A really long chapter for some reason...Oh well, enjoy! As I couldn't find anything on the set up of the Wizengamot I have organised it how it best suits the story. Sorry if there are extensive notes on how it is organised...
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter nor Twilight and make no money from my writings
In the 1930s a member of the Nott family published a book of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, or the families in wizarding Britain who remained 'pure-blooded'. Within its pages there was a definite mix of wealth, affiliations and backgrounds. It ranged from the darker families like House Malfoy and Black, to the more neutral in House Greengrass and finally the light affiliated with families such as Weasley. The response to being on the list ranged almost as much as the families, families like Malfoy saw it as an opportunity for prestige and to laud over others whilst House Weasley hated it and their disenfranchisement with the society associated with being one of these twenty-eight houses, saw them being labelled as 'Blood-traitors' as they disregarded some of the customs and cultures of the ancient families. For Sirius, this desire to extol one's family status based on a list written by a man who was one of these families was irritatingly stupid. After all when Nott curated the list, he left of House Potter. Exactly why he did was debated for quite a long time afterwards, whether because of their common name or because of their predilection for pro-muggle actions and reactions, it did not really matter. The Potters' were powerful and wealthy, clever and influential, for all the time Sirius had known them, it did not matter what a book had to say about their family's status, as ever the Potters' would do it their way, even if it did exclude them from certain parties and events.
At the centre of it all was the Wizengamot. With around fifty members, nearly every member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight had the opportunity to vote. Whilst during criminal trials, only one vote was allowed per member, for the passing of bills, legislation and laws, the number of votes or 'seats' they received was dependent on their history in wizarding Britain and their status. For instance, Malfoy was an Ancient House, yet due to them only moving from France in relatively recent history, they only received one seat, House Weasley, an Ancient and Noble House, received two seat, at one point they did have more but a broken magical contract had punished them by losing one of their votes. Only very few Houses could have four seats, included among this number were House Potter and Black. The latter could trace its distinguished history back over eight hundred years, whilst the former (although this knowledge had been relegated to ancient and forgotten history books) were descended from the Peverells'. It had become convention for the Heir of a family to receive one of their familial seats upon the fifteenth birthday to prepare them for the job of Paterfamilias.
This was the type of society Sirius Orion Black found himself in once more, a society where status was above money but second only to family. And he...well he was the Lord of House Black, a traditionally darkly aligned house, but guardian for the Potter family, a traditionally light house. He would be pressurised from all quarters, the light side would want him to join as would the dark, eight votes in any one block would be a huge asset. The grey block of the Wizengamot had been severely damaged during the last war, and many had chosen to lay their allegiances elsewhere to gain protection from either the light or the dark. In truth, 'light' and 'dark' were basically just phrases for the separation of traditional against more modern views, or at least they had been. Both sides had become twisted to such a point that members two, three centuries ago wouldn't be able to identify which side was which.
However, entering this political ring was a necessity that Sirius did not have the luxury of avoiding, as a child he had hated the idea of becoming Lord Black but he now knew he was doing it to help protect his darling pup from those who would manipulate her or wish her harm. And so dressed in his full familial regalia, Sirius stood in Gringotts, London, on the first day of the New Year. The 1st of January was traditionally the start of the new Wizangamot year and whilst Sirius could reclaim his votes and seats at any other point, doing it now ensured that as many people as possible would be there. He needed to make a statement, a statement about his family, his magics and his beliefs, all the while not revealing too much about his location and plans. Even Sirius, trained as he had been since he could talk to converse eloquently and in a Slytherin manner, this was no easy task and he tilted his head back slightly and muttered a brief plea for guidance from Magic.
Wearing his familial robes, which featured his crest sewn in gold threads upon his breast, Sirius stood. He had been preparing for the Wizengamot for months, knowing that at some point he would have to return to their chambers once more. The goblins had been perhaps the greatest help in this preparation, without them Sirius knew he would have failed his House and Hattie too by being unaware or unprepared for the near constant vitriol and plotting that occurred throughout the entire Wizengamot. Sirius was slightly unsure what the response to his presence would be, some may expect him to revolt against the Ministry for his illegal incarceration, others would expect him to be an incapable and uninterested lord to manipulate, whilst others still would expect him to follow Dumbledore like the mindless sheep he had been before the war. Huffing out a breath, Sirius nodded to his account manager who had entered the room to inform him he needed to leave, before striding out of the room with cloak swirling in his wake.
