Chapter 2
Chapter 2
From there, things moved in their usual end of the term rush, although Harry was still feeling out of it with all the intense emotions he had been experiencing for the last day and a half. Somehow, Harry packed (or maybe a house elf did it for him?), attended the sending off Feast, and found himself in a train car on the Hogwarts Express with his friends, for once feeling like he wasn’t being sent back to a prison. He hadn’t even really told anyone just yet that he wouldn’t be staying with the Dursleys this summer, in part because he still didn’t entirely trust that he would be free of them, but Hermione picked up on the fact that something was different about how he was feeling.
“Are you okay, Harry?” the bushy-haired genius asked him, looking concerned.
“I think so,” Harry said, having hugged her as tightly as he could once she was released from the infirmary. “But there’s just so much in my head right now,” he admitted, hiding the tiny smile that he had, given at exactly just how much was going on up there at this moment in time.
“If it is at all possible, I will be trying to contact you this summer,” Hermione promised, still looking worried. “I know you don’t get the best care over the break, and with everything that’s just happened, I don’t want you dealing with it on your own.”
“Don’t worry, Hermione,” Susan assured the Gryffindor witch, wrapping an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “I won’t let him brood by himself for the next three months.”
“So long as I can help,” Hermione said, but sat back looking satisfied.
“I’m not that bad,” Harry protested, but he was forced to sit back and sulk when every female in the rather crammed train car raised an eyebrow.
“We love you, Harry,” Hannah Abbott started.
“And you have many impressive gifts, both magical and otherwise,” Susan assured him.
“But you really are that bad,” Hermione finished.
“You do have a wonderful variety of fantastic creatures that surround your head at all times,” Luna Lovegood offered.
“Er, thanks, Luna,” Harry said, not sure that the petite, blond Ravenclaw’s words advanced his case.
“Ooh, you’ve picked up some new ones recently!” Luna said excitedly, clapping her hands together. “They’re quite old, and I’ve only seen the like in Egypt, near some ancient tombs being excavated by Gringotts.”
“Um…” Harry said, shocked once again at how the younger witch could be so different and yet so perceptive.
“When were you in Egypt?” Hermione asked, thankfully appearing to take Harry’s pause as a sign that Harry was as mystified as everyone else.
“Oh, two summers ago,” Luna said, shrugging. “Daddy and I once again failed to find the crumple-horned snorkack, but we had a delightful encounter with a pair of nesting sphinxes, who gave us a standing invitation to return with any ideas we had for riddles.”
“I don’t think I fancy my chances again a sphinx with Luna-inspired riddles,” Neville Longbottom muttered in his seat next to Hannah, and Harry was forced to agree.
From there, the train ride flew by as the conversation took a lighter turn. After a year working together running Dumbledore’s Army right under the nose of Umbridge and her Inquisition Squad, it felt incredible to Harry that he was able to be so open with some of the other ringleaders after spending so much time isolated to keep Umbridge away from his friends. The only one missing was Ron, who was still recovering in Saint Mungo’s, although Harry had been reassured by the twins that their brother would be fine in two days.
By the time the train was pulling into the station, Luna and Hermione were deep in another argument, in which Luna’s ridiculous insight and bizarre proclamations clashed with Hermione’s deep-rooted desire for logic and order.
“For the last time, you can’t simply invent mythical creatures to write about in the Quibbler without any proof of their existence!” Hermione growled.
“But Hermione, there isn’t any proof they don’t exist!” Luna said, her huge silver eyes wide with her resolve.
“That’s a logical fallacy!” Hermione cried, throwing her hands up. “Okay, let me try a different tact. What would you do if you actually found this crumble-horned stork?”
Luna gave Hermione a reproachful look. “It’s a crumple-horned snorkack, Hermione, and you know that. But that creature is an exception to our quest for magizoologist knowledge. If Daddy and I ever actually find it, we would celebrate wildly for an hour, then erase all evidence of our search and our notes, and then obliviate the memories from each other so we could do it all again. In fact, there’s nothing to say that we haven’t already done so.”
Hermione simply stared at Luna, blinking in disbelief, unable to comprehend the destruction of such long-sought-after knowledge, but Harry gave Luna a smile, knowing exactly why Luna and her only surviving family might do such a thing. He would have dearly loved to have such a treasured bonding activity with his real family as well. As it was, Luna was missing her mother.
“I will find it myself, then,” Hermione snarled, whirling away to grab her trunk in a huff as the train finally came to a halt.
