บท 1540: 2
Chapter 2: Potter Manor and meeting the GrangersNotes:
So, like I said, here is the second chapter. Thank you all for your feedback, it is very great to get some response to what I've written.
From now on I want to post new chapters more or less weekly, I should be able to manage that.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As soon as the two friends stepped out of the fireplace in which they landed, Harry opened the wards for McGonagall, who followed them within seconds. Apparently they landed in one of the living rooms, and a rather large one to be precise. Both Harry and Hermione instantly went towards a window to have a look at what's outside. Aside from the gigantic garden, which needed a bit of care but was still impressive they saw a pond, a swimming pool, a quidditch pitch and a very nice sitting area, but the biggest surprise was the size of the Manor. Yes, they haven't been in many wizard homes, but the Burrow, the Lovegood's house, Shell Cottage or even Malfoy Manor were small in comparison. And Harry knew for a matter of fact, that the grounds were rather large and contained some small cottages in the outskirts of the property.
The young wizard's thoughts were interrupted by his soon to be head of house at Hogwarts, who mentioned that she'd been here several times when Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, Harry's grandparents, resided here, since Euphemia was an old friend from her school days. She waved her wand a few times, firstly checking the wards and if there was anyone around and then to get rid of all the dust so she could take a seat on one of the sofas. As far as she was able to detect, there were no house-elves left in Potter Manor, but maybe they resided at a different location or passed away, since no one sat foot in this house for around a decade and no Potters were around.
"So, Harry. Now that we are here would you please explain the only thing I haven't fully comprehended yet: why does Ms Granger remember? I take it you do, otherwise your behaviour would have been quite different I guess."
The last sentence went towards the young witch, who firstly asked the professor to stick to her first name when they should call her Minerva. Then she tried to explain why she suspected that her knowledge came back.
"You know, Harry said something along the lines of us being soulmates and that's why I regained my memories when we touched earlier. But I don't know much more than you about Harry's plans and how he returned, that's all I've gathered."
She kept the part about the Weasleys for herself, because that could be avoided and maybe the golden trio will exist in some way similar to the previous timeline.
Harry nodded, Mione was right. Then he started to explain a few things that he had planned in the afterlife: "Well, you are right about the soul mate thing, but we'll discuss the meaning of that in the future. It's important that the headmaster doesn't find out about all that, I mean that fool is guilty of me dying over and over again, more or less. And since I was a Horcrux and he certainly knew that, he just raised and protected me to die, so the dark bastard could be vanquished as his lovely prophecy said. I intend on playing along with Quirrell and the philosopher's stone as well as the Chamber, maybe less injuries and casualties along the way. No clue about the third year, since I want Sirius freed and possibly that rat Pettigrew in Azkaban by then, though letting him escape might be necessary for the resurrection. The tournament should go down like last time with Riddle's return and in the best case scenario all Horcruxes are destroyed by then so we can kill him for good. I have a few surprises along the way but those I won't tell you just now since Albus tends to use illegal Legilimency, and so does Severus."
If Minerva hadn't already been stunned by the revelation that Harry was a Horcrux, the use of Legilimency at Hogwarts would have shocked her. She could very distinctively recall a conversation with Albus about Harry's scar, proof enough for her that he knew about that bloody dark thing in the boy's head. Hermione on the other hand was not so surprised, she had actually considered that possibility back in the tent.
While the head of Gryffindor House found the liquor cabinet, Harry and Hermione went on a tour through the manor. It was truly fabulous and even the great hall of Hogwarts seemed boring and small in comparison to Potter Manor. Harry knew that his best friend would certainly want to see the library, so he told her that could wait. They still had some weeks' holidays and since they both could theoretically apparate, Harry as an adult even legally, they could make trips from the Granger household to Potter Manor. The two had decided it would probably be better if he accepted her parents' offer to stay with them instead of being here alone.
After an hour or so of discovering so many things Harry never knew he possessed, he finally found what he was looking for: his parents' room. Lily had all her notes and schoolbooks in her trunk, some of those books might even be more helpful than the half-blood prince's book and his father had a variety of belongings like personal objects and his own map in his old school trunk which Harry intended on taking to school with him.
"Oh, Mione, look at that! I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
It seemed like Harry had found his father's map, which instantly greeted the new Head of House Potter:
The Messrs. Moony, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to welcome the newest addition to the Marauders. May Mr. Prongslet take Wormtail's place on our side and do his best to bring mischief over Hogwarts.
"Prongslet? Seems like your father had already made plans for your name, Harry. And it knows about Wormtail's betrayal."