The start of the Wizengamot year was as a thing of routine, at three o'clock in the afternoon, members with their families would arrive, after drinks, the group would convene to the Great Chamber before the Minister, Chief Warlock as well as various members of the group would make speeches and pontificate for an hour or two before everyone retired for tea. For the past six years, pretty much the entire day was the same, the same speeches, the same arguments, even Madame Longbottom still wore the same outfit.
As the clock chimed four, the members of the Wizengamot passed through the doors into the Great Chamber, the doors to this room had been spelled such that no-one under a glamour or polyjuice potion could pass through, working rather similarly to the Thief's Downfall in the caverns of Gringott's. The room was arranged, rather like an amphitheatre with tiered seating, political alignments were displayed by which side of the room a member sat on. Those traditionally dark families sat on the right, the neutral in the middle (although there were few members there now) and the light on the left, it was an arrangement born of centuries of arguing, speeches and writings. It also meant that there was less likely to be any fighting, poisonings or love potions.
"We now call to order the opening session of the six hundredth and forty third Wizengamot. Are there any who would claim or alter their seats?"
There was silence for a moment, few expected there to be any changes, however just as Dumbledore was about to start the traditional blessing, a voice was heard through the room.
"I would like to claim my seats"
Everyone turned to the door quickly, hearing the voice and upon seeing Sirius Orion Black and realised that this session would likely prove interesting.
"What seats would you lay claim to?" Dumbledore asked again
"By right of birth and magic I lay claim to the seats of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, as guardian I lay claim to the seats of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter for Harriet Lily Dorea Potter."
There was a moment of silence before muttering started, everyone had known that Sirius could have claimed the Black seats, but many had expected him to leave the Potter seats under Dumbledore's control, for Sirius to do this was unexpected and potentially changed the entire balance of power within the Wizengamot.
Minister Fudge cleared his throat slightly, knowing that his tenure in the Ministry hung slightly in the balance, "We are honoured that you are joining us once more, would you please prove your claims?"
In the centre of the Great Chamber sat a plinth, upon which rested a large roughly hewed stone about a foot long. Its purpose was to identify and prove the claims of lineage within the Wizengamot to avoid conflict as it was said to have been enchanted by Merlin himself, for this reason (as well as it was one of the few ways capable of this task) the stone was perhaps the only use of blood magic allowed in Britain. It identified a person as well as any magical bonds they had sworn, it was one of the reasons why no marked Death Eaters would ever enter the Wizengamot as there allegiances were laid bare for all to see. Approaching it, Sirius was handed a knife by a Ministry official and sliced a line across the palm of his wand hand before placing it flat upon the stone. The ambient magic in the room swirled and contorted slightly as they were invoked.
The silence of the full room was broken by a voice that seemed to be old and young, male and female, deep and high all at the same time, never fixing on a single pitch nor on a single tone, "Sirius Orion Black, son of Orion and Walburga Black, Lord of House Black, four seats. Bonded to Harriet Lily Dorea Potter, daughter of Lord James Potter and Lily Potter, with a godfather bond. Guardian for the House of Potter, four seats." With that the ground trembled slightly, as the Magics once more settled back.
Everyone turned to Dumbledore waiting for him as Chief Warlock, to grant Sirius ceremonial leave to take a seat. Sirius wanted to smirk as he noticed the tension on the old man's face, he had been trying to make contact with the ex-convict for the past four months, likely trying to gain control over him but the goblins had been good at laying false trails for the headmaster to follow. The overwhelming need to smile came back once more as Sirius saw Dumbledore dig himself a hole by starting to speak without due courtesy and failing to give the blessing as he should have.
"My dear boy, we are honoured you are here..."
