Reports had been sent to the Minister for Magic by Amelia and Scrimgeour concerning Harry.
At first, there was no reply. No headlines had appeared in The Daily Prophet, so the minister didn’t press the panic button.
Amelia had to ask for a meeting to discuss the situation.
Fudge avoided meetings with the DMLE Director if he possibly could. The meeting that Amelia had requested suddenly happened when articles appeared in the wizarding press.
The articles had headings like “The Boy Who Lived shops at Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions”.
These gossip articles spurred the minister's interest.
“Amelia, you mentioned in your note about Harry Potter being returned to magical society. I couldn’t help but notice that he has already been seen in Diagon Alley shopping for his school things.
You seem to have taken over his care and protection from Headmaster Dumbledore.
Perhaps he could come to the Ministry for a photo opportunity?”
Amelia managed to keep a straight face.
“Minister, I am not Master Potter’s Magical Guardian. In fact, I understand that matters such as ‘Photo Opportunities’ must be arranged with him. Master Potter’s Magical Guardian is still Headmaster Dumbledore. My interest in Master Potter arises from the circumstances of his discovery in the high-security section of Azkaban. Master Potter has been imprisoned in Azkaban since he was fifteen months old.
Consequently, I placed Master Potter in protective custody to prevent him from being returned there if there were any more unfortunate misunderstandings.”
Fudge gaped at Amelia.
“AZKABAN!”
Amelia raised her eyebrows. Fudge had not read her reports. Fudge never read reports and relied on verbal briefings from the few officials he listened to.
“Yes, Minister! Azkaban!”
“How? Who did that?”
Amelia and Scrimgeour gave Fudge a summary of their reports. Fudge started to understand how disastrous this could be when the truth finally came out.
“How much of this can be kept quiet?” Fudge squeaked.
Scrimgeour grimaced. “Too many people know too much of it, Minister. The healers and staff at St Mungo’s Emergency and Rehabilitation know everything. It will all come out. The amazing thing to me is that The Daily Prophet doesn’t have the story yet.”
Amelia spoke up while she had the Minister’s attention, “There are still questions we don’t have answers for. The big one is ‘What happened to Dumbledore’s binding on Harry Potter’s magic?’ Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard alive. How could his binding fail? I have asked the Director of the Department of Mysteries to give an opinion about this. He will send his report to you, Minister. Can you please send it on to the DMLE when it arrives?”
“Yes, of course, Amelia. We must make sure about questions like that.”
Amelia held back her reaction. Fudge would love to have something with which to embarrass Dumbledore.
“There is a connected issue which must be dealt with,” Amelia said.
“There’s more?” Fudge asked.
“Harry has pointed out that Sirius Black is registered as his godfather. The magic of the godparent's bond should have killed Black if he did betray the Potters and contributed to their death. We have checked the Roll of Godparents in the Ministry Registration Office. Harry Potter is listed there, and Sirius Black is one of his godparents. The other godparent is Alice Longbottom.”
Amelia waited for a reaction, but none came.
“Harry has also asked Gringotts for a list of all debts still owed to the Potter accounts. There is one debt which stands out. Peter Pettigrew still owes the Potters money.
The goblins would refuse to tell us if the Ministry demanded information about any client. However, if an important client like Harry Potter asks for information about his accounts, they will give it to him. Harry then gave it to me. This is proof that Peter Pettigrew is still alive. If Pettigrew was dead, the debt would have been reassigned to Pettigrew’s heir.”
“What are you saying, Amelia?”
“The DMLE should investigate the case against Black. One of the accusations against Black was the Pettigrew murder. We know that the accusation is false. So, we have to question the rest of the allegations.
I know that Black confessed. However, I have to question that as well. Black was never a calm, sensible character. He may have several screws loose, but he may not be a traitor or a murderer.”
“Do what you can without making anything public, Amelia. I won’t openly support you unless you can show the public Peter Pettigrew is alive.”
Amelia nodded.
On their way back to the DMLE office, Scrimgeour gave his opinion. “Snivelling coward.”
-ooOOoo-
The following morning, Albus Dumbledore received an owl from Cornelius Fudge. Albus read the letter and scowled.
Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes, was preening himself on the perch. Albus was in the habit of discussing his problems with Fawkes even though Fawkes never replied to Albus.
“Fudge wants to gain popularity points by being seen with Harry Potter. I won’t let him.” Dumbledore grumbled.
