Chapter 83

He thinks Harry is easily manipulated and wants to use him to gain political clout with the light side.

Harry smiled. The maid information would be useful if the Minister ever decided to get testy with him.

Oblivious to Harry's plans, the minister started naming the possible candidates. "Let's see here, your closest alive blood relatives are through the Potters. Your grandmother Dorea was a Black. Pureblood family, if a bit disreputable. So the most viable guardians would be the Malfoy family. Since Narcissa, Lucius's wife is the niece of Dorea Black. "

"Are the Malfoys the only option?" Harry asked.

"Of course not, they are just the closest relatives you have, Harry. You have blood ties to…" the minister ruffled through some papers. "…the Bones, the Longbottoms and the Greengrasses. I suppose the Tonkses are there too, since Andromeda is Dorea's niece as well. Good family, the Tonkses. Always thought the disownment was a bit too excessive."

"Would Amelia be agreeable to being Harry's custodian?" the headmaster asked.

"As far as my knowledge goes none of them would refuse Harry's custody. It's just the matter of finding where Harry fits in the best."

"The Tonkses have a grown daughter Cornelius. Trainee Auror too. Speaks well of them." the headmaster added. The minister nodded.

"Well Harry, all of these families' children are attending the school here at Hogwarts now except Miss Tonks, and she will be coming here to take some statements on the troll matter later this month. Talk to them, deliberate well, and pass on your preference to me. It will be considered seriously in the process," Dumbledore assured Harry.

"I'll be sure to send Miss Tonks over here soon so that you can talk to her. Of course the entire thing is still in early stages and you will probably only get confirmation in your last days of school." the Minister reminded.

"Of course sir," Harry said.

There were some pleasantries, and a couple of minutes later Harry was walking through the corridors back to his dorms.

Ping!

Due to handling a politician with skill, a new skill has been discovered and leveled up!

Politics Lv- 2 (40%)

This is your ability to maneuver in political situations by methods of persuasion, blackmail, guile and manipulation. The higher the level, the more chance of success!

(Lv of Lying + Lv of Bullshitting)% chance of success, less based on how extreme the motive is.

Needless to say, there was a lot on his mind.

After the incident with the troll, there had been only minimal sounds coming through Harry's enchanted spy bug. The only thing that ever happened was Hagrid or Professor Dumbledore would sometimes come and feed the giant three headed dog that always stayed in the third floor corridor. Harry wondered sometimes if the poor dog got bored stuck in the same corridor for the better part of a year.

Quirrell was laying low after Snape had caught him on Halloween, which meant that he'd been stuttering in class more than ever. Needless to say, he must have been thinking that Dumbledore was suspicious of him and was laying on his traumatized teacher act as thick as he could.

So, without any demented teachers looking to steal immortality giving artifacts, a lot of Harry's time on the days leading up to the Christmas break was spent in the library, sometimes with friends doing homework or playing chess and gobstones, and sometimes alone looking through books for interesting spells and potion recipes.

It was on one such day that Hermione and Harry were in the library. Hermione was polishing up an essay that was twice its required length and Harry was looking for a way to recreate the Essence of Dittany potion he'd gotten in his loot, since it was the best healing potion he had encountered yet.

"Harry," Hermione suddenly tapped his arm, "Isn't that the groundskeeper Hagrid?"

Harry peered around his stack of books and looked. And sure enough, it was Hagrid, looking very out of place in his moleskin overcoat in between the library shelves.

Harry frowned. The gentle half giant was a lot of things. A good friend, competent Gamekeeper, really good with animals, and a pretty decent tea-brewer for whenever Harry came over.

But a book-reading person he was not.

"Hagrid!" Harry called, "What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, barely fitting in between the two shelves, hiding something behind his back. "Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got his interest at once. Harry looked into the beetle eyes and could see that he was lying, he could feel it.

Ping!

A new skill has been developed!

Lie detection, Lv- 1 (12%)

You can detect lies said to you, 10% chance of success.

"An' what're you up ter?" Hagrid looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer er…wut we discussed before…are yeh?"

"Of course not Hagrid. That matter is dropped." said Harry, ignoring Hermione's questioning looks. "I do have a few questions however…"

"Shh!" said Hagrid "Listen…come an' see me later, bring yer friend, might as well tell her ter stop 'er from sniffin around. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh."

"We'll see you later, then," said Harry. Hagrid nodded and shuffled off to Madam Pince's desk.

"What were you even talking about?" asked Hermione.

Harry sighed and sat down. "Its a long story, but basically, there's something being guarded in the third floor corridor."

She looked at him oddly. "I know."

"Wait. You do?" Harry asked, bewildered. How did everyone know stuff before him?!

"Ron's brothers have been in there. There's a trapdoor under a three headed dog in there. Its basically old news now Harry. No one's been able to get past the dog so no one knows what it's guarding."

"Except that I do." Harry interjected.

"You do? How?"

Harry was a bit worried about sharing too much, but the burden of all this secrecy and someone, possibly Voldemort getting their hand on the Stone was getting to him. Despite his powers, what he needed was an extra set of hands and eyes looking out for him and helping him. So he decided to tell her all he could

.

.

.

.

🐉 patreon.com/William777🐉

Subscribe to my Patreon for more advanced chapters