ENC is stalled at the moment because I got halfway through the next chapter but can't sort out how I want to present it…. So I've been reading others' stories while ruminating about what to write…
In the meantime, here is shortish diversion based on an idea that I don't see fitting into any of my existing stories. If Dame Albus (think Dame Edna Everage with a beard), the Fudge Packer and the rest of the stupid Sheeple of Magical Britain want to use whatever laws they can find to force Harry to do what they want, what's good for the goose is good for the gander….
When Harry's name inevitably comes out of the Goblet of Fire, his true friends decide that it's time for him to start standing up for himself, so they drag Harry off to fill him in on the facts of life in Magical Britain….
And what do you know, apparently Harry and Hermione's self appointed 'Magical Guardian' has locked them both into betrothal contracts that will force them to marry Gin Gin and Won Won as soon as the youngest party is legally of age or the bride-to-be is pregnant, giving total control of their fortunes to their in-laws, but it turns out that pregnancies aren't the only legally accepted and binding reason to get married under the age of consent in Magical Britain and they're going to use whatever loopholes they can find to take back control of their lives.
JKR and her publishers retain all rights to characters etc from the Harry Potter 'verse.
The applause trebled as Cedric Diggory joined Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum at the front of the Great Hall, but just as the champions and officials were turning to head into the chamber behind the High Table for the briefing about the First Task, the Goblet of Fire flared up again, spitting out another piece of parchment. The smug satisfaction on Dumbledore's face as he read the name on the slip was obvious to anyone looking for it, as was the anger and sense of betrayal showing on Harry's face when the old bastard called out. "Harry Potter?"
Hermione leaned in and whispered. "You didn't put your name in, did you?"
When he went to respond angrily she stopped him. "No Harry, I wasn't doubting you, just clarifying that you didn't! Do you trust me?"
Harry nodded emphatically. "Always!"
"Thank you. Now you need to make sure everyone else gets the message that you didn't enter yourself. Stand up and cast a Sonorous on yourself and then turn this back on Professor Dumbledore, asking what happened to him making sure that no underage students could be entered and saying that you never wanted to have any part of the Tournament. Swear on your magic that you didn't put your name in to compete in the Tournament, or ask or agree to anyone else entering your name for you, then cast something impressive enough to prove beyond all doubt to those idiots that you still have your magic."
"When he comes back and says that you have to compete because your name came out, ask him if he is officially telling you that you are being required to take part in this Tournament that we were all told was officially restricted to of age students only. He's bound to say 'Yes', so put him on the spot and ask him if he is saying that as Hogwarts' Headmaster or the Chief Warlock, or both. I'm sure he will be arrogant enough to say 'both', and when he does, specifically ask Minister Fudge, Director Crouch and Director Bagman whether they all agree that you have to compete in this Tournament for of age students only too. I'm banking on them all being stupid enough to say 'Yes', but we need them to actually come out and say that in front of everyone for this to work. I'll be waiting for you just outside the Great Hall when you finish because we need to talk to some friends about this straight away…. Do you understand Harry?"
Harry nodded again, whispering. "I'm totally screwed, aren't I?"
"I'm hoping that we can use this to help you take control of your life, but this Tournament is going to be very dangerous for you so we need to do whatever we can to stack the deck in your favour. Are you okay with doing this?"
Harry nodded and stood up to do exactly what she told him, because at that point Hermione was the only one he trusted. His standing up cut off Dumbledore's ever louder calls for him, and most of the shouting and catcalls stopped when they saw the flash as Harry's oath was magically accepted and then he sent his Patronus charging straight at Dumbledore and the other officials.
That threw Dumbledore, Fudge, Crouch and Bagman off their games enough to ensure that they didn't stop to think before they all stated that it didn't matter whether he'd entered himself or not, his name came out so he had to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, which was officially restricted to of-age competitors only, or he'd lose his magic.
Hermione hugged him and told him that she'd be waiting right outside when he finished with the Tournament officials, and she'd do everything she could for him.
When Harry shuffled out of the Great Hall nearly an hour later, Hermione grabbed his hand and quickly dragged him off into a disused classroom before Dumbledore or anyone else could waylay him. Harry was confused when he was introduced to the ones waiting in the room… He could sort of understand Neville Longbottom being there, because he shared a dorm room with Nev and they were friendly enough, but he'd hardly spoken to Susan Bones from Hufflepuff, had never spoken to the Greengrass twins, Daphne and Astoria, from Slytherin before this and didn't know Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw from the year below them, at all…. Where were Ron, Dean, Seamus, and everyone else from Gryffindor?
As Hermione started to explain, the betrayal he'd felt when the Headmaster called out his name was forgotten, because that was nothing compared to what his best friend was now telling him.
Hermione told him that after Dumbledore told them about the Tournament, she'd gone to the library to try and find out more about it, but nearly all of the books that contained any mention of the Triwizard Tournament had been removed from the library. Luna had found her when she was getting frustrated about this and told her where she could find the few books that they'd missed removing, and after she'd seen what a horrible thing the Tournament was, Luna explained why she'd come to her.
Luna wasn't a Seer per se, but she had the ability to see and communicate with magical creatures, beings and entities that no-one else she knew of could even see, and Magic herself was angry about what Albus Percival Dumbledore was trying to do to Harry, and to a lesser degree Hermione and others.
