Finally, a Decision
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“I want to go to school with Tonks,” Harry said one Saturday a week later.
“You want to be a spy?” Vic asked, flabbergasted. He was of two minds about that. One, Harry was a bit young to be thinking about that. Two, he was proud that his godson/nephew was thinking about his country in such a manner. That and it would give him a leg up in his dealings with the wizarding world. He would learn new things that other wizards would never know and how to avoid what most of them took for granted.
“Yes. If Tonks can do it, so can I,” Harry said, seriously. “She’s a girl,” he added, like that was important. They were girls after all, boys were better in his mind, he was only six and girls had lurgies.
“Yes, yes, she is. However, she’s a metamorphmagus,” the older man said, pointing at the girl whose hair turned blue. “She can hide better than you can,” he said, making sure the kid understood why Tonks was chosen.
“So am I, sorta,” Harry said, making his hair longer. “See,” he said, excitedly. His hair shrank back to normal. “I can change my eye color too,” he said, making his eyes lighter green.
Vic looked shocked. Harry was just bouncing in place. Nymphadora came up to them and explained. “He can only do a bit,” she said, putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “He can change his hair length and the shade of his eyes, but that’s all. He can change the shade of his hair too, but only a bit,” she added, nodding her head at Harry, who made his hair a few shades lighter.
“Still,” Harry pouted. To him it was more than most. He folded his arms and stuck out his lips further.
“That’s quite an achievement, Harry,” Vic said, patting him on the head. This did change things a bit. It made it more appeasable.
Arcturus came up to them and asked, “What’s going on?” He could see the excitement and tension in Vic’s eyes. Harry was pouting too.
“Harry wants to go to spy school too,” Vic said, then waved his hand to Harry in a ‘show him’ manner.
Harry lengthened and darkened his hair and lightened his eyes. He looked very different and quite proud. He returned to his normal appearance shortly and beamed a smile at his older uncle.
“I don’t see why he can’t. He could use his celebrity status to hide his activities. No one would suspect him,” the old man said, patting the boy on the shoulder.
“What would they be learning first? I know they don’t teach the children to kill,” Vic said, moving away from Tonks and Harry. He had been over this with Andromeda, but now that he was on the other end of the deal, he was more wary.
“Mostly observation and thievery. They would be responsible for stakeouts. Finding evidence and whatnots,” Arcturus said, going over what he was told by the Secret Service when he interviewed them for Andromeda. “I know they wanted someone to observe Dumbledore for awhile now.”
“I don’t know if I want Harry to do that,” Vic said, not really wanting Harry around that man.
“He’s going to be tangled up with that man one way or another. Wouldn’t it be better if he were trained to avoid his manipulations beforehand?” Black asked, looking at the cute kid who would be turning seven soon. They only had a few years before deciding on whether or not to send Harry to Hogwarts. If Harry trained to be a spy, he’d feel tons better about sending him.
“I guess,” Vic said, also watching his nephew, who was just trading faces with Tonks, who was literally changing faces. He would also feel better if Harry was trained to get away from danger. Or face it and live. He knew if there were horcruxes in play, then the Dark Lord wasn’t dead, and Harry would be number one on his list of people to kill. Arcturus had informed him what those were when they had returned from the bank, and he had been horrified that one had been in Harry. “We can still leave England,” he added, still thinking that was the best option.
“We can,” Arcturus said, tapping the glass in his hand with the ring on his third finger. It was a good option. “But I don’t know if we should. We’d always wonder what’s happening here. If we stay, you will be on Harry’s side. If Albus gets handsy with Harry, you will be there to stop him,” the old man said, looking at the child with a withering eye. “That and if Harry gets his way, he’ll know how to stop him too,” he added thoughtfully.
“Handsy how?” Vic wanted to know. He had heard rumor that Albus was homosexual, but not a deviant. He in no way thought that all gay people were sexual perverts. Albus never came off that way to him, but he did have an unnatural obsession with Harry. Which made him more inclined to believe the worst about him.
