Hello all. Sorry for the long delay. My laptop finally gave up on me, and it's not as easy to type on a tablet or phone. Anyway, the updates are here.

Do comment what you think about it. Review replies in next update.

None of the people that had been in the manor that day got a good night of sleep. While Harry and Daphne Potter talked in the master bedroom, Junior left the bed and took a seat near the window. The young boy's mind was too tired but unable to give in to sleep. Thoughts about everything that could have happened kept circling inside him, wondering what could have been done differently. That he had no choice in marriage was another thing that made him angry, but there was no one he could hold responsible for it. Harry had told him that Sirius didn't know about the contract when making him the Heir, while the Greengrasss family hadn't thought that it had activated. His Godfather was another thing for concern for him. Sirius was someone who really wanted him, but Lord Davis's words had scared him a lot. He had been praying to God to make his Godfather better. Harry was an older him, but he wanted his Godfather. The news about his parent's body made him determined to learn as much as that cursed night about as he could. He also planned to discuss with Harry about the fourth year. The Triwizard championship looked very dangerous and didn't want to participate in it. He would have to ask Harry's wife too; maybe she would agree if his older self did not.

His intended's thoughts were not much different than his. The young girl was still having trouble processing most of the things she had learned through the day. Harry Potter was not someone she had considered as a viable option to get married to. Her father had told her a lot in the summer after the first year, and looking out for possible husbands had been one of the things. She had wondered about being too young for it, but her position as the Heir had complicated things. So she had watched boys in her year and above. While she had no personal issues with muggle-borns, their lack of knowledge about the magical world would have proved detrimental for her, so she kept her eyes on the Purebloods and half-bloods. Harry Potter had a right family name, but his behavior, lack of decorum, and way of dressing was not something she liked. And now, she was contracted to marry him. She was not angry as she would have been, only because she saw her older self, who looked happy. The older Harry was also not as bad as his younger self, well, except for the decorum part. Promising herself to talk to her older self about it, she turned towards the thoughts about her betrothed. Harry was going to face the Triwizard championship in less than a few months, and while his friends might stand up with him this time, the school and others were definitely going to go against him. There was also a chance of something going wrong, despite what the time travelers had planned. She would have to step in, despite what the older ones wanted. Her betrothed might be hurt or worse due to something they might not have expected, and that was not acceptable. Nodding to herself, she turned over, trying to get some sleep.

Her parents, on the other hand, were as far from sleep as they could be. They had expected some terrific information, but what they got was much, much worse. While the knowledge that the Dark Lord was still alive was terrifying, the fact that their young daughter was to marry in three years was more worrying for them. From everything they had seen and heard, it was clear that her married life was going to be everything other than simple. It was not said outright, but there was no doubt that both of the ha died in the future the time travelers had come from. With both of their daughters tied in contracts, it was apparent that House Greengrass would have to be much more active than they were comfortable with. Both of them still felt the urge to end the Malfoy family, especially it's Heir, for his possible actions against their youngest daughter. Unlike Lord Greengrass, however, Lady Greengrass was not as worried about her eldest's husband. From what she had observed during the day, Harry Potter could be called a lot of things, but a bad husband was not one of them. The wizard was humble and caring in nature, despite everything that had happened to him since James and Lily Potter's death. He seemed happy with his marriage, too, if the shared looks between him and his wife were any indication. She had seen too many contracts marriages fail, either for one or both participants. While the pureblood in her was not as happy with a half-blood son in law, the mother inside was more than content with Harry Potter.

The Weasley family, all of whose members were still resting in the Hall, were also restless these nights. While the eldest son was alternating between happiness and excitement for a beautiful and loving wife and sadness at everything that would have befallen his family, Charlie Weasley was ready to burst with anger. Always the hotheaded one, he wanted to hunt down and hurt everyone who might have hurt his family, maybe introduce them to some of his winged friends back at the reserve. The twins, on the other hand, were relatively inactive. With one of them still trying to come to terms with the responsibility he was given, the other was trying to comprehend how things will change precisely. The youngest son of the family, though, was the one feeling most varied emotions. While his entire self was blazing with jealousy and anger, a significant part was focused on his elder self. Ron had always thought that he would never be happy because there was nothing he could achieve that his brother's already hadn't. His elders self defied everything he had thought about the future. The time traveled Ronald Weasley was a powerful wizard and a better friend than he could ever be. The marriage contract was another thing. He knew that it was breakable, but he didn't want to. He had been promising himself to become what his elder self was, maybe more. Maybe Ginger might be able to help him. He made a note to talk to her as soon as possible, perhaps her elder self too.

While her betrothed was going through his personal emotions, Ginger was trying her best to calm down. The reason of her such a state was her aunt, Lady Amelia Bones, who was using quite a few inventive words for quite a lot of people. Her aunt had dragged her to the library after arriving back and started studying the family grimoire diligently. Less than ten minutes after she had started, the grimoire was thrown across the room as her aunt started pacing in the room. Once she calmed down, she turned around her.

"Susan..."

"The contract..it is true, huh."

Her aunt couldn't do anything other than a nod.

"It is not unbreakable.."

"I want to give it a chance, Aunty."

Her aunt closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Why?"

