Title: What Magic?
Pairing: Harry/Sally-Anne Perks (briefly)
Rating: PG
Summary: Harry gets his Hogwarts letter, but finds he doesn't really qualify as a student and doesn't fit in Albus Dumbledore's plans. See what happens when Harry doesn't go to Hogwarts. Warning: not a good story for those who love Albus.

What Magic?

Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, Albus Dumbledore, was avidly watching the addressing of the invitations to the school for new students. His Deputy, Minerva McGonagall, watched with him. As the last letter was finished and the magical quill that did the job of addressing all of the envelopes based on the possible students from their book of magical births finished, they looked at each other.

"What were you expecting to find, Albus?" the Deputy asked.

"I didn't see a letter for Harry Potter," he replied. "Did you not remember he should be starting this year?"

She looked thoughtful. "I knew he should be joining us soon; but honestly, I had forgotten this would be the year. Perhaps we should open the book to see why, even if it is rarely required."

Albus reached forward with his wand to push a little magic forward; the book accepted that and the front cover popped open for him. He flipped the thick book so it went to the end and showed "1991" with a list of the magicals born so far this year. He went back to the page for "1980" and they both looked. To their horror, each saw the name Harry Potter had a line through it.

Minerva McGonagall gasped. "But that would mean he's dead!"

Albus Dumbledore shook his head. "That would be news to me because I have someone watching where he lives and I'm sure she would have told me if something fatal had happened. In fact, I'm sure she said he was alive as of a few weeks ago." He stroked his beard for a moment. "His letter will have to be done manually. Would you mind addressing it and taking it to him since you already know where he lives? In fact, you might as well take him shopping for his supplies as well."

"It would give me a chance to check on him," she agreed, still concerned.

"Come by my office before you go," he told her as he closed the book. "I have the key to his trust vault; I found it that night as I cleaned up."

"I'll be up after I stuff the envelopes and send them off," she told him as she pulled out her wand as he left. She did a spell and the pre-written letters jumped into an envelope and then sealed themselves. McGonagall set aside the five that were for the Muggle-borns and called an elf and gave him the remaining stack to be sent out via the school owls. Writing one for Harry Potter with his address, she took his and headed for the Headmaster's office. She'd start on the Muggle-born tomorrow.

— — —

Armed with a letter and a Gringotts vault key, McGonagall Apparated to a park in Little Whinging - a place she had not been to in ten years. This time she was not in her cat form and so had transfigured her robes into a long black dress, long sleeves, a white collar, and little white buttons going down the front. She knew it was a little old fashioned but she'd always liked this style. With her hair up in a bun and her glasses, she thought it made her look like the quintessential school teacher.

Just before she arrived at her destination she saw a half-Kneazle watching her from under a bush. She huffed and continued on, not impressed if this is what Albus meant by having Harry watched as it meant the watcher was probably a Squib. Nothing against Squibs, of course, but they couldn't really defend themselves or their charge well in an emergency.

Since it was a Monday afternoon in the summer, she expected to find the boy at home. She waited after knocking; in fact, she waited long enough she was about to leave as she thought they must be out. The door was finally heaved open by a small boy who looked to be about ten, had dark hair, and wore glasses.

"Hello, are you Harry Potter?" she asked in her normal voice.

The boy blinked at her for a moment before he gave her a tiny nod.

"Good, I'm Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts and I've brought you your invitation to a very special school." She held it out.

He just stared at her for a moment before saying, "I think you are mistaken. I'm not good enough to go to a special school."

It was her turn to blink. "I'm quite certain you are the Harry Potter I'm looking for. While you don't look exactly like your father, you look close enough that I'm sure you're his son. Also, I was here the night you were dropped off."

His brows dropped a bit and his eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you're mistaken." He then closed the door and a click was heard as the lock was turned.

McGonagall looked at the door with wide eyes and thought furiously about what to do. She could use magic and get in without any problem at all, but she was sure it wouldn't have been the right thing to do. Having been made aware of what a doorbell was from visits to Muggle-born houses some years ago, she searched and found a doorbell and pushed the button. She preferred knocking, but she felt this way might draw more attention from an adult - Petunia. It had taken most of the walk over for her to remember the name of Lily's sister.

Little Harry answered the door again and opened it only enough for him to look out. He was about to close it without even talking to her when an adult female voice asked, "Who is it boy?" The door was yanked open wide and Petunia was seen standing behind him. Neither of them looked happy to see her.

"Oh, it's you," Petunia sneered and Harry looked up at his aunt in surprise.

Trying to be polite, McGonagall said, "Hello, Petunia; I'm Minerva McGonagall, if you don't remember."

"I remember you taking my sister away," the woman returned unkindly. "I guess it's time for you to take him too." She looked down. "Go on, boy; it's your time and your new world. Might as well go get a sack and bag up your clothes to take them with you."

"Oh no, he's not leaving now," McGonagall corrected her. "Well only be gone for part of the day to do his shopping. He'll be back this evening until it's time for you to take him to the train station on first of September."

Petunia didn't look happy but finally said, "Well, go with her and be back for dinner. You can do your chores later."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry said quietly and stepped out of the house.

Petunia sniffed lightly and closed the door.

`How odd,` McGonagall thought. "Come, Mr Potter. We'll walk a short way from here to a hidden area and then I'll Apparate you to Diagon Alley where we can buy your school supplies. Oh, here's your invitation."

Harry took the envelope and opened it and slowly read it and the list of supplies as they walked. He slowly put the pages back in the envelope. "What do you mean by I'm a wizard? My aunt and uncle say I'm nothing special and the word 'magic' isn't allowed in the house."

She looked at the young boy as they walked and tried to figure out what was going on. His question just evoked more questions for her. "I'm sure your aunt explained about our world of magic and about your parents?"

"No. Other than my parents were killed in a car crash while driving drunk."

McGonagall was so horrified by that she stopped walking and so did Harry. "Excuse me?" she said indignantly. "Your parents were not drunks killed in some car crash. I think your mother probably knew how to drive a car but I'm reasonably certain your father did not. While I did not see them often after they finished school, I saw them often enough to know they were not drunks. You and your family are quite famous."

He looked at her and shrugged. "If you say so."

She could tell he didn't believe her. "I'm certain," she said firmly and started walking again. She also noted he didn't asked any more questions and generally didn't seem to even care, which she found strange.

When they came to the place she'd arrived at earlier, she reached down and grabbed his upper arm only to see him flinch and even try to get away from with a bit of a wild expression. "Don't worry, this won't hurt even if you feel a bit squeezed; it's a magical way to travel." Since he'd stopped struggling, she Side-Along Apparated him to Diagon Alley, only to have him all but fall down - not that unusual.

"See, nothing to it," she tried to reassure him as he stood up from his kneeling position. "Come, we'll go the bank first." She was relieved to see that he had that usual wide-eyed look of wonderment at his first visit here. At least that was normal compared to some of his other reactions.

Inside the bank, she presented the vault key and the Goblin took them to the vaults. Handing him a money bag she'd transfigured from some parchment earlier, she told him, "I'd suggest 25 of the gold ones and a handful each of the silver and bronze."

She directed the Goblin to give Harry the key when the vault closed and they rode back up. "Keep that key safe, Harry. Anyone can get into your vault if they have it."

"Even my aunt and uncle?" he asked alarmed.

She snorted and smiled. "I don't think they could even get into Diagon Alley, but technically they could access your vault if they could find a way and get into the bank." She watched him with amusement as he put his key into his pocket and put the money bag under his shirt.

Since the Hogwarts invitations hadn't been received by anyone else yet, it was only the normal crowds today, meaning it wasn't crowded at all. Therefore, they made good time picking up supplies.

It was all very normal until they reached their last stop, Ollivander's Wand Shop. While she gave the old shopkeeper her most disdainful look as he snuck up on her charge, she just stood there and watched the process. She stood there for a long time as no wand seemed to work for the boy, even a special wand out of the back.

Ollivander, who was usually patience personified, seemed exasperated after an hour. "A custom wand will be needed for you, Mr Potter. Hold still please while I try to figure out what you need."

The man cast a spell on the boy … then several more and frowned deeply before he looked at the teacher. "Are you sure he received his invitation?"

"Yes," she replied frostily for him doubting her.

He shook his head as if he didn't believe her but said, "I'll be back in a moment," as he went to the back.

A moment later he came out and handed the boy a wand, completely smooth except for a bit of a point on one end. "Take it with my compliments, Mr Potter, and good luck for I believe you shall need it."

"Since you named the others, what's in this one?" Harry asked as he added it to the bag with the rest of his supplies.

"It's red oak, quite stiff, but it should fit your needs. A good day to both of you," Ollivander said and stepped back to his counter.

Minerva nodded to him and guided her charge out, a little surprised when she realized the wandmaker hadn't followed his normal tradition and mentioned what core was in it. That was very unlike him. Not worrying about it, she took her charge back home before returning to the school.

McGonagall considered telling the Headmaster about the few oddities, but decided they probably didn't matter. There were always a few issues every year and they always worked through them.

— — —

Harry put his bag with his school supplies in the very far end of his cupboard, where the stairs met the floor. He knew from experience that was about as safe as it got as only his aunt was small enough to reach there and there was no way she'd go into his cupboard. He'd tell them the school had bought his supplies so they wouldn't take his money or vault key.

That done, he started on the rest of his chores … as usual.

The first of September finally came. His relatives had not worked him quite as hard as before, but the difference was small. As for the rest of his treatment, there was no difference and he was used to it by now.

His uncle laughed at him as he was dropped off at the train station. He'd had to show them his invitation to the school so they knew he needed platform 9¾. It was a bit of a struggle to drag his trunk until he found a trolley that was just sitting to the side and he grabbed it. After a small struggle to get his trunk on it, he did a lot better.