“With his manipulations,” Arcturus confirmed, waving his hand in a negligent manner, not wanting Vic to think the old man was a pervert. “He might try to get Harry to see things from his outdated point of view,” he added, making him see what he was trying to say. “Or try to make the boy see himself as some type of self-sacrificing hero.”
“Oh,” Vic said, relieved that was what the man meant.
“Do you really think he’d be a headmaster this long if he were a pedophile?” Arcturus asked, not liking that thought one bit.
“There are memory charms and such,” Vic offered, but didn’t want to think that anyone would get away with such a crime for that long. The world was full of awful people, and the wizarding world had so many ways to get away with crime. Just look at how they were getting away with hiding him. It was just a matter of knowing the right spells and people.
“They break after a while. Look at how the Dursleys fingered us even though I Confounded them,” he said, thinking his spell hadn’t worked all that well on the muggles. He must be slipping if it didn’t even last a few days. They had reported the kidnapping the same night and fingered him the next day. That should not have happened.
“I guess you are correct,” Vic said, bringing Arcturus’ thoughts back to the conversation, thinking that someone somewhere would have reported it if Albus Dumbledore were a sexual deviant. “Let’s talk about something else,” he said, going over what Harry wanted to do.
“What are you guys talking about anyway?” Harry asked, joining them after exhausting his repartee of faces.
Tonks came with him and looked at the two men’s serious faces curiously. She knew adults often talked about things they didn’t want kids to hear, but they really should do it behind closed doors. She knew she was going to learn lip reading at spy school, but did they?
“Nothing you have to worry about,” Arcturus said, waving it away. “Just know that if anyone asked to see you alone you are allowed to say no and ask that someone else be in the room with you. Both of you,” he added, looking to Tonks. “No one should be asking you for private conversations until you are an adult. Say no, then run and get another adult. No matter who they are.”
“Now, Harry, why do you want to be a spy?” Vic asked, getting back to the previous subject.
“Because it’s cool,” Harry said, like it was obvious. “I’ll get to use a gun and drive a cool car, and get all the cool toys,” he said, stars in his eyes, thinking of all the movies he’d seen on the telly when Dudley had watched spy movies. He was a huge 007 fan, even if he only got to see bits and pieces.
“Yeah,” Tonks agreed, glad to be talking about spying again. She too was thinking of what she had seen and heard. She also had gotten to talk to a few agents, and they told her what it was like. They did tell her that there was a lot of boring paperwork, and times when all they did was sit and wait, but it was worth it.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Vic said, looking at the two children. “You will have to study law and math and other subjects.” He didn’t want them to go into this with blinders on.
“I like to study,” Harry said, while Tonks made a face at the thought of studying more schoolwork.
“I know you do, but I mean a lot more,” Vic warned. He pulled his hands apart in indication as to how much more. “This much more,” he said, when his hands were as far apart as they could get.
“I can do it,” Harry said, puffing out his chest. He could study like nobody’s business. He was quite smart, now that he was allowed to be. He was glad he never let the Dursleys beat him down. Sure, it was hard to study when they were making him feel bad, but it was easier now that he was encouraged.
“Okay, when you are Tonks’ age, you can go to the same classes she is. Until then you need to keep your grades up and listen to me and Uncle Arcturus,” Vic said, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He knew he was going to give in from the start, but he had to put up the fight.
“I will,” promised Harry, jumping around the room with Tonks. His joy was obvious to everyone.
Arcturus and Vic shared a look, it was one of pride and worry.
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Five years went by, and no one cottoned on to Vic being Sirius, besides Andromeda and Malfoy. Andromeda kept it to herself, and Malfoy couldn’t prove it. So, it remained a secret. Lucius tried to bribe Spike, but the man was loyal to his customers, and had integrity. He made sure to tell Black about it, and Arcturus kept an eye on the man. Lucius tried to hire assassins for both Vic and Harry once, but it backfired on him, and he didn’t try again. The Black name still carried a lot of weight in the magical world. And Lucius was finding that out the hard way.
