After the First Task

By: Sheltie


I don't own Harry Potter at all


Chapter 8

Daphne Greengrass was a tall blonde bombshell, that is if you described her in the muggle sense. She was fashion model tall, but had a figure that was anything other than a fashion model. She had all the curves that any girl or woman would die to have. To put it simply, she was perfect. Daphne was not like many Slytherins, she didn't care for the pureblood way, she understood it and went with it, but she hated it. Her family, the Greengrasses were fence sitters. They never got involved with any confrontation. Well Daphne was about to blow that out of the water as she led her friend Harry and his godfather to her father's study.

"Father, you have visitors" Daphne called.

"Send them in Daphne" her father said.

Daphne opened the door for them then promptly left since it wasn't proper for her to be there.

"Now what can I do for- Sirius, you old dog how have you been?" Adrian Greengrass said as he looked up.

"I've been fine Adrian, and how are you?" Sirius asked smiling.

"Fine, just fine. I see you brought your godson with you. What's going on, if I had to guess you have a prank in mind" Adrian said smiling.

"No, but I would like to discuss an alliance with one another" Sirius said.

Adrian sensed that this talk would be all business and sat down.

"Very well, lets get to it" Adrian said in a formal tone.

The negotiations were pleasant, but Harry just thought it was because both men knew one another and neither wanted to take advantage of the other, which was a nice change since he was used of people trying to get more than what should be offered. Harry joined in when Sirius mention that the Potter house wishing to seek an alliance as well with the Greengrass house. This surprised Adrian, but he accepted it and more negotiations were needed.

"I think you will get an owl from Augusta soon about an alliance with the Longbottom house" Sirius said after they finished their talks.

"Why is that?" Adrian asked.

"Because the Black house has one with Longbottom and you know that Potter and Longbottom has always been allied with one another for centuries" Sirius said, "not mention the Bones and Longbottoms alliance."

"You old dog, you're planning on uniting all of the Ancient and Noble houses, you know that has never been done for in a very long time" Adrian said.

"It has to be done, Voldemort is back and we will not be ready for him as we are now" Harry said.

This shocked Adrian as he heard this coming from a fifteen-year-old's mouth.

"I see Harry, maybe I should've added my daughter in our negotiations" Adrian said.

Harry blushed slightly.

"Thanks for the offer Lord Greengrass, but I already have a girlfriend and she will be the next Lady Potter" Harry said firmly.

Adrian could see that this was no bluff and nodded.

"That's fine Harry, it was only a jest. Daphne has told me about your relationship with Miss Granger" Adrian said, "and please call me Adrian."

Harry nodded.

"Well since we've done what we came here to do, let's open a bottle and celebrate" Sirius said.

"Excellent suggestion Sirius, you always had great ideas" Adrian said chuckling.

Harry smiled as he left the men to drink. He went to find Daphne and Hermione talking with one another.

"So how'd it go?" Hermione asked spotting Harry first.

"Great, we have an alliance with the Greengrass family" Harry said.

Hermione squealed and hugged Harry tightly. Daphne smiled and hugged Harry after Hermione.

"So my dad wasn't too hard?" Daphne asked.

"Well I think it helped that I got those lessons on pureblood things because if I hadn't I'd be out of my depth that and Sirius was with me" Harry said.

The three than discussed what they could train Daphne in and the Slytherin got excited with what she would learn.

Later when Harry, Hermione and Sirius were gone Adrian came up to Daphne.

"I heard from Sirius that he and his friend are teaching Harry and his friends to defend themselves" Adrian said.

"Yes father" Daphne answered.

"Would you care to join them?" Adrian asked.

Daphne held in her exuberant response and answered in a polite and proper way.

"Yes I would father."

"I see then, go pack you'll be staying with them for the rest of the summer" Adrian said.

Daphne squealed and kissed her father on the cheek then went to pack. Leaving a smiling Adrian behind.

