12 Meetings

As I appeared in a study of sorts, I immediately trained my wand towards the only occupant in the room.

"What is my patronus?" I asked.

"It used to be a stag, now it is your owl," she said.

"Oof," just as I lowered my wand, she barreled towards me and engulfed me in a tight hug. Apparently Molly and Hermione were not the only ones with the crushing hugs. I shifted awkwardly for a moment, unsure about what to do.

This was another factor that I had not considered much at all. The books and the movies only followed the golden trio on their adventures. But what they could not cover in detail was the fact that they all lived in a boarding school for ten months. And five years were already over. There were many other friendships and bonds that Harry had, that were not explored. After all, it was not like he spent every waking hour in the presence of his two best friends.

There were days when Hermione would lock herself in the library and Ron would refuse to leave the common room, and Harry would wander alone. During these wanderings, he came across different people, and for an emotionally starved person, it was a good opportunity to make friends. Although none were as close as the other two members of the trio. This would change henceforth, of course.

From the memories, I knew that the war orphans had a closer relationship than was depicted. Harry, Neville and Susan often got together on the eve of Halloween and mourned their family. Apparently in this world, Neville had shared about the fate of his parents with these three. And it seemed like Susan did not wear those Potter stinks badges and had also profusely apologized and made up to him for not standing up for him during the heir of Slytherin fiasco.

These were the small changes that were present in this universe, which made sense in reality. Good friends would not just sweep that all under the rug. Which made me wonder how to deal with Ronald 'Envy' Weasly when he inevitably fucks up. I knew that he would be an asset during the war, and that he would support me during the fights, but there was no way that I was going to set myself up for massive information leaks and desertion.

"I can't thank you enough for what you did. I was so worried," she said as she finally let go and broke me out of my train of thought.

Worried about what? I was perfectly fine when she left. She caught my confused expression and punched me on the shoulder.

"All I had were Auror reports that there was nobody else in the house. And the newspaper was speculating that you got caught by Bellatrix."

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly, "Should have sent a message."

"Yes, you should have," she pouted.

"Thanks for that by the way. I don't know what they would have done if my identity got out and everyone knew that I was killing Death Eaters in the summer."

"I figured as much. It would be incredibly ungrateful of me to repay you by airing out your dirty laundry. And how did you know anyway? Ignoring the fact that you did magic outside the wards which did not get picked up by the trace."

"My source of information is unavailable anymore. And well, the trace disappears when you become seventeen, or when you die."

She caught the implication and her mouth stayed open for a few seconds. She shook her head and looked at me.

"So it didn't bounce off of you? You really died?" she asked, horrified.

"Can't really talk about it if you don't have good occlumency," I had assimilated the memories and to me, Susan was a friend. I owed her some watered down explanation at least. And I could not give her the same excuse that I gave the others about the residual dark magic because she had seen me out on action.

"I know it, Auntie trained me. Just wish I was more helpful against the damn Death Eaters," she grumbled.

"Mind if I test the protections? I won't delve into your mind, promise."

Once I got the go ahead, I pushed and could feel strong protections in place. I probed a bit and once satisfied that her protections could detect and fend off legilimency long enough for her to physically counter, I told her what I told Dumbledore. That was the foolproof explanation Cellarius had come with and there was no point deviating from it. This would satisfy her for the lack of the trace. And I told her about the horcrux because she was the first ally in my faction. I would bring the others to fold once they learned some occlumency. But not everybody would get the chance. I would use the DA to filter the potential recruits.

As she was processing what I told her, I was fidgeting nervously about how she would take the fact that I had a soul shard of the vilest man in existence inside me. If it did not go too well, I would need to alter her memories. She caught the look on my face and shook her head.

She grasped my hand and smiled slightly, "This doesn't change anything. I know I would be disgusted if I had been carrying around my family's killer with me, I don't need to pile on to your suffering."

I smiled and sank into a couch, this discussion was draining. I then looked around the place, this was not St Mungo's for sure.

"Where are we?"

"We are at the Abbott residence. Auntie wasn't safe at St Mungo's. So we moved her here along with a trusted healer."

"How is she now?"

"She's recovering. They say it will take some time for her to be up and about. The cut was too deep and was apparently quite close to the spine. And since it was some messed up variant, they are having a hard time mending her." She said morosely.

"Ah. That sucks," I muttered. Well, at least canon is changed now. She will survive.

"Stop it Harry. If it weren't for you, we would be dead."

"But it shouldn't have come to that. And what do you mean that St Mungo's is unsafe, was it infiltrated?" I asked. It would be troublesome to deal with if the hospital was already taken over.

"It's not that. You remember how she was during the attack right?" I nodded. "Well, she was incredibly paranoid even before the attack. This was not in the papers, but there were a couple of assassination attempts."

