Cyrus Greengrass stared at the newspaper in silence. When it arrived this morning it had shaken the man to his core. It brought the shame and regret he felt. He only wanted to protect his wife and his daughter by staying in the background during the war. But that didn't work. Being neutral left them being seen as untrustworthy by either side and without the support of either of the main political powers.
The business was stable but it had taken a major hit from the war and was struggling to grow. The Meadows family had overtaken them due to using their reputation for supporting Dumbledore during the war, and hiring muggleborns.
During the final days of the war, he had condemned had enslaved his family to the Death Eaters for so-called 'protection'. Battle lines had long since been drawn, so his pleas for help were mostly ignored. The Greengrass name had fallen far from grace, and Cyrus blamed only himself.
Meanwhile at the DMLE.
Hadrian sat in absolute silence in the interrogation room while he waited for Ted to arrive. Much to his "interrogators" frustration. They had been trying to make him confess for half an hour now, but Harry hadn't opened his mouth since leaving the hospital. He barely showed any emotion at all except the occasional faint smile and the mounting frustration, showing on the two Aurors. Harry had been in the presence of a demon, a former priest of hell at that. The power that had oozed from him was both awing and terrifying, that mixed with his opposing build had taken some getting used to. So two Aurors, who he had heard be called everything from sloppy to stupid by James, Amelia, and Tonks wasn't going to spook him. That and they forgot to even ask for his wand made it all the more amusing.
"We can do this all day, Potter. Do you think that keeping your mouth shut will keep you out of Askaban!?" Yaxley growled, but Harry was more interested in the two new occupants of the room.
"That's exactly what it's going to do!" A voice responded that caused both Yaxley and Dawlish paled considerably as they turned around and saw furious looking Amelia Bones along with a composed Ted Tonks.
"Sorry I took so long Harry. Madam Umbridge seems to have forgotten how the law works." Ted spoke to Harry, and Harry could hear the frustration leaking into his voice.
"It's okay, Uncle Ted, Madam Umbridge ha never known what she's doing. That's why the minister haired another secretary." Harry responded with a calm smile. Ted grinned, while Amelia let out an amused snort. Harry then looked to Amelia, stood up from his seat and flung the magic restraining cuffs that had been placed on him onto the table, (much to the shock of the two Aurors) and spoke. "May I go Madam Bones?" He asked.
"Yes, Mr Potter you may. The DMLE will charge people for self-defense while I am in charge." Amelia stated before looking back to the two Aurors who shrunk under her furious glare. "Dawlish, Yaxley, my office, now." When they exited the room they saw Kingsley Shacklebolt levitating a stunned Delores Umbridge. "Good work Shaklebolt. Place her in a cell and she can be dealt with when someone is free." Amelia instructed and Kingsley merely nodded and left with his prisoner.
"I guess we will see you later." Ted said to Amelia.
Amelia nodded. "Hopefully on better terms."
With that Ted and Harry left for the ministry atrium. "How did you get out of those cuffs?" Ted asked Harry as they entered the lift.
"Well you know how they can all be opened by the same key?" Harry asked before taking a key out of his jacket's sleeve.
Ted laughed at his nephew's response, but lead to another question. "Why do you even have that?"
"I conjured it while back at the hospital when they weren't looking." Harry answered, causing Ted to burst out laughing again.
Harry took a notebook out of his pocket and flipped to the most recent page, and took a self-inking quill out of his pocket (how he wished pens worked with these things). "Where is everyone? HP" He wrote.
"Katie is being discharged now, we'll see you at home. BP"
"I'm up now. Astoria wants to see Ella. JP"
"I'll be over later. NT"
"We've got a meeting today, but it shouldn't take too long. SOB"
"I've just sent Susan and Charlie to pack for the night. BB"
"The girls will be over soon. AT"
"Should I tell them we'll see them at home?" Harry asked his uncle, who nodded.
"Me and Ted are coming over now. HP."
The pair arrived at the leaving floos once it was his turn, Hadrian took some floo powder and stood in the large fireplace. "Potter Keep." He called and vanished in a burst of green flames.
Soon.
Potter Keep, the home of the Potter family. Built upon the ground where Potter Manner once stood, was a symbol of the family's wealth and resilience. The inside was just as luxurious as its predecessor but offered far more protection. Each obsidian stone used in its construction was enchanted to withstand the strongest spells known. The wards were the same ones used to contain dragons and giants alike. Merely returning the ancestral to its former glory would have taken a year and a sizable chunk of the family's fortune, but this behemoth had taken five and cost nearly half of their enormous wealth. There had been a huge party to celebrate its opening. The guests had been surprised by how warm the interior was, given the intimidating exterior. Although they noticed some gusts watch the statues with unease as if they would suddenly come alive and attack them. Imagine that.
Harry was sat at the large dining table with James on his left at the head of the table while Katie was on his right. Opposite him was Bellatrix, who sat next to Capella. Next to Katie were her parents, after them was the Bones family, and opposite them was the Tonks family, consisting of; Ted, Andromeda, Nymphadora, as well as two relatively new members to the family. Flora and Hestia Carrow. And at the end of the table was Sirius and his wife Aurora Sinestra.
The convocation during dinner was light, with most of it was about this year's international dueling tournament, which had been held in Sparta. While the infamous Spartan army had long since passed, the magical school there still heavily focused on battle magic.
The dueling tournament was separated into multiple segments. Singles and Duos for those of age and those under. Harry had been selected to represent England in the underage singles and had managed to come in third place. Which isn't bad considering that both first and second place were both 16 and from legacy families.
Harry, Katie, Charlie, Susan, Flora, Hestia, Capella, James, Bellatrix, Ted, Andromeda Sirius, Aurora, and Bradley. It had started mid-July and had ended just before they had to set off for the Quiddich final. And this was everyone's chance to properly catch up with each other.
When the meal was finished the mood quickly darkened. James cleared his throat. "Where should we begin?" He asked.
"Who did I kill?" Harry asked.
"Lords Jason Flint and Ramond Parkinson." Amelia answered. "The rest of the Death Eaters got away."
Harry nodded as he recognised the names of the fathers of Pansy Parkison and Marcus Flint. Couldn't say he was sorry.
"What about that hand and the dropped wand?" James asked.
"The wand was taken from a Muggleborn, back during the blood war. It's going to take a bit longer to find out who took, all we've got from the hand so far is the culprit is a white male." Amelia answered.
"Who's missing an arm." Nymphadora added jokingly. This lightened the mood as Sirius burst out laughing, while others merely chuckled.
"With a missing arm." Amelia added.
"Wasn't me." Bradley joked, to which his wife rolled her eyes while suppressing a smile.
"Sounds like it was planned if they weren't using their own wands." James commented.
"Agreed." Amelia nodded.
"Do, think they'll be any more attacks?" Susan asked, worried at the possibility of more Death Eater attacks.
Amelia shook her head. "I doubt it, but we'll keep an eye out."
A silence fell over the table until James stood up and spoke. "Alright I think that's enough for today. Let's head to bed and we can go shopping for Hogwarts spplies tomorrow."
Charlie immediately shot out of his chair. "FINALLY!" He cheered with his fists in the air, before he ran out of the room. Much to the ammusment of the others.
Soon.
James and Bellatrix entered their room, as soon as the door shut, James spoke. "What's wrong Trixie?" He asked softly.
Bellatrix sighed. "How many of those things did he make? We've found three so far." She answered.
James wrapped his arms around her, something she soon returned, and kissed her on the head. "It doesn't matter how many he's made. We'll stop him. One way or another. Come on, there's better ways to spend the night."
"I'm listening."
The next day.
Everyone was gathered around the main fireplace of the keep, ready to head out. Harry stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder. "Tailor Street!"
Steeping out of the fireplace at the other end, Harry was greeted with a small, clean room. The walls were painted cream, the fireplace was marble and the floorboards were polished. The rest of the group soon arrived the exited the room through the door on the other side of the room.
"Welcome to Organ's, would you like to make a reservation?" A friendly female voice asked as they properly entered the restaurant. Looking around the upper-class restaurant, Harry saw house-elves cleaning.
"Yes, we'd like to book a table for sixteen on the 31st somewhere between six and eight in the afternoon." Sirius responded. It had been decided last night that they would come here before the children went to Hogwarts as a treat.
"I can get you in for half seven if that's okay?" The waitress soon responded.
"Sure." Sirius replied.
With the reservation made, the group headed outside to the street.
Tailor Street was a magical shopping district in York, that was for the upper class of the wizarding world. The cobblestone street was comparatively quiet to Diagonally, and a lot smaller as well. The wand shop was literally cross the street, which was their first stop. The sign said "Eternal wands". A smaller sign in the window said. "High-quality carving
Resistant to magical overload
Discounts for Healers and DMLE members"
A bell rang as they opened the door, causing the man at the counter to look up from engraving a wand. "So there you are." He greeted them with a smile.
"Well we would have been here yesterday, but the accident-prone one was hospitalized, and Harry got arrested again." Nymphadora quickly responded, earning a glare from her cousin and his girlfriend. Much to the amusement of the others.
"You're here now at least." The wandmaker responded. "Now, are you ready to begin Heir Bones?"
"Yes." Charlie responded bearly containing his excitement.
"Stand in the circle please." The wandmaker instructed, as gestured to the runic circle on his left. Charlie did as instructed and with a flick of the wand maker's wand, the ring began to glow and a nearby quill started writing on a piece of parchment. Roughly a minute passed before the glow faded and the quill stopped writing. The wandmaker checked over what the quill had written before nodding in satisfaction. "Okay, on to the next part." He announced as with a flick of his wand, one of his desk draws opened and roughly thirty cylinders made of various woods lined themselves in front of Charlie, floating at his eye-level. "Take the one that feels the most comfortable to hold for you." Charlie struggled between five kinds of wood before finally picking one. "Mahogany, a protector's wood." The wandmaker commented. With a flicks of his wand, the remaining woods returned to his desk and multiple glass vials containing various wand core took their place. "Same again Heir Bones." This took almost as long as choosing the wood, but the group waited patiently. "A Cerberus fang. For those who are both loyal and protective." The wandmaker took the wood and the fang back to his desk. "If you have any shopping to do, I would recommend doing it now. If not. feel free to take a seat and pick a magazine to read."
"We will see you in a bit Mathew." Bradley responded as the group began to filter out.
"See you soon." Mathew responded without looking up from his desk as he began to get to work.
"Rodes next." Susan stated before marching over to the store.
"Terrific." Harry muttered.
"Don't be such a baby." Katie teased Harry as she hooked her arm around his, and pulled him along.
They were quickly seen to upon entering the store, and after getting his Hogwarts robes
"Goo-goo gaga." Was all Harry responded with.
The Hogwarts students were quickly seen to upon entering the store. It didn't take them long to get their Hogwarts robes, but Susan and Katie began looking through dresses for the Yule Ball being hosted at Hogwarts this year, with Capella giving her opinions. Flora and Hestia had taken Charlie to the whiches section and were trying to make him blush so hard he fainted. Both fully aware of his crush on them.
Harry ultimately decided to leave the shop with Tonks deciding to tag along to, as dresses weren't her thing. "So where to?" The metamorph asked.
"Let's see what 'The Collectors' has in." Harry mentioned.
Tonks let out an amused snort. "How to prepare your dragon." She muttered, causing Harry to snort as well. They had gone in last year and found a book on cooking dishes with dragon meat, much to the duos amusement. Harry had later bought the book and gave if to Tonks as a Yule present, as a joke. They entered the store and began to peer into the glass cabinets around the store. Most of the items were jewelry and signed books which didn't partially interest the pair. The Rubik cube made them laugh, and they joked about the Malfoy's buying it. But then something caught Harry's attention. He saw a pair of platinum disks that looked like coins inscribed with various ruins. In front of them was a piece of card that said "Coins of unknown origin." Harry bought them for 20 Gallons, while Tonks got herself a wand holster that could comfortably hold several potion vials.
They next went to the book store named "Golden Tombs". The pair separated as they began to scour the shelves. Tonks looked at romance novels (her guilty pleasure), while Harry picked up his needed books for the year.
Out of nowhere, someone roughly turned around and slammed into the bookshelf. Acting on instinct Harry sent a wandless banishing charm as powerful as he could at his attacker. The assailant went flying across the shop into a bookshelf at the other end of the store. "I've already killed your farther Flint, are sure you want to join him!?" Harry growled as he identified his attacker as Marcus Flint. Harry now had his wand drawn and was stood in a dueling stance.
Flint made to get up but Tonks had her wand pointed at his face. "I wouldn't cupcake." She taunted. "Now you might not have known this, but an Auror can make an arrest even when they're off duty."
"He attacked me first, I swear!" Flint tried to plead.
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Sure. Get out of here." She ordered. Flint quickly left with a scowl. "Wand away killer." The Auror instructed her cousin, who complied and began to pick up his books from the floor. "Are you alright?" She asked as she approached him.
"Yeah, I'm good. Wounder what he was doing here any. He can hardly read." Harry commented.
"Maybe someone tipped him off." Tonks suggested.
"Maybe." Harry repeated.
Both of them didn't know about the witch watching them.