A portly little man wearing a bottle-green suit, with a lime green bowler hat covering his grey hair, pushed through the group of Aurors. A severe-looking matron with a close-cropped grey hair and a monocle also broke off from the group and approached him. Chad put on his best childish innocent face and mentally prepared some questions to get the conversation moving in the right direction.
"Harry Potter, such a pleasure to meet you! I am Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic." Said the excitable little man.
"And I'm Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We are here to put your mind at ease and assure you that you are not in any danger." She interrupted Fudge before he could go off on a tangent.
"We understand that you met a witch that may have exaggerated your circumstances a little, and we wanted to put your mind at ease before you left for Hogwarts."
"Thank you Madam Bones. To be honest, I was not sure what to think. A month ago I was just plain old 'Harry the Freak' that lived in the cupboard under the stairs thanks to my Aunt and Uncle's charity. Then all those letters and owls came, and suddenly I'm a wizard!
Ms Skeeter was kind enough to fill me in on my family situation and fix my health problems, I really can't thank her enough for her help. I only have a couple of questions to ask if I may?" Chad started with the pitiful orphan routine to start things off and hopefully garner some sympathy to soften any mistakes he may accidentally make.
"Sure, that's what we are here for! But you ended up coming rather late. How about a few quick questions and a photo for the press, then we can follow up anything else at a later date. What say you, Amelia?" Fudge jumped in to hurry things along, there was a train full of children waiting after all, and he didn't need them to hear about the dreadful childhood of their hero.
A rather chilly look was aimed at the Minister of Magic by Mrs Bones, but she nodded her head in acknowledgement. It was five minutes to eleven o'clock and would only cause more problems to hold up the train.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Hagrid forgot to mention how to get to the platform, and if it wasn't for some red-headed woman shouting about muggles and how to get to platform nine and three quarters, I wouldn't have found it.
There are only a few urgent questions I have and will be more than happy to visit the Ministry of Magic on school break to clear anything else up later." Seeing a nod from the two highest-ranking Ministry officials, Chad continued.
"The first is if the Dark Lord is really gone. And do I have to fear any retaliation from his supporters? I really don't want to have to continue hiding in the muggle world."
"Absolutely not Harry, I assure you that all of those cretins were captured and you have nothing to worry about. Frankly, we are not sure why you were hidden away to start with, and Amelia has started an investigation into how this happened!" Supplied Fudge, ever fearful of Voldemort and his lackeys. It was hilarious that his most trusted adviser was in Voldemort's inner circle.
"Thank you, Minister, that's good to know. But do you think I could get something to send an alarm to the Aurors if my life is in danger? That would help me rest easy if I knew I could summon someone if I was ever attacked."
"Of course Harry, that is an excellent idea." Replied Madam Bones, taking out a business card with her Ministry title and office location.
She then pulled out her wand and cast a few spells. The only one Chad recognised was the Protean charm, he would have to investigate the others later on the train.
"There you go," she said as she handed the card to him, "just tear that when you are in danger, and I will send an Auror team to your location."
So it also had a way to track him. Well, it would be perfect for when he was at Hogwarts. Now to settle his property. His new tax office minion had already informed him that Godric's Hollow had been preserved in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters. His grandparent's manor had been destroyed when Voldemort could not find them when they were under the fidelius charm, and there were two magical ingredient farms.
The land with the manor ruins had remained untouched, but there was a bit of inconsistency regarding the two farms. They had continued to pay taxes, but there was no evidence of any payments into the Potter's Gringotts vault.
Next, was if there was any will and last testament of Lily and James Potter. If there was any mention of his Godparents or the invisibility cloak would go a long way to slapping Dumbledore in the face. Sirius was still in Azkaban, but now that Chad had officially entered the magical world, he could get him out.
The Cloak was also hopefully mentioned somewhere as there was no guarantee that Dumbles would still hand it over now that he had to do damage control. Dumbledore having the Potter's invisibility cloak while they were attacked would be a PR nightmare for him. Rita would be able to propose all kinds of 'what if' scenarios like would they still be alive if they had it?
The hurried conversation listing out his concerns were noted down, and he received nods and smiles to placate him. For now, they were great places to start having the Ministry look into, and a short conversation with Fudge and Bones had them promising to do just that for him.
Then there was a quick photo opportunity for Fudge and Bones to be seen supporting the wizarding hero, a quick statement saying how thankful he was for everyone's support, and then he was ushered onto the waiting train. With a wave goodbye to the Ministry representatives, the scarlet steam engine pulled away from the station.
