Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything you can recognise from any books or TV series or movies. I do however take liberties with the plots or mentions provided by JKR or other writers. The only profit I'm getting out of it is improving my English.

Title: Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Rating/Warnings: R/M [AU; Manipulative Dumbledore (therefore not Dumbledore friendly); profanity; canon typical violence; frank discussion of past child abuse (Harry but not only) and of past child abuse of sexual nature (not Harry); not very detailed descriptions of torture (not Harry); Black family feels; identity crisis; pureblood politics; good Slytherins]

Characters and pairings: Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Bathsheda Babbling. As well as Hermione Granger, Arcturus Black, Larry Lawrence (OC) and Josephine Turner (OC). The rest of characters will appear as the story progresses.

All adults are more or less paternal towards Harry or grandfatherly towards Hermione as well as generally friendly or at the very least civil towards each other once they sort out their differences.

References to past and present relationship of sexual nature between Snape and Babbling. Occasional mentions of one sided Sirius/James, not one sided Sirius/OFC (the woman of many names). Contains mentions of Remus/Tonks, eventual allusions to Larry/Josephine and background Arcturus/Melania. No Harry or Hermione pairings because they have a lot on their plates and won't have time for teenage nonsenses for a longer while (at the very least through PoA timeline).

Spoilers: All seven books with occasional, brief references to ground work for HP & CC main plot as well as Secrets & Keepers – Collision Course and Secrets & Keepers – Supernova.

Summary: Harry & Hermione learn that as weird as everything become in the aftermath of learning devastating news is that the life actually goes on. There's a Dark Lord to destroy, a manipulative Headmaster to overthrow, family bonds and new friendships to establish and old ones to maintain. Direct sequel to S&K - Collision Course and S&K - Supernova.

Chapter summary: If what he already learned wasn't bad enough Harry learns that it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Word count: About 7300.

Author's note: I didn't get to deep into explaining the Potter family estate in chapter 4 for this very reason. As it was something that should be discussed with Harry. We also left 8th August behind us and from there things will be progressing faster. In the beginning on day to day basis as certain discussions and decisions need lead to other discussions and decisions. But I will be skipping time when I can. Just like I will have two or more chapters devoted to one day. I learned my lesson with chapter 5, if a chapter is getting too long and I know that it will get even longer I will manage the split in places that make sense. And yeah, I tend to get side-tracked at times but that's because I'm playing what might piss people off bingo with Dumbledore as the one printing bingo sheets.

And yeah, you probably saw part of this conversation already but like I promised Babbling will do anything to remove students from Trelawney's class.

Next chapter will be posted on Tuesday 9th February 2021.

Beta read by Regnbuen (Nitraz).


A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

~Henry Brooks Adams

Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Chapter seven: Lessons Learned

Harry Potter, 9th August 1993, 12 Grimmauld Place, London

He woke up slowly, feeling a bit groggy and almost uncomfortably, pliantly relaxed. The bedsheets around him were warm and smelt faintly of lavender and a certain musky scent which origins he couldn't pinpoint, or even bring himself to bother about, until a couple of minutes later, in an attempt to roll over to burrow even further into the mattress, he managed to kick something. Something soft and come to think about it, pretty big. He turned his head in that direction and cracked one eye open and stared in a pair of alert grey eyes that belonged to a giant black dog.

"Morning," he mumbled before he yawned, and after a moment he added pensively. "Is it morning?"

The dog had the decency to look a bit sheepish, which in turn made Harry frown at him as he propped himself on his elbow.

"You slipped something into my tea, didn't you?" he asked before he yawned.

The dog whimpered pitifully.

"You know this conversation would be going far smoother if you used your actual mouth," he pointed out as he sat up.

In turn the dog jumped from the bed turning mid-air into his godfather. Sirius hardly looked any better than he did yesterday.

"Did you actually sleep?" asked Harry curiously.

"A couple of hours here and there," replied Sirius with a grimace. "If it makes you feel better Reg decided to retire me to bed by slipping a sleeping draught into my tea too."

"Where is he?" asked Harry.

"He was downstairs last time I saw him," replied Sirius. "If you're feeling up to it, breakfast should be served in about twenty minutes."

"Why wouldn't I be feeling up to it?" asked Harry simply, even as the memory of the last day came to him.

Weirdly, as present as it felt, the knowledge that he was a vessel for a piece of Voldemort's soul didn't feel as ominous and hopeless as it felt yesterday. Must be the lingering effect of a calming draught or the truly outrageous number of hours he spent sleeping.

"I'll be down there in twenty," he added swiftly as he threw back the covers and started to get up from the bed.

When he came downstairs about fifteen minutes later, dressed in clothes that fit him – after he was unable to locate his old ones in any of the rooms on the topmost floor – he found Sirius and Snape seated on the furthest side of the table from the door and Babbling and Regulus surrounded with piles of parchment on the opposite end of the table.

