STORY TITLE: Harry Read The Books
PART: 03 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (
red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Hentai-Foundry, Questionable Questing
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me; they all belong to JK Rowling and her publishers.
SUMMARY: Christmas of Third Year, in addition to the Firebolt, Harry finds a series of seven books, and a pamphlet titled 'And What Happens Afterward.'
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Harry/Multi
RATING: NC-17
WORD COUNT: <5,866>
SPOILERS: None, if you don't know how the Harry Potter story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
WARNINGS: If You've ever read any of my stories, you know what to expect, Oral, anal, Femme-slash, Dom/sub, multiple partners, and Femme-cest.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: To avoid the Underage issue, Hogwarts starts at 13 years old, so everybody is at least 16 when they start doing the nasty. There isn't any lemon planned for the first few chapters, and only when it makes sense in the story to include one after that.
#
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Empty Classroom
Saturday, December 23rd, 1993
10 Minutes after the Prior Scene
After making sure that nobody would be able to find him, he put a Notice-Me-Not spell on the door into the room. Harry had checked that there were no portraits or sculptures that could be used to watch him. Satisfied, Harry cleaned the dust off the Professor's desk and chair, wondering what class had been held here, and why it stopped? Deciding to check with Remus to see if he knew, he sat down in the chair and opened the letter from Amelia Bones.
"Happy Christmas, Mister Potter,
My name is Amelia Bones, and as my niece Susan would have told you, I'm the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, usually just called 'the DMLE,' it's less of a mouthful.
First of all, please accept my thanks and congratulations for capturing Peter Pettigrew. You probably weren't aware of this, but we were able to interrogate Pettigrew under Veratiserum, the strongest Truth Serum that is known to the Wizarding World. Several interesting things came out of the interrogation, including the names of all of Voldemort's closest followers. That, and other information, allowed us to ruin the holiday for quite a few 'upstanding citizens' and interrogated them under Veratiserum as well.
As a result of the interrogations, we currently have all of the Marked Death Eaters in custody, including your Potions Professor, and their trials are to start on Wednesday. The accused are given that time to engage a Barrister as well as try to formulate a defense of some kind. I'm determined that we will be conducting every single trial exactly by the book; there won't be any appeals saying we didn't follow procedure.
But enough of the official part of this letter, I'm happy to tell you that you will be receiving an invitation for you and a plus one to the Ministry Winter Ball, that will be held on Thursday, December 30
th of this year, starting at Eight O'clock, so plan to be there by 7:30 at the latest, this will be your first public appearance, and, like it or not. You will be judged on your performance. I'll be there to try and answer any of the questions you aren't sure of. Now that I've got you nervous and wanting to decline, I have to recommend you attend. You are being invited personally by Minister Fudge, and it would embarrass him if you didn't show up. The Minister is a politician, but he's showing signs of being a very effective one, and there is no upside to embarrassing him.
Now, since this is a Ball, there will be dancing, so if you don't know how to dance, I recommend learning as quickly as you can. You will be receiving a timed portkey with your invitation that will take you from Hogwarts directly to the front lobby of the Ministry. Another thing, you will need dress robes and a suit under the robes. I recommend Brummel's Gentlemen's Attire in Hogsmeade. Speak to Beau, who is the owner. I'll contact him to let him know you will be coming to see him.
In this envelope, you will find something you should find extremely useful. When I was talking to the Minister, he mentioned the situation with the Hogsmeade slip and realizing that it would make it difficult to get ready for the Ball, I dug up a blank permission form and took it to your Godfather. Sirius was happy to sign it so that you can join in on Hogsmeade weekends.
If you send me a description of your owl, Hedwig, and if she will allow it, one of her feathers, I will make sure that she is added to the wards that are protecting Sirius while he recovers.
Sincerely,
Amelia S. Bones, Director DMLE
Looking inside the envelope, there was the signed permission slip, and he pulled one of his notepads and a biro out of his pocket and made a note to say thank you to Madame Bones for thinking about his situation.
Looking at his horrid handwriting, Harry knew that people would get an impression of him by looking at his penmanship. He'd also received a couple of firm comments on his essays from Professor McGonagall.
