Bag of Depravity
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Professor Potter: Chapter 14
🕑 Added 2025-02-13 22:12:14 +0000 UTCA/N: I'm home again, and back to writing! Thanks for your patience the last few days. I don't usually update the same story pretty much back-to-back, but Professor Potter absolutely decimated in the last Story Update Poll. Nothing has ever hit 17 votes before, that's a new record, so I wanted to keep it rolling.
Chapter 14
A New Mission
“It’s you. Again.”
Harry scratched the back of his head. “Hey there Amelia.”
The Head of the DMLE stared at him. She was dressed for the occasion, wearing a special version of Auror robes that featured a stripe to show her position. The dark wizards from Knockturn had already been dragged away by her men, leaving only Harry’s statement to be taken.
“That’s Madame Bones to you,” Amelia rebuked. “Is there a particular reason you get into more trouble than any of my veteran Aurors?”
“Not that I know of, Madame.”
“It wouldn’t have to do with the fact that you don’t exist?”
Harry frowned, patting himself down, proving that he did, in fact, have a body. This action earned an eye-roll from the usually stoic Amelia Bones.
“Not in that way. You never attended Hogwarts, Mr. Potter.”
“I was homeschooled.”
“You’ve never held a job or earned money.”
“I’m employed now! I worked in the Muggle world before.”
“Yet you’re capable of manhandling groups of dark wizards all by yourself.” Amelia hadn’t even pulled out a notebook for his statement this time. She just glared at him, awaiting his answer. “What are you?”
“I’m Harry Potter,” said Harry. “Just because you haven’t heard of me doesn’t mean I don’t exist. And really, those guys were amateurs. I don’t think they had even been out of school for long.”
The entire interview was being performed out of the way of pedestrians against one of Gringotts’ side walls. At this answer, Amelia Bones stepped forward, leaving very little space between their faces.
“I’ll get to the bottom of you,” she said.
“I wouldn’t want to add anything to your already busy schedule,” Harry said. “It can’t be easy, now that Voldemort is back.”
“I could take you in for saying that. Lying with the intent to cause a public disruption.”
“But you won’t,” Harry said.
“And why is that?”
“Because you know it’s true.” Instead of leaning back, Harry leaned forward too, until there was a single millimeter between their noses. “Did you take my advice from last time?”
“My manor is very well protected.”
“But it could be better protected, no?”
“That is none of your business.”
“I’ve been attacked in Diagon Alley twice in the last month. I think that makes the health and safety of the DMLE Head pretty relevant to me.”
Amelia snorted, and Harry could feel the warm exhalation on his face. “Like you needed help.”
“I was in grave danger!”
“That’s why you dismantled them before a single Auror arrived on the scene. There is something about you, ‘Harry,’ that doesn’t add up, and I am this close to dragging you back to the Ministry until you give me an answer that makes sense.”
“That would be excessive,” said a voice from the street.
Harry and Amelia looked over to find a man staring at them. Harry’s back was against a brick wall, while Amelia Bones was close enough to him that her sizable bust was just brushing Harry’s chest, something neither of them noticed in the heat of the moment. She stepped back, a bit of pink entering her cheeks, while Harry slouched slightly now that he wasn’t being pinned back.
“James?” Amelia asked. “What are you here for?”
“My cousin,” said James Potter, his voice thick with distaste.
Harry blinked, pointing at his chest.
“Yes, you,” James said. “What are you doing, getting into so much trouble? This isn’t what you promised when you came back from Australia! I thought you would be on your best behavior when you got that Hogwarts job. But you just can’t keep quiet, can you?”
“This time wasn’t my fault!” Harry protested.
“Sure it wasn’t.” James sighed. “Just get over here. You are done with him, aren’t you Amelia?”
Amelia Bones looked between the two nearly identical men. Finally, she stepped back, allowing Harry to move past her.
“I’ll get to the bottom of you yet,” she told Harry, before giving James a nod. “It’s good to see you well, Representative.”
Harry eased past her, rubbing his head as he walked to James. The other man walked briskly away without waiting, forcing Harry to catch up.
“Representative?” Harry asked. “What’s that about?”
“Wizengamot,” James grunted.
“You’re a member?”
Instead of answering verbally, James gave him a single nod.
That was certainly different, but it only made sense. In Harry’s timeline, James died tragically young. He’d been an Auror at the time… But this James was decades older. A competent, magically powerful wizard from a good family would not stay a simple Auror for long if he had the will to move up in the world.
“Thanks for that, by the way,” Harry told him. “Amelia had it out for me there.”
“She has good senses,” James said.
“How’d you know what was going on, anyway?”
“Dumbledore sent me. It’s him you should be thanking,” James said. “If it was up to me, I would’ve left you to get dragged into the Ministry.”
Harry laughed, which seemed to annoy James.
