During the week after Lord Prince was voted in as the new Chief Warlock, Harry barely saw Sirius. Apparently, now that Dumbledore had been ousted, Sirius had a lot more influence over things than he'd had before. If Sirius wasn't out somewhere, meeting people and discussing new laws, he was holed up in his study reading through tome after tome of Wizengamot Regulations.

Harry felt sorry for his godfather. While researching Wizengamot Regulations didn't sound too bad to him, he knew that it would be absolutely killing Sirius who didn't particularly enjoy reading. Remus seemed to be more amused than anything, which Harry supposed was understandable. From the stories that Harry had heard of their years at Hogwarts, Remus had spent a large amount of his time trying to convince Sirius, and Harry's father, to study.

It seemed unfair to Harry that Sirius would be so busy during the last few weeks of the summer holidays. He'd gotten used to spending a lot of time with Sirius, and couldn't help but miss his godfather now that he wasn't as available.

Still, having less than two weeks left until he returned to Hogwarts meant that Harry had a lot to do as well – especially considering that one of those days would be taken up with the Quidditch World Cup. Not only was this Harry's last opportunity to learn anything from Cousin Narcissa' tutoring until the next summer, but he also had to get his school supplies together.

Harry's Hogwarts' letter arrived three days before the Quidditch cup and, since Sirius and Remus were both too busy to take him (Remus was having to rewrite the entire Hogwarts' History curriculum), Cousin Narcissa agreed to take both Harry and Draco to Diagon Alley.

The shopping trip took hours. Not only did Harry and Draco have to buy school supplies, but there were a lot of extra things on their lists as well. They didn't only need school robes (which were only available from Madame Malkin's), but they also needed new every day and formal robes from Twilfitt and Tatterings. Harry couldn't help but be annoyed at how quickly he was growing out of each set of new robes he bought. He was actually taller than Sirius now, though not by much. At the Apothecary they bought extra ingredients to use for pranking potions throughout the year, and Harry spent over an hour in Flourish and Blotts looking through the different books.

When he carried his new books out of the store Draco, who had abandoned him for Quality Quidditch Supplies after the first twenty minutes, shook his head in amusement.

"Merlin Harry, when are you going to find the time to read all of those? You can't have already finished the books that you were given for you birthday."

Harry grinned unrepentantly as Cousin Narcissa shrunk the books down for him. "Buying books isn't just about reading them, Draco. Sometimes it's just about owning them so that, if you ever want to read them, you can."

"That makes no sense." Draco told him, handing him a bag with the Quidditch shop's logo on it. "Here are the things you wanted."

"Thanks." Harry added the bag to his growing collection. "Where to next?"

"Fortescue's." Draco answered. "Mother said that she would pay for us to get an ice cream. She's going to the tea shop."

Harry smiled at Cousin Narcissa gratefully. "That is very kind of you, Cousin Narcissa. Thank you."

"I can't believe you're actually dropping a class." Draco commented after they had bought their ice creams and were sitting down to eat them. "You're going to be taking the same amount as everyone else, what kind of Ravenclaw are you?"

"Ancient Studies was boring!" Harry complained.

"Boring?" Draco raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You actually found something boring?"

"Okay, not boring," Harry admitted. "Though I do find some things boring. It just wasn't applicable."

"History isn't applicable either." Draco pointed out. "And you like that."

"You'll like to too this year." Harry promised. "Remus has shown me some of his lesson plans – it's going to be amazing. Our class won't know what's hit them."

Draco grimaced. "You know, I've actually enjoyed having a class that I didn't have to pay attention to."

"Remus' classes are going to be great." Harry told him. "He's not just going to be talking about the Goblin Wars, he's going to teach us about the monarchy and traditionalism."

"I already know all that." Draco pointed out.

"Maybe," Harry said, though he doubted it. Remus had been doing a lot of research into the history of the traditions and his lesson plans were incredibly thorough. "But the muggleborns don't. Think of it as an undercover traditionalism class."

Draco's eyes gleamed. "Dumbledore's going to hate that!"

"Maybe," Harry honestly didn't care if he did. "But there's nothing he can do about it. It is history, and recent history at that, and the Board of Governors support Remus."

"You mean my father and Sirius support him." Draco corrected.

Harry waved a hand dismissively. "It's the same thing."

After they had finished their ice creams, Harry and Draco visited the last store on their list, the Magical Menagerie, where they bought some treats for their owls. Harry made sure to add some snake treats to his pile as well.

When Draco saw them he frowned. "I'd completely forgotten that you had snakes."

Harry glared at him and quickly looked around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. "Quiet voices, Draco."

