Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!
Chapter Five - Jolly Ol' England
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―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When Harry woke he found the ship had already 'set sail'. They were now exiting the mouth of the Hudson River and the ship was starting to swing from its south-easterly heading to a more easterly one.
He was also hungry again.
Casting an illusion over himself to disguise his appearance in case his plan to just blend in with the other passengers didn't work, he mentally fortified himself and left his little hidey-hole. He'd already stored the map of the ship in memory so knew how to get to the cafeteria. That's where he headed.
It worked.
So far, he was able to move about the ship with no one, apparently, the wiser. He'd gone to the cafeteria and eaten a decent, though plain, feed and decided to do what a lot of the other passengers were apparently doing; he explored.
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―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
SG-1 had just returned to the SGC from a quick visit to Massachusetts and went straight in to see Hammond.
"Well?" he demanded.
"It was... kind of weird, Sir," replied a clearly unhappy Jack.
"We specialise in weird, remember?" said the General. "What happened?"
Sam replied, "We had the wary greeting you would expect when civilians are met with USAF officers at the door, Sir. However, they invited us in, no problems.
"When Jack then mentioned we were there to talk about 'a young man named Harry Potter' it was easy to see they did not..."
Jack cut in and said, "It shocked the Hell out of them, Sir."
Sam said, "The parents, Marcade and Sandra Granger, reacted with open shock, like you'd expect. However, the daughter... Hermione Granger... it was as if someone had pulled down the shutters on her emotions. Her expression just went flat and cold; as if someone had thrown a switch.
"Then she demanded right back at us, 'Why are you asking about Harry?'"
"You'll notice she referred to him as 'Harry', not Mister Potter or similar," added Jack. "Her right hand also 'combat twitched' when I mentioned Mister Potter's name, Sir. As if she had to smother an instinctive reaction to reach for a side arm."
When the general nodded, Sam continued, "They closed up on us, Sir. And the parents looked a little frightened. Not the daughter, though. That expression remained on her face for the entire remaining time we there except for when we said something that shocked her significantly enough we got to peek behind that... that..."
"Façade," said Daniel.
"Yes, façade," she nodded.
Hammond just cocked an eyebrow.
"For example," she continued, "When Jack said we knew about her and her friends going under the Old War Office building in Whitehall, London, she tensed right up; but that expression did not leave her face.
"Usually, this is the point at where someone will try to explain themselves. However, none of them did. They remained firmly silent."
"I then lied and said we knew all about it and were just wanting to know about what had hit Mister Potter," said Jack. "What happened to him at that point."
Sam added, "There was still no obvious response from her or her parents other than a heightened sense of fear... worry.
"I then said all four of us had a security clearance that was so high you needed to have a high security clearance to even know what ours was. And that we were only there to clarify things.
"Miss Granger simply returned, 'Your security clearance would only be American. You're referring to matters relating to British security.'"
Hammond gave a light snort. "She'd be right."
"Yes, Sir," said Sam. "What I did get out of her, though, is that Mister Potter was a school friend... her best friend, that they both attended a very exclusive and private school in Scotland and that they shouldn't have been where they were when, according to her, Mister Potter 'went missing'.
"She also admitted she was not in the same room as Mister Potter when whatever happened, happened. She only found out about it later."
"Other than that," said Jack. "We found out from her parents that it was apparently Harry's godfather who paid for the Grangers to relocate from England to Massachusetts. And, get this... it took a bit to get the man's name out the parents... but Potter's godfather's name is Lord Black... Lord Sirius Orion Black."
That, of course, surprised the general. "That can't be a coincidence," he said.
"Our thoughts, too, Sir," said Jack. Sam and Daniel nodded in agreement.
Hammond gave his own nod and slid a file across his desk to Jack. "That's the latest news we have.
"We now have a fair idea what Mister Potter did to escape. At the same time as our monitors picked up the EMP burst, Petersen picked up something on base airspace radar.
"They logged it as an 'electronic aberration'. However, the timing is exact, plus four seconds, to the burst. The location, however, is directly above where Mister Potter was standing in his suite at the time the monitoring equipment was blown from the burst; and almost exactly... almost to the foot... six thousand feet above that spot.
"Immediately after appearing, the object began falling at the gravitational constant for about seven seconds before it disappeared again."
"And the camera Petersen has trained on the airspace above here?" asked Jack.
Hammond slid a photograph over. "If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd have never believed it."
Looking at the photo, though it was a photo taken from extreme range and the object on the photo was not that large, it was easy to make out that the falling object looked like a man. However, the resolution was too low to make out any details other than that.
"He teleported!" exclaimed Sam, seeing the image. "It's what he also must have done when we saw him on the MALP camera."
Hammond nodded and said, "That's what our people tell me is the most likely scenario. He teleported straight up six thousand feet, putting him approximately two and half thousand feet above the mountain. He's then taken a quick look around while falling, picked a spot on the ground somewhere and then teleported to that spot."
"Depending on how many times and how far he can do that, he could be anywhere on the planet by now," sighed Sam.
"Which is why I've scaled right back the search for him around the base," said the general. "I'm assured we'd be wasting our time."
"He'd head for 'Dear Ol' Blighty'," said Daniel. "It's what I'd do."
"The poor man doesn't even know his aunt, uncle and cousin are dead," sighed Sam.
"We've moved to put a watch on where the house stood," said Hammond. "Just in case that's one of the places he'd head for."
"If he was abused, as the med-techs claim, he probably won't," said Jack.
"I've still moved a watcher in place, just in case," said Hammond.
"Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters?" asked Sam, who was reading the file.
"Yes," replied Hammond. "Intelligence has found that the school actually exists. However, the only way to contact them is, apparently, by letter sent to a Post Office address in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"Intelligence has tried to get more than that, but all they've managed to glean is that the school teaches to some high risk students and its location is concealed to all who don't need to know where it is."
Jack gave a falling whistle. "That explains why Potter was so reticent to provide information."
