Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!
Chapter Nineteen - Sitting the Wizengamot
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As expected for the folks at Grimmauld, the news of Dumbledore's execution at the hands of the ICW was splashed across the front page as the lead story of the Daily Prophet the next morning.
They were hopeful that everything they'd accomplished the previous day, being seen out and about, would do a lot to mitigate a lot of the backlash that would come of the old manipulator's death. They weren't that stupid to believe they'd receive none, but that did not mean they could not hope for the amount to be greatly reduced.
Harry read it and saw most of the quotes for the article came directly from Bones as the Minister of Magic. In it she made it clear that, irrespective of all the good works Dumbledore had supposedly done on behalf of magical Britain, he was still found guilty of a major crime that had only execution as a punishment. That it was Harry who brought that information to light meant 'Lord Peverell-Potter' provided a service to the people of magical Britain.
'Lord Peverell-Potter did not bring Albus Dumbledore down, as I've already heard people have accused him,' she was quoted. 'Albus Dumbledore was found out. He committed the crimes and he has paid the penalty for committing those crimes. The so-called The Greater Good bedamned, Albus Dumbledore was proven, in International court, to be a criminal; one crime of which demanded his execution.'
More pleasing, Harry's letter - as expected, converted to an interview - was directly below that main article as a sub-article. It also had the byline of the journalist they sent it to as the writer of the article. And Harry basically gave the same message as Bones; that Dumbledore committed a crime, was found guilty of it in a recognised court, that the court was recognised to be impartial and fair and that it demanded his execution as a result.
However, Harry didn't leave it there. Together with a far more truthful biography of the man, backed up by evidence, he also included the facts behind each action that Dumbledore took that was actually illegal that he could prove. He didn't even go into what was immoral or unethical - though there was also a lot of that - nor what he thought he knew the man had done that was illegal/criminal, but couldn't be proved, as it wasn't germane to the proving of Dumbledore committing crimes. He already knew that simply proving the man had broken one single crime that had the automatic punishment of execution, meant any more was pointless, other that to show the masses just how much of a criminal Dumbledore actually was.
"Well," he said, sliding the paper to Luna, "Let's hope we're not too badly inundated with yet more nasty mail."
"The mail redirection is still up," said Sirius, glancing up from where he was reading his own copy of the newsparchment. "So, don't worry about it. We'll handle whatever turns up, just as we did that which came the last few days."
With a sigh, Harry grouched, "That's not what bothers me so much. It's that, for the mail redirection to work, I'm again pretty much locked in here for the next few days."
"Buck up, Harry," said Sirius. "Don't forget, your parents were basically locked inside of the cottage at Godric's Hollow for months when we learned Ol' Snake Face was, or would soon be, hunting them. If they could handle it, so can you. At least it's nowhere near as long as they had to cope with it."
Still miffed, Harry said, "Quite the nice load of 'guilt trip pudding' there, Sirius."
Surprised by Harry's remark, Sirius was a moment before he returned, "That was not my intention, actually. But I still apologise that it's how it came across."
Harry sighed and slumped. "Yeah; sorry right back at you."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The two days passed pretty quickly, once both Luna and Sirius came up with the bright idea of Harry providing them with further training. Both were now becoming quite adept at Harry's style of combat.
Both now could cast most of their own spell repertoires with one syllable incants, most silently. And were also getting pretty good at the time dilation trick of speeding themselves up.
At one break, Sirius asked, "Why has no one figured out how to do this before?"
"Laziness," Luna promptly replied. "Hogwarts and the other magic schools teach one way and witches and wizards have come to believe that's the only way. Once they've been taught that way, they don't work towards improving their own knowledge.
"Plus, it's really only necessary when in combat. And most wizards and witches run or cower in fear when it looks like they're about to be, or are in, a combat situation."
Harry beamed in pride at his girlfriend. "That's both quite succinct and, I think, entirely accurate."
She smiled back.
Sirius declared, "I, for one, am not someone to run or cower in such a situation."
"None of us here are," said Luna. "I was implying, and am now outright stating, that is the case with most witches and wizards. We're in a small minority who won't."
"To be fair," said Harry. "No one should be in a situation where they're forced into combat; not even the aurors. However, there will always be those who believe they have a right to attack others. And, with everyone carrying wands, there will always be those who feel they can use them against others.
"For me, if you are incapable of standing toe-to-toe against someone who wants to cause you harm, then by all means run and hide. You should let the aurors do their jobs. However, relying only on the aurors to save your bacon when you find yourself in such a situation will sooner or later get you killed."
"Well said," said Sirius.
"Right," said Harry, brushing the conversation aside. "Let's get back to it. Now that the 'war' is over, I want to see you focusing more on incapacitation attacks, rather than lethal ones.
"Your aim, as of now, is not to kill your opponent; it's to stop them being able to continue the fight with the added bonus of pinning them in place, de-wanded and de-portkeyed, ready for the aurors to turn up and take them away in manacles. It's harder than just killing them, but far more legal."
"We can still hurt them, right?" asked Sirius.
"Yup," Harry immediately replied. "Just not lethally and not permanently, if you can get away with it."
