The floo in the manor reception hall flared. Amelia Bones stepped out and hauled Harry to his feet.
“To leave the floo properly, Harry, you should step up, then down. We can practice using the floo between the manor house and the hunting lodge. “
Harry brushed himself off. “Yes, Director.”
“When we are here in The Ossuary, please call me Aunty. I know the title is honorary for you, but Susan only knows me as Aunty.”
Galdin popped into the hall.
“Good afternoon, Mistress!”
“Are Susan and her friends available, Galdin?”
The elf rolled his eyes. “They are nearly ready, Mistress.”
There was a short silence.
Harry could hear distant thumps, bumps and sounds of running feet accompanied by girlish squeals and giggles.
Amelia sighed.
“We will wait in the first reception room, Galdin. Please send the young ladies down when they are ready.”
Galdin popped away.
Amelia opened the double doors on one side of the hall and conducted Harry into the room.
“This is the first reception room. When we have visitors, we usually meet them here. Then, if the visit is short and the visitor is not a family friend, we will stay here. But, if the visitor is important, we will take our visitor to the formal reception room. If the visitor is family or a close friend, we will move to our family sitting room.”
Harry nodded. Sirius had lectured Harry at great length about upper-class manners. Harry knew the correct way to deal with people who visited a family home. For pureblood wizards, this was very important. If his task was to succeed, he had to fit in with all levels of wizarding society. The Lestranges and Gus put in their snarky comments, but it was obvious that they knew how to work the system.
A door to the back of the room opened, and three girls walked in. Amelia assessed their attire. The girls were all wearing light sun dresses. The straps of their swimming costumes were showing. They wore light sandals, and their toenails were painted in various bright colours. Their hair had been given an instant dry and style by house-elf magic. One was a redhead, one was a light blonde, and the smaller one had darker blonde hair.
Amelia smiled and beckoned them to her.
“Harry Potter, may I present my niece, Susan Bones.”
Harry stepped forward and gave the redhead a slight bow. Ten-year-old boys did not kiss the young lady’s fingers or touch any young lady when they were introduced. Such formalities were meant for of-age adults. Susan made a curtsy.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Susan.”
Susan smiled. “It’s good to meet you, Harry.”
Amelia beckoned the blonde girl forward.
“Harry, may I present Susan’s friend, Hannah Abbott.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hannah.”
Hannah glanced nervously at Amelia while performing her curtsy. “Nice to meet you, Harry.”
Amelia waved the third girl closer.
“Harry, may I present Susan and Hannah’s friend, Luna Lovegood.”
Luna gave Harry a steady stare. “Harry Potter! Are you really THE Harry Potter, ‘The Boy Who Lived’.”
Susan reacted. “Luna! Don’t be rude.”
Harry raised his right hand in a placating gesture. “Don’t worry, Susan. Yes, Luna, I am THE Harry Potter.”
Amelia stepped in between them.
“I’m sorry, Harry. I must go back to the Ministry now. I will leave you with the girls until I get back tonight.
Girls! You may ask Harry questions but don’t get upset if he doesn’t answer. He will start at Hogwarts with Susan and Hannah and stay with us until then.”
Amelia paused, then called, “Galdin!”
“Yes, Mistress!”
“Go to Twilfitt and Tattings and get a complete set of outfits for Harry. Take his size from what he is wearing now. He has no clothes or shoes of his own. Susan, get your magazines out. Pick something stylish for Galdin to buy for Harry.”
Susan bounced on her toes. “Wow! Can I go with Galdin?”
Amelia shook her head. “You are not going without me. Galdin will get something that Harry can wear. Girls, take Harry and look through the magazines.
Galdin! Don’t let them delay you for more than half an hour.”
“Yes, Mistress!”
“I must go.” Amelia walked quickly to the reception hall and flooed away.
Harry looked at the girls.
-ooOOoo-
The only female Harry had ever had much contact with was Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bella was in the cell that Harry had been dumped in when he was sent to Azkaban. The guards did not want to risk him being out of the magic suppression cells and away from the dementors. As his life expectancy was a few weeks, no effort was made to give him his private cell and a dementor.
Bella recognized Harry. She shared her meagre rations and slept with him to keep him alive during the freezing nights.
