116Ch: 7 Starting Off
Harry now had several things to fix, quickly, first was the blood wards. If these fell then it would alert Dumbledore, sooner than he wanted. Next, he needed to do something about the Horcruxes. Then there was Professor Snape, would he want to teach or something else. Oh, let's not forget the Philosopher's Stone.
The solution to a couple of these came about rather by accident. Harry had decided to use donated blood suspended in a crystalline matrix to support the wards. This coupled with a self-sustaining illusion would ensure no one would suspect anything amiss at 4 Privet Dr. Harry proceeded to floo Petunia for the required blood only to come face to face with Professor Snape. Snape only raised an eyebrow at his questioning look, as if to say "What?" At this point he changed it from a call to actual trip, to get the details in person.
"Professor, might I inquire to your presence in my Aunt's home this fine morning?"
"Well, as you already have, not that it is really your concern. I happen to enjoy her company and was invited to breakfast this morning. Seeing as you are the family Head, even at such a young age, would it be permissible for me to seek courtship with her? That is, if she is agreeable?"
At this they both snort, that's Snape snorted. The amusement was seen in Harry's next statement. "Physical age perhaps, however, I have around forty two years worth of memories. If I had the same physical age, I would be several years your senior. It is definitely going to be hard to go through all the puberty mess again, this makes three times now! And, yes you have my permission, should you both desire it. I had originally planned on conversing about the blood wards at #4, but I need to ask you a few questions as well. I am happy to be able to do both."
Harry then proceeded to tell them both his plans for the wards; his aunt was at the table. He also, on the spur of the moment decided to set up secure portals between the San Diego house, #4, and which ever house he decided to stay at. This would provide quick transportation in case of emergency. It was also an Ancient form of magic that was no longer known to the wizarding populace and couldn't be blocked or traced. The only thing about it was there were two steps to it a start portal and end portal; and they had to be set up separately. Once the network was up you simply state the destination and step through. They were smoother than the floo and could be keyed like wards.
"Well, at least you inherited Lilly's brains, instead of your father's." came Snape's reply. He had fairly well forgiven James, but there was still no love lost between them. Snape and Harry went to work on the process for the stones, as well as, two rings and an amulet. The three stones would anchor the wards and the jewelry would be used to extend the protection to Harry, his Aunt, and Dudley. Harry didn't need it of course, but it would give it a boost. When they were done Harry used one stone to set blood wards on the San Diego home, he would do the others later. The rings and amulet were given to their respective owners, and then he and Snape settled in for a talk.
"Professor, what do you wish to do now? Would you like to continue to teach, research, or something else? I recall from the golem's memories, that you made quite a few great modifications to the sixth year potions book. Perhaps you could publish new texts for the schools to use. You realize that you can no longer spy and have no need to be at Hogwarts, should you choose not to. If you wish to you need not be yourself, Professor Snape could disappear and you could return as someone else could be hired. Although, your teaching style would have to change; I am not sure how much of that was just for show, but it would have to change."
"Mr. Potter, what are you blathering about? While I would like to research, I would still do more good as Slithering's Head of House. Furthermore, I simply don't have time to write and have published the full seven years worth of texts, though it would be worthwhile to do so. That is a dream I simply do not have the resources for. And what is this idiocy about disappearing and coming back as a different entity? Just how do you propose to accomplish that? Shear lunacy, is what it sounds like to me!" After Snape ranted a little more, Harry told him his ideas.
"What I wanted to do, if you will allow me, is to fund your publishing efforts. I am sure Petunia would be glad to help with the writing, either by taking notes and dictation or creating illustrations. If I remember correctly she is a profound artist. I can also enlist the help of the Gringotts goblins to assist in this as well. I would suggest a primer for all students, especially Muggle-bornand Muggle-Raised that contains a reactive chart and the general influences of things like; cauldron type, stirring rod type, stirring direction and count, lighting, temperature, etc. While most Pure-Blood students are taught these things at home, the rest of 'your usual dunderheads' are not. The goblins could provide the use of a time-turner to get this done.
