A massive Thank You to all of my brilliant supporters, with a shout-out to Gini Eatan, TypistTyphon, Titanium winx, Tasty Muffin, Joe Foster, Silver1119, Joel miller, sam, Jimmy Adams, Jo Daviz, LegendaryWasabi, and Optimum Prime. I would really struggle to keep this up without the support you guys give me.
as always next chapter is on pat re on for free.
Chapter 21
The next few weeks were stressful for Harry and his friends. Nothing happened but they often saw Malfoy and his friends watching them, waiting for the opportunity to attack them. The constant worry that something was about to go down still wore on them. Harry in particular was getting rather twitchy and had drawn his wand on reflex twice now. Luckily Harry hadn't cast a spell or pointed his wand at anyone he was feuding with, so when Malfoy tried to report it to the Aurors nothing happened.
Harry was pulled into the headmistress's office to answer the charge. However, Hermione had thought this was likely after he drew his wand and had given him a perfect defence. "Malfoy is clearly upset with me over what has happened to his family home. He was acting in a threatening manner and I drew my wand in preparation to cast a shield charm as a precaution."
Everyone there suspected Harry was lying about what spell he was thinking of casting but there were two points in Harry's favour, one he never actually used his wand, and two nothing short of veritaserum could force Harry to reveal what spell he was actually planning to use. That made Harry's explanation plausible and Harry was sent back to lessons with a warning about staying away from the families he was feuding with while in Hogwarts and an assurance that Malfoy would be getting the same lecture.
During this time Harry got a letter back from Madam Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, in response to one he sent her after hearing about what she had arranged for the Malfoy manor.
Mister Potter
I am glad to hear from you in this matter. I know by the look I saw on your face during the equinox meeting that my standing up and joining your feud was not something you had planned. But honestly I am unconcerned about that. I saw an opportunity for me to get revenge for what those so-called 'people' did to my boy and I took it. The way I saw it, your plan was to use the feud to expose the Death Eaters for who they really are then hide in the school where you are safe. Maybe even for you to move to France with your French betrothed when you can't be at school so you would be safe from the feud even when you can't count on the neutral ground of the school.
It is a commendable strategy for someone as young as yourself. I felt that as an adult it was my responsibility to do everything I could to clear out the Death Eaters and make this country safe not only for you but for my grandson and all the other children of this country.
Then I saw in the paper what you had done when they attacked your home. Capturing the Carrows was a brilliant manoeuvre. And putting them in a private prison you had set up showed you had been planning far more than I had given you credit for.
I am looking forward to seeing you again during this new parent-teacher week that Headmistress McGonagall is trying. From my understanding I will have more than enough time to meet with Neville's professors, spend time with my grandson, and still have enough time to meet with and talk to you.
Sincerely
Augusta Longbottom
Regent of the House of Longbottom.
Harry talked the letter over with both Hermione and Fleur the same night he received it and they all agreed that while it made their plans more complicated, they couldn't fault Madam Longbottom for the steps she had taken or the assumptions she made. It was a difficult truth to accept that people can only act on information they had and if you chose to hide a piece of information for some reason you couldn't get upset because someone who didn't know acted in ignorance.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry, Hermione, and their friends all made their way to the Room of Requirement. They had just finished their last lessons before the start of half term and considering everything they wanted a place they could all relax and the room of Requirement was perfect for that because even if they didn't want to all do the same thing the room would provide for them.
"So Harry, who's coming to this parent-teacher thing for you?" Ron asked.
"I have Dan and Emma coming as my guardians and Sirius coming as my magical guardian," Harry answered. "Though Sirius will also be here for Daphne and Tracey. Dan and Emma will also be here for Hermione. It's a nice little Celtic knot. Still, I don't think any of us have anything to worry about. We all have rather decent grades and we don't break that many school rules."
Ron snorted with laughter. "Harry I'm sure as a group we account for more headaches for the staff than the rest of the school combined. Though I'm not sure how I feel about my mother talking with Snape. You just know he is going to tell her I'm a terrible student. And you know my mother, she will believe him over me. Especially as they are both in Dumbledore's order, you just know that because Dumbledore trusts him my mother will as well."
"That's hard luck, mate." Commiserated Harry. "Still, what was your potion O.W.L score?
"An exceeds expectations. Why?"
"Well try pointing out to your mother that you only score low when Snape grades you. According to the people who will be deciding your N.E.W.T score, you're an exceeds expectations student. Maybe that will be enough to remind her that Snape's opinion matters little once you leave school." Harry suggested. The last part was something Emma had said to Harry after he got his O.W.L results and Harry had been ranting about how an unbiased judge had marked him so much higher than Snape ever did.
