Chapter 19

Anathema

Boy-Who-Lived Declares War!

Bellatrix Lestrange Target of 'Grey Lord's' Fury!

Exclusive to the Daily Prophet

Staff Writer Rita Skeeter

Yesterday evening, Lord Harry Potter-Black, in his capacity as Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, took decisive action against a rogue member of that family. The witch formerly known as Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black, was, in a flurry of official documents, divorced, disowned, and declared anathema. As readers with knowledge of Pureblood law know, this allows Lord Potter-Black to carry out any punishment under the House Honor Code up to and including death. The disowning also strips the pureblood status of the former Black family member.

The witch Bellatrix NoName is a well known disciple of the Dark Lord What's-His-Name, having been broken out of Azkaban prison in a daring escape raid last year. Her former husband and brother in law are also reputed to be in You-Know-Who's inner circle.

Although the Prophet applauds this bold action by Lord Potter-Black, we do have to wonder how he plans to carry out his punishment of this powerful witch who is being protected by the most vicious Dark Lord in several centuries. We will await and report on any future developments.

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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Office of the Headmistress

The meeting with Minerva McGonagall had gone quickly and smoothly. Harry and Daphne had presented the Headmistress with a petition signed by every member of what had been nicknamed the 'Noble's Dorm'. This, along with the request from Jonathon and Violet Dumbledore, convinced Minerva to order the transfer of Jennifer's belongings from her old dorm. McGonagall had ordered Dobby to prepare Jennifer's new quarters. Following the meeting, Minerva had asked Harry to stay for a few minutes.

"Harry, I read the paper this morning, and I have to ask you something. Have you lost your mind? That has to be the most outlandish thing that you have done since I have known you! How on earth do you expect to carry out your declaration against Bella Lestrange?"

Harry stiffened and glared. When he spoke, the temperature of the room dropped several degrees. "Headmistress, whatever decisions I make in the administration of my family affairs are not up for committee review. You have overstepped your bounds, and I expect an apology."

Minerva sat back in shock. This was not the Harry Potter that she had taught and guided over the past 5 plus years. This was someone who seemed as comfortable with power and influence as any Malfoy. She quickly backpedaled. "Lord Potter-Black, I meant no offence in what I said, I am just worried. I have just become very fond of you in these past years and I don't want to see you harmed. I do apologise if I have offended you."

Harry's face thawed, but just a bit. "Between the loving home in which Albus Dumbledore placed me, and this school, I have faced more than my fair share of danger. I was a punching bag for my relations and the target of four out of five of my DADA professors. I have fought Voldemort three times, was bitten by a bloody basilisk when I was 12 years old, and was systematically robbed by the former Headmaster and the relatives that he placed me with. I have been treated worse than one of Lucius Malfoy's house elves and manipulated by both the Ministry and staff here. Tell me, what did you tell Dumbledore after you watched the Dursleys prior to him abandoning me to their tender mercies?"

"I told him that they were the worst sort of muggles. I didn't want to leave you there, but I had to."

"Precisely. I could stand here and count down all of the times that you failed me as my head of house, but you already know those. You let yourself be manipulated by Dumbledore just as I did. The only difference is that you were old enough to know better! Since I took control of my own life, I have finally decided to live. And you know something? I don't regret it a bit. I plan to use this backward system of government and the ridiculous pureblood politics to tear this bigoted system down to the foundation and rebuild it. Getting rid of Voldemort and his lackeys will have to be the first step so that the rest of these bone heads will take me seriously."

"Now, I plan to stay here at Hogwarts and support the school and your administration, but I will not allow anyone to second guess my decisions. I believe that the school is much better with the new Dorm system. We no longer have the asinine rivalries that have been used to keep groups of students at each other's throats. It makes us less susceptible to manipulation be it from a Dumbledore or a Voldemort. Now that we have kind of cleared the air, can we start over?" Holding out his hand, he said, "My name is Harry Potter."

McGonagall smiled and took his hand in a firm grip. "Glad to meet you, I'm Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of the New Hogwarts Academy."

"Catchy name. I doubt that the Governors will let you get away with it though." Harry grinned. "There was another thing that I had thought of the other day, but I just can't remember it right now. Oh, well. If I can think of it again, I will let you know."

McGonagall wrote on a piece of parchment. "Here is your pass into your next class. You wouldn't want to lose points for a dorm that you aren't even sleeping in now, would you?"

"Merlin forbid. Good day."

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After a full week of classes, Harry was spending some quality time with a couple of old friends, Ron and Hermione. He was feeling guilty for having neglected them for these past few weeks. Although Harry, as an emancipated student, could pretty much come and go as he wished, his friends had no such ability. When you added to his emancipation the rank that he held in the government, Harry had to admit that Draco had called it right on when he had told Harry that rank had its privileges. Harry had resorted to old habits, sneaking Ron and Hermione out through one of the Hogsmeade tunnels while he went into town in plain sight.

