That Saturday found Harry and Ron lounging by the Lake enjoying one of the last sunny days of the year, while Hermione was in the library doing some homework. Her priorities may have been different this year, that didn't mean she was going to neglect school entirely.
'Ron, what do you know about being a Head of House in the wizarding world?' Harry asked as he threw a stone across the water's surface.
'Umm, not a lot I suppose, I know Dad is the Head of House Weasley, but he doesn't make a big deal about it. I know there are certain responsibilities he has, but Bill is the one who will take over for him when he dies, so he has never really spoken to me about it. Even when I have my own family, Bill will still be Head of House Weasley, and then his eldest and so on. Why's that?' Ron replied, sorting through some stones on the ground to find one smooth enough to skim.
'Well, Dumbledore mentioned that Sirius had made me Head of House Black, but he didn't explain what that meant. When I asked, he just said I didn't need to worry about it now. You know him, always holding information from me. He didn't even let me see Sirius' will.' Harry said bitterly and simply just threw a bigger stone straight into the water to create a big splash.
'I'm sorry Harry. Show's how much Sirius loved you though, I'm sure to him it was a big deal to give it to you. I know he talked about hating his family a lot, but the Black's have always been very traditional, it's a big honour that he gave it to you.' Ron replied, trying to give his mate some comfort.
'But that's the point Ron, I didn't know that. And the one who should tell about it, won't tell me.' He replied, more angry now, and shot a blasting curse at the water.
'Well I guess you could write to my dad and ask? I'm sure he would explain it to you. Or Bill, he wouldn't mind chatting with you. Plus you could always write to Gringotts. If you truly are the Head of House Black then they would have to show you Sirius' will.' Ron said, trying to calm him.
Harry sighed heavily, 'Thanks Ron, that's a great idea. I'll have a think about writing your dad. I respect him, but I don't want him to tell Dumbledore that I asked.' He said, looking at his mate apologetically.
'Yeah that's fair enough.' Ron responded with a shrug. 'What about Remus?
'He's loyal to Dumbledore… although, he is very loyal to my Dad and Sirius. I guess I could get him to promise to the marauders that he won't tell Dumbledore. Yeah maybe I'll do that. I'll get him to come meet me one Hogsmeade weekend and I'll ask him. Thanks Ron.' Harry said, a small sense of hope that Remus could finally help him out.
'Course mate! I'll always have your back, you know that.' Ron said grinning.
'I know. Thanks mate.' And the two went back to skimming rocks across the water.
Harry was glad that he and Ron could still have moments like this. Despite the ministry, Ron seemed to be just carrying on as usual. Hermione and Harry had really changed their focus this year, but Ron was as Ron as ever and it brought a sense of peace to Harry. To know that some things and some people will never change and life can continue.
He had given Harry good ideas today about things he just really hadn't had time to focus on. It had been a whirlwind of a first few weeks at school and considering the strange situation he found himself in, some important things that needed to be done had slipped his mind.
Once they had grown tired of laying by the lake, Harry went to his dorm and wrote two letters. One to Gringotts inquiring about Sirius' will and one to Remus, asking him to meet at the next Hogsmeade weekend in the Hog's head.
When he got to the owlery he found he wasn't alone. Parkinson was there strapping a letter to a regal looking tawny owl.
'Parkinson.' Harry offered in a way of getting.
She turned sharply, clearly surprised by his presence, but quickly recovered herself.
'Potter.'
'Who are you writing to?' Harry asked in way of being polite.
'None of your business Potter, would you tell me who you are writing to?' she challenged. One hand on her hip and one eyebrow raised. Harry briefly wondered why she always wore robes, even on the weekend, but he guessed almost all purebloods did. Very few students wore Muggle clothing, mostly the muggle borns and half bloods who had some connection to the Muggle world.
He didn't know why, but he decided to be honest with her.
'One letter is to Gringotts to ask for Sirius' will. Dumbledore hasn't shown it to me. And the second is to Remus Lupin, to ask about being Head of House Black' He told her as he held up both letters for her to see. 'If I am to honour my vow to offer sanctuary to Mrs Malfoy, I should know all I need to know, don't you think?' He walked over to Hedwig and tied the two letters to her leg, she was smart enough to deliver them both. He knew that.
