The Protagonist System

63 Slightly Changing The Future

I begged to go play in my room after that, because Dudley was awake now and Petunia needed to concentrate on her son. The nanny elf brought me to my room and it was huge. There were various baby toys scattered all over and she put me on the floor.

“Tunie needs help.” I said and the elf gave me a raised eyebrow. “You know I'm faking the baby talk, don't you?”

Nanny nodded. “We bees keeping youse secrets, Master Harry.”

I stood up and nodded. “I'm glad. Pretending is hard enough with Petunia and Vernon.” I walked over to the closet and opened it to look at the clothes. None of them were as nice as my noble clothes, so I took out my noble outfit and the nanny elf made an odd sound.

“Youse going to do something?” Nanny asked me and her little hand caressed the expensive cloth.

I nodded and shrunk the outfit to my size and took out the expensive cloak. The elf made another odd sound and cuddled the cloth to rub her face on it. I chuckled at her reaction to it and took out my mythril sword. She was too distracted to notice it, thankfully. I shrunk it as well and quickly dressed in the expensive clothes and put the sword on my hip.

The elf picked up the cloak for me and I shrunk it to fit. She hooked it around my neck for me and nodded in approval. “I bees letting the others know youse have such nice things.”

“I'll make you all reams of cloth when I can.” I promised and she looked really happy. “Can you ask Moppy if she can find Sirius Black for me?”

Moppy popped in and gave me a very piercing look and then she nodded and smiled. “Youse looking like a proper master now.”

“Thanks, Moppy.” I said and took a dramatic pose, which still looked ridiculous because I was a baby.

Both elves giggled at my antics.

“About Sirius...”

“He bees in London near the bridge following the rat.” Moppy said.

“Wonderful! I need a spare room for a teleportation circle.” I said and Moppy took my hand and led me out of my bedroom and down the hallway to enter what I thought was a supplies closet. It was a huge empty room with nothing in it. “This is perfect. Thank you.”

Moppy stood there and watched me create the squares of stone and I assembled them in the right order. I changed the coordinates back to normal ones to set per place and not numerically. I brought the London Bridge image into my head and stepped into the circle. I put a bit of magic into it and i disappeared in a flash of light.

I appeared on top of the London Bridge and looked down at the busy street below. I cast magic detection and added more power to it to look for magical signatures. I found one a quarter of a mile away and concentrated on it as I made myself invisible. I teleported from there to reappear twenty feet away from my target.

There he was, Sirius Black, and he was running like a madman through the streets of London. It was no wonder there were so many witnesses to his crimes, because he wasn't trying to be discreet at all. I quickly followed him and it didn't take long for him to find Peter and they started their confrontation in the middle of a very busy muggle street.

Now I had a huge problem. I couldn't allow Peter to get away and cause a bunch of problems in the future, and I couldn't allow Sirius Black to be free, because he would demand custody of me and I would be plucked away from my castle home and stopped from participating in my documented adventures.

With that in mind, only one thing could be done. I cast several shield spells around the muggles watching and waited for Peter to yell about Sirius betraying James and Lily, then he cut off his finger and pulled a wand out of his sleeve and aimed down at the pavement.

“Bombarda!” Peter said.

“Bombarda!” I said with Sirius' voice at the same time, shocking Sirius and Peter.

The entire street exploded around the pair of wizards when the gas main was hit and Peter Pettigrew blew apart from my Bombarda spell. Sirius dropped to his knees because his revenge was completed, quite gruesomely. He started to laugh hysterically, because of all the damage Peter had caused, and all that was left of him was the finger he had cut off.

A group of red-robed Aurors popped in around the area and started to look after the muggles crying out in pain. Thanks to my shields, none of them had been killed and only hurt by the flying debris from Peter's spell and the gas main exploding underneath them.

I left when the Aurors arrested Sirius and he kept muttering that he had killed James and Lily. With that small intervention on my part, I ensured I could stay with Petunia and also ensured that Peter couldn't cause harm to anyone else, especially the Weasleys. Heaven only knows what that death eater did to that family over the years and obliviated them afterwards.

