Chapter Six:
It was well after midnight before James Potter was able to get his crying wife to bed. While they were in the Headmaster's office, everything had seemed so numbing, as if they had been watching a particularly unrealistic film that pushed the boundaries of what was truly possible a bit too far. But once their minds had processed all they had seen and heard, Lily had become inconsolable. Although they had not so much as mentioned his name in several years, Lily, like him, rarely went a single day without wishing that Harry was alive. His body was never found, after all, so for the first year or two they had prayed that Dumbledore's theory was wrong and that he would be found somewhere. It was a fool's hope that they eventually gave up on.
But now, thirteen years later, that hope reappeared but certainly not in the manner that one would have wished. He had often dreamed that Harry was out there, searching for his family as he pieced together his unknown past. He imagined a tearful reunion where not much was said, they just luxuriated in the company in silence, heightened emotions seemingly robbing them of the power of speech. Harry and Allen would immediately hit it off and fall into a comfortable relationship as if they had known each other their entire lives. Thus far, those dreams had proven to be nearly unattainable.
While looking in to Professor Dumbledore's office he naturally didn't believe a word of what he had heard. Until his mind had begun working again, that is. Despite his desires, he wasn't fool enough to get his hopes up so easily but once 'Fedor' had left the office, the certainty he felt and saw from his old family friend seemed to give him all the confirmation that he needed but the full weight of the fact had yet to bare down on him. At that moment, all he really felt was annoyance and indignation at the thoughts and beliefs the boy had expressed about him and his family, not to mention the absolute lack of respect he showed towards Albus.
He knew perfectly well that they had made mistakes in raising Allen, much like his parents had made similar mistakes with him. Both of his parents were fairly old so his birth had caught them a bit by surprise considering they had believed that they couldn't have children. He grew up with just about everything handed to him without effort on his part and as a result he had grown to become quite arrogant, a phase he fortunately grew out of during the summer before his seventh year.
Allen had been raised in much the same manner, fawned over and spoiled by his parents. They had already lost Harry so they were adamant that their remaining son would never lack anything he truly desired. This unspoken decision was made without thought of how it could be detrimental to the boy when he was older, all they were concerned about was that he was given every opportunity to have the happiest childhood that they could possibly provide. The fact that he was also The-Boy-Who-Lived didn't exactly help matters as he was held in awe by their entire society all his life. Their mistakes had been apparent to them for a few years now and legitimately wanted to try to correct them but were unable to think of a way to accomplish that goal without hurting their relationship with Allen. As it stood, he had no doubt that he won't take the news of Fedor Krum's true identity with ease and the last thing they needed at this point in time is any added conflict.
While everything that Harry said had been true, or partially true depending on your point of view, hearing someone else point out those flaws in such a condescending manner filled him with anger but when he thought about whom that person truly was his anger seemed to vanish only to be replaced with depression. It had certainly been an evening of fluctuating emotions and he was positive that the following days and weeks wouldn't be any easier. After downing a few quick drinks, not caring about the late hour, James strode over to the fireplace and threw in a handful of Floo Powder before stepping into the flames.
"The Pound!" A few moments later he stepped out into the darkened sitting room at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. When his mother died nearly ten years ago, despite everyone's concerns, Sirius moved back into his old family home with the intention of renovating it. It was his own way of attempting to erase the past where his family was concerned. While the house looked nothing like the nearly dilapidated dark arts haven it had once been, it was still rather dark and dreary, which, James admitted with a sigh, seemed to fit his old friend in a way he never thought it would before Peter's betrayal.
A single candle burning on the other side of the room illuminated the area enough to recognize Sirius sitting on a nearby couch hunched over with his elbows on his knees. His head was down with his hair obscuring his face and a small glass of firewhiskey clutched in his hand. Despite his entrance, the other man gave no indication that he even realized that another was in the room, but James knew differently. Sirius was always aware of his surroundings.
Moving across the floor, James sat down across from him and tried to think of something, anything, to say but couldn't. Sirius had always wanted to be a father but found out shortly after leaving Hogwarts that he was incapable of having children of his own. He didn't let it show, but everyone close to him knew that the news had hit him especially hard and sixteen years later it was a wound that still refused to heal. He had come to view Harry as his only chance of actually being a parent, even to a limited degree, and he took that responsibility very seriously. Harry's 'death' hit Sirius just as hard as Lily and James but while they had Allen to help temper their grief, Sirius had no one. He had close friends there to help him but for the most part he refused that help, choosing instead to isolate himself.
