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Chapter Text

Harry may not have had his wand when he entered the courtroom, but he still felt the magic as it sealed the doors shut and wards locked into place. It reminded him a bit of entering Hogwarts the first time, how the magic had felt against his skin. He held out a hand and touched the magic against the door tentatively, smiling softly when the magic pulsed against his palm. A man in red robes led him to a chair in the center of the room and encouraged him to sit. Harry nodded his thanks, rolling his eyes when the man looked at him in shock at the gesture. 

Fudge droned on about the purpose of the hearing, making his displeasure and disapproval of Harry known through his tone. Harry made sure to sit up straight and give the Minister his full attention. He knew he wasn’t at fault, but after what had happened when the notice arrived, well, he had his own bone to pick. 

All that the Aurors, Shacklebolt and Tonks, had done when they came by was inform him of what was going to happen; meaning Arthur Weasley was going to pick him up and take him to the Ministry the day of the trial and he should stay out of sight as much as possible. Dudley was resting in his room when they came by, having been given some meds at the hospital and Aunt Petunia was fawning and fretting over him with every sigh and snore. These Aurors had shown up, told him everything was going to be fine, and left him with his very angry Uncle. He was glad that he was decent with glamor charms, otherwise he’d draw more attention, and he didn’t want that at all.

“Did you knowingly use magic in the presence of a Muggle?” Fudge asked acerbically. 

“Yes-” Harry started to answer, but clamped his jaw shut when the Minster started talking over him again.

“And did you do so knowingly breaking the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery?” Fudge continued, ignoring his half answer.

“Yes-” Harry tried again, groaning inwardly and clenching his hands as the man spoke over him again. 

That’s when he finally looked around the room. Each Witch or Wizard carried themself with an air of self-importance. Each appeared to either be a wealthy member of society or a Department Head, if he had to take a guess. Which meant this was a full-on trial like he’d seen in the pensieve during fourth year. But, unlike in the memory, these people were not giving him an opportunity to defend himself. This wasn’t a trial at all. Only in pretense. This was a sentencing for claiming that Voldemort was back. He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, but it made too much sense. There had been little pieces in articles he’d read over the summer alluding to him and Dumbledore losing their minds, and it seemed that it was now the popular opinion about him. 

Harry took a deep breath and let it out and just let Fudge talk to everyone around him. He didn’t care anymore. He’d thought the wizarding world was better than being with his relatives, but it wasn’t. It was more impossible expectations, and more punishment for if he didn’t do it the way they wanted it done. 

“Mr. Potter, are you too good to even give basic respect during your own hearing?” Fudge demanded, and Harry finally looked at him. He met his eyes and saw how angry and afraid the man was.

“I’ve no reason to respond, sir. This is no hearing. This is a sentencing. You’ve all already made up your minds about what happened with the two words I said, and I already know that you’re ready to snap my wand and send me back. I may not be much, sir, but I’m an expert at rejection. So why defend myself?” Harry replied evenly. He didn’t say anything angrily, didn’t alter his tone, nothing. He kept a flat, calm, even tone, because he just didn’t care anymore.

“What do you mean, Heir Potter?” A woman asked curiously.

“Who?” Harry asked confusedly, looking around the room. “Do you mean me?”

“You are Heir Potter, are you not?” Another man scowled. “Son of James and Lily Potter, last of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter?”

“I am the son of James and Lily, but I don’t understand what all the rest of that means.” Harry said cautiously, seeing several of the members getting agitated.

“Who is your magical guardian?” A stern looking woman asked calmly. Harry decided he’d rather answer her questions, because she at least looked determined enough to learn the truth.

“Is that different from my muggle relatives?” Harry asked curiously.

“Muggles?!” Several people were standing now and looking angrily toward Fudge who had started sweating and looking uneasy.

“I don’t understand,” Harry interrupted, holding his hand up to gain attention again, “can someone please explain why this is suddenly an issue after 14 years?”

“It bears no relevance to the charges against the boy for conjuring a Patronus in a Muggle area.” Fudge said, a little bit of spittle coming from the corners of his mouth.

“You made a fully formed Patronus?” The stern woman asked, leaning forward and taking notes.

“I did, yes. I’ve been able to conjure it since third year.” Harry said certainly. He knew that information, at least. 

“The charges still stand.” Fudge said vehemently.

“I move to recess until the investigation can be reviewed.” The stern woman stated, ignoring Fudge. 

“That would be wonderful, Madam Bones,” an older looking witch stated, getting to her feet and glaring at Fudge, “I, for one, know that I did not receive a copy of the report prior to the hearing.”

“Was there actually an investigation?” Harry asked, sitting forward, barely refraining from wincing. “The only Aurors I saw were the ones who came to tell me to stay put until I was retrieved for my hearing.”

“Names?” The woman stated, raising an eyebrow at Harry.

“Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dora Tonks.” Harry said easily. “She was introduced as Nymphadora, but was very adamant that she not be called that.”

“And your relationship to the Muggle who witnessed your Patronus?” She encouraged.

“Dudley Dursley, my cousin. Whom I live with and has known about my magic since I started at Hogwarts.” Harry stated, jumping in his seat as every member gathered, who was able, jumped to their feet and started talking all at once, some shouting.

“Enough!” The woman Harry now knew to be Madam Bones shouted, holding her wand up. “It appears that these charges are erroneous, Minister.” She growled ‘Minister’ and looked ready to stab the man who was gripping his podium tightly. “This hearing is now no longer in reference to charges of alleged breaking of the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, but now in reference to the upbringing of an Heir of an Ancient and Noble House with potential charges against others for abuse of a magical child, kidnapping, and attempted Line theft.”

“Seconded.” Lucius Malfoy, of all people, said through gritted teeth, followed by the agreement of everyone in the chamber aside from Fudge and a woman wearing the most ridiculous pink assortment Harry had ever seen.

“Motion passed.” Fudge said, sounding the gavel and looking as if he were fighting not to throw it at Harry. Madam Bones descended the steps and conjured a chair in front of Harry along with a table. 

“Wonderful.” She said, setting out several pieces of parchment and summoning a very large file. She looked very prepared considering Harry had only known about the hearing a few days. Almost as if she were planning for this outcome. “Now, Heir Potter, just to confirm your actions in regards to you and your cousin, what happened that forced you to use magic outside of school?”

“Oh, er, the Dementors.”

“Dementors.” Madam Bones said, looking pale.

“I’m sorry,” the abhorrently pink woman said, clearing her throat in a most annoying manner, Madam Bones’ eye twitched nearly displacing her monocle, “do expect us to believe that a Dementor just happened upon an underaged wizard in a muggle neighborhood?”

“Two, actually.” Harry said, holding up his fingers. “One came after me, and one nearly kissed my cousin since I’d dropped my wand when he punched me in his panic to get away.”

“Thank you, Heir Potter.” Madam Bones said, jotting a note down. “Now. There have been multiple visits to this area, this … Little Whinging, by the Accidental Magical Reversal Department over the years. Are you willing to explain a few of these incidents for me?”

“To the best of my ability and memory.” Harry agreed. 

“Perfect. In July of 1991, the AMR were called to a zoo to investigate some vanishing glass for a particularly large python.”

“Ah.” Harry blushed and scratched his neck. “It was a trip for my cousin’s birthday. I was, er, talking to the snake, but my cousin pushed me to the ground after hitting me so he could see the snake that was now awake. I don’t really know what happened, the glass was just gone. He and his friend fell through and into the enclosure before the glass reappeared.”

“Interesting. You were able to focus enough that it only affected the one enclosure, yes?”

“Yeah, it was just the one snake that got out.” Harry nodded. “Thanked me, actually.”

“The next summer, I have record of a notice being sent to your home-”

“House.” Harry corrected automatically, feeling his face heat up again. “Sorry.”

“Very well, house, about the use of a hovering charm.”

“That was a house elf.” Harry said in annoyance.

“And how was a house elf able to find you?” 

“Dunno.” Harry shrugged. “But he had been stealing my letters from my friends and showed up demanding that I swear not to return to Hogwarts that year since he knew something that was happening but couldn’t tell me what. In retaliation, he hovered the dessert that was for my Uncle to serve for his dinner party and dropped it before disappearing.”

“And when did the investigators come by?”

“What investigators?” Harry scoffed, unable to help himself. “If you can show me that any real, actual investigation occurred, I’ll show you my ‘O’ in Potions.”

“Perhaps we can proceed with a touch less sarcasm, Heir Potter.” Madam Bones said, fighting a smile.

“I’ll attempt it.” Harry conceded, pursing his lips.

“That’s all I can ask for someone related to James and having Sirius and Remus as godfathers.” She accepted.

“Sirius Black is an escaped murderer and should not be joked about.” Fudge said angrily.

“Yeah?” Harry asked, feeling vindictive, looking directly at Fudge. “Mind if I see his transcript from his trial, then?”

The courtroom went silent at his request, and all anger left Fudge’s face as he paled dramatically. Madam Bones carefully set her quill down and turned to face Fudge as she stood.

“Do you mean to tell me that Heir Potter is not the first member of an Ancient and Noble house to be attempted to be sentenced without a fair trial?” 

“I was not Minister when Black was sentenced.” Fudge defended.

“And you’ve obviously taken steps to correct your error.” Lucius Malfoy sneered, his hands gripping his cane so tight Harry was surprised it hadn’t snapped. It didn’t matter that they’d been chatting quietly in a hallway before they came in, it seemed. Lucius looked ready to toss the man to the Dark Lord along with Dumbledore.

“Mr. Weasley,” Madam Bones said, drawing attention to Percy Weasley, “please schedule a meeting in two days to review all records of those sentenced to Azkaban 14 years ago and pay close attention to those who are in residence and do not have matching or corroborating transcripts of the trials.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Percy said, dipping his head and writing furiously. 

“Minister Fudge, I implore you to keep quiet lest you dig yourself into a deeper hole and land yourself in your own cell.” Madam Bones snarled before taking her seat. “Now, Harry, I mean, Heir Potter-”

“Harry is fine.” 

“Harry, then. In case you were not aware, once a witch or wizard begins proper instruction through Hogwarts, accidental magic is practically unheard of. Can you tell me what happened the summer before your third year?”

“I’d rather not.” Harry said, his body tensing and making him wince as his back pulled at the still healing injuries. 

“Perhaps you’d be willing to share the memory since you are uncomfortable speaking about it?” She offered.

“How do I do that?” He asked skeptically.

“It’s quite simple. You hold the memory in your mind of what happened, and I’ll draw it out for the Pensieve that will allow all of us to view it.”

“Um. Alright.” Harry agreed, clearing his throat and thinking back to the week Marge had been visiting that summer. 

“Ready?” She asked, holding her wand by his temple and giving him a reassuring look. 

Harry took a deep breath and let it out, keeping the memory of what happened in his mind, nodding sharply and feeling it pulled from his mind. It was a very odd feeling, as he could still remember it, but could also see the wisp that the woman had pulled from him before placing it in the bowl on the table beside them. Harry had included up to meeting Fudge at the Leaky Cauldron, feeling it would be best for them to see all of it. He didn’t look up as he heard the awful words the woman had said about his parents before he’d finally lost his hold on his magic, causing her to blow up. How he’d packed his meager belongings hurriedly, taking everything out of the cupboard and running away. Seeing the dog form of his godfather, the knight bus, and arriving at the Leaky only to have Fudge assure him that he would be welcome to go back to his relatives the next summer, completely ignoring Harry’s pleas not to return.

Madam Bones was holding up a hand and looking around the room sternly to keep another outburst from occurring. 

“Thank you, Harry, that was most informative.”

“If you say so.” Harry replied automatically.

“You’ll notice that I started at events that led up to you receiving your Hogwarts letter. I promise, there is a reason. Which teacher came to collect you and speak with your relatives when it was time for you to get your school supplies?”

“Well, it took a few weeks, because my Uncle and Aunt kept destroying the letters.” Harry flinched back at the outrage that followed that statement. The Auror he’d smiled at was at his side in an instant and casting a spell around him so he didn’t have to hear all the shouting.

