November 11th, Wednesday, Gringotts + Moony's Cottage

Arcturus arrived at Gringotts, office no. 3, with a whole entourage.

"I am so sorry, Account Manager Blackfang. It was supposed to only be Sirius and me who came. But Harry insisted on coming along, which led Draco to want to join as well, and Narcissa and Regulus decided to tag along then, too."

Unflappable Blackfang nodded and answered, "Maybe it is for the best. You wanted to talk about the rules of marriage in your family and a woman's point of view should be helpful."

Arcturus blinked, "You are right. When I established the first rules about marriage, Melania was more than important in writing them up. She was the driving force behind them. - Narcissa, I must apologize for not asking you to come along in the first place. Would you mind having Regulus look after the boys and help us establish this?"

Narcissa nodded, looking quite satisfied to those who knew her, "Certainly, Grandfather." She gathered her skirts and elegantly sat down next to Arcturus at Blackfang's desk.

The four of them hatched out quite a bit more rules and regulations while Regulus played with Harry and Draco on the play blanket they had brought with them.

First of all, mandatory health checks were established for every member of the Black family, which lead Arcturus and Sirius to warn Blackfang (and therefore Gringotts) about the usually undetectable personality-changing spells on many of them that were cast used by Dumbledore (and others). Even on half-giants and werewolves.

This led to a break in their meeting as Blackfang immediately informed the Gringotts healers of this. They had known about the Aurors wanting to implement an annual health check overseen by Gringotts but hadn't yet been informed why that was. Sirius then was tasked to supply a full list of all spells the Aurors had found so far and their counter-spells later that day.

After this was out of the way, they looked at the rules of marriage and established an additional health check for the bride and groom before their special day. They also implemented that marriages with Muggle-born were encouraged not hindered in any way or form to keep the magic of their line rejuvenated, as well as a few more regulations to assure Bella was the last victim of a greedy and power-hungry family member even if the Head of the Family was incapacitated.

[Arcturus planned on doing more research on the question if Muggle-born actually did help refresh Pure-blood lines or not, maybe even via the Wizengamot. But for now, he saw more benefits than harm with this new rule. There was some evidence strengthening this theory, after all.]

They also made sure to cement those rules should the Head of the Family himself be the greedy and power-hungry one, after Narcissa had pointed out that possibility.

When finished with this topic, Narcissa and Regulus changed places and Blackfang activated a silencing bubble over the four of them.

"We don't want any more people to know about forbidden magics," he explained.

Regulus started, "Have you found any more Horcruxes?"

Blackfang scowled, "No. There are at least two more out there and we have no idea where to look. – The dark idiot (at that Regulus nearly fell off his chair) never was our customer and therefore we do not know his true identity to investigate his origins."

"You don't?" Arcturus asked in surprise, "His real name is Tom Riddle. He went to school at the same time as Orion. Tom was a bit older than him. Quite charismatic, that boy. Walburga was very taken with him. "

Blackfang was writing the new information down, "Riddle is not a wizarding name," he stated.

"No. Even though he was sorted into Slytherin he was thought to be Muggle-born at first. But when he was found to be a parselmouth his direct lineage to Slytherin from his maternal side became known," Arcturus remembered.

"Hm. We will research that then. Thank you, Lord Black."

[The goblins would be able to find the ring Horcrux, which was hidden in Little Hangleton, a month later. But the last one (the diadem in Hogwarts) stayed hidden. So, even though, Riddle still had a Horcrux around, he never managed to get a body back and disappeared at some point. The goblins kept watch and pronounce him dead in 2100. The diadem was found a century later by an enterprising Ravenclaw looking for help to save the world – once again.]

Just as they had collected and packed everything a beautiful song could be heard which made even Blackfang smile.

A ball of fire appeared in front of the astonished audience and a young phoenix flapped his wings lazily, staying in one place quite easily, and singing the most joyous of songs.

He didn't stay for long, at least Blackfang's clock insisted on that, but it lifted and healed all their spirits tremendously.

Then the phoenix flame-ported away again, leaving a group of awed people in his wake.

"Pwetty!" Harry announced and Draco nodded, "Very pretty!"

"Tome batt, bi'die!"

But the phoenix named Fawkes remained lost to the wizarding world, enjoying his freedom.

After Sirius had written the list of spells and their counters for Gringotts and had sent it off, he made sure Harry was sleeping and Apparated to the little area Remus had prepared for his arrival.

As soon as he appeared next to the nice little cottage James and Lily had bequeathed to Remus, he transformed into Padfoot and bounded off in search of Moony.

