Ancestry 02 - Cousins?!? by Voracity2

Ancestry 02 - Cousins?!?

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Ancestry 02 - Cousins?!?

Harry woke up and looked around then at his watch. "Shite! Dobby," he called quietly. The house elf popped in and looked around oddly. "Make sure they can't get into my stuff please?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir. Why is Harry Potter sir here?"

Harry shrugged. "I have no idea. Where is here?"

"Here be...evil."

Harry got up with a groan. "Voldemort?"

"No. Other evil. Dobby get magic things." He went to do that and brought it to his master. Someone had looked at it but nothing was destroyed. Just moved around. Dobby made sure he had the secret things and the things in the cloak since that looked like it was hidden and important to his master, bringing it all back there. "Here, Dobby gots. Someone looked but didn't track or destroy."

Harry patted him. "Thanks, Dobby." He repacked his trunk and let the owl out to sit on his shoulder. It'd be safer for her. "Where are we?"

"No clue, Harry Potter, sir." He looked around. "Is dusty and evil." They went to look, leaving the trunk there by the front door in case they had to run from the house. Dobby made sure he could gather it if something moved it. By the windows it was dark outside so not in England, where it had been early afternoon when he had been put to sleep. Dobby gave outside an odd look but they found a library so that was helpful at least. Dobby looked then found a book. "Family."

Harry took it down to look at. "Dumass. This is my cousins." He flipped it open to see the family trees going back a long time.

A male throat cleared itself from the doorway. "We're what now?" Harry spun, wand in hand. "Ah, like that is it?"

"I have no idea how I got here. Did you summon me, sir?"

The young guy leaned on the doorway, staring at him. "No, I didn't. Who are you?"

"Harry Potter."

"Oh, okay. And we're what now?"

"The bank said my maternal grandfather was a Dumass."

"Huh. Which one?"

"They said a cursebreaker. Were there many? I've been trying to learn about my family."

The guy came in and cast a wandless spell then grimaced. "That kinda sucks, kiddo. Let's go to the kitchen and talk." He looked at the house elf. "He can have the blue room upstairs," he told it. "It's clean, it's safe, and it's warded against the hellmouth." The house elf squeaked, eyes going wide.

He grinned. "Yeah, that's where you are. Let's go talk." He led the boy to the kitchen, starting some tea the old fashioned way, by hand. He poured some and looked at the kid. "I have unicorn cream if you want some."

"You can get cream from a unicorn?"

"Yeah, used to be something the family was known for." He handed it over. "If you're tilted toward chaos it'll taste a bit tangy."

Harry sipped then grinned. "Mostly sweet." He added a bit more then handed it back. "Thank you."

"Not every day I get a cousin who ends up mysteriously on my hidden doorstep, kiddo." He sipped his tea, calming himself. "Actually I really wish you hadn't found me."

Harry winced. "I was at a healer's. The healer found something and then I went to sleep suddenly."

"Shite," Xander muttered. "Okay, we can figure that out. Why are you trying to find your family? Orphaned I'm assuming."

"Being raised by my maternal aunt, who told me my parents died in a car crash and they were worthless. Instead they died almost removing Voldemort from life."

Xander stared at him. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'm that Harry Potter. I have no idea about anything, and most of the teachers will agree with that, but anytime I touch a book about the family it disappears. All but the family tree."

"Yeah, that's entailed to the family. Only family can open it."

Harry gave him a hopeful look. "Did you know about my parents?"

"I've been over here for sixteen years, Harry. Since a curse hit me."

"Oh. Hold on, that means your'e the one the bank thinks might be a shade but they never investigated."

"Oh, they know of me," he said dryly. "I worked for them and got cursed working for them." He stared at him. "Which is why this is very odd."

Harry shrugged a bit. "I was asleep. I woke up when I landed."

Xander nodded, taking another sip. "That figures. It was probably someone well meaning. Probably with the healers since you said you were there. Why?"

"The one I saw in the bank said I might have my magic bound."

