birth. She also sent him some memories from her childhood to prove she was raised by her mother and to share her Fidelius' secret .
To mail the letter to her father, she had to go back to the secret village. She bought an exotic owl from a trader, who sold illegal animals. The letter was her first step of going out in the world again, announcing her presence from the unknown. She sent the owl to Hogwarts's address with the hope that the letter will reach her father./Note 3/
(Dumbledore's viewpoint)
Albus did not know if the letter was real. The person clearly had knowledge of his past, but a few people knew of his secret affair fifty years ago, maybe someone slipped something. Many people knew he was a rich man, after he helped the Flamel family, maybe this person wanted some of his money. The pieces of her memory, however was harder to ignore. They seemed genuine and his curiosity got the best of him. If he had a daughter, he would want to get to know her. He decided to write back.
The first letters exchanged, set up a continual flow of letters between him and his daughter. Over time they got to know each other a little. Six weeks of writing letters were enough to let them feel ready to meet in person. He asked her to meet him at the Hog's Head Inn owned by his brother. If everything went well, his plan was to introduce her to his brother. He secretly bought exclusive access to the inn for a few hours after lunch, pretending to be a big group visiting the inn.
The inn closed an hour before she would meet him and he did his best to make it look a little more respectable. His brother complained that it is bad for business, but helped anyway when he heard about his new niece. Abeforth could not stop teasing him about his affair and made several allusions to the famous leader of the light being beaten by feminine charm. Abeforth had several children out of wedlock with muggle women, but he never crossed the line with an affair.
(Ariana's viewpoint)
Ariana was surprised to meet her father in such a quaint restaurant. He immediately made an impression, she could feel the magical power behind his presence. He stood tall with a curious look in his blue eyes once they met. The body language of his movements made her feel comfortable in his presence, which helped with her nervousness. She worked for a long time towards this goal and could not believe she was finally meeting her biological father.
(Dumbledore's viewpoint)
Dumbledore could not see much of his own appearance in her, she had more of a resemblance to his grandmother, but very different since her muscles was bigger then those of most men/Note 4/. She moved with the speed and strength, he have only seen in powerful werewolves. This allusion of pure strength was further reinforced by her powerful magical aura. He thought she had all the right characteristics to make her successful at hunting dangerous animals.
(Third person viewpoint)
The discussion started with her mother, but quickly moved onwards to Dumbledore's life at Hogwarts and his role in the war against Voldemort. They continued to learn more about each other's past and about little important things. They both were saddened, when Ariana talked about the death of her children. After the main course was done, Dumbledore introduced her to Abeforth and the three continued to talk till the shop had to re-open.
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Note 1- Petunia and Lily's uncles, aunts, cousins and possible great-grandparents. I thought I would add a little life to my fic, it is quite depressing how almost everyone died by 1981, most before their time.
Note 2 -Ariana was not aware that some of the bait was insulting remarks. Ariana's "go to" answer was to apologize, if she did not understand Petunia reference to the past. Over time, with the lack of conflict, Petunia entertained notions of the utopian dream of a happy loving family living together.
Note 3 - In the FIC owls go to a particular specific house and leave the letter there. See Chapter 3 Guidelines
Note 4- Ariana made a mistake, she thought the picture was a picture of her grandmother, but it was a picture of her great-grandmother, a Potter./