Hogwarts infirmary, Hogwarts, Scotland
Sirius looked forlornly at the bed in the Potetr castle infirmary where Harry laid. Without Harry being conscious they couldn't move him from the manor. It made Sirius feel frustrated. Harry had faced Grindelwald alone, he had summoned the troops from dragons moor to him in a powerful way, but he had nearly killed himself doing it. It made Sirius angry as a father he only wanted his son protected, but due to Harry's upbringing, he was used to having to keep things to himself and only being able to rely on himself. Because of this he rarely shared his full plans with anyone else. Sirius was determined that when Harry woke, he and Harry would be having a long discussion about keeping him safe from harm. And how his safety was as important as others after all he was the last of the main line of Potters.
Harry turned as Hermione entered the room, after the actions the ministry had taken after Harry had been removed from Hogwarts, Sirius had relocated all those under Harry's power to the manor.
"Any progress?" Hermione asked. At Sirius's head shake she continued. "Why does he do this, every year when he gets hurt, he always tries to hide it, why?" She was almost crying.
"I don't know Hermione I don't know." Sirius answered her. "Did you come just to see Harry or?" he trailed off as her face went from tears to fury before going back to tears.
"I just don't get it. Harry sacrificed so much to protect their children and they are still attacking him. With them not able to actually attack him, they are attacking those under his protection. I had no idea about the bearer law but trying to bind Arsenio, Artemis, and the others, to men that they aren't choosing and trying to bind Harry to someone as well. It's insane, Sirius." She ranted angrily.
Sirius asked, "I suppose the Minister is downstairs?" She nodded and he got up fetching his over robe from the chair he fallowed Hermione downstairs, neither one noticing that Harry was finally waking up.
~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~Harry slept soundly the fearsome battle he had fought and the battle to keep his magic from lashing out tiring him out. Now the closect to truly wakening that he had been in some time, he was taking stock of what was going on around him. His magic was altered, it was different now then when he had last touched it before the battle, it confused him. Turning his mind from his magic he focused on the outside world, something told him that it two days had passed since the battle. He new by studying his magic that he had lost the ultimate battle in keeping it in control, he had however kept it from hurting anyone else.
There where however consequences of his victory. No more was the house of Potter a house of Most Ancient and Most Noble Rank, he had felt Albions magic shift, he had felt them release his house. House Potter was now Ancestral. But he had also received a boon from this, he had proven his ability to control the magic of his houses and as such the magic had fully bonded with him. This bonding usually not seen until a lord had held control over the family magics for years, came easy to him now. With this magic he could feel the wards around him, he felt Sirius and Hermione leave his side. The magic told him the status, health, and magical levels of every member of his house. Reaching through these bonds he quickly found what was causing the agitation n his house's magic, that was finally wakening him.
Children of his house where to be bound to others not of their choosing outside of his consent, or their consent. Harry calmed his raging magic pulling it in. Searching through Albions lands he quickly found said students within the ministry of magic, checking the magical signatures of those around them he smiled, a toothy smile that would have warned people to be wary. Very well if the ministry wished to play games the house Potter would no longer be as cooperative as they had been. Harry was past laying, they had overstepped their mandate, and he was done. The ministry and other houses were about to be reminded why the greater European houses chose not to rile the anger of his house.
With those thoughts racing through his mind and his decision made Harry rose and summoning an elf to fetch him clothes left the grounds with a pop after getting dressed.
In London, Sirius and the others, not having been informed that he had awakened, where scouring over documents and other such things to try to free Artemis, Arsenio, Silver, and Jean Marc, from the Ministers hands. Not having been privy to Harry's earlier plans they had no knowledge of how to protect them.
~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~Harry walked up to the doors of the Wizengamot guarded by two Auror guards. Harry was flanked by the three guards previously seen by his side of the summer along with several more, enough that the two Aurors with sneers on their faces let them through. Harry merely smirked as he walked in, the bidding for the youngest Jean-Marc was just beginning. Harry quickly made his way to the visitors' seats and began to watch. In front of them the two ICW visitors watched talking.
