The Third Time is a Charm

Posted 15 March 2010

Chapter 86 Yes! We Have Him

The magical world was in an uproar. Voldemort was dead and so apparently were his death eaters. The Ministry of Magic received a box full of dead bodies with a note.

They should at least have a proper burial.

No mention of where they came from or why they were dead. People from the ministry were missing also. The Minister’s aides were called for an emergency meeting but some of them were not found.

At Between Manor…

Silver and Black were anxious to get to Becca and the rest of the ‘family’. The others may not have been their family from their own timeline, but they were family none the less. They had placed all the dead in one of the containment trunks and sent it to the Ministry. Then the others, the former Death Eaters and the former victims were all sent home for their own celebrations and reunions with family members and friends. The whole magical world was having a party and the others would want to join in. There was no longer any danger from the dark megalomaniac. Now they had to deal with the other one.


At a manor in France…

Severus flooed Lucius and Narcissa and told them Voldemort was dead. Even through the distorted fire of the intercontinental connection, you could see the relief on their faces. They could make plans to go back home.

The couple told their aunt (who was no more ill than they were) good bye and packed up their things. Narcissa was now six months pregnant and was concerned about getting home before she was too far along to get around and see to the manor.

After having been closed up for over three months, it would need a few things done to it, even with the elves there to keep it free of dust. She needed to redecorate the nursery and have the children’s bedrooms refurbished also. They were getting older and Draco didn’t even have a room. He had still been in the nursery when they left.

The international portkey was a taxing experience. Narcissa was glad to be home, but she had to leave the children to the elves to settle as the trip was hard on a pregnant woman. Lucius was worried about her but she insisted she would be fine. He needed to get to Prince Manor and find out what was going on. They hadn’t gotten many details on what was to happen next; only that it was safe to come home.

He would go to see the Prince family tomorrow. Today he had funerals to plan. He was sure that Narcissa was not up to planning her sister’s burial.

At Hogwarts School…

The deceased Potter’s brat was in the headmaster’s office. He was crying again and Albus had just about enough. Fawkes tried to calm the little one with a song, but Albus didn’t want to hear that either. He did what he needed to do to make sure Harry was under his control and placed blocks on the incredible amount of magic the child was releasing in waves. He would bring the child to the Dursley’s tonight, but would have to do it in the dark so no one would see him.

He told Minerva that they were Harry’s only family and he needed Lily’s sister’s blood to create blood wards for the child. They didn’t want any Death Eaters to find out where he was and kidnap him. He didn’t inform her that he, in fact, had kidnapped the child and had no right to say where the child would go. She just assumed he was doing this for the best.

He had sent Hagrid to the house in Godric’s Hollow to look for anything that Harry may need. He asked him to bring all the books in the house to the school, so he could keep them for when the baby grew older and started school. Secretly, he just wanted to possess the books for himself. Many purebloods had old and rare books that were priceless. Little did he know, Lily had been keeping all the important books in Harry’s trunk in case something happened. That was where the book she received from Gringotts was.

Hagrid came back with his meager offerings from the house and Dumbledore had to assume that the books were hidden, or that they were in the vaults. That was the next thing he had to work on; getting access to the Potter vaults.

Hagrid had come back on Sirius’ motorbike. He said that Sirius had come to the house in Godric’s Hollow to see if the stories were true. When Hagrid told him that Dumbledore had the baby and was taking care of things, he loaned the kindly giant his vehicle and said, “I have something important to do. I will be in touch as soon as I take care of some business,” he then apparated out of there to find himself a rat.


That night at the bewitching hour, Dumbledore went to the street of Privet Drive and made things ready for the delivery of little Harry Potter. Hagrid was bringing the little tyke and Minerva had already been there all day.

The older woman protested vehemently about leaving the little one with those ‘awful muggles’ but the Headmaster would hear none of it. He was erecting the blood wards for the child to be safe and he had a plan. Of course, he didn’t tell her about his plan, but he had one and all would work out for the greater good.

