Chapter 2
Lady Longbottom very well knew that Gringotts did not make statements about line-theft for the sake of a joke. Any theft was considered a high crime among Goblins, and they would not send for anyone about a matter of line-theft unless they were involved - as a victim. Any known thieves were generally sentenced in absentia until they could be brought back to Gringotts, at which point their sentence would be carried out. There was no need for involving the DMLE about that either. Goblins could and would, thanks to certain treaties, simply snatch thieves directly from their beds if necessary.
No, for the Goblins to be sending for her and for her grandson, it meant that someone was trying to arrange for the Longbottom line to be stolen from her grandson - and that was something that Augusta Longbottom would never stand for. Her brother-in-law 'accidentally ' dropping Neville out the window had been bad enough. The stuck up prig had been banished from Longbottom Manor for that one, and she'd recommended to Neville that once he was Lord Longbottom, the man should be cut off completely. Neville had shakenly agreed. A toad was not enough of an apology.
So she brought Neville straight to Gringotts, both of them dressed in their official capacity as Lady Regent and Heir Longbottom. What she did not expect to see was part of someone else's inheritance test. "So, this means that Harry is my heir?" Neville asked. "Because we're godbrothers? I didn't know that Mum was Harry's Godmother, Gran."
"I did not either, Neville, but it does not surprise me. Your mother and Lady Potter were quite good friends all through their Hogwarts years. You will have to become better acquainted with Heir Potter as being godbrothers is very important, and it seems that your parents wanted to renew our family's ancient alliance with the Potter family as well," Augusta said, pouring over the parts of the inheritance test that she was allowed by magic to see. "What I do not see is how this is line-theft," she said sternly to Account Manager Bloodclaws.
"Gran," Neville said, with dawning horror, "Gran, Harry's heir is Albus Dumbledore, and between Harry and I, we have the heirships for three of the four founders lines. Harry is also the second heir for the Ravenclaw line! In fact, Harry's got a lot of heirships, I can't read them all of course, but it says he's Lord Slytherin by Conquest, so I think a lot of these are deatheater houses."
Augusta felt a towering rage flow through her. "You mean to tell me, that if I meet my death, and three young boys have a terrible accident, that Albus Dumbledore becomes the supreme ruler of Magical Britain?"
Bloodclaws nodded gravely. "That is why I have asked you here, Lady Longbottom, along with Heir Longbottom. Albus Dumbledore will be remanded to our custody within twenty four hours. You needed to be warned as Heir Longbottom needs more protection than he already has, especially as Voldemort is not truly gone as yet. He's a shade right now, but a shade can be brought back to life with the right dark rites. We both know that there are deatheaters still walking around who would jump at the chance to bring their Dark Lord back."
"He's already tried to kill Harry once at Hogwarts," Neville admitted. "He possessed a teacher our first year. Harry defeated him then, but if he gets brought back and he kills Harry, then..." he trailed off.
"Then he can pick up where that old fool left off," Augusta finished for him. "He would be stupid not to take the easy way to power. Killing off two more boys and one old lady would be child's play to him."
"Precisely," Bloodclaws nodded, glad to see that the Lady Longbottom's reputation was well founded. "Now, because Heir Potter was practically drenched in potions, blocks and hexes, I will need to have Heir Longbottom take an inheritance test to see if he's been tampered with as he's been at Hogwarts for two years."
"At once," Augusta nodded. "I want to see if anything has been done to him, and I want him to receive his heir rings. Those can give him some immediate protections."
Bloodclaws nodded and pulled out the necessary implements for the inheritance test. She also sent a note to the Longbottom Account Manager. She'd already sent him the basics, but she would never withhold any information from a fellow Goblin about an account that they were managing. Neville quickly pricked his finger and bled into the parchment.
Neville Francis Longbottom
Father - Franklin Rupert Longbottom - incapacitated
Mother - Alice Mary Bones-Longbottom - incapacitated
Siblings - None
Oathsworn Godfather - James Fleamont Potter - deceased
Oathsworn Godmother - Lily Jane Evans-Potter - deceased
Godsiblings - Harold James Potter-Black
Heir - Harold James Potter-Black
Magical Abilities -
Herbology
Swordsmanship
Wandless/Non-verbal casting
Magical Blocks - Placed by Albus Dumbledore
Block on magical core 75 percent
Hexes - Placed by Albus Dumbledore
Clumsy Hex
Anxiety Hex
Forgetfulness Hex
Familiar - Trevor (Toad)
Heirships -
Most Ancient and Noble House of Hufflepuff
Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom
Vaults -
Augusta Longbottom was quivering with rage. That upstart half blood had turned her grandson into a quivering wreck, an almost squib! "Do my gran next," Neville ordered, and it was ordered, Augusta realized. He was quaking all over, but there was a tremendous frown on his face. "If Dumbledore wanted to get rid of me, he'd have to get rid of you first, Gran," he explained.
