Chapter 12
Squib:
After the initial shock and anger at having his name come out of the goblet of fire naming him the forth champion, when he didn’t enter, Harry Potter knew what he was going to do. He completely ignored everyone. He never did any school work and never went to see any teacher or the headmaster when they sent for him. He also ignored people like Hermione, the Weasley twins and the few others that spoke to him.
Harry was asked why by all of them, they wanted to know why he refused to answer them or even acknowledge them. Harry never answered and acted like he couldn’t hear anything. The few that had believed Harry when he said he didn’t enter, were confused. Why was Harry ignoring them along with everyone else when they believed him. Harry had his reasons but right now, he wasn’t ready to let anyone know what those reasons were.
Harry had been making plans. He had sent Hedwig off every day over the last few weeks. Those plans would be needed for right after the first task. But so no one tried to take the letters from Hedwig to see what he was up to, Harry also sent letters using the Hogwarts owls.
The morning of the first task, he ate his breakfast. He knew this would be the last time he would eat a meal in the great hall. After the last three years, he knew he wouldn’t miss it and was glad to get away from Hogwarts. He thought coming to Hogwarts that he would finally be where he was supposed to, but it turned out to be dangerous and in a lot of ways, worse than living with the Dursley’s.
‘It’s time Mr Potter,’ Minerva said who was standing behind him. She wasn’t sure if he would acknowledge her or not. She sighed when he acted like he had over the last few weeks. He didn’t say a thing nor did he move, apart from continuing to eat his breakfast. She stood waiting.
Harry finished eating, took one more drink of his cup of tea, got up and walked away, again, not saying anything.
Minerva followed the young man out of the castle. She was supposed to make him go into the tent. He didn’t, he just sat outside the entrance to the arena, next to the tent.
No matter what anyone said, Harry acted like he couldn’t hear them.
‘Harry, please, talk to me. You know I believed you, so why are you acting like this?’ Hermione asked.
Harry decided it was time to tell Hermione his main reason for ignoring everyone. He figured since they wouldn’t be able to stop what was about to happen, he should tell someone, so he slowly looked up.
‘Well, I figured since I’ll be a squib soon, you should get used to not having anything to do with me. Squibs are banished from the wizarding world.’
‘What do you mean squib?’ Hermione squeaked loudly making a few that was nearby hear her and they did what she did and widen their eyes.
‘Well, I said at the end of last year when the idiot that calls himself minister refused to listen to us about Sirius, I said I will not put up with anything again. It was bad enough having to put up with the death eater that pretends to be a teacher. My name came out of the goblet of fire was just the last straw. Champions are supposed to compete. I didn’t enter, I refuse to complete, so the goblet of fire will take my magic rendering me a squib. Now, go away Miss Granger, we’re done.’
Harry looked down at the ground again and waited. Hermione kept talking, but now others had began to talk to him. They heard what he said and refused to allow Harry Potter to lose his magic. He was the-boy-who-lived, the hero of the wizarding world. They could not and would not allow him to suffer.
Harry still acted like he couldn’t hear them.
When Harry’s name was called, he never moved or acted like he heard it. Albus levitated Harry up and into the arena, Harry just sat down again and never moved. Albus knew if he interfered any further, he could be accused of helping a champion and the goblet could punish him. He also couldn’t risk placing Harry close to the dragon in case the boy still refused to compete.
‘Harry, please, don’t do this. I’ll figure something out,’ Albus begged but Harry again acted like he couldn’t answer. Albus kept begging, his voice urgent but not once did Harry answer. ‘I will do anything and everything to make this right, just please, trust me.’
‘I don’t trust you, in fact, I hate you,’ Harry snarled then looked down again. That was the last word he said while at Hogwarts.
Once the hour was up, the were a loud bang that echoed around Hogwarts along with a blinding light that last for a few minutes. The light could be seen for miles. Once everyone could see again, Harry was gone but also, Mad-eye Moody had collapsed and the goblet of fire was completely destroyed.
There was a lot of shouting, Albus was asking the staff to find Harry. They didn’t know it, but Harry had walked out of the arena when the hour was up. He had gone straight to the tunnel on the fourth floor and snuck away from Hogwarts. He had hidden his bag there earlier that morning so he didn’t have to waste time going to Gryffindor tower.
Harry was lucky his invisibility cloak worked even though he was a squib. He kept himself covered as he made his way to the cave up in the hills surrounding Hogsmeade.
‘Are you okay pup?’