The other idea was you could teach with annoniminity, it would give you the freedom to change styles without seeming suspicious. Goblin glamour, anchored to a ring would do the trick. That is if you would want to. These things are all up to you. I firmly believe with more patience on your part and a better class of instruction materials, Hogwarts could be turning out world class potions brewers. Perhaps, you could add something that differentiates between intuitive brewers and recipe followers, a test, class, or something. Brittan is at the tail end of Potion Master producing countries, you could change that. Just think, all those future Masters and Researchers owing their start to you. Let's not mention the significant drop in exploded and melted cauldrons."
"Now you're trying to turn me into Slughorn. I agree to the first few of your ideas; however, I wish to remain myself. My godson Draco will be attending this year and I would wish to help nudge him away from his father's path. I can attribute my new attitude to a new relationship. That will help get Narcissa off my back, as well. If you can secure us the time and resources for the new books, I would happily write them. Perhaps, with a less intimidating, more open, and information filled atmosphere we won't have to worry about blowing up the school. I believe Longbottom was particularly disaster prone in your memories."
After a few laughs and setting up the initial portal on a hall door, Harry floo called Gringotts to set everything up for Snape then flooed back to The Leaky Cauldron. He later apperated to #4 and anchored the original blood wards to a stone, set up the illusion, and created the second portal. Between his efforts, and the other Magi, no one would suspect the changes at #4. Using the portal he returned to San Diego and alerted Snape to the ability to travel to #4 then apperate to the school. This was much more convenient, and less stressful, than inter-continental floo or apperation.
Harry's solution for the stone had been relatively simple. Using a derivative of the Fidelius Charm, he secured the stone in such a way that the Flamels and he were the only ones who could see and use it. He duplicated it and removed the inherent flaws that caused sterility and only froze age. Now it could be set, with a charm, to revert the drinker to their prime age and perfect health, without it, it would freeze the age and heal the drinker. He then used an advanced duplication charm to create his own stone. Harry didn't really need the stone himself, but it made for a powerful healing tool. You would need a dose of Elixir each month to maintain Immortality, but the healing was not dependant on them.
Harry then wrote to the Flamels telling them of his alterations and precautions, requesting a meeting the following day to return the stone and give them more information. He advised them to come in disguised and keep the meeting secret from everyone. He then set back to review his memories and the changes he had already made, along with their consequences. Later he figured on trying to meet with the Tonks family and perhaps taking them to dinner. Penning a letter to them, he sank into his memories to plan.
-ELSEWHERE-
Severus and Petunia were beginning on their new writing venture. When Dudley pointed out not only did Muggle chemistry use a periodic table, much like the one they wanted to create for potions, but also the advances in glass making for their science classes. The wizarding world still depended on hand blown glass which had many flaws, therefore crystal was preferred. Muggles had advanced to machine prepared, heat treated, safety glass or Pyrex. This was cheaper and more versatile than crystal and had a wider range of uses. Their safety equipment was also more comprehensive; plastic face shields, goggles, face masks, hair coverings and such.
Seeing an opportunity to make a profit, Severus partnered with goblin investors to procure these devices, as well as, improve them for potions brewing. Snape used his own money to put up half the cost for experimentation, integration, charming, and such to introduce a new supply company. The goblins provided the other half as well as R&D on the new devices, in addition to procuring more traditional potions equipment. Thus Snape Potions Enterprise was born; this company would soon be a large supplier worldwide and would go on to integrate many Muggle chemicals and potion related products into the wizarding world. They would also branch out into the Pharmaceutical business discovering cures for many illnesses in both worlds, in the years to come.
The new books, manuals, and primers were ready before the school year began, as a bonus to boost sales, Harry paid for the entire Hogwarts student body to receive copies. He did this so the current year could benefit. Snape also had one complete set sent to each school's potions department for review. These new books contained not only Snape's improvements, but combined current documented information into one easy to read source.
