Gobbledygook
He froze and looked over, blinking when he saw his empty plate, trailing his eyes over to look at Hedwig, and her empty plate and all too innocent posture, and the feelings of innocence bleeding through the link.
"HEDWIG!" He yelled, slamming down the now empty eggshell and slicing his hand open with it.
She just cocked her head cutely and hooted sweetly.
Arabella Figg didn't know what to do. After watching the Dursley's get arrested. she went back home and decided to go to bed, call Albus in the morning. But when morning came, she didn't know if she should.
It was now the next evening, and she still hadn't decided. This had never happened before. She had been told to that if something was wrong on Privet Drive concerning Harry, to call Albus, if somebody magical ever got in touch with Harry, call Albus. He would come take care of it, make sure whoever it was didn't tell people where to find the boy. She always called him. But...
On the one hand, Albus was an old friend and she was here as a favor. She was one of the few who knew the prophecy, and she knew Harry was safest with Dursleys.
On the other hand though... She may not know exactly what went on in that house, but she could certainly guess based on how Harry acted when he came over an dhow she watched him constantly running from his hellion cousin. She also knew the rumors his relatives spread. She liked Harry, and she wanted him to be safe... the wards kept him safe from those outside...
But lately she had started to wonder, which was worse. The threat outside, or the threat inside?
After a couple more hours of staring into her pot of floo powder, she made her choice. If Albus learned of the Dursley's arrest, it wouldn't be from her.
When Harry and Hedwig entered the dining room the next morning, the Longbottoms were confused. What on earth happened? Hedwig was sitting on his shoulder looking unrepentant (or as unrepentant as an owl can look), while Harry was lecturing her on why you didn't steal.
"Next time I tell you it's my bacon, it's MY BACON!" He finally said as he sat down just as their food appeared. The Longbottoms couldn't help but notice that the bacon was nowhere near Hedwig.
Neville and Augusta both blinked at the pair, looked at each other, looked back at Harry and Hedwig, and blinked again before deciding they didn't want to know.
A few minutes into their breakfast, a small pile of baked goods appeared on the other end of the table. "What's all that?" Neville asked, since he was the first to notice it.
"Huh? Oh," Harry said in surprise as he looked around. He muttered something about not knowing she would put it out for breakfast. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I baked."
Augusta got up to go over to see what was there, and her jaw would have dropped if such an undignified action hadn't been beaten (by today's standards, not the standards of the time) out of her during her own lessons in her childhood. The end of the table was covered in desserts, there were ginger snaps, treacle tart, American Apple Pie, chocolate cake, vanilla cake, chocolate-chip cookies, short bread, and sour-dough bread. Some of it, like the pie, was still warm. Whether this was because of how fresh it was, or if it was under warming charms was unclear. She suspected a combination of the two.
"When did you get to sleep?" Neville asked, his eyes wide as he looked at the pile.
"Two hours ago." Harry said with a shrug.
"Two hours?" Neville repeated in disbelief. He looked at Harry, who didn't even look tired. Everyone in Gryffindor knew to avoid the Boy-Who-Lived when he was short on sleep, to say he was in a bad mood on those days was an understatement. Only Ron and Hermione dared get anywhere near him, and even they tried to avoid talking to him for fear of saying something to set him off. Everyone in the tower knew of his temper, and they also knew that it was a slow blow. But when it blew... It was similar to a volcano on an otherwise what used to be a calm day.
"Yeah, like I said, I couldn't sleep, so I baked. Cooking has always helped me think, and I had a lot to think about last night." He said quietly before changing the subject. "My aunt made me read a cooking magazine once, it had an article in it with a recipe attached for apple pie and ice cream. Apparently its a big thing in America." Harry said. He shrugged. "I also made the ice-cream. Mipsy is watching it... apparently she's watching us too." He muttered and blinked when his and Hedwig's potions appeared by his plate. Hedwig narrowed her eyes on the potions, but Harry shot his hand out and snatched hers before she could do anything to it... again. He sent her a memory of the past few weeks at the Dursley's, pushing all his worry over her through the link.
