I should have known it would be Ron who'd bring up the interview first, Harry thought morosely. It was Thursday afternoon, and the youngest Weasley boy had joined him and Neville in Travers Manor, or more precisely in its gardens. The weather was unseasonably warm for mid-April, and they were sitting in the grass by a pond behind the house. "You made the front page twice in the last week," Ron was saying, attempting to sound nonchalant. "That's impressive."

"It's not like it was because I tried," Harry pointed out. "I was shocked when my cousin told me I was in the papers."

Ron blinked at him. "What do you mean? The papers have been bringing you up now and then for years."

"Well, I only found out about it now. And it's seriously weird."

"Gran says it's a waste of time, reading that rag," muttered Neville, who was markedly more subdued in Ron's presence, and Harry was reminded of the beginnings of their friendship.

"My parents don't have many nice things to say about it either," Ron admitted, "and I remember Bill saying once it was only good for wiping your arse."

In spite of himself, Harry laughed. Neville looked a little shocked, though. "What is Bill's work like?" Harry asked, eager to change the topic. "It sounds pretty impressive, from what your mum said."

Ron smiled. "The stories he tells are so cool," he replied. "You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff the Egyptians put into those pyramids." He then spent several minutes describing it, and Harry had to admit that it was, truly, very cool, and he had serious trouble believing some of it.

"How does one become a curse breaker anyway?" He asked. "Is there a special school for it?"

"Nah. Bill just signed up after graduating Hogwarts – had to have insanely good NEWTs to be even considered, though – and did a half a year course or something. I remember the twins commiserating with him, that he just graduated and was going back to school."

"So I take it they're not planning to be healers?"

Ron laughed. "Merlin knows what the twins are planning," he said then, "apart from blowing up everything they come across."

"Ron told me he'd like to be a professional Quidditch player," Harry said, turning to Neville and trying to draw him into the conversation. "It would be cool if we could go and cheer him at his matches, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," Neville said, quietly, and then asked: "What is your favourite team, Ron?"

Harry silently groaned. And they had been doing so well!

In spite of the prolonged Chudley Canons discussion, however, the visit turned out better than expected, and though Harry was certainly grateful that he still had his afternoons only with Neville, he did not mind the idea of Ron coming again at all. The only thing he did worry about was how to make Neville talk when it wasn't just the two of them.

He talked about the Egyptian curses at dinner, and noticed Alduin and Miss Burke exchanging long looks. "What is it?" He asked.

"Well, Harry," Miss Burke replied, "I fear Ronald might have been exaggerating a little. Or perhaps his brother had been, I cannot know that."

"Have you studied ancient Egypt?"

"Well, I am a historian. It is not my specialization, true – my books are on medieval history, and my chief side-interest is the modern one – but I do know a little about Ancient Egypt as well, yes."

"Wait," Harry was distracted, "books? You have written books?"

"Well, yes."

"That is so cool." Haryr turned to Alduin: "Have you written books too?"

"You might not have noticed," his cousin replied, "but I have been rather busy with fighting a war, and then being in a coma. But I would certainly like to, one day."

"About what?"

Alduin smiled a little. "About the nature of Time," he replied.

Harry blinked. He didn't quite know what to think of that, and so he turned back to Miss Burke. "And what are your books about? I mean, I know you said medieval history, but exactly…?"

"One is about Scottish influences on the establishment of separate wizarding society in Britain, the other is a study of political situation in Wizard's Council in the fourteenth century, and at the moment, I am working on the wizarding world's responses to the first witch hunts."

"Can I read it?"

"You may, of course, but...I'm not certain you'd find it entertaining. It's very detailed. It would be better to start with some general books first. If you are interested, there is a number I can recommend, beyond what Alduin already gave you."

Harry nodded enthusiastically.

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The next garden party was at the Shacklebolts, and it was much smaller than the Burke one had been. When Harry asked Alduin about it, his cousin sighed. "It is considered good manners to ask at least the cousins of all living members of a house, and their families, to a garden party. With the Burkes, it means over a hundred people. With the Shacklebolts, however...Nathan's parents are dead, as are his grandparents and those who came before them. It makes for a much smaller party. Also," he added, "the Shacklebolts are less of social climbers than the Burkes are, but don't tell Alexandra I said this."

