Chapter Text
Harry and Hermione were escorted to the Station and onto the platform by the full complement of adults including the Tonks and stood briefly saying their goodbyes. Further down the Platform the Malfoy males glowered at them. Narcissa looked across and saw her Sister, knowing she had been reinstated to the family she could feel her in the Black family magic. She could also sense both Harry and Hermione and recognised the power the pair radiated. She bent to Draco’s ear, “Do not antagonise young Potter, or his girlfriend. Be patient, bide your time. You will be better with them as allies than enemies.”
Draco sneered, “Mother really, make friends with that. I would rather marry a pig.”
“No Draco, be cautious, they are powerful, magically and politically. That boy has all but finished Dumbledore. Watch and wait.” She smoothed down his robes, “Stay safe my son.”
Harry and Hermione climbed onto the train and found Neville already in a compartment, so sat down and started swapping stories about Christmas and New Year. They were joined a little later by Daphne and Tracey with Susan Bones accompanying them. Once Tracey and Daphne had settled, Susan pulled a piece of parchment from her robe, “Harry, my mother asked me to hand deliver this to you. They are investigating what’s going on at Hogwarts, and she want’s to talk to you without,” she mimed a long beard, “An audience. He is still the headmaster, despite everything.” She nodded to the others, “I am going to find Hannah and Padma if that’s OK. See you all at school.”
Once she left, Daphne turned to Harry. “OK Lord Potter, spill the beans. How on earth did you claim your Wizengamot seat at the age of eleven and a half?”
“I can’t tell you, maybe in a month or so. I had to take an oath.” It wasn’t true, but it was the best Harry could think of as an answer.”
“Why do people keep calling Harry ‘Lord’ all the time?” Hermione asked.
Daphne smiled, “Ah, our bushy haired walking encyclopaedia has a gap in her knowledge. Let me fill that for you. In the ‘old ways’ the Head of a Sacred Twenty-Eight House was referred to as Lord. It has fallen from regular use, but some places will still use it, Gringotts might refer to him as Lord Potter now rather than Heir Potter, they might call you Lady Potter, as you are wearing a betrothal ring from the House of Potter. I assume it’s just for protection at this stage, or are you two lovebirds really older than you look?” she gave Hermione a cheeky grin.
“We are not doing anything inappropriate to our ages here,” she replied. I wonder if our activities in neverwhen constitute the sealing of the betrothal contract in this plane as well? She wondered.
Daphne laughed, “careful answer,” she smiled, “How does Dumbledore survive? he was shown to have broken dozens of rules at the ‘gamot, and he is still Headmaster.”
About three hours into the journey Malfoy appeared in order to make his required visit and insult Harry.
“Scarhead.”
“Hairgel.”
“Still with the muggleborn I see.”
“Still talking first and thinking never, I hear.”
“My father is going to sort out your nonsense at the Wizengamot.”
“Oh, that’s kind of him, I needed to make a couple of announcements, will he do them on my behalf.”
“You think you’re funny. Potter.”
“You think you matter, Malfoy.”
“You will learn, some of us have breeding.”
“I think you meant to say, are inbred?”
“Wait until my father hears about this.”
“Are you sure he is your father?”
Draco stormed off.
------oooOOOooo------
Albus sat in his gold chair at dinner looking over the Hall, the students had returned from the holidays a few days ago and he was still annoyed about the loss of control over Young Harry. Why did these fools not understand that everything he did was for the best. It was clear to Albus that Young Harry was being misled, he had fallen in with the Black family, a notoriously dark and twisted House. Their influence on Young Harry was the reason for him turning away from the light. Albus needed to do something to set Young Harry back on the correct path. He was becoming too studious, too popular. For Young Harry to achieve the destiny that Albus foresaw as the correct path, he must be kept from this. A popular Young Harry would be missed too severely, others should not suffer grief for the loss of Young Harry, for sadly his death was both inevitable and necessary.
Young Harry was sat with the Granger girl at his side as always, when Young Harry met his inevitable demise at the hands of Voldemort, she would be upset. Harry’s friend, the young Weasley boy could comfort her. She would bear him powerful sons. He had taken steps to ensure that Young Harry and the young Weasley would become friends, and that Young Harry’s relationship with the Granger girl would wither. A cocktail of alchemical potions had been added to their drinks. He would add it to their food as well when the opportunity arose. If he could only remember where he had left the Elder Wand, he could easily compel them to the correct way of thinking. Nothing good would come out of this affection between the youngsters.
He had another meeting with the school governors later this week. Tedious, he was the Headmaster, they should leave him to run the school, or direct Minerva how to run the school, he was a busy man after all.
------oooOOOooo------
Sat at the table with their friends, Harry felt the warning from his house ring and his bracelet, he looked at Hermione who was regarding her own drink with suspicion. He leant close to her ear, and whispered, “Is your drink potioned as well?”
Hermione nodded. “Mm’mm.” She looked around, “what do we do with them?”