He couldn't get a read on his father. The man was clearly no fan of him, for understandable reasons. Harry wanted to turn it around, really he did, he just wasn’t sure how. Just because Dumbledore believed his story didn’t mean that most would be as willing. Especially not a man who spent the last decade-and-a-half mourning Harry’s counterpart. Even bringing up the topic was liable to get Harry cursed before he could try to explain.
“You give me the creeps,” James said as they approached one of the designated Apparition points scattered throughout Diagon.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything to you…” Harry said.
“You haven’t. But it’s this feeling. There is something off about you.”
Harry shifted under James’s heavy gaze. They reached the Apparition point, but James stopped in the way of it, blocking his path.
“Next time, hit them harder,” James said suddenly.
“Er, what?”
“The dark wizards,” James said. “When they come after you, put them down hard. So hard that they’ll be frightened to try anything ever again. Justice has to be as scary as evil. Otherwise, they’ll keep coming.”
“They weren’t after me this time,” Harry said. “I was just in the way. It was the kids they wanted. But the thing is, this trip was a secret. The only people who knew were the Hogwarts staff.”
They stared at each other, and Harry could tell James was thinking the same thing he was.
“Be careful,” James grunted.
He stepped back into the nook built into the alley and disappeared with a great crack. Harry was left staring after him, feeling his gut churn.
Which was it? Was he an untrustworthy creep, or a fellow Order member in need of advice? If he had to guess, he’d place his Galleons on James not knowing either.
“Well, it’s better than just having him hate my guts,” Harry muttered.
He Apparated right after, heading back to Hogwarts.
O-O-O
“Keep Snape out of my way for the next week or I won’t be responsible for what happens,” Harry said as he entered Dumbledore’s office.
“Ah, Harry,” Dumbledore greeted. “May I inquire what our dear potions professor has done now?”
Harry stopped briefly, noticing that he wasn’t the only person in the room. It was almost time for one of their weekly delves into Harry’s memories, so he assumed the Headmaster wouldn’t mind him showing up a bit early, but he hadn’t counted on company being over.
The woman sitting in front of his desk wasn’t from the Hogwarts staff. She had black hair that was kept short in a pixie cut. She was probably thirty, but with a youthful face that kept a bit of fat on her cheeks despite her slim build. She possessed a natural blush, and warm hazel eyes. From the shade of her skin, Harry thought she might be mixed-race, but she was light-skinned enough for it to be difficult to tell. Her name was Hestia Jones— she was one of the Order members who escorted Harry from the Dursleys’ home to the Burrow after the return of Lord Voldemort.
“The first years were attacked,” Harry said as soon as he dropped into the seat next to Hestia.
Hestia gasped, while Dumbledore just tilted his head.
“But none were hurt,” Dumbledore said. “This is why we decided to have them escorted, is it not?”
“We also decided to keep it a secret,” Harry said. “Yet they knew.”
What went unsaid was that for them to know, the Death Eaters would have to have been told. Only the staff knew the dates when the Muggleborns would be in Diagon. There was exactly one person who would have been privy to the dates and be in a position to supply them to the enemy.
“Can you say for certain?” Dumbledore asked.
“We argued in the hall the other day. He knew I would be with them, out of the whole staff.”
“Can you say for certain?” Dumbledore repeated. “This is a matter of life and death.”
Harry opened his mouth. He hesitated, finally grunting.
“No, I can’t,” he said. “They were staking out the bar. They could’ve gotten lucky. Could have!” he stressed, staring at Dumbledore. “It’s not likely, mind. He probably sold me out, and both of us know it.”
Dumbledore nodded, but did not seem keen to act on a suspicion. Harry allowed the conversation to drop. For now.
He couldn’t help but wonder. Snape had been loyal to the Order in his timeline because of Lily’s death, and in a roundabout way, because of the Life Debt he owed Harry. But in this world, Harry was dead, and James was alive. That would mean the Life Debt was stronger than ever. But it would also mean that Snape had spent the last fifteen years interacting with the man he hated most, something sure to leave him even more bitter than ever.
Harry couldn’t say where Snape’s loyalties lay at this point. And even if he was working for the Order, that didn’t mean he was above selling out members he disliked to score points with Voldemort. Perhaps Umbridge wasn’t the only staff member Harry would have to prepare plans for this year.
“Excuse me… Are the first years alright?”
Harry found Hestia looking at him with wide, hazel eyes.
“They’re fine,” Harry assured her. “They don’t even know anything happened.”
“How?” Hestia exclaimed.
“I believe that Harry showed a lovely bit of initiative in that regard,” said Dumbledore. “And while on the topic of initiative, I’m glad you chose to come a bit early today, Harry. I called Hestia here today to give her a mission. One that you’ll be her partner for.”