"Sorry," Draco acknowledged. "It's just that I haven't seen your snakes in ages."

"They had some snakelets." Harry explained quietly. "They have a nest in the Forbidden Forest – I hardly see them anymore."

"Weren't you using them to practise parselmagic?" Draco asked in an undertone as they made their way to the counter.

"I haven't had time." Harry admitted. "I'm hoping that, now that I'm dropping Ancient Studies, I'll have more time to practise this year."

6-6-6

When the day of the Quidditch world cup arrived, Harry spent the morning counting down the minutes until they could leave. Apparently some of the people who were attending the match had been camping there for two weeks already, to help spread out the arrivals. Sirius had explained that only people who had bought the very cheap tickets had to do that – Harry half wished they had cheap tickets. He'd never been camping before, but he thought it looked like fun.

Their portkey was due to activate at eleven thirty five and, by eleven twenty, Draco, Luna, Neville, Daphne, Blaise, Theo and Astoria were all gathered in one of Grimmauld Place's living rooms.

"I can't believe Lord Black let you invite us all." Theo exclaimed, not for the first time. "And we're all going to sit in the Top Box?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed with equal excitement. "Draco's parents are going to meet us there."

"I can't believe we're not allowed to stay the night." Draco grumbled. "Everyone else will be!"

"Sirius isn't letting me stay either." Harry reminded him. "In fact, he's given me a portkey to make sure that we can all leave directly after the game finishes."

"I don't care about that." Theo waved a hand dismissively. "We're going to see the World Cup!"

"Alright," Sirius appeared in the doorway, dressed in a pair of jeans and a leather jacket. "Everybody ready?"

Harry's friends all bowed. "Merry meet, Lord Black."

"Merry meet." Sirius nodded quickly, his gaze sweeping over them. "I'm impressed. Who would have thought a group of traditional purebloods could look so muggle."

Harry completely agreed, though they were dressed more formally than any group of teenaged muggles he'd ever seen. Luna, Daphne and Astoria's summer frocks weren't so bad, but he and the other boys were all wearing suits with ties.

"They're making me look ridiculously underdressed." Sirius complained to Remus as the other man entered.

Remus, who was wearing jeans and a jumper, looked them over with amused eyes. "So they are."

Neville pulled uncomfortably at his suit jacket. "Are we not wearing the correct clothes, my lord?"

"You're fine." Sirius reassured him with a smile. "You're all dressed exactly how I would expect youth of your lineage to be. It's just a bit more formal than what most of the people your age will be wearing."

Draco snorted disdainfully. "Yes, I can hardly imagine what the Weasel would have ended up wearing if he hadn't been too impoverished to afford tickets."

Harry grinned slyly. "Didn't I tell you, Draco? The Weasleys will be joining us in the top box as guests of Ludo Bagman."

Draco looked as though he had swallowed a lemon.

"Alright," Sirius got their attention. "A few things before we leave. Make sure you that you don't go anywhere on your own – I want you in groups of at least three at all times." He turned to where Luna, Daphne, and Astoria were standing. "Ladies, you need to have at least one of your wizard friends escorting you. Harry and Draco will be happy to assist with this, I am sure."

Harry looked over to Daphne and offered her a small smile.

"As you are all aware," Sirius continued. "You will be leaving immediately after the game has finished. There are some concerns regarding the security of the Tournament site and I do not want you wandering around in the dark. You will portkey here from the Top Box, using a portkey I have already given Harry. You will then spend the night here, I am sure Harry has already shown you to the bedrooms that you will be using."

Harry nodded along with his friends. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of leaving early and missing the parties, but at least he and his friends would still get to celebrate together.

"Two more things," Sirius said, glancing quickly at his pocket watch which looked out of place with his leather jacket. "Firstly, before the game each team will be introduced by their mascots. The Irish mascots are Leprechauns – I trust you are all familiar with Leprechaun gold?"

"No, sir." Neville shook his head shamefully.

"Remus?" Sirius prompted. "You're the professor here."

Remus shot Sirius an annoyed look, before turning his attention to Neville. "Leprechauns have mischievous natures and are known to create phony galleons. These galleons look identical to real ones, except they disappear within a few hours."

"Right," Sirius nodded. "So, don't bother collecting any gold that appears during their show."

"As if we would need to collect galleons off the ground." Draco muttered in an undertone.

"Now the Bulgarian mascots will be Veelas." Sirius continued. "Have you heard of the Veela allure?"

Harry nodded along with his friends. "Yes."

"Excellent." Sirius grinned. "It is likely to be rather strong today as there will be a lot of them and they will be excited. The best way to defend yourself against the allure is through meditation. I presume you can all achieve a partial meditation state while your eyes are open?"

