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Chapter Text

Lucius' POV

"Albus has now got the stone," Drake Vansel's head said from Lucius' fireplace.

"Has he informed you why Flamel asked him to take the stone and protect it?" Lucius asked the Head of the Hogwarts Board.

"Not at all," Drake said.

"Since he did not have one of us get it from the bank nor go there himself did you hear who collected it?" Lucius asked.

"The Groundkeeper, Hagrid," Drake said with a hint of exasperation.

"That man can not keep a secret I will be shocked if the Prophet does not run a story about him going to the bank to get it. Does he even have an account with them?" Lucius said starting to pace in his study.

"Albus had him bring one of the new students into the bank, as a cover I assume. What the student was doing when Hagrid got the stone I can't even guess," Drack said, breathing a heavy sigh.

"Did Hagrid also talk to a Goblin about coming in to update the castle's Wards since the stone will be there?" Lucius asked.

"I have not heard any mention of it from the Goblins. My guess is Albus either did not pass on the message or the idiot forgot to give it to them," Drake said.

"Both are equally as likely," Lucius agreed.

"We will just have to keep a lookout in case whatever Albus has planned goes south," Drake said.

"Agreed," Lucius said. "I shall see you at the next Governors get together."

"Right enjoy your night, also wish your son luck in getting sorted into the House he wants," Drake said.

"I will be sure to pass on the message," Lucius said but Drake had already broken the connection.

Lucius drained the last of his drink annoyed as ever with Albus' plans for Hogwarts. Subconsciously he scratched his arm where he had been branded all those years ago by "Lord" Voldemort back when he approved of the man's message of bringing back all the old rituals and ways that Albus seemed so determined to strip from their world in place of Muggle traditions. What was worse the traditions he brought in were from the leaders of the old Witch Hunts. But as time passed and Voldemort and a selection of his supporters started to target Muggles and Muggleborns alike to kill them, Lucius saw his mistake. He had arranged for a meeting with a distant cousin, Delorus Umbridge as well as the Head of the Auror office and normal Magical Law Enforcement division at the Ministry. He had agreed to become a Ministry spy within the ranks of the Death Eaters doing his best to keep the casualties low if fighting did break out.

His role as a spy, however, had not been enough to prevent the Potters from dying, though it did keep him out of Azkaban. Scrimjoeur, Bones, and his cousin had informed Minister Bagnold of his work as a spy but before she could make his contributions known to the public she had been attacked and that idiot Fudge had replaced her. As none of them trusted Fudge they kept Lucius' role as a spy a secret.

Realizing his drink was empty, Lucius pulled himself out of his memories as he set the glass down to be collected by one of the Houses Elves and went way down to the dining room for supper with his family. He arrived just as Draco recounted his trip to the robe shop, alone for the first time. "I hate that they force us to get robes only from Madam Malkins what would be so wrong with getting them from Radagst like we normally do?" Draco was complaining.

"It is for those who can't afford such high-end robes like the Weasleys or any Muggleborns," Narcissa explained to their son.

"I guess that makes sense. I mean you should have seen it when I was getting fitted some strange boy came in wearing Muggle clothing that looked three sizes at least too big on him," Draco said.

"Well, Muggles do have strange fashions," Lucius said sitting down as his meal appeared on his plate.

"That was another strange thing," Draco said cutting up some of his chicken fried steak. "He was being shown around by that large groundskeeper you and the other Governors have complained about."

"Must be a lot of Mugglesborns this year if they are getting him to show them around," Lucius said hiding the reason that the large idiot was most likely with the Muggle boy.

"That is the other thing. I asked why he was with the man and the kid said his parents had died but he did say there were Magicals," Draco said.

"That is strange," Naricssa said giving Lucius a confused look at why the groundskeeper would be showing around a Muggleraised Halfblood boy.

Lucius did not even notice her glance for a red flag had shot up in his mind. Why would Albus have that oaf Hagrid use such a boy as cover to collect the damn Philopher's Stone? Though this would explain what the boy was doing when Hagrid collected it from the bank. The boy would be busy getting tested and finding out about any family he might have in the Magical World, most likely given his Heir rings since to be raised by Muggles he would have no Magical relatives to stay with. But Lucius was still uneasy about this, making a vow to look up the boy's identity to see if Hagrid had bumbled the job.

Lucius started the following day by placing a Floo call to Drake. "Lucius this is a surprise, I did not think we would talk again until our normal meeting on the twenty-ninth," Drake said as he came to his study after a House Elf informed him of Lucius' call.

"I did not think so either," Lucius said, "but I heard an interesting story from my son last night. Evidently, he ran into the incoming student that Hagrid was using as cover to get the stone. I would have thought Albus would use one of the Muggleborns but according to Draco, the boy was an orphan whose parents were both Magical. Did Albus let you know which student Hagrid took the Diagon Alley?" Lucius asked.

"He did not send any information on who any of the staff went to go see this year," Drake said sounding a little shocked now that he mentioned it.

"That is highly suspicious," Lucius said.

"Maybe it has something to do with the Potter boy starting this year," Drake guessed.

"Oh, Merlin," Lucius said his face draining of color.

"Lucius?" Drake asked.

"An orphan whose parents were Magical and was being shown around by Hagrid. What if Albus had him get the stone while taking Potter shopping?" Lucius asked.

"Dear Merlin is correct," Drake said going pale as well. "And if it was the Potter boy, I assume if we asked about him Hagrid would deny it. Just like we have discussed during meetings he shows too much favoritism to Gryffindor he might not have told Potter that much about the other Houses. This would also explain where Potter has been all this time."

"Being raised by Muggles," Lucius finished getting a nod from Drake.

"I don't trust this Lucius," Drake said beginning to pace. "I doubt asking Hagrid or Albus will give us anything see if the bank can offer any help or at least see if Potter got his Heir rings while he was there." Before Lucius pulled his head out of the fire, Drake used his wand to send a permission form through to allow Lucius to get information from the bank about a student, within reason.

Lucius popped into Draco's room, apologizing that he could not go flying with him today as he had promised. "I did not think you had any cases I thought you took this last month off so we could hang out before I go to school?" Draco asked not whining but just wanting all the facts.

"It is not a case for my firm, but Governor's business," Lucius said. "I will be back as soon as I can."

Lucius was at the bank less than three minutes later, waiting in line for another six minutes before he reached a teller. "How may I help you today?" the Goblin teller with the nameplate of Thistleblade asked.

"Hogwarts Business," Lucius said passing over the form Drake had given him for inspection. "Yesterday Hagrid came to the bank with a student. That was highly irregular I just wanted to find out the student's identity and possibly some other information."

"What type of information?" Thistleblade asked.

"If the student is who I think it is I want to find out if he was given any family rings or whatnot," Lucius explained.

"That is reasonable," Thistleblade said as he summoned some notes. "According to our logs, Rubius Hagrid brought in young Heir Potter but only took him to his Heir Vault to pick up some money but did not have the lad meet with his Family's Account Manager."

"Do you have records of where the boy lives?" Lucius asked.

"Unfortunately just like it has been for your kind his location had been hidden from us," the Goblin said.

"The trace on his wand," Lucius said. "No, it would not be activated yet since he has not started to use it full-time. Does the bank keep track of Magical Signatures of those who visit it?"

"We might," Thistleblade said.

"Can we use the lad's signature to track him down?" Lucius asked,

"It is still being blocked," Thistleblade said shaking his head.

"Surely, not the whole way back to wherever he is living," Lucius suggested.

"Correct, it stops in a town called Little Whinging but the exact location is blocked from even our sensors," Thistleblade said.

"I can still work with this, thank you," Lucius said bowing low to expose his neck before leaving the bank.

Lucius headed to the Hogwarts Governors Manor to look through the student records. For security reasons, all Muggleborn or raised students' home addresses would only be known to the person who was set to collect them before their first year. After their first year of school, the information would be passed on to the Ministry and the bank in case they needed to send any messages to the student. Lucius flipped through all the documents, finding three pages about magical spikes in Little Whinging, one where a letter was sent for over a week, and the other two were just signs that two children in a Muggle family had started to show signs of Magic.

Getting the address from the records, Lucius Apparated at a secluded and safe place near Potter's home. While his main jobs were as a Barrister for the Ministry and one of the Hogwarts Governers, Lucius did have some skill in reading magic. He never thought this skill would be used outside of his law officer duties, but then he saw the Wards around the address for Potter. He could see instantly how the boy's location had been undiscovered all this time. There were several lays of Wards around the small two-story home, the first layer was Blood Wards that would prevent Magical Harm to the boy, but under them, there was a Ward that acted as the inverse of a Muggle Repelling Charm but rather than affecting Muggles it prevented Magicals from seeing the place. If Lucius did not know the address and held his Hogwarts cane wand-holder he did not think he would even be able to see the place. But it was the last Ward that was the worse, in Lucius' mind. The last Ward affected Muggles and would prevent anyone from reporting anything that happened inside the home. Lucius had seen similar Wards around a place where some law officers had discovered a child abuse victim.

Placing a Glamor on his robes to make them appear to be a black suit, Lucius approached the door to the home. He was about to knock on it when he saw a small boy huddled on the small porch. "Are you Harry Potter?" he asked.

"Yes, "the too-small boy said. "If you are looking for my Uncle he is not home."

"He left you outside?" Lucius asked.

"Um, we went on vacation and I got a ride home but forgot my key," Potter said.

"Was he trying to avoid your letters?" Lucius asked thinking about the records in the manor saying that Potter's Hogwarts letter had been sent continuously over a week to the address.

"Are you a Wizard?" the boy asked.

"I am, I am also one of the Governors of Hogwarts," Lucius said sitting down on the porch with the boy.

"I thought classes did not start until September," Potter said.

"That is true but due to how famous you are in your world I wanted to check in with you," Lucius said. "Now according to our records, you went to Gringotts to get some money and got your school supplies correct?"

"Yes, sir," Potter said.

"While you were at the bank did you meet with your Family's Account Manager?" Lucius asked already knowing it had not happened but also seeing if the stories that Potter had learned what he needed to know about the Magical World were true or not.

"A what?" Potter asked.

"I'll circle around to that later," Lucius said. "How many pre-Hogwarts lessons have you had?"

"Well, I did go to a normal school so I can read, write, and other stuff," Potter said.

"That is good but what about lessons in preparing potion ingredients, your family history, Magical Protocol, or government lessons?" Lucius asked.

"I have not, I am sorry," Potter said.

"Did the person who took you to get your supplies ever mention coming back to give you these lessons?" Lucius asked.

"Um, not," Potter said.

"I see," Lucius said standing up.

"Was that all?" Potter asked thinking he was about to leave.

"I am just going to write a note to your family to tell them I am taking to back to Gringotts so you can get your Family Rings," Lucius said unlocking the door and stepping inside. He did not like what he saw. Along the walls, there were numerous pictures of a Muggle family but none of them contained Potter. "Why does the door to the basement have such heavy-duty locks?" he asked Potter who had followed him inside. When Potter did not answer, Lucius looked back at him seeing the boy look ashamed doing his best not to look at the door. Lucius used some more magic to unlock the door but was horrified when he found not a stairwell into the basement but a cramped little room with a small comforter covered in what looked like old blood and piss stains. Thinking maybe one of the Muggles had gotten sick for a while and had used the comforter which had been stored until it could be tossed, Lucius turned away to look around the small room. His blood ran cold as he saw scratches onto a beam Freak's Boy's Harry's Room.

"Mr. Potter, did you sleep in here?" Lucius asked dreading the answer.

"Until the letters started to come," Potter said.

"Right change of plans, Mr. Potter please get anything you own that you want to keep I am getting you out of here," Lucius told the young boy.

"Really?" Potter asked a look of hope coming to his eyes.

"I don't know where you will go but you are not coming back here again," Lucius said placing a hand on the lad's shoulders.

"Thank you, Sir, but all that I own was the stuff I got yesterday at Diagon Alley," Potter said.

"I see," Lucius said going out onto the porch and finding the school trunk. "Is everything in the trunk or did you take any of it out?"

"I put everything but my new wand in the trunk so I could carry it easier," Potter said.  "Oh, and my new owl," he said gesturing to a cage containing a small white owl."

Lucius pulled the trunk into the front room so no passing Muggle could see him summoning a House Elf. "As we are at the bank I will have your stuff taken to my place for the time being," Lucius said calling the Malfoy Head Elf, Rimaru to take Harry's stuff to Malfoy Manor, he also gave the Elf permission to let Harry's owl out of its cage once it was at the Manor.

"What was that?" Potter asked as the Elf vanished with his trunk.

"That was a House Elf it is a special creature who lives to take care of humans in exchange for sustenance," Lucius explained. "Now I assume you went to Gringotts the Muggle way last time this time I will take you by something called Side-Along-Apparition which is like teleporting from one place to another. Now there are some powerful Wards around this place so we will need to leave this here before I can take you a long," Lucius explained as he led Potter out of the small house and back to where he had arrived one street over. Unknown to Lucius or Harry, at the very moment they Apparated away from Little Whinging the Dursleys arrived back at #4 all of them in a very foul mood.  Which would only get worse when they found that Lucius had not relocked the door, and the door to the cupboard under the stairs had been left open.  That fact that Harry was not there was the only upside, in the small family's opinion after they got home.

Harry's POV

Harry felt as if his body had been forced through a small tube as the blonde-haired governor teleported them. Rather than arrive on the street or in the Leaky Cauldron they appeared to be in a cave-like room. As if sensing Harry's confusion the Governor explained, "This is one of the receiving rooms within Gringotts for people who don't like using a Floo but can Apparate." The man then led Harry out of the room which lead right back to the room with all the Goblins sitting at their desk counting their gold and treasure. The Governor led Harry over to the line to wait for a free Goblin, the man keeping his hand on Harry's shoulder as if to prevent him from wandering around.

Once they were summoned forward to meet one of the Goblins, the Governor passed over a paper to the Goblin saying, "Hogwarts business I would like to take Heir Potter to see his Family's, Account Manager."

"Follow me," the Goblin teller said getting down off his stool and leading them to another door this one did not back to the receiving room nor did it head to the carts that Harry had ridden with Hagrid. The door opened onto a passage with countless doors lining the walls. After a nearly fifteen-minute walk, they arrived at a door that appear to be made out of some strange crystalline material that seemed to sparkle with all the colors of a rainbow. The teller knocked on the door poking its head into the room to announce their presence.

"Ah good you came back," a Goblin inside the room said as Harry and the Governor entered it. "I was afraid I would have to wait to send you a letter while you were at school or when you came to get your supplies for next year."

"Sorry," Harry said.

"You came back that is the important part," the Goblin said. "Now for some introduction since you have been gone so long you most likely will not recall meeting me before. I am Bonecrusher and I have run your families' accounts for four generations after taking them over from my father," Bonecrusher said.

"Hello," Harry said not sure what he should say.

"And Lord Malfoy I thank you for bringing my client back to the bank," the Goblin said looking over at the blonde man.

"My pleasure I just wanted to make sure Heir Potter got a full reintroduction to our world and hearing Hagrid was the one to bring him in I visited to see how it went," Lord Malfoy said.

"Very good," Bonecrusher said shifting his gaze back to Harry. "Now I managed your families' accounts including when your parents got married I had the proper Family Rings gathered yesterday when you first entered the bank." Bonecrusher pulled out a long box from a drawer in his desk turning it to face Harry before he opened it up revealing a set of rings. "These rings are your Family Rings from left to right we have the Peverll, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and finally Potter rings. At the end, there is also the Slytherin Lordship Ring which might be yours due to the possibility of when the human who killed your parents being vanquished by you might have activated in what is referred to as a Rite of Conquest. Heir Potter, are you under any potions?"

"Not that I know of," Harry said.

"Sorry just have to ask for old family rings like these tend to have protections in place so that if one is under any sort of enchantment or has potions in their system even if it is a health potion they will be removed from your system and a list will appear to know what you have been exposed to," Bonecrusher explained.

"Is that likely since he has been in the Muggle World since his parents' deaths?" Lord Malfoy said.

"It is highly unlikely but I am not sure how the rings will act if he is taking any Muggle Medicine," Bonecrusher said as he lifted the Peverll ring out of the box and handed it to Harry.

Harry took the Peverll ring and slipped it onto his left ring finger feeling a small tingle as he did so. As he slipped on each ring the tingle grew more intense until he slipped on the Slytherin Lordship Ring, then it felt as if his head was about to explode. Placing his hands on the side of his head Harry gave a loud scream of pain before passing out. Bonecrusher and Lucius could only look on in horror as black goo started to pour from Harry's ears, nose, and mouth a sign that he had been under some enchantments which he had not been aware of as his Rings worked together to cleanse his body. What was worse, however, was around the famous Lightning Bolt scar black goo which appear to have the consistency of tar began to leak out of the scar drenching Harry's forehead and bangs in the stuff before it appear to solidify.

Lucius' first instinct was to summon his wife to see if Potter was alright but Bonecrusher beat him to it as he summoned some Goblin healers to the room. The team arrived so fast that Lucius wondered if they had Apparated right into the room. Bonecrusher ordered the group of Healers to deal with what was happening to Harry before turning to Lucius. "Thank you for bringing, my client in we shall take it from here."

While it was a dismissal, Lucius did not leave his seat. "When I went to check on Heir Potter I found his living conditions rather troublesome so until I can find a better place for him I have taken his stuff to my manor. Also, I know this is not your thing, but besides bringing Heir Potter to the bank and taking the stone, Hagrid was meant to relay a message from the Governors for the Goblins to come to Hogwarts to strengthen the castle's Wards since the stone will be stored there. I have a feeling Hagrid might have forgotten to pass that message on hence why I am giving it."

"I will let our team know," Bonecrusher said. "And since you have taken, Heir Potter in for a while you can wait for the Healers to be done in the waiting room. Seven doors down and on the right."

"Thank you," Lucius said as he finally left his seat and hurried out of the room.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts

Albus congratulated himself as Hagrid dropped off the stone in his office and shared that he had made sure Harry had been told the right things about Hogwarts. From the reports he got from Arabella, the boy's family had treated Harry like shit so the kindness that Hagrid and Albus would give the boy would ensure he followed their direction just to make them proud of him. But since neither he nor Hagrid could be around him full-time, Albus had already found some incoming students who could lead Harry in the right direction. First off there was the youngest son of Molly and Arthur Weasley who had always supported him but had not joined the Order during the last war due to how young their kids had been.

Having met the young boy, Albus knew instantly the child would be good for Harry not only would the boy become jealous if Harry used too much money something that would prevent Harry from discovering that Albus was stealing from the brat's accounts. Ron was also lazy and had the same temper as his mother so might throw a fit if things did not go his way which could be useful to make sure Harry stayed ignorant about the Magical World.

Molly and Arhtur's daughter might also prove to be useful as well with the right potions added to the spells and potions he already had the boy under. If he could force Harry to fall in love with Ginevera Weasley, who was her mother in miniature, it would give Albus another way to control the boy later on. And by writing up a Marriage Contract between the pair, Albus could ensure that Ginny got everything from Harry even if he did manage to survive his encounter with Voldemort when he returned. And since the Wealseys were all loyal to Albus he could be appointed to run Harry's accounts and control his family seats, as long as he passed over some money to the family from time to time. And since they were all focused on Harry being a Potter they had no idea how much money was in his other family accounts so he could get away with paying them even 10,000 Galleons a year which was not even one percent of the total money Harry's family held in its Vaults.

Apart from the two youngest Weasely children, Albus had found the year before a young Muggleborn girl who could play a large part in his plans for Harry. One of his contacts in the Ministry brought the girl to his attention. According to the psych profile of the girl, the Ministry was on the fence about letting her join the magical world.  One of the agents who had tested the girl thought it was best to give her a magic dampening cuff and use memory charms on her to let her live her life as a Muggle. Albus had used his position as Chief Warlock to meet the girl. He had been rather impressed with the young Hermione Granger, she had spunk but also looked like she would be good at following orders. According to her parents, the girl had a photographic memory of any book she had ever read, so Albus tested it by taking one of the books on a shelf in the home and turning it to a random page. Given the page number and what paragraph, Hermione was able to recite word for word what was written in the book.

Hermione was so sure of her intelligence and Albus was able to play on that belief as he continued to tell her she could easily be the Smartest Witch of her age. Both the girl and her parents drank in his lies as he told her that he would need her help in making sure Harry would learn properly about the Magical World. Pretending to have a coughing fit he asked the girl's parents for a drink. As soon as he and Hermione were alone, Albus told her that he actually wanted Harry to remain ignorant of the Magical World and that if she could help him with that task he would pay her back in books about all sorts of lost magic. These books would solidify her as the Smartest Witch of her age since no one else would know about them. Seeing her hungry expression at the thought of all that lost knowledge settled it for Albus as he agreed to send her a few books before she started Hogwarts.

Among the books, he had sent her were some that related to Harry so she could get to know him better. He actually had to take some of Arabelles' notes and use magic to turn them into a book so Hermione would read them. He did find that there was a small downside to Hermione's love of rules.  Hermione would absolutely refuse to break them so had not read the notes on Harry until he had used a spell to transform them into the book. With Hagrid, Ronald, Ginievra, Hermione, and himself, Albus was sure they could manipulate Harry to follow the plan Albus had set out for the boy.

Before he took the stone, Hagrid had gotten for him down to the chamber for its "protection," Albus cast a spell on it creating a duplicate stone at least in appearance. Even with all his magic and the Elder Wand, he could not recreate the magical properties of the Philosopher's Stone. Albus then had the portrait of Phienus Nigelus Black open up to put the real stone in the Headmaster's Private Study before setting the copy aside to place in the Mirror of Erised after he allowed Harry to see it. Now wanting his staff to know what protection he was going to use for the stone, Albus went down to the protection chamber placing a fake challenge as a placeholder. As he set up the fake challenge which included a bookcase of magical tomes which would open up to different scenes and only one of which would be used to "protect the stone" Albus dropped one of the books right on his foot. While he felt the sharp jab of pain in his foot he was more concerned with what he felt in his magic. The Wards around where he stashed Potter had just broken.

As Albus left the protection chambers, using a back way so he could avoid the other traps that had been in place all he could think about was the Dursleys killing Harry after Hagrid brought him back. He wished he had put in his letter to them that the boy had to stay alive at least until he faced Voldemort rather than getting into Hogwarts. He knew from Arabella's letter the Muggle family had hurt Harry over the years but never got close to killing the boy all thanks to the spell he placed on the letter making sure they let the boy live there and did not kill him. But now that Harry was coming to Hogwarts the enchantments placed on them might have ended letting Petunia have her revenge by killing her nephew.

As if Magic had the plan to spite Albus, the moment he left the castle a contingent of Goblins arrived. Using a writ of duty from the Hogwarts Governors the Goblins were given permission to access the Ward Stone and began to improve the Wards. As it had been almost thirty years since the Goblins had access to the castle's Wards they not only increase their power but also fixed them from all the "improvements" Albus had made over the years. The Wards would now detect the presence of Love, Compulsion, and Lust Potions within the castle before neutralizing them. All "Dark Artifacts" were removed and sent to either the Ministry or Gringotrs in case Albus had stolen them from someone's vault. If Albus had placed enchantments on the artifacts he had stolen they would be cleansed before getting returned to their proper owners.  The dorm rooms within the castle would no longer allow a member of the opposite sex into them no matter the relationship with the person inside. In each Common Room, and Head of House's office a magical sensor was placed so that if a student was harmed or had magic cast on them outside of a classroom it would be logged. This addition was put in place after the Goblins had found a spell of a similar nature in use by Slytherin House.

While they were only working on the Wards and could not change the staff at the school the Goblins, at the request of the Governors, put spells in place to see how much time each member of staff was doing their job or in the case of Albus, the Heads of House, and Hagrid jobs. If the Governors saw that the staff was not spending enough time on their duties they would get involved with first a warning but if it continued to happen either fire the staff member in question or if the person held multiple jobs removed some of the jobs so the person could better focus on their work.

When Albus got back from the Dursleys he was annoyed. It turned out they had not killed the boy after all, but the brat was missing. He wanted to curse Hagrid for this oversight after all the man had left the only means back from the island at the shore leaving the Muggles trapped. It had taken almost a full day for the person they had rented the shack from to go to the island thus freeing them. By the time the Dursleys had arrived home, the boy was nowhere to be seen, and even Arabella did not know what had become of him.

However, when Albus reached his office and was about to summon Hagird to him to lay into the Half-Gaint for his mistake he froze in place. His bookshelves were nearly empty. All that was left on them were the recent volumes of books that the students used for their classes, and the hundred phone books he had on his shelves with fake covers to make the shelves look fuller than they really were. Not knowing what was going on, and thinking Peeves or someone was pulling a prank on him Albus tried to go to the Headmaster's Private study but Phineus' Portrait would not open up. He could not ask the old Headmaster for he had long since cast a spell on all the portraits to make them unaware which of them guarded the door to his workshop. His first thought was that Hagrid had mentioned to the Goblins the Governor's plan to increase the Wards with the stone being at the castle before he quickly dismissed it for Hagrid would have told him if he had talked to the Goblins about the Wards.

Gringotts

The Goblin Healers had no idea what they were dealing with as they looked over the Potter Heir. Sure the black goo that had come out of the human's eyes nose, and ears was standard when the combined Family Rings performed a Cleansing on a person, but the tar-like substance that had come out of the boy's forehead confused them all. They had tried to wipe it away, as they did with the Black Goo to find out what the cause of it was, but the tar could not be moved. Not even a tiny bit could be taken to be analyzed to see what was going on.

The Black Goo, on the other hand, could which allowed the Goblins to see that the boy had been enchanted so his eyesight was as bad as it could possibly get, apart for some reason when he was on a broomstick. His Core had been blocked by almost sixty percent making them glad they had discovered it when he was so young and had not used magic all that much so there would be no rebound effect on him. He had been dosed with potions to make him loyal to Albus Dumbledore, subservient to his Muggle family, and not to report any abuse that had been done to him.

The tar seeping out of his forehead gave them nothing, and not even their Loremaster, Cracknector, knew what was going on. All the Goblin Healers could do was watch as the tar poured out of the scar causing the human endless pain even when he was rendered unconscious, at least by the look on his face. They did notice that even though more tar kept pouring out of the human it did not drip or move beyond the boy's forehead but built itself up. After nearly an hour the team noticed that the tar started to change its shape a little so rather than a cylinder shape some sharp edges began to form along some of its sides. Finally, after three hours Harry's scar stopped releasing the tar-like substance letting the Healers breathe out a sigh of relief. Healer Silverwing tried to remove the tar from the boy's head since it had stopped but the item still did not budge.

They all agreed that until the object could be removed they would not wake the boy up. As they placed the boy under observation the tar object continued to shift its form as more edges appeared on it making it look less like tar and more akin to a pitch-black crystal of the Black Cat-Eye Scapolite variety. This comparison became more abundant when they noticed a small light appearing in the center of the crystal. As the light appears the crystal tumbles off the human's head and fell onto the bed. Silverwing immediately cast protective spells on his hands as he lifted up the crystal finding it weighed more than it should have due to its size and felt a little warm.

Now that it was away from the boy's head and its shape had solidified, Silverwing took the strange crystal to Cracknector to see if the Loremaster could determine what it was now. Almost as soon as Silverwing placed the crystal on the Loremaster's desk the old Goblin muttered a curse, "Dear Veles."

"What is it Loremaster?" Silverwing asked.

"It is a Soul Cyrstal," Cracknector said, "but I have never seen one so dark before."

"A Soul Crystal does that mean that the Potter Heir lost his Soul?" Silverwing asked.

"No, no, no he is young there is nothing he could have done that would have tainted his Soul that it would appear like this. And even if the boy we see is actually a resurrected person who had such a tainted soul his current Family Rings would not have exorcised it," Cracknector explained. "No this is somehow an invading Soul that had been connected to the human so let's see who it belongs to," Cracknector spoke in an ancient dialect of Gobblygook so old that Silverwing did not recognize it as the old Goblin waved his hands over the black crystal. "Now that is unique."

"What is?" Silverwing asked.

"This is the crystalline form of a Horcrux without a vessel. No wonder we did not know what it was," Cracknactor said.

"I don't get it?" Silverwing asked.

"As far as I know there has never been any record of a Horcrux being bonded to a living being," Cracknactor said twirling his small beard for a moment. "It might be a good idea to give the boy a full cleanse."

"But his Family Rings just gave him one," Silverwing said confused.

"As I just said there has never been any record of a Horcrux connected to something living. Who knows what it might have done to him that even the oldest Family Rings could not detect," Cracknactor explained.

"Thank makes sense and I am sure the Prince will agree with the precaution for his client," Silverwing said using his Mate's title rather than his name since it he was at work.

"There is also something troubling about this Soul Stone," Cracknactor said as Silverwing started to leave his seat.

"What?" the Goblin Healer said.

"As you might know a Horcrux is a part of someone's Soul, but this soul fragment is very small," the Loremaster pointed out.

"So?" Silverwing asked.

"The actual soul fragment in this crystal is that small point of light the rest of the crystal is nothing but taint. If this was the only Horcrux that the person created the soul fragment would be bigger and the taint would be smaller," Cracknactor explained.

"What does that mean?" Silverwing asked.

"Whoever this soul fragment originated from has created multiple Horcruxes and that is not good at all for themselves, those around them, and Magic in general," Cracknactor said.

Chapter Text

"So who does this Soul Fragment originate from?" Silverwing asked.

"Unfortunately there is no way to tell the identity of a person from a Soul Fragment, but I have a theory," Cracknactor said twirling his beard around his fingers again.

"And that is?" Silverwing prompted.

"You say this fragment poured out of the lightning bolt scar of Heir Potter?" the Loremaster asked getting a nod of confirmation from the Healer. "Then in my opinion there is only one person this fragment could come from.  The man the humans call Lord Voldemort or Tom Marvolo Riddle as we know him here."

"You said that there might be more Soul Fragments out there belonging to this human would there be any way to trace them?" Silverwing asked.

"There might be," Cracknactor said getting out of his seat and moving to the bookcases lining his walls as he began to grab books at random and flip through them looking for a ritual or spell he had once read about.

Up in the Gringotts Hall of Healing Silverwing's assistant Healer received a notice from her boss to have Heir Potter undertake a secondary Cleansing by order of the Loremaster. As she had no reason not to follow her boss's strange order she had got in contact with some other Healers and some Curse Breakers to perform a Cleansing on the small boy. Due to how famous the Human was before any of the Human Curse Breakers laid eyes on him she covered Heir Potter's body up knowing that if she placed any spell on him to hide the boy's identity it would be removed during the Cleansing ritual.

"Ah, here it is," Cracknactor said in triumph as he pulled down an old dusty book that was nearly two feet thick and placed it on his desk, making sure not to knock over the Soul Fragment.

"This book has a ritual that will allow us to track other fragments?" Silverwing asked just for clarification.

"Yes, but there is one small issue with the ritual involved it only works on the building it is cast in so if by chance there are other fragments here at Gringotts we would be able to find them, but if they are stored somewhere else all we would get is the number of fragments that had been created," Cracknactor said as he opened the book with a small thud to the ritual they would need to perform. The Loremaster did not have any talent in rituals so he quickly wrote down what items would be needed for the Gringotts Ritualist to gather for the procedure.

Five minutes later the Loremaster, after being convicted by Silverwing, was seated in a viewing gallery of a ritual chamber as a team got ready to perform the locator ritual. Cracknactor feeling better with facts and lore began to explain the aspects of the ritual as they happened to the Chief Healer of the branch. "They will start by casting a modified detection spell on the fragment as a means to find the Magical Signature of the soul trapped inside. Now unlike normal detection spells of this nature, they will be unable to identify the signature in the fragment which is why I gave you my theory of who it belonged to," Cracknactor explained.

"They seem rather excited," Silverwing commented as the group of Ritualists below started gesturing wildly before more Goblins were summoned into the room. Both the Healer and Loremaster arched an eyebrow as the newcomers talked with the original team before the two teams began to perform the ritual. "Does this mean there was more than one soul in that fragment?" Silverwing asked.

"If so that is really bad," Cracknactor said his normally dark-gray skin going pale.

"Why?" Silverwing asked him

"Due to how little light we saw in the crystal which is the representative of the person's soul that might mean that only a small portion of one person's soul got trapped by the tainted soul of another. If this fragment was created as I theorize from Tom Marvolo Riddle and had been in Heir Potter this might be a sign of very old magic in play." Before the Healer could ask Cracknactor continued, "There is an old ritual/spell/enchantment which was widely used by parents during the Witch Hunts. If a parent died to protect their kid, the child would be protected by the killer. This protection is so powerful that if the killer tried to touch the child their flesh would burn and if they tried to use magic or Muggle means to cause harm the child would be protected and be able to protect themselves by casting spells that have long since been lost."

"What does this mean for the fragment we collected from Heir Potter?" Silverwing asked.

"My guess is that one ritual will fail for I doubt either of Heir Potter's parents created a Soul Fragments," Cracknactor said as one group of Ritualists stood up shaking their heads at being unable to find anything. Though that could also be the group looking into Riddle's Magical Signature since they would only be able to find similar Soul Fragments if they were at the bank. However, the other group got excited as a roll of parchment appear within their Ritual circle. The head Ritualst of the group grabbed the roll and opened it and sent a member of his team to get the fragment located at the bank. Once more Cracknactor and Silverwing arched an eyebrow as the Ritualist sent out not one but two members of his team to collect the fragments inside the bank.

As Lucius waited to hear back from the Goblin Healers about Heir Potter he sent a quick message to Drake to explain what had happened as well as informing the Head of the Hogwarts Governors that he would be bringing Harry to Malfoy Manor since he was both a member of the Board but with his wife, Narcissa, being a Healer she could help him with any medical issue the boy might have. After he sent the Owl from the Diagon Alley Post Office and returned to the bank he was informed Potter was still being healed.  Lucius asked to meet with Potter's Account Manager again. "What can I do for you now, Lord Malfoy?" Bonecrusher asked in a slightly more aggravated voice than last time making Lucius guess he was worried about his client.

"I would like to ask for permission to go through Heir Potter's trunk," Lucius asked.

"The same trunk you informed me that you had already sent to your manor? May I ask why you wish to go through my client's personal belongings?" Bonecrusher asked leaning forward and scowling at him.

Trying not to flinch or look scared knowing that if he worded this wrong he could face Goblin Justice, Lucius gulped a little and said, "As the trunk is the only thing your client wanted to bring with him when I took him from where he had been staying was only filled with his Hogwarts School supplies I want to make sure he has everything."

"Why do you think he would not have everything?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Well, since Albus had Hagrid bring him to the bank and shopping they might have made sure some things were left off your client's school list, after all, Hagrid did not bring Harry in to meet with you while they were here earlier," Lucius pointed out.

"That is a fair point, Lord Malfoy. I will allow it on one condition," Bonecrusher said.

"And that condition is?" Lucius asked guessing what it would be.

"You may look through his belongings here in my office so I can make sure you are not up to anything," Bonecrusher said.

"Agreed," Lucius said as he called for Rimaru to bring Harry's trunk back so he and Bonecrusher could go through it.

Lucius quickly found that Potter was missing several books that Hogwarts put on the list for Muggleborn or Muggleraised students to help them better understand the Magical World. He did not think this would be a problem for if he got permission from Drake, Lucius planned on having Harry stay at the manor so he could help the boy get ready for school. But as it had only been Draco's comment about running into Potter at the robe shop that had led Lucius to look into the matter the lack of books was disconcerting especially as Potter had told him he had no Pre-Hogwarts lessons planned before classes were to start. "Are there any books in his vaults dealing with his family's history?" Lucius asked Bonecrusher.

Looking over a small ledger, Bonecrusher nodded, "There are a few."

"Can I get some to add to his trunk? Heir Potter deserves to know about his family and I don't trust some of the books that have been published about them since they come from the same publisher which printed those ridiculous Harry Potter Adventure Stories," Lucius said.

"Another good point," Bonecrusher said writing up a list of books for a Cartdriver to bring up from the Potter, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Peverll vaults. He made sure to specify not to bring up any family Grimoirs due to the age of his client.

As Cartdriver Griphook reached the Ravenclaw family artifact vault he was surprised to find it already open. After someone tried to break into the vault that the stone had been kept in yesterday, Griphook was taking no chances as he grabbed his ax from under the wheel and approached the open door. He nearly ran into Ritualst Blazeseed.

"What in Stone are you doing here?" Griphook asked tightening his grip on his ax.

"What are you doing?" Blazeseed asked back.

"I asked you first and am here on Prince Bonecrusher's orders," Griphook said glowering at the Ritualist.

"Well, I am here under orders from Head Ritualist Odinsphere backed up by Loremaster Cracknactor and Head Healer Silverwing," Blazeseed shot back.

"They gave you permission to take a family treasure from Ravenclaws' Vaults?" Griphook said still glowering at the other Goblin.

"Magic did when we performed a ritual and it gave us this scroll," Blazeseed said holding out the scroll showing a detection grid to two artifacts. "This led me to collect this Diadem as well as a Goblet with the Hufflepuff family crest which was strangely located in the Lestrange family vaults."

"Well, I am collecting books on family history for the Prince's client," Griphook said pushing past the other Goblin to collect the Ravenclaw family book.

"Alright then," Blazeseed said as he made his way over to his cart. "Since you are reporting to the Prince can you pass on what I told you about Huffelpuff's Goblet being found in the Lestrange Vaults?"

"I guess," Griphook said a little grumpily at being ordered around by the Ritualist, not that he would not report to the Prince about it for if the goblet had been in the wrong vault it might be a sign that something else was going on or at least that it was time for a branch-wide audit of the vaults.

As Blazeseed returned to the Ritual Room Cracknactor and Silverwing observed the two teams of Goblin Ritualists work to remove Soul Fragments from both objects. Once the fragments were removed from the pair of family treasures were returned to their proper vaults. The Diadem was sent back to the Ravenclaw treasure vault while the Hufflepuff Goblet was sent to the Lovegood vault since the rest of the family had died out due to an internal struggle nearly fifty years before after the goblet had gone missing. Most of the family had died except Sol Jones and her daughter Pandora. Pandora had married Xenophilus Lovegood shortly before Sol had passed on. And while Pandora was now also dead the Goblet as well as the Hufflepuff Heirship now was in the hands of Pandora's daughter, Luna Lovegood.

Loremaster Cracknactor was called down to collect the now three Soul Fragments. The old Goblin did not want to destroy them just yet for according to the ritual there were three other fragments out there somewhere not to mention what was left of Riddle's soul. Cracknactor hoped to perform some more research to see if there was a way to use the three fragments they had gathered already to boost a locator ritual to find the other four parts of Riddle's Soul.

Upon hearing what Ritualist Blazeseed had informed Cartdriver Griphook about Hufflepuff's Goblet being stored in the Lestrange Vaults, Bonecrusher sent a message to Bankmanager Ragnok. Leaving Lord Malfoy to store the family books for his client in the boy's trunk, Bonecrusher informed Ragnok what he had been told. Ragnok agreed to a full bank audit, he had been thinking of it since someone tried to break into the vault where the Philosopher's Stone had been held but had been on the fence about it. Hearing about a family treasure being kept in a vault of a family that had no connection to it decided it for the old man who sent word to Bonecrusher's father, Bonebreaker, to request an Audit team to come to their bank for a full audit.

By the time the Audit team arrived at the Diagon Alley Branch, Bonecrusher, and Lucius were allowed into the Halls of Healing as Silverwing was back from his meeting with Cracknactor and Harry had returned from his secondary Cleansing. Silverwing finally removed the spell on Harry which had kept him unconscious, such a spell was never removed during a Goblin Cleansing due to how much pain a person might be in to require one. Harry slowly blinked his eyes wincing a little at the dim light above his head as he placed a hand on his face. "WHAT?" Harry cried out.

"Is everything alright Heir Potter?" Silverwing asked in a worried voice fearing that something had gone wrong.

"My glasses are gone but I saw that bright light in the stone ceiling as clear as day," Harry said his voice somewhat muffled by his arm.

"Ah, I see your issue," Silverwing said gently to him using a wave of his hand to dim the light even more. "One of the enchantments you had been under messed up your vision which had been cleared by your Family Rings. During a Goblin Cleansing, you have just returned from, we were able to fix your eyes a little. So unless you are like your father whose eyes seemed to change yearly I don't see you needing to wear glasses again."

"Cool," Harry said thinking that his cousin liked to punch him in the nose to break his glasses, Harry guessed Dudley hoped he would break the glass and damage Harry's eyes, so not having them anymore Harry did not have to worry about that from happening.

"Yes, cool indeed," Silverwing said with a small chuckle. "Now there is some bad news, Heir Potter."

"What is it?" Harry said not sounding worried but his voice took on a tone that made it clear he was used to receiving bad news.

"Due to your body going through two cleansing right after another you are extremely weak so I am confining you to a bed for a week," Silverwing said.

"But," Harry began only to stop himself and give a small sigh, "I understand."

"I am still taking you back to my manor, Heir Potter," Lucius said making Harry open his fingers a little to look over at him. "Don't worry my wife is a Healer what the Muggles would call a Doctor so she can make sure you are alright. And as you are there I can help you learn about the Magical World and even your own family."

"Thank you, Sir... um, Lord Malfoy... Governor," Harry said.

"Lucius will be fine Harry," Lucius told him.

With a small cough, the Goblin Healer regained Harry's attention. "Now as a means to make your trip to Lord Malfoy's home quick and easy rather than having him carry you to a fireplace to Floo you from the bank we have arranged a Portkey to take you right to the bedroom he has set up for you in his manor," Silverwing said pulling out what looked like a Muggle coin and handing it over to Harry. Harry looked down at it but before he could see the face on the coin Lucius placed a finger over it and Harry felt a small lurched around his navel as if he was an old performer who was yanked off the stage by a cane for doing a bad job.

Harry felt disoriented for a bit as the jerking feeling faded as he found himself in bed. This was a different one than he had been in the bed before the jerk had felt too small for even him, while this bed was ginormous as was the room it was in. "Harry, allow me to introduce my wife Narcissa Malfoy," Lucius said as his wife came forward to greet him. Whatever she was about to say died on her lips as she saw Harry start to hyperventilate. Narcissa acted on her training as she pulled out her wand to cast a detection spell on Harry to see what was wrong with him. As her wand started to print out any medical conditions he had, since his two cleanses only worked to fix the Magical Damage done to him, Lucius smacked his forehead as he realized what was wrong. For the majority of his life, the young boy's bedroom had been a small area under a staircase that was smaller than even one of the broom closets the House Elves had stored their supplies. Now he was in a room that was almost as large as the whole downstairs of the place Lucius had found him at. Without thinking Lucius pulled out his wand and used a levitation charm on the bed and headed toward the door.

"Lucius what are you doing?" his wife asked.

Lucius ignored her as he called for Rimaru. "Rimaru what is the smallest available room we have in the manor at this time?" Lucius asked.

"I believe it is your father's old office," the Head Malfoy Elf answered.

"Thanks," Lucius said as he began to float Harry's bed out of the family wing of his manor moving through the Peacock Wing and over to where his father had his office set up in the Tulip Wing. The trip took maybe thirty minutes and by that time Harry was no longer hyperventilating he looked a little green as if he was seasick riding the floating bed.

"Sorry about that, Harry," Lucius said having Rimaru get the boy a healing potion. Is this room better for you?"

"Yes, Sir," Harry said slipping back into his normal response as he drank the potion the strange little man had given him feeling embarrassed that he had caused the blonde-haired man to have to deal with Harry's personal issues.

"I apologize for my mistake Harry," Lucius said shocking the young boy who had never had an adult admit to making a mistake to him let alone apologize for it.

"It is quite alright, Sir," Harry said hastily nearly dropping the drink half-finished onto the clean bed he was using.

"I told you Harry you are free to call me Lucius, or if that is too much for you I do have an old friend that refers to me as Luci," Lucius said which the boy seemed to find funny as he let out a small giggle before slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Sorry, sir," Harry said blushing in embarrassment.

"It is alright Harry, you found it funny there is no reason not to laugh. My old friend did when he came up with the nickname," Lucius said kindly as he patted Harry's knee. "I am going to go talk to my wife for a moment. I think I am going to have to explain my actions to her and get an earful about it," he said smiling down at Harry. "Now as you heard the Goblin Healer wants you to stay in bed so if you need anything just call for one of the House Elves. Rimaru is our Head Elf so call for him first. After he meets you he will assign you an Elf which he will introduce you to so you can call them later when you need to," Lucius explained as he left Harry and went out into the hallway.

Lucius was not shocked to find Narcissa outside waiting for him. "Lucius we need to talk," she said without preamble but not in the annoyed tone he was expecting.

"Sorry about that Love, but I think Harry has Ballroom Syndrome his old bedroom was.." Lucius said as his wife thrust the results of her spell into his face.

"Look at this," she told him. Lucius could only gulp in shock and anger seeing some of the stuff that Harry's family had done to the young boy over the years. It had to be them for the first items on the results were normal bumps and bruises a child just starting to crawl and walk would give and were followed by the damages being taken care of. But then starting after an item where Harry was left outside for nearly six hours in the cold on November 1st with a notation of his magic keeping him alive, the damages done to the boy were never dealt with. "No wonder the Goblin Healer wanted him to stay in bed. I am going to have to call Sev to see if he has time to brew me some potions. I assume we don't want to let anyone know he is staying with us?" she asked her husband.

"I doubt he will have time with Hogwarts starting in a month. Let me check with some contacts within the Ministry. I also think we should get Delours involved so she can go about pressing charges against those responsible for doing this," Lucius said doing his best to keep calm and not crush the results of his wife's spell in his fist.

Gringotts

Bonecrusher was lived. As the bank-wide audit had come from him they had started by looking at all the vaults belonging to his Client. Bonecrusher wanted to take up his crossbow and shot someone, somehow someone was removing funds from his Client's vault without him being aware of them along with several treasures. But what was worse was that the Wills of James and Lily were missing as well. Though that did explain why he did not recall the Ministry asking about them after his Client's parents had died. Once the Wills were found, Bonecrusher vowed to go over them both with a fine-toothed comb to make sure that they had been followed just in case the Potter had submitted another set to the Ministry before they died.

Chapter Text

Harry had an interesting time, though he was confined to the bed, at Malfoy Manor. Lucius and his wife were very nice and kind to him, unlike his Aunt and Uncle. The first time Narcissa had come with some food she had shown him a small bottle of brown liquid that looked rather like Chocolate Milk. "This, Harry, is a nutrition potion. According to the scan I took of you when you first arrived you are suffering from some malnutrition. Taking one of these potions with each meal for a while will fix your stomach and make you able to eat more. For the moment all I can offer you is this," she said pulling off the lid over a plate of food. Harry's eyes bulged for he had never been given so much food in his life that he could recall. There were two pieces of French toast, a bowl of butterscotch pudding, and a glass of milk."

"That is a feast," Harry said missing the sad look that came to her face.

