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AN AMERICAN WIZARD AT HOGWORTS

Summary:

Harry gets unexpected and welcome assistance from a wizard he'd met in America. Story set in The Order of the Phoenix. Sequel to Welcome to America, Harry Potter.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Disturbing Dreams

Notes:

This is a sequel to my last Harry Potter/Dresden Files crossover. This one takes place in Harry Potter’s world this time. From the movie Order of the Phoenix.

Chapter Text

In a dark tunnel, the lights along its ceiling flickering ran two boys, sheer terror on their faces. The chubbier of the two trips and falls halfway through the tunnel. Before the thinner boy with the mop of black hair can help the fat one to his feet, dark ghostly creatures floated toward them. All around them the air got very cold and ice began to form, the very air going foggy like the mist over a frozen pond.

The thinner boy staggered back in fear, one of the ghost things moved closer to him while another hovered over the fallen boy. The black haired boy pulled something from his pocket and waved it at the apparitions, screaming something in Latin. Whatever he’s holding glows and shoots out a silvery light that strikes the ghostly things, sending them fleeing.

I wake abruptly, bathed in sweat and shaking for the fourth night in a row, the images of the dream, fading quickly. I can’t understand what the nightmares mean but I’m getting a little tired of receiving them.

I wipe my face off with the end of my t-shirt I wear to bed, shove the bedding off, get up and head downstairs to my lab. Maybe Bob can shed a little light on this mystery.

“Bob, I need you now.”

A mist pours from the skull on the shelf and Bob’s ghost appears.

“It’s four in the morning! Why on earth are you up?” Bob demands in concern.

“A nightmare, one that’s been plaguing me for days.” I growl, exhaustion making me cranky.

“Oh, well, that’s not good. Sounds as if someone is trying to get your attention.” Bob ventures cautiously.

“Nah, you think?” I snap irritably then apologize, “Sorry, didn’t mean to snarl at you, its just this is getting really annoying and scary.”

“I understand. Why don’t you describe your dream to me.” Bob said placatingly.

I do with as much detail as I can remember.

Bob looks stunned and unhappy.

I wait but he isn’t forthcoming, just stands there looking worried. “Well, you obviously know something, spit it out.” I snap, lack of sleep makes me a very nasty person and impatient.

“Remember those young children from Hogwarts that dropped in here a few years ago?” He asks me.

I frown a moment then remember. Harry Potter with the brilliant and old green eyes. “Yeah, I remember.....wait.......that’s him!” I blurt out as the image in my dream quickly is added to the memory of the last time I saw the black haired young wizard. “He’s in trouble!”

“I’d say you were correct, Harry. Voldemort is still on the loose and the war is heating up against him and his death eaters although the British Wizarding Society is still adopting a head in the sand attitude by denying Voldemort is still alive.” Bob tells me.

“How do you know this?” I ask in surprise.

“Ever since their visit, I’ve begun to speak with others of the ghostly realm once more. I hadn’t thought about Hogwarts for such a long time and their appearance sort of jogged my interest again.” Bob said shrugging his ghostly shoulders. “Though, why you are being ‘tagged’ as it were by their war is really worrisome.” He commented, concern lacing his voice.

I run a hand through my hair in frustration. “Why the heck would I be summoned. I know nothing of their kind of magic and hadn’t known they existed until they ‘dropped’ in that day.”

“I can make some inquiries if you’d like, Harry.” Bob suggested carefully.

I frown at him while I tried to decide if that would be a wise idea. Finally, I realized I certainly couldn’t drop in at Hogwarts without knowing more about what was going on there first and it wasn’t like I could just hop a plane and go right now anyway.

And even if I wanted or needed to go.....I had no idea how I could afford a plane ticket to do so. Sighing mentally, I let that problem go for now and focused on what Bob suggested.

“Yeah, that might be a very good idea, Bob, but be extremely careful and don’t tip your hand to the ghosts there. I do remember those kids saying they had their own ghost population and I'm not so certain you should allow them to know you're there.” I warned him.

