Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: Death And A New Life
Posted Date: March 8th 2020
Tags: Harry faking death, selective character attacks, Emiya type Harry, Manipulative Dumbledore
"Damn it!" One Harry Potter threw the edition of the Daily Prophet to the floor and roughed up his hair in frustration while glaring at the newspaper on the ground.
Harry was now back in Privet Drive after a disastrous fourth year at Hogwarts and based on the past couple of weeks he could tell that this was going to be a bad summer, what with Petunia and Vernon piling on the chores while Dudley was taunting him about some of the nightmares he had about Cedric's death and Voldemort's return. He had tried to get news or any information from Ron, Hermione and even Sirius, but all of them merely offered platitudes and no solid information, with Sirius trying to assure him that everything was well taken care of.
Like hell it was!
It was around the fifth day of the first week as he was weeding that he remembered about Dobby the house elf and tried calling for him. It took a while to get things rolling after the diminutive elf arrived, considering how star-struck Dobby was and wanting to get even with the Durlseys for making 'The Great Harry Potter' do the chores in his current state, but at the end of it Harry got a personal elf to aid him with some of the chores and to help get him information. The last bit helped a lot especially when Hedwig appeared around the end of the discussion looking ruffled and with a few drops of blood marring her beautiful white feathers. Dobby helped to translate her distressed hoots and told Harry that she got man-handled and was almost forced by his supposed friends and family to not return 'for his protection' by Dumbledore's orders, and it was only by her sharp talons and quick flight that she got away from the curses. He could not risk her capture since she was too noticeable, and it certainly did not help that there was some guard around the house as reported by the elf, so he asked Dobby for whatever news he could gather from Magical Britain while staying out of sight.
Unfortunately, the news was not so great in the days of his service.
[Boy-Who-Lived, or Boy-Who-Lies?]
From the headlines of the Daily Prophet alone, Harry could tell this was not going to be a good read. The content showed that rather than warning people that Voldemort was back, Cornelius Fudge decided that Dumbledore coveted the Minister's position and used Harry as his spokesperson to try and create discourse among the populace, and thus began a smear campaign against the two, making Harry sound like a delusional attention-seeking boy who was on the verge of becoming the next Dark Lord.
Harry wanted to yell loudly or punch something hard, but he knew that would not change his situation much. He was just so frustrated at the inaction being done by the Ministry, Dumbledore, his friends or the other relations to his parents, and the news content just reminded him more of second year and his previous year, of how the people of Magical Britain were so fickle to treat him as some toy to be viewed at or thrown away at a moment's notice. He also hated Dumbledore for trying to restrict his moments either through direct actions or indirectly by Sirius and his friends, what right did a headmaster have to interfere with his life?!
He was just sick of it all.
"Master Harry Potter Sir?" Harry looked up from his hands to look at the elf who alternated nervous eyes at him and a glare at the newspaper as though the paper had insulted Dobby deeply for smearing his master's name. "Can Dobby do anything to help?"
"I am not sure if you can help much in this case, dear friend." To his credit, Dobby managed to restrain himself from squealing at Harry's acceptance of him as a friend and stood ready. "This is just like the Heir of Slytherin and the bloody tournament all over again. Either I am their greatest hero or the next dark lord in training, and this time both of my supposed friends and supposed godfather" - Harry had growled out the words - "had left me hanging. Likely because of that blasted old headmaster of mine."
"Dobby is sorry he can't do much to help Master Harry Potter." Dobby sniffled while lightly tugging at his ear.
"Don't Dobby, it is not your fault." Harry came forward to lay a gentle hand on the elf. "I just hate this situation that I am in right now, it is as though the people cannot decide whether I am to be their hero or their scapegoat for all the shit going on. Not to mention the bit that I am just a fourteen-year-old still learning magic going up against a mad man who has at least fifty years' worth of experience in all types of curses and death methods. It is more down to dumb luck than skill that I survived all of my encounters with him. I know that if the people finally see the truth of it, they would just throw me at him and twiddle their thumbs. How the heck do they expect me to beat him like that?!"
"It is very bad, Master. Dobby feels that the sheep just won't help much." Harry had to snort at the description given by Dobby, it did suit the British wizards rather well.
"Indeed, at this rate I am going to be dead meat. And between you, me and Hedwig" - The owl in question turned her head to him at her name - "I am not sure if the country and its people are worth saving. As it stands, they are more likely to cheer at my death." Harry wanted to say more when a sudden though popped into his head. He shook his head to rid himself of the thought only for it to repeat in his head, while Dobby stayed silent at the sight of Harry thinking hard at whatever idea he had. It was ridiculous, it was foolish…
Harry pursed his lips at the thought now running full speed in his mind.
