A/N: Meant to update much sooner, but I've been sick to the point of being bed-ridden for the past month and couldn't focus on anything. My bad for the delay.

I don't know if I have lost you yet
Do they control you like a little marionette?
I'll cut the strings if you'd only come with me
Let me free the wings of your soul so you can fly
I've been waiting here, calling to you all this time
Can you feel the wind? Let me lead you to the sky

Harry stepped out of the floo after he felt his feet slam down onto the Headmaster's fireplace. Upon raising his body to full height, he immediately spotted Lucius Malfoy standing by the Headmaster's desk. Dumbledore sat down upon his office chair and gazed towards him with an unreadable expression and Lucius turned to face him with a solemn expression on his visage. Lucius was drabbed in his usual luxurious dress robes and holding his customary cane.

"Ah . . . greetings, Mr. Potter," said Lucius, his posture relaxed as he took note of Harry's arrival. "Apologies on the disruption of your holiday affairs, but the importance of this matter required your presence. You have my sincerest gratitude for your prompt arrival."

Harry's eye twitched as he felt the frustration rise within him. He scowled at Lucius. Sirius died without ever receiving a trial and Lucius Malfoy can walk out of prison despite being caught in Death Eater robes. Why is he here? What is he playing at?

Harry forced himself to keep his tone neutral. "Hello, Mr. Malfoy, I see that prison hasn't dampened your spirits any. Had a speedy trial? Perhaps, one of your special friends in the Ministry came to your rescue?"

Lucius's lips thinned and he shivered. He shook his head at Harry. "On the contrary, Mr. Potter, I am only free and alive today thanks to my wife's determined negotiation skills in conjunction with the mercy shown to me by my beloved niece and . . . your mercy, my lord."

Harry blinked and his eyebrows receded into his hairline. What?! What is he . . . oh, bloody hell. The letter . . .

"If not for your political influence with negotiating the terms in which the meeting between you and the Minister of Magic would take place; what with you having added the stipulation, my wife would never have been able to meet personally with the Minister to engage in talks about concessions for the sake of my release and for the wiping of my criminal record," said Lucius, a small smile forming on his lips. Harry's eyes widened. "Of course, upon release, and after receiving a warm welcome back home, my wife had me meet with my contacts at the Daily Prophet to give a personal account of my harrowing experience in Azkaban. The article released this Christmas day, I hope that you take the time to read it as I made sure to emphatically thank you for giving your support to House Malfoy in our time of need. I told the reporter that you have my utmost gratitude for entrusting in my innocence and how I admire your Gryffindor courage to fight against another travesty of justice like your late godfather, Sirius Black."

Harry glared at Lucius, his hands tightened into fists, and his arms began to shake. He grit his teeth and his eyes narrowed. His chest felt like it was constricting inside of him as he bore witness to the full ramifications of his actions in order to remove Ginny's physical deformity. This is all I am . . . everybody's bloody chew toy.

"Hello, darling!" said Delphini, waving cheerfully and somewhat childishly.

Harry snapped out of his rage and directed his attention to her voice. His eyes widened as he spotted her and she smiled brightly at Harry once his surprised gaze settled on her. Harry flinched as he saw her sitting in a chair at the far corner of the room with Severus Snape standing in the shadows next to her. He felt numbness sweep over him and he could swear that her eyes gazed hungrily at him for a brief moment.

A voice cleared their throat on the opposite side of Delphini and Lucius to Harry's immediate left. Harry flinched as he turned to take note of the other occupants in the room. The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones, Percy Weasley, and the Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour sat on comfy, plush chairs situated close to the wall. Harry flushed at not having noticed them due to his focus on the uncanny attendance of Lucius. The Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and John Dawlish stood on either side of them in auror robes.

"Lord Potter," spoke the Minister, sitting in the middle. He gave a formal nod to Harry. "Glad you could join us. We have much to discuss."

Harry blinked. Lord Potter? Since when did I have that title? He wasn't nearly this formal when meeting me in private at the Weasleys.

Harry recalled the conversation outside of the Burrow that the two had shared.

"Are you simply Dumbledore's man through and through?"

Harry opened his mouth to speak and then shut it. He shot a pensive gaze to the Minister. The Minister began to scowl at Harry as they stood in silence for nearly thirty seconds.

