Busted! Oops

When Harry reached the Gryffindor tower, he could see Professor McGonagall pacing furiously in front of the fat lady's portrait with Malfoy at her side. He knew there was no way that he could get inside the tower for now. McGonagall was sure to have checked inside the dormitories to see that Harry was indeed not present inside before she started pacing out of the common room. He had no idea what became of Fred and George and he was not about to rat on them or on Hermione.

He walked forward towards the common room entrance and Malfoy shouted with glee, "There he is, Professor. I had told you that he is breaking curfew."

McGonagall glared at the Malfoy scion, "Shut up, Mr. Malfoy."

She then turned to Harry, "What were you doing out of the common room after curfew hours, Mr. Potter-Black?"

Harry lowered his head, his eyes about to be filled to the brim with tears and he said in a shaky voice, "I was not feeling well, Professor. Lately I have been feeling under the weather and went to consult Madam Pomfrey but I realised that she would be asleep now."

McGonagall rolled her eyes and internally said to herself, "This boy really takes after his father. If he thinks he can sway me by those puppy eyes then he is in for a rude awakening."

She asked him, "Where is the dragon, Mr. Potter-Black?"

Harry feigned innocence (internally relieved that she didn't get the others), "What dragon Professor?"

She waved the letter right under his nose, "This dragon that the letter speaks about, Mr. Potter-Black."

Harry took the letter from him, pretending to read it, "But Professor, this letter is from some Charlie Weasley to his brother Ronald Weasley. Where does it name me? And did you ask Ronald?"

"I was under the impression that you are helping Hagrid in raising him illegally and such was the news that I received. And I would have asked Mr. Wealey but he is in Hospital Wing, down with some poisoning to his hand. He wasn't out of the hospital wing today."

"Then I am afraid that I am not able to help you Professor. I did nothing illegal."

She said sternly, "These lame excuses won't work on me Mr. Potter-Black. You know the rules. You both will suffer punishment for this misdemeanour. 50 points will be deducted from your house points and you will serve a detention with me tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m."

Malfoy asked, "I think I heard wrong, Professor. Did you say 'both of you'?"

She said curtly, "You heard correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You were also breaking curfew so you need to be punished for being out of your common room after curfew hours. Now get going to your common room and don't let me catch you out of bounds again."

Harry grinned to himself internally that he scored a minor win over Malfoy. He could always earn those points back which he had just lost but Slytherin was already falling down the ladder.

Before she left however, she gave a withering glare to Harry, "It is rather unfortunate that you inherit the mischievous tendencies of your father and god-father but you show an amazing lack of talent when it comes to showing the same acumen as them in academics. They may have been pranksters but they were brilliant and if James Potter had lived and Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban, they would have done a lot of good to our world through their deeds."

Harry hung his head in shame for he was not about to reply to her. Somewhere she was right in her own might. His father, his mother and his god-father had left some rather large shoes for him to fill. He was brilliant and very studious and oriented towards bigger things in future but that was largely due to the upbringing and the long term plans of Lord Black. If he were raised by his muggle born aunt, who knew what he would have become. Perhaps he wouldn't have heard of Hogwarts before he joined the school, would have known nothing about the wizarding world and wouldn't have ever known about Voldemort and would have been carrying the lightning bolt scar that was on his head after than unfortunate encounter.

The broom race

The loss of points and Harry being caught up became clear the next day when the entire school knew that two students had lost 50 points apiece from different houses. While this took Slytherin further down the ladder, it brought Gryffindor within striking distance of Ravenclaw and one slip could decide the difference between the two houses.

At lunch, Gwen cornered him, "Potter-Black, I want a word."

"How can I serve you, Gwen?", he asked.

"The next showdown is yet to go on for the racing competition that we have been having. Have you thought about it?"

"Yes Gwen. It has been on my mind. Tomorrow, let's meet at the Quidditch pitch to discuss this issue. I will inform the others."

Another issue which was badgering him was Neville. He wouldn't admit it but he missed the adorable round chubby Gryffindor. He thought like Harry and only if he were talking to Harry, they would have made it without any issue and McGonagall wouldn't have been wiser about it. He had once tried to make it up with him but then his pride stopped him from doing it.

"Harry", called Isobel to him from her charms class which she had just left.

"Isobel", he said, "Come walk with me."

She asked him, "What happened yesterday?"

He raised an eye-brow, "What happened yesterday?"

She rolled her eyes, "you lost 50 points and there is a talk about a dragon. What happened?"

He hushed her, "Not here. Join me in the library and we will talk."

As they took a seat in the library, Daphne Greengrass joined them.

Harry hastily asked her, "What are you doing, Daph? Someone would see us here and they will talk."

She waved him off, "If you two idiots can't get your head straight then I am beyond caring."

He looked around to see if someone had noticed and noticed Tracy sitting someway from them and keeping watch, "So you wanted to talk about something?"

"What is the blazes happened yesterday?", Daphne asked him, "I thought you knew the castle."