"Harry is alive, Sirius." Almost instantly the man's hand contracted tightly, shattering the glass in his hand but judging by the stillness of the rest of his body, he took no notice or, and more likely, he just didn't care about the large shard of glass that had just sliced open the palm of his hand.
"I… I know." Sirius responded quietly after taking several deep calming breaths. James looked at him in complete shock. How could he have possibly known? Hell, Albus had only brought it to his attention that very day and he was assured that no one else knew.
"How long have you known?" The question was rather simple, really. Sirius was an Unspeakable after all. Maybe they were keeping tabs on what was going on at Hogwarts with so many foreign visitors present. While the very thought disgusted him, he knew it wasn't outside the bounds of possibility that they could very well have the Headmaster's office monitored in some way. The answer he received, however, was not what he was expecting.
"I've known for three and half years now." James literally felt his jaw drop and his mind nearly shut down. Three? Three years? His shock and confusion quickly gave way to anger and a sense of betrayal but the look on his friend's face as he finely looked up convinced him without question that keeping this information from him was not his idea and certainly not something he wanted to do. He appeared as if he hadn't eaten, slept or even bathed in over a week and the pain in his eyes was eerily similar to those just released from Azkaban.
"What happened?"
"I was sent to Munich to investigate a possible safe house for Amycus and Alecto Carrow. I found no trace of Amycus but his sister was there, and if possible, even more insane than she had been before. I eventually subdued her and tried questioning her under Veritaserum but with her mental state, its no where near as effective as it should be. Mostly all I got was inane ramblings of just about every kind. Nothing that made much sense. But then she said that they had found 'The Potter Brat' and that 'the Dark Lord would praise them above all when they presented him and Krum's head to him'.
"As you can understand, this made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why would they need to find Allen when everyone knew exactly where he was? Why were they looking for him in Germany? And what did Krum have to do with it? I more than understood that everything she could have said was a delusion of some sort but even that didn't make any sense. While Krum certainly didn't make any friends when he left Voldemort's service there were other 'traitors' that you would expect would be a much higher priority where revenge was concerned. Such as Snape and Karkaroff.
"That was about all I got out of her before the Veritaserum wore off. I was going to transport her back here for more questioning when Amycus and two others arrived. The other two were unknowns and not very skilled but they distracted me enough for the Carrows to escape and when they realized they couldn't get away themselves they actually killed themselves rather than be captured.
"Please, Sirius, just get to the relevant information."
"I was just getting to that. After searching for the Carrows for a few more weeks I turned my attention to Aleksander Krum to see if I could find out what was going on there and why the Death Eaters were so eager to get him. I started in the Bulgarian Ministry to get any information I could regarding him and his family. Everything seemed to be in order really with the exception of a single contradiction in the information we compiled on him shortly before Voldemort was rendered a spirit. His youngest son was about Harry's age so it made no sense that something like that would be absent from our reports at the time. I made no connection with Harry, as the Carrows obviously had but while all the documentation was in order, the fear I sensed from the Ministry workers I questioned about the issue was a bit suspicious. Later I was denied all access to files and personnel and told that if I wanted any more information I would have to speak with Krum himself. In fact, a meeting was 'requested'. It was politely worded, of course, but it was a demand nonetheless.
"So two days later I met him in his offices in Varna and was asked why I had suddenly taken such an interest in him and his family. Since what information I had didn't really amount to much and, quite frankly, didn't make much sense, I decided to simply be honest with him and told him about my encounter with Alecto. His reaction was about what I would have expected, he didn't seem too concerned about any possible danger to himself but when I told him about the 'Potter brat' his eyes changed just slightly but I didn't get much time to even process the change until he gave me an ultimatum.
"He then told me that I had a choice, I could walk out of his office with no knowledge of ever being there or coming across the Carrows, or I could give an Unbreakable Vow that everything mentioned in our meeting would not pass from me to anyone else in any way shape or form unless they were already aware of the situation. I wasn't sure if I could take Krum himself and the presence of his two guards made the situation worse. I don't take such oaths lightly, you know that, but I honestly didn't think I had any other choice and with the information I had I…"
"Calm down, Padfoot. There is no way that you could have known that he was alive much less being raised by a Death Eater." After taking a few moments to collect himself, Sirius related basically the same story that he had heard himself in Dumbledore's office just a few hours ago. James was still convinced that there was a possibility that the story could have been false but he had to admit that it did seem to fit with what Sirius was able to get out of Alecto Carrow. Unless, of course, he used the Carrows' knowledge of Harry's whereabouts to spin his tale.
