A/N: Hope no one's guarding the sandbox… I'm headed back in.

Chapter Eleven

And The Winner Is?

Normally, if what Draco remembered about Ministry Trials was accurate, spectators and witnesses alike would generally go and grab refreshments during the time the Wizengamot deliberated a case. In this instance, however, everyone stayed in the courtroom – a quiet buzz rising from the crowd as everyone debated the myriad potential outcomes and surprising revelations that had come out during the hearing.

After a few moments, Harry elbowed Draco lightly in the side – Draco tracked his gaze, and saw that he was looking at Neville and Madam Longbottom. "Come with me," Harry practically hissed in a whisper. "I want to talk to him, but she looks scary."

Draco thought for a quick moment, then came to a decision. "Oh, alright. Just remember the manners we went over – she's really old fashioned that way, I'll bet."

And so the two made their way carefully down and over to the portion of the Box where the Longbottoms sat. Harry awkwardly bowed, keeping his eyes up as befit his station as heir of one of – no, two of the Ancient and Noble houses. Draco kept his eyes down, as while his family was powerful, it wasn't nearly as well established. "Madam Longbottom, ma'am," said Harry with a slight hesitation in his voice. "I had wondered if I might be allowed to speak with your grandson." Belatedly, he remembered what he had forgotten, and gestured to Draco. "This is my friend and Cousin, Draco Malfoy."

Augusta leaned back a bit and seemed to smile at the effort. "Of course you may speak with Neville. I'm glad to see you holding up so well, your parents would be proud of you for taking the effort to try to chart your own course."

"Thank you ma'am," said Harry, then he moved down a row to sit next to a fidgeting Neville. "Hullo," he said to the nervous boy. "You're Neville, right? I'm Harry. We're Godbrothers."

"More than you know," said the boy in a quiet voice. "Your parents were the first choice in my parents' Will. If everything had gone differently, we might have grown up together."

"I don't know how today will turn out," said Harry nervously, "but d'you suppose we could at least owl each other, and try to see each other once we get to school? I don't have much in the way of family, and it would be great to have more."

The doughy faced boy beamed at that. "Of Course! I'm sure Draco knows things to tell you I don't know, but I probably know things he doesn't too. And you can help me learn more about the Muggle world – if the subject isn't too painful for you, that is."

"The only part of the Muggle world I find painful is my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin, and I have a feeling I won't have to be dealing with them anymore. I'd be happy to teach you Neville."

It was then that, out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed Severus trying to catch their attention. He tugged at Harry's sleeve. "Harry, I hate to cut short your first meeting with your Godbrother – well, that you can remember, anyway – but I think Severus wants to tell one of us something."

"Oh. Alright. I promise I'll write you Neville!"

"Same," said the Longbottom boy.

Harry and Draco hurried back over to the Potions Master. Draco was the first to speak. "Yes, Uncle Severus?"

"Harry," he said, pausing a long time before saying any more. "You ought to know that there is longstanding bad blood between your Godfather and I. Like your Father, he was one of the boys who… did not get along with me in school. If he is cleared, I hope he has a clear mind and can let the past go – I will certainly try to. But if he cannot, please know that I will never try to make you choose between the two of us. I will always be here for you if you need me."

"Thank you Uncle Severus," said Harry, quite sincerely. "I'm guessing some part of him knows he should try to move on, given what he said under the Veratasyrup stuff."

"Veritaserum, Harry. The name comes from the Latin Veritas, which means Truth."

Harry gave a surpisingly cheeky grin. "Why do I feel like you're telling me I should be studying Latin in my spare time?"

"If you're going that route, you'll need much more than just Latin for some of the older spells. But if you feel you want to…"

"Maybe when I'm older. Or maybe I'll do it backwards and learn the roots from the spells?"

"Harry…" said Draco melodramatically. "I'm having a vision… I see Ravenclaw in your future!"

"You think so?"

Severus gave a rare chuckle. "Harry, you just debated whether it would be more fun and useful to learn the ancient languages first to recognize them in spells, or to learn the root words from the spells themselves. He may be right."

"Well, it's not Hufflepuff," said Draco.

"Oi!" Tonks shot over to them. "I was a 'puff. We're not just the leftovers you know!"