Here Sirius interrupted feigning amazement at the words of the Chief Warlock, "I am sorry Chief Warlock, but you are expected to give your blessing to my claim due to your status as Chief Warlock, not address me in such a casual manner nor pontificate unnecessarily. So I will ask, do you give me leave to take my seats?"
Dumbledore looked like someone had stolen his lemon drops, "My apologies, I thought as an old student of mine I would..."
Sirius decided this whole politics thing was much funner than he expected, "Chief Warlock, you have never taught me but were my headmaster, and whilst you may have taught more than two thirds of the members of this Wizengamot you do not seem to address them so informally. You may be a teacher and headmaster of Hogwarts but here you are the Chief Warlock and I demand that I am addressed in the manner which tradition dictates."
Sirius would have started to laugh, if he was not so sure that it would look so bad, the dark factions looked amused at seeing the Chief Warlock, who they all saw as demeaning and irritating, brought down in such a manner by the new Lord. The light side looked like Sirius had killed their cat, as he addressed their precious 'lord of light'. Having said that though, some of the more traditional members of the light side such as Amelia Bones and Madame Longbottom nodded with agreement at Sirius pointed out Dumbledore's slights and bad manners.
The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye had dimmed and he realised he had to continue the traditional blessing, "Lord Black, please join us as your blood and Magics allow. Blessed be."
Sirius smiled and proceeded to walk to the foot of the steps leading up to the tiered seating of the members, to the right sat the dark side, to the left the light. The new member made a show of looking around at the distribution of the lords and ladies. Aware of how the lords, ladies, visitors in the galleries and press were watching, he sighed slightly before walking up the steps to the grey block. The grey block only contained around five lords, with the others forty five or so members spread almost equally between the light and dark blocks. There was considerable muttering when Sirius choose the neutral side which was forever stuck between the opposing other blocks. By now Dumbledore eye twinkle had dimmed to nothing whilst many looked with surprise as the new Lord Black settled in his seat and pulled out a quill and parchment for notes.
Once more Fudge cleared his throat as he sought to return attention back to the normal proceedings of speeches.
"Lord Black we are honoured that you and your House have once more joined us." Receiving a graceful inclination of the head from the man in question, the Minister continued, "Chief Warlock, would you start the speeches?"
With that Dumbledore started a speech about the war and redemption. Sirius was more than a little annoyed, why could Dumbledore not just move forward rather than focusing on the future.
"Would anyone else like to speak?"
Sirius knew that it was expected that he should speak, whenever a new Lord entered the Wizengamot and took their seats, it was expected that they announce their main political beliefs as well as a sort of introduction. So he stood and waited until he was recognised by the Minister before he strode down the steps to the dais where, without any notes or cards, he started to address the room at large.
"My honourable lord, ladies and members of the house. The reputation of House Black has sunk to the point that I doubt many houses have before. We are associated with the terrors of the last war and whilst I will not for one second try to excuse the actions or beliefs of members of my house, I would ask that people are aware of the simple fact that their actions do not reflect my own. I have spent five years in Azkaban because of the fact that my house was viewed, quite rightfully on occasion, as purely evil without people being aware of my own beliefs and situation. And on a larger scale I believe that it has become common for the judgement of people without listening or taking into account other factors as we base them purely on whether they are muggle-born or pure-blooded, Sacred Twenty-Eight or not, dark or light and even along the grounds of houses that we were divided into when we were eleven. The divides of the past half decade have caused deep rifts in our society that I feel need to be addressed, we ostracise and accept based on name and teach our children and heirs to do the same. Magic is magic and I fear that we have lost the truth of this in our attempts to hide the failures of the past decade.
