Key: "Speech", 'Thoughts', "Speech laden with magic", §Parseltongue§
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and various publishing houses. The Films are owned by Warner Brother's Studios. The Champions of Lilith Challenge is owned by Paladeus. I do not in writing this claim ownership over any properties associated with the works of these individuals. I am merely playing in their backyard while I get these ideas out of my head.
Authors Note: Since you guys all asked so nicely, I thought I would write up and publish the new chapter as quickly as possible. It didn't seem fair to make you wait too, too, long for the all-important will reading.
xXx Story xXx
Harry, Dan and Emma arrived at Flourish and Blotts only seconds after Hermione, only to discover that Mrs. Weasley had already cornered Hermione and was giving her a piece of her mind.
"Now you listen here young lady, it isn't safe for young Witches to wander off on their own. You should have waited at the Bank for me." The Weasley matriarch ranted.
Harry walked up and laid a hand on Hermione's shoulder while looking straight at Missus Weasley and saying "Excuse me Ma'am, but Hermione had both of her Legal Guardians who also happen to be her parents, and me escorting her today. She did not need your presence to ensure that she was looked after."
Molly frowned as she considered what Harry had said and began her response by saying "Harry dear, you know you can call me Molly, right? Regardless, it is my duty as a responsible adult Witch to ensure that you and Miss Granger are looked after, now come along and get in line so that we can get your books."
Harry smiled and said "I am sorry ma'am, but we will not be getting the assigned course books written by one Gilderoy Lockhart as it is both Hermione's and my opinion that those books are complete rubbish and that we will learn absolutely nothing from them or the person who would assign such books. We will instead be getting a copy of a proper Defense against the Dark Arts text. Now if you will excuse us, we have to go search for said book."
Hermione gave Missus Weasley who was looking downright flabbergasted a curt nod, and motioned for her parents to follow Harry and herself into the store towards the section of the store where both she and Harry knew the proper Defense books were located.
xXxXxXx
Harry was standing back with Dan Granger watching the shop while Hermione and Emma went to the cash register to pay for the groups combined books. While this was going on Harry was keeping a careful eye on the Weasley's, Lockhart, Lockhart's photographer, and the not so subtly hidden Draco Malfoy.
It was a very good thing he was keeping an eye on them because the photographer had just shoved past Ron, shouting "Out of the way, this is for the Daily Prophet." Harry from his spot in the corner of the store was perfectly capable of making out the not so subtle glance over the entire shops occupants that Lockhart gave.
This allowed him to be completely unsurprised when Lockhart exclaimed "Great Scott, its Harry Potter!" which caused the photographer to immediately charge over to where Harry was standing. Now Harry was no fool, he had been resigned that something like this was going to happen the instant that he entered the shop. So he immediately had his wand out and pointed squarely between the eyes of the Photographer, who immediately stopped his charge.
"If you take one more step towards me, I will not hesitate to hex you into the next millennium." Harry said in a rather deadened tone.
Lockhart had decided to make his way over as well and was showing off his patented award winning smile (Harry had looked it up after he had defeated Voldemort last time around; apparently Lockhart actually did have a patent on his smile), "Harry my boy, what say you and I take a picture? Together I reckon we rate the front page."
"No." Harry said flatly.
"Pardon?" Lockhart said, his smile faltering slightly.
"I said 'No' 'Professor,'" Harry said with an edge of sarcasm in his voice at the word Professor.
Now Lockhart was actively frowning, he had meant to surprise everyone with the news that he would be teaching at Hogwarts, how had this boy figured it out before his big announcement? "Why ever not?"
Harry actually smiled and said "For one thing, it is illegal to put the picture and name of a minor in the newspaper without the consent of his legal guardian. As you have not asked for the consent of my Legal Guardian, and are extremely unlikely to be able to acquire that consent in a reasonable amount of time, I must refuse having my picture taken with you.
For another, I have absolutely no desire to use my unwanted fame to bolster your own ego." All this was said without lowering his wand from where it was still aimed at the photographer. That man had apparently figured out what was what and immediately turned around and walked away. Lockhart however apparently wasn't so easily swayed by threats of legal persecution.
