Hello all, sorry this took so long to update, I got sidetracked by real life this is much more of my update speed I'm sorry to say... but anyways, this story spiked in followers and favorites, it knocked my previous holder Jaune Arc: Stages out of the water in only four chapter... but that's partially the difference of fandom I suppose ... anyways I hope you guys like it!
-Malfoy Townhouse, near Knockturn Ally-
Lucius Malfoy was a vain man. It was common knowledge that appearance was important to one of the dirtiest politicians in the magical world. What most didn't know was that to the Lord Malfoy appearance was in fact everything, the trappings of power meant that people thought you had it, if people thought that you had power then you in fact did have power it was simple. It was part of this truth that had allowed for Draco Malfoy to grow up arrogant; after all it wouldn't do for a man of power to have a cowed son. Lucius also had a number of information outlets as head shareholder of the Daily Prophet he had final say of what the editor in chief put into his final edits, which meant that he needed to know all of the possible material to be printed.
This information pipeline that was usually his greatest tool was what had the blond haired noblemen walking circles in his private study. The Wizengamot was in session and like most of the Ancient and Most Noble houses the House of Malfoy owned a townhouse near the ministry. The deep forest green rug that sat in the Lord's Study was starting to get a spot worn into it by the elder Malfoy's constant pacing ever since he received a pair of letters from the ministry. The first was a glorious one it seemed that Harriet Potter, the-girl-who-lived had screwed the preverbal pooch last night a muggle was in critical condition at a muggle hospital due to intense nerve damage and shattered bollocks. That coupled with the tracer having gone off like crazy at the address could only mean that the girl either intentionally or unintentionally used magic against whoever Vernon Dursley was. That would mean expulsion and a snapped wand for Harriet Potter.
Or at least it would normally. The second letter not only killed Malfoy's great mood but threw him into his current place of second guessing which actions to take. The House of Potter had been renewed. The Keystone and the Register both had confirmed that was a fact. That would mean that the blasted half-blooded trollop was now an active member of one of the eldest family's in Britain, much more ancient and noble then his own house. Lucius knew nothing about any Potter's being left alive besides the girl… that was what worried him, a full heir to the House of Potter seemed to appear out of nowhere and had claimed one of the most influential seats of the Wizengamot and Lucius hadn't heard even a murmur of it happening until it was too late for him to act to block it.
Lucius took a harsh sip from the whisky in his hand sucking in a breath through clenched teeth aerating the fiery brew before swallowing it and sucking in another breath letting the fire grow in his belly as he looked upwards his long mane of silvery blond hair shimmering in the candle light.
"DOBBY!" Lucius waited for a second before kicking himself mentally, he no longer had his personal elf that brat of a girl had freed the little traitor as a final act of defiance just over a year ago and he was still making that mistake. "Netty…"
A small female elf appeared in a pillowcase tied off at her waist. She looked down and trembled slightly in fear of causing her master's ire to become focused at her.
"Yes Master?" the elf's voice was soft a slight tremble in it. Lucius enjoyed an elf that knew how to act properly before its master.
"Netty deliver these letters to Nott, Crabe and Goyle seniors. They must take the letter directly from you and no one else must know you're there." Lucius pointed to three letters on his studies desk. The elf nodded her head the large bat like ears flapping as she snapped her fingers both her and the three letters vanished in an instant leaving Lucius Malfoy alone again with nothing but puzzles to solve. Looking to the fire place Lucius walked towards it, he needed to have a meeting.
-The Tent of Madam Jaquline-
Harry looked at the woman across from him his green eyes not letting the woman's purple one's move an inch. He was here for one reason, he needed a background to magically appear for him one that would be completely legitimate up to and including memories of his own and in others. That meant going under the table for now.
"What do you have need of a seer for sir?" Jaquline forced her voice to stay even, this was her tent. The center of her budding operations, sure it was just a branch that her maman had said that she could start to prove that she was ready to lead the business but it was hers. The men that this intruder had dropped were some of the best that the family could offer, and he had just torn through them like they were nothing. This connard had even thrown Amile's wand into the fire burning it... but he was powerful and she needed to have that power on her side.
"Why don't we start with a fortune telling madam, and then we'll go from there." Harry watched the woman reach for a rectangle wrapped in purple silk, the second that the woman's hand touched the fabric a sense of presence filled the room. The woman's breathing evened out as she visibly relaxed.