War has pushed us apart and I now call for unification, we are the leaders of magical world yet we sit and quarrel about policies and laws that hide the fact that there are still deep rooted problems that exist because of our intolerance for others and have little idea how to address them. Voldermort, or whatever his real name was, should have taught us a lesson, instead we stand in fear behind names, such as 'He-Who-Must-Be-Named', thus exacerbating the fear that is inherent within our society and continue to teach our children and heirs the same. Some of us were branded like cattle, entire lines have died out and many were killed, that is in the past and all of us were effected in some way. I do not ask people to forget nor even to forgive, for I know that I will never so do, however I do ask that we work past the fear and intolerance that has defined the past. We can continue to be stuck in the past or we can work for the betterment of the Ministry and magical society in general. In preparation for rejoining this council, I reviewed every single policy that passed through here. Out of the three hundred and ninety eight bills that were debated here in the past five years, two hundred and forty six passed, of those twenty eight were related to subjugating werewolves, eight seven were on the reclassification of magic types, fifteen were on ministry pay, two were on turning the Potters' house into an official memorial, thirteen were on the relationship with the ICW, two were on the control of cauldron bottoms, forty one were on security, five concerned Knockturn Alley, four were on vampires, eighteen on goblins, one on the Quidditch World Cup bid. I ask now, do you believe that this was an effective use of five years worth of bills and debates or do you believe that all these have been simply an attempt to at least appear functional to a public recovering from war?"
With that Sirius stepped back slightly but continued to stand upon the dais that he had once sat chained only five months before and waited for a reaction. It came first from Madame Longbottom, regent of House Longbottom, who stood and started to slowly applaud in Sirius direction. She was followed by Lord Greengrass from the dark block, then Lord Abbot from the neutral block. Soon, the applause was deafening as those in the gallery too applauded the speech. Cameras flashed and Sirius slightly inclined his head. Sirius knew his speech was to put a niffler in a goldpile, whilst he had made some of his beliefs clear in his speech, he had essentially left himself, and his votes, open, he had told the world that he would vote on item by item, not be a generalisation of the Wizengamot blocks.
Lord Black takes his seat with the Wizengamot and asks for change
The story of Lord Black has reported on a lot recently, but here comes the next chapter in this saga. Yesterday, Lord Black used the start of the new Wizengamot year to reenter the Great Chamber and take his seats. Surprising many, the Lord Black, who has also taken over regency for House Potter, sat himself in the neutral block, Black is traditionally a dark House whilst Potter a Light, perhaps to reference this difference, the new Lord choose a neutral seat.
His opening speech was a work of art and called for unity and change, this reporter looks forward very much to the debates that Lord Black will participate in the near future as they are likely to prove highly interesting and erudite.
Political analyst article about Lord Black speech- p.2
For what Dumbledore has voted for using House Potter's seats- p.8
The Ministry Bills Lord Black referenced- p.12-14
Chief Warlock disrespects Lord Black- p.2
Striding from Wisteria Lane onto Privet Drive, Dumbledore was annoyed. Everything had started going wrong and had been since Sirius Black had been freed. It was still a mystery as to how a trial had considered, let alone happened. Whilst the papers had got hold of the story that Black hadn't received a trial, it seemed unlikely that they actively went looking for the story. What made it worse was that now Black was back and had announced his neutrality and claimed the Potter seats, Dumbledore was down to only one seat from House Dumbledore when previously he had had five.
Reaching Number 4, Dumbledore was panicked to see a 'For Sale' sign on the gate. Walking up the path, the old man knocked on the door and could hear the echoing throughout the house.
"Excuse me?"
Dumbledore was interrupted from his mini panic attack and turned to see a woman leaning over the next fence, "Yes ma'am"
"You wouldn't be trying to find the Dursley's would you?"
"Yes, do you know where they are?"
The woman looked quite delighted to gossip but a look of fake concern passed onto her face, "Were you a friend of theirs?"
"No, I was familiar with Petunia's sister?"
"Oh..." The woman was obviously loving the opportunity to get gossip, "Well, all the Dursley's were killed whilst on holiday in Italy, faulty wiring or something. Anyway, the police came and explained it all and the house was put up for sale two weeks ago, legalities meant it couldn't be sold earlier."
"Do you know whether they all died then, even the little girl, Harriet?"
