Ancestry 01 - Prologue (My How Things Have Changed)
Cordelia Chase walked up the halls of the high school looking a bit weird to those who knew her. Which the guy she stopped in front of did. Her eyes weren't really focused. Her hair wasn't neatly fixed up. He tipped his head. "Are you possessed?" he asked her, looking amused.
"Why would you think I am?" she asked, sounding wispy.
"Your tag is hanging out. Your hair's messy."
"Is that all it takes for you to assume?"
"Yeah. I've known you since the first day of school." He nodded a bit.
She cleared her throat. "How does that line in the book go? You're a wizard, Harry."
He nodded at that. "Too bad I'm not Harry then." She wandered off again. He went to find someone to talk to about that weirdness. He ran into one of them first. "Something's wrong with Cordelia."
"She's probably just got test stress like the rest of us," she complained mildly, scowling at him.
"Sure." He walked on nodding at that, going to the library. Not like going to Buffy ever got something fixed. "Giles, I think Cordy's possessed," he said as he found him.
He blinked at him. "Why would you think that?"
"She's not herself. She walked up to me to quip something from a book she's never read, and won't read probably. She's messed up in ways that's either drugs or possessed."
"So she's being a teenager?" he asked with a smirk.
Xander smirked back. "Remember the last time you thought that, about me?" Giles flinched but went to find her. Xander shook his head, going to class to see what was going on this time. Something was always going on around here. This was just weirder than usual. By lunch he heard that Giles had gotten her fixed, though the gossip said someone had drugged her before school. That was a good enough cover story he guessed.
Buffy huffed as she sat at his table outside, putting her lunch bag down. "How did you know?" He just stared at her while he chewed. "About her," she hissed.
"We started Kindergarten together. Back before she was popular she was part of our group. It was definitely not right of her."
"Willow said she quoted Harry Potter."
"She did to me too." He nodded once. "Which she'd never read. She sneered about it a lot."
"She does that about a lot of things, Xander."
"Yes, but it's different styles and about different things. She sneered about Harry Potter the same way she sneered about Lord of the Rings, which she's never read. She hates fantasy novels outside the kind in romance novels with the purple covers and the half-naked guys."
"Those aren't fantasies," she said with a frown.
"Bull," he snorted, then grinned. "You sure that's not a fantasy? Because real women don't have those things happen to them." She slumped and dug into her sandwich. He got back to his own lunch. "Did she tell Willow she was a wizard too?"
"No. Called her Hermione. Warned her not to go to the bathroom on Halloween because of the troll."
"Well...." He cleared his throat. "At one point in time she was heading that way." He stuffed his mouth again at her scowl.
"I was not," Willow complained as she and Oz sat down.
He looked at her. "Fourth. Grade." She blushed and ducked her head. Oz snickered silently at that. He went back to his food. "She okay now?" Buffy nodded. "That's good."
"What did she tell you?" Willow demanded.
"She quoted Hagrid about Harry being a wizard."
Willow snorted, shaking her head. "No you're not."
He smirked. "Not like I have a wand." She snorted again and went back to her lunch. He looked at Oz. "Did you see the paper today?" He nodded. "Think he'll finally end that summer camp for the four-year-olds?"
"No. I have no idea who's doing that."
"Me either. I barely remember going."
"What?" Buffy demanded.
"The mayor was complaining in the paper about some sort of summer camp that a lot of four and five-year-olds get invited to," Willow explained. "It's something that been going on for a few years."
Xander shook his head. "I went." She stared at him oddly. "We were told we were in the woods in Washington state."
Oz nodded. "Ours said Oregon."
Willow frowned. "I didn't do that."
"That you remember," Xander said. "Four-year-old kids often don't have great memories." She shook her head and dug back in. "You should ask Harmony if she remembers you being there. She's talked about it a few times." He ate another bite, looking around.
"Honor stone," Oz said with a slight nod. "Thought I had done something great."
Xander shrugged. "I had a ton of headaches so don't remember that. I remember getting lost in the woods for two days." Oz snorted, but looked amused. "Total headache, went looking for somewhere darker to sit to make it feel better. They found me under an oak tree the next day. Hadn't heard them looking for me but I had a great rest." He shrugged a bit with a grin. "They didn't nag about it at least." He ate his last bite of lunch.
Oz just nodded. "So weird?"
"Yup," Xander agreed with a grin and a nod once he had swallowed. "Probably."
"Why do they do this and who does it?" Buffy asked. Xander and Oz both shrugged. "Does Giles know?"
"Have to ask him."
