Chapter 6
Dudley Dursley had always been afraid of his father. Harry had gotten the worst of his father's attention without question, but Dudley had always known that it was only a question of when would Vernon turn that temper on him. Do what he wants, be what he wants, was the only way that Dudley could see to keep himself safe. Now Vernon was gone, sent to magical prison for attacking two magical nobles, even if they were his wife and son.
Madam Bones was now Dudley's hero. She'd walked in on Vernon swinging at both of them, (and hitting his mum), angry that Harry hadn't been at King's Cross to be picked up. She'd immediately cast a spell at him and stunned him, tied him up with thick ropes, and transported them all to the DMLE's office. Vernon was in the magical prison within an hour.
Dudley was never going to see the man again. That in itself was a huge relief, but when Madam Bones brought him and his mum to Gringotts, the healers there had broken the spells that were on him and his mum and fixed his weight. He was no longer starving. When he tried to read, the letters and numbers stayed in one place, and even better he could understand what the words meant. The information stayed in his head, no longer leaking out at the first opportunity. He'd read the entire first year Charms book and he could actually remember it. He could even understand it, mostly anyway. Neville was very good at explaining the things that Dudley didn't understand.
Neville and his grandmother Augusta were another thing that was totally brilliant. They'd given him and his mum a place to stay for the summer and Lady Augusta was hiring tutors for them so they could hopefully get through the as much of the Hogwarts curriculum as possible before school started on September 1. Dudley would be going and it had been decided that he would be sorted like a first year, but would actually be a third year along with Neville and Harry. He would be taking extra classes to make up for not having access to his magic and going to Hogwarts like he should have for the last two years. Stupid old goat.
As part of the necessary preparation for that, today Neville, Dudley and his mum were getting their wands. In all honesty, Dudley had always wanted to have a wand. He'd been dead jealous of Harry getting one two years ago, but now he really understood why he'd wanted one when he'd known that having one would bring his father's temper to focus on him. He had been meant to have a wand. He was a wizard just like his cousin, and there was a wand out there that was meant just for him.
Dudley looked up at the morning mail delivery - not by owls in the Longbottom manor, but by house-elf. The owls dropped the mail at the owlery and the elves brought it down from there. He grabbed one of the newspapers and his jaw dropped at the headline. Madam Bones was his hero once more. The head of the DMLE had given an interview explaining just why Dumbledore had been taken by the Goblins, and had explained in harsh detail just what other charges Dumbledore would have faced if it had been left up to her. All of the curses, the manipulations like setting up Voldemort to become a Dark Lord just so that Dumbles could defeat him, (which he hadn't that had been Harry and Aunt Lily), his involvement with the last Dark Lord that he defeated which he'd only done because it had set him up as a hero to the wizarding world and not because he actually wanted to take the guy out, the potions that he had given the students at Hogwarts, his meddling with the marriage contracts among the purebloods, his binding of magical children to make them squibs, and worse of all according to the paper, his experiments with creating obscurus.
The information on making obscurus made Dudley want to puke. They'd been a part of that, thanks to Dumbledork. Harry had been the one that donkey's butt had wanted to turn into that sort of thing. Probably because Harry had been the one to take out his latest Dark Lord, stealing his thunder. Dudley was both offended on Harry's behalf and furious that anyone would want to turn an innocent toddler into one of those things. He thought that it was only that Vernon wasn't as abusive as some horrible people could be, (he'd been abusive enough, but not to that point), that Harry had made it out of the situation with his magic intact. It was probably the only thing that Dudley would ever be grateful to his father for.
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Petunia Dursley, (she hated that she wasn't able to change her name back to Evans, but that would have to wait for Vernon to die, fortunately that wouldn't take long as he was in Azkaban), pulled on her new robes and checked her make up. She and Dudley would be making their first public appearance today and she had to look perfect. Shopping in Diagon Alley was, according to Augusta, the perfect place to be seen especially as they would be going to Olivander's to get wands for the three of them. Apparently Madam Bones had given an interview to the papers that would be published today, and seeing a grown woman and her obviously older than eleven year old son going into Olivander's would back up the accusation that shit for brains had bound people down to being squibs.
