Chapter Text
May 1998
An invisible hand grabbed Harry’s arm and dragged him towards an alcove.
“Don’t make a sound.” Hermione’s whisper stopped Harry’s objection.
“Why?” He whispered back.
“There’s something you need to see.” She replied, just as quietly. “Don’t cast anything, just get under the cloak.” A ripple of nothing parted and Harry’s second oldest friend appeared in the space.
“Hermione?”
“It’s important.” She assured him. He shrugged and did as she wanted.
She lead him through the castle’s corridors, to an undamaged section of the keep between the Great Tower and the Divination Tower. Most doors were closed, but one was open.
“Not a sound.” Hermione whispered. “We can’t use magic, but we also can’t make a sound. It’s vitally important, Harry.”
“Right.” Harry nodded to show he understood.
Hermione eased them into the room, slipping around pieces of furniture, while Harry did his best to stay with her and to make no noise. It wasn’t until she had them tucked between a damaged desk and the wall, that Harry realised they weren’t alone in the room. Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Percy, George, Ron and Ginny Weasley were there, as was Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Emmaline Vance, Andromeda Tonks, Horace Slughorn and Augusta Longbottom.
“Anyone seen Potter?” Kingsley asked.
“He was going to fetch Snape’s memories.” Ron answered. “I sent Granger to get him and hide him from the reporters.”
“Excellent.” Kingsley nodded. “We’ll need to dispose of both of them. Albus’ orders were clear. Potter has to die, or Voldemort will return. The connection between them wasn’t completely cut when Voldemort died. Potter could still be used as an anchor to resurrect him, necromantically. And Granger knows too much. She might not be consciously aware of it, but she’s been exposed to far too much information, to be left alive.”
“I had hoped that with the horcrux destroyed, he’d would be allowed to live.” Molly said. “Ginny wants to be Lady Potter.”
“There'll be no Lady Potter.” Kingsley said. “James dissolved the title on Albus’ advice, right before they went into hiding. He liquidated the entire estate, right down to the Family jewels. And Albus emptied the vaults when they died, all bar Harry’s trust vault. There’s nothing left.”
“He’s poor?!” Ginny squawked.
“He’s got a few thousand in his trust vault, but that’s it.” Kingsley nodded.
“Oh, no…” Ginny shook her head. “If he’s got no money or title, I don’t want him.” She shuddered in disgust. “Ew, no…”
“No, definitely not.” Molly nodded sharply. “What about Longbottom?”
“No, he’s already contracted.” Augusta sighed. “Frank and Gerald Abbott wrote it up. I’ve been hoping that the silly little bint would get caught with a boy, giving me a reason to negate it, but apparently, she’s more interested in the Bones girl than in boys. And the contract allows for a Mistress.”
“What about Finch-Fletchley?” Ron asked. “He’s rich.”
“And he’s a muggleborn.” Kingsley nodded. “Potioning him? Likely, that it won’t even get you a slap on the wrist.”
“At least he’s good in bed.” Ginny gave a resigned sigh. “Fine... Justin will do.”
“But Potter?” Ron huffed. “How do we dispose of him? He’s incredibly fast with a wand. And he’s got Granger with him.”
“Switching-spell a potion into her.” Slughorn suggested. “Snape may have left a few dominatus potions in his quarters. I could offer to clear out his quarters, office and lab, citing Slytherin traps and dangerous potions.”
“If not, I have a few Moderatio potions, tucked away.” Andromeda offered.
“As do I.” Slughorn stated.
“Oh, that would be grand.” Kingsley nodded. “But we can’t potion him. It has to be a spell, something that’s not usually instantly lethal.”
“What about a core fracture?” Andromeda suggested.
“Or strip his magic.” Vance added. “That would lead to him dying within a few hours.”
“We’d have to stage it just right.” Molly nodded. “But it could work.”
“Stripping him would be easier.” Kingsley said. “Fracturing his core is a lot of work and will leave most of us exhausted. Stripping his magic is quick and simple. Especially, if we drain it into a runestone.”
“And her?” Ron asked. “I’ve wanted to fuck her for years.”
