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The Harry Potter universe is the creation of J.K. Rowling. This is fanfiction. The standard disclaimers apply.


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Chapter 31: Floo Calls and Notes


Sunday morning, November 18, 1990


The fireplace in Lucius Malfoy's office chimed and turned green; someone was try to call him. He answered. The head of Amycus Carrow appeared in the flames.

"Lucius!"

"What is it?" Lucius smirked. "You look pleased with yourself." He raised an eyebrow.

"If now is a good time, I can give you an update on my search for Potter's relatives."

Lucius hadn't been completely serious in "volunteering" Amycus to go after them, and even then wasn't sure the man would have had the patience to break Dumbledore's protective enchantments. He must have succeeded at something to look so damn happy.

"I tracked them down and slipped their address to a friend at the Prophet. Skeeter got ahold of them Friday, and got a good long interview with them. Seems they hate wizards, but liked Skeeter! Go figure. Anyway, Dumbledore never showed, wards didn't trigger, nothing. She even took their kid to her office for a while. Seems they were all only too happy to talk—of course, I think the Prophet paid them, too."

"No doubt some pittance."

"I expect so. From what I hear, it seems like they just wanted someone to listen to them for a few hours while they went off about how much they hated the boy."

"Is that so."

"Quite detailed. My friend says the early reports about the abuse were tame in comparison. Sounds like Dumbledore managed to cover up what nasty little buggers they really are."

"So they actually bragged about beating him?"

"That and a lot of other stuff. Kept going on about how 'the freak needed firm discipline.'"

"Intriguing. I wonder if the muggle authorities ever investigated, or if maybe Dumbledore prevented that, too."

"The Prophet's still looking into it. I think they're also trying to get stories from the neighbors, too. Turns out there was a squib living next door the whole time!"

"What? And they never noticed?"

"Hopefully they'll talk to the Prophet and we'll find out."

"Mm." He nodded. "Have the editors set a deadline yet?"

"My friend says no, but they'd like to do the middle of this next week. Tuesday at the earliest. They don't want leaks to get out, and too many people have worked on this already."

Lucius nodded. He'd make sure to call Fudge before anyone else did. "Very well, Amycus. Is there anything else you think I should know?"

"They're at number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, if that's of any use to you." Lucius politely wrote that down. "Other than that, no. It ought to be quite a spectacle when the article comes out. Have fun!" On that note, Amycus cut the call. It really was a good job all around, thought Lucius. Yes, he'd make sure to give Amycus credit for it in private.

In the meantime, he had better get to Fudge. He placed the floo call.

After a few minutes, the Minister's head appeared in the fire. "Ah, good, Cornelius. Are you in private?"

"Um, yes. It's just me here at home. Is something wrong?"

"No, I wouldn't say that, I just have some news for you." Lucius was betting he had gotten there first. He was usually right; Fudge was lousy at using his intelligence services. "The Prophet is working on an article about Harry Potter's life with his muggle relatives. My sources tell me it will come out this week, and that it will be rather . . . detailed. And unpleasant."

Fudge looked worried for a minute. "Is there anything you think I should be doing now, then? That's why you called, right?"

"As always, you must ultimately decide your own course of action—" Fudge waved his hands in a familiar 'I've heard it all before, just tell me what to do' gesture. "But your options will depend on the contents of the article and the reactions of the public. Of course, there is still time to influence both of those."

"Lucius, please, just out with it. What do you think I should do?"

"Very well." Lucius sighed at the Minister's look of relief. Some days, he would honestly have preferred it if Fudge required just a little bit of manipulating. "The article will almost certainly describe what would be considered child abuse under either wizard or muggle law. It will give considerably more detail than we heard at the custody hearing, and knowing the Prophet, it will play it up for all it's worth, pulling on the heartstrings of readers.

Now, as far as I can tell, public perception of Harry Potter himself is . . . more or less uniformly positive. It ranges from pity to idol-worship, much of that built up by the Prophet itself over the years. So some of the idol-worshippers might move over into 'pity', if they see the boy as somehow broken . . . that's hard to predict. But it will almost certainly make the public more fanatical about him." Fudge was nodding along.

