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Through the Veil and Back Again	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 77508 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (though someone could gift me a few of the men in it and I wouldn't complain) and make no money off of this.

Chapter List
- 40
- 41
- 42
Chapter 41

Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi, who I couldn't work without anymore. Thanks, Tenchi!

With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Just a reminder of what's on my profile; reviews complaining or whinging about the lack 'o sex in stories will get deleted. If you want a smut-filled romp, you need to find another story to read.

As Albus put that morning's copy of the Prophet down with trembling hands, he vaguely wondered if he shouldn't have seen more overt signs that all his carefully laid plans were in danger. It seemed that in a matter of just a couple of months, everything he had spent years crafting and honing to where he was sure it would work was gone.
Sirius was cleared. Fudge had signed the official declaration that morning, just hours before the Wizengamot had. That was a special edition of the newspaper lying on his desk at his elbow. Which meant that Sirius was now Harry's official guardian, overriding everything he had done all those years ago. While that stopped most everything in its tracks, even worse was that Petunia had, indeed, signed the homeschooling papers for Harry.
As expected, they were kicked back with the reason spelled out; that she didn't have custody, therefore she had no standing to withdraw him. With him having a copy, something automatically sent, she did as well. He was sure that hell was about to come, making what he was desperately trying to do all the harder to accomplish. At this point, he didn't want to go over to face those at Grimmauld Place and the firestorm he knew awaited him. Questions would be asked that he didn't want to answer, that's for certain.
If that wasn't bad enough, what graced the front page of the Prophet, the normal edition, was even worse. While Rita Skeeter taking after Cornelius was good and would probably result in him being out of office quite shortly, the rest in there was very bad.
The old Prophecy leaked would have plenty howling, most of the Order included. The new Prophecy, something he hadn't heard about yet, didn't mean much, of course, just probably more nails in Cornelius' coffin. The rest—Merlin! He did not need the worst errors in judgment he had ever made out there for the unwashed masses to read. The speculation about the Prophecy, and how he was involved along with what he was trying wouldn't help either! It would just a fuel a fire that was already burning quite hotly. Add it in with the rest that came today and he was in a world of trouble that he wasn't sure he could overcome to get everything moving the way he needed. He was sure he was about to get a tongue lashing from some that he wouldn't forget any time soon. If it came to the worst, he may actually lose several members of the Order. While Rita didn't spell out some of what he was planning, she wrote it in such a way that most could put it together. He didn't need them doing such a thing.
All in all, this meant he had plenty of explaining to do, feathers to unruffle and much else in the way of damage control. Some he may be able to do that with, others—there was no chance. Sirius and Petunia were on the top of the list in that category. Now—he wasn't sure what to do now, honestly. Even worse was he wasn't sure if he could undo parts. And those parts were the ones that he needed most.
After picking the normal edition of the paper up in a trembling hand, he skimmed through the article on the Prophecy they were guarding. As he reread it, his brow furrowed at a short interview with a source in the Department of Mysteries, an unnamed Unspeakable. He stated that the old one was invalid because it broke. Tossing the paper down once more, he leaned back and shut his eyes, chin dropping to his chest as he tried to think. Today, one of the first things he needed to attend to was get with a couple of his own contacts to see if it was true that if a prophecy jar broke it meant it was invalid. He hadn't heard that before. If it was, it meant that—well, he didn't know. He really didn't. Everything he had planned for all along hadn't taken into account that it might be invalid.
With a shake of his head, he tried to sort through what was dropped on him that morning. While, normally, it wasn't a problem, it was this time. Him not being able to focus enough to figure out how to work with the nightmare just dropped in his lap wasn't a good 'thing' either. What he needed was to sort it out, fast, then start dealing with the bits he knew it unleashed.
Once he contemplated the situation for a time, he opened his eyes. After gazing around his desk, seeing the mounds of parchments he had to attend to as part of his duties before the start of term and knowing he was bound to get interrupted by several for various bits, both school related and not, he decided he needed to go elsewhere to think. Filling in the paintings, telling them he had to go tend to some matters, he grabbed both newspapers then swept out. He knew the perfect place to get the solitude he needed to think over what his next step should be. It was his hope that by the time he returned to the castle he would have the most basic of plans in place to deal with not only the ramifications of what was revealed about him, but how to get this whole mess back on track.

