TITLE: Double Back

DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong J K Rowling... basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic the Aurors on me, I'm just here for the fun.


Hufflepuff Common Room

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Highlands of Scotland

It was just after ten in the morning when Susan led her little group through the Hufflepuff passageway and into the common room where Harry was waiting for her, while the group got quite a few strange looks from the various other Hufflepuffs around, any group that mixed a Slytherin and two Gryffindors without arguing was sure to raise a few eyebrows, they were left alone as soon as everyone realised that the group were being led by a Hufflepuff and were heading directly over to Harry Potter.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione whispered, pulling him into a quick hug immediately as they all came together.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry whispered softly as Hermione pulled away with a small blush on her face at her impetuous action.

"How's everything been?" Neville asked, glancing around the unfamiliar common room.

"Actually everyone's been really nice," Harry admitted. "Nobody's really been pushing me to talk or gossip about it, I think when they all realised that I didn't want to talk about it, everyone just decided to leave it alone."

"Hufflepuff is certainly different to the Gryffindor dorms." Hermione noted, thinking that if something like this would have happened to a Gryffindor student, they wouldn't have been able to get a moment's piece without being bugged for answers or having rumours and whispers surrounding them.

"Hufflepuff takes care of their own," Susan said proudly, snagging a couch and pulling Harry down to sit alongside her.

"I really like the common room too," Neville admitted, feeling comfortable in the earthy and subdued room.

"It certainly is a lot more relaxed that the Gryffindor rooms." Hermione admitted. "That much red and gold, it's not a relaxing colour scheme." She explained with a grimace, admiring the calm yellows, tans, and faded black leathers that made up the Hufflepuff common room.

"It's rather light and airy," Daphne commented, sitting down next to Harry on the other side of Susan as she looked around. "Actually really a contrast to the Slytherin common room." She added thoughtfully, mentally comparing the two vastly different spaces.

"I guess you haven't heard anything yet then?" Susan asked hopefully, looking at Harry for an answer.

"Nothing," Harry said, shaking his head. "Dad left with Miss Bones this morning, he woke me up as soon as he found out about it. You?" He asked hopefully.

"Professor McGonagall said she thinks they might be gone all day." Susan admitted with a small shake of her head.

"Probably," Harry sighed. "I'm just... I'm going crazy here, just walking around, sitting and reading, pacing." He explained. "It's driving me nuts."

"We could always go back to that old room that..."

"Harry, everything alright?"

Harry looked up at the interruption, spotting Cedric coming into the common room who was looking at their group dubiously. "Hey Cedric. Yeah, my friends... friends and family I guess." He added, causing Susan and Daphne to give him a small smile. "Just came in for a bit to talk without everyone bugging me out there."

"Family?" Cedric paused, looking around the group curiously. He was pretty sure this was the first time he'd ever seen a pair of Gryffindors in the Hufflepuff common room, let alone a Slytherin with them who seemed to be happy and friendly with the other four in the group.

He recognised the three of them easily enough, they'd all become regulars at the Hufflepuff tables in the Great Hall, visiting every day to sit with Susan and Harry and chat while they enjoyed their meals.

"Oh, right, yeah," Harry grimaced. "My dad, and... mums, it's a thing, I don't really understand."

"Line continuance agreement." Daphne explained with a small smile towards him, giving him a nod to indicate she'd make sure he knew the proper words for it all later on.

"Oh right," Cedric nodded along before smiling at Harry. "Your dad I guess, not you, then Bones and..."

"Daphne Greengrass." Daphne introduced herself properly. "Though I imagine it will be Potter afterwards."

"Right, and you two..." Cedric paused, looking at the two Gryffindors.

"My dad's Neville's godfather." Harry explained. "Neville Longbottom."

"Might as well be family then." Cedric smiled over, recognising the Longbottom name immediately.

"And Hermione, she's a friend." Harry explained with a smile. "She hates studying in the Gryffindor common room because it's too loud up there."

"I can imagine," Cedric chuckled, shaking his head at the strange group of almost family. "Well, welcome to Hufflepuff then." He said with a small laugh. "If you ever need to talk, or want to just fly and get away from stuff, let me know alright?" He asked, looking to Harry again.

"Thanks Cedric." Harry smiled up thankfully.

"Anytime," Cedric grinned as he walked past the back of the couch, leaving the group alone now that he was comfortable they were all friendly, and ruffling Harry's messy hair on his way past.

