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Chapter Text

Unexpected Love: The Journey Begins
Written by J.C. Vascardi

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Chapter Eight

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On Saturday evening, after returning to Forest Cottage from the Board of Governors meeting, Harry found Robert waiting for him as he arrived in the upstairs sitting room that served as the common room for himself and his fellow students. Roger and Cedric were seated at one of the tables playing chess, while Terence and Oliver were cuddled together in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. There was no sign of Asterion, Regulus, or the trainers, but Gavin was at one of the partner’s desks with Remus surrounded by books, obviously working on his remedial work.

"Hello Robert," Harry said, with a raised eyebrow. "What brings you here?"

"This letter arrived for you today from Gringotts," Robert said as he stood up from where he'd been seated on the sofa, chatting with Sirius, and held out a sealed envelope. "It's from Ragnok."

Harry nodded as he took the envelope from Robert, broke the seal, and pulled out the missive inside.

Dear Lord Potter,

I have a team of goblins working on the investigation into the unusual circumstances regarding your placement with your Muggle relatives and the fact that your parents will have remained sealed all of these years. I know you're not familiar with wizarding law and customs, so I will tell you that Scarclaw is aware of the provisions of your parents' will, as such documents are almost always drawn up in the presence of a family's Gringotts' account manager. Having goblin assistance in the drafting of the document provides certain protections in terms of making the will as unbreakable as any contract used by our institution.

I would suggest, Lord Potter, that you schedule a reading of your parents' will as soon as possible, as it's long past time that their wishes were made known. However, Scarclaw informs me that there are certain stipulations in the document that are sensitive and pertinent to our investigation. Thus I would strongly suggest that certain sections of the document not be read aloud during the reading of the will to ensure that our investigation can continue unhindered.

I would further suggest that you obtain the services of a solicitor who has no previous connection to the Potter family to handle the actual reading of the will. While I'm sure that Ethan Pierce would be capable of handling it, he is connected with the investigation through his grandfather Kendrick who also knew all of the details of the document since he wrote it. The fact that he never tried to find you to execute the document for all these years raises serious questions and concerns and we do not wish to tip off the wrong people about our investigation. The choice is, of course, entirely up to you.

Should you desire to do as I suggest, I can provide you with a shortlist of potential solicitors that Gringotts' has worked with in the past that we feel can be trusted. Or, if you prefer to find your own, we can also assist in checking the reputation and references of the candidate to ensure that they can be trusted. I will await further communication from you on your wishes.

Signed,

Ragnok

Director, Gringotts' Bank

Handing the letter to Robert so that he could read it, Harry sat down at the table and remained silent while his seneschal read. He wasn't entirely sure how to proceed and wanted Robert's advice. James and Lily were in the painting above the fireplace again and James asked, "What was the letter about, Harry?"

"The reading of your will," Harry said. "And Gringotts' investigation into why it hasn't been read yet. Ragnok has a team of goblins working on it and suggests that certain elements not be read aloud to protect their investigation."

"I can see how that might be a good idea," Lily said, as she thought back to what was all included in the document. "There are certain things in it which nobody outside of the family needs to know."

Robert finished reading the letter at this point and looked up. "Ragnok's suggestion that you find a solicitor not previously connected with the Potter family is a good idea, Harry."

Roger looked up at that and asked, "You need a solicitor?" Harry nodded. "My father, Michael Davies, is a solicitor."

"I know him," Robert said with a nod. "He's certainly qualified and I can't think of any previous connection to the family. James?"

Taking a moment, James finally shook his head and said, "No, I can't say that I recall Michael ever working for us before."

Standing up, Harry went over to the desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment. Dipping a quill in the ink well he began a response to Ragnok. With help from the trainers and practice, Harry's handwriting had improved to a level that better reflected the fact that he was one of the highest nobles in the country. Pausing his writing, he said, "Ragnok offered to check the reputation and references of the person I chose if they weren't on the Gringotts' shortlist. Any objections to that, Roger?"

The Ravenclaw shook his head and said, "No, that's fine. Seems like a wise precaution when hiring someone to work for you. My father has a good reputation and is sure to have plenty of references, but I don't expect you to take my word alone for that. Having Gringotts check him out is wise."

"I'd have to agree," Cedric said as he moved his queen to take Roger's rook. With a grin, he added, "Checkmate, by the way."

Roger turned back to the board at that and groaned. "Merlin's balls, Cedric, that's..."

"Five games in a row," Terence said as he briefly came up for air, before going back to making out with Oliver.

"Get a room you two," Roger said, prompting both Terence and Oliver to hold up their middle fingers in Roger's direction. "No thanks, guys, I don't swing that way."

Dipping the quill back in the well, Harry wrote down that he'd like Gringotts' to check on Michael Davies, telling Ragnok that a friend had recommended him.

"Now the only thing I need to figure out is when to schedule the reading," Harry said.

"Reading of what?" Eudora asked as she came up the stairs.

"My parents' will," Harry said. "Ragnok sent me a letter saying it's past time that it is read. Although he suggests leaving out some parts of it that might adversely affect the goblins' investigation."

"Well, I can see why he would think that," Eudora said. "James and Lily died over a decade ago. I can't think of any instance where it's taken this long to read a will, especially when it's the will of one of the richest and oldest noble families in the country."

Cedric nodded. "Yes, it should have been read by now. Part of it may have been because nobody seemed to know where you were Harry or at least those who should have been looking for you never did." Cedric got a contemplative look on his face and then after a moment added, "Of course, now that I think about it, Kendrick Pierce might have been waiting on tracking you down so that you would be old enough to be installed as the new Lord Potter before the will was read."

"But then he contracted dragon pox and died," Roger said. "Which oddly enough, would have been right around the time that Harry was turning thirteen and thus old enough to claim his birthright."

"Why would it matter if I was Lord Potter or not at the will reading?" Harry asked.

"It matters, Harry," James said, "because the current Lord Potter does have the ability to invalidate bequests or any other terms in any family will, even those of the past lord. So, if there's a section of our wills that you don't agree with, you have it within your power to declare it null and void."

Shaking his head as if he couldn't comprehend why he would do that, he asked, "Why would I want to do that?"

"Well, I can think of one reason, Harry," Lily said. "One of the bequests that James and I left is a million galleons to Albus Dumbledore, as head of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order was founded during the first war with Voldemort by Albus and consisted of people who had banded together to fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters. However, knowing that he left you with my sister, even if he didn't know the terms of the will, I find myself thinking I'm not so sure anymore that I want him to have that money."

"Wouldn't that cause a problem, however?" Harry asked. "I would imagine that the section dealing with my placement while a minor would be one of those sections that won't be read aloud, seeing as how it doesn't matter anymore. But how could I possibly justify invalidating the bequest if I can't prove that Dumbledore knew about the terms of the will and ignored them?"

"That's the beauty of being Lord Potter, Harry," James said. "You don't have to justify it. At Seacliff Castle and anywhere else on your lands, your word is law. Back in Albion's earliest days, King Arthur himself granted the Lords of the Thirteen certain discretionary powers which would be beyond even the authority of the crown to overrule. Among those powers is the ability to set the marriage laws and tax rates on their lands. They can also disown their heir for any reason they choose, or declare any marriage involving a member of their family invalid, assuming that it isn't with another noble house, and if it is it has to be with a lower house. And each lord also has complete control over all money and property belonging to their family, whether it be in the family vault or the personal vaults of the families' individual members."

"Not that it matters seeing as how I'm the only living Potter," Harry said, "but on the marriage thing what happens if it isn't with a lower house?"

"If the two houses are the same rank, both lords have to agree," Cedric answered. "And if the other house is a higher rank, the lower lord can petition the higher lord for invalidation, but there's no requirement that the higher lord grant the request."

After a moment of silence, Eudora walked over to the railing of the stairs, leaned over, and called out, "Athena? Could you come up here for a moment, please?"

As she'd been sitting with the other trainers in the ground floor sitting room, it didn't take Athena long to come up the stairs, followed by Emma and Rose, who'd opted to come with her should their help be needed. Eudora explained what was going on and Athena nodded. "I see. Well, Harry, if you'll just give me a moment to confer with the others, we'll see if we can't work out a date for you to give to Ragnok."

Harry nodded, as the trainers grouped into a circle and began talking quietly amongst themselves. After a moment, Athena nodded and turning towards Harry, she said, "Ideally, we'd have you schedule this for Monday, but you have your appointment at the Ministry for your Apparition license at 1 pm. It'd be too late in the day to schedule a will reading after that and scheduling it beforehand could pose problems if the reading runs long, as such things do on occasion." Harry nodded in agreement with Athena's reasoning. "So, your other trainers and I think it would be best to schedule the reading for Tuesday, the sixteenth of August."

"Okay, thanks," Harry said, as he dipped the quill back into the ink well and wrote down the date in his missive to Ragnok. Once it was done, he pulled out his wand to cast a Drying Charm on the ink, before folding it up and addressing the front of it. He then flipped it over and used his wand to light the candle that sat near the ink well on the desk. Grabbing a stick of red wax, Harry held one end of it in the candle flame, allowing the liquid wax to fall onto the folded letter below. Once there was enough of it, he set the wax and candle aside as he removed the Potter family ring from his finger and pressed it into the wax.

Once this was done, Harry called out, "Tilly!"

"Lord Potter calls Tilly?" the little elf asked a moment later, as she appeared.

"Yes, Tilly," as he held out the letter. "Please take this back to Seacliff and send it off with one of the family owls. Ragnok at Gringotts must get this as soon as possible."

Tilly nodded as she took the letter from her master, "Yes, Lord Potter. Tilly will do it right away."

No sooner did Harry mutter thanks in return did Tilly disappear with a pop.

-o-0-o-

The following morning, Sunday, Harry had just finished getting dressed for the morning and was preparing to head downstairs for breakfast when a pop announced the arrival of Athena's house elf.

"Lord Potter?" Barin asked.

"Yes, Barin?"

"Barin was laundering Lord Potter's cloak," Barin explained. "Found this, sir."

At this, the elf held out his hand and Harry could see that Barin was holding a sealed note that Harry had never seen before. Assuming that it must be safe as nothing had happened to Barin by his touching it, Harry took the note and said, "Thank you, Barin."

The elf nodded, before popping back out of the room, leaving Harry alone in his bedroom once more. Looking at the note in his hand, Harry realized that it was a single sheet of parchment, folded into fourths and sealed with a small dot of red sealing wax. There was no indication as to who it was from, as there was no crest in the wax and the only thing it said was 'Lord Potter' on the opposite side, written in handwriting that Harry didn't recognize. Harry was very curious about what it was, but he'd learned enough from the trainers by now that he knew better than to blindly open communications when you had no idea who they were from. It was possible, he had learned, to charm notes with nasty hexes that didn't activate until the seal was broken.

Heading out to the common room, Harry found Cedric talking with Sirius. At his arrival in the room, Sirius smiled and said, "Hello pup," as Cedric said, "Morning Harry."

"Morning," Harry said. Deciding they might be able to help with the strange note, Harry said, "Um, Sirius, Ric, I need some help. Barin gave me this note." Harry held it up for both of them to see. "He says he found it in my cloak while laundering it. The thing is, I've never seen it before and I have no clue who it's from."

"Let's see it then," Cedric said, as Sirius nodded.

Walking over to where Cedric and Sirius were seated in front of the fireplace, Harry placed the note in the middle of the coffee table as Cedric pulled out his wand and said, "Specialis Revelio!"

After a moment, nothing happened and Sirius pulled out his wand and cast a couple more advanced spells meant to check for dark hexes or curses that the spell Cedric had used wouldn't catch. A few minutes later, Sirius put his wand away and said, "It's clean, Harry. There's no charms of any kind on it."

Cedric nodded his head in agreement, as Harry nodded and picked the note back up, breaking the seal and opening it. It was a short message, but what it said made Harry blush as he remembered the events of the day he'd met the note's sender.

Noticing his godson's reddened cheeks, Sirius grinned and said, "Is it a love note, Harry?"

Before Harry could answer Sirius, Cedric smiled as well and asked, "You have a secret admirer?"

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, the person is making no secret of who they are." Shaking his head, Harry said, "There was something that happened during my meeting with Mr. Cuffe on Wednesday that I didn't mention."

Launching into explanation mode, Harry filled his godfather and friend in on the things he'd left out of the initial recounting of his meeting with Barnabas Cuffe. After a moment, he finished his tale with, "I think Mr. Cuffe dressing in a hurry happened in the time that passed between Jonas announcing me and Mr. Cuffe saying that I could come in."

Cedric's eyebrows shot up, as he asked, "Harry, surely you don't mean that you think Mr. Cuffe was naked in his office before you came in?"

"That's exactly what I think, Ric," Harry answered. "You know those items I mentioned?" Sirius and Cedric nodded. "One of them was a pair of blue cotton boxer briefs and the other a red lace bra."

Sirius burst out laughing at that and after a moment he calmed himself down and said, "So, old Cuffey was having sex with a woman and had to get dressed in such a hurry when you were announced that his lady friend left her bra on the floor and he forgot to put on his own underwear? Ha, ha, that's hilarious."

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, Sirius that underwear did not belong to Mr. Cuffe." At this statement, Sirius stopped laughing and looked at his godson with a confused but curious look. "Once I'd noticed the items, I told Mr. Cuffe point blank that I didn't care what he did at home, but as the owner of the Prophet, I didn't want him doing that on the premises. It's a newspaper, after all, not a brothel. Now, standing on the other side of the desk, he didn't see the items on the floor so he looked mad at me for that comment and was about to say something when I took my wand out of my cane and levitated the items on the floor up so that he could see them. He then blushed and muttered, 'Oh shit,' under his breath."

"You said the underwear didn't belong to Mr. Cuffe?" Cedric asked, a slight blush on his face, and Harry nodded. "How did you know that?"

"I'd like to know that myself Harry," Sirius added.

"From the size of them," Harry revealed. "You see, even before I levitated them, I had the feeling they weren't Mr. Cuffe's, and in my comment before saying the Prophet was a newspaper and not a brothel, I even said as much. After levitating them, however, it became painfully obvious that the boxer briefs belonged to someone with a waist of about 28 to 30 inches, at the most. If I had to guess, though, Mr. Cuffe's waist would be closer to the 42 to 44-inch range. So, they weren't his. A fact that I confirmed moments later when I scanned the room and noticed the only other door in the room. I used the Opening Charm on it and realized it was, as I'd thought, the cloak cupboard. It contained cloaks and two half-naked teenagers, one male, one female, who were the owners of the levitated undergarments."

Shaking his head and blinking a few times, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, Cedric said, "So, Harry, let me get this straight, you interrupted Mr. Cuffe having sex with two teenagers? One of them male? The same Mr. Cuffe, father of six by the way, who been married to his wife for just over 32 years now?"

Nodding, Harry said, "That's about it, yeah. I saw Mr. Cuffe dancing with the same woman at the Opening Ball most of the night, so I assumed it was his wife, but I had no idea how long they'd been married and honestly, that didn't come up. He did confirm that he was married when I asked, though I had no idea that he had five kids other than Jonas."

Cedric nodded and said, "Barnabas Cuffe went to school with my parents and my Uncles Bruce and Tiberius."

"Uncle Tiberius?" Harry asked. He'd never heard Cedric mention that name before.

"Well, you know my Mum is a McLaggen," Cedric said and Harry nodded. "She's the youngest of three. Uncle Bruce is the eldest, then comes my Uncle Tiberius McLaggen, and then my mum, Amelia McLaggen Diggory. Anyway, my Uncle Tiberius was best man at Barnabas' wedding, so, that's how I know how long they were married. Barnabas and his wife were both 17 and fresh out of Hogwarts when they got married."