"They certainly said they found three bodies, maybe they found the little girl's body too but I don't know. I am sorry for your loss though?" (She didn't sound sorry at all)
"As I said I didn't know them that well but thank you" Dumbledore said before striding back down the garden path, deep in thought. The Dursley's had been killed in Italy, maybe it was a coincidence that that was where Sirius Black had been seen in the few weeks after his trial. Oh, Dumbledore knew the Girl-Who-Lived was still alive, he had monitoring spells on her that told him she was still alive, but they were weakening with every day and he could not use them to find Harriet without her blood and he didn't have any of that to hand. Maybe it would be best to challenge Black at the next Wizengamot meeting to see whether he was aware of where Harriet was.
Sirius sighed as he and Heidi worked through the missives he had received since his entrance to the Wizengamot. Many were pandering, sycophantic letters trying to get fanour, interviews and meetings, all those went straight into the fire. The rest were a mixture of invitations and greetings cards, most of them were very dull to say the least, why ever anyone thought he would want to go Hippogriff racing with the Minister for Magic, he would never know. Stretching slightly, he turned to watch his mate as she worked through her own pile of correspondence. Soon he would be changed by Sanguini so that he would become immortal and live with Heidi forever, the problem with wizards becoming vampires was that magic wasn't meant to be attached to one person forever. Magic was an organic and alive concept and when someone died, their magic returned to the ground, living together disrupted this cycle and whilst in turning to become a muggle vampire, the magic returned to its source, the loss of magic often turned people mad. Becoming a magical vampire at least allowed for some of the magic to remain behind as they weren't technically immortal. Soon Sirius would become a magical vampire and whilst some part of him would regret losing the majority of his magic, he could then be with Heidi for so much longer.
Heidi looked up to see her mate staring at her with a sappy face that made her snort slightly, disturbing him from whatever train of thought he had boarded. He shook himself slightly before chuckling slightly at the sight of his mate looking at him with one eyebrow raised in question.
"Sirius, we have work to do, now, do you want to go to this party? It may be useful as it is in the Italian season. If I was under a glamour, I could come and scare off all the scary women and Hattie can come?"
The Italian season was part of an unofficial calendar that the European magical nobility followed, throughout the year the nobility traveled to their houses abroad to house parties and meet local dignitaries and friends. It was a time for the children to meet others abroad, for teenagers to become engaged and for adults to show off and gossip. The Italian season came at the start of January, the British over the summer solstice, the French over the spring equinox, Russian in May, Greece in August, and many others beside. Thinking about it, Sirius could see the intelligence of Heidi's idea, it would allow him to meet with other nobility in Italy and Europe and due to the Hogwarts start of term, there would be few British nobility there, thus allowing him some proper time to mingle without being asked about his beliefs on magical classifications or something. Moreover, taking Hattie would allow her to meet some children her own age, Jane and Alec may be the youngest in terms of physical age but they were a thousand years older than Hattie herself and Sirius would rather she meet some people her own age. It would also allow Sirius to show that he had guardianship of the Girl-Who-Lived, for whilst Dumbledore had not acted yet, Sirius was sure it was only a matter of time before he started to make noise about Sirius regency of House Potter.
Sirius smirked as he looked at Heidi, "You can tell Caius that we are borrowing his niece to take to a party..." At that Heidi seemed for a moment to slightly rethink her idea as she considered telling the blonde king what they were planning to do.
The outburst that that little conversation caused made everyone glad that Hattie had chosen the more level headed Marcus as father rather than Caius who broke his throne whilst trying to make everyone see how much of a bad idea it would be to take the little witch out of their protection even for just a night.
Two days later though, Sirius stood in the throne room in his black dress robes stoically ignoring the glares from Caius and some other members of the guard who still believed something was going to happen Hattie, seriously, he had just managed to persuade them he wasn't about to run off with his goddaughter before they find another reason to mistrust them. He turned in time to see his mate push open the door with holding hands with Harriet. Heidi wore an off the shoulder white and gold floor length Grecian style gown and was glamoured to appear human with large blue eyes, while Hattie wore a dress by Nicki Macfarlane called 'Mirabelle' in a iridescent blue that contrasted her dark hair that had been left to flow down to the small of her back. Approaching them, Sirius gently kissed the hand of his mate before picking Hattie up and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Marcus smiled at this daughter before pulling out a jewellery case from his pocket, opening it he revealed a necklace with a black sapphire on it.