After that they continued looking through all the things Harry now owned and had Hermione already started to sort out what they'd need at Hogwarts. She had completely forgotten to look for the library of the Potters, but Harry remembered and told her, mainly because all that stuff from his parents was starting to get quite painful for him. One day he'd go through all of it with her by his side but not now. She understood and together they packed everything back into the trunks and closets, though Harry's new trunk was already filled with all the things they would take to school. He was so looking forward to his first potions lesson, where he would not only be able to answer Snape's questions, but also intended to take his mother's potions book with him. Snape would be so shocked. Harry decided not to tell Mione that, simply to surprise her and see her reaction.
"Could you give me a minute, Mione? I'll be with you soon but I have to do something."
Wondering what he would do, she left and waited in front of the door, while looking around a bit. They were in one of the top floors with a magnificent view over the grounds, but indoors was just as beautiful as the gardens. Over all the whole building was designed in very bright colours and reminded her a bit of Hogwarts, but way more colourful. All the paintings on the walls were still asleep and it was dusty, but that had to be expected. Without some elves it might take a while to bring life back into Potter Manor.
Hermione's thinking was interrupted by Harry, who stepped out of his parent's room wearing proper clothes for the first time in this timeline. He never even wore something like that in the previous one.
Harry had decided to shrink some of his father's clothes that had the Potter crest on the chest and suited him in his role as Lord Potter. Underneath the dark red robe he wore a buttoned up shirt in the same colour, black pants and waistcoat as well as dragonhide shoes. His father's pocket watch on a golden chain completed the outfit. Seeing that, Hermione felt something she hadn't really felt in years and she was sure it was partly the whole soulmate thing that made her look at Harry in a very different way.
"Wow, Harry. That...you look incredible. I'm stunned. There might even be some truth to the whole soulmate thing. All your father's clothes?"
He blushed and smiled as Mione approved of his clothing. The whole soulmate topic was something they had to discuss someday soon.
"Thanks. One last thing before we go back to Minerva, okay? We'll do the library another time."
Harry still wanted to take precautions since he was aware of the priori incantatem issue of his wand. In the afterlife they had planned for two other possible wands, but neither of them was in reach so he had to pick one of his ancestors' as a hidden backup. Following great-grandfather Henry's instructions he led her to a large painting on the ground floor which showed something that Hermione instantly recognized as Camelot. A copy of that painting was the most commonly used picture of Camelot in books but she had no idea that the original still existed.
" I call upon thee, power of the three!"
When Harry spoke these words in a calm and clear manner, Mione smiled. He had changed so much since they came back. Stronger, more confident. Hogwarts was going to be fun.
A flaming symbol of the Hallows appeared and Harry took Hermione's hand as he walked through the painting. The password was a nice reference to his Peverell ancestry, Harry thought.
The armoury itself was very impressive and contained probably enough weapons to arm a whole army but Harry was currently not looking for swords but wands. It took a few minutes but then he found the right cabinet, whose drawers contained dozens of wands, each and every one of them had a small brass label with the owner's name and dates of birth and death. Sadly his parent's wands weren't here, but he had an idea where they might find them.
It took him nearly ten minutes to have three favourites which would word: the wand of Linfred of Stinchcombe, called "the Potterer" and founder of the Potter family, the wand of Ignotus Peverell, whose granddaughter and only descendant married Linfred's eldest son Hardwin Potter and the wand of Henry Potter. All of them worked just fine but in the end he went with Ignotus' because it looked rather similar to his own holly wand. It was simply the most discrete of the three for his purposes. Harry put the wand in a second holster he was wearing and then the two left again, looking for Minerva. She was still comfortably seated in the living room they appeared in, drinking a glass of whiskey to cope with all the revelations. Upon entering, the professor looked up and was mildly surprised to see Harry in his father's clothes.
"I take it you were successful in your attempt to discover the Manor's secrets? It's as beautiful as ever, but I gotta admit that I miss Euphemia's presence. She was a friend of mine and we went to school together."
As the three were seated they started discussing detailed plans for the nearer future. Harry was looking forward to staying with the Grangers, but they planned to spend time here as well and prepare themselves for school. This time Harry wouldn't be so unprepared. Minerva was going to sort out things with the Dursleys so Harry wouldn't have to return to them again anytime soon, if ever. As desperately as Harry wanted to free his godfather, that would probably cause too much trouble at the ministry. He knew from Sirius that he never got a real trial and overturning his imprisonment was not that impossible even without Peter but again, Dumbledore shouldn't find out anything by now and he still was Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Maybe they'd snatch Peter soon so they could use Sirius to get into Grimmauld Place for the locket, but that was not a priority. The cup and most likely a Ravenclaw artefact, according to Rowena most certainly her diadem, were still missing, that's where they'd start as soon as Hogwarts would begin. Since Helena Rawenclaw had stolen it and ran away to Albania, it was almost a certainty that this would be the Horcrux. Helena was a ghost at the castle and Albania had been Riddle's hideout, it was more than likely that he found out about it through her and then went for it. Finding it would be a challenge. Until then, they could do some preparations and enjoy the free time. Minerva was very willing to share some stories from her past that they never got to hear the first time around, including childhood tales from James Potter.