"What?"

"Yeah. Someone poisoned her tea two days ago. Thank Merlin she always carries a bezoar with her. It was terrible. Because they later found that her tea was switched during a meeting, and they could not find out who did it. They even interrogated the people who were at the meeting, but they were not given authorization for veritaserum. None of the wands had the switching spell on them too, so they were all at a loss."

"That is crazy. She is the head of the DMLE, how can they hold back on veritaserum during wartime?"

"The Wizengamot needs to authorize veritaserum, and since some of their own members were in that meeting, the process was hindered by red tape."

I remember Dumbledore using veritaserum on Crouch without any permission. This was plain outrageous and went on to prove how deep in shit we were. Riddle's agents were everywhere and we were fumbling around, tiptoeing around political landmines.

"Last week someone tried casting a killing curse on her, and when they caught him, they found out that he was under an imperious and his memories were wiped. That is why she has been acting more paranoid than Mad Eye. And when we found out that the floo and the department communication systems weren't working during the attack, she had a breakdown. Started ranting about how they won't leave her and she would take them down with her. Didn't think about escaping with me at all. Don't know what I would have done if I lost her too," he sniffled and then stood up abruptly.

"I called you for a reason Harry," I nodded, motioning her to continue.

"I want more training. The DA was helpful, but I saw how you fought, and that was beyond what you thought us. And even though Auntie trained me, she never went too far beyond simple things because she was always too busy. I want you to train me. I won't be helpless again."

This would be pushing my timetable, but in the end, I decided that it could not hurt. I needed to improve my mind arts, and it needed a partner. I could not go to Hermione and any of the Weasleys because the order would be on my ass as soon as they knew. Since Susan already knew what was really happening, I could train with her. She would be able to help with the DA as well.

"I can't this week though. How about afterwards?"

"I will be waiting for your owl," she said and shook my hand.

"Take care of yourself and your aunt. If you need anything, send Noddy," I said. Before I could ask Noddy to pop me away, something struck my mind.

"We are in Godric's Hollow right?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"Hmm, then can you take me to the graveyard over here Noddy?"

"Wait, I will come with you. Even if I am not that good, two wands are better than one. And someone might be waiting for you there."

She was right. And as she grasped Noddy's hand, I cast a disillusion charm on all of us and placed a layer of illusion for good measure. I then caught Noddy's other hand and we popped to the graveyard.

I spent several minutes in front of the three graves. The new gravestone for Sirius was gracefully done and I owed Dumbledore one for that. I knew that I was not the same Harry that they had died to protect, but I was Harry nonetheless. And I would ensure that their sacrifice did not go in vain. I knew that they were happy in the afterlife with the original Harry, so it would behoove me to ensure that I did not waste the life I was given and complete my mission. I conjured flowers and left them at the grave before I sent Susan with Noddy and apparated to my room.

Next morning, Petunia said that she would take up the offer. Due to my passive possession, Vernon had agreed to her and they spent the whole day with a Gringotts affiliated firm, going over the details of their move. This was good, I did not need to waste time modifying their minds in case they were still here when Dumbledore came knocking.

I had made arrangements for the firm to give them suitable accommodations while they went around the city, looking at possible houses. After using the second path and casting several observation and scanning charms, I found out that the blood protection over this house was charged for a whole year. It will start deteriorating near the end of the year, and will completely crumble on my seventeenth. This was very fortunate. I sent a letter, detailing the goblins to rent me this house for the year once they gain possession. I will place illusions to make it look the Dursleys would still live here after they finished moving out. This could be a perfect trap for those who would come knocking.

Canon Dumbledore had the gall to send Harry back to this place for one month and let him get caught in a Death Eater trap for the sole reason that Snape would maintain his cover. I could understand sacrificing pawns, it was sometimes necessary. But risking the only piece that could win the war was not a good plan.

The battle of the seven Potters indeed. By the time I was done with this house, all the Death Eaters who would come knocking would beg for a quick death.

Two days passed without the presence of the Dursleys. The Goblins told me that they had visited half the houses in their budget and were still not satisfied. As expected of those nitpicking morons. Well, at least Petunia was shrewd enough to understand that it was the only way for her family to survive. If she had picked Privet Drive, then I would have left them to rot. The order would have dragged them somewhere else before my seventeenth, but by that time, the protections around this house would have almost collapsed due to the fact that I was moving. This way, no need to waste precious workforce on protecting these cretins.

Anticipating Dumbledore's arrival, I packed up all my school related paraphernalia in the standard trunk. I stashed everything else in the multi compartment trunk and told Dobby to keep it hidden for a few hours.

Later that night, I was enjoying a cup of ice cream when the doorbell rang. I flicked the wand to my hand and carefully approached the door as Hedwig flew out of the window. Dumbledore looked at her and nodded and returned his attention back to the door. What I saw from Hedwig's eye dredged up a wave of annoyance within me.