After Albus Percival defeated his lover Gellert Grindelwald by trickery in 1945 and used the acclaim he gained from that to take over as Hogwarts' Headmaster, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot of Magical Britain and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, he'd used the power of the Elder Wand that he took from Gellert and the authority granted to Hogwarts' Headmaster to form a parasitic feed from the power of the wards of Hogwarts to further strengthen any enchantments he cast. This was how he'd forcibly bound the Phoenix Fawkes to him with a forbidden blood curse and cast far reaching compulsions to ensure that everyone perceived him as the Leader of the Light. His plan to wipe out most of his opposition by using Tom Riddle and his minions to eradicate the powerful Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Black, Longbottom and Bones had failed because the attacks on the House of Bones had left both its infant Heiress and a strong Regent alive... Tom (AKA Lord Voldemort) was somehow destroyed when he attacked the Potters, leaving Harry Potter alive... And Bellatrix Lestrange née Black and her husband and brother-in-law were defeated and captured in her failed attack on the Longbottoms, leaving the infant Heir and Dowager Lady Longbottom alive and Lord and Lady Longbottom alive but incapacitated, which prevented her going on to kill the Lord and Head of the House of Black as ordered.
Albus Percival had been forced to hastily cast a modified form of the Fidelius Charm to make everyone forget about their alliances with the Houses of Potter, Bones, Longbottom and Black and responsibilities towards their Heirs, and confounded the magic of the Wizengamot to make it accept the votes to seal the Potter wills and make him Harry Potter's legal Guardian in Magical Britain until he was of age. With the Fidelius, it was a simple thing to get Barty Crouch and Millie Bagnold to agree that Sirius Black's guilt was proven and get him sent to Azkaban for life before anyone had a chance to question him and find out anything that would refute the official story. The oaths of alliance between the Most Ancient Families had proven a problem though, because they were strong enough to start breaking down the Fidelius after a few years, making it necessary to reapply it every few years. Unfortunately for Albus Percival, having Harry and Sirius become more noticeable when Sirius broke out of Azkaban, supposedly to come after Harry, had triggered the oaths of alliance and they were overcoming the Fidelius for the Heirs of the great Houses, along with those who had enough strength of mind and personal loyalty to Harry Potter to fight the Fidelius.
Daphne Greengrass stepped in at that point to explain that her and Astoria and Luna's mothers had been Harry's Mum's best friends up until she died, so they'd all grown up hearing stories about Lily Potter née Evans for most of their lives… And it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that Hermione wouldn't hesitate to take on the Gods themselves for him.
Hermione blushed with pleased embarrassment at that as Luna spoke up. "Why didn't you tell him about our betrothals Daphne?"
She turned to Harry. "Hello Harry Potter, what Daphne didn't tell you for some reason is that your father was compelled by Albus Percival Dumbledore to betroth you to Ginevra Molly Weasley, one of his follower's children, before your first birthday. However the Potter Family Magic made your father change that betrothal into betrothals to Daphne, Astoria and I before it was signed and sealed, because you have in fact inherited three separate family lines from your parents, Potter, Peverell and Rosier. On your next birthday after your parents were killed, Molly Muriel Weasley, Ginevra Molly's mother, wanted to know why she hadn't received the thousand Galleons that Albus Percival had promised would be transferred to her vault each year on your birthday, so he checked into the status of the betrothal and found out that it had never been enacted. To stop Molly Muriel making too much noise about that and giving his plans away, Albus Percival used the authority the Wizengamot had granted him as your guardian to create another betrothal contract between you and Ginevra Molly. Under this new betrothal agreement, a hundred Galleons is being transferred from your Trust vault to Molly Muriel's personal vault every month, and you will be required to marry Ginevra Molly and make her Lady Potter as soon as she reaches her legal majority or becomes pregnant. Once you are married, Molly Muriel will become your Regent, with total control over the Potter fortune, while Albus Percival continues to hold the voting proxies for the House of Potter."
"Your only way to get out of being forced to marry Ginevra Molly is to be in a binding marriage to someone else as Lord Potter before she reaches her legal majority or becomes pregnant, and they have already have their plan in place to use love, lust and fertility potions to ensure that you get Ginevra Molly pregnant straight away, just in case you don't live through the First Task of the Tournament, they were just waiting until you had become a champion in case taking away your free will interfered with that. Most people believe that the only legally acceptable and binding reason for getting married before both parties have reached their legal majority in Magical Britain is for the bride to be to be pregnant, but that is incorrect… You see a magically accepted Life Debt is even more binding than a pregnancy, and no one can overturn a marriage made on the basis of a magically accepted Life Debt. You are lucky that Albus Percival and Molly Muriel don't know about this, because Ginevra Molly owes you a Life Debt for saving her from Tom Marvolo Riddle at the end of May Nineteen Ninety Three and they would have found some way to use that to force a marriage with her if they'd known… However, what Albus Percival has been covering up for the last three years is that you have been owed another Life Debt since Samhain in Nineteen Ninety One, when you saved Hermione Jane from the Troll that had been let into the Castle. Hermione Jane owing a Life Debt to you is quite fortuitous actually, because not only do the two of you truly love each other, Albus Percival has used the fact that as Hogwarts' Headmaster, he is the default legal Guardian in Magical Britain for every Hogwarts student coming from outside Magical Britain, to lock Hermione Jane into a very similar betrothal contract with Ronald Bilius Weasley, which will force her to marry Ronald Bilius as soon as he reaches his legal majority or she becomes pregnant. Albus Percival did this because he discovered that Hermione Jane is the rightful Heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth Granger when her Hogwarts letter was generated by the Book of Names a month before she turned eleven. As an Ancient House with two Baronies and five Baronetcies, the House of Dagworth Granger represents a strong voting block in the Wizengamot, which Albus Percival will get the voting proxies for… But more to the point, it is an extremely wealthy House because her ancestor was a prominent and very successful Potions Master, so their plan is for Molly Muriel to become Hermione Jane's Regent and take control of the Dagworth Granger fortune as well when they marry."