He 'found' the werewolf when he heard him howl at the full moon. But it sounded different. Not as tortured. No, it sounded joyous and wild!

Padfoot's heart beat quicker, so he yipped and started to run in the direction of that awesome sound to be with his friend immediately.

November 12th, Thursday, Moony's Cottage

The next morning, Remus woke curled naked around a sleeping, black dog. This was not a new occurrence. But what was new was the absence of pain. A total absence of even soreness.

Sirius had told him on Monday that a comparison of the magical signature of the caster of the submission spell with the secret archive had yielded no name. It was cast by someone outside of magical Great Britain or in the far-off past. But the loyalty spell had been cast by Albus. There had been absolutely no doubt.

So, the possibility that this spell was inherited when a victim was bitten was there. Even if it was quite a vicious and far-fetched one and they asked themselves how Grayback had managed to become alpha. Maybe that was why the man was so twisted?

Remus decided then and there he would make it his goal in life to eradicate this curse if that was the case. He would visit every wolfpack and tell them about it. Because being Moony wasn't the horrible part. Being a rapid beast each month that would kill if it had the chance was the real problem.

Remus slowly got up and went to the cottage he owned now. Sneaky James and Lily. They had tried to give it to him before but he had always refused, not wanting to be a charity case. But they had the last laugh it seemed, he thought grinning sadly.

Friday the 13th, November, Castle Black

Arcturus leaned back in his chair at the head of the long table and watched as Pollux was dragged off by Moody and Bones.

The rest of the attendees of the Black family meeting had quite different reactions to the proceedings.

First of all, Irma Black, née Crabbe looked like she couldn't decide between being outraged or relieved. Unfortunately, she decided on being outraged in the end and stormed out. Well, good riddance then, Arcturus thought and washed his hands of her. She had gotten the now-mandatory check-up before the meeting like everyone and had been found uncompromised by any spells, charms, or potions, so this was all her.

The others from the older generation, the reinstated sisters Cedrella Weasley and Callidora Longbottom watched gleefully as the House they descended from cleaned itself and turned a new leaf. Pollux's sister Cassiopeia didn't show any empathy for her brother. And she knew him best, Arcturus decided. This confirmed his decision to hand Pollux over to the Ministry which would result in life in Azkaban, he was sure.

Arcturus's daughter Lucretia looked content and much healthier now than when she had arrived this morning, before seeing Poppy. She and her husband Ignatius were the only ones left from the generation of Arcturus's children.

The rest, the younger generation consisting of Sirius, Regulus, Andromeda, Ted, and Narcissa stood fully behind him he knew.

He glanced toward the play area where Nymphadora was entertaining Harry, Draco, Neville, and their sitter of the day, Alice, the niece-in-law of Callidora. Those four children had strong ties to the Black family and looked happy and content.

"Well, there is that," Arcturus said. "Has anyone else anything to add or criticize about the new family rules?"

Everyone was shaking their head and Lucretia said, "I like them. The old rules helped me with marrying my love but unfortunately didn't help Bella or Narcissa. So, I see their necessity. And the health checks just make sense and I ask myself why they weren't established as a rule before?"

"Probably because it is so common sense that the older generations didn't see the need to write it down," Cedrella said dryly and the rest chuckled, Lucretia included.

"That would be my guess too. But Poppy told me of the habit wizard and witches have, to go to the healers too late for even them to help, as our healing powers are so mighty, normally," Arcturus warned.

Lucretia blushed, "Like I would have, if not for this new rule. Poppy told me I would have died within the next year."

The others gasped and Lucretia assured them all was well now.

"Well, now only the most unpleasant part is left for us to do. The expulsion of Pollux and Walburga because of the aforementioned reasons," Arcturus said decisively. "Whoever wants to take part, please accompany me to the ritual circle outside. The rest may visit the children," he pointed to the play area where Nymphadora had turned her hair pink, much to the delight of the boys.

To his astonishment, most came to attend the ritual showing their support of his decision by deed. Only Narcissa went to her son, while Sirius, as the heir, snook out with the rest, hoping Harry would be distracted.

Sirius and Regulus were the only ones knowing where their birth mother was at the moment and what her fate was going to be. Like his brother, Sirius was of two minds about her. So he had decided, to stand back and let Arcturus avenge the death of his son unchallenged. Sirius didn't know what he should think about it but Lady Magic had accepted, so who was he to interfere?

Well, he decided, let's concentrate on throwing that creep Pollux out of the family and nothing else.

