Choosing Sides

A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter. Once again, I have stolen things. The Rt. Hon. Malcolm Rifkind PC QC MP was the real-world Secretary of State of Defense in the latter half of 1992. I mean no disrespect whatever by using him in this fic.

/Telepathy/

[[Parseltongue]]

**Private thoughts**

(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)

July 7, 1992 Black Manor

It had been a very long three days for one Draco Malfoy. He'd done a lot of thinking, once he'd been freed of that thrice-damned spell. Well, mostly. Freed to the point he no longer need concern himself about it, at any rate.

Draco knew himself well enough to know he didn't have his father's flair for the political arena ... at least, not yet. But even he could see the writing on the wall. Black and Potter were allied. Potter's name would bring just about every Light-aligned House flocking to his banner, and Black would gather the neutrals and those in the Dark camp who really didn't want to be there. The conclusion was foregone. Somehow, some way, Voldemort was going to be permanently defeated.

A year ago, that would have dismayed him to the depths of his soul. Now, though ... now, things were much different. Now, he was rather bitterly irritated with himself for so thoroughly alienating himself from Potter. But perhaps there was a way he could regain some sort of favor in Potter's eyes. He would need an ally and go-between with the Slytherins in school. And Draco may have been quiet the last half of first year, but really, he was a firstie. His father's prominence aside, no firstie could hope to truly rule Slytherin House. For that matter, neither could a Second Year. But he could begin working on his yearmates, and the new firsties, and the third years. Feel them out, see which ones were fanatically loyal to the Dark Lord and which ones weren't.

The complication there was that while the kids might not be followers, the parents could be, and would be exceedingly displeased (to put it mildly) with their offspring for defecting. Which meant they'd need somewhere safe to stay, if they did take that option. But would Potter ... or Black ... be willing to house Slytherin defectors that weren't close-kin? Sure, pretty much every pureblood family had some relation to Black, and through Black to Potter, but in most cases, it was quite a few generations removed, now.

Eventually, he finally decided to approach his (human) caretaker. Who happened to be one of those fairly closely related relatives. She was the daughter of his great-great grandfathers' little brother. Not closely related, but close enough.

He tracked Cedrella down to one of the drawing rooms.

"Hello Draco." Cedrella said when she spotted him. "Looking for a bit of tea?" She asked.

Draco wasn't fooled. He'd not exactly taken care to ensure his face was blank, so it was probably pretty clear he had something on his mind. That said, Cedrella was a Slytherin, and knew better than to ask him straight out. Only Gryffindors were that blunt and straight forward.

"That would be appreciated, yes." He said. "Thank you."

Cedrella called for Kreacher, who popped in, out, and then back in again, this time with a tray holding cups, pot, and plates of sandwiches.

There was quiet for a bit as tea was poured and doctored according to taste, and both it and the food were consumed. Only when Draco had poured himself a second cup did he finally broach the subject.

"I don't really know what to do." He finally admitted. "There is no way I'm ever going to be a Death Eater. But at the same time, I completely bollixed things with Potter, and I seriously doubt he's going to let me anywhere near him, much less listen to anything I have to say."

Cedrella smiled at Draco. "Septimus and I did not get along at all, when we were first married. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of unfortunate things said, because Septimus didn't trust me, and I initially thought him an ignorant fool." No need to say why, given the parties involved. "I eventually offered to take Veritaserum and let him question me, to set his mind at ease. After that, things improved drastically."

Draco considered that. While it would be uncomfortable, he really didn't have anything to hide. No ambitions to wipe out muggleborns or anything of that nature, even if he did think they were inferior to purebloods. "That ... would probably work with Potter." He said.

"It would at least clear the air between you." Cedrella agreed. "But I am curious as to why you would want to side with Potter openly."

Draco snorted. "Professor Snape already has." Well, he'd sided openly by Slytherin standards, anyway, which was markedly more subtle than the other houses' versions. "But there's only so much he can do with the students. They're not about to go to him if they're thinking of jumping ship. And they're for damn sure not going to approach Potter himself, either."

Cedrella nodded. "So they need a go-between, someone who speaks their language and understands their concerns, and can convey that to Harry."

