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: Squib with a PHD (Working Title)
Posted Date: August 12 2023
Tags: Squib / Hedge Wizard Harry, Harry with Science!, Manipulative Dumbledore, Interference Order of Phoenix, Alive / Good Potters, Good Sirius Black, Good Remus Lupin
Possible Challenges: Fake Prophecy, Bad Ronald Weasley, Know-It-All Granger, Timeline bring up a little to early 2000s, Neutral Snape (at least to Harry)
Possible Pairings: TBD
Tropes not to be used: Bad Potters
(Squib Harry as a chemist)
It was a quiet night during the late summer of 1998 in the city of Bristol. Majority of the townsfolk were already tucking into their beds while the few outside were either closing up shop or taking a late-night stroll before getting back home. Normally those taking the stroll would take their time to do so, but as of late the weather had been going colder to the point that some news networks had claimed that parts of Britain had ice frosting on the windows of buildings and the lakes despite the warm temperatures. And if that was not worrisome enough, there had been reports of violent deaths appearing all over Britain, either by arson, accidents, torture, or some other method that had the police baffled for three years now.
A lot of the older folks were getting grim reminders of something similar roughly 25 years ago, specifically the terrorism that had the death toll hitting close to a hundred and the government getting frustrated citizens clamouring for results. Even after the conclusion of that attack where the government stated the terrorists had been captured and arrested, there was still the feeling of unease that plagued their minds. With that in mind, most would be heading home quickly and locking their doors tightly before going for an uneasy sleep.
All was quiet in the night… at least until the sounds of popping filled the air.
Several people dressed in dark robes and bearing green masks appeared out of thin air, fanning out with sticks in their hands and looking around them while crouched, with one sporting a more ornate mask with scale-like decorations around the rim indicative of his possible rank. Once they were satisfied that they were not seen, they proceeded to go down the street in a general direction, with a couple looking about the buildings as they passed. A few of them seemed eager to do something as they kept raising their wands only to be harshly scolded by the supposed leader of the group. It only took a few minutes for them to reach what appeared to be a small two-story building built into the side of a large warehouse converted into an apartment block.
"Peterson, what is the task set for us? You said you would tell us once we arrive at the location." One of the men asked while looking around. "Wherever this is."
"As you know, the dark lord has been going after selected blood traitors and enemies. Most are wanted dead, but there are a few he wants alive for questioning." The man with the more ornate mask and apparent leader answered. "The one we are going after tonight is the latter. He found out a certain secret of the Potters that is quite surprising."
"Who is it?"
"Apparently the Potters have another son, a twin who was born a Squib." The ones closest to him all laughed at that tidbit, with the others following suit when they got informed by them. "Apparently they still keep in contact with him all these years and he had been hidden all this time until now. Word is Dumbledore has been trying to find this one since his precious Boy-Who-Lived got sent into a coma, supposedly to make him the new stand-in."
"Didn't he make the Longbottom boy a stand-in as well after that case?" One of the recruits asked.
"He did. Last I heard, the kid joined his parents in Saint Mungos barely 3 months after Dumbledore tried paddling that nonsense." Peterson answered, to much cold laughter from the others. "Old man is getting very desperate to rely on a Squib to be the poster boy for the Light."
"I would have thought he would use the Potter's little girls for his next poster children after that mess up." His fellow senior commented.
"I heard he tried, but Lily Potter gave him one hell of a hexing to the bollocks. And a personal Howler to the face while doing so." Most of them crossed their legs as one and grimaced behind their masks. Lily Potter nee Evans, was certainly the personification of a fiery redhead and a temper to match. She was hot for a mudblood, that much they would admit out of earshot of their female counterparts, but not one they wanted to engage in a fight unless they had a lot of people on their end to help.
"Why not just kill the Squib? It would be faster." One of the recruits asked.
"Again, the Dark Lord wants him alive for questioning and likely for some fun." Peterson answered while looking at the building. "I overheard Snape telling Malfoy that the Squib has been involved in some manner for the recent raids, and possibly in contact with Black, so he is the best shot to get them."
"Sir, if I may? Do we have reason to actually trust Snape?" Another one of the recruits asked with slight hesitation, not surprising given the potential bomb he just asked. Severus Snape was controversial in the group for being a double spy for both the dark lord and their enemies, not to mention his behaviour towards those outside of Slytherin in the school, as many of the recruits would attest before they graduated. Lucius Malfoy was known to trust the potions master closely, while Bellatrix Lestrange acted like she was just begging for the chance to curse the man to oblivion, not liking how the man was essentially working for the enemy.
