Usual disclaimers, no rights to any HP characters portrayed, and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale, it's fiction but not a kid's story. There will probably be changes made over the first hour or so as I find things that didn't come out quite the way I wanted.

Molly Weasley was no fool, even if her overwhelming need for instant gratification made her do stupid things all too often, so she immediately promised to convince William (William? Dumbledore could be excused for not knowing that Bill's name was actually Bilius because he regarded him as beneath his notice, but his own mother?) to cooperate and work with them on this, but pointed out that she'd need a little time to talk him around properly and it would be suspicious if she took him out of school without a good reason. Dumbledore grumbled about the delay, but agreed that it would cause less suspicion if they waited until the Easter break to have him come home. He did warn her that she better make sure that she had the ingredients ready to make the first batch of potions for Miss Tonks by then so that William could bring the potions back to Hogwarts with him after the break or else though.

Convincing Arthur's eldest son that he had to do this for the family took more work than she'd expected, but once she'd gotten past his initial reticence William became the obedient son she expected him to be, and he went back to Hogwarts with the first month's potions for the girl in his trunk. She would have made up more but they wouldn't keep any longer than a month, so she'd have to send parcels of potions to him to keep dosing the girl.

Albus had thought that the look young Mister Weasley sent his way at dinner when he returned to Hogwarts was a little strange, but he put it down as acknowledgement of his task…. Or perhaps it was appreciation for what Molly had told him he could do with the girl once she was under the potions' influence, he couldn't see the attraction himself but then he wasn't interested in females. He would have been rather more worried if he'd seen the two Weasley boys in Minerva's office immediately after dinner, because the first thing Bill did was formally invoke their right for protection under the alliance between the guiding families.

Minerva froze in shock for a moment, then hastily cast a flurry of privacy and security wards over the office before offering the formal response required for what Bill had invoked.

With that done, Bill relaxed and placed a parcel on Minerva's desk before he and Charlie sat down. "Professor, we have a big problem. Those are potions that my mother has made up to enslave a Hufflepuff Third Year, Nymphadora Tonks, to me…."

He paused, expecting shock and disbelief, but her reaction was controlled anger, not surprise, and she simply said. "Go on Mister Weasley."

Bill spent the next half hour explaining what his mother had instructed him to do, and that he was expected to use the potions to keep Miss Tonks under his control until Professor Dumbledore told him what to do with her. Minerva's anger became rage when Bill shamefacedly told her that he'd been given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to the barely fourteen year old witch while he had her under the potions' control, but she struggled to control herself and assured Bill that she wasn't angry with him, it was that evil old bastard and his foul harridan of a mother that she would be dealing with when she had the chance.

Once they all understood where they stood with each other, Minerva asked the question that had been on her lips since he invoked the protection of the alliance for his brother and himself. "May I ask how you knew the forms to invoke the protection rights as you did Mister Weasley? I didn't know that your father was aware of the House of Weasley's rights under the alliance."

Bill grimaced. "I'm not sure that Dad is aware of our House's rights Professor, in fact I don't really know what he's aware of at all any more since our mother has been keeping him potioned for the last ten years at least."

That just got a raised eyebrow so he went on. "Dad isn't the man he was when Charlie and I were little Professor, back then he was full of fire and could talk at length on just about anything, but after our brother Percy was born, Dad…. changed. He became much less than he was before, like he was only an empty shell of the wizard he'd been. Mum was watching us real close at the time so I convinced Charlie to play a game where we acted like nothing was wrong. We were hoping that Dad would come back to us, but he didn't, he just sat there with dull eyes and did whatever Mum said and that's the way he's been ever since then. Professor Dumbledore came around a lot and we could hear them shouting at each other, I guess they thought at not yet six and four we wouldn't understand or remember anything so it wasn't worth the effort to put up silencing spells..." He shook his head.

"Even when he was a baby, we could tell that Percy wasn't really like us, but a couple of years later the twins were born and we instantly knew that they were our brothers…. The next one who came along though, Ronnie, he's nothing like us, I don't think he really does anything but eat and shit and he was so lazy that he was two before Mum managed to potty train him, I actually think Ginny beat him, but she isn't a Weasley either.… We know that our Mum's been screwing other wizards, the fact that we have two brothers and a sister who aren't Dad's is proof of that! We also know that she's been keeping Dad dosed with potions to keep him under control ever since Percy was born and Professor Dumbledore's been helping her. That's why we didn't know who we could trust…."

