Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own Harry Potter. Who knew.

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Author Note - Sorry for the slight pause between stories. As always life sometimes gets in the way, but there was also a couple things pointed out from patrons so wanted to make sure that was all sorted. These next couple chapters are going to end up being a little longer. So I hope that is a fair trade. Enjoy!

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As Harry sat in Dumbledore's office, he let out a deep breath and relaxed, the headmaster's comforting presence filling the room and making him feel at ease. Looking around he noticed that the portraits of the former headmasters and headmistresses were gazing down at him, their expressions a mixture of curiosity and mild interest. Beside the headmaster, he saw that Fawkes was alternating between silently preening and studying Harry with an intense gaze.

Eventually Harry looked back to Professor Dumbledore, nodding at the man, "Thank you for sitting in on this interview with Rita Skeeter, Professor."

"Think nothing of it, my boy," Dumbledore replied with a kind smile, which he held for several seconds before it fell. "While I would be the first to admit that there is certainly more chaos and danger at this school than I'm always comfortable with, although to be fair I suppose it would be foolish to expect otherwise in a castle filled with magic learning youths, one of my chief priorities as headmaster is to ensure the well being of my students. Despite my preference however, I must admit that you have a certain inane ability to manage to find yourself in the most dangerous scenarios, with disturbing regularity, and throw yourself headfirst into them … a trait that I find concerningly familiar to myself when I was your age … more years ago that I wish to admit." He paused and looked out the window before looking back to Harry a somber expression on his face, "On top of that, I suppose I owe you."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he looked at Professor Dumbledore, "You owe me?"

Dumbledore shook his head softly, "Perhaps that is a discussion best left for anther time … I feel that is a discussion that we could spend hours on … which is certainly much more time that the soon to be arriving inquisitive journalist will permit us."

Staring at Dumbledore, Harry saw the pained look in his eyes before he nodded slowly, wondering what it was that Dumbledore had to talk about. After several seconds of silence, he shook his head and looked back to Professor Dumbledore and began speaking again. "Professor, there is something else I wanted to discuss with you … it's about Sirius."

"Ah yes," Dumbledore said as he nodded, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "I have heard rumors of a large dog making recurring visits to Hogsmeade and … acting slightly out of character for a stray."

Harry's eyes shot open in concern, "Is he in trouble? Do people know he is there?"

Professor Dumbledore paused for several seconds before shaking his head slightly, "I believe not. Individually these sightings mean nothing to the people of Hogsmeade. But combining them all together from all the people that I keep in contact with down in the village … combined with the chats we had at the end of last year … specifically about his … unique skill. I could at least make an educated guess … however I must warn you that eventually others in the village might start asking questions which could possibly lead to a situation … that Mr. Black would prefer to avoid."

Harry nodded, Professor Dumbledore's words striking a chord with him. "That's what I'm worried about, Professor. He's been hiding in a cave near Hogsmeade, forced to scavenge in town for supplies and food as he doesn't have a wand."

Dumbledore's eyes opened slightly in surprise. "Truly? He managed to make it all the way here without a wand? I must admit that while I never doubted him … as when he chose to apply himself, he truly was quite smart … I'm impressed he made it here so quickly." He leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. "I understand your concern though, Harry. The cave and his general proximity to the castle are hardly ideal."

Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded, before pressing on. "I know … I know Grimmauld Place has painful memories for him, but it's got to be much safer and comfortable for him than staying in the cave. And he mentioned he'd have access to a wand there. Do you think you could persuade him to go there?"

Raising an eyebrow, Dumbledore mumbled quietly to himself, "The ancestral Black house … I hadn't even considered …" he trailed off before his attention snapped back to Harry as he shook his head slightly, "Could I persuade him? I think not. But could we? I believe so … especially if I promise to key the wards of the castle to all Mr. Black to Apparate nearby in the case of an emergency … and I seem to recall that Sirius and your father seemed to be able to communicate and coordinate plans, that were of course never traced back to themselves, seemingly even when separated by detentions … now I may have suspicious but I believe that if Sirius is still in procession of however they accomplished this, he would be willing to share that secret with you and … well … it might help make the decision easier for him."

Harry nodded, a smile creeping onto his face, feeling a weight lift from his shoulder. Knowing that if … when Sirius could be convinced, it would certainly help speed up his godfather's recovery process.

As Harry opened his mouth to reply, he paused momentarily seeing a small button on the edge of the headmaster's desk vibrate and begin to glow.

