AN: This is my take on the lordship trope. Dumbledore in this fic is good but also someone that failed upwards because he defeated Grindelwald and is only competent in transfiguration, alchemy and understanding the dark arts.
Chapter 1: The discovery.
It all started when Harry ran away from his relatives' house, when he inflated his uncle's sister after she insulted Harry's parents too many times. Harry accidentally summoned the knight bus to go to Diagon Alley, where he encountered minister Fudge. Harry was now staying in the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer, quietly finishing his summer assignments and enjoying Diagon Alley.
Harry was enjoying ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, when he was approached by a brown haired woman with a small brown haired girl with gray eyes, "Young man, can we join you?" the older woman asked.
Harry said, "Sure."
The woman asked Harry while she was ordering her ice cream, "What's your name?"
"Harry Potter."
The woman asked, "You are THE Harry Potter?"
"Yes I am." Harry lifted his fringe, showing his lightning scar.
The woman laughed, "You don't seem to be an arrogant troublemaker like the professor that introduced us to the magical world said!"
The little girl added, "They told us to steer clear of you, that you are a bad influence, that you behaved like someone thought yourself better than everyone else."
Harry's curiosity piqued, "Just a question, was the professor named Severus Snape?"
The woman shook her head, "No, it was Minerva McGonagall"
Harry dropped his ice cream, "WHAT!", then he called for Fortescue to clean, "Sorry Mr. Fortescue, I was shocked by something I was told," Harry handed him some galleons, "I ask for a double chocolate with forbidden forest forage."
Fortescue smiled, "Don't worry, this always happens!"
The woman asked, "Why are you so shocked!"
Harry answered, "Professor McGonagall was always so fair to me!" Harry lowered his head, "Except for that time she accused me of wanting to drag Malfoy and Neville into trouble and sent me to detention in the forbidden forest!"
The woman then asked, "Hey, isn't the forbidden forest forbidden because it is so dangerous?"
Harry just said "Yeah! We had to hunt something that was killing unicorns!"
The woman's eyes widened. She shook her head and said, "Hey, we were so rude. My name is Aster Kent and this is my daughter Carina, she is starting her Hogwarts education this year."
"Cool."
"We are going to Gringotts now, they told us to take an inheritance test to see if we can claim any vaults that we could be descendants of a squib line of an extinct family. Do you want to join us?"
Harry didn't have anything better to do, "Yes, I do."
The small group finished their ice creams and set their directions to Gringotts. Harry decided that he wanted to test himself as well when he found out that the test registered the name of any ancestor that used the bank, and with a bit of blood they could see if they were descendants of people that used the bank, up to five generations.
Carina feared the test a little, so Harry went first in order to calm her.
The goblin named Goldclaw handed Harry a knife, "Mr. Potter, we need some drops of blood in that basin."
Harry took the knife, cut his finger and let some drops of blood fall in the stone basin. The goblin then poured a blue potion in the basin, a potion that when it touched the blood turned gold, then a few balls of light scattered, with them then returning with pieces of parchment. Goldclaw then took those pieces of parchments and put them in a box. Then he poured another potion in the box and some letters started to project, like a hologram.
Harry James Potter
Lord of the House of Potter in the Council of the Seventy
Regent: Sirius Orion Black
Claimant to the house of Gaunt(Weak claim)
16th in the line of succession of the house of Rosier
25th in the line of succession of the house of Abbot
Father: James Fleamont Potter
Mother: Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans
Paternal Grandfather: Fleamont Morgan Potter
Paternal Grandmother: Euphemia Cornelia Potter nee Rosier
Maternal Grandfather: Robert Francis Evans
Maternal Grandmother: Violet Zinnia Evans nee Gaunt (Granddaughter of Arsenius Gaunt)
Harry had many questions after reading his inheritance. Wasn't Sirius Black that murderer that escaped prison? What is the Council of the Seventy? What is the house of Gaunt he has a weak claim to? Those questions had to wait because it was Carina's turn.
Carina did the same as Harry, but fewer golden lights appeared, then the same process happened. Harry's and Carina's eyes widened in shock when they saw the results.
Carina Columba Kent
Natural daughter of the House of Black
Father: Sirius Orion Black
Mother: Aster Sophie Kent
Paternal Grandfather: Orion Arcturus Black
Paternal Grandmother: Walburga Irma Black
Aster said, "Harry, I'm glad you decided to join us. I wanted to talk to you for a long time. Sirius always told me about you, even if our relationship was short-lived. I don't believe he committed the crimes he was accused of, that day he was very worried about you and your family."
Harry asked, "What are you talking about? First I find out that I'm a lord and am in a council."
"So, you really don't know anything. Write us, and you'll know more. We don't have that much time right now, we have to leave now," Aster and her daughter quickly left.
A while later Harry went back to Florean Fortescue asking him, "Mr. Fortescue, what is the Council of the Seventy?"
"Did no one tell you about this? I'd have expected Dumbledore or the person that made you the introduction to the wizarding world to explain that to you! The Council of the Seventy, are the seventy most prestigious families in wizarding Britain. They choose the Wizengamot and the minister. You are a lord of one of those families, and it should be expected from you to build alliances and business deals. You must have received many invitations to events and diplomatic letters."