Harry laughed. "Did the Shacklebolts die in the war too, like my family or yours?"

"Yes. They have a family history of fighting for freedom, so of course they wouldn't keep out of the conflict. Nathan, as the youngest heir at the time, mostly stayed out of it, but the rest of his family pulled no punches...and paid for it."

Looking around the garden, Harry asked: "What does it mean, that they have a history of fighting for freedom? Have they fought in previous wars as well?"

"That too, but it goes deeper than that. They came to England before the Conqueror...they are one of the oldest wizarding families here, along with the Shafiqs and the Smiths."

Harry looked up to him surprised. "But wait...if they are so old, how come you didn't name them among the most important when I asked?"

"Because, as I've said, they've never cared about increasing their political – or financial – capital so much. They have other priorities. The founder of the family was originally a slave, and he was freed after his master figured out he was a wizard – keeping magical slaves was just not done, because as I'm sure you can imagine, it could have potentially disastrous consequences. Abdul the Shacklebolt then convinced his old master to free his parents and siblings as well, and he made it his family's mission to help end slavery in England. The legacy stayed with them, and they are often Aurors, as you can see with Kingsley, or similar." He smiled a little. "They got in big trouble in times of the American Civil War, because wizards are not supposed to meddle in Muggle politics, and especially not in foreign Muggle politics, but they were very involved on the side of the North there. Not that anyone overseas followed the rule about wizards not interfering anyway, there were hundreds of wizards who participated, on each side, but I suppose having an English as-good-as-aristocratic family do it and effectively boast of it was a bit too much. Some of the Southern wizards were very bitter about it. Nathan sometimes jokes that he's still afraid to visit Alabama."

Harry frowned. "But wasn't it hundreds of years ago?"

"Not quite as much as that, but over a hundred, yes. That is not much to wizards. There are still people alive who remember it. Nathan's great-great-grandfather liked to recall his father's stories from the war, since he was the one of the family who was most directly involved in the fighting. His uncle, in turn, helped to train the Northern wizards, since he was an Auror who worked with Muggle police in England and knew a lot about the kind of indirect, hard-to-detect support used when helping Muggles, and his wife took part in supplying the army with potions and herbs that were difficult to get in the North." Alduin paused. "We really should go and talk to other guests, we're being impolite, but I'm sure Alexandra can recommend you some books about this as well."

"Is there something Miss Burke cannot recommend me books on?" Harry asked rhetorically.

He spotted Gamila and Abdulaziz in the group of children standing nearby and approached them. "Hey, Harry," Abdulaziz greeted him. "What were you whispering about with your cousin over there?"

"He was telling me the cool history of the Shacklebolts, in brief."

Abdulaziz grinned. "Oh yeah, it's super impressive, isn't it?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. Did you know the founder of their house was named sort of like you?"

The younger boy seemed surprised by the question. "Er, yeah. I mean, our families originally come from the same area – well, kind of – so..."

"Wait, they do? But you aren't...I mean, you don't look..." Harry trailed off, confused. Mr. Shacklebolt and Mr. Kingsley both had dark skin, much darker than the Shafiqs.

Abdulaziz laughed at him. "No. We're originally from North Africa, but our ancestors were the Arabs who lived there, while the Shacklebolt line comes from down south."

"But...how did you both turn up living in Britain, then?"

"Oh, your cousin didn't tell you that?" Abbudaziz smiled, but he seemed a little embarrassed. "Our ancestor was the trader and slave owner who brought Abdul the Shacklebolt over to England."

"What?"

"Yeah..."

Harry, worried that he'd just made a colossal blunder, uncertainly asked: "So, like, did your two families hate each other or something?"