“You are correct. There is indeed a large contingency of ghosts that haunt Hogwarts. But I need to speak with them to find out what's going on, however, I'm certain I can be circumspect enough to not let on why I need the information. I can, if need be, not let them know I'm there at all if you wish but collecting the information we need will take a little longer." Bob told him.

“Well, yeah, I realize that but I just don't want anything to happen to you. After all, this is a magical realm you’re going to visit and I'm too far away to aid you should you get into trouble so I don't want them to be aware of you." I ordered him, still concerned about sending him into a huge magical community. Unlike mortals, there was much there that could harm him.

“I appreciate your concern and will take due caution. I’ll go straight away. See you in a few days.” Bob promised then disappeared.

I sigh and went back to bed hoping I could maybe get some sleep. Whoever or whatever was trying to contact me hopefully knew I had listened and would now let me be for a little while. One could hope.

Taking what was essentially a ghostly realm shortcut through the Nevernever, Bob found himself at Hogwarts within minutes. Looking quickly out a window he happened to appear near, showed him it was late evening. The first thing he noticed after his arrival was the overwhelming feeling of magic pressing on him. It felt as strong as he remembered from his visit here more than a century ago.

To his surprise, a presence made itself felt against his mind. It was Hogwarts Castle greeting him. It didn’t use words per say, it was just a feeling, a strong feeling to be sure, that it had been the one to contact Dresden and it made it plain that it wanted the American to help Potter.

Bob was stunned and concerned. During his last visit, he'd been aware of the castle spirit but had no direct contact with it. This new situation must be truly desperate for it to actually contact a wizard so far from its home base and be willing to help him gather the information he required to allow Dresden to come to their aid.

The whole business would have sent shivers over his body had he been alive, as it was, he was left with a feeling of urgency from the castle spirit to get busy. Thus goaded, Bob went invisible and felt the castle hiding his ghostly signature from all the inhabitants of Hogwarts, relieving him of the worry of being detected.

Over the next few days, he watched and listened. He learned from bits and pieces of conversation among teachers, that Potter had been attacked by Dementors while on summer vacation then put on trial for using magic off school grounds to save his cousin and himself. The teachers that were on Potter's side were angry and concerned that a small incident of underage magic use had turned into such a major event at the Wizengamot. If not for Headmaster Dumbledore's intervention, Potter could have been sent to Azkaban. The whole thing was outrageous.

He heard them mutter that poor Harry was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by the Minister of Magic. The leader of the ministry was a fear-filled fool who thought the Headmaster of Hogwarts was after his job. The notion was total nonsense but that didn’t help Harry right now. It was obvious that Voldemort was behind the increased attacks on wizards and Muggles but the Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge just wouldn’t believe it.

This made things that much harder for Harry. Bob felt sorry for the boy who was being thrown to the lions so easily. Though he had friends and others trying to help him, the notoriety surrounding him was upsetting the boy and making it hard for him to trust anyone. He also learned, that for reasons of his own, Headmaster Dumbledore was keeping his distance from Harry which made things even harder for the boy to bear and isolated Harry even more. But to be fair, Dumbledore was under fire himself and might possibly be trying to keep the heat off Harry.

Bob also learned about a very large secret known only to the Headmaster and the Potions Professor. Snape was a mole in Voldemort's camp. He pretended to be a death eater while doing his best to prepare and protect Harry. Unfortunately, Snape was a very unpleasant man and had a hatred for Potter based on some past history with the boy's father. The feeling was mutual on Harry's part about this very acerbic teacher. Bob was not so sanguined about Snape either and was concerned what the man's divided loyalties would lead him to do in the upcoming battle against Voldemort. The only thing he was certain of was that he needed to make sure his Harry was aware of this spy and that he himself kept an eye on him while they aided Potter.

Meanwhile, he noted that Potter was being constantly afflicted with nightmares that were apparently linked to his magical connection with Voldemort. Bob wasn't certain exactly how this link worked but it was a terrible burden for Potter to endure on top of everything else.

And, as if that wasn't enough for the poor boy, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher turned out to be a ministry plant that threatened to undermine Dumbledore’s authority gradually. When he watched the evil Dolores Umbrage use a barbaric and illegal form of punishment for something Harry didn’t do, he knew it was time to go back and tell Dresden. It was time to get involved.