"So how are they organising the parents anyway?" Asked Susan. "I doubt they have all the parents depending on the school at the same time and hanging around for days."
"By year," Hermione answered. "They have nine days and seven years to cover but they are also losing two days to the Quidditch matches and the parents and guardians of the players are invited to watch."
"I thought all the parents were invited to see the Quidditch match?" Asked Ron.
"Originally yeah they were but apparently someone pointed out that there wasn't enough room in the stands for all the students and their parents and there isn't the budget to get extra seating in like they did for the Triwizard Tournament," Tracey told them.
"How on earth did you hear that?" Asked Neville.
"A Slytherin has her ways." The girl said with a smirk.
"So then we can assume that the parents and guardians of students in our year will arrive the same day as ours. Do we have a confirmation on how they are getting here? Is there any way we can set up an ambush before they get into the school?" Asked Harry.
"Well Sirius, mum, and dad, according to their letter to me, will be portkeying to right outside the gates." Said Hermione. "I assume it will be the same for the other visiting parents."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Asked Luna. "It may be legal but it would seriously disrupt professor McGonagall's plan for getting the parents to be more involved in our education. She could kick you out of the school for disrupting a school event." The blond girl asked without looking up from her magazine.
Luna had a point, just because the Aurors couldn't do anything didn't mean that Headmistress McGonagall would let it go. In fact once Harry thought it through now that it had been pointed out there was no way McGonagall could let it go.
"You're right Luna, still I want everyone to be careful. People like Malfoy will be in the castle and unfortunately, I fear he and the other adult Death Eaters will be far more skilled at being subtle than someone like Draco." There was a round of nods at that.
"Just remember if they try something first then you have the right to defend yourself." Susan reminded everyone. "I don't think McGonagall would kick any of the students out for defending themselves and given Harry has been using unbreakable vows to prove his words so much no one would bat an eye at you offering to prove your statements that way. Though Auntie is coming and as she is the Minister for Magic she will be bringing a full Auror guard with her so that should be enough to keep everything quiet."
"Should and will are two very different things," Tracey said, leaving the ominous statement to hang in the air.
-ϟϟϟ-
The first day of the parents' arrival was the first years and it was chaotic. The teachers had completely underestimated just how much like herding cats getting all the parents to the right places at the right time would be. To make sure that there was always enough staff watching the students the parent teacher talks were split into two sessions, one before and one after lunch. The professors were meant to meet the parents in their offices and have ten minutes to talk about each student.
This of course led to parents, mostly those who hadn't attended Hogwarts themselves, getting lost. Harry, Hermione, and all the other prefects were quickly press-ganged into running around and herding the parents like lost sheep.
During lunch, while the parents got to sit with their kids for a meal, Headmistress McGonagall called all the professors who had done their meetings that morning and the prefects into a classroom and asked them what they thought could be improved.
There was some grumbling from a few of the professors about just giving up on this idea but Hermione had a suggestion. "How about instead of having the parents wandering around getting lost, the professors set up in the great Hall. That way we keep all the parents in one place."
"That would make even more work for us." Complained Snape.
"Didn't realise you thought carrying a stack of papers to the Great Hall was such a challenge Severus?" Professor Flitwick, who actually would have some trouble with that teased.
"The prefects could help with the setup." Offered Harry. "It would be a lot less work than running all over the castle looking for people."
"Typical Potter is too lazy to do his job." Sneared Snape.
"Said the man who was just complaining about carrying a stack of paperwork up a flight of stairs." Sniped Hermione before Harry could say anything.
"Granger that-" Snape started, but Professor Babbling cut him off. "Enough. Severus leave it, you're the one who was unprofessional and started it so now you're gonna be an adult and drop it."
It was quickly decided that they would adopt Hermione's plan and they all went to dinner. Harry and Hermione ended up on the crew who were working on rearranging the Great Hall. It was easy enough work as all it was was temporary transfiguring the house tables and benches into desks and chairs then setting them up so that each professor had a chair for them, a desk to put their paperwork on and enough chairs opposite to seat the student and their parents. One of the Hufflepuff prefects did have a brain wave and after a quick trip to the kitchens, each professor also had a jug of ice water and a goblet as well because they would be doing a lot of talking.
