Sorry, I'd forgotten about a splinter thread I'd wanted to work in so I had to go back and change the references in the first two chapters. Missy and Tommy are now Efa and Emyr and they're Reeves, the elf equivalents of the Thanes (goblin nobles). The Reeves are around five foot tall and slender with human like features but they no longer have a role out in the world because Salazar Slytherin went crazy just before he died and in his paranoia he decided that Reeves and others of higher elf blood that the common elves were loyal to were going to make them turn on the druids, so he created a curse which twisted that loyalty into unfailing obedience to and dependence on the druids (wizards), and somehow this was passed from one elf to another until all common elves (house elfs) had a need to bond to a druid. That's my story anyway.
Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale. There will provably be changes in the first hour or so as I find things that didn't come out the way I wanted.
Efa had to cast an enduring glamour over Hermione to cover up the quite noticeable changes the family magic from her rings had made in her before she could go home, because she was now two or three inches taller and rather more developed. Hermione was a little disappointed that Sue was still bigger than her and Daphne but she blushed and had to hug Harry when he said 'I'll take quality over quantity any day Mione. Sue may be bigger there but you look much better to me.' over their link. She knew that he wasn't just saying that, because she could feel his sincerity, and looking through his eyes, she could see how he saw her, how the changes wrought by her rings had pushed an awkward child straight through puberty to become a beautiful young woman….. she certainly wasn't going to complain about getting through all that shite in seconds this time….. so she just kissed him.
The goodbye kiss that Hermione and Harry shared was more than would generally be considered appropriate for two eleven year olds, but the watching adults had to remind themselves that these two had been nineteen and eighteen and married to terrible people before they came back, and in seven or so years they'd endured more than most had to in a lifetime. Harry reminded Hermione to call for Efa as soon as she was alone in her room so that Efa could get the location to pop in to.
Hermione's parents were taken aback when she came home with a cat as well as her magic supplies, but Minerva spun them a story about remembering how lonely she'd been when she was away from home for the first time, and how much comfort her cat had given her, so she'd bought Crookshanks for Hermione when she saw her looking at him in the window. Thinking about what a beautiful young woman Hermione was under the glamour she was wearing, Minerva added that being away from home for the first time and starting to learn magic had been made all the more difficult by the fact that the magic had been accelerating the changes of puberty in her, so her cat had been a lifeline to clung to. Hermione rushed up to hug her for that, whispering "Thank you Auntie Minnie!" in her ear.
She waved it away saying that it was nothing, it was just a cat, when Hermione's parents tried to insist that they had to pay for Crookshanks… and then rushed out, saying that she really had to get back as she'd been away longer than she'd planning on. That part at least was true, because she knew that she would have trouble putting off Dumbledore's questions about what she'd been doing all day.
As soon as Hermione had left with Minerva, the Harry and the adults went back to working on what they had to do, they had already achieved an incredible amount in one day, but from what Harry and Hermione had told them, they were racing the clock and had a hell of a lot to get through.
When Minerva left to get Hermione, Kingsley had been popped to Azkaban with a cadre of Gringotts' finest warriors and mind magic experts. Knowing that most of the men working at Azkaban were minions of Fudge, Dumbledore and their ilk meant that any compunctions Kingsley may have had about the possibility of the memory and compulsion charms that they were throwing about so liberally doing lasting damage were easily outweighed by the fact that the man they were there to save was innocent man, and he'd been suffering in that hell hole for a decade without a trial. It had hardly taken ten minutes to confirm everything Harry had told them about Sirius' situation, except for Peter Pettigrew and they intended to address that night.
With everything planned, they were in and out inside half an hour, leaving a golem in Sirius's place, documentation of his transfer in the files, compulsions on the guards to ignore his cell and memory charms on everyone to forget that they'd ever been there. They took Sirius straight back to Gringotts, and he was quite busy for the next five or six hours.
