"Find anything yet?" Neville asked, as he shoved another book on curse scars to the searched pile and drew a new one from the dwindling pile of books they hadn't read.

"Not yet," responded Hermione in a determined tone, not lifting her head from her book as she frantically flipped through the pages.

Susan didn't even say anything in response, although her shake of the head allowed Neville to know that she'd heard him.

It was the second day of searching through the family's extensive library, but so far they'd yet to achieve any substantial result aside from organising an efficient sorting system.

The day before they'd gone to the library and pulled nearly everything off the shelves, stacking all the books into piles based on their subject of research. Then, they'd split themselves into groups, each tackling one pile at a time, as they looked for any mention of the word Horcrux or a way to safely remove it.

They still had over two dozen piles to work through, so hopefully, even though they hadn't found anything yet, they would soon.

Trying not to get discouraged, Neville looked past the two witches to where Dan, Sarah, and Harry sat at another table. The pile of ancient wizarding ritual books they'd still yet to read was noticeably larger than his groups, but he figured that fact could be attributed to how efficiently Hermione worked in a library setting.

At the table next to them, Emma, Clarissa, Matthew, and Joshua were working on their pile of soul magic texts. They seemed to be making decent progress, which surprised Neville. He'd expected their group to lag behind, as he'd never seen either of the three kids sit still long enough to actually read an entire book before this.

Returning his focus to his new book, Neville could only hope the other parents were having more luck in their search.


Unfortunately, Neville's hopes for that day rested entirely upon Amelia, Frank, and Alice's progress searching through the Department of Mysteries, as Sirius, Lily, and Remus had yet to even begin searching through the Black Library.

The problem was that Grimmauld Place was so neglected and desolate, getting to the library was difficult in itself.

Everything in the house was covered in a thick layer of dust, the wallpaper was faded and peeling, and there were several infestations of creatures that had grown over the years of absence.

"Merlin, did your family ever clean Padfoot?" asked Moony upon entering the foyer, as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it up to his mouth.

"We had an elf to do that, but clearly the stupid thing has decided not to bother," grumbled Padfoot as he wiped a finger on the wall and examined the dust. "Bet you that lousy, godforsaken beast hasn't lifted a finger since my mother died."

Lily was so horrified by the state of the house; she didn't even think to chastise Padfoot for directing such language at a house elf.

"Which way is the library?" Remus asked.

"It's on the third floor, east wing," responded Sirius glumly. "I wouldn't go up there just yet though, nobodies been in this house for nearly a decade. We don't know what sort of stuff we might encounter here. This place is probably teeming with jinxes and hexes, and if my mother was the one who set them, they'd all probably land you in the extreme care ward at St. Mungo's if you were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one.

"Not to mention my werewolf sense of smell has already alerted me to a rather large colony of Doxies living upstairs, and a nest of puff skeins somewhere down that hallway, " said a smiling Remus.

"Well, we better start cleaning up. Remember, be careful!" said Lily primly, as she withdrew her wand and quickly vanished all the dirt, dust and grime that covered the foyer, before turning back to face the two men with a smile. "I'll take the room on the left, you two can get to work on that hallway."

Remus smiled and nodded his head in agreement, while Sirius just started cursing Kreacher under his breath.

The three worked tirelessly for several hours as they progressed through the numerous rooms of the house.

The kitchen and pantry in the basement were probably in the worst state and required all three of them working together to clean. All of the food had expired ages ago, but before they could banish it and remove the foul smell, they had to dismantle the intricate web of hexes that protected the room. A particularly nasty curse nearly scorched Remus when he pushed in one of the chairs around the table to allow him to walk to the other end of the room, but thankfully Sirius had been in perfect position to protect his friend from the curse they'd somehow missed.

The portrait of Sirius's mother Walburga Black that hung in the hallway was another matter that caused them problems. Incidentally, it had taken Lily trying to remove the troll-leg umbrella stand that had woken her up, but when she did, she began screaming bloody murder about mudbloods, blood-traitors, and werewolves debauching her beautiful home.

They'd tried everything they could think of to remove the portrait, but they had no such luck, and Walburga proved quite vocal in taunting them about her permanent sticking charm.

Finally, when Sirius had actually threatened to burn the house down if she didn't shut up, Lily had the genius idea of silencing his mother by covering the portrait in a thick layer of gloop.

Sirius had loved the effect so much; he'd even cast his own permanent sticking charm that prevented the gloop from ever being removed from his mother's portrait.

At that point, Kreacher had shown up cursing Sirius for what he'd done to his mother's home, but Sirius merely ordered him to shut up and go to his room if he wasn't going to help them.

"You know you could try being nicer to him," said Lily to Sirius, after she watched the elf disappear. "Maybe if you tried to repair the relationship between you two, he'd be more willing to listen to you and do things that you want him to do."

"I don't need him to want to do anything," said Sirius in response. "He's bound by magic to do what I tell him, and that's all that matters."

Sighing, Lily looked to Remus for help, but the man just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

After growing up with Sirius, he knew better than to try and talk to Sirius about his life at Grimmauld Place.

"Come on, there are only four rooms upstairs to go through and then we can start on the library," said Sirius, breaking Lily's and Remus's silent conversation.

"Actually it's getting pretty late already, why don't you work on the rooms on the second floor, and Lily and I will start on the library," said Remus. "We can't very well return home without having made any progress."

"Fine, just be careful up there," said Sirius, after seeing that Lily agreed with Remus' suggestion.

"We will," said Lily, as she and Remus began ascending the stairs, leaving Sirius alone outside of the drawing room.

With one final look around the ground floor, Sirius climbed the stairs after them.

The second floor had two bathrooms and four bedrooms, one of which being his parents master suite.

He didn't even bother trying to enter that room, and instead chose to inspect his brother's old room.