He quirked his eyebrow at Sirius as he passed by Regulus, saying a "Good morning" as he walked by and in reply he received some grunts.

He sat down next to Sirius and opposite to Snape, and still looking at Sirius, he asked as he motioned with his head at Regulus and Babbling, "What are they doing?"

"At the moment they're trying to decide whether or not your father was simply an unfortunate idiot or a monumental moron," commented Snape as he lowered the Daily Prophet he was holding.

"Well, I know where you stand on that, Professor," quipped Harry. "But why are they doing it?" he asked curiously as he looked at Sirius.

"Kreacher managed to locate Proudclaw while you were sleeping," replied Sirius with a slight grimace. "Reg's been going over the Black family accounts while Bathy commandeered the financial reports from the Potter family estate."

Harry's eyebrows flew to his hairline and he said cautiously, "I haven't received any."

"It's complicated," sighed Sirius heavily. "Technically you're the last living descendant of the main line of the Potter family so you should be receiving the financial reports. But also you're still a minor, therefore these reports should be made not to you but to your legal guardian."

"They weren't," said Harry quickly. "Because if the Dursleys realised that I have a pile of gold they would have gotten over their hate of the magical world, and magic in general for long enough to empty the vault and exchange all of it into pounds."

"The thing is, by goblin standards Petunia isn't considered as your legal guardian because your parents last will and testament named me as such," replied Sirius. "But because prisoners of Azkaban don't receive mail, the reports has been piling up. Since I haven't been picking it up, all of the reports eventually made their way to my grandfather, and together with the financial reports he received when he requested them from as far back as your father's seventeenth birthday, they produced that," he gestured towards the high pile of parchment by Babbling's side.

"Is there something I should know about?" asked Harry sceptically.

"That's what Bathy is trying to determine," said Sirius with a grimace. "What I managed to discover isn't good, but I only skimmed over the reports. Bathy on the other hand is being thorough."

Snape snorted just as tea appeared on the table.

"So how bad is not good?" asked Harry pointedly.

"It essentially boils down to his opening statement," answered Sirius as he jerked his head slightly towards Snape. "Unfortunate idiot or a monumental moron," he added with a soft snort. "What we do know for certain is that your parents' cottage in Godric's Hollow has been sized by the ministry as a national landmark, and that the Potter Manor itself at some point has been lost to a fire of suspicious origins."

That information didn't sadden him as much as it probably should have. He had no memories from the cottage and those he had weren't exactly good. He'd never before considered returning there, most probably not until he was an adult himself, and even then, he wasn't sure if that would be the place where he would want to live. And the idea of the Potter Manor seemed a bit abstract to him.

"Are there any other Potter family properties?" he asked pensively.

"I knew about a couple of them, mostly small cottages and a summer home in Tuscany. They've been relicts of the times when the family was big and spread out, but neither Henry nor Fleamont had a head or a heart to properly maintain them. If it was sorely up to him, Fleamont wouldn't even have renovated the cottage in Godric's Hollow, but James was adamant about gaining some independency so he eventually splurged on that. I have no idea how that Tuscan villa has been faring though. It's a summer home so it should have been used, but your parents didn't have a proper honeymoon so I know literally next to nothing about it."

"Because there's literally next to nothing left," said Babbling from over the pile of parchment. "The Manor perished in a fire, the cottage in Godric's Hollow has been sized as a national landmark. Urg has been liquidating habitable cottages in an attempt to keep the Potter accounts balanced. He managed to renovate a couple of the derelict ones and lease them out for a couple of years before he sold them too. And that Tuscany villa… don't even get me started."

"Sounds like a monumental moron," muttered Snape.

"That would be Potter Senior," said Babbling as she straightened herself. "It was owned by the Potter family, but I managed to find the deed to it that awarded the ownership of it to Dorea Black."

"Which is what I've been trying to find," added Regulus without looking up. "I'm also trying to find her last will and testament or at the very least a copy of it, but it isn't there."

"Which means that the copy of it was either in the Potter or Black manor," muttered Sirius.

"I'm leaning towards the Black manor," said Regulus sourly. "Dorea married a Potter but she died as a Black. She never wanted to have anything to do with James so I'm assuming that she thoroughly disinherited him."

"Which is why he's also going through the Black family properties and trying to find something in Tuscany," added Babbling.

"And because goblins like to comply their inventory lists of the properties by their names rather than locations I have to get through all of this," added Regulus as he patted the furthest pile on his right with his hand.

Compared to other piles of parchment that surrounded him it didn't exactly look imposing but it still looked like a lot of stuff to go through.

"Well, you have a list," Sirius pointed out casually.

