章 7: Chapter 7: Bludgers, Bodies and Buddies
"Professor Flitwick?" Harry asked after Charms class.
"Yes, Mr. Potter? Can I help you? I noticed you were having some difficulties with the Freezing Charm," the diminutive man replied with a smile.
"Oh, no, Sir, Hermione can help me with that. I actually wanted to ask about the Dueling Club from the other week."
A gleam entered Flitwick's eyes as he sat up straighter and grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, looking to take up the circuit then, Harry?"
Harry snorted at the immediate enthusiasm of the teacher. He certainly was a determined fellow. "Not yet, Sir." Flitwick gave a sigh and shook his hand in defeat but nodded for Harry to continue. "I was actually wondering why you hadn't been teaching it instead? I feel like we would have actually had more than the one meeting then…"
"Ah," Flitwick said shifting uncomfortably. "You see, it's just that Professor Lockhart and I, we have…differing opinions on…teaching methods. I was a little worried we would not mesh well. I hear Professor Snape didn't end up performing much better though in my place."
"Yeah, you could say that." Harry shook his head. "Well thanks, Professor. I was just curious." As he walked out of the classroom two Hufflepuff girls stepping in front of him and smiled.
"Hello, Harry," the redheaded said.
"Hi…" Harry responded with a frown. He carefully scanned the surrounding area. It was rare these days for anyone outside of Hermione and Neville to talk to him without setting him up to be jinxed or hexed.
"It's Susan," the girl continued. "Susan Bones. And this is my friend Hannah. I know we haven't talked very much what with the different Houses and all but I talked to my Aunt a few days ago, Harry, and your name came up. You apparently made a bit of an impression on her. I brought up the…Heir...stuff. She, umm, well she made me realize I've been a bit of a bitch regarding all this." Harry's frown deepened but he nodded to her and stopped checking the corners. Susan wrung her hands and looked at the floor while Hannah nodded along. "It's stupid to blame you for something you're born with and it's stupid to think that you'd have a problem with Muggle-borns considering you're best friends with one. So I'm sorry."
"And so am I," Hannah put in with a firm shake of her head.
"Aunt Amy also mentioned that House Potter and House Bones used to have an alliance back before that night so – " Susan took a deep breath, looked straight at him and bowed low before continuing. "I, Susan Amelia Bones, Heir to House Bones, formally apologize for any harmful and inappropriate actions I have taken in the past against you, Harry James Potter, as well as any insults that I have made against House Potter. I am prepared to accept whatever sanctions or punishments you deem appropriate and wish to reestablish a benevolent relationship between House Bones and House Potter."
Hannah then bowed as well. "And I, Hannah Marie Abbott, Heir to House Abbott, formally apologize for any harmful and inappropriate actions I have taken in the past against you, Harry James Potter, as well as any insults that I have made against House Potter. I am prepared to accept whatever sanctions or punishments you deem appropriate and wish to reestablish a benevolent relationship between House Abbott and House Potter."
Harry's mouth dropped open and was only dimly aware of Neville whistling and moving to his side. Susan remained bowed while Neville leaned over to quietly talk to him. "Harry, this is a bigger deal than you might think. You have two options here: one, accept their apology on behalf of House Potter and offer to determine reparations at a later date or two, refuse their apology and break off the alliance between your Houses."
"That would be bad right?" Harry whispered back while Hannah started shifting nervously from foot to foot though Susan remained firmly planted.
"It's up to you, Harry," Neville said. "Susan's really nice though and her Aunt is very fair. Hannah's very also very nice and her family has good business deals overseas. If it was me, I'd accept the apology but you're the one who they were calling the Heir of Slytherin a few weeks ago."
Harry turned to regard the two girls in front of him. After nearly a minute he sighed and stood up straighter. "I, Harry James Potter, accept the apologies of Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott and behalf of House Potter. All previous insults are forgiven though reparations will be determined at a later date." He glanced at Neville in case he had missed something but the other boy just smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Susan and Hannah stood up together and smiled over at him. "Thanks, Harry," Susan said. "We really are sorry for what we said."