"And Harry's going to need to know who to watch out for ... who the die-hard Voldemort supporters are." Draco continued. "Which will be fairly easy to ferret out, but only by someone in the House who interacts with them in private."

Because Slytherins almost never gave such things away in public. And everyone in that category would be being very careful around Professor Snape, knowing he'd chosen the other side, and was, to put it bluntly, a hellaciously dangerous enemy. Who knew everything that was said and done in the dorms. The going explanation for that one was the house elves, but Draco wasn't entirely convinced, himself. All he knew was that there was no detectable spellwork involved.

"Will you contact him for me?" Draco asked. Draco had no idea where Potter was at, and was not permitted in the room with the floo, so he couldn't overhear anything, or try to go anywhere. Not that he was really wanting to take off, but Cedrella was taking precautions.

Cedrella nodded. "Yes. It'll have to wait until later, as he's in session right now, but I'll contact him."

July 7, 1992 Wizengamot

Sirius was so very much looking forward to today. He'd dropped one hell of a bombshell on the Wizengamot yesterday, and now it was time to see what sort of reaction there was going to be, now that people'd had a bit of a chance to stop and think.

Harry wasn't quite as thrilled with going back to the Wizengamot, but he supposed he'd eventually get used to it. He twitched and fussed at his robes until Hedwig, perched on his shoulder, had enough of his squirming and nipped his ear.

/Relax, Harry-chick. You survived yesterday, didn't you? And that was with the Queen showing up. Today will be easy by comparison. Remember, Sirius will be the one taking all the heat. You just get to sit and watch./

Harry snorted, but then relaxed. Hedwig had a point. As usual. /What would I do without you, Hedwig?/

/Aren't you glad you'll never have to find out?/ Hedwig asked, her voice smug, pleased, amused and deeply affectionate all at once.

/You have no idea./ "All right, Sirius. Let's get this over with." Harry said aloud.

Sirius gave Harry a commiserating grin. "Yeah, then we can get back here and have some fun." He led the way to the floo.

This time, while the Black/Potter Alliance members entered together, it was not with the deliberate pomp and circumstance of the day before, where they'd more or less literally marched in in rows by rank, specifically to make a point. This time, they walked in in a more normal knot.

Not that the knot was having less of an effect on everyone than the by-ranks march of the day before. If anything, the fact that they were grouped together in a knot was more interesting to their observers.

Harry and Neville, the only underage attendees in the group, had automatically been surrounded by the adults. But neither Sirius nor Augusta was hovering closest to the two boys, as both of them were towards the outside of the knot, talking with other adults. It was Septimus and Moody that were hovering over the boys, Moody blatantly giving everyone the evil eye, hand hovering over his holstered wand. Which had been holstered only because it was required by law to be holstered in the chamber. Septimus was chatting with both boys, though anyone not in the knot would have been unable to eavesdrop by any means ... not only had Septimus cast anti-spying spells before they came in, so had Moody. And the other adults had all cast anti-spying spells over their own conversations, too, which meant that everyone's spells were overlapping and strengthening each other.

They'd arrived far earlier today than they had the day before, on purpose. It didn't take long for the first of the Wizengamot members not in the alliance to wander over. Incredibly, it wasn't Dumbledore leading the charge.

Harry spent the next half-hour deeply grateful to both Augusta's instruction and Sirius' able mimicry. Also, Septimus and Moody's immediate presence, which scared off the nastier sorts. Not to mention Hedwig, since their bond allowed him to snark and boggle without mortally offending anyone. Because the various Lords were every bit as bad as Sirius had made them out to be, if not worse. When everyone finally had to split up to go to their assigned seats, Harry blew a relieved mental breath.

/Thank Merlin that's over. Gah. I didn't think it was possible for Sirius to be understating how bad they'd be, but he was./

Hedwig laughed. /Just think, you have over a century of dealing with people like that to look forward to./

Harry barely managed to keep his sputtering mental. /Gee, thanks, Hedwig. Just remember, you have that long of dealing with them to look forward to as well, because if you think I'm going to suffer this in silence ... / He fought down a snicker at the blast of amused irritation he got from Hedwig, along with the ear nip followed by a brief hair-preen.

