A/N: Hi! Thanks for sticking with me all.

As you've seen, there's a lot of preparation work in this chapter for the upcoming Wizengamot session so not much action this time around. I apologise if that's your thing but I wanted to get the info into the story, rather than having an exceptionally long author's note.

I'll shortly be going through and re-uploading each chapter with some spelling and grammar corrections, and correcting the odd detail here or there (such as the vanishing cabinet not yet being in the room of requirement). Nothing that will change the story in any way so don't feel you need to re-read unless you want to.

I'll also be adding chapter titles, something I regret not doing on the initial upload which should hopefully make it easier to skip to a particular part if you're interested.

I hope you're all keeping safe and well and thank you in advance for your reads and reviews!

Chapter 20: Black Magic

Albus Dumbledore sucked on a lemon drop as he stood and stared out of the window of his office, surveying the grounds surrounding his beloved school and looking but not really seeing as life moved on around him. He'd practically sequestered himself following the debacle and embarrassment of the award presentation that never happened. He had used this period of self-isolation to mull over recent events and had reached a conclusion that he wasn't particularly happy with. Sighing, he turned and made his way to the fireplace where he placed a floo-call to the head of Hufflepuff house.

"Pomona," he called. "Are you there?"

"Yes, Albus." Pomona Sprout put down the trowel she was using to plant several Flitterbloom in her office window box, brushed some loose dirt from her hands and walked over to the fireplace. "How can I help you?"

"I need to speak to Harry Potter. Would you please bring him to my office before dinner?"

"Of course," she replied politely. "What shall I tell him it's regarding?"

Albus sighed. "I want to talk to him about the award I attempted to bestow upon him."

"You know he won't accept any award unless you acknowledge Mr Sykes' contribution, don't you Headmaster?" she said with a frown.

"I do. I accept that I was perhaps a little… sluggish in recognising the part that Mr Sykes played in the event and wanted to inform young Harry of the fact."

"Very well Headmaster, I shall do as you ask."

As Albus Dumbledore withdrew his head from the fireplace, Pomona shook her head in disbelief. It appeared the Headmaster was going to admit he was wrong… she could count on one hand the number of times she'd heard that admission in all the years she'd been working at Hogwarts. Even expecting the event wouldn't stop her surprise if he actually followed through with an apology that night.

Just before dinner, Harry and Professor Sprout climbed the short, winding staircase that led to the Headmaster's office, knocked on the door and waited patiently until they were admitted.

"Harry my boy, thank you for coming to see me."

"Of course Sir," Harry replied politely as he waited for Professor Sprout to be seated before taking the vacant seat in front of the Headmaster's desk and declining the offer of a lemon drop.

Dumbledore peered over the top of his glasses at the young boy sat before him and began to speak. "I wanted to talk to you about the well-deserved award I attempted to present to you the other week…" Dumbledore raised his hand to stop Harry who appeared to be about to interrupt. "Please, allow me to finish."

Harry nodded and assumed a suitable chastened expression.

"I've spent some time considering the events of that evening and wanted to offer you an apology. In my haste to reward your efforts, I sadly, and mistakenly overlooked the part that Mr Sykes had played in the encounter. Whilst I would have appreciated the opportunity to discuss your concerns in private after dinner, rather than in the Great Hall in front of the entire student body, I can understand what prompted you to speak as you did that night."

Harry didn't speak, instead choosing to sit in silence and watch Dumbledore who was beginning to look a little put out by the lack of response.

"Mr Sykes will of course, also be receiving a Special Award for Services to the School. This will be presented to you both upon his return from St Mungos."

Harry continued his unbroken silence.

"Well, Harry? Do you have anything to say?" Dumbledore asked, a tone of annoyance evident in his voice.

Harry tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair and pursed his lips. He glanced over at Professor Sprout, then back at the Headmaster.

"Sir, when you made the announcement – which, as I said that night, was an honour – it was done with no prior warning and in front of the whole school. If I'd accepted without saying anything, I could have quite easily been called arrogant or even ended up hated by the other students for ignoring what happened to Gareth. I do apologise, Sir, for not speaking with you privately but I have to see and interact with the other students every day – not speaking out when I did could have caused me significant problems later." Harry paused and looked once more at Professor Sprout, smiling slightly as he did so. "Plus, the Hufflepuff in me was unable to allow what he did to protect us all pass by without comment."

"Quite right Mr Potter," said Professor Sprout beaming back at him. "5 points to Hufflepuff for an excellent display of loyalty."