"Ah … there never seems to be enough time in the day. It appears we are about to be interrupted … but as old reading buddy once said, 'what one regards as interruptions are precisely one's life.' So, I suppose we should get on with our lives as I doubt this is a conversation you want a certain approaching reporter to hear. And personally, I'd prefer not to make her wait, lest she decide to take it as a personal affront and slant her writing as a form of revenge."

Less than a half minute later, there was a knock at the door, and Professor McGonagall entered followed closely behind by Rita Skeeter. The journalist looking as vibrant and self-assured as ever.

"Thanks for the escort, McGonagall, and I mean what I said … if you ever want to talk about … well … what we talked about … I'd love to have a sit down with you."

Harry watched as Professor McGonagall nodded politely. Although as she spun towards the door he watched as she rolled her eyes, an act that surprised him so much it almost caused him to laugh out loud.

"Ah, Ms. Skeeter." Dumbledore said cheerily, as he stood to greet her. "It is so pleasant to see you and I am glad to hear that you agreed to this interview under Mr. Potter's conditions, which were quite reasonable considering the situation." He paused to look at Harry, nodding slightly and smiling before looking back to Rita. "I plan to only be here as a witness and shall refrain from interfering at all should the interview follow the rules set forward."

Rita pursed her lips slightly before nodding slowly. "Yes, yes." She said before looking from Harry towards her open bag that she had set down on a table, where Harry noticed the top of an acid-green quill sticking out. "Though I must say, it will take quite a lot longer to write all my notes out by hand, if I could just …"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he shook his head. "I have no doubt you'll manage admirably; besides I don't believe Harry here has any pressing engagements today … do you Harry?"

Smiling he shook his head before looking to Rita, "I'm here for as many questions as you have."

Rita looked up from her bag a reluctant smile on her face, "Then I suppose that will have to do. Shall we get started?"

Professor Dumbledore looked to Harry, and once he nodded, Dumbledore walked towards the large window in the room and with a flick of his wand, conjured comfortable looking chairs for the three of them, before taking the most comfortable looking one that was positioned off to the side, motioning for Harry and Rita to take a seat.

As Harry took his seat, watching as Rita began removing her supplies, placing them on the small table in front of her, he began to feel the nerves setting in.

Eventually she finished setting up and looked at Harry, before immediately jumping into the interview. "So, Harry," she began as she leaned forward over the sheet of parchment, she had placed in front of her and dipped her quill in the ink well. "Let's start from the very beginning. I want your take. Tell me about the night when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed your parents."

Having expected that question, Harry took a deep breath to steady himself before he responded, glancing momentarily at Dumbledore who offered him a reassuring nod. "That night … Halloween of 1981. My parents, Lily and James Potter, had taken me into hiding to protect me from Voldemort …"

To her credit she only flinched slightly at the use of Voldemort's name as she leaned in staring at him, "To protect you from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" She asked. "You mean to protect themselves?"

Shaking his head, Harry met her gaze, "No. He had come to kill me. He … had come to believe that I was one of two children who would be able to stop him. So he hunted me down personally to prevent that … unfortunately for him, if he had just ignored me … I might have grown up with parents and things might have worked out differently for him."

Raising her eyebrows, she shook her head, "Why would the greatest threat to the Wizarding World since Grindelwald believe a newborn to be a threat to him?"

Noticing Dumbledore staring at him out of the corner of his eyes, he shrugged his shoulders as he looked directly at Rita. "Why is the Expelliarmus spell red? How can a human mate with a giant? Is free will an illusion? I don't know the answers to those questions either, but I do know that my parents found out Voldemort planned to kill me and that's why they went into hiding. I was told, and I'm pretty sure there are records to support it but my parents had no trouble opposing Voldemort, but it wasn't until my life was threatened that they went into hiding."

Rita nodded slowly before looking down at the parchment and scribbling rapidly for almost a minute. Without looking up she asked her next question, "You mentioned you were one of two children that Voldemort might have been scared of. Do you know the other's identity … perhaps I can get more information from that source to corroborate your story."

Pausing for a second, Harry shook his head deliberately, "I do … but while I promised to answer as many questions of yours as truthfully as I could … but that isn't my story to tell …"

Spinning around to look at Professor Dumbledore, Rita was met with a shrug which caused her to turn back to Harry. "Fine … continue with your store."

Nodding, Harry took another breath, "After managing to make it into hiding, unfortunately, they made a mistake, they were betrayed by someone they trusted …"

"Sirius Black." She offered as she cut him off.

Harry shook his head, "No."