"With this potion, your stomach will be able to handle different foods as well as greater amounts," she said handing over the potion bottle. Harry drank it down in one gulp having heard Dudley complain how bad medicine tasted but to his shock, the potion did not have a bad taste but was very creamy, and while he had never eaten any before brought to mind a mound of mashed potatoes and some gravy.

The Malfoys did not just worry about his health and well-being, which was a bizarre concept to Harry, but also spent some time teaching him about the Magical World. Lucius spent hours with him going over some of the books about Harry's Magical Family members but also general magical history. Narcissa helped him go over some lessons in Latin which she said was the root language of the majority of spells he would learn at Hogwarts. Even the blonde boy Harry had met in Madam Malkin's Robe shop who turned out to be Lucius's son came around to help him. Draco would spend time talking about Magical holidays but also something called Quib-itch or something Harry could not tell due to how excited and fast Draco got when talking about the Magical sport. All three of the Malfoys said that when he was able to get out of his bed they would also teach him other stuff like the Ministry and how the Magical community on the island was governed.

Harry even got lessons from the strange little men that he was told were called Houser Elves. While the Dursleys hated everything to do with anything out of the ordinary, they could not stop all fantasy from reaching Harry who had read some stories at school. So rather than the Elves from the Muggle stories the House Elves looked a little strange. Rather than the tall, lean, ethereal beings described in many of the books he had read in class the House Elves were short barely reaching Lucius's waist, and wore very little clothing. All the Elves Harry had seen at the manor wore togas with a crest on their right shoulder. Lucius told him the crest was the Malfoy Family Coat-of-Arms. Granted Harry had only met two of the Malfoy family's House Elves, Rimarue and the Elf that had been assigned to him, Bilbo. Recalling the name from his Muggle classes he asked the Elf about the first time they met. "Like the character from The Hobbit?"

"Very good young Master," Bilbo said he would always call Harry "Master" no matter how much Harry asked him to stop. "Young Master Draco gave Bilbo his name after Mistress Nacrissa read to him The Hobbit as a young Humanling," Bilbo said.

"So what do Hose Elves do?" Harry asked.

"We take care of humans and other beings who can touch magic. Apart from other Elves," Bilbo said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Elves are creatures of Magic and are sustained by Magic. Long ago we looked quite different but then came the pollution that damaged the world," Biblo said.

"So because of the Industrial Revolution, you changed?" Harry asked.

"No, the pollution happened long before that, though that did hurt us as well. The pollution I speak of that damaged my kind came through the magic of the world. Long ago there was a pure balance between Light, Gray, and Dark Magic but then one person decided that their type of magic was better than the rest. They declared themselves the Gray Lord and destroyed the balance. While they were defeated the balance was never restored leaving us Elves as a shell of our former selves. Some of my kind see it as a punishment from Lady Magic for failing at our responsibility to maintain the balance."

"Do you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know I am just an Elfling myself and the others are still training me in the way of the world much like you and young Master Draco will have when you go to Hogwarts," Bilbo said.

"So you serve humans and others as a way to make up for not maintaining the balance as well?" Harry asked.

"No," Bilbo said shaking his head and making his ears flap a little against his grayish-brown head. "You mentioned the Industrial Revolution earlier. The pollution to magic out of balance made us look as we are, but the Industrial Revolution and the pollution it caused led to the world becoming poisonous to us. So as a means to survive, we bound ourselves to humans and other creatures and filter the World's Magic through them.

"Like a living coffee filter," Harry said.

"Um, sure," Bilbo said though he had no idea what that was.

On his third day at Malfoy Manor, Lucius came in to see Harry. "What are we talking about today?" Harry asked him.

"Nothing," Lucius said coming over and perching on the edge of Harry's bed.

"Nothing?" Harry asked confused, "Surely I don't know all I need to know before going to Hogwarts already it has only been two days?"

"Today, Harry I brought someone I work with who would like to talk to you about your time at your relative's house is that alright," Lucius asked.

Before he had been cleansed of the enchantment on him that prevented him from talking about his family Harry would have instantly answered no but since it was gone he asked, "What do they want to know?"

"As a lawyer, I have worked with her on several child abuse cases so she just wants to find out what had been done to you so she can build a case against your aunt and uncle," Lucius explained. "But the choice to meet with her is up to you," Lucius said patting Harry's knee under the covers.

"I will talk to her," Harry said for he wanted to make sure that he never had to go back to #4 ever again or let his Aunt and Uncle get off scot-free for what he had to endure living there.

"I will send her in. Also, word of warning don't laugh at how her body does not match her voice," Lucius said getting up with a wink at Harry as he left the room.

A few minutes later a squat woman dressed all in pink apart from a large black bow entered the room. "Hello Heir Potter, I am Dolores Jane Umbridge," she said in a very girlish voice which did sound strange since apart from the color pink she looked like a toad.

"Hello Lady Umbridge," Harry said adjusting himself in the bed to shake her hand.

"I am glad you agreed to talk about what happened to you at your relative's house," she said shaking his hand with her stubby fingers most of which had rings on them. "Now I must ask you Heir Potter do you know what a lie is?"

With the girlish voice and question it almost seemed like she was making fun of him. "Of course I do, I am eleven," Harry said with a small glare at her.

"I mean you no disrespect, Heir Potter, but I have found that in some cases of child abuse, the child sometimes reverts to younger mannerisms and mental ability," she said opening up her handbag and pulling out a couple of things. "Now the reason I asked if you know what a lie is is because I use something called a Confession Quill. Lucius said you have been to Gringgots and had some work done so I am not sure if you have come across a Blood Quill yet?" she asked arching an eyebrow at him.

"I don't think I have," he said.

"Well, a Blood Quill is used to sign legal documents for the bank, but a Confession Quill is to used to make a written vow of one's sincerity or being truthful in what is on a document," Umbridge said holding out a black quill with an extremely sharp point. "I will also be using this," she said holding up a second quill which was pink with a small pink puff rather than a feather on the end of it. "This is a Dictation Quill which I will tie to you so it will write down everything about your time at your aunt and uncle's place. But this is the piece-de-resistance," she said holding out a small circlet.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"This Heir Potter is a Memory Reader," she said holding it up to his head for a moment before adjusting it to a smaller size. "I am well aware that it might be hard to discuss what has happened to you so I will place this on your head so the Dictation Quill can get the events from your memory as we talk about other things. Ah, I think I got it. May I?" she asked holding up the circle. With a nod, she slipped it over his head where it came to rest like a headband above his eyes.

"Now this is the tricky part," Umbridg said looking a little uncomfortable. "Like a Blood Quill a Confession Quill requires you to use some blood to write with it. I will only use it for the start and end of the vow," she said touching the black quill to the circlet before handing it to him. "Now this will sting a little and cause some pain but I need you to write "I am not telling a lie," on the top of this parchment." Umbridge's heart fell as Harry did as she asked, she had seen too many abused kids use the Confession Quill to share what their parent or guardians had done to them and it always broke her heart when the child did not make a sound of pain when writing with the quill. More so than the ones who did cry out as the quill took their blood. "Very good Heir Potter," Umbridge said fighting back some tears at how he had written the line without a sound. She then touched the Dictation Quill to the Memory Reader to bind them together and placed it on the parchment where it stood on its own. "I just need to ask you one question about your life with your family and then we can talk about anything else you would like to. What is your earliest memory of your childhood?"

"I recall asking my aunt how my parents had died," Harry said.

"And how did she respond?" Umbridge asked.

"She told me they died in a car crash and then ordered me not to ask questions," Harry said as the quill now fully configured to the Memory Reader began to write about the abuse Harry had lived through during his short life.

Umbridge wanted to ask further questions about this memory but it might mess up the quill so she asked, "Is there anything you would like to talk about Heir Potter? Lucius did mention that they are helping you to understand the Magical World better."

Gringotts

After three days of searching, the Goblin auditor team finally found James and Lily Potter's Wills.  But when they were handed over to Prince Bonecrusher they were not alone.  When the team found the Wills they had been in a vault that put the Audit Team on high alert.  According to the head auditor, Linchpin, the vault where the Potters' Wills had been found had contained numerous other Wills but more troubling were copies of vault keys.  The auditors handed everything over to Bonecrusher as they continued to look through the other bank vaults.  The first thing Bonecrusher did was assign his underling Griphook to find out who the owner of the vault where the Wills and keys had been found, as according to bank records the vault in question belonged to The Bird Fund.

Bonecrusher then went through all the Wills in the vault finding there had been twenty-four Wills in total.  Besides those belonging to the Potters, there were Wills for Frank and Alice Longbottom, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Severus Snape, Rubeus Hagrid, Arabella Figg, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Edgar and Sarah Bones, Aberforth Dumbledore, Dedalus Diggle, Caradoc Dearborn, Alastor Moody,  Emmeline Vance, Peter Pettigrew, Benjy Fenwick, Marlene McKinnon, Elphias Doge, Dorcas Meadowes, and Sturgis Podmore*

Seeing that nine of the Wills removed from the Bird Fund Vault had actually died, Bonecrusher got in contact with the Account Managers of the families in question to see if the Wills were the same as any wishes that had been carried out for the deceased.  Bonecrusher also contacted the families that had Wills that the person was still alive due to the presence of a vault key for all but two Wills.  The only keys that had been missing that corresponded with one of the Wills were for Aberforth Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid.  The missing keys did not make sense if perchance Remus Lupin did not have a key with his Will which would show that as another part-human like Hagrid, he did not have a vault due to some of the British Anti-Creature laws, but a copy of the Lupin family key had been attached to his Will.  Aberforth not having a key due to him not being the Head of his family also did not last long since Emmeline Vance and Arabelle Figg were not heads of their family but they had copies of their family vault keys in the collection.

Bonecrusher could not help but think of the old human playwright's line, "Something rotten in Denmark," as he looked over the random collection of Wills and copy of vault keys.  Whomever the owner of the Bird Fund Vault identity turned out to be was about to find themself in some serious hot water if he had anything to do with it.  If the vault just had the Wills in it, Bonecrusher could overlook it maybe as a sign of a pact between those involved so the last one alive got something but the vault keys could not be explained away.  If this had been part of a pact between all involved, Bonecrusher knew for certain James or his wife would have told him about leaving a key to their family vaults in the first place.  Nor would Bonecrusher have been able to give his young client the Peverell, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Potter Heir rings if the ownership of them were used in the pact between the twenty-one family that were taking part in it.

Bonecrusher once more got in contact with both Ragnok and his father asking for help locating the Goblin who had helped set up the Bird Fund Vault.  Both had agreed to act but to keep it secret for they did not want the Goblin who had approved the vault to know what they were doing.  With the presence of the copy of the vault keys in the vault the Goblin who had helped set it up, once they were found, would be charged with Treason to the Goblin Kingdom, so if the Goblin knew they were looking for him/her/they might try to fake their death or escape.  This Goblin would face Goblin justice not only from Bonecrusher but all the other Account Managers from the families involved.  If they were lucky they would be sent to the mines for twenty-one consecutive life sentences or if the tribunal felt like it just executed on the spot.

After setting his father's agent on the identity of the Goblin who established the Bird Fund Vault, Bonecrusher started to finally go over James and Lily's Wills.  He saw several things had happened that his former clients never wanted to happen.  Such as their son being sent to live with Lily's sister due to her hatred of all things Magical.  In fact, Petunia Dursley was not even to be informed of her younger sister's death as according to Lily her sister had said she wanted nothing to do with the Magical World so Lily would honor her wishes.  Harry had been meant to move in with either of his Godparents Sirius or Alice and baring them Remus Lupin, who was listed as Harry's Magical Guardian, or even Severus Snape.  

Bonecrusher did see without even meaning to he had helped Lucius fulfill a part of the Potters' Wills as they had wanted their son to look through the books about his magical family.  A side note in James Will stipulated that when Harry was about to head to Hogwarts he should be given the Potter Family Invisibility Cloak as well as James' copy of the Maurders' Map, but not the password to use it.  Harry was meant to find out how to access the map by himself.  James also wrote that when his son had achieved a Lordship he should take part in a Bloodborne Artifact Retrieval Ritual to reclaim any treasures that someone might have taken from the family over the years either by James or Lily lending them out but not getting them back before they died or possibly stolen.  As his new client was technically a Lord now thanks to the Rite of Conquest earning Harry the Lordship to the Slytherin family line, Bonecrusher had to decide if that was good enough to follow James' orders or not.  It did not matter at the moment for until the week was up Harry was confined to a bed, and there was no way Bonecrusher would go against his husband's orders when it came to healing.

Malfoy Manor

Dolores had a very interesting time talking to the Potter boy as the parchment was filled out with all the abuse he had suffered at the hands of his family.   Having seen how long the results had been on Narcissa Malfoy's scan of the boy, Dolores had known she would have to talk to the young boy for a while to get every single detail.  She found for such a young boy he was very mature and thoughtful for his age.  He had asked her about an aspect he had read about in one of his books leading them to talk about random magical abilities a person might possess.  He was most interested in learning anything she knew about Parseltonge as he informed her that during a recent trip to a zoo, he had accidentally used some magic to make a pane of glass disappear letting out a python which he was sure he had heard thank him as it slithered away.  She had informed him that Parseltoung was a rare gift outside of India but unfortunately due to some like Albus and Fudge, there was a deep mistrust or hatred of any who were shown to have such a gift.

Seeing him deflate a little at this bit of news she shared that if he got sorted into Slytherin, her and Lucius' old Hogwarts House, his new classmates would not show any distaste for his natural gift.   For they had a House snake and every year the new students were tested to see if they could talk to it, at least they had back when she had been a student at the castle.

Dolores had lost track of time during their talk and jumped a little when the Dictation Quill stopped writing and fell onto the desk with a small sound.  "While this has been a lovely talk, Harry, we need to now finish the ritual," she said as she grabbed the finished parchment and the Confession Quill again.

"Do I write, "I did not lie?" Harry asked.

"Close," she said giving him a small smile.  "You just have to write, "This is the truth as I know it."

Harry did so before looking up and asking, "Just out of curiosity what would happen if this was a lie?"

"Due to it being written with those two lines from the Confession Quill this document is seen as a written vow so if someone lined while making it they would feel excruciating pain, and depending on how harsh or what they wrote with the Confession Quill could lose their magic or even die," she explained.

"Good thing I did not lie then," he said.

"Would you have?" she asked arching an eyebrow at him.

"Not if it meant my aunt and uncle's case might get thrown out due to um what is the word pugury?"

"Do you mean perjury or giving false information under oath," she said.

"Yeah that," he said making her let out a very girlish laugh.

"Harry it has been a pleasure to meet you, I hope we have a chance to do so again," she said once more shaking his hand.

"I agree Dolores," Harry said with a smile on his face. 

Chapter Text

Someone commented on Dumble's personal study located behind Headmaster Black getting locked and not allowing him access after the Goblins had worked on the Wards. This was not due to any dark artifacts he might have had or evil magical experiments that Dumbles was working on, but it has to do with him hiding the real Stone in there. One of the reasons the Governors asked for the Wards to be overhauled and powered up was to keep the stone safe. So by placing the Philosopher's Stone inside a room that could be locked the semi-sentient Hogwarts read this as the place the stone was being kept. The only way that anyone can now get into the room with the Wards powered up as they are is for Flamel to come and collect the stone himself, or by sending his wife. This room in my mind was where Dumbles was keeping Harry's Invisibility Cloak as he tried to find a way to duplicate the effect that the Peverell family did in the cloak's creation.

Another person asked about the Dark Artifacts that the Wards removed from Hogwarts and sent to their real owners' vaults in Gringotts and the items possibly being cursed. As a part of the beefed-up Wards around Hogwarts, any artifact sent out of the castle got cleansed by them. It did not work for Ravenclaw's Diadem since there are few ways to destroy a Horcrux. Also as I have written before in other stories there is a difference between Dark and Evil in my version of the Magical World. Dumbles hates all things Dark as he associates it with Evil so the artifacts he stole from others to keep hidden in the castle might just be due to the artifact helping the family who owned it do something better than Dumbles making him jealous about its power. Or he could have been holding the artifact hostage to get support from some Dark Cored families like Mundugnus Fletcher besides the Wills he had stashed in the Bird Fund Vault that the Goblins just discovered.

Now I have been asked by a couple of people if Dobby will show up. I have answered this in one comment but in case you don't read the comments I shall also respond here. As of Right now I am not sure if I will have Dobby brought in. I am on the fence about it for he could be a Malfoy House Elf but as he was warning Harry in normal canon about Lucius's plan to use Riddle's Diary to open the Chamber. When I have the Malfoy family be good I try to have someone else slip Ginny the diary with Lucius getting blamed for it or as a way to try to get it to Mr. Weasley while keeping his cover as a Death Eater. When Lucius does not give the diary to Ginny, Dobby is usually working for Dumbles. While responding to a comment in a previous chapter I did come up with one possible way for Dobby to be brought into this tale. Where Dobby is actually the Head Hogwarts House Elf who by order of himself and Dumbles the rest of the Castle Elves must mistreat whenever Harry is around him to keep his cover and true Master hidden. In cases like this Dumbles has orders that prevent even the Hogwarst Governors from bringing their own House Elves into the castle making them rely on Hogwarts Elves which is why Dobby arrived with Lucius at the end of Harry's Second Tear.

That is all for now. Thanks for reading and I do hope you continued to enjoy this story as it comes out.

Chapter Text

Harry was called back into the bank after his week in bed was over. This time he was accompanied by Narcissa Malfoy rather than her husband. One of the reasons for her coming along was because of the letter from Bonecrusher stating the Goblins wanted to do a check-up on Harry to make sure he was healing properly. As Narcissa was Healer specializing in underage magical she took their message as a slight against her skills. It was only after Harry and Lady Malfoy was brought into the bank and directed not to a Hall of Healing but to Bonecrusher's office that she began to wonder what was going on. "I do apologize for any confusion from the letter we sent you, Heir Potter. I assume you Healer Malfoy it was not meant as my kinds' mistrust of your skills, but during the last week, we found the Wills of the former Lord and Lady Potter," Bonecrusher said.

"And what did you find?" Harry asked having learned about Wills in the Magical World during his week in bed.

"For one thing they had not been in any of your family vaults but with several other Wills located in a completely different vault. That is one of the things I wanted to discuss with you but the main thing is that your father bid us to lead you in a Bloodborne Artifact Retrieval Ritual," the Goblin explained.

"And what is that?" Harry asked seeing even Narcissa looked confused.

"A Bloodborne Artifact Retrieval Ritual or BARR is an old ritual that will bring back any of your family's treasures that might have been stolen from you or possibly lent to someone by your parents who had not been able to return them before your parents' deaths," Bonecrusher said.

"Is that likely to have happened?" Narcissa asked.

"Lord Potter thought so since he requested us to have Heir Potter perform it and paid for it ahead of time," Bonecrusher answered.

"So why the secrecy about it?" Harry asked.

"We did not mention the ritual, just in case our Raven got intercepted, however unlikely that is, and the message was read by someone who has one of your family treasures and wished to keep them," Bonecrusher explained. "Also as I mentioned earlier we got this information after finding your parents' Wills in a vault that is now being investigated because of all the different family Wills and other stuff we had found inside."

"Do I have to do anything about that?" Harry asked.

"At the moment no," Bonecrusher said. "Due to the random families who had Wills located in the vault, we are planning to have a meeting with the majority of those on the day after the Hogwarts term is to begin."

"Why wait so long?" Narcissa asked.

"For one, we are still researching who the vault belongs to so we wanted to take the month to figure it out before meeting with everyone who had a Will in it," Bonecrusher.

"And while we have no proof of who the vault belongs to there are a few clues to the person's identity even without us having located the Goblin who helped set it up. We think that by having the meeting on that day the person who owns the vault will be busy with other matters so will be unaware that their illegal vault has been discovered."

"But since my parents' Wills had been in the vault shouldn't I be involved somehow?" Harry asked.

"If you were of age, yes you would be involved but as you are still young the issue with your parents' Wills has to be handled by your guardians. Now we have had some luck as it seems one of your parents' selected guardians will also be at the meeting due to them being affected by this," Bonecrusher explained. "Also since Lord and Lady Malfoy have taken short-term custody of you after rescuing you from Lady Potter's sister and her family we can allow one of them to come to the meeting as an observer."

"That is quite generous," Narcissa said a little shocked by this bit of news.

"Of course, for the security of those involved in this either you or your husband will have a Secrecy Charm placed on you so you will be unable to reveal what has happened to anyone but Heir Potter," Bonecrusher said.

"Yeah that's more like it," Narcissa muttered quietly to herself.

Bonecrusher then led Harry and her to one of the Gringotts' Ritual rooms so Harry could perform the BARR. Harry was rather excited for this would be the first bit of magic that he would actually take part in. Because he had been confined to a bed this last week, and Narcissa working to heal him up he had been unable to try out any of the spells he had read about in his new school books. But now he was going to take part in a ritual. Harry was directed to kneel with his legs underneath him in the center of a circle that had strange runes all around the outside of it and what looked like a Star of David in the middle. In each of the star's points, a different item was placed some were plants, one looked like a rock or mineral, and in one a bubbling cauldron. The Ritualist, Odinsphere, bade Harry take the ladle from the potion and dribble it on the mineral before he crushed up the various plants starting with the one with his dominant hand and going in a counter-clockwise direction over the stone. After that was finished Odidsphere had Harry make a small cut on his right ring finger and let a few drops of blood fall onto the treated stone.

As his blood dropped onto the stone there was a flash of light that not only healed the cut he had made but transported various items around him. Each item was accompanied by a scroll of parchment that explained where it had been and other pertinent details. Among the items was a pile of books that were grouped with the parchment explaining they had been removed from Harry's vaults and passed over to someone named Hermione Granger illegally by Albus Dumbledore. The scroll even went into how Albus had been able to get the books stating that since the Potter's Wills had not been found until recently he had been thought to be Harry's Magical Guardian. The pile of books was not the only time Albus was mentioned with a returned item. His name had been brought up with the Peverell/Potter Invisibility Cloak which was lent to him by Harry's dad. He also had a wand, though the scroll with this item was rather long and followed the Wand changing hands numerous times since it had been taken from Harry's family. There was one roll of parchment that had arrived alone stating that the Sorting Hat that Hogwarts used to place students into their Hogwarts House also belonged to him but due to its purpose would not be returned unless he could gain permission from the Heir of Hufflepuff to do so.

Also in the collected items was an old bit of parchment which according to the note was something called the Maurader's Map and had been in the possession of Fredrick "Fred" and George Weasley though they might not have known it belonged to Harry's family for they had taken it from the person who had stolen it from Harry's dad two years ago. But of all the items that had arrived from the ritual the strangest was a small ring, but that was because the parchment that arrived with the ring was black. It was lucky that Harry looked at the parchment before touching the ring for the notes stated the ring had several evil curses on the ring. Harry passed it over to Odinsphere whose eyes bulged out rather comically, at least in Harry's opinion, as he read all that had been done to the ring. "We will remove the curses right away," Odinspehere said thinking Cracknactor would be interested to find out that there was a Soul Fragment on the ring, though if the soul was the same one in the other fragments the Loremaster had assembled, he could not say.

"What do you want to be done with all these items?" Bonecrusher asked.

"I think apart from the cloak and this map thing you can put everything into the family vaults it belongs to.  The Sorting Hat can also stay where it is without getting into contact with the Heir of Hufflepuff," Harry said with a shrug.

"Very good, Heir Potter, I shall see to it personally," Bonecrusher said as he made a note of Harry's wishes, unable to hide a smile seeing the wand that had been collected was the one Albus used as a way to identify himself when he came to the bank.

The Burrow.

As usual with the Hogwarts term approaching Percy was going over the notes written by Willam and Charlie that they had taken during their Fifth Years to get ready for the coming term. Fred and George only used Percy's notes from his Third-Year to prep for the coming year, this was mostly due to both the quality and quantity of the notes Percy took in his classes. Ron on the other hand just skimmed his books to see what spells he would be taught that year. He did not think he needed to do any prep work for he was going to be Harry Potter's best friend so the teachers would give them both good grades because of Harry's fame.

Ron's older brothers seeing how little prep work he was doing decided to pull a prank on him for his lack of readiness for the coming school year. It was also a way to prank him as they had been unable to find the Marauder's Map and believed he had done something with it. Fred had gone out into the countryside and found a small rat for their planned prank. The twins gave the rat a small capsule of rat feed that Scabbers ate after dosing it with a magically activated dye. "Hey, Ron do you want to learn a spell that you will not be taught until your Second Year?" Fred asked him one day as the three of them de-Gnomed the garden.

"Why would I want to do that?" Ron asked as he chucked a Gnome over the fence.

"Well, you keep saying you will be Harry Potter's friend why not try to impress him by showing off a spell that is a year ahead?" George said.

"Hey yeah," Ron said a large grin coming to his face.

"It is quite simple," Fred said pulling out the rat who had been fed the dye capsule. "You just wave your wand like this and say "Sunshine, Daisies, Butter, Mellow Turn this stupid fat rat yellow," as Fred finished the "spell" he pointed his wand at the rat and used his magic to activate the dye causing its fur to turn bright yellow.

"Wicked," Ron said.

"The thing is the spell only changes the rat once and from then on its fur will be bright yellow. Professor Flitwick only gave us that part of the spell we don't learn how to change it back to normal until this year," George said.

"Hence why we are using it on a random rat rather than Scabbers," Fred explained.

"So I can make Scabbers yellow that is awesome," Ron said laughing a little.

"Yes but as we said it only works once so if you want to use it to impress Harry Potter you should wait to cast it in front of him," George said letting the yellow rat go so it would scamper away before the dye wore off and revealed their lie.

"He is going to be so impressed," Ron said a large smile on his face not only for impressing Harry with a spell that they would not learn until the end of their Second Year but how much attention he would get for having a yellow rat for a pet.

Granger Household

Hermione had already memorized all her new school books and was working on some books she got for Second Year students. As soon as she was done with them she would start on the books Headmaster Dumbledore had given her dealing with lost magic. She was also reading everything he had given her on The Potter Boy. It looked like the boy was famous just because he had not died when hit by a Killing Curse but he had been a baby at the time. If she was to guess, he was more likely famous due to what one of his parents had done than anything he did at age one. She did read from the book on Potter's true childhood that he wore glasses and was the target of bullying. Hermione assumed it was not like how she got bullied due to everyone being jealous of how smart she was, since he was bullied by his cousin. Though reading stories of how Potter's fat cousin had bullied him gave Hermione an idea. Flipping through the books for Second Year Charms she found the Repario Spell. Seeing this as a way to impress the boy and make him her "friend" she began to practice the spell. He would be amazed that she could cast above their year's spell list but also fix his glasses for him. And since the spell would not be taught until the next year he would have to rely on her to fix his glasses every time they got damaged.

Malfoy Manor

As Harry and Draco got ready for their first year at Hogwarts both practiced random spells in their new course books and were slightly impressed that they could cast them.  Though the spells were not as strong as they would be once the pair had fully mastered them. Now that he was out of bed, Harry was able to get some practice with brewing potions. Lucius showed him a list of Potions in the back of his course book which were meant for practice but could also be used to prank people. It took Harry a while to get brewing down as he was treating it like how he cooked food back at the Dursleys with a pinch of this and a dash of that. It took him a full week before he learned that he needed to be precise when measuring and preparing his ingredients to make the potion as intended. Draco helped him understand this as the pair of them brew a simple potion that would change someone's hair color.

Harry and Draco were able to see the results of their work when they slipped the hair color potion into Draco's father's shampoo. Both had burst out laughing as Lucius Malfoy had shown up at the breakfast table with bright blue hair giving them a furious look before he burst out laughing at it. Though he did get his revenge on them by using his wand to enchant their clothing so that for the next hour their robes were in their least favorite color and extremely itchy. This led to a small prank war between the two boys and Lucius which lasted until Nariccsa got sick of it at supper time. Harry and Draco did have some free time in the two weeks before term started. Draco used that time to get Harry used to flying on a broom. Both were amazed that Harry was quickly able to master flying and was able to maneuver by instinct as if he had been doing it for years.

On September first, Harry along with the rest of the students going to Hogwarts made their way to Kings Cross. Harry was a little annoyed as Lucius led him through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4 for Hagrid had never talked about how to reach the platform. Though from what he had learned these past few weeks there had been a lot of stuff the large man had not told him about the magical world. Lucius and Narcissa helped Harry and Draco load their trunks onto the train in the car that Draco had arranged to meet and introduce Harry to his friends in. As they had arrived early and there were not that many people on the platform yet, Draco allowed his parents to hug him goodbye without fear or looking like a Momma or Daddy's boy. Harry was pleasantly surprised that both elder Malfoys also gave him a tight hug as well as they wished both boys a good year and bide them to write as often as they wanted to. Harry felt glad that there was someone he could send his new owl, Hedwig, to. He just wished he had not settled on a name for her before meeting Lucius since according to the History of Magic book he got the name from Hedwig was the first person to start up a Magical Orphanage. Harry had chosen that name wishing he had been in a similar orphanage rather than live with his Aunt and Uncle.

As the students started to board the Hogwarts Express to head to school, Dolores Umbridge took her notes from her meeting with Harry Potter to Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour. Umbridge had waited this long due to everyone knowing Albus was Harry's Magical Guardian. And since the man would be busy with it being the day the students arrived at Hogwarts she wanted to start the process to arrest and charge Petuina and Vernon Dursley for the abuse they had done to Harry when he was left in their care. Amelia took Dolores's reports but said she would leave things in Rufus' hands since she had been summoned to some secret meeting at Gringotts that would start tomorrow.

At Gringotts, Bonecrusher was furious as he read the results of the Special Auditor who had been researching the Bird Fund Vault.  They still did not know who the vault belonged to but they had found out the Goblin who had helped set it up.  The Goblin was Account Manager Halbert who had managed the Prewett Accounts until the death of Lords Gideon and Fabian and Muriel became the family Steward.  One of the first things she did was change Account Managers as Halbert was sent to manage the Weasley Family vaults.  This would change the tone of tomorrow's meeting especially as Molly Weasley and her Husband would be there since their twin sons were the future Lords of the Prewet family.

As the Hogwarts Express left London heading to Hogsmeade Station, Harry got to know Draco's friends, a little wary of them at first just like he had been with Draco at first. He still had issues with the Pureblood Mask aspect of the Magical World. All three Malfoys had explained to him that until someone got to know a person rather well they would keep their mask up to not say or do anything that might reveal too much about themselves. This was used in case the person they were meeting was not trustworthy and would use their secrets against them.

As Harry got to know Draco's friends, Ron and Hermione were looking around the train for Harry. The pair kept running into each other as they looked for Harry. This was slightly challenging due to the fact no one knew what Harry looked like and while Headmaster Dumbledore had told them that Harry had messy black hair and glasses since Harry had been cleansed he no longer wore glasses. And living with the Malfoys, Harry had cut his hair making it more manageable. Since the Goblins had removed the Horcrux from him the lightning bolt scar had also faded a little making it less noticeable even with his short hair.

Unfortunately for both Hermione and Ron even though Dumbledore had shared what Harry "looked like" he had not informed either of them about the other being another one of his pawns to control Harry. He had been rather busy trying to get into his private study to get access to the stone and then found that Elder Wand had vanished. Not that he had been planning to tell them about each other in the first place, he had decided to give the first one to befriend Harry a reward. Ron would have gotten 1,000 Galleons while Hermione if she had become Harry's friend first would have gotten a large order of magical books from Harry's vaults as her reward.

Since the pair did not realize they were on the same side they got annoyed at each other for "getting in their way." It finally came to a head in the last car of the train after they had both been unable to locate Harry. Funnily enough, getting into it right outside the compartment where Harry was sitting getting to know Draco's friends. "Why don't you find something else to do you bucktooth-bushy-haired-busybody," Ron snapped at her.

"No I am doing important work here you soulless-boob," she shot back recalling all her lessons from Sunday School where her youth pastor liked to say red-heads did not have a soul.

"Get lost," Ron growled clenching his fist.

"Oh, I am so scared, you Neanderthal," Hermione said pulling out her wand and pointing it at him.

"What is going on here?" a voice said from behind Ron forcing him to turn and let out a groan seeing it was Percy.

"Get lost Perc," Ron said.

"I don't think so Ronald it looks like you two are about to fight each other. While a little roughhousing is alright, fighting is not," Percy said stepping forward and taking both Ron and Hermioe's arms to lead them to the Headboy and Headgirl at the front of the train to settle their punishments.

Harry was still annoyed at Hagrid so avoided the large man when the train arrived and he was waiting on the platform to collect the new students. Harry used some of Draco's friends to block him from the man's sight who looked around at the gathered students possibly looking for him. When Hagrid took them to a fleet of small boats, Harry headed to the one furthest from the man and was soon joined by Draco, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson. The boat right next to theirs was occupied by more of Draco's friends which helped hide Harry from Hagrid's view since it was occupied by Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott Jr, Vicent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle III who were all fairly large boys.

In the Great Hall, Albus did his best not to bounce his leg as he waited for the First Year students to arrive along with the return of the Potter boy. He planned to summon Harry up to his office right after the Welcoming Feast so he could learn what had happed to the brat after Hagrid took him to Diagon Alley. He knew there would be no issue from the boy's Head of House since before the Elder Wand vanished without a trace, Albus had used it to place enchantments on the Sorting Hat to make sure it sent him to Gryffindor.  And he knew there was no way that Minerva would ever go against him. After all, she had seen what type of horrible people the Dursleys were but she had caved when he placed Harry in their care saying it was for the best since they were his only family. She did not even stick around to watch as he placed the Wards around the place to make sure Petunia and her family raised the boy exactly how he wanted them to.

As Albus watched the First Years enter the hall he tried to find Harry in the crowd, but he could not spot the boy at all. He did spot his two pawns noticing they were both pissed off and would send glares at each other. Albus began to worry that Harry had decided to just run away from both his relatives and the Magical World which should have seemed like a paradise after his childhood since he could not find the brat. Under the table, Albus dug his fingers into his leg as he watched Minerva start calling the students forward after the Sorting Hat's song. The closer it got to Harry's name the tighter his grip became as he started to give himself a bruise as Parkinson, Pansy was called forward before being sent to the dark House of Slytherin. His grip relaxed and he let out a breath as Harry was called forward to get sorted.

Albus was shocked that the boy looked rather different from the picture Arabella had shown him and he still did not know where he had been but he would so find out. The whole hall had fallen silent as they waited to find out where Harry would end up. Suddenly the Hat called out "GRY," only to stop as a burst of light that seemed to flare from Harry's left hand blinded most in the hall. The light had come from Harry's Gryffindor Heir Ring which had read the enchantment placed on Godric Gryffindor's old hat and performed a cleansing on it. "SLYTHERIN," the Hat called out but there was no applause as everyone was confused by what had just happened Harry removed the Sorting Hat from his head, placed it on the stool and as everyone followed him with their eyes sat down beside Draco Malfoy of all people.

Chapter Text

After Harry sat down next to Draco there was a long silence for almost three full minutes before the Slytherin table erupted into cheers for having the Boy-Who-Lived sorted into their House. Harry wondered if all those cheering for him were happy he was there since, according to Lucius, many families supporting the man who killed his parents were in Slytherin House. He was not going to trust their reactions were real, but neither was he going to mistrust them for if anyone knew that a person could not be like the rest of their family it was him.

It took Professor McGonagall another couple of minutes to make herself heard as she called out the next name on her list, Prinston Jack who was sorted into Hufflepuff. Some people in the hall, Harry noticed, had not taken their eyes off him despite others being called to get sorted. There was a bushy-haired girl over at the Gryffindor table who had an annoyed look on her face. A teacher at the head table with a greasy head of hair looked shocked at his sorting while Hagrid was sending Harry a disappointed look, not that Harry cared what the man thought of him. While others in the hall would occasionally send him looks there was also one of the students waiting to be sorted who did not look away from him; the red-headed boy seemed to have as much control of his emotions as Harry did for his face kept shifting from shock, disgust, and a kind of resolve.

The redhead did not look away from Harry until he was called up to be sorted, letting Harry learn his name was Ron Weasley. The small amount of the face that the Sorting Hat did not cover on the boy's face seemed to scrunch up as if he was trying to force something. But after a moment the Hat called out " GRYFFINDOR." While the Gryffindor table broke into cheers, most particularly two older students who had the same color hair as Ron, the new lion did not look too pleased with where he was sent. As he walked to his new table he shot Harry a look before turning to his new Housemates. Seeing the bushy-haired girl sitting by the other new Gryffindors, Ron changed his route as he went to go sit by the twins. Harry noticed that the girl glared at him making him wonder for an instant why the pair seemed to hate each other before seeing it did not concern him as he joined the rest of his new house in cheering for Blaise to become one of them.

The Headmaster had to be elbowed by Professor McGonagall when she got back after putting the stool and Hat aside for him to stand up and greet the students. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I have a few short words for you all. Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak." Harry looked up at the man as if he was mad. It might seem like he was using some random spell to bring the food to the tables but after learning about House Elves, Harry guessed they had made the food and magiced it into place as he took credit for everything.

As everyone started to eat their meals, Albus turned to his right to have a quick word with Severus. "After the feast is over bring Harry up to my office," he ordered his spy.

"Why?" Severus asked making Albus hold himself back from grinding his teeth at being questioned.

"You don't find it odd that the Hat nearly called out one House before placing Harry in your House?" Albus asked.

"I can see James doing something like that if he had the skill during his sorting," Severus answered.

"Right, and do you want to put up with that for seven years?" Albus asked knowing the man's hatred of James and hoping to prey on it.

"The thing is James lacked the skill to pull something like that off, but Lily might have been able to," Severus said as he took a bit of his steak and kidney pie.

"Yes, Harry might have Lily's skill but what he did shows he has his father's nature," Albus countered knowing that if Severus began to see Lily in Harry the Potions Master would protect the boy with everything he had nor would he mistreat the boy like Albus wanted him to. "Just bring him up so we can all discuss it," Albus said.

"Fine," Severus said before turning away and starting to chat with Quirrell.

#4 Privat Drive

Rufus felt like he needed a shower. It had been one thing to see the list of abuse that Dolores had gathered happening to the boy it had been another thing entirely to see the evidence of it. What made everything worse was the Muggle home he and a couple of Amelia's agents arrived at to arrest Harry's family looked so peaceful. It continued to do so until they opened up a small door under the house's stairwell. Rufus might have thought that Dolores and Amelia were pulling a prank on him until he opened the door to see a blood, piss, shit, and vomit-stained mattress inside a room almost too small for a House Elf to use as a supply closet. A note in the paperwork informed Rufus that when Lucius had taken Harry from here, their spy among the Death Eaters had also cast a spell to prevent the Muggles from disposing of evidence of their abuse of Harry. As he and one of the agents held a fat whale of a man, a skinny horse-faced woman, and a large boy at wand point, Dexter who had some skill in Healing took some samples on the mattress to find out if they matched the magical signature connected to the blood on Harry's documents.

"You all are under arrest for child abuse," Rufus said as Dexter shared his findings.

"Now see here," the whale-like man said.

"No, even one of your cops would arrest you seeing what is inside that room. That you did it to a Magical child who was left in your care places the crime in our jurisdiction. Now you can come quietly where we will remove you without any of your neighbors noticing it and make it look like you left or we can hall all three of you out of here like the criminals you are.," Rufus growled at the man.

"I would like to see you try," the man said bawling his fist before making a lunge at Rufus. He did not even get two steps before Rufus cold-cocked him knocking the man out.

"As I said the easy way or the hard way," Rufus said.

"The easy way," the woman said her voice coming out as a squeak.

"Very well," Rufus said as he pulled out a Law Enforcement Portkey for each of the Muggles and sent them right to some Ministry holding cells. He knew he should also head to the Ministry to start processing them but he knew it would play on his mind if he did not see this through. Joining Dexter, Rufus gathered up all the traces left over by Harry inside the house before torching them in the backyard so that no one could use any of the materials in a Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be the boy. Then the pair of them began to make it look like the Dursleys had moved away as they packed up everything in the house. All but a couple of changes of clothing that would be given to the accused would be distributed to second-hand stores over the next couple of weeks around the country. Each item would be scanned to make sure that it had not been enchanted in any way by Harry's Wild Magic or the possibility that the young boy they arrested was also a Magic User.

Hogwarts

At the end of the meal, Albus told everyone the start of term announcements giving some of the students an indulgent smile when they laughed when he informed them that the third-floor corridor was out of bounds under penalty of death. After all just cause he could not reach the real stone did not mean he had to abandon his plan to start training Harry. He just needed to get the boy into Gryffindor as he belonged. After directing everyone to sing the school song he dismissed them from the Hall, Albus contemplated taking his time to reach his office to make Harry and Severus wait for him, but thought better of it. Rather than making them wait the pair would arrive to find Albus waiting with a disappointed yet kindly look on his face ready to help straighten everything out for Harry.

Severus approached Potter, once more thrown off by how the boy's hair looked nothing like the rat's nest that James had all through his time at Hogwarts and beyond. If anything the length and style of it were similar to Draco, who Severus had just noticed had been sitting next to Potter the boy had been sorted. "Prefect Flint," Severus said to the new Slytherin Prefect as the Quidditch Captain was calling all the new Slytherins over to him.

"Yes, sir?" Marcus asked.

"The Headmaster has called young Potter and me to a meeting in his office. Please inform Rowena to give my normal opening speech to everyone. I don't see this being a quick meeting," Severus said with a small exhale of annoyance.

"Yes, sir," Marcus said as he started to lead all but Harry to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Come along, Potter" Severus ordered as he swept past the boy not even checking to see if Potter obeyed him or not. If the brat did not come it would just prove that he was like his asshat of a father, in Severu's mind. Yet a few floors up and a couple of turns later, Severus did hear footsteps follow in his wake though he did not look back to see if it was Potter who was behind him.

Severus did not look back even when he gave the password, "Cotton Candy" to the Golden Gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. As Severus entered the office he found Albus sitting behind his desk his fingers steepled under his chin and looking rather disappointedly at a spot behind Severus's back. Severus ground his teeth a little seeing Minerva was there standing right behind Albus. Though since she never gave a start of term announcements to her House it did not surprise him that much, though she could at least look like she was up there for a reason like returning the Sorting Hat to its stand. That Hat was actually sitting right on Albus's desk, off to the side to be sure so as not to block the old bastard's view of the door.

"Harry welcome, I wanted to discuss some things with you," Albus said, "please have a seat." As Albus gestured to the pair of seats before his desk, Severus like always went to lean against one of the bookcases in the room. His eyebrows shot up as he noticed that there were more copies of school books than there had been previously lining the shelves.

"Hello Headmaster, Professor McGonagall," Potter said in a civil tone of voice that Severus knew the boy's father was not capable of producing.

"Now Harry I would like to ask you where you have been?" Albus asked confusing Severus.

"Pardon Headmaster?" Potter asked.

"You left your family after you got your school supplies," Albus said and Severus saw him shoot a look his way.

"I was taken from my aunt and uncle's house by one of the Hogwarts Governers who wanted to make sure that I had learned all I needed to know before school started," Potter said. Severus glared at Albus who he saw wince at Harry saying who he had been living with. As James had been an only child the only way Potter could be with any aunt or uncle would be someone related to Lily and that meant Tuna Fish.

"Why was I not informed?" Albus said his voice rising a little.

"Why would you need to be informed, sir?" Potter asked as Severus noticed a slight hint of anger in the boy's tone as he said "sir."

"Harry, my boy, you may not be aware of this but besides being the Headmaster of Hogwarts I am your Magical Guardian," Albus said as Severus started to chew on his bottom lip.  For while the Potion Master was only a guardian to his students while they were at the castle he knew enough that a Magical Guardian was meant to see their charge at least once a month.  Yet for how this conversation was going it seemed like this was the first time that Potter was meeting the Headmaster after Lily and the boy's father's deaths.

"Your name is Albus Remus Lupin Dumbledore?" Harry asked recalling Hagrid mentioning Dumbledore's first name before he gave Dudley a pig's tail.

"No my name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore if you want to use all of it," Dumbledore said sounding confused.

"I was informed by my Account Manager my Magical Guardian was someone called Remus Lupin," Harry said sounding confused as well.

"Are you sure it was not just a Goblin Teller trying to pull a prank on you, my boy, everyone knows I am your Magical Guardian," Dumbledore said while his eyes flashed a little though Harry was not sure what that meant.

"Oh, I am absolutely sure.  After all from what the Hogwarts Governor who took me in after taking me away from my aunt and uncle's place had told me only an Account Manager could give me my Family Rings," Harry said taking his left hand out of his lap and showing off the black ring on his middle finger which was the combined Heir Rings as well as the emerald ring on his ring finger where the Slytherin Lordship ring rested.

"I see," Dumbledore said seeming to deflate a little.

"Was that all?" Harry asked the Headmaster.

Seeming to regain some of his steam the Headmaster said, "Not at all, my boy.  I wanted to talk to you about your Sorting Ceremony."

"What about it?" Harry asked the old man.

"Your prank," Dumbledore said, and seeing Harry's confused look clarified as he said, "How the flash of light you used with your unknown spell stopped the Hat from placing you in Gryffindor like your parents and placing you in Slytherin House."

"I did not cast any spell at all," Harry said truthfully.

"My boy, the evidence of your spell was clear.  Don't worry you are not going to be punished I do enjoy a good prank after all and your father was a great prankster during his time here."  Dumbledore said as Harry heard a scoff behind him where Professor Snape was leaning against a bookcase.

"As I said I did nothing," Harry said.  "And if I did pull some sort of prank to I don't know use some form of magical alter and throw my voice and make everyone think I was the hat it would not have impacted my school robes."  Harry spread his arms a little to show that like all new students after being sorted his blank robes had now been marked with the Slytherin House Crest.

"How do you explain it starting to call out Gryffindor?" Dumbledore asked him.

"Maybe it had been enchanted or something but coming in contact with me and my Family rings cleansed it," Harry answered with a shrug.

"Why would your rings cleanse it?" Professor McGonagall asked from the Headmaster's right elbow.

"For I was told that the hat belongs to my family but my ancestor lent it to the school so it could be used to sort students," Harry explained making the Deputy Headmistress' mouth fall open in shock while the Headmaster ground his teeth a little.  "Is that all now?"

"I still think you should be in Gryffindor like your parents.  Many of the students who are in Slytherin House are the children of the monster who killed your parents," Dumbledore said.

"I have already been told this by the Governor I was staying with," Potter informed Albus in what Severus heard as an unconcerned voice.  "Though they also informed me that You-Knew-Who had supporters from all the Hogwarts Houses so if that is a reason for me not to be in a House I wouldn't be safe anywhere.  The Governor did mention that there were other Magical schools I could go to, but I would prefer to learn here just as my parents had."

"I am glad to hear that, my boy," Albus said breathing out a sigh of relief, at least that's what it looked like to Severus.  "And while you are correct there were Death Eaters from all Hogwarts Houses there are a lot more students of a family member of a Death Eater that are in Slytherin House compared to Gryffindor."

"I thought that one could not be Re-sorted until their third year?" Potter said.