"What Hermione Jean got you to do in the Great Hall made the Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot, the Minister for Magical and two Department Heads of the Ministry of Magic all officially acknowledge you as being accepted as legally of age in Magical Britain in front of hundreds of witnesses, including the heads and students of two of the biggest schools in Magical Europe, so you can now be formally accepted as Lord Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and Its Associated Houses and Clans in Magical Britain. You can then use the Life Debt that Hermione Jean owes you to legally marry her as Lord Potter, so that she will also be made legally of age as Lady Potter and can in turn take control of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth Granger and Its Associated Houses and Clans and the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw and Its Associated Houses and Clans as their Lady and Head of House in her own right. This will free both of you from being forced to marry those awful Weasley children and give up control of your Houses and fortunes…."
"However you need to do more than just marry Hermione Jane Harry Potter, because you also need to protect the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell and Its Associated Houses and Clans, which you also inherited Lordship of through your father, James Charlus Potter Peverell... The Most Noble and Ancient House of Rosier and Its Associated Houses and Clans, which you have inherited Lordship of through your mother, Lily Justina Potter née Evans, and the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Its Associated Houses and Clans, which you are Heir Presumptive to through both your Godfather and blood adopted father Lord Sirius Orion Black, and his Aunt, your Grandmother Dorea Potter née Black, because Sirius Orion remains in great danger from the machinations of Albus Percival and Lucius Nicholas Malfoy, and if they manage to kill him off before you have magically claimed your Black heritage, their plans are to compel the Wizengamot to push through the confirmation of Draco Lucius Malfoy as Lord Black..."
"Albus Percival is also currently trying to have a law passed to 'protect' endangered houses from dying out by having the Wizengamot enforce 'beneficial' betrothal contracts for any 'in danger' Heirs of powerful Houses who don't already have officially accepted betrothals or marriages in place... So we believe that the best way to protect your houses, and ours, is for you to get yourself magically accepted as Lord Potter, Lord Peverell, Lord Rosier and Heir Black as soon as possible and then use those titles to marry Hermione Jane as Lord Potter and magically accept the existing betrothal contracts with Daphne, Astoria and me for your other Houses. Susan Amelia and Neville Francis also have an unaccepted betrothal contract in place between them and the titles of Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Bones and Longbottom and Their Associated Houses and Clans have been vacant for thirteen years now, because Susan Amelia's parents were killed in June Nineteen Eighty One and Neville Francis' parents have been alive but incapacitated since Samhain Nineteen Eighty One, so they plan to come with us tonight to be magically accepted as the Heads of their Houses and magically accept their betrothal contract."
Harry was looking so overwhelmed by everything he'd been hit with that Neville had to laugh.
"Alright there Harry? Sorry Mate, I know it's a hell of a lot to have dumped on you all at once like this, but we haven't been able to get you away from Weasley to tell you anything... And from what Luna has told us, both Dumbledore and Snape use Legilimency to read the students' minds all the time, so they would have gotten this out of your head if you knew anything about it beforehand. They don't bother with the rest of us, but they watch you like a hawk all the time and if they'd gotten even a whiff of what we were planning they might have had a chance to get something in place to stop it… That's also why none of us have done anything about claiming our own titles or accepting our betrothals…"
"Hermione and Luna have been working their arses off to find a way to save you for most of the last two months, but they didn't clue Daphne, Astoria, Sue and me in until it was safe to do so. I'm sorry that we've all gone behind your back like this, but we and the Goblins agreed that the only way for you to break free of Dumbledore before what he has planned locks you into life as their pawn was to get the Ministry to officially declare you to be legally of age, and then take all the necessary steps to make that irrevocable…. But we really need to get to Gringotts right now to make everything magically and legally binding before they have a chance to do anything to stop us, are you willing to trust us enough to do that?"
Harry looked at Hermione, who was giving him a worried but hopeful look, and reached out to take her hand with a smile as he nodded. "Yeah Nev, I've been proven wrong just about every time I've ever doubted Hermione, and I've already told her tonight that I trust her completely, so let's get the hell out of here before Dumbledore or anyone else finds us."
Neville gave him a grateful, relieved nod and Daphne and Susan called for their families' Elves as Luna called for Dobby and Hermione called for Winky. When Dumbledore burst into the classroom ten minutes later, the room was empty.
The Elves delivered them straight to the Potter-Peverell-Rosier Account Manager's office at Gringotts. There were a thousand and one questions going through Harry's head but he had complete trust in Hermione and while his schoolwork to date may have been decidedly sub par, he was in fact way smarter than the average bear, so he put those questions aside and as soon as Dobby and Winky had collected Harry's Godfather Sirius, along with their cousin Andromeda Tonks née Black, her husband Edward Tonks and daughter Nymphadora Tonks, and the Black Account Manager joined them… Went through the process of being magically accepted as Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter and Peverell and Their Associated Houses and Clans by Right of Blood... Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Rosier and Its Associated Houses and Clans by Right of Blood… Heir Presumptive to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Its Associated Houses and Clans By Right of Blood… Lord and Head of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Gryffindor and Emrys and Their Associated Houses and Clans by Right of Blood and, strangely, Lord and Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin and Its Associated Houses and Clans by Right of Conquest and Blood. That was a head trip, so they delayed the proceedings long enough to have it determined that the 'Right of Conquest' was due to his defeating the last claimant by Blood to the title of Heir of Slytherin, Tom Marvolo Riddle, thrice (in 1981, 1992 and 1993), and 'Right of Blood' came from the House of Slytherin being created as a cadet line of the House of Peverell due to Salazar Slytherin being recognised as one of Hogwarts' Founders.