"Charlie and I have been researching our house ever since we came to Hogwarts, trying to find someone who could help us save Dad and the twins, we discovered that the House of Weasley was a Noble and Most Ancient House so we looked into the rights of the Most Ancient Houses. That was how we found out about the Alliance and that the House of Ross was also part of the Alliance because it was also a Noble and Most Ancient House but…. I'm sorry professor, I don't know any nice way to say this but we didn't know whether we could trust you because you always seemed to do whatever Professor Dumbledore told you to."

Minerva shook her head sadly. "Don't apologise Mister Weasley, I have to admit that I've had a rude awakening in the last six months, but I was largely under the Headmaster's control before I was made to accept what he had done to me and many people I cared about. It is I who should apologise to you for the fact that you had to be desperate about this latest piece of depravity that the Headmaster is orchestrating before you came to me…. Now if you don't mind, I would like your permission to bring in another member of the Guiding Family Alliance, Madam Bones, because she is better placed to do something about this business than I am, will you allow this?"

Bill and Charlie nodded. "Yes professor, of course!"

She thanked them and went into her chambers to use the goblin floo, coming back fifteen minutes later with a disturbed looking Amelia Bones. Minerva had Bill repeat what he'd told her for Amelia, and by then end of the story, Amelia was looking at the parcel on Minerva's desk as if it were a steaming heap of dragon dung. She sighed, saying. "Minerva, I believe that we need the Council together at the Manor to discuss this. Ask Pomona to bring Dora and you bring our young heroes here please, I need to find someone who can tell me what exactly is in this." as she picked up the parcel with an expression of distaste.

Minerva nodded, waving the boys to their feet, but said. "Wouldn't Pandora be the best one to examine those potions Amelia? She's at least as good as anyone you'd find at the Ministry at this time of night and she'll be more discreet." Amelia slapped herself on the head. "Of course! Sorry Minnie, I should have thought of Pandora but this business has really thrown me off my game." With that she dashed through the door into Minerva's chambers and was gone by the time the others arrived.

When they were assembled with Dora and Gringott in the sitting room at Potter Manor, Minerva addressed the looks being sent Bill and Charlie's way. "Mister Weasley and his brother came to me tonight, claiming protection under the rights of the Guiding Families Alliance, to warn us of a new plot that Albus Dumbledore has cooked up, one that is targeting Dora."

As before, she handed over to Bill to explain what they'd come to her about, and to answer the inevitable questions about how he'd known about the House of Weasley's rights under the Alliance and why it wasn't his father bringing this to them.

Amelia and Pandora arrived while Bill was telling the story, and when he was done they filled the others in on what exactly was in the potions that Bill was supposed to dose Dora with. Everyone one the room was white (whether it be with shock, fear or rage) after hearing that, and they had to physically hold Andi back when she tried to rush off to remove the stains of Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore from the face of the planet. It took a while for Amelia and Pandora screaming in her face that they would protect Dora to get through to Andi, so that she could calm down enough to listen.

Gringott reminded them that they had an advantage in that in the Goblin Nation, whatever was needed was done, no matter what time it was, so Andi, Ted, Pandora and Dora went through to Gringotts with him to get things started on what they were going to set up to protect Dora, then he returned.

Bill and Charley were shocked when Gringott was formally introduced, because while they'd picked up on the fact that he was an important goblin, they had no clue that he was the head of the British Goblins and all the Gringotts Banks. What he proposed after introductions were done shocked them almost as much though. "Bilius Arthurus Weasley and Charlus Prewett Weasley, you are obviously intelligent and astute young wizards, and you yourself have brought us the news that the current Head of the House of Weasley has been rendered unfit to lead his house through the actions of your mother, Molly Muriel Weasley, nee Prewett. Are either of you currently aware of the fact that your parents' marriage was structured to allow for the continuation of both the Noble and Most Ancient House of Weasley and the Noble House of Prewett through you and your siblings?"

They looked at each other then Bill responded formally. "No Director Gringott, we were not aware of this."

Gringott nodded. "I didn't think so. The way the agreements were structured, the children of the marriage of Arthurus Septimus Weasley and Molly Muriel Prewett alternate between the Houses of Weasley and Prewett, so you, Bilius, are the Heir to the titles of Lord Weasley and Head the House of Weasley, while you, Charlus, are Lord Prewett, Head of the House of Prewett…."