“I haven’t met Harry myself; that would be too much. Instead, I wanted Harry to be given an easy welcome back to the wizarding world. Director Bones and the Minister want to use him to build their reputations.”
Dumbledore reconsidered the report that Hagrid had given him.
‘Headmaster, I’m worried about Harry. When I met him at The Leaky Cauldron, he just stood there and stared at me. But, o’ course, Director Bones was there all the time an’ wouldn’t go away.
Perfessor Quirrell was there and spoke ta’ Harry, but Harry acted strange. The perfessor shook Harry’s hand, but Harry whipped his hand away as though Quirrell was poison to touch.
Harry ‘ardly talked at all and didn’t ask me any questions either.
Then there was the business about his vault key a’ Gringotts.
The goblins gave the key to Harry and tol’ him ta’ keep it.
He wouldn’t give it back to me after.
When he was gettin’ his robes measured up at Madame Malkin’s, he was talkin’ friendly to the Malfoy boy. I didn’ like that, but the Malfoy boy went all snooty and left when I gave Harry an ice cream.
I was tryin’ no’ to look, but Harry’s face is covered with bad scars. There are big scars that run across his head.
He wears a big old-fashioned pointy hat all the time. I s’pose tha’s to hide the scars.
He’s got glasses. Dark glasses that are so dark that ya’ can’t see through ‘em. Harry says they help him see, but I don’t like it.’
-ooOOoo-
Dumbledore tried to think positively, but he didn’t like it either. This boy had permanent scars which healers couldn’t touch. That meant that they were magical injuries. This Harry had the lightning scar as well. Ollivander sold him his wand, and the Gringotts goblins allowed him access to Harry’s Trust vault. So even if he was Harry, he was not the person Dumbledore expected. Dumbledore had planned for Petunia to give Harry a loving, caring, and non-magical childhood. Harry was supposed to come to Hogwarts with no wizarding society baggage like ancient house rivalry and blood purity politics.
Where had Harry been for the last nearly ten years? Certainly not Azkaban. Any child had only lasted weeks there.
The letter to the Minister was carefully composed and sent off. Dumbledore was satisfied that the tone of his message was superior and belittling as he told the Minister to keep his hands off Harry Potter.
Dumbledore reviewed his strategy. Harry had a vital role to play in the final defeat of Lord Voldemort.
Dumbledore reviewed the prophecy that Sybill Trelawney had given to him. The prophecy was still significant. It could have equally been directed at Neville Longbottom, but Voldemort had attacked the Potters first.
Voldemort would not give up. He was absolutely mad, and his decisions were absolute once he fixed them in place in his mind. There was no evidence that Voldemort had died at the Potter cottage in Godric’s Hollow. Voldemort had been obsessed with living forever, even as a student.
Dumbledore kept his thoughts secret. Dumbledore wanted to prevent any hint from getting out that Voldemort had made a Horcrux. The Horcrux would keep his spirit alive and possibly attached to something in the living realm.
The vital part of the plan was to keep Harry ignorant of magical society, politics, and power. Because of the prophecy, Harry would be an irresistible magnet to draw Voldemort out of hiding. The Philosopher’s Stone would be another powerful attraction. Voldemort wanted to defeat death, and The Philosopher’s Stone promised that power. Voldemort would have to corrupt it to serve him, but that was what Voldemort wanted to do. Harry and the Stone would bring Voldemort to the castle where Dumbledore held the advantage.
Dumbledore had persuaded Nicholas Flamel to let him hide The Philosopher’s Stone. Dumbledore wondered at how easy that had been. Then he dismissed the thought. Nicholas was his old friend and mentor. Dumbledore trusted Nicholas.
Dumbledore also never pursued why Harry had magically made scars all over his face and head. If Harry wasn’t raised by the Dursleys, an unknown magical person could have taken him in. Unhappily, it was too late to fix that now. Harry would be arriving at Hogwarts on the train in a few days.
Dumbledore would have to carry on with his plan and hope that Harry would do his part like a good little soldier. Dumbledore didn’t dwell on what came next. Like so many others, Harry would probably not survive Dumbledore’s plans.
-ooOOoo-
Harry needed to consider this development. Amelia had come home the day before with her thoughts boiling over. Harry tried not to skim the thoughts of anyone at The Ossuary. However, Amelia was recovering from a day of anger over her dealings with the Minister. Her mind was openly seething.