Seeing the faded green walls with the Slytherin crest and the old newspaper cuttings of Voldemort that were strewn about the room proved to be more emotional than Sirius had expected, and after banishing a few stray doxies, he was quick to exit the room.

Even after all these years, Sirius couldn't help but think about his younger brother, and what could've been prevented if he had just done more to help him.

After taking a moment to collect himself, he decided to enter his old room.

He wasn't expecting much when he'd opened the door, but it still saddened him to see how unrecognisable the place now was in comparison to what he remembered.

Growing up, the walls had been covered in posters of bikini clad babes and muggle motorbikes, but now the walls were bare, with even a few burn marks that he figured must have been his mothers doing after he'd left.

Banishing the dust, Sirius walked around his old bed and after a quick wave of his wand to dispel the jinxes that had been placed on it began looking through the drawers of his desk.

He found a couple of old letters inside one of them, but not much else.

Turning around, he went to open the closet and was immediately greeted by the sight of his best friend dead on the ground before him, and Lord Voldemort walking out of his closet.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius calmly drew his wand and muttered Riddikulus, turning the Boggart into a walrus before banishing it.

After that, he was just about ready to leave and head upstairs to help Lily and Remus when he saw an owl swoop down on the windowsill.

For a while, Sirius merely stared at the bird, caught completely off-guard by its arrival.

He was shocked that the bird could've flown through the house's protections, as Grimmauld Place was supposed to be unplottable. Only someone who already knew of the house's existence could access it.

Deciding to let the bird in, Sirius opened the window enough for it to crawl inside, before using his wand to identify if any curses were placed on the letter it was carrying.

The barn owl didn't seem to appreciate being on the receiving end of his wand, and after Sirius's untied the letter from its leg, it promptly flew off.

Watching it fly away in confusion, Sirius turned the letter over and realisation quickly dawned on him.

It was from his cousin Narcissa.

Deciding that since the bird didn't wait for a response, he wasn't expected to reply immediately, Sirius tucked the letter into his pocket and went to help Lily and Remus.

They only had an hour or two left until they were due to return home for a family meeting to discuss the day's progress.

If they didn't have any new discovery to talk about on the research front, at least he could share the letter with the family.

Hopefully, it would be a sufficient distraction away from the arduous and depressing search they were having so far.


Amelia, Frank, and Alice were already at home talking to the children about their unsuccessful search of the Department of Mysteries when Lily, Sirius, and Remus returned from Grimmauld Place.

Neither party even had to ask how the others search went, as it was evident on their faces that they hadn't found anything.

Feeling ashamed, Lily immediately went to embrace her son who was sitting on one of the sofas in the living room.

"Come on mum there's no reason to get discouraged," said Harry as he wrapped his arms around her, recognising that she could use a few comforting words. "We couldn't have expected to find a solution in the first two days could we?"

Lily didn't get to answer, as Hermione jumped into the conversation, adding what she had planned for the search tomorrow.

Smiling, Lily withdrew from her hug and kissed the top of Harry's head before going to the kitchen to prepare drinks.

A few minutes later James arrived home, and the family were able to sit down and discuss what had happened to them.

James went first, talking about how he'd met with the family solicitors, a few trusted Wizengamot allies, and even a Gringotts curse breaker, none of which had yielded any results. Despite this, James remained confident. He had a plan to try and re-trace young Tom Riddle's footsteps, which involved meeting with the owner of Borgin and Burkes, interviewing people who grew up in the orphanage with him, and even travelling to meet with a contact he had in Eastern Europe who said he'd escaped being hunted down by the Dark Lord. The family all thought that was a good idea, although Lily reminded him of the importance of keeping the subject a secret. James just grinned and said it wouldn't be a problem.

Hermione went second, talking about the progress the children and her parents had made on the piles they'd sorted in the library and her hopes for completing another three the next day. The parents were really impressed by how efficiently they were working through the vast amount of books, and reminded them not to get discouraged that they hadn't found anything yet.

Amelia then spoke about their endeavour to search through the Department of Mysteries, their enlistment of Senior Unspeakable Croaker to assist them, and how there had been no mention of the term Horcrux in the directory. The family was extremely intrigued by this last detail, and Amelia revealed that after multiple detection charms, they'd discovered that someone had tampered with the directory. According to Croaker, it could've been the work of known death eater Augustus Rockwood who used to work as an Unspeakable, but Frank thought the man may have just been covering up a secret he didn't want them to know about. Either way, Amelia planned to find out if Rockwood knew anything about Horcruxes, by paying him a visit in Azkaban in the coming days. James and Sirius were both supportive of this idea, provided that she remember to obliviate his memory after using veritaserum to extract information from him.

Finally, Remus talked about how their search of the Black library had yielded nothing, as they'd had to spend most of their time cleaning and de-jinxing the house. Sirius waited for him to finish before pulling the letter out of his pocket and announcing that he'd received word from his cousin Narcissa that day.

After the family prodded him to open it up and real it out loud, Sirius did just that.

Dear Sirius,

I know you're probably surprised to hear from me given that the Ministry is attempting to track down the Malfoy family, but I need to meet with you.

I trust you've heard the things about Lucius in the Daily Prophet, but what you don't know is that it was me who told them everything. I intentionally divulged all of his secrets to that Rita Skeeter woman in the hope that it would ruin him, and hopefully land him behind bars. The man is a monster, who doesn't deserve to walk free.

Not only did the man endanger my son and hundreds of other children by unleashing that monster on the school this past year, but also he regularly commits acts of domestic violence on Draco and me.

This summer he took it too far. He beat me and broke my wand, before taking Draco away to enrol him in Durmstrang. I don't know where he is now, but I know that as Head of the Black family you can annul my marriage to him and help Draco and I get away from him.

Please respond if you're willing to meet with me,

Narcissa

After reading the letter, Sirius tossed it casually on the table in the centre of the room and surveyed the reactions of the rest of the family.