Deciding to use the Room of Requirements to practice his penmanship, he called for Dobby and, when the elf arrived, practically bouncing with excitement, Harry asked the elf if he was free, or had he bound himself to Harry?
If an elf could go pale, Dobby would have looked like he'd seen an unfriendly ghost, pulling his ears nervously, before admitting that yes, he had bound himself to Great Harry Potter Sir before sending bad former master down the stairs.
"That's fine, Dobby, and welcome to the Potter Family," Harry said with a smile, putting out his hand to rest on Dobby's shoulder. Amazingly, Dobby actually started growing, and he was standing straighter, his dirty pillowcase changed to a clean white pillowcase, with the Potter Crest over the left breast.
After Dobby admired himself in the mirror he created, he turned to Harry, and asked, "What are your orders, Master?"
Harry blinked in confusion, not expecting clear speech, instead of the normal way he was used to hearing Dobby talk, but put it aside for later. "Yes, Dobby, I'm going to be spending time in the Come and Go Room. Can you get meals ready for about seven days? I may not need the whole time, but it is better to have more time than I need."
"Certainly, Sir, and you would want your clothing taken care of as normal?"
"Yes, please. And now that you are part of the Potter family, such as it is, are you able to feel if there are any more Potter elves still alive?"
Dobby closed his eyes briefly, frowning in concentration before opening his eyes and saying, "Yes, Master, there are at least two, maybe three hands of Potter elves, and some of them are growing weak for not having the Potter magic feeding them."
"That won't do at all! Before you worry about the meals and my clothes, will you bring all the elves to me, in groups of five, starting with the weakest ones? Bring them here to this room, and I will welcome them back to the Potter family."
Harry spent the next 45 minutes reconnecting the Potter Elves to his magic, and all of the elves underwent the same change that Dobby did, before popping away back to their houses to start repairing them for the Master to live in.
#
The Room of Requirement
Five Days in Time Compression Later
About Twenty Minutes Outside Time
Harry was massaging his right hand, working the soreness out of the fingers and palm. It was tough, but he finally learned how to write legibly with either a quill or a biro. Now that he won't embarrass himself with his handwriting, he could work on writing Madame Bones a letter. Harry assumed that she was a pureblood, since she had such a high position in the Ministry. He needed to find a way to observe the proper formalities when writing to her, and he could accomplish two things at once by visiting the Hufflepuff Sett, because he was going to ask Susan to be his date to the Ministry Ball on Thursday.
Harry ended the time compression, and less than a minute later, Dobby arrived with the clothes he had been wearing and took the dirty clothes and towels with him to get them cleaned.
Walking quickly toward the stairs, he finally reached the Sett and took a minute to catch his breath. Using the steps to go down eight floors shouldn't make him puff like Dudley running around the track. He needed to get more exercise than just sitting on a broom, but he could look into what he needed to do in the morning. He had something much more important to do.
Knocking on the door, he would swear it looked like a doorway into a hobbit's burrow, the way it was described in the books. But luck was with him, and Susan was the Puff that opened the door. Her face lit up in a smile when she saw him, and Harry grinned back and said, "Hi again, Susan. Did you have a couple of minutes to talk?"
"Sure, just let me grab my bag and I'll be ready."
"You won't need to bring luggage, Susan, we are just heading toward the library." He said with a smile, letting the girl know he was teasing. Very maturely, Susan stuck her tongue out at him before pulling it back and giggling.
When Susan closed the door behind her, he offered her his arm, and Susan blinked in surprise. She wasn't expecting that, but she took it, and they started walking. When they reached the stairs going up, Harry stopped and turned to look at her.
"I actually had two reasons I wanted to talk to you without everybody and his pet kneazle listening in. The letter from your Aunt told me that I will be receiving an invitation from the Minister to the Ball on Thursday night. The invitation is for me and a guest, and I wanted to ask if you would be willing to be my date?"
Susan's smile was blinding, and she said, "Of course I will, Harry, and thank you for asking me. But what was the other reason you wanted to talk?"