Sirius was magically accepted as Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Its Associated Houses and Clans. He then immediately called for the dissolution of the marriages of Bellatrix Lestrange née Black and Narcissa Malfoy née Black, citing that they and their husbands had shamed the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by allowing themselves to be made slaves of Tom Marvolo Riddle, the illegitimate son of the Squib Merope Gaunt and the common Muggle Tom Riddle, who had falsely styled himself as the Pureblood Lord Voldemort, calling for all titles, holdings, monies and belongings gifted to them as dowries or otherwise and any and all monies earned from these gifts to be reclaimed by the House of Black before casting them both from the House of Black and banning them and any and all offspring they may bear from ever having any connection of any kind with the House of Black.
He quickly followed this by bringing both Andromeda (Andie) and her daughter Nymphadora (Dora) back into the House of Black as favoured daughters of the House of Black and allocating the Black Baronies and dowries reclaimed from Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange to them, thereby elevating the Most Ancient Minor House of Huskarl to a quite wealthy Noble and Most Ancient House. (Andie's supposedly Muggleborn husband Edward (Ted) had had the official inheritance tests done when they both became part of a legal firm that operated in the Wizarding World as well as the Mundane World. Ted had been hoping against hope to discover that he was in line to inherit one of the many dormant Minor Houses, because that would have opened many doors for him and Andie and saved them the time and effort of working their arses off for years, trying to save up enough to purchase a Baronetcy… As only those who hold at least a Hereditary Knighthood or their official Consorts or Primary Heirs were eligible to become Wizengamot Members and take an active role in legal or other proceedings in the Wizengamot... The Tonks Family turning out to be a Most Ancient Minor House and Clan increased their standing in the Wizengamot and helped accelerate Ted and Andie's rise to partners in the legal firm.) Then Sirius abdicated in Harry's favour, because twelve years in Azkaban had effectively put paid to his chances of siring another Heir and truth be known, he'd never really swung that way anyway, and Harry was magically accepted as Lord and Head of the House of Black.
Once Harry was accepted as Lord Henry James Potter-Peverell-Black and Head of his various Houses, Ragnok (the Potter-Peverell-Rosier Account Manager) talked Hermione and Harry through the process of her magically acknowledging that she owed Harry a Life Debt and then him using her magical acceptance of the Life Debt to marry her as the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and Its Associated Houses and Clans, then Hermione was blood adopted by Emmeline Vance and magically accepted as Lady and Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth Granger and Its Associated Houses and Clans (through her father), Lady and Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw and Its Associated Houses and Clans (through her mother), and Heir Presumptive to the Noble and Ancient Houses of Vance and McKinnon and Their Associated Houses and Clans (through Emmeline) by Right of Blood.
Luna's father Xenophilius (Xeno) Lovegood, Daphne and Astoria's parents Cyrus and Celeste Greengrass, Saul Croaker, Head Unspeakable of the Department of Mysteries (this was the identity that Luna's maternal Great Grandfather, Wulfram Warg le Fay, had been using for the last 75 years in Magical Britain), Luna's maternal Great Grandmother Griselda Marchbanks and the Greengrass and le Fay Account Managers were brought in and Luna was magically accepted as Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Lovegood and Its Associated Houses and Clans, Heir Presumptive to the Noble and Ancient House of Corbeau and Its Associated Houses and Clans, Heir Presumptive to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of le Fay and Its Associated Houses and Clans and Heir Presumptive to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Marchbanks and Its Associated Houses and Clans, then they magically confirmed her betrothal to the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell and Its Associated Houses and Clans.
(Luna, Daphne, Astoria, Susan and Neville still had to wait until they were legally of age or Luna, Daphne or Astoria became pregnant before they could be formally accepted as Ladies and Lord of their Houses in Magical Britain. This was due to restrictions put in place by Dumbledore and the Purebloods after Grindelwald's War to prevent the children of the old families being able to use their families' power to stop or overturn the measures they were putting in place to ensure that control over Magical Britain remained in their hands.)
Daphne was magically accepted as Heir Presumptive to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass and Its Associated Houses and Clans and magically confirmed as the betrothed of the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Rosier and Its Associated Houses and Clans, and Astoria was magically accepted as Heir Presumptive to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Cathbad and Its Associated Houses and Clans and magically confirmed as the betrothed of the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Its Associated Houses and Clans.
With Harry's more urgent business out of the way, Amelia Bones and the Longbottom and Bones Account Managers were brought in (they had to explain to Harry that Hermione and Luna had nutted out the plan with the Goblins', the Tonks' and Amelia's assistance to get Sirius tried and cleared by the Goblin Nation and the ICW over a month ago). Susan was magically accepted as Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Bones and Its Associated Houses and Clans and Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff and Its Associated Houses and Clans and Heir Presumptive to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Fenwick and Its Associated Houses and Clans (through her Aunt, Amelia Bones, the Widow Fenwick, who blood adopted her after her parents were killed) by Right of Blood. Neville was magically confirmed as Head the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom and Its Associated Houses and Clans and Head the Noble and Ancient Houses of Dearborn and Fawcett and Their Associated Houses and Clans, then they magically confirmed their betrothal.
They discussed what Harry was going to do about the Tournament. From what Hermione and the others had gleaned from what was written about the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had to have been entered under a fourth school, because only one representative was allowed per school. After they'd been debating what school he'd been entered under for about ten minutes, Harry suddenly swore, then apologised and sheepishly dug a slip of parchment out of his pocket, explaining that after he gave up trying to get Dumbledore and the rest of them to admit that his name on the slip that came out of the Goblet of Fire wasn't even in his writing, he'd stuffed the slip of parchment into his pocket and forgotten all about it.
