Chapter 9: A Meeting, and the Summer’s End. Part 4

Sirius eyed the door with an unreadable expression. Andromeda, Ted, and Nymphadora stood behind him. Sirius turned to the rest of the family.

"Where was Remus? Why was he never around Harry? He seemed to not even know who he was," Sirius whispered.

"Remus has not been present in Harry's life at all since the death of Lily and James. He all but disappeared into the wind. Last I heard, there were rumors that he was wandering around the continent," Ted sighed, and Andromeda gripped his arm tighter.

"Who is Remus?" Nymphadora asked quizzically.

"Remus Lupin was a really good friend of ours back in Hogwarts and afterward. James gave his heart and soul to help that man and now to find out that he was missing from Harry's life. That man spat on their graves the moment he chose not to do anything with Harry," Sirius spat out vitriolically.

"He has a lot to answer for, despite his affliction," Andromeda frowned heavily.

Tonks mentally took note to associate this Lupin fellow at an arm's distance if she must deal with him.

"Andy?" Sirius suddenly asked. "Harry was abused as a kid. Wasn't he?"

Andromeda walked up to Sirius and pulled him into a hug. Sirius collapsed onto the flow, he sobbed at the suffering his godson had to endure over the last decade, he felt anguish at his own incompetence.

He felt absolutely useless for allowing a child to endure the same fate he did, especially the son of James Potter and the grandson of Charles and Dora Potter, the very people who gave him a new opportunity at life.

Nymphadora walked up to her father. She was horrified by Sirius's revelation. She whispered, "Harry was abused as a child? Who did it? How does he know?"

Ted turned his gaze towards his daughter. Despite her being a trainee auror, she is still naïve about the ways of the world. Ted wrapped her arm around his daughter's shoulder and puller her closer. Tonks did not struggle, she leant into her father.

"I cannot tell you the details as I am sworn to secrecy. However, what I can tell you is that a person who endured a similar abusive environment can usually tell another who came from a similar situation.

Tonks nodded mutely; she was still dazed from today's revelations. Tears started to drip down her face a little while later.

"Dad, that makes Harry that much more amazing."

Ted looked down at his daughter and wiped her tears. "Yes, it does my dear. Yes, it does."

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A couple of days after his birthday, Harry introduced his friends to his gym. This was also their first foray into the muggle world for both Neville and Luna if you discount the haphazard walk to the Leaky Cauldron for Neville.

Harry gathered his friends at the tent. He spoke, "The Hat told me the other day that we must improve ourselves physically if we are to get better at magic. So, I think all of you should join my gym right away."

Neville and Luna looked at Harry in confusion, while Hermione looked thoughtful. Neville asked, "What's a gym?"

"It's a place where you can find a lot of equipment and trainers or teachers that can help you improve your body. Some gyms have classes that can help you fight like boxing. My gym has boxing and yoga classes, though they say they will teach wrestling and kickboxing soon," Harry described carefully.

"I don't know that those last things you mentioned are, but are muggle fighting methods helpful?" Luna questioned.

Hermione replied to her inquiry. "Think about this, how would you protect yourself if you don't have a wand? Non-magical people are pretty good at fighting barehanded."

Harry nodded and added, "Plus, boxing teaches you footwork and movement skills. Both are extremely useful in traditional duels and magical brawls."

The other two took some time to take in Harry's suggestion.

"I will join the gym, I think mum and dad would agree that this is a great idea," Hermione stated. "Can Dobby even take us back and forth from London to Hogwarts?"

"Dobby said he can, but after he drops all of us off, he needs to rest for about an hour. He says that the greater the distance, the harder it is for him to carry a passenger. He said it is much easier for him to travel back and forth alone," Harry replied. He knew that she would be against adding unnecessary labor.

"I may have a solution for that, but that is a secret," Harry ended with a cheeky smirk. Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry, and he mimicked her glare. She sniffed loudly and looked away.

"Fine, but it better be good, Potter."

"Mark my words, it will be brilliant," Harry said with a cheeky grin. She rolled her eyes and with a pop, Dobby took her back home.

He turned to the rest of his accomplices. "Well then you two, let's go meet Luna's father. We got work to do."

The two of them replied with mischievous grins and Dobby popped them to the Rook.

Luna had suggested previously that her father might be able to fix the Vanishing Cabinet quite easily. Harry quickly agreed to proceed with this route and had corresponded with her father before their meeting.

The house seemed as eccentric as it was in his previous timeline. Neville's eyes flickered back and forth across the various parts of the room from its design to all the odd trinkets, even for a magical.

Xenophilius Lovegood was seated on a particular odd couch with several feathery protrusions stuck around the rainbow-colored seat. Neville blinked twice when he looked at the eccentric man and Harry barely held back a chuckle.

Harry took the initiative. "Mr. Lov- I mean Xeno? We have a Vanishing Cabinet, and we were wondering if you could help us fix it?"

Xenophilius's eyes lit up in delight. "Little moon, your friends are full of delightful surprises. Come, come follow me, little friends. We have much to discuss!"

And so, the group agreed to work together thrice a week on the Vanishing Cabinet. Xenophilius estimated that they could finish repairing the cabinet with their help within three weeks. Another early gift, done.

