Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon’s car and crushed it into a dustbin – but at the moment it didn’t look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.

“Make it move,” he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn’t budge.

“Do it again,” Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

“This is boring,” Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up - at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on level with Harry’s.

It winked.

Harry’s looked at it for a moment, shocked, before giving the snake a quick wink back. He double checked that no one else was looking, and they weren’t. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had followed along after Dudley and Piers and now the group was most of the way through the exhibit, busy looking at the poisonous tree-frogs. The only other person that was even slightly close was a man around Aunt Petunia’s age, though their age was pretty much all they had in common. The man was taller than his aunt and though he was also slender, he wasn’t as thin as Aunt Petunia. He had rather messy copper hair and was covered in freckles. He was wearing a long blue jacket, a look that Harry rather liked, though he knew that Aunt Petunia hated (which may be part of the reason that Harry liked it so much). Curiously enough, Harry spotted a leaf sticking out of his breast pocket. And, topping the outfit off, was an old-fashioned leather suitcase.

Can people sleep at the zoo? Harry wondered, giving a quick look around to see if any doors stood out as bedrooms. When none of them did, he snuck another glance at the man to see if he looking at Harry, but thankfully he wasn’t. Instead, he was intently studying an exhibit of boomslang snakes that Harry had already taken a look at.

Turning his attention back to the large snake, he wondered aloud, “What are you?” The snake raised its tail and pointed to a sign at the left side of the exhibit. Harry turned to look, missing the man whipping his head around to look at Harry.

The sign read, “Boa constrictor, Brazil. This specimen was bred in the zoo.”

“Oh, I see,” Harry said to the boa constrictor. “So you’ve never been to Brazil. I wonder if it’s nice there.”

Then, to Harry’s utter amazement, the snake spoke back. “It issss better than here, I am ssssure.”

Harry completely froze. Snakes don’t speak, everyone knows that. He opened his mouth and told it so.

The snake did a weird hissing noise that sounded didn’t sound like any words. Harry sagged in relief; he wasn’t going crazy! The thought quickly left his mind when the same voice spoke again, this time sounding much more amused. Harry wondered if that meant the hissing had been the snake’s version of a laugh. He listened as the snake said, “Not often, no. At least, not to humanssss. They don’t usually sssspeak back.”

At this point, Harry wasn’t rightly sure what to do. He knew that sometimes, freaky things happened around him, like his awful teacher’s wig turning blue and the time he appeared on the roof of his school when Dudley was chasing him. Though Harry had been brutally punished when those incidents occurred, Harry had always just thought of them as weird coincidences, no matter what the Dursleys had said. Now though, he began to wonder if they weren’t right to think him a freak.

He quickly looked down at his shoes and began to move away, deciding to think more on the strange conversation later in his cupboard. He had to work hard to ignore the snake commenting, “Just like that, ssssnakeling. Adiossss.” Unfortunately, he has focusing on ignoring the snake a bit too much and his attention wasn’t on his surroundings as much as it should have been, as was proven when he walked right in to the chest of the man with the suitcase.

Harry quickly pulled his attention back and leapt back away from the man. Uncle Vernon never liked it when he was ignored and Aunt Petunia hated when he would touch her, so he knew that he should quickly apologize. He quickly looked the man in the eye and said, “Sorry sir, I didn’t mean to bump you, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“It’s alright lad,” the man spoke. He gently put down his suitcase. He seemed to be surprised, Harry thought, more than was typical for a similar situation. Maybe he doesn’t know about apologizing if he lives at the zoo with animals, Harry figured. “Though usually when children aren’t watching where they’re going at a zoo it’s because they were too busy looking at the creatures, not at their shoes.”

“Well, um, you see,” Harry began, but wasn’t sure how to finish his excuse.

Thankfully, or not so thankfully, the man didn’t seem to need a response and continued, “Too busy talking to the snakes?”

Harry’s attention sharpened more than ever before. “You can talk to them too?” he asked in a loud whisper.

Somehow the man both relaxed and tensed up at the response. He took a deep breath and visibly relaxed further, the tenseness leaving his shoulders. The man looked around for a moment before quickly taking a stick out of his pocket and waving it around for a few seconds, then putting it back. Harry wondered what that had been about, but didn’t feel that he should ask. He turned his attention back to Harry and smiled. With a conspiratorially lowered voice he said, “Well, I do suppose anyone can talk to the snakes. It’s getting them to talk back that is rather more of a challenge. Or, I suppose, being able to understand them when they do.”

“That’s rather what he said,” muttered Harry, shrugging a shoulder and then nodding back towards the boa constrictor, then slapping his hand over his mouth when he realized what he’d admitted.

“Oh, is it now?” The man sounded thrilled, oddly enough. Harry peered up at him, but didn’t remove his hand. The man began to pat down the pockets of his blue coat, starting from the top and making his way down. Harry would have sworn he heard a squeak followed by angry chattering when the man brushed against the leaf sticking out of his breast pocket. It took almost a minute for the man to stop the weird patting dance (Maybe the man’s crazy and only thinks he can sleep at the zoo, Harry idly thought as he watched the display) and pull out a small notebook and a feather of all things from an inner pocket. Both were quite bent, having been kept in a pocket, but the man gave a quick flick of both wrists and both items immediately straightened out from their crumpled states.

Harry slowly took his hands away from his face and took a step closer so he could get a better look at the feather and notebook. He didn’t realize he was standing practically shoulder to hip with the taller man. The way that the items straightened out almost seemed like the slap bracelets Dudley had, though Harry didn’t know who would bother to do that to notebook pages or a feather. The feather didn’t seem big enough to be able to work the same, especially the soft parts on the edges, though they were indeed straight now. So intently was he staring at the feather that he didn’t even realize it was moving closer to him until it tickled him on the nose.

“Here, would you like to see?” The man gave another quick wiggle of the feather, making Harry giggle, and then held it out so Harry could take it.

“Are you sure, sir? Nobody usually trusts me with their stuff,” said Harry, though he really wanted to look at the feather. Maybe it came from one of the birds from the zoo! Harry thought.

“Of course, lad. It’s just a quill, and I’m sure you can take care of it just fine. And, if something does happen to it, it can be fixed right up or easily replaced.” He patted the area of his coat where he’d pulled the notebook and feather – quill, not a feather, whatever the difference is, Harry reminded himself – and then blankly looked down at his notebook for a moment before pulling back the flap of his jacket and removing another quill, apparently realizing that he had given the first to Harry. “In fact, why don’t you keep it?” He began to use the quill to write in the notebook, though Harry didn’t know why he didn’t just use a pen. Or maybe the quill was a pen? Harry didn’t want to be a snoop, but when he chanced a glance at what the man was writing he spotted the word “parseltongue” (whatever that meant) and it looked to be written in ink similar to that from a pen.

“Oh no sir!” Harry exclaimed, though he secretly really wanted the beautiful quill. It was a dark brown color with lighter brown, almost golden, stripes. The tip was pointed and had clearly been sharped, looking almost like a pencil tip, but covered in that same ink that looked like ink from a pen. Somehow the ink looked wet, but it didn’t drip off and when Harry gingerly touched the end, none of the ink came off on his fingertip. “I’ve never been given any presents before, my Aunt says I’m not allowed ‘cause I’d ruin them.” The man stopped writing, though the tip of his quill stayed on the paper causing ink to spread out in a wide circle, coving up whatever he had just written.

“Oh?” said the man, a weird note to his voice.

Harry didn’t notice, too busy looking at the quill. “I don’t know why, really. I’ve seen Dudley ruin most of the presents he gets, but he still got 37 gifts for his birthday today. Well, 37 this morning. It was one less than last year, so Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are going to buy him two new presents today to make up for it.”

“I see,” said the man tightly.

“Yeah,” Harry said, turning the quill this way and that. He bent the quill slightly and watched it bend, before letting it spring back to normal. He’d never gotten to play with Dudley’s slap bracelet before, but thought that he knew how it was supposed to work. He lightly hit the quill against his wrist, but nothing happened. Giving a small frown, Harry continued, “It must be true, though, because I don’t get any presents from Father Christmas either, even though I swear I’ve been good!”

“I’m sure you have been, lad,” the man replied. His quill was bent quite badly now in his hand, his knuckles white.

“At least Dudley’s old broken toys stay out of my cupboard,” Harry said. He glared at the quill, giving it a poke, then a shake, followed by another poke. It doesn’t seem like metal or springs inside…

“Your cupboard?” the man asked, voice strangled. Harry looked up, but the man was staring at the ink puddle that was now his notebook. Harry gave a mental shrug. I wonder if he has more notebooks in his pocket with his extra quills.

