CHAPTER 7: Identity Reveal.
"Barnot… aren't you curious of my identity? My…real…identity," Kyle inquired, the test only showed about the traces of bloodline present in the said person and not their order of saturation in the body. This meant that the test couldn't determine the current familial affiliation of the said person. "I respect your privacy Kyle, though I have a tiny bit of suspicion, however, I have no way of confirming it and I don't plan on doing so. I believe you yourself will reveal your identity when you believe the time is right."
Of all the replies, Kyle had not expected to receive such a full of trust and heartwarming one, he could tell that there wasn't even an inkling of hypocrisy in what Barnot had just said, he was being truly sincere. Kyle felt warm inside, he felt grateful to the goblin for his blind trust in a wizarding child. "Thank you and don't worry Barnot, I do trust you guys, also you guys made an oath on your own magic so I'm not worried about my identity getting revealed from your side. I am the scion of the ancient house of Potter, my name is Kyle James Potter, and as you can see, I am not dead," Kyle revealed.
"I had my suspicions but no evidence to prove so, it is an honor to finally meet you," Barnot had suspected that Kyle might be one who was said to have been killed 4 years ago, however why he didn't suspect Kyle to be the other boy-who-lived was due to the fact that Harry was living with his guardians in Black manor, and incase he visited Gringotts it would be with his guardians. Yet here was the greatest past tragedy, but a mystery now if everyone came to know that Kyle was alive. His death was widely known across the wizarding community, but he was now standing before them. How and why did the Daily Prophet spread this ruse, or maybe they themselves never knew? For now, none would know what the actual circumstances were.
During the era of Dark Lords, goblins have been threatened as much as the wizarding community. There was no doubt that once Voldemort had successfully conquered the wizarding community of Britain, it would be the other kingdoms' turns afterward. The goblin kingdom's solidarity was at stake and yet, the era of tyranny had been brought to an anticlimactic and abrupt end when the said Dark Lord had attacked the Potter residence. Though the goblins suspected that it wasn't the infants that had killed Voldemort, they still respected the children for even if they weren't the Dark Lord slayers, at least they were the sons of the heroes who liberated Britain of this tumor, and for that, they deserved the condolences and the respect, for their sacrifice.
"Barnot, I would like to try for the Lordships of the Peverell house, the Gryffindor house, and lastly the Slytherin house," Kyle said. "Of course, Kyle," Barnot replied as Schkri hurried out of the room to get the rings for the Lordships. Minutes later, he returned with a beautiful sandalwood box, within the box were 3 rings placed neatly on black velvet. "Please proceed, Kyle, wear them one by one, but I need to inform you that you can only win the Lordships by fulfilling the requirements set by the last Lord of the house," Barnot said.
"Sure, and thank you Barnot," Kyle replied as he picked up the ring that represented the Peverell house. The ring was a beautiful silver one with an oval-shaped white jade embedded in the metal frame. The jade had a triangle with a circle drawn on it, with a line parting the figure symmetrically. Basically, the deathly hallows sign. Kyle felt a force probing his occlumency shields and his core, seconds later the ring gleamed with an ethereal glow, notifying that the test was complete.
Kyle then proceeded with the other rings, first with the Gryffindor ring, it was a golden ring with a red gem embedded, on the gem, there was the emblem similar to the Gryffindor house. The last ring was a silver ring with green jade, probably an emerald embedded, with the Slytherin house emblem engraved on it. "Congratulations Kyle, you're the Lord of three legendary houses," Barnot spoke with surprise and sincere joy on his face. Schkri had a similar expression as he congratulated him. "Thank you, my friends," Kyle thanked the two.
"We would advise you to hire a goblin house manager, so that in your absence everything can be managed, be it your vaults, your estates, your investments, etc," Barnot advised. "Please do as you see fit my friend, also I have a favor to ask of you," Kyle affirmed as he thought that it was an appropriate time to take the first step towards the destruction of his parents' murderer.
3 days prior, in Hogwarts:
Minerva McGonagall was currently writing letters to potential students for the arriving academic year, and when I say potential, it means that not all children who received the letter joined Hogwarts. This was one of the most tedious jobs she had to do as a deputy-headmistress, however, a motherly smile adorned her face as she wrote a letter to the most anticipated face she wanted to see in Hogwarts.
She still remembers the first time she had seen the boy in 6 years, and she was heartbroken would be an understatement. 10 years ago, she and Albus had reluctantly left the twins with those abominable muggles. They were truly unwilling but the blood protection could only remain active in the presence of a blood relative, and the times were so chaotic that even Albus himself was unsure that whether he would be able to protect the twins.
