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 Seventeen - Outing Himself
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While the staring match between Ogden and Harry was going on, another Member, a senior witch, said, "While you two gentlemen engage in your dick-swinging contest... I want to know how it is that Lord Peverell was able to kill the dar... kill this Riddle man... when we all know what the words of the prophecy say.
"Is your birthday on the thirty-first of July, young man?"
Harry's eyes snapped from a scowling Ogden to the witch in question. "Finally, someone has decided to actually use the brains God gave them and asked a logical question," he smirked at her.
After a quick pause he said, "I demonstrated to Minister Bones a few days ago that the prophecy does not necessarily indicate someone born of the thirty-first of July... or thirtieth of July, since that's Lord Longbottom's birthday. I've now no doubt she's been running her own examples of what I explained to her and has worked out that the 'born as the seventh month dies' line can actually be used to describe approximately one hundred plus of the three hundred and sixty five days of the year."
"He did, and I did," confirmed Bones, cutting in.
He added, "However, that's not the important line of the prophecy you all should have been considering."
"And what is?" the same witch demanded.
He grinned and replied, "The part of the line that states, 'For neither can live while the other survives'."
She frowned and snapped, "And how is that relevant?"
Still grinning he replied, "It means... Forgive my ignorance as to you identity, but I do not know how to address you."
"It's Lady Marchbanks," she replied. "Lady Griselda Marchbanks."
With a small bow in her direction, he said, "Thank you, Lady Marchbanks." Then replied, "We may get to that in a moment, if you would. But, first, I take it you're the Griselda Marchbanks who is the Head of the WEA? The Wizarding Examinations Authority?"
"I am," she replied.
"Thank you," he said. "Everyone has seemed to be all accepting of Albus's interpretation of the prophecy. As you're the Head of the WEA and, if I remember correctly, even old enough to have been Albus's examiner for his OWLs and NEWTs when he was a student... Do you, perchance, recall what Albus's scores were for his OWLs and NEWTs in Divination? Do you recall when he attained his Mastery in Divination?"
That had a few Members, plus Dumbledore himself, shift a little uncomfortably.
Marchbanks smirked back and even gave him a little nod. "Albus Dumbledore does not hold a Mastery in Divination. He did not sit NEWTs for Divination. Nor did he even sit OWLs for the subject."
As Marchbanks continued to stare and smirk at Harry, while Harry also stared at Marchbanks, he heard quite the susurration of upset Members and visitors rise around him.
"To the best of your knowledge, did Albus Dumbledore do any formal study of Divination, at all?" he demanded back.
"I fail to see how any of that is relevant!" snapped the old man.
No one paid him any attention, especially not Harry or Marchbanks.
With her smirk slightly widening into a grin, Marchbanks gave a single slow nod and replied, "Albus Dumbledore took Divination as an elective in his third year at Hogwarts. However, he dropped out of the subject after three weeks."
Harry gave a single explosive snort of stunned amusement, while their were a few quiet exclamations of shock from the Members and visitors, before he then started to scoff a little trying to suppress that amusement before he failed to contain it and left forth with a short round of laughter.
"Do you mean to tell me," he scoff/chuckled, looking about the Members, "That Albus Dumbledore... with only three weeks of formal education in Divination... has been accepted by you all as an expert in prophecies?"
That had quite a few scowl back in shame and anger at Harry for bringing that to light.
"Did not one of you," he continued. "Bother to even ask Lady Marchbanks... who sits as a Member with you... whether or not Albus Dumbledore was even qualified to give an interpretation of a prophecy?"
Before anyone could respond, as he wasn't expecting them to, he openly laughed at them; which had even more scowls and looks of shame reflected back at him.
"You have an entire department whose job is deal with prophecies," he snickered. "They will have within their ranks Masters of Divination. Did not one of you bother to even ask of them their expert opinion?
"How... the Hell... do you justify to yourselves you have any qualification you're capable of leading this great nation, when you cannot even figure that out for yourselves?... And you've had three years to do so!"
Again he received no response. After all, what could they say in response without coming across looking like even bigger idiots?
When he received no response after waiting long enough to receive one, he continued, "It's called the Department of Mysteries, by the way. And, part of their mandate is to answer for you such questions... if you only think to ask!"
Not one of them said a word back when he again paused to see if they would respond.
When, after a long five to ten seconds, they didn't he looked back to Marchbanks and said, "Anyway, Madam Marchbanks. You were asking about the line, 'For neither can live while the other survives'."
"Yes, Lord Peverell," she agreed.
"As I undertook an OWL in Divination," he replied, "I am, therefore, an even greater expert in Divination than Albus Dumbledore. As you accept Albus Dumbledore to be an expert in prophecies with only three weeks of formal education in the subject under his belt, you can therefore accept me as a Grand Master of the subject." And grinned at them, especially her.
Before anyone could arc up, he continued, "For the line to actually make sense it means that the person who the prophecy foresaw as being Riddle's vanquisher had to be considered not alive."
That had a few gasps and muttering from most within the chamber.
"You'll need to explain that," said Marchbanks, otherwise ignoring the noise their 'discussion' had now generated.
"Actually, I'll probably need to prove that," he gently corrected her. "And, for that, I'll need an Unspeakable with expertise in identification magics. Preferably one also with expertise in soul magics. Oh! And by expertise I mean someone who has more than three weeks of formal education... just in case you were wondering."
Marchbanks ignored the verbal put down, looked to Ogden and said, "Chief Warlock, please summon one."
"Why bother?" asked Harry. "I've no doubt they'll be listening in on this session."
She muttered a bit under her breath, no doubt casting aspersions upon Harry, before she called in a clear voice, "Can we have at least one Unspeakable who has expertise in identification magics and soul-based magics, please?"
