Chapter Text
When he arrives at the Pottery at 3:45 on Monday afternoon it's to Blu’s large stubborn eyes as he thrusts the deep brown dress robes into his arms and instructs him to change. It's to Flossie brushing down his hair with a strong smelling gel, making it lay neatly on his head. It's to Topsey taking his glasses and fixing them with a simple spell, making them shine.
All three of them walk with him down the stairs to the grand drawing room, where his guest is waiting patiently.
Madam Longbottom is a stern looking woman with deep brown eyes and a tight grey bun on her head. Her clothes are traditional, long emerald robes fashioned with a broach and tall boots that lace up to her knees. She stands gracefully, nodding at him with respect before walking over, her teacup still full of steaming tea. She hasn’t been there long, he notices, good.
“Mr Potter” she says, cracking a warm smile. “You look so much like your father, but your eyes well… They are Lily’s through and through.”
He gulps, overwhelmed. Watching as she walks around him, eyes assessing him.
“Your posture is not too bad, your manners are perfect. Your choice of clothes too, and you are a divine host. Yes, I think you will make a wonderful Lord. But my gosh, you are a little too skinny, hollowed cheeks.” She tutts, leading him over to the sofa and inviting him to sit next to her.
“I’m working on it Mam’, my guardians are less than good and I have been taking potions to help, my elves are also bringing me better meals. But that is only recently.”
She purses her lips, humming for a moment. “Yes, I see. You shall have to tell me then, what are we dealing with? And Mr Potter, I thought I told you to call me Auntie Augusta.” Her lips crinkle a little into a slight smile and he melts in relief.
“Of course Auntie Augusta, and you must call me Harry”.
“Very well” she nods, pouring him a cup of tea and piling his plate up with cakes and biscuits. “Now tell me everything you couldn’t in your letters”.
So Harry does, with a little coaxing from his snake he tells her of the hours of backbreaking work, of sleeping in his cupboard since he was barely a toddler. With encouragement from the elves he talks about Vernon’s belt and the physical abuse he’s suffered, of being locked in the cupboard sometimes for months for the smallest things. Of the emotional abuse of their neglect, of no toys and hand-me-down clothes. Of Dudley and his gang of bullies.
With her prompting he gives her a run down of his whole life, watching as she gets more and more angry on his behalf. Stopping only when her face turns so violet he fears she might explode.
“Wellchildd-” she splutters as she tries to calm down, “well to think-” She takes a deep breath, “the most important thing is that you are no longer there, perhaps now they will suffer some consequences. Now, please tell me you are here now permanently”.
He winces and watches her face become more strained, “well, not exactly…”
“Explain”.
“You won’t like it,” he admits.
“Explain” she insists.
So he does, he tells her of travelling to Gringotts although glossing over the details of the hows and whys. He tells her briefly of discovering all his wealth, focusing more on the other discoveries he made. First of his magical guardian who put him with the Dursleys, then of the will that was ignored. Then, apprehensively, of the identity of his magical guardian. Watching as her firsts clench and smoke fires out her ears.
“Continue” she insists with a low growl, her eyes flickering with burning rage. Calming herself forcefully when she notices Harry's reaction, using a napkin to fan herself.
So, timidly, he does. Quickly but still thoroughly he tells her of the charms stopping post from being delivered to him and of all the spells placed upon him to smother his magic and affect his mind.
“Is that all?” she gasps, legs quaking like she is getting ready to stand and march over to Dumbledore that instant and beat him with the walking stick she clenches in her hands.
He shakes his head, “not quite, there is still something else”.
Taking her silence for permission he briefly explains what he discovered about Sirius Black, his lack of trial and the concrete evidence contained in his parents will. “He is innocent Auntie, and I am working on freeing him. I have a plan– sort of– he is the only adult with express permission to become my guardian. If he is freed and released of all charges he can adopt me and live here, and I will finally be out from under Dumbledore’s control. Mostly anyway. From what Riphold told me I will still have to be cautious as to how I behave at school, while we build a case against him. For now freeing Sirius is my priority and I cannot do that if he is aware I know of the magical world, if he even suspects me talking to you.”
She nods stiffly, “a wise thought if a sad one. And I approve, we should free Sirius first and then go after Dumbledore when you are safe. It may even require years of careful maneuvering."
“Exactly, and my plan is to wait until the muggle summer holidays which are only about a month and a half away. Then I will not be reported as missing by my teachers and my family won’t care if I leave-”
Augusta flinches at this. Deeply troubled.
“As long as my tracking stone stays there Dumbledore will assume I am still living with them. Between then and now I can do what I have been doing, apparating here whenever I can and having my elves bring food and anything else. It is not ideal I know but-”
“- It is the best plan.” she finishes, clearly unhappy about it.
