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After the DA had been discovered, and Dumbledore just fucking left the castle, Harry did the only thing he could think of to try and protect as many people as possible; he bartered with Umbridge to take on everyone’s detentions. The detentions of everyone that had been caught leaving the Room of Requirement. Because it wasn’t just Hermione’s spell that called Marietta out as a snitch. She hadn’t had a choice, really, not while being dosed with vertitaserum. So objectively, she wasn’t a proper snitch. 

Someone had confounded, obliviated, or something, Marietta before Dumbledore took off. So not only were the teachers ok with abusing them all, but the other adults in the community, meant to be law enforcement, were also ok with manipulating their minds. It made Harry even more pissed. About everything, really. These were people who were meant to protect them, to lead them, all of it. And instead they took joy in torture. Just like the Death Eaters had in that graveyard while Harry was being tormented. 

The announcement of Umbridge being placed as the new Head, had a lot of people whispering quietly. Harry hadn’t told anyone that he took on their detentions, there was no point. He’d agreed to lead them, to teach them, so it was his responsibility to take care of them. Even if it meant carving into his own hand a bit more. Harry’s detentions were meant to start on the weekend, so Harry pulled Hermione into an alcove and cast a silencing spell. 

“You need to get to work on undoing it.” Harry said firmly.

“What? Why?” Hermione frowned. “She knew there would be consequences, they all did.”

“Yeah, but your spells didn’t take truth serum into account.” Harry argued. “If this were literally any other year, fine, your protective spells would be appreciated. But Umbridge is here, and when she interviews students, she uses veritaserum. If you are not wanting to correct it, you are doing the same as Umbridge, permanently disfiguring a 17 year old.”

“It’s not the same.” Hermione argued, pursing her lips tightly. “But I will see what I can find, so you aren’t upset.”

“A teacher has permanently disfigured me this year.” Harry held up his hand, making her grimace. “We are not doing the same thing she is and scaring everyone into following our rules. We’re not Death Eaters, and we’re not Ministry dicks.”

“Fine.” Hermione agreed tersely. 

Harry took down his charm and they continued onto their next class. Potions. Which Harry did not even bother in anymore. He’d pass his OWLs, he knew he would, but he’d never be able to get anywhere while Snape treated him and Neville both as worse than the dirt on his shoes. Harry sat next to Neville in Potions and grabbed ingredients randomly. He was just beyond caring, so why not? Neville had to cover his mouth so he wouldn’t laugh when he looked over and saw Harry was pretty much making soup. He bottled some up when they were all done for the day, though, regardless of whether it would be broken or not. Which it was. Crabbe practically swatted it with his book, shattering it on the floor. He frowned down at it, though, when nothing dramatic happened like he’d expected.

“Good job.” Neville snickered. “You just killed Harry’s stew.”

“What?” He asked, looking really confused. Which was more his natural state of being. 

“Was hoping to see what kind of grade that earned me, actually.” Harry sighed. He turned back and cleared out his cauldron and left with Neville, grinning when the other boy kept snickering and shaking his head. 

“What did you give her, anyway?” Neville asked quietly. 

“What did I give who?” Harry frowned.

“Umbridge.” Neville rolled his eyes. “She wouldn’t have let us all go, not having the list with all our names on it, if you hadn’t given her something else.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Harry said quietly.

“Harry-”

“No.” Harry interrupted. “It doesn’t matter. You all wanted me to do this, to teach you. I could have said no, I could have let you all figure it out on your own, without me, but I didn’t. I am not the same as them. I will not accept that you get punished for trying to learn how to defend yourselves. A teacher is meant to lead and protect those under them. It’s time you all had an example of that.”

“You shouldn’t be forced into doing this, though.” Neville argued.

“No, I shouldn’t.” Harry agreed. “Our teachers or everyone’s parents, the fucking board of governors, should be protecting and leading the students. But they are actively choosing not to. They are actively choosing to put us through pain and suffering, ignoring that we can’t tell them otherwise. All of our mail is intercepted and read. Anything we are concerned about or that might cause people to question what the hell is actually going on here, is stopped and destroyed. If our current teachers, heads of houses, the board, everyone, refuses to protect children, then I will. The world already hates me. The least I can do is have them hate me for something that keeps the rest of you safe.”

“But you’re not safe.” Neville argued sadly.

“I’ve never been safe a day in my life.” Harry shook his head. “Not that I remember.”

“Awe,” Parkinson pouted at him as the Slytherins caught up and walked beside them to go to the Great Hall, “someone get dropped on their head as a baby? Thinking other people should inherently care what you think?”

“Bold of you to assume I was ever held.” Harry snorted. 

“What?” She frowned, blinking at him in confusion.

“Ya know,” Harry faffed his hand as they reached the door, “in order to be dropped you have to be held or picked up. Bold of you to assume anyone ever cared to do that.”

“Spoiled Potter, making up more lies.” Malfoy tutted.

“Ah yes,” Harry said, nodding along, confusing them more, “I was a very spoiled child, Malfoy. How foolish of me not to appreciate starvation, beatings, and the cupboard I had for a room. The spiders and mice were good company, so I should be thankful for getting the chance to have them. Thank you for correcting me.”

“Harry,” Neville laughed, putting an arm around him and walking him down their table, leaving a very stunned Slytherin group at the doors, “you’ve got to stop talking about your abuse as something funny or entertaining. They’ll never take you seriously.”

“They won’t take me seriously anyway.” Harry snorted. “They hate me because their parents told them to. Not because I ever did anything to them. And no one believes I was ever abused.”

“It’s not past tense.” Neville argued. “That implies it’s over and not happening any longer.”

“Still.” Harry shrugged. “No one cares. So let’s just leave it be.”

“For now.” Neville grumbled, passing Harry a dish of soup with a grin, making them both laugh. 

Ron was irritated with Harry by the end of the day as much as Hermione was. Because she was upset about having to undo what she’d done, and Ron was always on her side as much as she was on his. They had been that way since they buried the hatchet after the Yule Ball, always dancing around each other, always agreeing on things together over including Harry. Like the plan they’d come up with for him to teach without telling him until they’d discussed it. Not even mentioning that they spent a good portion of the last two summers together while Harry had been left alone. Yeah, he’d ended up with them a bit, but they were together longer and more frequently. 

Harry didn’t have to tell Snape about his detentions, since the man had stopped giving him lessons after the mishap with the pensieve. And he wasn’t about to beg the man to pick them up again, regardless of his nightmares, so long as he treated Harry like he had to make up for what James had done to him. Harry hadn’t talked to Sirius or Remus since then, either. And that had been almost two months back. Harry couldn’t make mental shields. He’d tried, he’d concentrated and read the books he’d found about it, but he didn’t understand it. And there was no one he could talk to that wouldn’t tell him to just suck it up and apologize to Snape. 

OWLs were starting in less than a week, and Harry was dreading them. More than any other test, really. It was meant to help them find a future career, but Harry didn’t think he’d actually live long enough to have one of those. Every year something happened that he was put in that nearly killed him. Fighting QuirrelMort, the Basilisk, Dementors, the tournament. So he wasn’t looking forward to whatever might come for him fifth year. He needed to get through his test. Then he could deal with the deadly disaster. Weirdly enough, Umbridge pushed his detentions to take place after OWLs. Which made him wary. If she was doing that, then she had some sort of plan, and it would most likely be his disaster. Unless Mort figured out the thing with their minds and somehow made Harry crack. 

Hermione showed Harry when she undid the charms on the parchment their names were all listed on. She was still unhappy about it, but she did it. Then she’d copied the names and signatures onto a spare piece of parchment that did not have such compulsions or restrictions and burned the other one. Hopefully that would be enough. Not that they would know, not with Marietta leaving school to go to St. Mungo’s for more exams or tests. 

Harry felt like he actually did alright on the practical Potions portion once OWLs were going, even if he was pretty sure he still hadn’t gotten an O. Defense was weird because he felt a bit like Hermione when it came to writing out what he knew and running out of room to expand further. Astrology was a nightmare, with what happened to both Hagrid and Professor McGonagall while Umbridge watched or shrieked whatever she was trying to say. Everyone was frazzled for the practicals, Harry’s hair was standing out as much as Hermione’s. After the Potions practical, his hair had even started curling like it had when he was younger. But he could do the defense portion in his sleep. He felt like he’d done the Charms and Transfiguration parts in his sleep as well, though. Everything was sort of bleeding together, but when his examiner for DADA asked him to make a Patronus, he reluctantly agreed and sent it racing through the hall. The man was very delighted, but Harry just moved on. 

History. Harry wasn’t really sure what happened in that OWL. One minute he was trying to write, his head throbbing and feeling like it was being stabbed, the next he was waking up on the floor, being told he was screaming and holding his scar. He tried to get up and finish his exam, but they wouldn’t let him and escorted him to the hospital while letting everyone else finish. His friends looked concerned, but Harry’s head still hurt horribly. He put a hand against his temple, wincing when his palm pressed against his scar, which was where the pain was centered. All he got was a headache potion and sent to his dormitory to rest for a bit. Pomfrey said he was just overworked. But that hadn’t been it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been shown a creepy scene where Sirius was being tortured by Mort with a bunch of shelves that held weird, smoky, glass balls on them. 

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he jolted up and pulled his Divination book out. He flipped through several pages and found a very small mention of a ‘Hall of Prophecies’. Nothing else about it, just that it existed. From context, Harry suspected that was where all prophecies were kept. But Sirius wouldn’t go there. Neither would Remus. So why was Mort trying to imply otherwise? It didn’t make any sense. Harry had heard a prophecy once before, directly from the source. He did not want to hear another, thank you very much. 

The next day at breakfast, because Harry had slept fitfully for a long while, even if he’d taken a short break to shower before going back to bed. Everyone looked as dead as Harry felt, though. He jumped when he heard a firework go off. But then there were more and Umbridge was frowning deeply at the head table, as were several other teachers. Harry was most likely doing his detentions for most of the day, now that exams were over, but maybe something could delay them a bit more? He ducked as several more fireworks entered the hall and exploded above the tables, shimmering lights streaming down, some of them splitting off and bursting again. Those were definitely designed by Fred and George. They’d been working on the charms for ages.

They flew in on their brooms, clearly broken from the wall Umbridge had locked them to, Harry’s trailing along with them. They flipped over and high-fived him as they threw some more fireworks in the air, earning loud, boisterous cheers as they went. Then a massive dragon formed in the fireworks that collided in the air and chased Umbridge out of the hall, while everyone else chased after it and the twins. They stopped in midair and looked back at Harry, asking if he was coming, too, just not with words. 

Oh, he wanted to. He wanted to go more than anything.

When he tried to take a step forward, his feet were stuck to the ground. He glanced back and found the Slytherins had gathered themselves enough to start freezing other students, and Umbridge, though rather tattered, was standing in the door, glaring after them with utter and complete loathing. 

“Go!” Harry turned and shouted at them, not wanting them to be caught. They did not look happy, but they nodded to him and took off, setting off one last firework that displayed a giant ‘W’. The other teachers finally showed up and started sending most of the kids back inside or off to enjoy their weekend. 

Then it was just Harry and Umbridge left in the courtyard. 

“You will stay here while I seek medical attention. When I return, your detentions begin.” She snarled, stomping away and leaving him stuck to the ground. He was there alone for maybe ten minutes when he heard running steps. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Ron and Hermione hurrying over to him. 

“We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Hermione huffed. “Why didn’t you return to the common room?”

“Because I can’t.” Harry answered quietly. 

“What do you mean?” Ron frowned.

“Sticking charm.” Harry gave Ron a flat look.

“Finite.” Hermione said, pointing at his feet, but nothing happened. Not that Harry expected anything to, but it was a nice idea. “She can’t do this.” Hermione hissed irritatedly.

“She can and she is.” Harry said tiredly. “It’s … fine. It’s fine, just go do something. She said I was free to go as soon as she came back.”

“Are you free or are you going straight to detention?” Ron asked, glaring at him for some reason.

“What do you think?” Harry said sarcastically. “We’re still here for another few weeks, so I’ll be serving detention probably every weekend and every few nights, if not every night, until school’s out.”

“How did you end up with so many?” Hermione asked, frowning as she looked at Ron, who looked back and they had one of their silent conversations. “Harry.”

“What?” He snapped, tired of defending his actions. “Look, it was either let her continue to take shit out on me or let her take it out on everyone. Those kids who chose to learn from me don’t deserve to deal with her version of punishment. I’ve had worse. I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t deserve this either.” Hermione said angrily. “I’ll make sure she regrets doing this. I made Rita Skeeter regret what she wrote, I’ll do the same here. I don’t care if that means taking down the entire Ministry.” 

“We’ll all help.” Ron said certainly. “We’ll see you when you’re done.” 

“See you.” Harry waved them off, putting his hands in his pockets when they were gone. 

Harry stood there for four hours. 

“Why are you still here, Potter?” Malfoy asked, looking more confused than ready to fight.

“Waiting to be released to serve my detentions.” Harry shrugged. He was pretty drenched in sweat by now, and he was getting hungry since he hadn’t been able to eat more than a slice of toast at breakfast before the excitement started. 

“What do you mean ‘to be released’?” Nott asked, standing at Malfoy’s side.

“I was stuck in place and left until she returned.” Harry snapped in irritation. “Yes, I know it’s been hours, yes, I know it’s fucking hot, no I don’t need anyone else to point out shit I already know.”

“Tut-tut, language, Mr. Potter.” Umbridge stated, finally showing up. She didn’t have any bandages and she was dressed as primly and horridly as she always was. “You’ve 15 minutes to have some lunch and be in my office. Run along.” Harry’s knees nearly gave out as soon as he was able to lift his legs again. He clenched his jaw and fists and walked inside to the Great Hall, ignoring the Slytherins watching him, wincing when his joints cracked as he sat at his table. He ate quickly, and only half a sandwich. He didn’t want to worry about getting sick if the quill did worse or felt worse than it had all term. He chugged some water and even some juice before taking off running for the defense office. The longer he jogged, the more his body relaxed. He took a few deep breaths to try and slow down his heart rate before knocking on the door. “Enter.”

She was sitting at her desk with a plate of food sitting off to the side while she looked through homework she was grading. He stood beside the desk he knew he’d be sitting in, waiting for her to give him permission to sit down. When she finally looked up she scrunched her nose up and waved her wand around, sending a blast of flower air around the room that made him sneeze. 

“You may sit.” She said finally. So Harry sat down and forced himself to pick up the quill waiting for him. “You know the lines, Mr. Potter. You may begin.” 

Harry had to bite his lip as his hand instantly cut open when he wrote. The longer he wrote, the more he started sweating and slightly shaking. He had to pause a few times so that he wouldn’t accidentally slash more across his hand. There was a steady pool of blood under the edge of the desk his hand was resting on. 

“You were doing lessons earlier this term with Severus.” Umbridge said after nearly two hours. 

“Yes.” Harry agreed shakily. 

“What were they really for?” She pressed.

“Occlumency.” Harry froze when he answered automatically, unable to vocalize the practiced lie on his tongue. “Po- Professor Snape-” Harry sucked in a breath as he realized he couldn’t voice a simple lie anymore. “They said I had to tell people it was for remedial potions.” Harry gasped.

“Interesting.” Umbridge said, sounding curious. Harry was furious. He glared up at her, hoping she knew how much he hated her. “And how did he teach you? Through books?”

“Partly.” Harry groaned, unable to keep it in. “Stop.”

“He used legilimency on you.” She said certainly, getting up from her desk and standing in front of Harry, holding her wand at her side. “He forced his way into your mind to try and show you the importance of mental shields.” Harry just glared at her, biting his tongue. “Dumbledore was forcing him to teach you so that he didn’t have to listen to your lies any longer himself, wasn’t he?”

“What?” Harry probably gave her a dumb look, but it was a dumb question. “I don’t know why he chose Snape. He hasn’t said two words to me since school started, let alone since my hearing. That you were there for.”

“I was.” She giggled, clearly pleased with herself. “And your expulsion was valid.”

“No it wasn’t.” Harry shook his head. “I was cleared.”

“Were you?” She tittered. “Did you see paperwork stating as such?”

“Well …” Harry frowned, “ … no.”

“Exactly. You were announced cleared, but did you actually see anything filed that said as much? I never filed anything. And I’m the Senior Undersecretary. I saw the memorandums for your expulsion, but there was never anything filed to rectify it. You, Mr. Potter, are not technically a student.”

“What?” Harry breathed, gripping the table with both hands to keep steady, ignoring the sting in his cut hand. 

“After a student is expelled, to be accepted again, they are required to be sorted.” She giggled again and Harry was ready to stab her with the quill and just hope it did more damage than just a slight prick. “All that was required for your OWLs to register was for you to be at least 15 years of age and pay the fees.”

“You’re lying.” Harry shook his head. “No, I’m a student, I’m in Gryffindor House.”

“Let’s see, shall we?” She asked, looking far too happy for Harry’s liking. “You will follow me to the Headmaster’s office, and you will get me inside. From there, I will prove to you that you are no longer a student.”

Harry stood up slowly, not wanting to risk passing out from all the blood loss, and nodded his agreement to follow her. He also pocketed the quill as she had her back turned. She’d cleaned up the floor so there was no longer a puddle, but that was as far as she went. His hand was still actively dripping, and not slowly. He wasn’t surprised that the Slytherins were loitering in the corridor they were heading toward. Harry pulled the quill out and snuck it into Malfoy’s pocket when he brushed by them. He grimaced as his cut hand was irritated by the fabric of the posh shirt Malfoy was wearing. Hopefully he didn’t leave too much blood on him. It was smeared a bit on his hand, but he couldn’t focus on that. 

He glanced back over his shoulder and found the Slytherins noticing the blood trail and then the spots on Malfoy, before following with their eyes to his hand. Their eyes went wide as they saw it was stained red. Harry and Umbridge turned a corner before Harry could see if they’d do anything. He didn’t expect them to, but he hoped one of them was decent enough they would at least try forcing someone to listen. Otherwise, Harry was pretty sure Umbridge was going to attempt to sort him or kill him. He wasn’t sure what her plan was. When they reached the gargoyles, she turned to Harry expectantly. 

“Pixie sticks.” Harry said, grinning when they grumbled and moved aside so he could fit through. Umbridge had to squeeze to get past their swords, though. Once they were in the office, she nodded satisfactorily. The other Heads frowned in their portraits as she headed for the desk, patting it reverently before turning to the bookshelf and the pedestal sitting there. She tapped the pedestal with her wand, but nothing happened. 

“Ask for the book, Potter.” She huffed irritatedly.

“Book.” Harry said flatly, not surprised when nothing happened.

“The naming book, you rotten child.” She hissed. 

“Fine.” Harry sighed tiredly. “May I have the naming book for review?”

“Very polite.” A wizard in a portrait said, watching Harry interestedly. “You could teach that grandson of mine a thing or two.”

“Doubtful.” Harry shrugged, watching as a book floated down and opened on the pedestal. He didn’t know who the man was or who his supposed grandson was. He was too far away to read the placard with his name.

“As I suspected.” Umbridge said delightedly. Harry glanced over and saw all his classmates’ names, all written in blue, green, red, or yellow shimmering ink. Except his. His was in bold black. “I believe a sorting is needed, wouldn’t you agree?”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “No, I’m not sorting with a few weeks left of school.” 

“You will if I say you will.” She snarled at him, pointing her wand in his face. “You have been allowed to flout rules for too long. Breaking them whenever they suited you, never getting proper punishment. You will sort, and you will move to your new house, where they will hopefully give you the stern hand you clearly need.”

“No.” Harry argued, stepping further back from her, but not turning his back to her. 

“Are you afraid that you’ll be revealed, Mr. Potter? For dishonoring the long held respect of the sorting process? What will you be? A Hufflepuff? It’s the only place that would work for someone so disrespectful.”

“I wasn’t going to go there.” Harry slapped a hand over his mouth to stop talking.

“So I was right.” She giggled. “You disrespected the sorting process when you arrived, ending up where you never should have been.”

“My parents were in Gryffindor.” Harry argued. 

“Along with Sirius Black.” She snarled. “The man who killed-”

“Sirius was innocent!” Harry shouted angrily. “Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper who got my parents killed! He’s the one who killed Cedric and none of you fucking care!”

“Liar!” She shrieked, pointing her wand at him and knocking him down with a spell. 

“I’m not a liar!” Harry shouted, scrambling back to the wall, hoping to get to the door. “I don’t know why, but I can’t lie! I’ve been trying!”

“Clearly you still can if you think Sirius Black is innocent! All of the Black’s were dark!” Umbridge shouted, binding him with ropes. He looked at her in shock. None of his teacher’s had tried to bind him or freeze him like this before. She was clearly coming unhinged if she was willing to resort to physically restraining him. He tugged his hands a bit, wriggling one of them free so he could maybe back into the door handle and still get it open. He’d fallen down stairs before, he could handle these. No one would even be pushing him down them. Not like Dudley had done when they were younger. “Legilimens!” She shrieked, and Harry barely had time to suck in a breath before she speared through his head.

He tried to focus on his blocks, to pull them up and try to protect his mind, but she pushed through his memories, drawing up the ones of him and Sirius before he was back in the graveyard, being tortured, before he found himself gasping for breath on the floor. He could hear the portraits shouting, but he couldn’t make sense of it. 

“Where is he?” She demanded.

“Who?” Harry rasped.

“Sirius Black!” She shrieked.

“Dunno.” Harry answered, glad that he couldn’t actually say. Not with the property protected by the fidelius. He wasn’t the secret keeper, so he couldn’t reveal it. “He’s currently pissed I yelled at him for what he and dad did to Snape when they were in school together. I even yelled at Lupin for standing by and just watching it happen. For not interfering. They were bastards to Snape, and now Snape is a bastard to me.”

“You will tell me.” She snarled, turning back to the portraits and blocking and silencing all of them. Harry scooted back to the wall a bit more, but she pointed her wand at him and dragged him to the center of the room. “I’ll be forgiven for my actions. It is for the safety of the wizarding world, let alone the students of the school.” 

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, trying to scoot back again.

“What I must.” She said certainly, and Harry didn’t even have time to blink or breathe, “Crucio!”

Electricity raced through his body, scorching his nerves that had finally recovered from being tortured in the graveyard. His back arched off the floor and he yelled, unable to keep it in. He gasped in a breath when she stopped. He groaned weakly, shoving himself further away before she cast it again, demanding he answer a question he couldn’t answer. His throat ached from screaming when she finally stopped after a second time. He was pretty sure his shoulder was dislocated at this point. While she was distracted, muttering to herself, Harry shifted closer to the door. He bit his lip so he wouldn’t groan or say anything when the door opened just enough he could slip through. 

He wiggled and managed not to hurt himself too much by the time he reached the bottom. The gargoyle’s sword caught the ropes and freed him. He got to his feet just as he heard Umbridge’s shoes clacking down the steps after him. He was still steadying himself when she reached the main floor. He looked at her, but turned and ran. He used a shield and deflected her spells as best he could. They made a lot of noise, though. And noise drew curious onlookers. But he couldn’t be distracted about who may or may not have shown up. He knew how to duel. How to properly defend himself against dark wizards when they cornered him or caught up to him. Umbridge was terrible and was going for raw power. Which she had because she had a more fully developed magical core than he did. He was still 14 months from coming of age. 

“What the hell is going on here?!” A loud voice demanded, but Harry had to concentrate to block another spell. 

He couldn’t think about anyone else being there. Except he felt another spell being aimed at him from another direction and blocked it as well. He was fully on the defensive and managed to nonverbally draw up linked shields and set them around him. He was breathing heavily, so he wouldn’t be able to keep up much longer. Not with having barely eaten or drank anything the whole day. Or his excessive blood loss. And he couldn’t forget the torture. 

When he fell to his knees, unable to stay on his feet anymore, his shields finally wavered. But then a gargoyle dropped in front of him, taking the brunt of a spell cast at him. A suit of armor clattered behind him as it must have caught another spell. The school was protecting him. He sagged in relief, heaving for breath as he braced his hands on the ground. It took a while, but he noticed that he was no longer being attacked and looked up. He saw Flitwick and Snape both standing by patiently, while Umbridge was trussed up and being detained by both Pomfrey and Sprout. 

“Thanks.” Harry gasped, leaning against the gargoyle to try to stand, but his head felt light and a little fuzzy causing him to fall back on his arse. “Shit.”

“Want to call off your guard dogs?” Snape asked irritatedly. 

“Sure.” Harry snorted, falling back to the ground and laughing a little hysterically. “Yeah. Tell Hogwarts it doesn’t have to defend me anymore. I’ll get right on that.”

“We mean no harm to Mr. Potter.” Flitwick said more gently. “We wish to have him seen for his injuries and treated so he may begin healing.”

“If she stays,” the armor suit pointed at Umbridge as a voice came from somewhere within it, “she’s ours.”

“The Aurors will arrive soon to handle her.” Flitwick agreed. “And if they don’t, I will.”

“Why are you defending him?” Snape asked, sounding curious.

“He protects the students when he expects no protection in return.” The gargoyle stated, the voice deep and grating. It sounded a lot like stone shifting more than speaking. “As the Head is meant to. As YOU are meant to.”

“And what was he protecting them from?” Snape asked, sounding irritated again. “Cleaning cobwebs? Copying lines?”

“From dark magic.” The armor held a sword out defensively. “From cursed artifacts, blood quills, and soul magic.”

“What soul magic?” Snape asked tensely.

“Horcrux.” The gargoyle and armor responded, stepping aside enough Flitwick could reach Harry. But Harry was having trouble keeping his eyes open. 

“Rest, Potter. We’ll get you situated and comfortable. We’ll get you healing.” Flitwick said gently. 

“It’s already permanent.” Harry mumbled. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Shh.” Flitwick soothed, and Harry passed out. He wasn’t sure if it was because he just lost his fight to stay conscious or if Flitwick knocked him out. Either way, he didn’t care. He was completely exhausted and just … done. 

Harry gasped awake, sitting up and backing up on the bed, trying to get away from the dream. Before he realized it was a dream. He sagged against the wall, breathing deeply a few times to try and calm down. He scrambled for his glasses and shoved them on his face, knowing being able to see would help him calm down quicker. He was in the hospital, he could tell that much, but he was pretty sure he was in a separate room, rather than a blocked off bed. He wasn’t surprised that Pomfrey came in a moment later, turning the lights up just a little. She ran her wand over him, apparently checking his vital signs or something. Harry didn’t actually know what she did when she waved her wand over him. 

“Well, you’re fairly recovered. How would you feel about a spot of breakfast after a shower?” She said kindly.

“Er, sure.” Harry nodded. “Can-”

“You can shower, and then we’ll answer any questions you have.” She cut him off. “Go on. I’ll have food here when you come out.”

Harry pursed his lips and nodded, standing up carefully, feeling several cracks and pops from being still for a while. The shower was actually amazing. He groaned as the warm water rejuvenated him and relaxed his muscles. He brushed his teeth when he got out, looking over his body in the mirror and not noticing anything off. No additional scars or injuries that he didn’t realize he had. His shoulder was still a bit tender, but nothing even close to bad. Just moderately annoying. His hand was at least done bleeding and sealed over. Like, he could feel a slight film over the words that were still red and looked slightly irritated. He pulled on sweats that he was pretty sure had belonged to the twins, and a hoodie he’d never seen before. It was dark green and very soft, though. When he got out, he found the promised tray and his stomach rumbled. He ate as much as he could, finishing just as Pomfrey came back, along with Snape, Flitwick, and even McGonagall. Who looked like she should not be up and about yet. She sat in the visitor chair and glared at Harry when he moved as if he were going to get up and get her a chair. Which he was. 

