Usual disclaimers, refer Chapter 1.
Harry was acting something like his age for once because no-one would take him up on his bet that he could give the Potter, Peverell and Black golems that were going to Hogwarts with them disguised as students exceedingly obvious names but just about no-one raised in Magical Britain would work out what they were. He'd already committed to the names he'd be using…. Goliath (Golly) Olem, Tinus (Tinny) Inman, Andrea Naire (Andy) Droid and Roberta (Robby) Obot.
Some of the Muggle-Born would be cracking up about the fact that they were going to school with G. Olem, T. Inman, A. N. Droid and R. Obot. But even if they could stop laughing long enough to try to explain it to those raised in the Magical World, there was little chance most of the Traditional Pure-Bloods would get it.
Hermione Jane was willing to bet that the phrase 'This is not the Droid you are looking for!' was going to become more popular at Hogwarts though.
When Nymphadora (or rather Dora to those who didn't want to be hexed) came back with. "You didn't seriously expect anyone to take you up on a sucker bet like that, did you Harry?"
He gave her an evil smile. "What about you then Cousin? You'll need a new name too if you're coming with us as a student…. Are you willing to bet that you have enough control over your talent to ensure that they won't find out what you….."
Dora corrected him, as it was obvious where he was going with this. "We."
"Okay, are you willing to bet that you have enough control over your talent not to give away what we are, if you go to Hogwarts with the name Khamme… Kammie to your friends… Leon?"
She gave him a suspicious look. "You won't intentionally do anything to give me away?"
Harry shook his head and smirked at her. "Nope! Well nothing beyond embarrassing you to try and make you give yourself away."
"You're on brat! So what are we betting? In case you've forgotten, I'm just a poor working girl and can't put up Millions of Galleons like you…."
She was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. "I'll thank you not to put images like that my Eleven year old son's head Dora, and I'm sure your mother will be interested to learn that that's how you see yourself…."
Dora's face and hair went bright red as she processed what Lily was saying. "What? No! That's not what…."
She stopped as everyone else in the room burst out laughing. While their households were largely magical, the Families and the Fae had been using technomancy to surreptitiously slip magically enhanced technology into select segments of the Mundane World and incorporate Mundane technology into the Magical World for nearly two decades. This meant that they all had TVs, VCRs, Laserdisc players and the like in their homes to watch Mundane movies and were well aware of what 'Working Girl' was a euphemism for.
Dora silently vowed that her favourite little cousin was going to pay for making her embarrass herself like that. She wasn't crazy enough to try and take Auntie Lily on in a battle of wits but Harry was fair game. The question of the stakes remained though.
"If you'll agree that the stakes will be a favour of the winner's choice, rather than money, you're on Harry."
Harry nodded, he could go along with that. "Sounds good to me…. So the wager is that if you are using the name Khamme Leon at Hogwarts, you will not be able to avoid exposing the fact that you are a Metamorphmagus. And the stakes are that the Loser must deliver on a favour of the Winner's choice… Agreed?"
Dora was wondering what she was letting herself in for, but she was nothing if not stubborn. "Agreed!"
Lily shook her head with a sad smile. "Oh Dora, you really shouldn't have done that… I see more than a little suffering in your future."
With that she turned and left the room, to fill Andie and Ted in on what their daughter had just gotten herself into….. With so much crap flying about, they needed all the laughs they could get.
While they were resigned to the need for Harry and the others to go to Hogwarts, they weren't prepared to send them into the lions' den without doing what they could to make it as safe as possible.
As the current Baroness Ross, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ross and Clan Chief of Clan Ross, Minerva McGonagall was of the Old Families. She had been scanned and cleared of all the potions and charms that had been used to manipulate her after Lily went into hiding and exposed Albus Dumbledore's crimes, and she had worked with the experts until she got her Occlumency screens strong enough to keep just about anyone out.
Without the legendary Elder Wand, which Lily had taken from him and was holding in her hand as she left St Mungo's, Albus Dumbledore no longer had the power he needed to control Minerva or other strong willed Witches and Wizards, but his ego and faith in his own infallibility made it easy to pull the wool over his eyes by paying lip service to what he expected to hear.
Filius Flitwick had no great status in the Wizarding World beyond the respect he'd earned as a Dueller, Teacher and Charms Master, but his Goblin mother was a daughter of a junior line of Clan Gringott. Being a son of Clan Gringott who had proven himself worthy by protecting the interests of the Goblin Nations and their patron and friends gave Filius considerable status within the Goblin Nations and he had actually worked directly with Jareth on several occasions.
They'd also turned one of Albus Dumbledore's most loyal minions by exposing Dumbledore's lies and working to protect him and help him gain the position he truly deserved. Rubeus Hagrid was not the simple minded buffoon that most in Magical Britain believed him to be, prejudice against those of mixed breeds was even greater when he went to Hogwarts than it was today, so if he hadn't had superior intellect and magical power to most students he would never have been accepted to start at Hogwarts. While he had inherited some of the Giants' magically resistant traits from his mother however, back when Dumbledore had the Elder Wand, his own magical strength was boosted enough by the wand to overcome the protection Giant blood gave Hagrid, and potions helped keep him befuddled and malleable. As with Minerva, over the next decade Dumbledore's interference and manipulations were stripped from Hagrid and he was secretly given the training he'd been denied, as well as Fae training he'd never had the opportunity to pursue before.