Petunia didn't let the fury she felt show on her face. That man had tried his best to destroy her family. Her parents had been targeted by deatheaters, probably on his influence. Her sister, well she was dead and after everything Petunia had found out about him, Petunia was very certain that her sister had been love potioned just like she had been. Why else would she go from almost hating the Potter boy to wanting to marry him all within the space of a single summer? Potter himself, he had been a spoiled rich boy, but even though he'd had some redeeming qualities, he'd obviously been potioned as well. What eleven year old boy fell in love with a girl practically at first sight and spent the next seven years pursuing her when she obviously hated his guts? Well it didn't matter now. Lily was gone and the Potter boy with her. At least she and Lily had gotten something good from Dumbledore's interference. Harry and Dudley were worth everything Petunia had been forced to go through.
Petunia shook her head. She really needed to get that therapist. Well, if shit for brains had wanted her to be bitter and vindictive, he was going to get all of that right in his face. Her new account manager, Axestalker, had eagerly agreed to read the paper to Dumbledore every morning as her revenge against the man. She was going to pull the wizarding world out of the dark ages and into the modern world and thanks to Axestalker, she was going to be rubbing it into the old man's face every morning. McGonagall had ready put out a full page advert looking for new teachers and teacher's aids for the new classes that were going to be started this year as well as asking for more medi-witches for the school hospital wing. She hoped that it gave the old man a belly ache.
Petunia smoothed down the House Crests on her cloak. The Ravenclaw and LaFey crests were both rather simple - a book with a wand across it and a tree growing out of the top of a small hill. Either would get immediate attention from anyone in the wizarding world, but it was the small one beneath the two that Petunia liked best. House Evans was a common house with no nobility to it's name but that was where she and Harry had gotten their talents in gardening. Her mother's family, passed down from mother to daughter, had always had the gift of growing the best gardens around. To honor both her mother and her sister, when the tailor had asked what crest she would use for the Evans house, Petunia had told him to use a lily, a rose and a petunia bound together over a garden bed. It was because of that talent that Petunia was most looking forward to learning Herbology. Who knew? Perhaps she would follow Neville's example and get a mastery in the subject.
She left her suite and headed down to the floo room where the boys were waiting. Augusta would be a few minutes more as she'd been giving orders to the Longbottom steward and making plans for the Wizengamot. The boys were reading the papers and exclaiming over the articles. "MUM! Madam Bones!" Dudley exclaimed, holding out the paper he was holding.
"I was told, Dudley," Petunia said. She still couldn't believe what that curse had made her do to her own son, Duddykins indeed! "That's why we have to be especially presentable today. People are going to be watching and seeing us go into Olivanders will back up Madam Bones and what she said in the papers."
"There'll be a run on the strongest Purging Potions after today," Augusta said smugly. "Now, are we all ready?" Both women looked over the boys and nodded in satisfaction. "Let's go. Leaky Cauldron!"
After the four of them had navigated the floo, (and Dudley was rather proud that he had gotten the hang of it while Harry still couldn't), they made their way through the public room of the pub, not looking around at the murmurs that followed the first sightings of their House crests on their cloaks. It had already started. Petunia kept her back straight and her shoulders back as Augusta tapped her wand to the correct brick to let them into the Alley.
All around the Alley people were standing around with newspapers, talking to one another and gesturing wildly. Petunia could feel the stares of the people who had caught a look at her's and Dudley's crests, but refused to be intimidated. She had every right to be here, she kept telling herself. It was all that old goats fault that she hadn't been able to start coming here as a child. Fortunately Olivander's wasn't very far, although she could hear people breaking out in wild speculations as the four of them entered the shop. Good, that was what they had wanted. People needed to take notice that someone her age was going for her first wand.
Petunia kept her sigh of relief to herself as the door closed behind her. She really didn't know how Harry could stand being a celebrity. Of course he hadn't actually said anything about it, but Augusta had and had been very proud of Neville for not behaving like any of the other star eyed idiots that were so sure that Harry was the next coming of Merlin. Speaking of Neville, he was standing in the middle of the room being measured by a magical measuring tape with Augusta and Dudley looking on while an old man with wild hair was pulling what she assumed were wand boxes out of piles and piles of them. For a moment all she could think about was her little sister, and how Lily must have stood in this very room being measured the same way while their parents had watched.
From no reaction to varied disasters, Neville finally matched with a cherry and unicorn hair wand. It had taken twenty minutes. Then Olivander turned to Dudley - and stared. "Do you dream of trees?" he asked, rather than reaching for his measuring tape. Petunia was rather surprised by the question, and tensed.
"Er, yeah," Dudley admitted. "And weird animals too, I think they're magical but I'm not sure. I haven't had a chance to look through Mr. Scamander's book yet."