I teleported back home and appeared in the teleportation circle and Nanny was there. I dropped my invisibility. “I made it.” I said and felt a wave of exhaustion flow over me. Nanny scooped me up in her little arms before I collapsed and carried me back to my room. She stripped me off and put my baby clothes back on me, then popped us down to the nursery.

I was swaddled up and put in one of the cribs, told to not push myself so much, and given a light kiss on the forehead. I barely managed to whisper a thank you and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

*

Petunia had a wonderful day. She and the two house elves chose appropriate rooms to recreate the illusion house and made it look like it belonged in a high-class neighborhood. She spent a bit of time with her son, had a light lunch, and then spent the afternoon relaxing in the illusion living room and watching television.

She didn't have to cook, clean, or do any chores. She could do whatever she wanted and she didn't have to feel guilty about it. It was the first day she had off in years and it was all thanks to Harry.

Vernon came home after work and he wore a huge smile. He was barely in the door before he started to spout about finding a great jewellery store and them appraising the things he brought for top dollar, showed him the rates of how they qualify items, and then tentatively agreeing that they would sponsor them for an auction next week to sell their family heirlooms. For a small percentage of the profits, of course.

They were going to be millionaires!

*

I woke up and was changed, fed more mulched food that tasted like steak and potatoes for supper, and had another breastfeeding session with Petunia. She blushed when she presented me with the slightly damaged left nipple that Dudley had wrecked earlier and she whispered about spreading the damage around.

“Tunie no hurt.” I said and healed her, then did my duty to drink what I could, and took another forced nap when the nanny elf put us to sleep.

When I woke up later, I was cleaned and changed again. I was brought to the living room and put into a playpen next to the one Dudley was in. It was a relief, because Petunia and Vernon were watching television and I could pretend to be a baby easier when I wasn't under constant and direct supervision.

It also gave me time to think about what I had to do next. Since Dumbledore already brought me to Petunia's, that meant he had full access to the cottage and everything the Potters had there. He would have already taken the cloak, the vault key, and probably any magic books and items. I would need to get them back.

I also knew Neville's family was going to be attacked within the next few days as the death eaters looked for their missing master. I would have to wait until I was alone before I asked one of the elves, probably Floppy, to check on the Longbottoms and to let me know when someone shows up to attack them.

I chuckled at realizing I didn't have to get the items myself and could ask an elf to do it. When I was eventually released from my play prison and allowed to roam a bit, I cast a subtle notice-me-not on myself and crawled out of the room at a good speed.

“Butter.” I said and stood as the elf popped in front of me. “I need the Potter vault key, my father's invisibility cloak, and any other family items Dumbledore stole.” I said and he nodded. “You might as well include anyone else that has our family's things and get those back, too.”

“I bees putting things into closet beside youse room.” Butter said and popped away.

“Floppy.” I said and the gardener popped in. “How are the grounds?”

“Grounds bees perfect, Master Harry. No work for mes yet.” Floppy said.

“Why don't you pop over to the Longbottoms and talk to their elves? They have some great greenhouses for different things and I'm sure you can get some ideas to start your own.”

Floppy vibrated at the great idea. “Youse bees a genius, Master Harry! That bees years and years of work!”

I chuckled at his enthusiasm and patted his shoulder. “As payment for their help, tell them you'll monitor the Longbottom property and will bring me over to help them if anyone bad goes there to harm their family.”

“I bees telling them the Great Harry Potter Sirs be watching out for thems!” Floppy said and popped away with a soft crack.

I chuckled at hearing that years before Dobby would ever say it. I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled back into the room as I dropped the notice-me-not spell. I had an evening to spend with my family and I was sure that they were going to enjoy it.

When I overheard Vernon saying there was an auction for jewellery next week, I held in my laugh and cast a notice-me-not charm on myself again and left to go to the kitchen. I added a few more things inside the cardboard box and finally let my laugh out. I had added another handful of different gold items, gems, and an ornate crown to go with the sceptre. The matched set should double their worth at auction.

