This is the first companion piece to Life As He Knows It. Takes place not long after Harry promise to visit and listen to Filch's story. I changed two characters' history to fit this story.
Warning: This story features a Dark Dumbledore, threats, implied rape, and abuse of minors. There is little to no details for the last two.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.

Happy Reading and Enjoy!

A knock at the door interrupted his focus. Argus Filch was just about to yell at the intruder, but as soon as his eyes caught sight of the bright emerald green, his anger vanished. Instead he gave the child a soft small and beckon him into the office.

With the decision to take a break from studying, Harry left his friends in the common room and went to the caretaker's office. He was really excited about spending time with the older man. Filch knew more about Hogwarts and everything that goes on when the castle is empty during the summer. When he arrived at the man's office, the door was open. Harry peeked inside and found Filch sitting on his sofa reading, Mrs. Norris was laid out on the back behind his head. Harry knocked on the door to get his attention. For one fleeting second there was anger before it morphed into a smile.

"What brings you here, Mr. Potter."

"Making good on my promise. Is now a good time or do you want me to come back?"

"You're always welcome, Mr. Potter. Any time, as long as its before curfew."

"Of course, sir. And please call me Harry."

"Very well, Harry. You can call me Argus when we're in private."

"Thank you, Argus."

Argus sat up and put his book on the end table. "Well don't just stand there. Close the door and have seat. Would you like to have some tea?"

Harry nodded and closed the door as ordered. He also warded the room before he moved and sat in the overstuffed chair next to the couch. "Tea would be nice."

Argus summoned an elf and in a blink a tray laden with a steaming pot of tea, two cups, milk, a bowl of sugar and small jar of honey appeared on the table in front of them. Each one made a cup and then sat back relaxing in comfortable silence. Mrs. Norris moved from her spot on the couch to Harry's lap. Harry smiled and rubbed the cat's head with his free hand. Argus smiled at the sight. Mrs. Norris didn't like anyone but him, seeing her letting Harry pet her told him that the young man could be trusted.

"Where would you like me to start?"

"Wherever you are comfortable with."

Argus nodded and relaxed further into the couch. He took a sip of his tea, then looked at the boy. "Do you know Arabella Figgs?"

"Yes. Dumbledore had sent her to watch me, but the plan backfired when my aunt made her take an oath."

Argus nodded. "I'm going to tell you something that very few people know."

"I won't tell anyone." Harry responded quickly.

"I know. Now on to the story." Argus collected his thoughts and continued. "Arabella is my sister, my older sister. When our parents found out that she was a Squib, they did something no other Pureblood parent did-they kept her. Our parents were shun from society for that decision. Five years later I was born. To my parents' disappointment I was also a Squib. Despite feeling disappointed and downhearted they still loved me and kept me, like they did with Arabella. When the other Purebloods families found out, some of the prominent patriarchs went to the Ministry. What the other Purebloods forgot was that my father had more pulled and a lot of fingers in many different pies, as the muggles would say.

"The Minister and the Law Enforcement Head, at the time, showed up at our manor. They told my parents they had two choices, get rid of me and Arabella or surrender their wands and vaults and leave the Wizarding World. Outraged my parents cast the two out and began to form some payback." Argus gave Harry a malicious smirk. "To this day some of the Purebloods are still paying for what they did."

Harry was fascinated by this story. "What did your parents do?"

"My mother went a less known newspaper and gave them stories about the other Pureblood Ladies. Stories that would ruin them all. After the first story was out the paper became popular. The first lady lost her standing. She had done an unspeakable thing. She got rid of all the children that were conceived and lied to her husband about it. Upon learning the truth the husband killed his wife and he is still living in Azkaban.

"Oh the other families began to fear my parents. It wasn't until one night a Lord got tired of living in fear and went to a powerful wizard. He begged the wizard and paid him every galleon he had. That wizard agreed. After their meeting the wizard came to our manor and killed my parents."

A shiver ran down Harry's spine. "How do you know all that?"

Argus gave Harry a sad smile. "I know, because the wizard that killed my parents was Albus Dumbledore."

Harry gasped and stared at the older man with wide eyes. He wasn't expecting an answer like that. There was so many questions he wanted to ask.

"Why are able to tell me? One would think that Dumbledore would make you forget or at least unable to say anything."

Argus chuckled. "Oh that wasn't the case here. He wanted us to remember. After my father was killed, he looked at us with an evil smile and that damn twinkle. He told us that he would find some use to keep us around. And that if we ever say anything to anyone he would kill us before we were able to finish the first sentence. That night was truly a nightmare that wouldn't end." Argus fell silent. He sat there trying to banish the full memory of that night. He would give anything to get rid of it, but sadly as another threat Dumbledore told them that if he found out they had a wizard Obliviate them, he would repeat what he did before cursing them to relive everything over and over again.

Harry had a feeling that there was more to the story. He didn't ask Argus, the older man's emotions held him back. Instead he decided to move on.

"When did you become Hogwarts' caretaker?"

Argus blinked and quickly wiped the tears away. He was thankful that the child didn't say anything about what he had just said.

"I just turned twenty-one when Dumbledore showed up and told me that he had a job for me. He apparated me to Hogwarts and informed me that I would be the caretaker. It was actually my cover. My job is to spy on the children and give him a daily report when everyone went to bed. He wanted to know everything. I regret everything that has happened to all the children since that bastard brought me here. Everything changed one night during your parents' third year. Dumbledore told me that I still had to spy but I only had to report if students were caught breaking the rules."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I was giving my report about some Hufflepuff girl kissing a Slytherin girl outside the first floor bathroom after curfew. When I mentioned that Dumbledore straighten in his chair and gave me my new orders."