“How would you like to start, Potter?” McGonagall asked, conjuring a tea set and sitting back as comfortably as she could.

“Er,” Harry looked between them all and scratched his head, “how long have I been here?”

“Only a day.” Pomfrey said reassuringly, moving his breakfast remnants out of the way.

“Oh. Good.” Harry nodded. “I guess that’s more a question for you all. I can’t start if I don’t know your questions.”

“You never told anyone what your detentions were like.” McGonagall watched him. 

“I told Ron and Hermione. And the twins.”

“But you did not go to another teacher.” She pressed.

“Because you had already told me to keep my head down.” Harry argued, clamping his mouth shut so he didn’t get upset. “I tried going to you, to even just figure out what the hell those quills were, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“So you chose to keep it to yourself?” She asked, arching an eyebrow at him. “I am not the only teacher in the school, Potter. I cannot be everywhere and I cannot help everyone. That is why there are so many of us. Why did you not go to another?”

“Who?” Harry asked irritatedly. “Snape has hated me since the first time he laid eyes on me. I don’t know anyone else well enough to even know how to start that conversation. Do I ask questions in class? Do I come by for alternate appointments for help with anything? No. I don’t. You are the teacher I trust. So it’s either you or no one.”

“While I appreciate that,” She gave him a smile and her eyes were slightly watery, “you have to start somewhere to build trust. We were all under a lot of pressure and scrutiny because of her presence. From now on, we will work on getting you help when you need it, whether you think you need it or not. Even if that means just making a quarterly appointment to review the lessons with you for a short time.”

“I suppose.” Harry agreed cautiously.

“How were you able to get into the Headmaster’s office?” Flitwick asked curiously.

“Gerald always lets me in.” Harry shrugged. “Well, not always. When he feels like it, really. He likes making me guess the password sometimes.”

“Gerald?” Flitwick’s lips twitched.

“Yeah, he’s the gargoyle on the left of the door.” Harry nodded. “Franklin is the one on the right and doesn’t really ever acknowledge anyone.”

“And how did you learn their names?” McGonagall asked, clearly amused as well.

“Do you not actually know how often I wander the castle?” Harry arched an eyebrow at her. “Everyone else has been able to go to Hogsmeade since third year. I got to go a bit in fourth year and at the beginning of this year before I was stripped of that privilege. I did homework, or tried to, and then I’d wander the castle and explore it. I reckon I know it pretty well by now.”

“And does the armor have a name?” She grinned.

“He keeps changing it.” Harry shrugged. “Sometimes he’s Llewllyn, sometimes he’s Hank, it just depends what he feels like. Think he was Reginald last time I hid out in his alcove, though.”

“Your housemates confirmed that Umbridge often used special quills in her detentions.” Snape cut in. “Though none of them have permanent scarring.”

“Have you been paying attention at all this year?” Harry asked a bit too sarcastically, but he honestly didn’t care. “She was at my trial. She pushed for me to be expelled, and by her own account, actually got me processed as expelled rather than cleared. She has targeted me since her first class. My first detention with her was five hours. And that was on a school night, not a weekend. I was given another detention immediately for being out after curfew, even though I was out because of her. All year she has been keeping me late, taking away anything that ever might have brought me any joy.”

“Yet you have the same attitude now that you had at the beginning of the year.” Snape pointed out.

“I survived ten years away from the magical community.” Harry said flatly. “Before knowing any of this existed. And I have survived four summers back in the muggle world since learning magic was real. She has no idea what it means to have no joy in life. I’d wager at least 80 percent of this school has no idea what that means.”

“You made a Patronus, though.” Flitwick frowned.

“The text tells you to use a happy memory.” Harry shrugged. “It never said it had to be a real one.”

“That’s not how it works.” Snape frowned as much as Flitwick.

“The Patronus is an emotion driven charm.” Harry said carefully. “The stronger the emotion, the stronger the charm. The stronger the charm, the more definitive the appearance or the creature representing it. The emotions that create the charm affect the appearance. Did everyone else I taught have happy memories to draw from? Yeah, they did. So it was more helping them sort through and find the strongest emotional response. Once you’ve made it, it’s easy to repeat, because your body, mind, and magic all remember how it felt and what you need, like muscle memory. I was able to create the light by just imagining something that would never happen.”

“Like what? If you don’t mind sharing, that is.” McGonagall encouraged. 

“I imagined coming home at the end of the day and sitting with my parents.” Harry said hesitantly. “Just sitting with them and talking with them. Because I never had that and I never will. But the idea of it … it was enough that I could use it to create light when I was 13. I made it corporeal a few months later by wanting to save my godfather so I had the chance to live with him one day. To have a home and a family. When I did it for OWLs the other day, I imagined everyone I’d taught, and how happy I made them by giving them a chance. It’s … pretty nice when you can tell you’ve helped someone so much. That they truly appreciate it.”

“How could that possibly work?” Snape asked in irritation. “The spell is not meant to work that way.”

“And tripping jinxes are meant to be funny.” Harry argued, glaring at him. “Unless someone is using it on the top of a moving staircase seven floors up. Then it’s either seen as a bad prank or attempted murder, depending if anyone is around to witness it. The spell means what you put behind it and use it for. The Imperius could be used to keep a person from harming themself long enough for you to get them to safety, or it could be used to make you murder or hurt someone else. The intent is as, if not more, important. At least in some cases.”

“Why don’t you explain how you ended up with the latest batch of detentions that led to where we are right now?” McGonagall offered, attempting to end the stare off between Harry and Snape. 

“We were caught.” Harry gritted his teeth. “At the beginning of the year, Ron and Hermione conspired to convince me to teach them defense since we weren’t going to actually learn anything. I eventually agreed, and they invited whoever. I came up with a sort of curriculum and taught what I could. I had to learn a lot for the tournament last year, so it wasn’t hard to narrow down what to go over. Anyway, there was a signed sheet with all of our signatures hanging up in the room we used. Umbridge got it when she caught me trying to leave. Well. Technically Malfoy caught me. They took me to the Headmaster’s office, where he chose to fuck off to wherever he went. Umbridge was planning to give everyone on the signed paper detention. I told her I’d do all of them. It was going to have me in detention every weekend and every other day, at least, until school let out. But the others would have been left alone. The day Fred and George left, they were trying to take me with them. But Umbridge used a sticking charm of some kind and left me standing in the courtyard for four hours before giving me 15 minutes to eat and get to her office for my detention. I was there for a few hours before she tried talking to me. And that’s when I realized.”

“Realized what?” Pomfrey asked concernedly.

“I couldn’t lie.” Harry admitted. 

“Do you lie so often?” Snape sneered at him.

“I used to.” Harry agreed quietly. “I didn’t believe that anyone outside of a very few select people cared when they asked how I was. It’s an automatic response for most people to just say ‘I’m fine’ when asked. And even when they’re responding, the person who asked is already moving on, not really listening for the response. It’s been my response for pretty much everything. I don’t … I don’t have the same pain tolerances or levels as others. So if someone asks how I am, whether I’m clearly injured or not, I would automatically say I was fine. Because my scale of pain is not the same.”

“And what would you rate your worst pain as?” Pomfrey asked.

“Depends.” Harry tilted his head. “Repeatedly tortured with a curse or Basilisk venom. They both suck.”

“No wonder I could never get an accurate answer from you about your pain.” Pomfrey huffed in annoyance. “We’ll need to discuss your levels at some point so I have a specific Harry Potter derived chart to go off of.”

“Not surprised.” Harry grinned at her sheepishly. “Anyway, she was asking me questions and then told me that she’d ensured that I’d gotten expelled.”

“You were cleared.” McGonagall argued.

“That’s what I said.” Harry nodded. “Except she said that it was never submitted that way. And that’s how we ended up in the Headmaster’s office. She wanted me to look at the book to show me.”

“The only person who can call the book is the Head or Deputy.” McGonagall frowned.

“Dunno what to tell you.” Harry shrugged. “She told me to ask for the book, so I did, and it showed up. She showed me that my peers’ names were all in the color of ink reflecting their houses, while mine was in plain black.”

“You did your OWL year without being assigned to a House?!” McGonagall asked incredulously.

“Apparently.” Harry nodded. “She was going to force me to be sorted right then, but I argued and she tried badmouthing Sirius. Might’ve shouted at her a bit. She covered up the portraits and decided the best way to get the answer about where he was hiding was by torturing me. The door opened when she was distracted, so I sort of wiggled down the stairs and ran for it once I could get to my feet again.”

“What do you mean wiggled?” Flitwick asked.

“She … restrained me.” Harry shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. “Bound me in ropes. The gargoyle cut them loose so I could have a chance. Don’t know when everyone else showed up.”

“It was a very impressive duel.” Flitwick said with a proud grin, making Harry’s cheeks feel warm. “You did well.”

“I was exhausted from blood loss, torture, and not really having anything to eat before it all. Otherwise I might have lasted longer and not needed interference by the gargoyle and armor. Considering I was getting spells thrown at me from multiple directions.” Harry shrugged.

“The older Slytherins thought you were attacking a teacher, someone who had come from their house. Even if they didn’t agree with her, one of the house tenants is to assist when in need within the school. She made sure we were all aware that she would call on it when needed.” Snape said irritatedly.

“I definitely wouldn’t suggest any of them for law enforcement.” Harry snorted. “If they can’t tell a shield or block from an attack, then they have no business getting involved.”

“You did a lot of nonverbal casting, were you aware?” Flitwick asked.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “I thought I might’ve done a few things, but couldn’t really pause to think about it much.”

“You’d make a very good Auror, I think.” McGonagall said with a grin. “But I also think you already make a good defense teacher.”

“Before you get too caught up in that, maybe wait until OWL and NEWTs come in?” Harry suggested. “I can get you a list of who I taught, and if they are that far above their peers in results, then someone’s going to have to answer why a fifth year was able to help them get the scores they got over a Ministry appointed representative.”

“And what would you like to do about sorting?” She asked.

“I don’t want to do it.” Harry grumbled.

“Yes, but you must, so when would you prefer? Before school is let out? We can do it the day before, or when you return for sixth year?” She offered.

“I think … I think I’d rather know before summer.” Harry said cautiously, biting his lip. “I don’t want to spend the summer worrying about it.”

“Very well. You’re free to return to your dormitory, as it is, for the remainder of the day. There will be some Aurors that come to speak with you in the next week. We’ll have the appointment here or in my office, whichever is more comfortable.” McGonagall stated, standing up, Harry copying her. “And you need not worry about me so much, Potter. I may be old, but I’m far stronger than you think.”

“I know.” Harry grinned. “Definitely a good thing I was too far away to interfere when it happened. Otherwise, I’m not sure how it would have turned out.”

“I’ll get back on my feet and we’ll discuss maybe doing additional dueling lessons next year.” She chuckled, patting his arm. “Your friends are anxious to see you. Best be off to reassure them.”

“Yeah, I will.” Harry sighed. 

He tipped a salute to them before heading for the tower. He made it all the way there without running into anyone, which was pretty interesting. When he opened the common room door, he could hear murmuring and shushing. He snorted and walked in, smiling when everyone jumped up and shouted ‘surprise!’. Ron held up a sign that said ‘DADA teacher: 0 - Harry Potter: 5’. He seemed rather proud of it, too. Hermione even passed out a few of the fireworks that the twins had left behind. He was glad they didn’t hold him snapping at them against him. 

“Stop that.” Hermione chastised quietly when they were sitting on the sofa as everyone split off to bed for the night. 

“What?” Harry asked, tilting his head at her.

“Thinking that you’re sorry for being angry.” She snorted. “You were right. We just didn’t want to hear it. That does happen occasionally.”

“At least three times a year.” Ron nodded. “Though maybe a bit more this year than it maybe should have been. But the good news is, everything you taught us, helped us pass.”

“You don’t know that yet.” Harry grinned.

“Not certainly, no, but I at least was able to recognize and answer a lot more than I would have been able to based on the toad’s version of lessons.” Ron shrugged. “Anyway, we should get some sleep so we can deal with the rest of classes before we finally get a summer break.”

“Which we’ll do better writing to you during.” Hermione agreed. “Alright, boys, off to bed.” She stood up and pulled Harry to his feet and gave him a quick hug before heading for her dorm. 

They made it through the week of classes, and Harry managed to perfect his marinara recipe in Potions, to Neville’s delight and Snape’s irritation. There weren’t any further issues, but Harry did notice a lot of the older kids more or less staying away from him. Even going so far as to turn and go back the opposite direction to avoid passing him in the corridor for a Slytherin gaggle. Which was weird. Neither Ron or Hermione seemed to understand it, and no one else offered up an excuse. He didn’t feel like asking his Slytherin yearmates, so he decided to leave it as a mystery. 

“Have a biscuit, Potter.” McGonagall said, offering him a small smile when he entered her office Saturday afternoon. Which wasn’t all that different to how she normally treated him, just usually without anyone else around. And there were three people he wasn’t familiar with in the office with them. He took one anyway and sat down to wait. “This is Amelia Bones, from the DMLE, and her best Aurors.” 

“Alright.” Harry said slowly, taking a bite and waiting for one of them to talk. 

“When was it you first encountered Ms. Umbridge’s quill?” Bones asked without preamble.

“First detention with her.” Harry shifted his shoulders a bit. “Don’t really remember when it was, since I’ve had a lot. Maybe end of September or October some time. Probably October, because I think I missed quidditch tryouts for it.”

“And you didn’t question being alone in her office with her for her detention?” Bones asked.

“No.” Harry frowned. “I’d had detentions with Lockhart in there before, and Lupin taught me the Patronus between there and the classrooms when he was here. Fake Moody met with me there as well. My only shared detentions were first and second year. With Ron, Neville, and once with Malfoy.”

“So you were never worried about being alone with a teacher?”

“You’re making it sound as if I should have been.” Harry furrowed his brows, because that didn’t make sense to him. “I deal better with adults than I do children or kids my age.”

“It’s best practice to have someone else aware of or along with you when meeting with a teacher one on one.” Bones flicked her eyes to McGonagall. Harry shoved the rest of the biscuit in his mouth and crossed his arms irritatedly.

“Don’t say it, Potter.” McGonagall stated, giving him a stern look. He sniffed and kept his grumbling to himself at her request.

“Professor McGonagall already informed us that you would not bring anyone with you and that you confessed she was the only teacher you trusted.” Bones smirked a bit. “Things have changed in society overall. This past year especially.”

“Wouldn’t know.” Harry shrugged.

“So you weren’t concerned when you weren’t getting news outside of school?”

“That’s a shit question.” Harry frowned, earning him a heavy sigh from McGonagall. “It is! I never get news from outside of school. Who’s meant to be sending me anything? I don’t have any friends outside of school. And none of you felt like doing your fucking jobs the past near 15 years, so I don’t have a godfather that could send me shit. You lot let an innocent man sit in a prison with other people who had actually done horrible things, surrounded by creatures that force you to relive your worst memories. You think Sirius Black ran away from home because he was bored? You think Regulus Black disappeared at 17, and was eventually declared dead, just because? Barty Crouch Jr. was basically kidnapped from prison because his dad worked for you lot and he had the access. He was taken home and kept prisoner there while his mother died in prison in his place. And none of you noticed shit. So no. I wasn’t concerned about not getting whatever passed for news in any society while attempting to survive my fifth year and take OWLs.”

“It is your opinion that Sirius Black is innocent?” She arched an eyebrow at Harry.

“Show me his trial record.” Harry countered, arching an eyebrow right back. “Show me that none of you knew that Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew were unregistered animagi. That none of you who were around during the first war went unregistered to avoid being caught in animal forms because someone recognized your markings in some way because there were Death Eaters in the Ministry then, just like there most likely are now? I’ll admit that I can’t say whether there are or aren’t currently with any certainty. Just speculation.”

“How was it you discovered the three you identified were animagi?” Bones asked instead.

“Combination of places.” Harry sniffed again. “Was given a fancy parchment dubbed the Marauder’s Map. Created by a quartet of students that called themselves nicknames associated with their animal form. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Moony, Remus Lupin, werewolf, not animagus; Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew, because he’s a fucking rat; Padfoot, Sirius Black, because of course a Black would be dramatic enough to become a Grimm; and Prongs. James Potter became a stag. All so that they could help and protect their friend Remus Lupin through his transformations each month. Giving him a pack so he wouldn’t kill himself. All of which can be verified with Professor McGonagall, who was their teacher and head of house when they were in school, Snape, who was their favorite target to torment, and even Bloody Lupin himself. My Patronus is a stag. Because when I first conjured it I was focusing a lot on being able to have a family. Somehow my magic already knew that the stag had some relevance to my life. Which means that there’s every chance they were all around me as a baby in their animal forms.”

“How do you know Pettigrew’s form?” She asked, scratching out some notes. 

“Third year, when Lupin was teaching and the twins gave me the map, I saw his name on it and went to investigate, but never found a person. So I told Lupin about it. When the end of year disaster happened, he confessed that Pettigrew was a rat and that he’d cut his finger off and had been in hiding for the duration Sirius was imprisoned. See, the witch at the animal place in Diagon said garden rats only usually live two to three years. Except the rat that Ron had been bringing to school, his older brother Percy had brought to school as well. They’d had it for 12 years. The same one. Lupin cast a spell that forced him to transform back to himself. Gotta admit he was in rough shape, but he deserved it. Hiding as a pet rat for kids? Being around them for all kinds of things? He’s a child predator, at least, and a mass murderer, at most. I mean, none of the Aurors even investigated the scene they caught Sirius at. They just picked up Pettigrew’s finger, wrote him off as a casualty, and closed the case.”

“And Lupin can confirm all this?”

“Yes.” Harry grit his teeth. 

“What?” She snapped at him.

“None of you, adults, ever believe when a kid tells you something bad is happening.” Harry growled. “You have to verify it with other adults. Where were any of you when I was forced to give statements about what happened with me and Cedric after the tournament? When Dumbledore and Fudge both pushed and pushed before Fudge called Dementors to the castle and had Junior Kissed? The man was technically, legally, dead. There was no lawful reasoning behind what Fudge did. It was abuse of power, plain and simple. Fudge didn’t listen when me and Hermione told him Sirius was innocent and that Pettigrew was still alive. He actually said no one would believe us because we were teenagers. I was forced to participate in interviews before and during the tournament, where everything I said was twisted and misquoted and the bitch even said I was 12, not 14. No one corrected her, and if they did, they didn’t do a damn thing to keep a kid that young from having to participate. They watched and made bets and acted surprised when shit went wrong. Then the papers ran their stories, painting not just Dumbledore as daft or mad, but me as well. Because why not? Let’s talk shit about an underage kid, wizard or not. My hearing this past summer wasn’t a hearing. It was a sentencing. Fudge had already decided he was going to kick me out of school. None of you actually let me speak, but you let Dumbledore bluster in and give a witness? Ms. Figg wasn’t a witness, and she’s not a muggle. She’s a squib. So you all said I did magic in front of a muggle, yeah? What muggle? Who was the fucking witness? Because according to you all, my cousin didn’t count since he already knows about magic. You want to ask me questions that you’re not going to accept and just take and ask another adult what they think? Fine. I’ve answered some questions. I’m not sitting here and listening to another person call me a liar or deranged freak.” 

Harry stood up to leave, but McGonagall stopped him. 

“Take a breath, Potter.” She said gently. “Amelia is here to do her job. Her job is getting the initial story and then running the investigation to check your facts and statements are accurate. I wasn’t aware you were being expelled for performing magic in front of a muggle. If I’d known the circumstances, I assure you, I’d have raised hell about the lack of investigation or evidence.”

“No one else cares.” Harry said quietly. “And I’m done defending myself to people who don’t know a thing about me or what’s happened around me.”

“They need to start somewhere, do they not?” McGonagall asked, but Harry was just … he was done. 

“I’m sorry, Professor, for my rude language.” Harry gave her a small nod and threw the door open walking away to try and shake out his irritation, but it was still simmering under his skin.

“Our meeting was not over, Mr. Potter.” Bones stated, catching up to him in the entrance hall. “I’ve more questions that need answered-”

“Then you should have asked before now!” Harry exclaimed, turning to glare at the woman. “You have had 14 fucking years to investigate all of this. Fourteen. Years. Nothing has been done and I’m done helping you. I will help my classmates, those in school who ask that I teach them how to defend themselves because none of you can fucking do it or you choose not to. For 30 years this school has not been able to hold a DADA teacher for more than a year. Why is that? If there are rumors about a curse, then perhaps someone should actually investigate it instead of speculating over tea about it. You want me to trust you? The magical version of cops? The same people who let a Headmaster of a school choose where I went when my family was murdered in front of me? A man who didn’t do shit to help any of the other orphans, you all just accepted that he hid me away? None of you did a damn thing about it because you were all too afraid or trusted him implicitly. You’ve had more than a decade to do something, anything, about any of the things I told you about in the office. You were the ones who fucked up. Your chance to fix shit is nearing its end. Me and my classmates will fix what someone else destroyed. None of you have anything beyond a vague idea of the talent and intelligence we’re working with. So you’ll never see us coming. Enjoy your power, your authority, while you still have it.” 

Harry turned his back on her and headed outside, the other students who had gathered around to gawk parting before him like the sea before Moses. He didn’t exactly stomp over to the lake, but he kind of did. He just needed time to breathe to try and let his anger go. He relaxed a bit when Neville, Hermione, and Ron joined him. He wasn’t surprised that the DMLE representatives hadn’t left yet, and he wasn’t surprised that they interviewed a few other students over the week they were around. Including Slytherins. They pulled an equal number of students from each house. Which was an interesting change since there was so much forced animosity between most of them. They were pitted against each other and pushed not to be friends with other houses while in school. Outside of school, the house they belonged to meant nothing. 

During the last week of classes is when things got more entertaining. Because they still had to participate in lessons and practicals. Which meant spells or potions. And Harry felt a little bad that he might be rubbing off on Neville, but also not. They were working together and made a sort of vinaigrette during their last class, because of course Neville had brought in a few ingredients from the greenhouses. When they turned it in, Snape looked at the vial and then at them. 

“I can only hope that neither of you are in my class next year. Which I highly doubt based on your performances.” He sneered at them, throwing the vial in the garbage. 

“Weird.” Neville said thoughtfully. “Almost like you never actually taught us anything other than to be afraid of a teacher or authority figure.”

“Watch your tongue, Longbottom.” Snape said angrily.

“I’ve watched my tongue long enough I think.” Neville said, stubbornly setting his jaw and lifting his chin up. “You have done nothing but do your best to inflict fear and panic into me and Harry in particular. He’s not James or Lily. And I’m not Frank or Alice. Yet all you’ve done since we started at Hogwarts is treat us like we’re replicas of people you hated. The reason your NEWT classes are so small, sir, is because you have chosen to bully and belittle anyone you dislike for whatever reason you choose. I can only hope that one day Britain can get another potion master that is willing to teach instead of fuck with the minds of kids they’re meant to guide. I don’t want to be in your class anymore, sir. Because I’m choosing not to be, not because I don’t know how to brew. Keep your NEWT level potions. Keep taking your irritation and anger out on kids. I hope it makes you feel better.” 

Harry was grinning so much his face hurt when he collected his bag with him at their desk and headed for Gryffindor tower. Neville just huffed and rolled his eyes at him, though. 

“I’m proud of you.” Harry said quietly, still smiling.

“It was terrifying and freeing all at the same time.” Neville shook his head. “Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about him anymore. I’m gonna take my handful of NEWTs and move on. And he’s gonna be stuck here as a bitter dickhead.”

“Yeah he is.” Harry snickered, throwing an arm around Neville’s shoulders happily, even if he had to stretch up a bit since Neville was taller. “And maybe, just maybe, you’ll get a new wand. One that actually works for you.”

“I’m gonna check them out this summer.” Neville grinned. “You were right in our lessons. The wand chooses the wizard for a reason. Which means that, even if I was similar enough to dad to use his, it still didn’t choose me. It chose him and is still loyal to him, not me. You can help me figure out the spells again when school starts back up.”

“Long as you aren’t bothered by whatever house I end up in.” Harry agreed.

“That doesn’t make a difference to me.” Neville shrugged. “You’ll still be you. Just with different colors.”

“We agree.” Hermione pitched in. “Also, I’m going to cherish the memory of Snape’s face after you two left for ages.”

“I hope you broke him.” Ron snickered.

“It was awesome!” Seamus cheered, bumping into Neville happily. “Didn’t know you had it in you, Nev. Was expecting Harry to go off on him.”

“We should all get a chance to tell someone off for not doing their jobs.” Neville argued. “He’s yelled at enough people already. Now it’s our turn to do some of it.”

“We should really do our own student government stuff.” Hermione added. “Something where we can even just discuss issues with existing laws and what we’d like to see.”

“Might be cool.” Dean wobbled his head. “‘Long as we don’t assign homework for it.”

“Pretty sure we could each just look into something and then bitch to each other about the absurdity until we figure out a solution.” Harry offered. “Could be alright.”

“I’ll see what I can put together with a few other people.” Hermione nodded. “Let’s hurry up, Harry’s sorting is supposed to be before the feast since we’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Think you’re ready for it?” Seamus asked curiously.

“It’s just a sorting.” Harry shrugged. “Even if it will potentially cause more people to either hate me or target me or whatever. Think you’re ready to not be a dick wherever I end up?”

“Probably.” Seamus smirked at him. “Can’t say for sure, but probably.”

“Best I’ll get, I expect.” Harry sighed as they laughed when they reached the dorm to drop off all their school things to head back down to get food. 

Harry laughed as several people cheered when they entered the hall, Neville’s face going bright red. He still gave a dramatic bow, earning some whistles before they sat at the Gryffindor table. McGonagall stood up and gave a speech, stating the points and awarding the house and quidditch cup, both to Slytherin, which didn’t surprise anyone. Not when Umbridge had been around so much and had given her people the ability to give and take away points more than Prefects. A fact they definitely abused. 

“Before we begin the feast, we have one last thing to do. Mr. Potter, please come up.” Harry got up and headed for the front, stopping beside the pedestal where McGonagall was holding the hat. “It was discovered quite recently that Mr. Potter somehow managed to go the year without being assigned to a house. He was wrongfully expelled over the summer, and we, as his teachers, failed him by not verifying the paperwork that cleared him. We offered him the choice of sorting now or when term resumes in the autumn and he chose to do so now. He will remain in his current dorm for the night since you are all leaving tomorrow. Mr. Potter, please take a seat.”

“Only since you asked so nicely, Professor.” Harry agreed, grinning when the Gryffindors snickered at him. She rolled her eyes and set the hat over his head. 

Hello again, Harry Potter. Seems you’ve started quite the movement so far. Let’s see if we can give you some more momentum and potentially more allies, eh?

“Slytherin!” The hat called out. Harry stood up once the hat was removed and bowed dramatically, earning him a sigh from McGonagall before she shooed him away. 

“Enjoy the feast.” McGonagall announced, and the tables filled with food. Harry still sat in the spot he’d gotten up from, even if his robes and tie were green now. None of the others that were by him seemed to care, thankfully. They didn’t treat him any differently either, which was nice. 

