Chapter 2
“What is it you called me for Severus?” Poppy Pomfrey asks through the floo.
“I have 2 wixen boys that need a full checkup as they were both in the muggle world with no knowledge that they had magic. One is a natural healer as well, according to the goblins.” Severus says and Pomfrey nods.
“I’ll be through in just a moment. I just need to let Minnie know where I’m heading.” Poppy says.
“Could you see if she is available? I have some questions for her.” Severus says.
“We’ll be right through then.” Poppy says and her head disappears. Both boys sat on a couch behind Severus in the floo room watching while eating some of the sandwiches the elves had made for them after their shopping trip. Next thing the boys know the fire flares with green flames as two women dressed in the robes that Severus wears step out of the flames.
“Severus please tell me you haven’t killed Mr. Potter’s muggle relatives and stolen the boy here.” Minerva says upon spotting Harry watching them.
“No, I received a distressed letter from Petunia early this morning.” Severus says and Petunia enters and waves a hand at Minerva and Poppy.
“I asked him as my son had been floating his toys in his sleep, Albus had left a letter with Harry saying that Vernon and I could abuse him as much as we like as long as he remained alive.” She says and Poppy immediately rushes forward, pulling her wand and pointing it at Harry.
“Don’t.” Severus begins too late as Dudley steps in front of Harry once again yelling no and her wand goes flying from her hand. “Sorry, I tried to warn you.” He says. “Dudley it’s alright she’s going to do some spells to check Harry and see if he’s healthy. Please give her wand back and she might show you how.”
Dudley picks up the wand and gives it back to her. “Sorry.” He says and moves to the side of Harry with his eyes trained on Poppy.
“I take it you’re the natural healer Severus told me about?” She asks Dudley before starting on a full diagnostic workup.
“I stitched my finger together myself.” He says showing her the finger that the goblins had pricked.
“Severus, if I might have a word with you and Petunia while the boys are being taken care of.” Minerva says and Severus nods and walks off to another room with Minerva and Petunia.
“Oh dear, a lot of malnutrition. I believe we have caught it early enough that it won’t stunt your growth as you get older as long as we begin corrective measures now.” Poppy says as she continues checking the paper that prints up out of her wand.
“What’s maltrition?” Dudley asks, looking at Harry.
“It’s pronounced malnutrition.” Poppy enunciated slowly. “It means he needs to eat more because he doesn’t have enough vitamins and minerals to grow normally.”
“It’s because mom and dad didn’t want him to eat the food they paid for even though he cooked it.” Dudley says and Harry nods.
“Yes well with a few potions we’ll be able to fix that right up but I’m afraid there’s a broken arm here that didn’t heal up properly meaning I will have to rebreak it unless the goblins can do it during a cleansing.”
~Meanwhile in the Study~
“You mean to tell me that Albus told you to abuse that poor child?!” Minerva yelled at Petunia as soon as a privacy spell was cast on the door.
“I have the letter if you’d like to see the proof for yourself.” Petunia says pulling out the letter along with the Inheritance tests they had just done at Gringotts and the Family Tree Test done by Petunia. “I didn’t even know I was magical because I thought it was just Lily but it turns out I’m a squib.”
"A squib?" Minerva asks, taking the papers from Petunia and looking over all of them. "Well, I know that the Will's of James and Lily were going to name Sirius and Alice as the godparents for Harry."
"Sirius was imprisoned but is still listed as the next Lord Black on all the bank papers.” Severus says.
“That isn’t possible, if he was convicted then he wouldn’t-.” Minerva stops mid sentence, her eyes widening.
“I’m hiring a solicitor as soon as the wills are read. Do you think you could get in touch with Lupin though? I would like for him to come and teach the boys so I can explain and show him the proof.” Severus states before Poppy bursts through the door.