Xander pulled a wand and tested it then nodded. "Yeah, you're a wet dream of curses there, Harry. That's...totally foul actually and should get a few people into jail for it but with the Ministry I doubt anything would happen."

"I've noticed they're not exactly ...useful. Actually the Minister wants to put me in jail right now for defending the Ministry itself from Death Eaters."

"That sounds incredibly weird, kiddo."

Harry nodded. "Last year they decided I had lied when I noted that I had been kidnaped, in front of them, and a rite had been used to bring back Voldemort." He sighed. "I just really wanted to know about my family, anything about my family, and then things kind of snowballed from there." He stared at him. "Do I call you cousin?"

"You can call me Xander." He finished his tea and poured more. "I can't tell you much about your direct family. As far as I know I never met your mother. I wasn't aware I had kids," he admitted dryly. "But we'll figure this out. We should probably tell someone you're safe though. Before I get heaving, hissy fit throwing aurors here."

"My owl came."

"They'll get eaten here, Harry. This town is full of vampires." He grinned. "And a hellmouth. Which means it's full of bad energy."

"Are there aurors around here? Whichever country we're in?"

"Yeah, we're in the US. They have some somewhere. Not in Sunnydale but here somewhere." He got up to call from the fireplace in there. "American Aurors....California." Nothing. "American Aurors, Lower California." Nothing. "American Aurors, Los Angeles?" A head popped up. "Floo information?" he guessed. She nodded. "I need the nearest auror's office to here please. My cousin just got sent here without anyone knowing."

"San Diego has one, sir." She connected them and her head disappeared in favor of the assistant there, who sighed.

"I'm Xander Harris here in Sunnydale. My cousin Harry just got sent here to me without him knowing. He's British." He got out of the way and Harry waved with a grin. "He was at a healer's office and appeared here with his house elf."

"I called the house elf that claims I'm his." He got up to walk over. "I'm Harry Potter," he said quietly. "The first I knew I woke up as I landed here, sir."

The guy blinked a few times. "Okay. Why are you in Sunnydale?"

"Well,. I work on the protection patrol," Xander said dryly, smirking at the horrified look. "He's apparently a cousin."

"Oh. I see. So someone probably banished him at family.... Sure." He nodded. "I can send up a report in case a missing persons report is filed."

"My aunt's not ...going to be too concerned but she'll have to make up a cover story about why I'm not there," Harry admitted. "And my Ministry hates me."

"I've seen some of the news reports, Mr. Potter. I can also tell propaganda when I see it. American Aurors are required to have a college degree," he said dryly. "Why were you at the healers if I may ask?"

"Gringotts thought I might have my magic bound by someone else."

"Were you wanting that?"

"No." He shook his head quickly. "I went looking for information on my family since every time I touch a book that mentions them it disappears. The banker I sat with found I was bound somehow and set me up with a healer's appointment."

The auror blinked a few times. "So we're probably dancing around the subject of child abuse."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, we are. Okay," he said, looking at Xander, who shrugged.

"Yeah, we probably are. I have no idea. This is the first I've heard that I ever had kids and they had kids." He patted Harry on the shoulder to calm him down. He looked outside. "Yeah, that's a vampire. Dru, go home!" he shouted. "I'm talking to aurors!" He looked at her again. "Druscilla Black is a vampire. And a seer."

The auror looked at him. "Why would that matter?"

"Well, Sirius died a few months back after escaping, getting free, and never having had a trial," Harry said dryly. "That leaves two sisters as far as I know in the family."

The auror stared at him. "I'm going to come up there tomorrow to talk to you about all this, Mr. Potter. Something's really weird and I don't know why."

"I seem to experience that a lot," he admitted with a nod and a sigh at the end. "Then I end up in the infirmary."

"I'll bring up a healer and someone from the curse breaking division at the bank."

"Please," Xander agreed happily. "I can find at least six on him plus his curse scar."

