Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Anyone with eyes should realize this.
Summary: See Previous Chapters

CHAPTER SIX

Natasja wasn't exactly complaining about the situation, but it would be nice if they'd bothered to give her a bit of advanced warning.

As it turned out, Officer Smith had made his report about what had happened with Neville when someone from Children's Services had been visiting to collaborate on a different case. Relatively new to the job, and horrified that someone would accept without question that their brother (in-law? Cousin? Whatever) would throw a five-year-old off Blackpool pier on purpose, the CS worker had talked to one of their Higher-Ups. Said Higher-Up was a Squib, who had apparently gone through the same thing until he turned twelve, and it was plain that no Hogwarts letter would be coming. Accepting that the Magical World was not moving along as the Muggle World did, and that for once they were in a position to do something about it, the Squib had gone straight to the top.

No one in the Magical World paid any attention to Squibs who had left, so it was with a certain amount of glee that the news of what had happened, and that it was not an uncommon event, made it to the Prime Minister without anyone being Obliviated.

Like most decent and right-thinking people, the Prime Minister was horrified at the systematic abuse and child endangerment in the name of Family Appearances, and came down hard on the Ministry of Magic. Rumour was that the Queen herself had sent a very sharp note to Minister Fudge, demanding an explanation.

Natasja wasn't entirely clear on what happened after that, but it boiled down to keeping a much sharper eye on the treatment of children. A Bill was passed that essentially said that if a child was suspected to be a Squib, then visits would be set up with Muggle-Born parents or guardians (apparently, names appeared in the Hogwarts Record Book when a Magical child was born). If the child ended up being a Witch or Wizard after all, then good for them and they would at least have a grounding of how to operate in the Muggle World, which would, in turn, cut down on the number of necessary Obviations.

Either way, the Muggles involved wouldn't be blinded by the 'oh, but it's always been done this way' attitude that seemed so common among the Magical, and children had a way of blurting things out. If a potentially-Squib child was being dangled out of windows, thrown off piers or deliberately injured in the hope of prompting accidental magic, hopefully it would be found out, in which case further action would be taken.

Also, nearly all Squibs left for the Muggle World once they reached their majority, not wishing to stay amongst those who would judge and scorn them for something they couldn't help. As with those who did turn out to be Magical, this idea gave them a better grounding of how to interact with Muggles, and even formed friendships that could help them along the way.

As for the Muggle parents and guardians, they at least knew that Magic was real, that nothing was wrong with them or their children, and that there was an explanation behind all of the weird things that kept happening whenever their son or daughter was upset.

Natasja worried that they hadn't thought about how the more hidebound types would react, or how it might make that many more Muggle Parents want to keep their children as far away from the Magical World as possible, or how, given the reason for the new Bill, people might get paranoid and misinterpret a situation, but it was too late for that.

As a consequence, Neville was a frequent guest at either the Irons' or the Creevys' house. It was good for Harry to have someone his age to play with when he was in a quiet mood (Colin was a lovely boy, but a bit excitable, and there were times when Harry preferred to just sit and read. Natasja liked to think that he picked that up from her) but Natasja could have done without the glares every time Madam Longbottom came to pick him up.

Dumbledore had apparently learned better than to show up himself, or send someone who had clearly hated Harry's parents, but that didn't mean that he had stopped trying.

Harry's sixth birthday saw the arrival of a so-called 'Old Friend' of Harry's parents, who had supposedly been 'out of the country'. Harry showed that he took after his adoptive mother in more than one thing. He and Neville had been using rolling pins (spelled with cushioning charms by Henry) instead of sticks or toy swords while play-fighting when the wizard showed up. Natasja had been so busy laughing at the boys' antics that she didn't react fast enough, and the wizard managed to stun her, resulting in Neville's first bit of accidental magic.

Natasja had a hobby of collecting figurines in the shape of magical creatures. In this case, it was a figure of a Ukrainian Ironbelly, made out of actual silver that had been a wedding gift from one of Henry's old friends. When Neville accidentally animated it, it instantly flew forward and took a (very small) chunk out of the man's arm.

By that time, Harry, who had slammed his rolling pin into the man's gut (even cushioning charms failed if you hit hard and purposefully enough) when his mother collapsed, had made it to the cordless phone that Natasja had carried outside with them, and was half-way through calling his father when the intruder fell to the floor convulsing.