"I need to write back to your Aunt, but, assuming that you are purebloods, I have no idea how to write a letter using the proper forms, and I hope you can help me find the information. That's why I said we would be heading toward the Library."
Susan thought for a couple of seconds before saying, "I know just where to get that information, but, while Auntie will appreciate you making the effort, it's not really necessary; we aren't that formal, unless we need to be."
"That's good to know, but I still need to know the formal language for any other correspondence I write, so it won't do me any harm to practice with a letter to your Aunt, right?"
"True, and since you were raised in the Muggle world, you don't know the proper greetings, and what the faux pas to avoid are. And, from what I've heard, on the Express our first trip, Draco Malfoy offered his hand to you, and you refused to shake. That is a grievous offence to the traditional families. That's almost certainly why he has done everything he could to cause trouble for you."
Harry groaned, "He's been a pain in my rear because I didn't know I was insulting him. Ron Weasley was right there, he could have said something, his family are purebloods."
"But they are not a traditionalist family, so he might not have realized the significance. If it had been one of his brothers, they would have known and told you."
"Shite! Oh, sorry about the language, but I've got to try and fix this. Maybe we can find an apology letter with the other information."
"I'm sure we will," then she gave him a quick grin, "And don't worry about the language, I'm not about to fill your mouth with soap, I've been known to use some choice words myself when needed."
Harry mock wiped the sweat from his brow, making Susan laugh, and, still laughing, they made their way to the Library.
#
Hogwarts Library
Immediately After the Prior Scene
Harry saw that Hermione and Luna were surrounded by piles of books and felt a twinge of guilt that he wasn't helping, but then he realized, if Malfoy and McNair were both put in Azkaban, there wouldn't be anyone pushing for Buckbeak's execution. He couldn't tell Hermione or Luna that, sadly, they would want to know where he found out about Malfoy and the others, and he wasn't going to say anything until it was in the Prophet.
Still arm in arm, Susan led him deeper into the stacks until she found the section she was looking for. Reaching up with her free hand, she pointed at two particular books, and, since she only had one hand free, Harry was a gentleman and used his free hand to pick up the second book. Books in hand, they looked at each other and laughed quietly; they didn't want to disturb the Ogre of the Library after all.
Finding a table further back, against a window, they sat down, and Susan helped him find the different letters he needed. He started with the letter to Susan's Aunt, since that would be the easiest one to write.
Before starting the letters, Harry cast a silencing spell around them, sound could come in, but not go outside the range of the spell.
It took a bit over half an hour before the draft letter was approved by Susan, including the description of Hedwig, and he carefully copied the letter onto the parchment he had Dobby bring him from his trunk.
Folding it up, he set that letter to the side, awaiting one of his pretty bird's feathers before being sent off, and started working on phrasing an apology to somebody he would just as soon feed to Aragog as look at him. Still, he was in the wrong, not deliberately, but he did give offense to Draco, so he could hopefully get the boy to treat him neutrally, if not cordially.
It took twice as long to get an acceptable draft of the letter, and, after working his hand to relax the muscles, he started transferring the letter onto parchment.
Heir Malfoy,
I was just informed, less than two hours ago, that I gave insult to you inadvertently by not shaking your hand on the Hogwarts Express. I was unaware of the importance of the handshake in the Wizarding World, and I sincerely apologize.
To offer slight mitigation of my ignorance, I do not know if you were aware, but from the night my parents were killed until Hagrid delivered my Hogwarts letter, I had no idea that magic even existed, or that I was a Wizard. I was raised by the worst examples of muggles that you could imagine, living down to every negative opinion you would have about muggles. I was forbidden even to mention anything that wasn't their idea of 'normal'. And, while I am fond of Hagrid, he was absolutely not the person to introduce me to the Wizarding World. And, my Magical Guardian, who would be expected to teach me what I needed to know, up until my Birthday last summer, had been locked up unjustly in Azkaban. And I'm told that Azkaban is no one's idea of a pleasure spot. Once my Godfather, Lord Black, recovers from his ordeal, I would expect that he would start educating me.