“The dominatus potion.” Slughorn offered. “It only lasts for an hour, but…”
“An hour’s plenty of time to fuck her and have her suicide.” Ron nodded.
“I’d really wish you wouldn’t.” Molly grimaced. “If you have to have a mudblood, I’d much prefer you find a wealthy one. What about one of Ginny’s dormmates? Are any of them mudbloods? Rich ones?”
“Fiona Belmont.” Ginny answered. “She was saying how her parents won the lottery. They won over fifty million pounds.”
“What’s that in real money?” Ron asked.
“Ten million.” Ginny answered.
“She’ll do.” Ron shrugged.
“She’s already up in the hospital.” Slughorn said. “Giving her a Moderatio Potion will be easy.”
“So, that puts us back at killing Potter and Granger.” Arthur said.
“Yes.” Kingsley nodded. “And the sooner, the better. Ron? Where did you tell Granger to take Potter?”
“The kitchens.” Ron said.
“Not the dorms?” Ginny frowned.
“God, no.” Ron waved a hand. “McGonagall can access those. Same with the Headmaster’s office. She won’t even think of the kitchens, Harry’s not supposed to know where they are.”
“No.” Kingsley shook his head. “Minerva’s too protective of Potter. She’s developed an immunity to the Consilium potion over the last few years. She’s too strong-willed.”
“That she is.” Slughorn nodded. “I’m assuming that’s why she’s not involved, in this discussion?”
“Correct.” Kingsley nodded.
“Albus always said, she was too soft, to do what needed to be done.” Molly huffed.
“Sounds like her.” Vance snorted.
“Right.” Kingsley tapped the table. “Ron? You go get Potter and Granger. We’ll head to the Burrow. We can see to them there. That’ll give us the privacy to potion her and hit him with a few draining hexes, they don’t register once they’ve been lifted. That’ll weaken him long enough for… who? To cast the core stripping curse.”
“Me.” Percy said. “I’ve been wanting to hex the little bastard, for years.”
“Fine.” Kingsley nodded. “Meet at the Burrow in… what? An hour?”
“Make it two.” Ron paused. “Maybe three. Give him plenty of time to show his adoring fans that he’s basically uninjured, but tired. Speak to McGonagall. Then we’ll come. That’s what everyone will expect. We can say how tired he was, was a symptom of the curse.”
“True.” Arthur nodded. “Right, then. We’d best split up. Boys, Ginny, Fleur? Home for a shower. Mollywobbles? Something light for lunch? Elphias, Dedalus, best if you two don’t come. You’re better off not involved. Horace? Speak to Minerva about Snape’s quarters. Emmaline, our place is open to you. Andromeda? If you could bring whatever dominatus and Moderatio potions you have available, it would be appreciated. Kingsley?”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” The black man replied. “Half hour, at most.”
At that point everyone got up and left, some going left at the door and some right.
Hermione grasped Harry’s arm and dragged him to his feet.
“Oh, God…” Harry whispered.
“Not here.” Hermione ordered and lead him from the room.
They dodged students, reporters, staff and Aurors. Down corridors, up staircases, around corners. Eventually, they reached the eighth floor, a floor that was rarely visited.
“In here.” Hermione nudged him into an alcove that was missing its statue.
“What are we going to do?” Harry whispered.
“Well…” Hermione grimaced. “Exposing them would be nice, but they’re all purebloods. You’re a halfblood and I’m a muggleborn. Who’s going to believe us over them? Particularly, after the way Fudge dragged you down.”
“Plus, Arthur and Kingsley work in the Ministry.” Harry added, his head nodding slowly.
“Arthur, Kingsley, Percy, Vance, Madam Longbottom and Diggle.” Hermione corrected. “And Tonks’ mother is a healer.”
“Yeah, no-one’s going to believe us.” Harry sighed. “So, what can we do?”
“Not much...” Hermione sighed. “If they have trackers on us… Running certainly won’t work. I just can’t see that we can do anything.”
“Not exactly correct.” The voice cut into their discussion. Quickly followed by a ghost emerging from a shadow.
“Oh…” Hermione’s eyes went wide, as the Bloody Baron floated just in front of them.
