Wednesday, November 3, 1994 - Morning
Morning dawned cold and clear. Overnight, the Slytherin uniforms in the Merlin Tower were all transformed to Potter School outfits. Potter House vassal rings appeared on the Greengrass and Davis right hand ring fingers. Astoria was now a Potter School student but was free of any vassal’s ring. Harry explained what they were. He also explained that he would release them from their vassalage that day. They had already convinced Harry of their loyalty.
Harry’s team entered the Great Hall together. Murmuring from the Slytherin table rose to angry shouts as Daphne, Astoria and Tracey walked to the top of the Hufflepuff table and sat. The Potter colours and crest were obvious on their uniforms.
Professor Snape strode to the Slytherin table. He roared at the Slytherins to shut their mouths and behave. He glared at Harry and the Potter team as he marched back to the teacher’s table. He might not have been visited by Hecate, he also didn’t want the Gods taking any interest in him, at all.
Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott got up from their places and pushed in next to Harry.
“Potter! We need to see you about joining your school. Today!” Hannah looked haggard, as though she had not slept for days.
“Aunt Amelia says that if I don’t get into the Potter School, she will be driven mad. I can tell that I’m nearly the same. We have to accept the vassalage thing, or we will be put into St Mungos.” Susan had tears showing in her eyes.
“You can join us today, ladies.” Harry tried to look reassuring. “I will meet you at the Great Hall doors as soon as classes finish this afternoon, and we will fix it for you.”
Susan and Hannah both nearly collapsed with relief.
“I’m sorry we didn’t accept you straight away. I’ve never had any experience like it. It’s been awful.” Susan was nearly blubbing.
Luna moved behind them and put her arms around the distressed girls. “Night-time visits from Hecate can be upsetting, can’t they.”
Susan put her forehead on the table. Hannah looked at Luna. “I thought I knew what fear was. When Hecate came to me in that dream, I was driven crazy. I told mum. She said to ignore it. I didn’t know that she had been visited too. They came again the next night. That was it. I don’t care what Mum says, I’m now a Potter vassal.”
Another person sat down with the team. It was Su Li. “I’m sorry, Harry! I have to apologize. I have to accept the vassalage. I can’t take another night of Gods in my dreams. I haven’t heard from my parents. They will go mad at me. I don’t care. I can’t take any more of this. Please take me into your school.”
“Su Li, be at the Great Hall doors after classes today. We will take you to our common room and you can stay.”
A very rare smile came to Su Li’s face.
“Thank you, Harry, thank you!”
Classes for the day commenced. In each class Harry had at least one Potter team member to work with him. He could nearly function as a normal student.
Lunch at the Hufflepuff table started with some excitement. Cutting curses had been shot at Tracey and Daphne as they left their Greenhouse class. The attackers had been hidden. Each curse was deflected away before hitting the girls. The curses hit the castle’s stone walls and gouged out deep holes. The attacks were reported to Professor Sprout and investigated by Professor Moody. The attackers were not identified. Professor Moody reported to the headmaster that the vassal rings worn by Tracey and Daphne had shielded the girls and saved them from severe and possibly life-threatening injuries.
“We didn’t know anything about it. We were walking towards the castle entrance and then we were showered by bits of stone coming from spell impacts on the castle walls.” Daphne was cool and collected. Greengrass family training was actually magical warrior training worthy of any auror or hit wizard school. Tracey had been given the same gruelling experiences as her friend.
Daphne, Tracey and Harry retreated to the Merlin House common room.
“Polly!” Harry called the head house-elf.
“What did the girl’s elves see during the attack.” Harry was grim faced.
“Master Harry, the elves saw the boys Crabbe and Goyle come around the corner behind them and cast the curses. They ran away before anyone knew they were there.”
“YOU HAVE HOUSE ELVES FOLLOWING US AROUND?” Tracey shouted at Harry.
“Yes, and from now on those elves will be instructed to side-along-apparate you to safety the moment any attack is seen. The safest place will be this common room.”
Daphne and Tracey looked at each other.
“Tracey, I know you don’t like it. They won’t be watching you here in the Merlin Tower, but you will be in danger everywhere else. There will be more attacks. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle will not give up. They might not be the only ones. Some Gryffindors have ambitions to be the new Malfoy goons.” Harry was grim faced, the girls started to see Harry as a leader, not just another victim.
“Tracey, you know Daddy doesn’t let me move outside the Manor without a bodyguard. Well, this is how it is for all of us now. Harry is doing what he has to do. He is responsible for our safety. I have to write to Mummy and Daddy about this. House elves can’t give evidence in court, so nothing official will be done. Unofficially, Malfoy senior will be made to regret that he ever let Draco come to Hogwarts.”