Leaving the next morning was a little bittersweet. Like it was every year for Harry. He couldn’t help but reach out and pat the castle wall as he stood in the entry waiting to get in a carriage. Magical spaces were always a bit weird to Harry. Sometimes it seemed like they understood him and maybe even sensed what he needed or how he felt. He might have imagined it, but he could swear it felt like Hogwarts was humming in approval at something. 

“I’ll be back.” He promised before hurrying after his friends to get to the train. 

They all still laughed and joked on the train heading back to London. Eating more snacks than they should have, but not caring. Then Susan Bones was in the doorway asking if they could join her at the back of the train for a bit. She didn’t specify just Harry, which was good. Because he’d have had Ron, Hermione, and Neville following him anyway. It was a little surprising to find some of their Slytherin yearmates and even Ravenclaws there with the other Hufflepuffs. They were the only Gryffindors, though. 

“We want in.” Bones said, everyone looking at Harry expectantly. Harry frowned and crossed his arms. 

“What’s in it for us?” Harry asked, drawing some surprised looks, but he felt his friends at his sides grinning and holding their heads up in approval. “Hermione’s already been researching shit so she can be a better minister than anyone that’s been in the position since we’ve been alive. Ron’s got our strategy and Neville’s good with subtle influence and plants. Which means he’s good with potential antidotes, or poisons, depending what we need.”

“We convinced Harry to teach us.” Hermione added. “He didn’t do it just because we asked, though. We had to find a practice space and organize participants and even set up a schedule of when he could do it while he planned what to teach.”

“That’s a very Slytherin perspective.” Malfoy said cautiously, looking between them all as if he’d never actually talked to them. Like they were unexpected.

“We’re friends first, allies second.” Neville commented.

“It’s a survival perspective.” Ron argued. “The houses sort us based on what we hold as primary tenants. We’re all cunning or loyal or bravehearted or knowledgable. We also exhibit, typically, one more prominently than the others.”

“Hermione reads ‘Hogwarts: A History’ to us a lot.” Harry shrugged. “I like to read it and pretend I haven’t so it doesn’t put more pressure on Ron when his dyslexia acts up. And they don’t hold my ADD against me. So. Again. What’s in it for us to join forces?”

“We’d like to meet occasionally over the summer to start reviewing the school charters and bylaws.” Bones stated. “And we’ll move into contacting someone who can actually inspect the source of a curse if the Ministry can’t get it done before we start again in September. We’ve got policies and laws drawn up that we want pushed, but we do not have the seats to get them presented. Our parents and guardians still hold that power.”

“And?” Harry arched an eyebrow.

“We want you to get an inheritance test to see if you were emancipated because of the tournament.” Malfoy said bluntly. “If you were, then you hold dozens of seats that can be used to push our issues as well as blocking shit that others are pushing.”

“You think I was emancipated?” Harry asked, genuinely surprised. 

“The tournament was for those who were already of age. Students who were legally adults in our society.” Bones agreed. “You participated, willingly or not. You going through the tasks meant the goblet and the Ministry accepted you as an adult.”

“We know this isn’t giving you something from us.” Terry Boot said, standing up. “This is something you’d be doing more for us than the other way around. We don’t want to force you into a government position, but you are the one with the opportunity to get things changed before we reach our age of majority. We don’t want to be used as child soldiers. You have been already. You admitted that you did all of what you did to protect us, which is more than the teachers have done.”

“They said the book of names appeared for you.” Tracey Davis said. 

“It did.” Harry agreed hesitantly. “Still don’t know what that means exactly.”

“Hogwarts backs you.” She said certainly. “It trusts you to take care of the students residing there. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Headmaster returned and wasn’t able to do anything because the school chose you over him. The best we can really offer is relaying information our parents speak of around us in regards to happenings in the Ministry and even darker circles.”

“They’re attempting to force us, or some of us, to be marked this summer.” Zabini said, his eyes flitting to Malfoy who clenched his jaw. “We’re not getting a choice. It’s being made for us without our thoughts or opinions taken into consideration. We put all of our support and resources into your efforts, and it’ll take away any power they thought they had. Some of us have our parents or another relative sitting as proxy until we’re of age.” He glanced at Nott and Goyle. “You get definitive proof you’re a legal adult because of the tournament, and we’ll make you our proxy.”

“That’ll give us over half the Wizengamot.” Ron said, looking shocked. “They’d either all have to agree against something we present or it passes. End of story.”

“Bloody hell, that’s fantastic.” Hermione said delightedly. Harry looked between them for a moment. They’d switched demeanors for a second. When they realized it, they looked at Harry a bit stunned and then the three of them were snickering. 

“I’ll probably need a bit of coaching before going into something like that.” Harry said, still grinning. “I’m not particularly diplomatic.”

“We kind of want to see how they’ll react when they realize you were never getting private tutoring or lessons on any of it, actually.” Bones stated. “They all assume you’ve known about everything for ages, because that’s what they were told. They never investigated or listened to us when we mentioned something. They deserve to have you swear at them, if you ask me.”

“You’ve got copies of laws they’re currently trying to pass?” Hermione asked.

“We do. Made in triplicate in case at least three of you wanted to review them.” Terry agreed, passing forward a stack of three folders.

“I’ll take that.” Neville said, taking the one from Ron who nodded at him gratefully. “Hermione and Harry will keep Ron informed and he can decide based on what they go over with him.”

“I’m not sure when I can get to Gringotts.” Harry said hesitantly. 

“That’s being taken care of.” Ron said with a shrug. “Just trust me.”

“Alright.” Harry nodded. 

“He’ll be there before the end of the week.” Ron elaborated. “Once we have the results, we’ll send out a few messages, but you’ll need to talk amongst each other. The coins are only set for a few people unless we can make a few more?” He looked at Hermione. 

“I’ve a few extra.” She dug into her beaded bag that was still slung over her shoulder. “I’ve got … five.”

“Top five who will need them that don’t already have them.” Harry said. He wasn’t surprised that Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini each took one, but he was a little surprised that Parkinson and Greengrass took them as well. “Alright, I’ll send out a message letting you know what the results are, and you can discuss times to go in and adjust your proxies. If you need me there as well, you’ll have to owl me, Ron, Hermione, or Neville. They’re the only ones who have coins that talk to me directly while mine can reach everyone or specific people. If anyone else finds them, they’ll just think it’s a regular galleon at first glance.”

“These are brill.” Greengrass said with a wicked smirk. “Nice work, Granger.”

“It was the best we could come up with at the time.” Hermione shrugged, smiling proudly. “Most of us can get by with having a galleon on us without any sort of suspicion. I’ve got a few that are pence pieces, but those would only work for muggleborn.”

“I’ll take one if you’ve got it.” Justin Finch-Fletchley chimed in. “Easier for me to explain away if it’s found in the wash on accident.”

“I’ve got about four of those.” Hermione dug them out and handed one to him before giving another to a few other Puffs and one Ravenclaw. “They’ll vibrate and heat up a bit to let you know there’s a message waiting. They aren’t the most secure, but I can fix that, if you are willing to sign our new roster. No, it’s not spelled the way the other one was, which was already destroyed. This only has a secrecy charm on it so that when the message comes through you are the only ones who can read it.”

“Sort of like a modified protean charm.” Malfoy said with a curious look at Hermione. “Better than nothing, considering how some of our homes might be over the summer.”

“You’ll let someone know if you’re being forced into something.” Harry said sternly. “I don’t care if we’ve never gotten along, they don’t get to force their problems onto their kids.”

“If someone else is there, occupying space, I’ll let someone know so they can be prepared for me.” Malfoy agreed carefully. “There were only two sides before. Dumbledore or The Dark Lord. I’d rather be on your side than either of theirs.”

“The paper might push that I’m still on the Headmaster’s side.” Harry said, looking around at everyone. “That’s what they’ll want everyone to believe. Same with the Ministry. They’ll push that they’re working with me or that they were as surprised as everyone else that what I said happened last year was true. You’ve heard or passed along what I told Director Bones. I’m on our side, not theirs. They had their chance to fix shit. They chose not to, willfully and purposely.”

“Harry, send a message real quick with something so they can see that the coins work.” Hermione suggested. Harry dug into his pocket and pulled his coin out and set the message, giving Hermione an innocent smile when she looked at hers and it just said ‘something’. The others looked pretty fascinated by them, though. Harry snorted when he got a message back from Neville that said ‘twat’. 

They all passed Hermione’s parchment around and signed if they hadn’t signed before. Making it a more impressive list, looking at it. It was filled, front and back, by the time they headed back to their compartment. They looked over the papers Boot had given them for a little bit before putting them away, not wanting to get sucked in when they’d be arriving soon. Harry shook his arms out a bit when they pulled in and did his best to prepare for whatever was waiting on him. He scowled when he saw some Order members near his relatives on the muggle side of the platform. 

“Harry, hope you had a good term.” Lupin said a bit hesitantly. Harry still wasn’t happy with him. 

“I survived.” Harry said flatly. “Why are you lot here?”

“Wanted to have a word with your guardians.” Moody grumbled, glaring at Uncle Vernon, but Harry was not ok with that.

“Not happening.” Harry snarled.

“Not your choice.” Moody snarled back. “We were told to have a word with them and check in.”

“By who?” Harry demanded.

“Dumbledore.” Lupin said quietly. “He’s concerned-”

“He can fuck off.” Harry nearly shouted before he could stop himself. He closed his eyes and took a breath. “No. None of you are saying a damn thing to them. None of you know how to even go into the muggle world without drawing attention because you know fuck-all about it. They are my problem, not yours. You dicks watched them and me all last summer and didn’t do shit to actually help anything. Not a fucking one of you offered any evidence to support that I was or wasn’t treated like shit there, let alone- nevermind. None of you actually care. I find out you’re spying on me this summer? Then you’ll get what you deserved for all the good your ‘help’ did me last summer. Piss off.” 

Harry growled when Moody grabbed his arm, but the man didn’t let up, just looked at Harry. 

“Let. Go.” Harry said as much as he could through gritted teeth. 

“You’ve changed.” Moody stated, letting go finally.

“No. None of you know a damn thing about me because you all talked to other people. About me, not to me. Maybe if you’d ever attempted that even once what’s about to happen wouldn’t be an issue for you. You think I’ve changed? We’ve met twice, mate. When you decided to show up before I was summoned for a fucking hearing, and when we were getting dropped off on the platform. I learned Barty Crouch Jr.’s entire story from the time he was disguised as you. Did you never wonder how you were able to be kept a prisoner for so long? How Dumbledore has known you for two decades, but didn’t find you until the tournament was over? He used you as much as he uses everyone; to serve a purpose. You chose a side. You don’t get to interfere in what happens next, or you won’t be around to see it.”

“Is that a threat?” Moody asked.

“It’s a promise.” Harry countered certainly. He fully believed that he was telling Moody the truth, and he’d do everything he could to make sure it stayed that way. “Leave my relatives out of anything. They’re my problem. I’ll handle them when it’s time.” Moody nodded at him after studying his face and eventually stepped back, keeping an eye on them, but no longer looking to intervene or have a conversation.

“Harry, wait!” Lupin called after him, hurrying as Uncle Vernon grumbled and turned for the car, Aunt Petunia and Dudley following after him. Harry glanced at the other man as he kept walking. “You’re still mad.”

“And you’re still pouting.” Harry countered. 

“We were kids, Harry, you must understand that. Things were different back then-”

“I don’t have to understand shit.” Harry said firmly, making Lupin snap his mouth closed. “I’ve been tormented as bad as you all tormented Snape. That wasn’t pranking. It was harassment and abuse and you all deserved to be suspended, at the least, but I’d wager you should have been expelled. I’m sure dad changed at some point, because mum wouldn’t have given him the time of day if he hadn’t.”

“We were 15, Harry.”

“And I’m 15 for another month and a half.” Harry snarled, reaching the car and throwing his things in the boot. “I’ll talk to you when I’ve cooled off and once you can at least admit you all fucked up and are the reason Snape is a dick to everyone. You were the ones that most likely pushed him fully to Mort’s side. Do you think that maybe if you’d have been just slightly kinder, Snape would have told someone that Peter was betraying you all? That Sirius was innocent? He would have known. You created that divide. And you want me to let it go. Screw you. Tell Sirius the same. None of you know shit about me, and that’s your own faults. Don’t talk to me again until I’ve reached out unless you’re ready to apologize.”

“Get in, boy!” Uncle Vernon shouted irritatedly. 

Harry climbed in and the car was moving before he’d shut the door fully, leaving a stunned Lupin behind them. The car was silent the entire drive back, which Harry was grateful for. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to them yet anyway. When they got to the house, Harry put his trunk in the cupboard and went to his room to put his other things away. He could deal with being there however long he had to be. Apparently it was only really going to be a week, if Ron was to be believed. And Harry did believe him. Him and Hermione had taken their task of proving they were sorry rather seriously and did what they could to make up for it in ways that Harry would actually appreciate. He knew that no matter if they were fighting or arguing or not, that they would always band together and take on the bigger issues as a team. 

Harry was a bit surprised that there were visitors the next day, though. Especially who the visitors were. He’d just finished setting out lunch for his relatives when his aunt shrieked briefly and tried to close the door shut. Harry went to investigate and found Fred, George, and Bill all standing there, blocking the door from being slammed in their faces. 

“Hiya, Har!” Fred and George said, smiling brightly at him.

“We’ve got an appointment to get to, so grab what you need.” Bill nodded toward the stairs. 

“What are you expecting I’ll need?” Harry asked curiously.

“Everything.” Fred snorted, heading up the stairs around Harry’s aunt. 

“You’re not coming back here if we have anything to do about it.” George added.

“I agree.” Bill said, glaring at Aunt Petunia. “We’re anticipating what the results will be, and if we are correct, we’ve already got a room set up for you.”

“It’s a bit small.” Fred stated, coming down from his room, still shoving things in a bag that definitely had expansion charms of some kind on it. “But it’s pretty decent if you ask us.”

“And well protected.” George agreed, pulling his trunk out and shrinking it before putting it in the bag as well. “We decorated as best we could.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Harry chuckled. “I guess let’s go.”

“You can’t leave.” Aunt Petunia hissed at him angrily. “He said you had to stay here until you were of age for your kind.”

“Yeah, but we suspect that the tournament I was forced to participate in last year emancipated me and made me legal age, even if I’m only 15.” Harry shrugged. “Which means you don’t have to deal with me anymore. Any deal you made is fulfilled.”

“And when he shows up here and demands to know where you are?” She crossed her arms and sneered at him.

“Then fucking move.” Harry said unconcernedly. “You really want to stay in a house that holds so many memories of ‘my kind’, as you called us, popping in and ruining your life? Fine. Stay. But if I am emancipated, there’s no reason for you to stay other than you want to, because I sure as hell am not coming back. Pretty sure you can find another house just like this, in another neighborhood just like this one, if you really wanted.”

“You’re leaving?” Dudley asked quietly from the kitchen.

“Yeah.” Harry said carefully.

“I … I hope you write at some point.” Dudley said slowly. “You saved my life last year. So I’m working through some things. With the school counselor. Maybe in a while we can … we can try again?”

“Maybe.” Harry agreed, giving him a small smile. “Take care, Big D.”

“You too, Harry.” Dudley waved him off and disappeared around the corner. Aunt Petunia hurried after her son worriedly, not even glancing at Harry again. 

“Well she seems horrible.” Bill said once they were outside. 

“She is.” Harry and the twins agreed. 

“Alright, boys, we taking the bus or apparating?” Bill asked, grinning at them. 

“We’ll apparate and meet you and Harry there.” Fred stated. 

“But we should at least go to the end of the block or down another alley a bit in case he’s monitoring the house.” George agreed.

When they turned down an alley, the twins tipped a salute before disappearing. Bill offered Harry his arm and instructed him to bend his knees and take a deep breath before Harry felt like he was being sucked through the air in a way that was definitely uncomfortable. Harry groaned when they stopped and put his hands on his knees trying to breathe through his nose so he wouldn’t be sick. Bill rubbed his back consolingly for a bit. Once he felt like he wasn’t going to vomit, he stood up and nodded. The three took up places around Harry and walked him to Gringotts. 

As soon as they entered a goblin waved them over and they were led into an office of sorts. The twins stayed by the door a bit. Bill walked with Harry closer to the desk while they waited for the goblin that had gone through a door in the back. He returned after a few minutes with another goblin, hovering a massive stack of papers behind him. He set them on the desk and they seemed to shrink to fit into the inbox as he took a seat. 

“Well, Mr. Potter, I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you finally, but I think we should skip formalities and get straight to business.” The goblin stated.

“Fine by me.” Harry agreed. 

“Excellent. I’m Ragnok. The overseer of all the Gringotts in Britain.”

“There’re more than one?” Harry asked, unable to stop himself.

“There are three, in total.” The goblin chuckled. “Now. I was told we’re needing at the minimum an inheritance test, and potentially more scans to determine other wards or spells that might be interfering with you.”

“You think there might be?” Harry looked at Bill, then the twins.

“You’re properly famous, Har.” Fred said carefully.

“But you’ve never seen any fanmail.” George added.

“Ginny and Ron both wrote to you when they were kids.” Bill added. “They were pretty disappointed when you never wrote back.”

“So you think there’s a ward preventing people from sending me mail.” Harry frowned. “I got a ton of mail during the tournament.”

“You were at school.” Bill shrugged. “The wards conflicted with the Hogwarts wards, allowing them to find and reach you. My guess is that it was directed to appear in a vault or something without your knowledge.”

“That’s a lot of speculation.” Harry pursed his lips. “That annoyingly makes sense. Alright. Let’s see what all is being blocked for me.”

“This is the inheritance test.” Ragnok pushed a paper forward. “You’ll need to place at least three drops of blood in the circle, here, and then it will determine your holdings and we can begin the audit.”

Harry pricked his finger with the offered dagger and let his blood drip onto the paper, but then Ragnok grabbed his wrist and held it so his hand was showing him the words that had been carved there, courtesy of his detentions. 

“Another part of our concern.” Bill stated as the goblin glared at him. “That happened while at school. The wards did not prevent it.” 

Harry pulled his arm back slowly as the goblin said a lot of things in a low growling tone that Bill seemed to agree with. Before Harry could ask what was said, words started appearing on the paper. His parents and grandparents were listed, as well as godparents before it showed the vaults that belonged to him. And their values. Harry was fascinated that the parchment grew to accommodate all the things that belonged to him, including dozens of houses and other properties. He thought it was cool that Neville was his godbrother, since his mum was listed as his godmother, along with McGonagall. 

“That’s about what I expected.” Bill said, tapping the parchment that showed he was, in fact,  emancipated. “With the rest of this, we can check it out over the summer, make sure the houses are still standing and don’t have squatters or anything. Give you additional places to hold your meetings with the others.”

“Oh yeah?” Harry arched an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t know about any of it, don’t get your knickers in a twist. Ron still talks in his sleep.” Bill rolled his eyes.

“We kinda thought he’d grow out of that by now.” Harry snickered. “He doesn’t wake everyone up too often anymore, though.”

“I hope you’re prepared for a long afternoon, Mr. Potter.” Ragnok grumbled, looking over everything. Harry’s face burned in embarrassment when his stomach rumbled. “Why don’t you all get something to eat while I collect the rest of the necessary files? I’ll need at least an hour to ensure I have them all and that we’ve had a chance to locate the vaults assigned and records of who opened them and has access?”

“And maybe even the wills of James and Lily Potter?” Bill added. “Wild hunch, but I doubt that either of them wanted Harry to end up where he was.”

“We’ll take a look.” Ragnok nodded. “And I’d also appreciate you not translating my swearing to the younglings.”

“Wasn’t planning to.” Bill smirked at Harry and nodded. Harry maybe pouted a little. “You can’t learn swearing in Gobbledygook before learning proper greetings, Harry.”

“Fun hater.” Harry mumbled at the same time the twins muttered “killjoy”. 

“Let’s get some food and show Harry where he can stay before coming back.” Bill directed, nodding for Harry to follow him out. They stopped at a shop that was blacked out and went inside as the twins had the key. Harry smiled so wide his face hurt when he saw it was the inside of their shop. 

“We’re planning the grand opening soon.” George stated. “So we haven’t sorted everything out just yet down here.”

“We’ve got the flat above the shop, so you’re rooming with us. ‘Long as you don’t mind, that is.” Fred added.

“Nah, this’ll be great.” Harry chuckled. “Get a chance to see what all my investment did.”

“We’ll have that paid back in no time.” George snorted. 

“Not worried about that.” Harry waved him off. “Just wanted you guys to make something incredible. And you did.”

“The stairs are back here.” Fred nudged him to follow along and Harry followed him and George as they led him up to the apartment above the shop. It was actually pretty nice. There were two bedrooms, a big bathroom and a decent kitchen and sitting area. “We’re used to sharing and the few times we tried separate rooms just felt weird. Besides, we’ll have time to figure that out once you’re headed back to school.”

“It’s really great guys.” Harry smiled at them. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“Stop it.” They retorted, dramatically fanning themselves. 

“You’ll make us blush.” George snickered when Harry swatted at him.

“Let’s drop off Harry’s things and get him something to eat, you two.” Bill gave them each a small shove so they could put down his bag and get his trunk out and back to its original size. 

They ate at a little cafe that Harry hadn’t noticed before but was really great. They even had time for ice cream before heading back to the bank. The office was bustling with more activity than when they’d left, as there were a few other goblins and even Fleur was there. As soon as she noticed Harry was with Bill, she rushed past him and embraced Harry, kissing his cheeks and pulling him to a chair. Bill seemed to find it amusing and just shrugged at Harry. 

“Eet is wonderful to see you again, ‘Arry.” Fleur said once they were sitting. “Now. I am only ze assistant account manager. But zere are so many discrepancies!”

“We kind of figured there would be.” Harry agreed. “It’s good to see you again. When did you transfer to this branch?”

“Hm. Not long ago. Maybe … quatre mois?” She looked back at Bill who nodded.

“Four months.” Bill clarified. “Her English is better, but several of the customers do enjoy being able to speak in French so they aren’t overheard by nosy neighbors.”

“I get that.” Harry chuckled. “Alright, see if you can make some of this make sense to me.”

“The audit has started, but these are the vaults we have verified as belonging to you. We just need you to sign accepting ownership so they are annotated correctly on our register and the notations of who has access is updated. It will lock anyone out who had access before.” Ragnok passed over a stack of papers. 

Harry groaned internally and accepted the quill offered, but not without inspecting it first. He had to shake his hand a few times because there were a lot of papers to sign. When he reached the end another stack was placed in front of him that had him tugging on his hair as Ragnok explained the various deeds. Once he signed, there would either be a new lease agreement that would pop up if there were people residing there legally, or it would force anyone out who hadn’t signed a lease. He paused on the deed for Grimmauld place, because he’d thought that was meant to belong to Sirius. 

“I take it this means that because he’s technically a fugitive he can’t own property?” Harry asked, looking at Ragnok.

“Technically. You are welcome to write in who is allowed to be there until an agreement can be drawn up.” Ragnok shrugged unconcernedly. 

Harry wrote a quick note that Sirius was allowed to reside there with the elf beholden to him until Harry decided otherwise. Which might happen, because Kreacher was a miserable elf and needed serious retraining if he was going to be around anyone, not even mentioning anyone of any importance. He half wondered if anyone else was going to be there other than Lupin, but also didn’t really care. Once his note about the two he knew were living there was done, he signed it, unsurprised when there was no lease renewal that popped up. He’d have to draw one up and see if Sirius even wanted to stay there anymore or if he wanted to go elsewhere. He was tempted to draw up an agreement to send to him for a cottage he apparently had in Swansea. 

After he’d gotten some serious healing, both mentally and physically, that is. And apologized. That was rather important to Harry, actually. 

Fleur and Bill helped him sort through and identify what was something he should consider selling and what was something he should consider renegotiating rent on. There were some people that were paying the same price they’d paid in the late 70’s for some of the places. After 20 years in the same place, paying the same price, they could either buy the property from Harry with a set amount identified as the price difference to what they’d paid in rent to the value of the property, or they could move. Harry didn’t even feel bad about it. Rather than doing something, they’d sat stagnant for two decades. A lot like the Ministry, really. And if any of them were representatives in the Ministry, then they’d be in for a shock finding out Harry was the one in charge of their homes. 

There were several vaults that just had belongings or other pieces of value that they had bequeathed to Harry. There were letters to go with them, too. Some were saddened that he’d never get to know his parents and grow with them, others were just wanting to show their gratitude for the conflict ending at the time. Harry informed the goblins of what he wanted to offer back to the remaining family members if there were any, and what he was ok keeping for the time being. 

That’s when he got an idea. He’d need to work out a few things and visit all the properties before setting it up, but it was something he could feasibly do. He’d talk with the others and figure things out from there. Someone would know the logistics for what he was considering. Even if they only knew a part of it, it was more than he knew until he researched it. They worked through dinner, but the goblins had food brought in so they could keep going, willing to as long as Harry was. Which he was. It was dark when they finally finished all the paperwork he was meant to sign. And then he had to put on his lordship rings, because of course. No one had mentioned that he had any lordships, only that he would hold governmental seats. He probably should have made the connection, but he hadn’t had a lot of time to think about it. 

He had seven different rings he was meant to wear, and listened to the goblins and Bill about where and when he would need to wear them. They stacked rather nicely, so he could wear them across a few of his fingers. He had two on his ring and index finger of his right hand, and the others on his middle finger of his other hand. The goblins seemed a bit frustrated when the ring that had been passed down the Slytherin line wasn’t present, though. Which Harry was also meant to be wearing as the heir by conquest. A contingent of goblins went to retrieve where they suspected it was, but Harry wouldn’t know until the next day at the earliest, how it went. 

“We were able to locate the wills, but I’d suggest we go over them when you don’t look ready to fall over.” Ragnok said teasingly. 

“Sorry.” Harry apologized, yawning enough that his jaw cracked. “This was just a bit more than I anticipated, is all. Can we do tomorrow? Or would you prefer to call us back once the others have returned?”

“We’ll set you for the day after tomorrow.” Ragnok agreed. “That will give you time to rest and absorb everything.”

“Same time?” Bill asked, standing up and offering Fleur a hand up, which she took with a pleased smile. 

“Yes.” Ragnok agreed. “There is a Wizengamot session planned for the end of next week. I believe you’ll receive your notice in the next few days, since you have claimed your rings and holdings. The letters are much like Hogwarts and automatically generated. They are also handled by goblins or elves, in case they need to personally deliver emergency session notices.”

“Good to know.” Harry nodded and stood up, stretching his back out, wincing when it cracked a few times. “Thank you for spending so much time with me on this.”

“The Potters have always been good clients. It would be a disservice to you and your ancestors if we were to do otherwise. Have a good night, Mr. Potter.” Ragnok nodded to him. 

“I’ll stop by tomorrow for a bit.” Bill said, once the five of them were walking out. “Won’t be long as I do actually have to work. I’ll have to rely on you two to get Harry to the bank the day after.”

“We’ll get him here.” The twins agreed. 

“Good night, ‘Arry.” Fleur said, kissing his cheeks again. 

“Night Fleur, night Bill.” Harry waved them off and walked with the twins back to the shop. 