Head leaning against Sirius' shoulder, Harry was grinning as he looked at the proclamation his godfather held. Sirius was cleared, completely. “This is great!” He said, unable to wipe that grin off his face.
“It is!” Sirius agreed, grinning like an idiot. When he finished reading what was there, he passed it over to the smirking Lucius then picked up both newspapers. Nodding, glancing over what was written, though having read it before, he said, “We've got the biggest of the foundations in place to spin Albus so fast he'll be dizzy and scrambling for years.” After putting them down again, he looked at Lucius and asked, “Should I sign the homeschooling forms this morning? That will stop it, dead, and Albus can't do a damned thing.”
“Yes, get on those, now. Then get them off to your Solicitor with a note to start all the other areas that pertain to you being guardian. We want him to ensure that you are in place as that before the day is out. When we saw him the last time, we made sure it was all signed, so he just has to file. If he does it this morning, it'll be in place by noon then we're up to date with what we need.”
“I'll get on it,” Sirius said, summoning what he needed and having Harry go get Hedwig. Lucius was right; they needed this all shored up.
“What are we going to do about this?” Narcissa asked, reading through the rejection letter Petunia was holding out for her to see. “I know the point is moot, but it would look quite odd if we let it slide.”
“I'm going to say that as soon as we have confirmation that Sirius is Harry's official guardian, we call Albus and get him over here so he can start explaining.” Remus tossed out there, looking around. “We won't get the truth and know it, but it'll give us an idea what we are dealing with until we get out.”
“That is a plan we need to implement,” Lucius agreed. “We can spend the morning working out just how we want to go about taking on the task then send a missive that Petunia wants to talk to him.” With a smirk, he added, “And have her completely blow up all over him.”
“I plan to,” Petunia told him, folding her arms over her chest, looking downright angry. “While I've known since all of you explained what was really going on, this confirms it and has me plenty upset.”
“Don't blame you a damned bit there,” Sirius told her honestly. “I plan to do a bit of shouting myself over it. He rightly deserves to get a good chewing on for the stunts he’s pulled. We just have to make damned sure we don't reveal anything more than what came with this bit because we don't want to tip our hand.”
“Oh yes,” Lucius nodded. “However, demanding explanations is a good start. Just stay focused on the point at hand. I think, perhaps, Remus should 'mediate' and stay calm to see what he can press for when it comes to information we need. Let's see how it starts to play out, but I think Remus, as the perceived calm one, should take on that task. After all, Albus would expect it from him.”
“I can and will,” Remus told him with a small smile, folding his hands on the table.
“We've managed before with some of this nightmare and will again.” Sirius told everyone looking around. Then he began talking about the basics of what they needed to handle.

After sending Hedwig downstairs, Harry took a seat on the bed. Sir Hiss was draped over his shoulders and he was petting the snake's head. Though he knew he needed filled in on what everyone was saying, his mind was on another promise he had made. Sirius was cleared, the condition he put on contacting Voldemort. It was just the idea of who he was getting in touch with and all he had done to his life was all. Not to mention Sirius and so many others. That made it hard.
As he listened to Sir Hiss soothe him, though the snake didn't know where the problem was coming from, he thought over how to go about initiating the contact. While it might be easier with Sirius and Lucius around, though they wouldn't be able to hear the conversation, this was something he wanted to do alone.
With a sigh, he shut his eyes then felt for the connection. Once he struggled with a few seconds of doubt, he prodded it and waited to see if there was an answer.
Tom was sitting at his desk, going over not only what was in the papers, but other information he had received that morning when he felt the gentle poke from the connection with Harry. Though startled, he leaned back in his chair and smiled slightly. “What can I do for you, Harry,” he asked after opening the connection.
While his heart was hammering in his chest at this, Harry told him, “Thank you for not only getting Sirius cleared, but for what you did for Dudley.” He wasn't sure how you started a conversation with someone like this, but thought that might be the best way to go about it. At least it was fairly neutral.
“It's the least I could do for all the hell I've caused you,” Tom told him honestly. “I'm pleased that you contacted me.”
“I gave my word I would once Sirius was cleared,” Harry said. Thinking it over, he asked, “What do you want me to call you?”
“Tom is fine,” the man said, relaxing. Though the first contact was stressful, probably more so for Harry than himself, it was easing in fine. Good. Figuring it was best to stick to more neutral type topics, he began asking about the castle, how much was ready and other areas that wouldn't be taken badly. He didn't think those subjects would cause stress and they could ease into a relationship this way.