"Nikodemus you have to stop this, when that boy wakes up he is going to have the power to destroy them. You know as well as I do that the Le-Fay lord only holds a partial control of the family magics." Selena said.
"There is nothing I can do, my hands are tied. The ICW cannot interfere in the workings of the Ancestral houses, the other houses have to guard against them themselves. As Lord Le-fay supports this, as the lord of an ancestral house he has the right to stay the kings law, in this instance, he would have to answer to the king or the head of the house they belong to for it, but it is in his rights." Nikodemus answered.
"This is going to end badly Nikodemus…" they continued to talk but Harry focused on the proceedings down on the floor.
"Come Lord Le-Fay you know that this is not legal according to Albion laws, even attempting to do this…" Sirius was saying.
"Is fully within my rights, perhaps if Lord Potter properly understood the position, he held he would not have challenged me. This will serve as a proper reminder of his place in our world."
Jean Marc having felt and seen Harry enter the room asked. "And what is his place, Lord Le-Fay."
"His place is the same as all those beneath me, groveling in obedience and not challenging those better than they."
"Your words betray the exact reason why you do not have full claim over the magics of your house, which means you have no right to stay the king's law. Enough do not speak until I am done. The only way you would have the power to stay the king's law is if you have the full house magic of house Le-Fay, you as evidenced by the battle a few days ago do not. Furthermore, if you did, the seals around the Le-Fay seat would have lit up signaling your presence." Harry said rising from his place and joining the lords on the main floor.
"A filthy half-blood like you has no rights to…" The man in the back that had spoken, stopped, as the temperature in the room dropped.
"I would be very careful about what you say next Lord Rimier, the wards of Albion are very close to activating, and it seems that they are taking a very large exception to your words." The other lords in the room very visibly flinched. Harry new that the last time the wards had been close to activating had been more than a century ago, when Albion had almost come to civil war. "Allow me to remind this body of a few key truths that they seem to have forgotten. By the law of Albion, at the time of the last king's death, the ICW was established. The ICW was placed to be a binding international stage wherein Albion could still interact with the other nations of Avalon without fear of attack as they stood without a king. The Wizengamot, house of Lords within each of Albion's country states was formed, to oversee the enacting of the kings law, and to pass laws to aid in keeping that country state safe through the passage of time. This body has seemingly forgotten that all laws passed by this body must stand in accordance with the greater laws of Albion. Until now the house of Potter and the house of Black, have foolishly allowed this, once but no more. You minister Fudge have until the end of the yule holidays to get your house in order, if you fail to do so, I will be placing the country state of Britain under full Marshal law of house Potter, until after the current crises with Grindelwald has been dealt with, and I have the time to sort through the mess you have all created."
"Back to the matter at hand, the laws of Albion, clearly state that no bearer is to be bonded to another without their own permission being given or the permission of their head of house, neither I nor Sirius Black have given such permission. You, Lord Le-Fay, have no right to attempt to place a claim on the children of my houses. Your claim on house Black does not pertain to them as it is only through relations with house Potter that you could claim them. By Albion law, in attempting to force a child of my house into a bonding not sanctioned by myself or by the one in question, you are attempting to commit a form of line theft that would lead me with no choice but to bring the full power of the house of Potter on your heads. One would think, Lord Le-Fay, that as you are so keen to becoming king, that you would be more worried about the current threat to Albion and your possible future rule." Harry answered him.
"I fail to see him as a threat, he will fall in line like the rest when I rise to Kingship, you I can see will not, this will be a right and proper lesson for you of what will happen should your line continue to subvert mine." Marvolo answered.
Harry looked at Marvolo, looking into his eyes he could see the seriousness in his eyes. Harry broke down, his laughter being heard throughout the room before he finally spoke. "You know I actually thought you had heard a word Grindelwald said during your duel with him, obviously I was mistaken. Do you even know what Grindelwald's true goals were or shall I say it are? Or how he intended to accomplish his true goals?" Harry asked.