Olivander nodded. "You, my boy, have the distinct magical core of one who could be a wandmaker. You'd be the first in your line with that gift, but the signs are unmistakable for one who shares it. Come, you will need more than the usual wand. I'll be making yours to your talent." He motioned to them to follow him, and he led them into the workshop portion of his shop. There hundreds of blocks of wood of all sizes lay on racks on one side of the room and on the other side were rows of shelves holding small jars. "Run your hand over the blocks of wood until your magic finds what it needs," he told Dudley.
Dudley hovered his hand over the first row of wood pieces and began moving his hand over the row slowly. It took a few minutes, but his hand eventually stopped over a wood blank. Olivander pulled it out and set it on the workbench. Then he had Dudley move to the other side of the room and repeat the process with the other shelves. When Dudley had finished, he brought the jar to sit next to the wood blank. Then he turned to Petunia. "Please do as your son has done, letting your magic seek out it's compliment."
Knowing that this was definitely not the usual sort of thing, that had been what had happened with Neville, Petunia moved over to the rack of wood. She wasn't sure that she wanted to get a custom wand, but at least that was something that she and Dudley could share. She moved her hand slowly over the wood blanks, not feeling anything until she reached the third rack. There, something almost caught her hand. She stopped and Olivander removed the wood blank before gesturing her over to the shelves. A little more confident this time, she moved her hand over the jars until she once again felt that catch. Olivander took that jar down and placed it down next to her wood blank.
"Hippogriff hair and sequoia, a stubborn heart and a strong connection with the earth," Olivander said, gesturing at Petunia's choices. "Nothing of the dark will call to your wand, Lady Ravenclaw. As for your son, maple and hydra teeth, sturdy and steady with a bold heart and a fierce spirit, this wand will not be drawn to either the light or the dark, instead it will seek to strengthen it's wielder. A fine wand for one who will, I hope, be drawn to work with both sides of magic in the world of wand creation." Then he sat down and began to work on the two wands, drifting off into that peculiar sort of trance like state that true craftsmen fall into when working with their chosen craft.
Just over an hour later, Olivander sat up from his workbench, pulled out a polishing kit and gave the two wands a final rub down. Then he turned to Dudley. "From one generation to the next," he said and simply handed over the wand. Dudley waved the wand and a rainbow shot out of the tip. He grinned and looked over at Petunia, who could only smile in pride. Olivander handed her the sequoia wand. She felt a soothing warmth the moment it touched her hand, and when she gave it a wave a flight of butterflies came out and hovered over the group before disappearing. Oh, this was what had been missing.
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Severus Snape was quite well aware of the fact that Dumbledore had been a manipulative, cold hearted bastard who only did things if they benefited him and his 'greater good'. He'd trapped Severus and had used him unmercifully for years. The list of crimes Lady Bones wished she could have charged him with didn't surprise Severus at all. At least there was no way the man could escape the Goblins, and their punishments were far harsher than anything the wizards could do, well except for Azkaban, but no one deserved to have Dementors mucking about in one's brain and heart. That way led to madness, and honestly madness was far too easy an escape in Severus' mind.
Severus had begun brewing large batches of Purging Potions the moment Minerva had returned to the castle and explained that the Heirs wanted to ensure that Dumbledore hadn't mucked about with them. He was all too certain the former Headmaster had done just that. He knew for a fact that he'd brewed something many times for someone who had then Obliviated the memory of the brewing from him. Well the daft bugger could Obliviate Severus all he wished but it didn't cover the fact that he had many ingredients missing and his tools had all been used. Some of those missing ingredients, well he'd prayed to Lady Magic that they hadn't been used as he feared they had. There hadn't been anything he could do about it then, but with help from Lady Magic things could be put back to rights.
Coming up from the dungeons with an expanded crate full of the Purging Potions, and quite a few others that Severus thought would probably be needed, he entered the great hall quite glad that there were no children in the castle at the moment. That sort of chaos was the last thing they needed. The group of healers that had come this morning on Lady Longbottom's orders had changed the hall into a makeshift infirmary, with cots hidden behind charmed curtains and silencing charms. Lady Magic knew that Severus would be glad of those simple comforts when it was his turn.
"Purging Potions, Pepper-Up Potions and Calming Draughts," Severus told the head healer as he set the crate down on one of the nearby tables. "If there is anything else that you find you require, you need only let me know. I'll be down in the dungeons brewing potion bases."
