Augusta Longbottom
Augusta Longbottom was not someone you could pull the wool over her eyes. So when the newspapers reported Hadrian Severus Malfoy had been returned home to his family she knew something was amiss. At the time of Hadrian’s disappearance she had been in a meeting with members from the Order of the Phoenix and had accidently overheard a conversation between the one and only Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley concerning both Hadrian and Harry Potter. She hadn’t fully heard their conversation, so unfortunately didn’t hear their plan, and had completely forgotten about it until she read the newspapers.
She had been one of the few people who had witnessed Severus taking Harry away from Hagrid in Diagon Alley, but also one of the few people who didn’t see Severus with Harry for the rest of her day. She had been taking her grandson Neville around to buy his school things, he wasn’t eleven yet nor had he received his letter yet but she was not getting any younger and couldn’t tolerate the midsummer clouds. She had also wanted to introduce Neville to Harry in the hope he would finally have a friend so she wanted to talk to Severus and Lucius to know exactly what was going on. She also doubted that it had occurred to them that Harry Potter was not eleven in June and therefore wouldn’t have been old enough to receive a letter, so exactly what was he doing in the Alley in June with Hagrid.
She waited until both of the children were occupied before she began the serious conversation they were going to have.
“You said in the meeting that it goes deeper than surface level with Albus, Lucius? Is this to do with Harry Potter being Hadrian?” Both men turned to glare at her and Severus even went as far to grab his wand. Augusta held her hands up in defence. “I worked it out. I overheard part of a conversation around the time that Hadrian went missing and I only just put the pieces together now. I didn’t hear much, just Albus and Molly Weasley mentioning Hadrian’s name and Harry Potters name too and when I saw you and Harry at the bank Severus and then the paper just a few hours ago and I put it together.”
“Ah, we apologise then.” Severus replied guiltily, placing his wand back into his sleeve.
“No need to.” Augusta smiled politely at him.
“And yes, Hadrian is Harry Potter. We would never have found out if Minerva hadn’t found that Hagrid was taking Hadrian to Diagon Alley. He refused to give over his key so I took him to get a new one and well you know how the goblin wards work in their offices.”
“That I was slightly curious about. Firstly because Harry Potter was not eleven in June and secondly, Minerva is supposed to do the muggle born students and approve any other teacher to take over her students and I doubt she approved Hagrid.” Augusta asked.
“So Minerva knew that Harry Potter was actually Hadrian but she was under an oath so she wasn’t able to tell us outright. Her whole plan was that on July 31st she would approve me to go and collect him however I believe Albus didn’t want anyone but Hagrid to take him and therefore took him at the end of June instead. I made the trip all the way to Surrey where I was informed by a neighbour that the muggles he lived with had left and he didn’t know when they would be back. After speaking to Minerva again she told me that Albus had sent Hagrid earlier and that I was too give a note to him saying that he no longer had to look after Harry in the alley,” Severus replied.
“Ah, that explains why Albus was calling Hagrid a ‘giant useless oaf’ who couldn’t do his job properly at the last meeting! So your plan is for you both to have jobs at Hogwarts but what about when Albus realises Harry Potter isn’t at Hogwarts but Hadrian is?” Augusta asked concerned. She knew what Albus could be like when things didn’t go his way and this would be a serious bomb going into his plans. He would have no little saviour to manipulate and turn a martyr. She wasn’t even sure that Voldemort would be coming back, but she did know he was alive.
“Well, seeing as it has been just under three months and he has not realised that we have Hadrian and considering he knew Hagrid didn’t take Harry around and that Severus did and he still hasn’t owled us we are hoping that he has forgotten that Harry Potter never existed and that we always had Hadrian. But I don’t know how well that will keep up once Harry doesn’t even turn up to school. I think the plan is just to deal with the obstacles when we get to them.
One thing we are sure about is that he cannot take Hadrian from us. The goblins are on our side but we have also integrated Hadrian back into society and if people were to find out that it was the esteemed Headmaster who kidnapped him, well things would go tits up and we would most likely have an uprising on our hands. Especially when the news that Albus placed Hadrian with abusive muggles in the first place and aged him up five years, and then worse when they find out that Harry Potter never existed.”
“I do agree with you there, he would not be very happy if it got out. Well I am here to help should any problems arise. I am sorry to cut this conversation short but I have Neville at home being looked after by the elves and I can’t trust them for that long.”
“No problem and thank you so much Augusta,” Severus replied. “We really do appreciate that and we will keep you updated with what we choose to do.”
“Yes thank you,” Lucius followed on, “It is good to know that you stand with us.”
“No it is you I have to thank. You have shown me that Dumbledore is senile. I already thought he was heading that way but you have proved that he has been for a very long time. So thank you, and I shall see you in the future at some point.” Augusta smiled before slipping on her coat and leaving through the floo. Both men looked at each other before Severus picked up Hadrian and Lucius grabbed Draco’s hand, following her into the floo and heading home.