Hey everyone,
This chapter is either going to be really long or the things that are going to take place in the Potter quarters will be divided over multiple chapters.
Either way, let's go,

Venquine1990


Chapter 22
A Morning Full Of Meetings – Part 01

25th of June 1995
Potter Quarters, Hogwarts
Lily's POV

"Where are they?"

A woman is standing in the painting right next to the frame of the portrait that leads outside. The woman is wearing a zookeeper outfit, which would have intrigued me had it not been for her staring down at me as I exit my son's room.

She also has her hands set into her sides and seems to be expecting me to cower before her, just by the furious look in her dark chocolate brown eyes. Yet as someone who stared down Death Eaters – and made them blink – I just retort:

"Who are you?"

The woman bristles, as if she didn't expect me to talk back to her or something and snarls: "I'm the keeper in charge of most of the animals painted across the Hogwarts Grand Staircase.

Now I'm not going to ask again, so answer my question."

I send her an unimpressed look as it's obvious that the woman has an ego the size of the area she has been living in.

And Harry, who comes walking in after me shirtless, seems to share in my indifference as he states: "Those other portraits? Well, let me answer that question with more important questions; questions that will answer yours instantly.

Well, sort of.

Either way, answer me this. Are these private chambers – or the chambers adjacent to Dumbledore's office?

And next to that, do the rights of privacy only count for Muggles? Or are they part of the English Magical Law as well?

And do they, or do they not, automatically count for anyone staying, as I previously mentioned, in private chambers

And finally, what exactly have my newly revived parents, who have only been back in this world for less than 24 hours, done to make Dumbledore suspicious of them?

And if he wants to keep them safe then he just needs to talk to Bill Weasley who is a Curse Breaker and Ward Expert.

Or does he not trust the parents of the kid who has been saving his school twice now enough to believe that they will come to him if they need help?"

A part of me feels disappointed that my son is basically doing my job and not giving me the chance to stand up for him and our family.

Yet at the moment it's drowned out by a sense of amused pride at how brilliantly my son destroys any chance for the woman to defend the need for the portraits to be brought back.

The woman is left a spluttering mess as James comes out of our own bedroom. He asks what's going on and I state:

"Our boy just proved to the guardian of our guardian that we are better off with the paintings instead of the portraits that were here the other night."

James nods and asks why the woman looks as if she's trying to pull her jaw off the floor. I roll my eyes and state:

"Our boy proved that he didn't appreciate that the woman tried to treat us as if we were the same age as our current guardian."

Sirius comes to join us and asks the woman why she thinks like that. Yet the woman is still spluttering and doesn't answer him.

I roll my eyes and mutter: "Looks to me like she's one of those who think Oh, this important person asked me for help. That makes me just as important. Now I'm more important than anyone else."

I don't know why, but this seems to insult the woman enough that she breaks out of her stupor and she snarls: "THE HEADMASTER –!"

But then Remus, who is known to be a huge Dumbledore supporter, steps in and snaps back: "Is human, makes mistakes and should respect people's human rights."

I smile at him and then turn to the zookeeper, who glares at him with unexpected disgust as she snarls: "Shut up, you beast! Fiends like you should be muzzled and put in a cage, not voice false opinions full of evil."

My eyes widen as this is the first time I ever heard a Hogwarts portrait insult Remus over his lycanthropy. I am staring at the zookeeper, who is staring down Remus with her arms crossed and a smug smirk of pride on her face.

In the background I hear someone growling and it takes me a second to realize that it's not just Sirius, but the lion cub that still seems to be standing in the entrance portrait.

And yet, before I can give a voice to my rising anger and disgust with the woman, Harry steps in yet again.

"You, lady, have two options. Either you leave these chambers and start taking care of animals that don't want to rip you to shreds like our current guardian – or you and said guardian will be replaced the same way the portraits were.

You have until I'm done counting:

Five."

"What the hell –."

"Four."

"Who do you –."

"Three."

"You wouldn't –."

"Two."

"You don't have the –."