Harry looked around in surprise as his friends all nodded. He knew he could, he'd learnt to with all his wandless magic practise, but he hadn't realised that it was a common skill.

"Finally," Sirius said quickly, after having looked at his pocket watch again. "I expect you all to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of your upbringings. No fighting, no gambling, no rowdy behaviour. Understand?"

"Yes, my lord." Daphne, Luna, Astoria, Neville, Theo, and Blaise all answered respectfully.

"Yes, Sirius." Harry and Draco agreed.

"Hypocrite." Remus muttered in an undertone, earning himself a half-hearted glare from Sirius.

"Fantastic." Sirius told them, picking up a potion stirrer from the mantel piece and it holding out. "The portkey is due to leave in thirty seconds, you'll all need to be touching this."

Harry hated portkeying. He hadn't done it much, only a few times under Cousin Narcissa's watchful eye to ensure that he was able to land gracefully, but it was definitely his least favourite kind of transportation.

They appeared in a misty moor and were greeted by a witch and a wizard who recorded their arrival, before sending them on their way. Then they had to walk for twenty minutes before arriving at the campsite. The walk wasn't so bad, though Draco managed to find a lot of complain about.

The sheer amount of tents at the campsite was incredible and only made Harry more envious of the people who were going to be allowed to spend the night. The amount of people there was amazing. According to Sirius, one hundred thousand people would be attending the game and they were some of the last to arrive.

"You've got two hours until the game starts." Sirius told them, as they stopped at the edge of the campsite. "When the gong sounds, you need to meet us near the entrance of the stadium."

Harry nodded quickly in understand, before turning to his friends. "Where do we want to go first?"

"I want some food." Theo decided. "Maybe they'll have squizzle sticks."

Blaise's eyes lit up. "I'll come."

Harry looked towards Neville questioningly.

"I don't know." Neville admitted. "Maybe we could just look around?"

They decided to stay together for the time being and made their way into the campsite to look around, with the hope that they would come across some food carts. As they walked around the campsite, Harry thought that the most amusing part of it all was seeing wizards failing at acting like muggles. He'd even seen a wizard wearing a frilly nightgown.

They spotted a lot of people from school, though hardly anyone they actually wanted to talk to, and a lot of people who were clearly foreign. Those were the people Harry was most interested in and he enjoyed guessing their nationalities.

After having wandered around for an hour, they finally found a food cart that sold squizzle sticks much to Theo's delight. With their original objective achieved, they discussed a new plan and, when Harry admitted that he was hoping to see the Weasley twins, they decided to split up. Draco, Theo, Blaise, Astoria and Luna went off in one direction to look at more vendor's stalls and Harry, Neville, and Daphne wandered through the section where the English people were camping.

"Thanks for coming, Daphne." Harry told her gratefully. "I know that you're not exactly a huge fan of the Weasleys either."

"Of course, Harry." Daphne said, her tone perfectly polite as she walked beside him – her hand tucked into the crook of his arm. "It will be my pleasure to meet your friends."

Harry looked down at her worriedly, she'd been acting weird ever since their betrothal and he was starting to wonder whether she regretted having agreed to it.

"I see red hair." Neville commented unenthusiastically.

"Oh?" Harry looked in the direction where Neville was pointing and grinned when he saw Mr. Weasley sitting next to a fire. "Thanks, Neville."

"I just hope that Ron's not around." Neville muttered. "I haven't seen him all summer and I don't want to break my streak."

Harry strode towards his friends' dad. "Merry meet, Mister Weasley."

Mr. Weasley looked up in surprise, before quickly jumping to his feet and offering Harry his hand. "Good to see you, Harry."

Harry shook his hand politely. "Good to see you too, sir. Do you know Neville Longbottom?"

Mr. Weasley looked towards Neville, before offering his hand. "I know of him, you're in Ron's dorm aren't you, son?"

"Yes, sir." Neville agreed blandly as he shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"And this is Daphne Greengrass." Harry introduced. "My betrothed."

Mr. Weasley looked at Daphne, and then back at Harry. "I didn't know you were betrothed, Harry."

"I'm not surprised, sir." Harry replied, as Daphne's grip on his arm tightened. "It's a relatively new development."

"Oh," Mr. Weasley's eyes widened. "I see, well, I suppose congratulations are in order then."

"Thank you, sir." Harry smiled in acknowledgement.

"And it's nice to meet you, dear." Mr. Weasley told Daphne.

"Thank you, sir." Daphne answered quietly.

Mr. Weasley turned back to Harry. "I presume you're looking for my sons?"