"I don't trust her," grumbled Frank. "How de we know she's not just saying this so that Sirius will protect her now that the Ministry is after her family?"

"And don't forget taking the Black name is a convenient way to circumvent the Malfoy life debt to House Potter," added James.

"But what if she's telling the truth," said Emma. "Domestic violence is a serious issue in the muggle world, and you've said yourselves that it happens in the magical world too."

"I guess the question becomes if we can accept condemning another to a life of misery simply to preserve our own interests," said Amelia.

"Well, when you put it like that," said a disgruntled Frank.

"I agree with Amelia," said Dan. "In this kind of situation, we have to at least be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"What do you think Harry," said Alice. "You're the one who's owed the life debt, you should have something to say here."

Harry just shrugged and said, "I don't know, it does seem a little suspicious that she's only now telling us this news a week after the Daily Prophet printed those articles, but I guess it can't hurt to hear what she has to say."

"So we're agreed then," said Lily, watching the family give a round of nods. "Okay Sirius, you need to write back and arrange a meeting with her."

Sirius just shrugged. He didn't really have a problem meeting with his cousin, and he was rather indifferent on the matter.

Besides, he was positive that no matter what she had to say it couldn't be the worst reunion he'd had with somebody from his family.


In the next week and a half, little changed for the family as they continued following their daily routine of splitting up into groups to conduct their research, before reconvening in the evening to discuss their progress.

The problem was that they'd yet to discover anything that could help remove the Horcrux safely from Harry's head, and time was starting to work against them.

Dan, Emma, Amelia, Frank, and Alice all had jobs that couldn't be put on hold for much longer, and they were starting to feel the pressure of finding a solution quickly.

However, none of their ideas had yet to amount to any modicum of success.

James's endeavours to meet with anyone he suspected may have information about either Tom Riddle's past, or Horcruxes in general for that manner had yielded limited results - almost none of which was helpful to their cause. The problem he was now facing, was that it was becoming increasingly apparent that the only person who could help him on his search was Albus Dumbledore. Unfortunately, the last thing he wanted to do was speak to the man who thought it was a good idea to keep a piece of the Dark Lord's soul in his son's head.

Amelia's attempt to extract information about the Dark Lord's Horcruxes from Augustus Rockwood or any Azkaban inmate with the dark mark was a failure as well. Over-extended exposure to dementors had driven most of the inmates insane, scrambling their memories and making it impossible for Amelia to extract any information that could be of use.

Similarly, the exhausting search of the Department of Mysteries had only resulted in a giant headache, as it became increasingly obvious that many things had either been stolen from the archives or were being kept hidden from them.

Even the family's search of their two libraries had come up relatively empty, making their next nightly conversation a rather depressing one.

"I don't get it," complained Susan, "how can there be no mention of Horcruxes in literature written about soul magic, curse scars, ancient rituals, unforgivable curses, wizardry's worst crimes, history textbooks, or any of the other subjects we read."

"Probably because there's no precedent for this type of thing," said Harry glumly. "I was the first one to ever survive the killing curse, so there isn't any pre-existing research on the matter."

"Yea well, you would think there would be some mention of it in the Black library," said Sirius with his head in his hands. "Over three thousand books on the dark arts, illegal potions, and banned rituals, and so far the best we've found is that to create one you have to first murder someone in cold blood."

"Where could Tom have even learned about the term Horcrux, let alone how to make one?" James asked.

"I don't know, but I bet you whoever told him about it is already dead," said Frank.

"We can't get discouraged though," said Sarah, who was holding hands with her big brother. "We'll find an answer if we keep looking."

Harry just smiled and squeezed his sister's hand in response.

No one said anything in response to that, so instead, Amelia tried changing the subject.

"Did Narcissa ever write back to you Sirius?"

Without lifting his head Sirius responded, "Yeah, I'm meeting her at Grimmauld Place next week."

"Do you want one of us to accompany you for the meeting?" asked Alice.

Sirius frowned and shook his head. "No, we need as many people researching as possible. It's nice of you to offer, but it's probably best if I just do this on my own."

When no one said anything in response, James and Frank decided it was time to put the younger children to bed.

Sarah, Matthew, Joshua, and Clarissa all protested, but as usual, the parents remained firm in enforcing their bedtime.

Shortly after that, everyone else started retiring to bed as well, until finally, it was just Lily and Hermione left behind in the living room.

Both women were quite depressed with how poorly the search was going and they were growing more and more frantic in their worry for Harry.

"We'll find an answer soon enough," said Lily, trying to keep any of the doubt she may be feeling out of her voice.

"I know," responded Hermione, her voice sounding hollow and devoid of emotion. "It's just getting harder and harder to maintain hope."

Feeling her eyes moisten as she smiled at the girl who cared so deeply for her son, Lily had to wrap her arms around Hermione.

"I know it's easy to lose faith, but we can't give up," said Lily, as she ran her hands through Hermione's hair. "You have to remember that even in the darkest of times, you can find happiness if you remember to turn on the light."

"Where did you hear that," said Hermione, her face contorted in a frown.

"Something Dumbledore told me when I was a student," muttered Lily, causing Hermione to laugh.

"He does say some pretty weird things," said Hermione.

"Yeah he does," agreed Lily, her face melting into a smile.

"You don't think he could be right about Harry's scar do you?" Hermione asked. "That the only way to remove it is for Tom to…"

"No, I refuse to believe that," said Lily, whose tone sounded defiant and strong, as her smile disappeared.

"Good," said Hermione, as she squeezed her arms around Lily's mid-section. "Me too."

For a while neither of them spoke, the two witches just sat in silence. James even came down the stairs looking for his wife but left them alone to have their moment when he saw how comfortable they were together.

It was only after Lily suggested that Hermione should go to bed and get some rest, did the younger girl speak again.