“Switch your drink with Malfoy’s, I will just vanish mine.” Hermione completed the switch, and reached to check the new goblet of drink,
“This is potioned as well?”
Harry smiled and switched it with Ron’s drink. “Well, I wonder who is potioning Malfoy?”
“To what purpose?”
“Could be anything, animosity to us, attraction to one of the girls?”
“This one is potioned, is everyone’s drink?”
Harry reached over and poured himself some more juice, “This is OK, vanish that and start again.”
Herrmione poured herself a fresh goblet of juice, as they looked her goblet flickered, “This is potioned now.”
“So is mine.”
“We need to talk to the elves I think?”
“We?”
“Royal We. As in you. If it is Dumbles ordering them to do this?”
“The water is clean, I can’t detect anything.”
“Well at least we can drink something.”
The following day they found their drinks spiked again and sticking to water, left the Hall early. Heading down to the kitchens where Hermine called the Head House Elf over.
“Tippy?”
“Yes Missy Herminny”
“Why are the elves adding potions to my drinks.”
“Headmaster Bubmblebee orders it Missy.”
“Harry as well?”
“Yes Missy.
“Who else?”
“Master Weasel, Master Dragon and Master Nevvy.”
“Tippy. Give me a sample of each potioned drink please.”
Five phials appeared on the table in front of Hermione, “Do not tell the Headmaster about this conversation.” They left the kitchens and headed up the stairs.
“Should we talk to Susan about this, find out what the potions are?” Harry asked.
“Good idea, we can pop to see her and have something safe to drink at the same time.”
The pair found a secluded part of the Castle and used their bracelets to transfer over to neverwhen. Once in the garden they walked into the cottage and called to see if Susan was in.
“Hello you two, what brings you here today, more stress relief?” Susan arched her eyebrows.
“Dumbledore is having some pupils potioned, we wondered if you could identify what each one is?”
“That should be easy enough, do you have some with you?”
“Here,” Hermione placed the phials on the table, as Harry placed a mug of steaming tea next to her elbow.
“Let me see then.” She picked them up one at a time;
“Hermione, yours has revulsion to Harry, Neville and Malfoy, loyalty to Dumbledore, and Weasley, and love for Weasley.
Malfoy, this has love and lust for Pansy Parkinson, revulsion to you, and Harry.
Longbottom, this has loyalty to Dumbledore, revulsion to Harry and you, and a slight diminishing effect, this would impair his abilities.
Weasley, Loyalty to Dumbledore, love and lust for Hermione and revulsion to Malfoy.
Harry, revulsion for Hermione, Malfoy and Neville, loyalty to Dumbledore and Weasley.
It appears that Dumbledore is still trying to regain control, I am not sure the one Malfoy is being given is from Dumbledore, perhaps someone has slipped that one into the mix.” She placed the last phial on the table and picked up her own mug. “These potions will no longer work on either of you, you can eat and drink the juice without concern.”
Hermione looked across, “Our rings and bracelets warn of potions or poisons, we can’t tell them apart.”
“Of course, death is a worry to you both. It shouldn’t be, you are to all intents and purposes death proof at this stage, it will still hurt of course so it is best avoided.”
Harry sat and looked at the list he had scribbled down, “I think I have an idea how we can use this to our advantage.” He smiled, and sipped his tea.
------oooOOOooo------
Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table in the Tonks residence looking over the estimate for clearing and renovating Grimmauld Place. The cost was staggering, and the conclusion was that it would be simpler and cheaper to knock it down and start again. Sirius had joked about doing exactly that, but seeing the numbers in black and white gave him pause for thought.
He picked up his jacket and decided to take a walk, the lane the house sat on led to a farm, and in the other direction the golf course that the houses backed onto, he had no taste for golf, but a drink in the bar at lunch would be a good moment to think. As he left the house the curse breaker from Gringotts apparated into existence on their driveway, in a sheltered spot. “Good afternoon, Miss Bell. I was just going to walk to the clubhouse down the road and have a think about what to do with Grimmauld, can I buy you a glass of something, and perhaps some lunch?”
“That would be very nice, Lord Black. Thank you.”
“Please, Lord Black was my Grandfather, those titles are old hat now, call me Sirius.”
“If you are sure, Sirius, then you must call me Samantha.” Sirius offered her his elbow and the pair walked down the road to where the clubhouse was.
“I didn’t think to ask, are you ok in a muggle establishment?” Sirius asked her
“My father is a muggleborn, we have plenty of muggle relatives, I am OK with it if you are.” They entered the bar and Sirius got them drinks and ordered food, then they walked over to a table near the window overlooking the course. “My father plays golf with some of his muggle friends, I wonder how often he uses his magic to cheat?”
“Not a game I have ever tried, Hermione’s father plays, so does Ted, they have asked me but I am not really struck on the idea of hitting a ball with a stick.”
“Me neither, not that my father has ever offered me a game. My niece plays though, she is quite sporty.”
