in which Harry participates in a meeting
"Harry"
His was like a whisper in the woman's mouth. Harry didn't know what to think. He hadn't introduced himself.
Well, he had met the Prewetts ; maybe they had told the crowd about him. Though he couldn't fathom why.
Unless...
"Told you he looked just like him !" grinned Fabian.
Harry knew it was Fabian because when Gideon spoke, it was like it was physical hard for him to do so. Molly had explained it was because he had been bitten by a venomous snake when he was younger (yes, on the tongue. Molly had said not to ask).
That didn't change the fact Harry had no idea what was going on.
The woman who had said his named came around the ridiculously big table. She was blonde, but somehow it didn't look natural, and had red ribbons braided in a few locks of hair. She had tattoos all over her bare arms, and the look in her eyes indicated she was about to cry. Harry had never been more confused.
When she got to him, she raised an arm and swept his hair from his forehead. Harry reacted too late. Fuck. He always forgot about that god forsaken scar. She was actually close enough so that he could feel her take in a sharp breath.
It was only when she pulled away and took off her hat to lay it on his head that he understood.
They knew. They all knew. When he turned to the Weasleys, a look was enough to realise they had always knew as well.
Harry Potter lived.
Today, a new era started for pirates. They had a new Captain by their side.
***
It soon became obvious that it was out of the question for Harry to leave once this was over. After all, he had found what he had been looking for. He had found his father's people.
They had actually welcomed him like their own. Like he hadn't spend 17 years oblivious to the truth.
Marlene - the woman who gave him her hat and who had been the one holding his title for him - made him go through his entire childhood. By the end of it, Harry had to ask if he had accidentally put both the Dursleys and Dumbledore on Marlene's to-kill list. The answer was yes.
When Harry tried to find support in Ron, he found him grinning. Oh he was so proud of himself. Harry could tell he had been dying to tell him he knew, to tell him to stop acting like an idiot all the times Harry had asked him something he obviously knew about.
Finally, after two hours of cheering, an old woman in the corner drew everyone's attention.
Harry immediately felt intimidated by her. He could tell by the way Marlene straightened her back that he wasn't the only one.
"Harry James Potter. I believe I'm the last who still hasn't congratulated you. Here, boy. Congratulations." she paused for a second, gesturing for everybody to sit down. " Now I'd appreciate if we could start the meeting."
Once everybody was sat and silent, Augusta Longbottom started the discussion.
"To go over the facts quickly, there was an attack at the Academy of Hogwarts by the Malfoy Crown. We know this because Molly's boy was at the scene."
It felt weird to Harry to hear anyone call a 21 years old a boy. But he guessed when you were Augusta Longbottom's age, everyone seemed younger than they actually were.
"They were looking for the Malfoy heir, that is the only thing we know. And somehow, my grandson found himself tangled with the boy."
The room was filled with utmost silence. Everybody drank the woman's words like she was a priestess.
"We may have gotten back one of our boys tonight," she gestured in Harry's general direction, "but we have lost another. Those are the facts. What else do we know ?"
"Neville and Prince Draco Malfoy are in the company of Prince Blaise Zabini and Princesse Pansy Parkinson. There is another boy we suspect to be Theodore Nott, from the Malfoys' Hand's family, and also another young woman, but our Seer hasn't been capable of properly identifying her–" Molly was interrupted by Ginny.
"Sybill said she was riding a tiger."
"Which is, obviously ridiculous, –" Molly tried, but was once again interrupted, this time by the one Harry guessed was Dorcas Meadows, since hers and Marlene's seats were practically merged together.
"It's not. Under the Parkinson Crown, it's common for nobles to have tigers as pets. It's a show of power. The Princess herself has received a tiger cub every year as a birthday present since her birth. It's probable for the young woman in question to come from nobility. It explains her presence with them. She might feel the need to protect the Princess."
"Do you have any idea what her name might be ?"
The girl who had spoken was young. Around his age, if Harry had to take a guess. Maybe Ginny's. Anyway, the girl looked like the spitting image of the woman next to her, who had a proud look plastered on her face. Harry knew the older woman (it was a big word, older, giving she probably was like, 35 years old) was Pandora Lovegood (born Rosier) and current Captain of the Rosier fleet. He supposed the girl was her daughter, Luna Lovegood-Rosier.
Dorcas seemed amused by the girl's question.
"Yes, I do. Our Crown considers women to be the strongest gender. Only girls are send to the Academy of Hogwarts to fulfil their education. The boys are homeschooled. There just happens to be only two female kids amongst the nobility's kids right now. Since the first one is Princess Pansy Parkinson herself, then the second one can only be Hermione Granger."
In the corner of his eye, Harry saw Luna frantically take notes. It was her mother who took on asking questions.
"Now that we have identified all the kids, we may want to try and understand exactly what is going on. And as much as I hate to be the one asking touchy questions, it might be good to consider both Harry's and Dumbledore's roles in this."
Suddenly, Harry was drawn back to his days living inside his cupboard. There had been a reason Harry had hid everything he could from Dumbledore : he was afraid the man would use him to...
"He wants to kill Riddle," Harry said.
And for that, he was surer of himself than he remembered ever being.
"I think he planned to use me to lure him out of hiding somehow, and then get rid of the old king once and for all."