At Prince Manor…

Harry was pacing again. He was trying to stay calm but it just was not working. The children were not as upset today as yesterday and for that he was grateful, but he wanted to know what was happening to the baby in Dumbledore’s care and why he hadn’t been delivered yet.

Severus finally gave him a calming draft and sent him to take a nap. He was going to wear out from all that nervous energy if he didn’t get some sleep. Everyone was waiting for the little Potter to arrive.

They truly had wanted to take him before Dumbledore got his hands on the fifteen month old. The only reason they didn’t was because he would have recognized a golem immediately and there would have been too many questions and they hadn’t wanted to start another war right after the first one was over. It was different with the adult Potters, they were dead and didn’t have to be animated.

No, as much as they hated it, it was decided by the war counsel that they would wait for Dumbledore to deliver the baby and then take possession of him.

While Severus was taking care of Harry, Doc arrived to speak with Becca about a few patients that had arrived at the medical facility.

“What have you done?” he asked the woman. Salazar was there too and had to ask him what he was talking about.

“The patients that arrived last night, we were not to meddle with that situation. The one situation you were not meant to change. We need to get your Grandfathers here. NOW!”
Doc exclaimed.

Becca didn’t know what was going on, but just as she was going to portkey to Between Manor, a silver phoenix and a black phoenix flashed into the sitting room. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw them change back to their human form.

“Thank Merlin you are here. Doc was just telling us about a problem and he wanted you here before he explained what the problem is.” Becca told her Grandfathers with gratitude in her voice.

“What seems to be wrong?” Black asked just as Severus entered the room.

“Is there a problem?” he asked after hearing the previous question.

It was Doc that answered. This was a real problem and he wasn’t sure how to tell them. “Two patients were portkeyed into the medical facility last night. Their medical scans showed an anomaly that can’t possibly be. It was not meant to happen this way. We have to decide what to do. Both patients are in a healing coma right now and have almost no magic to their cores. We are keeping them on life support and using the sound therapy to regenerate their magic but to be honest I don’t think there is much that can be done.”

“Who are the patients?” Severus asked the healer he had come to respect.

“You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I did.” Severus responded. ‘What was going on?’ he was wondering.

Doc paused a moment before dropping this bombshell of news. “The Potters”

“What?”

“Not possible.”

“I didn’t know that!”

Everyone started talking at once until Salazar gave an ear piercing whistle to get everyone’s attention.

“Are you telling me that they survived the killing curse?”

“Well, I don’t know if you would call it surviving in their condition, but yes they are alive and in the medical facility. Didn’t you know? Isn’t that why you portkeyed them there?” Doc asked the family in front of them.

“All I know is that Becca sent a note to herself saying that golems were needed for the Potters. We thought it was because someone was going to try and take some of their blood to bypass the blood wards.”

“We have to figure out what happened and what it means now that the one event you were not allowed to change has changed anyway,” Severus said.

“There is something else you should know.” Doc informed them as they were sitting, stunned at the change in events.

“What else could possibly be added to this already astounding news?” asked Severus, a bit of the old snarky self projected through.

“Some of the medical scans did not work on them. I had to use some of the new spells I developed to check on Lillian’s health. Somehow, they have some of her magic.”

“Uh oh,” was said by Becca and Salazar both at one time.

Severus, Black and Silver looked at the three suspiciously. “What did you mean by that?” asked Silver.

Becca looked sheepish and said, “We did a family crest with a seven soul blood ritual. We used the children, me, Harry and the three Potters. My intention was to help protect the baby; I didn’t know it would react that way with his parents.”

“What did you mean about Lillian’s magic being different?” Silver still didn’t understand what was going on, nor how the Potters were alive.

“She was conceived just before mine and Harry’s bonding, in spite of the contraceptive potions he had taken. There was a power surge during her conception and several small ones after that, but later during the bonding the power surge was so strong that it broke through a seven person shield during the ceremony. It was a thrice blessed bonding, using three dark and three light creature magics. Her magic is a combination of both light and dark and reacts differently to all other spells. It is different from neutral magic which can be light or dark. Her magic actually is light AND dark.” Severus felt compelled to explain.

