This is a Harry/Multi story, non-epilogue compliant, with a little bit of Ginny bashing. It's going to end up between 15000-17000 words when it's all said and done spread over thirteen fairly short chapters. The goal is just a quick, hopefully not boring read that people can enjoy.
And we're off!
Chapter 1: History Lessons
July, 2039
Andrew and Linda Reynolds were sitting patiently at a picnic table at a park on the south side of London, just as their son, Stephen, had requested. It was a beautiful, breezy summer day and both of them were lost in their own thoughts. They were your typical upper middle class couple from the London suburbs. Their only child, however, wasn't typical. Stephen had graduated from Hogwarts four years ago in the top 25% of his class. He was a Ravenclaw prefect and received seven NEWTs in Potions, Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, History, and a relatively new elective called Ancient Studies. He was currently working at Hogwarts as the Head of Ravenclaw House while working on his mastery in History.
Shortly after the end of the Blood War, Hogwarts underwent a serious transformation. Heads of house were no longer allowed to be full time professors and instead were typically younger witches and wizards who were working on masteries and who could serve as counselors for the students. They handled detentions, house affairs, the introduction of muggleborns, and were able to keep a closer eye on the academic status of their students. Stephen loved the job.
"Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds?", a voice snapped them out of their daydreaming and they simultaneously nodded to the woman asking.
They both wondered how they missed her approaching. She was tall, slim, and regal looking with piercing blue eyes and long blonde hair dressed in a striking blue dress that was stylish, but still formal.
"My name is Daphne Black, I know you were both expecting to meet Rylie's mother, but she had a few reservations that I'll cover later on and asked me to come in her place. I hope you have some time because I have quite a lot of information to tell you about your future daughter in law's family."
"Well, we're ready whenever you are, Mrs. Black," Andrew replied with a smile.
"Wonderful! We have two topics to cover to give you some background information. We'll start with the Blood Wars, which were two successive civil wars in the British wizarding community, then we'll move on to Harry Potter, Rylie's father, and his early life and time at Hogwarts."
And so for forty-five minutes, Daphne covered all the main points of interest in reference to the Blood Wars and the Harry Potter's life before adulthood.
"...And so Harry walks out to the Forbidden Forest, straight to arguably the darkest wizard this world has ever seen, and takes a killing curse right to the chest." Daphne stopped the dab her eyes with a tissue. "I'm sorry, I always get emotional at this part, I mean he's seventeen years old and he willingly walks to what he assumes is his death because he thinks it's the only way to save everyone. It's, in my opinion, the single most powerful act of love that in the the history of the magical world." The Reynolds were both speechless, so Daphne gathers herself and continues the story culminating in the death of Lord Voldemort.
"And now," she continued, "I'll tell you about the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and it will become clear later why this is relevant. The Potter family is old and steeped in history. Medieval royal families tended to follow a pattern when it came to sons: the oldest went into government, the second son into religion, and the third into the military. Well the Potters didn't play by those rules. Nearly all of them were warriors for the Light. They battled against Dark Lords, major and minor threats, across the world. I believe Harry's vanquishing of Voldemort was the 16th such defeat of a Dark Lord in the history of the Potter family. It's rumored, although it has never been proven, that Tristan, the Knight of the Round Table, was actually a Potter.
"That dedication to fighting evil came at a price. The Potter line never truly flourished. More than once it was down to a single member, including from 1981 until 2001. They did, however, marry prominently quite often, and not just important family names, but brilliant and powerful witches, regardless of blood status.
"The Potter family, likely due to it's lack of prejudice, always seemed to be flush with magic. They were respected members of the Wizengamot and have long held the title of Ancient and Noble House. Throughout the years, many important houses folded into the House of Potter, including the House of Fenwick and the House of Denison, and most notably, the Ancient and Noble House of Peverell. The Ancient and Noble House of Black would have also folded into the House of Potter had it not been for Wizengamot laws forty years ago.
"You see, right after the fall of the Dark Lord, the traditional houses on the Wizengamot, particularly those who aligned themselves with the Dark Lord, knew that their power was going to be disappearing quickly. Twice, in back to back generations, they had attempted to forcibly install government based on prejudice and fear and twice they had been defeated by the House of Potter. Unfortunately, because the Wizengamot seats are hereditary, they still were in a strong position to negotiate. They made a deal with those aligned with the light. They would allow the light to pick their own Minister for Magic, they wouldn't interfere with a complete overhaul of the Ministry of Magic to meet the expectations of the new Minister, and they wouldn't argue against any Department Head choices. In return, they wanted to reopen all Wizengamot seats that had been lost to history based on the closest relative to that line. The light agreed.
"What wasn't discussed was how to fill those seats, although the traditionally dark families had detailed how they planned to do it in the legislation without passing that information on. Witches who were the last of a family could spread the titles among their children. Wizards however, would be forced to take a wife per title up to seven wives, building a mini-harem as it were. As I previously mentioned, the House of Potter had swallowed the Houses of Denison, Fenwick, and Peverell. The House of Peverell had also previously swallowed the House of Ardoin, one of several prominent French families to immigrate over in the 1300s who were awarded Wizengamot seats. This history was fairly well known and Harry was one of two young wizards targeted in particular, the other being Neville Longbottom, who they were trying to force into polygamy with the goal of scaring off the next generation of muggleborns with the 'barbaric ways of the wizarding world.'
"What wasn't known was that Harry was also next in line to be Lord Black. He amazingly had the best blood claim to the title, despite being fairly distantly related from the main line, through his great-grandmother Dorea Black because the late Head of House Black Arcturus Black had made it so that any marked Death Eater couldn't become Lord Black because that meant he had promised to put somebody or some group ahead of the House of Black and that meant they couldn't be an effective leader of the House in his opinion. Every candidate with a better claim than Harry had either had their line blasted off the family tree and made ineligible or had taken the Dark Mark.
"The House of Black had previously taken on the House of Wickliffe and the House of Scrugham meaning Harry already had eight titles. But Harry also took on the Head of House McKinnon through the Black family. The McKinnon family was wiped out in the war down to a single pair of sisters, Marlene and Alice. Marlene was therefore Lady McKinnon, and when she signed a marriage contract with Sirius Black, he became Lord McKinnon. They didn't manage to have a ceremony before she was killed, but they did consummate the marriage which meant it was recognized both legally and magically. Alice McKinnon married Frank Longbottom and had one son, the previously mentioned Neville. Alice and Frank are still alive, but they are in the permanent care ward at St. Mungo's because of war injuries, it's not my place to be any more specific than that.
"Alice McKinnon was, well technically is, Harry's godmother. The last Lord McKinnon was his godfather and had named his as his heir, the last female member of House McKinnon is his godmother, and if you went back seven generations you found that Harry's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was a McKinnon, so Harry had the second best claim to the House after Neville. Neville was already going to have to pass on the Longbottom name and at least one more house through his fiance. After learning that it wouldn't cost Harry another wife, Neville agreed to not claim the House and Harry became the Head of a ninth House.
"Now that you're caught up on all of that, let me tell you how my family enters the story."