“In the summer I can stay here all the time, Remus Lupin is also coming to live here so I will at least have an adult to look after me. Then I will be going to Hogwarts and hopefully by next summer Sirius will be free.”
Then Augusta Longbottom does something both shocking and predictable: she hugs him. Wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. “Well you may not have your parents but you have me now, and I will come and visit you all the time. My grandson Neville is your age and I would love to bring him over in the summer, I know both of you will become fast friends.”
She pulls back and he gives her a watery nod. “I will also talk to my friend Amelia, she is head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is very trustworthy and a powerful ally, just put us in contact with your lawyer and together the three of us will get Sirius freed in no time”.
He grins excitedly, “thank you so much! Might I also tell Remus, only he knew My dad and Sirius well. Maybe he knows something important, at the very least he will be very motivated to help.”
She smiles at him kindly, accepting her coat from Topsey and her giant green hat with a large pheasant attached from Flossie. “That is an excellent idea, write to me after you see him and we will arrange something. You just focus on surviving till summer and we will do the rest.”
Above the fireplace the clock ticks to 6pm and Harry frowns, wishing he didn’t have to leave. “I’ll write to you” he promises as Flossie apparates him away.
***
The next day he gets to the Pottery even earlier, walking through the main doors to discover that Remus has not yet arrived. Frowning a little he heads to his room to change into more comfortable clothes, smirking at Lyra relaxing on her tower bed.
“Ssssooon you’ll have your rrroooom ready tooo” he hisses, peeking down at the snake curled up in his hoodie pocket. Smiling as three tongues flicker with happiness. As he lays back on his bed, Lyra leaping up to curl up by his side there is a small pop.
“Flossie is here to tell young master that Mr Lupin has arrived” she squeaks excitedly, yellow pillowcase trembling with joy.
He bolts up, disturbing both animals laying on him, earning a few angry hisses. But he has no time for apologies, rushing out the room with a huge crash, the Runespoor still curled up in his pocket, Lyra galloping after him.
There as he dashes across the landing, looking down at the main foyer, is a tall man; sandy brown hair and tattered clothes layered over him. A carpet bag clutched in his hand and a large battered trunk abandoned on the floor.
“Harry?” his warm amber eyes looking up to find the young boy, widening in disbelief and wonder.
“Uncle Moony!” he grins excitedly, racing down the stairs, taking two at a time.
He skids across the tiled floor, stopping just in front of the man and staring up at him in wonder. Both of them stood there hesitantly, not sure what to do. Finally Harry breaks the tension, throwing caution to the wind and wrapping his arms around the tall man. A few seconds later he feels him return the gesture, resting his chin on Harry's head, wet tears splashing into his hair from above.
After what feels like hours he pulls back, smiling over at Flossie. “Please can you take Mr Lupin’s things upstairs, later he can choose his room.”
With a small bow and a snap of her fingers his two bags and coat are held in her arms and with a pop she disappears. “We should probably sit down” he says to Remus, “we have a lot to talk about and not much time”.
With a nervous nod he whispers, “lead the way.”
They sit in the conservatory this time, the warm light chasing away the shadows of bad memories. Topsey brings them a platter of sandwiches and hot coffee for Remus. Laying it down carefully before them before leaving to give them time alone to talk.
“So, tell me everything.” Remus says as he pours the coffee into his mug.
So Harry does, he tells him all about his treatment at the Dursely’s, repeating the same things he told Madam Longbottom the day before. And Remus doesn’t interrupt, never. But at certain points his eyes seem to change, shimmering yellow. The veins in his arms started to push up through his skin,only careful deep breaths making them fade again, his eyes returning to amber. When Harry mentions the cupboard he even hears a low growl, but it's far too animalistic to come from Remus so he brushes it off.
With a heavy heart Harry continues, speaking of his suspicions of Dumbledore, the locked will and his stolen possessions. Of the spells encasing him and the manipulation he has guessed at.
At this Remus’ eyes grow colder and hazy, as if he is thinking of things, realising them. Which brings Harry perfectly into what he has confirmed about Peter Pettigrew, or Sirius’ innocence.
“What” he splutters, hoarse.
Harry just nods, “I already have a lawyer and Madam Bones is now helping, Auntie Augusta asked her. She's meeting me on Thursday but they both seem confident that there's enough evidence to free him. But, I was hoping you might have a way of finding Peter. He deserves to have a trial of course but if he is indeed a traitor he also deserves to be locked up so he’s no longer a danger.”
He pauses for a moment. Noticing how Remus’ eyes now seem bloodshot, staring at a dark spot on the wall across the room.