"But what if Harry's right? What if there really isn't some kind of magical cure to this sort of thing because it's never happened in wizarding history before?"

"Hermione, I promise you something will come up, we'll find something, and we're not going to give up until…"

But her voice trailed off as she felt Hermione go rigid in her arms.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

Hermione didn't respond, and Lily had to pull back and hold the girl at arms lengths so she could look into her eyes to see what was wrong.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

"We've been going about it all wrong," muttered Hermione, her voice sounding distant and her eyes showing that she was lost in thought.

Lily could only stare at her in confusion. Before she could speak, however, Hermione freed herself from her arms and shot off towards the library at a sprint.

It only took a moment for Lily to comprehend what had just happened, before she was on her feet and chasing after her.

She called out to the young girl twice, but Hermione never responded, so Lily had to chase her all the way to one of the tables in the library before she could ask the younger girl properly what was going on.

Hermione, who was furiously tearing through a book she had pulled off the shelf could hardly contain her excitement as she explained herself.

"What if wizards really don't have a way to get the Horcrux out of Harry's head, because they've never had to do anything like this before? But what if other species did? What about the goblins, or elves? Maybe they have a way to remove Horcruxes, something that we wouldn't have found because we were only looking at wizarding solutions."

Lily's eyes grew wide at the explanation before she reached over the table and pulled the girl into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hermione you are brilliant!"

Finding it hard to breathe, Hermione blushed red under her best friend's mother's praise.

"Actually, my muggle math teacher said I was highly logical, which allowed me to see past extraneous details and perceive clearly what others might not."

Lily just laughed. "Wait until we tell the others. They will be so thrilled."

Hermione could only nod, her mind hardly registering Lily's words as she thought about all the different species that could potentially have a way of removing Horcruxes.


The next morning, James found himself standing in front of the Goblin High Council in Gringotts, hoping to convince them to perform an ancient ritual on his son.

Not something he ever would have expected to be doing a month prior.

In fact, it was almost a complete turnaround from how he thought he'd be spending this day twenty-four hours ago, but everything had changed when Lily had informed him of Hermione's idea the night before.

After the whole house was awoken by his wife's shrieks of good news, Sirius had apparated to Knockturn Alley and bought several galleons worth of pepper-up-potion, enough to keep the family up all night as they researched various magical species and any potential methods they may have to remove Horcruxes.

They'd found that both the Black and the Potter-Longbottom-Bones libraries had limited resources on non-wizard texts, but thankfully that made the task of reading through texts much easier, and the information they did find was very encouraging.

After reading a book on centaurs and their beliefs in the spiritual powers of the heavens, Frank, Remus, and Alice had immediately volunteered to travel to Hogwarts to try and speak with the centaurs that lived in the Forbidden Forest.

For the first time since they'd started this search, the family felt their hopes rejuvenated.

The centaurs looked to be a promising prospect, and this was only one of the new leads they were now exploring.

From the moment he'd heard of Hermione's idea, James had immediately sent a letter off with Hedwig hoping to reserve an appointment with his account manager at Gringotts in the morning.

He could hardly contain his excitement when Hedwig returned with a positive response a short while later despite the late hour.

Lily also had the bright idea of summoning a house elf that they could talk to. The hope was that maybe an elf could provide more information about the topic of their own species, as textbooks tended to be rather vague about them.

Being the only one in the family who still owned an elf beside Sirius, Amelia had called upon her old family elf named Mitsy.

The little thing was so thrilled to be called upon by her old master, that she happily answered any questions the family had to the best of her abilities.

Mitsy actually turned out to be most helpful, as she proved to be a wealth of information on the capabilities and limitations of elfish magic. She even attempted to remove the Horcrux from Harry after receiving permission to do so. Alas, she was unable to do so.

Her brief visit did inspire others in the family though to consider the notion of re-introducing elves back into their families.

The Potters and Longbottoms had both owned elves before, and the family was sure they could provide a caring environment for them.

The only issue that remained was that they didn't know if they had much of a use for them anymore. Despite its size, the Manor was actually quite well maintained, as there were so many people living in it to take care of it.

The elf that went by the name of Mitsy had proved to be a wealth of information on the capabilities and limitations of elfish magic. She even tried to remove the Horcrux when Harry gave her his permission to do so, but alas she was unable.

James however, wasn't thinking about any of this. He wasn't concerned with elves, in his opinion; it was the goblins that were their most viable option.

While elves might have an older lineage, the goblins were probably the most advanced non-wizarding species in the magical world, meaning that if any other species had developed some form of cure, they were their best shot.

When he'd voiced his thoughts on this matter, the family turned their focus away from vampires and werewolves and began focusing almost solely on goblin literature. As fate would have it, they didn't have to wait long before they were rewarded for their efforts with a very promising result.

Emma had discovered something called a spirit cleansing ritual in one of the libraries old books on goblin history. It was supposed to be used on patients who had suffered mental trauma or psychological unrest, but according to the book it hadn't been used since the Goblin rebellion of 1612 and was reserved only for the noblest of warriors.

James was ecstatic to hear this, but he also knew how difficult this task would be.

Negotiating an agreement with the goblins was never easy, especially when you were trying to get them to perform a sacred ritual on someone who wasn't of goblin-descent.

However, he also knew that their alternatives were slim, and it was the first great opportunity they'd had, so obviously, he wasn't going to let it slip away.

That was why at the first sign of dawn; he'd travelled to the bank with Amelia, Sirius, and Harry hoping to convince the goblins to perform the ritual on his son. There had been others in the family who'd wanted to accompany them, but James didn't want to bring to large a group. Amelia and Sirius were obvious choices as they were Heads of Prominent families and important customers of the bank. He'd wanted to Lily to come along as well but she'd declined his invitation. No doubt she was still holding out hope that she could find another method of removing the Horcrux in one of the families many books, preferably one that wasn't a practice of a species that was renown for their gruesome affixation with sacrifices.