After a quick refresh and re-hydration, the three got back into it.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
One expedition out from under the wards, but again with the owl mail avoidance charm in place, was the 'necessary' trip to the Department of Mysteries.
Bones had sent through notice she was getting pressure from the Unspeakables to have Harry visit them to explain about his experiences on Hadrian. She also informed him she'd sent on to them a copy of the memories he'd left with her concerning his time on the planet.
With a pained sigh and scowl he decided to get it over with and, accompanied by Sirius this time, paid them that visit. Luna wanted nowhere near the Department and would avoid all Unspeakables as a matter of self-protection.
Over the course of a couple of hours with them he copied yet more of his memories for them, especially of the moment of his being magically sent through to horizon of the Arch, what he could recall of his time passing through it before passing out, his waking up on the planet, his fiddling with the DHD at the other end and his initial interactions with the Goa'uld and Jaffa.
He also gave them, through some method the Unspeakables employed, copies of the memories he'd taken from Imhotep. He could see it had the usually unflappable Unspeakables... well and truly 'flapped'. He also gave them copies of the full memories of his first interacting with SG-1 and the greater SGC.
Finding out what they could about the Goa'uld it was easy, for Harry and Sirius, to see the idea of them scared the whoopees out the Unspeakables. Harry couldn't blame them for their reactions.
As part of the deal he brokered with them for him to hand over the information about the SGC, Harry also gave them details on where the SGC was located and what he knew of their ongoing off-world activities.
In return, they informed him - once under magically binding vow not to release the information to anyone else - how closely they worked with the muggle Intelligentsia around the world to keep the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy secure; and some idea of just how much the same Intelligentsia knew of the magical world. After thinking about it for a few long moments Harry found he wasn't all that surprised.
After confronting them about it, they also confirmed that the supposed two aurors that visited them at Grimmauld a couple days earlier were Unspeakables, as they'd thought. They also informed them that the issue of the SG-1 hunting for him had been taken care of, even though he knew nothing of the sort until they told him. And, when he expressed concern they might have come to harm, the Unspeakables assured him they'd not been harmed other than to have memory alterations performed on them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Four days after Harry and Luna's mini-expedition to the Alley, Hogwarts and a visit to Bones in her office - and two days after Harry and Sirius's visit to the Department of Mysteries - Harry and Sirius both received summonses via post owl to attend a Wizengamot meeting on the coming Tuesday.
After a quick read of his own, Sirius said, "You'll need to go into Twillfits and be fitted for Wizengamot robes, Harry."
Harry scowled, "I really do not want to be tied to having to attend and sit through interminable waffle in Wizengamot sessions, Padfoot."
"I'm afraid you must, Harry," said his unrepentant godfather. "At the very least, you need to officially take up your seats. After that you can, when possible, pass off your votes to a proxy.
"However, sitting the Wizengamot is seen as both an honour and a responsibility of those at our level. Trying your best to avoid that responsibility can be seen as a slap in the face to wizarding Britain's traditions."
"And I should care... why?"
Sirius smirked and replied, "Because you're the Leader of the Bright?"
As Luna giggled in amusement, Harry scowled and threw a slice of toast at his smirking godfather; which was easily fended off. Behind his scowl, though, Harry was amused.
"Hurry up with your breakfast, Harry," said Luna, before a sudden food fight could break out between the two Lords of Noble and Ancient Houses. "I'm taking you into Twillfit and Tattings and get to play dress-up doll with you again."
Harry winced and groaned.
Sirius's smirk turned into a grin. And Harry again scowled back. This time, by gesturing with it, he only threatened to fling another slice of toast back
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
In Harry's mind, the time he spent in Twillfit and Tattings was even more annoying than the time he had to spend in Madam Malkin's. That was mainly because the shop assistants in Malkin's at least tried to make one's time standing on one of their measuring pedestals not as boring as it actually was, by trying to engage you in interesting conversation.
In Twillfits, Harry had to continue to stand on the pedestal even after the measuring process was completed. That was because the robes were tailored and fitted for you while you stood there. Which meant he couldn't even simply let Luna make all the clothing decisions while he browsed around the store. He had to stand there as material was draped over him, taken away and cut, then temporarily stitched together, brought back and remeasured and pinned, then finally taken away and properly sewn together.
Just for one set of robes, Harry had to stand on that blasted pedestal for upwards of an hour.
"Buck up, Harry," said Luna. "At least Twillfits will now have your measurements on file."
"All that wasted time for just one set of robes," he grumped.
After he overheard what Harry had mumbled, Tatting said, "Rewarding you with a set of robes that are perfectly tailored for you."
Harry was somewhat thankful the man didn't seem offended by his remark or attitude. If anything, he seemed quite blasé about it. It spoke of the man having heard it so often it now was blasé.
When Harry just gave the man a 'look', Tatting acted a little pious and said, "You are the Lord of two Noble and Ancient Houses, My Lord Peverell-Potter. It would be disrespectful... not just to the legacy of your Houses, but to the other Lords and Ladies... if you did not dress the part."
Harry grumped back and said, "I grew up wearing hand-me-downs and cast-offs, Mister Tatting. Just wearing new clothes that actually fit me is a major step up for me."
"But insufficient," nodded Tatting. "It's now all about image for you, My Lord."