They took turns showering and Harry practically passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. He could still hear Fred and George talking quietly in their room, but he was too tired to try and listen. He managed to sleep all night and didn’t wake up until George was nudging him gently around ten. Meaning he’d slept for at least 11 hours. He ate with the twins and worked on some short messages to Hermione, Ron, and Neville, since Hedwig had found him pretty easily. She was pretty excited to be heading off already and rubbed her head against his face quickly before taking off. He pulled out his coin to let them know they’d be getting letters with more details before long. Then he sent out a message to everyone that merely stated ‘lordships claimed’. He hoped they understood what that meant. 

Then he spent a few hours helping the twins set up the shop a bit more. He was used to manual labor in the summers, so it wasn’t really a chore. Especially since he was with friends. They went into London and got some nice and greasy fish and chips as well as picking out some new clothes for Harry. Regular day to day wear as well as a few dark suits for going to the Ministry. They also all got their ears pierced and George got a nose ring. Harry’s stud in his ear had a green gem, while Fred got a gold stud and George got a diamond. It was a fun day, actually. Harry was planning to get a haircut before the Wizengamot meeting. He didn’t care if his hair was messy on top, that seemed to be a typical style, actually, even if he pulled it off without any control over it. But he saw a few blokes with the back and sides shaved and decided that would look cool as well as serve a purpose; keeping him cool in the hot weather. 

Hermione and Ron were at the bank when he got there, giving him hugs and explaining that Neville couldn’t get away to be there. Apparently he was meant to be getting his wand that day. Harry would much rather him get a wand that worked for him than sit with him at the bank and listen to the last testament from James and Lily Potter. It was probably going to be emotional enough without him there, anyway. They were led into the same office as before, Fred and George standing guard by the doors as they had done the previous time. 

Harry collected his last lordship ring and put it on the pinky of his left hand since it had a decent sized stone on it and Harry didn’t want it covering the others. He was wearing them all so he could try and get used to them. Bill managed to pop in just before Ragnok, stopping behind the chair that Harry would sit in while the ones on either side of him would be for Ron and Hermione. Ragnok set the wills down on the desk as he took his seat. There was an odd case for each other. Like a box with a ball inside. There were a few parchments in with them as well, but Harry was more interested in the balls. He leaned forward and touched one as Ragnok urged him to do while he set up a quill and his own parchment to record the reading. 

“This is the last will and testament of James Fleaumont Potter.” The image of Harry’s dad rose above the ball and Harry had to blink a few times. He kept forgetting that his parents weren’t much older than he was when they died. He looked like a shorter scrawnier version of his dad. It was … eerie. “I am of sound mind and body as I record these words, hoping they won’t actually be my last. I remember my parent’s wills when they were read, and they’d had many years to practice and a few different versions they’d made, while this is only my second one and my first since they passed on. I was not able to take up the Potter lordships because of the war going on, but I hope that one day I can teach my son so he’s ready when it’s his turn. 

“Right. Erm. If I should pass before my wife, Lily Evans Potter, then all I have will be hers. Should she join me or pass with me, then everything will go to our son, Harry James Potter. I am also bequeathing the sum of 50,000 galleons each to Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Remus, don’t even try arguing. Until I can- or someone, I suppose, make changes and make it easier for you to have good paying work within magical society, you need to be able to pay for a place to live, food to eat, and even clothes to wear. If you want to take the money and get a job at a library, fine, I don’t care. You’re one of my best friends, so let me take care of you, dammit. Sirius, you’re my chosen brother. We got into way too much trouble together, but I think we’ve finally settled down a bit. You have the most responsibility of all the Marauders. If anything happens to me and Lily, then you are raising Harry for us. 

“Don’t let him make the same mistakes we did with pranking. Make sure he knows the line between pranking and bullying. We … we learned the hard way. We were complete pricks, and I can’t believe Minnie didn’t expel us for some of the shit we did. Use the money to buy more records or clothes, whatever you feel like. There’s a trust set up for Harry, so he’ll have that once he’s old enough to start school. He’ll be using that as it is specifically for school clothes and other supplies. Take care of my boy, Sirius. Please. Give him the home that we gave you. Peter, if you don’t slow down and relax, you’re going to have a heart attack. Take the money and go on holiday, get away from all this. We’ll miss you, obviously, but please, take a break. You’re an amazing secret keeper, but if it’s too much, if that’s what’s stressing you out, you could have said something and we’d have picked someone else. 

“Alice, Frank, you have been amazing friends. I have adored watching Harry and Neville get to know each other. I hope that they remain close friends when they get to school. They’re godbrothers, after all. Shit. I guess I should have said that Alice Longbottom is Harry’s godmother before all that. If Sirius is unable to take Harry in, for whatever reason, then Harry is to go to Frank and Alice. If, godforbid, they aren’t an option, don’t hate me, but Minnie, Minerva McGonagall, I mean, is who we want to take care of our son. She’s our alternate godmother to Alice. Harry already adores her, so I know she’d keep him in line and still let him have a little mischief. 

“Harry James Potter.” James took a deep breath and looked as though he were trying to hold himself together, which was fair. Harry was struggling with that at the moment as well. “Merlin, as soon as we found out we were expecting you, both your mum and I were frantic. You’re named after Lily’s grandfather and me because, no offense to my family, but before me they were all eccentric in names. My middle name is my father’s name, and his was his father’s, and so on. We love you-” James cleared his throat and nodded to himself, but Harry was trying his hardest to ignore his tears and Hermione’s muffled crying, “ your mother and I love you so damn much. I don’t care that Dumbledore said there was a prophecy that said you would be the one to take down Voldemort. You are MY son. Mine. And if we make it through this, we’re taking you on a nice long holiday and maybe never coming back aside from just visiting family and friends. We’ve nearly got Frank and Alice convinced to go with us, too. But if the worst happens, and I can’t be there for you, know all of this. Your mother and I loved you with our entire beings. We don’t care what house you end up in at Hogwarts, that doesn’t matter to us nearly as much as you being happy and healthy. Make friends, change the world. You’re the legacy of the Marauder’s, kiddo. Whatever you set your mind to, you’ll get it done, I know you will. 

“Oh, it shouldn’t need said, but I’ll add it anyway, because Lily insisted. Harry is only to go to those we identified, and if they are unable or unwilling, then my account manager, Ragnok, will ensure Harry goes to a good home. He’s not to be anywhere near Lily’s sister, Petunia Evans. Er, Petunia Dursley. That’s right, she got married to a whale of a man named Dursley. Which we found out from the paper, because Petunia hasn’t spoken to her sister in about three and a half, maybe four years. She hates Lily because she has magic, and I don’t even want to think about what she might do if she were handed a magical child like Harry. You’d probably be passing all our assets on to whatever distant relative you can find for us because she’d probably kill him.

“That’s it, so. Live well, Harry. If this is the last time I get to say it, remember it. We love you, Prongslet. Mischief Managed.” 

Harry covered his face and took a few breaths, trying to regain control of himself. Ron and Hermione leaned over and hugged him, both of them leaving traces of tears on his shoulders. When he felt like he was as ready as he could be, he nodded and they sat up again, both of them wiping their faces as Harry reached a shaky hand out and touched the second orb. 

“ Hello!” Lily said brightly, waving a bit. “Sorry if this is a little unorthodox, I’ve never actually seen anything like this before. Anyway, getting right into it, this is the last will and testament of Lily Potter, nee Evans. I am of sound mind and body. I shouldn’t have to say it, but whatever James said he wanted to do with his assets, that’s what will happen. I know he’s got a shit ton of money, but we never really thought about it. If I pass on before my husband, then he’ll know what to do with all my crap that I kept from school. All my books and notes and everything. Remus can help, because he’ll probably appreciate them more. 

“Sirius, you’ve been an amazing godfather so far, and I look forward to scolding all of you, but you most especially, for teaching Harry the bad habits I know he’ll pick up from his Paddy. And no, before you ask, I’ll never let it go that he said ‘Paddy’ as his first word over mummy or daddy. I’d like to hold you and Remus responsible for any swearing he might do, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be equally at fault there. And Peter, seriously, you do not need to bring a new stuffed toy every time you visit! We’re running out of room!” She laughed happily. Harry wasn’t really sure how to feel about all that information. Not yet, anyway. “Alright, Alice, it’s only fair that if I’m Neville’s godmother, that you get to be Harry’s. Our boys are gonna grow up as brothers, you’ll see. They’ll be the best of friends, I just know it. Professor McGonagall, because yes, I’m still calling you that unlike my husband and his nitwit friends, I hope that you can help Alice out in godmother duties should the worst happen to us. You were a true saint putting up with James, so I know you could handle Harry just fine. Oh! I don’t know if James said it or not, but Remus is our alternate godfather for Harry. No, we don’t care that he is what he is, that has zero effect on his ability to take care of our son. As he’s proven repeatedly. Yes, Harry is partial to Sirius, but he also loves his Moony. 

“I don’t particularly have any separate assets to pass on, but I do have a small vault of some additional notes and journals that I want to be gifted to Severus Snape. We were good friends once. Best friends. I mean, he’s the one who told me I had magic, for god’s sake. I hated that we were never able to mend our friendship, Sev. I had plans, you know? To fix things before everything went to shit. You’ll probably find my demented ‘fix friendship with Sev plan’ in the notes I’m leaving you. Sorry for that, I really meant to burn it, but I couldn’t find it after I moved the things to the vault. I’m telling you, baby brain is real. On that particular note, it’s still really early, but we’re expecting again! Gosh, I can’t wait to see Harry as a big brother. He’s going to be amazing. Sev, I plan to put you as the godfather, because I know you’d be great at it. Maybe not for Harry, he’s already too much like those other idiots, but this one is gonna be different. 

“Harry, my beautiful boy. I love you so damn much. Yes, even though you said ‘Paddy’ before mummy or daddy, and even though you took your first steps to try and reach him over walking to me or your dad, I still love you. I will ALWAYS love you. ALWAYS. And I really hope this isn’t the last thing I ever get to say to you, but even if it is, I need you to know it. I love you so much it’s hard to breathe sometimes. It’s so hard to think about you having to grow up without me or your dad, but things are really dark right now. Dumbledore admitted there was a prophecy spoken that could be about you or Neville, but I don’t care. Not every prophecy comes true. And they’re never specific enough to actually act on. It’s your choice, but when you’re older, you can get permission to retrieve the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, but I don’t think it’ll help anything. You’re still going to grow up into an amazing boy and then an amazing man. 

“If James and I can’t be there to see all the incredible things you accomplish, then Sirius Black will be. Or Remus Lupin. Or Alice Longbottom or Minerva McGonagall. One of them. Because if I learn that you were ever near enough to my sister to breathe the same rancid city air, I’ll come back as a ghost to haunt the shit out of whoever took you there. These are goblin made wills, and defying them comes with a rather harsh punishment, so Ragnok alluded to. We love you darling boy. Always.”

Lily disappeared back into the orb and Harry scrubbed a hand over his face. It was just … it was a lot to take in. To accept. To learn, really. They’d mentioned that there was a prophecy, and that was a pretty shit deal, if it was true. It matched up a bit with his nightmares and visions, so Voldemort must have been after it, after the full content to try and learn what he could from it, if anything. But divination was never that simple. He was also meant to be a big brother. 

“Are you opposed to having the wills published in their entirety?” Ragnok asked quietly.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “No, you can run the whole thing.”

“Very well.” Ragnok agreed, signing a document that he passed over to Harry to sign, which he did when he saw it was just a transcription of each will. “These have also come through. They were certified yesterday by the individuals placing the request.”

“That was fast.” Harry muttered, seeing Nott, Crabbe, Boot, Bones, and Parkinson had come in and assigned him as their proxies. Harry signed them quickly, each one pretty much stating the same thing. 

“Am I to be expecting more?” Ragnok asked, looking at him curiously, but Harry looked at Hermione who was pulling her list out of her bag to review it.

“There should be …” She flipped it over and read through it quickly, “another four at least. Maybe five.”

“Might I see your list to verify?” Ragnok asked, looking intrigued.

“Of course.” Hermione set it down on the desk and Ragnok looked through it.

“Six more.” He stated. “Once I have them I’ll inform Mr. Potter so he may come in to sign before session at the end of next week.”

“We’ll make sure they’re aware.” Hermione agreed. “Do you mind marking next to who I missed in my count?” Ragnok ticked next to the additional names and passed the parchment back which Hermione tucked back into her bag. 

“A few more things then you can be on your way, Mr. Potter. William said yesterday that your home life wasn’t the greatest. Can you confirm that you were, in fact, residing with Petunia Dursley in direct conflict with your parents’ wishes?”

“I was.” Harry nodded. “She said Dumbledore was going to be pissed I wasn’t there anymore, but I told her that if I was legally an adult that her duty or promise to him, whatever it was, was fulfilled.”

“Thank you.” Ragnok growled something out to the goblin standing guard behind him at the door. The goblin gave a snarl and swift bow before leaving them. Harry was kind of curious what they were doing but also didn’t want to be involved. “Now. The wills, as I stated, are going to be released and published in the Prophet in their entirety, as happens with all prominent families. Those identified as receiving anything will be notified to come and claim their entitlements. No, we do not care that the wizards see Black as a criminal. We do not. Gringotts is goblin territory, and he will not be arrested once he is inside.”

“Good to know.” Harry nodded, Hermione and Ron nodding with him. 

“This is the list of your properties that are identified as empty for you to visit and finish sorting out ownership of in the next few months.” Harry accepted the stack of parchment passed to him. “This is a list of the blocks and wards we were able to identify from the blood given for your inheritance test. We can redirect, alter, or remove them as you prefer.”

“So there is a mail ward, but it’s a bit odd.” Hermione looked over Harry’s shoulder. “It allows you to receive mail from identified persons, but blocks everyone else. It was modified once you started school.”

“Which means he waited to see who I made friends with to adjust it.” Harry commented.

“Prick.” Ron muttered irritatedly, making Harry grin and Hermione roll her eyes. “You’ll need to go through it all at some point. We can stop in at the twins’ and sort through it with you if you want?”

“I’m gonna wait until I look at the other properties. That way we can do it at one of them and have room to spread out without getting in their way.” Harry stated.

“Just make sure you let us know what day you’re planning to go to which house so us or Neville can be there.” Hermione added. 

“I don’t think I’ll do anything between now and my first Wizengamot session.” Harry wobbled his head. “Shit’s gonna hit the fan once that’s over.”

“Indeed.” Ragnok grinned wickedly. “You do not seem worried about Dumbledore being present or attempting to meddle; interfering.”

“He already interfered.” Harry argued. “And he’s not going to be my concern, I expect. The paper is publishing the wills. The wills that he held an emergency session of Wizengamot for nearly 15 years ago to seal. Preventing them from being released and those identified from intervening. I’m not going to have to do anything. He has made an enemy of McGonagall and Lupin. A phenomenal teacher and a lone wolf. Both with master certifications in their fields. I won’t need to do a damn thing, because they will handle the Headmaster. This may even be the thing that gets Lupin and Sirius to get their heads out of their arses and tell me they’re sorry for what they did as kids. They’ll drop Dumbledore and convince whoever may listen that he’s not the man they all thought they signed up to support. Because he isn’t. He has lied to people my entire life. I’m curious to see what McGonagall does, actually. She was meant to be my godmother, but because of meddling, she never got to be that for me and I don’t think she even knew. He made these enemies, expecting full well that it would never come to light and that he could continue on with whatever the hell his plan is. It’s time he learned the price.”

“And the lord- and ladyships that you are now proxy for?” Ragnok asked, looking rather excited for a goblin.

“The other adults had their chance.” Harry shrugged. “They fucked up. Now it’s our turn. They want us to participate in their war? There won’t be a war. And I won’t let other kids be used as soldiers.”

“Excellent.” Ragnok chuckled, grinning rather wickedly still. “Well then. That was all we were meant to cover today, Mr. Potter. I’ll inform you as soon as the other documents are ready for your signature. Stop in any time you have questions and we’ll assist you. Have a good day.”

Harry nodded and headed for the door, everyone sort of filtering out with him. With that all handled, now it was time to begin the real work. Setting up his houses as safe spaces for his classmates should they need it, even looking more into his concept of creating a few homes for kids that lost their families so they weren’t shipped all over the place. It would be primarily for magical kids, but Harry was still going to register it with the muggle world. It was going to be known in both societies so kids had the opportunity to experience both communities when not in school. He had the general plans drawn up, he just needed to verify they would suffice before submitting them. Which he intended to do during his first session in wizarding politics. 

Harry was a little surprised when Arthur was the one who showed up with Ron when he was going to look at his properties. But Arthur just hugged him and checked to see how he was feeling about everything. Harry felt alright, but wasn’t sure how to verbalize that since he couldn’t actually lie, and it would mostly likely come out wrong. He didn’t want to worry the man more by being his unfiltered, honest self.

“Ron told us.” Arthur smiled at him. “It’s alright, I won’t worry overly much if you say you’re feeling a bit shit about everything. Also, we’ve made you the proxy for our Weasley and Prewitt Wizengamot seats. Percy means well, but he’s also trying to make a name for himself, so he can’t take it up since Bill said he wasn’t interested, and neither was Charlie. I don’t want to give him additional pressure to choose between right and less wrong for things.”

“I didn’t know we had Prewitt seats.” Ron scratched his head.

“Technically Fred and George do, if they ever go in and get their inheritance done.” Arthur chuckled. “It’s a magical twin seat, you see? So they’re the only ones in the family that can take it up. They’ve never been interested in politics, but I suppose we can talk to them when we’re done and see what they think.”

“They’ll either accept that I’m voting for them, or they’ll take them up and support me in person.” Harry grinned. “Let’s check out some houses.” 

They took portkeys to the different properties, only looking at five of them before stopping for the day. They weren’t in terrible shape, but Harry only planned to keep one of them. The rest could be sold or leased, whichever Ragnok found most advantageous. Harry spent the week helping the twins set up the shop, visiting his properties with Arthur, Ron, Bill, and even Charlie once, and going by Gringotts and signing the remaining six proxy assignments from his classmates. The twins actually went with him, once they knew they were meant to inherit something, and did the test and took up their own seats, intending to support Harry in person, as he’d expected. 

So it was rather entertaining when they showed up in fancy suits as opposed to the Wizengamot robes that they’d not received nor had time to order. Not that they intended to. Harry planned to put that off as long as possible. He hated the fact that everyone still wore robes for everything. It was beyond stupid, especially when several employees would wear them home or to work and not realize how odd they were to the general populace. They stood out like sore thumbs. It was something Harry would eventually address, but not yet. He needed them to get over their initial shock before he could make that particular change and have it actually make sense. Fudge was still in charge somehow, but from what Harry had heard, it wouldn’t be for much longer. There were already plans for the Wizengamot to vote on an interim Minister until the next election could be held. 

Once everyone was sitting, Harry nodded to the twins and they walked inside together. Bones was there and actually smirked at his appearance, but didn’t otherwise react. The chamber glowed as it was designed to do when someone appeared to take up their seats for the first time. Everything sort of stopped at that point. Not a sound could be heard as half of the seats in the room glowed in acceptance of Harry’s appointment. There had been a few people sitting in seats that Harry was assigned as proxy for, as well as the Potter and Black seats that were actually his. After almost a full minute of silence, the shouting started. Harry and the twins just headed for their seats, ignoring the outrage and confusion spewing from everyone. It continued until Fudge walked in. The man frowned as it lowered to a murmur before the shouting started again. 

“Enough!” Bones shouted, standing up and silencing the room. “You are representatives of the magical society in Britain. Act like it.” Harry grinned when she glanced at him and inclined her head, a small gesture of support, before she took her seat once more. 

“Right.” Fudge said, clearing his throat, not noticing Harry or the twins yet. “This meeting of the Wizengamot, dated the 26th of June, 1996, is now in session.” He banged his gavel and the doors all slammed shut, locking them in. “We’ll begin with introductions of new members, I see there are two on the registry, and then onto the minutes from last meeting.”

“Stand and introduce yourselves.” Bones called out, still smirking. 

“Fred Weasley. Taking up Prewitt family seat.” Fred stated, standing and nodding.

“George Weasley. Taking up Prewitt family seat.” George stated, also standing and nodding before they sat back down.

“Harry Potter.” Harry stated, enjoying the look of shock and disbelief on Fudge’s face. “Taking up all of my family seats as well as those set to me as proxy.”

“You’re underage.” Fudge said, blinking dumbly.

“Funnily enough, I am and I also am not.” Harry sniffed. “Physically, yes, I’m underage. However, having participated in the Triwizard Tournament, a tournament designed for witches and wizards who were of age, I have been recognized as being legally an adult. All confirmed with the goblins with certified copies submitted to the Ministry archives as protocol requires.”

“You cannot vote on issues as an underage wizard.” Someone stood up and said angrily.

“Then there will be no session occurring.” Harry shrugged unconcernedly. “My seats take up near half of the sitting body. I was informed that a minimum of 60 percent of the body must be present to hold discussions or pass anything. You have the option to accept that your own actions led to me taking responsibility for my positions within the wizarding world, or leaving. In which case there will be nothing done or decided until you can accept my positions. The choice is yours.”

“Lord Potter is staying.” Bones stood up. “This hall has already accepted his appointment, as well as those of Messrs Weasley. If you wish to submit for a recount, you are welcome to do so.”

“Aye!” The wizard said irritatedly. “I, Thaddeus Nott, submit a re-accounting of seats.”

“Seconded?” Fudge asked tiredly.

“Aye.” Malfoy stated, standing up as well. It was one of the only seats Harry hadn’t been able to get, since Draco wasn’t of age yet, and his father would remain the holder as long as he was able. 

“Aye.” Goyle grunted, standing up as well. Harry looked at the twins and smirked while they mirrored him. 

“The aye’s have it.” Fudge banged his gavel. “I, Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, request a re-accounting of seats and assignments.”

Harry wasn’t surprised when five people were pushed out of the seats they were in, shocking or stunning them whenever they attempted to retake them. They had to be escorted out when they started an uproar of shouting that was definitely not suited to the positions they were attempting to hold onto. Harry pursed his lips and leaned to his side. 

“Dobby.” Harry said quietly, unsurprised when the elf appeared silently beside him. “Thanks for coming. I’ve got an offer for you.”

“Dobby listening, Harry Potter, sir.” Dobby nodded, speaking just as quietly. 

“We’ll work out what you want me to pay you later, but I need you to go by and check on these people. Their parents or relatives were just kicked out for demanding a recount of seats, which they gave to me as their proxy without telling them. If they’re in danger, I want you to take them to this address.” Harry passed him the parchment with the address of one of his bigger houses. “There’s not an elf there currently, but I’ll stop by once we’re done. You’re welcome to stick around and make sure it remains secure until I can be there.”

“Dobby will do so, Harry Potter.” Dobby nodded excitedly, disappearing as quietly as he appeared. 

“Any further requests?” Fudge asked, banging his gavel to regain control and quiet the room. Everyone quieted down, though and just sat, occasionally sending Harry either curious, irritated, or scathing looks. “Very well. Pembrooke, read the minutes if you would.” Harry pursed his lips and ducked his head as Percy made an annoyed face at being addressed incorrectly. Again. The twins even managed not to respond. 

The first hour was rather droll. The minutes were recited and the first laws presented were put to vote, Harry vetoing nearly all of them, along with a few others that were standing up for themselves. So at least there were a few decent folks sitting in government. He couldn’t be sure they weren’t just sucking up to him, but that didn’t matter at the moment. When the hour was over, the laws that had been vetoed were up for discussion. Which meant they would be targeting Harry with questions. 

“Lord Potter,” An older witch called, standing when Fudge indicated for her to present her concern first, “do you not agree that creatures are a danger to our society? To our children?”

“Define ‘creature’?” Harry leaned forward a bit. “A hippogriff? Absolutely, especially to those who fail to give the respectful greeting necessary when approaching one. A troll? Maybe a boggart?”

“Werewolves and vampires, Lord Potter.” She said irritatedly. “They pose a danger to our society.”

“Might I see your research?” Harry asked innocently. “If they’re as dangerous as you claim, then you must have the research proving as such. Supporting evidence.”

“They are listed as dark creatures.” She argued. “They are-”

“Human beings with a disorder that can and often is regulated with medical intervention.” Harry cut her off. “Severus Snape created the wolfsbane potion to allow werewolves to hold more control over their creature side when the moon forces them to shift once a month. Which is curious. Because the means to give you a so-called safe environment in regards to werewolves, is available. But it is so highly regulated and those afflicted are treated with such hatred, that the majority does not have access. You are creating the unsafe community you claim to be so concerned about. Make the potion available more easily, provide them with work opportunities, as you yourself have, so they may be able to pay taxes or a reasonable price to maintain the safe and happy community you desire.”

“There are still vampires to consider.” She blustered, not liking Harry’s sound response that had others looking more stunned and considering.

“Yes, I suppose there are.” Harry tilted his head. “Which is another affliction that is controlled via blood donation centers where they can request and receive the necessary nutrients that prevent them from attacking anyone. Perhaps if this was more accessible to them, you would, again, have the safe environment you claim does not exist but want to have. Should they be unable or unwilling to use the donation center, then they should be treated as any criminal that attacks another person would be. Including sentencing to potential jail time, house arrest, and mandatory rehabilitation for purposely causing harm by refusing to use a donation center. For refusing to take responsibility or ownership for their affliction. If they cannot be rehabilitated, then a more long term sentence should be considered that is not life in Azkaban where they will not receive the necessary medical care to control their creature side. I’ve now provided you with two solutions that do not include ostracizing and demonizing members of the magical community. If you cannot accept them, come up with your own.”

“Lord Potter,” Neville’s gran stated, standing up and hiding a grin, “I’d like to be the first to officially welcome you to our governing body.”

“Thank you, Lady Longbottom.” Harry said, smiling at her.

“Now. You disapproved of Ministry involvement in education. I’m curious as to why?”

“That’s fairly simple, actually.” Harry nodded. “Why is this governing body getting involved in anything that isn’t funding related, when there are assigned governors meant to stand as the board for our education system? They are meant to be responsible for course books, equipment, elf management, and staffing. They are meant to have ledgers and balances to spend on requests presented by the standing teachers. If the petition is to provide oversight to ensure they are functioning as they are meant to, then there needs to be an entirely new board elected. This governing body is not meant to be stretched across every single area. There are subsets that are meant to manage the more minute details. The board of governors, the shop keepers guild, the potions guild, et cetera. I cannot speak for the various guilds, but I can speak for the quality of equipment at the school being outdated and dangerous. The brooms are at least 30 years out of date and the charms are nearly gone or twisted enough they should not be used to introduce 11 year olds to the idea of flying. The ventilation charms in the potions classrooms have been failing for years, but it has yet to be corrected. The transfiguration materials are so used, that they often fall apart rather than transfigure or they transfigure incorrectly, causing the teacher to believe the student failed at the spell. All items meant to be handled by the governors. If you would like to call for a vote to instate elections for new board members, I’d be willing to support it.”

“And your stance on wands?” She asked, arching an eyebrow at him, making him fail to hide a snort of amusement.

“I would apologize, Lady Longbottom, but I believe it was necessary. Many of us, who come into the magical community, see Olivander for our wands. Because we’ve no history with them, we don’t know any differently. He’s adamant that the wand chooses the wizard. The elements he uses to craft them are able to feel our magical core and determine what works best with our inherent abilities. The only students attending with family wands are typically those with families that claim they cannot afford them, or those who are stubborn enough to believe that any wand will work with any wizard. There is a fund for those who maybe can’t afford wands, that the school reimburses Olivander for, so that they may learn magic safely. I can appreciate the sentiment attached to using a family wand, but I also think they should be evaluated by Olivander, or another wandmaker, to determine if it is most advantageous for the kid to use it over getting a new one.”