"Harry, Harry, Harry, why ever would you not want your fame? Fame is the greatest tool a celebrity can ever have. Surely you realize that?" Lockhart explained.
"I respectfully disagree, Professor. You have to understand my fame was earned at the cost of losing my parents forever. I would be much happier without this fame if I could just have my parents back." Harry explained, with a satisfied expression as he noticed Lockhart rapidly paling at the thought of what Harry had just said. Hermione and Emma had just walked up, "Now if you will excuse me Professor, I really must be going, I still have a great deal to do today."
He noticed at this point that Ginny Weasley was standing by the door, and that Draco Malfoy was bounding down the stairs at his approach, "Bet you loved that, huh Potter."
"Really Draco, I have no idea where you got the idea that me threatening to sue the Daily Prophet and that Lockhart fellow if they even attempted to put my name and picture in the Daily Prophet without my guardian's consent was in any way enjoyable. But since you somehow did get that idea, I am sadly required to inform you that threatening to sue people is NOT my idea of a good time." Harry said, and was just about to walk out the door when Lucius Malfoy appeared at the entrance and promptly blocked the doorway.
"Well, well, if it isn't the great Harry Potter. You look ever so much like your Father. I have wanted to meet you ever so much." Lucius said, raising his cane to Harry's forehead, Harry and Hermione both promptly had their Wands out and pointed at Lucius.
"Mister Malfoy I presume. I regret to inform you that I do not take particularly kindly to having an exonerated Death Eater's Wand that close to my head, regardless of how cleverly it is disguised. You will kindly remove it this instant or we will be forced to take preventative measures against you." Harry said in a rather venomous tone of voice.
Lucius noticing the Head of House ring on Harry's hand and the betrothal ring on Hermione's; this caused him to sneer at the boy and lower his wand saying "You are too smart for your own good young man." He then looked at Ginny picked up one of her books from out of her cauldron looked at the ratty thing and said "Second hand filth, you must be a Weasley. I wish you ever the best of luck in school, you will need it if you wish to climb out of the hole of poverty that your family has landed itself in." He then threw the book back into the cauldron. "Draco, come on, we are leaving." And with that Draco and Lucius left the shop.
As soon as they were out of sight, Harry lowered his wand performed a quick swish with it and muttered below his breath the incantation of the switching spell, replacing the Diary Horcrux with a simple sheet of paper that he had brought with him from the Grangers just in case he needed to write some notes down while at Gringotts during the day. Once he felt the weight of the diary land itself in the pocket that he had originally had the paper in he nodded to Hermione and the group made their exit. They concluded their shopping for the day, and then made their return back to the Grangers household. While they were in the Leaky Cauldron Harry had sent off a Patronus Message to Luna.
Only a few hours and one good snog fest later, and Harry was now happily married to both Luna Evans nee Lovegood, and Hermione Potter nee Granger. Not that anyone but the three of them a rather smug Goblin, and a whole lot of Fey knew the truth of their bizarre relationship.
xXxXxXx
Wednesday Evening
Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland, Great Britain
Albus Dumbledore was currently sitting in his office finishing up the parchment work that would see the report of unauthorized use of magic at #4 Privet Drive earlier that week well and truly buried. It truly astounded him how something like what he had requested young Ronald Weasley to do could have gone so utterly and stupendously wrong like that.
Albus had subtly hinted to the young man that he should convince his parents to go and retrieve young Harry from his relatives as soon as Harry's birthday had passed. What he didn't anticipate was that instead of talking his parents into retrieving Harry, Ronald convinced his elder twin Brothers to go and fetch the boy, bringing him along with him.
To make matters more problematic, they didn't simply use the Knight Bus to get to #4 Privet Drive. No, that would be just a tad too easy. Instead they commandeered their father's car. And this wasn't just any plain ordinary Muggle car either. No this was an illegally enchanted car, a car that was enchanted by the Department Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office no less, someone who should bloody know better than that.
And these weren't just any old enchantments either, no, space expansion charms, and safety charms just weren't bloody well good enough for Arthur Ignatius Weasley. No, he had to include flight and invisibility capabilities into the car as well. Arthur was incredibly lucky Dumbledore was in the Department of Records when this particular incident occurred.
