It's All Just Temporary with a Bit of Necromancy

Chapter 12: Continue, Lord Potter

"So is what Dumbledore also said true?" Rita pressed eagerly, he noted her tucking her wand back up her sleeve but couldn't determine anything unusual happening and the rooms wards prevented anything harmful so brushed it off.

"You'll have to be more specific. The Headmaster says a lot."

"That you have killed your uncle and Hestia Jones," Rita clarified impatiently.

Harry gave a suffering sigh, running a hand through his hair, preparing for the performance he was about to give. "Yes. At least about my uncle. There was a woman that Dumbledore had with him but I wasn't aware of her name."

"Lord Potter, you realize what you are admitting to?" Madame Bones asked sadly.

"I think it would be best for you to hear what actually happened before jumping the gun too quickly."

"Very well, Lord Potter. Your story," Madame Bones conceded with a gesture of her hand and nod of her head. Skeeter had her quill poised and inked, waiting for his words.

"It all started at the beginning of the summer really. After what happened at the Ministry, Dumbledore sent me back to my relatives. I started becoming sick, feverish, nauseous. I was terrified. I thought I had some deadly illness. My relatives didn't know what to do, so locked me in my room in case my freaky magic disease infected them. And it all culminated the night before my birthday. It hurt so badly."

Harry stared at his hands as though lost in the memory of the pain and terror. "Were you not told of magical inheritances and what occurs?" Rita interrupted.

"No. Well, I had heard about magical inheritances around the school but nothing concrete since it's so rare. And Dumbledore wasn't responding to my letters for answers." The women both frowned and Madame Bones jotted something onto her own parchment. Harry inwardly cheered, the first motion to bring Dumbledore down.

"Continue, Lord Potter," the monocled woman said.

"Right. So, I woke up on my birthday and felt amazing. It was incredible. I didn't even need my glasses. So I went for a shower and saw my mark. Would you believe that I didn't know what it was?" Harry chuckled deprecatingly. "I wasn't raised with wizards and wasn't familiar with the stories. And by the time I got to Hogwarts, it wasn't mentioned except for being scary children's stories. So I had no idea. Anyway, then my uncle came in yelling for me to get out of the bathroom and when I got out he had pushed me against the wall. You must understand, my relatives aren't exactly kind and they hate magic and anyone involved with it." Again, both women frowned and Rita's hand was a blur. "So I'm against the wall and he's yelling at me about how ungrateful I am and then...I don't know. I got angry and reached out to push him off and then...." Harry faltered and ran his hands over his face. "And then he was dead." Harry made sure his voice cracked to convey his nonexistent grief. "I didn't know what was happening and then Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody arrived and stunned me."

"Alastor was there?" Madame Bones clarified.

"Yeah, he was there when I woke up too." Harry squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hands over his pant legs as though nervous but really it was relieving the itch that was starting to become a burning sensation.

"What happened when you woke up, Lord Potter?" Rita pressed, sounding surprisingly gentle. Maybe he was winning the caustic journalist over?

"I...I woke up and I... I was tied to a chair in some basement behind bars. It was terrifying. I was still only in my boxers and I was so confused," Harry whimpered, hands in his hair again letting his true feelings of the memory leak through. "And then Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, and some woman. I guess it was Hestia Jones. They all arrived and started saying how I was Dark and how they would fix me. But they still didn't tell me what was happening or why! And then they said how they would do a... a Binding, I think they called it, and make it right."