Reborn as Harry Potter with cheats (Tentative Title)

A few days have passed since the trial and the public has since gone into a bit of a chaos. After learning Black was innocent, the trust in the ministry has dropped.

Cornelius Fudge was feeling the pressure. He thought he was inheriting the position of minister of magic and breeze through the easy parts since he started his career as the war ended. But it turns out he was to clean up after the previous minister's mistakes. Though he was a part of those mistakes, that didn't come through his mind. He started his campaign with the arrest of Black so he was also implicated for the injustice. But as a very corrupt politician, he was able to divert attention and somewhat put all the blame on the previous minister. 

With the Black Trial, it practically put fire on his ass and opened a can of worms. Pettigrew was captured and the truth was revealed. The fact that they put an innocent man in prison for years, seriously put a dent in his image. At the time of Black's arrest, he was part of the people who could have uncovered the truth with a bit of investigation but he and several others slacked off and thought it was an easy conclusion due to Black's delirious mutterings of 'I killed them'. They did not follow proper procedure and simply chucked him off to Azkaban and prioritized looking good in front of the press for his campaign. 

This not only harmed the ministry's image and his competence but also made them look like a joke because of the Order of Merlin given to what is now known as a Death Eater and traitor. 

Now the ministry is forced to pay remunerations to Black for his years in Azkaban and would need to somehow rebuild trust with the public. 

Luckily for him, aside from Black's situation, there was another issue he could use as a redirect. Albus Dumbledore kidnapping case. He could put more focus on him so he could save his own image. Dolores Umbridge advised him to prioritize Dumbledore's case in the papers so he could remove some of the public's distrust from him.

And thus, the Daily Prophet came out with the details of the trial for Sirius Black saying he was innocent which caused him to lay low for a bit and try to appear very busy. But the next few days, he had his undersecretary Umbridge send directives to the Prophet to print about Dumbledore's trial. As Dumbledore was considered the leader of light, his case was more sensational and indeed redirected the public's ire.

Albus Dumbledore : Kidnapped Boy-who-lived

As the title read, the Daily Prophet then told of the details and the result of the trial. 

The public was quite surprised to say the least. Their leader of light had kidnapped their savior and threw him to muggles who, if the Prophet is to be believed, had harmed and abused the boy-who-lived. At this point, the public had celebrated the vanquishing of the Dark Lord and practically revered Harry Potter as a hero. It also didn't help that several publications produced books that rode the fame of the boy-who-lived and wrote of his so called adventures. Since this was a mere 5 years from Voldemort's defeat, Harry Potter's name was still in an all time high popularity. The books of his 'adventures' were in proper circulation and his fame was kept in the public's memory. 

Now that they heard of their savior's actual living conditions, this brought so much outrage.

Why was their savior being treated harshly and not living like a prince?

Why was he living with muggles?

The boy's fame alone would have thousands of families willing to take him in. Together with his inheritance as the last living Heir of an Ancient and Noble house, there is no shortage for people willing to raise him if need be. But learning he was sent to abusive muggles, would have caused thousands to march into the ministry to claim his guardianship if not for Sirius Black being declared innocent. Not to mention the dark families who want to obtain the boy for either revenge for their master or the greedy ones who would do anything to obtain his wealth.

For the light and neutral families, this whole situation brought doubt in the leader of light. It was unbelievable that Dumbledore was announced as a kidnapper and convicted of several crimes including his part in the Black incarceration. 

Because of this, Albus Dumbledore lost a lot of allies. Then he lost more to call on favors to reduce his sentence. Despite this though, there were still several families who still somewhat follow and believe in him like some members of the Order of the Phoenix.

For those mentioned in the Potter Will, the trust they had for said Leader of light was lost and broken. They would now keep an eye out for the old goat. 

But for the rest of the public, it certainly meant that Dumbledore was no longer the man they all looked up to and revered. His name no longer had so much weight. 

As for the Wizengamot members with the dark mark, they were all quietly tried and arrested. Their arrest did not make the papers since the minister tried to bury that fact so his name would not be implicated much due to his friendship with Malfoy. 

Even though it was not mentioned in the papers, it was still rather noticeable that several 'upstanding members' of their society were no longer seen in the public. Because of this, the families of those Death Eaters were now in full damage control. Some wives were trying to claim they had no part in their husbands actions so they would not be arrested and some even tried to divorce. 

Among those who claimed they had no part of their husbands actions were families of Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott. They kept their names in order to retain their vaults and wealth. Though there is no telling if they will forsake the Death Eater association or merely distance themselves to avoid prosecution. 