"We'll try to talk to some people in Hufflepuff to see if we can get them to stop spreading those rumors," Hannah said nodding. "I don't think many of them really believe it you know? We're all just a little scared."
"Yeah, I understand," Harry sighed. "Thanks for apologizing girls. We should probably all head to dinner. I bet Hermione is wondering where we are anyway."
Ronald Weasley looked on from the corner as the four left the hallway. He scowled to himself and muttered, "Oh of course Potter has gotten those two to listen to him. He must have used some sort of Dark Parsel magic on them. Everyone knows that parseltongues are evil. Of course he's the Heir. Well I'm not fooled Potter! I'll watch you, and when you slip up I'll figure out how you're doing it, and I'll expose you! I'll stop the Heir of Slytherin – I'll save them all!"
The Quidditch match against Slytherin was a joke. Malfoy strutted around like a prince beforehand showing off his amazing new Nimbus 2001 and bragging to the entire school how it was hands down leagues beyond Harry's poor old broom.
Of course Harry proved that the talent trumps money by literally snatching the snitch from beside the git's ear.
That would have made the game fun if only one of the Bludgers hadn't decided it had a personal vendetta against Harry's head. Oliver Wood had tried to stop the game once the team had realized the Bludger was ignoring every other player, but the Slytherins managed to keep distracting Madame Hooch before he could get her attention. The point was moot once Harry caught the snitch.
Nobody bothered to tell the Bludger the game had ended though. It ended up breaking his arm before being destroyed by a seething Hermione. Harry would've laughed at her telling off Hooch if he hadn't been busy trying to run from Flophart.
"What did you do?" Harry moaned as he held his apparently newly deboned arm.
"Ah, yes, well," Lockhart chuckled slightly as he stepped back. "The spell can go a bit wrong sometimes. Guess we'll just leave the rest to Madame Pomfrey, eh, Harry?" He flashed a winning smile at Harry. The boy tried to remember whether or not he had any runes that could let him castrate the 'teacher' and not get caught. "Now just remember this for your own work later there, Harry! It's important to always have a healer on standby for delicate work just in case the spell fails."
"I'm going to – " Harry growled.
"Professor Lockhart, I would thank you to refrain from touching my patients again in the future," an ice cold voice said. Harry cut off and looked with relief to the school healer. Thank god for Pomfrey. He would never complain about her potions' tastes or her bedside manners again if she would just keep the lunatic away from him! "Come along, Mr. Potter. I'm going to have to keep you overnight to fix that."
"Dobby," Harry sighed as he woke up in the middle of the night to see the little house elf sitting despondently on his hospital bed. Harry's arm felt like he had thousands of tiny needles thrusting into it but he did his best to keep the pain from his face. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. "So let me guess, you enchanted the Bludger?"
Dobby nodded his head and turned shimmering eyes on Harry. "Dobby is sorry Great Harry Potter Sir but Dobby felt if Harry Potter Sir was hurt badly then he would be sent home."
Harry shut his eyes and counted to ten before responding to the elf. "Dobby. First off, I am sorry for getting mad the first time we met. Second, I do appreciate the concern you're showing as well as the efforts to get around your orders. Third, please stop trying to save my life!"
"But Harry Potter Sir – "
"No, listen to me, Dobby," Harry said forcefully. Dobby stopped what he was doing and just stared at Harry. "Good. Now, your attempts at saving my life – while well meaning – are just putting me in more danger. You understand that that Bludger could have killed me?"
"Not kill Harry Potter Sir! Never kill! Just grievously injure!"