"This is for you Hattie, I found it when I was a very new vampire and I have kept it for two thousand years, Dora and Pica helped me have it mounted for you...Do you like it?"
Hattie's only response was a garbled thank you as she hugged her father. He in turn pulled the dark stone on it silver mount out of the box and carefully placed it around her neck. He received another hug in return which he ended after a few seconds saying, "Right now, you need to go. Be good and have fun, it will be good for you to meet new people. We will see you when you get back" as he gently pushed her towards Sirius and Heidi.
"Come on pup" Sirius said as he picked Hattie up, "We need to take a portkey so I will hold you"
Together the three placed their hands on the engraved invitation and within seconds felt the jerk in their stomachs as the portkey activated.
The party was in Paestum, in the south of Italy and hosted by the Aucciello family who Sirius had met through his Uncle Alphard before he had died, since the pictures of Sirius had been taken of him in the Forum Magicae he had received several invitations to their soirees but this was the first he had accepted. The three arrived in the arcade of a typical Italian villa, in the courtyard the house was built around, a single olive tree grew. Their perusal of the settings was interrupted by the appearance of a man.
"Sir, may I please see your invitation?" the footman asked
"Certainly, here you are." Sirius said as he handed over the card, seeing the name on the card matched who had arrived, the footman gestured with a small bow over to a pair of open double doors which they started towards.
"Wait a minute." Sirius asked, "Hattie, I know you are taking Italian lessons but are you going to be alright in there or shall I put a translation charm on you, everyone will be speaking Italian in there."
The raven haired girl thought for a moment, "Could you put one on me, just in case, I don't want to offend anyone accidentally?"
Heidi cooed slightly, "You could never offend anyone Hattie but it is a good idea."
Within moments the charm was in place and the three entered the door. After Sirius had given their names to the caller, they waited until they would be allowed to enter.
"Presenting Lord Sirius Orion Black, Miss Heidi Volturi and Miss Harriet Potter, Heiress to Houses Potter and Black"
Heads turned at the introduction for nearly all had heard of the miscarriage of justice that the Lord Black had been forced to endure, furthermore, this was his first foray into completely public territory, aside from at the Wizengamot and now he appeared with a woman on his left arm and his heiress, the girl who had apparently survived the Killing Curse, on his right. The small group were first approached by their host and hostess and whilst no-one would admit it, they were all listening to the greetings between the two parties.
"Lord Black, we are so glad that you came, I must say we were slightly surprised when you accepted." Marie Aucciello said as she gave her hand out to be kissed.
Sirius bowed over her hand, air kissing the back before straightening and shaking the hand of Lord Aucciello, "Lady Aucciello, I was reminded by the dear lady to my left that it was necessary to appear on public on occasion. Speaking of, may I introduce Miss Heidi Volturi and my heiress, Harriet Potter"
Both Heidi and Hattie curtsied slightly at the introduction with polite greetings exchanged, addressing Heidi, Lord Aucciello asked, "Are you Italian, your surname certainly is?"
Heidi chuckled slightly, the sound drawing eyes with its beauty, "I am Lord Aucciello, I am from Tusany and had the misfortune to meet Sirius, I mainly stay for Hattie."
Sirius pouted at that, "So not true, I am awesome that is why, Hattie is just a bonus..."
The entire group chuckled slightly at Sirius pout before the Lady Aucciello turned to Hattie, "Miss Potter, I am so glad to see you in wizarding society, no-one knew where you were and it worried us greatly."
"Thank you for your concern Lady Aucciello, after Siri was freed we met and we now live together." Hattie said, eyes wide and a bright smile on her face as she reached up to grasp Sirius hand once more. Heidi was chuckling on the inside, they had taught Hattie well how to avoid giving out information without giving away any unnecessary information and it was needed now as it was clear that people wanted to know about Hattie's life after the vanquishing of Voldemort.
