Harry Potter And The Betrayal

On July 31st, a large portion of wizarding Britain received a shock when they opened their morning paper. In big bold type the headline read: Hogwarts Closed! and then underneath it in slightly smaller print Founder Rowena Ravenclaw's Heir Lord Liam Dantes states that Hogwarts will be closed for the foreseeable future.

The article took up the whole front page. It outlined Dantes reason's for closing the school at least for now and how he was able to take control of the school back, given Fudge had violated the terms of the charter ceding control of the school to the people of magical Britain by placing Delores Umbridge into Hogwarts as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher while she also remained an active Ministry employee. A Ministry legal expert had confirmed that Lord Dantes did indeed have the right to do so because of Fudge's actions, though he lamented the fact that Dantes had chosen to do so. The parents who had children who would've been first years at Hogwarts this year and former students who had no students currently attending were furious at both the Ministry for creating the situation that allowed him to take control of the school back and Dantes for doing it.

At the Ministry, it was discovered that Fudge had not shown up for work that morning, but a quick check of his home showed he was still alive. He was apparently unwilling to step beyond the wards of his house, until the furore died down. The aurors were just glad he had chosen to do so. That meant they weren't wasting manpower trying to protect the idiot.

What passed almost unnoticed that day in the Daily Prophet because of the chaos caused by the news of Hogwarts closing was a small article listing the death of Albus Dumbledore, the former Headmaster of Hogwarts and defeater of Grindelwald. The article had listed his accomplishments and also it listed the fact that the previous month he had been reduced to little better than a Squib for violating the terms of the Potter's wills by placing their son with Lily Potter's sister. The article also claimed that the reason for Dumbledore's rapid decline was he had lost the will to live after all the losses he had suffered through the previous year from the loss of his seat on the Wizengamot to losing his position as Headmaster as well as his spectacular failure at trying to keep Lord Harry Potter in magical Britain.

...

On that same July 31st morning, Ginny Weasley suddenly went into labour and at one minute after midnight on August 1st, she gave birth to a son at the Burrow.

When he saw his first grandchild, Arthur Weasley was glad he had gotten a magical oath out of his medi-wizard friend to not discuss this matter with anyone else and had arranged for him to deliver the baby at the Burrow. While the cap of downy brown hair covering the newborn's head wouldn't indicate who the father was, the emerald green eyes that looked up at Arthur for the first time, could only have one source: Harry Potter. Green eyes were a rarity in the wizarding world and currently the only wizard in magical Britain with them was Harry, even though no one had seen him since his departure from the Great Hall.

Arthur felt a great deal of regret over the fact that he would never ever see this grandchild again. That there would be no pictures of him growing up, or even glimpses of him at a distance. Arthur still remembered how angry Molly had been over the terms of the Life Debt and the fact that the child would have no place in their lives. Arthur had had to invoke a rarely used power of the Head of House to force Molly to accept that this child was lost to them before it had even been born because Ginny had stolen the means to create it.

After confirming with his friend that the child was healthy enough to travel by portkey even though it had been born a bit early and before Ginny or Molly had a chance to see the baby, Arthur Weasley took his grandchild downstairs and went into his office to get the portkey that he had been given to take him and the baby to Harry's location after it was born. He was not going to take any chances that the payment of the Life Debts owed by he and Ginny would be violated by anyone in his family.

Holding the baby carefully but securely in his arms, Arthur made sure they both were in contact with the portkey as he said the activation phrase. "Payment has come due."

He appeared in a darkened room. The fire in the fireplace was providing the only illumination in the room. As he was looking around, the door on the far side of the room opened and with the light behind him Arthur couldn't make out who it was, but assumed it was Harry. A moment later his guess was confirmed when Harry appeared in the firelight.

"Hello Arthur, I take it Ginny has given birth?" Harry stated the obvious.

"A few hours ago," Arthur confirmed. "I just wish this could have been a happier occasion, for both of us."

"So do I, sir, but I never would have been your son-in-law, no matter how much Ginny wanted it." The contempt was not evident in Harry's voice now. "At one time, I would have welcomed your family's presence at the birth of any child I did have, since you were the closest thing to a family I had ever had. I'm just sorry that is no longer true."

"So am I, Harry. I want you to know that I will always think of you as a son, in spite of what happened." Placing a kiss on the downy brown head of his blanket wrapped barely a few hours old grandson, Arthur handed the newborn baby over to his father. "Here is your son, Harry."

"Thank you Arthur." Taking his son in his arms, Harry turned and walked out of the room without another word.

Arthur took hold of the portkey once more and with tears running down his face, he said, "home."

Once he was back in his office, Arthur did as he had been instructed by Harry and threw the portkey in the fireplace. He watched it carefully to make sure it was completely destroyed so that no one could backtrack the location he had been transported to.

...

At midday on August 1st, Luna Lovegood walked into Longbottom manor a child in her arms only to be greeted by a house elf.

"How can Nippy help you?" the house elf asked.

"Would you please tell Lady Longbottom, I am here with her great-grandchild." Luna requested. For once she was acting in a practical, matter-of-fact manner.

The house elf nodded and vanished with a pop.

Lady Augusta Longbottom appeared a few minutes later and walked over to Luna a large smile on her face. "You have Neville's child."

"He has a fine son to carry on the Longbottom and Lovegood lines." Luna uncovered the sleeping child's face. The child's head was covered with a cap of fine silvery blond down and the child's eyes opened at the sound of the strange voice. Augusta Longbottom gasped at the beautiful aquamarine eyes her great-grandchild had. "Everything has been properly done to make sure he is legally recognised as my child and Neville's. Even an Inheritance ritual won't show any different."

"Welcome to the family, my dear." Augusta embraced Luna and the baby. "This day has been a long time coming."

The End