Harry Potter is not mine. This is a story from a fan
When you're done, You're DONE.
Ch 5 Amelia 2.
Andromeda was sitting behind her desk in the office. Amelia had just left her and she had a lot to think about. The first thing she had done was to tell Ted Tonks, her husband all about it. It was clear to her that there would be a lot of work ahead not only, for her but, for everyone. She knew this because they had so little to go on which meant that, there was a lot more they didn't know and a lot more to come. It was what she knew by only looking at Siirus's file, and that file was even too thin to wipe your backside with.
Together with, Amelia she had written down some of the things that could be happening. One of the thoughts they had, was the possible kidnapping of one Harry James Potter. It was a Sinario they didn't want to happen but it could already be happening under their noses. If that was the case then someone had been kidnapping him since he was one year old. On the other hand, there was also the wrong sentence of Sirius Black. Looking at the file it was almost a given that he was innocent, at least for a part of it. It was one of the things she had to prepare herself for. The story from Tonks told her that Sirius was the Godfather of Harry James Potter and if he did the godfather ritual. Then Harry had to be with him and he never should have been anywhere else.
She was glad that she had sent Ted out to gather some information about Harry Potter. Thanks to Nymphadora she knew where he was living now. So Ted was on his way to find things about his schooling and the medical files they have in the muggle world. She did not know what he would find but every little thing he did could help them a lot. The one thing that troubled her the most was the person with whom he was living. She had known Lily from Hogwarts and the order, she had always told them all that her sister didn't like Magic. It started with a dislike for it and it turned into hatred later on. Her husband was the same way, he too was a squib and he hated it for the same fact as her sister did. They were jealous and just couldn't deal with it. Lily would not have turned her back on her if she didn't have that hatred against all that was magical.
So she knew that there would be a lot of trouble if their biggest fear would become a reality. That fear included one Albus Dumbledore and that could mean they were in for a real fight. So she hoped just like Amelia and her daughter that their fear was unfounded. As the sun was shining through the window she enjoyed the warmth she got from it and just waited for the worst to come.
#*
Amelia was making her way down the grounds of Hogwarts and up to the front door of the Castle. She had no time to think back at her own time at the school. No, she was on a mission that would need her full concentration. When you were about to talk to Albus, then there was no telling which trick he would use to distract you. One thing was sure, and that was, that he knew every trick in the book, and Albus would use all of them if he needed it. She lifted her hand and her wand snapped into her hand from its holster that was on her wrist. "Immobulus," she said as her hand made a sweeping motion. Every painting that was in the hallway to the office of Albus froze up. She knew about the trick with the paintings, so she would not fall for it and she would keep her appearance a surprise for him as long as she could. When she got to the door of his office she slapped her hand flat against it making it sound as hard as she could without hurting her hand.
The door was slowly opened. "A..Melia" was the surprised response from Albus, when he saw her standing in front of his door. Amelia smiled as she knew she had won the first battle. But it was only the first because she knew, there would be a lot more that would follow before she would have her first answer. It took Albus a moment to get the surprise from his face and when he did Amelia took her chance to get him hopping from foot to foot again. "I'm here to finally, get some answers from Mr Potter, I want to know where he is".
"Amelia, Mr. Potter is safe and in good health, he is taken care of and there is nothing to be concerned about".
"That is the same thing you told me the last time," she told him with a glare at him from her eyes.
"There isn't another thing to say then. I'm glad I could be of some help, have a nice day" Albus told her as he pretended to go on with his work.
Amelia didn't turn around but just looked at him and around the office. She knew she was just dismissed but she had none of it. From the corner of her eye, she saw some little things puffing out smoke. As she took a closer look she saw how Albus kept a close eye on her. With a finger, she poked the muggle carousel. It was slowly turning and if she was right, these things were monitoring, someone or something.
"Amelia please be careful with those, I'm very fond of them and I do not want them to break," Albus said as he saw her finger going to the next one.