Harry had to stop to take a few deep breaths again. "And if it had hit my head?" Dobby's mouth clanged shut. "Or if it had me while I was a hundred feet in the air?" Dobby started to reach for the nearby potions tray but Harry had been expecting that. He reached out, caught the house elf's arm and forced him to sit back down before the little guy could hurt himself. "Like I said, Dobby. You're efforts to save me are dangerous. I know the danger is whatever monster is in the Chamber. My friends and I are trying to figure out what it is. Just like you don't want to let me be hurt by staying I don't want them to be hurt either. So if you can't give me any information on this can you at least not try to get me to leave anymore before I can help my friends? Please, Dobby?"
"Dobby…" the house elf wrung his hands glancing longingly at the potions tray. "Dobby would respectfully request Harry Potter Sir leaves the school with his friends."
'Well that's some progress,' Harry thought. "We can't leave, Dobby."
"But, Harry Potter Sir, Miss Moany died the last time the Chamber was opened! Harry Potter Sir must be – " Dobby cut off as the sounds of conversation drifted into the room. Both human and house elf turned to look at the door to the hospital wing. Dobby popped away and Harry flopped back into his bed just as the door opened. Professor's McGonagall and Snape, Headmaster Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey all walked in floating an unconscious Colin Creevy ahead of them. Harry sucked in a breath at the way the younger boy's arms were held in front of his face clutching his ever present camera.
"It is the same as Mrs. Norris, Poppy," Dumbledore said in a low voice.
"There is nothing I can do without those mandrakes, Headmaster. I can't even tell if they're conscious or if their minds are as frozen as their bodies."
"Nevertheless, we must wait. I will speak with Pomona about when her crop will be fully matured."
The teachers moved back out of the room and Harry turned back over thinking. 'You're just going to leave him there? What if he is conscious? Someone could go crazy trapped in their mind without anything to distract them…What is wrong with these people?'
"Okay, Ginny, you've got the rotation list?" Harry asked the young redhead in the Gryffindor Common Room the next afternoon. The girl nodded so fast her hair started fanned out. When he had asked her that morning about getting together a list of Colin's friends who would be willing to sit and talk to him for a bit each day Ginny had barely managed to eke out a quiet "sure" before running off.
"That's great, Ginny," Neville said smiling at her. She shyly returned his grin before handing over the list of people.
"No, Ginny," Harry said pushing it back to her. "You should tell everyone and around the times. Just try to make sure it's for at least 3 hours every day okay?" She nodded again. "Great! Hermione, Nev, we've got to go check that thing right?"
His friends nodded and joined him as they left the Common Room and headed down to the bathroom they were sharing with Myrtle's ghost. Moaning Myrtle could be depressing and a little creepy, but she was nice enough to let them use the room and she kept anyone else away while the trio was gone.
"Harry, do you really think that we're going to be able to keep the rotation going until the mandrakes are ready?" Hermione asked chewing on her lip.
"Well I've got two ideas for that actually," Harry said. "I've been thinking of trying to set up a telly for him."
"Harry you know we can't! Electronics don't work here. It says so in Hogwarts, A History!" Hermione huffed crossing her arms and glaring at him.
"They don't work yet," Harry said smirking. "I've been thinking about it and I figure if I can work a Suppressor into a Local cluster and figure out a way to stamp it onto the machine then we just need to deal with the power issue. Anything with batteries should work fine, meaning if I can't figure out a way to run an electric line in or convert magic into electricity than at the very least we ought to be able to get a radio set up…" Harry trailed off as he noticed that Hermione had stopped in the middle of the corridor and was just staring at him with her mouth wide open. Harry turned to Neville who just shrugged.
"You – you – you've figured out how to make electronics work at Hogwarts!?" Hermione squeaked pointing at him.
"I might have figured it out. It's going to take a bit of tinkering you know and I still probably won't be able to deal with the power issues for a while…I'm mostly just hoping for the radio I guess…what?"
Hermione's mouth snapped closed and she shook her head. "And they tell me I'm the genius…" Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, you two, let's check on the potion," Hermione said over her shoulder.