"I have my reasons, Aunty. If it doesn't work out, we can always break it later on."

"If Ronald refuses too?"

"I am sure our older selves would be happy to help."

While the young girl was confident about her and Ron's older selves, the couple in question was not. After the tongue lashing, Ron had given to his family; his wife had dragged him out to a room. Throwing him inside, she locked the door with a lot more spell than it needed.

"Spill it out."

"Spill what?" came the grunty reply.

Sue didn't reply, instead raised an eyebrow. It took only 5 seconds for Ron to give in.

"It's complicated, Sue. Seeing all of them young and innocent, it's not easy. I keep remembering their fate every time I see them. So many things would have been different if my parents had done what was right than what was easy. Harry would have been taken out in the second year if my mother had not overridden our words like every time else. Ginny would have..."

His voice croaked out at last when she took him in a hug.

"I know, Ron. I know. But things will be different now. We will make sure they are."

"And what if we make things worse than before?"

The reply came after a few seconds.

"Then we will take down enough with us that the remaining won't be a problem anymore."

No more words were said as both redheads prepared themselves in each other's arms for everything that would happen from here on. While there were more who had been affected by the day's events, none were more than Hogwarts' Headmaster. Albus Dumbeldore had not expected something like this ever. Yes, he was aware that something had changed some weeks ago, both in Hogwarts and the magical world, but he was not sure what. When he received a familiar but more powerful Patronus this morning, his senses, fine-tuned by decades of planning, were screaming not to go, but, a small part of him, one which had come to care about the Patronus's owner as more than a student, compelled him to leave. In the manor, every other memory felt like a hammer to his beliefs and knowledge. He had never wanted things to go so wrong; instead, he had tried his best to keep them as it be, knowing how difficult it would be to do otherwise. But now, he was not sure. Despite what his intentions had been in the decisions he had made, it wasn't hard for an outsider to consider him what Tracey Davis-Granger had said. There was also the matter of things that had been going inside his school, things he should have known, things he should have prevented. He had ignored most of the complaints about Severus, thinking of them as exaggeration, but now it was clear that they were far from it. Why hadn't Minerva ever stressed on it, he had no idea. Now, looking out in the cold night from his seat, his thoughts were set on whether to interfere or let things as it be.

He had no idea that one more entity had become partial to the knowledge that was shared earlier. It was not his fault, though, as a headmaster, he was privy to a lot of things, but not everything. He had no idea that Fawkes was more than a Pheonix. People knew that Merlin had once walked through the halls of Hogwarts, but very few knew what the acclaimed wizard had done here. A few years before his death, Merlin had returned to Hogwarts one last time at the request of its headmaster, Cadmus Gryffindor. The aging Lord of House Gryffindor and one of two last known members of all four founder's families had requested Merlin to help secure his family's legacy. They had not agreed on a lot of things, but ultimately Merlin had won Cadmus over. Despite the fact that that Hogwarts' land belonged to the Gryffindor family, it was publicly announced that all four families held an equal part in it. After that, Merlin had designed a ritual, placing the most precious of the founder's items on four corners of Hogwarts. He got the sword of Godric Gryffindor from Cadmus, Slytherin's locket and Rowena's Tiara from the vaults, and finally Helga's golden cup from Cadmus's wife, Claire Hufflepuff. Since his intention was to draw the founder's essence stored in their artifacts to protect Hogwarts, he chose something that could never be destroyed. A phoenix egg was placed in the main Hall, the one which would eventually be known as the Great Hall. With the life force of Cadmus and Claire powering it, the ritual was a success. Hogwarts gained sentience, one that combined every founder's essence with Fawkes acting as it's protector and much more.

After its birth, this sentience had been put in a dormant state by Merlin, to be woken only if every defense of the school failed in an attack, or when Fakwes wished it to be. Since then, it had woken more than a few times partially due to the latter reason, always going back to it's dormant state once it's work was done. In the future, it had stayed dormant even though it looked like the end of school was near. The reason behind it was with Fawkes absent, the castle's defenders had become the last line of defense, and they had been still standing. It was really an irony; if Harry had died that night, the defenders inside Hogwarts would have lost, waking something which was much more powerful than Voldermort ever was and which would have dealt with the Dark Lord and it's minions as they should have been. But Merlin had not anticipated one thing. With Slytherin's line ending a century ago, he had never given a thought to what might happen if all four House magics were active again. The answer would have been the third condition the sentience woke up, but this time it was in its entire self and power. When the time travelers had taken up all four rings, the family magic of each had flown once again, activating things connected to them once again. The sentience was one of them.

It had not done anything after activation, focusing its effort to learn as much as possible and find out its reason for waking up, something which Fawkes seem to know, but was still not sharing. The sentience had not been happy, and while Fawkes's silence was a part of the reason behind it, the state of the school played a much larger part. It had decided to take over the school's wards and control but had been rebuffed by Fawkes, asking it to be patient. And today, it understood why. After listening to everything that had happened, it had taken a lot of time to decide on its next action. Fawkes had once again interfered, but this time it only asked it to delay rather than stop. When the Pheonix cleared the reason for it, it had accepted.

All the heirs of the founders would never know that if not for an immortal Pheonix, they would have been summoned out of their beds to do something which would have destroyed every plan of theirs

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