The Wizengamot was now run like it was supposed to be, fairly and mostly unbiased. The Prime Minister kept his hand in the magical world and made sure that Fudge was kept in place. Malfoy showed his displeasure by cutting off the man’s funds. Which did a lot to the Ministry’s budget. Until Arcturus stepped in and helped with donations of his own, which he convinced others to contribute as well. As long as they were distributed to the correct departments, and kept out of politicians pockets.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was getting quite the boost that it sorely needed. Many other departments were being shaved, or expanded as they were needed as well. Nepotism was being stopped posthaste. There were more muggleborn being hired on and half-bloods were being promoted. The Ministry of Magic for the first time in many years was running like a well-oiled machine.
Harry grew well and was as sharp as a cutting charm. He did well in school and listened to his guardians. He didn’t want to ruin his chances of becoming a spy. Tonks snuck in some lessons when she could, but she was too busy with her own studies, with Hogwarts and the spy school. There was little time for Harry. She didn’t teach him how to fight or drive like a speed racer, which she was just learning, but things like observing and how to tell if someone was lying, and other tricks of the trade, she had no problem telling him.
Now it was time for Harry to go to school and they were still debating on sending him abroad or letting him go to Hogwarts.
“Can we just homeschool me?” Harry asked one morning as they were debating it once again. “I don’t want to go to Hogwarts,” he added with a sigh.
“Why?” Vic asked, not against the idea.
“Then I can have time for my muggle studies and my spying lessons as well. I can do, even days magic, odd days muggle, and weekends spying,” Harry said, like he had been thinking hard about it. “That way I’ll spend more time with that which I don’t know and learn spying part-time.” He liked the spilt. “Maybe we can get a Time-Turner for the weekends,” he said, thoughtfully. He had heard about those from Tonks. They used them from time to time in the Department of Mysteries. She was trained there once a month, the Prime Minister insisted on it. Once he learned of its existence.
“I don’t think we can get a Time-Turner,” Vic said, rubbing his chin. He didn’t like that idea at all.
“Tonks uses one,” Harry said, like it was common.
“When you get permission from your instructor, then we’ll talk,” Arcturus said, slapping the table. “Until then, we’ll do things the hard way. I’ll not have you growing old before your time,” he said, not wanting to come off as a hardass, but this was serious.
“He’s right,” Vic said, holding up a hand.
“Alright, my schedule should still work,” Harry said, holding up a chart that he had made showing the times of days that he had dedicated to study and homework, and what times for downtime, which wasn’t much, but it was there.
“You’ve put some thought into this,” Arcturus said, tapping his finger on the table in thought. He eyed the chart and nodded that it was well planned and thought out.
“I really have,” Harry agreed, putting the chart down and moving to finish his now warm eggs.
“I like the idea,” Vic said, looking to Arcturus, picking up the chart and going over it. He liked that Harry had included playtime. He was just a kid after all. Even if he did schedule work every day of the week.
“We can afford it and it will keep Dumbledore out of our business,” the old man said, still tapping his finger on the table.
“I like that thought the best,” the dogman stated.
“We’ll do it,” the eldest man agreed. He pushed his plate to the center of the table where it disappeared. He grabbed his tea and took a deep drink. The more he thought about it, the more he liked this plan.
Harry whooped and jumped from his chair and hugged first Arcturus and then Vic. “I got to write Tonks,” he said, grabbed his chart and ran from the room. They could hear him whooping the whole way to his room.
“I think she helped him come up with that plan,” Vic said, taking a deep drink of his coffee.
“Probably,” Arcturus agreed. “I’ll start looking for tutors for magical studies. You start looking for the muggle side,” he said, getting up and starting for the study.