After they were done, the unofficial, much nicer part of the meeting took place and they reconnected with one another, starting to make the Black family a cohesive and formidable unit once more.

A/N: Arcturus hadn't been able to find Marius in the short time he had.

November 14th, Saturday, Herbarium, 11:45 + Castle Black, Evening

Alice, Poppy, and Gus were crowded around Harry's mirror once more, which had been silenced from their end once again.

Harry had lost interest in watching Sirius and hearing old people talk quite some time ago and only came over once in a while to check if his Bafoo was still there. Luckily Neville didn't mind and patiently waited for his playmate to return each time.

Meanwhile, Narcissa was at the Castle with Andromeda, feeling the safest there while waiting for her husband's trial to occur.

Speaking of Lucius, "You can't do that! I am a Pure-blood lord! I have rights!" They could hear Malfoy bellow from the off while Sirius watched on dispassionately.

The banging of a gavel could be heard, "Silence! Remove the convict from this chamber. The sentencing was close to unanimous. Now, bring the next accused, there are many waiting," Lord Ogden's voice said.

"Oh dear, they said they had two dozens of trials to go through, right? And those are only the marked followers of You-Know-Who," Gus sighed. "How many did we have followed by now?"

"Five, I think. All clear-cut cases with the sentence of life in Azkaban," Alice answered. "So, not even one forth yet."

The other two women sighed but then listened in again.

"Well, I was told this case is different," Lord Ogden's voice said. "It should help us endure the horrors and monotony of some of the other cases. Severus Snape, take a seat."

They didn't hear the clanging of chains as with the other accused ones, only some murmuring from the gallery. At least that was their guess of where that noise came from.

Sirius looked at the man with uncertainty on his face. Regulus called him his best friend, but he had also been Sirius's schoolyard nemesis.

"Severus Snape, you are accused of being a member of a terrorist group called the Death Eaters whose main goal is to overthrow our government and eradicate all Muggle-born. Additionally, you are charged with brewing five different kinds of illegal potions. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, Your Honor."

Loud surprised voices could be heard. All the others had pleaded 'not guilty' and had landed in Azkaban. Even Sirius raised his eyebrows and blinked.

"As with all of the other accused, we will repeat your questioning under veritaserum, asking the exact same questions as before in front of the Wizengamot. Do you consent?"

"I do, sir."

Once again this was different. The others had tried to weasel out of this.

"That boy is doing quite well, wouldn't you say?" Gus asked in admiration. "He will not see the insides of Azkaban, mark my words."

A/N: See chapter 19 for the interrogation of Severus Snape – The questioning is identical

And she was right. After all was said and done, Severus Snape was sentenced to 5 years of house arrest and Lord Black had immediately volunteered to host the young Potions Master.

Others had been astonished by that at first and then had been quite put out. To have a Potions Master at one's beck and call was nearly unheard of and a huge bonus. But the old lord had reacted much more quickly than the rest, so they only had themselves to blame.

The gavel banged again and Lord Ogden called, "Half an hour tea break. We will continue at 12:45, be here by then, or be locked out."

The three women chuckled. Ogden would follow through with this. He had done the same when they had started exactly at 8:30 in the morning,#.

"My guess is, he will hold six more trials this afternoon. At that pace, they will be done in two days, don't you think?" Poppy asked.

"Yes, I agree. Well, let's feed the boys and have them take a nap," Alice answered and the three went to collect their charges who had managed to climb into one of the monster tulips and were using it as a swing.

When collected, they were both bright yellow.

"Well, aren't you two bright little bees? We should use you to pollinate the other tulips," Alice grinned at the disgruntled-looking boys and waved her wand to clean them up much to their disgust. It had taken hard work to get the yellow stuff everywhere!

That evening Sirius bundled Harry up for a sleepover at Castle Black. There they met Severus Snape and welcomed him to the Black abode.

Harry was quite taken with the dark Potions Master and demanded to sit next to him at dinner, much to the man's confusion and very secret and hidden joy. He was less delighted when he was appointed the name 'Sevvie' by the imperious little boy who thought the rhyme of the words 'Sevvie' and 'Nevvie' was hilarious.

But alas, no one could escape the charm attack of Harry Potter, so Severus resigned himself to his fate.

Regulus in the meantime was over the moon. He had thought he would die when he went to the cave because there had been no way to escape the Dark Lord but death. And now, not even two weeks later, at least to him, the Dark Lord was gone, his Grandfather had regained his wits and his brother had returned to the family. Bringing a tiny bundle of joy that made the future look even brighter. And now his best friend Severus had joined them as well. He felt as if he could burst, he was so happy for the first time in his life.

