"It'll be fine Harry," Susan said reassuringly to a nervous Harry as he glanced out the window of the train meant to take the 4 of them all to the Bones manor.
It was likely the thousandth time he had done so already. A few more times and he just might poke a hole in the glass simply from staring at.
"Sorry, I can't help it," he answered, now turning back to her, "I just want your aunt to like me, that's all."
"Well I have to admit she'll probably stare you down at the very least," Susan admitted, "she tends to be rather intimidating to people who don't know her very well. Once you do get to know her however, I'm sure she'll like you, besides I've written plenty of good things about you in my letters home to her."
That was certainly nice to hear, but still did little to quell the queasiness in his stomach.
"Are you going to be like this with our parents too?" Pansy asked him, sitting across from him with Su.
"I would hope not," Su answered for him, "I could care less if my father was impressed with you. In fact if he is, I'll know there is something wrong. Personally I'm going to try and avoid him and Harry meeting for as long as I can simply to spare Harry a rather unpleasant meeting."
"I suppose I could see myself feeling the same way," Pansy replied, "although I would say Harry should at least try to make a good impression on Madame Bones, she seems like a decent person from what I've heard."
"Well we'll all know soon enough if Harry can manage to pull it off," Su claimed.
DUELDUELDUEL
When Harry and company finally got off the train to go back to the Bones house, they were all feeling slightly nervous, except Susan who continually reassured them that her aunt would be rather nice to them all, although none of them reminded her however that she was also a bit biased.
With that thought in mind, the woman that he saw who immediately opened up her arms to hug a now running Susan certainly seemed like a nice woman, although even Susan had confessed that she could be quite tough when she needed to be.
Madame Bones, or Aunt Amelia as she was called by Susan, was a short redheaded woman who after hugging Susan, looked at him, as he was just now coming up to her.
"So you're Harry Potter then, the boy who..." she began before he cut her off.
"The boy who lived, I know," he tried to finish for her.
"I was going to say the boy who's going to be marrying my niece," she said.
He suddenly felt very foolish as he realized just which thing he would be known for most in her eyes.
"Harry doesn't like to be praised for his fame," Susan explained to her Aunt Amelia, "he's just too used to having people do that to him."
"I don't care about fame, I care about the person, I want to know just what kind of boy is going to be marrying my niece," Madame Bones told him bluntly, still looking intensely into his eyes as if searching them.
This was almost certainly a test, one that he hoped he passed. He was entirely cognizant that she was the head of the department of magical law enforcement.
He wasn't looking forward to getting on her bad side as his Uncle Vernon put it, getting on the wrong side of the law.
Even though they already had a contract formed, he had no doubt she could make his life miserable in other ways if she wanted to, this was a woman not to be messed with he quickly realized.
He did his best not to look away from her as he gazed back at her, and responded with, "I'm told that you're the head of the department of magical law enforcement. If I were a criminal you were trying to apprehend, I would expect you to treat me like a criminal, if I were one of your employees I would expect you to treat me as an employee, but if I can win the heart of your niece I expect you to treat me like a son in law."
She laughed, pleased with such a response, and then asked, "and what happens if you don't?"
"Then I suppose you may do with me as you like," he replied grimly.
She laughed again and told Susan, "I like him."
Relief flooded him as he allowed himself to relax just slightly.
Madame Bones then turned to both Pansy and Su, "you must be Pansy and Su, Susan has told me all about you."
"All good things I hope," Su stated.
"She tells me that you're obsessed with fighting, something I'm quite adept at myself. I used to do some dueling myself back in the day, before I got promoted and became a glorified paper pusher," Madame Bones told her, with a tinge of regret in her voice, "I hope that Flitwick has been keeping you two busy."
"He has," replied Su, "he's a really good teacher but also works us as hard as he thinks we're capable of."
"I was hoping that Susan might find an interest in it, but alas she never really took to wanting more than a basic knowledge," Madame Bones continued.
She seemed ready to keep speaking but Susan interjected, "can we go now aunty? I'm eager to see Pegasus."
From what Susan had already told him, Pegasus was Susan's pet flying horse.
