Because of this and the information the goblins had given his Aunt about the wards, he now understood the wards directly around the property he and his family resided in much better. Close to the house they made magic like apparition and port-keys nearly impossible, unless keyed to the wards. Further out the secondary wards which guarded him from those of ill intent extended beyond the house in all directions for a four mile radius thereby including most places Harry needed or wanted to go on a regular basis. When Harry or his family was further away than that the wards left something akin to a notice-me-not spell about them. The wards were keyed around the blood relationship between Harry and his aunt, and they included some fairly dark wards, wards based on blood not willingly shed. Harry wondered of he had been the source of the blood. It wouldn't have been hard. The Headmaster wouldn't have even needed to hurt him, merely collected the copious amounts of blood from the wound on Harry's own forehead. All that would have been needed after that would have been a blood replenishment potion and Harry would be fine with no one else the wiser.
A week later Harry was growing worried. He hadn't heard from Neville, actually he and Aunt Petunia hadn't heard from anyone. Thankfully Petunia had given him permission to go to Potter Place because Cassandra called the previous night saying she urgently needed his input on the manse, and he wanted to floo Neville while he was there. He hoped Neville didn't get into a ton of trouble from what happened at school but looking back it was another case of speaking the truth far more rudely than needed be done. Harry fully expected a lecture from Lady Augusta to that effect. When he arrived at Potter Place he found Cassandra had used the lift key he'd given her and with the elves' help had made a small office to work from. She was annoyed with him."Why did you ignore my owls and the owls of the trustees? They've been trying to get hold of you for a week. Thank heaven your aunt showed me how to use the phone or I'd still be waiting."
"I didn't get any owls! Neither did Aunt Petunia. I've been waiting for responses to the ones I sent did you get them?"
"Yes, which was why I got so frustrated with not hearing back."
"I wonder what happened to them."
"Well right now you have more urgent things to deal with. Lady Longbottom wants you to floo there ASAP. I flooed her last night after I talked to you and Mrs. Dursley. She's expecting you. When you get back I want to go over the old architectural plans for the rebuild of the manse, to see if you want any changes before finding an architect and contractors. But this can wait, get going. Lady Longbottom won't appreciate being kept waiting."
Harry with a feeling of trepidation did as he was told. At the Longbottoms he was met by an elf that directed him to Lady Augusta's sitting room. He entered the small room and was about to greet Lady Augusta when she started.
"So you ignored my owl, the owls of all your trustees, and-"
"I didn't get any owls." Harry protested earnestly.
Augusta looked at him evaluating his truthfulness. "Fine, I still have several issues with you. Why in heaven's name didn't you inform any of us about what was going on at Hogwarts?"
"Referring to?"
"The forbidden corridor. Your foray into the Forbidden Forest with only that idiot Hagrid as an escort. The discussion in Dumbledore's office. You have a trustee board for a reason, Harry."
"Dumbledore runs Hogwarts like it's his personal fiefdom, and we tried to request you be called for the discussion in his office the professors ignored us."
"I see." After a long moment during which she seemed to mull things over, Augusta went to the fireplace and scooped a bit of floo powder from its container. "William Tofty."
"Augusta, what a pleasure I haven't heard from you since your delightful ball."
"William, I have some concerns I wish for the Hogwarts Board of Governors to look into. I have had conversations with both my grandson and Lord Potter. I'm one of his trustees and the stories that he and my grandson have told me of their year at Hogwarts have raised several concerns. Concerns that I feel would best be addressed by the Board. Perhaps all of you could come to tea next week and we could discuss it."
"That sounds delightful. I shall tell the others to expect your invitation."
"Thank you I look forward to next week."
Lady Augusta turned back to Harry. "Now Harry, I want you to write down a full breakdown of how the other students treated you, how the teachers treated you, and how the headmaster treated you.
I want you to write down every point given and every point lost. Everything. And you will be here at next week's tea. Understood?
After he nodded she continued. "Now, Neville has asked to go to your karate school. Is that possible?"
Harry spent the next three hours fulfilling Lady Longbottom's requests. He then portkeyed back to Potter Place exhausted. Cassandra took a bit of pity on him and explained the old architect's plans. Harry thought carefully about things and could half picture a couple of changes but couldn't describe them very well. Cassandra decided that she would book a room at the Leaky Cauldron on Monday in two weeks and that she would get the architects of good reputation there so Harry could pick his own choice of architects.
Tea with the board of governors wound up being a non-event from Harry's perspective because the Board of Governors basically asked him and Neville to verify that their accounts of the school year were true and then dismissed them from the room. Leaving Harry in the dark about what would happen, much to his frustration.
....
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