Chapter 10
Surely Gone from Surrey
The next morning (Saturday, 22 September 1990)
Harry was nervous when he wrote his first owl-letter to Hermione. He knew she was excited to go to Hogwarts; but in his letter to her, he explained that no bloody way would he be going to Hogwarts. This was mainly because of Dumbledore. (Also, Harry was avoiding Hogwarts because Hogwarts was a poor school now, so Harry had heard.)
Harry told Hermione as much as he knew about Dumbledore, Hogwarts and Manchester Magical Academy, and sent her a copy of the MMA sales brochure.
When Harry sent Nocturnus the owl off to Crawley with the order "Wait for Hermione's reply," Harry could not dismiss the feeling that Hermione's reaction, when she read his letter, would be You should have told me you're not going to Hogwarts! You're a bad friend! I never want to talk to you again!
Not quite an hour later
Nocturnus, with Hermione's reply-letter tied round a leg, returned to Black Manor.
Harry's relief was as big as a mountain when he read the first words of Hermione's letter: "Thank you for telling me about Manchester Magical Academy. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If I were with you, I'd give you the strongest hug I could."
Hermione then mentioned that after she had read the letter and the brochure, she had called her parents at work—which she was supposed to do "only in case of emergency"—so that they would not be surprised this evening when they came home from work and she told them she wanted to attend MMA instead of Hogwarts.
In the days following
After this, the two children's letters shared what they were learning from magical books, and what the members of their families were like.
Harry wrote to Hermione almost nothing about his life before Lucius Malfoy had tried to kill him. Similarly, Harry noticed that there were parts of Hermione's life she avoided in her letters. Harry figured out that Hermione was bullied at school, and she was bullied by Beverly, a cousin. Beverly, unlike Dudley, did not favour hitting; instead, Beverly said cruel things to Hermione when other relatives could overhear.
At the start of October 1990, the Granger family travelled on a Monday—a day that the adult Grangers regularly took off work—to drive to Manchester to visit MMA. That evening, Hermione's letter to Harry was five pages long, because Hermione loved everything she had seen at MMA.
The day after the Grangers' MMA visit (Tuesday, 2 October 1990)
By Tuesday, eleven days after Harry and Hermione had met, the children had sent a total of thirty-something letters to each other. Nocturnus was exhausted.
Tuesday evening, Sirius hosted a dinner at Black Manor. The invitees were the Tonkses (including seventh-year student Nymphadora), Amelia and Susan Bones, Grandfather (Lord Black) and all three Grangers.
Transportation for the Grangers from Crawley to London was provided by Potter house-elves, Kreacher not being up to the task.
Sirius and Amelia were not yet willing to call themselves "a couple," but they were dating a lot.
Why hold the dinner party on Tuesday, instead of during the weekend? The Granger parents were off work every Monday and Tuesday, and Andromeda was off work every Tuesday and Wednesday. Both the Granger parents and Andromeda worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Sirius said after dinner, "May I have everyone's attention please? I have one, maybe two, important announcements to make about Harry. I ask all the magical adults to make a magical oath that they will not reveal what they learn tonight about Harry till the second of September of next year. Susan, I won't ask you to make a magical oath, but I ask you to make a sincere promise you won't tell Hannah or anyone else."
Susan Bones, looking serious, shook her head. "I'm not sure I could keep your big secret from Hannah." She stood up. "I'll wait in the library till Auntie comes for me." Susan walked out of the formal dining room.
The Tonkses, Grandfather, Amelia Bones and Remus Lupin all gave the magical oath that Sirius had requested. The adults (including the dental Grangers) all looked serious; Hermione looked about to burst with curiosity.
Sirius looked at the Granger parents. "Dan and Emma, I ask your permission for Healer Tonks to cast a specialised diagnostic spell on Harry and Hermione. It won't hurt Hermione, and the results will be shared with you."
Dan and Emma glanced at each other, then Dan said, "Agreed."
Sirius said, "Harry and Hermione, would you please stand by the wall there and face each other?"
Andromeda got out of her chair to stand by the Granger parents. "Dan and Emma, each of you touch me somewhere whilst you look at Hermione."
