Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 41
- 42
- 43
Chapter 42

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.

The following day, two members of Wizarding society, both of whom had garnered a great deal of respect over the years, were having one of the worst days of their lives; Albus and Cornelius. In fact, both were dealing with stress they hadn't in many years.
The article the day before by Rita Skeeter had the public howling plenty about and to both of them. So, rather than sit back and watch, doing the standard witch/wizard in the streets interviews to see which way the winds were blowing, Rita had dug into her stash of information on both of them and came out with another scathing expose that left the public howling louder.
For Cornelius, that was mostly private business and some shady dealings while in office. Quite honestly, it wasn't much worse, other than the last few years, than other Ministers had done in the past, but the bit with Harry Potter and how he had taken after him looked horrific. Even Cornelius knew it, so he was spent yesterday and today scrambling to shore up the damage done. Though he was even admitting to himself that he probably couldn't fix what happened. As the Wizengamot had voted, by an overwhelming majority, to call for elections, he knew he was probably on his way out. He wanted to try to hang on though and was scrambling to do damage control so he could manage.
Albus, however, was a whole other matter entirely.
The day before he knew what was coming would be bad. After all, the Board was already nipping at his heels, Petunia wanted to talk to him, which meant Sirius probably did as well, not to mention various Order members demanding answers. He had managed to put them all off until today. When he opened that morning's paper, he realized he shouldn't have. What Rita had somehow unearthed was even worse.
She had managed, and he wasn't sure how, to delve into topics he never wanted to see the light of day again. Then she pulled out worse, like Harry's home life, how he was left on the doorstep, his school years and a timeline of what happened when it came to big events since he started Hogwarts, nothing that made him look good. After that, she had talked about the Order, and not in a good way. The manner in which that article was written made everyone in the Order look like sheep that would follow him blindly and not question, just taking his word for whatever, then doing as he said just how he wanted. If that wasn't bad enough, she named names. And that had more howling, like the Board. They wanted answers he wasn't willing to give on many matters.
No, this wasn't good. Not at all. For once, he wasn't sure how to handle all the fires cropping up, some of which were quickly turning into blazes of epic proportions.
At this time, he had owls from all factions of the nightmare to deal with, none of them nice. The Board was demanding answers. Petunia was, too. Order members were. Minerva had been in here already, white lipped, demanding answers personally. There were owls from parents added in. Even worse were Wizengamot members, ones that were no longer on the panel and those that still were, had privately messaged, concerned that some of the steps they had taken on the night Lily and James had died would now come out. From what he was seeing, it might well be a justifiable concern. Rita had managed to dig up, somehow, bits he thought were hidden forever. How she'd managed was beyond him. If those were unearthed, he was sure that what happened that awful night so long ago was capable of coming to light. After all, there were plenty on the panel that had opposed what he had done, some loudly and with great vehemence. As a bollocking was coming from all directions over plenty, like what happened with Sirius, they might well start talking. That none of them needed.
With a heavy sigh, he looked at the Prophet where it was on his desk and shook his head. Rita was promising another article the following day that would reveal more. The mere thought of what else might come out was enough to fill him with fear. This whole mess was already bad enough, he didn't need worse out there.
After taking a deep drink of tea and popping a lemon sherbert in his mouth, he tried to prioritize what needed tending to. The Order, and the owls from them, he thought he could put off until last. Maybe get with each person that had written personally and discuss what was said privately rather than have a meeting to sort it all out. Though he thought Tonks and Kingsley were ones he might want to try to contact that morning. Their names were in the paper listed as known Order members. With what was in the paper, he was certain Rufus wasn't happy and would demand answers from the two. In this case, he thought a short missive telling them to give up all they had to was in order if they were pulled in and questioned about what was in the paper. He was willing to take the hit on it. Other members weren't in the precarious position those two were, so they could wait. Though he was certain, with how Arthur's letter was worded, that he would have to handle him and Molly sooner than most. It didn't take much to read the anger in it. Yes, he needed to smooth down some ruffled feathers.