“How, sir?” Harry was tired enough to not do more than twitch, at the ghost’s sudden appearance.
“Many centuries ago, I was a student here.” The Baron said. “Then, I did something unforgivable and my self-assigned penance is to help those, that have been forsaken by the wizarding world and have nowhere else to turn.”
“We definitely fit that description.” Harry snorted.
“Indeed.” The Baron nodded. “What do you need?”
“A way to escape from the Order of the Phoenix.” Harry answered, instantly.
“Yes…” The Baron nodded, slowly. “We should be able to do that, if we use the Room of Requirement.”
“Probably not a good idea, sir.” Harry winced. “Goyle cast fiendfyre in the Room.”
“Ah, easily dealt with.” The Baron replied. “Simply require the Room, to extinguish the fire.”
“So simple?” Hermione asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Why complicate matters?” The Baron asked.
“Right…” Harry nodded, then looked at Hermione. “Can we use magic, yet? Or should we wait until we’re in the Room?”
“Best wait.” Hermione sighed. “I don’t know what type of trackers the Order have on us.”
“Right.” Harry repeated. “Baron, is there a hidden passage between here and the Room?”
“There is.” The Baron gave them a cold smile. “Right behind you. See the stone with the cracks? Down one and over two. Press and release. Press again and hold for a three count, release. The panel will slide to the right. Step in, take three steps to the left, take two steps forwards, turn to the left, you’ll be faced with what looks like a wall, it is only an illusion covering a set of stairs. They descend all the way to the fourth floor, with landings between floors. There are no lights, so be cautious. When you reach the landing, take two steps to the left, then three backwards. Smack the wall on your left and the panel will slide back. You’ll be in an alcove, like this one, ten feet from Barnabas’ tapestry.”
“Okay…” Harry frowned, as tried to remember the directions.
“I shall meet in the Room to discuss what else you need and the details of how to acquire it.”
Getting to the Room was hair-raising. Getting into the Room was as simple as the Baron had said.
With the door closed behind them, Harry and Hermione dragged two undamaged chairs from a pile of forgotten furniture and sat down. When the Baron appeared, Harry looked at him for a moment, then pulled a third chair clear. The ghost may not be able to actually sit on the chair, but there was not call for being rude.
“Thank you, Mr Potter.” The Baron sat, floating just an inch above the seat. “Gwendolyn, my dear, could we have a chalkboard for each Mr Potter and Miss Granger, please?” He looked over at the nearest wall, as he spoke.
“Gwendolyn?” Hermione asked.
“Gwendolyn is the Heart of Hogwarts.” The Baron answered, as two chalkboards appeared off to one side of them. “She was Salazar’s granddaughter. She died after being attacked by a group of religious zealots. They beat her almost to death with farm tools. The dear girl held on long enough for Salazar and Godric to find her and return her to the castle. She requested that her soul be embedded into the castle’s magical matrix.”
“Oh, dear…” Hermione whispered. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through something like that.” She said, looking at the wall. The light flickered and brightened, so Hermione guessed that meant that Gwendolyn wasn’t insulted by her comments.
“Indeed, we all were.” The Baron nodded. “But that was a long time ago. We’ve all come to some form of acceptance, regarding what happened to her. But right now, you two are the individuals of concern. You want freedom. From whom?”
“The Order of the Phoenix.” Hermione stated. “They intend to kill both Harry and I.” As she spoke, the Baron nodded.
“Why?” The Baron asked.
“Because Dumbledore told them, that even with the horcrux removed from Harry,” Hermione answered, “he still has a connection to Voldemort. Enough that he could be used as an anchor in a necromantic ritual, to resurrect Voldemort. Again.”
“Ah.” The Baron nodded. “Yes, that would be possible. However without a horcrux present, removing that connection is relatively straightforward. A temporary de-aging potion followed by a cleansing potion, should be sufficient.”
“Oh, thank you!” Harry exclaimed in relief.
“Gwendolyn? Would you add that to Mr Potter’s board, please?” The Baron asked and two lines began to write themselves onto one board. “So…? What else is needed?”
“We need to know what type of tracking spells the Order have on us and how to remove them.” Hermione started. “Then, depending on the results of that, perhaps purging and cleansing potions. For both of us.”