“You’re welcome to join our next expedition!” Luna said happily, and Harry and Susan exchanged grins, knowing exactly how long Hermione would last with two Lovegoods, especially since it was no secret that Luna was the better adjusted of her family.
“Shall we go find Auntie?” Susan asked softly, also rising, and Harry nodded.
“I’ll also need to go tell Uncle Vernon that I won’t be returning with him,” Harry said slowly.
“Does it have to be you?” Susan asked, softly but firmly. “I can visibly see you curling in on yourself at the thought of seeing him.”
“I… suppose… not,” Harry said, thinking it over. “I don’t really have anything to say to him or Aunt Petunia, and I can always track down Dudley again myself if I really need to.”
“And you don’t have anything you need from their house?” Susan confirmed.
“I never left anything I cared about there,” Harry confirmed quickly.
“Then just point out the fat man to Auntie, and she’ll take care of informing him of your freedom,” Susan said, knowing from her letters to her mother figure just how badly her Auntie wanted to deal with the abusive man.
“Okay,” Harry said, and that was the end of it.
Together, the pair followed their friends off the train and into the bustling chaos that was Platform 9 ¾. Given the relative dearth of redheads that weren’t Weasleys, finding the put-together and monocled witch who was currently scanning the crowd like she was ready for trouble was a fairly simple matter.
“Good to see you, Susan,” Madame Amelia Bones said, wrapping her niece up in a hug. “And good to see you again, Harry, especially outside of a court room.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Harry said sheepishly.
“I’m glad we were able to get you out of those ridiculous charges,” Amelia said, sighing. “Breaching the Statute of Secrecy with a Patronus? What a bizarre thing to do, let alone impressive beyond your years. I still haven’t managed to pin enough evidence down to get Fudge or Umbridge charged, but I’ve got eyewitnesses tracking two Dementors leaving Azkaban and crossing the country to get to Surrey, so I was able to confirm your story.”
“I’m beyond touched that you would go to such lengths for me, ma’am,” Harry said, shocked that she had gone to the trouble.
“Oh, it was partly for you, but I’m also very close to getting the fool who calls himself Minister on corruption charges,” Amelia said, barring her teeth in a grim smile. “But that’s maybe a conversation for closed doors. Come! Is there anything else we need to do before we go back to the Ossuary?”
“Yes,” Susan said resolutely. “You can tell Harry’s uncle that he can go home without his prisoner.”
“Oh, Susan, you always get me the nicest gifts,” Amelia said, her grin now resembling a shark’s. “Where is the fat man?”
“Just outside Platform 10,” Harry volunteered quietly. “I can point him out if you need me to…”
“No, I know what he looks like, and I hope to see him behind bars soon, too,” Amelia promised.
“But he’s a muggle…” Harry said, feeling a little confused how a magical policewoman, even the one in charge of all the magical police in Wizarding Britain, could arrest a muggle for a non-magical crime.
“We do a little work with our counterparts on the other side of things, mostly through intermediaries,” Amelia said, smiling thinly. “No one likes child abusers, whether magic is involved or not.”
“Well… Okay,” Harry said, somehow both exhausted of it all and hoping against hope that something would finally happen, that the world would tell the Dursleys that they were wrong, and that he was, well, as normal as he could be.
“If we need a statement from you, I’ll ask, but otherwise, as far as I’m concerned, you can forget about them,” Amelia said firmly. “While I might ordinarily disapprove of having my niece’s fifteen-year-old boyfriend live with us over the summer, Susan has a good head on her shoulders and has convinced me to trust your behavior. You will not disappoint me.”
Harry blinked at the conversation whiplash, but Susan immediately groaned.
“Auntie!” She whined. “Why would you even say that? In public? That’s not even something you need to worry about… I mean-!”
Madame Bones’ laughter cut off Susan’s quickly derailed, sputtering tirade.
“Well, it’s good to have confirmation that we don’t need to have another special talk,” she said chuckling. “You two go wait by the Floo, and I’ll be right back.”
The head of the DMLE stalked off, the crowd parting almost subconsciously for the powerful woman.
“Um. Wow,” Harry said, trying to square everything that had just happened in his head.
“Yeah, Auntie does stuff like that to keep me off balance sometimes,” Susan said, scowling and more than a little pink in embarrassment. “The downside of having a trained investigator as a guardian is keeping secrets is very difficult, and she knows just how to wind me up to make sure she’s gotten everything out of me. It comes from a place of love, but she’s also extremely paranoid, especially with everything happening now that You-Know-Who is acting in public again.”
