Title: Code of the Griffin
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or....... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: From a war ravaged future, someone is sent back in time to change the course of the war.
Hermione rose early, as had become her habit. So early in fact that the entire castle was still asleep. Quietly she opened her chest and descended in her chest. The replica of her quarters on her old flagship 'Might of the Fallen' was large and spacious. She ignored the display cases against one wall that held her Gryffindor and Slytherin armour, she also bypassed the large bed and library area where hundreds of books rested, most had not yet been written, quite a few by Hermione herself. She crossed the large rug covering the centre of the room to the wood panel door on the other side. She opened the door and proceeded through. Just like in the real 'Might of the Fallen', the outer side of the door was not wood panelled, it was steel and bore the nameplate 'Grand Marshall'.
The hallway was all hard gunmetal grey and lined with a number of doors down both sides. The first two doors, residing across from each other, were labelled Barrack A and Barrack B. A quick look inside one showed stacked bunks for thirty with a small head and shower at the back. After passing several more Barracks and two large Mess halls, with attached kitchens, she came to a small side corridor witch contained a single door at the end labelled 'Dilation Control'. After a section devoid of doors, she again came across two doors opposite each other, the one on her left labelled 'Armoury' and the one on her right 'Magazine'. Finally Hermione reached the end of the corridor which had three doors. The one on the right was called 'Ready Room', the one at the terminus was labelled 'Disembarkation', an alternate way out of the chest, and the one on the left was the Gym.
She went into the Gym to begin her morning workout. The gym was large and well appointed, with both weights and cardiovascular workout equipment, a large change room and a number of small rooms for specific workout classes. Changing in the change room, which also contained showers, she began her vigorous workout.
Hermione met Harry and Ron in the entrance hall on their way down to their first Care of Magical Creatures class. Having dropped two subjects Hermione did not need the time turner this time around and had been in Ancient Runes while Harry and Ron had just come from Divination. They proceeded to Hagrid's hut with the rest of the class where the half Giant lead them to a small clearing and revealed Buckbeak the Hypogriff. Hermione glared at Malfoy was they entered the clearing to prevent any disparaging comments. When Hagrid asked if anyone wanted to ride Buckbeak everyone except Harry and Hermione stepped back.
"Well done, Harry, Hermione. Which of you wants to go first?" Hagrid asked.
"You go. Trust me, you'll love it." She whispered to Harry.
"Yeah. I'll go." Harry said.
Harry approached Buckbeak and then went for his ride out across the lake. Upon his return, Draco became his arrogant self and strode up to Buckbeak while everyone was congratulating Harry.
"You're not dangerous." Draco began. "You stupid thing."
The instant Draco had stated talking, Hermione moved. As Buckbeak attacked, Hermione crash tackled Draco.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?!?" Draco yelled at her. "Get off me."
"Ouch." Hermione replied blandly.
"Oh my god. Are you ok?" Harry asked in a panic as she rose to her feet.
Her left shoulder was a mess from Buckbeak's talons.
"I'll take her to Madam Pompfree. Class dismissed." Hagrid said.
Harry and Ron followed along behind Hagrid and Hermione.
"Why did you save that arrogant snot?" Ron asked.
"Trust me, it is better this way." Hermione said, wincing from the pain.
Hermione, having been quickly and effectively heal by Madam Pompfree, stood at parade rest in front of the Headmaster, who was too ignorant of Muggle customs to note the connotations of the stance.
"I would like to congratulate you on your actions today. Gryffindor will receive fifty points." The headmaster said.
Hermione simply stood silently, marvelling that the old man though he could still buy her off with house points.
"I also wanted to ask you about a rumour regarding an incident on the train." He continued.
"I did not come here to answer your questions." Hermione replied, her voice even and emotionless.
"Excuse me?" Dumbledore said, shocked.
"I came here to retrieve my inheritance, which you are illegally detaining." She replied.
"What inheritance?" the Professor asked, now genuinely confused.
Hermione simply walked over to the shelf where Dumbledore had been storing the Sword of Gryffindor and ran her hand along the blade.
"Hello, old friend." She whispered to the blade, receiving a pulse of warm emotion back.
She hefted the blade in one hand and carried it over to the sorting hat.
"If I may, Julius?" she asked the hat.
"Of course." The hat replied.