“Really?”
“One of the chasers on the Gryffindor quidditch team, knows your godson quite well. Calls him their baby seeker. She is quite protective of him, even says he’s cute, and might even be fanciable in a year or two.”
“Katie, I see the resemblance now, I saw their match against Slytherin, all ten minutes of it. The chasers are very good, in fact, I think that team is a very good one. They should take the House cup this year easily.”
“Spoken like a Gryffindor, I thought you Blacks were all Slytherins.”
“White sheep of the family.” She rolled her eyes.
“Have you had a look at the estimate?”
“I have, even if you find nothing unexpected it is not worth the expense. Better to knock the place down and start again, I think. If there is something that we didn’t see when you visited, then it’s just good gold after bad.”
“The only saving grace for that property is its wards, they are very strong, and you would struggle to match them today. I suspect something quite dark was done to power them.”
“Knowing my family history, you are probably correct.” The food arrived and they spent a few moments sorting themselves. “Is there a middle ground, could we gut the insides of the structure and rebuild, keeping the wards?”
“I would have to ask the building division, to see if it’s feasible. It might be even more expensive than a clean”
“I am not emotionally attached to the place, I might buy somewhere new and just put the place in stasis.”
“Where would you buy, if you went that route?”
“Ideally somewhere near here, Harry lives a couple of doors down from Ted and Andi, I would like to be close by, even though we can apparate, it feels nice to be close.”
They chatted for a while and set off to walk the few hundred yards back up to where Ted and Andi had their house, as they walked a man called out, “Hi Samantha, not your usual stamping grounds, work or pleasure?” He was wearing a non-descript charcoal suit and tie, holding a clipboard.
“Hey there, Marcus, I am on a follow up visit with Lord Black here, what are you up to?”
“The family that owns this house is moving to America, the father works for us, has been promoted and transferred over to Boston. Getting a valuation sorted to put the house on the market.”
Sirius made a quick decision, “Can I view the property?”
“If you are serious about a purchase,”
Sirius looked at Samantha, he smiled, “Please call me Sirius, it is my name, and my intention. I was discussing just such an eventuality with your colleague, Miss Bell. If it meets my needs and we can agree a realistic price, I will buy.”
“Then please walk this way.”
Sirius looked over his shoulder at Samantha, he grinned and motioned her to follow, the three of them walked into the house.
------oooOOOooo------
Nymphadora was sitting talking to her friend Nikki at the lunchtime table, when she saw Harry and Hermione walk in, she waved them over. “Wotcha kids, we’ve got a bit of goss for the pair of you?”
They took a seat at the end of the Hufflepuff table, “what is so interesting then, Cuz?” Harry asked.
“Nikki’s folks are moving to the States, and they are selling their house, next door but one to where you guys live, and guess who is the buyer?”
“Dumbledore?”
“Nope.”
“Gandalf?”
“Nope.”
“Hagrid?”
“Be Serious.”
“Well obviously it’s Sirius, but if we guessed straight away, where would the fun be in that?”
Nikki looked from one to the other, “You used to be a really cute little kid, would talk for hours to me about Hobbitses and Orcs and Elves, or Star Wars and Jedi, you have been taken to the Dark Side by this Sith Lord you are associating with, Hermi-one.”
Hermione smiled and hugged Harry’s arm. “When will you leave for America Nikki?”
“Not until after my NEWTs, being a boarder, my folks are free to move, I can stay with Dora if I need to.”
“Worried or excited?”
“Bit of both, I might do a year at Ilvermorney so I can go to University in the States.”
“I would like to go to University, I have often looked at the States, rather than England, better choice.”
Harry poured them both some juice, and picked up the glass, he checked and was pleased to see for once it was clear of potions. He made himself a sandwich plate and picked a few bits and pieces.
They looked around, Ron was eating, he spent the whole lunch eating, most people had light meals. Malfoy was sitting with his minions, “We should set up a prank to get Malfoy to do a song and dance number on the table during dinner one night.”
Tonks snickered, “Get him to do a strip, much more embarassing.”
Even Dumbles would be more than a little disappointed in us if we did that.”
“How come he is still here?”
“It apparently needs a meeting of the board of governors, and he has managed to stall it so that it hasn’t happened yet, Sirius has plans, but it suits us for now.”
“Even after they found that gigantic Dog in the school?”
“They haven’t found the Basilisk yet have they, wait for that one.”
“Did you say Basilisk?”
“Yep. Sixty feet long, about a thousand years old. In the Chamber of Secrets.”
“Whoa. That’s fucked up. Wait how do you know,” Nikki asked.
“Previous life, I fought it in my second year, damned nearly killed me.”
Nikki nodded, “I remember – you told us last summer, I thought you were pranking Dora.”
“We were a bit, her mum delivered her son, not me.”
The four finished their meal and sat chatting for a while, their lessons not due to start until the next period.