"Yes," said Ogden, clearly annoyed for having being ignored. "A suitable Unspeakable, please."
Just as Ogden said 'Please' an Unspeakable, with their hood up, suddenly appeared on the other side of Albus from Harry.
"You asked for me?" asked the Unspeakable before anyone could say anything.
Ogden scowled at the wo/man, even their gender was masked by the charms the person was wearing, for a moment before he gestured to Harry and said, "Please attend Lord Peverell. Apparently, he―"
"We heard," said the Unspeakable, cutting him off, before then turning to Harry. "Lord Peverell?"
Harry smirked at the... person for a moment before he said, "One moment, please." Then turned back to the Members.
"Since I have been back in magical Britain no one, except the goblins of Gringotts, have actually asked me my name," he explain. "I have been asked who I was, I have been asked how I'd like to be addressed, I've been asked if I can be addressed by the informal 'Hardwin'. However, I've not been asked my actual name.
"My first name is Hardwin, I am Lord Peverell and I am Lord Potter. But people, including old Albus here, have been making erroneous assumptions about just what my name is. I, using Albus's verbal tricks, have been giving dissembling responses whenever I've been directly asked my identity.
"I have not lied, but I have misled. I did it to hoist Albus upon his own petard. I felt it held a certain level of poetic justice... For the Greater Good!
"Who am I? I am someone this very body declared dead... thereby meeting the conditions of the prophecy of that line 'For neither can live while the other survives'."
Then he turned to grin at the Unspeakable and, in a clear voice, said, "Unspeakable, please use your identification verification magics to determine my actual name and full identity."
The Unspeakable glanced once towards the Members before s/he walked around Dumbledore, drawing their wand as they came. Even Dumbledore remained quiet at this point. He also wanted to know.
With their wand out and held high, the Unspeakable paused a moment before s/he made a few intricate gestures over Harry; who stood there and let it happen.
After a long moment the Unspeakable paused in shock and said, "Bloody Hell!"
Then there were a few more quick gestures before they stepped back, staring at Harry... and indicated by their body posture... in apparent shock.
"Well?" demanded Ogden when the Unspeakable seemed shocked into immobility and too shocked to respond.
It took yet another moment before the Unspeakable gave a start, stepped back forward and cast what appeared to be the charm a third time. With a subtle slump of 'defeat' s/he turned to Ogden and, in a clear voice, said, "This is going to be difficult to believe; however, I've cast the charm three times and the results are confirmed."
Harry turned to grin at Ogden, who was still staring at the Unspeakable.
"Well?" demanded Ogden a second time. "Who is he, really?"
The Unspeakable paused a bare heartbeat before s/he replied, "He is... Lord Hardwin... Harry... James Potter, Lord of the House of Potter, Lord of the House of Peverell, Heir Presumptive of the House of Black. First and only born of James and Lily Potter. Born the thirty-first of July, 1980."
Harry expected there to be an immediate and great ruckus. However, he got the exact opposite; there was complete silence.
Flicking his hands open like a magician would do, he declared, "Ta-daaaa!"
Then there was pandemonium.
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―==(oIo)==―
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All around the British wizarding world there had been gasps of shock; mutters of 'Sweet Merlin!', 'Dear God' and similar quiet exclamations; some witches and even a couple of wizards had fainted; items held in hands were dropped; and similar. One very elderly wizard even died of a heart attack brought on by shock. No one noticed for more than a day, as he was in seclusion and living alone at the time.
At the Burrow, Ronald Weasley - who had snuck back inside to try and pilfer yet another wedge of pie - muttered, "Bloody Hell!" Ginny had frozen in place and Molly had fainted, dropping a dish as she did so.
At Hogwarts, there were similar reactions. In Flitwick's office, though - and after his own moment of shock - Flitwick muttered, "I thought I recognised that voice."
"How?!" Sprout gasped.
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In the visitors' tiers the journalists were now scribbling madly away, after first checking to ensure their dictaquills had caught everything. And, in the VIPs tiers, Luna was quietly giggling while she watched what was happening down on the floor before the Wizengamot, in the Wizengamot itself and keeping a close eye on Neville, sitting near her.
In reverse order: Neville Longbottom was gaping back at Harry with wide eyes and didn't appear to even be breathing; the Wizengamot were partly roaring out their displeasure, demanding to be heard, had fainted or were sitting in shock staring at Harry just as Neville was; and Harry... he had turned to grin at Luna for a moment, winked and turned back to watch the Wizengamot 'insanity'.
After a few moments of waiting for and watching the 'Mot to settle down, and their failing to do so, he turned to the Unspeakable and quietly asked, "Sooo... how's your day been?"
Though he couldn't properly read the Unspeakable's expression due to the masking charms they used on their hoods, the slight snort of amusement he got back assured Harry the wo/man thought it was at least a little funny.
The Unspeakable hesitated a moment and then recast the same charm on him before giving a sigh and saying, "After this is done, we'll want to talk to you down in the D-oh-M."
"I'll check my schedule," Harry replied. "You do realise, don't you, that eevvv-eryone is going to want to talk to me as soon as this, as you put it, is done?"
Another snort from the Unspeakable, this time more of a scoff, and s/he said, "We're the Unspeakables, we take precedence."
Harry's smirk turned into one that could have been thought of as almost malicious. "Yes and no," he said. "Yes, you are the Unspeakables; and no, you do not take precedence."
When the Unspeakable again turned to look more fully towards him, Harry continued, "I will visit with the Unspeakables and tell you what I can about your... so called... 'Veil of Death' - it's proper name is the Astra Porta, by the way - but there are other urgent matters I must attend to first."