Meanwhile, Severus had decided just to run with it. Everything was quite overwhelming. About a week ago he had resigned himself to his fate and had hoped to die soon. And now? He looked around. Now he was sitting at the table with Arcturus, Sirius and Regulus Black, as well as Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter of all people.

"So, you were employed at Hogwarts, Mr. Snape?" Lord Black asked.

Sirius nearly snorted but caught himself in time.

"Yes, sir. But the contract was broken by the sentencing."

"I am sorry, to hear that."

"I am not, sir. Teaching is not my forte."

Arcturus chuckled, "Understood. So let me guess, this was Albus's idea?"

"Indeed," Severus scowled and Harry tried to imitate that expression much to Draco's delight who cheerfully joined in, forgetting his shyness at last.

Sirius facepalmed and Narcissa giggled, much to her own surprise.

"You are quite the menace, aren't you?" Severus asked Harry in a friendly voice.

"Menace!" Harry agreed, happy with the easy word. "Me Hawwy. And menace!"

"Harry the Menace. Sounds good, pup."

"Not Bub!…Pub…Bup," Harry tried scowling again but laughed too when everybody else did at his antics. Even Sevvi's mouth was twitching a little!

Harry felt quite accomplished.

Short, Summarized Glimpses into the Future

Dumbledore's interrogation under veritaserum happens – much to his horror – and his many manipulations and misdeeds become widely known. The reason for all of them seems to be an underlying hunger for power and control, with a pinch of greed thrown in. He is sentenced to Azkaban for life without the possibility of parole. Nearly no one heads his warnings that Voldemort isn't gone and he spends the rest of his life at Azkaban waiting for the Dark wizard to return, which he never does, and hopes to regain his lost power until the end. The Fall of Dumbledore marks a second historic wake-up moment for the British wizarding world. It becomes very much apparent that one man should never hold as much power as Dumbledore did.

The rest of the trials happen just as swiftly as the first six and within the month of November, most of the Death Eaters go to prison, like Rodolpho Lestrange for example. Dolohov is the only one to manage to escape that fate, having been sentenced to ten years of house arrest next to Snape. Some of the younger Death Eaters who joined due to family and peer pressure are tried and get a reduced sentence of ten years in Azkaban. They did cast an Unforgivable, so this is the lowest the Wizengamot is willing to go. Only those who have been potioned by Dumbledore escape prison. But there isn't even a trial for them. Meanwhile, most of the families of the supporters of the Dark Lord are relieved they did spend the 10g to allow the goblins to extract all nefarious items from their homes. Those who didn't have to pay much steeper fines now when those are discovered by the investigating Aurors.

Rabastan becomes Lord Lestrange and pulls his family name out of the gutter. He and Barty stay friends for life and become godparents to each other's children. Barty and his mum live at Lestrange Manor for as long as Crouch Sn. is alive.

Severus develops many a spell, e.g., to combine partial magical signatures and to check the Ministry archives easily, which leads to a new era of crime investigation. He loves having time to research and develop potions and spells and not having to teach pubescent brats. But he adores the four hellions, Harry, Susan, Draco, and Neville, whom he dubs the 'Quartet of Chaos'. Severus also heads to Gringotts after his house arrest is over and listens to the will of Lily where she forgives him and asks for forgiveness in return for being stubborn and ignoring him after their fall-out. It is the last puzzle piece Severus needs to let the guilt that is coloring his past go. – Much to his surprise, he is admired greatly by Harry and Draco who both seem to want to follow in his footsteps and even little Neville looks up to him.

The two suspended Aurors, whose negligence caused Bella's death at least indirectly, are let go from the force when they show no real understanding or remorse for what happened on their watch. The Auror force is better off without them. Those who silenced her in the cells have to go through one year of training once more.

Peter is discovered by Arthur as he is informed about the existence of the rat before the news hit the papers in December 1981. Peter ends up in Azkaban with Animagus-suppression-cuffs, as a courtesy of Sirius Black. It's even engraved into them.

Lord Ogden establishes many new standards in the Wizengamot and has them written into law and has everyone working at the Ministry scanned by the Aurors. They find many compromised minds. From the janitor up to the Minister, who decides to stay in office a while longer to implement some failsafe procedures against such occurrences in the future.