When Dan and Emma were both doing so, Andromeda cast at Harry, then Hermione, Revelata si duae animae religata sunt, a red spell. Everyone saw a red ribbon form between Harry's heart and Hermione's heart.
Tonks gasped; Sirius, Remus, Amelia and Andromeda nodded; Lord Black and Ted Tonks looked thoughtful.
Sirius said, "Andromeda, please hit the kids with Finite Incantatem. Harry and Hermione, please return to your seats.
"The first announcement I'm making is that Harry and Hermione are soulmates, as I've suspected. This changes my plans."
Sirius then asked Andromeda to explain to the Grangers and to Harry exactly what soulmates were in the magical world.
There were not quite a million wizards and witches on the planet—not quite five hundred thousand witches, and not quite five hundred thousand wizards. In theory, for every wizard there was a witch, out of the half-million witches on Earth, who was best suited for this wizard; and for every witch there was a wizard, out of the half-million wizards on the planet, who was best suited for this witch.
Almost never did these "best suited" pairings reciprocate. If the witch who was best suited for wizard John Smith was Mary Jones, the wizard who was best suited for witch Mary Jones was someone other than John Smith. This was not a tragedy—John Smith could find a witch who was well suited for him, and Mary Jones could find a wizard who was well suited for her, and both couples could be quite happy.
"In fact," Andromeda commented, "of every happily married couple you know in the wizarding world, figure that the witch and wizard are well suited for each other, not best suited."
But in the case of soulmates, the witch was best suited for the wizard, and the wizard was best suited for the witch. Ordinarily, the two-in-a-million odds of this would guarantee that the witch and wizard never would meet. But Fate, so it was believed, manoeuvred events so that the two soulmates did meet. Once the wizard and witch had met, what every onlooker would see was that the pair always intensely liked each other from the moment they met.
One more thing to know about soulmates, Andromeda casually mentioned at the end: The first time two soulmates would kiss, they would glow; and from that moment, Magic would consider the soulmates to be married.
The two Granger parents looked gobsmacked. Then Dan Granger angrily demanded to know, "Is Magic, or Fate, or God, or whoever, making my daughter fall in love with Harry?"
Sirius replied, "No. Remember computer-dating in the Seventies and Eighties? 'Fill out this questionnaire and we'll find your perfect match'? Soulmate-magic is a much-improved version of that. The boy whom Hermione would love, if she would ever meet him, has been put in front of her. At Fortescue's, in her case."
Hermione asked, "So if I kiss Harry, we're married? Right then?"
Andromeda answered, "You can kiss him on the cheek and nothing will happen. Kissing on the lips makes you married. Or," ahem, "oral sex or vaginal sex."
"But hugs still are okay, right?" Hermione asked with a bright smile. She stood up from her chair, rushed over to Harry's chair, and hugged the sitting boy hard. Smiling Hermione then returned to her seat.
Sirius then looked at the Granger parents and said, "I'm not surprised that Harry has chosen a mate at a young age, and that the mate is not a Pureblood, even though this goes against traditional wizard thinking. The Potter men often have married Muggle-borns for love, though never before as soulmates. As a result of so much Potter outbreeding, Charlus Potter once told me, the Potter line has not had a Squib child since 1320."
One second later
Sirius looked at the Granger parents. "May I ask where Hermione goes to school in Crawley?"
Emma answered, "Seymour Primary School."
Sirius looked about the dinner table. "I'm ready to make two announcements, both about Harry—
"First announcement: The Muggle primary school that Harry currently is attending, he hates. He has nothing but bad memories there. So as soon as I can make it happen, I'll be renting an house in Crawley through next 1 September, and Harry will be attending school at Seymour Primary School with Hermione."
"YES!" said Hermione.
Grandfather looked at Hermione strangely; he probably never had seen a fist-pump before.
Sirius continued, "Remember that earlier in the meal, I asked the Grangers about the magical school that Hermione will be attending next September, Manchester Magical Academy. Recall that MMA teaches both magical subjects, like Transfiguration, and nonmagical subjects, like Nonmagical British History. I don't know if anyone noticed, but at one point, Emma described the school as intended for 'nonmagically-raised students.' Hermione certainly qualifies there. But also—"
Sirius paused dramatically.
