Chapter 19: – – – – – Rebirth Chapter 19 – – – – –
One week later, the night before the students would be returning to the school via the Hogwarts Express, Harry was alerted by his charm tracking the movement within the third floor secret corridors that Dumbledore had entered the passage. Harry watched his version of the Marauder's Map as Dumbledore made his way through the room with Fluffy, the room filled with Devil's Snare, down the long slanted corridor and into the chamber filled with flying keys, through the door into the next large room, where he spent about four minutes before making his way into the room after that, where he only remained for about a minute before going one room further, and straight on one more. There he stopped and spent twenty minutes doing... something. Harry had no way of knowing what exactly Dumbledore had done down there, but Harry was fairly sure that the room Dumbledore had spent all that time in was most likely the room where the stone was being kept.
Harry went to the parchment where all of Dumbledore's movements were constantly being recorded by the charmed quill and read over what Dumbledore had been doing before finally going to the third-floor passage. What he discovered did intrigue him. Just before going to the third floor, Dumbledore had gone back to the room on the fourth floor where the Mirror of Erised had been kept the week prior.
If Dumbledore was somehow using the Mirror in one of the protections around the stone, it fit the pattern of him giving Harry clues or the tools needed to get past them. It would explain – at least, partially – why he had used a compulsion to guarantee that Harry had seen the mirror.
It still didn't make sense why Dumbledore would want Harry to have an easy time getting to the Stone.
– –
The next day was a Sunday, and the day that the rest of the students would be returning to the school. Fortunately, they wouldn't be showing up until that evening since they were currently on the train. This was fortunate because shortly after lunch Dobby popped into the Ravenclaw 1st years dorm room to deliver a message to Harry that had been given him by Lucius, from the Minister.
Harry quickly broke the red wax seal and unfolded the letter; not even realizing that he was holding his breath.
Dear Mr. Potter,
You will be happy to know that everything went wonderfully smoothly. Pettigrew's interrogation confirmed everything that you told me. Sirius Black was taken from Azkaban three days ago. Yesterday he stood trial before a closed small session of the Wizengamot with a few specially selected reporters and was found innocent on all charges. Pettigrew will be facing a more public trial tomorrow. You should expect to find news of all of the events in Monday mornings Daily Prophet.
I am sure you will also be happy to learn that Sirius Black has retained a shocking amount of his faculties. I have never met such a coherent man out of Azkaban. I do not think you will have any serious worries about the man being found unfit to take custody of you. He is currently resting in St. Mungo's.
One of the selected reporters from the Daily Prophet expressed to me her desire to get your opinion on the events that transpired but also noted that she has never been successful in her attempts to contact you in the past. I have a very agreeable working relationship with this journalist and think that she would make a good contact for that interview you expressed the desire to make. It would be ideal if you could provide a few quotes right away so that it could make it into Monday morning's Prophet.
Her name is Rita Skeeter and I highly recommend establishing a mutually beneficial working relationship with her. Be cautious, she can be quite eager when trying to find a juicy story, but if you give her what she's looking for without a fight, she can be very useful in getting the right information out to the masses. Perhaps you could use that energetic young house elf of yours to bypass that bothersome post charm.
Best luck to you,
Minister of Magic
Cornelius Fudge
A small ecstatic laugh escaped Harry's mouth as he looked down at the letter. It had worked! He'd gotten Sirius Black out of Azkaban and it had been bloody easy!
Merlin! He had to tell Remus!
But first, he needed to contact that reporter. He'd needed to fulfill his part of the bargain. The Minister had come through for him, and the man could be useful again in the future. It would do no good to appear to reneg on his side of the deal and get on the man's bad side.
Harry quickly called Dobby, who appeared a moment later with a pop. Harry spoke hurriedly to the elf while he grabbed a piece of parchment and began to scribble away a quick message to the reporter, informing her that there was a redirection charm on all his mail so contacting him was very difficult. He told her that if she had any questions for him that needed answering right away to give them to this elf and he would bring them directly to Harry.
Harry handed the letter to Dobby and told him to find a woman named Rita Skeeter at the Daily Prophet and give it to her. He then said that Dobby should wait for a response letter because the woman would no doubt have one, and to bring it to Harry as soon as he got it.
Dobby was all too happy to oblige and disappeared with a pop, letter in hand.
– –
Harry hurried through the enormous double-doors into the Great Hall for the start of term feast. Most of the hall was already filled with students – all eagerly and excitedly talking with their friends about their winter holiday. Harry had only just finished with his last correspondence with Rita Skeeter. He'd stayed in his dorm room all afternoon so that he would be available whenever Dobby needed to return since the elf couldn't appear before him if Harry was in the presence of anyone else.