Harry turned his attention back to Dumbledore. "I will, of course, be very happy to accept the award Sir once Gareth is back with us. Thank you."

"Very well Harry, I'm glad we could have this discussion."

"Yes Sir." Harry considered for a moment actually pushing for an "I'm sorry", rather than allowing Dumbledore to gloss over it by merely saying he was offering an apology, but it was clear to him that antagonising the Headmaster for his own enjoyment may not be the best course of action at the moment. "Was there anything else Sir? I'd like to get back to my friends and have some dinner."

"No, no. Off you go. I'll let Professor Sprout know exactly when the presentation will be."

"Yes Sir, thank you." Harry rose to leave and held the door open, allowing his Head of House to precede him, before closing the door gently behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Albus slumped back into his seat and popped a fresh lemon drop into his mouth. Every time he had a conversation with the last of the Potters, he felt like he'd been put through a mangle. Perhaps it was time to reconsider some of his plans for the boy? He was committed to the ongoing situation this year, what with the Philosopher's Stone already being in the castle, but maybe it was time to take a step back and observe? Albus remembered his thought from earlier in the year and found himself more in agreement with it each time he did so - Harry Potter was nothing like he had expected. It was obvious, now that the boy was no longer living with his relatives, that Albus wouldn't be able to ingratiate himself by 'rescuing' him each summer, nor would he be able to tease out parcels of information as he had planned to do – simply looking at his friends and family made it clear there was nothing about his heritage that the boy would not discover on his own.

Also, from what his colleagues had told him, the boy was more than capable, displaying excellence in most areas of the curriculum. If it wasn't for his scar and what Albus believed may lay behind it, he could have easily seen himself taking an active role in training Harry for the prophesied confrontation with Voldemort, rather than merely providing a series of tests for him. He'd had suspicions about that scar even as far back as Halloween 1981, but the persistent whispering of a return for the second Dark Lord of Albus' lifetime had prompted him to further investigation. If the memories he'd retrieved from Bob Ogden, Morfin Gaunt and Hokey the House-Elf were to be believed, Tom Riddle had delved into the darkest arts in order to prevent his death. If Harry's scar did contain a piece of Voldemort's soul as he suspected, there was nothing he could do, apart from lead Harry Potter to his death. Voldemort's complete destruction was, after all, for the greater good of the Wizarding World.

"Morning Harry!" Cedric called as Harry arrived in the Hufflepuff common room bright and early the following morning. "Going out for your run?"

"Morning Ced. Not today, I was actually considering heading down to the broom shed and going for a fly."

"Really? Are you any good on a broom?" said Cedric with interest.

"Not bad," Harry replied with a grin.

"Mind if I join you?"

20 minutes later, Cedric was stood by the side of the Quidditch pitch watching, all agog, as Harry put the ancient school broom through a workout that he feared would snap the broom in two. He stared in disbelief as Harry dropped out of the sky like a stone before pulling up smoothly and dismounting in front of the older boy.

"Not bad? Seriously…?"

Harry shrugged and beamed at Cedric. "I love flying," he said.

"Go again on this," Cedric said as he handed over his Cleansweep Seven and took the old broom from Harry's hands. "Let's see what you can do on a proper broom."

Harry took the broom and gave a huge whoop of excitement as he rocketed off into the sky once more.

When Harry eventually landed once more, Cedric had been joined by Madam Hooch who looked him over with a thoughtful expression. "Whilst I don't appreciate you taking years from my life with flying like that, I am grateful that you at least passed my class before trying it. Have you considered trying out your House Quidditch team?" she asked.

"I was thinking about giving it a go next year Ma'am," Harry responded. "But I prefer playing Seeker and that's Cedric's position."

"Honestly Harry, I would rather play Chaser," Cedric interjected. "The only reason I'm playing Seeker is because of the lack of a decent one in Hufflepuff. If you want to go for it next year, I'd be happy to switch to Chaser." Cedric looked up at the goalposts, looming high above them. "Derek Alderton is our Captain this year. He's a Chaser and in his final year so there'll be a position opening up." He turned now to Harry. "Come along to our next practice and show him what you can do. You could get to know the team and it'll be easier to slot in next year then."

Harry smiled in agreement and was pleased to see Madam Hooch nodding along too. "It would be good to see a stronger Hufflepuff team," she said. "It's been years since anyone other than Slytherin won the cup."

