DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. New Movie is coming in April! Hurrah! Yeah, for Fanfiction – a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity too! This is the sequel to The Potter Cartouche.

Lavender's grandmother's name is Eloise Hoodwinked.

Chapter 29 The Legacy of Albus Dumbledore

In their home, Andromeda and Ted had a tense conversation following their exit from Hogwarts. Her first statements complained about the teenage wizards. "I can't believe they want to let this witch escape without being punished!"

She paced about the room, Hera and Ares remained silent and invisible. And Ted Tonks tried to get his wife's attention.

"All my hard work to rebuild the Black family's position will fall away. The purebloods will see this as weakness!" Andromeda fussed.

"Andi."

"And to blackmail Amelia like that! In front of witnesses!"

"Andi, take a couple of deep breaths!" Ted insisted.

"And to threaten me as regent!"

"Andromeda Tonks! Stop and listen to me for a minute!"

"What?" the witch asked as if she'd forgotten her husband was in the room.

"Andromeda, you have great pride in your family's long history in Britain, but is there anything in the last fifty years that they did you would be proud of?"

Huffing, Andromeda admitted there was nothing but shame and evil in the actions of her family in the rise of the Dark Lord and the destruction of so many other families.

"There is a chance of restoring your family to greatness and leadership in Magical Britain. You proved the Black family is not to be trifled with last autumn by taking all the wealth and power from Marchbanks for attempting to poach Dennis from the family."

"And this is another case!"

"Andromeda, no one knows who this witch is. I'm guessing she's a muggle-born and doesn't know the law," Ted explained. "Hedge witches live all over the country and they're muggles in most of their lives and brewing a few potions for extra cash."

Frowning, Andromeda groused, "Great. Now the purebloods will claim we're soft on her because she's muddy."

Ted frowned and took his wife's hand before he said, "Someday soon, the purebloods are going to push too hard against the Blacks, Potter, or a combination of the two. Gringotts will side with Freshgold against the ministry and all the purebloods. We must side with them too."

Andromeda frowned and sat silently to think for a while. 'Pureblood prejudices destroyed Magical Britain with that damn dark lord and his stupid campaign – Riddle never wanted to save pureblood culture. He killed more purebloods – light and dark – than anyone else. Can the purebloods be swept aside without more blood? Or does everyone have to die?'

"Ted, I can't step down as Regent, but I need you to help me…the power of the Black family is going to my head," Andromeda admitted. "I destroyed the entire Marchbanks family, and I didn't have to do that."

"That's water under the bridge and you can't undo it. And the purebloods are screaming because the laws they put in place are being used against them," Ted replied. "There' s not a single one of them that would have hesitated to destroy you and the Black family if they thought they could succeed without penalty."

CHANGE SCENE: Flint Manor

In a modest manor hidden among in the farms of Norfolk, Lord Flint and the leaders in his family met with Lord Marchbanks and Lord Huddleston, accompanied by the elders in their families too. They represented all three political leanings in the Wizengamot – dark, light, and grey – purebloods in control of Magical Britain.

"That woman beggared Dumbledore and the minister and the last two ministers," complained Huddleston. "Then she took everything from Marchbanks! Their seat, their manor and all their wealth!"

"If not for the help of other purebloods, we'd be in the alleyways of Diagon Alley," Madam Marchbanks complained. Her great-granddaughter, Phyllis Edgecombe had welcomed them into her home though her husband wanted his in-laws out before the end of the week.

"We cannot let this affront to pureblood rule in Magical Britain stand!" Lord Flint stated. "We must move."

"What shall we do?" asked Huddleston.

Lord Marchbanks replied, "We take down Potter. We grab him and make him give us the secrets to his new magic. If it's as powerful as he claims – as Tofty and Smithers claim – we can put purebloods back on top of Magical Britain for good."

Flint frowned, "How do we get to Potter? He's locked up in Hogwarts until summer."

"We can't wait until summer to move!" insisted Marchbanks.

Suddenly Lord Flint sneered and said, "Does anyone care if the boy is attacked by werewolves? If he's infected, all the better. His magic will be compromised, and we can requisition it then. And he'll be thrown out of Hogwarts and Magical Britain. Anyone can hunt him down and kill him."

"Their magic isn't compromised Flint," Griselda Marchbanks admitted. "But he will be ostracized, and we can steal his magic then."

CHANGE SCENE: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

When the Daily Prophet carried a small article on the trial and conviction Mrs Eloise Hoodwinked for brewing an illegal love potion and trying to send it to Heir Black, there was little made of her family connections but there was some consternation that her punishment was a mere loss of income for one year and a magical vow not to brew the love potion (Amortentia) ever again.

Lavender hid in the dorm room for most of a day before Parvati forced her to come to the Common Room and discover that no one shunned her. Colin and Dennis were a little distant for a time, but the brothers and the witch overcame the uncomfortable situation in a week.

It was a few days later that Headmaster Emeritus Dumbledore learned the particulars of the case in a letter he received from Madam Griselda Marchbanks complaining about the unfairness of the way her family was treated compared to the slap on the wrist the muddy-witch received.

