a/n: hey everyone I need some opinions is it a fuax-pa to change a stories title?
I came up with the title before I had anything written and the story went in a slightly different direction I had thought up initially?
anyway, back to the story at hand.
Harry sat in a well-appointed dining room a rich mahogany table gleamed like a jewel beneath his plate which had been pointed out by his host to be the finest 14th-century China and his gleaming cutlery which was most certainly pure silver, engraved with what he assumed was the family crest and other finely detailed filigree. on his plate sat the appetizer before the main course a smallish mound of deep Silver orbs sat in the center of the plate adjacent to a spoon that Harry didn't know what material it was, but to him, it seemed like a pearl. Aunt Petunia has a small necklace of real pearls, and the spoon and these orbs had the same odd sheen.
also on the plate were a few thin slices of hard cracker like bread, a small cup of a white substance, and several sprigs of what Harry thought was dill.
Harry stared at the odd dish for close to two minutes, wandering at this strange assortment of foods. and then he looked at the others around him, immediately seeking out Mr. Tonks across the table from him in hopes that the man could show him. With a severely confused look on his face unsure if it would offend those who served the food that he had no idea how to eat it without probably looking like a barbarian. However Mr. Tonks was in deep conversation with Cyrus Greengrass, so he went to the next person he could think of who would help him without much judgment, Daphne he hoped. she was slightly down the table from him but luckily she noticed him looking with out him having to gesture or anything to get her attention.
she arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him and harry gestured to his plate while mouthing " I don't know what this is. help"
she smirked at that and then seemed to ignore him and look back at her own plate then she slowly and deliberately gathered a measured amount of the silver orbs (very pointedly) with the pearl like spoon, and put the orbs on top of the cracker-like bread. then took a small dollop of the white sauce and spread it gently onto the silver pearls and then topped the whole thing with a sprig of the herb that looked like dill, and gently placed the small morsel in her mouth, after doing this she turned in her seat slowly to face him better and speaking over the other low conversations going on at the table "so, Harry, how are you finding the Wizarding world many people were quite looking forward to the boy who lived returning to Wizarding Britain."
Harry sat in thought for a moment, and he noticed that all conversations had stopped, and many of the dinner guests were waiting for his reply.
"Err, well, I'm finding it quite well, Daphne, of course, Most of my experience has been Hogwarts and recently the ministry. Hogwarts feels like my home, and for the first time in my life, I feel like I belong. even if certain people at the school would rather see me drop into the lake with lead shoes. I find the school and most of the students quite enjoyable. I even enjoy the odd things like quils and ink. in the muggle world, we just use ballpoint pens or fountain pens of its fancy. learning to write with a quil took a minute. I'm still not that good really but at least my writing legible more than I can say for my friend Ron weasley. "
"That is very good to hear Harry, I feel I must apologize for my behavior at Hogwarts I fear I fell into the trap of house politics and was less than welcoming to you I would like to extend an olive branch of sorts if you don't mind. I know you are advanced in transfiguration but not so in charms. next term we should study together. you can bring your friend, Granger, if you like we would both most likely benefit from her presence, I can even give you handwriting lessons, if you'de like all though i must warn you I am an exacting instructor ask Astoria my younger sister. i expect only the jest from people I teach.
You know Harry, word is; from the board of governors, that your friend Hermione Granger scored the top in our year, It apparently raised quite a tiff among the pureblood govenors. (she raised an eyebrow in the direction of the Malfoys it is quite the scandal, a muggle-born first year outscoring and outperforming all the pureblood heirs? it's... well not unheard of, but it's certainly a rare event. father? when was the last time it happened?"
"Ahh." said Cyrus Greengrass, smiling with nostalgia in his eyes. and the manuvuering his duaghter did to raise the topic here. no doubt he thought a move to make her would be friend somewhat more comfortable in the presence in a group of people he must think hate him.