It was late November when Harry and the rest of the first-year Hufflepuffs sat around a table in their common room, discussing the Quidditch match they'd just witnessed. Slytherin had scraped a win against Gryffindor in the first game of the season thanks to a lucky capture of the snitch by their Seeker Terence Higgs. Harry had spotted it from his position in the stands several times earlier the match but when it was eventually caught, it was from right under the Gryffindor Seeker's nose. Cormac McLaggen may only have been a second-year student but he was just as mouthy as Harry had remembered, talking up his skills before the match then failing to back up his talk during it. Harry had grinned at Hermione when they'd heard his name announced at the start of the game, remembering her ill-considered decision to ask him to accompany her to Slughorn's party in their sixth year, but the glare he'd received in return made him realise that discretion is sometimes the better part of valour and he wisely decided to keep his comments to himself.

He was just getting into a discussion with Ernie about the strengths of the two teams when he felt the mirror in his pocket warm, a signal that someone was wanting to speak with him. Making his apologies, he stepped into the first-year dormitory and answered the call.

"Harry!" His adoptive father's face appeared on the surface of the mirror. "I've finally found it!"

"Found it?" Harry frowned at the exuberant expression on Sirius' face. "Found what?"

"The thing we've been looking for for the last two years! The information on how the Black family tapestry was created!"

Harry beamed at Sirius with delight. For years the only way to discover a witch or wizard's ancestry had been to conduct painstakingly manual genealogical research, a process that Harry himself had gone through to prove his connection to the Peverell family. In Harry's case, it had been easier as he knew which Peverell brother he was related to and so could work down the family tree from there, but for most it was a process that required too much effort as they had to work back from themselves, making sure all details were thoroughly captured for every cadet branch of their family to prove who should be the head or heir. This drawn-out and frequently unrewarding task meant that few people were willing to put in the work to determine their lineage and resulted in family names going extinct, vaults going unclaimed and, most importantly in Harry and Sirius' view, Wizengamot votes disappearing. The only time he'd seen anything that bypassed this long-winded approach was the self-updating tapestry that lay in the Black family townhouse in Grimmauld Place, and the cause of the two-year hunt for its method of creation. "That's incredible! Is it a spell?"

"It's a combination of a spell and a potion. We've got some adaptation to do so it will display on something smaller than a room-sized tapestry, and to get it to show muggles and squibs, but we're a step closer to what we need."

"Fantastic work Padfoot!" Harry replied enthusiastically. "This will be a massive help to us in the future. Can you get Kreacher to pop over with the details? I can get Severus to look at the potion and Hermione to take a look at the arithmantic breakdown of the spell."

"Sure thing Pup. I'll get him to do it tonight when your dorm mates are asleep."

Harry beamed once more at the smiling face of his adoptive father and said his goodbyes before leaving the dormitory with a spring in his step and heading back to his classmates. Susan saw him approaching and noted the wide smile on his face.

"Good news then Harry?" she said as he dropped back into his spot between Hermione and Hannah.

"Yep," he replied, grinning at his friend. "I can't say too much about it but it's going to be helpful for us in the Wizengamot."

"I've heard you all talking about this 'Wizengamot'," Justin said, "but I don't understand what it is?"

"Well," began Susan, "the Wizengamot is the high court of Wizarding Britain. The members debate, vote on and pass the laws, and sit in judgement for serious criminal trials. They also control the budgets for the Ministry departments."

"It sounds a bit like Muggle Parliament," said Hermione, pretending to have no existing knowledge of the system of Government she was a part of for the entirety of her previous life after Hogwarts.

"Yeah," agreed Harry, playing along. "But the members aren't voted in. Most of the seats are hereditary, but the Ministry department heads and the Minister for Magic hold a single vote each, as do Order of Merlin holders too. There are scheduled meetings four times a year, on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and on the summer and winter solstices, although members can be called to an emergency meeting if required."

Justin nodded at the explanation and then asked curiously, "A single vote? Does that mean some people have more than one?"

Harry glanced over at Susan and Hannah, hoping that one of them would pick up the explanation, and received a pair of sweet smiles in return. He turned to Ernie instead, who simply shook his head and smirked. Harry sighed and sat up straighter in his seat. "OK. So there are three 'tiers' if you like, of magical society in Britain. First are the 'Noble' families who have a single vote each – these are families who, somewhere in their history, performed some sort of action for the benefit and betterment of Wizarding society as a whole. There's not been a new Noble house in more than… 150 years?" Harry looked over at Susan who nodded in agreement. "…as it requires the unanimous approval of the Wizengamot to elevate a house to that status."