"No, Dumbledore has nothing to do with it," said Harry finally, his green eyes blazing at the Minister. Harry unfurled his right cuff and showed the Minister the bloodstained words on his wrist. The Minister's eyes widened and he froze. His lips were parted in shock. "To put it simply, the Ministry of Magic has given me no reason to have confidence ever since I received this mark from the dearly departed Umbridge. Under Fudge, there was a gross misuse of power and I was the prime target for an entire year. I experienced a brief torture that night at the Triwizard Tournament from Voldemort and then had to endure an entire year's worth of torture by a Ministry official who was supposedly there to reassure children of their welfare."

The Minister flinched at the name of Voldemort spoken aloud and Harry shook his head. Scrimgeour's lips formed a thin line and he blanched as he gazed directly upon Harry's eyes. Harry gave him a hardened look. "Your government has given me no reason to have confidence, I don't see any headlines about you organizing Hit Wizards and building up the Aurors to fight against Death Eaters. Instead, you've just been holding press conferences and pretending to take action. I can tell the difference."

"Mr. Potter, with all due respect, there is little chance that we can form countermeasures against a wizard as powerful as You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters. We're not sure if we could win against any hostile coup."

Harry gave the Minister a look of disdain. "So then, why should I assist in trying to calm public fears when you don't have a credible plan against him? There's nothing favorable to me about your proposal; it just sounds desperate and ridiculous. Unlike you, I've actually fought him, even when the situation seemed hopeless, I struggled harder to overcome. If you have no strategy to beat him or fight him, then you're wasting both your time and mine."

"Mr. Potter," said Percy formally, he fiddled with his glasses and gave Harry a curt nod. Harry noticed the aurors nodding to him in respect and Amelia Bones gave him a brief "Hello" of her own.

"Would you like to sit, Harry?" asked Delphini, Harry turned to see that she was still smiling. Before he could respond, she thrust forward her left arm with her thumb and forefinger held together. She made the snapping motion and a pristine chair with gold embroidery popped into existence in the middle of the room.

Percy gaped in shock while the other four flinched at the sudden movement. They each looked distinctly unsettled by the nonchalant usage of wandless magic by the blonde witch. Delphini held each of their gazes to smirk briefly at them before resuming her attention towards Harry. Scrimgeour glanced toward Snape before looking back at Delphini. Harry gazed directly onto Delphini's grey eyes and noticed the tinge of red. "No, thank you. I prefer to stand."

"This meeting may be a long one, Harry," said Dumbledore from the Headmaster's desk. "It may be best to sit down."

Harry looked toward Dumbledore and shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, but I prefer to stand, sir."

Delphini shrugged and snapped her fingers again. The chair vanished completely. Amelia Bones gave Delphini a contemplative gaze, Scrimgeour seemed to be holding his tongue as he shot Delphini a look of suspicion, and Percy appeared to be hiding his alarm. The two aurors had stiffened but otherwise remained unfazed.

"We can now proceed," said Amelia, turning to Harry. She clasped her hands together on top of a large scroll of parchment that was attached to a clipboard on her thighs. "Lord Potter, I trust that Dumbledore has informed you of what's happened?"

Harry's brows furrowed. "None of you heard our conversation?"

Why are they addressing me as Lord Potter?

Amelia shook her head. "No, Lord Potter, it would seem a powerful charm kept your conversation private from all of us in this room."

The Fidelus charm, thought Harry, Well, it's for the best. I wouldn't want the Ministry mucking up my life even more than last year. They would probably give me to Voldemort as a trophy, if the opportunity presented itself.

"He told me that Grindelwald had broken out of prison and was spotted in Great Britain." said Harry, "And that you need me to be here for this meeting to continue?"

"That is correct," said Amelia nodding to him, she paused for a moment. Her next words seemed to be carefully chosen as she made eye contact with him. "Lord Potter . . . what is the extent of your knowledge regarding the Dark Lord Grindelwald?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know much. I just know that he was a Nazi who tried to further Hitler's plans in the Magical world, but I don't know of any specifics. I don't recall any of my history classes with Professor Binns covering the events."

Lucius Malfoy's lips curled and he looked livid for a brief moment upon hearing Harry's response. Lucius gave Dumbledore a death glare but then schooled his features into a blank stare as he resumed listening to Harry and the Ministry employees. To Harry's surprise, Kingsley Shacklebolt shot a brief look of rage at Dumbledore too. Dumbledore seemed to ignore both men's outraged expressions as he solely focused on Harry's talk with Amelia.

