Refer Chapter 1 for disclaimers.
While he didn't normally let the idiots get to him, Harry was royally pissed off with Rita Skeeter and the Daily Bloody Prophet. He probably would have let it go if they'd left it at that article abouit him casting Hadrian and his father out of the Houses of Potter and Peverell, but there had been at least one or two articles targeting him every week since then, and most of them were front page articles, so he'd set his Account Managers and Uncle Ted, as the family Law Wizard (solicitor in the Mundane World) of record to work, digging up every piece of dirt they could find on both. In the first week of December, the head of the Minor House of Travers, which owned the two primary periodical publications in Magical Britain, the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly, plus the Wizarding Wireless Network which was added in the Fifties, was summoned to Gringotts on a matter that could determine the future survival of his house.
Alfred Travers didn't appreciate being summoned by the Goblins, but they weren't the type to throw around phrases like 'the future survival of your House' idly, so he appeared at the nominated time. Like most in Magical Britain, he had heard what the new Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black was ready, willing and able to do to those who crossed him, so seeing Harry, Lily and the most feared Law team in Magical Britain seated at the table when he arrived sent him into a panic.
They spent the next few hours going over every slur and untruth published in his family's periodicals and other books or broadcast on the Wizarding Wireless Network about any member of Harry's Houses and their Allies for the decade going back to when the Potters and Longbottoms were attacked on Samhain in 1981, which created head high stacks of parchment all around the table when they were put on the pile after being presented to Alfred. After they presented this mountain of evidence to him, Harry offered him a choice. Either the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly and the publishing businesses they were part of, plus the Wizarding Wireless Network, were signed over holus-bolus to the House of Potter and the House of Travers made an unbreakable vow to stay out of publishing and broadcasting in Magical Britain from that day forward, or the House of Travers would be destroyed and absolutely everything belonging to it would be forfeited to the Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black for the ongoing untrue attacks on their honour.
When faced with the choice between giving up the publishing businesses that the House of Travers had built its fortune on, or losing everything, it was an easy decision, and his House was out of the publishing business for good by the time Alfred left the meeting room. Then Harry, Lily, Pan and Ted headed for the Daily Prophet offices, with Amelia Bones and a squad of disillusioned Aurors on their heels.
Storming in the door shouting "Where's that lying cow Skeeter?" had the desired effect, Skeeter bustling out of her office in a huff to find out who was going to be the subject of her most vicious character assassination ever, but she was stunned as soon as she stepped into the main office. Then Skeeter was levitated into the Editor's office and the real fun started.
Barnabus Cuff, the Editor in Chief of the Daily Prophet, knew that he was in trouble when those people barged into his office levitating a stunned Skeeter without a 'by your leave' and then the Auror cast the animagus revealing charm on Skeeter, making it clear that they both knew that she was an animagus, and knew that he knew, but he still believed that the high priced Law Wizards the House of Travers paid to make problems go away would get him out of this so be blustered.
"What do you think you're doing? You can't treat my staff like that!"
His bravado deserted him and he almost wet himself when the dangerously powerful young Lord Potter-Peverell-Black slapped a stack of parchment on his desk and said. "I can when they're my staff, Mister Cuff!"
Barny didn't have to look past the first page to get the message. Lord Potter-Peverell-Black now owned and had complete control of the Daily Prophet, its sister publication Witch Weekly and the publishing businesses they were part of, along with everyone who worked for them, thanks to the employment contracts they'd all signed to get the protection of those high priced Law Wizards. And after they'd been gleefully attacking their new owner whenever one of the Pure-Blood Houses or the Ministry requested it since he reappeared in Magical Britain, he didn't want to think about how Lord Potter-Peverell-Black was going to use the power he now had over them.
One thing Barney didn't see was that one of the magically binding contracts that Alfred Travers had been forced to sign made the House of Travers assume responsibility for everything the Travers publishing businesses had printed and the Wizarding Wireless Network reported while they owned them. This meant that if anyone decided to try and extort money from the Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black by seeking compensation for anything published in past articles and books or broadcast on the Wizarding Wireless Network, it would be their friends the Travers family who would be forced to pay up. Needless to say, the ones Harry had overseeing the operation from now on would be ensuring that every word published or broadcast by Potter-Peverell-Black businesses after he took over was approved by them, and that they sighted proof of anything that was said. They also forced all the staff to sign new magically binding contracts attesting to the fact that they would not submit anything for publication or reporting by Potter-Peverell-Black businesses that they didn't believe to be fundamentally true and couldn't provide clear supporting evidence of, and that they were personally liable for whatever they wrote that was published or broadcast by Potter-Peverell-Black businesses. The owners of those businesses could support them if they chose, but if they breached their terms of employment, the owners had no responsibility to do so.
Watching Rita Skeeter and Barnabus Cuff being dragged out of the Daily Prophet offices in magic suppressing shackles and their trials and sentencing being front page news the day after served as notice that news and current affairs would now by and large be reported truthfully in Magical Britain, which was quite a change from what it had always been in the past. Some took a bit longer to get the message, and Minister Fudge was ropeable when the Daily Prophet reported that one of his assistants had tried to make them publish lies about one of his political rivals, but he couldn't say much after they published the content and purpose of the truthful reporting clauses in the new employment contracts. After all, how can a magically binding requirement to provide evidence to prove the truth of what you're writing be argued as a bad thing? They could be misled, but that would show a conspiracy to feed them false information, which would cause trouble for the ones who fed them the information…. Basically, their publications could now be relied on to report the truth, by and large, and the majority of the population appreciated that.
While Harry really didn't like what his little brother was becoming, he was still his brother and seeing Hadrian charging blindly into one dangerous situation after the other with Dumbledore pulling his strings was rather wearing.
At least Hagrid got the pet dragon he wanted when Quirrell tried to use a dragon egg as bait to trick him into disclosing how to get past Fluffy. Uncle Newt organised the license for Hagrid to raise a dragon on the quiet so he was covered, but everyone outside of the 'family' believed that he was risking Azkaban by having a dragon egg. After watching their antics since Hadrian was betrothed to Ginny Weasley, they all knew that Ginny and her brother Ron wouldn't care about the repercussions for Hagrid as long as they got to brag about their adventures with the Boy-Who-Lived, but Harry was disappointed and disgusted with Hadrian when he didn't stop to think about how much trouble Hagrid could be in until after they caught Draco Malfoy peeking in the window of Hagrid's cottage…. But then, considering that Hadrian hadn't once tried to speak to their mother, let alone apologise for what he'd said about her, in the months they'd been at Hogwarts, he shouldn't have been surprised.