He smiled as Charlie reacted to that. "Wait… What was that about me being the Head of the House of Prewett?"

"Your Uncle, Fabian Prewett, was the last Lord Prewett Charlus, under the agreements of your parents' marriage, you were the next Prewett born, so you inherited the title and head of house when your Uncle was killed in the war. I take it that none of this was ever discussed with you?"

He nodded approvingly at the controlled anger Charlie showed as he replied. "No Director Gringott, it was not. This is the first that I've even heard that I am of the Prewett line, rather than the Weasley line."

Gringott thought to himself that with ones like these Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione and Dora as part of the next generation, there may be hope for their world yet.

"I believe that it would be in both your, and Magical Britain's interests for you to formally claim your titles Lord Prewett, and also to revoke any and all existing proxy allocations for the House of Prewett..."

Charlie growled "Dumbledore?" and Gringott nodded before turning to Bill.

"Bilius, the situation with you is slightly more complicated, but only slightly. As I have said, you are currently Heir to the title of Lord Weasley and Head of the House of Weasley, however your father has never formally claimed his titles…. I believe that this is because he had already been rendered unfit to lead his house by your mother when his Uncle, Lord Bilius Weasley, died, passing the responsibility of Head of House on to him. Given that we have ample evidence between us to support the fact that your father is currently unfit to claim the titles of Lord Weasley and Head of the House of Weasley. I would advise that because of the current political situation, you have the Council of Wizards rule that the titles be passed on to you by reason of incapacitation."

Bill just looked at him. "I presume that the people here can do that as the Council of Wizards?"

Gringott nodded. "So you want me to take everything from my father because he's potioned to his eyeballs at the moment and can't do as you ask?"

Gringott gave a goblin smile, this young man had backbone! "No, I'm asking you to temporarily at least assume your place as the Head of the House of Weasley so that others can't use the power of your house to their own ends while your father is incapacitated. If you wish, you can transfer the titles back to him after we have managed to help your father regain his faculties."

Bill looked around the assembled people, Madam Longbottom catching his eye so he turned back to Gringott. "And what of Lord Longbottom? Are you going to transfer his titles to his son as well?"

"No, for a start Dowager Longbottom is Regent for the House of Longbottom as Heir Longbottom is currently six, rather than sixteen…. and more importantly, Lord and Lady Longbottom were surreptitiously removed from Saint Mungo's when Lord Potter returned to our world and they have been under the care of the goblins' healers since then. Lord Longbottom is legally competent to take up his position again, it is only his physical recovery which is restraining him from making his return known, that and the fact that we're waiting for the most opportune time to make use of the surprise that his return will generate."

Bill was nodding thoughtfully, thinking that the powers that be had done a good job of keeping the fact that they'd lost the Longbottoms quiet, but there had been something much bigger in what the goblin had just said. "What do you mean Lord Potter's return? Harry Potter died before Yule."

That earned him another toothy goblin smile. "No Mister Weasley, he did not! His Muggle relatives might have killed him if he hadn't escaped by apparating across London, but I can assure you that he is alive and well and learning how to take his place in our world. The only reason he isn't here tonight is that he is still six so he needs his sleep, and he is also too young to hear the more sordid details of this plot. Much like you were at that age apparently, Lord Potter is remarkably mature for his age and he has been working with the rest of the Wizards Council to rectify the atrocities committed by Albus Dumbledore and his kind, of which the one you brought to us tonight is only the latest…."

"By the way, if you take your place as Lord Weasley and work with us as we hope you will, you should be aware that one of Dumbledore's previous atrocities was getting the previous Lord and Lady Potter murdered and throwing Heir Black into Azkaban without a trial after framing him for that act. It is quite likely that Lord Longbottom's announcement that he has recovered will be at Heir Black's trial…."

He muttered "As soon as we can find where the Rat is hiding!" under his breath, which made Bill ask. "What rat are you referring to Director Gringott?"

Gringott took a moment to register what he said and then shook his head. "Sorry, I was talking to myself. I am referring to Peter Pettigrew, the actual betrayer of the Potters to Riddle..." he waved away the question of who Riddle was, saying "Voldemort! Anyway, Pettigrew cut off his finger and disappeared in his animagus form to frame Sirius Black for the murder of him and those Muggles, and we believe that he's hiding somewhere in Britain in either his human or animagus form."