Amelia's eyes darted towards Dumbledore for a few seconds before looking back at Harry. Amelia sighed. "Very well, Lord Potter." She turned her gaze to Scrimgeour. "Minister?"

"Lord Potter, in order to bring you up to speed," said Rufus Scrimgeour, his posture straightening as looked at Harry. "I shall have my assistant give a brief overview of the history of the Dark Lord Grindelwald. Mr. Weasley, if you would?"

Percy stood up from his seat and turned to look towards Harry. He unrolled a scroll of parchment, he cleared his throat, and began to read aloud. "The Dark Lord Grindelwald sought to reshape the societal conditions of the Magical world to be akin to the cultural and social conditions of the Muggle German world during his time. His influence spread throughout Europe and the United States via guerilla warfare and subterfuge tactics that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths throughout the Western Wizarding World and especially Magical Britain. As a subset of the Muggle Nazi movement, he worked to create a strong Nazi Reich via recruitment of Muggle-borns who sympathized with-"

"Oh no, no, no, no! Stop, just stop, bloody stop it!" bellowed Lucius Malfoy, his visage turning from red to dark puce with every word that Percy spoke. Lucius gnashed his teeth, the hand on his cane holding it in a vice-like grip, and he glared at each of the Ministry employees. Finally, his ire settled upon the frowning face of Percy Weasley. "I'll not have you speak another word of this farce any further! It's demeaning to every life lost in the second world war and it's bloody insulting to our intelligence listening to you spouting forth that inane crap! Bloody fucking hell!"

Harry froze. I've never seen Lucius Malfoy lose composure when acting as a politician and wealthy Pureblood. He's only ever lost his composure in Death Eater robes and it's never been in a public setting in front of Ministry employees.

Lucius briefly shot a look of revulsion towards Dumbledore and then turned his gaze towards Harry. Lucius clicked his tongue and appeared to be struggling to hold his anger. "Mr. Potter - ah, forgive me - my lord, they are ignoring the true depravity of what happened! You will not ascertain a clear understanding of the danger posed by that . . . that bloody fucking monster!"

Lucius's voice sounded harsh and raw as he shouted. Harry felt a touch surreal by the proceedings as he had never witnessed Lucius Malfoy lose his entire composure to a personal tirade. Lucius began to hyperventilate as his visage darkened.

"Uncle!" said Delphini, her voice gentle, but strong and firm. Lucius snapped his attention towards her. She gave Lucius a measured gaze. "I will tell Harry of what transpired. You . . . should settle down. Perhaps, you should sit here while I stand?"

"Right . . . yes, that's probably for the best," said Lucius blinking and shaking his head as he caught his breath. He nodded to Delphini. "Thank you, Delphi."

Delphini nodded back and rose from her seat to stand across from Harry. She briefly glanced back at Dumbledore with a look of revulsion and then smirked at him. She turned her attention back to Harry as Lucius settled down on the empty chair.

Delphini took a deep breath; grey eyes met green, her lips formed a thin line, her brows furrowed in concentration, and her posture straightened. She regarded him with a serious expression.

"Harry, what I'm about to tell you isn't easy for some of the people here to listen to, so I must insist that you listen carefully. This history that I'm about to tell you has divided families into what we now refer to as light and dark." said Delphini, "The light families wanted to forget and move past the events, but the dark families felt as if it was a disservice to their loved ones, if they tried to whitewash or obfuscate history. I learned of it from both my family and during my time in the United States, where this history wasn't ignored or devalued as insignificant."

Harry frowned but nodded. He took note of the uneasy shuffling of Kingsley and the scowl on Dawlish's visage. I'd best keep silent. It sounds like an explosive topic. I better listen before saying anything that could light the proverbial match.

"When the Dark Lord Grindelwald campaigned for the Nazi agenda, he tried to promote this idea of modernity. He took the insignia of the fairytale related to the Deathly Hallows and used the image to campaign for what was referred to as the Magical Modernity Movement or triple M for short." said Delphini, her tone holding a hint of contempt and her lips curling. Harry nodded and felt a sense of foreboding as he noticed that Lucius, Dawlish, and Kingsley each held an angry expression on their faces. Delphini took a deep breath and continued. "While some of what he tried to do was bringing magical infused muggle technology to the Magical world at large, he also tried to bring the social beliefs of his time into the Magical world. Many, many Muggle-borns joined up in his cause as they began to utilize guerilla tactics upon Magical European countries and the United States as part of their global war campaign."