This was not due to any loving feelings she had for Harry. She wanted him to survive and become her disciple. She was going to train little Harry Potter to become another Death Eater.
Then Sirius Black was locked into a cell near Bella.
Sirius went crazier than ever when he saw Harry.
Harry never thought of Bella as anything other than his much older murderous second cousin.
Aunty Amelia was the tough and intimidating DMLE Director.
Now Harry was confronted with some entirely different females, pre-teen girls.
-ooOOoo-
“Come into the sitting room, Harry. I will get the latest Twilfitt and Tattings catalogue and some magazines.” Susan skipped away.
Hannah and Luna moved to the door.
Luna turned to Harry. “Come on, Harry. We don’t bite.”
Hannah guffawed. Luna smiled.
Harry allowed them to lead him to a room at the back of the house. There were comfortable couches and armchairs. Large windows looked out over a swimming pool. The girls had obviously just been dragged from it.
Susan hurried into the room with Galdin. They were carrying a stack of glossy magazines.
The girls gathered around a low table and spread the pages of wizarding fashions for young men.
“Galdin, Harry will need five of these and three of these. But, first, let’s check the colour.”
Susan held a page to Harry’s face while the others examined him.
“Not that! Not that, either! That one! That one too!” The selections were made.
Galdin left. Susan exclaimed, “We aren’t finished!”
Hannah laughed. “Galdin thinks you are.”
Susan and Hannah sat back on their chairs and looked at Harry.
Hannah spoke first, “Harry, can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything, Hannah. Of course, I won’t promise to give you all the answers, but you can still ask.” Harry didn’t smile and looked down.
“Where have you been for the last ten years?”
Susan gasped. Luna lost her dreamy look and turned her gaze to Harry.
“When I was fifteen months old, my parents were murdered.” The girls nodded. They knew this.
“I was put into a home where I was supposed to be safe.” The girls nodded again.
“However, I was not safe. I had a massive outburst of uncontrolled magic. Three people died, and the house that we were in was torn apart. I was injured and ended up with all these cuts and scars.”
Susan covered her mouth; Hannah gasped; Luna stared with greater intensity.
“The healers checked me. I had a lot of power, far too much to be safe, and it was unstable. The only safe place I could stay was the magic suppression cells at Azkaban. The dementors also helped to keep me quiet. I stayed there until two days ago when Aunty Amelia collected me and took me to St Mungo’s Secure Ward.”
Luna spoke. “You aren’t unstable now. You are calm and controlled. You have a lot of power, but you are not dangerous.”
“Why weren’t you taken care of properly? You are Harry Potter. Why didn’t people care for you?” Susan asked.
“The Ministry didn’t know that I was in that house. No one recognized me. I was wearing a shirt that had my cousin’s name on it. They assumed I was my cousin, so I was named Dudley Dursley. They thought I was a muggle-born wizard.” Harry stopped talking.
There was a long silence.
“Do you want to look at your room? Aunty Amelia has given you the third bedroom.” Susan said.
“Yes, I would like that,” Harry answered.
He glanced around the group. He hoped he would not have to have that conversation too often.
-ooOOoo-
The third bedroom was blue. The walls were light sky blue, the carpet was deep blue, and the bed and other furnishing coverings were shades of royal blue.
Harry liked it. It was at the back of the house and overlooked the swimming pool. There was a broad lawn and pool at the house's rear.
“I like the room very much. Sorry, but I am tired. I would like to lie down for a bit if I can.”
Susan reacted. “Of course, you don’t seem to be very strong. You didn’t get much food in Azkaban, did you?”
“The healers said that I was on the edge of starving to death for years. They gave me their plan to get me back to an average weight but said not to rush it. They said that if I felt tired, then I should rest.”
The girls glanced at each other.
“Have a rest, Harry. We will catch up with you later.” Susan replied.
The girls left, and the door closed. Harry took his boots off and lay on the bed.
He was asleep in seconds.
-ooOOoo-
Across the hall from the Blue Room, a conference was taking place.
“He’s quiet,” Susan said.
“He never smiled, not once,” Hannah replied.
Luna looked at the door. “He has no happiness. He doesn’t know what it is. I couldn’t see anything floating around him.”