"Did you see the girls again?" Harry want to know if Dumbledore did anything to them.

"I did. Things looked normal for a couple days, then one day a Slytherin boy attacked the Hufflepuff girl. She ended up in the hospital wing and the boy was expelled. I don't know what happened after that. Poppy did say that the girl's parents took her out of the school."

Harry's brows furrowed in concentration. Something wasn't adding up and he really wanted to know what happened that day.

"Don't think about it too hard. No one has the answers."

Harry pushed the thought away until he could ask Severus. If anyone knew it would be him.

"Where was Arabella?"

"Dumbledore had married her off to a muggle, a terrible man. She was fifteen to his forty. He abused her every day until his death. The man, when he wasn't hitting my sister, was gambling his money away. One night someone kill him when they caught him cheating. Arabella ran away after the cops had informed her of his death. I helped her get away because Dumbledore was paying her husband to let me stay and gave him extra to hit her in front of me. His only order was that I was to be left alone. Anyways, Dumbledore was furious when he learned what happened. A year after I became the unwilling spy, he found Arabella. She had done the smart thing and married a wizard, who hid her from Dumbledore, but her second husband was killed by Voldemort and with his death the spell lifted from Arabella.

"He unofficially put her into the Order, his group of vigilantes. Like me, she had to spy on the other members. He didn't force her to marry again but he did force her to live with Eliphas Doge. Doge dismissed all his house-elves and told Arabella to do their job."

"Why didn't Dumbledore keep you two separated?"

"The sadist that he is, wanted us to know about the other's hardships. He said if one of us made a mistake the other had to watch him or someone else dole out the punishments. Varying the level of the misdeed depended on who got to be the punisher. Dumbledore was the worse out of the four. I won't tell you any more because you are simply too young to know. I've already told you too much that is far above your age."

"I know. I'm sorry you had to bring up all these terrible memories. Do you have any happier ones?"

Argus smiled. "Yes. Two. The night Arabella was order to watch you was her happiest. The day Madam Pince agreed to a date was mine. We've been secretly dating for several years now. She knows the whole story and still stood by me."

"I'm glad you both found some happiness. So when will you propose to Madam Pince?" Harry saw the blush form on the older man's face.

"I...well we...ahem...umm we uhh haven't really...talked about it." He stumbled over his words. He had thought about asking a hundred times over the years, but each time he couldn't find enough courage to ask.

Harry let out a huff and crossed his arms. "Well why not?"

"Its not that simple, Harry."

"Yes it is. I may be a eleven, but I grew up with two soap opera watching women. If you love Madam Pince just walk up to her, snog the life out her and then ask for her hand. If you want to make it special have the house-elves turn the Great Hall into a romantic setting-flowers, candles, music and whatever other nonsense. Have dinner then, by your request, propose when she see the ring on her dessert." Harry let out another annoyed huff. "Seriously it isn't that hard."

Argus was smiling through the boy's rant. He found it funny that a child was giving him advice on how to propose. He had to admit both scenarios sounded really good. Argus was also happy to have learned that his sister hasn't given up on love if she spent her days watching soap operas. He knew what they were because Irma had told him she used to watch them before she started working at Hogwarts. She had also said that she misses them a little, but the children were like those on a daily basis, and she liked eavesdrop on their conversations in the library.

"Argus, are you listening to me?"

He shook his musings away at the annoyed question. "Yes, I'm listening. I'll take it all in consideration. Thank you for the advice. I think it time for you to get back."

Harry cast a tempus and learned that he and Argus had been talking for two hours. His friends were going to kill him. He picked Mrs. Norris up and stood up, then he placed her in the vacant chair. Harry looked at Argus and gave him a wide smile.

"Thank you for letting hear your story. If you want to hide today's conversation from Dumbledore, Professor Snape can help you. He's a highly skilled Legilimen and Occlumen."

"You're welcome. I'll think about it. Also thank you for listening."

"Anytime, Mr. Filch."

Harry gave Mrs. Norris one more pat before leaving the caretaker's office. On the way back to Slytherin's dorm he thought about everything the older man told him. Dumbledore wasn't going to get away with anything. First he had to talk to Severus.

Argus waited a few more minutes before looking at Mrs. Norris.

"Do you think it was the right thing do? He is much too young to know that story."

The feline stretched before turning into a beautiful woman. She looked years younger than Argus. Her dark brown hair fell to her waist, her eyes kept the feline yellow color. She smiled at her companion.

"It was. He needed to know. The boy and the potion's Master are working together to rid the world of that horrid man. You did the right thing by keeping parts of the story out. No child needs to hear that nightmare. When he older you can tell him the rest."

"What about the other part?"

"Not yet. In a couple of years he'll be ready to know. By then their bond would be stronger. You must make sure that no one tries to break it. They need each other."

"I'll do my best."

"I know you will."

Argus stood up and straighten his clothes. He stretched his back, listening to the pops as the pressure left his spine. "Well let start our patrol."

The woman gave him a smile before turning back into her cat form. The feline jumped off the chair and walked towards the door. Argus shook his head. If anyone found out about this, especially Dumbledore, they would kill him and take her. He would protect her until his dying breath.

The second piece will be posted tomorrow.