Lucius continued. "With all that emotion, they are going to want somebody somewhere to do something, and it would be best if the Ministry were to . . . work with that impulse rather than against it." Fudge was looking impatient. "As I said, you have several options to choose from, Cornelius, and the important thing is to actually choose rather than do nothing."

"Yes, yes, but what are those options you keep talking about?"

"Of course. The first question is what to do about the muggles themselves. Do you want to prosecute them? If so, through the Ministry, or by turning over information to the muggle authorities? What will you do with them in the meantime? Let's be clear—the paper is going to publish their address, and Dumbledore can't be there to protect them forever."

"What? Dumbledore is protecting them?"

"This is what I have been told, but yes, I think he has tried to. Perhaps he does not want the story to get out? Perhaps he correctly perceives that an enraged public would be a danger to these muggles?"

"Oh."

"Which leads to the next decision you must make, which is, let us say, what to do about any visitors the family might get. Or potential vigilantes. Bear in mind, too, that the Statute of Secrecy does not apply to them, so there is nothing illegal about wizards visiting them. Of course, it's up to you, but I do recommend making sure they live at least long enough for you to read the article. It's never in your interest to have someone taking choices out of the hands of the Ministry like that."

"Of course, you're right. I shall have aurors posted at their house at once."

Lucius smiled. "So you aren't going to take them into custody, then?"

"No, no, I don't think so. It would look odd if we did it now, since we haven't done it before, and the article isn't out yet."

"Very wise." Compliments went a long way with Fudge. "Now, should you choose not to prosecute, which you might do, given, as you said, that you have not already, this family might never again be free of the threat of Harry's supporters trying to get revenge for their hero. And make no mistake, anyone who succeeded would get more public sympathy than you possibly could, acting through the DMLE. That is, even taking into account Amelia's newfound flair for the dramatic." Both of them laughed.

"Hm. I wonder . . ."

"What is it?"

"No, it's just a thought. I need to check when the Ministry is actually required to provide a 24-hour guard for muggles."

"Remember, if you don't like the rule, you can always ask the Wizengamot to change it."

"Right. Thank you, Lucius. Is there anything I should do besides deal with the muggles?"

"Yes. But—that will depend on the article. I think you should take a very careful look at the role of Albus Dumbledore in all this. He has not come out looking particularly . . . trustworthy."

"Do you think he is truly at fault?"

"I do not know. Always remember that Dumbledore is a mysterious old wizard who goes out of his way to act like one. It is rare for things to happen under his watch that he did not intend, and his schemes are complex and subtle. Perhaps, like the muggles, he thought Harry's upbringing was for his own good?"

Fudge scowled.

"I know, Cornelius, it is not a pleasant thought. Do remember that my own son will be attending Hogwarts next year. I have more than an academic interest in Albus Dumbledore's ideas about child welfare."

"I will look into it, Lucius, I assure you."

"One more thing." Fudge's full attention snapped back to the conversation. "Sooner or later someone is going to manage to get the boy to talk in public. So far he hasn't done anything at all in his life other than not die. He is riding a wave of good wishes. For now he probably has no particular political beliefs—he's ten. But for all that, people will take him seriously even today, and Dumbledore might have significant influence over him still.

Hm. How to phrase this . . . Harry Potter might not be someone you want to associate yourself with too closely. On the other hand, he could be a potential ally, so you should avoid unnecessarily alienating the boy. For now, I suggest trying to be publicly neutral about the boy himself, regardless of what you do with his relatives."

"Okay. Lucius, thank you so much for all your help, I really mean it. I don't know what I would do without it." Flail around uselessly, Lucius thought. "Now, unless there's anything else, I should go check with Amelia.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Fudge was quite miffed to learn that Amelia already knew about the situation and had not told him. On the other hand, he was relieved to hear about the auror guard being in place. He wondered if the muggles knew what they were in for. He was almost tempted to go tell them himself, just to satisfy his curiosity. Of course, no sense making them panic unnecessarily, and risk having them violate the Statute themselves.