“Messrs Weasley,” a middle aged bloke stood up when Neville’s gran sat down, “I’ve two questions, really. One, when is your shop opening? And two, what are your thoughts on the creature directives since we’ve heard Lord Potter’s?”

“We’re hosting the grand opening this coming Saturday.” Fred said proudly when he and George stood up. “There’ll be discounts for kids returning to Hogwarts, as we were able to experiment safely while there and want to encourage the right kind of pranking as opposed to blatant bullying.”

“We’ve never understood the issue a majority of the community have with those with creature blood or inheritances.” George continued. “They’re still a person, witch or wizard, underneath it all. If someone is willing to provide actual research on the dangers of a person with an affliction when there are certified methods and medical interventions available and provided, then we’d be willing to give it a looksee.”

“We want to be able to verify definitive issues. Not speculate on what’s been pushed in textbooks or news articles with no research to back it up. Of course a werewolf was dangerous before the 80’s. Snape hadn’t created his potion yet, and no one else was interested enough to do so themselves. He’s the youngest potion master in our history, and you are all denying his ability and efforts to make the community safer. You’re not just targeting the creatures, you are targeting him as well.” Fred added.

“Imagine the other potions he could create if anyone acknowledged his mastery and expertise on the subject.” George agreed. “He may be a git, but he’s a genius one.”

“Messrs Weasley and Lord Potter,” Bones said, standing up and looking between them, “welcome to the Wizengamot. What is your stance on the current climate and the conflicts?”

“That’s rather vague.” George frowned.

“What are your opinions on the stance of the Ministry, Albus Dumbledore, and the rumors about the return of Voldemort?” She clarified.

“Uninterested.” The three of them responded together.

“If you could take turns explaining, that would be appreciated.” She stated, giving them unimpressed glances. 

“We left school before it was officially let out and did our NEWTs through post.” Fred stated, rising to his feet once more since he’d sat down already. “The Ministry interfered with education to a detrimental degree. We only learned what we did for our DADA NEWT because a fifth year agreed to teach us.”

“You all decided to start getting involved in education and couldn’t even be bothered to send us someone with a mastery, any mastery or field experience, even. You chose to send someone with an agenda. One that had nothing to do with actually teaching us how to defend ourselves, let alone identify dark or dangerous situations.” George agreed. 

“The absolute least the Ministry should have done,” Harry stated, trying not to grit his teeth as he stood up, “was send someone who could acknowledge that defense is not only necessary for a war. Hogwarts is not a military school, nor is it a military environment. Basic defense knowledge is needed for dueling, encountering witches or wizards with foul intentions, various creatures that might be found in environments we live or work in, and so many other things. You chose to send someone with an agenda and a twisted enjoyment of torturing children. I didn’t want to teach anyone, when my friends asked me to. I’m not qualified, and I don’t hold any certifications. But I do have real world experience defending myself with and without magic. I know the importance of being able to outrun someone bigger than me so they can’t beat the crap out of me. I know the importance of being able to hold my own when another witch or wizard means to harm or kill me with magic. DADA taught me how to identify an area that might contain dark creatures. It also taught me how to ward off boggarts and Dementors. All of which anyone could encounter while going through a normal day.”

“Rumors notwithstanding, what this governing body did to our school year is going to have a lasting impact on our entire community.” Fred added. “You chose to show that you don’t care whether your kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews know practical defense.”

“You all also accepted, without argument, that Harry Potter was going to unwillingly participate in a deadly tournament last year. There was no investigation about how he was able to be selected as a Champion, and there was no outcry about a 14 year old going up against such dangerous scenarios. You encouraged your kids to spread rumors and gossip about one of their peers. You willingly abused a minor just because he happened to be Harry Potter. If it had been Neville Longbottom, would you have stepped in? Maybe Draco Malfoy? Hannah Abbott?” George said irritatedly. 

“When he finished the tournament, and he was questioned instead of given medical treatment, for hours, you all decided that he was a liar and that obviously you had to choose to either believe Dumbledore when he spread Harry’s answers without his permission, let alone that of his guardians, or the Minister. You chose your sides at that time. And not one of you questioned the berating and slandering of a kid over the summer once it was all over. We’re here, not to support any of you. We’re here to support our friend and those that chose to additionally support him with us by making him their proxy until they were of age and could argue here for themselves.” Fred agreed.

“You had your chance.” Harry stated, drawing everyone’s attention, ensuring they were watching and actually listening. “We, the children of the last war, trusted you to take care of us, to give us a better world, a better magical society than you had for many years. You fucked it up. So we don’t support the Ministry, we don’t support Dumbledore, and we don’t support Tom Riddle, more commonly known as Voldemort. You all want to fight or argue or point and blame each other? Fine. We’re here because we have had enough of the shit you are pulling. You’re meant to be fucking leaders. You don’t have to like that we’re here. And we support that choice. Perhaps now that we are taking control for ourselves some of you will grow the hell up and lead magical society toward a future worth having. I don’t care if you're in the Order of the Phoenix or if you’re a Death Eater; if you’re an Auror or an administrator. That has no relevance on creating and passing laws to better life for everyone. You want to hate someone for being a muggleborn? Start a research initiative to find out how they have magic rather than claiming you’re better just because you can trace your magical heritage through centuries of other witches and wizards. You want everyone 17 and under to hate each other because of their assigned house in school? Fuck that. What happens when they graduate and realize that none of that matters when applying for a job? Each of you were in different houses, yet you are showing you are capable of sitting in a room and agreeing or disagreeing somewhat politely about laws and policies. As I told Director Bones when I was interviewed about Dolores Umbridge, your appointed defense teacher, attacking me at school; it’s our turn now. And you have no idea what we’re capable of.”

“Yes, well then.” Fudge cleared his throat when it was silent for a bit and Harry and the twins retook their seats. “Right. We’ve a few additional programs that need reviewed for further action.”

Harry didn’t say anything when they read out his proposal for a few different group homes to be set up. Not orphanages, because those weren’t what he was interested in building. He had houses that were set aside that would serve as homes, as long as there were people willing to live there and be parents for magical kids that had been displaced for as long as they needed. There was no current fostering program, and several people were truly shocked that no such thing existed and at least seven different people were already demanding to be on the committee to assist in further creating the homes and selecting qualified candidates to run them. Harry’s name was never mentioned in association with them, though. Yeah, he’d be figured out eventually, but not until they were far enough into the project and invested enough that it shouldn’t make a difference. He was and also wasn’t personally funding their establishment. The sum of the monies he’d been gifted from families after Voldemort was vanquished the first time were going to stand the homes up. He fully anticipated, as did the goblins, that the vaults he adjusted for the group homes would be taken over by some sort of family services department and the funding would be coming from the community and government, not just him. 

Bones already had a contingent of people selected to stand up a family services department for a trial period to be overseen by the adjudicator's office along with her’s. A joint effort by law enforcement and lawmakers. Harry was and wasn’t surprised that she’d started something like that. He suspected she would take everything Harry informed her of, even if he’d shouted most of it, and investigate as McGonagall was certain she would. She also proposed a committee that would be dedicated to researching and reviewing the records of those assigned to Azkaban during and after the last war ended. There weren’t as many people pleased with that, but there were several that were curious enough they wanted to see what could be found since they hadn’t known specifics of some cases. 

The next meeting was set for the middle of July where they would interview the current board of governors and see if they were willing to admit they needed any assistance or if they were purposely being useless. Granted, they hadn’t used those words, but Harry interpreted it that way. He wasn’t thrilled that he had to review more laws and proposals from various guilds, but he knew he was going to rely on his friends helping him make sense of it all and make more informed decisions. There were only meant to be two more meetings before school would start. During the school year the meetings would be on the weekends so they wouldn’t interfere with classes that heirs might be required to attend. 

“Lord Potter,” Bones called when the session was adjourned. Harry waited for her to approach him. He was a little surprised that she waited for Fred and George to get to his sides. “Thank you for waiting. I wonder if we might have a spot of tea in my office?”

“Sure.” Harry said carefully, following her when she nodded to him and led the way. When they entered her office, she initiated some sort of rune, and sat in her chair, letting out a heavy sigh before looking between the three of them. “What might we help you with?”

“You called an elf during the beginning of the session.” She stated. “I’ve my suspicions about what you needed him for, but I’m not going to ask, and you don’t have to tell. Here’s what I’m suggesting; should you encounter any of your friends that assigned you as their proxy, perhaps needing to find a safer environment until school resumes, I’d like you to consider inviting a few Aurors. I know you won’t want anyone around your parent’s ages, so the people I would offer up would all be on the younger side. They aren’t as experienced, but they are strong duelers and good at what they do.”

“If that scenario were accurate,” Harry tapped his fingers on the chair for a second, “right. If that were something to happen, I would need names in advance to ensure those that may or may not call on me for safety aren’t threatened by them. If you have Aurors willing to step in as more of an … hm. I suppose protection detail would be the most accurate way to describe it. If they want to serve a protection detail for me, I’d require some … certainties. Not really promises or oaths, but something that would ensure they couldn’t discuss the details with anyone else.”

“Anyone taking on private security appointments is required to sign our generic secrecy agreement.” She pulled out a parchment and passed it over to them. “Adjustments can be made, of course, but this is what we start with. I presented the validity of an actual curse on any teaching position to the board, but they refuse to spend funds to hire an investigator.”

“I’ll let the others know.” Harry agreed. 

“Between your seats, the Prewitt seats, and the Longbottom seats, you’ll be able to execute reelections of the governor positions.” She continued, actually passing them each a cup of tea as she poured one for herself. “My niece, who discussed with me at great length, her decision to assign you as her proxy, has already come up with a list of investigators that she checked with me on. By the time you meet with her, she should already have price quotes ready to discuss.”

“Not surprised.” Harry snorted. 

“To be clear, Potter, I don’t particularly like or dislike you. I’m reserving judgment to see what you do with the power that the others have all given you. There was a time when Albus Dumbledore was given the same thing. Along with Tom Riddle. The same goes for a majority of men that I have seen use or abuse the power given to them. You simultaneously are, and are not, the same as them. You are an orphan, same as Tom Riddle. Except you were raised with a family, as was Dumbledore. Except the family did not accept you, much as the other children in the orphanage felt about Riddle. You can speak with snakes, as Riddle can, indicating some shared ancestor or another. Before your parents were killed, your family lived in Godric’s Hollow. Where Dumbledore also grew up. Dumbledore never cared for following rules, while Riddle followed them to the letter. The most notable difference between you all is that you are a bit of a quidditch prodigy.”

“Hell yeah he is.” George pumped a fist in the air while Fred let out a whoop. Harry rolled his eyes at them. 

“Another difference is that when my peers reach their age of majority, they’ll be taking their seats back over.” Harry pointed out. “I don’t want them. I didn’t even want to do anything with mine, but they want me here since they can’t be. Once they are and we’ve developed a system or they’ve got things running how we set out to to begin with, then I’ll probably divvy up my seats among them so I don’t have to come unless it’s an actual emergency. I do find it a bit curious that you haven’t asked me anything about my relatives.”

“Not my business.” She shrugged, sipping her tea. “The law of the wills, as made by goblins, falls under them. They initiate and prosecute before passing off anything additional to us.”

“Which is why you haven’t said anything about why the Headmaster wasn’t present or demanding entry.” Fred nodded.

“The goblins have the first right to charge him for interfering, but I’m not expecting much to be left by the time he could be tried for anything on our side. I’ve got a few inspectors doing so anyway, just to determine if he interfered with goblin law more than we already know, and a goblin has been working with them to ensure the validity of all the information collected.” Bones stated unconcernedly. “Honestly, the fact Umbridge attacked you in the school, as horrible as it was, has given me the authority to act. Do I wish it were something less drastic? Without a doubt. Am I going to be watching you to see what you do and what you might become? Again, yes, but to a less stringent degree than your peers will. They are already holding you to a certain standard. They know and understand the power they have given you, and you know and understand they can take it away as soon as they see fit. They are trusting you to help them begin making the changes they have been promised since they were young children. I’m more curious about what Riddle will make of any possible resources he thought he was getting being stripped away.”

“You can’t track him or arrest him?” Harry frowned. “Or is it more you don’t know where he is and can’t act without proof?”

“The latter.” She said in annoyance. “Even if Heir Malfoy himself came in and told me everything that was happening in his home, I would not be able to act without confirmation. The most I could accomplish for the young heir is to send a team out to speak with his parents, see what is out in the open. And if there was nothing out of the ordinary and Lord and Lady Malfoy refused to allow us access to the rest of their home, that would be it.”

“Suppose Malfoy, er, Draco, weren’t living there anymore.” Harry said cautiously. “Suppose he chose to go elsewhere because he doesn’t want to be forced into servitude because his father said he would?”

“If he fled in fear of his life and safety,” she said, setting her cup down and clasping her hands together, “then I don’t need adult intervention. A child in a suspected dangerous home environment gives my probationary department the green light to inspect to the highest degree. In order for a child to be returned to their home, there would be several appointments and meetings with Aurors and adjudicators to prove that the child in question is still as healthy as they were when they were returned. This includes any branding or marking.”

“I suspect we’ll be in touch sooner than later, then.” Harry grinned. “I also hope you understand that I don’t trust you, as much as you don’t trust me. I’ve yet to see magical law enforcement do anything remotely constructive.”

“Accepted.” She agreed. “Now. Best be off so you can check in and see what all you may need me or my assorted teams for.”

“We hope to see you at our opening, Director.” Fred and George said, waving pleasantly as they headed out into the Ministry. 

Before they could reach the floo network, let alone another exit, they were swarmed by reporters. All three of them, not just Harry. Because the twins were opening a shop and even taking up lordships that had been unattended for several years. They stood stoically next to each other, not really posing, but also not not posing. Harry knew he’d end up in the news after his parents’ wills had been released, but he hadn’t been sought out in the week leading up to now. Which meant Ragnok had done a rather good job at keeping his location underwraps. If he wouldn’t be offended, Harry might even give him a gift of some kind. 

“Mr. Potter! Messrs Weasley! What can you tell us about today’s session?”

“Are you going to be hosting specials at your grand opening?”

“Are you ashamed of getting a respectable Ministry employee fired?”

“Are you barmy?”

Harry snorted when almost all the reporters turned on the man who’d asked the question about a Ministry employee. He gave them a few minutes to squabble before he whistled loudly, Fred and George joining in so it was more effective and much louder than they expected.

“Thank you.” Harry chuckled. “We are unfortunately not answering questions nor giving interviews at the moment.”

“When we’re ready to do so,” Fred continued.

“We’ll be sure to let you know.” George finished. 

“So you have nothing to say for the moment?” Someone shouted out.

“You want us to say something?” Harry asked, arching an eyebrow, giving them all his best disappointed look.

“Something you can blow out of proportion?” George asked, putting one hand in his pocket and one on Harry’s shoulder.

“Something you’ll embellish and apologize for later?” Fred asked, copying George’s stance, showing they fully supported Harry. 

“I’ll say this one thing, then we’re leaving, and you will let us.” Harry said sternly, glaring at a few who looked ready to argue but backed down quickly and maybe even cowered a little under his gaze. “You all chose your sides, once upon a time. You chose and never considered there may be any other way but some variation of subjugation. Shut up!” He snapped when someone opened their mouth to argue, ending in a terrified squeak instead. “You all chose not to make anything better for our generation. You chose your sides and now spend all your time gossiping about who can do what and who is right or wrong. You never considered that you might all be wrong, and that someone would come along and point that out. You had 15 years, at the very least, to get your shit together. To prove you actually cared about building a better world for the magical community of Britain. You failed. Hope you’re all ready for the change that’s about to barrel over you and leave you in the past, where nearly all of your ideals belong. Including your fucking ridiculous outfits. How the hell you manage to go through London without breaking your own statutes is a mystery, other than willful ignorance. The same thing all of you are guilty of within magical society. Now. If you’d kindly fuck off, we’ve got work to do.” Harry sniffed as he and the twins turned and went through the floo, leaving a silent Ministry atrium in their wake. 

Harry pursed his lips when they were finally in the flat and looked at the twins. George bit his cheek and Fred bit his lip. It took all of five seconds for them to devolve into fits of laughter. They were still laughing when Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, and even a confused Molly showed up with Ron and Ginny bringing up the rear. Arthur was laughing, but he pulled Fred and George under his arms, hugging them both before reaching around them to bring Harry in for a hug as well. 

“I’m proud and exasperated with all of you.” Arthur chuckled. “Well done.”

“I kinda want to ask, but I also kinda want you to tell all of us together.” Ron admitted, grinning with everyone that was still too highly amused for their own good. “Hermione’s meeting us there, but I don’t know if anyone else arrived yet.”

“That’s fine,” Harry said, wiping at his face since he’d laughed so hard he’d cried. “Alright, let me change and we can get on.”

“Where are you going?” Molly asked in confusion as she set containers of food in the twins’ fridge and looked ready to make something for everyone there.

“Old Potter home.” Harry shrugged. “I promise, we’ll have dinner some time this summer, but I really do need to go.”

“You can’t apparate yet.” She frowned. “How are you getting there? Wherever there is?”

“My manager set up a portkey for us.” Harry admitted. “So I’m gonna change so we can meet him. Ron’s along because it’s a sort of class project for all of us.”

“Yeah, they aren’t including anyone from the other years.” Ginny said, clearly annoyed with it. “Not yet, anyway.”

“We’ll get things worked out and then we’ll slowly start adding in other years.” Harry promised. “Back in a sec.” He threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, putting a hoodie in his bag along with the files he had from the session and found Ron waiting for him at the end of the hall, motioning for him to be quiet. Harry tilted his head but stepped quieter and looked to see what he was not wanting to interrupt.

“He’s too young!” Molly exclaimed quietly, but no less irritatedly. “He’s just a child, and you let him just- just- run out there and make himself a bigger target!”

“He’s legally an adult.” Fred argued. “He’s young, yeah, but he’s lived through more crap than any of us.”

“He’s fixing things. And we’re standing by him.” George agreed. “You don’t have to like that he’s 15, nearly 16, and he’s putting himself on display like he is. Harry deserves the courtesy of making the decision for himself, though.”

“You all already tried to force him to accept you making decisions for him after the tournament.” Fred added. “He was treated as if he were of age for that shit, and now he’s accepted it. You can be upset, mum. But you owe it to Harry, like the rest of us, to make decisions for himself.”

“Molly,” Arthur said gently, “he’ll be fine. Our boys will make sure he is. Harry is already their little brother, which makes him another son for us. You were this same level of anxious and frantic when Bill first left the house and then Charlie. I know it’s hard, but you must let him make his own choices, and he’ll come back to us every time. He’s our family, and we will make sure he knows that. We’ll support him. And look at it this way, yeah? With him being declared a legal adult, and living with the boys, we’ll be able to give him a proper, wonderful, birthday party. I bet he’s never had one.”

“I haven’t.” Harry said quietly, but they all heard him and he felt his face get hot. When Ron snorted, Harry gave his best friend a small shove. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I know it’s going to be hard seeing me doing this, Mrs. Weasley. And I really do appreciate the concern, you have no idea. Unfortunately I have this rather bad habit of, erm, lashing out when my voice isn’t taken into consideration. Especially for things that concern me. Not that it makes you feel better, but I’m on … decent terms with the Director of the DMLE. We’ve got some things we’re working on together. She’s too curious about what I’m up to to let anything affect me. So I hope that counts for something.”

“She said she wasn’t backing Harry, but she also looked pretty determined to see what he does next.” George nodded.

“He’s also got the goblins.” Bill added, Fleur nodding along. “He’s already given them a lot of things to work on, so they’ll stop anything happening to him. They’ve also already served some papers for a lawsuit against the Dursleys. Can’t tell you anything about it, since I’m not involved, not that I could anyway, but they are doing things to make sure he stays protected.”

“I’m not going to stop worrying.” She said, walking to Harry and putting her hands on his shoulders and then his cheeks. “I can’t. It’s what mothers do. So. Let me fret now and then, and you can tell me to back off any time. I can’t say I’ll take it well, Arthur can attest to it, but I will do my best to not smother you so much.”

“Alright.” Harry chuckled, leaning in and giving her a tight hug. 

“Be good now. Or I’ll have to send Bill after you both. Maybe even Ginny.” Molly nodded to herself when she let Harry back up. 

“See you guys!” Harry waved, slapped hands, or hugged everyone before he and Ron were finally out the door. 

It didn’t take long to pop into the bank and collect the portkey. They even had time to grab an ice cream before it was time for them to go. Not that they intended to tell Hermione about the stop, but they still made time for it. Ron wanted to make sure the two of them did stuff together, too, not always just the three of them. Harry suspected Hermione had a similar plan, if a bit different in approach. Harry wasn’t surprised when Ron stopped to gawk a bit once they landed outside the wards. He hadn’t been with Harry when he’d got to this property. 

“Master Harry Potter is home!” Dobby exclaimed happily. “Great! Now Dobby can leave, because Harry Potter’s friends are too much for Dobby.”

“Too much how?” Harry chuckled.

“Harmony be asking Dobby to grab something, so Dobby does so, because Harmony made Dobby such nice hats last year.”

“Hermione.” Ron corrected, trying not to laugh.

“Ah. Dobby forgot for a moment.” Dobby’s cheeks turned pink. “Only when Dobby got back, the others all wanted to pay Dobby to get things for them too. Harry Potter be needing an elf sooner than later, sir. If you don’t mind me saying so, sir.”

“I don’t mind.” Harry chuckled. “Hey, why don’t you head back to the school and see if Winky would be interested in getting sober enough she can help me out? I bet she’d like a host of kids to look after again.”

“Oh, she would. Harry Potter is quite smart. Dobby be back when Winky sobers up.” He nodded and disappeared. 

“Still an odd elf.” Ron snorted once he was gone. “Right. Show me around a bit. I didn’t get to see this one.”

“I would, but I think we should go see who’s all here and what they have for us for right now.” Harry shrugged. “I’ll show you around when they’re looking over the shit I got handed to me today.”

“S’pose it’ll have to work.” Ron sighed dramatically, following Harry through the foyer to the sitting room. The sitting room that was very full. Nearly every kid in their year was there. “Blimey.”

“Harry!” Hermione said happily, walking over and giving him a quick hug. “About time you showed up. I’ve only been here for a few hours, since around lunch, really. Everyone else sort of started showing up after that.”

“That’s fine.” Harry nodded. “Bit more of a turnout than I expected.”

“Who’s been here the longest? Aside from Hermione.” Ron asked when everyone noticed they were there and started quieting down.

“Me and Draco.” Nott said, raising his hand. “Vince and Greg got here about 20 minutes after us, though.”

“Dad asked us where they might have gone, so we made something up and came as soon as they left us alone.” Parkinson said, gesturing to herself and the other Slytherin girls. 

“My aunt messaged me as soon as session started to let me know you were there.” Bones said with a shrug. “We’ve got communicating notebooks, so I waited a little while before coming. Figured you’d want a bit of time to wind down after it all.”

“Me and Ernie were visiting Longbottom.” Finch-Fletchley said. “We came after Dowager Longbottom returned home and promised to let our parents know we were invited to another friends’ for a get-together with our other classmates.”

“Dad said session was entertaining and if we needed to meet with you or anyone else we should.” Padma Patil shrugged from beside her sister and Lavender Brown.

“Well, we’ve got a shit-ton to go over, and unfortunately, I do not have any elves. Not yet. I’m getting some help in that department, though. Does anyone want to pop out and get food or anything before we get started? Or do I need to cook something? I stocked the kitchen already, so I can make pretty much anything.” Harry offered.

“You can cook?” Malfoy scrunched his nose up in shock.

“I’ve been cooking for years, Malfoy.” Harry snickered. “Alright, let’s head to the kitchen. You can ask me questions, or I can just relay my perspective of events and you can ask after. While I get something going. What are we feeling? Pasta? Chicken?”

“Pasta will be fine, Harry. I’ll do the garlic bread?” Hermione offered.

“Yeah, sure.” Harry nodded and led everyone to his massive kitchen. He set out pots and pans and got the ingredients he needed out. Once the more noisy things were done, Harry just started talking. Explaining what happened from his point of view. Justin eventually joined in and helped make the salad at least, but the others were just watching in fascination. Ron and Bones helped with the plates and silverware when everything was ready and they headed for the dining room. It was actually a lot of fun. 

They talked for a long while, but eventually the other kids did have to go home. Not all of them, but most of them. Someone had explored enough before Harry got there that they’d gotten out his dad’s old camera and tripod. He set it up and put a timer on it as they all stood together in the sitting room. They took a few serious pictures, but they also devolved into more Gryffindor pictures, with everyone being ridiculous aside from the Slytherins. Until Ron caught Nott in the face with a pillow and he fell against Zabini. The camera was out of film by the time Harry got them to calm down. He was going to send it to Colin to see if he could magically develop them. 

Harry showed the others where the guest rooms were, along with the bathrooms, before showing Ron and Hermione where they could stay if they wanted to. Harry was planning to stay there, just in case Dobby brought Winky back. Ron had to go back because otherwise his mum would rampage across the English countryside to find them. Harry actually believed that, so he hugged them all and waved them off when they took the portkey beyond the wards at the end of the lawn. He did find it a little confusing that the other kids seemed to trust his ability to keep them safe so well. He was younger than all of them, with Neville only beating him by a day. 

He did find it interesting that he got a summons after the grand opening of the shop to go to the DMLE for an appointment. It had been less than a week since the Wizengamot session and he had taken in the others. He was surprised when he walked into Director Bones’ office and found Sirius there, though. And he wasn’t in cuffs or anything, which was good, he supposed. Lupin was standing with him, and they both looked incredibly worn down. Bones was finishing something on her desk before gesturing for Harry to sit across from her. Which he did. 

“They’re here for another issue.” Bones said, absently waving her hand toward Lupin and Sirius. “You are already aware that everything you know about their history is inadmissible due to familial ties as well as being underage at the time you learned it all. I did take what you gave me and investigated. His case file is under my personal review. As it stands, he’s not a wanted man currently, since there was no official trial.”

“So you’re going to hold one 15 years after the fact?” Harry asked curiously.

“Yes.” She nodded, setting aside her report. “The memories of the time are still valid, but we’ve been able to gain actual insight about how events played out with your parents’ wills revealing that Pettigrew was their secret keeper. Not why you’re here, however.”

“Alright.” Harry shrugged.

“We’re going to be attending a meeting with a few different people. You mentioned when we met at Hogwarts that you are unable to lie. Is this still correct?”

“Annoyingly, yes.” Harry grumbled. “You’re welcome to test it.”

“What color are your eyes?” She asked flatly.

“Gr- grreeeeen.” Harry said through gritted teeth, groaning in frustration as the truth came out.

“Accepted.” She smirked at him. “Now. I believe these two have something they wish to say to you before we move on to our appointment.”

“You could’ve written.” Harry said, getting up and crossing his arms. “Owls can still find me.”

“We know.” Sirius said carefully. “But we couldn’t write, not yet. The wills being published sort of … set us back a bit. But with me being able to actually get a trial, Amelia has agreed to set me up with some mind healers and other people to get me taken care of. I want to apologize, more than anything I want to apologize and have you accept it so we can spend time together again. But I can’t.”

“Sirius.” Lupin hissed.

