Neither Harry nor Hermione could sleep Tuesday night, so they decided to get up before dawn rather than lying in bed waiting fruitlessly for sleep to come. Hermione whipped up a batch of Invigoration Draught while Harry made a few cups of espresso to get them through the day.

The Room of Requirement really was quite a convenient place to live. They had only spent two nights in the Gryffindor Dormitory since their 'return', and that was only to show that they were still alive.

They waited eagerly for ten o'clock, when the Aurors would be collecting them in the Entrance Hall. Both were quite glad that Dumbledore had made no further efforts to impede the questioning or their presence since Monday.

At breakfast, an official-looking owl landed in front of Harry and Hermione, carrying a letter that bore the official seal of Gringotts.

Dear Lord and Lady Potter,

I have received word from our Guards and Curse-Breakers that the Dark Artefact that you had brought to my attention at our last meeting has been thoroughly cleansed of its malign influence. I would like to request a meeting this coming weekend so we may discuss the appropriation of the confiscated assets, as well as to discuss in proper detail your family finances.

Please send a time at which you will be available by return owl.

As always, please keep the contents of this letter confidential between me and yourselves.

Yours,

Ragnok

Chief Goblin of Gringotts

'This weekend…it's a Hogsmeade weekend! We can just go into Hogsmeade on Saturday and leave from there!' Hermione conspired in a low whisper. 'And now that we've gotten our Trace removed, we can apparate freely without needing Dobby's help.'

'We'll need a cover story, though. An alibi,' Harry pointed out, 'We can't have anyone knowing that we weren't in Hogsmeade.'

Hermione nibbled her lower lip. 'We'll ask Ginny, Neville, and Luna to cover up for us the next time we see them. They know the truth now – part of it, anyway – I think they'll agree to help us out.'

Harry nodded. 'We can worry about that later. Let's get Sirius freed first and then we can think about Gringotts. Actually, we could also ask Sirius to give us some help making sense of it all. He's a pure-blood. He'll know this kind of stuff better than us or even Neville. Even if he's a bit of a…man-child.'

Hermione laughed. 'Do you think we should ask Sirius to be there on Saturday? He's your bonded godfather, after all. And your parents' best friend.'

'Yeah, that's a good idea,' Harry agreed at once. 'I'll write to Ragnok and ask him if he could meet us Saturday morning at ten and if Sirius could meet us there.'

Harry dug out his quill and scribbled a reply. Before they knew it, it was already half-past-nine. They retreated to the Room of Requirement and pulled on some formal robes that they had purchased during their last visit to Diagon Alley before heading down to the Entrance Hall to meet the Aurors.

When they arrived, they were greeted with a very familiar sight. There were two people wearing red Auror robes standing just inside the main gates. One was a tall, powerful-looking man with dark skin, and the other was a young woman with pink hair.

Harry and Hermione exchanged an elated look. 'Kingsley and Tonks!' Hermione mouthed to Harry.

'Ah, you must be Mister Potter and Miss Granger,' Kingsley said in his low, slow voice, holding out his hand. 'I am Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, and this woman right here is Auror Nymphadora "Just-Call-Me-Tonks" Tonks.'

'Very nice to meet you, Auror Shacklebolt,' Harry greeted him, shaking his hand. Tonks was shooting Kingsley a death glare for that introduction. 'And you, Auror Tonks.'

'You know, I don't understand why you bother mentioning my given name if you're going to introduce me like that, Kingsley,' Tonks said.

'If I don't mention your given name, people would ask it anyway,' Kingsley pointed out. He gestured to Harry and Hermione. 'Follow us. We're going to walk to the edge of the wards and side-along you to the Ministry.'

Harry and Hermione followed their…old friends?…to the edge of the grounds. There, Kingsley took Harry's hand and Tonks took Hermione's before than turned on the spot and disapparated.

They reappeared in the Atrium. 'Ever visited the Ministry before?' Tonks asked the two teens.

Harry and Hermione exchanged a furtive, amused glance. They had visited, of course. They had even broken in. But Kingsley and Tonks did not know that.

'No, we haven't,' Hermione lied.