Harry had no response for that, so just continued to grumble about it under his breath.
However, by the time he and Luna left, Harry now had both the plum-coloured Wizengamot robes and also a formal tuxedo-like set of robes for the next formal occasion he would have to attend. And, as promised, both perfectly fit. It was only while he was in the store that he learned he would have to attend a formal Ministry function, with him as the honoured guest, on his being awarded the Order of Merlin for why he needed a top-notch set of formal attire.
His pained and pinched look, akin to having sucked on a grapefruit wedge, had Luna snickering back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
On the day of the Wizengamot session, Harry had to wait in the New Members' antechamber until the Chief Warlock called forward new Members to be seated. Though he shouldn't have been, he was quite surprised by the number of others in the room with him.
He was not surprised, however, to see that many of them were glaring at him in clear hate when they thought he wasn't watching them. And was thankful there were four aurors also in the room and space about, watching those others.
It took him only a moment to realise that those in the room with him were all the heirs of DEs that were, until Harry killed them in the ex-Malfoy Manor or died as a result of being hunted by the aurors immediately afterwards and putting up a fight, also Lords and sat upon the Wizengamot.
He was thankful he didn't recognise any of them except, possibly, one or two who might have been first or second years the year he was a fifth year. And they'd probably not been Marked as they were still students at Hogwarts in their sixth or seventh year this year. The wards Dumbledore had erected to trigger if anyone with the Dark Mark tried to enter meant they couldn't be Marked at least until after graduation and still remain at Hogwarts to complete their educations.
Instead of being worried about them he decided, instead, to lightly smirk at them when his eyes locked momentarily with theirs. They always broke eye contact first; some, quite worriedly.
When he looked to one of the aurors across the room, he found that auror had clearly noticed what was going on and was just as amused as he about the situation.
As the highest 'ranked' of the soon-to-be new Members awaiting recognition, Harry knew he would be called in first.
A few moments later, the door cracked open, drawing everyone's attention to it. A Senior Auror stuck their head in, caught eyes with Harry and said, "Lord Peverell-Potter. They're ready for you."
Harry gave a nod and exited.
Less than three minutes later he was ascending the stairs into the Members' tiers, heading for a Seat pre-placed to be right alongside Sirius's. He'd refused to even agree to set foot in the Chamber again unless his Seat was alongside his godfather's; and the witch Clerk of Seats from the Wizengamot Administrative Services Branch of the Ministry, though annoyed about the ultimatum, was not one to try to object to Harry's demand. At least she wouldn't when she figured out it was so easy to comply with when the Peverell Seat, by tradition, usually sat on the left of the Seat for the House of Black.
The House of Potter Seat, a Noble and Ancient House, was nominally located one tier down. However, that seat would remain vacant while Harry sat upon the Peverell Seat. Besides, that Seat had been warmed for far too long by Daedalus Diggle, back until Harry went through the Star Gate.
Dumbledore had slipped Diggle into the Seat as Proxy for the House of Potter almost immediately after the events of 31st October, 1981. And, as soon as Sirius took Regency of the House - and, therefore, took it out of Dumbledore's control - he immediately kicked the man out of the seat; much to Dumbledore's annoyance. What Diggle thought of it, no one cared. The man came from 'only' an Elder House, not a noble one; and, therefore, his opinion barely mattered to them.
As Harry took his Seat, the next person was ready for their induction. He was surprised to learn it was a younger brother to Theodore Nott. Theodore, when confronted with his arrest outside the gates of the ex-Malfoy Manor after activating his 'emergency' portkey to Malfoy Manor, had died only a day after his father and as one of those who tried to fight the aurors. The father, Caracticus Nott, was killed as a member of the Inner Circle.
'No wonder he was casting me hateful glances back in the anteroom,' thought Harry. 'He'd lost both his father and older brother only a day or so apart.'
Once all the new inductees were Seated, Bones was given the call. It was concerning Harry's acceptance of the Orders of Merlin.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At the close of what his godfather assured him was a short session, Harry and Sirius ignored all the calls for interviews from the journalists hovering outside the Chamber doors and headed directly back to Grimmauld. The journalists had taken one look at Harry's somewhat thunderous expression and given them both a wide berth.
The reason for the expression was that some fool of a wizard tried to imply that 'the future Lady of the Houses of Peverell and Potter needed to be carefully chosen'... yada, yadda... 'in order to protect the sanctity of two Ancient Houses teetering on the edge of extinction'... yadda, yadda... 'and must have suitable standing to shoulder the burden of being a spouse of a triple awardee of an Order of Merlin, First Class.'
Harry had immediately stood and in a near-snarl said, "If you even think of saddling me with a wife not of my own free choosing, I will tell you... right then and there... to shove the Orders up your collective wrinkly old arses. Then I will demand your immediate arrest for attempted Line Theft; and, if I can't get that, challenge you to an honour duel to the death. Next, I will publicly declare your House or Houses to be anathema to the Houses of Peverell and Potter and declare blood feud on your survivors.
"After I render your Houses extinct, I'll then pack up me and mine... and that won't be including any wife you lot happen to think you're picking for me... and move to another country, declaring myself to be a political refugee and claiming I was suffering persecution from the representatives of the magical British government, namely the Wizengamot, in the process. And that will simply be for the insult."