As they left the Great Hall they could hear raised voices, at the top of the first flight of stairs Draco and Ron were facing off against one another, Pansy was stood next to Ron. Hermione asked Lavender, “What happened?”
“Ron snogged Pansy and she was groping his bum, then Draco walked out of the Hall and this all kicked off.”
“Weasley you are dead, I am betrothed to Parkinson, I am not going to let a blood traitor like you touch the mother of my children.”
“In your dreams, Malfoy, she loves me, and I love her. You haven’t got the balls to stand up for her.”
“Shut your mouth Weasel. Your whole family are no better than muggles,”
“Compared to the Malfoys, that’s a good thing, you family stands for betrayers. It’s what you are good at. We might be poor, but we are better than you inbred squibs.”
Their wands were out now, and they were exchanging hexes and curses, all non-lethal, and most missing the target. Harry quietly placed a shield at the bottom of the stairs and looked around, two Slytherin prefects were doing nothing, and no staff were about. Fine he thought, let them fight.
Ron hit Draco with a Diffindo that took the arm off his robes, Draco replied with a Bombardia that smashed the banister where Ron had been to pieces, Ron hit Draco with a leg locker, which caused him to start to topple down the stairs. In a fit of temper Draco cast an Avada Kedavra that hit Ron square in the chest
He dropped like a marionette whose strings had just been cut, Draco continued his fall, Hermione used a little wandless Impello to make sure his fall broke his neck, and the two duellists both died in tragic circumstances.
Harry dropped the shield and watched as Snape ran into the lobby. Harry cast a disillusionment charm over himself and Hermione and they slipped out of the doors, they would walk around to one of the other doors, no need to have Snape mentioning their presence.
“Well, that worked out well, might even be enough to finally topple Dumbles.” Hermione smiled, “Should I feel guilty for being happy about those two killing each other.”
“Nope. I hoped by swapping the potions around they would hurt each other, this was a bonus. The potion in Pansy is Dumbles, or Snapes, so when Madame Bones checks everything, even Molly might see him for what he really is.”
“I doubt it. If she caught him buggering Ginny, she would believe it was for the best.” Hermione scoffed.
“More likely to be Percy, I didn’t think girl’s were Dumble’s thing.”
“Charlie then, they aren’t his either.”
“OK, did not know that. Don’t care, but didn’t know that.” Harry mused.
“Strictly girls for you is it then?”
“Yeah, nothing against blokes with blokes, I think Dean is more into guys than girls, but it doesn’t interest me. What about you?”
“I might be curious, but not sure if I will ever do anything about it.” Harry nodded, and kept his council.
“We should head for the library, lessons are likely to be cancelled,” Harry thought out loud.
“Good plan, I need to research ward breaking, we might have to break into Malfoy Manor, since Draco just got himself dead.”
“Can’t we just hack a cruise missile and blow the whole place of the face of the earth.”
“Nope. But we could probably scoop a few Death Eaters if we pick the right time to attack.”
“We need to do some planning, I suspect.”
They arrived at the library and headed for Hermione’s favourite desk. This early in their school life she didn’t have automatic dibs on this particular table, but even so it was free and they settled their books on the table and set to work on their charms homework.
Harry pulled a banana out of his bag and placed it on one of the shelves nearby, Hermione saw him do it and her eyebrows furrowed, she said nothing. A few minutes later Harry pulled a book from the shelf on warding schemes for the private manor, and Hermione heard a faint, ‘Oook’, from somewhere behind the shelves. “Susan’s idea, it works.” He shrugged.
“I want to rescue Dobby. How can we get the Diary, and Rescue Dobby?”
“Have you tried just calling Dobby?”
“How would that work, we haven’t met in this timeline.”
“Just a thought, it costs nothing and takes no risks.” She went back to her books.
After another ten minutes a tabby cat patronus appeared and asked them to join Minerva in her office. They packed their books and things and headed off towards the office.
On arrival they found a quite full room, Sirius, Amelia Bones, Remus, Minerva, and Snape were already in the room. “Please come in and sit down.” Minerva motioned them to a two-seater near her desk.
Amelia took up the conversation, “Harry, and Hermione, we have collected a few witness statements about the fatal duel that took place on the grand stairs after lunch. We note that the pair of you witnessed the event but left, without waiting for anyone in authority.”
“Because Potter orchestrated the whole thing.” Snape sneered.
“Really, and just HOW did he do that Professor Snape?” Hermione’s words dripped acid.
“I don’t know..”
“Then keep your opinion to yourself or find yourself charged with slandering the Head of House Potter, and facing a blood feud over your responsibility for the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Harry can kill you out of hand, here and now, without consequence. Are you prepared to meet Lily and answer to her yet? Severus.” Hermione’s hair was bristling and small sparks were visible within.
Harry placed a hand on Hermione’s arm, “Madame Bones, please ask Snape to leave, or I may act as Hermione indicates. I am Head of House, he is directly responsible for my parents deaths. He lives under my sufferance.”