And, with my apology, if you accept it, we can start again. I doubt that we would be friends, but if we can agree to neutrality, it would make both of our lives less difficult, agreed?
Sincerely,
Harry J. Potter
Heir Potter
"Well, I've done what I could to fix things, and it's up to him now. And thank you again for all your help, I would have been lost trying to write something on my own. I probably would have insulted your ancestors or something." Harry finished with a smile, which was returned by Susan, who said,
"Oh yes, that would be very bad, it might even get you transferred to Slytherin!"
He stared at her in disbelief for a long moment before his lip twitched, and he started to laugh, and Susan was laughing right with him.
After a quick trip to the Owlery, Hedwig shook loose one of her wing feathers without being asked, and once again Harry wondered at just how intelligent his owl is. Putting the feather into the envelope, and soon Hedwig was on her way to London to deliver her letter.
Once she was out of sight, Susan handed him the letter to Draco, and he gave it to one of the school owls to deliver.
Their growling stomachs reminded them it was time for tea, so they headed back to the Great Hall, and without even thinking about it, Harry invited Susan to join him at the Gryffindor table.
Susan agreed but said that in return, he needed to visit the Hufflepuff table for breakfast. Harry smiled and, on a whim, gave his new friend, possibly his girlfriend, a florid bow, making her snicker, "Get up, you prat, I'll tell you when it's time to start bowing to me, but it's not yet!"
They were standing close to Hermione and Luna, and while Hermione snorted at Susan's comment, Luna just looked at the two of them with a dreamy smile.
Sitting down opposite Hermione and Luna, Harry introduced Susan to the girls. Hermione already knew Susan, of course, but since Luna was in a different year and house, she didn't know Susan at all.
Ron was sitting a bit further down the table, involved in a deep conversation with Katie Bell. And while it's possible they were talking Quidditch, from the way Katie was leaning forward and the smile on her face, Harry was sure the conversation had left Quidditch far behind. Mentally wishing Ron luck, Harry turned back to the conversation between Susan and Hermione.
The conversation seemed to be about the Ancient Runes assignment Professor Babbling had set for them over the holiday, and, while Luna seemed to follow the tangents the two girls were following, Harry was lost about 30 seconds into the conversation, but it did sound a lot more interesting than Divination. Was it too late to change electives?
#
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Great Hall
Sunday, December 26th, 1993
8:00 AM
Harry and Susan were coming up the stairs from the Sett hand in hand when they were intercepted. Draco stepped out of the shadow of a doorway and approached the two of them. Susan looked at Harry, who quietly said, "Go on in and save me a seat at the Badger table; this shouldn't take long."
Susan nodded, squeezing his hand quickly before letting go and heading to the door to the Hall.
Once Susan was inside the Hall, Draco said, "Heir Potter, I received your letter, and I accept your apology. I agree that there is too much between us, personality as well as politics, for us to be friends, but I'm willing to go for a cordial neutrality if you are willing to meet me halfway."
Harry held out his hand, "Gladly, and I will sit on Ron and the twins to let up on the pranks on Slytherin, and I'll try to get Hermione to recognize other opinions but hers. She's my best friend, but sometimes she could be as stubborn as Professor Dumbledore!"
Draco reached out, taking Harry's hand and shook it. "Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy, it's a pleasure to meet you, Heir Potter."
With a smile, Harry responded, "Please, call me Harry, and when we have time, perhaps we could sit down and discuss the Traditionalist Point of View, as my letter said, my education is sorely lacking in several important areas."
Draco smiled in return, an actual smile, not the smirk that normally graced his face. "I can understand that and would be willing to provide you with copies of some of my books that cover the Great Families of the British Wizarding Society, one of whom is the Potter family. The Potters are actually one of the oldest families in Britain, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
Draco must have seen the incomprehension in his eyes, and he said, "You have no idea, do you? You need my help, even if we don't agree politically, I won't let you get eaten alive by the sharks who are part of the so-called Upper Crust of Society. But for now, the Sacred Twenty-Eight are the 28 families who gave of their blood and magic to establish the Wizengamot so they could debate and decide any decisions that needed to be resolved. There are a few other members of the 28 here, in fact, your girlfriend is one of them. Even though I dislike them for squandering their heritage, the Weasleys are also part of the 28. If we can meet tomorrow about this time, I'll have a couple of the books for you to read, and we can discuss them when you finish. And I'll tell Pansy and Greg, and Vince to back off the insults as well." Holding his hand out, Harry shook it without hesitation, and Draco said, "This has been a productive conversation, and I don't know about you, but I'm hungry!"