He held out longer than the rest of them when the name of the school was finally revealed, but eventually he had to laugh as well, because whoever the bastard who entered him was, he had to concede that they had a sense of humour, warped as it was…. Because Harry Potter had been officially entered as the Slytherin School of Sorcery's Champion in the Triwizard Tournament.
Things looked a little less daunting after Griselda reminded them that she already had everything in place to get the Slytherin School of Sorcery recognised as a legitimate school in the ICW education system overnight… But she sounded quite like the Wicked Witch of the West as she was delightedly cackling about the fact that the SSoS was going to be officially located on sovereign soil of the Goblin Nation because Dumbledore had gotten a law passed about thirty years back which stipulated that Hogwarts was the only official school of magic allowed to operate within the borders of Magical Britain. This in turn gave them a valid excuse to establish dual citizenship for all of them, so that the Nation officially had the right to protect them from the Ministry.
Andromeda (Auntie Andie) was quite prepared to take the time out to serve as the SSoS's Headmistress and Triwizard Judge (the Triwizard committee and other school heads had no grounds to object to that as every school participating had the right to be represented by its own judge in the judging panel) and they quickly created, completed and authorised the forms to show that Hermione, Luna, Daphne, Astoria, Neville and Susan had transferred to SSoS with Harry, because each school also had the right to have its own group of delegates present at Hogwarts for the Tournament. Their accommodation needs were easily handled by flying the House of Potter's magical pirate ship Djinn (which was already officially recognised as being sovereign soil of the Goblin Nation by the ICW, because it had been on loan to the Goblin Nation for most of the Twentieth Century) up to Black Lake, and Xeno and Celeste agreed to accompany them as tutors.
Xeno and Celeste were both Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries but that wasn't a full time job and they could use the portals to travel to and from the Ministry and their homes. With the broad and extensive knowledge of Magic they had between them, Xeno and Celeste were quite capable of covering most of the students' education needs, especially with Emmeline (Auntie Em), Cyrus, Saul, Griselda, Sirius and Andie and Ted helping out to cover any topics that Xeno and Celeste couldn't. Em, Cyrus, Saul, Griselda and Ted couldn't spend as much time on the Djinn as the others, because Em was a Gringotts Curse Breaker, Cyrus had to run the Greengrass businesses, Saul had the Department of Mysteries, Griselda had the Wizarding Examination Authority, Sirius was still a wanted fugitive at that point… And as Ted and Andie were both partners in a legal firm which operated in both the Wizarding and Mundane worlds, at least one of them needed to be there most of the time for their other clients.
They did get a bit sidetracked when the topic of Slytherin's basilisk came up, because it took a while for everyone's reactions to watching Harry's memory of the battle with the basilisk to die down, but that just added another job to the list when they returned to Hogwarts, for Harry to get a team into the Chamber of Secrets to start rendering down the basilisk carcass and recovering everything else in the Chamber.
Once they had the basics nutted out for what to do about the Tournament, they got onto the other business they needed to address. Andie was magically accepted as Steward for the Houses of the Potter, Peverell, Black and Slytherin, Cyrus was magically accepted as Steward for the Houses of Rosier and Gryffindor, Em was magically accepted as Steward for the Houses of Dagworth-Granger and Ravenclaw… And Griselda was magically accepted as the new Bones, Hufflepuff, Longbottom, Dearborn and Fawcett Regent, replacing Amelia Bones and Augusta Longbottom.
Amelia was being prevented from voting in accordance with her Houses' wishes by the oaths she had been forced to take when she was made Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so she was quite happy to have Griselda serving the Houses of Bones and Hufflepuff in that role, because Griselda had been in her current position for over half a Century and wasn't under the same constraints as her.
On the other hand, Neville's Grandmother Augusta Longbottom née Doge had been running the Houses of Longbottom, Dearborn and Fawcett according to the wishes of Albus Dumbledore since Neville's parents were incapacitated, rather than in accordance with the traditional values and alliances of the Houses of Longbottom, Dearborn and Fawcett, and Neville wasn't prepared to allow that to continue any longer. If he'd known that he could have been accepted as Head of the Houses of Longbottom, Dearborn and Fawcett and taken control of his Houses when he turned eleven he would have done so, but she had withheld that information from him and mismanaged his family's affairs… Not to mention forcing him to use his Dad's wand which had never worked properly for him for the last three years and allowing her brother to almost kill him several times as a child in his so-called attempts to 'bring out the boy's magic'... So now he was officially taking back the reins, kicking dear old Gran out of the House of Longbottom for good and severing all ties with her, she could revert to her maiden name and go live with her uncle or brother and sister-in-law… Neville didn't really care what she did as long as they all got out of his life and everything rightfully belonging to the Houses of Longbottom, Dearborn and Fawcett was returned, they had been leaching off his family for far too long.
Once their Houses had been reset to what they wanted, they snuck into the Ministry via the Department of Mysteries and Harry and the others used the Stone of Truth in Courtroom 10 to magically identify themselves and confirm their rights to take charge of their Houses. Then they voided any and all existing offices and voting proxies assigned for their Houses and recorded the new officers and voting proxies. By using the Stone of Truth to register all the changes this way, they were safely embedded in the memory crystals and could not be removed or altered unless someone could magically prove that they had the right to do so. With the amount of detail they recorded in the system to support their right to control their Houses, it would be extremely difficult, if not nigh on impossible, for anyone to overturn their changes, so their next appearance in the Wizengamot would be interesting.
While they were at the Ministry, Saul took Harry to the Hall of Prophecies to hear the prophecy that had his name on it. They all agreed that it was for too vague to determine anything of use from it, but from what Sirius told them, this was what had led to Harry's parents being killed and Neville's parents being as good as dead in St Mungo's… Needless to say, none of them was at all happy with the manipulative old bastard who had destroyed their lives on the basis of his interpretation of that shite.