Amelia looked from one of the two to the other, she looked at Snape and indicated the door with a head nod, he billowed his way out, slamming the door as he left. “Why did you leave the Hall?”
“Because Snape appeared, and he would have blamed us, me specifically. I watched a stupid wand fight between two short tempered first years, if Draco hadn’t wasted time sending that curse at Ron, he could have freed himself. Draco killed Ron, using an unforgivable, he then toppled down the stairs, his death is almost accidental. However you see it, we were not involved, simply bystanders, we left so as not to be accused.”
“You went to the library, you are quite calm for watching two school mates die.”
Harry looked around the room. “Madame Bones, I assume my words here are confidential, and unless I reveal a criminal act will remain so?”
“Of course?”
“Hermione, can you clean the room, we don’t need Dumbles in on this.” Hermione pulled her wand and systematically stripped the room and all the people in it of charms.
“Remus, you need to let Andi purge you, Dumbledore has potioned you, and I think some compulsions, Sorry Remus.” She stunned him where he sat. “All clear Harry, I’ve put wards up, I expect Malfoy will be here soon.”
“Madame Bones, I have lived this live at least three times that I can remember, I have fought and killed Death Eaters on numerous occasions, including Riddle, Mouldyfart. I have been killed eight times I am told. Death is no stranger, in fact she has become a close friend, I would offer to introduce you, but most people are reluctant to meet their DEATHS. I saw many of my friends die fighting, seeing those two bigots kill each other, two less idiots to breed. I am sorry, but I just don’t care. DEATH sends me back each time, because I do have a destiny, not the one Albus Dumbledore believes, but I have a prophecy to fulfil, neither Ron, nor Draco are a part of it, they are irrelevant to my life.”
“Can you share a memory to back up any of these rather outrageous claims Harry?”
“No. It would be sharing the future, I am not allowed to share. I can show you something else, I hold the title ‘Master of Death’ since I possess all three of the Deathly Hallows, the items from The Tale of the Three Brothers.” Harry stood, “Madame Bones,” he held out his hand. She stood and took his hand regarding him sceptically, “Cottage, Hermione.”
“See you there,” Harry and Amelia disappeared from the room, Hermione stood and straightening her skirt, disappeared as well. Hermione appeared in the garden, a large moon was transiting the planet, it’s bright blue colour made it look like an eye.
“We call this Neverwhen. This is where we come after each time we die,” Amelia looked around.
“Where are we? You are both older, adults.”
“This is our magical age, hence I could claim my House. This place is nowhere, nowhen, we are outside of existence, and outside of time. This is where DEATH and his family, our family, live. Cup of tea. We can answer your questions here, and then return back to the moment after we departed.”
Amelia looked around, “Do you have something stronger?”
“I am sure we can find something.” Hermione walked to the garden table with a tea set and a tumbler, with a crystal decanter of an amber coloured fluid. She sat and poured tea for all of them. “Take a seat, ask away.”
“Did anyone influence those two idiots?”
“Dumbledore had been attempting to potion a few pupils, Hermione and I amongst them. We are immune. Bonded Soul mates, and well, Dead. Someone was potioning Draco towards Pansy, if the potions got mixed up and Ron got Draco’s perhaps? Hermione was being potioned to fall for Ron. We just vanished the juice and got fresh from the jug, even if we missed some it has no effect on either of us. Do you want to talk to Ron or Draco, since they are dead I can summons them.”
“Are you two married in this realm. Is realm the right word?”
“Yes, we are betrothed, I am Hermione Potter in previous lives. I think of this as a plane of existence, so realm is a good word to use. According to Susan I was carrying our daughter when Bellatrix slit my throat.”
“So Dumbledore is attempting line theft, among all his crimes.” She shook her head, “He has Hogwarts set up like it’s own kingdom, he is harder than a tick to remove. Today is his end. Draco was a spoilt brat, but he was an Heir, and both boys pure blood families.
“Lucius will ply money and pressure on Fudge to act now. Fudge is corrupt, his pet toad, Umbridge is worse, we will send you a file on her crimes.”
“Can I ask what this destiny is?”
“Vanquish Tom Marvolo Riddle and his followers. He calls himself…..” Amelia finished the sentence.
“Lord Voldemort. Ted Tonks used that in the Wizengamot. I had it checked out. He isn’t dead then?”
“He made Horcruxes, splitting his soul time and time again, we have recovered all but one, the soul shards have been reaped and await the final piece to join them in the afterlife, although it is not going to be nice for Tom. Or Albus actually.”
“His followers?”
“Death Eaters. They are all murderers, only a willing participant gets the mark, it is soul magic and cannot be forced upon an unwilling recipient, they may repent later, but part of the ritual to gain the mark is to torture, rape, and murder an innocent. They have all committed heinous crimes, usually against muggleborns and their families. Snape’s victim was a fourteen year old girl who had decided not to become a witch.”
“Can you give me proof of any of this. Proof I can use?”