"Special allowances can be made," Albus countered.

"Yes for a student's safety or a special request by the student in question, their guardian, which I remind you you are not, and their Head of House, and a petition signed by at least five of the Governors.  Yet since I have not even been a Slytherin student for more than an hour and a half I don't fear for my safety.  So I don't see it happening," Potter said impressing Severus with his logical argument against Albus who looked ready to start yelling at the boy but held himself back.

"Since you know what needs to be done I will be ready to Re-sort you when you need it," Albus said sounding as if he was trying to save face.

Severus, along with the others in the office were startled as the Sorting Hat resting on Albus' desk began to speak.  "There will be no Re-sort," the Hat proclaimed.

"And why not?" Albus asked.

"As I started to place Heir Potter in one House only to be cleansed and place him where he belongs this act constitutes a change from one House to another thus a Re-sort during his original sorting.  As you know Headmaster only one Re-sort is allowed for any student so Heir Potter will remain in Slytherin House until he graduates or changes schools," the Hat explained.  Severus thought Albus was going to blow a blood vessel as one started to pulse in his forehead.

"It seems that is settled," Harry said getting out of his chair and starting to leave though he had not been dismissed.  He had taken a few steps before he stopped as he recalled something.  "I do have a couple of questions before I go to my new Common Room."

"What?" Dumbledore said seeming to speak through gritted teeth.

"Why did you have my father's cloak and why did you feel it was necessary to take books belonging to my family and hand them over to Hermione Granger who was just sorted into Gryffindor?" Harry asked him.

Dumbledore could only sputter at the question as both Professor McGonagall and Snape looked thunderous at the old bastard.  "I guess it really does not matter since I got everything back including the money you technically embezzled from my accounts under the guise of being my Magical Guardian," Harry said as he turned around and headed to the exit hearing footsteps starting to follow him after a while as Severus got over his shock and started to follow him.

Severus was impressed with Potter, seeing Lily in his actions against the Headmaster though he tried to keep his emotions out of his voice as he led his newest student down to the Slytherin Common Room giving him the speech he normally gave to new students.  Talking about if Potter got caught getting into trouble he would not only serve any detentions he might receive but have another one with Severus as a punishment.  How it was best to travel in groups of no less than three around the castle due to a very anti-Slytherin mindset that the Headmaster let run rampant at the castle.  Normal curfew required students to be inside the House's area by nine pm every school night unless they had a club meeting.  There was another curfew where students had to be in bed by ten, at least for First Years though it would be later each year.  Once again this was only for school nights as during Friday and Saturday nights a student could be out as late as ten from the Common Roon and not go to bed until eleven if they choose to. 

Severus cautioned Potter that while it was natural for students to not always get along that if the boy had any issues with another member of Slytherin House the issue was not to be shown outside the Common Room and dorms.  All Slytherins due to the anti-Slytherin mindset had to stand together once they were out in the main school.  As they reached the entrance to the Slytherin dorms, Seveurs told Potter that Thursday nights he would stop by the Common room to see if anyone needed help with homework or even personal issues.  "Sidewinder," Severus said opening up the Common Room's hidden door as he ushered Potter into the room seeing Prefect Rowena standing at the desk where the Monitoring Charm was set up.  Severus had heard the other Heads of House had finally set up their own student Monitoring Charms in their dorms as well as he had Potter join the group to get attached to the charm.

"Have you done the test yet?" Professor Snape asked the red-headed Seventh Year girl.

"Not yet," she said in a slight Scottish-sounding voice.  "I did everything else first to give you time to see the results."

"Thank you, Heiress MacLeod," Professor Snape said bowing his head to her a little.  After Harry and the other First Years had been added to the Monitoring Charms Professor Snape led them over to a glass tank holding a large snake.  "As Slytherin House was founded by Salazar Slytherin who was one of the first Parselmouths outsides of India to possess the gift in England, each year we see if any new student shares his gift.  Just in case you have heard it is a dark gift, let me assure you that like many tales about Slytherin as a man and as a Hogwarts House it is a lie.  At the moment we have five students who are Pareslmouths in this house so let's see if we have any more."  Professor Snape then stepped aside as each of Harry's new classmates moved forward to talk to the snake.

When it was Harry's turn he heard a gasp as he said, "Hello there."

"It seems we now have six students," Professor Snape said as the House began to clap their hands at Harry's talent.  As it was nearly ten Professor Snape sent the group of First Years to their dorms to make sure everything was in order.

Pansy was filled with trepidation as she headed to the male dorms.  She had heard from her Mummy and Daddy that due to the Headmaster's beliefs, he had made it so that a student would have their dorm room be the gender they were born with.  So even though Pansy identified themselves as a female since she had been born a boy with the deadname of Harold Parkinson she would be forced to share a room with one of the guys.  Yet as she followed Draco she found her way barred by an invisible wall and a roll of parchment appear before her.  Reaching for it she read.  "Miss Parkinson this is your first warning, only males are allowed in the male dorms.- Hogwarts Castle."  Pansy felt tears of joy fill her eyes as she actually skipped to the girl's dorms.

In the Hufflepuff dorms, Celestine Diggory breathed a heavy sigh as she headed to the male dorms like always.  She hated sleeping in there rather than with the other girls but due to Hogwarts only allowing a person to sleep in the dorm for their birth gender, she had no other choice.  At least her dorm mates understood and left her alone and thankfully did not out her to her dad.  Celestine had informed her mother that she did not feel like a male and considered the name Cedric a Deadname but some of the stuff her dad talked about at home made her afraid of what he would do when he learned his "perfect son" was really his daughter.    As Celestine got ready for bed she found a small roll of parchment in her pocket which she did not recall putting there.  Rolling it out she read, "Miss Diggory from the improved Wards I  detect that you consider yourself female but from your magic, you also fear this information getting out.  I will give you special permission to stay in the Fourth Year male dorms.  If you need to a Mind-Healer can be brought in to help you deal with your fear of coming out.- Hogwarts Castle."  Celestine was shocked since she had never received a note like this before making her glad that at least the castle like many of her closest friends recognized her as a girl.  For one of the first times since she came to Hogwarts, Celestine had no trouble falling asleep after the start of the school year.

Up in Gryffindor Tower, after he helped the Sixth and Seventh Year Prefects connect all the students to the new Monitoring Charms, Percy Weasley performed his duties to check in on the new students to see if there were any issues.  He did not hesitate going up the male stairway for unlike what he had heard about the other Hogwarts Houses those who were born female could go to either the male or female parts of the tower without a problem.  Percy had used this fact to move his trunk each year to the men's room where his classmates sleep at the lowest level in the tower.  As Percy checked in to see if his dorm mates were setting things up like they normally did he stopped seeing his trunk in the room before a bed.  "Did someone bring that in?" Percy asked them.

"Didn't you do it?" Oliver asked.

"I have been busy helping attach the charm to everyone," Percy said.

"Well it was like that when I came in," Oliver said.

"That is odd," Percy said scratching his head for a bit as he checked to see if it really was his trunk and not some prank by his younger brothers.  As he checked a small scratch he had made on the back of the trunk a roll of parchment fell out of his pocket and rolled across the floor to be stopped by Kenith Braxton.  

"Here you go Percy," Kenith said passing the parchment over to him.

"Thanks," Percy said not recalling having anything in his pocket as he opened it up to read. "Mister Weasley, while you are a Prefect and thus can check in on both male and female dorms, my Wards detect that you identify as a male thus your belongings have been placed in the male Fifth-Year dorms.  So unless you are doing your Prefect duties please stay out of the women's dorm.- Hogwarts Castle."

The students in Ravenclaw were a little surprised after Professor Flitwick connected them to a new Monitoring Charm to find two new doors beside the stairways leading to the male and female dorms.  As a Ravenclaw who held the position of either Headboy or Headgirl was located at the very top of the tower the rooms could not be for them.  Some tried the handle but it would not turn, making the students see it as an utter mystery.  At least until one student a Second Year boy by the name of Sean Darcy tries it and has it open for him.  As Sean opens the door a symbol appeared on it showing off the symbol for a male before it changed to the sign of a female.  This did not clear up the strange room for most people but those who were friends with Sean could not help but give a small round of applause knowing that Sean saw their gender as fluid sometimes being a male while other times being a female which they had not informed anyone of since the school uniforms were unisex.

The second new door only opened with the Seventh Year student, Kam, sliding down the stairs leading to both the male and female dorms before tying the door.  As Kam opened the door a strange symbol appeared on the outside of the door of a circle with an asterisk above connected by a line.*

Chapter Text

Hogwarts

As it was the first day of classes, Harry and most of the First Years arrived early to the Great Hall eager to start their lessons. Harry was glad for the month he had spent at Malfoy Manor so he did not freak out like some of the Muggleborn students did as the flock of Owls arrived to deliver the mail during breakfast. He even got two pieces of mail himself. One from Lucius and Narcissa congratulated him on his Sorting, saying that even though he ended up in Slytherin his parents if they were still alive would not care and hopefully just want him to be happy and make friends as he enjoyed his time at the castle. The second letter was from Madam Umbridge who wrote to him that his uncle, aunt, and cousin had been brought in last night under charges of child abuse. She did mention that since they were Muggles abusing a young Magical family member they were responsible for raising, the arrest would be in the Prophet but neither his nor their names would be mentioned to protect his privacy. She even ended the letter with a postscript where she also congratulated him on getting sorted, though not knowing which House he had been sent to, and wished him luck at school

Since Harry did not get the Magical Newspaper he waited until Draco's friend Theo was finished with his copy to see if he could read about the arrest of his family. Like Madam Umbridge said the piece was in the paper but was just two lines in the daily crime blotter just mentioned that on a tip-off a family of Muggles who had raised a Half-Blood Magical due to the child having no magical family had been arrested for abusing the child. Glad that there was nothing in the two lines that could be tied to him and make the already increased attention being paid to him larger he thanked Theo as he handed back the paper.  Once he got to know his new Housemates better he would inform them why he cut the article out of the paper.

Over at the Gryffindor table, both Ronald and Granger ground their teeth a little. Hermione knew that the Potter boy should have been Sorted into Gryffindor after all the stories the Headmaster had shared with her since their first meeting, yet there the moron was sitting with the evilest House in the school smiling, actually smiling with those dark magical bigots. She could not help but shoot a glare down the table at the redheaded boob, knowing it was all his fault. If he had not gotten in her way on the train she could have found Potter and started their "friendship" which would have made sure he was where he belonged.

Sitting next to his new roommates, Ron was also in a bad mood. Not only was it too early, in his opinion, for breakfast, since he tended to wake up no sooner than nine but his roommates reminded him that classes started at eight so of course if he did not want to miss his lessons or eat he had to get up at the unmagical hour of seven. Besides being up too early there was also the fact that Harry had not been on the train over thus preventing them from meeting each other. Ron was rather jealous that Harry's fame and money allowed him to not ride the train thinking that Harry should have allowed Ron to come with him, they were going to be best friends after all. If perchance Harry had been on the train in the last car which he had not been able to search properly in it was that buck-tooth Granger girl and Percy's fault for keeping them apart. Now thanks to them or Harry not riding the train, Harry was in danger as he sat in blissful ignorance next to mini-Death Eaters as he chatted to Malfoy of all people with a smile on his face. Ron planned to go talk to the school's Healer at his first opportunity to voice his suspicions that somehow Malfoy or one of the other mini-Death Eaters had enchanted Harry.

"How can you eat so calmly with so many people staring at you?" Daphne Greengrass asked as Harry tucked into his breakfast of French toast and sausages.

"I just ignore it all, or try to," Harry said as he poured a lot of syrup on his plate to dunk his food into before placing a hunk of butter in the syrup puddle. "Also I was told I was famous and had people stare at me ever since I went to Diagon Alley, and what happened last night with my Sorting I am sure did nothing to lessen people's interest in me. So I can either worry about them staring at me or just ignore them and get on with my life. To be honest, I prefer to do the latter," Harry explained.

"But some of them seemed to be glaring at you as if angry that you ended up here," Tracy Davis said shivering slightly since she did not think she could handle all the hatred sent her way.

"If they are there is nothing I can do about it, nor will I try to. They will either get over it themselves or let it fester and while their anger is directed at me it does not affect me at all. I have my own life to live just as they do and if they think they have any say in it, I will first remind them that they don't," Harry said finishing off his meal, eating fast without choking as he talked due to his time at #4.

"And if they don't back off?" Christopher Pike asked*

"If someone can not take a hint I will respond in kind. After all, if they think just because of my fame in this world they have a right to dictate my life I will start to throw some of that fame around to tell them how to live their lives and see how they like it," Harry explained making them all chuckle at him. His new roommates having seen that Harry was rather humble and polite for their age just could not imagine him "throwing his fame around."

Their conversation ended as Professor Snape came over and started to hand out their schedules, he started with the gathered First Years who would need the most time to find their way to their classes having never been at the castle before. Thankfully alongside the schedules, he was also passing over copies of a simple map of the castle which had all the classrooms highlighted. Harry and the other First Year Slytherins did notice that there was a note on the map saying that the castle would sometimes magically change the location of the rooms around and that map was as accurate as he could have made it. He even apologized that the map was not self-updating though he did not think they would have any issue for today since the map had been created that morning. Seeing that their first class was Charms with the Hufflepuffs, Harry joined his new Housemates in heading up to the Second Floor where the map showed the Charms classroom was located at this moment.

At the Gryffindor table, Ron and Hermione glared as Harry left the hall surrounded by the Slytherin students as Professor McGonagall passed out their schedules. Both were annoyed to see that the only classes they had with Slytherins, aka with Harry, were Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron did know that thanks to his brothers he would show his place as the leader of the boy's in his year for their House since he would be able to direct everyone to the general location of their classes. Not that he needed to do much now since their first class of the day was Herbology outside in Green House 1 but come their second lesson in History of Magic they would know he was the one to turn to to find their way around this place.  Hermione was thinking the same thing of people learning to respect her and follow her lead once she showed them around using the map she had found in Hogwarts: A History though unaware the map only showed the original placements of the classrooms within the school.

Gringotts.

As Bonecrusher had arranged for this meeting he had also been in charge of the security of it. He had decided for all those concerned there would be a high-powered Secrecy Charm in place to prevent anyone from sharing anything they learned during the meeting. And even though one of the attendees was Madam Bones who was head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement it would be the Goblins who passed on all concerns to the Ministry after the meeting. Bonecrusher had also thought about placing a spell on everyone attending the meeting to hide their identities from everyone else since the Goblins still had been unable to find a connection between everyone yet but had dismissed it. He hoped by the group of Humans being informed about their, or a deceased family member's, Will and a copy of their family vault keys being inside the Bird Fund Vault it would lead to some explanation of why their families had been singled out.  Only a few people whose families had been affected were not called to show up including Severus Snape due to it being the first day of classes at Hogwarts.  Albus since it had been his brother's Will which had been found in the vault, and finally the families of Pettigrew and Black which Bonecrusher planned to meet with later.

The only person attending the meeting who would be enchanted to hide their identity was Lord Malfoy since he was standing in for Heir Potter at this time as a proxy. But as the Malfoy family had not been affected by the contents of the Vault people might wonder why he was there. During a discussion with Heir Potter, Lady, and Lord Malfoy it had been decided to keep the connection between the humans a secret and many still believed Lord Malfoy had been Voldemort's right-hand-man and would be horrified that until a long-term solution could be achieved Heir Potter was a ward to the Malfoy family. Another thing that might arouse the others at the meeting's suspension would be the fact that Lord Malfoy would not be accompanied by his Family's Account Manager. Well, technically neither would the Weasleys since their normal one had been found to be the Goblin responsible for setting up the Bird Fund Vault.  But since most Magicals could not tell one Goblin from another let alone another Family's Account Manager he did not see the new manager for the Weasley vaults causing any issue unless it was brought up by Molly or her husband themselves.

Lucius was the first to arrive in the meeting room as Bonecrusher had requested him to allow the Potter Account Manager to apply the spells and enchantments to hide his identity before Lucius took a seat, not at the main table but in a chair off to the side. Since he was only an observer, Lucius could not take part in any vote on what the families who had items in the Bird Fund Vault on what to do about everything. Lucius had left his School Governor's cane of office at home since there would be two of his fellow Governors at the meeting as well as Madam Bones who might recognize him by its' design. Lucius sipped on some coffee Rimaru had prepared for him earlier as he watched everyone trickle into the meeting room over the next hour or so. The last to arrive was Arabella Figg who had to take the arrive in a Muggle way and wait until Tom the Bartended at the Leaky Cauldron to let her through the passage to the alley.

"Why were we called in here? Don't you know I have work to do?" Molly Weasley screeched looking around and sending glares at all the Goblins. Lucius could not help but wonder what work she had to do since, unlike the rest in attendance, apart from possibly Figg she stayed at home letting her husband do all the work to provide for their family. Lucius knew that in the Muggle world being a stay-at-home parent might be harder but even without having any House Elves, Molly could just use her magic to clean and do most choirs around the home leaving her to spend most of the day relaxing with her kids.

"You are here Consort Weasley nee Prewett," Bonecrusher said in a rough voice as the Weasley's new Account Manager, Griphook, looked embarrassed by his new client's actions as did Molly's Aunt and Steward of the Prewett Line Lady Muriel Prewett, "due to a recent audit we have done at this bank.

"And you need all of us?" Molly asked incredulously.

"Indeed we do, Consort Weasley nee Prewett, for what we found concerns all your families," Bonecrusher said in a patient tone.

"And what did the bank find?" Remus Lupin asked looking out of place in his normally shabby robes.

"Before I answer that Lord Lupin, I think a little history is in order to explain why the audit took place," Bonecrusher began only to be interrupted by Molly.

"He is not a Lord that man is a Werewolf," Molly screeched.

"By your standards and those of this island, but Gringotts does not discriminate against something like that. Lord Lupin was the only child in his family and thus was the Heir to the Lupin line until his parents died and as he was not the cause of it he became that family's Lord," Bonecrusher explained as if telling a toddler it was time to take a bath. "That does remind me that your Account Manager and I will have to discuss something with you after this meeting, Lord Lupin."

"Okay," Remus said a little nonplussed by this.

"As I was saying there is some history that you all need to be informed of as to why the bank performed an audit leading to this meeting. Consort Weasley nee Prewett if you speak up again until I have gone through at least part of this story I will have a Silencing Charm placed on you so you can not mutter a single word before kicking you out leaving you wondering why this meeting was called in the first place," he said seeing Molly open her mouth to interject. "And it is in your best interest to know what is going on for we have arranged another meeting with you and your husband after this as well and I think you should be aware of everything beforehand." This caused Molly to snap her mouth shut much to the relief of anyone who knew her which included most in attendence.

"A little less than a month ago, Heir Potter paid two trips to the bank. The first one was just to get some money for some school supplies, but on his next visit which happened the next day he got tested," Bonecrusher said.

"Um," Remus said hesitantly holding up his hand.

"Yes Lord Lupin?" Bonecrusher asked.

"What do you mean Harry got tested?" Remus asked.

"Unlike what everyone had been told, Heir Potter only learned about being Magical the night before his first visit to the bank. The person who brought Heir Potter in for his second visit did so that Heir Potter could not only be tested but learn about his family history. Now I am the Potter Family Account Manager so I ran the test myself and I can inform you that Heir Potter, the person who brought him in, and myself were horrified by some of his results. For his privacy, this information will not be shared with you all but I can tell you that I sent Heir Potter to get cleansed as soon as our meeting was over and this was after Heir Potter's Family Rings performed their own cleansing of him. Heir Potter was so weakened after these two Cleansing he was confined in bed for over a week. While he was in bed I started the first audit," Bonecrusher explained.

"First Audit?" Lady Longbottom asked.

"Something strange happened when Heir Potter's rings performed a cleansing on him," Bonecrusher said seeming to avoid Augusta's question.

"What happened?" several people asked with Remus being the loudest with fear for Lily and James' son who his inner wolf saw as a cub to its pack.

"Besides the normal black goo that will drain out of a person if they had harmful enchantments placed on them before the cleansing, something came out of Heir Potter's scar. When we were able to analyze it we discovered it was a Soul Fragment. This led to our Lordmaster who discovered that the fragment contained less than it should, don't ask me how much a fragment should contain that is out of my area of expertise. Anyway, our Lordmaster had a ritualist team perform a ritual to see if there were any fragments at the bank with the same Magical Signature as the fragment and we found two. The reason we started the audit was we found one Soul Fragment located in an old family treasure from one line, hidden in the vault of a family that had no connection to it. Finding the treasure in an unconnected vault led to the audit," Bonecrusher explained.

"How did the audit lead us to this meeting?" Alasto Moody asked suspiciously.

"As the second fragment was found in another of Heir Potter's family vaults they were checked first which revealed that the copies of the Wills for James and Lily Potter were not in the vaults along with the rest of the old family Wills. It took our audit team a couple of days but they finally located the Wills in a vault under a false name and set it up illegally. The reason you have all been called in here was that besides the Potter Wills, we found copies of several of your Wills as well as those of several people who had died already. What is more troubling is that with these Wills were copies of your vault keys," Bonecrusher said leading to a round of horrified gasps from the humans in the room.

"Now the reason for this meeting was to not only inform you of this but also to find out if any of you have any clue as to why you were singled out. I am a little ashamed to say that while we have been working since we found all your Wills in the vault we have not figured out what connects you to each other," Bonecrusher said making the Account Managers in the room to letting out their own sounds of shock for the Goblin Prince revealing weakness to the humans.

"Since you said you have been unable to find out who created the vault do you have a name for it?" Madam Bones asked.

"All we have is The Bird Fund," Bonecrusher said. "I take it you recognize it?" he asked when several humans let out loud swears.

"That is the name Albus sometimes used for his little club when we were growing up before he turned the club into his personal troops," Aberfroth explained.

"I see," Bonecrusher said getting confirmation why out of all the people who had Wills within the Bird Fund Vault there had been no key to the Dumbledore family accounts.

"We would like you all to go over the Wills we found in the vault to see if they are the original copies, see if other Wills you have are still in your vaults or at the Ministry, and finally for those who are here for their dead family members look over the vaults to see if they had been followed. Now I am sure you all have questions for me or possibly your account Managers," Boecrusher said opening the room up for discussion.

"You sound as if James and Lily's Wills had not been followed?" Madam Bones asked as she pulled her brother and sister-in-law's Wills over to start looking at them.

"That is correct, several items that Lord Potter left for his son had been missing leading us to have him perform a Bloodborne Artifact Retival Ritual to get them back, which brought back another one of the strange Soul Fragments," Bonecrusher said not saying anything more for two aspects of the Potters Will would be discussed in separate meetings with Remus and Amelia later.

As most in the room began to read the Wills that were passed over to them in silence, Molly, of course, was the exception. "They should have named me the Steward of the family after all I had just given birth to Fred and George," the woman said in an angry "whisper" which was the same volume that most used when they tried to call someone over from across a room.

"They did not trust you," Muriel answered in a normal volume whisper. "Neither did your parents after you tried to douse them with potions so Fabian and Gideon would send you more money to your trust vault."

"This has to be fake, Albus always said that the twins made me their Steward," Molly "whispered."

"And I always knew that was a lie which is why I never let you step into the role," Muriel shot back, "I even allowed you to raise Frederick and George despite my better judgment just to placate you but no more. They were meant to live with me and learn everything they will need to know to become the next Lords of House Prewett."

"You are not taking my kids," Molly screeched standing up with so much force her heavy chair toppled to the floor with a loud bang. Bonecrusher was a little impressed by that level of strength to topple the chair based on Molly's short stature.

"Consort Weasley nee Prewertt that is enough," Bonecrusher said in a sharp voice. "Since you want to talk we shall have our meetings now to let the others go over the documents that were passed over to them." Giving Molly and her husband no other option Bonecrusher left his seat and called for his apprentice to take over while he was gone as he and Griphook removed the pair of redheads from the chamber.

"You can not do this to me I am a good Light Witch and those documents are forgeries," Molly said only able to freely speak of what had happened in the conference room once they were inside Griphook's new office.

"They were tested and proven to be authentic by a team of Curse Breakers including your eldest son," Bonecrusher explained.

Before Molly starts on a rant that would dismiss their son's ability to prove anything without her help, Arthur asked, "Why did you want to have this personal meeting with us?"

"I mentioned in the meeting that we found the Bird Fund Vault during one audit. Our team after finding the Wills and copies of Vault Keys in the vault performed a second audit on the vault alone to discover who owned and created it. As you might have guessed since this is not the normal Goblin you deal with while at the bank, your former Account Manager Halbert was found to be the Goblin who helped create the Vault. He has since been tried and convicted of his crimes," Bonecrusher explained.

"Why should we care that one of your lot, committed a crime by making fake Wills and keys?" Molly asked in her normal screech.

"It all depends on if you helped Albus set this up by lending Halbert to him. At the moment we can neither confirm nor deny for it seems that Halbert had a Memory Charm placed on him concerning the creation of the vault. As we can not prove you have anything to do in this matter, we can not charge you for anything, however, the bank will be keeping close tabs on your accounts for the foreseeable future in case someone starts to leave or take money from it that is not from your family. You of course are not being singled out for this measure as everyone who had a key we found in the Bird Fund Vault will have the same protections in place. I will see to it that you both get a chance to go over Lords Fabian and Gideon's Wills as soon as High Lady Prewett is done with them," Bonecrusher said getting up to leave the room. "Oh yes, before I forget," he said as he reached the door, "we discovered Albus was never my Client's Magical Guardian so that Marriage Contract he had been working on between Heir Potter and a member of your family will be as legal as all the other contracts signed for Heir Potter without his parents or legal guardians approval."

Arriving back at the conference room, Bonecrusher saw that only three humans were left in the room. Lord Malfoy, still under his enchantments was in the corner drinking from his thermos, while Madam Bones and Lord Lupin remained at the table next to their Account Managers. "Ah good you got the message that I wished to speak to you after the main meeting," Bonechusher said as he took his seat.

"It was hard to miss when you said it during the meeting," Remus said.

"Right," Bonecrusher said with a small smile at the pair of humans before him. "As this does concern you both a little I don't think I will need to do two separate meetings then. Looking over Lord and Lady Potter's Wills we discovered some things concerning their deaths as well as their son which you both need to know. First off, despite what he has informed everyone Albus was never the chosen Magical Guardian of Heir Potter. Both Lord and Lady Potter chose you Lord Lupin for that role, stating that since unfortunately, Britain has a very anti-Magical Creature-Human Hybrid which made choosing you as Heir Potter's Godparent impossible they made you his Magical Guardian." Remus gasped at this as tears came to his eyes. He began to use his frayed sleeve to wipe them away before Lucius getting a little disgusted pulled out his pocket handkerchief and offered it to the man. Remus gave him a small nod of thanks before loudly blowing his nose with it.  Rather than go back to the corner, Lucius took one of the now open seats at the table.

"Madam Bones I have been informed you have been made aware of the abuse Heir Potter had suffered through, due to your job so I will not have to give you a copy of it," Bonecrusher said passing over a copy of Harry's results to what enchantments he had been under but also the medical one Narcissa had taken when he came to live with at Malfoy Manor. "Before you get into that Lord Lupin I would like to inform you both of something else we found in both Potter Wills. Both Lady and Lord Potter confirmed that Peter Pettigrew had been their Secret Keeper, not Sirius Black. Both Messer Pettigrew and Lord Black also had Wills that had been found in the Bird Fund Vault but you might both recall that no member of their families was at today's meeting."

"Lord Black?" Lucius and Amelia asked gulping as their faces drained of color.

"I am afraid so," Bonecrusher confirmed.

"This is going to be a shit-storm to end all shit-storms," Amelia said shocking Lucius who had never heard her swear before.

"Am I missing something?" Remus asked.

"If a person is legally sent to Azkaban or any other high-security Magical Prison they would lose their Lordships and depending on the crime their connection to their family line in all but magic," Lucius explained making Amelia arch an eyebrow at him as she wondered who he was under the Goblin Glamor and voice modulating charm.

"Dear Merlin's mummified left nut," Remus said as his inner wolf was crying for blood at what had happened to a member of its pack.

"Nicely put," Bonecursher said passing over the Potters' Wills where the corresponding passages that he had just informed the two humans of were magically highlighted.

Chapter Text

Gringotts

As Remus sat in his seat digesting the news that not only was Sirius innocent with Peter being the traitor in their group but also that his best friend might soon be released from Azkaban everyone else left the room. When he came out of his thoughts he found it was just him and Bloodsaw, the Lupin Family Account Manager. "Do I need to get out of here?" Remus asked the Goblin.

"Not right away, I do have something to discuss with you," Bloodsaw said.

"Yes?" Remus asked.

"As Prince Bonecrusher said during the meeting even if the humans will not accept you taking up your family seats in their Wizengamot you can still claim your family rings. I can only assume you never knew this since you never asked to do so," Bloodsaw said.

"Will they allow me to access a vault?" Remus said he had to mostly get by doing odd jobs in the Muggle World or hunting and fishing.

"Not only that since you are the last of the line you could access any of your family properties as well as any House Elves that might work for your family. Both of which could be used to watch over you during your change," the Goblin said.

"I would like to claim my Family Rings then," Remus said.

"I have been waiting for this," Bloodsaw said as he took out a small box opening it up to reveal a sterling silver ring with the Lupin family crest.

"Um, do I need to do anything?" Remus asked.

"All you need to do is put it on. Though I will inform you that if you are under any enchantments besides the lycanthrope curse black goo will start coming out of the holes in your face, the more enchantments there are the more holes that will have to be used to expel the goo," Bloodsaw said.

"Thanks for that," Remus said with a wan smile as he lifts the ring up and holds the ring finger of his right hand. "Well here goes nothing." As he slips the ring on he expected a slight burn, after all, it was silver and he was a Werewolf but he felt nothing. At least for a moment but the pain he started to feel was not from the silver family ring but the cleanse his family magic started to perform on him.

Remus could not help but let out a bestial scream as the enchantments placed on him were removed and gunk began to pour from both his ears and nose. It only took thirty seconds tops but to Remus, it felt like it went on for hours as his family magic removed any foreign magic or potion that should not be in his body, apart from any potions for health reasons. When the wave of pain ended, Remus sat up straight in his chair wiping the goo away from his nose and ears with one hand while he uses his wand with his other hand to scan it. He let out another growl as he got the results from his spell making him understand why it hurt so much when he transformed into his wolf. According to his scan, one of the spells on him had increased his submissive tendencies when his wolf was more of a Switch. That was not the only way his wolf had been altered as his pack instincts had been surpassed making him realize he had never sought out Harry after James and Liy's death. Sure he might not have been a Godparent and he had not known that they had made him Harry's Magical Guardian but his wolf saw the boy as his cub. If his instincts had not been blocked nothing on Earth would have stopped him from hunting Harry down and taking him somewhere to raise him. Not even the fact that this might not have been a good life for a child to live would not have stopped a wolf from taking a parental role for a cub it saw as his.

"Even if Sirius gets free, I want to take Harry in or at least be around," Remus said more to himself than Bloodsaw.

"I will relay your wishes to Prince Bonecrusher and see what we can do," Bloodsaw said.

"I want to make a good first impression on him, can we go get some money from my vaults so I can buy some new clothes, and possibly hire a healer?" Remus said.

"I will ask around. If nothing else try Trap Street there should be a Healer willing to see you there," Bloodsaw said as he lead Remus out of the room and to where the carts would take them down to the Lupin family vaults.

Griphook watched his new clients complain a little about Prince Bonecrusher telling them that there would be no Marriage contract between Harry and one of their kids. Well, Consort Weasley nee Prewett did most of the complaining as her husband just sat there and took her insults towards the goblins as if he was at fault. Griphook had thought this role was a promotion away from a cart handler but now he wondered if Prince Bonecrusher was punishing him for something. It took the redheaded woman forty-five minutes to calm down and start to leave. As Griphook had just been sitting behind his desk as she complained he had noticed something about the pair, neither of them was wearing a family ring. Even if the woman was a shrew and her husband seemed to be beaten down by her, Griphook wanted to do his new job to the best of his ability.

So as they started towards the door he said, "Just a moment, please."

"WHat?" the human banshee turned to growl back.

"Well, since Halbert was found to be the one that helped put the Bird Fund Vault in place to make sure that neither of you was the one to order him to do so, either by choice or enchantment I am going to have you put on the Weasley family rings," Griphook said.

"We don't need to do anything like that," Consort Weasley nee Prewett said quickly as her voice dropped making Griphook sense a tinge of fear in his new client.

"You have no choice," Griphook lied. "You either take up the Weasley Lordship and Consort Rings or you could face Goblin justice." Griphook cracked his knuckles wishing he had time to move one of his battle axes into the office before now so he could reach for it menacingly.

"He is right Molly dear if it is the only way to prove we had nothing to do with it we have little choice," Arthur said.

"Nonsense I am sure Albus could clear all this up," Molly said.

"That man has no powers within the Goblin Kingdom and can not save you if you are found guilty," Griphook said.

"Please Mister Goblin let's have my family rings," Arthur said. "After all Molly, we can put them on and once we are cleared we can just take them off again."

Griphook smiled as he pulled out the rings from the desk, one of the few things he had left in it from when it had been Halberts. Though he did wonder why Halbert had never tried to get the humans to take their rings.  Opening the box he showed off two rings one a deep crimson the same shade as most of the Weasley family's hair the other ring in the box was a lighter shade of red. "Lord Weasely the top one is your Lordship's ring the lighter red one is Consort Weasley nee Prewett's," Griphook explained as Arthur took the deep crimson ring and slipped it onto his left ring finger. With a moment of hesitation, Molly took the other ring and slipped it onto her ring finger. Once both rings were in place resting above the pair's wedding/bonding rings they began to cleanse the pair. Griphook has some suspicions that Consort Weasely was not to be trusted and had not informed them what would happen if they were enchanted.

Arthur Weasley felt a wave of magic wash over him finding it comforting in a way he had long forgotten about. It felt right to him to wear the Weasley Family Ring like the comforting hug of an old friend. But as soon as Molly slipped the Weasley Consort Ring on he felt like his body was burning as something began to pour from his ears. Molly felt just a twinge of pain as a single drop of black goo fell unsee out of her left ear. The only enchantment she had been under was her devotion to Albus Dumbledore which had been almost fanatical before being enchanted had increased it by just a small amount.

When the wave of pain ended, Arthur took a few deep gasps wiping around his ear where he felt something wet. "What is this?" he asked as he saw his fingers coming away covered in some sort of black goo.

"That is the after-effect of foreign magic affecting your body," Griphook explained. "May I?" the Goblin asked reaching for the man's black-covered fingers.

"I guess," Arthur said holding out his wet fingers.

Griphook spoke some Gobblygook as he cast a Detection Charm on the goo to find out how his new client had been changed. "Lord Weasley I have some good news and some bad news."

"What is the good news?" Arthur asked.

"There is no indication that you were responsible for having Halbert create the Bird Fund Vault," Griphook said.

"And the bad news?" Arthur said.

"Enough Arthur we proved our innocence let's leave. Ginny is all alone," Molly said hurriedly.

"Molly, Ginny is ten she can be on her own just fine and if there are any issues she can Floo the Lovegoods or the Diggorys," Arthur said turning to her his eyebrows lifting a little as he took her in.

"The bad news Lord Weasley is that you have been under Love Potions for a while now, have been enchanted to be loyal to Albus Dumbledore, memory charms placed on you whenever you bring up leaving the Ministry for more fulfilling work, spelled to somewhat neglect your kids, and some of your blood taken while enchanted to have you perform a blood adoption," Griphook said. As the Goblin said this Arthur realized that was what was different when he looked at his wife he did not feel any love towards her at all rather he felt disgusted and fear at the sight of her.

"I see," Arthur said.

"Stop this prank," Molly ordered Griphook but both males ignored her.

"Is there a way to see who I was forced to Blood Adopted?" Arthur asked.

"Now Arthur," Molly began.

"Shut Up Molly!" Arthur ordered her and due to his anger and what his Family Magic was able to detect the Consort Ring on her finger forced her to comply.

"Give me the palm of your dominant hand," Griphook said.

Molly fumed silently as Arthur stuck out his right hand letting the Goblin cut it and collect some blood. Using the blood Griphook spattered a parchment and rubbed the black goo on it. The parchment began to fill out with more detail everything that had been done to Arthur. Arthur read about Molly having him on Love Potions since their last year at Hogwarts which lead to the birth of William, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George. It seemed that he then gained immunity to the potion she had been using as he then Blood Adopted Ronald Billius Prewett-Pettigrew (Weasley)* and Ginevera Prewett-Fletcher (Weasley. The memory charms cast on him had forced him to continue to work for the ministry and forget that he kept getting a job offer from some place called Muggle Tech. He was going to have to look that place up after he left here and see if they would still hire him while he loved his department which had been such a delight to work in after he stepped down as Head of the Aurors most of the Ministry looked down their noses at him.

"According to this Molly, our entire relationship has been based on you slipping me potions. I may not recall many of my father's lessons in Pureblood culture but I do recall that since I was dosed which lead to us getting married, I can easily break our bond. I want you and your daughter out of my house by tomorrow at noon or I shall get ahold of some of my old contacts in the law offices and pass on this information," Arthur said standing up and heading to the door. He did not even turn back when Moly gave a scream of pain as the Weasleuy Consort Ring burned her before slipping off her finger and magically itself back into the ring box on Griphooks desk. Thankfully the Weasley family magic which had prevented her from speaking remained in place as Arthur left so he did not hear her scream as he left her.

Hogwarts

As Harry and the Slytherins reached the Charm's classroom they saw some of the Hufflpuffs already in the room sitting on one side of a divide that ran through the room.  Without speaking to one another the Slytherins moved to sit on the other side of the divide and began to pull out their notebooks, quills, and the course book to wait for class to start.  Since Dumbles had not introduced the staff that taught at the castle or what subjects they taught, Harry first laid eyes on the Charms teacher as he entered the room and climbed onto a pile of books.  "Good Morning everyone I am Professor Flitwick Charms Master and the Head of Ravenclaw House," the small man said in greeting before he started to take attendance.  Everything was going normally unless you counted the fact that the teacher was sitting on a pile of tomes like some young kid trying to sit at the adult table during a family get-together until he reached Harry's name where he let out an excited squeak and toppled right off his seat.  Tracy Davis and a Hufflepuff boy who were the nearest to him hurried over to help him get back up and make sure he was alright.  The Professor just waved them off with thanks as he returned to his spot to finish.

"Ah, we are all here that is good.  I would hate to see one of you absent for your first class," Professor Flitwick said beaming around at them.  "Now as it is your first class at Hogwarts before we start today's lesson I will inform you all how classes, grading, and homework are handled here.  As you have your schedules you will see that there are several classes for each subject you will be taught here.  When you share a class with another House such as this class it is a practical lesson, while if only one House has a class this is your class's study session.  In practical lessons, you will as the name suggests work on learning and casting spells.  Most spells to fully master them require you to cast them somewhere between one hundred and five hundred times depending on your level of magic, alignment, and leaning. Yes, Mr. Finch-Fletchly?" Professor Flitwick asked seeing one of the Hufflepuff boys raise their hand.

"What do you mean by alignment and leaning, Professor?" Justin asked.

"Ah excellent question my boy," Professor Flitwick said smiling at him.  "Everyone who can use magic is born with one of three types of Magical Cores.  They are named, in my opinion incorrectly, as Light, Gray, and Dark.  The Core you have is considered your alignment, and before any of you worry that you have a Dark Core this does not mean evil as some mistakenly believe.  It just means that you would normally have a better affinity with certain types of magic."

"What types of magic is that, Professor?" Justin asked again.

"Let's see normally someone with a Light Core is better with some jinxes, various forms of fire, and water-creation and control spells.  A Gray Cored Magical is better with movement charms like levitation, summoning, banishing, and brewing, and for some reason has an easier time with mastering an Animagus Form.  While someone with a Dark Core has been shown to be better at casting Healing Magic, using protection spells, casting a Patronus, and Apparition.  We will be covering most of these spells later so I will let you research them on your own later," Professor Flitwick said.  "Yes Miss Parkinson?" he asked seeing Pansy's hand in the air.  "Oh yes, I know that some of you might be Heirs/Heiress of your family but during classes, all staff will only call you by your first name if they get permission to or by calling you Mr, Messer, or Miss," Professor Flitwick added seeing some annoyed look when he called Pansy Miss rather than Heiress.  Though Pansy had a small smile on her face seeing that unlike she had originally feared the Castle and at least the two members of staff she had come in contact with referred to her as her chosen gender rather than the one she was born with.

"Why did you add the modifier "normally?" Pansy asked.

"Well, Miss Parkinson sometimes what is considered normal for a person's alignment is not always true.  Take Mr. Potter for instance," Professor Flitwick said making everyone turn to look at Harry.  "I was in the same class as his Grandfather Flement Potter and he along with the rest of his family was excellent at Potions, but Mr. Potter's father, James was just bad at brewing, he had required a tutor just so he could get his dream job.  Now like the rest of the Potter family, James had a Gray Core but he had no affinity for Potions at all.  This is due to James Potter's Leaning.  Now a person's Leaning is different from their alignment and can include anything from what subjects a person is best at, certain types of spells like curses, jinxes, or even for some people a type of elemental magic they can use.  To stay with James Potter the combination of his alignment and Leaning lead him to be good at Defensive Magic, learning History, Healing, mastering the Patronus Charm, enchanting objects, and from what I once overheard the Animagus transformation," Professor Flitwick explained.  Harry was not sure if Professor Flitwick was just giving the class an example of what he was talking about or sharing something about Harry's father for Harry's sake.  Not that it mattered, for Harry drank it all in any way, for the books about his family had not contained much about his parents due to how young they had been when they had been murdered.

"Now due to everyone having a different alignment and Leaning when it comes to magic as well as how powerful they may be in your class, you will not be judged on how powerful your spell is, and I know that sounds a little strange, but by how well you can master it," Professor Flitwick explained.  "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"But isn't that the same thing?  Wouldn't the spell we master be powerful?" Harry asked.

"Not always, for what is powerful for one person could be weak to another.  Right now I could cast a spell that I have never mastered even after all my years, but it might look powerful for everyone but me.  Also, strength and power are not always needed in magic sometimes it is a gentle or controlled touch that is required.  Take this for example," he said pulling out his wand and casting a spell to make his desk float into the air and fly around the room before returning to its normal place.  If I had used too much power with this levitation spell I could have broken off one of my desk legs, which I could easily fix with another spell, or I could have shattered my desk into a large pile of splinters.  Still fixable but rather annoying especially as the splitters would have gone flying and possibly hit, or hurt some of you," Professor Flitwick explained.  "As you will learn unless the purpose of a spell is a loud bang or creation of smoke these are signs of a lack of skill more often than not.

"Now in your study sessions, the class will focus on learning the history of a spell and the possible uses of it," Professor Flitwick said returning to his original topic.  "In both types of lessons, you will be assigned homework.  Though for practical lessons the homework will be for you to practice your spell a certain number of times outside of class if not the casting at least the wand movements for the spell.  For your study sessions, most classes will assign you essays to write over the topic covered in the lesson, some passage in our books, or in the case of Potions how you might have messed up your brew.  For your essays, you will be given a grade of a "T" which stands for terrible, "D" or Dreadful, and "P" as Poor which are the failing grades.  Next, there is "A" for Acceptable, "EE" as Exceeds Expectations, and finally, 'O" which stands for Outstanding.  These will also be the grades you will get on your midterms and end-of-year tests.

Now besides the grading system, Hogwarts is broken up into several levels of learning magic.  Right now all of you no matter your family or history are Beginners or B-Ranked Magic Users.  After your Third Year, you will move up to the I-Rank which means Intermediate level.  After you start your Sixth Year at the castle you are considered A-Rank or being at an Advanced level.  Upon graduating you will be seen as L-Ranked or Learned.  If you continue to grow in your magical skill you might one day achieve M-Rank or Masters Level.  Each of the staff for the Core Classes here has achieved an M-Ranked in their subject.  If you are considered a Master in several branches of Magic you can even become an S-Rank or be said to possess Sage Level Magic this is rare due to how much time it takes to achieve.  I think the last person to achieve S-Rank was High Lady Longbottom who has Masters in History, Charms, Defense, Herbiolgy, and Potions," Professor Flitwick explained.  "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Do you only have a Masters in Charms?" Draco asked him.

"Not at all, besides being a Chamrs Master I hold Mastery in Defense and am a Champion Duelist.  I am also working on a Masters in Magical Theory by doing a long-term case study in Wish Magic," the man said.

"What is Wish Magic?" A Hufflepuff boy with a slightly self-important voice asked.

"Wish Magic was a delightful name I once heard one of my Muggleborn students use to describe Wild Magic or underage magic that one might use as their magic starts to manifest.  I liked the student's definition for at the age when Magic starts to reveal itself it acts on instincts and for the Muggleborn student it happened when they wished for something with all their heart causing their magic to try to act to achieve the wish.

Now I don't know how your other Professors do it," Professor Flitwick said once more returning to the topic, "but I have no problem if during your assignments you work together to complete them.  But be warned if you let me know that you are doing so I will cast a spell on your homework to make sure that both partners are doing the same amount of work.  I will say this one person can be in charge of writing the essay as you brainstorm and plan it out this does not mean that I will only detect the writer's signature on the work.  Any of you born or raised in the Muggle world might not be aware of this but everyone who can use magic has an unseen aura about them that is unique to them like a person's fingerprint.  If you have reached a certain level of magic, or possess one of the various magical abilities you can actually see this aura in use.  Most members of the staff can see it which helps us usually know who cast what spell in class.  As you work on your assignments your aura will connect to the quill which are all specially created to collect bits of aura as you write letting us see who actually wrote the essay you turn in."

"Is that why we are told to use quills rather than pens and pencils?" Justin asked.

"Correct Mr. Finch-Fletchly have two points for Hufflepuff," Professor Flitwick said giving out his first points of the term.  "I have no problem if you want to use a pen or pencil while taking notes but all assignments must be written out using a quill so I can detect your magical signature to make sure you are the one who did the work," Professor Flitwick informed them.

And now that that is all out of the way it is time for our first lesson.  Today's spell is not technically a spell at all but a basic skill that all Magicals need to learn at the start, and that is to make sparks with their wand.  This is done with a simple flick of the wand there is not even any incantation that you need to say just the flick," he said demonstrating it as he cast some red sparks from his wand.  "To make sparks just send your magic through your wand and perform the flick I don't want you to do anything else today.  In your first study session, we will go over what the sparks may signify based on their color, and in our next practical lesson, we will focus on changing the color to red. For surprisingly the only color that untreated sparks don't turn is red," Professor Flitwick said having them get to work.

It really was as simple as he told them for after a few flicks of the wand everyone was able to produce sparks.  Draco was able to cast some blue sparks, Pansy's were pink, and Theo and Blaise both created green sparks, but Harry was a little disappointed when his sparks were white.  If he had been looking around he would have seen Flitwick nearly topple off his books again seeing Harry's sparks being white which showed he had a great deal of Magical Power.