‘I feel normal. It doesn’t matter Sirius, I just want away from here.’
‘Then let’s go. Everyone will be searching for you and the ministry will pour into Hogwarts any minute.’
Sirius took Harry by side-along apparition. They arrived in Spain before resting. After half an hour, Sirius apparated Harry again. They kept going until they made it too their final destination. They would rest between jumps but after sixteen hours, they finally arrived.
Sirius explained to Harry that even if he ended up a squib, Sirius would still be there for him. He also explained that they would have to check Harry’s magic but it would need to be far away from England. If Harry still had his magic, the ministry could pick it up. But it only worked in England and the closest countries. They picked Australia as it was far away.
Sirius knew Harry didn’t enter the triwizard tournament, so there was a chance that the person who entered Harry in the tournament was the one who would end up a squib. They wouldn’t know until Harry could test his magic. Harry really didn’t care, not after he had to put up with so much over the last few years. He would adapt to being a squib. He was raised without knowing magic was real so he could go back to living like that. But if he did keep his magic, then he will make sure Sirius could teach him everything he could. Harry wanted to be able to protect himself. If Harry didn’t have magic, he would learn muggle ways to protect himself.
Sirius and Harry settled into a house that the Potters owned, ‘What do you believe? Even though I don’t care either way, I would like your opinion,’ Harry said.
‘If I could have studied the goblet of fire, or information on it, I would have been able to find out for sure. Okay, from everything I heard about the goblet and what I remembered, I believe the person who literally put the piece of parchment into the goblet will be the one linked to it. Think of all the enemies inside any wizarding school. Two enemies could enter each other. The people who invented the goblet of fire would have to make sure no one could enter another person in case they wanted their enemy dead. I really hope I’m right Harry but as I said, if you lose your magic, then we’ll make the best of it. I can create our fake identities. You emptied all the money from your vault, I did the same. We have enough to live on forever if we want. If you do end up with no magic, you learn how to use a gun and restart your muggle education. If you end up with your magic, then I’ll teach you everything you will need. For now, let’s get some dinner then tomorrow we’ll get some muggle disguises. Once we know we look different and your scar is hidden, we can see if a wand will connect with you.’
‘Alright, so we’ll go out and eat. Shop first thing in the morning.’
‘We might be able to get a few things tonight, if we can find a shop.’
Back at Hogwarts, Madam Bones had taken over the investigation. The first thing she found was the person who everyone believed to be Mad-eye Moody had actually taken polyjuice potion. Her aurors now were searching for the real Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody. The second thing she found out was the fake Mad-eye was dying but nothing seemed to wrong and nothing seemed to be able to stop him dying. Then she found out what Harry said about Fudge and Sirius Black. She instantly had Fudge and his staff arrested for not informing the aurors what Harry and his friends had said. It was not up to the minister to determine if someone was guilty. She also found out that Snape had convinced Fudge that Sirius had confunded Harry and the others. She had Snape arrested as well for interfering in her case.
‘He will stand trial Albus and if you try to interfere, you will also be standing trial for interfering in auror business. I still might arrest you. Alastor was your friend yet you did not know it wasn’t Alastor. Or maybe you did and wanted Harry Potter dead,’ Amelia glared, ‘Shut up and go back to the castle. This doesn’t concern you. Just know I will be questioning everyone using veritaserum, you included.’
Amelia waited until she was alone to grin. She never told anyone that the fake Mad-eye, who eventually died, was rendered a squib before he died. Which means, he entered Harry and the boy still had his magic. She could not blame him for leaving during the confusion. She had heard enough about his life with the muggles and inside Hogwarts to know someone was manipulating his life and placing him in danger. She would not tell anyone about Harry. It was time the boy had the life he should have had after his parents were murdered and he saved their lives. She believed he was with his godfather, who should have raised him from the start. She was going to making sure Sirius ended up cleared of all charges so he will be able to be a proper guardian for Harry without having to always hide. After hearing just a few things about him, she knew he was innocent. She would give the boy his godfather and the life he deserved.
But now, she needed to do some investigating to find out who might have wanted Harry entered into the tournament and why. She was like many who believed Voldemort didn’t die and after some things that had happened over the last few years, her instincts were telling her that this was to do with Voldemort. She believed that monster wanted to possess Harry to crush everyone’s hopes. People would see the-boy-who-lived cursing and killing people. If that happened, many would give up because they would have nothing and no one to believe in anymore.