As a supplement, they created Potions Compendium, containing important discoveries and developmental information on potions.
Where a student or Master might have had to search twenty tomes, or more, to find the needed information; it was now in a nine volume set. Much like encyclopedias this set would be updated with a new volume every two years, to contain new discoveries. All of this was accomplished with judicious use of the time-turner, and soon became a global hit. Harry kept his name out of the publishing, crediting Gringotts, and setup Petunia and Severus for any royalty fees. Both one would have to worry about money again, and the goblins were making money hand over fist.
Rita Skeeter, journalist extraordinaire, had thought her career was over. Harry Potter caught her eavesdropping on a private conversation in front of several witnesses, one the Director of the DMLE. Instead she was presented with the story of a life time. Only problem was, she couldn't print it. She had been relegated to doing what she did best, spying on people. Currently she was working with Madam Bones to uncover the corruption in the Ministry. Wasn't so much uncovering, you nearly tripped over it coming in the front door. It was gathering concrete proof; now gossip is easy, proof that is work. Fortunately, Harry had provided her with a few tools to help. First was a bracelet, enchanted with notice-me-not, reveler, shield, and a few other nifty charms. It would help with reading classified and magically sealed documents. The second was a miniature spy camera. It was admittedly ahead of its time, not that she knew though. It was digital and acted like both camera and video recorder. It worked on magic and could take pictures of even heavily copy-proof documents. The best thing was it would fit, invisibly, on her glasses and could be operated with her antenna, in her beetle form. The drawback was she couldn't exploit them for personal gain or they wouldn't function. Granted they allowed leeway for interpretation, it must not be blatant in other words.
Between the devices and her animagus form, she was fairly well set. She had started on Sirius' case and worked out from there. With every fact she uncovered, she would meticulously create files for Madam Bones. So far, Mrs. Bones had three filing cabinets filled with documents detailing bribery, embezzlement, discrimination, fraud, petty theft, and hundreds of other offences committed by various Ministry employees. She even had one set aside for suspected Voldemort supporters, though proof on them was rapidly filling it.
Harry's plans were to hold onto the information till his third year, at least. But at the rate things were accumulating, they would have a room in the DMLE dedicated to nothing but the files.
Amelia was frothing at the mouth already, to get started on it. The way things were going, she had already sworn Rita into a special position in the DMLE for Internal Investigations. She did this in secret of course, wouldn't do to 'let the cat (beetle) out of the bag' so to speak. She was planning on getting enough on Malfoy to do something about him in Harry's second year, if Harry would let her. She had Rita not only investigate the Ministry, but also Death Eater suspects that got off after the first war. This was harder to do though. Most had wards to prevent animagus forms entering the property. They had Harry's memories to work with, but needed proper chain of evidence for the court system.
These things take time, they both knew. At least, with the warnings from Harry, time was something they had. Now all they needed was the stomach, to deal with seeing the vice, and the patience, to deal with it at the correct time.
Amelia had started the tedious process of scanning the Ministry staff for blocks, charms, etc., as well. It was a long process, especially keeping it quiet. Most of it had been done with the help of St. Mungo's Hospital in the guise of routine checkups. Her department was clean for the most part, save for Fudge's personal guard. Mr. Weasley had loyalty charms and compulsion charms from Dumbledore, all though these were not about Muggles. When he was freed of them he went home and scanned his family and found much the same. It would seem Dumbledore left little to chance. None were found on Fudge or Umbridge, he was just an idiot and she was just a toad. Most people were Obliviated if none were found and the process continued.
Once school started, Arthur Weasley would be told about Pettigrew, but advised to wait until the children came home to do anything about it. He would cite the longevity of the rat as a reason to do a thorough check. This along with the lack of a trial would see Sirius Black, not only freed, but handsomely reimbursed for his time in Azkaban; much to Dumbledore's dismay. This would just be but one more 'where did it all go wrong' moments in a long series for him.