"It could also explain young Miss Granger's reaction, too," said Sam.
"That's too many 'maybe's for me," said Hammond. "You four are headed for Jolly Ol' England, stashed away on a 'milk run' from Petersen. Your flight leaves this afternoon."
Jack and Sam winced slightly.
A 'milk run' was the daily scheduled flights by C130s around the country and overseas of military mail and supplies. It had room for passengers, as necessary, but the facilities were quite basic.
"Contact on the ground?" asked Jack.
"You'll be notified once you reach Edinburgh, Scotland," replied the general.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
For Harry, the trip across the North Atlantic from New York to Portland, England - the first stop after a 'day stop' the day before in Cork, Ireland - was quite pleasant and relaxing. Other than 'passenger watching' and wandering about, Harry spent time in his wizard-spaced and transfigured room writing out a list of what he needed to accomplish once he was back in wizarding Britain. Knowing not to do otherwise, he only ever ate in the 'free' cafeteria and never drank alcohol.
His only surprise was when a couple of 'hotties' approached him and asked if he wanted to join them for a drink. He politely declined, telling them he was a 'tea-totaller'. The more forward of them then said, "That doesn't mean you can't buy me a drink, does it?"
He politely turned them away.
At first he thought his first stop, on arriving back in Britain, would be Gringotts. He needed money. Then he realised the first thing he actually needed was information. He needed to know what was going on before he risked being out in the open in somewhere like Diagon Alley. Besides, he didn't trust the goblins not to have Dumbledore spies that would immediately report to the old man if he turned up; even worse, Voldemort spies. Harry could use a glamour in the Alley, but he couldn't use one in the bank.
Working on that problem he knew, even then, he still needed to take a risk. He needed back issues of the Daily Prophet and to look in Flourish and Blotts for any new books that might help bring him up-to-date with how things currently stood.
He also wanted to find out what had happened to Hermione and the others. He knew she had been hurt and expected her to be dead. However, he was not going to assume, though; he was going to find out, for sure. If she was dead, then he was going to leave the country again. As far as he was concerned other than Sirius, Neville and Luna... he'd already decided to wash his hands of even Ron and Ginny, once his Occlumency had properly kicked in... they had made their bed and could lie in it.
He suspected they all believed him dead, too. So he could walk away without anyone chasing after him. He'd wash his hands of the whole thing.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When SG-1 alighted from their military transport at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, England, with the exception of Teal'c they were tired and a bit grouchy. To get there, they'd been 'bounced' through Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland before the big 'hop over the pond' to England. It was still a long flight.
As soon as they alighted the aircraft, out of sight of the main base's buildings and very close to a modern hanger, they were greeted by a man wearing a bespoke three-piece suit. A woman stood at his side, a little apart and half a pace back.
As well as the suit he wore a derby-style matching hat, had both hands folded on the wooden curled handle of a closed and inverted 'matching' dark grey umbrella that rested on its silver tip on the ground between his slightly spread apart feet and Oxford lace up polished shoes. The small white carnation in his lapel and tie-matching pocket-kerchief looked a bit much though. The woman who wore a woman's suit with pants. She, too, was impeccably dressed and had a small purse in her off-hand.
The man gave every appearance of looking like a senior executive in a London bank. And the woman looked like she could have been his personal secretary. The only oddity was the suit pants instead of a knee length skirt.
As soon as he saw him, Jack sighed and walked closer. The other three, curious, followed.
The man was smirking back at him. "Good afternoon, Colonel," he politely said.
"Mister Steed," sighed Jack. "I should have known..."
"Yes, you should," Steed pleasantly agreed. Then he indicated the woman and said, "This is Miss Hoffstead."
As Daniel shook hands with Steed, he asked, "Have a first name?"
"It's 'Mister'," snarked Jack.
There was obviously a bit of bad blood between Jack and the Brit.
Steed ignored him and replied to Daniel, "It's John, actually. Not shortened. In full, I am Brigadier The Honourable Sir John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed, KGC, MC, OM, retired.
"However, while on duty for Her Majesty's loyal government, I prefer the simple and expedient 'Mister Steed'."
After the four barely greeted Hoffstead, thinking her an aide, Steed then indicated the door of the hanger and said, "Shall we?"
Jack rolled his eyes and nodded.
Steed then led the way and Hoffstead followed at the back of the group.
As they walked along, Daniel asked Jack, "What's with the Derby?"
"This is not a Derby, Doctor Jackson," sniffed Steed. "It is a Bowler... Please."
Jack just gave a snort of amusement.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
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At Grimmauld Place, where on no less than on a half dozen occasions Death Eaters had tried to break in over the past three years, Sirius was alerted to the floo-call chime going off.
Careful to enter the room, he had his wand drawn when he was about to peek within. "It's me, Lord Black." he heard Luna lightly call.
"Password!" he barked.
"Sirius knows Harry lives!" she immediately returned.
As he stepped into the room, Sirius said, "Luna knows Longbottom is not the Chosen One."
She smiled and immediately said, "I need five hundred pounds of muggle British currency."
Frowning in confusion slightly, Sirius said, "May I ask... why?"
"Of course you may!" she brightly returned. "However, I'll save you effort and tell you I need to travel by muggle means down to Portland and back. I need to pick something up."
"Why not apparate?" he asked.
"I don't want the apparation signature, or a portkey signature, recorded by the Ministry," she replied. "It's important, Sirius."
He frowned back for a moment before he gave a sigh and said, "Give me a minute." Then walked back out of the room.
Patiently, Luna just waited.
He walked back in two minutes later and handed her a stack of one hundred fifty pound notes, wrapped with a paper band with the Bank of England seal pressed across the join of the two ends.
"Thank you, Sirius," she brightly returned, slipping the entire stack into her wizard-spaced clutch-purse.
"Any hints on what you're picking up?" he tentatively asked.
"It's a surprise," she grinned. "Don't worry. You're going to love it."