Hearing the muttered words of ruling Albion and finding the artifacts of the Ancestral houses, he closed his eyes. "Yes, he wishes to become king, but how, did any of you think about how he was going to do that?" Silence filled the room.
"To answer the question there are two ways to conquer Albion. You can conquer Albion one state or in common terms Ministry at a time, claiming a conquerors throne, and in the end face the wards of Albion, and have to battle your way through the wards of Camelot itself. Or you can take the far simpler option and locate and find each of the strongholds of House Pendragon, at which point conquering them all will have the wards merely switch masters, rather than fading."
Nicodemus, stepped forward interrupting the proceedings before they could fall farther into chaos and discord. "Returning to the true matter at hand, you may be head of house Le-Fay, but the house magics have not accepted you, nor have they bonded to yours, Marvolo. Furthermore, Minister if you continue in the path you have chosen, I have no doubt you will be silenced by the wards. Your greed has shown your true face and will be your undoing, it is very obvious to me and to several others that instead of thanking the one who saved us from Grindelwald already once in the past few days, you have chosen only to belittle and subjugate, you are nearing a point of being forced to face a vote of no confidence I suggest you remember that."
With that the room broke up, with a glare the Minister and his advisors released the four bearers back into Harry's care. The glares from them all promised retribution, but Harry put that behind them for today, today was a victory, tomorrow he would deal with the fall-out. Harry went with Sirius, and Neville, back to Hogwarts.
~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~After a quick lunch in the Great Hall, where Harry found that despite it being Tuesday, due to all the mess that had been going on classes would not resume until Wednesday and that all the students had independent work to do, that was due the next day, besides those like Harry that had been in the hospital wing. Harry's group of friends along with several other, such as the Slytherin group they had been working with gathered in the spare classroom they had claimed as their own.
"So, Harry what's the story, the rest of it, you started explaining something before whoever that was interrupted and shut you down. What's the story, and how does it tie into why Grindelwald went after the Potters?" Sirius asked. The other students looked at him. "Were any of you either listening to the Wizengamot meeting or have a clue about what was said. At the shake of their heads Sirius, and Neville recap what all had been said.
"I second Sirius's question but can I ask another?" at Harry's raised eyebrow Theodore Nott continues. "Are you sure it's wise to keep challenging him like this Harry?" Harry looks at Theo and the other students around him, if someone had told him last year, he would willingly associate, and furthermore understand the likes of the Slytherins, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Knott, and Daphne Greengrass among others he would have called them insane, but it was true.
"Do you all remember what I said when I gave Lord Le-Fay the first test of the heirships?" Harry asked.
"Which part exactly?" Daphne asked, a calculating look in her eyes.
"The house of Potter holds several key positions in the royal court. Among these positions was our most public position of Chief Commander of his armies. This position is entailed to the house and would actually be impossible for Marvolo to give to another for more reasons than stated that day. House Potter was offered the position of Chief Commander in return for their continued fealty. This title has given my house several liberties, the chief of which is that house Potter is not bound in the same manner as the other houses to the throne, for that matter neither is house Longbottom." Harry answered.
"What, explain." Theodore turned, Harry having his full undivided attention.
"Our houses weren't bound as tightly for a reason Theo." Neville interjected.
"That does not explain why, if your houses were not as bound, why one of your houses did not claim the throne?" Theo asked scorn entering his voice.
"The same reason your house wouldn't have Theo." Malfoy answers, leaving Harry and Neville to watch him with critical eyes. "The Alamora house of Albion is counted among the Most Ancient and Most Noble, they are three generations, and a couple billion galleons from being Utmost Ancient and Utmost Noble. Technically the title belongs to house Malfoy. The niece of the last head married the then head of house Malfoy, when the heads children all died before marrying or having children the title went to my house because of that marriage. The only issue was in actually claiming the house and the title."
"A house can only hold multiple titles in that manner for so many generations before the title goes into dormancy." Daphne said. "The older the house, the less time they can be held, and the stronger the house is politically, said time only grows shorter. For a house so close to being Utmost it would have been what eight generations?"