"You know, Harry," Neville said following their friend, "you could always just set up a Wizarding Wireless instead of creating an entirely new rune cluster."
"Oh." Harry at least had the decency to blush at the mention of a mundane solution. "Yeah, I guess that could work too…"
"So why exactly am I going with you three to talk with the Headmaster?" Shiva asked Harry. He was currently leading Hermione, Neville and Shiva down the halls towards Dumbledore's office.
"Because I need backup in case this doesn't go well," Harry said with a shrug. "I figure Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick will probably be on my side. Snape is likely to shoot it down just because it's me bringing it up. I'm not sure about Professor Sprout. I wanted to make sure we had a swing vote just in case."
Shiva snorted. "And how are you so sure that I'm going to like this brilliant plan of yours?"
"Because you and Hermione are always yelling at me to look for mundane solutions instead of resorting to runes all the time. So I talked with Neville and we came up with a mundane solution. I'm actually a little surprised none of the adults brought it up already." He turned to give her puppy dog eyes. "And because you said you'd back me up on anything."
Shiva gave a deep laugh at that. "Cute and I give you points for the eyes, kid! But your delivery timing needs some serious work!"
Harry chuckled before turning back. "Well it was worth a shot. I'm not as good as Hermione," he ignored her shout of protest and continued, "but in all seriousness, Shiva, I really do believe you'll think this is a good idea."
"Alright, but no promises if it needs work, Harry. Sugar Quill," Shiva said to the gargoyle and motioned for the trio to head on up as it stepped out of the way.
"Ah, Harry, my boy, come in, come in," Dumbledore said gesturing to the seats in front of his desk. Harry ground his teeth. This was not the time to remind Dumbledore that he was certainly not the man's boy.
"Thank you, Professor." Harry, Neville and Hermione took their seats while Shiva moved to the side with Dumbledore and the other Heads of House.
"And just what are you doing here Babbling?" Snape sneered at the younger woman.
Inside Harry seethed at the man but he schooled his features before calmly stating, "I've been consulting with her, Sir."
"Severus," Dumbledore said with a small glance at the Potions Master. The greasy haired man ground his teeth but fell quiet. "Now, Harry. You mentioned in your request that you had a solution to our problem with Mrs. Norris and young Mr. Creevy?"
"Well actually, Sir – "
Snape again cut off Harry. "We will not be using any of your experiments on school children, Potter."
"Severus, be quiet!" Eight heads turned to goggle at McGonagall who blushed slightly but returned her harsh stare onto Snape. "We are all worried about the petrification. Let the boy speak."
"Thanks, Professor," Harry said shocked. He shook his head and turned back to Dumbledore setting his features again. "As I was saying. It was actually mostly Neville's idea." The other boy blushed. "We know that the mandrake drought is the best way to restore Mrs. Norris and Colin but we think it's stupid to wait for the mandrakes here to mature."
"You arrogant little – "
"Severus!" McGonagall snapped. He cut off and the Deputy Headmistress nodded for Harry to go on.
"We don't see why Hogwarts can't just order mature mandrakes via owl post. Hermione helped Neville make the list of all the suppliers in Britain who have mature mandrakes currently." Neville handed the list to Dumbledore while the other teachers present just stared at the trio with varying shades of shock flickering over their features. "We sorted it by price and delivery time. Going the middle of the road option, would have both Colin and Mrs. Norris up and about by the end of the week. Two tops if you choose one of the slower delivery venues."
"This is…" McGonagall seemed almost speechless as she leaned over to look at the list Neville had provided.
"An excellent idea, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger!" Flitwick exclaimed. "50 points to Gryffindor for each of you!"
"I agree," Professor Sprout said peering at the list as well. "I think some of these top options are a bit too much for our current budget but these others should be perfectly within reason."
"Excellent mundane solution, Harry," Shiva said flashing them a thumbs up.
Snape just sneered but at least he didn't say anything against it.