"—Harry qualifies for that school, and no way will I allow Albus Dumbledore to get his hooks into Harry again! My second announcement: Come 2 September 1991, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, et cetera and so on, will be attending Manchester Magical Academy with Hermione. Harry will not attend Hogwarts, no way!"
In the library of Black Manor, Susan Bones heard shouting coming from the formal dining room.
Minutes later
Amelia and Sirius, holding hands, walked up to Harry. Amelia said to him, "Harry, you look like your life is going great right now. I'm so glad. You have a family, a girlfriend—a soulmate, in fact—and next year you'll be going to a good school."
Harry grinned at her. "A good school that Dumbledore has no part in."
Then still-grinning Harry said, "I haven't spoken to you in a while. Are you enjoying your silver snake-head cane?"
Amelia smiled back. "I am, for sure. I took one of your suggestions and mounted the cane on the wall of my office, behind my chair. It's sure a conversation-starter! A retired Auror named Moody saw it and dubbed me 'the Dark Lady Amy.' " Both Amelia and Sirius laughed.
Then Amelia gave Sirius a side-glance. "Now would be good, Siri," she said.
Sirius said, "Erm, Harry, what do you know about the Potter-Longbottom Alliance?"
"Nothing?"
"Okay, do you know a boy named Neville Longbottom? He's magical, and he's one day older than you."
Harry was giving his godfather a What are you trying to do? look as he said, "Then I'm sure I've never met this Neville Longbottom boy."
Sirius shook his head as he muttered, "I'm a shit godfather."
Then Sirius told Harry, "House Potter and House Longbottom have been allies for centuries, not only on an House-to-House level, but also person-to-person. At Hogwarts, Frank Longbottom was a close friend of James', despite Frank not being a Marauder."
Amelia said, "Neville's mother, Alice Longbottom, was mentioned in the wills as second choice as your guardian, between Sirius and me. If Dumbles hadn't dumbled us all but something had happened to Sirius, you and Neville would have grown up as brothers."
Harry stared. "No shit? Instead, my 'brother' was fat Dudley, the bully."
Then Harry said, "I want to meet Neville."
The next day: Wednesday, 3 October 1990
Longbottom Hall
Neville Longbottom turned out to be a pudgy boy, shy and lacking in confidence at first. But when he was in one of the Longbottom greenhouses, he reminded Harry of Hermione in a library: 110-percent confident.
Harry did not understand much about the so-called Potter-Longbottom Alliance yet, but he felt comfortable near Neville, and Neville likewise seemed relaxed with Harry.
Best of all, Neville did not ask to see Harry's lightning-bolt scar, and Neville asked exactly one question about the Boy Who Lived legend.
One day later: Thursday, 4 October 1990
In Crawley, West Sussex
Sirius signed the contract to rent until 1 September 1991, an house that was close to Seymour Primary School.
Immediately Sirius owled a letter to the Improper Use of Magic Office: "I've just rented an house in Crawley, West Sussex." Sirius then gave the house's Royal Mail address and the house's Apparation Coordinates. "I just wanted to let you know that if you detect magic here, don't be alarmed. The cause is not Death Eaters and it's not a previously undetected Muggle-born child, it's just me being a wizard."
Why did Sirius write this letter? Neither Harry nor Hermione had wands now, but sometime soon, both children definitely would have wands; and Sirius did not want Aurors bursting in and catching Harry and Hermione in the act of casting wanded magic whilst underage.
Once Sirius had rented the house and had owled the letter, he hired a taxi, took Harry to Seymour Primary School, and filled out the paperwork for Harry to transfer schools.
Harry was grinning the entire time.
Once Sirius and Harry returned to the house (after school finished for the day), Sirius immediately cast a Wizard Notice-Me-Not Charm on the rented Crawley house. Sirius immediately pointed out the house to Harry and Hermione; and pointed out the house to Remus and to Amelia within a day, so that the Wizard Notice-Me-Not Charm did not work for those four magicals.