"That's from Voldemort trying to kill me like he did my parents. Whatever they did made it." He shrugged a bit but grimaced. "You might tell them that I'm avoiding my ministry."

"We're all aware that they're morons, Mr. Potter. We'll not be telling them a blessed thing until we have to or we hear they're having a fit." He grinned at Xander. "I know you're in school."

"I can skip for a few hours. It's about three right now and I wasn't nearly in bed yet. Sometimes patrol is like that."

"I'll be up about nine." His head disappeared and the connection was cut by Xander.

"That'll help," Xander told him, taking him back to the table. Harry yawned. "Go rest, kid. Up the main stairs and to the blue door." Harry nodded, going that way with the family tree book. Xander grinned at that but inside he was seething. It was just like the wizarding world to try to pull him back to handle their stupid again. He was well aware of why he was cursed and by who. It figured that another pawn showed up from that same source.

***

The auror walked into the office the next afternoon with a curse breaker and a very pissed off healer they had called after they had looked at the curses. "The Brits are fucked up *so* damn hard," he told his boss. "Completely and totally core rotted."

The head auror of the district nodded. "That figures."

"Everyone, including their aurors."

"We have our own political sorts who only look at one side of things."

"They're so core rotted, they let child abuse go on so long the kid's now stunted." The boss winced at that. "Their hero is now stunted." The boss winced more openly. "And cursed. He's got a horcrux on his forehead and they all *ignored* it. Including a mediwitch."

"Oh, shit."

"Looking over that way through the bank," the curse breaker said with a smirk, "the healer the boy was going to see tried to put up a protest so the aurors tried to memory charm them so the kid would have to suffer so he'd give up and die so the prophecy of him or Voldemort came to be."

The head auror stood up, staring at him. He nodded. "And the kid realizes that. He went looking for the family no one's really told him about. All the books about them disappear if he touches them. I fixed that easily enough and a few others."

"This is going to become an international incident?"

"I mean, we can go stomp them, rebuild it so it's actually law enforcement, and then let it go," the junior auror offered with a grin. "I'd like that."

The head auror looked at him. "Probably not possible, Brad." He put down the pensieve testimony, letting his boss scan it and then burst out swearing and throw his desk statue. "Never mind, we can gladly go do that." He stared at his junior one. "No wonder aurors aren't getting recruited for."

"Yup, they all see us like those posers. Or as Harry called them poster aurors. They're *pretty* but not real useful. His friend Ron found that out."

"Ah." He nodded. "Why is Harry Potter the victim here?"

"The headmaster decided to put him with his aunt. Who hates magic," the healer said. "I took my own notes. There's enough there to put him into American foster care without a court order in an emergency action. If we do tell others, it'll become political and the kid'll suffer. His cousin over here wants to send him back quietly but safely not to the house. And really wanted to blow up the school."

"Be a big mess," the head auror groaned.

"He's Harris, from Sunnydale," Brad the auror said with a grin. "They're cousins or something."

"And he's got a curse on him. I could feel it radiating," the cursebreaker said from his spot against the door. "Can't tell you what though."

"Sunnydale itself is cursed," the head auror told him. He looked at the healer then at his junior auror. "Can Harris get him back there quietly while we work on a few things to help the poor kid? And alert the Magical UN about that mess?"

"I'm just a junior auror, sir," he quipped with a grin. "But yes, I can. I left Harris a few books for the kid to study."

"That's good!" He looked at the healer. "Yours?"

"Healing some of that isn't possible. His physical growth is stunted. His magical growth may be stunted. I can help, I can't cure in this case. If I had something like St. John's look perhaps. Or maybe Boston Children's?"

"Quietly?"

"We'll need a specialist to remove the horcrux."

"That famed curse scar," Brad told his boss. "From Voldemort."

"I have the feeling I'm drinking dinner, boys. What's our first move?"