Chapter Text

Almost as soon as Harry left his first Charms lessons he began to hear people talking about him.

"Right there in the middle of the group of Snakes, that is Harry Potter."

"I can't believe he got sorted into Slytherin. You don't think he was able to survive by some dark magic?"

"As a baby? Are you under a Confundus Charm?"

"You know I thought he would be taller."

"His eyes are gorgeous."

And other such nonsense that Harry just began to ignore on principle. As long as they did nothing other than talk about him he was willing to let everyone be. So far he had only made one exception to this policy and it had come from Hagrid. On the second day of class during a free period, the large man sought Harry out and seemed to be in a rather bad mood. Unknown to Harry one of the issues that Hagrid was dealing with was the meeting at the bank yesterday when he had been informed that his Will had been taken from the Ministry and held along with several others in a strange vault within Gringotts. While Hagrid did not own that much or have anyone to leave his merger possessions to, he did not like that his Will had been moved without his permission. And seeing Lily and James' son spending a free period in the courtyard, Hagird made his way over. "Ye, parents would be disappointed in ye 'arry," Hagrid said.

"If you say so," Harry said offhandedly.

"Don't ye take that tone with me 'arry. Dinna I tell ye Slytherin was nothing but trouble?" Hagrid asked him.

"If memory serves you said something like every single student who had been sorted into Slytherin would turn out evil," Harry said making his new friends and classmates glare up at the large man. "Something that the person who rescued me from my family revealed the truth about. During the last war, You-Knew-Who had supporters from all four Hogwarts Houses. And even if they did only come from Slytherin and every single one of my new classmates are their kids this means nothing. A person does not always turn out like the members of their family, after all, I can't see my mom or aunt being too similar or I would never have been born," Harry said.

"They will turn ye evil," Hagrid said.

"How?" Harry asked.

"They just will," Hagrid answered.

"See you can not even think of a way they can do it.  This just shows me that you are just a bigot," Harry said.

"What did ye say?" Hagrid thundered.

"You wanted me to go to Gryffindor after all you did not talk about Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff and only spoke about Slytherin being evil. And now that the Sorting Hat placed me where I would be best at you claim my parents would not like it. I know I never knew my parents but I hoped they would still support me no matter where I ended up and the couple of teachers I have had classes with that recalled them have not said anything about them being mad where I was sent. Only you and Dumbledore. And what I learned after I was taken from my family about him I know he is not someone to just instantly trust. Oh, and thanks for leaving me locked out of my house after we left my aunt and uncle trapped on an island meaning I was outside all night. And not even telling me how to get onto the platform at Kings Cross, I guess it was a good thing someone came to check on me after you left me or I might not have survived or found out how to come to school," Harry said having enough as he packed up his stuff and left the man as his classmates surrounded him.

"Did he really leave you outside on your own?" Blaise asked.

"Yep, and who knew when my family would have gotten back for we took two days to reach the island. The Governor found me after the night I spent outside," Harry said not even saying he had been staying with Draco's family despite all his dormmates already knowing it. Harry and Draco had told them all the first nights in their dorm rooms since Lucius had warned that sometimes Dumbles cast spells on the Hogwarts Express to listen to what the students talked about to and from school.

"My father always said he was an idiot and irresponsible," Draco said.

"I still can't believe they sent him to introduce you to the magical world. I did not think he had a wand," Pansy said.

"I don't think he did," Harry said.

"But how did he reveal magic to you? I heard that the people they send to greet Muggleborns or raised sometimes have to cast a spell to prove the kid is not getting pranked," Daphne said.

"Well, he used a pink umbrella to give my cousin a pig's tail," Harry said expecting his new friends to laugh but was shocked as they all fell silent.

"He used magic on a Muggle?" Theo asked. "Even if your cousin was a bully to you to cast a spell on a Muggle is highly illegal. Did he reverse the spell after he cast it having proved magic existed?"

"No," Harry admitted.

"I think you should let the Governor know not only about Hagrid giving your cousin a tail but also the fact that he was using an umbrella to cast spells," Draco said.

"You think I should?" Harry asked.

"He left you alone, gave you nothing but skewed information about the Hogwarts Houses, used magic on a Muggle, and was using magic without a wand, yeah I am sure," Draco said.

"Okay then," Harry said trusting Draco who despite how bad their first meeting in the robe shop had been was becoming Harry's best friend. "I can only guess, my cousin, lost his tail since you would have thought they would have mentioned that in the article about their arrest in yesterday's paper." This statement at least was greeted with some chuckles that he had expected before.

A few days later, Harry and the others were doing their Charms homework after their first Study Session. Harry was feeling a little excited during the class Professor Flitwick explained that the lighter a person's original sparks were the larger the amount of power they had. And since Harry's sparks had been white he now knew he had a lot of power, though he kept thinking of the Charms Master's lesson on power was not the only thing needed when using magic. As he finished his Charms work he moved onto an assignment from History of Magic.  They were learning about a Goblin/Giant War that happened centuries ago which had after an attack on a Wizarding Village which had drawn the humans into the fight. Harry had decided to have his topic for the essay as why the war had been inevitable and was telling about a feud between the chief Giant, Grigori, and the Goblin king, Bonebreaker VIII over the giants not paying for services rendered by the Goblins. Harry was distracted as a loud band caused him to look up and caused a splot of ink to appear on his essay.

"Can we help you?" Draco asked angrily at Granger who had dropped a book on the table they were working on.

"I can offer no help for you, you slimy snake. I am here for Harry," Granger said.

"What do you want Granger?" Harry asked her.

"Well, obviously you will be unable to do your assignment without me, so I thought I would come over to help you," Granger said sounding so full of herself that it was hard not for Harry and his friends not to laugh at her.

"And what makes you think I need your help?" Harry asked.

"Duh, I am the Smartest Witch of our Year," Granger boasted.

"How do you work that out? We have not even got any of our homework back yet?" Pansy asked her.

"It is obvious, who else has read as many books as I have?" Granger shot back.

"How would you know how many books we may or may not have read?" Theo asked who was their group's Bookworm/lover-In-Chief.

"I just know, alright so budge up so I can help Harry with his homework," Granger said using the book she dropped on the table like a weapon as she tried to get Draco and Daphne who were seated next to Harry to move. While with her other hand grabbed for Harry's essay.

"I don't need or want your help, Granger," Harry said placing his hand on his parchemt to keep her from taking it.

"And that precisely is why you need my help.  You don't get that I am so much smarter than you are," she said trying to take his essay and almost ripping it.

"No I am sure, I don't need your help, Granger, for I don't trust you," Harry said.

"That is due to these snakes badmouthing Gryffindor House. You really should ask for a Re-Sort and come to Gryffindor, Harry, it is where you belong," she said.

Harry was not going to inform her that he could not get a Re-sort, it was not any of her business in the first place. "My mistrust of you has nothing to do with what my friends and I talk about your House. The reason I don't trust you is, I don't trust thieves," he told her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"What what, you had some of my family's magical tomes. I guess your intelligence missed the fact that when they are returned by a certain ritual it tells where the tomes had been," Harry said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Just give it up and leave us alone, Granger," Harry said as he turned back to his parchment and used a spell that Professor Flitwick had taught them to siphon off the splotch of ink. Granger stewed for a moment, making Harry wonder if she was waiting for someone to let her sit down or an apology from him, neither of which would happen, before she stomped away from the table.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after she was gone letting them return to their homework. But less than five minutes later they were interrupted again as Ronald Weasley came over. "There you are, Harry," the redhead said as he ignores the others at the table.

"What do you want, Weasley?" Harry asked.

"It's Ron, Harry, you know that," Weasley said.

"How would I know that?" Harry asked not bringing up that all their names had been called during the Sorting Ceremony.

"Because we are best friends," Weasley said.

"We are?" Harry asked confused. "Hey, Draco, were you aware I was best friends with Weasley for I didn't?"

"Why ask a Mini-Death Eater?" Weasley asked sounding confused.

"Why ask the person who is as close to being my best friend, why you think I am your best friend? I don't know, maybe I wanted to check to see if I randomly sleepwalked out of our dorms during the night to head to wherever the Gryffindor Common Room is?" Harry asked.

"Quit joking around Harry we have always been friends. And I am better for you than the likes of Malfoy," the redhead said holding out his hand as if expecting Harry to take it.

"Yeah, just cause you heard stories about me due to how famous I am in the Magical World does not mean you know me, and I can make my own friends. I don't need someone who insults my real friends and calls himself "my best friend" around me," Harry said simply.

"Alright, Malfoy what did you do to Harry?" Weasley asked looking as if he wanted to pull out his wand but figured he would be outnumbered by everyone at the table.

"I did nothing," Draco said looking unconcerned at the Gryffindor pest.

"I suggest you leave, Weasley, we are too busy for a fanboy," Harry said as he turned back to his homework and began to ignore the idiot.

Weasley tried to get Harry to respond or look at him for nearly five minutes before he stomped away from the table. "Next time we have homework I think we should just check the books out and do it in the Common Room," Harry suggested to his friends.

"Agreed," everyone said as they all started to pack away before someone else showed up.

Both Granger and Weasley were in a bad mood as they stalked the stacks after Harry had blown them off. They both knew that somehow the Slytherins had somehow enchanted or dosed Harry with something to make him act the way he did so they were looking for a book to help Harry get free of them. Ronald was just wondering the stacks looking for a likely book that could help while Granger had gone to ask the vulture-like Madam Pince for a suggestion. Both arrived at the same book reaching for it at the same time. As they both turned to look at who else had grabbed the book and saw each other, their anger got the better of them. "Let go you, idiot," Granger said as she pulled the book down smacking it on Ronald's head.

"I am not an idiot.  You let go," Ronald said using his free hand to rub his head.

"I doubt you could even understand anything in this book," Granger jeered at him.

"If anyone could not comprehend what is in this book it is you, Mudblood," Ronald sneered.

Having been told what that word meant by the girls in her dorm room Granger growled as she let go of the book. Ronald not expecting it and due to how heavy the book was dropped it so it landed on his feet. "Severs you right you blood supremacist," Granger said with a cruel laugh.

"You bitch," Ronald said as he tackled her forcing them both to the ground. Granger was so surprised by Ronald's actions it took her a few moments to respond as she began to start punching and hitting him. Ronald responded in kind as the pair of them fought in between the bookcases completely unnoticed until Granger rolled them over so she was on top of Ronald so she could hit him better. They rolled into one of the stacks causing a small avalanche of books, which they both ignored as they fought against each other knowing that if it was not for the other they would be Harry's friend.

"That is enough," Madam Pince said using her wand to separate the pair before magically putting her precious books back on their shelves. "Fighting in the library I have never seen such disrespect in all my years," the librarian huffed as she looked over the pair. Granger had blood pouring out of her nose and was cradling her left arm while there was the start of a black eye on Ronald's face as the Gryffindor clutched his side. I am taking you to the Hall of Healing* and then I will be reporting this to the Headmaster. You are both banned from the library for two weeks," she said as she frog-matched the pair out of the room.

During supper, Harry was delivered a note telling him to come to the Headmaster's office after the meal.  Harry looked to the staff table to see if Professor Snape knew the reason for the meeting, but when Harry was able to catch the man's eye, the Potions Master just arched an eyebrow at him as if wondering why Harry was looking at him.  He could only assume Dumbles did not inform Harry's Head of House about the meeting.  Knowing it was against the school rules for an underage student to meet with the Headmaster alone when he finished his meal Harry went up to the top table to show the message to Professor Snape.  As the Potion Master read the note and knew one had not been sent to him he snarled a little as he got up to follow Harry to the Headmaster's office.  Once more giving the password of "Cottom Candy," Harry and Professor Snape rode the moving staircase up to Dumble's office.

"Harry my boy come in," Albus said with a look on his face that was part happy and part disappointed before he caught sight of Snape right behind Harry.  "Severus, what are you doing here?"

"My job, Albus, as you know an underage student is not to meet with the Headmaster without their Head of House or a Guardian," Professor Snape said moving over to the bookcase and leaning into it as he did on Harry's first night at the castle.

"I don't think your presence is needed tonight, Severus I just have to talk to young Harry about something," Dumbles said.

"I will not break the rules so you can have a one-on-one meeting with Potter," Professor Snape said.

"Do you want Professor Snape at this meeting Harry?" Dumbles asked.

"I invited him since he did not get a message to come.  And it is Heir Potter, Headmaster," Harry said.

"There is no reason to be so formal, Harry," Dumbles said.

"Heir Potter, unless you want me to show you the same disrespect you are showing me and call you by your first name," Harry said.

"Mr. Potter then," Dumbles said looking as if he had just swallowed an entire lemon.

"Heir Potter, Professor," Harry said again putting emphasis on his title and name.

"Mr. Potter," Dumbles shot back.

"While Professor Flitwick said that a student would be referred to as Mr. or Miss in class, since we are not in class, I ask you to use my proper title, Albus," Harry said thinking he heard Professor Snape let out a small laugh which was changed into a cough behind him.

"Fine, Heir Potter," Dumbles said looking if it hurt to use Harry's proper titles.

"Thank you, sir. Now, why did you want to see me?" Harry asked.

"I want to discuss what happened before lunch today," Dumbles said confusing Harry.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"The fight between your two friends in the library," Dumbles said.

"I still don't know what you are talking about," Harry said still confused not recalling any of his friends fighting, and as Slytherins, if they did it would not happen outside the dorm or Slytherin Common Room.

"I was informed Young Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger got into a fight due to you the way you treated them," Dumbles said.

"Kay, but what about my friends fighting?" Harry asked.

"Now this is hardly the time for jokes Har... Heir Potter," Dumbles said.

"I am not joking, I don't recall my friends fighting when we were doing homework.  And why should two Gryffindor students who I barely know concern me?  I mean I have not had a class with either of them yet.  I think our first class is tomorrow with Defense right after breakfast.  Outside of class besides interrupting me and my friends as we studied the only past I have with either of them is Granger having some of my family's belongings after you gave them to her illegally," Harry said.

"Detention, Heir Potter," Dumbles barked.

"And why are you giving my student detention, Albus?" Professor Snape asked.

"For lying about his friendship with Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger so he does not have to face the truth that his actions led them to fight and end up in the hospital wing," Dumbles said.

"If they fought over me that just proves that they are not people I want to hang out with, since I don't know them," Harry interjected putting a lot of emphasis at the end of his statement.

"You must take responsibility for the hurt and fight of your friends Heir Potter," Dumbles said.

"I would," Harry said, "if either of those were my friend, to begin with.  As far as I am concerned they are a thief and a fanboy that I go to school with."

"Now Harry," Dumbles said.

"Heir Potter," Harry snapped.  "But I guess if you do not believe me about my connection to them I guess I can prove they are not my friends."  Before Dumbles could say anything else Harry pulled his wand out of the holster Lucius had gotten him and held it before him.  "I vow on my magic and life that at this time I am not friends with Ronald Weasley or Hermione Granger.  Not at the present time do I see us becoming friends."  As the vow took effect, Harry used his wand to produce red sparks and shot them into the air to prove he was telling the truth.

"If that is all, Albus, I think the detention of my student should be removed as he has just proven he is not Messer Weasley or Miss Granger's friend and should therefore hold no responsibility over their fight in the library," Professor Snape said moving away from the bookcase and starting to lead Harry out of the room.

"Fine, there will be no detention, but I do think Heir Potter would find Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger to be very good friends," Dumbles said through gritted teeth.

"Your opinion on who my friends should be is noted, but will not affect my choices, Headmaster," Harry said as he followed the Potion Master out of the office as Dumbles brooded and pouted like a toddler who had just been sent to bed without dessert.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts: Thursday Night

When Harry and Professor Snape showed back up in the Common Room, the Potions Master headed to his normal desk for his normal Thursday session with his students, while Harry shared with his friend the reason he had been called to the office. Harry and his friends spent a couple of minutes bad-mouthing the Headmaster and his random idea that Harry was friends with Weasley or Granger. Even though so far they had only had their Defense Practical lesson with the pair and the meeting in the library none of the First Year Slytherins liked the two lions that much. Weasley had barely seemed to pay attention during Professor Quirrell's teaching the Flipendo Spell to the class and would complain that he was not getting it. While Granger shot her hand up each time a question was asked and would sometimes blurt out the answer if someone else had been called on. She had also thrown nasty looks at them all as they took notes with pens and pencils rather than quills. Evidently, Professor Sprout had not had the same introductory speech that Professor Flitwick had done in explaining how classes were done and that quills were only needed for tests and homework. None of them were looking forward to tomorrow when they would have Potions with the Gryffindors and with all their interest in Harry it was decided that Draco, Christopher, and Tracy would join him at his table to make sure the two lions would be unable to sit with him or mess with his work. Not that they thought the pair would do anything in Professor Snapes' class but then again Gryffindor was supposedly the House of the Bold and Daring, not necessarily mental abilities.

The Ministry: Friday Morning

Dolores Umbridge was on a mission as she made her way down to the Ministry Holding Cells. She had just received the letter Harry had sent to Lucius informing her cousin more about his introduction to the Magical World. As Dolores had focused on his time growing up with the Dursleys when she had him use the Confession Quill his mind had not shared the story of Hagrid coming to collect him from his abusers. As Lucius had sent over the letter Harry had sent him, Dolores saw that Harry had just addressed it to the Governor making her hope Lucius did not start to use the title as a corny nickname. It was the contents of the letter that had led her to set up this meeting with the three Muggles. Normally when criminals or suspected criminals were brought in they were separated in case one of the people revealed something of their crime. But from what she read in Harry's letter she wanted the full story as soon as possible without having to interview the three Muggles by themselves.

Dolores knew she was taking a big risk and that one of either Fudges or Albus' people might catch wind of what she was doing but the information in Harry's letter was so serious she wanted to deal with it before Albus swept it under the rug or Fudge got ahold of it and used it for his personal advantage. Reaching the room the Dursleys were now in, she adjusted her pink cardigan and opened the door. "Hm, hm," she said announcing her arrival with a small cough. "Mister, Madam, and young Dursley I am Dolores Jane Umbridge and I would like to talk to you for a bit."

"You have no right to keep us here," Vernon Dursley said.

"Oh, we have every right to do so since you are responsible for the abuse of a Magical child who was left in your care. I am not sure how it is for you lot but in the Magical World children are precious," she said moving over to a table and sitting down as she laid out her quill and clipboard.

"So what are you, our public defender or something?" Petuina Duselsy asked.

"Not at all, I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic," she said knowing that they would not understand her true job, but just in case someone asked them about it would only be able to give out her public job title. "Now I would like to ask you all about your nephew and his reintroduction to our world."

"What is in it for us?" Vernon asked.

"I can offer you a smaller sentence," she said which was not a lie, though at most all the time they would get taken away would be a single day due to the severity of how they abused Harry.

"And what else?" Petunia asked.

"I will make sure that whatever prison you are sent you does not have Dementors stationed at it," Dolores said thinking that she would have to explain what Dementors were to the three Muggles.

"You mean there might be some stationed where you hold normal people?" Petunia asked a quiver of fear in her voice making Dolorus figure that Lily Potter might have told the woman about them.

"Yes, due to the amount of abuse you did to your nephew there is a possibility that you and your husband could be sent to a high-security magical prison which all have Dementors standing guard at," Dolores explained.

"And my son?" Petunia asked.

"He would be sent to Volgek which is a magical juvenile detention center and orphanage until he comes of age where he will most likely be released unless he causes problems.

"What do you want to know?" Petunia asked.

"Petunia?" Vernon asked a little shocked as his wife.

"Trust me, Vernon we do not want to be around Dementors," Petiniua said taking his hand and giving it a hard squeeze.

"I would like you to tell me about your nephew's Hogwarts letters and meeting with a magical representative," Dolores told them getting her quill ready.

"The man was a bloody menace," Vernon fumed.

"In what way?" she asked him.

"He could not take the hint that we did not want to send the boy to your world," Vernon said confusing Dolores.

"Why?" she could not help but ask the large man.

"Why what?" he growled at her.

"From the evidence, we have on you from your nephew, you did not seem to care for him why would you not want him out of your lives for months at a time?" she asked.

"We swore we would stamp all this mumbo-jumbo hullabaloo out of him and make him a well not good since he was a freak but constructive member of society," Vernon said.

Dolores had to bite her bottom lip and bawl her hands into fists so as to not berate the bigoted Muggle or curse him. Getting a hold of herself, she asked, "What did the person do that makes you call him a menace?"

"What did he do? What did he do? How about stalking our family across the countryside with those letters of his? When he finally showed up I tried to get him to leave but he twisted a gun I had just bought into a pretzel, gave my son a pig's tail, and then to top it all off stole the boat we had used to get to an island that we stayed at to avoid him leaving us trapped for a day and a half," Vernon thundered his face turning purple in anger as he got up from his seat and began to pace back and forth across his side of the room.

"Young man, what happened to the tail that you had been given?" Dolores asked knowing that when Rufus and his team brought the three Muggles in he had no tail.

"It is gone," Dudley said.

"I see that young man, but when did it vanish?" she asked,

"I don't know when we got home I guess," Dudley answered.

"Blood good thing too, I thought we would have to go get it surgically removed," Vernon fumed.

"But magic does not work like that, especially a spell cast by someone who was not fully trained," Dolores said.

"What?" Petunia asked.

"Did you catch the name of the person who came to collect your nephew?" Dolores asked rather than answering the question.

"He said he was Rebeus Hagrid keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," Vernon said with a growl.

"As I was informed of. This Hagrid is not a fully trained Magical so would not have the ability to cast a spell on your son and have it wear off. I would like to do something," she said pulling out her wand and making the three Muggles flinch backward as the boy went to hide behind his parents gabbing his bottom.

"What do you plan to do with us?" Vernon asked his voice a mixture of fear and anger.

"I believe someone might have cast a memory charm on you three after they got rid of your son's tail. Unfortunately, I will only be able to detect if one has been cast on you not who the person who cast it was," she said.

"Why would they block out a memory of healing my precious Dudders?" Petunia asked.

"I don't know and that worries me," she said as she cast the detection spell and saw traces of a memory charm in place, what was alarming was that she was able to detect multiple such spells on all three of them. "Well you have all been enchanted, multiple times by the look of it," she informed them.

"It had to be the boy," Vernon growled.

"No underage Magical could do this," Dolores said absently. "I am going to have someone come in to see about this as I check to see if we have any records of anyone coming to work on your minds," she said getting up and leaving the room at a fast pace. In her mind, she knew there were a couple of options for who had placed spells on Harry's Muggle family and they either led back to Fudge or Albus. She felt like she would be able to find out who had done it by seeing if there were any records of anyone visiting the house.  No matter how corrupt Fudge was he would never enchant the Muggles himself and even a corrupt underling would file a report. If there was no report then the perpetrator in her mind could only be Albus.

"Thank you for seeing me, Grace," Arthur said as he shook hands with the Head of the Ministry's Department of Magical Children's Welfare.

"I must say I am surprised by your visit, Arthur," Grace Doogan said as she took the seat behind her desk.

"I am sorry for my request for a meeting being rather vague but I would rather this not get out, at least before I have a chance to tell my kids," he said.

"What, getting out Arthur?" she asked.

"A few days ago I was summoned along with several others to Gringotts for a meeting. The reason is not important but before I left the bank I was given my Family Rings which I had never claimed after my parent's death. As you know once someone puts on all the Family Rings they can claim the rings will perform a cleansing if they detect foreign magic attached to a person. My ring cleansed me but the only relevant data for you to know is that Molly had me under love potions which helped us produce our kids," he explained.

"Oh, dear," Grace said lifting a hand to her mouth.

"Before I returned home we tested my eldest at the bank and it seemed that he did not suffer from the side effect of being unable to love someone since he was born from a union with one of his parents being under the influence of a love potion. I have contacted my second eldest and told him to get tested as well, as for my younger kids I am waiting until they can leave the castle without causing a scandal for me to get them tested," he quickly explained.

"And why are you telling me all this? Do you think that one of your younger kids might need to be seen by a Mind Healer?" Grace asked.

"If one of them is shown to have signs of the side effects yes, but the reason I am here is due to Ronald and Ginny," Arthur said.

"Your youngest?" she said looking over a file.

"No. Unfortunately, it turned out that neither of them is my offspring but they are the kids of Molly and two different men that she had me Blood Adopt. Now I know that since I was forced to Blood Adopt them they can be seen as my kids, but I am not sure if I could refrain from anger or any negative actions towards them after learning of Molly's infidelity while I was enchanted to love her. This being said after what Molly did to me I do not think that they should be left with her either," Arthur explained.

"I see," Grace said, "if it is not too much to ask can I see the results so make certain that they really are not your kids and this is not some payback as you and Molly go through a divorce?"

"That fair," he said as he pulled out the document he got from his Detection Charm on the black goo that had come out of him after he put on his family rings. He tapped the document to observe everything apart from what he had told her about before handing it over.

As she started to read it an owl flew in dropping off an orange envelope before flying out of the room again. Both recognized it as a Howler letter, making Arthur guess it was from Molly who had been unable to reach him until now since he had placed a Maiil Ward around the Burrow blocking any letter she might try to send him. Arthur knew of a spell to make the Howler not go off but thought that it could be used as evidence against Molly since it happened before Grace. He still tapped the now smoking envelope with his wand to place a small Muffling Charm on it so Molly's screams would not deafen him or Grace.

ARTHUR,

HOW DARE YOU KICK ME OUT AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH. I AM YOUR LOVING WIFE, YET YOU TRUST A NASTY GOBLIN MORE THAN ME. YOU HAVE UNTIL SEPTEMBER SIXTH TO END THIS AND APOLOGIZE OR I WILL SUE YOU FOR PRIMARY CUSTODY OF OUR KIDS. AFTER ALL, YOU NEVER HAVE TIME FOR THEM AND I AM THE ONE WHO RAISED ALL MY BABIES. IF YOU TURN TO MURIEL FOR HELP I WILL SUE HER AS WELL AFTER ALL SHE HATES OUR KIDS AND DOES NOT WANT TO LOSE HER POSITION TO THE TWINS. I EXPECT TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON

YOUR LOVING WIFE,

MOLLY

P.S. DADDY WHY DID YOU KICK ME OUT? DON'T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE?

Arthur was rather surprised having never seen a Howler with a postscript before. As there was one and it was made by Ginny, Arthur could only assume Molly had the girl add her bit to the letter to manipulate Arthur. Molly most likely suspected that Arthur did still care for Ronald and Ginevera, unaware that he was afraid of what he would do with them being around him.

"Well that is some well-timed evidence against Molly," Grace said.

"I doubt she planned it like that," Arthur said.

"If you don't mind would you send a response back from here so I can have it for my department's records?" Grace asked.

"I guess," he said as she gave him some parchment to write a letter not to Molly but to his Blood Adopted daughter.

Ginny,

Sweetie, I do still care for you, but I have found out that you are not my blood-born daughter. If some things I have learned about your mother were different I would love you to remain living with me, but I fear that I might have some resentment towards her that I might take out on you. So for your safety, I had to send you away. I would still be honored to be considered your father and in that respect, I must do my best to protect you, even from me.

I am sorry,

Arthur Weasley.

Grace gently took the letter taping it with her wand to make a copy of it before allowing a tearful Arthur to take the original one and roll it up to send it. As if the owl who had delivered the Holwer had been ordered to it swooped back into the room and held out a leg. Grace had to take the letter and attach it to the owl after watching Arthur fumbled with it a few times as tears fell from his eyes. "I will do my best to make sure Ronald and Ginevera are kept safe, Arthur," Grace said gently patting his hand as the owl flew out again.

"Thank you," he said a little stuffily as he pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose.

Chapter Text

As planned Draco, Christopher, and Tracy joined Harry at his desk for their first practical lessons in Potions. For added protection from Granger and Weasley from bothering him, Theo, Vincent, Gregory, and Pansy sat at the table closest to Harry's back while Daphne, Blaise, Millicent, and surprisingly a Gryffindor student sat at the next nearest table. Harry along with his Housemates could only arch an eyebrow at the random Gryffindor boy sitting next to Blaise. If Harry recalled correctly from the sorting and their combined Defense class the slightly chubby boy's name was Neville Longbottom. Harry wondered if the boy was having his own problems with the Gryffindors seeing him shoot some dirty looks at Granger and Weasley as the pair came into the room.

As this was the first time Harry had been close to the due since his encounter in the library he saw that Weasley still seemed to have a black eye and Granger appeared to have a bruise peeking out from under the collar of her robes. This confused Harry a little, as he recall Professor Snape's opening speech as the pair left Dumbles' office on his first night. Professor Snape had shared that he had originally tied all the students of his House to a detection charm and supplied health potions for the school's Medi-Magical Madam Pomfrey tended to not treat Slytherin students when they got hurt. The Potions Master had said that the Matron always saw Gryffindor students and healed them faster and better than those from other houses, making Harry wonder why the pair of lions were still injured from the fight they had gotten into. Harry knew that thanks to their fight the pair had both gotten detentions as well as fifteen points taken from them apiece, which might explain why the other Gryffindor students had quickly claimed some tables leaving only one desk for the pair to sit at. Ronald and Granger scowled at each other and everyone else as they set up their cauldrons on opposite sides of the desk and corners from each other.

Harry noticed he was not the only one who had taken out his wand for the lesson. Even though he knew the practical subject of Potions would consist of brewing he was not sure if there were some spells involved to help the process. He did not recall, Lucius or Narcissa teaching or using such spells during his lessons with Draco before coming to the castle but Draco had told him that after a certain point, a person can cast spells silently.

Everyone jumped as Professor Snape entered the room starting his lesson as soon as he passed the threshold. "While this is a practical lesson there will be little wand waving in this class. My job is to teach you the subtle art of brewing. I can teach you how to bottle fame and put a stopper on death. That is if you are not as big a group of dunderheads as I usually have to teach," Professor Snape said finishing his little speech as he reached the front of the room and looked at them. Harry noticed that when he talked about not being a dunderhead Professor Snape shot a look at Draco before giving the inquisitive look Harry had come to expect from the man when he looked at him.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom you have an issue already?" Severus asked with a small grimace. If the boy asked to change seats again like he had done twice during the Gryffindor's study period for potions, Severus was going to take some points away from the boy. Though he had seen the boy's need to during the lessons as Longbottom had sat first next to Granger who had nearly smacked him every time she shot her hand up to answer a question before berating Longbottom when he was called on to answer a question. After allowing him to change seats, Longbottom moved next to the Weasley boy who did not appear to be paying attention to Severus' lecture. When Severus had them get an early start on the homework, Weasley then wanted Longbottom to do all the work as he gazed off into space.

"Aren't there some spells we need for class, Professor?" Longbottom asked.

"There are few spells that are used while one is brewing Mr. Longbottom for in case you were not aware of this all spells produce a sort of magical residue which can change the nature of most potions," Severus said noticing some people like Potter write that bit of information down in their notes.

"But isn't there a spell to prevent things from being tossed into a cauldron or detect what is in the potions?" Longbottom asked which actually impressed Severus.

"And how do you know of these spells Mr. Longbottom?" Severus asked the young lion.

"Um, I read about them in my mother's journals," Longbottom said with an embarrassed blush as if he was admitting he had done something wrong.

"While you are correct Mr. Longbottom that there are some spells that can be safely used while brewing I don't tend to teach either spell that you mentioned, at least during your First Year. A few years from now when you are A-Ranked students I will teach you a spell to detect the ingredients in a potion, and if anyone archives M-Ranked in Potions you will know a spell that allows you to detect potions in your food, drink, or dosing an item," Severus said arching an eyebrow seeing some confused looks on the Gryffindors' faces. "As for the other spell which will prevent items from being tossed into a cauldron I will only teach that spell when I find evidence of it being done in class. I will warn you if I find out that someone is doing this I will give them a month's detention, take somewhere between fifty and one hundred points away from their House, yes even if they are in Slytherin, and fail them for their entire year. I will not allow such dangerous behavior to be done in this class. Am I making myself perfectly clear?" Severus said glaring at everyone in the class not even giving Draco his normal side smile for even if his Godson was found doing this, Severus would punish the boy severely.

"Yes, Professor," everyone but Weasley said, as the boy was once again not paying attention as he stared off into space.

"Good," Severus responded, "though if you are worried about someone trying to interfere with your potions the spell that Mr. Longbottom has brought up can be found at the start of the P-ranked Potions in the back of the book. Mr. Longbottom for bringing them up and knowing that some magic can be used while brewing takes five points for Gryffindor." Severus felt weird saying that and from the looks on some of the students' faces, they also found his actions strange but it was time to move on.

"Now that that is all settled for your first practical potion lesson you will be brewing a simple Cure for Boils potion. The directions are on the board," Professor Snape said waving his wand as writing appeared on the board in the front of the room. Everyone started to pull out the needed ingredients and tools for the position leading to a commotion, this finally got Ronald Weasley to pay attention as he finally set up his cauldron putting him a few minutes behind everyone else in the room. At each table, there were some discussions as everyone sort of worked together to start the potion. Most of the chatter was confined to each of the tables, the only exception was the one where Granger and Weasley sat as Granger laid into Ronald about being an idiot and setting up his cauldron all wrong. Harry wondered if the girl thought she was whispering insults to the redhead while making sure everyone could hear everything she said. After about ten minutes of this Professor Snape had enough and went over to her and told her that was enough as he took a point away from her for disrupting the class.

As Harry was measuring some of his crushed snake fangs before adding them to his cauldron and his simple potion stock, he saw Granger look as if she wanted to protest her point loss only for Ronald to shift his body a little and the girl to jump a little as she turned to glare at him. Harry only assumed that Ronald had kicked the girl's leg under the table either to drop it or just because he disliked her, Harry could not tell which. Thankfully the girl seemed to get the message and did not raise a fuss letting everyone work in peace for a bit.

Half an hour later there was a commotion from Granger and Ronald's table as the redhead cried with alarm as his cauldron melted. "Idiotic boy," Professor Snape said going over and using his wand to banish the potion before it came in contact with Ronald or Granger's flesh. "Can anyone tell Mr. Weasley here what he did wrong?" the Potions Master put forth to the class. "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

"He did not take his cauldron off the fire before adding his porcupine quills," Neville answered.

"Very good Mr. Longbottom, and how did you come up with that answer?" Professor Snape asked.

"Um, to be honest sir, I almost did the same thing but was stopped by Heiress Greengrass," Neville said blushing slightly.

"I see, well Ms. Greengrass five points to Slytherin for you preventing a different cauldron from being ruined, five more to you as well Mr. Longbottom for seeing the mistake and admitting to it. Ms. Granger, why did you not help Mr. Weasely see his mistake? You have been quite vocal at everything else?" Professor Snape said turning his attention to the bushy-haired Gryffindor girl.

"It is not my fault if the idiot does not listen," she shot back.

"Or you neglected to inform him of his mistake knowing he would ruin his cauldron that is another point you have lost, Ms. Granger," Professor Snape said.

"That is not fair why am I being punished for this idiot's mistake?" Granger said glaring at Professor Snape.

"While you are working independently on this potion you are all also at a stage where you need help if not from me at least from your classmates. One of the unspoken rules in Potions classes is that those working at the same table help each other out. Just as Ms. Greengrass did for Mr. Longbottom. I don't care if you and Mr. Weasley are mortal enemies if you work at the same table in my class you need to help each other out," Professor Snape said giving her a warning look as she opened her mouth again to protest. She thankfully got the hint as she closed it with a slight snap. "Mr. Weasley as you can not turn in your potion for grading I will expect a twelve-inch essay on what you did wrong with your potion and how you should have brewed it correctly. This is to be turned in by your next class," Professor Snape said moving away from the pair's table and directing everyone else to return to their brewing.

As all Harry had to do was wave his wand over his potion before putting it into a flask for grading, he quickly did so wondering why this was called for in the potion as Professor Snape had said using any spells could alter a brew. Harry could only guess that since he was not actually casting any spells with his wand as he waved it over the cauldron it was like adding some seasoning to a dish as he prepared it.

Since First Years did not have any more classes after this, Harry placed his flask on Professor Snape's desk for grading and began to pack up ready to head to the common room to do some homework where he would not be disturbed by Weasley, Granger, or Hagrid. He had been slightly confused during breakfast that morning to get a letter from Hagrid inviting him to tea. Harry and his friends could not figure out what the man wanted since he made such a stink about Harry being Sorted into Slytherin just that Tuesday. They all agreed that whatever the large man had planned, was not good, and Harry did not even need anyone to convince him not to go or even send a return letter to the man. Though Harry did talk to Hedwig since she delivered the letter telling her never to let the man use her to send letters even if they were to him. He thought the snowing owl got the message as she gave a nod before affectionately giving one of his fingers a peck and taking some bacon from his plate.

While the First Years had their Friday afternoons off, at least until they started their flying lessons, the rest of the years still had classes to attend. As the group of First year Lions left the class along with his snakes, Severus got ready for his Third Year Gryffindor/Slytherin class only for a letter to be delivered by a House Elf summoning him to a meeting in the Headmaster's office. Not knowing how long the meeting would last this time, Severus put a notice on the door to the classroom telling his students to just read the first chapter of their new potions book or review in case it lasted longer than a period before making his way to Albus' office. He was not the only one called to the meeting as he found Minerva, Pomona, and Flilus reaching the Golden Gargoyle around the same time. "Does anyone know what this is about?" Filius asked them.

"Not a clue," Minerva said scowling a little for as Deputy Headmistress she should have been informed of why this meeting was called especially as she had to cancel a class to attend it.

"Only one way to find out," Pomona said as she all got onto the moving staircase which had already been accessible when they had arrived without them giving a password. Having no choice the others soon joined her as they rode up to Albus' office. They once more found it open as they reached the top seeing the door open with Albus behind his desk as Drake Vansel, Amelia Bones and two officers, and an Auror were talking to him.

As Albus noticed them, he did his best to smile though they could all see some strain behind his expression. "What are you doing here? Please go back to your classes," Albus ordered them.

The Four Heads of Houses shared a confused look before Drake said, "I call them to this meeting."

"And why do you feel the need to call members of my staff here and make them miss their classes?" Albus asked the Head of the Hogwarts Governors.

"For this issue has an effect on them and the rest of this school,' Drake said.

"And what issue is that?" Albus asked a small twinkle coming to his eyes. As Severus recognized this as a sign that Albus' mind going into overdrive and planning something, he could not help but perform Legilimancy on the old bastard. Severus did this even though he knew that the ability would not work properly when it came to Albus, the man either had extremely powerful Occlumency Shields or his mind was so messed up Severus could not get anything more than Albus' surface thoughts.

"The actions of Rebeus Hagrid," Drake said.

"What happened," Albus asked sounding concerned. Severus heard Albus's thoughts as he internally asked, "What has that bloody idiot done now?"

"Your choice of sending Mr. Hagrid to collect the Potter Heir had been questionable from the start, Albus. But then you old informed us he was going with a random student as a cover to collect the stone.  I can only assume you did not inform the Governors that Mr. Hagrid was going with Heir Potter due for his protection," Drake said.

"And it was," Albus said in a grandfatherly way while he thought to himself, "How dare you question me. I am God-damn Albus Percival Wulfric Brian "Motherfucking" Dumbledore you Half-Blood waste of magic."

"Well, Albus," Amelia said," both the Hogwarts Governors and the Ministry have been informed of some criminal activity performed by Mr. Hagrid during his task to collect Heir Potter."

"I see how disappointing," Albus said out loud while in his mind he was cursing up a storm. "Can I ask what he did?"

"To start with, while Mr. Hagrid had been given special compensation to use some magic to deliver Heir Potter's letters you never shared with us how he would be doing so. We have been informed that Mr. Hagrid used a pink umbrella which he admitted to having broken pieces of his wand embedded in to use magic. This marks his first charge of using a magic wand after it had been snapped. Speaking with several Wandmakers we have learned that he did not have this illegal action done by them. As even a master Wandmaker could have issues with broken bits of the wand, Mr. Hagrid placing them in his umbrella could cause any spell that he might try to perform to backfire hurting him or others around him," Amelia said.

"That plus since Mr. Hagrid had been expelled when he was only thirteen years old his wand would have had the trace on it despite him reaching the age of adulthood, yet there was no record of him using any spells," the Auror said from Severus' normal place against the bookshelf.

"I see," Albus said cursing Hagrid out in his mind again as he wondered if that was why Potter was acting differently. A spell the idiot casting around Potter had backfired leading to the boy not going along with his plans.

"The next crimes that Mr. Hagrid committed both concern Heir Potter's Muggle family," Amelia pointed out.

"Didn't they get arrested?" Albus asked. "The morons how could they let the boy turn them in. As soon as I find out who had removed Harry from them after the brat left Hagrid I will have their heads," the man thought to himself making Severus almost smile for whoever had gotten Lily's son away from Tuna Fish and Albus' control.

"They did," Amelia said. She wanted to lay into the man for he had lied to everyone about being Heir Potter's Magical Guardian to place the boy with the Dursleys. But as the Goblins still had one more meeting left to give involving Snape and Black she held her tongue, at least for the moment.

"So what is the issue?" Albus asked.

"Well, for starters Mr. Hagrid did not let anyone know of the abuse he might have witnessed Heir Potter having to deal with," Amelia said. "This added to the fact that his display of magic to Heir Potter who was Muggleraised was giving Heir Potter's cousin a pig's tail." Severus and the other Heads of House, gasped at this bit of news. "This was before Mr. Hagrid removed Heir Potter from his Muggle family."

"And," Albus asked cursing out in his mind again.

"We have confirmation from both Heir Potter and his family that by the time Mr. Hagrid reached Heir Potter, the family had been staying at a shack on an island. When Mr. Hagrid took Heir Potter away from his family they took the means that the Dursleys used to reach the island and did not even send it back. This can be seen as wrongful imprisonment since they had no means to leave the island and had no food or drink with them could from a certain point of view be seen as attempted murder," Amelia explained.

"I am sure this is just a simple misunderstanding," Albus said with a smile and twinkle in his eye. Severus heard the bastard's thoughts as Albus internally said. "I knew I should have sent someone else, maybe Mundungs he might be a criminal but at least he is trustworthy. I will just have to get in touch with Dolores to have her smooth all this out." Severus was a little shocked hearing this in Albus' thoughts, though not showing any signs of it on his face. According to Lucius, Dolores was not as taken with Fudge as she appear to be in public. He knew that she pretended to do Fudge's bidding during some votes in the Wizengamot but would secretly sabotage them. As Severus was one of the few who knew that Lucius and Dolores were distant yet allied cousins and he had helped Lucius be a spy among the Death Eaters, he could not see Dolores being allied with Albus either. Severus could only think that the woman was pretending to be allied with Albus like she was with Fudge while working with Amelia and others to prevent Albus or Fudge from being too corrupt with the power they held.

"A misunderstanding, Albus, he ignored any signs of abuse to a child, used magic on a Muggle child, and left the family stranded for over a day on an island," Drake said scowling at the Headmaster.

"Heir Potter also testified that during his time with Mr. Hagrid, rather than explaining all about the different Hogwarts Houses he only spoke positively about Gryffindor House, did not even mention Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, while giving negative and incorrect information regarding Slytherin House," Amelia said making Filius and Pamona shake their heads sadly at the news of their Houses being left out of Harry's first discussions about Hogwarts. "Mr. Hagrid," Amelia continued, "also left Heir Potter back at the home of his relatives without first making sure they were there before he left the boy."

"Dear, Merlin," Minerva said bringing a hand to her mouth.

"If one of the Governers had not gone to check on Heir Potter who knows if he would have survived by the time his family was able to get back to him," Drake said nodding his head in agreement with Minerva's reaction.

"Which of the Governor did this?" Albus asked, "They must be offered thanks for rescuing Harry."

'He told you that outside of class he wishes to be known as Heir Potter," Severus spoke up.

"Not now, Severus," Albus said shooting him a glare making the Potions Master wish he was more like Lily so he could stick his tongue out at the bastard.

"If that is Heir Potter's wish it should be followed,' Drake said. "As for who went to collect Heir Potter for the boy's protection and privacy, their identity is to remain anonymous for now."

"But I am Harry's Magical Guardian," Albus said

"Heir Potter," everyone but Amela said. Both Amelia and Drake, who had been informed by Lucius, did not comment on Albus' lie of being the young Heir's Magical Guardian.

"Heir Potter, whatever, as his Magical Guardian I should be informed where he was before school started," Albus said testily.

"No this information is being held for Heir Potter's protection," Amelia said.

Severus could see Albus did not like this for the man did not speak for a moment as he chewed on his bottom lip. Inside the man's head, Severus heard Albus complain. "How dare these fools get involved and block me and my plans. I am the second and more powerful coming of Merlin himself. I am doing what is needed for this world." Severus once more was thankful for the control that he had over his emotions. Severus could never understand why Albus saw himself as the next Merlin for the Headmaster hated everything to do with Slytherin House yet he saw himself as the reborn original Slytherin student. But then the man saw Merlin as the end-all-be-all magic user, yet all Merlin did besides being one of the first students at the castle was help created the magical kingdom of Camolt under a Pro-Magical Muggle Ruler.

While this was good, Merlin had nothing on the Founders who had not only created Hogwarts but had used magic enchantments to protect the Mystic Island of Avalon from Muggle's eyes thus letting it be a major magical sanctuary even to this day. Hell, just by working alone Salzar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor were able to create a Magical Pocket dimension to hide the fabled city-country of Atlantis where Magic and Science worked together to create powerful artifacts and technology that far supposed even those made today.

Severus was pulled out of his thoughts as Albus asked," So why come all the way here to tell us this?"

"Due to his actions, Mr. Hagrid by a unanimous vote is being let go," Drake said placing a document signed by all twelve Hogwarts Governors calling for Hagrid's dismissal.

"I see, but since he has been at Hogwarts for so long and we have plenty of room for a replacement he will of course be allowed to stay here?" Albus asked as he hoped to keep Hagrid around for the man's support and other uses.

"Are you mad, Albus?  Do you think I came here due to Mr. Hagrid getting fired?" Amelia asked. "He is not only losing his job but due to his crimes we have come to arrest him," she said indicating herself, the Auror, and the two law officers.

"Now Amelia I don't think we need to go that far," Albus said.

"Oh, and what do you suggest? Mr. Hagrid just be let off with a warning as he stays in his house? Even if that would be feasible due to what he had done to Heir Potter's underage cousin he would never be able to step foot into this castle again or be around kids in case he did something to someone else," Amelia pointed out.

"Amelia and I called for this meeting to inform you of what was happening, and for you to start looking for a new groundskeeper and keeper of keys for the castle. Maybe more than one for I doubt we could find someone with Mr. Hagrid's strength again," Drake said. "And while you are at it I would also like to bring up the board's request to have someone else brought in, a living being this time, to teach History."

"Over my dead body, I like Binns right where he is at, putting the students to sleep making sure they are dumbed down to where I prefer them. But also not getting paid and letting me pocket his salary," Albus thought to himself before saying, "We shall give this decision our complete focus."