"Well it last happened when I myself was a first-year, an exceedingly bright muggle-born girl came and knocked all our heads off our pedestals,a girl with a fiery temper and flaming red hair to match, a young woman by the name of Lilly Evans. or as many in this room came to know and respect her as." (and at this, he looked directly at Harry.) "Lady Potter, your mother Harry, was a rare and spectacular specimen; despite her birth, she became a person that every pureblood heiress sought to emulate. smart, powerful, courageous, and beautiful. I could go on with her attributes for a long while. Many people at this table whether they want to admit it or not held a lot of respect and not an undue amount of fear for Lily Potter; she was the kindest woman you could meet but could burn you like feindfyre when roused. She trounced everyone in school all 7 years there, no one else could ever come close. and many people tried, but no one else, not even Your father could hold a candle to her power or intelect. I dare say, given a few decades, she would have rivaled Dumbledore at the height of his powers.
Come to think of it, Harry, Daphne, I'd like to meet this Hermione Granger. i feel that Investing in her future will most likely be a very profitable business."
"I quite agree, sir. Hermione is my best friend, so I'd like to see her encouraged as much as possible. and im sureshe would be thrilled to meet someone so important. I have noticed that most muggle-borns tend to be looked down on, if not outright discriminated against." Harry said, with an insolent look at Draco. so I find it nice that you ate.not as enamored with a certain ideology as i had feared coming here.
"Oh, most certainly, Harry, I don't think any of us will deny at the very least a distrust of the muggle-borns or muggles, and some have degraded to fear and hatred though none is likely to admit it. Very few of us in the conservative ring believe we are superior to muggles not after the advances after their last war. I know you think we all look down on muggle-borns and that is true on the whole. though I have met and work very well with several muggle-borns. very good business deals. but, I digress, I would say you have not been told or shown the major or correct reasons behind this divide. Tell me, Harry, if you were to move permanently to France, Russia, or China, would you not learn the language and adopt the culture to fit in more with your neighbors?" At Harry's hesitant nod Cyrus continued." Not abandon your own culture entirely, but you wouldn't expect the natives of the country to conform and change to your home culture, correct?"
"I would only argue against the evil stuff," replied Harry. gesturing to a house elf that had just appeared to refill a decanter of wine. "Like slavery, for instance. and I know" cutting off a storm of pureblood protest" that house elf servitude is more nuanced than human slavery but that does not change the fact that it is slavery and it's barbaric. just because something has always been doesn't mean you can't see that something is wrong and stop doing it. If a practice is bad it's our job to stop and recognize it and change it,something being morally wrong doesn't change depending on who where or when you are. harmful traditions should be changed if not entirely abolished. so no I wouldn't expect an American neighborhood to observe tea time but you bet ide speak up if my neighbors were... I don't know... segregating their neighborhoods against other races. which is an issue in the muggle world. we learned about it in social studies class in my primary school.
If it were tradition to kill your firstborn daughter on her eleventh birthday would you have killed Daphne?" Harry stopped here for a second and went on "No you wouldn't. you would I'm sure rally against that tradition and break whatever law allowed the tradition to take place until you got it changed."
"A fine point in the making, lad. a fine point, but my original assertions still stands If you adopt a new land as your home you'de adopt the culture. yet for several HUNDRED years now, muggleborns will join our world and expect all us natives to tongove up our heritage. our culture. our way of doing things simply becuase they the slimmest minority in our world find the things we do "behind the times" no matter the historical or economic reasons it gets even worse as time goes on as the wizarding world, to them, seems to sit still while the muggleborns watch as muggles rush about like ants in a hill flitting from technology to technology. no matter that the technology they wish us to adopt does not function around magic. pictures for instance, harry, the camera is a muggle adoption of ours it was invented some 2 hundred years ago or there abouts but its only in the past 65 years that someone found a process for a camera to work around any concentration of magic. before the film would just come out white or black or like sand becuase the magic would scramble the exposure. the muggleborns think we should change our culture to fit into their modern age. but we refuse this is our world and our history and ...( the man takes a deep breath and sighs it out slowly) I must apologize Harry I didnt mean to rant there I would like to talk to you more about this at some other time not over a meal and we can discuss Wizarding Society. and how you feel about it. maybe in time, you'll help us to update a law or two when it's your time in the wizengamot, but until then, it'll be a good debate. We should move on before we go too far down the muggle-born debate it is another topic I would like to explain a more traditionalist perspective on without inflamed passions getting in the way.
"Politics are a bad topic for dinner unless everyone agrees with the same points." Daphne poined put calmly.