As soon as Sirius was brought back from Azkaban, he accepted his House ring, married Angela, accepted guardianship of Harry with Angela, went with them to Ollivanders to get the children's wands, accepted all Harry's betrothals as his guardian (and Duke Black for the Black Heir), allocated one of his baronies to Andromeda to elevate her and the House of Tonks to Noble status and accepted her and Cyrus' oaths of fealty. He also went with them when Amelia slipped them all into one of the empty Wizengamot court rooms to use the system to quietly register their titles and voting proxies. Only when the business was done did the goblin healers get to work on him. They knew that they'd probably only have a few days to get him back into shape for his and the rat's trials, but without an abomination in his head, bindings on his magic that were almost enough to kill him or the need to rebuild every part of his body he should be able to recover much faster than Harry had.
In the middle of this, Amelia and Kingsley visited the Burrow, at meal time as Harry had suggested. When they walked into the kitchen, the rat with one toe missing off a fore paw was on the table, grabbing what it could of the food that Ronald Weasley was spraying everywhere as he tried to stuff as much as he could into his mouth at once. Amelia and Kingsley looked at each other, then whipping out their wands they stunned the rat, quickly followed by all the Weasleys. Then they forced the rat into its human form to confirm that it was indeed Pettigrew and secured him with magic suppressing shackles. It was hard for Amelia especially to include Arthur and the twins in what they had to do next, but once they'd secured the rat, they went through all the Weasleys present, using memory charms to make them forget their visit and compulsions to forget about the rat and not contact Albus Dumbledore, then left with Pettigrew, reviving the Weasleys as the departed.
Sirius had company in the infirmary, because Remus had to spend days with the goblin healers too. When Harry accepted the Slytherin ring he had found a cure for lycanthropy in the Slytherin family magic (along with the fact that it was actually his ancestor who had cursed the elves with the Druid Bond, he was in tears as he tried to apologise to Efa and Emyr for that). Salazar Slytherin had discovered the cure, but kept it to himself in the rampant paranoia of his later years after his wife was killed by Muggles. They were concerned about Salazar's mental state when he created this, but it was actually Emyr who pointed out that the abomination had done exactly what he meant it, and he'd been further gone when he created that.
Remus had decided that he was prepared to take the risk if there was a chance of getting rid of this, so he went though the rites to be cured of his affliction and then they took him to St Mungo's to get formal confirmation that there was no trace of lycanthropy in him, then they regrettably used memory charms to make the people at St Mungo's forget that they'd been there and Remus went into the same recovery process as Sirius. It took a longer for him than Sirius because the monthly werewolf changes had done serious damage to most of his joints etc. They surreptitiously but formally removed him from the Werewolf Register in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, leaving a copy of the documentation from St Mungo's and a finding that he'd been added in error buried in his files.
When Harry formally made Remus Champion of the House of Potter, the Knight's Banneret that went with the role meant that the Lupin Family was elevated to a Minor House, and Amelia added Remus to the DMLE's rolls as an Auror on detached duty like Angela and Alastor, reinstating Sirius at the same time so that they would have two Senior Aurors, two Aurors and a Trainee Auror with them up at Hogwarts. (Amelia and Andi had come to an agreement that Dora would continue her training with Alastor, Angela, Sirius and Remus while she was part of the protection detail for the students, so she'd be getting far better training than other trainees.)
Everything was moving fast, and Amelia got her chance to get Sirius tried only two days after James and Lily's will reading, as Dumbledore had given some excuse about being too busy at Hogwarts to come to London for the Wizengamot session so Griselda Marchbanks, as the senior Wizengamot member present, became the acting Chief Witch. Many of the hard line 'light' and 'dark' seats were vacant for that session too so it was exactly the circumstances they were looking for. She used the updated Marauders communications mirrors to call the others and made sure that Minerva, Pomona, Poppy, Alastor, Angela, Harry, Hermione, Augusta, Cyrus, Edessa, Xeno, Luna, Sue, Andromeda and Nymphadora were all there before she petitioned the court to add a late item to try a fugitive Death Eater who had just been apprehended.
