A/N: Thank you all for the great comments, suggestions and theories! Keep them coming - they sometimes inspire me to write something totally different than what I had planned ;)

randomplotbunny: Of course he is ;)

Kanisha Agarwal: Wow you must really love my story then! I only read the really good ones more than once...

Zoysite: I'm trying but although I have no problem with lemon stuff my mind sometimes just doesn't want to write it :P Also in the end this is more family than romance - so not as important as cuddling ;)

JasminSky: Sure as hell! A Marauder doesn't give in to anyone!

mizzrazz72: It's falling ;) And he is in for quite a hard landing once he reaches the bottom :D

Dixie.f.9: Or hide ;)

ThePhoenixandtheDragon: While I had an idea along the same lines I actually wanted it to be fun and not embarrassing. You will read that they have all been pranked with the same spells in this chapter ;)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with the storyline ;)

Chapter 33: Prank War & Line Theft

Words: 3371

Forty-eight hours! Two days! It has been two whole days since he had started looking for the stupid brat and still no sign of him.

Albus sighed as he dropped into one of his overstuffed armchairs in front of his fireplace. He was exhausted and just wanted to get some sleep.

He had been looking for Harry Potter since Wednesday morning and now it was Friday. There were mountains of paperwork to be done and he should prepare for the Wizengamot meeting tomorrow but finding the elusive teen was more important.

Especially since he had actually gone missing a week ago already. The brat had been on the Hogwarts Express but his magical signature simply vanished in King's Cross Station.

Albus had expelled a lot of energy and magic to discern Harry's trace on the platform. He had followed it to a small cafe but there it vanished. Of course he had legilimensed the minds of the cafe staff but none of them even remembered Potter at all.

The headmaster sighed again when he thought of the conversation he had had with Sirius Black that day. The mutt also had no idea where his godson was and threw him out of the house. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or just in his anger but every try to contact the animagus had failed so far.

He had spent all day yesterday carefully tracking the brat's friends to see if he was with them but no such luck. Everybody he had 'talked' to had no idea where the idiot was and he had reached the end of his patience now.

He needed that stupid Gryffindor to follow his every command and sacrifice himself in the end. Otherwise all his plans would have been for naught.

With a groan he got up from his comfortable seat to head up to his bed. He was definitely to old to spend all night outside in the bushes monitoring the house of Hermione Granger. He needed sleep and he needed help.

Maybe he could get in contact with Lupin. The wolf had retreated back to the mainland last summer but Albus was sure he could get him to return to Britain if he played the disappearance of the brat up a bit.

Yes! He would send a letter later today, after he got a few hours of sleep. Just as he set foot onto the first step his fireplace flared green and a face appeared in the embers.

"Headmaster? Are you there?" The voice of Ginevra Weasley penetrated the quiet of his office and he groaned before stepping back over to the fireplace to accept her call.

"Yes, Ms. Weasley. What can I do for you?"

"I don't have a lot of time but I thought you would like to know that I saw Harry in Diagon Alley on Tuesday."

"WHAT?! Why didn't you inform me straight away?"

"I tried!" She exclaimed adamantly. "I called that evening but you weren't in. It's not that easy to get privacy for floo calls here. I had to wait for mum to leave and the others to be outside and…-"

"Yes, of course Ginevra. I understand and thank you for contacting me. Can you explain to me what happened?"

"The twins, Ron and I were in the Alley because mum wanted some quiet time. All of a sudden this guy came up and hugged Ron. Turns out it was Harry under a glamour. He was with two older men I didn't recognize but Ron and the twins were quite at ease with at least one of them. They didn't introduce themselves and while one of them had quite the discussion with the twins the other didn't talk a lot."

"Mhmm… And you have no idea who they are? Do you know why they were in the Alley?"

"No, although the quiet one kind of seemed familiar to me. I just can't place him. Harry said something about Gringotts and furniture shopping." Ginny explained.

"Thank you for informing me, Ms. Weasley. I need to go but if you remember anything else please write me a letter."

"Alright. Goodbye, headmaster."

"Goodbye."