I slowly opened the door, still pointing my wand towards him and asked, "You once told me in front of a mirror that you wanted a certain gift, what was it?"

"I believe I wanted and still do want a pair of thick, woolen socks."

I lowered the wand and bade him in.

I fished a tub of ice cream and asked, "Mint Chocolate Chip?"

"Oh delightful. I've never tried muggle flavors of course," He replied with enthusiasm.

I scowled and placed two scoops on a bowl and gave it to him. He awkwardly held it with his new bronze arm. It was eerily similar to the silver hand that Wormtail got, but I could see that this was a mixture of magic and muggle prosthetics while Wormtail's was functioning purely on magic. I couldn't help but scoff. He had gone after the horcrux just as I had suspected.

He shifted awkwardly at that. "I see that my new arm has caught your attention. It is a new prototype that I designed with Madam Pomphrey."

I did not respond and just stared at him.

"I thought we had an agreement." I finally spoke when I had unsettled him enough. He looked at me sheepishly and what he said just annoyed me even more.

"I did not break any promises Harry."

"Then how do you explain that?" I pointed towards the arm.

"I assured you that I would let you destroy the horcruxes we find. And I did not break that promise. I apologize if it felt like I broke your trust, but my boy, you must know that we do not have much time. I had to do all that I could when I had time away from other duties." Leave it to him to find some loopholes. I should have paid more attention to what he was saying back then. I vaguely remember him saying that we'll hunt after the summer, but fuck it. I knew that the man would be confident of his skills and do what he wants anyway. I wondered if his hubris came from the Elder Wand. All the other owners of the wand went on a rampage and got killed, expect for Gregorovitch maybe, but even he boasted. Dumbledore on the other hand, kept the wand with him for decades and never indicated that he had it. The man had undeniable skill and that just helped him keep the wand under wraps even more. But if all wands were sentient, I had a hard time believing that such a powerful wand did not influence its owners. Over the years, it might have added to his hubris after all.

"With all due respect, how do you expect me to explicitly trust you when all you do is lie to my face time and time again?"

"I… I do not need your trust Harry. I just need to teach you all I can, when I am able. Believe me when I say that at this point, I am not going to act as your leader. I haven't the time. I will teach you what I know. And at some point, I know that you will prevail. I trust you, and that is enough." Was he high? What he said made no sense, but then, maybe. He was being highly cryptic about it, but I think I know where he is going with this. I just needed the full story to confirm. I let out a long sigh and asked him what happened during his search.

"There was a strong compulsion on the horcrux. The ring, in this case, succeeded in ensnaring me. Once I wore it on my finger, a powerful withering curse activated. Severus was busy with Tom's summons and Poppy wasn't familiar with such potent Dark Magic. She would have prevailed, but this curse was fast acting."

"So you cut off your arm?"

"I cut off my arm," he nodded.

"And is the curse gone?" he hesitated for a moment, but I caught the slight twitch of his eye before he nodded.

He didn't seem to be lying, but something seemed off. Time to test something I learned from an advanced defense book. This was a variation of Specialis Revelio, something that curse breakers often used and it was very discreet. It wasn't suited for battle, lest it blind the caster, but for discerning ward lines and cruses, it was a very helpful spell. I pushed a little magic into my eyes and repeated the incantation in my mind while twisting the magic in my eyes into a funnel like shape.

I almost blanched at what I saw. Only my occlumency helped me in keeping my calm. There was no curse which was active on him, but his magic seemed to have… wilted, for the lack of a better word. And for a man of his age, such a corrupted magical state meant certain death.

Now his rambling made perfect sense. He had concocted his suicide plan in his mind, given that Snape must have already taken the Unbreakable Vow. It all made sense. Canon Harry needed to die, so Dumbledore just gave him the slideshow of Tom's life and started him off on his hunt. But I had to stay alive. He knew this, so he wanted to teach me more. And now that his death was calling, he gave up on his previous plans and just focused on ensuring that I fulfilled the prophecy through sheer force if necessary. That is why he was rambling on about his lack of time. Tough shit, if he had taken someone with him, he would be alive for more than the year he had. It was at least better than what would have happened to him in this world, but this was still a drag. I could see that the loss of the arm and the curse had weakened him tremendously.

I then remembered something I read in one of the Defense books I purchased, it mentioned about some cursed items long ago which had a similar effect. It was possible that Voldemort used a parasitic injection that would ensure that the curse would be ingrained on the person's magic, rather than only working on the actual body. But such curses were extremely hard to cast, and for them to stay active for such a long time was unheard of. I almost slapped my head when I realized that he had used a part of his soul shard's magic itself to keep the curse going.

