Harry sat back on the chair that he had brought down as the AI projected the image of a large, white crystal-based building set mostly below ground level.
"Upon activation, the Nanite Forge will replace the current building with…"
"Okay, not happening." Harry said firmly. "Whatever building Space-Dad decided I should get, it goes under my house. I just had it rebuilt, I am not losing my family home!"
"Acknowledged, Kal-El. Accessing data-banks for secondary designs. Query, do you wish to include the current building in the transformation?"
Harry frowned. "And what are the advantages of that?"
"Replacing standard building materials with Kryptonian crystals would strengthen the structure by over four thousand percent. In addition, holographic displays, force fields and inertial manipulation arrays would all be usable in the replaced portion."
"And if I asked that the building appeared totally unchanged? Including touch, sound, sight and so on?"
"The process would take three weeks." the AI responded.
"And the wards?"
"Prior to construction, the wards will be analyzed. Construction and replacement will commence once the wards can be duplicated and enhanced."
"Excellent." Harry smiled. "Now, I'm having guests over soon, then I need to return to Hogwarts to continue learning magic. Once I depart along with my guests, you can begin… assuming you have a plan I approve of."
A new hologram appeared and Harry raised an eyebrow as he pointed to one area.
"Why exactly are you planning on linking to the Quidditch pitch?"
"Size, location and depth of area designated Quidditch Pitch exceed both minimum and recommended parameters for planned hangar launch tunnel."
Harry watched the image move and he grinned.
"Okay, opening up like that? Nice. I approve."
"Thank you, Kal-El."
"But why do we even need a hangar?"
"For the storage and deployment of shuttles, recon drones and other vehicles as and when required."
"Walked right into that one." Harry groaned. "What vehicles?"
.
.
Hermione stared in horrified shock at the headline of the Daily Prophet.
The-Boy-Who-Lived Is The-Boy-Who-Killed!
"What?" She finally managed to choke out as her eyes traveled down the article.
Written by Rita Skeeter
We are all aware of the history of the so-called Chosen One. The only survivor of the Killing
Curse, the vanquisher of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the hero of our world recently returned
to us as one of the newest (and most famous) Ravenclaws.
But where has he been for the last decade… and what has he been doing?
For the last ten years, ever since that fateful Halloween, Harry Potter has been missing from the
Wizarding World. The letters and gifts that a grateful populace sent to him have been ignored,
all attempts to find him to thank him have ended in failure, all we had to assure us that he had
not died were the Harry Potter Adventure books, beloved by our children (and many adults too).
But while the Chosen One has indeed lived, facts have emerged that paint a frighting picture.
It would seem that Potter was sent to his Muggle Relatives to be raised ignorant of magery. An
investigation has confirmed that he ended up with his Aunt, Petunia Dursley (nee Evans), a
muggle who according to the few wizards who met her (at the wedding of James Potter and
Lily Evans) is noted to dislike magic in all its forms, as did her husband.
Further research has uncovered the existence of one son, a Dudley Dursley, the cousin of our
so-called hero, and the house where this inoffensive (albeit non-magical) family once lived.
Yes, dear readers, where they once lived.
The Dursleys vanished at around the same time that Mr Potter managed to trick the Goblins
of Gringotts Bank into aiding him in becoming the youngest Emancipated Wizard in history.
One can only wonder at the size of the bribe that he had to give to attain such a status, but it
doesn't end there. The Dursley's House went on the Muggle Housing Market within days of his
emancipation with no sign of the former occupants. Even the window curtains were removed!
We at the Prophet are still investigating, but we must note that emancipation brings with it the
right to use magic, un-monitored, outside Hogwarts. Said spells can include things like Curses
and vanishing spells, making it horribly possible that our Hero snapped at living with Muggles
for so long and proceeded to kill them, Vanishing their corpses so that his crimes would not be
discovered!
We at the Prophet have already sent a copy of our findings to the Ministry of Magic and the
highly respected pillar of the community Lucius Malfoy had this to say.
"If what we believe to have happened did indeed occur, then it is a great tragedy as well as a
wake-up call to the Wizarding World. I have always believed that Magicals should be raised in
the Magical World to avoid high-stress situations like this and the consequences that happen in
all too many cases. I can only hope that the Dursley family, innocent victims of a culture clash
that should never have been allowed to occur, may find peace beyond the veil of death."
Rest assured, Readers, the Daily Prophet will keep investigating despite the fact that Mr Potter
has not provided any comment on this story..
Hermione slowly lowered the paper to her desk before she could rip it apart.
"Why that… that no-good, lying, backstabbing, bitch!" She fumed.
.
Lucius Malfoy put down his copy of the Daily Prophet with a smirk of satisfaction.
In retrospect, his previous plan to force a separation of the Magical and Muggle worlds (and thus prevent Pureblood Culture from being infected by the delusional beliefs of the Mudblood barbarians) had been ill-thought-out and unlikely to succeed but now, with the Daily Prophet leading a charge in a direction that he had pointed, at the very least the reputation of the Boy-Who-Lived would be permanently sullied, reducing his future political potential so much that his very presence would act as a means of undermining the very policies that he would support in the future.
If he even had a future, that was.
Lucius reached out of the well-aged bottle of Firewhiskey and poured himself a generous helping, but not too much.
He would need all his wits about him if he was to persuade Fudge to sign an arrest warrant for the Boy-Who-Lived, then he would need to be very careful about how he would work around Madam Amelia Bones. Given the chance, she would undoubtedly try to interview Potter with Veritaserum rather than simply throwing him into Azkaban…
Maybe he should try to get Potter into the cell next to the man who had been accused of betraying his family despite him (as far as he knew) not being a Death Eater? That would be deliciously ironic.
