"Where is my son!"
"Please, there is no need for hysterics Lady Malfoy," Cantankerous Nott said in his usual patronizing tone.
From the look on Narcissa's face she and Amelia were both on the same page on how they felt about the old bastard.
"Lady Malfoy, my department is willing to reduce your charges if you are willing to work with us. We are willing to offer you probation, a fine, you'll have to submit to random searches of your home, and you will need to pass a class on parenting and the Muggle world. In exchange, you'll need to give us information on your husband's participation in the blood war, his purchase and sale of dark objects, and the hand he played in the situation at Hogwarts last semester." Amelia thought the offer was more than generous but exposing all of Malfoy's crimes was more important than sending his wife off to Azkaban.
"Unfortunately Madam Bones, Lady Malfoy is not interested in such a deal. We will.."
"Lady Malfoy is sitting right here and has not decided what she will do," Narcissa cut in with a sneer.
"My lady, there is no need to even contemplate such a deal. It would in no way benefit the House of Malfoy for you to give such evidence against its Lord," Nott explained to her slowly as if she were a child.
"Lord Nott you seem to forget that the House of Malfoy is more than just Lord Malfoy." Turning back to Amelia she said "what about my son? What will happen to him if I do not take your deal?"
"Your son is currently being evaluated by the Department of Child Welfare. He will be seen by both a medi-wizard and a mind healer. Once he is cleared, we will look for suitable housing for him to stay at until the school semester starts. If both his parents are unavailable at the end of the school year, those accommodations might become permanent."
"So he will be given into Severus Snape's care?"
"No, unfortunately Severus Snape is currently under investigation for another matter and has not been cleared to be in charge of a minor as of yet."
"What is he under investigation for?" Narcissa demanded.
"I'm sorry Lady Malfoy but I am unable to divulge information on an open case."
"Come Lady Malfoy, I'm sure young Draco will be just fine for a few weeks by himself. The house elves are more than capable of looking after him at his age." Nott interjected.
Narcissa may be the icy Lady Malfoy now but she was starting to channel her Black ancestry the more Nott spoke.
"Children should not be left in the care of house-elves for that amount of time Lord Nott . You should know better after what happened to Doyle." She said, arching a perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow.
Score one for Narcissa Black! Doyle Nott was a cautionary tale on what happens when children are left with house-elves without oversight. Cantankerous and his wife had gone on a month-long vacation and decided to leave their son in the care of their house elves. The young Nott had become a household topic when he got his hands on an advanced potion book and decided to brew Felix Felicia in hopes of impressing his new housemates before his first year at Hogwarts. Doyle had his house-elves buy the ingredients for him and assist him in brewing the potion. The results were disastrous. Two house-elves died, the Nott heir was hospitalized for months, and a good portion of Nott manor burned down.
"She is correct," Amelia cut in hoping to bring the interview back on track. "Draco Malfoy will either be housed with his aunt Andromeda Tonks or his Malfoy cousins in France."
Narcissa looked absolutely horrified by both options.
"Yes, well a few weeks with them would do no harm." Cantankerous replied, trying to get his embarrassment under control.
Turning sharply to him, Narcissa gave Nott a long look before saying "Get out. Your services are no longer needed."
"What!" Nott choked out in shock. "You can't dismiss me. I am the solicitor for House Malfoy. Nobody else at the firm will be able to guide you as well as me."
"You misunderstand me Lord Nott, I am not suggesting that you be replaced. I am telling you that I no longer require the services of Mills, Lowback, & Nott. Now, quickly see yourself out." She dismissed him, and turned back to Amelia.
They waited until the door closed before continuing. "I am willing to talk but I want everything in writing before I say anything."
"Of course Lady Malfoy," Amelia agreed with a small smile.
HP-HP-HP
"Who knocketh on my door?" Harry called out.
"Themis"
Opening the door Harry was greeted by a 5'3, blond haired, blue eyed woman in her mid thirties. The woman's sharp features reminded him of Malfoy.
"Watcher Harry!" Tonks said as she closed the door behind her. "What's with the look?" she asked, noticing his face.
"Sorry, you just remind me of someone in that form"
"Ooo, does little Harrykins have a crush?" She teased taking a seat at the table.
"Gross! I don't know who would find Malfoy attractive." Harry replied with all the teenage indignation he could muster.
Tonks cackling madly was not the reaction he was expecting. "I guess I do look a little like cousin Draco like this." She said once she had calmed down.
"Cousin Draco?"
"Yep! His mother, Narcissa, is my mother's little sister."