Draco's father had put the fear of death into him about how much they had lost because of the threat of a feud, so he was staying well clear of Harry and the Lords Group now, but Hadrian was still fair game in his book so he was always looking for a way to cause him trouble…. And with the Malfoys' attitudes towards anything other than Pure-Blood Witches and Wizards (rather hypocritical, considering the dark secret of the Malfoy line that had started with Lucius and his brother), there was no way Draco Malfoy was going to let anything that could get Hagrid fired or imprisoned go.
Neither Dumbledore, the Malfoys or the Ministry were at all happy when their elaborate schemes to get Hagrid into trouble or to have the Boy-Who-Lived rescue him through a series of daring adventures were derailed just before the Christmas break…. By Hagrid producing a valid Dragon rearing license from the Department of Magical Creatures and a story about how Xeno Lovegood had organised it through Newt Scamander for him, because Xeno had done his apprenticeship for his Care of Magical Creatures Mastery with Newt and they were good friends.
That was far from the biggest event of the week leading up to the Christmas break though, because Quirrell got desperate enough to make his move and Dumbledore made sure that that triggered another 'adventure' for the Boy-Who-Lived. The time pressure to get this done before the Christmas Break made Dumbledore even less subtle than he normally was so his 'clues' for Hadrian stuck out like dogs' balls, which made it easy to spot when the 'Golden Trio' (as Hadrian and Ginny and Ron Weasley had been tagged by the Sheeple) worked out the 'great mystery' and made their move.
And that was what pissed Harry off, because the fact that his twin was an arrogant, egotistical, self-centred brat whose only motivation to do anything was his own fame and fortune didn't obviate Harry's sense of being responsible for the little bastard… He also had to go after him for their Mum's sake, because the ones who'd looked into the prophecy from the Old Families and the Goblin Clans were sure that if anyone qualified as the Boy-Who-Lived, it was Harry, and his Mum would be upset if Hadrian was killed… Which would almost certainly be the result if he was stupid enough to try and confront Quirrell believing that he was the all powerful Boy-Who-Lived.
They couldn't believe how obvious Dumbledore was being when he gave Quirrell the signal that the coast would be clear for a few hours at least to make his move, because he announced to all and sundry on the staff that he'd received a message that he was urgently required at the Ministry in London, and as it was such a nice day he'd decided to fly, so he would be un-contactable until he reached London. When the ghosts told Harry that the three idiots had gone after the Stone, he went after Hadrian, taking Golly, Tinny and Uncle Al with him because he wasn't an idiot.
As expected, they found Fluffy sound asleep, lulled into dreamland by an enchanted music box, so they went through the open trapdoor that he had been 'guarding'. The next so-called challenge was Devils Snare, one of the first plants students were taught about in Herbology to drive home the point that magical plants could be dangerous and should be handled with care. Then came a room full of flying keys, with a few handy brooms by the door they entered by and a locked door on the other side of the room, obviously intended to stroke the ego of 'the youngest seeker in over a century'. They weren't in the mood to play games so Alastor just identified the key they needed with his magical eye and summoned it.
They found the most useless member of the three idiots asleep in the next chamber and stunned him to make sure he stayed that way. Ron Weasley was only good at three things, eating, sleeping and playing chess (okay, four if you included being an annoying idiot), so it made sense that the next 'challenge' was a wizards chess set with life sized pieces. Looking over the board, they saw that he had actually shown a bit of rat cunning, as he'd played the game so that the piece he was playing could get knocked out with a minimum of risk to set up a checkmate scenario, and the coward had obviously played possum so that the others would go on without him, settling down to have a nap once they were gone.
From the smell in the next chamber, this challenge had obviously been one of the trolls, most likely rotated out on a regular basis to prevent them sickening or becoming uncontrollable from being locked up in a small chamber for six to nine months, but luckily the smell had faded noticably in the six weeks since Samhain. Quirrell most probably had direct access to this chamber to swap the trolls out, and the business at Samhain had probably been expected to tie up Dumbledore long enough for him to get through the challenges, retrieve the Stone and get out before the alarms could bring the old man.
Ginny Weasley was having a nap in the next chamber, so they stunned her as well to keep her from knowing Harry and the others had been there. The chamber was set up as a logic challenge, to determine which of the bottles held the potions they'd need to go forward and back, and which held poisons…. But Dumbledore taking the risk of losing his key pawn through his making a stupid or rash choice didn't make sense, so Harry asked Uncle Al to cast diagnostic charms to determine what was in the bottles, Sure enough, they all held the same potion, with different inert additives to change the colour and smell.
They had an argument at that point, because Harry argued (logically, Alastor had to admit) that the fact that his magic reacted more to Quirrell than it did to the Dark Mark meant there was probably more of Riddle's presence in or with Quirrell, so they couldn't take the risk of him sensing anyone else coming through into the next chamber with him. Alastor's magical eye couldn't see through whatever wards that had been erected so they couldn't be certain that Quirrell and Hadrian would be in the next chamber of course, but the more complex 'challenge' did seem to be ramping up to the finale.
Alastor let Harry go on alone, hoping to the gods that nothing happened to him or his brother, because he wasn't sure that he'd survive Lily's wrath if it did. When he entered the chamber, Harry was greeted by the sight of Hadrian wrapped up in ropes and suspended in front of an ornate full length mirror, with the face on the back of Quirrell's head talking to him. Well that answered the question about why his magic reacted more to Quirrell anyway, he was actually carrying Riddle as a full possession….
The Riddle (or rather Voldemort, because there didn't seem to be anything of boy known as Tom Riddle left in this) entity in Quirrell recognised Harry when he entered the chamber and its face turned to him. "Ah, so the real Boy Who Lived has come to save his pathetic sibling, has he? Even after he stole your fame and your name?"
Harry shrugged. "Yeah, the little shit's a pain in the arse most of the time but Mum would be upset if I let him die, because he's her Baby Boy. He's welcome to all that stupid Boy Who Lived shite though and it's fun to watch him get confused when I rub his nose in the fact that there's no way he could ever be Harry Potter."
"Very well, never let it be said that I am not merciful Harry Potter. I will allow you to trade your brother for the Stone."
"What Stone?"
"Don't play games with me Boy! The Philosopher's Stone, what we all came here to get!"
"While you two…. Or is it three, is Quirrell still in there somewhere? May have come here for some stone, I just came to rescue this idiot from his own stupidity, 'cause like I said, Mum would be upset if anything happened to him."
Hadrian had reached the end of his tether and screamed. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!"
The simultaneous "Quiet brat!"s from Harry and Riddle would have been hilarious under different circumstances, but the grim tone of voice they both used shut him up and Harry went on.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… I'm here for my brother, not some stone, so how am I supposed to get it for you…..Unless…." He saw from Hadrian's expression that he somehow knew how to get the Stone, and as he knew from Uncle Nic that it wouldn't do Voldemort any good to get his hands on it anyway, he asked. "Do you know how to get this Stone little brother?"
