Heirs of the Dark Lord

Chapter 2: Joining the Dursleys

When Petunia found Harry the next morning, her scream woke up the entire neighborhood. She knew, from just one look who the child was. He looked exactly like her sister's husband. She was considering calling the orphanage until he looked at her. She gasped. Those eyes! She was looking into Lily's eyes. Involuntary tears welled in her eyes as it hit her that her sister must be dead. She would never leave her son here otherwise.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts, then leaned down and picked up Harry. She was confused by the crinkle of paper she heard until she saw the corner of the letter peeking out of the blankets. She pulled the letter out then turned and went back into the house.
"Vernon!"
"Yes dear?"
"Vernon, come here, quick!"
"What is it dear? Did the morning paper crush your flowers..." He trailed off as his eyes landed on the child. "Petunia, what is the meaning of this!" Petunia set Harry down on the kitchen table.
"I don't know, but there is a letter."
"Let me see that." Vernon ripped the letter out of her hands, opened it, and began to read. Petunia scurried to his side and read also, her pale face losing all of its color as she continued down the page. Vernon, however, turned an ugly shade of purple as he read.
"Petunia! Is this true? Are we to take care of this little freak?"
"Yes dear, I suppose so."
"And can we definitely squash the magic out of him?"
"We must be able to. Why else would Dumbledore say such a thing?"
"Hmph. And what is this about compensation?"
"Lord only knows, Vernon. Are we going to keep him?"
"Well, I suppose we should, for charity's sake. However, he must earn his keep as soon as he can."
"Of course, Vernon. I'm sure as soon as he's old enough to understand he will be very grateful. We are taking him in through the goodness of our hearts. Why we're practically saving his life. If we are to squash the magic out of him though, we must never tell him anything about the magical world."
"Indeed. Now go see if you can't find someplace for him. Dudley's old crib should do nicely."
"Of course, good idea, Vernon." Petunia scooped up Harry and carried him upstairs to put him in the crib. She stopped at Dudley's room to look in on him. Her son was fast asleep curled up under his blankets. She noiselessly pulled one of his oldest set of clothes from the closet then went into the spare bedroom that was currently a storage room.
She set Harry down on the dresser and unwrapped his blankets. As she did, a purse dropped onto the dresser with the unmistakable clink of coins.
"Vernoooon!" Vernon raced up the stairs as fast as his large frame would allow. When he reached his wife, he was gasping for air.
"What...has the...little freak...done?"
"Look!" Petunia pointed at the purse. She still hadn't opened it. Vernon reached for it with a greedy expression.
"This must be our compensation dear. How much do think the old coot gave us? It's not exactly a large purse." He opened the bag and began counting.
"200 pounds? He expects us to raise this freak on 200 pounds?!" Petunia cowered at his rage.
"Perhaps it is only an installment dear. After all, he did say he had arranged for compensation until Harry's 17th birthday. And remember, Harry will be earning his keep as soon as he is old enough." Vernon calmed somewhat at that thought.
"You must be right, dear. Put the freak in his crib and let's go wake up Dudders." Petunia dressed Harry quickly, plunked him in his crib, then followed Vernon out the door. Vernon closed the door behind him with a resounding THUD, leaving poor Harry in the dark.

Alexander Interlude:

Lily let out a cry of shock as she felt the spell Tom cast wear off. She looked up to see Longbottom Manor in front of her, with Alice and Frank running out to help her to her feet. "Lils!" Alice said, crying openly as she hugged her friend tightly. "Dumbledore sent a message to the rest of the Order! He said you and James had died!" Lily couldn't answer, just held onto her closest friend and sobbed.
"Come on Alice, let's get her and Alex inside. They're probably exhausted." Frank said softly, taking his godson into his arms so that Alice could focus on helping Lily inside. As they walked inside the manor Lily found herself slipping back into the fog like state she had been in for the past year. Only the soft crying if her son brought her out of it. "Don't worry, it's okay Alex...it's okay baby....." she said softly, holding onto him tightly as she collapsed on the bed that the Longbottoms had given her, letting exhaustion overtake her as soon as she got Alex back to sleep.

~~~~~~~~

By the time afternoon rolled around the next day Lily felt much more like her old self, her hair was tightly braided and pinned up into a crown around her head. She was in the kitchen helping Alice and Frank get Alex and Neville ready for lunch. She was currently laughing as Alex tried his best to feed himself, huffing and scowling much like his father would whenever Lily tried to help.
"He looks so much like Sev it's uncanny. I can't believe we ever believed that he was James's." Alice confessed, laughing a bit. Lily had explained everything to Frank Alice and Augusta that morning, from the identity of Tom to her marriage to Severus, surprisingly the three took it rather well. Augusta especially, spent the morning talking about some funny anecdotes from her years at school with the younger man. However the Augusta who returned from the emergency Wizengamot meeting was a far cry from the jovial older witch that they had seen that very morning.
"Mum? What happened?" Frank asked, immediately calling for a house elf to make a cup of tea for the woman.
"Dumbledore. That's what happened." Augusta said, a scowl on her face as she took a drink of her tea. "Dumbledore is claiming poor Tom killed the lot of you. Alex included. Leaving only Harry alive. He claimed that Harry is off with some Light family to be raised. He named himself executor of your will and immediately had it sealed. He named himself Harry's magical guardian."
"Shit." Lily hissed as she sat down. "So now Dumbledore has access to all the Potter fortune then huh?" She asked, a scowl on her face. Augusta let out a snort.
"Not quite dearie. See it turns out that Old Fleamont knew his son a lot better than anyone would have guessed. Dellius Fenwick, he was Old Flea's business partner, handed me this. Apparently Flea wrote it before his death. His only request in exchange? I know Alex doesn't have a middle name yet, so make it Fleamont." She explained as she handed Lily the paper to read.
"I Fleamont Potter, in sound mind, hereby pass my potion company onto my step-grandson, Alexander Fleamont Evans-Prince. All profits from that company shall also belong to him. In addition to this I'd also like to pass on my title of Lord Potter onto him as well." Lily read, a smile spreading wide on her face as she read.
"What a relief." Frank said, letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, Alice seemed to agree.
"This is just the first step Alex, don't you worry. We'll make sure Dumbledore goes down for this. For good." Lily said softly to her son, kissing the top of his head as the little boy just smiled.