"I wish you wouldn't be so stubborn about your potions, girl. You need them right now to stay healthy." He felt a small tendril of guilt bleed through, probably for making him worry, before she sent a memory of how those potions tasted, followed by a pointed look towards the plate of bacon. He sighed. "I know, they taste awful, and I know you love bacon. But bacon won't give your body everything it needs." He said dryly. "Tell you what, you stop making a fuss, I'll make you some bacon every night. Provided you also leave MY bacon alone." He said with a brow raised. Mentally wondering how he came to get the most stubborn Familiar in the history of Familiars.
Hedwig turned to him, and he almost laughed out loud at the hopeful image she sent him. Her, surrounded by mountains and mountains of bacon.
"Maybe not that much, don't want to make you sick, but yes." She hooted her approval before opening her beak to let him give her the potion.
Neville watched all this going on in various degrees of amusement and confusion. Also a little bit of relief. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to just about tear the Manor about anymore because Hedwig decided she didn't want to take her potions. Although they did agree with her that they tasted disgusting. Whatever Potion Master managed to make them taste good, would make a fortune. Either way, Hedwig was good at hiding things she didn't want any of them having.
Augusta waited until he drank his own potion with a grimace. "Back to the fact that you only got two hours of sleep." She prompted.
Harry looked at her. "I never sleep much." He shrugged. "It's worse in really big, open spaces. Don't worry, I'll be fine, I have to get used to it sometime, right?" He said when he saw the alarmed look on Augusta's face. His bedroom here was really big after all.
She frowned before nodding though. That was very true, especially if he ever wanted to move into one of the many properties she was sure he owned. She knew from experiance just how big the rooms at Potter Manor were, and she knew the rumors about the Potter families ancestry. She looked back at the pile of baked goods. "Well, I suppose it would be rather remiss of us, Neville, not to taste test at least some of this, it would be rude to just let this all go to waste when Harry worked so hard on it." She said 'thoughtfully'.
Neville's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Did his grandmother really just say that? She always said that the only baked good that was appropriate at the breakfast table was toast. She didn't even approve of dessert for lunch, she said dessert was for dinner and dinner only. Finally, after a minute of gaping, which he was going to get a lecture for later since it was dignified or proper behavior, Neville finally managed to choke out, "Yeah, rude."
His gran nodded decisively. "I think I will have some pie with ice-cream. It has been a while since I had any... there is this cafe in New York that serves this truly amazing pie." She trailed off as Mipsy and Moppy popped in with a plate of ice-cream, and Mipsy served her some pie with it while Moppy looked expectantly towards Neville, waiting to see what he wanted. Both elves had a slight smile on their faces.
They weren't too happy that a wizard had been in a kitchen, they considered that their job. But, they could certainly understand when Harry said it helped him think, that he liked cooking. There was a reason why, in a Manor with multiple elves, they all took turns in the kitchen, cooking was their favorite job. There was just something about it...
Neville blinked at their sudden appearance before he quietly asked for some vanilla cake. Moppy nodded and next thing he knew, he had a very large piece of cake sitting in front of him.
Harry didn't even have to say anything before some pie and half a cookie appeared in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at the cookie before he looked at Mipsy, who explained that, on top of being Head Elf, she was also in charge of the Potter owls health, and a little sugar wouldn't hurt anything. She would, however, be keeping an eye on Hedwig to make sure she didn't over-do it. With that, and once they were sure their masters didn't need anything else, the elves popped back out.
When breakfast was over, with many compliments to Harry's baking, Augusta turned to Harry, "Harry, the appointment with the Healer is right after lunch. For now, follow me to the library. Neville, join us in there once you are finished with your Greenhouse for the morning." She barely waited for a "Yes, Gran." before sweeping out of the room with Harry and Hedwig hot on her heels.