"This was an ingenious idea, my boy," Dumbledore said peering at Harry. He got a slight headache as he met the man's gaze but resisted reaching up to scratch at his forehead. "I will bring this up with the board as soon as possible."
"Okay, everybody got their doses?" Hermione asked for the third time. She received rolled eyes and nodded heads from Harry and Neville as both held up their potion vials along with Hermione. "Excellent. Now remember, we only have an hour after we drink this. Harry you found the Slytherin Common Room already right?" Another nod. "And you know the password?"
"Like I said before, Hermione, it's Balderdash. Can we please just do this already?" Harry said in exasperation. Her attention to detail was generally welcome but after going over the same information for the fourth time it got frustrating.
"Yes. Yes, I think we're ready. Bottoms up everyone." Hermione chugged back her potion vial as the boys did the same with theirs. A few nauseating moments later, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were staring back at each other in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with varying degrees of cringing and fascination.
"Hugh, I feel dirty," Crabbe-Neville rumbled. "Polyjuice tastes disgusting!"
"Well," Pansy-Hermione replied, "it's supposed to change taste and color based on the target. Perhaps it's just these three that are…"
"Gross and sickening?" Goyle-Harry ventured slipping his glasses into his pocket. "Come on guys. Let's not waste any time."
Venturing down into the dungeons Goyle-Harry led his friends into the section of corridor housing the Slytherin dormitory. He couldn't help a slight nod of approval as they let themselves in. The people might leave something to be desired for the most part but the rooms themselves seemed nice enough. They tapestries were nice and the sunken pit in the middle gave it a bit more character than the Gryffindor Common Room. The trio plopped down on a couch near Malfoy with Goyle-Harry grunting at him.
"Ah there you three are!" Malfoy said rolling his eyes at Goyle-Harry and Crabbe-Neville. "You sure took your time getting back. Pansy, why are you sitting way over there?"
"Uh, I um…" Pansy-Hermione stuttered. She shot a quick glance and Goyle-Harry before shifting closer to Malfoy. Goyle-Harry barely managed to stop his snarl as Malfoy draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side. Pansy-Hermione stiffened but gave no other sign of discomfort.
Sitting at one of the desks against the opposite wall, Daphne narrowed her eyes at the newcomers and nudged Tracey. Her friend didn't look up from her paperwork or her little book until Daphne elbowed her again and subtly nodded towards the couches.
"So, where were you?" Malfoy asked not even bothering to look at his bodyguards.
"We heard something new about Potter being the Heir of Slytherin," Crabbe-Neville said.
"I can't believe people actually believe that tripe," Malfoy snorted. "I mean really, that idiot as the Heir of a Founder?"
Pansy-Hermione's lips curled up in a snarl but Malfoy didn't notice before she schooled her features again. Daphne and Tracey however raised their eyebrows at the girl. Goyle-Harry leaned forward and stared at Malfoy. "You really don't know anything about who it actually is? You aren't holding out on us are you?"
"My father had mentioned something about it ages ago but he's never elaborated. I wish I could find out who is doing this though. Then I could send them after the best targets!" Malfoy's face seemed to light up as the trio of infiltrators' darkened. "I mean really, Creevy was annoying and all but they could've gone after Potter's posse with Granger first. Or those foreigners the Patil twins. Or even the Li girl. She may be pretty but she's never going to be worth anything beyond a mistress."
Pansy-Hermione's eyes had been squeezed closed and both Goyle-Harry and Crabbe-Neville's hands were clenched so tight, their knuckles were white. "Still, Draco, you've got to have heard whispers," Pansy-Hermione let out, her voice strained.
"I've told you time and again I don't know," Malfoy laughed and stood to stretch before shaking his head at the girl. "Honestly Pansy you're supposed to be smarter than these two. I'm going to turn in. See you three in the morning."
