Harry Potter and the Grangers take on the world
By: mlieu2010
Harry and Hermione send their memories back to their younger selves to change the magical world for the better. Using economics and political power to achieve their goal. Weasley and Dumbledore bashing. HHR AU.
Rated: Fiction M - English - Humor/Adventure - Harry P., Hermione G. - Chapters: 64 - Words: 223,545 - Reviews: 1,976 - Favs: 3,636 - Follows: 3,751 - Updated: Nov 19, 2013 - Published: Oct 3, 2011 - id: 7433305
Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction. Do not read this if you are a fan of Ron, Ginny, Dumbledore, Snape, Remus, Draco or Molly. I failed English (the subject where you write poem appreciation and analysis classics) in High School so my grammar and spelling is appalling. So do not read this if you get annoyed with incorrect Grammar and spelling.
This chapter has now been beta by Amsev. Thank you.
Prologue
Harry woke up in St Mungo's. His first thought was how do I get out of here?
"Excuse me, nurse."
"Yes, Mr. Potter."
"When can I get out of here?"
"You have to wait for the Healer to come to give you the all clear,"
"When will that be?"
"I don't know the healer's schedule." the nurse replied impatiently as she had a lot to do.
"Could you guess?" Harry asked.
"Sometime this morning. Please be patient or do I have to strap you down?."
"I will be good."
"I am busy. So see you later, Mr. Potter."
Harry sat back down in defeat. This was suppose to be just a simple medical check up for a work-related injury. He was an Auror, getting hurt was something that came with the job. Apart from that, life was good. He had his dream job, he loved his wife, Ginny, and they were trying for a baby. His wife and his best friend/sister in law, Hermione Weasley, were competing to see who could get pregnant first. As Harry was lost in thought, the Healer finally arrived.
"Good Morning Mr. Potter, I am Healer Grant. How are you feeling this morning?"
"Great. When can I get out of here, I really don't like hospitals or infirmaries, no offence intended?"
"Let's see how you are doing."
Healer Grant started waving his wand over Harry.
"Well the physical injuries you sustained are healing nicely but we have uncovered some curses and charms that maybe difficult to remove. The longer you leave them the harder it is to remove."
"Just do it and get it over and done with," said Harry.
The Healer started removing charms from Harry and made him drink some awful potions. Harry did not know whether it was the charms or the potions but he started puking and having the worst case of the runs in his life. It was a very unpleasant night for Harry.
The next morning, Harry woke up more alert and awake than he felt before but extremely hungry and thirsty.
"Nurse, can I get breakfast and something to drink, please?"
The nurse fetched Harry's breakfast and a jug of water. Both food and water were completely gone when Healer Grant came in.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Potter?" asked the Healer.
"Better than I felt in a long time after I ate and drank this morning."
"We have to talk. You may have noticed that your wife, Ginny, has not been in to see you. The reason is simple. We did not allow her to see you after we found that you have been dosed with love potions keyed into her."
"How long had she been dosing me?"
"Quite a few years now. Since you were about 16 years old judging by the damage it has caused to your body."
"Do you mind keeping her away for a while so that I can sort out my feelings for her?"
"I would actually recommend that, Mr. Potter."
"Is there any thing else?"
"Are there any other surprises up your sleeve?"
"Actually, I do. I was going to wait until you dealt with the love potion issue before telling you that we also found loyalty charms as well. These loyalty charms were keyed to Dumbledore, the Weasleys and Professor Snape."
"Do you know who put them on and when?"
"Dumbledore had placed the loyalty charm on you to himself before you even came to Hogwarts. You must have been 5 or 6 years old at the time."
"The stupid bugger! He knew how I was treated and did nothing. Pardon my language."
"Understandable."
"How about the others?"
"The loyalty charm for the Weasleys were done by Molly Weasley. She must have been working with Dumbledore as the charm is very obscure, and it was the same as the one that Dumbledore used on you. While Dumbledore did the loyalty charm to Snape around his death."
"I am going to kill Molly next time I see her."
"I think you should cool down before you meet these people. You don't want to do anything rash. You are an officer of the law after all."
"By the way, how come it was only discovered now? I have been in hospitals and infirmaries plenty of times."
"We used a new charm for detecting spells, and it must be the first time the charm has been used on you. After we discovered the obscure loyalty charm, we did a deep scan for potions and found the modified love potion."
The next morning Harry asked the nurse if he could send an owl to someone:
Hi Hermione
I think you need to come to the hospital immediately. My doctor discovered some curses placed on me that might have been placed on you, too.
Regards
Harry
When the Healer came around again, Harry was looking angry and determined.
"I think my best friend might have also been charmed and potioned like me. She should be coming in sometime today; her name is Hermione Weasley. Could you make sure she is tested and treated if necessary?"
"I will be on the outlook for her, and I will tell the other staff to do the same."
"Can you keep those criminals away from me, and how long can I stay here?"
"We can keep them away from you stating medical reasons. But you can only stay in the hospital for a week."
"Thank you very much. I will take as much time away from them as I can get, even if it means I have to stay is a hospital. It is preferable to the alternative."
Later that day, the Healer came around again.
"Your friend is here. You can go see her if you want," the Healer said before leaving.
Harry rushed to the third floor and went looking for Hermione.
Hermione was vomiting her guts out, and she looked like a mess. Harry rushed to hug her after she finished puking.
"It is going to be alright," Harry said as he held her and provided what little comfort he could by rubbing her back. After spend a while hugging, Hermione had to rush to the bathroom again. She came back in exhausted and collapsed onto her bed and was soon asleep. Harry then went back into his room.
He was looking at his life with a new perception. He was not liking what he was seeing. It was a set up from the beginning. Dumbledore was manipulated every part of his life and was still doing so with the help of Molly Freaking Weasley. He realised he hated Ron and Ginny; even if they did not know what was going on, they did take advantage of it. They should have known something was wrong and did nothing to investigate the situation even though they were so-call friends at the time.
The First thing he did was write to his boss saying he wanted a change in partners at work, as he could not work with Ron ever again as he did not trust him. He also asked for a leave of absence to deal with some personal issues. Approval would not be a problem. Harry went to bed trying to plan what to do.
Harry woke up to a nurse shaking him.
"We need your help. Your friend is destroying the place, and we need your help to calm her down."
As soon as he got close to Hermione's room, he could hear yelling, screaming and things being broken. Hermione was in a rage. She was throwing things around the room screaming.
"I will kill Ronald Bilius Weasley. When I get my hands on him he will wish he was not alive!"
Hermione threw a cup at a nurse who was about to use her wand.
"If he tries to touch me again, I will rip off his dick and shove it in his mouth!"
Harry saw Healer Grant in the corner of the room trying to calm her down.
"I guess you told her?" Harry said quietly to Healer Grant.
The laughter of the Healer only made Hermione more madder.
Harry immediately tried to calm Hermione down by hugging her. She started crying on Harry's shoulder.
"It is going to be okay. I will be right here with you."
"I feel so used and unclean."
For the remainder of the week, Harry and Hermione spent a lot time together. They talked about what they were feeling and planned what they were going to do. They both agreed their marriages were a sham and it was over. Since they did not want to expose their hand, each wrote a letter to their respective partners, saying they needed space. Once they left the hospital, they both stayed at the Leaky Cauldron rather than go home. Harry had Kreacher pack and collect all their things from both houses. They went to see a lawyer the next day to get divorces.
"Good Morning, I am Mr. Slater. How can I help you today?"
"My name is Harry Potter and she is Hermione Weasley. We want to divorce our respective partners."
"May I ask what type of marriage you had and what were your vows?"
"Just your standard wedding with the usual vows."