“I am going to kill Albus.” She yells with Harry cradled in her arms and Dudley following her. “He’s got blocks, loyalty potions and several illegal charms on this child! He needs a cleansing at the bank. NOW!” She hollers and all the adults grab the paperwork and Petunia scoops Dudley up into her arms and they all rush into the floo room to head straight to Gringotts. Severus surges out of the flames first calling out to a guard that he needs the Potter’s account manager and the Prince account manager as well as King Drylkaq. The guards upon hearing the call for their king immediately begin rushing to help as the first one begins leading them towards an empty conference room.
“Severus calm down, you’ll work yourself into a fit.” Minerva scolds and Severus takes a few breaths and tries to calm himself.
“Severus, will Harry be alright?” Petunia asks quietly.
“He should be fine Petunia,” Severus says as they enter a conference room and begin waiting for the account manager and king. “The cleansing will help to remove all things placed on him.”
“There was a particular piece of Dark magic in him that I couldn’t get a read on with any of the diagnostic spells I know.” Poppy says and Severus frowns.
“Maybe ask one of the account managers for a goblin healer to take a look.” Minerva suggests. “While we are waiting I will go to the post and send out a letter to Mr. Lupin.” Minerva says and heads out of the conference room.
“Thank you, Minerva.” Severus says as she leaves and a few seconds later the account managers arrive. “Harry needs a cleansing and preferably one of your healers to take a look at him. Poppy here found some dark magic that she couldn’t figure out with any of her diagnostic spells.” Severus says and Ragnok nods and has a guard go grab a goblin healer.
King Drykaq arrives followed by the goblin healer who begins an examination of Harry. Dudley sits holding his cousin's hand and the goblin healer frowns.
“He’s got a soul shard in him!” the goblin healer says. “We need an extraction team now. It’s such a small shard that there are surely 5 more soul pieces. Contact the unspeakables and our curse breakers.” the healer yells at the guard.
“What’s a soul shard doing inside a child?!” Petunia screeches.
“Reg… shit Harry I need you to do me a favor okay?” Severus asks and Harry nods.
“What do I need to do?” He asks.
“I need you to call for Kreacher. He’s a house elf that works for the Black family. His old master Regulus, your God father’s little brother, knew something about the Dark Lord creating soul containers.” Severus says slowly and King Drylkaq nods.
“If he mentioned any of it to the elf then we could figure it out.” King Drylkaq states firmly.
“Okay, how do I call him?” Harry asks. “Was it like how you called Flippy?”
“Yes exactly, just like how I called Flippy.” Severus nods.
“Kreacher!” Harry calls firmly and the elf appears in the room with a deafening crack.
“Filthy half-breed dares call for Kreacher!” The elf hisses.
“Please mister Kreacher, did Regulus tell you anything about soul shards?” Harry asks and the elf rears back like he was struck as his eyes well up with tears.
“I have failed my poor master of his dying wish.” Kreacher whispers.
“What do you mean, Mister Kreacher?” Harry asks.
“Kreacher tried all manner of magic to destroy it! Nothing worked. Kreacher left master in the cave alone.” Kreacher says while ringing his hands.
“What cave?” Severus asks and Kreacher turns to him.
“The Prince heir… You were friends with the young master Regulus.” Kreacher says. “He gave Kreacher the Slytherin locket after pulling it out of the bad feelings potion. Kreacher told Master Regulus not to drink, that Kreacher could drink it again but he did not listen to Kreacher!”
“That absolute idiot.” Severus says and the door opens with an unspeakable entering the room and pausing.
“Severus? Kreacher?!” The unspeakable says closing the door quickly and pulling off their hood.
“Master Regulus! You are alive.” Kreacher yells.
“Unspeakable Onyx I presume.” King Drykaq says and Regulus nods.
“Can I ask what is going on and who the hell was able to call my house elf?” Regulus asks and Harry slowly raises his hand.
“I called him. We thought he might know about the soul shards and why there’s one in my head.” Harry frowns pointing to his scar.
