#4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Two days after the wedding
It was nearly ten pm when the Dursley family finally returned home from their week-long family holiday in Egypt. All of them were looking forward to being home. When they arrived, they saw the lights and the TV were on in the living room.
Vernon started fuming, 'That no good freak of a girl! I'll show her! We were gone for a few days and she's behaving like she owns our hous!" and he started to thinking up an appropriate punishment for this transgression.
Petunia on the other hand was silent as she left the punishment in Vernon's hands for the spawn of the sister she hated and instead focused on more important things. Like what happened here while she was gone and which of their neighbors couldn't afford the holiday they just had and who she could gloat to about the entire trip.
Dudley, on the other hand, was thinking about his cousin in quite different terms. She may have saved him from that demented things or whatever they were called, but this summer he had plans for her. Last year he hadn't the chance to complete them but this year…he wasn't going miss his opportunity this year. Although she was a freak, she had grown up into a sweet piece of ass. And he's going to own that ass whether she likes it or not. He was tired of being a virgin. All of his schoolmates had sex already. He didn't want to appear like a loser to them all.
Much to the Dursleys collective surprise, nobody was at home as they arrived, although the lights and TV were on. Their search of the house proved that nobody was there. Even the freak's things weren't in the room and in the cupboard under the stairs. That baffled the family to no end. What they didn't know was that things were about to go downhill for them.
Hogwart Castle at the same time
Headmaster Dumbledore just returned to his office with a smile on his face. He just managed to change the date of the will reading from the 15th of August to the 10th of July. That would be in three days. It was for the best after all.
While he certainly held the status of Harriet's guardian and he had the right to act in her name and such, he felt more secured with Harriet at Privet drive. There were several heavy-duty owl-redirection wards set up there to prevent Harriet from getting any notice on the change of the will-reading date or even be informed about it at all. He also had several trusted guards stationed there who would prevent her from leaving that place.
He sighed contently as he pulled his copy of Sirius Black's last will that he made himself.
Sirius was such a trusting fool that it wasn't even funny. He couldn't believe that that wizard believed his sob story about the Potters never telling him on their change of secret-keepers. And that he had to seal their will to prevent Harriet falling into Death-eaters hands.
He scanned the copy. Most of the Black money went into a special trust fund for Hogwarts for abandoned students and it would be managed by Hogwarts current headmaster.
There were lots of other bequests. Some of them he will have to be partially confiscated because really, what could a muggle-born, even as intelligent as Granger, do with some of the books from the Black Library? No, he would be forced to confiscate it for the greater good. And the good of Hogwart's library. Maybe Madame Pince would finally stop asking for more books for her precious library.
He would, of course, handle all of the bequests to Harriet himself and maybe he even would leave something from it for her.
Albus put the fake will back in his drawer and looked around his office. He suddenly had a feeling that something wasn't quite right for the last few days but he couldn't put a finger on it.
His gaze ended on a certain bunch of instruments that monitored one Harriet Lily Potter... and his blood turned cold.
The small instruments that were supposed to be puffing, wheezing, spinning and generally in motion. Not standing still!
His eyes bulged and he had, for the first time in a nearly 70 years, a burst of accidental magic. His beard rolled up and smacked him into the face.
"Ack! My wards! Harriet!" he exclaimed as he practically ran out the door.
The silence that followed his abrupt exit was broken by the grumbling of a sorting hat.
"Bugger! He could have waited for one more frickin day! ARGHH… "
"Fine, you won. Stupid bet!" It told the phoenix who was looking extremely smug up on its perch; which was a quite a feat considering that it had only a beak to work with.
"So my fine feathered friend, what do you think would happen next? I have a feeling that Albus' world's going to be turned upside down. Don't you think that this is a case where Sirius Black's going to have the last laugh, against a certain schemer?"
The magnificent bird bobbed its head in agreement and trilled something.
"Yeah, yeah, I know! I didn't forget! TRIPPY!" Said the Sorting hat, calling out grumpily. A small house elf, wearing the Hogwarts crest on its robe, popped into existence.
"Yes, what cans Trippy do for youse?" said the elf, addressing the hat.
"Please bring a box of frozen chocolate truffles for a certain overgrown flaming turkey…"
Fawkes trilled indignantly.
"I'm sorry…Magnificent flaming overgrown turkey. Happy?" said the hat smoothly as if he wasn't interrupted, addressing the last word to Fawkes who trilled happily in response.
As the box full of frozen chocolate truffles materialized before the bird, Fawkes dove for it.
If the hat could, it would have rolled its eyes at that.