He and Rita had ended up making use of the energetic little house elf to send questions and answers back and forth very quickly for the last hour, finally calling it quits because Rita needed to finish writing her story, and still had a deadline to meet if she was going to make it in time for the morning edition.
Rita had clearly been very excited about what was happening. Even through the quickly scrawled questions written back and forth he could tell she was practically foaming at the mouth with how juicy this story was. Harry made sure to portray a certain sort of persona to the woman, because he knew better than to give her anything more than was absolutely necessary. He knew her type the moment he had first started corresponding with her and knew to not trust her, no matter what. She was a bloodthirsty reporter out for the scoop and would run with any potential story angle she thought would get her the best reader response.
He had also recognized her name, so he knew what sort of articles she tended to write.
As Harry rushed through the Great Hall towards the Ravenclaw table he looked up to the Head Table and managed to catch Remus' eyes looking at him curiously. It wasn't like Harry to be late to a feast like this and he gave the young Ravenclaw a curious look.
Harry responded with a wide accomplished grin and mouthed the word 'later'. Remus' eyes widened a bit with increased curiosity and he gave Harry a slight nod in acknowledgment.
Harry sat down beside his classmates just as Dumbledore stood up and tapped a fork against his goblet, earning the attention of the hall. He made a brief speech welcoming everyone back to Hogwarts and hoped they all had enjoyable holidays. With a clap of his hands the feast appeared on the tables and everyone quickly dug in. The din of voices filled the hall almost instantly as everyone returned to their earlier excited conversations about gifts, family, and food.
Harry made a point of thanking everyone who had given him presents, especially since he hadn't actually bothered to get most of them anything in return, not having actually expected gifts from so many of them. A few students asked Harry how it was staying in the castle over the break and he had grinned and said he had enjoyed having the dorm room all to himself for a few weeks.
Harry was practically bouncing in his seat with anxious anticipation by the time the damn feast was finished. A few of the older Ravenclaws had commented on it and he had just smiled brightly at them and said he was excited about something, but it was a secret. Finally everyone was dismissed to return to their common rooms and Harry jumped from his seat and went over to the head table to stand directly opposite Remus.
"Professor Lupin, can I speak with you in your office?" Harry asked with an eager smile. Remus nodded and stood up, nodding and bidding goodbye to his colleagues who were all watching with curiosity. Harry met Snape's eyes that were filled with both curiosity and obvious trepidation. Harry's grin shifted into more of an accomplished smirk and he could see the dread color Snape's face and had to fight the urge to laugh.
Remus and Harry made their way through he crowds and headed towards Remus' office. As soon as they entered Harry pulled out his wand and cast a quick privacy spell out of habit. Remus had somewhat gotten used to Harry's 'paranoid tendencies' and no longer questioned it when he saw the young boy do these things – although he often wondered where the heck Harry learned all these spells, or how he had gotten the idea into his head to start doing it all the time.
Remus sat down in his chair but Harry stayed standing and he was practically jumping with giddiness. Remus laughed at all the energy Harry seemed to have. "What's gotten into you, cub?" the elder wizard asked with a chuckle.
Harry finally stopped bouncing and hit Remus with a wide, smug grin. "I did it! I did it, Remus!"
"Did what?"
"I got Sirius free! He's in St. Mungo's and he's been cleared of all charges!"
Remus's jaw dropped and his face slackened with shock. "What?" he whispered hoarsely. "You... what? How? I didn't even know you'd done anything! When did this happen? How did this happen?"
Harry's smug grin just grew wider and he finally flopped himself down into the chair opposite Remus looking very pleased with himself. "You'll get to read all about it in tomorrow's Prophet. It actually ended up being a hundred times easier than I expected it to be, because I found Pettigrew."
Remus appeared to choke on his own shock at that statement. "Found him? Pettigrew is dead!"
"Nope. He faked his death. The bastard has been living in his animagus form for... well, a decade, I guess. He was pretending to be someone's pet. He was here. In Hogwarts. I saw his name on the Marauder's Map, tracked him down, and caught him."
"You, what? Harry! Wait... you did this all on your own? When! Harry, you should have come to me! He could have hurt you!"
Harry waved off Remus' statement with an unconcerned gesture. "It wasn't necessary. It was easy to catch the man and he never even saw me. I stunned him before he even realized what was happening and then I put him under a sleeping spell. I spoke with the Minister of Magic at the Malfoy's party and arranged to give him Pettigrew, and to make some public statements lending him my official support and gratitude if he agreed to make sure that justice was served and Sirius got a trial and was cleared of all charges."
Remus just sat at his desk, leaning forward and gaping at Harry in total shock. His jaw floundered as if he wanted to say something, but had lost his words. Finally he blinked and shut his mouth before rubbing his hands roughly over his face. "I cannot believe you got all of this accomplished on your own. Did anyone help you?"