"And what is his animagus form?"

"A grey rat, which should now be missing one claw from its left front paw."

Bill and Charlie turned to stare at each other in shock, and then Bill turned back to Gringott and asked in a strangled voice. "Would you have an image of what this animagus form looks like Director Gringott?"

Gringott looked at him calculatingly and then nodded and snapped something in Goblin to one of the two young goblins who were normally with him (his nephews who were being trained as his successors actually). When the goblin returned, they set up Sirius' memory to play and both Bill and Charlie swore. Bill turned to Gringott and said "I believe that I know where you can find the Rat Director, it should be at our house because unless I'm mistaken it's been our brother Percy's pet for the last four or five years." Gringott looked at Charlie for confirmation and he nodded grimly, but shuddered at the smile that came over Gringott's face.

Bill had a similar reaction but squared his shoulders and asked. "Does this negate the need for me to assume the titles of Lord Weasley and Head of the House of Weasley Director Gringott?"

That earned him an approving smile. "No Mister Weasley, if anything it makes it more urgent, because we want to take every vote possible off Dumbledore before we take Pettigrew and Heir Black to trial. Therefore I must ask the both of you, do you agree to take the titles of Lord and Head of your Houses at this time?"

Bill and Charlie looked at each other and nodded, both saying "I do!"

When Pandora and the Tonks (that should be the name for a group ;^) returned, they had enough members of the Wizards Council to vote for Arthur to be ruled as currently unable to serve as Head of his House, and for the titles to pass to Bill, then Bill formally accepted the titles for the House of Weasley and Charlie accepted for the House of Prewett, both of them revoking any and all previous voting proxies and immediately allocating their proxies to Lord Greengrass. The beauty of this was that the Wizengamot records system only acknowledged voting proxy changes to the Head of the House, so previous holders had no notice that they had lost the voting proxies. This meant that Dumbledore still believed that he held the Potter, Weasley and Prewett votes among others when in fact he didn't.

As the luck of the draw had it, there was a regular Wizengamot session scheduled for the following day which Dumbledore had advised he could not attend because of his duties at Hogwarts, so Baroness Marchbanks had been nominated and confirmed as Acting Chief Witch. The list of attending Wizengamot members was just enough to avoid having to cancel it as a general session for handling minor business, but once they added the rest of the Guiding Family seats, there were enough to meet the requirements for a criminal trial, and they were banking on having the votes to carry it. They'd had the evidence ready for Sirius' trial for months, but they'd held off because they wanted to avoid letting Magical Britain discover that Harry was alive. Now though, if they could slip in, grab the rat and slip out without anyone noticing tonight, they'd have everything necessary to try both Pettigrew and Sirius, so that Pettigrew would be punished and Sirius cleared.

Of course, Dumbledore's 'duties at Hogwarts' were purely to confirm that William Weasley didn't screw up the initial steps of potioning Tom's host, so he would be watching closely to make sure that it all went as planned…. He hated relying on others because they invariably failed him, but he was painfully aware that McGonagall was watching him closely so he couldn't do this himself. He wouldn't be able to get his hands on Tom's host until Weasley took her far enough away from the school to ensure that it wouldn't be seen, so they would need to keep her potioned up enough for the loving couple act to be believable until they left school for the summer break.

What they'd done to prepare Dora for this was the injection of more mind magic skill sets so she could resist Dumbledore's attempts to read her thoughts and the preparation and supply of potions to counter anything like they were trying to use on her, as well as other potions which would simulate the effects but leave her totally in control of herself. She and Bill would have to keep up the act well enough to convince Dumbledore that she actually was under the effect of the potions, but as luck would have it, Dora was in fact one of the many girls at Hogwarts who fancied Bill, so they were confident that they could pull this off.

Once the Weasley household had gone to bed, Balrog and Gamling (Gringott's nephews) slipped in and ensured that they all stayed asleep as they went through the house until they found the rat in Percy's room, they stunned and took the rat, leaving the door ajar to make it look as though it had slipped out itself, which Bill and Charlie said it did often enough that it was unlikely to be questioned. When Pettigrew came to in human form in an interrogation room surrounded by Aurors he panicked, but that didn't stop him spending the next several hours answering questions under Veritaserum and having his memories harvested.