When he'd entered the bank with his small entourage, the first thing James did was request to speak with his account manager Barchoke who he had arranged a visit with.

After being escorted into a private room, they engaged in a short discussion with Barchoke, after which the goblin left the private meeting room to send a message to one of his associates.

When he re-entered, he brought word that they had been granted their request to meet with the goblin high council and that a set of guards would be sent to escort them down into the central chamber.

Five minutes later they were walking through the decorated halls below the lobby of the bank, trying to ignore the dozens of armoured goblins that were pointing swords at them as they marched.

Having never been before the goblin high council before, James had no idea what the Central Chamber looked like. Whatever his assumptions were, they were vastly outmatched by the reality of the room when he first laid eyes on it.

"Whoa," said Harry, as he gazed around the room. The walls were painted a golden yellow and were adorned with battle-axes, paintings, and red curtains. The guards were escorting them none too subtly with their swords towards the centre of the room, before the raised semi-circular bench where over two dozen goblins sat high above them.

It was only after the goblin in the front and centre of the bench addressed them, that Harry recognised him.

It was Ragnok, the king of the goblins.

"Lord Potter, you come before the court requesting a most unusual service. Barchoke has informed me that you seek to remove a soul fragment from your son. Would you like to convince us why we should consider performing one of our most sacred rituals on one who is not our own?"

James resisted the urge to swallow nervously as he felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face. He had to maintain as stoic a face as possible. If the goblins sensed fear, they would surely eat them alive.

All their research, all their hard work, it all came down to this conversation. It was time to put his background in pureblood politics to good use and help his son.

Immediately, James hung his head and got down on one knee, showing the goblins the respect they so rarely got from other wizards. "Your honour, my son has a piece of Lord Voldemort inside of him. It is most urgent that it be removed, to ensure both his personal well-being and to bring about the destruction of a Dark Lord that would seek to destroy both of our cultures. I come to you today asking for your help, knowing that this ritual is reserved for only the most worthy of your kind. However, what I ask of you would serve your own interests, and I'm willing to pay you vast amounts of gold in addition if you would be so kind as to agree."

A few of the goblins began whispering at James words, while other's stared silently at the four humans in front of them.

"So you're claiming that Voldemort somehow managed to split his soul, and that part of it now resides in the body of your son," said Ragnok disbelievingly, frowning as he turned his gave on Harry.

"They're called Horcruxes," said Amelia calmly in response. "We don't know how many others he made, but we think there's more than the diary and the one inside Harry's scar.

"What diary?" growled a large goblin that sat beside Ragnok.

The adults didn't answer that question, instead, they turned to look at Harry. The boy in question had been hoping he wouldn't have to do much of the speaking at this meeting, but he knew this was a question that only he could answer in detail. The parents had never even seen the diary, while he had first-hand experience with it thanks to his adventure in the Chamber of Secrets.

Taking a deep breath, Harry began explaining about the diary that Lucius Malfoy had given Ginny Weasley, and how it had eventually taken control of her body and forced her to do its bidding. He then told them about the Basilisk attacks on the school, and how Tom Riddle had taken her body into the Chamber of Secrets in an attempt to use her spirit to bring a memory of himself back to life.

The goblins seemed to be most intrigued by his tale, and Harry even provided his memory of the Chamber of Secrets to be viewed in a pensieve when one of the goblins asked for it.

As the scene of him and his friends jumping into the chamber flashed before his eyes, Harry watched the goblins for their reaction, as he had no interest in re-watching one of the most horrifying moments of his life.

The goblins at large seemed to be quite disturbed by the sight of a memory form Tom Riddle, but it was nothing compared to their surprise at seeing Harry summon the sword of Gryffindor, and using it to slay the enormous Basilisk.

A few of the goblins even grinned when they watched him use the basilisk fang to destroy the diary.

Once the memory had ended, Amelia began explaining about how they'd learned that Harry's scar was actually another one of these Horcruxes, giving them detailed reports from magical healers who'd been unable to ascertain the nature of his famous scar.

At this point, Harry talked about the twitching pain he'd felt whenever he'd been around Quirrellmort in his first year at Hogwarts, and James showed the goblins the pictures they'd obtained from a muggle MRI scan they'd done the week before, which showed that the lightning bolt mark extended into the brain tissue of his frontal cortex.

At this point, more of the goblins began discussing things amongst themselves in quiet tones, as the family members stood uncomfortably before them.

This seemed to go on for an eternity before finally, the goblins re-addressed them.

"How do we know that you are telling the truth?" Growled a large goblin from the left side of the bench.

This time it was Sirius who responded. "Sir, we represent three of the largest customers at your bank. Our clans have conducted business together for generations. While I'm sure there have been times we did not show you the respect you deserve, I assure you that as guests in your home who seek your assistance, we would not be so foolish as to disrespect you by lying."

"Do you even know what you ask of us?" growled a particularly nasty looking goblin.

"The spirit cleansing ritual yes," answered James.

"The ritual was designed for goblins, and goblins only," growled Ragnok. "What makes you think it will work on a human?"

This was the first question that the group didn't have an immediate answer to, and the goblins seemed to notice the families hesitation before James answered, "it's the only method we've come across so far that does not promise certain death."

Once again, several goblins began discussing amongst themselves at this revelation.

Finally, Ragnok announced for the guards to escort them from the room so that they could make their decision in peace.

After waiting outside for forty minutes, the small group was herded back inside.

"We have decided that we will perform the ritual," said Ragnok, not taking his eyes off of Harry. "However, it will not be easy. This ritual takes some time to prepare, and even under the perfect conditions, it will not be a smooth process. You will likely feel great pain, but it shouldn't leave you permanently harmed."