Five minutes behind schedule was unnoticed by the students as they talked excitedly about their holidays or going to Hogwarts for the first time. Chad found one of the several empty compartments and put his trunk away in the overhead storage rack, the feather-light charm making it easy. It was only a couple minutes later when the door of the compartment slid open, and the youngest red-headed boy came in.
"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."
Knowing that Ron was trying to find an excuse to sit with the boy-who-lived, Chad humoured him.
"Sure, have a seat."
The twins never made an appearance thanks to the unexpected visit from the Ministry, so Ron was left to introduce himself.
"I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley."
"Harry Potter."
"Are you really, Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.
Chad nodded, playing along. There was zero chance that Ron didn't already know his identity. He had been standing in front of the train talking to the Minister of Magic and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement after all.
"Have you really got, you know..." He pointed at Harry's forehead.
Chad couldn't help but look at Ron weirdly. Even though he knew it was coming, it was still shocking that Ron would actually ask about what was potentially a touchy subject like it was nothing. Chad decided to mess with him.
"Are you asking if I still carry the scar from when the Dark Lord killed my parents and then tried to kill me? That 'you know'?"
Watching the idiot child go red with embarrassment, Chad then threw him off balance by raising his fringe and revealing the faded lightning bolt scar.
"Yeah, it still there. But it has faded a fair bit."
He could have removed it entirely but chose to keep it as it was the symbol everyone knew him for. Besides, it was kind of cool. What followed was a bit of an awkward silence as the train carried them out of London. Before it could become unbearable, the compartment door was thrown open once again.
Three boys entered, and Chad recognised them by who was at the front of the group.
"Is it true?" Malfoy said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes," Chad answered, he supposed he should start referring to himself as Harry now that he was on his way to Hogwarts.
It would be good practice and save himself from any slip-ups by accidentally introducing himself as Chad instead of Harry. He glanced at the two minions, both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean-looking, probably trained to do so. They were standing on either side of Malfoy like bodyguards.
"Oh, this is Crabbe, and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
Harry couldn't help the short laugh that escaped. For an eleven-year-old, that was a pretty good burn, and it looked like it hit home if Ron's blushing was any indicator.
He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
He held out his hand to shake Harry's, and Harry shook it. Malfoy had made a better first impression than Ron, and it couldn't hurt to be polite.
"Pleasure to meet you. But please take it easy on Ron, I have only just met him, but he seems harmless enough if a bit blunt." Harry politely asked.
With a sneer at the blushing red-head, Malfoy gave a nod and sat down next to Harry. Crabbe and Goyle sat down beside Ron, doing their best to look as menacing as their eleven-year-old features would allow. What followed was a twenty-minute polite introductory into pureblood politics and who the notables in their year were. Of course, there was the Slytherin recruitment pitch thrown in also.
"Thank you, Draco. This has been most enlightening. While I don't really care for blood status, since I am told my mother was muggle-born, I certainly see the benefit in discovering the noble traditions and customs since I am heir to the House of Potter. I fear I am destined for Ravenclaw since I have much to learn and little time to do it, thanks to being kidnapped and placed with muggles.
I have heard of the legendary feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor and would prefer to watch from the sidelines since I can't afford to split my attention. Perhaps we could meet up on a day off, and you can bring me up to speed on what I need to learn first." He replied as posh as he could, not sounding very childlike.
Being raised with a noble upbringing, Malfoy knew a polite conversational conclusion when he heard it. The timing was perfect as there was a clattering outside in the corridor, and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door.
"Anything off the cart, dears?"
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Harry. Send me an owl when you wish for those lessons." Announced Draco as he collected his minions.
Friendly nods were given all around, except for Ron, as they filed past the old woman. Harry hit the snack lady up for some wizard sweets, but he stayed away from the Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and the Chocolate Frogs. As much as he liked chocolate, he wasn't quite ready to experience eating something still alive, even if it was just an enchantment.
As everyone had left and Harry admired his pile of sweets, Ron exploded with the outrage he had been bottling up since Malfoy shut him down.
"How could you Harry, they are slimy snakes! There's not a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin!" He shouted in outrage.
God, this idiot was annoying. At least Malfoy had the good manners to leave when Harry wanted him to, which was somewhat surprising. He chewed on his Cauldron Cakes hoping Ron would finish his sermon quickly.