Thus Muggles could see the house where Sirius and Harry were living, and Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Remus and Amelia could see the house where Sirius and Harry were living; but the Defeater of Grindelwald would walk past the house every time.
The first time Neville was Side-Along Apparated to the Crawley house, Sirius pointed the house out to him. Neville then was brought inside. Less than an hour later, Sirius, Harry, Hermione and Neville were watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a film about evil watermelons.
Now living in Crawley, Sirius had to relearn how to drive a car. (He last had learnt how to drive eleven years ago, as an Auror.) Dan Granger gave Sirius the needed driving-refresher.
The good news for Sirius: It took only one day's refreshing before Sirius was ready to apply for his driving license. The bad news for Sirius: During that one day of refreshing, Dan, a dentist who spent every workday being hated by his patients, had no problem forcing Sirius to practise parallel parking till Sirius was sick of it.
The day after Harry transferred schools: Friday, 5 October 1990
In the play park outside Seymour Primary School, Crawley, West Sussex
The Greek-mythology book was snatched out of Hermione's hands by Bertha Nikson. Bertha sneered, "Useless swot! You read too many books, Beaver-Teeth."
Before Bertha had time to react, footsteps rushed up to her from behind and the mythology book was snatched out of Bertha's hands.
Whilst Harry handed Hermione's book back to her, he glared at the bully girl. "Bertha, you have no room to talk about Hermione's looks. Your face looks like someone pounded it with a boat oar. Also, you really should lose a stone or two."
"You stay out of this, new kid! This doesn't concern you!"
Harry said as an aside to Hermione, "Did you notice I just called her fat and ugly and she didn't argue with me? She know I'm right."
Then Harry said to red-faced Bertha, "But it does concern me, because Hermione is my friend. Oh, and Bertha? Hermione tells me you like to slap her. This stops now."
"Oh yeah?" Bertha tried to slap Hermione. Snake-quick Harry grabbed Bertha's wrist.
Bertha sneered, "So what will you do now, new kid? Are you one of those boys who hits girls?"
Harry gave Bertha a "muscleman from Austria" push; Bertha landed on the ground on her bum, five feet away. A teacher, who was watching but not intervening, looked startled.
Meanwhile, Harry was saying, "But you're no girl, fat and ugly Bertha, you're a she-ogre."
Hermione said, "That's O-G-R-E, Bertha, since I know you have a problem with spelling big words."
Harry said to Bertha, "Did your parents never tell you not to take things that don't belong to you, and not to hit other kids? You'll wind up in Holloway"—the women's prison—"one day."
Three days later: Monday evening, 8 October 1990
In Manchester, at Stiubhairt's Startling Sticks wand shop
By means of Side-Along Apparation and elf-travel, the three Grangers, Sirius and Harry travelled to Wizarding Britain's not-Ollivander wand shop in order to buy wands.
It turned out that here the child was not matched with a premade wand; but rather, the child would move their hand above blocks of different woods, to feel which wood's magic "felt right"; similarly, the child would move their hand over jars of different wand cores, to feel which wand core's magic "felt right."
After this two-step selection process, then the child's wand would be custom-crafted.
Because of this different approach, the price for a wand at SSS was eleven galleons or £55, which was higher than Ollivander's seven galleons; and the child would need to wait a week for delivery.
Harry and Hermione both were excited as they went through the wand-selection process. Harry's wand would be holly and thunderbird feather, 11¼ inches; whilst Hermione's wand would be vine and kneazle fur, 10⅞ inches.
Mr Stiubhairt casually mentioned to his five visitors that there was another magical shop in the same shopping centre: Gandalf's Great Reads, three doors down. The Granger parents groaned, even as Hermione looked at them with puppy-dog eyes.
Harry and Hermione (and Neville) play together
From the day (4 October 1990) that Mr Black and Harry moved into their Crawley house, till 1 September 1991, every hour that Harry and Hermione were out of school but Hermione's parents were not at home, Hermione was in Harry's and Mr Black's Crawley house. Hermione no longer was lonely; she smiled often.