Susan smiled. “What! No nargles or wrackspurts; you see them everywhere.”
“No! Not one.”
Susan frowned, “I tried to take his hand to get him up out of his chair, and he flinched and pulled away from me.”
She frowned again. “He said that he was sorry. He wanted to get up by himself. He was looking very pale.”
“He lived nearly all his life in Azkaban. So how is he going to like Hogwarts?” Hannah asked.
The girls looked at each other.
Luna spoke, “I wonder! Someone may have trained him to use Occlumency. That would explain the lack of wrackspurts.”
“Aunty says that only the most powerful wizards and witches can successfully use Occlumency. Some Death Eaters could resist Veritaserum. Aunty said people like Rookwood could refuse to give up any secrets. Rookwood was an expert at Occlumency and Legilimency. He might have been as strong as You-know-who.”
Susan paused for a moment. “I’ll ask Harry. He might tell us.”
Luna smiled. “Maybe he will train us.”
“That would be tough. Hogwarts is going to be hard enough without extra things like that.” Hannah said.
Luna looked at Hanna, “Daddy wants me to learn. He started teaching me, but The Quibbler took up too much time. He says that I need Occlumency to keep my thoughts in order.”
Susan asked Galdin to check on Harry without waking him. Galdin reported that Harry was sleeping.
“Let’s go back to the pool.”
-ooOOoo-
Two hours later, Harry awoke with a start. He sat up and looked around. Then he remembered that he was at the Bones manor house.
The light from the windows showed that it was late afternoon.
The was a slight pop sound from the doorway. A house elf had come into the bedroom.
“Master Harry, can you dress for dinner now? I will take your robes and have them cleaned.”
Harry stared at the elf.
“Miss Susan would like to see you in your new robes.”
Harry let the elf boss him into bathing again and dressing in a new shirt, dress trousers and dark blue short robes. Also, there were new socks and dress shoes that were so shiny that Harry could clearly see his face in the leather.
Susan was waiting in the sitting room when Harry came in. The house elf had bossed him all the way. Finally, he discovered that his name was Jules and that he had been assigned to look after Harry. Jules was the youngest house elf working in the manor and had been born there.
“You look better now, Harry. You did need that bit of rest.” Susan smiled.
-ooOOoo-
Harry knew that he was lacking in many things. He was not annoyed when people tried to be friendly, but this type of social contact pressured him.
Siri was separated from Harry by a cell. Gus was in the middle cell of a row of three. Opposite him were Bella, Rod, and Rab.
Siri would have tried to touch Harry as much as possible, but physical contact was forbidden and only caused extra attention from the dementors. Harry learned to avoid anything which would attract a dementor.
As a result of this, Harry was frightened of a few things. One of the obvious ones was physical contact with anyone. He flinched and drew away as though he was afraid that he would be attacked. He could not stop the feeling.
-ooOOoo-
Susan tried to get Harry to talk as they waited for Aunty Amelia to arrive for dinner.
Harry was not talkative. Life with the Death Eaters and Sirius had taught Harry to consider every word before he used it. Bella would pounce on any unguarded comment and tear it to pieces. She taught him to be suspicious of every word spoken. Bella was like the ancient Greeks who delighted in arguing for the sake of arguing. First, she would tear anything Harry said down. Then, when he agreed, she would also tear that down.
Susan asked. “Are you looking forward to going to Hogwarts?”
Harry composed a careful answer. “Yes, I am.”
Susan tried again. “Do you know what the subjects are about?”
Harry considered his reply. “Yes, mostly.”
Susan did not give up. “How do you know about what they teach at Hogwarts?”
Harry looked away and then answered. “My godfather Sirius and the other prisoners told me.”
Susan couldn’t resist the next question. “Sirius Black was your godfather. Is that true?”
Harry answered. “Yes.”
Susan continued. “If Sirius Black was your godfather. He should have died when he betrayed your parents, and they died. Being a godfather makes a magical bond which will cause the godparent's death if they cause the death of the child or the child’s parents.”
Harry looked at Susan. “That is true, and it is also true that Sirius is my godfather.”
Susan replied, “There is something wrong with all of this. You must be mistaken.”
Harry did not reply at once. “I was told that the Ministry keeps a magical roll of godparents. So, if my name is on that roll and Sirius Black is recorded there as my godfather, there can be no argument.”