"So let me get this straight. You are related to both Sirius Black and Draco Malfoy?"
"That's the curse of the purebloods. They are all related to each other somehow, and you're no exception Mr. Potter. Your great aunt Dora was a Black before she married into the Potter family. Who knows what families you are directly related to."
Taking a second Harry thought back to the family tree he saw at Gringotts. There had been a number of familiar names on his tree. He would send a letter to Goldfeather about having an extended family tree made.
"I guess you're right. I remember seeing some of my classmate's last names on my family tree when I had my inheritance test done. I'll have to do some digging to see how closely we are related." There might be more people out there he could consider family.
"Just be prepared to find some really questionable marriages. Keeping things pure sometimes took the form of marrying in the family."
"What?"
"Yah, the Blacks didn't hesitate to marry cousins off to each other." Tonks said with a grimace.
"Well, this has been an enlightening conversation. Where's Kingsley?" Harry said, hoping to change the subject.
Giggling Tonks replied "Kingsley got called into the office this morning to deal with some emergency. We'll have two level one aurors following us today. Paul Macmillan will be following us in plain robes and Todd Hilt will be in uniform walking the streets."
"Did it have to do with Sirius?"
"I don't think so, but whatever happened was big. A lot of the senior aurors got called in." Standing up and gesturing at the door she asked, "So, I thought we would start with the boring bits first and head over to Twilfitt and Tattings?"
HP-HP-HP-
"Thank you for coming in on such short notice, Hagrid." Amelia said to the fidgeting man across from her.
"Yes, well you said it was urgent and that you were trying to find the person responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets. I would like to help but I don't know anymore than Professor Dumbledore would. He knows way more than me." Hagrid replied, giving his beard a tug.
"I'm sure he does Hagrid, however the professor is currently out of the country right now and you are available.".
"Of course Madam Bones, I'll tell you whatever I can."
"I appreciate your cooperation. I know you have been treated unfairly by the Ministry multiple times surrounding this issue and I would like to finally put it to rest. One way we could do this would be for you to allow me to view your actual memories of the events. This way no one can dispute your involvement in the future. Would you be willing to do that Hagrid?"
"I can try but I've never done this before and I'm not so good with magic seeing as how I don't have a wand."
"Don't worry about the magic part. All you have to do is think about the day Myrtle died and the day you were arrested. I will pull the memories out of your head."
She gave him a few moments to collect himself and his memories and then leaned forward to extract them when he gave her a nod.
Storing the long ropes in prepared containers she asked if he would like any refreshments while she viewed the memories.
Once she had him settled she left the room to join Jupiter waiting in her office. The two of them would view the memories and see what information they could gleam about the young Tom Riddle and his first murder.
An hour later she returned to Hagrid with his memories and a copy of the day's Daily Prophet.
"Thank you for allowing me to view your memories Hagrid, it was very helpful. On behalf of the Ministry of Magic I would like to apologize for our mistake 50 years ago and all of the undue hardships you had to endure as well as your imprisonment earlier this year. As of today you have officially been declared innocent of the matter and as long as you pass your OWLs your right to a wand will be restored. I understand at this time it would be hard for you to pass your OWLs without tutoring, so the Ministry is willing to pay for private tutors for both your OWLs and NEWTs for the next 3 years."
Letting that sink in for a moment Amelia continued. "The Ministry is also willing to give you $80,000g in reciprocity. Is this acceptable Hagrid?"
"I.. I'm innocent? I mean of course I'm innocent, but I can have my wand back? It will be official? I won't ever have to go back to Azz... That place?" He all but whispered the last part tears gathering in his eyes.
"No Hagrid, you will never have to go back to that place. You should never have been there in the first place and I'm sincerely sorry this happened to you. I wish I could offer you more but.." No, she needed to stop. She was the head of the DMLE, not a bleeding heart rookie.
Waving his hands around Hagrid said" I don't care about all that gold, you can keep that. I just want my wand back."
"No Hagrid, the money is yours. It's the least the Ministry could do for you. Take it and do something good with it. Travel the world and go see exotic animals. I have it on good authority that you are very fond of animals the majority of us would like to avoid." She said with a small smile.
Giving a watery chuckle Hagrid agreed. "That's true Madam Bones. I was really envious that the Weasley's won the Daily Prophet contest. I guess I can finally afford to take that trip to the dragon reserve in Romania."
"There you go Hagrid, I think you could use a nice vacation after this and in case you didn't see it earlier, here's a copy of today's Prophet."
She laid the paper out so he could read the headlines.