The Unspeakable hesitated a moment before s/he quietly asked, "And those would be?"
Harry hesitated a jot before he just as quietly replied, "One, making sure Dumbledore is taken from here by the ICW aurors to stand trial before the ICW; two, making sure these idiots..." and gave a slight heads tilt nod towards the Wizengamot, "don't try to pin an Order of Merlin on me before they comply with all of my five demands; three, go and apologise to Lord Longbottom for hexing his arse off with prank hexes back that day Dumbledore cast Fiendfyre in the Alley; and kiss my girlfriend as part-apology for coming clean on who I truly am before she said I should."
"You... do not wish to speak with the journalists?"
Harry gave his own scoffing snort and replied, "Hell, no."
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Meanwhile, the Wizengamot had finally quietened down enough that Ogden only had to raise his voice slightly, due to the minor and permanent Sonorous charm on the Chief Warlock's seat, to be able to be heard.
"Aurors!" he barked. "As of this moment, anyone who makes any noise other than myself, those I first call upon, Lord Peverell... Potter and Albus bloody Dumbledore are to be immediately removed from these chambers. And, yes, that does also include the Members of the Wizengamot!
"Even if they then subsequently shut up, they are still to be removed. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Sir!" called back the senior-most Auror, a Master Auror, as everyone immediately shut up. That man then looked to the other aurors and gave them each a nod.
Quickly, they began to fan out and keep a closer eye on both the Members and the 'guests', including the journalists.
Once he got that silence again, hopefully more permanently this time, Ogden turned to Harry again.
"Lord Peverell... Potter," he called.
Harry had to break off his quiet discussion with the Unspeakable to look back. "Yes?"
"How..." started Ogden before he quietly sighed. "We were led to believe that you had been magically banished through the Veil of Death during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. How is it you're alive?"
Harry smiled and replied, "What you call the Veil of Death is not what you think it is. It's actually called an Astra Porta. For those who don't know their ancient Latin, that means 'Star Gate'. It's also a great many years older than even the Unspeakables think it is.
"How I'm alive is that I believe I accidentally triggered its true purpose when I was knocked back through the event horizon that exists on the other side of that veil that hangs before it. My going through it, or something I did just as I passed through the curtain, activated the Gate; which, in turn, activated what the muggles refer to as a stable wormhole.
"I came out the other end and through a similar Gate a very, very long way away from here.
"I was at that place for the past few years until I was found by a highly classified branch of the United States' muggle military and brought back through another Gate; a more modern one and one that is located in the United States. Sorry, but I cannot tell you where it is, or which part of the United States' military found me and brought me back."
"It... transported you to some other place?" asked Ogden.
"Yup," replied Harry. "And, sorry... if I told you where that was you'd never believe me."
"Try us," demanded Ogden.
Harry grinned at him and said, "Very well. At night, look into the sky and look for the star constellation known as Canis Majoris. In that constellation, at where the dog's chest would be found, is found the second brightest star in the night sky. In reality, it's actually two stars in what the muggles call a binary star configuration. They are Sirius A and Sirius B.
"Using incredibly powerful telescopes the muggles across the world have deduced that the binary star system known collectively as Sirius is, in fact, 8.6 light years away. If you don't know how far a light year is, it's based on the time it takes for light to travel from one point to another.
"Further, the muggles figured out many decades ago that light travels at..." and took a slip of parchment out of one of his pockets to check his figures. "... 186,000 miles per second. Or, if you prefer, 671 million miles per hour.
"Eight point six light years means that Sirius - the star, not my godfather - is approximately a little over... fifty and a half trillion miles away from here. That's five zero five followed by eleven zeroes."
Harry grinned even further as he looked back up.
Surprised he hadn't been interrupted and accused of lying yet, he continued and said, "Orbiting Sirius A is a planet where the gravity is five percent stronger than it is here on Earth. I was on that planet from the time I went through the Astra Porta, the Star Gate, until late October this year when the muggle Americans found me and brought me back to Earth.
"Does that answer your question?" he sweetly asked.
There was a short pause before he was, indeed, accused of lying by angry voices of the Members.
Calmly, he simply drew his wand and held it in the oath position. As soon as many saw him draw it, they quickly shut up. Those Members, it seemed, had not yet forgotten he'd fought Riddle and thirteen of his best 'one-on-fourteen' and walked away victorious and, apparently, without a scratch.
When he raised his wand to cover his heart, he then loudly called, "I! Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter!..."
And that had the rest shut up.
"... Swear on my magics and my very life that from the night of the eighteenth of June, 1996, until the last days of October, 1999, I was residing on a planet orbiting the star known as Sirius A found in the night sky in the constellation known as Canis Majoris; and that I was finally rescued from that planet by a team of specialist muggle American military personnel, trained in using the Astra Porta system of Star Gates and travelling, as they call it, off-world. As I say, so I swear, so let me be judged by Lady Magic herself."
A moment later a great flash of magic rippled out from Harry and quickly faded away. It showed the oath 'took'.
In the again sudden quiet, Harry regripped his wand - correctly, this time - he gave the tip a flick off to the side and firmly, properly incanted, "Expecto Patronum."
Patronus Prongs emerged from his wand tip and quickly canted around him, the Unspeakable, Dumbledore and even Riddle's body, looking for targets to attack. Not 'seeing' any, it trotted back to Harry passing through Riddle's body on the way to him; awaiting Harry's next order.
"The next person who flat out calls me... or even alludes to me being... a liar will be facing me on the duelling piste," he firmly, almost snarlingly, stated. "I remind you that two days ago I duelled Riddle and his supposedly top thirteen minions one-on-fourteen in combat. I handily whipped their arses; so you can expect not to live beyond a few moments of stepping onto the piste."