"I was just starting to tell Isobel about it", he replied, "we had arranged a getaway for Hagrid's dragon Norbert to Romania and the courier was scheduled to arrive at midnight to pick him up. We had made a plan and everything was supposed to go without a hitch but somehow Malfoy, who already knew about the dragon, learnt about the plan. He had the bright idea to go and show the letter to Professor McGonagall. He broke curfew and went to her office to tell her about it. Me and Hermione in the meanwhile had collected Norbert and took him all the way to Astronomy tower with some serious help from many people. Having sent it away, I gave my cloak to Hermione to reach the common room safely and the other artefact was given to the twins to help them evade trouble. I went to relieve others of their duties and when I returned, Professor McGonagall was outside the common room, waiting for me to arrive. She deducted points off me and him and put us in detention."

"How could you be so stupid?", Daphne asked him, "How could you allow Malfoy to know your plans and why did you leave your cloak with someone else? It was not a perfect execution. You are losing your edge."

Before Harry could retort, Tracy arrived and started dragging Daphne by her arm, "Come along. Malfoy and his lackeys are coming this way."

They disappeared behind a row of shelves and Harry made small talk with Isobel until Malfoy neared, "I will get you for the points, Potter-Black."

Harry turned to him and said stiffly, "Propriety, Heir Malfoy. Don't forget that I am the heir of your liege lord house and your mother, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black will be hearing about it soon. One of your stupid antics cost your father some very valuable allies in the Wizengamot and about 6 Million Galleons. You want to lose more?"

Malfoy backed away immediately, not going to tangle with him.

When Harry reported to Professor McGonagall's office for his detention, Malfoy had reached just then and she pointed them to a stack of books, magazines etc lying on the side, "you both will clean those books, journals etc and then neatly put in on the shelves with proper indexing so that I can get it easily, if I am so inclined. If you can't get this done today then this detention will extend to tomorrow. You are not allowed to use magic for this detention."

It was arduous task. The books and journals looked like they hadn't been opened in years and there was a thick layer of dust upon them. It needed some serious scrubbing and it was going to take a while.

Harry pointed Malfoy to one pile, "You deal with that one, I will deal with this."

Picking up the rag cloth that he had, he started cleaning the books one by one. Three hours later, his hand ached and his vision was foggy. He was tired with all the cleaning to do and then putting them in shelves however he was done. Malfoy was about to finish up with pile.

"You both are free to go and try not to venture out after curfew. The next chance the punishment will be 100 points", said Professor McGonagall.

The next evening, the fliers met in their designated location and unknown to them, the meeting was being snooped upon by a number of ghosts.

"Welcome to this meeting about the third event of the broom racing competition everyone. Now Oliver's team was leading through the events at the end of the last event. The next event is going to be such that it will give chances to everyone to show their prodigious skills and at the same time feel included in the event."

With that Harry kept quiet waiting to see who would speak. As he had expected, Pucey spoke, "Get on with it, Potter-Black. The night ain't getting any younger."

"In the next event, we are going to do what we love doing. Something that we love to do. Something that is akin to a religion for us. Something that you all love and religiously follow. Something that increases the rivalry between the houses. We are going to play a match of night quidditch. Is that agreeable?"

Wood was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Indeed agreeable. When is it?"

"On a random night just after Easter", Harry said grinning.

Gwen raised her hand in stop gesture, "Hold on! What is night quidditch? How are we supposed to play and what will be the rules?"

Harry said smugly, "wait like others, Gwen."

Dumbledore's office

"Headmaster, headmaster", said the fat friar, "The young ones are planning a match of night quidditch."

Albus's eyes lit up, "When do they plan to do this?"

"The dates and rules are not set down yet but it is believed that it will sometime after Easter. The younglings met in a different place this time compared to the last and I suspect that they know about your involvement in things and are trying to play it safe, Headmaster."

When he was done, Dumbledore's eyes were lit like miniature suns, "Call all the ghosts. This is going to be interesting."

As Fat Friar left, Dumbledore smirked unto himself, 'Little Harry thinks that he can plan things without others knowing! We will see. A night quidditch match? Interesting. I am very eager to see how this will carry out.'

The Wizengamot

"Close the doors. Let the session of the Wizengamot for the month of February begin", announced the Elder Ogden who was filling in for his dear friend, Albus Dumbledore and acting as Chief Warlock.

After the wizengamot was quietened, he began speaking, "this session has one major item on its agenda introduced by Lord Black. I will let Lord Black present the motion he seeks to introduce today."

