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.
"Thank you very much, Healer Pomfrey," Annette said, smiling at the kind witch. "Until now, the children never had the opportunity to speak with any adult witch or wizard, only with Buckbean. Therefore, I'm sure that they'll really appreciate it."
Just now, the children returned with Cillian, Buckbean and Trouble. Hermione showed her parents, Annette and Pomfrey a small parchment.
"With this, you know where the manor is; otherwise, you wouldn't be able to travel here, not even through the fireplace," Buckbean explained.
"Hermione, will you please write the address again on a small parchment, so that I can give it to Professor McGonagall?" Pomfrey asked, before she turned to the boys, taking in their shallow breathing in apparent concern. "Are you all right, boys?" she finally asked, giving them a sharp look.
"They'll be fine," Cillian reassured her. "They're so excited that they ran all the way back inside, although they're not supposed to run."
"And why is that?" Pomfrey queried, looking at Annette, who proceeded to tell her about the boys' accident that had happened ten months ago.
Pomfrey gasped upon hearing the story. "Dursley tried to kill them?" Shaking her head in clear annoyance, she glanced at her wrist watch, before she said, "I need to return to Hogwarts now, before the headmaster notices my absence. However, as soon as possible, I'll come back and take a look at the boys. Maybe there's something that I can do to help them. Magical healing is much more efficient than Muggle medicine, even if not in all cases."
With that she hurriedly stepped into the fireplace, leaving the two families to Buckbean's and the house-elves' care.
HP
"She's a very nice woman," Mrs. Granger spoke up, looking from the empty fireplace to the O'Briens, who immediately agreed.
"It must have been your display of magic at the university that made Dumbledore realise that Harry is not living with the Dursleys anymore," Buckbean spoke up, before he explained to the Muggles about the statute of secrecy, which the human magical world had set up for itself.
"Will this have any consequences for our children?" Cillian asked, giving the goblin a sharp look.
"No, it won't," Buckbean reassured him. "There's nothing that they can do about it. The magical world will have to live with the fact that they've been exposed to the Muggles. I don't think that it's bad, and maybe the matter will help the magical world to actively progress into the twentieth century before it ends. In several ways, the human magical world seems to still be stuck in the middle ages," he added, smirking, before he took his leave, pointing out that the house-elves would be able to help them with everything.
HP
"For tonight, I wills show you the most important rooms of the manor as well as your rooms," Gina announced, as she proceeded to lead the small group through the centre of their new home. "It is important that at least Harry goes and introduces himself to his ancestors in the portraits, however, for tonight, it will suffice if he speaks with his parents," she continued.
"My parents?" Harry blurted out in surprise.
"Yes, there's a portrait of your parents as well," Gina replied, smiling. "If you wish, we can add it to the dining room, so that you'll have much time to confer with them."
"Yes please," Harry replied, eagerly.
"Excuse me, Gina," Hermione spoke up in apparent bewilderment. "How can he speak with a portrait?"
Gina looked at the eager girl in obvious amusement, before she explained that all magical portraits and paintings were charmed, so that their inhabitants were able to not only communicate with everyone but could even travel to other paintings.
'How cool is that?' Harry thought, happily, when Gina led him to a life-size portrait of what she explained to be his parents.
"Harry," Lily was the first to notice him. "I'm so happy to see you."
"It's about time you came here," James added. "Who's that? Your girlfriend? You're mighty young to have a girlfriend, aren't you?"
Harry could not help blushing and quickly explained that the O'Briens were his adoptive parents and the Grangers their best friends and that they had come to live in the manor to hide from Dumbledore.
"That meddling old coot," James shouted, sounding very upset.
Lily turned to Annette and Cillian and said in a soft voice, "Thank you so very much for taking Harry in rescuing him from my horrible sister. In fact, in our will, we wrote explicitly that Harry was not to be placed with her but with either of his godparents."
"I have godparents?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Yes, but I don't know what happened to them," Lily replied, pensively. "I'm a Seer, so I knew that we were going to die, but I don't know why you weren't placed with Alice or Sirius. Oh well, now that you've found such a nice family, it doesn't matter anymore anyway."
"That's true, but if they're going to live here, Sirius would be well able to teach them, at least until they go to Hogwarts. Or Remus," James added.
"Well, seeing that the children look as if they were dead on their feet, let's speak about the matter tomorrow," Lily concluded the discussion, only to add, "Maybe Harry can write a letter to Remus in the morning."
The two families bade the Potters good night, and Gina led them to the second floor, where she showed them their bedrooms, causing everyone to stare at the enormous rooms with the large windows and balconies going out onto a beautiful garden with amazement.
"This is totally cool," David blurted out, as the twins entered their new room, while Hermione efficiently tried to convince her parents to stay at the manor as well.
HP
"If yous aren't tired yet, I'll show you the recreation room, which Harry's grandfather made for James," Gina offered and led them to the top floor of one of the towers that were marking the four corners of the manor. It was a beautiful room with windows to all sides, a Muggle TV as well as a huge shelf of magical and non magical games.
"Somehow, I feel as if we had won the jackpot," Annette said, when they made themselves comfortable in the recreation room, causing everyone to agree unanimously.
HP
While the O'Briens and the Grangers were having breakfast in the dining room of Potter Manor, where they were eagerly conferring with Lily and James in their portrait, Albus Dumbledore made his way to Little Whinging to have one little boy returned to where he belonged, at least in his, Albus', opinion.