As expected, there was no platform 9¾ to be found as he stood between numbers 9 and 10. As he contemplated what to do, a family of redheads came along and he heard the word "Hogwarts". When they walked by, he got into line behind them.

The mother was looking around and suddenly noticed him. "Oh, hello dear. Are you off to school too?" She leaned a little closer and whispered, "Hogwarts?"

He nodded and noticed her older children were walking through a pillar nearby and disappearing.

She smiled and straightened up. "Good, you'll be in the same year as our youngest son, Ron." She pointed him out and the boy stood proudly. "Come on, Ron can show you how to do it. Just follow him."

Harry watched Ron walk through the pillar as his older brothers had done.

"Your turn," the mother told him.

Deciding to give it a try even if it looked crazy, Harry pushed his trolley to the pillar and bounced off, adding another bruise to his leg.

"Oh dear, that didn't go well. Try it again, maybe a little faster," the mother said as her daughter who was the same height as Harry watched with concern too.

Harry tried again and got another bruise for his efforts.

"That's strange. It's like it's broken. Let's try together." The mother put one hand on the trolley and pushed it front of her and held his hand with her other. The little girl shyly grabbed his other hand and the three went through the barrier together. "At least that worked." She shook her head at the strangeness. "Go on and get on the train, dear. You can't sit in the first car, but anywhere else that's open should be fine. Good luck, dear."

"Thanks," he told her. The girl waved shyly at him and he smiled at her. She was sort of cute in a way; maybe they could be friends one day as there would be no Dudley here to stop that.

Harry found an empty spot and stored his trunk. A little bit later, Ron came by and asked if he could sit with him. Harry shrugged and waved at the bench across from him, so Ron sat.

"I'm Ron Weasley." He held out his hand.

Cautiously, Harry shook it. "Harry." When Ron quirked an eye, "Patterson," was added.

"Really?" Ron unsure. "You're not Harry Potter and you don't have a scar?"

Harry felt really self-conscious now, glad he'd used another name after remembering McGonagall telling him he and his family were famous. "Really, I'm no one special," he lied, "and I have lots of scars just like everyone else."

Ron seemed to deflate and went quiet.

Happy with his decision to hide and hoping he might could avoid some trouble, he said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a nap as I didn't sleep well last night," as usual he thought to himself. Ron said sure so Harry closed his eyes.

He was almost asleep when the door to the cabin he was in was opened.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" a girl about his age asked as another boy was behind her and looking on.

"No," Harry said quietly and closed his eyes again so he didn't see any of the strange looks at him.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting your nap." The door was closed.

Harry welcomed the lady with the food cart and bought what little food she had, since most of it was sweets. He also purchased a small bottle of something called Pumpkin Juice, which he didn't care for but drank anyway as he needed something to wash the food down.

"What house do you think you'll go into?" Ron asked as they were eating.

Harry shrugged. "Don't know and don't really care." Any place was better than his relatives' house.

"Gryffindor is best," Ron told him. "My family always goes there. If you were the real Harry Potter then you should go there as your parents were in Gryffindor. You don't want Slytherin as all of the bad wizards come from there."

Harry eyed him suspiciously wondering how the boy knew about his family. "So people from different houses never marry each other?"

After a pause Ron finally said, "I guess they can."

"Then your statement about going into the house of your parents makes no sense as I doubt you can be in two different houses; and children are not always like their parents," Harry said with disdain.

Flummoxed, Ron gawked at him. "I bet you'll be in Ravenclaw."

The door was yanked open by a blond boy and two larger ones were behind him. He looked at Ron and seemed to discount him. "I heard Harry Potter should be on this train. Are you him?" He was looking at Harry.

"I'm no one special and not The Harry Potter."

The blond boy nodded and said, "Thanks," as he closed the door.

Ron looked at him suspiciously.

"Whoever the real Harry Potter is is in for a rough time," Harry said and wondered if coming here was really going to be a good thing after all. Yet again he reminded himself that at least he was away from the Dursleys for good. It was a thought that had kept him going for the last month.

The rest of the train ride was fairly calm. In fact, Ron even left for a while, probably wandering the train he guessed.

Once they arrived, he followed the rest of the first years. He had to admit the boat ride was pretty cool. He had no idea where the two voices were coming from as they waited on Professor McGonagall until someone mentioned ghosts. He didn't see anything, so he shrugged and continued with the group.

As the sorting started officially, he continued to look around as he waited on his name. When Sally-Anne Perks was sorted into Hufflepuff, he knew he was probably next.

"Potter, Harry!" McGonagall called.

With hope for the best but resigned that this would probably suck like the rest of his life, Harry started walking forward and people moved around to try and look at him.

From behind he heard, "I knew he was Harry Potter. Why did he lie to me?"

`Because it kept me out of trouble then,` Harry thought. `Of course, I may be in more trouble later, but whatever.`

He sat on the stool like the others and the hat was placed on his head. Nothing seemed to be happening but then again, for the others the hat was placed on their heads and there was usually some silence before the hat shouted a house name.

By the time his internal counter hit ten he heard the hat say, "Well, are you going to place me on his head or not?"

"You're on his head," the woman said with surprise.

"Are you sure?" the hat asked and moved around. "Hmm, you're right, I do seem to be on a head. Let's try this again." After another ten count the hat said, "Sorry, he's not qualified to attend. Next one."

"Excuse me?" McGonagall asked in astonishment and perhaps even flustered. "What do you mean he's not qualified?"

"He's not qualified because he has no magic. He's not a wizard." At the hat's pronouncement, mutterings rippled across the Great Hall.

"That can't be!" was shouted from behind him. Harry lifted the brim of the hat and looked. It was an old man with a long white beard, the one who'd said he was Headmaster.

"I can't find any magic in him and I'm sure I can know better than you," the Sorting Hat retorted. "Next student."

The Headmaster practically fell back into his chair in shock and the mutterings by the students started up again.

Harry stood up and pulled the hat off and looked at the woman who was looking at him in horror. "That's impossible," she breathed, "I saw you do accidental magic as a baby."

He shrugged and placed hat on the stool, not surprised that his life sucked again. Eventually she motioned to the table on her right. "Sit there on the end for now."

Harry took a seat and watched the rest of the sorting. He received a glare at first then a pitying looked from Ron. Harry just accepted it without showing emotion and not thinking about the situation; it was the best way to deal with disappointment he'd found.

At least he was allowed to eat all he wanted, for the first time he could ever remember. Everyone avoided him as if he was sick and he supposed to them he might as well have been. He'd had a little hope for the last month that he could have something of a normal life finally, but that was denied to him now.

After dinner and when everyone was dismissed, McGonagall came by and told him to follow her. She grabbed the Sorting Hat and waved her wand to make the stool disappear. He suspected he'd never be able to do that if he had no magic.

A few minutes later he found himself in a large office, the Headmaster's office McGonagall told him as they entered; the old man was already there and looking at him intently. A moment later four more people entered. She pointed to a chair so he took a seat and sat quietly. With the Headmaster, there were six looking at him and wondering. Most were frowning but the man with greasy hair was looking at him with something like amusement, or at least he seemed mildly happy with what was going on.

"Mr Potter," the Headmaster said, "we need to do a few spells on you to find out what's going as there has to be some sort of mistake."

"There's no mistake," the Sorting Hat said from the shelf it'd been placed on.

The Headmaster didn't seem to be happy about that but looked back at him and then cast multiple spells at him before lowering his wand. Harry hadn't felt a thing. "Poppy? Filius? If you would please look to see what you can find?" The other two casts spells at him too, the woman ending last and not looking happy.

"Filius?"

"As I'm sure you found," the shortest man said, "the Sorting Hat is correct. I can find no magic in him ... making him a Squib."

"I can't find any either," the healer said, "but I can tell you he's been severely abused! Albus, where did you put him?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the old man he now knew who had placed him with the Dursleys and wished the man would burst into fire. A movement in his peripheral vision showed pitying looks from the plump woman. The greasy haired man lost his smile and had a slightly pained look. McGonagall was hiding her face. The short professor was looking him intently for a moment before he nodded acceptance and smiled kindly.

"What happened at your Aunt's?" Dumbledore asked.

Deciding the truth would probably hurt the man the most because Harry now hated him for what he'd done, Harry said, "Uncle Vernon said he'd beat the magic out of me. I guess it worked."

McGonagall and "Filius" now looked angry as the rest looked down.

"Take him home," Dumbledore said into the silence. "The Hat is correct. He can't be a student." He took his glasses off and started rubbing his eyes.

The others looked at each other for a moment. It was Filius who saved him. "I think not, Albus; he absolutely can not go back there. I can think of at least one person to place him with who will care for him properly and if that doesn't work out then I'll find someone who will. I could do no less for Lily."

"I can help," McGonagall said.

When Filius looked at him Harry shook his head ever so slightly. "I don't think that's needed at the moment, but thank you for the offer. Come, Mr Potter. I'll turn my couch into a bed for you at least for tonight. With luck, you'll have a proper place to sleep tomorrow night or perhaps the night after.

"Oh Poppy, should we come see you tonight or tomorrow morning? We might as well try to help him as much as we can before he goes to his new home." Filius looked at the healer.

"Why don't you bring him by and he can sleep in one of my beds and I'll do what I can to help him too," she answered.

"Come, Harry, let's see what we can do to help you," the man said kindly as he led him out of the office with the woman following.

The Headmaster continued to rub his face and the others stayed behind. McGonagall looked livid, or Harry would have said that. When his aunt looked like that was when she was most likely to raise her skillet at him.

In the corridor Harry had to say, "Filius, I don't want to go back to the Dursleys."

The man smiled. "The proper form of address would be Professor or Professor Flitwick, but I think I'll allow my given name of Filius if it makes you feel better. As for your aunt's house, don't worry, you're never going back there again."

"What will happen to me?"