“Yeah, where I sleep,” Harry idly answered, turning back to the Mystery of the Quill. He flipped the quill over and gently hit it against his wrist again, but still nothing happened beyond the quill bending a little. “Dudley has two bedrooms, his main one and his toy room. He likes to break his toys when he’s not chasing me around playing Harry Hunting. He can’t really fit through the cupboard door so he doesn’t go in it to bother me, which is pretty nice, especially when I get locked in for doing something freakish.” He slapped the quill on his wrist a bit harder, but still nothing happened.

“Something freakish?” the man parroted. The anger in his voice, along with that word, finally made Harry realize what he had been saying. He started to shake. “And did you say ‘Harry Hunting?’”

Harry nodded, then shook his head, then nodded again. When Uncle Vernon started to talk about freakish things nothing good happened. The man before him was angry, just like Uncle Vernon, but he was a stranger and Harry didn’t know what to expect.

 “Is your name Harry?” the man asked.

Harry, still shaking, nodded his head. The man’s eyes darted to his forehead and settled on his scar for a moment, seeming to be frozen. “Harry Potter?” he asked.

Harry froze, then began to shake harder as he once again nodded his head. Does everyone know how freakish I am? he wondered.

The man took a breath in a way that Harry was very familiar with. His teachers would use it often when they were angry at him for something Dudley had done and blamed on Harry, but had to calm down to ‘deal with the problem.’ Somehow, the smile the man gave him after seemed genuine, though he still seemed a bit tense, and Harry began to calm down as well, still shaking a bit but no longer quite as afraid.

“It’s alright, Harry,” the man soothed, settling down on one knee before the boy. “My name is Newton Scamander, though please just call me Newt. Harry, what did you mean by ‘freakish?’”

Harry just shook his head. He couldn’t make himself look the man in the face anymore, and was instead looking at the leaf that was sticking out of the man’s top pocket.

“Harry, have things happened to you? Things you couldn’t explain? Maybe when you were sad, or angry, or scared?” Harry thought again of his teachers wig and appearing on the school and again nodded.

The man – Newt – looked around quickly but still no one was nearby. Harry didn’t think they had been talking for long, but still thought it was a little odd that no one else had come to see the large boa constrictor they were standing by yet.

“That’s called magic, Harry. It’s not being freakish, it’s perfectly normal for a witch or wizard. You, lad, are a young wizard.”

“What!” Harry exclaimed. “I can’t be, I’m just Harry! I don’t know how to do any magic.”

“That’s alright lad, at your age no one does. When young witches and wizards turn eleven they get to go to a special school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where they’ll learn all types of spells, potions, and all about the magical world, including magical creatures! Those are my specialty,” Newt said with a smile. For some reason he gave the leaf sticking out of his pocket a small stroke.

The reason for the weird action was explained when he stuck his finger down in the pocket and pulled out some kind of green stick that was almost shaped like a human. The creature had legs (three, Harry noticed, instead of the usual human amount of two), arms, and a head, though the proportions were a bit different from humans. The leaf that Harry had been staring at was in fact attached to the sticks head, almost like hair. Newt glanced quickly up at Harry’s scar again, looking almost concerned. He held out his finger, as well as its passenger, towards Harry and gently said, “Harry, I would like you to meet Pickett. He is one of my best friends, and is a magical creature called a bowtruckle. Why don’t you hold out your hand so he can say hello?”

Harry slowly held out his hand so his palm was facing upwards. Newt brought Pickett over and, with a small squeak, Pickett jumped on to Harry’s hand.

Pickett was so light that Harry almost wouldn’t be able to tell he was holding anything if it wasn’t for the fact that Pickett’s feet (can plants have feet?) were tickling his palm. The creature was very small, only about as tall as Harry’s hand was long. Harry brought up his other hand and held it so his hands overlapped a little, offering something for Pickett to climb on. The small creature did, easily jumping the small distance.

“Bowtruckles are guardians of trees that are used to make wands. They won’t attack everyone that comes by their trees – after all, we wizards obviously make wands somehow! They have a unique ability to sense a person’s heart. Harry, by the way that Pickett is behaving with you right now, you clearly have a good heart.” Harry felt like he could glow. No one had ever said anything like that to him before, or really anything positive about him for that manner. He gave his finger a little wiggle in the direction of Pickett’s stomach in the same way that Newt had done with the quill shortly before. Pickett ran around the finger and again jumped arms before running up Harry’s arm, stopping at the edge of his shoulder.

Harry turned to look at the little guy, wondering what he was doing. The bowtruckle lifted up his hand and placed it directly on Harry’s scar, then turned to Newt and started to squeak and chatter in a manner that sounded angry somehow, though before that day Harry wouldn’t have been able to say what an angry squeak sounded like.

“Ah, I was afraid of that,” Newt said to himself, looking grave.

“I’m sorry, Newt sir, I don’t—I didn’t mean—did I hurt him?” Harry stuttered, wondering what had gone wrong. Was he evil after all?

“Oh Harry, you didn’t, it’s alright,” Newt said calmly, but still looked rather worried. “What do you know about your scar?”

“My Aunt Petunia told me I got it in the car accident that my parents died in,” Harry answered. He’d always thought that the scar was rather cool, but wondered what it had to do with anything.

“Ah, well, that’s not quite true I’m afraid,” said Newt. He took a breath, then got up from the ground. “Harry, why don’t I buy you an ice cream and I can tell you a little more about the magic world, and what your scar really is?”

Chapter Text

Shortly thereafter, Harry found himself once again at the zoo’s little restaurant. Pickett was once again in Newt’s pocket, safely hiding from view. Harry was enjoying a knickerbocker glory for the first time in his life, having requested one when Newt offered him whatever he would like from their menu. Dudley had had the ice cream treat earlier during lunch, and thrown a fit when the first didn’t have enough cream. Harry had been dismayed, but not surprised, when Uncle Vernon had gone to buy a new one for Dudley and just thrown the first one in the trash instead of giving it to the younger boy.

When they had found a table with a booth in the back of the restaurant along the wall, Newt had again taken out the stick and waved it around for a second before showing it to Harry. “This is a wand. Each wand is as unique as the wizard or witch that it chooses to wield it. They have a wood outer layer, as you can see, and typically have some part of a magical beast as their interior, from a unicorn tail hair to a phoenix feather or a dragon scale. Underage wizards such as yourself cannot get a wand until they are ready for formal schooling.

“Now,” Newt added, giving a wave of his hand to encompass their table, “for the most part, magic isn’t to be used when surrounded by muggles – that is, people without magic. Because we are here, and having to talk about magic, I made sure no one was looking and then did a little charm that will make muggles ignore us. They won’t hear what we’re talking about and walk right by without seeing us. Sometimes magic like that is needed to keep the wizarding world secret. Make sure that you never tell muggles about magic, Harry,” Newt added firmly.

“I won’t, sir! But, um, Mr. Newt, how did you know I wasn’t a muggle?”

“Ah lad, please just call me Newt! And it was rather an easy thing to determine, actually. I heard you hissing at the snake, and sure, kids will do that sometimes when they see snakes, but when it started to hiss back I knew you were a parselmouth. A parselmouth is someone who speaks parseltongue, which is basically a magical language allowing you to speak with snakes and, according to some legends, various other reptiles.”

“Newt, what do you mean hissing? I was just talking to it,” Harry asked after licking a bit of cream from his spoon.

“Talking? No, lad, it sounded like hissing to me. Do you mean to say that to you it sounded just like English, like we are talking right now?” Newt asked excitedly. He reached back in to his pocket and pulled out the notebook and quill he had been using earlier. Harry thought fondly of the quill that he now had in his own pocket, Newt having let him keep it. Newt did the same flick of his wrists from before to straighten out the two objects (Harry reminded himself that he needed to ask Newt how that worked, as the thought of a snap bracelet that looked like a feather was very intriguing), then opened the notebook (skipping past the page that was now largely a black circle from earlier) and began to write notes. Harry was amused to note that the learning in their conversation seemed to be going both ways, with both Newt and Harry apparently teaching the other new things.

“Yes,” Harry confirmed. “Though there was maybe a sound of hissing, just a bit? Like background noise through a window, almost. Oh! And he would kinda string out his letter ‘s’s, right, almost like someone snoring.”

“Like this?” Newt asked, then did a little hiss. Harry was highly amused to tell Newt that what, to him apparently just sounded like a drawn-out letter ‘s’, sounded just like the words ‘my cabbages’ to Harry. If anything, Newt’s excitement grew. “That means that others can speak parseltongue as well! I – they – would just need a teacher. What about this, what am I saying?” Newt questioned eagerly, giving another hiss.

Harry couldn’t hide his grimace of disgust as he looked down at his ice cream. “‘Juicy rat’,” he translated.