'I'll go to see Arabella first,' he decided and apparated straight into the Squib's back garden.
"Albus," the old lady, who was just busying herself in the garden, addressed him in clear surprise. "Is something wrong with little Harry?"
Albus let out a long sigh. "That's what I wanted to ask you," he then replied, feeling slightly upset at the woman in front of him. 'She was supposed to keep an eye on him. She should have told me that he's not living with the Dursleys anymore,' he thought, angrily. However, he merely said, "It came to my attention that Harry is not living with Petunia Dursley anymore, and I came to remedy that."
To his surprise, the old lady let out a gasp at his words. "He's not living with the Dursleys anymore?" she asked, incredulously. "Oh well, I didn't have to baby-sit him for a while, but when I asked Petunia about his whereabouts, which I do about once in a month, she always told me that he had just gone to see his friends." She remained pensive for an instant, before she continued, "He has two friends, who seem very nice. They walk to school together every day, and ever since he got his friends, Dudley seems to leave him in peace, the poor boy. He also doesn't have to work in the garden in whatever weather anymore. Maybe it's since Vernon Dursley's accident. He was badly injured by a dog and has been in hospital ever since. Before it happened, they treated Harry like a house-elf."
"Is that so?" Albus enquired and told Arabella about the BBC news, from which he had learned that Harry had to have been adopted by one Cillian O'Brien.
"O'Brien?" Arabella repeated in clear surprise. "I think the O'Briens are the people who live in the house next to the Dursleys on the left hand side. I don't know them at all though. They seem to live very much on their own and don't have any contact to the neighbours here. I think it's their dog who hurt Mr. Dursley, but I'm not sure."
"Very well," Albus said, sighing again. "Thank you very much for your help, Arabella. I'll go and speak with Petunia Dursley."
HP
Shaking his head in annoyance, Albus crossed the street and headed to the Dursleys' residence, only to stop dead in his tracks upon seeing a note in front of the house, 'FOR SALE'. 'They're going to move?' he thought, horrified. 'But the blood wards...' His thoughts went haywire, when he rang the bell, hoping that he would still be able to reach Petunia.
It took a little while, before Petunia finally opened the door. Seeing the old wizard, even if he had changed his attire to Muggle clothes, before leaving Arabella's garden, she paled visibly.
"Good day to you too, Mrs. Dursley," Albus said, pleasantly. "May I come in for a moment?"
"If you must," Petunia replied, sounding very grumpy.
'Nothing like her sister,' Albus thought and followed the young woman into the living room, where the whale of her son was watching TV.
"You're moving from here?" Albus enquired with a combination of surprise and curiosity.
"Since my husband won't come back for nineteen more years, we can't afford the house anymore," Petunia replied, shortly.
"Excuse me, but nineteen years?" Albus asked in disbelief. 'It won't take nineteen years to recover from a dog's bite,' he thought in confusion, giving the young woman a sharp look.
"He's in prison," she replied, seemingly impatient. "It's all that boy's fault."
"Harry's?" Albus queried in shock.
"Who else's?" Petunia asked back, harshly. "He totally ruined our life."
"Where is he?" Albus enquired as calmly as possible. "I wish to speak with him."
"He's living with the O'Briens," Petunia informed him. "They took the guardianship over him about two years ago. Thank God. I'm so glad to be rid of him. He was such a nuisance."
'So much about the blood wards. They won't work if she doesn't love him,' Albus thought, feeling completely taken aback by the obvious hatred in Petunia's words. If he had been one hundred years younger, he'd probably have cast a reminding spell at the woman and had left, smashing the door, however, he reminded himself that with his one hundred and fifty years of age, he was supposed to be of better behaviour. Therefore, he simply bade the woman good bye and left the house, feeling very sad about the matter.
'I only meant well, when I placed Harry here,' he thought, trying in vain to soothe his bad consciousness.
'Minerva told you right from the beginning,' an annoying little voice spoke up from the back of his mind.
'She couldn't know either,' he thought back, although deep in his heart he knew that his best friend had been right. 'As usual,' he admitted to himself, feeling extremely annoyed and also a bit sorry. 'Nevertheless, it's important that I keep the boy under my control,' he resolved and rang the doorbell at the O'Briens' house in determination.
HP
To his even greater annoyance, no one opened the door. Albus waited for a few minutes. However, the house seemed to be deserted. Quickly casting an invisibility charm at himself, he unlocked the door with a silent spell, before he inspected the house for signs of the little boy of his attention.
Albus took his time to check the house, while he waited for the unknown family to return to their home. However, after a while, he realised that no one seemed to be living in the house anymore. There was no food, no clothes and no other daily articles left in the house. Most of the cupboards and wardrobes were just empty.
The thought 'They have left, perhaps even to get away from the Dursleys' crossed his mind, and, as much as Albus wanted to deny the idea, the more it seemed reasonable.
Finally, the fireplace caught his eye. It looked just like a normal Muggle fireplace, however, it had something that enabled any wizard to easily distinguish it from a Muggle fireplace: A small box with Floo powder was sitting on the shelf on top of it.
'That's it,' Albus thought in relief. 'If they left through the fireplace, I'll be able to track them.' Finally feeling a little calmer, he popped a lemon drop into his mouth, before he pulled his wand and pointed it at the fireplace. The spell that he cast made a small parchment emerge from the tip of his wand displaying the last ten destinations that had been reached from this fireplace.
tbc...