Quickly doing the math in his head, Sirius was chuckling, a big grin on his face, as he said, "So, that would make Cuffe and his wife 54 years old and now he's cheating on her with a pair of teenagers." After a moment, however, he must have realized what he'd just said and sobered as he asked, "They were both legal, right?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I asked and the boy said he was nineteen, while the girl was eighteen."

"So what happened then, Harry?" Cedric asked.

"I levitated their clothes over to them," Harry replied. "Told them to get dressed and then come out. Had a chat with Mr. Cuffe while they were doing that, telling him that he wasn't to continue using his office for that type of activity. I reiterated that when the two teens came out of the cupboard, saying that I would fire all of them before they could say their own names if I found out they were ignoring my wishes. Afterward, I thought maybe I was a little harsh, but then again, as I found out both of the teens work at the Prophet, so, since I own it, they're all on my payroll." Blushing a deep crimson, Harry added, "And I most certainly am not paying them to have orgies in the Editor's office when they're supposed to be working."

"I would have reacted the same way, Harry," James said. He'd been listening from his frame above the fireplace along with Lily. "I never begrudged people having that kind of fun, but I'd rather they not do it in the workplace when they're supposed to be doing a job that I'm paying them for."

Lily nodded. "I remember Barnabas, but only vaguely. He never struck me as the type to do this kind of thing, but then I didn't know him well and other than the meeting via the mirror, it's been several years since I've had any contact with him."

"Well, after that the teens left and I got down to the actual reason I'd gone to see Mr. Cuffe," Harry said. "Which I've already told you all about." After a moment, a look of realization hit him, however, and Harry added, "One thing I left out though is that on my way out of the Prophet's offices, the young man from Cuffe's office ran into me. He apologized profusely, before disappearing in another direction, but now that I think about it, that must be when he slipped this note into my cloak. I didn't feel him do it, so I never even knew about it until Barin gave it to me."

"Makes sense," Cedric said. "So what does he have to say?"

"I haven't read the entire note," Harry said. "Only the first sentence which told me who it was from. Other than that it's pretty short though." Harry cleared his throat and read the note aloud.

Lord Potter,

My name is Kolin - you met me in Mr. Cuffe's office. I know what you think was going on and for the most part, you were correct, but there's something you don't know. Something I think you really should know, but I don't dare write it down here at work. Could we meet? Say in the Leaky Cauldron on Saturday at about 6 pm? I know you don't know me and your first impression probably wasn't that great, but I hope you'll come and hear me out. I need your help.

"That's all he wrote," Harry said. "What do you think it could mean? Something I should know and he needs my help? And the word 'really' is written much darker than the rest of the words and it's underlined."

Nobody said anything for a moment, before Lily said, in a hesitant voice, "You don't suppose... I don't even want to think this... but, is it possible that maybe this Kolin wasn't a completely willing participant in what was going on in Barnabas' office?"

"What gives you that idea, Lily?" James asked, obviously confused.

"Well, it may be a leap and completely untrue," Lily responded. "But he seems to be saying that there's something more to what Harry thinks was going on in the office that day. Something that he's afraid to put down on paper at work, presumably where someone might see it, and wants to meet with Harry in person to tell him." She paused here and shook her head, "I don't know. I hope I'm wrong."

"I hope you're wrong too, Mum," Harry said. "Cause he asked to meet me last night and I never showed."

Cedric had a thoughtful expression on his face. "If there's any truth at all to what you're thinking Lily... I don't know, but if it was me and I was asking someone for help and they never showed, I think I'd be upset. Or perhaps think they didn't care."

Harry suddenly felt a little sick. "I told all of them that I didn't care what they did in their off hours. If Mum is right and now I never showed up to meet him, I can only imagine Kolin must think that I don't care. I did tell him as much, after all, and threatened to fire him. What am I supposed to do now?"

"First of all, don't panic son," James said. "We don't know for sure yet if anything untoward is going on. Your Mum could be reading too much between the lines." Looking at Lily, he said, "I do hope that's the case, Lils."

Lily nodded. "I hope so too. Not only for that boy's sake but also because if it is true and it gets out, it'll be a huge scandal and that's the last thing Harry needs this soon after claiming his birthright."

"True," Sirius said. After a moment of silence, he said, "If you want to check this out, Harry, I'll come with you."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think I should. If there's anything wrong at the Prophet, I want to know about it."

Sirius nodded, understanding where his godson was coming from. Standing up, he said, "Well, let's go see Athena and see if she'll let us go out and check on this."

Harry nodded as he nodded goodbye to Cedric, before following his godfather out of the room.

-o-0-o-

Athena allowed Harry to go to Diagon Alley to check it out, however, she suggested that Regulus accompany him instead of Sirius. This was mainly because Sirius' face was too well known, so if Harry wanted to keep any sort of anonymity while in the alley, it would be next to impossible to do so with Sirius at his side. Donning the hooded cloak he wore when he visited the Daily Prophet, Regulus took Harry side-along to Diagon Alley and they made their way towards the Leaky Cauldron. They both knew that it was a long shot that this Kolin would still be there. However, they both agreed that checking the Prophet records for Kolin's address should be a last resort, as they didn't want to do anything that might tip off Mr. Cuffe if there was indeed, as Lily feared, anything untoward going on.

Entering the pub, which wasn't all that busy at the moment thankfully, Harry walked over to the bar and asked, "Tom, did you perhaps see a young man here last night around six, who may have seemed to be waiting for someone?" He then gave the bartender a basic description to the best of his memory.

The bartender looked up as Harry spoke. Harry used one hand to pull the hood off his head just enough that his face wasn't hidden in shadow and with his other hand, had a finger to his lips. Tom correctly assumed that this meant that Harry didn't want him to say his name aloud so that the other customers would hear it. Nodding, he said, "Yes, sir, come to think of it there was a young man who fit that description here. He's been in several times, in fact. Works for the Prophet, I believe, and is often sent over to fetch Mr. Cuffe's orders when he opts to have lunch in the office."

"Do you have any idea where I might find him now?" Harry asked. "He was waiting for me last night, but I didn't get the message that he wanted to meet with me until this morning, unfortunately."

"Actually, yes," Tom said. "Around 6:30 last night he ordered a glass of Firewhisky, drained it, and ordered another. He seemed rather upset and kept ordering more until he finally passed out drunk somewhere around 7:30 to 8:00. Was just about to cut him off when he passed out, so, I had my cook help me get him upstairs to one of the vacant rooms, so he could sleep it off. I've been here all day with a clear view of the stairs and I haven't seen him leave, so, as far as I know, he's still up there."

"Could we perhaps have a key to the room?" Regulus asked, from his place next to Harry. "We're concerned for him, especially if he had as much to drink last night as you say he did."

"Normally, I would say no," Tom said. "Not exactly appropriate to be letting just anyone into guests' rooms without their permission and all." Looking at Harry, he added, "However, since he technically never checked in and he is one of your employees, sir, I suppose it would be all right. With him being so young and the amount he drank last night, and now not seeing him at all this morning, I'm a bit worried myself, honestly."

Tom turned and grabbed a key off of a board and handed it over to Harry. "There you go, sir. Room 12. That's the first door to your left on the third-floor landing."

"Thank you, Tom," Harry said. As he turned to leave, Tom cleared his throat and said, "Um, sir?"

"Yes, Tom?" Harry asked.

"I hesitate to even bring this up, but there is the small matter of his bill," Tom answered. "Didn't pay for his drinks or the room. I normally allow customers to pay on their way out, but as far as I know, he never left and was in no condition to pay for anything last night."

"Regulus, could you handle that?" Harry asked of his companion. "I'll reimburse you later."

"Sure," Regulus said, as he pulled out his coin pouch. "Go check on Kolin and I'll be up as soon as I settle his bill."

"Thanks," Harry said before he turned and headed for the stairs. On the third floor, he stopped in front of the door to Room 12 and even though he had a key, he figured he should try knocking first. When there was no response and he couldn't hear any movement in the room, he knocked again and called out, "Kolin?"

After not getting any response for another minute, Harry put the key in the lock and opened the door slowly, calling out, "Kolin? It's Lord Potter." Stepping into the room, Harry saw Kolin lying face down on the bed and said, "Kolin? I'm sorry I didn't meet you last night, but I only just found your note this morning. Can you even hear me?"

Walking closer to the bed, that's when Harry saw a sight that made all color drain from his face. The reason Kolin wasn't responding was because he was lying on the bed, presumably unconscious. His wand was held loosely in his left hand and his right wrist was slashed and bleeding.

"Oh Merlin," Harry said as he raced forward and grabbed for one of the sheets, which he quickly wrapped around the older teen's wrist to try and stem the blood flow. His body was still warm, so, Harry knew he wasn't dead, but that would change if he didn't get medical attention quickly. Remembering the pendant that the trainers had given him upon his arrival at Forest Cottage, Harry fished it out from under his shirt and tapped the center of the stone three times.

About a minute later, there were four pops as the trainers appeared, all with their wands drawn. Athena asked, "Harry, what's wrong? Where's Regulus?"

"I'm right here," Regulus answered as he entered the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that!" Harry exclaimed. "This is Kolin and it looks like he did a Slashing Hex on his wrist."

Rose summoned her staff and hurried over, the gem on her staff glowing brightly as she unwrapped the sheet from the teen's wrist so that she could get a better look at the wound. After a moment, she said, "He's alive, but just barely. You found him just in time, Harry. Any longer and there would have been nothing I could do."

Holding her staff in both hands, Rose held it over Kolin's body, the gem at the top flashing brightly as his whole body began to glow with a light blue aura. Harry could only watch in fascination as the blood still near the wound reversed course and went back into the teen's body before the cut on his wrist began to mend itself. Even his skin, which had paled from the last time Harry had seen him due to blood loss, began to look better. After another minute or so, Rose stopped her spell and said, "He'll live."

"What was that spell you did?" Harry asked. "I've been to the hospital wing several times and I've certainly never seen Madam Pomfrey do anything like that."

Emma nodded, as she looked at Kolin. The look on her face was quite sad, though Harry could understand that since it would appear that he'd tried to commit suicide. In an absent-minded tone, she said, "You wouldn't, as she isn't a mage."

"Emma!" Rose exclaimed, as she cast a disgruntled look at her associate. The exclamation caused Emma to look away from Kolin and her expression changed from sad to sheepish, as she realized her mistake. After a moment, Rose shook her head and said, "There goes my misdirection."

"Misdirection?" Harry asked, as his eyebrows shot up.

Athena nodded and said, "Rose thought that the rest of us had made the clues for our true identities too easy for all of you to figure out. So, she decided to make figuring out whom she was harder by dropping a few false clues which would make you think she's Poppy Pomfrey, while being much more careful about the clues which would suggest who she really is."

"Interesting strategy, Rose," Regulus said with a grin. "And you're right, the others probably did make things too easy. Back when I was a student, I had it figured out in about two days."

"Two days?" Athena asked, shocked, as she turned to her former student. "We did not make it that easy, Regulus."

Regulus grinned, "No, you didn't. I'd say it's because I'm the cunning Slytherin, but the truth is that had nothing to do with it. I just used one of the old Black family spells which allows the caster to see past Glamour Charms." After a moment, his grin widened and he added, "I'm guessing that Sirius forgot all about it."

"You mean you know who they are?" Harry asked. "All of them?"

"Of course, I do, Harry," Regulus said. "And don't look so shocked. I'm one of their past students, remember? You don't think they spent the entire time they were training me Glamoured do you?"

Any response that Harry may have had was cut off by a groan from the bed. The trainers quickly left the room and Harry could hear the faint pops of them Disapparating in the hallway. Kneeling next to the bed, with Regulus not far behind him, Harry asked gently, "Kolin?"

It took a moment for him to say anything, before he asked, "Lord Potter?" He coughed after this, obviously still a little weak.

Reaching into a concealed pocket of his cloak, Regulus pulled a potion vial from within, uncorked it, and held it out to Kolin. "Here, drink this, it'll make you feel better."

"Who are you?" Kolin asked as he noticed Regulus for the first time.

"Kolin, this is Regulus Black," Harry answered. "You can trust him - my family and his are allies, so he won't do anything to harm you."

Kolin still looked a little dubious but grabbed the vial, nonetheless. Downing it, he instantly perked up, as steam shot out of his ears. "Pepper-Up Potion," Kolin said, a note of distaste in his tone, once the steam stopped.

"I'm sorry I didn't meet you last night," Harry said. "I didn't see your note until this morning when one of my house elves found it while he was laundering my cloak."

"I see," Kolin said, as he sat up on the bed, bending his legs upwards and wrapping his arms around them. He winced slightly when his previously slit wrist rubbed against the other wrist, but otherwise said nothing. "I thought maybe you didn't care. I mean why would you? You're a high-ranking and powerful lord who defeated You-Know-Who for Merlin's sake. I'm just an insignificant typesetter at a newspaper, so there's nothing special about me. I don't know why I ever thought you'd help me. You have no reason to, as you don't even know me."

"Kolin, you're rambling," Regulus said in a gentle tone, as he took a seat at the foot of the bed.

"I'm sorry," Kolin said, as he shifted slightly. After a moment of silence, he looked at Regulus and asked, "I don't suppose you have a hangover cure on you do you?"

"As a matter of fact," Regulus answered with a grin, as he reached into the hidden pocket of his cloak and pulled out another vile, which he handed to Kolin.

"Do you have a whole apothecary hidden in your robes, Regulus?" Harry asked, one eyebrow raised, as Kolin uncorked the second vial and downed the potion.

"No, Harry, but I do keep a supply of various potions with me at all times," Regulus answered. "You never know when you might need one. Besides, you know Asterion and I did a lot of traveling," Harry nodded. "Well, sometimes we were going to a place where potions wouldn't be readily available, so I always made sure that I was well prepared."

"I guess that makes sense," Harry said.

"Who’s Asterion?" Kolin asked.

"My son," Regulus answered. "He's about your age actually. I believe Harry said you were nineteen?" Kolin nodded. "Well, Asterion is seventeen."

Kolin looked shocked. "You don't look old enough to have a seventeen-year-old son."

Regulus smiled. "Thanks for that. I admit, I sometimes find it hard to believe myself, as do many others. During our travels, several people thought he was my younger brother." After a moment of silence, he grinned and added, "Of course, there were also people who had a knack for overlooking the familial resemblance and thought he was my lover."

Having seen both Regulus and Asterion, Harry had a hard time believing that anyone could look at them together and think they were a couple. True, Asterion did take after his mother in some respects, but there were still Black family traits that were also present in Regulus. Deciding not to dwell on it, however, Harry turned his attention to Kolin and asked, "So, why did you want to meet with me, Kolin? Your note was a little vague, but from the wording, it almost seemed as if you were implying that you weren't a willing participant in what I caught you doing with Mr. Cuffe and that girl."

Kolin remained silent for a moment, before he said, "That's not entirely true. I was willing," he paused here and then added, "at first."

"What do you mean at first?" Regulus asked.

"The first time Mr. Cuffe made advances," Kolin clarified, as he blushed and added, "I've always been attracted to older, more distinguished men. So, when Mr. Cuffe first made advances on me, I was definitely interested. He isn't exactly my type, a bit older and heavier than I'd usually prefer, but I was still a virgin at the time and my hormones were still doing a lot of my thinking."

"So, when did your willingness begin to fade?" Harry asked.