“I can’t.” Sirius said more firmly. “Not yet. I am sorry that we made light of what we did. That we acted like it wasn’t a big deal, never considering that you were potentially treated similarly when you were younger.”

“Your own parents were fond of using magic against you as punishment.” Harry said flatly. “You admitted as such.”

“I did.” Sirius nodded. “But I wasn’t ready to see it. I wasn’t ready to see that I was acting just like them, even if I wasn’t the one holding the wand, I might as well have been. James was my brother, and I egged him on, pushing him to do worse and worse. And while things were seen differently back then, you were right to be pissed we brushed it off like it was nothing. So I’m not apologizing yet. Not when I would only be doing it to appease you. I need to actually mean it. Because you might accept me saying the words, but you won’t accept me again fully if I don’t prove that I accept what my actions caused and that I take responsibility for them. I have to prove to you that I can be different. That I’m not just some dumb bully of a kid anymore. So I’m gonna work on it. I would still like to write you occasionally, maybe see you for your birthday if you’re doing anything, while I’m getting healed.”

“I never said you couldn’t write, Sirius.” Harry said gently. “I only said you need to look at what happened back then, as an adult that was meant to be responsible for a kid the same age you all were in the memory I saw. I mean, if I truly had been raised by you, would you have accepted that I did something like that to one of my classmates? Completely unprovoked? Just went and used random spells, looking around to make sure I was getting attention for what I was doing? You’d feel like a shit guardian if I had. I’m betting dad’s parents weren’t happy with any of you when they were informed.”

“They weren’t.” Lupin actually winced a bit in remembrance. 

“They died around three years after that happened.” Sirius said. “But I’ll never forget the scolding and disappointment they used. Merlin, it was probably the worst torture I could imagine. I’d almost take the Dementors again over that.”

“So you understand why I can’t forgive you. And you’re willing to work on yourself and give us both time to get to a point where we can actually build a relationship again. I was barely a toddler when you went away. And you were apparently my favorite person in the world, if mum and dad are to be believed. I’m not that kid anymore. I haven’t been in a long time. Just like you haven’t been my Paddy in a long time. We’ve both gone through a lot of shit we shouldn’t have. Take the time you need. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

“Yeah?” Sirius asked, tears shining in his eyes as he looked at Harry hopefully. 

“Yeah.” Harry agreed. “Get better. So I can forgive you. So we can have a relationship of some kind again. Instead of me taking the first steps to you, you gotta take them to me this time.”

“We’ll work on it. I promise.” Sirius said, his lip trembling a bit. Harry huffed and went and gave him a hug, Lupin joining in. Once Sirius was no longer at risk of sobbing into the floor, he backed up and Bones stood up from her desk. 

“Stay in the apartment for now. We’ll pick this back up once I’ve dealt with our other issue.” Bones directed to Sirius and Lupin. They nodded and disappeared through a hidden door in the wall. “Want me to brief you a bit, or would you rather wait until we get there?”

“I’ll wait.” Harry snorted.

“Wonderful.” She waved him to follow her, leading him down a few corridors and into a meeting room where the parents or guardians of the Slytherins of his year were waiting on them. So he was right. They’d actually gone to the DMLE to have them try and track their kids down. “Gentlemen, lady, I’ve asked Mr. Potter to come along as my niece has informed me that they’ve all been keeping in touch this summer already.”

“Where’s my son?” Malfoy snarled, but his wife put a hand on his arm and, though her face didn’t change, her demeanor seemed to grow cold and angry. Directed at her husband, not Harry, which was curious. 

“When was the last time you saw or spoke with your children?” Bones asked, sitting down and pulling out parchment to make reports as necessary. Or to at least seem like that’s what she was doing. 

“Prior to Wizengamot.” Nott said tersely. “Which we’ve already explained.”

“Prior to the meeting where some of you were kicked out of your seats.” Bones retorted. “You were only in session for half an hour, at most.”

“My nephew wouldn’t change his proxy.” Crabbe snarled. “He earned that seat from my late brother and set me as his proxy when he was starting school.”

“Your children were all very close as they grew up.” Bones said. “Is there any chance they would talk amongst each other and make alternative plans? Perhaps something happened that they didn’t like so they chose another route?”

“They know their duties.” Nott said irritatedly. “What could possibly have affected them enough to have them changing their proxies aside from outside spell or potion influence?”

“Yes, yes, certainly.” Bones nodded seriously. “What had you done with your children prior to their disappearance?” Harry wasn’t surprised when they all took a moment before answering.

“We had dinner the night before the session.” Malfoy said diplomatically. “At the manor.”

“All of you?” Bones pushed.

“Yes.” Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott all agreed, but Parkinson hadn’t said anything since Bones had walked in with Harry. He’d been watching Harry the whole time. 

“And is there anyone that can corroborate?” Bones asked seemingly innocently.

“We were all together.” Malfoy sneered. “We are witnesses for each other.”

“In my experience, that means you would also lie for each other about anything that may have been alluded to or said that could possibly drive your children to running away.” Bones said in a bored tone. “None of you were aware prior to the beginning of the session that your children had identified proxies other than yourselves, correct? Lord Malfoy aside, obviously. As he holds his family seat until his son is of age. The rest of you were assigned as proxies due to being uncles or godfathers. Did your children discuss the last days of school with you? When Ms. Umbridge was arrested?”

“They mentioned that she had attacked Potter.” Lady Malfoy spoke up. “They were less than forthcoming about the details. We assumed it was due to it being a difficult event to witness.”

“Why is he here, anyway?” Nott asked irritatedly. “He’s no business with us, or our children.”

“He’s in their year.” Bones argued. “He’s also in the same house.”

“He’s not in Slytherin.” Malfoy frowned.

“I am.” Harry grinned. “Umbridge admitted to having gotten me expelled through the Ministry after my farce of a trial. Legitimately expelled. Meaning I had to be sorted again. On the last day of term I was sorted in front of the entire school. I’ll be in Slytherin when term resumes.”

“Bollocks!” Goyle snarled. “Our boys would have told us.”

“No they wouldn’t.” Harry snorted. “They watched a teacher that you supported and agreed with not just torture me throughout the year, but also blatantly attack me. And I won. They saw that I stood up for the other students and protected them.”

“Draco would have told me.” Lady Malfoy said firmly.

“You’ve no idea, do you?” Harry asked curiously. “You’ve no idea what truly goes on at school when we’re all there together. They tell you bits and pieces, nothing that would upset you, and you accept it. You were all Slytherins. You followed the rule of the houses religiously. Slytherins protect their own. Except you also had your own plans, as all Slytherins do. What makes you think your children have not been making plans without your input to avoid being forced into one side or another of the conflict we all know is being barely avoided?”

“You know nothing.” Malfoy hissed. 

“Perhaps asking a direct question would be better.” Lady Malfoy forced her husband to sit back and leaned forward to clasp her hands on the table and meet Harry’s line of sight. “My son told me you are unable to lie.”

“Did he?” Harry arched an eyebrow at her. 

“To your knowledge,” she asked somewhat hesitantly, “is my son safe?”

“Yes.” Harry pursed his lips as the answer escaped him without pause.

“Are Gregory, Vincent, and Theodore safe as well?” She pressed.

“They are.” Harry agreed.

“Did you coerce them into giving you their seats by proxy?” 

“I told them I didn’t want them.” Harry frowned. “I told our entire year, when they conspired to have me go in and run an inheritance test to determine if I was considered legal or not because of the tournament, that I didn’t want them. Every house, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor, conspired to give me their seats until they were of age, with the agreement we would meet occasionally this summer to make plans.”

“Plans for the school or the Ministry?” She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Bit of both.” Harry admitted. “The school stuff was my priority, along with Director Bones’ niece. The others wanted me to deal with more law proposals and other shit. So they’re reviewing things with me and giving me the rundown of what they want to happen and why so I don’t fuck it up when I’m asked to elaborate.”

“So that’s true as well.” She smirked at him. “You were never given any sort of private lessons as a child.”

“I lived in a boot cupboard until I got my Hogwarts letter.” Harry deadpanned. “I could give a house elf a run for their money, cleaning by manual labor, before I could speak diplomatically.”

“You what?” Goyle sat forward, looking slightly alarmed. “You lived in a cupboard?”

“Yes.” Harry pursed his lips. “I got a bedroom after my letter came. And I got a nice collection of padlocks on the outside of it along with bars on the window summer before second year. Whoever told you I was pampered or spoiled or trained, in any facet, was selling you what you wanted to hear. You had more than a decade to care. Being concerned now doesn’t mean shit.”

“Why did they leave?” Parkinson asked, leaning forward. “My goddaughter was missing for a good portion of the evening the day session got out, along with all the other girls from her year and house. She’s there now, but has been disappearing frequently.”

“Why would they leave?” Harry looked at Malfoy and dared him to answer with a glare. But Lady Malfoy must have put a hand on his leg to get him to keep his mouth shut or something, because his lips just twitched in annoyance. “Would you like me to explain?”

“They were perfectly safe with us.” Nott said in a low voice. “Theo was safe.”

“But not all of them were.” Harry argued. “Someone was going to be used to make an example. Because that was what happened with you all when you were kids, wasn’t it?”

“Not relevant to our children’s whereabouts.” Lady Malfoy said diplomatically. “They are minors. They are our responsibility. Do we not deserve to know that our children are alright, Lord Potter?”

“Do you not wonder, Lady Malfoy, why they would disappear when they knew all of you would be elsewhere?” Harry countered, looking between them. “I live with the Weasley twins, officially, but I do see the kids from school here and there. I can pass along a message of your concern when I see them next as we’re meant to have another meeting next week?”

“They are risking being disowned!” Lucius Malfoy exclaimed, apparently not realizing Harry had been baiting him like his wife had. 

“Are you not the one with that power?” Harry shouted back. “Are you not the lord of your house, Lucius Malfoy? You are the last of your line aside from your son. Your ONLY son. Disown him and I will give him the entire Black family legacy, ensuring who’s side he’s on.”

“Sirius is still alive.” Lady Malfoy said, blinking a bit. “He’s the last male heir, and it always falls to the last male heir.”

“Sirius is still currently, technically, a fugitive until his new trial can be held.” Harry said more calmly. “He named me his heir when he was named my godfather almost 16 years ago. As soon as he was imprisoned, his family legacy became mine. Even if Sirius is cleared, which he should be since he’s innocent, then he’ll still need extensive healing and to be declared mentally fit and competent. At that point it won’t really matter. He gave up the heirship when he ran away from home when he was 16. Orion and Walburga were rather devout in their darker practices and intended for their sons to take up their roles. The difference between that situation and this one is that Draco is an only child, while Regulus was still there for their parents to push into what they considered appropriate service to their ideals. Each scenario that has been brought up, your wife has had to live through once already, Lord Malfoy. Do you really think that she would let something like that happen again?”

“What?” Malfoy looked at his wife, rather stunned. 

“Her sister was disowned for choosing to marry a muggle-born over another pureblood. Which shouldn’t have been possible since she was of age already, but that’s a longer discussion and fight for another time. She had to watch as her cousin was disowned and the other was forced into being a Death Eater at 16 before he was missing long enough he was legally declared a casualty of war. Bellatrix is a lunatic, and not because of exposure to Dementors for so long, though that most likely didn’t help any. Andromeda was the run-away sister, Bellatrix was the insane sister, and Narcissa was the good one. She followed the rules, as Regulus did. I doubt that she’s gotten over his disappearance even after nearly 20 years. The men of the Black family may be the ones who inherit the titles, but the women are the ones that people should have been afraid of. Not because they were women, but because no one looked at them. No one saw what they did, because everyone was watching the heir or heir-apparent. I don’t have to threaten you, Lucius Malfoy. You married a Black.”

“Stop.” Lady Malfoy said sternly. “Stop this right now.”

“Narcissa?” Malfoy asked more concernedly, but she glared at him coldly and he jolted back in shock. 

“We never harmed our son. He had a good life with us. He had anything and everything he could ever need or want. The best clothes, tutors, quidditch supplies, everything. My son deserves the world, Harry Potter. We didn’t abuse him.”

“I know you didn’t.” Harry said more gently. “I … I would have given everything to have a fraction of what you gave your son when I was a child.”

“You’re still a child.” Bones cut in, scribbling on some other papers, not watching them.

“I have been expected to be a soldier since the day my parents were killed.” Harry corrected, rolling his eyes, snorting when a paper ball hit him in the head. Bones hadn’t looked up, but Harry knew it had been her. “Because apparently there is a prophecy about me and Tom.”

“There is.” Malfoy hissed quietly through his teeth.

“Cool.” Harry shrugged. “I’m not interested.”

“What?” Malfoy looked utterly confused, as did the others, for some reason.

“I’m. Not. Interested.” Harry said more slowly. “Prophecies have several different interpretations, but they either happen or they don’t. There is no pushing for one outcome over another. That doesn’t fit the parameters of that field of magic. It’s inexact. Maybe it says straight up that I’m the one who ends the war. Maybe it just says I have the power to do so. Dad said in his will that it could have been about me or Neville. We were both attacked, but Tom came after me and my family personally. So he chose me as the one it alluded to. There’s every chance that if he’d not done that, what has happened the past several years wouldn’t have happened. It’s all in the interpretation. So I don’t care what someone said or recorded what I may or may not do one day.”

“It said you would vanquish him.” Malfoy said quietly.

“Done.” Harry shrugged again. “Vanquish does not mean kill. After he attacked me, he became a wraith. Because I’m guessing he did some pretty dark shit to keep from dying. So he didn’t actually die. Which is why he was able to regain a body of some sort. Whatever the hell it is he’s parading around in. Honestly that graveyard ritual was a mess and I didn’t understand most of what happened. He’s technically in a body, sure. But I don’t know what it’s made of. Also not something I want to know, either. Just, ya know, for the record. But I also vanquished him again at the end of my first year, when he possessed Quirrell. And again second year, when you put that weird-ass book in Ginny Weasley’s cauldron at the bookshop before you and Mr. Weasley got in an honest-to-god fist fight. Like children. That book said it was a piece of Tom’s soul and it was stealing Ginny’s life force to come back to life.”

“Oh Merlin.” Bones said, looking appalled. Harry frowned as the others went extremely pale. Well. Paler than normal for the Malfoy’s who were already rather pale.

“What?” Harry scratched his head.

“No, you aren’t learning. I’ll look into it. Where is the book now?” Bones asked sternly.

“Dunno. Probably the Headmaster’s office. That’s the last place I saw it.” Harry admitted. 

“I’ll speak with Minerva and see if the gargoyles are being cooperative again or not.” She shook her head and scribbled more quickly.

“Ah. Gerald still not letting anyone in?” Harry tilted his head. “I can talk to them?”

“We’ll see if they’ll agree with her before bringing you in.” She shook her head. “Dammit. That complicates things.”

“Not necessarily.” Lady Malfoy said carefully. “If that was a piece, as we suspect, it means if there are more, if they are collected and destroyed, whatever you choose to do with them, should you find them first, then he is vulnerable.”

“Would you lot be able to interact with him and not give away that you know about whatever the hell it is you all know?” Harry asked. 

“If we can distract him with news of your sorting into his house, we can delay him, at most.” Crabbe said carefully.

“Not long.” Goyle scowled.

“I don’t need long.” Bones stated, shutting her notes. “I need at least a day, but whatever I find, the goblins will be called in. They have the best methods for dealing with such dark artifacts. We get the piece that was destroyed, they can trace it to any others that might exist. If we’re lucky, they’ll be able to send the spell through one to destroy them all at the same time. If we are unlucky, we will be going on a hunt for whatever he might have used.”

“You compared the two of us.” Harry added. “Said we were weirdly similar in some areas. Except he grew up in an orphanage, while I lived with shit relatives. Hogwarts has always been home to me, more than anything else. Odds he felt the same way?”

“You’re implying he used relics associated with the school, the Founders.” Bones appraised him. “It’s possible.”

“What else?” Lady Malfoy practically demanded. Harry arched an eyebrow at her, but she remained firm and unwavering.

“I suspect the Headmaster knew about it.” Harry said carefully. “Know your enemy, and all that. Tom’s been gone the past near 15 years. That’s a lot of time for someone that only really had strict responsibilities from September to June. He held a lot of high ranking positions for a bit. Giving him access to a ridiculous amount of resources. References. Lots of traveling would be needed over the few months he was not in school. He wasn’t checking on me, I can tell you that much. So what was he doing? Who was he talking to? Where were some places he might have visited?”

“He spent a good deal of time in Godric’s Hollow.” Bones frowned. “But he was from there, so we couldn’t connect him to anything.”

“I should really visit there again.” Harry said quietly. “They had a lovely monument built for us. For mum and dad, really. Granted I didn’t understand the symbol carved into their headstone.”

“We need to speak with our boys.” Malfoy said carefully, sitting up again and looking less ready to murder Harry. “We’ll understand if they want to meet in neutral territory, or if they’re even only willing to have a floo conversation. Whichever.”

“Why did they run to you?” Lady Malfoy asked.

“Because they chose to.” Harry shrugged. “They were the ones most pushed to pick a side. Tom’s or Dumbledore’s. And there wouldn’t really be any winning no matter what they chose. But after I was attacked, after I stood up and defended the other kids, they decided they were going to make a different choice. They want to be kids. They want to worry about what kids normally worry about. OWL results, NEWT classes, who’s snogging who, all that. They also know that I have more or less been raised as a child soldier. They wanted to be kept out of it, if I was willing. Thus our continued meetings and discussions that none of us have done in the five years we’ve been in school together. I keep them out of any conflict, as much as I can, and they … hm. They’re still working out our exchange since they’ve yet to figure out what they can actually offer me since I don’t want their seats for longer than I have to have them and I don’t need their money. I’ve got more than I know what to do with without just buying the entirety of magical Britain. Ron, Hermione, and Neville are working out what the exchange might actually be.”

“You must want something out of it.” Goyle said in confusion.

“I want them safe.” Harry shrugged. “I want society to stop blaming this or that for their problems and take accountability for their actions. I want my friends and chosen family to be happy. I want to pass school and graduate. I want things to be better. I don’t want the generations after us to look at us and wonder what the fuck we actually did with our time and power. I’m not asking for everyone to like each other, that’s stupid. Because, no offense, but I’ll never like you, Lord Malfoy. I’d sooner eat my own foot than consider you a friend. I guess I’d like to be able to trust the people around me one day. Haven’t been able to do that for a while. Fred and George Weasley excluded. Along with Arthur. Maybe Bill, but I don’t really know him all that well yet. Lupin and Sirius are still working to gain my trust back after something that happened a few months back. Dunno, though. I have what I need right now. I’ve got decent clothes, some good friends, more than one house to live in, all decked out, and no worry about if I’m going to get to eat or not. Maybe I’ll think of something I want. Eventually. But everything I want right now I can get just by working for it.”

“I believe that’s all for today.” Bones said, standing up, the others all copying her. Harry got to his feet as well, nearly tripping on the chair, but managing not to fall over. “None of you are putting your children in harmful situations. So long as that remains the case, my team will have no need to dig into your lives. Putting more at risk than any of us want for the time being. I’ll get to work on what we discussed, but I will keep you informed should we make any headway.”

“I’ll pass along that you want to talk to your kids.” Harry added. “I can’t force them to talk to you, but I’ll let them know you’re all more concerned about them being safe and sound over returning to you immediately.”

“Thank you, Lord Potter.” Lady Malfoy said, giving him a small curtsey. 

Harry nodded to them once more and followed Bones back to her office. Except she waved him off, indicating she didn’t need him for anything else. Harry decided he’d head back to the house to check in on everyone, to see how they were doing and if they needed anything. He didn’t expect they did, because Winky had definitely taken to ensuring they were all well looked after and provided for. When he walked through the floo, he froze and tilted his head. Malfoy was there, doing some odd sort of stretching. He looked a lot longer that way. Or, taller. Something. And then he stood on his hands, holding his entire body weight easily. 

“Hel-lo.” Harry croaked, slapping a hand over his mouth, hoping the git hadn’t heard him. The pretty git. The pretty, sweaty, apparently strong, git. All Harry could do was watch and marvel at the muscles that were shifting and flexing, holding Draco steady. He finally looked over and saw Harry and lowered himself back to the floor fluidly, standing up, looking nicely flushed. Harry swallowed thickly but couldn’t look away. Especially when his shirt got caught above his belly button.  

“So? What’s the news from the outside?” Malfoy asked somewhat breathily, startling Harry a bit out of his staring.

“I still wanna punch your dad in the face?” Harry said, but it came out like a question. 

“Yes, well, I’m sure many people do. But what does he have to do with anything? Did they finally go to the DMLE?” 

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “Where’re the others?”

“Said something about convincing Winky to make them a swimming pool.” Malfoy shrugged.

“They did what?” Harry turned and practically ran outside, ignoring Malfoy snickering behind him. 

“Harry!” The girls yelled, crashing into him as soon as he was outside. But where they were standing was beside the fucking swimming pool that now took up a good portion of the yard. 

“Oh shit!” Harry exclaimed as they all toppled sideways and into the water. It was a good thing they landed where he could touch and stand up. He scrambled out of the water, trying to stay present. He wasn’t back in the lake, he wasn’t. There were no grindylows, and no mermaids, none of it. He was almost 16, he wasn’t 14 and sinking in a deep lake. When he finally caught his breath and broke out of the flashback, he found the others all watching him worriedly. “I’m not great with water.”

“We’re sorry!” Davis said, looking apologetic.

“We didn’t think we were close enough to fall in.” Parkinson added, wringing her hands together.

“Just, er, may- maybe let’s not get me in that thing, yeah?” Harry said. 

“You’re not in the lake.” Malfoy said gently, kneeling beside him.

“I know.” Harry retorted shortly.

“Then unclench your hands, prat.” Malfoy huffed. Harry blinked at him before looking down and seeing that he did have his hands clenched up and they were dripping a bit of pink water. Which meant he’d dug his nails into his palm. Again. He grumbled and stood up, shaking them out to try and lose the tension he had now. 

“What’s the word?” Crabbe asked, floating around. At least he wasn’t focusing on Harry’s episode, so that was something.

“Your relatives went to the DMLE and Director Bones thought it would be best if I was with her to ask and answer their questions.” Harry shook his hands out again before pressing them to his damp shirt. He pulled it off and wrapped it around his palms a bit. “They were all wanting to report you missing. We chatted for a bit, and then Director Bones went off on some other mission after I said something, apparently concerning, about something that happened in second year. She said something about going on a hunt and involving the goblins. Anyway, they seem alright to leave you where you feel safer for the time being, but they do want to talk to you. They’re willing to talk in person or through the floo.”

“Floo.” Malfoy, Nott, and Goyle all stated.

“They didn’t specifically ask you where we are?” Davis asked curiously.

“Not after I let my mouth get away from me and explained to Lucius why he would be in deep shit if anything happened to his son.” Harry shrugged. 

“What do you mean?” Malfoy asked confusedly.

“I mean, your mum was a Black.” Harry gave him an unimpressed look. “If your dad threatened to disown you, as was done to her sister and even one of her cousins, he’d be missing a body part, at least. If he attempted to force you to serve Tom, like was done with Regulus, then he’d go missing entirely. The Black family line is down to Bellatrix, who is psychotic, Tonks, Sirius, and you. Sirius never planned to have kids, especially after he was made my godfather. Tonks may have kids eventually, but her mum was the one disowned, so they’re not in line for anything. Your dad, and anyone who threatens your mum or her son, really haven’t been paying attention to the Black family history if they think she’d let that go.”

“That’s … interesting.” Malfoy blinked. “Did he really say he would disown me?”

“Well. He said you all were at risk of being disowned.” Harry wobbled his head. “So not really the same thing. I sort of shouted at him that he was the lord of his house and he’s the one who had that power. I also might’ve threatened that I’d give you something else if he did that.”

“Oh yeah?” Malfoy smirked. “What could you possibly give me-”

“The Black family legacy.” Harry cut in, enjoying Malfoy’s mouth snapping closed and his eyes going wide. “Do any of you really think that if you’re disowned, I can’t give you another family legacy to uphold or represent or whatever? I have so much shit to my name it’s stupid. I only named that one because I knew it would get your dad to shut up and actually listen. The Black’s were insanely wealthy, well above the Malfoy name, even. Not at Potter level, but pretty high still. If you never wanted for anything as a Malfoy, you’d never have to worry about anything with the Black vaults and shit. You could spend every year going from holiday trip to holiday trip, never working, and you still wouldn’t make much of a dent in their funds.”

“That’s not all.” Nott said, floating next to Goyle. “What’d you give them?”

“They were all annoyed I was there, so Bones told them I was there as your year- and housemate.” Harry shrugged.

“I forgot we hadn’t told them you were re-sorted.” Parkinson frowned before shrugging unconcernedly. “Think that’ll be enough?”

“I mean,” Harry wobbled his head again, “I also sort of told them about you all choosing to give me your proxies since I was in a position to push your concerns. They wanted to know what I wanted out of our arrangement.”

“Which you still haven’t told us.” Nott pointed out.

“Still don’t know what I want.” Harry snorted. “I’ll figure something out. You might get lucky and I just ask for a pack of chocolate frogs or something. Don’t really want anything at the moment, though. I’ve got all I need, more than. Never had time to stop and think about what I want.”

“So what did you tell them?” Davis asked curiously.

“That I wanted you all safe.” Harry said carefully. He unwrapped his shirt from his hands to wring it out. “I want you all to have the chance to be normal teenagers. I’ll be the soldier, because it’s all I’ve really known. But this isn’t going to be something solved and fought by teenagers. The most you should be worrying about is NEWTs or snogging or some shit. I’m gonna go shower and probably head out. Just wanted to stop in and let you all know you’re still safe. But don’t be surprised if your parents,” Harry pointed to the girls that were just visiting, “start dropping hints about making sure the boys are actually ok and not being held here against their will.”

“If they think you’re capable of that, they’re daft.” Bulstrode snorted, shoving Nott so he went under the water and came up sputtering. 

Harry kicked his shoes off by the door so they could dry in the sun and went inside to his room, putting on a record before he showered. He listened to the lyrics and couldn’t help humming along. And then he got another idea. Something that might get his message across to everyone that the kids were taking over. Something he knew Fred and George could make sure happened. He finished showering and packed his record player in his bag, along with the record he was listening to, and practically ran through the floo to the twins’ place. It was evening already, so they were just getting dinner prepared when he nearly tripped over the sofa. 

“I’ve got an idea that I need your help with.” Harry said, hurriedly getting his record player out. “I’m gonna get at least one person from each house, but I want to put on a sort of concert in Diagon. I figure we can do a few songs, but I really just wanna do one. This one.” 

“Wicked.” George grinned.

“We can get something set up, easy.” Fred nodded. 

“Cool. I’ll see who I can get, but I figure we can put something on at the end of the month. Around my birthday, most likely. Because I know we’ll do something small with your family, but I think we can host something bigger in the alley and just sort of declare our stance or whatever.”

“It’ll be epic.” They agreed excitedly. 

He messaged Hermione about it, and she was definitely on board. She also suggested Terry Boot and Hannah Abbott for the other houses since Harry was in Slytherin, so he’d be the one in green. That gave them one from each house like he wanted. Then he messaged Colin and asked if he’d be free to meet in the next week or two. Harry wanted to see if he could develop the film from the first all-houses meeting he’d had for his year at his property. As well as contract him for pictures of the event he was setting up. He wrote out a long letter to Susan Bones to see if she could get it set up so they could accept donations to put towards school equipment, which he knew she would jump on. 