Lifting the glass, he raised in in a toast to those who had followed his instructions to the letter (unlike his idiotic son) and downed the drink, putting the glass back on the desk before the magical drink could take effect. Once the flames had dissipated, Lucius rose from his seat.
It was time to go and meet the Minister, officially to give him the gold-encrusted invite to the Malfoy Ball.
Soon, he would be able to set Wizarding society back onto the path of Pureblood Supremacy and all would be as it should be.
.
.
"Harry! Harry!"
Harry walked into the Receiving Room and stared at the head in the fireplace.
"Neville? It's another week until I expected…"
"Let me through!" Neville commanded and Harry walked to the fireplace, pushing the small ornamental shield above the mantelpiece until it retracted flush against the bricks.
"Access is open." Harry said and Neville's head vanished. An instant later, the Floo flared green and Neville strode into the room, closely followed by a regal-looking elderly lady with a pronounced family resemblance and, of all things, a live vulture perched on her hat.
"Dowager Augusta Longbottom, I presume?" Harry asked and the woman nodded, her face set.
"You are in trouble." She pronounced as she pulled out a newspaper and thrust it at Harry. "Read."
Harry skimmed the article, then he growled.
"Do you people not have any rules about libel and slander?"
"How much is true?" Madam Longbottom demanded. "I am trying to decide whether or not to sever the alliance between our houses."
"We have an alliance?" Harry asked despite himself. "No, that can wait. The answer is… it is true… and it isn't."
"Explain."
"I was unaware of Magic or the Wizarding World until just before my eleventh birthday." Harry explained. "A Mail Ward prevented me from receiving anything, not even statements from Gringotts. I have reason to believe that whatever was sent to me has been turned into ash as a result."
Madam Longbottom gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
"My relatives and I disliked each other, but due to a Blood Ward, I had to stay with them. The Ward shattered when I was emancipated, I believe that they decided to move the same day since the house would remind them too much of when I lived with them." Harry paused for a moment. "Plus, the Ward would no longer protect them from any magic-users who wanted to hurt them, so moving would be a way of staying safe. I personally didn't really care since I had no plans to ever meet them again."
"Understandable." Madam Longbottom agreed. "Any ideas?"
"Not at the moment." Harry mused. "One of my mother's journals mentioned something called Veritaserum… maybe a public questioning under it with the questions pre-scripted would work. Has that ever happened before?"
"No…" Neville's grandmother said, looking somewhat shocked. "I've never heard of something like that ever happening…"
"Feint east and strike west." Harry quoted, earning a quizzical look. "It means pretend to be preparing for one action, then do something that the enemy don't expect. Who will I need to see to make this happen?"
"That would be Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Madam Longbottom replied. "If past experience is any indication, Aurors will be here soon. Perhaps we should head for the DMLE offices now to avoid them… not all Aurors are trustworthy, after all and if Malfoy has managed to reach the ear of the Minister..."
Neville nodded in agreement.
"Then get changed." Augusta snapped. "I think… smart but not formal."
Harry blinked. "Erm, what? I have no clue about Wizarding fashions. Would a normal suit work?"
The look of horrified shock on Madam Longbottom's face made Neville turn away before he could break out laughing.
.
"Hello! Hello!" Fudge said with a welcoming grin, walking round his desk to shake Lucius' hand.
"Thank you for allowing me to see you, Minister Fudge." Lucius smiled, making sure to emphasize Fudge's position in order to stroke his ego in preparation. "I assume you have read the paper?"
"Oh, yes!" Fudge nodded as he returned to his thronelike chair behind the desk. Despite the fact that the chair was on a slight dias (hidden by the desk) in order to raise him up so that supplicants theoretically looked up at him, thus putting them in the right frame of mind, Fudge somehow managed to look as if he was about to be swallowed up by the gilded seat.
"Absolutely terrible news." Fudge continued to blather as he settled onto the cushion that lifted him up enough that he almost looked like he wasn't a child playing in his father's study. "Who would have thought that the Boy-Who-Lived would have fallen so far and so quickly? How could such a thing have happened?"
"Well, he is the only person to have survived the Killing Curse." Lucius interjected smoothly. "We simply have no information about how such an event would affect a small boy. Why, being hit with such a dark spell may have twisted him so that he would grow up to become a Dark Lord himself."
"That is terrible!" Fudge gasped.
"Indeed. Why, if he isn't restrained, he could very easily become a bigger threat than You-Know-Who." Lucius prompted and for a long moment, he thought that it had been too subtle for the former Obliviator. However, Fudge suddenly perked up.
"Of course! All we need to do is remove him from the public and he'll no longer be a threat to us!"
"But where could a Dark Lord such as he be secured, I wonder." Lucius said thoughtfully. "Minister, I'm afraid I have many invitations still to deliver, so I cannot tarry. However, my wife is looking forwards to seeing you at the Ball… please accept this invitation."
"Thank you." Fudge said, accepting the envelope which was bigger than it needed to be to hold the elegantly-written invitation inside. "I assure you, things will be sorted well before your Ball."
"You are too kind, Minister." Lucius smarmed. "If you will excuse me?"
"Oh, of course. And pass my regards to Narcissa if you would be so kind."
"I will." Lucius smiled as he exited the office. Behind him, he heard the envelope being opened and the first few coins hitting the desk before he finished closing the door.
"Arrogant moron." He grumbled to himself. "But at least I can count on him to do what he's told to do."