Harry froze and gaped at Delphini. A thudding in his chest as the realization dawned on him. Oh bloody fuck . . . Grindelwald was a Nazi so that means . . .

"He and the Muggle-born extremists tried to bring the Nazi ideology into the Magical world. They heavily promoted the concept of non-white ethnic backgrounds being inferior and put major focus on Black people and Jewish people being racially inferior." said Delphini, her face holding a grave expression. Harry stared stricken by her words as he listened in rapt attention. The other occupants of the room didn't interrupt. Lucius had his head bowed low and his free hand clenched in a fist. "Due to the necessity of survival during the Medieval times, racial inequality had become virtually non-existent in the Magical world, but Grindelwald and his followers saw it as part of a regressive, ignorant culture living by antiquated standards and hoped to bring the so-called rational idea of the racial superiority of whites above the Jews, Blacks, and other minorities. Magical law enforcement later discovered they had planned to go so far as to introduce the Aryan race theory once their initial plans had succeeded. When their campaign was disparaged as evil, stupid, and shallow by an overwhelming amount of the Purebloods all throughout the Magical world; Grindelwald and his followers turned to violence since he'd promised Hitler results and needed to keep good on his promises to his Fuhrer."

Harry paled and felt a headache coming along. Delphini's eyes narrowed and she shook her head. Her visage looked incensed before she schooled her features. "Grindelwald and his Muggle-born followers conducted vicious and barbaric attacks upon purebloods, most of whom were of Black or Jewish descent like the Shacklebolts and the Smiths. When that was rooted out via a joint international campaign against him, Grindelwald and his Nazis had their presence diminish to just Great Britain alone. During that period of the war, they . . . they took away Magical safety protections during the tail end of the bombing of Britain by the Muggle Nazis and passed directives to have magical British communities bombed."

Harry's jaw hung agape, his wide eyes flickered from Kingsley to Lucius, and then stared at Delphini. Each of the other occupants either avoided his gaze, had their heads down, or looked distinctly uncomfortable with meeting his gaze.

"It wasn't until later that Dumbledore over there," said Delphini, pointing a thumb backwards without turning to look at Dumbledore. "Defeated Grindelwald and captured him for trial. Grindelwald's remaining followers either fled into exile or were captured and tried like him. Many were executed for crimes against humanity. It was only Dumbledore's political prestige at the time that kept Grindelwald from being executed, Dumbledore managed to convince the court that it would be a worse punishment for Grindelwald to live the rest of his life imprisoned in the very fortress that he built and hid within while conducting his attacks on Great Britain."

"Bloody hell . . . I . . . I have no idea what to say to any of that . . ." muttered Harry, shaking his head as he took all of the information in. His eyes squinted with a quizzical look as he gazed upon Delphini. "Why do all of you expect Grindelwald to attack only Magical Britain rather than head elsewhere like the States, even if he was spotted here? I can understand being prepared, but all of you seem certain that he'll attack here."

"Because he's a bloody bastard, that's why! He and all the mudbloods that supported him! My father lost the entirety of the Malfoy family line in one of those damned bombings. Their bodies charred and unrecognizable." snapped Lucius, his cheeks tinged puce as he glared around the room. Harry flinched at the harshness of Lucius's voice. Lucius's gaze finally settled upon Harry. "Don't think we're dumb, muggles have opened doors to the most horrific ideas, ideas shunned as evil by our society. They decided to build bigger bombs to kill more people with. What are we to do when the spark of another global war is lit and we're dragged into their wars again, hm? They're incapable of getting over differences in physical skin tone throughout the world over. What if one of these muggle countries decide to light the spark and use one of those large death bombs? We're at their mercy, our societies practically held hostage and constantly reacting to their violent idiocy, and for what? What justifies making weapons of mass destruction in the first place? I don't for a second believe the cock and bull about defense. There is no defense to be had with launching weapons that destroy entire cities and kill hundreds of thousands! Only psychopaths believe such bile! Mark my words, there's something wrong in their blood! Muggles are born defective, violent, and stupid!"

"Enough!" shouted Delphini, turning to face her uncle with a cold and measured gaze. "Perhaps your time in Azkaban took more of a toll than you realized. Another outburst like that and I will have you escorted back home. I'll be sure to give as much positive feedback as possible given those circumstances, but I'd like to avoid that unfavorable option."