“You’re alright, kid.” He said gently.

“Sorry.” Harry croaked, wiping a hand over his face.

“Nothin’ to be sorry ‘bout.” He shook his head. “They’re upset, as am I, because receiving your letter is a big deal in our world. It’s almost sacred. Your relatives had no right to destroy it.”

“Probably best they did, honestly. It was addressed very specifically to the … room, as it were, that I lived in.”

“Why would that make it better?”

“My letter was addressed to Mr. H Potter, the cupboard under the stairs.” Harry replied, hissing when the man’s hand tightened on his shoulder before he let go.

“You’re injured.” He said suddenly, looking alarmed.

“I’m fine.” Harry shook his head. “It’ll heal before school starts.”

“What will heal?” Madam Bones demanded, standing in front of him and looking severely hacked.

“Nothing.” Harry said, shaking his head again. “Sorry.”

“He’s injured.” The Auror said, ignoring Harry scowling at him. “Once he gets through with your questions, mum, I’d suggest he visit a healer and be secured in the Ministry until all of this can be further investigated.”

“We’ll break for lunch in half an hour and you’ll escort him to the healer. I want a full medical evaluation before we continue this afternoon.”

“Yes, mum.”

“Harry, can you answer which teacher came to retrieve you?”

“Oh, er, he wasn’t technically a teacher at the time, but it was Hagrid.”

“Hagrid.” She said incredulously. 

“Yeah, he brought my letter, took me shopping, told me I was a wizard, all of it.” Harry nodded.

“What do you mean by ‘all of it’?”

“He told me about my parents.” Harry said slowly. “Told me they were a witch and wizard, and that’s what I was. I didn’t even know their names until Hagrid.”

“And what did your relatives say about how you came to be in their care?”

“They told me it was a car crash. Said dad was a drunk and got us into an accident that killed them and the other people. And that was how I got my scar.” Harry fingered his scar lightly. It was still aching a little from his nightmares. 

“As you have stated that you did not have any Heir training, can you confirm that you received the book list for all muggle-born and half-blood students?”

“There was another list?” Harry nearly shrieked, tugging a hand through his hair anxiously. “I KNEW that I was missing something. I couldn’t figure out why Hermione had so many extra books, nor Seamus and Dean, but no one ever said anything to me.”

“Noted.” She said, her jaw clenched. “And how did you pay for your school things?”

“Hagrid had my key, apparently.” Harry sighed, feeling completely overwhelmed.

“Why?”

“Said Dumbledore gave it to him. I still don’t know where it is. Molly Weasley had it second year, but I was able to use my wand before third year to get some money. It was a little weird, because I think the goblins were wanting to tell me something, but they couldn’t actually say anything without me bringing it up. But it was like one of those things where I had to ask the right question.”

“Yes, that would be correct. They cannot freely give information. They would require a formal request.” Madam Bones agreed. “Mr. Weasley, during the lunch recess, contact Gringotts and ask that Harry’s account manager come in so we can sort out if and what has potentially been stolen from him and get him compensated.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Percy said, scribbling his notes, but purposefully not looking at Harry, which he found extremely unusual. Harry thought he got along well enough with all the Weasley’s, but Percy was acting like he didn’t know him.

“We’ll also need them to bring in and conduct an Inheritance test as well. I have a suspicion about the Triwizard Tournament, but I want their confirmation first.” She finished marking her own notes. “I’m going to hold off on further questions until this afternoon, because I have a feeling they will all be connected and we won’t actually achieve anything before having those answers. You mentioned earlier that you are an ‘expert in rejection’.” Harry tensed, but held her gaze. “Can you give me an example?”

“I-” Harry cleared his throat and unclenched his hands, stretching them a bit. “I have been rejected for one thing or another all my life. I was too much of a freak for my relatives, who resented me being dropped into their perfect family. I was rejected by other kids my age because they didn’t want to be beat up by my cousin for trying to be friends with me. I was practically rejected every year at school by my classmates for one thing or another. For losing too many points, for being able to speak to snakes, for being the reason Dementors were at the castle, for being in the tournament. I’ve known about the wizarding world for all of four years and I’ve been battling for acceptance the entire time for just being seen as me and not some fucking novelty. 

“The only ones who ever saw me for me and accepted me right away and never abandoned me were Fred and George Weasley. Snape saw my father, McGonagall saw my father, Flitwick saw my mother, Hagrid saw both my parents, even Sirius and Remus saw my father; my entire fucking class saw me as the-boy-who-lived. Everyone I have ever encountered in the wizarding world knew more about me than I did when I finally came to it. And everyone had expectations that I failed to meet because I wasn’t enough. So I’m very familiar and acquainted with rejection, Madam Bones. I was prepared to be rejected from the wizarding world when I came in here today, actually. You are the first person that has ever asked me or taken a genuine interest in my answers. So … thank you. For listening.”

“You’re welcome, Harry.” She said, her voice tight. “We will recess for an hour for lunch and reconvene when we have the additional representatives gathered.” She stated, glaring at Fudge.

“Recess for an hour.” Fudge agreed, banging the gavel.

Chapter Text

“Come on, kid. Let’s get you something to eat.” The Auror said, nodding toward a side door. 

“Yeah, alright.” Harry agreed, standing up. “What do I call you?”

“Call me John.” The man said with a small grin. 

“Nice to meet you, John. I’m Harry.”

“‘Lo, Harry.” John chuckled, leading him through a few corridors before they entered what was most definitely a medical room. Harry groaned, but it only made the Auror roll his eyes before guiding Harry to a cot to sit on. 

Harry sat patiently, letting the Healer, who’s name was Gwendolyn, run her scans and trying to ignore her growing irritation and deepening frown while chatting with John about quidditch and even football. Harry missed playing sometimes, and wished more kids at school had other physical activities to choose from. They both agreed that the magical people should remain hidden, that was a no-brainer after his years growing up with the Dursley’s, but he also knew that not everyone saw things that way. Some people wanted to integrate their two societies, regardless of the fact a majority of wixen had zero clue about interacting with anyone not of magical Britain. 

Harry ate the broth that was provided, grateful that they weren’t forcing heavy food on him like Mrs. Weasley often did. He drank a few potions and generally ignored the Healer flitting around in the room grumbling as she gathered other potions and copied his medical reports, sealing them for the rest of the afternoon.

“Oh, I’ve just realized that I came with Mr. Weasley, er, Arthur, could someone let him know what’s going on? That it’s, er, taking longer than expected?” Harry asked, as they walked back to the courtroom.

“He’s been notified, don’t you worry.” John stated. “This afternoon, if I had to guess, is gonna be more about your years at school under your supposed magical guardian.”

“I still don’t understand what that is.” Harry said, frowning.

“A magical guardian is a wix assigned to a witch or wizard who grew up with Muggles, and won’t know our customs or anything. This guardian is meant to help guide the young witch or wizard in picking their elective classes, answering their questions about our holidays, as well as schooling any young Heir in the ways expected of them for when they reach the age of majority to claim their Lord or Lady seats in the Wizengamot. All Heirs are politicians and lawmakers, but they also have their own hobbies and professions outside of it. I hear Heir Longbottom is on track for an apprenticeship with Professor Sprout.”

“Nev’s great with plants, definitely. Helped me out a lot last year with some … independent research and study.”

“Heir Bones is planning on law school, so she’s pretty bent to be just as fierce as her Aunt.”

“Susan?” Harry asked curiously.

“That’d be her.”

“Cool. I’ll have to figure out who the other Heirs are at school so we can get together because I can bet they know all this shite.”

“They do.” John chuckled. “They’ve all been training most their lives to take up their positions. You’ve got a lot o’ catchin’ up to do, kid.”

“Don’t I know it.” Harry sighed dramatically, grinning when the Auror snorted. 

“Listen,” John sighed heavily, looking around, “they’re going to ask a lot of questions, and they’re gonna get real upset. But remember they aren’t upset with you. Most o’ them have kids in school, too. So don’t skim over somethin’ you think irrelevant to save face with anyone. And don’t you worry about anyone that you think might hate you. I know you’ve figured out there are some Death Eaters here, but there’s a lot you don’t know about them. Death Eaters were originally formed as knights to protect kids and get them out of abusive households while Riddle worked trying to get laws passed for more protections from the Muggle world. Lots o’ people were persuaded by Dumbledore’s words, and the fact You-Know-Who disappeared after a fashion. Not to put more weight on your shoulders, but you may just be the one to win this all before it even becomes a war.”

“No pressure.” Harry snorted. 

“Aye, no pressure.” John grinned. “Give ‘em hell, kid. It’s somethin’ they all should o’ been lookin’ at a long time ago.”

“How long have you been an Auror?”

“Oh, ‘bout 10 years.” John said, tilting his head thoughtfully. “Madam Bones is one hell of a lead for the DMLE, though. She’s fair and objective and has weeded out who she could in the Aurors who were on one side or the other, light or dark. But she’s more interested in what activities they participated in and if they interfered with their duties to the Ministry and all that rot. I grew up a dark wizard. So the Headmaster wrote me, along with a lot o’ others, off.”

“Magic is magic.” Harry shrugged. “Never understood the whole light and dark thing myself, honestly. Light spells can be just as dangerous as dark. I mean, take the tripping jinx, yeah? It’s pretty harmless in a corridor or something, but use it at the top of the stairs at school? It can cause serious injury or death even. Don’t get me started on Potions. I mean, you can’t honestly tell me that it makes more sense to teach us how to brew fucking Amortentia over anything else. That should be more restricted than Veritaserum.”

“I … never thought of it that way.” John said, looking a little dazed. 

“Most people don’t.” Harry hummed. He stretched his arms a little, surprised that his back felt so much better after the salve that Gwendolyn put on everything. He was quite thankful that neither of the two in the room had mentioned how many scars he had under his shirt and glamors that he'd taken down. “Unto the breach.” Harry said, walking through the door John opened for him, stopping inside when he noticed that there were suddenly more people than before. “Um …”

“Deep breath, Harry. Don’t worry ‘bout them. They’re the Heirs and some seat holders who have a proxy in place. Might be some o’ the school staff as well. Because if none of them knew what was goin’ on, then there’s some real problems about to come to light for them.”

“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.” Harry said, taking half a step back, stopping when John put a firm hand against his lower back to offer comfort.

“You aren’t. Dumbledore’s actions are what brought them here. It’s the job of Madam Pomfrey to scan every kid when they arrive and give them a medical exam, which she hasn’t done, based on your extensive scars. I remember hearing McGonagall rage in several offices here about how you were dragged around the castle instead of being healed after what happened at the end of the tournament. I doubt you were given much care there, based on that.”

“I mean, I went when I was injured, like after quidditch, but-”

“But nothin’. It’s the Matron’s job to make sure students are safe. It’s the Deputy’s job to make sure the Headmaster follows the school Charter and such. Also their job, along with the Heads of House, to inform the Ministry Child Services department if they suspect a bad or dangerous home life. Snape’s been in a lot for his kids, but never seen much o’ anyone else.”

“Harry, please, take your seat so we may begin.” Madam Bones stated, gesturing to the chair when she looked up and spotted them. The paperwork on her desk seemed to have multiplied and spilled to the floor. Harry numbly went and sat down while John handed over the medical evaluation that was quite long. He was still looking up at the larger crowd, but he was unable to make out who was actually there. There was a sort of charm up or ward that prevented him from seeing them clearly. “Minister.” She said, trying to mask her contentment for the man.

“Resuming the trial of Harry James Potter.” Fudge said, slamming his gavel down. 

“As stated earlier,” Madam Bones said scathingly, glaring at Fudge, “this is a hearing for attempted Line theft, kidnapping, child endangerment, abuse, and unauthorized use of an Heir’s funds and seats without authorization from said child.”

“Aye.” The chamber agreed.