"See that you do, Albus," Drake said as he, Amelia, the Auror, and two officers left them alone in the office.  As Severus was pulled into a discussion on finding a new groundskeeper and keeper of keys, possibly making them two different jobs he stopped performing Legilimancy on Albus' mind.  Though if he had continued to do so he would have heard of Albus' plan to give Harry detention for even the smallest thing so he could get the boy alone.  Albus would find a way to enchant the brat despite him wearing his family rings to admit the stories he told about Hagrid was just lies to get attention as well as placing compulsions on the boy to make him follow the plan Albus had set out for him.  All of which would be so much easier if the Elder Wand had not disappeared.

Chapter Text

The news of Hagrid's arrest was soon all over the castle, much to Dumble's annoyance. While he felt bad about celebrating someone getting arrested, Harry almost gave a cheer for it meant he and his new friends/Housemates could study outside when the weather was good without having to worry about the man getting on Harry's case again. The other bit of gossip, at least in Slytherin House, was Professor Snape giving Longbottom ten points in Potions. Since the Headmaster had taken his post there had been an underlying anti-Slytherin mindset leading to some teachers without even thinking about it not rewarding points to members of Slytherin House no matter what they did.

As a means to upset this mindset from the other members of the staff, Professor Snape usually only rewarded points to his students. Professor Snape, as well as some of the members of the Governers who had been Slytherin students have been trying for years to retool the point system and get rid of or at least punish students and staff showing discrimination between the Houses. The measures they had put forth, however, had all been stopped by Albus each time due to his support and the power he had over the board. Lucius was hoping this power would soon come to an end for after the last meeting the Goblins had planned to deal with the Bird Fund Vault he could bring up Harry being the Heir of three Founders' lines which automatically had seats on the Governing Board and would have voting power higher than Albus'. Lucius was waiting for after the Goblin's meeting for then they could assign Remus Lupin or someone else to stand in as Harry's Proxy on the board since as a current student Harry would be unable to attend regular meetings.

While they did not share it with the rest of the House, Blaise, Daphne, and Millicent did share what they had learned about the Lognbottom Heir with the rest of the First Year Slytherins. According to what the boy had said when he had sat down at their table even the members of Gryffindor House were starting to hate Ronald and Granger after the number of points the pair had lost already and it had only been the first week of class. Blaise and Daphne could not fault the Lion for not wanting to sit by the redhead or bushy-haired girl having seen the personality flaws the pair possess which would make learning anything if they were nearby rather hard. Upon hearing why Longbottom had blushed when he admitted to finding out about the spells from his mother's journal Draco got rather upset. Harry learned that Draco and Longbottom were third cousins in their mothers' family. Longbottom's Mother had been born a Black from the third family line while Narcissa was a Black from the secondary line. According to Blaise, who had been shown to be a little bit of a gossip, Longbottom after his parents had been attacked years ago and ended up in St. Mungos, the boy had moved in with his father's family. It seems that apart from his grandmother most of the Longbottoms, who had come from lesser parts of the line, would harass Neville.

"Since they are from the lesser family lines wouldn't what they are doing to him constitute Line Theft?" Harry asked.

"Possibly," Pansy said, "but it could be that they do the worse actions out of sight from Longbottom's grandmother who would either be acting as the family Stewart or still head of the House depending on the family."

"And she would not believe Longbottom if he told her?" Harry asked.

"Would you have been able to tell someone what your family did to you?" Draco pointed out. "Longbottom might fear that the family members harassing him were telling tales of him to his Grandmother or possibly afraid that she might act the same way."

"But then why tell Daphne, Blaise, and Millicent?" Harry asked.

"Well, um that is a good question," Draco said unable to come up with an answer.

"It could be he did not see us as threats or at least he feared we would harass him as well and wanted to prove he could take it," Millicent ventured.

"Someone should do something," Harry said.

"And let me guess you want to do it?" Draco asked rolling his eyes a little at his new friend.

"Yes, maybe Longbottom could share what happened to him the same way I did by talking to the Governor's Friend," Harry said. He did not give Dolores' name for she had informed him during their chat that both Dumbles and the current Minister of Magic thought she was on their side when she was actually working with a team whose purpose was to create checks and balances for people who might abuse their power within the government.

"It would have to be his choice to do so," Tracy pointed out. "If you try to force it on him you would be no better than Ronald, Granger, or members of his family."

"Good point," Harry said wondering if he should try to become friends with Longbottom so he could get the Lion the same help that Lucius had given him.

During supper that night everyone in the hall could see that the Headmaster was upset over what had happened while he did smile at the students with a twinkle in his eyes, the man's features were rather wooden and hollow. The students also saw that the four Heads of House looked rather warn out. The students in all but Gryffindor House would learn later from the four trying to decide what to do about Hagrid's post. Not only who might be able to take over the job but what to do about his mountain of work in the meantime. While Hagrid was known to often get drunk and slack off a bit the man had done work that no one else could do, including tending to injured creatures in the forest, not to mention the man's Cerberus which was part of the protection to guard the stone. After nearly an hour of discussion, where Albus had done nothing but pout a little, it was decided that for the time being they should call a member of the Ministry's Department of Magical Animals to perform a census of all the magical animals around the castle, ground, and forest so they could have a better description of duties when they posted the job opening in the papers.

After having to deal with the meeting with his fellow Heads and the headache from Albus' attitude, Severus wanted to give in to the temptation to crack open a bottle of Fire Whisky and down the entire thing. But he had received a letter on Tuesday morning about a meeting at Gringotts that had been scheduled for Saturday. Knowing he would need his wits about him to deal with the Goblins and not be hungover Severus tried to calm himself down with some meditation instead.

Since the meeting had been scheduled right after breakfast, Severus had placed a note on his office door informing his students he would be out of the castle for the day. He would not normally work in his office, but like several other teachers at the school, he had placed charms on the door to know if a student came to call in case they really needed his help on something during the weekend.

During breakfast Percy, Geroge, and Fred were surprised to get a letter from their father. What shocked them at first was the letters were not delivered by Errol but by some other messenger bird. The three letters were all the same as Arthur gave his sons a quick rundown of what he had learned and done on Monday at Gringotts, including his resolving the marriage/bond with Molly. In each letter, he informed them to send him the date of the first Hogsmeade visit of the year so he might come to collect them to get them tested for any spells/enchantments that they might be under as well as making sure that they did not suffer from any side-effects from being born by a union where one of their parents was under a Love Potion. Percy was shocked to find that his mother had dosed their dad with Love Potions leading to the birth of his brothers and him. Fred and George were not so shocked having little love for Molly who only ever got involved in their life when she screamed at them for getting in trouble or dismissing their future plans for their Joke Shop which they had wanted to do since they were six years old. All three boys were glad to see that their dad had quit his job, which they all knew he hated a little due to how some Ministry workers treated him, and had been hired by a Muggle/Magical technology/enchantment company.

Ron was confused as to why he had not gotten a letter until Errol crash-landed into his plate sending food all over. Taking the letter from the bird, Ron read about what had happened at the bank with his parents, but while Arthur was going to pick up Fred, Percy, and George when he could, Ron's letter informed the young redheaded boy that the test Arthur had done at the bank revealed that he was not Ron's birth father. The letter went on that Arthur did not know if he could trust himself not to take out some frustrations towards Molly on Ron, the man who was Ron's actual father was dead, and not believing Molly would do a good job making sure Ron was raised correctly Arthur had reached out to Magical Child Services and they were looking for a place for Ron to live when he was out of school. As he finished the letter, Ron's ears turned red in anger as he pushed himself away from the table and left the hall. He was going to his room to find some of the Howler paper his mother had given him in case he needed to report someone from Slytherin bullying him. Throwing himself into one of the chairs in the mostly empty Gryffindor Common Room, Ron began to write the Howler to his mom yelling at her for not telling him the truth that Arthur was not his real dad, and he was now being abandoned, at least in his mind, by being sent into Magical foster care.

Gringotts

Unlike the meeting on the Bird Fund Vaunt on Monday, the meeting for Saturday was in a smaller conference room and was only attended by four humans, Bonecrusher, and two other Goblin Account Managers. This time both Lucius and his wife were present hoping to keep things from getting out of hand from the other two humans who were to attend. Both knew this was a tall order considering how much Severus and the newly released Sirius Black hated each other. Sirius was attending the meeting since Monday's meeting had led Amelia Bones to use the Potter's Wills to prove the man's innocence but also that it had been Pettigrew who had blasted the street, not Sirius. Currently, the news was being kept quiet as some of her and Rufus' people were now looking for Pettigrew having discovered the man was still listed as being alive in the Department of Magical Life/Death.

Severus was a little surprised when he and his account manager Fangtooth arrived at the meeting and found Lucius and Narcissa sitting beside another Goblin. Sure Severus did not recognize the Goblin but that was expected of a Family Account Manager, but he could not figure out why he had been called to a meeting with them at the bank. The only thing he could think of was they were upset with him over something and were going to break the Godparent bond between him and Draco which could only be done at the bank. "Whatever problem we have, I am sure we can solve it peacefully without doing this," Severus said making both Malfoys give him confused looks.

"What are you talking about?" Lucius asked him.

"Didn't you call me here to do something?" Severus asked.

"I was the one to call you in Lord Prince," the strange Goblin sitting between the Malfoys said.

"I did not try to access or interfere with the Malfoy family vaults," Severus said quickly holding up his hands as if in surrender making Lucius let out a soft chuckle.

"That is good to know, but I am not connected to the Malfoy family," the Goblin said.

"Then why call me to the bank and a meeting with the Malfoys?" Severus asked.

"The Malfoys are both here to serve as let's say referees between you and the other person who will be at this meeting. As to why your summons did not give any details about this meeting, that was done after learning some things from the meeting others had on Monday about the same thing. You were not requested at the meeting for we were aware it was the first day of the Hogwarts term and did not want to cause you any issues," Bonecrusher said.

"I see, so I guess thanks for that," Severus said relaxing a little as he and Fangtooth took some seats across from the Goblin and the Malfoys.

"You are welcome and it was due to Lord Malfoy here that we did it," Bonecrusher said.

"I know you might have enjoyed another day away from the dunderheads, as you sometimes call your students, but did not want to get you in trouble. I am one of the Governors after all," Lucius said smirking at his old friend and classmate.

"Yeah, Albus would never let me hear the end of it if I missed the first day of class," Severus said rubbing his forehead thus missing a look the Malfoys and Bonecrusher shared.

Five minutes later the door opens as Sirius and his account manager Downax arrive. As Severus looks towards the door his anger grows seeing Sirius Black wondering for a moment why the man who had led to Lily's death was not still in Azkaban. At the same time, Sirius caught sight of him. Both men reached for their wands and pointed them at each other crying out "YOU!"

"ENOUGH," Bonecrusher thundered as he banged a hand on the table producing a wave of magic pass over the two men who suddenly found that their wands felt like they weighed ten tons forcing them to lower them. "We do not have time for any personal squabbles," Bonecrusher admonished them.

"Personal squabbles?" Severus said with derision. "This man allowed You-Knew-Who to reach and kill Lily and Potter."

"It was not me, Snivilus," Sirus jeered.

"As if I would believe you, you Mutt," Severus shot back.

"I SAID ENOUGH," Bonecrusher thundered again. "We have submitted proof to your Ministry that Lord Black was innocent. It was Messer Pettigrew who had been the Potter's Secret Keeper.

"That is not possible," Severus said shaking his head knowing that since You-Knew-Who had trusted Severus he would have shared the identity of the Potter's Secret Keeper with him after Severus begged the man not to hurt Lily.

"As I mentioned we have proof of this which we can go over after this meeting if you like, but we have more important things to discuss," Bonecrusher said as he pulled out two packets and placed them before Severus and Sirius' seats. "A little over a month ago, as you have both been informed Heir Potter had been removed from the home of his abusive relatives. It was Lord Malfoy who had done this which is why he is present for the meeting." Severus goggled as things clicked into place no wonder Harry only called the person to collect him Governor for Albus would have claimed Lucius had enchanted Harry if he knew.

"Why?" Sirius asked sending a distrustful look at his cousin and her husband.

"Why did I rescue Harry?" Lucius asked. "It was not to corrupt him if that is what you are thinking Black but hearing from my son about a boy being introduced to the Magical World by Hagrid who had said his parents were Magical raised some red flags in my mind. After doing some research I discovered the boy Hagrid had shown around was Harry and went to check on him and found him locked outside of his family's home. After a quick discussion with him about what he had been told of the Magical World and noticing he was not wearing any family rings I brought him to Gringotts to get tested," Lucius explained. Both Sirius and Severus were shocked, not by the tale that Lucius had just shared having heard a little bit about it before, but by the fact that Lucius was calling Harry by his first name without a hint of disrespect. This showed to both men that Harry had trusted Lucius well enough to allow the man to use his first name. Severus knew Heir Potter well enough and the meeting with Albus where Potter had laid down the decree that outside of class he was to be called Heir Potter showed the boy knew proper protocol in regards to a person's name.

"When Heir Potter was tested we discovered he had been enchanted. Some of the enchantments he had been under were so powerful that even the normal cleansing done by his Family Rings had not been enough to remove everything," Bonecrusher said once more shocking and alarming both men. "As we took Heir Potter to get cleansed by a team of Gringotts Healers and Curse Breakers we had to analyze a strange object that had been removed from Heir Potter's body during his rings cleansing him. The object was found to be a Soul Fragment of an individual and we were shocked to find that in relatively short order three more fragments from the same person were found. One of which was held in the family treasure of one particular family yet placed in a vault it had no reason to be stored in. This led to a team coming in for a branch-wide audit of all our vaults."

"While this is fascinating what does it have to do with me and Snivillus?" Sirius asked.

"I am getting to that Lord Black," Bonecrusher said giving the former prisoner a small glare at the interruption. "During the audit, we found a vault whose owner had just called it the Bird Fund Vault which contained a number of Wills and a copy of Vault keys. We found that both Lord and Lady Potter's Wills were among the number in the vault and going through them we found that they had not been followed. This is the proof, by the way, that showed that Lord Black was innocent. I passed the information to another family who had a Will placed in the Bird Fund Vault and it seems they took care of clearing your name Lord Black," Bonecrusher said now with a superior smirk on his face. "We have thus learned or at least expect that the person who opened the vault is Albus Dumbledore since one of the people at Monday's meeting informed us that Albus liked to call his clubs the Bird Fund. We had everyone at the earlier meeting go over the Wills we had found in the vault to see if they were real, and unfortunately, they all revealed unanimously that the Wills were genuine and the most current copy. Some of the Wills belonged to Magicals who had already died and the leader of the family who was called to look them over also revealed that like the Potters' Wills, they had not been carried out as ordered by the Magical they belonged to."

"So what are we doing about, Albus since you believe he was the one behind the vault?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," Bonecrusher admitted though he wished he could take one of his family's weapons and go after the man himself.

"Nothing?" Sirius asked shocked

"While he has messed with several vaults and should face Goblin Justice for it, we can not prove he is the one pulling the strings. And as such we must leave it to your kind to deal with him or find the proof so we can get involved," Bonecrusher explained.

"We have not found anything yet, but we are starting to erode his power with what we have learned," Lucius added.

"How?' Sirius and Severus asked at the same time before turning to glare at each other.

"Besides removing the Wills and copy of vault keys from him, several of his supporters who had stuff in the vault have started to withdraw from him. I have heard that at least four or five who had Wills and keys had even changed their family seats to the Gray Party in the Wizengamot. And having found that Albus had not been Harry's Magical Guardian the seats that Harry's family control have been removed from Albus's hands," Lucius explained.

"So who is casting their vote?" Severus asked. While he was the current Head of the Prince family his family was not powerful enough to be a member of the Wizengamot and thus he did not keep abreast of what was going on in the governing body that much unless it applied to him. Yet he had not heard that the Wizengamot majority voters had been changed to another party thus removing Albus as Chief Warlock.

"At the moment no one is," Narcissa said.

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"We know that due to the bigotry in England, Wales, and Great Britain Harry's legal Magical Guardian would not be trusted if he tried to cast a vote," Lucius said.

"Lupin is Heir Potter's Magical Guardian?" Severus asked in shock as he recalled Potter's strange question and comment to Albus on the first night of term.

"Yes," Bonecrusher confirmed.

"Well good for him. Not to take away Remy's power but since I am Harry's Godfather could I not stand in as his proxy?" Sirius asked.

"Only if he approves of it," Bonecrusher said.

"I'm sure he will," Sirius said with a large smile on his face.

"I am not so sure Black, Heir Potter is not like you or his father he is a good student and not a wild child," Severus counted.

"He is still James' son and when he was younger I was one of the few people who could get him to stop fussing," Sirius said.

"You still have to meet him to see if he likes you know Black, which means you will have to wait until the Yule Holiday," Severus said.

"Not necessarily," Lucius said.

"What's up?" Sirius asked excitedly hoping to see his pup before the Yule.

"When the news of your name being cleared is announced and since you are his Godfather it can be arranged that you meet Harry along with his head of House," Lucius said making Severus groan a little.

"Ah cool, I am sure Minerva will be all for it. Unless she has fallen under Albus' sway," Sirius said actually bouncing in his seat.

"Heir Potter was not Sorted into Gryffindor Mutt, he is one of my students," Severus said causing Sirius to nearly fall out of his chair.

"What?" Sirius asked in shock.

"Lily's son is a Slytherin student and he has made friends with all the kids in his year within the House," Severus explained with a small smirk at Black.

"Well I guess if he is happy," Sirisu said shocking Severus a little

"Well, what do you know the Mutt has grown up," Severus said.

"Severus," Lucius said in a warning tone.

"How about you spend a decade or so in Azkaban and see how you like it," Sirius shot back.

"Siri," Narcissa said in a warning tone.

"Enough already, man you two act like little Gobbels (Goblin kids) we still have more to do here," Bonecrusher said knocking his knuckle against the table again. "You Lord Black while you had been in Azkaban your Grandfather finally passed away leaving you the Lord of your House," Bonecrusher said as Downax pulled out a box containing the Black Family Rings. "And you Lord Prince we know that some members don't like to claim their rings and family seats but since you want to bring Albus to justice along with us I suggest you take up your position and removed the Prince Family vote from Albus' hands."

"WHAT?" Severus yelled as Fangtooth pulled out a box of the Prince Family Ring.

"Your Grandfather left you the Lordship of the Prince Family Line, when I informed you this years ago you told me that you wanted to think about it but made no mention of it ever again," Fangtooth said.

"I don't recall that," Severus said.

"Both of you put on your rings NOW," Bonecrusher ordered them. While they were both adult and powerful Magic users Sirius and Severus jumped like two kids being ordered to stop messing around and do their homework, as they put their rings on their fingers. There was a moment of silence before both men let out cries of pain as their rings performed a cleansing on them and black goo began to pour from both their ears and some from their noses.

Chapter Text

As soon as the black goo stopped coming out of their clients' bodies Fangtooth and Downax cast the spell to detect what had been done to their clients. As the spell took effect and rolls of parchment appeared Fangtooth's face drained of color as he recognized a sign within the wax seal of the parchment. "By the Stone," he cried out and to everyone's shock he grabbed the parchment and rushed out of the room.

"What is going on?" Severus asked Bonecrusher as the door closed behind the Prince Family Account Manager.

"I don't know," Bonecrusher said just as confused. "But it seems you did get two bits of parchment from your test."

Looking at where the Goblin had nodded, Severus saw the parchment which was not a roll like the one that Fangtooth had grabbed but in the form of a Muggle envelope. As Sirius began to review the results of what had been done to him, Severus opened the envelope and discovered a letter inside.

Severus, my baby,

I know this will be a shock to you since I did not appear to leave you a letter when I died, but I know you will get this as you claim the Lordship of the Prince Family Line. My precious son, you must be so confused and angry at the moment finding out that you had been under enchantments. I am sure you are thinking that it can only be spells that have affected you since as a Potions Master you should be able to detect all types of Potions that might lace your foods. I am proud of you for earning your Masters in both Potions and Defense by the way, I knew you could do it, but I will get back to that later.

I am sad to say that one of the enchantments that you have been under was placed there by me. Ah, ah, ah before you rip this letter up let me explain. You see over eight hundred years ago our family decided to change our name for our line are the direct decedents of Emrys also known as Merlin. But what most of the human world seemed to have forgotten, Merlin was just a title for an individual. I will not go into it too much but don't worry Sirius will ask Bonecrusher about it once Fangtooth comes back to the room.

Needless to say, our family has special powers apart from normal magical abilities like All-Speech, or Metemorphmagic (once more I will return to that. The general populous always expected great things from our family even those whose talents did not compare to Emrys, so we decided to change our name and go into hiding. This came about when one of our ancestors married a member of one of the families which were vessels to our line and took the name of Prince. However, a name change could not fully stop things so when each child was born in our family a dampening spell was cast on them to block our connection to the main Emrys line and family Magic.

This was one partially successful for each of our family possesses a gift, such as my small talent in Prophecy which is how I am aware of you reading this letter at Gringotts while Sirius Black reads about what had been done to him, all the while Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are still gazing at the door a little confused by Fangtooth's exit.

Severus could not help himself a he looked up from the letter and over at his old friends to see that both Malfoys were indeed looking in puzzlement at the door.

See I told you. I noticed your special gift when you were younger and placed some further enchantments on you because of it. While I could see glimpses into the future, you my precious baby boy were able to understand magic at an instinctual level which is how you were able to perform all those powerful spells in my books before you went to Hogwarts, not to mention how you were able to create your own spells while you were still a student. I knew if people took notice of your gift you would have more than just Voldypants and Dumb-as-a-Door after you so I blocked it a little. The block was not meant to prevent you from accessing your gift but slow it down. It is thanks to this gift that allowed you to become the youngest person to earn a Mastery in Potions and Defense in over a century. I am sure once the block has been cleared you could reach Sage Level magic in all the other fields of magic, but I caution you to do so. Not yet at least. You need to stay at Hogwarts for the time being.

Before our ancestors held the title of Merlin there was another family that is still around. The Peverells. I know you might not recognize the name but before they earned the title of Merlin they were able to create powerful magical artifacts. Their line has dwindled down to one Heir just as the Emrys one has. The Heir is one of your students, Harry Potter, and while thanks to your connection to a person who held the Merlin title can learn Magic faster than anyone else, young Harry's ability is a little different. He and many of his line share the same gift which some have referred to as the Potter Luck. Some say this luck makes interesting things happen around them, but it is more than that things tend to work out in strange ways around the boy.

And just as Voldypants and Dumb-as-a-Door tried to get you even with your partially blocked gift, they both will be after the boy. He must be protected. You will have some help in this from the Malfoys, Lupin, and Black. Yes, I know you don't trust them due to the events after my death where "Sirius" led you to the Shrieking Shack where you nearly met Lupin in his werewolf form. I want to clear all this up and you have to trust me on this. The person who sent you to the shack was not Sirius but his cousin Andromeda Tonks. This woman and her family are loyal to Dumb-as-a-Door and have placed numerous enchantments on Sirius since he was a child. During the summer before you were sent to the shack, Andromeda had taken some of Sirius' hair and put them in a Polyjuice Potion to convince you to go to the shack.

Now I know what you are thinking, that this plan makes no sense, but if not for James Potter and the Potter Luck you would have met Lupin who would have attacked you leading to his expulsion and death and Sirius's being arrested. With Srius being arrested he would have lost his position of Heir to the Black Line which Andromeda hoped to claim despite being removed from the family by that time. Andromeda targeted you for this because of your Gray Core and from the stories that Sirius had shared at some family get-togethers over the years of how much he hated you. Once again this is not his fault or his normal feelings but from the enchantments that Andromeda had him under.

With that all out of the way I will warn you that when Fangtooth returns he will make you undergo a test to see if you can take up the title of Merlin. I don't know what the test involves or if you will pass it or not. With your ability to learn magic unblocked, you might have a chance at passing the test and becoming a Merlin. For your own sanity and safety, however, I do hope you fail the test so you can have a normal-ish life.

Now you may be wondering why I don't know what the rest involves since you most likely think I took a similar test myself. I did not, as I wrote earlier at the birth of each member of our family a block to the Ermys' family magic was put in place. When we passed on the Lord/Ladyship of the Prince Family Line normally it is done when the former leader of our family is still alive and thus able to maintain the enchantments as the rings are passed without them cleansing the new leader. But as both your grandfather and I are dead the Prince ring will cleanse you of the block.

No matter the outcome of the test, before you do it, you need to make everyone in the room take a vow of Secrecy about your connection to Emyrs. Even the Goblins, who will not think they need to since it is part of the job, but this can not get out otherwise I have seen you being the last of our line and Harry being the last of his line.

Loving you even in Death,

Eileen Prince

P.S. I am sorry for what you will learn about the rest of your enchantments. Oh, yeah also let Sirius know that it was Andromeda who had enchanted him as a kid and placed the false memory involving the shack in his head. Narcissa should hear that as well since both of them need to block her from accessing their vaults.

Severus looked up as he reached the end of his mother's letter to see Sirius was also done going over his document. "So what was done to you, Mutt?" Severus asked.

"A little emotional manipulation, a small soul drain from my time with the Dementors, several memory charms including one that implated a false memory in my head," Sirius said with a small huff.

"What's the matter, Mutt?" Severus asked.

"This would all be more helpful if it listed who did it to me," Sirius groused.

'It was your cousin, Andromeda," Severus said shocking everyone.

"How could you know that?" Downax asked.

"The letter that showed up with my results was a letter from my mother. It seems she had a gift of prophecy as she gave information about some events even after her death. It seems that Andromeda wanted to remove you as the Heir of your family so placed spells on you. And the implanted memory was you telling me to go the shack to see Lupiun. She did that herself while using Polyjuice Potion to look like you as a means to have you arrested, Lupin put down, and possibly my death," Severus said passing over the letter to Sirius and pointing to the passage that he had just shared before quickly pulling it away.

"I did not know your mother had the gift," Lucius said.

"Nor did, I," Severus said.

"I never heard of there being Seer blood in the Prince family," Narcissa said.

"There may or may not be," Severus said just as the doors to the room opened and Fangtooth came in carrying a blue handbag.

"Account Manager Fangtooth what is this?" Bonecrusher asked.

"I am sorry my Prince but when my client's results came back I saw this," Fangtooth said rolling the parchment over so that the wax seal was aimed toward the ceiling. Everyone leaned in to see three circles getting smaller so that the second and third circles were in the center of another one. There were also three lines running through them to create three equally sized portions. "By the stone," both Bonecrusher and Downax said seeing the strange symbol.

"What is it?" the four humans asked also at the same time.

"That is the symbol of Merlin," Fangtooth said as he turned the blue handbag around to show a similar symbol though this one in color. In each portion of the trisected circle, the lines went from Black, White, and Gray in a different order in each portion. The three lines were colored red, yellow, and blue and where they met at the very center of the symbol the color was orange.

"I did not realize he had a symbol," Lucius said as Narcissa, Sirius, and Severus all nodded.

"How soon you humans forget," Bonecrusher said shaking his head. "Merlin is not a name it was a title."

"It is?" Sirius asked.

"You know that in every part of the world, there are those who can be called a Light Lord, a Gray Lord, and a Dark Lord from the level of magic they have and their core," Bonecrusher said getting nods from the four humans "Above these three Lords are the Lords of Magic who can use and find balance in all forms of Magic. In Europe, the title Merlin was given to those who can be called a Lord of Magic. Sort of like the title of Dalai Lama is given to the person with the deepest spiritual connection in Tibet.  This title is not always inherited but it sometimes shows up more than once in a family."

"That my client's results are sealed with this mark means he could be a Merlin or is from the line of the most recent holder of the title," Fangtooth explained.

"So Sniviilus is Merlin reborn in a way?" Sirius asked.

"Not necessarily as I said while sometimes members of a family can be a Merlin, there is a chance he could not be. He just has a higher chance to gain it since a member of his family was the last to possess it," Bonecrusher explained.

"So I could be a Merlin?" Sirius asked.

"I doubt it, Mutt," Severus said.

"Lord Prince is right, Sirius," Downax said. "To gain the title you would have to possess some powerful gifts."

"But my results did say I was a Metamoprmagic before Andromeda blocked it and most likely put a leech on it so the gift would pass onto someone else," Sirius said.

"You did not mention that before cousin," Narcissa said.

"Yeah, as it turns out since Metamoprhmagic is part of our family magic when she blocked it and later leeched it from me, it created a side effect making me hate the rest of the family. Granted that was not hard with Mum, and Bella but I do recall getting along with the rest of our clan when I was a kid," Sirius explained.

"The Bitch," Narcissa said as sparks shot out of her fingers as her magic reacted to her anger at her eldest sister.

"Can we focus here?" Lucius said. "Why would the possibility of Severus taking the title be higher than anyone else who comes from a family who had a Merlin in their line?"

"Some of the magic that makes someone a Merlin is passed down through the family but most get weaker as time goes on. Since the title of Merlin has not been used for one thousand years or so in Europe there is a chance that only those related to the last one are still magically powerful to take the title once again. The Merlin's magic connected to their family will also only register for the latest Merlin. If say either the Blacks or Malfoys had a family member who was a Merlin even if you had powerful magical abilities it would not show up on any test that you could be a Merlin unless Lady Magic themselves declared it to be like she has done before," Bonecrusher explained.

"I will take this test," Severus said. "But before I do I want to go over the other enchantments that had been placed on me and I want each of you to take a Vow of Secrecy never to share with anyone that I come from a Line of Merlin, or even that Merlin is a title outside this room."

"Alright," Narcissa and Lucius said at once.

"if I must," Sirius added when Severus shot him a look.

"That includes you three as well," Severus said to the three Goblins.

"I don't see why we should," Downax said.

"Yeah, we already keep all of our client's information secret from others," Fangtooth added.

"Wasn't the problem we were called in here for, as well as the meeting you had on Monday with several others down to the fact that one Goblin or possibly more shared private information?" Severus asked.

"He does have a point," Bonecrusher said. "Very well we will take the Vow of Secrecy about everything apart from Merlin being a name not a title for this is common knowledge to my kind."

"That is acceptable," Severus said.

As the Goblins prepared a special ritual to make sure the Vow of Secrecy could never be broken by any means, Severus began to read over his results. He saw the few blocks his mother mentioned in her letter. Besides them, he saw that like the Mutt he had his emotions changed as well so that he was quicker to anger and his hatred towards Light Cored Magicals and Gryffindor students would bubble over so he would harass or abuse them. He saw several memory spells had been cast on him over the years, two of which implanted false memories in his mind. If he was to guess one would be connected to the Prophecy he had overheard Sybill give Albus. He might have not known it at the time but he had long suspected Sybill was not a real Seerer, especially, after working with her for nearly ten years now.

But what was worse was that there was another level of emotional manipulation done to him as well. Now that it was gone Severus saw that his "love" of Lily had been fabricated. Yes, he had loved her as a friend, a dear and best friend but he had never felt any attraction to her or anyone for that matter. His cleansing and now reading his results triggered a memory of his fourth year when he had talked with Lily worried that something was wrong with him when he did not feel attraction to anyone male or female. During that summer, the pair of them had snuck away from Tuna Fish and his father to the local library to find the answer. They soon found there was nothing wrong with him, he was just Asexual. He could picture himself going on dates but beyond a kiss, holding hands, or some cuddling nothing else interested him. Lily had supported him and even managed to head off James and the others from finding out, or if they did, not to pick on him for it.

When he reached the end of his results, Severus had to stop and roll back his sleeve as it mentioned that foreign magic that had forced a connection between him and someone else who was focused on his right arm had also been removed. Severus sat there for a moment gazing in wonder at his now bare forearm no longer holding the Dark Mark tattooed on his skin.

Severus looked up to show his bare arm to Lucius as a sign that the mark could be removed only to find several items now laying on the table in front of him. Forgetting his arm for a moment Severus asked, "What is all this?"

"This Lord Prince, is a test to see if you can be a Merlin," Fangtooth said.

"And that is what?" Severus asked looking around at the random items before him including two swords, the blue bag, a gnarled staff/walking stick, an old timepiece, and a chipped cup.

"All of these items belonged at one point to someone who held the title of Merlin. To prove you can be a Merlin you need to put them in order from oldest you newest," Fangtooth explained.

"Do they have names?" Severus asked.

"They do," Fangtooth said.

"But you are not going to tell me them until I put them into position," he said as a statement rather than a question.

"Correct," Fangtooth answered anyway.

"Before I do this, Lucius," Severus said turning to his old friend.

"What?" Lucius asked.

"My mark vanished when my rings cleansed me, you might want to check to see if there is a way for the rings to clean someone years after putting them on," Severus said showing Lucius his bare arm. Lucius marveled at the sight as Severus began to put the objects into order. He started by moving the timepiece to one end of the table followed by the cup, one of the two swords, followed by the bag, the walking stick, and finally the second sword.

"Oh, so close," Fangtooth said.

"Why what is the correct order?" Severus asked.

"You got the swords in the wrong spot," Bonecrusher said eyeing the swords with awe and a small bit of greed. "The Clock of Ages and Chip are right but it should be Excalipoor, not Excallber that should have been last. The Ultradimentional bag and the Staff of Magical Might were also correct. The thing is it was all or nothing this was not a game of horseshoes you did not pass the test."

"That is fine by me," Severus said breathing a sigh of relief that he had followed his mother's last wish for him.

Hogwarts

Albus was pissed off, how dare they come in and arrest Hagrid. Even Dolores said there was nothing she could do. Ever since the brat had been taken from the Dursleys things have gone sideways from his perfect plan. The boy was meant to become friends with either Ronald or Hermione on the train and during the course of the year become the other one's friend. The trio of them would find out about the stone and Riddle who had to be here somewhere, somehow as he tried to get the stone. The boy would face Riddle in whatever form he was in and thanks to some help from Albus would emerge victorious. But Potter was in Slytherin and not acting like he should, Ronald and Hermione were close to getting expelled and hated each other.

Albus had even brought the pair up to his office to tell them they were on the same side and shared the same goal, yet this did not end their dislike of each other. While he was Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus was once again reminded why he hated working with children and idiots he had to separate the pair as they almost had another figure right in his office.

Since Doloras, Ronald, and Hermione were not being useful at the moment, Albus decided he would bring in a pawn he had been saving for the next year. Albus called out for his personal Elf who he had placed as the Head of the Hogwarts House Elf contingent when he took over as Headmaster, "Dobby."

"You called for Dobby, Master Dumbledore," Dobby asked holding the diary that Albus had found a few years ago that Riddle had made into a Horcrux.

"Dobby I want you to start following Harry Potter if he does anything that even bends a school rule I want you to make sure he gets a detention," Albus ordered.

"What about the diary, Master Dumbledore?" Dobby asked.

"I will put it in storage for a while," Albus said before realizing that his personal study was blocked he took the book and placed it on his desk for the time being as Dobby popped out to start following the Potter brat.  Unknown to either Albus or Dobby, was that since Dobby had been holding the Horcrux Diary so close to his body since he had been given it, the Elf had unconsciously protected it when the Wards had been repaired by the Goblins.

Chapter Text

Having finished their homework during their free time yesterday after their lunch, Harry and his friends decided to just explore the castle a little. With the help of the maps Professor Snape had given them, they had easily learned where all their classes were but now they just wanted to see what else there was going on in the large castle they would be at for a while. This desire was brought about as they listened to some Sixth and Seventh Year students who went over all the classes that were taught at Hogwarts. Vincent pointed out that even if there was a different classroom for each of the seven years of students there had to be nearly seventy-five to eighty percent of the building that was not used for classes.

They were already aware that there were plenty of old and empty classrooms in the castle having found five or six situated around their Common Room, the potion's class and storage room, and Professor Snape's office. But they also found that a couple of those rooms were locked and the smells coming out of them seemed to be used as alternate Potion labs. Not all of them were used by members of the staff since Prefect Flint stated he had sometimes caught the Weasley twins from Gryffindor heading into one of the rooms. Having heard about the redheaded twins and their pranks Harry and his friend guessed it was the pair's brewing room for any potions they might use in a prank.

Leaving their area of the castle, Harry and the other First Year Slytherins used the other staircase that headed down from the main hall to start their exploration. All they found at the bottom of the stairs was a hallway lined with paintings of food and some old storage barrels. "Do you think that the Hufflepuff's Common Room is behind one of those paintings?" Daphne asked as they had all seen the Huffelpuffs come to meals from the staircase they just used not to mention heading down it again after supper.

"Could be," Draco said with a nod.

"Not that knowing or suspecting anything would do us any good they must have some protections on their rooms as we have on ours," Tracy said though this did not stop her from knocking on one of the paintings to see if there was a passageway hidden behind it.

Heading up to the first floor, the group skipped over the normal classrooms that they used to check out the other rooms. The first "empty" classroom they found had the desk and seats move to the side as someone set up a small den-like area complete with what they assumed was a transfigured chair since they did not think that there would be any wingback seats just lying around the castle. Beside the chair was a small side table stacked with some books with both items resting on a round black and blue checkered carpet. Not wanting to disturb the items too much all the group did was look over the books stacked on the table to see they were not course books but a combination of Muggle and Magical World novels. Theo took out his copy of the map they had been given and he made a small note on it to label the room "Reading Nook" before they left.

As the group of Slytherins explored Hogwarts they began to notice something very tragic about some of the rooms they would look into. Most of the unused classrooms were left alone, and there were far too many of them in their opinions. When they were only able to find set up like the "Reading Nook" in a few rooms compared to the neglected ruins of the others they began to look through the rooms themselves to see if someone was using it but hiding their gear so as to not get in trouble with Filtch or it getting messed up by Peeves.

This led to more painful discoveries, at least for Theo, Draco, Tracy, and Harry as they discovered leftover books for classes no longer taught at Hogwarts. After they found abandoned classrooms holding books on the subject of Magical Theory, Introduction to the Magical World, Healing, and Magical Law they decided to wait around for a bit while Theo had Vicent join him as the pair of boys rushed down to the dorms to collect Theo's bag. As they waited for Theo and Vincent to return, Harry skimmed through the Introduction to the Magical World book they had found. He found some passages dealing with several lessons with Lucius, Narcissa, and the one he had with Dolores but there was other stuff as well. Some dealt with the Cores and Leaning that a Magical might possess like Professor Flitwick had told them about in their first class, but there were also various ways a person could make their core stronger or more stable based on their alignment. Harry shared this with Draco to see if it was true but Draco had not heard of such a thing leading everyone to gather around as Harry read out from the book. The one way that the book mentioned that would work for everyone in strengthening their core no matter their alignment was physical activity.  "I wonder when they got rid of this class?" Blaise asked.

"Forget the class," Pansy said, "why did they stop teaching us how to strengthen our Cores?"

"You guys did not know this already?" Harry asked his friends.

"Not in general," Draco said.  "I have heard the Prefect Flint when he starts training the team for Quidditch has plans on having them run laps and do other non-flying training but that could also be because his mother is part of a professional team so knows what type of practice they do."

"I wonder what other classes have been dropped here, and if they have more discarded books in their former classrooms," Gregory said.  While he was not much of a reader he could not help but think taking a look at subjects no longer taught at Hogwarts might give him a leg up in the classes they did have.

"Good thing we are exploring the castle then," Theo said making them all jump a little having not noticed his return to the room.  "Come on let's go find some more old-school books."  Harry almost laughed as Theo placed the book they had been looking at into his backpack and hoisted it onto his back.  It made Harry think of the character Laura Croft from his cousin's video games.

When Harry and his friends arrived back at lunch, both Vincent and Theo's backpacks were stuffed with books as they had found. They had found old course books for Enchanting, Spiritual Magic, Magical Religions, and Curse Breaking.  They had also found more mundane books such as How to Make and Maintain a Budget, how to Cook without House Elves and other life skills.  Besides old classrooms, the group had discovered the rooms for classes that they might take later. 

Harry was very disappointed when they found what looked like the Muggle Studies classroom and saw that no books in the room dealt with the history of the Muggle World after 1939.  Taking a glance at the back of the book, Harry saw the last chapter was discussing the coming second world war but nothing else.  There were some books on later Muggle technologies but they were dedicated to cars, radios, and TVs with no mention of any form of Muggle weaponry like the A-bomb or even the advent of CCTV.  To Harry, this was more troubling information than all the classes that Hogwarts seemed to once teach before getting rid of them.  If Magicals were not aware of CCTV or the weapons that Muggles had access to they might accidentally reveal the existence of the Magical World to some people who might try to wipe Magicals out for fear of what they could do.  Harry could barely eat thinking of Witch hunts taking place at the current time; making him decide to talk to Professor Snape about it or baring that maybe one of the other Heads of House.  Maybe he should also see if one of the upper years was taking Muggle Studies to see if he could get a meeting with whoever taught the class and see if there was a way to update their material.

Since Professor Snape was not at the top table for lunch, Harry suggested to his friends that they should do something out on the grounds since they had spent the entire morning inside the castle.  "Sure we can go do a Core Strengthing activity," Millicent said making Theo let out a soft groan since he wanted to start reading the books.

"Well you don't have to join us, Theo, if you do not want to," Christopher said.

"Good," Theo said before asking, "anyone else not want to do that?  Fine just drop me off in the Common Room before you go out," he said when they all wanted to go out and do something.

"Ah, come on, Theo I get that you want to start reading but don't you want to make your core stronger and more stable?" Pansy asked him.

"I have my own type of exercise thank you very much," Theo said crossing his arms over his chest and almost looking like he was pouting a little.

"Carrying your bag stuffed full of books is not exercise," Blaise teased his old friend.

"I do more than that, I do Yoga," Theo said.

"Well bully for you," Pansy teased to some good-natured laughter among them.  

Their laughter died down at a Third Year Slytherin let out a pointed cough nearby making them all realize that some of the older students from the other houses were looking shocked at their casual behavior.  All but Harry, who still could not master his Slytherin/Pureblood Mask, let their faces shift into examples of neutral boredom.

Over at the Gryffindor table Ronald and Granger, both spent their meal glaring at each other and Harry.  While the Headmaster had told them they were on the same side and should have been Harry's friend they still hated each other with a passion.  Hermione still saw Ronald as a lazy idiot and thanks to calling her a Mudblood a bigot, while Ronald saw her as a shrill know-it-all busybody who thought she knew everything.  So even with the Headmaster trying to get them to work together neither of them trusted the other knowing if not for them, they would have been Harry's best friend not a pack of slimy snakes.  That moment of shared laughter with Harry should have been with them not from the likes of Malfoy and Parkinson.

Down in the Hogwarts kitchens, Bastilian was feeling rather put out.  She had always hated it that when Albus became Headmaster of Hogwarts he had brought in his personal House Elf and made them the head of the Hogwarts Contigient of Elves.  There was never any doubt of why Albus had done so amongst the Hogwarts Elves.  While the Headmaster had the persona of a kindhearted man who looked out for his students and everyone at the school, they all knew it was a lie.  Almost as soon as he had taken office the man had started to remove classes from the once great school some like physical education would help the students in the long run, if they pardon the pun.  The man also started to dumb down several classes that he could not get rid of either that or hired incompetent teachers, like Trewalney in Divination when the woman possesses no gift in the subject or any formal training.

The House Elves while making note of it had been unable to do anything else since it was handled on high by their new "master."  Another reason Bastilian found that she had been replaced as Head House Elf was that Dobby's loyalty was absolute to Albus, something the new Head Elf proved as he did not question orders to place potions in food for certain students and even some members of the staff.  They could not even report it to anyone for by the time they had realized what Dobby had been doing Albus had put orders down that no House Elf unless he approved of them was allowed to leave the kitchens and interact with the inhabitants of the castle.  This made their job harder to accomplish in some parts of the castle, such as Gryffindor Tower where thanks to Albus' meddling, Professor McGonagall did not check in on her charges as much as she should.  Leading to some students struggling with homework and staying up very late into the night sometimes forcing the Hogwarts Elves to work with only one or two hours to clean up the tower without being spotted.

Back before Albus had taken over the Elves could clean the castle whenever they felt like it and had even made some friends among the students who would see their work.  But since they could not be seen by students outside the kitchens they lost the additional access to the student's Magical Aura to keep them energized this also meant that Filtch had to do more work in cleaning the castle which none of the Elves were happy about due to how shoddy his work was and how it took work from them meaning that their unconscious drawing of magic from the castle was reduced since they were not the ones doing the job and thus should be "paid" for it.

Things between the Hogwarts Elves and Dobby got even worse after Albus had given the Head Elf a strange book which they all could detect evil magics coursing through it.  Whatever enchantments were in the book began to affect Dobby making his speech patterns regress so he sounded like a primitive form of their species.  They all assumed that Albus had ordered Dobby not to put the book down, since the Head Elf either held it tightly in his arms or wore it in a sling so it rested on his back.  Some Elves had been horrified for the sling, from a certain point of view, could be seen as clothing being presented to Dobby by Albus but Dobby had not acted like he had been freed.

But now the rest of the House Elves had reached their final straw.  After being called to his Master last night Dobby finally no longer held the cursed book, but now he had ordered a few elves to keep track of one of the students.  When Bastilian questioned him on why they were being told to focus on one of the students, a student who was the Heir to three Founder Lines nonetheless, Dobby had just said.  "Dobby's Master thinks young Harry Potter sir is in troubles.  That Snakeshouse will make Harry Potter sir's Core be rotten."

"That is... why does he think that?" Bastilian asked.

"Dobby's Master is Harry Potter sir's guardian," Dobby said with complete conviction which might have worked with other beings but the House Elves knew there was no magic connecting the Headmaster and the young Heir.  Out of everyone in the castle, the only magical connection that the Heir had was to the Potions Master, and that was an uncompleted Godfather/Magical Guardian bond.  Something that might have developed if the parents of the Heir had considered having the Potion Master be one of their son's guardians but had been unable to reach him to have the ritual performed.  Either that or they were misreading the bond between the pair which had been known to happen at least once or twice.

"So what does the Headmaster want us to do or look out for?" Seble, Bastilian's former right-hand Elf when she was Head Elf asked.

"Wes to watch Harry Potter sir and makes sure he is not be bad boying," Dobby said putting some Elves teeth on edge due to how primitive his speech had become since he had been given the book.

"And if we see him do so?" Sable asked.

"Wes report to Dobby's Master so Harry Potter sir gets detention and thus showed he is bad boy," Dobby said simply.

"No," Bastilian said.

"Whats yous say?" Dobby asked.

"I said no. Damn it," Bastilian said pounding her small fist into the undertable connected to Ravenclaw House.

"Yous disobey Headmasters orders youse a bad House Elf," Dobby said a sneer coming to his face.

"If anyone here is a bad elf it is you Dobby.  We are meant to care for and protect the students and now Albus wants us to follow Founder's Heir Potter and report anything he might do to break a rule just to give him detention.  I will not allow it," Bastian said.

"Dobby is Head Hoggywarts Elf yous follow Dobby's orders," Dobby said getting up and standing toe to toe with Bastilian so their noses were pressed into each other.