Lord Black stood in his place, "we as a society are far better than our muggle counter parts. For a myriad of things that they do, we can do the same things but in better way with magic. They lack magic and they compensate for lack of it with their intuitiveness and their genius in technology. In the field of technology, they have actually surpassed us in many things. We still ride brooms but they can drive heavy vehicles called automole or something like that. Big things with wheels which seemingly runs by itself. While we have been stuck in the Victorian era, they have actually come a long way. The same goes for many of our magical neighbours who have assimilated the muggle technology in their daily lives. Now, I know most of you are thinking how it is possible that we can adopt their technology. Many of you think they are inferior to us but such thinking is wrong. They are humans as us and only they can't use magic but they have ways to get by without using magic at all. Our magical neighbours realise this and they have developed entirely another branch of magic called "Technomancy". Technomancy refers to enchanting the muggle objects to make them run with magic. While they have been useful with a lot of things but they have also miserably failed with many things that they can't improvise or adapt to co-exist with magic. Their eclecity- eletricity or whatever is one thing that we can't use. It just doesn't work around us. Many of their gadgets which are elektonic cannot operate with magic but they had success with things which are purely mechanical and have even enchanted some of their vehicles which can be used to carry many people at once like the Knight Bus. If we are to blend in with them, live in their suburbs or their communities without breaching the International Statute of Secrecy, we need to learn to adapt and that will only happen if we can live like them so we won't cause any suspicions. There were moves in the past to allow for technomancy but were severely curtailed or frowned upon by this auspicious body. I move a motion that technomancy be formally recognised as a discipline of magic, the ministry gives its nod to establishing businesses which purely focus on technomancy and that the ministry allow the common wizarding populace to have access to such products as are being used by our magical neighbours for years now."

When he sat down, there was silence everywhere around. Many of the half-bloods and some people in the spectator stands were in doubt if it were real Lord Black. The purebloods were aghast at such motion. How could a pure-blood lord like Lord Black move a motion like that? If the motion was moved by someone with less clout, they could have opposed it and got it dismissed but Arcturus Black was not a man who could be denied anything. If he made up his mind then it was only a matter of time before he got whatever it was. They knew that the old crafty Lord Black wouldn't have actually moved the motion until he had the power and the numbers to get it through.

"Does anyone second this motion?", asked Elder Ogden.

Lord Greengrass stood, "House Greengrass supports the motion presented by Lord Black, Elder Ogden."

Others were noticing the pattern that was to the proceedings of the wizengamot now. House Greengrass was a neutral house, always had been but recently i.e. since Arcturus Black returned to active life, House Greengrasss had started to side with House Black often. May be it was sheer co-incidence but it did not bode well for the neutrals who had staked all hopes on House Greengrass.

Ogden rapped his gavel, "Does anyone wishes to speak in support or against the motion before we proceed further?"

Lucius Malfoy raised his hand and Ogden said, "You are allowed to present your views, Lord Malfoy."

Malfoy stood and started speaking in his slimy voice, "With all due respect to Lord Black, I think this motion is a waste of time and an attack on our way of living. Most of our community lives in separation from the muggles and only a few muggle-borns live among them with their muggle parents. Most of us are already adept at getting with on our lives with magic. We don't need these things or their gadets or whatever they are called. Most of us know nothing about these things and if we were to start using them tomorrow, there are chances that we would end up breaching Statute of Secrecy. I oppose this motion on the grounds that it is unnecessary."

When Malfoy sat down, Elder Ogden addressed the wizengamot again, "Does anyone else wishes to speak in favour or in oppose of this motion?"

Minister Bones stood in her place, "I would like to speak in favour of this motion, Chief Warlock."

"The floor is yours, Minister Bones."

She looked around the wizengamot and the chambers and started speaking, "Lord Malfoy as always failed to put forth the real reason that he is opposing this particular motion. Lord Malfoy comes from the stock which thinks that muggles are beneath us, muggle-borns are to be scorned and that anything that they have devised is not worth considering or have any merits at all. I assure you Lord Malfoy and other lords of this auspicious body that technomancy isn't going to affect our way of living or is a purported attack on our culture. Technomancy is a discipline of magic which finds its roots in convenience making life easier. For example, the famous shop of Florean Fortescue sells ice-cream and he makes them by magic. Now every time he does this, he has to use magic and the number of times that he had to cast those spells can be up to as much as 10 times a day. Even if he used some charms, he would need to frequently renew those charms which lead to magical exhaustion for him and his staff who can faint with the residual magic which is left behind. Imagine he gets those machines that the muggles call 'ice-cream maker' and it is enchanted to run with magic, it would make it easy for him to produce huge amount of ice-cream in short time and would also not lead to any magical exhaustion or fainting. Similarly, we have had to ban the use of carpets due to the threat on the statute of secrecy and as a result, we rely on brooms to go from a place to another which is not very clandestine and often we have to send obliviation squads. Imagine if a family were to get hold of an old muggle vehicle which can sit 5 and they enchant it to run with magic and to accommodate more people at once on the inside and add a few bells and whistles then it would be easy for a family of 5 to easily go from a place to another without fearing for being discovered. In fact the Ministry had made a purchase of a fleet of such cars which are effectively used by the law enforcement officials when the need arises. I would say that it is the future and we can't stand in the past."

When she sat, Elder Ogden continued, "Now the motion by Lord Black has three demands which can be debated separately as they merit individual attention unto themselves. We will discuss those points one by one and then vote on them. The first point of discussion is whether technomancy should be formally recognised as a branch of magic in Wizarding Britain like other magical nations?"