"Well, first, Madam Pomfrey here will do her best to help you get better. Then, while she's doing that I'll contact one of your parents' old friends and see if he can take you in. There may be a complication there, but I think we can work something out. If that doesn't work, I'll research your family and see if we can find a magical relative who I approve of and is willing to help you out." Filius looked at him. "If all of those fail, I shall quit here and raise you myself, lad."

Harry stopped in front of some double doors and gasped as he looked at the man, surprised someone would be willing to do that for him.

Filius smiled at him and nudge him forward, opening the doors to a large room with multiple narrow beds in it. "You mother, Lily Potter, was one of my favorite students. If I had been named in their Will to take care of you, I would have gladly done that. You could have been raised here."

When Harry looked hopefully and started to ask if he could stay here, Filius hurried on.

"I know what you're going to ask," Filius said. "I'm sorry, but you can't stay here now as it would be a dangerous place since you don't have magic. I really don't know how you could have lost your magic over the last ten years, it's something I'll have to look into and just maybe I can find a way to reverse that. No promises though. Now, let's see what Madam Pomfrey can do for you while I start a few things."

"Mr Potter, take these pyjamas and put them on. You can use the bathroom over there if you like," she told him.

"Twinky?" Filius called and small ugly creature popped in.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Was there an extra trunk from the students?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Bring it here please."

Harry went into the other room to change. When he came out he saw his trunk by the bed.

"Take your top off please," she asked him gently.

He didn't really want to show her.

"Please, we need to know for sure what I suspect," Pomfrey told him.

Still not wanting to do it, he very slowly started on the buttons. Eventually he had nothing left to do but take his top off. Pomfrey was frowning and Filius looked angry.

"What is the address of where you were raised?" the man asked and Harry told him.

"Those people are not going to like what I do to them for doing these things to you. Don't worry, you'll be safe here, Mr Potter. Have a good night's rest and I shall return in the morning," Filius told him and left the room with purposeful strides.

Meanwhile Madam Pomfrey was waving her wand over him. He saw nothing coming out of her wand as before so he guessed he couldn't see the magic. After a moment, she stopped and went to a cabinet and brought little glass bottles with her.

"These aren't going to taste very good, but I promise they will help you at least some. I can't do too much for all of the scars, but I do have something for the bruises. Best to leave your top off and take your bottoms off too. You have bruises and scars on your legs too, don't you?"

He nodded.

"First these. Again, they taste bad but are helpful."

She was right, they were gross he thought as he took the first. All five were gross. He took his bottoms off so he was in just his underwear now.

"I have something that can help you for certain." She handed him a jar. "Smear that on your arms and chest." She took some and started working on his back and the back of his legs.

When she finished she left for a moment and came back with a camera. "I'm sorry, but I need this for evidence. Stand still please." She took a photo of his front and then his back.

She also lifted his hair and looked at his forehead and clucked. "I don't know about this scar, but that's going to have to wait for a bit since you've lived with it this long. Take your pyjamas into the bathroom and wait there for about five or ten minutes before you put them back on. It's possible I'll have some other visitors soon, or at least it happens most years."

When Harry came back out the room still only had the healer. She guided him into a bed and gave him one more potion before bidding him good night. He laid there and thought about what had happened. He didn't dare hope for a good outcome, but hopefully he'd end up somewhere better than the Dursleys. Filius might be good he decided. Suddenly he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

— — —

As Harry was going to bed, Filius walked to the owlery to send his post off. He had an errand to run in Little Whinging, right after a stop by his family home to pick up a few items. He'd be back before morning and Albus didn't need to know he was gone for a bit.

Harry awoke to hear soft talking and years of habit had him keeping his eyes closed and listening.

"From what I can tell, Ollivander gave him a wooden dowel because he couldn't find any magic in him. At least he didn't charge him for it." It sounded like Filius.

"I'd consider asking him to keep that to himself but this is going to get out anyway." Harry didn't recognize that voice.

"True. Beyond that, he has all of his school things in here. The spell books won't help, but I'd suggest teaching about magical creatures. He should be able to learn Potions, although Alchemy would be impossible. Probably the most useful courses after Potions would be Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, assuming you can find a way to do the runes. Auto-carvers are expensive but would probably be worth it. Oh, and History of Magic for context." Filius again.

"I agree. I'll probably wait a little and get him back to full health first and enrolled in school so he can continue his regular education first. Looking at his clothes I can see I need to do something about them too as these are not much better than rags, not that I can say what I own is great but at least my things fit even if they are older." The unknown man sighed. "Filius, I appreciate your faith in me and I'm more than willing to do this for James and Lily, but you know about my problem."

"I do, lad, and we'll find a solution to that before that's required in a couple of weeks. You've already thought of one idea and if that doesn't work out then I'll step up and help somehow. Another obvious solution is to get you some help from an elf." Filius again.

"We'll see. At least my new job will allow me to take care of him. I suppose we should wake him."

"Yes we should. Mr Potter," Filius called out and shook his foot.

Harry stirred and appeared to wake up. "Huh?" He sat up and looked at the other man for a long moment, who just smiled back. He was kindly looking thought he looked a little older than his aunt and uncle. Filius kept standing at the end of his bed while the new man pulled up a chair.

"Mr Potter, this is a friend of your parents named Remus Lupin," Filius said. "Unfortunately for you, he was prevented from caring for you before but he's willing to do so now."

"Hello, Harry. I'm sure you don't remember me as you were very small when I last saw you. In fact, I think it was at your first birthday party." Lupin smiled to himself. "I'm sorry I never came to see you before, but as Filius said, I was prevented by someone. I believe that has been cleared up so that you can come live with me. How does that sound to you?"

"Maybe," Harry said honestly.

Lupin nodded. "I think I can understand. You don't know me and I've heard what was done to you so I can imagine you won't trust me completely anytime soon. For what it's worth to you, I promise I'll never hit you like they did. We may have disagreements and if you act badly I may have to punish you, but I promise I'll never hit you. If I have to punish you, I'm sure I can find something else, like removing something you like to do for a short while. Does that make sense?"

Harry nodded. "I guess I can live with that."

"It's a start," Lupin said. "I'll help you get into a new school as I don't live in Surrey, so you won't have to ever see your cousin. I also think I'll try to find a therapist for you; I'll just have to search to find someone who knows about the Wizarding world."

Harry had no idea what a therapist was, but at least the man was trying to help him.

"You also have a godfather and he really should be doing this, but he did something bad and is in prison…"

"What did he do?" Harry asked.

"Let's save that for another time as it could be a long conversation," Lupin said smoothly. "We have a few other things that are more important, but I promise to answer you within the next couple of weeks. I can say he has a cousin that is a decent person and I'm going to try to get her to help as well. Between she and her husband, me, and Filius here you'll be taken care of. All right?"

Harry considered all of that plus what he'd heard when he was faking sleep. "I guess we can try it. It can't be worse than the Dursleys."

Lupin and Filius looked at each other. "No it can't lad," Filius said softly before he held out some clothes. "Here, take these and go get changed. Madam Pomfrey has said she's done about all she can for you."

Harry changed and he noticed something. Coming out of the bathroom he was grinning. "Hey, all of my bruises are almost gone. They're only yellow now instead of purple."

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Lupin said with his own smile. "You'll also grow a little faster for a while to catch up on growth you've missed." He closed Harry's trunk and shrunk it before handing the lunchbox sized trunk to him. "Carry this and we'll head to my home. I need to get you set up today as I have to go back to work tomorrow."

"OK."

As they walked out of the school, some of the students saw him; they stopped and stared, most wearing disappointed looks. Harry ignored them, happy he was going to have a new home.

Lupin gently took a hold of his shoulder and Side-Along Apparated him to what looked like a house made of stone in the woods. "It not a lot but it's all mine. My parents bought it for me when I finished Hogwarts. With magic, it's a nice size on the inside and has all the comforts you'd want. The house is sort of in the middle of 50 acres. Because of all of the trees it looks like we're really isolated, but we're not as there are other houses not all that far away. At the end of the driveway you'll find a busy road too. Come in and let's get you set up in a bedroom. After that, we need to get you some new clothes and enroll you in school. We'll talk more after that.

"Oh, I guess we should settle what you'd like to call me. I really don't care, Harry. You can call me Remus, or Uncle Remus, or something else I suppose."

Harry frowned. "I don't like the Uncle part, can I do just Remus?"

Remus shook his head. "Damn those people and of course you can."

Harry thought it was a nice house on the inside, much more like a real house than what his relatives had. He also received a bedroom bigger than what Dudley had, with a big bed, a dresser, and his own desk with a chair.

Shopping took a while but he soon had a lot of clothes that fit him. Next came a school. He wasn't sure, but he thought maybe Remus did something because the woman at the school was demanding some sort of records from him and then suddenly she said it was all fine. He wasn't too bothered by it either way, but he'd be starting fifth grade here tomorrow.

— — —

That evening Remus fixed him a simple dinner of chicken, peas, and potatoes. After dinner where Remus cleaned everything in under a minute, to the awe of Harry, he was Side-Along Apparated to another house in the country.

"I'm not sure of the exact relationship to you, but this women is a cousin of your godfather," Lupin told him before he knocked on the door.

A man answered the door. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin and this is Harry. I was hoping to talk to Andromeda."

"Sure, come in. I'm Ted Tonks." He turned and yelled, "Andromeda, visitors."

A regal looking woman as well as an older teenager walked in. The teenager was sporting short bubble-gum pink hair.

"Hello, Mrs Tonks, I'm Remus Lupin, a friend of Sirius's, and this is Harry Potter."

Three sets of eyes swiveled to him and Harry did his best to live with it, glad he wasn't in school as even this limited gawking annoyed him.

"Yes, I have heard of you," Andromeda said, the first to recover. "Won't you come in and have a seat? Ted, some tea please. Nymphadora, I think this will not be a conversation for you, so to your room please." She made a shooing motion. The girl left but not before she made a face at her mother and winked at Harry.