Malcolm Davis called the meeting to order, then gave the door behind him a look, waiting a moment before he attempted to continue. After yesterday, he wasn't about to take it on faith that the Queen wasn't here. When the door didn't open, he turned back around and got down to business.

"Lord Malfoy, I believe you had a new issue you wished to bring before this body?" Malcolm said, glancing over at Lucius.

Lucius took a deep breath as he got to his feet. This was not going to be easy, even if it would be fun. It had been a long time since Lucius had faced a new challenge. He'd long since learned how to work around Dumbledore.

"I did. But I first feel I must address Lord Black's statements." Lucius said. "He claimed we were afraid, due to a brief period of persecution. I wonder if close to a thousand years can be called brief. He said our world has become troubled and shrunken because of fear. And why should we not be afraid? Not only do muggles kill us in droves, but muggleborns pollute and destroy our society and traditions at will."

You could have heard a pin drop from a mile away. Everyone in the room was riveted, wondering what Sirius' comeback was going to be. Most of the folks not allied to one side or the other were actually sitting forward in their seats a bit, even if they half-expected to hear more of the sort of half-truths and worthless reassurances that Dumbledore handed out like candy.

Sirius had a very disconcerting smirk on his face as he got to his feet. "A thousand years of persecution, you say? Not hardly. It is true we were hunted down for a time. Back in the four hundreds, and again in the sixteen hundreds. For roughly a hundred years, both times. Then things died down. There are still the odd individuals that hunt witches, but it's been several hundred years since it was a government-subsidized sport."

"As for muggleborns polluting and destroying our society and traditions ... yes, that happens. But it's hardly their fault." That admittance got a reaction from the crowd, a sort of surprised murmur. Sirius started pacing, much as he had the day before. "Since the secrecy act was put into place, muggleborn children have only been informed of their status when they turn eleven. This gives them, at most, eleven months to learn everything their same-age pureblood counterparts know. Things it took their pureblood counterparts the entire previous eleven years to learn. How then is it the muggleborns' faults when they don't know everything? How can we blame them for not knowing things when they've simply not had time to learn them?"

Sirius turned to face Lucius. "You want the Muggleborns to stop stepping on pureblood toes? Tell their parents what they are the moment they're identified. Have them be sponsored in the wizarding world by a pureblood, who would be responsible for their education in social interaction and tradition."

Sirius was deeply tempted to go on a 'and besides, not all traditions are good ones' rant, but knew he'd lose his audience if he did that now. "Besides, Lord Malfoy ... nothing you can do will stop muggleborns from being born. I'm sure you remember your lessons on what happens if magical ability is left untrained."

That one got a flinch out of everyone. Because left untrained, a wizard's life inevitably ended in tragedy. Either their magic went wild and ended up killing them or driving them insane, or they started experimenting with this 'mysterious ability' and killed themselves or worse.

"I am fairly sure that several dozen cases or more a year of people exhibiting out of control magical abilities would cause more problems than teaching them what they need to know to control themselves." Sirius said. "The answer to the so-called Muggleborn problem has never been isolation, or legislating them to within an inch of their lives in an effort to control them and their effect on our world. It's a shame that no one has managed to see that before now."

After that, the wrangling truly began. Harry watched as Lucius and Sirius went at each other over ... well, pretty much everything Sirius had outlined that he wanted to do, the day before. Again and again, Lucius tried to make Sirius look bad, one way or another, but Sirius had clearly been planning this for a while, because he had calm, reasoned answers for every jab. And unless Harry was much mistaken, Sirius looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

And as Harry watched, he saw more and more people not in the Alliance go from neutral or skeptical expressions to thoughtful ones and even an occasional agreeing expression. There was, of course, still the die hard Death Eaters, and Dumbledore's much-shrunken pool of loyal supporters, but it was becoming clear that more and more people were beginning to lean towards agreeing with Sirius. Whether they would actively choose sides or not remained unknown.