Lucius shuddered and nodded. His breathing becoming ragged and he crumpled his face in his freehand. Harry noted the tears falling down his cheeks. Delphini turned her gaze back towards him with a forlorn expression.

"The concept of dirty muggle blood and blood traitors became more pronounced after Grindelwald's reign of terror," said Delphini, shaking her head slightly. "Unfortunately, societies tend to make hasty generalizations in response to a tragedy. Due to the greater degree of ignorance towards science back then, purebloods largely put blame on the idea of defective genes from muggle-born witches and wizards. It didn't help that many of the witches and wizards that fled into exile after Grindelwald's capture believe strongly in the concept of white supremacy, it acted as a sort of confirmation in the minds of people in the past that muggle-borns were somehow defective."

A realization came to Harry causing him to pause. His eyes widened. "So when muggle-borns compare pureblood supremacy to Nazism . . ."

Delphini sighed and nodded. "It's just reminding them of what the muggle-borns of the past were responsible for and all that the pureblood families lost. Pureblood supremacy is bad, but it is not the same as Nazism at all. Making a discriminatory registry system and penalizing Muggle-borns for using magic still isn't the same as concentration camps, mass bombings, and many other horrific activities perpetuated by the Nazis."

"A discriminatory registration system could arguably be seen as the first step towards concentration camps." said Harry, pointedly maintaining eye contact. "You shouldn't dismiss such a possibility regarding discrimination simply because it hasn't happened yet. Voldemort himself wiped out many pureblood family lines."

Delphini shot him a scathing look before she composed herself and then smirked at him. A red hue in her eyes. "All the more reason why we're having this meeting."

Harry's brows furrowed and he tilted his face to the side. What does that mean?

"As for why we know that Grindelwald will attack Magical Britain . . ." said Delphini, turning to her side and gazing expectantly toward Dumbledore. "Do you want to be the one to tell him old man, or should I?"

Dumbledore scowled at Delphini and then turned his attention to Harry. His visage shifted to a rueful gaze as his eyes became slightly watery.

"Grindelwald, no doubt, seeks to gain vengeance upon me personally by attacking Magical Britain as a proxy for his revenge," said Dumbledore, he sighed and gave Harry a meaningful look. Harry had never seen Dumbledore so miserable with the crease on his brow and his eyes dimmed without any of the righteous Gryffindor fire behind it. "He and I . . . go far back. We were lovers once during our youth . . . before he allowed that nonsense to get into his head. He and I parted on the worst possible of terms and reflecting back . . . I suppose I tried to ignore his faults and saw only what I wanted to see from him."

Harry's eyes widened like saucers. Snape, slunk in the shadows, froze and gaped at the Headmaster. Lucius sat abruptly to give his own look of surprise. Percy's mouth formed an o-shape, Scrimgeour threw Dumbledore a look of suspicion, and Amelia seemed mildly surprised but recovered the quickest. Delphini smirked and Harry realized that she had known about the closeness between the two men.

"Thank you for telling me, sir," said Harry quickly, he frowned as he looked at everyone's various reactions. "Is it . . . taboo in the wizarding world too?"

"No," said Delphini, looking back at him. "it's just incredibly uncommon. But it's not despised or thought of as a mental illness like in the muggle world, probably because we don't follow any strict Abrahamic morals."

Delphini had spat the last few words out as if they were distasteful. Harry scowled and shook his head. Is she ever going to stop being bigoted towards muggle faiths?

"Why celebrate Christmas then?"

"Magical Britain adopted it overtime since Muggle-borns would always celebrate it," said Delphini, "I found the origins of the holiday to be more interesting though. It use to be Saturnalia during the Roman period. Both wizards and muggles during ancient times would celebrate the tradition."

"But Magical Britain-"

"Also had to deal with tampering down the racism between people of different skin pigmentations," said Delphini shaking her head, "the very prospect of which is seen as only somewhat ridiculous even now in the muggle world. Even then, people during the era of the second world war adapted to muggle prejudices and tried to drag Magical society into it despite the relatively accepting nature towards Muggle-borns. My father has told me some tales."

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but Delphini cut him off. "Regardless of where we stand on these volatile social issues, we're diverging from the reason why we're all here. Let us get back to the pressing matter of why we're all here."