The three adults once again turned to Harry, allowing him to make the decision. When the boy nodded his head in consent, Ragnok's face twisted into a large toothy grin.

"There will, of course, be a price for our services, and they won't be cheap. Either the sword of Gryffindor or the remains of the Basilisk will be sufficient as payment."

James looked like he was more than willing to accept this deal, but Harry's hand on his forearm stopped him from speaking.

Taking a step forward, Harry bowed to the goblins before respectfully declining their offer.

"With all due respect your honour, I'm afraid I can't part with the sword of the Basilisk remains. You see, the Basilisk remains are extremely rare, and will prove most valuable as potions ingredients in the future. I would be much more inclined to pay you in gold, as several of these ingredients are quite literally priceless, as they have not been seen on the open market in generations. As for the sword, it has effectively chosen me as it's new master, and as a result, only I can yield it. If I was to give it to you, I would still be able to call it back at any time I wanted, and you would be helpless to prevent it from disappearing from your possession."

Several goblins on the High Council banged their fists on the table and called for the agreement to be annulled at this declaration, while others simply growled and stared down at the boy in front of them, wondering what type of game he was playing.

As the voices of the angry goblins got louder, Ragnok held up his hand for silence, before getting to his feet to address the wizards before him.

"You say that you would be willing to offer us gold for our services, but we have no need for gold. By operating the only wizarding bank in Britain we are already richer than the richest of your kind. The sword and the basilisk would've had value as trophies, but if you are unwilling to part with them then the only other thing of value you could give to us is power."

"What type of power do we have that you could want," said James, stepping forward to stand beside Harry.

"Political power," answered Ragnok in a clear voice, ignoring the angry fist-banging of his colleagues.

"I thought goblins didn't like getting involved in Wizarding politics?" asked Sirius.

"Normally yes, but I think I'd be willing to make an exception in this case," said Ragnok, as more fists began pounding on the table. "Your family is known to hold considerable power on the Wizengamot and has already used this to advance the treatment of house elves. I ask you to do the same for the goblins. If you can revoke the prejudiced laws and reverse the customs that subjugate our clan, we will perform the ritual on young Mr Potter."

The four family members needed only a few words to discuss the offer before turning back to Ragnok and voicing their acceptance.

The S.P.H.E.R.E campaign had taught them that passing progressive legislation through the Wizengamot was never easy, but with Lucius Malfoy out of the country and the conservatives disorganised, this was definitely a feasible proposition.

With an agreement reached, the four family members left the bank to return home to inform the family of their success.

The rest of their group were delighted to hear that the meeting had gone so well, and soon they were turning their focus onto studying and preparing a case to present at the next Wizengamot meeting.

Harry himself was happy with this new turn of events. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the pain Ragnok had promised, but he would take the choice of a ritual over being murdered by Voldemort any day of the week.


While Harry was happy with the agreement that had been reached, there were others however who did not share this opinion.

Two goblins in particular that had sat on the council were discussing in private their anger towards Ragnok and his handling of the situation.

They resented humans for the unlawful restrictions they'd place on their kind and the lack of respect they showed whenever they entered the bank. They couldn't understand how their King could be so quick to allow one of them to undergo one of their most sacred rituals, and without a single galleon in compensation.

They were absolutely furious that Ragnok had decided on behalf of the council without listening to their objections.

"Perhaps Ragnok has lost sight of what is best for the goblin nation," said Sharptooth.

"I believe you might be correct," said Bogrod. "It appears his time on the throne has made him soft. As a warrior nation, our ancestors would be rolling in their graves if they knew how he'd employed diplomacy today."

As the two goblins continued their discussion, it became apparent that humans needed to be reminded just how dangerous goblins were, as only then would they be willing to give them what they wanted as equals, instead of looking down upon them as inferiors.


A few days later as the family worked hard on their case for improved Goblin treatment, Sirius travelled to Grimmauld place to visit with his cousin.

He found her outside waiting in the park across the street, sitting on a bench with a hood pulled up over her head. After exchanging their old pass-phrases from their youth, the two headed into the house.

With the place now hospitable, Sirius was able to pull out a couple of glasses from the cupboards in the kitchen and actually make a pot of tea.

Wasting no time, Narcissa delved right into her story, telling Sirius about Lucius's domestic abuse, his secret dealings at the Ministry, his insane plot to purge the school of muggleborns and frame Arthur Weasley, and finally how she'd gone to Rita Skeeter after he'd taken Draco away from her and snapped her wand.

By the end of her tale, the tea was long forgotten as Sirius awkwardly wrapped a crying Narcissa in his arms.

He'd been expecting something like this from her, but after hearing it in such detail, Sirius was prepared to offer his services to help her.

He didn't particularly like Narcissa, but she was family after all. He might have hated his old family, but his new family had taught him just how important those bonds were, and now he was unable to turn his back on his cousin.

"If you want, I can use my power as Head of the Black family and annul your marriage to Lucius. That would allow you to reclaim your maiden name and you wouldn't be a fugitive anymore."

Much to Sirius's shock, however, Narcissa rejected this offer.

"I can't leave, not when I can't take Draco with me. I can't condemn my son to that kind of life; he needs the protection that only I can offer him. The problem is that with being the only heir to the House of Malfoy, it's impossible for me to gain custody of him."

"Why did you want to speak to me then if I can't help you?" Sirius asked in confusion, as he transfigured a handkerchief and handed it to her so she could dry her eyes.

Swallowing a sob, Narcissa turned to look at him as she answered.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I think you can help me. You're chummy with Amelia Bones aren't you?"

Sirius just nodded his head, not liking where this was going. After everything the Malfoy's were guilty of, trying to reverse the ruling against them would be political suicide. Besides, they needed to maintain a strong image if they were going to win over enough votes to pass legislation about the goblins.

Narcissa however, had other ideas.