The panicked look on Hadrian's face proved that he was decades away from having anything like a poker face and Voldemort crowed in triumph. "I knew it! Tell me where the Stone is boy!"
Poker face Hardian actually looked down at his trouser pocket and Voldemort crowed again as Quirrell dug into the pocket and pulled out the stone. He was gleefully examining the stone as he sneered. "It appears that I did not need you to get the stone for me after all Harry Potter, and I can see no point in upholding my side of the bargain when you did not uphold yours…. But as I said, I am merciful, so you will not have to tell your Mudblood mother that you allowed your brother to die…. Because you will be joining him!"
Voldemort's distraction had allowed Harry to close the distance without him noticing and he grabbed Quirrell's wrist as he reached for Hadrian with his other hand. He was planning to do something similar to what he'd done to Snape, but Quirrell screamed, because his flesh started burning as soon as Harry touched him. Having your opponent in too much pain to fight back effectively was always a good thing, so Harry put his hand on the next piece of bare skin he could reach, Quirrell's face. When Quirrell's face started burning up as well, Harry quickly stepped around behind him with an evil smile and put both hands on Voldemort's face. They then had the discordant screaming of both Quirrell and Voldemort assaulting their ears, which made Hadrian faint (to be fair, he hadn't had fifteen years of Fae warrior training to toughen him up by like Harry had).
The screaming brought Alastor, Golly and Tinny charging through the portal and Alastor confirmed that Hadrian wasn't seriously harmed while they watched Quirrell's body burning up, then Voldemort's shade escaped the dying body. It tried to get past their shields and curses so that it could possess one of them, but gave up and disappeared through the walls of the chamber when their curses started getting closer to hitting it. The Bloody Baron came through the chamber wall immediately after that to tell them that Hogwarts observed the shade passing through her wards and heading away to the South East, and that Dumbledore had returned and was on his way there….
As were Minerva, Amelia, Saul Croaker and the Aurors and Unspeakables they brought with them after Minerva, as Acting Headmistress, contacted Amelia to say that she'd been informed that three students had gone after the magical artefact, reportedly the Philosopher's stone, that the Headmaster had hidden behind a series of challenges in the school because they believed that someone else was trying to get it.
The false Stone had obviously been damaged by whatever burnt Quirrell's body up, but just to be sure that Dumbledore couldn't use it, Harry smashed it by stomping on it while Alastor quickly removed any memory of Harry being there from Hadrian then he, Harry, Golly and Tinny used their runic portkeys to return to the Lords Tower before Dumbledore got there.
Their timing was pretty much perfect actually, because Dumbledore entered the final chamber via a staircase he had access to less than a minute after Harry and the others left, and while he was checking to see whether the Stone was gone, Minerva, Amelia, Saul and the Aurors and Unspeakables (Lily was among the Unspeakables, but Dumbledore didn't know that) came charging through the portal that Alastor had left open. The saw him focusing on the mirror while Hadrian was unconscious at his feet, and Saul also recognised the Mirror of Erised, which had been classified as a dangerous dark object that was supposed to be locked away in a Department of Mysteries vault, so it was on for young and old as the Australians say (one of their islands was in the Barrier Reef down there). Having Hadrian telling them that he'd already seen the mirror in a disused classroom and that the Headmaster had told him what it did when he was revived just got Dumbledore into more hot water.
Lily, Minerva, Amelia and Saul were all being fed the relevant information by Harry and the others over the runic communicators they were wearing, so Lily had great fun upsetting Dumbledore by asking him about the broken remains of the false Stone. They shared the memory of him falling to his knees and almost bursting into tears when he saw what had happened to what he believed to be the Philosopher's Stone with Harry and the others, and they all had a great laugh.
The memory Nicolas supplied of Dumbledore desperately asking him if he could recreate the Stone because it had been destroyed and being told that the Stone could never be recreated because they'd only ever had enough of the key materials to create one Stone was an even bigger laugh…. As was his reaction when he 'suggested' that he should start taking over all the Flamels' notes and assets now, rather than wait until they died and Nicolas just laughed at him, saying that he'd never been in consideration to take over their legacy.
The Flamels had been wanting to start over with new identities since the days of the Third Republic when their fame grew to the point where they were no longer free to spend their days studying arcane magic in peace as they wished, but just before they made their move, they were pressured into taking Albus Dumbledore on as an apprentice and he had dragged them into the limelight with all his political posturing. So Nicolas and Perenelle thought that it was only fitting that the manipulative bastard who had prevented them disappearing eighty years before would be the one who provided them with the cover story they needed to do so now.
Now that Harry and the others had come out of hiding as teenagers, the Old Families had bowed to the requirement to officially present them to society in Magical Britain, so notable Ministry and Wizengamot figures were invited to join in the Albion Alliance's Yule Festivities. Unfortunately this included Minister Fudge, the low-lifes who used his purse strings to control him like the Malfoys, Macmillans and Smiths and the new face of Dumbledore's faction, Lord Fleamont…. With his Child-Bride, son and Heir Hadrian Fleamont and future daughter-in-law Ginevra Weasley. It was a slap in the face to Dumbledore when he couldn't wrangle invitations for himself or Molly Weasley and the rest of her brood, but Minerva McGonagall was there as Baroness Ross with her companion Baron Moody... And Arthur Weasley was also there as Baron Weasley with his companion Lady Emmeline Vance, his son and Heir Sir Bilius Weasley, Head of the Minor House of Prewett and his companion Lady Nymphadora Tonks, Heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Tonks and daughter of the most feared Law team in Magical Britain, Lord and Lady Tonks. (Bill Weasley was a promising young Curse Breaker on Patty Rakepick's team at Gringotts and he and Dora had gotten to know and like each other when he was brought in to work on a few things for Harry.)
James was ropeable when Hadrian and his betrothed were relegated to the children's party while Henry and his group mingled with the adults, and indeed Henry and Susan Bones were the darlings of the ball because between them, the new Earl Potter-Peverell-Black and Countess Bones headed up over half of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Magical Britain. Henry was accompanied by Hermione Jane as his companion and Lily as his Regent and Susan was accompanied by Neville as her companion and Amelia as her Regent as they mingled with the sharks…. Power brokers of Magical Britain. Daphne and Luna stayed with their parents most of the time to keep them safe from the sharks. Lucius Malfoy was just as miffed when his son and Heir Draco and his betrothed Pansy Parkinson were shunted off to the children's party, as that meant that he couldn't use their attendance at a major event like this to begin promoting Draco as one of the future leaders of Magical Britain, not that he believed that his son would ever amount to much.