Nodding his agreement, Harry headed toward the open door to the Hall, Draco waiting by the stairs so there wouldn't be questions about them walking in together. A quick look at the Badger table, and he saw Susan holding a seat open between her and Hannah Abbott. Walking past the Gryffindor table, Hermione and Luna were sitting together, talking quietly, while Ron and Katie's conversation was still going on; the two of them were totally oblivious to anything around them.
Taking his seat next to Susan, it was her turn to do the introductions, which briefly turned awkward when it came to Justin Finch-Fletchley, who averted his eyes and looked embarrassed. Harry realized that Justin was still upset about his behavior after the Dueling Club, but before he could say anything to reassure Justin, he pulled something from deep inside and looked Harry right in the eye and said,
"I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I apologize for my behavior last year. I reacted so badly because, even though I don't talk about it, I have a phobia of snakes after having one try to bite my leg off when I was about eight years old. It was obvious that you weren't the Heir of Slytherin, when muggleborn were most of the victims. Since your mother was a muggleborn, and Hermione is your best friend, it was foolish to think you could be the Heir."
Harry reached out to Justin, his hand held out to shake, and Justin grasped it. Harry said, "Apology accepted, and yeah, I was a bit hurt last year, but I got over it, it was just another fun-filled year of thrills, spills and danger for the scar who lived!" He obviously was saying that with tongue firmly in cheek, and Justin relaxed enough to laugh along with the others around them.
With that, the rest of the meal went smoothly, although, with how pointed Hannah's questions were, it was clear that she had interrogated Susan thoroughly back in their dorms the night before. Harry easily answered the questions before turning to Ernie Macmillan and starting to talk to him.
#
Hogsmeade
Monday, December 27th, 1993
11:00 AM
The wind was frigid as Harry and Susan stepped out of the carriage in front of the Three Broomsticks. "Want to stop in and have a mug of warm cider? I want to try and thaw at least a little before having to shop for clothing."
Susan looked at him, eyes full of pity. He had no idea how much Susan enjoyed shopping, but he would find out if they started dating seriously. But she just nodded, "That sounds good, and Auntie swears that Brummel's makes the best formal robes and suits that she's ever seen. Supposedly, when he isn't sitting in a holding cell, Lucius Malfoy shopped there, and like the man or loathe him, but the man did have style."
Harry chuckled, and Susan said, "Okay, was there a joke I'm missing, because I can't think of anything funny in what I said."
"It wasn't anything about what you said, it's just that thinking of Lucius Malfoy reminds me of one of my favorite memories. But let's get warmed up, and I'll tell you what I was thinking about."
"This must be one heck of a story, Harry, so I'll grab us a table and you can get the cider, okay?"
Harry saluted her, "Yes, Ma'am, right away, Ma'am!" as he pulled open the door to let Susan get inside. Seeing where she found a table, Harry walked up to the bar and paid for two of the mugs of warm cider, the smell of cinnamon wafting into his nostrils, and he hoped that the drink tasted as good as it smelled.
Setting Susan's mug in front of her, he took a seat next to her and raised the drink to his lips. Taking a couple of sips, Harry sighed in satisfaction, "Delicious!"
Waiting for Susan to take her first drink, and she enjoyed just as much as he did, Harry said, "It was right at the end of last year, right after Fawkes brought me, Ron, Ginny, that idiot Lockhart and the Sorting Hat from the Chamber of Secrets into Dumbledore's Office, and he was sitting there, as if he was waiting for me, but I didn't think about it at the time.