That had the wizard who'd raised it dump a log in his daks, quickly stammer out a stuttering apology and flee the Chambers.
Harry was immediately told off for his words by the Chief Warlock. However he, too, quickly stammered out an apology when Harry aimed his hateful glare at him and started fingering his wand.
"It is my lawful right, Chief Warlock," Harry snarled. "Don't you dare interfere.
"Your last dark lord, the magically powerful Tom Riddle, made the foolish mistake of coming after me. His body lies dead from a piercing curse right between the eyes from my wand. His so-called Inner Circle had the misfortune of being in his presence at the time and all of them are also now dead, also from my wand.
"And the man who spent my entire life, even the months leading up to my birth, manipulating people and events surrounding me and mine... all for the purpose of shaping me to be his personal weapon to point at that so-called dark lord before then moving on to Lord Longbottom with the same purpose... I utterly destroyed. The Great Dissembler Albus Dumbledore's reputation lay in ruin before I then saw to it he paid for his crimes by being lawfully executed.
"Do not allow yourself to be my enemy through deliberate or otherwise actions. I react quite... poorly. Expect not to survive the result."
As Harry dropped with a huff into his seat, Sirius called out, "And so speaks the Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House. Heed. His. Words!"
No one tried anything similar after that. However, Harry had to forcefully hold his glare when sweeping it across the Members, because he could hear his godfather not-so-quietly snickering away from the seat alongside him.
About the only decision concerning him that Harry tolerated them making, was when they would be awarding him his Orders of Merlin.
Once past the aurors at the conclusion of the meeting, Sirius had to again try and hold in his laughter, only letting out a short burst of snickering.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
First through the floo to Grimmauld, Harry only had a moment to see his girlfriend waiting for him on the couch, when Sirius popped out of the floo and immediately starting laughing long and loud.
Luna looked to Sirius who was having trouble standing from laughing so hard and started grinning, before she looked back at Harry.
"I take it," she said, "You had to read the riot act, as the muggles would say, to the Wizengamot?"
"You Saw?" he asked.
"A possibility, yes," she grinned.
"If I didn't go full 'Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House' on their arses I feared they wouldn't heed my warning and try to do something along those lines, anyway," he sighed.
She gave a single slow nod and quietly replied, "Yes; they would,"
He sighed and said, "We need to talk to your father."
Luna nodded and said, "You're thinking of a Betrothal Agreement."
"Yes," he said.
That shut Sirius up.
"A Betrothal Agreement?" he asked. He still had mirth twinkling in his eyes, though.
"Yes," replied, Harry. "A pretty ironclad one."
"Why― Ah!" asked his godfather, before he clearly understood. Then confirmed it. "You're worried that, even though you flat out threatened them with killing them and their entire families, someone is going to do something stupid and try to yet again lock you into a betrothal contract of their choosing."
"Even worse," sighed Harry. "An ironclad marriage contract."
When he looked more fully to his godfather he asked, "Just how many of those abominable things did I receive via the post, by the way?"
His godfather smirked and replied, "Nine." Then his smirk dropped away and he added, "With three of them, according to the goblins, heavily laced with compulsions to sign them."
Harry gave a grimace of distaste and said, "If the aurors try to claim, through some discovered legal loophole, one or more of those bastards can't be put on trial I want to know about it immediately after you do."
"I've already told them," his godfather again grinned. This time his grin had a bit of evil twist to it, promising retribution. "They weren't that stupid to not understand why."
Harry looked to Luna and asked, "When's your father due back from his expedition?"
"Next week," she smiled.
"I'm hoping you'll... put in a good word for me," he carefully said.
"Don't worry, Harry," she gently teased. "I'll tell him to say yes, just as I said I would."
He thought for a moment before he asked, "A betrothal contract doesn't offend you?"
"No," she immediately replied. "It's a good idea, actually."
"Next, they're awarding me the Orders the weekend after next; Saturday, the eleventh of December," he further explained. "They wanted to give me more time to prepare. However, the Ministry Yule Ball this year is on the Solstice day, Wednesday, the twenty second of December. And they didn't think it was suitable to have the two events merged or too close to one another."
"They're right," she nodded.
"First off," he sighed. "Miss Luna Lovegood; would you do me the honour of attending the Award Ceremony as my personal guest and escort?"
She smiled and said, "I'd be honoured to, Harry."
"Thank you," he returned. "Next; would you do me the honour of attending the Ministry Yule Ball with me?"
She grinned and replied, "Again, I'd be honoured to, Harry."
He gave a slump of relief. "Thank you, for both."
She came forward, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
Sirius said, "It looks like I'll have to find myself a date for the Yule Ball, too. I hadn't even thought of attending."
Still in Harry's arms, Luna turned to him and said, "Now that the war's over, you really should attend."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With the owl mail again petering off, Harry felt it was safe enough to again go out in public for longer periods of time. If anything, the news article the next morning after the Wizengamot session about what he said in the Wizengamot had what quantity of mail he was still receiving drop right off to pretty much nothing.
He'd breathed a sigh of relief when all he received at breakfast that morning, via the goblins, was two letters. And both were letters of apology for sending earlier, threatening, letters and begging he not act against them.