He gave that a long few moments to hang in the air before he turned his attention from the now frightened Members and to the Patronus. "Thank you, Prongs. You may go."
And the Patronus quickly faded away.
"Now," he said, ready to provide further proof. "First, if anyone knows what Harry Potter's Patronus is... was... speak now, please."
"A stag," called Sirius.
"Thank you, Lord Black," said Harry. "Yes. A stag. It's always been a stag. And I suspect it's a stag because my father's animagus form was that of a stag."
"That it was," said Sirius.
"Next," said Harry, reaching into an inside breast pocket of his robes. He pulled out an old pair of glasses, his old pair, and donned then. Then immediately doffed his hat.
Looking up at the Members he gave the same cocky grin he used to often wear at Hogwarts. And he could see that many of the Members recognised him from his so-called trial back in mid-August, 1995; even if it was through the now-fuzziness of the lenses of the glasses.
"And finally," he continued, removing the glasses again, as Members and even a few of the visitors quietly muttered to one another in surprise. He used his off-hand to push his fringe up and aside to let everyone see the remnants of his 'famous' scar. "My scar."
"Harry, my boy!" Dumbledore suddenly called, exuding false bonhomie. "How wonderful to see you again!"
"Arrrrgh!" Harry exclaimed, leaping off to the side and away from the old man as if in sudden fear. A moment later he angrily snapped back, "Don't start, Alby my boy!
"For the past couple of weeks you've been claiming I'm a dark wizard, all-but ready to join Tom Riddle and become his new right hand man. You, more than any other person here, have absolutely no right to speak to me as if we're old friends. We're not."
As the old man looked away with yet another scowl, Harry ignored him again and turned back to Ogden. "As I have now proven beyond any logical or magical doubt I am Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, more commonly and often disrespectfully known as Harry Potter - and Harry Potter was declared dead by this very body three years ago - the line in the prophecy 'For neither can live while the other survives' now makes more sense. Tom Riddle was... vanquished... by someone who was not considered alive.
"Now that I've 'offed' the bastard, I can allow my true identity to again become known; and, therefore, 'live' again. Through that, that particular part of the prophecy now comes true and makes sense."
Harry could see quite a few of the Members now nodding along. He breathed an internal sigh of relief that they'd bought it. That it was also the truth was besides the point when it came to witches and wizards. They would accept practically anything told them, even if it didn't make sense beyond a bare moment of logical thought.
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Unknown to Harry, but suspected, was the number of people listening in who also found what he said made a great deal of sense. Subconsciously - and not so, in some cases - they were all now recognising that Dumbledore had misled them all.
Originally, the wireless was only supposed to have covered approximately a half hour of the Sitting, as the management of the WWN thought that would be all they'd need. However, the broadcast had now gone on for much longer than that and the same management had no intention of cutting their feed and going back to their scheduled broadcast. For one, they knew they'd find themselves lynched by the wizarding populace if they did so; and second, they knew they were currently experiencing the largest audience on record they'd ever had.
Ginny had finally woken her mother up and the two of them were again listening to the wireless and its live coverage of what was going on in the chamber. After again entering, Ronald had once again been banished from the kitchen. This time, after managing to snag two more thick wedges of the pumpkin pie, he'd been chased out with stinging hexes by his mother - plus a few subtly cast ones from his sister.
Ginny was in tears, knowing she had no chance of ever getting 'Harry' back; not after the way she'd been part of the group that twice tried to capture him. And also now understood that 'her Neville' was definitely not the 'Chosen One', after all.
And Molly was in tears because she now understood she'd been duped by the old man right from the start. And was also in tears because she now understood that Harry was alive, after all, and was happy to learn that.
Similar was occurring right across magical Britain in workplaces and other homes.
Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn hadn't moved from Flitwick's office, but also knew they didn't have to. The house elves were monitoring the students and had reported that every single student was now also listening to the wireless. It was the calmest the school had been in years.
Instead Flitwick, while maintaining an ear to what was being reported on the wireless, was also writing down a list of actions he believed would need to be taken as soon as the broadcast was over. They included an immediate contact of someone on the school board to inform them they'd be immediately needing a new Headmaster/mistress, a new Deputy Headmaster/mistress if Minerva was charged over what had happened to Mis- Lord Potter during his time as a student and how they'd handle other matters relating to the school and what had been brought to light during the broadcast.
Sprout and Slughorn had learned what he was doing and were occasionally offering their own advice.
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With a sigh, Harry said, "Alright. I've now given you the list of five conditions you must meet for me to consider accepting the Order of Merlin for offing your dark lord for you."
That had quite a few more grumbles from the Members, but he ignored them.
"I now add a sixth... that Albus Dumbledore must also be immediately handed over to the ICW's aurors for him to stand trial before the ICW for his crimes," he added. "I expect that to occur before night falls tonight."
"No!" cried Albus. "I will not allow it!"
Harry tagged him with a quietly cast silencing charm. "Zip... Shuddup, Albus."
Turning back to the Wizengamot he added, "In the meantime... you people have work to do. I'll leave you to it."
Turning to Bones he said, "Minister, please inform whoever it is that heads the DMLE at this time that I will ready for them a rack of vials which will contain my memories of all the things I have spoken about and concerning my days as a pre-schooler, while as a student at Hogwarts and during the breaks between terms. Further, I will provide memories of my time on Hadrian, the planet I mentioned that orbits Sirius A, as I believe it just may become significantly important in the future."
When she gave a nod back, he gave her a nod of his own, spun about and walked out of the chamber without a single look back. No one attempted to stop him.