“Do you know how he could have escaped without anyone seeing? Or where he could have been hiding all these years?”
Remus’ eyes snap over to him, focusing upon him as he processes what Harry just asked.
It’s like a light bulb has gone off in his head. Remus’ features become sharper as he has a revelation, as all the pieces fit together like a perfect jigsaw.“He’s an animagus, a rat. It's entirely possible that he could've run into the sewers and have been living on the streets. He was unregistered you see and only me, James and Sirius knew about him.”
Harry leaps up, squeezing his arm in Thanks. Grabbing a roll of parchment he writes three quick letters; one to his lawyer, one to Madam Longbottom ,and one to Madam Bones. Informing them that Remus was able to help and that he had some very important information. “This is wonderful Uncle Mooney” he grins, “with this we will definitely get Sirius freed and possibly find Peter too, although…”
“What?”
“We need to find him fast, as soon as he finds out we’re looking for him he'll vanish, and because we want to free Sirius as soon as possible-”
“- we need to find him fast”.
Harry nods.
“Well on Thursday me and the others will make a plan for the trial and start to build a file of evidence. While you’re in school and perhaps on the weekends I can search for him. Trials take a while and so does gathering evidence. I think it's likely that Sirius will only be called in for his trial in September at the earliest– if we want to do this right– which gives me roughly three months to search the country for a brown rat missing a toe.”
His knee shakes a little, heel tapping on the floor. Hands shaking so much he stuffs them under a cushion.
“Which sounds like a lot-” ,he says with a shaky laugh “- but Peter was always not one for living outdoors, he likes his comforts. He, I would guess, will be living in someone’s house under their floorboards or even more likely, as a pet.”
“So, you need to find a brown rat, missing a toe, that is a pet, and has lived for around ten years?” Harry asks slowly, pretending he hasn't noticed how Remus seems to be falling apart at this revelation.
“He might have moved around a little” Remus sighs, “but hopefully he just found a good family and stayed there”.
“You can find him, I know you can, “ Harry replies earnestly.
“I hope so, Harry, I really do.” He sighs, pressing his hands on his knees and staring unseeingly at the floor for a moment. “Well, this has certainly been a lot. More than I expected really. Am I guessing correctly when I say you have to return to that awful place?”
The hopeful light in Harry’s eyes dies. Giving the man a shaky nod he forces his lips to curl up into a half smile, “just until mid-July.” He explains.“Then I can run away and live here– as long as nobody else discovers I no longer live with the Dursleys.”
“We will make sure,” he promises. “Albus is likely only keeping an eye on you by tracking you once in a while, which you have already dealt with.” He pats his shoulder comfortingly. “ At the end of July you’ll receive your Hogwarts letter but as long as we ensure it’s delivered here there won’t be a problem. Then there will be whatever representative they send, most likely Minerva McGonagall.” He grimaces. “Which could be a problem because she’s very astute but I think there's a strong possibility she could be persuaded to our side.” He takes a deep breath, giving Harry a too-bright smile. “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, apparate you to Private Drive on the day and distract your relatives for a few hours if needed.”
Harry grins, then his smile falls. The clock strikes six.
“You have to go now don’t you?”
He nods, “but I'll come back tomorrow and we can talk more, maybe have a nice dinner. Also, at maybe noon there’ll be some people coming to fit some tubes and a vivarium-”
Remus’ eyes widened in surprise.
“-But hopefully they won’t disturb you too much. You can choose whichever bedroom you want and the elves can cook whatever you fancy. Also, you can have people over but only people you trust for now. And make sure you aren’t busy Thursday night so you can join us with the trial planning!”
Remus just nods, watching Harry run upstairs to change. His nose crinkles in anger when he sees the thin school shirt and trousers with holes in the knees that pool around Harry’s ankles.
“See you tomorrow,” he says, hugging the boy. His heart warms when Harry hugs him back.
“See you tomorrow Uncle Moony”.
***
The next day Harry rushes up to the library to finish all his homework, apparating straight to Gringotts for his healer appointment with Gretgrog and then straight back to Potter Manor. With barely an hour to eat his dinner he quickly runs up to see the new vivarium, chuckling as he watches the Runespoor excitedly explore.
He sits with Remus for an hour devouring the roast ham and fluffy potatoes Topsey has made, wrapping a slice of chocolate cake in a napkin to take home with him.
At 6:29 Flossie takes him to Private Drive, watching him mournfully as he steps through the door and is instantly assaulted with a list of demands and verbal abuse.
“Poor master” she mutters to herself as she apparates back.
