The Magical World Exposed
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: COMPLETELY AU! If you don't like this, just stop reading and write your own story more to your liking.
At Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore sat behind the desk in his office enjoying a lemon drop, while he gently petted his phoenix familiar's crown feathers, when Severus Snape, the Potions professor, stormed into his office.
"Severus, how nice of you to come to visit me on this fine morning," Albus greeted his youngest colleague, deciding to ignore the young wizard's upset expression for the time being.
"This is not a social visit," the head of Slytherin growled as grumpy as he might dare considering who he was speaking to, before he slapped the newest edition of the Daily Prophet on the desk in front of him. "Have you seen this?" he queried, pointing to the headline.
The headline screamed in red letters, "The Magical World Exposed to the Muggles!"
'What?' Albus thought, horrified. In fact, he was the head of the Wizengamot, and the rule about the secrecy of the magical world was one of the rules, which he had set up many decades ago. 'Why now?' He wondered in confusion. 'What happened?'
He was just about to study the article, when his deputy headmistress stuck her head through the fireplace to remind him that breakfast in the Great Hall was going to commence soon.
"Minerva, please step through and ask Pomona to excuse the three of us from breakfast. We're going to have breakfast here this morning," Albus instructed her in a firm voice.
Frowning, the Transfiguration mistress stepped through the fireplace, shaking her head in apparent annoyance, before she enquired, "Albus, is that really necessary? It's the last day of classes, and all students are going to travel home tomorrow, so that we can enjoy quiet meals for more than two weeks."
"Yes dear, that's fine," Albus replied, absentmindedly, as he skimmed the article, which did not only cover the whole front page but even continued on page five.
"Cillian O'Brien," he spoke up, pensively. "Has any of you ever heard of him?"
His most trusted colleagues shook their heads in denial. "The problem is," Albus continued, "what are we going to do? It wouldn't be enough to obliviate him, as he has already been teaching students for a few months now."
"Albus," Severus spoke up in clear exasperation. "You can't obliviate the whole Muggle world. It says that BBC reported the matter in their evening news, which millions of Muggles use to watch. I believe that there's nothing that we can do about it. Dunderheads," he added, growling.
"Are any of our students involved?" Minerva asked in concern.
"Only three children of Professor O'Brien," Albus replied, citing from the newspaper, "David and Harry O'Brien as well as Hermione Granger, nine and ten years old."
He rose from his chair and stepped over to the shelf to fetch the large book of all magical children in Britain. "Let's see," he mumbled, as he skimmed the book for nine and ten year old children. "Here," he pointed to two entries, "Hermione is muggleborn, born on September 19th, and David and Harry are twins. I'm not sure if their parents are magical or Muggles though. This is a bit confusing. They're going to be ten on the sixteenth of June."
"So that means that all three of them are going to come to Hogwarts in twenty months' time," Minerva said, frowning. "It's not the children's fault anyway. They couldn't know about the statute of secrecy in the magical world, and if their parents are Muggles, they couldn't have known either."
"If they're going to attend Hogwarts at all," Severus spoke up. "The magic that they are said to have displayed is at least OWL level if not beyond. Even though they said that they were looking forward to attend a school of magic and properly learn how to cast spells and charms. At least they did not mention Hogwarts."
While they absentmindedly ate their breakfast, the professors discussed the matter, before the headmaster decided that there was nothing that they could do about it. However, he decided to pay the Minister of Magic a visit in order to possibly obtain a memory of the report by the BBC.
HP
It was after the last afternoon class of the same day that Albus called Minerva and Severus into his office again and invited them to view the BBC news spot together.
With a combination of surprise and bewilderment, the professors watched the scenes, amazed by the display from nine and ten year old children, who had apparently grown up in a Muggle environment.
"One of the boys, was that Harry Potter?" Minerva spoke up, pensively. "The one who transfigured the pen into the cat. He surely resembled him."
"That was Potter," Severus growled. "Of course. Leave it to an almighty Potter to break the statute of secrecy bringing the whole magical world into trouble."
"Now now Severus," the headmaster said, calmingly, before he rose from his chair. "Unfortunately, I must leave for a discussion at the Wizengamot. However, tomorrow morning, I will pay the Durselys a visit. How dare they allow their nephew to live with another family? It's important that he returns to his aunt's house." Turning to his deputy, he added, "Please watch over my office for a few hours."
HP
Minerva observed how her colleague stepped into the fireplace. He had been her best friend for about fifty years, and they had rarely disagreed in anything. However, there was one matter, in which she absolutely could not understand his reasoning. 'Harry seemed very happy here. Why can't he just leave him in peace?' she thought, feeling so annoyed that she barely registered that Severus took his leave.
HP
The O'Briens had just finished eating dinner, when the door bell rang.
"Who might that be?" Annette asked in surprise, glancing at the children, questioningly.
"No idea, Mum," the twins replied, shrugging.
"I'll go and see who it is," Cillian offered, knowing that his family did not have any contacts within the Muggle neighbourhood and that their only friends, the Grangers, used to arrive through the fireplace.
Harry heard his father speak with someone at the door, before he saw him lead an unknown visitor into the living room.
To everyone's surprise, the visitor was female and was wearing white robes.
'A witch,' Harry realised in confusion. 'Who might that be?'
"I'm very sorry to disturb you," the elder witch spoke up, as she accepted the offered seat. "I am Poppy Pomfrey from Hogwarts, and Professor McGonagall, our deputy headmistress, sent me to urgently speak with you." Making sure that she had everyone's attention, she continued, "As you might perhaps know, Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster, insists that Harry lives together with his aunt."