“Proof yes, I can let you talk to the victims, proof that the Wizengamot will accept, no. Too many of them are either guilty, like Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, or have family members that are marked. They will never accept the evidence, even if I produce the victims, they will not accept it.” Harry sat and drank his tea. “The higher powers have set their fates; my task is to remove them from your world. I hope you can reconcile this with your role. If you need to see the evidence against each and everyone of them, it can be arranged. We do not wish to take any innocent lives.”
Amelia poured herself a large drink, and took a large pull from the glass. “If you could let me see enough evidence so that I can understand this is justice, not vengeance, then at least I will be able to sleep.”
Hermione spoke, “Most of the deaths will be natural. The suspicion will be that they are all marked death eaters, some of your departments will be short staffed for a while, and you will lose a few Aurors.
“Who?”
“Dawlish, Rowling, Arkwright. Check their arms, make all DMLE staff swear a loyalty oath. Dumbledore has pets in your department, his Order of the Pheonix. They mean well, but he has to go.”
Harry added, “Azkaban will lose a few inmates, tragic accident, but if they live, there is a chance of them escaping. In one timeline Bellatrix has a child to Riddle, and she is as psychotic as the pair of them. In a previous life Bellatrix killed Hermione and our unborn daughter in front of me, and then killed me as I collapsed in grief. She is hellbound, nothing can redeem her.”
Amelia finished her drink, “I am in half a mind to ask you to obliviate me.”
“There is a better way, Madame Bones,” Susan stood in the doorway, “I can give you a certainty, the actions of these two are not guided by petty motives, but are necessary to correct destiny, a destiny corrupted by two Dark Wizards’ actions. We are very close to the end of Riddle, you have the means to neutralise Dumbledore now. Balancing the power base in your community is vital, if the purists stay along their current path, the mundane world will wipe you from existence within your niece’s lifetime.”
She walked to the table, “hmm, jammy dodgers. Not my favourite.” She poured herself a cup of tea, and sat as a chair appeared for her. “Harry, Hermione, let me spend some time with Amelia, I will return her to the same moment as yourselves, you can return, or if you have other ideas, the house is yours.”
Amelia looked at Susan, questioningly. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Susan Sto-Helit. I am the Granddaughter of DEATH. I have been tasked by DEATH and the Auditors of Reality, The higher powers that oversee the universe, to rectify the mess that has come to pass in your world. The two youngsters you know as Harry and Hermione are pivotal to your world. Harry is a ‘Hero’ of destiny, Hermione is his balance, they share a soul. Together they will set your world in the right direction, Hermione is an amazing young woman, but their daughter is the next Merlin, I clearly remember her impact upon the world. It is she that will bridge the gap between the mundane and magical worlds, the statute cannot survive, and the mundane technologies are close to emulating magic itself. That she was slaughtered before her birth once already almost broke time itself. Biscuit?”
Amelia took a biscuit and drank some tea, any more of the rather excellent whisky, and she would be buzzing. “This is a lot to take in.”
“No matter, you can spend a year or a day here, you will return the moment after you left. We will take all the time you need to understand, I do not expect you to break any laws, but I do not expect you to obstruct Harry and Hermione in their tasks. They will be busy for the afternoon I suspect.”
“Where have they gone?”
“They are young, very much in love, and forced to spend most of their time in young bodies, Harry’s corporeal form has not achieved puberty yet. When they are here, their forms reflect their self image, they are the age they believe themselves to be, and they can enjoy pleasures befitting a married couple in the prime of their life. They think they are about twenty four, they are closer to two hundred, there have been too many dead end timelines. Dumbledore meddled so much, so many terrible lives. We allowed them to remember the three that would best explain their path, so many times they did not find each other, because they were blocked.”
“Did they kill Draco and Ron?”
“No, although Hermione was murdered by Ron in her last life, and she was going to end him. His own temper and stupidity did the job for them, Draco wasn’t supposed to die yet, he was supposed to grow and reject his pureblood dogma and support our pair in changing the outlook of magical society. A shame, I always enjoyed the pain he felt apologising to Hermione, as he realised most of his hatred for her was the fact he was deeply attracted to her, and it conflicted with his upbringing. They even married in some timelines, quite happily. Not so good for destiny or Harry though.”
She dipped a biscuit and carried on, “you need to have a talk with your niece, she betrayed Harry on a number of occasions in other lives, they should be allies, they lost their parents to the same nonsense.”
Amelia nodded, “I will have a word, she should make friends with them. What can you tell me about dark marks, can I detect them?”
Susan smiled and poured them both some more tea, “Let me show you some details.”
------oooOOOooo------
The three of them appeared back in the room, having been away for less than a second to the others in the room. Amelia sat back down, as Harry and Hermione took a seat.
“Are the rest of you aware of what I have just witnessed?”
“You met with Susan Sto-Helit?”
“Yes, who else is in on this?”
“Harry’s parents.”
“What about yours Hermione?”