In a castle in Scotland, two personages were in deep thought. While this might not be a rare occurrence, the strange part was one of them was actually an enchanted hat. Alister was currently contemplating the letter that McGonagall had slipped him.
My dear Alister,
As you no doubt realize, I shall be attending Hogwarts this year. I currently wish to release you from service to the Headmaster and here by demand you sort each new first year into the proper House, for this year. I am aware of his schemes towards myself and do not wish to follow his plans. As a promise to Salazar, I must go to that house; however you can take your time about it. Make him sweat, if you will.
I need you to relay to the Lady, that I will bond on my arrival. She must not let any outward sign show, unfortunately. The old man still has uses and would be able to discern too much by it. She may show improvements slowly over time, but they need to be subtle.
The Headmaster has a plan for me to confront Voldemort's spirit this year and if she activates the main defensive wards it will violently evict him and his host. This cannot happen. Next year a dark artifact, containing a part of him will be brought into the school. This too must happen. I will try my best to deal with it as quickly as possible, but it must occur. Voldemort and Dumbledore must remain ignorant of the castle's primary defensive wards for now.
By my third year, the summer before, there is a curse that will need to be lifted. She can do this. It is tied to the position of Defense against the Dark Arts Professor and linked to Dumbledore's desk. It was cast by Voldemort, as Slytherin's Heir; a position he no longer holds.
Cassie, Salazar's familiar, will need to be freed from Voldemort's hold, as well. This will be in my second year. She needs to act the same for a while but should only petrify, not kill any students. Be sure she is allowed into her previous hunting grounds but does not harm the Centaurs, unicorns, and such. Send Fawkes to warn them of this. She was tasked to defend the castle, after all, and I would imagine is tired of rats for food.
Keep your ears open for news 'even though you have none', and relay it to me through the Lady during the year. I am proud of the job you have done thus far and wish you luck.
Oh! One more thing, well two really, when you scan the first years, please check for blocks, abuse, and such. I know the current Headmaster likes to use the first, and you have the capacity to check. Relay any to the appropriate Head of House, if you will. Also, please inform the ghosts to not blow my cover.
Respectfully Yours,
High Lord Harry James Emrys – Gryffindor – Hufflepuff – Ravenclaw – Slytherin – Evans - Potter, Ruler of the Council of Magi
And lord knows what else ;o)
While this was happening, Albus was having another of those moments. He was really starting to hate these moments. First of all, the goblins had informed him of an audit of the school's accounts. The results of which were not in his favor. They demanded the miss-appropriated funds, or he would have to produce the correct documentation on the expenditures. The latter being impossible since the monies were funneled into his accounts, and they knew it.
The second thing, he needed to fill at least one unexpected job posting and might need two. Apparently, for reasons unknown to him (cough-Minerva and Filius-cough) Professor Binns had decided to pass on. Therefore he had the History position to fill. For the same reasons, only it was Sprout instead of Filius, Filch was considering retiring at the end of this year. He wasn't decided yet. Of course Dumbledore didn't know or the Heads involvement.
The last and probably worst, he was out of lemon drops!
Harry awoke the next day to a blue and white Phoenix trilling at the foot of his bed. It would appear that Nicolas and Perenelle would
meet him for breakfast in a private room at the Cauldron. Needless to say, after sufficient precautions, they were thrilled with the new stone. Perenelle had always wanted children. It was an accident early in life that prevented it, even before the Stone's creation. Afterwards the inherent flaws in the crystal matrix didn't matter so much. The Stone gave them the chance to learn and, unlike other wizards, they stayed up with Muggle developments as well.
"Never stop learning, my boy! If you ever think you know it all, that's when life throws you a curve." was Nicolas' advice.
