A Tangled Web of Guardianship

Ron stood there, face turning red, before he span on his heel and stormed off, knocking into Neville who had just turned the corner and causing the blond boy to fall to the ground.

Helping him up, Harry said, "Sorry about that."

"It's not your fault, Harry," Neville said, dusting himself off. "What happened this time?" he asked.

"Well, according to Ron, we're all dark wizards for thinking the headmaster is wrong to keep a level XXXX beast inside the castle without even setting wards around it," Harry said.

Neville let out a squeak, "A-a level-?"

"-Yeah, there's a Cerberus on the 3rd floor! Harry saw it," Terry interrupted excitedly. Harry hadn't known he was a creature enthusiast.

"I see," Neville said faintly. Harry was almost worried he would pass out.

"Are you really going to tell your aunt?" Harry asked Susan as the group made their way down to the lake.

"Yes. I think she would like to know; she's not been happy with Dumbledore since I told her-" Susan cut herself off and looked at Harry quickly.

"It's okay if you told her about my family. I should have expected it," Harry said, internally cheering. Slowly, but surely, he would ruin Dumbledore's carefully crafted image.

Susan smiled softly. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to betray you or anything, I just couldn't not tell her - she could help. With her job, I thought it would be okay," she explained, rambling in her fear.

"It's okay Susie, I'm not angry," Harry said, soothing her nerves. "But I don't understand why your aunt would be mad at Dumbledore for how my family treats me," he said, pretending to be confused.

"Well, when I wrote to her, she apparently went to work and looked up your file. Dumbledore has classified it and it took her some time to get a copy. Apparently, he's your magical guardian and he should have been checking up on you. That he didn't is bad as you're a known wizard, without even mentioning your status in our world," Susan explained. "She spoke to me about it over Christmas and told me it was strange. She promised to look into it more."

"Thank you," Harry said.

"It is strange, when you think about it," Neville commented.

"Oh?" Harry asked, wondering what the blond thought about this. He was hoping to convert them all to him and he worried that, with Neville's history with Death Eaters, he would never accept Harry once he learnt the truth.

"Yeah. I mean, I know they're your closest family, but usually when a magical child is orphaned, they're kept in our world. It's just easier on them to adjust. I've never heard of a magical child being given to muggles."

"Closest family? I thought they were my only family," Harry said.

"Well, they're your direct family, but you should know that all pure blooded families are related. Hell, I think me and you share a great aunt or something, so really placing you with a magical family wouldn't have been hard," Neville explained.

Harry was slightly surprised. He knew that purebloods all intermarried, but he hadn't thought he had any relation to the Longbottom's. Then again, he had never really seen the Potter family tree. "I didn't know that," he said honestly before he smiled. "So, we're related then?" he asked.

"Distantly," Neville said.

A silence fell then before Hannah voiced what they had all been thinking. "It's also strange how Dumbledore didn't check on you," she said. "You would think he would want to keep a close eye on you after everything."

"Yeah, well, I guess we'll never know," Harry said.

Seeing their doubtful faces, Harry hid his glee and instead distracted them, talking about the up and coming quidditch match. Harry hadn't been bothered about the game since he had come back, but he was grateful for it now as he distracted his friends.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore was not pleased. He had thought he had the boy under his control when, over Christmas, he had started going after the clues left to him about the stone. Yet, for the last few months, there was nothing! The boy had gone back to ignoring Ronald and stopped acting how he was supposed to.

Albus was not happy; and to make things worse, he was sure that Harry had said something to Filius as the part goblin had been wary around him recently when he had been asking for reports on his pawn. Even Severus had nothing to say when he asked - which would not do! He had spent decades planning this and he would be damned if an eleven year old would destroy all he had worked for!

Sitting down to worry at his lemon drop, Albus thought of how he could get Harry back on the correct path.

It was the day before exams before anything interesting happened to Harry. He had been waiting for Neville by the doors to the great hall when he had accidently overheard a secret conversation between Dumbledore and Hagrid. Their obvious set up was sickening to Harry as he listened.

"Now Hagrid, you must be watchful. With me gone for a few days, the stone will be unguarded." Harry heard Albus say in a grave voice, barely keeping his eyes from rolling.

"I will headmaster, but I doubt anybody would be able to get past Fluffy. Nobody knows that it takes music to put him to sleep," Hagrid said.

"I pray you're right, my old friend. As you know, I suspect Voldemort is after the stone…"

Harry wondered if they honestly thought he was that stupid and walked away from them, moving to wait slightly away from the doors. The two continued to have their super secret meeting without their audience; Harry really didn't feel like playing their game.

"You alright, mate?" Neville asked when he arrived and saw the mutinous scowl on Harry's face.

"Yes, sorry," Harry said, trying to cover his dark expression. "Just worried about exams," he lied.

Neville laughed. "Why? You know that you're going to have the best marks in our year," he said.

Harry smiled slightly. "Maybe, but still, it's normal to be nervous."

"Let's head to breakfast," Neville suggested.

....

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