"Considering you will be going before the Wizengamot in less than two weeks, I believe it is time to start incorporating politics and wizarding law into your etiquette lessons. We will spend some more time working on your control later this afternoon. Now that you finally have your trunk sorted and organized, we have some more time on our hands to go over everything we need to. It will by no means be anything but the very basics to make sure you don't look like a total fool, or insult everybody in the room, but it will have to do. You can't just teach and expect somebody to completely master something in the space of two weeks, not when everybody else in the room grew up that way, knowing those concepts before they could even walk in some cases." She explained as she searched her shelves for the self-updating law book every Most Ancient and Noble House possessed. These books literally could not be replaced. There were charms on them placed by the original Families, and only the Potter family still possessed the knowledge of how they did it. Considering how much the Potter Family guarded their secrets...
"Sharpaxe told me of your photographic memory, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to familiarize yourself with these..." she said as she finally located her book and put it down on the table in front of Harry. "Many of the laws in here cancel or contradict each other, especially those from the past decade or so, its ridiculous." She sighed. "The political world really suffered since the death of your grandparents."
"My grandparents? Why not my parents?"
Augusta was suddenly hit with just how little this boy knew about his own family. What he just asked was information any Magical raised child in Hogwarts could have told him. "I'm afraid they weren't in the political scene long enough before having to go into hiding. They didn't have a chance to prove themselves, let alone actually do something." She said sadly.
"Oh." Harry said, slumping in his chair a bit.
She smiled at him even as she gently pushed on his back to make him sit up straight again. "You don't have to memorize the whole thing, but you do need to be familiar with its contents, and especially what what limits the law places on those in charge, like the Chief Warlock and Minister, for example. You also need to be familiar with what exactly the law defines their duties as being. You might also want to look through the Hogwarts Charter, it defines just what the Headmaster can and can't do, as well as just how much power the ministry holds over Hogwarts." She said as she quickly located her copy of said charter.
Harry nodded and opened up the law book, while Augusta started talking him through various scenario's, including what laws would be appropriate to use in countering arguments, how to present his case so he wasn't immediately dismissed, and how to do it without insulting everybody in the room. Harry at some point asked her to clarify on a law he found. It touched on the rights Heirs and Lords had when they stood trial.
When they stood trial, he noticed it said.
Looking back through, he noticed an earlier law that made it mandatory for all criminals or accused to receive a trial.
The part he was confused on was that it said Veritserum was only allowed on a Heir or Lord with either the Lords or the rest of the Families permission, depending on which one was standing trial. And, the Wizengamot could only ask the questions the Family would let them ask. This, apparently was to avoid greedy ministry officials from asking questions about Family secrets. Evidently, this law came into place after a Heir to some now extinct family was out on trial, fed Veritserum, and then was asked about the Families most closely guarded techniques. Several months later, that Family was wiped out because some of their enemies got ahold of the court transcripts, and figured out how to use their own techniques against them, as well as how to counter them. If the Wizengamot strayed from the questions they were given, a Family member on hand would then stop the accused from answering, a mistrial would be called, and the whole case would be thrown out the window.
After first finding out what Veritserum was, he learned that as the only remaining member and Heir to the Potter Family, as well as the adopted son to Lord Black, he could demand Sirius be given Veritserum. He just had to provide the questions they were allowed to ask. He would have to get with Severus and Sharpaxe on that one, as he didn't even know the exact circumstances Sirius was thrown in Azkaban under, not to mention what would be safe to ask so that no family secrets were betrayed.
But for now... He had once heard a room full of politicians being described as a school of sharks. Now, he had to learn how to swim with the sharks.
Severus sat down in his favorite chair with a sigh.
Dumbledore had him up all night and most of the morning brewing, the only reason he allowed Severus to eat breakfast when Lola came to get him because the potions needed about an hour to simmer before being ready for the next step. Which was for the person they would be keyed to, in this case Dumbledore, to spell them.