"So I assume you both said death do us part." Mr. Slater asked.
"Yes."
"Well, there is nothing I can do for you."
"What do you mean?"
"The marriage will last until death."
"But we were both duped with love potion, so our free will were compromised."
"It does not matter as long as you said the words death do us part. It is final and unbreakable. That is why most magical marriages never say those words," the lawyer stated.
"So it is common practice in the magical world, not to say those words."
"Correct. You should have also had tests for charms and potions before your marriage ceremony."
"Why did not anyone tell us this?"
"It was told as part of Introduction to Wizard Society before Dumbledore scrapped the subject."
"Can we sue them for damages?"
"No, as you are considered a partner, they can forgive the debt or crime on your behalf."
"Does that include the love potions given to us?"
"As your partners they can give the people who love potion you and you can't do a thing."
This pissed off Hermione to the extreme. She went in to obsessive research mode and found out that pureblood had more rights than halfbloods and Muggleborns, not to mention mixed races, werewolves, vampires, goblins, centaurs, house elves and any other sentient magical creature. Hermione soon found out that Dumbledore had been using his positions as an educator and politician to lead magical society to a more pureblood, elitist society. Voldemort, a.k.a. Tom Riddle, was the result of his manipulations. What he said and what he did were two different things.
Harry contacted Neville Longbottom, who was more familiar with the political scene. He and Hermione were able to meet with Neville.
"How have you been, Neville?"
"Good, how have the two of you been?"
"Good until we found out we have been drugged with love potion and charmed silly by people we thought loved us."
"That is horrible!" Neville said.
"The reason why we came to you is that we found out about all those discriminatory laws and were working out what can be done to change those laws."
"There is not much I can do to help you."
"Why not?"
"Draco has be spreading his money round, and the pureblood rights were protected."
"I thought you had him stripped of all his money. You assured me that he would be bankrupt by the time you finished."
"I tried to strip all the assets of the Death Eaters but they gave me a choice: strip them of the money or a non-existent Auror force."
"You should have strip the funds off the death eaters and used the funds to pay for Aurors."
"I got a lot pressure to go with the Auror force."
"You bowed to pressure. Are you reverting to back to the scared little boy."
"That was uncalled for."
"You were own only thinking about yourself and your short term goals, doing what was easy and not what is right."
Harry realised when he calmed down that it was not really Neville's fault, as he was put into a corner he was not savvy enough to get out of. What he did blame Neville for was not making his own move on the opposition in meantime, such as put the removal of pureblood rights or compensating victims to Ministry funding legislation. That would easily have bankrupted Malfoy and all the former Death Eaters.
Harry and Hermione headed straight to the newspaper to try to get their story out. They met with the editor of the Daily Prophet to discuss their situation.
"Thank you for meeting us. Mr. White," Harry said in greeting. Knowing how these meetings worked, Hermione nodded her head in greeting. It was a sign of how backwards the wizarding community was, where the males were expected to negotiate while the females provided support.
"A pleasure to meet to meet two of the heroes of the Second Wizard war. What can I help you with today?"
"We wish to have a letter we wrote printed in your newspaper." Hermione handed over a letter she wrote that she and Harry had signed.
"What is the letter about and why now?"
"It is a letter proclaiming the need to promote the rights of the non-pureblood magical population. We took this drastic action when we discovered how little has changed since the war."
"I wish I could help you but the owners of the newspaper would not be happy about it, and I will also get the Ministry breathing down my neck if I printed such a provocative letter. If it was a few years ago or 2 years ago I will have jumped at a chance to print a statement from you. But the Ministry has stabilised, and they would not want someone disturbing the balance that has been achieved."
It was basically a refusal from the editor, so Harry and Hermione said their farewells and left.
Harry and Hermione considered one of them going into politics to try to promote change but found that there were new laws preventing non-purebloods from entering politics. Harry then uses his law enforcement contacts to meet the underground organisation that supported the fringe and discriminated-upon members of magical society. It quickly becomes apparent that they had missed their chance to change the magical world for the better after the fall of Voldemort.
Their activities were attracting the attention of the Pureblood Supremacists that were in charge of Magical Society, and soon an arrest warrant was issued for the detainment of the pair for "questioning". Knowing that they were too late to do anything in this time, they created a bold plan. Harry, Hermione and some of the Outcast organisation were going to break into Department of Mystery to steal all their books and materials on time travelling. The raid was a great success, as supporters of Harry within the Ministry helped Harry achieve his goal.
It took Harry and Hermione 6 months to workout a ritual to send their memories back to when they first entered the magical world. During that time, Harry and Hermione had gotten close especially with the authorities constantly on their tail. Their last week before the ritual was spent on working out the best investment strategy to implement when they went back in time, since to promote change you need power and money is power. The ritual was a complete success, as they felt their minds being pulled from their bodies like a Portkey travelling back in time.
chapter 1
Chapter 1
Harry woke up hungry and in pain. He checked his school trunk; it had first year material all in perfect condition. He immediately wrote to Hermione to meet him tomorrow at her place so that they could talk to her parents together. After playing with Hedwig, who he missed a lot after her death, he sent her with the letter to Hermione and told her to wait for a reply. He then went to perform his chores and steal some food. Hermione owled back later that day and told Harry he could come tomorrow. Harry then wrote a letter to Remus to meet him the day after tomorrow at the Leaky Cauldron.
The next morning he got up extra early, did some chores, and stole something to eat then left a note for his Aunt and Uncle saying he was gone for the day. He hid his scar as best he could and then called the Knight Bus to take him to Hermione's parents place. When Stan asked him what his name was, Harry replied, "Neville".
As soon as Harry arrived, Hermione rushed to Harry and hugged him.
"Mum, Dad, this is Harry. Harry, these are my parents, Dan and Emma Granger," Hermione said.
"We have something we have to tell you, We have memories from the future and we need your help, Doctors Granger," Harry said.
"Are you being serious?" said Dan Granger.
"What happened to the Hermione from yesterday?" said Emma Granger
"I am still the same girl, except I have some extra memories," Hermione stated.
Then Emma and Dan started to ask Hermione all sorts of questions that she would not have been able answer unless she was from the future. This went on for half an hour with Harry answering the questions he knew. In the end, Dan and Emma had to drink scotch to calm their nerves.
"So basically, the headmaster of the school we are sending you to is a Master Manipulator and potential dark lord in hiding?"
"Yes that is what we worked out," Harry stated.
"You need us to help you take this Mastermind down and also this Dark Lord he created?"
"Yes, we have a plan to remove them and change the world for the better."
"You will like the first plan; it would make you and mum rich," Hermione said.
Dan asked, "How rich?"
"Beyond your wildest dreams."
Harry and Hermione then worked out an investment strategy that took advantage of the future knowledge that the time travellers had. They focused on major stocks which will be unaffected by their involvement in the stock market. Dan got really excited by the potential returns they were talking about. The investments will have to be in the name of Dan and Emma as Hermione and Harry were both too young to play the stock market. Dan then went to a Muggle lawyer to see about getting custody of Harry from the Dursleys and also their accountant to setup a trading account.
Emma then took Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley so that they could do some shopping and Harry could go to the bank. Harry headed to the Gringotts to get some galleons out of his trust account. He gave some of the money to Hermione so that she could go to the book store to buy a few books that would be useful in their plans. From the book store, she proceeded to the stationary store where she purchased all the existing stock of blank books plus places a big order of blank books to be delivered to Hogwarts. Hermione planned to copy all the books in Hogwart's library since they are renowned for having the best collection of books in Britain. Knowledge is power and by stealing the knowledge they would be stealing power that was currently going to waste. She already knew a spell that would allow her to copy an entire book quickly by just flipping through the book.