The trio looked at each other. Goyle-Harry checked his watch and then nodded towards the door. All three calmly got up, made an excuse about going to check on something with Snape and stalked out of the Dungeons. They turned into an unused classroom a few corridors down and waited a minute for the polyjuice to wear off. Once the transformation was finished all three pulled off their Slytherin uniforms and swapped back into the Gryffindor ones.
"I never want to do that again," Neville said shuddering. "I wanted to floor him so bad!"
"You and me both, Nev," Harry muttered darkly.
"At least now we know for sure that Malfoy is just a blustering fool," Hermione said though her frown spoke of badly she wanted to use far stronger language.
"Come on guys." Harry moved to the door but as he opened it he was greeted by two smiling faces.
"Hello, gentlemen. Lady," Daphne said as she swept past Harry followed by Tracey. Tracey casually pushed the door closed and leaned against it while Daphne looked at the Gryffindors.
"Greengrass," Neville said nodding to her warily.
"Mind if I put a few privacy spells up?" The Gryffindors turned to one another at this question before Harry hesitantly nodded his okay. Daphne's smile widened before flicking her wand and throwing up several different silencing and anti-listening spells.
"Where did you learn those?" Hermione asked, her curiosity winning out.
"It's standard for my family to be taught disarming, stunning and anti-eavesdropping spells before we attend school. Better to be safe than sorry after all," Daphne said with a shrug. "Now to business."
"Business?" Harry asked as he stepped in front of the Hermione and Neville.
"Yes. Business. Well, I suppose that might be too strong a word as I don't really expect money to change hands. It's not like we're blackmailing you or anything."
"Blackmail?" Harry's eyebrows rose.
"Well you did just illegally obtain or brew polyjuice potion and use it to infiltrate a rival dorm after all. I could blackmail you if I wanted to." Harry started to reach for his wand before Daphne waved him away and Tracey quietly laughed. "I said I'm not going to do that. Really, Potter, listen better. Actually I'm rather impressed. I wouldn't have thought any of you had it in you. Almost downright Slytherin of you actually!"
Harry snorted at the irony inherent in that statement but relaxed. These girls weren't part of Malfoy's group, they had already spoken with them a few times throughout the year after the library comment about Lockhart…and Tracey was not looking very well anyway. She hid it well with makeup and laughs but he'd seen the signs of lack of sleep in the mirror enough to recognize how exhausted the girl was.
"So you three were looking for information on whoever is performing these attacks?" Daphne asked.
Harry nodded wondering idly when the two had become the spokesmen for either side in this…arrangement? "Yeah. We had kinda hoped it would end up being Malfoy but didn't really expect it. He's too arrogant to not be boasting about it."
"Agreed." Daphne sighed. "I don't suppose there are any candidates in Gryffindor?"
"Not that we've noticed." Harry shook his head. "I'd almost be tempted to say Ron Weasley, but since no Slytherins have been hit…"
"Yes, we really would be his first target wouldn't we. Well do you have any contacts in Hufflepuff?"
"Yes, actually, I do. They haven't heard anything and most of them are pretty well convinced it's me."
"Yes, well I never really expected it from the Puffs anyway. They aren't exactly known for their deviousness. I don't have anyone in Ravenclaw yet myself, and I doubt you do either."
"No," Harry shook his head. "But I don't think it's them."
"Neither do I," Daphne shrugged. "I don't suppose you think any of the staff could be at fault?"
"I'd believe Snape personally but I'm not exactly unbiased there." Harry's face darkened thinking of the hateful man.
"True, you really aren't. I doubt Snape is doing this. He'd have done something sooner. And he'd likely have a target to take the fall. Since there isn't any clear perpetrator it's unlikely to be him. My current guess," Daphne said shrugging her shoulders, "is someone in the upper years in my own House. I'd be willing to share any information Tracey and I discover if you would be willing to do the same?"
Harry considered for a minute. He glanced back at his friends who just shrugged and nodded back to him. "Sure. I'd be okay with that."