"Now, to give a bit of background, a house elf that I won't name, since he's bonded to the family and I don't want to accidentally call him. This elf was trying to keep me from going to Hogwarts because of a terrible danger. He wouldn't say who his Master was, and didn't know anything specific about the danger, so he was not exactly convincing. When I argued that I needed to go to Hogwarts so I could help my friends, the elf got frustrated and pulled a stunt that caused me a crapload of trouble. He floated a big, well-decorated cake and dropped it on the head of one of the visitors to the house that night. Once the Weasley brothers rescued me and Hedwig and got us out of there, the rest of the summer was great.
"But when we went to Kings Crossing, the barrier shut solid, I couldn't get through, and neither could Ron. Now, you realize that the two of us were just 14, and boys at 14 are idiots, puberty is hitting them with both barrels and switches off their common sense. So, instead of waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to come back to find out what kept us, which would have been the sensible thing to do, Ron has the brilliant idea to fly his dad's car to Hogwarts by following the Express.
"You probably remember how that ended, crashing the car into the Whomping Willow and then we were ejected from the car, and it drove by itself into the Forbidden Forest, where it stayed until the night before we ended up in the Chamber, and the car saved Ron and me from a huge clan of Acromantulas, but that's another story.
"Do you remember the Quidditch game where the bludger kept attacking me, even without being hit by one of the beaters? Well, that was that same elf, who wanted me to be too hurt to get into trouble. I didn't understand the reasoning, and I don't think anybody else would either.
"But, to get back to Dumbledore's office, Ron and Ginny and the idiot were hustled off to see Madame Pomfrey, and I'm the one who almost died from basilisk venom, but Fawkes cried into the wound and saved me, but I still should have gone to the Infirmary with the others. But no, Dumbledore decided he wanted to chat! I was exhausted, filthy, in pain, and starving, but he just sat behind his desk, eyes twinkling madly, brushing off all my questions with platitudes, to the point where I would cheerfully have strangled him with his beard.
"But anyway, while we are in the office, Lucius stormed into the office, demanding to know why Dumbledore was back at Hogwarts when he had been suspended. I didn't really pay attention because, dressed in rags and desperately trying to clean the mud off Malfoy's boots, was a very familiar house elf. Everything fell into place; it was Lucius planting a cursed diary into Ginny Weasley's textbook when it was knocked out of her cauldron, and the diary belonged to Voldemort when he still went by his birth name, Tom Marvelo Riddle, named after his Muggle father.
That diary was the cause of all the problems last year. But when Lucius turned to leave, I pulled off one of my filthy, blood and mud-crusted socks and put it inside the diary. I called after Malfoy and returned the diary to him. He glared at me and then shoved the diary at Dobby, the house elf I was talking about. I was counting on Malfoy giving the diary to Dobby, although Dobby gave me a betrayed look until I made him understand he needed to open the book. When he found the sock, freeing him, the little guy was practically dancing; he was so happy. That did not amuse Malfoy in the slightest, and he drew his wand to cast something, started 'Avada' or something like that, but Dobby shoved out his hand, and Lucius tumbled down the stairs, arse over elbow, his perfectly combed hair not so perfect anymore, and he had scraped one of the knees out of his trousers. That was the last time I saw Lucius Malfoy, and now do you understand why I call that one of my favorite memories?"
Susan wasn't smiling but looking at him intently. "I have so many questions about your story that I don't even know where to start. But I need to double check, you did say that the spell Malfoy was starting to cast sounded like 'Avada'?"
Harry pretended to think, searching his memory, before he nodded emphatically, "Yes, it sounded just like that. Why? Is that important?"
"Very important, and I'm going to have to let Auntie know, so she can question Malfoy about that whole incident. Nobody ever knew that he was behind it, and that will be enough to see the monster get the Kiss, if he isn't tossed through the Veil of Death. He deserves it!"
Susan was getting upset, and Harry didn't understand why, but he reached out and took her hand, offering what comfort he could. "It seems that you have a personal reason for hating the man. Do you want to talk about it?"