Next he thought should be Petunia and Sirius. That—well, it wouldn't be pleasant, that's for sure, but he needed to face it. The night before he had thought up a way that was best to deal with the situation, so he was planning to use it unless something unexpected was thrown at him. Even if they did, he thought he could overcome much of it and get them to see sense. While he was there, he needed to do some fishing to see which way the winds were blowing. Once he knew, he could deal accordingly. He was certain he would have it calmed slightly before he left.
Once all of the above was handled, or at least the best he could manage at the time, he would take on the Board. That—it was the trickiest of the lot and the one that would give him the most issues. He wasn't sure what they were planning when it came to this mess, so he had no real way to prepare other than having a story that was the truth, only with parts left out, prepared. As he heard what was going on, he would have a better idea what he needed to do or how to handle whatever came his way. It was really the best he could hope for.
With a tired groan, he straightened up and began to sort through the mass of parchments on his desk, putting them in some semblance of order so he knew what he had to tackle. As he did, he reminded himself that he needed to get with Severus to see if the man could give him some hints on not only Tom's end, as he was sure the man had a hand in the current mess, but to see if he could assist in any way. He also needed to check, somehow, on what was going on with Harry and homeschooling. If things were progressing how he thought, he was sure Sirius would be well on the way to signing the papers as he was now the guardian. Sirius being cleared reverted him to the role Lily and James wanted him in. No, he couldn't allow that to happen, which meant they needed Dudley in this castle in some way. How? He didn't know, but hoped Severus might have some suggestions he could use before he went over to Grimmauld Place.
All that was just the start. He needed to sort through the new prophecy that was in the paper, decide how it applied to the current situation, see if he could find out who the new Seer was, stay alert for more and deal with the situation when it came to Tom. None of those were easy topics and he wasn't sure where to start with some of it. So, he had his work cut out for him. At this juncture, he decided to start getting the worst out of the way and focus. Once he was done trying to douse fires, he would delve in when it came to the rest.

With a sigh of relief, Sirius lifted his wand and warded the door to the kitchen as Lucius sent an elf to keep an eye out for anyone else coming in. After the Prophet hit that morning, they had been bombarded by people coming in. Most were fishing for information, wanting to know if some of what was said in it, such as Harry being left on the doorstep, was true. Having worked it out ahead of time, they gave up the complete truth, all confirmed by Petunia, who appeared plenty angry. Well, she was, it was just for a different reason than most thought as the ones coming in didn't know about the fiddling with custody.
The worst of it had just left; Arthur. He had actually taken time off work for an hour or so to come talk to them, alone. What he wanted was the whole truth about what was in the paper and what they knew. Of course, they weren't going to give up everything, but they answered him truthfully when it came to his questions. Since he already knew about bits like Harry not being taken to see his parents graves and had encountered his family in the past, he knew more than most. When he left, he looked plenty upset and angry, both. None of them were positive what it meant, but they were sure Albus had a lot of explaining to do when it came to the Weasleys, something that might end up with them distancing themselves from the Order.
When he was certain they were alone, Sirius sighed then asked, looking around, “Right, how are we going to handle this? Snape said Albus is coming over shortly after noon, that he has some bits to attend to before then.” The man in black had been over there between people coming and going to let them know he wouldn't be around. From the way it was worded, Albus was trying to get in touch with him and had left a message with his itinerary, so Snape planned on vanishing for the day as he didn't want drawn in yet. His thought was to wait until the hurricane was swirling around the old man to see what he could poke to delay plenty. Sirius could appreciate that stance and thought it might work well for all of them.
“I think it's best to let Petunia lambast him about the custody and demand explanations,” Lucius started, looking around.
“Easily done,” Petunia told him, lifting her chin, a grim smile on her face.