Harry shrugged. "Well all I did was speak with the Minister and hand over Pettigrew. Honestly, most everything was done on his end. It was actually rather frustrating to have so much of what happened be out of my control, but I guess I'm a bit of a control freak like that."
Remus coughed out a weak laugh and shook his head. "You said that Sirius is in St. Mungo's?"
Harry nodded. "Yup. Minister Fudge told me that he was surprised at how much of Sirius' mind seemed to still be in tact, so I'm hopeful that things will work out from here on out. I doubt I'll be able to get permission to leave the school to visit him any time soon, nor that he'll be able to come here and visit me until some of the custody stuff and been put into motion. Do you think that you could pay him a visit some time soon to check on him?"
Remus sat up straighter and quickly nodded. "Of course. I'll..." he paused looking thoughtful. "I wonder if I'd be able to floo to St. Mungo's and visit him tonight..."
"I think their visiting hours are already over," Harry put in, "but if you send off an owl right now, it should make it to him before the rush of post he'll no doubt get after the articles are published in tomorrow's paper. And then you could go visit him tomorrow after your last class. I'm not sure how much he actually knows about what happened to get him free."
Remus nodded slowly as he looked across the room with slightly unfocused eyes. "Yes... you're probably right. I'll... I'll write a letter and go visit tomorrow."
Harry grinned. "Alright. Good luck with that. I'd better get back to the Ravenclaw common room. Keep me posted on what happens, yeah?"
"Of course," Remus said with a determined nod. Harry grinned, stood up and bid the man farewell.
– –
PETER PETTIGREW FOUND ALIVE!
SIRIUS BLACK CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES
FREED FROM AZKABAN
In a shocking revelation, it was recently discovered that supposed-mass-murder and Death Eater, Sirius Black was none of those things at all, and most shocking of all, ten years ago when said wizard was first apprehended, he never received a trial that could have easily proven his innocence and prevented a decade of suffering for crimes he did not commit.
Sirius Black finally received that trial this last weekend after the man who had actually committed those crimes was discovered alive and questioned under veritaserum where he made a full confession, proving that Black had had nothing to do with any of it. Sirius Black was retrieved from Azkaban Prison, questioned under the truth serum and found innocent on all charges.
Ten years ago, it was believed that Sirius Black had been the Secret Keeper for the Potters when they put their home under the Fidelius Charm in order to hide from You-Know-Who and his followers, however it has just recently come to light that Black was a decoy while the Potters had actually put their trust in their other friend, Peter Pettigrew. Unfortunately, this trust was misplaced because it has been revealed that Pettigrew bares the Dark Mark of You-Know-Who and had already been a Death Eater when he was made the Potter's Secret Keeper. Pettigrew was the one who betrayed the Potter's location to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and guaranteed their imminent death.
After the deaths of the Potters and the miraculous destruction of You-Know-Who at the hands of their infant son, Harry Potter, Sirius Black being the only person who knew the truth about Pettigrew being the real Secret Keeper went after the man in hopes of apprehending him and bringing the Death Eater and traitor to justice. Pettigrew however, was able to turn the tables, pinning the blame for the Potter's betrayal on the shoulders of Sirius Black and causing an explosion in the heart of muggle London causing the deaths of over a dozen muggles.
Black was apprehended by Aurors lead by then-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemious Crouch Sr., a man on a mission and with powerful political ambitions, reaching as far as the position of Minister of Magic. Seeing the capture and punishment of the Potter's betrayer as a political stepping stone, Crouch bypassed our precious justice system and threw Black straight into the wizarding prison without so much as questioning the man.
This outrageous miscarriage of justice would have gone unnoticed – as Mr. Crouch had buried the evidence of his wrong-doing deep – if it weren't for the Boy-Who-Lived himself, and our very own Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Young Harry Potter says that he knew that Sirius Black hadn't been the betrayer that everyone believed him to be and went right to the top, seeking the aid of Minister of Magic himself, and –
Albus Dumbledore stared down at the newspaper resting on the table beside his breakfast plate in mild, numb, shock, and honestly, he was temporarily rendered unsure of what to do. He had not seen this coming and that was unsettling. He prided himself on his ability to predict all the likely, and even unlikely moves, countless steps in advance and always have some sort of reaction planned out ahead of time.
But this... he did not expect this. He had suspected that it was possible that Pettigrew had survived, but had assumed the man would vanish off the face of the planet and never get captured. Even then, he would have expected Cornelius to try and cover something like this up, not help to speed it along. This could bring about a mountain of problems for Dumbledore if certain details leaked to the wrong sources.