Fast acting curse indeed, it had damaged him so much in such a short period. If he had not lopped off his arm, he would have died then and there. Now even though the curse was gone, the damage done was more than his old body could recover from.

"What happened to the horcrux?"

"It is contained, I will instruct you on how to destroy it once you come to Hogwarts," he finished his ice cream and stood up.

"I wanted to talk to your relatives. Air out some grievances as it were."

"They are out on a trip," I said nonchalantly.

"Just as well, I suppose another Howler would do," he said as his eyes twinkled. "Now, there is one matter that needs to be taken care of, before we leave."

"Yes sir?"

"Sirius's will was executed recently. He named you the beneficiary for quite a large sum, and also bequeathed the ownership of the home at Grimmauld Place to you. The order had vacated after his death, but-"

"You were wondering if ownership really passed on to me or the Blacks had something else in place that would transfer ownership."

"Quite astute, my boy. Now can you guess how we can check if you are the owner?" I feigned thinking for a few seconds.

"Kreacher?"

"Indeed"

"Kreacher!" the elf appeared in front of us and immediately started muttering something. "Quiet," I commanded. It was not a shout, but it was an order nonetheless and he obeyed.

"Remarkable. Now there were other things that were there in the will, I will owl you the copy, but there were three outstanding issues we need to deal with."

I nodded. Of course, the goblins had already mailed me the will and had informed me of the amount that was added to the vault. Sirius had left me an outrageous amount of money, close to ten million galleons. The Weasley twins were able to kick start a business using thousand galleons. Ten million, was more than what I knew what to do with. Even the accumulated wealth in my vault and the money from the room of hidden things did not amount to that much.

What was more was that the old dog, in his capacity as my Godfather had removed the withdrawal limit from my vault. Apart from all this, I got many investments that the blacks made, and a couple of other properties. Remus, Andromeda and her family got a decent sum also, nothing as crazy as what he left me though.

"Firstly, I implore you to not free Kreacher since he spent a year with the Order. He has permission to join the Hogwarts elves when you don't need him," he seemed apprehensive, probably because I should technically hate Kreacher because of what he did. But I knew that Kreacher will gift wrap a horcrux for me, and he will be forever loyal. I just nodded, pretending to be annoyed and motioned him to continue.

"Buckbeak, the Hippogriff is yours now but I would request you to send him to Hogwarts, so that he is not cooped in Grimmauld," I nodded as he christened it Witherwings and then continued.

"Lastly, I would ask you if we could continue using Grimmauld as headquarters."

This was what I had been waiting for. Time to enact the plan. I acted as if I was deep in thought.

"Under one condition."

"Yes?" he seemed to be surprised.

"I am supposed to go to the Burrow, yes?"

"Yes Harry."

"Sir, the Weasleys have always been good to me. But I need to be alone. I can't pretend to be happy when I feel so frustrated, and at the same time, I can't show my gloom and doom and spoil their family time."

"But my boy, their company could help you heal."

"I will heal in my own time sir. Being with a happy family will just exacerbate my wound and remind me that I lost the last of my family due to my own foolishness."

"You want to stay here then?" Would be for the best, but convincing him after years of begging to be taken away would be hard.

"God no. I want to stay at the headquarters. Sirius is gone, but there are a lot of his things still there. He even told me that some letters my parents sent him were there. I want to go there and organize everything. Clean the place of the filth and change it completely. It was his last prison and I want to change it from the inside out so that nothing resembling its old state remains."

He thought for a long time and then agreed, "I believe you are right. It might prove to be beneficial, and sometimes, labor helps keep one's mind off things. But I want an order member to stay there with you. Everyone else will only be dropping by every now and then since we all moved out. We'll just be using it for meetings and planning."

"I can use magic inside, right sir?"

"Of course, the house is a magical residence with powerful protections after all. Just not in front of Molly, please."

"Got it. Then I'll ensure that the larder is full," I smirked. One order member was fine. I could fool them. Moreover, I had permission to use magic. Staying at the Burrow was a big no no for my plans. The scrutiny and the constant flow of people would muck things up.

"Thanks for your generosity Harry. Now, before we go to Grimmauld, there is a small mission I need your help with."

The recruitment of Horace Slughorn went just like it did in canon. The only change was that my responses to his questions were clipped. I had an immense dislike for the cunt. He had vital information over Voldemort, information without which the war could never be won. And he was willing to bury that information because he was too fond of his image. The moment Dumbledore gives me the mission to get the memories, I would waste no time and rip the memory out of him. The plan needed more thinking upon, but yeah, no mercy for this buffoon.

At last, I arrived at Grimmauld, to the ear splitting shrieks of Walburga Black and the nonstop mumbling of Kreacher. But it would change soon, it would all change.