"Now if everyone would just calm down," put in Aunt Andi.

"Yes, please, no public scenes," added Aunt Cissa.

"Severus," Lucius added in a stage whisper, "you did bring the headache remedy just in case, didn't you?"

Draco noticed that everyone in the nearby section of Observer's Gallery was smiling slightly. As though it had just been confirmed to them that having the Boy-Who-Lived under the joint care of the Tonks and Malfoy families might in fact be a very good idea indeed.

MM

In relatively short order, the Wizengamot members filed back into the courtroom, and an expectant silence fell thick over all those in the Galleries. Even Minister Fudge seemed lost for words. The low ranking official took center stage in the pit once more. "Oye, oye, oye, the empaneled members of the Wizengamot have returned with their statements. Listen one, and Listen all, lest judgment fall upon ye as well."

This time the spokesperson appeared to be the youngest representative of the group. "We the duly sworn and selected representatives of the Wizengamot presiding over this hearing have reached our decisions, based on the information that has come out over the course of the proceedings. We ask that you attempt to hold your reactions until the end of our pronouncements."

She cleared her throat, and picked up a scroll that appeared to be longer than anyone had expected. "In the matter of the treatment of one Harry James Potter by his Muggle Relatives the Dursleys: Petunia and Vernon are to be entered into the Muggle justice system, whereby they will serve out a term of no less than ten years and no more than twenty in the Muggle Prison system. The Minor Child Dudley will be entered into the Muggle Reform System, where he will serve out sentence in a Muggle Juvenile Detention Facility until such time as he reaches the age of Sixteen, then he shall enter the Muggle Foster Care system, or be allowed – should his time in Detention be served peaceably – to join the junior ranks of the Muggle Military Cadets."

A minor noise of reaction began to spring up, and she pinned the crowd with her eyes to silence them. It worked, just barely. "In the matter of the lack of Trial of Sirius Orion Black: it is the recommendation of this court that he immediately be removed from detention at the Azkaban facility, and placed in holding at St. Mungo's secure ward, where he will receive treatment until he is judged sufficiently well to rejoin society and take up the mantle of Lord Black, which has hitherto been denied him. Restitution for his Pain, Suffering, and Lost Livelihood will be determined on a later date by a full quorum of the Wizengamot."

Here she paused for breath. "In the matter of actions taken by one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and the repercussions thereof: He is immediately ordered to pay restitution to the Potter Family Vaults for lost interest, figured at the current rate – to be determined by the Gringotts Goblins. An emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Governers is requested by this body with the suggestion that he be removed from his post of Headmaster. At the next full meeting of the Wizengamot, there shall be a vote of no-confidence taken against him as head of that August body, and a notice shall be sent to the high council of the ICW suggesting the same. A recommendation shall be made that he be retroactively stripped of the title Order of Merlin, First Class. And an Inquiry will be convened to determine if additional criminal charges should be brought against him."

The gasps and mumbles of reaction reached such a fever-pitch, that Minister Fudge had to frantically bang his gavel before the woman could proceed with the reading of the judgement summaries.

"Finally, in the matter of Custody of Harry James Potter: The Court approves the arrangement of temporary joint custody to be shared by the Tonks and Malfoy families, with each sharing equal access to the Minor Child known as Harry. When Lord Black has been deemed fit to take up his mantle, he will be given sole custody, but with the recommendation that the families that have had custody in the meantime continue to aid in the rearing and care of said Minor Child."

Another short breath. "These rulings, in more detail, will be available to the public through the Hall of Records as of the open of Ministry Business hours tomorrow. One additional recommendation – we believe it would be in the best interests of both if, as Lord Black begins to heal, Mr. Potter periodically be taken to visit with him at St. Mungo's with supervision."

She sat back down, and pandemonium erupted within the courtroom. For the most part, people seemed satisfied – or even happy – with the rulings. All save Dumbledore, who sat with an expression on his face that made Draco consider it might be the same as if the sour from every lemon-drop the man had ever eaten had hit him all at the same time.

Well, he had come back to change things… he just hadn't expected quite such sweeping changes quite so soon. Hopefully he hadn't messed anything up too far in the other direction.