“We won’t go into too much detail about your funds and vaults, but you have a meeting at Gringotts tomorrow at 11 to review what your account manager provided us. Funds have been identified as fraudulently being taken from your accounts for use since November of 1981 and deposited elsewhere. They are currently tracing the funds that have been issued to the various accounts and issuing statements of repayment, with interest, to the parties responsible. Heirlooms are being inventoried and they should have that list for your tomorrow as well. Currently, you are listed as the Heir for the Black and Potter Houses. We have the Inheritance test here for you to complete, so we can get a full listing of any other accounts they’ll need to investigate.”

“Alright.” Harry croaked, looking at the parchment that was pushed toward him.

“It’s simple.” Griphook said, coming to the table.

“Master Griphook.” Harry said, giving him a small smile, trying to mask his nervousness. “Good to see you again.”

“You as well, Heir Potter.” Griphook chuckled. “All you need to do is place three drops of blood on the parchment, and it will determine your lineage, vaults, and other inheritances. There you are,” he showed Harry where to prick his finger and held it over the parchment, wrapping it up when he was done, “now the results should only take a moment.” Harry watched as writing began crawling across the page, filling it all the way to the bottom. Griphook gasped and looked between the parchment and Harry a few times before putting a fist to his heart and saying something on Gobbledygook that he didn’t understand. 

“That’s … unexpected.” Madam Bones said, getting to her feet and giving Harry a bow. “May I introduce Lord Harrison James Potter Black Gryffindor Slytherin Peverell Emrys to the Wizengamot.” Harry looked around in confusion as all the members present got to their feet and mimicked the bow. “It seems that your participation in the Triwizard tournament emancipated you, making you a legal adult in the magical community, as I suspected. I do not know how this was not recorded in our records, aside from the fact you have not visited Gringotts to obtain your lordship rings, which will be corrected at your appointment tomorrow.”

“Um, alright. Thank you.” Harry said, unsure what the correct response was. “Please forgive any, er, disrespectful comments I may say due to my lack of, erm, proper training.”

“We’ll get you sorted and taken care of, don’t you worry about that.” Madam Bones said, gesturing for everyone to retake their seats. “I must admit, I had not realized that you would hold so many lines, including half of the founders of the school. Heir Abbott will gain the Hufflepuff seat once she comes of age, and Ms. Lovegood is set to claim the Ravenclaw seat once she is of age as well. They can assist you in anything you’ll need to know for those positions.”

“Ok.” Harry nodded, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. 

“There are a few more that you are still Heir to, but cannot yet claim Lordship of until you reach the age of majority.” She took a few notes, but she looked as if she were fighting a smirk as she did so. Harry was curious about it, but decided to leave it be. Fudge was tugging on his robes around his neck as if he were actually nervous. “A copy of your Inheritance test will be sent to Gringotts with Griphook where they will go over everything with you, as well as the school so that your tutors can be set up appropriately with the other Heirs attending classes. I’d like to go through your years at school. Starting with your shopping at Diagon Alley.”

“Oh, sure. Erm, there isn’t much to tell about it, really. I had the list, well, the list that I thought was the only one, since you pointed out that there was a list of other things that the muggle-born students were meant to get as well. Hagrid took me to the bank, I took some money out of my trust vault, and we went to the various shops purchasing what was needed. Erm, I was in Madam Malkins by myself, since Hagrid said he needed to get something.” Harry smiled. “He, uh, he bought me my first present, actually. An owl. Hedwig.” When he said her name, she somehow dove through the room and landed on his shoulder, nipping through his hair like she'd just been waiting for him to call on her.

“That’s a fine familiar you have, Harry.” Madam Bones said, giving him a small smile.

“I don’t know how you got in here, but I’m really glad you did.” Harry said, snickering when she nipped at his fingers and continued checking through his hair and making sure he was alright. “Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

“Familiars are often able to find their witch or wizard and reach them wherever they are.”

“Makes sense.” Harry said, ducking his head when she hopped across his shoulders to the other side. 

“And Hagrid was the one who told you about Hogwarts?”

“Yeah, he told me about the different houses until I wanted to know more about what happened to my parents. Got him to say Moldie Shorts’ name, actually, since I didn’t know what You-Know-Who meant. Honestly, it’s incredibly ridiculous and unnecessary to say You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. If it’s not one of those, it’s the Dark Lord. It’s the 1990’s. He is not the only Dark Lord to have ever existed, he’s just the one who exists now. If we’re calling him the Dark Lord, we should be calling him the third or fourth or however many there have been.” Madam Bones cleared her throat and Harry felt his cheeks heat up. “Sorry. That … was unnecessary additional information.”

“And what happened once you had your school things?” Harry winced at the question.

“I went back to my relatives for the next month.” Harry answered quietly. 

“How did they react to you having magical school supplies?”

“They took my new trunk and supplies, including my wand, and locked them in the cupboard that used to be my room and pretty much ignored me for the next few weeks. Aside from me cooking the meals as I always did.”

“Can you explain that? You were only 11, how were you meant to be cooking?”

“I’ve been cooking food for them since I was around five.” Harry shrugged, leaning his head against Hedwig when she butted hers against him. “Had to stand on a chair at first, but once I was old enough to reach without the chair, it wasn’t so bad.”

“And you ate with them?”

“Sometimes.” Harry replied quietly. 

“Harry, you aren’t in trouble, we are only interested in how you were treated prior to your arrival at school.”

“I ate what was left. The only time I got to eat actual meals was when my Uncle’s sister was there, but she enjoyed making me serve them all more than they did. I usually got what was left over, which wasn’t much. My Uncle and cousin are … quite large individuals. If there were dinner parties, I cooked for those and then was hidden away. They didn’t like people knowing I was there, or that I existed. I was too abnormal for them.”

“Could you share an example?” 

“I guess.” Harry said, focusing on when Hagrid showed up and how his Aunt and Uncle had shouted all the information about him and his parents. When the memory played there were gasps and cries of outrage about them trying to stamp out his magic.

“That was a dangerous situation. Magic cannot be ‘stamped out’, I assure you. Not without severe repercussions.” Madam Bones said tightly. “Did you not see your magical guardian in any of the years you lived there?”

“No.” Harry shook his head.

“Right. Now, getting on the platform can be tricky for those who are muggle-born, especially the first time. Were you able to find the Ministry representative that was there to guide those students onto the platform?”

“The what?” Harry asked in confusion. 

“The Ministry representative that stands guard helping new students find the platform.”

“If there was someone there, then I didn’t see them. My relatives dropped me off with all my stuff and practically ran away laughing. Not caring what happened to me, whether I made it or not. I’ve had a little time to think, and … and I think the person who showed me, I think it was staged that way. I think Dumbledore set them up to find me and get me through. Can’t be mad about it, though. It’s how I met Fred and George.”

“What were the Weasley’s doing on the Muggle side of the platform?”

“Dunno. Like I said, I’m pretty sure it was staged that way. Doesn’t really matter to me now. Heard her talking about Muggles and saying the platform number a bit loud, so I followed her. Got through, Fred and George helped me with my trunk since I wasn’t really strong enough to lift it on my own. I sat in a compartment on my own, not used to being around other kids who didn’t want to beat me up.”

“How did you feel about the sorting when you arrived?”

“That’s complicated.” Harry said, trying not to fidget. 

“Can you explain?”

“I can try.” Harry cleared his throat as he clenched and unclenched his hands. “The thing to bear in mind is that I heard about the houses from Hagrid, a stuck up self-entitled prat in the robe shop, and Ron. Two out of the three of those were adamant that Slytherin was an evil house. The other kid was a bully to me and talked so much he never even knew my name before he left. Ron was determined that Gryffindor was the best house, because that’s where all his family were. Hagrid didn’t really have much to say about the others, just how much he disliked Slytherin. Granted, he actually had a decent reason. Goes back to why he was expelled, which I find out about my second year, oddly enough. 

“But, I never got a book about what the houses represented aside from the history book by Bagshot. Nothing really could prepare me for a talking hat on my head. It was interesting that some kids barely sat on the stool and the hat barely touched their heads before they were sorted. Nev nearly had something they called a hat-stall. To me that meant he could have fit in all of the houses, equally. I myself had the hat torn between Gryffindor and Slytherin. But that’s just it, isn’t it? We were 11 year old kids, being sorted by our attributes, our morals, by what we wanted out of life. What could we possibly know what we want out of the magical world if we didn’t even know it existed a month before? 

“Anyway, all I want to really say is that for teachers coming to pick us up, they should be unbiased and encourage us, no matter what house we end up in. I can honestly say the worst thing anyone in Slytherin did to me all the years I was there was make those ridiculous badges in fourth year during the tournament.”

“Well put.” Madam Bones said, nodding her head approvingly. “How did you find school?”

“Insane?” Harry replied, raising an eyebrow. “It was huge and I had no idea how to navigate it. We weren’t shown around, there was no map, I had no idea how I was meant to get around, honestly. But it was also incredible. I mean, I had no idea the magic would be so thick in the air, how tangible it would be. Kind of like in here.”

“Tangible?” Madam Bones asked, her quill stopped part-way across the page. 

“Yeah. As soon as I got in the school I could feel it. In the walls, the air, it was pretty amazing, but also overwhelming. I hadn’t ever felt so much in one place before. Took me a while to get used to feeling it so much.”

“You … can feel the magic in the air?”

“Please tell me that’s a normal thing? Not another special attribute or whatever?” Harry pleaded, looking at her hopefully. 

“It’s not unheard of.” She said tentatively. “But that sort of sensitivity, that level, is incredibly rare.”

“Super.” Harry muttered unhappily, frowning at Hedwig as she bumped her head against him in a playful way. 

“It is a gift, Harry, no matter how rare. Walk me through, if you can, what happened that year. Broad strokes are fine, we’ll ask you to clarify if necessary.”

“Er, right. Well, when Hagrid first took me to the bank, he had to also pick up another package for Dumbledore, apparently. Found out later what it was, since he was hiding it below the school. Um, Malfoy, Draco that is, liked to come by and antagonize Ron, trying to get a rise out of me, I think, but I was used to the things he said so it didn’t bother me. Ron’s had a temper as long as I’ve known him, though, so he accepted a duel that Mal- Draco issued. I didn’t accept, but Ron did. So when we were sneaking out to meet him, Hermione was there, and then we found Neville outside the portrait hole because the Fat Lady had wandered off and he couldn’t get back in after he was released from the hospital. We went to the trophy room, Filch showed up, so we ran and found the third floor corridor that was off limits and unlocked the door and found a three headed dog.”

“A Cerberus?! In the school?!” Several shouted.

“Yeah, his name was Fluffy.” Harry agreed, trying not to shrink down at all the yelling. “After that, the next big thing, I think, was the Halloween feast. Quirrell burst in and announced there was a troll loose before passing out. Which should have been a big sign that he was a terrible choice for DADA teacher. Hermione was in the bathroom, so me and Ron went to get her so she wouldn’t be alone. That’s, naturally, when we found the troll. The reason that’s important, is because it was part of the test that Dumbledore had set up toward the end of the year. Over Christmas hols was when I found the Mirror of Erised.”

“What was that dark artifact doing in the school?” Lucius asked in an icy voice.

“Part of the set up.” Harry replied calmly. “It … was the first time I saw my parents, actually. Saw what they looked like. Anyway, it was at the end of the year that everything happened. My scar had been hurting like crazy because I could feel something coming, I guess. Can’t really explain that one. I do have to say that I attempted going to a teacher when Ron, Hermione, and I discovered that the stone was going to be stolen. We attempted to warn them and got blown off. I know Ron and Hermione trusted in adults and teachers, but I never did. I could never trust adults. Doing this,” he waved his hand around gesturing to the room, “you have no idea how I feel right now, having to trust you all to decide what’s going to happen with me. Off topic, I know, but just so you’re aware. 

