Facing Bad Tropes with Little Lady Potter 2 - (Harry Potter AU, SI)

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Rose at this point is 7, and I have taken all the necessary steps to give her a pleasant childhood. While being a working parent meant that I would not be around for roughly six to seven hours on work days, I was able to fix this matter by having mom baysit her from time to time when Rose was very young, and then school came along.

St. Grogory Primary School was, by all means, a rather bland school. I had expected it to be a shithole considering that there were not so fun memories of Harry in the original timeline, with the headmistress being (and still is) a piece of work I didn't want to speak much around with.

Still, I thought things would have been fine since Rose ended up in a class away from Dudley's and I would have expected these two to never interact with each other in any situation due to their different backgrounds and personalities. And I was as wrong as I could get on the matter.

It was around April 1987 that I get a call from the school and I am asked to pass by to discuss about my daughter 'taking part to a brawl' and... winning. Kinda. There was a deep sense of pride swelling into me at knowing Rose had won her first battle, but I was confused on what had led up to it.

And as I get to school and found my lil' girl crying a little while being reprimanded by a horse-faced woman, I kind of get some more clues of the situation and I get very angry... at the horse-faced woman, her whale husband, their turd of a son (who now sported a very interesting and forward pink-haired style), and the teacher trying to gaslit me into thinking this was something that my daughter caused without any prior context.

That's when Rose told me her perspective, and I knew she wasn't lying as she admitted to have done wrong.

So, it turns out that Rose and Dudley had never interacted up to this point, but Rose had heard of him through the reputation he had going with the other kids. He was big, mean, and a bully. All of that compounded to him picking on kids during the free time to get their toys. And then it led to Dudley causing grief to one of Rose's friends.

A loud exchange happened and Dudley actually slapped Rose because 'a silly girl should not talk like that to him'. That detail had me glaring at both the teacher and the Dursleys as they tried to make this either a 'normal response' or a fucking 'lie'. Still, Rose said that's where she hit him with a punch and... knocked him out.

That was all, that was the 'brawl'. But I think the most hilarious bit was what happened 'after' the fight as Rose had 'colored Duddykins' hair while he was unconscious'.

"Where's the proof of that?" I asked, ignoring the urge to chuckle at the boy's crappy hair.

"The fact my Duddykins' hair is pink, you idiot!"

"As far as I am concerned, ma'am, just because something exist, it doesn't mean that my daughter is responsible for it."

I knew she was. I could tell from a little bit of guilt flashing through her green eyes as I said that. But I couldn't just roll with this since... I couldn't validate the way accidental magic like that - as something worthy of punishment.

"Mr. Stevens, I understand that, as her father, you may feel strong about this but-"

"What I feel strong about, Mrs. Roberts, is that my daughter, who has always been educated to try diplomacy first before using violence, had been put in a position where she was threatened and forced to take action. Forgive me if I am the concerned parent when this school, which goal is to give a safe environment for education for my child, is trying to condemn her for reacting to a situation that should have not existed to begin with. How long has this bullying gone about?"

"It never occurred! The brat is clearly lying and-" Vernon was purple in the face as he tried to talk over me, but I was a bit more vicious in my rebuttal.

"Then you will not mind, Mr. Dursley, if I ask other parents to see if their children have been subjected to this sort of behavior. If my daughter is lying, then I am sure the parents will find no similar confession from their own children."

"Mr. Stevens, that's enough!" The teacher snapped back in shock. "I-I understand that you are angry, but to go around and threaten-"

I stood up from my chair and leveled a cold glance on the woman. "With all due respect, Mrs. Roberts, I found this ambush demeaning of both my daughter and I, but also of this school's fine reputation by trying to side with a group of people that have been nothing short of horrendous. I will write a letter to the headmistress and I will expect a genuine response from the school that best fit on the integrity of safety this school is trying to offer. If not, then I will take my daughter elsewhere and make sure people know what led to this decision."

The two morons that were Rose's uncle and aunt tried to have me 'pay them for the damage done to Dudley in regard to the punch and the prank'. I ignored them whatsover and took Rose back to the car so we could leave for home.

"D-Dad?"

"Yes, sugarcube?" I asked distractedly and the little redhead sniffed.

"I-I actually did that. The pink hair thingy," The girl confessed and I slowly nodded.

