A mess of raven-black hair flashed in her peripheral, gone a moment later. Just as she moved to the hallway it had darted down a voice called out to her from behind, "Ah Grace, I was hoping to catch up with you and go over the list of necessary school supplies once more."
The professor bit back a response before turning to give the Headmistress a confirming, polite nod. This was the third time in the past week she had caught sight of the mysterious child who was apparently living at the school, and the third time he had just slipped out of her reach.
It was also the third time that said slip had been aided by a certain older Witch. Once was accidental, but more than that and she was suspicious. Even more irritating was Dumbledore's ability to switch topic whenever it veered in his direction.
"I am curious Headmistress, what is the young man's name who has been staying at the school recently?"
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing to concern yourself about, I'm sure you will be introduced soon enough." Again, Grace mentally frowned. It wasn't like Augustina to keep secrets from her staff, especially the Heads of House. She weighed the option of confronting her with what she most certainly knew about the boy but held back.
If Dumbledore was being this avoidant now, even she would have trouble guessing how the Headmistress would react if confronted with someone prying into private information.
****
"Harry, could we speak with you please."
The boy nodded, before following Dumbledore back towards her office. His unspoken question, who 'we' referred to, was answered the moment they entered, and he spotted James and Lily Potter already seated within, both standing almost instantly.
The man's mouth opened to speak, but it seemed that whatever words he had intended were the wrong ones and he merely shook his head. Meanwhile the redhead seemed torn between wanting to walk over to hug him and give him space. She settled for a smile in his direction instead, one that he hesitantly returned.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked, earning a quick nod from the eldest.
"Yes, yes of course we just need to go over a few things and make some decisions on how to handle the upcoming school year. I'm sure you have figured out that regardless of what we do your name, and heritage, will likely become public knowledge quite quickly. We want to make sure that this happens the way we decide, not the media's."
The boy nodded. He had dealt with enough speculation and rumors during his own few years at Hogwarts, it made sense that this world would be similar. "So, what's the plan?"
While the Headmistress confidently walked around her desk and began shuffling through some papers, he noticed that the postures of the other two adults had changed dramatically. They were upset, maybe even angry, and he only hoped to not be the cause for such negative emotions for once.
"The best course of action is to claim you were given up by your parents at birth due to a lack of Magic and only recently reunited when it was revealed."
Harry blinked, then blinked again as he attempted to process what was being said. Why would that be the best plan? "Wouldn't that sound bad for them?"
Dumbledore shook her head, "All considering it would be almost expected, especially with two sisters."
"Of a Malfoy maybe." James sneered, "Not from us. We would never do this Dumbledore, and it's insulting to even think we would!"
Lily nodded, "He's right, we will just think of something else to tell the press."
The eldest merely quirked an eyebrow, "Such as? Harry's presence has not gone unnoticed, even at Hogwarts and the Sorting Hat cannot be fooled even if no one noticed the physical similarities between you three. This is the best option we have to avoiding unwanted attention towards him."
"But wouldn't it put that attention on… them instead?" Harry still wasn't quite sure how to address his parents from an alternate universe and the discomfort in doing so was obvious.
"To a degree, yes. But James and Lily will be able to deal with that far more effectively than an eleven-year-old boy would. It will also exonerate Harriet and Amaryllis from being involved due to their ages and not being informed of the situation."
Something else weighed on the boy's mind, even as his parents continued arguing with the Headmistress. "You said because I had twin sisters it was expected. Why would that matter though?"
All three looked at him, confused for a moment as their conversation had been interrupted before Dumbledore understood a moment later. "Because you are a male of course. I would imagine it might be towards women instead, to keep them safe?"
Harry frowned, "What do you mean, 'keep them safe'?"
Lily glanced at the other two before deciding to be the one to answer, "If a boy doesn't have Magic, then in certain parts of society they are often given up until later in life, until they've matured. They rarely carry on the family name and it is seen as either dangerous for them to stay in Magical society or a waste of time…" she trailed off, but this only earned more confusion.
"Wait… what's wrong with men?"
The other male in the room was quick to shake his head, "Nothing is wrong with us Harry, it's just that with how our culture is…"
Before he could ask, Augustina chimed in, "We aren't exactly sure why this is, but it has been for as long as our history goes back there have been a larger birth rate of witches than wizards. Some believe it has to do with genetics, that the 'Y' chromosome interacts with Magic negatively. Others swear that it is some ancient curse or punishment from the divine. Then there is the small, but vocal, minority swearing that it is simply proof Magic favors women for no reason other than they are superior. Regardless women outnumber men in our world, by a good margin."
"How much?"
"Four to five times as many." Lily answered, eyes shifting away from her 'son' as if in guilt. "Is this… not true from where you come from?"
Harry thought back, "I… don't think so? The numbers were mostly equal. In the Muggle world, men were 'supposed to be in charge', usually had the better jobs, more involved in politics, crap like that, but the numbers were about even as far as I can tell. It was more of a 'blood purity' thing at Hogwarts."
"Blood purity?"
Harry nodded at the other man's question, "Yeah you know, Pureblood vs Muggleborn?" More confused looks earned one from the boy himself, "You don't have that here? All those aristocrat arseholes gloating about not having any Muggle ancestors?"
This earned a snort from the redhead, "Oh you don't need to worry about things like that. Sure, some of the older families boast about it, but more for wealth and power than their actual bloodline. None of them are ignorant enough to think that their ancestry is completely Muggle free."
"So instead, it's just boys that are looked at as inferior?"
That earned a wince from the two women in the room, "Not inferior per se Harry but there is certainly different treatment given to wizards as opposed to witches."
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