Harry called her name from across the Leaky Cauldron and she jerked around in surprise. Harry had arrived through the door to muggle London and he was trailed by a balding, ginger man with a large nose and lots of freckles. Beside her, Theo muttered a curse and she saw Lord Nott tense.

'You didn't tell me that the two of you were at odds.' Hermione accused under her breath.

'He was going to come alone, through the floo.' Theo said defensively.

'Well be civil. He is not an enemy of my cause and I will not have you make him one.'

'He's useless. A muggle loving modernist.' Thoros Nott grumbled.

'He might be, but some of his children are powerful and intelligent. I will not have you force a choice before I have made sure I will be their choice.' Snapped the High Priestess. Then she was forced into a silent hope that Lord Nott planned to follow her instructions because Harry and Mr. Weasley were upon them.

'Heir Potter.' Theo greeted before either of the adults had a chance to speak. His father glared at him for daring to speak before his superiors, but Hermione was glad that he had chosen to set the tone. 'You remember my father, Lord Nott.'

'Lord Nott.' Harry bowed, 'Lady Hermione. Mr Weasley, may I present the Lady Hermione of Gorlois, ward of House Grindelwald.' Mr Weasley started, his brows drawing together in a combination of concern and confusion. 'Lady Hermione, may I present Mr. Weasley, patriarch of House Weasley.'

Hermione dipped her head, then waited pointedly for a bow. Unsurprisingly none came and Lord Nott let out a huff as if his expectations had been met.

'Er... Hermione. Ron's told me all about you of course. Muggle parents, was it?'

'Yes.' Hermione replied cooly.

'Right. Grindelwald. Any relation to Gellert Grindelwald?'

Theo sighed heavily behind her and she heard Lord Nott's gloves creak as he fisted his hands.

'My brother.' She said tersely. Then, in a show of disrespect as blatant as that which Mr. Weasley had shown her, she turned to Harry. 'We should be getting along. We're meeting Madam Bones at Fortescue's in less than fifteen minutes. Do you have the papers that the goblins sent?'

'In here.' Mr Weasley brandished a battered briefcase and Hermione strongly fought the urge to sigh.

Lord Nott offered his arm to Hermione immediately and pointedly and she took it without hesitation, allowing the elderly wizard to lead her to the back of the shop. He opened the archway for them, and Hermione hurried through.

Fortescue's was an odd place for a formal meeting, but they had selected it carefully because this was meant to be Harry's meeting, and they thought it would be better if he distanced himself from pureblood culture considering its association with the dark bloc. Lord Nott certainly looked out of place, eating violently purple ice cream from a plain china bowl beneath the rainbow umbrella.

Hermione got herself a bowl with simple vanilla whilst Theo manipulated Harry into taking pistachio when the adventurous boy clearly wanted to try one of the more exotic flavours.

Madam Bones arrived precisely on time and she spotted them immediately - perhaps Harry's hair, or perhaps she'd known that Harry was staying with the Weasleys. She paused briefly to get a vanilla ice cream from the counter, then joined them at the table. They all stood to greet her, including Mr. Weasley.

'Madam Bones, you have perhaps met my son; Heir Nott in passing. His friends are Lady Hermione of Gorlois and Heir Potter.'

'A pleasure.' Madam Bones did not curtesy or bow, but as they were meeting with her in her capacity as head of the department of law enforcement, the nod of her head was enough. They all sat down again, and exchanged a set of more genuine pleasantries. As was always the case, Lord Nott seemed to be slightly frosty, but Hermione was pretty certain that he was like that with everyone he didn't know. They spoke about their summers whilst they finished their ice creams, then when they were all done, the conversation turned more serious.

'Now, you wanted to visit Sirius Black.' Madam Bones. 'I mentioned in my letter, but it does bear repeating. Black has been in Azkaban for a very long time and his sanity is likely to be questionable.'

'I understand, but I feel like speaking to him is important.' Harry said. Hermione smiled proudly at him. Madam bones lifted her shoulders slightly, then reached down to pull a small stack of papers from her briefcase.