While Hermione was doing that, Harry went to the store that sold trunks and purchased the biggest and best trunk they had available. Harry then met Hermione at the stationary store where Harry started putting Hermione's purchases into his new trunk. They then popped into the apothecary where Harry bought quite a few unbreakable potion containers that could hold Basilisk Venom. Harry then headed back to Gringotts where he emptied most of his trust account and converted most of the galleons he got out of his trust account into British pounds.
Hermione then create a marriage contract that she researched before they left. The marriage contract was between Harry and herself with the British pounds that Emma got from Harry as the bride price. The marriage contract had multiple purposes: it gave a legitimate reason for the cash and it stopped the schemes of the two youngest Weasleys and their mum. Dan signed on behalf Hermione with Hermione signing for herself to show her approval of the contract while Harry signed for himself. The enforceability and legality of the contract was questionable as Harry was a minor but it still served its purpose.
Emma then deposited the money into her and her husband's joint bank account. While Dan took Harry to the Dursley's to pick up his things so that he could move in with the them. Dan told the Dursleys that he and his wife planned to apply for custody of Harry to the delight of the Dursleys. Later that night Harry got a response from Remus agreeing to the meeting.
The next day Emma, Harry and Hermione met Remus at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hi, are you Remus?" Harry asked Remus.
"Yes, I am; you must be Harry. I have not seen you since you were a little more than 1 year old. How much have you grown and changed in that time," Remus says.
"I would be shocked if I did not change in that time. This is my best friend Hermione Granger who is also going to Hogwarts with me and her mom, Doctor Emma Granger."
"Nice to meet you both. I am surprised when I got your letter. How did you know about me if I may ask?"
"I got several letters from my parents as soon as I entered the bank. One of the letters talks about you and your little furry problem and how difficult your life is due to your problem. So I thought we would catch up and find out what is happening with you."
Remus then talked about his struggles and his inability to find stable work due to his problem. After that, they talked about Harry's parents and what they were like when they were young.
At the end of the meeting, Harry asks Remus,
"I have a massive vault of gifts from fans, admirers and loons. Since work is hard for you maybe you can help me sell some of the gifts I received including a gigantic dead Basilisk. So you want to work for me and help me sell some stuff?"
"You don't have to pay me; I would love to help you any way I can."
"No, it is a lot of stuff; most of it has been moved to the Grangers Place after all the cursed stuff had been removed. It would motivate you more to get a better price when you know you getting, say, 5 percent of all the stuff you sell."
"Okay, make it 2 percent and we have a deal."
"Three percent and that is my final offer."
Hermione chimes in and says,
"You are suppose to lower the price when you are negotiating price not raise."
"I will would accept that offer if I were you, you don't want to argue Hermione."
"Okay, fine, three percent it is"
"It will probably take you quite a while to sell everything, so why don't you pick a trunk each week from the Grangers and try to sell the things inside."
Emma and the couple then went to a Muggle supermarket where they bought several bags of food and then headed back to the Alley. Using their memories of the way the Outcasts worked, they were able to establish contact with the Outcast leader in London. They offered clothes, stationery and food in return their help in finding employees. The first employee they needed was someone to sort items Harry and Hermione would retrieve from the Room of Lost things. After interviewing several candidates, they decide to employ Emily. Emily was a young bright Muggleborn witch that found herself unable to find meaningful work in the wizarding world due to her blood status. While in the Muggle world, even though she was very intelligent she could not find work she liked due to lack of formal education in the Muggle world. Hermione, Emma and Emily hit it off right away, and she was offered the job. It was decided that Emily would move in with the Grangers, and the Grangers would employ her as an administrative assistant, so that it would improve her prospects in the Muggle world if this didn't work out.
Emma, Hermione, Harry and Emily then headed off to Borgin's where Emma bought the Vanishing Cabinet. Emily, using the feather-light charm and the lifting spell, moved the cabinet to Emma's car. She then collected the food from Emma's car and left to give the food to the Outcast Organisation and to pack so that she could move in with the Grangers as she was currently living in backpackers accommodation.
Hermione then decided to buy a big deluxe magical tent so that Emily would have a room for herself, they would have an area where they can sort through the junk from the Room of Lost things, and Hermione could start her own library.
They headed home to set up the wizard tent in the Grangers' backyard. When Dan arrived home, Emma and Dan, with a little help from Harry, moved the Vanishing Cabinet into the garage. Emma then told her husband what they had achieved so far. Dan had organised a meeting with the Grangers lawyers tomorrow to be the adoption process for Harry.
That night they used the Vanishing Cabinets to go Hogwarts. Then they moved the Vanishing Cabinet to the Room of Lost Things and began moving stuff from the room of hidden things to the tent for sorting, using trunks they found in the room to make the sorting easier. They decided to use the new trunks they found in the room of lost things and return the ones they brought recently.
The next morning the Grangers and Harry headed off to see the lawyers to begin the process to gain custody of Harry from the Dursleys. This process was long and tedious with many hoops and loopholes. Harry and Hermione returned their trunks, which the store owner was going to refuse until they said they wanted two larger trunks like Harry had brought yesterday. Then the store owner was more than happy to accept the refund and even gave Harry a bulk discount for the new trunks which would have to be built today. So Harry and Hermione headed off to the bookstore while they wait for the trunks to be built. Hermione bought a few more books from the store, and they collected their trunks before heading home.
Once home they began sorting through all the stuff they got from the room of lost things. Using the gloves they used for potions, they sorted the stuff in different categories. The first category was Muggle things that could be sold like jewellery, sports equipment, musical instruments, toys and etc. The second pile was magical stuff that could be sold like magical jewellery, Quidditch equipment, magical toys, enchanted furniture, magical chess sets, etc. The third pile was for all the things that would be given to the Outcast Organisation like clothes (both Muggle and magical), stationery, toys that have low resale value, etc. The fourth category was stuff that needed to be repaired before it could be sold or given to the Outcast Organisation such as magical trunks, furniture and etc. The fifth pile was for books and documents that would be added to the library. The sixth category was all the things they were keeping that they could have use later on like rare potion ingredients, wands, backpacks, etc. The seventh pile was dark and cursed objects that needed more investigation. Finally, there was a pile of junk.
Each category was put into different trunks. There were a heap of trunks in the room; some of them needed repairing. Hermione would laugh every time she came across one of fictional Harry Potter children's books; by the end of the first day, the fact that they got found almost the entire series told them how popular those books were. They soon realised that they needed a bigger tent or more tents due to the amount of stuff that had accumulated over the thousand years the room had be in operation. The money they were finding alone was enough to fund their operations for months.
They decided to move forward their schedule, as the size of the task they were engaging in was enormous. Harry owled Emily asking her if it would be possible for her to start early, while Hermione tried to convince one of her parents to take them back to Diagon Alley so they could do a number of different things. Dan and Emma decided that for the rest of the time Hermione was at home, one of them would always be home to supervise the two of them. Money was not likely to be a problem in the future if they achieved what they want to achieve.
Dan drew the short straw and had to take them to Diagon Alley for the day. The first stop was the Outcast London hideout where they met the leader again. The leader's identity was always hidden, as the authorities would likely hunt him down if they knew who he was. He always wore a mask that hid his face and changed his voice.
"You are back for more?" the leader said.
"We could not get enough of your company," Harry joked.
"Who can get enough of this," the leader said with his hand indicating his body.
"As if. Can we get back to business now?"
"Thank you for the food by the way. It was much appreciated but next time can you get magical food as the Muggle food has chemicals that some of us react badly too?"