She had been so anxious to meet them, they were the children of her brave and beloved students, Lily and James, the very students who she was proud of for their bravery to fight against tyranny. But due to Albus she couldn't and he had good reasons for doing so, he wanted the children burdened by such a painful destiny to at least have a fun and relaxing childhood, also fearing that their movements might be tracked by the death eaters, Albus avoided from directly contacting the children, instead, he had that incompetent old fool, Miss Figg to keep an eye on the boys. After that he had been busy on his quest for Horcruxes, oblivious to the suffering of the children.
The old bat had only contacted Albus when all shit had gone to hell. One of the boys had died a heroic death while protecting his brother, he would have been a Gryffindor for sure. As for the other boy, he was on the verge of developing…an obscurus.
Obscurus were pitiful entities, they were deemed to live a short life, and whenever the obscurus lost control destruction would follow, pure…undirected…destruction. They would form due to a child having to suppress his or her magic due to fear of being persecuted or due to suffering from a great emotional trauma (I have added this part), after becoming an obscurus they would get hunted by their respective wizarding government to protect their so-called statute of secrecy as obscurus were uncontrolled in terms of their destruction, they didn't differentiate between mages and muggles. The best example was the destruction caused by Credence back in New York.
When Dumbledore came to know of the news, it seemed as if he had grown much older…as if his years had caught up to him in that instant. The boy that had been brought to Minerva was unexpectedly frail, short, and mentally broken. Minerva was heartbroken as she shared the boy's pain, she too had lost her husband and child in the previous wizarding war. She spent the next few weeks with the boy, they grew closer as a mother and son, and then had finally Harry's condition stabilized.
Later Harry had been sent to the Black residence with the current Lord Black and his younger twin brother had been buried beside the grave of their parents. Though she would visit the boy during the Christmas break and the summer break, she still missed him dearly during the rest of the year.
As for Dumbledore, he had it quite hard, he had become reclusive and distant from everyone, he blamed himself entirely for the incident. Another major setback Dumbledore faced was his loss of ability to perform magic. To perform magic, intent and will were required to perform magic, and well for Dumbledore to perform magic was impossible at the time, this simply showed how distracted he was all the time and how greatly he regretted his lack of attention on the boys. Only a shell of the once most powerful wizard was left behind.
However, a couple of months later, his magic had miraculously returned. The old Dumbledore was finally back and he was mostly out of Hogwarts finding something…or…someone. But even after 4 years, he had been unsuccessful in his venture, this much she could tell from growing frustration she could sense from him.
Severus wasn't any better, for the first time McGonagall saw an adult Severus hysterically sobbed, he too like Dumbledore blamed himself. Lily's death had almost crushed him from within due to the guilt and self-blame of getting her killed due to informing Voldemort of the prophecy, and now he had failed to protect her 2 sons, one was already dead from the torture and barbarity he went through, a 6-year-old innocent boy who had lost his parents to this cruel world, he and his brother were tortured and worked like slaves as children, children who should have been oblivious to even the definition of pain. Yet, due to the pettiness, jealousy of a drunk and his wife one of the twins was dead and the other was living in self-blame and self-hatred.
Those were some really tough times emotionally for the legendary trio and mostly for Harry, but as they say, time heals all wounds.
As Minerva finished writing the letter, it folded itself and moved into a white envelope with a maroon stamp of Hogwarts on it. Minerva then continued to read the name for the next potential student.
KYLE…JAMES…POTTER.
"Ahh…wait a second (lifts the list closer to her eyes) … WAIT, WHAAATT?????" Minerva shrieked. Her wrinkly, trembling hands threatened to tear the sheet. She hurried off towards Dumbledore's office with the sheet, with panic and hope adorning her aged face.
Dumbledore was sitting behind his table petting his trusted familiar, Fawkes. He was still thinking of his ventures outside Hogwarts in the last 4 years. He had tried finding any trace of the white-haired boy whom he trusted to be Kyle, yet he was met with failure only. As he was still deep in his thoughts, Minerva came rushing into the office, she had a thin, long sheet of paper.
It then clicked to him, maybe the artifact could confirm whether it was Kyle he saw that night. "Is it him? Is there his name on the list?" Dumbledore interjected before Minerva could even start speaking. "Wha? Who? Ah…yes, he is!! Wait, YOU KNEW THAT HE WAS ALIVE???" Minerva hysterically inquired in disbelief.
"Minerva, calm down, please. Who do you think cleaned our library right before my eyes?" Dumbledore hinted with his signature smile as if he had finally cracked down a mystery. "B-but how he is supposed to be just a child, how did he even enter Hogwarts undetected despite all the wards and where has he been all this time?" Minerva fired her questions. The empty library had been quite a big scandal, it had been printed on the front page of the daily prophet the very next morning, also Pince had banned Dumbledore from entering the library.
"I have absolutely no idea Minerva, he is an absolute mystery. For the last 4 years, I have been trying to somehow track him down, however, I have been unsuccessful. We can only hope that this letter finds him and we get to finally meet him if he decides to attend Hogwarts," Albus replied, and explained his unsuccessful ventures outside.