This caused Rita's eyes to shoot up, nearly disappearing into her hairline. "What do you mean? Everyone knows the story of Sirius Black. And in preparation for this interview, I looked into your past and news related to the incident. It's a widely held belief that your parents hid under the Fidelus Charm and trusted their best friend, Sirius Black, with the secret of their location … however this was a mistake as the Black's are a historically dark family and were rumored to be supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, including the fact that one of Sirius's own cousins was one of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named top lieutenants. After they were killed, Sirius then … well it's a little unclear but it sounds like one of your parents' other friends tried to avenge them and fight Sirius, likely having come across the scene at the house, but he was killed … he was destroyed. All that was left of him was a finger."

Harry nodded sadly, "I had heard the same tale … and unfortunately, I believed it as well. But its not true … Sirius wasn't my parent's Secret-Keeper, he wasn't the one who betrayed my parents … it was Peter Pettigrew. My parents had chosen him as they knew that everyone would assume Sirius was the Secret Keeper, but unfortunately for them Peter was a spy for Voldemort."

"Peter Pettigrew was …" Rita shook her head and laughed slightly before turning to Professor Dumbledore for support. But she paused when she was met by his serious expression. Spinning around she stared at Harry, "You're serious?"

Harry only nodded.

"How though … there's no way this would have escaped notice at Sirius Black's trial …"

Shaking his head, Harry looked at her a sad look on his face, "If there had been a trial, sure … but there wasn't. I'm unsure why … perhaps it was the paranoia of the time or desire to be seen as doing something or some … external influence but for whatever reason he never received a trial."

Rita stared at him, her mouth dropped open in shock, "And you are certain of this? Can you prove it?"

"Well … I imagine finding evidence as to whether a trial happened or didn't should be public record by this point or at the very least it should be obtainable by a journalist, even if the case is sealed … although being sealed almost 15 years later should probably raise questions, by itself."

Harry looked back to her and smiled at the sight of her leaning over the parchment in front of her, scribbling at a frantic pace nodding slowly to herself before she finally looked back up at him. "So … you think there was a conspiracy within the Ministry?"

He paused for a second, remembering all the difficulties that fudge, Umbridge, and the Ministry of Magic in general had caused him, before shaking his head slowly, deciding to give them an out not wanting to alienate the Ministry or draw their ire. "This all happened well before the current administration and all I know for sure is that an innocent man was sent to Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, without a trial. And that is all I'm willing to be quoted on." He finished, staring at her for several seconds before looking to Dumbledore who smiled at him and nodded.

Rita looked back and forth between the two of them, before her gaze settled back on Harry. "Well, this is certainly more than I expected … but this will be a story in and of itself … likely a multi-issue story. However, I need to fact check this if I'm going to print this in the Quibbler, even I feel that printing this without being sure … would be a bad idea. If I wrote this story and I was wrong, I'd get destroyed … so I need to look into this."

She paused and shook her head, "Let's come back to this later or in another interview but in the meantime let's get back to what we were talking about."

Harry nodded; his voice tinged with emotion as he continued. "Well … the rest is built off what others have told me based off what the evidence points to … but after Voldemort arrived … he killed my dad first. My dad had tried to hold him off … to give my mum a chance to escape with me … but she was unfortunately unable to …"

Rita leaned in, her eyes wide as she nodded absently.

"Voldemort managed to trap us in my baby room … and apparently my mum did everything she could protect me. This I can support … perhaps due to the magic in the room or … some other reason but whatever the case I have brief flashes of memory from that moment. But my mum shielded me and faced Voldemort, the man who had just killed her husband, and begged him to spare my life. When he refused … she sacrificed herself out of love to protect me when Voldemort tried to kill me." He said, his voice breaking slightly.

Blinking several times, she looked down at the parchment before looking back up towards him, "And that's how you got your scar?"

Pausing for a second, Harry reflected on her question before shaking his head. "After … killing my mum, Voldemort cast another killing curse, this time at me. However, it backfired, leaving me with this scar and stupid nickname, before destroying Voldemort's physical form."

Rita shifted in her seat, her eyes shooting open once again as she looked up towards him. "Destroyed his physical form … you mean killed him?"

Looking past her, he made eye contact with Professor Dumbledore, who after what seemed like several minutes of staring at him nodded, which caused him to look back to Rita and shake his head. "No … I don't think it killed him. While I believe the curse backfired … after all I can still see the trail of the sickly green curse and hear a twisted voice calling out the killing curse, a fact which Professor Dumbledore can support apparently based on the magical residue that he had analyzed when he showed up there to get me to safety, there is no reason there is no reason Voldemort's body shouldn't have been there."

Rita looked up as she continued scribbling and nodded slowly. "That's a lot to take in … while some of this is common knowledge or at least conjecture … some of this is …"

Nodding Harry simply replied, "I know it sounds crazy. But it's the truth."