"What was that about?" Daphne asked, looking to Susan and Harry for an explanation.

"Cedric's sort of taken Harry under his wing." Susan explained with a grin. "He looks after all the first years really, but he's made sure to be around and make sure Harry's settling in alright."

"He seemed nice." Hermione smiled over.

"He's the Hufflepuff seeker, I've heard he's going to be the team captain soon." Susan nodded back.

"How... I mean, you... you're all going to be family?" Hermione asked, trying to wrap her head around what Daphne and Cedric had been talking about. "How does that even work?"

"In a really really really confusing way." Harry admitted with a small laugh as he tried to think of how to explain it all.

"It's my auntie really, she wanted to be in a serious relationship with Professor Potter, actually, they were already dating before we'd even started Hogwarts." Susan explained.

"Don't remind me, I already walked in on them kissing in the kitchen!" Harry exclaimed, making a yuck face and sticking out his tongue.

"Susan and her auntie are the last members of her family line left," Daphne explained. "She wants to continue her family line, but also wants to be married."

"To my dad." Harry interrupted with another stuck out tongue, mentally noting that technically it was to him, his older self, not his real dad.

"My mother has been... closer than friends, shall we say? With Madame Bones since Hogwarts. From what I understand, Madame Bones asked my mother if she was interested in entering the betrothal period with them." Daphne continued on with her explanation, ignoring Harry's face.

"My dad says it's like serious dating in the wizarding world, like something they do before getting engaged." Harry explained with a shrug. "He said it's a pure blood custom or something?"

"He's right," Neville nodded.

"So your dad is dating Susan's aunt, and Daphne's mum, at the same time?" Hermione asked, blinking in confusion as that notion settled in her brain. "And they're both fine with it?"

"And technically I think my mother would be... dating as you call it, Susan's aunt too." Daphne explained thoughtfully. "Mother has never hidden that she's had tendencies to be a witches witch, so this doesn't come as a surprise to me."

"Witches..." Hermione frowned for a second before she got it, making a surprised and open mouthed expression as the realisation settled in. "That... that's going to be really confusing." She admitted.

"Did you expect anything else from the magical world?" Harry asked with a cheeky grin, getting his arms on both sides slapped by his two soon-to-be-sisters sat beside him.

"So, you'll all be family then?" Hermione asked, clarifying this in her head as she put together a little family tree in her mind.

"And Neville would be like an honorary brother." Harry grinned over.

"So you'll still be Susan Bones?" Hermione checked, looking at Susan for confirmation. "But you'll be Daphne Potter?"

"That's the idea. I haven't actually decided yet, but I'll admit, I am leaning in that direction." Daphne admitted with a small nod.

"A Potter in Slytherin, that's going to be a surprise to a lot of people." Neville explained with a small laugh. "Harry's parents were both Gryffindors, and his grandparents too I think, like the Longbottoms."

"I'm a Hufflepuff and proud." Harry said with a wide grin.

"I wish I'd been sorted into Hufflepuff as well." Hermione admitted in a small whisper, not expecting Neville to reply with a whispered. "Me too" back to her.

"Can we go and practice some spells somewhere, or do something, I don't know, anything? Really?" Harry asked hopefully, looking around his friends. "I just need something to keep my brain busy."

"We can practice knockback charms and full body binds." Daphne suggested. "Professor Potter did say that those were going to be this week's work."

"Perfect!" Harry nodded enthusiastically. "I'll grab my book and we can go." He said quickly, standing up and practically running from the couch down the corridor to his dorm room.

"Isn't it... you know, going to be weird? Having Professor Potter as your step-dad?" Hermione whispered, looking at Susan and Daphne now.

"Not really," Susan shrugged. "It wasn't when they were first started doing things together, so..." She trailed off, looking at Daphne.

"Not at all." Daphne shook her head. "Though I will admit, the small urge to call him father just to see his reaction would be quite amusing."

"I think he's more a dad person, father feels a bit stuffy, right?" Susan commented with a grin.

"You have a point," Daphne admitted, thinking of Professor Potter's extremely casual dress sense and teaching style. Father didn't really suit him at all. "Dad." She tried out, smirking to herself as she imagined Professor Potter's face. "That does seem to fit him better." She said with a nod towards Susan.

"Do you think if we do it together we can shock him even more?" Susan grinned back.

"It would certainly be worth trying." Daphne nodded in agreement, returning the grin happily.