"This witch, Eloise Hoodwinked, is a muddy witch who married into a family of mixed blood and then her daughter caught the pureblood Heir Brown. She tried to lift her muddy granddaughter into the position of Lady Black using a love potion. And all she gets is her license to brew potions revoked for a year! The punishment my family received for attempting to help Minister Diggory find a son and heir was to lose all our wealth, our home, and our seat in the Wizengamot! How is this fair! Please, Albus! Speak with Regent Black and convince her to return our galleons, our home, and our vote in the Wizengamot!"

The headmaster emeritus thought about the letter for some time, spoke to Augusta Longbottom at the end of a busy day when she was likely to share more information than she normally would, and read the article in the newspaper twice. He examined school records going back many years to discover that Eloise Hoodwinked had been Eloise Turner who married Abraham Hoodwinked. They were the parents of Laura Hoodwinked who married Lawrence Brown. That couple were the parents of Lavender Brown.

In a seemingly casual conversation with Miss Brown, Dumbledore discovered that the Gryffindors had rallied around young Colin Creevey who forced his regent to back down from punishing Miss Brown's grandmother.

"There is forgiveness in the hearts of children!" he declared and marched off to speak to young Colin and offer to become the regent for the Black Family, the plea from Madam Marchbanks already forgotten. That second conversation was not as productive as Dumbledore had hoped. For some reason, just as soon as Dumbledore mentioned 'become your guardians', both brothers disappeared. A second attempt to approach the brothers in the Great Hall at supper time ended just as abruptly except this time, Dumbledore was popped away from the Gryffindor table and into his chair at the staff table.

It took him a moment to reorient himself and when he did, Professor Carter leaned close and said, "Dumbledore, before you approach any of my students again to pry into uncomfortable recent events, I must insist that you speak with me first."

"But you can't deny me access to the children!"

"When you speak of things that are not your concern and upset them needlessly, I can. Merlin knows Minerva McGonagall should have sent you scrambling away from the Gryffindors the last twenty years she was here!"

Frowning but wanting to avoid a public argument, Dumbledore turned to Headmaster Bennet and asked about the magic the Creevey brothers possessed that allowed them to vanish inside Hogwarts.

"Vanish inside Hogwarts?" asked Bennet. "What do you mean?

"I was speaking with Colin and young Dennis in the hallway and they both vanished. Then again, just moments ago, I was speaking to them here in the Great Hall and something moved me from their side to the staff table before I could finish the conversation."

Bennet pretended that he didn't know but he promised to investigate and report back to Dumbledore when he had an answer. Dumbledore recognized the non-answer for what it was and turned his attention to his meal which was without any flavour or appeal that evening. When the meal was complete and Headmaster Bennet dismissed the students to tehri evening studies before retiring, Dumbledore lingered with a cup of tea.

After a moment, Augusta Longbottom moved to sit beside the old wizard with her teacup still in her hand. A fresh pot appeared after a moment and Dumbledore refreshed the Deputy Headmistress's cup before filling his own.

"Augusta, I am being regulated to the dustbin of history."

"How so?" she asked. "You will be remembered in the struggle against Grindelwald.

"People will remember him much longer than they remember my name."

"Is our name that important in history or are the things we build and leave behind more important?" she asked.

"You destroyed everything I built here at Hogwarts in just a few months," Dumbledore complained bitterly.

"Then it wasn't built very well. Or it was time for it to die and make way for something new."

"But our institutions must be maintained! Hogwarts must remain to teach magical children to ensure the Statute of Secrecy and build our future."

"Albus, everything has to change too…life isn't static and unchanging no matter how much we wish it to be so. If Hogwarts doesn't change and grow, it'll die."

"Hogwarts won't die."

"No, she won't because she understands that she must grow and change. She's throwing you out of the castle in June."

"And how long will you last?" asked Dumbledore, reminding Augusta of her age.

Augusta smiled and replied, "I'm returning to my home in June. There I will spend the summer with my grandsons and guide them toward growing into wizards who have their eyes on the future, not maintaining a past that should have died with Grindelwald in 1945."

Albus looked away and Augusta noticed when the old wizard said nothing in reply to that statement. She added, "There'll be some young witch or wizard in the role of Deputy here next year. This year was a transition to ease you out of the castle."

After a moment, he asked, "Do you think anyone will remember our names in twenty years?"

"Many people will remember your name in twenty and thirty years in the future, Albus. But time makes memories of us all fade. The former headmasters of Hogwarts are only remembered as names in books. Their portraits hide in your old office and won't speak to others because they can't accept the changes in what was their world."

"No. I refuse to accept that I'll be forgotten so easily."

"Albus, what were the names of your great-grandparents? When were they born? When did they die?"

"How is that relevant?" he asked.

"They were the very people who are responsible for you being here in the world today, but you don't even remember their names."

"I do know the information; it's just filed away in my memories."

"Excellent. What about their parents? That's back in the middle 1700s for you. Did they keep written records of wizards and witches in whatever English village they lived in?"

"What is the purpose of this depressing discussion, Augusta?"

She smiled as she rose and said, "Every generation must step aside at some point and let the young people step into the limelight. We're not going to be here when new problems arise, so we need to let the young ones learn while we're here to advise them."

END OF CHAPTER