All in all, the ball was a success for the Albion Alliance as most of them had a good time and the only notable incidents were when James and Lucius Malfoy attempted to engage Harry and were very publicly warned off. James was also warned off approaching families with teenage daughters just as publicly and this was faithfully reported by the new truthful Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly, along with the other notable gossip and events of the ball.
Lucius Malfoy spent most of the Christmas Break stewing over how the House of Malfoy had been laid low by this and the previous Lord Black and their cohorts (including his disowned older twin brother). It had taken the Malfoys nearly nine centuries to claw their way back to their rightful position in society after being publicly branded betrayers with a name that they had never been able to change. Through his father's, and then his, service to the Dark Lord, the House of Malfoy had finally gained their place as one of the leading families of Magical Britain by the end of the Nineteen Seventies. It had cost them much of their fortune to get there, but they had the means to become wealthier than ever….
But soon after the Dark Lord fell, old man Black had stripped them of their noble title and the holdings associated with it, and much of their gold and their most profitable business interests as well. He had been so angry about that that while he had taken care to reinstate his son and heir properly, he had left his ex-wife nothing but a mistress, as his only real use for her was to promote the proper family image at public events. She was allowed to use the title Lady Malfoy and be treated as such in public, but otherwise she was the unwed Narcissa Rosier (having lost the Black name as well), who was kept out of sight in Malfoy Manor with no more than what was needed to maintain the proper image when she was taken out in public. Once again he had had to use his guile and allies to claw his way back to where he could at least project the appearance of power in their society, only for that Boy to shatter his carefully constructed illusion of wealth and power by making all his allies desert him, for fear of being dragged down with him when the House of Black inevitably destroyed him… So after the Yule Ball Lucius had come to a decision, delving into the secret vault beneath Malfoy Manor which held enough proof of his past actions to get him thrown through the Veil of Death.
The item he retrieved from the vault was, on the face of it, nothing but an enchanted diary, but this diary held more dark secrets than such an ordinary looking object had any right to. The diary had been entrusted to his father for safekeeping by their master, and the Dark Lord himself had admonished him to guard it more fiercely than his and his families' lives, because they would all be forfeit if he lost it. The reason Lucius was willing to risk angering the Dark Lord was that, from what he was told, this diary was a dark object of great power, capable of bringing the Dark Lord back from the halls of death itself, and when he was resurrected his wrath would destroy all who opposed him. Lucius couldn't understand why the diary had to be returned to Hogwarts, where the Dark Lord came into being, or why it had to be interacted with by an innocent of pure blood to bring about his Lord's rebirth, but he had someone who fit the bill for that right there in the Manor.
His son was untouched, well he may have been buggered by the older boys at Hogwarts but that shouldn't effect anything, and a Pure-Blood (He couldn't understand why it had been imperative to use that arcane ritual to ensure that his First-Born was male either, but his father would never have tainted their bloodline with anything impure), but he hadn't even tried to do anything to atone for the damage his reckless outbursts had done to the House of Malfoy, so this would serve as his atonement. Lucius seriously doubted that Draco would survive whatever this involved, but his son was a disappointment anyway and if he died, that would give Lucius the excuse to do much as James Potter had done, marry a rich young Heiress to claim her title and money and then sire a new Heir on her. He chuckled to himself, at least he wouldn't have to worry about being laid low by his own First-Born like Potter had been…
So by the time he returned to Hogwarts after the Christmas Break, Draco Malfoy was spending quite a bit of time writing in the enchanted diary his Father gave him. At first he was doing it to obey Father and learn how to behave as a proper Pure-Blood Lord, but he soon became enthralled in his written conversations with Tom, the only one who could recognise his true greatness.
Harry groaned when he saw the brainless popinjay that Dumbledore had replaced Quirrell with, Gilderoy Bloody Lockhart. Lockhart had been one of the ones that Amelia got permanently dismissed from the Ministry after the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was annexed into the DMLE. She couldn't get enough evidence to convict him but they did have enough proof that he'd used the skills he learned as an Obliviator to cover up criminal and nefarious acts to ensure that he was never employed by the Ministry again.
Lockhart had then gone on to become the suspiciously successful author of fanciful adventure novels whose popularity with bored House Witches and hormonal teens (which was quite amusing, considering that as his dress sense suggested, he had no interest in the fairer sex) obviously had nothing to do with their literary worth. His novels' success had led to Albus Dumbledore engaging him to write the 'Harry Potter and….' books under a nom de plume, which explained how bad they were.
While they couldn't force all the students to go out and buy new textbooks halfway through the school year, Dumbledore wasted Hogwarts' gold on enough full sets of his books to cover the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, plus extra sets for the library that could be borrowed for homework, and of course the students were encouraged to buy their own. Only empty headed girls (and boys) and the children of his equally empty headed fans bought their own. Lockhart presented Hadrian with an autographed set in the Great Hall (with event being photographed for posterity, of course), but Harry suspected that he would have had his father buy him a set otherwise because his brother was one of the few male students who thought that Lockhart was simply wonderful.
Harry was just glad that he didn't have to have anything to do with Lockhart, and his prickly reputation (among the 'traditional' Pure-Bloods, most of the students and staff had no problem with the down to earth members of the Lords Group, because they put on less airs than the Pure-Bloods did) ensured that Lockhart kept his focus on the Boy-who-Lived. Having an overage teen fashion victim fawning over him all the time only served to further inflate Hadrian's ego though.
Malfoy had been staying well away from Harry since they returned from the Christmas Break, and Lockhart and Hadrian's constant grandstanding made it difficult to pick up on subtle changes in anyone else's behaviour, so they didn't get any hint of what was going on until the March Equinox. That was when they found the squib caretaker Filch's cat Mrs Norris dangling stiff as a board from a sconce in the same upper dungeon corridor as the frequently flooded girls' toilets that the ghost Moaning Myrtle haunted…. And painted on the wall beside the sconce in blood (chicken blood as testing determined) was a message about the Chamber of Secrets being opened and a warning to 'Enemies of the Heir'.
While Filch was carrying on about his cat, the cat and the message were soon forgotten, because a Muggle-Born Hufflepuff First-Year, Justin Finch-Fletchley, was discovered petrified near the entrance to the Hufflepuff dormitories, and the Gryffindor House Ghost Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (commonly known as Nearly Headless Nick due to the sloppy job done on his execution) was floating above him in a frozen state.
Unfortunately, the only ones other than Dumbledore who'd been there the last time the Chamber of Secrets were opened had been having their memories hacked up by him for over Forty Five years (longer in Minerva's case), so it took them a while to remember key facts…. Like the fact that Moaning Myrtle was in fact Myrtle Warren, the Muggle-Born student who was killed the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Minerva remembered this around the same time that Horace Slughorn, who had returned to take over as Slytherin House Master and Potions Master after Snape was arrested, reported that Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode hadn't been seen since Draco was shouting about the rest of the Mudbloods being next at the students trying to see Justin Finch-Fletchley's presumed body.
