A/N - I honestly considered leaving this story incomplete after some of the messages I've gotten about it. I'm not against constructive criticism, but yelling at me via private message that the decisions I am making in an AU story are idiotic, that I have to change it, or I'm a terrible writer? That I have to use a plot device you came up with about my story, or you'll make certain that everybody knows what a terrible fanfiction author I am?

Like I said, I considered just dropping the story, but since quite a few people are still writing positive reviews, as well as favoriting the story ... well, I decided to keep going.

This chapter is short, but updates will be coming much more regularly. Thanks for your patience, and your continued interest in this story!

Collisions & Compromises

Chapter 6

by ~chicadoodle

On the nature of Hufflepuffs

There was a common misconception among the populace of the Wizarding World when it came to the House of Helga Hufflepuff, within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was an understandable misconception, but still one that irked those intelligent enough to see the House for what it truly was.

They said Hufflepuff was the house of the leftovers - a place for those who did not fit anywhere else. They said Hufflepuffs themselves contained no extraordinary abilities, that they were the extra - they were loyal because it was all they had. They required the protection and shielding of others, because they could no nothing on their own.

These were the taunts that Hufflepuffs were forced to endure throughout their seven years at Hogwarts, but also as they grew older and entered the world at large. The extras, the nobodys.

Those who understood Hufflepuff house, however, understood that it signified much more than that. A Hufflepuff was not one without any traits, but one who embodied all of the traits of the other houses. Intelligent, but not overly so. Able to think outside the box like a Slytherin, but not to an extreme that would cause them to become callous and friendless. A Hufflepuff did not see individuals as tools to be used, like a Slytherin was wont to do. But they could understand how an individual could do so.

If any of the Hogwarts Houses were to see a sociopath among it's ranks, Hufflepuff would be the most likely. Perhaps that was why Mycroft Holmes had fit in so well there.

Mycroft Holmes had a gift - an ability to become what he needed, when it was needed. He could see the world from any perspective, and he knew how to use that perspective to his best advantage. That, more than anything else, had been his greatest strength.

Over the years, Mycroft had learned to use this ability to gain what he wanted - and that was not power. Mycroft, like the majority of Hufflepuff, was loyal - loyal to his country, loyal to his family, and loyal to himself. Loyalty to self, he had been taught, was the most important loyalty one could ever hope to achieve.

Loyalty to family, Mycroft had found, did not necessarily include an overwhelming amount of sentiment. Just the opposite - sentiment often got in the way of doing what was best for those you felt yourself responsible for. And from a very young age, Mycroft had come to understand that he was responsible for those beneath him.

That included just about everybody he had ever met, in Mycroft's opinion. If he could ... well, the majority of what he would do if he could would not be well-received. People tended to balk at being controlled or manipulated, no matter how much they needed it.

Like pieces on a chessboard, Mycroft had moved those in his life into their places - places they belonged, places they were needed, and places he could make the most use of them. Sentimentality rarely had a place in these movements, though he had been forced to take into account the sentimentality of others.

Harry would have done well in his placement, believing his parents to be the saints that the Wizarding World had made of them, Events had conspired against him, however - but Mycroft was nothing if not flexible.

The most important thing now, was to ensure that his nephew became completely reliant upon him as both a guardian, and a protector against those in the wizarding world who would do him harm. This was a delicate process, and Mycroft had found himself relying more and more on Althea to smooth the way.

Mycroft was not accustomed to dealing with children - more than that, however, there were only so many concessions which he could make without alerting others to his machinations - Sherlock and John Watson being the most prominent of these.

The introduction of his nephew to the Malfoy family was a part of this, of course. His connection to Narcissa Malfoy following the incarceration of her husband had been integral to ensuring that she - and her son - did not make the foolish decision to turn their 'Dark Lord' for help.

The Malfoy's had always been discreet - this was one of the reasons they had always done so well in politics, for good or ill. That discretion would serve him well now - as would their arrogance.

They would believe that they now held leverage over him - no pureblood family would ever admit that a bastard had been allowed to survive within their bloodline, after all. That arrogance would serve him well, when he had need of it.

Narcissa Malfoy was not a woman to allow an opportunity to pass her by - not when it could mean that she, a trophy wife, could hold power over a man that would normally have been considered her better . . . at least in political circles.

She would take this information and keep it close to her chest, Mycroft knew. He had little to fear from her - she might attempt to use this information to garner more favor from Mycroft himself, but she would gain nothing by revealing it to the public.

The little display that Althea was helping to put on, by having young Harry in the company of the Malfoy's, however . . . that would serve his purposes quite nicely. By placing The Boy Who Lived in the company of the Malfoy family, he was ensuring that his nephew would be forced to rely on him more and more, as rumors circulated as to what, exactly, the brave - and exceedingly rash - Gryffindor was doing. It would appear to many as though Harry were publicly siding with a known Dark family, and that could only bode ill for his public image.

Mycroft would stand as a buffer between Harry and the Wizarding World, between the teenager and the vicious rumors that were certain to begin circulating.

Of course, there were those who would recognize Althea and her connection to Mycroft - but even that would help to keep the boy close to him. It was known in political circles that he had thrown a figurative protective arm over the remaining Malfoy's, and Althea's presence would only serve to solidify this within the minds of such individuals.

Mycroft was not willing to dismiss the power of public opinion, particularly not within the Wizarding World. Thought he public's favor could be fickle and change as swiftly as the weather, it was still a powerful tool for those intelligent enough to know how to make use of it.