She paused looking back down to her notes, scanning them for several moments before look back up to him, meeting his eyes. "After that night, what happened to you? From the magical records I could unearth you seemed to just … vanish. Eventually, the Harry Potter Adventure Series popped up detailing 'your' heroic escapades but while I'm sure there are a fair number of boys and girls out there, including I'm assuming a sizable amount of your classmates, who believe the stories, there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence to them. But beyond that there isn't any evidence of any residence or guardians for you after you disappeared from the magical world."

Pausing again to look at Dumbledore, he looked at Rita. "After that night, I was dropped off with my mum's sister and her husband. As for why there's no record … I can only imagine it was for my protection as much as it was for theirs, as I have no doubt that after Voldemort had disappeared that night there were still plenty of people who had followed him who would have lashed out at a baby for a chance at revenge. And realistically there is not a lot a baby or my muggle family would have been able to do."

Rita opened her mouth before closing it and nodding, motioning it for him to continue, as she asked, "How was living with your family?"

Hesitating, Harry looked out the window before he looked back to Rita, "Living with them was … difficult. They never accepted me. My aunt resented my mum for being a witch, likely driven by jealousy, and took it out on me. As for my uncle he didn't like the idea of magic or 'freaky things' in general, which probably only made things worse … especially once I showed evidence of accidental magic. While they never physically abused me … with the exception of making me sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, I was neglected, I was a burden on them, and they made sure I knew it."

The sound of her quill hitting the floor drew Harry's attention to her, however before he could do more than notice her mouth open in shock his eyes quickly slipped over her shoulder, seemingly having been drawn to Professor Dumbledore. Harry was shocked by the intensity of anger he saw on the man's face, however this expression was hidden almost as quickly as it had appeared, being replace by a mixture of sadness and pity, even though the headmaster refused to meet her eyes.

"Harry … that's … how did you manage to cope with such treatment?" Rita asked, her voice drawing his attention back to her.

Shrugging Harry looked back to her a sad smile on his face. "Honestly at the time … as sad as it was … I just didn't know any different. While I certainly didn't enjoy it … I thought it was normal. It wasn't until I came to Hogwarts that I realized how wrong it was. But while I never have enjoyed it, at least now I understand, even if I definitely don't agree with why it was done … And in the summers when I go back there, my uncle and aunt, while certainly not warm towards me, treat me with indifference, having chosen to ignore me rather than acknowledge me … something that works just fine for me."

Rita looked towards him, a surprised look on her face, "Wait … you still go back there? Why? After you reappeared in the magical world, I have no doubt there'd be a line of wizards and witches from here to the Stonehenge who'd be willing to adopt you if they knew you didn't want to go back to your uncle and aunt's house."

Harry nodded, and choosing to ignore the stare he felt from Dumbledore, he made eye contact with Rita. "And while I'm sure that most of them would be a significant improvement care wise compared to my uncle and aunt, I'm tired of people treating me as just the Boy-Who-Lived and not as Harry. Besides I found my home and its here at Hogwarts, and my family … its friends like Ron Weasley … Hermione Granger … Neville Longbottom … Luna Lovegood … and others.

Shaking her head slowly as she made notes, Rita eventually looked back up to him. "Your story is remarkable, but I can't believe we've been chatting as long as we have been … in between your claims about Sirius Black, the story of … Halloween 81, and your upbringing I likely have enough for several headlines … and we haven't even gotten to your days at Hogwarts."

"No worries. I did promise that as long as you follow our agreement, I'd be willing to sit down again for another interview. But if you think this was a lot … just wait till we start talking about the individual years … why … I'm pretty sure you'd be able to write almost a book on each of my first three years so far in Hogwarts." He said with a laugh. "It sure seems there is enough things that happened to me each year."

Unable to hide her smile and the look of longing on her face she nodded excitedly. "Obviously you haven't had an easy life, but despite the hardships you seem to be reasonably well adjusted, even though I've heard rumors about what has gone on in your first couple years. But certainly, you have to know, that wanted or not, you are an inspiration for many. One last question, Harry. What keeps you going?"

He opened his mouth to answer but shut it, reflecting on her question as he looked out the window. After the better part of a minute, he looked back to Rita. "I suppose it's the memories of my parents and the knowledge of the love they had for me … It's my friends, Hermione and Ron, and the others, who have stood by me and been there for me … and it's the belief that there's always hope, even in the darkest of times. I guess that's what keeps me going."