Lord Fawley raised his hand and Ogden motioned for him to rise, "The Chamber is ready to hear your views, Lord Fawley."

Lord Fawley was a man of about 39 years of age and mild disposition. He had airs about him of a man who was knowledgeable and wise. He stood and started speaking in a tone which was well calculated and inspired hope, "As Madam Bones said, Technomancy is here to make lives easier for a lot of people. We can do most things with magic but magic isn't all that is to it. Doing continuous magic can cause to faint or exhaust us and there are many issues with it as Madam Bones described. I own some share in a restaurant overseas in Magical areas of Paris which is run by some associates of mine. I have been to the kitchen where they use the technology as used by muggles but adapted and modified to work with magic. Compared to that, some of our most famous places like the Leaky Cauldron don't have that facility and they resort to old method of using magic every time they have to cook something and the amount of work that goes into is double the time ordinarily used by those who work with technomancy. I for one think that this idea has merits and using technomancy is the future for the wizarding kind."

When he sat, Ogden asked again, "Does anyone else want to speak in support of or opposed to this motion?"

When no one did, he started speaking again, "those in favour please raise your wand tips lighted green."

The motion was very close. In fact, this motion saw a split down the middle in the neutral faction and there were 50 out of 80 in support of the motion.

After having counted the hands, Ogden continued, "All those opposed to the motion raise your wands with tips lighted green."

Ogden counted the votes and then proclaimed, "With this motion, it is directed to the Ministry of Magic to recognise technomancy as a proper discipline of magic and make suitable amendments in its laws, rules and regulations to reflect the decision taken by this auspicious chamber on this day. The second and third questions are interrelated and therefore we will vote on them together at once."

Elder McDougall raised his hand and was allowed to speak, "Since the ministry has decided to allow for technomancy to be recognised as a branch of magic, it is only natural that we should allow for such businesses to open here and deal with it. However I suggest that sufficient rules and guidelines are drafted by the Ministry and argued upon in this assembly before such businesses are allowed to operate. Also, the ministry should extend the said nod to only those businesses which have a footing in wizarding Britain and does not belong to any of our magical neighbours. If we need to allow our own people to thrive, we would need to place an embargo on outsiders."

Arcturus stood on his seat, "I modify my motion in accordance with the suggestions made by Elder McDougall, Elder Ogden."

Ogden rapped his gavel, "Those in favour please raise your wands lighted green."

About 60 wands went up in the air and the motion was passed.

Before the session could be wrapped for the day, Lord Macmillan stood, "Elder Ogden, I have a proposal to be made in connection to the motion made by Lord Black."

The copy of the proposal being made by Lord Macmillan was sent to all the members and recess was declared. After recess, they met again and Ogden started speaking, "Lord Macmillan has proposed in his proposal that the ministry shall endeavour to establish such institutions which can teach about technomancy to those who want to pursue a career in it since at present, there is no such institution in existence in this country. He has also proposed that the ministry should allow for private institutions to open and operate in this area and any certificates etc. provided by them should carry the same value as any other certificate etc like the OWL and NEWT results declared by the Wizarding Examination Authority after they have been sufficiently tested on it. Those in favour please raise your wands tip lighted green."

Arcturus was the first to raise his wand in favour of the proposal and by a slim majority of about 45-35, the proposal was passed.

As the Wizengamot was dismissed for the day, Arcturus was stopped by Elder Ogden, "Arcturus, a word please."

Arcturus nodded, "Sure Tiberius. What is on your mind?"

"As far as I know, you are the meanest Black that I have known. What is it suddenly with trying to bring Wizarding Britain into modern age?"

Arcturus smirked, "If I had not taken Dumbledore on a goose chase, he would have guessed it by now. Actually I have sent Sirius to Germany to study technomancy with a reputed institute. When he returns, I am going to open an institute which will train others in technomancy apart from showcasing its products. I bring more jobs to Wizarding Britain and I get to be the first one to the feast. House Black has slumbered long enough. Now it is time to increase the reputation and the gold in our vaults."

Ogden smiled, "As I said, you are the meanest Black I have known."

Arcturus said nothing but grinned at his friend, something that he very rarely did and almost never in public.

"Are you leaving for Bulgaria anytime soon?', asked Ogden.

"No Tiberius. I have a lot of business to be conducted in England for the time and my heir is studying at Hogwarts. I suppose I will be looking after him after all."

A letter

When Arcturus returned to the Black Townhouse, he sat down to plan his schedule ahead. There were a lot of things that he had to do and there was little time. Firstly, he had entered Harry and Neville into the World Junior Duelling Championship which would take place sometime in July and was supposed to last for 4 days. It was a very famous tournament and presented very lucrative opportunities for those industrious of mind. All the businesses that he was setting up could do well with the kind of exposure that the championship was supposed to bring.

