Guardians, Gringotts and Goblins (Part Three)

Harry had just finished his shower and thrown some clothes on when Shiva walked back in the front door. A manila envelope was held in one hand while her other was balancing a large apple pie. "Brought food!" she called out.

Harry jumped up to grab the pie his mouth already watering. "You are amazing."

"Why thank you," Shiva mock preened. "Tarts are harder to find and I can't bake to save my life. So you get pie instead. I got the paperwork and spoke to Amelia Bones. We have an appointment for 10 which gives us some time to get you clothes that fit. Do you want to go in Muggle or wizard stuff?"

"Err, the only wizard robes I have are Hogwarts…"

"I just said I was taking you shopping, kid," Shiva chuckled. "We only have time to hit up one store first though so: Muggle or wizard?"

"Would it be okay if we went in Muggle stuff?"

"Sure. I need a new set of jeans anyway," Shiva shrugged.

"I thought you were a pureblood?"

"Eh, sorta." Shiva said waving her hand. "My paternal grandpa was Muggle-born so I'm technically considered a three-quarter blood but nobody uses that term. I know most of the basics about Muggle stuff but my dad always preferred the wizarding world so I'm not as well versed as I could be. I can get around though without standing out and I can pronounce most of their terms correctly. Which is honestly a heck of a lot better than some of the so-called experts."

"Like Arthur Weasley for example," Harry said with a small cringe. "For someone obsessed with Muggles you'd think he could say electricity right…"

Shiva laughed. "Yeah, Arthur's special that way. Great guy though and he taught his kids well." Harry raised an eyebrow as he munched on his pie. "Well, okay, he taught his kids besides Ron well." Harry nodded and went back to breakfast. "Don't get used to this by the way, Harry. You're not getting pie for breakfast all the time. Stop pouting. Pie is dessert not breakfast. Just because I can't cook doesn't mean I can't feed you right. And I should probably get you some nutrient potions as well so we can get rid of some of the problems your relatives left. Actually now that I think about it, have you had your inoculations?"

"Like for TB and measles?" Harry asked. He paused and tapped the table in thought. "I don't think I've had those actually..."

"No, those are important but I meant inoculations for things like for dragonpox and spattergroit," Shiva said. At Harry's blank look she sighed. "Why am I not surprised. Okay after Bones, we'll hit Gringotts then get you your shots and potions. I'm going to have to talk to Min about forgetting to get you those."

"McGonagall?" Harry furrowed his brow. "Why would Professor McGonagall have handled that?"

"Well all Muggle-born or raised are supposed to be brought to St. Mungos for a full screening and inoculation set during their Diagon Alley trip."

"Oh. Err…McGonagall didn't take me to Diagon. Hagrid did," Harry said hoping he wasn't about to get his friend into trouble.

"Hagrid?" Shiva's mouth dropped open. Then she muttered, "Dumbledore." She fumed for a moment before calming down and looking back to Harry. "Hagrid is nice, Harry, but he is not qualified to explain the important parts of our world to someone raised with Muggles."

"I can agree with that," Harry sighed. "He didn't even tell me how to get on Platform 9 and Three Quarters. I was lucky I read about it in Hogwarts, A History beforehand."

Shiva just groaned and banged her head on the table. "Neville was right, kid. You seriously have the worst good luck possible."

"Good morning, Madam Bones. It's nice to see you again," Harry said as he and Shiva met Amelia Bones in front of her office at 10. They shook hands and Amelia nodded down to him.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. Ms. Babbling tells me you had a bit of an incident last night?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And why does that necessitate coming to the Department Head to explain it?" Amelia asked glancing between Shiva and Harry.

"Well, Director," Shiva said with a shrug, "Hopkirk didn't seem very reasonable the last time there was an incident and Harry wasn't even at fault back then. This time he is and there is a fair bit of magic involved from what he told me. We figured we'd head the problem off at the pass and just ask you to sit in instead of coming with another complaint later."

Amelia sighed and rubbed her forehead letting the monocle fall off her face. "Mafalda does tend to hold a grudge. It's really probably for the best. Not like I have much else I can do at the moment with all of our resources tied up in Black." She waved them inside the office. "Well, sit down. Hopkirk should be here right about…" the older witch stalked in and took a seat without waiting for an invitation, "now."

"Problems again, Potter?" Hopkirk said with a barely disguised sneer. Harry resisted snorting. This woman should take lessons from Snape if she wanted to truly master the art of a good sneer.