"I haven't received anything of that sort," Harry replied.
The young wizard went to Flourish & Blotts in order to buy some books to inform himself both about Sirius Black and the political system involving the Wizengamot and the Council of the Seventy.
The next morning, Harry started to look for information about Sirius Black, not just in books, but also in the recent editions of the daily prophet. The only thing he could find out was that he killed a wizard named Peter Pettigrew and some muggles, but nothing else. He went to the public library in Diagon Alley in order to see if they had newspapers from 1981, and they did. He checked every newspaper from the day his parents died, until the end of the year. The only mention of Sirius he could find is him being arrested and sentenced to Azkaban, no details of a trial. Harry knew that trials got published in the paper because of the other ones that appeared like the trial of someone named Igor Karkaroff, the trial of Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rastaban Lestrange, and the trial of the son of the head of Law Enforcement at the time Bartemius Crouch.
Harry took a quill and a piece of parchment and sent a letter to the Kents.
Dear Aster,
I decided to check some of the things we saw at Gringotts, on my own. Mostly about the subject of Sirius Black. I even checked the newspapers from the time he was arrested, and I only found out he was arrested and sent to life in Azkaban, no mentions of a trial. I want to know the things you know about him, if it is possible.
Tell Carina I say hi.
Harry Potter
After Harry handed the letter to Hedwig, he started to read about the Council of the Seventy. That it was formed after the Norman invasion to England, that it was very influenced by the Italian merchant republics that came years after that. Harry found out that there were many heirs of the Council of the Seventy in his year at Hogwarts, concentrated mostly between Hufflepuff and Slytherin, with Longbottom being the only one he knows from Gryffindor.
Then Harry started to read about the Wizengamot, the legislative and judicial body of the magical British government. It has twenty-five seats elected by the Council of The Seventy of which ten are rotated between the lords of the council every eight years, twelve seats corresponding to the minister, the senior undersecretary, and the various heads of departments, and an undefined number of seats taken by people that earned the Order of Merlin first class. That meant that the Wizengamot had thirty-seven fixed seats and an undefined number of undefined seats. The Wizengamot currently has fifty five members.
Harry also read about his family, about how Fleamont Potter invented a hair potion. Harry quickly bought a flask of that potion in the apothecary, and saw that it had a great effect in taming his hair. Harry laughed thinking that his grandfather had the same problem as him, making him invent that potion. He also read that his great grandfather Henry, who Harry suspected was named after, was an important member of the Wizengamot that promoted muggle rights.
The other thing that made noise on Harry's head, was the fact that he appeared to be a descendant of a squib line of the Gaunt family through his mother. He read a genealogy book of the Gaunts and he was surprised that he was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and because the Gaunts are considered extinct, he would be a candidate to be considered the heir of Slytherin. Harry just laughed, the rest of the school was right but it wasn't at the same time and chalked it to Potter luck. That also meant that his ability to speak to snakes is natural.
He was relaxing on his bed when Hedwig returned with a letter.
Dear Harry,
I'm glad that you wrote. We sent you a letter yesterday, but it looks like you didn't receive it. We thought it was weird that a celebrity like you wouldn't have mountains of mail. But I have a hypothesis now, you have a mail redirection charm that is lifted up when you initiate communication with someone, or when the person that cast the charm keys people in.
About Sirius Black, I suspect that you now doubt the official story. He is your godfather, that is why he is your regent. He wasn't convicted with a trial, so he is still legally your designated regent. That means that your seat in the Council of the Seventy is vacant and if it is kept vacant for more than twenty years, that means that your family will be kicked out of the Seventy and another family will be elevated. I'm a muggle, so I don't know what exactly happened, but I remember that in Halloween 1981 he left the house worried, and disappeared forever, I thought he abandoned me because he suspected I was pregnant with Carina but after he appeared in the news, I know what happened to him now. Now I'm telling Carina everything I know about him. He may be looking for you, he is one of those wizards that can transform into animals, he is a big black dog.
Carina is excited for Hogwarts and hopes you'll be her friend.
Love,
Aster
The first part of the letter made Harry suspect something else was at hand, but he didn't know what to do about it. He needed to test that theory, but it didn't come to his mind who may send him letters. But then it came to his mind that the Gryffindors he interacted the most with would want to write him, so he took some parchments and wrote letters to his yearmates, Dean, Seamus, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Fay. He also wrote to his quidditch teammates, Oliver, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie. The letters were mostly asking that if they sent letters to him and apologizing if he didn't reply to them explaining the mail charm hypothesis.
Sirius Black is a black dog? Where did Harry see a black dog? Harry then remembered that he saw a black dog when he took the knight bus. He was looking for him. Harry decided that he needed to find a way to interrogate him safely, but he didn't have the energy to think about that right now.
Harry decided he needed more friends, so he sent a letter to Carina as well. Carina then reminded him of another girl, a girl he rescued from a basilisk, Ginny Weasley. Harry remembered that Ginny's birthday was shortly after his, and also knew that Percy had his birthday later in August. Harry went to buy some presents for both of them to send them with the letters.
Now he had to just wait. But he didn't know what to expect. There was also the fact that he was told that McGonagall was badmouthing him to the new muggleborn and muggle-raised kids, he has to investigate that claim as well.