'Youngsters,' Tonks quipped, 'Follow us, then, and don't get lost.'

Harry and Hermione followed Kingsley and Tonks into a lift, taking it down to Level Two.

'The hearing will take place in Madam Bones's office in front of the Minister and Madam Bones,' Kingsley said as they stopped in front the door to said office. 'We are to escort you here, but we will not be present during the hearing. We will be back after the hearing ends to bring you back to Hogwarts if that is required.'

Harry and Hermione pushed open the door and entered. There, on a chair, sat Sirius.

'Sirius!' Hermione squealed. The realization instantly hit Harry that they had not seen him for more than eight years in real time.

'Harry, Hermione, it's good to see you,' Sirius greeted them, his voice shaky and weak.

'It's good to see you too, Sirius,' Harry replied, grateful to be seeing him again.

Only then did they notice that Madam Bones and Fudge were also in the office. The two officials exchanged a look. Harry thought that just by the enthusiastic greeting between the teens and the older man, Sirius's case had reached a foregone conclusion.

'Good morning, Harry,' Fudge greeted. 'And your friend as well.'

'Good morning, Minister. Good morning, Madam Bones.'

'Good morning,' Bones replied. She turned to Sirius. 'Shall we get started?'

Sirius nodded. 'I'm ready to prove my innocence.'

'Amelia, has he been checked for the Veritaserum antidote?'

Madam Bones nodded. 'Dawlish did the test when Black first arrived. Negative. He's been searched as well and there're no suspicious or banned items on his person.'

'Very well. Administer the Veritaserum then, Amelia.'

Sirius opened his mouth willingly and Madam Bones poured three drops from a small vial onto his tongue. His expression immediately grew slack and his eyes glazed over. Bones reached into her desk and pulled out a pad of parchment and a quill.

'Your name?' she asked.

'Sirius Orion Black.'

'Date of birth?'

'3 November 1959.'

'Describe your old wand.'

'Twelve-and-a-half inches. Dogwood. Dragon heartstring.'

'Are you Harry James Potter's bonded godfather through the Godfather Ritual?'

'Yes.'

'Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters' cottage in Godric's Hollow?'

'No.'

'Who was the real Secret Keeper for said cottage?'

'Peter Pettigrew.'

'Did you cast the curse responsible for the deaths of twelve muggles on the morning of 1 November 1998?'

'No.'

'Who cast the aforementioned curse?'

'Peter Pettigrew.'

'Explain how Pettigrew escaped.'

'He is an unregistered Animagus. His Animagus form is that of a rat. He cast a highly dark version of the Blasting Curse, then severed his own finger, framing me for the muggles' murders, before changing form and escaping down a muggle sewer.'

'Do you know the whereabouts of Pettigrew?'

'No.'

'That'll be enough, Amelia,' Fudge interrupted, 'Administer the antidote. That's sufficient proof that Black was not responsible for the crimes he was accused of. Since there was never a formal arraignment by my predecessor as Minister, Black's case is hereby thrown out.'

Madam Bones nodded. She took out another small vial from inside her robes and poured the contents into Sirius's mouth. Sirius's face returned to its normal expression and his eyes focused once more.

'Sirius Orion Black,' Fudge recited, 'As Minister for Magic, all criminal charges wrongfully placed upon you by my predecessor are hereby thrown out. You will be granted a ministerial apology for the wrongs of my predecessor. You will receive thirteen years' worth of back pay, adjusted for inflation, due for your position as Senior Auror before your incarceration. Your wand will be returned, and you will be offered the return of your position if you so desire.'

Harry thought that Fudge was rather cleverly playing the part of the politician. He could not ignore the evidence, but by pinning all the blame for Sirius's incarceration of his predecessor, he was also avoiding taking any of the blame himself while casting himself as Sirius's liberator. Harry thought that was rather hypocritical, considering how Fudge had tried so hard to get Sirius Kissed the previous year. He was not going to complain now, though. Not now that Sirius was a free man once more.

'Sirius, you're free!' Harry yelled. He ran up and embraced his godfather. He made an 'oof' sound, but returned the embrace.

Harry stepped away and Hermione took her turn to hug Sirius.