She finished up and went to do that. Cordelia was in the library having a headache, resting it on the table in there since it was a cool surface usually. "You okay?" Buffy asked her.
Cordelia blinked at her. "I hate headaches." She put her head back down.
"They were talking about the mayor hating that summer camp for little kids. Did you go?"
She nodded. "Yup. That honor stone was a bit weird," she admitted. "Though they didn't really go looking for Xander when he disappeared. They found him the next day or whatever." She waved a hand limply in the air without looking up. "Why?"
"Xander said the mayor's trying to end that."
Cordelia snorted. "I'm sure he is." Giles cleared his throat. "It's something every four-year-old kid in town does."
"Did Willow?"
"Yeah. She was in Harmony's cabin." She blinked at Buffy, pushing her hair back. "She may not remember. She's shown a few times that her memory is faulty before third grade." She put her head back down.
She looked at Giles, who was flipping through the day's paper until he came to that entry, then went to look that up. Buffy just nodded, getting Cordelia some chocolate she had hidden in there and letting her suffer in peace. Cordelia smiled as she ate it, then went back to resting her headache.
After school, Xander came into the library to give her some coffee out of the machine, earning a grunt for it. "So why was I Harry instead of Ron?"
She blinked a few times. "I don't remember anything."
He leaned down with a grin. "Really?" He chuffed in her ear, making her moan. "Usually you would've compared me to Ron," he said quietly.
She nodded. "That's what that one thought because they don't know you, Harris."
He grinned. "What was it?"
"No clue. Giles may know." She sipped her coffee and grimaced. "Ew, burnt."
"Yeah, but the only pot in the teacher's machine." He went to start the afternoon's research. She finished the coffee and went back to her nap. He pulled down books, nodding at the babbling girls who came in. "She's just went back to sleep."
"Great," Buffy said. "Sorry, Cordy." Cordy flipped her off without raising her head.
Giles came out of the office. "She'll be fine. Some people do get horrid headaches after being possessed." Buffy looked at Xander. "I don't believe he did."
"No more so than usual," he agreed. "You when you got possessed by that poltergeist, Buffy?"
"No," she admitted, frowning a bit. "I didn't think about that." She went to stretch for her workout time with Giles. Who sighed but came to help her with that.
Xander held up a book for Willow. "See what today's prophecy of the day is?"
She huffed but took it from him. He sat down with his own. Giles had them looking at the books of prophecy to see if anything was currently or soon to be a problem. Xander tipped his head as he read. "Huh. Last year's problem." He made a note for Giles, who came over to read it and whined at that. "Isn't that?"
"Yes, it was," he agreed, patting him on the shoulder. "Move onto the next one."
"Hold on," Xander said, flipping the page to look at the last few paragraphs. "Huh." He let Giles see it. "Foretold Faith."
"It does." He frowned as he reread the whole thing. "Interesting." He handed it back. "At least it's not a new problem." Xander nodded and finished his note, moving onto the next one. That one was a future problem but it looked like after the turn of the millennium.
***
That night, Xander went home for show, because Willow was watching him. He could sneak to the actual family home after she went home for the night. If not, he'd handle it. The constructs in the living room were sent to bed early like usual so he wasn't bothered. If only Cordy knew....
***
Albus Dumbledore grimaced as he read the turn down scroll from the Ministry on his class reunion idea. He really needed to get in touch with some of his former students to help the war effort. To make sure the Light won. Fudge was being very obstructive at the moment. Dumbledore didn't have the political clout to overrule him to get what needed to be done. He'd have to figure something out this year. Before things got too far out of hand.
Harry would need to know that others were going to back him up when they got to an actual war situation.
***
Harry Potter walked up to the help desk at the bank. "Excuse me, I have an appointment to ask a question of the inheritance department, please," he said quietly, glancing around.
The being there blinked at him. "Name?"
"Harry James Potter."
"I'll let them know you're early." She went to do that then showed him into an office. She left him to whatever problem he had this time.
He settled himself in the chair. "Thank you for agreeing to see me."
"Your letter was odd, Mr. Potter."
"I've been told my father was a pureblood so there was probably at least distant relatives and I'd like to find out who they were and something about them if I could. Or if you know something about my mother's family?" he asked, sounding a bit hopeful.
"Why can't you research that in other manners?"
"Because anytime I touch a book at Hogwarts that mentions my parents, it disappears on me. Made a bit of a problem with a history text," he said dryly. "The Headmaster had to cancel that spell or curse out because Professor Binns was very not amused." He pulled out his photo album and notes. "This is all I know about my family. Asking my maternal aunt would make her shriek more about freaks of nature like my mother and I. Which would then get me punished by my uncle."