"Of course," Madame Bones agreed, "we can talk about dueling once we've gotten back. All right, I'm going to side along apparate Susan and you Harry, and then return for both you Su and you Pansy."
The sensation of apparition was certainly not to his liking, like getting squeezed through a too small tube.
At any rate, when he finally opened his eyes, he found himself in a large entryway with both Madame Bones and Susan still there with him.
"All right, let me go back for the other two," Madame Bones told them, before apparating out again with a crack.
"What did I tell you?" Susan grinned at him.
"Yay, I survived," Harry said sarcastically.
"Oh it wasn't that bad Harry," Susan told him, nudging him in the arm for good measure, "I can tell you already impressed her."
At that moment, Madame Bones returned with both Pansy and Su, who were quickly deposited before she left yet again to go back for the luggage.
"Welcome to my home," Susan said to the two girls, both looking slightly disoriented from likely their first apparition experience.
Yet Susan didn't seem to notice, herself obviously used to side-along apparition, and said, "Come on, I want you all to come meet Pegasus and Flopsy."
Pegasus turned out to be a beautiful white flying horse that Susan claimed to have raised from a foal back from when she was only 5, and Flopsy turned out to be their house elf, a creature Harry hadn't heard of or seen before, but apparently was some service loving creature who quite eagerly got them all drinks when Susan asked her to.
While both he and Su sat sipping their drinks, Susan and Pansy took a ride on Pegasus.
"So I've heard that you're quite the duelist from Susan," Madame Bones said to him, coming up behind them, "I would certainly hope so after risking my niece like that."
He winced, fearful that she was still mad at him for that.
"Sorry," he tried to say.
"Oh don't be Harry, you won didn't you?" Madame Bones reminded him, "if you had lost however, now that would be a different story."
"If there was anyway that I could make it up to you...," he tried to say.
"How about a duel for a duel?" she suggested, "if you lose badly enough, I might reconsider being mad at you, but if you can at least hold your own for awhile against me, I'll consider you good enough to be capable of defending Susan's honor, agreed?"
"What happens if I win?" he asked.
She laughed and said, "trust me you won't."
After Susan and Pansy had gotten back and they had explained to them both what would be happening, Madame Bones outlined the grassy area that would be serving as their dueling arena.
"All right Harry," Madame Bones began, "let's begin shall we?"
They both bowed and then the duel began.
He began firing spells as quickly as he could at her, which she instantly erected a shield for.
"Great reaction time, better than I would have expected," Madame Bones told him, "now lets see how well you defend."
He realized then that he hadn't been able to cast the first spell at her because he was faster, but because she was only testing him and allowed him to hit first.
His next test proved to be even more difficult as an onslaught of spells were fired at him, forcing him to dodge the first one, and put up a shield for the rest.
If he wasn't so used to fighting an accomplished duelist like Flitwick he probably would have already been hit, but fortunately such experience allowed him to continue avoiding them, taking the few respites between hits to fire off spells of his own.
Yet it was pretty obvious who was the better duelist by far, Madame Bones proved that she hadn't been made head of the DMLE by being a paper pusher, she had some serious skills, even if they might have been atrophied after a decade of sitting at a desk.
Instead it appeared that the whole duel she was only merely testing him.
"I'm impressed Harry," Madame Bones told him, "Flitwick has taught you well, he's the one who originally taught me."
He took advantage then to cast a spell at her, which she deflected with her shield, but caused her to slip back a few inches.
However, he scarcely had time to revel in this even small victory because he got hit himself with a spell that knocked him back and caused him to fall onto a large rock behind him, scraping his back up on impact.
It was painful, but the adrenaline was still pumping through him and he immediately got back up to his feet to continue the duel.
However, it was only seconds later after getting up that he was hit by a full body bind, and fell flat as a board onto the ground, the only good thing about it was that in such a state he could not feel the pain upon impact as his back was no doubt hurt again.
With the duel over, Madame Bones came over and released him from the full body bind.
"Good job Harry," Madame Bones told him, "another several years experience and I'd be proud to have someone like you on my auror force."
Then she noticed his obvious pain, and then added, "you're hurt, let me take a look at it."