Harry wasn’t really thinking about his meeting with Bones, about what they potentially discovered but wouldn’t tell him about. Not until he felt a searing pain in his head when he was at his seaside home that he was setting up for Sirius once he was cleared. Harry screamed as he held onto his head. It felt like fire was burning through his nerves somehow. Winky was frantic, but Harry couldn’t even see straight to reassure her. He got flashes of visions, too. A lot like he did with the one of Mort torturing Sirius in the prophecy room. He saw a cluttered room, junk piled high and taking up a ridiculous amount of space. He saw a vault, coins and armor and other valuables stacked nicely. He saw the cabinet at Grimmauld, the one that he’d seen that weird locket in that gave him seriously creepy vibes. He saw Nagini writhing in pain while Mort knelt next to her, holding his own head, just like Harry was. They were screaming as much as he was. He eventually collapsed, the pain still echoing in his entire body, but worse in his head, trying to catch his breath again. 

“Ragnok.” Harry croaked, and wasn’t surprised when Winky took his hand and apparated them to Gringotts. They were in the alley behind the bank, a sort of secret entrance, but Winky had to run in without him to find the goblin because Harry couldn’t get off the ground. 

“What the hell happened?” Ragnok demanded while another contingent of goblins put Harry on a stretcher gently.

“Master just started screaming!” Winky exclaimed through a sob. “Master grabbed his head and started screaming like he was being hurt!”

Harry didn’t know what Ragnok responded with, but it was most definitely some sort of swearing, before they were hurrying Harry through corridors and into a room of some kind, where they moved him to a bed from the stretcher. 

“I can’t imagine the pain you just went through, Mr. Potter, but this part is probably going to be just as painful, maybe worse.” Ragnok stated in a growling tone. “Scream if you must, but it will pass.”

And Harry did scream. It felt like they were carving something out of him. Starting at his head and reaching into his soul. When he felt the uncomfortable feeling of something being extracted, his entire body sagged against the bed. The pain was gone, but it felt like something had been removed. The only analogy he could think of was when he saw those medical shows that showed a tumor of some kind being removed. Or a parasite. Something awful, anyway. He was put to sleep after that. Several different potions were pushed to him, which the goblins had to hold to ensure he was able to drink them, since he couldn’t lift his arms or his head. The last thing he knew before he was fully asleep was Ragnok shouting at someone rather irritatedly. But he couldn’t stay awake to figure out what happened. 

When he woke up, they said he’d been asleep for a week. He had two days before the next Wizengamot session, and everyone was anxious about how he was. Ragnok only told him that last part because the twins had been through a lot, constantly asking what was happening so they could tell the others. Instead of answering what happened, they escorted Harry to Bones’ office. It was weird, because they did actually escort him. Like, he had a contingent of guards and everything. Harry’s head was still a bit sore, but they had a bandage on it that they wouldn’t let him remove yet. Bones met them in the corridor and walked with them to a secure meeting room, locking down wards once they were all inside. There was a pair of Aurors and another pair of blokes that were just wearing discreet dark clothes, nothing that identified who or what they were.

“You did not warn us that one was in Mr. Potter.” Ragnok said irritatedly.

“What?” Bones asked, looking at Harry finally. “Living being’s cannot be used. It’s never been done that way.”

“We’re lucky the destruction and removal did not leave him an Obscurus.” Ragnok growled. 

“And your demands?” She asked tersely.

“He knew. He knew what Mr. Potter contained, and he did nothing about it for nearly 15 years.” Ragnok was still growling. “If he is found, he is to be turned over to us immediately. There will be no mercy given.”

“As there shouldn’t be.” She said just as angrily as Ragnok. Her anger about whatever was going on, must have appeased the goblin to a degree, because his shoulders relaxed a bit more. “I will send out a notice that he is wanted for crimes against your people. Ensuring everyone knows that he is to be taken to you, or that they are to report any potential sighting to you. I CANNOT believe he would let something like that stand and not seek healing.”

“Is anyone actually going to tell me what happened?” Harry asked curiously, holding onto the back of a chair. He was still feeling a bit off-balance. Not terribly off, just a tad off. 

“Sit.” Bones directed, taking a chair at the end of the table while Ragnok sat as well. Harry sat slowly, looking between them worriedly. “There are some types of magic that you should never learn, because of how dark it is. If you were to go into a defense field, or even become an Unspeakable,” she gestured to the blokes in dark clothing, “you would cover the creation and destruction methods. What we will discuss will not leave this room, is that clear?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “Erm, do you need me to swear to it in some way?”

“No, we cannot risk that when your magical core has gone through such a trauma so recently. You cannot lie, which is unfortunate, but you also know how to talk around facts. You won’t be lying if someone asks and you tell them you were attacked by extremely dark magic. That is more of a simplification, but still accurate. Right. The diary you spoke of destroying was what is called a horcrux. It is made when a person finds a way to split their soul and place the split piece into an object.”

“The Slytherin ring you wear was one as well, but we cleansed it.” Ragnok indicated the ring on Harry’s pinky with the larger stone. 

“The chalice of Hufflepuff was another, as was the diadem of Ravenclaw. The locket of Slytherin was another, which didn’t surprise us. He was the heir of Slytherin, so we were not shocked to learn he used two relics from that house. The others seemed to be yourself and Nagini.”

“Which was why I could see what they were doing.” Harry said understandingly. “I could see it, because we shared a common soul, in a sense.”

“Quite.” Bones agreed tightly. “We anticipated the snake being one, but we did not anticipate you, yourself. We were not concerned that the animal would perish, not when the soul piece would have corrupted it so much. The scar you carry … we believed it was simply the mark left by the attempt on your life as a child, not that it contained an actual shard of Tom Riddle’s soul.”

“And since I didn’t do any sort of full medical scans with anyone, you weren’t tracking it.” Harry looked between them. “All we did were magical scans for my overall magic and blood to make sure the blocks we discovered were taken care of. We didn’t look further.”

“We had no reason to look further.” Ragnok gritted his teeth. “Or so we believed. In order to make up for our oversight, we must enact vengeance. We took you into our care, and we failed you.”

“So what does this mean for Tom Riddle, then?” Harry asked, scratching along the side of the bandage until Ragnok swatted his hand away from it.

“It means that he’s officially declared dead.” Bones stated. “Narcissa Malfoy put in an urgent fire call that her home was being attacked, and while I can’t confirm that was the case or not, she was rather shaken when we arrived to find Voldemort in the midst of what I can only guess was a psychotic break, having all his soul pieces destroyed so violently at the same time.”

“I saw them all.” Harry said quietly, looking down at the table. “I saw the crown in some sort of storage room, the cup in a vault, the locket at the Black London Townhouse, Nagini and Tom. It sort of felt like I was dying with them.”

“Part of you was.” Bones said gently. “The part that was connected to them died with them.”

“We removed the piece once it was dead.” Ragnok said gruffly. “We have it contained and are willing to provide it to your Department of Mysteries for research. If the price is right.”

“He can’t come back again, right? With the piece, I mean?” Harry asked worriedly.

“No, he cannot. The piece is … think of it as a stillborn. There is no soul in it. But the essence of what remains can still be studied so that we can potentially find a method to prevent such magicks from entering or being created in Britain.” Bones said certainly.

“His followers are still around.” Harry pointed out.

“They are.” Bones agreed. “But we will worry about them and round them up as best we can. In time. As they make moves or try to interfere or get involved with such dark practices again or target any of you. Not something for you to worry about unless you’re wanting to take the Auror exam and join our forces so young?”

“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” Harry said carefully. “Maybe in a few years, once I get through school. See if it’s still what I want to pursue.”

“You have time.” She nodded, giving him a small smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you were used in something so foul. You have the rest of your summer holiday, though. Enjoy it. Let your magic rest and heal. Work with your peers, as you have been doing. I’m still watching to see what you become, Harry Potter. Maybe one day you can take my position so I can retire.”

“I feel like McGonagall will be telling me something similar.” Harry chuckled. “I’ll keep it in mind. But I probably should go and see everyone, maybe get them all to the house again so they can see that I’m alright. Without giving away what happened. Er, how long am I meant to keep the bandage on?”

“Another week.” Ragnok said sternly. “It will remain in place and fall off when it senses you are healed enough for it to be safely removed.”

“Good to know.” Harry sighed. “Right. If that’s all you need from me, I’d really like to go and try to let the noise of my friends being idiots soothe my nerves.”

“You’ll have a guard as far as the outskirts of the house. There will also be patrols around it, my people, who you will most likely recognize.” Ragnok stated. “We’ll work with Director Bones to have some of her people rotate through, as they are already doing a protection detail anyway. We’ll just add them in with ours.”

“Just maybe warn them about Tonks.” Harry pointed out as he stood up slowly. “She likes to shift shapes and tell terrible jokes when she’s bored.”

“Noted.” Ragnok chuckled. 

Harry tipped them both a small bow and left, the goblin guards marching along around him. They ended up apparating him to the outskirts of the property. Harry went inside while the goblins took turns with introductions to the Aurors that were standing guard. Once he was on his property again, he felt his body relax a bit. He hadn’t realized he was so tense until everything was unclenching. He smiled as soon as he was inside and could hear the chatter and laughter of a decent amount of people in the sitting room. Winky saw him first and burst into tears as she ran and hugged his legs. The loud crying got everyone’s attention and then all his classmates were there. All taking turns patting his shoulder, shaking his hand, or hugging him around Winky. 

“She’s been going spare since the goblins wouldn’t tell her anything.” Ron snorted. 

“Not surprised.” Harry chuckled. “Winky, I promise I’m alright now. I am sorry that I worried you so much. Would you mind fixing me up a pan of your peanut butter brownies? I think those would make me right as rain.”

“Winky be so happy to, Master.” She sniffled through her hiccups. “Winky promises she’ll get her emotions under control, but Winky hated seeing Master in such pain. Jus- just li- li- like my Barty.”

“Yeah, Barty got a shit deal.” Harry sighed. “But I’m better now, and you’re still stuck with me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Winky go get started on brownies for Master. Master will sit and talk with his friends while Winky works and fusses.” She nodded against his legs again before backing up and wiping her face on her uniform as she walked to the kitchen. 

“Colin dropped the first batch of pictures off.” Hermione said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to sit on a sofa. “I think they turned out amazingly.”

“They’re pretty great.” Parkinson agreed. “Mostly because you managed to get Draco’s face before being slammed with a pillow and when he fell over the sofa.”

“Harlot.” Malfoy grumbled, sitting on Harry’s other side. Which was new. He normally sat across from Harry, with the kids that had been in Slytherin with him the whole time they’d known each other. “Anyway, they are rather good. We should have a camera around school this year and even next summer so we have a lot to choose from when it comes to publishing our class pictures for graduation next year.”

“Can you tell us what happened?” Neville asked quietly. “At least part of it?”

“Bones said I could tell you that I was attacked with really dark magic. Like, darker than anything we could ever hope to defend against if we hadn’t been through the Auror academy or were working as an Unspeakable.” Harry admitted. “Hurt like a bitch, I’m telling you. Not sure, er, if there’s any extra scarring or anything, not with the bandage. But I was told it has to stay on for another week. It’ll apparently fall off when it senses I’m healed enough. Not allowed to do any magic the rest of the summer, which isn’t any different than my normal summers, so that’s fine with me.”

“We talked to our families.” Nott stated, flopping down on a sofa with his head on Zabini’s leg. Zabini must have been used to it though, because he didn’t react at all. Goyle just lifted his legs and sat down, putting them in his lap. “They said we’re fine to stay where we are for the summer and that maybe next summer if things aren’t so dangerous we could come home again.”

“But some of us don’t want to give up the pool.” Crabbe added, holding a finger up and smiling when the other Slytherins murmured agreement or nodded.

“I don’t mind you all staying here, you already know that.” Harry shrugged, flipping through the pictures that Hermione and Malfoy were showing him. They really were all great. “And you now know that tossing Harry in is a bad idea.”

“You can’t swim.” Hermione frowned at him.

“Yeah, it was sort of an accident.” Harry shrugged again. “We landed where I could stand up, so it wasn’t so bad of a flashback.”

“How’d you do the second task if you can’t swim?” Davis asked, frowning like Hermione.

“Didn’t need to know how to swim with the gillyweed.” Harry pointed out. “It gave me flippers for feet, so all I really needed to do was kick myself around. It’s also why, as soon as it started wearing off I basically sank and Ron had to help me.”

“We could probably teach you.” Zabini offered.

“Yeah, no.” Harry shook his head. “I can’t do that just yet. Maybe once I’ve had a bit more time to process the first and only time I’ve swam was for a deadly task, I’ll consider it. It’s been a year and a half, and it still makes me anxious just thinking about it. We can talk about it again next summer, but not before then.”

“Now I know you’re probably not wanting to do this just yet, but we wanted to go over these few things before the session.” Bones said, sliding a folder over the coffee table toward him. 

They actually worked through some of the issues, but like before, they devolved into gossiping and just hanging out. Dean and Seamus set up the record player in the corner and turned on different music while Ron ended up in chess talks with a few different people. Harry didn’t anticipate doing much of anything when session actually came about. He’d already gotten a few things rolling and knew that some of the issues they had with new proposals were shared with others since Neville’s gran had owl’d him a few times. 

The biggest concern was the board of governors for Hogwarts. While it was separate from Wizengamot, it was also not being handled correctly. Harry agreed with Susan about calling in some ICW representatives to either help them sort out what they actually needed to be doing, or helping them set up new elections for the positions. There were 12 governors, and none of them had actually done much aside from Lucius Malfoy. And he’d done things in a very underhanded way. Replacing the Head was a good idea, but not the way he’d done it. And now they actually needed a new Head. Because Dumbledore was being hunted by the goblins. Which sort of made the room go quiet. 

“He’s what?” Dean asked. “Sorry, just, maybe say that again?”

“Er, alright.” Harry looked around a bit, everyone was looking at him and he felt his face get a bit warm. “Dumbledore isn’t the Headmaster anymore. Or, at least, if he’s still slotted that way, and he shows his face, the goblins are going to come for him. He got a bit too involved in some things that he shouldn’t have, and he allowed other things to happen that he should have prevented.”

“Like what though?” Seamus asked.

“Well. Right. So, the school’s meant to have strong wards, right?” They all nodded. “Right, except Quirrell was possessed by Mort our first year. The whole year, not just at the end. How was he able to bypass the wards that should have alerted the Headmaster to a possession? Second year, there was the Chamber of Secrets, but there were also kids being petrified. Why weren’t antidotes sent off for? Why were kids left to be petrified all year, missing most of their coursework? Third year, what the hell was he thinking by allowing so many dementors in a place filled with the children of the war? Like, did he just think that we’d not have any bad thoughts or memories that would make it difficult for us to function? I don’t think me or Nev got much sleep the entire year. Fourth year sort of stands for itself. Moody was there, but it wasn’t actually Moody. It was another man polyjuiced to be Moody. Someone was able to enter me into a tournament meant for those of age already. Fifth year, how was Umbridge able to get her quills in without him knowing?”

“Unless he was aware of it all and let it happen.” Hermione said quietly.

“He would have known.” Harry agreed. “The Head is locked into the wards. It’s always been that way. So he knew those things were happening, and he let them happen rather than do anything about them aside from pushing me to deal with them. We went through that stupid set of challenges to get the stone first year, where I faced off with Quirrell and he died while being possessed. Second year I had to kill a book that contained a piece of a soul and a 60 foot, thousand year old Basilisk while dealing with a complete idiot of a DADA teacher. I asked Lupin to teach me the Patronus when we were third years because I literally could not function around the Dementors. All I heard was screaming, and saw flashes of green light. Fourth year, again, obvious, but still completely stupid. I mean, what did any of you actually see when we were doing the tasks? You saw the first one, sure. But none of you actually saw anything of the second or third tasks. So you didn’t see that Krum was Imperiused, nor that the maze pretty much attacked everyone but me. I got obstacles, sure, but the maze wasn’t actively trying to stop me like it was them. I was meant to get to the cup, but I was meant to get to it alone. Anyway, that summer, after having yet another person die in front of me, he decided to step in and tell my friends to pretty much ignore me. Told everyone to ignore me. I didn’t get therapy or help or anything for what I went through. He let the Ministry direct and plant a teacher that had zero certifications, rather than reaching out to the ICW Education team. He knew me and Mort were connected somehow, so he left Umbridge there to torment me to see how much I could handle before I snapped. Except she snapped first. None of the other teachers could really step in or do much, not when the Headmaster, who has complete oversight, did nothing. He allowed that shit to happen.”

“And you’re a favorite patron for the goblins.” Ron nodded. “Meaning they’d defend you over any other wizard.”

“Something like that.” Harry agreed. “I don’t know what I did, but I did some things for them, apparently, and they are acting like I’m one of them now. It’s why there’s now goblins added to our guard here as well as Aurors.”

“You said there was a soul piece.” Nott said quietly, looking in Harry’s eyes. “You said you were connected. You said you were attacked by dark magic.”

“I did.” Harry said hesitantly. 

“But you were told you can’t tell anyone what it actually was. Except they couldn’t make you swear an oath while your magic is healing.” Nott continued.

“Theo.” Malfoy said in a low voice.

“He already knows what it was.” Nott argued. “They would have told him, explained it.”

“If the others know, they can help us help Potter.” Zabini said calmly. “If they know what he’s recovering from.”

“It’s not our place.” Malfoy said sternly.

“How dark are we talking?” Hermione asked hesitantly.

“Worse than blood magic.” Malfoy admitted. “Soul magic. Something foul enough it’s outlawed around the world.”

“But knowing will help us with keeping Harry safe? Keeping him healthy, yeah?” Ron asked.

“I believe so.” Nott said carefully, finally looking away from Harry to look at Malfoy. “You do too. We can set an oath on the room, or a secrecy charm. Have Granger do another roster with all our signatures that we never speak of it outside of each other. Something that won’t allow us to speak about this specific incident when we can be overheard, whether we see anyone around or not.”

“I could do that.” Hermione agreed.

“Potter’s not signing.” Malfoy said firmly. 

“No, he’s not.” Nott agreed. “He’ll most likely take oaths about it once he’s healed, since he cannot lie.”

“I can’t lie outright.” Harry argued. “But I can talk around things and misdirect.”

“He does that a lot.” Neville nodded. “Well, Hermione, get the paper out so we can sign and get the details.” Hermione got a parchment and sat muttering spells over it for almost five full minutes before signing her own name and passing it around for everyone else to do the same. 

“Brownies be ready, Master!” Winky said cheerfully, bringing in a large platter covered in brownies. “Only time Winky be allowing Master to have dessert before dinner.”

“Thanks, Winky.” Harry chuckled, reaching for one and eating half of it in one bite while some of the others grabbed a brownie or two as well. 

“Right.” Hermione said, once she’d eaten part of a brownie, “so what’s this thing called you’re being so secretive about?”

“It’s called a horcrux.” Nott said simply. “There’s a long and demented ritual that someone has to perform once they commit an act that splits their soul, allowing them to place the broken off piece into an object of some kind.”

“Why would anyone split their soul?” Ron asked, looking vaguely ill.

“Because they think it will allow them to live forever.” Malfoy stated, wiping his hands on a napkin. 

“How does that actually happen, though? The splitting part?” Lavender asked, looking as ill as Ron.

“Murder.” Harry answered at the same time as the other Slytherins.

“It’s often an act so heinous that the soul is no longer pure and whole.” Goyle elaborated. “In most religious practices, murder is seen as the ultimate sin. So that means that Tom Riddle murdered someone and split his soul up, putting pieces in random things.”

“Not random.” Harry argued, trying to finish chewing his second brownie. “Most had to do with Hogwarts and the Founders.”

“The diary wasn’t from a Founder.” Hermione scowled and wiped something off the side of Harry’s face. “It had his name inscribed on it. I got a similar one from mum and dad for Christmas years ago. You can get them anywhere in London.”

“That’s the part that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, aside from knowing that he was a half-blood.” Harry agreed. “Look, I’m just guessing that he knew the ritual, so when he accidentally killed Myrtle, he used that to make his first piece.”

“Wait, he really did kill Myrtle?” Ron asked in surprise.

“Didn’t I tell you?” Harry frowned.

“No!” Ron exclaimed. “I would’ve remembered you telling me I was right about that sort of thing, mate.”

“You’ve done it before.” Harry shrugged. “You said we had to wrestle a troll first year, we did. You said whoever opened the Chamber the first time probably killed Myrtle, they did. You said Lockhart probably stole all his stories from other witches and wizards, he did.”

“Ok, wait, when you put it all like that, I kinda get it.” Ron said, flushing to match his hair almost.

“You always predict stuff scarily accurately.” Hermione said, her head tilted curiously. “And while I may not put much stock in Divination, you have been right enough it tracks.”

“You don’t put any stock in Divination.” Harry argued, snorting when she shoved a brownie in his mouth. 

“Anyway, you were saying about these horcruxes?” Hermione looked around Harry to the other Slytherins who were watching them in amusement.

“That was pretty much it. He was only still able to live so long as he had soul pieces that existed.” Malfoy snickered and shoved a napkin in Harry’s hands so he could wipe his face again. “Well, that and Potter was one.”

“He what?!” Several people exclaimed. 

“I told Bones about the diary.” Harry swallowed his last bite of brownie and took a drink of the water Hermione handed him. “I told her about it, she went off on a hunt to find them or whatever, with some goblins, to destroy them. They only needed one piece and could trace it back to the others and destroy them at the same time, apparently. I was in Swansea, getting the house set up with Winky for when Sirius can be cleared and get set up with healers. Can’t really describe the pain, but Winky got me to Gringotts and the goblins extracted the remnants of the piece in me and kept me asleep for a week to make sure I could heal without interruption. At least enough that I could be out and about again with this fancy bandage. I’ve no idea what it looks like or feels like. It’s kind of numb, actually.”

“And that’s why he’s wanted by the goblins.” Davis said in understanding. “He committed an atrocity by allowing the piece to remain in you, knowing it was there, instead of taking you for intense healing as a toddler through the goblins or Mungos. So if Riddle had still been alive, he’d be just as hunted as Dumbledore. Because they both used you, as a child, for ritual soul magic that’s beyond illegal.”

“Pretty much.” Harry agreed. “They both essentially were trying to kill me, and both were dumbasses because they only ever tried with magic.”

“Let’s not put that out in the universe, Harry.” Hermione groaned.

“No one in the magical community is going to try to murder me with their hands, Hermione.” Harry gave her an unimpressed look. 

“Though it could be simple to do if they were targeting literally anyone else.” Parkinson said curiously. “I wonder if there are secret wizard or witch assassins?”

“There totally are.” Harry snorted. “I’d bet money Narcissa Malfoy was one, once upon a time. Might still be, actually. Your dad was actually looking worried when she just glared at him in our meeting a while back.”

“I could see that.” Malfoy scrunched up his face. “You said it yourself, Black women are terrifying.”

“I said they were deserving of fear and respect, not that they were terrifying.” Harry argued, failing to hide a grin. “It’d be pretty cool if your mum and her disowned sister were contracted to find the Headmaster. He’d be lucky to make it back to the goblins with his mind intact.”

“Something I would never ask about. Ever.” Malfoy nodded certainly. “Blaise’s mum could probably help them out, actually.”

“Something I never ask about.” Zabini agreed with a nod. “And yet she still manages to snag another unsuspecting bloke.”

“Definitely women to aspire to.” Greengrass said. She’d been fairly quiet each time they got together. Only really talking with the other girls. 

“Anyway, let’s go see what Winky whipped up for dinner before she comes in and starts yelling at you all to let me eat because she still thinks I’m too skinny.”

“You are too skinny.” Hermione huffed as she stood up. “But you’re better than you normally are during the summers.”

Dinner was fun, just like it had been the last few times. Harry was starting to get used to having so many people around for a meal at least once a week. As soon as dinner was done, Harry pretty much crashed out, not even able to stay up long enough to see everyone off. He slept hard, for nearly a full day, waking up long enough the next day to shower, have a bite to eat, and talk a bit. Mostly he just listened. He didn’t have a lot to say and he wasn’t really used to having people to talk to during the summers. Instead of going to bed in the house, he went through the floo to the twins’ flat. Finding them passed out on their chair and sofa. He woke them up, unsurprised that they fussed over him as much as they could in their exhausted state. It wasn’t a surprise that they all actually just ended up mashed together in the beds in the twins’ room pushed together with Harry in the middle. 

Harry got some odd looks for his bandage and the lone goblin guard that refused to wait outside for him during his second session. They’d even staked out along Diagon when he’d told them he was going to be with Fred and George before Wizengamot. When they were done, Harry wanted to finally go get his haircut like he’d planned before everything sort of happened. The goblins couldn’t really go into the city proper without drawing too much attention. He managed to get them to agree to allow an Auror team and his Slytherin yearmates to join him. 

Most of them hadn’t really been out in the muggle world and Harry was too curious about how they would react to not do it. They all dressed pretty posh, so people would probably wonder why such fashionable kids were hanging out with Harry, who was looking more like a street kid than anything else. He blended in almost everywhere other than the high end stores the others wanted to stop in and shop at. Seeing Draco Malfoy, the prince of Slytherin trying on plain shorts and sneakers and a band t-shirt made Harry’s mouth go a bit dry. He looked fantastic in everything, apparently. Because of course he did. While Harry was getting his haircut, they all went to the shop next door where the girls got another set of ear piercings, Bulstrode and Greengrass got their noses pierced as well, and Zabini got his eyebrow pierced. Harry was pleased, then annoyed he was pleased, when Malfoy swallowed while looking at the new style of his hair. 

Sirius and Remus started writing more. Harry wasn’t able to be part of their trial, having too close of a familial tie, but the twins were keeping him informed. He waited until they’d written him twice before responding, though. When Sirius was cleared, Harry got a howler from both him and Remus that was basically just a bunch of excited yelling. Harry sent them one back that was a bit of laughter and a lot of congratulations. He also sent them the location and keys to the house he’d been working on for them. 

He laughed for more than 20 minutes at the Howler Remus sent back that had Sirius sobbing in the background while Remus stuttered through a thanks sounding teary while also giggling at Sirius’ dramatics. 

Molly ended up getting Harry’s address so that she could do his party there, mostly because none of the others were willing to just let him wander around when not all the Death Eaters were dealt with. And they would be able to put together that he was somehow involved in what happened. So Molly and the whole Weasley family came over on Harry’s birthday and he was basically sent out to the back garden to relax until it was time for the party to properly kick off. Which actually turned out alright, because Hermione brought her football and they ended up having a fun match with all the muggle-born and raised against the all-magical family kids. Hermione, Harry, Dean, and Justin actually killed it, surprising a lot of the others. Especially when they saw how competitive Hermione really was. 

The twins set off fireworks to get them to stop and clean up. Harry was a little annoyed they wanted him to dress nicer. He wasn’t a huge fan of dressing up. But he did have those suits that he and the twins had gotten, so he might as well wear one. At least partially. He put a vest on instead of the jacket so he wouldn’t get too hot. So he had dark trousers, a dark vest, a green shirt, and a dark tie. He still wore a pair of sneakers, though. He wanted his feet to be comfortable after running around all afternoon. He smiled when everyone cheered ‘happy birthday’ as soon as they saw him on the stairs. 