“Ah,” said Newt, also taking a glance at the boy’s remaining ice cream. “Maybe we can do some more translating later, when no one is eating.”   

“I would like that, thanks,” said Harry. “This is my first ice cream, I’d rather not spoil it.”

“Ah,” said Newt, apparently remembering something unpleasant and calming down a bit more. “That actually brings to mind another topic of conversation, but it can wait until you’re finished. Hmm, what else, what else?”

“Newt, did you always know about magic?”

“I did, actually! My mother and father were both magical, as were my grandparents. That makes me something called ‘pureblood,’ namely that I have four magical grandparents. Some people really care about one’s magical background, which I think is rather silly, myself. They seem to believe that having magical ancestors will make you more magically inclined, when there isn’t actually any proof to that. Some people are born with magic to non-magical parents, which we call muggleborns, and some are born to parents where one parent is a muggle and another is a witch or wizard and we call those people half-bloods. You, Harry, are actually also considered a half-blood because, even though both of your parents were magical, your mother was a muggleborn. Basically this boils down to you having less than four magical grandparents and more than zero. Anyway, one’s magical potential is just an amount you are born with, like the color of your eyes, or how long your beak is.” So saying Newt bopped Harry on the nose and smiled at the surprised look he received for it.

“My mother actually raised hippogriffs, rather majestic creatures that are half eagle and half horse. They’re large enough to ride on both the ground and when they fly, and I’ve done both plenty of times! She’s rather who I inherited my love of animals from and why I’m a magizoologist, a magical zoologist.”

“Oh, is that why you live at the zoo?” Harry asked, finishing the last bite of his ice cream. “I’ve been wondering all day.”

Newt’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t live here,” he said, looking around as if to check.

“Oh, do you live at another zoo then and you’re just visiting?”

“No, I live in a house in the country, actually. Why do you think I live in a zoo?”

“Well, if you’re not staying here why do you have a suitcase? It looks just like the one Uncle Vernon used when he went to stay with Aunt Marge last year when she broke her leg.”

“Oh!” Newt chuckled. “This isn’t a suitcase! Percy told me I should upgrade the outside so it wouldn’t stand out as much, but I’m afraid I’ve been putting it off. This is a case where I keep my creatures, actually.” Upon seeing Harry’s skeptical look, he continued, “Really, I promise! And no, they’re not just bugs or the size of Pickett. I’ve actually got creatures as large as our table here inside. Can you guess how?”

Harry, whose eyes had grown wide enough that he spared a thought about them falling out, could only say, “Magic?”

“Yes, precisely!” Newt exclaimed. “It has a charm—or really, quite a few charms actually—on it that make it bigger on the inside. When these latches are undone you can climb right down into it, no matter your size. Inside is actually about half the size of this zoo, maybe a little more. Some of my creatures are staying at home with Percy, but I have a few in my case here with me that need more specialized help. I’m doing a bit of travelling right now, actually, to visit my brother, so my case needed to come with me.”

“Oh?” asked Harry, who couldn’t imagine every wanting to visit Dudley.

“Yes, Theseus,” Newt added. “He’s actually just about to retire from the DMLE, or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the magical police men. I’ve been here a few days already and will just be staying for about a week more.”

“Oh,” Harry said again, though this time much sadder. He was really liking chatting with someone who didn’t immediately think he was an awful person and would be sad to see Newt go. He tried to rally and asked Newt, “So if you’re staying around here why did you bring your suitcase to the zoo?”

“When I travel I always check out the local zoos, just to make sure that no magical animals were accidently acquired. Some look very similar to their non-magical counterparts. Take the boomslang snakes, for example. Boomslangs have a brownish-black coloring, while magical boomslangs are more of a purple-black. It’s a subtle enough difference that muggles will likely just explain it as being unique. However, a magical boomslang will grow to be a bit larger and their venom will make a person hallucinate that their bodies are changing around on them, which actually led to the discovery that their skin can be used in a few different physically altering potions.

“It’s actually not always necessary for a magical creature to be removed from a muggle zoo,” Newt continued, “but I bring my case with me just in case I need to.”

“But if they’re magic and muggles aren’t s’posed to know about magic, why could they stay?”

“Well, like I mentioned about the boomslangs, some magical creatures look so much like their muggle counterparts that it’s unlikely anyone would really notice. The boomslangs would most likely be fine to stay in a muggle zoo as they are very unlikely to be biting anyone. So, if they blend in alright, are being treated fine, and shouldn’t cause too much trouble, sometimes I’ll just leave them where they are. I do always try to rehabilitate any magical creatures I happen across and release them back in the wild when I can, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes they’re too hurt, or were born in captivity of some sort and just don’t know how to survive by themselves, so in that case it would just be a zoo caring for them or me caring for them myself.”

Harry nodded, thinking that rather made sense.

“Now, I think we need to have a little chat,” said Newt. He looked more serious than before, his focus now entirely on Harry. He took a deep breath and continued, “Harry, earlier Pickett confirmed something for me. I’ve been around magical creatures for a long time – longer than you might think! – and have a rather keen sense for sensing magical energy. Something about your scar was putting me on alert, as it were, and Pickett confirmed that it had a rather dark presence. Now, don’t fear! I am fairly sure that I’ll be able to help, and if not me directly a friend of mine will be able to for sure.”

“What do you mean, presence? And how would you help?” asked Harry, hands clutching on to the loose fabric at the knees of Dudley’s large castoffs.

“Sometimes magic can leave a mark. Most times it doesn’t, like in the case of the people ignoring us here; when we leave, I will take the spell down, and no one will be able to tell that magic happened here within the day. But again, sometimes magic does leave a mark. I don’t know exactly what happened to give you that scar, but I’m certain it wasn’t a car accident like your aunt told you. Wizards and witches actually rarely use cars, and even if they did our magic would actually protect us against almost all car accidents. Besides, no car accident by itself would leave a magical mark. No, it almost seems like residue from a curse, and not just the kind where people shout naughty words.” Newt was clearly trying to cheer Harry up so Harry gave a small smile, but it wasn’t much better than a lift of corner of his mouth.

“So, I would like to examine the scar. Would you like that?” Newt hadn’t even finished the question before Harry was doing an impression of a bobblehead. “Oh, good! Well, I don’t think here is the best place for it. We don’t know what may happen when the curse is released and besides, it is best to avoid magic around muggles as much as possible. So, Harry, where do you think your family has wondered off to?”

“What?” Harry asked, growing alarmed. “Why do you need them?”

“Well, I can’t exactly take you without permission,” Newt said, his eyes sharply watching Harry.

“I’m sure you can, they won’t mind,” Harry stated, trying to stay calm. He was gripping his shorts so tightly under the table that his knuckles were white.

“I’m sorry, lad, but I really can’t just take you away without their knowledge,” Newt repeated.

“But what about the darkness?” Harry cried. He realized that he had shouted and quickly looked at the other customers. None had so much as twitched.

“We’ll just have to talk to your aunt and uncle and get them to agree.”

“No, they can’t know!” exclaimed Harry. “Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon won’t even let me say the word ‘magic,’ let along be magic! They’ll kick me out!” Harry’s breath began to come quickly and he began to panic.

“Shhh, lad, shhh, it’s alright,” Newt said, quickly going around to sit in the booth besides Harry. He put his arm around the boy and Harry buried his head in the man’s chest, switching his grip to the man’s coat and holding onto the blue material as tightly as he could. “Harry, look at me lad, it’s alright.”

It took Harry a few minutes before Harry felt he could, but when he looked up Newt was calmly looking back at him.

“Harry, if you could choose, would you like to go back to your Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?”

The young boy didn’t know what to say. Of course he didn’t want to go back to Privet Drive where he was beaten and locked up and hardly given enough to eat. On the other hand, they had always told him that living with them was much better than an orphanage. Being sent to an orphanage was a frequent threat and Uncle Vernon said the only reason he hadn’t been sent to one yet was because of the goodness of their hearts. Unsure, all Harry could say was, “I don’t wanna go to an orphanage.”

“Oh, lad, no!” The older man pulled Harry back in to a quick, tight hug. “I meant go with them or come and live with me.”

For the second time that day Harry’s eyes felt like they were going to fall right out of his head. “Stay with you? Really?” Harry said excitedly.

Newt blinked hard, gave a little cough, and cleared his throat before saying, “Well, yes, I thought so? Well, I said ‘me’ but it would also be with my husband Percy and about 200 creatures. Oh, and it would be in America, that’s where we live.”

Harry blinked in surprise at finding out the Percy that Newt had mentioned was apparently his husband and again at the number of creatures, but truthfully didn’t care about either. Newt was asking if Harry wanted to live with him! Him, Harry!

“Oh, yes, YES, please can I come with you?” Harry began to almost vibrate he was so excited.

