DISCLAIMER: Still not mine.

Chapter 8: A New Start

Seattle School of Sorcery & Science

Principal's Office

September 15, 1991

When Ranma Saotome, Sirius Black, and Harry Potter-Saotome met in the principal's office to meet with the new ruling authority over Harry's carefully selected new school, the first impression they had of 97-year-old Michelle Dunn was that she and Amelia Bones were two formidable women who were cut from the same cloth. Looking to be only in her 50's, with blonde hair only just beginning to turn gray, she gave off an aura of command and power that was only matched in Sirius Black's mind by Albus Dumbledore. Standing from behind her desk, the woman offered handshakes to the two men, then a smile to Harry before gesturing the three to the seats in front of her desk. Once all three were seated, Sirius began the meeting. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, Principal Dunn."

The woman nodded. "You're very welcome, Lord Black, and thank you for your interest in this humble little school of ours. I understand young Harry is coming here because of concerns about his safety at Hogwarts?"

Ranma snorted. "That might be the most diplomatic way of puttin' it I've ever heard. Between a teacher possessed by Voldemort and a Headmaster who was tryin' to get Harry killed by the guy to fulfill some stupid prophecy, 'concerns about his safety' has gotta be the understatement of the century."

Principal Dunn gave a nod. "Yes, I recall reading about that in the papers. Mr. Dumbledore's downfall was quite spectacular."

It was only two days ago that Albus Dumbledore's trial had taken place, before the full body of the Wizengamot. Under the influence of Veritaserum and the expert questioning of Director Amelia Bones, Dumbledore had revealed the full extent of his duplicity. Unknown to everyone, he had actually been the lover of Gellert Grindelwald. They both believed in Grindelwald's "Greater Good" philosophy, but Albus had believed that it was far better to take over through love rather than fear. This was what had led him to slaying Grindelwald – not in an epic duel to the death, but rather with a non-verbal, wandless Diffindo to the neck, from behind. As there had been no witnesses to this act, it had been easy for Dumbledore to spin his tale, earning the love and admiration of magical Britain and thereby acquiring three powerful positions: Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, and Headmaster of Hogwarts, on top of which he had received an Order of Merlin, First Class. He had planned to slowly undermine the Minister of Magic's position, eventually persuading the Wizengamot to abolish the position entirely. Unfortunately, his plans had been derailed by the emergence of the Dark Lord, Voldemort, and the need to contain him so that there would still be a magical Britain left to rule. His plans were further derailed by a prophecy given by Sybil Trelawney, which meant that Albus Dumbledore could not, in fact, be the one to defeat Voldemort until the prophecy was fulfilled. So he had formed a new plan, a plan that was elegant in its simplicity.

Arrange for Voldemort to find and then kill the child of prophecy, clearing the way for Dumbledore to finish the man off and once again earn the love and admiration of the people.

What he hadn't counted on was for "that blasted muggleborn wench" Lily Potter to have delved so deeply into blood magic rituals, finding one that would ensure her child's safety and protection from dark magic in return for the sacrifice of her life. The ritual worked: When Voldemort turned his wand on 15-month-old Harry and cast Avada Kedavra, the curse rebounded, destroying Voldemort's body and inadvertently turning the boy into a horcrux. He had been almost smug when he'd mentioned that "for Voldemort to die, Harry Potter must die as well," but he'd been shocked when Director Bones had revealed that goblin healers had already seen to young Harry, destroying the horcrux in the boy's scar without harming Harry at all.

Relations with the goblins had improved exponentially once it became public knowledge that their healers had ensured that their savior wouldn't be required to die to end the threat of Voldemort.

Dumbledore had planned on destroying the boy and Voldemort, using the Weasley family to acquire the Potter fortune by secretly slipping Harry and the Weasleys' youngest, Ginny, love potions that would gradually bring them together as a couple, with Harry coming to think of Albus as a mentor and surrogate grandfather, ensuring that he would be bequeathed the Potter fortune in Harry's will, which he would use to fund his eventual takeover of magical Britain and go down in history as the greatest wizard since Merlin.

In the end, he was found guilty of insurrection, conspiracy to use illegal love potions, conspiracy to commit Line Theft, child abuse, child neglect, and conspiracy to commit murder. His Order of Merlin revoked, he was promptly sentenced to – and subsequently thrown through – the Veil of Death.

Sirius Black cleared his throat. "Yes, I just had a few questions about your school. On your list of required courses, I noticed one called 'Magiscience'. What is that, exactly?"