All cases of Azkaban's inmates from before November 1981 are being revised and quite many inmates are set free, much to Crouch's horror and shame. As he wasn't one of the compromised ones, he loses his job at the Ministry and disappears into obscurity, while his wife stays with her son and gets healed by Poppy and the goblins.

Augusta Longbottom remembers the promise she gave herself and roots out three Ministry employees who had been in cahoots with the Death Eaters and had assisted their raids by closing the floo-connections of their victims. They hadn't been found by the interrogations of the Death Eaters under veritaserum. This causes Moody to train all Aurors in interrogation techniques once more. One of the three is a young mother called Mrs. Edgecombe.

The Wizarding World becomes a much better place and the Black family becomes influential and very powerful once more. Just with Muggle-born and Half-bloods added to the family via marriage and later by birth. The former abilities of the Black family return with force so the births of metamorphmagi aren't a once-in-a-century occurrence anymore, for example.

Sirius marries a Half-blood witch from France in '89 and has three children with her, much to Arcturus's joy. A pair of wild, metamorphmagic twin boys and a very prim and proper little girl whom her parents love very much but who is understood much better by her Aunt Cissy. Harry quite happily abdicates his place in the succession to inherit the Black family lordship. He thinks being Heir Potter is enough if he can't be just Harry.

Alice and Frank have 3 more children and live a fulfilled and busy life.

All of this makes a joyous childhood for Harry, who grows up mainly at Castle Black, but also at the Herbarium, Grimmauld Place, and Bones Manor surrounded by many friends and children, and caring adults.

Harry, Neville, Draco, and Susan become best friends for life, and without Lucius' influence, Draco becomes a very different person. Their Hogwarts houses are:
- Draco – Ravenclaw
- Harry – Slytherin
- Neville – Hufflepuff
- Susan – Gryffindor

Hogwarts barely survives the Quartet of Chaos. Fortunately, it had undergone quite the changes and therefore could handle the bright and energetic foursome.

Regulus and Severus stay living at Castle Black and they blood-adopt two children, later (much later). But they never marry and no one ever sees them kiss, so it stays unclear whether they are a couple or not, much to Sirius's annoyance. They both are quite private men, after all, and even their kids – when older – keep mum about it.

Narcissa never marries again and stays at Castle Black, too. She is invaluable help with all the children of Sirius, Remus, the Longbottoms, and later her son's and his friend's kids. But even though she never remarries, she never has any problems finding short- and long-term partners if she so desires.

Draco gains his Mastery of Charms and studies the Fidelius Charm extensively. Especially how it can be transferred and broken and answers decades-old questions for Sirius, the Longbottom couple, and Poppy. He is just happy they inadvertently gave him such a perfect and unique charm to study for his master's thesis.

Neville gets his Mastery in Herbology – duh –, Susan in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry follows in the footsteps of his Uncle Severus and nearly manages to get his Mastery even earlier than his role model.

Arcturus's rest of life is filled with family, friends, an always full house and laughter, as well as many Wizengamot sessions. He is very content, even if he misses his wife dearly until he dies at the age of 187.

Meanwhile, the werewolves all over the world are helped by Remus Lupin who trains many others to spread the 'cure', and they become just another species in the Wizarding world with the same rights as other witches and wizards, now that they are not dangerous mindless beasts anymore. And even if he never finds the instigator of the curse – much to his annoyance – he becomes much revered in the werewolf community.

On a side note, Kingsley Shacklebolt stays the last true owner of the Elder wand. Because he dies peacefully in his sleep as an old man. As fate has it, he never gets disarmed in a real fight, and therefore the wand's loyalty stays with him till the very end. (It is in a box lost somewhere in the evidence room, anyway.) After that happens, the Invisibility cloak of the Potters and the ring the goblins were using since 1982 slowly start to lose their power, and the Deathly Hallows are no more. Not that anyone knows.

And Poppy? She opens her healer's practice in Diagon Alley and becomes even more renowned, respected, and liked. She is happy. No one ever realizes just how much her integrity – being stronger than Dumbledore's spells – has changed the course of history, even if the Longbottoms and Blacks have an inkling. Her main goal in life now is to establish annual check-ups for every witch and wizard. Fortunately for her, the Aurors do them religiously by now, aided by Gringotts, and the Black family does so as well. This example causes many a family to copy this procedure because the Blacks can do no wrong in many minds.

The end.

A/N: Wow, there were a lot of story threads to tie up into neat little bows. Hope you didn't get bored reading them! I am not happy with the summary stuff. Not very engaging, right? But that's all I have...

I also hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing this story, overall. 😊

Take care and have a nice weekend!