"We will see what we can do; maybe you pick it yourself next time. Anyway, we need to employ a curse-breaker."
"While don't you do some shopping, and I will organise a few people to see you when you get back."
"Before we go, here is a present for you," Hermione said giving the leader the trunk full of clothes and stationery from the room of lost things.
Harry, Hermione and Dan left to go shopping.
They decided to buy three of the biggest magical tents the store had. The biggest tent would be used for holding the unsorted stuff. Another tent would be for Emily to live in so that she had a different place to live from her work, and the final tent would have the most protection and would be used by the new employee to examine dark objects and break curses. The tent they have already would now house the sorted items. Dan loved these magical tents, and he reserved to keep them once they were finished with them. Harry paid for the tents using the money they found in the Room of Lost Things so far. They headed to the trunk store to buy some more of the really big trunks, as the trunks in the room of lost things were too small for their purpose, and they could not be shrink like these ones could. The store owner was very happy to see Harry and Hermione again.
When he found out that they wanted 8 more of the trunks, the store owner became extra helpful. As they were buying eight trunks this time, they got a better discount with extra features like better security on all the trunks. Harry had one of the trunks have extra protections from the contents. The owner asked why he needed the extra protection. Harry said he had received a lot gifts over the years for defeating the Dark Lord and due to the publicity associated with the fictional book series about him. Some people had sent him cursed items, which he want to contain in this trunk. The other trunks were for moving the gifts from their current location to a place where the could be sorted.
Satisfied with that answer, the store owner said the trunks would take a while. He could get one or two of the more basic trunks finished later today but the other ones might take a bit longer. So an agreement was reached where they would come back later today to pick up whatever he had finish, and they would pick up the rest later. Harry paid half the cost of the trunks with the other half each time he picked up a completed trunk.
Harry, Hermione and Dan went back to the Outcast Hideout. There were something like twenty odd people applying for the curse-breaker position. It took a long time to interview them all but in the end, Harry and Hermione, picked Doug, a werewolf. He was a talented curse-breaker working for Gringotts when he got bitten by a werewolf and lost his job. Since he was classified a dark creature due to his werewolf status, he had not been able find work since he was turned. He was going to start work tomorrow and he was going to move into his tent the day after, as he needed to added extra protection on the tent to protect the Grangers, Harry and Emily from his werewolf side. They went back to the trunk store to pick up the two completed trunks, and Harry decided to pay for the rest of the trunks and get Doug or Emily to pick them up the next time they come to Diagon Alley. They also pick up a few pairs of protective gloves and aprons from the apothecary for Doug and Emily before going home.
Dan marveled again as the magical tents were set up in their backyard. All Harry and Hermione needed to do was point their wand at the tent and push some magic at it (which was not detected by the Ministry as no spell was done), then the tent would set up by itself with charms, enchantments and runes to ensure no Muggle neighbours would notice a thing. While they were setting up the tents, Emily replied saying she was okay to start work tomorrow.
After the tents were set up, Harry and Hermione resumed filling trunk loads of items from the room of lost things then dumping the stuff into the tent that would be used for sorting. The old sorting tent was cleared out of all the unsorted stuff by Hermione in preparation of the arrival of Emily and Doug.
It was Emma Granger's turn to supervise the children. Emily arrived first and got to settle into the tent that was going to be used as her living quarters. Once she unpacked, Emily spent an enjoyable hour getting to know Hermione, Harry and Emma. Once Doug arrived, they got to work. They were shown the various tents and what they were used for, as well as how to sort through the ever growing pile of unsorted items into their various categories. Once they got the new trunks from the trunk store it would make it a lot easier.
Doug volunteered to check at the trunk store to see if they had completed the new trunks yet. After everyone had lunch in the house, Emily started sorting the stuff out while Doug began improving the protection on the tents, especially his new tent. Harry and Hermione continued moving items from the Room of Lost Things to the unsorted tent. Doug stayed for dinner so that Dan could get to know Doug and Emily better.
By the end of the week, Emily and Doug had started a routine for sorting through the junk. The new trunks had been picked up. Dan had started the share trading account and had started trading. Hermione had been looking through the library they had just started, while Harry was busy moving stiff stufffrom the Room of Lost things to the unsorted tent.
On Saturday, Emma answered the door to reveal Remus finally coming over to start selling some stuff for them. They had a lot of stuff for him to sell as they had been able to almost fill up one of the extra large new trunks they recent brought with magical stuff he could sell. Remus was then introduced to Dan Granger by Harry, while Hermione went to warn Emily and Doug not to go into the house as they had visitor on the premise of getting the trunk load of stuff to be sold. Harry told Remus to bring back the empty trunk so that they could swap it for another trunk full of stuff that they had filled in the mean time with stuff he could sell. The next day, a member of the Outcast Organisation would come around to pick up stuff to be given to the Outcasts in a similar trunk swap arrangement.
When it came time for Harry and Hermione to go Hogwarts, Remus had settled into a routine where he would drop off the old trunk with anything he did not think he could sell, any money he made after taking his cut in, and picking up the new trunk of stuff to be sold. Anything that was not sold was put in a different trunk, which Harry or Hermione would look through and put in the junk pile, give to the Outcasts or keep for use later. The money Remus received was left in whatever currency or goods he received the payment in, including books at the request of Hermione. Goods received in barter would be given to Hermione to determine how much to give to Remus for his cut.
Not all barters were successful but the occasional really successful barter would really offset the unsuccessful trades. These successes were usually really rare books. Hermione was training Emily to take over this job once Hermione went to back to school. When Hermione went back to school, Emily would calculate Remus cut, and Emma, or Dan, would give the money to Remus the next time he came around rather than have Hermione give Remus his cut of the bartered goods.
Remus was quite happy with this arrangement, as he was making nice a bit of money from this job of selling stuff on Harry's behalf while having the satisfaction of helping Harry. The money that was made was used to pay for some supplies, buy any rare/necessary book, pay Emily and Doug, and the remainder was converted into British Pounds for Dan to invest.
Dan, Emma, Harry, Hermione and the Outcast Organisation were able to negotiate a deal where an Outcast member, who was about to pass over, would name Emma as the only beneficiary of the their estate and have Dan as the executor of the will. This would protect the Grangers from uncomfortable questions in the Muggle world about where they got the money from the magical world.
In exchange for doing this arrangement, the Outcast Organisation got an account, which the Grangers would regularly top up that would be used for food and basic supplies for the organisation. The major disadvantage of this arrangement was that the Grangers would have to pay death taxes on all the British Pounds that Dan banked. Another disadvantage was the extra paperwork that this would generate but a big advantage was that the British Magical Ministry would get nothing in terms of taxes except for the conversion from Galleons to British pounds. This arrangement also allowed them to start selling the Muggle stuff. At first Dan was thinking of selling the low-value stuff to pawn shops but after talking to some of his dental patients, he found someone to sell all his low value stuff in bulk without much trouble on his part. The expensive stuff like Muggle paintings, furniture and jewelry, of which many were antiques, would be handled by an auction later on.
The last day before Harry and Hermione left for Hogwarts was hectic. Everything had to be packed. Hermione had to decide which books she wanted to take with her on the train to Hogwarts. Emily wanted to confirm something in regards to the calculation of Remus's cut for non-cash payments. Doug was busy removing charms and curses from Harry that Dumbledore placed. Dan wanted Hermione to confirm the investment strategy they developed, and Emma wanted to spend some time with Hermione before she left for school.
chapter 3
Chapter 2
Harry was not looking forward to confronting the man who he had considered like a grandfather to him but turnout be be one of the evillest person he had ever met including Voldemort. He could deal with Snape, Draco and Ron but Dumbledore was a totally different matter. To find out everything he said was a lie and to have been played so thoroughly by him made Harry made. This person was the reason why he was an orphan, he was the reason why he endured 10 years of constant hell, controlled everything in his life even after his death and then suffer through a loveless marriage. He really want to kill him, put him out down like the sick puppy that he is but he knew he could. Instead he had to prepare and once he ready then strike but at least he had Hermione to help.