Once Mr Black had his driving license and his own car, he sometimes drove Harry and Hermione to a city play park. Exactly once did Hermione sit under a tree with a book and read (which is what she had done at the play park near the Granger house). After this one time of sitting and reading, Hermione, after being urged on by Harry and Mr Black, slid on the slides and swung on the swings, and otherwise acted like a normal eleven-year-old girl.
Sometimes Harry's other magical friend, Neville, visited Harry when Hermione was also visiting Harry. Hermione liked Neville, who never was mean to her and who answered her many questions when she question-bombed him. The first time all three children went to the play park, Harry and Hermione taught Neville how to swing on a swing (without being obvious about it).
Eight days after Sirius and Harry moved to Crawley: Friday, 12 October 1990
One week before Dumbledore's release from Azkaban
Arcturus Black, Lord Black, summoned Sirius, Harry and Andromeda to Black Castle, and invited Sirius's girlfriend Amelia to come too.
Arcturus said to his visitors, "A week from today, Dumbledore leaves prison. I expect him to run straight to the Daily Prophet and to give an interview that claims his conviction was all a big misunderstanding, with maybe some envy on Amelia Bones's part. Dumbledore will be counting on the fact that everyone has had six months to forget the evidence that came out at his trial."
Arcturus's listeners scowled.
Arcturus said, "Let's remind them. Let's talk to the Daily Prophet before Dumbledore can."
Arcturus, Sirius, and Andromeda came up with a plan how to preemptively strike at Dumbledore. Harry had no ideas for the plan, but he made his wishes about Dumbledore known, and what Harry wanted was built into the plan.
Five days later: published Wednesday, 17 October 1990
Dumbledore's trial of six months (minus three days) ago was analysed by the Daily Prophet.
Amelia Bones's pensieve-memory of when she explored the horrifying boot cupboard under the Dursley house's stairs—a copy of this memory had been given to the Prophet by Sirius Black—was described in great detail. Another news story quoted the interesting parts of Dumbledore's trial transcript—a copy of which likewise had been passed to the Prophet by Sirius Black.
As part of quoting the juicy parts of Dumbledore's trial transcript, the Prophet quoted the juicy parts of James Potter's and Lily Potter's wills. It was clear to any reader that Dumbledore had ignored these wills.
The Prophet printed a photograph of Amelia Bones's memory of starved, bruised Harry Potter as he stood by the boot cupboard under the Dursley house's stairs. The photograph was heartbreaking, even if you did not know that the boot cupboard had been Harry Potter's "bedroom" at the time.
Anyone who read the news stories about Dumbledore would be led to think, Albus Dumbledore wronged the Boy Who Lived, and deserved far worse than a measly six months in prison.
The next day: published Thursday, 18 October 1990
Andromeda Tonks walked into the office of Barnabas Cuffe, editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet. Andromeda brought with her, Harry Potter's "Illnesses and Injuries" parchment of 19th April. The parchment was under a privacy spell so that only Harry, Sirius, and licensed Healers (including Andromeda) could read the parchment without it seeming blurry. But whilst Cuffe could not read the "blurry" parchment, he could measure the length of the parchment's blurry writing, which was why Andromeda had brought the parchment with her.
Cuffe discovered that the parchment measured out to have 3 feet 4 inches of writing.
Cuffe asked Andromeda to read aloud some writing on the parchment, so that Cuffe could quote that writing; Andromeda refused. However, Andromeda told Cuffe, "When I met Harry Potter, he was starved, he had bones that had healed wrong and he had bruises on his arms and neck. What this parchment lists on it are the specifics. Dumbledore let all of this happen to Harry."
Accompanying the news story about the three-foot-long "Illnesses and Injuries" parchment and about Andromeda's quote, was a reprint of the photograph of starved and bruised Harry Potter standing by the boot cupboard under the stairs.
The next day: published Friday, 19 October 1990
Sirius and Harry sat for an interview with Barnabas Cuffe in his Daily Prophet office. Sirius's role was to tell Cuffe to back off if Harry got too uncomfortable with Cuffe's questioning.
The interview between Barnabas Cuffe, Sirius and Harry went like this—
.