"We follow the orders of the castle first and foremost you would know that if you were a real Hogwarts House Elf.  We are loyal to our charges, not the Headmaster.  And I, for one, have had enough.   I was quiet when we saw you slip potions into food for the students and staff, but I will not allow you to interfere with Founder's Heir Potter's life.  If he was in danger yes we could watch out for him but not due to some random reason of he might break a rule," Bastilian said not backing down.

"Dobby will tell Dobby's Master about this and he be giving you clothes," Dobby said pushing her away from him.

"If you do that you might as well free me too," Sable said which was followed by a chorus of others agreeing so that only Dobby and maybe three or four of the younger Elves who had only known Hogwarts under Albus' Headmastership remained silent.

"Youse all being bad Boys and Girls," Dobby said taking a step back.

"No we are recalling what Hogwarts was like before your master took over it and it was a good place to work," Bastilian said unaware that one of the reasons she was able to throw off the illegal orders from Ablus sent through Dobby was from the Goblins having strengthened the Wards around the castle and fixing everything Albus had done to them.

"Youse not be getting away with this," Dobby said making as if to snap himself away knowing that if he left the kitchens they would be unable to follow him.

"I think it is you who will not be going away," Bastilian said as she snapped her fingers before he could and placed an Anti-Elf Apparation Ward around him.  "You need help Dobby, your Master is not good for you and neither was that book he had you carry around."  With a small signal, a few Hogwarts Elves moved forward and took hold of Dobby's arms and move him deeper into the kitchens to a small storage room to hold him as they thought about what to do about him.  

As soon as Dobby was locked inside the room and magically prevented from leaving it, Bastilian felt a wave of warmth she had not felt since Albus had taken over as Headmaster and ousted her from her position.  Seeing that as a sign that Hogwarts magic had accepted her as Head House Elf once more she began to order her people to start to fix things.  They were to no longer send potions with the food, though she wanted antidotes made to clear the potions that Dobby had slipped to people.  And while they still could not leave the kitchens, Bastilian sent a message to the Hogwarts Governors' Manor asking that she be called to inform the Governors what had happened during their next meeting.  She also put some Elf protection magic around Founder's Heir Potter so that Albus if he found out Dobby was out of the way could not use another Dumbledore family House Elf to interfere with the boy's life while he was at the castle.

Severus returned to Hogwarts an hour before supper that night.  The meeting at the bank seemed to have dragged on longer than the Goblins had anticipated since they had to order out to a place in the alley for lunch.  After Black and he had been cleansed Bonecrusher had explained the full reason why Narcissa and Lucius had been there, something they said had not been shared with those who had a similar meeting on Monday.  Both Severus and the Mutt thanked Lucius for getting Potter away from Tuna Fish and her family as well as for making sure the group had been arrested for the abuse they had put Potter through.

As if that was not enough the Mutt wanted Narcissa to help him remove Adromeda from the family magic.  His mother, who had been the Steward of the family until Sirius or Regulus had come of age since the Black Family was a Patriatical Magical Family, had only been able to remove a person from the family but not cut them off from their magic.  Seeing what Andromeda had done when she enchanted and later placed a leech on the Mutt's Metamorphic Abilities.  Narcissa and Lucius believed the leech had been giving Andromeda's daughter Nymphadora a tainted Metamorphmagic ability since they had heard she had it but were unable to fully control them.  Lucius had heard from Rufus as he groused about the girl's abilities saying that with her Metamorphmagic talent, she could easily hide from people if not for the fact that she would randomly just trip over her own feet.

As the Mutt was taking family magic away from someone who had already been banished from the family, Severus had to remain as a witness along with Lucius for the ritual.  Since the Mutt's innocence had not become public knowledge yet with some in the Ministry now searching for Pettigrew's whereabouts, Narcissa was taking part so if anyone looked into the ritual they would find her being listed first since she was older despite Sirius being the Head of the family.  Standing up Narciss walked around the table so that she and the Mutt were facing each other as they took each other's hands, their fingers lacing together as they lifted their hands into the air as high as Narcissa could reach.  The pair then moved their hands apart tracing a large circle in the air as they spoke at the same time.  "As Head of the Black Family (Younger Sister), we call upon the family Magic of the Most Ancient and Nobel House of Black to remove itself from Andromeda Tonks and any children she has for her betrayal of the family."

Since Severus had no connection to the Black Family he was only able to trace the wave of family magic leaving the pair with Lucius' hair ruffling a bit.  The Black Family magic washed over the country as it sought out Andromeda and her daughter to follow Sirius and Narcissa's orders.  As it came to Hogwarts Draco felt a comforting breeze which helped cool him down a little as he and his friends played something Harry taught them called four square.  Harry also felt the wave of magic due to his connection to Sirius as the family magic fully removed the block Albus had placed on Sirius' Godparent Bond to Harry.

On the island prison of Azkaban the Black family magic washed over Bellatrix and her husbands.  What people did not understand was that like the Weasley twins the Lestrange brothers were Magical Twins and Bellatrix had been their partner.  Since the trio had taken part in a full bonding ceremony where parts of their souls had been changed between Bella and her husbands the Black Family Magic washed over them as well.  As the magic washed over the three mates, it detected some spells Andromeda had put in place that she had cast on her younger sister.  Andromeda cast a curse on Bella after she learned about the middle Black Sister's plans for the full bonding ceremony with the two men.  Andromeda did not believe that a union should be made between more than two people and only if it was done between a male and female who were born that way.  Seeing what her younger sister was doing as evil, Andromeda consulted some books in the Black Family Library, which held volumes of magic from all families to which the Blacks were connected, as she cast a curse to make Bellatrix act as evil and crazy as Andromeda saw her to be.

As the Black Family magic had been sent to remove Andromeda from the family it performed a cleansing on Bellatrix and the Lestrange twins causing all three to shift back to their original states.  The removal of the enchantments placed on them also soured the "tastes" of the three to their Dementors guards for a bit shocking the human guards at the prison as they felt from the trio.  When the guards went to check on the trio a few days later, seeing the Dementors still avoiding the three mates, it was discovered that their Dark Marks had vanished thanks to the Black Family Magic.  This was due to Bellatrix and her husbands having only joined the Death Eaters because of Adromeda's curse on them.

When the Black Family Magic finally reached Andromeda it rip itself from her causing her to cry out in pain and collapse in the office she shared with her husband.  Ted also felt a shock of pain, though not passing out like his wife since they had a full bonding of their own.  It was thanks to this bonding that Andromeda's system was not fully shut down and she lost immunity to most magical illnesses since the Tonks Family's magic was able to protect her body for a short amount of time.  Nymphadora was not so lucky as she had been in the middle of another training session to become an Auror agent.  At first, her Proctor gave their approval of her actions thinking that she was trying to create a distraction by crying out in pain during a stealth exercise so that her team members could accomplish their mission, but as her teammates revealed their positions to rush to her aid he knew something was wrong.  

As the Protcor reached the other Aurors-in-training he let out a gasp seeing that the girl had changed.  He had never known that a Metamprhmagus could change forms while unconscious as she appear to be.  But gone was the slim woman with bubblegum pink hair and in their place was a slightly overweight woman whose clothing seemed to be a little tight on her with drab gray hair.  Seeing her feet smashed into shoes that looked to be three to five sizes too small for them, the Proctor suddenly saw why Trainee Tonks kept tripping over her own feet.  "Someone take her to the Hall of Healing," he ordered the cadets as two came forward and lifted her from the floor, and carried her out of the room.  As they left the Proctor could not help but wonder why Trainee Tonks would force herself to look thinner than she was rather than just accept her body for what it was and use it to her advantage.  With his class being reduced by half the Proctor had the remaining three trainees run the Spell Course (shooting range) to work on their aim and snap decision-making to determine if a target was an enemy, civilian, or even a Muggle.

As the Black Family Magic returned to Sirius and Narcissa after removing Andromeda and her daughter's access to it, the pair finally separated and let go of each other's hands.  Severus who had never watched someone remove from their family magic was shocked at how long it had taken to do so as he watched Lucius help his wife into a chair fanning her down as the woman looked exhausted.  The Mutt's Account Manager meanwhile was doing the same thing to the Mutt.  "Do I need to be here any longer?" Severus asked Bonecrusher.

"No, now that the ritual has finished you are free to go," the Goblin Prince said nodding at him.

"Good I have a feeling Albus is going to get on my case for being out of the castle and not on a job to collect ingredients," Severus said.

"Just tell him you were dealing with the Governors about what has happened to Harry," Lucius said as he looked after his wife.

"That could work," Severus said as he put his mother's letter in his pocket only to notice another sheet fall out of the envelope.  Picking it up Severus found another message from his mother.

P.P.S. Severus when you return to Hogwarts collect your old Advance Potion Making book from the classroom and remove that dark spell you created from it.  The rest of your spells can stay but that one needs to go now before the book is given to someone who mistakenly tries to use it.  Also while I can not see exactly where Pettigrew is since my vision is centered on you I do believe that he is hiding with his son.   Whoever that is.

Once More I love you, my precious baby boy,

Eileen Prince.

Chapter Text

Diagon Alley

Ginny hated what her life had become. Ever since her Mummy's trip to the bank on Monday things had changed and she did not like it. Her Mummy had arrived back at the Burrow in a towering temper as she made Ginny pack up everything she had in her room as quickly as she could. Knowing how bad the Weasley family fortune was, Ginny did not ask questions fearing that something had happened and they had lost their house. She had been glad that the bank or whoever allowed them to keep their belongings as she packed up all her pre-Hogwarts school supplies, clothing, and other belongings.

She started to get confused when her Mummy led her out of the house leaving so much behind, including the family clock. Ginny knew her mother loved that clock so she could not figure out why it was being left to the bank or whoever. If she had taken a closer look at the clock she would have noticed that Molly, Ron, and her hands had fallen off of it since Arthur Weasley had removed them from the family after what he had learned. Ginny did not learn what was going on until nearly eight that night. After leaving the Burrow her Mummy had first taken them to see the Headmaster asking for his help, Ginny was unable to hear what was going on because her Mummy cast a muffling charm around her as she talked to the Headmaster. Ginny did notice that both the Headmaster and her Mummy seemed to be yelling at each other, though it was hard to say as her Mummy tended to get loud if she felt like she had something important to say. Half an hour later Mummy led her out of the office in a bad mood while leaving the muffling charm still in place for a while. Their next stop was the Leaky Cauldron where Mummy passed over a page the Headmaster had given her. The toothless barman looked over the page with a nod before directing them upstairs.

Mummy finally took off the spell when they got into a small room. "Ginny, baby I am going to have to leave you for a bit. I know this is a small place so you can't put everything out but try to make do with this part of the room," Mummy said using her wand to draw a wand through the space.

"Why only that small of an area?" Ginny could not help but ask her beloved Mummy fearing she was going to end up sharing with Ron or something.

"For the time being we will be sharing this room," Mummy explained.

"But what about Daddy?" Ginny asked.

"He will come to his senses sooner or later even if I have to pound it into his head so he gets the message," Mummy said weirdly before she left the room.

Ginny wondered what her Mummy had to make Daddy understand, though she was a little glad that she was allowed to skip her lessons for the day as she set everything up in the room, even going past the line her Mummy had made knowing her Mummy would not care. She had just finished the last thing in place, her pink bedspread, when her Mummy returned looking more worn out than Ginny had ever seen her. Taking one look around her Mummy scowled, "Ginny I told you only to put your belongings in that part of the room not all of it," her Mummy groused before using her wand to move Ginny's stuff back into her trunk.

"But Mummy," Ginny protested.

"No, Ginny I gave you a simple direction and you disobeyed me," Mummy said shocking Ginny at the show of anger directed at her.

"I did not think you would mind," Ginny said.

"It has been a hard day Ginny and it is only going to get worse until I get your father to get better," Mummy said.

"What happened to Daddy?" Ginny asked.

"He was enchanted at the bank and kicked us out. That was why I went to the Headmaster for some help, but he has some trouble of his own at the moment with Harry," her Mummy said.

Ginny became ultra-focused at the name of her future husband, "Why what happened to Harry?"

"It turns out that after he had been collected from his family to get his school supplies he had gone missing and got enchanted so that he ended up being sorted into Slytherin," Mummy explained.

"OH, NO. MUMMY IS HE IN DANGER?" Ginny cried out.

"Albus thinks so which is why he was unable to help us with your father, apart from writing a recommendation to Tom here so I could get a job," Mummy said making Ginny notice that she called the Headmaster by his name like she normally did which Ginny took as a good sign.

"But what about Harry he needs to get away from those evil snakes," Ginny said no longer caring what happened to her Daddy who she knew could take care of himself for a bit but Harry being left in Slytherin House was dangerous to his body and mind.

"The Headmaster is taking care of it, we just need to get by in the meantime. So I am forced to work in the bar in exchange for our room and board. Starting tomorrow you will join the other kids from the alley in their lessons," Mummy told her.

"But I like how you teach me," Ginny protested.

"I can not teach you while working Ginny, I am sorry and we now need the money and this job. We will just have to buck up for a bit as I work to make your father better," Mummy said.

"Fine," Ginny said with a small pout as she went over to her bed and grabbed a specially made stuffed animal her Mummy had given her which looked like Harry from the book series covering his adventures around the world before this year.

"I am really sorry, baby," Mummy said coming over and tucking Ginny in gently brushing her bangs out of her eyes before giving her a kiss goodnight despite it being so early and neither of them having eaten yet.

Ginny was in her own bad mood as after an early breakfast she was ushered down to the basement of the Leaky Cauldron where a classroom had been set up for the kids of the families who lived in their shops on the alley to hold their Pre-Hogwarts lessons. While it was nice she was no longer having lessons alone and that there were some girls there, Ginny did not like being taught by a stranger who gave information counter to what Mummy always taught them. Of course, it mattered what House they were sorted into at Hogwarts, the only worthy one was Gryffindor. It got worse during their lunch break when Ginny was getting to know some of her new classmates, first off they made the mistake of saying the Harry Potter Adventure series was trash, but it got worse as Ginny learned that the girls came from families living on Knockturn Alley, which means they were as bad as those in Slytherin House.

After supper, Mummy had her help her in writing a letter to Daddy. It did not even shock Ginny that Mummy's letter was a Hower. It made perfect sense to Ginny who knew that no matter the enchantment that was on her Daddy he would be unable to go against her Mummy when she let him have it with her Howler and with her adding to it she was sure he would go somewhere to get tested and cleaned. Ginny was surprised that they did not get a response back from her Daddy Wednesday or even Thursday, though there was a letter sent to them Thursday night. But that came from Hogwarts which Ginny had read over her Mummy's shoulder about Ron getting into a fight and being given detention. Ginny was surprised that Mummy did not send a Howler to Ron chewing him out for getting into a fight but she must still be worried about Daddy's lack of reply to their earlier letter that she just grumbled a little as she threw the letter from Hogwarts away.

While Mummy did not get a letter from Daddy, Ginny did as she got back from her stupid Pre-Hogwarts lessons to find it on her bed. She hurriedly unrolled it and read the message. Mummy was right, she thought as she finished the letter, her Daddy had been enchanted, saying he was not her father and that he did not trust himself to live with her anymore. What Hypogriff Shit. Ginny had been so sad and angry at seeing what the enchantments had done to her daddy she had accidentally ripped up his letter without meaning to so she could not share it with Mummy. And Mummy was too tired after her shift that she barely paid attention as they ate their meal before going to bed.

On Saturday morning, Ginny was woken up by a loud scream from her mother. Blinking sleep out of her eyes she saw her mother holding a smoking Howler envelope. This fully woke Ginny up for who would send her beloved Mummy a Howler. She could tell by her Mummy's face the fact someone had sent her a Howler had made Molly Weasley madder than Ginny had ever seen her before, even after all the stuff the twins had pulled over the years.

MUM,

HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME DAD WAS NOT MY FATHER? I HAVE TO FIND OUT FROM A LETTER FROM HIM INFORMING ME THAT HE WAS NOT ONLY MY FATHER, BUT THAT I WOULD MOST LIKELY BE SENT INTO FOSTER CARE.

RON

"HE IS AWAY FOR ONE WEEK AND THINKS IT IS ALRIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT?!" Mummy thundered.

"I can't believe Ron does not get that Daddy is enchanted," Ginny said. "Did you let him know that is why Daddy most likely sent him a letter?"

"Oh, you are right Ginny dear, with everything going on I forgot to do so or even ask Albus to pass on the message to him," Mummy said looking a little ashamed though Ginny noticed something strange in her Mummy's eyes.

Ginny could get that Ron had not been told that their Daddy had been under some sort of spell which had caused him to send the letter full of lies, but she was not going to let the dork get away with sending Mummy a Howler. So as Mummy went to her shift down in the bar and since it was the weekend Ginny took some of her Mummy's Howler paper and created a message to Ron.

Hogwarts Sunday Morning

The quiet of the hall during breakfast was broken by a loud scream coming from the Gryffindor table.

RON,

YOU IDIOT. HOW DARE YOU SEND MUMMY A HOWLER. SHE JUST FORGOT TO TELL YOU DADDY HAD BEEN ENCHANTED. THAT WAS WHY HE SENT YOU A LETTER ABOUT HIM NOT BEING YOUR FATHER AND YOU BEING SENT INTO FOSTER CARE. NEWSFLASH MORON, MUMMY IS STILL AROUND WHY WOULD YOU BE SENT TO FOSTER CARE RATHER THAN TO HER?

GINNY

As Harry looked to the source of the scream he saw Ronald's ears were bright red. While everyone was looking at the younger redhead, Harry shot a look down the table of the lions to see how Ronald's older brothers were reacting to the Howler. He was just able to catch the three older boys seeming to share a look making him wonder if it was the sender who was the one mistaken not Ronald. Not that it was any concern of his for their family drama, he was not friends with Ronald and he did not even know the older three boys. Turning back to Draco he asked, "So how did you get Perfect Flint to agree to your plan to let us fly around a little while he has the team tryouts?"

"Nothing really, he also disagrees with the Hogwarts policy of not letting First Years have brooms. So he had already talked to Professor Snape to get the okay to let any First Year who has already learned how to fly come to any practice he has just to have some fun. We just can't try out for the team is all," Draco explained.

"I am so looking forward to flying again," Harry said.

"I thought you said you had been Muggle-raised," Millecnt said.

"I was but I got a few lessons in flying at the Governer's place," Harry said.

"I can't wait to see how you do," Draco said giving Harry a small wink which was only seen by their friends who already knew where Harry had been staying.

After breakfast, Harry, Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory headed down to the Quidditch Pitch to have some fun flying as the older Slytherins had their tryouts. The others joined them but they were only going to cheer on those trying to make the team. By the look of it, Draco had told Marcus how many of their group wanted to fly during the tryouts since the Fifth Year had six school brooms waiting for them off to the side. Harry and his friends ignored Marcus as he welcomed everyone to the tryouts while they got on their brooms to take off. Harry marveled at the feeling of air rushing past him as he kicked off from the ground and without even being conscious of it corrected the small drag to the left that many of the school brooms had.

To not get in the way of practice Harry and the other First Years who were flying were only allowed to be in one portion of the pitch but could do whatever they wanted to so long as they did not leave their area or get too high so that someone might see them above the walls of the stadium. Harry spent the first couple of minutes on the broom just to get used to it like he had done with the spare broom at Malfoy Manor. Once he got a feel for it. Harry started to put it through its paces. A few of the older students could not help but look over seeing how easily and competently Harry could handle one of the school's old brooms. Harry did not even notice the attention as he flew in random patterns, loop-dee-loops, crosscut with the others with barely inches between them all with a giant grin on his face. He did love learning all about magic, but in Harry's mind, there was nothing better than flying. He guessed it had to do with the trap feeling that he used to have at the Dursleys compared to the freedom of being in the air with nothing to support him but a broom and his own skills.

Marcus, alone on the pitch did not notice Harry's skill with the broom as he focused on putting the new Slytherin Team hopefuls through his training test. That all changed during the Beater's test when Marcus and the other members of the house who were trying out for other positions on the team used magic to send random-sized foam balls at the would-be-Beaters. A sixth-year boy who was enchanting one of the smaller balls as a joke sent it into the First Year area to mess with them. While Draco, Pansy, Vincent, Gregory, and Blaise were shocked by the floating ball they stopped flying as it crossed their path, Harry reached for it maybe to see why it was there. The Sixth-Year moved the ball away only to gasp in shock as Potter started to fly after it reminding the student of a Seeker going after a Snitch. Seeing this as a way to bring famous Potter down a peg or two the Sixth-Year whose family had always supported the Dark Lord started to make the foam ball act like a Snitch as he moved it away from Potter.

There was some gasp from the watching crowd of older Slytherins sitting in the stands to support their friends as they saw Potter fly after one of the foam balls someone had sent into the First-Year area of the stadium. No matter what the person controlling the ball did they were unable to lose Potter who was making the school broom fly faster than anyone had ever seen. It almost look like Potter was flying a new racing broom as he followed every bob and twist of the ball no matter how fast it was going.

Harry was having such fun chasing the ball he did not even realize he had left the zone he had been told to stay in as he got closer and closer to the red foam ball that was dancing just a little out of his reach and leading him on a merry chase. He could not tell if this was one of the balls Draco had mentioned were part of the game or some other magical item like a will'o'wisp but he did not care he was loving chasing it down. Every time he almost caught it, the thing would change directions but that just made it all the more fun for him.

After about a ten-minute chase Harry was able to catch the ball taking both his hands off the broom and directing it with just his legs with a final burst of speed he caught the ball, even flying up and around it when it tried once more to change directions. As his hand closed over the ball it stopped moving making him wonder if he had stopped the magic that affected it or if it was alive and he had possibly killed it. "POTTER GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT," Perfect Flint bellowed.

Harry blushed as he realized he had flown out of the First-Year area. "Sorry, Prefect Flint," he said as he landed before the Fifth-Year.

"Sorry, nothing.  How did you learn to fly like that?" Marcus asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You used that school broom like one of the new Nimbus 2001 models," Marcus said.

"I just flew," Harry said holding tightly to the broom.

"That you could do all that while riding a school broom shows you have some great talent, Heir Potter. I better see you try out next year," Flint said with a smile on his face as he reached over as if he wanted to pat Harry's head but stopped himself not knowing how the boy would react to the touch when he saw Harry flinch a little. "But until then so you don't outshine everyone try to follow the rules and stay in your area," Flint said as he changed his motion from a pat to pointing Harry back to the other side of the pitch.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts Governors Manor (Unplotable and Unreachable when meetings are in session)

While the Governors had an unscheduled meeting the week before to deal with what they had informed about the actions of Rubius Hagrid, the official first meeting for the term did not take place until the second week of classes at the castle. This allowed Lord Nott and Lady Zabini time to rearrange their schedules to come to a full meeting rather than use a proxy as they had been forced to do concerning Hagrid's firing and arrest. As usual, the group held their meeting in the Manor's main conference room which had three tables set aside for the members of each Magical Core so they could discuss any issue that pertained to students of their core before bringing it up during the meeting. Drake Vansel since he was only there to call for votes and would only cast his own vote if the others were tied on what to do for an issue, had his own small desk near his speaker's podium. Drake would also provide the use of one of his family elves since after a meeting began the Wards around the property would prevent anyone from leaving or arriving including House Elves. All Drake's Elves were there for was to collect any documents from the manor's record room or in case the meeting ran long prepare food and care for the Governors if they were forced to stay overnight.

As per his custom, Drake had arrived at the manor an hour before the meeting was to begin to put everything in place and give his House Elves time to make the preferred drinks of his fellow Governors. He was lucky he had arrived so soon for he found a note waiting for him at his desk. Since most letters sent to the Governors arrived at a special PO box and were collected before a meeting by a designated member, Drake was surprised to see the note. Giving it a quick read, he saw it was from one of the House Elves from Hogwarts asking to speak at the meeting about some issues at the castle. In the ten years, he had been a Governors, Drake could not recall one of the Hogwarts Elves asking to speak to them, but after what had been going on so far that year, and it had only been a single week, it did not surprise him over much that one of the Elves wanted to meet with them. Knowing that the Elf would be unable to come once everyone had arrived, Drake called for the sender of the letter, Bastilian, to him. Seeing the Elf wearing a Hogwarts flag as if it was a cloak. Drake knew that this Elf was the Head of the Hogwarts contingent of House Elves. "Head Elf Bastilian, you wished to talk to the Governors?" he asked.

"I do, Sir," Bastilian said with a small bow.

"Before the rest of the Governors arrive can I ask why you sent the request here rather than to the PO box?" he asked.

"The Hogwarts Elves always sent their letters directly to the Manor rather than through the post but there was another reason that I will share once I am called upon. If memory serves since I have an issue I need to wait to be called but I am not allowed to help out the Elves that were brought to this meeting, correct?" Bastilian asked.

"I will take your word for it since I don't recall any Hogwarts House Elves coming to speak to the Governors before," Drake said.

"I guess that makes sense since we have not been allowed to after Albus took over as the Headmaster," Bastilian said but before Drake could ask her about it she snapped her fingers to leave the room until she was called to share why she had wanted to talk to them.

Putting aside, Bastilian, until he could work her into the day's schedule, Drake returned to getting the manor ready for the others. Next to arrive at the manor was Lady Janet whose turn it had been to collect the contents of their PO box. Taking the bag from her, Drake started to look through the letters they had received to plan out their meeting as Janet finished getting everything in order. By the time the last member of their group arrived and activated the protections around the Manor, Drake had gone through the letters sent to them getting rid of any that were just complaints from parents that their kids were not getting the grades they were getting. He immediately tossed a few unpowered Howlers out as well not even bothering to look at who sent them as was policy. After this, there were still over a dozen letters of issues that students and parents had brought to their attention that he felt they should deal with.

"Hello everyone welcome to the first official meeting of the year," Drake said after everyone had taken their places and some had sipped from their drinks. "After our unscheduled meeting last week, we are still waiting to hear back from the castle on their plans for the post of Groundskeeper and the Keeper of Keys. When I met with Headmaster Dumbledore I suggest that the post be expanded to have two or more taking care of the duties just because of how much Mr. Hagrid had been able to handle. Now before we get into the letters that have been sent to us as well as a special issue does anyone have any business?"

"I would like to once more bring up the issues of Howlers," Augusta said.

"Did Molly send another one?" Drake asked rubbing his forehead.

"Actually it was her daughter, and she sent it to one of her brothers," Muriel said, shocked at the girls' behavior.

"Well that is new," Lady Hansen-Swisgaurd said.

"From what my grandson wrote to me, it seems that Ms. Weasley did not like that her brother sent a Howler to their mother. While at the same time airing some possible family issues to everyone in the hall," Augusta said everyone turned to look at Muriel who pointedly looked away as she took a sip of her iced coffee not giving any signal as to whether what the Howler had relayed was true or not.

"How did the Weasley boy have access to Howler Paper in the first place?" Lucius asked deciding to shift away from any issues that were happening in the Prewett/Weasley line.

"He must have brought it from home," Lady Janet guessed.

"I am all for freedom of speech but we can not allow students to use Howlers at Hogwarts if they sent one to a fellow student we could have a lawsuit. We already have some threatening to sue each time Molly sends one due to the borderline child abuse as well as some students' reactions to them," Drake said. Taking a deep breath he added, "Unfortunately I do not see our vote doing anything this time either, Albus would most likely veto it as always."

"We might have a way around that now," Lucius said.

"We do?" Drake asked.

"As you know a little over a month ago I went to check on Heir Potter's living conditions before removing him from an abusive home. Having heard that Mr. Hagrid was the one to take him shopping and introduce him to the magical world, I took Heir Potter to Gringotts to get tested. During the test many things came out," Lucius said shooting a look at Augusta and Muriel, "one of which is that Heir Potter is the Heir to three of the Founders' lines. I was going to bring this up later, but as soon as some legal issues are taken care of, his Guardian can vote as a Proxy in our group."

"What good will that do, besides showing Albus all the issues we deal with rather than the summary before he veto's them?" Mx. Shannon asked.

"Albus has been lying to everyone for years," Lucius shared. "Lord and Lady Potter chose Lord Remus Lupin to be Heir Potter's Magical Guardian."

"You want to have a werewolf among us?" Lord Jones asked in shock.

"We never hold meetings around the full moon as it is, and he will only be able to vote as a Proxy," Drake said shooting a disgusting look at the man who followed Albus's Anti-Creature line. "Also as a Proxy for the Founder lines he can not be denied his placement here. Lucius let him know that we expect him at our next meeting."

"I will do so, sir," Lucius said with a small bow of his head.

"Any other new business before we turn to some letters sent to us?" Drake asked everyone.

"Did Mr. Hagrid, before or during his firing and arrest mention the stone to anyone?" Lady Janet asked still confused why her Great-to-the-X-Grandfather had allowed the stone to be placed at Hogwarts when no one had ever tried to take it from Gringotts before.

"As far as we can tell, he for once kept his mouth shut about it," Drake said.

"Though it seems he had Heir Potter with him when he collected it, the boy did not see what it was, outside the bag it had been in," Lucius said. Lady Janet bit her bottom lip as she planned to write a letter to Grandpa Flamel about this.

"Anything else? No?" Drake said looking around at the others. "Very well I will start this portion of our gathering with a special message sent here rather than to our PO box." Before anyone could ask about that Drake called for Bastilian.

"Thank you for letting me speak," Bastilian said popping into the room.

"A Hogwarts House Elf?" Legvistus asked arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir," Bastilian said giving them all a bow.

"Is there an issue with the castle now that the Wards have been worked over?" Drake asked.

"Not that I am aware of, sir," Bastilian said. "I have come to discuss one of the House Elves at Hogwarts and some of what he had been doing."

"And you came to report it to us rather than the Headmaster?" Mx. Shannon asked.

"I came to report here due to the Elf in question being the former Head Hogwarts Elf that Albus had placed in charge after he became the Headmaster," Bastilian explained.

"Oh-kay," Drake said a little confused.

"When Albus placed his family elf, Dobby as Head of our contingent at the school he also started to order us not to appear to any student unless they came to the kitchen, thus interfering with our job and creating more work for the Caretakers. Unfortunately, this order kept us confined to the kitchens most of the time and we could not even respond to any member of staff if they called for a House Elf while they were at the castle."

"So the Headmaster wanted to keep your existence a secret from Muggleborns who might not be used to your kind. What is the big deal?" Lord Jones asked.

"The big deal is that besides the magic we get from the castle to be at our best, we need to get an occasional boost from interacting with inhabitants of the castle. But it is more than that, as my crew discovered after this rule had been handed down and we found Dobby dosing several plates of food with potions we could not report it," Bastilian said.

"WHAT?!?" everyone cried out.

"Yes, we could do nothing to stop him, though the rest of us did not add any potions to any food we sent up. We have started to now but it is only antidotes to what he had been dosing the food with and the normal medical potions some of the inhabitants at the castle are taking," Bastilian shared.

"So why have we not been informed of this before now?" Lucius asked.

"We followed orders like we are meant to, but last week Dobby finally did something that lead to us ousting him as the Head Elf and starting a search for an Elf Mind Soother," Bastilian said.

"What happened?" Adriana asked.

"Dobby passed down an order for us to watch Founder's Heir Potter to make sure he did not break any rules and if he made the smallest infraction to inform him so he could tell Albus leading to Founder's Heir Potter to receive a detention," Bastilian explained.

"Albus just wanted Heir Potter to stay safe," Lord Jones said.

"If he wanted Heir Potter to be safe he would order the Elves to make sure he did not get hurt not to watch out for any suspected rule-breaking," Muriel said looking at the man with a small glare.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention," Drake said before Lord Jones and Muriel could start arguing again.

"You are welcome, sir," Bastilian said popping out of the room to go help the Vansel family House Elves since her job was done.

After the argument between Lord Jones who had always been a big supporter of Albus and Muriel finally ended ten minutes later, Drake brought out several letters dealing with another issue he thought they should discuss. "Well now that that is over," he said glaring at the two Light-Cored members of their group," we received a few letters from a couple of First Year students about some of the classes that Hogwarts had dropped over the years."

"And how would they know anything about that while at Hogwarts?  Rather than asking about it before heading to the castle?" Lord Nott asked.

"According to the letters we got, last Saturday a group of Slytherins decided to explore the castle and found some old course books which had been left in the former classrooms of the dropped classes. Looking through the books they found information which they thought would be useful to their fellow students and wondered why the subjects had been dropped," Drake explained.

"What subjects are we talking about here?" Augusta asked.

"Intro to the Magical World, Magical Theory, and Physical Fitness were the main ones that were brought to my attention," Drake said sending all but one of the letters out to the others to read through. "As you can all see the students who wrote to us wanted to find out why Hogwarts had dropped subjects that imparted information on how to strengthen and grow their Magical Cores."

"I thought the lessons had been transferred to other classes or taught by the Heads of House?" Muriel asked.

"It seems that they were not," Drake said.

"Winslow," Muriel said calling for the head of the Elves Drake usually brought to the Manor.

"Lady Prewett? How can I help you?" Winslow asked as he popped into the room.

"Can you retrieve from the records the Governor's decision on lessons for Magical Core growth after the classes teaching about it were dropped?" she asked the elf unable to order it due to his bond to Drake's family alone.

"I shall find it, Lady Prewett," Winslow said as with another pop left the room.

"As we wait for the records, I will move on to another letter. This one also asked about the dropped classes but also brought up an issue he had found with the Muggle Studies class," Drake said.

"You said these letters were from First Years how could one of them have an issue with a class they have not attended yet?" Adriana asked.

"The letter was sent by Heir Potter who had been raised in the Muggle World before Lucius had collected him. It seems that after seeing the material in the Muggle Studies classroom, Heir Potter talked to some of the older students taking the class. He thinks the class needs to be updated," Drake explained.

"Now see here just because he has found out he is an Heir to the Founders does not give him permission to change the school's curriculum," Lord Jones protested.

"He made no mention of him being a Founders' Heir in the letter. He believes it needs to be updated due to the class not teaching about some Muggle innovations such as CCTV, closed circuit television which are placed in Muggle areas for security and can record what is going on. He thinks that if Magicals are unaware of them they could do magic and have it caught on tape exposing us to the Muggles. Has anyone heard of these things before now?" Drake asked looking around as most everyone ending with Muruel due to her nephew-in-law's fascination with Muggle stuff.

"I have never heard about them before," Muriel admitted to them, "nor do I think Arthur has since he would have had a tissy about it and try to share it with people at the Ministry.

"I have, we have a few around my school's campus," Legvistus said, "I just thought the class was teaching students about them."

"Might I suggest we get in contact with the Ministry to hire some Muggleborns and possibly staff from Sycamore to comprise a list of Muggle inventions that we should add to the class's curriculum?" Lucius said.

"I second that motion," Mx. Shannon, Muriel, Augusta, and Lady Janet said at once.

"All in favor?" Drake asked seeing everyone raise their hands. "Very well I will leave Lucius to work with Legvistus to write up a proposal to send to the Ministry.:

"The next complaint we have received comes from Madam Pince," Drake said pulling out the Hogwarts Libarian's letter.

"What is it this time? Someone accidentally ripped a page in one of the books?" Lady Janet asked to some laughter since the woman sent at least two letters each month filled with complaints about the students damaging her books.

"No, it seems Madam Pince has issued a complaint against Albus, after finding two students fighting in the library. She gave them both two weeks of detention, banned them from the library for a week, and took thirty points off them a piece. Yet it seems Albus decided to cancel the detentions and reduce the points lost so that the students only lost fifteen each," Drake read from the letter.

"So Albus showed some leniency to the students.  It was only the first week of class maybe he just thought it was too harsh for so early in the term?" Lord Jones asked.

"Yet he did nothing to any other punishments where students got into fights this last week," Drake pointed out, as he opened the Governoers record book that kept track of point loss and punishments taking place at the castle that they usually looked at the end of the meeting to make sure none of the teachers were abusing their authority.

"This is not even the only letter we received about this incident, as Madam Pomfry sent the complaint that while Albus had allowed her to stop the bleeding of the two students who had been caught fighting, then he removed them from the Ward before she could heal anything else. Neither student has come back to the Hall leaving them with bruises and a black eye," Drake said pulling out the next letter in his pile.

"Why have they not returned to get healed?" Muriel asked.

"I do not know, maybe they don't realize they can?" Drake guessed.

"So he removed some punishments from them but stopped them from being fully healed?" Lord Jones asked a little confused.

"Once again I have no idea what is going out outside what Madam Pince and Pomfrey wrote to us," Drake said.

"I call for a full inquiry into this," Legvistus said.

"I second," Lady Janet said.

"All in favor?" Drake asked as he was once more shocked to see everyone agreeing to the motion. "Very well I will get in contact with Irma and Poppy to get their takes on it and send someone to talk to the pair of students at the center of this."

"I have the results you were looking for, Lady Prewett," Winslow said who had been waiting for the current issue to be settled before bringing the document on the old Governors' decision for teaching about Magical Core growth and strengthening after the classes teaching it had been dropped.

"Thank you, Winslow," Drake said taking the document from his Elf who bowed to him before popping away again. "It seems the Governors at the time the classes were dropped had voted for the lessons to be taught by the Four Heads of House during the bi-weekly meetings they were meant to have with their students," Drake read from the document.

"The Heads of House met with students outside of class?" Lord Jones asked not recalling Professor McGonagall ever doing that when he had been a student at the school.

"Yes they are, though, from the new detection charms the Goblins installed to the Wards, we have Minerva has not visited the Gryffindor Common Room once. and the other only visited a single time last week after their opening speech." Drake said loving the new charms on the wards to show how much each member of staff was doing their job at the castle.

"If the Governors passed the teaching about Magical Cores to the Heads of House, how is it that it was not carried out?" Lucius asked not seeing Severus failing to instruct his students about it.

"Hm, let's see here," Drake said going down the document. "Huh."

"What?" they all asked.

"It seems Albus vetoed the instruction about Cores to the Head of House's duties," Drake said.

"How did we not know this?" Legvistus asked.

"Let's see," Drake said reading further. "According to this Albus said it would take a year or two to train the Heads of House on the subject without informing them about vetoing it. After a few years before anyone could bring it back up, the Governors at the time had all stepped down after their family members had left Hogwarts and the new ones were unaware of the vote," Drake said.

"They all stepped down at once?" Mx. Shannon asked horrified.

"According to this they did, the only one who had not left due to having no family at the castle did it due to some medical conditions," Drake read.

"That seems too strange to be a coincidence," Lucisiu said.

"Stop being so paranoid, Lucius," Lord Jones said.

"We need to either find a way to bring these classes back or get the Heads of House to start their lessons on them. To think the students are no longer taught how to help their core grow," Augusuts said shaking her head sadly.

"And since the Heads are not doing their two weekly meetings with their students we will have to send them all warnings about it," Drake said.

"Professor McGonagall should be excused from this," Lord Jones said.

"She is a Head of House, it is her duty to check in on her students her fellow Heads have managed to do it at least once last week," Drake said.

"Yes, but she is also Deputy Headmistress, along with the Transfiguration Professor," Lord Jones said.

"So, Severus does the majority of brewing for the castle, is a Head of House along with teaching Potions yet he managed to have a start of term meeting and one weekly meeting last week," Lucius pointed out.

"Maybe it is time we brought up taking a look at the budget to see if there are funds to hire more staff so we have a dedicated Head of House, and a school brewer to cut down on their workloads," Drake said as she showed everyone the new logbook that kept track of all the hours the staffed worked at the school. Mx. Shannon and Lady Hansen-Swisgard were horrified seeing that most of the staff only got a couple of hours of sleep a night due to all the grading and other duties they had to handle for their jobs. "All in favor of looking into hiring more staff for the castle?" Drake asked them. This time Lord Jones did not raise his hand while everyone else agreed to it. "Motions past I shall get in context with Gringotts to look over the funds we have available to hire any additional staff."

After that, the meeting returned to their normal issues, such as members of staff looking for more funds to buy updated supplies like Madam Hooch wanting new brooms for the castle since the ones they had were at least thirty years old and were hard to control for most students unless they had a natural affinity in flying. Lucius had to smile at that having received a letter from his son talking about Harry flying the school brooms during the Slytherin team practice on Sunday with such skill he impressed Captain Flint.

There was another letter from Madam Pince filled with her usual complaints about how the students treated her beloved books while asking to buy more books for the library. A letter from Professor Kettleburn asking if it was alright if he could retire yet. The usual three letters from Filtch begging them to reinstate corporal punishment for the students. In some letters of harassment and bullying done by some students, the person who wrote the letter did not feel like the staff at Hogwarts was handling them properly. The last letter was from Arthur Weasley seeking permission to take his three elder sons away from Hogwarts during the next planned Hogsmeade Weekend so they could undergo some medical testing. Everyone once more looked to Muriel who could only shrug not knowing about the test Arthur was talking about. But since he stated it was for a medical issue they approved his request.

Chapter Text

As Harry woke up for his third week of classes he took a moment to collect himself. He had a similar dream again, making him ask Theo for the book on Dream study they had found while looking around the castle two weekends ago. Harry could barely recall his dreams when he lived with his aunt and uncle. Mostly he recalled maybe a flash of green light or the dream of the flying motorbike on the day of Dudley's last birthday. But ever since Lucius removed him from Privat Drive he had started to recall more of his dreams. They had started out with him using his new wand to cast magic on his uncle, aunt, and cousin so he could escape them for a better life. During the month leading up to coming to Hogwarts, Harry would occasionally have a dream of a lake filled with black goo. These dreams were more akin to nightmares as humanoid creatures would appear out of the goo and come after him. After his first night at the castle and now having faces and bodies to put with names of the people who had messed with his life, the black goo people began to look like Dumbles. Granger, and the youngest Weasley boy.

Once again his dreams changed after his first Saturday at the castle. The dream had started simply enough he was flying as he had done during the Slytherin tryouts and caught sight of the blue orb leading him to start chasing it. In the dream, he left the Pitch and flew over numerous terrains from forests, oceans, deserts, and even cities/towns as he chased after the orb. Then the dream changed when he had flown past a billboard where the phrase "I Solemnly Swear I am up to No good." Then the dream started to get stranger. While the dream had been random he had thought nothing of it until he started to experience similar dreams each night with only minor differences between them. On the first night, he had the dream after he had flown past the billboard six random objects had appeared and circled around him on his broom before they scattered. Ever since then, the six items would appear in his dream in the same order, over and over again.

His most recent dream once more started with Harry flying this time starting as he was flying over the black lake and heading towards Hogwarts. The blue orb entered into a top window of the castle which was thankfully wide enough for Harry to enter after it. As he entered the room the ball had flown into he stopped in midair as someone who looked like his dad, at least from the picture in books about his family, was running a paintbrush over a blank canvas. While he appeared to be painting something else all that appeared on the canvas was the now familiar line "I Solemnly Swear I am up to No Good." When the words had been written in color-changing paint the man turned to smile at Harry as he pulled out what looked like an old bit of parchment out of his pocket and used it like a tissue. After the man had blown his nose the canvas had turned into a window which the blue ball had flown into. Following the ball, Harry felt that the painter had gently patted his back as he flew by him. Once he was through the canvas portal the orb changed into a golden timepiece which still continued to fly just out of Harry's reach.

As he chased the timepiece, a pale hand reached out and grabbed it making Harry stop and follow the hand. The hand belonged to a male in a pale white cloak who tucked the timepiece in his pocket sitting down across from someone in a pitch-black robe which hid all their features. Leaning against the back of the being in the black robe there was a scythe making Harry think of the description of Death. Death and the man in the white cloak sat in mid-air facing each other for a moment before a table appeared between them. Death pulled out an old chipped tea cup followed by a pristine set laying everything out on the table between them and the man. Death set the chipped cup at the head of the table as he and the white-cloaked male began to take tea. However as far as Harry could see there were no drinks or food that was on the table making him think back to stories he had heard in his Muggle school of girls having imaginary tea parties.

Since nothing appeared to be happening from this child-like tea party, Harry tried to fly away but found his broom would not move in any direction. Harry struggled to get his broom to move and finally got results, but not how he expected it. Rather than flying forward, backward, or upwards his broom shot downward and smashed him into the floating table. Neither Death nor the man reacted as Harry knocked the table over, the pair did not even stop drinking their imaginary tea. As Harry turned to apologize he noticed something strange about the table. When it had been holding up all the items for the tea party it had been a normal-sized table but after Harry knocked it over it had changed into a silver sword. Harry tapped the blade for the angle he had run into it the sword should have cut him but nothing had happened.

As he tapped the blade rather than feeling metal or letting out a clunk the blade surface rippled like a pond after someone had thrown a pebble into it. This finally got Death's attention as he reaches down, past Harry, and picks up the sword. The silver sword, no longer rippling, was brought to Death's lap where the dark-robed being began to push the sword into his robe as if they wanted to stab themselves with it. The sword disappears into the folds of Death's cloak until only the hilt remained before Death twisted the hilt as if it was a key. Harry heard a soft "snap" as Death transformed from a human-looking being into a carpet bag with the sword's hilt becoming the zipper.

Harry could only watch in fascination as the white-robed man drank some more "tea" before he reached over and took the bag that used to be Death. As he grabbed the handle of the bag the outside changed color from the black of Death's robe to a bright blue. The man in white lifted the blue bag to his hip and began to walk away. Once he was out of sight, which took less time that it should have, Harry found he could move again. Not trusting his broom to get him stuck in the air again, Harry lifted it to his shoulder and continued down on a path that had just appeared before him.

Harry felt like he had walked for maybe a mile or two, it was hard to keep track since there were no breaks or interesting bits of scenery on the path, just trees on either side of the path that grew larger and older the further along he walked. Out of nowhere, the trees came to an end and he found himself in a clearing. In the middle of the clearing, there were two males holding a gnarled staff between them. As he watched them, the pair would move their hands up the staff in a leapfrog manner like he had seen members of Dudley's gang do when seeing who got to bat first in a game of baseball Both males looked familiar to Harry, he just could not place them. The pair of males both appear to be younger no more than eighteen, twenty at the most, in age with the shorter of the two having a mane of golden blonde hair while the taller had purple hair and wore glasses similar to the ones Harry used to wear before getting cleansed. The blonde male's hair also had the similar messy state that Harry's used to have before Draco had cut and styled it.

Once one of their hands claimed the top part of the staff, the pair leaned around it to share a kiss. Harry felt like he should look away from this but found that he could not move his body. After the purple-haired male broke the kiss the pair lifted the staff into the air, and working together carried it over to a small puddle of water that had not been there moments before. With a smirk first at each other then one sent at him, the pair dipped the staff into the water creating a mist that filled the clearing.

The mist lasted for about thirty-five seconds before it retreated to the small pond, When it was gone, Harry saw that rather than the two males someone new was in the clearing. The staff also appeared to have changed as the man, who had his back to Harry lifted it out of the puddle revealing another sword. This time the sword looked to be made of pure gold as the man gently carried it over to a small work area that appeared out of the last traces of the mist. Setting the sword down the man began to work on it like a blacksmith as he used a hammer to beat out some dings and imperfections on the blade. Harry just watched in fascination again as the blacksmith worked for a bit before he evidently became too hot so he lowered his hood. Harry's eyes goggled as the blacksmith appear to be a close match for Professor Snape. The only difference between Harry's Head of House and the blacksmith was the man had a less pointed nose than the Potions Master and there were some shocks of gray in his hair.