She reached inside the hat and retrieved a leather scabbard and belt that perfectly matched the sword. Hermione sheathed the sword in one smooth motion and then belted it to her waist, before returning to face the Headmaster.
"As the magical head of the Gryffindor family, I have been quite disappointed in the way you have manipulated the students here at Hogwarts. Should this continue I will use my right to permanently dismiss you from your post and veto any moves you make to have yourself or someone under you control instated in your place." She said.
"The Gryffindor family has been extinct for the last six hundred years." Dumbledore countered.
"Only in the magical world." She replied. "Think about it. I was a little know-it-all bookworm. Perfect candidate for Ravenclaw, yet Julius put me in Gryffindor. And while any true member of the house could retrieve the sword, only a true heir could retrieve the scabbard. I'll be watching you."
She turned and marched out. Dumbledore went over to the magical school role and checked her entry.
Hermione Jane Granger Potter (Married Harry James Potter September 23rd 2015 – yet to be enforced) Head of the House of Gryffindor, Duchess of Devonshire, Eighth in line for the throne of Great Brittan, Grand Marshall of the Order of the Griffin, Empress of the Eastern Reach.
While the last two titles meant nothing to the Professor, he realised just how much he had underestimated the young witch and how much power she could really command in the Wizarding world.
"I hereby call this meeting of the Magical Community and Corrections Committee to order." The chairman said in a board tone.
This was expected to be just another routine meeting. Besides the Committee member the only person present was a very junior reporter from the Daily Prophet who had pissed off his editor by spilling coffee down his pants. While the law stated that the committee had to be open to the press, no one was interested and reporters were only sent to the chambers as punishment. That was all about to change.
The doors opened and two new people entered. One was a Goblin from Gringotts and the other was a smartly dressed witch, carrying a leather briefcase.
"How dare you barge in here!" one of the committee members yelled at the pair.
"We dare, Mr Watson, as we are legally petitioned representatives of interested parties in item six of the agenda." The legal witch replied.
"I don't recall authorising any interested party petitions." Watson said with a grin.
"I'm sure you don't as you promptly shoved the paperwork in your third draw and ignored them. However the law states that any petition must be rejected in order to stop the representation, not approved to allow it." The Gringotts Goblin added.
The chairman groaned. Watson liked to play political games but had nowhere near enough political smarts to pull anything off yet had influential relatives, which is why he was relegated to this committee.
"Who are the interested parties you are representing?" the chairman asked.
"The House of Black, The House of Potter and a third house that wishes to remain anonymous at this time." The legal witch stated.
"I represent Gringotts and the investment accounts of the same parties as Miss Harris." The Goblin added.
"May I ask why such noble houses are interested in such a minor case?" the Chairman asked.
"Mr Chairman, May I ask what you have been told about item six?" Miss Harris asked.
"It is the confirmation of the sentence by confession of a Wizard going by Wormtail for the practice of minor dark arts." The Chairman responded.
"Bloody Purebred Wizard scum." Griphook growled.
"He is not talking to you, Chairman." Harris said quickly to avoid confusion. "I move to have item six moved up the agenda to be discussed now."
"May I ask why?" the chairman said with a sigh.
"Because it relates directly to The Dark Lord, the imprisonment of an innocent Lord without trial or charge, the murder of Lord James and Lady Lilly Potter, the death of twelve Muggles and the corruption of high ministry officials." The legal witch said.
"Also the illegal access of Gringotts accounts by high ministry officials and fraud." Griphook added.
"Very well." The Chairman said, stunned.
The previously bored journalist, Whit Johnson, was writing furiously. Scandal, corruption, the murder of Lords. This would get him the front page. Just as everyone thought the shocks would stop coming, the door opened and a messenger came in and delivered a small scroll to Miss Harris. Whit shuddered at the grin that came over Miss Harris' face as she read the message.
"Mr Chairman. I also move for the emancipation and recognition of head of house status of Lord Harry James Potter of House Potter and Duchess Hermione Jane Granger as Ruling Lady of House Gryffindor." The Legal Witch announced.
"Has she drawn the Scabbard?" Griphook asked.
"She has." Miss Harris confirmed.
"The Gringotts acknowledges Duchess Granger as the legal head of house for House Gryffindor. The inactive account will be transferred to her control immediately." The Goblin confirmed.
Around the chamber there was dead silence as Mr Watson fainted, Whit Johnson drooled and the Chairman reached for some antacid tablets.