“I would like that very much. We will need to do just a couple of things to make it official, but I will try as hard as I can to make it work, okay?”

Harry could tell that Newt was sincere, but the man’s answer still scared him.

“Do you think that I won’t be allowed?” Harry asked.

Newt shifted a bit, looking a tad uncomfortable, though sincere. “Lad, no matter what we’ll get that presence taken care of, alright? And I am almost completely sure that you won’t have to live with your aunt and uncle again. Now, let’s see if we can go find them quick, just to let them know that I have you, and we’ll be off.”

Having gotten his hopes up that he would never have to see his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, or cousin Dudley again, Harry was sad to see that that would not be true but agreed to look for them. However, the duo searched through the zoo and found no sign of the Dursleys or Piers. Having exhausted all exhibits, gift shops, food stalls, and show locations, Harry suggested checking the parking lot to see if the car was still there before they started another loop of the zoo. It was a good thing that Harry had suggested it, for the spot was now occupied by a different vehicle.

The Dursleys had left him at the zoo.

Where before the thought of being abandoned somewhere left Harry shivering in fear, the small boy was now practically quivering in excitement. “This is where the car was parked, I’m sure! Dudley threw that candy wrapper on the ground when we got here this morning! They left me here, so now I can go with you!”

“Yes, lad, you are certainly coming with me,” Newt said, glaring at the old car for a moment before turning to the boy. He held out his hand for Harry, who quickly grabbed on to it with a grin. “Now, we just need to find a spot where no one will see us and then it’s time for you to meet my older brother, Theseus.”

“Why do we need to find a hidden spot, Newt?” asked Harry as he looked around. He wanted to skip, but Uncle Vernon had said that it wasn’t something boys did. Because of this, he was trying his best to stop the extra movement, but he just couldn’t help it, which resulted in odd bouncing steps and wiggling hips.

“We’re going to do something called apparating, a magical way of traveling from one spot to another in just a second. And because it’s magic, we can’t let muggles see, right?”

“Right!” echoed Harry, still bouncing. “How about by those little trees?” Harry pointed to an out of the way spot.

“Perfect, my lad!” Newt said. As the two made their way over, he added, “Now, we will be doing something called side-along apparating, basically meaning that I am taking you along by my side. Apparating isn’t the most comfortable way to travel, but it is very fast. It feels rather like you get sucked into a straw, and for those that are less experienced there is quite a loud noise made both where they leave and where they appear. I have been apparating for quite some time now and have trained as hard as I could to make it quiet to not disturb my creatures, so you won’t really need to worry about a noise from me. Alright, you need to hold on tight,” Newt said, giving Harry’s hand a squeeze as he checked to make sure no one could see them, “and off we go!”

And, with barely a sound, the man, boy, and case of magical creatures were no longer in Surrey.

Chapter Text

When Harry next opened his eyes, he had to fight off the urge to throw up. Clutching his stomach, the boy fell to the ground and began taking deep breaths. As much as he had enjoyed his first ice cream treat, he wasn’t keen on the thought of seeing it again so soon.

Apparating, Harry thought, is the worst.

It took a few minutes before Harry felt he could actually stand up and look around. When he did, all thoughts of his stomach (and the contents he dearly wanted to keep inside it) fled. On both his left and right were fireplaces lined up side-by-side. Every twenty seconds or so the flames inside a fireplace on the left would turn a deep green color and a person would step out, though they didn’t appear to be burnt in any way. On his right he watched as a large man walked up to a fireplace, did something that made the flames turn the same deep green, then stepped into it and disappeared. Looking at the green flames, Harry thought, Maybe it’s like the roads where green means go? All the fire I’ve seen is kinda an orangy-yellowy-red and red means stop. He opened his mouth to ask Newt what was happening when a loud crack! interrupted him mid-motion. A person had appeared a few feet in front of him from out of no-where. Harry turned to look up at Newt, mouth still open from the interrupted previous question.

Newt caught his look and gave a chuckle before gently tapping under Harry’s chin and tugging the boy’s hand to move him along. He explained, “That man ahead of us apparated in, just like we did. That’s why we had to hide before we left ourselves, see? Randomly disappearing and appearing is not something muggles can do, right?”

“No, sir!” Harry said, glad that he knew at least something.

“Just ‘Newt’, remember, lad. But no indeed! Now, the fireplaces are there for people traveling using the floo network. Most wizard and witches have a fireplace in their house connected to the floo network and they are all interconnected, almost like muggle roads. Using a bit of special powder, you can step right in one fireplace and out the other! Of course,” he interrupted himself to sternly say, “magic always comes with a cost, whether it be just becoming tired or otherwise, so make sure you remember that!” Returning to his jovial tone, Newt continued, “Anyway, like how apparating feels like you get all sucked down, using the floo makes you feel quite dizzy as you see all the fireplaces as you pass them by. It is a method used by many people, though, as not everyone can apparate, such as children. Maybe we can try it on our way out? It’s either that or apparating again.”

Harry wasn’t sure which he would rather use. Though he still thought that apparating had been awful, Newt hadn’t exactly made traveling by floo seem all that much better. In the end he decided that he would rather avoid apparating if possible.

“Floo, please, Newt,” said Harry.

“Yes, I thought as much. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to both ways of travel soon enough, eh? First though we have to go up there and get signed in,” Newt said, pointing in the direction that most people were walking in. Harry could see a desk marked ‘Security’ through the throngs of people.

“Um, Newt,” Harry asked as they walked, “where are we exactly?”

Newt stopped walking, causing Harry to bump right in to him. Newt didn’t seem to mind, instead turning back to look at Harry and saying, “Oh, Merlin, I forgot to tell you, didn’t I? Harry, we’re at the Ministry of Magic, the magical government building. It’s right in London, though rather hidden to muggles, being underground and all. Now, we are here to talk to my brother Theseus, do you remember me mentioning him? He’s the director of the DMLE, the magical police, so he should be able to help us out, wouldn’t you say? Thank Merlin he doesn’t retire until next week or it may be a little more difficult.”

Harry was just about to ask who exactly ‘Merlin’ was and why Newt kept mentioning him but decided not to when Newts face turned very serious. “Now, Harry, we didn’t really talk about it before and now’s not a great time either, but, hmm, your name is rather distinctive in the wizarding world. To make things go just a tad faster right now, when it comes to signing in, I’m going to just say that you’re my nephew, Harry Graves, alright?”

“Alright,” Harry agreed. He wondered why Potter was a distinctive name in the wizarding world. Or maybe it’s ‘Harry’? ‘Harry’ or ‘Potter,’ which one is odder? he wondered, then giggled to himself at the rhyme.

Newt smiled and gently patted Harry’s head, smoothing down his hair, before turning to head towards the security desk. At the desk was a small woman next to a strange contraption. Harry noticed that she was wearing a name tag that said ‘Lynn,’ so figured that at least Lynn wasn’t a weird name in the wizarding world. He then thought of the man holding his hand, who had asked to be called Newt of all things, and giggled again to himself.

People were walking up to Lynn-the-security-witch and handing over their wands. She would drop their wands onto the metal plate of the contraption, which would cause the whole thing to vibrate for a minute before spitting out a piece of thick paper. She would check for something on the paper before handing the wands back to their owners and waving them through a little gate. Soon it was their turn.

“Names please,” she practically chirped. Harry thought she sounded rather like a bird.

“Newton Scamander and my nephew Harry Graves,” answered Newt.

She looked between Newt’s impressive blue coat and Harry’s raggedy outfit a few times, her cheerful expression falling and being replaced with furrowed brows. Harry grabbed the legs of his large cast-offs and blushed, ashamed. He had forgotten how much nicer Newt looked than he did.

When the woman clearly wasn’t moving on, Newt added, “I’m here to go to the DMLE.”

For some reason that seemed to clear things up for her. Her cheerful expression came back and Lynn said, “Alright, Mr. Scamander, wand please.” While Newt’s wand was put on the weird metal contraption that Harry could now see was labelled the “Wand Weigher 5000”, she simply tapped her wand on a different piece of that thick paper. Words appeared on it that said “Harry Graves ACCOMPANIED BY Newton Scamander”. She handed the paper over to Harry and said, “Press it firmly to your chest for a couple of seconds so the sticking charm will grab hold. All minors must be accompanied by an adult at all times, so make sure you don’t get lost.”

Harry nodded. He wasn’t going to lose Newt, that was for sure. Following her instructions about the parchment, Harry realized that it must be some type of magical sticker.