"50 Year Old Hogwarts Murder Solved!"
HP-HP-HP
Harry was happy to be taking a break from shopping. Tonks had been a force of nature the likes of which he could only compare to Hermione in a library with a research topic.
At Twilfitt and Tattlings they had been ushered to a private fitting room, and he had been outfitted with three formal robes, two pairs of slacks, four button-up shirts, and a pair of nice dress dragonhide shoes. Tonks had thankfully handled all talks of style, color, and material. His only job had been to stand still as the assistant tailor took his measurements.
Once the order for robes had been put in, Tonks had insisted he buy a pair of cufflinks and three cravats. He let her handle the cravats so they would match with his robes but she insisted he pick out his own cufflinks.
There had been many boring and pompous options like cauldrons or huge chunks of jewels. But Harry had found a pair of gold snitches in the back of the display whose wings were animated to flap. How could a seeker pass up on those? When he showed them to Tonks, she assured him they would match his robes.
Their first stop of the day was boring but painless. Madam Malkin's was a different story. He had his measurements taken for his school robes as usual with a little space added for growth. Then, Tonks had dragged him over to the side where they housed their books of casual robe designs.
That's where things took a turn. Tonks had made him look through the books and pick out seven designs he liked. Then she had the assistant pull out those designs so he could try them on. Having to come out of the dressing room and model the robes for Tonks, the assistant, and anyone in the shop was very embarrassing.
Harry didn't want to seem snobby but he much preferred the privacy of Twilfitt and Tattlings. He wondered if they made casual robes as well. He wouldn't mind paying the higher prices to escape the embarrassment of having all those strangers watching him try on clothes.
Four out of the seven designs looked flattering on him. Once they had picked out the designs Tonks helped him decide on material and color. The assistant had brought over a booklet with scraps of material that Harry was allowed to feel. They had tried to get him to use dragonhide but then Tonks had stepped in and explained how you should decide. They went through the list of everything from dragonhide to Acromantula silk.
Harry decided on two cotton robes, two linen, one wool, and one crepe. They then went over his color options and decided to stay in darker, rich tones such as burgundy, navy, forest green and black.
Harry almost flew out of the shop with his school robes and a promise to have his casual robes delivered by Friday.
"I feel like I just got out of a double transfiguration class" Harry said as he returned from dropping off his clothes.
"Don't be so dramatic!" Tonks pushed over a bottle of butterbeer. "You now have something to wear for the will reading and if you decide to go to your relatives' trial. Not to mention a start to your wizarding wardrobe. Now you'll know what to do the next time you decide to have robes tailor made."
"I guess so." Harry said after taking a large gulp. "Thanks for your help today. I would have been lost without you."
"Aww, you little charmer. You're going to make me blush." Tonks reached over to give his cheeks a pinch.
"Stop that!" Harry said, batting her hands away. "See if I'm nice to you again." He mumbled as his own cheeks started to turn red.
"Here you go!" Tom said as he came up to their table and served them their orders. "One shepherd's pie and one plate of chicken and rice. Sorry for the delay but we have been a little busier than usual today. People are out and about wanting to gossip about Hogwarts and the chamber of secrets."
"What?"
"Didn't you see today's Prophet? It's all anyone's been talking about today."
"No, we haven't heard anything about that today,'' Tonks replied. "Do you happen to have an extra copy laying around?"
"Sure." Tom reached over to an empty table and grabbed a left behind issue. As he handed the paper over the two occupants could see the day's headline "50 Year Old Hogwarts Murder Solved!"
HP-HP-HP-
"I didn't think I would be saying this but I'm really happy we took on the Potter case. I've never received such quick responses before." Farley said with a hint of amazement in her voice. "Just yesterday I sent out a cease and desist letter to a clothing company putting out an ad claiming that Harry Potter loved their scarves. I received a response this morning with an apology letter and a promise to put out a retraction to the ad as well as a large gift certificate for Mr. Potter."
"If only all of our clients could receive the same amount of respect as Mr. Potter." Howards agreed "How are the rest of his cases coming along?"
"Splendidly! I heard back from Mrs. Rollings the author of the "Adventures of Harry Potter" books today. She was under the impression that she shared the same legal firm with Mr. Potter and they had gotten his permission to publish said books. After receiving my letter she realized she had been lied to and changed firms. She is willing to discuss paying royalties for using his name and likeness."
"I foresee quite the exodus from Mills, Lowback, & Nott as the news of Mr. Potter's new legal representation spreads." Howards said, a shark-like grin forming across his face.
