"Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Office of the prosecutor

Dear Mr. H. Potter,

Yesterday evening at about 6 p.m., you spotted and stunned an interloper on your family's estate. It has now been confirmed that said individual is Mr. Daedalus Diggle, LL.M.. Mr Diggle has admitted to trespassing on your grounds and been questioned under an oath of truth. According to this, he and a group of his friends had decided that you need protection from the Dark Wizard Voldemort and they have taken it upon themselves to provide protection for you. How exactly a 110-year old lawyer with no experience in magical combat would be helpful for that, he did not specify. As he has been trespassing, you can press charges against Mr. Diggle. I would like to ask you to decide on this during the next week. Your bodyguard, auror Tonks might be able to advise you on that.

Best regards,

William H. Morris LL.M."

"Diggle, Dandruff and Waterman
Attorneys at Law, Solicitors and Barristers
Jules Watermann

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have been informed that our senior partner, Mr. Daedalus Diggle, has been arrested while trespassing on your property. As you might know, Mr. Diggle decided to protect you from harm from certain quarters and to stop any kind of situation like last year when you were obviously unfairly prosecuted. He did not, in any way, intend to do you harm and deeply regrets that he did not contact you before entering your property. We deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused to you and propose a settlement out of court as follows: You do not press charges against Mr. Diggle and do not comment on this situation to the press. In return, Mr. Diggle would pay in your name an amount of 500 G to a charity of your choice. We hope that this offer can help defusing this unfortunate situation.

Best regards,

Jules Waterman"

Harry showed both letters to Tonks. "So, what do I do?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Have Diggle and Dumbledore arrested and thrown into my cupboard under the stairs for a century or so." He waved the outbreak away. "Won't happen, I know. If I accept, Diggle will be indebted to me. Maybe, just maybe, he can convince at least some of the order to stop following me around. And you could do a lot of good with 500 galleons."

"Good analysis. On the other hand, if you do not, they will tell that Diggle is an old man, has already taken damage through your stunner and will let him go with a slap on his hands. Also, I would guess that his partners would just love to use this affair to retire him. He's the oldest lawyer in Britain."

"So, what charity do I take? SPEW being disbanded, I don't know any."

"I would recommend the aurors' widow trust, but this might be selfish."

Harry shook his head. "Good idea. He produced an unnecessary emergency for the aurors. And it would give me some brownie points with your kind."

"Still trying to get into my knickers, are you?"

They smiled, and Harry took out his parchment.

"Dear Mr. Waterman,

I accept the settlement you proposed. Please make the amount payable to the aurors' widow trust. Also, please ask Mr. Diggle to kindly inform his associates that next time, I will press charges.

With best regards,

Harry J. Potter"

"Dear Mr. Morris,

I have decided not to press charges against Mr. Diggle, as we have found a mutual settlement. Thank you for your trouble and again please thank the rapid response team for their excellent work.

Best regards,

Harry J. Potter"

"Dear Harry,

The Head of an Ancient and Noble House is recognizable by the family crest with golden threats attached. Of course, the two Heads of Ancient and Noble Houses still at Hogwarts are pretty easy to recognize. One is a bit chubby, has been quite insecure until the last week of term this summer and owns a toad. The other one is red-haired and snores like a saw-mill. I do hope that you assured Ron that you don't blame him – because he really couldn't do anything against it. He couldn't even say no.

