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.
While healing the Longbottoms had been a fairly quiet even if happy affair, curing Remus Lupin from Lycanthropy was a matter with far reaching consequences.
After it became clear that Remus had not transformed during the last two full moons, Arthur Weasley awarded Snape, Harry, Hermione and Cillian, without his help the brewing of the cure wouldn't have been possible, the Order of Merlin first class. At first, Harry and Snape tried to dismiss it but finally accepted, knowing that it would be a great treat for Cillian to receive the award, which was the greatest honour in the magical world.
In return, Snape, Hermione and Harry promised to use their free time to brew as many doses of the wolvescure as possible in order to cure all werewolves in Britain during the next two years. They decided to spend all Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the potions lab of Potter Manor to use the advantage of the self-refilling ingredients shelves for their work, provided that the headmistress would allow them to leave Hogwarts so frequently.
'That's great, then we can meet my parents every weekend,' Hermione thought to Harry, knowing that the Grangers were going to continue living at the Manor, even if they would be at Hogwarts, in order to not leave the Longbottoms alone.
'Yeah, that's cool,' Harry thought back, feeling equally happy to be able to meet his parents-in-law on a frequent basis.
HP
For Harry, David and their betrotheds, their second Hogwarts year passed much too fast for their liking. They used every free minute to practise the Animagus transformation together with the older twins and Neville, who now belonged to their best friends. The five second-years also spent much time at Potter Manor during the weekends, not only to brew the wolvescure together with Professor Snape, but also to help the Longbottoms adjust to their new lives as fast as possible.
Professor McGonagall had offered Frank Longbottom the position of the Ancient Runes professor, however, Frank and Alice did not feel accustomed enough to their new life to fulfil the post and had asked the headmistress to give them some time to adjust.
Only during the Christmas holidays, which the whole extended family spent at the Manor, Frank felt ready enough to take over the position from the first of January onwards.
'I'm so happy for Neville,' Harry thought to Hermione, while Frank and McGonagall spoke about placing the Longbottoms' quarters right next to those of the O'Briens.
'Me too,' Hermione agreed. 'Neville has become much more confident, and he's a really great friend now.'
HP
The rest of their second year passed in a blur and ended with the good news that Neville was going to become a big brother coming Christmas.
On the day, when everyone else boarded the Hogwarts Express to return home, Harry and his extended family travelled back to Potter Manor through the fireplace like they had always done except for the beginning of their first year. Back at home, they put their luggage away and had lunch, before they travelled to Cillian's office at the university, where the children had agreed to once again do a presentation of magic for the students.
This time, Harry had even convinced Neville to participate, knowing that the boy was very good with plants and was able to grow certain plants just with one complicated spell.
Another point that was different to previous years was that not only the British Prime Minister participated as usual, but also Mr. Weasley in his position as the Minister of Magic and Sirius as head of the Wizengamot.
As usual, their display was a huge success, and Harry noticed with amazement that the number of students participating in Cillian's class had about tripled compared to the first class, which he had held a few years ago.
HP
Harry thoroughly enjoyed his summer holidays, even if he spent the mornings working on their assignments or studying their third-year books together with the others and the afternoons brewing the wolvescure potion together with Hermione and Snape. Every free minute was used for the Animagus practice, and by the end of the summer holidays, the five soon to be third-years and the Weasley twins were all able to transform their left hand.
While the Weasley twins were trying to transform into parrots, a form of which Harry thought that it was very fitting for his funny friends, Neville practised the transformation into a dog like everyone else. Afraid that he would end up in some strange creature with paws and feathers at the same time, Harry had decided to practise the transformation into a dog first and, only if he succeeded, to further try for a phoenix form.
HP
It was two days before the children had to leave for Hogwarts, to where the professors had already returned, leaving them at the Manor with Cillian, the Grangers and Alice and Augusta Longbottom, that word got to Potter Manor that Albus Dumbledore had escaped from Azkaban.
"I've never heard that anyone escaped from Azkaban," Augusta Longbottom was the first to comment on the article in the Daily Prophet, frowning.
"The problem is that he might have escaped to go after Harry," Alice replied in apparent concern. "If I remember correctly what you told me, he was thrown into Azkaban because of trying to kill Harry."
"Oh well, in fact it was good that he did," Harry said, smirking, however, he had to admit to himself that the thought of Dumbledore having escaped Azkaban was not overly reassuring.
"So much about being able to participate in the Hogsmeade visits," David spoke up, darkly.
"You can still go to Hogsmeade," Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "Even if they won't allow me to go, there's no reason why you can't. I'll well be able to occupy myself alone at Hogwarts for a few hours."
"I'll always be with you anyway," Hermione threw in, smiling.
"I don't think it'll be necessary to refrain from going to Hogsmeade," James spoke up. "If he really wants to get to you, he'll be able to catch you at Hogwarts at any time."
"Yes, but we can ask Minerva to ward the castle in a way that no unforgivable spells can be cast within Hogwarts," Lily contradicted. "At Hogsmeade, Dumbledore could just do anything."