“Yeah, Mrs Weasley often mentioned using potions.” Harry agreed. “And Snape hated me. I could see him dosing me with something, just for the hell of it.”
“He would have.” The Baron nodded. “He loathed your father and godfather.”
“With good reason.” Harry agreed. “But that still doesn’t make treating a child, the way he treated me, right.”
“It does not.” The Baron nodded and looked at the wall, before nodding a second time. Two more lines wrote themselves, this time on both boards. “What else?”
“After the trackers and whatever potions are gone,” Hermione grimaced, “we need a way to hide from them. Possibly new identities might work.”
“But we’d need to change our appearances, too.” Harry said. “Everyone knows what I look like.”
“Yes…” The Baron nodded slowly.
“And a way to make sure that no-one can ever find out.” Hermione added. “Or we’ll be right back where we are now.”
“Agreed.” The Baron continued to nod and more lines were written on the boards. “What else?”
“OWLs and NEWTs.” Hermione answered.
“Money and somewhere to live.” Harry added.
“If you have complete identities…” The Baron paused, clearly thinking. “If you have new, complete identities, you can always test for OWLs and NEWTs at the Ministry. Or Gringotts. Or the ICW. However the ICW’s tests are considerably more involved than the British Ministry’s test. It would give you more… credence… if you were to test with the Ministry, than the ICW. At least in Britain. It would also create public memories, attached to your new identities.”
“Oh, but…” Hermione began to object.
“We can wait, Mione.” Harry cut in. “Wouldn’t you prefer to take the tests, than to just guess what your marks should be?”
“Ooh…” Hermione glared at Harry. “You’re manipulating me.”
“No.” Harry shook his head. “I’m letting you manipulate yourself.”
“Bollocks.” Hermione huffed.
“Language.” Harry chided, laughing gently and the Baron snorted.
The first amused sound he’d made. The first not-cold or disdainful sound, that Harry had ever heard the Baron make and unlike some other students, Harry had actually spoken with the Baron before. Not often, but more than could be counted on one hand.
“Alright.” Hermione huffed. “We’ll sit the tests, later.”
“Good.” The Baron nodded. “That’s two less things for you to replace.” Two lines were erased from the boards. “That leaves healing in general, de-aging Mr Potter, new-” he paused. “You might think about de-aging, too, Miss Granger. We don’t know at this point, what they used on you.”
“Might be worth considering.” Harry agreed.
“Let’s see what the diagnosis scans say, first.” Hermione objected. “If I don’t need to, why bother? It’s just… it’ll take time and we don’t know, that we have any to spare.”
“Point.” Harry nodded.
“True.” The Baron agreed. “Diagnosis scans should be the very first thing you do, then.” He looked at the wall. “Gwendolyn, if you please.” It might have been phrased politely, but there was an undertone of command to the Baron’s voice and when two glowing purple circles appeared on the flagstone floor, he looked back at Harry and Hermione. “Please step into a circle and remain still, while Gwendolyn scans you for external influences.”
Harry looked at Hermione and shrugged, she nodded and stood, turning to lay her beaded bag on the chair.
“Best keep that with you.” The Baron said. “It may have tracking charms applied to it, or to its contents.”
“Right.” Hermione nodded and stepped into a circle. She looked over at Harry and found him already in the other circle. The shimmering, slightly metallic light began to creep up their bodies, stopping here and there to register and record something, before continuing upwards.
“Well.” The Baron huffed, when the lights had returned to the flagstone floor. “That’s better than I expected, but worse than I had hoped for.”
“How bad is it?”
“Mr Potter has a neat dozen tracking charms on him.” The Baron replied. “All on his spectacles. There is one additional generic tracking charm, on an item in Miss Granger’s bag. Miss Granger has many more charms, however they are also more widespread. There are three on the strings of that interesting little bag. Two on your bootlaces, your boots are clear, dragonhide won’t accept tracking or location charms. One on something in your hair, another three on various articles of clothing and more than a dozen on various items within your bag.”
“Nothing on our wands?” Harry asked.