After breaking off the connection with Tom once he promised to talk a little each day and Tom assuring him that he would pass along information they needed and to have him do the same, Harry curled up on the bed with Sir Hiss. While the talk wasn't bad, it was just the idea and getting used to it. Actually, it went reasonably well and Tom was quite nice about everything. It helped, that's for sure.
Just as he decided to go downstairs and check what was going on, the door opened. With a soft groan, he sat up then smiled when Sirius came in. “Everything all right?” He asked.
“Just fine,” Sirius assured him, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “We've got everything off we need and the rest worked out. Come noon we're going to send something off to Albus about coming over.” Glancing at Harry, he added, “I came up to check on you, actually. You've been gone a fair bit, so I wanted to make sure everything was fine.”
“I'm good,” Harry told him, sliding to the edge of the bed and sitting up by him. “It was nothing to worry about. All I was doing was what I promised.” Seeing a confused look on Sirius' face, he explained, “Contacting Tom through the connection. He got you cleared, so I was holding up my end of it.”
Now understanding, Sirius nodded. “How did it go?” That he was curious about, and slightly concerned over. Despite what everyone said, there was still the past to deal with when it came to the man, so there was baggage to consider.
“It went fine,” Harry told him honestly. Then he told Sirius everything they discussed and what they agreed on. “I thought that was the best way to go about it. After all, if everything Sir Hiss said is right, I'll be able to tell if he's lying to me.”
“A very good way to handle it,” Sirius agreed with a nod, looking at him. “We want something in place for when we get out, so a relationship needs established before then. For my own sake, though, next time can you make sure I'm around when you do? I know I can't hear it, but I'd feel better if I was.”
“Not a problem,” Harry told him with a little smile. “That's easy enough, actually, and I think I'd feel better if you were here. Lucius as well.”
“We'll go about it that way,” Sirius said, reaching over to rub his head. Deciding to lighten the mood, he grinned, “Your aunt is making a list of what she wants to take up with Albus. I think she's building herself into a good righteous fury over so much and is just going to blast him. What I think is we need to make some popcorn, have a few drinks handy then sit back and watch the show because he's not going to know what hit him or how to deal with it.”
“Oh, this is going to be good,” Harry snickered, shaking his head. “Aunt Petunia can go all out when she wants to and I imagine she's going to let him have it with everything.”
“So are all of us,” Sirius grinned bigger, nudging him. “She and Narcissa are holed up refining just want she wants to let him have it with, making sure she doesn't forget anything. Between those two, he's going to end up with no arse from the chewing he'll get.”
“And he deserves every bit of it,” Harry laughed. “I can't wait to see this, I really can't.”
“Neither can I,” Sirius admitted. “And that's not all, honestly. We want him explaining some of this. So, before she even starts in, he's going to feel like his feet are in the fire.” Lowering his voice, he added, “And I'm sure plenty of other Order members want to talk to him as well. We've already received an owl from Arthur asking to come over so he can discuss some matters privately. It's our thought it's about the mess in the paper. He wasn't at all happy about some of what he heard when it came to you, such as no one ever taking you to see your parents.”
“What are all of you going to do about that?” Harry asked, highly curious.
“We've not discussed it yet, as we told him to come around tomorrow, but my thought is to sow some dissent with the truth. Including the guardianship bit. One of the bits we plan to bring up is asking who did have custody of you. Lucius told us that I can find out, so we're tossing that in there too. All that means is he better come across with the truth. If he doesn't, it'll just give us all the more to leave for him when we vanish. Albus is plenty smart, so I think he's going to give it up. If he does, we're telling Arthur. Even if he doesn't, I think we will anyway as I have the papers to prove he did. Arthur won't know why we have them, just that I do and it'll prove plenty. While Arthur is a quiet one that doesn't say much, letting Molly do most of the talking, he has plenty of backbone on matters. He needed it to deal with all his kids, especially Fred and George. I'm sure that's going to come into play here and he won't be at all happy with Albus then will let him know it.”
“Good,” Harry nodded.
“Let's head back down,” Sirius told Harry. “We can fill everyone in on what you did.” After hearing Harry agree, Sirius leaned over and kissed him. Then, standing with a groan, he pulled his godson to his feet and guided him downstairs, joking the whole way.