In the morning, the Guiding Families congregated in the Wizengamot courtroom. Sessions like this were only held to avoid having to reschedule them so most of the Wizengamot members stuck with attending didn't pay any attention to who else was there, they just wanted to get through whatever items there were on the agenda so that they could get on with what they wanted to do that day. It was only when the Chief Witch announced that the session was officially started and that the first item on the agenda was the trial of the marked Death Eater, Peter Pettigrew that they sat up and took notice. Of course, having Lord Longbottom suddenly stand up in the gallery and shake himself as if he'd just woken, bowing to the Chief Witch's seat and saying "My apologies My Lady Chief Witch, I had only thought to take the chance to relax before my first session back on the Wizengamot but I must have fallen asleep, apparently I have not recovered as fully as I believed I had." made them really wonder what was going on.

Griselda nodded regally to him, trying hard not to laugh. "That is quite understandable Lord Longbottom…. May I be the first to welcome you back to the Wizengamot and say that it is good to see you looking so well after your ordeal?"

Frank bowed again. "I thank you for your welcome My Lady, may I take my seat for the session?"

She nodded. "You may My Lord, but to forestall any questions, would you mind verifying your identity for the court?"

Frank nodded. "Surely My Lady" and went to present the Longbottom Head of House ring to the Census Stone, there could be no question of his identity after the stone's voice rang out. "Earl Francis James Longbottom, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom!"

As Frank took his seat, it was obvious that many in the chamber were trying to work out how to get word to those they answered to that the Longbottom had returned, and had taken his seat on the Wizengamot. Unfortunately for them, the Acting Chief Witch wasn't about to allow any such departure from procedure. They had no idea what other shocks they'd be in for before this session finished yet either.

Some members tried to argue that they couldn't force Pettigrew to testify under Veritaserum, couldn't use memories in court and generally tried to block the proceedings, but Griselda shut them all down, and when one wizard in desperation claimed that she wasn't qualified to preside over a criminal trial, Frank leapt to his feet to challenge him for casting aspersions on the Chief Witch's competence and honour. That was when someone who they hadn't noticed before stood up. "Have you been cleared to go back to duty as an Auror yet Lord Longbottom?"

Frank smiled as he bowed to Alastor. "Greetings Lord Moody. No, I have not yet made arrangements with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to have myself re-certified as an active Auror."

"Then I am afraid that I must claim primacy in the right to issue this challenge on the basis of my closer familial relation to Lady Marchbanks Lord Longbottom, unless Mister Warren wishes remove the need for said challenge by offering suitable apologies and compensation for the insult to Lady Marchbanks?"

The wizard in question jumped at the chance to do so, he knew that the 'compensation' angle was going to hurt him but while he'd thought that he might stand a chance against someone who was apparently still in recovery at first, he'd forgotten that the Longbottom had actually been an Auror of some note, and everyone knew about 'Mad-Eye Moody', so there was no way he was ever going to stand against him.

After that diversion, getting a guilty verdict and life in Azkaban sentence for Pettigrew went quickly. They'd been disappointed to discover that aside from the fact he knew who the Potter's secret keeper actually was because he'd cast the fidelius charm, which he could probably talk his way around, there was no solid evidence against Dumbledore because Pettigrew hadn't contacted him since a week before that fateful night. He'd gone to the Weasley's house because he was banking on the fact that no-one would catch on to what he was in that chaotic household, and that they would be too soft hearted to deny him food.

As Pettigrew was being removed, Amelia called Sirius Orion Black, Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black to face the court. Pettigrew squealed and wet himself when he came face to face with the one who had been in Azkaban for over five years because of him, but Sirius just gave him a look of distaste and stepped around him.

To remind the ones on the Wizengamot benches of just who they were dealing with, Griselda asked Sirius to also verify his identity and he did so with a smile and a bow. Hearing "Baron Sirius Orion Black, Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black!" made for a lot of confused faces in the court room, because just about everyone had been sure that he had been disowned, but he couldn't have been if he was Heir Black, which both the ring and the stone had confirmed.