The afternoon classes finished. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle pretended that nothing had happened. Crabbe and Goyle were certain that they had hit their victims in the back. Instead, their spells hit a wall beside their targets. No-one questioned them, they thought that they had got away with it.
The new team members followed Harry and Daphne to the Merlin Tower. Curious onlookers followed them. Merlin Tower was the subject of intense gossip.
Susan, Hannah, and Su Li selected their rooms. The girls had spread themselves out over two floors. There was plenty of room. Harry issued Potter School notebooks to each new team member and briefed them on the changes that magic will make overnight. Harry also released Tracey and Daphne from their vassalages. They both reported that they lost the feeling of something tied around their necks. The attack on Daphne and Tracey was reported and discussed. Susan owled her aunt with details of the attack. The head of the DMLE already had a thick file on the Potter School of Magic. Any opposition to the new school would be viewed in a negative light considering who was sponsoring Harry now.
The portrait opened and the headmaster entered accompanied by a young woman in plain academic robes. “Harry, Merlin House students, may I introduce Miss Miriam Dawes. Miss Dawes is the Unspeakable who addressed the meeting we all attended at the Ministry. She has expressed a desire to meet you all again and to have some private discussions with Harry. Miss Dawes is on extended leave from the Department of Mysteries and is very interested in studying everything about your experiences with the Potter School of Magic.”
The school assembled for the evening meal. The headmaster stood at the lectern before the meal began and motioned for silence. “This afternoon, two students were attacked in a cowardly and evil manner. The attack has been reported to the DMLE and is being investigated. The curses used would have caused severe and possibly life-threatening injuries if they had hit their intended victims. Attacks on students or guests at Hogwarts are not tolerated. Severe penalties will be enforced when the attackers are apprehended. Thank you.”
What a difference a few days make. Harry had gone from near suicidal depression to sitting in a group of positive, supportive people who believed him. But he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
The Ministry meeting with Harry rang every alarm bell that Miriam Dawes possessed.
She had sat in the head of house office with Harry and got him to talk. She listened to everything. Much to Harry’s surprise, he unloaded the details of his history at Hogwarts. He told of the adventures of his first, second and third years, the building of relationships with people he trusted only to have them reject him and kick him out of their lives.
She seemed to be able to get Harry to talk about himself in a way that no-one had before. Unspeakable Dawes really was a professor. She was a professor of clinical psychology at a muggle university, and she had also earned her place as an Unspeakable. She was decades older than she looked which was not unusual for powerful witches.
As soon as the Ministry meeting finished, Miriam Dawes started compiling Harry’s history file. The years spent at Privet Drive were blank. Harry was reluctant to say anything about that time. Unspeakable Dawes already had a some of that story. She had used her Department of Mysteries connections and her muggle university friends to get Harry’s history from his school and even interviews with Privet Drive neighbours.
The pattern of child abuse was plain to see. Teacher after teacher formally reported Harry’s recurring injuries and damaging neglect to the authorities. These reports were not acted on. There should have been a case worker visiting the Dursleys weekly or even daily. She was forced to conclude that not-notice-me charms were placed on Harry to the extent that teachers and social workers wrote their reports, submitted them, and then forgot about Harry and closed his file.
Unspeakable Dawes had free access to the Hogwarts staff, and she collected their opinions about all her house students. The not-notice-me charms on Harry seem to have been removed. Harry’s lack of academic progress was concerning. The blatant hostility from the potions master was no surprise, Snape’s reputation was widely known and well deserved. The others all wished that Harry could find a bit more motivation.
Falsely compelled to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Abused and sneered at by most of the school and his own house. Expelled from his house and left to sleep on the stone floor until rescued by another Hogwarts reject, Argus Filch. Then came the Edicts from Mount Olympus. Already depressed until he was not responding to any social prompts, Harry was dragged into that meeting where his last remaining supports were ripped away from him. The Weasleys hated him. Miss Granger tipped a bucket of bile on him and left, forever apparently.
The most important task was to stop Harry from climbing to a high place, like the Astronomy Tower, and stepping off. He was responding to the demands of his new position, but those responses were instinctive. He wasn’t processing anything. He didn’t respond to attempts at humour. He wasn’t thinking ahead or planning anything. If he were left alone, he would just sit and stare into space. She hated to do this, but she had to ask the Merlin House students to never leave Harry alone. They were on suicide prevention watch.
Harry prepared for bed that night, he was enjoying being alone.
Why did I spill everything to Unspeakable Dawes like that? My ring is supposed to protect me from compulsion charms and mind magic. What gives?
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