BC: Harry, what do you remember about the day you became the Boy Who Lived, on Samhain of 1981?
HP: Samhain?
SB: Halloween.
HP: I don't remember anything. I'm told I was fifteen months old at the time.
BC: So you've had your lightning-bolt scar for almost all your life. It, and how you got that scar, are what you're famous for.
HP: I had the lightning-bolt scar. (Harry Potter lifts his bangs off his forehead. His forehead has not even an hint of a scar.) As you can see, the lightning-bolt scar is gone now.
BC: Where did it go? Did it heal after 1981?
HP: No, it refused to heal. Kids at school called me names because of that scar. I hated it! Six months ago, the day Sirius Black went on trial, Mrs Andromeda Black Tonks took me to Gringotts Hospital. The goblins took something nasty out of the scar, then Mrs Tonks healed what was left of the scar that night. I hugged her then, because like I said, I hated that scar.
BC: I'm shocked. I don't know what to say. Ahem, moving on. I hear that you two, Heir Black and Harry, now are living together. Heir Black, I know where you were living before April—
SB: The luxurious Hotel Azkaban.
BC: —but please remind us, where was Harry living before April?
SB: With his Muggle relatives in the township of Little Whinging, in Surrey.
BC: And where are you and Harry living now?
SB: Someplace I won't even hint about.
BC: You're worried about another Death Eater attacking Harry?
SB: No, I'm worried about a long-winded former headmaster kidnapping Harry. That man thinks he's smarter than everyone else, so laws that apply to everyone else don't apply to him.
HP: I'm worried about Dumbledore too. My parents' wills said that Sirius was supposed to be my guardian, and my Aunt Petunia and her husband Vernon were never ever supposed to get me—then Dumbledore stepped in. Suddenly nobody is allowed to read the wills, Sirius is in prison without a trial, I'm given to the Dursleys to raise, and Dumbledore, for whatever reason, never checks up on me.
SB: I just hope that Dumbledore, when he gets out of prison, doesn't know the Dark magic to raise Inferi. Dumbledore might revive the three Dursleys, then insist that "for Harry's own good" Harry must be put back with the Inferi-Dursleys. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Once Dumbledore gets an idea in his head, no matter how ridiculous, you can't convince him he's wrong, because always he thinks he knows more than you do.
BC: Harry, what should readers know about Dumbledore?
HP: When I was with the Dursleys, I was beaten and I was starved, I was overworked like an house-elf and I was locked in the boot cupboard under the stairs for days at a time. All these things happened, and Dumbledore never ever checked up on me. In eight and an half years, he never once checked up on me! After Lucius Malfoy tried to kill me and I killed him instead, I got my first chance to eat that day, even though that day I had cooked breakfast and dinner for the Dursleys. So finally I got a chance to eat when I was bloody hungry, and Father Christmas told me, "I'm so disappointed in you" because I didn't stop eating to serve him tea!
.
Accompanying the interview with Sirius Black and Harry Potter was, no surprise, a photograph of the two of them as they looked now; but next to the photograph of October Harry was the photograph from Amelia Bones's memory of Harry Potter in April, when he had been starved and bruised.
In the "Now" photograph of Sirius and Harry, Harry's hair was combed back in a pompadour to expose his forehead. April Harry had shown the forehead scar; October Harry did not.
Later that day: Friday, 19 October 1990, 11pm
Albus Dumbledore was released from Azkaban. He was eager to carry out the plans that he had spent six months devising.
Prisoners, even in minimum security, were not given copies of the Daily Prophet to read. Albus's first priority, now that he was free, would be to find out what had happened in his absence.
Then, the first chance he got, Albus would go to the Daily Prophet office and would tell Barnabas Cuffe Albus's interpretation of event. Albus had complete confidence that within two days after Albus's front-page interview, everyone would forget Albus's prison stay and Albus would be admired again.
Once Albus was again the wizard whom everyone listened to, Albus would remove Harry from whoever had him now and would put Harry with the Weasleys. Molly Weasley would mould Harry to be meek and docile by the time Harry entered Hogwarts.