It took much less time to have Sirius formally announced innocent of all charges, and the Wizengamot had just voted to grant him a compensation payment of four thousand galleons for each month since he was unlawfully incarcerated in an effort to try and get on his good side when the doors of the court room burst open and the Minister for Magic stormed in. She ordered the DMLE people in the court room to arrest Black but Amelia stayed them with a raised hand. "On what charge Minister Bagnold?"

"He is a fugitive from justice, an escapee from Azkaban!"

"Well strictly speaking to be a fugitive from justice, justice must have been first served Minister. When the marked Death Eater Peter Pettigrew was apprehended alive and well, I called for Heir Black's trial records to determine how he could have been found guilty of murdering Peter Pettigrew when he was actually alive, and do you know what I found Minister Bagnold? There was no trial record, because Heir Black was never given a trial, there wasn't even an investigation made into his alleged crimes…. we cast the Prior Incantato on his wand which was still being held in evidence and it displayed none of the blasting or cutting spells we were told were used that day, so even that basic step had been ignored. The only thing of note I found in his file was the order to send Heir Black straight to Azkaban without a trial, which was signed by Bartemius Crouch, Albus Dumbledore, and yourself Minister Bagnold. I believe that you will have to agree that that was highly irregular Minister, especially as Peter Pettigrew has testified under Veritaserum here in court that he was the Potter's secret keeper who betrayed them to his master Voldemort as he is a marked Death Eater, and that Mister Dumbledore knew that he was the secret keeper because he was the one who cast the fidelius charm. So, given that without a trial Heir Black's imprisonment was itself illegal, and the DMLE retrieved him to investigate the issue once the discrepancies in his case were discovered, what possible reason can there be for ordering Heir Black's arrest Minister?"

Bagnold's eyes narrowed and she stepped closer to Amelia, lowering her voice, but she didn't realise that someone had cast a sonorous charm on her, and she got out. "I'd be very careful about crossing me if I were you Bones..." before she got over her shock and stopped talking. She knew that it hadn't been Bones who did it because her hands had been in plain view the whole time and she hadn't spoken... someone had just made a big mistake, but all she could do at that point was beat a hasty retreat.

Unfortunately for the Minister, the Daily Prophet's policy was to have reporters at every Wizengamot session just in case some juicy morsels came out, but while that session had been a veritable feast of scandal, the Minister for Magic trying to privately threaten the Director of the DMLE for pointing out the illegality of the incarceration of the Heir to one of the richest and most powerful houses in Magical Britain was so tantalising that it still made the front page.

Having the threat made that public was the best protection Amelia could have had though, because Bagnold would have been a fool to go after her then, and Millicent Bagnold was no fool.

Amelia was well aware that Bagnold would be doing her best to get rid of her now, but so long as she did everything by the book there was little she could do. And if she did manage to get rid of her… well she had the House of Bones' business to manage and she was legitimately working with known magic aware groups of Her Majesty's government to clear up the werewolf problem and address problems of witches and wizards who'd had to go back to the Non-Magical world because they couldn't make a good enough living in the Magical world, if she lost her position at the Ministry she had a standing offer of a better one in Her Majesty's employ.

In the Weasley household, it was days before Percy started to get worried about what had happened to his rat Scabbers, because it wasn't unusual for it to hole up somewhere for a few days and then come back when the food ran out. After a week or two his father told him that Scabbers must have run off, and his mother used some of the money she had hidden away to buy him a nice owl so that he could write home more often when he went to Hogwarts in five months or so because she couldn't stand to see her darling boy upset... not when he reminded her so much of his father.

At least Albus had reported that William was doing a good job of keeping that Tonks witch on a short leash… while she certainly wouldn't want her son consorting with the spawn of the House of Black, in her mind William was Arthur's son, not her's (in her heart of hearts, only Percy and Ginny really mattered because they were Barty's) so she was happy that he was keeping Albus appeased.

Bill and Dora were actually having a good time putting on the act for Dumbledore, Minerva had had a talk to Bill, reminding him that this was all an act and he was to treat Dora with respect, but the hurt he showed at that made her ashamed of herself. Bill told her that he was well aware that this thing with Dumbledore was an act, but his respect, admiration and affection for Dora was not an act! They'd actually found that they shared a deep interest in the more challenging aspects of magic, and their excitement over what they were discussing looked to Dumbledore and others to be the sexual excitement he was expecting to see, so he was quite pleased with how well his plan was working.