"We tell someone quietly who won't tell others. He's not sure who that is but he thinks he has one he can trust but maybe not the full family since they're all involved in Dumbledore's secret society thing he's got going on." The cursebreaker gave him an odd look. "Something about an Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yeah, they were active during the last war. The Leader for the Light and his phoenix lead it." He nodded once. "I thought it was bullshit made up by the papers."

"Nope." He looked at his boss again, who was just nodding while drinking some water. "What do you want us to do?"

"Can we tell whoever quietly?"

"I can floo like everyone else," Brad said.

"I can have the bank call them in to give them the note," the cursebreaker offered.

"Do that, it's probably more stealthy and if he throws a fit it'll be more private," the boss said. The cursebreaker nodded. "Can you break anything on the kid?"

"We need the curse specialist out of Boston Children's."

"Can we consult without it being openly known?"

"Harris doesn't mind but this is pissing him off greatly and the kid's not safe there."

"Can we get him to Boston stealthily and have him treated then bring him back?" the head auror asked.

"Don't know," Brad admitted.

"It wouldn't be the first time," the healer said. "I have to ask him first though. He's from the EU somewhere. Norway if I heard right. We'd probably need a court order to treat him."

"Please do. Let me know by tomorrow?"

"I can do that." He went to make that call.

The curse breaker wrote out a note then showed the head auror it, getting a nod of acceptance for that message. He went to send it through the bank to one of the ones Harry trusted.

Brad the auror made out a full report for his boss, letting him handle anything political coming from this. It was the beauty of being a junior officer.

***

The banker looked at the note. "Why would we give this in person?" he demanded the cursebreaker.

"Because it relates to a child abuse case that a healer sent over to the US by accident," the local head of cursebreakers said. "Which, on our end, got a healer and others memory charmed by the ministry." The banker winced at that. "Yeah so probably better if we do it quietly. Want me to deliver it or want them to come here?"

"I have no idea how we got involved in this."

"I do. You haven't heard the gossip out of inheritances, have you?" He took the note. "Harry Potter showed up asking about his relatives no one will let him learn about. The boy's a grandson of Dumass." The banker's eyes went wide and he drew in a steep breath. "Yeah. He's got a few good curses too. That one mentioned a horcrux." The goblin went off in swears. "So...do you want them to come here or me to go there?"

"Go there, quietly. Avoid the mother, she's loud."

"I can do that." He left, going to find the twins out and about. He found one out in the trees picking fruit when he scried so apparated that way, finding him with his wand pulled. "Hey, now, Weasley. Bank business."

"Something happened to Bill?" he demanded.

"No. But the person this is about said you and your twin could know so someone knew when questions got avoided." He handed over the note, leaning against a tree while he read it.

"Who?" he demanded, staring at him.

"One Mr. Potter. The healer that the Ministry memory charmed sent him to the US for some reason."

"Oh fucking dragons."

"Yup." He grinned and nodded. "He's safe. They're talking to a curse specialist about him from the rumors. He's got a relative."

George stared at him. "He has relatives beyond his mangy aunt and uncle? And whale of a cousin?"

"I know nothing about that." He grinned again. "But I know that kid's safe for the moment. They're going to try to avoid any questions about him or however he landed over there to protect him. But someone over here needs to know to divert questions from their very loud mother."

"I can clue her in that Harry's...traveling at the moment." That got a nod and a grin then the cursebreaker disappeared. George went on another swearing fit that brought his twin out of cover. He handed over the note.

Fred looked then at him. "If we tell the parents they'll tell Dumbledore. So will Hermione or Ron. Or Ginny."

"We can guard this and divert the attention. Wonder what sort of relatives he has over there."

"Could they be worse even if they're like those mythical cannibals Mum was worried about when Bill moved to Egypt?"

"Probably not. I wonder if their Ministry is as stupid as ours."

"I don't think that's possible," George said, picking more fruit. "Take this to Mum?"

"Yup. You plot, twin'o'mine." They shared a smirk and he took in the first basket of fruit for their mother. "First off the trees, Mum."