They didn't want Dumbledore interfering with this and getting anyone killed (especially Hadrian, whom he seemed determined to 'test' as the child of the prophecy), so Harry, Pandora, Alastor and the Golem Guards went to 'Myrtle's toilets to ask her about how she'd died and whether she'd seen anything recently. Lily wanted to go with them, but the ghosts reported that Salazar had been unbalanced towards the end and was blaming Muggles and Muggle-Born for most of what went wrong in their world, so they didn't want to take the risk that there may be defences specifically keyed to Muggle-Borns when she was essentially a Muggle-Born.
It was obvious that they were on the right track when they were greeted by Myrtle's ghost ranting at them. "What are you boys doing in here? Get out! This is the girls' toilet! Why do you and that blonde boy keep coming in here?"
Watching Harry charm the pants off a teenage girl's ghost amused Pan and Alastor no end, as did the 'we are not amused' looks he was shooting them when they had trouble keeping their laughter in, but he got the information they needed out of Myrtle. She had indeed died there, she had been crying in one of the stalls because another girl had been teasing her and came out to tell off the boy she heard talking and making funny sounds, but she died then and there when she saw a pair of big, yellow eyes over by the sinks. She also told him that a wimpy looking little blonde boy had been coming in there since Christmas, but she normally went back to her toilet when he started making those funny hissing sounds the other boy had been making… He brought three other boys and two girls with him when he came in a little while ago but the others didn't say anything, they just followed him down the stairs.
Myrtle's description of the eyes prompted a discussion about what best would fit that description, and when Harry said it sounded like a basilisk the ghosts said that Salazar had had a basilisk familiar, a thousand years ago. Great, they had basically confirmed that they were up against a thousand year old basilisk of unknown, but probably huge size, and it was probably being controlled by the shade of Tom Riddle, no problem.
The stair comment also got their attention and Harry asked her where they were, and what Draco had said to get them to open. From Myrtle's attempt to recreate what Draco said, Harry tried "Open Stairs" in Parseltongue, and a doorway came into being like the archway into Diagon Alley, with a spiral staircase wending its way down into the darkness.
Alastor and Harry were debating whether it was worth risking their lives, going down there to try and rescue Death Eater spawn who were attacking other students all the time, but Pan was looking at it from a mother's point of view and argued that they were still children and they hadn't done anything yet to deserve being damned to whatever fate was planned for them down there. They gave in, because her point was valid, and got ready to head down the stairs.
Golly, Tinny, Andy and Robby morphed into Migoi like Golly and Tinny had last Samhain and they all configured War Wands into powerful magical projectile weapons. The basilisk's hide would probably be too thick for them to penetrate, but like a dragon, its eyes and mouth would be its weak spots. Harry, Pan and Alastor didn't want to risk looking at the basilisk's eyes, even through the enchanted helmets they were wearing, but its mouth would be a bigger target so they would have a chance of hitting it without looking directly at the basilisk… And Golly, Tinny, Andy and Robby could target the eyes, hopefully removing their threat and maybe even killing it by getting the projectiles through its eyes into its brain.
When they were ready, they sealed the door of the toilets and headed down, Golly first, then Tinny, Alastor, Harry, Pan, Andy and Robby. At the bottom of the stairs, Harry opened another doorway and they just followed the footsteps. The tunnel to the base of the stairs joined a bigger tunnel after a few hundred metres, and when nothing in one direction had been disturbed in centuries, it was easy to pick which way they'd gone, especially when dirt and bones had been kicked out of the way in the last hour or so. Andy changed into a more useful form and scampered up the pipe that joined the main tunnel next to the tunnel they came out of, but she reported that it was empty up to the wall that looked like the stone of the castle when she returned and changed back into a Migoi.
They had a minor scare about a couple of kilometres down the tunnel, because they could see something big protruding from the mouth of a side tunnel, but life scans weren't revealing anything and when Tinny checked it out, it was a centuries old shed skin… about nine or ten metres long, so they knew that the basilisk would be bigger than that.
A few kilometres past the shed skin, they reached the end of the line, a large chamber with a pair of massive silver doors (which their scans were saying were solid Goblin silver, so they would be worth a fortune). When Auntie Pan and Uncle Al indicated that they were ready, Harry said "Open" in Parseltongue, and even though he liked snakes, he had to admit that the lifelike way the snake shaped locking bars slithered out of the way was creepy. As the doors opened ponderously and their scans confirmed that they were indeed solid, and much thicker than they'd thought, they upgraded the estimate of their worth from a fortune to a fabulous fortune.
They didn't want to tip off Riddle's shade, or Malfoy if he was an active servant rather than a victim, if they hadn't noticed the doors opening, so they disillusioned themselves and slipped in as quietly as they could. The only readings returning from the life scans were coming from the other end of the chamber, at the base of the floor to ceiling bust of Salazar Slytherin, so they used the pillars with what appeared to be moving snake carvings in the flickering torchlight for cover as they moved forward.
The scene that they found at the other end was six apparently unconscious students laying on the stone floor of the chamber and a not quite solid looking student standing over them. Given that the life readings from the six on the floor were steadily dropping, while the one standing up appeared to be getting stronger, they were pretty sure that the one standing was Tom Riddle in the process of being reincarnated.
Riddle's shade must have gotten to the point of being able to recognise magic being cast, because he snapped his head around to look at where Pan, Alastor and Harry were standing under disillusion charms, casting life scans on the figures at the base of the bust. "Who dares to intrude in my domain?"
Alastor told Harry to try and keep him occupied while they worked out how to break the shade's connection to the kids and Harry acknowledged the order, cancelling the disillusion charm as he did so, so that the shade could see him. One of the advantages of the enchanted helmets was that you could say what you wanted to inside, including talking over the runic communicators, but until you disabled the privacy charms, nothing you were saying could be heard outside. Harry disabled the privacy charm and asked.
"How is this your domain? Unless you're claiming to be the reincarnation of Salazar Slytherin?"
He looked up at the bust. "Nope, you don't look anything like him!"
The slightly misty figure puffed out its chest and used his wand to write TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE in flaming letters in the air, slashing the wand across it to rearrange the letters into I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. "I, Lord Voldemort, am the Heir of Salazar Slytherin and therefore I claim this chamber and all else belonging to the Greatest of the Hogwarts Four as what is rightfully mine!"