"That does me fat lot of good considering that list refers only to the name of the country and not its specific regions," replied Regulus with a snort. "That pile," he tapped the same pile again, "contains only the list of our Italian properties."

"That's a lot," commented Harry curiously.

"Ancient and spread out family of considerable wealth," Regulus pointed out grimly. "And quite a lot of these deeds refer to properties that no longer exist but we still maintain ownership of the grounds on which they once stood. I won't be surprised if I will find in there a deed that awards us with a considerable amount of ownership of the grounds underneath Vatican City," he added with a snort.

"What about the Potter family vaults?" asked Harry as he looked at Babbling.

Babbling snorted softly, "What vaults?"

"How about you start with the ones that still generate any income?" offered Sirius patiently.

Babbling grimaced and shook her head but she reached for one of the folders that was laying on the top of one of the piles and opened it before she started reading, "Vault 1012. Nature: trustee vault. Ownership: Harrison James Potter. Restrictions: age restriction, the owner must turn 11 years old at the very least of the day of accessing it for the first time. Restrictions were met on 31st July 1991 when it was first accessed. Set up by James and Lily Potter on 9th August 1980. Upon establishing, it was supplemented with 1000 galleons from James Potter's private account and another 1000 galleons from Lily Potter's private account. According to the legal paperwork, it was supposed to be annually supplemented with that sum coming from both accounts on the anniversary of that day. In addition to that, James Potter redirected into that account the dividends that he received from the three patents once owned by Fleamont Potter. As usual, dividends were supposed to supplement the vault with income on 1st February for as long as patents remained valid. In addition to that, vault 1012 over the years has been supplemented with…" she looked expectantly at Regulus.

"Vault 711," said Regulus pointedly as he looked at Sirius. "On the very same day, with a donation of 1000 galleons…"

"Whoa," Sirius interrupted him quickly. "I didn't have that kind of money in there that day. I know that for certain. I requested a transfer of 100 galleons because that was as much as I could afford back then."

"I know," said Regulus dryly. "Which is why I looked up the expenses of vault 611 from that day, and curiously enough I found a transfer of 1000 galleons from that vault to vault 711, with an annotation to amend your transfer request to that sum," he explained and smiled at Sirius. "You might have walked away from the family, but your vault was in your name and still remained under Proudclaw's management."

"Son of a bitch," groaned Sirius and he shook his head. "Let me guess it isn't the only transfer that has gone through my vault, is it?" he asked and grimaced.

"According to the financial statements vault 711 supplemented vault 1012 with the sum of 1000 galleons on 31st July 1981; 3rd November 1981; 25th December 1981; 31st July 1982; 31st October 1982 and so on until 31st July 1991…" counted out Regulus.

"I didn't have that kind of money, and while I'm not as big of a maths whiz as either of you, we're talking about sums of tens thousands of galleons," objected Sirius firmly.

"Technically between 9th August 1980 and 31st July 1991 you deposited into that account 23 thousand galleons, which you didn't reportedly have," said Regulus before he reached for a folder. "But I did check, and in the year of 1981 a total transfer of 13 thousand galleons were made into your vault from vault 611. Then we have 12 thousand galleons in the year 1982 and every single one that followed until the year 1991."

"They hadn't been made at the same time, had they?" asked Harry pensively.

"No, what went into yours had been transferred on 31st July and 31st October. Those that went solely to Sirius were transferred on 3rd November each year."

"Until now?" asked Snape suddenly, he sounded mildly interested.

"Until the year of 1991 because that's how far I managed to get," replied Regulus. "The year of 1991 for you had closed with a total balance of 200 127 galleons and a pile of sickles I'm not even bothering to check."

"To whom does account 611 belong?" asked Snape curiously.

"Belonged, our grandfather Arcturus," explained Regulus. "Personal vault, I haven't even touched his sources of income."

"Remuneration for a misdeed?" mused Snape out loud.

"If you call being wrongfully imprisoned a misdeed," replied Sirius with a snort.

"Why would he do that?" asked Babbling pensively. "I mean, he was leaving everything to you anyway. Why keep adding to that?"

"Guilty conscience," Sirius said with a grimace. "That's most likely," he added and shook his head. "What about Harry?" he added, changing the subject. "What about the dividends from the patents?"

"The good thing is that they're still there, but they've been steadily running out and losing their worth. They never surprassed the sum of 1000 galleons a year, usually averaging on the level of about 750 to 500 till the year of 1989 when the most lucrative one expired. The last statement I found annually entitles 100 galleons to Harry from a patent that expires on 31st December 1995."

"And the Potter vaults?" asked Sirius pensively.

"You aren't going to like it," replied Babbling. "Per the Potters instructions their vaults supplemented vault 1012 with a total sum of 1000 galleons annually until the year of 1983. In year 1984 it went down to 500 galleons and in 1985 to 100 galleons."