When the day slowly came to an end, they all got up, Harry summoned his trunk (wordlessly, even if he didn't realise it), shrunk it and then looked to Minerva, who waited for them to get ready for a side-along apparition to the Grangers.
"Very strong and beautiful summoning charm, Harry. Out of interest, do you still possess the same magical strength as before your trip back? I've never seen a first-year do a wordless summoning charm, even with your knowledge, your magical core shouldn't be so strong."
"I think I'm even stronger, but that might be because of the Horcrux which is no longer there. My reaper said something along the lines of that thing blocking my core and my occlumency. So I presume I've kept my power and since it's my ninth time…maybe that's why I could summon a patronus in third year and overpowered Riddle's Avada in the graveyard in fourth. But now it feels like my power is off the charts. Expecto patronum."
The familiar form of Prongs appeared and walked across the living room before Harry let him go. He felt it pulsating inside of him, all the magical energy. What a power.
As soon as Minerva saw that Patronus appear, she recalled the memory Harry had shown her of the end of third year. The bright glowing stag was beyond impressive and a very nice homage to James Potter. Even though the Marauders hid it, she had known of their trips to the forest as animagi. She was, after all, a transfiguration master and was able to detect the signs of students working towards a transformation. But now was not the time to think about the past but rather bring the two young students to the Grangers. With a vigorous wand movement she got rid of all the traces of them even being there and offered Harry and Hermione her hands. As they grabbed those, she apparated.
Harry knew why he hated side-along apparition, but he's never been at the Grangers' and theoretically he wasn't even licensed yet, even with the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic no longer applying to him. Now Harry felt lucky that he was hungry, if he had eaten something he would have probably thrown up as soon as they touched the ground. Opening his eyes he was able to see Hermione's parents' house and it appeared as if they were rather well-off. The house was rather big with a lawn so nice that it would even make Aunt Petunia jealous and two cars in the currently opened garage. Dan just stepped out of the silver Mercedes, grabbing a bag full of groceries out of the back of the car and walked towards the house when he saw the three people and started to smile.
"Hermione! Professor, Harry, good to see all of you. I take it everything went well? Nice set of clothing you have there, boy. Is that what all wizards wear?"
Harry stepped forward and shook the tall man's hand, smiled and thanked him for offering him to stay here until Hogwarts started. When the four entered the house, they were greeted by a smiling Emma Granger, currently cooking dinner, who gave Hermione, and then even Harry, a hug that reminded the boy of his best friend. It seemed like Mione was like a small copy of her mother, both from behaviour and appearance.
After Emma told her daughter which room they had prepared for their guest both kids went upstairs to settle in. Harry's room was just opposite from Hermione's and very nice. With his friend's help he put his clothing in the wardrobe after enlarging his trunk, though the amount of muggle clothing was very small and he probably would have to go shopping for a proper wardrobe for the muggle world. He fed Hedwig, put a few school books on the small desk of the guest room and then went over into Hermione's room. She had asked him for help to go through all the stuff they had bought and so Harry stepped into his best friend's room for the first time.
Hermione's room was just as he had expected it, shelves filled with books, parchment and quill already on her desk to prepare for school. It was very warm and comfortable, a big red couch was standing on one of the room's walls, which reminded him of the common room. Slightly ashamed she closed some of the opened books and shoved them away to offer Harry a place to get seated. It was the first time she ever invited a friend into her room and she was happy that he felt very comfortable.
After sorting everything out they both relaxed on the couch, talking about the future, respectively their past. All those months in the tent have had an everlasting effect on them and they took great comfort in each other's presence. Mione's head was resting on Harry's shoulder and they were practically cuddling, just happy to be alive and together here, away from Voldemort or Dumbledore's manipulations.
"Hey, do you want to talk about the whole soulmate thing? I mean we both know what that's supposed to mean and I don't think that my reaper was wrong if I'm honest with you."
Hermione shook her head. She knew that they were apparently destined to be together and just the Weasley's manipulations had hindered them in the past, but she didn't want to force anything.
"How about we just ease into that? We have until fourth year to make the changes we want to make and get rid of Tom and after that we could live in peace. Until then - let's just not force anything, even if we know, or at least think we're destined to be together someday. If it happens earlier, then I'll be glad, but then we need to keep it secret. We don't need the additional attention or the changes in the timeline that could change everything."
If he hadn't known her that well, he would have wondered how she could be that rational, but she was right. No upsetting the timeline, even if that means getting along with the Weasley's. Some changes were okay, as he had planned out in the afterlife, but others not so much. Stopping Quirrell or the basilisk earlier was not as bad as changing his entire social circle. And after all, he still liked the twins or Arthur. Actually the only problems were Ginny, Ron and Molly, but even that could be avoided.