Griselda was still sharp as a tack and she knew that Amelia was up to something, but she also had complete faith in her integrity so she allowed the item to be added as the next item on the agenda. She was questioning that decision a few minutes later when a filthy Peter Pettigrew was dragged into the court in chains, with the sleeve ripped off his robes to clearly show his Dark Mark, and a well dressed young woman and child suddenly left the gallery and crossed the court to take the Potter box.
Dumbledore's supporters immediately demanded that they be arrested and thrown in a cell to await the Chief Warlock's ruling on what the appropriate punishment was for attempting to usurp his seat as the rightful holder of that box, but Amelia barked that anyone who attempted to lay a finger on Duke Potter and his Regent would be stunned into next week and then duly punished for interfering with the Head and Regent of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House. They got confirmation that Dumbledore didn't choose his supporters for their intelligence then because they retorted that that boy couldn't be Harry Potter because Potter was dead!
Amelia met Madam Marchbanks' eye at that and she knew that she had this part won at least, because the Chief Witch came back with. "Just where did you get this news? That certainly hasn't been made public because I've never heard anything other than questions where Mister Potter had disappeared to." The one who'd been the most vocal suddenly realised that he'd said far too much and muttered an apology. "I am sorry My Lady Chief Witch, I was simply repeating something that I had been told….."
He tried to scurry out straight after that and Amelia signalled the trusted Aurors she had called in to seal the court to prevent him leaving. Madam Marchbanks asked her to explain. "My apologies My Lady Chief Witch, but I must admit to being both suspicious and concerned when someone hotly argues that this can't be Duke Potter because he is dead, then recants that statement with such a vague platitude and immediately attempts to rush out. From my experience as an Auror, that type of behaviour makes me suspect a plot to make the original statement true My Lady Chief Witch. Therefore, unless you give me a direct order to unseal the court, my intention is to prevent anyone from entering or leaving this court room until the matters at hand have been resolved."
Madam Marchbanks considered that statement and finally nodded. "This is highly irregular Madam Bones, but I find myself in agreement with your position. None will enter or leave this court room until this matter has been concluded." She banged the gavel to punctuate her statement, then turned to the Potter Box. "Duke Potter, to forestall further interruptions, can you offer the court any proof of your identity?"
Harry stood. "I cannot offer any more proof than any of the other Lords present My Lady Chief Witch, I can and will submit my House ring to the court's validation system of course…. and I believe that this oath is generally accepted..." He took out his wand and placed it to his throat so that his voice carried throughout the court room. "I swear on my life and magic that I am Duke Henry James Potter, son of James Charlus Potter and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter!" Then he raised the wand and cast a Lumos that almost blinded everyone in the court room before he murmured the 'Nox' to cancel it. "Will that and having the Potter ring confirmed by the court be sufficient to satisfy you My Lady Chief Witch?"
She was amused by the way he'd so effectively quashed any arguments and nodded. "It will indeed Duke Potter, I thank you. May I ask where you have been for the last ten years though?"
The pain that crossed his face at that made her wish that she hadn't, as he just said "In hell, My Lady Chief Witch." quietly before he walked down to present the Potter House ring to be publicly validated as Duke Henry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. The system would privately register the name and titles held if the rings were presented in their hidden state (as they had all done when Amelia snuck them in two nights ago to have their titles accepted by the Wizengamot system, force any and all holdings and derivative titles rightly belonging to their titles that had been usurped to be returned and register all their voting proxies), but it would publicly announce the name and titles if the rings were presented openly. This was accepted as incontrovertible proof of titles because the House Magic would not accept anyone who wasn't the rightful holder of the title. The oath he had given was purely theatrics, but as the Chief Witch had noted, quite effective.
With that, Madam Marchbanks asked if there were any other questions in regard to Duke Potter, making it clear that there damned well better not be, then instructed Amelia to proceed with the case, overruling all objections to forcing Pettigrew to take Veritaserum.