The afternoon ran a lot smoother than the morning and it all went off without a hitch. It did mean dinner was a little later than normal but it wasn't like the students had to get to bed early for lessons the next day and having dinner a half hour later than normal wasn't exactly a hardship.
-ϟϟϟ-
The next day at breakfast as Harry and Hermione were eating there was a commotion over at the Slytherin table and the two Carrow twins ended up running out of the hall looking distressed.
"What do you think that's about?" Harry asked.
"Well I can't be sure, but I suspect we will be getting a letter soon saying that their father has finally signed the unconditional surrender," Hermione whispered to Harry so no one else would overhear her.
"Wouldn't we know about that before the twins though?" Harry asked.
"Harry, you know goblins don't trust wizards. Sure you have a better reputation with them than most, but I bet they are picking the carrow vaults for anything goblin-made as we speak making sure they get what's owed them before you can try and cheat them out of it."
"I would never. I made that deal in good faith." Harry protested.
Hermione sighed. "I know that Harry. But some too many wizards would. You can't blame them for being cautious."
"I guess not. Though I had hoped that maybe I had earned a little more trust." Harry admitted.
"You will Harry, but stuff like that takes time," Hermione reassured him.
They spent most of the day helping with the second-year students' parent-teacher conferences. Compared with the day before both the professors and the prefects knew a lot more about what they were doing and as such the day ran a lot smoother. There was still some confusion from the parents having never done a parent-teacher conference before, but they were making the same mistakes as the parents the day before so it was much easier to anticipate the problems in advance.
Hermione was right about the goblins. During lunch, Harry finally got a letter from them informing him that Warlock Carrow had finally signed the unconditional surrender. The goblins had then called in Fleur and had her act on his behalf to instruct the man to confess his crimes and deliver him to the D.M.L.E. While that was happening the goblins had searched the Carrow vaults and claimed all the goblin-made artefacts. There were no details given about the artefacts beyond that there were some. Though the goblins had taken the opportunity to inventory the vaults and to provide Harry with a list of what was in them.
Mostly it was junk to him. Family portraits, old furniture, and assorted bric-à-brac* though there was also a modest pile of gold: ten thousand galleons.
Harry showed the letter to Hermione. "What do you think we should do with everything?" He asked once she was finished.
Hermione thought for a moment before she said. "Well, I think we should give the portraits to Flora and Hestia. They are worthless to us and the only ones who are likely even to want them are the families of the people painted. Maybe the same with the furniture and the ornaments if the twins accept your offer to pay for their last year at Hogwarts, maybe keep enough gold to pay for them to get a flat for three months and let them have what they need to furnish their first place. Give them the opportunity to find a job for themselves."
Harry thought about it. He could see where Hermione was coming from. Two fresh out of Hogwarts young women with no home or money would probably have to do some drastic stuff if they wanted to survive. Giving them six months to find a job or a working apprenticeship would be the humane thing to do. And technically he was now responsible for them to some degree. The warlock of House Carrow had signed an unconditional surrender to the house of Potter, that made them something like his vassals. His house law could now be imposed on their house and he could even levy a tax on anything they earned until he either freed the house, the Wizengamot freed the house, or the title of their warlock had passed down three generations. There were other ways out such as cashing in a life debt or buying your way out but they were less common.
"That seems like a good idea. However, I will need to set up another meeting with Flora and Hestia. McGonagall is gonna start charging me rent to use her office at this rate."
Fleur mirror called them once she was off work and told them her side of what had happened. Dropping Warlock Carrow at the D.M.L.E had been rather straightforward, just signing some parchments and handing over the prisoner. The only hiccup was that Fleur was given a small book of forms to fill out regarding how the house of Potter now held sway over the house of Carrow. It was just a bunch of red tape but it needed doing.
Her information from the bank was far more interesting. While the bank wasn't telling Harry about the goblin artefacts they had retrieved, office gossip however told them everything that they wanted to know. The Carrows apparently had quite the little collection of goblin-made things, things that had been reported stolen from homes that were destroyed by the Death Eaters during the last war. Apparently, the Carrows liked to keep trophies. This meant that the goblins had gotten back more than they expected from this family and were quite happy with their investment.
-ϟϟϟ-
Day three of parent's week was a little more complicated than day two as this was the first year of electives and the student's timetables were a little more complicated. There were even a handful of parents who had to see the same professor for multiple subjects as there were two kids doing special projects. But by this point everyone was starting to understand what needed to be done, Professors and prefects had started to just know what was needed without needing to be told.
-ϟϟϟ-
Tuesday was a break in the routine. It was the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin Quidditch match. That meant that they didn't need to rush to set up the Great Hall after breakfast, and nobody had to run down to the gates to greet the parents and be nice while Aurora checked who they were before letting them onto the grounds. It meant that Harry, Hermione, and the others had a good hour to relax together after breakfast.
It also meant that Harry, Hermione, and their friends suddenly had Professor Babbling following them around for the day and when Hermione asked why she said, "Miss Granger, I doubt you have forgotten that Mr Malfoy is on the Slytherin Quidditch team. That means his parents are invited today. Parents who have just watched their house burn to the ground because of a chain of events started by your boyfriend and the grandmother of your friend. I and the rest of the staff feel that maybe all of you together could be enough for someone like Mr Malfoy and his wife to lose their temper and act. It would be grossly unfair for us to keep you locked up in the castle for the day and we can't specifically ban the Malfoys. So you will stay together as a group and I will stay with you. This way you can watch the match and if anything happens I will be on hand."
Harry and Hermione and the others had no problem with this. Babbling was a nice enough head of house, strict when she needed to be but happy to let the Gryffindors do their own thing as long as it didn't go too far. The only reservation any of them had was that the Runes professor was rather bookish, if anything did happen while she would defend the students they felt that it would be up to them to deal with it. Well, if the worst happened she would be a good witness that they didn't start anything.
The match itself turned out quite boring. Slytherin kept trying their usual intimidation tactics but the Ravenclaw team kept playing by the book and slowing everything down which was frustrating the Slytherin players, and because of that they were making mistakes.
Maybe if they were invested in one of the teams like Tracey or Luna were then they would have been more into it, like the two girls who were playfully bickering over the match, but Harry and Hermione actually ended up chatting with their Head of House about runes. Harry now had enough experience with runes and Hermione was so far read in advance that the rune professor actually bet that if they were to take their N.E.W.T's now they would actually get a passing grade. Not a good grade, probably just an acceptable, but considering they were still over a year from actually sitting their N.E.W.T's that was actually a very good position to be in.
Harry also told the Runes professor he was working on a method of quickly engraving prepared rune arrays into metal plates. He was of course cagey about the method but was honest that it would require a specially prepared plate to copy from. What he was interested in from her was her thoughts on using his method to make money after school.
"Well your biggest issue is finding a business with rune work they want to be done en masse, from what you have said this method of yours is only an improvement if you want multiple copies of the exact same array." Harry nodded, she was right. "So a lot of rune work is off the table because it needs to be customised to the individual situation. What you need to look at is businesses that have a product. Something like your drying doorways. Which now I think is exactly why you developed this system. The problem you will face is that a business would have to trust you with a copy of their rune work. To do that they are probably going to make you sign magical contracts so you can never use their designs. That is something you will have to be very careful with the wording of."
"Why?" asked Hermione, curious at the concern in the professor's voice.
"Because imagine if a design used a simple power transfer substring in an array, it's nothing special and nothing anyone with an O.W.L couldn't figure out for themselves. Useful for a thousand different things. But Harry can never put it in his own array ever again because it's part of an array Harry has copyright content on. That's just a simple example. By working on other people's arrays you start to realise if you took a part from that one and combined it with a part from someone else with a bit of your own ingenuity you could make a better product. But you can't do that without breaking your contracts." She explained and it did sound worrying.
"If I were you I would look into licensing the equipment. Let them rent it from you with contracts saying they can only use it to produce their own designs and can't make their own versions of your equipment. That lets everyone keep their designs and can speed up production."
That was a lot for Harry to think about. He hadn't considered just how easily a copyright contract could mess with his ability to design his own arrays.
After a few hours, Slytherin managed to win with Malfoy getting to the Snitch just before Cho Chang the Ravenclaw seeker. So they all started making their way towards the castle. Tracy was a strange mix of happy and disappointed. Happy her house had won the match but disappointed that they had used Draco Malfoy to do it.
There was a little tension as they left the stadium only to find Lucius Malfoy standing there looking at the group of them. It was impossible for Harry not to go for his wand. He didn't cast anything but he also made sure he already had it in hand in case something happened.
Professor Babbling stepped in front of them, actually trying to shield the nine of them with her own rather thin body. A noble idea but one that was underwhelming in its execution. "This is neutral ground Warlock Malfoy. Violence here is not permitted and will not be tolerated."
Malfoy smirked. "Violence? My dear professor, that is the furthest thing from my mind. I am simply hoping to have a conversation with young Mr Potter there. Is that not the function of neutral ground? A place where those who would kill each other can hold a civilised conversation about the issues at hand?"