"Wasn't that against the instructions?" observed Harry.

"Instructions to fill one's cup mean nothing if the jug from which you're supposed to pour the drinks is bloody empty," replied Babbling sourly.

"So I'm broke," said Harry calmly. His comment made Snape snort and he quickly added, "Well, broke aside of what I received from Sirius and by extension, his grandfather. But aside of that, that's it?" he asked with a frown.

"It's complicated," admitted Babbling. "Technically the Potter family has some shares in a couple businesses and received dividends from patents for many years. But it's a disheartening amount of money that barely covers the management of the vaults. The main Potter vault supplies all of the smaller vaults with enough income to keep them from closing, and they need to be kept from closing because only a Potter can close them, and you can only do that when you have reached your legal maturity. I'm not exactly a financial manager, but if I were you, I would have liquidated all of them with the exception of the main vault. The goblins will get you a nice compensation for freeing the vaults, especially vault 327, it costs an arm, a leg and half of a butt cheek to maintain and it doesn't have anything in it except air."

"Okay," nodded Harry slowly. "So what became of the money that was supposed to be there?" he added pensively. "Has it been stolen? I thought that no one dared to steal from Gringotts."

Well, no one except a Dark Lord in pursue of a magical artefact, he mused grimly.

"That's what started the entire discussion over the levels of your father's intelligence," commented Snape simply. "Your dogfather discovered yesterday that your father made transfers concerning truly ridiculous sums to one Percival Peverell."

"What for?" asked Harry with a frown. "Who is that guy?"

"That's one of the things which I'm trying to ascertain," replied Regulus. "But we have pretty strong suspicions that it's an alias used by one scheming old coot that is better known as Albus Dumbledore."

"Son of a…" slipped out of Harry's mouth but he managed to keep himself from finishing it. "And what did he need the money for?" he asked with a huff.

"The story that I'm sure he managed to feed James with, was for the war effort. You know, the sharing one's fortune with the less fortunate ones," answered Sirius sourly. "Safe houses, supplies for them, occasional bribes, potions ingredients."

"An entire vault of which was surrendered to him," interjected Babbling and she snorted. "I can understand sacrificing a portion of one's wealth to the war effort but that bloody moron didn't just sacrifice a vault filled with gold to Dumbledore, he bloody authorised Percival Peverell to withdraw from almost every single bloody vault except Harry's. Any sum of money Dumbledore wished at any given time, in any of the Gringotts branches all over the world. It's not even a swindle anymore, it's a daylight robbery that went on for years."

"Even after the war had ended?" asked Harry softly.

"Especially after the war had ended," said Babbling sourly. "The ministry reimbursed you for seizing the cottage in Godric's Hollow but that money disappeared from the vault the very day the deposit had been made."

"And that isn't the only problem," added Regulus. "What's even more outrageous is that in spite of being supposedly named a beneficiary of the Potter family's educational fund, which should exclude you from being charged with school fees, you're still paying them as if that fund didn't exist."

"Does Hogwarts has someone who checks out this kind of stuff?" asked Harry pensively.

"Yes, it does," answered Snape sourly. "They're called Headmaster or Headmistress. It's one of their responsibilities and curiously enough the only one that that twinkling old goat haven't dumped on McGonagall yet."

"And he never will," added Sirius with a snort. "Say what you want about Minnie but as faithful as she is to Dumbledore, she has a pretty strong moral compass, and if she discovered that Dumbledore has been double-charging people and getting away with it, she would rat him out, respect and Gryffindor loyalty be damned."

"Assuming that she would be able to find her own tail in it," replied Snape. "I took the liberty of acquainting myself with that brick called 'Hogwarts' Division of Duties' and I'm still contemplating the idea of beating Dumbledore to death with it."

"Good read?" quipped Regulus.

"Terrific," replied Snape icily. "I especially liked the part about proper compensation for additional duties in accordance to the actual work input."

"Feeling duped are you?" asked Sirius innocently.

"Quite so, you runaway mongrel," retorted Snape. "I have a First Class Mastery in three fields: Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. And while I'm not a fully-fledged healer I'm a certified first responder and I moonlight for Pomfrey when she gets sick and can't get a replacement from St Mungo's, and while it doesn't happen often, it does happen. In addition to teaching Potions I actively supply the hospital wing with ninety percent of the required potions. On top of that I'm responsible for corralling a fourth of the school population."