They left for the King's Cross station early as Hermione loves being prepared and in control. While Hermione and her parents had a tearful farewell especially on the part of Dan and Emma, Harry had started hunting for a rat that he could transfigure into a lookalike to Scabbers. Just before Dan and Emma left to go to work, they hugged Harry. Dan said
"Take care of our little girl and no funny business, okay?"
"I will do everything I can. Hermione is a very resource young woman. You don't have to worry."
"Take care of yourself and do not do anything rash. Try to think things through before you act and if you unsure ask Hermione, Dan or Myself. You don't need to do everything on your own."
Harry continued hunting for rats, he had about 5 rats but he wanted something slightly bigger as the closer to Scabbers, the original rat was the easier the transfiguration and the longer the transfiguration would hold. By the time students he recognise started appearing, he stopped his hunt and pick the rat closest to Scabbers and killed the other rats he caught. He joined Hermione who had picked their carriage and had been reading some of the rare tomes they had collected so far. Harry started looking at the notes on the limited progress Hermione had made finding a way of controlling the Basilisk. She knew it was possible as Voldemort were able to so, if he can she should also be able to.
As soon as the train starts, Hermione swaps her book with an historic version of Hogwarts: A brief history. While Harry exchanges his books about Basilisks for books about how to repair ceilings and improving structural integrity of caves be used on the ceilings of the chamber of secrets. The change is books is to stop people asking too much questions about their reading materials. They were totally focused on their reading material to really notice when Ron comes in looking around. Once Ron spots Harry. He asked
"Can I sit with you guys?"
"It is a free country." Harry responds.
Harry whispers to Hermione. "How could I miss the obvious setup?"
"You were young and naive. Just another example of Dumbledore taking advantage of you." Hermione whispers back
"What are you guys reading?" Ron asks to try to spark a conservation.
Hermione shows him her book and Harry does the same. Ron tries again.
"Do you know what house you are in?"
"We will let whatever makes the decision decide. As it probably has a lot of experience doing so." Harry says.
"What do you of Quidditich?" Ron asks
Hermione begins ranting.
"It is a very dangerous sport and it should be banned. Putting your life at risk for a sport is pointless. Throwing things at people to knock them off a broom is being irresponsible."
Ron quickly asks Harry to try to stop the lecture.
"How about you, Harry?"
"I agree with Hermione, 100 percent."
"By the way, I am Ron Weasley."
"Hermione Granger."
"Harry Potter"
"Are you really, the Harry Potter?" Ron said excitedly
"I am a Harry Potter but not sure about the Harry Potter."
"Do you have the scar? Can I see it?"
Harry showed him the scar.
"You are definitely, the Harry Potter."
"Who is this Harry Potter?'
"He is the guy who defeated the Dark Lord and survived a killing curse."
"I don't remember doing any of those things. You must have got me mixed up with someone else."
Hermione was trying hard not to start laughing. She hid it by pretending to read her book.
Ron kept describing all the things that the fictional character from the children's books had done. While Harry kept denying everything doing any of those things. After a while Harry got tire of it and went back to reading ignoring the constant flow of words coming from Ron's mouth. When Neville comes around looking for his toad, Trevor. Harry and Hermione both jump at the chance to get away from Ron by offering to help Neville look for Trevor. They don't like Ron due to what he did to Hermione and what his family did Harry. Neville did nothing wrong, it is just his inaction and the fact his grandmother helped Dumbledore implement a lot of his pure-blood policies meant they would not help him in case she got wind of what they were doing so he was a non-entity to them.
Ron also offered to help because he did not want to be left alone. He tried to follow Harry but Harry said he wanted to be with his friend, Hermione and that Ron should go with Neville. Once Ron was safely out of the way, Harry and Hermione went back the carriage and swapped the fake Scabbers with the real one. Then put a curse on the fake Scabbers that would kill in a month's time and make it really tire during that month. That way when it died Harry and Hermione can not be blame for its death. The real Scabbers aka Wormtail aka Peter was stunned then placed in an unbreakable cage in Harry's trunk.
They then went in search of the Weasley twins using point me charms. Harry makes sure the twins see him using the point me charm pointing to them.
"Does any of your guys seen an parchment with a map of Hogwarts on it?"
"What is it to you?" One of the twins asked.
"It was my father's and I want it back." Harry did not like using emotional blackmail but they needed the map for a number of reasons. The main reason is that it would prevent anyone from tracking them using the Marauders' Map.
"Why would we give up something that valuable?"
"I will give you two galleons for it."
"50 Galleons"
"That is a lot of money, 5 galleons."
"20 Galleons and you tell us about your father and his friends."
"15 Galleons."
"Deal". The Twin said in unison.
Harry started to count out 15 galleons while the twins were digging in their pockets before taking a parchment out their pockets. After Harry handed them the money, the twins gave him a map of Hogwarts but not the Marauders' Map.
"This is not my father's map."
This time the twins give him the real map.
"What can you time us about your father?"
"I don't know as I did not get to know him before he died. He mentioned this map and how to locate in a letter I got from him. This is one of the only links I have to him"
"Sorry to hear that."
"He must have be a great guy to make that with his friends."
"I can't tell you. Since I never knew him."
"Sorry to hear that. What was your father's name?"
"James Potter."
"You are Harry Potter? My sister is going be jealous we met you."
"You talking about the other Harry Potter. I did not do any thing special it is the other guy."
"There are two Harry Potters."
"Maybe because I did not do anything that the Harry Potter supposedly have done."
"Do you know who the other Marauders are?"
"Like I said I did not know my father."
"Why don't you take some candy?"
"I will save some for later. Nice you meetings. I got to get going. What are your names? You never mentioned before"
"I am Gred and his is Forge. We are the famous Weasley twins. This is Lee Jordan a close friend of ours."
"See you guys around."
Harry quickly put the candy in his pocket to prank Ron later.
Harry met Hermione who was hiding in case Harry was not able to get the Map she would steal the map under a disillusionment charm while Harry distracted them. They went back to the carriage and found Ron waiting for them.
"Where have you be?" Ron said
"We were out looking for the toad when we stopped to talk to some people. What is to you anyway?" Harry said irritated by Ron.
"I have been waiting for you guys to come back."
"We have nothing in common to talk about. You like Quidditch, I like reading and hanging out with my friend, Hermione." Harry stated and Hermione hugged him for his statement and said
"That's so sweet. Thank you Harry."
"Fine" Ron said angrily. Grabbed his stuff and left in a huff.
"Finally" they both said. Then started laughing.
"Damn, I had some of the twin's candy I wanted to give to Ron." Harry said in fake frustration.
"We can slip it in with his stuff later." Hermione said slyly
"You should be in Slytherin with that plan."
"Imagine what Dumbledore's or Snape's reaction if you were sorted into Slytherin."
"I'm almost tempted to do so just for their reaction."
"What house should we be in, Harry?"
"I don't know I let you decide and I will follow you into whatever house you are in."
"That's no help. Do you want to go back to Griffindor?"
"I don't know. I prefer not to listen to him snore or watch his disgusting eating habits."
"I agree Griffindor is out. As I don't think I can be in the same class with him in every subject without killing him."
"Slytherin is out as I can't stand Snape and I refuse to share a dorm with Draco."