Meeting the pair in Honeydukes, Harry held out a portkey to Walburga's House. Arriving in the foyer, Harry was greeted by an enthusiastic Blinky.

"Blinky is so happy to see Lord Black! What would you have Blinky to do?"

Although Harry was inwardly glad to see his chief elf, he gave an inward groan. He had not taken into account the elves when he had invited Hermione to the house. He could see that she was starting to get up a head of steam. He decided to cut her off at the pass. "Blinky, I want you to meet a couple of friends. This is Ron Weasley, who is a distant cousin, and Miss Hermione Granger. Hermione is getting ready to tell me off again for owning house elves. You see, she doesn't really approve."

Blinky looked scandalized. "You is that naughty witch that my cousin Wango tells me about. You is always trying to free elves against their will, making clothes for them and leaving them around the school! Elves will not even go in the Dorm to clean now, they make the pervert Dobby clean all of that area by hisself. Dobby has to do job of 4 elves by hisself because of your naughtiness!" He suddenly remembered that he was speaking to his master's friend. Drooping his ears, he turned to Harry. "Blinky is sorry, Lord Black. Should Blinky go iron his ears?"

Harry was having a hard time holding back his laughter. "No, Blinky, you know I don't allow you to punish yourself. What I want you to do is take Miss Granger on a tour. Take her to meet the other staff and show her the elves quarters. She can ask any question and I want you all to be completely honest with her. When you are finished, bring her into my study. And please have Sissy bring Ron and myself some tea and biscuits."

Blinky nodded to Harry, then took Hermione's hand to start the tour. Harry and Ron retired to the study to talk and wait for Hermione to return. When they entered the room, Harry walked over to the closet.

"Ron, I was planning to give this to you for Christmas, but I think that you should get some use out of it as soon as possible. You do have a game coming up in a couple of weeks." Harry brought out a shiny broom and handed it to Ron.

"Whoa Harry! This is beautiful? What kind is it?"

"It's a Cleansweep 7000K, made specifically for Keepers. Turns out that one of the investments that Sirius made before he died was to purchase 25 percent of the Cleansweep company. They wanted to send me the 7000S model that they made for Seekers, but I am not planning to play this year. This is a pre-production model. From what I understand, this will be the standard for the British National team next year. They also have advance orders for the series from no less than 6 professional teams."

"Harry, it is really something else, but I can't accept a gift this expensive."

"First of all, we're family, so get that Weasley stubbornness in check. Secondly, don't think of it as a gift, I want you to write up performance reports on the broom each time that you use it. When the trial period is over, the company will take this broom and trade it out for a production model. And third, I'm not taking it back."

"Well, since you put it that way…."

"I'm also giving Ginny a 7000C for her to report on. She should have been a Seeker, but since she made Chaser, that will be a good broom for her. Draco will be getting the 7000S model."

"Bloody hell, Harry! You do know that we are all on different teams, don't you?"

Harry grinned. "Should be an interesting year for Quiddich at Hogwarts. Crabbe and Goyle would have been getting the Beater models, but they have a hard time stringing sentences together. They would not be very good report writers. Tell you what, ask your team's beaters if they would like to do the reports on the B model brooms. If they want to go for it, I will get them a couple. Now, let's dig into these wonderful biscuits Sissy has brought us."

"Don't have to ask me twice."

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Meanwhile, Hermione was receiving an education courtesy of Harry's staff. After seeing the working conditions and living quarters, Hermione asked some very pointed questions about elf life. The elves had nothing but praise for Harry, they were all well fed, and had clean, neat uniforms. There was also a cash fund for anything that the elves thought that they needed and all of the elves could take time off when they wanted. Hermione also found out that house elves that were not bonded lost much of their magic along wit their will to live. This explained the condition that Winky had been in. When she heard that, she asked why Dobby seemed to take to freedom so well.

"That is why Blinky calls Dobby a pervert. Dobby is not like other house elves. Blinky knows that Dobby wishes that Lord Black would make him and Winky bonded elves. He would be much better off."

"I am sincerely sorry that I have offended so many elves. I would hate for them to lose their magic because of me."

"Hogwarts elves were just teaching Miss Grangy a lesson. Miss could not have freed those elves if she wanted. Hogwarts elves are bonded to the castle and Headmaster, not students. Students are guests, not masters. Only masters can free elves."

"Well, I can see that Harry is a good employer. I just can't help but wonder what he would be spending for human help."