"OK," said Justin looking fascinated. Harry noticed their conversation had drawn the attention of some of the older students who were now listening to the explanation carefully. Hufflepuff, despite regularly producing Ministry department heads and being home to several prominent Wizarding families, wasn't the political or pureblood hotbed of the Slytherin common room and so this was new information to many of the students. Justin drew Harry's attention back to him. "What's next?"

"Next come the 'Ancient' families who hold two votes each. To become an 'Ancient' family, you have to be able to trace your family's magical heritage back for 25 generations. Roughly speaking there's a new generation every 25 to 30 years so you need to prove your ancestry back between…" Harry did some quick maths in his head. "625 and 750 years, give or take, to qualify."

"Then what?" asked a female fourth-year Hufflepuff Harry had never spoken to before.

"Finally there's the 'Noble and Most Ancient' families. These families hold three votes each."

"How do you become a Noble and Most Ancient family?" called someone from the small crowd that had now gathered, listening intently.

"Short of marrying in, you can't," Harry replied. "The Noble and Most Ancient families were founding members of the old Wizards Council that Merlin set up – the precursor to the Wizengamot as we know it today." Harry glanced once more at Susan who nodded reluctantly. "There were seven houses that held this status but only three remain – the rest having gone extinct. Black, Longbottom and Bones are the only surviving Noble and Most Ancient houses in Wizarding Britain." There was a murmuring of voices at this pronouncement.

"Actually," Cedric Diggory chipped in, "I've heard a Noble and Most Ancient house that was considered extinct has recently had its status changed to active. That normally only happens when an heir has been identified." This statement caused the murmurs to increase in volume.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry asked curiously, wondering how that information could have possibly leaked out.

Cedric shrugged. "My Dad. Diggory is an Ancient House and he works in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He said there's a buzz going around the Wizengamot and the Ministry but no-one knows which family it is – only that they're Noble and Most Ancient. That means it has to be one of Blishwick, Urquart, Shafiq or Peverell." Harry ensured his Occlumency shields were up to keep his expression neutral when Cedric uttered the last name.

"Peverell?" asked another student. "Like from The Tale of the Three Brothers?" Cedric nodded in reply.

"How do you know so much about this stuff Harry?" Justin asked, turning his attention back to his friend.

"I've had my responsibilities drummed into me for the last few years." Harry paused as he heard a quiet gasp from Megan Jones who was sitting opposite him.

"When we were sorted you were called Harry Black-Potter," said said. "Does that mean you're part of the Black family too?"

"Afraid so!" Harry replied, grinning at Megan. "Sirius Black is my godfather and he adopted me a few years ago. I'm the Head of the Ancient House of Potter – a position I claimed on my 11th birthday - and the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." Despite the non-political nature of The Sett, Harry knew that some of the older students would certainly now be calculating the benefits of ingratiating themselves with him. He was just glad that he'd managed to deflect some of the attention away from Susan, a feeling that was swiftly swept away when Justin brought everyone's attention back to it.

"Wow, so Susan will be a big deal in the Wizengamot in the future as well? Neville too?"

"Yeah," said Harry, trying to pull the attention back to himself as his friend wilted under the suddenly appraising gazes of a few of the older male students. "Actually, I'm a little surprised there's been nothing in The Prophet about this year's Hogwarts intake."

Justin looked uncertainly between Susan and Harry. "Because of you two and Neville?" he asked.

"Not just us," Harry replied. "There's currently 50 members of the Wizengamot. The number changes as families die out and new families reach the threshold for 'Ancient' status but it's not changed dramatically in some time. In addition to the three Noble and Most Ancient houses, you've got the eight Ministry posts – the seven department heads and the Minister – and seven Order of Merlin holders. That leaves 32 seats split with 11 Ancient families and 21 Noble. A total of 67 votes available." Harry looked around at the rapt expressions on the faces of those listening. "The first-year intake at Hogwarts this year contains the heirs to all three Noble and Most Ancient Houses, six of the 11 Ancient families and two of the Noble families. We've also got one heir whose family who will achieve Ancient status with their next generation, provided they have a magical child. Over a fifth of all the current Wizengamot seats, and the heirs to 23 of the currently available 67 votes, will be spending the next seven years learning alongside one another."