Caesar's Palace, Hotel Restaurant
Spotting Remus and Tonks in the hotel's restaurant wasn't exactly a problem. Not even in Vegas could you find many people who had bright, bubblegum pink hair. As they neared their table, Tonks spotted them and not too gently nudged her new husband in the right direction.
As a Metamorphomagus, Tonks was never that envious of a person's figure. She always could improve her own into any desired body shape with her powers... not that she was so vain to do that, but for first time in her when she saw Karen she felt small pang of a jealousy about someone's body and thought, "Wow she could give most veelas a run for their money with a figure like that."
Remus who was nudged in the right direction thanks to his new wife, felt relief flood him when he saw Harriet and a blonde young woman. He surveyed them both. Harriet never looked so happy as she was now. "Marriage really did wonders to her," he thought fondly. Harriet's companion was also radiating happiness. As they came closer, Harriet let go of the blonde's hand and hugged fiercely both Remus and Tonks.
"Hey Cub. I heard that you've had a couple of really crazy days!" Remus joked as he hugged Harriet.
Harriet enthusiastically replied, "Yep, we definitely had but hey, THIS is Vegas after all! Crazy is kinda required here." She concluded with a large grin.
"But I think that some introductions are in order. Guys, this is Karen my wife." She said, with an even larger smile. "And this is my honorary Godfather Remus Lupin and his new wife Ny…" She briefly paused at the glare she was receiving from Tonks "Dora Tonks-Lupin?" She finished a bit lamely.
,
Karen cocked her eyebrow at that and Harriet sensing Karen's confusion quickly mouthed, "Later."
Karen nodded and shook hands with Tonks and Remus. "Nice to finally meet you, under better circumstances." She greeted cheerfully.
When Remus was shaking Karen's hand, he caught her scent and it puzzled him. Her scent was... strange. It wasn't human, but neither was it werewolf, veela, goblin or vampire. From her grip, he could deduce that she was at least as strong as him in full-werewolf form, or maybe stronger. He recognized it from the care of her grip. He did the same thing as he controlled his own strength.
"Pleasure's all ours." Remus said as they seated themselves. His tone of voice was less cheerful and there was a slight confusion coloring it.
They ordered a large breakfast. Before the food was delivered, they had a brief and meaningless small talk, not really saying anything substantial to one another. As the food arrived Remus discretely cast several privacy and anti-eavesdropping charms. He then gave Harriet a long look.
Harriet just smiled at him and started to recount what happened to them, occasionally interrupted by Karen who added details here and there. She purposely left out the fact that Karen was an extraterrestrial or from a parallel reality. There was no need for them to know those.
Harriet also belied and pre-empted any apprehensions Remus and Tonks may have for her marrying so young. She maybe young and would certainly had some growing up to do, but her marriage felt right and that it was more than binding. Add to that the fact the Karen was pretty mature for her age and could only be a big help to her growing more mature in life.
After she finished her tale, Remus asked her if he could see the marriage license. After reading it, he confirmed that it indeed created a bond between their souls and given enough time, they would be able to communicate between them by just their thoughts. It also made their marriage nearly unbreakable. That prospect somewhat excited them. Only death could do so.
What keyed them that something was wrong, was when the restaurant they were at went silent. A large regal eagle-owl with an extremely disgruntled, bordering on pissed-off expression flew into the room, landed at their table and scanned them with a withering look.
"HOOT," it hooted for some reason. It sounded suspiciously much like, "May your bollocks fall off for making me fly this far!" or something in that sentiment. It dropped three missives.
Harriet who was sitting closest to the owl offered it a glass of water and collected a few strips of uneaten bacon and offered them to the owl. It looked at her in a much kinder way and started to eat.
Remus meanwhile looked at the envelopes. They were addressed to him, Tonks and Harriet. He distributed them to the recipients and opened his own.
It was a notice from Gringotts announcing that the official reading of Sirius Black's will had been moved to the tenth of July, asking them for a meeting before the will was read.
As the three finished reading the notices, Karen said, "Not to be rude but let's move this somewhere else. People were staring at us."
The owl meanwhile finished its bacon, took a sip of water and glared into submission the waiter that was closing in on their table before it flew away.
The two newlywed couples quickly paid for their breakfast and adjourned to their suite before management could catch up with them.
Once inside Harriet started, "Do you think that Dumbadoor knew that I was not in 'Privet prison'?"