“We followed the trail after that; went to the corridor, made sure Fluffy stayed asleep, went through the trap door he was guarding and landed in devil’s snare. Got to a room full of keys after that and had to catch the right key to be able to get through, then played a life-size version of wizard’s chess. Luckily, Ron is incredible at chess, so it was doable. Got to the potion one and I went on while Hermione went back for Ron and to warn whoever they could. Found Quirrell and the mirror at the end. Quirrell wasn’t really himself though. He was playing host to Moldie Shorts. If you’ve never seen a person with a face on the front and back of their head, I envy you a bit. It was truly disturbing. Got the stone out of the mirror and somehow managed to destroy the host body. Probably something to do with the blood magic my mother did when protecting me before she died. Woke up in the hospital after a few days, the others were all fine, and there were rumors flooding the school about what happened. As far as I know, no one actually knows what went down aside from us, until now.”

“Those seem like specific tasks, Harry.”

“They were. See, Nev was with us a lot. The way I see it, the plant was for him, if he’d gone with us; the key was for me, being the ‘youngest Seeker in a century’, since I made the house team first year; the troll could have been for all of us, since we’d done it once already, not sure; the chess set, Ron, and the logic mixed with potions for Hermione before I would face Quirrellmort.” 

“And where was the Headmaster during this?”

“He’d gotten an owl from the Ministry for something. So McGonagall told us. He talked to me in the hospital before the end of term feast. I can share the memory of the conversation?” She nodded and he thought of the conversation he had with Dumbledore and how much it had confused him, with his Uncle’s voice in the back of his mind shouting at him to not ask questions, which drew a few growls about it. There was a lot of muttering when Dumbledore clearly knew the answer to why he was being singled out, but wouldn’t answer.

“Hm.” Madam Bones made a few notes. 

Chapter Text

“And your next year. I have a report from Professor McGonagall that you were severely underweight that year.” Madam Bones said, looking at Harry appraisingly and frowning at how he was once more underweight.

“Well, yeah.” Harry scoffed. “That hover charm triggered a letter to the house and informed my relatives that I’m not allowed to use magic outside of school. The threat that I could was enough to keep them somewhat civil toward me until then. That letter, and the lack of any follow-up investigation, is what caused me so much harm. Do you know what it’s like to go a week without food? To be locked up aside from twice a day to use the loo? And then when they leave for a weekend, tossing a loaf of bread and a few slices of cheese along with a bucket into the room with one bottle of water? That letter is the reason I nearly starved to death and never made it to school for my second year.”

“Why was an investigation never conducted?” Madam Bones growled looking back at Fudge with fire in her eyes. Harry felt her magic reacting strongly as it swirled in the air around him. It was warm, but not aggressive, not towards him anyway.

“It was the first offense since starting school. Normally a warning is sent out, just as it was, to the parents or guardians automatically generated.” Another woman answered, and Harry jerked his head around to look at her in disbelief.

“So that triggered a warning for use of underage magic, but not magic in front of muggles? My Uncle was hosting a dinner party for his new boss when that owl showed up. That terrified the man’s wife so much she ran screaming from the house. And since wizards and witches use owl’s for letters, it made it my fault. That letter was nearly my death sentence.” Harry said firmly, making sure that they understood. “Just as the one for this hearing nearly was. If the Aurors hadn’t told my Uncle they were retrieving me in a few days, I wouldn’t have made it to Hogwarts this year either. I’d be dead, or I’d have run away to try and go somewhere people might actually want to help a kid who’d just witnessed another student be murdered.”

“Harry.” John said, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. “Take a couple deep breaths, yeah?”

“Sorry.” Harry said, automatically, doing as the man suggested and feeling calmer. “Sorry, but there has to be a better way to do that. Please, find it.”

“We will.” The woman swore, nodding fervently as she wiped the tears from her face. 

“I got lucky, at least.” Harry said, not really believing anything would change, ignoring the frowns directed at him for not acknowledging the declaration. “Fred, George, and Ron came and got me out. Tore the bars of the window my Uncle had installed and took me to the Burrow when they hadn’t heard from me all summer. Saved my life.”

“And the flying car?” Madam Bones asked, scribbling some notes as she watched him attentively.

“Ron’s idea.” Harry stated, holding up a finger in defense. “I said we should wait by the car, but he panicked saying it could be hours and we should just go. As soon as we got to school, we were ambushed and lectured about how dangerous it was, which, I agree, it was. But not one of them checked us over to see if we were alright. If we had any injuries or anything. I wasn’t able to eat full meals for a few months, since I’d gotten so used to going without. Anyway, that was the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened and the whole damn school found out I was a Parselmouth, turning on me. Again. Instead of trying to find the person or dark artifact responsible, people just huddled together and I honestly have no idea what the staff did. Lockhart was probably the dumbest choice for DADA I’ve ever witnessed.”

“Walk us through the year, if you will.” She encouraged.

“Right. Um, message about the Chamber, my being outed as a Parselmouth, went to Nick’s 500th Deathday party, which was cool if weird; Hagrid was arrested, followed the spiders into the forest and found the Acromantula den; they will eat you if you aren’t Hagrid, so don’t try to visit without him. Found the artifact, which was a diary made by Tom Riddle when he was 16. Turned out he was possessing a first year girl through it and nearly killed her. Found the opening to the Chamber, the monster was a Basilisk, Lockhart tried to obliviate me and Ron trapping us in the Chamber; fought the Basilisk with a sword, got jabbed in the arm with a fang, used the fang to kill the diary, Ginny woke up, then Fawkes healed me and returned us to the school. And once again, instead of being checked for injuries and sent to be healed, we were interrogated.”

“How big would you say the Basilisk was?”

“Probably … 60 feet? Maybe a bit more?”

“Six-” Madam Bones cleared her throat as she croaked, “sixty feet? And you survived being bitten?”

“Phoenix tears have healing properties.” Harry replied, raising an eyebrow.

“They can’t cleanse your blood of the venom, Harry.” She said in a slightly stressed tone. Harry frowned.

“What I’m hearing is that the venom is still in my system.” He said dryly. “Course it is.”

“What happened to the creature?”

“Don’t answer that.” Griphook said, standing up suddenly. “He won that carcass, as well as the title of Lord Slytherin, by right of conquest.”

“I don’t disagree.” Madam Bones said sternly. “It is his to do with as he wishes, I merely want to be assured that it is dead. Your clan already has a claim to him, per his Inheritance results that you’ll be reviewing with him tomorrow. Any profit that can be made will be between you and Lord Potter.”

“As long as that is clear.” Griphook said, a menacing smile on his face.

“It’s dead.” Harry said certainly. “Still down there, too. Went back once or twice, just hiding out, and it’s pretty well preserved. Have to be a Parselmouth to get in, though.”

“We’ll discuss it tomorrow, Lord Potter.” Griphook said, grinning at him proudly.

“You said that was the year you discovered why Hagrid was expelled.”

“Oh, yes, I did. Um, the diary actually showed me. Riddle staged the set-up. He knew Hagrid had a tendency to get a little overzealous with creatures and knew he could blame the death of the girl who became Moaning Myrtle on him and it would keep suspicion from himself. All it would have taken, to resolve it, would have been to talk to Myrtle. She rather likes talking about her death, or any death, really. She’s quite melancholy. But she was kind enough to offer shared residence in her toilet if I died when we went to save Ginny.”

“And the Headmaster? The other teachers?”

“Well, Ron and I sort of hid in a cabinet in the teachers lounge, planning to talk to someone about what we’d found out, about the Basilisk, but they were talking about a girl being taken. Learning it was his little sister, sort of put Ron a bit out of sorts so we went back to the tower so he could be with his brothers. When it was night, though, we decided we’d confront Lockhart, since the other teachers had said they would let him handle it. Pretty sure they just did it to get rid of him, thinking that would be the end of his tenure.”

“Perhaps showing us the memory of the events would be easier than trying to have you explain everything? If you spoke to the Headmaster at any point, please include that as well.”

“Alright.” Harry nodded, focusing on the memory as it was drawn out. He glanced at Lucius who was sighing heavily, knowing what he’d be shown doing. Everyone watched in shock as a tiny, 12 year old Harry faced off against the menacing creature, after Fawkes had come to him. Harry remembered how dead on his feet he’d felt being dragged around and sent to bed instead of to the hospital wing. 

“For the record,” Lucius stated, standing up, “I was somewhat unhinged at the time due to an … issue with my family alliances. My family has oaths of alliance with Lord Slytherin and his heirs. After speaking with our personal medical team, we were able to determine the reason for our temporary aggression towards others was because the Lordship had been claimed once more by a living being instead of the former Dark Lord. I have copies of the documents, if they are needed, or they can be requested through St. Mungos. I’d like to also offer my apologies to Heir Potter for the actions of me and my family against him. Once he has completed his visitation with Gringotts tomorrow, the validation and magical acceptance of his heir and lordships should assist us with healing completely.”

“I didn’t mean to cause you any issues, Lord Malfoy.” Harry said quickly, his eyes wide at the statement.

“It was not your fault, child.” Lucius sighed. “Claiming your titles will alleviate our concerns. I will also speak with my family so they are aware of your new status and what to expect. We are allies, Lord Slytherin, should you choose to remain so.”

“Thank you, Lord Malfoy.” Madam Bones said politely, noting down a few more things. It was a really weird turn of events that Harry had not been expecting. The Malfoys were allied with Slytherin, not necessarily Voldemort. That … could change a lot of things. “Mr. Weasley, could you contact your brother for me? William? Have him meet me tomorrow morning to discuss this memory. I will also have a few others present to review what was discovered in this memory when I show it to them.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Percy said a little uncertainly, writing the note down anyway.

“Out of curiosity, did you know who Sirius Black or Remus Lupin were prior to starting school your third year?”

“Er, no, no I didn’t.” Harry answered truthfully. “I mean, I saw them, younger versions of them, anyway, in some of the pictures Hagrid collected for me for the photo album he made me after my first year, but otherwise I didn't know their connection to me.”

“There are several accounts from other students from the train that year about the Dementors boarding and searching the train for your godfather. You are the only student who seems to have had such an adverse reaction to them.”

“Yes.” Harry answered tightly. 

“Do you know what causes your reaction?”

“Yes.” Harry replied, still not liking where the line of questioning was going.

“Remember, Harry, you aren’t in any trouble. We just wish to know more about your reaction to understand your medical evaluation.” She said gently. Harry fidgeted a little, scratching Hedwig a little to calm his mind.

“I hear their deaths.” Harry answered quietly. The room was silent, though, so he knew they heard. “When the Dementors are near me, I hear them dying. I hear my dad screaming for my mum to get me out of there, that they’d been found before he’s killed mercilessly. I hear-” Harry sucked in a breath and shook his head a little, “I hear my mother pleading for me to be spared as she blocked the path of the man. Three times, she pleads, before he kills her. I see green light mixed with their screams when I get overcome. It’s why I was so determined to have Remus teach me the Patronus. He got rid of the Dementor on the train, made it so I didn’t have to hear that night echoing in my mind. So I had to learn. Even if I didn’t do it the way the textbook says it needed to be done. Wouldn’t you do the same?”

“Mr. Weasley,” Madam Bones said, her voice tight with controlled emotion, “have your brother meet me tonight when we are through here. It cannot wait until tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am.” Percy agreed with a raspy voice.

“Thank you for trusting us, Harry. I know that was incredibly difficult.” She said calmly. “Tell me a little about that year.”

“Remus was an amazing teacher. It was my favorite class, always has been. The new electives were … awful. Creatures was great, but it was Hagrid’s first year teaching, so he was nervous about being liked by the students. He did pretty great, but someone bumped into Draco, making him bump into Buckbeak, which is what got him injured. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it didn’t really matter. I, uh, snuck into Hogsmeade, with some help from Fred and George, since I didn’t have a signed permission slip, and overheard some teachers talking about how Sirius was my godfather and was the one to betray my parents. It was a lot to take in. We tried to help Hagrid research ways to save Buckbeak, but kept coming up empty handed. The end of year disaster, as it were, would probably be easier to show you than tell you. It’s a lot.”

“Very well.” Madam Bones nodded and accepted Harry’s memory, placing it in the Pensieve. 