The 'wand' he'd made for himself out of the remains of his original wand and a girl's umbrella (which was in truth no better than a stick) was replaced with the War Wands created from the enchanted armour he now wore. They also gave him a Ship Trunk and Hagrid used the Runic Portal in the trunk to pass through Hogwarts' wards without Dumbledore being any the wiser. The portal allowed him to attend Fae warrior training similar to what the children were doing (he didn't need the growth potions obviously but the other potions helped him) and other training to get himself into shape and get a proper education. The runic glamour charms built into the suit of enchanted armour did a good job of hiding the changes to Hagrid's form and appearance and he was careful to keep his actions and speech as close to what they had been before as possible, so no-one outside of the Old Families or Clan Gringott twigged to the fact that Rubeus Hagrid was now a Wizard of considerable magical and physical power and skill.
While there were others at Hogwarts that the family was inclined to trust…. Or at least not regard as enemies…. They couldn't be trusted enough to be relied on the way that Minerva, Filius and Hagrid were… But between having the security of the Lords Tower, the Golems and Dora with them in class and most other places, and the fact Albus Dumbledore had no idea that most of the House Elfs in Hogwarts were loyal to their Old Family masters rather than him, the family accepted that the kids would be safe enough there. Dora had finished at Hogwarts in June but Amelia had ensured that she secretly got all the training and passed the exams she needed to be formally accepted as an Auror with a sealed record who was directly attached to the Director of the DMLE's Office.
Officially Dora and Alastor Moody were undercover security guards for the Director of the DMLE, but no-one but Amelia knew that they were part of the DMLE and their primary function was to guard Harry and the other Heirs and Heiresses of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses. Alastor had gone through extensive reconstruction treatments in the Goblin Nation after he officially retired to completely rebuild his body so that he was whole except for his magical eye (which was now improved so that it fitted inside his eye socket and could be mistaken as a natural eye on casual inspection if he kept it still), un-scarred and looking decades younger. Once his body was rebuilt, Amelia had him secretly reinstated as a Master Auror attached to her office.
As the kids needed qualified tutors for the subjects that they rejected the regular classes for, Alastor would be their official Defence Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic Tutor, Lily would be their Potions and Runes tutor, Xeno Lovegood would be their Care of Magical Creatures tutor, Pandora Lovegood would be their Arithmancy tutor and they would bring in others as required for other subjects. They all had masteries in these and other subjects and were well respected among their peers but their main reason for choosing to be there was to keep the kids safe…. The fact that as Unspeakables, Lily, Xeno and Pan could do their 'day' jobs from just about anywhere made things easier, and Lily and Alastor were looking forward to seeing Albus' expression when he was told that he had no say in the matter and they'd be living in the Lords Tower as the kids' tutors.
And if Albus was foolish enough to try and challenge their right to be there to teach their children, Lily was just itching for an excuse to present the in-depth comparison between Albus Percival Dumbledore and Tom Marvolo Riddle they'd been compiling over the last decade to the Wizengamot….
The Dumbledores and Gaunts were both mediocre Pure-Blood families with delusions of grandeur who had become so inbred that their children were rife with mental and physical defects.
Not much was known about Percival Dumbledore, the last surviving member of the Dumbledore family in the 1870s, other than that he married Kendra Jones, a Muggle-Born Witch who hid her blood status at Hogwarts in the interest of self-preservation when she was sorted into Slytherin and learned what the bigoted children of the 'Traditional' Pure-Blood Families like Percival Dumbledore thought about people of her background. Unfortunately, Kendra was forced to give in to the demands of the sons of the Pure-Blood Families and Percival had gotten her pregnant. Children were a scarce commodity in inbred Pure-Blood families so he pressured her into marrying him and giving birth to his Heir, Albus Percival Dumbledore. The official story was that the three Muggle children Percival was sentenced to Azkaban in 1891 for attacking and killing had harmed his daughter, but there was no evidence corroborating that, so he could have just been a deranged Pure-Blood who attacked them because he flew into a rage for no reason at all.
By all accounts, Merope Gaunt was a mentally defective Squib who didn't have enough magic to qualify as a Witch. She definitely lived in a world of delusion and became so obsessed with Tom Riddle, the wastrel son of the local so-called Squire, that she used love potions to trap him into eloping with her. She continued to be ruled by her delusions when they were together so she stopped feeding him love potions once she was certain that she was pregnant, confident that once he discovered that they were having a baby together he would need no further inducement to stay with her and their child. She was proven wrong in that, because as soon as he was free of the effects of the love potions, he ran back to his parents and had the marriage annulled. Therefore Merope was left alone, penniless and pregnant on the streets of London and ended dying in childbirth at the Muggle orphanage where she sentenced her child, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to the tender mercies of those who were forced to take in unwanted children in the late Nineteen Twenties.
Both Albus Percival Dumbledore and Tom Marvolo Riddle appeared to be quite intelligent and were certainly far more powerful than their magical parents by dint of introducing fresh blood to their inbred Pure-Blood lines, but while they were apparently free of any gross physical defects, they were definitely mentally defective, because they were both megalomaniac psychopaths with an overblown sense of entitlement which told them that they had the right to take whatever they wanted. According to the records, Albus Dumbledore first began plotting world domination with his lover Gellert Grindelwald and was involved in the killings of his mother and sister when he was a teenager in the Eighteen Nineties, and had continued with one plot or another for nigh on a Hundred Years…. While by the age of Ten, other children the orphanage where Tom Riddle grew up were afraid of him because he was using magic to attack, torture and punish anyone who crossed him. Riddle, too, had become a murderer in order to further his plans for power and fame while a teenager.
And then there was the fact that both of them had created false names and titles for themselves because in their minds, their birth names were far too ordinary and lacked the proper grandeur to be suitable for someone of their importance. Albus Dumbledore's first attempt merely added Wulfric and Brian to his existing given names of Albus and Percival, as he apparently believed that more names made him sound more important. His second attempt, when he coined the title of 'Leader of the Light' for himself, was more effective because thousands more Sheep flocked to him to be sent off to be killed, for the 'Greater Good'. Tom Riddle's first attempt was also somewhat lacking, as he merely rearranged the letters of Tom Marvolo Riddle to form the phrase 'I am Lord Voldemort'... And he obviously hadn't learnt the French language, as he would have been unlikely to use a name which translated to something like 'Flight From Death' to intimidate people if he'd known what it meant. Like Dumbledore, Riddle's second attempt, 'The Dark Lord', was more effective, as it managed to inspire respect.
So the question was, which Half-Blood Psychopath was more dangerous? Tom Riddle, whose body count was far lower because like Albus Dumbledore's first lover and accomplice, Gellert Grindelwald (who was still alive and living a comfortable life in Nurmengard Castle by the way), had favoured the overt approach in order to instil fear in both his enemies and servants to gain control over them…. Or Albus Dumbledore, the puppet master who hid his true nature behind a mask of false benevolence and was responsible for a far higher body count as he ensured that pawns and non-combatants were slaughtered in droves so that his accomplices would win the war through attrition. To be fair, part of the reason that Albus Dumbledore's body count was so much higher was that he had been doing this for nigh on a Hundred years, working with Gellert Grindelwald and the minions they controlled from the Eighteen Nineties to the Nineteen Forties and then Tom Riddle and their shared minions from the Nineteen Fifties to the present day. That being said, the deaths Dumbledore was responsible for exceeded that of both Grindelwald and Riddle put together….
The true believers would close their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears to avoid seeing or hearing any of this of course, but anyone who actually considered what was presented couldn't ignore the parallels between Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle….. especially if they bothered to start checking the facts for themselves…. And if Magical Britain continued to refused to accept the truth about Albus Dumbledore, she was sure that the ICW would be interested.
As well as conceding to the need for the kids to go to Hogwarts, Lily and the other parents and guardians had to concede that they'd have to travel on the Hogwarts Express to avoid showing their cards before they were ready. With Harry and the Girls, Neville and Susan, Dora and the four Golem Guards as fellow students and Alastor, who would be staying with them until they reached Hogsmeade (disillusioned if anyone else got into their compartment), they would have a group of twelve on the Express. As Alastor was going with them, he could make a compartment big enough to take all of them, conjure any additional furniture they may need and cast privacy, security and notice-me-not wards to keep others out. The children and Dora would be using the runic glamour charms of their enchanted armour to make them look like slightly pastier and pudgier Eleven year old versions of themselves in plain robes. For the trip those glamours could be deactivated unless they had to let anyone into their compartment on the Express, but they'd be active from when they left the compartment until the Sorting Feast was finished.
When the day came, they got to Platform Nine and Three Quarters early enough to get onto the Express without being seen and Alastor selected a compartment that was far enough out of the way to be unlikely to be visited, performed the expansion and conjured the necessary furniture then ushered the children in before anyone noted them, casting the privacy, security and notice-me-not wards once they were inside. The wards ensured that they were left alone for the entire trip, and that they could say what they liked about what they saw from the surveillance crystals their Elfs had hidden about Kings Cross Station, Platform Nine and Three Quarters and the Hogwarts Express.
The reason Amelia wanted them to monitor the station outside of Platform Nine and Three Quarters was to get an idea of just how much the Statute of Secrecy was threatened when students were trying to find their way onto the platform. This had always been dismissed when she raised it as a concern, so as long as they were watching the Platform, they could watch the other side of the barrier for her as well. Minor breaches would get a friendly warning, but any blatant breaches observed would result in charges being laid to put people on notice that the law was the law…. Magical Britain as a whole had for too long dismissed the Muggles as lesser beings who could never work out what was going on around them but she knew better.
Luckily they didn't observe anything too serious in the station at large, most of it was people letting things slip because the instructions they were given were inadequate for them to find the barrier without attracting attention, and the notice-me-not charms placed to stop the general public seeing the children going through the barrier obviously needed to be expanded considerably because the fact that half the people and most of the trolleys going to that spot just disappeared made people wonder what was going on.
Alastor asked Amelia whether James Potter had gotten approval to assign most of his Aurors to stand guard on Platform Nine and Three Quarters when he was sending his son Hadrian off to Hogwarts for the first time. The fact that people were having trouble getting past all the press who were there to record the event. the Aurors were in their full dress robes to appear more imposing and even the thrice damned Minister for Magic was there to wish the Boy-Who-Lived well said that this was all planned, but he doubted that James had bothered to ask his boss before he took his Aurors off their other duties. He chuckled when she spat out "No, he did not!" and asked her to record the meeting so that he could get a laugh at Potter's expense.
Watching his little brother Hadrian, the so-called Boy-Who-Lived, strutting down Platform Nine and Three Quarters as if he owned the place with a simpering Ginny Weasley on his arm and their father and his child-bride (she was in her early Twenties now but she'd always be the Child-Bride to the Old Families) beaming as they followed along behind pissed Harry off. He'd known that this was the way it was for most of his life, but his Mum had always kept him away from any possible confrontations to keep him safe, so this was the first time he'd seen it first hand, so to speak.
He had to concede that it was better this way, not that his Mum wasn't there with him, but that he had a chance to ready himself for the inevitable confrontation out of the public eye, surrounded by people who knew and loved him (even Uncle Al, he may not say the words but he always let him know that he cared for and was proud of him).
Neville glared at him when he spat the Butterbeer he was drinking when Minister Fudge embraced Hadrian all over him, but he wasn't much better, they were all shocked that the imbecile would go that far. It didn't take too long for things to quieten down once the Hogwarts Express was on its way, and it stayed quiet for the rest of the trip.
When the Express reached Hogsmeade, they activated the glamour charms and got off the train ahead of most of the other students. Hagrid was already making his expected "Firs' Years this way!" call and winked at them as they passed, heading for the path down to the shore where the boats that would take the First Years for their first glimpse of Hogwarts were waiting.
They climbed into the last three boats and waited for the others, wondering whether anyone would sit with Golly, Tinny and Robby, as their boat was the only one with an empty seat. It may have been Golly's size (they couldn't make someone called Goliath small so he was as big as the two hulking brutes that were following Draco Malfoy around) or his and Tinny's dour expressions, but no-one tried to sit with them, so they served as a buffer between Neville, Susan and Dora and the rest of the students' boats, while Harry and the girls were at the end.
Minerva smirked to herself as most of the First Years congregated around Hadrian and Ginny Weasley, trying to get Hadrian's attention, while Harry and the others stood off to one side. She admonished herself to keep a straight face when reading out the names Harry came up with for Dora and the Golem Guards, and hoped that none of the Muggle-Born or Muggle-Raised would be quick enough to pick up on what they meant, though she realised that that was probably wishful thinking when it came to Andrea Droid.
Sure enough, there was snickering going around the Hall when she called out Andy's name, but luckily most of them put it down to the Wizarding World being so clueless. The Elfs had brought the Sorting Hat to Harry while Dumbledore was out of his office and it had accepted his authority as Clan Chief of Clans Gryffindor, Emrys and Slytherin to order it to hide the Golems' and Dora's true natures and put them all into Ravenclaw.
They (IE: The Humans) had discussed the matter and agreed that they needed to be in the same classes for safety. They also agreed that they didn't have any issues with going into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff but Slytherin was out because Severus Snape was its House Master and it was full of Death Eater spawn, as was Gryffindor, because Dumbledore was trying to compel the Hat to put Hadrian and the Weasleys there. Perception mattered more than reality in Magical Britain, so they agreed that they would be best served by being seen as Ravenclaw geniuses.
It was hard for the kids to rein in their excitement as they got closer to the big show when Auntie Minnie called out 'Harry Potter'. After watching the dog and pony show they put on on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry was determined to let some of the hot air out of his little brother's overblown ego, and put the old goat botherer on notice that the real Harry Potter was back.
Harry promptly stepped forward the moment Auntie Minnie called out "Harry Potter", with the expected result of his little brother screaming.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Answering when my name is called out of course, I don't know why they didn't call yours out first but I expect that they want to put on another show like the one on Platform Nine and Three Quarters."
"What do you mean your name? I'm Harry Potter!"
"Don't be ridiculous little brother, how could anyone ever get Harry out of Hadrian? As the first born son and Heir, I was named Henry after our Great Grandfather Lord Henry Potter, and everyone knows that Harry is the diminutive of Henry, even the Queen's Grandson is known as Prince Harry."
"What are you talking about? I don't have a brother!"
"That was totally uncalled for Hadrian, I know that Mum and I haven't had much to do with you and Father over the last ten years but surely he's told you about us?… No, on second thoughts, maybe he wouldn't after the way he agreed to toss me aside and get rid of Mum without hesitation when his Master told him to."
"You take that back! My father would never do anything like that! The stupid Mudblood who bore me died with her traitor lover Black, I don't have a brother and no one is Father's master!"
"You will pay for what you said about Mum and Uncle Siri Hadrian! Mum and I are both right here in the castle so you obviously don't have a clue about what you're talking about, and as for Father not having a Master, what do you call him then?" With that, he hook his thumb over his shoulder to point to Dumbledore with unerring accuracy.
Minerva decided that this would be the best point to break up the altercation, as allowing it to fester in everyone's minds until the next stage of the confrontation would help to amplify the effect. "Boys, show some decorum! You are the sons of a very distinguished house and you should know how to behave! I will use your proper names from this point on to avoid any further confusion, so Hadrian Potter, please step forward and be sorted!"
Hadrian remembered that he was supposed to be the one who everyone looked up to so he did as he was told, muttering under his breath and shooting glares at Henry. The Hat called out "Gryffindor!" almost as soon as it touched his head and Minerva snatched it away, gesturing for him to go.
Then Minerva called out "Henry Potter." and Harry came forward, with rather more grace and decorum as many in the Hall noted. He had a brief discussion with Olaf, the name given to the image of Myrrdin Emrys that had been bound into the Hat to serve as an adviser to the rulers who followed his King, and then it called out "Ravenclaw!" and he went to join the others. He ignored the glares coming his way from Hadrian, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Severus Snape and the professor sitting beside Snape who just felt wrong, confirming the warning Olaf had passed on, and the whispering and pointing fingers of just about everyone else in the Hall.
Questions about whether Harry was really the Boy-Who-Lived's brother and where he'd been for the last ten years were answered brusquely, if at all, as he was getting ready for the next act.
He didn't have long to wait because Severus Snape appeared behind him and barked. "Potter! Come with me! The Headmaster wishes to speak to you."
Harry turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, then turned away as he said dismissively. "I do not know who you are Sir and I will not be going anywhere with you. After over Forty Five years as Hogwarts' Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore should be well aware that if he wishes to speak with a student, he must first contact that student's guardians and ensure that they and the student's House Master or Mistress are present when he does so."
"Fifty points from Ravenclaw and a week's detention with me for your cheek Potter! You will do as you are told or you will pay the penalty! Now come along!"
That was where Snape made his biggest mistake, because he grabbed Harry by the shoulder and tried to drag him bodily from his seat. Faster than most in the Great Hall could see, Harry twisted out of his grip, breaking most of the bones in his wrist and forearm and dislocating his shoulder in the process, then slammed him face first into the table, breaking his nose and smashing in most of his teeth. To most, it looked like it had gone from Professor Snape grabbing Potter's shoulder from where he was standing behind the seated Potter, to the Professor being held face down on the table with a wand pointed at the back of his head in the blink of an eye.
The way Harry was standing there with his wand jammed into the back of the Professor's head calling out…. "Can someone call for the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol please, this man has to be arrested and charged for attacking the Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."
As if he didn't have a care in the world after doing that was frightening to those who had enough sense to recognise an apex predator when they saw one. Of course the majority of the ones in the Great Hall believed all the shite about Pure-Bloods being at the top of the food chain, so they didn't recognise the threat…. And the bright ones were trying to work out how the hell he'd done that so easily to someone so much bigger than him.
Minerva said "Surely!" and headed for the door so fast that Dumbledore dithering about whether to stop her or deal with Harry first allowed her to exit the Hall before he got a word out. With that dilemma negated, Dumbledore leapt to his feet and drew his wand, but was stopped before he could raise the wand to point at Harry by the voice shouting at him from the doors of the Great Hall...
"If you dare try to point your wand at my son Albus Dumbledore, his Sworn Champion will put you down like the dog you are!"
Dumbledore turned to the doorway like everyone else in the Great Hall and froze, because there in the doorway was James Potter's Mudblood wife Lily, who he'd been trying to remember since the Potters' other son referred to her, and standing beside her with his wand in his hand and murder in his eye was a young and whole looking Alastor Moody…. As well as Pandora and Xeno Lovegood, who looked quite ready to step into the fight too.
As they all stood there, staring at each other, Draco Malfoy's brain finally caught up and he leapt to his feet, shouting.
"How dare you claim to be the Head of the House of Black? That is my title!"
Harry looked at him as though he was an idiot (which, to be fair, he was), and after getting surreptitious nods from his Mum and Uncle Al, stood a little straighter to state. "I, Henry James Potter Peverell Black, swear on my life and Magic that I am currently the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and Its Associated Houses."
There was a flash to confirm that the Black Family Magic had accepted his oath as true but to prove the point, Harry raised the wand and cast a 'Lumos' which temporarily blinded everyone in the Hall who didn't have the sense to cover their eyes. When their vision returned, the wand tip was once again painfully jammed into the back of Snape's head because he'd tried to break free when it was removed.
Malfoy wasn't giving up and screamed. "That's a lie! He obviously faked that oath!"
Harry snorted, waving at Malfoy and saying, loud enough for everyone in the Hall to hear. "This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why marrying your cousins is a bad idea. I'm afraid I must ask someone else to explain to him why he is wrong, because I have no idea how to put it into small enough words."