"It didn't take all that long actually," Kolin replied. "While it was just flirting and touches, I enjoyed it. I hadn't had a whole lot of experience with guys liking me in that way, because I grew up in a small town and there really weren't any men who swung that way as far as I know. That's part of the reason I moved to the UK after I finished school because I was tired of being alone. So, when Mr. Cuffe started flirting with me and making it clear he was interested, I was willing to see where it would go."

Regulus and Harry nodded, giving Kolin encouraging smiles, but remained silent, hoping the boy would continue with his story. It didn't take long. "My willingness to be with him began to fade the first time we had sex. While I don't mind his face so much, I'm not all that crazy about the rest of his body. He insisted on topping me and refused to use a condom. He did use a spell to provide lubrication, thankfully, but even that didn't help much, as he likes it rough. We'd done it about ten times over the course of two weeks and that's when he brought in Chelsea."

"I assume Chelsea is the girl you were hiding in the closet with?" Harry asked.

Kolin nodded. "Yes. I'd known beforehand that Chelsea had a crush on me, just from the way she looked at me and snippets of conversations that I'd overheard. Apparently, Cuffe heard it as well, because he decided to bring her into the fold. I don't know if he thought I was crushing on her as well or what, but he wanted me to have sex with Chelsea while he watched. And by watched I mean watch while he was fucking me. Of course, sometimes he'd also reach around me to fondle her breasts or even kiss her. Before Chelsea entered the picture, he had fondled my equipment a few times while he fucked me, but he never kissed me."

"So, I take it you did have sex with this girl?" Regulus asked.

Kolin nodded. "Yes, several times. Thankfully, whatever Cuffe has against condoms didn't extend to me wearing one, because the last thing I want at this stage in my life is a child. I don't feel anywhere near ready for that responsibility yet. Of course, I'm gay and the only reason I was even able to perform with Chelsea at all was because Cuffe was fucking me. Even though by that point my willingness to continue had faded completely, my body still reacted to the stimulus of him being inside me and I got hard enough to have sex with Chelsea."

"And Chelsea was willing?" Harry asked.

"The first time, yes," Kolin answered. "However, not so much after the next few times. I think she picked up on my body language and knew that I really didn't like having sex with her. And then after about the fifth time in as many days, I was silently crying while doing it. Cuffe didn't notice, since he always takes me from behind, so he couldn't see my face. After we were out of the office, Chelsea pulled me aside and asked me why I'd been crying and I told her. She was a little upset at first, I suppose it's only natural after finding out the person you're crushing on doesn't like you because you're the wrong gender. And I'm sure the fact that we'd had sex didn't help matters, although she seemed to accept the fact that I was only able to perform because I was turned on from being fucked."

Kolin took a deep breath at this and said, "Honestly, I think she didn't like the situation any more than I did. We didn't get into specifics. At least on my part, I was afraid to talk to her because I feared it might get back to Mr. Cuffe." Looking at Harry, he said, "Even slipping you that note had me scared out of my mind. I rationalized, however, that you were Mr. Cuffe's boss and that he couldn't do anything to me if you were on my side. Of course, then you didn't show up last night. That's when I got plastered and thought that maybe you didn't show up because you didn't care. You did say that a few times in Cuffe's office as I recall."

"I never meant it that way," Harry said. "At the time, I didn't realize that you weren't an entirely willing participant in what was going on. All three of you were adults and as far as I could tell, you were consenting adults. So, what I meant was that I didn't care what you did in your homes or anywhere else, really, but that I didn't want you three having sex in the editor's office. I own the paper, so you're all technically on my payroll and I didn't like the idea that three of you were having sex on the premises during work hours, rather than doing the jobs that I'm paying you for. As I told Mr. Cuffe, it's a newspaper, not a brothel."

Kolin laughed at that and said, "Chelsea and I heard that comment from the closet. Despite the situation, we both grinned at that. Not because we found the situation particularly funny, but because we could both picture the look that was surely on Mr. Cuffe's face when you said that. His skin tends to turn an interesting shade of purple when he's angry and his face puffs up."

Harry laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that's about right. It didn't last long though as it went from what you just described as his angry look to what I'd assume was his mortified look as soon as I levitated your underwear and Chelsea's bra into his sight."

Kolin stopped laughing and lifted the side of his shirt to reveal a faint bruise on his skin. It was pretty large and that's the only reason it was even still visible by the looks of it. Gesturing towards it, Kolin said, "This was my punishment for leaving my underwear on the floor. He hit Chelsea, too."

"Is that the only time he hit you?" Harry asked.

Kolin shook his head. "No, there were other times as well. The worst was when I worked up the courage to try and break things off with him. He laughed and said that if anyone was going to end things between us it would be him, not me. He then threw me to the ground and kicked me in the ribs a few times for daring to think I had any right to end our relationship. When he was finished kicking me he pushed up my robes, ripped my underwear off, and proceeded to fuck me harder than he ever had before, while also punching me repeatedly in the back. By the time it was over, my whole back was covered in bruises and my ass was bleeding."

"Harry, you have to do something," Regulus said, a completely disgusted look on his face. "Cuffe is a monster and deserves to be in Azkaban for what he's done."

"I whole-heartedly agree," Harry said, as he stood up, his face looking thoughtful. After a moment, Harry called out, "Tilly!"

Seacliff's head-elf appeared seconds later and bowed to Harry. "What can Tilly do for Lord Potter?"

"Tilly, I need you to go to the Ministry," Harry said. "Tell Madam Amelia Bones in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that Lord Potter requests to see her at the Leaky Cauldron in one hour from now. Tell her to bring with her a team of Aurors that she trusts implicitly." After a moment, Harry bent down and whispered something in Tilly's ear, before adding aloud, "Oh and Tilly, make sure you and Amelia are alone when you deliver my message. Tell her I consider it to be a matter of family business and that I want it handled as quickly and quietly as possible."

"Yes, Lord Potter, sir," Tilly nodded and disappeared with a pop.

"Why one hour?" Regulus asked.

Harry didn't answer, however, as he instead called, "Dobby!"

Regulus and Kolin just looked dumbfounded as a second house-elf appeared in the room. This one, of course, was the strangest house-elf either of them had ever seen, seeing as how it was wearing actual clothing and not a tea cozy. The little elf bowed to Harry and said, "Lord Harry Potter calls Dobby?"

"Yes, Dobby," Harry said. "Can you deliver a message for me?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yes, Lord Harry Potter, sir, Dobby would be most honored."

"Good," Harry said. "I need you to find Lord Erik Bones and tell him to meet me here at the Leaky Cauldron immediately. Be as discreet as possible and don't deliver my message in front of witnesses. It's for his ears and his ears only, Dobby. If he asks what the meeting is about tell him it's family business."

"Yes, Lord Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said with a nod before he popped away.

Kolin looked confused because as a foreign-born commoner, he didn't understand all the intricacies of how Albion's noble families operated. Regulus, however, grinned and nodded his head in understanding. "Very shrewd of you, Harry. I assume you plan on covering your bases with Madam Bones by allying with her nephew first." Harry nodded. "A good plan, Harry, although I would only point out that while that will prevent Madam Bones from revealing anything you don't wish revealed, it won't do anything for the Aurors."

Harry just grinned. "Ah, Regulus, but you saw me whisper something to Tilly, right?"

"Yes," Regulus nodded, not following what the brunet was getting at.

Harry smiled. "I told her to tell Madam Bones that the Aurors she brings should all have been born and continue to live on either my own lands, or those belonging to the McLaggen, Black, or Bones families."

"What difference does that make?" Kolin asked, with both his tone and his face showing total confusion and bewilderment.

Regulus laughed and patted Harry on the back. "Oh, Harry, you're good." Harry grinned at the praise, as Regulus turned to Kolin and said, "Lord Potter is allied with Lords McLaggen and Black, and plans on allying with Lord Bones. By limiting the Aurors to only ones born in his own lands or those of his allies, he can ensure that the Aurors don't say anything they're not supposed to. You see by asking for Aurors who were born and continue to live on one of those lords' lands, one can assume that they'll have a strong degree of loyalty to the local lord. And even if they don't, if their local lord orders them to keep their mouths shut about something and they don't do it, they'll be earning themselves tickets to the dungeons of Seacliff Castle, Kinloch Hold, Arlington Grange, or Thornhill Abbey." Kolin still looked a little confused, so Regulus added, "Those are the family seats of the Potter, McLaggen, Black, and Bones families respectively."

Kolin nodded, but any response he might have had was cut off by the arrival of Dobby, who bowed to Harry and then said, "Lord Bones awaits downstairs, Lord Harry Potter, sir."

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said. "If you would, please escort him up here - Room 12 on the third floor."

Dobby nodded and popped out. Nobody said anything and about two minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Regulus walked over and opened it to admit Dobby and Lord Erik Bones, who looked a bit surprised to see Regulus, not to mention a boy he'd never met lying on the bed. Looking over at Harry, he asked, "What is this about, Lord Potter? This elf said it was family business?"

"First off, please, Erik, call me Harry." Erik nodded before Harry continued. "Now as to that matter of family business, I had Dobby bring you here for, if you're not averse to it, I should like very much for our families to forge an alliance."

Erik was speechless for a moment, before he said, "I'd be happy to do that, Harry, although forgive me this seems rather sudden."

Harry nodded and said, "I know and I admit that certain recent events have prompted me to seek this alliance, but, I assure you that I have only the most honorable intentions. I'll gladly tell you what recent events I speak of, but first..."

"We need to swear the Alliance Oath," Erik said and Harry nodded. Coming over to stand before Harry, Erik held out the hand that bore his family ring. "Shall we?"

Harry nodded, as he took Erik's hand so that the Potter ring touched the Bones ring, as Erik began the ritual. "I, Erik Anthony Bones, Marquis of Waringsford, Earl of Banbridge, Viscount Kinallen, Lord of Thornhill Abbey, and Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Bones, do hereby pledge my house's strength and support to yours, Harrison James Potter, and promise to do everything within my power to assist, protect, and shelter your family, vassals, and friends as if they were my own. From this day onward, your allies will be my allies and your enemies, my enemies. Your secrets will be my secrets and I vow to safeguard them with my life. As our families have stood together before, so shall we stand together again, now and into the future. On my honor, my magic, and my very life, so mote it be."

Harry was glad that Erik had to go first as the Lord of the lower house because truth be told, Harry hadn't known that the Bones and Potter families had been allied in the past and thus would not have known to include the necessary line. As he spoke his part of the ritual, he made a mental note to ask Robert for some more reading material on the Potter family. Specifically the history of any and all alliances the family had entered into so that he'd know which families had, at any time in the past, been Potter allies. As Harry finished, "On my honor, my magic, and my very life, so mote it be," the golden nimbuses of light, swirls of color, and the pulse of magic completed the ritual.

Kolin looked somewhat shocked, as it was the first time he'd ever witnessed an Alliance Oath performed. He'd read about them, of course, and the magical noble families in his home country had something similar, but reading about it and witnessing it were very different. Especially the pulse of magic at the end - Kolin was sure that if he hadn't already been lying on the bed, he would have fallen over from the sheer power of that pulse. He imagined the only reason that Regulus hadn't fallen over was because he'd been expecting it.

It was then that Harry filled Erik in on the situation and to say that Erik was appalled would be an understatement. He couldn't believe that the editor of a respected newspaper would behave in such a reprehensible way. Of course, the fact that Erik's late mother had been best friends with Mrs. Cuffe, who happened to be Erik's godmother, didn't help matters, nor did the fact that Erik's first girlfriend was Abigail Cuffe - Mr. and Mrs. Cuffe's youngest daughter and Jonas' sister. This fact did, however, allow Erik to share his unique perspective on the matter of Jonas.

"I'm not surprised that Jonas helped his father," Erik said. "All six of Mr. Cuffe's children are very loyal to their father, mainly because he's a strict disciplinarian and rules his household with an iron fist. So, it isn't that much of a stretch to say that Jonas is probably afraid of his father, which combined with years of conditioning, he would be willing to do whatever he's told, even though he's in his twenties now. I am, however, amazed that Mr. Cuffe would be engaging in extra-marital affairs to begin with because when I was dating his daughter, he always seemed to be devoted to his wife. Of course, I suppose that could have been an act. Merlin knows I've seen plenty of married couples acting like their bond is rock solid in public and then privately having more affairs than a squirrel has nuts."

Regulus nodded. "Yes, that's very common, especially among pureblooded families where arranged marriages are often entered into. Such arrangements very rarely take such things as love or attraction into account, so, it's very easy to end up married to someone you don't love and aren't even attracted to.  Usually, the new couple will only get together enough times to sire an heir or two and then they'll discreetly start turning to outside sources to fulfill their desires. That's probably why most of Albion's noble families have only one heir because very few of the nobles married for love."

"Well, I'm glad that I'm the head of my family then," Harry said. "Nobody can force me into an arranged marriage."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Erik cautioned, which prompted Harry to give him a questioning look. "While not every marriage that takes place in Albion is arranged by the parents, there is still a good portion that is and it's not unheard of for parents to arrange a marriage for a newborn. Depending on the arrangements made by the parents, some babies are betrothed to somebody the moment they're born. As long as your parents didn't sign a marriage contract with another family, however, you're correct that as head of the family, nobody can force you to marry."

"And if a contract was drawn up before my parents died?" Harry asked as he was overcome with an overwhelming hope that no contract existed that would force him to marry anyone. He made a mental note at this point to make sure to ask his parents' portrait about that as soon as he got home.

"If one exists," Regulus said, "then you'd have no choice but to marry the person, provided of course that you meet the requirements."

"Requirements?" Kolin asked, who'd been quietly following along up until now.

"Arranged marriages often have certain requirements," Erik said. "Dowries to be paid for example. But, there's also usually a gender requirement, especially if a contract is drawn up before the birth of one or both of the children who would be betrothed by the contract. My parents did draw up a marriage contract for me with the Diggory family, but I can't marry Noah or Cedric because we can't have children together. Now, Lord and Lady Diggory did have a daughter after Noah was disowned, but most marriage contracts, the Bones-Diggory contract being no exception, require that the age difference between the two parties to be wed be no more than ten years. So, because I'm nineteen and Lucinda Diggory is only two, I'm saved from marrying her by the fact that I'm seventeen years older."

Kolin looked like he was about to say something, but Harry beat him to the punch with a question of his own. "So, what happens if the contract can't be fulfilled?"

"It gets passed to the next generation," Regulus answered. "One of Erik's sons or daughters, should he have any, would in turn have to marry one of Cedric's sons or daughters. Lucinda's children aren't eligible to fulfill the contract because while she is a Diggory, her children would not be considered to be Diggorys, since they'd carry their father's surname. Noah's children, should he have any, are also not eligible since he's been disowned by Lord Diggory."

"Well, even if Amos did reverse that," Harry said, "I suppose Noah's children still wouldn't be eligible. Cormac tells me that Noah is engaged to Charlie Weasley, so I imagine any children they may have together would be adopted."

It was Cedric who had clued Harry in about Noah's and Charlie's pending nuptials, but Erik and Kolin did not know about the training, so, they might question why Harry would be spending time with Cedric. He also didn't want to risk it getting back to Amos that Cedric even knew about Noah's plans, as that might suggest to the elder Diggory that Cedric was keeping in touch with his disowned brother. All in all, Harry thus felt it was best to say it was Cormac who told him as Amos had no say in whether his nephew had contact with Noah. Add the fact that Cormac was the heir of one of Harry's allies and his housemate at Hogwarts, and he rather doubted anyone would question them conversing with one another.

Kolin cleared his throat at this and said, "You know, I don't mean any disrespect, but I've gotta say that one of the disadvantages I've found since moving here is just how far behind the times you people are."