"Can I help?" Ginny asked. "I'm horrible at cutting up fruit to can." Her mother waved the knife so she went with him. "I felt magic?" she asked once they were out of hearing range.

"No comment."

She looked up at him. "You look pissed. Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, so far. Just a bit of ...displacement from a friend."

"Okay." She climbed up a tree to get the higher level apples for the twins.

***

Fred went to check on the Dursleys. He remembered the way easily enough. The Knight Bus took him near there so he could find a good place to sit and watch the muggles. He spotted the whale of a cousin first and decided to try him. He walked that way, staring at him until the kid stared back. "Dursley," he said with a nod.

"I don't know you."

"Bull, kid. You remember the little tail we gave you." He grinned. He got glared at for that. "Harry...."

"I don't know anyone by that name," he said firmly. "People keep asking about that but I don't. Or your family."

"I can understand that but I know you know someone who does and we've been told a healer got hold of him and sent him somewhere to look at his scar," he said quietly. "Without telling the kid."

Dudley winced. "That sounds like someone's going to be really mad."

"Yeah, probably." He grinned with a nod. "If he left anything I'll find a way to come get it in a few days."

"Too late. Dad got rid of everything in his room so it could be burned. That way no germs from your kind remained."

Fred nodded. "I'll let someone know if we can get word back to him. But he is safe."

"I'll let the person I know who knows him know." He walked off shaking his head. He didn't notice anyone else magical around and you could tell them by their weird fashions. At least that one looked like a boring insurance salesman. He went to his mother, making sure his father was still at work. He walked into the kitchen. "I ran into one of those redheaded boys." She grimaced. "He said Harry got sent off by some healer to look at his scar. I guess he didn't want us to worry or report it."

She grimaced, going back to chopping vegetables for soup. "That's fine. At least he's safer there and so are we."

Dudley nodded. "I told him he didn't have to worry about anything leftover here."

"No, your father took care of that. Including something of mine." She looked at him. "Forget everything you know about them. It's safer. They're not against messing with your mind, Dudders."

"I know, Mum. I am. Just letting you know." He went back to hanging out with his perfectly normal friends. Sometimes perfectly normal was pretty good.

Petunia let out a ladylike swear as she chopped onions but at least the problem wasn't hers anymore. If anyone asked she'd have to come up with a good story. A letter appeared a few days later, giving her more information that she'd promptly forget but at least now she knew. One of her distant cousins back down the family tree? They were probably problematic as well. She threw out the letter and then decided to burn it before anyone could fish it out of the trash.

***

Harry looked at the healer he had been snuck to see. "Ma'am," he said with a nod.

"Relax, Mr. James." She came in to look at his forehead. "That's nasty."

"Are you the doctor, ma'am?" the auror with him asked politely with a smile. "The last I knew he was a guy."

"I'm his assistant." She let him see her ID. Then she went back to looking at it. "How did you do that to yourself, sir?"

"I didn't. I was attacked as an eighteen-month-old and it formed after that." She snorted. He stared at her. "Ma'am, I no more want this thing on my forehead than anyone else wants to have it on theirs. I didn't do it to myself though. I'm not into necromancy and I'm told that's a soul piece of some kind." She flinched back, looking disturbed.

"Which is why we wanted the guy," the auror told her. "And he's right, he didn't do it to himself, Doctor." She fled, and soon she came back with another guy, who also wasn't the doctor. "Sir, American Aurors," he noted politely and patiently. "Mr. James is here to see one specialist and I believe it's not you."

"He's our direct boss and I'm his resident," he said, looking at the kid. He recognized the scar, had done a paper on it. "Let me see what it is, Mr....James. I did a theoretical paper on one like it once." He tested against it and winced. "That is not what I thought it was."

"It's not the first soul part of that guy's I've run into," Harry said quietly. "I just want that one out of me please. Can we?"

"I think we can." He nodded. "The doctor's in an emergency surgery because some kid got cursed during a wicked divorce hearing." The auror winced but nodded. "But I can tell you it's contained. It's not radiating."

