The Granger Son

Harry; Hermione; Dr. Grangerx2

Rated T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling

The Granger Son

Chapter 14

Hermione sat in the floor of her bedroom, frantically flipping through both her Charms and Transfiguration textbooks after Professor Dumbledore's departure. She was positive the answer she was looking for was in one of those two subject books. At least, she hoped it was. Ever since the Headmaster had pulled out that will of Harry's birth parents, she had looked at it and had a feeling that it was not genuine. And she needed to find out for sure that it was false, because she didn't believe it was real. If she could do that, then she'd be able to know for certain that Dumbledore was lying about it. She just couldn't let Harry be taken away from her family. With them was where he belonged and he wasn't going to be taken from them, not if she could help it.

Just as she opened the new Transfiguration book for the new school year, Fifth Year level, Harry suddenly barged into her room and began pacing the floor. His anger was obvious, and he was grabbing onto his unruly black hair. She watched him for a moment before finally saying, "Harry."

Harry stopped and looked at her, his green eyes blazing as he said, "I'm not packing my things. I refuse to leave the only family I have ever known and loved. I'm with my real family. Why can't Dumbledore see that?! For what reason does he even want me there in the first place?!"

"I don't know, but if he's so insistent on it, he should at least tell you the reason. Anyway, I think that he's bluffing concerning the Potters' will."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the will of your birth parents' that Professor Dumbledore presented was false. It's a fake, I'm sure of it."

Green eyes widened in shock. "You really think so?"

The brunette nodded. "Yes, and if it is true, then we can call him out on it in the morning when he comes to get you. I just have to find the proof of it first."

Harry sat down across from his sister and grabbed one of the many textbooks she had. "I'm on board with that. Let me help you in your search, and hopefully we can find the answer together.

Hermione smiled at her brother and nodded, the two of them searching through the textbooks to prove that the will Dumbledore had was a fake. And they hoped that they did before eleven in the morning.

In the master bedroom, Jean was busy crying from where she was seated on hers and her husband's bed, Robert comforting her as she did. She was completely distraught and had been since Hogwarts' Headmaster's departure. Honestly, Robert couldn't blame her for being so upset. He was just as upset too, because they were being faced with the fact that they were going to lose their son.

Rubbing her back, Robert said, "Jean, don't cry, my love. We'll figure something out."

Jean looked up at her husband with swollen, red-rimmed eyes and asked, "How? What can we do?"

She sniffled and said through a sob, "We can't lose our son, Robert."

"And we won't. There must be a way to keep Dumbledore from taking Harry from us."

Robert thought for a moment before an idea struck him. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? Kissing his wife's temple, he said, "Jean, just leave it to me."

Quickly leaving the bedroom, Jean looking after him in confusion, Robert rushed downstairs and to the kitchen. Opening one of the drawers, he pulled out a pen and notepad, and began writing on it. He was going to send a letter to Minerva. Surely Professor McGonagall could figure something out for them. Once he finished writing the letter, he tore it out of the note pad and hurried back upstairs to his son's bedroom. He stepped inside, prepared to ask his son a question, only to not find him there. Knowing he was probably with his sister, Robert left Harry's bedroom and went to Hermione's. And like he thought, he found his children in the floor of his daughter's bedroom, the two of them seemingly studying.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "Harry, can I use Hedwig? I have to send a letter to Minerva."

Harry blinked up at him before nodding and saying, "Yeah, go ahead, dad."

"Thanks son," Robert replied.

Going back to Harry's room, he went to Hedwig's owl cage and opened it, holding his arm out and letting her perch on it. Handing her the letter, he let her take it into her beak before saying, "Hedwig, please take that to Professor McGonagall, and as quickly as possible. It needs to reach her, and quickly."

He walked her over to the window and opened it, Hedwig seemingly nodding and taking off out the window and into the sky with his letter. As he watched her go, Robert couldn't help but hope that Minerva would be able to help them, especially with their limited timeframe. They just couldn't let Dumbledore win.

Albus sat at his desk, a smile on his face as he was feeling rather proud of himself. In the morning, he was going to remove Harry from the Grangers, and get him to the Dursleys. Then, he would finally have him to there to begin fully getting ready for his destiny, and that was to prepare him to fight for Voldemort. After all, the prophecy must prevail.