It was probably crazy enough to work…
"Dobby, I have a weird set of questions that might sound offensive to you but right now it is all I got." Harry slowly spoke out while looking at the elf. "If you do not know, that is okay. I am just trying to get a rough idea in my head."
"Dobby will try to answer Master Harry Potter's questions to the best he can!" Dobby clenched both his fists with a determined expression. Harry took a deep breath before starting to list out his questions, taking the time to note down Dobby's answers and clarifying some points that were not known. On the elf's part, he was understandably distraught at both the news surrounding his master and the burden on him, and it only increased based on the content of the questions, but Dobby answered to the best of his knowledge with sad eyes but flames of determination burning brightly inside him. To know that his master was driven into a corner to ask such questions made Dobby very angry at the headmaster, the supposed friends and the 'dog-father'.
"That's about it, Dobby." Harry placed the pen down on top of the notebook where he had been writing Dobby's answers. "I know you are probably thinking I am a coward to consider such an action." To his partial surprise, the elf shook his head to the point his ears flapped and lightly hit his head.
"Dobby is not upset at Harry Potter, rather he is angry at the Professor Goat-beard, Weasel, Bushy-Hair Know-It-All and Bad Doggy Father." It was clear at this point that Dobby was very pissed to actually call the people by those monikers instead of the affectionate versions from before. "They could have helped yet they are not doing so. Dobby will help Harry Potter in his work!" Hedwig barked her agreement. Harry gave a weak sniff and turned around slightly to wipe a tear off his other eye before looking back at the elf.
"In that case Dobby, here is what I need your help with…"
(3 days later)
Sirius did not know what was going on when he came down the stairs of Grimmauld Place and into the dining room where people were whispering in confused or frantic tones, but he had the sinking feeling that this was not happy news.
It had been roughly around the time Hogwarts ended the term that he went back to his old home to take up residence, followed shortly by Dumbledore and his Order of The Phoenix who started using it as their base of operations with Dumbledore as the secret keeper. He had been seeing people coming in and out of the house while he was stuck there with the portrait of his deranged mother and the old house elf sprouting all the blood bigotry in his mind. The Weasleys came roughly three days after his arrival, with Hermione Granger coming after them before the end of the week. And rather stupidly, they followed the orders of Dumbledore to not make any contact with Harry or to answer his questions on what was going on in magical Britain, stating that he needed time to get over the death of Cedric Diggory. Sirius had argued about leaving Harry alone and the restriction of information, but the old man merely waved his hand at him while Molly and Hermione pretty much double-teamed against him on everything he asked or talked about. He also had to deal with Snape smirking at his misfortune and occasional barbs at how Harry must be feeling the pain. It took all he had to not curse the man where he stood if only because he did not wish to have 'Howler' Molly on his case again about how he should trust Snape and that he should be grateful to the bastard and to everyone for letting him in.
Grateful? With all that was going on, the order ought to be grateful to Sirius that he was actually giving a damn to them and not grabbing Harry on the first chance to get out of the bloody country.
Thinking about Harry made Sirius recall his last couple of letters from the boy with sorrow. Harry had been trying to get information regarding the situation from them for a while, but his friends kept giving him other news and the occasional 'stay safe' lines. Sirius wanted to give something for Harry to know, but Dumbledore had caught on to the idea and began screening all of their mail along with Molly. It was very irritating seeing that oddly smug twinkle while Molly had a go at Sirius for trying to pass Harry an encoded message. It was also useless to ask Remus as the werewolf seemed to be doing his as-of-late worshiping of Albus Bloody Dumbledore and obeying his word to the letter. It was very crushing on the Black Marauder to write a letter trying to assure his godson and wanting to write something useful than just empty platitudes.
Then for the past few days, the flow had dwindled to the point that only Sirius got 3 more letters than his supposed friends whose letters had not been sent or answered (something that set off another argument and checks), and the content was decidedly more depressing and heart-wrenching with how Harry was begging him not to leave him. Then the last letter came 2 days ago and Sirius almost rammed his way out of the house before Remus and a few others stunned him with their wands, the letter dropped out of his hand for all to view.
"You are just like the rest of them, don't bother writing back. As far as I know, all of you are dead to me."
He had not heard any news from Harry since, and from what the guards spoke when they returned from shift, Harry had been in his room and only coming out to do chores that man had commented were a touch over the top for one his age under the hot sun, looking like the world had broken his spirit and he was just going through the motions. One of them had tried to get in contact with the boy only to be forced back by his magic as he went back into the house with acknowledgement. Sirius was feeling Padfoot pining for his pup while chewing Sirius out for abandoning his pack member when he was needed. Sirius really wished he could get out of this place so that he could assure Harry that he did not abandon him, but the past few times he tried someone was there to stun him under the orders of Dumbledore to 'protect him from his recklessness'.