"Close, five generations, considering the political power they held at the time. Five generations that did not count toward the title advancement, but besides that five generations wherein house Malfoy almost lost their own title, with the entire mess with the Weasley clan happening at the same time. On top of that in the three generations before the house went into dormancy, the house of Malfoy had no spare heirs survive to maturity, that did not take up the mantle of Lord Malfoy themselves. Because of the dire straits the house fell into, the Alomora house fell into dormancy after only three generations." Draco continued.
"Indeed, with a house old and strong politically as house Pendragon. The rules would be even harsher, the only way for a child of either house Potter or house Longbottom to truly take the throne without inheriting it directly through the main line, is through a second son, which house Potter has not had in centuries. The only other option would be…" Harry started.
"to allow the House of Potter to be absorbed into the Pendragon line. A price that few houses would be willing to pay." Theo answered. "I do understand. But what does this have to do with…"
"The reason I feel free to challenge Lord Le-Fay?" Harry answered.
"It has to be something to do with you becoming Utmost right?" Daphne comments, the Slytherin wanting to understand too much to hide her desire.
"No, actually it doesn't." Harry answers as the mirror in his pocket goes off. It vibrates twice and stops. "Dobby," Harry calls the little elf that quickly arrives. "Thank you for coming Dobby can you grab the goblin box sitting next to my bed in the dorms." Dobby enthusiastically answers as he quickly fetches the box. Once getting he quickly opens it and reading through the papers, signs a few putting them back in the box and keeping the others.
"What is it?" Sirius asks.
"My full repercussions for the ministry, have hit the ICW courts our trial date has been set for just after the New Year. The real news is that the Potter family accounts, as of yesterday morning, after totaling up the past two weeks earnings from the casino, and the other recently opened entertainment areas, and then splitting them between Draco and I, is now at just over $600,000,000 galleons." Harry says in answer. The room takes a second to take that in before Hermione dives for her Magical culture book, checking up the amount needed to ascend to Utmost.
"Yes, Hermione that means that Harry is now the head of an Utmost house," turning to Harry, Draco asks. "So, when will it hit the papers?"
"The Utmost probably before too long, it's just a matter of Rita or one of the others checking on the family statuses with the ministry. I think however at the moment that the Minister will be trying to repress that announcement as long as possible. The Ministry being sued by a Most Ancient and Most Noble house is bad enough, but for the Ministry to be sued by a Most Ancient and Utmost Noble house would make the vote of no confidence happen before the trial even happens." Harry answers. "Besides after the trial it won't really matter. Because they aren't being sued by a Most Ancient and Utmost Noble house."
The others in the room looked confused and Harry took a long breath. "Long ago, and I do mean long ago, when Rome was still young, and its empire not yet formed. In the house of a high-ranking politician of the senate, a young man was born. His name was Cadmus Potter, and he was the first of the line to be born with magic. Cadmus grew in both age and power, and eventually as all men of Rome did, joined the military. While in the Military he was made the apprentice of Caldrick Marius, the father of Roman Battle Magic, Cadmus learned all he could from Caldrick. He became the first magical head of the Potter house, and almost three centuries later the Potter family was known in Rome for being extremely good with Battle Magics, both Roman and of other nations." Harry takes a breath and Neville asked confused.
"But Harry the Potter family magic is defense not offensive magics." Harry only nods.
"Let me finish, you know in muggle primary you study things like history, and I had always been fascinated with Rome. I never knew that Rome almost fell before it truly grew to shine."
Blaise took in a sharp breath, at the looks he got from the other students he answered the unasked question. "My family is from Italy, Rome to be exact. It's well known that when Rome fell most of the textbooks and journals and such on Roman magics was burned with the city. This caused most of Rome's magic to be classified as a dead magic branch, most assume that it is because of the fire that burned Rome, but that wasn't true, we were losing the access to our magics long before then. The oldest families are known for creating things, wards, spells, rituals, etc., but the strongest families, can create magical creatures, of a sort. The Evanshade house is known for having created the first Basilisk. Someone in Rome created one of these creatures, it was fine at first, they were called the Battle Centurions, and people ran before them, a full knights suit made of Iron, with the full power a single element at its disposal, they were monsters of defense, then the golden centurion was forged, he was made with additional offensive enchantments, he was also given intelligence as he was to lead the rest of the iron centurions into battle for Rome, it didn't work." Blaise answered, before Harry continued.