Regulus grinned and nodded. "Yes, I know what you mean, Kolin. My son and I traveled extensively, so, I know that the differences between the continent and Albion can be quite wide. Of course, it all depends on where one is on the continent as there are some magical communities in Europe which would make Albion look progressive."

"What are you two talking about?" Erik asked as he looked at Regulus and Kolin. The young lord knew that many people would have found their comments insulting, but Erik was not among them.

"There are several places on the continent which are far more progressive than Albion," Regulus explained. "It would be quite a culture shock for many Danish or Scandinavian wizards and witches, for example, if they moved to Albion, as we're pretty far behind them in many areas. One such area which I believe is what prompted Kolin's comment, is the fact that in many of the more progressive countries, it would be almost unheard of for a marriage contract to exist at all. But, if they did, same-sex couplings would be perfectly legal in terms of fulfilling the contract because the use of a spell which allows such couplings to have children is commonly used."

"How does that work?" Harry asked, suddenly curious if Regulus was about to say that with magic wizards could become pregnant.

"It's based on the Muggle process of in-vitro fertilization," Regulus explained. "Which is a non-sexual means of reproduction. In the case of two women, eggs are harvested from both and then the eggs of one of the women are transfigured into sperm, which is used to fertilize the eggs of the other. The fertilized eggs are then implanted into one of the women, who gets pregnant. In men, it's the exact opposite, with the services of a surrogate being used. A surrogate is a woman who agrees to carry a child that's not her own for someone else."

Erik was silent for a few moments, before he said, "Well, I'll be praying to all the gods then that this spell is not adopted here in Albion because that would mean I'd have to fulfill the Diggory-Bones contract and marry Cedric. I do consider him to be a friend, but the male physique does nothing for me, so I have no desire whatsoever to have a husband. Especially since it would mean I'd be celibate for the rest of my life, since I vowed, on my magic, that once I married I would have sex only with my spouse or not at all. Being straight, I wouldn't have any interest in having sex with Cedric, so, yeah, I definitely have no desire to marry him."

Harry found himself quite confused by the sudden surge of anger he felt at the idea of Erik and Cedric getting married. He couldn't understand why their coupling would anger him, but before he could explore his feelings much, a pop announced the arrival of Tilly. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts and concentrate on the matter with Kolin, Harry asked, "Has it been an hour?"

Tilly nodded. "Indeed, Lord Potter, sir. As you requested, Ms. Amelia Bones and a team of trusted Aurors, all of them from lands belonging to you or your allies, have arrived downstairs."

"I'll go downstairs and talk with Madam Bones," Harry said. "Erik, if you'd care to join me?" The young lord nodded his head, as Harry said, "Regulus, if you could stay here and keep Kolin company I'd appreciate it."

"Of course, Harry," Regulus said with a smile.

-o-0-o-

Twenty minutes later, Erik, Harry, and Amelia were sitting in a secluded booth in the main room of the Leaky Cauldron. A series of privacy charms had been erected around the table by Erik and Amelia, and the Aurors made sure nobody got close enough to disturb the trio. Finding out the reason that she'd been summoned, Amelia was appalled at the behavior of Barnabus Cuffe. She wanted him to pay for his crime just as much as anyone, but there was a problem.

"I understand why you wish for Mr. Cuffe to pay for what he's done," Amelia said. "I share that sentiment, Lord Potter, but I'm afraid there's very little I can do to help you. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, as making sure criminals face justice is my job. However, my job is also very public. I'm afraid there's no way that I could secure a conviction for Mr. Cuffe without a trial before the Wizengamot. And being a criminal proceeding, it would require the full Wizengamot to sit in judgment, which means that all one hundred members would have to be made privy to this. Further complicating matters is the Criminal Trial Act of 1670, which states that all trials will either be open to the public or have their records made available to the public. That would not be conducive to your desire to keep this situation quiet to avoid the scandal that would surely follow."

"So there's nothing I can do?" Harry asked.

"Well, you could probably have Cuffe arrested," Erik said, "and thrown into the dungeon at Seacliff. However, while he isn't a noble, the Cuffe family is still an old pureblood line and Barnabas is the family head. Which means you wouldn't be able to hold him for more than six months, a year at the most."

Amelia nodded. "That's true. While there's usually no limits placed on the length of stay for prisoners in the noble dungeons, as the term of imprisonment is left up to the ruling lord, there are special provisions made for heads of families. You can't imprison your fellow Lords, for example, and as Erik just mentioned, there's a limit to how long you could legally hold Cuffe." After a moment of silence, however, Amelia then added, "There may, however, be another option, one that bypasses the limits placed on the noble dungeons."

"What?" Harry asked.

"The Tribunal of the Thirteen," Amelia answered. "Centuries ago, before the formation of the Wizengamot, the Tribunal of the Thirteen was the main judicial body of Albion, where the Lords of the Thirteen Houses would sit in judgment for lesser crimes, which are defined as any crime that doesn't involve people subject to high justice or treason against the realm. Those cases would in turn be heard by His Majesty the King in the Royal Court. Now usually each individual lord would deal with crimes committed on their own lands on their own, but in instances where a person committed crimes on more than one lord's lands or against more than one lord or their family, the Tribunal was called."

Amelia paused here to take a sip of the tea she'd gotten before sitting down with Harry and her nephew, before continuing. "Now, publicly the Tribunal ceased to exist upon the formation of the Wizengamot, but it's still around with the same power and authority that it's always had. These days it's mostly used by the lords for matters of family business that they don't want to become public, as the Tribunal is not subject to the Criminal Trial Act. All cases heard by the Tribunal are sealed and everybody, from the lords themselves to defendants, witnesses, and everyone else who will be a part of the trial in any way take a vow on their magic or their lives not to talk about anything they learn during the trial outside of the Tribunal's meeting chambers. Thus the chances of the public at large finding out about anything revealed during a meeting of the Tribunal is highly unlikely because someone would have to give up their magic or their life to reveal it."

"Why their magic or their life?" Harry asked.

"From time to time," Amelia replied, "it's been necessary for a squib to give testimony in a case being heard by the Tribunal. As they have no magic, they can't very well make an oath on that, so they instead swear on their lives."

Cocking his head to one side, Erik asked, "Why haven't I heard about this body before?"

Amelia smiled at her nephew. "Probably because the last time the Tribunal met was in 1972, which is before you were even born, Erik. The only reason I even know of its existence is because I'm the Head of the DMLE. Since it's possible for the Tribunal to sentence somebody to Azkaban and that prison falls under my department's jurisdiction, the head of the department is made aware of it."

"So do you know how I'd go about calling a meeting of the Tribunal?" Harry asked.

Amelia shook her head and said, "I'm afraid that I can't help you with that, Lord Potter. I know of its existence, but my knowledge of its inner workings is limited. It's a very secretive body, after all, and I'm not the head of a noble family. Erik can't help you as he didn't even know it existed until now," she patted her nephew on the arm as he rolled his eyes and gave his aunt a small grin. "I'd say that your best bet would be to ask one of the other lords, preferably one you trust, who was present for the 1972 meeting of the Tribunal and would hence have more knowledge about it than I do."

"Well other than Erik," Harry said, "I've also forged alliances with my godfather, Sirius Black, and Bruce McLaggen. Sirius was only 13 in 1972 though and he obviously wasn't the head of the Black family back then, so I don't imagine he'd be able to help."

"Bruce McLaggen didn't assume the lordship until 1976," Amelia said. "So, I couldn't say with certainty whether he knows about the Tribunal or not. He hasn't attended a meeting of it, although that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't know anything."

"Well then I don't know who to ask," Harry said. "While allies are a good thing, I've already made three since claiming my birthright. I can't help but think that maybe I should hold off for a little while, simply because three in less than a month might seem a bit excessive to some people."

Amelia nodded. "I would have to agree, yes. Having some idea of the politics involved, I wouldn't suggest forging any more alliances for a few months at least. Maybe even a year."

"Then I don't know who to ask," Harry said. "The only other thing I can think of is my parent's portrait, but Dad was only 12 when the Tribunal last met."

"Of course, that's it!" Erik exclaimed. "Harry, I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. Portraits of the past lords of a family are usually always willing to assist the current lord of their family in any way they can."

"I hadn't thought of that, either," Harry said. "Of course, the only family portrait I've spoken to since claiming my birthright is my parents. I'd planned on talking with some of the others but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Might be interesting though and I'm sure Grandfather Julian would know about the Tribunal, as he was family head from 1947 until he died in 1980, so he would have been present for the 1972 meeting."

Amelia nodded and said, "Indeed. In that case, Lord Potter, I would suggest that you head to Seacliff and have a chat with your grandfather's portrait. Should you require my help for anything else, however, you can send your house-elf again."

"Thank you, Amelia," Harry said.

-o-0-o-

After he met with Erik and Amelia Bones, Harry called for Tilly and Dobby, instructing Dobby to go with Kolin to his home, pack a few things, and then bring him to Seacliff. Kolin tried to protest, but Harry refused to hear it, saying that at least until he could deal with things with Mr. Cuffe, Kolin would stay at Seacliff as his guest. Tilly, meanwhile, was instructed to make sure Harry's double was made scarce so that Harry could visit Seacliff's portrait gallery for a chat with his grandfather. As usual, Tilly was only too happy to serve her Master, and within minutes, she popped back to say that Harry's double was resting comfortably in one of the spare bedrooms and wouldn't awaken until Harry left the castle.

Since Regulus hadn't been added to the list of people who were allowed to Apparate into the castle proper, Tilly took Harry back to Seacliff. Arriving at the castle, Harry went first to the Master's Study and pulled out the castle's guestbook, which was tied into the wards. All he had to do to key someone into the wards was write their name in the book or cross out a name to unkey them. The Potter family ring acted as the book's key, so only Lord Potter could even open the book. It was a system invented by Merlin and was the same system used by all of the houses belonging to the noble families, in addition to the royal family. Merlin hadn't shared his secrets on how to create such a book, however, so wards that weren't cast by Merlin did not use that system. So, Forest Cottage, for example, did not have a book tied to the wards.

Regulus wasn't the only name that Harry added to the book, as he also added in Asterion's name, in addition to a few other names, such as Erik Bones, Nick Ollivander, Dominick Burke, and, of course, his soon-to-be house guest, Kolin Mikaels. Once that was done, he closed the book and had Tilly lead him to the portrait gallery. Stepping into the massive room for the first time, Harry was momentarily taken aback by the sheer number of portraits in the room. He'd seen a large number of portraits before, as there were plenty in the corridors of Hogwarts or even in the Headmaster's Office, but the number there seemed dwarfed by the number here. Looking around the expansive room, Harry guessed that there were well over a hundred portraits on the walls, the witches and wizards they depicted dating back many centuries.

Tilly pointed to the portrait of a man who looked a lot like James, only with a few more lines on his face and more gray in his hair. Beneath the oaken frame, Harry spotted a small golden plaque, on which were engraved the words Lord Julian Nathaniel Potter, 172nd Duke of Granston. Nearby there was another portrait that caught Harry's eye. It was twice the width of Julian's portrait, as it depicted two people. Black hair with small streaks of gray at the temples, their torsos joined together where their shared liver would be, Harry instantly knew who they were, thanks to his father. Allowing his eyes to drift downward to the plaque, his suspicion was confirmed, as it read Lord Nathaniel James Potter, 171st Duke of Granston, and his brother, Sebastian Julian Potter.

Sitting down on a sofa across from the two portraits, Harry nodded to Tilly and said, "Thank you, Tilly, that'll be all."

Having always been something of a light sleeper when he was alive, the sound of Harry's voice in the otherwise quiet room roused Sebastian from his nap, as Tilly nodded and left the room. Sebastian, meanwhile, locked eyes with Harry for a moment, studying him before nodding.

"You're clearly a Potter," Sebastian said.

"Yes, Sebastian, I'm Harrison James Potter," Harry said, as he held up his hand to show the family ring. "Your great-grandnephew and the 174th Duke of Granston."

"You're so young," Sebastian said with a sigh. "May I assume the Last of the Line clause is in effect?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, it is. My parents, James Sebastian Potter and Lily Marie Evans-Potter died in 1981, at the hands of the Dark Lord Voldemort, just before he tried to kill me."

"I feared as much," Sebastian said. "I thought they were crazy to trust in the Fidelius and whatever wards Albus placed around the cottage in Godric's Hollow. Albus is a powerful and brilliant wizard, but he's no Merlin. They would have been so much safer here at Seacliff or even the manors in Brynmoor or Mathry, but Albus convinced them that those would be the first places that Voldemort would look for them. Not that it would have mattered as Merlin's wards would have kept him out."

Harry was silent for a moment, before he said, "Sebastian, I need to speak with Grandfather Julian."

Sebastian nodded as he moved towards the edge of his portrait, pulling Nathaniel with him and waking him in the process, as he reached over into Julian's portrait and shook his nephew's shoulder to rouse him. "Julian, wake up, your grandson and the current Lord Potter needs to speak with you."

"Grandson? Current Lord Potter?" Julian asked before his face fell. "Then James is dead?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. He died on October 31, 1981, at the cottage in Godric's Hollow, along with my mother. Voldemort killed them both before turning his wand on me in my crib and activating Merlin's Last of the Line protections."

Julian closed his eyes. If he was a living person, Harry would have sworn he was blinking back tears, although he didn't know if a portrait could cry. If they could, however, then finding out that your son and daughter-in-law were dead would certainly be a good reason to do so. As Julian remained silent for a moment, obviously trying to compose himself, Nathaniel asked, "If you're the current Lord Potter then I assume it's 1993 now?"

"August 14, 1994, actually," Harry answered, and noticing the confused looks on all three of his ancestor's faces, he added, "I was unaware of my heritage for most of my life. I only just found out about being nobility two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago?" Sebastian asked. "You should have claimed your birthright over a year ago. And what do you mean you didn't know of your heritage?"

"Well, my godparents weren't available to raise me," Harry answered, as he explained why that was. "As for the Diggorys, I suspect they were Imperiused and Obliviated to forget about the role they'd agreed to take in my parents' will - which incidentally has never been read as far as I know. Until two weeks ago I was living with mum's sister Petunia and her family. I know that was against my parent's wishes, but I was placed in their care by Albus Dumbledore the same night that my parents died, so it's possible he didn't know what was in the will."

"What makes you think the Diggorys were Imperiused and Obliviated?" Sebastian asked.

"Robert Higgs and his wife Katherine were," Harry explained. "As was Tilly. That's why none of them tried to find me all these years. But claiming my birthright broke the hold of the magic on Tilly and she helped Robert and Katherine locate me."

"So just how did you finally learn of your birthright?" Nathaniel asked.

"Technically that's a secret under the Fidelius," Harry said, "although the spell didn't prevent me from telling Mum and Dad's portrait when I was in the family vault at Gringotts'."

"A weakness of the Fidelius Charm," Julian said. "It doesn't count portraits as people, so it won't prevent you from telling a secret protected by it to a portrait. Thus, it would be a very wise precaution not to discuss secrets around the portraits of people you don't trust." After a moment of silence, he then added, "I realize that we just met, but I swear on my honor as a Potter that you can trust me."

Sebastian and Nathaniel made similar declarations, after which Harry nodded. "I found out about my heritage and birthright exactly two weeks ago when I left the Dursleys with my mage trainers."

"Mage training?" Nathaniel asked, prompting Harry to nod. "I'm impressed. There hasn't been a mage in the family in several years." Turning towards Sebastian, he asked, "Grandmother on mother's side was a mage, wasn't she?"

Sebastian was silent for a moment, obviously thinking, before he nodded and said, "Yes, I believe she was. We were only five when she died though, so, it's hard to remember much of anything about her."

"You said trainers, so I take it there's more than one?" Julian asked.