"And you're not being paid enough for this shit," said Sirius briskly. "If the average wage of an Auror and Hit-Wizards in 1981 had been 500 and 700 galleons a month respectively, and only because Ministry passed that reward for dangerous lifestyle legislation, which essentially doubled the old wage…" he frowned for a moment. "That would mean that the average wage of a Hogwarts Professor would be at around two hundred…"

"Two hundred fifty per month," said Babbling sourly. "Supposedly for one full time job. That's what I'm getting for every month that I spend only teaching Ancient Runes. Then there's additional fifty per month in every school year in which I have Ancient Studies because it's an advanced course and I don't always have candidates for that."

"You got one hundred fifty for every month that you spent substituting for Vector," Snape pointed out.

"Which is another full time job for which I should be fully compensated," she replied swiftly. "But I'm not because it's not a full time position in my contract. Then there's the essentiality clause. I'm not teaching a core subject, I'm not a head of a house and therefore I'm charged for maintaining Hogwarts quarters and meals."

"I forgot about that," muttered Snape. "I get five hundred after the expenses of ingredients due to the fact that Potions are a core subject and being the head of Slytherin."

"That sounds relatively good," said Regulus slowly.

"Thanks to the inflation," said Snape with a snort. "I don't have the same contract as Bathsheda. She has a twenty years tenure. My contract is indefinite therefore the board can adjust my salary accordingly. I started off with two-hundred per month while both teaching Potions and heading Slytherin. While according to your great-great grandfather I should receive a full salary for every full time position I take upon myself. Which should get me nine hundred at the barest minimum. Plus one hundred for readiness to take over the Hospital wing if something happened to Pomfrey."

"How does that reflect on other people's salaries?" asked Harry pensively. "Say Mr Weasley, he works at the ministry."

"Weasley is a really bad example," said Babbling with a grimace. "As a Ministry worker, non-essential ministry worker I should add, he gets one hundred and seventy per month, plus another forty for being the head of his department. Which gives him a total of two thousand five hundred and twenty a year, but he has five children at school age and he's paying the full fees. Which leaves him with roughly twenty galleons to survive on."

"Isn't that daylight robbery?" asked Harry sceptically.

"It's not a daylight robbery Potter, it's poor family planning," Snape pointed out. "The concept of big families has been favoured in the wizarding world. Many of the less privileged families live on similar salaries, but majority of the parents bear in mind that while the upbringing of pre-Hogwarts children costs very little, Hogwarts fees are a murder to the family budget. That's why it's sensible to not have more than three children of Hogwarts age at the same time. Weasley has five and it reflects on his family budget."

"But to be fair they have no more children, and with Percival out of Hogwarts next year their financial situation should improve," added Babbling simply.

"It would improve even more if those two rascals got themselves expelled one day," Snape pointed out with a snort.

"I wouldn't count on that," interjected Babbling. "They're toeing the expulsion line but hasn't done anything that would warrant it. It's more likely that they will fail to climb above Acceptable on their OWLs which will leave them with no advanced classes and with their father being unable to cover the penalty fees they will have to be removed from Hogwarts."

"I wouldn't be counting on that," Snape said grimly. "Weasley is Dumbledore's staunchest supporter and his troublesome progeny could be considered by Dumbledore as essential to coning Potter into believing that everything is fine and dandy with the wizarding world. Therefore it's highly likely that if that happens, one of us will be cowed into taking those two into an advanced class."

"Not you, that's certain," replied Babbling with a snort. "Flitwick most likely," she added pensively.

"Or Hagrid," muttered Snape. "He's fond of those rascals, and if Dumbledore leans on him heavily enough he would lower the standards of his advanced class."

"Hagrid is teaching?" asked Harry curiously, a bit miffed that Hagrid didn't mention anything about it. "He's no longer the groundskeeper?"

"Yes and no, in that order," answered Babbling. "Your little trip to the Chamber of Secrets has cleared him from whatever charges had been hanging over his head for releasing the Slytherin Monster. That's why Dumbledore could offer him the vacating post of Care of Magical Creatures Professor. But he will still remain Hogwarts' groundskeeper."

"He didn't say anything," muttered Harry petulantly.

"Most likely doesn't want to jinx it," said Babbling with a shrug. "It's been a big secret that every teacher knows about. He isn't the most qualified candidate for that post but one that's almost completely supported by the staff unlike the others."

"Almost completely?" asked Harry as he glanced at Snape.

"Binns opinion doesn't really count," said Snape simply. "And yes, I supported his candidature."

"Against your academic judgment," interjected Babbling.

"His lack of certification on the subject isn't my concern, it's Dumbledore's. My concern on the other hand is maintaining a civil relationship with one of the sources of potions ingredients because it reflects on my budget. It's a small sacrifice to make for the lack of the new source of headaches," replied Snape crisply. "Besides, he can't be worse than Kettleburn has been in the last couple of years, and he does have an extensive knowledge on the subject of magical creatures."