'Now, this would be significantly easier if you hadn't just been cautioned for a breach in the Restriction of Underage Sorcery.' Madam bones raised an eyebrow and Hermione whipped around to Harry.

'What?' She demanded. 'What did you do?'

'Nothing!' The Boy-Who-Lived groaned. 'It was a house elf.'

'A house elf?' Lord Nott had sat up and was now leaning forwards with his elbows on the table. 'Whose? Not one of mine and I suspect the Weasley doesn't have one.'

'I don't know. It's been keeping my letters from me all summer to try and stop me going back to Hogwarts, then when that didn't work it tried to get me expelled.'

'What on earth for?' Madam Bones huffed.

'It just said that terrible things would happen.'

'I'll have my lawyer make contact on Mr. Potter's behalf, Madam Bones. I'm sure the caution can be waived - the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures will be able to use the elf's name to find it's owner, then it would just be a matter of asking it.' Lord Nott sat back in his brightly coloured chair with an expression of satisfaction.

'Certainly. For now, however, we must jump through the hoops as if the caution exists. Now, the Ministry had Black recorded as your magical guardian, which is an easier route to go through than the Locum Patriarch. I just need to see your identity papers.'

'Ah yes, right here.' Mr Weasley disappeared under the table and they heard him rummaging around in his case. A moment later he emerged with Harry's papers, which had become crumpled at one corner. Madam Bones looked them over, copying several details across to another form then she handed them back to him.

'Just read through these - Lady Gorlois, Mr. Potter said that he would be using your seal. There's this here to fill in for that. Do you need wax?'

Hermione accepted the wax and remembered only at the last moment that she shouldn't light it with magic right in front of the head of law enforcement. Lord Nott did it for her with a tap of his long, slender wand and a moment later a purple grim filled the spot on the parchment. She passed it to Harry to sign, then she picked up the liability waivers that they would need to sign against the effect of the dementors.

'Will Mr. Weasley be your accompanying adult?' Madam Bones asked and Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to agree, but Hermione got there first.

'No, Lord Nott will accompany us.' Her tone was uncompromising and although Harry agreed quickly, Mr Weasley puffed his chest up in outrage.

'I think you've made enough decisions for Harry already. Really, Albus Dumbledore should be involved in this - he's been acting as Harry's magical guardian since Black's arrest.'

'Acting, Weasley, acting. Dumbledore was not assigned, not requested to fulfil the role by the Potters. Until proper channels are followed, unless Mr. Potter requests Dumbledore to represent him, the Headmaster is just that - his headmaster.' Lord Nott drawled.

'Lord Nott is correct. You may, of course, request that Professor Dumbledore accompanies you but he has no legal control over you.'

'No, its okay. Lord Nott can accompany me... I mean, Hermione's.. er Lady Hermione's got to come, so it makes sense seeing as he knows both of us.' Harry said awkwardly. Mr Weasley grumbled and glowered at the three Slytherins but said nothing further.

'Yes, that is the next difficulty of course. Lady Hermione's magical guardian will need to give permission for her to visit; that means we will need to have Grindelwald sign. Do you know if he will? Communication with Nurmengard is difficult at best, and I do not want to attempt it if he is unlikely to be cooperative.'

'Oh, he will be.' Hermione said darkly. Madam Bones looked at her for a long moment with her lips pursed, then shrugged and moved on to how the application would proceed. The process would take a while, but once they were approved subsequent visits - and here Madam Bones sounded highly sceptical - would be significantly easier.

Once they were done with the paperwork, there was very little reason for the party to remain. Madam Bones left, then Harry made the wise decision to leave with Mr. Weasley as quickly as possible; the tension that brewed between him and Lord Nott seemed ready to erupt into a fight at the slightest provocation.

She waved at Harry as he disappeared through the archway to muggle London, then after enough time had passed that they could be certain they were gone, Hermione and the Notts followed.