"Pull the other one Tommy, all you're the rightful heir of is the hovel in Little Haggleton that belongs to the Gaunt family, which is ready to fall down… I suppose you may be able to make a case for whatever's left of the Riddle family's assets too…. No, that won't work… To do that you'd have to be able to prove that you were Tom Riddle's illegitimate son, and you need blood for that in the Muggle World, whoops!"
"Anyway, as I was saying, you have no claim on the Slytherin title and fortune because you are in fact descended from Salazar's Squib sister…. And someone's already been accepted by the Slytherin Family Magic as the new Lord Slytherin."
Luckily Riddle's shade was too incensed by Harry's slurs to stop to question how he knew all of this.
"You lie! I am the true Heir of Slytherin! I am the only Parselmouth born in Britain in a hundred years!"
"How's it feel to be wrong so often Tommy? For your information there have been plenty of Parselmouths born in Britain, they just hid the fact that they had the ability because of stupid prejudices promoted by those who were jealous of talents they don't have. I'll grant you that many of them have come from foreign bloodlines but there have been a handful from Slytherin's line. How do you think I opened the doors to get in here?"
"You? A Parselmouth? I suppose the next thing you'll be telling me is that you are the current Lord Slytherin?"
"At last! I was wondering where the one that Dumbledore claimed was the brightest student at Hogwarts since him was. Mind you, just between you and me, being compared to Albus Dumbledore isn't really that much of an accolade."
Harry caught Auntie Pan's eye as Riddle tried to come up with a response, but she shook her head, the students were still being drained by the shade and they needed to do something to stop it. Riddle came back at him at that point.
"If you claim to be the true Heir of Salazar Slytherin, prove it!"
He turned around and spouted some flowery phrase in Parseltongue that Harry didn't think Salazar would have even used in his last days as he was losing his mind to dementia and the chin of the bust began to drop, revealing a pipe like the one that Andy checked out. Harry quickly reengaged the privacy charm to speak to the others, saying that he'd try to get control of the basilisk, but if that didn't work Golly, Tinny, Andy and Robby were to start shooting at the eyes to destroy them and hopefully kill it with a lucky shot. Once they'd neutralised the basilisk they could concentrate on trying to cut the shade's link to the students before he drained them dry.
He cancelled the charm again as he watched the rest of the basilisk's body slither out of the pipe. Shite! It was at least two or three times as big as that shed skin! But that wasn't the problem, no, that was the fact that Riddle had apparently managed to confound or compel it to only listen to him.
Harry spent about five minutes trying to get it to accept him as its master's rightful Heir, which a familiar should have done once the Family Magic accepted him, then gave up and said in English. "It refuses to listen to me, take it down!"
Riddle's shade started looking around for the others when it realised that Harry wasn't alone, but the enchanted armour and helmets Pan and Alastor were wearing hid their magic and everything else, as did the Golems' enchanted bodies. The basilisk was thrashing about and screaming in high pitched hisses as it was being hit in the eyes and inside its mouth by the equivalent of high calibre bullets, then it suddenly pitched back into Salazar's bust and rebounded to crash to the floor of the chamber, laying still. Scans on the basilisk showed that its life force was fading fast, which meant that it had been effectively killed, so they all ran forward to try and work out how to disconnect the shade from the students on the floor, or rather Harry, Pan and Alastor ran forward to do that, the Golems ran forward to protect them. The shade started trying to curse Harry and the area around him in an attempt to stop what him/them interrupting the process, but all his curses were being blocked or deflected.
Luckily Harry found the diary that Draco had in his hands almost as soon as he got there, and the name T. M. Riddle embossed on the cover was a pretty good clue as to what the connection between them and the shade was. Once Harry had the diary, they all started throwing ideas around about how to destroy it, but Alastor stopped and looked at the kids on the floor, then cast overpowered stunners at them. His later explanation for this was that making them lose all form of consciousness would hopefully break the links to the shade, which in turn would hopefully stop them being drained before they could destroy the dark object.
Just after that, Jareth called over the communicators that basilisk venom was one of the ways to destroy a horcrux, which this appeared to be, so Harry tossed the diary towards where Andy was standing near the dead basilisk and she quickly impaled it on several of the fangs to try and force as much venom as possible into it. After the third impalement, the diary started bubbling and Harry told her to drop it. It was interesting to watch the teenage Tom Riddle shade being sucked back into the diary, then a different shade like the one they saw in the final chamber of the obstacle course come out of it. This time they were ready for it though, and their curses ripped it apart so that it didn't escape.
The students were all still alive, if barely, so they called their House Elfs to them and they and Pan were popped off to the Infirmary so that Pan could fill Poppy in on what happened to them and help her tend to them. Then Harry, Alastor and the Golems collected the students' wands and had more House Elfs pop them back to Myrtle's Toilets, telling her that the snake that killed her was dead but the students were alive for now before they changed back to their normal looks, unlocked the door and headed to the Infirmary.
A few hours later Draco Malfoy was dead, though it looked as though the other five would pull through, and they'd found another diary in Draco's pocket in which he had recorded in detail exactly what his father had told him to do with the enchanted diary, about his discussions with Tom and about all the times he woke up in the morning tired, dirty and often bearing scrapes and bruises that he hadn't had when he went to bed, but with no memory of how he got that way. Given what many of the older boys in Slytherin were like, it was quite possible that they'd take the younger boys to have their fun with and then obliviate them because they couldn't get to the girls in their dorms, but Lucius Malfoy was still feared by many, there was no physical evidence of sexual abuse, and the instructions his father gave him made nightly possession a much more likely scenario.
To keep up appearances, Lucius brought Narcissa to Hogwarts with him when Dumbledore contacted him to tell him that his son had died and six other students were in the Infirmary, and the Headmaster's office would have been very crowded with all the people who were called if it didn't automatically expand to accommodate however many were present. Dumbledore wasn't at all happy to see Amelia Bones and Saul Croaker there with their people again when he hadn't contacted them, but when he tried to have a go at Minerva, Amelia cut him off. "Headmaster! Professor McGonagall was quite right to contact us, in fact it should have been you who contacted us hours ago!"
"A student is dead, five others near death and a fifth who will require a rare and expensive potion to restore him to normal life after being attacked by a Five X beast inside Hogwarts. This is the result of a class Seven or Eight Dark Object being allowed into Hogwarts and apparently possessing one of your students when you are the one who controls the wards. And you dare to try to attack Professor McGonagall for doing her duty? The Hogwarts Board will be having words about this, but for the moment I am putting aside my hat as a Board Member and that of the Director of the DMLE and as the Guardian of two students currently here at Hogwarts I demand to know… What in the Seven Hells is going on here?"
Minerva stepped forward and handed her the diary that Poppy Pomfrey had found in Draco's pocket. "I believe that this will answer some of your questions Madam Bones, but I suggest that you read it as the Director of the DMLE, rather than two girls' guardian. Madam Pomfrey found it in Mister Malfoy's pocket when she was trying to make him presentable for his parents."
