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: Pacific Ring Academy of Science and Sorcery / Chapter 2 (Working Title)
Posted Date: January 01 2025
Tags: Harry not studying at Hogwarts, Hogwarts not top school
Possible Challenges: Sirius released early
Harry had honestly forgotten all about the invitation he had gotten due to the chores he had to do for the coming week. What with Dudley overeating from his little trip and so needing the doctor, and with Petunia and Vernon going to check on him, that meant Petunia and Vernon would pile on the chores to make sure he did not have "idle hands to blow up their home", and that meant he was left alone in the house to clean up the place without much time to rest.
Ultimately, he would only remember the invitation to a magical academy when it came up to the weekend, right as he was finishing up with the vacuuming while Vernon was sitting in the chair and giving out his "helpful" advice that was counterproductive. The doorbell rang around the time Vernon was telling Harry to get out of the way from watching the television.
Harry took the chance to get away from his uncle, making sure to wipe his hands while moving to the door and after making sure the latch was there, opened a gap to see who it was, his eyes widening at the visitor.
"Good afternoon." The beautiful young woman with blonde hair tied in a bun and dressed in office attire greeted him with a smile, while her companion who was a tanned man bigger than her looked about the street with his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark shades. "We are looking for one Harry Potter. Is this the residence of the Dursleys?"
"Boy! What is taking you?" Harry jumped at the loud volume, his thoughts broken from it, and at the same time made the woman frown at his reaction. Behind him, Vernon came to see what was holding Harry up, pausing at the sight of the woman. He quickly tried to put on what may be his good smile but was more of a leer that had the woman pursing her lips and her companion to look attentively at Vernon. "Hello, Miss. What can I help you with?"
"Is this the Dursley Residence?" The woman asked with the tone of one praying she was wrong.
"Yes, this is the place. I am Vernon Dursley." Vernon tried to push Harry away while using his girth to hide the action, not very well done given her companion was watching them with sharp eyes. "How may I help you?"
"We are seeking one Harry Potter in regards to his placement for a school that has him in the lists." The woman spoke while adjusting her spectacles. "I understand that this is the child."
Vernon cast a look at Harry with what he thought was a subtle glare before giving a fake smile to the woman. "You must be mistaken, the boy is a misfit, constantly making trouble for everyone. He is also a dumb kid." Harry looked down while biting his lips and trying to will his eyes to not tear up at those words. It was always like this, everyone would believe Vernon and Dudley, while he would be in trouble even for things he did not do. It was not fair.
"Sorry to break your dreams, but Dudley Dursley is not on the list, and furthermore." Her spectacles caught the light and it somehow made her more menacing looking. "We know precisely who Harry Potter is, and a troublemaker, he certainly is not. Johnson." The man in the suit stepped forward and it was only when he was up close did Harry realise the man was actually a head taller than Vernon, and with the glare that was evident behind the dark sunglasses and the sun behind his head, made him seem bigger and more threatening.
"Hey now, you cannot just barge in!" Vernon tried to use his girth only to have Johnson place a hand on his shoulder and effortlessly move into the house. The young woman followed shortly while gently placing a hand on Harry's shoulder to guide him along with a gentle smile that eased Harry's nerves a little.
"Vernon?" Petunia entered the room at that point and noted the intruders. "Who are you, and what are you doing in our house?"
"Petunia Dursley, I presume?" The woman looked at her with her arms crossed. The stark difference between the two could not be any more obvious; the blonde woman stood tall and proud with the dignity of one capable of handling any problems in her path, and her appearance was one that grabbed attention effortlessly. In contrast, Petunia looked like a twig before her and not as impressive, especially when she looked like some foul went up her nose looking at her.
"Who wants to know?" Petunia asked rudely, feeling intimidated by the woman.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." She fixed her glasses with a finger. "I am here to talk with Mister Potter regarding his admission to the Pacific Academy."
The two adult Dursleys looked at Harry with glares only to step back from the man in the suit stepping up to the plate to be in front of them with narrow eyes. That allowed the blonde to face Harry with a gentle smile to calm him down. "Mister Potter?"
"Yes, miss?" Harry greeted her softly.
"You can call me Glynda." The woman tried to keep him at ease. "As you have heard, we are here to talk to you regarding the reply you have sent us for the application to the Pacific Academy."
"When was this?" Petunia looked at Harry only for Glynda to step forward to get her attention.
"Last week, and we have been attempting to contact him for some time now." Glynda spoke while looking about. "And it would seem it was warranted."
"I do not know what you are talking about." Petunia sputtered. "You must be mistaken, the boy is telling lies."
"The fact that you jumped to that line of thought before I even said anything, tells me that you are clearly hiding something." A pressure appeared to come forth from her that made everyone but the guard want to sink down on their knees. "As stated, we have tried to contact Mister Potter, and there are some things we cannot ignore." Glynda then pulled out an honest-to-god wand from somewhere that made the Dursley adults go wide-eyed.
"You are one of those freaks!" Vernon spat before the pressure increased on his shoulders.