The Easter holidays were going to be brief. Arcturus had it in his mind to leave Wizarding Britain and go to his castle to spend some quiet time by himself but that was not to be. He had some very important work to do and this could not wait. While little Hadrian lived carefree life yet there was something that he must prepare for.

Dumbledore had told him about the prophecy and that was it about little Harry and Voldemort. According to him, the prophecy was the sole reason that the Potters and the Longbottoms had to go into hiding. The prophecy held a lot of answers to the questions that had arose during the years but none knew the answers to them.

He decided to write a letter to his heir and talk about a few matters which had to be looked into before they could go and retrieve it. The letter read:

"Dear Harry,

I am writing this letter with extreme urgency and with express instructions to not to show it to anyone sans Neville (i.e. if you and he have moved on from your childish feud) and Daphne.

This Easter, you are not supposed to bring any of your friends to the Black Townhouse for there are things that we need to discuss and it would be best if others would not know about them for the time being.

We i.e. you and I are going to take a trip to a place which will answer a lot of our questions that I am sure have been in your mind since long and the rest of our time shall be spent pondering over the answers that we have received and we may have to change a lot of our plans that we have had formed for years.

Love,

Granduncle"

Hogwarts

When Harry received the letter the next day at the breakfast table, he recognised the red seal over the letter which meant it was strictly meant for his own eyes only and for Neville's. Since Neville wasn't talking to him, he decided that the chubby Gryffindor was not going to be a part to it anymore. Whatever it was about, Harry would deal with it by himself and will not involve him.

Lately, Neville had become involved with some Gryffindors who had high aspirations but lacked the power or the conviction that they could make it. They rallied behind Neville and everywhere they would put him in front due to his reputation and his position as the heir of the House of Longbottom. This had led to an inflated ego on the part of his former best friend who had even stopped giving a thought to Harry or about reconciling with him.

He opened the letter and read it carefully. The words in the letter made him worry for there were many questions that he had in his mind but had never been answered yet. He was not sure what questions would be answered over Halloween by visiting wherever Arcturus wanted to take him.

The biggest question he had was about his parents. They had a Manor which was fortified with centuries of wards but they had moved to live in a little cottage in the village of Godric's Hollow where they were only protected by the Fidelius spell. Why they had resorted to such a measure was something that Harry wanted to know. Another question that he had asked himself at times was about Voldemort. He was touted to be the greatest dark lord and he had killed innumerable witches and wizards in his reign of terror. Wizards such as Caradoc Dearborn, Dorcas Meadows, many of the ministry Aurors had fallen before him and everyone was scared of his name. What made him come after a one-year old child who could barely speak? And what had caused him to vanish? Harry knew nothing at that age yet he had somehow vanquished the greatest dark lord. It never had made sense to him but he had never asked about it to anyone. May be, it was time that those questions would be answered.

"What happened mate?", asked Ron, "What are you thinking about?"

"Granduncle wants me to visit London during Easter. Says it is important that I come and come alone. I don't know what has got him in a twist."

Ron nodded, "Will you at least visit us at Easter?"

"Looks doubtful, Ron. I suppose he has got things planned and with Moony and Padfoot absent, there isn't much that we can do anyhow."

"Harrikins", called George from the other side of the common room, "What about the next one?"

Harry smirked, "It's on the way. Everyone will love it."

With that, it was Easter holidays and the students were supposed to go to their home. This time everyone was going home and the castle was going to be practically deserted. Only a couple of students in the lower years and some of the NEWT and Owl students remained behind.

Harry was out of the school and going towards a carriage when Kreacher popped in existence before him, shouting at the top of his loud bullfrog voice, "Lord Black sent me to bring you home, master."

"Who is this?", asked Hermione who had just come up.

Harry could see the confusion and curiosity written on her face. "Hermione this is Kreacher, the head house-elf of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black."

"House elf?", she asked, "I have read about them. Does he work for you?"

Harry nodded, "Yes. Kreacher and his ancestors before him have loyally served the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black."

"Do you pay him for his services?", she asked him.

Harry raised an eye-brow, "Why do I need to pay him?"

"Because he works for your house, Harry. Do you mean you practice slave labour?", she asked aghast.

Harry said sternly, "Hermione, Kreacher is my house elf and not a slave. Unlike witches and wizards, he is a magical being and his requirements are different than us. He actually enjoys working for us and we have never given him any reason for grief."

Before she could say anything more, Harry had caught the dimunitive Elf's hand and they had disappeared to appear in the Black Townhouse.

The Department of Mysteries

Next day, Harry woke up early as Arcturus had instructed him to. When he descended to the kitchen, Kreacher had already cooked breakfast for him and Harry. As Harry helped himself to his breakfast, Lord Black arrived and took his place at the table.

"Harry, tell me what you have been up to at the school?", Arcturus said sharply.

"I have done nothing worth reporting, Granduncle except may be smuggling a dragon out of the castle."

Arcturus' eyebrows rose and threatened to disappear, "Dragon! Where did you get a dragon in the castle? And what was your interest in it?"