"So it's a gift, is it?" he asked. "You do realise you'd be buying me a gift with my own gold, right?"
"You'll forgive me!" she happily returned, before walking the couple of steps back to the fireplace.
After she tossed floo powder into the grate, called "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared through the green flames, Sirius sighed, shook his head and went back to what he was doing; more parchmentwork on the Houses of Black, Potter and Peverell finances in his home office.
One fortune was bad enough, but keeping and looking after three of them gave him never-ending quill cramp of his writing hand. The LeStrange fortune had already been merged into the Black fortune. He was just glad the Peverell fortune, for all it was, was mainly in what could loosely be termed as muggle artefacts.
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―==(oIo)==―
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It had been two and half weeks since Harry had apparated out of the SGC and he was finally back in Britain.
Relaxing, he had just stepped onto the gangway leading down off the ship to the wharf and was looking about, scanning with his eyes for trouble. At the time, he was glamoured to appear like another passenger who was actually heading to the terminus at Southampton. With an identical copy of their passport in his hand he spotted a large gaudily made sign that said 'Snorkack Expeditions'.
'Snorkacks!?' he thought. 'Only Luna...'
He couldn't see who was holding the sign, as they were holding it across their front and in such a way he could only see fingertips holding it at slightly above the middle at each end and a pair of legs from just below the crotch and down. However, from the stockings and women's shoes he could see, whoever it was, they were clearly a woman.
After passing through Customs and Immigration, with the help of a Harry-special subtle Confundus Charm on both government officers, he carefully made his way to whoever was holding the sign.
Stopping in front of them, he stood a moment, listening.
Whoever it was they were lightly humming a tune. It was a tune he remembered Luna would hum while he was teaching the DA in the Room of Requirements at Hogwarts.
He smiled and lightly knocked on the sign with his fingertips.
The person holding it suddenly stopped humming and slowly rotated the top of the sign forward.
As soon as the face came into view, he grinned and said, "Hello, Luna Lovegood."
With her own smile she returned, "Hello, Harry Potter."
Knowing he still had the glamour up, he cocked an eyebrow at her in inquisitive surprise.
"Don't worry, Harry," she said. "I knew it would be you, no matter what you were likely to look like."
Then she proceeded to begin folding the sign up until it was about the size of a deck of playing cards. Then slipped it into her clutch purse.
'Magic," he immediately thought. 'It's the only way something so large could have folded up to something so small.'
Still surprised, he asked, "You knew I was coming?"
"Yes," she replied. "I'll explain how I know that once we're in the cab and on our way back to London."
"We're taking a cab?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, stepping to his off-hand side and hooking her right arm into his left elbow. "Escort a lady out?"
With a snort of amusement, he began to lead her off the wharf.
"Why are we taking a cab?" he quietly asked, as they walked.
"I do not trust the Ministry to keep secret the apparation and portkey signatures," she replied. "Tom's been busy."
"Ah!" he quietly returned.
Once they were at the cab pick-up point, nearly the first to reach there as he didn't have luggage to worry about, Luna had to take a minute or two to convince the 'cabbie' she really did want a cab all the way to London. She even had to show him she had the money to pay for it.
As soon as they both hopped in, Luna subtly cast a privacy ward up between the back seats and the front and a compulsion charm on the cabbie not to try to engage them in idle chatter. British cabbies were notorious for it.
Then she slipped her wand back into a disillusioned wrist holster and turned to Harry, sitting next to her.
As the cab then pulled away from the curb and into traffic she said, "Alright. Here's a quick verbal overview of what's been happening since you left. Try to hold your questions, for now. I have a small stack of scrapbooks I've been keeping since that night and I've been filling them with the information you're going to need."
"You knew I would be back? And that it would be a while?" he asked.
"Yes to both," she firmly replied. "Now, about what's been happening..."
As they were driven north towards London, Luna quietly spoke to Harry and explained matters. Harry, as he'd been told, listened. He only asked a couple of questions, to which Luna directly answered or told him was contained, in detail, in her scrapbooks. He understood her hint.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After receiving authorisation to set up a watch post in England from the British Secret Intelligence Service (BSIS), of which Steed was their representative, over the next two weeks SG-1 had visited the sites of Privet Drive and scouted out what they could of Whitehall. They'd tried to find the school in south-western Scotland, but couldn't find it. Even asking some of the 'locals' was only met with confusion.
BSIS, through Steed, gave them further information on the Dursleys and also mentioned that young Mister Potter most definitely was not in the house when it was burned to the ground.
"So, it wasn't a gas explosion?" asked Sam.
"No, Major," Steed firmly replied. "Some sort of accellerant was used to burn the house down with the deceased occupants inside. From the coroner's report it appears they were tortured before they were then killed. It is believed the house being burnt down was a method by which to erase the evidence.
"Our only confusions were why they were targeted, why they were tortured, what accellerant was used as it left no organic trace, such as petroleum... or, as you call it over the 'pond', gasoline... and whether or not the Dursleys were the actual target.
"That you are now looking into the nephew leads us to believe it was the nephew who was the target. And that the Dursleys were tortured so the torturers could try to discover the location of that nephew. Care to shed any light on that?"
"We believe you're probably right?" she replied.
He smiled in amusement.
Not being an information-gathering or -security specialist, she was an astrophysicist, Carter was not an expert at dissembling her answers to keep the cover on the information.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
It was getting on time for dinner when Sirius's floo chimed again. Again being careful he warily approached the welcoming room with its floo.
"It's me again, Sirius," he heard Luna call.
"Password?" he barked.
"Sirius knows Harry lives!" she immediately returned.
As he stepped into the room, Sirius said, "Luna knows Longbottom is not the Chosen One."
She smiled and said, "I need to bring someone through the floo."
"Who?" he immediately demanded.
"It's the surprise I mentioned when you gave me the five hundred pounds," she returned. Then she turned a pleading look on him and said, "Please, Sirius. You'll want to meet this person. I swear, they mean you no harm."