/Scene Break/

When Daphne arrived this brought a new element that was missing to the group as they had courage, loyalty, and knowledge in spades, but what they were missing was cunning and Daphne brought that. She quickly caught up with the others as she was never to be behind in anything. She also helped provide more insight on the Pureblood culture since she had been surrounded by it since birth.

"This is all rubbish" Harry groaned.

"I know Harry, but you have to learn this" Hermione said.

"Why do I have to when I'm trying to get rid of it?" Harry asked.

"So you can infiltrate the ranks with ease" Daphne said.

"You're pure Slytherin you know" Harry said.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Daphne said.

/Scene Break/

As the group trained Daphne got to know the four better and she was happy how easy it was to be accepted by them, but she knew that to have their trust was not to be taken lightly. She also found something else interesting. She liked how she could be herself and not have to put on her ice princess persona that she had to put on when in school. They genuinely liked her for who she was and not who her family and connected to. It was a real changed, though a very good one.

/Scene Break/

As the summer wound down Harry and friends found that the newspaper has been blasting him, claiming he was an attention seeking brat who was probably mentally unstable. They knew that the Ministry was behind this so that annoyed them very much. They got a letter from Amelia Bones telling them that she believed Harry and she was doing her best to squash the rumors. But sadly most of the wizarding world believed what they read and now thought of Harry as a deranged person of some kind.

Harry didn't care since the people who knew him and believed him were the only ones that counted.

/Scene Break/

Harry was reading in the library when he heard a loud squeal which caused him to look up, luck for him as a brown missile attacked him.

"I did it! I made it!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry was confused.

"I made prefect Harry" Hermione squealed.

Harry smiled.

"Congratulation love" Harry said hugging his girlfriend.

"Oh Harry, here's your letter" Hermione said handing over an envelope.

Harry took it and opened to hear something drop. Hermione picked it up only to snog Harry senseless. By the time she was through Harry was dazed, but had a goofy smile on his face.

"You're a prefect with me Harry" Hermione squealed.

Harry was still dazed by the snog, but his goofy grin got wider.

The rest of the afternoon Harry and Hermione enjoyed their time together, but had to go and get some dinner since their stomachs demanded it. When they got to the kitchen a banner was up and it read: 'Congratulations Harry and Hermione!'

"I knew you'd be selected Harry" Neville said clapping Harry on the back.

"Uh, thanks Neville, but how did you know?" Harry asked.

"We heard Hermione" Sirius said smirking.

Hermione blushed deep red at this.

"Come on, this is a time to celebrate" Remus said smiling.

"But Moony, Harry wouldn't be able to pull any pranks now that he's a prefect" Sirius whined.

"Padfoot I think you are forgetting that I was a prefect too, and yet I still pulled pranks" Remus said.

"Oh, right" Sirius said now realizing this.

"Harry will do no such thing" Hermione stated firmly.

Luna giggled and smiled.

The little party was quite fun as the five friends and two marauders celebrated Harry and Hermione's new positions. They began to also ponder who else made prefect in their year.

"Malfoy is probably prefect for Slytherin" Daphne said.

"Oh joy, like I didn't have to put up with the git enough already" Harry said.

"What is Dumbledore thinking of making him a prefect?" Neville asked.

"He thinks that he can redeem Malfoy, but the ferret is a lost cause" Harry said.

"Harry" Hermione chided.

"Oh give it a rest Mione, you know it's true. After everything that has happened since we first got to Hogwarts the ferret hasn't changed at all" Harry said.

"Harry is right Hermione, Malfoy struts around the Slytherin common room like he owns it" Daphne said.

Hermione frowned, but nodded.

"Enough of that this is party let's celebrate" Sirius said.