"Hagrid, the gamekeeper is a beast enthusiast. When we met for the first time, he told me that his most dear ambition was to pet a dragon. Someone lost a dragon egg to him in a game of cards in Hogsmead and he won the egg. The egg hatched in the school and somehow Lucius's son came to know about it. We arranged for its courier from the school pulling in a lot of favours, testing many of the friendships that I have cultivated in the castle. Luckily, the dragon got sent away but McGonagall caught me out of bounds and I lost 50 points."

"And what about the incident where you changed your professors' appearance and outfits? I know no one knew it was your doing but Dumbledore knew about it and in fact, he enjoy it as much as you did. He says that Severus Snape looks very decent once he gets to comb the slimeball that he calls hair."

Harry laughed, "Snape can do with some laughter. That prank was our doing but nobody knows how we did it. In fact, there are so many little details that it has gone hazy. I do remember that I used some elves in the prank though."

"Remember lad that I am not going to punish you for having some fun but please try to remember that none of your pranks should humiliate anyone. If that happens, that will be an issue", Arcturus said sternly.

"Yes Granduncle", said Harry meekly.

"Finish your breakfast and then meet me in the Lord's study. There are things that we have to discuss", Arcturus said as he rose from his chair.

About an hour later, Harry was sitting before Lord Black in his study. Arcturus for once in his life, looked at loss of words. He would start speaking and then stop to think before he would launch in a narrative again, "Harry, there a lot of things that you don't know yet. When I brought you to the castle, it was an act of desperation. All of my children were either dying or dead. Those that remained were scattered, ousted from the family, or incarcerated in Azkaban. I had nothing left. A once flourishing powerful family was reduced to handful of people and most of them are now gone. I wanted an heir who could take the family name and keep it alive. I had some vested interest in the subject but you came as a blessing to me. I was counting my days until the clock would run over but having to care for you gave me a new purpose in life. And then I got Sirius back which I had not thought would be possible. I also came to knew that the threat to your life posed by Voldemort was not over and that it won't end until he is killed for good. Voldemort has remained alive by the darkest of magic which I am not going to discuss with you but there is something that you must know. Have you never wondered why your parents left their manor and came to live in a cottage in Godric's Hollow of all places? Why they choose the strongest protections available to keep them safe?"

Harry nodded, "I have been having these questions but I knew you will tell me when the time was right."

"I didn't knew the answer by myself, lad. I knew that your parents were in danger and Voldemort hunted them personally. I know that James and Lilly had escaped him thrice after having bloodied his nose. What I didn't know was the reason that your parents chose to hide. I mean they were very powerful witch and wizard and you father was a hit-wizard for Merlin's sake. Hit-wizards are a pedestal higher than Aurors and he had been known to be reckless and risk taker all his life. What then prompted him to exercise caution? I came to know the answer very recently. It had something to do with you. Voldemort was not coming after your parents but he was coming after you. It was you he wanted to kill. The reason for him coming after you was a prophecy which was made to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore in 1980 in the village of Hogsmead shortly before you were born. One of his death eaters who was spying on Dumbledore heard a half of the prophecy and that made Voldemort come after you."

"What is this prophecy? What does it say?", Harry asked apprehensively.

"The only person who remembers the prophecy is Albus Dumbledore himself. Even the seer does not remember what it said. A record of the place is kept in a place in the ministry from where only you can pick it up. Today we are going to pick up the prophecy and learn what it says."

"Are we going to the ministry?", asked Harry.

"We are going to the Department of Mysteries, a subdivision of the Ministry of Magic situated within the deeper levels of the ministry. I have already made an appointment", Arcturus replied.

The Department of Mysteries was a section of the Ministry of Magic that carried out confidential research. Most of its operations were carried out in total secrecy. Very few wizards within the Ministry actually knew what was located within this department. Various mysteries of the world were studied there, including love, space, thought, time, death, and others. Wizards who worked in the Department of Mysteries were known as Unspeakables because of the confidential nature of their work.

About an hour later, Harry and Arcturus were at the phone booth where we had started this story.

"Granduncle, this phone looks broken", said Harry.

"No Harry. It is not broken. Come along now."

As they entered, Arcturus picked up the receiver and dialled a number "62442" depositing a galleon and a minute later, a voice said, "State your name and purpose."

"Arcturus Orion Black and Hadrian Potter-Black. Here for a visit to the Department of Mysteries."

Two badges came out of the booth which contained their names and they attached them to their robes and the booth started sliding in the ground. Barely a minute later, they had arrived in the heart of the ministry. The atrium of the ministry was huge. There were fireplaces lined up on the sides from where Wizards kept flooing in. There was a fountain in the middle of the atrium at the bottom of which, Harry could see Galleons, Knuts and Sickles. A board on the side of the fountain read, "All the donations to the fountain of Magical Brethren will be donated to St. Mungo's Hospital."