He frowned in annoyance and stepped towards her raising her wand. Just before he was about to cast, he said, "First; I'll check you for mind altering charms and potions."
She nodded, as if expecting it.
After Sirius cast his charms he lowered his wand and said, "Fine. However, no more than one, though." It spoke to the trust he had in her that he even allowed that.
She nodded back and said, "Of course." Then disappeared out through the floo again, back to the Leaky Cauldron.
As soon as the flames were out from the disconnected call, Sirius immediately opened the floo to allow only one person with an unrecorded magical signature through and then quickly transfigured up a one-person granite 'redoubt' in which to stand to defend himself from anyone coming in via the fireplace.
He'd just finished it when Luna stepped back out. Instead of giving the password, she grinned and stepped to the side.
A moment later, out stepped a man who held his hands up in the surrender gesture to show his hands without a wand in them.
Sirius looked at him in confusion as he saw Luna look at the newcomer and raise her wand to him. "Finite!" she firmly and verbally incanted.
The glamour, as it was clear to Sirius that is what it was, faded away to leave a young man standing there wearing a flat-black muggle T-shirt, plain green muggle combat pants with the hems tucked into semi-polished black muggle combat boots.
However, even then you had to look hard to see Harry; or as he remembered him to be. The black hair had faded a little, showing an underlying redness from his mother; but he still had the messy locks of a Potter. He was also deeply tanned, showing he'd spent a lot of time out in the harsh sun. The scar couldn't even be seen, even at the somewhat close distance that separated them. And he'd definitely filled out with muscles clearly rippling under the surface of that tanned skin on his arms; his torso showing the flatness of well-toned musculature beneath that T-shirt. Most apparent of all, though, no glasses!
Harry didn't move. Instead, he was staring at Sirius with a grin.
It took Sirius a few moments to figure out what... or, rather, who... he was looking at. Then his jaw dropped open and his eyes widened in frozen shock.
After Luna had dispelled his glamour, Harry watched as his godfather clearly puzzled out who he was. Then saw when the man had figured it out.
He laughed as he lowered his hands.
Sirius was so fast in wanting to reach his godson, for that was who it clearly was, the redoubt hadn't been dispelled fast enough before he was already moving forward. He tripped over what was left of the wall and landed with a thump on the floor, trying to scramble back to his feet again.
Harry had already stepped forward and helped him up, whilst still chuckling.
A moment later, he was encased in such a tight bear-hug he couldn't breathe.
Luna watched in amusement and gave Sirius about five seconds of tightly hugging his godson before she firmly said, "Sirius; release him! He can't breathe!"
Startled, Sirius flung his arms away and stepped back. And Harry bent forward, putting his hands on his knees and gasping a little.
A moment later, he said, "Whoa! That hug would easily put Molly Weasley's to shame!"
As Harry straightened back up again, Sirius again stepped forward and wrapped him in another hug. However, this time it was a great deal gentler.
Sirius stood there with his godson in his arms as tears he didn't even know he was crying began to slide down his cheeks.
After Sirius had finally released his godson and wiped his tears away, he croaked. "Dobby!"
When the elf popped in he only had time to point at Harry before the little elf apparated the three feet separating them and had Harry's left thigh in such a tight grip Harry began to lose sensation in his leg.
"Oh, Master Harry!" the elf bawled. "Missy Luna sez you bes back. But, Dobby be 'shamed he not truly believe. Dobby is a bad Dobby for not believesing Missy Luna! Wherez you been?"
When the elf finally released Harry leg, Harry had to stand on his right leg and lightly move his left about as he replied, "That is a long story in the telling. However, I will tell it soon."
"Dobby," said Luna.
When the elf looked to her she'd said, "How about you make a start on cooking dinner? It's been a long day and Master Harry will be hungry. All three of us are."
"Yes, Missy Luna!" Dobby exclaimed before he'd disappeared with an almost silent pop.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Half an hour later all three of them were in the kitchen sitting around the table and drinking tea while Dobby was working madly away at cooking a banquet for three.
Now sitting at the kitchen table, Harry wrapped up the basic explanation as to where he'd been.
"Bloody Hell!" Sirius vehemently muttered before he turned his attention to Luna. "When you said I could 'see' Harry by walking outside at night and looking up at the star, Sirius... you weren't being all Seer-y."
"No," she calmly returned. "I was telling you exactly where he was, as I said I did."
"Sorry, Luna," he apologetically returned.
"It's quite alright," she calmly said. "I already knew you wouldn't accept what I told you. That still did not mean I shouldn't have told you, though."
He gave her a nod and turned back to Harry. "So, Luna was right that the Veil of Death is actually a gate-thing that takes you to other worlds."
"Yes," he nodded. "While Luna called it an Astra Porta, the Goa'uld and Jaffa call it a Chappa'ai and the SGC call it a Stargate."
"With the last term being a near direct translation from the very early Latin 'Astria Porta'," added Luna.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After dinner, Luna reached into her clutch-purse and pulled out six large muggle scrapbooks of a size the muggles call somewhat halfway between 'A2' and 'A3' pages; 'B3'. That they came out of that little clutch-purse showed the purse to be wizard-spaced.
She then put them on the table in a stack and slid them over to in front of Harry.
"These are the six scrapbooks I told you about," she said, as Harry opened the cover of the first one. "They're in date order, from top to bottom. And, in case you accidentally mix them up, they're also numbered on the front cover.
"Read through them and I'll be handy to answer any questions you have concerning what's in them; though, I believe you shouldn't have many."
Then she turned to Sirius and said, "I'll be using my room here, if that's alright with you?"
"Of course!" Sirius replied. "I'll also have Dobby give Harry's room a once-over and dusting."
"Already done, Master Sirius!" chirped Dobby from where he was working polishing the stove.
"Do you need to head home and pack a bag, Luna?" asked Sirius.
"No, thank you," she smiled. "I have everything I need in my purse."
"What about you, Harry?" he asked.