He would have tried to sabotage them, but knew that Dumbledore would notice, he may not be a Potions Master, or nearly as skilled as Snape, but he was still quite skilled in his own right, and he knew how these particular potions were supposed to be brewed. That, and Severus wasn't taking any risks when it was his godson that would be drinking them.
He wondered absently if he could get away with going to visit later today, maybe get a lesson in now that Harry had a medical excuse to use magic. Not that that was really a problem since Harry had the training room in his trunk, but still. He also knew that Augusta would probably most likely be working with him on it, but at the same time, he wasn't sure she was young enough anymore to keep up with him. That, and he just wanted to spend time with the boy.
That plan was scrapped with the arrival of a large pile of paperwork he would need to go over before the beginning of the school year.
He stared at it for a moment and blinked before slamming his head back against the chair with a groan.
After lunch, the Healer arrived. This was Harry's first visit from a Healer, and he really didn't know what to expect. He didn't count the one time he was in the infirmary this past year, he was unconscious when he went in.
To say she wasn't happy about his lack of shots, Muggle or magical, was an understatement.
To say she was angry with Madam Pomfrey for not making sure he got them, was an even bigger understatement.
She wanted to run a full physical until Harry finally found his Gryffindor courage to inform her that he'd already been seen by the goblins for his other health needs.
THAT, she was happy about.
When they said shots, Harry had been expecting a needle like what Dudley told him about. He was not expecting it to be an actual shot glass, like they would normally serve whiskey in, filled with a potion. And he thought his Nutrient potions tasted horrible, he had to drink ten different potions before she was happy.
Before she left, they had to remind her of patient confidentiality, she was so ready to head to Hogwarts and hex Poppy Pomfrey to the moon and back.
A couple of days later, Severus visited to see how Harry was doing. Now that he could actually had access to the boy without Dumbledore hanging over his shoulder, he seemed determined to spend as much time as he could with him. Harry was thrilled.
He was also cautious.
He had grown up with the Dursley's telling him he wasn't worth anybodies time, that nobody would ever want him. Despite knowing they were liars, it was a case of believing something if you were told it enough. Especially for someone as young as Harry.
Every time he started to really enjoy himself, started to let himself believe this was real and permanent, he would catch sight of a small scar on his arm, left over from a particularly rough round of Harry Hunting a few years ago. It was a reminder, and all it reminded him of was that he was worthless and unwanted. He tried to push those thoughts away and forget them, but the longer he was with the Longbottoms, the more and more they came. As if his subconscious was constantly reminding him not to get too close.
He decided he was just going to try and and ignore it. He didn't care, he was going to enjoy this while he could, if they all left... He would deal with it then. Until then, he would be cautious in getting close, but he wouldn't close them all out.
He looked up from his lab station where Severus was currently showing him how to properly take care of his equipment to see Severus watching him with his head tilted, as if there was something he wanted to understand. Harry realized he'd been standing there in thought for a few minutes.
"Is everything all right?" Severus finally asked.
"Yeah, I was just thinking." Harry shrugged.
Severus frowned before he set the cloth in his hand down. "You know, Harry," He started slowly. "Growing up, the only person I had was your mother. My father was an angry drunk Muggle, and my mother was the disowned daughter of a prominent Pureblood family. So, I know what it is to have that voice in your head, telling you not to get close. I know what its like to be terrified of everybody leaving you after you finally found someone who cares. Unfortunately, the only way those fears can truly go away is with time, and the fact that those people who care are still around." Severus said, watching Harry carefully.
Harry looked at him, wide-eyed. Harry swallowed and blinked a couple of times before he finally nodded, Severus heard a small 'thank you' as Harry looked down and went back to cleaning the knife in his hands. Severus smiled and the two of them went back to working in silence with Harry asking the occasional question, or Severus occasionally correcting Harry if he was using the wrong tool to clean with.