Harry apprised them of the situation and his role in it. Unlike everyone else, they took it in stride. I guess after six hundred plus years, you learn to accept the less ordinary. He advised them to wait till events unfolded at the end of the school year to use the regenerative properties of the new Stone, then disappear into the Muggle world for a while. After a great visit and promises to keep in touch, he ventured to Gringotts to speak with the goblins.
Harry had a plan for some of the Horcruxes. The ones that weren't necessary to future events. He enlisted the help of the goblins to create what was known to Ancient Necromancers as a Dementor's Heart. It works along the same line as the crystal cave Merlin was reportedly trapped in by Morganna. Only this works against misplaced souls. It
traps the soul, or fragment thereof, in a black crystalline matrix. Much like a Dementor's Kiss, the soul's connection to this realm is broken and the soul eventually dissipates into nothing, its power going to reinforce the matrix. These were originally created to deal with lich phylacteries, as a means of eliminating the vile creatures. The process, while simple enough, required ingredients only found in the CoM vault and goblin magic.
All that would be needed is contact with the Horcrux for it to work. Once he had the crystal, Harry called for the help of the most unlikely entity.
"Kreacher, I need to speak with you!" he yelled.
He had made a huge gamble on this working. In the golem's memories Kreacher had been very helpful in the Horcrux hunt. He and his friends had discovered that Regulus had ordered him to try to destroy the locket and he couldn't. Of course, Sirius had left the Black house to Harry along with Kreacher, but he hadn't yet. Harry was hoping this worked.
"Who is filthy Half-Blood to call on Kreacher? Why must Kreacher come? Filthy Half-Blood not Kreacher's Master yet is, why?"
"I'm not sure why you feel compelled to obey. However, I would like to help you complete your mission for Master Regulus. If you will take this crystal and touch it to the locket, it will remove the evil from it."
"How does filthy Half-Blood know of this? Kreacher tells no one! Why would you help Kreacher?"
"Kreacher, I have seen it. That's how I know. If you wish you can help me remove the same evil from more of the imposter Dark Lord's things. Then when the time comes, I can get rid of him. If you do this, I will retrieve Master Regulus' locket from the cave for you to have. But, once we are done, you have to get Grimauld Place ready for Master Sirius and myself. Will that work? Master Sirius was right not to serve the imposter. Mistress Black may not have liked it, but he was right. I will be sure that Master Sirius knows you are a good elf and he treats you right, agreed? You can even have Master Regulus' room and take Mistresses' portrait in there with you, ok? I will seal it so only you can get in."
"Master Potter would do this for Kreacher?"
"For your help, yes I would, Kreacher."
"Kreacher will help. Then young Master can kill filthy Half-Blood imposter!"
With that Kreacher took the crystal and popped back to Grimauld to destroy the Horcrux. While he was gone, Harry set one goblin to find out about Kreacher seeing him as a Master. He then used an Old Norse summoning ritual to keep his end of the bargain. He had Regulus' locket ready for Kreacher when he returned.
At this point your humble historian would like to point out. Most of the spells, rituals, and artifacts that Harry has used either have yet to be created, or are lost to the annals of time. This means that Riddle couldn't protect against them. It is hard to protect against what you have no knowledge of.
Kreacher was overjoyed to receive his Master Regulus' locket. Harry then told him and the goblins about the objects that needed to be cleansed. The diadem at Hogwarts, the cup in the Lestrange vault, and the ring at the Gaunt house these were to be cleansed now. The ring could be retrieved once the withering curse was removed and moved to the Potter vault. The diadem was to be sent to the Ravenclaw vault. The cup would be moved to the Hufflepuff vault.
He told Kreacher how to get into the Room of Requirement and the location of the diadem. He also gave a description of the cup. He asked the goblins to assist with the ring and replace any wards, so as not to be noticed. He didn't think Voldemort, or Riddle, as he now thought of him, would check. But, the house was close to the grave yard and he didn't want to chance it being obvious.