"Hard to tell," said Tonks as she started pacing. "It's very improbable that he knows the true contents of Sirius' will. After all, Sirius made a pretty good decoy will a week before he died. Then he made Albus his witness." She said with a snicker. "The day you busted from Privet drive we expected an Order meeting because of the blood wards collapsing or because the tracker's stopped working. It never came."
Remus then threw in his two cents. "I suspect Albus didn't notice that his trackers stopped working. If I remember correctly, people on guard duty for the last few days were Fletcher, Arthur, Diggle and their ilk. It's really doubtful that they would notice that a layer of wards has been collapsing, even if it was the strongest one." He concluded, "What we need to solve rather urgently is your accommodation." He pointed at Harriet, "Gri-Sirius' place was out of the question for now," he covered before saying Grimmauld, and looked at the woman, "as Karen doesn't know the secret."
Karen nodded as she remembered the story about Harriet's parents, the charm they used and deduced that the place under discussion was in similar circumstances. "Yes, I understand."
"Good. But the goblins might be of some help. Sirius mentioned that he had some wards' upgrades done on Gri-his place after it was put under the fidelius. And I suspect that they might have a way on how to share the secret." Remus pondered for a second before he continued, "I would recommend the Potter manor but it would need some serious upgrades on its wards done also. It should already be un-plottable and I strongly urge to put it under fidelius as well, just in case."
They spent rest of the day by making preparations. They agreed that they would be flying commercial back to London and spend the night in muggle London. From there, they would come early in the morning to Gringotts. Several hours before the reading of the will to arrange the wards' upgrades for the Potter manor.
Crawley Regent Street, No 42
Hermione was puzzled. Four days ago, Hedwig mysteriously arrived with a note written in Harriet's hand asking her to take care of the owl for a few days as she was unable to do so.
Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that Harriet was up to some serious mischief, which was good in her opinion as it meant that Harriet had stopped blaming herself for Sirius' death.
She was surprised that the owl was gone this morning, as she wanted to send a letter to her boyfriend Neville.
Hedwig returned a few minutes ago looking extremely smug, bearing a letter from Gringotts telling her that she was invited to the reading of the will of one Sirius Orion Black on the tenth of July.
She suddenly felt a strong sense of foreboding that Sirius' last prank was being put in motion.
And that it would be a monumental masterpiece.
Hermione had unknowingly made a more accurate prediction than Trelawney ever did in her waking hours.
Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire
Malfoy manor was in turmoil thanks to the missive from Gringotts, as the young Draco Malfoy was hurriedly preparing for his accession to Lord Black.
As he stood before a mirror in an outlandishly expensive outfit that he insisted his mother purchase so he would look every inch the Lord Black, he was appraising himself mentally.
"I would be Lord Black-Malfoy."
"Even the Potter bint would have to bow to me."
"I would swear fealty to Lord Voldemort and he would, of course, promote me immediately into his inner circle."
Narcissa who stood in the doorway just shook her head sadly and wondered what went wrong.
She knew that her marriage was not destined for happiness. After all, it was arranged before her birth.
She had hoped that her children would bring some happiness into it, but alas after Lucius had his heir, he was more interested in his Death-eater activities than in making more children. She tried to raise her son well but once Lucius started tutoring Draco, all she taught him went out the window. Draco's ego expanded roughly ten times the size his father had. But his intelligence was only the tenth of what he would need for a position as head of a House, not to mention two.
"Look at the fool! He even doesn't know that he was saying it out loud. It sounds like he's preparing for his coronation." She thought for herself and sighed.
She deeply regretted that she hadn't a chance to talk to Sirius for so long. He might have known a way how to escape her wretched marriage. But right now, it was too late. Too late for anything.
Gaunt House, Location unknown under Fidelius
Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort was currently laying low as he was in a great deal of pain. The duel with Potter and Dumbledore had taken more from him than he expected. His failed possession brought him constant headaches.
Add to that how a few days ago, Potter somehow destroyed his link to her. That action had made him unconscious for two days. He felt like somebody or something had ripped a piece of his own soul and he was seriously concerned that somebody may have found one of his horocruxes and destroyed it. He was in no shape to do anything about it presently.
He ordered his followers to lay low and to consolidate their losses and not to do anything without his command.
London, The day of the reading of Sirius Orion Black's Last Will
Harriet and company arrived in London the evening before and spent the night at Hilton Hotel in Syon Park near Heathrow.
Early that morning, after excessive makeovers and wigs, combined with colored contact lenses for Remus and Harriet, and a transformation by Tonks, ensured that nobody would recognize them.
They took a wild cab ride to Leaky Cauldron and ventured to Gringotts.
Karen was quite impressed by Diagon alley.