With the proper questions prepared, Amelia forced Pettigrew to go into detail about being the Potters' secret keeper at Albus Dumbledore's suggestion and a death eater, betraying the Potters to Voldemort and leading him to their cottage that day, distracting the Potters' familiars so that Voldemort could kill them with the killing curse just before they burst into the cottage, and framing Sirius Black for killing those Muggles and himself when he was the only one who had killed anyone there.
Once Madam Marchbanks had sentenced Pettigrew to be put through the veil, Amelia raised another issue. "My Lady Chief Witch, when we apprehended Peter Pettigrew, I went to retrieve the trial records for Sirius Black, to determine how he had been sentenced for the murder of a man who was still alive, and I discovered something very disturbing, that there was no trial, no investigation, nothing! What's more, one of the people who signed the order for Duke Black to be sent straight to Azkaban for the murder of the Potters, Pettigrew and others without a trial, citing the fact that he was the Potters' secret keeper and therefore had to be the one who betrayed them to Voldemort had in fact witnessed the wills of both James and Lily Potter…. and both of these wills included clear and emphatic sworn statements that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper, not Sirius Back! Therefore I believe that it is imperative that Duke Black receives the trial that he was denied ten years ago My Lady Chief Witch."
"I agree that Mister Black deserves a trial Madam Bones, however we cannot hold the sitting members here for the several hours that it would take to retrieve….. Wait… why are you referring to Mister Black as Duke Black Madam Bones? It is commonly accepted that he had in fact been disowned by the previous Duke Black while he was in Azkaban is it not?"
"It appears that Sirius Black being disowned by the previous Duke Black was a story much like Duke Potter's so-called death My Lady Chief Witch, because he has apparently managed to call the Black House ring to him and has in fact been accepted by the Black House magic as Duke Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black…. and as for holding the sitting members here while he is retrieved, that will not be necessary My Lady Chief Witch, as when I uncovered the discrepancies in Duke Black's trial records, I took the liberty of having him retrieved from Azkaban so that he could stand trial, he is being held right here in the Ministry and is available to stand trial immediately."
The look she got at that said that they'd be having words about this later, but she was ordered to bring him in.
There was a marked difference between Sirius and Pettigrew's entrances, because Sirius casually strolled in, unshackled and better presented than most of those in the court room, though the sleeveless robes he was wearing were an interesting fashion statement. He bowed to the Chief Witch, offering the full formal courtesies, but when he went to sit in the accused's chair, she asked him if he would first present the Black House ring to be publicly validated, only after he had been confirmed as Duke Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and had made much the same oath as Harry had (his Lumos may not have been quite as bright but it was still convincing) did she ask him to take a seat, but she had to choke down a smile at the fact that the chains refused to restrain him, apparently the court itself had no doubt of his innocence.
Sirius demanded to be questioned under Veritaserum, so once he'd been tested to confirm that he didn't have any of the anti-agents in his system it was administered. Amelia had all the questions ready to allow him to answer every point he was accused of in depth. When he said that as well as going through the full formal godfather ritual for Henry James Potter, with Harry's parents' agreement and support he'd completed the formal blood adoption ritual with Harry after he formally accepted him as his heir, everyone turned to look at Harry. He didn't say a word, just unmasked the Black Heir's ring and went down to have it validated that he was in fact Duke Henry James Potter, Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by the court's system and returned to his seat.
It didn't take long for Sirius to be officially cleared of all charges with a formal apology, and the ones who could see the writing on the wall pushed through a vote for a hundred thousand galleon per year compensation payment. Sirius was quite aware that they were trying to buy him off coming after them for what they'd been trying to grab of the Black holdings and property while no-one had been watching. He wasn't about to hold off going after any of them, but he took the attempted bribe anyway because it was officially granted as compensation for his decade of unjust and illegal incarceration in Azkaban.