Fudge again ignored the daily and special written reports she was required to send him. He also refused to allow her regular meetings so she could brief him. He was, as usual, drifting along and ignoring the warnings that could save Amelia a lot of trouble.
Harry knew that Fudge wanted a ‘Photo Opportunity’ with him.
-ooOOoo-
Tom laughed.
“That goof-off would run away screaming if he knew what you are really like.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tom. I also don’t need any entanglements with Ministry heavyweights. That will probably always be the plan. I’ll stay away from them; Dumbledore will be tough enough.”
Harry asked Tom about the next concern. “The package that Hagrid collected from Gringotts. He acted as though it was secret and magically powerful. I didn’t sense anything. Do you have any ideas, Tom?”
“No, I didn’t pick up anything from it. I have seen pictures of what The Philosopher’s Stone looks like. The thing in the package looked like The Stone, but it wasn’t magical.”
Hagrid had asked Harry to keep it secret, but it wasn’t a secret from Tom. “I am trying to avoid passive Legilimency directed at Hogwarts staff. The secrecy Hagrid asked for is suspicious. I skimmed his thoughts and found The Philosopher’s Stone. Dumbledore must have told him what it was. I’m making an assumption about this. Dumbledore thinks that Nicholas Flamel has given him The Philosopher’s Stone, and Dumbledore is convinced that it is the real thing. The trouble is that you and I both know it is fake.”
“A safe assumption for the time being,” Tom answered.
-ooOOoo-
Flying at Longbottom Hall was nearly a non-starter.
Regent Augusta Longbottom did not like being pressured by these juveniles.
Harry had asked Amelia to send the polite requests which were needed. Through Amelia, he asked Augusta to allow flying lessons to happen on the spacious grounds at the Hall. He asked her to allow Mervyn Wood to visit to give the children five mornings of elementary flying tuition. Harry pointed out that all first-years would get flying lessons at Hogwarts. The accident rate resulting from these lessons was mentioned.
The stories that Harry had heard from the survivors of those lessons prompted him to make better preparations for his gang.
Augusta was not impressed. She shot back at Amelia, demanding she cease and desist from encouraging Neville to do dangerous things.
Harry had to ask Amelia to take him to Longbottom Hall to discuss things with Regent Longbottom.
Amelia agreed because she knew that Harry was right. Her memories of flying lessons at Hogwarts and the stories from the latest Auror recruits all said the same thing.
The Hogwarts student brooms were a hundred years old at least and were not that good to start with. Students who had been given lessons at home before going to Hogwarts survived with minor injuries. Some students who didn’t get any preparation were carried away and thrown off by brooms that acted like rodeo buckjumpers.
Harry had fixed the buckjumper situation by buying newish brooms for the school. He had also asked the broom supplier to collect and put all the old brooms in his shop’s firewood pile.
There were still risks. Neville was brave and committed to becoming a great wizard. He also needed extra help with the physical parts of magical life, such as broom riding. A few days of sympathetic private tuition would help him survive.
Harry was also in need of help. The years of deprivation in Azkaban left him struggling to catch up with being eleven years old. Susan had coached him to swim reasonably well. She had even begun to teach him ballroom dancing, a skill essential for any child born into a prominent family such as the Potters.
Regent Longbottom agreed to meet Amelia and discuss the issue.
“I will not have Neville being pushed into dangerous stunts like broom riding!”
Amelia suppressed a sigh. “Augusta, where is Neville going in a couple of weeks?”
“What do you mean?” August snarked.
“Isn’t he going to Hogwarts to start his first year?”
“Yes! What are you getting at?”
“What is on the first-year curriculum for all students?” Amelia smiled.
“Lessons! Charms, Potions, History and all the other things; what are you saying?”
“There will be flying lessons! All first-year students start flying lessons in their second week. You know that families like the Malfoys, Crabbes and Goyles will have ensured their children are as advanced as they can be at flying. Neville will be a beginner and miles behind the pace.”
Augusta Longbottom glared at Harry. “Why did you get involved, Master Potter?”
“Regent Longbottom, I need flying lessons as well. So do Susan, Hannah, and Luna. Every student at Hogwarts has to learn how to ride a broom. A few days of lessons will help a lot. I also don’t want us to be embarrassed in front of people like Malfoy and his cronies.”
