Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 6: A Series of Tense Conversations (pt 2)

2 August 1994
The Wizengamot Office of House Wilkes

Harry Black wore his most haughty and confident sneer as he stood before the portrait of the late Erasmus Wilkes. It was an act, of course, as he was quite nervous about this conversation. While he had been assured that there was no harmful magic attached to the portrait that could be brought to bear against him, the Toymaker's reputation for mad genius was as legendary as it was terrifying. But his biggest fear was simply making some mistake that would allow the portrait to see through his disguise. The portrait of the former Lord Wilkes was the last option the Azkabal presently had for gathering intelligence on Voldemort's plans and, hopefully, tracking down his remaining Horcruxes. So he really needed to persuade the portrait that he was someone who could be trusted with the most sensitive information the Death Eater might possibly know.

And so, in preparation for this meeting, Harry had used his limited Metamorphmagery to give himself the same hair color and eye color that both Erasmus Wilkes and Amy Wilkes shared. He'd also caused his Sowilo scar to temporarily disappear, although doing so was mildly painful. More importantly, he'd used his Occlumency training to temporarily alter his own demeanor so that he would seem to be the sort of person a psychopath like Wilkes might find congenial. Thus disguised, both physically and mentally, Harry woke up the dead man's portrait as part of a bold stratagem: persuading the portrait that the real Erasmus Wilkes had been Harry's ...

"Father?!" Wilkes exclaimed before giggling for a few seconds. "Really? I think I would have remembered siring a child."

"Sadly," Harry replied, "you weren't around for the delivery." Then, he switched back into Parseltongue briefly.

"Though I would assssume that thisss would be enough to prove I wasss your ssson."

"I ssssuposse it isss persssuasssive evidence," Wilkes hissed in return before returning to English. "Of course, I only remember things that happened before I was updated, which was May of 1980, I think. Stupid of me really. Like somebody not making out a will because they think they're too young to die. So am I to assume that the stork brought you sometime after that point?"

"You died in December of 1980," Harry said flatly. "Mother was two months pregnant at the time. She gave birth to me in a DMLE holding cell on the 23rd of June, 1981. Then, she handed me off to Lord and Lady Goyle and went off to Azkaban, where she died within a year. Today is the 2nd of August, 1994."

Wilkes sighed loudly. "Such a shame," he said wistfully. "We had some good times together, Linnea and me. She wasn't as clever as me, bless her, but she had a wonderful mean streak in her once I taught her how to let it out."

Then, Wilkes turned his full attention back to Harry. "And since my orphaned child is here to wake me up instead of ... oh, a senior Death Eater or something, can I assume something unfortunate happened to the Dark Lord and his delightfully violent agenda?"

Harry nodded with a rueful expression. "The details are murky, but on the 31st of October, 1981, the Dark Lord set out personally to murder the family of James Potter. But something went wrong when he tried to use the Killing Curse against their infant son, Jim Potter, and the magical backlash destroyed his body."

Wilkes blinked. "Well ... that was clumsy of him." Then, he shook his head and studied Harry more closely. "Hang on a minute! Lord and Lady Goyle?! Any child of mine should have gone to the Malfoys!"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know what happened there, but the Malfoys fobbed me off onto House Goyle. They were ... adequate guardians, I suppose."

Wilkes shook his head. "Blimey! The Goyles! I'm amazed that you even learned to read! And it's been thirteen years since T... since our Lord fell?"