"I have only what I'm wearing, I'm afraid," he replied. "I also have my invisibility cloak in a mokeskin space-expanded bag under a Notice-me-Not belted around my waist. It contains the Marauder's Map, too."
"I'd wondered what happened to that," smiled Sirius.
"I have a change of wizarding clothes for Harry in my purse," said Luna. "I'll have Dobby deliver them later."
Dobby turned, looked at her purse and snapped his fingers. "Theys now be in Master Harry's room, Missy Luna. As be your clothes."
"Thank you, Dobby," she said.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After spending the evening almost speed-reading through the scrapbooks Luna had provided him, stopping only to ask questions of both Luna and Sirius who were quietly talking between themselves and not-so-subtly watching him, it was late when they all finally decided to go to bed.
His biggest surprise was learning that Gellert Grindelwald was, in fact, still alive. And that Sirius had secretly visited the man in the antechamber outside his cell in the prison tower complex known as Nurmengard less than twelve months ago.
Thinking about what he had read and learned, Harry hardly even paid attention to the room and how nice it was decorated before he stripped off and was in bed, asleep.
'Dumbledore's now convinced everyone Neville is the Chosen One to face Voldemort,' he thought. 'How bloody stupid is that?
'And what about Ron's behaviour? After I got my mindscape set up and was able to properly review my memories... it wasn't hard to then see that little bastard was deliberately trying to dumb me down because he was too bloody stupid to try and work hard to come up or, maybe, doing it on Dumbledore's orders.
'I'm glad Sirius got Hermione out of here, though. I'm seriously relieved she's alright. It also sounds like she's very happy in Massachusetts. I'm not really surprised she went into magical law, though. She always did have that sort of mind; coupled with her... whatchamacallit.. "outreach" beliefs to help the downtrodden.'
His last thoughts were of how normal his godfather appeared to be, clearly having regained his fitness and mental faculties; and of just how 'hot' Luna now looked. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.
In her room and at the same time, Luna was readying for bed and suddenly stopped to look off into the distance. Then she smiled.
"I am, aren't I?" she murmured, glancing at her reflected image in the mirror.
"You are... what, dear?" asked the mirror.
"Good looking," she replied, running her magical brush through her hair.
The mirror scoffed and said, "You sound like young Bella."
Luna grinned. In her mind, though, she'd be getting rid of the mirror. She actually didn't like mirrors that talked back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning Harry was up and had headed for the kitchen. It still felt weird having a proper kitchen to cook with and not having to rely so much on transfiguring food to eat.
He'd headed there with the intent to cook, but Dobby was already cooking and had a plate of a 'Full-English' before him just as he sat down.
"Thank you, Dobby," he said to the elf.
As he was eating he asked, "How has it been working for Master Sirius?"
"It has been good, Master Harry," replied the elf. "But Dobby is very happy Master Harry is back."
"What happened to Kreacher?" he asked.
Dobby scowled and replied, "Kreacher was a very baaaaad elf. Kreacher did lie to Master Harry about Master Sirius not beings here when Master Harry did floo-call. Kreacher was trying to get Master Harry killed, going to... Deh-part-ment of Mysties. Master Sirius did kills him for... be-tray-all of House Black. Kreacher dids die with... dishonour."
"Ah!" said Harry. "But, you like it here?"
"Master Sirius be good master," replied the elf. "But, Master Harry be bestest master."
With a sigh, Harry thought, 'Well, looks like I'm stuck with Dobby, after all.'
He'd been hoping to convince the elf to stay with Sirius. They were obviously good for one another.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Sirius was next down, only about fifteen minutes later. And Luna was down about five minutes after that.
At the time, Harry had finished his breakfast and didn't even have a chance to take his dishes to the sink before Dobby popped them away.
Instead, he was again going through the scrapbooks, looking more closely at some of the information within. There were a few issues he wanted to speak with Luna and Sirius about that wasn't included. This time, though, he was writing things down.
At his request, Dobby brought parchment, quill and ink just as an owl flew in with the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.
When it looked like the other two had finished the food portions of their breakfasts and were just sipping their teas, Harry said, "Let me see if I can give the highlights, here."
Luna nodded.
"For the Ministry: Fudge resigned, probably minutes before he was going to be fired by the Wizengamot when it was discovered Umbridge had sent the dementors after me at Privet Drive. They were able to learn that because someone had tipped off Bones that she... Umbridge, that is... was a half-blood, not the pureblood she claimed to be; and was therefore not able to claim immunity to being dosed with Veritaserum. Fudge disappeared while Umbridge went to jail for life for both the attempted murder of me and the use of the Cruciatus curse on Minerva McGonagall.
"As a result of all that had happened, besides Sirius here duelling Riddle in the atrium of the Ministry and being seen doing so by over two dozen people, Sirius was properly trialled and exonerated of all charges. Everyone finally accepted I'd been telling the truth and were then feeling mighty guilty about that and the Ministry finally got off their collective arses and started to switch to a war footing. Other than Bellatrix LeStrange, the six Death Eaters who were at the Ministry that night who were all escapees from Azkaban all got kissed and then tossed through the Veil.
"I can tell you they didn't arrive on Hadrian with me, though.
"Riddle claimed, at the time, that Sirius had just killed Bella LeStrange and, as no one's seen her since, that seems to have been verified. The other six, including Lucius Malfoy, were all sent to Azkaban for life based on Priori Incantatem being used on their wands and showing they'd all at least once used the Killing or Cruciatus curses. Bones was the driving force of all of that.
"For Dumbledore: The old man did not get reinstated as the Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, but did manage to get the Headmaster's slot back. He's then had to do his damnedest to just keep his job and was ordered by the new Minister, Bones, to keep his nose out of Ministry business. She's kept doing that right up until now.