“My parents adopted Harry, we are the family Dumbledore wants to find. I assume now you know what we have to do, that I will kill Dumbledore before I allow him any control over Harry’s life. Did Susan show you how Harry was treated at the Dursleys?”
“She did, how did everyone fail Harry, so completely?”
“Dumbledore, and a lot of obliviating. Riddle is one Dark Wizard, Dumbledore is another.”
“What do we do next?”
“Get Dumbledore out of Hogwarts, Hermione and I have a plan to get the last item, if we can make it work.”
Amelia nodded. “I will need formal statements from you both, witness statements. If you could write them out and pass them to Professor McGonagall, I can collect them from her. I need to have the bodies put through a post mortem, and I shall be searching for certain potions. Please don’t kill Snape before I have a chance to interrogate him.” She stood and left the room.
“Is Dumbledore still in the castle?” Hermione asked.
“He has the task of explaining the deaths of the Children to the Malfoys and the Weasleys. We are awaiting the members of the board of governors to arrive.”
“Who are they?”
Minerva explained, “Originally the descendants of the founders, but these days the Elder Houses are represented, Black, Longbottom, Greengrass, Abbot and Potter. Malfoy was using the Black seat as he claimed proxy, and Dumbledore appointed Doge to sit on the Potter seat. As Sirius is Head of House Black, he can take up his seat, I suggest you appoint a proxy, we thought Remus, but since Hermione believes him compulsed, perhaps we can persuade Andi to take the seat for this meeting, and Remus might be able to after he is freed. Augusta Longbottom and Cyrill Greengrass are allies of the House of Potter. Abbot, whilst committed to what is classified as the Light Alliance, votes on merit, he is no fan of Albus.”
“Can members of staff sit on the board?” Harry asked.
“No, it would be a conflict of interest.”
“Then Remus will not become Proxy, you need a Defence Professor, he was the best one we ever had. Offer him the job once he is clear of Dumbles influence, Headmistress McGonagall.”
“Why thank you Mr Potter, for your sage advice.” Minerva replied with a look.
“No problem, Aunt Minnie.” He grinned and waited for the smack.
“I will allow that this once young man, but not in front of staff or pupils.” She smiled back. “Let us see if Andi, or Ted is free to take the Potter seat, we can oust Albus then, and sort this school out.”
Sirius stood, “I’ll take Remus over to St. Mungo’s and I can see if Andi is free at the same time.” With a quick rennervate, he pulled Remus to his feet and bundled them out of the floo and over to St. Mungo’s.
Harry sat and wrote a quick authorisation of proxy for Andromeda to sit on the board of governors and he and Hermione slipped out of the room.
------oooOOOooo------
Harry and Hermione were walking away from McGonagall’s office, heading towards the common room, when they saw Lucius and Narcissa walking towards them coming from the direction of Dumbledore’s office, “Just what we need.” He muttered.
“Keep walking, let’s tuck out of the way, Narcissa just lost her son, she is no Death Eater,” Harry took her hand and they stopped walking and tucked into an alcove to allow the Malfoys to pass. As the pair went past Narcissa stopped, and turned.
“Are you called Granger?” she asked Hermione.
“I am, Mrs Malfoy.”
“I think Draco was very foolish, he has his father’s. Sorry He had his father’s temper, and he acted rashly, despite my advice. I believe he was attracted to you miss Granger, this caused him to lash out, he didn’t understand how he, a pureblood, could be attracted to a muggleborn girl, such a silly boy. He complained about how smart you were, in fact he mentioned you rather a lot. He was brought up to believe in blood purity, but it’s a falsehood. My own sister married a muggle and her daughter is the first metamorph in the family for nearly a century. Had Draco accepted this I believe he would have acted very differently to you, and to you, Mr Potter I assume?” Harry nodded. “My son was flawed, but I believe he would have grown past all this, you might even have become friends in later life. Now we shall bury him for some stupid argument over a girl he didn’t even like.”
“We think they were all potioned, Mrs Malfoy. You should ask Mr Snape what he brewed for the Headmaster, I think it might answer your questions.” Hermione said quietly.
“Can you tell me more?”
“Narcissa, let’s get out of here, before I kill someone.”
“Send a house elf to find us, we can send a letter back, discretely.” Harry said. Narcissa gave a slight nod, and left to join Lucius who was scowling a little way down the corridor.
They climbed back into the common room, the mood was quite sombre. Harry looked around and saw Katie sat doing some homework in a corner, he walked over, “Katie, are the twins still here?”
“The family has gone back to the Burrow, they are all in shock, it’s a bit of a mess isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Hermione and I saw the duel for what it was. Draco hit Ron with an AK, point blank. He didn’t suffer it was instant.”
Katie looked at them her eyes going from one to the other, “I heard from Lavender, she was there as well, she said Draco lost it with Ron, because Ron and Pansy were snogging? Did you see that?”