And the car wasn't even the start of Dumbledore's problems. No, then apparently one of the people in the house noticed the Weasley's and called the bloody Muggle Police on them. This caused the Weasley Twins to start throwing around confundus charms. That set off alarms in the Department for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.
To say Dumbledore was pissed was putting it mildly. To make matters worse, the Weasley's never even managed to get ahold of Harry as he apparently hadn't been home at the time. To add insult to injury, he apparently had turned up in Diagon Alley a few days later in the company of Miss Granger of all people.
It was while Dumbledore was contemplating these things that he noticed a gold notice had suddenly materialized on his desk. Grimacing Dumbledore picked up the notice. He knew these types of notices were the official correspondences that Gringotts sent out for things such as Will Readings. So why was he getting one?
Reading the notice he began frowning more and more.
"Albus Wulfric Dumbledore
You are hereby notified that you are to be in attendance at Gringotts promptly at 12:00 p.m. this Thursday. You are being notified because you are either named in, or are witness to the Wills of James and Lily Potter.
Good day,
Senior Account Manager Ragnok"
"This isn't possible. I made sure those Wills were well and truly sealed." Dumbledore said, as he began thinking frantically about how he could possibly stop the Will Reading from happening.
xXxXxXx
Harry, Hermione, Luna, Xenophilius, Emma, and Dan were all sitting behind a magically enchanted wall that allowed them to see the room on the other side, but no one could see them.
Xenophilius had quill, ink, and paper on hand and at the ready, prepared to make any notes that were necessary for his article.
Emma and Dan were nervously glancing between the kids and the two Goblins who sat in the other room.
Harry, Hermione, and Luna were sitting calmly waiting for the events to unfold as they expected them to.
The first of the 'victims' to arrive were the Longbottoms. Though calling Neville and Augusta victims was an extreme injustice. If anything, these two would likely get off the easiest of everyone who is slated to come to this will reading today. Augusta nodded curtly to Account Manager Ragnok as they took their seat. Unbeknownst to the people that would be arriving, the other Goblin in the room was King Ragnok. He would be remaining silent for the vast majority of the Will Reading. His reason for being here was to look out for the interests of an individual who had alerted the Goblins to a most foul object held within their vaults.
The second group of people to arrive was two Witches; Harry immediately recognized one of them as the honorable Madam Bones. The other woman Harry was unsure of the identity of, but recognized the crest on her robes as that of the Department for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. "What is she doing here?" Harry asked.
"I don't know Harry, but if I had to guess, I think something may have happened at your Aunt's house that caused them to pick up magic. Thus she is here on the assumption that you will be here and they can either question you or take you into custody." Luna said in her dreamy sing song voice.
Harry actually groaned at that. He learned a long time ago that Luna's intuition was usually correct, she wasn't actually a seer, but she was very good at guessing.
It was about this time that the very first of their true victims for the afternoon decided to arrive. And he decided to make the event a spectacle right from the off.
xXxXxXx
"Ah, Account Manager Ragnok, I have here notice from young Harry James Potter that he will be unable to attend this Will Reading, and that I am permitted to act as In Loco Parentis for him and accept any bequeathments on his behalf." Dumbledore said in a rather preachy tone of voice, causing Madame Longbottom and Madam Bones to both grimace.
"No." the Goblin said in a tone of finality.
"I am sorry, but I am afraid I don't understand. I clearly have the proper certification here…" Dumbledore began.
"Albus Wulfric Dumbledore you will take your seat and stop attempting to interfere in these proceedings this instant. If you do not you will be expelled from this bank for all time." The other Goblin said in a voice that brokered absolutely no argument.
Dumbledore looked at that goblin for a moment frowning, then suddenly his face drained of all color, "Your highness, I did not recognize you. Why are you here?"
"That is Goblin business and not of concern to the likes of you, now you will take your seat." Ragnok Sr. said.
"Yes, of course." Dumbledore bowed and went to the seat assigned to him.
xXxXxXx
"Well, that was certainly interesting. I am actually sort of glad to know there is someone out there who can cow Dumbledore like that." Harry said with a rather smug grin on his face.