"I wonder how many others will have similar stories?"
"I think the important question is how many will be willing to sue for false claims."
The two continued to go through the list of cases including two more authors, a toy manufacturer, and multiple businesses claiming their product was Harry Potter approved. In most cases Farley was understandably still waiting on a reply.
"Have you heard back from Basil?" Farley asked, closing her notes.
"Not yet. I don't expect to hear back from him until this evening. He has a few decades to sort through."
"What about the class action? Has everyone responded?"
"Thankfully, yes. The Creeveys are completely on board. They had a very rough year. Their son was one of the first cases and getting updates was like pulling teeth. The problem was exaggerated by the fact that he was a first year and they didn't know what to expect. After not hearing from their son for 2 months they reached out to the headmaster who then told them of his petrification. If the Ministry didn't require muggle-borns to continue their education up to their OWLs once enrolled at Hogwarts they would pull him out. They considered letting the Ministry bind him but they have another child who is magical and the Ministry would want to bind him as well. They thought it would be cruel to bind both children."
"What about the Grangers?"
"They were a little different." Howards leaned back in his chair, his face turning into a grimace.
"Apparently the school never reached out to them and their daughter didn't tell them what happened when she returned. My letter was the first they heard of the events. I had a phone call with them this afternoon and they were very upset. For them, this is all new and the anger is fresh. They too wanted to pull their daughter out of Hogwarts and I had to explain to them that their memories would be altered and their child's magic bound. It was a very tough pill for them to swallow. Our group might be small but they will be passionate!"
He could feel the winds of change coming along. He hadn't felt this hopeful since the mid-70's. The last time they were able to push through any meaningful changes for muggle-borns, the purebloods had put on white masks and terrorized the country.
HP-HP-HP-
Finishing up his letter to Hermione, Harry folded in the Prophet's article.
Isabella Hardy had done a good job explaining to readers what happened. She started off explaining the mysterious death of Myrtle, the accusation brought against Hagrid and why, and then exposed Tom Riddle's actual involvement.
She explained his relationship to the Gaunt family, through them his connection to Slytherin, his ability to speak parseltongue, and the false image he portrayed to the school.
By the time she got to last semester's events even Harry was enthralled with the story. How far were they going to go with this? Would they name the students involved? Would they bring up the fact that Tom Riddle was actually Voldemort?
Isabel didn't actually name any of the students, she just identified them by year and house. Tonks explained that she wouldn't use their names because they were minors. However, Isabel did explain that Tom bespelled a student to help him release the basilisk once again, and that Harry Potter had helped track down and kill said creature at the end of the school year.
She then went on to tease an article next week in which they would explain more about the chamber and the basilisk that lived within.
Harry and Tonks spent the rest of their lunch discussing the article and what people were saying about it now that they were paying attention to conversations going on around them. The article also explained why the shops kept trying to talk them into using dragonhide.
Leaving the pub for the second time Tonks had cast a notice me not charm on Harry. They then headed to a clothing shop in Innovation Alley that mixed muggle and wizarding fashion.
There Harry was able to pick up some jeans, 2 hoodies with quidditch related designs, six solid t-shirts, a pair of trainers, and some much needed underwear.
After letting him browse for a bit, Tonks had pulled them over to a section of graphic tees. Harry wasn't familiar with most of the designs but Tonks assured him they were all very cool. He ended up getting a black shirt with the Hogwarts crest on the front, a purple shirt with a gold Weird Sister's logo because they were amazing according to Tonks, a shirt with a seeker named Victor Krum catching the snitch, and a shirt that said "I just have one of those faces".
The Catwalk was by far Harry's favorite shop of the day. He even got Hermione and Ron something. Hermione had a lavender shirt that said "I'm not addicted to reading! I will stop as soon as I finish the next chapter.", and he picked up an extra Victor Krum shirt for Ron.
Harry would definitely call today a success.
As always, I am thankful to everyone who decided to give this story a chance. Especially those who favorite, follow, or leave a review.
*Life has been a little rough lately and it has been hard to get anything written. I am going to take a little break but I will be back at the beginning of the new year.
Here's another great story to distract you while you wait.
Kairos Amid the Ruins by Lomonaaeren - Orion Black/Harry Potter
Harry's attempt to time travel and fix the past went badly awry. Time shattered, and the various pieces of the universe clung to each other as best they could. Harry finds himself in 1961, with Albus Dumbledore the Minister for Magic, Gellert Grindelwald his loving husband, Voldemort newly defeated…and Severus Snape being proclaimed the Boy-Who-Lived.