"Excellent." Daphne held out her hand. "A deal then?"
"Deal," Harry said, shaking her hand.
Tracey stepped away from the door. "Great. Now that we're all partners I think it's time to head back. Some of us need to get some beauty sleep." Her voice was nonchalant, but Daphne narrowed her eyes at her friend and a brief flash of concern crossed her features.
"Yes. We probably should return. Potter, Longbottom, Granger. It's been a pleasure." Nodding to the trio, Daphne took down her spells and grabbed Tracey's hand to take her back to the Slytherin dorms.
"That was…unexpected," Hermione said frowning after the girls.
"Yeah, but I actually trust them. Go figure." Harry shrugged.
Neville stared back with wide eyes. "Seriously? You?"
"I know." Harry shrugged. "Search me as to why. Maybe it's because the Ice Queen actually talks to us almost normally? Or that she seems to hate Malfoy as much as I do?"
"Well, Tracey is a half-blood…" Neville shrugged. "She probably doesn't get star treatment in that House and those two are practically inseparable."
Harry smiled at his friends. "A lot like the three of us then, eh? Come on guys. Let's get back before curfew."
Shiva leaned back into her chair and rubbed her eyes. It had been a long few weeks. It had been a long few months for that matter. Considering how many offices shut down completely during the holiday season in the Wizarding World she had been pleasantly surprised that her Muggle solicitor kept going strong. A knock on her door had Shiva groaning but yelling out for whoever it was to come in.
"Hey, Shiva. Merry Christmas."
"Oh, hey, Harry," Shiva said with a small smile at the student plopping down on the chair across from her. "How's your break been?"
"Not as…productive as I'd hoped. But I think I made new allies. Maybe not…friends exactly, but allies at least." Harry frowned but ended up shrugging.
"Wow, way to be cryptic there kid," Shiva said chuckling.
"Says the woman who won't tell me where she disappears to every few weeks," Harry replied with a raised eyebrow.
Shiva's good mood dried up. She leaned forward and clasped her hands. "Harry, I've been avoiding telling you because I swore I would do everything I could not to hurt you. I didn't want to get your hopes up if it turned out to be nothing." He nodded. "But…I finally got some of the information I've been looking for." His eyes widened and he leaned forward as well. "Did you know that according to official Muggle records you barely exist?"
"What?" Harry squinted at her.
"You have a birth certificate. Your parents have a death certificate. You are registered as attending primary school. That's it."
"So…what does that mean?"
"That means, Harry," Shiva said slowly. "That my solicitor can proceed as I asked him to. Harry," she reached out a hesitant hand and clasped the preteen's own, "what would you say if I asked if you wanted to live with me?"
She watched a flurry of emotions play across the boy's face before it settled into a hopeful but confused expression. "I thought that wasn't possible?"
"Technically it's difficult. Not impossible. We don't have any blood relation and I can't really explain the majority of our mentoring thing to Muggles but the solicitor I'm working with is a Squib who's done this sort of thing before. We don't have a plethora of evidence that is useful against your relatives unfortunately, but the simple fact that they never bothered to officially file any guardianship or adoption papers for you and that you have next to no legal footprint is damning enough as it is. There's also the fact that I doubt they'd bother trying to fight for custody." Shiva frowned at the thought of people not bothering to fight for this kid before shaking her head and giving Harry a slight smile. "I still have a lot of paperwork and court stuff to go through if we do this. But I need to know, do you want me to do this, Harry?"
"You won't get in trouble with the Headmaster?" Harry asked furrowing his brow.
"Leave it to you to be worried about someone else before yourself," Shiva said smiling. "I'm doing this completely without magic and completely in the Muggle world. That's a large part of the reason it's taking so long. This isn't a snap process and there's a lot of just waiting for things to move though the system on the administrative side. The upside to that is that Albus Dumbledore, and Purebloods in general, have next to no knowledge of anything that goes on on the other side of the curtain. As long as no one brings this up to him before it's all complete there's nothing he can do after the fact. I'm making sure it's going to be ironclad and that it would be a criminal offense to remove you at any point before you turn 17 for any reason beyond your parents miraculously returning from the dead – and even then it'd still be unlikely."