*

Alice and Frank Longbottom had noticed the strange house elf dressed as a gardener that had been visiting their house elves for the last two days. He was going through their greenhouses, almost like he was taking a tour, and their house elves shared some clippings and seeds with him. They didn't mention it to Frank's mother, Augusta, because she would have put a stop to it.

They were really glad they hadn't said anything, because as soon as the house wards alarm went off that said they were under attack, the elf shouted that he would be right back with help. Then he somehow teleported out, even with the wards locked down.

Frank wasn't idle, though. He had made sure his mother and son were safely ensconced in their bolthole to protect them and Alice was already casting shield spells on the windows and doors, as were the house elves.

Ten minutes of tense quiet later, there was no assault. The door hadn't been blasted off, there were no dark wizards and witches after them, and they didn't suffer from a debilitating attack that would ruin their minds and make them blubbering messes for decades.

Frank reluctantly dropped the spells he had cast on the large front doors of the house and Alice sidled up to him with her wand at the ready. He nodded to her and she nodded back. She opened the doors and Frank took aim... at nothing. The pair slowly walked out, tense and alert, and made their way to the front gate.

To their shock, four bodies were arrayed in front of the gate. A quick inspection showed that their wand arms had dissolved away, as did their hearts from the roundish hole in their chests, and their sleeves on their left arms were torn off to reveal the faded dark mark.

“I'll call this in to the DMLE.” Alice said and ran back into the house. She was back a few minutes later. “The floo isn't working.”

“Of course it isn't. That's how they work.” Frank said and stood. “Stay here and lock the door. Don't open it until I come back. I'll apparate to the ministry and tell Amelia about this myself.”

Alice stepped back and watched as Frank spun on the spot and nothing happened. “Anti-apparition wards?”

Frank nodded and cast a detection spell. He walked over to one of the bodies, a muscular fellow, and summoned the small wardstone out of his pocket. A finite cast on the thing ended the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards.

“Leave it as evidence.” Alice said and Frank levitated it back into the pocket.

“I'll be quick.” Frank said and spun on the spot as he apparated away.

Alice walked back to the gates and stopped when she saw a familiarly dressed little gardener sharing a high five with the other house elves. She smiled at him and nodded, making the elf blush and pop away. She softly laughed and went inside the house to let Augusta know that everything was okay now.

They would never know that their son Neville had sneaked away from Augusta and had seen the whole thing from the upstairs window. Unlike them, he knew the truth. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, had saved them. Neville would remember that night for years, because Harry had happily waved to him with his glowing magical sword before he disappeared.

*

The jewellery auction went by swimmingly and Vernon unloaded the box of treasure for millions. It set him and his family up for several lifetimes and he would never have to worry about money ever again. He stayed at his job for two reasons. One, he was good at it and enjoyed the work. Two, it kept him busy and he wasn't sitting at home doing nothing all day.

Petunia quickly discovered that she was about to have the same problem. As soon as she had her babies weaned off of regular feedings and only had to contribute some occasional donations to the bottles of milk the nanny elf prepared for the babies, she started looking at what she wanted to do with her life. Her family was rich and she didn't want to waste the opportunity.

Would she become a debutante? A socialite? A self-important snob? Those questions made her giggle to herself and she imagined doing all of that. She knew she didn't want to become the last one, mostly because she knew she would lose any friends she already had.

With that in mind, she chose the best one for her mindset. Socialite. She would host parties, lavish her friends with gifts, and she would become the best mother, wife, and neighbor in the world... and learn magic. Somehow.

*

Over the next few weeks, several death eaters that were going on trial for their crimes of supporting You-Know-Who, ended up without their magic and confessed all of their crimes. It was a mystery about what was going on until one of them, Lucius Malfoy himself, claimed his dark mark must have burned the magic out of him.

He was found guilty, as were the others, and they were sent to Azkaban prison for five years. No one expected any of them to last a single year without magic to protect them, and they wouldn't. It would never be discovered that someone had eventually visited the prison and quietly put them out of their misery.