Three days before the Wizengamot...
Sharpaxe looked up when the door opened to reveal Sharptooth, "Lord Prince-Snape and Heir Potter-Black are here, Senior Manager." He announced.
"Thank you, Sharptooth, send them in." He nodded and looked at the clock. He thought Madam Longbottom would be here.
He bowed and left, leaving the door open to let Severus, Harry, and Hedwig in. Hedwig hooted indignantly at him. He blinked and turned back to Sharpaxe. "Hedwig is here as well. This owl is way too smart." He muttered as he left, shaking his head.
Harry sighed and shook his own head fondly at the owl perched proudly on his shoulder.
"Good afternoon, Severus, Harry. How is everything going with regaining control of your magic and political lessons?" He asked. He knew they'd been working with Harry to teach him how to control his suddenly much larger core.
"Better, I don't blind everybody in the room with Lumos anymore." Harry said with a sheepish look on his face.
"He has made a lot more progress than that." Severus said. Sharpaxe noticed a proud glint in his eyes and raised an eyebrow before asking where Augusta was.
"Apparently, this morning Neville asked her about his wand. Evidently, she had him using his fathers wand. He asked if he could get his own today, she decided they might as well since she was going to be here today anyway, she's going to see him off through the floo afterwards before she comes to join us." Severus said.
Sharpaxe frowned, "Perhaps we can also arrange for him to take an abilities test. He was, after all, the other possible child of prophecy... he might also be Dumbledore's back-up plan if anything happens to Harry. He is also supposed to be close to Harry, or would have, if his parents wills hadn't been ignored."
Severus froze. "I almost feel sorry for Dumbledore if he was actually stupid enough to mess with Augusta Longbottom's only grandson." He shuddered. "Almost." The other two in the room nodded in agreement.
"Maybe we could test Augusta too? Neville told us some stuff his relatives did to force the magic out of him, it didn't sound like she did anything to stop it, but what I've seen the past couple of weeks completely contradicts that." Harry piped in.
Sharpaxe was impressed. Only two weeks of political and etiquette lessons and his speech had already cleared up a great deal. He already sounded more 'proper' for Pureblood society. Severus frowned. "Well, I doubt we will find anything wrong with Augusta, the Ministry tests members of the Wizengamot regularly for signs of controlling agents or tampering on their abilities. It doesn't hurt to check though, Dumbledore might have gotten to the testers after all. But what, exactly has Mr. Longbottom told you?" He asked, not sure if he wanted the answer.
Harry cocked his head to the side and told the two everything Neville told the Gryffindor table at the opening feast.
"Algie did WHAT?!" The heard an undignified screech of rage. It seemed Augusta had been shown in just as Harry got to the part of Algie holding Neville out a window in an effort to force his accidental magic.
Harry turned to her and hesitated before he finished the story with Algie being distracted by another family member bringing in food for him try and dropping Neville. Resulting in Neville bouncing down the drive unharmed.
She was livid. "Algie told me he was hanging out too far and lost his balance! And what were they thinking trying to force it out of him? They knew his magic was still recovering from trying to protect his parents during that attack! I told them to leave it alone and let his core heal! They knew he was no squib, with all the accidental magic he was performing before the attack. How dare they!" She raged.
Severus's eyes were wide, well, wide enough as to be noticeable if you looked hard enough. Otherwise, there was no visible reaction. "That boy was in the room? When the Lestrange's and Crouch..." He trailed off, glancing at Harry. She nodded grimly.
"That's why he was a late bloomer magically. His magic reacted to a combination of his stress and the fact his parents were being harmed, and tried to shield his parents. Because he was so young, it damaged his core almost to the point of making him a squib. Not quite though. I was told his core would recover, it would just take time. If he'd been older, the damage wouldn't have needed so long to recover, but... I should have given him his own wand from the start though, I don't know what I thinking there... his core was obviously recovered enough from the strain when he was younger..." She frowned.