With another sigh the old wizard closed and warded his floo before getting off the floor with a painful crack in his back. He was too tired to process this new information properly. It would have to wait for a few hours.

Slowly Albus made his way upstairs and promptly fell asleep on top of the covers of his bed still wearing his robes.

Marvolo was in heaven. Waking up to your husband pleasing you was the best way to be woken up. Just as he was loosing control there was a scream and shouting outside but he was too far gone to care at all.

Quite some time later, once he had reciprocated and both he and Severus had gotten their breathing back under control he asked his husband.

"Do you know what that scream was?"

"I would guess it was Black. I sent Harry to wake him up." Severus explained with an evil grin.

"So?"

Severus sighed playfully exasperated at his husband's slow uptake before elaborating.

"Think about it, Marv. I sent my son to wake up a Marauder in any way he deemed necessary."

"Oh! Prank war?"

"Probably. So watch out or you'll be in the middle of it."

"Thanks for the warning love but I think I can manage."

Severus playfully slapped Marvolo's shoulder at hearing his cheek before they both burst out laughing.

They were interrupted by a loud boom going off somewhere downstairs.

"I'll go and check if the house is still standing." Severus said reluctantly before leaving his husband's side to redress.

"Have fun, love. I'll be down in twenty minutes. Try not to kill them."

After his husband retreated into the bathroom Severus armed himself mentally and slowly opened the door a crack. The coast looked clear and only after casting a few revealing charms did he venture out into the corridor.

Severus used all of his spy qualities to sneak all the way to the big staircase in the entry way. Once he left the corridor he could hear voices downstairs and was stopped in his tracks when he saw the destruction in their foyer.

There were splotches of colour all over the stairs and on the walls. They ranged from white to black in all shades of the rainbow and looked as if someone had thrown balloons filled with paint. The floor was littered with confetti and… flowers?

Just what had those two idiots been up to? Severus again cast his revealing charms before carefully making his way downstairs. Somehow he was glad that their home was not yet fully decorated otherwise there would be a lot more destroyed glass and decorations.

Just as he reached the last step the voices and laughter grew a lot louder and his son ran past him, disappearing in the direction of the kitchen closely followed by a wand waving Sirius. They were both so distracted they didn't even notice the Potions Master who in return was too surprised by their appearance to say anything. Both men were covered in a mixture of paint, confetti and feathers. They also seemed to have been drenched in water.

Before he could ponder on the plus points of retreating back upstairs a loud clanging steered him forwards. On his way to the kitchen all their elves dashed past him in despair compelling him to accelerate his pace and storm into the kitchen without taking precaution. Big mistake.

The second he had stepped into the room he was doused in ice cold water before a pink colour bomb hit him square in the face closely followed by a bag full of feathers and confetti. For a few seconds Severus stood there completely stunned while colour and water dripped onto the floor. All noise in the room ceased and Harry and Sirius stood there stock still, too afraid to move.

"Henry Prince-Slytherin. Sirius Orion Black. You better run. Because when I catch you you will regret the day you were born." Severus said in his most feared voice.

The other two didn't need a second warning and tore out of the kitchen quickly followed by the Potions Master. Thus the war began.

When Marvolo descended into the chaos half an hour later he was simultaneously hit by three pranks, drenching him in water, colouring him purple and feathering him. After a few seconds of shock he joined the war with a roar.

The four wizards spend all morning pranking each other and firing tickling hexes at each other. They only stopped when Toppy (nominated by the other elves) popped into their middle to inform them of lunch being served.

This got them to cease fire and clean themselves up again. It took each man a good quarter hour to get everything out of their hair and another ten minutes to get the colour out of every crevice of their body.

Half an hour later they all found themselves freshly showered in the cleaned dining room enjoying a light lunch of soup and summer salad.

"So what incurred this war?" Marvolo started their table conversation.

"Erm… I might have drenched Sirius in a bucket of cold water to wake him up." Harry admitted quietly.

"Serves you right, pup." Sirius commented smugly. "You should know never to wake a Marauder with a prank."

Severus hid his snort of amusement behind his glass refusing to comment on their antics.