“External magicks will not adhere to wands.” The Baron informed them. “A wandmaker’s secret. Very few people know and I would be much obliged if you told no-one.”
“Agreed.” Harry nodded first, then Hermione, but it was Harry that spoke for them.
“My thanks.” The Baron nodded back. “As to what else was revealed? Mr Potter is not in the best of health, but de-aging will correct that. It will also remove the residue of Riddle’s magicks and any other external influences or scars. Miss Granger, likewise, has had malicious magicks cast at, or on her. Particularly, her left arm.”
“Bellatrix carved it.” Hermione pulled her sleeve up to show the Baron the still red-raw wound.
“Oh, dear…” The Baron shook his head. “She was such a promising student, until Riddle got his hands on her. After that? She became little more than a rabid dog.”
“Agreed.” Harry nodded.
“Well, you’d best do the de-aging with Mr Potter, then.” The Baron said. “That will break the connection between you and her magic, allowing the cleansing potion to flush the wounds of foreign magics. Follow that with a standard wound-healing potion and you should be clear of that foulness.”
“Will that work on my scars, too?” Harry asked.
“Yes, Mr Potter.” The Baron nodded. “Most of them should be removed by the de-aging. If a cleansing potion is necessary, best it was done before the de-aging potion wears off.”
“And how long is that likely to take?” Hermione asked.
“A few hours, at most.” The Baron replied, then blinked. “If you want it to be permanent, or wish to add a permanent de-aging afterwards, it can be done.”
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, a silent conversation held by nothing more than eyebrow twitches.
“No, I don’t think so.” Harry shook his head. “We’d prefer to go the other way, if we have to change our ages.”
“No.” The Baron said. “Aging potions are too… unpredictable. Stay away from them. I’d recommend permanent de-aging, just enough to change your dates of birth.”
“I’m in mid-September,” Hermione tilted her head, “almost a year before Harry, but I’d like to be closer to him in age. I could de-age to make my birthday in June or July.”
“And I’m at the end of July,” Harry added, “I could move that to early August.”
“Precisely.” The Baron nodded.
“Definitely something to think about.” Hermione nodded back.
“So, a temporary de-aging to correct any health issues, remove any external magicks and a second permanent de-aging to alter dates of birth.” The Baron recited. “That leaves us with…?” He looked at Harry.
“New identities.” Harry answered. “Finances and somewhere to live.”
“Do you not have a property that can be removed from the Potter estate?” The Baron asked.
“No.” Harry shook his head. “According to Shacklebolt, Dumbledore advised my father to liquidate the entire estate and dissolve the title. Shacklebolt also said that after my parents’ death, Dumbledore emptied the vaults, all bar my trust vault.”
“No, he wouldn’t have been able to access that.” The Baron said. “Gringotts have strict laws pertaining to trust vaults.”
“Well, that’s something, at least.” Hermione huffed.
“I’ve no idea how much is in the vault, or even where the key is.” Harry grimaced. “I’ve never been allowed to have it.”
“That we can correct.” The Baron said. “And you, Miss Granger?”
“I have a vault.” Hermione said. “I transferred it from the muggle world, last summer. I’ve not told anyone about it and I’ve kept the key hidden in a secret pocket in my bag, that is tied to my magical signature. No-one else can see it or touch it. And if a curse-breaker, like Bill Weasley had tried to access it, it would have portkeyed the entire bag to a secure lockbox in a muggle bank. The key for that is also hidden in the muggle world.”
“Very nice, Miss Granger. Very nice, indeed.” The Baron nodded in approval. “Do you know the balance, by chance?”
“ʛ47,200 was deposited in mid-July.” Hermione answered.
“How would we go about transferring money from Gringotts back into the muggle world?” Harry asked.
“Harry?” Hermione asked.
“I don’t think I want to stay, Hermione.” Harry whispered. “The wizarding world has taken so much from me. I’m… I’m ready to leave. Before it takes everything.”
“So many that I help, do leave.” The Baron said quietly. “There’s so much prejudice in the current magical world. Muggleborns, in my day, were considered a gift. Muggleborn witches were highly sought after for wives, as they brought new magic into our world. They were treated with the highest of respect. To abuse one, would bring down the entire community on a person, often seeing them stripped of their magic. If they were left alive, by the other witches, that is. Never anger a muggleborn witch, Mr Potter. You’ll regret it, for the rest of your very short life.”