The goblin took it to look over, frowning at that. "That's all you have?"
Harry nodded. "People have written me some stories about my parents in their school years. They sent me pictures. I had to hide that from Ron last year to make sure he didn't try to burn it again." He sighed. "I'd just like to know more about them. Were there any that did something I could look at for a future career? Did any of them do something noteworthy? Or really weird?"
"Your father was a prankster," the goblin admitted, handing it back. "We have a bit more than that. We have a family tapestry. Of course, all your paternal family is dead."
"Even distant cousins?"
"The last generation didn't have many children before the last blood war." Harry sighed but nodded at that. "As far as I know you only have one cousin alive and he's listed in a peculiar way that means he may be a shade. We've never checked." He got the file out and brought it back. Harry took it to look over.
"Who're they?" he asked with a point. "They had a large family."
"That's the Dumass clan. The only surviving member is the shade. He was a curse breaker." Harry smiled at that news. "Which you do not show much gift towards."
"But that means that he was probably smart?"
"He was. He was quite amusing. And libidinous."
"I clearly don't take after him then. I have no idea why anyone would even want that." He sighed. "Would anyone have diaries from them? Or about the Potters?"
The goblin stared at him. "Your mother's is in your vault. Have you not gotten it out?"
"There's no books in there unless it's hidden by the gold." He let the being have his key. "This is what the headmaster gave me as mine."
The banker looked at it then frowned. "That's not your vault." He handed it back, looking that up. "Hmm. The Dumass side has an heir stone." He considered that. "I have no mention of where however."
"Is that something I need to find? Can I find it?"
"I'd assume you could if they'll let you be claimed as family. As one was your grandfather on your mother's side it shouldn't matter." He frowned. "That's very odd."
Harry nodded once. "Is it my fault?"
"No." He stared at him. "What do you know of the bank, Mr. Potter?"
"Not a lot. Professor Binns goes over the goblin wars but nothing else." He saw the wince. "Is that like a bad word? I had no idea," he said quietly, shaking his head. "I really didn't. Is it like mud...well, that word that gets said to Hermione all the time?"
"It is," the banker said.
"Then I won't use it again if I can avoid it. I'm sorry I did."
The banker tipped his head to stare at him. "You're too nice for your age. Your father was surly and snide as a teenager."
"Thankfully I didn't get raised by him. My aunt would punish me greatly if I was that way."
The banker stared at him. "Is your magic bound?"
"How would I tell?"
"A healer?"
"The nurse at the school hasn't said anything. She's seen me way too often. More than I want." He grimaced for a second. "Which is hardly ever my fault."
The banker ran his wand over the boy's head then nodded. "You're bound." Harry winced and ducked his head. "We need to send you to a healer."
"Would that be expensive? Or will my state med card help with that? My aunt and uncle would never pay for it."
The banker stared at him. "They have no control over your inheritance."
"That's good since they would've used it to treat my cousin. I'd be unable to afford school or anything else." He checked the clock. "I should go back to their house before they realize I snuck off." He stood up. "Can I do the healer thing locally?"
"We can arrange for that."
"Without telling anyone at the school?"
"Your magical guardian would have to know."
"I have one that's not my aunt and uncle?"
"Yes, that's mandatory by law." He looked that up. "I see that yours is grayed out. Why?" He looked up.
"Was it perhaps Sirius Black originally?"
The banker looked then nodded. "It was."
"He died a few months back at the Ministry. Thanks to the Death Eaters we were fighting." He sat down. "I didn't know how things were going and he tried to help with that battle but ran into Bellatrix."
The banker looked at him. "That would've been rendered unlawful when he was convicted."
"He never had a trial."
The banker looked while frowning then nodded slowly. "He did not."
"Which means there's a lot of screwed up stuff right now. I guess Draco's his heir? Since he's his cousin?"
"No. His last will stated his cousin's husband was an abomination on magic's arse and her son wasn't his heir." He blinked a few times, reading over that. "This is very wrong looking."
Harry nodded. "If I need to do anything, let me know?"
"I can do that, Mr. Potter." He stared at him. "Good luck finding out about your family. You could check with the ministry's library."
Harry grinned a bit. "If I walk in there, there's going to be huge problems and I'll probably end up in prison because they want that. A lot."
"I've seen that in the papers. I'll see if we have anything else on your relatives in the files, Mr. Potter."
"Thank you." He shook his hand. "Let me sneak back to my aunt's house. You have a good day and thank you for the help." He left, sneaking back there. His cousin found him and sneered. Dudley wasn't as mean to him anymore, not since he had saved his life. "I went to ask about my mother's family," he said bluntly. "In case I had some distant cousins." His cousin Dudley grimaced at that. "Mom's grandfather had a huge family that all died in the last war."