"I was not aware that you took an interest in Magical history, Professor Snape," said Amelia Bones, glancing at Severus in the corner. The Head of Magical Law Enforcement raised an eyebrow at the Defense professor.

Delphini grinned at her. "He doesn't."

Amelia's eyes narrowed. "I'm afraid I don't understand. The contract stipulates that the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange is to . . . ah, I see. The mother was stipulated and we assumed the father was Snape based on the Hogwarts records. Very clever of the Dark Lord. Still, it doesn't change the terms. So who is your father then, young lady?"

"A sharp mind as ever, daddy was right to see you as a credible threat." said Delphini, chuckling to herself. Amelia froze in her seat and her lips formed a thin line. "I'll tell you after we're done informing Harry about the agreement."

Amelia scowled and looked ready to retort. Scrimgeour's eyes widened at Amelia and quickly interrupted.

"Very well," said Minister Scrimgeour, turning to gaze at Delphini with a calm expression. "it matters very little in the long run. The important part is Lord Potter's response."

"My response?" questioned Harry, raising an eyebrow and glancing at each of the Ministry employees that were seated. "To what, exactly?"

Scrimgeour avoided his gaze. "Amelia, if you would?"

Amelia avoided Harry's gaze too. She pointedly looked down at the immaculate scroll in her possession and began to speak. "In light of recent events and circumstances presenting . . . as the Minister informed you during your personal meeting earlier this month, we have no legitimate means of neutralizing the threat that He-who-must-not-be-named and his Death Eaters pose upon Magical British society. Given Grindelwald's recent escape, we now face the worst catastrophe possible. Before the escape, we ran the risk of falling into a war of power with light families and muggleborns battling You-Know-Who, his followers, and his dark family sympathizers. You-Know-Who himself is powerful enough to take over the Ministry with Albus Dumbledore so close to death. But now? We run the risk of the bloodiest guerilla warfare in Magical British history between three factions. It'll be the light families and muggleborns versus You-Know-Who and his sympathizers versus Muggleborn extremists and Grindelwald. While the Nazi Dark Lord's battle capacity has weakened, his brutal methods surely have not. He will continue to instigate bloodletting, possibly of Black and Jewish Muggles, with the help of Neo-Nazi muggleborns and Muggles alike in the name of racial superiority. That is in conjunction with his brutal war methods. We cannot fight a two-front war on the losing side while trying to keep magical secrecy intact in this situation. It is, sadly, not feasible."

"So what is this meeting about? Is the Ministry just giving up?" said Harry, his headache worsening. A cynical idea came unbidden in his mind. Harry glared at the three Ministry employees. "Are . . . are you offering me as a sacrifice to appease him?! Is that what this is about?!"

The Minister looked outraged. "Now, see here! I will not be spoken to as if -!"

"Oh no, they offered that the first chance they got when we proposed negotiations. I was curious so I asked for the full details before firmly refusing. Want to hear them?" said Delphini, her smirk looking predatory. Her eyes briefly flicked over to the Ministry employees shuffling uncomfortably. Harry turned to her and scowled. Delphini continued, having taken the silence as consent. "They hoped that handing you over as a sacrifice would show their commitment to peace. They had already preempted Daily Prophet stories full of falsehoods about how you willingly accepted for the good of Magical Britain. They had planned to deceive Dumbledore to send Hit Wizards here to knock you out and send you on a one-way portkey to any location that we requested."

Harry turned to the Ministry officials and glared at each of them. The Minister and Amelia Bones looked defiant, but Percy looked down in shame. Harry's headache worsened, he tried to reign his temper so he wouldn't snap at them. He took a deep breath and counted to ten to calm his rising ire.

They're not sorry at all . . . thought Harry, I suppose they justify it when comparing one human sacrifice to hundreds of thousands of lives lost. Isn't it fundamentally the same as what Dumbledore planned for me, though? Do I have the right to be angry, when I would prefer such an option so nobody would have to die? And yet . . . I still feel this hate and I can't explain why. I knew they would consider it, if given the chance.

"So, what is the new proposal?" questioned Harry, his throat feeling dry as feelings of dread pressed down upon him. He felt hollow inside. His body felt rigid as his thoughts swarmed over the possibilities of a worse proposal. Do they plan on sacrificing Professor Dumbledore instead?