Pansy blinked in surprise a few times at how honest he had been. Why was he telling her this? Sure, it wasn't the most secretive thing he could have told her, but still, he could have just agreed it was none of her business. A part of her was glad he was taking his role in saving Draco's mother so seriously, while another was angry that he didn't already have that information.
'Surely you already know about being a Head of House? I mean, you are also Head of House Potter. I'm sure Dumbledore or someone had already trained you for your responsibilities?' She said irritably.
Harry looked furious at her comment, at first she thought he was angry at her, but his next words made her realise his anger was somewhere else entirely.
'Fucking old man! Why doesn't he tell me this shit!' He yelled, causing more than a few owls to look at him in irritation. 'No Parkinson, no-one has told me anything. When I entered this world at 11 all I got told was that magic is real and that I was famous for defeating some Dark Lord as a baby while my parents died. That's it. I'm starting to find out that so much has been hidden from me.' He ground out, staring at the open sky beyond the owlery.
The fury in his face was something else, but it began to make sense to Pansy. They had all heard the rumours that he had been raised by muggles. But they had all assumed that even if that was the case, he would have been receiving training and lessons before he arrived. Given how much Dumbledore and McGonagall loved him, they assumed that they had been teaching him. But to find out the boy-who-lived didn't know about magic until he was 11… well that was unacceptable. She realised he was just as ignorant as Granger, but possibly not completely by choice.
Her next words were chosen carefully, 'Potter. If you need, during our training on Tuesday you can ask some questions about being a Head of House. I need you to be able to save Draco's mother, so if that means I have to explain some wizarding world culture to you, then so be it.' She told him, cautious over her words.
'Thank you Parkinson, I might just take you up on it.' he replied, anger still coursing through his body, though surprised at the offer the pretty Slytherin had made him.
Pansy just smirked at him, the irony of him now being the one thanking her after what happened on Thursday sat quite well with her.
When he noticed her smirk it seemed he finally realised what he did and the anger left him. He looked a little embarrassed and offered a lopsided grin, which she found frustratingly attractive, and a shrug of his shoulders, before turning and leaving.
As he descended the steps he thought he heard a little laughter coming from the owlery. It didn't sound horrible, he thought.
-break-
It was Monday over breakfast when Harry received his first reply, this was from Gringotts. He guessed that bankers were always efficient.
'Is that the will?' Hermione asked softly as she just watched Harry stare at the envelope. Ron lifted his head from his plate and watched Harry nod slowly.
'We've all got a free period this morning. Why don't we go to the Room and open it together there?' Ron offered.
'Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks Ron.' Harry replied with a small smile while he pocketed the letter.
'When do you think you'll hear from Remus?' Hermione asked.
'I'm not sure. He might be on a mission for the Order at the moment. I'm hoping he lets me know soon so we can meet.'
Hermione and Harry had managed to discuss this plan and agreed that if Remus was available they would need to meet early on the Saturday so that they had plenty of time to be at The Three Broomsticks at 1pm. They had discussed meeting on Sunday, but after the 'attack' they doubted the Sunday session to Hogsmeade would go ahead.
Once breakfast was done the trio made their way up to the seventh floor and settled into a close replica of the Gryffindor common room and together they read the letter and will attached.
Dear Mr Potter,
We at Gringotts are pleased to have received your letter. Firstly, let it be made clear, Gringotts was under the impression that you had already read the Will of the late Sirius Black by your former magical guardian. He made it clear that due to recent circumstances it was not in your best interest to be seen out and about in Diagon Alley and he would provide you with a copy of the will. Obviously this has not happened and so we at Gringotts take full responsibility for the error. It is not our usual practice but due to do who your magical guardian was, we allowed it to take place. This will not happen again, we can assure you. Secondly, when convenient we would like to ask you to come to Gringotts to discuss your various accounts and responsibilities now that you are the Head of two Houses. Considering the wording in your letter, Gringotts is assuming that you may have more questions for us.
Attached is the Will you asked for.
May the blood of your enemies flow ever on.
Signed Bloodclaw, account manager of the Black family.
'Blimey Harry! That's!'
'That's bullshit is what it is Ron.' Hermione growled.
'He lied. He bloody lied again. I'm sick of him deciding what is best for my life. If he thinks I'm just going to sit around and let him dictate my life anymore he's got another thing coming.'