"Yes, sir. Fred and George." Harry clarified just to be sure. The last thing he wanted Mr. Weasley to do was to find Ron for them.

Mr. Weasley turned back to the tent. "FRED! GEORGE!"

Harry quickly swallowed down his wince as Mr. Weasley turned back to him.

"I'm sure they'll be out in a minute." Mr. Weasley told him. "My older two sons, Bill and Charlie, are staying with us for the games and Fred and George have been catching up with them. Ron's off with some of his friends."

One of the twin's head suddenly popped out of the door of the tent. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Harry's here to see you." Mr. Weasley told him, twisting around so that he was facing him. "And he's brought some of his friends."

The twin grinned at Harry. "Just a sec."

The twin disappeared back into the tent, before emerging out of it. The other twin followed a few secondly later, with two other redheads behind him. Harry presumed the redheads were Bill and Charlie, but they looked nothing like he'd imagined. Of course, now that Harry saw them, they looked exactly as one might expect a curse breaker and a dragon tamer to look. Harry had no idea why he'd expected them to look like a mix between Mr. Weasley and Percy.

Harry carefully looked the twins over. He'd been starting to notice a difference between the two of them. He couldn't tell them apart individually, but Fred had a slightly smaller and rounder face than George.

"Good to see you, Harry!" The twins chorused, both grinning.

"Good to see you too." Harry told them. "You know Neville Longbottom?"

"Course we do." They both answered together

"Good to see you, old chap." George added.

Neville's smile looked uncomfortable. "You too."

"And this is Daphne Greengrass." Harry added.

Daphne's grip on Harry's arm tightened as the twins both turned their attention to her.

"She and Harry are betrothed." Mr. Weasley added helpful.

"So we'd heard." Fred's harmless smile looked strange on his face. "It's nice to meet you, Daphne."

"Thank you." Daphne answered. "It is nice to meet you also."

"Ah," Mr. Weasley started. "These are my two oldest sons. Bill and Charlie."

Harry gave a half bow to Bill. The man might not have claimed the Prewett Lordship, but that wasn't any excuse not to be polite. "It's nice to meet you both."

Bill's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Likewise, of course. We've heard a lot about you."

Harry wasn't sure that was a good thing – particularly if Ron had been doing the talking. He turned to the twins. "Want to come for a walk?"

"Sure." They answered together, before looking back at their brothers. "Mind if they come?"

Harry shook his head. "Not at all. The more the merrier."

"Unless Ron is involved." Neville muttered, too low for anyone beside Harry and Daphne to hear him.

"Have fun, boys." Mr. Weasley beamed at them. "Keep an eye on the time, the game will be starting soon."

"I'm surprised to see you without Malfoy." Fred commented when they had started walking. Bill and Charlie were trailing behind them. "Aren't you two normally joined at the hip?"

Harry laughed. "Not really. He and our other friends went to have a look around."

The twins looked amused. "And how did Neville and Daphne draw the short straw to come and associate with us Gryffindors?"

"Neville's a Gryffindor too, you know." Harry pointed out.

"We do know." The twins agreed. "Which explains why he's here, but not how you managed to convince your lovely lady to join you."

Harry looked down at Daphne fondly. "Sirius told us we had to stick to groups of three, so Daphne volunteered to come. Otherwise Draco would have come, but I doubt that would have worked out well."

The twins snorted. "Yeah, Dad's not exactly a fan of his family."

"I think it's mutual." Neville commented.

The twins looked amused.

"By the way," Harry said quietly. "How's the leaf thing going?"

The twins both grimaced. "It's bloody annoying!"

"Hey!" Harry frowned. "Language."

"Language?" George repeated in confusion. "What are you?"

"Our mother?" The twins both chorused together.

"It's impolite to use foul language around a lady." Neville told them seriously. "Not that I disagree the sentiment at all."

The twins looked surprised. "Really?" They turned to Daphne. "Sorry about that then."

"What we meant to say…" Fred started.

"…is that having a leaf in our mouth…" George continued.

"…is a rather annoying sensation." Fred finished.

"I know." Harry agreed. "It's gotten better though, and the month is almost up."

"It's been a bad month as it is." Fred commented.

"Mum's been on our case for weeks…"

"…and the leaves haven't made it any better."

"You know you don't have to keep it there, right." Harry said quickly. "Not if you don't want to."

"We want to." The twins chorused.

"We definitely want to." George reiterated.

"We're just looking forward to the month being up."

"I think everyone is." Harry told them. "The only person I haven't heard complaints from is Daphne here."

"Really?" Neville asked in surprise. "It hasn't annoyed you, Daphne?"

"It has been nothing I couldn't handle." Daphne said carefully. "Certainly nothing I wasn't willing to put up with."