Ted returned with a tea set and poured for the group. Harry was a bit confused as to what to do, never having had an opportunity like this before, so he just copied what Remus did.

When they were settled, Remus looked at the couple. "I know Sirius should be taking care of Harry as his godfather, but since that's not possible I'm having to do it. Yet, I'm going to have a problem and I need your help."

"What did you want?" Andromeda asked guardedly.

"I think there are three problems," Remus said. "The first is Sirius himself. I know it's been almost ten years, but I need to know how he's doing, if…"

When he trailed off Andromeda filled in, "He's sane or I'm told by someone I know who works there. I'd believe your next part would be to know his exact status."

Lupin nodded. "Yes. I watched the newspaper as much as I could, but I never saw what his sentence was."

"I can answer," she told him. "He was sent to Azkaban for life, signed off by Bagnold as Minister and Crouch as head of the DMLE until they could get around to a trial. As things went to hell in a handbasket," she glanced at Harry before continuing, "so it stayed. I have endeavored to get him out or at least an official trial but have been stymied at every turn. I hold no political power and am only a barrister who normally deals with contracts. I had hope for progress when Amelia Bones took over the MLE but she's struggling just to keep her head above water in the politics of the Ministry and so can't really help us."

Lupin shook his head. "It's as bad as I feared. I dislike admitting it, but I thought him guilty at first until I really thought about it. Now, I don't think he's guilty, but he also needs to prove himself, legally if nothing else."

"Quite," she replied before she sipped her tea and looked at him.

"The second one should be easier." Lupin looked at Harry for a moment and smiled. "I know this may sound scary at first but wait until the end, please."

Harry nodded.

Lupin looked back at Andromeda. "The second thing is that in about two weeks we will have a full moon and I'll need help to watch Harry while I'm locked in my stone shed."

Each of the Tonks looked at him with wide-eyes and shifted uncomfortably but otherwise said nothing.

"Thank you for that minimal reaction," he told them before he looked at the boy with him. "Harry, I'm a werewolf. I'm just as normal as everyone else almost all of the time. But on one night out of every 28 nights I turn into something of a monster. I lock myself in a stone shed that I can't get out of. There is also a potion that can help me not be so aggressive and I will be able to buy that as of next month because I have a new job that will pay me well enough. That also means I need someone to watch you for that one night."

He looked back over. "Andromeda, would you be willing to step in for Sirius and look after Harry for that one night per lunar cycle? I can send him over or you can come get him. Filius Flitwick offered if you're not available."

Andromeda sipped on her tea a moment. "Let's discuss your third thing, though I can now guess."

Lupin nodded. "Harry was left with his Muggle relatives by Albus Dumbledore. Unfortunately, they abused him terribly. Poppy Pomfrey has repaired what she can, but it will take time to fix some of it. Filius has done something - I'm not aware of the details - but he's done something so that they will never regain guardianship over him again."

Harry looked at him in awe.

"Yes, he did that for you," Lupin said with a chuckle before turning back. "Anyway, as you can guess, we need to make sure guardianship for Harry comes to me. However, I also recognize that could be difficult because I am a werewolf, even if there is no law against it. The stigma is enough to prevent it.

"If you can't manage that, I'd like to ask if you could become his legal guardians and let me raise him.

"Finally, in all of this mess, we need to track down the Potters' Last Will and have it executed. So that may be four tasks. I'm not sure how we'll pay you, but I'll work it off. Or if we can get Sirius free then I'm sure he'll pay for it."

"Or I can," Harry offered.

Lupin smiled kindly and patted his shoulder. "Thank you for the offer, but you'll need your money for other things."

"I have plenty. The mountain in my vault is as tall as I am," Harry pointed out. The three adults looked at him in slight shock.

Again, Andromeda recovered first. She cleared her throat and said, "Let's not worry about money just yet. I hadn't considered that the Potter Will wasn't executed, but I did anticipate your other request." She looked at her husband who just looked back at her blankly, obviously still trying to work through all of that. "I think Ted and I will need to talk, but I believe we can work out something."

Andromeda looked at the two of them. "However, I have a question first. I know when he was born and that's he's now eleven. So why isn't he at Hogwarts now that it's September?"

"It seems that his relatives did something to damage his magic. It appears he doesn't have it anymore," Lupin said quietly.

Andromeda's expression turned stormy and her husband's expression wasn't much better. "What's been done about that?" she demanded.

"I mentioned a few minutes ago that Filius took care of it," Lupin said. At her continued stormy look he added, "I don't have the details, but I believe that he set them up to make it look like they murdered Harry along with a few modified memories. So they will be going to prison for a long time."

"I'm not sure that's good enough," Ted said, "but I suppose it'll have to do. If someone did that to our Nymphadora they'd be begging for death by the time we finished with them."

Suddenly Lupin looked at Harry. "Err, I shouldn't have said that. Please forget you heard that."

Harry grinned. "I won't say anything, but thank you. I was hoping they had heart attacks."

After a moment Andromeda continued the previous topic on a more even tone. "So he doesn't have enough magic to do all of the spells?"

"We actually can't find any magic in him at all, even though we all saw him do minor accidental magic at his first birthday party. It wasn't much but it was obvious magic," Lupin told them.

"Doing it at one is significant," the woman said, "and now not to have any?" She shook her head. "So Muggle school?"

"Yes, I enrolled him in the one in the town nearest me; he's to start tomorrow," Lupin told her. "He can continue that and I'll teach him a few things on the weekends, like Potions and Arithmancy, maybe Runes. We'll see what interests him."

Harry was thankful he'd have some choice.

Andromeda nodded. "I hope you'll teach about the Wizarding world in general." At Lupin's nod she said, "Then Ted and I will talk and get back to you. I'm sure we can help out a little. You should think about how to help Sirius. We need to find someone who has some real political power to help. We also need to find Sirius's Last Will. Hmm, would Dumbledore help?"

"Doubtful since he hasn't yet. Let's get the guardianship thing settled first then we'll tackle Sirius's problem," Lupin suggested and Andromeda agreed. "Thank you for your time and help. Let's go, Harry."

"Uh, Mrs Tonks, how are we related?" Harry asked.

"I'm not certain, but something like second cousins three times removed. Close enough to say we're related but not so close as to be annoying," she said with a mischievous look, which cause him to giggle.

Harry decided he would have loved to have grown up with them. Then again anyone was better than the Dursleys.

Harry found that Remus would send him to school a little early then go to his job at the docks. Apparently being a werewolf made him a little stronger than average (but not overly so). He could also Apparate to work by being careful so he didn't have a commute which saved time; then he'd Apparate home at the end of his shift just as Harry was getting out of school.

Harry had missed only the first two days of normal school so he wasn't behind. Remus had also talked with him about school and told him to do his best. Remus said Harry didn't have to be perfect or even close to it, he just had to try his best and that would be good enough. Because Remus was helping him stay away from the Dursleys Harry promised to do his best.

After school on Friday, Remus told him, "I received an owl last night from Andromeda. She wants us to come over tonight for dinner."

So over they went. After a very nice meal, or so Harry thought, they all talked again and Nymphadora (who had just started her first job of training to be an Auror) was allowed to stay.

When they were all comfortable in the living room, Andromeda looked at the two. "I'm sorry, Remus, but you can't be Harry's official guardian." The two slumped and looked very disappointed. "However, I was able to register for that position. Harry, I would like you to come spend at least the weekends with us, but if you want, you can stay with Remus Sunday night through Friday night, at least most of the time. I'm sure Remus will want or need to take you on some outings on the weekend and that will be fine too."

Harry looked at Remus and saw he was smiling. "So I can stay with you most of the time?"

"Yes you can." Remus looked at Andromeda. "So bring him by on Saturday mornings?"

"That will be fine," she said agreeably. "I think that will be good enough, then he can return to your house on Sunday evening. This arrangement will give him some place to visit and some family to get to know. Also, we can teach him more about the Wizarding world.

"Harry, I'd also like us to visit Gringotts tomorrow. I think we should search your trust vault carefully and see if we can search your family vault as well," she told him. "I'd like to see if we can find any Wills there."

"I have another vault?" he asked in surprise.

"Assuredly," she said with a laugh. "You probably can't take anything from your family vault, other than perhaps the Wills if they're there."

— — —

It turned out Andromeda got very lucky. Harry's trust vault held only money, but they were allowed into the Potter family vault and found a Last Will for the Potters and one for Sirius that he'd given to James. While they couldn't remove them from the vault, the Goblins did create certified copies for a small fee.

Andromeda found that Sirius's Will was quite simple but explicit. Harry was his heir if he died without a child. Since he'd never been convicted by the Wizengamot, he was also still head of the Black family, even if her sister Narcissa might have wanted that to pass onto her son. As Bellatrix had actually been found guilty by the Wizengamot and sentenced to life in Azkaban she was ineligible. Andromeda was ineligible since she'd been cast out of the family by her father for refusing to marry Lucius Malfoy and instead running off and marrying Ted Tonks.

The Potter Will was more complicated and more interesting. "See this," she said pointing at a paragraph. "Harry never should have gone to the Dursleys. Technically Albus had him kidnapped, but proving that in the Wizengamot would be hard to do because he's Dumbledore - sadly. Nevertheless, if he ever tries to reclaim Harry we have this to prevent it."

Remus was happy about that.

"Also, life is about to look up for you," she told him with a smile. "You have 10,000 Galleons coming your way, as does Sirius. Peter Pettigrew would also if he were alive. The rest goes to Harry when he's seventeen except for a small stipend that will go to me as his legal guardian for taking care of him." She looked at him. "Technically, I have to accept something, so I'll take one Galleon per month and give you the other 99 to take care of him. That is of course beyond what is in his trust vault which was to pay for his schooling and other spending money. You need to talk to Minerva and make sure any money that was paid to Hogwarts was returned."

"I would have managed, but that stipend does make things a little easier," he said as he relaxed. "I'll send a letter to Minerva tomorrow."

