Chapter 10

Beta: Hipnyah

Amelia Bones –

Sometimes, she really wondered if the entire universe was out to get her.

She narrowed her eyes at the reports, which talked about a series of robberies occurring in muggle london. Normally it would not have even appeared in her office as she was the Head of the DMLE, but there was something off about it.

The reports described that the oddest thing was the fact that every shop was emptied out. Which meant that either they had a truck or a wizard helped. Not to mention the fact that the entrances were clearly broken into.

A sudden knock on her door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Come in," she said, putting the report to the side.

An older man entered the office, carrying several folders.

"The current list of the auror program for this year." the man said, as he handed over the folder. "We're getting fewer and fewer applicants."

She frowned as she quickly read through the list, there were only five people who passed the recruitment for this year.

"Dismissed Williamson." She said, as the man nodded and left the room.

Staring at the paperwork that she had yet to read through, she had to hold in a sigh.

Harry –

After dinner I usually collapsed in my new bed and read up on some books that I found lying around. Most of them were fairly simple household magic, some old textbooks that were probably used in classes back then, in Andromeda's time.

Not today though, today was etiquette lessons after dinner.

My teacher is Andromeda Tonks, the disowned middle child of the Black sisters. She married Ted Tonks, a muggleborn, and was subsequently disowned from the illustrious House of Black. She's currently a house-wife but due to the fact that she was raised in one of the more politically inclined Houses, at her time, she was qualified enough to teach me about etiquette.

She apparently tried to do the same thing to Tonks, but she was quite the rebel, and while Andromeda definitely was more relaxed about decorum and etiquette, she was on my ass about this because I had a future Lordship.

I agreed to do them because I didn't want to come unprepared for the future.

"Let's revise the rules for hosting. Firstly you need to have food, obviously." Andromeda said, pacing the front of the study. "Secondly, you need a place for dancing, the music can be of your choice but cannot be too loud. Through the use of charms we would easily hear the music in the entire dance floor. On that note you must also have a place to escape the music, preferably outside and very visible to prevent untoward activities."

"Like the typical balconies in movies?" I interrupted, sitting on one of the two chairs in the study. As much as I tried to focus, something nagged at me.

"Yes, those movies do base it on actual aristocracy." she answered, letting her eyes meet mine before saying anything else. "Continuing, you must always be dressed well for the occasion. And that advice doesn't just pertain when hosting."

I had to smile a bit embarrassed as she was surprised I had a lot of clothes, due to the robbing spree, thankfully I explained that I just bought them, and didn't really know how to style so she helped with that. One of her first lessons actually.

"Going back to food, the meals can be anything of your choice but must be served in snack sized portions, so that no one can accidentally spill on their robes and must be neatly organized and presented. And speaking of presentation, the place itself must be presentable. That means clean, tidy, orderly, and of course it also meant sparsely decorated for the holidays. No more than 5 countable decorations per wall and 2 per floor/room–"

"Or else it's too much." I finished, with a grin as Andromeda stopped and smiled at me briefly. I ignored the gnawing feeling from my chest.

"And for guests?" she said, stopping her pacing and leaned on one of the study's chairs, opposite mine.

"You must greet each guest two or three times depending on the occasion." I answered, slouching into the chair. "The first greeting can be done by an announcer or personally when the guest first steps into your abode. The second must be when you have the formal start proper and all guests are assumed to have arrived an hour after the mentioned time."

Andromeda started sipping her tea, and nodded. I took that as my cue to carry on.

"All attendees must have a formal invitation sent out for time and place with at minimum a week's notice for the most informal formalities and three months for larger functions."

"And why is this important?" Andromeda questioned.

"It allows people to converse and talk about the function, through political and social circles, and will serve to further my politicking." I had to roll my eyes on that one.

Andromeda raised one delicate eyebrow, before sighing and leaned towards her chair, the closest he could guess to slouching on it.

"You're doing remarkably well." she said after a sigh, smiling wistfully. "You're unlike your Father in that way you know? He was the Heir of the House of Potter, the star of the quidditch team, and yet he was reckless, and made enemies with his attitude. He wised up in his 7th year, that's how I hear Lily finally gave him a chance, and then next we know they're married and they had you."

"How did you know?"

"My cousin told me about them, once." She paused before using the word, so it was probably Sirius. "Since I was disowned, and he was also quite the rebel, we had kinship because of that. I wish I could tell you more about them, but I graduated before they were in their OWLs."

"No it's okay," I rushed out. "I haven't visited mom recently, I kinda want to visit."

"Oh," she said, seeming to be surprised. "We could visit them right now if you want?"

"I'd like that."

A few minutes later, due to magical means, we were here.

I looked around the St. Mungo's room, noting that despite the room being in a magical hospital, it pretty much was the same as muggle hospitals. Same white floors, identical beige walls, and the same window as every other room.

"Hey mom, it's been a while?" I asked, hesitantly as she continued to wander around the room aimlessly. "It's me Harry."

"Harry?" she asked, suddenly looking at me. Her red hair contrasted the bland room.

I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Yeah? Yeah it's me." I said, as I tried to get closer.

She stared at me for a few seconds before turning away with a glassy look in her eyes.

Damn it.

Something must have shown on my face, as Andromeda laid a hand on my shoulder. As we both watched Lily continue wandering the small room.

"There's nothing you could do, Harry," Andromeda said, trying to console me. "Experts that were called in by Dumbledore tried to help, and there isn't a shortage of people who are trying."

"Why are they trying?"

"You're the boy-who-lived, they want a favor from you if they succeed." Andromeda coldly replied, laying down the facts. "But not all of them will, but they will exist nonetheless."

I let out a sigh at the cold pragmatic response.