"Well…" Fred started.

"…Mum's always saying…"

"…that women have a higher pain tolerance than we do."

"Maybe she's right." George finished.

"Anyway, Harry." Fred said after a beat. "Bill and Charlie were hoping they could talk to you about that thing."

Harry frowned in momentary confusion before remembering that he'd told the twins about the Prewett lordship the month before. "Sure. Do you think they'll mind if Neville and Daphne are there?"

"Nah."

"Of course not."

"Let's find somewhere to talk then." Harry decided, ignoring Neville's questioning look.

It took them a five minutes to find a quiet place to sit on the grass, the older Weasleys trailing them the entire way. When they eventually stopped, Harry pulled a silk handkerchief out of his pocket and held it out to them.

"Would one of you mind transfiguring this into a blanket to sit on?"

They both gave Harry an odd look, but Bill accepted the handkerchief and within seconds it had become a large red blanket.

Once the blanket was laid out on the grass, Harry offered Daphne his hand to help her down onto the blanket. When she was comfortable, he took a seat beside her and noticed that all four Weasleys were looking at him strangely.

Harry looked to Neville questioningly, but his friend looked just as confused by their strange looks as he was.

"Fred and George said you asked to speak to me." Harry prompted Bill and Charlie who had settled themselves on the other side of the blanket, beside the twins.

"Yeah," Bill answered, exchanging a look with Charlie. "They said you mentioned something about the House of Prewett?"

"The Ancient and Noble House of Prewett." Harry corrected.

"Right." Bill nodded. "They said, that you said, that Uncle Gideon was actually a lord?"

"He was." Harry confirmed. "Not for long. His father, your grandfather died when he was seventeen, and then he was killed three years later. But he was the reason your mother wasn't disowned for marrying your father."

Bill shook his head. "You've got to realise that this sounds crazy to us. Mum and Dad have never told us anything like this."

"No, I imagine not." Harry acknowledged.

"But you're saying that our grandad on mum's side was a lord? Along with our uncle? And now Bill?" Charlie asked disbelievingly.

"Bill isn't a lord." Harry replied. "He could be, but he doesn't have to be. The Ancient and Noble House of Prewett doesn't have a lord or an heir. However, Bill is the person who could be the lord if he chose to."

"Let's say I believe you." Bill said. "What if I couldn't care less about all that stuff?"

"Then you have two choices." Harry told him. "You can either formally refuse the position, which means that Charlie would be next in line, or you can just ignore it."

"And if I ignore it?" Bill asked, after having exchanged a look with Charlie.

"Then the Prewett seat in the Wizengamot remains empty." Harry answered. "You could always decide to fill it in another couple of decades. Or you could wait until you die, and then your oldest son will be in the same position that you're in. Eventually, the House of Prewett will cease to exist. Something that would make many anti-traditionalists, including Dumbledore, very happy."

"I'm an anti-traditionalist." Bill told him flatly.

"I presumed you were." Harry acknowledged. "Your family is one of the most famous anti-traditionalist family in England."

All four Weasleys exchanged looks. "We are?"

"Of course." Harry told them. "For the same reason that Sirius was famous for being an anti-traditionalist. Because your mother was a daughter of an Ancient and Noble House and turned her back on it all."

"And I suppose you disagree with that?" Charlie asked, his tone vaguely aggressive.

"Do I wish that everyone was traditional?" Harry asked. "Yes, of course I do. But I acknowledge an individual's right to make their own decisions. I just think it's a pity when an Ancient and Noble House, which has existed for over a thousand years, goes extinct because a few generations decide that they don't want to honour the traditions of their ancestors."

There was a long silence.

"Sorry," Harry sighed. "That was uncalled for. This is just something that I'm passionate about. I'm the last scion of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and, if a goblin hadn't suggested that I read some books when I was eleven, I would have probably never even considered traditionalism and my House would have become extinct too.

"You should talk to Sirius about this." He told them. "He's much less biased that I am. He grew up anti-traditional and was planning on letting his house go extinct. He'll be able to explain everything to you much more neutrally that I can. You don't have to be traditional to become the lord of your House."

"Okay," Bill nodded after a few seconds. "Thanks, I'll do that."

There was another long silence, before Charlie spoke up. "Hey, did I hear you guys talking about having leaves in your mouths?"

The twins winced. "Uh…"

"…well…"

A loud gong sounded throughout the campsite and Harry watched in amusement as the twins both perked up at the sound.

"Saved by the bell!" Fred declared.

"Right…" George agreed, jumping to feet.

"…We can't talk now…"

"…we've got a Quidditch game to see."

6-6-6