As soon as he stepped out the doors leading into the chamber, he quickly donned his invisibility cloak and quietly made his way to the atrium; and flooed back to Grimmauld Place.
He was mentally exhausted, now had a sore throat from speaking so much - with his aborted attempt to sing adding to that - and needed a nap.
He knew Sirius and Remus would keep a watch over Luna and the three would make it back as soon as they could.
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Back in the Chamber and as Harry walked out the main doors, Sirius stood and called, "Chief Warlock."
It was a long moment before Ogden almost wearily turned his eyes to him. "Lord Black?"
"Relating to the issues raised by Lord Peverell-Potter, I have a number of emergency motions to put to this body."
Ogden almost subtly winced, sighed and repeated, "Lord Black?"
"First motion," said Sirius. "I move that Albus Dumbledore be held by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement... in shackles and in a holding cell... until such time as he will be collected by representatives of law enforcement of the ICW to stand trial before them for the crimes of... including, but not necessarily limited to... those related to fraud, embezzlement and the harbouring of a legally recognised dark lord."
"Now see here!" exclaimed Dumbledore.
Though he'd clearly wandlessly broken through Harry's lightly cast silencing charm, he was still ignored by all but a few. And one of the few wasn't the Chief Warlock.
"Accepted," Ogden firmly stated. "Do I have a seconder?"
Over a dozen people immediately stood; with others starting to rise or going to stand, but seeing it wasn't necessary, again sitting. At the same time, one of the aurors stepped forward and reapplied the silencing charm. This time, it was much stronger.
"Seconded by Lord Greengrass," declared Ogden. "Do you wish to speak to your motion, Lord Black?"
"Yup!" Sirius cheekily returned before beginning to speak in support of his own motion.
The meeting then got down to the nitty-gritty of what they knew they needed to accomplish... whether they liked it or not.
Immediately after the first passed, two ICW aurors appeared on the floor from dispelled Notice-Me-Not charms and doffed invisibility cloaks. They'd be taking Dumbledore right from there to the ICW. And had the written documentation on them to authorise exactly that.
Once they'd gone again, this time with Dumbledore remanacled with ICW manacles and between them, Sirius rose for his second motion. It was to ensure that Hardwin James Potter, now Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, was un-declared dead and the Declaration of Death certificate be rescinded.
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It was two hours later and well past lunch before Sirius, Remus and Luna returned to Grimmauld.
Luna immediately went upstairs and woke Harry, who was taking his nap.
Re-dressing, but a lot more casually, Harry went down to the welcoming room. There, he met with Sirius and Remus.
"How did it go after I left?" he immediately asked before they could say anything.
Sirius was grinning at him. "As soon as you left I moved a motion for Dumbles to remain in auror custody until he could be collected by ICW aurors. However, as soon as the motion passed... which it, of course, would... two ICW aurors, who'd been on the floor and under invisibility cloaks and hiding charms at the time, removed them and said they'd be taking him right then and there.
"They did, too," said Remus. "After Bones confirmed they were who they said they were and verified their written authorisations, Albus had to be dragged out of the chamber while claiming he had important information wizarding Britain needed to know before he was taken away. He was ignored by even the ICW aurors, who just dragged him from the chamber in their own magic-inhibiting manacles."
"That would be information relating to the Horcruxes," said Luna. "Dumbledore still doesn't know they've all been collected and destroyed."
"The ICW will dose him with Veritaserum and get it out of him," said Sirius. "I'll have to let Amelia know about them and provide her proof they've all been destroyed before the ICW contact her, once they get that information... which I've no doubt they will... out of the old man."
Harry nodded and said, "And you can tell her that the one that was in my scar was destroyed when I went through the Astra Porta. I think Dumbledore probably knew about it, which is―"
"He did," Luna firmly interrupted. "He also did not believe it could be removed without your death."
Harry shrugged and said, "Well, as long as no one believes the old bastard I don't care. He'll be silenced forever, soon enough.
"What else happened?" he pressed.
"Next, I had you un-declared dead," he replied. "That way, your legal identity will be re-established.
"Next and as you wanted, they stripped Fudge of his Order of Merlin; but they can't strip Dumbledore of his, because it was awarded by the ICW. However, by direct order of the Wizengamot, they've sent along their 'demand' the ICW strip it from him.
"Not that it was needed, I suppose. I can't see the ICW not stripping it from him before they execute him.
"The 'Mot have also chosen to wait until they have evidence from you, via certified pensieve memories, before they award you an Order of Merlin for facing and killing the basilisk; but will be awarding you your rightful one for killing Riddle back in October eighty-one. The same for the evidence relating to the Order of Merlin, Third Class, awarded to Lockhart.
"And they went ahead and voted to award you an Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing Riddle this time, but it's worded so they can't force you to accept it; just made it so it's automatic if you state you will."
Luna clarified, "That's three Orders of Merlin, First Class, you're due to receive, Harry."
"They haven't decided if the Order of Merlin for killing the basilisk will be a Second or First Class, Luna," said Remus.
"Once they see the memory, it'll be a First Class," Luna assured them.
"Internationally," said Sirius. "There's only been one person who has ever received multiple Orders of Merlin, First Class; and that was two and was a couple centuries ago. You, Harry, will be the only person who will have ever received three of them."
Harry gave a snort and said, "And I'm not even twenty-one years old yet. In some parts of the world I'd not yet be considered even an adult."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The rest of the day, after a late lunch quickly prepared by Dobby, was spent in quiet discussion about how well Harry's prank had worked and what they'd need to do next.
It was during a quiet moment that owls started arriving, all addressed to Harry in various forms of his name from simply 'Harry Potter' all the way up to Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter (and even a Lord Harry Potter-Peverell).