"I don't want to share a dorm with Pansy and Milicent. Can you image waking up to them."
"So either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw."
"That's fine by me."
"So we agree to be in the same house."
"Okay"
They hug and go back to reading until Draco and his goons showed up. Harry knows he can't get worked up by Draco Malfoy.
"I heard that Harry Potter is on this train."
"I am a Harry Potter but if you looking for the Harry Potter I can't help you."
"You mean there are two Harry Potters on the train."
"The other Harry Potter seem to have done incredible and impossible things unlike me."
"Are you related to the other Potter?" Draco asked
"I would not know, I was raised by non-magical peoples." Harry reply
"So are you a mudblood?"
"If you mean I was raised by non-magical then yes?"
"How about you? Are your parents our kind?"
"Same as Harry here." Hermione replied
"Let us gets out of here, the stink from these two mudbloods are turning my stomach. I still want to find the Real Harry Potter so that he can meet the proper people like me." Draco said as he left.
Using the one of the old wands they found in the Room of Lost Things, Harry hit all three of them with a spell as they were leaving.
"What spell did you hit him ?"
"Just a Diarrhoea spell, I found a few years ago."
"You got teach my that spell?"
Harry showed Hermione how the spell is done.
"How long before it takes effect?"
"A few minutes but if you it too often on the same the person, they will start suffering from malnutrition."
The rest of the trip was spent reading through their materials and having pleasant conservation. They did put the prank candy from the twins in Ron's trunk before they headed to the castle.
Chapter 3 – Sorting Ceremony and Settling In
The boat ride was uneventful even though it was shared with Neville and Ron. Hermione started reciting facts about Hogwarts just to piss off Ron and Neville. Harry was trying hard not to laugh at what Hermione was doing. It was made funny when she started making things up like people use to regularly get lost in Hogwarts, Dementors roams the halls after curfew, there are ghosts that enjoy possessing students at night, there are rooms full of spiders the size of dogs, Professor Snape is trying to get body parts for his experiments so he makes potions as dangerous as possible and etc. Harry decided to confirm the rumour the twins made up about needing to battle a troll to determine your house. Ron and Neville were both pissing in fear once the boat ride ended. They bolt up the steps to get away from the two bookworms. Once they were out of sight, Harry and Hermione burst out laughing. Everyone looked at them as though they were weird.
Malfoy came over before the sorting began.
"So you are the Harry Potter as there are no other by that name on the train I checked. Why did you lie before?"
"Everything I said is true. What has been said about me is false."
"Let's start over. I am Draco Malfoy."
"I am glad you know your own name. Did it take you long to learn it?"
Hermione seeing how things are heading had silently casts the diarrhoea spell on Draco while they were talking.
"Are you calling me stupid? You mudblood."
"Compare to you a brain dead pigeon is smart. Must be all that inbreeding. Is your mother, the first or second cousin, to you father?"
"Wait until my father hears about this. You will regret it."
"You can't think for yourself. You need your father to do your thinking for you. Do you share a brain cell with you Daddy is that why need wait for him to tell you what to do?"
Draco whips out his wand and then the diarrhoea charm sets in.
"I will get you for this." Draco screams as he running to the toilet .
Harry whispers to Hermione. "Why did you do that for? I was trying to get him to do a spell and fail and look pathetic."
"Sorry, It was just the perfect opportunity to test out that spell you just taught me."
Due to the charm, Draco misses the sorting hat song and the sorting of a few students. Neville and Ron were angry at Harry and Hermione for giving them all that false information especially in regards to the sorting ceremony. They kept sending Harry, dirty looks which, Harry thought was really funny. Draco was back before the sorting of Hermione. It took a long time for the Sorting Hat to decide which house to put her in. But in the end it decided on Ravenclaw. Harry could hear Draco in the background telling Pansy that she was probably a squib and the hat did not know where to put her which was why it took so long.
Harry's name was called and the silence of the room followed by the sound of people gossiping was quiet unnerving, Everyone was staring at him when he walked up the to the Sorting Stand. He put the hat on.
"Another interesting mind. Please lower shields." the Hat said.
"Just put me in Ravenclaw and let go at that." Harry replied.
"Just lower your shields, nothing I find will be passed on to any one else. Privacy is something I take very seriously."
"Give me one good reason why I should,"
"I can help with advise or I can pass on messages to you about what Dumbledore."
"If you reveal what you learn or do not help me I will burn you to a crisp. Do we understand each other?"
"Okay"
Harry lowered the shields on his minds. The hat immediately started going through Harry's memories.
"I can see how the other me had such a great trouble sorting you. Your actions are truly Griffindor, your plans with Hermione plus your ability to lead are pure Slytherin, you are smart enough for Ravenclaw and your loyalty to your friends is great but the abuse of your trust has lead you to your current path. So Hufflepuff is out as they are unlikely to able live up to standards of loyalty. You would suit Slytherin, but I know you want to go to Ravenclaw so that it is where I am going to place. I don't you want to be set on fire by you if I choose differently. I can give you the Griffindor's sword but not right now. I am sure the founders would have agreed with what you are doing so I will try to help you where I can. I should be able to keep the headmaster from tracking you and Hermione within Hogwarts and I might be able to pass on an occasional message. Best of Luck. "
"RAVENCLAW!"
Harry immediately raised his shields and was instantly bombarded by Dumbledore trying to get inside his mind before he could react. But the shock on his and everyone's face was hilarious to Harry. It like all of Dumbledore's plans came crashing down. The Ravenclaw table started clapping and some polite clapping from Slytherin. Some people from Hufflepuff began clapping but the major did not know what to make of it. Griffindor were in shock, all of them thought Harry would sorted in their house or Slytherin if he was evil but not this.
Harry went over to sit next to Hermione at the Ravenclaw table. He was to welcomed to the house by the other members of Ravenclaw then the sorting continue with no variation from last time. Even the constant staring from Snape, Dumbledore, Quirrel and McGonagall was the same as last time. During the actual meal, Harry and Hermione got to know the other Ravenclaws better than they did last time. They were twelve people in Ravenclaw this year including Hermione and Harry. Cho and Mariette were trying to befriend the new girls in Ravenclaw including Hermione. But Hermione rejected them, she strongly suspected that these girls were trying to for a clique that she did not want to be a part of.
The boys at Ravenclaw were alright but Harry was hesitate about developing any close bonds with them for two reasons. First reason he would be leaving in a few years he did not want to become attach to anyone but Hermione who was going with him. Second reason is that the betrayals from his closest friends had made reluctant to make new friends in this environment as he was sure that Dumbledore would end up corrupting them. He will just wait until they start at the Salem Institute before making new friends. As such he was already an outsider with Hermione joining him as an outsider as she refuses to join any clique.
At the end of the meal, the prefects began taking the students to their dormitories. Professor McGonagall came and asked Harry to accompany her to the headmaster's office.
"Hello, Harry. Please take a seat."
"Thank you, Sir."
"How have you been, Harry?"
"Alright, is this how you treat all your famous students?"
"I knew your parents, I was just surprised when you were sorted into Ravenclaw as your parents were both in Griffindor. They would have wanted you in Griffindor like them."
"I never knew my parents, so I never knew what they wanted. I grew up with my Aunt, Uncle and my cousin who would not care which house I got into "
"How did they treat you?"
"Okay, Before I forget, I got a private letter from my parents. My father told me to pick up my family heirloom, his invisible cloak from you since you borrowed before he died. So can I have it now?"
"Why don't I hold onto it until you are older?"
"My father wanted me to have now. He was explicit that I get now and he gave a detail description of the cloak. I will expect the cloak tomorrow. It is getting late, I want to go to bed. Is there anything else?"