He was a bit confused by the stack of presents, which had a few people frustrated, exasperated, sad, or endeared. Sirius and Remus were there and had somehow found old baby pictures of Harry and had a few of them blown up to show off how much he’d grown. Harry just kept staring at them, though. Because he hadn’t always had a scar. He touched the place on his baby picture where it would eventually be, and that had Sirius nearly in tears again. Harry couldn’t help reaching up and touching where the bandage had been since it had fallen off while he was getting ready. 

The cake was amazing, but Harry had expected it would be. And then Sirius, Remus, Arthur, and Molly were passing him a small package before he got to the other presents. 

“It’s tradition, when a wizard comes of age to receive a gold watch.” Molly explained when Harry opened it. “We know you aren’t technically of age until next year, but since magic granted you your adulthood sooner, we wanted to commemorate it the right way. We sort of all banded together to pick this out for you. As representatives of your parents.”

“This is great.” Harry smiled, looking at the inscription on the back. It read ‘I solemnly swear I am up to no good’. There were small etchings of each Marauder’s print there, along with a big ‘W’. “Thank you.” Harry got up and hugged each of them. Sirius tried to help him to put it on, but he was sniffling too much. Remus tried to help, but he was as teary eyed as Sirius. Arthur finally took pity on them and helped Harry, rolling his eyes as the three others dabbed their eyes and tried to collect themselves again. 

Harry made sure to thank everyone that got him something as he opened each present. There were a lot of pictures taken, too, because Hermione had brought along a batch of disposable cameras for everyone to use. They were such a novelty that everyone was snapping pictures of everything. She’d already worked out a deal to have Colin develop what they wanted done the magical way, but there were some that were marked as designated to be developed the muggle way. Harry couldn’t wait to see how all of them turned out. 

“Happy birthday.” Malfoy whispered, passing him a small gift at the end of the night, once everyone else had gone home aside from those who were living in Harry’s house. 

“You already gave me a gift.” Harry blinked at him in confusion.

“I did, but I also saw this and thought of you on our trip into muggle London that first time.” Malfoy admitted, shrugging. “Didn’t really know how you’d react, so I wanted to give it to you in private.”

“Alright?” Harry said questioningly before opening the small box. He smiled when he saw a keychain with a picture attached. It was a picture that they’d gotten in one of the photobooths. Just Harry and Draco Malfoy. 

“You’ve done a lot for me, for all of us this year.” Malfoy said quietly. “But … I dunno. Things feel different now. Like … like maybe I can actually have what I want. Like maybe all of us can.”

“We can.” Harry agreed, swallowing thickly as he looked into Malfoy’s silver eyes. “We should be able to have what we want.”

“Maybe we will.” Malfoy smiled bashfully at him. “Night, Harry.”

“Night, Draco.” Harry called, still smiling like an idiot. 

Harry slept pretty well that night. Completely exhausted by the entire day. And it was nice. Really. There was a chance that Malfoy was as interested in him as he was in Malfoy. Not that Harry was going to make a move or anything. Not while they were living in the same house. He didn’t want anything to happen yet. Because he wanted to make sure it was real. That it wasn’t because he felt obligated or anything. Not that he thought that, not really, but he wanted to be sure. 

So he went to Wizengamot, he attended elections, and he worked with his classmates to try and get things moving to a better society. For everyone. Sirius was getting actual help, he was healing. Harry finally agreed to talk to a mind healer as well, when Sirius and Remus both bugged him enough that eventually everyone else started joining in. He felt like he was dealing just fine, but he didn’t need anyone worrying about him. It was weird. He had no idea how to feel about it other than to just go through with it. 

“All set for tomorrow, Harrykins.” Fred said, leaning by the wall next to Harry while George leaned on his other side. “Planning to start off around one, let a few other acts go through before doing yours.”

“Managed to turn it into the first ever ‘Diagon Alley Variety Show’.” George said proudly. “All the shops are gonna be open and patrons will get discounts for telling their favorite act for the day.”

“It’s gonna be a madhouse.” Hermione said, shoving Fred back a bit to lean next to Harry while Ron did the same to George on his other side. 

“Especially since the lists came out already.” Ron agreed. “Gonna be a packed crowd to introduce the new kids.”

“It’s gonna be awesome.” Harry grinned. “We’ve done a lot of big shit this summer. So this is really our chance to just let loose and show everyone how we feel.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with.” Ginny said, leaning on George’s other side, while Bill stopped next to Fred. Even Charlie was there, which was cool. 

“Oh my gosh, all my babies together!” Molly squealed. “Arthur! Get that camera over here!”

“Should have known this would happen.” Harry chuckled. 

“You’re not leaving, Ms. Granger.” Fred said firmly. “You’re as much family as anyone else.”

“If I am, you are.” Harry agreed, putting an arm around her and Ron. “Fleur!” Harry called, getting her attention. She blushed but still joined them, sinking into Bill’s side as he pressed a kiss to her head. 

“Everyone ready?” Arthur asked, setting the camera up and backing up as much as he could to fit them all. 

“No, no, no.” Colin Creevey cut in, jumping in front of the shot. “Absolutely not. You wanted a family picture, you get in too. I’ll take it.”

“Hey Colin.” Harry waved with his hand on Hermione’s shoulder.

“Heya, Harry! Wanted to stop by and check out where to set up tomorrow.” Colin waved back. “Who’s missing?”

“We’re coming!” Sirius called, nearly barreling into Charlie as he skidded to a stop. “Sorry. Got caught up.”

“He was gossiping.” Remus snorted, putting an arm around him. 

“Alright, everyone ready?” Colin asked, Dennis joining him and helping him adjust the camera a bit while their parents watched on curiously. “‘Family’ on three. One, two, three!”

“Family!” Everyone shouted happily. They did end up taking a picture with just the kids after that, though. Once they had a big family portrait taken. 

“Cool. I’ll get them developed and send ‘em over.” Colin nodded. 

“And you’ll tell us your price this time.” Molly said sternly. 

“Yeah, I’ll tell you this time.” Colin chuckled. “Gotta run. See you guys tomorrow!”

“See ya!” Everyone waved the Creevey's off, who were smiling and waving as well. 

Harry barely slept that night. That might have been more because he stayed with the twins and Ron and Hermione stayed with them as well. They were all just really excited for the next day, for spreading a message they believed in, really. And music worked really well to accomplish that. And it helped introduce more muggle things into the wizarding world while also preserving how special magic was. It was going to be an epic performance for not just house unity at school, but for unity in the magical world in general. 

Lee Jordan, because of course it was going to be Lee, was their MC for the day. His job was to introduce each act and even run a short interview with them. It seemed to really brighten up the alley, too, as families filtered through to get their school supplies. There were subtle signs of security everywhere, though. Goblins stationed in various places, along with Aurors and who Harry assumed were Unspeakables. Not to mention the entire soon-to-be-sixth-year class that was ready to not just enjoy the day, but defend Harry if needed. 

“And now, ladies and gentlemen,” Lee said dramatically, “witches, wizards, boys, girls, creatures of all kinds. It’s time for the part of the show that I’ve been dying to see the most. Representing the class of 1998, we have the inimitable Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff,” Hannah went out and waved happily, “the dashing Terry Boot of Ravenclaw,” Terry walked out and held both hands up as there were more cheers, “the unstoppable Hermione Granger of Gryffindor,” Hermione went out and waved, laughing as the entire Weasley family could be heard shouting for her, “and finally, our own boy wonder, Harry Potter of Slytherin.” Harry went out and waved as everyone cheered uproariously. Hannah was wearing a yellow cropped shirt and jean shorts, Terry was wearing a blue button down with tan shorts, Hermione was wearing a maroon cropped off the shoulder shirt with torn jeans, while Harry was wearing a green sleeveless shirt and torn jeans. Lee hurried off the stage they were on and the cheering started to die down. 

The music started and those on stage clapped their hands to the beat, getting the crowd going. 

“I won’t let you down,” Hannah sang first. 

“I will not give you up,” Terry followed. 

“Gotta have some faith in the sound,” Hermione sang.

“It’s the one good thing that I’ve got.” Harry sang. Sirius shrieked and whistled loudly, Remus shouting with him as they recognized the song. 

“Heaven knows I was just a young boy, didn’t know what I wanted to be.” Harry sang first, reversing their order a bit. 

“I was every little hungry school girl’s pride and joy, and I guess it was enough for me.” Hermione smirked at him as more people whistled. 

“To win the race a prettier face, brand new clothes and a big fat place on your rock and roll tv.” Terry sang proudly. 

“But today the way I play the game is not the same, no way, I think I’m gonna get me some happy.” Hannah sang happily.

“I think there’s something you should know,” (Terry)

“I think it’s time I told you so,” (Hermione)

“There’s something deep inside of me,” (Hannah)

“There’s someone I forgot to be,” (Harry)

“Take back your picture in a frame,” (Hermione)

“Take back your singin’ in the rain,” (Terry)

“I just hope you understand,” (Hannah)

“Sometimes the clothes do not make the man,” (Harry)

“All we have to do now, is take these lies and make them true, somehow. All we have to see; is that I don’t belong to you, and you don’t belong to me.” Harry smiled as everyone stood up and clapped and sang along with them when they all sang together. Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, even Ginny, Charlie and Fred and George were dancing in the back before everyone passing by stopped to listen or join in. 

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“I won’t let you down,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“I will not give you up,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“Gotta have some faith in the sound,” (Harry)

“You gotta give what you take,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“It’s the one good thing that I’ve got,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“I will not let you down,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“So please don’t give me up,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“Cause I would really,” (Harry)

“Freedom,” (Hermione, Hannah, & Terry)

“Really love to stick around,” (Harry)

Harry somehow found himself looking at Draco for a majority of the song. Draco, who was smiling and cheering as loud as anyone else, but only looking at Harry. They were all moving around the stage, jumping around and holding their arms up, getting the crowd excited, but that didn’t mean that Draco looked at anyone other than Harry. They stood together in the center of the stage when they were winding down, having chosen to end the song a bit earlier than the vocals normally went. Only by a couple verses, though. They wanted to give the other acts time to perform and have time for the crowd to disperse a bit more so they weren’t blocking the entire alley.

“All we have to do now, is take these lies, and make them true somehow; all we have to see, is that I don’t belong to you and you don’t belong to me.” They were all breathing heavily as they put their mics down. Harry put his arm around Hermione, and Terry did the same on her other side, pulling Hanah in as well. They stayed together for a while, letting the crowd cheer and scream for them as the music ended. 

“Let’s get the whole class up on stage to get a picture of these phenomenal witches and wizards!” Lee said, waving their classmates from the front row up on stage. There were several camera flashes as they all stood together, waving and smiling at the crowd together. “I hope next year, when we’re back, we get to see more classes banding together and an encore performance from the class of 1998.” Lee was nearly shouting to be heard. 

They handed off their microphones when they got off stage and the four who sang posed for a few pictures again. They all had expected that they’d make some sort of headline and were honestly curious about what it would say. Hannah answered most of the questions they were asked, but Harry, Hermione, and Terry pitched in a few times as well. It was still mostly Hannah, though. They figured she would be best, other than Terry, because she was the most diplomatic and just generally happy. 

“That was amazing.” Draco whispered against his ear when they finally went back out to the crowd.

“Thanks.” Harry said, feeling breathless for a completely different reason than singing on a stage in front of so many people. 

“Can I buy you an ice cream?” Draco asked, leaning back enough to look in his eyes. 

“I like ice cream.” Harry answered, smiling a bit like an idiot, really. Which was fine, because he felt a bit like an idiot. Who says ‘I like ice cream’ when they’re asked out?

“Good to know.” Draco chuckled. He took Harry’s hand in his, linking their fingers and led him through to the side of the crowd where there was a path for people to pass by. 

“Brilliant job, pup!” Sirius shouted, crashing into Harry and picking him up, spinning him around, pulling him away from Draco. “Oh, Merlin, but that was fantastic!”

“Glad you liked it.” Harry chuckled, glad to finally be back on the ground. “But, er, I’m off for ice cream, actually. We can- we can talk later?”

“Oh! Sure, sure, no problem. I was just too excited to not congratulate you right away. Living a real rockstar dream!” Sirius hugged him once more and kissed his head before taking off, shouting after someone else that his godson was one of the performers, Remus following after in exasperation. 

“Sorry.” Harry chuckled, taking Draco’s hand again.

“He’s excited for you.” Draco shrugged unconcernedly. “Nothing wrong with parents being excited about things their kids do well.”

“I agree.” Harry and Draco whipped around to find Narcissa and Lucius watching them. Narcissa looked close to tears, but she wasn’t going to cry. She was too prim and proper to do that in public. “You’ve been doing a wonderful thing with your classmates, darling. I’m very proud of you.”

“You are?” Draco asked, sounding a little unsure. 

“Yes, dear.” Narcissa chuckled lightly. “It was rather invigorating. The music. And it sends a good strong message.”

“It was all Harry’s idea.” Draco said, tugging on their hands to pull Harry closer. “He came up with the whole thing and got the others involved.”

“It was a joint effort to execute, though.” Harry pointed out. “Nice to see you again, Lady Malfoy.”

“You as well, Lord Potter.” She smiled and gave him a bob of her head. “Before you head back to school I was wondering if we might have dinner sometime?”

“I … can see what we can work out.” Harry said hesitantly. “I’m not exactly allowed in a lot of open places just yet. Not while Dumbledore is still somewhere.”

“Perfectly understandable.” She nodded. “Perhaps you would want to send someone to retrieve us so we may attend at your house? I’m sure you have guards and wards in place for protection, as there are along the alley today.”

“I do.” Harry said hesitantly. “I’ll, er, have to clear it with a few people. Can I get back to you in a day or two? I don’t want them bursting in during the meal at some point and yelling at me for not telling them I was inviting two new people around.”

“That will be wonderful. I look forward to seeing you again soon. Both of you. You look … you both look happier than I’ve seen either of you in some time.” She smiled at them. Harry nudged Draco who let go of his hand and stepped forward, hugging his mum. She held him close and kissed his head, a lot like what Sirius did to him. 

“I’ll call through the floo.” Draco said, backing up a bit and clearing his throat after kissing her cheek. “But I promised Harry ice cream.”

“Have fun, darling.” She put a hand to her mouth as they turned to continue to the ice cream shop.

“You could have talked longer.” Harry offered, squeezing Draco’s hand.

“And I will.” Draco smiled. “At dinner in a few days when you have it cleared through the goblins and the Aurors. Maybe you can show me how to make that cake you made? So we can make it for them?”

“Sure.” Harry agreed, smiling brightly. “Kinda want to see you covered in flour from trying to cook.”

“If you throw flour at me, I’ll throw some back. And then Winky will yell at both of us.” Draco laughed. 

“After taking pictures.” Harry agreed. “I swear, I’ve never been in so many pictures in my life, it’s crazy.”

“Sort of your fault.” Draco laughed, leading Harry inside the shop. “You showed us all the fun muggle things, the disposable cameras and everything, so you really only did this to yourself.”

“Maybe.” Harry snorted. “Alright, Draco Malfoy, what ice cream am I getting?”

“Everything.” Draco said, laughing again. “You have tried literally every flavor. So we are going to split one of the massive ice creams that has one of everything.”

“How do you know that?” Harry felt his face heat up.

“Because I know you as well as you know me.” Draco arched an eyebrow at him. “Do you think that you were the only one watching? Did you think I singled you out constantly for no reason?”

“I- I mean,” Harry swallowed a little thickly as Draco stepped closer to him. He jumped a bit when he hit the wall. “No?”

“I’ve always wanted your attention, Harry Potter. Not because of who anyone else said you were, not because you were famous. I wanted your attention because you were my first real chance at making friends that weren’t chosen by my parents.” Draco said carefully, reaching up and tucking a stray curly strand of hair out of Harry’s face. “And then you had to show up and be infuriatingly adorable. You didn’t care what anyone thought, and you really did manage to fool all of us into thinking you were an idiot. Except I saw the essays you did but never turned in. I saw when you would correct someone’s homework when they weren’t looking, like Hermione’s. You’re clever and kind and brave, and maybe a bit of an idiot for not noticing that I’ve been trying to get your attention for nearly five years.”

“When you put it like that,” Harry pouted when Draco smiled and ducked his head. 

“You’re brilliant, Harry. And I don’t think that just because you let me and my friends live in your house all summer. Yeah, you might have saved my life, but I think we all saved your’s, too. I think when we banded together, when we stood with you, that we gave you a reason to keep going. To actually want to live. You’re giving us that chance. And I would really like to be part of helping you be happy in return.” Draco said sincerely. Harry didn’t really think about where they were, just put his arms around Draco’s waist and pulled him in, humming when Draco kissed him. They didn’t get too carried away, not really, but they were both smiling pretty widely when they finally stopped to breathe. 

The ice cream was as awesome as Harry knew it would be. He was more than happy to eat the flavors Draco didn’t particularly like, and he was happy to eat the ones that Harry wasn’t all that fond of. It wasn’t all that surprising that they found their classmates all hanging out in the alley, some passing out flyers for clubs they wanted to get going, some handing out notices of books that they found came in handy even if they weren’t on the lists, and even the quidditch teams hanging out around the quidditch shop. There was loud cheering that drew their attention. They turned around and saw Hermione was holding Ron by his shirt and kissing him rather firmly in the middle of the alley. Harry laughed but whistled as loud as he could for them. Hermione looked really pleased with herself and only slightly embarrassed when they broke apart. But Ron was as red as his hair. He was smiling like a loon, though. 

“You call that a kiss?” Draco called, his hands cupped over his mouth to make sure they heard him. 

“I do.” Ron said a little breathlessly. 

“Show ‘em how it’s done, ickle Malfoy!” George shouted from the step of their shop, drawing cheers of agreement. 

“Don’t mind if I do.” Draco shrugged. And then Harry, because he wasn’t entirely paying attention, yelped as Draco pulled him to his chest and dipped him, kissing him with all he had. Harry couldn’t do more than hold on as Draco’s tongue chased away any coherent thought. It was actually probably a good thing he wasn’t standing. His knees would have given out. He stumbled a bit when Draco stood him back up anyway and had to keep holding onto him for balance. 

“About time.” Someone muttered, but Harry was still blinking at Draco a bit dumbfoundedly. 

“Erm.” Harry said intelligently. 

“He reacted just like you did, Sirius.” Remus said, finally drawing Harry’s attention away from Draco. He was definitely blushing as he tried to glare at the two men. Except Sirius was looking at Remus so offended, it made Harry chuckle. 

“He did not.” Sirius said indignantly. “I managed to say ‘thank you’, at least.”

“I am NOT thanking him for that.” Harry argued, still chuckling as Draco wrapped himself around Harry’s back a bit possessively. “He and Hermione had been attempting to one-up each other since we were 11. Ron and I just got caught in the crossfire this time.”

“And probably will again.” Ron agreed, kissing Hermione’s temple as he put an arm around her. “Which we will complain about. To each other.”

“Even if we enjoy it.” Harry agreed, slapping Ron’s hand since they were standing closer now. “We’re ok being the trophies.”

“What he said.” Ron nodded. 

“I dunno.” Draco said, smirking at Hermione, who narrowed her eyes. “Harry already makes an excellent house husband. Think you can get your Weasley trained up?”

“As if Harry won’t teach him everything he needs to know.” Hermione rolled her eyes. “We are all stuck with each other, and will be competing in everything from government positions to spoiling each other’s kids one day. Hope you’re prepared for the long haul, Draco.”

“Looking forward to it.” Draco snickered, high-fiving Hermione.

“Not gonna interrupt their planning of your future’s boys?” Arthur asked, looking highly amused while Molly was dabbing her eyes for some reason.

“No point.” Ron and Harry replied together, both shrugging. 

“I will work for a bit when we get out of school.” Ron added. “Probably just until Hermione’s decided she wants a family.”

“Don’t look at me.” Harry shrugged. “I’ve no idea what I want to be. Might just play quidditch as long as I can, might work on mastery programs, hard telling. We’re only just 16. We’ve got time.”

“He’s just ready for school to be here so he doesn’t have to go to hearings or anything anymore.” Draco added, chuckling when Harry pinched his hand. “We’ll see who ends up the power couple of the school by the time we graduate.”

“Do we all get to try for that?” Neville asked, his arm around Hannah Abbott who was looking at them expectantly. 

“Obviously we’re all in on it.” Susan commented, her hand tucked into Mandy Brocklehurst’s pocket. 

“Gonna be an interesting last few years for you all.” Remus laughed happily. 

“Who got it for you all?” Terry asked curiously. 

“We did.” Arthur said proudly, hugging Molly to his side. 

“James and Lily.” Sirius and Remus sighed heavily.

“I could have sworn it’d be us.” Sirius pouted at Remus.

“Except no one but the Gryffindors knew about us.” Remus pointed out. “Neither did most of these kids, either.”

“I suppose I was rather tactile with everyone.” Sirius shrugged. “No one could ever figure out who I was actually with.”

“Good thing you aren’t that way.” Draco muttered against Harry’s head. 

“You’re a jealous git.” Harry snorted. “If I was that way with anyone other than Ron and Hermione, you’d have hexed them to hell and back. Even before this.”

“So?” Draco argued unrepentantly.

“Should be interesting to see how you do in quidditch when you aren’t focused on what I’m doing.” Harry smirked, looking over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes when Draco bit his cheek. 

“If you weren’t so distracting, I’d have been fine.” Draco sniffed. “Now you get to help me wind up a team as good as the one you had with the chaos twins.”

“That’s doubtful.” Fred and George said, appearing at their shoulders.

“Need to borrow these two for a bit, everyone. You can gossip more on the train.” Fred said, patting Draco’s shoulder and he and George steered them inside the shop and to a back room. Harry was pretty sure it was just supposed to be Draco they needed to talk to, but he had a pretty good grip on Harry, refusing to let him go.

“So, ickle Malfoy.” George drawled, smirking at him. “What are your intentions with Harrykins?”

“Shouldn’t your parents or his godfather be asking me that?” Draco argued.

“Nope.” Fred and George answered undeterred. 

“You’re not going to stop them?” Draco asked, his lips against Harry’s ear.

“No.” Harry snorted. “You’ll have to convince them and Ron and Hermione whatever your intentions are. They’ve all looked out for me the longest, so it’s their call.”

“We’ve had one date.” Draco pointed out. “And it wasn’t even an hour ago.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been after Harry since you first started school.” Fred countered. 

“Always following him around, harassing him.” George added. “What tells us that you aren’t going to harass him like that anymore?”

“What tells us that you won’t be like everyone else, including Ron and Hermione, and drop Harry when something else happens?” Fred added. Harry actually kind of wanted to know that too. 

“Fine.” Draco said, reaching up to Harry’s hands and slipping a ring, of all things, on his finger. Harry frowned and looked at it. “This is my proclamation, my promise, that I won’t drop you the moment things get difficult. Because they will. I’m vain and selfish and needy. I’m also exceptionally bad at expressing my emotions accurately or appropriately. I may get angry and I may give you the silent treatment for a day or two while I get my shit together, but so long as you are willing to deal with all of that, to work through it with me, keep this on. The minute you decide you’re done, take it off and that’ll be that. And I’ll know, at that point, that I ruined the best thing that happened to me.” 

“Seems, er, seems a bit early for rings.” Harry said, his face burning as he twiddled it around. 

“It’s a courting gift.” Fred said approvingly. “Given with the intent to follow through with the Traditional courting rituals, usually lasting a full year, before there are any talks of marriage contracts.”

“Silver ring given in front of witnesses signifies the importance of the promise. It’s usually given in front of the person or person’s that mean the most to the one being courted.” George agreed. 

“He’s giving you the ring in front of us, knowing full well that we can and will hold him to his promise.” Fred added.

“Even if he was originally planning to give it to you in front of a much larger crowd, he didn’t hesitate.” George continued. “He could have continued to argue or question us or even talk around what answers to give us, but he didn’t. Interesting.”

“Very.” Fred agreed. 

“You just happened to have this on you?” Harry asked, looking over his shoulder at Draco.

“Been carrying it with me for three months.” Draco grumbled. “Just never had the guts to actually give it to you. I … didn’t think you’d agree to it. Not- not until your birthday.”

“When you gave me this.” Harry pulled out the keychain that had a single key on it.

“What’s that key for?” Draco asked curiously, and Harry felt the flush spread from his face down his neck as the twins looked at him with arched eyebrows as well.

“Just a cottage.” Harry said, trying to shrug and clear his throat. “It’s … well. It’s my place. For when I’m done with school. I’m … I’m rebuilding it. Fixing it up. For me.”

“And?” Draco asked at the same time the twins did.

“And … and for … um.” Harry rubbed the back of his neck and let out a heavy breath. “AND for my person. For someone that- that would choose me. Not because of being Harry Potter or all the shit that comes with my name. It’s unplottable and has a shit ton of security wards that won’t allow anyone in but me until I decide it’s done. Until I’m ready to share it.”

“Until you know it’s gonna be real.” Draco said quietly. “And you put it with a picture of us.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.” Harry pinched Draco’s hand that was still wrapped around him. 

“I’m absolutely letting it go to my head.” Draco snickered. “I cannot WAIT to see what you build for us. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’ll ask our permission when you’re ready to move forward.” Fred said, pointing at Malfoy. 

“Us first, then the others.” George agreed.

“I can do that.” Draco hummed, kissing the side of Harry’s head. “Now let’s go shopping for our school things so we can go somewhere more private.”

“Bye, guys.” Harry laughed, waving the twins off as he turned to head back into the madness of the alley. 

And madness it was. Because there were a lot of goblins hauling a struggling and silently shouting Dumbledore with them toward the bank. Someone must have cast a charm to keep him from being heard, which was probably for the best. Draco kept his arms around Harry before putting him behind his back, stepping in front of him like he was going to protect him, even if Harry had scored the highest of their year, of all years, in over a century, on the DADA portion of their OWL. Harry wasn’t surprised when he managed to get his wand back and get loose a bit. Not much, because he was still surrounded by goblins and several adults. Before he could do anything Harry silently disarmed him and reached up, catching the wand over Draco’s shoulder while the goblins subdued him once more. He didn’t particularly want the wand, but he also wasn’t really sure what to do with it. Wizard etiquette was that when another was disarmed the wand could belong to the wizard who did the disarming. 

“He’s officially lost the plot.” Draco muttered, turning around and looking Harry over, even though he was perfectly fine. 

“Erm, what happens with his wand?” Harry scratched his head and held it up.

“Won in valid contest.” A goblin said as he passed them. “You may keep it or turn it over to your Ministry or another wand seller. Whatever you choose, really. Have a good day, Mr. Potter.”

“You too.” Harry sighed. 

“Might as well keep it.” Draco shrugged. “Put it in your vault for safekeeping or put it on display as proof that even the best wizards are susceptible to the disarming charm at the right moment.”

“I’ll figure it out.” Harry tucked it into his pocket and retook Draco’s hand. “Ready to get our school things? First year I’m buying Slytherin green and all.”

“Sounds fantastic.” Draco chuckled.

Harry didn’t know what sixth year was going to bring, nor anything after it. But he knew that with the people he had supporting him, he’d be alright. He’d always protect them. As long as he could. And now he knew that they wanted to protect him just as much. He’d even snogged Draco Malfoy. He grinned as he looked at the other boy, walking happily along beside him, smiling as much as Harry was. 

Yeah. 

He was definitely ready for whatever came next.