"We've agreed to a preliminary truce under what we hope will become an established peace treaty," said Amelia, Harry noted that she chose her words carefully. "We will try to set aside our differences in the hopes of acquiring the assistance of He-who-must-not-be-named to neutralize the threat of Grindelwald since Albus Dumbledore is incapable of such a feat in his current condition."

Harry's eyes flashed. "You mean you're going to set aside the rights of Muggle-borns for your own survival?"

"For the survival of hundreds of thousands of innocents, Lord Potter," said Amelia in a clipped tone, "Realistically, it would simply be more expedient to sacrifice one life for the survival of hundreds of thousands. That would be the most desirable outcome for us to maintain peace, but that young woman over there, with whatever political clout she holds among the dark families, managed to come up with a peculiar solution that, in our view, simply wastes time. Nevertheless, we've chosen to respect it at her insistence since she seems to be the prime negotiator representing You-Know-Who."

Harry scowled and folded his arms. "And what is the new solution for peace?"

Amelia Bones fully unfurled the large, pristine parchment. "I should mention that the senior soliciters at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Unspeakables, Gringotts, and I have thoroughly combed every word, syntax, and interpretation of this document. It is ironclad with two stipulations; the preliminary agreement once signed will be in effect until the end of this school year and the second stipulation, should you agree to any of its interpretable terms in which it satisfies the contract, will take hold immediately and you will be bound to it until you and the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange both agree to nullify the contract within the contours of the Magical British legal system."

Harry blinked. His mind trying to digest what the legal ramifications were. Harry's cheeks reddened. "Er . . . what?"

"I'll clarify since these three seem to be trying to obfuscate what will be expected in our soon-to-be future . . ." said Delphini, her eyes gleaming with a thin red hue. Amelia frowned but remained silent. Harry turned to Delphini. "Unlike them, I want you to have a clear understanding so that we may get this peace agreement to really work. Both parts require your signature, the first portion is a temporary armistice until the end of our sixth year at Hogwarts. Within that timeframe, you must choose whether to sign the second proposition."

Harry's eyes narrowed. His posture stiffened. "And just what do these proposals entail and what will be the personal costs to me?"

Delphini's eyes shined with hunger. A smirk adorning her features. "The proposal for the truce enters you into a marriage contract until the end of the school year and the signing of the second proposition, securing a permanent peace treaty that precludes any further war between light and dark families, signifies your acceptance of our marriage."

"Marriage contract?!" blurted Harry, his eyes wide like saucers as he wildly looked around the room to see people avoiding his gaze. Harry's eyes finally settled upon Dumbledore's wizened visage. "What is all this?!"

"This is a ploy, Harry." said Dumbledore, a frown on his lips. A look of grief upon his features. "We must not be taken in by such obvious deceptions."

"And what would you have us do?!" shouted the Minister, glaring at Dumbledore. His visage turning a shade puce. "At this moment, we're in desperate need of securing the welfare of the Wizarding World. It . . . it's the only recourse we have! It's not an ideal choice, but if it prevents war, then it's hardly a bad choice at all! We must make peace with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters or we lose everything!"

"It is in the darkest of times where we should fight the most fiercely for justice!" snapped Dumbledore, his voice scratchy and harsh. "Mark my words, you are simply submitting our world to tyranny."

Minister Scrimgeour and Professor Dumbledore kept on viciously arguing into a near-shouting match. Delphini moved her body slightly to block the two men from Harry's line of sight. Harry didn't mind as their ranting was giving him a headache.

"I told you that I would save you, Harry. I hope this has made the seriousness of my intentions clear." said Delphini, her voice strong and calm. Harry noticed her visage only seemed to become hungrier and the red hue in her eyes was distinctly noticeable to him now. "You and I will marry and you will accept your place by my side. The contract specifies two official dates for our betrothal agreement before you either accept or reject the second proposition . . . I should clarify that you needn't sign the second proposition to fulfill it. You could fulfill the contract, even before any contractual dates, by signing the first proposition and becoming sexually intimate with me to the extent of sexual penetration should you desire it."

Delphini had a full blown smirk as she said those words and Harry gaped at what she had spoken. He could hardly believe what she had said that in a room with her uncle, Professor Snape, the Ministry officials, the two aurors, and Professor Dumbledore. To his chagrin, he felt a twitch in his pants as the idea intruded into his thoughts and caused his cheeks to flush. Delphini's eyes flicked to Harry's pants before looking back up directly to his eyes. Harry's face flushed further at her knowing look.