"ONE!"

"FINE!"

And just as Harry raises his hand, with his fingers ready to snap, the woman storms out of the painting and disappears.

Yet while he lowers his hand, he whispers: "Dobby, my threat still stands. Do it if she tries to listen in from the side of the entrance portrait."

A loud POP that makes my ears pop, just like another did last night, is his answer. Harry grimaces and shakes his head.

"I'll go see who our new guardian is." Remus suggests and James tells him that the password is still Death is Our Savior.

Remus' eyes widen at this, but James shrugs and makes a two-worded statement that explains everything; Lord Hades.

Remus goes to open the portrait, yet as he opens it a little, he is pushed back as someone pushes it open at the same time.

And to my shock someone who looks like a walking tower of pink-cotton candy with chocolate sauce on top marches in. To make matters even crazier, the actual woman has the face of a toad. And the satisfied smirk on her face doesn't help this.

"There you are!

Aurors, arrest him!

The Dementors are waiting for him."

Harry and James instantly jump to stand between the female representation of candy floss and their godfather/mate.

Yet while I am disgusted with how she is aiming a pudgy finger – that reminds me of my nephew Dudley – at my beloved boyfriend, I look past her.

Or better said, thanks to our height difference, I look over her head and my disgust is replaced with confusion as I ask:

"Eh, what Aurors?"

The woman snarls at me: "The Aurors I brought with me to help me protect you unfortunate souls from this disgusting dark wizard, who somehow managed to manipulate Fudge into wrongfully exonerating him."

I look from her to the open portrait hole and ask: "So – where are they?" And finally the woman turns around and spots the same thing I did; there is no one behind her or coming in from the open hole.

The woman blinks for a few seconds and then shrieks:

"WHERE ARE THEY?"

Instantly I look at Remus in worry as the woman's voice was shriller than the school bell in most Muggle high schools.

Yet Remus seems to know who this woman is as he calmly waves his wand and cancels a privacy charm around his head.

He sends me a quick smirk while the strange woman turns back to where my husband and son are standing in front of my new partner.

"Doesn't matter! You're still coming with me. You might have Confunded Fudge into believing that you ended up in Azkaban without a trial, but I know better.

I have the evidence to the contrary right here!"

The woman pulls out an unrolled scroll of parchment with a victorious smirk on her face and a flourish.

Yet thanks to my year of studying under Filius as his Apprentice – and my years under other Charms Masters after my death – I instantly speak up:

"You're accusing Sirius of casting a Confundus charm – in the middle of the Great Hall while surrounded by hundreds of students and foreign visitors – on the Minister for Magic – while holding a paper covered in several Confundus charms yourself?

Really?"

The woman snarls that I don't know what I'm talking about. I roll my eyes and state: "I was an apprentice under both Filius Flitwick and Marcus Leverough after my death. Both of them are and were respectively known to be Charms Masters.

I know what I'm talking about.

Anyone trained under a master like that learns to sense magic like Confundus charms, the Unforgivables and other spells meant to mentally affect another witch or wizard. It's basically what apprentices start with and it's in the Introduction pamphlet given to anyone who wants to pursue such an apprenticeship."

I don't know why I expected this woman to be more reasonable than the zookeeper, but while I kept my tone calm, I still seem to have pissed her off.

The woman throws the scroll away and actually pulls and aims her wand at me as she shrieks:

"Shut your mouth, you! Do you know who I am? How dare you think you can do anything better than the Undersecretary to the Minister For Magic? Filth like you –."

But that's as far as she's able to go as suddenly a large cloud of smoke appears between us. And as the smoke dissipates, Lord Hades appears to stand between us.

And while he has his back to me and towers over me, I already know that he's looking down at the other woman in disdain – and not just because of her size.

"I'm sorry, but who do you think you are to aim your wand at one of my Patrons? And in her own private chambers no less? Do you really think I will leave them unwatched so shortly after reviving them myself just the other night?"