After the sticker was attached and Newt’s wand was returned, they were ushered on through to the main floor on the Ministry. Harry marveled at the large fountain as they walked by, wondering if all of the non-humans were real beings. When Harry asked Newt, Newt responded in the affirmative, clarifying that they were called centaurs, goblins, and house elves. However, he added, “They do rather look like that, physically, though a touch smaller, so don’t be surprised if you see any non-human beings here today, okay? But they certainly don’t act like humans are the best like that statue seems to think. Centaurs and goblins have completely separate cultures from humans, though they do overlap occasionally. House elves… well house elves have a different relationship with humans, but we can discuss that later. Anyway, just always make sure to be polite, Harry, and you’ll be golden as a galleon.”

Harry nodded, a bit overwhelmed, but knew that he would be as polite as possible no matter what. They entered an elevator and Harry realized something that had been bothering him since they arrived at the Ministry. “Um, Newt, why is everyone here wearing dresses?” he asked, trying to be quiet. Of course, in the small box everyone present could still hear him clearly. A woman in the back corner with flaming red hair chuckled kind-heartedly, as did a man with equally bright – though thinning – hair beside her. On their other side, however, the question caused a different man to scowl.

“In the wizarding world, at least in the United Kingdom, most adults wear robes. Some can be open, a bit like a long jacket, and clothes that are almost a muggle style can be seen underneath. Some others are a bit dress like, as you’ve said, and are closed in the front. On the other hand, some magical folk such as myself prefer to wear muggle style clothes. I do a lot of moving between the magical and muggle worlds and it’s easier this way. Plus, muggle clothes are easier to move around in,” Newt explained after glaring at the scowling man. Thankfully, the man left on the Level 6, the Department of Magical Transportation. Newt ushered Harry off of the lift on Level 2, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry saw the redheaded couple also get off on their level, though they stopped at a small office called “Misuse of Muggle Artefacts.”

Newt pulled Harry along, passed desks where quills were writing on their own and papers were shuffling themselves. He even saw a paper fold itself into a paper airplane and fly across the room to someone else. Newt seemed to know exactly where to go, as was apparent when he led Harry to a door labeled, “Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” Through the clear glass at the top of the door, Harry saw a woman sitting at desk, reading through some type of report with a quill in hand. Newt opened the door and ushered Harry in.

Looking up at their entrance, the woman smiled. “Ah, Newt,” she acknowledged, “I’ve been wondering when you would stop by!”

“Hello, Rae,” Newt smiled back. “Is Theseus in?”

“Yes, yes, though I don’t believe he’s expecting you, is he? Best knock first.” She waved the two towards a door saying “Director Theseus Scamander.” Newt gave the door a hard double knock and then waited until he heard the person inside shout, “Come in!”

Newt quickly opened the door and entered, Harry following behind. Sitting behind the desk was an old man, perhaps in his 80s to Harry’s best guess, as he looked rather like a neighbor from Privet Drive who had celebrated his 80^th birthday the past month.

“Ah, there’s my baby brother!” the man said, getting up and practically pouncing around the desk to grab Newt in a hug. Harry was surprised to see that, though the man looked old, he didn’t seem to be too restricted in his movements. He looked back and forth between the two men and thought, Newt really must have been the baby brother, he only looks around 30, much younger than the Director.

Newt returned the hug, patting the man on the back. He pulled away from the hug saying, “Thee, I saw you just this morning!”

“And yet, I may have expired in my old age since then,” he exclaimed.

“You’re only 9 years older than I am!”

“Exactly! 91 to my 100, practically a spring chicken. I mean, really, look at you, Newton, it’s so unfair,” the Director pouted.

“Ah, but you know that’s not my fault. Besides, you’re only 100, still plenty young for us magicals. I don’t know why you’re retiring, really. Getting lazy?” Newt teased.

“Nonsense!” The Director puffed up. “I’ve still got some fight left in me! Just maybe not as much as I should have, for a job like this. As director I don’t go out in the field much, but if I do I wouldn’t want to zig when I should have zagged, you know? I’ve made it this far with all my limbs and by Merlin I won’t lose one now! Besides, Amelia will do great.”

“Ah, well as great as Madam Bones will be, I’m in need of a little bit of your fight now, Thee. I’ve got someone I’d like to introduce you to.”

The Director turned to look right at Harry, who was almost hidden by a chair. Harry got the impression that he had known Harry was there the whole time and had been just waiting to be introduced. His eyes narrowed as he looked Harry up and down, eyes settling in on the visitor’s sticker for a moment before stopping at Harry’s face, which was stuck in an expression of confusion as he tried to process what he had just overheard. Newt is how old? And the Director is 100? I didn’t know people got that old!

“Hello, lad, I’m Director Scamander, this young tykes big brother. And who are you?” He held his hand out towards Harry.

Harry jumped when he saw the hand coming, but realized he was just wanting a hand shake. Feeling very adult, Harry stood up as tall as he could (though not on his tip-toes). He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to use his proper name of ‘Harry Potter’ or if he should say ‘Harry Graves’ as his sticker proclaimed so he decided to do neither. Hoping it was alright, the boy grabbed his hand and said, “Harry, sir. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” the Director said, gently shaking the hand twice. He turned to Newt and asked, “So how did you meet this fine lad?”

“We had a bit of a run in at the zoo, actually,” Newt replied. “I was checking on the snakes and I hear this one speaking parseltongue.” One of the Directors eyebrows rose and Newt nodded. “Yes, quite rare indeed! So of course I was curious. We got to chatting a bit and, well you remember how I can feel auras? I felt something rather… malevolent, shall we say, about young Harry. Of course I wasn’t thinking it was him, but I did notice that young Harry here has a scar on his forehead.” Newt gently reached out and pushed Harry’s bangs aside from where they had been smoothed down earlier. Harry heard the Director give a small gasp and saw his eyes widen. I wonder if he can sense the darkness, too, Harry thought. He missed the strict look that Newt gave the older man, though he did see the Director take a breath and his ‘listening face’ return.

“I had Pickett confirm it for me and it appears that the malevolent energies reside in the scar. I told Harry that I should be able to get rid of it and he decided he would want me too, though he didn’t think his guardians would be very understanding. They are his muggle aunt and uncle and apparently they hate magic. Harry had become separated from them at some point-”

“Right before the talking snake!” Harry interjected, being helpful.

“Right, yes, before the talking snake, so I said we would have to ask them for permission before I could just take him with me. Although Harry didn’t quite want to, we looked all around the zoo and couldn’t find them. When we went back to the parking lot, their vehicle was gone, so we came directly here,” Newt said explained.

“And Newt said I could live with him and Percy!” Harry added, not sure why Newt had left out what he felt like was one of the most important parts of the day.

The Directors turned to look sternly at his brother. “Newt, he’s not a crup! You can’t just decide to adopt him like one of your creatures!”

“Thee,” Newt said, voice patient, “what do my creatures all have in common?”

“They’re magical?” the Director asked, confused at the topic change.

“Not always, actually,” Newt replied. “No, what they all have in common is that they are lost and need a home. Sometimes, that home is back in the wild where they belong, but sometimes,” his eyes drifted towards Harry. The Director’s gaze followed. “Sometimes, they were hurt, or too young, or both,” here his eyebrows raised, “and need to stay with me so that I can help them grow up. Now, take a look again at Mr. Potter and tell me that he doesn’t need our help.”

The Director did, knowing already that Newt was right. He hadn’t missed the way that Harry had flinched when he’d offered his hand earlier. To start with, Theseus noticed the lad had more than the average child’s amount of bruises. Some looked old, but others were bright and newer. Varying in size, they could be seen peeking out from behind the edges of his clothing, practically confirming his thoughts of domestic abuse. And what clothes he wore! They showed signs of being very nice once, but that time had long passed. They were several sizes too big, meaning that they must have been handed down directly instead of having been bought second hand. On top of that, the lad was little more than skin and bones and looked to be around five, though, when doing the quick math from when the war ended, he realized that boy should be eight. But Harry was the-boy-who-lived, how could he take him away from his remaining family?

But then again, Theseus thought as he straightened up from where he had become slightly slumped over to get a closer look, how can I not?

Striding across the room, he quickly opened the door and said, “Rae, I need Aurors Bones and Battaglia, please. Also, I’ll need Madam Courtney from Wizarding Children Services.” He began to shut the door before opening it once more and continuing, “Let’s get some hot chocolates and some finger sandwiches too, please, I’m sure we could all use a bit of a pick me up.”

Chapter Text

What followed was possibly some of the most intense hours of Harry’s life, on top of an already intense day.

Auror Bones was the first of the trio to arrive in the Director’s (“Call me Theseus, lad!”) office. She was apparently the ‘Amelia’ that the Director had mentioned would be taking over his job shortly. Currently, she was Head Auror and was the person in the department that Theseus trusted the most. Harry, though glad to hear that she was a good police woman, thought that the coolest thing about her was her monocle. Can I get two monocles instead of glasses? Harry wondered, fingering the bent secondhand frames. After Madam Bones was introduced, Harry watched as Theseus and Newt somehow made a table and extra chairs appear from thin air so they had a place to sit and eat without having to leave Theseus’ office.