“James?” Regulus frowns getting closer. “Oh…” He breathes. “You must be Harry.” Regulus says bending low and checking out the scar while keeping a close eye on the bigger child sitting next to Harry.
“Harry Potter.” Harry states firmly and Regulus smiles.
“Your dad was a hero to me. He saved my big brother.” Regulus says and Harry’s eyes shine.
“Really?” He asks.
“Oh yeah, he was super cool. Not afraid of anything.” Regulus smiles before turning to Severus. “How was Harry able to call my house elf?”
“He’s Sirius’ godson.” Severus says and Regulus nods.
“I’d assumed but given that he’s in Azkaban prison he’s no longer the heir.” Regulus says.
“Then why is he still listed as such on the goblin magic contracts?” Severus asks and Regulus whirls to the goblins.
“Why is my brother still the heir?” Regulus asks.
“He wasn’t convicted. He never had a trial and is in Azkaban illegally.” Ragnok says. “Once Harry is cleansed we should be able to hire a solicitor to get him a trial or using the evidence from the will readings he could be released if Amelia Bones of the DMLE was there to witness the Will Reading.” Ragnok says and Regulus nods.
“I will contact Amelia immediately. Now Kreacher should have a locket that the Dark Lord had used to store another of his soul shards.” Regulus says and Kreacher pops away before returning with the locket in hand. “Thank you for keeping it safe Kreacher. I should not have asked you to try and destroy it.” Regulus says as King Drylkaq gets closer and frowns at the Dark magic emanating from the locket.
“This isn’t just Dark Soul Magic.” King Drylkaq says and Regulus sighs and shakes his head.
“No, it's worse. Black magic.” Regulus says and Severus shudders.
“The Dark Lord went that far for power?” Severus says and Regulus shakes his head.
“He went that far because he feared mortality. He isn’t dead thanks to these.” Regulus sighs. "I feel the night he went to kill Harry his soul was unstable and fractured again creating the soul shard in Harry’s scar.”
“We would need to extract the horcrux from his scar before we even begin cleansing.” Ragnok says.
“Yes, but is there even a container we could move it to?” Regulus asks as the door opens and a guard ushers Minerva and a curse breaker into the room. “Ah, I wasn’t aware we were waiting on more people,” he says.
“We are the last ones Mr. Black.” Minerva says with a quirked eyebrow.
“Hello Professor.” He says and she nods.
“Good to see you Mr. Black, I was under the impression that you were dead.” She states and he shrugs.
“I was. Muggles brought me back to life, and kept me in a coma until some Unspeakables found me. With the knowledge I had against the Dark Lord they offered me a position. Unspeakable Onyx at your service.” He bows to her and she nods.
“Good job, Marlene would have brought you back herself if she was still in Britain.” Minerva says and Regulus grins.
“Yes ma’am she would have.”
“I’m curse breaker McAvoy.” The man says, holding out his hand. “Mind bringing me up to speed Unspeakable Onyx?”
“We’re going to need a container for soul shard removal.” Regulus explains gesturing to the scar on Harry’s forehead. “The night the Dark Lord went to go and kill Mister Potter, he must have been severely affected as when the killing curse rebound, it struck him and a piece of his soul attached to the only living person in the room."
“He's a living horcrux?” McAvoy breathes. “I thought that was impossible.”
“Given the thought of how many he possibly made, his soul would have been completely unstable.” Regulus says and McAvoy nods before leaving the room to find a suitable container to hold the soul shard.
With a secure container for the soul shard found Regulus and McAvoy are brought to the goblin ritual room along with Harry and Severus. The goblin healer arrives with King Drylqak and Ragnok. Petunia takes Dudley to Fortescue's ice cream while the ritual and cleansing happens.
“Is Harry going to be okay?” Dudley asks his mom quietly while they are sitting at a table.