Holding up her hand to prevent the boys from interrupting her, as both Harry and David began to speak, simultaneously, she continued, "He intends to visit the Dursleys in the morning in order to have them take back the boy. Therefore, Professor McGonagall sent me to warn you. If possible, maybe it would be good if you could either go into hiding, which would, for example, be possible with magical means, or if you could move elsewhere. Do you have any wizard or witch who is assisting you concerning the magical world?"
"Yes, Buckbean, one of the goblins at Gringotts," Cillian admitted, apparently trusting that the friendly witch had merely come to help them. "He's also the magical guardian of our sons."
"Shall I go and ask him over right away?" Pomfrey offered, seemingly urgent. "Maybe at this time, he'll still be in his office."
"I'll call him," Cillian replied in determination, explaining that their fireplace was connected to the Floo network.
"Thank Merlin, you're better prepared than my friend and I feared," Pomfrey said, smiling, causing Annette to tell her how they had come into connection with Buckbean.
HP
A minute later, the goblin stepped out of the fireplace and listened to what Pomfrey told him. He remained thoughtful for a moment, before he spoke up.
"Thank you, Healer Pomfrey, for alerting the O'Briens and me to the problem," he said, gently, before he turned to the Muggles. "There are two possibilities that I can suggest for you." While everyone looked at him in expectation, he continued, "One would be to put this house under the Fidelius Charm." Apparently knowing that this specific charm was beyond the O'Briens' knowledge of magic, he quickly explained how it worked, before he added, "I'd recommend something else though. Here, Professor Dumbledore could still find Harry on his way to school. However, you could live at Potter Manor, which we can also put under the Fidelius Charm. It would be difficult for the children to attend the Muggle school, however, the Manor is probably full with portraits of Harry's ancestors, who would surely be thrilled to teach the children. I know for a fact that there are also a dozen house-elves, who would be happy to serve you and also be willing to teach the boys."
"That might be for the best," Cillian said, pensively. "It's only a little more than a year before they're supposed to attend Hogwarts anyway."
"If you decide on the Manor, either the house-elves or I could, for example, add a fireplace to your office at the university, which we can connect to the floo network or even just to the Manor if that's more agreeable to you," Buckbean continued. "We can make the fireplace invisible to everyone but you." Finally, he recommended to choose Poppy Pomfrey as the Secret Keeper, and the O'Briens agreed with each of his suggestions.
On the one hand, Harry found everything very interesting and could not wait to take a look at the Manor that seemed to belong to him. However, on the other hand, he felt very bad for the O'Briens, who had to leave their home because of him.
"I'm so sorry," he uttered in a small voice.
"Harry, there's nothing to be sorry about," Cillian replied in a firm voice, while Annette pulled him into a bear's hug.
"Excuse me, but what about Hermione?" Harry asked, hesitantly, glancing at David.
"We'll call the Grangers over, once we have moved to Potter Manor," Cillian promised, nodding reassuringly.
HP
Pomfrey and Buckbean helped the O'Briens pack their most necessary belongings with magic, suggesting to leave other items like furniture there for the time being, as the house-elves would be able to fetch anything for them instantly.
Ten minutes later, Buckbean instructed Harry to step through the Floo first, while everyone else would follow right away.
'I wonder what the Manor is like,' Harry thought, feeling slightly apprehensive as he stepped through the fireplace. His anxiousness even increased, when a dozen house-elves popped up around him, as soon as he stepped out of the fireplace.
"Master Harry, we're very happy to have you here," one of the house-elves, who introduced herself as Gina, the head house-elf, addressed him, bowing deeply.
"Please don't bow, Gina," Harry replied in a soft voice, "and I'm just Harry." He quickly introduced the others who followed him through the fireplace, sighing in relief, when Pomfrey took over for him and explained the situation to the elves.
"Very well, we shall prepare the Master bedroom for Master Harry and the adjacent rooms for everyone else," Gina promised, causing Harry to hesitantly protest.
"Gina, I'd like to share just a normal room with David, please, and could you also prepare two more rooms for our best friend Hermione and her parents, please?"
"Maybe you should call the Grangers here, before Pomfrey and I put the Manor under the Fidelius charm," Buckbean threw in, causing Harry to lean into the fireplace.
HP
A minute later, Hermione and her parents stepped out of the fireplace and were introduced to Pomfrey, before Buckbean informed the Grangers about the necessity for the O'Briens to move to Potter Manor.
"Mum, Dad, may I study here with Harry and David?" Hermione blurted out, immediately. "I'm not going to go to the primary school alone." With that, she turned to Pomfrey and asked, "Are you a witch like myself? And are you really living at Hogwarts? I have so many questions..."
"Hermione, I'm sorry, dear, but first of all, we need to put the manor under a charm," Cillican interrupted the excited girl in a calm voice, glancing at Buckbean.
"Excuse me, Buckbean," Pomfrey suddenly spoke up. "I believe that it would be better if Hermione became the Secret Keeper instead of myself. She seems old and alert enough to comprehend the importance of the secrecy. Dumbledore will be very upset about the whole matter, and if he got to knew that I was involved in this..."
"Of course," Buckbean replied in understanding, before he explained to Hermione and her parents about the Fidelius charm.
Hermione immediately agreed to become the Secret Keeper and excitedly followed Buckbean and Cillian out onto the grounds for the spell to be cast.
Harry and David exchanged a glance, before they ran behind the others, closely followed by Trouble.
"I'm willing to assist you if there's anything that I can do," Pomfrey told Annette and the Grangers. "Professor McGonagall will also fully support you," she added and promised to come back together with the Transfiguration professor sometime during the next few days. "As soon as one of us manages to get away from Hogwarts, since there might be some uproar once Professor Dumbledore finds out that no one knows where Harry is," she said, smirking.
tbc...