'It's good to be free,' Sirius said softly. 'I'm going to have a whole crate of Firewhiskey with Moony tonight.'

'Sirius, you don't want to land in St. Mungo's the night after your exoneration,' Hermione chided playfully.

Sirius waved her off with a bark-like laugh. 'Blacks can hold their liquor.'

Amelia cleared her throat. 'I apologize for interrupting your reunion, but I have several questions that I would like to ask you, Sirius. I promise it will not take too long.'

'Anything, Amelia,' Sirius replied, 'A small repayment for clearing my record.'

'Thank you. I wanted to ask how you escaped from Azkaban. You will not be punished for what you say, but I would like to know so that security at the prison could be improved.'

Sirius explained how he was an unregistered Animagus, how he had managed to slip through the cell bars and past the dementors. How he had found out that Pettigrew was at Hogwarts and had escaped to prevent him from harming Harry.

Bones turned to Fudge with a scowl. 'You're saying we don't have Animagus-transformation-preventing wards at Azkaban?'

'W-Well…w-we never though that was a…a necessity,' he blustered. 'We thought th-that the prisoners would lose their powers to transform holed up with the dementors.'

'Obviously you and everyone else thought wrong,' Madam Bones snapped. 'I'm going to send Aurors to put up those wards tonight, in case an actual criminal is an Animagus and tries to escape that way.'

Fudge looked like he had just swallowed a jar of toad spawn, but he nodded vigorously anyway, his lime-green bowler nearly falling off his head.

Just then, the door opened and an Auror – Harry recognized it as Dawlish – stepped inside.

'Amelia, I have Black's wand.'

'Thank you. Return it to Black,' Bones ordered.

Dawlish handed the wand back to Sirius. He palmed it and a grin spread across his face. Red and gold sparks flew out of the end at the reunion of wand and owner.

'Thank you again, Amelia.'

Bones nodded. 'I have one more question. Do you know why the Potters' will was sealed?'

'S-Sealed?' Sirius asked, genuinely shocked and confused.

'Yes. Sealed. Dumbledore himself confirmed it. Do you know who and for what reason it was sealed?'

'I'm assuming you read the will?' Bones nodded and Sirius continued, 'Then you'd know that I did not have the power to seal it. Besides, I was thrown into Azkaban the morning after they…they died. The only person who had the power to do that is Dumbledore, but I don't know enough to hazard a guess at why.'

Harry and Hermione both shot him a meaningful look, trying to communicate to him that they did have a guess at why.

'Very well,' Bones sighed. 'You are free to go.' She turned to the teens. 'The two of you are excused from Hogwarts for the entire day. Mister Potter, I suggest you take advantage of that by spending some time with your godfather.'

Harry nodded. 'I will. Thank you, Madam Bones.'

The moment they left the office, Sirius engulfed Harry and Hermione in a bear hug. Hermione squeaked but was happy to return the embrace.

'Oh, I'm free!' Sirius sang, 'I'm free, I'm free, I'm free!'

Hermione looked at him with a disapproving expression, her face pink with embarrassment at his odd behaviour in public. Harry just laughed.

'Well, let's not stay here the whole day,' Sirius chirped. 'Moony wrote to me a few days ago. Says he's got a place in London. He was vague about it, but he says he received a huge sum of money from somewhere. How about we head over to his flat for the afternoon?'

Harry and Hermione exchanged an amused look. So Remus had put the cash that Harry had sent him to good use.

'That sounds great!' Harry replied.

Sirius beamed. He leaned in to the two teens. 'Lily would definitely not approve,' he added in a conspiratorial whisper, 'But Moony likes his Firewhiskey. What say we crack open a bottle and celebrate?'

Harry had had Firewhiskey more times than they could count in the 'old timeline', so he did not feel nervous about 'trying' it. And besides, was it really underage drinking when you were technically twenty-four?

To his surprise, it was Hermione who answered. 'Sure, Sirius. That sounds great.'

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. Hermione, breaking rules? Hermione, drinking illegally?

Hermione punched him in the arm while blushing bright pink. 'You've been a bad influence on me,' she whispered.

Harry gave her his best 'who me' expression, earning him an amused glare. 'Are you really complaining about my influence on you?'