"No, Goodnight Harry."
Harry quickly leaves the Headmaster's office.
"Crazy old loon. He forgot to get someone to show me the directions to the Ravenclaw dorms.
Harry uses the Marauders' map to get to the Ravenclaw Dorms. Hermione was waiting for Harry in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She could see he was upset so she hugged him.
"I am sorry. I almost lost my temper at Dumbledore and spilled the beans on our entire plan."
"It is alright."
The other people looked at the crying Harry and thought he was weird. Harry stayed in Hermione's arms until one of the Prefects showed up to take Harry to his new dorm.
The next morning Harry and Hermione woke up early and headed straight to the library. Hermione continued researching her various pet projects in the general area of the library. Using one of the wands she had transfigured one of the other chairs at her table to look like Harry. Meanwhile Harry was using stealth charms he learnt from auror training to sneak into the restricted section of the library and start copying books. When ever someone looked like going to their table Hermione would make the fake Harry walk to the shelves past the real Harry. Then the real Harry would follow behind the fake Harry and they were in the shelves. The real Harry could cancel out the Disillusionment Spell and Hermione's Transfiguration and meet whoever was coming over. Harry and Hermione both borrowed a lot of books from the library before heading to breakfast.
A/N Some of my reviews have said I need a beta. So if you are interested in being my beta please message me.
Chapter 4 – Classes
First class was herbology with the the Slytherins. Draco walked up to Harry.
"I am going to get you expelled for that spell you did on you."
"I have not done a single spell on you at Hogwarts. Every saw where my hands were the entire time we talking. I never used my wand."
"I know it was you."
"Prove it."
Draco and his two bodyguards walked away as Professor Sprout came in. Harry went to work with Hermione. Hermione got out her alternate wand and did a spell on Draco as Harry blocked Professor Sprout view. Harry whispered to Hermione.
"What did you do?"
"Just wait and see."
It was half way through the class before Draco made a fuss. It appear as though Draco's hands had been stuck to the back of his pants and when Crabbe and Goyle tried to help, they too got stuck to Draco's backside. Harry asked Hermione
"What curse was that?"
"It is not a curse, its a protection charm to prevent theft. I found it in one of the rare tome Remus got us. It makes the thief stick to the object that they want to steal and can not remove it for entire. Anyone who tries to help them gets stuck as well. I did change it so that only males who help Draco would get stuck and the charm is localised to the back side of Draco. The beauty of this charm is that it is a protection charm is the nurse in all likelihood would not be able to identify it. Image trying to go to the toilet while stuck."
"That is an image I don't need. You have to teach me that charm."
They went back to work. After class was a free period before lunch and then charms with the Griffindors. During the free period, Harry and Hermione went to the Room of Lost things. While Harry did the grunt work by moving stuff from the room to the sorting tent, Hermione was either copying books, doing experiments or doing research. Hermione also wrote a letter requesting the status of her order of blank books. Harry did ask Doug to buy a load of prank stuff and load it into one of the trunks from the Room of Lost Things.
At lunch, Draco and his friends were not seen but the rumour was that they were still at the infirmary. Snape were staring at Harry through out lunch. Harry and Hermione mainly spoke to each other but would occasional answer a question directed at them.
Professor Flitwick fell off his stack of books when Harry came in the room for charms with the Griffindors like last time. But this time, Hermione did not try to answer every question as she did not need the validation any more. Instead she and Harry were busy trying to frighten Neville and Ron. This had a number of different purposes. The first purpose was to ensure Ron avoid them as much as possible since neither wanted anything to do with him. Second purpose, if their credibility is destroyed, their power within school would be destroyed and people would more likely to think for themselves when the loudest spokespeople for the opposing pure blood ideologies are both marginalised. It forces the focus on other issues which is what the traditionalists like the Malfoys and the Weasleys do not want. Harry had transfigured their quills into spiders which would change back to quills when it left their hands. Then Hermione would use the same quills and transfigure them into the Thing from the Adams Family and have it start feeling them up. It was a get artform to get the reaction they wanted from Ron and Neville without anyone seeing the cause to validate their concerns. By the end of the class Ron and Neville were looking around constantly like their were paranoid.
Before dinner, Harry had copy the map of the school from the book, Hogwarts: A History. As anticipated, Harry was called by Professor Flitwick after dinner to go to the Headmaster's office. Harry re-enforce his mental shields before going to Dumbledore's office.
"Good Evening, Harry."
"Good evening sir."
"I'm sorry, I forgot to show you the way to your dorms last night."
"It is alright, sir. I had a map and I believe in being prepared."
Harry could see the flash of disappointment on Dumbledore's face at that statement. Before he quickly recovered and tried to hide the disappointment.
"That is good to hear." Dumbledore said without really meaning it.
"Have got my father's invisible cloak."
"Yes, Here it is." As Dumbledore passed Harry the cloak.
Harry started a careful inspection of the cloak to ensure it was the correct cloak and not a fake.
"Don't you trust me?"
"No, I don't know you and I think history books are crap." Knowing that this was a dig at Dumbledore's reputation.
"You should trust me people, it better way to live your life."
"Trust needs to me earned and the fact that the cloak was in your possession rather than in my vault has made me trust you less. Returning does not negate the possession."
"I want to build that trust between as I knew your parents well."
"I don't think so, building a relationship is built on time spent together. It would hamper my relationship with my classmates if I am constantly called to the headmaster's office. People would think I am a trouble maker, a suck up or a snitch all of which would prevent me from developing a friendship with my classmates."
"You know you can come to me if you have a problem?"
"I doubt I will as you will probably busy. I will more likely go to one of the Professors."
Seeing that he was not getting anything he wanted, Dumbledore said good night and Harry left.
Harry rushed to the library where Hermione was continuing her researching.
"How did it go, Harry?"
"Alright, I think. Dumbledore is seriously re-evaluating his plans concerning me and I believe that it might be possible he might use Neville instead of me."
"That would be good but we can't just hope that this is case we need to plan."
"I believe we need to get the twins and Peeves to keep the staff occupied while we make the necessary changes."
"We can get the twins to target Snape and Draco while we get Peeves to target Neville and Ron."
"We can workout how sell it to them later. We should get back to work."
They complete their homework before Hermione resumes her research while Harry continues his copying of the restricted section. When the library was about to close. They borrow some more books before going to the Ravenclaw common room. Hermione and Harry then discuss the progress of Hermione's research while they copy more books under notice me not charms. Occasional Hermione would illustrate something to demonstrate the point or she would do spell to show Harry. Just before curfew Harry would go to his dorm room's toilet's and try out some of the spells, Hermione was working on.
The next morning it was the weekend. So they head off to the library early and to continue their research and copying. At breakfast, Hermione finally receive the order of blank books she placed. They head to the Room of Lost Things just after breakfast making sure no one is following them by checking the Marauders' Map. They head to the Grangers' place where Harry has Doug remove all the tracking, monitoring and whatever other charms Dumbledore or any staff may have put on Harry, Hermione and Harry's cloak. Harry also gives Scabbers to Doug to take care of and he forgot yesterday to do so. When Emily and Doug were told they would be taught the mind arts from the two preteens. The shock on their faces were very funny. Hermione taught Emily and while Harry was instructing Doug. Harry and Hermione stayed for lunch at the Grangers to have a meeting with Dan and Emma, to discuss the progress of their projects. Emma first asks Hermione.
"How is school dear? Is it like your memories or is it really different?"
"It is the same and a lot of respects but my perspective is different."
"How about you, Harry?"
"It is alright. Too early to tell really."