Sirius and Harry stayed in a wizards tent until they could find a home to buy. They opened two muggle bank accounts but didn’t bother opening a wizarding account. They were just going to keep all their wizarding money with them, hidden under charms. They were only keeping some of their money as wizarding money in case they needed books or potion ingredients. Three quarters of their money had been changed into muggle money.
Sirius had already created identification papers for both of them. It made it seem like they came to Australia five years ago and became citizens. The papers had a confundus charm on them so any muggle would instantly agree to what the papers said. Sirius also made sure that Harry’s age was two years older, just to help throw off any suspicion.
The moment they bought a home, a normal muggle home, they decided to settle in for a few days. One thing that both of them loved about their home, it was right near the beach.
‘Alright, it’s time we test your magic. For now, use my wand in case there is some way they can pick up the trace from here from your wand. I don’t think they can but it’s just to be safe.’
Harry took the wand Sirius held out then decided to start with a basic first year charm, the levitation spell.
The pillow instantly floated up then hovered, ‘It seems you were right Padfoot.’
‘I had a feeling but I just wasn’t one hundred percent sure. Alright, now we can both get new wands. We’ll put our old ones away, for emergency’s only. We can make plans later.’
‘Yeah, so we’ll get our wands then work out what we’re going to do with our lives.’
‘We can take our time making plans, let’s just think of this time now as a long holiday, one we both deserve.’
‘Yeah, we do. I never had a holiday and you were involved in the order before Azkaban so again, you never had a proper one once you became an adult.’
After six months of basically doing nothing, Sirius and Harry finally worked out what they wanted to do. Sirius would continue to teach Harry but he would also study himself. Harry was a wizard so he was only going to continue magical studies and Sirius turned out to be a great teacher.
‘So you think we should add a charmed door that only someone in the wizarding world can see?’ Sirius asked.
‘Well, we have a normal book store, muggle books, yet with the amount of magical books we read, it might be a way we can keep up with all the changes and also study a lot of magic that disappeared hundreds of years ago. Also, if some muggle came in and their child saw the door, we could use the warded room and explain to the parents so they will know their child isn’t crazy. But having books right there that we can use any time will keep us occupied when there are no customers.’
‘Alright, if the ministry comes calling, we’ll just explain. We have our new identities and the muggle papers prove we arrived here years ago. I might get Dobby to bring all the books from the Black library here, then we can put it in a secret room. I would only do that so no one gets hold of those dark arts books.’
‘They aren’t as strict here Padfoot. As long as we don’t use dark magic on a person, it’s not illegal to use or own dark arts books. This was all just an idea I had so we can keep ourselves occupied, learn as well and still have time to do whatever we want. We could work on only opening three or four days a week to start with, see how it goes. I figured if you like the idea, then we can talk it over and find out if it’s something both of us would like to do.’
Sirius did end up liking the idea mainly because it would allow them to have a life and it would also allow them to keep learning. They might eventually come up with some other idea that they like better, but for now, this will work.
Sirius ended up going to England himself but he had Dobby pop the books to their house. Sirius wanted to clear out the house of anything he might have owned when he was young, then he was going to destroy the house that belonged to the Blacks. He would need to make sure the neighbouring homes weren’t touched by the fire.
Sirius also decided to get Dobby, who Harry owned, to clear out the old Potter cottage while he was in Godric's Hollow to remove James and Lily’s bodies from the graveyard. They would now be buried down the back of their new home.
Apart from going to different magical towns in different countries, Harry and Sirius had their muggle book shop up and running in a few months. They had a section that allowed people to sit in store and read and those books were only for reading in the store. There was the same type of section in their magical book shop. They figured someone might not always want to buy a book when they only wanted to read one small section. There was a charge, but it was so small that no one minded paying to be able to read the books without buying them. Some of the books they had been collecting were old and not published anymore. Since Australia was such a young country, especially compared to England, many of the books Sirius and Harry had brought, had never been seen by anyone in Australia.
One thing that Sirius worked on, he had Harry see a muggle doctor, now he had no more lightning shaped scar. He had muggle contact lenses, so whenever he was out, he would have brown eyes, not green. Harry also decided to grow his hair, and when he could, he would grow a beard. Those things should keep everyone from recognising Harry potter.
Both Sirius and Harry knew that eventually they might meet other people, they might even get into a relationship. For now, they were content to be together and work in their bookshop.
After their lives, they both wanted to do things that was calming. They didn’t want adventure or danger, they wanted to feel safe. Living away from England and owning a bookshop was the start of their new, quiet and safe lives.
The end: