"Bones was in, instantly." Moody replied. "Fudge had to read through the entire submission, but he agreed." Moody laid a heavy scroll on the desk. "Ministerial approval, you have to present the Unit's Charter and financial resource statement, to the Wizengamot on the 6th of September, at the first meeting of the new financial year."
"We got it?" Harry gasped.
"You got it." Moody nodded. "Transfers, included."
"Yes!" Harry leapt to his feet and bounced around the room, his arms waving in excitement.
"Good new, then?" John asked.
"Ministerial Approval." Moody nodded. "It's official. We're good to go."
"Did everyone find their room?" Harry called and was answered by a chorus of positive replies. "Brilliant." He grinned. "First things first. We'll be scheduling a wandier's visit, everyone will be getting tested to see how compatible their wands are, with their core. All of you will be getting new wands, not necessarily replacing what you have… unless they're a poor match… but we want everyone to have three wands. One will be registered with the Ministry. The others won't be. They'll be your Unit wands, kept for training and callouts."
There were a few cheers, some of those that were struggling financially were using heirloom wands that didn't respond as well as they'd hoped.
"Next will be clothing." Harry held up a hand. "Whoa, not everyday stuff. Training stuff, duelling robes and the like." The objections faltered. "Peggy, Tonks, Hermione and Annette will be taking the girls, while Robert, Justin, Dean and Remus will be taking the boys. Tonks, Annette, Remus and Robert all have lists of recommendations, if there's something you want that isn't on the list, convince them. Just remember that if you do convince them everyone else will be getting the same items. Not necessarily the exact same, but the equivalent." He saw relief on a couple of faces as they fingered their clothes. "Now, onto a more serious subject. The Unit is official but until you take an oath, your joining it, isn't. The Oath is simple."
Kingsley flicked his wand and letters formed in the air.
'I…(insert name) swear on my life and magic, that I shall not reveal information that I learn, or discover, during my duties with the Anti-Terrorism Unit known as The Unit, without the express permission of The Unit's Director.'
"It's not as bad as it sounds, most things will be precluded with the phrase, 'This is not restricted information', which means that your Oath won't apply and if you wish you can talk about them. If that isn't stated, your Oath comes into play. If in doubt, speak up and ask someone, don't take a chance." Harry warned them.
"Now, it's time, for each of you give that Oath." Kingsley said. "Myself, Auror Tonks and Healer Tonks will accept your Oaths with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick as witnesses. For those of you underage, your Oath will only bind you until you turn seventeen, meaning that you will have to retake the Oath, then, but you will still be bound in regard to anything covered by today's Oath. Understand?" Almost everyone nodded and those that didn't, agreed verbally. "Good. First up is… Oliver Wood, Penny Clearwater and Angelina Johnson. Come on over here and we'll get started." Kingsley gestured off to the left.
A tiny bell rang and while many people frowned, a small girl slapped at her hip.
"It's Andrew." She said, pulling out a small square box with a button on the top. The button was flashing red. "Oh, dear. Will someone take me to see what's upset him now?"
"I can do that." A man with dark wavy hair, said.
"Want me to come?" A second man asked in an American accent.
"Nah, we got this." The first man said and pressed a kiss to the other's lips. "See you soon." He took the girl's arm and the pair apparated away.
They landed on a wide balcony at the rear of the little cottage that Peggy had lived in for the last few years.
"Miss Carter. Mister Black." Phillip Coulson greeted them. "Thank you for coming. We seem to have a problem."
"What type of problem." Peggy asked.
"The Stark type."
"Anthony?" Peggy asked.
"Yes." Coulson nodded. "He didn't take the news of your… disappearance well and is causing friction."
"Friction that won't bode well for us?" Sirius asked.
"Yes." Coulson replied.
"Where is he?" Peggy asked.
"At the big house." Coulson nodded towards the main manor house.
"Is anyone with him?" Peggy asked.
"Not at this point." Coulson shook his head.
"Call him down." Peggy ordered.
"Are you sure?" Coulson countered.
"Do it, agent." Peggy said sharply.
"Yes, ma'am." Coulson nodded and stepped away from them to speak into a small device on his wrist. "He's on his way, ma'am."
"Good, sit down, Phillip." Peggy pointed at a seat.
"Yes, ma'am." Coulson calmy went and sat where she's pointed but Sirius got the feeling that he wanted to be anywhere but there.
A few minutes passed and a young man, in his mid-twenties, bounced across the lawn.
"Agent Agent, did you speak to your… whoever?" He leapt up the few steps. "What did they say? Did they know where Aunt Peggy is? Did they have any information? Did you learn anything? Any ideas?"
"Anthony Edward Stark, close your mouth." Peggy said sharply, causing the young man to snap his jaw closed audibly and spin to face her. "Sit down and leave Agent Coulson be. He was operating under my orders."
"Aunt Peggy…?" Tony Stark frowned at the young girl sitting primly at the wrought iron table.
"You are well aware of the degree of manners I require you to exhibit when you are in my home, Anthony." The girl said.
"Um…?"
"Tony…" The drawn brow gave Tony his first clear sign that his eyes and ears weren't playing trick on him.
"Yes, Aunt Peggy." He sighed. "Do you have any idea of how worried I was? And what the hell happened to you?"
"Come and sit down, Tony, and we'll explain." Peggy said.
Tony gave Coulson a sideways glare as he sidled passed the other man and sat where Peggy had pointed.