MM

Everyone except Lucius retired to the Malfoy Manor for an impromptu victory party. Lucius, recognizing that a party atmosphere would not be conductive to business, had requested of Madam Longbottom if they could host the emergency Hogwarts Governors and Trustee Board meeting at her home. After he sweetened the deal by telling her it would go a long way towards earning her a nomination to at least the Trustee board, where a seat sat vacant at the moment, she acquiesced, and so he headed to the Longbottom estate to start calling in the entire School Council to inform them of the changes coming, and shepherd them through cobbling together the first stages of a plan. While Draco wished he could go and find out what they were deciding immediately, there was no practical way to be two places at once, and a victory party was a much more enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.

Once they had arrived back at the Manor, Aunt Andi gave Harry an impromptu once-over, and declared that his ban from strenuous activity was lifted a few days early – though he was to stop any activity if he felt strange in the slightest, and to fire-call her at home or at work if any strangeness seemed in any way worrisome.

Dora seemed to be feeling torn between spending time with the boys, or spending time with her Aunt and Parents. She had left school, and was about to begin Auror training, but just the same, she seemed as though she wasn't entirely comfortable around the adults in a casual setting just yet. "Oi," said Draco, mimicking one of her usual exclamations. "You coming, Dora?"

That seemed to successfully make up her mind for her. She made a beeline out of the study, following the boys. "Wotcher, you two," she said enthusiastically. "What's the game plan?"

"Harry hasn't decided yet," Draco informed her. "I told him he gets first pick, since it's really his day and all."

"And he doesn't know what he wants to do?" She tutted, sounding rather like one of the tutors Draco had once had.

"It's more I don't know what I don't want to do," laughed Harry. "I haven't been this free in… well, as long as I can remember!"

That thought sobered the three up for a moment. There was a long, slightly uncomfortable pause as they stood there in the hallway outside the drawing room.

"Enough gloom," Draco finally said. "On to the fun – what'll it be? Pitch, pond, Exploding Snap – you haven't gotten to play with more than two people going at a time yet."

"Oi," groaned Dora, "I'm terrible at Exploding Snap!" And that as good as made up Harry's mind for him. Apparently he didn't believe someone could be worse than a true beginner like himself.

MM

A good hour, and many, many coats of soot later, Harry and Draco had to agree that their cousin Dora was truly as awful at Exploding Snap as she'd said she was. As they were rapidly running out of replacement decks, Harry and Draco decided it should be her pick next – she was technically the guest, after all.

"Flying," she said, without a heartbeat to think over her answer. "But only because you two miscreants are too young for me to use as dueling practice," was swiftly added with a smirk.

They all made their way down to the equipment shed just outside the bounds of the half-pitch, so the boys could get their brooms. "I think we still have a few guest brooms in here," Draco told his visiting cousin. "They're in pretty good shape, only a few years out of date."

"No need," she replied, pulling a tiny box out of her pocket. When she enlarged it, they could see it was a hard-shelled broom box. She rested it against the side of the shed to open it. "I've taken to carrying it with me. Somebody told me one of the instructors at the Academy is a real stickler for always being prepared, and maybe it'll earn me some points that I'm ready to make a strategic getaway if I need to."

"So are we just flying, or trying to play?" Harry looked up at the hoops as he asked.

"One on one chaser with somebody stuck as keeper is no fun," said Dora. "Do you guys have a practice Snitch? We could do a three-way seeker's duel – it wasn't my position, but you guys really haven't been at it long enough to have settled into positions either. "

"Sure," affirmed Draco. "I'll toss it out on the grass with a countdown timer, so we'll all be in the air when it goes up."

"Great idea," she said. "Just – Harry – promise you'll say something if you start to not feel well. My Mum will have my hide if I let you faint out here on the pitch."

"I'll be fine," he assured. "But if you insist, I promise I'll faint into your broom, not onto the pitch."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

Meanwhile, Draco was already lazily circling the pitch. "Timer's counting down already you lot." He laughed as they both scrambled up into the air, still continuing their argument about Harry's health, or lack thereof.

Another hour or so later, when Harry had caught the snitch five times, and no one else had gotten even close to it, Draco looked at his new almost-brother as they landed. "You remember at the trial when I predicted Ravenclaw in your future, Harry?"