It was truly crazy to see the trio finding Scabbers, running from the execution only to be caught by Padfoot and dragged through the Whomping Willow tunnel. The confession between Remus and Sirius before Snape arrived, the rat being transfigured back into Pettigrew, Remus transforming, Snape protecting the students before Pettigrew got away; Harry chasing after Sirius and nearly having both their souls sucked out before the Patronus and waking up in the hospital, the time turner, saving the Hippogriff, and then Harry cast the massive Patronus that fought off the insane amount of Dementors before they freed Sirius and made it back to the hospital. The whole time, Fudge had sank further into his seat since his argument with Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape had been shown. How he was planning to have Sirius Kissed without any further trial or corroboration with the DMLE.

“I call for a no-confidence vote.” A witch said, standing up and glaring at Fudge who looked shocked. But not as much as the awful pink woman.

“Seconded.” Another man said.

“Those in favor?” Madam Bones asked, looking around the room to find almost every wand held up with the tip lit. “Motion passed. Mr. Fudge, you will clear your personal belongings from your office by the end of the day tomorrow and keep your schedule free for further questioning.”

“Yes, Madam Bones.” Fudge said defeatedly. As soon as he acknowledged her ruling, a ripple of magic went through the air and Harry gasped at the feel of it.

“What is it?” Madam Bones asked curiously.

“Don’t you feel that?” Harry croaked, the magic thick in the room, gathering around the stern witch. “You’ve been chosen as the Interim Minister by Magic.” 

“What?” She asked in confusion, before a placard appeared on her desk with the seal. “How-”

“It’s stifling.” Harry rasped, as sweat beaded on his head and the magic continued to swirl. He gasped as the magic rushed around before dissipating, leaving him nearly sucking in air. “Shite, haven’t felt magic like that in a long while. Could I have some water?”

John appeared at his shoulder handing him a glass, refilling it when he was done with the one and handing him a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his head. Harry set the glass on a small table that was conjured and let out a heavy breath, nodding his thanks to the Auror.

“Do you need a break, Harry?” Madam Bones asked, accepting her own glass of water.

“No, I’m alright. It was just a lot of magic. We can keep going.” 

“Very well. We will discuss what just happened later this evening, once you are in a safe house, Harry. We all are already aware of the Triwizard Tournament coming to Hogwarts. Did anyone explain to you what entering meant?”

“I didn’t enter!” Harry exploded, before pursing his lips and looking at her sheepishly. “Sorry. I just meant, I didn’t enter. My name came out, I joined the other chosen Champions, who actually did enter, and was interrogated by the heads of each school as well as my own professors and Mr. Crouch. I tried to get out of it, but they said it was a binding magical contract and I had to compete.”

“You guardians or your magical guardian had the right to remove you from the tournament.” Madam Bones said with a frown. “The tournament was set up for those who were of age, so those responsible for you had the ability to keep you out of it.”

“Super helpful right now.” Harry said sardonically. “Didn’t matter, if you’re all saying Dumbledore was my magical guardian, then he did nothing to keep me out of it. Which means he was using it as another insane test. Right.”

“What were your thoughts on the DADA teacher, retired Auror Alastor Moody?” Harry couldn’t help the snort that escaped him, causing Madam Bones and several others to raise their eyebrows.

“You are aware that wasn’t really Moody, yeah?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it was Barty Crouch Jr., using Polyjuice to disguise himself as Moody. The real Moody had been locked in an expanded trunk all year long so that Jr. could keep using him as a disguise. Found that out after I got back to the school after the last task. Never understood how Dumbledore could have claimed to have known the man for 20 years and not notice that he was someone else. Unless he knew that it wasn’t Moody and did it on purpose. Which would mean that he purposefully had a Death Eater teaching us about a lot of dark curses. He wasn’t a bad teacher, actually, just sort of … off-putting. To clarify, it wasn’t that he was a Death Eater that had me opposed to him teaching. It was more the fact he was supposedly reported dead, and had been exposed to the Dementors while in Azkaban for so long, before being trapped under the Imperius by his own father for the better part of a decade, before he got free. He was not in the right mindset to be teaching without some serious mind healing.”

“How did you learn all of this?” Madam Bones asked curiously, frowning at Fudge pretty severely.

“Combination of dreams and confessions. For some reason, everyone likes to monologue and tell me their plans when they finally catch me. It’s annoying but useful. See, that year was particularly bad with dreams. I don’t really know why, but I was able to sort of see some of the plans that snake-face was making in my dreams. I told Sirius and Dumbledore, but they just kept telling me not to worry about them. That they were just dreams.”

“Would you share your memory of the final task? What actually happened and afterward when the apparently fake-Moody took you back to the castle?”

“Do I have to watch as well?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“I’ll shield him from it.” John offered, and Harry relaxed a bit. 

“Yeah, alright. If he can keep me from having to see it again or hear it all again, I can share.”

“Thank you.” Madam Bones said, accepting Harry’s memory and waiting until he was shielded before watching. John was watching, even though he had cast a shield around Harry that blurred everything so he couldn’t see or hear past it. It was weird that he knew what they were doing but not really being a part of it. He stroked Hedwig’s wings as she had climbed down to rest on his lap. 

“Think things will actually change now, girl?” She nipped affectionately at his fingers. “Yeah, I hope so too.” His exhaustion from the long day was finally catching up to him and he felt very tired as he leaned back in his seat. He wondered what his friends were doing, what any of them were doing, really. He’d barely heard anything from any of them all summer, just saying they’d see him before school started. He jumped when a heavy hand touched his shoulder lightly.

“Thank you for agreeing to share so much with us today, Harry.” Madam Bones said, looking genuinely grateful. “Due to many circumstances revealed today, I cannot, in good conscience, release you back to your relatives, nor your supposed magical guardian. Until such time as a home can be determined, you’ll remain in the Ministry. John will assure you get settled in the room we have set up for you and will introduce you to each guard assigned. As Lord Malfoy has claimed his alliance with Slytherin, he has offered some of his personal house elves to ensure further safety and comfort.”

“Alright.” Harry said hesitantly.

“Once you’ve been through the bank tomorrow, should you feel like it, you will be able to receive visitors. Do you have any questions for me or anyone else at the moment?”

“Er, yes and no? I mean, most of my questions can probably be answered through the bank or once you’ve conducted your additional investigations, so I think I’m alright for the moment. Will I be informed of the outcomes?”

“Of course. After the investigations are conducted, and the Healer agrees that you are on your way to a more healthy weight for your age, as well as the other … issues she wants to see you recovering from, we will have a meeting to go over our results. I expect the Hogwarts letter will be delivered to you while in protective custody, so we will arrange to either have someone go with you, or to collect the necessary supplies for you and bring them back. Additional study materials are already being prepared by the families who have Heirs in your year and those will be delivered to your room the day after tomorrow so you can begin making your way through them.”

“Could I get an owl order catalog from Flourish and Blotts as well?” Harry asked, hoping to get a few extra books, like that one on advanced defense magic that he really wanted.

“Certainly.” Madam Bones agreed easily. “If there are no further immediate questions for Lord Potter, we will recess to process further investigations with intent to reconvene one week from today. All in favor?”

“Aye.” The chamber responded, startling Harry that everyone, well, nearly everyone, being in agreement. The woman in pink seemed to be grudgingly agreeing. He had a feeling he’d have to be careful around her and watch his back if she was to be in his vicinity.

“Motion passed. Auror Dawlish will escort you to your new accommodations until the end of these investigations. Dismissed.” She slammed the gavel down and Harry let John lead him further into the Ministry through another side door. 

He wanted nothing more than to take a long, hot bath, get something to eat, and try to sleep. He tried to pay attention to John introducing the other two Aurors who would be his guards, but he was exhausted after the long day. Two elves, Mimsy and Pippin, seemed quite happy to assist him and get him the type of clothes he wanted. Harry fell asleep to Pippin talking with Healer Gwendolyn quietly while Mimsy ensured that Hedwig was comfortable and could reach Harry easily, as well as being able to see him from the perch they’d brought in for her.

Chapter Text

Harry jolted awake in bed, gasping for breath as he escaped yet another nightmare. He was glad that he’d managed to train himself not to scream himself awake so much anymore. Hedwig landed heavily on his knees and let him pull her close and put his face in her soft feathers. He mentally checked off the list of ingredients needed for the Forgetfulness potion that he’d learned in first year as a way to focus his mind and calm his thoughts. When he was no longer at risk of having a panic attack he looked over at his old watch and saw it was early in the morning, too early. He should attempt going back to sleep, but he was not willing to try and fight off another nightmare. 

He got out of bed and pulled out his summer homework from his trunk that someone had collected and looked through it, correcting parts of his essays. Thankfully, it passed the time quickly and breakfast was being served before he was shown the different options of clothes that had been procured for him by the elves. He was actually pretty happy, though slightly embarrassed, by the choices they provided. 

The ordeal at the bank was interesting. Another Auror, said to just call him Jim, took him through the floo in the Atrium directly into Gringotts, where three goblins awaited him. It was a lot of information that Harry had a little trouble keeping up with, but the goblins agreed to meet with him again in a few days once he’d had time to go over everything. The Heir and Lordship rings were not what he was prepared for at all. They shrunk to fit his fingers and felt warm and comforting to his skin and magic. 

When he put the Slytherin ring on, he could suddenly feel the bond with the Malfoy family. It wasn’t as simple of an alliance as he had been led to believe, but he figured Lucius probably only told him that so he wouldn’t freak out. He could also feel the Parkinson, Zabini, Crabbe, Flint and a few other families, including Nott. They must have joined Riddle and sworn their allegiance and services to Lord Slytherin, not Voldemort specifically, when they joined the Death Eaters. Harry laughed a little when he told the goblins, who loved hearing about the loophole. 

Instead of accepting visitors right away, he went to his room and took a much needed nap. He’d been surprised to find a little garden snake in his room when he arrived, but pleasantly so. Once Hedwig gave him her approval, she sat on her perch contentedly. His new friend, Gemini, curled around his neck and lulled him to sleep to the sound of a strange song that soothed his mind. He woke up after a couple of hours feeling better than he had in a while, but unsure what to do with himself. Fortunately, he didn’t have to think about it long as there were several knocks on his door. 

“Harry!” Fred and George shouted as he opened the door, jumping forward to hug him tightly. He laughed lightly, spotting Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and another girl, he thought her name was Luna, behind the twins.

“Hey guys.” Harry patted their backs, accepting hugs from the others as well.

“Harry, this is Luna Lovegood, she’s in Ravenclaw and lives just by us, near the Burrow. She’s in my year.” Ginny introduced.

“Hello.” Harry said politely, giving her a polite smile and wave.

“Hello, Harry Potter. It’s good to see you’ve gotten rid of so many Nargles.” She said a bit dreamily.

“Yeah, suppose I did.” Harry chuckled. He didn’t know what Nargles were, but he had the feeling that Luna didn’t just see with her eyes. Her magic felt strong, but it was fairly focused.

“We’re sorry we couldn’t write or anything over the summer.” Hermione rushed out, clinging to his hand. “We wanted to, we swear, but-”

“But Dumbledore made us swear not to.” Ron finished, looking angry about it. “Git.”

“Lots of people are angry with him right now, it seems.” Harry sighed, inviting them in and sitting around his small sitting room. “Only took them 14 years to see something was wrong, though, didn’t it?”

“Have you gone to Gringotts, then?” George asked curiously.

“Yeah, went this morning.” Harry agreed, waving his hand up and urging the rings to be visible for his friends. 

“Perfect.” Fred said, a sly grin on his face. “You see, this makes you a majority seat holder in the Wizengamot.”

“Means any pesky laws that may have needed your seats to vote into effect,” George added.

“Are under suspension until you assign a proxy in your stead, legally, or you call for a re-vote.” Ron finished, smiling with his brothers.

“Brilliant.” Harry said, feeling a little stunned.

“It’ll be nice that creatures, like Professor Lupin, will be able to find work more easily again once you repeal those awful laws.” Hermione added, sitting on the arm of Harry’s chair.

“Will Master Harry be needing tea and biscuits?” Pippin asked as he popped in, looking hopeful.

“Could you make it butterbeer instead?” Fred asked.