Now, the Ancient and Noble Houses are the families that signed the treaty of York with King William II, reforming the wizengamot and excluding the magical world from common law. Most of them had been Normans, but several old families (like mine or the Blacks) had been included. Your family is rather ancient, but not noble. Actually, your family has been hovering on the brink of nobility for about 500 years, now. Most Ancient and Noble Houses forbid their heirs to marry a muggleborn or a good for nothing half-blood. On the other hand, even we know what happens when you marry your cousins for centuries. So we have some few families, like the Potters, the Bones or the Sunnyvales (Brian Sunnyvale is in Ginny's year, a Ravenclaw) who tend to marry their boys off to some pretty and smart muggle-born and their daughters to some noble family. If you had been a girl, we would most likely be engaged some days after your birth. Lucky me. I couldn't stand you as a girlfriend... So, you Potters are a very old family, never too rich, but always handy to freshen up the blood. One could say that Hermione is kind of hard-wired into your blood. Though I would like to point out that Longbottom House allows muggle-born into the family. Didn't happen for the last 650 years, though, when Gilles Longbottom married Princess Mary, daughter of the duke of Leinster. So yes, you are related to all important pure-bloods, but you are – sorry to say – the relation we would rather not talk about. Even if you are the Boy-who-has-too-many-hyphens. Some words to your hosts – Greengrass is – as I said before – a rather young but rich and respectable pureblood family. The de Bokkens are Dutch, having come with William of Orange, so Ernie is not as respectable as her cousins, even if you discount her father. Mrs. Greengrass (senior) is a born Chichester, one of the few families that are Ancient and Noble, and still have a branch in the muggle world. As she and her parents (a very old couple that will open the ball) are the only living Chichesters, her son Raginald will one day take over the Chichester seat.

All the best,

Neville"

"Dear Neville,

You are a good friend, and I will gladly take you into any battle against evil Dark Lords, but there's a line. Please note that I will not marry you. Sorry, but no. No!

Anyway, thanks for the information about the families. I really hope that Ernie will keep me out of the worst pits. See you at the ball,

Harry"

He shivered. There were things that were simply wrong. Suddenly, a small bell chimed, and he shot around. A house-elf with a small bell stood before him. He – or more likely she – was dressed into what seemed an oversized Malibu Barbie outfit. She rang the bell again. "Good morning. Is there anything I can do for you?"

The elf bowed and produced a small card on a small silver tablet, which Harry took carefully. To his surprise, it was a calling card of Ernie.

"May Giggi ask the great Harry Potter if he is at home?"

Harry glanced at the elf, then at the walls of the room he was currently in. "Actually, yes, I am." Somehow he had the feeling that he had missed the sense of the question.

The elf bowed again. "Maybe the great Harry Potter would like to make himself presentable. Mistress de Bokken will arrive in five minutes." With that, it rang the bell again and disappeared in the same silent manner as Dobby usually did.

He checked his dirty workclothes and ran up to his room, donning some normal muggle clothes. A moment later, Ernestina appeared just inside the hall with a small pop. She looked very different from the last time. Instead of her early Victorian children's dress, she wore the Cashmere sweater over a white blouse, something that was not quite jeans and fine leather shoes with a slight heel.

"You look great," Harry greeted her. She smiled and hugged him slightly. "Thanks."

"Come to the terrace." He led her outside. "I just had a strange encounter with your house-elf."

"Yes, she told me that she had a strange encounter with someone pretending to be the great Harry Potter."

"What did I do wrong again?" He told her what had happened.

"Well, she would have expected to talk to your house-elf. He would have taken my card to you, and you would have decided whether to be home for me or not. It's quite ok not to be home even if you are home if you see what I mean?"

Harry thought about that question for a second. "Actually, no."

"Well, imagine that you were going to receive other visitors or were planning a meditation on how to kill You-Know-Who or just not in the mood for me, you would have told her that sorry, you were out. If you wanted to see me later, you could have told her when you were back. But muggles are supposed to do it the same way! My muggle studies book says so. It's supposed to be this way since sometime in the 1800s."

Harry scratched his head. "Ok. Maybe they did in the 1800s, but nowadays, they phone."

Ernestina's eyes lit up. "Like the thing I read about in the muggle science book?"

"Yes. Anyway, it's nice to see you here. Do you want a coke?"

She nodded eagerly. "We will serve coke for the kids at the ball, of course in a more appropriate container. We think it might be a hit. Anyway, I thought we could go dress-making for you. I have some sketches here if you would like to look?"

Harry was about as interested in fashion as any male teenager. It was quite obvious, however, that pretending to be interested would give him quite some time sitting very close to a very pretty, vivacious girl who also smelled very good. There were worse ways to spend the morning, and so he sat and listened to Ernestina explaining the designs she had made. She looked great when she smiled! And when enthusiasm got hold of her like now, her cheeks flushed a bit, making her even prettier. The clothes designs were good, in his opinion, as far as he could see. They seemed a blend between the dress robes he had worn at the Jule Ball and muggle formal dress. It was difficult to pick one design, but finally, he chose one. The quick smile on the girl's face showed that he had chosen well.