Had Sirius known that Dumbledore was the one to cast the Potter's Fidelius? That would be the biggest problem that he could see arising from this. He could not risk anything that would cause Harry Potter to distrust him. Harry had a destiny to fulfill and he had to be properly guided. If he did not trust Dumbledore, it would only make it that much harder to guide his actions and make sure that each step was played out just so in order to achieve the best outcome for everyone.
Of course, Dumbledore fully understood that some of the actions he had had to undertake during the last ten years regarding young Mr. Potter were shrowded in some serious moral and ethical dilemmas and he truly did regret having to cause the boy such misery, but in the end, he was still convinced that everything he had done, had been necessary. This was for the greater good of their world, and for the greater good, a few sacrifices were necessary. He knew that Voldemort would return someday, and when that time came, Harry's full cooperation was going to be necessary in order to truly and fully vanquish the Dark wizard. Harry would need to do things in just the right way, and he would have to do it believing that it was entirely of his own will.
Sure, Dumbledore knew that Harry Potter wasn't the only chance they had to destroy Voldemort, nor did he have any expectations that Harry Potter would be casting the finishing blow to the Dark Wizard – it was actually impossible, all extenuating circumstances being considered. And this was a war and wars were waged by armies. They were rarely determined by a single duel, or ended at the hands of a single person, however Dumbledore also knew that in order for this war to ever hope to end, Voldemort had to die.
Harry was just a single child, but Dumbledore knew that his involvement in this war would be a true deciding factor in Voldemort's eventual demise. Of course, Harry would have to die for it, seeing as how he was carrying a piece of Voldemort's soul around with him, but Dumbledore also was convinced that if he was able to make everything play out just so, that the war could be won easier and faster if he properly guided young Harry down the correct path. Fewer people would die in the end, this way. Yes, Harry would most likely die young after enduring a miserable childhood, but his sacrifice would save the lives of thousands of others, and if everything concluded as Dumbledore predicted, by the end Harry would willingly sacrifice his own life, for the sake of saving the world. It was regrettable, but Dumbledore saw no other alternative that was as likely to work as well.
That is, assuming everything went according to his many plans, and he had to admit that things were already deviating in ways he hadn't foreseen. Nothing serious, of course. Nothing that he couldn't slightly alter his plans and compensate for. Sirius Black being released from Azkaban wasn't even the largest unexpected deviation if he was being honest with himself.
No, Harry himself had been the biggest surprise. Dumbledore had truly been surprised by the young boy. He was frightfully bright and seemed so eager to learn and to help. Of course Dumbledore had expected a boy desperate to please others – willing to do anything he could in order to earn the approval of others; but he had also expected the boy to shy away from people and more than likely have average or below average academic achievement. He knew that the Dursley's would never have approved of their nephew performing better than their own son in academics. What he had heard from Arabella about their poor treatment of the boy, had led him to be sure that Harry Potter would be far more... well, broken then he was. He had been greatly surprised to hear from Remus that Harry had been placed in a gifted program at his muggle school. He never would have expected the Dursley's to allow such a thing. To permit their nephew that they despised to so brightly outshine their own boy... well, he hadn't expected that. He could still work with that though.
He had been a bit concerned at Harry's willingness to associate with the children of Death Eaters, simply because he was worried about what sort of influence they could have on him or the danger he could be placed in by associating with them outside the safety of Hogwarts. He had expected Harry's introduction to the wizarding world at the hands of Hagrid to plant the seeds of distrust and hesitation regarding those sorted into Slytherin house so that Harry would steer clear of them, thus keeping him safe, but that had apparently not quite gone to plan. Still, it wasn't that big of a deal. At least the boy hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, which would have been the only significant complication.
Dumbledore had to admit that he was rather proud of the boy's open-mindedness and willingness to cross the invisible house line that so few children were ever willing to cross in their first year. To Harry, each child was a person defined by their actions and words, not by what color their tie was or what emblem was on the breast of their robes. It was such a breath of fresh air to come across someone who was willing to give people second chances and see people as more than who their parents were. Someone who is able to see the good in everyone, no matter the stigmas that people and society attach to them. It was also clear that Harry knew about Remus' condition, if what Poppy Pomfrey had to say was true, and the boy clearly did not fear or shy away from the man simply because of his unfortunate affliction.
It really was a shame the boy had to die. He had such promise. So bright, so helpful. He had even given Severus a Christmas present!
The memory still brought a small smile to his lips. The rest of the staff had been so stunned by that. Clearly Severus had also been rather stunned as well. Quite amusing.