“And sweets, like treacle tart?” George added. 

“Those are Harry’s favorites.” Ron commented.

“Of course! Pippin be right back!” 

“Harry, how do you have house elves?” Hermione asked, looking thoughtful. “They’re a right side better than Kreacher and definitely more tame than Dobby.”

“Don’t know who Kreacher is,” Harry said, pointing at his friend, “but, yeah. He’s definitely better than Dobby, as far as his self control goes. Got him and Mimsey from Lord Malfoy, actually.”

“Is that a good idea?” Ron asked quietly. 

“Oh, guess that bit didn’t get out. Cool. Well, turns out Malfoy, along with a few others, seemed to have sworn their fealty to Lord Slytherin, not Moldie Shorts. Which means his fealty is now mine, as the new Lord Slytherin. Apparently I won the title by right of conquest.” Harry shrugged, grinning sheepishly as his friends cheered. 

“We read what you said about the houses, too.” Hermione added, still laughing lightly.

“I understand why you never said anything, Haz. I’m sorry if my comments ever made you uncomfortable or made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me.” Ron said, clearing his throat. “Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, too, you know, but I was afraid I’d be disowned so I begged for Gryffindor.”

“We could have gone to Ravenclaw,” Fred added.

“Or Slytherin.” George agreed. “Figured Gryffindor was the better place to hide.”

“I was meant to be in Ravenclaw.” Hermione sighed. 

“Just Gryffindor for me.” Ginny sighed dramatically, pouting in disappointment at not having multiple suggestions. 

“I had a lovely chat with the Hat.” Luna added. “He said Ravenclaw was my birthright, from my mother, and that it would be the best place for me to help my future friends from.”

“Can you tell us anything that happened at Gringotts?” George asked interestedly, cheering when Pippin showed up with drinks and a few trays of pastries.

“It’s a bit complicated.” Harry said hesitantly. “Bill figured out what the memories were about, when he met with Madam Bones last night, so he was with me at the bank. They had this ritual room that I went in where they drew something awful and painful out from my scar. It was all … black and smoky and hurt like hell. Could hear Moldie screaming, somehow, when they drew it out to destroy it. Bill said there were other fragments and he and the Goblins were going to hunt the other fragments down for destruction. Wouldn’t tell me what it was other than dangerous soul magic that was outlawed a long time ago.”

“That’s awful.” Ginny whispered, her face drained of color.

“Yeah. Said if they hadn’t caught it when they did that the piece could have eventually taken me over. A lot like the diary did to you.” Harry agreed quietly. “Enough depressing talk. What have you been up to this summer?”

“Well, not having to rescue you for once,” Fred teased.

“We spent the summer mostly at Sirius’ old house in London.” George frowned.

“Mum’s had us cleaning it, but it’s full of a lot of dark things.” Ginny added.

“Sirius finally lost it on her constantly trying to throw out his family heirlooms and threatened to lock her out of the wards if she didn’t start listening to him or even Bill in regards to how to clean a Dark wizards house.” Ron added, fighting a smile. “It was really great.”

“Don’t be disheartened by it, Harry.” Luna said, looking at him intensely. “There are bigger callings for you coming.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Harry said slowly. “I figured it wouldn’t be me, anyway.”

“What on earth are you two on about?” Hermione demanded, looking between them in confusion.

“Our Hogwarts letters.” Harry said, still watching Luna who gave him a soft smile. “It’s the year we get picked for Prefects.”

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot!” Hermione shrieked, covering her mouth. “Who do you think it’ll be?”

“You.” Everyone replied, laughing at the blush on her cheeks.

“Maybe Ron or Dean.” Harry added.

“Me? Are you mental?” Ron demanded, his cheeks going crimson.

“Why not?” Harry asked, grinning crookedly at his friend. “You’d let us older students get away with shite, while Hermione harps on us to not corrupt the ickle firsties like your brothers did to me.”

“Like you’re actually mad about that.” Fred and George retorted, clinking their bottles together proudly.

“Nah, wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Harry chuckled.

“Why did you guys ask about Gringotts?” Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes at her older brothers, who were grinning at each other.

“Wanted to run something by Harrykins, is all.” Fred answered innocently.

“A rough draft, if you will.” George agreed.

“Ok, out with it.” Hermione demanded, shifting to sit by Harry’s legs on the floor and stealing a treacle tart that she handed to Harry before grabbing one for herself.

“They’ll do quite well.” Luna added, taking a raspberry tart. 

“Brilliant.” Harry smiled. “You guys mind them knowing?”

“It’s your call, Haz.” Fred replied, shrugging.

“We’re ok with whatever you decide.” George nodded.

“I gave them my winnings from the Triwizard tournament.” Harry stated, snorting when Ron’s jaw dropped. “Consider me their first investor for their shop.”

“Our first,”

“And favorite,”

“Investor.” They agreed. 

“Figured we could all use the laughs before long.” Harry shrugged. “Wasn’t expecting a full on fucking trial about what happened at Hogwarts and my relatives that made me a ward of the Ministry for a bit, though.”

“Remus is planning on bringing Sirius in once Madam Bones sends them her notice of his trial. They’re thinking it’ll be next week sometime. It was pretty funny when he’d walk in one room as Padfoot then the next he was himself bouncing on his feet like an excited puppy.” Ginny chuckled.

“Wait, Padfoot?” George interrupted, narrowing his eyes at Harry who bit his lips.

“Harrikens,” Fred said in a low voice.

“Yes, alright?” Harry practically shouted to appease them. “Sirius was a Marauder. So was Remus and my dad.”

“Moony.” George groaned, thunking his head back on the couch. 

“Oh fuck, was Pettigrew Wormtail?” Fred gasped.

“Yeah, and dad was Prongs. Sirius, dad, and Pettigrew learned how to be Animagi to help Remus with his transformations once a month. Dad was a stag, Sirius was the Grim, and Pettigrew was the rat he is.” Harry confirmed. “I meant to tell you, I did, things just … kept happening and I sort of forgot.”

“I suppose we can forgive you.” Fred said with a long exhale.

“Just this once.” George agreed, tipping their drinks toward Harry.

“So have they told you how long you have to stay here?” Hermione asked once she was done chewing.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “Figure it’ll be at least another week, probably longer. They don’t want to risk anything else happening to me. They, uh, did a complete medical scan on me.”

“Finally.” Ron grunted.

“Seriously, we’ve been complaining to McGonagall for ages about it.” Hermione agreed. 

“Wait, you all didn’t have medical evaluations when you first got there?” Ginny asked in confusion.

“Nah, they started with your year and I went in third year, I think Dean and Seamus were in second year.” Ron confirmed.

“Neville wasn’t until fourth year.” Hermione added with a frown.

“They were incredibly inconsistent until we …” Fred paused, looking at his twin.

“ … had a conversation with Madam Pomfrey and a few other professors.” George agreed.

“After the tournament-”

“They finally started taking us seriously.”

“But the new plan was to be started this term-”

“Once school started again.”

Harry sat back and listened to his friends chat about their classes and what they hoped to do with the coming year. Quidditch was brought up a lot, as Ron was hoping to try out for the team. Harry didn’t miss the skeptical looks that Fred, George, and Ginny shared, but figured he’d do everything he could to encourage his friend, even if it meant helping him practice himself. 

“You be having more guests, Master Harry, sir.” Mimsey said politely as she popped in.

“Oh, er, alright.” Harry said uncertainly. “I’ll be right back.” 

Harry looked in confusion at the Auror waiting outside his door.

“Sorry to interrupt, kid.” John said apologetically. “A, er, particular group of people request a meeting with your lordship.”

“Long as they don’t mind our Lord having his own aides.” Fred stated lazily from behind Harry, where he and George were standing, looking at the Auror menacingly.

“Protection reasons, you understand.” George added.

“Of course.” John chuckled. “Would the Seer be coming as well?”

“Only if Harry wants us there.” Luna stated serenely.

“A Lord should always attend official meetings with his most trusted.” John agreed.

“Alright. Erm, I guess lead the way?” Harry said, though it sounded more like a question. He noticed Ron, Hermione, and Ginny joining them as well, walking behind him like they were his personal guard while the twins were at each side with Luna leading the way.

He wasn’t too surprised to walk into a meeting room with several people he suspected of being Death Eaters sitting at a table. As soon as he entered, they all stood and bowed to him. He didn’t know what to do until Fred nudged him toward a chair in the middle of the opposite side of the table and his friends each took seats beside him to match the numbers of those gathered to meet with him. 

“Lord Slytherin, thank you for meeting us.” Lucius said, looking at least ten times better than he had at the hearing.

“Lord Malfoy, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Harry asked politely, earning a small grin of appreciation from the man.

“Firstly, thank you for taking up your mantle. It has cleared up a lot of … issues that many of us had been feeling since you earned the title by conquest.”

“Only wish I could have done it sooner.” Harry admitted. “Perhaps it could have prevented some of the unpleasantness between us.”

“Perhaps.” Lucius conceded. “As you’ve no doubt discovered, our bonds to Lord Slytherin are not what many thought they were.”

“No. They are not.” Harry agreed.

“His darkness is ending soon.” Luna said dreamily, looking between each of the visitors. “You must decide if you will assist Harry, now, to effect the changes you’ve sought.”

“How soon?” A man asked, looking at her with narrowed eyes, but there was a spark of hope in them.

“Within the week, I’d say.” Luna hummed. “He can no longer control you, as his symbol was tied directly to his lineage, which he lost to Harry. Will you share your knowledge and experiences with him in order to ensure a better world for your children?”

“Aye.” The group agreed quickly, and Harry hissed as his ring responded to the words as if they were an oath.

“I know you all probably want to jump in and start informing me of what your actual goals were,” Harry said cautiously, fingering the ring, but relaxing when Gemini butted his head against Harry’s, “but I’m afraid it’s going to take time. If you’d like to start going over major points that you would like me to look into first, my colleagues can assist me in researching them.”

“Perfectly said, sir.” Lucius nodded, the others nodding along with him. Hermione had a parchment that she began taking notes on, Ron as well, though his were more about the people they were meeting with than the laws. 

“Now that’s out of the way,” Nott stated, leaning on the table, “our Heirs have been informed of your new status as well as the fact that you are not learned in the ways of an Heir, let alone a Lord. We spoke with Professor Snape, as well as Professor’s McGonagall and Flitwick, who have all agreed to reserve study rooms for you so they can inform you of the practices you will need to know.”

“Draco comprised a list, once he was done having a slight … fit, shall I say? About the fact you were unaware of what being an Heir means.” Lucius agreed, nodding to Crabbe who slid a piece of parchment over to Hermione. “There are several texts that he, and the other Heirs, put together that will be able to assist you. They cover etiquette lessons, history of the Wizengamot, the laws passed since the Dark Lord was first defeated 14 years ago, as well as the books that all pure-blood families start their children on upon first signs of accidental magic to allow them to connect with their power better. It will feel overwhelming at first, but we trust that your … associates and the other Heirs should have you sorted before Yule.”

“Thank you, Lord Malfoy.” Hermione said gratefully, already copying the pages and passing them down to the others.

“I did have a question,” Harry said hesitantly, “how were you able to vocalize that you were swearing your allegiance to Lord Slytherin, not Riddle?”

“It was not difficult.” Lucius grinned wickedly. “We all were already aware of his heritage, and we also knew that the titles, especially those associated with the founders, can still be passed on through conquest, as you accomplished, or genealogically. He never anticipated losing his title, shall we say?”

“Very clever, sir.” Harry agreed, grinning at Lucius. “We’ll review what you’ve provided us. I’m pleased that the animosity between us is at an end.”

“And we are pleased that we are no longer torn between a mad man and an unclaimed position.” Goyle grunted.

“I expect we’ll be in touch.” Fred said pleasantly.

“I hope you informed your Heirs that their previous behavior won’t be tolerated.” George agreed.

“Had we known the … extent of Lord Slytherin’s neglect, we would have intervened sooner.” Nott stated. 

“Were the DMLE not involved, we would have sought our own retribution against those who dared abuse a magical child.” Crabbe added, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists. 