“And Hermione’s got a wicked right cross.” Harry laughed.
“Hush, you, he deserved that.” Hermione flushed.
“That he did.” The Baron nodded. “Heir Malfoy returned to the Slytherin common room, whinging about it, only to have Master Snape add a week’s worth of detentions for using that word.” He nodded towards Hermione’s arm.
“Good.” Hermione nodded, sharply.
“As for transferring your gold?” The Baron went on. “Gringotts can facilitate that, easily and quickly.”
“But all my gold’s in a vault in Hermione Granger’s name, not under the name of the new identity we need to create.” Hermione argued.
“Summon a linkable coin purse, from the Room.” The Baron countered. “Use your key, link it to your vault, empty said vault, unlink the purse. Not terribly complex.”
“I could do that, too.” Harry smiled.
“Indeed.” The Baron nodded. “And if you were smart, you’d also summon any Gringotts’ draughts, ʛalleons, §ickles, κnuts, or muggle money from the Room.”
“Do you think we could get clothes, too?” Harry asked.
“If they’re here, certainly.”
“What about a magical tent?” Hermione asked. “We were forced to abandon the one we were using, but given that the Weasleys provided it…? Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Possibly.” The Baron agreed.
“So, summoning from the Room will get our finances sorted.” Harry dragged them back on subject. “Which leaves only the new identities and somewhere to live.”
“And changing our appearances.” Hermione added.
“New identities may negate the need to change your appearances.” The Baron said. “Depending on the direction you take, for creating those new identities.”
“How many different ways are there?” Hermione frowned.
“In the modern world?” The Baron smirked. “Two. But in my time? Five.”
“Five ways to create a new identity?” Hermione gasped. “Five?”
“Correct.” The Baron nodded. “The standard blood adoption. I understand that’s still accepted by the darker Houses, today.”
“Yes, I think so.” Harry nodded. “My godfather spoke about it. We were going to do that for my sixteenth birthday. Only he died first.”
“You should ask the Room if he left blood for that.” The Baron said. “You might be able to use it.” Harry nodded and a new line appeared on his board. “Second is to completely start from scratch, using blood golems to create a family history, going back at least five generations. Gringotts only test to five, unless you specifically request a detailed genealogy. This has flaws, if Gringotts get curious.”
“Whoa…” Harry blinked a few times.
“A third option is to completely falsify the muggle documentation and avoid doing testing at Gringotts.” The Baron went on. “In my day, doing that and moving to a different area, would have been sufficient. Not advisable, in this day and age.”
“No, let’s cross that out.” Harry shook his head.
“And next is a bloodline conversion.” The Baron stated. “This overwrites your existing genetics, completely. And is undetectable.”
“That one.” Harry said.
“Definitely.” Hermione agreed.
“Fifth is combining conversions and golems.” The Baron said. “Use pre-existing people where possible. Perhaps sibling of a great-grandparent, that died without issue, as your ancestor. Which is where the golems come in, use them to fill in the missing branches of your family tree.”
“Oh, yes!” Hermione nodded. “That makes a lot more sense than just going straight to conversions.”
“It does.” Harry agreed.
“So, you need to determine whom your new parents will be.” The Baron waited while the boards updated. “A mother and father for each of you, unless you are going to be siblings?”
“No.” Harry shook his head.
“No.” Hermione agreed.
“Very well.” The Baron nodded. “Two fathers and two mothers.”
“Sirius?” Hermione asked.
“No, too obvious.” Harry argued.
“But…”
“Remus, maybe.” Harry corrected.
“Why Remus?”
“Teddy.” Harry shrugged. “If Andromeda is prepared to kill us both, what will she be like with Teddy? The son of a werewolf.”
“Oh, dear.” Hermione sighed.
“Andromeda, being Andromeda Black?” The Baron asked.
“Yes, she married a muggleborn.” Hermione replied. “Ted Tonks.”