Many of the first were about apologising to him and or welcoming him back. However, a great many of the others were abusive for reasons that included destroying Dumbledore, 'the dark lord' (Voldemort), 'stealing' the title of 'Chosen One' from Longbottom and a few others. Even worse, some of them were loaded with harmful curses, illegal auto-portkeys, impregnated with potions and similar. And one even came with a proposed betrothal contract for some young witch Harry had never even heard of... at least, he hoped she was at least young.
Before even a dozen owls had arrived, Sirius was already on the floo to the aurors to explain to them what was going on. After he disconnected he was immediately back-contacted by Acting Director Proudfoot who, due to how busy they still were, suggested he ask the goblins for help.
Sirius thanked the man for the suggestion, apologised to him for knowing he was quite busy and immediately did as suggested; he contacted the goblins.
Once contacted, the goblins near-immediately sent one of their best warders through, who erected a hasty mail-redirection ward with promises a more permanent one would be erected within the day. The goblin explained it was because Harry was now considered a 'Hero of Gringotts'.
The owls were now all, with a few exceptions based on sender, redirected to Gringotts. Once there, it would all be recorded as to who sent it; if there were any illegal/illicit charms, potions or the like included; the identity of any and all magical signatures involved; stripped of all such; and sent on, as Gringotts was automatically one of the 'approved' senders.
The townhouse breathed a sigh of relief for about two hours before the mail all started to arrive again, this time via Gringotts' owls in bundles. When the mail arrived it was contained inside a package from Gringotts, with a covering letter informing Lord Peverell-Potter of what, if any, magics had been included in the originals.
Harry was, of course, furious; not at the Goblins, but at those who had the audacity to actually try something like that on him. It reminded him of what befell Hermione in February of their fourth year at Hogwarts.
He immediately started drafting vituperate responses, threatening the sender with severe harm, until Luna took what he was writing away from him and told him to stop. "At this rate, Harry, you're going to end up making enemies of all the families of all those you end up having to kill," she firmly said. "Let Sirius draft the replies and you just sign them."
"Damn fine idea," Sirius cut in, having just read one of Harry's 'proposed' responses.
"Well," huffed Harry. "I'm not letting them get away with this."
"We won't be," she said. "How about, instead of writing angry reply letters, you write up a letter to the Editor of the Daily Prophet about all this."
He thought a bit, gave a nod and said, "That... I can definitely do."
"And we'll make the necessary changes to it before you send it," she added.
He scowled at her a little before he asked, "You don't trust me?"
"I don't trust you to not think nothing of killing every single one of the idiots who've done this while you're in this mood," she returned.
Remus said, "This needs to be carefully handled, Harry. Wouldn't you rather see all these idiots paying for their crimes through the courts, than again be seen as an up-and-coming dark lord?"
Harry gave another huff of annoyance and grumbled, "Fiiiinnne!"
Then he pulled another sheet of parchment towards himself as he began to try and get his temper under control enough to write a letter for the Prophet that didn't promise swift and brutal, personally delivered, repercussions for those who'd gotten up to mischief.
"Actually, on second thought, start with writing a draft thank you note to those who actually wrote nice things," said Luna. "Something generic that can be magically copied as a form letter. That way, you'll be able to set aside your anger before you write to the Daily Prophet."
With a sigh, he decided not to argue and to do that instead.
That activity occupied the rest of their night until they went to bed. Harry only had to rewrite his form letter letter twice and his letter to the editor of the Daily Prophet four times before the other three declared both well-written and had him sign them. Dobby personally delivered the one for the Daily Prophet to ensure it arrived in time.
Meanwhile, owls kept arriving until nearly eleven o'clock when Sirius used the house wards to block them, bar Hedwig, from even entering the property. They'd deal with all those that turned up during the late night and early morning the next morning after breakfast.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning's Daily Prophet was a 'bumper' issue, with everything that happened at the Wizengamot the previous morning. Harry wondered why they'd bothered, what with the apparent listening audience of the WWN being nearly every witch and wizard in magical Britain.
He didn't realise he'd asked that out loud until Luna replied, "One, not everyone had the ability to listen to the WWN; many were at work and couldn't listen in, or simply don't own a wireless set. Two, the WWN could only be listened to by those in magical Britain; the Daily Prophet is delivered right across the wizarding world, including into places not even part of the ICW-recognised countries. And, three, some people need to read important information; because they were either distracted or unable to properly absorb the information given aurally into their memories."
"Hunh!" he quietly exclaimed. "That makes a lot of sense. Thank you, Luna."
She just gave a nod back as she was working on other letters for Harry. She was working on writing the response letters to those who had employed underhanded tactics, but hadn't actually crossed the line into breaking the law. The abuse letters would be responded to with a stern warning of consequences of upsetting a Lord of two Noble Houses; and that warning included how there would be no more warnings in future. Such writers were informed their names were now on an 'Already Been Warned' list.
Because Harry managed to write the letter to the editor of the Prophet and send it out early enough, it too appeared in that edition of the newsparchment. He was just thankful that, although it was rewritten to be as if he was being interviewed by a Prophet journalist, it was otherwise accurate; including how he would 'come down hard' on anyone foolish enough to try and attack him 'even via the post'.
"Thank Merlin, we did," said Sirius. "I shudder to think how bad all this mail would have gotten if it wasn't included in this edition."
The other three could only agree.
The household, with the exception of Tonks who had yet another long day working as an auror, settled down to try and get as many of the letters that needed to be written, written. The entire day was filled with that, with the only breaks being for short periods of getting up to exercise and massaging aching quill-hands.
