1,036What if a chocolate frog could change everything
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, possible time paradox, de-aging, Dumbledore bashing
Minerva McGonagall glared at the headmaster. "Albus, I really can't believe it," she all but growled. "How can you leave Lily's and James' son with the worst muggles I've ever seen? I watched them the whole weekend in my feline form, and I tell you once again they abuse him. Petunia made him cook breakfast for the whole family and then sent him away with a dry piece of toast and a small slice of cheese. That's abuse."
"Minerva," the old wizard replied in a stern voice, his eyes for once not twinkling. "I only tell you this one more time. I am the boy's guardian, and I know what's good for him. You might not understand this now, but you will, some time in the future, you'll realise that it was all for the Greater Good."
Instead of roaring a response that she might regret afterwards, the Scottish lioness let her fork crash into her uneaten dinner and left the Great Hall in a huff, making her way to the hospital wing to speak with her best friend about the headmaster's stubbornness and stupidity.
HP
"Ah Minnie, calm down first," Poppy said, enquiring, "Have you eaten dinner?"
"No," Minerva admitted. "I was too upset to spend a minute longer in his presence."
"Very well," Poppy said in understanding and called Misty, her personal house-elf, to ask for a plate of sandwiches for the two of them.
"Poppy, we can't leave Harry in an abusive household. He's Lily's and James' son, and I feel responsible for him. He was all but my grandson. Moreover, no child should have to endure abuse. I don't know if they physically abuse him, but at least, they neglect him not to speak of the danger having a three-year-old cook dinner."
"Has Arabella reported anything about this?" Poppy enquired. "Albus said he made her live right across the street, so that she could keep an eye on little Harry."
Minerva shook her head. "I haven't heard anything about it, and I'm certain that even if Arabella reported anything, Albus surely wouldn't admit it to me. He's strangely obsessed with Harry."
By now, she had manged to eat her fill and inwardly sighed in relief, when Misty cleared the now empty plate.
"I even have a desert for you," Poppy told her, chuckling, when she fetched two packages of chocolate frogs from her private chambers. "Anton brought them last night."
Her husband Anton, more known under his Unspeakable name Croaker, was the head of the Unspeakables.
"I thought we were too old for these," Minerva replied, but could not help chuckling, as she accepted her box. She still remembered, however, to quickly bite the head off, before the frog could make an attempt to jump away. 'They're still much fun, just like when we got them from Aunt Theresa, when we were children,' she thought, fondly recalling her own time as a student at Hogwarts.
"What?!" she blurted out, staring at the chocolate frog card in her hand in utmost disbelief.
"Poppy," she uttered, monotonously, "please look at this and tell me if I'm delirious."
Casting her best friend an incredulous look, Poppy stepped around the table, gently taking the chocolate frog card out of Minerva's hands.
"Harry James Potter," she read aloud, "receiver of the Order of Merlin first class once for vanquishing the Dark Lord and a second time for inventing the wolvescure after a long-lost recipe of Salazar Slytherin. Harry James Potter?" she uttered, incredulously. "He's only three years old."
"Exactly," Minerva replied, shaking her head in annoyance.
"Minnie, may I borrow the card for the evening and show it to Anton?"
"Of course," Minerva agreed, nodding her consent. "Maybe he'll be able to find out how this chocolate frog card came into existence. Perhaps, he could even find a way for me to take Harry from his atrocious relatives against Albus' wishes."
"I'll speak with him," Poppy promised.
"Thanks dear, you're the best," Minerva uttered, as she pulled her best friend into a bear hug. "Good night, Poppy."
"Good night, dear," Poppy replied, just before Minerva transformed into her feline form and dashed away.
HP
Two days and much planning together with his older colleague Ra later, Unspeakable Croaker made his way to Little Whinging, appearing at the end of the small street that was his object of attention for the evening.
'Disgustingly normal muggle houses,' he thought in annoyance. 'People who'd be willing to live in such a place won't tolerate someone who doesn't fit into their categories I suppose. How could Dumbledore leave the boy here?'
He grudgingly walked up to house number 4 and popped himself right into a small place, from where he could sense magic – seemingly the only source of magic in the whole area.
tbc...?