As they ventured through it, although they met several order members already, none recognized them. Not even Moody who had nearly bumped into Karen. Quite a lot of people stared at them as the quartet was dressed in finely tailored muggle suits. Quite a lot of people stared at Karen's figure too. Not often had they seen what seemed to be a muggle woman with a figure that would make many veelas bristle with envy.
They safely arrived at Gringotts and politely asked for a meeting with Master Sharpblade. The goblin met with them previously about Harriet's inheritance prior to their Las Vegas trip.
After quickly removed their disguises, they were escorted into his office, which surprisingly looked very muggle and where Master Sharpblade awaited them. As they entered his office, the elder goblin greeted them.
"Greetings, ladies and gentleman. May your gold flow and enemies tremble. I am glad that our message had been delivered and that you managed to arrive so early." He then nodded to the guards to leave his office and gestured for them to be seated.
"Greetings Master Sharpblade, may your blade stays sharp and your gold safe." Harriet formally replied as her group seated themselves. She continued. "We arrived as fast as was possible, but first I would like to introduce my wife Karen Potter-Black. She has my full confidence and was familiar with our previous dealings."
Karen and the old goblin exchanged formal greetings.
"Good, now there are several things I would like to discuss with you." The goblin said. "After our last meeting, things happened. Namely the day of the reading of the will was moved for today. Do you still wish to proceed with your late godfather's wishes?" He asked Harriet.
"Yes, and we would be honored if you would lead the reading Master Sharpblade." Harriet said with slight head bow toward the old goblin.
Said goblin smiled largely, which to onlookers appeared quite feral and thought, "This is going to be fun!" Messing with humans who were always at best hostile towards goblins; or with the Chief Warlock who passed several legislations that less favorable to the goblins and restricted their rights, was like manna for the goblins.
"Thank you my dear, I appreciate your offer. The second thing on our agenda was that after what we found in your scar, we conducted an investigation of our vaults. We found another one of those abomination in the vaults and promptly removed it. We saw fit to heavily fine the owner of that vault."
"What was the item of abomination, Master Sharpblade?" Remus asked.
"It was the famous cup of Helga Hufflepuff, stolen over thirty years ago. We removed the soul-piece from it and cleansed the vault it was found in. We cleansed the cup itself too from curses before we returned it to its original owner, who in turn paid us a hefty finder's fee. That nicely covered our expenses." He said with a grin.
"Now, is there anything else before the will was read?" he asked.
"Yes there is, Master Sharpblade," Harriet said. "Do you have documents pertaining to the Potter Manor, and the Potter and Black financial portfolios, with a list of their investments here?"
"Yes," the old goblin nodded taking several files from his desk drawer. He handed these to Harriet, who handed the documents about the manor to Moony and the rest to Karen.
Karen told them before that she studied economics and had been a CEO of a technology development company before she was stranded in Vegas and that she would handle at least any muggle investments they would come across.
After he scanned the document, Remus asked, "The manor seems to be in good shape. How long would it take to build the manor's wards to today's standards and add the fidelius charm to that?"
The old goblin seemed to ponder the matter for a few seconds before he answered, "It would take some time. I think that some rough estimation could be done before the end of the reading. However, I would estimate that it would all take more than a month to actually get it done."
That news was met with a lot of disappointed faces.
"Who would be the secret-keeper?" Master Sharpblade finished with a question.
"That would be me." Remus answered. They had discussed it extensively amongst themselves and agreed that Remus would be the best choice for the role as his mind was protected by his wolf. His wolf made his mind virtually impenetrable for legilimency.
The goblin nodded. "The payment would be taken from your vaults?" He asked while looking at Harriet.
"Yes, and add an extra ten percent from the price. Distribute it to the ward- workers as a bonus for a speedy job done. Is that agreeable?"
The goblin looked surprised but agreed immediately.
Remus then asked the question that bugged him for some time now. "The late Lord Black has mentioned to me several months ago that he had some upgrades on the wards done by goblins, even though the house in question was under the fidelius at the time and he wasn't the secret keeper."
"Ahh…I know what you are referring to. That is quite easy to explain. The late Lord Black has handed us a slip of parchment with the secret. We had committed ourselves not to divulge the knowledge of it to anyone unnecessarily and to obliviate the knowledge of the secret from the ward-workers after the job was done. He then left it with me in case you didn't know the secret and would need to access the house in question. Could I presume that not all of you know the secret?"
Karen lifted her hand as the goblin finished.
Master Sharpblade handed the piece of parchment discussed to her and she read it immediately.