What he was surprised to figure out, only that morning, was that he'd not received even one letter from any of the Weasleys, not even the twins. He was feeling a little ambivalent about that.
He definitely didn't want to hear from the youngest two, nor from their mother. However he didn't care, one way or the other, about the oldest three children. He'd have somewhat liked to have heard from the twins, though.
After breakfast and after they'd let it settle, Harry asked Luna, "Anywhere you'd like to go today?"
"Potter Manor," she immediately returned.
"What?- Where?" he asked, surprised.
"Potter Manor," she repeated.
"I... have a Manor?!" he almost squeaked.
"Of course you do, Pup," Sirius cut in. "You should have been informed of it when you went in to see the Potter Account Manager at Gringotts, Hooknose or Rockgnasher. Why would you think you didn't?"
"It didn't occur to me to ask," said a somewhat stunned Harry. "When I've been in to see him... them... we had, I felt, far more important and time critical things to deal with."
"Which is why we're going to go and talk with him again, this morning," said Luna. "He'll be able to give us the portkeys to the properties."
"Properties?" he immediately asked right back.
"Properties," she promptly and firmly replied. "There's Potter Manor, Potter Retreat in Southern France, Potter Penthouse in magical USA, Potter Winery in Australia and a few smaller, less important, ones scattered about the world."
"D-daaammn!" he stutter-exclaimed. Then he gave a sigh and said, "Alright. We go see Rockgnasher to get what we need to go to Potter Manor and the other properties, then we go visit Potter Manor."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The visit to Gringotts had Harry lightly 'scold' his Account Manager about what information Harry believed he should receive. And one of those was about the various real estate holdings that belonged to the Houses.
The goblin didn't look chagrined about it, at all. He simply said, "It is your responsibility to ask concerning such matters, not mine to offer unsolicited advice. Besides, I have no notice, either way, whether or not Hooknose informed you."
Harry just gave a snort of annoyed amusement, picked up the portkeys created to take him to the front gates of the various properties, offered all but the one for Potter Manor to Luna and decided on a trip down to the Potter vaults.
As soon as he 'demanded' being taken down to his vault, Harry heard Luna quietly mutter, "The Potter betrothal ring. Of course."
He looked to her and said, "You know, being with you is going to make it really hard for me to surprise you."
She just smirked back.
Then, after the trip down to the vault to collect the ring and more galleons, the two returned to the surface. After leaving the bank it was then only a matter of a quick walk up to the apparation/portkey point.
The two held on to the permanent active portkey and, as Harry activated it, they were away.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Harry didn't know what to expect when he first laid eyes on Potter Manor.
Other than what he remembered of the inside of the ex-Malfoy Manor and extrapolating from there, he actually had no proper context. As such, his only concept was of an American southern 'plantation' owners home, such as that found in old stories and what he remembered of seeing in books back in Little Whinging Primary School.
The reality was, other than being multi-storied as he expected, significantly different.
Potter Manor stood out in the open on what looked like a huge lawn that was interspersed with garden beds. Thinking further about it he then remembered how the old English castles all, apparently, stood the same. He did not know they were like that to provide open fields of fire to the castle's archer defenders, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he knew.
Potter Manor had the wide open lawns to provide no cover to anyone who sought to magically attack it from the outside.
What he saw, once he stepped through the Notice-me-Not and other outer wards, was a beautiful example of an eighteenth century nobleman's estate house. It was white with, oddly, black trim. It had a black slate roof, black painted main doors and window shutters, but with the actual building being a clean white.
At least, it would have been if it wasn't looking so neglected.
From beside him, Luna quietly said, "Dobby is going to love this place."
Harry gave a silent nod and said, "Come on. Let's go inside."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a long walk up the arrow straight footpath - no driveway - as Harry reached for the door handle, Luna pulled his arm back.
When he turned to her, confused, she said, "You need to claim the property, first, Harry. The battle wards, while quite depleted due to age, are still up."
Harry could easily see the wisdom of that. So, while standing on the porch before the massive main doors, he drew his wand and held it in the oath grip.
Thinking of what he needed to say first, he firmly intoned, "I, Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, Lord of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, hereby claim this manor under the auspices of magical primogenitor, birthright, as my own. As I say, so I declare, so must it be."
His wand tip gave a significant flash and a ring of visible magic shot out of his wand in a circular wave similar to what happened when he claimed Malfoy Manor under prædātum for the House of Black.
Before he had a chance to again reach for the door handle, Luna reached out and, this time, gently laid a hand on his arm. "Harry, say that same claim again; however, this time, make the claim for all Potter property."
Harry looked to his girlfriend for only a moment before he saw the expression she usually had when she'd just Seen something.
He only gave her a nod, rethought about what to say and intoned, "I, Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, Lord of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, hereby claim back to the House of Potter under my control and under the auspices of magical primogenitor, birthright, all property rightfully belonging to the House of Potter. As I say, so I declare, so must it be."
Again, there was another flash and wave of magic.
He then waited about five seconds to see what would happen. When nothing did that he was aware of, he turned to his girlfriend and started to ask, "Why did―"
That was as far as he got before there was a triple-pop of three house elves suddenly appearing before him.