"Guardianship papers were already filed in the Ministry so we're good there. I'll coordinate with someone I know on the Muggle side to take care of those documents for you. I'll pick up the fees as they won't be much as I'm owed a few favors." She smiled at him. "I was a little concerned at first, but I think we got through it all mostly because Dumbledore doesn't seem to care about him anymore."

"That works for me." Lupin looked over to where Harry was sitting with Nymphadora and they were talking about what she was learning and she was morphing into various faces for him. "Thanks, Andromeda. You've been amazing."

"It was for family," she returned with a smile. "You should call me Andi as we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

[1991 (remainder of the school year)]

It was nearly Christmas before Remus found a child psychologist he liked. She didn't know about the Wizarding world, but eventually he decided that Harry was important enough and there was supposed be confidential information with doctors in cases like this. It turned out that Doris Collins was very surprised to learn about the Wizarding world, but not surprised to find out the same "people problems" existed in both places, and especially where the two worlds collided - such as with the Dursleys. Harry would go talk with her for an hour one day a week after school for a long time.

— — —

Albus stroked his beard as he looked in the empty room that had once held a trap. He'd hoped to bring Voldemort out in the open this year, and he'd hoped to use Harry Potter to do that. Instead, he had a dead girl and a missing magical mirror along with a professor. The missing professor wasn't really a concern to him and fortunately the girl was a Muggle-born, so no real political fallout from that. Also, the stone in the mirror had been a fake, so no real loss there. He was going to have to do some careful explaining to the Department of Mysteries from whence he'd borrowed the mirror though.

— — —

After talking with Doris Collins enough to get statuses on Harry, Remus decided he probably needed a psychologist too. He would have used Doris but she convinced him to find someone else since she specialized with children. Her recommendation of an Ed Heinlein worked out rather well after he agreed to keep the secret of the Wizarding world also.

[1992]

As the winter was turning into spring, Harry woke up one night screaming. When Remus rushed into the boy's room with wand in hand and flipped on the light, it was to find blood all over the boy's head. The light also got Harry's attention and he stopped screaming but was still panting.

"What wrong?" Remus asked as he conjured a small towel and sat on the side of the bed and started to clean Harry's face.

"Nightmare!" Harry gasped.

Remus wiped the boy's forehead and noted that the source of the blood was from the old curse scar. A quick mental calculation showed it to be about eighteen months since Harry had left the Dursleys and not been under their care and whatever magic Albus had put on that house. He wondered if that was significant.

"Hold still, you have a cut." Remus did a basic healing spell for cuts and was actually surprised it worked, as the scar had always resisted all healing spells before. There was now a thin pink line instead of a scar. With a smile he said, "Good news, I think you won't have a scar here anymore."

"Really?" Harry was excited about that; he didn't like people staring at him.

"Really," Remus answered gently. "Do you want to talk about your nightmare or just go back to sleep?"

"Sleep I think, but can you turn off the light and sit here for a bit?" Harry pleaded.

"Of course I can," Remus assured him as he turned off the light and returned to the bed. "How about a bedtime story too? I once knew this boy who looked a lot like you. He liked this red-haired girl but didn't want to show it too much..."

— — —

Albus removed the letter from an owl and noted it was from the Ministry. As he was about to open it another owl entered and dropped a Howler on his desk. It was so overcharged that it actually burst into flame and sparks landed in his beard. In his haste to get away and put the fire out, he didn't noticed the other correspondence on his desk catching on fire. He did hear yet another tearful tirade from a mother over the loss of her little girl.

He was sorry the girl had been lost, he really was; but no one knew where she'd gone and he had been suspended as Headmaster at the time, so he couldn't be totally blamed at least.

By the time he had all of the fires out, most of the paperwork that had been on his desk was lost, including the letter from the Ministry. He didn't worry about it because if it was important he was sure they'd get back to him on it.

Because he didn't read and respond to the notice about a Wizengamot meeting, he lost his position of Chief Warlock.

[1993]

Fudge looked at Dumbledore. "It's not up for debate, Black said he was going to Hogwarts so Dementors will be stationed around the school to protect it from Sirius Black and that's final!"

— — —

Meanwhile in another part of the country, a large black dog snuck up on a house. The dog needed help and he knew it so there was really only one person to go see. As he crept up on the house in the dark of night, he suddenly felt a spell hit him. While he tried to move, howl, anything, he found he could do nothing.

A bright beam of light from a hand torch suddenly shone on him and an outline of a man with a wand appeared. "Well, what magical animal do we have here? Harry, bring that light closer so I can see better."

The light approached and Sirius was blinded by it.

"Well, isn't this interesting," Lupin said before a spell caused Sirius to go unconscious.

— — —

Sirius woke to find himself human again and tied spread eagle on a metal bed frame. If it had been a buxom blonde doing this he thought it could have been interesting, but instead he found his old friend pointing a wand at him and his godson holding a long stick and looking like he was ready to swing it. "Remus and Harry-"

His friend cast a strong compulsion spell to tell the truth and he had trouble resisting in his weakened state.

"You will answer questions completely truthfully or you will be turned over to the Aurors," Remus told him seriously. "Did you betray James and Lily by giving up their secret hiding place?"

"No! I'd never do that! Peter did!"

"Did you kill the Muggles?" Lupin asked again.

"No, Peter did that too!"

Lupin looked at Harry. "I don't think you get to hit him with that stick for resisting arrest. You might as well put it down."

"Did you really think I did those things?" Sirius asked indignantly.

"I was inclined to think you were innocent, but I have to make sure," Lupin answered.

"Well, let me go and let me explain," Sirius begged. "Also take the compulsion off."

"Hell no I won't let you go yet," Lupin replied, offended the question was even asked. "And the compulsion stays on until I'm fully satisfied you're safe to be around. Now explain what happened in 1981."

Sirius told his story. It wasn't until he was done that Remus removed the ropes.

"What about the compulsion? I can still feel it," Sirius whined as he rubbed his wrists.

"They say confession is good for the soul," Lupin grinned. "Now, go take a shower because you stink. I'll lay out some clothes and fix something for you to eat. Don't bother Harry tonight as he has school tomorrow and needs to go to bed. Stay here in hiding and we'll talk it all through tomorrow night. I'm probably going to have to work out something with my psychologist so you can see him too. You have to be even more messed up in the head than normal after twelve years in Azkaban."

Sirius was only a little perturbed. At least he was no longer in Azkaban and he was about to eat real food.

— — —

Two weeks later Andi visited Remus's house. "Sorry, Sirius, but the Wizengamot still won't hear your case. That's mostly due to Fudge and his strings are being pulled by Lucius Malfoy, probably hoping his son will take over the house of Black; but the rest of the ultra conservatives don't really want to see you free either. It's corruption at its finest."

"There's no one who can make them give Sirius a trial?" Harry asked in anger.

"Sorry, kiddo," Sirius told him. "Look, I'll hide out here for a while longer so we can get to know each other more. I've only seen him once, but that psychologist has pointed out a few things already that makes me want to continue seeing him - still in disguise of course. After he's straightened me out some, I'll head to Paris which is close enough we can still visit from time to time. I can also work on my freedom with the ICW."

"All right," Harry said dejectedly.

"Chin up, Harry, I don't think I'll be leaving in less than year. It took Dr Heinlein that long to fix Remus." Sirius noted his godson looked happier at hearing they'd have at least a year together.

— — —

Albus had his head in his hands again as he thought about this school year. At least no one had died.

Sure, the Malfoy heir had been mauled by a Hippogriff, causing the animal to be put down and Hagrid had to go back to being only the grounds keeper again, with Grumbly-Plank becoming the teacher of Magical Creatures. But the boy didn't die and had been fully healed; plus he was a lot more humble after that almost life-ending experience. Then Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, but he had gone into hiding and hadn't been found or maybe he was dead. Since Black wasn't making a nuisance of himself it didn't matter.

No, the bad part was the Dementors had kissed a student just because the boy had been late to a Quidditch game and was by himself. The worst part was it was his "backup savior" and now Augusta Longbottom was after him like Molly Weasley was. He just hoped they never joined forces to come after him.

At least Amelia Bones couldn't pin that on him and Fudge had taken the blame. With some help from Albus, Fudge had also been forced out of office. Unfortunately, now Bones was the new Minister for Magic and it'd be harder to hide things from her. At least there was next year. He also needed to find Harry Potter again and hope he could figure out a way to make him the "savior" again.

[1994]

Albus sat in his office drinking a brandy and contemplating his lot in life, or perhaps his plans. He'd put a Confusion charm on the Goblet of Fire and entered Harry's name as a fourth school so the Triwizard Tournament would bring Harry Potter to him. The Goblet had spit out only three names despite his actions. He was sure he'd done everything correctly so all he could think was that Harry really didn't have magic. This called into question if the prophecy was even still valid - a question he didn't want to think about.

— — —

Ted, Andi, Dora (as she wanted to be called now), Remus, Sirius, and Harry were enjoying a lovely Christmas dinner at the Tonks's house. He was fourteen and feeling a lot better about himself and he was doing well in school. He even enjoyed playing in the occasional football game after school with friends.

"Would you pass the rolls," Harry asked his godfather. The man picked up a roll and tossed it at him, hitting him in the forehead. "Ha - ha - very funny." When he picked it up off the table his godfather tossed another roll at him but this time the roll hit something a few inches in front of Harry and bounced off.

All stared in shock for a moment, even Harry was surprised. Sirius stood up and walked over and slowly poked his finger where the roll had gone.

"Ouch, quit it," Harry told him when said finger hit him in the forehead.

Remus stood and pulled out his wand to cast a spell. He looked at the others in shock. "Harry registers as magical. Filius was right."

"What did Filius say?" Andromeda said in an overly controlled tone that boded ill for anyone who didn't give her an answer immediately.