While he had the floor he formally reinstated his cousin Baroness Andromeda Tonks nee Black, along with accepting her spouse Edward Tonks and daughter Nymphadora Tonks into the family as favoured members of the House of Black (putting everyone on notice that they were protected by the full might of the House of Black), and then formally made Baroness Tonks Steward of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black with all its voting proxies. Andromeda formally accepted the Stewardship of the House of Black in front of the Court.
Then under the Ancient House Laws of Magical Britain, Sirius formally called for the annulment of Bellatrix Black's marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange and the reclamation of all dowries given, any and all holdings and property of the House of Black that was in the House of Lestrange's possession and any monies that they had earned from these holdings and property and cast his cousin Bellatrix out of the House of Black for bringing the family name into disrepute by serving the common Half-Blood usurper Tom Riddle who falsely styled himself as Lord Voldemort.
He then looked Lucius Malfoy in the eye as he also called for the annulment of Narcissa Black's marriage to Lucius Malfoy and the reclamation of all dowries given, any and all holdings and property of the House of Black that was in the House of Malfoy's possession and any monies that they had earned from these holdings and property and cast his cousin Narcissa and her son Draco out of the House of Black for bringing the family name into disrepute by serving the common Half-Blood usurper Tom Riddle who falsely styled himself as Lord Voldemort.
They went through the full formal process for every step to ensure that there could be no challenges of any part of it, but the Magic of the court had accepted the decrees under the Most Ancient House Laws.
Andromeda, Edward, Nymphadora, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Draco all knew the moment this occurred, because Andromeda regained the family magic and knowledge of an ordinary member of the House of Black that she'd lost when she was cast out of the House of Black for marrying a Muggleborn Wizard, and then gained the extra family magic and knowledge that came with accepting the role of Steward of the House of Black. Nymphadora received the Black family magic and knowledge for the first time, because her mother had been cast out before she was born, but they'd made sure that she was in the court when this happened to ensure that nothing happened to her when she was hit with this (Dora was a little accident prone). Without Black blood, Ted received less Black family magic than his daughter, but it was still enough to note when he received it.
Bellatrix, Narcissa and Draco however had lost both the family magic and knowledge of members of the House of Black, and the family magic and knowledge of the Consorts and Heir of the Houses of Lestrange and Malfoy as well with the annulment of Bellatrix and Narcissa's marriages. This was actually enough to stop Bellatrix's demented ravings in her cell in Azkaban for a while as the Black and Lestrange magics had been sustaining her, and she now felt emptied but didn't know why. Narcissa wasn't so demented and she had a good idea of what had happened, but not how it had happened, while Draco was just confused, but that wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him.
Outing Voldemort as a common half-blood pretender and giving his real name was a risky gambit, but they'd reasoned that while it wouldn't change anything with the marked Death Eaters, it should severely curtail the support he'd receive from Pureblood supremacists who hadn't yet taken the mark if they didn't manage to stop him the way they planned, so they'd regarded that as a worthwhile tradeoff for the risk of having to track down Voldemort again. They were also banking on the fact that most people would be afraid to talk about the idea that Lord Voldemort was a fraud in case they said something to the wrong person and his Death Eaters came after them, because they all knew that there was no such thing as an ex-Death Eater.
When Thaddeus Nott, Lucius Malfoy and other Death Eaters in the court publicly challenged Sirius over for his claims about Voldemot, calling him a charlatan and a liar, he smiled grimly, formally requesting leave of the Chief Witch to give a small demonstration. When she agreed, trying to keep a smile off her face, Sirius requested his wand from Amelia and then repeated Riddle's demonstration to Harry as they'd practised, writing TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE in flaming foot high letters in the air high above the seated Dark Faction members (so that they had to crane their heads painfully to see it), then giving another wave of his wand to make the letters rearrange themselves into I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. Sirius looked Nott, Malfoy and the others in the eye and announced loud enough for all in the court room to hear that if he did not receive suitable apologies from each and every one of them here and now, they would all be penalised for this.