"Well, ma'am considering this was my first underage magic event after starting Hogwarts I don't believe it would be correct to say 'again'."

"Play nice, Harry," Shiva muttered.

"Please tell us what happened, Mr. Potter," Amelia said taking out a quill and parchment.

"Yes, Madam Bones," Harry said. He took a calming breath and sat up straighter. "My relatives were having Aunt Marge over for dinner. She hates me even more than the rest of my relatives," Harry stopped for a moment at Hopkirk's snort.

"Is there an issue, Ms. Hopkirk?" Amelia asked glaring at the woman.

"I simply find it hard to believe that The-Boy-Who-Lived's family dislikes him."

"They are not my family," Harry snarled. "They are my relatives. Bathsheda Babbling is far more family than they ever were." Shiva sniffled a bit at that but Harry barged on. "And just because reality isn't what you find believable doesn't make it untrue, ma'am."

"Please continue with your explanation, Mr. Potter," Amelia said before Hopkirk could say anything else.

"I spent most of the dinner being berated and insulted. Eventually Aunt Marge got around to saying that it was good my parents were dead and that with any luck me and Ms. Babbling would be joining them soon. I started yelling back at that point and then Aunt Marge insinuated that I was intimate with Ms. Babbling." Amelia's eyebrows rose at that statement while Hopkirk just snorted again. "I had a burst of accidental magic after that which destroy many of the windows in the room and knocked the table over in addition to sending my Aunt careening into the wall. Her dog moved to attack me and I defended myself by using a rune stone which creates a very loud noise. After it cut out I had to retrieve my things with the use of an unlocking rune and left the house."

"And that's when you went to Ms. Babbling's home?" Amelia clarified.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Ms. Babbling, can you corroborate any aspects?" Amelia's quill was scratching along as she turned to look at Shiva.

"Harry showed up at my door last night around 1 am. He had just gotten off the Knight Bus but was still visibly upset and some clothes were half sticking out of his trunk. It looked like he had left in a hurry. When I asked what happened he told me the same thing you just heard." Shiva sighed. "I was coming to pick him up today anyway. His relatives have a history of this sort of thing, Ma'am."

"Really?" Amelia's quill stopped moving and she turned her full gaze upon Shiva. "And why am I just hearing about this now?"

"Simple, Madame Bones," Harry said. "Nobody cared before Ms. Babbling found out." He shrugged. "Very few people care now."

"Mr. Potter, it is not normal for relatives to behave in such a manner."

"Again, that doesn't change the fact that nobody cared before, Ma'am. I'm done with them now. I don't plan on ever seeing them again."

"You don't actually believe this, Madam?" Hopkirk asked sounding incredulous. "He's the Boy-Who-Lived! No one in their right mind would say such things to him. He's obviously making the entire thing up to get away with breaking the law like a spoiled little child."

Shiva glared at the woman and Harry's eyes narrowed. Amelia just rubbed her forehead and picked up the quill. "Mafalda, I placed you on probation last year because you refused to listen or investigate. You are doing the exact same thing right now. I advise you to stop speaking before I fire you."

"Madam Umbridge would never – "

"I don't care what the Senior Undersecretary thinks or threatens, Mafalda. I run this department. And I don't take being given ultimatums well. Pack your things and get out."

"You can't do this to me!"

"I already have. Out. Now." Amelia pointed towards the door with a scowl on her features. Hopkirk glared at the Director but stiffly stood and walked out of the room. "Damn, now I need to find yet another clerk. Mr. Potter," Amelia said switching gears and turning back to the others in the room, "I believe your story and cannot fault the accidental magic. It's termed accidental for a reason. I can also understand the use of the noise and lockpicking spells though I feel at that point the situation could have been handled better. You are however still only twelve years old so that must be taken into account. Consider this an official warning. No charges or fines will be levied but it will be entered into your record. If there is another incident than you will be likely find yourself fined." She paused and set the quill down. "On a more personal note, I apologize for the conditions leading to this. Am I safe in assuming that Ms. Babbling is looking after you from this point forward?" Both nodded at that. "Okay then. Do you have the paperwork to make that official?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Shiva handed over the papers she'd picked up that morning.

"Hmm…" Amelia quickly scanned the documents. "This looks to be in order for the Muggle side of things. What about the magical side?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Madam Bones…" Shiva said trailing off with a confused look.