Smiling, Rita, finished writing down his quote before looking up at him. "I don't think I could have asked for a better quote if I had given you an entire week to prepare. I suppose that's good for now though, and I imagine Ludo will be running around searching for you shortly. Wanting to make sure you have a big enough lunch before this game in the afternoon … anyways this should be enough for now."

With that, she stood and after promising to provide Professor Dumbledore and Harry a draft of her story before she sent it off to the Quibbler she almost ran out of the room, mumbling to herself about the possibility of a writing award.

Waiting a second, he watched as the door closed behind her, before turning to look over at Dumbledore, noticing the smile on his face.

'I must say, Harry, you handled yourself quite well in that interview … certainly … beyond your years. Which brings me once again to the statement I believe I made before. Should you ever want to talk to me about anything, my door is always open."

Nodding slightly, Harry looked at the headmaster, "Maybe once we deal with the horcruxes we can sit down and have a chat, but until then I think its best if we wait."

If Dumbledore was disappointed by Harry's response, he didn't show it, as he merely nodded, a slight smile on his face. "On that note, I believe I may have made some progress on dealing with …" he paused, staring at Harry's scar, " … well … that. Apparently, my counterpart in Durmstrang may be in possession of a one-of-a-kind tome that deals with dark artifacts and magic, that he has agreed to lend me in exchange for a favor. Nothing is certain yet, but I believe there is a reasonable chance I might find something I had not previously known and at the very least is a good idea to look into this lead."

Harry's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Professor Dumbledore wondering if the headmaster had heard of this book or been able to acquire it in his previous hunt for information. However, before he could think more on the topic Dumbledore cleared his throat causing Harry to look back at the headmaster, immediately noticing the lack of the usual smile or twinkle in his eyes.

"Harry … I … I must as …what you had said about your uncle and aunt … was that true? Not just an exaggeration borne out of dislike or frustration?"

As he looked back to Dumbledore Harry slowly shook his head, "It is the truth … growing up there was a nightmare …" he trailed off at the sight of pain in Professor Dumbledore's expression.

"Harry … I ... there is nothing … I think, I'll need to have a chat with Petunia." He said darkly. Before seeming to sink heavily into his chair. After several seconds he seemed to collect himself as he looked back at Harry. "But enough of that, I believe Ms. Skeeter was correct. You have an event to prepare for this afternoon and I certainly have no desire for Mr. Bagman to come seeking me out complaining about a lost champion."

With a laugh he stood and motioned Harry towards the door, "Besides while professors and judges are not allowed to bet on the outcome of the tasks in the Triwizard Tournament … for obvious reasons … this event … does not qualify as being related to the Tournament … so after overhearing Mr. and Mr. Weasley telling one of their fellow fifth years about the odds advantage of Mr. Krum, I couldn't help myself from placing a rather sizable bet on both you and Mr. Diggory … as a matter of school pride of course."

With another laugh, he turned and headed back to his desk leaving Harry to leave the room before heading towards the Great Hall, hoping to grab a light snack before the Snitch Seeker.

Kind Regards,

FavoriteAuthor

If you like this content do not hesitate to smash that like button and subscribe. Haha but seriously if you do enjoy the story - do favorite it, other than messaging me or leaving a comment it's the only way I know if you are enjoying the stories and chapters.

Story Note 1 – Dumbledore's comment at the start of the conversation about owing Harry does not deal with Dumbledore feeling guilty about Harry's living condition, as shown later in the chapter as he just learned about it. Rather that conversation will come up later! But I imagine Petunia will certainly not enjoy the visit Dumbledore shall pay her. While I haven't written anything you can bet it was indeed unpleasant.

Story Note 2 – Harry has got to be careful … he came pretty close to breaking the 4th wall.

Thanks to those of you out to those of you who enjoy my stories, I promise to keep updating the stories as long as you enjoy them, and a special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback or reach out to me directly.

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thatcher577, RaiDaniels, DoctorWolfBane, KnowInsight, mamba, Travis Btmb, Rebel 01, jkarr - Thanks for the review!

edward kizaru - Have been excited to finally include Sirius in the chapters, hope it was worth the wait

littleemberlou - As per previous comment, I really was looking forward to writing Sirius into the story but thought it was carried out really well. Thanks for the comments!

midnightscar17 - That's totally fair, I thought she still tries to balance her practical side so not always get that response.

lukeanimelover - That's a good point and I had considered it but hadn't wanted to include too much and I enjoyed the idea of throwing him right into the action and sort of being forced to catch up with everything that was on the go.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark - I'm glad the chapter was well written, the meeting with the two was hard to write as they are coming from two very different places and I think Harry definitely put a lot on himself for 'being the cause' of his godfathers death. But really happy you sound like you enjoyed how it was written!