The clothing atelier was a rather dark and dusky place. Only one bright halogen lamp shone on an older woman who took her time to come to the small table that served her as a counter. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

Ernestina smiled at her, then looked at Harry. He took a pity with her. "I have been invited to a masque next week, and my friend here has designed something for me to wear. I was wondering if you could produce this. "

The woman went over the sketches and nodded. "I can make you something like that, yes. What is this supposed to symbolize?"

"I'm a wizard. A modern one." He ignored Ernestina's shocked look.

"So your friend is a witch?"

"In the best possible way, yes."

The woman chuckled. "You're the Dursleys' nephew, aren't you?"

"Er, yes."

She looked him over, and finally smiled. "So which school do you really go to?"

"Hogwarts School for the gifted. A small private school in Scotland. I would love to tell you more, but I would have to shoot you." He smiled what he hoped was a rakish smile, obviously with some success, because she smiled, too.

"Fits. Before you came, your aunt was always hinting about her sister who was all super-secret, and them dying so young and without any notice. I didn't know that MI6 recruited this young."

"You will understand that I can neither confirm nor deny that."

"Rather. Now, I can make this. You are sure that you want silk?" She asked Ernestina.

"Yes, definitely."

"150 quid." Harry nodded. "Deal. But I need it till Friday."

The woman nodded and took his measurements.

When they left, Ernie stopped him. "You told her about Hogwarts and magic!"

Harry laughed. "Of course I did. And stop the oblivators. She does not believe that we can do real magic. She thinks that we are visiting some Secret Service school."

"What is a Secret Service?" Ernestina was not convinced the slightest. Harry explained.

"So they will believe that you are some kind of spy in training and any magic you do will be explained as technology?"

"Yes. And it will give the people tons of stuff to gossip about." They went for some ice-cream (Harry's treat) and then back to the house, where they signed the letters that Ernie had prepared with a copy-quill and the aid of several of the Greengrass house elves. She then left with the aid of the elf, and Harry found himself alone again with two more, very stately owls.

"Harry,

I cannot say how disappointed I was when I heard that you let Daedalus be arrested. He was only there for your protection and now has to go through great difficulties. I think you should apologise to him as soon as possible. And please, stay in the house. I will try to get a new guard for you as soon as possible.

Albus Dumbledore"

Harry shook his head. Maybe he should have pressed charges, just to spite the old man.

"Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I am sorry about that. But I had no way of knowing that it was really Mr. Diggle. As you have repeatedly promised to tell me everything concerning myself, I was sure that I would be informed if anyone except for Tonks would be posted for my protection. I was quite afraid that he was a Death-Eater under polyjuice or something. And I think that the aurors' reaction shows that I am right now amply protected without inconveniencing the order members further. How is the situation with Voldemort?

I have already declared that I will not press charges against Mr. Diggle. By the way, when can I leave here?

All the best,

Harry Potter"

Tonks smiled when she read the letter. "He is losing his touch. Right now, the Euros call the shots in the ministry, and they don't care a shit what he wants. He's not used to that."

"Are they really that good?"

"I don't know about good. But they are nothing if not efficient. We have seventy aurors from 10 nations in Headquarters, and they keep the whole country rather save and Voldemort in the defensive. Don't know how long this may hold, but for now – they get the job done. And they aren't anyone's best pal."

Harry nodded and fished off the next letter.

Jean Delacour, .

Dear Mr. Potter,

My daughters have decided that you must be our guest for our summer ball on August, 5th. It seems that it is of the utmost importance for you to come and see how real people (meaning French) celebrate summer balls, and of course Gabrielle wants to dance with you whenever Hermione takes a breath. Please make the time. Especially my little girl will be devastated if you don't.

Best regards,

Jean Delacour."

Harry then looked at the fancy card that – at least he suspected – contained the invitation to the ball in French. It was even grander than that of the Greengrasses.

"Dear Mr. Dealcour,

Thank you for the invitation. If in any way possible, I would love to come to your ball. However, as I am living with muggles, I would need some kind of international transportation. I do not own a passport. Is it possible to go to France in some magical way or need I take muggle transport?

Thank you again,

Harry Potter."