"No, I'm fine," Harry tried to explain, wincing even as he said it.
"You most certainly aren't fine, and we won't be able to fix it until we get a look at your back," Madame Bones said, "if its just scraped up I can heal it for you, now take off your shirt."
Harry tried to protest further, but then Susan came around and lifted up his shirt from behind him.
She gasped and immediately let go of his shirt.
"Aunt Amelia, you had better come check this out," Susan said gravely.
Harry tried to stop her, but he was still weak and tired from the duel as Madame Bones lifted it up to see herself.
It became immediately obvious what was the cause for Susan's alarm, not the severity of the scrape, which really wasn't too bad, and could be healed within seconds by her, it was the sheer amount of the other scars that lined his back.
"How did you get these other scars?" She demanded.
"Just a few accidents here and there," Harry replied meekly.
"Either you are the most accident prone child on earth or someone did this to you," Madame Bones stated, "was it your relatives? The ones you grew up with?"
Harry looked back at her, looking fearful before answering, "yes."
"Harry why didn't you tell us or at least somebody, a teacher even?" Susan asked, now with tears running down her cheeks.
"I didn't want anyone to worry," he told them, "and it wasn't so bad, I'm used to it, and besides I probably deserved it."
"How could you say that?" Pansy said, sounding upset, "no child should be abused like that, and you definitely couldn't have ever been bad enough to deserve that severity of punishment."
"Unfortunately I've seen this all too many times when magical child services reports in to me," Madame Bones informed her, "and even more cases go unreported. Wizards tend to still be rather old fashioned, even borderline barbaric in some cases where punishment is concerned for their children, and when we do catch them, it is usually on accident. The child victims are usually too afraid to say anything for fear of getting in even greater trouble, or they feel that they somehow deserve such punishing, often brainwashed with emotional and mental abuse as well. In either case they tend to simply accept the abuse as an inescapable part of life. I suspect that these are the same reasons that Harry chose not to tell any of you."
It was at this moment that Susan went and gave him a big hug, forgetting about his injury until he winced yet again.
She backed away for only just long enough for her aunt to heal him, before immediately going back and hugging him.
"You deserve so much better than that Harry," Susan reassured him, "and we'll make sure you never have to go back to them again."
Harry looked back at her, unable to answer, unable to process everything that had just happened.
"That I'll be making sure of," Madame Bones replied, "what happened to you was criminal and we can take legal action against your relatives for doing that to you, but in the meantime I can make sure that they have custody of you suspended to prevent any further incidents."
"Where would I go though?" Harry asked, "I can't stay at Hogwarts during the summer, and I don't have any other family to go to as far as I know."
"If you would be okay with it, I could have you stay with us here over the summer," Madame Bones said, "I would need to inform Dumbledore, who is your magical guardian, but I would guess that after learning of the extent of your mistreatment that he shouldn't have any objections."
"You mean he can really stay here with us?" Susan asked excitedly.
"I thought you might like that suggestion," her aunt replied smiling before turning back to harry, "you are perfectly welcome to stay here as often and as long as you need to."
Harry still looked incredulous, unable to believe that this was really happening, that he wouldn't have to go back to the Dursleys, and that he was wanted here, it seemed too wonderful to be true."
"Thank you," was all he could manage to say.
DUELDUELDUEL
With the mood now slightly different with the revelation about Harry, each of the girls seemed eager to do something extra special for him and show that they really did care about him, as they each conspired over just what they would get him for Christmas.
In the meantime, Madame Bones made an appointment with Dumbledore right before the break ended, after insisting that he meet with her as soon as possible, and had already begun drafting the legal papers that would take away custody from the Dursleys as well as the ones she would need in order to enact a suit against them for child abuse. The worst part of it had been when she had been forced to confront Harry alone and find out more about the extent of it.
He had been nervous and spoke haltingly at first, but he finally opened up and told her everything, the physical, mental, and emotional abuse, the beatings, the abnormal amount of chores to be done, the withholding of meals, all of it. She was shocked, no matter how many times she had encountered child abuse in any form, she never got over it, and it was brought even more home with the fact that this was the boy who was going to be marrying her niece, and also the boy-who-lived who had already sacrificed so much. He didn't deserve to be placed into such a home after his parents' death.