Susan decided to ask Aunty Amelia.
Susan was persistent. “Which house do you think you will be sorted into at Hogwarts?”
Harry said. “Sirius told me that my family was always sorted into Gryffindor.”
Susan felt safer now. “I’m certain that I will be in Hufflepuff. All of my family were.”
Harry nodded.
Susan was struggling. Getting Harry to talk was hard work.
-ooOOoo-
Hagrid hurried along the hallway towards the headmaster’s office. He was worried.
The headmaster was nearly run over as Hagrid approached the gargoyle guarding the entrance to his office.
“Headmaster! He’s no’ there!”
Dumbledore looked at Hagrid, “Who, Hagrid? Who is not there, and where is there?”
Hagrid took a deep breath. “Harry! Harry is no’ at 4 Privet Drive. They said that he had never lived there. They don’ know who he is. They said that the muggle aurors were lookin’ for him.”
Dumbledore’s mood went from mild to furious.
“Amelia Bones has been interfering. This is intolerable.”
“Director Bones, what does she have to do with Harry?” Hagrid asked.
Dumbledore got control of himself.
“There has been a misunderstanding, Hagrid. I shall find out where Harry is, and then you can take him to Diagon Alley,” Dumbledore replied.
Dumbledore rushed back to his office.
He floo called the DMLE director.
“Director Bones!”
“Yes, Headmaster, what may I do for you?” Amelia replied.
“You will return Harry Potter to 4 Privet Drive immediately. He must be protected under the blood wards that I set up there. His aunt’s blood protects Harry in a way other protections cannot hope to do.”
Amelia looked steadily at the headmaster.
“Blood wards! The same blood wards that were outlawed over a hundred years ago. Is that correct, Headmaster?”
“Yes! Well, this was a unique situation. Harry had to be protected.” Dumbledore blustered.
“This is yet another situation where action against you will not be taken because of your position. However, you can’t go on doing this forever, Headmaster. Your reckless attitude will hurt more people than ever if you break laws and take risks whenever it suits you.”
“I am Harry’s Magical Guardian. I insist that you surrender him to me immediately!”
“No! Headmaster, I will not! I have taken Harry into protective custody. He will stay under my care until he arrives at Hogwarts on the first of September.”
“I will have the Wizengamot censure you. The Wizengamot made me Harry’s Magical Guardian.”
“Do as you wish, Headmaster. A censure hearing will allow me to reveal the circumstances in which Harry Potter was found.”
“What are you talking about, Director?”
“The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes investigated an incident at 4 Privet Drive days after you left Harry there. Three muggles had been killed by a massive uncontrolled magical outburst.
There was no record anywhere in the Ministry that Harry Potter lived there.
There was nothing left inside the house. Any blood wards would have failed with the death of Harry’s relatives. The original investigators detected no wards at the house. I noticed no wards at the place when I visited there; I applied the standard ward detection procedure for an official investigation.
Harry was still alive; he was injured. He was taken to St Mungo’s Emergency. There was no way to identify him at the time. He was given the name Dudley Dursley because that was the name tag sewn into the shirt that he was wearing.
It was his magic that had caused the devastation. But sadly, his magic was too powerful to be safe and was unstable. He could kill again at any moment. So, he was sent to Azkaban. He was to be kept in the magic suppression cells and under the influence of dementors.
Because he was thought to be a muggle-born wizard, he was forgotten. So that was where he stayed until his Hogwarts letter found him.”
Dumbledore was now livid.
“That is all impossible, Director! I placed the most powerful binding on his magic when I left him with the Dursleys. So, nothing that you have said could possibly happen.”
Amelia glared at the image in her fireplace. “Make your complaints to the Wizengamot, Headmaster. You should be sure of your facts before you do.”
Amelia gestured at the fireplace and closed the floo call.
The report to the Minister for Magic had just been sent to the minister’s office. Dumbledore relied on his reputation and influence. The evidence was strong enough to challenge his authority, but he could still win and discredit Amelia. The wizarding world did not always let the facts get in the way of political ambition.
-ooOOoo-
Amelia had asked the house elves to prepare the planned dinner for herself and Susan and a light serving for Harry. Harry’s meals would be slowly increased in size over the coming weeks.