Karen returned the piece of parchment and asked if she could keep the documents for the Potter and Black financials and if she could prepare some proposals for investments in the muggle world, to which Master Sharpblade agreed.
The meeting was finished. They bid momentary goodbyes to Master Sharpblade and moved into the conference room where the other goblins provided some refreshments for them while they waited.
Karen in the meantime started to do some notes in a small notepad.
Suddenly her face lit up with a truly evil and cruel smile. She noticed one particular entry in the current muggle investments.
Karen knew there were some things that Harriet didn't tell her, especially about the family who had raised her and their treatment of her. She didn't pry. She knew that Harriet would tell her given enough time, but she subconsciously knew that the Dursleys did some terrible things to her young wife. She saw the scars to prove it and she silently vowed to make them pay for everything.
When she saw this particular entry, she smiled and mentally added, "Well, well, well, what have we here Mister Dursley? This is interesting and certainly useful isn't it? It would make your life a little bit more interesting, wouldn't it? Hmmm ..."
All of the present company looked at her curiously, but she just said, "It's a surprise," and offered no further explanation.
After sometime, the room started to fill.
The first to arrive were Andromeda and Ted Tonks, who were greeted by their errant daughter, hugging them and telling them about her trip to Vegas. Her parents were less than thrilled with the outcome of the said trip. Not that they didn't like Remus, but that they wanted to have a proper wedding ceremony for their daughter. They were placated when Tonks promised them a proper wedding ceremony soon.
As an unforeseen outcome, Karen finally learned Tonks' first name and succinctly understood why the pink-haired witch hexed anybody who dared to say it out loud, in front of her, except her mother.
When a silver-haired pair entered, Karen without any doubt recognized Draco Malfoy, Harriet's foremost antagonist from school.
The Vegas-wedded couples couldn't help themselves but smirk when they watched the Malfoy peacock stroll into the room like he owned it. They all looked forward to him getting his due.
Narcissa on the other hand, looked really depressed and nearly ready to cry.
Andromeda shifted in her seat in a need to stand up and comfort her sister. That didn't go unnoticed by the others as Draco sneered at her.
Hermione arrived soon after the Malfoy's. She took one look at the Vegas quartet and her eyebrows rose enquiringly at Harriet. Her best friend just smirked at her. She huffed but sat herself near her and far from the Malfoy's.
The Weasley's soon arrived. All of them surprised to see Harriet there. Although there were two different reasons for their surprise.
Ginny and the twins were surprised by Harriet's presence as they overheard their parents saying that she disappeared. They were glad that their friend looked extremely happy and healthy.
Molly, Arthur and Ron were surprised that Harriet was here and a bit worried of what she may have learned from Sirius' will. It definitely wasn't good that the girl was presently included in this reading.
All of the new arrivals however wondered who the blonde bombshell sitting next to Harriet and holding her hand was, but nobody dared ask.
The last one to arrive was Albus Dumbledore. He entered just seconds before the room was sealed for the reading. He didn't notice Harriet and Karen sitting in the room as he strolled to Sharpblade and said, "Pardon my tardiness Master Goblin but I have just received this from Harriet Potter." And he handed him piece of parchment.
Master Sharpblade just skimmed the document before he said, "This piece of parchment has no meaning in this proceedings." He threw the offending piece of parchment into the bin.
Dumbledore looked stunned for a second, but before he could protest the goblin continued, "It has no place here as young Lady Potter has been here at Gringotts since this morning." The Goblin continued in an amused tone of his voice as Dumbledore lost color in his face. "Now be seated."
Dumbledore nodded as he gathered his composure and now saw Harriet sitting on the other side of the room. He didn't recognize the young woman next to her. Neither of them looked directly into his eyes, so he couldn't use legilimency to find out where Harriet had been or who the mysterious woman was. He suddenly felt a foreboding that things were going downhill from there.
The goblin cleared his throat after Dumbledore sat by the Weasleys to gain everyone's attention and began.
"We have gathered here for a reading of the will of one Sirius Orion Black. I am Senior Teller Sharpblade, head of the Inheritance Division and also the Chief Solicitor for The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Before we begin reading the will, I must advise you that we have sealed this room and no one would be allowed into or out of here until the end of the reading. There would be no violence or spell-casting permitted. Anyone violating these rules would be escorted away by goblin warriors and would forfeit any inheritance he would receive in this will. Any objections?"
Nobody said a word.
"No? Good, so we shall begin." He said and cleared his throat and began reading.
I, Sirius Black, of sound mind and godlike body...