When they returned to Gringotts, Sirius called the Black House Elf Kreacher to inform him that Harry was the new Lord Black. It was obvious that the only thing stopping Kreacher from attacking them at first was his fealty to the House of Black, but when he discovered that Harry was Mistress Dorea's Grandson he started fighting the oath less, he fought even less when he saw that Harry was also Lord Rosier, Head of Mistress Druella's House, and he actually started fawning over him when he saw proof that Harry was also Lord Slytherin. The shift was remarkable, but he shocked them even more when he tearfully pleaded with the great and powerful Lord Black to help him fulfil the final task set for him by Master Regulus.
The looks on Sirius, Saul and Ragnok's faces as Kreacher was telling him about what Master Regulus had asked him to do had Harry telling Kreacher to go and get the locket that he couldn't destroy, and Ragnok was frantically shouting something in the Goblin tongue into the communicator on his desk as Kreacher popped away. A group of Goblins charged into the office just after Kreacher returned with the locket, and the way they were treating it like a very large and unstable un-exploded bomb as they cast a slew of detection charms over it made it clear that they regarded it to be a rather dangerous object.
In the end they stepped back with grim faces and started discussing it in the Goblin tongue. Harry pointedly cleared his throat and Ragnok apologised. "My apologies Lord Potter Peverell Black, it is thankfully a very rare occurrence for us to be in the presence of something as foul as this… Its very existence bodes ill for our world…."
"Damn, it must be the Potter luck at work then, because this is the second time I've been in the presence of something that felt like that… The diary in the Chamber of Secrets two years ago made my scar react the same way…"
One of the Goblins started barking at him in Goblin but caught himself and continued in English. "What's this scar you are talking about Human, and what was the reaction?"
Harry tapped the famous scar on his forehead. "This scar, it hurts whenever I'm close to something like that… And when I was close to Quirrell when Voldemort was possessing him back in First Year too for that matter."
The Goblin waved his hand over Harry's forehead a few times and obviously swore in Goblin. In an attempt to stop them growling questions at him about this diary, which was giving him a headache, Harry asked Dobby if he could see if he could find where the Headmaster had put it. Dobby popped back in a few minutes later and hastily dropped the diary on the desk, but he kept wiping his hand on his pillowcase as if he was trying to scrub something foul off of it while the Goblins were waving their hands over the diary and the locket and growling at each other in Goblin.
Harry didn't have to understand the Goblin tongue to get the gist of what they were saying, that the diary, locket and Harry's scar were all connected in some way, and that obviously wasn't a good thing.
That was the beginning of a very uncomfortable, pain filled and long period in the runic time chambers for Harry, but ultimately it was worthwhile to his mind, because for the first time he could remember, he didn't have the constant ache and shooting pains in his head, and he felt clear headed, full of energy and alive! The fact that his famous scar was finally gone and they'd completely fixed his eyesight problems and most of the other damage caused by the Dursleys in the process didn't hurt at all either. Apparently some of the issues had been caused by spells and bindings that had been cast on him, but the healers all agreed that the thing they removed from his scar, which they were calling a soul leach, had been the root of the problem.
When they removed the soul leach from him, they also removed the related corruption from the locket and whatever was left of it in the diary, so on top of feeling great, Harry had another House Elf who loved him… Sirius kept saying that it was creepy to see Kreacher acting like that towards anyone but Reggie, but even he admitted that it was preferable to being around the foul little beast when he was acting like he did back when he was growing up.
Even the change in Kreacher's behaviour wasn't as shocking as Hermione and Winky's though, Luna and Neville laughed at Harry's dumbfounded look and Hermione explained that Luna had made her sit down and actually listen to Dobby when he told her how House Elves saw things, because they had needed Dobby and Winky's help to get most of what they did over the last two months done. While they'd been stuck at Hogwarts, Dobby and Winky could come and go as they pleased and had no problem popping down to London and back all the time, and once Hermione understood how Elves drew magic from their masters and mistresses to function, she bonded with Winky. Harry could tell from the smirk on her face that she was up to something, but he was still surprised when she said. "Go on Dobby, we had an agreement, that as soon as it was safe to tell Harry the truth you would. I think it's safe now, don't you?"
Dobby was looking at the floor as he said. "Yes Mistress Miney."
And he kept his head down as he continued.
"Harry Potter Sir… Dobby must admit that he has not been telling Harry Potter the whole truth… When Dobby said that Dobby was happy to be a Free Elf, that was only true as far as being happy that Dobby was free of his bad old masters. Dobby is not really a Free Elf, because Dobby is Harry Potter's Elf… When Harry Potter accepted Dobby's thanks for freeing him, Dobby was bound to Harry Potter. Dobby did not mean to do this but Dobby did not tell Harry Potter that it happened. Dobby was so happy to be able to serve Harry Potter since then that Dobby did not tell Harry Potter the truth… Dobby is sorry for lying to Harry Potter. Dobby is a bad Elf, Dobby will accept clothes and go away now."
Just as he was about to pop away though, Dobby felt a hand on his arm and looked up to see Harry kneeling in front of him. "Dobby is not a bad Elf, Dobby is my friend, and I don't want you to go anywhere. If you wish to leave Dobby, that is your right, but I will miss you if you do."
"Harry Potter wants Dobby to stay?"
"Very much! Tell me the truth Dobby, if you bonded with me by accident as you said, is our bond as strong as you want it to be... As you need it to be? Would it be any better for you if we bond properly? And is there any type of bond that is better than other bonds? If there is, and you would like that, tell me how to do it so we can."