You're a bright lad for your age. I know I never could have stood up to a full-grown man and experienced politician and spoken like that at eleven. Your parents would be proud of you think, I can't claim to have known them very well at all. I know James was a bit brash for a genuine debate, but Lily would have been a powerhouse in whatever political circle she chose they were a good team together.
Harry smiled at that. "I'm glad you think so but I'm nothing compared to my friend Hermione. not only is she the smartest witch in our class she's also able to use reason and logic in a way that she wins any argument while making her opponent agree with her without realizing, she'll be running circles around Wizengamot in a few years, I'm sure. Hermione and Smara my familiar not only expect me to be, but push me to be as great as I can be.
I don't know much about my family history but I know a great deal is expected of me as the boy who lived and as Lord Potter I can't let people down who look to me as an example. so I have decided to be the very best in every aspect of my life." Harry quickly put together his first cracker of silver orbs and quickly ate it. only to blanch and nearly choke. it was the fishiest and saltiness thing he bad ever tasted. he couldn't contain himself anymore. "what is this no offense but this is horrible."
Nearly the whole table laughed much to Harry's relief. "that,lad" started Cyrus. "is silver sturgeon caviar." obviously this was supposed to be impressive but Harry gave the older man a blank stare " I don't know what that is."
Daphne giggled and quickly put it to rest. " it's fish eggs harry unfertilized fish eggs from a huge fish called a sturgeon. its a delicacy all over the world and the silver Grey of roe. of the egg indicates that this is of the highest quality."
"well." said harry " I don't think I have been sufficiently cultured enough to find that palatable." everyone laughed at that again.
after that, the rest of the guests started to converse once more and Cyrus introduced Harry more personally to his dinner guests he knew the children or grandchildren of Nott, who was mostly retired and only participated in the wizengamot. Flint who worked for the ministry in the department of magical law, Crabbe, and Goyle(who were business associates and not Wizengamot members thank all the gods), Bletchley who had an import export buisness focused on animal products and textiles , and Parkinson another wizengamot member but several other names he did not recognize from Hogwarts. A rather old and quite quiet man by the name of Carrow barely acknowledged anyone around him, Harry thought he looked a bit like a gorilla. Harry decided he didn't like the look of the man. the white haired wizard had been looking at harry with barely discuised hate. if Harry hadnt been as good at reading people as he was he would have mistook the look on the mans face for boredom but to Harry seemed the man genuinely hated Harry he wandered why but forgured hes ask Mr. Tonks later.
After a while Mr. Greengrass asked Harry for a brief explanation of his circumstances and what his life had been like and what he was seeking and why. it was the elder Nott that asked the question Harry thought everyone at the table all wanted to ask at that point. Harry assumed it was only because it was not politically optimal to ask or maybe it was impolite to ask this question or maybe the others simply weren't done testing him yet in order to ask,he felt he had been in an texam all night.
"I grow tired of this dithering Cyrus!" shouted Nott Sr. holding an empty chalice of wine.
"Why? I ask you. Why should we help you, Potter? your family has thumbed their noses at us for generations. refused business deals with political partnerships and mutually beneficial marriages. since before the time of my grandfather. looking down on us, US, we of the sacred twenty-eight. We who helped found this countr. WeWeo have safeguarde the Wizarding tradition from the vile muggle encroachment for the last thousand years. your family has betrayed our culture our history, our blood, and our businesses for generations, and you come to us fresh out of isolation learning NOTHING but muggle foolishness and nothing of your own birth culture. learning nothing so as to look like a fish gasping out of water at a simple dinner party. you sit there at this table after what you did twelve years ago, after you slaught-" Nott Sr. was cut off at that moment as a red light sailed from Mr.Greengrass' wand and the elderly man dropped mid-sentence. "When did he grab his wand?" Harry thought as he stared at the old wizard lying face down on his plate of lamb chops. Mr. Greengrass rose to his feet and spoke slowly and deliberately. "Mr. Potter is MY guest, MINE, I will not allow him to come to harm I brought you all here to bridge gaps, to try to bring back some semblance of the political landscape our grandfathers flourished under. so we all could have a moderate voice again instead of these wings we have now spread too far apart to get anything of meaning done. to help anyone the wizengamot, the governing body of this land has not passed a significant bill of any kind in the last 15 years because you lot are so entrenched in your past hatreds to see that our country is falling apart. too often you have wandered at me and wished to blur the dividing line so we could once more do our jobs." he points to Harry."This lad is the dividing line. " If he gets his independence and he claims majority, then he could pull his vote from under the control of dumbledore, and things might get done! my heir has spoken for the first time in her capacity of that role and she has declared that any attack on this boy is an attack on the Greengrass family. and I must say after tonight I very much agree with her decision, enervate"
At that he brought the elder Nott back to consciousness.