Naturally, after hearing this story, Sirius demanded to see Harry and verify it for himself. He wouldn't put it past any dark wizard to parade out some look alike to disrupt things before launching some kind of attack. So it was a real surprise, shock really, when every test he ran confirmed that he was indeed the son of James and Lily Potter. Like Dumbledore, as soon as he accepted this fact, he refused to think of him, or even refer to him, as anything other than Harry Potter. Sirius has always been notoriously stubborn so it was surprising, even to him, when all it took was a single cold look from the boy to drive home the fact that he would not tolerate being called anything beyond his adopted name.
As a peace offering of sorts, the Krums allowed Sirius access to the family so that he could be sure that the boy was not being mistreated in any form and that he was not being groomed to be a Death Eater himself. Nothing was held back, neither the good nor the bad, though the worst was how both Victor and Fedor were taught self reliance and financial responsibility at a young age.
On their eighth birthdays, a vault was set up for them at the local Gringotts branch where a modest monthly allowance was deposited. They were free to do whatever they wanted with this money but apart from mere spending cash, all of the food, clothing and supplies that they used over the course of the month was also paid for out of these vaults. If, at some point during the month, all money was spent, the children went hungry. Nutritional potions were used to keep them in good health but they did little to aid with the hunger pains. It was no surprise that both boys quickly learned to be more responsible with their spending.
There were many other such lessons that while Sirius considered them to be exceedingly harsh for children, they weren't strictly illegal and he could not deny the obvious positive results that they had. While they were free to act like the children they were, both boys were capable of dealing with situations with a responsibility and maturity beyond their years.
With the training he went through as a field agent for the Department of Mysteries, Krum took advantage of the situation and offered him a part-time job as a dueling instructor. The two boys had been trained since they each reached the age of nine but after Victor and Fedor became interested in competitive dueling that training became more intense. They saw a series of sixteen dueling masters on a rotating schedule, each instructor specializing in a different style. Neither Victor nor Fedor were the most knowledgeable or experienced duelists on the circuit, but they were dominant because of the way they were trained. They had no set style, used no identifiable patterns. They were completely unpredictable.
"Well, with luck, we will have him back with us relatively soon and he can get to know his real family and he won't have need of such rigorous training or harsh lessons." James stated firmly causing Sirius to snort.
"It will never happen, James." He responded with a sigh. "Forget for a moment that Fedor has no interest in even getting to know you, much less consider you his family, the Krums did not walk into this situation unprepared. They certainly have plans in place to deal with any legal action you may take. You and Albus will throw everything you have into getting custody and you will fail. When that happens, considering what is at stake, from both your point of view and Albus', I'm certain you will try something a little more direct and probably illegal. If you do that, the Valavicius family will get involved directly and that is trouble you do not know."
"I'm not familiar with the name."
"Romulus Valavicius is the head of the family currently and grandfather to Krum's wife. He's not as powerful as Albus magically but if it came to a fight between the two, I have no doubt that he would win. For all his calm exterior, when he feels he or his family is threatened, he has a vicious streak and ruthless killer instinct that Albus could never hope to match. The family made their name and a sizable fortune as wand crafters long ago but their primary industry has always been smuggling on an enormous scale. The other European ministries leave them alone for the most part because anyone getting killed in their dealings are usually just other criminals and Romulus is their biggest asset in policing other such organizations. Anyone killing civilians is dealt with swiftly and brutally and after Krum left the Death Eaters, terrorism was treated just as harshly. The European underworld is so terrified of drawing his attention that politicians are reluctant to remove or even diminish his influence."
"So they leave him alone because he keeps other criminals in line?"
"Pretty much. Remember when we were children and Voldemort was just getting started? He and his Knights of Walpurgis were attacking and killing other groups of dark wizards all over Europe until only they remained, renaming themselves Death Eaters because of all the people they killed. Well that is what they are afraid will happen if the Valavicius family's power is eliminated. Utter chaos while others fight for dominance. The death toll in such a war could be catastrophic. Which is why you will get absolutely no help from the rest of the continent. If you try taking Fedor by force, you, your family, Dumbledore and anyone else that aided you will be crushed. After they're done, they will go back home and no government would even consider extraditing them."
"So what would you have me do? Just ignore the fact that some other family is raising my son?" James demanded hotly.
"No, what I'm suggesting is that you accept the fact that Harry Potter is dead. Fedor Krum wants absolutely nothing to do with you and that isn't going to change. I warned you against interfering in that tournament, but you ignored me. Now, instead of feeling indifferent about you as he did before, he views you only with contempt. You will save yourself a lot of time and heartache, not to mention the probable emotional and physical pain, by leaving it alone."
"That is something we can not do." James responded quietly after considering his old friend's words. "What happened to the Carrows?" He asked after several minutes of silence. Sirius took a moment to consider the question.
"Alecto was found dead in Budapest three days after I first spoke with Krum. She was hit in the chest with a reducto curse and her blood was nearly saturated with Veritaserum. Over the next few months, four other low level Death Eaters or sympathizers were found in much the same manner. After his sister's obvious interrogation and execution, Amycus disappeared completely, surfacing again only four months ago when he attacked Fedor while he was shopping. Myself, Aleksander and a few of their other instructors arrived on the scene just in time to see Amycus get hit with a cutting curse."
"Were there any other Death Eaters present?" He was by no means pleased that his son had killed another human being but unlike Dumbledore, he didn't believe that killing an enemy should only be a last resort. However, he was concerned about the executions of Alecto Carrow and her four colleagues as well as the fact that 'Harry' seemed to shrug off the confrontation with Amycus as if it didn't matter.
"Thankfully, Amycus was alone. Had there been others present I don't think we would have had any choice but to conclude that they were receiving orders from Voldemort himself. As it stands, it appears that the Carrows were acting on their own, hoping to carry favor with their master when he returns."
"Why do you sound so relieved about that? Whether Voldemort was involved or not, there is probably others out there that want him dead."
"Certainly there are! But if Voldemort was making the decisions it clearly shows how far his mind has slipped in the last thirteen years. Before, he went through a lot of trouble to stay out of Valavicius' way. The last thing he needed was a serious enemy like him. He was scared of him." Sirius explained. "I think you can agree that we're better off not knowing Voldemort's frame of mind right now than we would be if he were completely insane. And killing the great-grandson of a man like Valavicius is insane."
"Harry is NOT his grandson!" James shouted fiercely. The very fact that Sirius of all people would accept another raising Harry was completely preposterous and infuriating. If the stupid mutt expected him to sit by and do nothing than he completely lost touch with reality.
"The fact that Fedor isn't of their blood doesn't matter. They've accepted him just as he has them and that entire family will fight for him, kill for him if necessary, as proven with the Carrows."
"We can protect him much better than…"
"How? By exposing him? By telling every Death Eater out there who he really is? Ignoring the fact that he is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, while he is at home in Bulgaria he is constantly surrounded by people that are better trained than most of your Aurors and while he's off trotting the globe doing Merlin knows what with Victor, the only people that know where he is are the people that are with him. How much more protected can he be? I understand how you feel, truly I do, but don't come in here spouting Albus' bullshit reasoning to me. That man has always had his own agenda where Allen was concerned and now that's shifted to Fedor. He doesn't want him protected, he wants him under his control and what better to do that than to have his most trusted dog gain custody of him."
"How dare you…"
"SIT DOWN, JAMES!" Sirius shouted, his eyes burning in anger. James Potter wasn't one to be intimidated easily but this was the first time since before they graduated Hogwarts that he had seen his long time friend truly pissed off. Even when Peter had betrayed them he didn't show much emotion, he just sort of shut down.
"Ever since your father died, it seems you've become Albus' unofficial 'yes man'. You go along with everything he has to say no matter how ridiculous and on the rare occasions that you disagree with him all he has to do is give you a disappointed look and you crumble like a house of cards. Whether you want to admit it or not, Albus is your master. Just as Voldemort was Peter's. He controls every aspect of your life and you just accept it. Whenever anyone, myself, Remus or even Lily have concerns about your decisions, you just blow us off with a simple 'Albus says…'
"Well, I've told you my concerns regarding Fedor, if you choose to ignore them, that's your business. But like I said, all legal action will fail and if you're stupid enough to try anything else, don't bother coming back here, I want no part of it. If you want to get yourself killed, fine, but you're not taking me with you. You can show yourself out."