With a tired groan, Albus hung his head forward, slumping. He had come back to the castle after his bit of solitude to think to something not at all pleasant. Mercury Blair was waiting for him. As he was the head of the Board for Hogwarts, it wasn't unusual for him to show up. The issue came in that the man was irate. Very irate.
He had tossed Petunia's filing for Harry on the desk then demanded answers as to why it was rejected. From what he could gather, the whole Board had been contacted about the situation and none were happy as Mercury told him they felt they were lied to all these years. Producing papers that came with Harry being schooled, he pointed out that they all had Petunia and Vernon listed as Harry's legal guardians. Then Mercury had pointed out that he had been telling everyone that for years. No, it wasn't pretty, at all. While he danced around the subject the best he could without revealing what was really going on, it hadn't worked well. All it managed was to send Mercury's temper higher. Rather than hash it out, the man had stormed off, telling him that the Board would be convening a meeting the next day to get the answers they all wanted. He also assured him that they would petition the Ministry for the paperwork that would show the legal guardian as it was required for Harry to be in school. Even worse? Harry was actually barred from the castle until the Board had the paperwork showing who his legal guardian was. Fraud was mentioned as well as a few other legal terms that meant nothing good.
In the past, Albus would have had enough pull to get it calmed down. At the moment, as the man had invoked a magic in the charter, he was stuck. The second the Board got the paperwork with the real guardian listed, questions he didn't want to answer would come up. It was even worse as any filings dealing with Harry would result in a copy of the paperwork going to Sirius as well since the man was officially Harry's legal guardian as of this morning. Very not good and it meant he had even more fast dancing to do.
While away he thought he had come up with a workable plan to circumnavigate around the most troublesome issues, but the spanner Mercury had just tossed into the works negated most of what he came up with. Even worse was it would create more problems. The second Sirius saw that paperwork, he was going to venture into the realm of anger and demand answers, nor would he leave it alone until he got them. No, that wasn't good and he had no real way to explain some of the issues without giving up information he didn't want out there.
If all of that wasn't bad enough, more piled on. Waiting for him was a letter from Petunia. Though it was short, it didn't take much to read the anger in it. She was demanding he come over to explain what happened. That he wanted to put off, really he did, until he had more in place to get a handle on what was going on. He didn't think he could, though. If he didn't answer or show up, she was going to grow more irate. No, that would help nothing at all. Which meant, he had to go over and face the dragon that he knew was waiting for him. Though he did decide to put it off until the following day so he could come up with a better plan that wouldn't end up with him looking like a liar. As he didn't know what else might show up in the paper or what they would get, he wanted to wait on it.
On top of that mess, there was more. Order members had also sent owls, asking questions about what was in the paper that he didn't want to answer either. The majority of them mentioned the Prophecy and how they were guarding it. Since the translation for it was in the paper, they wanted to know if it was real. More bits he didn't want to answer as he knew the reaction that would come if he told them the truth. Plenty in the Order would be irate over the knowledge that it was true and how it related to Harry. He was also sure that part of what he would have to deal with at Grimmauld Place would come from that Prophecy as well. At this moment, he actually wanted to hex Rita Skeeter in a way he hadn't ever wanted to do to anyone before. She didn't know what she had just unleashed and how it would help Tom!
After giving a weary sigh, he shook his head, feeling old. This was nightmarish. It really was. Everything he had worked so hard for and crafted over the years was now out the window and he had to start over. And he wasn't sure where to begin, honestly.
As he twiddled his thumbs, he stared at his almost overflowing desk, wondering what to do. The only thing that might help was calling Severus in. Not only would he be able to give hints on how to deal with Petunia, but he was level headed enough that he might be an assist in sorting through this mess. Between the two of them, they might be able to come up with a plan to counter whatever Tom would do to use this to his advantage.
Deciding that was the way to go, he summoned Fawkes and quickly quilled a message requesting Severus come to the castle. While he was busy with all that needed handled before the term started and the usual issues that came just before the students arrived, he needed to set time aside for this. After all, it was the more important endeavor that would protect many of the students in the future.
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Through the Veil and Back Again