Most of the Muggle-Born and Muggle-Raised laughed at that but those raised in Magical Britain looked confused. Some of the brighter Pure-Bloods looked angry, because they knew that they'd been insulted, but any response was cut off by another voice from the doorway.
"I completely agree Lord Black, but unfortunately I've yet to find anyone who can get the point across to those as closed minded as young Mister Malfoy."
Everyone turned back to the door to see Madam Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, standing beside Minerva, Lily Potter, Alastor Moody and the Lovegoods, with half a dozen Aurors and a squad of Magical Law Enforcement Patrol Officers behind her.
Dumbledore didn't bother trying to process how they'd gotten there so fast, he just jumped in to get the situation under control. "Amelia, what are you doing here? You know that the DMLE is not allowed to enter Hogwarts without an invitation from its Headmaster."
"As you've been informed numerous times in the past Albus, your position on that subject is incorrect. The current accepted interpretation of the Hogwarts Charter, allowing for changes to roles and responsibilities over the last Thousand Years…. Is that any authorised officer of Hogwarts, which includes the Headmaster or Headmistress, Deputy Headmaster or Headmistress, House Masters and Mistresses and any established subject Masters and Mistresses, has the right to invite authorised officers of the Council, and subsequently the Wizengamot and Ministry of Magic, into Hogwarts if they are needed. As we have been granted access, Hogwarts obviously accepts Professor McGonagall's authority as Deputy Headmistress, House Mistress of Gryffindor and Transfiguration Mistress to invite us in…. So stop trying to interfere with the DMLE in the performance of its duties Headmaster!"
"Where is the one we are here to arrest?"
Before Dumbledore could respond, Harry called out. "Over here Director Bones!"
With a nod for her Aurors and Officers to follow, Amelia headed for the Ravenclaw table with Minerva, Lily, Alastor, Pandora and Xeno, and Dumbledore and Filius hurried down from the Head Table to meet them.
Dumbledore once again tried to insist that the DMLE had no right to arrest anyone in Hogwarts and Amelia lost her temper. Well she pretended to anyway, they had been banking on a scene here giving them an opportunity to make sure that the sons and daughters of most of the influential Houses of Magical Britain heard some of the things that Albus Dumbledore had been trying to keep hidden since he rose to power in Magical Britain in the Forties.
"How can you be so ignorant of the rules of Hogwarts and the laws of Magical Britain when you've been Hogwarts' Headmaster and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot for over Forty Five Years Albus Dumbledore? As I've already reminded you, the fact that Hogwarts granted us access supports the accepted interpretation of the Hogwarts Charter, and anyone who's been sitting on the Wizengamot for over Forty Five Years, let alone sitting as the Chief Warlock for that long, has no excuse for being ignorant of the laws of magic that rule Magical Britain, especially the original laws which form the basis for everything else!..."
She stopped and looked around, and raising her voice asked. "Quick quiz! What penalty does the Lord of a Most Noble and Most Ancient or Ancient House have the right to demand if anyone attacks him or anyone who is part of his immediate family?"
It would take a penseive memory review to identify everyone who responded but at least twenty or thirty and possibly more voices answered from the four house tables and the Head Table with. "Death!"
More would have answered if their party and the Aurors and Officers hadn't held their tongues.
"Does the fact that the crime was committed at Hogwarts effect their right to claim this penalty?"
The same voices came back with a resounding. "No!"
Amelia nodded. "Thank you. It is reassuring to see that so many of our people have taken the time to learn our laws, even if the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts has not…."
She turned back to Dumbledore and waved a hand at the people behind her. "In case you haven't worked it out, my Aurors and Officers and Lord Black's party all know the laws as well Headmaster, even though only my Aurors and Officers have a duty like yours to do so… So I suggest that you stop trying my patience by trying to interfere with a lawful DMLE operation."
She addressed the hall in general again. "Would anyone who witnessed the actions of the person that Lord Black is charging with attacking him please stand up?"
At least a hundred students and half a dozen of the staff stood up. Amelia pointed at one of the larger boys standing at the Slytherin table, as starting with a hostile witness who wasn't too bright would help set the stage.
"Please identify yourself and tell me what you observed."
"I'm Marcus Antonius Flint, Heir to the Minor House of Flint, and Professor Snape didn't attack him! Professor Snape said something to Potter but Potter just gave him lip and turned his back on him. He continued to ignore the professor as he was being assigned points and given detention and the Professor went to drag him to his feet. Then he was the one who attacked Professor Snape!"
Amelia smiled to herself, these inbred types were so easy to bait. "You said that Professor Snape went to drag him to his feet, can you tell me exactly what he did?"
Flint looked confused. "What? He grabbed him by his shoulder and started to pull him back off the seat, what else would he do?"
Some of the brighter Slytherins were trying to shut Flint up, but he wasn't getting the point.
"So he physically grabbed him from behind without warning and tried to drag him out of his seat? He didn't just ask him to stand up?"
"What good would asking him do? The little shit was already ignoring him!"