"Even so, Dumbledore's managed to convince Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, that Neville is the prophecised one to defeat Riddle. And then immediately began to organise specialised training for the boy using Mad-Eye Moody, Professor Flitwick and himself to teach him. Neville, after breaking his father's wand in the Ministry that night, got a new wand. With the new wand he immediately started to show he's actually got bucket-loads of magical reserves, which Dumbledore used to confirm Neville is the new 'golden boy'. Instead, it's the simple fact the boy now has a wand that actually matches him... rather than his father's, which didn't... that is the answer. I'm left wondering if Neville using his father's wand was something preplanned by Dumbledore."
"No," said Luna. "However, it didn't stop him from using that happenstance to his own advantage."
"For his Order of the Basted Turkey: The old man's also managed to build up the Order to about thirty strong; but lost Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Vance and Jones very soon after Voldemort became known to be alive. Due to Bones, while still Head of the DMLE at the time, telling them they could either be aurors or members of the Order, not both, that took out Tonks, Shacklebolt, Vance and Jones. The new Head of the DMLE, Rufus Scrimgeour, ratified that order and, after he was killed a couple months later, his replacement, Constance Hammer, re-ratified it. Sirius and Remus quit because Dumbledore failed to keep his promise to protect me and it was shown Dumbledore had made no effort to get Sirius his trial, as promised. However, Remus and Tonks rejoined about six months later with Bones's secret blessing, but both are actually Sirius's spies in the Order.
"So far, you know... of those I know from school... the Weasley twins, Ron, Ginny, Neville of course, Angie Johnston, Alicia Spinnet, Shay Finnegan and a few others have since joined the Order. However, Shay, Ernie MacMillan, Kevin Entwhistle and Stephen Cornfoot have been killed. Since then, the twins, Angie Johnson and Alicia Spinnet have quit, due to what they believe... and I agree... are Dumbledore's direct orders they were to only stun or otherwise incapacitate any Death Eaters they managed to face.
"There's also been a swag of others, all muggle-born, who've been attacked in their homes and killed by Death Eaters. That kept happening until Bones finally got permission from the Wizengamot, after the fact for many of them, of giving each muggle-born an emergency portkey to Saint Mungo's. She then started to also give them to the half-bloods.
"Riddle won't attack, or allow any of his thugs to attack, Saint Mungo's because he believes - rightly, according to Luna - that the Healer's Collegiate would ban all Healers applying any aid to a marked Death Eater through their Bonham Oaths of medical aid. They threatened him with that back in the first war and it worked as well then as it does now.
"The Order comes across as being successful in driving Riddle and his Death Eaters away when they turn up, but Luna says it's because Riddle knows of the prophecy now and doesn't want to be anywhere within the vicinity of Neville. He doesn't want to 'mark' him, thereby making him possibly the one mentioned in the prophecy. He thinks if he marks him, or one of his Death Eaters does it as his 'hand', then it will make the prophecy 'active' again.
"That's crap, because I've already figured out it was me; and my name was on the little card under the prophecy orb. However, Riddle's not taking any chances.
"As a result of Riddle and his Death Eaters always running away when Neville turns up, just in case one of them accidentally 'marks' him, the sheep now think it's true Neville is the Chosen One; plus, many think Neville has apparently turned into something of a big-headed arrogant idiot as a result, which is not actually true; it's what's others have been pushing to promote, though... probably on Riddle's orders.
"For my supposed friends: Ron Weasley, who claimed to always be my best mate... though I now know different... has latched himself onto Neville and is now claiming Neville is his best mate. Ginny, where she used to claim she was always going to marry me, is now claiming she will be marrying Neville once Neville has 'managed to pin Riddle down so he can kill him'. Hermione is in Massachusetts and keeps in semi-regular contact with Sirius, but no one else. And Luna is the only one who's stayed true. Even the Twins have backed right off and have even stopped paying gold into the Potter vaults as my share of their business."
"I told them to do that, Harry," said Sirius. "They've more than paid back what you originally gave them - five fold."
Harry nodded and continued, "Of what is known of Riddle and his flunkies: Besides always immediately apparating or portkeying away when Neville turns up on Dumbledore's heels, they've still managed to do a lot of harm; those muggle-borns and half-bloods being the most affected. However, after Riddle broke his so-called faithful out of Azkaban that first Christmas after I went through the Chappa'ai in the DoM, four of those who were sent to prison based on that night are dead during attempted assassinations of Bones, trying to break into here or through attacking other wizarding homes such as the Luna's and the Greengrasses'. All such places having war wards up, which Dumbledore later railed against as being inhuman and... dark! Even going so far as demanding Luna's father, Xenophilius, for one pull them down. Which he didn't do. It's currently believed Malfoy and Dolohov are the only two of that night still alive.
"Unsurprisingly, there have been sightings of the Ferret, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and a few others from Slytherin who have joined Riddle's side. Surprises to me, though, are those like Michael Corner from Ravenclaw.
"During the breakout, Umbridge was also freed but apparently killed by either Riddle or one of his flunkies a few days later; tortured to death. Forgive me if I'm not bothered by that in the slightest. So, too, was Snape; but he's believed to still live.
"While Dumbledore had raced to the prison to help, though his presence was both not required or appreciated by Scrimgeour, someone managed to get into Hogwarts and kidnap Trelawney. From that, it's believed that's how Riddle now knows the full prophecy.
"Dumbledore, closing the gate after the horse had already bolted, strengthened the wards at Hogwarts to block those with ill intent towards the students and staff. Then was utterly shocked when about half the Slytherins, a quarter of the Ravenclaws and a few each from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff got ejected at the gate when the Express arrived to bring the students back after the Christmas break. Utterly surprising to me... and, apparently, quite a few others... he didn't pull those new wards down again.
"No," said Luna. "And the Board and the Minister refused to allow him to. They also threatened to immediately strip him of the post of Headmaster if he still went ahead and did it, replacing him with someone who'd be ordered to put them right back up again."
"Which is probably the only reason he didn't," nodded Harry.
