"Yes sir, is something wrong?" Harry asks, as he gets up from his seat.
"You're not in trouble Mr. Potter, I simply wish to speak with you." Professor Flitwick says.
Flitwick leads Harry down the hall from the Sphinx Club room to the Charms Professor's Office. Flitwick claims a large high chair on the far side of the desk from the door, and motions for Harry to take the chair opposite him.
"Sorry to ask Professor, but what is this about? Did I do poorly on my last essay?" Harry asks, looking nervous.
"No my boy, your essay received an O, like most of your assignments. I have two points of business today, although one is far more important than the other." Professor Flitwick says, readying himself for something that appears to be difficult. "Harry, as you may or may not know, as your head of house I act in lieu of your guardians while you are at school. I am to treat you as though you are one of my own children, and watch out for you while you are under my care. As such, when Madam Pomfrey reported to me about your injuries from the Troll I was very concerned. What concerns me more are the plethora of older scars you have. Harry, are you being abused at home?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asks, his entire body tensing up. He's been doing his best to have the Dursleys fly under the radar as much as he can during his time at Hogwarts, trying to think about them as little as humanly possible.
"Have they beaten you? Starved you? You're safe here, they can't get you here. Madam Pomfrey is duty bound to report any signs of abuse to the authorities, and have done so. As your head of house while you are here at Hogwarts, you are to be in my care while an investigation is being conducted. The only people who know about this at the moment are Madam Pomfrey, myself, and the Young Wizard Protective Services office at the Ministry. Anything you can tell me though, will be helpful in determining what your future looks like. If you say that there isn't any abuse, and the investigative team agrees, you will be going back home as though nothing happened. Something tells me however that that isn't the case." Flitwick says, looking at Harry. A soft friendly look comes across his face. "Even beyond my duty as a Professor at this school Harry, I am rather fond of you. You're a prodigy like your mother, and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I allowed you to go home to someplace you weren't safe."
"Thank you Professor… The Dursley's… well they aren't exactly very good to me. Up until I received my Hogwarts letter, I had been living in a cupboard under the stairs, while my cousin had two bedrooms to himself. I never had anything of my own before my Hogwarts school supplies, everything was a cast off from my cousin. They sometimes didn't allow me to eat, but since they had me cook most of their meals, I was able to scrounge enough to stop from being truly hungry. Vernon, my uncle, when he was very mad would sometimes beat me. He broke my arm once after I had accidentally ended up on the roof of my primary school. My cousin Dudley would often times knock me down and kick me in the ribs repeatedly. Aunt Petunia never hit me, but she would watch while Vernon and Dudley did, and never stepped in to stop it. There's more I guess… but I really don't want to talk about it." Harry says, tears streaming down his face. "Please don't make me go back there Professor."
"My dear boy, I would never. I understand that this might be hard for you, but if you do it I can almost guarantee that you will never have to go back there again if you don't want to. Can you please give me a few memories of your treatment? I know it'll be tough, but your memories when shown would be some of the most valuable evidence against them." Flitwick says, pulling out a series of vials.
"Yes Professor, go ahead." Harry says, closing his eyes tightly and focusing on a memory. Flitwick pulls it out, then Harry focuses on another one. They repeat this process a few times.
"I'm glad you're letting us help you Harry, no child deserves to be abused, but certainly not one who had already been through such a tragedy. I unfortunately cannot say with certainty what the process after this is going to look like. I imagine within a month we will have a date for your trial, which I imagine would likely be in January. From there, when they are found guilty we will have to look for somewhere for you to live when you are not at Hogwarts. While unfortunately James and Lily Potter lacked much in the way of living family, they had many very close and loyal friends several of which have approached Professor Dumbledore in the past inquiring about where you were so they could ensure you were being well taken care of."
"Why would they be contacting Headmaster Dumbledore? Wouldn't they go to a court or something for that?" Harry asks, confused.
"Headmaster Dumbledore is also the Chief Warlock of the Wizaengamot, which is our primary legislative and judicial body in Wizarding Britain, he was also spearheading the resistance against You-Know-Who during those days, so he was among the first on the scene after their deaths. He found you and sent you to your relatives. I assume that was your parents wishes, although given the circumstances I have my doubts. I do know however that they are your only remaining blood family, as James Potter was an only child, and his parents had died of DragonPox not too long before you were born." Professor Flitwick says.
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