Thankfully, almost all the offensive mail stopped no later than late morning. Obviously Harry's 'interview' was clear enough to anyone who thought they could send him abusive/offensive/illegally-charmed mail and get away with it. That the letter included how it was all being redirected to the Gringotts first to have recorded exactly what shenanigans people tried through the mail, might have also had something to do with it.
That didn't stop the congratulatory/thankyou mail, though. That, they still received. However, for almost all of it, they could send the form letter.
It was that evening Sirius received his own owl; and it wasn't a Gringotts owl.
Checking it for harmful potions and magics first, he relieved the owl of its letter and quickly had it in hand.
"It's from Cousin Narcissa," he said.
"Remember my words, Sirius," Luna immediately said.
Sirius gave a small grimace before he gave a nod and carefully opened the letter.
After reading it, he said, "She's just been released from hospital and is at the Leaky. She claims she needs an urgent word."
"She can't go home," said Luna. "When Harry claimed the manor under prædātum and altered the wards, he blocked her from going there. She has nowhere else to go.
"You'll need to arrange someplace for her to stay; unless, of course, you're willing to allow her to go back to the now ex-Malfoy Manor.
"I'd recommend allowing her to use one of the minor Black... or other recently inherited... properties, for now."
Sirius, though clearly unwelcome of allowing her to do that, finally slumped in a sigh and said, "I'll find her somewhere she can stay."
"Good boy," said Luna. "Don't forget to allow her command of a house elf. She lacks the skills necessary to take care of herself."
He turned a wry grin on her and asked, "Any suggestions?"
Obviously not surprised about the question, or that Sirius asked it, she replied, "Let her have use of the Rosier manor, for now. With the death of both Lucius and Draco, you have prior claim to it. Go see your Gringotts Account Manager about it."
Surprised, Sirius asked, "I own the Rosier manor?"
"Yes," she replied. "Malfoy inherited it when the last of the Rosiers died. And you inherited it when both male Malfoys died."
Harry laughed at the look of shock on his godfather's face.
Sirius headed out a half hour later after first changing into a suitable set of robes for the Lord of House Black.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When Sirius returned to Grimmauld, he was clearly a lot more relaxed.
Upon seeing him, Harry asked, "How did it go?"
Sitting at the kitchen table the household were still gathered around, Sirius asked Dobby to provide him a cup of tea before he replied, "She's unmarked, for a start. As Luna said, she does not bear the Dark Mark.
"Once I confirmed myself of that, I took her down to Gringotts to speak with Lockjaw, the Black account manager.
"Between us I found out just how much, through Harry taking out Riddle's Inner Circle, I managed to inherit. It's a lot. Plus, as Luna said, one of the properties was Rosier manor.
"I took Cissy there to check the place out.
"Once I formally claimed the property, I then asked her if she was willing to stay there until I sorted things out. Thankfully, she was. An ex-Rosier house elf was available to her, already there."
Then he turned his attention more fully to Harry and said, "I need you to adjust the wards on her old place so I can take her there. She needs to recover what she needs... clothing, toiletries, things like that."
Harry gave a nod and, as he stood, said, "Then we best go about doing that right now. I can also use the opportunity to hand the wards of the place over to you."
Giving a wry look to the cup of tea he'd only just managed to take a sip from, Sirius nodded and also stood.
Harry went through the floo first to Diagon Alley and then apparated directly into the manor's Head of House office. He quickly had the wards adjusted to allow Sirius in via the floo, then sent him a messenger Patronus. Sirius arrived only twenty seconds later.
A quick hand-off of the wards, a temporary addition of Narcissa Black - Sirius had 'accepted' her back into House Black and ended the line of Malfoy - and both returned to Grimmauld.
Then, as Harry headed back to Grimmauld, Sirius headed back out to speak with Narcissa and take her to go and get her personal effects.
He return again a little over half an hour later.
"All good?" asked Luna.
"All good," he replied. "She's now settled into Rosier manor for now."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning and while they were sitting for breakfast, they were 'visited' by a messenger Patronus of a puma. "Lord Black. I am ICW Master Auror McCutcheon. I and my partner, ICW Senior Auror Wong, are currently outside your Grimmauld property and need you to let us in." The voice had an Australian accent.
Just as the first one finished its message, a second one bounded into the room through the wall and stopped alongside the first as it was fading away. "Our location magics have informed us there are certain very dark artefacts on your property we urgently need to collect."
Then a third one bounded into the room through the wall and stopped alongside the second as it, too, faded away. "We also assure you that you are not at risk of arrest if we can quickly acquire these items and dispose of them. We ask of you your urgent attendance."
"That would have taken a fair bit of power," said Remus, staring at and watching the third messenger Patronus fade away. "To be able to cast three in succession like that, I mean."
Sirius gave a grunt of acknowledgement and started to rise. "I'd best go let them in."
"They're here for the Horcruxes," said Luna.
Sirius paused a moment to look back at her before he gave a nod and said, "Then, once I confirm their identities, I'd best let them in."
Remus rose and said, "I'll be right behind you; as your backup."
Sirius just gave a nod and both men left the room.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Less than a minute later Sirius led in two men, who were wearing matching combat-based uniforms, into the kitchen. One was a solid blonde-haired blue-eyed man with metal framed glasses in what appeared to be a very slight prescription. The second was a slighter, clearly Asian, man with the normal black hair and brown, slightly pinched eyes of that race.
"Harry, Luna; this is ICW Master Auror McCutcheon and ICW Senior Auror Wong," explained Sirius. "Harry, Master Auror McCutcheon needs to examine the site of your scar."
Harry gave a nod, stood and turned towards the master auror. "Master Auror," he quietly said, holding his arms slightly away from his sides.