"Uh, you see," Remus started quickly but paused to look at Harry for a moment. "You see, Filius had this idea that since we knew Harry was magical as a baby that he hadn't really lost his magic but that it was merely suppressed."

"Suppressed?!" Sirius looked at him in outrage. "It wasn't suppressed, it wasn't findable!"

Harry watched the adults argue and wished someone would get to the end.

"It only looked like it wasn't findable. His magic was, according to the theory, returning a result that looked like it wasn't there. The point was to hide because magic is what got him into trouble with his Relatives-Who-Shan't-Be-Named." Dora giggled at the name and slapped her hand over her mouth at a glare from her mother.

"But he's been away from them for like three and a half years. Why now? Why did it take so long?" Sirius asked.

"Filius said his magic probably wouldn't show itself until it felt safe to come out." Remus looked at Harry.

Harry shrugged. "That's good to hear I suppose and I do like where I am. Does this mean I need to go to Hogwarts now?"

"NO!" shouted Remus, Sirius, and Andi together, with Ted being only a fraction of a second behind.

Harry blinked and looked at his older friend and Dora shrugged before she asked, "If Hogwarts is so bad, why did you allow me to go?"

"Honey," Ted said and put a hand on her shoulder, "Hogwarts has always had its troubles, but it's been bearable until recently. Knowing what's happened at the school the last three years, I wouldn't let you attend now either. I'm afraid your last year there was the last normal year and it will probably not get any better until Albus Dumbledore is no longer Headmaster."

"But everyone looks up to him," she returned.

"We'll talk about it later, dear," her mother said before looking back at Harry. "I'm glad you're getting better, Harry."

"Thank you."

Remus looked at Sirius. "You said your therapy is about done, so I think it's time you went to Paris."

"Why now?" Sirius drawled, trying to puzzle out the idea and not getting it.

"You need to start working on your innocence with the ICW, but more importantly you need to learn what's going on there," Remus told him. "Harry is going to need a get wand this summer and he can't get one from Ollivander."

"Oh, right, we need to know where to go," Sirius agreed contritely for missing that.

— — —

Albus poured himself a third brandy as he thought about the year. They couldn't pin the student's death on him this time since an Acromantula had done it and it'd been because of the Tournament. But he'd lost his position in the ICW anyway because the Tournament had been his idea. Bollocks!

— — —

Sirius opened his arms wide and Harry ran to him and gave him a hug. "Happy fifteenth birthday, Harry."

"Thanks, it's good to be here. So this is where you live?" Harry asked as he let go and looked around.

"This is it. Hello Moony." He received a "Padfoot" back. "Get settled in the extra bedroom, Harry, then we'll go to dinner. We'll go get your wand tomorrow morning right after breakfast. I've learned where the best place to go is."

"Are you free yet?" Harry asked.

"Not yet, but the paperwork is in and I made an Unbreakable Vow that it's all true. I'll be free soon, at least everywhere but Britain. I'll be free there too one day," Sirius assured him.

[1995]

Harry sat up straighter in class as his teacher talked about the government. It was nothing he hadn't already known, generally, but for some reason it was presented differently this time and he also put the information together with something he'd learned in History of Magic from Andi. All together it gave him an idea. In his free time he started making notes before he wrote his letter. In fact, he wrote the letter four times before he was satisfied and he posted it. He didn't tell Remus or Sirius as he didn't want to get their hopes up.

— — —

Albus did his best to be patient as Poppy fixed him up. Again, he was grateful for his Phoenix who'd intercepted a Killing curse meant for him. How he'd not known his Defense Professor was really a Death Eater in disguise was beyond him. The ambush had been magnificently done and only Fawke's intervention had caused it to fail. While he was thankful to keep going for a while longer as he had many things to do, he was going to have to find a new Defense professor and it was only Halloween.

— — —

An aide handed over a stack of letters. "Your Majesty, the most interesting of your fan mail for this week." He wasn't sure why she really did this, even if she did say it was to keep in touch with her subjects. Surely that wasn't the real reason, was it?

He watched her read through the half dozen letters she'd been handed. When she smiled he knew which letter it was; the child's drawing had been very cute. When she frowned, he knew she'd reached the last one.

Queen Elizabeth handed all but one back. "File those with the others. I'll keep this for my meeting later this afternoon."

A few hours later Prime Minister John Major gave a short bow before he sat and opened his briefcase to pull out his notes for his weekly meeting with the queen. It went as expected until the end.

"There is one more topic." She paused and looked at the others in the room. "The rest will leave us," the Queen ordered. The security people weren't used to that order, but they had heard it before.

When they were alone, Major cleared his throat lightly. "Is there something special, Your Majesty?"

"Yes." She handed him a folder and waited.

Opening it, Major found a copy of a letter from a school child. The idea in it both broke his heart and angered him. Looking up, he saw the same anger in his monarch's expression.

"You will have that investigated to find if it is true or not. Use the special connection you have. We would like a report in two weeks on this alleged travesty of justice. The second page is ... ammunition to help you."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I shall do my best to find out and still be discreet." Major put the folder in his briefcase and then left. He hated that ugly little painting in the corner of his office and now he was going to have to use it. At least that Bones woman was more reasonable than the previous person.

— — —

The PM felt a little bad that it had taken seventeen days, but there had been obstacles at first. He was ushered in to see the queen and noted that they were alone; then again, this was supposed to be a short one topic meeting.

"Your Majesty, investigations from and on the other side have shown that the facts presented to you were correct." Major handed a folder over to her with fuller details. "That minister wants to help but told me the political climate in their parliament would prevent that justice. While she can force a trial, she believes the defendant would be found guilty regardless."

The Queen glanced up for a moment then back down to the full report. The look was not a kind one. When she finished she put it down. "The extra document did not help?"

"I reworded it only slightly, but your message could not be missed. I'm sorry," he apologized.

"It is not your fault they are corrupt," the Queen told him. "An edict will be written and you will be called when it is ready in a few days. Help will be required from the Royal Historian to ensure it is airtight."

"Of course, I'm always available to help." Major stood and left. Someone was going to be very unhappy and it wasn't him, he thought with a smile.

— — —

Amelia Bones, Minister for Magic, stared at the edict from the queen. Reading it three times hadn't helped it get any better. Going to the Hall of Records to find the treaty had only made it worse. So it was with great trepidation that she walked into a special session of the Wizengamot with all of her documents. She might have been minister but she'd never been able to assemble a good power block.

Thaddeus Ogden, the current Chief Warlock and a neutral, called the session to order and then turned it over to her.

"Members of the Wizengamot, I will jump straight to the reason for this meeting. I have talked with various members over the last month to ask their opinion about holding an unbiased trial for Sirius Black since he never received one." Murmurs broke out and Bones spoke louder. "No one has agreed to do so and now the Ministry itself is in peril for not having done so."

"No one wants the House of Black back," someone called out and several gave hearty approval over the murmurings.

Carefully because of its age despite the preservation magic on it, Bones unrolled the large parchment. "This is the treaty signed between what became the new Ministry of Magic and the King of England at the time. Look at the bottom where the signatories are. You will see that one of them is blinking red and it is the one for this ministry. That signifies that the Crown has found us in contempt of the treaty and we have only a short time to return to compliance."

"They're Muggles, who cares," Lucius Malfoy stood and said with a smile.

"You have not read this treaty then," she said firmly. "Our autonomy is a result of the treaty and our agreement to uphold the major laws of the land - which include the right to a fair trial for those accused of crimes. We are allowed the Ministry for Magic but the Crown, Queen Elizabeth in this case, is still our monarch. We must obey or suffer the consequences."

"Again, they're Muggles and can do nothing to us," Malfoy said confidently.

"The Queen can certify the treaty as broken and if Magic agrees, then the Ministry is dissolved. That will also mean we will be in violation of the Secrecy of Magic with the ICW," Bones declared.

"Yet again, much ado about nothing," Malfoy said and sat.

"The original signers committed to the ideals here and they are signed in blood, so it will be blood magic enforcing the treaty." That got their attention and the room fell silent. "It won't be the blood of those families as it was signed as a government, so it will be the actual Ministry - the people that make up the Ministry which includes this body - that will suffer the consequences. I can not say for certain what will happen, but it is very probable the treaty could either take our magic or our life!"

Shouts started all over the chamber. Amelia Bones smiled grimly to herself as she rolled the treaty back up. She'd definitely grabbed their attention. Now she had to build on that - carefully.

— — —

Remus spit out his morning tea as he looked at the Daily Prophet. "Harry, look, Sirius was just declared innocent by the Wizengamot!"

"He can come home!" Harry shouted and jumped around in celebration. "I'll call him on the mirror."

— — —

"Hi Filius!" Harry shouted at their visitor as he let him in the front door.

"Hello, Harry," the short man said with amusement. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit since the short time last Christmas break, but I have more time this summer. How have you been doing?"

"It's been great. School is going well; I'll take my O-Level exams at the end of next year and I think I'll do really well. Remus and Sirius have been teaching me magic when they have time too." Harry beamed. "Sirius even took me to a place where he could teach me to fly a broom and it was a lot of fun! I had to be in disguise, but it was worth it."

Flitwick laughed. "I'm glad it's going so well for you. I was thinking of coming over every Saturday and teaching you; is that all right with you?"

"Remus told me and that'd be great." Harry paused. "You're still not going to tell Dumbledore, are you?"

"No, it'll still be our secret," Flitwick said with a chuckle and conspiratorial look.

[1996]

Albus looked at the pictures of the six students on his desk. He tried to have a picture of each student as they came through the school so he could look back occasionally and reminisce. This group though; he sighed. He'd tried so hard to redeem them but he'd actually had to expel them after he found them assaulting several younger students, almost killing them. He knew he was going to have to expel thm if he wanted to stay Headmaster as he had little political leverage anymore and this was big enough he couldn't hide it. What a waste, he thought.