Five minutes later, Dobby Potter was standing straighter and taller, and his pillowcase had been transfigured into a neat little uniform with the Potter coat of arms on the breast. Kreacher was obviously jealous of the changes in Dobby, so Harry went through the same process with him and he became Kreacher Black, wearing a similar uniform with the Black coat of arms on the breast. Hermione didn't have to ask twice and she re-bonded with Winky, using the same family ritual… Which for some reason resulted in Winky becoming Winky Potter in a feminine version of Dobby's uniform. The only thing that made sense when Hermione talked it over with Harry was that she was Lady Potter now and the House of Potter was obviously far more powerful than the Houses of Dagworth-Granger or Ravenclaw, so Magic had chosen to bind Winky to the House of Potter.
By the time they finished at Gringotts, the disillusioned Djinn was anchored at the shore of Black Lake, which made returning to Hogwarts a simple matter of stepping through the portal to the Djinn's quarters. Dobby and Kreacher popped Harry and the Goblins tasked with setting up a portal in the Chamber of Secrets straight into the Chamber. They'd discussed taking the same path as Harry had in his Second Year to get to the Chamber, but they didn't want to risk triggering any wards that Dumbledore may have set up to notify him if anyone opened the entrance in Myrtle's toilet, so once Dobby had confirmed that he could pop to the coordinates from Harry's memory, he and Kreacher took them straight into the Chamber.
Finding the massive pile of shed skins in the basilisk's den gave Harry an idea, and after a bit of debate they created tailored unisex SSoS uniforms out of basilisk hide, using duelling robes as the outer layer, for everyone. Auntie Andie, Uncle Ted, Uncle Xeno, Auntie Cel, Auntie Em and Uncle Cyrus as their Headmistress, Deputy Headmaster and tutors, wore slight variations of what they were wearing as students and their Goblin guards were wearing another variation without robes. Using the runic time chambers gave them more than enough time to treat the basilisk hides and make up all the uniforms and robes overnight, and they caused quite a stir when they walked into the Great Hall for Breakfast the next morning, all dressed alike in what appeared to be some form of dark green snake skin.
Another interesting development had arisen when the Elves were sent to collect all the students' belongings from the castle, because they had to hastily expand the room they were in to accommodate the mountain of things that appeared. The majority of these items belonged to Harry of course, and he grew increasingly angry as he saw the number of Potter, Peverell, Black, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Rosier heirlooms and treasures that had been taken from his family. They quickly discussed what to do about this and Harry agreed to send the most obvious items back for now, though they sent another old wand which had been transfigured to look like the Elder Wand back in its place, doing the same with the Sword of Gryffindor and the Potter Pensieve, because Harry wasn't about to let the old bastard keep priceless treasures like them. They did something similar for Harry's Nimbus 2000, which hadn't been destroyed by the Whomping Willow the previous year as everyone was told, apparently Snape had transfigured something else into what were supposedly the remains of Harry's broom and took the Nimbus for himself.
They found something else that had supposedly been destroyed years ago too, the Philosopher's Stone. Harry was angry when he found it hidden in a compartment in the base of the Potter Pensieve, and he was in the middle of agreeing with Hermione that Dumbledore had probably been banking on the Pensieve's magic masking the Stone's magical signature when he suddenly remembered what the old bastard had said about the Flamels having enough Elixir left to 'put their affairs in order' after he told him that they had agreed that it had to be destroyed. He swore to himself and charged through the portal to Ragnok's office, laying the stone on Ragnok's desk and explaining what he believed it to be and that it had supposedly been destroyed in early June 1992. He tasked Ragnok with finding out whether the Flamels were still alive ASAP and if so and they needed the Stone to survive, to get it to them as fast as he could. He was still muttering as he went back through the portal to the Djinn, the Stone wasn't his to do as he liked with, but it wasn't Dumbledore's either. That manipulative old bastard had been ruthlessly playing with the Flamels' lives, just like he did Harry's.
After seeing how many things belonging to their Houses were in others' hands at Hogwarts, they asked the Elves to see if they could find and recover any more, and the pile grew even more. Three items that the elves recovered made Harry even angrier than finding out how much had been stolen from them, because they all had the same foul aura as the diary and locket. Ragnok brought in the curse-breakers again and they took the tainted ring, tiara and cup away to be cleansed before giving the ring to Harry to wear, because it was the Peverell House Ring… But they returned Helga Hufflepuff's fabled cup to the Hufflepuff vault and Rowena Ravenclaw's legendary Diadem to the Ravenclaw vault on Susan and Hermione's instructions.
Harry also had a very interesting chat with the Sorting Hat, which preferred to be addressed as Myrddin, before the Elves returned it to Dumbledore's office. Myrddin told them that being magically accepted as the rightful Lord Gryffindor by Right of Blood through the Potter line and Lord Slytherin by Right of Conquest and Blood meant that he was now Hogwarts' rightful owner. While she wasn't happy about how the importance of her and Susan's ancestors' contributions as founders was being ignored, just because they were women... Hermione explained to Harry and the others that women had had no property rights for most of Britain's history, so the two male Founders being been made Hogwarts' owners was to be expected. Even better was the fact that between Harry, Hermione and Susan, they would now be able to take control of Hogwarts if they needed to.
All in all, it had been a very busy night.
The looks Auntie Andie and Uncle Ted shot him when Harry insisted that they'd have to sit up at the High Table with the older idiots promised pain, or at least embarrassment, in the near future, but they shook their heads resignedly and headed up there. When Harry looked around the Great Hall though, he shook his head too… The Durmstrang delegation were sitting over at the Slytherin Table, Beauxbatons was sitting with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff was obviously Diggory's domain, which only left the Gryffindor table for them… But with very few exceptions (primarily Angelina and Katie, who he knew from the Quidditch team) trying to talk to them was like what he imagined having your teeth pulled out without anaesthetic would be like… And having to interact with the two youngest Weasleys would be even worse….