"You two are terrible," Hermione interrupted, shaking her head at their antics, utterly unable to contemplate calling Professor Potter anything but Professor Potter.

"My gran wants me to spent Christmas with Professor Potter as well." Neville admitted in a quiet voice. "It's either that, or stay at Hogwarts. She says she's getting too old to take care of me like she used to."

"I'm sorry Neville," Susan whispered over as Harry came back with his spell book in his arms.

"Ready?" Harry asked the four, having got his shoes and over robe on quickly as well so he wouldn't be cold upstairs in the abandoned castle room.

"Ready," Neville said quickly to avoid any awkward silences his confession might have brought.

"Come on then," Harry grinned, waiting until the four of them were standing up before leading the way out of the common room so he could get some fresh air in the company of his friends at last.


It was late in the afternoon by the time James and Amelia finally floo'ed back to Hogwarts.

After a long and tiresome search of Godric's Hollow for any clues the suspected Death Eaters would have left behind, they'd both apparated to Diagon Alley for some food before stopping in the Magical Mirrors store to pick up James' rather large order.

"That... was a long day." James admitted as he un-shrunk the box containing the various mirrors, putting it aside in the living area of the suite for now until he could deal with it when he had chance later on.

It had been both a long, and emotionally tiring day. Dealing with the revelation that his parents had never been actually buried where he'd been told they were had been a drain on him from the start, but then seeing his parent's cottage, now completely destroyed, had been enough to bring his anger back to boiling point.

He'd been informed by a few Aurors that the family memorial would be repaired and protected against further damage soon enough, but that was a small thing compared to the other emotionally draining things that had hit him today.

"I'm going to take Harry back there on Halloween." James said softly, knowing Amelia would hear him.

"To Godric's Hollow?" Amelia confirmed, waiting for James to nod back at her before she continued. "I think that's a good idea, it might give you both some closure." She said with a reassuring smile.

"Probably not," James shook his head with a sigh. "But he should know." He explained. "I've already told him I'm not going to be like Dumbledore and the others, I won't hide stuff like this from him when he's got a right to know what's going on out there."

"You're going to tell him everything?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Everything," James nodded as he looked around the room to make sure everything was exactly as he left it, idly fingering the Resurrection Stone on it's silver chain around his neck as he checked over his room. "Everything." He confirmed quietly.

"We should find the kids and let them know we're back."

"Easily done," James shrugged, wandering through to the office area and glancing up at the map on the wall, flicking through the names quickly as he ran his finger around the various dots on the map until he came to the group he recognised easily enough. "Second floor, west corridor." He said with a shrug. "Weird, I don't think there's any classrooms down there." He explained with a frown.

"How did you know that?" Amelia asked curiously.

"I'll tell you later, sorry, it's got a notice-me-not over it." James explained quickly as he moved to the door. "Second floor west." He confirmed, holding the door open for Amelia to pass through before he closed it behind them, flicking his wand to it to secure it again after they'd left.

It didn't take them long at all to head down to the second floor and then make their way across the corridors to the west wing of the castle, with Amelia following James who led them directly to an abandoned classroom in a wing of the castle she was reasonably sure hadn't been used since long before even her parents had been at Hogwarts.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Both Amelia and James paused in the doorway, watching proudly as Susan cast the full body-bind curse perfectly, catching Neville with the white light from her wand and freezing him on the spot instantly before he toppled over to the ground.

A few seconds later, Harry quickly jogged over and lifted the curse with a general counter-spell that James had taught him in the weeks before he'd started Hogwarts.

The abandoned classroom the five had apparently commandeered for their own use was a reasonable size, not too big, but spacious enough for the five of them to easily practice casting without the risk of hitting each other accidentally.

The thing that did draw James' eye was a big glass jar on the floor with a very easily recognisable blue fire burning inside of it, keeping the classroom warm and toasty without the risk of an open fire.

"Nicely done." Amelia announced their presence, applauding lightly and startling the five in the room who hadn't realised they'd had an audience for their impromptu practice sessions.

"You'll probably want to practice a cushioning charm as well," James smiled over, flicking his wand out to the floor where Neville had fallen, sending a silent but high powered cushioning charm to the floor there to break their falls.

"Cushioning charm?" Hermione asked quickly before anyone else could say anything.