Auror Battaglia was next to arrive. He originally came off as being scary as he was quite large and had a huge scar across his face, but when he saw Harry he immediately sat down to be more at Harry’s height. When he smiled and offered his hand to shake, Harry couldn’t help but smile back. His smile quickly grew when the large auror grabbed a hot chocolate for himself and quickly filled it high with small marshmallows.

Madam Courtney was last to arrive, apparently late because she had difficulties finding his file. She was a very nice, calm lady who, according to the file she was seeing now for the first time, should have been making visits to him for years as he was an orphan. “It was odd,” she said, looking directly at Theseus first, then Auror Bones, “the file was spellotaped to the underside of the filing cabinet. Nothing that a strong accio couldn’t solve, of course, now that I knew to look for it. I just figured someone else was his representative.” Harry wasn’t quite sure he understood why he hadn’t been receiving visits from the Wizarding Children Services or WCS, as it was called, but mentioned that since he had started at school various other child protection workers had appeared at Privet Drive to visit with him. Though they had always seemed to be helpful people, none had ever returned. The adults all shared a look when Harry said that, though he wasn’t sure why.

After introductions (and a small sandwich or two), Auror Bones and Madam Courtney set up quills that would write down their conversation all by themselves. They also each had a few pieces of parchment in front of themselves, one being his file and one an empty piece of parchment to take notes. The aurors made sure that Harry knew that he should be as honest as possible so that they could help him as much as possible. Still he hesitated, thinking back to the many times that Uncle Vernon had said the exact opposite.  

Seeing his hesitation, Madam Courtney spoke up. “Harry, sometimes in situations like yours, telling the truth can be hard. You can want help, but sometimes the words can be a bit tricky. In the magical world we have a potion called ‘veritaserum’ which makes you tell the truth. If I put just two drops in to your hot chocolate, it will make sure that everything you say for the next hour is the truth. The small amount won’t force you to talk, so if we ask something you don’t like you can still tell us, okay? If you do take the potion, this will let us proceed a little faster, here, so that if we find any issues here today we don’t need to wait until a trial to move along. Would you like the veritaserum?”

Harry turned to look over at Newt. He thought that the potion sounded neat, but was a little afraid of taking a magic potion (magic potion!). The man was smiling calmly at Harry and nodded, indicating that he should obey the aurors. Harry took a deep breath and nodded back, resolved to do his best. Auror Bones reached in to a pouch at her waist and removed a small vial before placing two drops of it in Harry’s drink, as they had said. He took the cup and looked at it for a minute before taking a big gulp. He thought that he felt the potion take effect immediately, for he felt a little like he was going to float away.

The two aurors asked all about what Harry’s life had been like growing with the Dursleys. They began with easier questions, such as what his favorite toys were (two of Dudley’s green army men that were mostly intact, one only missing its arm and the other being partly burned); what his bedroom was like (the cupboard under the stairs got quite a bit of questioning, especially when he mentioned that Dudley had two bedrooms); his favorite games (he liked the swings because it felt like he was flying—he didn’t like Harry Hunting); his favorite clothes (he had a winter coat of his very own that was almost the right size, only being one size too large so that it would last until next year. Everything else he still thought of as Dudley’s); and his favorite food (he wasn’t picky, but he preferred it when his food wasn’t burnt, which it has been less and less lately as he got better at cooking, though that had actually meant he got less to eat).

Then, they began to ask the harder questions that Harry didn’t want to answer. When gently asked if he had been physically hurt at home, Harry mentioned again about how Dudley and his friends would chase him around the school and neighborhood in a game they called ‘Harry Hunting’ and beat him up if they caught him. He also mentioned how Dudley would frequently push and shove him, sometimes into objects that would break and that Harry would then get punished for. When Auror Bones asked specifically if his aunt or uncle had seen Dudley do it, Harry hesitated to respond, instead looking down at his hands. Uncle Vernon had threated quite the punishment if he ever told…

He was surprised when Newt’s hand came in to this field of vision, and even more surprised when Pickett climbed off of Newt and on to his arm. Harry slowly turned his hand over to give Pickett a more stable spot to stand, though the agile bowtruckle didn’t actually seem in danger of falling off. Pickett moved down to his palm and held on to his thumb, looking up to meet Harry’s gaze. Harry looked back for a minute, admiring the small creature, before he made up his mind to continue. He told the adults about how both his aunt and uncle had seen Dudley hurt him many times and how Uncle Vernon had actually encouraged Dudley to hit harder, then he would “show his Dudders how it’s done.” Aunt Petunia didn’t physically hurt him often, but she had hit him with the frying pan a few times when he had first been learning to cook and would frequently burn things. He even mentioned Vernon’s sister, “Aunt” Marge, who would sick her dog Ripper on him. He mentioned both the scar on his ankle from when Ripper had caught him and his night up the tree when the dog wouldn’t let him down, the Dursleys laughing at his predicament.

When Harry finally finished talking, he felt both loads better and also much worse that he had when he began. No one had ever known all of what had happened to him, but then again, maybe nothing was wrong with it and Dudley was just spoiled?

Before he could begin to get too worked up or have second thoughts, Madam Courtney spoke up. “Well,” she stated calmly but forcefully, “Harry, you are never going back to them, that I can guarantee. As your representative among the Wizarding Children Services, I remove you from Petunia Dursley and Vernon Dursley’s care.” Harry watched his file flash a golden color from its place in front of Madam Courtney and, with her words, the spot labeled “Current Guardian(s)” became empty.

“Alright, Harry, two more questions and we’re done,” Madam Courtney said. “Do you have anyone you would like to be your guardian?”

“Newton Scamander, please,” Harry immediately answered, suddenly too shy to look at the man.

“Why would you like Mr. Scamander to be your guardian, Harry?”

“He helped me a lot, today,” Harry began, almost more anxious now than when he had been talking about the worst of the Dursley’s treatment. “I think he’s helped me more than anyone else has before. He has been very nice. He didn’t think I was a freak or anything, even when I talked to the snake. He even thought that was cool! He has so many interesting creatures like Pickett, he said, and I can get to know them. I think they’d be much nicer than Ripper. And he says he has a husband named Percy, did you know? So maybe I would have two dads? He wanted to help me with the darkness and didn’t kidnap me or anything.”

“Kidnap, lad?” asked Auror Battaglia, sitting up straight.

“Newt said he could help with the darkness in my scar. Newt said it’s a curse, and not just like a naughty word. I wanted him get it out right away, but he said we couldn’t do it at the zoo so we should try to find my relatives first. I knew they didn’t like magic, so I said no, but he said he wouldn’t kidnap me. When we couldn’t find them at the zoo and realized they had left me there, he brough me here to Theseus and then Theseus brought you here and now here we are.”

“Ah, I see,” said the large auror, relaxing again.

“Well,” said Madam Courtney, tapping her fingers on the desk, “usually we would look first to his parent’s will to see who else had been listed for Harry’s care, but, well, the will has been sealed by the Wizengamot. I do know that young Harry has no other living relatives, or at least none close enough for it to matter here, and we all know about Black, I am sure. I hesitate to advertise, as it were, for anyone to apply for custody knowing Mr. Potter’s unique circumstances…” She paused for a minute, clearly thinking deeply. Harry wondered what, exactly, she meant by ‘unique circumstances.’ “I know that here today we need to be as by-the-book as possible. We can’t let Harry go back to his blood relatives, of course, but neither can we let him go anywhere worse. So, Mr. Scamander,” she turned to look directly at Newt, “today you have shown great care for the boy. He has indicated that he would like to make that care more permanent. Is that something that you would also like?”

Newt looked at Harry and calmly smiled. Looking back at Madam Courtney, he firmly stated, “Yes, I would.”

“And Harry here made mention of a husband, Percy. Do you believe that he will also be interested in adoption at this time?”

“I do indeed. We had talked about it quite some time ago, now, but never got around to it, as it were. I do believe that young Harry here is quite what our little family has been missing for all these years.” Newt smiled at Harry who felt that his face would split open with the size of his grin.

“Good, good,” Madam Courtney said, looking pleased. “We can’t exactly have only one spouse adopt and the other being against it, of course. Would Mr. Graves be able to join us so that I may hear from him directly, and, if that all goes well, fill out an application?”

“Well,” Newt thought, idly scratching his cheek, “he’s at home taking care of most of the creatures and, of course, MACUSA. I can certainly floo him and ask. After all, if this isn’t reason enough to take a few days off I don’t know what is! Tina should probably be able to handle the creatures for a few days without issue and we do have a few other friends who can step in to help if it’s needed.”