Finally, eventually, the session wrapped up, with Sirius and Lucius having hashed out quite a few things in all their arguing. Lucius didn't look too terribly pleased with the results, but Harry wasn't sure if that was play-acting or not. Sirius, on the other hand, was deeply, smugly pleased with how things had played out if the look on his face as they walked out was anything to go by.

They'd been home for less than an hour when Cedrella contacted them, letting them know about Draco. Harry shared a look with Sirius, then sighed and agreed to talk to Draco the next day.

July 7, 1992 Bones Manor

Amelia Bones sighed as she flopped into her favorite chair in the drawing room. The last two days in the Wizengamot had been unexpectedly eye-opening.

Oh, she'd known something was going to happen. How could it not, with Sirius free? Sirius had a hell of an axe to grind with the Wizengamot, and Amelia had foreseen him doing something to spit in their faces for that reason alone when she'd set him loose.

It had been part of the reason she hadn't, thus far, thrown her weight behind the Alliance, the other part being that she had made a point of staying out of the various alliances in the Wizengamot over the years. She hadn't been entirely sure that this wasn't going to be a revenge stunt. But it was clear now that Sirius had more than revenge on his mind. He'd thought this through. Possibly had done so while he was still a student, or more probably, during his long years in Azkaban. Whichever it was, he knew exactly what he wanted, and clearly had at least a fairly good idea of how to get it.

That alone, of course, wasn't enough to get Amelia to sign on. She wasn't famous for her impartiality, incorruptibility and sense of justice for nothing. She wasn't about to put her hat in with someone whose ideals she didn't agree with as close to one hundred percent as humanly possible.

Thing was, Sirius was going after every unjust, unfair thing in the lawbooks that Amelia had always hated, and quite a few she hadn't had the time or energy to waste on hating. His suggestions were reasonable, and almost entirely in line with what Amelia thought.

Better still, from everything Amelia had heard through the grapevine, Sirius had not once attempted to blackmail, frighten, or buy supporters. He may have tailored his recruitment speech according to who he was trying to get to join his cause, but it seemed like he'd only emphasized the parts of his scheme that he knew a person would like best. He hadn't, at least as far as Amelia could tell, lied to anyone about what he was up to. After dealing with the other Wizengamot members, many of whom lied as easily as breathing, the honesty was refreshing, and very appealing.

In short, there was a long list of reasons supporting taking sides, and an incredibly short list of reasons not to. Amelia sighed as she called her house-elf to bring parchment, quill and ink. She'd been putting Lord Black off long enough. It looked like she was going to be picking sides.

July 7, 1992 Buckingham Palace

By the time Elizabeth and Phillip had returned to the palace, it had been entirely too late at night to summon anyone for a meeting right then. Elizabeth had settled for summoning everyone to a meeting just after breakfast in the morning.

As it was to be a working meeting, not a state one, both Elizabeth and Phillip were relatively dressed down, in a suit dress and suit respectively. At nine in the morning precisely, a total of ten people were gathered in one of the smaller, more private meeting rooms near the royal living quarters.

The men and women thus summoned got very grim-faced when they saw the company they were keeping when they arrived. None of them were anywhere near being idiots, and when the Heads of three national anti-terrorism units, the head of MI5, and the Secretary of State of Defense were all present, each with their most trusted subordinates at their sides, it was pretty clear to everyone in the room that something big was going on. Big and nasty.

Elizabeth and Phillip walked in then, seating themselves across from the group.

"We thank you for coming." Elizabeth said. "As you can see by whom has been asked to attend, we have a very serious matter to discuss."

Elizabeth and Phillip took turns explaining the existence (and concealment) of the magical world, providing proof of magic's existence by casting a few spells each. Understandably, there were a lot of questions the gathered company had to ask, so it was well past lunch before Elizabeth and Phillip could get around to the reason for why everyone had been summoned.

"Unfortunately, not all news regarding this matter is good." Elizabeth said. Then she and Phillip explained the Voldemort situation, and the fact that the muggle world would likely come under attack sometime soon.

"We are trusting Lord Black to get the magical world back in line." Elizabeth said. "He seems quite a sensible man, especially given what he has suffered. But we must needs prepare to defend ourselves when these Death Eaters decide to target non-magicals. Which I have been assured by Lord Black will happen, sooner rather than later."