Augusta grabbed the knife that Neville had used and jabbed her own finger. If that bastard had used her to hurt Neville! She grabbed up the parchment as the ink flowed down it, not bothering to look at information she already knew. There it was. Compulsion to obsess over Frank. The sort that would force her to try and turn her grandson into her son. Dear Merlin, Morgana, and all that was good. "We both need to see a Healer immediately," she stormed.
Just then the door opened. "Account Manager Bloodclaws, Madam Bones," he said and ushered the head of the DMLE into the room.
"I'm sorry to have taken so long, Manager Bloodclaws," Madam Bones said with a sigh. "I found a crime being committed upon Mrs. Dursley, Harry Potter's aunt and had to deal with the situation. She and her son are currently in your healer's chambers being treated for hexes and potions and in her son's case an eating compulsion. Poor boy was in the process of eating himself to death."
Neville turned to Augusta and said, "The Ravenclaw heir."
"I expect that you're right, Neville. Now, Manager Bloodclaws, it would probably be best for Neville and I to join Mrs. Dursley and her son in the healer's chambers while you explain to Madam Bones about the line-theft that daft fool thought he could get away with," Augusta said. Bloodclaws nodded, and the Goblin runner who had brought Madam Bones in led Augusta and Neville out and down to the healer's chambers.
Augusta knew better than to interrupt healers, so when she and Neville entered the large cavern and she saw a thin, tall woman weeping and clutching Harry Potter, (who she realized looked completely confused and a bit horrified), and several Goblins surrounding another cot, this one vastly enlarged, she quietly led Neville to the cot next to young Harry. She had him sit down and sat herself on the next cot over, so that Neville was between her and the caterwauling woman. Whatever Dumbledore had done to the poor thing, it probably didn't bare to think about. Although if it were Frank that had been cursed to eat himself to death, well...she might have been in no better state than the poor woman.
The Goblin healers pulled back, and Augusta saw a tall boy, with the same blond hair as the woman sit up and look at himself in amazement. "Mum! Mum, look! I'm skinny!!! And I don't feel hungry anymore!!!" Augusta swore under her breath at Dumbledore once more.
"I'm so sorry, Dudley!" the woman said, with even more tears streaming down her face.
"It's not your fault, Lady Ravenclaw," Neville said. "It's Dumbledore's fault. He's the one who cursed all of us. We think that he did it so that he could become the ruler of Wizarding Britain. He tried to do it so that it would look all legal, but thanks to Harry getting his inheritance test, the Goblins figured it out." Neville handed her a handkerchief.
"It's quite true, Lady Ravenclaw," Augusta said, backing Neville up. "He cursed all of us. Let the full punishment fall upon he who cast the spells, not upon those of us who did harm because of the spells rather than of our own volition." The Goblin healer was going to Neville now, and Augusta wanted to watch that curse breaking rather closely.
"They're right, Aunt Petunia," Harry said firmly. "You were cursed before any of us."
"You as well?" Petunia asked Augusta, and Augusta nodded.
"That lower than a flobberworm, disgrace of a wizard, cursed me to treat Neville as though I wanted him only to replace my son, his father, instead of raising Neville to be his own man. I'd like to break the filth's twinkly glasses and shove them down his throat!" Augusta seethed. Her fury only seemed to deepen as Neville, for the first time that she could remember, actually sighed with relief and relaxed.
"Oh, that feels so much better!" Neville said, as the Goblin healer finished. "Lady Ravenclaw, with you and your son, Harry and Gran and I here, we have all of the Hogwarts founder's heirs here. Because you are Lady Ravenclaw and Harry is Lord Slytherin, that gives us half of the lordships of governance over the castle and the school. Harry and I can't claim the lordships of Griffindor and Hufflepuff until we're fifteen, but with the headmaster being arrested, now would be a good time to meet with Professor McGonagal about changing some things about the school."
"Such as?" Petunia asked, bewildered.
"Getting new school brooms, and dealing with the curse on the Defense Professor position, for a couple of things," Neville said.
"Merlin, yes!" Harry moaned. "And maybe getting some new teachers and new classes, like a new history professor. I think we'd need to take a look at everything at the school. Do a full audit or some such thing."
Augusta looked on her grandson with pride. Now that the curses were gone, Neville was practically becoming a new person, one who knew what he wanted and was at least attempting to try and get it done. She couldn't wait to see what he would grow into now. She caught her breath as her own curse was undone, and her next breath was far easier than one from all of the years before it. "Well, one thing that is going to change, Neville, is that you are going to be getting a new wand first thing in the morning. I would never have insisted that you use your father's wand if I'd been in my right mind. Ash never takes to a second wizard, especially if it's first owner is still alive. I'll also be looking into getting you a sword instructor over the summer. If you've got a talent for it, and from your test it looks like you do, it would be a shame to not nurture that gift."