He remembered to have his clerk look up the Ministry's obligations to them. The answer turned out to be 'none at all', which he tried not to look too pleased about. If he decided not to press charges, well, he didn't think he wanted to waste aurors on these people either. He suspected public opinion would back him on that decision.



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Albus groaned. Today had not been a good day for the anonymous note-writer to think of more things to tell him. This note had come in the form of a list of questions. Reading them had not left him in a very good mood. This was only partially because he didn't know any of the answers.




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Dear Headmaster,

Congratulations on the successful apprehension of Peter Pettigrew and the release of Sirius Black. I am gratified to see that my advice was not in vain. Now that I know you will take me seriously, I have a few more puzzles for you, although I fear none will be as satisfying as capturing the rat undoubtedly was.



- How can Voldemort's spirit be detected when it returns to Hogwarts?
- Are you sure you can recognize the signs of possession via a horcrux?
- Can the average Hogwarts student recognize the signs of possession?
- If you caught Voldemort possessing a student, what would you do?
- What about a staff member?
- If 'expel the spirit so it can possess someone else' sounds appealing, why?
- Are you any further along at learning how to destroy a Horcrux?
- Have you considered asking the curse breakers at Gringott's to take a look? (They gave me a quote of 20,000 galleons for it, which I do not have.)
- Is there any legal procedure for getting at the Lestrange's vault without tipping off Voldemort's allies in the ministry?
- Where is the damn snake?
- Can you use wards to block Voldemort in spirit form?
- What about a house elf?
- Is any component of a ward you care about dependent on something external, like the Ministry not falling to Voldemort?
- If so, do you really need to use such a ward?
- What would it take to actually strengthen the Hogwarts wards against Death Eater attacks?
- How closely have you studied the Dark Mark?
- Can you make wards trigger based on it?
- Can you gain control of it yourself?
- If so, could you use it to summon Voldemort's followers at a time and place of your choosing?
- What are the best ways to keep Salazar Slytherin's 1000-year-old basilisk out of the main castle?
- How many unicorns could someone desanguinate before Hagrid would notice?
- How many students can cast a patronus charm?
- How many of them know when to suspect polyjuice?
- The imperius curse?
- Memory charms?
- How many think their Headmaster would take them seriously if they tried to report these sorts of things?
- Would those be the same students likely to face the hazards you would want reported?
- How easy would it be to trick you into leaving Hogwarts for a manufactured emergency?
- What would happen if you lost your job as Headmaster?



I assure you, if I knew the answers, I would not have asked the questions. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, other than to suggest that research into any one of these things would be an excellent use of your time, and to remind you that it is sometimes necessary to delegate. You should assume I will pose some of these questions to a few of your friends, just in case you decide to play Gryffindor and try to do things alone.

Please stay safe.


best wishes,

Anonymous


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Yes, not knowing the answers was worrisome. And yes, the tone of the questions annoyed him—it reminded him of himself, except with a little more sarcasm. Primarily he was in a dark mood because someone had thought all of those questions—any one of which was worrisome by itself—ought to be asked in the first place. That . . . did not bode well.

He had told himself he would take warnings like this seriously, and not waste time before acting on the advice. And, if he were to act promptly on this information, as he had promised himself he would do should any more notes arrive, he would simply have to involve other people. He began a triage process, trying to identify which questions involved secrets he wanted to keep to himself, and which could be delegated easily.

He would start in on them later. For now, he still wanted to warn a variety of people about the upcoming Prophet article, which he had put off in the vain hope of coming up with some brilliant way to head the situation off entirely. Brilliance, at least of that sort, had failed to happen, and he was not looking forward to what promised to be a few weeks to months of improvising.



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The Lovegood's kitchen was messy by the standards of most normal people.