Harry felt the hands of his two friends on his shoulders showing their solidarity.
'Let's look at the will Harry, let's see what Sirius had to say, there might be more you need to know.' Hermione suggested, taking the first letter from his hand.
Harry nodded and picked it up.
What follows is the final Will and Testament of one Sirius Black, Head of House Black, Marauder.
Harry, I write this will to you and for you. It pains me more than I can express how little I have been able to be involved in your life. I feel as though I have failed you over and over. My hope is that this will is unnecessary, that we will both live long lives together and get the chance to be like a father and son to each other, however with Voldemort back I fear that won't be the case.
I write this will then to try and make amends for not being who you needed me to be, and to give you the tools to defeat that bastard once and for all.
Firstly, I name you my heir, my successor at the Head of House Black and all the responsibilities that may hold. My plan is to teach you about this over the summer between your sixth year. If for some reason this is not able to take place, then I am sorry. Ask Remus, he can tell you.
Secondly, if you are not yet of age, then I declare you emancipated. You are now an adult in the eyes of both Goblin and Wizarding law. I know Dumbledore made himself your temporary magical guardian while I was in Azkaban, but it was only ever temporary and his legal control only went so far. It is within my power to emancipate you and so I gift it to you.
Thirdly, I gift you all the wealth and properties of the Black Family, including all debts owed and promises made, and all those under its employ.
Finally, know that I love you Harry. More than anything in this whole world. It was the knowledge that you lived that kept me sane in Azkaban. I may have failed you many times, but I want you to know that I have always loved you.
My last wish for you is that you can find some joy in your life. Kiss some girls, get into some trouble with McGonagall, annoy Snape, piss off Dumbledore and one day settle down with a nice girl and have a bunch of kids. But you have to name one Sirius.
I love you Pup.
Tears were falling down both Harry and Hermione's faces while Ron had one strong arm around his best mate.
'Why wouldn't he want you to know any of that? It's not really that drastic is it?' Ron said in confusion.
'The Dursleys.' Harry said simply. 'Every year I ask to go somewhere else, and every year he makes me go back to the Dursleys and every year I ask him not to. If Sirius has emancipated me then there is nothing Dumbledore can do. I can go and live wherever I want and there is nothing he can do to stop me. Obviously he didn't want me to know this. He's so fixated on me being at the Dursleys it seems he will do whatever he can to keep me there.' Harry said, anger beginning to grow beneath the tears.
'So what are you going to do?' Hermione asked.
'Use it. Tell him. I know he's keeping more from me and now I have more information than he thinks I do. I'll demand he listens to me and tells me everything.' He said firmly, his anger helping to form a plan in his head.
-break-
He received Remus' reply the following morning and he agreed to meet Harry at 10am in the Hogs Head at the next Hogsmeade weekend. Buoyed by this knowledge the next few weeks before leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend went by quite quickly.
The four secret allies kept meeting each Tuesday and Thursday working diligently on all areas of magic they deemed necessary and it was starting to show some real improvements. It was obvious to all, Snape included, that these four were the best students at silent casting in the whole year group. Considering Hermione, Pansy and Draco were at the top of the year and Harry was always the best at Defence, it didn't raise any suspicions.
Draco had asked about how Harry was going to save his mother, but Harry explained that he was meeting with a contact over the Hogsmeade weekend and he would have more information then. For now, he wanted to focus on getting better at his magic and getting through the fake attempt on Dumbledore before they put another plan into action.
Draco wasn't completely happy about this, but agreed to wait. There probably wasn't anything they could do right now anyway. Pansy hadn't brought up her offer to Harry about teaching him about Head of House duties, she would let him take the lead on it. She wasn't totally surprised when he never brought it up. For Harry, he just didn't feel comfortable going to her to talk about anything really. She may have taken the vow, but that didn't mean he trusted her. He had much more of a relationship with Remus and felt more comfortable talking to him about it.
Dumbledore was still MIA, which was probably not the worst thing for Harry. His anger at reading the will had been extreme and if Dumbledore had been around, Hermione and Ron were sure he would have destroyed his office again, or anything in close enough range to him. He had received word that he would have a meeting with the old wizard on the Monday after Hogsmeade. By now Harry had calmed and decided that while Dumbledore was still going to get an earful from him, he wouldn't lose his temper.