Amelia arrived at The Ossuary for the evening meal. She tried to be present for dinner even if she had to leave again to continue her duties.
Amelia had her usual question-and-answer time with Susan after dinner. Amelia often asked Susan to read and research questions about the wizarding and muggle worlds.
“Susan, Harry, did you learn more about each other this afternoon?”
Susan replied, “A little; Harry was very tired and slept for hours.”
Amelia smiled at Harry. “This was a big day for Harry. We went to Gringotts, and Harry received his heir’s ring from the Potter account manager. He also collected his blood inheritance scroll. It was fascinating. Harry is connected to many powerful families.”
Harry nodded. “I knew that from Sirius, Bellatrix, and the others. It was good to see it written out in detail. Sirius always ensured that the Death Eaters' blood purity attitude didn’t sway me. He kept reminding me that my mother was a muggle-born witch and was more knowledgeable and skilled than any other student in Hogwarts.”
“Harry, how did you like talking to the girls? Was it different from your normal conversation.?”
“I enjoyed talking to the girls. I think that they had a hard time, though. I usually try to answer questions with as few words as possible. Bella deliberately trained me to be secretive. Sirius tried to stop her, but he couldn’t do it all the time. He had to put a lot of effort into resisting the dementors. The others did too, but Bella seemed to be the least affected by them.”
“Can you tell us what they trained you to do?” Susan asked.
“They wanted to teach me how to be insulated. They kept on saying that I should not depend on anyone in authority. Bella was scathing whenever Sirius tried to defend the light side of wizarding politics. She kept saying that Dumbledore was just another powerful wizard with secret plans. She said that Sirius and the other light-side followers were his pawns.”
Amelia stared at Harry and didn’t respond. Her opinions about Dumbledore were horribly similar to Bellatrix Lestrange’s.
Harry spoke again. “Sirius attacked them as well. He kept saying that they knew their Dark Lord had lied to them. They had been tricked into letting him put his mark on them. So, the Dark Lord enslaved them, and they could not escape. In response, they had nothing to say. They yelled and shouted a lot, but Bella’s training showed me they had no answer. They knew they were slaves, and nothing could free them except death.”
Susan squirmed in her seat. “This is sad.”
“Sorry, this is where I come from,” Harry answered.
Susan looked at Aunty Amelia, then turned to Harry. “Do you want to play Exploding Snap?”
“Sure, how do you play that?”
Amelia let her breath out. She resolved to keep better control of dinner table conversations.
-ooOOoo-
The owl arrived early at The Ossuary. It was from Dumbledore with a letter for Amelia.
251Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSiG9gqzNJ
July 26, 1991
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Amelia,
Please have Harry ready to be introduced to the wizarding world by a Hogwarts staff member.
If convenient, bring Harry to The Leaky Cauldron at ten am on August 1.
He will be escorted to Diagon Alley to do his school shopping.
Rubius Hagrid will be the Hogwarts staff member. Hagrid will have Harry’s vault key. The key will be returned to me when Harry's shopping is complete.
Please ask Harry to send a letter of response to his Hogwarts Letter of Acceptance to the Deputy Headmistress. This is a formality, but every student is expected to respond.
Sincerely
A.P.W.B. Dumbledore
Headmaster
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
251Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzvEySNHhf
Amelia asked Harry to write a short letter accepting his invitation to Hogwarts.
Harry went to the library, sat at a desk, and wrote a short letter.
Amelia asked to see it.
251Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKulSxMJzT
July 27, 1991
Deputy Headmistress
Thank you for your invitation to attend Hogwarts.
I will accept the invitation.
Sincerely,
Harry J. Potter
251Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSvrpB0gur
The letter was written in fancy handwriting with flourishes and curly additions to many of the letters.
“Who taught you to write like this?”
“Gus,” Harry replied.
“Was that Augustus Rookwood?”
“Yes, he insisted that I learn something Azkaban couldn’t take away from me,” Harry replied.
“Do you know what this style of writing is called?”
“Gus said it was Copperplate. He said that it was also known as English Roundhand.”
Amelia took Harry to the manor owl roost and watched as Harry attached his letter to an owl and sent it to Hogwarts.
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