The invitation was obvious.
The master auror calmly walked forward, drawing his wand as he came, with a slight frown on his face.
At a little over an arm's reach distance from Harry he carefully raised his wand and cast smooth, but deliberate, gestures over Harry's forehead.
Harry felt a very light prickle from the scar, but that was it.
The auror then stepped back, lowering his wand and gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Lord Peverell-Potter. That was all I needed."
"Let me guess," said Harry, a little snarkily. "Albus Above-the-Law Dumbledore, the Great Dissembler, has coughed up under magical vow or Veritaserum that he... knows... that I am a Horcrux and, therefore, have to die in order for Voldemort to be vanquished for good. Yes?"
The master auror smirked back and said, "Under Veritaserum, while also under Legilimency, yes. And, yes, he said something to that effect."
Harry gave a nod and said, "From what I can figure out, there was a sliver of Riddle's soul behind my scar; right up until I went through the Astra Porta. Something in the wormhole ripped it right out as I was travelling between worlds."
"A sliver of soul, yes," said the Auror. "But not a Horcrux. It was a very slight ongoing attempted possession that had no power to do anything but cause you some mental problems and rob you of a bit of your magic to sustain it."
The way he made that last statement was clearly a question. Harry gave a nod back. "I used to have anger management and concentration issues. They stopped after I went through the Astra Porta."
The auror acted as if that didn't surprise him. Then he turned to his partner and the two stared at one another for a long moment before the master turned back and said to them all. "That's all we needed. Thank you for your time."
"Since I see Dumbledore as my current greatest threat," said Harry, "Can you share with us as to his fate?"
The master auror only looked back for a slightly hesitated moment before he said, "It'll be public soon enough. Your Minister has already been informed.
"Albus Dumbledore, after being tried for his crimes... which included harbouring a recognised dark lord and after first having his credentials and Order of Merlin stripped from him... was executed at dawn this morning, Geneva time. Geneva is one hour ahead of London."
Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you."
The auror only gave a single head shake back before he returned, "No. Thank you for letting us know the truth as to the crimes he committed against the wizarding world."
When they left, with Sirius escorting them out and returning, Luna quietly said, "They weren't aurors. They were Unspeakables."
Harry smirked back and said, "I guessed that, too."
"Oh?" asked Remus.
"They wouldn't have sent aurors to deal with the Horcruxes," said Harry. "They'd have sent Unspeakables. Ergo, they were actually Unspeakables masquerading as aurors."
"They were using wandless Legilimency on each other, too," said Sirius, as unsurprised as Harry about Luna's quiet remark concerning their identity. "That's an Unspeakable thing I know they do. Aurors don't do that; not even ICW aurors."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With Dumbledore now confirmed to no longer be a threat to him and his, Harry was more comfortable with venturing out and about as 'Harry Potter' again. However, when he raised just that with Sirius, his godfather said, "I'd give it another day, Hardwin... Harry."
"Oh?" asked Harry.
"The mail redirection ward is only on this property," explained Sirius. "As soon as you step out from under them, owls will again home in on you to deliver their mail."
Harry frowned back and softly said, "Damn."
He thought about it for a long moment before he turned a grin on Luna... and waggled his eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes and gave a huff of amusement. "Actually, you can step out from under the wards... just so long as I first cast upon you an owl avoidance charm. It'll mean owls won't deliver at all while the charm is on you, but I can strip the charm away again once we return here."
On one hand, Harry was happy he wouldn't be again cooped-up in Grimmauld Place - this time until the owl mail dropped off again - but on the other, he was a little frustrated Luna had so easily dodged having to 'entertain' him for the day.
"You need to get out and about before tomorrow morning," she explained. "I know you don't like the attention, but people are going to need to see you for themselves before they're informed Dumbledore was executed this morning."
Harry groaned and said, "I'm going to have to 'play nice' with all the well-wishers, aren't I?"
"Yes," she firmly replied. "Better now than after they find out about Dumbledore."
With a sigh, he lowly muttered, "Fiiiiiinnnee!"
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Discussing matters while they were getting changed, Luna suggested they start with the Leaky Cauldron.
"It's somewhere that's both public and not out in the open," she explained. "Give the patrons a chance to thank you before we then move out into the Alley."
Harry gave a nod and, though his tone and inflection showed he wasn't happy with it, he replied, "Sounds good."
"Out in the Alley we'll spend the time wandering," she continued, ignoring Harry's tone. "There's some things I need to pick up, someone we need to 'bump into' and I think we'll also see something we might like."
"Alright," he sighed.
"You'll need to do your best to be magnanimous, Harry," she said. "Oh; and no losing your temper with Rita Skeeter, either."
He winced. "I take it we're going to 'bump into' her, as well?"
"Of course," she returned. "But, that's because Rita has informants in the Alley who will immediately let her know you're there, as soon as we make an appearance in the Leaky. There's no avoiding that."
Harry frowned in annoyance.
Continuing, she said, "After that, I think it would be a good idea to go and see Professor Flitwick."
Harry thought about it only for a long moment before he said, "Actually, going and seeing him... and telling Professor McGonagall I do not hold her to blame for what happened while I was a student... is something I'm happy to do."
After changing into upmarket 'casual' robes that displayed both the Potter and Peverell crests in small detail, rather than the larger crests displayed on formal occasions, Harry only had to wait a further twenty minutes for Luna to finish getting ready. His robes, while casual in appearance, still had him combat ready, if he needed to act.
Once Luna was ready, with both Sirius and Remus admonishing them to stay safe and be careful, they headed out via floo to the Leaky Cauldron.
This time Luna led the way, with Harry on her heels.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