Arcturus emptied the money pouch that he held in his hands in the fountain and many galleons fell in the fountain settling at the bottom. Harry looked up at him and he shrugged, "For all the damage that my children have caused to the society, I donate what I can every time I pass from here. Remember Harry that we are the protectors of this realm and it is our duty to do whatever good we can do, no matter how big or small."

There was also a statue on which there were a wizard, a witch, a centaur and an elf. On the bottom of the statue was inscribed, "The Magical Brethren."

Arcturus nudged him towards the desk where a lone wizard sat who asked for their wands. There was a little machine which sat on the table before him and when a wand was to be weighed, it was placed on the scales and it would whirr and puff while the wand was analyzed. After it was done, a parchment would come out with the name of the wizard and the specifications of the wand. The receipt would be duplicated by him and a copy would be handed to the owner of the wand while another would be kept with the wand and in possession of the wizard. He first weighed Arcturus' wand, "Oak wood, 14 inches, Dragon Heartstring and Kelpie hair. Been in use for 80 years. Is that correct?"

Arcuturus nodded, "Yes" and handed his wand to the wizard keeping a receipt of the same. He then took Harry's wand and weighed it. As he started to read the receipt, Arcturus was ready to silence the wizard who looked up, "HADRIAN POTTER-BLACK!"

Arcturus growled, "Keep quiet, you fool."

"My apologies, Lord Black", the man said hastily returning Arcturus's wand to him, "You are not required to submit your wand, Lord Black."

Arcturus growled, "We are not here for Ministry business but on a visit to the Department of Mysteries. Weigh the lad's wand and let us be on our way."

The wizard read out the parchment which had come of Harry's wand, "Hadrian Potter-Black, Blackthorn wood, 12 inches, Dragon Heartstring and Unicorn tail hair. Been in use for three years."

As they left the wizard, Harry asked him, "Grand-uncle, we could have passed him without giving any attention to him. Then why did you insist on getting your wand weighed?"

"Lad, there are a lot of things that you are yet to learn. We have a position of privilege because we belong to the Ancient and Most Noble Houses and I am member of the wizengamot but it is not something that you should abuse. Influence or power should be used sparingly and with utmost caution. If I go around the place throwing my power around like Malfoy, a time would come that people would stop fearing me or the Black name. We could have walked away ignoring him but doing that is not proper. Deception and illusion are two very useful tools available to a man. We present ourselves as law abiding citizen and no one would doubt us of being the miscreants if we did something. Do you understand?"

He nodded, "I understand, granduncle."

By then they had reached the lifts which took them to the deeper levels of the ministry. As they ascended a lift, Arcturus closed the doors and it started moving. Soon they had arrived at the 9th level.

This was the second lowest level of the ministry and no one except the unspeakables or the minister of magic could enter the department without express permission. At times, people could make an appointment to the department but that could be done only through owl and depended on the discretion of the Chief Unspeakable.

When they reached the door of the Department, it was opened by a man who wore a mask which covered all of his face. The man said to Arcturus, "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries, Lord Black and Mr. Potter-Black."

Arcturus nodded, "Thank you Saul. Let's not waste any more time."

The black door which served as entrance was made of a mixture of metals and was handleless. It could not be opened by the Alohomora charm or by enchanted artefacts which could open any lock. Behind the black door was the entrance chamber which was designed to disorient any unauthorised personnel who entered it. It was a circular room with a dark marble floor that looked almost like standing water, candles emitting a cool blue light, and twelve handleless doors. Whenever a door closed, the walls rotated, making it impossible to determine which door was which. This chamber would respond to a verbal request for an exit by the opening of the correct door.

As they stood in the chamber, Saul said loudly to apparently no one, "The hall of prophecy please."

A door opened and he motioned for them to follow him, "This way, please."

Harry asked Arcturus, "What is the Hall of Prophecy?"

Saul answered his query, "you will see for yourself soon, lad."

As they walked, they came out in a huge hall whose ceiling was lost in a gloom and blue illuminating orbs were kept on towering shelves. The shelves were lit with blue-flame candles. Harry asked Arcturus and he told him that the orbs were prophecies made through the ages. These prophecies, held in glass orbs with a dusty yellowed label fixed below, were magically protected, so that the only people who could lift them off their stand were the Keeper of the Hall of Prophecies and the subject(s) of the individual prophecy. Anyone else who attempted to inspect the orbs with their hands would be afflicted with instant madness.

Croaker led them through a mage of shelves which started from a door which contained a cabinet and a huge model of sand glass. Harry was curiously looking at that room and Saul, who had noticed him looking said, "That is the time room. Now come along, lad."

The row of shelves directly in front of the door from the Time Room was number 53. Number 54 was to the right of that, then 55, and so on. The light was very dim in the Hall. The candles were located on either end of each row, which meant that from one end, the far end of each row was lost in darkness. Some of the orbs glowed with a faint inner light, but others were cold and dark. The prophecy regarding Harry was located a short distance down row 97.

The dusty yellowed label read, "Hadrain Potter-Black and the Dark Lord. Made to A.P.W.B.D. by S.T. in June 1980."