"Yeah, there's four of them," Harry said. "All women and all of them are professors at Hogwarts - although I don't currently know who they are. They're testing us by using Glamour Charms and aliases while dropping hints about who they are. It's down to seven possible professors now."

"So who else are you training with? Anyone we might know or recognize the name of?" Nathaniel asked.

"It was originally three others," Harry answered. "Roger Davies, Lord and Lady Diggory's son Cedric, and Robert and Katherine's son, Terence. Two more students were added later, however, in the form of Terence's boyfriend Oliver Wood, and his brother Gavin. Training is taking place at a cottage in the woods not far from Hogwarts on Lord McLaggen's lands. So, I've renewed the alliance with Bruce McLaggen. I also allied with Sirius once the King pardoned him and just today I allied with Lord Erik Bones, the reason for which is why I'm here, to begin with."

Harry then proceeded to fill the three men in on the situation with Kolin and how he was trying to help him by getting Barnabas Cuffe on trial for his crimes, hopefully without a public scandal.

Julian nodded. "Yes, the Tribunal can be called in this instance. The fact that he works for you would be considered reason enough, but the fact that the crime was committed on Diagon Alley also means that it concerns Lord Burke, since that's part of his domain."

"How exactly does the Tribunal work?" Harry asked.

"The short answer is that the Thirteen Lords gather, hear the evidence, and cast their votes," Sebastian said. "Majority rules. Of course, it should come as no surprise that it's more involved than that - unfortunately."

"Sebastian never did like the Tribunal meetings," Nathaniel said with a smile. "He was bored out of his mind most of the time. Of course, I suppose the same held true for most occasions when I was carrying out my duties as Lord Potter and propriety didn't allow him to have his preferred distraction."

Julian shook his head and said, "Father, please, you know I love you and Uncle Sebastian, but my grandson doesn't need the sordid details of uncle's overzealous sex life."

"My memories of it are all I have left," Sebastian said, and then more to himself, he added, "Oh to be alive again or barring that having clothes that weren't painted on."

"Sebastian, it's been over fifty years," Nathaniel said with a shake of his head. "I think it's time you got over the fact that I nixed the idea of us posing nude for this portrait."

"You always were a killjoy, Nathaniel," Sebastian said with a sigh. "Honestly what would have been the harm in allowing me to have a means of having fun?"

"Oh for pity sake," Nathaniel commented. "Fun how? It's not like any of your numerous lovers had nude portraits of themselves done. Unless you were planning on using your hand. Regardless, I'd only remind you that as a portrait you wouldn't feel anything no matter how you went about having the fun you miss so much so I fail to see why it matters that our clothes are painted on."

Giving Harry a look that conveyed how sorry he was, Julian said, "I really am sorry about them, Harry. I love them dearly but sometimes they can get royally annoying."

Harry grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, grandfather. Anyway, about the Tribunal - how exactly does it work?"

"Well, as Sebastian said, the lords gather and sit in judgment," Julian said. "What sets Tribunal meetings apart, however, is that they're completely sealed affairs. That is to say that once a proceeding begins, nobody involved in it is allowed to leave until the proceeding is over. There are dormitory, kitchen, and bathroom facilities attached to the Tribunal's meeting room and meetings can go on for days on occasion, depending on the complexities of the case being heard."

"Huh, so I should plan on possibly being away for a couple of days?" Harry asked and Julian nodded. "I don't know if Athena and my other trainers are going to like that. Could Robert sit on the panel in my place as he does for the Wizengamot?"

Julian shook his head. "No, he can't. The rules of the Tribunal are quite clear on that point. Only the Lords of the Thirteen Houses, or their heirs, are allowed to sit in judgment. Now, unlike the Wizengamot, there is no age requirement, so if a lord wants their heir to sit in their place, the only real requirement is that they be old enough to speak and understand what's going on around them."

"Hmm," Harry said. "Well, that means for sure that Arcturus Lestrange will be voting on his father's behalf since his father is in Azkaban. Illegally or not, I don't see him getting out anytime soon. Although, if you ask me, he deserves to be punished for his role in what happened to Lord and Lady Longbottom. Speaking of which, I guess that means Neville will be sitting on the panel instead of his grandmother."

"Indeed," Julian said. "There can be no doubt that Rodolphus and Bellatrix deserved to be punished, although trying them before the Wizengamot was illegal. I'm somewhat surprised honestly that the king hasn't weighed in on that topic, especially after you got Sirius cleared. I would think that their son would have contacted the crown about their release by now."

"Well, it probably helps that from what I've heard they made no secret of their guilt," Harry said. "Even if their incarceration was illegal, would the king release them when they admit their guilt?"

"That's a hard question to answer," Nathaniel said, as he finally stopped arguing with Sebastian and turned towards Harry. "I never met King Edward, so I have no idea how he'd react to any situation."

Julian nodded and said, "Yes, that is a tough call to make. I have met the King, but on both occasions, he was only an infant being shown off at court by his proud parents. With his entire family being murdered by the Death Eaters, one would assume he isn't going to show leniency to people who freely admit being Death Eaters, but assumptions are dangerous."

"So, how do I go about calling for the Tribunal to meet?"  Harry asked.

"There's a stone in the fireplace mantle of the Master's Study here at Seacliff," Sebastian said. "It's easily identifiable since it's made of black marble, while the rest of the fireplace is made of oak. You simply press the family ring against it and say, 'I, Harrison James Potter, Duke of Granston and Lord of Seacliff Castle, call a meeting of the Tribunal of the Thirteen to commence on this date.' This message will then be magically passed on to the other lords almost immediately."

"Courtesy, however, dictates that you not call for an immediate meeting," Julian said. "It would be considered highly rude to force the other lords or their heirs to drop everything and gather for a meeting with no advance notice. Generally, it's best to give at least a week's notice so that everyone has some time to put certain affairs in order if the meeting runs more than a couple of hours. Now, since you're undergoing mage training, I think it would be wise for you to clear this with your trainers before calling for the meeting."

"True," Harry said. "Tilly!"

Tilly popped into the room within seconds and asked, "Lord Potter calls Tilly?"

"Please go ask Athena if she could come over here," Harry said. "There's no emergency, but I do need to speak with her and it's a conversation best held here at Seacliff."

Tilly nodded and popped out of the room, only to return a few minutes later, holding Athena's hand.

"What did you need Harry?" Athena asked.

"Well, first off, some introductions are in order," Harry said. "Athena Gracey, meet my grandfather, Julian Potter, my great-grandfather, Nathaniel Potter, and my great-granduncle, Sebastian Potter."

Athena curtsied to the portraits and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The portraits returned the sentiment before Harry explained the reasoning for his asking Athena to come to Seacliff. With some help from his ancestors, the basics of the Tribunal were explained to Athena and after a moment, she nodded and said, "Well, the next two weeks are out I believe. You have the appointment to get your Apparition license on Monday and the reading of your parents' will is scheduled for Tuesday. The rest of the week you'll have more classes which you'll need to continue your training."

Harry nodded. "True and the week after that is the curse check at Hogwarts that the governors are all going to be present for, the Quidditch World Cup, Charlie and Noah's wedding, and the Founder's Ball."

"I think I can spare you for a few days the last week of August, Harry," Athena said after a moment. "Hopefully, however, your business with the Tribunal will be completed by the third of September."

"Why the third of September?" Julian asked.

"Because Harry's other trainers and I have scheduled a vital component of his training to occur on September 4th," Athena answered. "It's a ritual that requires some time to set up, so, we've been preparing for that. It would be preferable not to postpone it any longer than necessary as we've already done that once now. We're also beginning to run out of material that we can teach Harry and the others without the ritual being performed."

Mentally going over the dates in his head, Harry said, "If I schedule the Tribunal meeting for August 29th, I'd have six days before the ritual." Turning to Julian, he asked, "Do you think six days is enough?"

Julian was silent for a moment, before he said, "Barring any other business from the other lords, I'd say six days should be enough. It's a fairly open and shut case."

"Well then I guess I'm off to the study," Harry said as he stood up. "Feel free to join me if you wish."

Julian, Nathaniel, and Sebastian nodded as they left their frames and headed for the study, as Harry left the room with Athena following. Arriving at the Seacliff Master's Study a few moments later, Harry took a moment to look around. The room was paneled in a rich oak with matching floors. A large desk stood in one corner, along with four large bookcases full of books which he remembered Robert mentioning were the family journals kept by the past Potter lords and other family members. In front of the fireplace, there was a comfortable-looking red leather seating group, with an expensive-looking chessboard setup on the coffee table.

Taking a deep breath, Harry walked over to the fireplace placed the Potter ring on the black marble stone inset in the mantle, and said, "I, Harrison James Potter, Duke of Granston and Lord of Seacliff Castle, call for a meeting of the Tribunal of the Thirteen to commence on 29 August 1994."

As soon as Harry finished his sentence, the edges of the stone glowed brightly, as the message was sent to the other lords, most of whom would no doubt be wondering just why Harry had called for the Tribunal to meet. They'd find out soon enough.

-o-0-o-

Harry looked around the room in awe. He was currently standing in his castle's library which made the library at Hogwarts look cramped by comparison. The room was built into one of the castle's towers, so, it was a round room that if Harry had to guess was about eighty feet wide. Most of the walls were covered by floor-to-ceiling bookcases which measured fifteen feet high, thus requiring the track near the ceiling which had rolling ladders connected to them. The room also wasn't constrained to a single floor, as there were five floors which were accessible by a collection of wrought iron spiral staircases on either side of the massive white marble fireplace. Harry couldn't help but grin as he thought about Hermione's reaction to this room. He did not doubt that to his bookish friend, this room would, hands down, be her personal version of Shangri-La.

He'd arrived at Seacliff on the morning of Tuesday, August 16th, 1994, after Athena had gone ahead to put a sleeping charm on his double and move it out of sight. According to Tilly, it had been moved into one of the spare bedrooms in the wing of the house that had at one time housed Sebastian Potter's harem of lovers. That particular wing of the house was only accessible via a hidden door in the family wing of the castle and thus it was one of the safest places to put Harry's sleeping double because none of the people coming to the castle today could accidentally stumble upon anything they shouldn't. The reason for the visit was that they'd scheduled the long overdue reading of James' and Lily's wills and had thus invited everyone mentioned in the documents to come to Seacliff at noon.

Walking around the massive room, Harry ran his hand over the spines of some of the books and read their titles as he passed. There was a large collection of books on every topic he could think of, but one particular title caught his eye and that was Hogwarts: A History. He had never had any interest in reading the book that Hermione had brought up so many times over the years. However, the reason that it caught his eye now was because there was more than one copy of the book on the shelf he was currently looking at. Counting them, he soon realized that there were, in fact, twenty-two copies of the book sitting side by side and he couldn't help but be a little confused by the fact that some of the copies were much thicker than others.

"Robert?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry?" Robert asked as he walked over to the young lord from where he'd been helping Michael Davies prepare the large oak conference table in the center of the room for the will reading. Ragnok had replied almost immediately to Harry's missive that Gringotts didn't need to check out Michael Davies, as he would, have been on the shortlist that Gringotts would have sent to Harry if he'd requested it. So, with that knowledge in mind, Harry had Robert contact Michael Davies to hire him as the official solicitor of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Michael was shocked, humbled, and honored by the request, as he had never worked for any of the noble families before. He looked forward to doing so however and had immediately accepted the position.

"Why are there twenty-two copies of Hogwarts: A History?"

"Because there's twenty-two editions," Robert answered.

"Twenty-two editions?" Harry asked. "My friend Hermione has mentioned the book several times, but she never said it was that long."

Shaking his head, Robert said, "I think you're thinking of volumes, Harry. Each copy you see on that shelf is completely self-contained. However, as you also probably noticed some of them are thicker than others. The reason is because the book has been updated and republished twenty-one times since the first version."

Carefully taking the first copy of the book from the shelf, Robert held it out for Harry to see. It had a brown-leather cover with golden gilt pages and under the title were the words 'by Helena Ravenclaw'.

"Helena Ravenclaw?" Harry asked. "Is that any relation to Rowena?"

Robert nodded. "Yes, Harry. Helena is Rowena's daughter and she still roams the halls of Hogwarts."

"What? How could she possibly be roaming the halls of Hogwarts? Surely Rowena's daughter is dead by now?"

Robert smiled. "Yes, Harry, Helena died centuries ago, however, that doesn't mean that she isn't still around."

A look of realization hit Harry and he said, "Do you mean she's one of the ghosts at Hogwarts?"

Robert nodded and said, "Yes, Harry, Helena is one of the Hogwarts ghosts - in fact, she's one of the more well-known ghosts. Of course, the fact that she's Helena Ravenclaw goes unnoticed by most people as it hasn't been mentioned in Hogwarts: A History since the third edition and she isn't known to be all that talkative to people not in Ravenclaw House, but Helena is Ravenclaw's Grey Lady."

"Wow, I guess you learn something new every day," Harry said. "But why are there so many editions?"

"Helena wrote this first edition of the book in the year 907," Robert explained, "which was fifty years after the school was founded in the year 857. Since then, the Board of Governors has hired an author to update the book every fifty years. Now, the vast majority of copies of Hogwarts: A History are self-updating. That is, there's a spell cast on them so that when a new version is written, the book automatically updates itself to the most current version. This is why bookstores, such as Flourish and Blotts, never stock more than one or two copies of the book on their shelves at any one time. Being self-updating, once you've bought a copy, you never have to do so again unless you lose it or it gets badly damaged, so it's not a very big seller."

Harry nodded. 'That makes sense.' After a moment, however, he asked, "But, if the book is self-updating why do I have twenty-two versions of varying lengths?"

"Because the first fifteen copies of each print run of the book are exempt from the self-updating charms," Robert revealed. "Every time the book is updated a copy is given free of charge to each of the Lords of the Thirteen Houses, the Hogwarts Library, and the royal library. Thus all of the lords, like yourself, have a copy of every edition, as does the king. Hogwarts, however, does not have a copy of every edition anymore because back in the eighteenth century, Headmistress Dilys Derwent was chosen by the board as the author who would take on the task of updating the book.

"So, she went about writing the eighteenth edition of Hogwarts: A History, which was published in 1757. It was the first and last time that the board opted to allow a sitting headmaster to update the book because as soon as her version came out, Headmistress Derwent removed all the earlier editions from the Hogwarts library. However, instead of moving them to the Restricted Section as is usually done when a book is removed from the shelves in the main library, the headmistress instead destroyed the previous editions that Hogwarts had been given. Since then, whenever a new edition was written, the previous one was locked up in the headmaster's office. Of course, part of that is also because the governors decided to make it appear to muggleborns and the muggle-raised that Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley are the only wizarding shopping areas in the country."

"Is there any significant difference between the editions?" Harry asked.

"Oh there's definitely differences," Robert replied. "How much of a difference depends on the author who wrote a specific edition, as they tend to reflect the author's personal biases. Authors from Slytherin House, for example, tend to portray Salazar Slytherin as a brilliant and talented wizard, easily the most powerful of the four founders, while Godric Gryffindor is generally portrayed by them as an extremely stupid and exceptionally weak wizard. One of the Slytherin authors even says that's why you have to be a minimum of level six on the power scale to attend Hogwarts - because if it was any higher, Godric wouldn't have been able to attend the school as a student."

Harry, being a proud Gryffindor, couldn't help but feel just a bit upset over this news, as he didn't like the thought of the founder of his house being maligned that way. "So, the book isn't the true history of the school?"