“I thought as much,” Lucius said, looking entirely amused. “What we want is for him to dig himself a hole so we can use it when we leave. We all know he's not going to give up the whole truth and will dance around to not reveal what really went on. Let him. More fuel we need. Then we pull out some bigger guns. The paperwork for Harry is signed and in the place it needs for approval, something that won't take long. Sirius has the custody papers. It's now all out of Albus' hands. Petunia signed for Dudley this morning as well. Whatever scheme he has cooked up won't work. So, we have what we need to spin him every which way in the world to see what drops out when it comes to what he has planned.”
“I'm going to say that as it goes along, we need Sirius to come out and bluntly say that he has his Solicitor looking into the mess and what went on as something is fishy,” Remus added, looking around, hands folded on the table. “That's not a lie. His and Harry's, both, are doing what they can on the matter and looking so they can reverse it. If Sirius pulls that out, Albus might panic a tad more and we'll get other hints. While Severus has told us what he knows on the matter, we are aware that Albus hasn't told him everything. The more information we can get, the better we're going to end up when it comes to protecting all of us.”
“Oh, I can easily do that,” Sirius told everyone with a chuckle, grinning evilly before taking a sip of his butterbeer.
“Harry, Dudley and Draco need to stay put for this,” Narcissa added with a smile. “We all know Albus tends to not want them around for so much. This time they need to stay, especially Harry. He's so heavily affected that I say Sirius makes it clear that he stays.”
“Sirius should add in that he wants Harry to stay so he can hear why all this happened. After all, he was at the center of so many of these decisions,” Lucius added, looking at Sirius.
“Not a problem. He stays put,” Sirius assured him. Reaching up, he petted Sir Hiss on the head then added, “If you start getting anything at all, you make it clear or Sir Hiss does and we'll get you out of here.”
“Will do,” Harry agreed with a nod after the snake assured Sirius he would as well. “I just think its best that I stay as far down the table from him as I can.”
“We'll park ourselves at the far end of the table,” Sirius told him with a nod. “Remus can be on one side of me and we'll have Lucius right next to you on the other side. That won't look odd. It's best the two of us stay close anyway.”
“We will,” Lucius told Harry, putting a hand on his leg and giving it a squeeze. Pressing on, he said, “The only other concern is that when emotions start running high that Sirius and Petunia don't reveal too much of what we know. Please, keep a rein on what you say. We don't want to tip our hands to Albus.” Hearing affirmations, he then began walking everyone though the plan they had come up with to deal with the mess. If they were all on the same page, it would go smoother, something they needed.

Petunia didn't wait for Albus to do more than take a seat and clear his throat before she launched in. They all thought that it was best to keep him off kilter enough that he couldn’t start spinning the truth.
With a look of pure fury on her face, she tossed the papers she received from the Board the day before at him and hissed, “I want you to explain what is there, Albus Dumbledore! You made it clear to Vernon and I that we were Harry's legal guardians if we accepted him into our home. It was in the letter you left with Harry when you placed him on our doorstep. Yet the magic associated with those papers tell me I was not his legal guardian! If I wasn't, who was?” Glaring at him, she waited, folding her arms over her chest, foot tapping a rapid tattoo on the floor.
“I think we would all like to hear what's going on,” Sirius told him, tone containing a heavy bite to it. Albus hadn't done more than pick up the papers Petunia had tossed at him, so he hadn't had a chance to answer her yet, what Sirius wanted. “You told all of us, including me privately, that Petunia and Vernon were his guardians. In fact, you made that clear when I wanted Harry with me all the time after I opened this house. I know the custody hasn't changed hands since then.” That's when he stopped and grinned. Then he added, tone smug, “Until I was cleared, that is. I'm now his legal guardian. The papers came this morning for guardianship, transferring everything to me.”
A heavy sigh in his voice, Albus put the papers down and shook his head, “Petunia and Vernon did have custody, in a way, because of what I did. And I think Harry, Draco and Dudley should leave so we can sort this out. No sense in having them sit here while we hash out what happened as it doesn't affect them.”