He did feel a little bad about how he left the Grangers and Harry, but it was for the greater good. Also, what the Grangers didn't know wouldn't hurt them, like the will for example. The will he had showed them hadn't been real. It wasn't Lily and James Potter's real wills, but he had to do what needed to be done. And if Harry had never seen the real wills, then he wouldn't know the difference. That, and those Muggles obviously believed its authenticity, which worked for him.

Popping in a lemon drop, Albus sat back in his seat and smiled to himself. Everything was finally coming together. Now he just had to think of a way to get Harry out of Slytherin House and into Gryffindor.

The next morning around eight, McGonagall as walking into Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley, Kingsley Shacklebolt accompanying her. Walking up to the podium, she looked up at the Head Goblin and greeted, "Good morning, Griphook."

Griphook looked at her and Kingsley saying, "Professor, Auror Shacklebolt, good morning. What brings you to Gringotts this morning?"

"We are here to discuss Harry Potter, particularly his parents' wills."

"Yes, and it is urgent that we see them and do it quickly," Kingsley added in.

Seeing the urgency in their eyes, though McGonagall's was more concealed, Griphook nodded and beckoned them to follow him. The two humans followed the little goblin from the main atrium of the bank and down a corridor until they ended up at the Head Goblin's office. Walking in, the door shut behind them and they took seats in front of the desk while Griphook sat behind it. Once they were settled, Griphook said, "Before we do anything in concerns to Mr. and Mrs. Potter's wills, I must ask that you explain to me why this is so important, especially without their son being present."

Understanding, McGonagall began explaining their dilemma, Kingsley speaking up where he could to help explain everything. When they were finished, Griphook took in what they had to say before nodding. Hopping down from behind the desk, he said, "Well, we can't have Albus attempting to undermine not only the wills of the Mr. and Mrs. Potter, but the DMLE as well. Stay here, and I will go and retrieve their wills."

Griphook left the office, leaving the two adults to themselves. As soon as the door closed behind him, Kingsley looked at McGonagall and asked, "What if the Potters really did make Albus Harry's legal guardian, Minerva? What then?"

Minerva didn't answer at first, but then she replied, "The Potters may have trusted Albus while they were alive, and trusted him greatly, but that doesn't not mean that they made him Harry's legal guardian. And for the boy's sake, I hope they didn't."

It wasn't long before the Head Goblin returned, two pieces of rolled up parchment in his hands. Sitting back behind his desk, Griphook put the rolled-up parchments on top of the desk and said, "This here is the Potters' wills. They have one together, and they wrote separate ones. It is in the separate ones where they stated their chosen legal guardians for their son. We will start with Mr. Potter."

The goblin took the first parchment and unrolled it, putting on his glasses before looking over it until he found the section he was looking for. His beady eyes looking over the written words, he read, "'In the event of my death, I, James Charles Potter, grant legal guardian of my son, Harry James Potter, to Sirius Black and/or Remus Lupin.'."

"Sirius and Remus?" Kingsley asked. He looked at Minerva and said, "You know neither of them can take legal guardianship of Harry."

"I know, and it is unfortunate," Minerva replied. In Sirius' case, though he did have a relationship with Harry as his godfather, he was still an escaped criminal from Azkaban and in hiding, even though he was mostly at his family home. Remus was there as well, staying with him and keeping him company. As for why Remus couldn't, the answer was as simple as it was sad: he was a werewolf. Magical Law would not allow for a werewolf to take custody of a child, no matter how old the child was because they would be deemed unfit and unsafe. And even though Remus was a docile man and took his Wolfsbane Potion, they still wouldn't allow it.

Looking back at Griphook, she asked, "What about Lily?"

Griphook opened up Lily's will and, after finding the correct section, began to read, "'In the event of my death, I, Lily Juliana Potter, grant legal guardianship of my son, Harry James Potter, to Severus Snape and/or Minerva McGonagall."."

Minerva was surprised to hear that she was one of Harry's chosen guardians. She had no idea that Lily had considered her for legal guardianship over Harry. Blinking at Griphook, she asked, "Is that for certain?"

"Yes, it is Professor. Mrs. Potter signed off on it as well to make it official."

If that was the case, then this was working out perfectly for them. "Can I sign off on it to take over guardianship of Harry? I am ready and willing."

"You can, but young Mr. Potter must be present to sign off on it as well in acceptance."