"Of course Monsieur," there was a depth to the woman's voice that wasn't there before her light purple eyes seemed to almost glow from within as she unfolded an old deck of Tarot. Waving her hand over the cards the borders started to glow as a series of runes activated as the woman picked up the deck. Harry Potter had only seen a seer at work a few times mostly when they had to do with cases, he avoided prophecy for the most part… but something about being here again made him curious.
"Au nom des Parques, sur le sang de Delphi, je lance un appel sur le contrat de mes aïeules se pencher sur la vie de cet homme et que tous être connus."1 Letting the cards go the tarot deck shuffled itself flipping and turning cads in midair. Stopping in mid shuffle ten cards slipped out of the deck and started shuffling themselves together, the rest of the deck returning to the silk. After a moment of shuffling the ten cards came to rest in a neat stack in front of Jaquline. The woman picked up the cards and flipped the first one over.
"Death walks closely with you Harry Potter."
-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Head Master's Office-
Albus set down the letter and sighed two fingers on his left hand absentmindedly stroking Fawkes' chest. How could Harriet have done such a thing? Although the letter only mentioned magic being used, there was little way for someone to find the child's house with the amount of barriers and wards he put on it. Next to a Fidilus Charm it was the best he could do and there were few that Albus Dumbledore trusted to keep that secret. Albus wrote out a quick letter and sent the owl away. The wizard stood quickly and made his way to the fireplace near his desk, he needed to talk with someone, find out more information.
- The Burrow-
"What do you mean Harriet is in trouble Arthur?" Molly Weasley was shocked to hear that her son's friend could be in such serious trouble. The Weasley parents were up late at night Molly finding her husband in the kitchen a mug of tea in his hands as he looked at the letter that had been addressed to him.
"Just that Molly-Wobbles, Harriet is being charged with Illegal use of magic, Harming a Mugle with Magic, not to mention several other smaller counts that had to do with the above. They'll have her wand… I don't know how I can stop it." Arthur Weasley despite what Lucius Malfoy and those of his ilk thought wasn't a fool, he had a soft spot for muggles yes, but they were so fascinating, they had accomplished more without magic then most wizards could even dream of. There was something going on here, he knew it, bloody hell he knew Harriet, the girl wouldn't harm a flea unless it was going to hurt someone that she loved. For her, if it even was her, to do this kind of damage there had to have been a reason. Rubbing the back of his neck Arthur took another sip of his tea. "Even Dumbledore isn't sure how he'll be able to remedy this Molly."
"Bu-but he always has a plan dear, don't worry Dumbledore will be able to make it alright." Molly rubbed her distraught husband's back, the man cared too much, which was a wonderful flaw one that made her lover her husband dearly.
"I hope so Molly-Wobbles , I hope so, why don't you go back to bed love, I'll work for a bit longer on the Act and then I'll return to bed." Molly kissed her husband on the cheek and walked toward the stairs stopping by the clock, all of the hands pointed to where they should be. The woman touched the face of the glass and walked up the steps to their room, her husband was right it was too early in the morning to be up and going.
Arthur took his tea into his study and with a wave of his wand the smokeless candle lit by his typewriter, the machine was a beauty to, he wanted to get a look at a muggle computer before long… but for now this would do. The Muggle Protection Act had been passed much to the ire of Malfoy but that was only the first part of what Arthur was aiming towards, the next one was going to be harder but men like Remus Lupin and countless others deserved to show that they could live and contribute to society despite an affliction that they could have control over with some slight help from the Ministry, his biggest opponent would be the Toad.
-The Office of the Minister of Magic-
Minister Cornelius Fudge was pacing in his office his gave shifting from the fireplace as he approached the large marble architecture to the Registry of Lords when he turned to walk away from it. Specifically one of the names near the top of the Registry: Potter, Hardin J. There was no notice why a name had been filled in for the Potter Family. Since James and Lily's death, god rest their souls, the space had been vacant, simply the last name followed by a dash. Whoever Hardin J. Potter was he was an unknown. Turning again to face the Registry the Minister licked his lips as he focused again on that bloody name. Fudge lived off of a very carefully crafted balance between the two major parties of the Wizengamot, though no one ever said that there was a light and dark side to the council it was far from private knowledge who this Potter was, what he stood for could rock the ship balanced on the edge of a knife into a freefall that Fudge wasn't sure that his political life could survive.