DAMN THEM ALL!
"What is going on?" Sirius was brought back to reality by someone he was beginning to develop a bit of anger at his voice. "I got called back suddenly from Kingsley?"
"Don't know, just came down." Sirius's Grim side was rearing its angry head based on the manner he growled out his response before moving away from the werewolf despite his attempts to get his attention. It was a touch petty but it rubbed him badly that Remus was following Dumbledore's instructions to the point of abandoning the son of their lost Marauder, not to mention his lack of contact in the past 13 years. To some extent, Sirius accepted that his own actions cost him not being there for Harry but he did try to make up for it with all the letters he could write out since the fourth year, but Remus was free and had all the opportunity to check on Harry yet he only met him during his third year because 'Dumbledore said so', and the few times he got letters to Harry during the fourth was only because Sirius made sure he did so with a wand almost pointed at him, all because Dumbledore had considered that it was 'unsafe'.
And speak of the devil, the headmaster himself came into the room and got everyone settled.
"Good evening to all." Sirius really wanted to smash that old man's face to get rid of the twinkle in his eyes despite the man looking grave. "I understand that some of you are wondering why there is a sudden meeting." A few mutters and rolled eyes were his answer. "There seemed to be something happening at Harry's home so the guard had sent word about it, we are just about to get the message."
"Hmph! Typical, Prince Potter must have gotten a little scrape of the knee and the guard lost their mind." The oily voice of Snape drew their attention to the Potions Professor in the corner with his arms crossed and customary sneer in place. "Maybe Prince Potter had cried like a little baby."
"You are really testing my patience, Snivellous~" Sirius was clenching his fists as he glared and while a hand was placed on his shoulder by Arthur Weasley, a quick glance at the uncharacteristic glare directed at the spy told Sirius that the mild-mannered man may agree with his idea of rearranging Snape's face. The spy in question merely directed another sneer at him.
"Oh boo, the poor dog must be feeling the pain of being stuck all alone in one area, unable to go to his little prince. How sad." The man was attracting a few cautious looks from other members and a few more glares considering how a few were fingering their wands as though deciding which curse to hit the man with.
"Enough!" Dumbledore called them out. "We can't afford to waste time and energy fighting one another, we need to..." Sirius was about to interrupt his usual forgiveness speech when a loud crash outside the room and screaming drew their attention.
[MUDBLOODS! HALF-BREEDS!BLOOD TRAITORS!UNCLEAN ONES IN THE HOUSE OF BLACK!]
"SHUT UP YOU DAMN HAG!" Everyone sighed together with a few shaking their heads as the sound of one Nymphadora Tonks accompanied the screaming before the footsteps made their way to the room. What they did not expect was the door to smash open and the roughed up body of one Mundungus Fletcher to hit the floor hard, with the young woman to come in with a wand in her hand and a murderous expression on her face with tear streaks present. Before any of them could react, she started hexing Mundungus with some of the nastier spells one could think of while advancing on him. A few of the people closest to her had a fight on their hands when they tried to restrain her as she struggled and yelled at him.
"Let go of me! This fucking bastard deserves a lot more for what he did for a few fucking Galleons!" The Auror-in-training screamed as she tried to reach him with her bare hands, her wand having been taken away by Kingsley who was looking shocked at the trainee reacting this much. "This bastard… Because of him, Harry…"
"Wait, what happened to Harry?" The rushed question from Sirius drew her attention to the falsely convicted man, and the sudden drop in aggression and increase in sobbing made everyone dread the news. The man came to her and got the others to release her, making her drop into his arms and sobbed loudly while hugging the life out of him, making the already heavy stones in his stomach to get heavier. What could have happened to Harry?
"Nymphadora, could you tell us what has happened to young Harry?" It said something about her distraught state that his cousin did not rebuke the man using her given name and continued to let her tears soak Sirius's shirt. It took some gentle prodding and a silence ward around him to lessen the noise and frantic demands around the two before she slowly looked up to Sirius, angry tears running down her face as she looked at him in devastation.
"I'm sorry Sirius, I came as soon as I could to get to my shift, but when I got there, the place… Fire… Harry…" The woman shut her eyes tightly as fresh tears took place and it took a fair bit of control on Sirius's part to not shake her shoulders as he asked in a fearful tone.
"Dora, please. What has happened to Harry?" She took a deep breath before saying the words that broke his world apart.
"The house was on fire, no one could get through… Harry… Harry Potter is dead!"