Given that this was the only thing that had gone to plan for him of late, Dumbledore found that he was watching William and Tom's host quite a bit, and this in turn led to having doubts about William. Tom's host was behaving as expected for the potions that she was being dosed with, but William almost seemed to be behaving the same way…. No, he was doubtless looking too hard for problems after that debacle with Black and the new round of slanderous articles being written by that Skeeter witch, and if there was an element of attraction for Tom's host in William, well the potions were his mother's creation, and knowing Molly she had probably added something into the potions she created to increase her own excitement. After all, if she could have held back from being such a harlot and focussed on her studies when she was at Hogwarts, Molly could have become one of the foremost potions masters of her time, so seeing creative potions from her shouldn't be a surprise.

For that matter, the lambasting he'd gotten from Bagnold over that mess had made his ears ring for two days, but it was hardly his fault that she'd been stupid enough to get herself caught trying to threaten Bones when Bones pointed out that there wasn't a thing that could be done about Black, was it? He'd almost pointed out that he'd advised against Bones being given her current position on the basis that she was too diligent and unyielding on matters of law, but had caught himself just in time.

While recent events hadn't been at all kind to Albus Dumbledore, by and large they'd worked out pretty well for Sirius Black. Once he'd been officially cleared of all charges and was free to rejoin society, his grandfather Arcturus had asked to see him and they'd had an interesting discussion. The key point of this discussion was that his grandfather wanted him to take more of an interest in running the House of Black's affairs, because it would be his responsibility once he became Lord Black. To this end he bequeathed a number of significant properties and businesses that were currently in bad shape to Sirius and charged him with turning them around. One of these showed Sirius where he'd gotten his…. distinct…. sense of humour from, because it was the Black's London Townhouse in Grimmauld Place that Sirius had grown up in. While Sirius didn't want to have anything to do with it, it was traditionally the home of the Black Heir, so his grandfather was laying down a challenge.

It frustrated Sirius a little that he couldn't force his grandfather to put conditions on what he could do with these properties and businesses to make them work so that he could turn the challenge down without conceding defeat. He started with what he thought would be an easy win, the fact that he'd already formally named his heir and he was a Half-Blood of another House. Arcturus laughed, saying that Harry's grandmother Dorea was a worthy daughter of the House of Black and Lily Potter had been one of the brightest and best witches of the century. He was intrigued when Sirius laughed and said that Harry may have found himself a Muggleborn witch who was even brighter than his mother, and that he'd successfully apparated across London using an image he saw on the Muggle television a month earlier, not to mention being a working metamorphmagus and achieving an animagus transformation into a magical creature with two forms at six.

Then Sirius said that he'd be hiring ex-werewolves and Muggleborns to staff the businesses that he was expected to turn around and instead of an argument he got interested questions and helpful suggestions. Arcturus was fascinated and impressed by the fact that a six year old had come up with the answer for the age old werewolf problem and that they retained most of the advantages once they were cured. His shrewd questions about how much magical training Magical werewolves generally had led to a suggestion that they could be more effective if they were given the training to make up for what they'd been denied, and that the Muggleborns would probably be suitable to provide that training.

One of the challenges his grandfather gave him really caught Sirius' attention, because spending so much time with the Potters while he was at Hogwarts, he'd heard many stories about the world's two most infamous magical pirate ships, the Potters' Garuda in the East Indies Archipelago, and the Blacks' Raven in the Caribbean. Both ships were built in the Seventeenth Century, but they had spent much of the time since then in stasis. He'd actually seen the Garuda, the Potters' hundred foot Lamba, because she had been based in Bran Holm ever since the island of Krakatoa exploded in 1883, but she hadn't been used much since Henry Potter's explorer days in the early part of the Twentieth Century. Not much had been heard of the Raven, the Blacks' hundred and thirty odd foot black sailed three masted Bermuda Sloop, since the House of Black lost Castell Du to the goblins in the last Goblin Rebellion, and popular belief was that she had been lost with the castle. Apparently she had been stored in a cave on Isla Negra in the Caribbean under stasis for much of the time since then, as there had been less and less use over time for such a distinctive black sailing ship of her size in piracy or smuggling operations. Making the Raven into a profitable enterprise would definitely be a challenge, but she was more of a gift than a challenge from his grandfather, after all how could a hundred and thirty odd foot magical ship that was faster than most contemporary ships, was magically expanded inside to several times the size of the ship itself, that could fly, travel underwater and be made invisible and was magically armed and armoured not be a gift?