"Would it be why sometimes I get nasty dreams by that same source?" Harry asked.

"Yup, it would be," he agreed with a nod. "Which is a complication but not a huge one." He looked him over. "Your weight may be."

"I've been eating." The auror handed over a healer's report. "From the one they had see me when I suddenly appeared over here?"

"Your relatives didn't send you?"

"Well, my cousin over here that I landed on the doorstep of called the aurors but the judge said the aurors can determine things as my home Ministry is full of shite."

"I've seen that news and didn't believe a word," he admitted. "The Prophet needs to go against that other paper."

Harry snorted, shaking his head. "The Prophet is the Ministry's mouthpiece and Minister Fudge is one of the worst of the lot. Tried to tell me I wasn't there when a kid was killed next to me after I was kidnaped in front of him and dozens of others."

"Oh, dear," he admitted. He looked at the auror, who grinned with a nod. "Oh, dear," he finished flatly. "Okay. As long as someone has permission to treat." The auror waved the paperwork. "Decent. He'll be done in a bit. Shouldn't be too much longer. Are you looking to have it excised, Mr. James?"

"I have no idea what that means. If it means I don't have it in my head anymore? Please," he begged.

"Yeah, we can do that." He nodded, making notes on all that. "I see the healer thinks you're malnourished. Just lacking food during the summers then?"

"My aunt," Harry said quietly, staring at him. "It usually takes me a few weeks back at school to adjust to three meals a day."

The doctors both shared a look then one read the healer's file better. She huffed and nodded, making notes on the chart. "It looks like you'll have a few IV's of stuff to help you heal faster, Mr. James." He grinned at him. "That's like a long term shot."

"Is that instead of potions?"

"Yes, we in the US don't use potions. We use medical solutions that go directly into your body some other way, unless you can't swallow pills or do shots." He grinned. "Have you had healing potions?"

"Skelegrow. A teacher banished the broken bones in my arm after a quidditch incident. A few other potions over the years. Some for nightmares when my scar kept waking me up my first year. Madam Pomfrey at the school told the healer I saw first that she didn't keep notes. She cited nosy people."

"I can see how that'd happen." He nodded, making that note on the front of the chart then going back to the back. He ran a diagnostic charm over the boy and sighed. "We can undo most of that but why do I read a poisonous thing and then a healing potion against it?"

"That's...a story that I shouldn't tell because it would hurt the one I saved." The auror stared at him then nodded, waving a hand. "It could really hurt her."

"It could mean she gets healing if she needs it too."

"Her mom's that loud one."

"Still, Potter. Please. How did a basilisk get into your school?"

"Riddle, Voldemort's real name, while he was human and a student put an egg down in the Chamber of Secrets, which was Slytherin's domain and meeting area. Locked to parselmouths." He looked at the healers again. "Anyway, someone dropped a possessed diary into Ginny's school shopping basket and it turned out to hold a piece of Riddle when he was still human."

He sighed again. "Her brother Ron and I had to go save her because the diary was draining her and slowly taking her over. She had let the basilisk out and I had to go fight it to save her, and used a tooth to ruin the diary, but the headmaster's phoenix came down and cried into my arm to save me."

The auror blinked then held up a finger. "Hold on. That sounds like the diary may've been like your scar?"

"What I've seen about horcrux, yes. I stabbed it with a fang full of venom and it screamed, then black oozy stuff came out and Ginny was freed. The phoenix got us back up to the main part of the school." He looked at the healer again. "That's the second time I faced the guy who gave me the scar. The first, he was on the back of a teacher's head and eating unicorns my first year."

The auror coughed. "Wow. A ghoul?"

"From what Hermione found out, yeah." He nodded. "Then the diary, then we had Sirius breaking out of jail to find Pettigrew, who was my friend's rat. And friends of my parents." He huffed then calmed himself down. "And then I get kidnaped from in front of a group of people who demanded I be entertaining and compete in something someone else entered me into so I ended up being bled for a rite after the other kid with me got killed." He looked at the auror. "Can you take memory copies of that?"

