Neville nodded. Before saying "Not that anyone knows for sure that it was him outside of me, Aaron, Harry and Cassandra. We know because we helped. They suspect, but they don't know. You won't tell, will you?"
Augusta considered, as revenges went that was very appropriate. "No, Neville, I won't tell. You think that Harry's abilities and attitudes are because of his aunt?"
"I'm sure of it. I mean think about it, Harry only goes home during the summer. He told me first year that his aunt expected a lot. Christmas morning he laughed about it, but he told me about muggle stories of Father Christmas bringing bad children coal for their stockings. His uncle had given him charcoal and paper; he said it was as close to a comment as his uncle could make. He pushes really hard at school. He always has, but… it seems like this year he's doing it from force of habit rather than because he wants it. If that makes any sense? He spends Christmas with us or with his elves. What does that say about his relationship with his family? And on the Express he told me…" Neville stopped himself. "No, I can't tell you that. It would be breeching Harry's trust and privacy. It suffices to say, I think Harry is depressed and his aunt is a large part of why."
"So what do you want me to do, Neville? His aunt has legal custody."
"I don't know. I guess I want you to be aware, to not judge him too harshly. If things get worse, I want us to help him if we can."
Augusta did see far more than Neville realized. She would have to have a meeting with the other members of Harry's trustee board.
Three weeks later Lady Augusta was hosting a tea for the trustees.
Tiberius was the first to venture beyond the social niceties. "So, Augusta, why bring us together like this?"
"I," Augusta paused. The six of them shared a responsibility to prepare Harry for his position in the magical world and over the last year and three quarters they hadn't gotten to know each other much beyond a superficial level. "It concerns Harry. Neville has expressed some concern, and as Harry's trustees I think it behooves us to investigate."
"Concerns?" Felicia Corner asked. She was fond of Harry and like Neville she had noticed as he seemed to get more stretched and stressed as the summer had gone by.
Augusta flushed uncomfortably. "Yes, that Harry's home life might not be all it should be."
The rest of them joined Lady Augusta in her discomfort. All of them could think of times when they had noticed the odd interaction between Harry and his aunt, but none of them had even thought to question it, or Harry's odd maturity.
Felicia, who had interacted with Petunia and Harry the most, thought carefully. She could see why there was cause for concern. She had been feeling it herself. But at the same time, she also was familiar enough with both wizarding and muggle laws regarding children to know that any move to remove Harry from Petunia's care wouldn't happen because there weren't sufficient grounds for it. "Lady Longbottom, I understand what you are trying to express to us. I share your concern, however, I had already noticed the- inconsistencies and made a point of making some observations. Harry is… He does not… Harry's aunt does not care for him the way any parent or grandparent would wish for a surviving child to be cared about after the death of themselves, and in this sense yes, there is some cause for concern. But Harry is healthy, he is being educated to his station, and he shows no sign of physical deprivation. In the eyes of the government this means he is receiving adequate care and changes to his custody are very unlikely. Even if his mental and emotional state isn't all of what we would wish, it is not so far off that they will intervene."
"I see. But what can we do? Doing nothing isn't acceptable to me. Neville is concerned and Alice, whose duty it was, is incapacitated. " Augusta said.
"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do, except try to make up for the lack between us." Felicia sighed.
Stephen Corner couldn't believe he hadn't really noticed before Lady Augusta said something. He had been around Harry and his aunt longer than anyone except Felicia, and Lady Augusta was the one who had been around Harry the most.
Tiberius -in an effort to move on- said, " So, Augusta, since you seem to know more about Harry than the rest of us, did you hear about what his results were?"
"He passed, as did Neville. I think Harry is something of a born teacher. Neville had the highest score a first time test taker has ever gotten. Neville attributes his success to Harry's tutoring."
"Guess that plan to knock some of the wind out of him didn't work did it? But if what you and Felicia are indicating of his home life is true then we're going to have to come up with another plan." Tiberius chewed briefly on his mustache. "I like the lad but he is more than a little intimidating for the average witch or wizard, and it isn't healthy for someone that age to get the public adulation that he gets. It goes to their heads."
"I agree with you, Uncle, but we need to understand where the boy is truly at emotionally. He's already a very guarded individual and if we damage him further it could be a very bad thing for everyone." Horace said.
Perseus spoke, "Perhaps we should demonstrate to him that we do care about him beyond just caring about the business he brings us. He has given us with social presents the last two years at Yuletide, and last yuletide we gave him with the classes that fulfilled our duty towards him. Perhaps we should make an effort to give him items of a deeper meaning. Do any of you know what his interests are? Or what classes he is taking at Hogwarts this year?
"I think we also should talk with Petunia. See if we can remedy the situation there." Felicia said. She also had the idea of speaking to Casandra since she was privy to much of Harry and Petunia's interaction.
The others nodded.
"Can we leave that to you, love?" Stephen asked.
Felicia nodded.
A week later Felicia met with Cassandra in one of the Leaky Cauldron's private rooms. Felicia raised a privacy barrier as a matter of habit.
"Cassandra, thank you for coming. How are you?"
"I'm good, Mrs. Corner."
"That's good. So what is it that Harry has you doing for him these days?"
"He mostly has me doing some research into the Slytherin family magics and the spell that gave him with the ability to talk to snakes. But I usually spend two to three hours a weeks on fan mail, another two dealing with managing the houses, and five or so helping Mrs. Dursley."
"That's right I'd forgotten about the spell research. How is that going?" Felicia asked.
"Very poorly. The libraries I have access to don't have the right kind of books. I put in a request to Dumbledore to let me have access to the Chamber of Secrets books but so far he's ignored me.
"Has he? Did Harry ever voice a plan regarding those books?"
"He said something about making a public announcement if Dumbledore tried to hide their existence saying they should be held in public trust at Hogwarts and be available for any scholars that wanted to study them. Harry isn't really that interested in them. He believes the dark arts are in general used only by short-sighted fools and the unimaginative, given the links between the dark arts and insanity, sterility and the disfiguring tendencies practitioners of the dark arts experience.
"I hadn't made the connection but in his mum's journal she gave him information about the links and he has decided that although he may learn about the Dark Arts he will never practice them. He actually stated he would prefer in this instance for me to do the research and to summarize what I find. I think it's a wise choice because I'll never have the power to work the spells. I'm lucky to be able to levitate a book across a room. It's easier to walk across the room and pick it up."