"Lady Longbottom, do you think that you could recommend tutors for my Aunt Petunia and my cousin? They just had their magic unbound, and they're going to need to learn how to use it properly. Dudley at least, needs to catch up to mine and Neville's year in Hogwarts before he can join us there," Harry asked. "That is, if it's alright with you, Aunt Petunia?" he asked with a wince, when he obviously figured out that it wasn't his place to order such things for an adult.
"Harry, I once begged Dumbledore for the chance to go to Hogwarts with your mother. I would be a fool to turn my back on learning how to use my magic now, and I'm certain that Lady Longbottom will be able to recommend teachers for whatever I need to know as Lady Ravenclaw," Petunia said with a sniffle, dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief. "Dudley will be going to Hogwarts. He'll just have to catch up with the rest of you. I know that you can do it, Dudley, now that you aren't being blocked, and your father isn't there to stifle you," she added.
"Stifle?" Augusta asked quietly. There were so many things that a man could do to stifle a woman or a child, many of them not illegal, especially if the man wasn't as smart as his wife or child.
"I was cursed with a love potion. That's why I married Vernon," Petunia said, her spine stiffening. "I would never have married him otherwise. My mother raised me better than to believe that getting married was all that I could do with my life and that I should put up with someone who was abusive; well she did until that color blind fool interfered with us. Not only did he bind my magic, he cursed them to forget that I was also important to them. He wanted them to focus on Lily."
"He was trying to concentrate the founder's bloodlines," Harry mused. "Maybe he set my parents up together too?"
Augusta snorted. "I wouldn't doubt it. He probably suggested that your mother and my daughter-in-law become each other's child's godmothers. If I might make a suggestion, the three of you should declare your intent to revitalize and improve the school for the betterment of the wizarding children that attend it. By declaring it as the founder's heirs, the magic of the school itself will help you."
"Best to do it after we claim the line's heir and lordship rings," Neville said.
Harry nodded. "That makes it all official and we can meet up with Professor McGonagal day after tomorrow."
"That's the Deputy Headmistress, correct?" Petunia asked. The boys nodded. "Then that's a good idea, Harry. Dumbledore's going to be arrested within the next day, so she's going to have to take over when that happens. It's best that we be upfront with her about taking over from the school board or whoever is in charge."
"It's the headmaster or mistress supposedly working with the school board, who currently hold the school's purse from the Ministry. However, in truth mostly everyone went along with whatever Dumbledore wanted, accept for a few alleged deatheaters who kept trying to have him sacked, not because he was a terrible headmaster, but because he was the one who opposed their Dark Lord," Augusta said with a grimace. "The three of you taking over by sending the Ministry back their money will be a blessing as you can get rid of the school board, which I will admit that I sit on. It's still a good idea. Now Lady Ravenclaw..."
"Please, call me Petunia, Lady Longbottom," Petunia interrupted. "We'll be here forever if we continue to be overly formal."
"Then please call me Augusta as well, Petunia. As I was saying, it sounds as if you and young Dudley there will be needing a great deal of tutoring and healing for the next few months. For that sort of intensive learning, you will absolutely need to spend every spare minute on it. I propose that Neville and I host the three of you at Longbottom Manor for the summer. Between planning for Hogwarts, getting your own magical education, and whatever regimen the healers recommend for the three of you, being in one place and a magical home at that, will undoubtedly help everyone," Augusta said firmly.
"I'm staying with a friend for the summer," Harry interrupted and shot his aunt a look.
"Well, you don't have to worry about Vernon," Petunia said firmly, knowing that he was what Harry had been trying to avoid. "He got caught beating me and attempting to beat Dudley. He went straight to jail, magical jail at that. You staying at a friend's house for the summer would be a good idea though. Just this summer, mind you," she said firmly. "I, for one need a lot of therapy, and by next summer I'll be able to be a far better aunt and guardian to you than I have been up until now."
"What is therapy?" a Goblin healer asked.
"Um, it's a muggle healing technique for the mind," Harry explained. "It helps with trauma and bad things happening to you. Do you think you might be able to hunt down a squib who has become a therapist? That would make things easier, I think. No need to worry about the Statute of Secrecy then."
"A squib?" Petunia asked.
"Opposite of a muggleborn, a person born without magic to a magical family. They don't tend to stay on the magical side of things," Harry quickly explained. "Hermione thinks it happens because of too much inbreeding."
"What is inbreeding and why would that produce squibs?" Augusta asked.
"Inbreeding is when two people who are too closely related marry and have children," Petunia said. "It has been a very well documented phenomenon among the nobility of Europe. The more often it happens, the worse medical problems the children have, such as blood diseases or insanity."