The moment she saw the evil smile dawning on Harry's face, Hermione knew that he was about to do something that she wasn't going to approve of, but she had to laugh at how fast he cleared off one end of the Gryffindor table for them by hissing at the ones sitting there in Parseltongue.
"Just what did you say to them Harry?"
"I was just politely asking them if they'd mind moving up a little so we could sit together, I can't for the life of me imagine why they ran off like that, you'd think the Hounds of Hell were chasing them…."
He trailed off as an unwelcome voice interrupted their banter, their erstwhile friend Ronald Weasley shouting. "Do something Professor! Those slimy snakes are trying to curse us in Snake Tongue!"
Weasley punctuated his shout by casting a shouted curse at them which had to be the nastiest curse he could think of. Hermione threw up a shield to block the ineptly cast curse as Harry stunned the little bastard, which of course had most of the other Gryffindors jumping to their feet, pulling out their wands, so Harry cast a Sonorous on himself.
"Stop! We will respond in kind to the next curse thrown at us! I did no more than stun that moron after he cast a serious curse at us without any warning or provocation but that was the only warning we will be giving anyone! Any further attacks on us will see our attackers needing Healers!"
Dumbledore's eyes widened as he recognised that voice. "Harry! That will be two weeks detention with Professor Snape! You are not allowed to attack and threaten other students!"
"I believe you are letting Weasley off far too easy with just two weeks detention for an unwarranted attack of that nature Headmaster, but how you punish your students is unfortunately your call… Professor McGonagall, I presume you will be informing Mister Weasley of his punishment for his unwarranted attack on other students when he is revived? Oh, and Headmaster Dumbledore, I expect to be addressed by my proper title of Lord Potter in the future, I will let you off this time because it was in the heat of the moment and you may not have had time to read your mail yet, but do not make a habit of it…."
"What are you playing at Mister Potter, you know full well that the Headmaster gave you that detention for attacking Mister Weasley!"
"Oh dear, it appears that you are having the same problems with your eyesight, hearing and cognitive functions as your Headmaster Professor McGonagall… If you'd had your eyes and ears open you must have seen and heard Weasley throwing a nasty unprovoked curse at us, I believe me in particular, without warning as he finished shouting some nonsense about us trying to curse him. You must have also seen that none of us had our wands out until after he cast that curse at us, and that we are not wearing Hogwarts robes because we no longer attend Hogwarts… As my wife and our friends decided to join me at my new school when I was expelled from Hogwarts by the Goblet of Fire…. Madame Maxime, I wonder if you could clear something up for me please? Do you intend to allow the staff of Hogwarts to arbitrarily assign unwarranted punishments to your students, or for any attacks against your students to go unpunished?"
The Beauxbatons Headmistress looked furious at the very idea. "Non! Of course not!"
Harry gave her a half bow. "Thank you for that clarification Madame… So you see Professor McGonagall, Hogwarts' staff have no right to arbitrarily assign unwarranted punishments to the other schools' students and your students will not be allowed to attack us without fear of punishment. I doubt that Headmistress Tonks' response will be any different from Madame Maxime's..."
"No, it most definitely will not Lord Potter! I must say that it saddens me to see just how far Hogwarts has fallen Professor McGonagall. I shall have to advise any of my friends and acquaintances with school age children to look long and hard at what Hogwarts has become in recent years before they send their children here or allow them to remain here."
Luckily Madame Maxime had bailed up Dumbledore and was demanding to know what he thought he was doing, so Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and got the hell out of there. The others followed and Harry caught the 'You'll pay for this!' look Auntie Andie shot him as they left. He did feel a little guilty about leaving her and Uncle Ted to deal with the fallout, but they had told him that it was their job. He almost wished he'd waited a little while longer though when he watched Uncle Ted's memory of Madame Maxime grabbing a large handful of Dumbledore's beard and using it to drag him into the chamber where they'd met the night before. Breakfast apparently ran over by quite a bit because most of the people present stayed on in the Great Hall to listen to the shouted arguments clearly coming through the door.
When they got back to the Djinn, Andie and Ted reported that Dumbledore and the others seemed to have finally accepted the facts…. As the self updating Tournament records confirmed, the school Harry was entered under was in fact the Slytherin School of Sorcery and each school could only have one champion, so he was no longer part of Hogwarts. Andie and Ted were registered as the ones running the SSoS and Lady Potter and some of her and Lord Potter's friends had chosen to transfer to SSoS with Lord Potter to support him… Ted had noted at this point that all students and staff of SSoS had at least dual citizenship, because they had been made citizens of the Goblin Nation so that the Nation would be allowed to protect them, along with the fact that the Djinn was officially recognised by the ICW as being sovereign soil of the Goblin Nation, so the Goblin Nation had every right to deal with any atacks on their students and uninvited or unwelcome visitors as they saw fit.
Dumbledore had of course tried to argue that Harry and the others were still Hogwarts students and under his control, demanding that they return to their dorms and classes immediately, but he suddenly broke off and rushed out when it finally sunk in that Andie and Ted kept referring to Harry and Hermione as Lord and Lady Potter. It was no surprise when Amelia notified them that Dumbledore had called for an emergency closed session of the Wizengamot in two hours.
A/N: I'm using my standard themes here for the structure of Magical Britain's society and the fact that the Potters are an old and important family. I also haven't suddenly found love for Dame Albus, Tommy and the Death Eaters, most of the Weasleys or the Sheeple of Magical Britain, so you can expect them to be treated much the same as I did previously.
