Harry was bored. He was locked in his room at the Dursleys and there wasn't any news from the Order. He wasn't surprised by that but he was surprised by his cousin. Dudley had been sneaking him books to read and sneaking Harry food. He wasn't sure what happened to cause the change in attitude with his cousin but he didn't care.
Harry looked at the latest stack of books that Dudley had told his mother he was tossing into Harry's room to make room for his new gaming system. The series was called Star Wars and Dudley suggested he might want to read them. Harry had been holding off reading them as there were a lot of books in the series.
Harry sighed. Hedwig was off doing whatever and he was bored. He picked up the first book and started to read. The day passed quickly and Harry was reading the book like Hermione read a book. He couldn't put the book down and soon started on the next and next. The week passed quickly as Harry didn't stop reading the series of books. As he read the books, his anger at Dumbledore, the Order, the magical world, and his so-called friends, grew. He was Luke Skywalker.
Harry managed to speak to his cousin without his aunt and uncle around. "Why did you give me those books?"
"To show you that Dumbledore guy is up to something. I know I didn't treat you well but one of my friends from school has a brother who attends Hogwarts. His brother told him about what happened at Hogwarts. We started comparing notes and noticed a lot of weird things. I got Mum to spill the beans about how they found you and well, Harry, I think you need to go to that bank. I also think, based on my friend's information, that you might be an adult. Something about some tournament you were in and how only adults could enter it." Dudley had lost a lot of weight and while he pretended in front of his parents, he recognized their behavior was abusive toward Harry as well as him.
Harry leaned back against his bed. They were sitting on his bedroom floor. His aunt and uncle had gone out for the night and Dudley wanted Harry to watch the Star Wars movie but Harry wanted to ask Dudley some questions instead. "What is the friend's last name?"
"Eric Thomas. His brother is Dean. He is in the same house as you. Eric mentioned that Dean has heard some weird things from your two friends and how they don't let you know anything. Dean mentioned to Eric how you were never informed about being an heir or the sex education class. He was telling Eric how your two friends made sure you were kept ignorant of everything and that your Headmaster would punish anyone who broke his rule regarding you. Dean and Seamus got detention with someone named Neville for daring to suggest you attend the sex ed class to you."
Harry closed his eyes. Dudley's answers explained so much about how he never had conversations with others in his common room without Hermione, Ron, or Ginny interrupting whatever they were attempting to discuss. Ron changed the conversation to chess or Quittich. Hermione changed it to their schoolwork. Ginny was the worst as she would attempt to flirt with him despite her boyfriend, Dean, sitting there. "If I wrote some letters, would you post them for me? I can't use Hedwig as I think Dumbledore has some monitoring charms on her."
"I can. I know Mom and Dad hate magic but after speaking to Eric about my fears and how my parents treated you, I realized I was following their example. I spent a lot of time in detention because of how Dad taught me to be a bully. The school assigned a counselor for me last year. Eric had his appointment at the same time with another counselor. It was how we met and we were encouraged to become friends since Eric was learning to stand up for himself and I have the opposite problem. It wasn't until last summer when I wrote to him about my cousin Harry that he mentioned Hogwarts to me."
"You think my life is like in the books. I mean a lot of it does match but I don't think Voldemort is my father."
"I don't think so either but honestly, Harry, why are they expecting a teen to save them based on an old fool's words? Why didn't they deal with him before he attempted to kill your parents? I mean from what you told me, he had plenty of time to start the last war and nothing was done about him. Why should you shoulder the responsibility? It's like you are the comic book hero, your friends are the lame sidekicks who are obeying the orders of your mentor and could care less about you. You said that many people in that world believe those books about your life. Eric wondered how they were written without permission from you or my parents. It seems as if Dumbledore has been creating your image and won't let you break the mold. Why else force you back here? Why else keep everything hidden from you? Why else make you have those adventures? It sounds as if he permits Granger to use magic at her house."
"I have wondered. She cast a spell on the train the day we met. I think I need to go to goblins."
"Let's get busy." Dudley got up and went to get writing supplies. "We have all night. Mom and Dad are going to spend the night at a hotel."
"How? I thought they were just out for the night?"
"I used my allowance to buy them tickets to the theater in London. They are going to spend the night there as I promised I would make sure you didn't get up to any mischief." Dudley smiled. "Let's get up to some mischief."
"Lets."