They forgot all about Malfoy and drank, laughed and partied the whole night. The next morning was unpleasant. Harry awoke with his arms around Hermione. They were in the sitting room and it was trashed. Harry adjusted his glasses, which he never took off and scanned the room. He found Neville and Luna in an interesting position that would be good teasing material later. Daphne was asleep in a chair with her usually perfect hair a mess holding a bottle of butterbeer and smiling. Remus was asleep and tangled up with one, Nymphadora Tonks. This made Harry quirk a brow as he vaguely remembered Tonks stopping by sometime last night. Sirius was lying on the floor sprawled out and snoring softly.

"Morning Harry."

Harry turned his head and found a smiling Hermione.

"Morning love" Harry said.

Hermione beamed and kissed Harry.

"We should get up" Harry suggested.

"No, too comfortable" Hermione whined and snuggled into Harry's side.

"I guess we can stay like this for a little while longer" Harry said.

"I knew there was a reason to date you" Hermione said before she fell back to sleep.

It was noon when everyone awoke and started to move about. Tonks was grateful that today was her day off or she'd be in big trouble. After everyone was showered and dressed they decided to forego training today since it was late in the day to start.

"So what should we do?" Neville asked as he kept one arm around Luna as he ate.

Neville and Luna barely were apart since they awoke and liked their newfound closeness and didn't care who saw it.

/Scene Break/

Meanwhile the rest of the wizarding world read in the newspaper about a delusional Harry Potter and his claims that Voldemort has come back was a fabrication.

"This is utter bullshit" Ginny said slamming down the newspaper down on the table.

"Ginerva, Language" Molly said.

"Well it is mom, how could they write those things about Harry?" Ginny asked as she crossed her arms.

"Ginny honey, the Ministry controls the paper" Arthur said.

"That's not fair, it means that the Ministry can print anything and people will believe it" Ginny said.

Molly was shocked at this side of Ginny.

"I spent a lot of time with Hermione this year and she helped me open my eyes to the wizarding world and its backwards ways" Ginny explained.

"I see" Molly said frowning.

"Oh mom, you're so old fashion. The wizarding world isn't going to survive the way it is now" Ginny said.

Arthur was intrigued with this new Ginny and decided to see how much thought his youngest had put into this. This then led to a discussion of how the muggle world was better than the wizarding one and what could be done to improve the wizarding world to match the muggle one.

Molly sat watching this a growing frown on her face. She didn't want to change, everything was going fine with the way things were, with the exception of Voldemort being back. She didn't want her children to go through this and she planned to keep them out of it as much as possible.

/Scene Break/

Dumbledore sat back and smiled, he was quite happy with how things were going and thanks to the progress reports from the two marauders he was pleased to see that Harry was growing into a very powerful and talented wizard. He knew he made the right choice with not overriding Minerva's choice of Gryffindor prefects. He was originally going have the young Weasley lad become prefect, but after what happened this previous year and the progress Harry has made he decided to not interfere. Though he wasn't happy with the Ministry and Fudge now trying to take over the school. Fudge has placed one of his own in Hogwarts since he couldn't find a teacher for DADA. He knew Harry was going to have a hard time this year, but knew that the boy would make it through. After all the boy had what he needed to win. Love.

/Scene Break/

Amelia Bones was a hard working witch and got to her position by hard work and determination. She was a Hufflepuff after all. But she knew when to ask for help and she knew the time was now. Fudge was being a baby and being fed bribes daily by one Lucius Malfoy, though she knew she didn't have any evidence. But that was besides the point right now. She needed allies and she knew who she needed in her corner. Harry Potter. She heard from her niece, Susan, what Harry has done in school, though she took it with a grain of salt since some of the things her niece told her was too fantastic to believe in the wizarding world. So she sent a letter to Harry asking to meet with him at his earliest convenience. She got a reply asking her to meet him in a muggle location, which made her rethink a few things about the lad.

/Scene Break/

Harry, Hermione and Sirius sat in a private booth waiting for Amelia Bones.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Lord Black, it's a pleasure to meet you" Amelia said.

"Madam Bones, nice to see you too" Sirius said bowing.

After the formalities were finished they ordered then got down to business.