“Not legal custody,” Petunia hissed, eyes boring into the old man. “This makes it clear I was not his legal guardian. If I wasn't, who was? I want an answer! And they are staying right where they are, especially Harry. He had a right to hear what's going on as he's been heavily affected by all of this mess. And was told the same thing all of us were. So, he has a right to listen to what you have to say on the matter!”
“You need to understand the night Lily and James died was so complicated and chaotic. It left plenty scrambling to tend to so many matters,” Albus told her with a sad shake of his head. He didn't think they were going to let him dance around the topic much, but he wanted to make it all sound better. And he sure didn't want Harry hearing any of it as it wouldn't help matters in the least with so much that had to come to end the nightmare facing their world.
“Who. Had. Custody?” Petunia snarled, voice just below a shout. “Don't you dare dance around a direct question, Albus Dumbledore! I've had it with your—whatever you want to call it. I want to know! Because it appears Vernon and I were lied to for all these years! Now, answer me!”
As Albus sputtered, trying to calm Petunia down, though it didn't look like he was willing to give up anything, Sirius interjected, tone cold, “Tell us, Albus. If you don't, I'll have my Solicitor find out. He's already looking into the entire mess to sort through all of Harry's estate since it came to me as well. I'm sure that he won't have a problem digging into this area either. We all know custody papers are quite easy to find.” Then he pointed to the papers in front of Albus and snarled, “That makes it clear she was not Harry's legal guardian. Which means, because you have always made it clear she was, we deserve answers, now. We're not playing and plenty irate over this.”
“As I said, she was, in a way. It was by proxy,” Albus explained. “If something happened, say the worst, it would mean there was a way to protect Harry.”
“You still aren't telling us who had custody,” Petunia shouted. “I don't care about whatever the proxy bit is. I want to know. I deserve to know! I deserve to know why we were lied to! That's what this boils down to! You dropped Harry on our doorstep like some bit of unwanted trash, made it clear to everyone that we had custody, but we didn't! Stop stalling and tell us!” Shaking a finger in his face, she snapped, “If you don't, Sirius can find out quickly. Which way do you want us to learn?”
“You told me they were my legal guardians as well,” Harry interjected softly, looking at the old man. An angry expression on his face, he said, “If you lied to me about that, how am I supposed to trust you?”
“I think we all need to just calm down,” Albus soothed, making a placating motion all around. “I didn't lie; they had custody, in a way.”
“Yes, please,” Remus interjected, putting a hand on the irate Petunia's forearm. “Shouting and threats get us nowhere. Give Albus time to explain.” He knew it wouldn't work, of course, but it would play into his character with Albus, what they wanted
“Who had legal custody?” Sirius shouted, starting to stand, ignoring what Remus said, as planned. “Enough, Albus! Tell us! 'In a way' is not an answer to our question! I've had it. It takes one owl to get my Solicitor digging. I can easily do that right now. Which way do you want to go about this? Because I have no problem sending an owl off. Your choice, Albus.” Then he waited.
Albus did not want Sirius' solicitor digging into what happened so long ago, so he sighed and admitted, “I'm the one that had legal custody. With all that happened, I thought it was best. When I left Harry on the doorstep that awful night so long ago, it gave Petunia and Vernon custody by proxy. Doing so make sure the Blood Wards would be in place. It was for the best when it came to protecting Harry.”
“You!” Petunia screeched. “You had custody? You tricked all of us and played a game with a child. How dare you!” Raising her hand like she was going to slap him, Remus stood and talked calmly to her, getting her to lower it and coaxing her to sit down.
After flopping on the bench with a huff, she snarled, “You deceived all of us, for years. We filled out forms for school and everything else we needed saying we were the legal guardians, using the papers you left with Harry to do it. Those were a lie. You were the guardian.”
“How is it you managed to become guardian?” Sirius asked in a quiet voice, though his tone was deadly. As he glared at the old man, he said, “You should have never been given custody, Albus. That was not in the wills. I know who was supposed to get custody if I couldn't and you weren't mentioned. Which tell me there's some legal fiddling of some kind that went on. And I want to know what it is. Since you're not talking or giving up what happened, I'm getting mine and Harry's solicitor involved to have him find out. We're not playing with you, Albus. That ended yesterday when we got the rejection then today when other bits came for me about the whole mess.”