"Then there's the issue of Horcruxes: Almost immediately after I went through that really old version of the Chappa'ai you, Sirius, together with the goblins figured out Riddle had made Horcruxes. Luna believes there are... or was... seven of them. They were; the diary, the cup, the locket, the ring, the diadem, my scar and one other. Of those, I destroyed the diary in my second year at Hogwarts and Sirius has had the phylacteries of the cup, the locket, the ring and the diadem stripped of their soul fragments. The fragment behind my scar was destroyed while I was in the wormhole between Earth and Hadrian; I know that, now. The 'one other', according to Luna, I will destroy 'soonish'. The Horcruxes are also how Riddle managed to remain tethered to this plane of existence and was revivified at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
"For Riddle to actually die that last Horcrux will also have to be stripped from its phylactery or the phylactery is to be destroyed. Luna believes I will destroy the phylactery, thereby destroying the Horcrux within it, just as I did with the diary in second year.
"You also know Dumbledore knows about the Horcruxes because you had a hidden alert and recording ward attached to the Gaunt shack in Little Hangleton; and the recording ward picked up that Dumbledore went there the summer after I disappeared, looking for something."
"It had to be the phylactery," said Sirius. "There was nothing else there. Even the shack was a collapsing ruin."
"Which means he's probably also gone looking for the others," nodded Harry.
"And he's been constantly on my back to be allowed back in here," added Sirius, "Because, as he claims, he's left something behind in here and only he can search for it. He was utterly shocked when I told him the place was completely stripped out, scrubbed clean and rebuilt. Then he demanded to know what happened to what was here before that.
"I used the excuse of forcing Kreacher to strip it all out, as punishment, before I killed the little... thing... to tell him I didn't know and didn't want to know what he did with it all. That caused the old man to almost completely panic."
"Thereby confirming that Dumbledore has to be hunting for the phylacteries," nodded Harry. "It must frustrate him, no end, to know someone has either beaten him to them or they've become utterly lost to him."
He then sighed, leaned right back in his chair and carded his fingers through his hair. "I bet the bastard has known about them for years before I went through the Chappa'ai; and was probably waiting for me to hunt them down and destroy them."
"That was exactly what he was doing, Harry," said Luna. "Dumbledore figured out there were Horcruxes involved once he figured out the truth about the diary. He'd had it confirmed that Riddle had made either three or seven of them that summer.
"After you went through the Astra Porta... your Chappa'ai... he mind-raped Professor Slughorn for the truth of how many there actually was, seven; as Slughorn was the one who gave Riddle the answer that one shouldn't attempt to make any more than seven."
"Here's an idea," said Harry, still leaning back. "How about we grab Remus and Tonks and, with us three, we head for that island Sirius stayed at during my fourth year to recover. At the moment, as far as I feel, the whole naffing lot of them can go kill themselves off.
"The trouble is, though, Riddle and his Death Eaters are eventually going to go one step too far with the muggles and this little civil war of magical Britain is going to go global; with the muggles coming in and wiping everyone out.
"I mean... bloody hell... in the United Kingdom alone there are over one million active military service personnel across four different branches of armed services. And you can add to that another one hundred and twenty thousand active police. If the muggles get serious and decide enough is enough, wizarding Britain won't last a week! Once they do that the rest of the muggle world's combat and police forces are going to descend, en masse, on their own magical communities.
"I have no idea just how large those magical communities are, but I really don't give them all that much longer than the week I give wizarding Britain."
"A little longer than that, Harry," said Luna. "However, the muggles won't find everyone. Twenty years later the magical world will rise up, once more, and try to take back everything they'd lost. This time, however, there'll be no winners. The world will be destroyed."
"Greeeaaatt..." moaned Harry. "So we can't just run for the island, either."
"No," she replied.
With another sigh, Harry sat back forward and said, "Alright, Luna. You seem to know what is going on. How about you tell us what I need to do next."
She smiled and said, "I cannot tell you much as the knowing of something changes that something; and, in this case, not for the better.
"Can you See a future where I win and manage to get rid of Riddle for good?" he asked.
"Many such futures," she replied with a smile. "If anything, there are far more such futures than futures where you would lose. Those latter ones, where I can, I am actively blocking by changing things so they won't happen."
"Any of them where I finally get all this behind me, marry, have kids, that sort of thing?"
Her smile widened into a grin. "You're going to make a great daddy."
Sirius laughed. "Name one after me, pup!"
With a smirk, Harry wryly said, "I think calling a child of mine 'Snuffles' would see them growing up to kill me."
Sirius lost it to sudden renewed laughter and almost fell out of his chair. Luna just giggled.
Behind her giggles she thought, 'No, but James Sirius will be our first. Probabilities currently lean towards Henry Remus being our second.'
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a day of rest, where Harry met - or, re-met - an utterly shocked Remus and Tonks when Sirius called them to the townhouse, the next day Luna and Harry headed for Diagon Alley. Luna had told him he needed to go to the bank to take care of finances. Sirius wanted to join them, but Luna told him he needed to remain behind, this trip. Surprising Harry, Sirius didn't try to fight that.
Harry thought Sirius was doing a wonderful job of stewarding his finances, but Luna replied, "You need to go in, Harry. There are things that Sirius cannot do for you that you need to take care of, yourself. Besides, you also need to go and purchase for yourself a whole new wardrobe. What I got for you is only one outfit."
The robes Luna had purchased in advance were simple flat black in light linen, similar to Hogwarts robes. However, they lacked the crest. Actually, besides being very comfortable lightweight unarmoured 'combat' robes with an open front similar to what Snape wore while teaching, but with looser sleeves, there was nothing extraordinary about them.
She'd also purchased for him a decent pair of thin silk gloves with a non-slick palm side of acromantula silk; the acromantula silk palms, she explained, were to allow him to maintain an organic connection with his wand. He appreciated them as, while the robes had built-in comfort charms, those comfort charms did not extend to the hands or feet. The gloves had them, though.