"Mr. Potter, I asked to meet with you so I could get a better understanding of you as a person" Amelia said.

"Please call me Harry" Harry said.

Amelia smiled, she liked this boy already.

"Fine, you can call me Amelia in private settings" Amelia said, "and that goes for you as well Miss Granger and you too Lord Black."

"Hermione, Amelia" Hermione said.

Amelia nodded.

"Well Amelia, what is it you want to know?" Harry asked.

"Well I heard a lot of things about you from my niece Susan, but if what she says is true then we have much to discuss" Amelia said.

What did she have to say?" Harry asked.

Amelia then told Harry what Susan has told her, the old witch felt like a gossip, but that didn't detour her. What her niece has gathered was pretty factual, but that was a given since she taught her to go with the facts and never buy into speculation unless it had a solid weight.

"Amelia what Susan has told you is pretty much true, though I can fill the blanks to help you get a better picture" Harry said.

"I'd be delighted" Amelia said.

"Good, but let's have our meal then I'll show you some memories" Harry said.

Amelia agreed to the plan.

/Scene Break/

After the meal Harry, Hermione, and Sirius brought Amelia back to Grimmauld Place, they told her the secret and then led her into the sitting room where a Pensieve was waiting along with Neville, Luna, Daphne, and Remus. After they all greeted one another Hermione began to open a vial that contained Harry's first year.

Amelia was quite shocked at what she saw, Harry's first year involved facing the one who killed his parents and the fact that a rare magical artifact was hidden in a school full of children didn't escape her either. Not to mention how easy the traps were and that three first years with little magical training was able to get by them with ease. Harry's second year made her see the biggest damn snake she had ever seen. The fact that he slew the beast with barely a scratch was quite astounding. Harry's third year was interesting to watch and she marveled that Harry can produce a full corporeal patronus, which is hard to do even if you are a full-grown wizard. She wasn't happy that Fudge didn't even try to hear them out and was going to have Sirius kissed without even hearing what the man had to say. Harry's fourth year she was amazed how the young man was able to match his competitor even though they had three years of magical training more than him. Watching Voldemort raise was scary and she was pleased at the way the other Champions helped Harry out. The final memory shown was Fudge denying Voldemort's return.

"Harry, I can see that a war is coming and that Fudge is going to do nothing to help prevent or prepare for it. The Bones house asks for an alliance with the Potter house" Amelia said.

Harry blinked and looked at Sirius, who was grinning like a loon.

"Amelia, I agree that Fudge is only damaging us and the Potter house accepts your alliance" Harry said.

Amelia nodded and after some negotiations and with a final handshake an alliance was created between the two houses. The conversation then turned to what they could do to help their side. Amelia found that Harry already had an alliance with Longbottom and Greengrass and of course with Black. This had the gears working overtime in her head with the Bones now in the alliance that meant the fives Ancient and Noble houses are united for the first time in ages. Yes, each Ancient and Noble house had a good amount of power, but together they are an unstoppable force with enough votes to make a difference. They ended their talks with Amelia making plans to talk to Adrian Greengrass about an alliance to strengthen their cause.

/Scene Break/

Come pup, we have to get to Diagon Alley to get your supplies" Sirius called.

"Coming Sirius" Harry called back.

Harry and Hermione came downstairs along with Luna and Neville with Daphne trailing. They looked tired, but happy.

"Alright let's get going" Sirius said.

They headed to the floo, which Harry griped at since he hated to travel this way. Landing in the Leaky Cauldron Harry landed on his butt with Hermione giggling at him.

"Very funny Mione, now help me up" Harry grumbled.

Hermione shook her head and helped her boyfriend up. After that they set off to Diagon Alley. After a short stop at Gringotts to get some money they went to get their supplies. The teens decided to stick together while Sirius, Remus and Tonks who tagged along did their own shopping.

End of chapter


A/N: sorry to cut it off right here, but it just felt right to end it right here. Thanks for reading and please review.