"Molliare," James confirmed. "It's a simple point and cast. Mul-lee-AR-ray." He enunciated so that the group could practice the spell. "It's in your charms books, probably fourth or fifth year I think. You can grab a copy from the library easily enough, or Harry can take one of the books from my office, either way."

"Fourth year if I remember rightly," Amelia added in with a sigh at how James really didn't care about teaching the children more advanced magic than they were supposed to be learning.

"Should be taught in first year, half the chairs in this place could do with a decent cushioning charm." James explained with a smirk. "How long have you five been practising in here then?"

"Only since Wednesday," Harry grinned over. "Is... is everything alright then?"

"I wouldn't say alright, but we're both fine." James admitted. "There wasn't even any casting, no bad guys, nothing, just investigating."

"How bad was it?" Susan asked quietly.

"Pretty bad," Amelia admitted, looking over at her niece. "The town will be rebuilt soon enough, but there was a lot of damage and a lot of people were hurt."

"I take it the bluebell flames are yours?" James asked, looking at Hermione now with a smile, remembering how well Hermione had taken to the blue bell flame charm in her first year in his time-line. "Nicely done, I will be teaching you all warming charms as it gets colder though, much easier than carrying those around in jars."

"Thank you Professor." Hermione smiled over bashfully, happy to receive praise from someone that was quickly becoming her favourite teacher.

"Actually, do you mind if we talk for a second? While I've got you here, it's nothing bad, you're not in any trouble, promise." James smiled reassuringly over, indicating for Hermione to follow him outside.

"So, what else have you all been practising today then?" Amelia asked curiously, looking to her niece then around the rather unusual group.

"The knockback jinx earlier, but we all got it pretty quickly as well." Susan explained with a proud smile at her aunt.

"I'm certain you would have been happy for a cushioning charm when you were practising that one as well," Amelia chuckled, knowing that practising jinxes like that often left students with rather bruised backsides after being tossed on the floor more than a few times.

"Definitely," Susan nodded eagerly at that. "We'll all be adding the cushioning charm to our list of charms to practice."

"And what else is on your list so far?" Amelia asked, curious what sort of charms this little group had put together.

"We all added ones we wanted to learn." Susan explained, moving to a desk by the side of the room and picking up a piece of parchment. "Me and Harry are going to try to teach everyone Glacius soon, then there's Reparo, Avis, Metelojinx and Scourgify."

"A rather thorough list," Amelia nodded happily, content that there wasn't anything too dangerous on their list for now. "I would however recommend speaking to Professor Potter if you are planning on learning anything more advanced than these four, he will be able to advise you on any safety concerns he has and what counter curses you should be practising first." She explained. "And don't try to learn too much at once, remember to focus on the spells you're being taught in lessons as well, practice those so you don't get left behind as the year goes on."

"Of course," Susan nodded eagerly, noting that Neville was more than happy to nod along in agreement with her as well.

"It's nice to see you doing so well, and making good friends as well." Amelia admitted, causing Susan to break out into a wide and proud smile.


"Is... is everything alright Professor?" Hermione asked hesitantly as she followed Professor Potter out of their classroom and into the corridor outside.

"Everything's fine, really." James chuckled to himself at Hermione's nervous behaviour. "I just wanted you to know, I know your birthday is coming up." He explained, causing Hermione to squeak in embarrassment before slapping her hand over her mouth. "Harry already asked me about getting you a present, but I wanted to ask, would you like me to hand over a letter to your parents before your birthday? I'm going to be down that way anyway, so I can easily drop in if you'd like me to."

"You... you'd do that for me?" Hermione whispered, her eyes going wide at what she was being offered.

"Of course," James smiled down, comfortably leaning against the corridor wall and crossing his arms.

"My mum and dad... when... when Professor McGonagall told them about Hogwarts, she said I'd be able to write using the school owls whenever I wanted, but nothing about how they were supposed to write back." Hermione admitted in a small voice. "Everyone I asked just looked at me like I was stupid. I was going to ask one of the professors, but with everything that's been happening..." She trailed off awkwardly.

"Most families have owls of their own to use at home, you could have your own owl if you wanted, like Harry has Hedwig. She could spend time between here and your parents, carrying letters and parcels between you both whenever you needed." James explained.

"Professor McGonagall did say I could bring an owl or a cat or a toad, but I really wanted a cat, but my mum said I should wait and see how I did at Hogwarts first before getting one." Hermione explained. "We never had pets at home, and I don't think mum and dad really liked the idea of having one around."