"Thank you Mister Flint, one of my Officers will bring you a written copy of your statement to sign in a little bit…. And by the way, Mister Flint? What you described Professor Snape doing to Lord Black most definitely qualifies as a physical assault under the terms of our Laws, and he can be legally put to death for that under the Old Laws when the victim is the Head of a Most Noble House."
She pointed to a few others and got variations of the same story, then asked the rest to remain standing until one of her Officers could come and take their statements.
Dumbledore was still trying to dictate what would happen in 'his' school, and he told Amelia to organise a hearing date for Severus on a weekend so that it wouldn't interfere with their duties and he would ensure that they would be there.
"Are you deranged Headmaster? We are here to arrest Severus Snape, and he will remain in DMLE custody until his trial!"
"Surely that is unnecessary Amelia? Severus is needed here, and not just for his Slytherins, but for the students' Potions classes as well."
"It would appear that we will have to convene an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors Albus, because I am having serious doubts about your mental competency to perform your duties as Hogwarts' Headmaster. This man is a criminal, charged with what several independent witnesses have confirmed was a physical attack on someone who is both the Head of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House and a student, and you expect me to allow him to stay here, where Lord Black is just starting his education, on his own recognisance?"
"Alright Albus…. In deference to your seniority, I will allow you to choose which option that we will take here… Either Severus Snape comes with me here and now and you organise for his replacement as Potions Master and Slytherin House Master as quick as you can, because I can guarantee you that he will never be returning to Hogwarts….. Or I remove Lord Black's party and every other student I deem to be at risk from Severus Snape, which by my estimate would be all but perhaps a hundred students, from Hogwarts and convene an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors to determine his and your futures at Hogwarts…. I doubt that the Board will be too pleased to hear that Hogwarts will have to pay the cost of transporting all the students removed from the school to their homes tonight, or that they will most probably have to refund the tuition paid for most of them because their parents are not likely to allow them to return to a school where the Headmaster rates the wellbeing of his pet Death Eater above that of the safety of the majority of students in the school either…."
"So Albus, which is it to be? Severus Snape or Hogwarts? Chop chop! I've taken most of my Patrol Officers away from their regular duties for this and I don't like leaving those areas unprotected!"
"Very well, you can take Severus with you for now, but I can assure you that you will not be getting the result you are after with this. And that you rue the day you tried to cross me like this Madam Bones!"
She gave him a terse smile. "Thank you Headmaster, as your threatening me in front of witnesses like this for doing my duty by Magical Britain and the students of Hogwarts will only strengthen my case with the Board of Governors and the Wizengamot."
With that, she signalled two of the Patrol Officers to put magic suppressing manacles on Snape and drag him away.
Once all the statements were taken and the DMLE had left, Dumbledore brusquely ordered the students off to their dormitories, but he belatedly remembered Lily Potter and the others when Hadrian Potter and the Weasley children came to him to be escorted to the Lords Tower and he realised that Hadrian's twin brother, mother and the rest of their group were talking to Minerva McGonagall. Albus ignored Hadrian as he hurried across to Minerva, as he had a sense of foreboding that more of his plans were about to come crashing down.
"Minerva, what is going on here?"
"What do you mean Albus? I'm getting ready to take Lord Black, his retinue and tutors to the Lords Tower of course."
"That is quite impossible Minerva! Have you forgotten that I have already ordered you to prepare the Lords Tower for Lord Potter and his retinue? Mister Black and his friends will have to go to the Ravenclaw dormitories, and I insist that these others leave immediately, as I never gave permisson for their being in Hogwarts!"
Alastor caught Harry and Lily's eyes and they signalled him to have at it.
When Alastor spoke, Albus was suddenly reminded why more people feared this Wizard than any in the War. While his appearance was much younger and more vigorous, his voice when he growled still held the promise of impending death and shot chills up your spine.
"Lets break those points down Albus…. Firstly…. Do you have any official correspondence from Gringotts which confirms that Hadrian Potter has been accepted by the Potter Family Magic as Head or Heir of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter? Because young Hadrian has no right to be in the Lords Tower unless he has been formally accepted by the Potter Family Magic to either of those roles. In case you've forgotten what the official forms look like, here are the ones stating that Henry James Potter Peverell Black has been officially accepted as Lord Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, which in accordance with the Hogwarts Charter gives him the right to claim the Lords Tower…."
"Well Albus? Where's young Hadrian's proof that he has been formally accepted as Head or Heir of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter?"
"We don't have the forms yet because James is still trying to raise the money to perform another test Alastor, but I am confident that we will have the official acceptance soon…."
Alastor cut him off with a raised eyebrow. "Another test? How many times has he failed? Regent Potter? Gringotts would have kept you informed of any attempts to claim the Potter titles, wouldn't they."
Lily ignored the looks of outage on Hadrian and Dumbledore's faces at the news that she was the Potter Regent as she pretended to think about the question. "Yes they did. There were at least three times that I can recall, but I believe that it was a fine for abusing the Potter Account Manager which cost his father the most."