"Yes, I would not want to break your monitoring charms. Tell me, are they keyed to a person or a Dark Lord" She knew she had hit the nail on the head when he spluttered but pulled himself together right after it.
"I assure you I'm not monitoring the DarkLord," he told her as little drops of sweat fell from his head.
"NO, then who are these key to then" and she poked the next one. Albus got to his feet and made his way to her side. Amelia knew she had him rattled about something. She was sure that one of these instruments was connected to something or someone she was not allowed to know. "You are not going to tell me that you have keyed them to your professors, are you". As she asked the question she knew that that was the last thing they were connected to. He did not have to tell her to see the relief on his face.
"Of course not, why would I keep an eye on them? No, no, these are keyed to the wards" Albus said as he looked at the door, clearly telling her to go.
"I thought the wards of Hogwarts were keyed to the magic of the headmaster. Are you telling me that you have placed other wards on top of the ones, that are already here". If he said yes she had a reason to have the Unspeakables investigate the wards. It was the one thing Headmasters could not do without the approval of the Board of Governors and the Unspeakables.
"No of course not Amelia. Why would I do that, these are the best wards in the country so there would be no need for it".
"Then what are they monitoring because they are not on the bar of your brother? He is too good in warding to need your little wards on top of his" Amelia knew that Aberforth was a master in warding. It was the one person she always turned to when she had wards she did not understand. Aberforth was trustworthy and that was what she needed when she got him to help her. The plus was that he could keep a secret, even a big one from his own brother.
Albus gave a deep sigh "No, it is not the bar of my brother either. But what was it you wanted". As Albus started to snap at her a little irritated she knew she was irritating him a lot more, which could mean he could make a mistake at any moment.
When Albus again tried to steer her into another direction he gave her a little opening to ask her question again. "I asked you when I could speak with Harry Potter about the ending of last year". She waited for a moment and gave a quick glance over her shoulder at him. His face was one of thoughts and she again knew she had him rattled. The monitoring charmes were keyed to Mr Potter, It was something she had already figured out when she saw them. There were no other reasons for it, but the last thing she wanted Albus to know, was that she already knew, or almost knew without a doubt. So if he did not answer her she would go back trying to figure out where the objects were keyed to.
"Harry is a fine boy. There is nothing wrong with him, he was just tired after everything that happened last year" Albus stopped and knew he had said all he needed to say. He was Albus Dumbledore and when he said something like this everyone would take his word for it without a doubt.
"That he is fine is good to hear. But I did not ask you if he was a fine boy. I asked you when I could speak with him".
Albus looked up at her with anger in his eyes, he was Albus Dumbledore and everyone except Amelia Bones would take his word for it. "Amelia, the boy has been through a lot, he needs his rest". The moment the words left his mouth he knew he had screwed up.
"He was only tired a moment ago," she told him with a smirk, clearly telling him she had heard the slip-up, "now you are telling me he went through a lot. That Lot is what I want to speak to him about".
"Amelia there is nothing to talk about, he needs his rest and that is all I can tell you" This time his tone of voice became a little firmer, and he hoped that Amelia would leave it at that.
"You are not going to tell me that these are keyed to the minister are you" Amelia just asked as she pointed at another one of his miniature monitoring charms.
"Of course not. Who do you think I am" Albus almost screamed at her.
"An old meddling fool that keeps me from doing my work, the way I should be doing it" and Amelia placed the file of Harry Potter on the desk in front of Albus. She pointed with one finger at the file as she looked at him. "You have sealed this file together with Fudge. You are the chief warlock and you can only ask for it. It is my task and the task of the minister to do it. I want to know why I was kept out of it".
"You weren't the head of the DMLE," Albus said hoping she would drop it.
"Wrong," She told him this time with a big predatory smile on her face. "I was the head of the DMLE before Fudge became the minister. Are these keyed to Severus Snape? That is it, isn't it, you don't trust him at all do you, he is still a Death Eater in your eyes too isn't he," She told him with a fake giggle in her voice
"Severus has my full trust" Albus responded.