Hermione nodded in agreement, while Luna said "It certainly was fascinating."
Dan however decided to say something "Harry, why are you so impressed? This Dumbledore bloke looks like an extremely old man, surely he is not as formidable as you are making him sound?"
"Old? Definitely, he is a little over a hundred years old. Weak? Most assuredly not, he is the current owner of the Elder Wand. That wand alone makes him the single most powerful Wizard in the world. He is also spryer than he looks." Harry said with a bit of a shrug.
Their attention was drawn back to the room as the red haired contingent decided to make their appearance.
xXxXxXx
Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Ronald Weasley all came bustling into the room, they looked rather harried as soon as they were entered and seated, Ragnok Jr looked over to his father who promptly looked towards the wall where Harry and the others were seated. Unlike the others in the room, the glasses that Ragnok Sr. was wearing on his face allowed him to see through the wall.
xXxXxXx
Harry looked at Hermione and said "Should we wait to see if Remus shows up, or should we start the torture?"
Hermione contemplated for a moment biting her lower lip which Harry thought was immensely cute. "Harry, we can always hold Professor Lupin's bequeathments in trust for him until he is able to claim them. However I want the others dealt with as soon as possible."
Harry looked over to Luna and asked "What say you?"
"I agree, we hold his bequeathments in trust, and take care of everyone else as soon as we can. Let's get the show started." Luna said.
"Very well," Harry said he then inclined his head towards King Ragnok who nodded his head almost imperceptibly.
xXxXxXx
As soon as his father had nodded his head in a nearly imperceptible manner, Senior Account Manager Ragnok stood and said "We are gathered here today for the Will Reading of James Potter and Lily Evans Potter. These Wills are being read today at the personal request of the rightful Head of the Potter Family. As such the contents cannot be overturned by the Wizengamot without a one hundred percent unanimous vote. Am I understood?"
He waited until everyone; including a clearly disgruntled Albus Dumbledore; had given their acknowledgement. "First the Last Will and Testament of James Potter:
"I James Charlus Potter, presently of Godric's Hollow, England, declare that this is my Last Will and Testament."
The vast majority of the first part of the Will was all legalese explaining who the Will was written by, who Harry's father had named as an Heir (Harry), and the powers that he had granted to the executor of the Will. All standard fare for these sorts of documents, things really didn't get interesting until the document began to describe the Disposition of the Estate:
1."To receive any gift or property under this Will a beneficiary must survive me for Thirty (30) days. Beneficiaries of my Estate Residue will receive a share of the total estate subject to the dictates of this will. All remnants of the Estate are the sole property of my Heir and any individuals he chooses to claim as family.
2.I direct the Executor of my Estate to grant the following shares of my Estate as I dictate:
a.To Sirius Orion Black, I leave 200,000 Galleons and the Potter Cottage in Sicily.
b.To Remus John Lupin, I leave 200,000 Galleons and the Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow.
c.To Peter Pettigrew, assuming I did not survive the War against Voldemort and his Death Eaters I leave absolutely nothing and ask that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement begin all efforts to locate and apprehend this man, who is an Illegal Animagus who takes the form of a common brown rat. If however, I did survive the War against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, then I leave 200,000 Galleons to Peter.
d.To Amelia Bones, I leave a Trust Vault for her niece Susan Bones, this Trust Vault is capped at 20,000 Galleons, and will refill each year at the conclusion of the Hogwarts School Year. Use this to assist Susan in her continued education.
e.To Frank and Alice Longbottom, I leave a similar trust vault for the purpose of assisting the education of young Neville Longbottom.
f.To my Harry, I leave the entirety of the remainder of the Potter Estate. If your Mother survives me then she will serve as acting Head of House until you are old enough to take that burden upon yourself.