“I appreciate that.” Harry said sincerely. “I look forward to what we achieve in the future.” 

Harry stood, everyone following his lead. The others bowed to him as he left, his friends back in their original positions. He was surprised, but happy when he got back to his room and Sirius and Remus were there waiting on them. Harry hugged them both happily while Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and even Luna, began going over the list they had gotten.

“Heya, pup.” Sirius said, but his eyes were sad. “I’m only gonna say this once, because I don’t want to focus on it, and I know you don’t want me to either; I’m so proud of how brave you’ve been through all this. I should have been there for you these past years, not locked away. But I thought I could really stop the rat, instead of being cornered and tricked. If I get exonerated, and set free, I’ll be claiming back the Black Lordship, and you’ll be my Heir. You don’t have to decide now, but, well, if you’d like, until you can get the training you need, I’d be honored to be your proxy.”

“Oh fantastic.” Harry said with a sigh, hugging him once more, grinning when Sirius laughed.

“We can’t stay long, unfortunately.” Remus said apologetically. “We only came to pick the others up. But we’ll be around the next week, or so, I expect. Once Sirius finally gets his trial, and everything. They managed to arrest Peter this morning while you were at Gringotts, I understand, so that should help. We can’t tell you more, because, frankly, we don’t know what happened or how they managed it. It’s all being kept very quiet.”

“Sirius,” Hermione said, coming over to them and handing the list of books to him, “do you have any of these in your library? I’d like to start looking them over before classes start in a few weeks.”

“I have most of these, actually. I had to do all these lessons myself, once. James hated them, but went because at least we both had to suffer together. You’ll have to owl order the rest, or perhaps ask some of the other Heirs for an updated copy since mine are over 20 years old.” Sirius said, looking it over. 

“Let me know what you find out.” Harry directed to Hermione, who gave him a look that made him laugh.

“Obviously.” She said, rolling her eyes. “We’ll probably not be back tomorrow, but we’ll try to be by in a few days, if we can.”

“Dad might have a few that he kept for Bill for the Prewitt family seat.” Ron stated, walking over to them. “I’ll ask.”

“Everything’s going to change now.” Luna stated, taking Harry’s hand gently. “Don’t worry about the Nargles at school. They’ll be taken care of by the snakes and badgers.”

“Thanks, Luna.” Harry said gratefully.

“Right.” Sirius drawled, looking at Luna curiously. “You’re Pandora’s girl, aren’t you?”

“She was hoping her experiments would lead her to understanding what she saw.” Luna nodded.

“I’ve a few notebooks from her, from school.” Sirius said with a small smile. “I’ll send them to you.”

“That would be lovely.” Luna said, giving him a genuine smile.

“We’ll be back before Sirius’ trial, little brother,” George said, hugging him.

“So we can go to Gringotts and sort out a few more details with the proper authorities.” Fred agreed, taking his turn to hug Harry.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Harry agreed, stifling a yawn, suddenly realizing how tired he was. 

You need a hot soak and bed, hatchling. Gemini hissed in his ear, making him roll his eyes.

I’m getting there. Harry hissed back, chuckling when the little snake bumped his nose against Harry’s cheek affectionately .

“See you later, Haz.” Ginny said, hugging him herself before taking Luna and leading her out of the door with the others. Sirius shifted to Padfoot, circling Harry a few times before he followed the others and Harry was suddenly alone and exhausted. He ate a quick dinner before taking a bath and falling into bed with Gemini choosing to curl around his wrist over his chest.

It had been a productive day, but completely draining.

Chapter Text

Harry spent a lot of his free time the next week catching up on all the books that he’d been given that most muggle-born and raised students got for first year. He groaned every time he uncovered something that made spell casting that much easier. Especially when it came to nonverbal spells. He really wanted to practice, but wasn’t sure what he could or couldn’t do, so he stuck to leaving his wand either in his pocket or on his desk. He’d managed to be able to cast a few of the spells without his wand, though, which was interesting. 

Sirius got his trial, finally, and was cleared of any charges, though he wasn’t deemed as eligible for custody of Harry due to his time spent around Dementors. He had extensive appointments with medical professionals as well as mind healers for the foreseeable future, which he actually seemed ok with since it wouldn’t affect him taking up his lordship or acting as Harry’s proxy. He wasn’t surprised that no one quite knew what to do with him, now. He was technically a recognized adult in the wizarding world, even though he wasn’t of age. But he couldn’t take over any of the wards of his family homes, which, hearing there were more than one was enough to surprise and confuse him, until he reached his magical age of maturity. Something about the family magicks not accepting him until then. 

He was allowed to go to Diagon, but he was heavily escorted. He started making a game of if he could tag his guards that were following discreetly, supposedly undercover. So far he was five for five and was getting bored with how obvious he found their attempts as disguises. He started casting hair color charms at them wandlessly so they knew he caught them. It was a game to them, too, to see if they could blend in or not. Madam Bones thought it was brilliant and told them if they were able to fool Harry, they could get a shot at becoming an Unspeakable, which is what all of them were gunning for. 

“Um.” Harry said intelligently when he was led into the conference room again, but found it full of 12 other witches and wizards, including Lucius Malfoy and Neville’s grandmother. 

“Heir Potter, thank you for making it.” A kind witch said, gesturing for him to have a seat. 

“No problem. Er, what can I do for you?”

“Heir Potter, this is the Board of Governor’s for Hogwarts.” Lucius informed him. “As you are appointed as heir for two of the four founders of the school, and recently emancipated, we found it best to include you in some of our meetings.”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Harry nodded, giving Lucius a grateful smile for explaining. 

“We’d like to hear your unique thoughts on potential teaching positions within the school.” Neville’s grandmother said, shuffling some parchment around. “As it stands, the former Headmaster was being coerced by the former Minister to hire one of his Undersecretarys as the new Defense teacher.”

“And this Undersecretary had the correct teaching credentials?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t even think she achieved an OWL in the subject.” One man said, flipping through his own stack of documents.

“So we would have at least two teachers, then, who don’t have the necessary credentials to be teaching?” Harry asked. “I love Hagrid, don’t get me wrong, but he hasn’t taken his OWL’s either. If that is all you need to teach students, is between two and four years of magical education, I might as well be teaching Defense, since I have more real world experience in actual fights than the past four teachers, at the least.”

“Sounds right.” Lucius said, clearing his throat as he attempted not to laugh.

“The Headmaster should not be choosing and assigning teachers. That role should be with a majority vote of this board.” Harry said, looking at each of them. “If this board cannot find an appropriate teacher, surely there is some international guild or something that can assist? Beauxbaton is in France, so there’s at least one, though probably more, magical schools on the continent. They must have a way to find teachers when they need a replacement.”

“There is an International Confederation that we can reach out to.” Neville’s grandmother said, looking stunned. “How have we not reached out to them before?”

“Just a guess,” Harry said hesitantly, “but there’s every chance you all might have been spelled or compelled to not consult them. Aside from that, if your family heirlooms that are meant to prevent such a thing from happening, did not serve their purpose, you should contact Gringotts and see if the Goblins can find out what sort of magic caused that. I can’t tell you how much better I feel having gotten an amulet from my vault and started wearing it. Not to mention the rings. Putting them on felt like a weight was lifted from my chest.”

“Right.” Lucius said, gritting his teeth now. “Before we go further, we need to call a Goblin to attend us and sort out what happened with our family relics.”

“Um, you probably won’t need me for that part.” Harry added. “I think, once you’ve been able to get that … handled, as it were, you’ll be able to make better progress with finding new teachers. I’ve spoken with Heir Bones and Heir Lovegood and, really, the only addendum we have is that we’d like to see some of the classes from the original school charter brought back. I can have one of my elves bring our notes in when you’re ready?”

“That would be perfectly acceptable, Heir Potter.” Another witch said. She looked to be barely refraining from tearing her paperwork into shreds at all the new revelations. 

“Cool. Lord Malfoy, just call for Mimsey, because Pippin was rather distraught when he realized I was going back to school soon and the last I saw he was sobbing into the carpet.” Harry said hesitantly. 

“Perhaps it would be best to transfer him to you permanently, Heir Potter.” Lucius said, looking a little disgusted by the elf’s actions. “He does the same thing for Draco each year, and Draco has grown rather weary of it.”

“I don’t think he can go with me to school.”

“Of course he can.” Lucius scoffed. “Sanger goes with Draco every year, in case he needs something or forgot something. He doesn’t trust the school elves to take care of my son to his standards.”

“That’s fair.” Harry chuckled. “Alright. I’ll give Mimsey my notes so as soon as you’re ready for her she’ll bring them and probably wrangle Pippin into coming to school with me so he’ll calm down.”

“Thank you for your time, Heir Potter. We look forward to working with you upon your graduation.” Neville’s grandmother said, giving him a small smile. 

By the time school was starting again, a week after meeting with the board, Harry still didn’t have a home, so he packed the things he’d collected into his new trunk and shrunk it down to carry in his pocket. Before he could go to the train station, though, he was called to the courtroom once more. He was confused as to why he was present but he sat where he was directed, John stayed right next to him, which only made him more confused.

“Bring him in.” Madam Bones said, standing by the podium with a stack of notes in front of her. Harry felt his eyes widen as Dumbledore walked in, standing in front of the podium stoically. “Albus Dumbledore, you were called before the Wizengamot for charges of attempted line theft, child abuse, child endangerment and neglect, as well as dereliction of duties as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are also charged with obstruction of justice for withholding information in regards to the wizard formerly known as Tom Riddle, more commonly known as Voldemort. How do you plead?”

Harry clenched his hands as he understood what was happening. The Headmaster was actually being charged with everything he’d done as well as failed to do regarding him and the school. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. What would happen to the school? Who would be taking over? Surely they wouldn’t take Dumbledore away if there wasn’t anyone set up to replace him, right? And what about Voldemort? Was he no longer a threat?

“I regret that I must plead guilty.” Dumbledore said in obvious exhaustion. 

“Very well.” Madam Bones said, jotting something down. “Do you have anything to offer in defense of your actions that may lessen your sentencing?”

“I can only say that I took the actions I thought necessary to ensure the safety of the world. I did what I thought would be best to accomplish the banishment of the second dark lord in my lifetime. I regret that so many of the students at the school were perceived to be in any danger, while most were unaware. I did not have enough faith or trust in the Ministry to handle the memories I collected over the years, nor that they would conduct an investigation that wouldn’t get back to Tom before he could be dealt with. I feared his followers within the Ministry would inform him and thus ensure his rise once more.”

“Yet you were able to convince numerous Aurors to assist you in your Order during the first war with Voldemort.” Madam Bones stated, raising an eyebrow at Dumbledore.

“Yes.” He agreed.

“Is there anything else you would like to add?” She asked, folding her hands on top of her parchment.

“I believe you have already made your decision, Madam Bones.” Dumbledore said, clasping his hands behind his back. “But I’ve always done what I thought was right for the greater good of all.”

“For the record,” She said coolly, “this is not my decision to make. It is that of the Wizengamot. That being said, you are hereby under arrest for the aforementioned charges, and will be remanded into custody of the Ministry until sentencing. Professors McGonagall and Snape have been appointed as temporary co-Heads for the school under a probationary status. Healers from St. Mungo’s will be in attendance at school this year to offer counseling for any student who wishes to seek it, as well as mandatory health scans to determine if any other child is as at risk as Mr. Potter was that you may have overlooked or ignored, along with the other teachers. 

“Each of the teachers currently teaching will be on probation as well, with an independent team of wizards from the International Confederation of Wizards Educational team interviewing and observing their classes. I must say I am highly disappointed to find that tests for OWLs and NEWTs from Hogwarts are among the lowest in the ICW. The school charter has been reinstated and the Heads of Houses have been briefed on what this means for them, as well as their students.” She sighed heavily. “I’m informing you solely as a courtesy. Your failure in Mr. Potter’s life alone, is grounds for a life sentence in Azkaban, and not just because he is heir to an Ancient and Noble house.”