Luna was currently "tidying up" while her father was at the office. She had very definite ideas about where things ought to be, and since her mother died had been very particular about them; the sort of order which this produced was generally indistinguishable from chaos to an outsider. Right now she was alternately washing dishes and looking out the window above the sink, which was perfectly placed for being distracting.

An approaching bird resolved itself into the shape of an owl bearing a letter; Luna opened the window and stepped aside. In a few moments, a small tawny owl soared through and skidded to a halt on the kitchen table. "Hello, owl!" she called out, as she moved swiftly to shut the window behind it. "What have you brought me?"

She untied the letter and set it aside, patted the bird on the head, and pulled a blueberry muffin from a basket, setting it in front of the owl. "Owls love muffins," she asserted. The owl ignored the offering and flew to the window, where it began to hop up and down.

"You were told not to wait for a reply," she said, opening the letter. "That's why I shut the window." Then, a moment later, "do try the muffin—I just made them a few hours ago!"

In a few minutes she had taken out pen and paper, and was scribbling out a fairly long response. The owl, realizing that no amount of bouncing and hooting would get it out, but that the girl was obviously writing a reply for it, had given in and decided to try the muffin. It decided that corn muffin was not, in fact, owl food, but that the blueberries themselves were okay, and set itself to the task of pulling apart the muffin to get at them. By the time it was sure it had gotten every last blueberry, the table was a sea of crumbs, and the girl had a letter ready to tie to its leg. "Here. Take this back to whoever sent you, okay?" It bobbed its head, and she attached the letter, at long last letting the owl out the front door. "Alright, off you go! Bye owl! I'm glad you liked the muffin!"


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Tonks was in Harry's mail room, sorting everything into piles in anticipation of packing it into whatever Sirius managed to bring her next weekend. She was standing along the side wall, far from the window, when an owl landed on the shelf in front of her and presented its leg, showing the attached letter. "Not bothering with the forwarding charm anymore? I guess I have you trained pretty well, then. Thank you."

As it turned out, the letter was not for Harry, but was instead addressed to 'Secret Anonymous Note Writer, Probably at Hogwarts because the Owl Has a Band from There'. That was almost certainly Luna, she thought, grinning. "I'll have to be more careful in the future."

Unless they knew they needed to send a letter soon and did not have an owl of their own handy, wizards did not normally force owls to stick around when they didn't want to. The Lovegoods no doubt had their own owl, too. Tonks wasn't going to bother to speculate about what Luna had been thinking when she made the owl stay. That sort of thing had never been very productive the few times she had interacted with the girl the first time around. "I wonder if she normally opens her father's mail. Let's see what she's got for me . . ."


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Dear Anonymous Note Writer,

Thank you very much for your nice letter just now. I opened it and answered it because my father wasn't home and it felt important. Your owl looked like it wanted to leave without a reply, so I gave it a blueberry muffin. I will tell father not to write anything about the Ministry having an army of disembodied house elf spirits, although I'm sure the Quibbler would print that for you if you ever wanted it to.

Don't worry about the wards, because I know he will let Headmaster Dumbledore play with them again. Did you tell the Headmaster to put them here? Father said it was in case Harry came over to visit, but he only comes over sometimes when Neville comes to see me, but that's not any fun because Harry isn't allowed to leave the yard. Harry doesn't like how he's not allowed to go anywhere, and don't tell Headmaster Dumbledore, but sometimes we all go play in the woods anyway. Did you also put wards on the Quibbler office?

Ginny says you tried to have wards put on the Burrow so Harry could come visit her but I think it was really some other reason. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley say they don't want the wards but really they don't like the idea of the wards, so I told them to paint them pink, but they didn't like that, so I suggested blue, and they didn't like that either. I'm sorry! Is Harry actually supposed to marry Ginny?

Is Voldemort dead? Why are you so interested in us? Why did you send the story about Sirius Black to the Prophet and not the Quibbler? The Ministry controls the Prophet. You should send notes to us instead.

I think your owl is done with its muffin, so I'll wrap this up.

Is there anything else you want me to do? Please write back!