Dudley shook his head. "I'd hide that. Mom's going to have a fit."
"Probably." He walked around him. "I saw your dad's car up the block at the pub."
"Great," Dudley sighed. "Tonight's going to be fun." Harry nodded, sneaking back to the house. He heard his mother complaining and went to hide himself for now.
Harry got caught sneaking in. "I went to see if I could find something on Mom's cousins." She looked horrified. "Because anytime I touch something that mentions Mom the book disappears."
"Oh," she complained. "So you traipsed all over town looking like that?"
"I took the tube then the bus. I look like a student." He looked at himself then at her. "It's my uniform without the tie."
She sneered. "Fine. Go to your room. Don't come out."
He nodded. "Uncle's car is at the pub up the street." He went up there to be locked in. It was safer tonight. His uncle didn't drink much but when he did he was mostly evil. He hid things inside his invisibility cloak and then hid it magically inside something else. That way nothing got destroyed if his uncle barged in to yell at him for existing again.
His aunt started on dinner, something light and easy to stomach. Her son came in and she stared at him. "What did you do today?"
"I went to hang out at the teen center with my friends." She grimaced. "All the other kids were there. It won't look odd to anyone, Mum."
"Fine. Go to your room. I'll bring you dinner later. I'll tell your father you have a headache from being around other teenagers." He nodded, going to do that. She went back to fixing sandwiches. Dudley's was fitting for his needs, and Harry's was barely there but it was what they'd have tonight. When Vernon came home she went out to smile and hug him.
"The boys are both locked in tonight, dear. Dudders had a headache from going around other kids at that teen center up the street. Harry's doing his summer homework." He sneered at that. She could smell the beer from a few feet away. "I've made sandwiches for tonight."
"We can eat real food," he complained.
"I wanted sandwiches. My stomach's a bit touchy with girl things, Vernon." He huffed at that. She went to get his, letting him complain when she put it in front of him. She settled in to eat hers at the table with him. He was still complaining and making unhappy noises. "The new neighbors have all moved in now. That contractor left for good earlier." Vernon grimaced at that.
"It looks pretty from the windows. She had all that wallpaper Gladys put up removed and painted the walls a pretty light blue in the living room and a cream with what looked like green trim in the dining you can see from the street. They've got a few younger children." He glared at that, looking that way. "She's a banker of some sort and her husband's a professor at a day school."
"She works?" he sneered.
"She said she wanted to work. I welcomed them to the neighborhood earlier while they were moving boxes in. Her two are about to go to school. Not a day school but primary school." She nibbled a bite. "One of each. Their little girl was talking about her pet frog." Her husband shuddered at that idea.
"Her husband is a science professor and she was sure her daughter would want to follow him into the classroom that way. Her son apparently likes geology and rocks." She ate another bite. "They seem pleasant. Hannah, in number 8, has talked to them a few times and brought over one of her coffee cakes. I'm hoping not one of her alcoholic ones." She ate another bite.
Vernon shook his head. "They're not our sort if she works."
"Her children are old enough for a play school situation. Some women didn't want to stay home." He grimaced at that, sipping from his glass of ice water. Really, she had thought about doing that too but Vernon had hated the very idea. She went back to her food, paying attention to him in case he wanted to talk. He was not a nice drunk.
Harry came down the stairs with something, holding up something for his aunt to see. "I just saved it from gnawing through Dudley's window. Permission to go release it across the street?"
She grimaced. "Do that. Kill it if you want," she ordered.
"It's young." He took it over there and made it scamper off. He came back and washed his hands then went back to his room. He banished a bit of sleeping potion to his uncle's glass. It was colorless and flavorless. It'd help them tonight. He heard his aunt sound worried and looked then went back to making sure he wasn't beaten tonight.
"Potter," she snapped.
He came down the stairs, finding his uncle unconscious on the table. He stared at her. "Yes, Aunt Petunia?"
"Did you do that?" He nodded at that. "That'll make him worse."
"He's sleeping it off." She huffed. "Making sure he'll be fine."
"I can't move him and he'll be a bear about sleeping on the table."
He went to get his wand and floated his uncle up to his room to put him onto his bed. Then he went back to his room. He locked the door and let his aunt lock it from that side too when she stomped past. He settled in to read up on his history assignment. He'd look up his family later. Maybe something online at the library in the morning if he could sneak away again.