Harry nodded, understanding that. The train platform bustled with people, but the witches and wizards were moving quickly, hardly even stopping for pleasantries as they shepherded their families away as soon as they collected their things and greeted them. It was a far cry from the last few times Harry had been here at the end of the year.
“I’m looking forward to seeing your house,” Harry eventually said, breaking the silence that was becoming awkward at the Dark Lord’s mention. “What did you say it was called again?”
“The Ossuary,” Susan said, grinning a little.
“Because it’s a house of bones,” Harry realized, hiding a frown as he wondered how he knew that. Such trivia tended to be the preserve of Hermione, or apparently Remus. Luna might have also known that, but it really was a coin flip on what that little Ravenclaw had in her head.
“Yep!” Susan said cheerfully. “And don’t worry, even with that name, the decorations aren’t terrible. We do have some bones on the wall, because, well, you know, but I promise it’s very tasteful!”
Harry snickered. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“Harry, Susan!” Amelia called, cutting through the crowd with a smirk on her face. “Come!”
“Well, it looks like that conversation was fast,” Harry said, trying to have as neutral an expression on his face as possible.
“I bet she cut him to the bone!” Susan said happily and then winced. “That one, ah, wasn’t intentional.”
“I’m starting to regret agreeing to come live with you already,” Harry said, happy for a change in conversational direction as they began lugging their trunks and school supplies over to where Amelia stood by a large fireplace.
“What?” Susan squawked in outrage. “You love my puns! Even the accidental ones!”
“If you say so…” Harry teased, and Susan grumbled under her breath, plotting dire revenge.
“Harry, the Floo address is the Ossuary,” Amelia instructed, grabbing a pinch of the green powder. “I’ll go first, and make sure that the wards let you through. We don’t have a password yet, but that will be changing shortly.”
“Of course, ma’am,” Harry said, suddenly thinking of a few different ways he now knew to protect a property. It seemed that the knowledge from Kheti was transferring quickly, and it was a strange situation. With no prior instruction, Harry now knew exactly how to raise some rather stubborn and deadly ancient Egyptian wards and protective curses, but he had no idea how to explain how it worked, only that it did. Thinking about that fact also triggered the realization that he was fluent in multiple ancient languages. He was going to need to have a long talk with Kheti tonight, because it was very disorienting to have all this knowledge at his disposal, and even more so that he didn’t understand it beyond knowing how to do certain set things.
Shaking his head, Harry followed Amelia into the green flames, and stumbled into a well-appointed, dark-paneled sitting room. Unlike past experiences using the Floo, Harry managed to stay on his feet this time, and so despite losing his grip on his luggage and Hedwig’s cage, Harry counted it as a success.
“Welcome to the Ossuary, Mr. Potter,” Amelia said with a half bow, sounding very amused, but Harry did his best to not react.
“Thank you, Madame Bones,” he said, trying to be as formal as possible to match her as he did his best imitation of her bow.
“Auntie!” Susan whined, emerging flawlessly from the fire, much to Harry’s chagrin. “Why are you doing the whole Pureblood thing with my boyfriend? We went over this!”
“Well, other than it being good manners to welcome the heir of an Ancient and Noble House to our family manner, it is very funny to annoy you,” Amelia told her adopted daughter.
“I’m a what?” Harry asked, frowning. That sounded important.
Amelia’s eyes widened in shock. “You haven’t been made aware of your heritage?” she asked.
“Did Dumbledore never tell you about the Potter lordship?” Susan piled on, sounding equally scandalized. “He’s voting your seat on the Wizengamot!”
“Dumbledore? Tell me anything he didn’t think was strictly necessary? I think not,” Harry scowled. “I don’t know hardly anything about my parents, let alone the Potter family. And I have a seat on the Wizengamot?”
“Well, that’s going to be… a whole other conversation,” Amelia said slowly. “And we are going to have that conversation in full, not to mention asking your Headmaster an entirely new set of very detailed questions about his role and responsibilities as your magical guardian. But first, we’re going to get you settled in here, and then we’re going to talk about your past family situation and what happened in the DoM chambers. I also believe Susan said you had something you needed to talk to Croaker about? That can wait if it’s not urgent, though.”
“Yes,” Harry admitted, taking a leap of faith to trust the one adult who had heard his story and decided to do something about it, other than Sirius. “There’s an artifact that I think I need to talk to him about. It’s caused some changes with my soul, I think?”
Amelia looked at Harry with no small amount of horror.
“Actually, I think we’re going to need to have that conversation first,” Amelia said, stalking to the fireplace and sticking her head into it. “Saul! Get over here now and bring that scepter!”