"And yet, I who have to represent the law, you don't trust at all. But an ex-Death Eater, is more trustworthy to you than the head of the D, M, L, I". Albus wanted to respond again but Amelia was fed up. She knew she could go on for a while as she kept on going back to the Monitoring charms. But she was done. and when you are done, you are done. "Albus. I want to speak with Mr. Potter. I want to know what he has seen. I want to know if what he tells us is the truth. If Voldemort is back we have to prepare, if not we have to help him".
"Amelia I'm not sure myself but I'm still working on it. I don't think he is back or we should have already known about it" While Albus was telling it he knew he had made another mistake somewhere but he did not know where.
Amelia opened her mouth to say something but she closed it. Her mind was working over time. Albus just told her he didn't think so. She knew that it was a clear lie. If he did not think Harry Potter was telling the truth then he would not have restarted the order. Not only that, it was also clear he didn't want her to know it. Why, that was the big question. If, she was not allowed to prepare her Aurors to be ready for a fight. Then it was clear she would take her people to the slaughter so to say. For a moment she thought about bringing the focus back to his little toys. But at the last second, she went on where he had stopped. "So, you think Harry is making it up, just like Fudge is telling everyone".
"Amelia" Albus almost screamed at her. "I, do not think Harry Potter is lying".
"No, then what do you think he is doing" and this time Amelia did snapp at him because she wanted answers.
"I. I. He is fine, just like he was at the end of his second and third year". Albus took a deep breath. "But now you have to go, I have much more things, to do". Albus pushed her out of the door while Amelia was a little stumped about what he had said.
"Headmaster I want to talk about his first year". Amelia did not know why she said it but she had heard something about his second and third year.
"That was nothing. Quirell had done it to himself". Before she knew it the door was closed behind her and she was looking at the gargoyle that didn't step out of her way again. So with a head full of steam, she went back to the office. She didn't say a thing and just rushed past all of the desks. When she got to the office she grabbed the door and slammed it as hard as she could. Cups and glasses rattled all over the place and everybody knew they could not disrupt her or they would have to pay for it later.
Amelia had rushed behind her desk as she sat down she only saw red from anger. She didn't know how it happened or how Albus had pushed her out of his office. In one swoop she placed her hands on the left of her desk and swept it across it. Just when she was done Fudge opened the door and got hit by all the utilities and papers that had been on the desk.
"Amelia" he screamed.
Amelia stood and pointed her finger at Fudge. "You get the hell out of here. It is because of you, that I'm in this mess. If you had done your job like you should have done, I would have known what you and Albus had decided. Now it is the question of whether any of the stories are true".
"HE IS NOT BACK" Fudge screamed.
"We don't know that, and I can't find out because you, together with Albus, have decided I can't get to the boy to ask him about it".
"Amelia, that boy is making us look bad with his lies," Fudge told her.
"Really, Really," Amelia screamed back. "Tell, me minister," she told him as she got into his face. "If he is telling you all those lies, then how does he do it, To whom is he talking because I can't seem to get close to him. I do not hear him talking to the papers or I would have read about it and I do not see him walking these hallways".
"He just is" Fudge screamed at her as he walked away leaving her turning red from anger. As Fudge had walked away a couple of feet, Amelia slammed the door as hard as she could for a second time that day. Amelia was beyond mad. She knew there was something Albus was hiding from her and everybody else. The only problem she had was that she didn't know what it was and it frustrated her enormously. Fudge was just stupid and did what everybody else was telling him to do. There were three people, pulling his strings and he was dancing to every tune. You had Albus from the light side, Lucius from the Dark side. And then there was the Umbitch who was just, using him to become the next minister.
At first, she wondered about having a stiff drink but when she got her bottle she saw the little pensive she always kept in her cabinet. It was then her mind started to think a little clearer. Albus had thrown her out at one point, either he had said something wrong, or she had asked the right question. So she placed the memory from that meeting into her pensive and looked at it from another side.