“The power wave that brought us here,” Silver said quietly.

“So some things were meant to change,” Black answered just as quietly.

“What are you talking about?” Salazar asked.

“Sorry, let me explain,” Silver said. “We thought we were off to the next great adventure when our timeline destroyed itself. A power boost of magic started building and we decided to follow it. We had assumed that it was from the magic pushing us out of our world as it came to an end, sending us to another place to help another timeline. But from what you are telling us, I think that it was the magic here, pulling us, and this was destined to happen. Not in any of the other timelines have we, meaning our counterparts, created a child with a combination of magic so powerful that it created a new magic. Nor did our bonding create power surges like the ones you described.”

“I don’t think the Potters living is against what Time and Fate planned. I think they caused this to happen in this time line only,” the black phoenix animagus said.

“Well, if that is the case, I need to see about reviving two patients that are suffering from the worst case of magical drain I have ever seen. They are in a coma now, and may remain so for quite some time.” Doc told the group as he stood to go.

“Doc,” Becca said “the Potters used the magical inheritance spell when Lily was pregnant with little Harry. Could they have actually died for just a minute before the magic of the seal revived them? Perhaps what they are suffering from is not magical drain but because they actually gifted it to their son to protect him.”

“That’s a good point. I will have Shashi look up some references and maybe we can get our hands on a copy of that spell.” Doc said.

“I believe we have the spell already. I have little Harry’s trunk here and Lily stored everything of value in it.” Becca said trying to be helpful.

She went to the trunk and pulled out the book that had the spell and gave it to Doc. “You can start here and tell Shashi if he needs more references to stop by and use our libraries.”

After a few words of farewell, Doc left to see if he could save his patients.

Harry woke up later that afternoon, well rested but having missed his lunch and he was hungry. He went into the sitting room, looking for his husband and saw Silver and Black as well as Becca and Salazar in a serious discussion with Severus right in the middle of it.

“Hey, guys, what’s going on?”

“Harry, you’re awake! How do you feel?” asked his husband.

“Fine… hungry… what’s going on?” he repeated.

“Dumbledore is planning to deliver little Harry around midnight tonight. We were planning how to swap the child with the golem before the Dursleys find him.

So they waited and just before midnight, a security elf came to tell them that Dumbledore had been spotted on the street, putting out the street lights so that he would not be seen.

All six of the adults rushed up to the street level part of number three Privet Drive to watch what was going on. They could see McGonagall and Dumbledore talking and then they heard the roar of a motorbike and watched while it landed. Hagrid was holding the baby and handed him to Dumbledore. After a few minutes the old man placed an envelope in the blanket of the small child and placed him on the doorstep of number four Privet Drive. A few minutes later all three figures left, leaving the wrapped baby on the Dursley doorstep.

It took all of three seconds after the headmaster left for the elves and the Prince family to spring into action. As soon as the lights went out again, Harry was running across the yard to take the baby off the doorstep and bring him inside. He was very protective of the child and with good reason.

The baby snuggled down in his blanket and rested in Harry’s arms as he walked back to number three. Now he could finally relax and sleep again. The baby was safe and out of the hands of those monsters that lived next door. When he arrived back at the house, Remus Sr. and Tonks were there to see if everything was alright.

The golem was popped on the doorstep with the letter from Dumbledore. They had placed it in the blanket around the golem, just before delivering their Harry Potter look alike on the doorstep. They never did see the old coot set the blood wards. Wondering how he was going to do that without Petunia’s blood. But that was no concern to them as they had already planned to reset the wards as soon as they had little Harry.

Harry Prince looked at the sleeping baby and a sense of peace flowed through him. They had him, they had him and he would never have to suffer the life his other counterparts did. Now they would set the most powerful wards known to wizard kind. They needed to spread the news to their other creature partners. They would be overjoyed that the babe was now safe.