Fudge turned again and paused when his flue flashed green fire. Seeing the figure come striding out Fudge smiled and extended a hand.
"What a pleasure to see you…"
-The Tent of Madam Jaquline-
Harry was impressed, he knew that Miss Markova was a true seer but knowing it and seeing a seer work their magic were two very different things. Harry looked down at the Tarot reading and was impressed there was no possible way for her to know who he was other than through her powers as a seer. Harry kept a straight face as the woman returned to herself.
"Will that be all Lord Potter?" Her growling voice caught his attention, she must be one of the rare ones that kept the knowledge they got when their Seer blood was active. The woman's place lavender eyes had a mix of anger and fear as she attempted to maintain eye contact with him, unlike last time though she had strength in her eyes that weren't there before.
"No, I still have need of your family's services. I need a trail for people searching through my past to follow, fake memories, documentation, all solid, undetectable and done quickly." Harry watched the woman grit her teeth.
"And why would we do this for you? You come here, knock my men unconscious and throw one of their wands into the fire to burn in front of me?! You are a fool indeed Harry Potter if you think that I will allow my family…"
Harry moved quickly taking the sliver of wood from the brazier it was barely even a splinter. Pulling the elder wand Harry simply waved the tip of the wand up the splinter. Jaquline's tirade slowed to nothing as she watched Amile's wand reform from the splinter shooting out three sparks from the tip once it was whole again. Harry reached into his purse and pulled out a large handful of galleons.
"Trust me Miss Markova if I wanted you dead I would have done so when I first walked in here. I'm offering you now a partnership, I need your help and you need a backer. I don't want to tear your family down I want to hire you, exclusively for the foreseeable future. " Jaquline watched her mouth open slightly as Harry slipped the wand back into Amile's wand holster and turned back to face her. "I knocked your men out for their own safety, I don't trust them to have the mental guards to protect who I am… you on the other hand do have those necessary skills. I through Amile's wand into the flame to show you how cruel I can be, I repaired it to show how merciful… I wouldn't have left him wandless. I will do whatever it takes to protect those I care about Miss Markova. The question is going to be are you going to assist me and gain part of that protection or not?"
Jaquline's brain kicked back into gear as Harry finished his speech. This one man had destroyed her dreams but was now offering her even more than what she could have made on her own in five years.
"Consider it done, My Lord."
-Office of the Minster of Magic-
"… Albus, I am great need of your council." Fudge shook the old man's hand multiple times before leading the man in and sitting him down. "Can I get you something, Fire Whisky, Muggle Whisky, I have an old bottle of Glenfiddich here that I think you'd like, over fifty years old when it first hit the bottle…"
"Cornelius." The weight the old wizard put on his name caused the minister to feel immediately like he was back in school before his transfiguration teacher. His response was immediate and completely subconscious.
"Yes Professor?" Dumbledore smiled lightly and shook his head. As Fudge realized what he said and kicked himself mentally as he shook his head. "Sorry about that, the last time I heard you say my name that way was in my sixth year…"
"Ah… I believe when I caught you and your friends sneaking out from Hufflepuff's common room, if I'm correct." Cornelius was now the one smiling slightly as he nodded his head. He walked back over to his chair and sat down looking across his desk at his oldest mentor.
"I find myself lost on this Albus, I mean the heroine of the wizarding world, the girl-who-lived simply snapping on a muggle? I mean the press alone is going to tear the poor girl apart, not to mention that some of the Wizengamot is going to be calling for blood, with Malfoy waving the piece of legislature that he tried so hard to keep out in all of our faces." Fudge rubbed his face with both of his hands. "Not to mention a new head of the Potter family, I have no idea where he came from, were you hiding him from us, I don't care, in fact I'd feel a little better at this point if you had been."
Albus shook his head slightly as Fudge's face fell as the little hope the man had was crushed. Albus was as clueless as everyone else when it came to who this new lord was. He only hoped that this unexpected player would be able to handle everything that was about to hit his house and make it through to the other side able to protect Harriot.
-The Leaky Cauldron-
In the peaceful darkness of a rented room on the second level of wizarding Britain's most popular tavern the girl who stood in the center of an oncoming storm turned in her sleep a smile on her lips as Harriot Potter dreamt of a happy future unaware of what was coming.
1 On behalf of the Fates, on the blood of Delphi, I appeal on the contract of my grandmothers look into the life of this man and all be known.
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