"In many ways, no, it isn't," Robert answered. "Many of the authors of the later editions have simply duplicated the previous edition, making whatever changes are necessary to fit their own beliefs. Gryffindors, for example, portray Godric in a very complimentary light, while Salazar is branded as an evil and vile coward. Hufflepuffs, on the other hand, try to be fair to everyone. Once they've made the changes to the previous edition that they view as being necessary, they then will usually simply add a section covering the fifty years between editions and call the book finished."

"What about Ravenclaws? What do they do?" Harry asked as he noticed that his seneschal hadn't mentioned the house of learning among his examples.

"The governors haven't selected a Ravenclaw to update the book since the ninth edition, written in 1307," Robert said. "This is mainly because the author was by far the most verbose of all the past authors, trying to cram as much information as they possibly could into the book. That particular edition of Hogwarts: A History was the reason that the Featherlight Charm was invented, in addition to a charm that makes a book appear to be slimmer than it is. You see, Harry, while most editions run about 1,000 to as many as 3,000 pages, the ninth edition of Hogwarts: A History is just over 27,000 pages long and without the Featherlight Charm would weigh well over a hundred pounds."

Harry could scarcely believe his ears. '27,000 pages long and weighing over a hundred pounds?! It should be illegal to write a book that long.' Aloud he asked, "What in Merlin's name did they do? Include a day-to-day account of what happened over the centuries since the founding?"

Robert grinned as he carefully placed the original edition of the book back on the shelf. "I haven't read it personally, but from what I've heard, that wouldn't be too far off."

Harry shook his head, but said nothing, as Tilly popped into the room at that moment and said, "Lord Potter, the first of the carriages has arrived out front."

"Do you know who's in it?" Harry asked.

Tilly nodded. "Albus Dumbledore, Lord Diggory, Lord Crouch, Lord Malfoy, and heirs of Lords Ollivander and Burke."

If he hadn't been told why beforehand, Harry might have wondered why Bartemius Crouch or Lucius Malfoy would show up at Seacliff for the reading of his parents' will, or even why Lords Ollivander and Burke would send their heirs in their stead. As it was, however, he knew that generally all thirteen family heads, or a representative of their choice, usually their heir or seneschal, attended the readings of the wills of the past heads of one of the other houses. Even if they weren't mentioned in the will, it was a tradition dating back a thousand years that they'd be allowed to sit in on the reading, because a past Lord could make a decision or bequest in their will that could affect, either directly or indirectly, one of the other lords, even if the lord themselves wasn't specifically named. Therefore it was seen as a common courtesy to allow them or their chosen representative to sit in so that they would know and could be prepared if any of the terms did affect them.

Not quite ready to face Dumbledore and wanting more people around when he had to, Harry nodded and said, "Show them to the drawing room and offer them refreshments. Once everyone else has arrived, you can show them into the library."

"Yes, Lord Potter," Tilly said with a nod of her head before she disappeared.

Turning to Michael, Harry asked, "Are you ready, Michael?"

"Yes, Lord Potter," Michael said.

"Michael, when it's just us, you can call me Harry."

"Of course, Harry," Michael said.

"You've studied the instructions from Gringotts'?" Harry asked.

Michael nodded, "Yes, Harry, I have. I will refrain from reading the sections that the goblins suggest leaving out." Picking up a folder, he said, "This is a list of the bequests - if you'd care to peruse them before the reading so that you know what's coming?"

"Thank you," Harry said, as he sat down in the large and ornate chair at the head of the table that was reserved for the Lord Potter. It very much resembled a throne, as it was constructed of solid gold, instead of wood, with a back that extended up from the seat by about eight feet. It was not uncomfortable, however, due to a thick cushion of red brocade accented with gold and silver stitching, which was carried up the back of the chair, except for the top two feet which bore a large depiction of the Potter family coat of arms. This particular chair was not usually in the library and was normally kept down in the Seacliff vault, but it was brought upstairs for the reading of the will as it was believed necessary to set Lord Potter apart from everyone else.

Harry looked over the bequests and when he was finished he nodded at Michael, at which point the solicitor said, "Okay, now, Harry, the reading of a magical will is something of an ancient ritual. After each bequest, I will fall silent and it will be up to you as Lord Potter to indicate whether or not you want the bequest to go through or be denied."

"Okay," Harry said, already having some idea that he had the power to negate bequests, and having looked at them, he knew that he'd be negating more than one.

"If you want the bequest to go through, you need to say 'Sic fiat,'" Michael explained. "That's 'so let it be' or 'so mote it be' in Latin."

"Sic fiat," Harry tried, wanting to get the pronunciation just right.

Michael nodded. "Good, Harry. Now, to deny a bequest you say 'The instruction is denied', which is 'Instructionem negatur.'"

"Instructionem negatur," Harry repeated, again paying close attention to his pronunciation, being careful to say it just as Michael had.

Robert smiled. "I think he's got it, Michael."

"Yes, I believe he does," Michael said. "Now, Harry, did you have any other questions?"

"Actually, yes," Harry said. "I noticed that several of the heirs of the other lords and even Lord Erik Bones got bequests in my father's will. Why is that?"

"That's a holdover from the war, Harry," Robert said. "The war had destabilized the national economy, so many of the noble families, especially those who were allied, left bequests to their allies' heirs and other children, to make sure they were provided for, should the worst happen due to the war. Now, once the war ended and the economy stabilized, many of the lords most likely removed those provisions from their wills as they were technically no longer necessary."

"Sadly, your parents didn't survive the war," Michael added, "so they never took those provisions out. So, it's up to you, Harry, you can let them go through or you can deny them. If you do deny them, the lords in question, who will know what they were for, will not hold it against you."

"And the reason Lord Bones gets a bequest along with the others," Robert said, "is because, at the time the will was written, he was still the Bones heir."

"And why does Noah get a larger bequest?" Harry asked.

"Because at the time the will was written," Robert answered, "the Diggorys were considered to be the Potters' closest ally, which is why Lord and Lady Diggory were entrusted with your care should Sirius and Alice not be able to take you in. Noah was the Diggory heir back then, as he wasn't disowned until 1991, so, that's why he gets a larger bequest than Cedric does."

"On that issue, Harry, what would you like me to do?" Michael asked. "It will likely not please Lord Diggory to hear Noah referred to as 'Noah Diggory', as when he was disowned he was forbidden to use the family surname. He calls himself 'Noah Kirke' now, so, I can read it as that, if you wish."

Harry thought for a moment before he shook his head negatively and said, "No, read it as it's written. I don't agree with his decision to disown his son just because Noah fell in love with someone he didn't approve of. I also outrank Amos Diggory, so if he doesn't like it, he's just going to have to deal with it."

"As you wish, Harry," Michael said with a smile, which conveyed his approval of Harry's answer. Robert smiled and nodded as well.

-o-0-o-

Forty-five minutes later, Tilly popped back into the library to inform Harry that everyone mentioned in the will had arrived, as had all the lords or their representatives. She also informed him that King Edward had sent his seneschal to observe the proceedings, which didn't come as much of a surprise to Harry, as Robert had told him beforehand that it wasn't uncommon for the King to send a representative to will readings, especially when it was the will of someone as important as the former Duke of Granston.

Settling down once again on the throne at the head of the table as Robert took the seat to Harry's left and Michael took the seat to Harry's right, Harry said, "You may begin showing them into the library now, Tilly."

"Yes, Lord Potter," Tilly said, as she popped out of the room. A few minutes later, the double doors into the massive room opened and Tilly said, "This way, please."

One by one, the Lords of the Noble Houses or the representatives they had sent began filing into the room. The lords who had come in person were Amos Diggory, Lucius Malfoy, Bartemius Crouch, Sirius Black, Callum McKinnon, Bruce McLaggen, and Erik Bones. Arcturus Lestrange was present, of course, representing his father, and Nick Ollivander and Dominick Burke were representing their grandfathers.  Harry also spotted Marcus Flint, presumably there to represent his father. Unlike normal, however, Marcus did not give Harry a mean look, but then Harry rather assumed that was because the elder Slytherin did not want to join his housemate in the dungeon. Lastly, Harry spotted Neville, but he was accompanied by an elderly woman Harry had never met who was not Augusta.

Robert must have noticed the questioning look on Harry's face, as he leaned over and whispered, "I'm sorry, Harry, it slipped my mind. Augusta Longbottom sent word that she was feeling under the weather today, so she sent Neville in her place. Though since he's not old enough to Apparate, that's his great-grandaunt, Callidora Black Longbottom, that's with him."

Harry nodded, but otherwise remained silent, as he went back to watching the people entering the room. Following Albus Dumbledore into the room there were a few people that Harry didn't recognize, but assumed were representatives of the various charities that were listed among the bequests. Upon Harry's request, Robert had also seen to it that Professors Filius Flitwick and Minerva McGonagall were present, even though they were not mentioned in the will. Harry, however, had his reasons for wanting them to be present. The last person to enter the room was a young man with brown hair that judging from his fancy clothes and the pin with the Pendragon crest on the lapel of his robe, Harry had little trouble in guessing was Albus' grandson and the King's seneschal, Brian Dumbledore.

Once everyone was seated around the table, Harry said, "Welcome everyone to Seacliff Castle. We are gathered here for the reading of my late parents' will, so without further delay, I will turn things over to my solicitor, Mr. Michael Davies."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Michael said, as he opened the folder in front of him and said, "This is the Last Will and Testament of the late Duke of Granston, His Grace James Sebastian Potter, and his wife, the late Duchess of Granston, Her Grace Lily Marie Evans Potter, both residents of Seacliff Castle, in the City of Highever, Duchy of Granston, Albion. Both Lord and Lady Potter were determined to be of sound mind, memory, and understanding at the time of their signing of this instrument, which is dated 12 September 1980 and renders all past wills and codicils so written by them to be invalid."

Pausing for a moment, Michael then said, "There were no provisions made in this document which would in any way adversely affect any of the other noble families, and as usual, there are some provisions which are sealed as family business and are only for the eyes of the current Lord Potter. So, as per the wishes of the deceased and Lord Potter himself, I will now move forward with reading the bequests the deceased left, starting with those of His Grace the Lord James Potter, which will be followed by those of Her Grace the Lady Lily Potter."

Michael turned a page in the folder in front of him and then read, "To my best friend, Sirius Orion Black, I leave the sum of 500,000 Galleons and four bottles of Old Ogden's Gold Label Firewhisky, which I trust he will greatly enjoy."

Before Harry could say anything, however, Sirius spoke up. "Harry, I know why James left me that money, but I truly don't need it. I'm sure you could find a better use for it."

"My father wanted you to have it, Sirius," Harry said.

"I know he did, Harry, but the reason is no longer valid," Sirius said. "He wanted me to have it because I was disowned when I ran away from home and came to live with your father and his parents. Since my access to the Black vaults was suspended, James wanted to make sure that I would have enough money to survive, but as Lord Black, I have full access to the vaults and no longer need James' money. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate the thought, but I still believe you can find a better use for it."

Harry remained silent for a moment, before he said, "As you wish, Sirius. You will take the firewhisky with my compliments," Sirius nodded. "Robert set up a fund for the founding of the James and Lily Potter Memorial Home for Wizarding Orphans and deposit in it the 500,000 Galleons that were bequeathed to Sirius."

"Yes, Your Grace, I shall see to it," Robert said.

"Sic fiat," Harry said, and then motioned for Michael to continue, so he moved on, as he read, "To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, to fund our mutual love of fireworks, I leave the sum of 500,000 Galleons."

Dumbledore was smiling and looked like he was about to say something when Harry said, "Instructionem negatur."

"What?" Dumbledore asked as the smile fell from his lips. "Harry..."

"I believe I've already told you that you are to refer to me as Your Grace, Albus," Harry said.

"Your Grace, all I have ever done is try to watch over and protect you," Albus said. "And you thank me by denying me a bequest that your late father, may the Gods bless his soul, wanted me to have?"

"And just how, pray tell, have you been protecting me, Albus?" Harry asked. "By denying me any knowledge of my heritage?"

"I cast the wards around your relatives' house which have kept you safe all these years," Albus said, and seeing that Harry looked like he was about to say something, Albus hastened to add, "And I really do wish that you would heed my advice and go back to your relatives' home, where you are safer."

"Safer?" Harry asked as Albus nodded. Meanwhile, several of the other people around the table had raised their eyebrows or were sporting other indications of their confusion. "I fail to see how. Or are you going to once again try and claim that I would be safer protected by the wards that you cast? Safer than I am right here, in my own home, protected by the wards that I'm the master of? Wards which were cast by Merlin himself? Are you trying to imply that you have greater power and skill than Merlin, Albus?"

Before Albus could say a word, Brian Dumbledore, his voice laced with disdain, said, "Oh come on, old man, you know that it isn't even remotely possible that Lord Potter would be safer behind your wards than he is behind Merlin's. And the thought that you are more powerful than Merlin is laughable. If you actually think that, you're stupider than I thought. And as for Lord Potter denying you your bequest, according to the ancient laws and traditions of this land - laws you swore to uphold when you became Chief Warlock, I might add - he has every right to do so. So stop trying to guilt him into changing his mind and do us all a favor: shut up."

Albus looked like he was ready to pull out his wand and hex his grandson six ways to Sunday, but he apparently thought better of it and instead took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

Using the silence to his advantage, Harry said, "Robert, add the money that would have gone to Albus to the fund for the orphanage." Robert nodded and Harry motioned for Michael to continue, which he did. "To St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, I leave the sum of 250,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

The St. Mungo's representative smiled and thanked Harry, who nodded.

"To The Fund for the Families of Fallen Aurors," Michael read, "I leave 250,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To my good friend, Peter Pettigrew, I leave the sum of 250,000 Galleons," Michael read next, prompting Harry to say, "Instructionem negatur," and once again directed that the money be placed in the fund for the orphanage.

"To my good friend, Remus John Lupin, I leave the sum of 125,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To my seneschal, Robert Michael Higgs, for his years of loyal service, I leave the sum of 30,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To my seneschal's wife, Katherine Anne Higgs, for her years of loyal service tending the Seacliff greenhouses, I leave the sum of 30,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To my seneschal's son, Terence William Higgs, for being one of the cutest and most entertaining toddlers I've ever met," Terence turned red at this, as several people grinned, "I leave the sum of 15,000 Galleons, plus an additional 15,000 Galleons in trust to be used towards his education. Should anything remain in the trust following the completion of his education, he may use it as a down payment towards his first home."

Harry grinned at Terence as he said, "Sic fiat."

"To my close ally's heir, Noah Andrew Diggory, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 25,000 Galleons."

Even as Harry was saying, "Sic fiat," Amos Diggory was turning purple with rage, as he shouted, "I object! There is no such person, there never has been such a person - my heir is Cedric."

"Lie to yourself if you wish, Amos," Harry said. "However, you and I both know that Cedric is not your first-born son and we further know that at the time this will was written, he was also not your heir." Turning to Robert, he added, "Robert, see to it that Noah, who now goes by Noah Andrew Kirke, receives the bequest with my compliments and best wishes for his future."

Robert nodded and said, "Yes, Your Grace."

When it looked like Amos was about to argue further, Harry gave him a stern look and said, "As Duke of Granston and Lord of Seacliff, I order you, Taleford, not to say another word during these proceedings. Do I make myself clear? Nod once for yes."

Amos looked nearly apoplectic with anger, but he nodded once, nonetheless, as there wasn't anything else he could do, seeing as how he was only the Marquis of Taleford and a guest in a higher noble's home. Of course, even as a higher lord, had they been in a public place, Harry wouldn't have been able to order Amos to be quiet, but within the walls of Seacliff Castle, he could, and if he was completely honest with himself, took great pleasure in doing so.