"The Dark Lord apparently trusts him, so we have to." Peterson answered with a sour tone evident. He himself had doubts about the man. There was a level of silent arrogance to Snape that really gulled Peterson, knowing his position as the group's potions master and double agent was valuable enough to grant the man a place in the Inner Circle despite being a halfblood and not needing to go through the initiation trials.
Not if he could help it. If he pulled this off, he and the recruits would be praised.
"Come on, we are wasting time." Peterson led his team to the door and got it open with an Unlocking Charm, letting through what appeared to be a decent looking lobby that was a little plain and an elevator waiting for them. One of the others pointed to the wall that had mailboxes built into it, and more importantly, one specific name and floor number to direct them. It took a while to determine the controls, but eventually the one nearest to the door pressed the button to the desired level.
"I took muggle studies to get my father off my back." That one replied, getting nods of understanding. The elevator chimed before the doors opened for them to come out and paused at the open space living area that was quite tasteful and boasted a decent view of the town out the window.
"Not a bad place for a squib to be living in." Peterson looked about the place, his eyes settling on the photo by the fireplace that had the Potters in some park. "Must be on his parent's money."
"Waste of money to use on him." One of the recruits snorted at that. "Homenum Revelio." The man casted the Human Presence Revealing Spell to check the place, and got a result. "I am detecting a couple of presences at the back, through the door there."
"All right, let's get this done." Peterson led the group to the door and unlocked it with a charm to find themselves in an open corridor with small photo frames hung on the wall and doors on the right, the left side open to the windows that showed off the canal nearest to them, the light reflecting off the water by the lamps near the canal. They took their time to check each room just in case, which was just as well as they found a secret room by accident when one of the recruits checked a bookshelf and activated something to reveal a door behind it, showing what appeared to be a very up-to-date potions lab that was cleaner and more organised than the one at Hogwarts.
Peterson would love to see the expression on Snape's face at the thought of a Potter having a better setup than him.
"What type of place is this?" One of the recruits looked about in wonder.
"Typical setup for a squib to do potions, I would assume." Another shrugged as he checked some of the bottled items. "A lot tidier than the one back in the base."
"What are these?" One of the recruits poked the vial containing a glowing liquid before looking at the description. "There are a whole bunch of words I don't understand."
"Doesn't matter what they are. We just need to find the Squib and capture him alive, nothing else should affect the mission." The leader snapped at them. "Now move on, that guy can't be far." They moved on from the lab and to another room that had several paintings that looked like they could be sold for a good amount. The leader figured it would be a waste for them to be destroyed and decided that they could take the paintings afterwards. It was as they exited another room that appeared to be a different living room that something changed.
"Wait, you guys hear something?" The others paused to listen, and after a few seconds started hearing a hissing sound that was coming from somewhere.
"Not snakes, we would definitely know that type of hissing." One of the recruits remarked.
"Sounds like gas being moved through pipes." His partner tilted his head before moving to the wall that had vents near the top. "It's coming from the vents." Petterson couldn't see or smell anything, so it could not be dangerous, but something about this was making him very tense for some reason.
A rattling sound of metal had the group spinning around to see window shutters coming down quickly to close off on all the windows in their area, followed by the doors shutting from behind and locked in place. "It's a trap!"
"Not bad for a Squib, but it does not matter. Blast the door open." Peterson ordered the one closest to one of the doors who nodded and pointed his wand at it.
"Reducto!" His wand glowed briefly before fizzing out. The recruit shook his wand and tried again. "Reducto!"
"Performance issue, Dawson?" The recruit growled at the taunt and their laughs.
"Enough!" Peterson silenced them with a glare. "Whoever is closest to the doors, blast them open. Same goes for the windows. Now!" Quickly all turned to face the respective targets and called out their spells, only for the same result to happen to them all. Peterson was getting worried about his situation as one of the recruits resorted to grabbing a chair to break the shutter only to have it bounce back in his face.
When one of the men suddenly stumbled from where he'd been standing, everyone stared and watched him grab the wall to steady himself before dropping to his knees while shaking his head. Two others repeated the feat seconds later. It was right then that Peterson started seeing double and he grabbed his head while steadying himself only to land flat on his face, an audible crunch telling the others that he'd more than likely just broken his nose. The fact that he didn't move had one of the others quickly kneeling down beside him to check on him.