Thankfully, Tina was indeed able to step in. With a simple floo call, as well as a few pulled strings in the MACUSA portkey office, Percival Graves was soon stepping on to British soil.

-HP-HP-HP-

Harry’s first impression of Percival Graves was that he seemed very…strict. It wasn’t so much what he said, but more about how he held himself, Harry thought, staring over at where Newt and Director Graves were talking by the door. He didn’t have the same easy smile that Newt always had, instead looking more serious as he talked with Newt. Harry noticed that Newt looked to be rather intense as well, actually. He wondered what the two were discussing, but he couldn’t exactly eavesdrop. Not only would the adults probably be upset with him if he tried, but Newt had done something with his wand when Director Graves arrived. Although they were in the same room and Harry could see that they were talking, he couldn’t hear anything that was being said.

The newcomer was dressed in what Harry thought passed for the magical version of a suit. He had black dress pants paired with a black half robe, Harry figured, though he would almost have called it a long coat if not for the fact that it wasn’t summer and it didn’t actually look warm. It had buttons all up the front, from his neck down to hip level, though the robe did extend further down to just above knee length. Mr. Graves looked maybe ten years older than Newt, his hair having a bit of gray popping in. Harry was so engrossed with the thought that he may be seeing his future dad for the first time that he didn’t notice Newt waving his wand to dispel the silencing charm and the pair coming over towards him.

“Well, hello,” Director Graves said, surprising Harry further with his accent. Harry knew that the pair lived in America, but hadn’t thought that the other man may have been born there. “My name is Percival Graves. I’m the Director of the Magical Law Enforcement of MACUSA, or the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Basically, I have the same job as Theseus here but in the United States. You can call me either Percival or Percy, as Newt does.”

“Hello, Percy,” Harry said shyly. Percy seemed to be a bit more adult-like than Newt, so Harry figured he should also be more adult-ish. Harry stood up and held out his hand for a handshake as he said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Harry.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” Percy replied. His attention was solely fixed on the boy. “I hear that you’ve had an eventful day, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded, and wasn’t that the truth!

“Well the day isn’t done quite yet, either. I know that we haven’t exactly had a chance to get to know one another, but Newt tells me that you need some new guardians and we are both rather interested in that position. Do you think that is something that you might want?”

“Um, yes, sir,” Harry stammered. “I like Newt a lot. He has been really nice to me. And he is married to you, right?”

“Indeed so lad for many years now, though we have been together for even longer than that! We’ve wanted kids for a while but I guess it never seemed quite like the time.” Percy’s face gentled in a smile. “I’m glad to be changing that now, though, if you are up for it?”

Harry didn’t quite know what to think about the man yet, but thought he didn’t look nearly so intimidating when he smiled. He also figured if Newt had been married to him for so long than he must be nice.

“Yes,” Harry agreed. He saw Newt smile at his husband and grab Percy’s hand. “I’d like that a lot.”

Chapter Text

Everyone was soon back at the table with a new hot beverage delivered by a house elf summoned by Madam Courtney and apparently named Arrow. Harry marveled at the magical creature and wondered again about the relationship that Newt had suggested they had with humans, but knew that now wasn’t the time to ask. As the house elf disappeared with a pop, he looked around as all gathered. Harry saw that Percy was sitting incredibly straight backed and wondered if he was nervous or if he was just always like that. Harry tried to sit a bit straighter himself, but didn’t think he quite managed it.

Madam Courtney gently cleared her throat and resumed their meeting. She tapped her wand on the empty slot by the “Current Guardians” line in Harry’s file and a new file appeared from thin air. Taking it out of the air like it was an everyday occurrence (and Harry supposed that to her it may well be), she set it down then fixed Newt and Percy with a serious look. “Now, to ensure that everything is above board, as we did earlier with young Harry here I will also be offering you the use of veritaserum. Once again, we will go with the slightly diluted option, meaning that what you say will be the truth, but you will be able to not answer, if you feel that need. Do you consent to the veritaserum? Please note that additional follow up may still be necessary, depending on your answers to additional questions.”

“Yes, indeed I do consent,” Newt stated.

Percy also agreed with a simple, “Yes.”

“Great, this will make things much smoother. Arrow,” Madam Courtney said firmly, again somehow summoning the house elf. “Two small glasses of water, please.” Arrow simply nodded and immediately vanished and quickly returned with two quick pops. He put the water cups down on the table before leaving again. Madam Courtney waved over Auror Bones who added two drops of veritaserum to each cup. The two drank deeply and showed Madam Courtney as well as Auror Bones and Theseus the empty cups.

“Perfect, now we can truly begin. Applicant’s full name?” Madam Courtney asked, quill poised.

“Newton Artemis Fido Scamander,” Newt stated clearly. Hearing Newt’s full name made Harry giggle, again wondered about what kinds of names he would find in the wizarding world. Newt, hearing the laugh, gave Harry a quick wink.

“Date of birth?” Madam Courtney asked, moving down the list.

“February 24^th, 1897,” Newt responded. Everyone bar Theseus and Percy looked at Newt, confused, as they tried to match his apparent age to his youthful appearance. “Long or short version?” Newt questioned, seeing the confusion.

“Hmm, medium version, if you please. All relevant parts are a must to ensure your fitness as a guardian, but we don’t quite need story time,” Madam Courtney answered.

Newt chuckled and began to elaborate. “As you may or may not know, I am a magizoologist. Early in my life, magical creatures were frequently hunted. Many wizards and witches thought that the only thing that magical creatures were good for was potion ingredients. I travelled the world, finding displaced magical creatures, many of whom who had been illegally traded in one form or another, and helped to return them home. One of those trips, actually, was how I met Percy! That was in 1927, I do believe.” Here, Percy nodded and quirked a small smile at his husband. “The year before I met who I had originally thought was Percy, but it turned out that man was actually Grindelwald. Anyway, I’ll get to that in a second.

“So, my first trip to America, 1926,” he said, relaxing back in his chair. The rest of the room followed, sensing that despite Madam Courtney’s suggestion, a story was about to happen. “I was travelling to return a thunderbird named Frank to Arizona. I had found him in the dubious care of some traffickers in Egypt. Although Egypt has its fair share of deserts, Arizona was where Frank really belonged. Poor boy was quite sick when I found him, the traffickers not knowing how to care for such a magnificent (and large!) creature. It was rather touch and go for a while, actually, but I helped him pull through on the boat ride across the Atlantic.

“Unfortunately, my focus was so much on Frank and my other creatures, I rather put off fixing the latch of my case, that is, a case with an undetectable extension charm that I keep my creatures in while transporting. It wasn’t an issue until we all got to America and a niffler decided to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt. Now, a niffler on the loose in a big city is bad enough, but he didn’t exactly shut the door behind himself so a few other creatures also got out. Thankfully, though some mischief was caused, no real harm was done by them. With the help of a muggle named Jacob and an auror named Tina, everyone was found and safely returned to my case.

“However, at this very same time also in New York City, Grindelwald was impersonating the Director of the Magical Law Enforcement, Percival Graves. We are unsure of his exact reasons for doing so, but part of it was because he had tracked an obscurus to New York City. He enlisted help from a young man named Credence to look for the obscurus, only finding out later that the obscurus was actually Credence himself.

“Credence didn’t take too well to Grindelwald trying to use him. The obscurus took over and destroyed a large part of New York. Countless muggles saw, and the Statute of Secrecy was almost lost then.

“But, thankfully, two things were on my side. One, I had in my case a thunderbird that, while being a bit far from home still, was now in perfect health. Two, I had actually just finished experimenting on a potion using the venom of a creature called the swooping evil that, when in contact with magic-less skin, caused memories to be forgotten. Being a thunderbird, Frank was able to start a storm above the city and the potion was mixed right in with the rain, obliviating the muggles.”

Here Newt stopped to take a drink of his hot chocolate. Harry also took a drink of his delicious beverage, mind stuck on the fantastic story. It sounded like a fairy tale, but Newt said it actually happened! Magic is wicked, Harry thought, not for the first time.

“Grindelwald was arrested, and thankfully the real Director Graves, my Percy, was able to finally free himself from where Grindelwald had been keeping him.” Here Newt reached over and gave Percy’s hand a hard squeeze. “Although I helped capture Grindelwald, some were still, shall we say, less than pleased with me for the hullabaloo with my creatures, so I decided to get out of the country for a bit. I headed down to Mexico to release a nest of occamies that had just hatched.” As an aside to Harry, Newt said, “Harry, I think you will like occamies. They are part bird and part snake! And, they are what is called ‘choranaptyxic,’ meaning that they can use magic to change their size from as small as mouse to as big as a house! Fantastic creatures, really, it’s believed that the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was based on an occamy sighting.”