Henry appeared less than a minute later, with a loud pop that signalled a hastier than usual Apparition. Casting a stasis charm on the man, he asked what had happened and quickly extracted the silver, before taking a closer look to see if he could recognize the man. His lips firmed in what Harry was starting to recognize as the way his parents showed annoyance, a probability reinforced when Henry cast a spell that bound the man literally head to toe in ropes.

Neville and Harry had been worriedly glued to Natasja's side, and Henry came over to revive his wife. She wouldn't be too upset that he had taken care of the intruder before taking care of her, not when Harry and Neville might have been at risk.

Well, she wasn't too upset with him. The intruder, on the other hand, was in boatloads of trouble.

The intruder's name, as it turned out, was Remus Lupin, one of a group of four students who had been the 'big jerks on campus', as it were, during Henry's school years. They hadn't deliberately discriminated against Muggle Born students (possibly because of the ringleaders crush on a Muggle Born girl who refused to date an 'arrogant toe-rag'), but they were all Purebloods, who tended to be somewhat condescending and rude toward the 'lower classes', even if they usually didn't mean to.

Lupin and his gang had also been counted among 'Dumbledore's Favourites', which meant that they were seldom, if ever, punished for their pranks, and tended to run unchecked. For that alone, they were not counted with Henry's favourite people, and Lupin even less so now that he had directly attacked Henry's family. Plus, Lupin's reaction to silver suggested that he was a werewolf, and while neither of the Irons' had anything against that in principle, they didn't really want him coming back to visit the next full moon.

Natasja had not attended Hogwarts, and until now, didn't know Lupin from Adam, but she didn't appreciate being stunned in front of the children, or that Lupin felt himself entitled to break and enter in the first place, just because he had known Harry's parents.

In the Wizarding World, many would try to see Lupin executed as a 'danger to society'. Neither Natasja nor Henry felt like going that far, and settled on having him arrested and charged, as they had with Dumbledore and Snape. They had no doubt that Lupin would manage to escape custody, or have someone show up with Obviation Charms or bail, but according to Henry's contacts, most 'dark' creatures supported themselves with jobs in the Muggle world, and a criminal record would make life difficult for a while.

He would probably be able to explain it away as a misunderstanding blown out of proportion, but it was the intent that counted.

Lupin had been taken away, and Natasja had just started on dinner when Neville tugged on her arm. "Mrs Irons? Do we have to tell my Gran about me using magic?"

Halfway through pulling out a mixing bowl, and cups, Natasja blinked. "Not if you don't want to, dear. But why not?"

Neville blushed, though it probably wasn't the best time for Natasja to observe how totally adorable it made him look. "Gran and the others all think that I don't have magic. I don't want having magic to make a difference in how much they love me or not."

And if that didn't just break a heart to hear. "All right, Neville. I'll leave it up to you whether to tell your family about it."

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A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. Real Lifehas developed a nasty habit of getting in the way.

There is probably going to be a bit of outrage over this chapter.

First off, the general treatment of Squibs: Argus Filch nearly goes into hysterics when he thinks Harry has discovered that he is a Squib. Mrs Weasley has a cousin who is an accountant and "[they] don't talk about him". Neville could have been killed who knows how many times, and says that his Grandmother was "so happy she was crying" when he bounced after being dropped from an upper-storey window. Note that he never said anything about his grandmother being furious with Uncle Algie, just happy that he finally showed magic.

Second, the new laws: Governments see a growing problem and try to fix it. Unfortunately, while the solution often has the occasional good points, it frequently has drawbacks that the Ministers responsible just didn't think of, whether for lack of knowledge or lack of experience. Several years ago, there was a large scandal in regards to a paedophile working in a day-care centre or school. In response, laws were put into place that severely restricted how Childcare workers were allowed to interact with their charges.

Not being allowed to touch a child more than absolutely necessary is a good thing if the carer is the one-in-several-hundred that would take advantage. The government failed to take into account that infants and children thrive on physical contact, and that if a child is screaming from a fall and a bump or bruise, or from separation anxiety, being told that a carer can't hug them and make it better is a BAD thing. The child will keep screaming until they are hoarse, and set everyone else off in the meantime.

Good intentions; not so good results.