Harry was saved from another smack by Sirius. 'Have you two side-alonged before?' he asked.

Harry and Hermione both nodded. 'We were side-alonged here.'

'Grab on to my hands then, and hold on!'

Harry and Hermione both took one of Sirius's hands. He turned on the spot and disapparated to reappear moments later in a small but quite neat flat.

'Moony!' Sirius called.

There was a moment of silence. 'Padfoot?' Remus called back.

'It is I. And I have the spawn of Prongs and his lady friend with me.'

Remus appeared from the study. 'How the hell did you get them from Hogwarts?'

'You didn't hear?' Sirius said, 'I'm free!'

'You are? I didn't hear.'

'Of course you didn't. I had a hearing at the Ministry not five minutes ago. All charges were thrown out.'

Remus cocked his eyebrows and turned to Hermione. 'Is this true?'

She nodded. 'We were there. Madam Bones and Fudge cleared him.'

Remus held out his arms and Sirius embraced his brother in all but blood.

'Thirteen years…' Remus said softly.

'Thirteen years too late is better than never.'

Remus nodded. 'Why don't you three come and sit down? Lily would flay me alive, but how about some Firewhiskey?'

Sirius turned and gave the teens an evil grin before following Moony into the kitchen. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and then followed the two…nominal adults into the kitchen. Remus pulled out an unopened bottle of Firewhiskey, conjured four glasses, and then poured a healthy amount into each.

'To the loathsome Padfoot!' Remus toasted, 'For being a free man!'

The quartet toasted and drank. Harry felt liquid fire travelling down his throat. He had not had Firewhiskey for a long while, and it almost felt like a new experience for him.

Remus refilled the glasses. 'To the son of Prongs, the new Head of the Potter Family, for fixing this old wolf up with money for an actual home!'

They drank again before Remus filled the glasses for a third time. 'To the wife of the son of Prongs, for keeping Prongs's spawn alive and doing Lily proud!'

At that, Sirius nearly spat out his drink. Harry stole a glance at Hermione. Her cheeks were bright pink, and Harry knew it was not just because of the Firewhiskey.

'Wife?' Sirius goggled.

'Oh, yeah,' Hermione said in a tiny voice, studying her feet.

'Wh-What…you two? Aren't you like…fourteen?'

'Sorry, Sirius, Remus. Could you excuse us for a minute?'

The two adults nodded. Harry and Hermione headed out of the kitchen.

'Do we tell them?' Harry asked in a whisper.

'I think we have to, sooner or later,' Hermione answered. 'We'll need Sirius's help with a lot of stuff, and Remus would be good to have on board, too, especially now that we know we can't rely on Dumbledore. Let's just tell them now before before they demand that information later.'

'We have to make sure they're good Occlumens.'

'Remus is for sure. Legilimens have a very hard time reading werewolves' minds,' Hermione said. 'As for Sirius, I'd be surprised if he wasn't taught at a young age, being a Black and all. He has to be at least sufficiently capable, or he wouldn't have survived for so long in Azkaban.'

'So we'll tell them the whole truth?'

Hermione nodded. 'Everything.'

They returned to the kitchen and sat down. Harry took a deep breath, preparing himself.

'What we're going to tell you needs to be kept completely secret,' he began, 'Nobody can know. Not even Dumbledore.'

'I won't tell anyone anything. Especially not Dumbledore,' Remus replied immediately, 'The way he handled James and Lily's will feels fishy, what with doing everything they expressly prohibited and then sealing it so nobody else could read it.'

Sirius stared at Remus. 'Wh-What?'

'We'll explain the story later,' Hermione promised, 'But we need you to promise that you will tell no one else what we're about to tell you.'

'Not a soul,' Sirius swore.

'Thank you. Second thing. How good are you at Occlumency?'

'Werewolves are immune to all but the most intense Legilimency attack,' Remus answered, 'My mind is secure.'

'My old mother made sure I learned both Occlumency and Legilimency before I even went to Hogwarts,' Sirius said, 'The one good thing she did.'

Harry turned to Hermione. She had a complacent look on her face. Harry reached over and pinched her on the leg. She turned and glared at him with the most adorable rosy blush.