Malfoy was furious, because of course he'd just scoffed at Black's implied threat like Nott and the others had, but before they could work out what had happened, they'd each been fined fifty thousand galleons! Then that idiot Nott and two of the others each got fined another fifty thousand Galleons for shouting at the Chief Witch before they learned to shut up, and the fact that she'd added this to what Black had received just added insult to injury, because Black walked out of the court accepted as Duke Black, formally cleared of all charges and with a formal apology and one and a half million galleons to compensate him for ten years in Azkaban, and he knew that he'd probably have to cover a notable portion of that.
He had lost face and a great deal of money here, and on top of that he knew that he'd have to publicly reinstate his marriage to Narcissa to give her and his son back the Malfoy name or the vultures in the Wizengamot would tear his reputation to shreds. The Black title was supposed to have come to his idiot son…. Black's mother had assured them that she had gotten him disowned, so everything was in place for Draco to become Duke Black when he turned seventeen…. By combining the wealth and power of the Houses of Black and Malfoy they would have controlled Magical Britain but no, Sirius Black had been accepted as Duke Black and Harry Bloody Potter had been accepted as Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, as well as being Duke Potter! All he could hope for was that they could kill of Black and Potter and he could find a way to get one of the old fools in the Black family to reinstate Draco so that he would be made Duke Black as the only male successor in the House of Black.
What Lucius didn't realise as he was considering what he'd lost here was that as soon as Duke Black's decrees had been accepted by the magic of the court under the Most Ancient House Laws, a large team of goblins had descended on Malfoy Manor, collecting anything and everything that had come from the House of Black that wasn't formally accepted as belonging to the House of Malfoy, including a few Black elves who had come with Narcissa (in particular Dobby, because Harry wanted to get his old friend away from the Malfoys), numerous other stolen items of great value and a rather special diary which was emanating a foul presence, which Harry had given them directions to find. The goblins did the same at the Lestrange estate, as well as recovering the dowries, any and all monies earned from Black holdings and property and any Black family belongings and dark objects from their vaults at Gringotts, including Helga Hufflepuff's cup from the Lestrange vault (taking note of Harry's warnings about the traps in there). On top of that, they'd collected the fifty thousand galleons for the court penalty from the Malfoy vaults and hefty fines had been levied on both families for storing forbidden dark objects in their vaults, and even heftier ones on the Lestreange family for setting potentially lethal charms and curses in a Gringott's vaults. What it came down to was that by the time Lucius managed to get out of the court room, both the Malfoy and Lestrange families were considerably poorer, but more to the point, they'd achieved the object of the exercise, they'd recovered two of the horcruxes.
By the time Elphias Doge managed to get onto Dumbledore, in his opinion he had lost even more than Lucius Malfoy, because this was a disaster…. Sirius Black had been officially cleared, released and paid a million galleons compensation for his unlawful incarceration. He was also accepted as Duke Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and he'd humiliated Malfoy, somehow gotten him fined a lot of money and reduced his power enough to gather considerable support to himself in the Wizengamot, so if his part in sending Black to Azkaban without a trial came out he'd be ruined. What was even worse, Harry Potter was alive and had been accepted as Duke Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. How in the seven hells had Potter gotten away from the Dursleys' house without the tracking charms notifying him? All the evidence had pointed to him being obliterated by Death Eaters along with the Dursleys.
How had Potter taken the title of Duke at eleven for that matter? He'd convinced the Wizengamot to rule that no-one could be accepted as a Head of House until after they'd reached their majority a long time ago to give him the entire time he had them at Hogwarts to make sure they would do what he told them to before they gained any power….. he'd have to ensure that Potter's title was revoked damned quick to keep power over the brat. The fact that he was apparently talking about the hell he'd gone through over the past ten years was another problem too, as that implied that he remembered more than he should, if it ever came out how he'd gotten there there'd be hell to pay.