“No we walked out of the hall after the shouting started and just as the wands came out, we didn’t expect it to go this far.”
“What did Ron cast do you know?”
“A leg locker, Malfoy was falling over, instead of putting his hand out to stop himself, he fired the AK at Ron. He then didn’t have his hand out to break his fall and broke his neck on the stairs.”
Hermione slipped closer to Harry and whispered, “shall we go back to the library?”
The Governors had finally all arrived and made their way to the Headmaster’s office, and into the meeting room off to the side, Sirius looked at the room and thought Dumbledore was gone, unless the old goat had something up his overly lurid sleeves. With everyone seated, Augusta opened the meeting, “We have agreed that I shall chair this extra ordinary meeting of the board of governors, this meeting is called to consider the future of the current Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.”
Augusta steepled her hands in front of her and fixed Albus with a stare, “The DMLE have removed a Cerberus from the school, isolated behind a door that could be opened with the simplest unlocking charm. This gives rise to a charge of over 300 counts of child endangerment. As we have student memories of you informing the student body not to go to this corridor, or suffer a most painful death, you obviously were fully aware of this particular creature being in the school.
This alone is sufficient for your dismissal. Today two students got into a duel of sorts, something that normally ends in one covered in pimples, or having green hair. Instead we have two dead students, one of whom cast an unforgivable on the other. Preliminary investigations show all three students had been dosed with potions, which include a loyalty compulsion to one Albus Dumbledore. This happened on your watch Mr Dumbledore. Do you have any realistic reason why we should not terminate your position as Headmaster?”
Dumbledore put his best smile on, “I can only assure you that my intentions were for the best, I have come to believe that Lord Voldemort, is not in fact dead, but had been possessing Quirinus Quirrell and the Cerebos was part of a trap designed to lure him to a point where he could be dealt with. Professor Quirrell is no longer attending classes, so I can only conclude that he is still at large. It is imperative that I remain here to protect the students, and all of Magical Britain from the threat of Voldemort returning. I cannot share with you how Voldemort is maintaining himself, for fear that this knowledge becomes more widespread, but this is a serious risk to our very way of life, we must not be complacent, or we shall fall, and our children will be at risk.” He beamed around the group.
“Does anyone have anything they wish to add?” Augusta asked.
Sirius nodded. He looked along the table, “We all have children at this school, Andi, George and Cyrill have their daughters, Augusta and I have our sons, all except Nymphadora being in the first year. Today two of their year are dead, this is completely unacceptable, I cannot think of any circumstances that the events discussed are acceptable at a school. I propose we vote to dismiss. I cannot see any reason for any further discussion.”
Augusta asked, “All in favour?” All five hands were raised. “Unanimous. Albus Dumbledore, remove yourself from the school, by five pm today, you will be removed from the wards, take only your personal possessions, and I need to remind you that you are subject to a DMLE investigation, ensure that you are available for questioning. Now Albus if you would give us the room, we need to appoint a successor.”
Albus stood and with what dignity he could muster he walked out of the room.
“Might I suggest we appoint Minerva as Headmaster on an interim basis, and then we can see if others apply, she may not want the position. It would look better if we wait a month or two before appointing her if we do, so we can consider the options. It would give her a chance to fill the vacant teaching slots caused and come up with some proposals to update the syllabus.” Cyrill Greengrass finished his thoughts.
Sirius added, “I believe that Professor Snape will bolt for the hills without Dumbledore to protect him, he is a truly appalling teacher.”
“What positions are open? Andromeda asked.
“Defence, Transfiguration, to help out Minerva, History, Binns has to go, Potions assuming Snape leaves. Muggle studies needs an update, it’s a bad joke. There should be a reciprocal course for the muggleborns to learn about the magical world. We also should teach muggle subjects for those who seek further education outside of the magical world.” George Abbot finished his list, “Did I miss anything.
Sirius laughed, “No George, Hermione, Harry’s muggleborn girlfriend tells me exactly the same, Harry is muggle raised and he thinks muggle studies is hilarious. He calls History nap-time. What does your daughter think of the school Cyrill?”
“Daphne is less than impressed, to my surprise, and pleasure, she and her cousin befriended Harry, and Hermione on the train, so her impressions are inline with what you have been told, I assume Hannah is saying the same thing to you George?”
“Yes, that’s who gave me the list. Anything to add Andromeda?”
“Some suggestions, Remus Lupin for Defence, or Sirius who is also pretty nifty at Transfiguration. See if Slughorn will return if Snape leaves, I might be tempted to cover OWL level potions if required, my sister Narcissa would be excellent for the magical studies, I think you should talk to the children about the muggle studies, I do not know if the current professor would like to update the course. Sirius and Remus could cover History between them, they might keep everyone awake.”
“We should call in Minerva, I assume we are in agreement to offer her the position, for an initial three months shall we say, and we can make a final decision then, and advertise if we feel the need to bring in another person to head the school.” Everyone assented, Sirius sent his Patronus to fetch Minerva.