August 1996:
Harry and Dudley were laughing as they read the Daily Prophet. There was a picture of Severus Snape as the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. The article continued with the theme of the variety of changes in the magical world in the last six weeks. The changes started with the demise of Voldemort and ended with Dumbledore being removed from Hogwarts as he was arrested for a variety of charges.
Harry had written to Snape and agreed to meet with him at Gringotts. Snape had helped Harry, the goblins, and Dudley arrange things. Dumbledore hadn't shared the truth with Snape but Snape had a lot of information on the old fool. Snape had provided Harry with a list of books to read regarding what he was missing. The goblins added to the list. Snape was the one who worked with the Ministry to remove Dumbledore without the old fool becoming aware of what was happening.
Voldemort had been beheaded by the goblins after Harry told them about his adventures and especially the dairy. They demanded a medical exam and discovered the Horcrux in Harry. They were able to determine where and how many Horcruxes were still around. The goblins gathered them, collected Voldemort from Malfoy Manor, and beheaded the man. They informed the Ministry and provided evidence of the misdeeds of the Malfoy family, Sirius Black's innocence, and the crimes of Dumbledore. They did give a medical clean scan of Harry to prevent Dumbledore from claiming that Harry was a Horcrux (they had removed it with a very painful ritual).
Dumbledore was removed as Headmaster of Hogwarts. The discovery of his treatment of their Savior started a mass of people submitting their experiences with the Headmaster ignoring their abuse. The goblins provided the unsealed copy of the Potters' wills showing that Harry was never to go to the muggles. The prophecy became null and void with the death of Voldemort. It went downhill for Dumbledore after it was released.
Granger had been charged with the use of underage magic and her parents had withdrawn her from Hogwarts after a visit from the goblins. When the Grangers questioned the Ministry about why their daughter was prohibited from using magic at home, they were not happy with Dumbledore. Mr. and Mrs. Grangger explained how Dumbledore had visited on Hermione's fifth birthday and started to provide her with books about magic and had assigned a tutor during the summer to help the girl use magic that wasn't on the Hogwarts list of spells. Dumbledore hadn't been aware that Hermione had kept track of every spell she had learned with the dates she learned to master the spells. Dumbledore was fined for the misuse of magic at the Granger home. The Grangers were going to send their daughter to another magical school.
The Weasley family didn't take the news of Dumbledore being removed as Headmaster well. They had tried to protest until they were presented with the evidence. Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and the twins were not happy with a marriage contract that was presented to them. It was for Ginny and Harry but thankfully, Arthur didn't sign it and it was easily voided without causing the family to have another stain of dishonor on their name. Ginny, Ron, and Molly had a fit for a few different reasons. The three of them wanted the money and fame of being related to Harry Potter. Ginny was also upset because she wasn't going to get her Harry as promised. Ron was furious because he had been promised fame by Dumbledore and his mother for being Harry's friend and had expected to become rich and an Auror based on being friends with Harry. Molly was the worst, she had almost screamed the house down. She was furious that she wasn't going to be able to claim Harry in any form. She was furious about the lack of money promised to her by Dumbledore.
Arthur had been worried about how much the three of them were concerned about money and had gone to Gringotts to make sure they hadn't received any money from Harry. He was relieved they hadn't but was upset that Dumbledore had set up accounts for his two youngest. Dumbledore brought his two youngest brooms and other items over their years at Hogwarts. Arthur filed charges of corruption against Dumbledore.
The publishers of the books regarding Harry's life filed claims of theft for the funds they paid for the books. Anyone who used the Harry Potter image joined the claim since they had paid Dumbledore for the use of Harry Potter's name and image. The goblins had removed the funds from Dumbledore's account and gave the funds to Harry.
"Wonder what happened to Dumbledore?" Dudley passed Harry some popcorn. They had arranged for his parents to be on an extended holiday in Spain. Harry had given the goblins the funds and the goblins created a contest that Petunia won.
"I am not sure. The last I heard from Neville was that his grandmother saw the man running from a crowd of angry witches and wizards in Diagon Alley. Fred and George did mention they heard that Dumbledore had to return to his mother's cottage in Godric's Hollow." Harry picked up the dishes from their meal. "Do you want to go to Diagon Alley with me? I got my list for Hogwarts. We can meet with Eric and Dean."
"Let's call them and see when we can go." Dudley stood up. "Eric told me so much about it, it would be nice to be able to see it."
"I will let Snape know. I did tell him I would meet with him while they showed you around."
Dudley didn't bother to cover up his laugh. "Sure, meet up with him. You have a crush and we can work on how to snag him for you after your meeting."
"You got a deal."