But this... this Sirius Black business had the potential to cause a lot of problems. However, it could still work out if he played his cards right – and Dumbledore always played his cards with the utmost care. Assuming that Sirius didn't know that Albus had left him in that awful place intentionally, then things would still be fine. Sirius had been loyal to Albus in the last war, and if he remained loyal now, Dumbledore knew that he could still maintain Harry's trust in him. His loss of legal guardianship, assuming that Sirius was still sane enough to make a bid for gaining it, would be unfortunate, but he was fairly sure he could still maintain a powerful place in the boy's life as an adviser, and with time he could grow to be the boy's confidant.
The issue of the Dursley's, and the blood wards connected with Petunia would likely come up, and he would need to make plans for that.
He let out a small breath and nodded his head slightly to himself, convinced that he still had things under control and this complication would not ruin his plans. He couldn't allow it to. Harry Potter was simply too important.
– –
Harry sat calmly at the Ravenclaw table drinking his pumpkin juice with a small smile gracing his lips. The Great Hall was on fire with stunned and excited whispers, and more than a few sets of eyes were locked on Harry.
In addition to the main headline story, there were several other articles in the morning Prophet dedicated to all that had happened. There was one story about Pettigrew's Order of Merlin being revoked; another story explaining what a Fidelius Charm was and how the secret was stored in the soul of the 'Secret Keeper' and can only be given up willingly; and then there was another story that included interviews with some witches and wizards who had been classmates of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Pettigrew's who told stories about their school days and how James Potter and Sirius Black had been as close as brothers, if not closer.
Most of these stories only had a headline, and the first paragraph of the story and then a note to which page the reader should turn to find the rest of the story. Accompanying the main headline story on the front page, however, was another large featured article – this one by Rita Skeeter, going over her interview with the Boy-Who-Lived and his reaction to the events. Harry came off as an innocent, excited young man who was thankful that justice was finally going to be served and the man who actually betrayed his parents was going to pay for his crimes. He also expressed that he was eager to meet Sirius Black, as he knew the man was his godfather, and had been a good friend of his father's.
He also went into how grateful he was to the Minister for his assistance. He said that he was so relieved that the man had been willing to take him seriously, even though he was just a kid. He put in a proper amount of gushing awe that such an important man had been willing to help him, and Skeeter's slant on the whole thing portrayed Harry as a rather adorable, eager and innocent child, which was fine by Harry since it made him appeal to a large portion of the public, and made him seem unthreatening to the rest. Unthreatened people were fare more apt to lowering their guard.
She then went into a bit of a bio on Harry's history, noting that he'd lived with muggles (although no mention was made of his treatment at the Dursley's hands since Harry did not yet feel it was necessary to pull out that card), and that during his muggle primary school days he'd been considered 'gifted'. She then transitioned into describing Harry's successes so far at Hogwarts, mentioning that he'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, and that he was currently top of his year out of all of the houses.
A few of Harry's classmates actually felt they knew him well enough that they didn't hesitate in asking him about the articles and what all had been said. He responded easily enough and actually expressed that he really was hoping he could meet his godfather sooner rather than later, but expected it wouldn't be any sooner than the spring holiday.
Breakfast finally ended and people's attention managed to shift away from the news in the paper and back onto their classes. At the end of the day, just as classes came to an end, Harry visited Remus and wished him good luck just as the wizard made use of the Floo in his office to go to St. Mungos.
– –
It was now Wednesday and Harry had just finished up his block of double-potions with the Hufflepuffs. He lingered behind and waited for the class to leave. A few of his classmates gave him slightly questioning looks, but he gestured for them to go onto lunch without him. As soon as they'd all left, he turned found found Snape watching him with a hesitant, calculating look.
"Did you need something, Potter?" Snape asked cautiously.
"Not necessary," Harry said with a shrug as he pulled out his wand and cast a few privacy charms. "I just wondered if many of the ingredients I gave you were still good. I wasn't convinced that all of them would be all that useful, being as old as they were."
"Age, fortunately, doesn't have a huge effect on many basilisk parts. They are remarkably resilient of deterioration."
Harry smiled. "Ah, that's good to hear."
"Where did you get them?" Snape asked as he pinned Harry with narrowed eyes.
Harry chuckled and shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. What's important is that I can get more. In fact... technically, I could even get some fresh stuff. Would you have any use for basilisk venom? Or some fresh sakes, not just the old dried out shed stuff? I know there are potions that require the parts be fresh."
"There are... how could you possibly have access to fresh bits from a basilisk?" Snape asked incredulously.
"Like I said, it doesn't really matter." Harry repeated, his eyes turning slightly more serious for a moment.
"Basilisks are incredibly difficult to successfully breed and even harder to keep alive. It's why they're so outrageously rare! There are only a few living in captivity in reserves and their scales and venom can only be harvested a few times a year without causing them harm. The expense behind acquiring any of those ingredients is monumental." Snape exclaimed. "Even purchasing a small segment of shed skin, like the one you gave me, is incredibly expensive!"