Standing up, Kingsley stated that they would go a retrieve Harry and bring him back. Minerva stood up as well, telling the Head Goblin that they would be back soon. The two of them exited the office and quickly left Gringotts, Disapparating away. Once Harry signed off with Minerva, there would be no way for Albus to take Harry away from the Grangers, not if Minerva said he could stay. And she was going to make sure Albus didn't have his way.

As the clock struck eleven AM, Dumbledore Apparated on the sidewalk leading up to the Grangers door. Walking to the front door, he couldn't help but smile to himself, knowing today was the day that he would be putting Harry with his real family, his actual relatives. Knocking on the door, he waited for someone to answer it, the door soon being answered by Jean.

"Mrs. Granger, good morning," the Headmaster greeted politely, completely ignoring the fact that the woman was looking at him with something akin to the evil eye. "May I come inside?"

Jean glared at him with pursed lips for a moment before the glare faded from her face, and smile on her face as she said, "Sure. Please, come in."

Dumbledore nodded and stepped inside, going straight to the living room where Harry was waiting, as well as Mr. Granger and Hermione. He blinked at seeing Harry there, but none of his belongings next to him. Realizing that the boy hadn't packed a thing, he asked, "Harry, my boy, why aren't you packed up?"

"Because I'm not going anywhere I don't want to," Harry answered with a challengingly expression on his face. "I told you before, I'm not going to the Dursleys."

"And you have no grounds to take my brother from here," Hermione spoke up, her hands on her hips. "That will you presented last night was fake. You conjured it up, I know you did, and don't deny it."

Blue eyes looked at brown ones that were staring at him as if to dare him to deny the truth, before looking over at Harry and her father. He knew Jean was standing behind him with the same expression as her family, so he had no need to turn around. Knowing he couldn't lie his way out, he sighed and said, "I won't deny your accusation about the will being false, Miss Granger, but the fact still remains that Harry will still be going to his relatives. Your parents have no legal hold on him in the Wizarding World, therefore he will be going to his mother's family."

"No, I won't, because my legal guardian said that I didn't have to," Harry stated with a smug smile on his face.

Dumbledore blinked before saying, "Now Harry, as your legal guardian, I say that you must. Even if the will I presented last night was fake, I am your legal guardian."

"No, you're not Albus," a familiar voice spoke up with a Scottish accent.

Stepping out of the kitchen and into the living room was Professor McGonagall, an unreadable expression on her face. Standing with her hands folded, she looked at the Headmaster and said, "Actually, I am Harry's legal guardian. Harry and I went to Gringotts this morning to look over the Potters' wills and found no evidence whatsoever of you being this boy's legal guardian. I, on the other hand, am Lily's chosen guardian over Harry should anything happen to her. And as of nine-thirty this morning, it was made official. Therefore, as his legal guardian, I decide where Harry can or cannot go. And I say that he stays right here with his family."

Flabbergasted was the expression on Albus' face, and Minerva could not help but smirk a little. Albus could not believe it; he had been outsmarted. Before he could try and say anything else, Robert stepped up to him and looked him square in his eyes. In a firm voice, he demanded, "You will leave now, Professor Dumbledore. And once you leave, never step foot here on this property again."

When the old man made no move to leave, Robert growled and stepped up closer to him. "Leave my home right now, or I'll toss you out on your arse."

Knowing the man meant to carry out his threat, as well as seeing he was no longer welcome in the home, Dumbledore took a step back before Diapparating away, finally allowing the family to release a collective sigh of relief. Harry grinned at McGonagall and couldn't help but rush up to her to give her a hug. Letting her go, he said gratefully, "Thank you, Professor."

"No worries, Mr. Potter. But I will stay continue to be vigilant," McGonagall replied. "Albus may not be able to remove you now, but he may still have plans for you."

"Well, whatever they are, if Harry has no choice but to go through them, then we'll do it together," Hermione said confidently, stepping up to her brother and linking her arm with his.

"Yes, no matter what. And thank you, Minerva," Jean replied.

"Yes, thank you. We are in your debt," Robert added.

McGonagall waved off their thanks, telling her she was happy to help. She wished them all a good day and that she'd see Harry and Hermione at the start of term before leaving the house herself, Disapparating to Hogwarts. As she landed outside of the castle's wards, she prepared herself to be summoned to the Headmaster's office. She was sure Albus would have a lot to say to her. Oh well, she had checkmated him this round, and was prepared for whatever he had to say.