The only saving grace in this was that Potter had to start at Hogwarts in a few weeks, and a few memory charms and compulsions should be all it took to get him back in line again. Once he was under their control, he'd let Severus have his fun breaking him and keeping him vulnerable until Tom took the opportunity through his host Quirrell to kill the boy, thus satisfying the terms of the prophecy and leaving the way open for him to kill the weakened Voldemort and accept all the wealth, power and adoration that came from vanquishing another Dark Lord. Yes... he really was worrying over nothing, everything would work out once Harry Potter was in his realm where he could control him properly.
Madam Marchbanks was shocked when she was escorted to the office of the Head Goblin at Gringotts four days after the Pettigrew and Black's trials for the explanation she had demanded from Madam Bones. These explanations proceeded at the same breakneck pace that everything in their world seemed to be proceeding at just now because they had so much to get done in the two weeks they had left until they went to Hogwarts.
While the time available to them was rather limited though, they had the resources of the richest and most powerful Houses of Magical Britain and the Goblin Nation at their disposal, and perhaps more important than this, they had some of the brightest and most powerful witches and wizards in Magical Britain in their 'family' as well as the family magics and family knowledge of just about all of the greats in the history of Magical Britain…. and that was just the wizarding world…. Goblin Thanes and Elf Reeves were the holders of much of the knowledge of their races, and for the most part they were loyal to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter as the only original Druid Lord's House that had always held to the old ways and supported their people. With all of this working for them, they were managing to achieve things that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
Griselda was furious, much like most of them had been, when she saw the proof that Dumbledore had in fact witnessed both the Potters' wills and then sealed them to allow him to do as he pleased, making both Sirius Black and their son's lives a living hell for the next ten years by unlawfully sending Black to Azkaban without a trial and unlawfully taking the voting rights of the powerful House of Potter and sending their son to a life of terrible abuse and servitude in the one place they were adamant he was not to go. Her reactions when she saw the memory of Harry having the life choked out of him by that great oaf and watched the oaf and those other disgusting creatures being obliterated was similar to Alastor and Remus'. She cried when she saw the memory of what the goblin healer had seen when he was called to St Mungo's, and even more when she read the report that Healers Nightingale and Johnson had compiled on the boy's accumulated injuries and malnutrition.
They decided that she needed to know the truth if they were going to get her support, so they showed her the memories of Harry and Hermione's future, starting with what happened when they were murdered by Molly, Ginny and Ron Weasley. Then the very real danger to their world was driven home when they brought Tom Riddle's diary and Helga Hufflepuff's cup in and she felt the palpable evil radiating from them. They were taken off to be sealed away again as soon as she got the message, but they explained that these were pieces of Voldemort's soul, for want of a better term, that he'd separated through the use of foul rites involving murder in an attempt to make himself immortal.
She'd cried again when they told her that one of those abominations had actually been inside Harry, and showed her the memory of him going through the ritual to have it removed, and having those multiple layers of bindings that had almost stifled him to death peeled away as well. After reading the reports and watching that, she was shocked when they told her that Harry had still been able to do magic, as his will and magical core had kept growing enough to overcome the bindings so that Dumbledore had to keep coming back to slap extra layers of bindings over the top to stifle it again. Minerva and Amelia shook their heads in awe. "When those bindings were removed, Harry was incredibly powerful, because he'd had to keep getting stronger to overcome the bindings. He's more powerful than anyone we've seen except perhaps Dumbledore now, and I'm not even sure that he could match Harry."
Griselda had also been amazed when they told her about the growing number of houses that they controlled and had with them, and while she was upset to hear that the children had all been entered into betrothal contracts to protect them and their houses at their age, she had to agree that for the girls especially this was the only real option to prevent them being preyed upon. This was reinforced when she was told how Malfoy had already been trying to force betrothal contracts on the Greengrasses for their daughters.