Augusta stared at Harry. Harry turned away; he was training himself not to stare at people.
Eventually, Augusta started muttering and then spoke. “Fine! You can have your flying lessons here. There is one condition, you all must get potions lessons as well. I will coach you all on essential potions and brewing safety. After your flying lessons, you are invited for lunch, and the potion work will be done in the afternoon.”
“Thank you, Regent Longbottom, that will be wonderful. I was concerned about potions brewing. The fact is, I’ve been told that Professor Snape doesn’t give much tuition in his lessons. It’s another subject we all need help with before going to Hogwarts.”
Harry was genuinely surprised. The two skills he lacked were broom flying and potion brewing. He had theoretical knowledge but no practical experience.
Regent Longbottom had earned herself full marks in Harry’s book.
-ooOOoo-
The days at Longbottom Hall had literally flown by. Mervyn Wood had introduced them all to broom flying at a gentle pace. They learned that the brooms were almost sentient. Each rider had their own riding style, which their personal brooms learned. The more you rode your broom, the better it would behave and quickly respond to your commands.
The first lesson at Hogwarts was essential. It would be like adopting a dog or horse that other people already owned. The old brooms resented each new rider. The newer models, such as the Cleansweep Six brooms, are quicker to accept new riders.
After five mornings of lessons, they were flying around the grounds of Longbottom Hall. Harry felt himself mould into his broom. It was fast, and it loved to go fast. It was like a horse that could gallop for miles at top speed and loved to do it.
Mervyn was happy with their progress, but he was astounded by Harry. Harry could hardly see ten paces before him but guided his broom around obstacles and other riders without collisions or close calls. Certainly, the heat-detecting glasses helped, but Harry had a better explanation.
“It’s all done by magic. I can sense where to go and how fast I can go with my magic, and I trust it.”
-ooOOoo-
The Minister made one more attempt to contact Harry through Amelia. As a result, Amelia answered for Harry with a letter which scarcely concealed her contempt for Fudge’s efforts to coerce Harry into serving the Minister’s political ambitions.
Amelia talked to Harry about dealing with Fudge and other political wizards like Dumbledore.
“The magical world is now a fraction of its size from a hundred years ago. One reason is that too many wizards and witches have one or no children.
Also, the wars against Grindelwald and then Voldemort cost our society many lives. The dead were mostly young people who would never bring children into the world. It’s a familiar story. You will see that when you go to Hogwarts. There are closed towers and wings which used to house four times the number of students who attend now. You and Neville are two victims of those tragedies.
I am part of that problem. I could have married and become a mother, but Death Eaters murdered the love of my life. I don’t want to say any more about it.
Fudge and Dumbledore are a plague on magical society.
Fudge is focused on his own political survival. He needs the support of the pureblood party led by Malfoy to survive. The conservatives who aren’t pureblood purists support Fudge for the time being. This is because they aren’t strong enough to nominate their candidate to be Minister.
The centrists, known as the greys, are too small to nominate a candidate. The greys are mainly business people who understand that the pureblood party are killing business. They all know they need muggle-borns to build up business activity and reverse the decay in our society. They are also sensible enough to not trust Dumbledore.
The light side is a mixed bunch. Mostly, they are like Dumbledore.
Dumbledore is a conservative who knows we must welcome muggle-borns into wizard society. If we don’t, then our community will die out. The surviving wizards and witches will end up isolated and hiding in the mundane world. The end is in sight. The light side can’t fix the lack of willingness to have children. The only unifying threads joining them are that they will never bow down to Dark Lords like Voldemort, and they have a childlike trust in Dumbledore.
Dumbledore plots and schemes and keeps everything secret. Too many people trusted him and followed his orders only to get themselves killed or severely injured for little or no result. Consequently, I will not let Dumbledore involve me in secret plots.”
Harry kept most of his thoughts to himself. He had heard all of this before from the prisoners in Azkaban.
The Death Eaters officially claimed that Voldemort had the answer.
In his few bouts of sanity, Sirius told them that all they had to do was stop killing people.
Harry responded, “You sound as though you would be a ‘grey’. Why don’t you join them?”
Amelia shook her head. “I would have to resign as Director. That would allow Fudge to put his puppet in as Director. So, I have to hang on for the time being.”
Then Amelia laughed. “I am catching the craziness that seems to travel with you, Harry. You are eleven years old, and I am talking to you like you are an old Wizengamot member.”
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