Visibly calming herself, Susan started talking, "I don't know if you are aware, but I'm an orphan too. I was staying overnight at Hannah's house the night the Death Eaters butchered my family. It was never proven which of the monsters was with their precious 'Dark Lord' when they blew open the doors and twenty of them attacked my parents and older brother. Smidgen, who is Auntie's elf now, used to serve my parents, and she described one of the attackers, tall, slender, blonde hair showing out of the sides of the mask, and he carried his wand in a cane. Who does that sound like to you?"
"Oh! I'm sorry for bringing those memories back; I didn't mean to make you unhappy. But, if there is anything I can do to help, name it!"
"Would you be willing to tell Auntie your story, and show the memory of Lucius attempting to cast the Killing Curse at you?"
"It was the green spell? I barely remember my mum, but I do remember a flash of green light, and my mum was gone. That's not something you easily forget. So yes, get in touch with your Aunt, and I'll give her whatever memories she wants."
'Thank you, Harry, this means a lot to me, and to Auntie as well." Reaching into her ever-present bag, Susan pulled out a small book, but when she opened it, the pages were blank. Susan tapped the first page with her wand, and a moment later, Madame Bones' handwriting appeared on the page. He recognized the handwriting from the letter Susan had given him. The writing read, 'What do you need, Susie, are you okay?"
Susan started writing, and from what Harry could see, she was going over the story of Lucius and the Diary, and I would let her copy any memories she wanted to put the man away.
Susan's writing disappeared, and then the page started filling up, almost faster than he could read, but then Madame Bones asked where they were, and to stay there, she would be there within 30 minutes; she needed to get something to bring with her.
"I guess we're going shopping a bit later than planned, don't you?" Harry said as he drained his mug. Gesturing to Susan's mug, she emptied hers and handed it to him. Taking the mugs up to Rosmerta, she took his mugs and gave him two fresh ones.
They were still sipping the warm drink when Madame Bones came through the front door and headed to their table.
A quick word with Rosmerta, and they were going up the stairs, and there was an open door in front of them, and Harry could see a conference table and chairs. Rosmerta pulled the door closed behind her, and Madame Bones cast the locking and privacy charms, before putting a stone basin covered with what he thought were runes, on the table, and the questioning started, it was easier to go over the story a second time and expanding on some of the things he only lightly touched on the first time.
By the time the questions were finished, four sheets of parchment were filled with writing. Harry had never seen a quill that wrote by itself, and the parchment glowed when it was full. Seeing he had questions, the Director explained that the quill and parchment were enchanted for a specific purpose and could only be used for that purpose. Together, they were referred to as an interview kit. The quill would write down exactly what questions were asked, and if any of the answers were false, or only part of the answer, the ink would glow red, letting the Auror know to go back to that question.
Harry was relieved that his answers didn't show up as anything was missing; his memory was still good.
When the parchment and quill were put away, Susan's Aunt explained that the basin was called a Pensieve, and it can show memories that are placed in the bowl, and then they can be returned. Harry was honestly fascinated and was more determined than ever to drop divination and take Ancient Runes. He wouldn't even mind if he had to be in class with third years; the subject was just too interesting!
With Madame Bones asking questions about certain incidents from last year, they brought the memory to the surface, and she put her wand to his temple and drew out the memory. She ended up copying around 10 memories and storing them in sealed vials, to go over back in her office.
With a hug between Susan and her Aunt, and a brief handshake, the older woman took down the spells and left the room. She was already gone by the time he and Susan had their jackets and gloves on to make their way to the Shopping Trip of Doom!
End Chapter Three
NOTE:
There is a good bit of unhappiness with the Harry-Draco conversation, so I'd like to give a bit of Harry's viewpoint. First, yes, he is pissed that Draco didn't get sent to Azkaban in canon, but the Draco who cast the Unforgivables in Half-Baked Plot isn't the Draco of this story. Harry is trying to move him away from that future. Draco won't be influenced by Lucius due to his imprisonment or execution, and Narcissa will (at least in my head-canon) be working to open Draco's eyes to just what following the Dark Lord really means,
Hopefully this clarifies Harry's reasoning
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