Sirius cleared his throat. 'Whenever you two lovebirds are done ogling each other…'

Harry felt his face burn and tore his eyes away from Hermione at once, fixing them on his hands. Sirius and Remus at least had the good grace to refrain from laughing.

'Okay. What I'm about to tell you will sound like the most far-fetched thing imaginable,' Harry said when his voice returned. 'But I swear that it's absolutely true. We would never play a prank like this.'

Sirius and Remus nodded for them to begin. Harry and Hermione recounted the 'old timeline', how Voldemort had returned at the end of the fourth year. How Sirius had died a year later at the Department of Mysteries. How Snape had murdered Dumbledore. How they hunted Voldemort's Horcruxes for an entire year. How everything culminated in a battle at Hogwarts where Remus died.

Harry decided not to tell him about Tonks or the baby, though, preferring to let him figure it out on his own.

Then, they covered Voldemort's second return and how the Order had been decapitated right at the start of the Third War. How Harry and Hermione had gone into hiding, fallen in love, and married. How they had to learn the darkest of the Dark Arts just to survive against the Death Eaters. How Ron Weasley had betrayed them like Pettigrew had betrayed James and Lily, turning them in to the perverted Ministry. How they had almost died, then were somehow sent back in time. They explained their theory on the Deathly Hallows. By the end of the retelling, Sirius and Remus were nearly in tears.

'So you're taking the chance you got by being sent back in time to make sure the horrible things Voldemort did won't happen?' Remus concluded.

'Exactly. We have a plan to weaken Riddle when he returns this time around. We've also been picking off the Horcruxes. We got the Diadem our first day "back". The goblins took care of the Cup. The Locket – '

'Is at my family home,' Sirius interrupted, 'I'll go there as soon as possible to get it. I still can't believe I never knew that my brother…'

His voice died. Harry could see tears in his eyes.

'He won't have died in vain,' Harry assured him. 'We're going to defeat Riddle once and for all. All we have to take out are the snake and the – '

And then Harry realized something.

'We must've missed a Horcrux the last time around!' he gasped, shocked, 'We'd always thought that Riddle returned through some Necromancy ritual, but that couldn't be! I've been so stupid!'

'What do you mean?' Hermione asked, her face white with fright at the thought of a hidden seventh Horcrux.

'Hermione, we've always assumed that he regained a body through some obscure Dark Art that pulled him back from the brink of death,' Harry said. 'But a year after his second defeat is too long! You remember that horrible book we read a few years after his return. It said that the Soul Return Ritual was best conducted within one month of death, with one sacrifice for each day of death. We'd always assumed that Voldemort was just very powerful at Dark Magic, but that can't be! Now that I think about it, even if he sacrificed over three hundred people, I doubt he could pull himself back from the dead after that long, and his maimed soul certainly doesn't help!'

'You're saying that – '

'Yes! Dumbledore either didn't know or didn't tell us that there was a seventh Horcrux! It's the only possible explanation!'

'Dumbledore keeps his secrets, but do you think he'd hide something that important from you?' Hermione asked sceptically.

'I don't know. I don't want to believe it, but I don't believe for a second that Dumbledore wouldn't know if a seventh Horcrux existed. He was right about all the other Horcruxes, wasn't he? We were so damn convinced that there were only six Horcruxes off his word that we didn't even bother searching for a seventh, we just shunned that explanation of his second return as impossible! Just off Dumbledore's word! Dumbledore claims he's the foremost expert on Riddle, and honestly, that's the one and only thing I believe about him.'

'But what could it be?'

'I don't know. Perhaps something of Gryffindor's. But I don't think this is the time to discuss this,' Harry said firmly. 'This is something that could take months to figure out. We'll get rid of the rest of the Horcruxes, then we can deal with the missing one.'

'But shouldn't we – '

'I agree with Harry,' Remus interjected, 'If you can force Voldemort to return in a weakened state, then that will buy us more time to look for the final Horcrux. Fudge also needs to go by the time Voldemort returns or as soon as possible after.'

Hermione grudgingly nodded. 'Okay. Actually, that last point is something we needed to discuss with Sirius.'