She went into the Pensive and got out a couple of minutes later. She didn't get it and went back in. After ten times she grabbed the pensive and held it above her head. She was just about to throw it against the wall when something clicked.
"I. I. He is fine, just like he was at the end of his second and third year"
"That was nothing. Quirell had done it to himself".
What the hell did Albus mean by he was fine at the end of his second and third years? Then again what did he mean by Quirell had done it to himself? Also, why the hell did I not see it the first time" Amelia berated herself. "Is it me or am I just getting old?" she said out loud to herself.
"I think you are getting old, I see some gray hairs starting at the sides. Your hearing is also going away".
The head of Amelia snapped to the side and she looked at the doorway. There between the doorpost stood her niece. "You do know I can lock you up for disrespecting an Auror," Amelia told her.
"Me, you want to lock up little old me, whatever for" Susan chalanced her. Amelia opened her mouth and pointed her finger at her niece. Suddenly she snapped it close and looked at her. Her eyes stood calculating as she looked her niece up and down.
"Aunty, why are you looking at me like that" Susan said as she started to walk backwards.
Amelia turned around and looked back at the magical window before she turned back to her niece for a second time. "You get Hannah to stay over tonight. I will need you both to answer a lot of questions. You have been holding out on me and I want to know what it is".
"But Aunty, I tell you everything".
"I know you did but somehow you didn't and I want to know why, how, and when. So we, will be having some company and we will have it tonight".
"Aunty, you are scaring me," Susan told her as she started to get little tears of fear in her eyes.
"Not as much as the idea I'm having is scaring me, Susy. There is something, going on and I'm afraid Tonks is right in the middle of it all".
"Are we doing this for Tonksy?" The sound of the question told Amelia that the fear in her niece was gone at that moment.
Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do I want to know when you started to call her Tonksy". Susan just smiled up at her aunty. Amelia held up her hand "Yes, in a way we are doing this for Tonks". As Amelia spoke she sent off a Patronus with the words dinner at my place bring nym.
It was only a couple of seconds later when another Patronus appeared. "No, Nym, Office our place Muggle".
"Aunty, what does that mean?".
"It means we are all going out for dinner in a muggle restaurant. You and Hanna are going to learn a lot and you will be making a magical oath to not reveal anything. The oath will help you keep it a secret. I will relieve you both from the oath when the time is right".
Susan looked at her Aunt and knew what the oath meant. It was not the first time she had to do it. Only this would be the first time she would be going somewhere to do it. Normally it would only happen at Bones Manor.
#*
Let's go back a couple of hours.
Andromeda was sitting behind her desk working on some other cases. The Lawyer's office she had together with her husband Ted Tonks was very busy. There were a lot of Muggle-borns who had asked for their help. Most of the time it was because the wizarding world was very discriminating against them, and that was nothing new. It was the one thing they saw a lot of but they could do nothing about it. Most of those laws were made by the Wizangemot by bigots and were against them all in one way or another. When Amelia came to her she realized they might get their biggest case yet. It could mean a lot for them but if she was honest she hoped it would turn out to be nothing. Ted had gone to find anything he could find out, and again she hoped he would find nothing. When he walked through the door she could see from the look on his face he found more than they wanted and it didn't look good. "Something wrong dear" she asked while she was afraid of the answer.
Ted walked onto the nearest chair and sat down with a huff. "I do not know where to start" he started, "It is in many ways very bad. I did find Harry Potter but not in the way I thought or hoped I would".
Andromeda saw that Ted had trouble with what he had found out. So she stood and took him in a hug. "Let's go home, I'm done with the preparations for tomorrow. When we get there we'll have a good stiff drink so you can tell me what you have found out". Ted nodded and stood as he made his way to the Floo. When they got to their muggle home they sat down and Andromeda grabbed two drinks from the cabinet next to her. She handed one to Ted and waited.