Croaker pointed Harry to it, "Pick that one, lad. It is about you and the Dark Lord."

Harry was apprehensive as he pulled the orb from its place. He had thought that the orb would be cold to touch considering it was made of glass but to his surprise it felt warm to his skin.

Harry asked the unspeakable, "Why is this one lit while others are not?"

Saul thought about what to tell the child before him. The true reason was more than likely to throw the lad into panic but he knew that if he didn't then Arcturus will tell him, "All of these prophecies were made at a point of time in the past, lad and the parchments which are glued to them contain details about whom they were made. Many of these prophecies are not active yet while many of these have passed their age. If a prophecy is active at the moment, its orb will be lit but if the prophecy is ended or its period has not yet arrived then it will not be lit."

"Does it mean that my prophecy is still active? Do you mean that Voldemort is still alive?", Harry asked the unspeakable.

He said grimly, "I am afraid it is so, Mr. Potter-Black. I am afraid we could not tell about it to anyone because our rules forbid us from doing that."

"So what does this prophecy say? How do I hear it?"

Croaker had his wand out and raised a privacy ward, "If you want, you can hear it here."

Arcturus waved off the offer, "We will be taking it away, Saul."

He nodded and they took their leave of Croaker. When they returned to the manor, Harry found that Andromeda had already arrived and she hugged him as she saw him, "How are you Harry?"

"I am fine, Auntie. How is Nymphadora and Uncle Ted?"

"Nymphadora has been selected at the Auror Academy and went to join them", Andromeda replied.

They kept talking for an hour during which Andromeda told him a lot about his grandparents and his parents. He had heard all of it before but it made him happy every time to hear more and more of them.

Finally they were free in the evening and Harry expected Arcturus to bring the prophecy out.

Acturus had him sit in the office and started speaking very slowly and clearly, "Lad, I know you are interested to know what the prophecy says but this prophecy will change nothing. The prophecy may say that you are destined to kill Voldemort or vice versa and this will change nothing. Even if you decided to ignore the prophecy yet it will come true in a fashion. I can hazard a guess that this prophecy was made about you being able to defeat him for good so it made him seek you out and try to kill you while you were still a baby. Since the moment that he trained his wand at you, he locked your and his destiny together. You will have to be ready to save yourself from him and anyone else who seeks to harm you in any case so it changes nothing. Do you still want to hear it?"

Harry thought about it for a long time, "What if it contains some ideas about how to defeat Voldemort?"

"Lad, prophecies are very tricky things. They are powerful magic and most of them come true but they can come true in a ways that we cannot imagine. We cannot avoid a prophecy no matter what we do. Even if it contains any idea about defeating Voldemort, it won't be anything other than a fight between you and him before he is put down like a rabid dog. My duty is to ensure that you are ready when that meeting comes", Arcturus explained.

"I will not hear the prophecy then, grand uncle. Keep it somewhere that no one can reach it", Harry replied.

Arcturus nodded, "I will have Travistor take it to the Black Family vault and be kept there. No one will ever find it there."

As Travistor departed with the prophecy, Arcturus turned to him, "Now what is fight going with Neville? Have I not taught you both that you are each other's strength? That a Potter and a Longbottom always go together? And you fought over something as trivial as shower time? I have received worrying letters from Dowager Longbottom and Daphne about it. She even told me that you can't even tolerate his presence in the same room? Is your ego bigger than your friendship? Of the bond of brotherhood that exists between you and him? Bigger than the ties that bind House of Potter and House of Longbottom in an alliance older than even the Ministry of Magic?"

"Grand-uncle, Neville started resenting me since we reached the castle. Everyone fawned over me, which I did not like, and he resented all the attention which was being given to me. He could not bear the thought that I can be friends with someone other than him and Daphne. I am not going to apologize to him."

Arcturus sighed but said nothing. It was the way that he had trained the boy. If he had made up his mind then there was no changing it. He could only pray for a miracle to happen.

As Harry was being grilled by Lord Black, Neville was being questioned by Augusta. She was fuming at him, "What in the blazes made you seek enmity with Harry, Neville? What has he ever done to you that you would end your friendship with him? What exactly happened? Minerva has sent me countless letters asking exactly what made things sour between you two? Daphne has been writing me to resolve the conflict between you both."

"Gran, he changed. When we went to school, he changed and didn't remain the boy that had been my friend for these years. I mean we both got a lot of friends but he kind of started making more time for them and not me. I wanted to be his friend but he refused. That day that we fought, he actually told me that I am sub-ordinate to him and should do as he asks", Neville replied.

She growled, "I know that boy better than you think, Neville Longbottom. He cannot talk this way, not to anyone. He loves you like a brother. Tomorrow I am invited to the Black Townhouse for Easter and you are coming with me. You will pay your regards to Lord Black and both of you will apologise to each other for your conduct. Is that clear?"

Neville whimpered, "Yes Gran."

A/N- this chapter has not been edited and updated. Will be edited and updated at a later date. Enjoy!