"I . . . I mentioned before that I'm pretty rubbish at dating," said Harry, the surreal nature of the entire meeting giving him a touch of vertigo. "I'm not very good with romantic atmospheres and all that . . ."

"I've thought about it, I've asked my aunt and parents for advice too," said Delphini, she shrugged. "I've since concluded that we're overthinking it. Dating is just friendship; except with hugs, kisses, and even lovemaking. I want you and I to be the best of life partners."

Harry felt his headache increase as Amelia Bones interrupted the conversation. "Pardon my intrusion, but I must insist upon clarification of your birth father. It doesn't change the framework of the contractual document, but as we're broaching a new level of trust . . ." Amelia stopped and looked over to Severus Snape. "Perhaps you can shed light on this issue, Professor Snape?"

Delphini turned to Amelia Bones and waved her hand dismissively at Snape behind her. Harry's lips twitched at witnessing the greasy git's sour expression and his scowl. Well, I probably wouldn't tire of seeing that every day.

"Snape never knew it, he believed that I was his daughter up until the truth came out recently," lied Delphini smoothly, Harry kept his expression neutral. He was impressed that Amelia Bones seemed inclined to accept the statement. "However, I am, in fact, the daughter of none other than Lord Voldemort himself."

The Aurors and Ministry officials flinched. Lucius and Snape both shuddered. Amelia Bones lips formed a thin line as she made no response, Percy openly gaped as he stared at Delphini as if for the first time, the aurors gazed at Delphini in open fear, and the Minister began to sputter in the middle of his conversation with Dumbledore as he turned to look at her. Delphini had a wide smile as she looked around the room in satisfaction.

"Shouldn't they have known based on the contract?" asked Harry, his curiosity grabbing hold.

Delphini turned back to him and shook her head. "The contract said my father's old family mantle would be taken in the wedding but didn't specify what old family. They assumed Prince based on my official school surname. I'll probably have that changed for the new school year."

"Now see here, boy!" snapped the Minister, his face turning puce as he gazed at Harry. "You will do your duty for the good of the wizar-!"

Delphini sharply turned to the Minister. "Shut up! Not another word out of you! The British government has done nothing but abuse Harry's ignorance and trust for far too long. You have no say on anything regarding how the courting will go between us. Once the first part is signed, that becomes ironclad too, but do not try any last minute pep talk about necessity or duty or anything at all, Harry and I will be the ones to define our relationship and it'll be without you incompetent fools fucking everything up. That's partly why the contract only has scratches to hide the signatures, you will have no authority over the proceedings nor the ability have an update on whatever you deem to be progress. The courting is not yours to influence."

The Minister remained silent and glared at Delphini but didn't say a word. Delphini's lips twitched. He knows better than to potentially sink the peace deal.

Delphini took a deep breath and exhaled. She looked directly into Harry's green eyes. Harry noticed that her grey eyes were mixed with a reddish color that was apparent for all to see.

Harry's eyes narrowed and he gave Delphini a significant, serious expression. "Why go through all of this trouble? What do you want from me, Delphini?"

"What I want, my darling?" said Delphini stepping closer to him, the hungry expression in full force on her face. She walked directly towards him and Harry purposefully moved to the side as Delphini kept walking forward. "To open the door for you to be away from the Ministry's bungling schemes, to break your chains of bondage to Dumbledore's idle whims, and to watch as all of the British Wizarding world comes to understand that you and I together shall be the influential policymakers shaping it's future for our own interests. Together, we will rule to rabble with an iron fist."

She turned to face him; her eyes a blazing hot pink mixed with a slight grey, her lips curled in a devious smirk, and her eyes shining with undisguised lust for all to see. Her attention solely on Harry Potter.

Harry took an involuntary step back as he noticed the intensity of her gaze. Delphini's eyes didn't waver from him. "I want you to give me your entire being! Grovel and call me your savior, perhaps drop down to praise me as your goddess! I am completely unashamed to admit that you rightfully belong to me!"

Harry gaped and he felt an eye twitch. A cold sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and a shiver up his spine. The others had quieted with appalled or disbelieving looks with the exception of Lucius. Harry scowled and was ready to speak but Delphini spoke first.

"What I want is your complete submission!"

I will show you, my darling, thought Delphini, as the events concluded and Harry signed the first proposition. Delphini had already signed both propositions prior to the meeting. You belong to me!