Luna Lovegood


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Tonks decided it would cause less chaos in the long run if she fully answered Luna's questions, rather than letting the girl's imagination run off with them.



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Luna was getting ready for bed when the owl tapped at her window. She let it into her bedroom, and again swiftly shut the window behind it. This was exciting! She had gone over to Neville and Harry's that afternoon and talked about the letter. While they were there, Headmaster Dumbledore himself had floo-called to warn Mrs. Longbottom about an article the Prophet was planning. They were going to print some gigantic story about Harry's muggle relatives.

After yelling at them for listening in, Mrs. Longbottom explained that it might be embarrassing for Harry to have private details discussed in public, even if they weren't his fault. Luna wasn't sure she understood, but Harry was really quiet about it and didn't want to talk (he had never been willing to tell her much about them), so maybe it was true. He did say that he didn't care what happened to the Dursleys so long as he didn't have to see them ever again. Mrs. Longbottom had looked unhappy, then patted him on the head and promised he wouldn't have to.

The three kids had gone out to the greenhouse then and talked about the anonymous note writer. Luna had asked whether that was the same person who had helped Dora rescue Harry, but Harry seemed convinced Dora had done that all on her own. She was really not sure about that, since Dumbledore had probably put some pretty fancy wards up to protect him while he lived there. If Dora could get through those, she was scary, although maybe the wards had only protected him from people who wanted to hurt him. Harry had pointed out that they didn't seem to work very well in that case, which seemed like a good point.

Ultimately they decided the note writer was reacting to something related to Harry's return to the wizarding world. Was there some plot against Harry? Why? She had promised to tell them if the anonymous writer replied to her. She was pretty sure they would. Their letter seemed nice. They seemed even nicer in this next letter, too!


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Dear Luna,

Congratulations on thinking to hang onto the owl. Please don't suggest this to anyone else, though — I don't want them bugging me or figuring out who I am! Also I don't really think owls are supposed to eat muffins.

I was afraid if I didn't answer your questions, you'd invent your own answers and cause problems. Please don't take that the wrong way!

As to the wards, Dumbledore worked that out on his own, although I would have eventually tried to make sure it happened if he had not. I want you to stay safe because I think you are destined to get tangled up in history, and as a friend of Harry's you might be a target for Death Eaters or other Dark wizards. Thank you for trying to make the Weasleys see sense. I hear Dumbledore is having the same problem with Remus Lupin, so if you get a chance to talk to Remus, see what you can do.

I am unaware of any wards being put on the Quibbler offices, although that's a good idea. Remember, though, that if it came to another war with the Death Eaters, the best that wards could provide would be time to escape. The best your father could do would be to keep archives outside of Britain, get a good insurance policy that was still valid in the event of the Ministry collapsing, and if things started looking bad, make the offices and your house unplottable and protected by a Fidelius charm.

As to Voldemort, we don't really know enough to say, and so I think it is best if we were all prepared in case he returned. Please do not go talking about that widely.

I don't think Ginny or Harry is "supposed" to marry anyone in particular, but I think it would work out fine if they did end up together. My suggestion is to not push them one way or the other, but these things are hard!

To be honest, the reason I asked the Prophet to investigate Sirius, and not the Quibbler, was mainly that I forgot the Quibbler existed when I was writing the note. Nevertheless, I probably would have made the same decision either way, because I think the Prophet is more willing to pay for veritaserum. The Quibbler is also more vulnerable to retribution for unpopular stories, so unless your father moves the operation to France or something and publishes from there, I will try not to send him anything too controversial.

What do I want you to do, personally? I am so, so sorry to have to tell you this, but as you develop the magical ability, please learn to duel. Assume some day you will need to fight Death Eaters. Learn Occlumency if you can. Don't assume Hogwarts will teach you anything you need to know ever. Get good at flying. Hopefully you will never need this advice, but in all likelihood you will. I'm sorry.

best wishes,

anonymous


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Luna stayed up late into the night reading her father's books about defensive magic. When a mysterious person gives you a quest, you listen to them.