“She was never very accepting of anything that she considered wrong.” The Baron said. “No matter whether it was the grade she received on an essay, the plight of house-elves or the light versus dark argument. Very rigid in her views on dark creatures and not in a positive way.”
“We could take Teddy with us.” Hermione offered. “Make you his big brother. Half-brother, at least. We’d have to use the conversion to give him a new mother, though. Can’t have Andromeda claiming him, as his grandmother.”
“The conversions work excellently on infants.” The Baron said.
“But how would we get him here?” Harry blinked. “Can we summon him? I heard Fred say, that we can’t take summoned things from the Room. Was he right? You said we could summon coin purses, money and clothes.”
“Yes and no.” The Baron shrugged. “You can’t remove items that are summoned from outside the Room or that you’ve had the Room create. But items that are here, that are in this particular variant of the Room, things that have been lost, abandoned or discarded. Yes, those you can remove.”
“Oh, that make so much more sense.” Hermione nodded.
“As for the boy?” The Baron went on. “Send an elf for him. Andromeda had no elves, I do recall her daughter stating that she refused to have one. But I also recall the girl asking a school elf to collect items that she’d left at home, one year. It is unlikely that she would have instated elf-wards since.”
“Could we…?” Harry paused, then took a deep breath, before continuing. “Could we make Teddy our son? Yours and mine?”
“I’m eighteen, Harry.” Hermione argued.
“But it would be a way to hide him better.” Harry argued back. “And it would explain, why neither of us finished high school.”
“A Ravenclaw that I assisted, a few years ago,” the Baron cut in, “did much the same, with a younger student, that had been badly assaulted by their housemates. De-aged the younger one and became her mother. She also stated that she’d been only just escaped from a cult that practiced… an alternate live-style… I believe was the term she used.”
“We could use that as an excuse to leave the country.” Hermione mused. “Even if we only went to Ireland.”
“I don’t speak anything but English.” Harry grimaced.
“So, Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, some of the South Pacific, some of Africa and parts of the Caribbean.” Hermione offered.
“Your parents are in Australia.” Harry said hesitantly. “Aren’t they?”
Hermione frowned. “Sir Baron? Are obliviates on muggles completely permanent? I was told they were, but I’m no longer certain that I can trust what any Weasley told me.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Granger.” The Baron said quietly. “They are.”
“Damn…”
“And I don’t recommend leaving the country, immediately.” The Baron went on. “The Ministry tracks the movement of magicals in and out of the country. And did you not say, one of those you are seeking to escape from, is an Auror?”
“Double damn…” Hermione huffed.
“No, that’s good.” Harry said suddenly. “They’ll expect us to run. If they can’t find us, their first thought will be, us running to Australia. All the Weasleys know that’s where you sent your parents.” He drew in a quick breath. “But if we stay, we bypass that. Particularly, if we stay in the muggle world. Both for work and to live.”
“We could do that…” Hermione slowly started to nod.
“But we should leave the cult thing alone.” Harry went on. “That draws attention. And if a squib or magical heard it… Bad. Better if we just be home…” He stopped as something occurred to him. “Sir Baron? How much solidarity is there in Ravenclaw, as regards to the muggle-raised? Halfbloods and muggleborns? I mean, we never had any classes with them, until sixth year, after OWLs.”
“Helena tells me that she despairs over her mother’s house.” The Baron said. “There’s no solidarity between them. Either here at Hogwarts or out in the wider world.”
“How difficult would it be to have our new identities, documented as having been Ravenclaws, that left after OWLs. That’s the minimum needed for wand rights? Yeah?” Harry continued the questioning.
“That is correct.” The Baron nodded. “And a very neat solution to OWLs. If Miss Granger wants her NEWTs, they can be done externally.”
“Yes.” Hermione agreed. “I’d like that. We just have to create those new identities and work out our OWL results.”
“They can’t be as brilliant as Hermione Granger’s.” Harry said. “That would draw attention. But doesn’t mean they can’t be quite good. We did have Umbitch for fifth year. No-one reached the marks they could have, even in other subjects. She had far too much influence.”
“True…” The Baron agreed.
“So, OWLs results?” Harry asked.
~~~