“He must return to his relatives.” Dumbledore said insistently. “His mother cast protective blood wards when she gave her life for him. He must return there each summer.”

“The wards you are claiming to exist, never took hold.” Madam Bones said with a deep frown. “You see, had you done research, or inquired with the Ministry, you’d have discovered that the wards she cast upon her death were contingent on him being accepted as part of the family, of the family giving him the love you insist is present. The Dursley family have never accepted Mr. Potter, though they took him into their home. Had you visited, even once, in the ten years you left him there before he started school, you’d have seen this. You failed a child that you assigned yourself as magical guardian of.”

“May I speak with him?” Dumbledore asked, and Harry sucked in a breath. Dumbledore didn’t know he was there. He was hidden, somehow. 

“I do not wish to subject him to more trauma, but it is not my decision.” She sighed, glancing at Harry finally. “Auror Dawlish, could you determine if Lord Potter would be willing to hear from Mr. Dumbledore?”

“Yes, ma’am.” John agreed, with a small nod. “It’s your choice, Harry. Madam Bones thought it best if you could be present without drawing attention, but you can choose to have him know you’re here, or not.”

“I …” Harry ran a hand through his hair, “it’s fine. I’ll hear what he thinks he needs to tell me.”

“Ok.” John nodded at him before taking a step back and nodding to Madam Bones. 

“Harry.” Dumbledore said, a small smile on his face. 

“Sir.” Harry acknowledged.

“I wanted you to know I attempted to be present for your trial. I came, and even brought Ms. Figg with me as witness, should she be needed.”

“Yet you did not see the need to have anyone check on me for the duration of the summer, even though I’d just witnessed another student be murdered.” Harry commented, not caring that Dumbledore’s smile was strained.

“I thought it best to distance myself from you, with Voldemort’s return and your connection to him.”

“Perhaps you should have considered that when you forced me to participate in the tournament, then.” Harry stated, raising an eyebrow at the man. “You somehow even convinced my friends that they should keep me in the dark. Each summer you sent me back, sir, you knew how secluded and alone I was. And yet you insisted on it. You set up tasks for the end of each school year and disregarded anyone not from Gryffindor. You tested me time and time again, to what end? To have me face off against a wizard that you yourself could not defeat? I’m 15, sir. I’m not an Auror, nor an Unspeakable. I’m a student. I should have been able to attend school as my peers had, without the additional stress that you were adamant that I endure. You chose when to interact with me, making me reliant on the miniscule amount of pride you would give me for surviving. I just … I want to know why you never told me about being an Heir? About what it meant? I don’t-” Harry cut himself off as he realized. “No-, I-, no. You wouldn’t, would you? Were- were you expecting me to die?”

“Harry-” Dumbledore said, his tone sad, but Harry stood up.

“No. No, you don’t get to call me that.” Harry shook his head. “You were expecting me to complete some insane task, but that no matter what I did, it would kill me in the end. I saw the prophecy, sir. Madam Bones was kind enough to escort me down to the Hall of Prophecies, but it was a trick. The prophecy was self-fulfilling. It said I would vanquish him. And so I did. You should not have made me responsible for ending this war. You should have looked to the other adults, people trained in fighting dark wizards, to have them find another way, instead of raising me to be killed. Do you even care that I nearly died from starvation while at the Dursleys? Do you even care that I learned how to cast glamors to hide my bruises and scars from other people let alone the kids in my own dorm? Or did you justify it to yourself that I was going to die anyway, for, what was it you said? Oh, yeah, the greater good. I’m here, sir, and I heard what you had to say. I’d like to leave now.”

“Thank you, Lord Potter.” Madam Bones said, giving him a bow, but her jaw was clenched as she fought not to glare angrily at the former headmaster. “Your escort is waiting. Auror Dawlish, please ensure he makes it onto the train safely, and that the Aurors on board are aware of their duties.”

“Certainly, Madam Bones.” John said, inclining his head and leading Harry out. Dumbledore had been trying to call his name, but he must have been silenced, because Harry didn’t hear him at all. He didn’t even bother tagging his disguised guards this time, just wanting to get to the platform and his friends as soon as possible. As soon as he was there, he found them all and threw himself at Hermione and Ron, hugging them tightly and trying to hold himself together. 

“What the hell happened?” Fred demanded angrily, glaring at the Aurors.

“Dumbledore more or less admitted to raising him so that he would die fighting Voldemort.” John said quietly. “His sentencing is being decided this morning and Madam Bones insisted that Harry be present to hear his counterarguments.”

“Shite.” George said. “Could have given us a warning, mate.”

“Wasn’t my call.” John said, eyeing the crowd around them “Get him on the train. Aurors will be patrolling, but don’t let anyone in that you don’t trust.”

“Done.” Ginny said, glaring angrily at anyone who stepped too close to them. 

“Come along, Harry.” Luna said, gently prying him from his friends and leading him onto the train, away from all the noise and into an empty compartment. She sat down by the window and had Harry lay across the bench with his head in her lap as she stroked a hand through his hair. 

“He was just going to let me die.” Harry said quietly, when the others crowded into the compartment with them. “He didn’t even apologize … for … for any of it.”

“We’re sorry, Haz.” Hermione said gently, cupping his face as she crouched in front of him. “We had no idea that’s what he was doing, we swear. If we’d known-”

“He’d have been dead or incapacitated ages ago.” Fred said, sharing a dark look with George, who nodded his agreement.

“I don’t want to die.” Harry said quietly.

“You won’t.” Ron said firmly. “We’ll make sure of it. Not until you're older than Dumbledore, mate.”

“Thanks.” Harry sighed, letting his eyes fall closed as Luna continued running her hands through his hair. 

He wasn’t surprised he startled awake not even an hour later from another nightmare, but he just sat up and ran his hands through his hair and eventually calmed down. Hermione and Ron were gone, having to do patrols on the train as Prefects, but Fred, George, Ginny, Luna, and Neville sat with him and tried to distract him as much as they could. The twins pleaded with him to share his trick about changing people’s hair without a wand and not getting caught. That made him laugh finally and he felt himself relax a bit more and offered to demonstrate since they also really wanted to meet up with Lee to show off the snackboxes they’d made.

“No tattling to the others if you figure it out.” Harry instructed standing up and stretching. 

“Not a word.” They agreed, jumping to their feet as well. 

“And just maybe,” Harry grinned, “I’ll show you how to alter it so the color reflects the mood of the person.” They didn’t answer, but looked to be bouncing on their feet practically as they followed Harry out as he walked toward the back of the train. He mostly stuck to the Aurors who were sitting or standing randomly in the train, snickering when they sighed in annoyance at being caught. 

“I’m not supporting this, Cho.” A girl’s voice said from a little ahead of where Harry was walking toward. “If you like him, sure, I can support that. But I won’t support you making yourself look like a weak idiot just to get Harry Potter to notice you.”

“I’m not doing that.” Cho’s voice argued. “I need to get closer to him, though, can’t you see that? He was the last one to see Cedric and I need to know what happened.”

“So ask him!” The other girl demanded. “Have a bloody conversation with him. Don’t go flirting with him just because he’s the one who made it out of that horrible tournament.”

“You don’t understand.” Cho huffed, sounding annoyed. Harry frowned and looked back at Fred and George who looked rather angry. “I’m not flirting with him just to find out what happened. He’s cute. And I’m sure I’d like him if I got to know him. We’d look great together.”

“I’m still not supporting this. He’s an Heir, Cho. More than that, his friends are extremely protective of him. I know what that Granger girl did to Rita Skeeter after the tournament. If you’re doing this, taking advantage of the little crush he had on you once upon a time, I’m not helping.”

“Fine.” Cho said angrily. “I won’t ask you to be part of it. I’ll get Harry to date me without your help.” 

Harry peeked forward into the compartment and shot his spell at Cho before walking past, the twins following along, glowering toward the girls they’d overheard.

“What are the odds that’s going to happen a lot this year?” Harry asked, once they reached the last car and went outside.

“Is that a serious question?” Fred argued, crossing his arms and pulling out a pack of what looked like cigarettes. 

“You’re the hot commodity, Har.” George grumbled, looking over his shoulder and accepting the lit smoke that Fred handed him. 

“Then I expect you all to keep an eye on everyone.” Harry sighed. “Can I try one of those?”

“Lemon, cherry, or …” Fred looked around in the small container, “I think it’s meant to be chocolate, but it might be cappuccino.”

“Cappuccino?” Harry asked, fighting a grin. “Ok, I want to try that one.”

“How about we keep the hair tagging to the ones we spot trying to seduce you for your fame or story?” George offered, smirking when Harry coughed a little. 

“Works for me.” Harry agreed, shrugging as he tried another drag. “Cappuccino.”

“Cool.” Fred nodded. 

“I swear I’m going to strangle that girl if she doesn’t back the bloody fuck off.” Malfoy nearly shouted as he slammed the door behind him before realizing he wasn’t alone. “Bugger.”

“Malfoy.” Harry laughed, inclining his head. “Still trying to say you’re going to get married, is she?”

“She knows it’s not happening.” He huffed, taking a cigarette from Fred, nodding at him in thanks. “Thanks, by the way. For getting rid of two dicks with one swing.”

“You’re welcome.” Harry laughed while Fred and George snickered. 

“I’m using you three as my shield if she comes out here, just so you’re aware.” He leaned against the railing in a very un-Malfoy like way. 

“Works for us.” George snickered. 

“She can’t follow you everywhere.” Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

“Near enough.” Malfoy complained. “She’s a Prefect with me. Thought for sure they’d pick Daphne or Tracy, but it had to be Pansy. Merlin, even Millicent would have been preferable.”

“Better than Ron and Hermione.” Fred offered, grinning when Malfoy scrunched up his face. 

“Your brother won’t be so bad. It’s Granger that’ll be on a power trip.” Malfoy stated.

“Why don’t we,” Harry hummed looking between Fred, George, and Malfoy, trying not to grin too wickedly, “make things interesting this year?”

“I’m listening.” Malfoy said, watching him appraisingly, but Fred and George were already smiling. 

“We’re the same year, so are those two.” Harry pointed to the twins. “They already run a lot of pranks around the school, but they don’t have any competition.”

“After the first half of term is over we join forces, though.” George countered.

“Harry’s pranks are the best because he never gets caught.” Fred said, leaning toward Malfoy. 

“I’ll tell you what,” Malfoy said, looking between the three of them with a calculating look, “keep my parents from signing a marriage contract for me. Make it so when I’m of age I have a choice and it’s a deal.”

“They’re trying to marry you off?” Harry asked incredulously. 

“We come of age in two years, Potter.” Malfoy said in a bored tone. “Mother and father were already betrothed by the time they were our age. I don’t want that. I want to pursue my Mastery for Charms and Potions, but on my own terms. I don’t want to be married before I’m 20 to someone I may barely know or already despise. Convince my father how poorly it would be looked upon for the prominent families to continue this medieval practice in the 20th century.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Harry agreed. “Might reach out to a few of the others to get their views of it as well so my suggestion doesn’t sound like shit.”

“We can be the new generation of Marauders with a legacy amongst us.” George cheered happily. 

“Marauders.” Malfoy said, sniffing as he flicked away his cigarette. “Might work. I trust you can be discreet?”

“Harry can.” Fred answered with a shrug. “We’ll try and hone it in a bit better.”

“Look forward to it. Gentlemen.” Malfoy sighed heavily before going back in the train. 

“Think this year just got a whole lot more interesting.” Harry snickered. “Ugh. Let’s go get some snacks and you two can wander and try to tag more people for me.”

“Done.” They replied with wicked grins and walking Harry back to their compartment. Harry let out a heaving breath. For once, he was planning to have a completely normal year. He’d have to figure out what he was going to do after school was out at some point, but he’d worry about that later on. 

For now, all he wanted to do was chat with his friends while Gemini curled around him and hissed passing comments in his ear to make him laugh. He had a lot of work ahead of him with the other heirs to try and fix what some people messed up, but with everyone smiling and laughing around him, it was hard not to hope they’d succeed.