“As I said, that night was horrid. I did what I thought was in the best interests of Harry,” Albus explained softly, shaking his head and looking sad. “If Harry was in my custody, I could stop plenty of shenanigans when it came to him. Petunia and Vernon were given proxy custody at my behest. They were, for many areas, the legal guardians and could tend to many matters that way.”
“You!” Petunia hissed, glaring at him. “You are despicable, do you know that? Completely! That was not how those papers were worded, Albus Dumbledore! You said nothing about proxy custody in them!”
“Well, no, I didn't,” Albus admitted, shoulders slouching as he folded his hands on the table, looking down at them. “I knew it was going to end up hard enough getting you to take him in that I didn't bring that up. You had all you needed to tend to the normal matters of guardians. It just came down that I could step in and do something if things went wrong, nothing more.”
“No, it didn't,” Petunia shot right back. “It meant you wanted to play a game of some kind with a child's life, something you had no right to do! You dropped Harry on our step like so much garbage, misled us, played around and I'm sure plenty more, now you're trying to dance around what you've done. I will never again believe anything you say and I do not want my Dudders around you! I signed the papers this morning to homeschool him.” Looking at Sirius, she lifted her chin and said, “I ask that Sirius keep Harry away from you as well. While I might no longer have standing as his guardian, I'm asking as Harry's aunt.”
“Harry's out of school, period. I signed the papers myself this morning for it,” Sirius told Albus, glaring at him.
And that Albus didn't need either, something that was making him panic slightly. “Now, I think we need some time to calm down and think this over, not act rashly.”
“I don't see it as acting rashly,” Sirius snapped, glaring at him. “You pulled a stunt that now makes me wonder about plenty, Albus. I know the battle with You-Know-Who needs fought, but there is something fishy here. The prophecy we've been guarding has been spelled out in the paper, with the translation for it. We all know it meant Harry. You had us guarding it, saying it was a secret weapon. How was it a secret weapon? If that translation is true, it meant you intended to have Harry face that maniac. Then there is this bit. How much more is there you're not telling us, lied about, spun or whatever? I'm sure there's plenty more. Which means until you can come clean, I tend to agree with Petunia; stay away from Harry. I'm making damned sure you will as well. I don't give a shit what anyone else says. You've given us no real reason why the custody matter needed kept secret or why you had it to start with. What you said makes no sense in the scheme of anything. The only thing I can think it means is you could force something you wanted if you needed to. I don't like that idea.”
Still glaring at Albus, Sirius grabbed the papers that were on the table by his elbow and shoved them at the old man. “Do you know what those are?” He asked, voice frosty.
As Albus picked them up and started reading, he explained, “One is the custody papers. It's legal. I'm his guardian, period. You are not. The second set is me signing to homeschool him. It's in the works, which means Harry is pulled off the list of registered students as of today. And the third is actually from the Board themselves. It appears we aren't the only ones you lied to as they were also told Petunia and Vernon had custody. Those papers were shot to me as his legal guardian. Harry is barred from returning to school by order of the Board itself until they finish an investigation into why they were lied to for so long and the mess is settled. So, Albus, the whole point of you wanting Harry in that damned castle is moot anyway. He can't go back by order of the Board itself because of your stunt.”
“Lucius looked over that last set for me since he was on the Board for so long,” Sirius pressed on, straightening up, eyes hard as he glared at the old man. “It's legal, completely. He also told me that if the Board feels they were deliberately misled, Harry may have to completely retake the OWLs over it because he couldn’t be in that castle as a student since they were lied to about the guardianship. He was registered with Petunia and Vernon as his legal guardians, something that wasn't true. His legal guardian had to be the one on file. That was you and you weren't mentioned anywhere.”