"That's... that's pretty reasonable actually." James admitted, coming from a muggle household, that actually seemed like common sense really, so it was clearly something nobody in the magical world would ever have thought of. "Well, if you give me their address and any letter you want me to pass on, I'm heading out tomorrow so I can drop one off if you'd like?" He said with a smile, causing Hermione to beam up at him like he'd offered her the world.

"Thank you Professor, I'll do that." Hermione said quickly, nodding and giving him a toothy smile at the same time, causing her wild hair to bounce all over the place.

"I'll be in my office all evening, just drop it off whenever you want." James said with a small laugh at Hermione's enthusiasm. "If you'd write a quick note to them so they know I am who I say I am, that would probably help make things go quicker as well." He admitted with a grin.

"Oh, oh yes, of course Professor." Hermione nodded eagerly, not having thought of that either.

"Go on then, you can get back to your practising," James chuckled, watching as Hermione quickly darted back into the room and immediately went for her bag to pull out some parchment and a quill to start writing. "Everything OK in here then?" He asked, looking around the room to where Amelia had apparently just been chatting with the group while he made his offer to Hermione.

"They're fine," Amelia nodded over. "They've got a list of charms they're looking to practice, nothing too advanced and nothing dangerous. Knowing how far Harry and Susan are ahead, I'd be comfortable leaving them to their practice."

"That sounds good to me," James smiled back. "The cushioning charm should last for a couple of hours, so you'll be fine for practising your spells over there." He explained, indicating the area where he'd cast it. "We should probably head up and let Minerva know we're back."

"That's The Headmistress or Professor McGonagall to you five." Amelia said quickly.

"Right, what she said." James grimaced at his slip up. "Anyway, you all carry on having fun." He explained with a wave, heading towards the doorway and following Amelia out, completely missing the glance between Daphne and Susan as everyone else said their goodbyes.

"Thanks dad," Both Susan and Daphne added in at the last second, causing James to nearly stumble in the doorway in shock as what he'd heard registered in his brain, causing him to turn around in surprise before Amelia quickly tugged him out of the doorway to continue on where they'd been walking, both hearing the laughter of the group behind them.

"Did she... did they just..." James stammered out as he caught up to Amelia and continued walking alongside her. "Was that Susan and Daphne?"

"I'm sure from their laughter, today they meant it more as a prank, but I'm certain that those two will be more than happy for you to fulfil that role to them properly." Amelia explained before giving James a wry smile. "Perhaps now you know how I felt when Harry practically called me his mum in front of Minerva this morning."

"I'd forgotten about that," James admitted with a wince. "You think she's going to be asking us questions then?"

"I'd be surprised if she didn't." Amelia said as she led the way back to the main stairway. "Very surprised actually." She explained with a dry laugh as the two of them made their way up towards the headmistresses office.


Malfoy Manor

Wiltshire

Lucius Malfoy had only just finished his evening meal and retreated to his private study when he felt the notification of his private floo flare up. He had his wand in his hand ready as he sat down on his usual regal chair by the fireplace, and flicked his wand towards it to allow the connection.

"Jacob," Lucius raised a lone elegant eyebrow in recognition as Jacob Nott stepped through the fireplace, his dark sapphire robes flaring out as he stalked out of the fire and into Lucius' private room. "I wasn't expecting you to contact me."

"I tried last night," Jacob Nott said bluntly. "You didn't answer."

"I had other duties that required my attention." Lucius said simply, dismissing Nott's glare entirely. "What can I do for you this evening then?"

"The Dark Lord has returned." Nott said simply. "We are gathering the true believers to be ready for him."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at this, but casually made sure his wand was at the ready for anything stupid that Jacob was about to do. "I would assume, that last night's attack on Godric's Hollow was orchestrated by you then?"

"We made our message heard," Nott smirked. "Wiped that Blood Traitor Potter's pathetic little house off the face of the country."

"I see," Lucius sighed, rubbing his forehead. Idly amused that Nott was calling the Pure Blood a 'blood traitor' while praising a Half Blood master.

"Destroyed that disgusting memorial dedicated to his mudblood bitch and their mongrel child as well." Nott sneered out. "I destroyed it myself."

"And who else was with you for this little campaign?" Lucius asked calmly.

"Goyle, Yaxley, Flint, Avery and Jugson." Nott announced proudly. "We wanted you there too, to cast the Dark Mark and let everyone know what had happened."