"Freaks?" The word was almost spat out in a hiss. "You should be looking at yourself in the mirror if you want to know one. I had only been here for a few minutes and it is clear that you did not look after him well." After a while, the pressure lifted and she turned back to Harry who had looked down towards the floor to not anger her. She gently placed a finger on his chin and lifted it so that she could see his face.
"You certainly look a lot like her," she muttered, "You have your father's messy hair, but the rest is all Lily's."
Harry's eyes went wide hearing that. "You knew my parents?"
"Your mother more than your father," Glynda admitted as she pulled back, "The headmaster of the academy knew her when they were children, and I met her shortly before her graduation at Hogwarts. It was a short period but I did enjoy our talks."
"Can you tell me about them?" asked Harry in a pleading voice, his eyes glistening at the thought of learning something substantial about his parents.
"That can be arranged shortly." Glynda nodded with a gentle smile at his obvious need, "I shall tell you what I can of your mother later, and the headmaster can tell you about both parents, but for now we do need to go. It's already lunchtime and we must settle certain matters and obtain your school necessities."
At that moment, Vernon seemed to get his bluster back and tried to get up-close with the blonde despite the guard blocking his path.
"He will not be going," He made that declaration, "We swore when we took him into our household that we'd put a stop to all this nonsense!" Glynda scowled in a manner that somehow did not detract from her beauty and turned to the fat man who shrank back at the look in her eyes.
"Oh, and how would you have gone about that?" she hissed, her grip on her wand tightening.
"W-well, I-i," spluttered Vernon as he tried to come up with a response.
"If we had known about your mail to him, we would have stopped him from answering you." Petunia took minor strength from Veron trying to block the boy from doing this. "His mother was no different. Totally dazzled by this freakishness and got herself blown up because of it."
"Blown up?" His ears were pounding from Petunia's words as Harry turned to face her. "You said they died in a car crash?"
"What?" Glynda's question was delivered in a soft tone, but it was arguably scarier than if she were shouting, especially when done with a glare that sapped whatever bravado out from Vernon and Petunia. "What do you mean by that?"
"They always said my parents were no good drunks who died in a car crash whenever I asked them about it. They said that I should have been grateful for surviving something that should have killed me." Harry timidly answered her while looking down. That also prevented him from seeing the guard who was directing a very heated glare at the adult Dursleys.
"Young man, I can assure you, they are nothing of the sort." Glynda appeared to take a breath to calm down, although something happened that had the items around her start to float briefly before settling back down. "For one, your parents never drove a vehicle even though your mother had taken lessons on it. But as it stands, we clearly cannot leave you here with them." Her lips thinned while emphasising the last bit.
"It's not like we wanted the brat." Vernon spoke out with agitation, "We have tried to dump him at an orphanage, the train station, and even the next county, but he keeps coming back because of the other freak who brings him back here every time."
"Who?" The guard spoke for the first time, and his tone was one that had the others stiffening their backs instinctively to avoid trouble.
"The one you call Dumbledore. He is the one who dumped him here in the first place." Petunia appeared to have a brainwave and passed Dudley to Vernon before moving. "I still have that blasted letter that was left with the brat that night."
"Johnson, stay here with Mister Potter." Glynda spoke and walked to follow Petunia, leaving the guard with Harry next to him and looking at the other two Dursleys that clearly begged for them to make some mistake for him to "correct", which unfortunately they did not do outside of glaring at Harry. After a while, the two women came back with Glynda clutching a letter stuck inside one of those clear plastic bags and a very dangerous glint in her eyes.
"I have gotten a general gist of your circumstances here, Mister Potter. Rest assured that you will not be returning here if I have anything to say about it." The absolute loathing directed at the Dursleys was a very clear indicator of what she had in mind. "The custody papers will be sent to you within the week, and it will be in your best interests to sign them."
"Or else what?" Dudley spoke out trying to sound tough but ended up squeaking from both women giving him glares for different reasons.
"You won't like it." Glynda then turned to Harry with a gentle smile. "We are leaving Mister Potter. Do you have everything you need that is not from that 'room' you stayed in?" A quiet nod was her answer. "In that case, let us be off. Good day." She said it like it was just another day in the office, although her eyes directed at the Dursleys were not office friendly, and then she left the house with Harry following suit and the guard coming up from behind, with Johnson pausing to give one more glare for good measure. The Dursley adults waited for a minute to see them leaving in the car before they let out a breath and then looked at each other.
"Get that position overseas." Petunia almost ordered Vernon. "I do not want to be here when Dumbledore comes here asking about him."
Vernon could only nod. The sooner they leave the place, the better.
~ooOOoo~
Harry knew he was small in size when compared to Dudley or the adults around him, but entering the small car from which Miss Goodwitch and Johnson came in, Harry got the sense the size difference was exaggerated.
The reason he thought that?
The leather seat he was in appeared to have been extended to that of a bench with the headliner acting more like the ceiling of an apartment, giving him ample room to move about and stretch his legs if he wanted. There was an actual bar that held drinks for people to drink from, and there were more seats behind him than what one would normally associate a four-seater car to have.