"You may continue, Michael," Harry said, as the solicitor nodded and moved on to the next bequest.

"To my close ally's second heir, Cedric Jeremiah Diggory, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat," Harry said, and noticing that a vein in Amos' forehead looked about ready to burst, as he was probably still angry about Noah being mentioned and the fact that Cedric was getting less money than him, he called out, "Tilly!"

"Lord Potter calls for Tilly?" the little elf asked, as she appeared nearby.

"Yes, Tilly, please go to the potion stores and get Lord Diggory a Calming Draught," Harry said, as he turned to look at the man in question and added, "I'm afraid he seems rather upset and I fear for his health."

"Yes, Lord Potter," Tilly said as she popped away, only to return a moment later, appearing on the table in front of Amos and holding out a potion vial to him which was marked 'Calming Draught.'

"Drink up, Amos - I wouldn't want you to have a heart attack in my library," Harry said with as much sincerity for the man as he could muster.

Taking the vial from Tilly, Amos uncorked it and downed the contents, before handing the empty vial back to the elf who quickly disappeared. Waiting a moment for the potion to take effect, Harry then motioned for Michael to continue.

"To my ally's heir, Cormac Duncan McLaggen, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

Bruce nodded his head and said, "Thank you, Lord Potter, though, with respect, you do realize you didn't have to make good on that bequest?"

With a nod of his own, Harry said, "I'm aware of that, Bruce, however, I decided to do so anyway."

"Well, then, I thank you again, Lord Potter," Bruce said. "And I will make sure that Cormac sends you a letter of thanks."

Harry nodded, before he said, "Michael, the next bequest please."

"To my ally's heir, Neville Preston Longbottom, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Neville said with a smile.

"You're welcome, Neville," Harry replied with a smile of his own.

"To my ally's heir, Gareth Nicholas Ollivander, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

Harry and Nick exchanged smiles and nods, as Michael read, "To my ally's heir, Erik Anthony Bones, to ensure that he is provided for in these troubled times, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"And finally, to my son and heir, Harrison James Potter, whom I can only hope has succeeded me as Lord Potter after I died of a ripe old age, I leave the remaining 4,000,000 Galleons, plus an additional 1,250,000 Galleons in trust for his first-born son."

"Sic fiat," Harry said, with a slight waver in his tone, as he wished that his father had lived to a ripe old age.

"That concludes the bequests of His Grace the Lord James Potter," Michael said, as he turned another page in the folder in front of him. "I will now read the bequests of Her Grace the Lady Lily Potter."

Michael paused here to take a sip from the glass of water that had been provided for him, with an identical glass at each seat around the table, before he read, "To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for the creation and funding of a Tuition Assistance Fund for underprivileged muggleborn students, I leave the sum of 750,000 Galleons in trust and ask that the fund be overseen by Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This fund should be used to pay up to 50% of the tuition costs each year, for five muggleborn students whose families cannot afford to pay the full tuition cost. Yearly audits of the finances of the families who are getting this assistance will be conducted to determine if they still qualify for the assistance."

"Instructionem negatur," Harry said, as he held up his hand to forestall any further comments and added, "The fund will be created as per my mother's wishes, however, it will instead be overseen by Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall who will decide which five students each year will receive the assistance, while Gringotts' goblin Scarclaw, will manage the monetary side of the fund to ensure its continued growth, as well as conduct the yearly audits. I further stipulate that there will be no interference or input of any kind from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."

Some of the purebloods in the room didn't necessarily like the idea of a tuition assistance fund for muggleborns, however, many of those same people took great pleasure from Harry's amendment, as it showed he had as little faith in Dumbledore as they did. Or at least, that's how they chose to see it. Dumbledore, meanwhile, frowned at Harry and gave him a reproachful look over the tops of his half-moon spectacles.

After a moment's pause, Harry then said, "You may continue, Michael."

Michael nodded and then read, "To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for the creation and funding of the Scholarship for Charms Excellence, which shall be awarded to fourth-year and older students seeking to become Charms Masters, I leave the sum of 500,000 Galleons, which shall be overseen by Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I further propose a contest to determine who will get the scholarship each year. There will be two categories, one award for the Youngest and another for the Most Skillful, with the winner of each being awarded 1,000 Galleons. Furthermore, there should be two honorable mentions for each category, each being awarded 500 Galleons."

"Instructionem negatur," Harry said. "The scholarship fund, along with the contest, shall be set up exactly as my mother wished, however, the contest for its' awarding will be overseen and run by Charms Professor Filius Flitwick, who will choose the winners each year, while Gringotts' goblin Scarclaw shall oversee the monetary side of the fund to ensure its continued growth. And as in the Tuition Assistance Fund for Muggleborns, I further stipulate that there will be no interference or input of any kind from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."

Brian was looking particularly pleased the more Harry spoke against his hated grandfather, while the look on the headmaster's face got sadder and sadder. While the headmaster had originally been seated with his back straight and head held high, his shoulders had now sagged and his posture had become more crooked, as he silently tried to guilt Harry into changing his mind. It was a futile attempt, of course, as Harry had no intention of doing so.

Moving on to the next bequest, Michael read, "To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, to fund our shared love of fireworks, I leave the sum of 500,000 Galleons."

As they had before, some of the people in the room looked confused about the wording and mention of fireworks. There were a few people at the table who knew what it meant but did their best to keep their faces impassive and free of any hint that they knew what it was about to avoid any questions they couldn't answer. Harry also knew what it was about, of course, as his parents' portrait had told him so, but he didn't trust Dumbledore to use the money for its intended purpose.

Needless to say, it also came as no surprise to anyone at this point when Harry said, "Instructionem negatur." At which point Harry paused to consider what to do with the funds that wouldn't be going to Dumbledore. Making up his mind, he then said, "I direct that the bequest be split equally between the Tuition Assistance Fund and Charms Scholarship Fund, which were previously set up."

"To my good friend, Remus John Lupin, I leave the sum of 125,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, I leave the sum of 75,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To the Highever Museum Magical Artifacts Recovery and Restoration Fund, I leave the sum of 50,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To the Perendale Fallen Witches Fund, I leave the sum of 50,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To the Ayesleigh branch of Potions Addicts Anonymous, I leave the sum of 50,000 Galleons."

"Sic fiat."

"To Neville Preston Longbottom, the son of my good friend Alice Longbottom, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons and a photo album from our Hogwarts years that she helped me to compile and create."

"Sic fiat."

"To Asterion Orion Black, the son of my good friend Marlena McKinnon, I leave the sum of 10,000 Galleons and a photo album from our Hogwarts years that she helped me to compile and create."

"Sic fiat."

"And finally, to my beloved son, Harrison James Potter, who I can only pray will grow up happy, healthy, and safe from the horrors of this world, I leave the sum of 2,250,000 Galleons, with an additional 2,250,000 Galleons in trust for any and all children he will hopefully have in the future."

"Sic fiat," Harry said, as he once again did his best to keep his composure.

Closing the folder, Michael said, "That concludes the bequests of Her Grace the Lady Lily Potter."

"Thank you, Michael," Harry said. "I'd like to thank all of you for coming today. I never really had the chance to know my parents, but I think I've finally gotten some closure today. In the coming months, I look forward to not only starting another year at Hogwarts but also look forward to leading the Potter family to new heights of greatness and doing whatever I can to assist my allies and friends in doing the same for their own families. Now, at this time I would invite you all to join me in the drawing room for tea and refreshments."

-o-0-o-

Harry led the way from the library to the drawing room, which was equally as impressive as the library in its' own ways. Not quite as large, perhaps, but still no less grand. The floors were made of polished dark hardwood in a herringbone pattern, with the same dark hardwood paneling on the walls. A large stone fireplace dominated one wall and was flanked on either side by a huge stained glass window, both of which depicted the Potter family coat of arms. Above the fireplace was a large painting of the south lawn of the castle, which was dominated by one of the many formal gardens that surrounded the estate, although this one was set apart from the others in that it contained the largest and most impressive fountain on the grounds.

The guests began mingling as one of the kitchen elves stood on a stool near an elegant mahogany sideboard fixing tea in whatever way the guests requested. There were also platters of crumpets, scones, and various other small snacks laid out that a few of the guests helped themselves to.

Harry, meanwhile, walked over towards the fireplace and stared for a moment into the flames as he tried not to look as out of place as he felt. Having only been a lord for just over two weeks, he was still adjusting to the fact that this was his life now. Growing up with the Dursleys he'd never thought for even a fraction of a millisecond that he'd one day find himself standing in a room as grand as this. Or that he'd be able to honestly say he owned a castle. Even after attending Hogwarts for the last three years, it had still come as a shock to find out about his heritage as one of the highest nobles in the land.

"Lord Potter?" a voice asked behind him and Harry turned to find himself face to face with Brian Dumbledore. "We haven't been formally introduced - I'm Brian Dumbledore."

"King Edward's seneschal," Harry said with a smile as Brian nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Brian replied with an easy grin. "Especially after the way you treated my grandfather during the reading and here I thought I was the only one who could see him for what he really is."

"And what's that?" Harry asked, curious how Brian would explain it, although he had some idea already.

"A meddling old man who can't keep his nose out of other people's business," Brian said. "Not to mention being a murderer."

"That's a very serious charge, Brian," Harry said.

Brian nodded and said, "Yes, but I know he did it. Deep down he knows it, too, even if he does refuse to acknowledge it, although I suppose that's how he copes with the guilt of killing his own daughter. And for what? So that he wouldn't have to share credit for the discovery of the uses of dragons' blood?"

"You have my condolences on the loss of your mother," Harry said. "I know only too well how much losing a parent hurts. As for why I did what I did in the reading, well, I have my reasons." He fell silent for a moment and then said, "At any rate, please do pass on my sincerest thanks to His Majesty for pardoning my godfather."

"Of course, Lord Potter, of course," Brian said. "His Majesty was quite upset when he found out that the head of one the oldest noble families had been thrown in prison without even a semblance of a trial. So, he was only too happy to do what he could to reverse such a gross miscarriage of justice."

Meanwhile, not far from the fireplace, there were a few Victorian-era sofas and chairs, in one of which sat Callidora Black Longbottom. Her great-grandnephew Neville stood nearby.

"Aunt Calli?"

"Yes, Neville?" Callidora asked.

"I might be getting my events mixed up," Neville said, "but isn't it a tradition after a will reading of a family head for the attendees to visit the family mausoleum and pay their last respects to said head?"

Callidora nodded. "Yes, Neville, it is. I'm sure Lord Potter will get to it, all in good time. He's observed all the other traditions regarding the reading, so I don't see why he wouldn't observe this one as well."

Harry, meanwhile, not standing that far away and there being a momentary lull in his conversation with Brian, had little trouble hearing what Neville and Callidora were talking about. 'A tradition to visit the family mausoleum? Why am I just now hearing about this?'

Excusing himself from Brian as politely as possible, Harry sought out Robert and Michael and pulled them aside in a secluded corner of the large room. As an added precaution he surreptitiously pulled out his wand and cast a Silencing Charm, before he said what he'd overheard Neville and Callidora speaking of. For his part, Michael, who had never worked for one of the noble families before hadn't even been aware of the tradition. He'd studied up on what was needed for the will reading itself but had never thought to look into what happened after the reading. Robert, meanwhile, was quite upset with himself for allowing such a detail to escape him. He had, after all, originally been Lord Julian Potter's seneschal for the last ten years of his life before becoming James' seneschal. Thus, he had been present for the reading of Lord Julian's will and should have remembered.

Harry wasn't mad at either of them, however, a fact which he hastened to point out, before he said, "Where is this family mausoleum?"

"Here at Seacliff," Robert answered. "It's located in one of the formal gardens about three miles east of the house. There's a stone building that has a small chapel in it, along with the stairs that lead underground to the actual mausoleum. The Potter family ring can act as a portkey to it," at which point Robert informed Harry how to activate the portkey. "Every single member of the Potter family since the days of King Arthur is interred there, although I honestly couldn't tell you if your parents are. The last clear memory I have of entering it was in 1980 when your grandparents were interred."

Harry was quiet for a moment before he spotted Remus talking with Sirius on the other side of the room. He knew that Sirius was in Azkaban not long after his parents died and thus might not know, but he hoped that Remus might know, so he said, "Michael? Could you please go over and quietly ask Remus and Sirius to join us? Don't mention what it's about, just that I need to speak with them."

"Of course, Harry," Michael said, as he left the confines of the Silencing Charm, only to return a few moments later with Remus and Sirius.

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Remus asked, with a concerned look on his face.

The look was mirrored on Sirius' face as he said, "Yes, you look troubled - what's up, pup?"

Explaining what he'd overheard, Sirius nodded and said, "Yes that is the tradition. I'd assumed we'd be headed there after tea."

Remus shook his head. "You'd be paying respects in the wrong place if you did."

"So, mum and dad are not in the mausoleum?" Harry asked and Remus shook his head. "Where are they?"

"In the graveyard at Godric's Hollow," Remus answered. "When You-Know-Who attacked you that night, the rebounded Killing Curse didn't just destroy his body. It also leveled the cottage you were staying in. As the only survivor of that night, who was only an infant, it was judged more important to get you to safety than it was to search the rubble for your parents' bodies. Then by the next morning, the Muggle officials in Godric's Hollow had cordoned off the ruins, believing the house to have been destroyed due to a gas leak. They cleaned up the mess, of course, and found your parents' bodies."

"So what happened then?" Harry asked.

"They tracked down the only living family member they could find," Remus answered. "That was, of course, your Aunt Petunia, who as next of kin authorized the burial in the cemetery at Godric's Hollow. I tried to stop it, but the Muggle authorities wouldn't listen to me, because I wasn't the next of kin."

Harry was silent for a moment, before he said, "This tradition with the mausoleum, is it necessary that they be in there? I mean could we just take everyone down there and let them pay their respects to an empty coffin?"

"Sarcophagus, actually," Robert said. "James and Lily would each have their own, with a statue of them erected at the head of it. As for allowing everyone to go down there to pay their respects, I suppose nothing is stopping you from doing it, but if any of them ever find out that they paid their respects to a pair of empty sarcophagi they will not be pleased. They might well be so insulted that they'd refuse to deal with you or the Potter family for years. You'd be breaking and in their minds mocking one of the oldest traditions there is."

Sirius nodded. "I would have to agree with that assessment, Harry. Albion holds its traditions sacred, so to flout one of the oldest traditions we have would not be wise."

Harry paused to think for a moment. He supposed that he'd need to get his parent's bodies moved to the family mausoleum, at some point. If every member of the family for over a thousand years was interred in the same place, it just didn't seem appropriate that they weren't. But, at the same time, knowing that he could talk with them thanks to their portrait, Harry didn't feel right about disturbing their remains without getting their opinions on the matter first. Decision made, he said, "Tilly."

The elf appeared within seconds and said, "Yes, Lord Potter?"

Seeing as how Michael was Roger's father and had given his permission for his son to enter mage training, he already knew that the training was taking place. He hadn't known until he was hired as the Potter family's solicitor that Harry was training alongside Roger, but now he did. Athena felt safe in the knowledge that between the Fidelius and solicitor-client privilege, which was further backed up by Michael swearing an Oath of Loyalty to Harry, which as a side effect meant that Roger had now done so as well, that he could be trusted with full knowledge of the training.

"Tilly, I need for you to go to Forest Cottage," Harry said, "and get the copy of my parents' portrait that was created so they could watch the Quidditch game we played on Roger's birthday. Bring it here and install it as quickly as you can in the portrait gallery."

Tilly nodded and said, "Yes Lord Potter."