"Did Dumbledore tell you his core would take time? Or did he come visit before school started?" Severus asked.
"Oh, no, I sought treatment for his core at St. Mungoes. Although Albus was there after the attack, he was the one who suggested I take Neville. And Albus did come by to discuss Wizengamot business just before Neville got his Hogwarts letter. Why?"
Sharpaxe cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We were discussing the possibility of giving Heir Longbottom an abilities test. This will ensure his core was not tampered with." He said slowly, unsure if it was wise to bring this up now. He reassured himself that there were wards in his office that negated accidental magic. He'd had them installed since Harry was last there a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't had them before because he never did business with the Potter children, he always dealt with the adult Potter's. And they were no longer capable of accidental magic.
She froze. "What?" She asked lowly.
"Just as a precaution." Severus said quickly. Neither of them wanted the witch to lash out.
She nodded slowly before she visibly turned her mind to other things, the boys in the room all breathed sighs of relief when she finally sat down. "So, what are we here for and does it have anything to do with Harry going before the Wizengamot in a few days?" She asked..
"Yes. Here's what we were planning." Sharpaxe said, leaning forward on his desk as the two wizards and goblin brought her in on everything that was happening and why. They added their suspicions (although most of it was backed up with fact) about Dumbledore. Even going so far as to show her Harry's abilities test. She was mad.
But she recognized the significance of her being brought in like this, especially when she learned that Amelia Bones had been working with Gringotts and secretly building a case against Dumbledore since before she even received her promotion to Department Head.
That indicated a large amount of respect and trust on the goblins part. They recognized her skill and integrity to do what needed to be done, and that was before she was even in a position of authority to do anything. They obviously believed that wouldn't be much of an obstacle. And now she WAS in a position of authority.
Once she was caught up, she realized something. "That's why you were so interested in the laws regarding use of Veritaserum on a Pureblood Heir or Lord."
Harry nodded. Sharpaxe grinned. You plan on demanding Veritaserum." Harry nodded again. "This way, nobody can dispute the truth. The beauty of it is, you have every right to demand it as his Heir both magically and by blood. Since he blood-adopted you, nobody can dispute your claim to the Black Heirship. Brilliant." Harry had a small, embarrassed smile on his face.
"I just need help with the questions. I don't want to ask something that will get the wrong people in trouble, like Remus Lupin." Harry said. Severus had told him about Remus Lupin a few days ago when Severus took him to the London Zoo for the afternoon and they had dinner near the wolf habitat. Including the man being a werewolf, plus the fact that Severus had no idea where the man was or how to even begin hunting him down. He just disappeared after that Night. Harry thought the name sounded familiar, and for some reason he thought he might have met the man, but he couldn't remember. Severus promised him the memories would sort themselves out and clear up as he got better with his Occlumency.
"What do you have so far?" Sharpaxe asked.
Harry pulled the list out of the pouch he got from Sharptooth. He practically never took the thing off his belt anymore. He also kept his Cloak, a couple of reference books on wizarding law and customs, the Muggle fiction he was currently reading (He was still on Narnia), and his photo-album he got from Hagrid. When it was time to go back to school, Harry was probably going to leave his new trunk in there, rather than risk anybody (Dumbledore) going through his old trunk and finding it in there.
Sharpaxe looked over the list and nodded in approval at what was there so far.
Naturally, the first questions were, 'are you and Death Eater' and 'were you the Potter's Secret Keeper'. There were a couple others that would need to be tweaked so they didn't leave any loopholes the Wizengamot could use to get it thrown out. There were a couple others that were extremely vague, then, of course, there was the blank line at the bottom.
It was customary for the Family representative, in this case Harry, to get to ask one question of their own at the end of the questioning in order to clarify something they felt was not clear enough during the initial questioning. This was blank because this question was generally something based off of the accused answers to the other questions. The line at the bottom of the page was to indicate to the questioner that Harry would be making use of his question should he think of one. The representative usually asked something along the lines of 'why would you do something like this to your family?'