He gave a slight start in surprise.
All three elves were excitedly, almost chantingly, exclaiming, "Master Hardwin! Master Hardwin!"
"Errr..." he stuttered. "Hello?"
"Hello, Master Hardwin," all three chorused.
"What... on..." he softly started to say.
"Harry," said Luna, cutting him off.
When he turned to her, she was smirking back. "Harry, these are the Potter family elves in magical Britain. Since Dumbledore's interference back on that night, the old man sent them to work at Hogwarts. They've been there this whole time."
After a moment to think that through, Harry softly exclaimed, "Hunh!" Then he turned to the elves. "You're Potter elves?" he asked.
"Yes, Master Hardwin," they all chorused.
Then the first added, "I be Domo."
Then the second added, "I be Coco."
And the third, "I be Horto."
By simply accepting it as fact and trusting in his girlfriend, he said, "Then I welcome you back into the House of Potter."
All three beamed back in happiness.
One of them, Horto, then looked about as if in horror at what he saw.
"This be wrong!" he exclaimed. That had the other two then quickly look about and adopt similar expressions.
"Wees needings to gets to work!" exclaimed Domo before turning pleading eyes on Harry again. "Master Hardwin... please?"
Thinking quickly, Harry said, "You can, if you wish, make a start on getting this place back to good condition.
"However," he quickly said, before they could all pop away and make that start, "You may call in any elves to help you, even free elves; and none of you may work yourselves to the point of exhaustion. I expect you to take your time and do it right."
"Thank you, Master Hardwin!" all three again chorused.
Then, with another triple pop, they disappeared again.
Harry then turned to Luna and gestured to the door. "Now?"
"Now," she nodded with a smirk.
And Harry again reached for the door handle. This time Luna didn't stop him from opening it.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
A couple of hours after leaving, Harry and Luna stepped back out of the floo into Grimmauld and went in search of Sirius. He was in his office, again going over parchment work.
"Hello, you two," he said, seeing them step into the office from where he was sitting at the desk. "How'd things go?"
"Good," Harry sighed. "I picked up the Potter betrothal ring and some more gold from my vaults. And spoke to Rockgnasher about Potter and Peverell property. He claimed it was my responsibility to ask him about them, rather than his to tell me of them.
"Then Luna and I went out to Potter Manor to explore it.
"In doing that and claiming the manorhold, Luna also... suggested... I claim all rightful Potter property while I was at it. When I did, three elves turned up.
"Apparently Dumbledore, on claiming magical guardianship of me, ordered them to leave the properties and go work at Hogwarts. They've been there this whole time. What I'm curious about is how he managed to accomplish that. As he wasn't rightfully my magical guardian, he must've used magics to effect it."
"He did," said Luna. "He used strong compulsion charms based on the Elder Wand and his silver tongue."
Sirius frowned a bit and said, "He had to have found some way to block the elf-bond to House of Potter from you."
Harry frowned, scowled and said, "Those bloody blood wards."
Sirius looked up in surprise and said, "That actually makes a fair bit of sense. Part of the wards he had set up on you blocked all magical abilities to find you including scrying and owl mail. It makes sense it also blocked the elves's ability to find you."
"What happened to those wards, anyway," asked Harry.
"I went to the property within a couple of days of gaining my freedom and pulled the ward stone out before taking it away and destroying it," explained his godfather. "It was the day after the Dursleys were killed by Death Eaters."
"Pity," muttered Harry, not phased about hearing again about the deaths of his relatives. "We could have researched the wardstone to find―" He stopped for a moment because he had a sudden thought. "Actually... did you have a good look over the stone before you destroyed it?"
"Yes," replied a curious Sirius. "Why?"
As Harry grinned, Luna replied, "Pensieve. We can review a copy of your memory of handling the wardstone to find out what runes were carved into it."
"And, from there..." started Harry.
Sirius finished, "... We can extrapolate what wards were up on the Dursley residence. Good idea."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After Sirius pulled out the Black family pensieve and dropped his memory of the stone into it, the three entered the memory. Luna took with her a clipboard, parchment and self-inking quill. It was what she used when interviewing someone for the Quibbler.
Once she'd gone over the stone with the memory paused, Luna said, "I've got them all, I think."
And the three pulled out of the memory.
Then, with Luna leading the research due to her more recent background in Ancient Runes and wards, the three set to find out for what wards the stone acted as the anchor. Thankfully, it didn't take long as Luna recognised almost all of them pretty much straight away.
Once they were done, she read them out. "Anti-portkey, anti-apparation, anti-scrying, post owl redirection, a wizard Notice-me-Not, a separate modified subtle Notice-me-Not for non-magicals, the powerful blood based magics that seems to be based on familial protection annnd... yes... what is clearly a house elf bond breaker."
"Son of a bitch!" Harry snarled. "If he wasn't already dead I'd declare blood feud on the bastard, just for that."
"What's done is done," said Sirius. "He can no longer interfere in anyone's life. Let it be."
Harry thought about it for a long moment before he finally slumped against the door frame he was still standing next to and sighed. "No, you're right."
Then he stood up straight, "However, once we find out everything that bastard did, I might just write a book about him."