"Yeah."

"Well unless they have some professionals hidden in the tower, I predict a position on the team as Seeker for you at some point. That was amazing!"

"Harry see shiny ball. Harry catch shiny ball. Not so hard."

"Did better than us," Dora reminded him. "And I was on my house team. I was a reserve Chaser, was all, but still! You've got some natural talent, kiddo."

"You're not that much older than we are. Stop calling us kids," said Harry.

"Yeah," added Draco, with an evil look, "or we go back to calling you Nymphadora."

"Pax," she said. "I will try to remember that my two younger cousins are in fact mature gentlemen!"

At that point it was more-or-less mutually agreed on that if the festivities were planned to continue, there was likely to be lunch at some point, and they ought to go and have a look at what the adults were up to.

MM

They arrived at the Drawing Room just after Lucius, who was engrossed in explaining to the other adults how the emergency meeting had gone, and how it was he had managed to return so soon. "Evidently, I wasn't the only one who's been seeing something – not this in particular, of course – but something disastrous involving Albus coming for some time, and been quietly forming contingency plans on my own. So on the whole, the meeting moved along rather quickly. Given the old man's situation, the vote to remove was swift and unanimous. It's too close to the school year to make many real changes, but we have a few in place that will be either raised, or carried out, when we have a Board Meeting including the faculty early next week. And I think Madam Longbottom will be on the board sooner rather than later. Her plan for figuring out where we should go next year with changes was, I believe, a rather brilliant one, and shouldn't be too difficult to put into action. Although I dare say that it will be the first time that Hogwarts' Guest Quarters will be this busy in over a century. Two or three, possibly. Hopefully we'll have many coming and going."

Having wound himself down, he gratefully accepted a snifter of Cognac from his wife, and took a seat in his favorite chair of those in the room. Noticing that the youngsters had come into the space, he motioned them over. "Dora, as this isn't of high interest to you – although I know you would be interested – why don't you help the others settle on a lunch menu. Boys, I'd like a word."

Nodding, and half-mumbling "Yes, Uncle Lucius," under her breath, Dora moved back over to her parents and Narcissa. Harry and Draco stood nearly at attention in front of the seated man.

"No need for such formality at the moment," he said, taking a rather large drink of his Cognac, "we are all Gentlemen of the same House." Unconsciously he nearly echoed what his wife's young Cousin Dora had said earlier in jest.

"Pardon me, Uncle Lucius," said Harry anxiously. "I know Draco and I are related though the Black Line, but you're House Malfoy, aren't you?"

"Ah, I shall hold up a moment what I was going to say for a genealogy lesson you haven't had yet. As the Malfoys are powerful, but not yet either an Ancient nor Noble house in the eyes of the Wizengamot, when the contract for my marriage to your Aunt Cissa was negotiated, it was agreed that the Malfoys would become an affiliated line of House Black for a certain number of generations, at which time, the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black would set us free, either to the status we had been at, or with the option of making us a Noble House as a Cadet Branch of the Blacks. You'll learn more as you get deeper into Wizarding Genealogy, but it's a complicated system that was put in place to allow families with wealth and power a chance to move up at least slightly in the system – the circumstances that allow for becoming even a Cadet Noble House outside of an arrangement such as that are few indeed. And to be declared Ancient, your bloodline must persist for a very, very long time under the same name. Do you understand?"

"I… I think so." He fidgeted, he obviously couldn't help it. Draco wondered how long it would take for male authority figures in a familiar setting to stop making Harry nervous.

"Good. Now to the business I had with you fine young men. I know that the two of you are heading to Hogwarts fresh as First-Years, and I also know that you will do your best to do all the Family Names behind the two of you proud. But I thought you might want to know of a few things that will be going on. You already heard this morning, and I can confirm for you it has now been done – Dumbledore has been sacked as Headmaster. His behavior concerning you, Harry, was abominable. And any man who would take such actions concerning one child, in his infancy, should not be left the charge of an entire school. We've worked out a system whereby any major infractions of the rules, or arrangements needing approval of the Headmaster shall for this year only be considered by a sub-committee drawn from members of the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees – with a caveat that should they be relation or guardian of any student needing such intervention, that member must recuse themselves, and act only in the parental role. Still following me?"