"These look good. Some are too vague for the Wizengamot's tastes, and a couple have some loopholes in them that could see the Wizengamot throwing them out on the basis that they leave room for him to lie, but these are very good. I can't see anything here that could see the wrong people in trouble, and I don't see anything else in here that could give away family secrets, but then again I'm not privy to Black family matters... We would need to see Barchoke for that... This is all very specific to the case at hand, no tangents... although the Wizengamot might try to go on a tangent when its revealed they all became Animagi on their own, as school children. There are a couple of questions I would like to add, just clarifying questions as needed." Sharpaxe said, glancing up at Harry, who looked slightly embarrassed, but happy with the praise.
"Sure, you've been doing this longer than I have, your the expert.." Harry said, waving his hand for Sharpaxe to go ahead.
It was an odd mix, Sharpaxe decided, of Muggle upbringing and Pureblood etiquette. With the Muggle upbringing still being the dominant half.
It took them a good half hour to hammer out what the questions were, before they started going over what Harry would say to get them to agree with the trial in the first place. They were obviously going to present James and Lily's will, force them to 'unseal' it, and then read it. After which, Harry would bring up Sirius.
They were expecting there to be an argument about giving Sirius a trial from Minister Fudge, he wouldn't like anything he saw as a slur on his Ministry. If it was something the Ministry could get public disapproval from, he didn't do it or ignored it and hoped they never found out. They would try to argue that Sirius confessed at his trial, at which point Amelia would step in and take it from there, presenting the fact that Sirius never got a trial, therefore how could he have confessed to anything?
If they tried to bring up the fact that Sirius killed all those Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, Amelia would bring Sirius's wand, which was still sitting in evidence, out and perform Priori Incantantum. She had done that when Severus and Sharpaxe first brought her in, and all that had been there had been a Lumos, a spell every parent knew that produced colored bubbles capable of keeping their young children occupied for hours, a Healing spell accompanied by a form of Tergio that was gentle enough to use on infants, and a couple of homing spells used by Aurors if they were tracking a suspect and wanted to let their squad know where they were, along with the tracking spells that usually accompanied it.
She had found nothing to suggest that Sirius cast the spell that blew up the street.
As for Peter Pettigrew being dead... they were going to argue that he couldn't possibly be dead. Otherwise there would have been more to find than just a finger. There would have been pieces of him all over the place, the few Muggles that had been blown up, a couple of them had been scattered all over, so why wasn't Pettigrew? There was no spell that blew somebody up so cleanly that there was absolutely nothing left.
They were also going to explain that Harry grew up Muggle with no idea the wizarding world existed until his eleventh birthday, as well as the fact that Harry just learned the Wizengamot existed two weeks ago, and then Harry was planning on appointing somebody else as his proxy.
They discussed Madam Bones or even Madam Longbottom, but both Amelia and Augusta were already sitting proxy for their own houses until Susan and Neville turned twenty-one and took their own seats, that, and, they both sat on the light side of the Wizengamot, while the Potters always made it a point to remain neutral. The only neutral house Severus could think of that they could trust to proxy for Harry would be House Greengrass.
They had historically always voted either very similar to House Potter, or completely on the opposite side. But they were in the Potter Alliance. Daniel Greengrass was fair, he was good friends with Amelia Bones, he had been very good friends with James, they knew that he would listen to Harry's opinion, and he would be sure to consult Harry on what Harry wanted House Potter to do. Of course, this would probably only be temporary until Sirius was back on his feet after Azkaban, and caught up on what had been happening in the world while he was gone.
"I think the Greengrasses would be a good idea until Sirius can do it. He will probably move his House to the neutral ground. He never did agree with what his House has stood for politically." Augusta agreed with Severus.
"What has the Black family stood for?" Harry asked. The adults all looked at each other.