Sirius smirked and said, "Rita Skeeter's already writing one. It's going to be pretty scathing."
Curious, Harry asked, "How did you know that?"
"She contacted me and asked me if I had anything to contribute," shrugged Sirius. "I refused until she confessed it was aimed at tearing the old man's legacy down. Which reminds me." He turned to Luna and said, "Are you willing to share any of those... insights... of yours in those scrapbooks?"
She replied, "No. I intend to write my own, once I'm settled. I think it'll be a nice project during my first pregnancy."
Sirius was a little surprised and showed it, but just nodded in understanding. "Sounds like a good idea."
Then he smirked and asked, "And just when do you See yourself undertaking that project?"
She snickered and replied, "None of your business. At least, none of your business until I'm actually pregnant."
Sirius laughed, but Harry didn't know if he needed to be worried or not.
"Don't worry, Harry," she said. "No pregnancy until after we're married. I promise."
Harry didn't even breathe a sigh of relief from hearing that, because he already trusted Luna would not try to take advantage of him that way.
Then, when he realised that, it also confirmed for him that she would definitely be the next Lady Potter. He both loved and trusted her; and she'd never, not even back when they were students at Hogwarts, given him any reason to doubt her sincerity and love for him.
"Actually," said Luna. "What Harry needs to do is start to study for his NEWTs. He has his OWLs, of course... he completed the exams for those before we went to the Department of Mysteries, that evening... but he's not studied or sat for his NEWTs yet."
That had Sirius surprised and Harry outright shocked.
Sirius turned a smirk on Harry and said, "She's right, Pup. You only have your OWLs. You should really study for your NEWTs, now that both Riddle and Dumbledore are out of the way."
Harry looked to both with a pained expression. "I am not going to return to Hogwarts as a student."
"No, Harry," said Luna. "You're hiring tutors."
"Good idea," said Sirius. "I'll start making enquiries this very afternoon."
"He'll only need the proper texts and a tutor for the practicals," said Luna. "His Occlumency is at a stage where he can easily recall everything he's read. He only needs to read it once and he knows the information off by heart. So, focus on tutors that are heavy on the practical.
"And focus on tutors for Charms, Transfiguration, DADA, Herbology, Potions, Astronomy, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. The first three he only needs for a short time as he can easily knock over at least an Acceptable in the first two, and an Outstanding in the third, already."
"Wait, wait," Harry blurted, as his life was in the process of being laid out and he'd not managed to get a word in about it yet. "For a start, almost everything I did on Hadrian was related to the first three you mentioned. Plus, I didn't study Ancient Runes or Arithmancy while I was at Hogwarts. I―"
"Hush!" Luna cut in, cutting him off. "Almost all the magic you do, even DADA, is related to OWL level work. Yes, you can pump in the power to accomplish something with nothing but intent, but you still need to learn the 'proper' way of casting all those spells to get your NEWTs in those subjects.
"As for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, I know you can handle them. With Occlumency at your level, Ancient Runes will become almost a breeze for you. You'll only need to be taught how to carve the runes, how to array them and how to properly power them. That's all basically taught in the last six months of the class in seventh year."
When Harry kept silent, but looked sceptical, Luna said, "Trust me, Harry. I've Seen what you will be able to do."
With a pained look and a sigh, he grumble-muttered, "Fiiiinnnee."
With a dazzling smile back, Luna rose on tiptoes a bit and kissed him on the cheek. "Good boy."
It didn't help that Sirius was chuckling at Harry demonstrating he was well and truly whipped by the little blonde.
As promised, Sirius made enquiries through the Wizarding Examinations Authority, that very afternoon, to find suitable tutors for his godson.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Also that very afternoon, Luna practically forced Harry into a chair at the kitchen table and placed a short stack of books before him.
"The introduction books for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and the sixth year books for Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Astronomy and even Enchanting," said Luna, indicating each. "I've left out Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Muggle Studies and Divination. You don't need them.
"You can study CoMC when you've got further time; a NEWT in History only requires you read through the texts, plus a couple others, to gain an Outstanding in the subject as there's no practical component; Muggle Studies you could pass in your sleep, having lived a muggle life; and Divination is pointless for you, as you have only a passing modicum of talent in the field and no gift."
"How did you get these so fast?" he gasped. "Wait! They were in the Black Library, weren't they. And, yes, I agree with you about those subjects."
"Actually, these are mine," she corrected him. "I had Dobby go to my place and pick them up for me. The seventh year books of the subjects you studied, plus the rest of the books for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, are up in our room in the small bookcase I had Dobby install in there."
"Hunh!" he muttered. "Actually, what did happen to all my stuff? Aside from my broom and coin pouch Sirius told me about, I hadn't thought of the rest.
"My trunk and that from Hogwarts, that is. I really don't care about what happened to anything I had at the Dursleys."
"Sirius has your trunk in the attic, here," she replied. "I'm sorry, but we should have told you that already. As for what happened to anything at the Dursleys... I'm afraid, if there was anything there, it got burnt to ash when the Dursleys' home was burnt to the ground."
Harry thought about that and said, "Actually, the only thing in my trunk I was truly worried about was the photo album Hagrid got me for my first year back in the magical world. Everything else is easily replaceable or I've outgrown it."