'I take it you've taken on the Head of House on the same day you opened your parents' will, Harry?' Sirius asked with a smile.

Harry nodded. 'Yes. Our friend Neville told us how some families have a lot of influence within the Wizengamot and Ministry. I was thinking that perhaps we could use that in our advantage to depose Fudge?'

Sirius gave a leering grin. 'Oh, that won't be too hard. You've already met Amelia Bones earlier. She's one of the most powerful witches and the Ministry and she's not a fan of Fudge at all. Fudge is more or less a puppet of Malfoy's these days, but the Light faction and their allies have always held the Government. Remember that you're still a figurehead for anyone against the Dark. One blunder by Fudge against you – '

'Umbridge,' Harry interrupted, getting a sudden inspiration.

Remus raised his eyebrows. 'The Undersecretary?'

'Exactly. Last time around, she sent two dementors in the summer before my fifth year to Kiss me,' Harry explained. 'After Riddle's second defeat in the "old timeline", Umbridge was thrown in Azkaban. Kingsley Shacklebolt and the DMLE saw all the files she kept. She had detailed records of every one of her crimes. The file on sending the dementors after me was more than ten pages long and detailed everything, Kingsley said. If we can tip off the DMLE – '

'Then Bones can raid Umbridge's office, and she'll likely find all sorts of incriminating documents there. At that point Umbridge will be disposed of, and Fudge will either fall along with her or bend over backwards to curry favour to you,' Hermione finished.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other. 'She's so like Lily…' Remus reminisced.

Hermione blushed. 'I was just following Harry's logic,' she said quietly.

'But it's bloody good logic,' Sirius said. 'What's more, you've been doing excellent political manoeuvring without even realizing it. You've been friends with Augusta Longbottom's son for years. Now you've met Amelia Bones and I know for sure she's more loyal to us and our allies than Fudge. The Weasleys are taken care of. And now I can take the Black gold right out from under the Dark faction's feet, which will be a huge blow to them.'

'How will you do that?' Hermione asked, curious.

'That's easy. I'm the Head of the Black family, since I'm the last male descendant – the Blacks are patriarchal. All I need to do is go to Gringotts, shut down all existing transfers, and block everyone else who's related to my family from accessing the gold.'

'And does that include the Malfoys?'

Sirius gave an evil grin. 'Oh, yes. That includes the Malfoys. They aren't anywhere near as wealthy as the Blacks, and Lucius can only spend so much on political bribes because he has access to the Black family accounts on his wife's side. Once that dries up…no more hundred-thousand-Galleon bribes, no more influence from Lucius.'

Remus laughed. 'The ultimate prank, Padfoot.'

'I can do you one better,' Harry said.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'The son of Prongs is challenging us with a prank?'

'I am,' Harry replied, grinning. 'The only reason Lucius is out of Azkaban is because he can afford huge bribes to the right people. Once you take away his access to the gold, he can't pay them anymore. Then, we tip the DMLE off to his…illicit transactions…and they can access the vault records for the Black vaults, can't they?'

Sirius nodded. 'Gringotts is very confidential. It's a problem where corruption is concerned, but yes, I can give the DMLE access to my vault records as the Head of the Black Family.'

'That's perfect,' said Harry, 'Then, without his purchased power base, there's nothing stopping Lucius from being put on trial for Death Eater activities and corruption.'

'Ah, son of Prongs, now that you've reminded me of my powers as the Head of House, I can up you one,' Sirius said. 'As the Head of the Blacks, I have the power to dissolve the marriages of members of my family if their spouses…ah…take oaths of service to an enemy of the family.'

Harry was confused. What exactly did Sirius mean by this?

It was Hermione who got it first. 'Are you saying you're going to declare Riddle an enemy of the Black family, then you can say that Lucius took an oath of service to Riddle through the Dark Mark, which will mean that you can dissolve Narcissa's marriage?'

'You're right, Moony. She's just like Lily,' Sirius said to Remus, laughing. This time, Harry noticed that Hermione looked awfully pleased with herself. 'That's right, Hermione. Not only will I do that, I can force the return of Narcissa's dowry – the very traditional pure-blood families still exchange those. That will leave Lucius either knutless or in severe debt – the Black family used to pay very heavy dowries, and I'd bet anything Lucius has already squandered that on bribes.'