For footwear, he kept the boots for now and Sirius applied temporary comfort charms to them. When he was standing still you could hardly see them due to the hang of the robes, but they became far more apparent when he moved.
For shits and giggles and because it amused him, he used a strong intent-based charm to charm the robes to have them billow as he walked, à la Snape.
When Luna saw him wearing them with the light billowing, she looked at him with a smirk and knowing expression. Sirius, after seeing him walk in them, laughed himself to a red face and tears; then declared them, "Brilliant!"
As a final touch, Luna handed him a wizard's hat, but of a style Harry was happy with. It had a narrower brim and lower pointed peak than the one he wore on Hadrian, which was a slightly smaller copy of the Sorting Hat and was quite comfortable. He'd already seen that his scar was much more reduced, but still stood out a little as the thin scar that remained did not tan as well as the rest of his face. Instead of being an angry red welt that stood out on his pale skin, it was now a thin feint pale line on tanned skin; almost the visual negative of what it once was. The hat and brim did an admirable job of hiding it.
"How do I look?" he asked her after donning it and checking himself out in the mirror.
"Perfect," she replied. "Just... perfect."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With his wand in his handmade holster made of lizard rat skin - magically cured and made at Safe Haven on Hadrian - on his left wrist, properly attired and ready to go Harry and Luna stepped through the floo to Diagon Alley.
It had been years since Harry had been to the place so he, of course, was quite curious how the ongoing 'low-boil' undeclared war was doing to the main shopping area of wizarding Britain. Stepping through into the Leaky Cauldron, so far it seemed nothing had changed other than there being a lot less patrons and old Tom acting a lot more wary. Harry was just happy to see the man was currently still alive.
"Come on, Love," said Luna, immediately leading him out the back door.
For security, Sirius had suggested Harry be called 'Hardwin', his many times great grandfather's name and his true birth name. Luna just smirked at it and replied, "He'll have to use his known name in Gringotts."
However, she was willing to go ahead with it by calling Harry 'Love' or 'Hardwin' just to appease the older man.
Once the bricks of the magical arch were tapped, opening the way into the Alley, Luna confidently led Harry down the very slight slope of the cobble-stoned street and to the bank.
As he stepped onto the main door sill/step, still on Luna's heels, Harry dispelled the slight glamour he was wearing. He didn't want to give the goblins - 'Nasty little buggers, they are', whispered in his mind in Hagrid's voice - any excuse to harm him.
Luna then led him to one of the few vacant tellers.
Once the one they were standing before looked up and across the counter at her, Luna greeted it. "Good morning, Honoured Teller."
"What do you want, young witch," the goblin sneered.
Harry frowned at the clear disrespect.
She turned to Harry and, gesturing him forward, quietly said, "Harry?" She'd said it quietly enough not to be overheard by the other few witches and wizards in the bank.
Already reaching into his mokeskin pouch and withdrawing his little gold key, Harry stepped up, calmly placed the key on the counter and said, "Harry Potter. Here to see the Potter Account Manager."
"Have you made an appointment?" the goblin demanded.
"If I need one tell the so-called current Account Manager, who would now be the previous Account Manager, that he's fired," returned Harry. "Then tell the new Account Manager, who I will not need an appointment to see, that I need to see him immediately."
The goblin looked back in ill-concealed surprise for a moment before he grinned and said, "One moment." He then wrote on a slip of parchment with an ink-dipped old gnarled root, folded the slip in half and dropped it down a slot in the counter on his side.
Once done, he indicated a spot on the floor behind Harry and, with a shoo gesture, instructed, "Go wait over there, wizard."
Harry gave a nod back and moved to the indicated spot, leading Luna with him. She called back in a sing-song voice, "Thank you, Honoured Teller!"
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
It was only five minutes later, with Harry's eyes never stopping looking around while searching for threats, before a younger goblin than the teller approached and quietly said, "This way, Mister Potter." He then, without waiting for Harry to respond, spun about and walked towards the back wall of the bank.
From a previous visit years earlier, Harry remembered there being doors back there. And that a couple he'd not recognised, but were dressed in upmarket clothes, were walking out of at the time.
Leading them, the goblin led them directly to that door. It opened on his approach and he never even broke stride as he led Harry and Luna through it.
Less than a minute and a half later, after Harry noticed there were confusion and befuddlement magics at work on he and Luna as they walked down the corridors, they came to one of many doors; but this one differed in that the name carved on the metal plate in block capitals and affixed to the middle of the door at about lower-chest height said POTTER.
The young goblin leading them opened the door and gestured them within. Harry led the way. However, the young goblin did not follow them within. Instead, he pulled the door shut, closing himself out.
The new goblin sitting behind the big desk at the other end of the room barked, "And just where... in Gornack's name... have you been, Mister Potter?"
"On a planet orbiting the star known as Sirius A in the Canis Majoris constellation," Harry flatly returned.
The old goblin looked back for a long moment in what Harry thought was shock, before he suddenly roared with laughter. Finally, he said, "I've heard some tall tales, Mister Potter; but that one drinks the mead."
Based on the goblin's behaviour, he didn't know whether to tell him it was the truth or not. Instead, he said, "Obviously you've been looking for me. What do you need, before we get to what I need?"
Gesturing to the two chairs before his desk, the goblin said, "Come. Sit."
As the two moved and sat in the chairs, the old goblin continued, "We have much to do. While Lord Black has taken Regency of House Potter and it is safe, nothing much has been done about the other."
'Other?' Harry thought.
As soon as both humans sat the goblin, whom Harry learned was named 'Hooknose' from the nameplate on the desk, launched into it.
"Lord Black rightfully claimed Regency of the House of Potter only a few days after that business in the Department of Mysteries," he said. "The wizard, Albus Dumbledore, also tried to claim it by claiming he was your magical guardian. He was shocked to discover I both knew he wasn't and promptly laughed at him.
"I, of course, denied it of him. I had to throw him out, as he annoyed me when he tried to push it."
Then, together, they got into what needed to be done.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