After their shared lunch they all helped the elves with the cleaning up of the manor before dispersing to pursue different activities.

Marvolo retreated to his office (thankfully it had stayed unharmed during the war) to get some work done while Severus explored the dungeons and set up his potions lab. Sirius and Harry went to the library to get a bit of Wizengamot studying done. Harry also brought his homework and managed to get started with the easier essays.

After their exciting morning they all enjoyed the quiet afternoon doing individual tasks but still knowing their family was close by. The elves supplied them all with refreshments and snacks throughout the afternoon.

Harry was sure that Hermione would be proud of him when he told her how much he had already studied in the first week of the holidays and he was equally sure that Ron would be horrified by it.

Harry loved his new glasses. They enabled him to concentrate a lot better and he didn't get a headache after reading a couple of pages anymore. For the first time in his life he could read as much as he wanted and he relished in it.

Sirius finished refreshing his memory before helping his pup with homework. For the first time in a long time he felt content in where he was and what he did. Marvolo and the goblins were working on proving his innocence and his archenemy had welcomed him (although grudgingly) into his home and let him stay.

The only thing he was missing was a partner but it was still early for that. He was once the biggest playboy out there and he had not yet outplayed himself. As soon as his innocence was proven he planned to live it up a bit in Paris or Barcelona. Those two cities were the biggest party places in wizarding Europe. Depending on the season once of the skiing destinations in the alps would also be great as well.

Severus had explored all of the dungeons before claiming one room for storage and one for his lab. Setting the lab up was quicker than the storage room since he couldn't use magic on most of the ingredients.

For the better part of two hours he set everything up to his liking and secured each door with numerous wards. Of course he had to test his new workspace right away so he got started on a simple healing balm. With how accident prone Harry was they would need it sooner rather than later.

Marvolo had a few letters to read and reply to before he wrote up the dark factions goal and measures they would be willing to take to reach them. He had almost all of his Death Eater business at Slytherin Castle so he couldn't work on those but he had enough other things to do. Especially since they had planned to renew their vows tomorrow night after the Wizengamot meeting. He still needed to talk to Harry about it and get his present for Severus.

After a few hours of sleep Albus felt refreshed and ready to tackle the information he had gotten from Ms. Weasley. After ordering a late lunch from the kitchen he settled behind his desk to ponder over everything.

So Harry had been with two men who were obviously magical as well as under a glamour. The Weasley boys had known at least one of the men. There was no telling who they were only that they had taken the Potter brat to the bank.

THE BANK! Albus jumped up from his chair in agitation and started pacing. If they had gone to the bank with the blind idiot there was a chance they had checked for his inheritance. That would be really bad for him since they could uncover everything he had done to the Potter accounts.

He just hoped they had only withdrawn money but he should still go and check. Although he should have been notified since he was the boy's magical guardian. Not that that had been completely legal.

Mind made up the headmaster finished his food before getting the sword of Gryffindor (if he was there anyway…) and made his way out of the castle and towards the edge of the wards to apparate to Diagon Alley.

Amelia Bones had just gotten up after catching the minimum amount of sleep her body required. She and her two trusted aurors had been working overtime ever since the goblin had contacted her on Wednesday. They were under a lot of time pressure since she planned to bring the case in front of the Wizengamot on Saturday.

She hoped to get at least Sirius Black cleared of all charges. Kingsley and Tonks were following up leads day and night trying to find witnesses, Black and Pettigrew only catching a few hours of sleep here and there. At the moment they were both upstairs catching up on much needed sleep after their night out following up leads.

Unfortunately she still had to do her work as head of the department and was now stuck reading reports while eating breakfast with her nice. She hadn't really had a lot of time to spend with Susan since the girl returned from school and she missed their nighttime hot chocolate talks already.

Just now she had a pretty interesting action report from last night. Dawlish and his team had been called to a fire and had hound an unknown person. By the time the report had been written the wizard still hadn't regained consciousness so Dawlish had filed a John Doe form.

Amelia flipped through a few more pages until she found the form and muttered under her breath as she read.