"Well, what if the DMLE launched a private investigation to find any bastard sons of Lucius that could take the title of House of Malfoy? I'm sure Lucius bedded his fair share of mistresses during our marriage, all we need to do is find one that he didn't kill or obliviate after he raped them. Then, Draco and I could legally revoke our titles as Malfoy's and become Blacks, and if we could convict Lucius of his crimes, it would leave the entire Malfoy fortune to some poor single mother and her child. We'd be effectively ridding the world of Lucius's evil, preventing the Dark Lord from using his money, and giving it to someone deserving, not to mention saving Draco and me from a horrible situation."

Sirius's head was spinning by the end of her little speech, but when he finally put the pieces of the puzzle together, he couldn't keep the grin off of his face.

It really was a brilliant plan.

"I can't make any promises that she'll go for it, but I'll put a word in with Amelia and the rest of the family," said Sirius. "My guess is that they'll be only too happy to oblige."

Thanking him with another hug, Narcissa finishes wiping her eyes and incinerates the mascara-covered handkerchief with her wand.

"I guess I better be leaving then," she said solemnly as she put her coat back on.

"Do you have a place to stay," asked Sirius.

Narcissa didn't respond to the question, so Sirius walked up behind her and took her coat off.

"You can stay here if you want. Nobody else is using this place, so you'd have your privacy. You'd also be a lot safer in here than you would be outside trying to hide from the Ministry."

Narcissa tried to offer a feeble excuse otherwise, but Sirius quietened her with another hug.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're not imposing Cissy. You're family, and as long as you keep my trust you can stay here as long as you want."

Smiling as tears of gratitude formed in her eyes for the first time in recent memory, Narcissa hugged her cousin back.

As Sirius ends the hug, he pulls on her hand and shows her to one of the rooms upstairs that she could move into.

Attempting to make light conversation, Narcissa asks about the rest of the family that she'd heard so little of over the years.

Knowing whom in particular she was inquiring about, Sirius was all smiles as he told her that he'd reinstated her youngest sister Andromeda back into the Black family years ago.

Narcissa was delighted to learn that she was living a very happy life with her husband Ted and that her daughter Nymphadora had just finished her first year of Auror training.

As Sirius left her to get settled into her new home, Narcissa once again embraced her cousin in another hug, asking him if he'd visit her again soon.

Sirius just smiled and said he'd bring a few guests with him.


Five days later, the family was still hard at work on their preparation work for the upcoming summer Wizengamot session.

They'd done extensive research on wizarding laws and customs that subjugated goblins, as well as the history and events that had developed such bigoted perspectives.

Their goal was to try and come up with as many reasons as possible to replace the out-dated literature with more progressive alternatives that would seek to increase the freedoms and rights of goblins under a wizarding law.

It was a difficult process, but they had several advantages working in their favour.

The first and most important was that goblin's held almost the entirety of wizard's gold, and based on their research, the argument could be easily made that improved relations with the goblins would result in economic benefits.

The second advantage they had in their favour was that it had been over two hundred years since the last goblin rebellion, and as such there weren't many who still held the old stigmas against their clan.

The third advantage they had was their current position of power over the Wizengamot, which they were attempting to exercise to their full advantage.

Over the past week, the adults had taken turns visiting every Wizengamot member they knew of that they'd ever worked with, all in an effort to shore up alliances and win over votes beforehand.

So far they were sure that the Abbott's, Boot's, Lovegood's, and MacMillan's would all vote in their favour. The seats they still needed to win over belonged to the Crouch's, Davie's, Diggory's, Greengrass's, and Zabini's.

One afternoon while James was hard at work trying to prepare a case he would be presenting to the Davies family on why they should vote with them, Sirius burst into his study waving a letter around frantically and grinning from ear to ear.

Disrupted from his work, James leant over and snatched the letter from his friend's hand. He'd expected it to be a positive response from the Zabini family who Sirius had gone to meet the night before, but he didn't have to read past the first sentence to realise that this was something entirely different.

Dear Potter family,

I'm writing to you because as Quidditch fans, I'm sure you've been following the tribulations of the English National Team as they prepare for the upcoming World Cup. With the recent debacle of their latest visit to the continent, the Head Coach has been released from his duties and I have been brought in as his substitute. Several of the players have been shown the door along with him. For this reason, I am writing to you to extend an invitation for your son Harry to try-out for the position of seeker. You might think him young for this type of opportunity, but I myself have had the pleasure of watching him play at Hogwarts and I know he could compete. Please at least consider my offer before you decline. If by any chance you would be consenting to allow Harry to play, you can reach me by owling this address: 854 Vilcrob Village.

Best Regards,

Coach Mason

Unable to believe the document he held in his hands, James could only state at it in shocked silence.

It wasn't until Sirius started cackling in mad glee that James broke out of his reverie and crumpled up the letter before throwing it at his friend. He couldn't believe he'd been pranked so easily.

Sensing his friend's thoughts, Sirius only started laughing harder.

"It's not a prank you fool," said Sirius. "This large man came into the shop today and handed me the letter asking me to give it to you. I didn't recognise the guy so obviously, I cast every detection charm I could think of before opening it. That piece of paper right there is a legitimate invitation for your son to try out for the National Quidditch Team!"

Sceptical, James took out his wand and began casting his own spells at the piece of paper. When the detection charms came back negative, James' eyes grew to the size of saucers as he realised that his friend was telling the truth.

For the briefest of moments, the burden of everything else going on in their lives didn't seem to matter to James. All thoughts of a Dark Lord evaporated from his mind as he thought about his soon to be thirteen-year-old son wearing the crimson and white uniform of the national team.

It might've been silly, but at that moment, the proud father couldn't help himself from smiling if he tried.

These kinds of opportunities just didn't happen to people. The chances of anyone achieving a professional career in Quidditch were slim to none. The fact that a boy could do so before even sitting his O.W.L.S was unheard of.