She turned to her Secretary of State of Defense. "Mr. Rifkind, much of the burden of organization shall fall to you, on this matter. We are at your disposal for any further information you require in order to plan an effective defense."

Rifkind nodded, looking grim-faced. He was going to be very, very busy. "I would like to observe at least one battle typical for magic-users." He admitted. "It would aid in knowing how best to organize things and warn your various units without alerting them to what, exactly, they're up against." Because Rifkind completely agreed with keeping the existence of magic from general knowledge, especially right now. He knew that if people discovered the existence of magic during a magical war, they'd come to the conclusion that magic was bad, period. Which would lead to tragedy. If there was to be any chance at all of magicals reintegrating at some point in the future, the discovery of the existence of magic needed to happen when magicals weren't trying to kill each other and any non-magicals that got in their way in the process.

"I'll speak with Lord Black and ensure a demonstration is available as soon as possible." Elizabeth promised. That would, of course, have to wait, as she knew he would be in the Wizengamot right now.

After that, she and Phillip mostly sat back and let the others hash possibilities out among themselves, only speaking up when necessary to provide a bit of information or nudge the group away from an idea they knew wouldn't work. Once evening fell, Elizabeth left long enough to floo-call Sirius.

July 7, 1992 Potter Castle

It was proving to be a very busy day, Harry thought. No sooner had they returned home, than the floo had lit up, with Cedrella calling.

The news that Draco wanted to talk to him, and was willing to take veritaserum, was a bit of a shock, but after a bit of thought about it, Harry decided to agree. Draco had been a complete jerk the first half of the year, it was true, but Harry was willing to believe he'd had a chance of heart, given what had happened to him.

Sirius had sent Toker after Severus, since Severus would know if they had veritaserum and its antidote on hand, and if it was viable (if it was from the Castle's preserved stock), as well as knowing how much to administer. Severus arrived in the Entrance Parlor a few minutes later, and he and Harry departed for Black Manor.

Mere minutes after they'd left, Sirius, much to his surprise, found himself fielding a call from the Queen, which he hadn't expected for at least another couple of days.

"Of course, your Majesty. We can very easily arrange a dueling demonstration. The only question would be where to do it." Sirius thought things over. He didn't want to bring so many people to Potter Castle, and Black Manor didn't have anywhere big enough for a duel. But if he recalled correctly, the Potters had a farming property that would be ideal ... plenty of room to move, and easily hidden from outside eyes, if it wasn't already. "I think I have a place in mind, but I need to make sure. Hang on just a moment." Sirius pulled his head out of the floo and then called for Toker.

"Toker." He said once the Head elf had appeared. "Am I right in thinking that the Potters have a good-sized farming property somewhere?"

"Yes, Master Sirius, you is right." Toker said. "They is having several."

"Oh, even better. Are any of them laying fallow right now?" Sirius asked.

Toker thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, two of them is, Master Sirius."

"Excellent, where are those two, and how big are they?"

Toker told him, and Sirius thanked him, then returned to the fire to tell Elizabeth where the demonstration could take place.

"Whenever is convenient for your advisors is fine ... I can get a group of people together for a demonstration very quickly." Sirius said.

Elizabeth nodded. "Let us plan for tomorrow, then, as my advisors need this information to plan appropriately."

Sirius nodded. "You got it. I'll send word out yet tonight, see who can come play tomorrow."

"Our thanks, Lord Black. Until tomorrow." Elizabeth said, then removed herself from the fire.

Less than an hour after that, Sirius received Amelia's owl, with her agreement to take sides with the Alliance. Sirius whooped and did a war-dance around the office where the owls delivered mail, grinning like a fiend. He had done something no one else had ever managed ... got Amelia to take sides. That was one hell of a coup, especially since he hadn't done a damn thing to force it. He'd contacted her the once and then backed off, let her make up her own mind.

Dumbledore was going to have kittens.