Augusta snorted. "Well that would explain the Blacks at least," she said. "Insanity runs rampant in that family, and I know for a fact that at least one of the marriages of my generation in that family was between two first degree cousins."
"Far too close," Petunia agreed. "I and Dudley would gladly accept your invitation, Augusta. Dudley has two years worth of schooling to catch up on, and I, without question, have even far more to learn."
"Never fear, my dear. I'll have you caught up as quickly as you can learn," Augusta promised.
"Why don't we make the Leaky our meeting place, or somewhere else in Diagon?" Harry asked. "I can get there easily from where I'm staying for any meetings and such for the Hogwarts stuff, and I've got to go over a lot of inheritance stuff with the Goblins too. It seems a lot of people just gave me stuff."
"That sounds like a good idea," Petunia agreed.
Just then two Goblins came in, pushing a little trolley. One of them was Bloodclaws, the other she introduced as Axefang, the Longbottom account manager. "The line rings," Bloodclaws stated, and gestured to the boxes on the top of the trolley. Axefang handed two boxes to Neville who opened them up and picked up the rings inside. The first, (the Longbottom heir's ring), was a solid silver with a topaz stone, and the stone was engraved with a spade and a sword. This Neville placed on the second finger of his left hand. The second ring was far older, and looked it. It too was silver, only far heavier and had a flat surface engraved with a badger. This ring Neville placed on his pinkie finger of his left hand.
"The Longbottom heir ring will give you warnings if any food or drink you are about to consume is poisoned or potioned," Axefang declared. "It will squeeze your finger, so be aware of what it is telling you. It will also allow you entrance to any of the Longbottom properties. The Hufflepuff ring will allow you entrance to the Hogwarts ward chamber and to Hufflepuff's own chamber within the castle. Only you will be able to find it."
"Thank you, Manager Axefang," Neville said solemnly.
"Um, Neville," Harry asked timidly. "I know your mum's incapacitated, but what about your dad?"
Neville took a deep breath and Augusta put her hand on his shoulder. "Both of my parents were attacked the day after yours by deatheaters. They were tortured into insanity with the Cruciatus curse. It causes terrible pain. They survived, but no one's been able to help them."
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Dudley spoke up. "That sucks, mate. That really, really sucks. I hope the magical police got the ones who did it."
Neville nodded. Then he looked at Petunia. "Lady Ravenclaw? Would you like to go next?" Petunia nodded and Bloodclaws handed her the rings for Ladyship of the Ravenclaw line and Ladyship of the LaFey line, with the heir rings of those lines going to Dudley. All four rings had similar protections on them as Neville's rings.
Then Bloodclaws picked up an entire tray of ring boxes. "These are the boxes that normally hold the Lord or heir rings for all of your houses, Lord Potter-Black," Bloodclaws said with a sigh. "However, if you would take my advice, I would only take the rings for the Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin lines. If you open the boxes for the others, the ones who hold the rings now would loose them, some directly from their hands. There would be no hiding it, and honestly you do not have a plan about how to deal with having the Lordship over so many houses. I would recommend waiting until you are fifteen, which is the normal age to claim a Lordship if you are the lord but underage. It will give you two years to come up with a plan."
"The moment you take up those rings, Harry, you have to be a lord, with everything that comes with it," Neville warned. "And thanks to Dumbledore, you don't have any training for that."
"I think that's a good idea," Harry said faintly. He didn't even want to think about what Malfoy and his father was going to do when they found out that he was the new lord of their house. Freeing Dobby had been scary enough for right now. He took the rings that Bloodclaws handed to him and placed them, Peverell on his right pinkie and Potter on his right second finger and Gryffindor on his left pinkie and Slytherin on his left pointer finger, to show which house he had gained by conquest.
"Lady Longbottom, you and your grandson are free to go. The curses and blocks are removed," the lead healer states after the rings are passed out. "We will be keeping Lady Ravenclaw and Heir Ravenclaw for the night as we need to monitor their magical cores now that they are unblocked. Come back in the morning to take them to Longbottom manor. Lord Slytherin, you are free to go as well, but you will need to take nutrient potions for the next three months with every meal. You can get them at any apothecary. You will also need to get new glasses. Those are actually worse than wearing none at all. The rest of your medical treatment we will be discussing with your aunt. She will then decide what you need to be made aware of as she is your guardian."
"Ok, um I'll see you all at the Leaky day after tomorrow?" Harry asked as he got off of his cot.
"We'll meet with Professor McGonagal at ten," Augusta said firmly. "We'll need most of the day to go over what is going on currently at the school, so be there at nine so we can begin to make a plan to deal with whatever mess Dumbledore left for us. I'll also have a list of books for you to self study over the summer."
"Thank you, Lady Longbottom," Harry said, a bit relieved. "I think Dudley isn't the only one who's going to be doing a lot of studying this summer." With that, he left the healing chamber.