As the Hogsmeade weekend got closer, Hermione's warning about girls being more interested in him started to come true. He had been asked to accompany no less than 12 girls to Hogsmeade, the first time he had been asked was by a fourth year Ravenclaw he had never seen before and he had been left speechless. It had been right in front almost the whole sixth year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class. It was horribly embarrassing and he had no idea how she had that much confidence. Hermione took pity on him and told the girl he had plans already and led him away, laughter following him from all his year mates. There had been girls from all year levels since then, some pretty, some not, but he followed Hermione's lead and just told them he had plans. The most overt gesture had been from Romilda Vane. She had all but crawled into his lap in the common room to ask him out and he had jumped up, so surprised, that he had knocked her off onto the floor. This didn't seem to phase her, and despite telling her he had plans, she batted her eyelids at him and walked as seductively as she could back to her friends. Really it was quite pitiful to watch. Ginny had tried to be more casual in her attempt, asking if they were all going as a DA group, but again he explained he had some more personal plans and left her looking as disappointed as she always did when he deflected her attempts.
Hermione had been much amused by watching all of these attempts and her and Ron often gave Harry a hard time about them whenever he looked a little down. She and Harry had had some small disagreements about him continuing to use the potions book Harry had found in Slughorn's classroom, but in the end, it was helping him become a better potionier and so she couldn't stay too mad about it. When he first told her that there were spells in the book and he wanted to try them she wanted to slap him for being such an idiot, but considering what they were already doing in the Room of requirement twice a week and many of the spells they had started to use were pretty grey in nature that adding some spells from the so called Half Blood Prince's book wasn't so bad after all. Besides, they could try the spells on the dummies and see their effect before ever having to try them on a person.
It had been during one of their Tuesday sessions when Hermione had finally brought up something with Malfoy that had been bothering her.
'Malfoy?' Hermione began gently, slightly unsure of herself.
'What is it Granger?' Draco huffed irritably.
'Well for the past few weeks we have been coming up with our lists of spells to learn, and well, it seems that we are often doubling up on spells which is making our lists not only longer than they need to be, but we have too much parchment at the moment. It's going to be ineffective for us to work through them in this state.' Her confidence in her voice and her idea growing with each word she said.
Draco sighed at her and she thought he was going to say no, but he closed his book and pinched his nose. 'Reluctantly Granger, I have been thinking the same thing. It would be much more efficient if we combined our efforts and even spent some time practicing our silent casting on them so we can teach Pansy and Potter on Thursdays.'
Despite his clear reticence to work with her, Hermione was pleased that he had agreed to her idea, and so from that Tuesday on the two of them worked through one book at a time together and debated the necessity and ethics of many of the spells. What surprised both of them, was that the other was quite reasonable and logical when it came to studying. If one or the other disagreed on including a spell, the other would present a logical argument to their case. If it held sway the other was mostly convinced to allow the spell in. Neither would admit it, but having someone as equally invested in studying and having similar methods of deduction was quite refreshing.
The Slytherin Common Room had been an interesting place to be a part of for during the first part of the new school year. There were many who were now openly showing their support for the Dark Lord. Despite Draco's new, more reserved attitude, all knew, or at least suspected, that he had taken the mark and so he was left alone. The only one who ever made any snide remarks was Blaise, but Draco mostly ignored him. It was clear however that loyalties were changing amongst the sixth year boys. Due to Malfoy being more secretive and going off with Pansy to work on, who knew what, Crabbe and Goyle had been drawn in by Theo, whom they now followed everywhere, only confirming to both Draco and Pansy that Theo was the most likely candidate for Draco's replacement by the Dark Lord.
The mood within the girls dorm was slightly different. No one had made any overt signals as to where their loyalties lay. There had never been as much of a hierarchy in the girls 6th year dorm as there had been in the boys, apart from Millie of course. She had followed Pansy everywhere for the last five years and now that she had separated herself off with Draco she was lost and had taken to following Tracey and Daphne around. Pansy had always hated Daphne, but due to their family social situations she was forced to be polite. Pansy knew that people thought she was a stuck up bitch, but Daphne was just less obvious about it. That girl had a sharp tongue and cutting wit that often caused many girls to run crying to the bathroom.