After some thinking it did have some truth in it. If a bit cynical.

[Slight Heal]

Heals minor wounds of target

As I looked into her eyes, I could only think that it wasn't enough. I could still feel a sense of foreboding.

Nymphadora Tonks –

"Fuuuuuuck." Hestia said.

"Shiiiiiiiiiit." she echoed back to her friend, as they both collapsed on Hestia's couch.

After finishing her daily Auror training with Hestia, Tonks went home. While she was already over her majority, she still lived with her parents. And while there were plenty of benefits of living with them, there were also some downsides. One of which was the massive problem that she was outside right now.

Thinking about it, Tonks couldn't help but be… apprehensive.

It'd been some time since that night, but the effects of it were still here. She could feel his eyes on her, everytime they ate on the table, and day by day she just couldn't shake off that feeling of guilt.

And while she had done worse things back in Hogwarts, none stuck like the guilt she felt from this.

She assumed it was because of the fact that he was the boy-who-lived. And while she thought a regular guy would just be happy to have been squashed between two women, the fact that he didn't know and was very embarrassed by it was enough to continue her guilt.

As much as Tonks wanted to pretend it wasn't bothering her, she knew she couldn't do that. Hestia tried to reason her guilt away, trying to make it clear that she didn't think it was Tonks' fault.

"Why not have him do the same?" Hestia said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Huh what?" Tonks dumbly replied, not paying attention.

"Why not have him do the same?" Hestia repeated after a sigh. "You feel guilty over us molesting him, so why not let him do the same back?"

Huh, that was an idea.

Harry –

I quickly arrived at Diagon Alley to buy my ritual ingredients and this year's stuff too, Ted and Andromeda weren't here because I insisted on doing it myself.

Re'em blood was very very expensive. I had to do a quick exchange near where Diagon and Knockturn met. Thankfully, the man didn't ask any questions and the blood was legit thanks to Observe. Other than that, I had some ingredients that were quite easy to order, though a bit time consuming to arrive but I was patient.

So I quickly entered a pale blue building with a giant glass panel on the front showing the latest fashion. I quickly ordered and updated my wardrobe mostly consisting of black pants, white shirts, ties and they thankfully had a shoe section so I bought an enchanted pair that would fit and remain clean and I knew that I would grow a bit more so I didn't bother buying anything else for now.

After paying for the new robes I quickly crossed the street and entered a shop that sold pets and quickly restocked my owl treats for Aven. I checked the Hogwarts letter for the new textbooks I would need this year.

I already knew Lockhart was a hack, so I intended to read the books so I could find the inaccuracies and expose him in public.

Looking around I quickly found an apothecary, and quickly bought a restock of my potion ingredients and some of the other ingredients. The only thing that was left was the bookstore.

I turned the corner, and was met with a large crowd who were banging on the outside doors, trying to get in. I looked at the crowd and noticed a large banner, with a smiling face on the sides.

Gilderoy Lockhart will be signing copies of his autobiography Magical Me. With his face right at the end, smiling.

Huh, coincidence?

The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Penny's age.

A harried wizard was manning the doors. I sent him a face that practically screamed, I am so sorry. "Mind the books please, no pushing, go ahead children…"

I somehow squeezed inside, and quickly grabbed my books and sneaked up the line only to find the most baffling image I had seen.

Gilderoy Lockhart was seated at a table surrounded by books, winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of a shade of blue, that I would memorize so that I could piss him off. He didn't bother wearing a hat, but it still showed his curled, flashy hair.

He looked absolutely the most ridiculous man that I'd seen and that includes Dumbledore.

A photographer was taking pictures using a large camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Move aside, for the Prophet," a reporter said snidely, as he elbowed through everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said loudly, "I must say, this is the perfect moment for me to make an announcement I've been sitting on for some time! You might have noticed that there are many students of Hogwarts, my alma mater, currently here. Well, I am proud to announce that this fall, I will be starting my tenure as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd applauded, and I swore I could hear someone faint at the news.

"It can't be," Lockhart said, his grin at the camera fading as he noticed me. "Harry Potter." he finished, with a smile.

"Harry Potter! Excuse me!" The photographer said, as he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me towards Lockhart.

Tried being the key word, as I shrugged him off quite easily.

I ducked under him, and waved my arms dismissively.

"Don't wanna ruin your moment," I said, forcibly grinning at Lockhart. Already promising to do something horrible to him, when I arrive at Hogwarts.

Eventually, I paid for my books, and even shook some hands and said hello to some well wishers. Thankfully, it was over quite fast, as I could tell that Lockhart wanted to talk to me.

I finished just as two wizards started brawling inside the bookshop, I stayed back enough that they got separated by Hagrid, with Malfoy leaving after giving back some school books to the youngest Weasley.

While I could have helped Ginny, I would have rather kept some canon enough. So I finished my shopping and left the alley.

Sorry Ginny.

Interlude –

"So… A Harry Potter one eh? Isn't that a bit too… cliche?" A faceless figure said.

"Eh, the world is different enough that it's quite refreshing." A second faceless figure replied, writing down on his desk. "Besides there's big plans for him, later down the line."

A pause in his writing before the figure continued.

"If we get there at least."

"Right, just keep in mind." The first figure said. "There's enough overpowered gamers, at least make him interesting because as of right now he's quite boring."

"I know, I know. The guy likes taking his time, he's powerful enough to fight Dumbledore at least yeah?" the second figure said.

"Oh yeah, because Dumbledore is a good measure of power outside HP." the first retorted. "And he doesn't even have the variety."

"Just look at this for me." the second figure stated, pointing to what it wrote.

"Okay that, that is gonna be cool."

"If we get there."

AN: Thanks to Hipnyah for the etiquette lessons.