"It's nice and interesting but haven't we strayed too far away from the original subject?" asked Sirius pointedly. "While I'm uncertain about the total balance of the Potter family estate, considering their chosen field of business prior to letting Dumbledore into it, there had to be at around a hundred thousand galleons…"

"The total net worth of the Potter family estate on the day of James Charlus Potter's seventeenth birthday had been estimated at two hundred and seventy-eight thousand, six hundred and fifty-seven galleons," interjected Babbling. "In gold only. I didn't get into estimating the value of potions ingredients because I'm still hunting down the potions vault inventory. But considering the family business, at the barest minimum it was worth about a half of that, most likely more."

"That's an absurd amount of money," noted Harry. "What would Dumbledore need it for?"

"He always had a truly ridiculous taste in robes," muttered Sirius.

"They aren't made from dragonhide though and he's been with that cousin of that dodgy classmate of his for ages," Snape pointed out. "The only thing he's most likely charged for is the cost of materials and even then I hazard a guess that it's with a very generous discount," he added and frowned for a moment. "Alchemy though," he muttered, "that's a costly hobby. Rare books, rare ingredients, bribes involved."

"How costly?" asked Harry pensively.

"Enough to be a hobby of the privileged few," replied Snape grimly. "Unless one has an inordinate stroke of luck and is capable of finding gems in at auctions of died out families. Doesn't happen very often because most goblins that lead the auctions, unlike some wizards, know the value of everything that's auctioned."

"Isn't alchemy the same as Potions?" asked Harry pointedly.

"Just as much as Charms and Transfiguration are the same subjects," commented Snape sourly. "After all there's a lot of foolish wand waving involved. Academically, alchemy for a very long time was referred as the study of magical properties of ingredients, while potions had been the practical application of alchemic knowledge."

"So while not every alchemist was a potioneer every potioneer to a certain degree was an alchemist," said Harry slowly. "But if alchemy is the study of the magical properties of ingredients then what is herbology?"

"The study of proper maintenance of plants, herbs and fungi, mostly of magical origins as the very definition of thereof claims. Something which I know is in the preface of your 'Magical Plants and Fungi'," answered Snape sharply.

"To be fair alchemy refers to all magical ingredients, not only of plant origins," added Babbling simply. "He's just being an arse because that bloody book reminded him about the Potions curriculum. And don't you dare to get him started on that because he can rant about it for hours on end."

"Justifiably," coughed Regulus.

"Can Kreacher finally serve breakfast because it's getting cold," interrupted Kreacher.

Against Babbling's advice and out of nothing but pure curiosity Harry, with Regulus' help, over breakfast did get to needle Snape about issues with the Potions curriculum. He quickly learned that the entire thing was outdated and updated for the last time about a hundred years ago. He was also informed that the entire concept of learning through brewing was a giant load of bollocks because it left no time for the basics of metallurgy that had a potential to affect the brewing process or how certain ingredients reacted.

By the time breakfast ended and Kreacher removed the empty plates from the table Snape's tirade dissolved into a discussion about how thorough reorganisation of the Potions curriculum would affect the curriculums of Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, and how the changes made to that would affect the subject planning at Hogwarts. To Harry's bemusement he found out that Sirius and Snape agreed on the idea of minimalizing the numbers of hours per subject for the sake of teaching all subjects that Hogwarts offered from the very beginning. That in turn didn't sit well with Babbling and Regulus, who argued that it would cheapen the amount of education offered. Which in turn got them an argument how third years could sit their OWLs from elective subjects like Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination and Muggle Studies and after that decide which one of them they would like to pursue further on advanced levels. In return, Snape and Sirius received an argument that the same could be said about the core subjects because three years of learning would be enough to ascertain whether or not someone had a talent in whichever field.

They continued to argue in that manner for a little while longer, with Harry gently needling whomever he felt needed to elaborate their point. But in general he was soaking up all of the ideas and new information. And there was a lot of it to process. Eventually the discussion came to an end when Sirius and Snape had moved to the subject of Dark Arts and how much that curriculum required reorganisation. They had just gotten to a really interesting point of how portions of the curriculum that contained defence against magical creatures should be shifted into the Care of Magical Creatures curriculum when Sirius abruptly ended it, kicked Snape under the table and told him that he needed his help in the library.

Uncertain whether or not he should follow them, Harry opted to stay in the kitchen in order to needle Babbling for more information about the Potter family estate. It was something that he didn't come to regret in the end but it was a truly depressing read.

He learned that his ancestors had a well prospering business called Potter Beautifying Emporium or Imperium (neither he nor Babbling could decide how it was officially written in the documents because the writing was a bit smudged and looked like a chicken scratch to begin with). He also learned that Charlus' gambling debts nearly finished off both the business itself and a lion share of the family accounts. He also had also been informed that the majority of his ancestors were idiots by adhering to some inner tradition of maintaining empty vaults just to have them.