"The problem and the unexpected result of the Gold Centurion was that it was able to teach the Iron Centurions all the offensive magics it held; the legion then held both the defensive powers of Rome as well as most of its offensive magics as well. The destroyed the Gold centurion and turned on Rome, they almost destroyed the entirety of Rome before the house of Potter made a pact."
"Wait why did the house of Potter… Oh!" Blaise said.
"Yes, the house of Potter had forged the iron Legion and had equipped the Gold Centurion with not just regular Roman Battle Magic but some of the family magics of our line. We had created this monster, we had to destroy it, but we couldn't, our skills did not lie in defense near as much as in offense. We were a family forged for war, though we had defense waging war was our strength and our gift. Calladius Potter the heir at the time, fled Rome. He went west and ended up in Babylon in the house of the Ishtar family. There he learned of the Caverns of Seals, so he sought out the caverns. Returning to Rome he captured an Iron Centurion, and locating the caverns entered and performed the ritual of Sealing. Previously, it had been believed that the ritual could only be done by an ancestral house, because the amount of house magics required to perform and complete the ritual was immense. House Potter of the time didn't have house magics; we had only reached the rank of Elder. It was why the house of Ishtar, refused to aid the house of Potter, in finding the caverns or dealing with the problem, they didn't see it as a threat after all this was merely a creation of a still at the time young house."
Harry took a deep breath and a drink of water before continuing. "The ritual of sealing is unlike most; it starts like others with a circle but from there it differs. In the circle you then place a representation of that you wish to bind, in this case the captured Iron Centurion. From there it calls forth all those that you wish to seal, and places them in an, I guess alternate dimension would be the closest equivalent we have. I mean the ritual is more complicated than that, but those are the big things. To finish the seal requires one more thing, a sacrifice. Now standardly for a ritual, the sacrifice of blood or parts of a magical creature are more than enough. For this ritual it is not, to sacrifice blood, it is estimated it would take dozens of people drained dry to satisfy it. Usually a sacrifice of house magics is made, this is what makes it a usually ancestral house exclusive magic. They are the only houses with enough house magic to be able to withstand the sacrifice and still recover from it. House Potter had none, and so Calladius sacrificed the only thing he could, the family's magical gift of Battle Magics. But Calladius underestimated the amount of magic it would take from our house. Instead of just taking a few of our spells like he believed, the magic sealed away almost all the Battle Magics we had access to and has since hindered the house from developing any more. To combat this, we turned to defensive Magics and that eventually evolved into a secondary family gift, but a Potter can still feel the sacrifice drawing on us whenever we reach for Battle Magics. It's why it is do rare for a Potter to cast Battle magics our spells may still be stronger than the average person's Battle Magics but the additional power it takes to call it forward and sustain it for long periods of time is enormous. The more we cast the closer the sacrifice comes to drawing on our cores itself. Our full casting of the spell caught the attention of both the Ishtar and Peverell houses. They spoke to us and it was later discovered that this jump started our houses ability to call forward house magic. We were in many ways younger than any other family that had ever begun the trek towards ancestral status, but the sacrifice of half our houses power nearly broke us, and within Rome itself we fell from power. Centuries later the heir of house Potter was assigned to the Britain invasion force and eventually the family relocated here. But we have never forgotten the power we once wielded, or the damages done by what we created. The Iron Legion burned over half of Rome by themselves and destroyed half of the standing Roman army. It was a swift reminder of what the effect of our magics might be."