That only left the diary and his scar, for now. Riddle hadn't used Nagini yet. That would happen in fourth year. Harry could technically finish this in his first year, but several good things came from the first few years. The trials helped many students develop into amazing adults Hermione, Ron, Neville, the Twins, Ginny, and Luna, just to name a few.
Hopefully, even with the changes he was making, they still would be. Maybe they would be even better. Fifth year was when things went into overdrive. He thought about ending it in fourth year but who knows. He would just have to watch and wait. He had already started Neville and Ron on the path.
The goblins found un-activated copies of Sirius' will that made Harry his Heir, that coupled with the fact Dorea Black was his grandmother, was cited as the reason for Kreacher's behavior. Also since Harry had memories of actually being his Master, it served to reinforce the bond. Not to mention, it helps to be nice to the little blighters.
On the way back to the Cauldron for lunch, Harry managed to run into another old/new friend. This one had bushy brown hair and a penchant for books. Incidentally, the last was why they ran into one another. After many apologies and basic introductions, where Harry is once again informed she has read all about him, he asks the first stupid question.
"What are you reading that is so interesting, as to distract you from where you are going?"
The obvious answer, "Hogwarts a History!" that would explain the growing lump on the back of his head. It is a rather large book. Trying to nip a future problem in the bud, so to speak, Harry decides to point out a few things, in a very diplomatic manner.
"Hermione, you say you have read all about me. You also strike me as a very intelligent, rule conscious and logical person. There are some things I think you should consider. First of all, Voldemort killed my parents, tried to kill me, and then was supposedly killed when that didn't work, right? Considering the only witness to the event left was me and I was only thirteen months old, where did the accounts come from. I also was spirited away to a secret location right after. How can anyone know anything about m
I was sent to live with an abusive uncle, brainwashed cousin, and magically controlled aunt. I didn't even know about magic until the Hogwarts letter came, even then they had to hand-deliver one for me to get it. I have seen accounts of my favorite Quidditch team, color, toys, etc. they are all wrong. No one ever asked me. We can go to Flourish & Blott's later and I'll show some more things. I've seen books that are considered fact in there that have the most inane and blatant lies in them. You will find wizards are rarely logical.
My point is, don't believe everything you read. History is written or edited by the winners. Be sure to get people's opinions, don't just read the book and take it at face value. Remember, you could read all the books in the word. If you forget to live though, that is the biggest tragedy of all. There are no books to answer the most important questions in life. That's what your heart is for. If your passion is learning great! Just try to relax and have a little fun along the way. If you learn to the exclusion of all else, you will miss the most important lesson."
After his rather long winded triad, he took Hermione back to the book store and proceeded to show her several contradictory books. This included, pointing out the many discrepancies in a certain Lockhart
series of books. He then recommended a few books on laws, customs, etiquette, and creatures (house elves). He hoped this would give her better insight into their new world as well as curb some of her more irritating tendencies. He also picked out a couple on wizarding healthcare for her parents, who she told him were Dentists.
She told him she was supposed to meet her parents at Fortescue's if they got separated. They met them there and introductions were made. Dan and Emma agreed to have lunch at The Sphinx's Riddle; it was just off Diagon on Rainbow Lane by the bank. According to Tom, they had great seafood. After the late lunch, they made their goodbyes and parted ways.
Harry spent most of the afternoon exploring the various alleys off Diagon. He found several areas and shops he hadn't previously known about. There were the higher end clothiers, book shops, realtors, you name it. It was rather refreshing to learn there was more than just the two alleys to choose from. The golem hadn't been to these areas so it was new for him.
As the evening wound down, he headed back to the Cauldron to get ready to go to the Tonks' house for dinner. They had replied to his letter earlier that afternoon with the floo address. Needless to say he was looking forward to the evening. Sometimes it just blows being eleven again. Oh well, no snogging for him. Of course that didn't mean he couldn't dream. Did it?
He just hoped when he mentioned his parents will they didn't immediately head out to string Dumbledore up.
AN: If something in the format is off, sorry. It was lost in the transfer.