"I noticed as much."

"Really? Then- then why did you say that wasn't true?"

"Because sometimes we have to lie to protect ourselves and those we cared for. And what you did is known as 'Accidental Magic'."

There was a pause, then her eyes glowed with intrigue. "M-Magic. Like Granny?"

"Like Granny," I assured with a small smile. "And do you remember what Granny told you about magic?"

"That it shouldn't be shown to others-" Rose paused, then gasped. "I-I didn't mean-"

"I know that already, which is why I said it was 'Accidental Magic'."

"Is-Is that normal?"

I flinched at the way she clung to the word 'normal', but I nodded. "Yup, you are a growing witch, so you're bound to show magic in unusual outbursts, especially when you are feeling strongly about something."

"I-I see. I actually wanted him to look like that since- since he said that pink is dumb."

"And?"

She offered a cheeky grin. "I feel sorry for the pink now because he's making it look dumb."

I chuckled at that, looking by around as we got closer to home.

"I can tell as much but... I will have to ask a few old family friends to come by since you are getting closer to go to school."

Rose looked giddy. "Family friends? Who're they?"

"People that have a bit of experience in handling magical rascals. But that are also kind and nice to have around."

It had been something that had been gnawing at my mind for years now. I had planned to have someone that was familiar with the Potters or related to their friends to either assist me with Rose's growth or actually get an extra layer of protection against Dumbledore if things were to come to the worst.

But I had always delayed this because I had a very short list of people to work with: Lupin? He worshipped Dumbles; Sirius? In jail, and also deep in Dumbles' pocket right now; the Weasleys? Couldn't tell if they had this whole 'love potion' thing going on or not, so I ruled them out just for the sake of paranoia; the Longbottoms? Algernon and Augusta were horrible people with Neville, so I wasn't going to risk it for Rose;

The list was quite thin, and it ultimately came to two names that took a while to get hold of their phone numbers.

So, as soon as I got Rose back home and she scurried along to get herself to wash up in the bathroom, I picked my phone and decided that today was the day I would get to 'meet' the people that could help Rose a lot now.

...

"Hello?"

"Sorry, is this Andromeda Tonks?"

This is how I got in contact with Edward 'Ted' and Andromeda Tonks. It took a while to get hold of info about them through what I could find in Diagon Alley, but I managed to get two big pieces of information that made them the optimal confidants on the matter: 1) They had zero contact with the Dark Families; 2) they had no connection with Dumbledore beyond the fact that their daughter was currently in Hogwarts.

So, after some general words shared between Andromeda and I, I was able to get a meeting set up by the local park. Not only it allowed for people to apparate without being 'noticed' in Privet Drive by either the neighbors or Dumbledore's wards, but it also allowed for the meeting itself to happen since they lived near Manchester. The meeting occurred two days later and-

"Oh my, what a cute lady that we have here," Andromeda praised as she smiled at a shy looking Rose.

I had prepared a nice light-blue dress for the occasion so that the girl would stand out as pretty as possible, and it helped thawing the ice over first contact.

"It's clear you are quite competent and caring around her," Ted admitted while his wife walked around with the girl while holding her hands. "But I have to be sure- you can prove Dumbledore wanted her to have a horrible childhood?"

The letter I had from Dumbledore was shown to Ted and-

"That's his handwriting for sure," He grimly admitted, taking a moment to read the lines and grimace over the overall substance of the letter. "This is... I guess I can accept what you did was necessary. Still, your interest to reach out is what I can't get out of my head - you need us for something in particular? You seem to be doing quite well yourself."

"My mother, she's the witch of the family, has experience around basic stuff, but she is unfamiliar with having a... magical child. And since your wife is related to Rose's Godfather-"

"You want family to help family," Ted interrupted and smiled at the concept. "I can see Dromeda accepting to help, but, if I may ask... I think we can help each other about it."

I offered a confused look, expecting him to surprise me with an impossible request but-

"I understand it's a bit silly for me to ask, but would you be free to have my daughter work as Rose's babysitter during summertime?"

AN

Soon...

Tonks: *Licks her lips, ready her mike and starts singing*: Rose's dad is actually pretty rad~!

MC: *Knowing that Remus/Sirius is canon to this dimension* Goddammit...