True to his word, Sirius had Kreacher pop into Hogwarts with the details of the tapestry's creation that night. As they were dealing with Black Family Magic, Harry had to ask both Hermione and Severus for Wizarding Oaths that they would not share or discuss any of the information they were shown, nor the results of their investigations with anyone other than Sirius or himself unless they permission from the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Within a few days, Hermione had achieved some success in changing the structure of the spell from a wall-hanging tapestry to something that could be transcribed onto an appropriate amount of parchment but had been stumped by the component that removed Squibs and Muggles from the output. Severus meanwhile, had been disappointed by the simplicity of the potion – something he expressed to Harry and Hermione in private as he'd been hoping for an intellectual challenge – as it merely required the subject's blood to be added to the brew as a reactant. "The potion, when mixed with the subject's blood," he explained "is used as the ink with which the family tree is drawn. Depressingly simple."

Thanks to this being their second time through their first year at Hogwarts, Hermione was able to spend almost all of her free time working on the spell without it affecting her grades. Hidden away in the room of requirement she only had to think about what she needed to access any material that could assist with the complex arithmancy work she was undertaking. It was a week into December when she strode into the common room and approached Harry, her eyes shining brightly. "I've done it." She said quietly, gesturing to the stack of parchment she was carrying.

"Hermione! That's amazing!" Harry jumped up and pulled her into a hug, before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the common room again. As soon as they had found an empty classroom, Harry pulled her inside and withdrew the mirror from him pocket, calling out Sirius' name as he did so.

"What's up Pup?"

"Hermione's done it. I told you she was brilliant!" Hermione flushed at the words from her friend.

"Wow! Good job Hermione!" Sirius beamed at her, only intensifying the blush as she tried to wave off their praise. "Are you alone? I'll have Kreacher pop over now to collect the information."

A nod from Harry was almost immediately followed by the arrival of Kreacher who bowed low to the Harry before taking the parchment offered and reappearing at Sirius' side.

"I'll run a test and get back to you later. Once we have the output of this, I'll compare it to the tapestry to make sure they match, then we need to get the Goblins on board. If they accept this as proof of lineage, we're in business."

It ended up taking almost a day for Sirius to call back, but when he did it was evident from his expression that the test had been a success.

"I had to get Andi to come and help with the comparison but it's worked exactly as we wanted." He said with excitement. "Squibs… all those who were disowned for whatever reason… they're all on here. I managed to speak to my Great Uncle Marius who confirmed his family is shown correctly. He was blasted off the tapestry by his father when it was discovered he was a squib." Sirius chuckled. "It took some convincing to get him to speak to me – understandably he's not massively fond of the Black family but he thought it was hilarious when I told him what we were planning to use this piece of Family Magic for and was more than happy to help."

"Now we just need to get the Goblins to accept this," Harry replied with a grin.

"Already on it Pup. We don't want to rush this so I've set up a meeting with Ragnok during the Christmas break. It'll be after the Wizengamot session but with any luck, we'll get approval for its use and be able to claim another Wizengamot seat or two by the time the summer session rolls around."

"Out of interest," Hermione said. "Who are you planning to use this for?"

"Actually, you if you're willing." Harry turned to his friend. "Do you remember back in sixth year when Slughorn asked if you were related to Hector Dagworth-Granger?" Hermione nodded. "We did a little bit of digging when we were proving my link to the Peverells and we've got a strong suspicion Slughorn was right. If you're willing to try this, you could potentially claim the single vote for the Noble House of Dagworth-Granger."

"You're clearly building to something bigger here. Getting friendly with Greengrass, Bones, Abbott... trying to get me a voting seat… reaching out to people in the other houses…" Hermione contemplated Harry's actions and tried to link them with the work she'd just completed for the pair who were watching her closely, one from by her side, and the other from a couch in London.

"I think it's time we brought her up to speed Harry," Sirius called, breaking Hermione from her train of thought.

Harry smiled and nodded in agreement. "Hermione, you remember how the Wizengamot is split into voting blocks?"

"Sure – the Light, Dark and Neutral factions. A lot of the power sits with the few Neutral families as they tend to hold the swing votes. Light and Dark are pretty much balanced so they rely on the Neutrals to get anything done as everyone almost always votes with their factions. You and I have both seen people vote against their own interests so as not to rock the boat with their faction – no-one wants to be outside on their own, they'll lose any influence they may have."

Harry looked to the mirror to find Sirius grinning at him, eager for him to continue.

"We're planning on making a couple of changes…"