The Magical World Exposed
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: COMPLETELY AU! If you don't like this, just stop reading and write your own story more to your liking.
When Harry and Hermione arrived at the Wizengamot together with Sirius and Professor McGonagall, the Minister of Magic informed them that Harry possessed four votes as well as another three votes together with his wife.
"Excuse me, sir, but why might that be?" Harry asked in confusion.
"You're the rightful heir of the houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and together with Lady Potter, you have the vote of Potter house," Mister Weasley explained. "Above all, Professor Dumbledore, who is currently residing in Azkaban, has made both of you together the heirs of the Dumbledore family, which means that you have inherited his two votes of Merlin and Dumbledore house."
"Hermione and me?" Harry asked, incredulously. "But why not his brother Aberforth?"
"That I don't know, Harry," Mr. Weasley replied, smiling at the boy.
"But the boy's only eleven," Lucius Malfoy threw in, sounding furious. "Minors are not allowed to be present at the Wizengamot, let alone vote."
"Ah but Lucius, Lord and Lady Potter here are already of age and Lord Potter is acting as the head of the noble house of Potter," Augusta Longbottom informed Malfoy in a firm voice, shaking her head at the dark wizard, who seemed to behave as if he owned the Wizengamot.
'He's the most unsympathetic wizard whom I've ever met,' Harry thought to Hermione upon listening to Mr. Malfoy's tirades for a few minutes.
'Absolutely,' Hermione agreed. 'I hope very much that Sirius wins.'
Harry unobtrusively nodded, gently squeezing his wife's hand, before he informed Mr. Weasley that he accepted his four votes and would leave their three common votes to Lady Potter.
After about an hour of discussion, the election took place, and to Harry's relief, Sirius won the election with 63 votes against Mr. Malfoy with 57 votes.
'Oh Merlin, it's our seven votes that make the difference,' Hermione thought to Harry, squeezing his hand that had been in her gentle grip during the whole time.
'Yes,' Harry silently confirmed, smiling.
Only when he and his wife left the Wizengamot together with Professor McGonagall, while Sirius remained to speak with the Minister of Magic and several members of the Wizengamot, Harry caught Luicius Malfoy's expression and realised that he had just made a new enemy just by being at this place at this time in his function as Lord Potter.
HP
"I wonder why Dumbledore made Hermione and me his heirs," he spoke up, when they were back at their own rooms at Hogwarts. "I mean, he tried to kill me. Isn't that a contradiction in itself?"
"That's indeed extremely strange," Remus agreed, shaking his head in confusion.
"Maybe he's gone nuts?" Lily asked, causing James to nod, thoughtfully.
"I don't think he's nuts," he spoke up. "However, there's probably no one able to understand the strange windings of his mind."
"How come that Harry and Hermione never heard about the matter before though?" David enquired. "If they're the heirs..." He slowly trailed off.
"That's because Dumbledore isn't dead yet," James explained. "The only thing that Harry and Hermione inherited so far is the vote at the Wizengamot, because Dumbledore isn't able to vote himself, nothing else."
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted, when the headmistress stepped out of the fireplace to enquire if anyone was interested in holding a party for Sirius as the new head of the Wizengamot in the Great Hall during or after dinner.
"Of course," Harry and David were the first to reply with great enthusiasm.
"May we ask the Weasley twins..."
"... to help us organise it?" they asked, causing McGonagall to agree, smiling.
HP
The six children worked together changing the Great Hall into a beach with many small tables under palm trees as well as a small lake at one side of the hall and a jungle on the other side. On the wall opposite the spot where the head table used to be was a large poster with the writing, 'The Junior Marauders congratulate Padfoot for becoming head of the Wizengamot'. They were just only finished on time for dinner and immediately occupied the table next to the shore, where they waited for everyone else to arrive.
Except for a couple of Slytherins concentrated around Draco Malfoy, who remained quiet on their side near the jungle during the whole event, everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the party for their funny Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, especially when the six Junior Marauders, as they decided to call themselves, showed the others their juggling charms, which Harry, David and Hermione had once displayed for the Muggle students at the university.
It was shortly before curfew, when the party ended, and Sirius pulled the six organisers aside.
"Do you know what you must do in order to become the Junior Marauders?" he asked, smirking, only to add, "It's not that easy."
"No Uncle Sirius, but please tell us and we'll see to it," Hermione replied, smiling in anticipation.
"You need to become Animagi," Sirius informed them, grinning, before he left the Great Hall together with Annette and Remus.
When the older twins cast the others questioning looks, Hermione explained that they had already began practising the Animagus transformation and invited Fred and George to practise together with them.
'Even if we can't take them to the founders' lair, we can still study together with them,' she thought to Harry, who full heartedly agreed.
HP
When Mr. Filch returned after a little more than four weeks, he seemed unchanged, and none of the students were really happy to have him back to say the least. However, the caretaker behaved much friendlier towards a certain group of first-years than to everyone else.