Theseus, well used to Newt’s tangents when it came to creatures, simply cleared his throat and gave his brother a look.

Newt blushed faintly. He too cleared his throat and began again. “After a few months, I travelled back up to New York. I wanted to check and see how the city had recovered, as well as meet up with a few friends again. This is when I met Percy! Tina introduced us to each other, actually. I was quite pleased to meet the real him, of course, though I thought he seemed to be over worked. Apparently, Grindelwald had mucked about as Director, changing things to suit his needs, meaning that poor Percy pretty much had to go immediately back to work after being imprisoned for months. Well, when it was time to move on again, I decided I wanted to go down to Arizona and check to make sure Frank had made it. With just the smallest amount of badgering, Percy actually agreed to come with. He needed a stress-free break now that things had been sorted, and we had rather clicked, as it were.

“Now, thunderbirds are magnificent creatures. They are quite large, but very stealthy. As creatures that can control the weather, it is actually believed by some that they are able to bend the air around themselves, resulting in excellent camouflage! Some also believe that their control of air goes a step further, allowing for long distance communication. Although they don’t live in groups, there does seem to be some type of communication between nearby creatures, though as you can imagine that is quite difficult to prove with such an elusive species. However, I believe this is true, for Percy and I had only been hiking in the desert for about two hours before Frank found us, bringing with him a small storm as he flew. Of course, two hours spent walking through the desert can be quite taxing. Frank, seeing that we were quite thirsty apparently, freely offered one of his larger feathers. As he’s maybe four times the size of a horse, his feathers are of course quite large, maybe as big as my torso. I held the curved feather still and let the rain collect for a minute inside before both Percy and I drank. To this day, I don’t know the exact cause of our slowed aging. Was it because Frank blessed us somehow when he freely gave us the feather? Some combination of the freely given feather and the magically made rain? Perhaps some of the obliviate potion I had made from the swooping evil was still on the feather after all that time and it had reacted with something Frank had eaten, or even his lightning? I don’t know. What I do know is that it has now been 61 years, and Percy and I have only aged about five years. So yes, we are aging, but very slowly.”

“Okay,” Madam Courtney said, clearly unsure how to proceed. She took a second a gathered herself. Everyone else shifted about, straightening up a bit after the story. “Well, I don’t see anything malicious about that and you do seem to be spry enough to handle a child, so your age is not going to be an issue here.” She turned to Percy. “And your full name, Director Graves?”

“Percival Winston Graves,” Percy answered. “We both thought keeping our original surnames was easier, with our works.”

“Okay, thank you. And your birth date?”

“July 1^st, 1886,” Percy replied.

Madam Courtney wrote that down, still a little shocked but willing to keep moving along.

“Are you both citizens of Britain?”

“Yes, indeed,” Newt replied. “I have been from birth, though I do now have a dual citizenship with America. Percy is the opposite. But yes, we are both citizens here.”

“Oh, good. That would have been quite an international hurdle, let me tell you! I’m glad we can avoid that,” Madam Courtney said. “Now, let’s see, let’s see. Occupations?”

“As stated earlier, I am the director of the Magical Law Enforcement of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. I’ve held this position since the early 1920s,” Percy calmly stated.

“And I’m a magizoologist!” Newt said again, excitedly. “My job varies day to day, but overall it involves taking care of creatures, typically of a magical nature. All creatures that are of a, hmm, shall we say non-peaceful temperament, are well warded so that they cannot wander freely and also so that nobody untrained can enter the area. We have a few friends back home that have small relatives that will come visit, so that has been a system that has been successfully in place for many years now.”

 “Oh, good!” replied Madam Courtney. “That was actually going to be my first follow-up question, thank you. Alright, it sounds like you have a system in place so that should be an easy thing to check on your home visit. I don’t see taking care of creatures being something that helps the bank, Mr. Scamander, and in fact it seems quite the opposite. Is Mr. Graves income the only source of income in your family?”

“Well,” Percy replied, “it certainly could be, but no. To start, I do make a very comfortable amount with MACUSA on top of a bit of an inheritance from my family.”

“A bit!” Newt cried with a chuckle. “We live on his families estate and ‘a bit’ is not a phrase I would use to describe it in any way.”

“Yes, well I don’t see you complaining about the room for your creatures now do I?” Percy said to Newt with the slightest of smiles. He turned back to Madam Courtney. “With it being a family estate, housing for a child will certainly not be an issue at all – he will be able to choose from 7 bedrooms which one he likes the best.” Here Percy gave a smile to Harry, who couldn’t believe all that he was hearing could possibly be the truth. “We also have money coming in from the books that Newt has written throughout the years. You may be familiar with ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’? I believe that Hogwarts has been using it as a text almost since it was published.”

“Oh stop it, you!” Newt gave Percy’s arm the smallest of swats as he blushed, then took over. “I do also actually sell some of the by-product from the creatures, things like shed fur, scales, and teeth. Even dung, in a few cases! Quite a good fertilizer, dung is. Basically, things that the creatures themselves don’t need. Might as well, instead of just throwing it away. We also have a very small farming business for plants. Most of our plants are for the creatures in one way or another but we do have a bit of overflow each year that we sell for potion ingredients.” Newt turned to Harry here and said, “No better place to learn about potions, lad! Many of the ingredients right at home, nice and fresh and ready to harvest.”

“Wicked,” was all Harry said. He thought that plants that would be used for in potions sounded much cooler than the plants that Aunt Petunia kept for showing off to the neighbors. And really, potions! He wasn’t over the truth telling potion he had recently taken.

Newt seemed to be thinking in the same direction as Harry for he said, “We do actually currently have a pair of jobberknolls in residence named Heather and Wendell. Poor fellows had a bit of a rough time in a recent storm so are staying for a short while to recover. Their feathers are used when making veritaserum, that potion you took earlier. They’re used because-”

Theseus cleared his though and gave a laugh. “Newt, I’m sure the lad will learn plenty about the creatures soon, but now isn’t quite the right time for that, I don’t think.”

“Ah, right,” Newt replied with a bashful look. “Well, needless to say money isn’t going to be an issue for us.”

“Great,” replied Madam Courtney. “I will need to see some actual financial records before approval, but it doesn’t seem like there is going to be any issues there. Now, you had mentioned the Graves family land, where exactly is that? And is it your main residence?”

“In upstate New York,” Percy stated. “And yes, it is.”

“Do you feel that it is suited for raising a child?”

“Yes,” Percy replied again. “It is the home that I grew up in personally, so I would say so. There isn’t anything in the home that is dangerous, or at least nothing outside the usual that isn’t locked away. We’ve had many young ones stay over the years so I don’t think anything needs to change at all, really.”

“Excellent, though again I will check personally during the home visit.” Madam Courtney looked down the list and continued, “Now, next up is references. I dare say I feel like you two may have quite a few important references? Three people shall be enough.”

“Well I do believe my brother will do nicely,” said Newt with a grin at Theseus. Theseus laughed and nodded at Madam Courtney.

“I would say my best friend Seraphina Picquery would be best,” Percy continued. “And perhaps Tina Goldstein? She is another of our closest friends and frequently helps with the creatures. She is also head auror in MACUSA.”

“So,” Madam Courtney said with a shake of her head, “your references are the head of the DMLE, a former president of MACUSA, and a head auror? I don’t know, boys, I’m not sure those are good enough,” she joked.

Percy chuckled and said, “Well I sure hope it will be, though we can scrounge up a few more if we need to, I should think.”

“No, no, that’s quite alright,” Madam Courtney replied. “Next question, then. Do you feel you would still be a suitable parent if it turns out that Harry is a squib?”

“Well yes, of course! I should hardly think that matters,” Newt stated vehemently. “One of my best friends is a muggle named Jacob who married Tina’s sister, Queenie. Besides, Harry mentioned cases of accidental magic to me earlier.” As an aside to Harry, Newt added, “A squib is someone who is born to magical parents but does not have magic themselves.”

“But still, if he should prove to be a squib he would still be a full member of the family. We would make sure he would get an education, though it may lean more on the muggle side, but that would be a family discussion to have later. Our farm even has opportunities for those without magic that he could work at when he is older, if he should wish it,” Percy finished.

“Perfect, gentlemen, perfect.” Madam Courtney made a notation in the file in a few different places before pulling out a separate form from the stack. “Here, Director Scamander, is that reference sheet. When you are done filling it out, please just tap that square on the last page with your wand and a copy will automatically be filed with me.” She turned back to Newt and Percy and continued, “I do believe our next step is to do that home visit.”

“Well, lad,” said Newt, “sounds like it’s time to go to America!”