July 7, 1992 Black Manor

Harry hadn't quite been sure what to expect when he and Severus arrived at Black Manor, but Cedrella and Draco sitting calmly in one of the parlors, having a late tea and, apparently, quite civil conversation, hadn't been it.

"Hello Cedrella." Harry greeted her, then took a breath. "And Draco."

"Lord Potter, Professor Snape." Cedrella and Draco both said, their words overlapping one another.

Harry sat down, as did Severus. "Severus brought the veritaserum, but I'd like to do this without it." Harry said.

Draco nodded. "I really don't plan on lying to you anyway, so I appreciate that." He'd hoped Harry wouldn't use the stuff, but had been prepared to deal with it if he had.

"Basically, there is no way on this earth I am ever becoming a Death Eater, or going to help them accomplish their aims." Draco said, then shuddered. "Not after that bedamned spell. I can't lie and tell you I think muggleborns are best or anything like that, but ... " Draco grimaced and trailed off.

"But believing purebloods are best is very different from running around torturing and killing muggleborns." Harry said, which had Draco nodding. "Fair enough."

"I do want to help you, though." Draco said. "And I think I have a good idea how. You're ... well, you. And a Gryffindor to boot. The vast majority of the kids whose parents were Death Eaters won't come anywhere near you, even if they're having second thoughts." Draco snorted. "And they won't approach Professor Snape about it, either. At least, not right now. Everyone in Slytherin realizes he's changed sides, but most of them are convinced it's some sort of trick, that Professor Snape's actually only pretending to be on your side, so that he can snatch you up and deliver you to the Dark Lord at the first opportunity."

"And if that is true, speaking to me of their concerns would be dangerous." Professor Snape said with a nod. "I had assumed such was the case."

"But I'm one of them. I can talk to them, and they might just listen. And I can listen in on them, find out who's wavering and who's totally loyal." Draco said. "I may even be able to sway a few to your side ... it's not like our parents were all that honest about what they were required to do as Death Eaters. Finding out the truth would shake quite a few of them up."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"But that brings us to a big problem." Draco said. "Because while the kids may be wavering, or not wanting to serve Voldemort, their parents might be wholly loyal. And trying to buck their parents will not go well."

"Which means some or all of them will need somewhere safe to spend summers at least until they're seventeen." Harry said. "And some may well need money to get started in life, if their parents decide to disown them." He nodded. "I can do that. I have a bunch of properties they can stay at. I'd have to talk to Sirius about getting them set up for long-term occupation but that wouldn't take long ... it'd be ready by the time school starts again." He shot Draco a look. "I wouldn't be willing to shell out thousands of galleons per person, but I'd be happy to give anyone that needs it enough to get started with, either that or free room and board at one of my properties until they get a job. All they'd have to do in return is give an oath to not aid Voldemort or any of his supporters in any way."

Draco nodded. "That's fair." He agreed. "I can spread the word on that with those that might be interested."

Harry considered for a few moments, then finally offered. "Draco ... you could come to the Castle, if you want? Fair warning, the twins are living there, since they're Severus' apprentices, and most of the other Weasleys will be in and out."

Draco grimaced a bit. Weasleys. Faugh. But then again ... as with serving Voldemort, the Malfoy-Weasley feud wasn't his doing. That had been Septimus Weasley and his father, and Draco actually had no clue why the two of them hated each other so. Lucius refused to speak of it, and Draco hadn't exactly had uninterrupted, uncontested access to anyone other than his mother that might know what had happened. and if she knew, she wasn't talking either.

Besides, they couldn't be all bad. Professor Snape would not have apprenticed the twins unless they had true merit, and the oldest two boys had, by all accounts, begun to do well for themselves. Really, the only problem would be the youngest boy, Harry's dorm mate. And if Draco had read the situation right, that particular Weasley would not be about much. For one, there didn't seem to be much in the way of friendship between Harry and the Weasley, merely tolerance. And secondly, that Weasley was a lazy lout who would be disinclined to anything even remotely resembling scholastic effort during the summer. So Draco would probably be dealing primarily with the more tolerable Weasleys, of the children. And staying here, with just himself, Cedrella, and two house elves for company would drive him insane in short order. Oh, speaking of!