As the blacksmith Snape worked on the sword the golden sheen vanish making it look like the sword which had been the table for the tea party from earlier. Yet despite the sword looking just like the other one it had a golden glow about it as blacksmith Snape held the sword above his head making it catch the last rays of a sunset. Harry was blinded by the kaleidoscope effect the sun's rays had on the sword for a moment before blacksmith Snape turned the sword over so its point was aimed at the ground. Snape then thrust the glowing sword into the ground where it became lodged in a large anvil-like stone. When blacksmith Snape let go of the sword's hilt words began to appear on the anvil but they were written in such old English all Harry was able to make out was a single word, Camelot.

Turning to ask blacksmith Snape what the message was, Harry saw that his father was back with a new canvas. James Potter waved his paintbrush wand again as the ending message appeared, "Mischief Managed." Just like what had been happening since the dream on the first Saturday/Sunday at school seeing these two words lead to Harry waking up. Taking a look at his watch, and wishing he knew how to cast a tempest spell, Harry saw it was a little after five in the morning. Not the earliest he had ever gotten up before, though the earliest since he left Private Drive, Harry sat up in his bed. He quietly made his way to the ensuite bathroom for a quick shower hoping he did not wake up his dorm mates. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing everyone was still sleeping when he exited the bathroom drying his hair on a towel as he headed back to his bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he tried once again to figure out why he was dreaming of the six strange objects and the two phases. This was the first time he had seen all those different people in the dream making him wonder how he recognized the blonde and purple-haired older teens in the clearing before they became blacksmith Snape. Since most of his school books, apart from the back flap to show the writer of the book, though not always done, did not have any colored pictures of anyone, Harry pulled out the book on his family history. While Lucius had placed several of his family history books into his trunk after his second visit to Gringotts, Harry had only looked through one of them so far. Taking hold of the pages in front of his bookmark, Harry quickly flipped through them hoping to find the pair of males. It took him three times to find them in the book. The picture was their wedding portrait with the caption underneath it that gave their names as Melioudus Potter and Gowther Potter nee Peverell. The passage alongside their photo mentioned that this was the first time the Potter name came to prominence as Gowther Peverell despite being the dominant partner in the marriage took his husband's name. Though the book did not mention why he had done so. The book did mention that both the Potter and Pevell lines had a talent for creating powerful artifacts and that the pair of husbands had brought their family's skills together to create something called the Staff of Magical Might which had rewarded the pair of them some great honor, yet once again the book did not go into detail or even list what the honor had been called.

Lupin Manor.

Remus Lupin felt better than he ever had after waking up from the night of a full moon. The cleansing of his Family Ring on him had worked wonders, as had the money he now had access to so he no longer had to worry about where his next meal would come from. For the first time in his memory, Remus woke with the sun after a full moon and went for a small jog around his new home. He smiled in greeting to his family's House Elves, who all bowed or saluted him as he jogged past them. Working himself up before breakfast, Remus headed to the front door when he got a notification that someone had stopped by. Thinking it was Sirius who was checking to see how his change had gone, since he could not travel out into the main Magical World yet, Remus was therefore shocked when he opened his door to find Lucius Malfoy and another man on the other side. "Um, can I help you?" he asked the pair.

"Lord Lupin, I am Drake Vansel head of the Hogwarts Governors. Lord Malfoy and I would like to have a word with you."

"What about?" Remus asked instantly on edge.

"Remus, if you recall on September 1st you were informed that you were Harry's Magical Guardian," Lucius said.

"Yes and?" Remus said holding his hands behind his back so the pair could not see him flex his fingers as if they were his wolf claws in case he had to attack them.

"Heir Potter is connected to three of the Founder's lines. Since he is still in school we had hoped that since you are his Magical Guardian you would consent to become his Proxy for the Governors," Drake explained.

"But I am a werewolf," Remus told them just in case Drake did not know about his condition.

"We are quite aware of this fact, but since we hold our meetings nowhere near the full moon your condition should not be an issue," Drake said.

"What would it entail?" Remus asked.

"Mostly just voting on issues dealing with the running of the school. Such as bringing back some classes which have been dropped in recent years among other things," Lucius said passing over the list of classes that they were trying to bring back after the letter from Draco, Harry, and the other First-Year Slytherin students.

"While what I am to tell you next is not any form of bribe we also have been looking for a living teacher to take over the History of Magic class, and from our research you do hold a Masters in the subject," Drake said.

"How could I teach a class and be a Governor?" Remus asked.

"Well, since the subject is History of Magic so you only have to lecture and grade homework rather than make sure the students are learning any magic there is work as the Professor, plus the Governors only meet once a month on a weekend due to everyone's schedules. While some research work might be performed the job to do so is by choice so you don't have to worry that we will give you something to work on which might distract you from any teaching duties you might have," Lucius explained.

"Plus we can take the necessary measures so that you do not have to worry about your condition being spread to anyone," Drake said.
Before Remus could ask Lucius added, "These measures will not be the same as when you were a student and had to use the old Headmaster's Manor House."

"And if I am outed as a Werewolf?" Remus asked.

"We will stand behind you. The Hogwarts Charter specifies that a member of staff can not be fired for any medical condition of either Muggle or Magical origins, which your Lycanthrope Curse is," Drake said. "And while we stand behind you and will not fire you if it comes out we will not stop you from leaving yourself if you fear how parents might react to you working with their kids."

"That is understandable," Remus said.

"So Lord Lupin, do you require some time to think about taking the teaching post? You will be Heir Potter's Proxy on the Governors no matter what you choose," Drake asked holding out his hand to Remus.

"I would like some time to think about it.  If you don't mind," Remus said shaking Drake's hand.

"Take all the time you need, though we will still be looking so someone else might take the job," Lucius said as he guessed the reason Remus wanted time was to talk with Sirius to see what Black felt about the whole thing. For if Remus became a teacher at Hogwarts, Sirius would be unable to meet with him since he was in hiding until they located Pettigrew.

Chapter Text

Harry wished he could go back to not remembering his dreams. It had been over a week and he was still having the dream with the pair of phrases acting as bookends of the timepiece, cup, two swords, the blue carpetbag, and the gnarled staff. He just wanted it to end. Having heard about a potion which was supposed to give someone dreamless sleep he looked it up in his course book but could not find it. He did find it in Prefect Flint's book but it was too complicated for him to make at his current level. Prefect Flint did offer to make him some for a small fee, which Harry gladly paid hoping for a quiet night for once. Yet Prefect Flint seemed to have made a mistake in his creation of the potion since Harry still had the dream. Once more his father started the dream as he opened up a small bit of parchment as he said the opening phrase turning it into a map that led Harry to all the random items again before he woke up when the second phrase was used.

Besides somehow having a dream when he had taken some Dreamless Sleep Potion, Harry also woke up with his mind buzzing. His mind was not filled with the dream he inexplicably had for he had already gone over similar dreams with a fine-tooth comb using one of the Dream Studies books he and his friends had found in an abandoned classroom a week ago. No, Harry's mind was filled with the framing device of his latest dream, the map. In his mind, he saw the map as if it was in one of the old How Thing's Work series he recalled using in his Muggle School. His mind placed the map on a page with arrows pointed to it with strange notes like. After being wiped clean and forcibly taken from the user Insult Protocol will begin. And. If two approved users try to claim the map at the same time the one with the greater need or in the case of the map being passed down to our kids the one who has the greatest level of ownership will be rewarded the map. To make sure there are no hard feelings Joking Protocol will be activated. Even. In the case the map is passed down to our kids and through our kids a betrayal is found within our number their name will be removed at once.

As if the diagram of the strange map was not bad enough, Harry's mind was also filled with a strange device or at least a part of one. Holding the plans for the strange unfinished device in his head was giving him a headache unlike he had ever had before, including the time Aunt Petunia had knocked him on the head with one of her frying pans. Without even realizing it, one of his hands let go of his head and reached for some parchment and a quill. The hand began to draw out the plans for the device which for some reason helped lessen his headache. It also made the item seem to vanish from his mind as he drew it up. Looking down at the drawing, Harry still could not tell what it was meant to be. He just hoped he would not dream of any more devices and be forced to transcribe again.

"You look like shit," Draco said as they made their way up to the Great Hall.

"The Dreamless Sleep Potion I paid Prefect Flint brew for me did not work," Harry grumbled.

"Are you sure he made the right thing?" Pansy asked.

"It looked and tasted just like the book said it should and there was no scent to it either," Harry said. "As far as I could tell he brewed it correctly but I still had the fricken dream I have had since our first Saturday."

"You still can not decipher it?" Theo asked who had helped Harry as they poured over the Dream Studies books.

"No. I mean after a while I was able to place two people from the dream as some of my ancestors as well as my dad but the rest I just don't get. Maybe if the words also changed rather than just showing up each time or changed order. Maybe um what's the word Anagram themselves it would be something but no all I get is "I Solemnly Swear I am up to no good."

"What did you just say?" A voice asked from behind them causing Harry and his friends to turn around and see the Weasley twins coming out of one of the Potion Labs.

"What's it to you?" Harry asked having enough issues with Ronald he did not trust any of the Weasleys.

"How do you know that phrase? Has Ron been showing you our map?" one of the twins asked.

"Why would Ronald show us anything or why would we care about a map?" Blaise asked.

"I knew he took it," the other twins said looking at his brother.

"But how did he find out the code phrase?" the first twins asked.

"Maybe it insulted him as it did us letting us find out the phrase," twin number two said.

"Where do you snakelings think you are going?" the first one asked.

"Yes tell us where he has the map. We already looked in his trunk but found no trace of it. If he showed it to you, you also had to have found out where he hid it," the second twin said moving forward and taking Harry by the shoulders.

"We don't know anything about a damn map now let me go," Harry said

"He does have a point Ronnykins," the first twin said making the gathered Slytherins chuckle at the nickname for the Weasley in their year, "hate snakes with a passion he would never have revealed the map to them even if they found him putting it in his hiding spot."

"For most Slytherins maybe, Fred," the twin holding Harry said. "But this is Harry and he would want to impress him with the map."

"Okay let me go. Also, I have not given you permission to use my first name. And secondly, as I said we don't know anything about this map you keep going on about. Your brother is a pest that we do our best to avoid at all costs."

"Half-brother actually," the one called Fred said shocking the gathered Slytherins.

"If you don't know about the map how do you know the activation phrase then, hm?" the second twin which according to the older Slytherins had to be George.

"I have been dreaming about that line along with another one for over a week," Harry said.

"What is the other line?" Fred said elbowing his brother out of the way to grab Harry's shoulders himself.

"Mischief," Harry began only for both twins to speak up together as all three of them said, "Managed."

"Fred any idea how he could know that? I am stumped," Geroge asked his twin.

"I got nothing. Unless," Fred said looking down at Harry to ask, "did you find a random bit of parchment somewhere around the castle recently?"

"We found a lot of parchment during our exploration of the castle on our first weekend here," Harry said.

"This one is old folded multiple times a little faded but otherwise is in perfect condition," George said.

"We did not find anything like that," Draco said wanting to get the twins to let go of Harry but fearing the pair of older students either using magic on him that he did not know yet or making him the target of their pranks.

"About this big?" Harry asked making a square with his thumbs and index fingers before expanding it to the size of the bit of parchment he got from the BBAR before coming to Hogwarts.

"Yeah that is it," the twins said together. "Where is it?"Fred asked.

"I summoned it when I was at Gringotts during an artifact retrieval of items belonging to my family," Harry said. "And the note that came with it said that it had been in your possession but you had also taken it from the person who had stolen it from my dad."

"No way," the twins said at the same time together again.

Suddenly George pulled out his wand making the First Years flinch a little. "We got this one from one of our older brother's notes from his Fourth Year," George said as he flicked his wand and said "Accior Marauder's Map." Out from Harry's robes, where he had been keeping it as he tried to figure out why it was so important, the faded parchment flew out and landed in George's hand. "I Solemnly Swear I am up to no Good," George said pressing his wand tip to the parchment. Harry and his friends looked on as from the wand tip ink began to fill the parchemt become a map just as the twins said it was.

"So you did have it. So which of the names belongs to James Potter?" Fred asked.

"Um, Fred something is going on," George said.

"What?" Fred asked letting go of Harry to look at his twin.

"Just look," George said turning the map towards his brother and letting Harry see lines written across the map's front

"Messrs Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

"Who are they?" Harry asked confused.

"How did you change it?" the twins asked looking between him and the map in shock.

"I did nothing I did not even realize it could do that or that the phrases I kept dreaming about were to access it," Harry said.

"But one of the names is missing, Wormtail," George said.

"In the case the map is passed down to our kids and through our kids a betrayal is found within our number their name will be removed at once," Harry muttered to himself.

"What?" Fred asked.

"Something I woke up with in my mind this morning," Harry explained.

"Special Famly access do you think?" George asked Fred who could only shrug.

"If what he said is true that means, Sirius Black had to be Wormtail since he betrayed the Potters," Fred said.*

"Anything else saw about the map?" Geroge asked ignoring Fred's statement.

"Um if an unauthorized user tries to take the map after it has been cleared it will activate something called the Insult Protocol. I can also prove it belongs to me," Harry said grabbing for the map.

"Ah, no you don't," George said clamping his hand shut to prevent Harry from pulling the map out of his hand. For a moment there was a slight tug of war over the map neither male wanting to pull too hard lest they rip the map, but after a few moments, George pulled his hand away shaking it a little feeling as if his hand had been burnt.

"Why did you let it go?" Fred asked.

"Alright, who cast the heating charm?" George asked looking around at the gathered First Year Slytherins.

"None of them had their wands out. You just let it go," Fred said.

"I did not just let it go, my hand felt like I was holding it in a fire," Geroge said looking at his palm to see if his skin was listed but found it looking the same as it always did.

"Why can't the T-Rex clap its hands/paws?" Harry asked.

"What?" Fred asked a little confused as to why Harry was bringing up a dinosaur that he and George only knew about thanks to the Pre-Hogwarts lessons they had in Muggle school.

"Its arms are too short?" George guessed just as mystified as his brother.

"It can't clap because all the T-Rexes are dead," Harry said making some of his friends let out a groan at the bad joke while Theo let out a soft chuckle.

"If you think this will prevent us from taking the map back," Fred said pulling out his wand.

Harry quickly read the next line that appeared on the map. "What did the partner of the dark bovine Animagus say when they were getting cold feet on their Bonding Day?"

"What is this?" Geroge asked.

"How Vow Brown Cow," Harry read the punchline making his friends moan again at the joke while Theo laughed a little harder.

"Who is going to be pranked for the rest of the year?" Fred asked. "The answer is you if you don't knock it off and give us back the map."

Reading the next joke, Harry's voice shook a little. "What do mathematicians and Meterologigst have in common?"

"Oh I know they do things by degrees," Theo said laughing.

"Correct," Harry said before turning the map around so the twins could see that the jokes he had just given had been written on the parchment.

"Well, that is new," George said.

"One of the other items I saw concerning the map is if two people who had ownership or approval to use it fought over it the one who either needed it more or had the largest claim on it would get it. So there would be no hard feelings a Joking Protocol would activate which I guess this was," Harry explained.

"Dang, if that is all correct if we try to take it back it may lock us out," Fred said giving the map a betrayed look.

"Unless he allows us to borrow it?" George said before turning to Harry and giving him some puppy dog eyes.

"After all that, you want me to lend it to you? Are you both nuts?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No I am more of a chocolate nugget and George is caramel-covered coconut," Fred said.

"Get lost," Harry said as he hurried away from them with his friends in hot pursuit up the stairs to the Great Hall.

Remus could not help but once a little as he laid out his notes for his first class. Having gotten his timetables he saw that his first class was the First Year Slytherin/Ravenclaw class meaning his Cub would be there. He was so glad Sirius had talked him into doing this. He had been worried about his best friend basically being on his own again right after getting released from Azkaban. Especially as according to Sirius the only Black family property that had been in good enough condition for him to move into until Peter was found was his childhood home. Almost as soon as Sirius had gone to the place he paid Remus a visit begging to crash at Lupin Manor. Sirius had said his mother had placed a life-sized Magical Portrait of herself in the place which could not be removed and had spent the small amount of time he was there screaming at him.

Sirius had pointed out that if he was lonely when Remus was out teaching he could always stop by and see his Cousin Narcissa. The pair of them were already going over the books from their vaults to see if Albus had done anything to them when he had access to the Black Family key. They were also looking to see if Andromeda might have used some enchantments she had placed on Sirius to let her access the vaults while he had been locked up.

Remus did learn that while the Goblins had discovered the Bird Fund Vault it seemed that apart from the people who had been affected by it no one else had been told what was going on. If not that then Albus really did not have a hand in opening the vault as the Goblins suspected he did since the Headmaster had welcomed Remus warmly to the castle. He thought Albus might have been acting since the smile he had given Remus during their first meeting lacked the small glimmer in the old bastards' eyes to show genuine joy. Albus' mood could be due to having Remus hired by the Governors rather than himself or learning that Remus was going to stick to proper ICW guidelines when teaching his new subject rather than using Binn's lesson plan. Remus did not matter either way on why Albus did not like that he was there, for learning that he was Harry's Magical Guardian rather than Albus who has been telling people for years that he held the post. Also since Albus had been the one to cast the charm to make Peter the Secret Keeper yet had allowed Sirius to be sent to Azkaban for betraying Lily and James made Remus want to let out his inner wolf and rip the man's throat out.

Besides his meeting with Albus and getting the notes for his class, the biggest issue he had to deal with was finding a new classroom to teach History in. For Albus had refused to force Binns out of the castle saying he had been doing the same thing for so long it was just easier to let him go about his day since he barely paid attention to his students in the first place. Remus wondered if the bastard heard himself sometimes as he just admitted one of his staff did nothing for his lessons and ignored his students while allowing him to keep his job.

As the class began and he had taken role Remus began his lesson. "Well you all found the new classroom easily enough," he said in welcome to them. "Since I know Binns tended to stick to Goblins Rebellions I thought for our first lesson together as a way to ease our way into History we would cover the rebellion of 1890 since several of the key events of the rebellion actually happened around Hogwarts. And while we consider this history it might not be a good idea to make too much fun of how long ago it was outside of class for if I am not mistaken the events we are going to discuss happened when our dear Headmaster was just a First-Year student like all of you. Now who can tell me of some of the beings associated with the 1890 Rebellion?" Remus asked the class. "Yes, Mr. Corner?"

"The Goblin Ranrok?" the Ravenclaw boy asked.

"Correct Ranrok was the leader of the Goblin forces during the rebellion," Remus said, "have two points for Ravenclaw." Remus felt a little weird giving out points for even back when he had been a Prefect he had not handed out a single point to anyone. Yet as a teacher, he had to reward his students for their good work. "Anyone else? Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"There was the Gryffindor Student, Natsai Onai who helped bring down some of the humans who were working with Ragnok," Draco said.

"Very good have two points for Slytherin though I will make it four if you can give the name of the leader of the humans who had allied with Ragnok," Remus prompted but Draco just shrugged. "Anyone?"

"Victor Rookwood," Blaise called out.

"Good job Mr. Zabini but no points since you just shouted out the answer. Please wait to be called on from now on. Can anyone think of anyone else of importance during the rebellion?" When no one else could think of anyone Remus gave them an understanding nod. "I can understand the lack of knowledge of two main players that stood against the Goblin forces. One of which was a teacher at this school named Eleazar Fig who had taught Magical Theory," Remus said making Harry start wondering if Mrs. Fig who had lived by the Dursleys was connected to a non-Magical member of the man's family. "There was also a young student who strangely joined the castle during their Fifth Year. The thing is while History agrees the student did something to stop the rebellion from the mean of how it happened, what House they had been sorted into, and even their name and gender has been lost. Since from a certain point of view, the rebellion was not that long ago I and several other Historians conclude that the information was not lost but blocked for some reason even after all this time. I would love to take you to some of the locations where major battles happened but that would require us to leave the castle for too long and would make you miss your other classes. So rather than going to them, I will bring them to you," Remus said as he cast a charm to make the classroom take on the appearance of the ruins of Rookwood castle down south near the abandoned hamlet of Felcroft as he started his main lesson.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts

Since it was a nice day, Harry and his friends were doing their homework out on the grounds before the weather got colder and wetter. While their main focus was on doing their assignments there was a conversation going on about the Weasley twins. Blaise and Theo thought that Harry should ignore them and their attempts to get him to give them the strange map. Draco pointed out that Harry should wait awhile to do so since the twins' idea on how to get on Harry's good side was to stop pranking members of Slytherin House. "It does not matter that they are leaving us alone," Theo said, "they tried to take the map back after Harry told us he received it after performing a BBAR.

Since they tried to take it from him and one of them got punished for it they did look like they were about to attack him. This clearly shows that they are as bad as Weasley is regarding Harry's belongings and well-being."

"They also did not even apologize for their behavior but just gave Harry pleading looks and make a joke at what he said," Tracy added while crossing out some lines of her Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment.

"Two seconds of good behavior does not just make their previous actions go away," Millicent said sagely as she lied in the grass and watched the clouds pass by overhead since she had already finished all of her homework.

Harry thought his new friends had a good point about the twins. He could not tell if the pair of Third Years really were trying to make amends by not summoning his father's map back or if when he showed that he was the true owner of it that the map somehow blocked the spell from working again. If it was the former, Harry might one day forgive their behavior but if it was the latter and they had tried to summon the map since they found out he had it he would see they were as bad as Ronald and Granger. He wondered if there was a spell that could be used to show what sort of magic was cast on an item, sort of like an object version of the Inheritance Test he had taken at Hogwarts. He decided the next chance he got he would ask either Professor Snape or Lupin about it since he had learned the new History teacher was his Magical Guardian.

Suddenly a new voice broke into their conversation as someone said, "Guess who?" Looking up from his Herbology essay, Harry saw some unknown person standing behind Draco and holding their hands over his friend's eyes.

"Let him go," Harry said letting his wand out of his holder and pointing it at the stranger.

"Whoa take it easy there kiddo, I am just teasing my little bro," the man said moving his hands away and holding them up as if he was surrendering.

Draco turned around with a large smile on his face, "Orion what are you doing here?" Seeing Draco evidently knew and liked the stranger, Harry could not tell if they were actually brothers or not since he had not come across the guy at Malfoy Manor, he lowered his wand.

"My department was called in to take inventory of all the creatures that Hagrid had been looking over before he was removed from the castle, "Orion said moving to sit down next to Draco, but unlike Harry's friend not laying out something to sit on thus prevent him from getting dirty. "Since I was at the castle I asked my boss if I could come and see you for a bit before leaving. She gave me permission so long as I did not disrupt any class that you were attending. But here you are out on the grounds doing homework. I just could not resist coming over."

"So how long do you have to chat?" Draco asked.

"Not that long but enough to see how you are doing Dray," Orion said.

"Classes have been fun, for the most part. Though a couple of Gryffindores are being dorks and annoying not only us but their own House," Draco said.

"They are getting on the nerves of their fellow Lions, that is strange," Orion said knowing that most Houses had at least the appearance of unity when they were out in the main castle.

"Well they have lost a lot of points fighting with each other and harassing my new friend," Draco explained.

"Ah you made some new friends," Orion said and acting in a way Harry could never see Draco act even when it had just been the two of them in Malfoy Manor Orion pulled Draco into a tight hug burying the younger man's face in his chest.

"Let me go," Draco complained as some of their group did their best to not giggle at his predicament.

"Okay let's see, I recognize Heir Nott and Zabini. Messers Crabbe and Goyle of course as well as Heiress Parkinson," Orion said earning him, a delighted smile from Pansy. "So who have the lions been harassing?"

"My new friend, Heir Potter," Draco said indicating Harry who was sitting next to him.

"Heir Potter as in the famous Boy-Who-Lived and that Dad has been talking about recently?" Orion asked making Harry wince thinking that the older male had just spilled the beans about him staying at the Malfoys even though all his new friends already knew about it.

"Why has your dad been talking about me?" Harry asked.

"Well according to him it was due to your testimony that lead to Hagrid's removal and thus my team coming to the castle. But he also mentioned that due to a letter that you sent to the Governors a while back he has been working with members of the Ministry and Sycamore Acadamy to purpose a bill that would update the Muggle Studies class but also spread the news about some Muggle inventions which might cause us trouble like the CCVY thing."

"It is called a CCTV," Harry corrected him, not surprised when Theo chimed in as well with the correction having heard the other boy's family ran Sycamore Acadamy and were very knowledgable about the Muggle World, at least to most Purebloods.

"Right that thing," Orion said with a small laugh. "They plan that once they make the changes and spread the packets of information to make the class mandatory for all students."

"What about a class from the other side? You know one that helps Muggleborn or raised better understand the Magical World. Letting them learn more than just the information they got in their Pre-Hogwarts lessons?" Harry asked.

"That is a good idea," Orion said pointing a finger at Harry as if to acknowledge his point. "I will bring it up with my dad when I see him again. Oh, look at the time I got to go before I get into trouble. Tottdles young Firsties," Orion said pushing himself off the grass and giving Draco a small noogie before he leaves them.

"Your brother is nothing like you at all," Harry said as Draco fixed his hair.

"Just wait until you meet my oldest sister," Draco said making sure that not a strain of hair was out of place again.

"Why? Does she take after your Uncle Xeno or something?" Daphne asked a quirk of her left eyebrow the only emotion showing on her normally straight face.

"No, she just runs a restaurant and has a room dedicated to the Chudley Cannons. I don't know why she loves them so much since they are the worst team in the league," Draco said shaking his head at his older sister's choice of teams to support.

"Besides that being the team that, I heard Weasley liked what is wrong with it?" Harry asked.

"Her choice just leads her to make some very strange friends," Draco said reminding Harry suddenly of his plan to befriend Longbottom so he could hopefully get the boy the same help that Lucius and the other Malfoys had given him in getting away from an abusive family.

Lupin Manor

Sirius was feeling a little bored not having anyone besides Remus' House Elves to talk to. He did not want to distract them too much as they worked on getting the rest of the manor back into working order since only a few bedrooms, a kitchen, and a single bathroom had been still pristine when Remus had moved into the place less than a month ago. Granted to Sirius who had been in Azkaban for nearly a decade, and Remus who had been staying in an abandoned cabin in the woods the manor was perfect as it was. Yet the Lupin Family House Elves would not be satisfied until everything was clean and working once more in the place. This showed Sirius that despite the time the Elves had been without a member of their family to look after they were still in their right minds, unlike what he had found when he had visited Grimmauld Place. Sirius had found the old Black Family House Elf, Kreacher half-mad after having no one's orders to follow besides his mother's portrait.

Knowing some of the stuff that his parents had kept in the place, Sirius wondered if he should talk to some of the Lupin Family Elves to see if there was a place he could send Kreacher to get seen to. Thus getting him out of the place and allowing a team of cleaners, most likely having to be Curse Breakers from Gringotts thanks to how dangerous the items might be, to come in and deal with the house. He had wanted to do inventory on what was inside since hearing that Adromeda had placed enchantments on him, for as far as he knew she could have snuck into the place after his parents had died and either stolen something or left stuff behind.

Not wanting to disturb the House Elves, Sirius decided to wait until supper that night to bring it up. Since Remus had invited the House Elves to eat with him during meals to get used to dealing with others again. The House Elves were still attending meals, even though Remus was now at Hogwarts this allowed Sirius to also get used to being around other living creatures again, not to mention having someone to talk to.

Since he had nothing to do until supper, Sirius started to practice with his returned Metamorhmagus ability. He recalled meeting Adromeda's daughter before he had been sent to Azkaban and still under the spells of the bitch. Andromeda must have performed the leech on his abilities and gave them to her daughter when she was quite young for, he remembered Nympadora struggling a little to change aspects of her body with her stole Metamorhmagus skill. Yet, when Sirius practiced with it he found he could change parts of his body in an instant. He did not have full confidence in the concentration he would need to go out into the world with it so he could mingle with humans yet. But he felt like he was getting there. Maybe a few more weeks ought to do it.

Azkaban Prison: Healing Ward.

Having run out of ideas, Chief Healer Ned Lovejoy, contemplated his next move concerning his three patients. Something strange had happened a few weeks ago that the Wardens wanted answers to concerning Bellatix, Rabastan, and Rodolphus Lestrange. It all started when for some reason the Dementors of the prison did their best to stay away from the three. This led to one of Ned Lovejoy's earlier tests on the three prisoners where he made the startling discovery that all three no longer had Dark Marks emblazed on their right forearms. No one had been able to find out what sort of spell had been able to remove the marks since other known Death Eaters that were being held there still had their marks.

Something had changed about the three prisoner's behavior as well. Bellatrix was not acting as crazy as the human Wardens were used to making them wonder about the woman somehow getting enchanted while being locked up. Head Warden, Artie Nealson, thought that everything that was going on with the three prisoners was part of some elaborate plot to get them free somehow. With the man breathing down Ned's neck demanding answers, the Chief Healer of the Prison had sought permission to run some Gringotts Inheritance Test on the three since they were the best way to reveal any spells or enchantments a person was under.

Since whatever was happening appeared to be affecting all three prisoners at the same time Ned had his two assistants, Rod and Todd, help him perform the test so they were done at the same time. He hoped that if they were done together it might cause whoever was enchanting the three to mess up somehow.

As he went over the three tests, Ned wished that Alcohol was allowed on the island, even though he did not normally drink. The test revealed that the three Lestranges were not being enchanted but had been Cleansed by the use of their family Magic, the Black Family magic at that. Not only did the test reveal that Bellatrix had been hit by an old spell known as Eye of the Beholder Curse which would force a person to act like the caster of the spell saw them as. The curse had passed on to Rabastan and Rudolphus as it was revealed the pair were not just twins but Magical Twins with Bellatrix being their wife. As the trio had gotten married with a full Soul Bonding Ritual the curse that someone had cast on Bellatrix had ended up affecting her new husbands. The only issue Healer Lovejoy had with the test was due to the curse being Cleansed by the Black Family magic the person who first cast it on Bellatrix was not listed, most likely due to protect the member of the Black family who had cast it. Ned was not looking forward to sharing his news with Warden Nealson for based on the test the trio could earn a re-trials or their case might just be thrown out since they had not been properly tested before being brought to Azkaban.

Tonks Family Home

For the last week or so, Andromeda had been feeling weak making her take some time off from her and Ted's practice. The Muggleborn Healer and Doctor she had seen had told her to relax a little so she could regain her strength from whatever illness she had been exposed to. This left her husband to cover most of their caseload as she puttered around their two-story house. It was not as if she had nothing to do for around that time she had begun to feel weak they had gotten a call from the Ministry that Dora had fallen into an unexplained Magical Coma during a training session. Since Andromeda had Medi-Magical training to help her with some of her cases, she decided to bring her daughter home and take care of her. It at least gave her something to do, but no matter what she tried her daughter would not wake up.

Even more concerning was that Dora seemed to have lost control of her Metamophmagus Ability from whatever happened to her. That was the only explanation Andromeda could think of for she recalled a few times during Dora's childhood when her daughter had a high fever and had become unconscious her ability had still been able to hide her natural look. But now Dora was lying unconscious in bed with her natural premature gray hair and slightly overweight body on full display. So far the only thing Andromeda had been able to do for her daughter was to fix her feet, since Dora had used her magic to make herself appear to be svelt she had forced herself to wear footwear two to three sizes too small for her feet, which had damaged them. Andromeda had soaked her daughter's feet in a healing potion the first couple of days to make them healthy again and repair some of the bones that Dora had partially broken.

Once the girl was awake again, Andromeda was going to lay down the law, no matter how vain Dora was she was to only wear the proper-sized footwear from now on. If the girl argued, she would point out that it had taken her three days to fix the feet. She thought it might help to point out that when Dora started to use the right shoes she would no longer end up tripping over her own feet which would make her passing her Auror exams go even faster.

Hopefully when her daughter woke up the girl would have a clue as to why she had not only fallen unconscious but also know why her Metamophmagus ability was not working. The only reason she could come up with could not actually happen. For it would have required Sirius to become a free man, find out she had enchanted him all those years, ago, and then somehow perform a long-distance Cleansing to reclaim the magical gift she had stolen from him to give to her daughter.

Hogwarts

Finally getting some free time, Severus collected his own copy of Advance Potion Making and ripped out a portion of the page that held the Sectumsempta Spell on it. As it had been years since he last looked through the book he could not help but flip through it again. As he took in the spells he had created while at school as well as the changes to the potions in the book, Severus thought he should pass on some of this knowledge. At least the parts concerning Potion making. He decided that in the next practical lesson he had for each group of students he would spend some time teaching them all the different ways to prepare their ingredients which worked better than the ones most Potion Making textbooks gave. He hoped that by doing so there would be fewer melted and destroyed cauldrons in class.

As Harry got ready for bed he pulled over the bit of parchment knowing that he would add more to it when he woke up from the strange dreams again. The only good news he had regarding the dreams was that since he had been able to access his dad's old map he no longer had, "I Solemnly Swear I am up to No Good" and "Mischief Managed" shoved down his throat as he slept. He still dreamed of the assortment of strange objects and would wake up to make designs on the piece of parchment. He had at one point tried to throw the damn thing away but found that even if he destroyed it with some spell when he woke up the next morning he drew the whole thing again along with the current additions to the plan. So far as he could tell the thing he was drawing looked like the plans for an overly complex device that was either some sort of pocket watch or a compass. He was more leaning toward it being the compass due to the first time he started to work on it was the day he first activated his father's map.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts- Harry

After meeting Draco's older brother, Orion, and being reminded of his desire to befriend Longbottom. All so he could get the Gryffindor First Year the same help that Draco's father had given him, Harry tried to find a way to connect with the other boy. The main issue was that he only had two classes with Longbottom, Potions and Defense. He knew he could do nothing in Defense for the Gryffindors sat on one side of the room while his Houses used the other and there was no way he would be able to convince Longbottom to come to the Slytherin side. And there was no way he would go to the Gryffindor side and possibly have to deal with Granger or Weasley.

This left Potions for Harry to interact with the other boy. He also thought it would be easy enough since Longbottom already sat with some of Harry's friends in the class. So during their next Potions practical lesson, Harry asked Christopher to sit with Daphne, Blaise, and Millicent thus freeing a spot at their table for Longbottom. Yet the Gryffindor seeing the spot quickly moved to one of the tables where some of his Housemates were rather than sit with Harry and his friends. Harry could not understand why Longbottom had no issue sitting with Blase and the others but would not sit with them. The only upside was that he did not join Granger and Weasley, who still had to share a desk since no one else wanted to sit next to the pair.

Harry learned why Longbottom had refused to sit with them later when Draco confided in him that it might be because of Draco's Aunt. According to Draco, even though they were third cousins, his Aunt Bellatrix had been part of the group that had attacked Longbottom's parents sending them to St. Mungos. Seeing how much Harry wanted to help the Gryffindor, and as a means to make amends himself for his aunt's actions during their next practical lesson, Draco was the one to change seats. Not only did Longbottom end up joining their table this time, but since Draco normally sat next to him Longbottom and Harry shared the same side of the table. However, Harry did notice a small smirk on Weasley's face for some reason. If he had to guess it was due to Draco being the main target of the red-heads Anti-Slytherin "Mini-Death Eater" rants.

Harry finally had a chance to talk to Longbottom as Professor Snape had them start working on their Potions. However, Harry suddenly realized he had no idea how to befriend the boy or what to talk about. Maybe it was a bad idea to do this during potions when his mind was also tasked with getting all the ingredients perfect so as to not damage his cauldron like Weasley had a habit of doing. Harry racked his brain for ten minutes while he cut up his dittany before he recalled a bit of information on his test back at Gringotts. "So Longbottom, would you happen to know an Alice Longbottom?" Harry asked noticing both Tracy and Christopher wince for some reason.

"Um, yeah," Longbottom said sounding a little distracted as he ground up some lacewing flies. "She is my Mum. Why?"

"Oh," Harry said blushing a little as he realized why his friends had winced. "It is just that before coming to Hogwarts I got tested at Gringotts and she was listed as my Godmother."

"She was?" Longbottom asked looking up from his preparations.

"I don't mind some chit-chat, but students please remain on task," Professor Snape said walking past their table and seeing Longbottom just standing there looking at Harry/ The Gryffindor jumped a little as he returned to grinding the flies for their potion.

"According to my test. My Account Manager also said I should have been sent to live with her or my Godfather," Harry said pretending not to know what had happened to Longbottom's parents, "rather than where I had been living."

It was time for Longbottom to wince, possibly for what had happened to his parents but also for knowing who Harry's Godfather was. "Maybe it was for the best," Longbottom said in a low voice looking as if he wanted to end the conversation as he began to turn his flies into a finer dust powder than was necessarily needed.

"I would not think so," Harry said keeping up the ruse that he had not been told about the other boy's homelife or that his parents were in St. Mungos. "I was sent to live with my mother's older sister and her family. They hated all forms of magic and thus tried to stamp it out of me. Thankfully after I was told I was a Magical on my eleventh birthday, one of the Hogwarts Governers checked in on me. Seeing I was abused, they removed me from my relatives. " Harry added the ingredient he had been working on to his cauldron, surreptitiously looking around to make sure no one outside their table was listening in to his talk with Longbottom.

He noticed Granger and Weasley, as usual, were sending looks his way but they were too far away to hear anything that he was saying. The rest of the class was all focused on their own work, or at least appeared to be. "After the Governer took me to Gringotts to get tested, since the person who had originally brought me had not done so. I had to spend a week in bed getting healed by what my family had done to me," Harry said missing that Professor Snape was listening in. The only reason the Potion Master could keep the anger off of his face as he learned much of Harry's former home life from Lucius after the Gringott's meeting with Black. Snape had no idea why Harry was sharing all this with Longbottom, but he had a feeling Lily's son had a plan, so cast a Muffliato charm on the table so anyone else trying to listen in would be unable to hear anything but buzzing.

"As I spent the week healing in bed, the Governor had one of his contacts come in," Harry continued unaware of the protections Professor Snape had put in place around their table. "I was able to tell them about what had gone on at my Aunt and Uncle's place leading to their arrest."

"Okay," Longbottom said finding it shocking that Harry seemed to have possibly similar living conditions than he did living with his Gran and the others at Longbottom Manor.

"It had been hard to do, at the time but I was glad I did so. Not only to get away from my abusive relatives but also the person I had talked to had told me that in the Magical World, all children are precious and should be protected even if it is from their own families." Harry then made himself blush a little as he acted like he just realized what he had been talking about. "Sorry about that," he said still blushing a little, "I guess I got a little carried away. I just could not think of it being for the best that I was sent to where I was. I will let you get back to your potion in peace."

As Harry went back to finishing his brewing he noticed Longbottom got a thoughtful look on his face, but as Harry promised he did not say anything more to the other boy for the rest of the class. He was not going to press it, if Longbottom wanted to know more or how to get in contact with someone like Dolores it needed to be his choice, just as Draco and the others had told him when he had first learned about the other boy's home life. Harry was just glad to make the first inroads towards becoming the Gryffindor's friend or at least getting him some help. Now he could focus on something else like the object he kept drawing after he woke up each morning. It got closer and closer to looking like the plans were almost done making him wonder if he would stop having the repetitive dreams after he had finished. Or would something else happen like being filled with a desire to make the object?

Malfoy Manor- Lucius, Narcissa, and Sirius

Lucius and Narcissa were a little confused as to why Rufus, Amelia, and Dolours wanted to see them along with Sirius at their Manor. They had to both get the afternoon off from their respective jobs to attend the meeting since Amelia had not wanted to hold it at their normal spot for some reason. "Amelia, Rufus, Dolores good afternoon. So what is this all about?" Lucius asked as the trio took some seats with their preferred drinks already set out.

Rufus did not reach for his drink as he barked out," What did you two do?" while looking between Narcissa and Sirius.

"I beg your pardon?" Narcissa asked.

"You had to have done something," Rufus said.

"What are you on about you old workhorse?" Sirius asked just as confused as his favorite cousin.

"A couple of days ago, Rufus and I received a notice from Akzaban," Amelia said who unlike her companion from the Auror's office had taken the offered drink.

"Okay? Was there something wrong with my release?" Sirius asked.

"No, there has been a change to Bellatrix and the Lestranges," Amelia clarified.

"Did she die? Otherwise, I have no idea why this concerns us?" Narcissa asked.

"It Bloody concerns you for when the Wardens noticed the Dementors were avoiding Bellatrix and the others. As well as a change coming to their personality the Akaban Healers got them tested," Rufus growled.

"Okay," Narcissa said as she and Sirius still had no idea why they had been called to have this meeting.

"According to the test Bellatrix and her husbands had been Cleansed by the Black Family Magic," Rufus said his voice still growling a little.

"Wait husbands as in she was married to both of the twins?" Lucius asked.

"Indeed," Amelia said. "It seemed the test revealed that Rodolphus and Rabastan were Magical Twins and Bellatrix was their wife. It seems their status of Magica Twins was one of the enchantments that had been on them along with an Eye of the Behold curse. Normally such a curse would have only affected one person but it seems that when they got married the three of them took part in a full Soul Bonding letting it affect all three of them," Amelia explained.

"While this is fascinating, and while I do find it strange that the Black Family Magic cleansed them what does it have to do with us?" Sirius asked.

"It has to do with you, Sirius, because when the Healers passed on their findings to the Wards who passed it up to us we looked further into it. We found that the reason the Lastranges were Cleansed was due to a ritual you and Narcissa performed to remove Andromeda from the Black Family," Rufus growled as he passed over a folder containing their findings.

Lucius, Sirius, and Narcissa took a moment to go through the documents in the file getting more and more confused. "This makes no sense," Sirius said after a bit.

"What doesn't Lord Black?" Dolores asked not having much contact with the man so had not yet been given permission to use his given name as Amelia and Rufus could.

"When Narcissa and I performed the ritual we did not call on our family magic to do anything more than strip Andromeda and any of her kids of the Black Family Magic. We did not call for our magic to cleanse or fix anything they might have done to our family," Sirius explained looking toward Narcissa and Lucius for confirmation.

"Sirius is correct, they just asked the magic to remove itself due to her betrayal of the family," Lucius said.

"The Blacks are a rather paranoid yet tight family, or so I have been told correct?" Dolores asked.

"That is one way of putting it, I suppose," Sirius said.

"Could it be possible, due to these traits, that your family magic acted on its own initiative to perform a Cleansing to anyone that had been affected by Mrs. Tonks within the family?" Dolores asked.

"I am not that familiar with Magical theory to say," Sirius answered looking to Naricssa who just shrugged not knowing either.

"I could see something like that happening," Lucius said with a small laugh which only got louder as both his wife and Cousin-in-law sent him a pair of matching glares.

"Okay, say our family magic did this. Why call for this meeting?" Narcissa asked a little huffily.

"Well, based on the change that has come over the thruple since they had been Cleansed, including their Dark Marks disappearing, it raises some issues," Amelia said rolling her eyes at Lucius's continued laughter.

"Like how long ago it happened?" Narcissa asked.

"Since their Marks have vanished it could be seen as they had never wanted to join the Death Eaters in the first place. And had only done so thanks to the Eye of the Beholder curse cast on them."

"Which means," Lucius said bringing his laughter under control, "you could be facing a legal nightmare."

"How so?" Sirius asked.

"Since the Marks were cleared by the Cleansing that means all the actions the thruple did in the last war and for who knows how long would actually be charged to the caster of the curse. Aka Andromeda. Meaning they should be freed from Azkaban and she put in their place," Lucius explained making Sirius let out a whistle of amazement.

"Which leaves us, as you said a legal nightmare which I think is an understatement," Amelia said finishing her drink and setting it down. "Not only due to the Lestranges' very public attack on the Longbottoms after the war ended but even with the records of the curse being on them how to convince anyone who is unfamiliar with it that they had not been acting on their own," Rufus groused.

"Which is why you wanted me at this meeting as well, so I could help you on the legal side of things?" Lusiuc asked.

"That is right, cousin," Dolores said shocking Sirius who had not known the pair were related.

"Besides informing you of all this. We wanted to see if Narcissa and Sirius could help us possibly pinpoint when Bellatrix had the curse placed on her," Amelia explained.*

Hogwarts-Voldemort

Voldemort was not in a good mood, ever since Quirrell had failed to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the bank, Voldemort had decided to merge with the man to make sure things went smoother. Yet being at Hogwarts it felt like there were numerous jabbing needles in his "head" throughout the day. Quirrell had informed him before their merger that he had noticed the Hogwarts Wards were not that powerful Voldemort saw that he had been lied to based on how the castle reacted to him. Sure it had not expelled him from Quirrell's body like he had heard Albus complain about from an enchanted Muggle spying object he had placed in the man's office when Quirrell came to accept the new job as Defense Instructor rather than return as the Muggle Studies teacher.

Thanks to his time at Hogwarts as a student that had allowed him to locate his Ancestors' Secret Chamber, Voldemort knew the hidden location of the Ward Stone. Having checked it out, Voldemort saw the castle's Wards had removed all Evil magic from the grounds or prevented new ones from being brought in. They did not affect the ancient ritual Voldemort had used to either merge with Quirrell or attain his wraith-like form while separate from his only follower at the moment. The protections on the Wards were more concerned about preventing Love, Compulsions spells and Potions from being used as well as not allowing Dark Magic from being cast within. So as long as Voldemort did not use any such spells he believed he would only have to deal with the jabbing needles that he saw as Hogwarts probing him or keeping track of him due to his current circumstances.

Besides the jabbing pain, Voldemort now had to deal with being a teacher to a bunch of brats. Granted he let Quirrell take full control during lessons but he hated kids. He had only asked for the job to look for more Founders Artifacts to use as his Horcruxes. Possibly even placing one in the Sorting Hat. But in truth, he hated having to deal with kids from his experiences with the Muggle brats back at Wools and how some had looked down at him due to is shoddy clothing when he had been a student before he proved himself to be his classmates' superior in magic and brains.

He had also begun to feel weaker, which he put down to the constant pain from the Ward's probing.  He could not know that his weakness was coming about as the Goblins worked on his tainted Soul Crystals as they tried to find his other Horcrxes.  Voldemort was also somewhat confused for when the term had begun he had felt two people, besides Quirrell who had been marked at the castle.  Yet after the first weekend, he was unable to detect his Mark on Severus.  This made him wonder not only why he could no longer detect the Potion Master's Mark but also who the other person with the mark was who was currently at Hogwarts.