"Like I said I do not know where to start but I did like I always did," Ted said as he stopped to think about his next words "The first thing I did was to see if Harry Potter was entered as a Muggle by the Muggle authorities. If he lives there they must have records about him and yes they did. Lily had told them Harry was born and the documentation was done properly. That was also the place where the proper paperwork stopped. I did find the school where he got his education for the first years. But there was no record of where he came from, he was there one day and that was it".
"I found records of him being reported to child welfare but every one of them was canceled. He just got to school one day nothing more. He was taught the things he needed to know, but they just didn't get his home address. Every time he gave it, it seemed to just go up in smoke. It was the same with the child welfare organization. They got to the school, talked to him, and planned to go to his home. But whenever they did the address just seemed to disappear. When they went to his home they could not find it, when I talked to the teachers at his primary school. They told me he was bullied and that they worried about his home life. It was not that he was abused or something but more neglected. He was way too small and way too thin according to them. They did report him but nothing seemed to come of it, not once had there been any action taken to help him in any way So they just let him stay and educated him. I got his report card and it isn't that bad. The only thing he never did was get it signed by his guardians. When they asked him he got closed off so they just let it be. Now that they thought about it, they knew it was wrong but at the time it seemed right".
Ted told her all he had found out and Andromeda just looked at him. "So, there has been a Fidelius charm on the house where he lives. He is the secret keeper. He can share the address but if he does not have the intent to really show or tell them. Then the charm will just keep him and the others hidden. It will also make the address disappear for everyone who means to do him harm. It makes me think that he does not know he is the secret keeper".
"Yes, that was what I thought too. It also means it had to be a very powerful wizard or witch who did it" Ted said. Not only that. They must also know the way to get him to tell them the secret".
Andromeda got a thoughtful look as she thought about it "Yes, but it could also mean that it is only a secret for the muggles. A sort Fidelius in a repelling charm, do you think Albus is that powerful" Andromeda wondered out loud as she filled up the glasses again.
"It was my first thought, yes, but I'm not sure if he is powerful enough for something like this. The other thing is the school he went to. If they just taught him and did nothing else. Then someone has Cunfunded them all into thinking it was all just as it should have been". Both of them sat around for a moment thinking about what Ted had just said. It was right at that time a Patronus entered the house and in the voice of Amelia that told them they had to meet at Bones Manor.
"What was that all about" Ted asked while he kept looking at the spot the Patronus had stood only a moment ago.
"I think it is about the boy you just investigated for me," Andromeda said with a smirk.
"Wait, wait, wait" Ted called out. "If this is about Harry Potter, you must get them here. That boy is on everybody's mind right now, they either pity him or hunt him. Now I do not know what is wrong with him, but if Nymph has a bad feeling about it then something is very wrong".
"You have that much faith in our daughter," Andromeda asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.
Ted took the hands of his wife in his and looked her in the eyes. "Yes, I do, I know you do too, or you would not have sent me to do all of this digging. If Nymph has a feeling we always follow her. By the sound of it, Amelia does too".
Andromeda could only nod as she heard the words. "There is another thing, Nymph has joined the order. There she saw Sirius. If it is all true, then he is innocent and also the sworn Godfather of Harry".
"What" Ted screamed. "His sworn Godfather. You always said he was innocent because you could not believe he did it. But if he is his Godfather, then he could not have betrayed Harry. He might get away with killing Lily and James but not Harry. Magic would have killed him if he did anything to harm him. If my papers are right then he doesn't know about it or Magic would have held him responsible. Magic can be very unforgiven if you treat it badly but it is also very fair when you handle her right".
"Let's get some muggle takeout today. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long evening. I also think I have to get Nymph here for this". Andromeda held up her wand and sent off a Patronus of herself. One went to Amelia and the other to Nymph. The first was on its way to Amelia saying. "No, Nym, Office our place Muggle". The next was a little different but basically the same. "Nym, Go to the office, get the stuff, and come get takeout".
This was it again for this time.
See you all in the next chapter.
Gr Winmau