'I hope I'll be able to manage the Animagus transformation into a phoenix soon,' Harry thought to Hermione. 'Then I can just flash away if he shows up.'
HP
As James had predicted, nothing could prevent Albus Dumbledore from contacting Harry at Hogwarts.
It was on the second day of school that Harry had caught a bad cold that in combination with hurrying from the Potions classroom out to the Care of Magical Creatures classroom landed him into the hospital wing.
His wife, brother and friends kept him company until curfew, before his parents and godparents visited him and finally were thrown out by the healer.
Harry had just drifted off into a potions induced slumber, grateful that he was finally able to breathe again, when a bright flash lit the otherwise empty hospital wing.
Harry stared at the phoenix on his night table in surprise, only to realise in shock that the phoenix jumped down onto the floor and transformed into an old man.
"Dumbledore," Harry whispered, horrified.
"Ah my boy, how nice to see you again," Dumbledore greeted him, before he helped himself to a couple of Berti Botts Beans from a small box on Harry's night table. "It's always pleasant to have some nice sweets at hand," he voiced, pleasantly, seemingly contented with himself.
"What do you want?" Harry asked, coldly, wondering if he should telepathically ask Hermione to fetch help. Curious, however, he decided against it for the time being.
'Maybe it's only a strange feeling, but I don't really think that he wants to kill me, considering that he made Mione and me his heirs,' he thought, looking at the old wizard with a combination of annoyance and expectation.
"It was never my intention to murder you, my boy," the former headmaster finally spoke up. "I merely wanted to kill the Horcrux within your head, and I believe that I succeeded."
"Yes sir, thank you very much," Harry replied in confusion, before he asked, "But why didn't you tell anyone? Why did you allow them to put you into Azkaban for murder?"
Dumbledore smiled a sad looking smile. "Who do you think would have believed me? Even you didn't know about the Horcrux at that time."
"I did," Harry contradicted, "but I didn't know about your motives, sir. Why did you make Hermione and me your heirs, by the way?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Ah that, my boy," he began to reply, before he stopped, remained quiet for a while, and finally told the boy what he described as his deepest secret.
"My brother is the only person aware of this, but Hermione's father is my grandson," he admitted. "I was once married, and we had a son, however, he was a Squib, and after growing up here at Hogwarts until the age of eleven, he wanted nothing to do with us anymore. This went so far that he did not even tell his own son about me being his grandfather..."
"This means that you're Hermione's great grandfather and that her father isn't a Muggle but a Squib," Harry concluded, questioningly.
"Exactly my boy," Dumbledore confirmed.
"What happened, sir?" Harry queried. "With your wife I mean."
Dumbledore sighed. "She died in the war against Grindelwald," he replied in a grave voice. "Now, I'll let you sleep, but I'd appreciate it if you could ask Mr. Weasley for a trial for me."
"Of course, sir," Harry promised, before he remembered to ask, "Where can I contact you, sir?"
"At Dumbledore Manor," the old wizard replied and transformed into his phoenix form, flashing away an instant later.
HP
As soon as the old wizard was gone, Harry called Gina and asked her for parchment and a quill.
'Dear Mr. Weasley,
Dumbledore just visited me and explained several things to me. He never tried to murder me. It was a misunderstanding. I can explain everything to you. Could you please see to it that he gets a proper trial as soon as possible.
Thank you very much,
Harry'
"Gina," Harry once again called the head elf from the Manor. "Could you please give this to Mr. Weasley first thing in the morning?"
"Of course, Master Harry," Gina replied, gently, before she left with a small pop.
HP
Early the following morning, Mr. Weasley visited Harry together with Sirius to enquire about the matter with Dumbledore. Glad that both men were members of his extended family and knew about the matter with the Horcruxes, Harry could easily convince them of Dumbledore's intentions.
Twenty minutes later, the older wizards left, and Mr. Weasley promised a simple trial with a quick questioning for Dumbledore within the week.
HP
"Dumbledore is my great grandfather?" Hermione asked, incredulously.
Harry nodded. "He told me so last night."
Hermione gave him a sharp look. "You weren't delirious now, were you?"
"Definitely not," Harry reassured her, chuckling. "That's the reason why he made us his heirs, although I'm not sure why us and not just you," he added, thoughtfully. "Hey," he continued, as a sudden idea crossed his mind, "why don't we invite your parents to meet us and him during the first Hogsmeade visit?"
Hermione stared at her husband in apparent amazement. "That's a wonderful idea, Harry. Let's ask my parents when we go home during the weekend," she added, eagerly, placing a kiss on Harry's forehead, before she hurried away to her first morning class.
HP
Five days later, Dumbledore was a free man, and Harry and Hermione arranged with him and the Grangers to meet at Hogsmeade on the following Saturday.
None of them could even imagine how they were going to regret their arrangement before the Hogsmeade visit was even over.
tbc...