"The Muggle paperwork handles official guardianship. The magical side deals with the magical guardian."

"Doesn't that just implicitly follow if the legal guardian is a magical as well?" Shiva asked. Harry could feel his stomach knotting. Of course it was too good to be true.

"Honestly I'm not sure. That's not my field. I never had any issues with my ward, my niece Susan, but...it's always better to be sure. Ask Gringotts. They'd be able to tell you faster than dealing with the bureaucracy here."

"We were headed there next anyway…" Shiva scowled. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Of course." Amelia sighed. "If you do run into problems with it know this, Ms. Babbling, Mr. Potter: your place of residence and physical guardian is resolved in this paperwork right here," she pointed to the documents Shiva was holding, "even should you not be his magical guardian, these make the boy your ward. Wizarding world decisions might be more difficult but he can't be taken away while those exist."

Harry's stomach unclenched slightly. Worst case scenario of being forced back to the Dursleys was apparently off the table. "Thank you, Ma'am."

Amelia nodded. "Of course. Now if there's nothing else, I really do need to get back to dealing with this task force."

"Sure. Thanks again for your time, Madam Bones." Shiva stood up and led Harry back outside. She ruffled Harry's hair and grinned at him. "So slap on the wrist ain't too bad! Don't worry about the magical guardian thing too much. We'll deal with it at Gringotts if we have to." Harry nodded back trying to pat his hair back into a semblance of order. "You wanted to stop by and say hello to Tonks right? Aurors should be this door."

Harry entered the section of the building that Shiva indicated and glanced about the room. He almost missed Tonks at first but then there was a loud crash and muffled cursing from one side of the room. Looking over Harry had to stifle his laughter as one man was face-first in a garbage bin and Tonks was leaning against a desk holding her leg and looking guilty. "Sorry, Dawlish," she said speaking up to be heard around the laughter in the room. "I swear that desk was few feet to the right before. Thanks for breaking my fall though!" Dawlish pulled his head out of the bin, glared at Tonks and stalked out to the bathroom.

Harry grinned and walked over towards Tonks. "Still two left feet, Tonks?"

"Wotcher, Harry. Wotcher, Shiva." Tonks grinned over at the two and dropped into the chair behind the desk still rubbing at her leg. "I could do the two left feet thing. Want to see?"

Harry laughed again. "That'd be a bit weird I think. I see you got some color back." He waved to her dark blue hair.

"Yup. Pink just didn't seem appropriate and all. I'm going to get you back for mentioning the name where I couldn't hit you upside the head you know." Tonks said half glaring and half smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Did the memory help?"

"Actually yeah it did. Thanks for that," Tonks dropped into a bit more of a professional bent. "Hagrid was cleared of most of the original charges on him thanks to you. He still got a sanction for keeping a dangerous controlled magical beast but that was mostly just a large fine which had been paid long ago. Don't know if he's going to get a new wand anymore or whatnot but the option is open to him now." There was a slightly frustrated air about her though she seemed to shrug it off before continuing. "I think he has something special planned for you when you guys meet up again at Hogwarts."

"Cool. Good for him. I'm glad I could help," Harry said.

"So what are you two doing here?"

Shiva slapped Harry's shoulder while his face turned a bit red. "Well, this guy had a bit of a fight yesterday and magic got involved. He put them in their place." She smirked and Tonks laughed.

"Well I certainly hope he did! Did Hopkirk give you any problems?"

"Actually I got her fired…" Harry mumbled.

Tonks' eyes widened, her mouth dropped open and her hair flashed through a rainbow of colors before settling back to blue. "Remind me never to piss you off, Harry."

"It wasn't really his fault," Shiva said with a shrug. "She ran her mouth and ticked off Madam Bones."

"Ah, yeah that makes sense. Bonesy has a bit of short temper at the moment. Fudge is coming down on her hard over the Sirius Black case and it's not like we have anywhere close to the amount of people we need with the recent budget cuts."

"Fudge again?" Harry's visage darkened. "Who voted for that guy?"

"Malfoy." Shiva and Tonks both said at the same time.

"I really hate that man…" Harry grumbled.

"Agreed," Tonks said. "Look, it's been fun guys but I really do need to work this case a bit. He is my cousin after all. It's pretty much my responsibility to find him."

"Sure, we'll let you go. I just wanted to say hi." Harry waved at her as he and Shiva turned to make their way back outside.

"Later, Harry! Bye, Shiva!"