"Your house has seen the effect of reaching too far with magic, some of our parents I think would benefit if our houses did to." Draco replied, as Harry shook his head, he hadn't spoken of the other consequences of that sacrifice. "But why do you feel like this gives you the power to keep challenging Lord Le-Fay? I mean just having stronger house magic doesn't mean that much does it?"
"The answer is actually obvious but you all sort of glanced over it. The sacrifice triggered a growth in the magics belonging to the house. House Malfoy is two centuries younger than the house of Potter and beyond the house of Potter and Black, are the only house with half as much house Magic. House Black would be Utmost Noble, if they had not limited their money making endeavors to the magical world, they are after all almost 500 years older than the house of Potter and have almost as much house magic. House Magic is one of the very concrete requirements to become ancestral. House Malfoy has had House Magics for just about seven hundred years now, House Potter has held theirs for over a thousand years. When we met with house Peverell, they said that magically though not in age, fifty years after the sacrifice was made, that we already had the house magics of some of the Ancient houses then, and it is well documented that the magics of the houses are growing weaker not stronger." Harry answered.
"Just how close is house Potter to Ancestral?" Daphne asked asking the one question Harry did not want to answer.
"I know that house Potter has been on the precipice for a few generations now." Neville answered.
Draco was the insightful one that had put the pieces together. "Oh, that does change things, several things." He said out loud, as dawning looks of understanding passed between both Hermione and Sirius as well.
"I don't get it Malfoy, what is it, what changes things?" Ron asks confused.
It was Daphne who understanding dawning in her eye's answers. "That's what you meant earlier, about the Most Ancient and Utmost Noble House of Potter not suing the Ministry. The House of Potter is suing the Ministry, but they aren't Utmost anymore."
"Technically speaking as the vaults didn't shift until yesterday, the house of Potter will never have the title of Utmost Noble, early Sunday, the house of Potter finished shifting beyond that range of houses."
Needless to say, after vowing secrecy oaths to Harry the students that left where trying to comprehend the changes this made for Magical Britain's political landscape.
~~~~~Power of Ancestral Magics~~~~~As the students left Sirius focused on Harry again. "There is more pup isn't there."
"Yes, there is," at Sirius's look to continue Harry took another deep breath. "I've chosen to undergo Blood Rites after the Winter Solstice. I realized as I challenged Marvolo, that he's not going to stop. He's focusing on the house of Potter and I need to pull his mind away from past hurts and give him an actual challenge, I may not wish to be king but as it stands I cannot allow Marvolo the chance of even trying to take control of the wards. I feared that in doing blood rites I would be forced into the kingship, but I've realized that if the land truly wants me as king me willingly going through blood rites won't stop that. At this point the only thing me not going through blood rites is doing, is hindering me from properly protecting those that are relying on me to be their defense."
"You are an amazing Protector Harry, and I understand your reasoning, eventually I fear that Marvolo in his capacity of Lord Le-Fay, will push you into a corner you can't get out of without being Ancestral, and the house of Potter as an ancestral house is technically not sworn to Albion. You can get away with it because your generation ascended but it's still not enough of a defense, at least from a Black's point of view." Sirius answered giving Harry a hug. "Now what else is there?"
As Harry relaxed into Sirius's arms, he couldn't help but think on the warmth he felt even from his magic when held by Sirius, it was a lot like when Viktor had hugged him on their last date. It made him smile, relaxing he answered the question. "House Potter didn't just sacrifice our family gift; it bound half our family magics. The house of Potter has finally grown to be strong enough to gain ancestral status, yet as it's grown the half claimed by the seal has grown to. Furthermore, having a seal allows us to know a bit more about them. All the seals are interlocked, if Grindelwald breaks the twelfth seal, all the other seals will eventually come unraveled to. When the ninth seal breaks the rest of house Potters house magics will be released."
"I can see how that will be a problem." Sirius answered before he changed the subject from the heavy political talk. They had been having to a light talk about school, and homework and the traditional teenager problems when eventually Harry fell asleep in Sirius's arms. Sirius carried him up to the bearer's tower escorted by Artemis and put Harry to bed.