Abdulaziz seemed to relax a little. "No, not at all. After Ibn Ismail freed Abdul, he basically adopted him – because Abdul was a kid at the time – and taught him about magic. And when Abdul demanded his family was freed, he was pretty receptive. And Ibn Ismail's sons, who sort of grew up with Abdul and were his friends, then kinda supported him in his fight against slavery."

"They grew up with him? Even though their father was some rich slave-owner, and he was an ex-slave?"

Abdulaziz looked at him like he was stupid. "Well, they were all wizards."

Harry blushed. Even though Alduin had told him, he tended to forget that, when all was said and done, that was the only division that truly mattered to the wizarding world.

"The real big deal was convincing Ibn Ismail's sons to help the British Muggle slaves," Abdulaziz continued. "I mean, they were basically settled here, but they still thought of the British as kind of barbarians, so our ancestors were like, why should we help all those non-magical uneducated losers? And Abdul convinced them that exactly because they were better educated, it was their responsibility..."

Harry wondered why he never heard about these people in Muggle history classes, if they were apparently so important. Surely the Muggles must have noticed someone fighting to end slavery? It was yet another thing he'd have to ask Miss Burke about.

"You know really a lot about this stuff," Harry said.

"Well, like I said, the histories of our families are really interconnected, so Dad made us learn this pretty soon. Gamila could tell you most of it already, I guess."

Harry wanted to ask something else, but in that moment, two girls he didn't know approached them. "Hey," the younger of them said, looking at Abdulaziz, while the older one was giving Harry a curious look.

"Hey," Abdulaziz said, a lot less enthusiastically than the girl. "I guess you don't know each other? Harry, these are Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, Daphne, Astoria, this is Harry Potter. Daphne starts at Hogwarts this year as well, right?"

"Yes," Daphne replied. "It's nice to meet you, Harry." Her younger sister echoed her.

"You too," Harry said. "So, do you have a house preference?"

"Not really," Daphne admitted. "I mean, my family was traditionally Gryffindor, but my granddad was in Ravenclaw and my parents are both Slytherins...my uncle and aunt and cousin are still Gryffindors, though, and so is my grandmother...so I really have no idea." She paused. "Well, except that I don't want to be in Hufflepuff."

"I think we can all agree on that," Harry laughed.

"Oh, I don't know. I just escaped Susan and Benjy, and they both sounded like they were destined to go there..."

"Susan and Benjy?" Harry asked, confused.

"Oh, right, I guess you don't know them. Susan Bones and Benjy Fawley."

"Well, they are both traditional Hufflepuff families," Harry said, trying to be fair and proud to demonstrate his knowledge at the same time.

"Well, I guess Susan really can't help it – nothing but Hufflepuffs in her family tree for generations – but Benjy...his mum was a Gryffindor. He should know better."

"I don't know," Astoria joined the conversation. "I mean, yes, the Boneses are very Hufflepuff, but I've heard that Amelia, Susan's aunt, is pretty cool. Maybe it's not so bad..."

All the remaining company gave her disapproving looks, and Astoria frowned and abruptly turned to Abdulaziz. "Where's Gamila?" She asked. "I actually wanted to talk to her."

"I dunno," the boy replied. "She left some time ago. I'd look for her with the Burke children if I were you."

Astoria nodded and left. "I actually wanted to talk to her – no, she didn't," Abdulaziz muttered.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing – only Astoria hounds me all the time, so I'm not gonna believe she was really after my sister."

"Leave my sister alone," Daphne said. "Who is she supposed to talk to, Fawley?"

"I don't just mean this party," Abdulaziz replied. "Every time we're somewhere together..."

"Well, she normally spends time with Harriet – Bulstrode," she added, turning to Harry, "but you two are hardly ever together at the same event. So she has to find someone else."

"She's welcome to Gamila. It's not like my little sister has anyone much to play with here either."

"You're impossible," Daphne said, irritated. "I think I'm going back to Bones."

"Enjoy yourself."

After Daphne left, Harry turned back to Abdulaziz and asked: "Why do you mind Astoria so much?"

"Uh, I don't know. She just bothers me...and she's a girl."

That, Harry had to concede, was a very good point.