"Well down to business, the sorting and selling is going well. We are netting about 2750 pounds of profit per week. That is even after you take in to consideration the all the settling up costs. The profit number is actual amount received and does not include unrealised sales like the things we are keeping, the growing stockpile of stuff that Remus has not sold yet, anything expensive that we need to sell at auction. Now Dan would be talking about the Investment side of things."
"We have invested 85 percentage of the liquid assets we have available. Positive returns on investments on some stocks would not show for several months yet as most of the major economies currently in recession and likely to remain that way for at least another 6 months according to your information. One or two of the stocks have already achieve some positive gains."
"The copying of the books at Hogwarts is slow going with only small sections of the restricted section of the Hogwarts' library, common section and the one in the Ravenclaw common room copied. We have decided that Emily and Doug would be shown the copying spells after Halloween as the rate we are going we would not have finish copying all the books at Hogwarts by the time we leave."
"I will have get Doug to make some purchases on my behalf"
"I need Emily to pay for some stuff for me too."
"That's fine." Emma replied.
Before going back to Hogwarts, Harry collected the trunk full of prank materials and asked Doug to use his contacts and the Outcasts to find books about Basilisks and Parselmouths. The cost of the books can be taken from the amount they receive from Remus. He also asks for another trunk of pranks. Hermione orders a load of blank books to be delivered at the Grangers rather than Hogwarts so that it was not that suspicious. She also asks Emily to pay for the blank books she already received using money they were finding in the Room of Lost Things. They both leave for Hogwarts after giving Emily and Doug instructions on what exercises they need to improve their mind arts.
At dinner, just as they were coming into the great hall, Harry silently sends a parselmouth sticking spell to Draco using his alternate wand. Draco is now stuck to his bench and he and friends are trying desperately to get him off the bench. Harry passes the alternate wand to Hermione when they sit down together at the Ravenclaw table. Professor Snape tries to help Draco but fails as the spell is in Parselmouth. Snape then stomps up to Harry.
"What did you do to Draco?"
"I have done nothing to Draco, Sir"
"We both know is you who did."
"Where your proof?"
"Detention all week with me."
"Professor Flitwick, I need your assistance." Harry yells. Snape tries to walk away before Flitwick arrives but Hermione silently sends a tripping spell at Snape. By the time Snape recovers from his fall. Professor Flitwick had arrived at the scene.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"No problem." Snape says.
"I just got an unfair detention for something I did not do." Harry states.
"You did not do. You were arguing with Draco every time something happens to him."
"I was not arguing just now when whatever happened to Draco occurred. You can check my wand if you want to?" Harry then passes the wand to Flitwick to check.
"There were no unusual spells on this wand. Snape I believe you owe this young man an apology for falsely accusing him of doing something."
"How about those detentions?" Harry quickly adds.
"Fine, I know it was you. I will prove it." Snape says angrily.
"I think it is just a curse I have on death eaters and their children. It is like I got protection from people meaning me harm. Are you a death eater, as you just tripped just then like the curse taking affect."
Sanpe stalked away angrily. After Professor Flitwick goes away slightly amused. Their meal continues now without any farther interruptions. At the end of the meal, Hermione leans over to Harry and says.
"Nice touch with the curse. Now we have a ready made cover for all those things we do to Snape and Draco."
"I liked it. I hope that Crabbe and Goyle are still trying to help Draco get off the seat when the curse finally fades in a few minutes."
"I am almost tempted staying around just to watch that happen but we have too much work to be done. To the library."
Harry and Hermione resume their research and copying. After the library comes they go to the Room of Requirement for a hour to try experiment with what Hermione had found. Then off to bed. This routine was repeated the next day library, Grangers, library, room of requirement and finally bed. Draco and Snape would just stare at Harry during meals.
Double potions with Hufflepuff was first up on Monday morning. Hermione looked up a curse for this class. As Harry was harassed by Professor Snape, Hermione used her alternate wand to hit Snape with a curse that made his hair itch like he had lice both on his head and at his groin. Once Snape turned his back to the class, Hermione used a stronger version of the curse. Then as it looks like Snape is about to leave go to the infirmary, she uses the counter curse on him and a protection spell to prevent magical treatment being effective. The inflammation would maintain the itch and since he be forced to use muggle methods he should be out of action for at least a few days.
The potions lesson was therefore cut short. Hermione recommended that we do the potions he had on the board. A lot of the hufflepuff students left and a few Ravenclaw students joined them. She then changed the recipe on the board a bit to improve the stability and the effectiveness of the potion. When the remaining students why she was doing so, she explained each change. Harry worked on the potion at the front with Hermione giving him directions as he worked. A lot of the other students were following Harry's example and asking Hermione a question about the process. When someone asked how she became so good at potions. She said that as she is muggle-born she could not do spells at home but potions is allowed. So she had a lot practice before Hogwarts started. As students left their finished potions on Snape's desk, they thanked Hermione for her help.
At lunch, Professor Dumbledore came over to Harry.
"Harry what did you do to Professor Snape?"
"I did nothing, sir. What happened to Professor Snape?"
"You know bloody what happened. You cursed Snape because he was criticising you. Harry, I have to punish you for this, a month detention with Filch and 100 point deduction from Ravenclaw. You can not go around attacking professors."
"I did no such thing. You can have Professor Flitwick check my wand. I did not attack Professor Snape."
"Professor Flitwick! Can you come over I am having a dispute with the headmaster and he is making baseless accusations. I need you to vilify that I am telling the truth." Harry yelled
Professor Flitwick was able to confirm that no curse was fired from Harry's wand at the absolute frustration of Dumbledore.
"How about the detentions and the points, Sir? Since I did not attack Professor Snape are you going to cancel the detention and reinstate the points?"
Dumbledore stormed off and said "Yeah, the detentions are cancelled and the points reinstated."
Harry said just loud enough for most people to hear "It is the curse I tell you. I wonder what the next stage of the curse will be?"
Then it was time for History of magic where Hermione and Harry worked on their private research rather than listen to Professor Binn drone on. Then it was finally Defence Against Dark Arts and the Voldemort possessed Professor Quirrell. Professor Quirrell tried to attack Harry's mind without success. In fact, Professor Quirrell got a massive headache from the failed attack. After the success Harry had at repelling the attack from Voldemort. Harry had decided that he will try and attack Voldemort's mind and try to find useful information that they could use. That night before the library closed, Harry spent some time researching the mind arts while Hermione copied books from the Restricted Section of the library. When the library was closing, Harry and Hermione go back to their dorm and work on their mental shields using the new information Harry had found about the mind arts.
The next morning, Harry proceeded with his research while Hermione continued copying. Hermione kept saying.
"I need to teach Doug and Emily this spell so I don't have to copy these books myself. Instead I can be learning from them."
Harry would laugh every time Hermione would say that.
At their transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall was tougher than before on Harry. No where near as bad as Professor Sanpe but still bad. She was a tougher marker on Harry's work and she criticised his efforts.
The rest of the week went in the same pattern with Harry and Hermione going to class, copying/researching in the library, going to the Grangers, move some more stuff from the Room of Lost Things, going to the Room of Requirement to experiment and finally working on their mind shields. Hermione was doing well despite her attempts at scaring Ron and Neville and pranking Draco. A big bonus was the Professor Snape was out the entire week due to the inflammation of head, groin and his arm pits. The only noteworthy thing to occur was the recruitment of Peeves. In return for scaring Neville and Ron plus some distraction occasional to help them plus protecction from his pranks, Peeves got a trunk load of pranks every three months, they are at Hogwarts. So Peeves were dropping Dung bombs regularly in the boys First year Griffindor dorms, he would release rats in Ron's or Neville's trunks and etc.