"I was detained on other matters," Lucius shook his head, casually making a mental note of the names to make a further deal with Potter. This was information he would no doubt want, and be willing to barter for.

"Has the Dark Lord contacted you yet?" Nott asked curiously.

"No," Lucius answered honestly. "Though I had not expected him to until he is ready to receive us."

"He has returned, and will lead us all to our rightful place as rulers over the filth that has infected our world." Nott grinned proudly.

"And the... rumours about his true name?" Lucius asked. It was useless to ask if Nott had been reading the regular articles in the Daily Prophet about Tom Riddle and his real history, as he knew very well that Jacob, much like his son, were hardly academic. Where as the young Theodore had been taught to at least read by his step-mother, Jacob showed no interest at all in the printed word or the knowledge held within.

"Lies spread by blood traitors and filth." Nott hissed dismissively. "I can't believe they've got that blood traitor teaching my son." He growled out.

"James Potter, you think you could confront him then?" Lucius asked with a smirk, knowing the answer too well. If Jacob thought he had any delusions of defeating someone like Potter, he'd have attacked Hogwarts instead of Godric's Hollow last night.

"I will leave that pleasure to the Dark Lord," Nott sneered back.

"Of course," Lucius smirked and gave Jacob a small nod of acknowledgement. "However, I am working on regaining a small measure of influence at The Ministry, that is where my focus will be for the foreseeable future."

"Yaxley told me about those damned contracts." Nott frowned, sitting in the chair Lucius graciously offered.

"Yes, I'm rather surprised that they were pushed through so easily." Lucius lied, shaking his head in dismay. It was obvious how Bones had pushed them through, with Cornelius being terrified of Riddle, it would have been oh so easy to get him to agree to anything, as long as it kept him on Bones and Potter's good side.

"Yaxley reckons they can't be broken without people resigning." Nott frowned over.

"He's correct," Lucius nodded patiently. "The contracts enforce everyone who signed them to adhere to the law, anybody working for The Ministry is magically obligated to be on their side, not with... The Dark Lord, or with Dumbledore." He explained, hoping that Jacob didn't catch his hesitation over Riddle's title.

"The Ministry isn't under Dumbledore's banner then?" Nott asked curiously, the surprise at this visible on his face.

"No, the rumours of Dumbledore's expulsion from Hogwarts, and society in general, are surprisingly factual in this case." Lucius confirmed with an elegant nod. "I've heard he hasn't actually been seen in public since being evicted in disgrace from the school."

"Well, that's something." Nott sneered happily at that piece of news.

"Hardly," Lucius shook his head. "Where the old fool allowed the dark families free reign with impunity, James Potter is an entirely different animal. I'm sure you will have noticed the light families flocking to his side already."

"What do you mean?" Nott demanded, ignoring the fact that he didn't know what impunity meant.

"Albus Dumbledore was singularly ineffective in his campaign against the dark families. He allowed us free reign to act however we liked, enact whatever laws we wanted, without reprisals or action against us." Lucius pointed out, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and speak in single syllable words. "Despite his constant and abysmal talks about being the Leader of the Light, he never once attempted to pass laws protecting the mud-bloods or their rights. Neither did he oppose or block any of the darker laws we paid to have brought before The Ministry."

"So?" Nott sneered over.

"Potter, is none of those things." Lucius pointed out. "He singularly defeated Dumbledore, on his own." He said, lifting up a single finger. "He rousted him from the school, expelled him from his positions, all in a single night." He explained. "He then defended himself successfully against the Dark Lord, destroying his current form, and forcing him to flee the school." He said, holding up a second finger. "And in the following week, not only defended Diagon Alley from an attack, but killed Greyback in the attack too, leading to the confirmation that the Aurors have now been given free reign to use fatal casts in the defence of The Ministry's laws." He said the last, holding up a third finger. "Do not make the same mistake, if you cross Potter and his associates, they will not be casting their usual and pathetic stunning spells and leaving you to be revived so you can be bought out of the holding cells before trial. They will kill you, without hesitation or mercy."

"The blood traitors never killed before," Nott pointed out.

"No, they were acting under Dumbledore's orders. Stun and incapacitate only." Lucius explained. "Between him and the previous Minister, they managed to convince the Aurors the same, which was one of the many reasons they were so singularly ineffective in combat during the war. I've since found out that those rules have been repealed now. The Aurors, like Potter, will cast to kill on sight."