“Dammit,” Vic said, wondering how he was going to pull that one off. He’d have to look for muggleborn. He’d have to figure out how to word the ad in the paper. It would have to have a magical word in it. Or he could ask for graduates of Hogwarts. There was a thought.
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It turned out it wasn’t that hard to find tutors for Harry. All he had to do was put the word graduate from Hogwarts in the ad, and he had many applications. It was weeding out the worthless ones that was the difficult part. There were so many that were just helpless that it showed just how painful the education at Hogwarts had become.
He got five good ones that had mostly been self-studied. Two for muggle studies, they would cover English, Math, Science, History, and Language Arts. Harry had already had a good grasp on most of his muggle studies to his A levels, these tutors would perfect them and keep him there. He didn’t want to test out just yet.
The other three were for his magical studies, and they would cover Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Runes, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. Most of these classes would be theory heavy and practical. There would be very little homework, and Harry would have to show his proficiency in retaining his understanding in the lectures.
“So how was your first week of private tutoring?” Vic asked him over dinner that Sunday.
“Tiring,” Harry confessed. He was wiped. Though, he was happy with his decision.
“Dumbledore is quite upset with me,” Vic said, a smile playing on his lips.
“We knew he would be,” Arcturus said, lifting a glass of wine. He saluted no one, though the other two lifted their glasses and joined his toast, and took a small sip.
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the old man this mad,” Vic said, his eyes narrowed, and his head tilted a bit. “He tried to get the Wizengamot to make me make Harry go to Hogwarts. They wouldn’t, of course. But it was a close thing. There are still a lot of old fogies in his pockets.”
“Why would the Wizengamot have a say on who goes to Hogwarts?” Harry asked, not sure how that even worked.
“They pay the bills there,” Arcturus stated. “It’s a government run school,” he said, putting his glass down and looking to Vic.
“I still have a lot of pull on the Wizengamot and the Board of Governors, so don’t worry, you’re not going to Hogwarts, if you don’t want to,” Vic assured his nephew. If he had anything to say about it, Harry would never set foot in that school.
“Good, because I like what I’ve set up,” Harry said, taking up his fork and scooping up his Spaghetti Bolognese that the elves had prepared. It was delicious as usual. Arcturus didn’t like this dish as much as Harry and Vic did, but he tolerated it for them.
“Did the spy classes go the way you thought they would?” Vic wanted to know.
“Not really,” Harry said, disappointed, even though he knew from Tonks that the first two years were boring. “A lot of lecturing,” he said, taking a bit of his food and scraping up some sauce with some bread.
“You were warned,” Arcturus pointed out, patting his lips with his napkin. This meal was just too messy for his taste.
“I know,” Harry sighed. His fingers were cramped from all the notes he had taken this week. He was cramming two years of classes into one, and he was going to be paying for it via his poor hands. Good thing there were magical creams for this. The house elves already had some by his bed for him at night.
“Well, as long as you don’t regret your decision,” Vic said, finishing up his meal and waiting for dessert, which he believed was Spotted Dick tonight. “You’d better get to bed early tonight. You have magical studies tomorrow and you know how early those start,” he said, ready for the afters when they appeared.
“I know,” Harry said, waiting for his own turn at the pudding.
Arcturus didn’t indulge tonight. He was weening off desserts. His healers were after him to take better care of himself. It had been five years since they said he was on his last legs, now… well it was only a matter of time. He hadn’t told the other two yet, but he should. Or perhaps, he should just let nature take its course.
“Uncle Arcturus, aren’t you having any?” Harry asked, holding up the serving implement. His elderly uncle rarely passed up dessert. The man had a sweet tooth.
“No, I’m full,” he said, sipping his wine, which he shouldn’t be drinking. There were many things he shouldn’t be doing, but damn it, he had lived a full life, and he was going to drink his wine.
“Okay,” Harry said, putting the server down and digging in. They talked about normal things for awhile and then soon went to bed.
Harry and Vic were the only ones to wake up the next morning.