Sirius found that he was quite enjoying talking to his Grandfather once he realised that he and Andi obviously weren't the only throwbacks to what the Blacks used to be, but he was still determined to win this so he played his trump card, that the moment he became Lord Black he'd be casting Bellatrix and Narcissa out of the House of Black and annulling their marriages so he could reclaim all of the Black money from the Houses of Lestrange and Malfoy to put a stop to it being used to fund Riddle's Death Eaters. That of course led to questions about why he was calling Voldemort Riddle and his grandfather was enraged that any children of the House of Black would shame their House by becoming branded slaves of a half-blood bastard who'd come from one of the most degraded bloodlines in Magical Britain and then using the Black fortune to fill his coffers.

When Arcturus had calmed down enough to stop breaking things he took a breath and told Sirius.

"You will not be casting Bellatrix and Narcissa out of the House of Black and annulling their marriages when you become Lord Black Sirius!"

Sirius drew himself up, thinking that he'd won this as he growled. "And what makes you think I won't?"

"The fact that I am doing it right now!"

With that, Arcturus drew himself up and formally expelled Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy from the House of Black, annulling their marriages to Rodolphos Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy and calling for any and all dowry monies and holdings and Black belongings in their possession, and any and all monies and holdings accruing from them to be returned to the House of Black, citing that they had brought shame on the House of Black through their and their husbands actions by allowing themselves to be branded by and abasing themselves to a half-blood bastard of common birth.

He also called on the Wizards Council to formally eradicate the House of Lestrange in Magical Britain, demanding that everything remaining to the House of Lestrange be forfeited to the Houses of Black and Longbottom as their Houses had been most wronged by the actions of the last Lestranges.

When these acts were performed, first Bellatrix, and then Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange collapsed in their cells in Azkaban, because they had suddenly lost the Black and Lestrange family magics, and the magical knowledge that went with them. All they retained was what they had of their mothers' family magic and that was not enough to help them survive in Azkaban (Muggleborn and Half-Blood witches and wizards generally found that their personal magic alone was sufficient, but the magical ability of the traditional 'Pureblood' families which refused to marry outside of the small group of interrelated 'Pure' families had been steadily declining over time, so many of the children of those houses needed their family magic to bolster their weaker personal magic). Bellatrix became discombobulated when the shock of losing the family magics broke the tenuous hold she had on her last threads of sanity. Other prisoners reported that she actually rushed to embrace the dementor that came to her cell, crying out "My Lord!", so she apparently believed that it was Lord Voldemort, but whatever the reason she received her last kiss from that dementor. Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange had also succumbed to the depreciations of the dementors within six months of Bellatrix's death.

Narcissa Malfoy felt the effects of the loss of the Black and Malfoy family magics just as keenly as her sister, but survived it because she had always had a rather stronger grasp on reality. She had a harder time surviving her husband's anger when he discovered how much of what he regarded as the Malfoy fortune (including most of their house elves) had been lost when Lord Black reclaimed what rightfully belonged to the House of Black. To save face, Lucius Malfoy was forced to reinstate his marriage to Narcissa and formally adopt his own son in order to reinstate him as his Heir, using blood adoption rituals to reconnect him with the Malfoy family magic. At least they hadn't wasted any time on the boy's magical training, because like many children of traditional Pureblood families, the seven year old Draco's magic had not begun to present itself yet.

Lucius did not bother reconnecting his wife to the Malfoy family magic as he blamed her for what had happened. Narcissa was too intelligent to point out that the fact that he was a marked Death Eater was the reason that she had been cast out of the House of Black and their marriage had been annulled, but her treatment by her husband for what were largely the results of his choices led her to spending quite a bit of the free time she now had reviewing what options were available to her. She was actually relieved that Lucius no longer wanted to have anything to do with her, but then his interest in her as anything but arm dressing had waned as soon as the House of Malfoy had an Heir. While she was upset about being separated from her son, the constant stream of gifts he got from his father had already made Draco a 'Daddy's boy', but Narcissa paused and wondered what would happen if Lucius ever stopped trying to buy his affection.

A/N: Yeah, I know the potty training dig was a low blow but if the shoe fits… you've probably got a couple of ugly step-sisters. ;^)