It was way too big in fact!
"Are you okay, Mister Potter?" Harry's introspection got interrupted by Glynda who turned her head to look at him with a little bit of concern. "I imagine you are experiencing quite a bit of shock from all of this."
Harry was going to say he was fine, but paused as he considered all that had happened. He was honestly a little overwhelmed by all that had happened within the hour and was not sure of what would happen after. Vernon was right in saying that they had attempted to dump him elsewhere only for him to end up back in the cupboard. And after hearing Petunia saying who it was, Harry had the feeling he knew the person.
"I am not sure how to feel." Harry admitted to the woman. "All my life I was told that my parents were drunks, and I was a waste of space who was blamed for everything that goes wrong in Dudley's life. Knowing that the weird things that happened around me were because of magic does not make it any easier."
"It is alright to feel that way, Mister Potter." The woman gave a gentle smile that eased his feelings. "Given the relations you have, things will be quite confusing." The tight expression she had while saying that made it clear she was having not very charitable thoughts about the family that took him in. "But we will do what we can to help you with this transition."
"So where are we going?" Harry asked partially to change the mood.
"We are getting you a passport and an identity card if they have not been made yet." Glynda answered while turning back but still keeping an eye on him through the rear view mirror. "We do need to get you to the academy as soon as possible. And for that, we will be leaving Britain."
"Leaving Britain?" Harry could not help the hope in his voice when asking. The adults noted it but politely kept silent, knowing it was what he desired.
"We are being followed." Johnson spoke out suddenly with a serious tone while gripping the wheel.
"Who?" Glynda asked as she quickly looked about. "I don't see a car."
"Not sure. But they are trying to keep up with us at different points. Definitely wizards and witches." Johnson turned the wheel to go around the intersection. "That said, I think we need to get Mister Potter out of sight quickly. And maybe through the wards to cancel potential tracking spells."
"Head to the bridge." Glynda spoke while her figure blurred and somehow passed through her seat to be next to Harry startling him. "Mister Potter, you would need to hang on tightly, we are about to make a quick exit."
"Am I in trouble?" Harry may not understand what was going on, but even he could tell that someone was trying to take him back.
"Not if I can help it." Glynda gave a brief smile to settle him as the car approached the overhanging bridge on the outskirts that led to the main city route. "Hang on to my arm, Mister Potter. Also close your eyes." Harry did so right as the car went under the long bridge, and then he experienced the weirdest sensation of being squeezed through a tube like toothpaste before he stumbled. "Okay, you may open your eyes now."
Harry did not immediately do so, more focused on breathing to not decorate the floor with his stomach contents. He briefly stiffened when he felt a hand on his back but slowly relaxed as Glynda gently rubbed his back to ease him. In his position, he could not see the frown she was sporting from his reaction. After a while, Harry was able to stand up and let out a gasp at the scenery he was looking at. Glynda smiled at his reaction as she straightened herself and gestured with an arm at the building before them.
"It is a little earlier than expected, but welcome to the Pacific Ring Academy, Mister Potter."
~ooOOoo~
"What do you mean you lost him!"
The voice was loud enough to be heard by some students walking about in the castle despite the distance and privacy charms, making them look to the tower where the headmaster's office was located. The owner of said voice was an old wizard dressed in some outlandish robes and currently kneeling by the fireplace to look at the other person reporting to him.
"We searched the town for him but the trail went cold halfway into the next town. We attempted to get to the driver but he disappeared after entering one of those multi level houses for the metal carriages. Figg is giving us the descriptions while Diggle is trying to find the spot where the woman may have taken Potter. But I am not holding a lot of hope on that, it took too long."
"Keep me informed, I will attempt to track on my end." The old wizard shut off the Floo connection and turned off the fire, cursing loudly at the events. The portraits were not appreciative of his choice of words but he quickly silenced with a wave of his wand to get some peace from their incessant whining.
"Blast it all, how did they know where the boy was? There should be no one to know about Petunia." Albus Dumbledore sat heavily down in his chair and rubbed his face. The wards he had placed around the Dursley Residence had detected the presence of magicals which prompted him to ask Arabellla Figg to check on whoever was visiting, but she could only see a bit from her house and the visitors entered the premises at that point. Some time after, they left with Harry and whatever items he had on him, and now they were gone to the wind, and not even his instruments were able to track him.
He still had a few years before Harry was due to arrive. Dumbledore just needed to find the brat so that he could force him back into the Dursleys and reestablish the blood wards around the residence that Petunia had broken when she said that Harry was no longer welcome. He needed to be around so that Dumbledore could guide him to his eventual fate since he was the one who knew the truth that Voldemort was not dead yet, and Harry Potter was needed for the final piece of the puzzle that he had suspicions about, and to make sure the boy followed his every word when he came to Hogwarts.
He just needed to know where to find him!
Author's Notes:
Happy New Year everyone!