— — —

Harry parked his van and walked into the pub. Sure, he could have let Remus Apparate him home after his shift was over, but he was now seventeen as of a few days ago and his driver's license was new so he had to use it. This also allowed him to stop at their favorite pub on the way home, making him feel a little more grown up. Sort of like having his summer job at the docks with Remus made him feel more grown up.

He walked over to the bartender and ordered a small meal with his beer, as required. The man knew he and Remus well and didn't bother with the age check as Harry looked as if he could pass for eighteen and as long as Harry didn't have more than one. Grabbing a bowl of pretzels, he headed to a table to wait.

As he looked around, besides the usual customers he saw a new couple playing darts. Just a little to the side was a girl about his age watching them, but not looking too happy. She was slim with jeans that looked painted on and they looked amazing on her. Her simple T-shirt showed she was definitely a girl. She turned a little and he could see her face and she was cute with her blonde pixie cut.

He had dated a little, but had never been serious with anyone, so he didn't expect much. Picking up his beer and pretzels he walked over. Not wanting to push his luck he stood next to her table instead of taking a seat uninvited; she looked up at him. "If you'd like someone to talk to, you can share my pretzels." He bobbed the bowl.

She smiled and showed she was even cuter than he first thought. "That's not a great pickup line, but sure."

He grinned and took a seat. As he was about to pull his chair up he noticed something about her. "I have a better pickup line if you'd like to hear it."

She looked at him for a moment and seemed to be having to hold her mirth in. "I'll probably regret this, but tell me."

He glanced down briefly at her pocket again before he leaned over and she leaned toward him to hear. In a whisper he said, "Is that a wand in your pocket because I think it's summoning me to you."

She stiffened, went wide-eyed, and stared at him - nervously.

"Don't worry," he told her in a normal voice, "I have one too at home. I don't normally bring it with me though." He could tell she still didn't believe him. In a soft voice he asked, "Did you go to Hogwarts?"

She blinked and seemed to relax a little. "I thought you were just making that up and got lucky." She looked at him for a moment. "You do look a little familiar."

He studied her for a moment too. "Hmm, so do you. What year did you start?"

"1991."

He blinked. "Me too, except-"

"Except you weren't accepted," she said in a rush. "You're Harry-"

"Shush!" he told her with a finger to his lips. "You were the girl in front of me. I'm sorry I don't remember your name." He wouldn't tell her about his magic unless she became a good friend.

"Sally-Anne Perks, but you can call me Sal, my family does." She held out her hand and they shook.

Harry's sandwich came out and he thanked the man who brought it.

"Did you like the school?" Harry asked. "I've heard a lot of things about it."

Sal shook her head and looked down. "No, I left after the first year and came back to normal school. I'm not very powerful and when that girl died..."

Harry nodded. "I heard about that and other things. Makes me glad I didn't go."

"So normal school for you too?" she asked, forcing that nightmare away.

"Yep. I did well on my O-Levels. How about you?" he asked.

"I had to work really hard to make up for the year I missed, but yeah I just took mine too and did pretty well," she said with a smile. "Do you come here often?"

"Yes, it's our favorite place; that's for my guardian and me. We don't live too far away," he told her. "I haven't seen you here before."

She shook her head. "We live a little further away and my parents wanted to try something new, but it's close enough we could come back again sometime." She smiled shyly at him.

Harry smiled back "I hope you do."

He found her easy to talk to and her parents seemed pretty nice too when they came over. It hadn't been hard to get her phone number before he left.

— — —

The next morning, Harry got ready to drive to work. He had the company van because he was supposed to pick up some supplies from a place near where he lived before going into work. As he'd been instructed, he turned on the small camera on his dash and headed in. He was told the camera was to protect him in case there was an accident, to show the other driver was at fault; but he suspected it was more to protect the company.

He wasn't too far from the supplier and he was approaching a traffic light that was green so he didn't slow down. Suddenly and taking him completely by surprise, a group of people just appeared ... in the road ... right in front of him. He slammed on the brakes but hit all five of them and sent them flying like bowling pins.

"I'm so screwed!" he repeated to himself over and over as he came to a stop. Leaning on the steering wheel and taking a moment more to try to catch his breath with his heart beating hard enough he thought it was going to burst, he finally got out and joined a few others who had stopped and rushed over.

"Kid, stop and sit down before you pass out; you're really pale. Don't worry about it, I saw the whole thing and you had no chance to stop. I don't even know where they came from but it wasn't your fault."

Harry looked at the tall man and, feeling weak, decided he was right. He started to sit on the ground when he saw the most disfigured person he'd ever seen - the man didn't even have a nose. Then he saw it: a wand. He knew how they had arrived here now, missing the sidewalk by only a couple of meters. As he looked again and saw the dark robes and masks, he also realized who they were: Death Eaters. Remus and Sirius - and Andi he added at the last second - weren't going to be happy with him for drawing attention to himself like this.

"I'm so screwed," he said to himself yet again.

Between the eye-witnesses, the camera in his van, and a camera on the intersection Harry hadn't even been aware of, he was cleared of all charges, but he also stopped driving for the rest of the summer and needed a half dozen sessions with Dr Collins.

[1997]

On Christmas morning, Sirius handed Harry and Sal each a box, since she'd come over too. Harry had celebrated Christmas with her parents last night. Each box was bigger than his head and a cube and looked just alike.

They both ripped off the wrapping paper and opened their boxes at the same time. Harry gasped as he pulled out the white helmet. A set of keys was inside too. "Really?" he asked with hope and excitement.

"You've been good and shown you can drive responsibly after the accident that wasn't your fault. You also passed your lessons. It's around back," Sirius told him as the two teens raced out the back door to find a motorcycle in metallic blue.

"Yes!" Harry shouted. "It's the one I wanted."

With care, Harry pulled out his wand and changed the color of his helmet to match the motorcycle. He watched Sal pull out her wand and change her helmet to be a bright pink. With a mischievous look, she also transfigured a blonde ponytail with fake hair to come out the back, getting laughter from the other three.

They put their helmets on and sat on the cycle, with Sal snuggling up to him and putting her arms around his waist. He thumbed the start switch and the motor roared to life. It was just like the times he'd practiced at the motorcycle lessons he'd taken. Twisting the throttle a little, the cycle started moving. As soon as he turned the corner he twisted the throttle all the way and kicked dirt and gravel behind them causing Sal to scream in delight. He had no idea where to go but he wanted to ride and he had Sal with him.

— — —

It was a summer Sunday afternoon and Sal was over yet again, this time studying the lessons Filius had dropped off only a few hours ago. His hand rubbed her back as they read. He liked it when she came over which was very frequently. She couldn't Apparate very far, but they lived close enough she could make that distance in one jump. She appreciated Filius's lessons as much as he did.

Their visitor wards pinged, the same ones that had detected Sirius years ago. Harry looked out through gauzy curtains and frowned at the old man who was walking up their driveway since he couldn't Apparate any closer to the house. Looking over he said, "Remus, the old man somehow found us. He's all yours. Come on, Sal." He closed his book with the lesson in it and took it with him to set on the kitchen table; she copied him.

Quietly, Harry and Sal went out the back door. As they put on their helmets he said quietly, "How about some pretzels?"

She grinned at their personal joke and nodded, then mounted the bike behind him.

When Harry heard the loud knock on the front door, he thumbed the start button, popped the clutch, and twisted the throttle hard, leaning just enough to turn the bike around the corner of the house while they were still going slow enough then straightened as they picked up speed and roared down the driveway going far too fast for anyone at the front of the house to do anything.

Albus stared in shock as the loud machine with two wheels and two people on its back roared by. He couldn't see who they were, but he could guess at one of them, as that was who he wanted to see.

"Hello, Albus," was said casually and caused him to twist around to see Remus Lupin looking at him with disappointment.

"Was that Harry? I wanted to talk to him."

"Yes that was him but he didn't want to talk to you because he doesn't like you." Remus studied him for a moment noting how old the man looked now. "Since I know you won't leave without talking, I suppose you might as well come in so we can have a conversation. You'll only get one."

"But we have many things to talk about and I need to talk to Harry!" Albus insisted.

"If you insist on us talking, I'll start," Lupin told him with a superior look.

"Let's start with what you did in 1981. We've found the Potter Last Will and you were not the executor of the Will nor were you even mentioned in the Will. That means you telling Hagrid to take Harry was kidnapping. Also, placing Harry with the Dursleys was forbidden in the Will because Lily knew her sister would treat Harry like crap, which happened."

"But-" Albus tried to protest.

"No, still my turn," Lupin told him. "I've since found out you had a Mrs Figg watching the Dursleys. I don't know how she didn't know about all of the beatings Harry suffered, but I can only conclude she was either half-blind or thought the beatings acceptable or perhaps both."

"A little punishment never hurt anyone," Albus snuck in.

"Albus, if I punished you like Harry was punished you wouldn't live to see tomorrow. Here," Lupin grabbed a book off the shelf and pulled out two photographs, "Look at those; go on, really look at all of the bruises and scars he had when I was brought in when he was eleven."

The old man looked ill as he set the photos down on a table.

"Then there was all of the mental damage done. He's an intelligent young man, but he was mentally and emotionally scarred too. It took a doctor/healer who specialized in problems with the mind nearly four years to help him understand he wasn't at fault and to become a fairly normal young man.

"What did you do, Albus? Why when you found out he had no magic, you essentially threw him in the bin like a piece of rubbish. If it wasn't for Filius, Poppy, and to a very small extent a very guilty feeling Minerva, I shudder to think what would have happened to Harry if I hadn't taken him in." Lupin shook his head.

"But you shouldn't have been able to because you're a werewolf," Albus said.

"I'm not his legal guardian in the Wizarding world, Andromeda Tonks is. I am his legal guardian in the Muggle world though. Andromeda lets him stay with me Monday through Friday. She keeps and teaches him on the weekends and when I'm indisposed.