His uncle woke up about three, still a bit drunk and now complaining that he was in bed in his clothes. His aunt complained she hadn't been able to strip him. Harry checked, his windows were closed. He heard Dudley get up to close his before the neighbors heard. His aunt would be horrified if they knew Vernon had a few before coming home. Harry heard a bad sound of a slap and stared that way, grabbing his wand.
"Vernon!" she complained loudly. Another slap.
Harry froze his uncle with a quiet hiss. Then he slumped and waited on his aunt to calm down.
"That was not necessary!" she complained.
He stared at the door. She didn't come in and went to fuss at Vernon's half-dressed body. She couldn't flip him over to redress him. He'd be in a bad mood tomorrow from all this. Harry would have to hide harder than normal.
***
Harry went to the healer the bank had found for him to see. He nodded at the mediwitch. "Ma'am, am I to see you today?" he asked.
She blinked a few times. "No, I'm the nurse, Mr. Potter." He nodded, letting her put him into an exam room. He'd been to the doctor's once so he understood what it was. She got the healer in there.
The healer walked in with the nurse behind him. "Mr. Potter, the bank told us you think your magic is bound?"
"I have no idea about any of that but the banker thinks it may be. Mediwitch Pomfrey never mentioned it but if so, can you figure that out?"
The healer nodded, testing him, then frowning. "What is that?"
"My scar?" he asked, rubbing it. "That's nasty."
"No." She sighed and went back over his health again. Then did a different spell. "They're right, you're bound."
"Can I do something about that?"
"I've never seen the like." The healer checked a few other things then started a quick quill spell that took notes for her. "You could eat."
He blinked a few times. "That's not up to me."
The healer stared at him. "Why isn't it up to you, young man?"
"My aunt said so."
The healer stared at him. "Your aunt?"
He nodded. "She's got custody of me."
"I'm aware of that and why, Mr. Potter. Your history's not that unknown."
He snorted, shaking his head. "Half of what everyone knows is wrong. I've found a lot of lies." He shrugged a bit, still grimacing. "But I have no control over anything at the house about anything food except making it."
She tested him again. "That shows that you're not eating regularly enough. You need the food to power your magic. It'll take from your body."
Harry grimaced at that. "I figured that out, ma'am. Still nothing I can do about that. You can try to talk to my aunt if you want but I doubt it'll do much good. She doesn't like magic."
The healer frowned. "She doesn't like magic?"
"No. She considers it horrible."
"She's a squib?"
"My mother's not from a pureblooded family. As far as I know she's the only magical one they've had."
The healer frowned, going back to the spells. "This is very odd. What is that in your scar?" He shrugged. "I'm aware of what happened but why do I read basilisk venom and phoenix tears?"
He cleared his throat then grinned a bit. "That's a story that would make some people shriek if I told you. Let's just say that the phoenix saved me after I got bitten."
"Where did you run into one?"
"The school." The nurse cleared her throat. "Sharing that would get someone else's feelings hurt because it was a whole story, ma'am. I'm not really supposed to tell."
"Does the headmaster know?"
"I have no idea. Mediwitch Pomfrey should. She kept me in the hospital wing for a few days afterward."
"Get the records from the school, Margory," the healer ordered to her nurse, who went to do that. She looked at Harry. "I'm sure you won't mind? I know there's regulations in the muggle world about that."
"There is?"
She nodded. "What about your muggle doctor?"
"I've seen one once. The school made us for a health check before my last year of muggle school. They had to check our backs and shots and the like."
The healer blinked a few times. "You don't have a normal doctor? A pediatrician?"
"No, ma'am. Am I supposed to?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter, you should. Most children do."
He grimaced and almost shrugged. "Again, not my call, ma'am."
The nurse came back with notes. "The file is not kept because people try to be nosy and get into them but she gave me the notes she's kept on past incidences." She let the healer see it.
The healer looked then at Harry, knocking him out so she could read his mind without his shields being up. Then she burst out swearing. She went to call a few people. The social worker she worked with was not happy but realized it'd cause more problems if they busted in there to handle the situation.
Then the Ministry tried to butt in. Complete with memory charms. Which wouldn't work on any of them and they totally ignored Harry being there as they had him hidden for now. The nurse sent him to his family's home. Which wasn't in Surrey.
***
Story notes:
Notes: This story would not end! It took me over a month to write it. It wouldn't break into stories. It wouldn't break into chapters. So it broke into parts, longer chapters basically. I'll be putting it out slowly due to the length. Parts 1-55.
Note: cannonical deaths off screen in the series but mentioned. There is a war after all.
Note: cannonical deaths off screen in the series but mentioned. There is a war after all.