The most interesting part of that morning however, was an ancient looking deed written in runes, which Harry didn't understand at all but Babbling mercifully translated into English, that contained information about what she called the source of the centuries long animosity between the Potters and the Princes. Apparently it was a marriage contract between some fellow called Henry (very bloody original, as he quickly learned, Henry to the Potters was as popular a name as Sirius had been to the Blacks) Potter and Lucretia Prince that claimed that upon the day of marriage, the newlyweds would receive a fully equipped Potions shop in a village which name Harry couldn't repeat as it was Welsh. Not that he didn't try, but after he got it wrong on the fifth repeat he just shrugged off.

Babbling also had him track with Regulus' help the sources of income of his personal vault, which according to the last monthly statement from 1st August 1993 contained a total sum of 36 100 galleons. Which seemed like a lot even after reducing 2000 galleons for future Hogwarts fees but very little once he remembered how the money that he received from Sirius more than doubled the money left to him by his parents. Not that he cared about the money, he would much prefer to have his parents back rather than their money, but that didn't stop him from thinking that for his poor financial decisions he would very much like to kick his father in the arse.

And he very much deserved one, as thanks to him, from a family of considerable wealth, according to Babbling the financial equivalent of a high middle class or low upper class, the Potter family had gone almost completely broke. And while Harry technically owned some shares in a couple businesses and a handful number of patents, they generated just enough income to keep the total balance after excluding the contents of his own vault at roughly ten to fifty galleons a year, which according to Babbling wasn't enough to warrant a transfer to his vault because goblin fees would consume a large amount of the money left.

Then there was the matter of the money which his mother was supposed to receive as a bequest from Arcturus Black. Technically it was Harry's inheritance, but due to conditions of the will, until Harry became an adult or Sirius authorised a transfer, the money was considered as a frozen asset and therefore inaccessible.

The thing that brightened his mood considerably was the property bingo that at some point Regulus started to play with the help of the map of Italy and deeds to the Black family's Italian properties. He did find a couple of villas in Tuscany but none of them were owned at any point of time by a Dorea Black or Dorea Potter, or in fact any Dorea.

By the time lunch rolled around, and Regulus headed upstairs to drag Sirius and Snape down from wherever they had been holed up, or to check-up whether or not they had managed to murder each other. Under Babbling's watchful eye Harry was learning the runic alphabet, Elder Futhark to be exact.

Prior to doing that however, she explained how deeply the wizarding world depended on runes even though not many people pursued a basic education on the subject. According to Babbling, a lot of charms, especially the more advanced ones, had been deeply rooted in wand movements imitating drawing runes. Wards in particular depended heavily on tying one's blood or magic, or both to runes. And while there were wards that could be placed without anchoring stones they weren't as secure as those that had them.

And it wasn't that prior to choosing his elective subjects he didn't look up books on Ancient Runes in the library, just to check up what the subject really was about, but he found himself wishing he knew what Babbling told him before choosing his electives.

"What about Divination?" he asked once he finished copying the alphabet on the piece of parchment that Babbling gave him.

"What about it?" asked Babbling simply.

"Is it all about predicting one's future or is there more to it as there is to Ancient Runes?" he clarified.

"I'm literally the last person you should question about Divination," said Babbling with a grimace. "Particularly the brand of Divination that's taught at Hogwarts," she added and grimaced again. "Or it's teacher."

"Why not?" asked Harry curiously. "Did you suck at it at school? Or the Professor had it out for you like…" Snape had it for me with Potions he thought but didn't say.

"The art of divination is one of those subjects to which one has to have mental predisposition. Sure you can teach techniques of it to anyone and that's what Hogwarts is doing, but it's a waste of time for about ninety percent of the students that take it. The only thing it really does is cultivating old superstitions and trying to find meanings in the ever present signs. Depending on your own observation skills and or emotional sensitivity it allows you to con people into believing that you're a seer."

"Regulus said that a true talent in that field was rare," said Harry pensively. "Does the Professor have it?"

"Supposedly," snorted Babbling. "Dumbledore claims so. But unlike Dumbledore I did go to Hogwarts with her and had the misfortune of sharing the same house as her," she added sourly. "She was two years ahead of us and all of us cheered when her year finally graduated. She is one of the most oblivious people I ever met while at the same time scarily perceptive. It's a very dangerous combination, especially for people of weaker psyche, like say teenagers at the brink of puberty. On top of that she's a fatalist, it's not that she isn't able to pick up 'good vibes' from her surroundings but it's like between her mind and her mouth there's a filter that allows only doom, gloom and gore to emerge from it. She will single you out within five minutes and then proceed to spend the rest of your divination education at predicting your ultimate and most likely very painful demise."

"So according to you I should drop it?" asked Harry pointedly.