For Harry, this was a welcome change since this would mean that Death Eater children would be a little less aggressive by the time they come to Hogwarts. They would not be able to flaunt their names too much due to the incarceration of their fathers. 

Harry also thought this would make sure Draco would not be able to flaunt his usual line 'my father will hear about this'. This gave him a mild chuckle to wonder how he will justify his actions without dear old death eater dad.

As for the rest of Hogwarts staff, this came to a huge surprise and a bit of anger towards the headmaster. More so for Minerva Mcgonagall. She was after all present in the now dubbed 'kidnapping' of Harry Potter since she was there when Albus left him in the Dursley's doorstep. She was rather upset that their actions were in fact, illegal. She never thought to consider that Albus did not notify proper authorities and child protection and merely assumed because he was Albus Bloody Dumbledore. 

Now she realized she was blinded by his positions and titles. Little did anyone know, this realization would bring forth a huge change in her future actions. She would now start questioning everything the old goat tells her. 

For the time being, she was advised by the board of governors that she will be the temporary headmistress until Dumbledore returns. While it would be logical to fire him, it was still an undeniable fact that Albus was among the strongest wizards of their time. So it would be a waste to lose him as protection for the school. But Minerva was advised that he will be put on probation after his release in a few years time. She was also told of the restraining order filed by Mr Holland for Harry Potter. This meant she would have additional responsibility to be present if the old goat would need to talk to Potter.

For the next few years, she would be the headmistress and run the school though she realizes that she already does that. It was only now that she realized nothing changed. As it turns out, there was very little that Dumbledore actually did for the school. He had made her do all the work. 

Because of this, she decided that once the old goat returns, she would limit her own work to her actual responsibilities and make sure the old goat would do his own bloody work.

On a more personal note, the Will reading reminded her how close she was to the Potters and she realized how she failed her former students for neglecting their son. So she swore to herself that she would make sure that when the boy comes for his first year, she would make sure she would be there for the boy. 

The same was said for Flitwick as he also used to be close to the Potters. While he was less personal and more of a mentor type, he realized he could have at least checked in on his former students son to ensure his safety. 

For Hagrid who had heard of the situation through hearsay while he was in a pub, his loyalty was tested. He began having doubts. He was also asked by a few aurors but they did not arrest him as it was determined that he was merely following Dumbledore. But because of this whole situation, he started harboring doubts regarding Dumbledore.

He never considered that he was actually kidnapping Harry and merely thought he was rescuing him. But because he was given a job in Hogwarts despite his record, he thought Dumbledore should be given a chance so he remained on Dumbledore's side but he will need to apologize to Harry once he starts his schooling.

As for the Weasley's who had been one of his main supporters, it came as a shock that not only was their leader of light a kidnapper, it was even a bigger shock that their savior was treated so horribly. By then, they had been raising the youngest and only daughter with the Harry Potter books so reading about his real life had greatly affected them. 

They had not even considered how much fiction they had been reading about him. They merely thought that the books were just exaggerating a bit and not outright lying about his actual living conditions. 

This revelation brought a bit of an impact in how they raise Ginny. Now they would consider slowly expressing to their daughter that the books are fictional. Just like how muggles would slowly tell their children about fairy tales and similar books are fiction, they would now start to tell theirs that the Potter books are simply made up.

Little did anyone know, this would be the beginning of the huge drop in the sales of the Harry Potter books. Up until that point, everyone simply assumed they were exaggerated books but now everyone would realize they were complete fiction. This also started several waves of wizards and witches asking for refunds.

As for Harry Potter himself, he began instructing Andrew to start looking into suing the publishers and authors of the so called Harry Potter books. 

Sirius was told of the will, his guardianship of Harry, and was scheduled for a visit from the boy in the next few days. He was both happy to finally meet the boy but also dreading what to say since he still somewhat blamed himself of James and Lily's fate.

Remus quit his job and immediately visited Sirius. He was after all, given enough money to live even without work. James was rather generous with how much he left him. He always knew how much hardship his furry friend was going through as a werewolf. This was his way of improving his life. It wasn't as if it put a dent in the Potter wealth anyway.

"Padfoot!"

"Moony!"

Remus approached his friend as he was allowed in the room at St Mungo's. He hugged his friend as he shed tears for what he went through.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't believe in you! I should have known!" He said.