Harry felt the need to respond to the elderly wizard. so he sat in silence thinking of his approach he decided the gryffindor thing to do would be to charge ahead. but he lent him self some caution and sent a questioning look to Daphne and Mr. tonks. both nodded slightly
"its true, I know nothing of your families, aside from the fact your children or grandchildren think themselves above everyone else, and everything else including the rules and laws.
you say my family thumbed their noses at you? if you have a family member at Hogwarts, I can assure you that they have gotten revenge for your ancestors in that regard. from certain others in this room I have received nothing but threats and taunts, and straight bullying. I'm assuming because of some feud I know nothing about because as you Mr. nott have so pointed out. I am an orphan and know just as much about the Wizarding world as your average muggle-born first year.
you ask what I can offer you to side with me. I have nothing to offer. Do you ask for favors? I have no favor. Maybe you seek some business agreement.
but I have no business, so you ask what reason you have to support my desires, but I have no reason to give other than my aunt and uncle have abused me every day since before I can remember you call me the future lord potter but for the first six years of my life I thought my name was either boy or freak. much as I said earlier you should help me because it's the morally right thing to do. but who knows when I get my majority maybe I'll open my land back to be farmed and have potion ingredients to sell and distribute but only fools would ask an eleven year old what his business plans are."
at this, Harry stands and throws his napkin over his half-finished dinner as he read he should in the book Ted had lent him, he then turned to Cyrus at the head of the table and bowed slightly "Thank you for dinner sir it was quite good but I'm afraid I must go before I cause a scene. if you wish to discuss this again before Friday then you may. Mr.Tonks is the best way to get hold of me at the moment."
he turned and quickly walked out.
to his surprise he heard heels come up behind him as he walked to the room with the floo he had arrived in.
" Potter, wait!" said Daphne breathlessly
"as heir to the Greengrass family must apologize for my father's dinner guests most of them can be rather cantankerous on their best days and Nott sr. is a very combative man when sober I'm surprised he kept his composure as long as he did" she turns to the window and gives out onto the grounds of her families estate.
" I have told my father to support your independence as my first act as heir. politically that action speaks volumes. I fear it doesn't speak enough. there won't be time before your hearing but afterward, if you'd like, you can come over and I can give you political and etiquette lessons that aren't from a book 150 years past its prime. you can also bring your friend Granger. merlin knows she will most likely need them before long.
At Hogwarts, Harry, the only person I have is Tracy and though she is my best friend only having one intelligent person to speak to can get rather dull so I would be very welcome to extend those study sessions I offered earlier. think about it." with that, she took a pinch of glittering floo powder and threw it in the fire. a clear indication that he didn't need to respond just then. Harry gave a big sigh and seeing Ted coming down the long corridor called out "Tonks house!"
ok whew, this one has been a doozy between 3 total rewrites multiple revisions, and losing almost 3k words after the app failed to save my progress this has taken forever. but I hope everyone likes it let me know your thoughts in the reviews.
" I have told my father to support your independence as my first act as heir. politically that action speaks volumes. I fear it doesn't speak enough. there won't be time before your hearing but afterward, if you'd like, you can come over and I can give you political and etiquette lessons that aren't from a book 150 years past its prime. you can also bring your friend Granger. merlin knows she will most likely need them before long.
At Hogwarts, Harry, the only person I have is Tracy and though she is my best friend only having one intelligent person to speak to can get rather dull so I would be very welcome to extend those study sessions I offered earlier. think about it." with that, she took a pinch of glittering floo powder and threw it in the fire. a clear indication that he didn't need to respond just then. Harry gave a big sigh and seeing Ted coming down the long corridor called out "Tonks house!"
I must apologize for that my inner nature is a very lazy so even putting effort enough to write anything is a huge struggle against my nature but I feel I can't be in this community that has given me so much entertainment at work without giving something back
plus I am thoroughly enjoying myself.