***
They're all already sitting waiting for him when he arrives the next day, wearing robes of deep plum as he walks into the drawing room. Remus sits in the centre smiling at him, a tray of food sat in front of him. In one arm chair sits Madam Longbottom, Lyra curled up next to her. In another is a lady he doesn't recognise with penetrating eyes and auburn hair that turns copper in the light. A black dress and heels, pearls hanging from her throat. Perhaps only in her late forties. Madam Amelia Bones.
On the other side, on the same sofa, sit two others. To his utmost surprise Riphold sits at one end, beady eyes fixed on Harry, razor sharp smile still there. A pile of papers in front of him. And next to him sits a rather stubby man, bald except a few wisps of hair and in deep blue robes. After some deductive reasoning Harry realises that he must be his Lawyer; Mr Fruberk.
“Please sit down Harry so we can talk about the trial” Remus says kindly, pointing to the seat next to him. Glad someone else is taking charge he happily does, letting the adults speak around him, only talking when answering a question or clarifying something but listening to every word. At the end of the meeting they have a solid plan with pages of evidence and dates. Notes full of laws and fancy jargon that swirls in his mind. But it's easy to summarise what has been concluded. With no evidence of a trial the Wizenmagot is obligated to give Sirius one, with veritaserum if he agrees to it (a potion that makes you tell the truth as you believe it to be).
Because he has a right to a fair trial nobody could question it, and when it was eventually arranged they could calmly present the evidence proving his innocence. With the best lawyer arguing it and Madam Bones and Longbottom on their side it would sway many members of the council. The Longbottoms had allies with every house and Madam Bones was very respected at the ministry meaning that all the department heads would be swayed to her side.
Since the evidence will be incredibly clear Albus Dumbledore will also not be able to argue against it without seeming cruel and ruining his public image. However, he could argue against Sirius being a fit guardian which is why doing it when Harry was at Hogwarts would be vital. He would have a full year to recover enough and since they had the will of Harry’s parents Sirius could have the right to choose another guardian, such as Remus Lupin or Augusta Longbottom. Strangely Remus seemed hesitant about being Harry’s official guardian.
It makes Harry feel a little sick, the familiar feeling of unwanted-ness threatening to choke him.
With the main plans made Riphold and Mr Fruberk left the manor, leaving Harry with the three other adults.
“I am sorry such an injustice has happened to you Mr Potter” Madam Bones says sympathetically, “know that I will do whatever I can to make it right”.
“Thank you Madam Bones” he says with a slight smile and a respectful bow towards her.
Her face relaxes a little into a playful smirk, “please call me Auntie Amelia, we are in your home and I hope the three of us become a sort of family to you. Know that you are no longer alone, no matter what happens.”
His eyes turn misty,“thank you Auntie Amelia, and please, call me Harry”.
“Very well Harry” she chuckles, “I would also like to introduce you to my niece Susan over the summer when you come here permanently, she and Neville are already friends and she is eager to meet you. Or she will be when I tell her about you, in secret of course!” She adds with a wink.
“I would love that” he grins, “It will make going to Hogwarts easier, maybe all three of us could go shopping for our school supplies? After I am escorted around by whoever Dumbledore sends of course!”
She nods with a warm smile, “that can definitely be arranged. I confess the supply list has been quite lacking in recent years. Depending on who they send you could end up with things you don’t need and lack the things you do.” She tuts with a sharp laugh of disapproval. “Quills for example, never mentioned! And Cauldrons are! Another one of Albus’ failings, you can simply borrow one in the first years. It is only in Newts that you need specialised or better quality cauldrons.”
He frowns, displeased to discover more things to dislike about the headmaster he had to pretend to admire and still yet to meet officially.
“And Augusta tells me you have been reading books on etiquette and lordships. Very good Harry, your manners are also exemplary but perhaps over the summer we could give you lessons. Get you up to speed a little with our traditions, Remus here has also suggested teaching you some things to get you ahead in your classes which I think is a fine idea”.
“Really???” he grins excitedly.
All three of them nod, smothering smiles.
“Yes, Amelia can teach you about wizarding laws and history between her work and the trial. I will teach you about the customs of our people and how to speak and move and act. Even things like dancing and fencing.” Madam Longbottom says with an approving twinkle in her eyes.
“ I will also start you off with French lessons then maybe next year we can start with Italian. Neville already knows enough to get by but he would benefit from practice and I started him with Swedish and German as they are more valuable to our house.”
She turns to Amelia, smiling proudly at her friend. “Susan speaks many fluently but I’m sure she would happily join. Both of them would be especially interested to start a little schoolwork, it is the one thing they have not practiced yet. Just some simple charms and potions, basic theory, but it will put you miles in front of your other classmates.”
Harry just grins and the start of his new life starts. “I can't wait!”