"Male… around forty… 1,70 meters tall… rat animagus… missing… missing one finger…"

Once her brain had registered what she had just read she jumped out of her seat, surprising her niece. Before Susan could ask her anything Amelia dashed out of the dining room and upstairs to wake her resident aurors. It seemed as if Peter Pettigrew had been located for them.

She quickly woke them up and showed them John's report. Since they were both sure that it had to be their suspect in the auror's medical wing the two aurors quickly got ready for the day before they all made their way to the ministry to interrogate their suspect.

Albus apparated near the Leaky Cauldron and slowly made his way through the Alley towards Gringotts. He had carefully shrunk the sword and stowed it away in one of his numerous pockets before leaving his office. He didn't want to scare the sheep. That wouldn't help him in any way although it would be quite entertaining. Instead he strolled down the street with his usual grandfatherly smile, greeting everyone he knew on the way.

Once he reached the bank he put on his poker face to deal with the goblins. He hated those vile creatures and it bothered him to no end that they were running the only financial institute in the wizarding world thus controlling all gold in existence.

Which idiot had the abysmal idea to leave a creature in charge of all their finances? He hated it. Still he had to deal with them so he steeled himself mentally before striding into the building.

Unbeknownst to him a certain blond aristocrat had seen him and was now on his way to report to his friend and Lord.

Albus Dumbledore meanwhile strutted up to a teller and demanded to see an account manager for an inheritance.

The teller recognized the wizard immediately and called out in his own language. "The stealing headmaster is here! Get him to Griphook's office and notify the king."

Albus had to wait while the goblins talked in their wretched language before he was led to an empty office for more waiting. It took about five minutes - five minutes too long in his opinion - until a goblin came.

"Good day headmaster and may…-"

"Yes, yes good day. Can we get down to business? I'm in a hurry." The wizard interrupted impolitely which made the goblin smile vindictive.

"Of course. What can I do for you?"

"I want to claim the Gryffindor Lordship and check up on my magical ward. I have been informed by a friend that he was here last week but you didn't notify me of anything."

"How do you want to prove your claim and whom are we talking about?"

The goblin's smile had grown into an ugly grin after the headmaster had stated his business. The old fool was digging his own grave.

"Why Harry Potter of course! He should be at his aunt's house and he doesn't have my permission to withdraw anything from the vaults. I also have the sword of Gryffindor with me to prove my claim."

"I need to get my colleague to check the sword. One moment please."

Griphook excused himself and left the irritated wizard in his office. In the corridor in front of his room more than one goblin was waiting for his report. Even their king was standing there.

"He wants to claim Gryffindor and is digging his own grave with Mr. Potter's guardianship."

"Good. Guards get a cell ready. We will have a guest staying for a while." Ragnok, their king, commanded. "Griphook I will accompany you."

Together the two goblins went back into the office where Dumbledore was pacing.

"Finally. Can we get on with it?" He asked impatiently.

"Of course. I need you to show me the sword so that King Ragnok can certify its genuineness and meanwhile you also need to verify your claim vial blood."

"Is that all really necessary?" Albus asked with a grandfatherly smile. "I am promising you that the sword is real and I pulled it out of the Sorting Hat myself."

"I am sorry but protocols must be followed."

With an angry mumble the headmaster retrieved the sword and resized it before handing it over to Ragnok. Next he cut his finger and let a few drops of blood spill on the provided parchment.

"The sword is real." The king grunted but didn't release his hold in it.

"Of course it is!"

Griphook read the inheritance test and had to suppress a chuckle.

"You, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore are hereby accused of attempted line theft!"

"What are you talking about?! I am the rightful heir!"

"You are in no way related to the Gryffindor line and the Lordship has actually already been claimed."

"That ungrateful stupid brat!" The headmaster screeched just as a trapdoor below him opened and he fell down into a cell.

TBC

Sorry about the slight delay. I have a huge exam on Tuesday and I'm totally stressed out about it...

What do you think Amelia will find out at the interview? What will happen to Dumbles?

First posted on: 26. November 2017

Next update planned: 10. December 2017