Of course they'd taken a risk telling her all of this, but they had to take chances to get everything they needed to done in the limited time they had. Luckily it had come off just as they'd planned and they had another powerful ally now, they'd gained the votes and voice of the Noble and Ancient House of Marchbanks and the support of the one who could quite possibly be next Chief Witch, and perhaps even more important considering that Harry, Hermione, Susan, Neville, Luna, Daphne, Astoria and Dora would be coming up against Dumbledore at Hogwarts in a few weeks, they had the Director of the Wizarding Examination Authority on their side.
Minerva and Augusta assured her that they wouldn't be asking for any favours, but would appreciate her help in ensuring that they were dealt with fairly. They also gave her a copy of the Hogwarts charter and rules for Most Ancient Houses and outlined the rights they would be claiming. Griselda laughed at that and made them promise to show her their memories of Dumbledore's reactions when they sprung that on him.
Griselda was no fool, and she understood that she would be in danger if she joined them in the fight against both the so called light and dark factions, so she was quite ready to hear what they had to offer when they asked her to accept a few things that would help keep her safe. The first was an updated version of the Marauders' communications mirrors which Sirius and Remus had been working on with the goblins. They didn't know what the range of these new mirrors was yet, but Alastor had taken one to Romania and Egypt when he went to test Charlie and Bill Weasley, and get Bill Weasley and his team there to test the wards, and they'd worked fine from there, so they should have quite enough range to handle any expected needs.
The next item was what really opened her eyes though, because Amelia unshrunk a wardrobe trunk which was tall enough to walk into. Inside, it was much bigger and more comfortable than her flat, so she just shook her head at Amelia when she said that they'd only been working on these for a week and they expected to go a lot further by the time they were done. As they were showing her around, they explained that these were the result of a combination of wizard, goblin and elf magic and the first elements had actually been knocked together in a couple of days. They had to laugh when her eyes lit up at the comfortable library and reading room and Minerva said. "We added these for Hermione, because that girl just loves books! I must admit that I enjoy my library too, and that little garden through there that the elf magic made possible is just lovely, especially with the enchanted ceiling it has now."
When they managed to tear her away from the library and garden, they showed her a few of the other important features, like the floo. Amelia took up the description. "The goblins' version of floos are used in these trunks…..." She laughed as she said "Harry has named them gloos….. like the mirrors, you just say where you want to go, and so far they appear to be undetectable and un-blockable to wizards. Once again, we haven't had a chance to test their range fully, but they had no trouble working between here and Egypt. The wards are also mainly goblin work and they have stood up to anything thrown at them in the testing so far. Susan is here training with the others to get ready for Hogwarts most of the time so I stay in the flat in the trunk I have in my office and it's quite comfortable, I'm planning to lock down Bones Manor and live in the trunk flat in my office full time when she goes to Hogwarts…. What we're trying to say Griselda is that we'd like you to take one of these trunks and use it as your safe room and bedroom at home... as I said I always have one in my office and you will be set up with access so you can come and go via that."
Griselda shook her head. "Even in this 'unfinished' state Amelia, my flat is nothing so nice as this, so doing you said, setting it up in my office and living in it there, sounds like a better plan. My only worry would be how to keep people out of my office."
Amelia smiled. "Oh sorry, that's something I forgot to mention, you see they're still working on adding extra layers to the wards on the trunks. With what they have so far you can set the markers around whatever room the trunk is in to control access to the room as well as the trunk, but they're trying to expand it further so that you can control access to the house the room's in as well."
That got a laugh from Griselda. "You lot seem to have thought of everything Amelia. Yes, of course I would very much like one of these! Is it possible to allow separate access for my elf Babs, to let her come and go to my trunk as well?"
Amelia nodded. "Definitely! All our elves have access, and that's another thing, the wards have been set up to automatically block all wizard, elf and goblin apparation, but whosoever's set up to have access via the doors and gloo can apparate in or out, so once you have the image in your mind you can apparate into the safety of the trunk if you're in trouble."
Griselda didn't need any more convincing, so they set her up with her own trunk and mirror and Amelia went with her to help set up Babs' access and the wards over her office. They brought a few elves and goblins to move whatever she wanted from her flat into the trunk.