Dumbledore and Malfoy immediately started shouting that she had no right to be handing a dead boy's personal property to anyone but the boy's parents but a couple of Senior Aurors stepped forward, wands in hand, to stop them trying to interfere as Amelia skimmed through the contents of the diary, her expression getting grimmer by the moment. She looked up at Lucius Malfoy.
"Where did the enchanted diary you gave your son and Heir come from Mister Malfoy?"
Malfoy sneered at her. "I have no idea what you are talking about Madam, and you should know that a diary that could have easily been written while they were holding off calling us to tell us that my son was killed cannot be used as evidence against me. Why don't you ask young Mister Potter over there what happened, the Headmaster informed me that he was suspicious of Mister Potter's involvement in this matter."
Amelia turned her head to look at Dumbledore. "Would you care to tell me why you are throwing out unfounded accusations to grieving parents, rather than telling the DMLE of your suspicions Headmaster? One might think that you are trying to deflect blame from yourself to one of the few people who had anything to do with saving the victims of what happened in your school."
"I was doing nothing of the sort Amelia, I merely mentioned that I could not understand why a student and two of his tutors took it upon themselves to investigate this, rather than inform the Hogwarts staff, which may have prevented any loss of life."
Amelia quickly caught Alastor, Pandora, Saul and Harry's eyes and when they all nodded asked. "Master Auror Moody, Unspeakable Pithos, would you care to offer your views on why you believed that yourselves and Lord Potter Peverell Black were more qualified than the Hogwarts staff to investigate this matter?"
Alastor grunted. "Well for a start, the Hogwarts staff who were here the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened appear to have had their memories manipulated. Professor McGonagall only remembered that the ghost in the girls' toilets in the corridor where the cat, the sign and the first victim were found was the student who was killed by Slytherin's monster last time when Professor Slughorn reported that six of his Slytherins were missing. Unspeakable Pithos and I went to ask Myrtle Warren's ghost what she knew about what happened then and whether she knew about what was happening this time and she told us about two different boys using Parseltongue to open passageways from the toilets, and gave us a description of what killed her that matched a basilisk.… Though people should have worked that out fifty years ago, seeing that it was Slytherin's monster and he was known to have a basilisk familiar. She also told us that five other children went with young Mister Malfoy the last time, not saying a word, and they hadn't returned, so we got Lord Potter, who is a Parselmouth, to see whether he could open the passageways for us."
"Given that we didn't know how long the students had left we went down after them as soon as he got a way open. Lord Potter's mother wanted to go with us to protect her son, but he talked her out of it, pointing out that there may be defences specifically keyed to Muggle-Borns. Lord Potter used his Parselmouth ability to open a number of portals for us until we were inside the Chamber and found a near solid shade standing over the six students. Scans confirmed that the students' life force was being taken away while the shade was getting stronger so Lord Potter tried to distract the shade while we broke the connection. The shade, which identified itself as Tom Marvolo Riddle and showed how 'I am Lord Voldemort' was just an anagram of that, worked out that Lord Potter was trying to stall it and called forth the basilisk. Lord Potter told us that the basilisk wouldn't listen to anyone but Riddle so we killed it with conjured projectiles and then Unspeakable Pithos determined that the enchanted diary was a powerful dark object and we'd need to destroy it to break the link between the shade and the students so we did that. While she was working that out, I stunned the students, hoping that their being unconscious would temporarily break the link and give them more time, but apparently that wasn't enough to save Mister Malfoy, because he had a stronger connection as the possessed connection to the dark object. After we destroyed the diary we transported all the students to Madam Pomfrey in the Infirmary as quick as we could but Mister Malfoy didn't recover."
Those who knew Dumbledore could tell that he was furious, but he struggled to keep up his kindly grandfather persona. "Whatever Mister Moody and Madam Lovegood's previous professions were, they are not authorised to conduct an investigation in Hogwarts without my permission! Of a far greater concern though is the news about Mister Potter's ability to speak to snakes. Being a Parselmouth is a very dark talent Mister Potter, how long have you known about this and why wasn't I told of it before you came to Hogwarts?"
Amelia cut him off, furious that he was trying this. "Still trying to redirect suspicion away from yourself Headmaster? In the DMLE we call that a clear indication of guilt! For a start, I made no mention of previous professions. Baron Moody is currently employed by the DMLE as a Master Auror and has the full authority of that role and Unspeakable Pithos remains a valued and respected member of the Department of Mysteries. The DMLE and Department of Mysteries shared the view that the escalating incidence of suspicious and dangerous occurrences here at Hogwarts where the future of Magical Britain resides for nine months of the year merited trying to get some of our best people in here to keep an eye on them, so when the Potter Regent, Lord Longbottom and Lord Greengrass requested that they be released from their normal duties to be the childrens' tutors we had no issue with agreeing. However we made the terms of the agreement that they would be on detached duty so that they could continue to serve us if required... And if you drive Lord Potter and all the other hidden Parselmouths out of Magical Britain with your lies about Dark Talents Headmaster, you will not only destroy the economy of Magical Britain, I will gladly hand you over to the ICW when they come to take you to be prosecuted for causing citizens of many of its member nations to be attacked for having what is no more than a rare and well respected talent across the rest of the Wizarding World."
"Now if you're done with trying to redirect suspicion… Who modified the memories of Professor McGonagall and the other staff who were at Hogwarts the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Why, as Master Auror Moody asked, didn't you or any of the other esteemed magical scholars of Hogwarts work out that Slytherin's Monster was a basilisk fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened. Why was Rubeus Hagrid expelled and his wand snapped for releasing Slytherin's Monster and causing Miss Warren's death when his pet was an immature Acromantula. Miss Warren's body had no marks to indicate that she had been attacked by an Acromantula and Mister Hagrid is not a Parselmouth, so he could not possibly have been controlling Slytherin's Monster. Why did no one ever question Miss Warren's ghost about what happened to her or whether she'd seen anything this time before Master Auror Moody and Unspeakable Pithos. How did you plan to get into Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets without a Parselmouth to open it for you…. And most importantly, did you have any plan or make any attempt at all to rescue those six students before they died? I believe that those are the most important questions we need answered at this point Headmaster… Well? As I said, we need these questions answered Headmaster… Why don't you start with the easiest ones and tell us how you planned to save your students and what you were doing on that front?"
Dumbledore was obviously fighting the urge to curse her then and there, and it was plain to see that the only thing holding him back was the knowledge that he'd be sprayed across the wall behind his desk before he got one curse off. While he was sitting there with his mouth working, the supposed Lady Malfoy obviously came to a decision and walked across the office, dodging the grab her ex-husband made at her arm. Everyone in the room was shocked when she gracefully sank to her knees and supplicated herself before Harry, and in the silence every word she spoke was clearly heard, even though she was speaking to the floor.