Harry saw Professor Babbling hesitate at those words. It was clear she didn't trust him but he was also right, if he wanted to talk to Harry and possibly end the feud then she was supposed to let that happen.
Harry took the decision out of her hands and stepped forward. "Set aside your wand and we can talk." And Harry conjured two small tables, one by him and one over by the Malfoy warlock, each just big enough to hold a wand. Harry put his wand on his table and took two steps back and one to the side so that none of his friends would be behind him if Malfoy decided to attack. If he did, Harry was already prepared to step away and let the large group he had taught deadly spells have some target practice.
Malfoy, it seemed, was smarter than his son. He put his wand on his small table and took a few steps away from it. "Potter, you are going to call off the feud against my family."
"Oh? Am I now? Really? Why am I going to do that then?" Harry asked with a smile on his face just because he knew it would annoy the blond git.
"Did you know that when your little kitty there declared herself your ally in this feud she opened her parents up to being attacked? I had a law wizard look into it. From the perspective of magical law, your little pet is the head of her house and her declaration affects them all. So if you don't end this feud I am going to use the information I got from a muggle investigator to go to their home and I'm going to kill your little mudblood's parents as slowly and painfully as I can. They will be begging for death by the time I'm finished with them." Malfoy declared.
Harry had to suppress a smile. The Grangers were not at their home any longer and he didn't need to worry about this. So instead he said, "Well, that does indeed sound like a threat. Well that or a bluff. For all I know you're lying your ass off."
Malfoy just smiled and said. "Hampstead Heath." It wasn't an exact address but it was enough to have ice running through Harry's veins and he heard Hermione gasp behind him. She was probably picturing the home she grew up in going up in flames.
Still, Harry wasn't going to back down. He had already spoken with Dan about stuff like this, the Granger's house was insured if it was threatened Harry wasn't to give up anything to save bricks and mortar. "You know you actually sound a little desperate to me. What's the matter, your big shiny manor has been reduced to little more than charcoal and now everyone is refusing to take the gold of a Death Eater to fix it now that everyone knows exactly what you are. Is that why you resorted to a mundane private investigator? They were the only ones who would take your money?"
Malfoys look changed to one of barely controlled rage. "You should watch your tongue boy. The only thing keeping you alive right now are the laws of neutral ground."
Harry wasn't going to be scared off by such an obvious scare tactic. "They're also the only thing keeping your head attached to your neck. Don't make the mistake of thinking a jumped-up pompous twit like you could actually take me. I have duelled far more intimidating and dangerous foes than you."
It was almost imperceptible but Harry caught the tiny flash of hesitation that graced the face of the elder Malfoy for a fleeting moment. And then Harry understood. This was a Slytherin gambit. Malfoy was on the ropes, he wanted to intimidate and bluff Harry into dropping the feud because it was the only move he had. He didn't dare go up against Harry with a wand, he had seen firsthand how deadly Harry could be with his, his gold was now worthless as far as bribing the Ministry and the Wizengamot were concerned because nobody had plausible deniability. Those were the only two real strengths the Malfoy family had and they were useless.
Harry smiled at the man. "You have delivered your threat, now let me give you mine. If you harm even one hair on the head of anyone I care about I will make what I did to the Carrows look like a day at a fucking spa. I will do things to you that are so bad that all I will have left to hand over to the D.M.L.E at the end will be a gibbering husk that was once a person. And I will do that to you, your wife, and your son. I won't rest until the name of bad faith is washed away from this country permanently. Now, go before I decide to do something my Head of House will have to scold me for." And at that, Harry stood there just staring at Malfoy not saying or doing anything until the man got so unnerved he grabbed his wand and rushed away as fast as he could without looking like he was running away.
Harry picked up his wand and turned to see everyone including his Head of House staring at him. "What?" He asked with a half smile on his face.
Hermione just let out an exasperated sigh. "Harry, you really can be terrifying sometimes." And she shook her head and came over to him and leaned into him for a hug. "My parents are safe right?"
"In Grimmauld place, as safe as they can be," Harry answered. He knew Hermione knew that she just needed reassurance right then.
A/N
I was actually a prefect when I was in school and one of the things I had to do was set up and help run parents evenings. So the sorts of things I had Harry and Hermione doing apart from where they used magic are a reflection of the things I had to do.
* "bric-à-brac" refers to a selection of items of modest value, often sold in street markets and charity shops. Basically the ornamental junk a family accumulates over time.