Harry leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. After a few minutes he asked her another question. "Would I still be able to keep my last name? I don't want that link to my parents to just…die off."
"It's really up to you, Harry. I could ask my solicitor to move forward with either an adoption or a legal guardian status. Legally speaking, they'd be the same thing. An adoption would have you taking my name or at least hyphenating it in. A legal guardian would basically still have you as a member of my family but more as a ward than a son." Shiva gave his hand a squeeze before continuing, "You don't have to answer right now, Harry. Take some time to – "
"Legal guardian," he said cutting her off.
"Sorry?"
"I want you to be my legal guardian. Then I can keep the Potter line going but still get away from the Dursleys. And I trust you. That's…I don't like adults. I like you. I'd like you to be my legal guardian, Shiva," Harry finished in a rush.
Shiva pulled the boy into a hug and for the first time she could remember, he hugged her back. "You sure, kid?"
"Yes," he whispered into her shoulder.
"Okay." She lifted a hand to quickly wipe away a sheen from her eyes. "My solicitor warned me that this might take a few months. But worst case scenario it shouldn't be any longer than a week or two into the summer before everything is finalized, tops. And even if it takes that long I want you to – "
"No." Harry pulled back and shook his head. Shiva frowned at him but before she could ask he already answered. "If it takes until a few weeks into the summer than I'll stay with them until it's done."
"But – "
"I am not about to risk being stuck there for another five years simply because I couldn't handle two weeks. I'll stay until it's done and no one can do anything about it."
Shiva regarded him carefully before sighing. "You are very stubborn you know that?"
"Professor McGonagall says I get it from my Father. Professor Flitwick says I get it from my mother," he smiled at her. "The way I see it, I'm cursed to be twice as stubborn as either."
Shiva had just sent off her owl to her solicitor with instructions and was headed back to her office when she saw a figure moving to block her path forward. A figure whose teeth caught the glint of the full moon. Sighing internally and steeling up her features Shiva nodded to the idiot in front of her. "Evening Gilderoy." God how she wished she could use his last name instead but she honestly didn't trust herself not to call him Flophart like Harry and his friends liked to.
"Ah, Babs, fancy running into you on this most beautiful of evenings!" His smile widened while her teeth clenched at the horrible nickname. "Why the night is almost as beautiful as you, my dear!"
"I've asked you not to call me that, Gilderoy," Shiva said, quietly counting to ten internally.
"Ah but Bathsheda is such a horridly mismatched name for a nymph such as yourself." Lockhart walked a little closer. It was close enough for her to smell his aftershave. Which was a shame because the scent itself was actually rather nice. It was just that it wrapped such a disgusting package.
"I'm not like your little fangirls prancing around the upper classes, Gilderoy. I've had a long day. Good night." She tried to push past him only to find him stepping back in front of her. Shiva hissed in frustration. Would this idiot ever stop? How many times did she have to shoot him down before he gave up the chase?
"You've said that for months now, Babs. Just one evening. You will never regret it, I promise. There are many who can testify to that." He winked at her. He actually winked at her. Shiva had to fight down the urge to vomit. "Oh, look mistletoe! You know what they say about traditions!"
A horrible idea came to Shiva but she couldn't stop the manic grin from spreading across her face at its potential. "Oh, that it is. You want a kiss, Gilderoy?" The idiot smiled and moved in, closing his eyes.
"Ah see that's the spirit my – arrrggghhhh!" Lockhart collapsed to the stone floor hands clutched between his legs and knees clenched tight.
"Have a pleasant evening, Gilderoy!" Shiva waved over her shoulder walking away. The grin stayed plastered to her face and she whistled happily all the way back to her office.
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