At least she could take solace in the fact that it wouldn't be happening again, she would make sure of it. She made herself the same promise right then and there that if she was given custody of him, which she would be doing her best to obtain, that she would treat him the best way she knew how, the same promise she had made at the funeral of Susan's parents when she was only a baby.
In addition, she also made sure that Harry got a nice gift, it was a practical gift and perhaps what most witches or wizards might not have liked it, but she hoped that Harry would.
As for Harry himself, she opted to take just him Christmas shopping, so that he could pick out presents for each of the girls without them being there.
First they had had to go to Gringotts to withdraw some money.
"You might want to get a bank statement on your assets," Madame Bones suggested to him as they entered the bank, "to find out just how much you have. I know that the Potters were quite well off, but I would still recommend it."
He nodded as she approached the desk, "I have Mr. Potter here wishing to withdraw some money, and receive a bank statement on his current assets."
"Of course," said the goblin, "for an account that size you would want to take that up with the bank president directly. I'll take you to him."
They were escorted into a side room, where there was an office to find the bank president, another goblin with a particularly vast smile."
"I am President Snaggletooth," Snaggletooth told them, "what can I do for you?"
"We were wondering if you could get a list of assets for the Potter account and the current account balance," Madame Bones told him.
"Hmm...how about a lot of money?" Snaggletooth suggested.
"Um how much is a lot of money?" Harry asked.
"That would be what you humans like to call, a joke," Snaggletooth chuckled with a weird, inhuman sounding laugh, "now if you would please prick your finger onto this piece of paper so I can authorize that you are indeed Mr. Potter, I can do that for you immediately."
Harry did so, pricking his finger onto a seemingly blank piece of paper until a drop of blood fell onto it causing it to swirl as the blood created small, minute letters in a language he couldn't read, although Snaggletooth seemed able to read it.
"That's all in order then," he told them, the paper then disappearing in his hands, "I can now provide you with what you requested."
He pulled a paper seemingly out of thin air and then handed it to them.
Since he still had no real concept of the value of magical money, and there were numerous different numbers all across the page, he really had no idea if what the numbers presented there were good or not, but from what he could tell from Madame Bones reaction he could tell that it was a lot.
Madame Bones only said, "well you'll certainly be able to live quite comfortably."
She chose to say nothing further to him, but instead address Snaggletooth again, "we would also like to have a goblin escort us to both his trust vault and his items vault."
"I would be happy to do that myself personally," Snaggletooth told them, "it's not every day I get to have Harry Potter in my bank."
They took the cart ride down during which he chose to ask her again about his assets and just what it meant.
"I think it would probably be best if you didn't know just yet," Madame Bones told him, "money tends to do not so desirable things to people in my experience, one reason I suspect that Dumbledore chose the Dursleys in the first place for you to live. Had you grown up with full knowledge of your fame and wealth you might have become a very different person. While it still turned out that it wasn't a good place for you, I can at least say that you still turned out to be the wonderful young man that you are."
He wasn't sure how to reply to such a compliment, but she then said, "its the same reason I've never told Susan about how much her parents left her as well, she's had it bad enough with me as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, I've tried not to let it go to her head. When you're ready I'll tell you both about how much your parents left you."
He chose not to press her any further, understanding the reasoning behind her choosing to withhold that information, thinking himself of two individuals who had grown up to be spoiled and arrogant from their realizing they could get whatever they wanted.
Of course his cousin Dudley, and then Draco Malfoy, both born with silver spoons in their mouths. He was grateful that he had not ended up like either of them.
They finally made it to his first vault, the one he recognized as the one that Hagrid had taken him to, where he withdrew as much gold as he could fit into the bag that Madame Bones provided for him.
His next stop brought him to another vault, not full of money, but many various items which he assumed were family heirlooms.
There were huge paintings, lots of jewelry, antiques, and other things he had no idea what they were.
"I thought maybe you might find some presents the girls would like," Madame Bones suggested, "that way you could save yourself from having to buy any."