"He's been pardoned. Sirius Black has been pardoned." Seamus said as he ran in with a copy of the Daily Prophet.
"What!" everyone around the Gryffindor table, except Hermione, exclaimed.
"That's not all. We have a ruling Lord and Lady among us."
That last comment got the attention of the entire school.
"Here listen." Seamus said and began reading the article. "Yesterday's Magical Community and Corrections Committee was expected to be the same dry show as always, until a Legal Witch, Miss Hailey Harris from the noted White, Hussey and Harris firm and Griphook from Gringotts bank appeared. In the process of one session, these two individuals managed to reveal that a minor corrections matter, the confirmation of sentence of a Wizard confessing to minor Dark Magic was actually an attempt by certain Pureblood, but not noble, families within the Ministry to hide the fact that the Wizard, known as Wormtail, was actually Peter Pettigrew.
"Peter had been presumed dead twelve years go, when Sirius Black confronted him and allegedly blew Peter up after betraying the Lord James and Lady Lilly Potter, parents of Harry James Potter (See page 4 for full profile on Harry) to You-Know-Who. In evidence revealed by Miss Harris, which was withheld from the Committee, Peter had confessed that he was the one to betray the Potters and had faked the explosion, which had killed twelve Muggles. This compelling evidence led to the unanimous decision to pardon Sirius Black, who had been held without trail, and sentence Peter Pettigrew to The Dementor's Kiss. While pardoned of the original crime Black, who escaped from Azkaban a few weeks ago was found guilty of escape, a crime which holds the penalty of two weeks in Azkaban, as no one was ever thought to be able to escape. The two weeks were allocated to time served and Lord Sirius Black is now officially a free man, wherever he is.
"In addition to these stunning revelations, anther event of note occurred in the meeting thanks to the irrepressible Miss Harris and the stern figure of Mr Griphook. The emancipation and confirmation of two third year Hogwarts students as the Head of their Noble Houses. The first was for Harry James Potter, known around the country as The Boy Who Lived, who is now officially Lord Potter, and is recognised as the head of one of the two surviving Great Seven Families (For more information the Great Seven Families, see page 12). With this confirmation, Griphook indicated that there would be a major internal Gringotts investigation, in conjunction with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, relating to the illegal access of accounts by Ministry officials and the lack of communication by the Ministry to Gringotts on the change in legal status of detained and convicted criminals.
"The other confirmation was quite a surprise. Hermione Jane Granger is known throughout Hogwarts by both teachers and students as the brilliant Gryffindor mugleborn witch and best friends with both Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, the youngest son of Arthur Weasley of the Ministry and his wife Molly. What was revealed yesterday is that she is the direct descendant of Richard Gryffindor, grandson of the famed Hogwarts Founder Godric Gryffindor who left the Magical community when he married a Muggle (Full family tree and profile on Hermione Granger on Page 5). In addition to now being Lady Gryffindor, Hermione is also of the Muggle nobility being the Duchess of Devonshire and in line for the Throne of England. With two of our most prominent Noble Houses being headed by these extremely brave and capable young leaders, this reporter is interested to see if they will continue to forge ahead in the political arena or be overwhelmed by the entrenched dogma of the other Family Heads, be they noble or gentry. Here's hoping for the former."
Dead silence descended in the great hall as Shamus finished reading.
"Hey Malfoy. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!" Ron yelled.
Hermione rose and curtsied to Harry.
"My Lord." She said.
Harry rose and performed a deep bow to Hermione.
"My Lady Duchess."
All of the members of Gryffindor filled past Harry and Hermione, with a bow or curtsy saying "My Lord" and "My lady" by the purebloods or "My Lady Duchess" by the muggleborns or those familiar with Muggle society. Then just to annoy the Slytherins all of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs also filed past.
"One Hundred points from Gryffindor." Snape shouted.
"For what?!?" half the hall shouted.
"Muzzle your dog, Albus." Hermione snapped at the headmaster.
Snape was about to explode when Dumbledore put his hand on the Potions teacher's shoulder.
"Sit down and shut up." Albus hissed at Severus, before raising his voice. "No points will be deducted."
"Lord Potter, Lady Granger. Please report to me after breakfast to obtain access to your private rooms and studies for Family business." Professor McGonagall said, "Now everyone back to your meals."
TBC…