“He’s a strong boy, Duddykins. I think with you sending him magic to survive then he will.” Petunia smiles and Dudley’s eyes widen before he starts to glow. The eyes of everyone in the shop turn to watch and a woman walks over with a young blonde around Dudley’s age.
“You may want to stop him before he exhausts his magic core.” She says and the blonde boy is staring with wide eyes.
“Mum, I can see his magic.” He says excitedly.
“He could exhaust his magic?” Petunia asks, confused.
“Oh, are you a muggle?” She asks.
“A squib actually, but I just found out today. I was raised in the muggle world, my sister was raised in both as she was a muggleborn wixen.” Petunia says and the other woman nods.
“Call for him to come back to you.” She says and Petunia nods.
“Duddykins.” Petunia says and Dudley’s eyes open, glazed over and sparkling and the woman gasps.
“A natural healer.” She whispers. “There hasn’t been a natural healer born in so long.” She says teary eyed.
“Yes, the goblins were equally surprised.” Petunia says, turning back to Dudley. “Come back to mommy. Harry will be fine now.” She says and Dudley stops glowing and his eyes dim.
“Harry…” The woman says quietly.
“Is he named after Harry Potter?!” Draco asks excitedly. “He’s so cool going on adventures. Mum reads his books with me all the time.”
“His books?” Petunia asks.
“The Harry Potter adventure books are a hugely successful series of adventures for children to read. They are all based on real adventures Harry Potter has gone on during his training.” The woman nods and Dudley frowns.
“When did he go on adventures, mom?” Dudley asks and Petunia frowns.
“He didn’t, someone is falsely using his name.” Petunia says. “Now I’m going to need to hire a second solicitor.” Petunia sighs and stands from the table, scooping Duley up into her arms.
“Thank you…” Petunia pauses.
“Narcissa Malfoy nee Black.” Narcissa says, a confused look on her face.
“Oh, you must know Sirius.” Petunia says and Narcissa nods.
“My younger cousin.” She says and Petunia grins.
“Oh good, do you know a solicitor who would be willing to help me get him removed from Azkaban?” Petunia asks.
“I do believe we would do better to discuss this at a private meeting room at Gringotts.” Narcissa says. “Dippy.” Narcissa calls and an elf pops into existence. “Could you please tell Lucius I urgently request his presence at Gringotts.” She states and the elf bows and pops away.
They arrive at the bank and a tall blonde man strides over to them and kisses Narcissa. “You requested me, love.” He says and Petunia smiles at the adoring look on his face and then frowns.
“Pardon my rudeness, why don’t you have more children if you are so in love?” Petunia asks and Lucius twists his mouth into a snarl.
“It’s extremely difficult to have more than one child for most pureblood families.” Narcissa says.
“Have you tried muggle methods? Fertility options? Adopting magical children from muggles who can’t care for them?” Petunia inquires curiously.
“Fertility options?” Lucius asks.
“Yes, most gynecologists offer different treatments to try and help promote fertility and make it easier to get pregnant.” Petunia nods and both wizards stare prepared to ask her more questions.
“He’s alright, Tunie.” Severus says walking closer to her. “He’s going through a cleansing now.” He says before looking at the people standing beside her and his eyes widen.
“Tunie?” Narcissa asks, a cheshire grin on her face and Severus gulps.
“Severus?” Lucius says, confusedly.
“Lucius, Cissa, and Draco.” Severus says.
“Hello, godfather.” Draco grins.
“Who is going through a cleansing Severus?” Lucius asks.
“Follow me.” Severus says, walking to the meeting room that they were previously in, now joined by the Malfoys and Remus Lupin. Regulus had his hood back up to keep his identity from being further revealed.
“I will need a vow from the three adults that everything I say does not leave this room.” Severus says after closing the door.
“It’s that serious, Severus?” Lucius asks.
“Yes.” He answers and Narcissa looks to Petunia who nods once to confirm this has to do with what they discussed at Fortescue’s.