"Please," he agreed with a nod. The doctors had that on hand and came to do that for him. They sedated Harry slightly so nothing interfered. The auror saw it all and had a lot of colorful things to say about all that. He sent a copy to his boss immediately. Making sure it got there by Harry's house elf since it was so rabid to protect him. The auror grinned at the doctors, who had scanned for medical treatments. "So?" he asked dryly.

"That kid needs saved," the female doctor said. The auror nodded with a grin. "Removing that scar will help. It's not leaching from him yet."

"Can we do it quietly?"

"Yeah, and a lot of other healing," the male doctor agreed happily. "The kid needs it." The main doctor came in so they handed over the notes they had made. "We took a court worthy memory copy from him just now, Dr. Grants. It's...fantastic but sad and I really want to have a talk with a headmaster."

"If you want to take time off to fly to Scotland," the doctor said dryly. He looked at all the notes and nodded. He examined the scar and winced. "How on earth?"

"Mr...James," the female said. "Said that he was about eighteen-months-old and his mother's sacrifice created it."

"Oh, that's that scar." He looked at the auror, who nodded. "It's a horcrux, the kid was right."

"Figures," the auror said. "A cursebreaker checked and thought it was too, sir."

"We can remove the soul part but not destroy it."

"We can put it somewhere safe he'll never get to it."

"Please." He checked the boy's general health then looked at the notes again. "I thought you were being over-eager, John. I was wrong, sorry about that."

"Yes, sir, and he agreed to IV's. Wondered about it versus potions."

"England needs to update to the modern age," Dr. Grants said dryly. "And I've noted that a few times." He checked the kid over. "Okay, let's admit him, do the surgery tomorrow night, keep him sedated so all the treatments work. He should be out in a week." He looked at the auror.

"The hospital would want me to ask about insurance coverage." He got handed the court paperwork. "That'll work instead. They can argue about that." He nodded once. "Let's get him admitted." A house elf popped in with a note for the auror then stared at him. "You're not the usual house elf we see from over there."

"Dobby is Free Elf," he said. "But Great Harry Potter sir freed Dobby and Dobby respects the Great Harry Potter sir." He looked at the auror. "Dobby will take care of Missy Hedwig?"

"Please, Dobby. And while you're in the US please wear real clothes. House elves over here must be treated like humans," the auror said. The house elf nodded and went to redress himself then take care of Harry's owl friend at his cousin's house. The auror looked at them. Then shrugged. "It's good someone loves the boy."

"It is," Dr. Grants agreed with a nod, still making notes. "Mary," he called. A nurse knocked then walked in with the door open. "Get Mr. James on the bed admitted for treatment of his truly horrific curse scar." He handed over the file. "It is eyes only and no one is to know of him."

"That's fine, Dr. Grants. Not the first time we've seen an heir." She looked at him and realized who it was. She knew why they were staying quiet about him. She got his admittance papers and ID bracelet to put on the kid.
They got him to a bed before he woke up, got the IV's started, and some for fluid too. Harry woke up groggy and hungry. Very hungry. The nurse on the floor smiled as she gave him soup. "Your chart says you go in for surgery tomorrow night, Mr. James, after all the IV's have started to work so it won't drain you too much.

"The auror guarding you will be back in about an hour, he went to report." Harry nodded, staring at her while sipping his soup. "While here in Boston, we'll make sure no one bothers you," she said quietly, making him grin at that. "But do eat."

"Can I have seconds?" he asked quietly.

"Of course." She got him more sent up. "Drink all you want, young man. Those IV solutions will make you thirsty and hungry." She winked and left him to figure out the tv and rest and drink. He really did need a lot of fluids. Another doctor came up with Dr. John and she let them in but made note about who it was. That one was from the ward that usually did post-abuse orthopedics work. The boy probably needed his expertise too.