"Hmmm..." she muttered, "Give me a moment."
She quickly left, but was back within the minute. She walked in with a smile on her face and carrying, cradled in her arms, the photo album. She gently placed it on the table next to the stack of books.
"It was in a safe place, Harry," she explained as Sirius walked in.
"Sorry, pup," he said. "I should have thought. That's been in a specially-protected bookcase under a Fidelius in my office since I recovered it while recovering your effects from Hogwarts."
Harry was already gently trailing his fingertips over the cover of it with a wistful look on his face.
Quietly, almost whispered, he said, "Thank you."
Seeing the expression on his face, Luna gave Sirius a look before saying, "I feel like brewing some tea. Want some?"
While Harry hadn't even heard her, Sirius said, "Sure."
They left Harry to his thoughts, while they 'busied' themselves with the tea.
It had completely slipped Harry's mind that Dobby would have been more than willing to set up a tea setting for them, if they'd asked.
The only reason he hadn't popped in to scold them for doing 'house elves' work' was because he was at Potter Manor with the 'other' Potter elves getting the manor and its extensive grounds back up to pristine condition. He was always ready to be called back to Grimmauld at a moment's notice, but his direct focus at the time was on the work on the manor.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After recovering from his slip of emotion relating to getting his photo album back, Harry was soon into reading through the texts of the subjects he should have been covering at Hogwarts for the first two years he was on Hadrian, his sixth and seventh years. He'd also made a start on the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes texts.
It was while he was reading through them that Sirius took Luna aside.
"Have you Seen what I've organised for tomorrow morning?" he asked.
She grinned back and said, "Yes. Like you, I think it's a nice surprise. And no, I haven't and will not tell him."
Sirius grinned and said, "Thank you."
"I need to get back in to help Harry," she suddenly said.
Sirius just nodded and again said, "Thank you," before then heading back to his office.
As he left, Luna stared at his back with one of her knowing smirks. 'Tomorrow morning is going to be a lot more exciting than you think it will be, Sirius,' she thought, before then heading back to the kitchen. 'Not all of it pleasant.'
She needed to help Harry with his study. When it came to the practicals, Harry was always completely focused. It was during study he still had focus problems.
However, just as dinner was approaching, they were joined by Tonks and Remus.
Luna 'permitted' Harry to set aside the books after dinner and help with combat training for both of them. They spent about three hours working on improving both their speed and creating non-lethal spell chains.
Tonks needed them as Connie Hammer, surprisingly already and recently back at work, had now brought in a 'rule' that any of the few remaining Death Eaters still free had to, whenever possible, be brought down only with non-lethal spells.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning the household was awake early. Both Remus and Tonks had also spent the night so were both there for breakfast.
"Finally getting a day off, Tonks?" Harry asked.
"Yep!" she happily replied, but didn't elucidate.
During a break in their training the previous evening, she explained how the last few Death Eaters they were still hunting had either shot through overseas or had holed-up somewhere. They now had to work hard to ferret them out, but it was mainly research into possible bolt-holes.
Harry then turned to Sirius and suggested, "Now that the aurors are no longer working such long hours, perhaps it's now time to forward the rest of all that dodgy mail to the new Head Auror, Proudfoot, to get them officially investigated."
"I've already sent it," replied Sirius. "I told him to get to it when the pressure eased off, but that it wasn't to be indefinitely put aside."
"It's already being investigated," said Tonks. "I know that the Chief Auror, Proudfoot, has already set a team aside to deal with it all, at any rate."
Harry gave a nod and said, "Then I expect to see action concerning it all within the next couple of days. If I don't see certain names starting to pop up on the judicial docket for the Wizengamot within the week, though, I'll go in to see Proudfoot myself.
"I will not allow any of those who tried to use magic upon me, whether through compulsions or harm, to get away with what they did."
"Don't worry, Harry," she assured him. "The Chief Auror is of the same mind. They'll face trial; I'd bet my robes on it."
He gave a nod back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
It was only about ten minutes later when there was a solid knocking on the front door.
Harry's head shot up with a puzzled expression to stare at Sirius.
"I thought no one―"
"I relaxed the wards a little after the Unspeakables left. People can now approach the front door and knock," his godfather cut in, starting to rise. "I'd best go see who it is."
However, the expression of smugness, glee, excitement and whatever else that passed over his godfather's face had Harry a little concerned and a lot curious.
Sirius, once he walked out of the kitchen, allowed his expression to relax even more into one of excitement. He was looking forward to this.
He first cast a specialised charm on the front door, which allowed him to see through it from the inside. And he saw who he thought he'd see.
Now grinning, he walked the few steps forward and opened the door.
Standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a glare on her face was a young witch who looked ready to give someone a piece of her mind. And, standing at the bottom of the path at the fence line, were her parents.
Sirius openly grinned at the young woman and said, "Hello, Hermione. Welcome back to Britain."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
A/N: Yes, it's a cliffy and, because of that, many of you will think I'm a wanker. Deal with it. :) At just over 9,000 words this chapter was long enough.
A lot of you asked if I'd be bringing Hermione back into it and I've held my tongue on that subject because, of course, I'd already written that I had. I didn't want to spoil the surprise.