'And it gets better, Hermione. The Black Family loyalty vows include swearing on one's honour and magic. As the Head of the Blacks, I can bring down the consequences of that vow on his head. Now, Lucius has no honour, so the only thing it'll take is his magic. Next, dissolving Narcissa's marriage to Lucius will make Narcissa a Black and cast Lucius out of the family because he swore service to Voldemort. That, in effect, will also make their son a nameless bastard.'

Harry's eyes widened. 'So, Lucius will be a squib and…does that mean…Draco…'

'Exactly. That's exactly what Lucius will be. As for Draco, well, you can forget "Draco Malfoy" ever existed,' Sirius said with an evil cackle. 'He'll be known from then on as just "Draco", or "Draco the Nameless", or "Draco No-Name". For someone like him, that would be a punishment worse than death.'

Harry could not help but burst out laughing. Hermione, too, was having trouble controlling her giggles.

'Oh, Padfoot,' Harry said through guffaws, 'The son of Prongs bows to you.'

'The humility your father lacked,' Sirius ribbed. 'I need to make a visit to Gringotts soon. By next week, I promise you, Lucius will be powerless, knutless squib who had been publicly outed as a former Death Eater, while Draco will be a bastard son of a Death Eater with no future.'

'Speaking of Gringotts,' Harry said, controlling his laughter for a moment. 'Hermione and I received a summons this morning from the Chief Goblin to look over the Potter accounts. We made an appointment for Saturday. Would you be able to go with me?'

Sirius's eyes bulged. 'The Ch-Chief Goblin?'

Harry nodded. 'We met with Chief Ragnok over the Horcrux business, and he was the one who let me see my parents' will.'

'The Chief Goblin almost never meets with wizards,' Sirius told him, awed. 'For him to do so…it must be important. I'll go with you, of course. But make sure to ask the Chief first in writing. To just "show up" is horribly bad etiquette that could have lethal consequences.'

'I've already written to him this morning.'

'Good. Then I'll schedule my visit to Gringotts on Saturday as well. Oh, bloody hell. This is going to be the ultimate prank!'

A/N: I hope I don't need to explain why Harry and Hermione choose to trust Sirius and Remus.

Now, the 'seventh Horcrux' realization. I think it's plausible that Harry and Hermione would have enough faith in Dumbledore to accept his word of 'six Horcruxes' as fact if they never found out anything to the contrary. They trusted Dumbledore's word without question in the 'old timeline' (Remember how they went on a year-long scavenger hunt with the only clues being his word?). Since I set up the Soul Return Ritual as an alternate explanation, I feel that they would be more inclined to believe that Voldemort used some sort of advanced Dark Magic to return, rather than that Dumbledore kept something critical from them, even if that explanation of the ritual return does not check all the boxes. Now that they're thinking about the Horcruxes again and questioning Dumbledore as well, it makes sense that they would figure this out.

I'm going to get rid of Lucius here. I frankly hate Lucius. This will also set up a Malfoys subplot that becomes important later. I think it makes enough sense. The Blacks are a pretty dark family and they would demand vows like that upon marriage. The reason this was not done in the old timeline, obviously, is that Sirius, as a wanted criminal, could not simply walk into Gringotts and make someone a squib.

If you have any constructive advice or criticism on how the plot and writing is going, you're welcome to leave a comment. If you think the following: that what I'm writing is absolutely ridiculous and you can do so much better, that I'm a piss poor writer solely because I chose to write alternate, less flattering depictions of Ron and Dumbledore, or that I'm doing all the fanon concepts totally wrong, then there's always that 'X' on the top right of your screen (Windows) or that red dot on the top left of your screen (Mac).

An update on the state of the story: today I reached Chapter 40 and have around 200,000 words written. The narrative currently stands at the beginning of fifth year and the setup to the finale. The story should be at most 55-60 chapters long. I anticipate completion by the end of October. 1-2 chapters a week until then. After completion, the update schedule may change depending on the IRL situation.