"Thank you, Professor," the head healer said. "I'm afraid this is a rather nasty business." He made a rather subdued motion with his wand, and a parchment fell into his hand. "I thought that you might want to look at your own diagnosis in privacy."
It was a courtesy Severus knew, from one professional to another. He took the parchment with a nod and stashed it in his robes. The simple truth was that he feared to know what Dumbledore had done to him. What Voldemort had done was bad enough, but he feared the Light Lord more than the Dark.
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Minerva as Headmistress of Hogwarts had access to the castle's wards, so it was to her that the delegation of Gringotts ward masters went when they were asked to update the wards by Lady Ravenclaw. "Who knows what's been done to them over the years," she said, as she got up from her desk and gestured to the lead Goblin to follow her. "The ward stone is only accessible from this office. I've not yet had a chance to take a look as I've been busy with the restructuring we've had going on. The Heirs have quite the plans for Hogwarts."
Steelheart, the lead Goblin of the team agreed. "From what we've been told Lady Ravenclaw is determined that the wizarding children will be able to match any muggle child in their standard education and will have the best wizarding education in the world as well. I'm looking forward to dealing with a new generation of wizards and witches who actually know how to use their brains."
"Yes," Minerva grimaced. "That was something that Lady Ravenclaw pointed out to me, especially as how it pertained to her nephew's fame. She insisted that her sister had to have done something that enabled baby Harry to survive as Lily Potter was the one found in Harry's nursery next to the robes and ashes of Voldemort, and that everyone ignored this in favor of believing that a 15 month old baby destroyed a terrorist of a wizard on his own." She forced herself to say the name. As Petunia had pointed out, it had been ten years since the war had ended and the wizard had died. A wizard that was no worse, although also no better than Grindelwald, and no one feared to say his name. "She's quite determined that those who graduate from Hogwarts be able to think for themselves. She has said that the English should never be sheep, no matter which side of the magical divide they come from and that to fail to teach that to any child who comes to our school is a sacrilege."
Minerva opened the door hidden behind the full sized portrait of Godric Gryffindor, and led the Goblins down the set of stone stairs that lay behind the door. It was a passage large enough that Hagrid would have no trouble walking down the stairs, and the most feeble of elderly Headmasters or Mistresses would not stumble on the shallow steps. It even had a stone handrail running along both edges of the stairs. It took them quite some time to travel all the way down to a large chamber of equal size to the great hall far above them. The chamber itself was a carved by nature out of the same rock that made up the castle. Runes had been carved in the walls and on the floor, surrounding an enormous unrefined piece of quartz that was nearly twice Hagrid's size that was itself covered in runes.
"That is a disaster," Steelheart said flatly.
"I'm certain it is," Minerva sighed. "Please do whatever you can with it. If you must take the wards down completely, do so. There are no children currently at the school so this is the best time for such a thing. There are a few protections that I hope you will find in there and if they are not, I would ask that you please incorporated them in the new structure."
Steelheart motioned his crew over to the ward stone. "We will have to take these all down and reset them up. What are your priorities, Headmistress?"
"Protection from anyone with the intent to harm the children of this school, by which I mean harm by abuse of any sort such as rape, assault, death, etc, anyone who is already inside the school attempting such actions should be restrained and anyone outside the school should be unable to enter. General muggle aversion so that no muggles can stumble upon the school, but the parents of muggleborns enrolled in the school should be tagged as acceptable guests of the school. Anti-apparition inside the school grounds, and an intruder alert to inform all staff of a breach in the wards. Anti-bullying, each offender must be restrained until released by a teacher. Medical emergencies should trigger an alarm to the closest teacher or staff member and alert those in the hospital wing. Preventing possessed people and hostile magical creatures from entering the school grounds," Minerva listed off. "That should be enough for a beginning."
Steelheart nodded. "This is going to take some time, Professor. You might as well go back to what you were doing. I'll let you know when we're ready to take down the wards so that you can be prepared."
"Thank you, Master Steelheart. You need merely call for a Hogwarts house-elf if you need anything, including any meals or snacks to help you keep your energy up," Minerva promised. She turned and walked back up the stairs. Steelheart hadn't expected that last remark. Most wizards and witches would not have extended any sort of real hospitality to a Goblin. That McGonagall had done so without even a whisper of it being anything but an honest offer was a very pleasant surprise. Perhaps things really were looking up in the wizarding world.