"He's alive but unconscious." The guy then placed his sleeve to his face and looked at the vents. "I think it is a gas used to make us faint. We got to block it off." Even if that was said, it may be too late to do anything. The rest of them began to drop to the ground with a few trying to open the doors or windows to no avail, all eventually dropping to the floor. Roughly 5 minutes after the last one, one of the doors unlocked and a man stepped into the room with a gas mask on his face, stopping in front of Peterson to look at him.
"You know, I have no idea why so many keep thinking I am easy pickings just because I cannot access my magic like most people." The man huffed with his voice muffled before going to one part of the wall to open up a panel and reached inside to pull out a small bag of items rattling inside. He opened it up and reached to pull out a stone with a mark on it, walked over to the one closest to him and dropped the stone on his chest, watching the marking glow briefly before he disappeared with a pop. He continued to do this with the rest, briefly pausing to use a pole to move something that had dropped from their pockets to avoid activating any traps or spells. After all the death eaters were gone, the man pulled out a remote to open up the shutters and get the fans moving to get the gas out. He waited a few minutes before removing the mask and taking a breath to test the air, revealing a young face that was similar to the one in the photo frame. "Winky."
"Pop!" A small house-elf appeared by his side in a simple dress and a family emblem on it.
"Yes, young master Harry?" The being asked with a curtsey.
"Are the ones outside handled?" The young man's query got answered with a nod.
"They are knocked out and waiting in the cellar, young master." She replied.
"Good, are you injured?" Harry looked over at her to make sure she was not attacked.
"Bad men did not hit me with nasty spells." Winky shook her head to have the ears flopping a bit.
"That is good. Right, better let Sirius know about this. Contact Wiggy to meet me in 5 minutes, we are going to need some help to scare this lot." Winky huffed at that.
"Boys and scare tactics." She popped away to get his instructions done. Harry chuckled while moving to a different room that had a mirror mounted on the wall. He pressed a rune on the side while calling out "Padfoot." His reflection blurred before showing a different face.
"Hey Prongslet, a little late to be calling. Everything okay?"
"Not really, but I am okay, Sirius. I just got a house call from a few Death Eaters." Harry barely answered before getting interrupted by the man.
"WHAT!"
Harry winced at that and from the sound of it, others were listening in on the call. The mirror blurred from some motion before the face of a woman appeared. Harry had to restrain a groan from the sight. "Evening, mom."
"Do not 'Evening, mom' me, Harry James Potter! What on earth did you say about Death Eaters giving you a house call?!" Harry scratched the back of his head while wincing from her tone.
"15 Death Eaters appeared a few blocks outside. Eight entered my apartment, but I got them knocked out. Winky helped with those outside. Currently they are all in the cellar beneath the warehouse with their items and wands removed along with magic suppression wards." Harry explained quickly to hopefully lower Lily's temper. Then he smiled. "I plan to pull a Frankenstein Scare Interrogation on them. "
"Oh, that will be fine! That certainly helped a lot last time!" Sirius called out from somewhere. Lily briefly looked up to deliver a glare supposedly at Sirius. "Okay, shutting up now."
The woman huffed before looking back at Harry with a concerned expression. "Are you sure you are okay, honey?"
"They did not get a chance to touch me. My traps and knockout gas worked like a charm." Harry assured her. "Winky overheard them talking outside. It sounds like they are hoping to catch me alive to get Sirius." The woman looked uncertain. "Don't worry, they are under magic suppression wards and behind cold iron bars. Once I'm done interrogating them, you guys can pick them up for the Aurors." Someone else came into the mirror, one that could be described as an older version of Harry but with blue eyes.
"We can come in the morning to check on you and pick some of them up. Just to be on the safe side, I am sending over Jeffy to help out."
"Okay, dad. Jeffy and Wiggy should probably be able to scare the recruit Death Eaters into spilling the beans a little." Harry talked a bit more before ending the call. Turning around, he found two other house elves waiting for the end of the call.
"Master James has sent me over to take care of the young master." One of them replied.
"Wiggy is ready to scare baby death eaters!" The other proclaimed with a rather sinister laugh. Behind them, Winky was shaking her head at the interaction.
"Right then." Harry gave a prankster worthy smile. "Let's get some answers."
Author's Notes:
Want to change up the whole WBWL trope a little, by making the Potters alive and the genuine good people having to deal with Dumbledore's mess. This will feature a Squib Harry on good terms with his family, roughly in late teens or early twenties based on the timeline.