Worse of all was seeing Potter again. How he wanted to make Quirrell take his wand and kill the brat. The only thing stopping him, besides the Hogwarts Wards, was he still had no idea of the full Prophecy between them. He had been surprised to find the brat sorted into his Ancestors' House. As well as how good a friend he was with Lucius's son and Heir. The more he watched his enemy and the son of one of his top followers, the more Voldemort wondered if he had gotten the Prophecy completely wrong. What if rather than killing him off, he and the boy were meant to become allies somehow and kill Albus?  He could actually see that since it appeared that the boy seemed to hate the Headmaster just as much as he did.

Voldemort decided to take a wait-and-see approach to Potter. He would let the boy be for the moment as he worked out how to reach the Stone and get his own body back. After that, he would offer the boy a partnership with him in running the country and beyond. If the boy said no, then he would kill the brat.

Chapter Text

After returning from his meeting at Malfoy Manor with Scrimjour, Bonsey, Umbridge, and the Malfoys, Sirus discovered he had missed a letter from Remus. Worried that Albus was trying to mess with his pup, or that Snivilus had reverted to the untrustworthy git Sirius knew from his school days, he opened dove into the message at once. Reading the short letter, Sirius laughed, glad he had been wrong about its contents. Remus had finally given Sirius permission to ask some of the Lupin Family House Elves to get Kreacher away from Grimmauld Place and be taken to an Elven Healer.

Sirius had nearly forgotten about asking Remus for his help when the Lupin Elves said they could take care of Kreacher but needed permission from a member of the Lupin family to do so. With the meeting at Malfoy Manor and going over some of the paperwork involving both his and Harry's vaults to see what Albus had done to them, the request had slipped Sirius' mind.

Rather than just showing Remus' letter to any old Elf working at the Lupin Family Manor, Sirius sought out the Head Elf, that way he would not get in trouble for sending an Elf away when it was doing important work in repairing the Manor. Finding the Lupin Family's Head Elf, Poe, at their normal post directing the other Elves from the Kitchens, Sirius approached him. While he did have Remus' permission to use some of the Lupin family Elf contingent, Sirius waited until Poe acknowledged him before moving to talk to the Head Elf. "Lord Black, what can I do for you this fine afternoon?" Poe asked once he had finished handing out a set of tasks to some free Elves.

"I finally heard back from Lord Lupin," Sirius said finding it strange to call his old friend that but knew the Elves would respond to it better than anything else for a bit. "He has sent permission for members of your crew to help me deal with the mentally unstable House Elf from my family," Sirius said handing over the letter so Poe could read it.

"You just wish for us to remove him from your property and make sure he is taken to and seen by an Elven Healer correct?" Poe asked.

"That is correct," Sirius said.

"And if he tries to fight us off?" Poe asked.

"I can only say do your best not to hurt him or yourselves. As I have mentioned before, I don't think he is in his right mind. He had no one to look after all these years and had been taking orders from a Magical Portrait my mother had made of herself. I still don't know how you guys are so sane after no one had been here for so long either. Do you think it had to do with there being more of you here than one?" Sirius asked. Sirus had been amazed when Remus had let slip that before Boneswas had let him know that he still could take up the Lupin Lordship, no one had been living at the Lupin Manor for over fifteen years. Yet the Lupin Family Elves were perfectly sane while Kreacher who had been alone for less than ten years had gone batty.

"Our numbers have nothing to do with it. A House Elf should be able to maintain its health even with no member of its family around for at least one hundred years," Poe said.

"So taking orders from my mother's portrait drove him mad?" Sirius asked.

"That should not be the case either. I have heard of some old families setting aside safe houses for members of the line to use in times of trouble which is only inhabited by House Elves, Family Ghosts, and Portraits, but no Elves from these places go mad," Poe said getting a look that Sirius recognized from Remus and Lily when the pair tried to work out a particularly hard problem they had been dealing with.

'What are you thinking?" Sirius asked.

"You also mentioned having your Account Manager send over some Curse Breakers to clear your place out?" Poe said which was not the response Sirius had seen coming.

"Yeah so?" Sirius asked a little confused.

"You might want to suggest either a high-level team or some high-ranked Goblins to be involved," Poe said.

"And if they ask me why I am making this type of request?" Sirius asked.

"Your Family would not be the only one that stores powerful artifacts in their homes," Poe said. "Using the Safe Houses, I told you about before. Sometimes they store artifacts in case a family needs them, yet even if no humans around the House Elves working around such artifacts do not go mad. Which means there might be a very dangerous artifact hidden among the others in your family home that corrupted your House Elf."

"Or?" Sirius asked.

"Or, someone targetted the Elf itself," Poe finished.

"Well, I did learn that one of my cousins had cast spells on me and her own sisters, I would not put it past her. The thing is I doubt she did it," Sirius said.

"How can you be so sure?" Poe asked.

"Well, before Lord Lupin let me move in here, I had been staying at the place where the ELf is located. Before I moved in, my Cousin Narcissa and I cast out her sister from the family. The meeting I just came back from revealed that our family magic removed any spells, potions, or enchantments my former cousin had cast on any member of the family even though we did not call for it. I would find it strange that the family magic removed all the spells she had cast on everything but left any that Kreacher had been subjected to alone," Sirius explained.

"I see your point," Poe conceded. "But they might have been cast by someone else. Can I get you to write up an order for the Elven Healer to run a full barrage of tests on this Krecher so we can find out what made him go mad?"

"Sure," Sirius said using the opposite side of the letter Remus had sent thus also giving proof that the Lupin Family Elves were following orders by taking Kreacher to a Healer.

As Poe sought out some of his team whom he felt could restrain and pacify Kreacher the best, Sirius decided to head to Gringotts to talk to Downax. He not only needed to share about his desire to basically toss Grimmauld Place getting rid of most artifacts in it that could possibly harm Harry if his Godson came to stay with him, but it would also be a good idea to let the Black Family Account Manager know about the side effect that had occurred when they had removed Andromeda and her family from accessing the family magic. Sirius also thought it would be a good test of his control of his returned Metamorphmagus ability as he threw on a cloak and changed his face giving himself a blonde buzz cut as if he had just joined the armed forces. In place of his normal black eyes, he made one blue and the other green as well as giving himself a slight overbite.

Sirius felt like he was on one of his old undercover assignments back during his Auror training days as he sunk into the character of Cadet Perry Wilson. Walking ramrod straight and not fidgeting in line as if he was getting used to standing at attention. In fact, Sirius was at attention to make sure he did not lose his focus and reveal his true self to the other visitors to the bank. Sirius kept his eyes trained on the line before him waiting to see a teller, doing his best to maintain the look of Cadet Wilson as well as his mannerisms. Sirius thought he was doing rather well at his use of Metamophmagus skill, though he almost broke character during the last turn near the front of the line when he saw someone reading a Magical Magazine, Wands & Strings: The Lates Updates in the Magical Music Scene. On the front cover of the magazine was a Magical Photo of the newly hired lead Singer of the Hobbgblins, Stubby Boardman. Sirius nearly shook his head in disbelief for apart from their eye color and the length of their eyebrows, the man looked just like he did.

The last few minutes in line after seeing Stubby Boardman's photo, Sirius felt a little foolish for the amount of work he had put into "Cadet Wilson." But then again he had no idea how famous this Stubby guy was or if the man's accounts were located at this Gringotts, so maybe it was all for the best. "How may we help you today?" the Goblin teller asked when it was finally Sirius's turn.

"I have come to see Downax, the Black Family Account Manager about some business."

"And who are you?" the teller asked.

"His client," Sirius said bending in and using his growing level of skill at the talent Andromeda had stolen from him changed his Cadet Wilson's face to his own but only as seen from the front.

"I see, any actual form of identification," the teller asked making Sirius pout a little for not getting any kudos for his level of skill. It had taken him well over a week to learn how to do that. With a small huff of disappointment, Sirius held out his hand so the teller could see the Black Lordship ring on his finger. "Very well, do you need a guide or are you aware of where Downax's office is located already?"

"I know the way, just needed permission to go back there," Sirius said.

"Very well," the teller said motioning him onward.

"Thanks," Sirius said as he marched to the door leading to the offices. He had to smile to himself when he thought he heard the teller congratulate him on the mastery of his family's magical skill.

"Lord Black, how can I help you today?" Downax asked as Sirius entered the Goblin's office and took a seat before the Account Manager's Desk.

"In my desire to live at one of my family's properties, as well as making it a suitable place in case my Godson wishes to move in later. I would like to request a team of high-level Curse Breakers or at least a team of high-ranked Goblins to remove all the dangerous artifacts from Grimmauld Place," Sirius said.

"And what makes you think your family home deserves such a force rather than a normal team?" Downax asked.

"Well, that was the plan, but I am also getting Kreacher removed and sent to House Elf Clinic. The team of Elves I asked to do this pointed out there should be no reason for Kreacher to have gone mad so quickly. They thought it might be due to a dangerous Artifact that I might not be aware of being there. And since we discovered what Andromeda had done it is possible she left such an artifact to make sure that if I did get free and she heard about it she could try to send me back to Akzaban with it being in my old home."

"That does seem logical, good for the House Elves who came up with it," Downax said nodding in approval.

"Hey, they did not know about Andromeda, I just came up with that idea myself," Sirius said.

"Either way it is good logic. I will request the appropriate team. Now do you know when Kreacher is to be removed from Grimmauld Place?" Downax asked.

"They left to do it before I came here. Though how long it might take them to remove Kreacher, I can not even guess," Sirius responded with a shrug.

"Very well, I will order the team to start first thing tomorrow morning," Downax said finishing the order for the Cursebreaker team. "Is there something else?" he asked when he looked up and saw Sirius still seated.

"Yeah," Sirius said scratching his scraggly beard, which the man preferred to having a full beard or cleanly shaven just so he could scratch it. "Narcissa and I were informed that when we removed Andromeda and her family from the Black Family Magic, the Magic worked on its own to perform a Cleansing of any spell she had cast on anyone in the family. We were told this with the news that Bellatrix had been hit with an Eye of the Beholder Curse which thanks to the full Soul Bonding she did to her husband affected both her and the Lestrange Twins. We could never figure out when Andromeda cast the curse on Bella but it was what led the three of them to become Death Eaters.

What's going on?" Sirius asked as Downax gripped his quill so tightly the thing snapped in half.

"Forget about tomorrow. I am sending a team right now," Downax said leaping out of his seat and rushing from the room.

"Wait why?" Sirius asked as he rushed out after his Account Manager. While Sirius thanks to his time in Azkaban was not in his best shape his long legs compared to the short Goblin should have let him keep up but Downax was already two and a half yards down the hall by the time Sirius left the Goblin's office. Wondering what he had said to cause such a reaction from the Account Manager, Sirius did his best to keep up and not lose sight of Downax as the distance between them grew until the Goblin was half a mile away before he entered an office. Thankfully Downax had not shut the door behind him, letting Sirius find him without bursting in on other Grinotts workers who might attack him for doing so.

"Wha.. oh boy that... what is going on?" Sirius struggled to get out clutching the stitch in his side for running so far and fast just to keep up.

"You are getting your wish," Downax said tuning to him as did the other Goblin in the room.

"Whoopie," Sirius said using his free hand to make a small circle in the air as he still tried to catch his breath.

"I am sending Loremaster Cracknector with the Curse Breaker team," Downax explained before speaking some Gobbledgook which caused a water cooler to spin around one of the walls so Sirius could get some water to drink and splash on his face.

"Yes you said that but why, am I doing this?" the Loremaster asked.

"My client, Lord Black, just informed me that the Lestranges had been under a curse to join the Death Eaters. From what I read on the Auddit Prince Bonecrusher ordered one of the reasons for it to happen was a Soul Crystal connected to an artifact that was found in the Lestrange Vault. He also mentioned that a Black Family Elf has gone mad in the place he wants to be cleaned. Wouldn't the Elf's madness be a sight of corruption of the Soul Crystal in whatever vessel it is stored in might have caused?"

"I see your point," Cracknector said twirling his small beard between two of his fingers. "Very well, I will join the group and even bring one of the Crystals we have which might help us locate it if it is there," the Loremaster said as he pulled out a travel bag and began to put stuff in it including one of the Soul Crystals that were Tom Riddel's Horcruxes.

Having heard about what had happened to his Godson, Sirius could not help but ask, "So one of those things came out of Harry?"

"Yes, it is actually quite surprising that he was not hurt by it but from a certain point of view had managed to live a normal life," Cracknector said.

"A normal life would have been with his parents who loved him not with some abusive assholes," Sirius scoffed.

"That is not what, I meant. I just well with such an artifact bonded to him he could have died or been driven mad just like your family's Elf was," the Loremaster tried to clarify.

"Whatever," Sirius said and seeing he had no other business at the bank turned and left the room.

"You need to work on your people skills, Loremaster," Downax said shaking his head.

"Bite me," the old Goblin said as he went to gather a team of Hunter-level Curse Breakers to tackle Grimmauld Place.

By the time Cracknector and his team arrived the Lupin Family Elves still had not managed to get Kreacher out of Grimmauld Place. Seeing what to him was more invaders into his Mistressess' Home, Kreacher fought even harder. Cracknector just ignored his team joining the Lupin Elves in dealing with the Mad Elf, as he took out one of the Soul Crystals to perform a small locator ritual on it that Odinsphere had just taught him. The Bank's head ritualist was unable to do it himself as he tried to perform a ritual to calm Kreacher down. Getting a ping from the ritual, Cracknector followed it to a reading room on the second story of the townhouse. Ignoring the family tapestry hung on the wall as well as other dangerous artifacts jammed in with it, the Loremaster reached in and extracted a dark green locket with a snake in the shape of an S on the front.

"PUT THAT DOWN!!!" Kreacher thundered suddenly appearing behind Cracknectror and trying to throttle the Goblin. However, since Cracknector preferred to stay with his books, scrolls, and other material rather than going into the field, the Goblin had added extra protections around himself before even leaving the bank. So rather than choke the life out of him, the moment Krecher's fingers wrapped around his throat the mad Elf was thrown on and stuck to the family tapestry right on the burn where Sirius had been before his mother removed him from it.

"They will deal with you in a moment, I just need to," Cracknector said trailing off as he performed a specialized spell to see if the object held another Soul Crystal.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT, KREACHER HAS NOT FULFILLED, MASTER REGULUS' LAST ORDER TO DESTROY IT YET!" Kreacher yelled in a pitying screech. Suddenly both the Golbins and Rlves knew that no artifact had caused Kreacher's madness but the inability to follow an order from his deceased Master.

Setting the necklace down, knowing he would be able to have Kreacher focus on him by doing so, Cracknector turned to the stuck Elf. "There are no normal ways to destroy this locket. But it is not your fault, nor is it your Master's for not realizing it. This locket holds a Soul Crystal from another being inside of it. This makes this locket what is known as a Horcrux. I believe your Master wanted you to destroy the Horcrux not just the locket. We.... I came to collect the Horxrux and to remove the Soul Crystal from it. After that, if you and the family to whom this locket originally belonged, can reach an agreement it will be all yours," Cracknector said seeing right away that the item was not a Black Family treasure.

"Is that a promise?" the ancient elf said sounding like a child wanting to make sure they really were going out to get ice cream after doing good on an exam.

"You have my word," Cracknector.

"Then you may have it, and Kreacher will allow Kreacher's self to be taken to Elf Healer," the House Elf said as the magic holding him in place read his change in mood letting him slide down the wall until he was standing on his own.

"No people skills, my eye," Cracknector muttered to himself as he put the locket into a protected area of his bag to transport it to one of the ritual rooms back at the bank to spertate the object from the Soul Crystal.

Chapter Text

Grimmauld Place

Cracknector, alone of the Gringotts team, left Grimmauld Place after he had collected the Horcrux vessel. This was due to him only being a part of the team to get the Soul Crystal vessel while the rest of the team still had been hired to clear out the Black Family Townhouse for Lord Black. One of the first things the team did as the Goblin Loremaster and the group of Lupin Family House Elves left the property with the Horcrux and deranged House Elf respectively was to remove the full-size Magical Portrait of Walburga Black. While the former Black Family Stewart had placed a permanent sticking charm on the Portrait the team of Cursebreakers and Goblin Artifactors were easily able to remove it thanks to having permission from the current Lord of the Black Family.

Once Walburga's Portrait had been taken down and depowered it became the first item in one of the piles the Gringott's team created as they cleared the place out. Since Sirius had told Downax to "toss the place" the Gringott's team were removing everything not just the artifacts from the home. After almost twenty-seven hours of work, the team ended up with four different piles of items. The first item contained all artifacts or family belongings which the team found curses or Evil Magic tied to or had been used in the artifact's creation. This pile as per their instructions would be destroyed the only thing the team needed to do was create a list of everything that was in the pile before they were destroyed. The second pile contained artifacts that the team had found were dangerous but not due to being cursed or created by Evil Magic. The contents of this pile would have to be checked over by both Downax and members of the Black Family to decide what to do with the items.

The third pile contained all Black family personal property that was neither cursed nor dangerous. This included old family wands, family clothing, non-magical spell books, Sirius's father's walking stick, Regulus Black's model ship collection, a collection of model cars Sirius had put together as a kid before running away, and other such stuff. Sirius alone would have to go through this pile to see what he wished to keep and which to either sell or destroy by himself. The last pile that the team had created contained normal objects such as furniture, pots, pans, cookware, silverware, and other mundane items. Sirius when he was told about the contents of this pile would just have the objects replaced or cleaned before taking them back to Grimmauld Place.

Malfoy Manor

It had been a few days since Lucius, Sirius, Narcissa, Dolorus, Amelia, and Rufus had discussed what to do about the Lestrange Family and Andromeda Tonks. The group had known that due to what Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rodolphus had been forced to do under Andromeda's Eye of the Beholder Curse, the trio of mates would have a hard time returning to the Magical World without experiencing mistrust or disbelief that they had not been acting on their own. An idea had been pitched by Lucius leading Sirius and Narcissa to travel to Azkaban to discuss a plan with Bellatrix and her two husbands.

Lucius's plan would have them rent some Goblin Artifacts which contained Goblin-Powered Glamors to give to the three mates to wear as Rabastan, Rodolphus, and Bellatrix took her maiden name to rejoin society. They would be using the fact that there were numerous Black Family members the world over to basically go into witness protection and hide in plain sight if they wished to stay in England. While this plan freed the three Mates from Azkaban it would do nothing to clear their names, at least the group hoped that Andromeda was tried and revealed how extensive her Eye of the Beholder Curse had done and had been placed on her older sister.

At least the good news the team had found was the Curse had not been placed so far back that it had also been responsible for Bellatrix ending up getting together with the Lestrange Twins. However, that was not saying much since not even Narcissa could recall when her eldest sister began to date the pair of twins so they could not use it to in their timeline to find out when Andromeda had cast the curse.

With the approval of the Lestrange family to wear the Goblin Artifacts and change their names the thruple were released from Azkaban taking breaths of fresh warm air in over a decade. Not wanting to cut ties with the Lestrange family it had been decided that Bellatrix who was now known as Becky would have been a member of the Lestrange family before getting together with her husbands "Sam" (Rodolphus) and "Dean" (Rabastan) Black. The trio had moved into Malfoy Manor not only to get used to their new identities but so Narcissa could help heal them from their time in Azkaban. Just like Sirius, the group's release from the worst Magical Prison in the world came with a free year with a Ministry-appointed Mind Healer. After the year was over depending on Sirius, "Becky, Sam, and Dean's" progress the Healer could be kept on by the family themselves or be partially paid by the Ministry.

While Becky, Sam, and Dean were released from prison and were brought to Malfoy Manor, Amelia Bones led a team to the Tonks family home and arrested Andromeda. Despite the proof they had of Andromeda had done, she was not being sent right to Azkaban but was being held in the Ministry's on-site jail until her trial. Due to legality reasons Andromeda had been told she could not represent herself during the trial nor would her husband be able to do so. Lucius also removed himself from being involved in the trial apart from letting one of the members of his law firm take the job as Andromeda's Prosecutor.

While Nymphadora had received Sirius's Metamorphmagus ability, she was not being charged with anything, at least yet. As far as Sirius and the others knew she had just received the leeched Magical Talent but had not taken part in stealing it. This did not stop Rufus from adding a note to the girl's file to make sure that she was under close observation when she came back for her Auror Training. The Head of the Auror Department worked the note in such a way that it made it sound like he was tasking his people to watch out for any further health issues the girl might experience after her collapse during the training exercise. No one questioned the order since Nymphadora had yet to wake up from the Magical Coma after the Black Family Magic had collected Sirius's Metamophmagus talent from her.

Hogwarts

Harry did not want to make Longbottom look like he was pressuring the Gryffindor boy to seek help, so he was leaving the other alone. Since he was keeping up with his homework, Harry did not have much to do during the weekend after his first chat with Longbottom. On Saturday, Harry woke up and placed more details into the odd thing he was sketching after his strange dreams. The design did make it look more and more like some sort of overpowered compass the more Harry added to it, but he also thought the design was not yet complete. After breakfast with his friends, rather than getting some free flying in at the Slytherin team Quidditch Practice, Harry joined the others in some team sports games.

While they had received a letter from Draco's dad saying their letters had been received and discussed during the latest Governors Meeting there had been no mention of the classes being brought back yet. So to help strengthen their Cores, Harry and the others had begun to host sports games for anyone who wanted to join them not even revealing that the games would help strengthen the cores of all the students who took part in them. Apart from members of their own house, only a few non-Slytherins would come to play the random sporting events they had organized. Mostly it was the other House Quidditch Team who saw it as a way to train when others had control of the Pitch, but there were some others as well like Micheal Corner from Ravenclaw, Seamus, Dean, and Lee Jordan from Gryffindor, a Third Year Hufflepuff named Goliath who had the nickname of Tiny due to his small stature.

Since there were so many people coming to the games the choice of games had expanded to include Muggle Tennis and Football (soccer) but also some Magical World sports like Tricdecdosa which to Harry looked like a cross between the disc throw and frisbee with a two-pound disc. The participants were to throw the disc between them only using their magic to catch it safely as well as increasing their body strength to throw it to the next person. There was also a game called Dimgmet which looked like a game of Whack a Mole between the Hunter and the Diggers, all of which were people playing the game. The Diggers would score points the longer they remained above the playing field while the Hunter would get points when they hit them with the Magical Hammer. Both sides would get exercise since the Hammer was massive and was weighted for the Hunter yet feeling like a foam hammer to the Diggers when they got hit with it. Meanwhile, as the Diggers were under the playing field they had to "dig" to the locations where they would pop up with the game's magic making them feel as if they were digging through sand though being slightly easier and without the threat of a tunnel collapse and possible death.

That day, Harry joined Draco in a doubles match in tennis vs the two Gryffindor First Year boys. While Harry knew about the game in principle he had never played it before which allowed the Gryffindors a slight advantage since out of the four of the players only Dean Thomas had played the game before. Thankfully the dark-skinned boy had only played it for fun so he was not too skilled at the game to make the game less fun for the others. They did end up playing three games with two matches being won by the Gryffindor boys while Harry and Draco won the third, well second match hence the third game to be used as a tie-breaker.

Feeling a little sweaty after the game, Harry and Draco returned to the Slytherin Dorms to take a shower before heading to lunch. Since they had been focused on their own game, the pair learned what the others had done during the event. Theo had led a group through some Yoga and took part in a small putting challenge one of the Ravenclaw Beaters had set up. Blaise, Tracy, and Millicent had joined the football match, while Pansy, Christopher, and Daphne joined a group of students who had gotten their exercise by being cheerleaders for the students participating in the event. Vincent and Gregory had spent their time playing Tricdecdosa and Dimgmet.

After the meal, Harry joined Theo, Christopher, and Tracy as they all headed back to the dorms. Yet while Christopher and Tracy started a card game with some of the older students, Theo and Harry took out some books to read. After finding Meliodus Potter and Gowther Potter nee Peverell in one of his family history books, Harry had been looking for more clues as to why he kept dreaming of the strange selection of artifacts. Harry was also looking into the Peverell-Gryffindor-Potter connection since when Lucius had shared with him parts of the Potter family history, the Governor had stated that the Potter family had come from the Gryffindor family which had come from the Peverell line. Harry found it strange that Gowther would still have been around as a Peverell before marrying Meliodus rather than a Gryffindor so was trying to find out what happened.

Since he knew Gowther was a member of the Peverell family, Harry used the book he had been given about that family to look him up. Gowther was the last listed member of the line making it somewhat easier to trace it back. Gowther, Harry found, was Gowther the Second having been named after his father. While he had been told the family had created several powerful artifacts none of the items in the book were the ones Harry had been dreaming about. He did find a reference to several other artifacts the family had created such as Pensiv and the Memory Reader that he had worn while meeting with Dolores. Not to mention the whole so-called "Deathly Hallows," Harry had not found any mention of a sword, a cup, a timepiece, or even a carpet bag being created by a member of the family.

Well, he had seen Aria Peverell's son had not only created a sword but made a name for himself outside the family dropped the family name, and started to be known by just his first and last name thus starting the Gryffindor Line. And while the book showed pictures of the sword Godric had created, Harry saw that it was not either sword that he had been dreaming about for the last couple of weeks. The sword was close enough to the sword Death and the man in white had used as a table during one of Harry's dreams, that Harry pulled out the Gryffindor family history book to see if the book went deeper into the sword's origins then the Peverell history book.

Harry discovered the sword, which had been created with some help from one of Bonecrusher's ancestors, had been created in homage to a sword one of Godric's own ancestors had created. But just like the title that Gowther and Meliodus had been given after they had created the Staff of Magical Might, the book had left out what, if any name the sword had as well as who had created it. Harry wondered if the sword had been created by a member of Aria Peverell's mate's family since there was no mention of any other sword being created by the members of the Peverel Line. Unfortunately, Harry did not have any books concerning Aria Peverell's mate, Shavastry's birth family to dig through. Harry was not sure if the books had just not been added to his trunk or if the line had died out without putting out any books on their history. Harry could not tell which was more likely since asking Theo who had been sitting beside him as they read, Harry learned that Theo did not recognize Shavastry's birth family, the Grosketksy family name.

Giving it up as a bad job, at least for the moment, Harry turned to checking out the Potter Family. Harry found the first Potter had been a man named Solarius Potter who had stepped away from the Gryffindor line so that people would quit badgering him to become a teacher or help run Hogwarts. Solarius like members of the Peverell family had been more interested in creating Magical Artifacts so changed his name and moved out of England for a bit to have a bit of peace. Solarius's Granson Harridan Potter did return to the island after enough time had passed that no one got onto his case to become a teacher or run Hogwarts. Well, apart from sitting on the Hogwarts Board of Governors since he was the only descendent of the Gryffindor Line alive at the time.

Harridan, while being a member of the board, spent most of his time creating Magical Artifacts like others of Harry's family. The one that Harridan was most known for was something called a Time Turner which he said had been inspired by an old family artifact called the Clock of Ages. As both items were timepieces as far as Harry could tell, since there had been no picture of a Time Turner in the book, Harry tried to find a reference to the Clock of Ages to see if it was the item he had been dreaming of. He could not even find a reference to the Clock of Ages in any of his family history books, even after Theo taught him a spell that acted like a search function to find certain words or phrases in a book.

Harry wondered if there was some big conspiracy concerning his ancestors due to what he was "finding" within his research. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Harry thought back to his finding out about Meliodus and Gowther making him realize something as well. While the book had talked about them creating the Staff of Magical Might there had been no picture of said staff. Which at the time Harry had not found strange but now that he had been looking through his family's history books he had noticed that apart from the Staff and Time Turner all artifacts that members of his various lines had created had all been pictured. He could not help but wonder why the Staff and Time Turner had been excluded from being shown.

Gryffindor Tower.

Neville had been thinking about what Heir Potter had told him during Potions yesterday, wondering if he should report what his family had been doing to him and his Gran. He knew that his Gran loved the rest of the family and tended to overlook or miss how they disrespected her or manipulated her. Such as his Uncle Algie who had manipulated Neville's Gran to convince her to make Neville use his father's wand. Which Neville was not Magically intuned with. Thus stunting Neville's magical growth, just because Algie had said it would be a way for Neville to honor his father. Neville had only found out about what his Uncle had done when he had talked to some of the Slytherins he sat with during Potions and learned about Alignment and other stuff that they had been told about during their first class, which Professor Sprout had not shared with the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff class.

Learning about the Alignment and Magical Leaning, Neville discovered his family had not taught him Magical World protocol or even some Magical Theory correctly before he had come to Hogwarts. Finding this out, Neville also discovered the lie that Uncle Algie wanted Neville to honor Frank Longbottom as rather strange since apart from Neville and his Gran no one else in the family ever went to St. Mungos to see his parents.

While Neville thought it would be a good idea to follow up with Heir Potter on seeking help, at least asking who the other boy had seen to file a report against his family, Neville was annoyed by certain members of Gryffindor. Having seen him sit with Heir Potter during Potions class and spotting them chatting together, Ronald and Granger had come over separately trying to first find out what Neville and Heir Potter had talked about. But also the pair acting as if they were Neville's friends now. The only problem was neither of the two seemed to know what being a good friend was. Ronald while trying to act friendly began to bad mouth the few friends in Slytherin Neville had made by sitting with them during potions class, wanting Neville to hang out with him while at the same time either ignoring their homework or having Neville do his for him. Ronald also wanted to talk Quidditch with Neville but got mad if Neville showed support for any team other than the Chudley Cannons while making fun of Neville's preferred team the Salem Institutes' Hunters.

Granger, on the other hand, would try to "help" Neville with his homework, but would then complain that he was not doing his share of the work as she added small bits of incorrect information into the work that would lower his grade. As she "worked," Granger would constantly verbally abuse him by calling him an idiot who had no chance of advancing without her help. If she was not belittling him she would smack his hands away if he tried to take his work back from her and would even use a book to hit him if he tried to distract her before snatching his stuff back.

Neville had only managed to escape the girl by running into the male tower but to avoid Ronald following him, Neville did not head up to the first year's bedrooms but randomly entered one of the rooms halfway down the tower. Neville planned on finishing his homework in the room and apologizing for using it if any of the room's inhabitants came in and asked what he was doing. It turned out, that Neville had been using the third-year male's bedroom. He only discovered who used the room as Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins had come back to change their clothing after their morning of playing some games before lunch.

"What are you doing here little Firstie?" Fred asked seeing Neville working on something at Lee's desk.

"My homework," Neville said. "Sorry for doing it here, but I was getting hounded by Granger and your little brother."

"Why?" George asked.

"Yesterday during our potion class with the Slytherins, I ended up sitting next to Heir Potter and now they both want to become my friend or make me tell them what we talked about," Neville explained.

"Ah, so what did you talk about with Harry?" Fred asked as he and George stopped changing clothing thinking they could also use Neville to get themselves closer to Harry and get the map back from the younger boy.

"That is between me and Heir Potter," Neville said taking a silent breath and seeing the hope flash in the pair of twins' eyes making him wonder if he had just added two new annoyances to his life.

"Well, I can't fault you for doing your homework away from the girl and the twin's brother, but since we are back now, I am going to ask you to find somewhere else to work," Lee said having also noticed the flash in his friends' eyes as well as hearing about the pair trying to befriend the younger Slytherin boy for some reason. So was trying to get the Longbottom Heir away from them for a bit. He almost suggested the first year to head down to the lowest male dorms knowing that if anyone could possibly have a hope of holding off the twins it would be their older brother Percy, but there was no way to tell the first year without letting Fred and George also hear it. The best Lee could do was go over to his desk to make sure the younger boy got everything off of it, and using it as a way to write and slip a note of his suggestion to the Longbottom Heir.

Chapter Text

Hogwarts

Seeing the strange note that Lee Jordan had slipped him as he gathered his homework, Neville noticed the Weasley twins' attention when he mentioned his talk with Heir Potter. He gave the dark-skinned Third-year boy a slight nod as he headed down to finish his homework in the lowest male dorms. Though after seeing how little respect the twins showed their elder brother down in the common room, Neville was not sure Prefect Weasley could do anything to make the twins leave him alone. It was a better idea than going to one of the other male dorm rooms and having some of the students get on his case for trying to do his homework in their rooms, which might have led to them forcing him back to the common room, where he would be targeted by Granger and Ronald again.

Up in the Heasmaster's combined suite and office, Albus was pacing due to a letter he had just received from Dolores. She had just sent over the notice of Andromeda Tonks's arrest and coming trial. How Dolores knew that Andromeda was part of Albus's inner circle, which had helped him select people for the Order of the Phoenix as well as keeping tabs on its members while not participating in any of the Order's plans, he could not even begin to guess at. Albus was just thankful for the heads up, so he could find someone to represent Andromeda. According to the letter, Andromeda was not allowed to represent herself, and Albus did not think he should have Ted take the job due to his feelings possibly interfering with the procedures. However, the biggest issue in the letter, besides Andromeda's arrest, was that Dolores had no idea why the woman had been arrested, thus making it hard to choose the right type of barrister to represent her.

As if Albus did not have enough on his plate to deal with at the moment. With Harry's random disappearance before school started and then being sorted into Slytherin House, the sorting somehow being done in such a way that prevented Albus's weapon from undergoing a Re-sort, so he could be placed in Gryffindor like he was supposed to. When Harry had vanished, Albus had gone to the Dursleys to see what had happened to the brat, only to come back to Hogwarts to find that somehow the Goblins had come in and destroyed all the progress he had made to the Hogwarts Wards over the years. Not to mention making them stronger so that he had been cut off from the Headmaster's Private Study, which contained not only the Philosopher's Stone, the Cloak of Invisibility that he had "borrowed" from James Potter, but also the Mirror of Erised.

Even after a week of trying to repair the damage done to the Ward Stone to put things back to normal, as well as trying to get into his private study, had been pointless since both the Ward Stone and Phineas Nigelus Black's portrait had been unable to be affected by even the Elder Wand. It got even harder after the first week, when, after a small break when he had drunk some tea and lucked on some lemon drops, Albus had discovered the Elder Wand was missing. Thinking he had just knocked it off his desk without realizing it, Albus had spent over an hour crawling around the floor to see where it had gone. After the hour, he had needed to rest in his throne-like chair for a bit before he pulled out his old wand and cast a Summoning Spell on the Elder Wand. When the wand did not fly out from wherever it was, Albus suddenly recalled that such spells did not work on the three Deathly Hallows Artifacts.

Since he had tried to get Dobby to summon the Cloak of Invisibility from the Headmaster's Study but found that even House Elf Magic could not effect the Deathly Hallows, Albus ordered one of the random House Elves to search his rooms for the Elder Wand as he went to change clothing after getting them dirty during his search. When he returned and the Elf did not have the Elder Wand ready for him, Albus was so angry he almost presented the nasty thing with clothing to free it. Yet he was not sure if whatever had affected the castle's Wards had not also done something to the Elves, which might share some of the things he was having Dobby and them do to the inhabitants of the castle. Unwilling to free the Elf who had failed to find his wand, Albus summoned Dobby and ordered his Elf to make sure the failure was given the worst jobs for the foreseeable future.

After the first night of term, and finding out the brat had James's stubborn streak, and Lily's mind that he was able to get Severus on his side during the meeting after the Sorting before the Hat itself revealed the brat could not undergo a Re-Sort, Albus had been trying to think of how he could fix things. Based on his weapon's attitude from the night before, Albus had not wanted to summon the two pawns he had hired to befriend Harry to find out how they had failed to befriend him on the train over. Instead, Albus was trying to think of ways to make some inroads to gain Harry's trust when he was distracted by Molly Weasley barged into his office via the Floo Network. She had loudly complained for over forty-five minutes about something that had happened, and Arthur had kicked her and Ginny out of the Burrow. She wanted him to both get her back with Arthur but also help her in the meantime.

He had told the banshee of a woman that he was busy, but she got on his case and even threatened to blackmail him if he did not help her out. Thinking he could just send her to Aberfroths and then show up later that night to place some enchantments on her before cutting her loose, Albus tried to contact his younger brother. Yet for some reason, Aberforth did not respond. Getting a headache from the woman's screeching voice, Albus finally wrote up a letter for Tom at the Leaky Cauldron to hire Molly as a favor, as well as to help Tom pay back a little of what he owed Albus.

After Molly and her daughter finally left his office, Albus had needed to sank into his chair and rested for a bit to get rid of his headache, missing the smirks the previous Headmasters' and Headmistress' Portraits shared since they had so far been able to keep it a secret that the spells he had placed on them had been cleansed thanks to the goblins fixing Hogwarts Wards. After an unspoken agreement, all the Portraits acted like they were still enchanted as they started to spy on Albus, though who they would tell about the bastard's actions, they had not yet decided on.

After Albus had recovered from Molly's visit, he tried to return to his plans on how to handle the Potter situation, only to be interrupted by a pair of letters. The first letter had been from Tom saying he had hired Molly to work as a Waitress, but he was not sure about how well the woman could do the job. The second letter was from the Ministry letting him know that, as Harry's "Magical Guardian," it was the Ministry's unfortunate duty to report that Harry's Muggle family had been arrested for Child Abuse. Since the Dursleys had been arrested for their actions, which Albus should have reported as part of his role as Harry's "Guardian," Albus was to stand before a tribunal and answer for his actions in not reporting the abuse.

Albus had to work quickly to come up with a defense of why he had not reported any abuse that Harry had suffered at the Dursleys' hands. He was just glad that his tribunal was not attended by either Madam Bones or Scrimjoure, but just some normal judges from the Department of Magical Children. Albus had performed, which he thought should have earned him a Muggle Oscar, as he told the judges that due to his jobs as Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, he had only been able to visit Harry for a little bit each month. And unfortunately, those visits always took place late at night after Harry had fallen asleep. Albus profusely apologized at his lack of oversight to not schedule random visits but tried to arrive the same day each month thus letting the Dursleys know what day to allow Harry to sleep in a normal room rather than what the agents to the case had discovered with his room being a small cupboard under the house's stairs.

As his tribunal was going on, Albus had one of his pawns sneak into the Ministry's Holding Cells to implant the false memories of his visits in Vernon and Petunina's minds so they could let the Ministry know that Albus had visited, lest the Headmaster get in even more legal hot water. Albus did not see anyone discovering the memory charm, just like the one he had placed on the family after he got rid of the pig's tail Hagrid had given the young Muggle boy, for why would anyone check for Memory Charms for a Child Abuse Trial/Hearing?

After the tribunal, Albus had been planning to relax, only to find a new letter from Tom, who was complaining about Molly and how she was making him lose some business. Albus had figured this would happen, so rather than fight it, he decided to just send some money the man's way. Albus planned to inform Tom after he set up the accounts for him as he headed to Gringotts to start the paperwork. Yet to his great horror, his account Manager, Sandthistle, informed him that all of Albus's secret vaults had been cleared out. Albus had tensed for a moment, halfway expecting a contingent of Goblin guards to enter the room and arrest him. Yet Sandthistle shockingly told him that the Goblins were not going to do anything to him at the moment, but Albus would only have access to his normal family vaults from now on.

Not wanting to pay Tom from his accounts, Albus went to the Leaky Cauldron and offered his services as a mediator between Tom and Molly so they could work things out. As soon as the three were alone together, Albus just stunned the pair before enchanting them both. He just made Tom forget about Molly's previous issues during work, while placing enchantments on Molly to turn the woman into almost a model waitress. He did not want to make her too perfect for anyone who knew the woman would wonder what had happened if they saw that she did not occasionally complain about something, or loudly voice her thoughts on certain issues.

Arriving back at his office, Albus had done some actual work to calm down for a bit, only to receive a report from Irma about his two pawns getting detention for fighting each other in the Library. Albus had noticed the pair's angry looks at each other at the sorting and each meal, but he had not looked into it; he could not ignore this as he marched out of his office to collect the pair from the Hospital Wing/Healing Ward. Poppy became angry at him as he led the pair away since she had not finished with them yet, but he could not allow whatever issues the pair had with each other to grow larger.

Bringing the two kids to his office, Albus found out that since he had not informed them that he had hired them both to make sure Harry followed his plan, the pair had gotten into each other's way on the train and started to hate each other. The brats reminded Albus why he hated children, as rather than drop their animosity towards each other after he told them they were on the same side, they pair almost resumed their fight in his office. Granted, Albus could understand it since Granger had called the Weasley boy a bigot for labeling her a Mudblood in the library. While Weasley had gotten on her case about something along the lines of the girl saying he did not have a Soul due to being a redhead.

Albus had to magic the pair apart before they broke one of the tables holding some of the machines he used to track various people. He told them in no uncertain terms that they were not to fight anymore using anything other than their words, or he would force them to give back the money and books he had already handed over to them. Granger had begun to say something, but he cast a silencing spell on the brat as he laid down the law that they were to befriend Harry, and the first one to get it would keep their job and be the one who continued to be paid. If he had let Granger speak, she would have informed both him and Ron that, according to Harry, he had already taken everything Albus had stolen from the boy's vaults to pay the pair in the first place. Albus had not wanted to put enchantments on the pair to make them become friends, for he had a feeling it would draw attention to their sudden shift in nature or personality.

He had a few days of quiet before he was visited by Madam Bones, Drake Vansel, and some Aurors who had come to arrest Hagrid for his actions when he had gone to collect Harry from the Dursleys. As if it was bad enough that he was losing Hagrid, who was one of the few people Albus had not needed to pay for the man's loyalty, Drake had also laid down the law that the Governors wanted Binns out of the castle and a new History Teacher to be brought in. Albus had not participated in the four Heads of Houses who had been summoned to the meeting without his approval, as they tried to think of who to hire for both positions. Rather, Albus had started to make plans to force Harry to recant his story of what Hagrid had done when the man had picked him up from the Dursleys, as well as get the boy to follow his plans at last.

Albus had called for Dobby, putting his House Elf on the boy to track the brat's movements, so if Harry broke even the smallest rule, he could give him detention as a means to get him alone and enchant him. This did mean that he had to have Dobby let go of Riddle's Diary so the Elf was not encumbered by it, unlike when he was carrying it while doing his normal job that Albus had given him as Head of the Hogwarts House Elves. After Albus turned his attention back to the diary after Dobby had left his office, he was confused since he no longer saw the book lying on the desk where he had placed it. Nor did the thing fly back to him when he used his old wand to cast a Summoning Charm on it, making him wonder if holding a Horcrux in an item also made it impossible to magically summon it.

As Albus tried to figure out what had happened to the diary, the Hogwarts Wards had sent the book to Bonecrusher's office since it would have been sent to Slytherin's vaults. Yet since the bank had started to round up Voldy's Horcruxes, the bank's wards had improved, so rather the diary to be sent to the vault where it might be found, it was sent to the Account Manager who managed the vault so they could pass it on. Since the Soul Fragment had been placed in a simple Muggle diary, after Cracknector had extracted the fragment, he had just thrown the book away, knowing it had become cursed after holding the fragment for who knew how long.

After a week with no report from Dobby, Albus began to wonder if his Elf was slacking off since he could not imagine any kid besides when he had been one to not bending a rule at least once a day, let alone a week. Yet before he could summon Dobby to find out why the Elf was not doing his job properly, Albus was distracted by a notice from the Hogwarts Governors. Their letter got on his case for his change of punishment that Irma had given Ron and Granger for fighting in the library, as well as removing them before Poppy had finished healing them. The board had also told him off for the Howler Ron had received since Madam Prewett had informed the board that Ron had got the Howler in response to one he had sent from the castle to his mother.

The Governor's letter did not get any better as it told him off as well as saying certain members of staff for not doing their duty based on a spell they had added to the Wards. Albus was furious to learn that one of the things the nasty Goblins had done when they removed his improvements to the Wards was adding a tracking spell which allowed the Governors to see how much time the staff did their jobs. According to the reports the Governors had gotten from the tracking spell, Albus was not doing his job enough, nor were many of the staff. Yet at the same time, the report stated many of the staff were suffering from overwork. Albus tried to think of a way to use those opposing facts to get the Governors to see that the spell was faulty. But he was distracted by the end of the letter, which got onto his case for letting the Physical Fitness classes be taken away and not having the Heads of House start teaching them for their Houses, as the Board agreed to over a decade ago.

How they had even thought to look into the Physical Fitness class he could not even guess, but it was not the only class change the board was calling for as they said that people would be looking into improving the information offered for the Muggle Stuides class to feature more recent advenments from the Muggle World. Their letter ended with their disappointment that he had been unable to find anyone to replace Binns or Hagrid yet, as they informed him that they would be taking care of the job themselves.

Albus almost lost it when the morons on the board had chosen Remus Lupin to take over for Binns. Granted, Albus had planned on bringing the man himself at some point in the future to show that even Harry's old parents' friends were not as reliable as he was, since Remus had never sought Harry out after James and Lily had died. But now Remus would be around Harry, and since he had been hired by the board, they would prevent him from getting fired if the knowledge of his condition came out. What was worse was that Remus would teach the ICW standard course for History, and would not dumb down the Hogwarts students as he liked. And rather than have Severus brew Wolfbane potion for his change, the Board had worked out a clause in his contract that Remus would get Wolfbann Potion, a potion that Albus, under a pseudonym, had developed the Wolfbane potion to counteract due to how good Wolfbann was to Werewolves.

He had also discovered that during the full moon, the board had permitted Remus to leave the castle, thus further protecting the students under the guise of research trips for training a person working with Remus to earn a Masters in History. Thus, the three days around the full moon, Remus would post a notice of the trip on his classroom door and have the students just read and summarize certain chapters in their books. This plan was actually short-lived as the Governors contacted Albus again to let them know the Goblins had found more money in the school's budget and were in the process of hiring more staff. One of which would take over Remus's class when the man dealt with his change. This would make it harder for students to learn Remus was a wolf, thus possibly making the man remove himself from the castle rather than face letters from angry parents, but also would give most classes a secondary teacher so the other members of staff would not be on the verge of burnout due to over work.

And now with Dolores's letter about Andromeda's arrest, Albus felt like he was at his wits' end. He needed to do something to be applauded for again, which would allow him to focus and return to his plans. It had taken him a few days, but Albus finally came up with an idea. Getting in contact with the leaders of Hogsmeade, he told them that despite it being less than a month since Hogwarts started, he thought the older students deserved a break due to some changes happening at the castle. Albus did not inform the Governors, or any of his staff as he stood up during supper on Thursday to let the students know that due to Hagrid firing, as well as the change to the history class he felt the older students needed a break so to thunderous applause from the students he informed them about the Hogsemeade weekend that would take place that coming Saturday.

For almost the first time that school year, Albus smiled as the students cheered for him, while missing the shocked looks on his staff's faces. As Remus had also joined the Governors, besides taking the History teacher's post, he had gotten an overview of what the Governors had going on for the term. In the packet, he had seen that the Governors had permitted Arthur Weasley to collect his kids for some private medical procedure, and based on the way Dumbles had announced the weekend visit to the village, Remus was sure a notice would not have been sent to James and Sirius's old training officer. So after supper, Remus wrote to the man himself, telling the redheaded man that, for some reason, Albus had agreed to have a Hogsmeade visit during the coming weekend, and for Arthur to come get his kids for the procedure, he wanted to take them to. He also applogiuzed in case Arthur had received a notice about the weekend already, but he had just wanted to make sure the man knew it was happening.