***

Harry woke up after the surgery with a huge headache. He rubbed over the bandage with a wince, making himself sit up. The auror moved the head of the bed up for him. "Thank you," he said quietly, taking the glass of ice water. "Am I okay?"

"The spirit fought and tried to break the containment on the scar. He lost. We had to call in a cursebreaker to help, and it took a team, but you're safe and they didn't know it was you. They just thought it was a possession." Harry grinned slightly and nodded, sipping his water. "But the scar's been closed. It'll be a tiny thing when it's healed."

Harry relaxed at that and nodded. "The link is broken." He sighed in relief. The auror smiled, leaning forward. "Dr. Grants said he has never seen anything that nasty before and your mother should've gotten an award for how she contained it so it didn't hurt you," he said quietly.

"It was them who fought him and defeated him. Not me."

"I know, kid." He patted him on the wrist. "You've got another three days in here on IV's. Then your cousin said you can come back for a bit. Your friend Dobby has your owl well fed. She's safe in the house there."

"Thank you. You've done more for me than anyone in about three weeks." He sighed.

"You can switch schools."

"They're all counting on me." He looked at the auror. "The prophecy...."

"Was self fulfilling. And remember, you can win."

"If I learn a lot more than I have. I do a lot of personal study but is that going to be enough?"

"Yup, it will be. See, full grown and trained adults don't expect childish things. They expect you to be on their level and if you're not they'll sneer but underestimate you." He patted him on the wrist. "We're trying to find any others since you've mentioned at least two."

"Ask the headmaster? He seems to know more than he lets on."

"If we had a way of doing it quietly we would." The nurse came in to check him over, clean his injury, and then left again. "They're really nice."

"They have been, yeah. Does this mean I have to go back to the Dursley's?"

"I doubt that would be possible. Someone got word over there. They burned your whole room."

"My uncle hated magic, called it freakish behavior."

"We've seen that from some mun-born over here too," the auror admitted with a slight nod. "There's foster families in the wizarding world for people that need them." Harry looked confused. "We'll figure it out before you go back."

"Thanks. I seem to be saying that a lot."

"That's part of my job, Harry. It's what they pay me for." He grinned at the shocked look. "It's what they pay your aurors over there for too but apparently they're all corrupt. My boss had a huge fit about how they're not doing their jobs." He shrugged but smiled. "He's pushed that matter up the field to see if anyone over here can talk to them about the job description of being an auror."

"They're going to hate me again."

"Yeah, you can change schools."

"They're counting on me."

"True. Doesn't mean you have to go to school there. And it'd make everyone safer if you didn't." Harry flinched at that, staring at him. "Really. That thing won't attack the school to get you if you're not at that school. He may attack the school for other reasons," he admitted, shifting in his seat. "But not for that reason. So the yearly attacks would happen somewhere perhaps more geared to handling it without having to make a kid do it for the teachers."

"Remus handled stuff for me," he said, plucking at the blankets and looking down. "He's my godfather too."

"We heard. They have some stupidly prejudice laws over there that we don't here, Harry. We don't have werewolf laws over here." Harry stared at him. "Really." He grinned a smug little smirk. "At all."

"Can he come over? Would that cause problems?"

"He wouldn't be the first. We even have forms for that. Started after they passed those stupid laws."

"I'll have to let him know." The nurse came back. "More soup?" he asked happily. "You guys make great soup, better than I do."

She patted him on the cheek. "It's canned, Harry. They do a great job though." She smiled. "The right proportions of vegetables and herbage makes it taste the best." She left them to talk.

"Would I be able to transfer schools? Hogwarts is supposedly the best school in the world."

"Bullshit," the auror laughed. "It's not even the best in England." Harry gaped at that, nearly spilling his soup. "Drink." Harry slurped his soup, he was starving again. The auror got the nurse back. "Can he have extras? He gulped that."

"Of course he can. Those medicines make one thirsty," she said happily, going to get him more soup. The boy clearly needed it. So young and having to see a specialist. They didn't usually get nine-year-olds on this ward.

***

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