"So while I'm trying to help Harry become a normal boy because of your errors, instead you are putting dangerous artifacts in a castle full of children and got the Granger girl killed. I'm told Minerva was very angry as she liked the girl as she had great potential. You, however, didn't really care, did you? Nope, and you managed to sweep it all under the rug because she was a Muggle-born, despite you saying you stand up for them ... you hypocrite." The last was said viciously causing the Headmaster to look down.

"I hear you got into a spot of trouble over losing a magical mirror too." Remus chuckled, enjoying the old man's discomfort.

"Then the next year, you can't figure out what's causing trouble at the school and the Weasleys' youngest and only girl is lost in the bowels of the school and died. I understand that broke Molly's heart and she could probably power a Killing curse for you now.

"You lost your Chief Warlock position over that and you almost lost your Headmaster position." Lupin shook his head. "I can't imagine how many favors you had to call in to avoid that."

"Nearly all I had," Albus admitted quietly.

"I'm not surprised. Arthur has been against you at every turn since, which is most of the reason you had so much trouble with the Ministry," Lupin told him.

"You should also be glad Sirius is in Paris at the moment with his girlfriend. I'm sure he could cast a Killing curse at you too."

"Why would he be that upset at me?" Albus asked confused.

"Why? Are you senile or just daft?" Lupin asked with hostility. "You stood up and vouched for Severus Snape, a known Death Eater with a real Dark Mark, but you wouldn't lift a finger for Sirius, someone who fought beside you after Hogwarts and someone who you watched for seven years at Hogwarts, someone who never turned his back on James, and someone who doesn't have the Dark Mark. Not only did you do that once, you did it a second time in 1993 when Sirius finally escaped from that hellhole. So yes, Sirius would dance on your grave if you had one." Lupin had to calm himself for a moment while Albus looked down, not able to look him in the eye.

"Yet again for the third year in a row another student essentially died, being kissed by a Dementor so now he's a husk lying with his parents in the long term care ward until his body gives up. Sure, you could blame Neville Longbottom's misfortune on Fudge so he was tossed out of office and became a pariah, but it happened at your school when it never should have. I'm so amazed you still have the Headmaster job.

"In what would have been Harry's fourth year, for no good reason you resurrect the forsaken Triwizard Tournament and yet another student dies during it. I know for a fact Amos Diggory blames you for Cedric's death even if it was a giant spider that killed him."

"Cedric knew it was dangerous and entered the Tournament willingly," Albus tried to defend himself.

"Oh please," Lupin stopped him, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "He was barely seventeen and probably thought he was invincible because he had so little life experience. I see it in most his age, including Harry even though I try to curb that." He sighed. "At least you didn't drag Harry into that fiasco."

Albus shifted uncomfortably. "The Goblet wouldn't accept him as he has no magic."

Lupin's eyes shot up. "You bastard. I think I might be able to do a Killing curse now."

Albus looked at his host in alarm.

"Fortunately for all of us, you included, Harry's magic didn't reshow itself until Christmas of that year."

"Harry's magical?!" Albus gasped. "But I couldn't find any in him! How?!"

"Harry is highly magical, although it's only in the last year with Filius's help that he's been getting good control over it."

"I've wondered if Filius was helping you. But how is Harry magical?" Albus asked again.

"Minerva has helped too. She's the one who returned the Potter Invisibility Cloak to us when she found it in your office a few years ago.

"But to answer your question, Filius's theory is that Harry's magic hid itself to protect him. When you did your spell to see if Harry was magical, his magic manipulated the spell to return no results. It didn't come out until it felt safe, which took over three years.

"It took eighteen months for his curse scar to go away. My theory is something you did with the wards on the Dursleys prevented the protection Lily did for him to get rid of the what made the scar cursed. So again your fault."

"But..." Albus looked to be thinking hard and then had a lost look.

"Back to history, somehow you kept your Headmaster role again, but at least you were thrown out of the ICW. The timing on that was very good as shortly after that Sirius started his work to get his named cleared with the ICW, which they did in about a month. That made him free everywhere except Britain because of ... politics and corruption."

"All of us were at least a little disappointed that Death Eater polyjuiced as the Auror you had teaching Defense failed to kill you after a Hogsmeade weekend. Thankfully, the Auror wasn't hurt too bad even if he did quit and the Death Eater was captured thanks to some quick wand work by Filius after you went down."

"That disappointment was counter-balanced by something Harry did, and he did it without telling us - the little scamp," Lupin said affectionately with a large smile. "You see, he found out that the magical world was still subject to the Queen and he wrote a letter to her detailing Sirius's injustice. It wasn't until much later Sirius found that out of course, but he was very pleased.

"Anyway, that letter started a chain of events that led to a trial in the Wizengamot, overseen by someone from the Queen's court, and Sirius was finally declared innocent with a large payment for restitution." Lupin smiled. "It also started some clean-up of the Ministry, although I'm sure it'll take years to root it all out. I'm really proud of Harry also, of course."

"Last summer, while Voldemort and his band of terrorists were wreaking havoc around the country on a weekly basis and your precious Order of the Phoenix sat on their arses - Merlin I'm glad Sirius and I didn't join this time - and the Ministry only caught a few here and there; we lived safely in the Muggle world that has justice.

"In fact, last summer Harry ran into a lovely young lady and became friends with her. You can see her in that picture," Lupin pointed. "You may not recognize her but that's Sally-Anne Perks who left Hogwarts after her first year because you scared her away by letting the Granger girl be killed by that troll. Anyway, they met up and have been a cute couple ever since. I don't know if it'll last or not, but they've been good for each other so far.

"I suppose the real highlight of last year was Harry having an accident while driving and running over Voldemort, the three Lestranges, and Lucius Malfoy, killing them all instantly. It messed with Harry's mind and he quit driving for a while, but I think he did the world a lot of good. Sirius privately wished Snape had been added to that list, but he'd never tell Harry that considering how difficult of a time Harry had after the accident. In the end, I think I sort of agree with Sirius."

"That's what happened to Voldemort? Harry really did kill him and fulfilled the prophecy!" Albus was aghast. "How come I didn't hear of this sooner?"

"Because you and most of the Wizarding world are so arrogant and ignore the rest of the world. As for the prophecy, Sirius and I were aware of it, but decided it didn't really matter or require any extra notice and it turned out we were right. Snape's Dark Mark is gone, isn't it?" Lupin watched him closely.

Finally Albus nodded. "For almost a year."

"On August 3rd of last summer," Lupin told him.

"But we're still having attacks," Dumbledore said.

"You'll notice the number has gone way down and they're not as large," Lupin pointed out. "My guess is that it's from the left over Death Eaters you never bothered to pursue. Perhaps you should do that since you probably know or can find out who they are.

"Why did I give you this history, Albus?" Lupin asked rhetorically. "Because I wanted you to learn how much damage you did with your scheming and manipulations. Honestly, I can't come up with anything you did that was good and I think I can make the case that almost everything you've done over the last seventeen or so years made life worse for everyone."

Lupin leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "Albus, I suggest you retire as Headmaster. We'd all prefer that to happen immediately, but since the new school year starts tomorrow, we'll let this be your last term and leave at the end of this calendar year as long as you announce your retirement by Halloween."

Albus sat up straighter and a fire burned in his eyes for the first time in the meeting. "You can't threaten me like that."

Remus ignored him. "If you do not, this entire story with even more details will come out in a book in time for Christmas sales, both here in Britain and all over Europe and in all other large nations. I suspect that if it comes to that, you won't be Headmaster for the spring term anyway.

"I'm very impressed with the work Sirius has done on it; I've only had to do a little editing on it. The publisher has only read the first chapter and they're salivating to put the book on sale. It's amazing what people will tell you over a free pint, especially those who like to gossip. There stories of you and Grendelwald, stories about your family when you were young, stories what you did and didn't do as a young teacher, just all kinds of stories," Remus said with predatorily.

Albus had shrunk back in his chair as he heard their plans. After a moment he asked, "If I resign after this term, you won't publish the book?"

"We won't publish it if you'll leave us alone and while you're alive." Remus smirked almost evilly. "The book will be published eventually as I've heard from Poppy you're not in good health, something about getting yourself cursed."

"That's supposed to confidential and secret!" Albus objected.

"Oh, you want that hidden like your other indiscretions? We don't think so. This will be the Marauders' last and biggest prank. Harry is growing up to be a fine young man and has done well to fill James's shoes to take over the Potter family. Go and leave us alone, Albus; no one here likes you because of what you've done to us."

Albus rose slowly, aware there was nothing he could do. All of his plans had gone awry. He hadn't even been needed to get rid of Tom Riddle. Interestingly, he didn't think the Horcruxes were all gone, but apparently that didn't matter. He looked at the non-moving picture of Harry and the Perks girl, whom he'd forgotten about and didn't have a picture of in his collection, just like he didn't have one of Harry. He noticed Harry's curse scar really was gone now just as Remus had mentioned. "I'm sorry," he said so quietly Remus barely heard it before the old man left.

A very satisfied Remus Lupin smiled after that cathartic conversation. Maybe now Harry could have peace and enjoy his magic.

(A/N: There you go, another "Harry doesn't go to Hogwarts" type story that I decided to have fun with. As for the Horcruxes, once Harry's scar and the diary were gone then Tommy became road-kill and that was it. The rest of the Horcruxes weren't enough to bring him back as over half of his soul was "gone" and so the remaining fragments faded. No, Remus and Sirius didn't know about the Horcruxes. What happened in the Chamber of Secrets? It was never found so no one knew what happened to Ginny, other than her hand fell off of Molly's clock. It turns out that a partial soul isn't enough to take over a body with a full soul, but Tommy's efforts did kill her (and that fragment when he failed). So in the end, because Harry wasn't there, four students died and I let Draco be only mauled instead of killed or it would have been five. Neville was lost in year 3 because I wanted to remove the "backup savior". Until next time...)