"You are adorable" Lady Aucciello muttered slightly under her breath almost unaware she had said it out loud, she then addressed the group as a whole, "Shall we introduce you to some people?"
"We came here to mingle, so mingle we shall!" Sirius said with his typical charming smile.
Forty minutes later and Sirius was regretting that statement, he had been asked about British politics more times than he cared for and their had been many sly questions about both Hattie and Heidi as people tried to fish for information. Sirius was well aware that pictures were likely to be in the morning papers across Europe of the reclusive Lord Black and even more reclusive Harriet Potter. Heidi was having a rather fun time, she did not often get to interact with large crowds in this manner and had spent much of the evening persuading people to impart information without ever giving much away herself, the ability to 'dazzle' people was incredible useful in situation like this.
Just as the three of them were about to escape outside for a breath of fresh air, they were once more approached by Lady Aucciello, "Lord Black and Miss Volturi, I was wondering whether you would permit me to introduce Harriet to the son of a friend of mine, actually why don't you all come, I know she would love to meet you?"
Internally sighing, Sirius nodded and followed his hostess through the party and through dancing couples to a part of the room that was slightly emptier than the others. Approaching a small group, Lady Aucciello said, "Lady Zabini, I brought someone who I thought you should meet. May I introduce the Lord Black, Miss Volturi and Miss Potter."
Rumours of Lady Zabini circulated society regularly, after all she was thirty one and was already on her fourth husband, the first had died in a broom accident and the others followed in rather suspicious circumstances leaving all the money to their bereaved widows whilst the son, Blaise came from the first marriage.
"Ahh, Lord Black, I was so glad to hear that you were freed last year" Lady Zabini said, she was a beautiful woman but compared to Heidi looked over finished, "I trust we shall see more of you after this?"
"I would hope so, however there is still a lot to do, accounts and properties left to fallow for five years do need more work than is perhaps expected." Sirius answered.
Lady Aucciello interrupted whatever the Lady Zabini was about to say, "I thought Blaise would like to meet Harriet, it can be dull when there are so many adults around, where is he?"
"Blaise is outside in the courtyard with some of the other children, shall we go and find them?"
"Certainly." Sirius said as he took Heidi's arm and Hattie's hand before following the two Ladies out of the hall and into the courtyard they had first arrived in. Under the olive tree, benches had been set out and a gaggle of children sat chatting gentility beneath.
"Blaise" Lady Zabini called. Soon, a dark haired boy wandered over to his mother, gracefully bowing to the assembled company.
"Mother, can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes, I was just speaking to Lord Black who brought his goddaughter, Harriet Potter. Lady Aucciello thought you might like to meet her and perhaps introduce her to your companions."
Blaise looked sharply at the dark haired girl who stood partly behind Lord Black, he like so many had been brought up on stories of Harriet Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived. Unlike some of his English friends, he did not worship per-say Harriet but he had read some of the story books that had been written about the girl.
"Miss Potter" Blaise said, bowing slightly, "I am Blaise Zabini, Scion of House Zabini, it is an honour to meet you."
Hattie moved from behind her godfather and offered her hand out to be kissed, "It is my pleasure Mr Zabini, I am Harriet Potter, Scion of House Potter and Black."
Having kissed her hand and received a dismissal, Blaise led Hattie over to the group under the tree who all turned to see the new arrival.
"May I introduce, Giovanni Zini, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Theodore Nott and Cormac McLaggen. Everyone, this is Harriet Potter."
Apart from McLaggen, no-one seemed to react with much other than a raised eyebrow, they were too well raised to fan-girl/fan-boy and so decided to observe the Girl-Who-Lived, after all, it was a good story to tell, being among the first to meet Harriet Potter for the first time in public.
Caius was not pacing, he really wasn't. He was just...patrolling the throne room and waiting for Hattie to come back. Marcus sat amused in his throne watching as his brother paced, remembering the blonde king's initial reaction to the idea of Harriet coming, it seemed like it was a completely different person in front of him. Sure, Caius could be a grumpy cow but if you wanted to make him stop, all that was needed was Hattie being brought in.