Harry's thoughts were rather abruptly interrupted, when Emma called them down for dinner, surprisingly with Minerva in attendance. The five of them had some lovely conversation during dinner, but then Dan decided to ask Harry about his family and his living conditions. He knew that it might be a delicate topic, but he wanted to know what the boy suffered in the past. After a slight bit of hesitation Harry started with the less cruel things like being called "freak" or having to do all the chores but then continued with the bullying and physical violence that occasionally happened. Emma was rather shocked at the thought of him sleeping in a cupboard. Once the hesitation was gone he was hardly able to stop but still managed to portray everything better than it really was.
Everyone, even Hermione, who knew practically every bit of that, was shocked. They all offered their support, but Harry was just thankful for all that had happened today.
"Again, Dan, Emma, I'm so grateful for everything you have done for me in that short time you've known me. Someone taking me in after barely knowing me means the world for me and I surely will return the favour. Now, with all my family's wealth and belongings the only thing I needed is someone who shows empathy towards me, someone who cares. You gave that to me, and even more important, with your daughter I got my first friend. I could hardly wish for more."
If Hermione wouldn't have known how old Harry practically was then she would have been surprised by his maturity and the way he expressed himself. He really managed himself quite well and made it sound like he was well-educated, praised her parents' and Minerva's generosity and kindness as well as the food or their interior decoration. The whole conversation became so comfortable and relaxed that her smile never left her face.
"You know, mom, we should probably try to show Harry the brighter side of life, maybe go to the movies. And we need to go shopping! All his old clothes are from his cousin and are way too big and these wizard clothes do look nice but are probably not ideal in our world."
That made Minerva look up rather abruptly, because when Hermione mentioned Dudley she realised that she had intended to go talk to the Dursleys. As soon as dinner was over, she quickly got up, said her goodbyes and hurried away.
"I don't get why she rushed that much, it's not like they really care."
Since neither Dan nor Emma wanted to continue a conversation about Harry's family as they were disturbed by their behaviour, they sent the kids up into their rooms so they could chat a bit before they'd go into bed. That meant that the two still had another half an hour or so before one of Mione's parents would come up here and tell them to go into bed. Up until then they were just casually chatting on the couch, since Hermione had dozens of things she wanted to show her friend in the muggle world and she had apparently already planned so many things. The next month before they had to go to Hogwarts would be so much fun.
When Emma Granger walked up the stairs and approached her daughter's room she wasn't sure what to expect there. Her little Hermione has never been a person who made any real friends and always felt secluded, but with Harry that was something very different. She herself had felt very sorry for him as soon as she'd seen him in the Leaky Cauldron and heard his story from Professor McGonagall and offered sanctuary without hesitation. The Grangers had trusted the Professor's assessment since they already knew her for nearly a year as Hermione had gotten her letter on her eleventh birthday last september. Since then their daughter had had so many questions about magic, Minerva McGonagall had visited them on several occasions over the past year. And when the elderly witch had said that young Harry had been mistreated over the last decade, they believed that. Harry's honesty about that at dinner had surprised nearly as much as the bond her daughter had formed with him over less than a day. Nothing could make her happier than that.
Upon entering Hermione's room through the opened door she saw the two sitting comfortable and close together on the big red couch, both an opened book in front of them and quietly chatting.
"Hey you two. As much as I hate to break that up, it's already getting late and you two had an exhausting day. Harry, has Hermione shown you everything?"
Upon getting up Harry nodded, then Hermione gave him a fierce hug and wished him a good night. He smiled and even Emma was able to see the happiness radiating from the two kids. When Hermione's mother left the room together with him he thanked her once again and followed his best friend's example and hugged her. The tall woman was now as happy as she has ever been, since her daughter was happy beyond measure, they gave Harry a better life and now she had no reason to doubt that Hermione's life at Hogwarts was going to be great, since she had at least one friend. Wishing the boy a good night she went back downstairs and was greeted by her husband with a glass of wine, who saw her good mood and listened attentively when she told him everything.
It took Harry less than ten minutes until he was laying in his bed and already starting to feel tired. It might have had something to do with the fact that earlier today he was still being kept prisoner at Malfoy Manor, got killed, spent something that felt like two days in the afterlife and then came back just to live through an eventful day. The happiness of having Hermione with him and being at a place where he felt secure had made him forget his tiredness until now. From the moment in which he laid down in the bed his eyelids became heavier and after just a few minutes he slowly drifted away into a deep and restful sleep.
Notes:
There we go, Harry is no longer living with the Dursleys. First major change with long-term impact. What else is gonna happen to our heroes soon?
Let's wait and see what the future brings, though if anyone has any ideas/wishes about what they might change, I'm open to suggestions and input, but let me tell you that everything up to the sorting is already done.
Well, see you all soon!
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