"Would Nippy, my house-elf, be permitted to enter the Castle?" Draco asked.

Harry grimaced. "I'd have to talk to Sirius and Toker, our head elf, about that. If she was allowed in, she'd be limited in what she could do and where she could go." Because Harry was not thrilled with the idea of letting an elf that was bound to someone else have free reign in the Castle.

"Fair enough." Draco said.

Harry nodded. "I'll talk things over with Sirius, and let you know what's going on tomorrow." He sighed. "And we'd better get going. We've got another long day tomorrow, at this rate."

They all said their goodbyes and headed out. Once they were back in the Castle, Harry turned to Severus.

"What do you think?" He asked.

Severus cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me?" He wanted to know.

"Because you're a Slytherin, and know how they think, and I don't." Harry said. "Besides, you saw more of him last year than I did. So you know him a bit better."

Severus gave an amused snort. "He is sincere." He said. "He was being positively transparent, for a Slytherin, but I imagine he realized that he had more to gain with full honesty than with word games."

Harry nodded. "All right. I'll talk to Sirius and then we'll figure out where to go from there." He said, then headed off to find his godfather, and his familiar, since he'd left Hedwig at the Castle because of her dislike of floo travel (and she'd already had to travel by floo twice today).

He found Sirius in the third-floor family room, on one of the couches closest to their rooms and the portrait of Harry's parents, talking quietly with James. Harry flopped down next to him, and waved at the portrait.

"Hi dad."

"Hello, Harry. Long day?" James asked, looking faintly amused at Harry's loose-limbed exhaustion.

Harry lifted a hand lazily to pet Hedwig when she flew in and landed on the back of the couch by his head. "Like you wouldn't believe." Harry said. "Wizengamot, talking with Draco Malfoy ... yeesh."

"Add in talking to the queen again, and getting a letter from Amelia Bones saying she's willing to side with us." Sirius said.

Harry sat up a bit, looking surprised. "Really? But I thought you said she never took sides, and that you didn't think she'd take sides now?"

"I did." Sirius said. "I guess she liked what she was hearing in the Wizengamot yesterday and today, or something." Sirius said.

"So what did the Queen want?" Harry asked.

"She wanted to set up a dueling demonstration." Sirius said. "For her advisors, so they know what they're going to be up against. I've already contacted most of the Alliance, and about three-fourths of them are available. We're going to be heading to one of your properties, a farm that's lying fallow, tomorrow for the demonstration."

"Cool. Can us kids come watch? We're probably going to need to know, ourselves." Harry pointed out.

Sirius grimaced. "Don't remind me. But yes, you can come. The others will have to ask their parents or guardians if they can come." He reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "So what did Draco want?"

"Not all that much, really. Just to let me know that he wasn't ever going to go anywhere near the Death Eaters, which I had sort of already guessed. He'd have to have been terminally stupid to join them after what Barty did to him."

"Agreed." Sirius said. "Anything else?"

"He offered to be the go-between for the kids of Death Eaters." Harry said. "But he pointed out that some of them were going to need a safe haven if they changed sides, because some of their parents would not approve of that at all."

Sirius nodded. "Very true. That'd be easy enough to set up. You've got a number of properties going begging. I can have Bill start going over them, see which ones are the best ones for the purpose."

Harry nodded. "I thought so. I did tell Draco that they'd have to make an oath not to help Voldie or his supporters, and that if they did, they'd get the safe haven, and any of them that got disowned would either get free room and board until they got a job, or a small sum to get them started with."

Sirius nodded again. "That'll get quite a few more considering switching. Having a viable way out, and a chance at a future, rather than ending up on the streets, would make it far more tempting."

"I offered to let him stay here." Harry said. "Staying at the manor alone is bound to drive him bonkers. He asked if it would be possible for his house elf Nippy to come here."

Sirius frowned. "I'd have to talk to Toker. I'm fairly sure there's ways to limit a strange elf's movements, but I can't remember what they are offhand. Speaking of ... we haven't seen hide nor hair of that Dobby character since the other day. I wonder what he's up to?"

"Malfoy freed him, so it could be anything." Harry said.