Speak of the devil (angel) and they shalt appear, as at that moment Heidi and Sirius, carrying a sleepy Hattie appeared in the middle of the throne room. The sound must have attracted the attention of members of the guard for they all appeared and looked slightly relieved seeing Hattie alive and unharmed.
"So how did it go?" Marcus asked
"Meh, these things are dull. Hattie did you have any fun?"
Hattie pulled her head off Sirius shoulder and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, "I liked Blaise Zabini and the Greengrasses. Didn't like McLaggen, he was mean..."
There were growls around the room and Sirius felt some elaboration was needed before seventeen vampires marched off to find someone called McLaggen, "Why was he mean pup?"
"He was rude to everyone and very conceited" Harriet sniffed as she laid her head back on Sirius shoulder. The man was starting to walk out of the door to take her to her bed when Harriet spoke again, "Oh, and he said that I was going to marry him...I don't have to marry him do I?"
Sirius winced at that and walked out knowing that Caius was going to need a new throne in the morning and the guards would have researched everything they could about a nameless McLaggen within an hour.
The next morning, a yawning Sirius took a portkey back to England to attend his first full Wizengamot meeting. He was running a little on the late side so was able to pick up the morning paper before he entered the Ministry. Quickly walking through the hall and into the Great Chamber, Sirius sat in his seat in the neutral block. Scanning the paper, Sirius found on page three a picture from last night of himself, Heidi and Hattie, they really worked fast but it was a nice photo, maybe he should get a copy for Marcus.
Sirius was one of the last to enter the hall and the bell sounded as the doors shut about five minutes after he arrived. It was rather obvious from Dumbledore's behaviour that he was planning something, he had looked distinctly relieved when Sirius had arrived and occasionally took furtive looks back at him. The Lord Black shook his head slightly, it was going to be one of those days.
"Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, thank you for your presence and blessings on this council." Minister Fudge said, "Does anyone bring any issues to the Winzengamot or does anyone claim their seats?" Traditionally this was the time when grievances were aired publicly and Dumbledore had obviously chosen now as the time to act.
"I do, Minister"
"Chief Warlock, speak your case."
Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked around the assembled members, eyes twinkling, "Lords and ladies, yesterday we heard that Lord Black claimed his seats, I would never contest those however I do contest his regency of the Potter seats. Whilst officially he may be guardian of Harriet Potter, he has not brought her here to publicly show and declare himself her guardian, indeed no-one knows where she is. I ask that this body considers the validity of Lord Black's regency of the Potter seats."
Once the old man had finished, everyone turned to Sirius Black who was sitting leaning back in his chair, once more reading the paper having go the gist of the headmaster's argument within the first sentence. Deciding to play it up a little, Sirius didn't look up for a few more seconds until the Minister cleared his throat, looking up he made a show of being surprised.
"My apologies my lords and ladies. I was just looking at this charming photo from today's Prophet. Chief Warlock, I would have thought that someone in your position would read the papers every morning and so know that last night, I attended a party in Paestum with the goddaughter that you say no-one has ever seen. Indeed, I am sure that Lord Greengrass would confirm this as Harriet spent a fair potion of the night speaking with his daughters."
Heads turned to Lord Greengrass, "I can confirm Lord Black's words, my daughters' last night informed me that they had met the esteemed Girl-Who-Lived and were quite delighted with her company. There is a picture on page three of the paper I believe."
Grabbing a paper, the Minister looked at the photos which showed a little girl with a distinctive scar on her head, sighing deeply the Minister asked, "All those in favour of agreeing with the Chief Warlock and suspending Lord Black's regency of House Potter's seat until Harriet Potter is brought before us?"
The only hands that were raised were those on the left, those who followed Dumbledore almost fanatically but they numbered only eighteen seats.
"All those against." Looking down at the paper, Fudge smirked slightly, Dumbledore had lost considerably, "Fifty three against, case dismissed. Now does anyone bring anything worthwhile to the Wizengamot?"
Another chapter over, some of the characters like Zabini will continue to appear in the story as Hattie needs some friends her own age...
Please review and tell me what you think and if you see any mistakes etc.