"The current laws that Dumbledore has pushed through... add in a kill-on-sight order to some of the nastier Creature laws... you got something the Black family would have happily pushed through." Augusta said quietly. Harry's eyes widened.
"How is Dumbledore getting away with pushing these through in my name?" Harry asked.
"He's not using your name for all of them. He's only pushing the mild ones that the light would actually stand for personally. He's using the dark families to push through the harsher ones. We only know that they are all him because we are the ones monitoring his vault activity. He takes out a large sum of money from what he thinks is your vaults, even though we are actually pulling it from his without his knowledge, and then that same amount ends up in the vaults of somebody close to an influential Dark Family, the next Wizengamot session, a law is pushed through against creatures. We arrested one of those people he gives money to, we obliviated him afterwards of course, and... questioned him. Turns out, Dumbledore pays him and several others to leave folders with these laws on the desk of a Dark Family lord. All them heavily charmed to make the Lord think it was their idea." Sharpaxe said.
Augusta had covered her mouth with her hands. "He would have to be very careful which Lord he chooses. Some rings would protect against any kind of mental manipulations like that."
"We think Dumbledore doesn't know about that. Either that, or he is actually delusional as to believe that he is powerful enough as to be able to get around the ancient magics." Severus said. "Either way, these Lords are still presenting his laws as their own. Which means that they don't care how it got on their desk, they just like what they are reading." Harry looked sick when he heard that. He had read some pretty nasty laws against Creatures. "Luckily, not all the laws they present actually make it through. Those are just the milder ones."
"Just the fact that those manage to get through means Dumbledore isn't doing his job as your proxy, if he were to vote against them, none of them would ever get through."
"So, we have a plan for the Wizengamot?" When they all nodded. Augusta continued. "Then I shall ask Daniel to come for a visit so we can talk to him about taking proxy temporarily. What are we going to do when Dumbledore finds out Harry came before the Wizengamot? You know it will be all over the press. Especially that he was responsible for Sirius' release, and that he heard his parents will."
"Well, I already brewed those potions he wants to give Harry, and he has no way of knowing what the Black ring protects against... all the Families tried to keep that secret. Only their account managers really knew about who had what enchantments... the Goblins helped enchant them, after all. So... after the feast, he shouldn't be too much trouble. If he asks though, one of the Potter elves finally managed to get passed whatever enchantments were hiding him from them, and took him to Gringotts. We can tell him Mipsy was watching the records in the Misuse of Magic office or something. Obviously, anything we tell him after that would be the truth, as long as we keep my involvement secret from him. The goblins got in touch with the Longbottoms, and asked them to take Harry in for the remainder of the summer. They mentioned Sirius Black after giving you an inheritance test and showed you your parents will. It won't be any surprise to him, the goblins have been trying to get the Wizengamot to read their wills for years. After that, you got in touch with Amelia Bones about getting him a trial."
"And after the feast, he will believe that despite these setbacks, Harry is still in his control. Because he will have loyalty and other controlling potions in his system, and he won't know the Black Heir ring negates those potions." Augusta summed up.
"Precisely."
"Why can't I have a normal life?" Harry asked Hedwig as he pet her on the head. She hooted at him and sent him reassurances through the link.
"So, I will be at the Wizengamot, and I will bring the wills. It will be quicker this way, we won't have to wait while the Minister tries to stall us by sending someone to search for the original copies. Even then, we have no idea of knowing whether or not Dumbledore has tampered with those somehow on the off chance that they did get read." Sharpaxe said. "Are you ready for this, Harry? This is a big responsibility for someone so young." He said gently (for a goblin, anyway).
"Yeah, I think I can manage it." Harry said, smiling at everyone.
Albus Dumbledore slammed some of his clothes in his suitcase. He really didn't want to go to the ICW conference this year, he had to be on the look out for Harry. He also had some important bills going through the Wizengamot in a few days.
He had no idea that those bills would never even be considered, they would never even get that far.