'Maybe he remembers that it was us, respectively you, who freed him from Voldemort,' Hermione thought to Harry, who nodded his agreement, before he pulled her into a long kiss.
"Are you looking forward to the summer holidays?" he asked, when they finally parted.
"Very much so," Hermione confirmed, "but not really to the end of year tests."
Harry let out a snort. "I don't think we really have to worry about the tests," he replied, grinning.
HP
As Harry had predicted, the end of year tests were no problem for the four first-years, and they began to eagerly plan their summer holidays.
Together with their enlarged family including the Weasleys and the Grangers, they spent the summer at Potter Manor.
"Have you made any plans for the holidays?" Annette questioned the children at breakfast of the first morning at home, causing the children to smile.
"Yes, we thought we could spend the mornings doing our summer assignments first and later then study our second-year's books," Hermione began to explain, glancing at Harry.
"After that, we plan to practise the Animagus transformation together with the twins..." the boy continued, before his brother interrupted him.
"Sirius, could you perhaps help us with this?" David enquired.
"During the afternoons, we thought we could maybe have some fun like swimming in the lake," Ginny added to the explanations.
"We'd also be thrilled..."
"... if we could learn to brew some more prank potions," the older twins voiced their opinion.
"I want to go flying," Ron blurted out. "We studied enough during the school year. Now I want to have some fun."
"Why don't you go flying then, while we do what we think is fun?" Hermione immediately countered in a soft voice.
"We were also wondering..."
"... if we could invite Neville Longbottom here for a while..."
"... He seems very nice and has to stay all by himself together with his grandmother," the younger twins explained, causing their parents to nod.
"Of course we can do that," Annette agreed, immediately. "He seems to be a very nice boy."
"He's my godson," Lily threw in, smiling, before her smile faltered when she recalled what Minerva had told her about what had happened to the boy's parents. "His parents have been tortured to insanity and are in the long-time ward of St. Mungo's," she explained, only to add, "I wished I was able to brew potions myself and could try to invent something to cure them."
"Maybe we can..."
"... invent a cure together," the Weasley twins suggested without even pondering the matter.
"Would you really try to do that?" Lily enquired, letting her eyes wander over the group of children.
"Of course, Mum," Harry replied immediately, causing everyone except for Percy and Ron to nod.
Lily remained pensive for a moment, before she asked, seemingly out of the blue. "How are you getting along with Severus Snape?"
"He's very nice..."
"... at least to us," Harry and David informed her.
"Why are you asking, Mum?"
Lily let out a deep sigh. "He's the best Potions Master since Salazar Slytherin. If anyone would be able to find a cure, it would be him. I was just wondering if we could convince him to come here and work together with us. It would be much safer for all of you if he was with us, as I wouldn't be able to protect you if anything dangerous happened, which can always occur with test potions."
"Why don't we just invite him here?" Cillian suggested, giving Harry and David a questioning look.
"I believe that Severus must be very grateful towards Harry, as it was only because of Harry's invention that the Ministry awarded him the Order of Merlin," Molly spoke up. "Maybe it would be the best if Harry went to ask him, taking Hermione as the Secret Keeper and Lily in a small portrait with him."
"Mum," Ron spoke up, sounding very whiny, "I don't want to stay here if the greasy git comes here. May Percy and I return to the Burrow?"
"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley immediately scolded her son. "Considering that neither of you made as much as one friend at Hogwarts, you should be grateful to be here together with other children. However, do as you wish, and Dad and I will take turns staying overnight with you."
No one else said a word, however, from Mrs. Weasley's expression, it became very clear that she was not pleased with her two sons at all.
HP
Ten minutes later, Harry stepped into the fireplace carrying a small photo frame with Lily's portrait. "The headmistress' office, Hogwarts," he shouted and vanished in the flames, closely followed by Hermione.
"Harry, Hermione," McGonagall spoke up, eyeing her favourite students with surprise. "Are you already missing the school?" she queried, her voice clearly filled with amusement.
"Oh well, Professor, we love this school," Hermione replied, chuckling, before Harry informed the headmistress about the reason for their visit.
"We wanted to give Professor Snape some space and not floo right into his office," he continued, "plus we hoped that maybe you'd be willing to help us to try convincing him."
Casting the students a doubtful look, McGonagall promised to give it a try. She leaned into the fireplace and called her deputy headmaster, who quirked an eyebrow in silent question upon seeing the two eleven-year-olds.
Hermione hurriedly replied to his unasked question, before she timidly enquired, "Would you be willing to help us, sir?"
HP
Emotions flushed over the Potions Master's face, before he managed to efficiently hide them behind a blank mask.
'I owe Harry, because it's only for him that I received the Order of Merlin,' he thought. 'But Black and Lupin are staying with him. They behaved really civically during the school year though.' His thoughts went haywire, before he heard a soft voice speak to him from outside his mind.
"Please, Severus," Lily spoke up from the small photo frame. "If anyone can help them, it's you."
Severus shook his head, while he still remained thoughtful for a moment.
tbc...