"Lord Black, a disgraced and disowned daughter of the House of Black begs sanctuary within the House of Black. Since Lord Arcturus Black called for the disillusionment of my marriage to Lucius Brutus Malfoy and cast me out of the House of Black I have been unwed, unwanted and vulnerable. My true name now is Narcissa Cassiopeia Rosier. Lucius Malfoy keeps me a prisoner in Malfoy Manor and the only times that I may leave are when he requires me to help him present the image of a respectable family. At functions hosted at Malfoy Manor I am required to serve as hostess and entertain our guests. To date my duties have not been of a carnal nature but now that my son, the Malfoy Heir, is dead, I fear what other uses Lucius Malfoy and his associates will put me to."
Those who were watching him noted with approval that Harry did not hesitate or look for anyone else's approval, he quickly knelt down and drew Narcissa to her feet before he spoke. "Narcissa Cassiopeia Rosier. I, Henry James Potter Peverell Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, hereby accept you back into the House of Black, so you may return to your birth name of Narcissa Cassiopeia Black. I also give you the sanctuary and protection of the House of Black and require that you honour the values and requirements of the House of Black. Do you accept this charge?"
Narcissa nodded, eyes glistening. "I do My Lord, I thank you for accepting me back into the House of my Birth and vow to honour my House and the commands of My Lord."
There was a glow around them as Narcissa's oath was accepted and she was welcomed back into the House of Black. Those paying attention noted her jerk as the Black Family Magic returned to her in force, but Harry held her steady so that most missed it because their minds were on other things.
Only then did Harry look at his mother and she gave him an approving nod with glistening eyes, there was no question that Lily Evans was proud of her son.
Amelia also gave Harry an approving nod, but her expression changed when she turned to look at Lucius Malfoy. "It appears that we have other questions to add to what we will be asking about how a class seven or eight Dark Object found its way into your son's possession, and how that resulted in his death Mister Malfoy. Not to mention how six other students almost died as a direct result of the actions of the person who gave your son that enchanted diary. Senior Auror Shacklebolt, secure Mister Malfoy with magic suppressing manacles and escort him to the DMLE's holding cells please. I will be along to direct the questioning once I have tidied things up here."
Shacklebolt nodded and did as he was told, though he had to have another Auror hold the struggling Malfoy while he put the manacles on him. He nodded with a smile when Amelia reminded him to add resisting arrest to the charge sheet.
Once they'd departed through the floo, Amelia turned back to Dumbledore. "Sorry for the delay Headmaster, though it probably helped you get your thoughts in order. I believe you were about to start with how you planned to rescue your students and what you'd actually done in regard to those plans?"
Dumbledore drew himself up and snarled at her. "You forget yourself Madam! I am not answerable to you here in my school!"
The evil smile she gave him would have made him rethink that stance if he wasn't so angry. "Au contraire Headmaster, you are most definitely answerable to me as the guardian of two students at this school, just as you are answerable to the parents and guardians of every other student in Hogwarts! Your duty is to educate and protect the students under your care here at Hogwarts and we have seen ample evidence that you have repeatedly failed in that duty in this year alone."
She turned her back on him and faced the parents. "Madam Crabbe and Goyle and Mister and Madam Nott, Parkinson and Bulstrode. As I am sure that you will remember from your own time here, Madam Pomfrey is an excellent Mediwitch but if you wish to have your children transferred to Saint Mungos to be cared for there the DMLE will assist with the transfer. Our assistance cannot extend to the costs of treating your children there, but it is your choice as to whether you want them treated there or here. A concerned party is obtaining the ingredients needed for the restorative potion to revive the other student in the Infirmary who was petrified by the basilisk and attempting to restore the Gryffindor House Ghost who apparently saved him from being killed and the caretaker's cat. The DMLE will notify you if we find evidence that the management of Hogwarts or other parties were culpable in putting your children's lives at risk. If so, it will be your choice and responsibility as to whether you seek compensation from them, the DMLE's involvement will end with providing the evidence."
The parents nodded and thanked her for her assistance, and interestingly, also made what appeared to be surprisingly sincere thank yous to Harry, Pan and Alastor for saving their children before they left via the floo.
Harry was flagging by that stage, so they quickly made arrangements for Narcissa to go with Amelia so that the Tonks could collect her from Amelia's office and take her to a Black safe house from there. When Harry, Lily, Pan and Alastor went to leave the office though, Dumbledore was actually stupid enough to try and stop them.
"Mister Potter, I have not excused you! There is a great deal of information that you have been withholding from me and you will give it to me now!"
Harry was tired, fed up and coming down from the adrenaline rush of the life threatening situation they'd been in that night, so he snapped. "That's it! Mum, contact Auntie Andy and Uncle Ted tonight and tell them that I'm pulling the trigger on eradicating the House of Dumbledore and its Allies! We risk our lives trying to save his students and clean up the mess that he created and he tries to blame me and order me about? Fuck him! Can you contact the Wizarding Examination Authority to set a date for me to sit my OWLs as soon as possible too, please? I expect that he'll try to expel me to make it hard to finish my education in Magical Britain so I'd like to get the exams out of the way before he has a chance to make up a reason to expel me."
Lily hugged him and kissed him on the head. "I'll get onto that tonight Sweetie. Don't worry. And don't worry about him making up an excuse to expel you before you can get your OWLs either, if he manages to do that we'll take it to the ICW, which will probably get Hogwarts' accreditation pulled until he's removed from having anything to do with the school. I doubt that would take long though, most of Magical Britain wouldn't put him above their children's education."
She turned to Amelia. "Isn't that right Director Bones?"
Amelia glared at Dumbledore (along with everyone else in the room). "It most certainly is Regent Potter! I think I'll have my wards sit their OWLs with Lord Potter, and I expect that the rest of the Lords Group will be doing so as well. I just wish I could go back to the islands with them, because I'm certain that that's the first thing they'll be asking once they've sat their exams."
Lily laughed and ruffled Harry's hair when a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "There's your proof of how tired this one is, he hadn't even thought about going back to the islands early until you mentioned it, and you know how much he loves it there."
With that she led Harry out of the office with the ones who were staying at Hogwarts and the rest of them flooed back to the Ministry.
They left Albus Dumbledore sitting there with a look of horror on his face as it began to sink in just how badly he'd fukd up, and how deep in the shite he was.
A/N: Most of the major events of the first four years in canon will be compressed into the two years Harry and the girls are at Hogwarts. One and Two in their First year and Four in their second, along with dealing with the Horcruxes.