The woman splutters and whimpers for a short minute. Yet then she proves that she is both full of pride – and utterly idiotic – as she turns back to my trio of beloved men and starts to throw all kinds of accusations, not at Sirius,

But at Harry.

And while she accuses him of being dark and dangerous and a threat to proper society, she astounds me as she mixes this with all kinds of self-praise and statements through which she boasts about herself and her skills of knowledge and deduction.

And the fact that she states that Rita Skeeter at least had the decency to publicly state the truth about my son just proves to me that this woman is too far gone to think straight.

Even more-so than the fact that she seems to just blatantly ignore the notion that Lord Hades has, for decades, been known as the Patron God of House Potter.

And the god apparently doesn't appreciate it that the woman is either ignoring this fact or too stupid not to know it.

He steps forward, grabs the woman's thick arm and angrily hisses: "You, lady, need to remember something.

While I am not directly responsible for how you enter my realm, your actions – especially your actions towards my Pa-trons – can and will influence my decision to either leave you alone and see if you can die peacefully in your sleep – or end your lifeline years ahead of time in the most painful, torturous and horrendous way anyone will ever be able to remember.

And let me emphasize this; my decision regarding that is based so-le-ly on your treatment towards my Patrons.

Not theirs,

Yours."

The stare-off between the two – the angry and protective god and the terrified piece of human spun sugar – lasts a few more minutes.

Then suddenly someone is heard from the open portrait. I turn towards it and watch Minister Fudge climb in as he asks:

"Lord Hades, what is going on here? Is – oh no. Dolores, I kept trying to tell you not to go through with this. Why didn't you listen?"

"My guess. Whoever cast the Confundus charm on that document over there, probably added a Compulsion charm to it. Either to make the reader believe the text or to make them read the text and thus fall under the aforementioned Confundus."

James explains and while my interaction with the woman just now proves otherwise – especially the level of arrogance she portrayed towards us – I know my husband long enough to read between the lines of what he's saying.

James is lying through his teeth, to get the current meeting over with, so he can focus on the meeting he, and the rest of the family, will have with the Diggories later.

Dolores Umbridge and the Ministry aren't as important to the Lord of House Potter as the future of his son and Heir and he is determined to focus on that.

And while Umbridge sends him a slightly offended and mostly confused look, Fudge looks at the document James mentioned and winces.

Then, after he seems to survey the whole room one last quick time, he seems to realize what James isn't saying as he says:

"A fair deduction, Lord Potter. Lady Potter, from what I remember you were once an apprentice to Charms Master Flitwick, correct? Could you perhaps undo the charmswork?"

I send a quick and reassuring look at my husband and say: "I'm sorry, Minister. But I'm not sure how much of my training in Elysium came with me when I gained this renewed form of my former self. I'd rather not risk it."

The man nods and decides that he will take it to Filius instead. We all thank him and while Umbridge glares at us, the glare she receives from Lord Hades is enough to make her leave,

If with clear reluctance.

We watch the duo walk out of the portrait hole, yet it remains open after they disappear behind the wall on the right of the portrait frame.

James and I share a worried look over this as I wonder if the change in portrait guardian might have messed with the magic of the frame.

But a few minutes later, I get reassured and explained why the portrait remained open.

King Mickey, Lea, Cedric and Amos all climb through. The former came from the same direction as that Fudge disappeared off to and the latter came from the left.

"I see you met Fudge's Undersecretary and Right-hand witch."

Amos comments and both the tone of his voice and the look on his face speak volumes; the man absolutely hates the woman, yet he seems willing to show her a reluctant sense of professional respect, for some reason.

James grimaces, though his grimace is nothing compared to Remus', and he grumbles: "We did, Amos. And I get the unpleasant feeling that this might not be the last time, either.

But for now, let's not focus on her."

Everyone agrees with this.

We all take our seats.


Get ready, guys,
Okay, so this part of the chapter alone was already 5 pages – and strangely enough less than 3.000 words – but still. Much is still to come, so I'm splitting the chapter.
Let's keep going,

Venquine1990