As the elf disappeared, Harry looked at the others and said, "I think my parents probably should be moved to the mausoleum, but knowing I can speak to them, it somehow doesn't seem right to disturb their remains without their approval."

Remus nodded and said, "Yes, I can understand that, Harry." Robert, Michael, and Sirius expressed similar thoughts.

It didn't surprise anyone that Tilly was back within minutes to inform Harry that the portrait of his parents was now hanging in the gallery with the other Lords Potter. Excusing himself for a few minutes on the pretext of some urgent family business, Harry made his way to the portrait gallery to talk to his parents. James was especially upset when he found out that his remains were not resting with his ancestors and Lily, knowing how important it was to her husband, was also not pleased. Thus, Harry resolved to have his parent's bodies moved to the family mausoleum as soon as possible, but that did nothing about the predicament he found himself in now.

James and Lily knew about the ancient tradition regarding the people attending the will reading paying their respects following the end of it. Neither of them had mentioned it to Harry, however, because as James' anger clearly showed until they had been informed otherwise, they had both thought they'd been interred in the mausoleum. James and Lily had both been reluctant to leave Seacliff behind and live in hiding in a tiny cottage in the predominantly Muggle village of Godric's Hollow. However, at the time they'd trusted Albus Dumbledore, in retrospect, perhaps a little too much, and thus had done as he'd suggested.

Sebastian reiterated that he'd always thought it was a stupid idea because Dark Lord or not, Voldemort was not powerful enough to circumvent the ancient wards of Merlin. The same wards that, as Lord Potter at the time, James was the master of. Being the master of the wards granted several powers, not the least of which was full control over who had access to the areas the wards protected, but also the ability to forcefully eject anyone whom they did not want on their lands. Thus, Voldemort would never have been able to get close enough to kill James, and Lily, or try to kill Harry if they'd all just stayed at Seacliff.

At that revelation, Harry did question how it was that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had managed to kill the royal family, seeing as how the royal properties were also protected by Merlin's wards. It was Nathaniel who then explained that King Charles had always been a firm believer in the idea that to be an effective ruler, one had to know their people. And to know their people, he believed that they should have access to their king. He also had been a bit too trusting of man’s nature and believed that the power and authority of the crown would be enough to protect him.

Sebastian further hypothesized that King Charles had taken it for granted that his family had been on the throne of Albion for over a thousand years. Many Dark Lords had risen in that time, but none of them had ever even attempted such a thing as the large-scale eradication of the royal family, so, the thought that Voldemort would carry out such a plan had never entered into his mind. Thus on the fateful day that ended up being his last, King Charles was in the middle of holding court and as they usually were during that time, the wards around Castle Camelot were opened to allow all comers who might wish an audience with the King.

Harry exited the gallery to find Robert, Michael, Remus, and Sirius waiting for him. As Harry approached, Remus erected a Silencing Charm and Sirius added the Muffliato spell to make doubly sure that they wouldn't be overheard.

"Mum and Dad were not pleased to find out they're not in the mausoleum," Harry said. "Remus, Sirius, is there a spell that could be used to move them? As in move them today without going through the necessary legal channels with the Muggles for an exhumation?"

Michael, who was authorized to work in both the Magical and Muggle worlds, nodded and said, "A legal exhumation could take weeks or longer and frankly we don't have that kind of time. Not with a room full of people expecting to pay their respects today."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, I know a spell that'll work. We can move the bodies and there'll be no outward sign that the graves were disturbed, so the Muggles will never even need to know about it. I'll need help though."

"I'll go with you," Remus said. "I know James would want to be with his ancestors, so, if I can help make that a reality, I will."

Harry nodded. "Thanks. I'll go back to the drawing room with Robert and Michael and then once you get back, we can take care of this tradition."

Remus and Sirius nodded as they turned and headed for the Apparition Chamber, while Robert, Michael, and Harry headed back to the drawing room.

-o-0-o-

Upon returning to the drawing room, Robert and Michael walked a few paces away from Harry to give him some privacy while Dominick and Nick came over and Nick said, "Welcome back, Harry."

"Thanks, Nick," Harry said with a smile.

"I take it you handled that matter?" Dominick asked. "Nothing too serious, I hope."

Harry shook his head and smiled. "No, nothing I couldn't handle. Things do crop up though, especially in my case, I suppose. Robert has done his best, but there are certain things he couldn't do, so I'm afraid I've got a bit of a backlog that I'm still trying to catch up on."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. As his heir, I've had to help Grandfather administer his lands, and running a Dukedom can be a lot of work, especially when there's a Marquisate and an Earldom along with it that also needs attention."

"Yeah, that's true," Dominick said. "I've also helped my grandfather with the family lands and it doesn't get any easier when it's a Marquisate, Earldom, and Viscounty. And I don't even want to imagine the work involved when there's a backlog of over a decade of the type of issues that require the lord's personal attention."

"I'm just hoping I can finish it all before school starts," Harry said. "Robert assures me that we should be able to get it done and then he'll only need me on the weekends, but I wonder sometimes."

"Are you looking forward to Hogwarts, Harry?" Nick asked.

"In some respects, yes," Harry said. "I'm looking forward to seeing some of my friends again, although I do wonder how this nobility thing will play out. I know all of my wizarding-raised friends must have known about it, even if they didn't ever say anything to me, but this is going to catch the muggle raised among my friends by surprise, I imagine."

"Yeah it might," Dominick said. "Depending on their reactions, it might also be a good or possibly bad thing that you'll be getting your own room."

This was news to Harry and it showed on his face. "My own room?"

Dominick nodded. "Yeah, Harry, you're the Lord of your house. That means that you will sometimes need privacy to carry out Potter family business. As such, Hogwarts is required to give you your own room. It'll still be in Gryffindor Tower and your bed in the fourth-year boy's dormitory will likely remain, allowing you to choose where to sleep. But you'll have the private room should you need or want it."

"Similar provisions are also made for heirs," Nick revealed. "When I was at Hogwarts, I also had a private room, although I also had a bed in the dormitory with my male Hufflepuff yearmates, so I could choose where to sleep. It was nice to be able to get away, on occasion, however. You may also consider this to be a plus - the teachers, including your Head of House and the Headmaster, do not have free access to your private room. They have to ask your permission to enter, just as everyone does, and you do have the right to say no."

Harry could see how that could be useful in the coming year. True, he personally would not be at Hogwarts, but he was sure that his double would find the room useful. Especially if the Headmaster tried to make life at Hogwarts difficult to try and get back at Harry for voiding the bequests his parents had left for the man. Considering how insistent he continued to be about him living at the Dursleys, Harry did not doubt the possibility that once at Hogwarts, the Headmaster would try and use his authority to put Harry in his place. Not that it would work though, since as one of the school governors, Harry was Albus' boss and thus if the man was half as wise as he was thought to be, he wouldn't push Harry too much. If he did, Harry might be forced to go to the other governors and suggest they get rid of him.

With a grin, Dominick added, "Don't know how useful you might find it right now, Harry, but I suspect that as you get older, you'll find yourself especially grateful for the private room as it does a great job of facilitating the making of certain connections that most other students sneak off to the Astronomy Tower for."

Harry tried not to let the blush he felt trying to rise show on his face. He was still a virgin since he was sure that his hand did not count in terms of that, so he did find the idea of bringing somebody to his room to hook up a bit embarrassing. So, hoping to turn his embarrassment back on Dominick, he said, "Take your girlfriend in there much, did you?"

Dominick did blush, ever so slightly, as he shook his head and said, "No, we weren't together back then, but I still found uses for the room with other people."

Before Harry could say anything further, Sirius and Remus entered the room and nodded discreetly at Harry. "Excuse me, guys, I need to have a word with my godfather."

"Of course, Harry," Nick said, as Dominick nodded and the two of them walked away.

Going over to Sirius and Remus, Harry spoke in as soft a voice as he possibly could as he said, "It's done then?"

"Yes, Harry," Sirius confirmed. "It's done."

"Good," Harry said, before he made small talk with Sirius and Remus for a few minutes, before turning to the room at large and clearing his throat. He soon had the attention of everyone in the room as he said, "Now that we've enjoyed some tea and refreshments, as is tradition, I would now invite you to join me in the Potter family mausoleum to pay our final respects to my late parents."

There were several nods around the room, especially from some of the more fanatical purebloods, who, while they did not necessarily like the fact that Harry was a halfblood, were at least happy to see him showing respect for the long-standing traditions of their world. There was, at least, one confused look in the room, however, and that was Albus Dumbledore, since he knew that James and Lily had not been interred in the mausoleum. He allowed himself a small grin, as he realized he'd now have the chance to get back at Harry for denying him the one million galleons in total that had been left for him, not to mention the scholarship funds, which had he been in control of would have lasted only a few years, before they sadly ceased to exist due to some honest mistakes and bad investments. Of course, in reality, those funds would have been siphoned off to Dumbledore's personal vault, just as the bequests for "fireworks", otherwise known as the code for the Order of the Phoenix, would have been.

At Harry's nod, Remus and Sirius each grabbed one of Harry's arms, as Harry said, "Now if you will also please grab on to Remus, Sirius, or someone else who’s touching them, and by extension me, I will activate the portkey to the mausoleum."

Giving everyone a few moments to form a chain of contact, Harry then raised the hand that the Potter family ring was on and then grasped the ring between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand, as he said, "Adduce me sepulchris de meorum abavorum" which roughly translated meant, 'Lead me to the graves of my ancestors' in Latin. Within seconds of the words leaving Harry's lips, the Potter family ring glowed and everyone disappeared from Seacliff's drawing room.

-o-0-o-

Moments later, everyone reappeared just inside the doors of the small building that served as the above-ground section of the Potter family mausoleum. It was a circular room, roughly fifteen feet wide with polished black marble floors and white marble walls. There was an altar on one side of the room, with a five-foot-tall golden candelabra on each side of it, the candles which had magically lit as the group appeared in the room. Behind the altar, there was also a large stained glass window that followed the common motif at Seacliff of depicting the Potter coat of arms.

Harry led the way to the stairs, as the group proceeded down into the depths of the mausoleum in single file, as candles held in golden candelabras attached to the walls lit as they passed, illuminating the grey stone walls and floors. At the bottom of the stairs, there was an antechamber of sorts, where a pair of large oak doors were set into the far wall. The doors had no visible knob or traditional lock, but there was a small circular indentation which Harry knew was for the Potter family ring. Removing the ring from his finger, Harry grabbed the lower band and pressed the side of the ring depicting the Potter crest into the indentation in the door. After a moment of silence, the sound of tumblers moving could be heard and within moments the two great doors split apart to reveal a truly cavernous room beyond.

As the group entered the room, more candles lit, revealing a truly staggering number of stone sarcophagi, at the heads of which was a life-size statue of the person, or in some cases the people, who rested inside of them. Some of the sarcophagi were double-width so that they could hold two people, namely those members of the Potter family who were, like Nathaniel and Sebastian Potter, conjoined twins. As the group passed through the generations of Potters, the dates slowly going up from the days of King Arthur, Harry counted a total of fifty double-width sarcophagi, suggesting that at least fifty of his ancestors over the last one thousand plus years had been in the same position as his father's grandfather and granduncle.

Finally reaching the 1980s, Harry led the group over to the pair of stone sarcophagi that now held his parents' remains. Like all the others in the room, they were elaborately carved and decorated with platinum, gold, and various jewels. A grave robber would truly be in heaven, seeing all the riches that were on display, but, then again if a robber did get into the mausoleum, then they actually would be in heaven in short order, since there were several ancient magical protections which would ensure that anyone who entered to plunder the mausoleum's riches would not be leaving alive. Allowing his eyes to drift upwards from the sarcophagi to the statues, Harry was momentarily taken aback by the perfection of the likenesses of his parents. If he didn't know better he'd say that the statues were his parents, who like the several people in his second year, had simply been petrified.

All was silent for a few moments as those gathered began to quietly mutter prayers and other respectful words to the deceased. The somber and respectful silence was broken, however, when Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "I'm afraid that Lord Potter is deceiving all of you."

Harry spun around on his heel to face Albus, as Lord Crouch asked, "What do you mean, Dumbledore?"

"I happen to know for a fact that James and Lily Potter are not interred here," Albus answered. "They were laid to rest in the cemetery in Godric's Hollow where they died."

"Is this true, Lord Potter?" asked Callidora Longbottom.

Shaking his head, Harry said, "It is absolutely not true." Then casting a hard and angry look at Albus, Harry added, "I realize that you may be mad about me exercising my legal right to void the bequests left to you, but I do not take kindly to your insinuation that I'm deceiving people. My parents are interred here, Albus. Do I have to have their sarcophagi opened to prove it?"

Albus was just about to say 'Yes,' when Lucius Malfoy shook his head and said, "That won't be necessary, Lord Potter. There is a spell which can be cast which will tell us if the sarcophagi are occupied and if so by whom without opening them or disturbing the remains inside." After a moment of silence, he added, "I know the spell and would be willing to cast it, with your permission, Lord Potter."

While Harry silently questioned Malfoy's motives in offering, he realized that it might be possible to call the results of the spell into question if he or one of his allies cast it. So, with a nod, Harry said, "You have my permission to proceed, Lucius."

Nodding, Lucius twisted the head of his snake-headed cane and removed his wand from within, pointing it at the sarcophagi and muttering a few words under his breath that Harry couldn't hear. Within a few moments, swirls of white light appeared around the sarcophagi, before the heads of the statues moved ever so slightly, as the eyes blinked open. Then much to Harry's surprise, the statue of his father spoke, in his father's voice, and said, "Here lies the remains of His Grace James Sebastian Potter, The Duke of Granston, The Marquis of Brynmoor, The Earl of Mathry, Lord of Seacliff Castle, and Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Born March 25, 1960, Died October 31, 1981, age 21."

The statue of Lily Potter, also perfectly imitating Lily's voice, now said, "Here lies the remains of Her Grace Lily Marie Potter, nee Evans, The Duchess of Granston, Lady of Seacliff Castle, and Head-Consort of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Born January 30, 1960, Died October 31, 1981, age 21."

Once both statues had spoken, they reverted to their previous state as the swirls of light disappeared and Lucius put away his wand. "The spell does not lie. The sarcophagi are occupied by the late Lord and Lady Potter."

"Impossible!" Albus shouted. "I've visited their graves in Godric's Hollow personally."

Harry sighed. "Albus is correct in his assertion that my late parents were laid to rest in Godric's Hollow."

"So you admit that you're deceiving everyone?" Albus asked in a triumphant tone.

"I'm admitting nothing, Albus," Harry said. "I merely said that my parents were laid to rest in Godric's Hollow. However, as soon as I became aware of the existence of the family mausoleum, I had them moved here, where they rightfully should have been all along. And, Albus, I would point out that had you bothered to share what you knew with me, I would have had them moved sooner. But, that isn't your style, is it? No, you prefer to keep secrets from people, even when it's information that you know they should have."

After a pause, he added, "I can't help but wonder though, Albus, just how many secrets were you keeping from my parents when you convinced them to leave the safety of Seacliff's wards and place themselves in hiding under the Fidelius Charm in a small cottage in a Muggle village behind wards that you cast? And you wonder why I refuse to return to my Muggle relatives' home, as you've repeatedly suggested? My parents trusted in your wards to protect them, Albus, and as they are lying here dead, way too young, it did not work out well for them. So why in Merlin's name would I make the same mistake?"

Albus remained silent at that, as several people nodded their heads in agreement with what Harry had just said. There were a few people who looked torn between supporting Harry and supporting the Headmaster, but they remained silent as Harry said, "Now I suggest we go back to paying our last respects to my parents in the quiet, dignified, and respectful way that they deserve."

-o-0-o-

To be continued.