3.In the matter of guardianship over Harry James Potter should neither his mother or I survive we have named the following people as acceptable individuals to take care of Harry.
a.Sirius Orion Black – Harry's sworn Godfather
b.Alice Longbottom – Harry's sworn Godmother
c.Amelia Bones
d.Minerva McGonagall
e.Andromeda Tonks – Sirius' beloved cousin
4.Under no circumstances is Harry to go to the following individuals:
a.Petunia Dursley nee Evans – Lily's Muggle sister
b.Vernon Dursley – Petunia's husband
c.Marge Dursley – Vernon's sister"
d. Bellatrix LeStrange - Sirius' despised cousin and known Death Eater
e. Narcissa Malfoy - Sirius' estranged cousin and wife of a suspected Death Eater
f. Severus Snape - Lily's estranged childhood friend, known Death Eater
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have signed my name on this the 15th of October, 1981 at Gringotts, Diagon Alley, England, declaring and publishing this instrument as my Last Will in the presence of the undersigned witnesses, who witnessed and subscribed this Last Will at my request, and in my presence.
James Charlus Potter (signature)
SIGNED AND DECLARED by James Charlus Potter on the 15th of October, 1981 to be their Last Will, in our presence, at Gringotts, Diagon Alley, England, who at their request, in their presence and in the presence of each other, all being present at the same time, have signed our names as Witnesses.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Sirius Orion Black
Frank Longbottom"
As soon as the names of the witnesses to the Will of James Potter had finished being read, all hell broke loose, both Augusta Longbottom and Amelia Bones were on their feet hands on their hips glaring daggers at the old man "ALBUS DUMBLEDORE! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Amelia screamed.
"Yes, well you see…" Dumbledore began.
"NO. You listen here. I am beginning to suspect you had some sort of hand in what happened to my Son. If I learn that I am right, you will regret it for the rest of your days. Do I make myself clear?" Augusta said in a rather ominous voice.
"If I find out you had a hand in Sirius ending up in Prison, despite you knowing he was Harry's sworn Godfather and thus couldn't have betrayed the Potters, so help me, but you will find yourself in Azkaban before your bloody bird even knows where to look for you." Amelia spat out.
Both Ragnoks were looking rather smug now; Ragnok Jr. cleared his throat and said "If that is all, we still have Lady Potter's Last Will to read. Then there is another matter that needs to be dealt with."
Both women, still fuming nodded curtly and sat down. Ragnok began to read Harry's mom's will, which though using smaller increments than James' had was much the same, though her witnesses were Albus Dumbledore and the two Longbottoms. She also had a note in her will that said that James had bought her #4 Privet Drive while they were still in Hogwarts and that she had loaned it out to her sister with the intention of eventually selling it to her.
xXxXxXx
"Well, that was certainly enlightening. I think we have just managed to ensure that Sirius gets out of Azkaban in the near future, and that the hunt for the rat begins in earnest." Harry then turned to Luna and said "Milady, would you do me the honor of accompanying me into the proceedings so that we can set our well planned trap into motion?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry, Luna and Hermione had all agreed that if it became necessary to admit to the Soul Marriage that it would be far better to use Luna as the face of the marriage rather than Hermione. Hermione was a known quantity to Dumbledore. Luna however was not. So they could catch him off guard slightly. It also helped that Luna had a rather bizarre mind that acted as a natural occlumency shield.
Luna giggled held out her hand and said "Why yes kind sir." Together they got up and walked into the adjacent chamber through a hidden door.
xXxXxXx
It was Ginny who noticed them first as she wasn't really paying attention to the proceedings, "Luna? HARRY!"
As soon as she said his name, several heads simultaneously whipped around. Dumbledore was the first to recover "Harry, what are you doing here? You should return to your guardian's house until the beginning of school. Come, I will take you home." He said as he began to stand up and make shooing motions with his hand.
"SIT DOWN." King Ragnok decreed in a rather loud and forceful voice. Dumbledore instantly quailed and sat back in his chair. Harry helped Luna to a seat and sat down next to her.
Senior Account Manager Ragnok smiled menacingly and said "Now, I have here a Betrothal Contract that was set into place by Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley on behalf of Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Weasley."
Arthur Weasley was now scowling at his wife, and Ginny looked absolutely shocked.
"Unfortunately we have now seen to the execution of James and Lily Potter's Wills, and have come to the startling realization that Albus Dumbledore had no right to act as Harry's guardian and thus had no right to sign this contract on his behalf.