"This all started back in 1945, with the mission that saw the capture of Armim Zola." Peggy started. "Sergeant Barnes was with Captain Rogers, in a forward carriage…" she began the long task of bringing both men up to date with the situation and introducing them to magic. "… I'm sure I don't need to tell you, that this goes not further than us."
"Sounds like it's already gone a lot further." Stark muttered.
"Not in the muggle world." Sirius countered.
"So, Barnes is still alive…?" Stark huffed. "What about the Captain?"
"No." Peggy still felt his loss deeply. "Nor were we able to retrieve his body. Neither he nor the craft he was in, reached the sea floor, without which, Lord Black's magic wasn't able to locate them."
"Damn." Stark sighed.
"Agreed." Bucky walked out of the house to join them. "Remus brought me, the kids are finished and we're waiting on you pair, for the intro's."
"Holy shit…" Stark whispered.
"Knowing is one thing." Coulson nodded. "Seeing is completely different."
"Ah-huh…" Stark grunted, his eyes firmly fixed on Bucky, who now had an arm around Sirius's shoulders and had pressed a kiss to his brow. "Okay… time out, time out. You pair are…"
"Oh, dear Lord," Sirius sighed. "Are we doing this again…?"
"Yes, we're married." Bucky said, cutting the whole explanation down to three words.
"Oh, okay…" Stark just blinked. "Is that legal?"
"Not in the muggle word, no." Peggy said. "But they will be living predominantly in the wizarding world and there it's commonly accepted."
"Okay…" Stark repeated himself. "What do you want to tell the world?"
"Nothing." Peggy said. "Let Margaret Elizabeth Carter fade away. I am, thanks to Phillip here, legally Margaret Victoria Carter, granddaughter of former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Carter."
"However, I'd appreciate it, if you'd release my army pay." Bucky said.
"Oh, yeah, the old man invested it for you, right?" Stark nodded. "Yeah, sure, I can do that." He paused. "Obie's gonna want to know 'why now'? What do you want me to tell him?"
"Nothing." Peggy said. "Your father may have trusted Stane but I don't and never have."
"Aunt Peggy…" Tony started.
"No." Peggy said firmly. "Just tell him that in going over my effects, you found that Bucky Barnes had a daughter, she may have died but her son is alive and living in Scotland. I'm sure Phillip can 'find' you the appropriate documents to convince Stane."
"I can." Coulson was still eyeing Sirius' wand warily.
"Then what?" Stark asked. "When will I get to see you? You're the only family I have left, Aunt Peggy, I don't want to lose you."
"You're her godson, right?" Sirius suddenly asked.
"Yes, dad insisted." Tony replied cautiously.
"Well, if you want to keep the connection, you could be Peggy's godfather." Sirius said.
"On paper, if nothing else." Bucky said.
Arriving back on the island late afternoon, Bucky and Sirius watched as Peggy joined the other children in the frolicking around in the pool.
"We did the right thing, today, didn't we?" Sirius asked his husband.
"Telling Coulson and Stark?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah." Sirius nodded.
"Yeah." Bucky replied. "We need contacts in the muggle world and what better than the righthand man of the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Fury did tell Coulson, he was to be our only contact." Sirius nodded. "And once we're done with Riddle and The Unit is up and running, having Coulson as a contact could be beneficial if anything happens in Britain."
"Ah, you're back." Kingsley approached them. "We've been putting of the introductions until you got back."
"We're back." Bucky said. "Go for it."
"Wssss… Kingsley flicked his wand and it emitted a loud whistling sound. "Now that everyone is relaxed and all our people are back from their errands, we're ready to some introductions. And a quick reminder that this bit is covered by your Oath."
It only took a few minutes to name all the adults and there were a few dropped jaws when the muggle-raised realised who Bucky, Falsworth, Morita and Dum-dum were. Surprisingly, few knew who Peggy was.
Over the next two dilations, the Unit came together. Many adults were surprised that Harry was the one that most of the students turned to for interpretations of what the 'adults' were trying to get them to do. The younger siblings of many of the D.A. joined them for the second dilation and while, initially they struggled, Harry and Neville worked with each of them, one-on-one and after just a few sessions, they picked up and quickly gained ground on the older students.
Watching as all of the students took the animagi potion was as good as a rictusempra, making many of the so-called 'adults' laugh, some would leave holding their aching ribs, others would just shake their heads and smile. All of the students mastered the shift in a remarkably short period of time. McGonagall had expected that not all of them would succeed and that those that did, would take a much longer time to do so.
Animagi lessons left the island looking like a zoo without enclosures, however, the students loved it, all of them took to the shift easily. What surprised the adults more than anything was that Peggy asked to take the potion and in spite of being a squib was able to shift into an Abyssinian cat. It prompted the four Howlies to try but so far, only Bucky was able to make the shift, being a massive rottweiler, although it should be said that he was not terribly impressed with being a dog of German origins, the war was still too fresh in his mind.
On the 20th of August, Dumbledore brought the students their school letters, which was followed by an eight-hour discussion of what had to be done before the 1st of September. Riddle being the main item of discussion, they really needed to deal with the snakefaced idiot, before school resumed.
A plan was put together and people were tasked with ripping it to shreds from both sides. An hour in, Harry said that they needed more information on how the DeathEaters worked and that as far as he could see, Snape was the only DeathEater that might help them.
Sirius suggested Snape make an Unbreakable Vow or be obliviated after his input. Harry agreed to the Vow but was reluctant to obliviate Snape, who knew if they might need his input again and explaining the whole thing was a pain.
Eventually, Dumbledore suggested asking Snape, which he would prefer.