Draco and Harry nodded. This was serious stuff rooted in serious language, but it seemed Harry was following as easily as Draco. Which was good, it would take forever to water down the entire explanation, as it seemed there was a good deal left to go.

"Good. Now, more common, day-to-day issues will be settled by three of the four Heads of the School Houses, the Head of the offender's House recusing himself into an intermediary or spokesman role, to help ensure fairness. That covers the majority of the temporary changes to disciplinary procedure, which I expect you boys to have very little – if anything – to do with, a point that I hope goes without saying." He paused, sipping at his Cognac now.

"The majority of Faculty and Curriculum changes will be settled over next summer, with the help of outside recommendations I'll mention in a moment. This year, though, is the year we finally sack Professor Binns – he's the ghost that teaches History, and has been stuck on the Goblin Wars and nothing else, since before I was a student. Dumbledore didn't have the heart to tell him to move on. We intend to invite him to stay on as a tutor, but scramble to find a substitute in the short amount of time we have left before the beginning of term. Unfortunately, as Binns hasn't taught a real class in decades, it's too late to alter the book list, they'll have no pre-existing syllabus to work from, and the class may be a bit rough – but you still will learn rather more than you would have from that ghost." He stopped for a moment, and they dutifully nodded, eyes perhaps a touch more excited than he would have expected.

"As for the source of our outside recommendations… Hopefully it isn't too close to the start of the year, but we are soliciting one advisor each from some of the other top schools around the world to come for a few weeks at some point throughout the year, and evaluate both our faculty and our curriculum. They will be provided a copy of current Ministry Standards, all the Statistics we have for our O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. pass rates, and things like that, and given leave to interview students, Faculty, sit in on classes – everything. Once they've turned in their observations and recommendations after the end of the year, the entire Combined Board, and the Entire Faculty will sit down with those observations and recommendations, and start to work on seeing what we would like to implement. As well as starting the process of finding a new Headmaster. I foresee a busy time of things for me next summer, which I am rather sorry for. Don't worry, though, busy as I am now, I haven't forgotten about the Montrose Home Game next weekend. I shan't be late." He drained the last of his Cognac, and dismissed the boys with a nod.

As they made their way over to the lunch planning, Draco couldn't help but wonder just exactly how huge of a tidal wave he had set in motion. All he had meant to do was start out in a position where he could befriend Harry, and suddenly Dumbledore – the only living wizard Voldemort had ever feared – was no longer going to be at Hogwarts. Not that he could blame them, what the man had done was abhorrent. Certainly he wasn't going to be asked to find a way to kill the old man anymore, but… this could pose so many new and unexpected problems. He should probably just throw the old timeline out the window, try to do more research, study hard, and play things by ear if he needed to. Who knew how many chain reactions he'd already set off in the last two weeks? Just as they reached the small gathering of people discussing what the ideal plan for lunch would be, Draco was struck by something that was missing. "Where's Uncle Severus?"

"I'd forgotten you were already upstairs," Narcissa said. "A note came for him from St. Mungo's. I think they want his help with something to do with the potions for your Uncle Sirius, he flooed out a while ago."

"They want a teacher to help at the Hospital?" Harry seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Uncle Severus doesn't just teach Potions," said Draco. "He's a Potions Master. His Holidays are always filled with consults and private projects and all sorts of things. It comes with the Title."

"Oh. Well I'm glad your Godfather is helping take care of my Godfather, then."

Draco thought to himself that if Harry knew more of the history between the two men, he might not be quite so confident, but he had faith in his Godfather to rise above and be professional, at least.

A/N: Hopefully this is a bit more satisfactory than the last two chapters, which I'll admit ended rather on cliffs (and one of which was rather on the short side as well). Albus, Albus, Albus… why did you have to insist on testifying yourself? Rather hung himself there, as some of you noted.

As always, this Chapter would not be what it is without the tireless work of my Beta, Lupinefire.

Next week, well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? See you all next Thursday!

In the meantime, if you're of a Harry/Hermione sort, check this one out: s/4605681/1/The-Real-Us it's an amusing ride.