After they returned to their family quarters, the baby was put in the nursery with the other children in the third crib that had been waiting for him. Tomorrow they would shift their living quarters to include the room that was labeled ‘the cupboard under the stairs’. It seems that as long as it was labeled, it was the address that would pop up on the magical wizarding address list and his letters would all say ‘Cupboard under the Stairs’. No one had to know that the cupboard was three meters high and ten meters square. Lot’s of room for a young boy to play and sleep and have friends over.

It was while the baby was sleeping that another note appeared on the dining room table. Becca reached it first.

“It’s from Gorbink. He says in five days on November 6, 1981, Dumbledore will petition the Wizengamot to have access to the Potter vaults so he may arrange protection and future training for the Boy-Who-Lived. He originally came into Gringotts and tried to file some documents he drew up himself, saying that he, as Chief Warlock, should be the baby’s magical guardian, as his godparents could not be found.”

Silver answered the unasked question. “The Longbottoms know what is going on and are at home still hidden by the Fidelius Charm. Sirius is out looking for Wormtail. He won’t find him. His master is dead and so is he.”

“How can we be sure?” Becca asked in trepidation. She had been fighting in one war or another since birth and couldn’t believe it was all over.

“The Death Eaters that we had incarcerated are all dead. We sent a trunk with over forty bodies in it to the Ministry explaining they needed a proper burial. I believe all their tombstones should read: ‘I was a fool and followed a mad man. I got what I deserved’.” Her grandfather informed her.

“All the others that were liberated from the mark have been reeducated and all the victims also have been educated and informed of what will happen next. One psycho down, one to go,” Silver continued the conversation.

The next day…

It was Regulus and Moony that were to find Sirius and tell him the news that the Potters were not actually dead and that little Harry would be fine. They had a hard time finding him but cornered him on a muggle street as he was walking in an alleyway. They were not sure what he was doing but when they cornered him he was livid.

“Don’t you understand? It’s my entire fault they are dead. I am going to find that rat and kill him, I will torture and kill him like the slimy vermin that he is!” Sirius screamed at his brother and friend.

He could be heard half a block away. People were noticing and listening to him to see what the commotion was about.

“Sirius, you didn’t know what would happen…” Moony started to say.

“I might as well have done. I killed my best friends.” Sirius was inconsolable, but as his brother and Moony tried to get closer, he apparated out of the alley and was gone. What they didn’t realize was that an auror had been hunting Sirius Black for questioning. He was wanted for an inquiry of the Potters death, and a warrant had been placed for his detainment.

The auror watched the two that had been with Sirius Black. He would report this to his superior. Regulus Black was suspected of Death Eater activity, but had not been seen for over a year. Remus Lupin was suspected of being a werewolf, but there were rumors of a cure. The new Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold, who had been elected the year before had not confirmed it, but then perhaps she had other things to worry about.

When they returned to the manner, Becca, Harry, Severus and Snape were in conference with Lucius Malfoy. The Malfoy Lord looked a little worse for wear as he ran his hands through the white blonde locks and sighed. He had spent all of yesterday having the dead removed from his sister-in-law’s house and trying to take care of his wife. It had been a trying day.

The Lestrange home had been the headquarters for the Dark Lord’s activities. They had found fifteen dead and some of those were just children just out of Hogwarts. When Lucius saw the dead and knew that could have been him and Narcissa, he wanted to get down on the ground and thank the Prince family for releasing him of that burden. He had come so close to being one of the dead.

As of now, they were in a discussion of utmost importance. Regulus and Moony came in and were asked to be a part as they needed to know some facts now that one threat was over.

“Dumbledore will ask for an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot to petition to be Harry’s magical guardian. He wants access to the Potter vaults. He has already tried to make a claim with Gringotts, but not having the proper paperwork he has been denied.” Harry explained to the others.

“What do you need us to do?” Lucius asked.

“How much do you trust your attorneys?” Severus asked.

“They are the best. Why?” Lucius answered.

“Yes, but do you trust them?” Severus repeated.

“Of course, they are paid well to be trustworthy,” Lucius replied.

“Good, here is what we want to do…”

The meeting broke up an hour later with an appointment to see Lucius’ attorneys the next day. Sometimes it really paid to be a good Slytherin.