Grinning like idiots, Sirius and James didn't need to exchange more than two words before they each ran out of the study as they tore through the Manor attempting to gather the family for a much-needed discussion.

Sirius went to the Floo to call those family members that were out of the house, while James went to search the library, potions lab, kitchen and backyard for everyone else.

When he found Harry sitting in the living room talking with Neville, he couldn't help but give the boy a rib-crushing hug as he lifted him up and twirled him around.

"Does this mean you got the necessary votes to win over the Wizengamot?" asked Hermione excitedly, as she took a seat on one of the couches wondering the cause of the sudden family meeting.

Seeing her husband and son embraced and hearing Hermione's question when she walked into the room, Lily assumed the same thing and ran over to join the embrace.

Realising that he had to correct this misconception quickly, James put Harry down on the couch and pulled his wife down to sit in between him and her son.

"Actually this isn't about the Wizengamot, it's about Quidditch!"

"Quidditch?" Lily asked, looking from Harry to James in confusion.

James just offered a weak nod, while Sirius sat in his seat grinning like a fool.

"You called me off work for Quidditch?" growled Amelia.

"Well in our defence, it's not just any letter about Quidditch," said Sirius proudly. "Go ahead and show them Prongs."

Hoping his wife would finish reading the entire thing before she lost control of her temper, James handed the letter over to Harry so that the two of them could read it.

Sure enough, Lily didn't even wait more than a few seconds before she turned around and proceeded to start beating James with her fists.

"There is no way he's playing for them!" She announced as she accentuated each word with a punch on her husband.

"Playing for who?" said the rest of the family in confusion, wondering what could cause the witch to lose her temper so quickly and render Harry completely speechless.

"It's from some guy named Coach Mason," said Sirius. "He's invited Harry to try-out for the English National Team."

"You can't be serious," said Frank, as a majority of the family scrambled out of their seats and surrounded Harry to read the letter themselves.

Resisting the opportunity to make yet another quip about his name, Sirius merely leant back in his chair and watched as Lily continued to beat up on her husband.

"Come on Lily can't we at least discuss this," begged James, doing his best to shield his face.

"He'd be competing in a contact sport against full-grown adults! Have you lost your mind!" Lily snapped in response.

"But Harry should at least get a say in the matter," said Dan. "This is about him after all."

"And as his guardians, we have the right to refuse," said Lily, shooting Dan a vicious glare for speaking against her.

"Lily you know that's not how we do things here," said Emma, attempting to play the role of the mediator before things got out of hand. "We should put it to a vote."

"We're not putting this to a vote," said Lily.

"Why not," said Sirius.

Lily simply threw a couch cushion at him.

"I think Harry should be allowed to play," said Frank. "What's the harm that could come from attending one try-out?"

"He could get hurt!"

"Or he could gain a lot of experience from it," said Alice. "I'll bet the pros have lots of tips on how to avoid injuries."

Lily didn't seem to like that argument, and her face showed it. It wasn't until Remus spoke to her in a quiet voice that she calmed down a little and was willing to listen to what other people had to say on the matter.

"Lily, this could be just the change of pace Harry needs to distract from the constant reminder that he has a piece of Voldemort's soul stuck inside his head. Maybe getting on a broomstick and enjoying himself for an afternoon could actually help him."

"Remus is right," said Emma. "We should do whatever's best for Harry."

Everyone turned to Harry at that remark to see what his thoughts were.

The boy in question had yet to move from where he sat unblinking at the letter in his hands.

"I think he's broken," laughed Susan, as she poked the boy.

"What do you think Harry?" asked Alice. "Do you want to play?"

With an immense effort, Harry tore his eyes from the letter and turned into the expecting gazes of his family. He tried reading each of their faces to see what they thought about it, but aside from James, Lily, and Sirius the rest of them were a mask of indifference. Clearly, they wanted to hide their own emotions from him and allow him to make a decision based on what he thought was best.

Looking back at the letter in his hands, Harry found himself saying, "I wouldn't mind playing…"

James and Sirius both grinned triumphantly, as the family then put it to a quick vote, with everyone but Lily voting in Harry's favour.

"I still don't like this," grumbled Lily. "It distracts us away from our preparations for the Wizengamot session."

"Yes, but as Remus pointed out, Harry needs that distraction," said James. "It's not healthy for him to be constantly reminded of the Horcrux inside of him."

"What about when he get's cut from the team," said Lily. "Then he'll simply have his hopes dashed and he'll be more upset than before."

"You can't know that," said Sirius. "Harry's the best flyer I've ever seen. He has as good a chance as anyone to make that team."

"Sirius he's not even thirteen. Don't you think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself?" Amelia asked.

"That doesn't matter because we're going to help prepare him," said Frank, getting an immediate nod from James and Sirius. "By the time he's gone through our training regime, that try-out is going to be a piece of cake."

"That doesn't make me feel any better about all of this," said Lily, as she turned around to watch her son.

The boy was once again staring at the letter in his hands as his siblings, and friends sat around him on the couch trying to talk to him.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm her emotions, Lily crouched down in front of her son and tilted his chin up so he could look at her.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" She asked him.

When Harry gave her a slow nod in confirmation, Lily couldn't help but smile.

The boy was too much like his father for his own damn good.

"Well then I guess all I can say is to have fun," said Lily in a quiet voice, as Harry leant forward and wrapped his mum up in a hug.

She really hoped she wouldn't come to regret that decision.


AN: Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but I hope you think it was worth the wait. I'm really curious to hear what you guys think about the goblins, Narcissa, and the Quidditch offer so if you could leave me a review with your thoughts it'd be appreciated.

Unfortunately, I can't make any promises about when the next chapter will be released as I'm at a very busy period of my University semester. However, I can tell you that it will also be a fairly long chapter and one that you won't want to miss.

Thanks for reading, and until next time!