Hestia gasped. Harry couldn’t tell if she was nervous, or excited. Likely both, judging by the way she sat up in her seat. Honestly, Harry was a little bit surprised.
Both of them were new members by Order standards. Harry’s case might have been a special one, but Hestia was another that hadn’t been in the Order during the first war. Although, if she had been trusted to guard Harry himself around this time, she must have done something to build up a good amount of faith.
“What will we be doing?” Harry asked.
“It should be a simple thing.” Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, resting his wrinkled hands on the desk. “In fact, there is a good chance that this is a false alarm, and that you will be wasting your time. Nothing would make me happier. However, given there is some cause for doubt…”
“Sure,” Harry said, urging him on.
“There exists, within the ministry, certain aides,” said Dumbledore. “These are, in general, not very glamorous jobs. They are a lot of work, often without much chance to move up in the world. They spend their time doing errands for high-ranking officials. It’s a strange position, to tell the truth, for it is one near the bottom of the hierarchy, yet one that comes into direct contact with Department Heads and others near the top.”
“That’s sad!” Hestia said.
“Possibly. But they earn a living. The job often falls to those born to non-magical parents, either because they do not know better, or because it is the only position that will hire them. In truth, it is not so awful as I have made it sound, but neither is it a life of luxury.”
Harry’s mind raced. He was pretty sure he could see what the issue was here, he just wasn’t sure what Dumbledore wanted him and Hestia to do about it.
“An Order Member in the Ministry recently gave me a worrying message,” Dumbledore said. “One of these aides, a young man named Oscar Smith, seemed quite dazed when they came into contact with him. He was not as alert as they knew him to be under usual circumstances, and seemed to have difficulty recalling things he should have known. Mr. Smith is the aide to Pius Thicknesse, a rising official within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”
“You don’t think he could have been Imperiused, do you?” Hestia asked.
“That is the concern,” Dumbledore said gravely. “Who would make a better target than an ordinary Muggleborn capable of getting close to so many different officials?”
“The report isn’t much to go off of,” Harry pointed out. “He could’ve had a bad night's sleep. There are other explanations.”
“Which is why the two of you will be investigating this issue,” Dumbledore said. “It’s entirely possible nothing is wrong. But we must know for certain.”
“What do you want us to do?” Hestia asked.
Dumbledore smiled. “Mr. Smith will be getting a few new neighbors. Your job, Hestia, will be to investigate for any signs of dark magic, and to protect Mr. Smith in the event of an attack.”
“You want me to go undercover in the Muggle world?” Hestia asked. “I don’t know… I mean, I’ll try! But I’ve never done something like this before…”
“That’s where Harry here comes in,” said Dumbledore. “As our new Muggle Studies Professor, no one is better equipped to teach you how to handle this. He’ll handle the details, allowing you to investigate freely. Leave matters of fitting in up to him.”
“How long will we be doing this?” Harry asked.
“You’ll stay with Hestia for the next week, showing her the ropes. After that, she will be staying on, while you’ll be returning to Hogwarts for the start of the year.”
“A week…” Harry thought about it. “I can do that.”
Some wizards would need a lifetime to understand Muggle customs, but Hestia seemed open-minded enough, so he doubted it would be too difficult a task. She even looked a tad excited to be trying something new. Harry wondered what her background was, that she would be trusted with a task like this one.
“If you have any further questions, I’ve taken the liberty of coming up with a background for the two of you, with some help from the Aurors in the Order who are used to this kind of work. Here, let me see…”
Dumbledore pulled open a drawer on his desk, rooting through it quickly. He pulled out two packets of parchment, set them on the desk, and pushed them across to Harry and Hestia. They picked up what they were given, scanning the contents.
They were to pose as Muggles… An apartment in London… New in the area… No pets… Harry was a teacher, while Hestia was unemployed…
Oh, well that was interesting. Harry blinked, reading it over again.
“Are you sure it’s necessary to—” he started to ask.
Hestia cut him off. She was a slower reader, apparently, because she had only just reached what Harry read, written at the bottom. The packet slipped from her fingers, while her slight blush spread rapidly.
“What do you mean, we’re married!” she exclaimed.
Comments
Bag of Depravity
I don't agree about his character. I think he's a Death Eater that only switched sides over a personal grudge, and that while he shows loyalty and even care toward Slytherins, he couldn't care less about any other students. But with Harry, it's not quite that he just finds him annoying. He sees someone that looks exactly like James Potter, the man he hates more than anything, and this lookalike showed him a VERY convincing image of his own demise. To him, Harry's more than unlikeable, he's a possible threat.
LT Butterfly287
I honestly wish writers would tone down on Snape a bit; he wasn't a nice or even likable man, but I honestly can't see him actively putting students in danger like that because he finds Harry annoying.
jp9901
Awww Hestia and Harry will be playing house