"I'm aware of that," Harry replied in a slightly bored tone and rolling his eyes. "Now that we've established that basilisk related ingredients are damned expensive and near impossible to come by, how about we move onto the more important fact that I can get you as much as you want? Oh, and also the fact that I'm not going to tell you where I'm getting it."
Snape looked dumbfounded for all of one second before his eyes narrowed and he looked at Harry shrewdly. "What do you want?"
Harry's grin turned predatory. "Now you're getting it." Harry walked to stand in front of one of the workstation tables in the front row and pushed himself up so he could sit on it, much like he did the last time they had a chat in this room. "I'm not specifically sure what I need, just yet, but I know I'm going to need someone's help, very soon," Harry started. "I've been looking into this magical Trace business over the last week, and while I'm fairly sure I can figure out how to remove it, it's not something I'll be able to do alone when the time comes to do the actual removing. I'll get you whatever basilisk-related ingredients you want, in exchange for the guarantee that, when the time comes, you'll help me get rid of this Trace. Do we have a deal?"
Snape looked a bit shocked. "I'm surprised you feel the need to try and bribe me to help you," he stated after a moment. "I would have expected you to simply order me to assist you."
Harry shrugged. "You're baring the Dark Lord's mark, not mine – although I did help him created the thing... But anyway, it's not like you're one of my followers. What right do I have to order you around without offering compensation?"
Snape blinked at him with a blank expression before seeming to collect himself. "Alright..." he said slowly, "but what makes you so sure you can dispell the Trace?"
"I was able to remove the Trace from my wand when I was only fifteen – the first time around, I mean – I'm sure I can get rid of this version of the Trace from my person now that I'm more than sixty, if you look at it from a certain perspective – although I'd be more inclined to call myself closer to fifty-one since my perception of time while I was dead was a bit off. But anyway, I've already started analyzing the Trace, it's just difficult to do when I'm trying to analyze a spell is cast upon myself. I'm considering enlisting Draco's assistance so that I can cast my revealing spells on him and analyze the results with less interference."
"Will you be offering him compensation as well?" Snape asked with an air of minor incredulity, as if he were still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea of Harry actually being willing to offer something in exchange for services, instead of simply demanding obedience. But then he had to remind himself that this wasn't the Dark Lord... just someone who had been the Dark Lord's lover and second in command.
"Of course," Harry said dismissively. Snape rose a questioning eyebrow and Harry continued. "I'll remove his Trace as well – assuming that it's not too difficult or dangerous for him. The promise of having his Trace removed should be more than enough incentive for him to cooperate."
"Will your experience with removing the Trace from your wand apply at all to removing a personal Trace?" Snape asked after a moment.
Harry scowled lightly. "No. Not from what I can tell so far, anyway. It's a very different spell. I'm already starting to develop a theory of one way to approach removing it, but I need to do those revealing spells so that I can see if there are any other options first."
Snape nodded his head slowly. "Well... when the time comes that you are in need of my... assistance... let me know."
Harry nodded. "Good. Are there any specific basilisk parts that you want more than others?"
Snape paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before he looked up, his eyes unusually bright. "Can you really get the venom?" he said in an almost whisper.
Harry smirked. "I can try."
– –
The school term quickly got into full swing, and the weeks began to pass quickly. Harry easily enlisted Draco's cooperation. The best part was that the Malfoy heir knew better than to ask Harry stupid questions about how he knew the spells he knew, or how he was able to perform non-verbal casting when that wasn't covered until much later in their schooling. He also never once showed that he doubted that Harry would be entirely capable of successfully removing the Trace, even though it was supposed to be impossible.
The only thing about the whole arrangement that Harry didn't entirely like was the fact that he had to reveal the Room of Hidden Things to Draco. He needed to do his work in there because it was the only place in the school besides the Chamber where he could perform all the spells he needed to use without there being any chance of the magic being logged by the school's wards – not that the spells were actually Dark, or illegal in any way. And even given the likelihood that no one would ever check those logs unless there was some specific cause to do so or an investigation being conducted for some reason, Harry still didn't want to take the risk. These were high-level reverse-engineering spells and most certainly not something a student should know how to cast, or ever have any reason to do so.
Draco had, of course, been sufficiently impressed with the room's existence and it's abilities. Harry made him swear that he would not show the room to anyone else, and Draco had agreed, but Harry wasn't stupid enough to take that as any real guarantee. Draco may have been a Malfoy, but he was still only eleven, and he liked to brag. Harry had also made a point to not even hint at the 'hidden things' portion of the room, and simply referred to it as the 'changing room' in Draco's presence. He didn't want the boy to find the room filled with hidden objects since one of Tom's horcruxes was hidden in there and the fewer people who knew of its existence the better.