With a tired groan as he looked over the final set of papers, Albus shook his head. No, he wasn't bluffed the day before when it came to this area, though he had hoped against hope it was just that. “Let me see what I can do with the Board.” He finally told Sirius with a heavy sigh to his voice. “I'll manage to smooth it over enough that at least Harry's OWLs won't be revoked. No sense in punishing Harry over my misstep.”
“Stay out of it,” Sirius snapped, voice a low snarl. “You've done more than enough to muck this whole bit up and make it a nightmare for me to sort out. My Solicitor is handling it. I don't want your fingerprints anywhere near it, Albus. It's being handled the right way. All we can hope is Harry doesn't have to retake the OWLs and can press on with the normal coursework.”
Albus pushed the papers back to Sirius after a quick read through them then told him, “Understood. I'll let you tend to the matter. I think we all just need a few days to calm down and rethink the whole situation. While I made missteps so long ago, it was done for the right reasons. Surely you all know that. Now I realize I was in error in not revealing everything. However, I think all of you need to rethink some of your choices. Harry—he's in danger. We all know this. The safest place for him is in the castle. Please, reconsider. Take a few days and think it over.”
“No,” Sirius told him bluntly before anyone could say anything. “I'm not rethinking anything. He's out. As of now, he can't go back anyway. Even if he could I wouldn't send him. Until you come completely clean about what's really going on and my Solicitor looks everything over, I'm not rethinking anything, Albus. Harry stays right here with me. Period. End of discussion.”
“How about we calm down for a couple of days then I come back over and we'll discuss the whole situation again,” Albus said, looking around. He needed time to figure out how to deal with the crisis now in his lap. With what he knew of Sirius, he would calm if given time. As it was now Sirius he had to deal with, he would give him a couple of days. Besides, he had a full plate to tend to anyway. A couple days would give him the time he needed to start putting out the fires burning hotly.
“That's fine,” Sirius snorted. “Just don't expect me to change my mind, Albus. I'm not. And you need made aware that Harry has the papers to drop out. All it takes is his signature. If it comes down to it and you want to fight with me, he'll sign. And I'll add my signature right along with his making it quite legit. It's far easier than the dance to homeschool him anyway.”
And that was a bit Albus didn't need either and it told him he needed to tread carefully. With a nod, he sighed, “Let's give it a couple days before we revisit. Calmer tempers and cooler heads are needed. We'll discuss it all then.”
“That's fine,” Sirius told him, glare firmly in place. It was just an Albus stalling tactic and he knew it. Fine, let him. The more Albus stalled and they could keep him off his game, the more time they had for what they needed. Perfect as far as he was concerned.

“That was masterful, from both of you,” Lucius told Petunia and Sirius, looking smug. It was shortly after Albus left. Once more, the elves were keeping watch and they had privacy wards up. So, they were discussing what to do.
“I do admit I feel better,” Petunia told him with a tight smile. “Oh, I'm not done with him, that's for sure, but it was a start.”
“I'm not either and admit it,” Sirius grinned, sipping his drink. “Let's see how much we can get him to reveal. Might not be worth much now, but it can help down the road. Well, that and buy us time. We need that, desperately.”
“We do,” Lucius nodded.
“I'll send my memory of the whole conversation to Severus so the other side can take a gander. They might be able to give us a hand in what else to do,” Narcissa said with a small smile, patting Petunia's hand. “The more information they have, the better. They can use it to help us in plenty of ways.”
“Good idea,” Remus nodded. With a chuckle, he said, “We had our entertainment for the day, that's for certain. I've not ever seen Albus that off-kilter in my life.”
“And that's what we need,” Sirius grinned, shoulders shaking. Sobering up, he said, “Right, let's send it off then act normal. I'm sure we've got many more coming over today, with that article and all. It won't do for anyone to think anything is wonky here.”
Once he sent all the paperwork off to their room, he settled back and chuckled as the three youngest joked about what went on. It was good, of course, and everyone would be a better mood if someone did turn up, making it look normal.
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Through the Veil and Back Again