He went through the piles of items, selecting something for each girl, along with some lesser items for Hermione, Hannah, Daphne, and Padma before leaving the vault.
"I sure hope they'll like them," he admitted to her.
"I'm sure they will Harry," Madame Bones told him, not bothering to tell him just how extravagant the gifts he was giving them actually were.
Still she reasoned that they would be better off in use than still here in this vault collecting dust.
DUELDUELDUEL
When Harry woke up on Christmas morning, he was immediately conscious that someone was tugging on his leg.
"Come on Harry," Susan said gleefully, "its Christmas!"
Normally being informed it was Christmas would have been something that he dreaded, it had always meant before that he would, if he was lucky, be getting more of Dudley's hand me down clothes, while he was forced to watch Dudley open his many presents.
The only enjoyment he got out of it was trying to figure out just which present Dudley would end up breaking first.
This time however and for the first time, he was actually excited, excited enough to leap out of bed and follow Susan into the living room where all of the presents were being stored.
"Flopsy already had them sorted into piles," Susan informed him, as she pointed at one large pile, "and that's yours."
While Susan ran off to wake both her aunt and Pansy up, he inspected his pile of wrapped gifts, hardly able to believe any of them could be for him.
Exactly 10 minutes later, Pansy and Madame Bones had both trudged out of bed, and Su had finished exercising.
"It's been a long time since we've had more than the two of us here for Christmas," Madame Bones commented, "usually I've just let Susan open all of her gifts first, but this year I think we had better open one present each in turns."
Everyone agreed, but it soon became a dilemma who should open up a present first.
"Harry how about you open up one first?" Madame Bones suggested.
Still feeling slightly conscientious, he grabbed a present from the pile and looked at it.
"Well don't just stare at it," Su told him impatiently after a minute of him still only looking, "find out who its from and open it!"
"Sorry, I've just never opened a present before," he admitted, causing each of the their faces to launch into an instant frown, reminded once again of the poor childhood he had had.
It was indeed the first present he had ever opened, even Dudley's old clothes had never been wrapped, simply handed to him unceremoniously long after everyone else had finished opening their gifts.
With that in mind it was hard for him not to savor the moment a bit, before he looked at the tag and found that it was from Su, no doubt reason why she had prodded him to open it so quickly.
He began unwrapping it and found it to be a black velvet box which he then opened to find that it was a couple of long daggers like the ones that Su had, long, sleek, and sharp.
"I hope you like them," Su told him nervously, "perhaps it wasn't the best present..."
"They're perfect," he told her gratefully, grateful for the gift itself, but also what it meant to him...somebody actually cared. The oddness of such a gift didn't really matter to him, she could have given him an IOU one present note and he would have still been grateful.
She then came and gave him a hug, before returning back to her seat to then open her present from him:
a bow and a quiver full of arrows that were enchanted to return back into the quiver after using a certain spell. This present then earned another hug from her, elated over such a gift.
Next came Pansy, who opened up the present he had gotten her, a stunning diamond necklace that he had found in his vault and assumed to be either his mother's or more likely some other long dead relative of his.
"Harry, you shouldn't have, this is far too much," Pansy tried to tell him.
"It didn't cost me a knut," he told her, "it must have been a family member of mine's. I got it out of my family vault."
"I still think you should have it back," Pansy told him, trying to hand it to him.
"I want you to have it though, it won't do anyone much good sitting in a vault," he told her.
Pansy still looked reluctant, before finally taking it and putting it around her neck.
"Thank you," was all she could manage to say.
"You're welcome," he replied modestly.
"Now its my turn," Susan said, grabbing her present from him, now even more eager after seeing just what Su and Pansy had gotten.
She opened up the small box to find an emerald ring, with a small coat of arms on it.
"No Harry I really can't accept this," Susan told him as she looked at it, "diamond necklaces are one thing, but you have no idea what you just gave me."
She handed it to her aunt, who then also looked shocked.
"I really should have looked at all of your presents more closely," Madame Bones admitted, "do you have any idea what this is?"
She held it up to him, but he still couldn't see what the big deal was.