The two spent several hours on the weekends when they both had the time, in the room. Draco would stand in the center of a circle of runes that Harry had drawn on the floor while Harry stood off to the side with small table, parchment, and a charmed auto-inking quill floating above it, and his wand in his hand. He would cast spell after spell and dictate his notes while the quill scribbled away.
Draco would quickly get bored and often complained about having to stand so much, but Harry tuned the boy out easily enough. It was the third week since the start of term when Harry stood looking down at the parchment with a frown on his face before looking up at Draco seeing magically displayed results that only he, as the caster of the detection spell, could see, and then looked back down at the parchment.
"It couldn't possibly be that simple," he said under his breath.
Draco looked up curiously. "You find something?"
"I think... I have," Harry said slowly as he bent down over the parchment on the table and grabbed the quill that had been hovering in the air over the parchment, breaking the dictation spell.
He flipped through several pages and scribbled a few things down in the margins before standing back.
"Well, fuck. That's... just stupid."
"Going to fill me in?" Draco asked, sounding mildly impatient.
Harry shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."
Draco scowled in obvious annoyance and turned to the side to scowl at the wall.
Harry looked back up, seeing the angry look to Draco's face and chuckled. "Sorry Drake. Didn't mean to insult you. No offense, there's just... it's complicated."
"Well, obviously, seeing as how you've been at this for three weeks," Draco sneered in obvious annoyance.
"Yeah, well, I think that this will be our last session for a while. I think I've figured out what I needed to from all this."
Draco's eyes lit up. "Do you think you know how to remove it?"
"Yes... I do."
"Let me guess... I wouldn't understand?" Draco sneered.
Harry chuckled. "Actually... it's almost obscenely simple. "An aging potion."
"An aging potion?" Draco echoed incredulously. "It can't possibly be that simple! If it's that easy, everyone would be doing it, and it wouldn't have taken you three weeks to figure it out."
"Well, a normal aging potion won't work. It's going to take a very specific sort of potion to trick the Trace. It's designed to remove itself automatically when the body reaches the age of full maturity. It uses your biological clock to know when to dissipate. Normal aging potions temporarily transform your outward appearance into that of your older self, but they have no impact on how old your body actually is. It's going to take... well, this is the part where I get Snape's help."
"This potion you'd have Sev make would age you past seventeen in order to trick the Trace, right?" Draco asked for clarification.
"Correct."
"But we'd go back to our real ages afterwards, right?"
Harry was looking back down at his notes now but nodded absently. "Yes, yes. Don't worry. When everything is said and done, your body will go back to being that of a twelve-year-old again. Once the Trace legitimately believes you've reached physical maturity it'll dispell all on it's own and it'll be gone. The Trace won't suddenly come back just because you're body has gone back to normal."
"Okay, good. The Trace won't get cast on us again here at Hogwarts when we return next fall, will it?"
"Snape says it's only cast on the first years, but I can always store and stasis some of the potion. As long as the proper charms are used, it'll be good in stasis for a couple years and I won't have to brew more."
Draco nodded his head. "Alright. So am I done here?"
Harry nodded absently again and made a shooing motion with his hand that Draco looked at with obvious annoyance before huffing and stepping outside the circle of runes.
"I'm going now," Draco said pointedly, but Harry still didn't look up from his notes. He just mumbled something unintelligible, causing Draco to roll his eyes and stalk out of the room.
– –
Remus had been visiting Sirius Black in St. Mungo's at least twice a week. After three weeks, the healers were finally satisfied that his health was stabilized and he was gaining weight again at an acceptably steady rate. They had him on a regimen of potions that he would continue for several months – mostly various nutritional supplements, and potions to help restore the damage of a decade of malnourishment on his muscles and bones. They also had a mind healer coming to visit him regularly, but, according to Remus, the man was being incredible stubborn about not cooperating with the woman.
At the end of the third week in the hospital, he had finally convinced them to discharge him and Sirius Black stepped out of St. Mungo's and breathed clean fresh air as a truly free man for the first time.
His wand had been snapped when he was apprehended and thrown into Azkaban, so his first destination was to visit Diagon Alley and get a new one. He went to Gringott's Bank, spoke with the account manager of the Black Family Estate and discovered that he had somehow become head of the family. His father and Uncle Cygnus had both died in 1979 and that had left his mother, Walburga as the head of the family, since aunt Durella had died in 1981, and aunt Lucretia had married a Prewett.
Regulus would have ended up the head of the family, even though Sirius was the eldest, simply because Regulus had been his mother's favorite... however Regulus had died too. Still, despite all of this, he still found himself surprised that he'd ended up inheriting the title of family head because he had honestly believed that his mother had disowned him after he ran off and moved in with the Potters in his fifth year.