Principal Dunn smiled. "Magiscience is the study of ways to allow technology to function in the presence of magic. Researchers in our government's Department of Mysteries began this study by discovering a special shielding process that protects sensitive electronics from faltering when exposed to magic, based on the mundane technology that protects electronics from an electromagnetic pulse. It is because of this field that we have computers here in the school. We are always keeping abreast of developments in mundane society, and when new technology becomes available, we immediately set to work figuring out how to make it work in a magical environment." She regards Harry. "So do not be surprised if you see some of your fellow students with a handheld video game system, like a Game Boy, or with a Walkman tape player."

Harry had a question. "You say you have computers here. Does that mean I won't need quills or parchment here, ma'am?"

The woman chuckled. "Oh my, no, of course you won't need them. We are always willing to accept a homework assignment printed from a computer, and as for classwork, you may feel free to use pens or pencils and regular notebook paper as appropriate."

Harry grinned at her. "That's great. I had a heck of a time learning how to write with a quill those first few days at Hogwarts."

Ranma leaned forward. "How's the security here? If this Voldemort character happens to escape from that holding cell in the bowels of England's Department of Mysteries, how safe will Harry be here at your school?"

Principal Dunn gave Ranma a smile that was equal parts feral and indulgent. "The wards here at Seattle School of Sorcery & Science are second to none. They make the wards at Gringotts and even Hogwarts look like a fledgling effort from a beginner. For instance, I knew the moment you all set foot on the grounds that you, Mr. Saotome, bear a curse from Jusenkyo that transfigures your body into a different gender when exposed to different temperatures of water, and that you, Mr. Black, are an unregistered dog animagus. Only a very foolish or very insane person would dare try coming here with ill intentions. However, in the extremely unlikely event that someone should happen to get past the wards…well, let us just say there is a reason Vice Principal Victory Franks is a former Dueling Champion and not a current one."

Judging from the feral smile that appeared on Ranma's own face, that answer apparently seemed to satisfy the young man immensely.

Green Lake neighborhood

Seattle, Washington

September 17, 1991

As Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy all settled into their new lives as students at Seattle School of Sorcery & Science, their families were busy settling into their new homes in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood. They chose three homes, all in a row, so they were all living next to each other. They spent a lot of time exploring the neighborhood, finding themselves particularly fond of Green Lake Park, and the adults also found themselves becoming fast friends. In particular, they tended to enjoy the antics of Ranma and Sirius, who would take turns pranking one another, although many of Sirius's pranks on Ranma tended to involve water, while Ranma's favorite prank involved using a technique from the Chardin speed-eaters to end up with Sirius Black gnawing on a dog biscuit.

All in all, they decided, life was very good.

Ministry of Magic

Office of the Minister

September 20, 1991

It was official, Cornelius Fudge decided. Life sucked.

After the treachery of Albus Dumbledore had been brought to light, the new Chief Witch, Augusta Longbottom, pushed through a motion for a full investigation into every last employee of the Ministry, from the Minister on down to the lowliest janitor, just to make sure no one else was pulling the wool over their eyes. The motion was phrased in such a way that opposing it would have been political suicide, so it ended up passing unanimously.

And then the crackdown began.

Headed by Director Amelia Bones, the DMLE began a thorough investigation into anyone and everyone to do with the Ministry, both their public and private lives, even searching their homes under the authority granted to them by the Wizengamot. The end result of this investigation was that several "Imperioused" Death Eaters were discovered to be not quite as Imperioused as they'd claimed, thereby earning time in Azkaban for their old crimes as well as anything else Amelia Bones could pin on them; the outing of Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge as a previously unknown Death Eater with four prohibited Dark artifacts – blood quills – in her possession; and the discovery of the many bribes that Cornelius Fudge had received from Lucius Malfoy, which resulted in his immediate sacking from the position of Minister. Elections were to be held in a week, and as a result of her efforts at uncovering the corruption in their government, the frontrunner looked to be Amelia Bones, a woman who was quite literally incorruptible.

Yes, Fudge confirmed to himself as he finished packing his things to leave the office, life sucked. Particularly if your name happened to be Cornelius Fudge.

Author's Note: And there goes Chapter 8. As you can see, the repercussions Harry Potter's rescue from the Dursleys are continuing to be felt, even two and a half years later. I plot next time to go a bit more in depth about life at the new school for Harry and his friends, but for now, I wanted to establish the backlash of Harry's decision to leave. See you in the next one! Bye!

A/N 2: Edited 2/9/17. Just added in a forgotten part of Dumbledore's punishment: the revocation of his Order of Merlin. And holy crap, guys, I'm so sorry I've left this story idle for so long. Rest assured I am working on Chapter 9, so you guys can expect to have it in the next few days.