"Its a Potter family ring, inscribed with your own coat of arms on it," She explained, "most major family houses have their own type of rings. Such a ring is only worn by the wife or at least fiancee of a Potter."
"I'm so sorry I didn't know," he told her, "I just thought the ring was beautiful and decided that Susan would like it."
"Its all right Harry, you didn't know," Madame Bones told him, seeming to be trying to make him feel better, "I'm sure we could switch it out with another ring or some other present later."
Harry was about to agree with such an idea, but then he thought about it.
After all he was going to be getting married to Susan anyway, what could be the harm?"
"Actually I don't think I would mind if Susan still wants to wear it," he stated, "we are after all getting married anyway and I'll get her another ring once we really do get married."
"Are you sure Harry?" Susan asked, seeming to place great significance upon his words.
"Absolutely," he replied.
She slipped it on her finger before saying, "I'll treasure it always."
Since everyone else had already decided to simply open Harry's gifts to them first, Madame Bones opened hers, although she already knew what it was as she had seen Harry to pick it up in the vault, a gold pen that she already knew its function for, even if Harry didn't.
By pressing a button on it, the pen instantly transformed into a wand.
"These are pretty rare and can be quite valuable," she told them all, "it isn't as effective as a real wand, but can certainly come in handy in the right circumstances."
After that, they started the next round of present opening, beginning with him again, this time more quickly, as he opened in turn, a book on dueling from Susan, and another book on Charms from Pansy, a wand holster from Flitwick, who had also given Su one as well, and various types of candy from Hermione, Daphne, Hannah, and Padma.
Finally he had only two presents left to open, the first one had no note on it, and the other from Madame Bones. He chose to open the one without a note on it first, and after he had opened it, Madame Bones exclaimed, "Oh my, I wonder who could have sent that, that's an invisibility cloak."
He put it around his torso to prove this to find that it had disappeared.
"Wicked," he exclaimed, before spotting a note that had to have also been inside the package. It read:
Your father left this in my possession before he died, its time it was returned to you. Use it well.
"I'm still trying to figure out just who could have sent it," Madame Bones asked after inspecting the note herself to try and see if she could find any clue as to who it was from, before concluding that it was written with a quick quotes quill to prevent the handwriting being identified.
She shook her head before allowing Susan to open her last present; Su, Pansy, and herself already having opened theirs.
Susan squealed once she realized just what it was, a new Nimbus 2000 broom.
"I know you aren't allowed brooms just yet at school," Madame Bones informed her, "but I figured you could at least fly it here at home, during the summer holidays, and when you go back to school next year."
"I can't wait to try flying it," Susan exclaimed happily.
After having had a few minutes for them all to admire Susan's new broom, they turned back to Harry.
"I hope that you like it, you may have already grown sick of it by the time you end up having to use it," Madame Bones confided as he began to unwrap it, which turned out to be a card.
The card read:
To Mr. Harry James Potter, on behalf of the Auror Department in the ministry, we would like to invite you to participate in a young prospective auror program. Each year we have the ability to extend such an invitation to 1 or 2 wizards or witches who we feel could benefit from such training, the same training, at a more basic, easy level, that actual aurors go through in order to become certified. Such training will take place between July 1st and July 28th. Congratulations and we eagerly await your arrival.
"This also applies to you Su if you'd like it," Madame Bones told her, "I just wanted Harry to be the one to open his first, I have yours still with me."
"That would be incredible," Su told her, sounding genuinely excited.
Harry himself was pretty excited, it would be a great opportunity.
"How did you manage to get us in?" Harry asked.
"You forget, I have a bit of sway over the head of the auror department," Madame Bones told them, "seeing as how I'm their boss. At any rate, I would say you two would definitely be the best ones suited for such a program."
After looking around to make sure none of them had any other presents still lying there, Madame Bones concluded, "well I suppose that that's it then."
"Wait we all still have one last present for Harry," Susan told her.
He was caught totally by surprise when each of the girls kissed him on the lips in turn, first Susan, then Pansy, and then finally Su, sending a warm feeling spreading across his body after each quick kiss.
"Merry Christmas Harry," each of the 3 girls said all at once.