"If it was sorely left up to me Divination wouldn't be a subject taught at Hogwarts. But I'm biased because the curriculum of advanced divination absorbed a lion share of the curriculum of the subject that I do teach to advanced students," replied Babbling and she snorted. "I don't remember which monumental moron of a Headmaster decided that Ancient Studies as an elective subject should be assimilated by other subjects leaving me essentially with bare bones of a once very extensive and fascinating subject, but I hope that he or she, is rotting in hell. Luckily for me and the majority of students interested in it, about two thirds of the scrapped curriculum got assimilated into Ancient Runes and Charms. Sadly the more mystical arts of it were thrown into advanced Divination. Which is bloody ridiculous if you ask me. Occlumency techniques, the art of closing one's mind from external intrusion, are taught by someone who is unable to apply them to herself."

"Why?" asked Harry curiously.

"Supposedly because they foggy her third eye or something, or so she says," replied Babbling lividly. "I presume that the real reason why she cannot apply them is because it would mean that she will have to filter her thoughts and she has no filter whatsoever. Well, except the one that filters optimistic thoughts from passing through her mouth, that one is in excellent condition."

"So what would you recommend instead?" asked Harry.

"Not Muggle Studies. Charity is a good teacher but the Muggle Studies curriculum is a mess that she's been trying to change for ages, but because the changes she proposed to them are outlandish to the members of the board, and they are the only ones that can propose a change of the curriculum to the Ministry, the only thing she's been doing is tilting at the windmills," replied Babbling.

"And between Ancient Runes and Arithmancy?" prodded Harry. "Because I'm required to pick two electives and I only have one."

"Can't help you with making that choice," sighed Babbling. "Basic understanding of both helps a lot with spellcasting and spellcrafting once you start to apply them in practice, but in order to get there you need to learn a lot of theory which sometimes can feel like a thankless task. If there's one thing which I can recommend, it is using the exemption month which all third year students are entitled to have to check out which one of the elective subjects suits you more. Who knows maybe you will be a divination prodigy."

"Exemption month?" asked Harry curiously.

"You haven't been told about that?" asked Babbling sceptically. "Poor Minnie," she added with a shake of her head, "it's unlike her to forget about the exemption month. She loves exemption month, especially when she's talking to that cow Trelawney. She takes almost sadistic pleasure from informing her how many prospective death prediction subjects has decided to abandon her class. To be fair she does the same to me, Charity, Septima and in the past Kettleburn, but we have a much lower dropout rate than she does," she added and snickered softly. "One year of 1984/85 an entire third year Divination class dropped out during exemption month. It was glorious, especially at the heels of her two fourth years, her only fourth year students moving to France and transferring to Beauxbatons, removal of three pregnant fifth years into home schooling and expulsion of a pair of really nasty troublemakers, also her only fifth year students, and on the top of not having advanced students..."

"You don't like her very much," observed Harry.

"When we were at Hogwarts, as students," started Babbling grimly, "Trelawney had a natural talent for picking targets to feed them with her visions of doom and gloom. Mostly homesick first years, Muggleborns, people with a difficult situation at home. No matter the background they were people of a certain degree of vulnerability. In my fourth year, I wasn't a Prefect back then and I had my own share of problems so I tended to tune her out, she latched herself on a Muggleborn first year with a really bad situation at home and she whispered into her ear visions of the horrors that awaited her once she returned from Hogwarts," she paused and swallowed. "She couldn't stand it, her fear of Trelawney's visions becoming true…" she paused again. "So on 1st November 1975, the Friday before Hogsmeade weekend, a Halloween Hogsmeade weekend when even the prefects were distracted, she slipped away, climbed up the Astronomy Tower and jumped. She was found dead in the morning and the whole thing had been hushed up."

Harry swallowed tickly.

"It's not a matter of personal like or dislike, Harry," continued Babbling. "For most of the time she behaves like a harmless oddball that's easy to tune out. Most students treat her as such and her subject as a relatively easy grade, one of the easiest electives that Hogwarts offers. But for every student that ignores her there's always one that doesn't, and if they're vulnerable…" she hung her voice. "I didn't do anything to save that poor little girl, I didn't even try. But if I can remove another vulnerable student from underneath her influence in order to ensure that what happened to that little girl will never happen again I will do everything in my power to do so. Capiche?"

"Capiche," said Harry quickly, just as Regulus, with Sirius and Snape trailing at his heels, entered the kitchen.

"What have you been up to?" asked Sirius curiously as he approached them and ruffled Harry's hair affectionately.

"Discussing how to handle manipulative individuals," replied Harry. "So, I have a question for you. Ancient Runes or Arithmancy?"

TBC


Next: Harry has a talk with Lupin about mental health and chronic diseases.