"Madam Bones, you are the only member of those people who were named possible Guardians who is here today or capable of fulfilling the role of Guardian other than Andromeda Tonks, and Madam McGonagall, who have sent notice that they prefer to abstain from that role. McGonagall's reason is that she prefers to remain in the position of Harry's Head of House at School; While Andromeda stated that she had her fill of raising children with her daughter. As such It would normally fall to you to decide what to do with this Betrothal Contract.
"However, circumstances have taken an unforeseen turn. Harry I now turn the floor over to you."
Harry stood and addressed the assembled people, "Acting in my new role as Head of House Potter, I declare that Betrothal Contract null and void. I also demand the immediate return of all unspent funds that were paid to the Weasley's from the Potter Vaults in the form of a Bride Price."
Molly was on her feet in an instant "YOU CAN'T DO THAT! You are too young to be a Head of House..."
She would have continued but King Ragnok had suddenly snapped his fingers and almost as if out of nowhere two Goblins materialized with incredibly sharp blades pointed at Molly's throat. "If you cannot control yourself Missus Weasley, then you will be forcibly expelled from this Bank and the Weasley and Prewett Vaults will be unilaterally awarded to the Potter Family. Additionally your eldest son will be promptly fired from his job with the bank. Do I make myself clear?"
"Molly, sit down this instant." Arthur said with an authority that no one could ever remember him using with his wife before. She frowned and promptly sat in her seat again. The two Goblin swordsmen went to stand by the door in case they were needed again.
Now it was Dumbledore who attempted to interrupt the proceedings, "Harry my boy, what do you mean you are acting in your new role as Head of House Potter? When did this happen?"
"That's easy enough to answer Headmaster. I visited Gringotts on the third of August and had Senior Account Manager Ragnok perform an inheritance test for me. It was at this point that I was officially emancipated and declared the Head of House Potter." Harry explained, he noted that all the color had drained from the Headmaster's face as soon as he said the word 'emancipated.'
The Headmaster turned to Ragnok Jr. and pleaded "Surely this cannot be true?"
"I assure you Mister Dumbledore it is." Ragnok said with a rather sly grin on his face, he then said "Is there something bothering you Mister Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore stood up and said "I am afraid a matter of supreme urgency has just made itself known to me. I must leave immediately."
"I am afraid, Mister Dumbledore that I can't allow you to do that." King Ragnok said.
Dumbledore paled even further and said "Why not?"
"Because during the meeting when Mister Potter became emancipated, he asked us to take a look at his Muggle Relatives dwelling place, which we of course did. What we found were blood wards, blood wards that were erected without the oversight of Gringotts. As you well know, the treaty between the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts declares that the construction of all wards on any property less than 100 years of age needs to be overseen by a Gringotts Warding Expert. That did not happen in this instance.
"We immediately dispatched an agent to the Ministry to check with their records on all Muggle Properties with wards, only to find that no record of that property being warded exists.
"So we were now wondering who had the power, knowledge and political weight to block the knowledge of the existence of these wards from both Gringotts and the Ministry. We came up with only one name; yours Mister Dumbledore."
Dumbledore promptly collapsed in his chair. Madam bones was frowning and said "King Ragnok, would it be at all possible to extradite Dumbledore for trial in front of the Wizengamot?"
King Ragnok contemplated that for a few moments and then said "I am afraid that is simply out of the question. While it is true that his worst crime was committed on what is nominally Wizarding soil, his crimes as a whole were against the Goblin nation. As such it is for the Goblin nation to try him for his crimes.
"Rest assured, you will still have your precious Chief Warlock when this is through. However it is entirely likely that he will be stripped of any financial backing he may have once enjoyed.
"With that said, I believe these proceedings are at a close. Harry, Luna, if you would please join me, I believe we have a few things yet to discuss. Guards, please escort Mister Dumbledore to a cell. The rest of you are dismissed." And with that the king stood and exited the room with Harry and Luna following behind in as regal a manner as they could manage.
As soon as the three of them were back in the viewing room, the King broke down in hysterics, which prompted Luna to break down laughing as well. "I haven't had that much fun in at least a hundred years." Ragnok said which had everyone in the room goggling at him, just how old was this Goblin?