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It has been two weeks since his birthday. Harry had been going through his routine of magic and his physical regiment. The Hat estimated that the other three would complete their first stage within the next week. As The Hat forecasted, the second stage of occlumency was both tedious and rigorous.

Extreme care and caution must be implemented when imbuing magic into his mind. If he had done this process without establishing familiarity between his mind and magic, he would have most certainly ended up in a vegetative state.

It has been quite amusing introducing the two magically raised children to the muggle world, especially Luna. Her little theatrics often left the other members of the gym speechless and the rest of their friends rolling around in laughter.

The two female members of the group struggled slightly to adjust to the physical exercise, as they were not used to strenuous physical exercise. Neville fit right in due to his activities in the greenhouses.

Over the last two weeks, they slowly adjusted to how non-magical people operated. The Granger and the Tonks families took them on a couple of outings in the muggle world and helped with the assimilating process.

Harry started to have dinner with the Tonks family every night since his birthday. Those nights helped him get closer to his godfather, a luxury that he was not granted even when he was briefly at the Grimmauld Place in the summer of 95. No one rudely interrupted them, no one prevented them from conversing.

Dobby popped in front of him and handed him a letter. Harry tore the seal and read the contents. 'Well then, seems like today is the day Gringotts would distribute the funds.'

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Hermione Granger was in a quandary. She just received mail from Gringotts through Dobby stating that she received 20,000 galleons in compensation for her petrification at Hogwarts. In return for the compensation, she must sign a confidentiality agreement.

She knew who the money came from. Since Dobby delivered the mail, it was clear that Harry was the one responsible for it. "Dobby, can you bring Harry over please?"

"Certainly, Ms. Hermione," Dobby agreed with a little bow. He popped away and dumped a mildly confused Harry Potter unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Dobby what on the ear- oh hey Hermione!" Harry cheerfully exclaimed. Hermione placed her arms at her waist.

"Care to explain the letter I just received?"

"Oh, that! That was compensation for the whole petrification thing. Since Hogwarts didn't intend to provide you any, I just took the issue into my own hands," Harry presented nonchalantly as he sat on the floor cross-legged.

"And you paid those funds with your own money."

"Not really. You see, basilisks are worth a lot of money. I just sold everything except the venom, we don't want instant assassinations left, right and center because of me now do we," Harry trailed off and Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry clasped his hands together.

"Where were we now? Ah yes! So, from the sales of the giant snake, I decided to provide all the victims, including that pesky cat and her peskier owner, compensation in exchange for total silence," Harry finished all too cheerfully. "I am brilliant, aren't I?"

Hermione huffed when Harry grinned impishly. Hermione joined her friend on the floor next to him. "You didn't need to do all that."

"Yet I need to anyways," Harry quipped back, and he turned serious. "Hogwarts can't be letting its students face life-threatening dangers and then pretend nothing happened. Some damages need to be fixed. Money doesn't help with everything, but it at least means something."

Hermione slowly nodded. She leant closer and placed her head on his shoulder. She murmured, "You're such a noble goofball."

Harry had a mischievous look in his eyes. "Although your parents won't quite agree. I'm in their daughter's room, with no supervision."

Hermione just snorted in response and Harry scratched his chin.

"Wait! You're the one who kidnapped me and brought me to the room! Ah, the woe is me," Harry suddenly exclaimed with a dramatic flair. Hermione flushed a bright red and swatted him on the shoulder.

"You're such a prat sometimes. You're lucky I tolerate you."

"You s'ppose you keep me around for my dashing charms?"

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A week later, Harry met with Ted at his office to discuss a matter he had in his mind. Ted sat by the window with a cuppa in his hand. He kept his cup down on the tea table and got up to shake Harry's hand. They sat around Ted's tea table and Harry made himself a cup.

Once the pleasantries and greeting were done, Harry got down right to business. "How does Hogwarts receive its funding. I know all fees are waivered but how does it really work."

"Before the fall of Voldemort, the Ministry only used to fund the tuition of children coming from magical families, and that to children who come from at least three generations of wizards and witches.

After his fall, I and Ogden campaigned for a full tuition waiver for all magical students. We were able to succeed, but the problem was that the funding was backed by some of the more notorious pureblood families," Ted revealed while he took measured sips of his tea. He fully expected Harry to propose something ridiculous, thus he hoped taking small sips would not choke him to death.

"Why was that bad? Even if they got out of a prison sentence with just a slap on the wrist, it seems right that they should be at least punished financially," Harry probed with a hint of confusion.

"Because of the way they created the funding mechanism. Those families created a program that would essentially fund the entirety of Hogwarts except for student materials as debt that owed to them. They essentially hold all the leverage of the education system," Ted elucidated with a frown.

"And how much is the current debt they hold?"

"About a million galleons. The ministry managed to pay a portion of it"

Harry steepled his fingers. "Well then, this seems to be a simple issue to solve. Buy all the debt and then make Potter Holdings the exclusive funder of Hogwarts from now on."

Ted dropped his cup onto the hardwood floor and gaped at the teenager. 'Of course, the rascal has to say something that could potentially change the entire landscape of Magical Britain.' He looked down at his cup that in pieces and grumbled a few choice words as he repaired it and brewed another.

Harry chuckled and Ted shot him an annoyed look that did nothing to stop Harry's mirth.