Alastor chuckled. "Aye, if they aren't allowed to draw blood for an insult, the little blighters will make sure that they find some other way to make the guilty party pay…. It's never bright to insult the warrior kind, especially in their own territory…."
He looked at Hadrian and the Weasleys and barked. "Hoof it you lot! No one but the accepted Heads and Heirs of Most Noble Houses have the right to claim the Lords Tower and none of you qualify so get going!..."
They just stood there glaring at him until he angrily growled "I said go!" at them, and this time they had enough sense to run.
Alastor turned back to Dumbledore. "And as far as your permission goes Albus, we don't bloody well need it! Any student's family has the inalienable right to hire tutors for their children if they do not believe that the instruction Hogwarts offers is inadequate, the only thing their tutors are required to present to Hogwarts is proof of their qualifications to teach. Even that requirement doesn't apply to us because Hogwarts' staff have no authority over the Lords Tower, but for your information Minerva has sighted proof of our qualifications, which include at least one mastery for all subjects that we are at all likely to be tutoring Lord Black's party on. I suggest that you ensure that you have acquired a good understanding of the Hogwarts Charter before you try to challenge us on anything else though Albus, because I can assure you that the House of Black will not take any attempt to interfere with anything at Hogwarts that we have rightfully claimed lightly!"
With that, he shooed the others out the doors of the Great Hall, leaving Dumbledore glaring after them. His anger slowly changing to amusement as he listened to Minerva muttering about 'Feckin' stoopid old bastards'.
They weren't even halfway to the Tower before they overhauled Hadrian and the Weasleys, who were whining about how unfair it was to make them go back to the Gryffindor Tower after they told everyone they were going to be in the Lords Tower. They'd be laughing stocks in Gryffindor now.
They waited until the whinges started repeating and then Minerva barked. "Detention, all of you! I'd take points from you as well but it would not be fair to penalise the rest of Gryffindor for your failings. You should have travelled at least twice as far as this by now but you have been wasting time whining like babies about not getting privileges you never had the right to expect. I strongly suggest that you all spend time studying the Hogwarts Charter in the library tomorrow because I will be quizzing you about all the rights you seem to believe you deserve tomorrow night, and if you don't know the answers you will be earning additional detentions. You have already earned an additional two nights of detention Hadrian Potter, for saying those disgusting things about your own mother and your parents' most loyal friend, who actually gave his life trying to protect you the night you were attacked! I did intend to add another for being foolish enough to attempt to deny your own twin brother's existence when he was standing right there in front of you, but I can see that he is now wishing that he doesn't have a twin either so I will let it go at that... I expect all of you to be making a serious effort to do Gryffindor proud from this moment on, and if it takes being in detention every night for the rest of the year for you to learn how to do that, that is what will happen!"
Percy and the Twins showed who were the bright ones at that point, because they clamped their hands over the other three's mouths and dragged them off before they could say anything to add to the detentions.
Lily chuckled and told Minerva that she still had it but Minerva shook her head. "I don't know what I was thinking! They're guaranteed to be in detention most of the time and that will just be punishment for me!"
Harry piped up then. "Where does it say that they have to serve detention with you Auntie Minnie? I'm sure that the other professors, Hagrid and the caretaker all have jobs they want done... You might even be able to get something from them in return for providing them with workers..."
Minerva laughed. "Oh yes, this one is definitely your son Lily! Thank you Harry, that was a very helpful suggestion!"
She was still laughing when they got to the Lords Tower.
The laugh would have been on Hadrian and the Weasleys if they had gotten the Lords Tower actually, because it wasn't really any any better than the House dorms, if anything it was more basic because it hadn't been updated in more than a Century. The whole point of the Tower was to give the Lords and Heirs a secure space where they'd be safe from attacks.
To that end, as soon as they were inside the Tower, they brought in a team of curse breakers and warders from Gringotts and with Olaf's assistance as their interface to Hogwarts herself, they built a whole new set of wards around the Tower which blocked everyone but those they specifically granted access to. The fact that they also blocked unapproved House Elfs and phoenixes was bound to piss off Dumbledore, but he would have to explain why he was trying to circumvent their security if wanted to make an issue of it. They were pretty much split down the middle on whether they thought he'd stew in silence or have a go at them and try to come up with some excuse to justify what he was doing.
What Dumbledore didn't know was that they had their own way of passing through all wards without being detected, the Runic Portals in the Ship Trunks, but he'd never get access to the Portals because all the Trunks were warded up the wazoo as well. Of course, the trunks also gave them the solution to the basic living conditions of the Tower, they just accessed their Trunks in their chambers and had all the comforts of home.
All the drama was draining so they decided to forego the usual lessons that night, and Harry wenrt to sleep thinking about what they'd achieved in their first day of Hogwarts.
A/N: The most interesting thing I found when I was putting together the Dumbledore/Riddle comparison was that the majority of what was in there came from canon. Sure, I twisted some of it a bit, but it didn't take much manipulation to show the two them as quite similar…. And Albus being the only one with three middle names in canon, one of them being the very Muggle name of 'Brian', has always struck me as suspicious, especially when he lists everything but his shoe size and inside leg measurement in his signature.