Apparently she had added him back to the family after he'd been sentenced to Azkaban for betraying the Potters and being a Death Eater.
He rolled his eyes to himself as his mother's twisted logic and accepted his fate. It meant that he inherited the family fortune, as well as his childhood home – however, that did not mean he had any intention of ever living there. No, he had other plans already in motion for that.
He left Gringott's with a bottomless money pouch attached to his vault and made his way to Ollivander's where he quickly acquired a brand new wand. His presence in the Alley attracted quite a bit of attention and he didn't exactly like it, so as soon as he was done, he took the Floo out of the Leaky Cauldron to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. He pulled a bit of parchment out of his pocket and checked the address written there one last time before quickly making his way out of the pub and down the street and turning towards the residential district.
It didn't take him long to find the two story house labeled #224 Boyd Acres Rd. He knocked on the door and after a brief weight an elderly witch opened the door and looked up at him with a blank expression for a moment before she smiled.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Black," she said in a kind voice.
He smiled and nodded his head. "That's correct. And you must be Maggie Sampson? I'm here about the flat?"
"Of course, dear. Right this way," she said as she stepped out the door, closing it behind her and leading him around the front of the house to the side where an exterior staircase went up and around the building, ending at a small landing on the second story and another door. She pulled out an old key and unlocked the door before handing him the key and telling him that it and lock were warded together so that a simple alohomora couldn't unlock the door, which he appreciated.
She ushered him inside and stood at the threshold as she told him where everything was located, and informed him that the fireplace was already connected to the Floo network and the address was '224-b Boyd Acres'. He did a quick traversal around the flat before coming back to face her with a relieved smile on his face.
"So is everything acceptable Mr. Black?" she asked and his grin widened.
"Everything is brilliant, Madam Sampson."
"Oh, call me Maggie."
"Then, I insist you call me Sirius," he said with a roguish grin that made her titter.
They spoke briefly over a few details of his new rental agreement and Sirius pulled out the first month's rent and handed it over before she headed out, back down the stairs, and he was left alone in the empty flat.
After heaving a slow heavy breath he reached into his pocket and pulled out another piece of parchment and began to read over his notes. He had a list of things he needed to accomplish. First, he needed to do some shopping. Buy some furniture, a new wardrobe, and a post owl. He had already gotten in contact with a solicitor so that he could start to move forward on claiming custody of Harry.
When Remus had explained that he had his freedom entirely thanks to the actions of young Harry, he had been utterly stunned. Remus had told him a lot about Harry in the last three weeks, and while most of it was glowing praise, the portion about Harry's home life with Lily's wretched sister was horribly disturbing.
The festering ball of guilt in his gut at knowing that it was his own rash actions that had caused both he and Harry's suffering was tremendous. If he had just controlled himself instead of running off after Pettigrew for revenge he could have explained to everyone that he hadn't been the Secret Keeper, and he could have taken Harry in from the start instead of allowing his godson to end up in the care of abusive muggle monsters.
But he was free now, and it was entirely thanks to Harry. And Harry needed him. He knew that the process to acquire custody of Harry would probably not be terribly simple. He would no doubt have to prove to the authorities that he was sane enough and stable enough to look after a child, and to do that he needed to get his life in order, and fast.
Maggie's flat was a temporary solution. He knew he'd be buying a house by spring, but since it would, hopefully, be Harry's home as well, he wanted to get his godson's input on the house before he bought anything. A house would be necessary though since he would have to heavily ward the place for Harry's protection.
Remus had told him that the reason Dumbledore had insisted that the Dursley's was the 'safest' place for Harry was because of some sort of powerful ward he was able to put in place there connected to Harry's blood relation to Petunia. The wards on the house were supposedly so good that a Death Eater could never hope to even find the place, let alone ever set foot anywhere near it.
He would have to commission wards around his new home that could rival those, if he was going to keep Harry safe.
Thinking about Dumbledore caused Sirius to clench his fists and gnash his teeth as a boiling fury tried to erupt from within him. If what Remus had told him was true, he... well, he didn't know what to think. Remus, himself, had been doubtful about it all as well, but said that Harry was convinced and had shown him quite a bit of convincing evidence...
If it was true, then Dumbledore had known that Sirius wasn't the Secret Keeper all along.
Could it be true? Sirius didn't know, and just thinking about it left him horribly confused and feeling more betrayed than he had ever thought possible.
He wanted to confront the man; to ask him if it was true. But Remus had insisted – begged – him not to and to wait until he'd spoken with Harry. That if it was true, then Harry could be in danger if they revealed to Dumbledore that they suspected him. Sirius had reluctantly agreed to wait, and had decided instead to focus on getting his life in order and getting the custody claims started.
He had a decade to make up for, after all. And a godson to take care of.
– –
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