"Human help not be any good. House elves hold their master's secrets and are loyal to masters. Let me tell you how bad human servants are. Lord Black had these house muggles……"

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A couple of hours later, well fed and caught up on each other's lives, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the expansive library in Walburga's House. Hermione had gone dreamy eyed at the number and rarity of the book in the room. Ron dug his elbow into Harry's side and snickered.

"The day she looks at me like that is the day that I will propose. Until then…."

Hermione gave Ron a mock glare. "Fat chance of that happening. I could just see myself as Mrs. Ron Weasley. I would end up constantly pregnant and the only books in the house would be Quiddich playbooks."

"Oh, I am so deeply wounded. Besides, they wouldn't be just any playbooks, they would be Cannon's playbooks." All three got a case of the giggles over that one.

"Let me guess," said Harry. "You would have a house with 10 bedrooms, every one of them painted orange."

"Works for me, mate. So, 'Mione, when do we tie the knot and build our dream home?"

"Hmm… how about after I learn a good castration spell and get a great job?"

Ron turned a bit green. "I suppose that we could wait awhile. Say, oh, 100 years or so?"

"I'll hold you to that." Hermione gave him a peck on the cheek. "Ron, don't ever change. You and Harry are the brothers I never had. And since I am not a pureblood, I never had any great urge to sleep with my brother."

"Hey, I'll have you know that we never sleep with anyone closer than first cousins! So misunderstood." Ron wiped a non-existent tear from his eye, then grinned.

"Hermione," Harry interjected. "I need to ask you a big favor."

"And what would that be?"

"You know that Snape is working for me now?" At Hermione's nod, Harry continued. "I would like you to research the Dark Mark. You would have complete access to all of my libraries. While the Potter library does not have very many books that could be considered dark, both of the Black libraries do. You could set up shop here when you have time, and Blinky can bring any books that you would like from the Grimmauld house. Because of Kreacher's sensibilities, I wouldn't have you actually going there. He is not really crazy, just has the biases of his old mistress. Although even Walburga has gotten much better about that, all it took was making her younger and reuniting her with her husband."

"Why do you want to research the Dark Mark? I mean, I trust you, but this is quite the odd request. Sure that you aren't planning to take over from Riddle?" she said jokingly.

"What I want to do is break Riddle's back. With the deaths of so many of his big money followers ending up dead and their heirs cutting the purse strings, he is resorting to robbing muggle banks. What that did to his finances, I want to do to his recruiting and troop retention. If you can find a way to break the hold of the Dark Mark, then we can either get more spies into his ranks or convince a lot of his troops to leave him. There has to be at least a few of them who are starting to rethink their loyalties, but are terrified that he could retaliate through the Mark. We already know that the reason that they protect him so slavishly is because if he dies, so do they. If you can find something that might work, I already have Severus' consent for you to use him as a guinea pig."

"In that case, I'll do it. You will have to give me a portkey to get back and forth and a way to get books back to my dorm for the days that I can't leave. Were their any books in the Black vault? It seems that something that dark they might have wanted someplace that the Ministry couldn't find it."

"Good idea, yes there were quite a few books like that. I will have my account manager deliver them here. It is under the Fidelus so the ministry can't find it anyway. I'll have him make a duplicate portkey for you while he is at it. You can expect it by the end of next week. Now, how would you like some quality entertainment?"

"Such as..?"

"It's Quiddich night in the portrait room. Blinky!" When the elf appeared, Harry said, "Have Sissy make up a big batch of popcorn and bring up a case of butterbeer from the cellar. Then tell the other elves to take the night off. The Orions are going to be putting on a Quiddich match tonight."

"Yes, sir!" the little elf squeaked excitedly. He popped out to carry out the request. Harry turned to his guests.

"I think that it is time that you met the new and improved versions of Sirius' parents." With that, he led them off to the portrait room for an evening of drunk elves, popcorn, and Quiddich.

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Gringott's Bank

Flickaxe's Office

Flickaxe sat back and turned off the monitor he had been watching. This was an interesting development indeed. He had a pretty good idea of the type of magic used to make the Dark Mark. The fact that Harry was trying to break the power of the mark gave him a lot of hope. The goblins had secretly placed themselves squarely behind Harry in his fight against Voldemort even though they had not, and might never, announce it. At this point, they were still claiming their neutrality. It would not do for any side to take them for granted. He would bring this up in front of the board however. Should Harry succeed in breaking the Mark's power, then might be a good time for the goblins to go public.

He would also find whatever books that might help Granger in her research and make sure that they became 'Black family heirlooms'. He made a call to Warcry.

"Go into Lord Black's vaults and begin cataloging any and all books there. Also schedule me time at the next board meeting. I will need that list by tomorrow night."

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A/N: I know that this chapter doesn't have a lot of action, but it is an important transition time. The next chapter will have the board meeting, then skip forward in time a bit. See you then! Please review… I need my fix!