"That..."

"Changes things." Lucius nodded slowly. "It is not a simple matter anymore. Now you are risking your life, the life of your blood line, when you act. If you are caught, and you miraculously survive the confrontation, they will raid your home, ransack it for every scrap of evidence they need, then leave you to rot in Azkaban without a second thought. Bones cannot be bought, and Fudge is very clearly on side with Potter now. With Macnair already in Azkaban and now those contracts, we don't have a single person in the Aurors that would protect any of us." He explained, appealing to the selfish nature in Nott. "The Aurors, and Potter in particular, need only the flimsiest excuse now to go after us all, cutting us down without hesitation. And last night, you gave them that excuse." He explained bluntly, seeing the blood drain from Nott's face. "I see you realise the situation you are now in."

"They wouldn't..."

"They would." Lucius held his hand up, interrupting Jacob firmly. "With Potter leading them, they would kill us all without hesitation. Think back to all the families we attacked, killed, the blood traitors we cleansed without having to worry about the Aurors or the Ministry's laughable defence?" He pointed out. "Bones lost her family, very much like Potter. Between them, they have enough reasons alone to see us all quite unequivocally dead. Working together, they have more than enough reason, skill, and power to see it through."

"The mud-bloods and blood traitors never fought back like that before." Nott growled angrily, frustrated at what he was being told.

"As I said, under Dumbledore's banner, they were ordered not to kill in retaliation. Dumbledore's pathetic nature of forgiveness and second chances always operated in our favour, but Potter doesn't believe in any of that." Lucius explained. "I know Bones never followed Dumbledore herself, and Potter is an entirely different case. He will kill you for what you did last night, make no mistake in that. It is just a matter of when."

"He wouldn't dare!" Nott sneered out with bravado.

"He is a pure blood, a powerful one at that, defending his home that you destroyed." Lucius sneered back. "Would you expect anything less than a destructive and suitably fatal retaliation from any old pure blood family?" He asked, quirking his lips up in a small smirk when Jacob paled even further. "He's powerful enough to curse Dumbledore without retaliation, do you think he won't come after you next now? Make your own mind up, though like the others, I recommend putting your affairs in order before seeking out the Potters, I firmly believe your family will not have the chance afterwards."

Nott didn't reply to that, Lucius simply watched as he stood up, pacing around the room for a moment before he stalked to the fireplace and tossed in some floo powder, vanishing from the fireplace with a growled mutter of his home.

That had been... somewhere between amusing and informative. Lucius smirked to himself as he flicked his wand to the fireplace, closing down the floo connection for now as he stood up from his chair and made his way out of his private study to head downstairs to see his wife.

There were things he needed to discuss, and to see if Narcissa could once again put him in contact with Potter to see how valuable this information would be to him.

So far he'd spent the week researching the Potter family line, and had confirmed his suspicions that they did in fact stem from the Peverell family line, confirming what Potter had told him when they'd met, though frustratingly he'd been unable to find any direct link between the line of the Peverell's that joined the Potters, and the noble Slytherin family.

In fact, the only branch of the Slytherin family he'd been able to find at all that had more or less survived to the modern era, branched out in the sixteen hundreds to the Gaunt family, who had apparently all died off over fifty years ago.

That led to a lot more questions, especially about Riddle's claims that he was directly related to the Slytherin line, as so far he hadn't been able to trace anything about the Riddle family at all. It was as if someone had obliterated every record of them from existence.

The fact that there was no direct link between the Slytherin blood line and both the Potters and Riddles, left him with the rather curious question of how both Riddle and Potter spoke Parseltongue, when it was supposedly a unique magical trait of the Slytherin bloodline.

There clearly must be a link somewhere, if the senior Potter had the gift, then it was entirely likely the boy did too, which left him wondering exactly how long the Potter's had been able to hide the gift from becoming public knowledge.

He had amused himself several times over the week as he pictured the reactions around the magical community if they were to find out that their supposed saviour, James Potter, spoke Parseltongue.

The fallout and chaos would be rather delicious to watch, and would no doubt lead to a decline in Potter's popularity and reputation, however it would not affect his magical power or the no doubt vicious and violent revenge that would follow should he take that route. For now it was a piece of information he was more than happy to keep to himself to be used later on, if needed.

In his rather precarious position currently, information about the larger players on the board was more important than gold, and he was hording everything he could get his hands on.