"Forget about it. It was a dark time for us. We all thought you were the spy. I'm also sorry for thinking it was you." Sirius told his friend. "To think we were all wrong and was that rat the whole time. I blamed myself you know. I kept telling myself, if I didn't ask James to switch the secret keeper to Wormtail, maybe they would still be alive.."

"Still, I should have been there, I would have noticed the lack of a trial. But it was too painful. I thought I lost all my friends. Dumbledore should have asked for a trial." Remus replied with tears.

"Bloody Dumbledore vouching for Snivelus and he gets off without so much as a fine and I get left in Azkaban without a trial for years! That was definitely intentional for him to be able to get control over Harry! And all this for a bloody prophecy!"

"I tried to meet him you know, and Dumbledore kept saying it wasn't safe. And I was too blind to a fault at my loyalty towards him. I should have pressed him more to meet Harry..To check up on him..." Remus blamed himself for not putting more effort into meeting young Harry.

"I still don't know what to say to him. After reading about how he was treated, it made me realize I should have stayed with him instead of going after the rat. I assumed Dumbledore would keep him safe!" Sirius was angry at not only for the switch of secret keeper but now also about his allowing Harry to be taken by Hagrid under Dumbledore's orders and reading about his horrible treatment. 

"Since you were given guardianship, we need to make it up to Prongslet. We already lost so much time and much of his childhood."

Both men talked about their plans to make it up to Harry. Sirius also expressed his desire to talk to the goblins about his properties as he didn't really know the state of House Black. But they both agreed to prioritize Harry since they would not be pressed for money anyway. 

---

A few days later, Sirius and Remus finally met young Harry. But they were both surprised to say the least. He didn't talk like a child. He seemed a lot more mature than he should be. 

This brought a bit of a misunderstanding. They thought this was due to his abuse that he had to grow up quickly, mentally speaking. 

For Harry, he completely forgot he was supposed to be a kid since he was busy planning for the future. He has so much on his mind that he completely ignored his own age. 

The marauders didn't talk about it and just went with it so Harry never noticed. 

Remus and Sirius talked a bit about James and Lily and told Harry some of their pranks and misadventures. It was a decent first meeting considering. They were rather relieved that Harry could still somewhat laugh and express joy. They thought Harry was traumatized resulting his mature way of speaking but glad he could smile and laugh.

For Harry though, he was simply hearing about people he never met yet related to. Unlike what the fictional character Harry Potter would have felt, he was a reincarnator. He wasn't strictly speaking a child inside. He wasn't lacking or craving proper affection and guidance. To a normal abused child, he would probably be craving any affection, love and recognition. But since he had a previous life he could remember, he wasn't craving any of those. So he was more chill and relaxed about it.

They couldn't talk about future living arrangements until Sirius talks with his Black account manager in Gringotts. So they settled with catching up for now, and talking about James and Lily. 

A few days later, St Mungo's healers determined that the remaining treatment for Sirius rehabilitation can be done at home and allowed him to check out. 

Sirius then proceeded to talk to the Black's account manager and learned he was not officially kicked out of house Black. Despite his mother claiming to kick him out, she was not the actual head of house so it was not legally or magically recognized. 

Sirius then formally took his Lordship as Lord Black. There were a lot of things he needed to decide as Lord Black but for now, he first asked about the state of the Black's ancestral home in Grimmauld place. He visited the place but realized how unlivable it currently was so he ordered the elf Kreacher to clean the place up while he temporarily checked into a Hotel in muggle London. Unlike most pure-blood wizards, he was familiar with muggles because of Lily so he had no trouble staying at a Hotel.

He also started to regularly visit Harry and kept him updated about their future housing situation. So Harry already knew they would soon stay at Grimmauld place. 

Andrew already told Sirius of the restraining order against Dumbledore so he suggested to Sirius that he make sure the wards are up to date and working. He also reminded Sirius that Harry was the boy-who-lived so he had to take his safety into account more so than normal. 

Since Sirius and Remus were no longer part of the Order because of this whole ordeal, the house would no longer be the headquarters of said Order. But Harry made sure to tell his godfather that he didn't want Dumbledore or his people near him even in the future. 

This gave Sirius the idea to have the Fidelius charm cast with him as secret keeper. He paid the goblins to cast the charm and other wards to ensure their safety. At the moment only he, Remus and Harry were keyed in but he would later add in Andromeda and her family as he wanted to accept her back into the house of Black. 

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After a few weeks time, 12 Grimmauld place was now livable and relatively clean. Harry said his goodbye's and thanks to the Bones and finally moved in with Sirius and Remus. 

He can now start focusing on learning and his abilities and experiments. 

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